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servants. On the following day the duke of Wellington waited on his majesty, and advised him to entrust the government to sir Robert Peel; and as sir Robert, with lady Peel, had left England in the month of October, to spend the winter in Italy, he generously offered to carry on the public business till sir Robert's return. This course was adopted; and, as a temporary arrangement, his grace was appointed first lord of the treasury, and sworn in as one of the principal secretaries of state. On the 21st of November, lord Lyndhurst received the great seal, and took the oaths as lord chancellor ; but he did not resign the office of lord chief baron, till the settlement of the ministry in December. Lord Brougham wrote to him, proposing that he (lord Brougham) should be appointed lord chief baron, and offering to accept the office without any salary in addition to his pension as ex-chancellor. Lord Lyndhurst returned a courteous answer, that no arrangements could be made as to any appointment, till the return of sir Robert Peel; and a few days afterwards lord Brougham withdrew his request.

The messenger, who had been dispatched to sir Robert Peel, arrived at Rome on the evening of the 25th of November, and delivered his credentials. On the following morning, sir Robert left Rome, along with lady Peel: he arrived in London on the morning of the 9th of December; and, on the same day, had an audience of the king, and accepted the office of prime minister. One of the first steps taken by him was to propose to lord Stanley and sir James Graham, that they should

be members of the new administration, but they both declined to pledge themselves to the extent to which they might be considered bound by the acceptance of office.

By the end of December, the official arrangements were completed. Sir R. Peel was first lord of the treasury, and chancellor of the Exchequer ; lord Lyndhurst, lord chancellor; the earl of Rosslyn, president of the council; lord Wharncliffe, lord privy seal; the duke of Wellington, secretary of state for foreign affairs; Mr. Goulburn, secretary of state for the home department; the earl of Aberdeen, colonial secretary; Mr. Alexander Baring, president of the board of trade; sir George Murray, master general of the ordnance; sir E. Knatchbull, paymaster of the forces; earl de Grey, first lord of the admiralty; lord Ellenborough, president of the board of control; lord Maryborough, post-master general; the earl of Jersey, lord chamberlain; the earl of Roden, lord steward; lord Lowther, vice president of the board of trade, and treasurer of the navy; Mr. C. Wynn, chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; Mr. Herries, secretary at war; Mr. F. Pollock, attorney general for England, and Mr. Follett, solicitor general. The earl of Haddington went to Ireland as lord lieutenant; sir Edward Sugden was appointed lord chancellor of Ireland, and sir Henry Hardinge, chief secretary to the lord lieutenant. Sir James Scarlett succeeded lord Lyndhurst as lord chief baron of the exchequer, and was raised to the peerage by the title of lord Abinger.

Sir Robert Peel expounded the principles on which he proposed to conduct the go

vernment in an address to the electors of Tamworth, the borough which he represented. On the 30th of December a proclamation was issued dissolving the parliament, and convoking a new parliament, which was to meet on the 19th of February, 1835.

On the 1st of August, in the present year, the act for the emancipation of the negroes came into operation; and though in some of the islands, symptoms of insubordination were exhibited, and the planters were obliged to have recourse to punishment and force, in order to overcome the reluctance of the black population to regular labour, yet on the whole, this great change took place with much less mischief than had been apprehended. No where did the disturbances assume a serious character; and no where were they attended with any serious injury to property. In Barbadoes, there was perfect tranquillity and order; and in Jamaica the transition was accompanied with very little alarm or commotion. Every where the colonial legislatures exhibited a willingness to give full effect to the enactment of the mother country.

In the beginning of the year, some military operations took place in the Mysore district, in the East Indies; they were directed against the Rajah of Coorg, an independent prince in alliance with the company. He had, it is said, by many acts of oppression and injustice towards his subjects, rendered himself very unpopular; and his conduct towards his sister and her husband had been such, that, to save their lives, they had been obliged to seek refuge in the

See Domestic Public Documents.
VOL. LXXVI.

British territory. The Rajah, in consequence, addressed letters to the governor-general couched in the most insulting terms; he assumed an attitude of defiance, and instigated and encouraged others to adopt the same course. Many of his excesses had been passed over ; but at length the governorgeneral had considered further forbearance impracticable and impolitic; and a proclamation was issued, notifying that a British army would be dispatched to invade the Coorg territory, and that Verr Rejundi Woodier should no longer be considered as Rajah of Coorg. The proclamation proceeded to state, that such a system of government would be established as seemed best calculated to secure the welfare and happiness of the people. All British subjects engaged in the service of the Rajah were ordered immediately to leave him, and to seek the protection of the British authorities; and those, who should continue to serve or assist him were declared traitors. In April, several bodies of British troops and sepoys proceeded against the Rajah. On entering the Coorg territory they met with but little resistance; but upon approaching the capital, they found that strong stockades had been erected, within which the Rajah had concentrated his forces. An attack by one detachment of the British forces, was attended with only partial success, and with the loss of seventy men and four officers. But on the 16th of April, adivision of one of the British columns took possession of Mudkerry, the Rajah's capital; and the whole fof the Coorg territory submitted to the dominion of the company.

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CHAP. XI.

FRANCE. Opening of the Chambers-King's Speech-Debates on the Address-Bill against Public Hawkers of Journals-Bill for the Suppression of Political Societies-Disturbances at Lyons-Riot in Paris Finances Proposals to Lower the Amount of Import Duties-Modifications of the Peerage-Bill for Satisfying the Claims of the United States against France Rejected by the Chamber of Deputies-Changes in the Ministry-Session closed and the Chamber dissolved-General Election-Formal Meeting of the New Chamber-Royal Speech and Address-Marshal Soult resigns, and is succeeded by Marshal Gerard-Investigation by the Peers into the Disturbances at Lyons and Paris-Marshal Gerard and all the Ministers Resign-The Duke of Bassano forms a new MinistryThe Duke of Bas ano and all the Ministers resign-The Duke of Treviso made Prime Minister, and the old Ministers return-Prosecutions against the Press.

