476 The Dissolution of Parliament. pVlAY, 



But let us come to the closing scene of the p irliament. If we were 

 believers in omens we should look upon it as the commencement of a 

 period to whose hazard, contempt of law, and furious confusion., every 

 Englishman of a right mind and honest heart must look with indigna- 

 tion and trembling. 



The House of Lords. 



PRAYERS were read by the Bishop of EXETER! by Philpotts; the 

 gift of the pro-popery ministers to the protestant church Rat Philpotts, 

 who is now a lord of parliament, with an income from the protestant 

 churches of no less than seven thousand pounds a year ! God defend us 

 from the omen ! 



The House was crowded with Peers, the space below the bar was full 

 of the public. The strongest agitation was evident in all parts of the 

 House. On the Duke of Gordon's presenting a petition against Re- 

 form, Lord Mansfield rose and moved, that Lord Shaftesbury, the 

 chairman of the committees, should take the chair. On this the Duke 

 of Richmond, who had ratted to the Whigs, and is in the enjoyment of 

 a place of two thousand pounds a year, started up ; for what purpose ? to 

 address the House, to speak to the motion? No such thing. The 

 etiquette of the noble Duke was pained by the discovery that noble Lords 

 were not all in their proper places, and that an Earl had been seen ac- 

 tually whispering to a Baron. We are unacquainted with the heinous- 

 ness of this offence, but it must doubtless be one of great magnitude, 

 for it infinitely disturbed the noble Duke's nerves. He failed, however, 

 of communicating his feelings to others ; for Lord Lyndhurst gave him 

 his opinion with a distinctness which perfectly surprised the noble head 

 of the House of Lennox; and Lord Londonderry unhesitatingly charac- 

 terised it, as " a miserable shift to prevent noble Lords from expressing 

 their opinions on this coup d'etat.' The Marquis of Clanricarde, whose 

 name is valuable to the world since that curious affair of Mr. Auldjo, 

 now interposed for the Duke, and talked as the noble Marquis always 

 talks. Then rose Lord Wharncliffe, with an address in his hand, praying 

 his Majesty not to exercise his prerogative of dissolving the parliament. 

 A few manly words put the House in possession of his meaning, and he 

 was loudly cheered. The guns were now heard announcing the King's 

 approach ; and the confusion increased. At this moment Lord Mans- 

 field rose and reprobated the conduct of ministers in the strongest 

 terms. " They had placed the country in the most awful situation. He 

 accused them of weakness ; and of conspiring against the safety of the 

 state by making the King a party to his own destruction. What did the 

 petitions on this table pray for ? The reduction of taxation, of the army, 

 the appropriation of church property to the use of the state, universal 

 suffrage, and the vote by ballot." He had, he rejoiced to say, de- 

 manded an audience of the King on this subject ; he had told him, that 

 if he gave his consent to a dissolution for the sake of this Bill, the cer- 

 tain result of its success would be an attack on the credit of the country ; 

 on the privileges and existence of the House of Lords first, and then on 

 the crown itself." The announcement of the King's arrival put a close 

 to the noble Earl's address, and the King taking his seat on the throne, 

 read the speech of which the following is the first paragraph. (See 

 page 583, for the entire speech.) 



