The continued want of work, and distress of the lower orders, led to an act for authorizing the issue of Exchequer Bills to persons finding employment for the poor. The same causes inducing the public to call loudly for retrenchment ; the Opposition took, on 25th February, the sense of the House of Com mons on a motion to reduce the number of the Lords of the Admiralty, and mustered 152 votes against 208. As an offering on the part of Govern. ment to the prevailing call, an act was passed for abolishing the two sinecure offices of Justice in Eyre.
Mr Abbot, who had filled the office of Speaker of the House since 1802, finding 'himself incapable, from continued indisposition, of performing its ar duous duties, sent in his resignation, and was suc ceeded by the Right Honourable Charles Manners Sutton. Mr Abbott was forthwith raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Colchester, and, on 6th June, a vote passed tber Commons for settling on him a life annuity of L.4000.
Parliament was opened on 27th January, under circumstances which indicated that the want of work and distress of trade, though still considerable, were less serious than in the preceding year. A secret committee, appointed anew by each House, reported to that effect ; and, on their recommendation, was brought in a bill to indemnify persons (chiefly ma gistrates) who had acted in apprehending and de taining individuals suspected of treasonable prac tices : this bill was not carried without considerable opposition.
The death of the Princess Charlotte having caus ed a blank in the succession to the Crown, the mar riage of the Royal Dukes became a subject of con sideration ; hut the provision for any increase of ex penditure was exposed to difficulty, as well from the distress of the public, as from the near approach of the time when the members were to meet their con stituents. A motion, made by ministers, to grant L.10,000 additional to the Duke of Clarence, was not successful ; an amendment for reducing it to L.6000 having been carried by 193 to 184. Votes, equally restricted, were passed in the case of the Dukes of Keut and Cambridge ; and an attempt to obtain a similar grant to the Duke of Cumberland (who had been several years married) was negatived by 143 to 146 ; but a provision of L. 6000 a year
was made for the Duchess in case she should sur vive him.
Among the other transactions of this year was a grant of L. 400,000 to Spain, as a compensation for losses attendant on an early abolition of the slave trade by that power. Certain acts were also passed for the humane treatment of negroes in our sugar colonies. The bank exemption act being about to expire, Mr Vansittart brought in a bill for continu ing it another year, on the ground that the loans now contracting in England for France and Prussia carried capital out of the country, and prevented the bank, for a time at least, from diminishing its paper circulation.
Mr Brougham having, early in the session, brought in a bill for investigating the abuses of Public Chari ties, it was referred to a committee, and, after some discussion in the Commons, passed to the Lords. There it encountered opposition from Lords Eldon and Redesdale, and was returned to the Commons with material alterations; the commissioners charged with the inquiry being limited in their powers, and restricted to charities connected with education. The act, however, passed in this state, and the la bours of the commissioners, like those of the com mittee on the education of the poor, have been pro ductive of much public advantage. The session was closed on 10th June by a speech from the Regent, containing a notice, not only of the prorogation, but of the dissolution of Parliament,—a measure which for many years had been announced by proclama lion.
The new Parliament met on 14th January 1819, and on 21st proceeded to business. The demise of the queen having taken place during the recess (17th, November), one of the first measures was to vest the custody of the King's person in the Duke of York, who, very imprudently, under the circumslitnces of the country, demanded and received from Parlia ment an annual allowance of L.10,000 for discharg ing an at of filial duty. This formed a striking contrast to the conduct of the Marquis of Camden, who, possessed of the lucrative sinecure of Teller of the Exchequer, relinquished L. 9000 a year of it to the public,--a sacrifice noticed in honourable terms in a vote passed in Parliament on the occasion.