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"It was by guaranteeing our rights, protecting our interests, and by the equity and moderation of our policy, that we have obtained these happy results.

"In order to render them lasting, we shall persevere with energy and patience in the same system. An unceasing vigilance is still necessary; insensate passions and culpable manœuvres are at work to undermine the foundations of social order. We will oppose to them your loyal concurrence, the firmness of the magistrates, the activity of the administration, the courage and patriotism of the national guard, and of the army; the wisdom of the nation, enlightened as to the danger of the illusions which those who attack liberty, in pretending to defend it, seek

still to propagate, and we shall insure the triumph of constitutional order and our progress in civilization. It is thus, gentlemen, that we shall at length put an end to revolution, and that we shall fulfil the wishes of France. I thank her for the support she has given me; I thank her for the tokens of confidence and affection with which she has surrounded me. I received them with emotion in such of the provinces as I have been able to visit, and I render thanks to Providence for the blessings which our country already enjoys, and for those which the future promises.

"You will also second me, gentlemen, in my endeavours to protect the increase of our national wealth, in opening to our commerce and industry new sources of prosperity, and in spreading comfort, combined with labour, throughout all classes of the population.

"I hope that the new laws of customs, while it evinces the progress of our industry, will reconcile the protection which is due to it with those principles of prudent freedom which enlightened go vernments are disposed to admit. "Popular instruction has received, thanks to your concurrence, a salutary impulse.

"The finance laws, and those which the execution of treaties requires, will be speedily presented to you. The public revenue improves, and everything promises that it will continue to follow the ascending movement of our prosperity.

"Several projects of law, some of which have been already presented to you, will be submitted to your deliberation again. I have reason to hope that the promises of the Charter will be accomplished in the course of this session.

"I am happy to announce to you that our relations with all the Powers, and the assurances that I receive from them as to their dispositions, leave no doubt as to the maintenance of the general peace.

"The Peninsula has become the theatre of important events.

"As soon as the Government of the Queen, Maria II., was established in Lisbon, I renewed our diplomatic relations with Portugal.

"In Spain, the death of the king, Ferdinand VII., has called the princess, his daughter, to the throne. I hastened to acknowledge the queen, Isabella II., hoping that such prompt acknowledg ment, and the relations it estab lished between my government and the queen regent, would contribute to preserve Spain from the convulsions with which she was threatened. Already tranquillity is beginning to be restored to the provinces in which rebellion has broken out. The corps d'armée which I have ordered to be formed, at all events, protects our frontiers.

"Continuing to be intimately united with Great Britain, we have every reason to hope that the difficulties which still retard the conclusion of a definitive treaty between the king of the Belgians and the king of the Netherlands will compromise neither the great interests of Belgium nor the tranquillity of Europe.

"Switzerland has been momentarily disturbed by dissensions, which the prudent firmness of her government in a short time put down. I hastened to render her the services that she had a right to expect from a faithful and disinterested ally.

"The Ottoman empire has been threatened with great perils. I

was anxious to hasten a pacification at once called for by the interests of France and the stability of European order. I shall continue my efforts to insure its preservation.

"The events which I have just mentioned, and especially the situation of the Peninsula, have rendered it my duty to maintain the army upon the footing required by the safety of the state.

"Let us consummate our work, gentlemen; let order, powerful and respected be henceforth sheltered from all attack ;-let the efficacious protection of the national interests dissipate the last hopes of the factious, and France, happy and free under the tutelary shield of the government which she has founded, will at length pursue, without obstacle, a course of prosperity. This is my most ardent wish, and you will assist in securing its entire accomplish

ment."

The election of the officers of the Chamber of Deputies, which immediately followed, shewed that the opposition had not been gaining strength, and did not seem to threaten the government with the necessity of making inconvenient concessions. M. Dupin was reelected president by 220 votes out of 299. Lafayette obtained only 39; M. Lafitte, and M. Odillon Barrot, only 11. Ministers were equally successful in regard to three out of the four vice-presidents. For their fourth candidate, they had selected M. Persil, unpopular on account of his innumerable prosecutions against the press, and still more so, because so many of these prosecutions had terminated in acquittals. M. Berenger united a majority of votes against him, being supported by a large body of

the usual supporters of ministers; but M. Berenger himself could not be considered as a member of the opposition. A new party, however, began to develope itself in the chamber, professing to mediate between the republican predilections of the opposition and the despotic tendencies of the government. From want of any appellation better suited to mark its ill-defined principles, it assumed the name of the tiers parti, and M. Dupin was considered as its leader. They affected to regard only the wants and wishes of the calm and impartial lovers of orderly freedom, more liberal than the doctrinaires, less outrageous and warlike than the opposition; but they had many more opinions in common with the ministry than with its antagonists; and, as they were looking forward to the possession of power, they were careful to take no position which might lead them to break irreconcileably with the court. Though willing to seize all opportunities of making the government feel their importance, they resisted none of its expedients for ruling with sternness and severity; they lent their aid to limit the modes of circulating periodical writings; and though they proposed some mitigating clauses to the bill for prohibiting all associations formed without the authority of government, they joined in saving the unamended ministerial project from the opposition. It was in matters of finance that this party perplexed and pestered the government. Containing many men well-skilled in financial science, and intimately acquainted with the financial interests of the state, it took advantage of the economical disposition of the chamber, always most marked

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