committee was still sitting," that a select committee be appointed to consider and report upon the measures expedient to be adopted for properly effecting the extinction of slavery throughout the British dominions at the earliest period compatible with the safety of all classes in the colonies." To this lord Althorpe would not agree. It was too unqualified. He wished Mr. Buxton to add the words "in conformity with the resolutions of 15th May, 1823.". - Mr. Buxton would not accede, for his opinion was, that these resolutions had been the true cause of so much delay in the emancipation of the slaves. Lord Althorpe then moved them as an amendment on Mr. Buxton's motion, and they were carried by a large majority.

These measures were followed up by pecuniary relief. The sum of 100,000l. which it had been proposed to grant to the sufferers from the hurricane in Barbadoes, St. Vincent, and St. Lucia, was raised to 1,000,000l. and extended to the sufferers in Jamaica by the insurrection. The Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that the loss sustained in the latter island by the destruction of premises alone, amounted to 800,000l. The money was not to be given as indemnification for the loss of produce, but to enable these premises to be rebuilt, and it was to be issued only on due security being received for repayment. A farther sum of 58,000l. was granted, to be applied in giving aid, in regard to their internal expenses to the crown colonies which had adopted the order in council, and carried it practically into effect.

in

In the end of 1831, the cholera had made its appearance Sunderland and extended

to

Newcastle. Instead of moving southwards, it travelled north to Scotland, and appeared suddenly, in a very fatal form, at Haddington. Approaching Edinburgh, it seized upon Musselburgh, six miles from the metropolis, where its ravages were the most severe that had yet been known in the island. In Edinburgh funds had been supplied by voluntary subscription, and labour and attention by active charity, in clothing and feeding the poor, which, aided by a very vigilant police, long set the invader at defiance, and, when he arrived, deprived him of almost all his terror. Hitherto the legislature had been silent. All at once, without apparently having lighted on any intermediate place, the disease appeared in London, and forthwith bills were hurried through both Houses of parliament, vesting in the privy council very ample powers to direct sanatory measures, and authorizing assessments to cover the necessary expenses. In the bill for Scotland the House actually divided on the question whether words, which spoke of the disease being an infliction of "providence," should be part of the preamble. Six members, headed by Mr. Hume, voted for their exclusion. They had been omitted in the preamble of the English bill, but were inserted in the House of Lords.

On the 30th of July, when the end of the session and of the parliament was approaching, to be followed by a parliament of a very different constitution which was to produce many new voices and faces, the Speaker, Mr. Manners Sutton, announced his intended resignation of the chair, which he had filled in six successive parliaments. All parties received the

announcement with regret, and replied to it with terms of eulogy and kindness. Lord Althorpe moved, and Mr. Goulburn seconded, and the House voted by acclamation, "That the thanks of this House be given to the right hon. Charles Manners Sutton, Speaker of this House, for his eminent services in the six parliaments, during which he had discharged the duties of Speaker, with a zeal and ability alike honourable to himself and conducive to the progress of public business: that he be assured that this House feels the strongest sense of the advantage which it has derived from his attachment to the interests of his country-from his unwearied assiduity during a period of unexampled labour in this Housefrom the steadiness and firmness with which he has on all occasions maintained the dignity and privileges of the Commons House of Parliament-from the attention which he has paid to the order of our proceedings, and from the urbanity and kindness which he has uniformly displayed in the discharge of his high and important duties." An address to the King was likewise unanimously voted, praying his Majesty to confer some signal mark of his favour on the Speaker, and stating that the House would make good whatever expence might be incurred. The address was carried into effect by granting to Mr. Sutton a pension of 4000l. a year, to be reduced to one half if he accepted any office under the crown of equal value, and on his demise, 3000l. a year to his son.

On the 16th of August, his Majesty, in person, prorogued parlia ment, with the following speech from the throne,

"My Lords and Gentlemen, "The state of the public business now enabling me to release you from a further attendance in parliament, I cannot take leave of you without expressing the satisfaction with which I have observed your diligence and zeal in the discharge of your duties during a session of extraordinary labour and duration.

"The matters which you have had under your consideration have been of the first importance, and the laws in particular which have been passed for reforming the representation of the people have occupied, as was unavoidable, the greatest portion of your time and attention.

"In recommending this subject to your consideration, it was my object, by removing the causes of just complaint, to restore general confidence in the legislature, and to give additional security to the settled institutions of the state. This object will, I trust, be found. to have been accomplished.

"I have still to lament the continuance of disturbances in Ireland, notwithstanding the vigilance and energy displayed by my government there in the measures which it has taken to repress them. The laws which have been passed in conformity with my recommendation at the beginning of the session, with respect to the collection of tithes, are well calculated to lay the foundation of a new system, to the completion of which the attention of parliament, when it again assembles, will of course be directed. To this necessary work my best assistance will be given, by enforcing the execution of the laws, and by promoting the prosperity of a country blessed by Divine Providence with so many natural ad

vantages. As conducive to this subject, I must express the satisfaction which I have felt at the measures adopted for extending generally to my people in that kingdom the benefits of education.

