PRIME MINISTERS.

LORD LIVERPOOL. 1816.

1817.

1818.

1819.

Canning joins the Government as President of the
Board of Control.

Riots in the east of England in agricultural districts.
A motion in the Lords for relief of Catholics is rejected
by four.

Aug. Humiliation of the Dey of Algiers by Lord
Exmouth's bombardment, and release of many
Christian slaves.

Dec. The Spa Fields riots are suppressed.

[50,000 of Cobbett's Political Register are now sold weekly.]

Parliament is opened. Outrage on the Prince Regent.
Secret committees of both Houses are appointed to deal
with the alleged disaffection of part of the nation.
A bill to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act is
passed (a) in the Lords by 150 to 35, in the Com-
mons by 265 to 103.

The march of the Blanketeers from Manchester.
An Act to prevent seditious meetings is passed.
The Military and Naval Officers' Oath Bill is passed.
It opens all ranks in the army and navy to Catholics
and Dissenters (b).

March. The "Sidmouth Circular" to the lord-
lieutenants authorizing magistrates to apprehend
persons accused of libellous publications is issued.
May. Grattan's motion for relief of Catholics is lost in
the Commons by 245 to 221, in the Lords by 142
to 90.

Sir. F. Burdett's motion for reform is lost by 265 to 77.
June. The "Derbyshire Insurrection" breaks out.
Nov. 6. Death of Princess Charlotte.

Dec. William Hone is tried for libel. 'He defends
himself, and notwithstanding Lord Ellenborough's
efforts, is acquitted.

The suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act is repealed.
Secret committees are again appointed.

The Bill of Indemnity for those who had been engaged
in arrests on suspicion or in the dispersal of meet-
ings since Jan. 1817 passes both Houses. A pro-
test in the Lords is made by ten peers.

A motion for the repeal of the Septennial Act, supported by Romilly and Brougham, is lost by 117 to 42. Burdett's motion for annual parliaments and universal

suffrage is rejected by 106 to 0 (Burdett and Cochrane tellers for the motion).

The renewal of the Alien Bill is carried after much dis-
cussion and opposition.

£1,000,000 is voted by Parliament to build new churches.
Parliament is dissolved by the Regent without notice.
Birth of Princess Alexandrina Victoria (afterwards
Queen Victoria).

PRIME MINISTERS LORD LIVERPOOL. 1819.

1820.

1821.

1822.

Motions in favour of Catholic relief are defeated in the
Commons by 243 to 241, in the Lords by 147 to 106.
Riots and large meetings of working classes to petition
for reform. Wager of Battle is abolished.
Peel's Act passed for the resumption of cash payments.
Proclamations against seditious meetings.

Aug. Manchester reform meeting in St. Peter's
Fields. Attack of yeomanry.
Arrest of Hunt and

others.

Nov. 23. Parliament is assembled.

Debates on the "Manchester Massacre."

Majorities for ministers (381 to 150 in the Commons). The Six Acts (a) are brought in and carried after strenuous opposition in both Houses.

Lord John Russell proposes resolutions in favour of reform, which are rejected.

[In this year Hunt and his followers assume for the first time the name of Radical Reformers.]

Jan. 29.

Death of George III.

GEORGE IV. 1820-1830 (10 YEARS).

Born, 1762; Married, 1795, Caroline of Brunswick.

Feb. The name of the queen is omitted in the liturgy.
The Cato Street conspiracy to assassinate ministers is
discovered.

Execution of Thistlewood and other conspirators.
June. The queen arrives from the Continent.

July. A bill of pains and penalties against the
queen is brought in by Lord Liverpool.
Canning resigns his office at the Board of Control.
Brougham defends the queen.

Decreasing majorities for the bill. It is abandoned
amidst popular rejoicings.

Sir J. Mackintosh passed a bill by which shoplifting
to the amount of 5s. ceased to be a capital crime.
[See note a, p. 186.]

The Catholic Relief Bill is passed by the Commons (b),
but thrown out by the Lords by 159 to 120.
A bill to disfranchise Grampound is carried. The two
seats are given to the county of York (c).

July. Coronation of George IV. The queen is refused
admission to Westminster Abbey, and dies, Aug.
The Grenville party (d) join the Government. Wellesley
becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.

Jan. Retirement of Lord Sidmouth from office.
Peel succeeds him as Home Secretary.

Feb. Parliament is opened.

PRIME MINISTERS.

LORD LIVERPOOL. 1822.

1823.

1824.

1825.

March 27. Canning is appointed Governor-General of
India.

Lord J. Russell's motion "that the present state of
representation requires serious consideration is
rejected by 105 (269 to 164).
Canning's bill to admit Catholic peers to sit in the
House of Lords is passed by the Commons and
rejected by the Lords by 171 to 129.

June. Brougham makes a motion declaring that the
influence of the Crown is destructive of the in-
dependence of Parliament, and asserts that it
has largely increased since Dunning's resolution
in 1780 (see 1780). (Motion rejected by 216 to
101.)

Aug. 12. Suicide of Lord Londonderry (formerly
Castlereagh).

Sept. Canning, about to start for India is made
Foreign Secretary.

17,000 freeholders of Yorkshire petition for reform.
Robinson becomes Chancellor of Exchequer in the
place of Vansittart (Lord Bexley).

Huskisson becomes President of Board of Trade.
Huskisson carries his Reciprocity of Duties Bill, thus
largely modifying the effects of the Navigation
Acts (a).

Peel's Currency Act comes into operation.

May. Two moderate measures of Catholic relief pass the Commons, but one is rejected and the other dropped by the Lords.

The freedom of the South American republics is now fully recognised by England.

[The Catholic Association (Ireland) is formed this year.]

The Acts arranging for the fixing of wages of Spitalfields weavers are repealed.

The total repeal of all Acts limiting the free travelling about of workmen is carried.

All laws controlling the combinations of either masters
or workmen are repealed. (This Act is altered in
the next year (b).)

The duties on silk and on wool are largely reduced.
[This year a motion was passed in the Commons that
it is expedient that provision be made by law for
the maintenance of the Roman Catholic clergy in
Ireland.]

The Catholic Association is suppressed by a bill in
Parliament limited to three years.

Sir F. Burdett's Catholic Relief Bill carried in the
Commons by 248 to 227 (third reading), is rejected
in the Lords by 178 to 130. The Duke of York
speaks against it.