The Bedchamber CrisisPeel's ExplanationThe Whigs return to OfficeMr. Shaw Lefevre is elected SpeakerEducation SchemeIt is carried in a modified formPost Office ReformRowland Hill's PamphletThe Proposal scouted by the Authoritiesselect Committee appointedThe Scheme becomes LawCabinet ChangesPolitical DemonstrationsAnnouncement of the Queen's MarriageLady Flora HastingsThe Queen's SpeechInsertion of the word "Protestant"Debate on the Prince's PrecedenceHis Income fixed by the CommonsStockdale v. HansardStockdale's second and third ActionsStockdale and the Sheriffs committedHis fourth and fifth ActionsRussell's Bill settles the QuestionOther Events of the SessionThe Queen's MarriageOxford's Attempt on her LifeHis Trial for High TreasonForeign Affairs; the Opium TrafficCommissioner Lin confiscates the OpiumDebates in ParliamentElliot's ConventionIt is Disapproved and he is RecalledRenewal of the WarCapture of the Defences of CantonSir Henry Pottinger assumes CommandConclusion of the WarThe Syrian Crisis; Imminent Dissolution of the Turkish EmpireThe Quadrilateral TreatyLord Palmerston's DifficultiesThe Wrath of M. ThiersLord Palmerston's SuccessFall of AcreTermination of the CrisisWeakness of the MinistryThe Registration BillsLord Howick's AmendmentThe BudgetPeel's Vote of Censure is carriedThe DissolutionMinisters are defeated in both HousesResignation of the Melbourne Ministry.
The American disasters had now to be criticised in Parliament. On the 20th of November the two Houses met, and Lord Chatham rose instantly to reply, and to move an amendment on the Address. He attacked the Ministry with a still more personal and sweeping censure than he had done once before. "Can Ministers," he asked, "presume to expect a continuance of support in their career of ruinous infatuation? Can Parliament be so dead to its dignity and its duty as to be deluded into the loss of the one and the violation of the other? Will they continue to give an unlimited credit and support to Government in measures which are reducing this flourishing empire to ruin and contempt? But yesterday, and England might have stood against the world; now, none so poor to do her reverence! I use the words of a poet; but, though it be poetry, it is no fiction. It is a shameful truth, that not only the power and strength of this country are wasting away and expiring, but her well-earned glories, her true honour and substantial dignity, are sacrificed. France, my lords, has insulted you; she has encouraged and sustained America; and, whether America be wrong or right, the dignity of this country ought to spurn at the officious insult of French interference!" It is certain that Chatham would not have tolerated the presence of Franklin and Deane in Paris for a single day; they must have quitted France, or France would have been instantly compelled to throw off the mask. At this time, when the news neither of Howe's success in the south nor of Burgoyne's fall in the north had arrived, Chatham seemed to see in prophetic vision the disasters of the latter general. "The desperate state of our army," he said, "is, in part, known. No man thinks more highly of our troops than I do. I love and honour the English troops. I know that they can achieve anything but impossibilities; and I know that the conquest of English America is an impossibility. You cannotI venture to say ityou cannot conquer America! You may swell every expense and every effort still more extravagantly; pile and accumulate every assistance that you can buy or borrow; traffic and barter with every little, pitiful German prince that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign prince; your efforts are for ever vain and impotentdoubly so from this mercenary aid on which you rely; for it irritates to an incurable resentment the minds of your enemies, to overrun them with the mercenary sons of rapine and plunder, devoting them and their possessions to the rapacity of hireling cruelty! If I were an American, as I am an Englishman, while a foreign troop was landed in my country, I would never lay down my armsnevernevernever!" On the subject of employing Indians in the war against the Americans, willing to forget that he had done the same thing in Canada, he burst forth most indignantly: "But, my lords, who is the man that, in addition to these disgraces[247] and mischiefs of our army, has dared to authorise and associate to our arms the scalping-knife and tomahawk of the savage? to call into civilised alliance the wild and inhuman savage of the woods? to delegate to the merciless Indian the defence of disputed rights, and to wage the horrors of this barbarous war against our brethren? My lord, these enormities cry aloud for redress and punishment. Unless done away, it will be a stain on the national characterit is a violation of the Constitution; I believe it is against the law. It is not the least of our national misfortunes, that the strength and character of our army are thus impaired; infected with the mercenary spirit of robbery and rapinefamiliarised to the horrid scenes of savage cruelty, it can no longer boast of the noble and generous principles which dignify a soldier!" He then proceeded to give the Americans credit still for a natural leaning towards England; believed that they might be drawn from their alliance with France; and recommended, by his amendment, an immediate cessation of arms, and a treaty between the countries, by which he hoped that America would yet be retained in affectionate dependence.GREAT SEAL OF GEORGE II.[See larger version]
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[593][See larger version]Before the Irish affairs were done with, Pitt moved for leave to bring in his promised Reform Bill. If Pitt were still desirous of reforming Parliament, it was the last occasion on which he showed it, and it may reasonably be believed that he introduced this measure more for the sake of consistency than for any other purpose. He had taken no steps to prepare a majority for the occasion; every one was left to do as he thought best, and his opening observations proved that he was by no means sanguine as to the measure passing the House. "The number of gentlemen," he said, "who are hostile to reform are a phalanx which ought to give alarm to any individual upon rising to suggest such a motion." His plan was to transfer the franchise from thirty-six rotten boroughs to the counties, giving the copyholders the right to vote. This plan would confer seventy-two additional members on the counties, and thus, in fact, strengthen the representation of the landed interest at the expense of the towns; and he proposed to compensate the boroughs so disfranchised by money, amounting to 1,000,000. Wilberforce, Dundas, and Fox spoke in favour of the Bill; Burke spoke against it. Many voted against it, on account of the compensation offered, Mr. Bankes remarking that Pitt was paying for what he declared was, in any circumstances, unsaleable. The motion was lost by two hundred and forty-eight against one hundred and seventy-four. Insecurity of the Orleanist Monarchythe Spanish Marriageslord Palmerston's Foreign Policymeeting of the French Chambersprohibition of the Reform Banquetthe Multitude in ArmsVacillation of Louis PhilippeHe Abdicates in favour of His GrandsonFlight of the Royal FamilyProclamation of the Provisional GovernmentLamartine quells the PopulaceThe UnemployedInvasion of the AssemblyPrince Louis NapoleonThe Ateliers NationauxParis in a State of SiegeThe Rebellion quelled by CavaignacA New ConstitutionLouis Napoleon Elected President of the French RepublicEffect of the French Revolution in EnglandThe ChartistsOutbreak at GlasgowThe Monster PetitionNotice by the Police CommissionersThe 10th of AprilThe Special ConstablesThe Duke of Wellington's PreparationsThe Convention on Kennington CommonFeargus O'Connor and Commissioner MayneCollapse of the DemonstrationIncendiary Placards at GlasgowHistory of the Chartist PetitionRenewed Gatherings of ChartistsArrestsTrial of the Chartist LeadersEvidence of SpiesThe Sentences.