"I continue to receive the most friendly assurances from all Foreign Powers; and though I am not yet enabled to announce to you the final arrangement of the questions which have been so long depending between Holland and Belgium, and though, unhappily, the contest in Portugal between the Princes of the House of Braganza still continues, I look with confidence, through the intimate union which subsists between me and my allies, to the preservation of the general

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"I recommend to you during the recess the most careful attention to the preservation of the public peace, and to the maintenance of the authority of the law in your respective counties. I trust that the advantages enjoyed by all my subjects under our free constitu tion will be duly appreciated and cherished; that relief from any real causes of complaint will be sought only through legitimate channels; that all irregular and illegal proceedings will be discountenanced and resisted; and that the establishment of internal tranquility and order will prove, that the measures which I have sanctioned have not been fruitless in promoting the security of the State, and the content and welfare of my people."

The Lord Chancellor then, by command of his Majesty, said "My lords and gentlemen, it is his Majesty's royal will and pleasure that this Parliament be prorogued to Tuesday, the 16th day of October next, to be then here holden; and this Parliament is accordingly prorogued to Tuesday, the 16th day of October next."

Police.

W

an

WHILE the legislature was bestowing on Ireland amended representation, and devising measures for removing the contentions which had arisen from the artfully fomented hatred against the property of the church, that unhappy country itself seemed to be labouring under a curse which rendered every attempt to mitigate its calamities only a new source of discord and crime. The demagogues were more open in their threats and excitements: the populace and the peasants became more daring and systematic in their crimes; all regard to law, to property, and to life was trampled under foot as a sacred duty; plunder and bloodshed became the instruments of imagined political regeneration; and the power of the leaders who hurried on unthinking thousands was exerted in administering every incitement to their angry passions, and, under the pretext of seeking civil amelioration, teaching them to forget all civil duties, and unfit themselves for the moderate exercise of all civil rights. Towards the conclusion of the preceding year, the resistance to the payment of tithes hadt become open and systematic;

con

and the question of the repeal of the Union had been openly advocated. To these were now added new sources of discontent arising out of the reform bill. The Protestants, who saw, or thought they saw, that by its provisions they, and their institutions were laid at the feet of the Catholics, lost all fidence in the government by which they considered themselves abandoned, and naturally felt inclined to have recourse, for means of defence, to the same instruments which the Catholics used against them. They thought that their safety must be found only in themselves; and it was not easy to say, whether they felt more irritated against the government or against the Catholic bands who surrounded them with pillage and murder. A numerous meeting of Protestant noblemen and gentlemen, held in Dublin, put forth a manifesto, enumerating the various grievances of which they thought themselves entitled to complain, and calling upon all their brethren, as at a most perilous crisis of their affairs, to be vigilant, and true to their own interests. "The Irish Protestants," said they "are no paltry faction, as they have been repre

sented, but a gallant people, possessing a physical and moral energy, which, if united, no earthly power can crush-comprising a vast proportion of the property, education, and industry of Ireland; the descendants of brave men, who won privileges and rights which their posterity must not forfeit by indolence and neglect. We trust that that loyal and resolute body of men, the Orangemen of Ireland, who have so often and so successfully come forward in defence of the laws and constitution of this country in times of peril, will not now be unmindful of the noble principles upon which they have associated; that they and all other classes of our Protestant brethren will co-operate with us in making the most urgent and decisive statement of our wrongs to our most gracious sovereign. Upon the Protestant magistracy we would impress the strong necessity, the imperative duty, which devolves upon them, not to yield to the feelings of disgust which the indignities and insults offered to them are so naturally calculated to excite. They should recollect that they are not at liberty to desert a position in which they may contribute to protect the properties, privileges, and lives of their fellowsubjects. In fine, to all classes of our Protestant brethren we pledge ourselves to omit no opportunity of serving their interests, and protecting their rights: for this end we invite their co-operation, and trust we may still succeed, if we be firm, vigilant, and united."

The example of this assembly was followed in many of the counties, and addresses to the King were voted by very numerous meetings. The meeting of the county of Armagh was attended by

a great number of men of property and station, and the whole assemblage consisted of many thousands. In the resolutions which they adopted as the basis of their address, they expressed dissatisfaction and alarm at the spirit that appeared to influence the councils and direct the measures of the Irish government. As circumstances which justified that alarm, they stated, that unconstitutional and mischievous associations had been suffered to be formed and continued, the efforts of which were directed to usurp the powers of government, and destroy the civil and religious institutions of the country: That, instead of such associations having been suppressed, and their leaders punished, measures had been adopted, and appointments made, at their dictation; that processions connected with their destructive purposes had been allowed to take place even in the metropolis, and the instigators of them rewarded with favour and confidence, while Protestants had been dismissed from various corps of yeomanry, because, in their characters as individuals, they had engaged in commemorating the revolution, or other historical events connected with the history of Protestant Ireland; that the clergy of the established church had received no adequate protection against the outrages to which its members were exposed in merely enforcing their legal rights, as a consequence of which, the same system was now openly pursued, in many parts of the country, against the Protestants at large, so that they had little security either for life or property; that by a weak and ignorant policy, while public support was continued to the Catholic college of Maynooth, it had been withdrawn