Huskieson, which was immediately followed by that of Lord Dudley, Lord Palmerston, end Mr. Charles Grant. The ministry now came once more to be composed wholly of persons generally considered as belonging to the extreme, which was at the same time the main division of the Tory party. In particular, every member of the cabinet had hitherto been resolutely and steadily opposed to the concession of what was called the emancipation of the Roman Catholics, and indeed to every other proposed mitigation, whether iu substance or even in form, of the rigid Protestantism of the state institutions. The most important among the other events of this year were, the return, on the 5th of July, of Mr. O'Connell, although a Roman Catholic, as representative to the House of Commons for the county of Clara ; the convention concluded 6th of August, between All Pasha, viceroy of Egypt, and Sir Edward Codriogton, for the evacuation of the Mores by the Turkish troops, in conformity with which the whole Egyptian armament sailed for Alexandria on the 4th of October; the resignation by the Duke of Clarence, August 12, of the office of lord-high-admiral, to which he had been appointed by Mr. Canning ; the rem!, in December, of the Marquis of Anglesea from the government of Ireland; and the visit to this country, in the latter part of the year, of Donna Maria da Gloria, the young Queen of PortugaL On the 26th of February, this year, Lord John Russell had carried his resolution in the House of Commons for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, against the opposition of ministers, by a majority of 237 to 193. A bill to effect the object of the reso lution was afterwards introduced, and ministers refraining from joining the opposition to it in the House of Lords, it was passed into a law. This measur" had till now been uniformly resisted by both sections of the administration under which it was thus conceded..
The great measure of domestic policy of the year 1829 was the concession at last of Roman Catholic emancipation. The consideration of the laws imposing disabilities on Roman Catholics, with a view to the practicability of their safe removal, was recommended in the king's speech, delivered at the opening of parliament on the 5th of February. The Relief Bill, and another abolishing the forty-shilling freeholders in Ireland, were brought into the House of Commons together by Mr. Secretary Feel, and read a first time on the 10th of March. The second reading of the Relief Bill was carried on the 18th by a majority of 353 to 173; on the third reading, 30th of March, the numbers were, ayes 320, noes 142; the second reading in the Lords was carried on the 4th of April by a majority of 217 to 112; and the third reading on the 10th by a majority of 213 to 104. Both bills received the royal
assent on the 13th. Mr. O'Connell presented himself to take his seat for Clare on the 15th of May following ; but after he had been heard at the bar, it was resolved by a majority of 190 to 116, that he should not be entitled to sit or vote without first taking the oath of supremacy; and on his refusal to take the said oath, a new writ was ordered to be issued for Clare.
In the early part of the year 1830 the king, who had for some time past lived in great seclusion, was attacked by an illness which soon assumed a serious appearance. After all prospect of his recovery had been for some time lest, he died at Windsor Castle on tho morning of the 26th of June, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, and the eleventh of his reign. Tho same day proclamation was made of the accession of King William IV.
Many important alterations of the laws were made in the reign of George IV., besides the great national measures that have been already noticed. Both the laws relating to the punishment and those relating to the trial of offences were consolidated and amended by several acts Introduced by Mr., afterwards Sir Robert, Peel, in which, and also in the general administration of the law, considerable progress was made in the application of the two great principles of diminishing the sanguinary character and increasing the certainty of punishments. Among the ether legislative innovations of the reign may be enume rated the act of 1823, abolishing the ancient custom of burying persons who had committed felo-de-ee in cross-reads, with a stake driven through their bodies ; the Marriage Act Amendment Acts of 1822, 1823, and 1321; the act of 1824, for the restoration in blood of the representa tives of the Scottish peers attainted in 1715 and 1745; the act of the same year for ascertaining and establishing a uniformity of weights and measures; the act of the same year for the repeal of the combi nation laws; the act of 1827 to prevent arrests upon the means process where the cause of action is under 201.; the act of 1823 for rendering a written memorandum necessary to the validity of certain promises and engagements ; the act of the same year for regulating the Importation of corn ; the Metropolis Police Act of 1829; the act of 1830 repealing the beer duties ; and the act of the same year substi tuting the punishment of transportation for that of death, in cases of forgery. The mention of these measures is sufficient to indicate the progress of legislation daring the reign.