HISTORY OF EUROPE. 



S7. 



C II A P. III. 



Imlhpositiim of his Majesty— Great Alarm ami Uneasiness of the PuhUc.-^ 

 Conduct of Government upon the Occasion-faxourabk CommunicaUon, 

 vmn the Subject— lloml ylssent given b;/ Commission to several Bills— ti2S 

 Ma jest,, appears in Public-Tranquil tUy restored-Debates contmued- 

 VoLteer Consolidation Bill-read ajirst Tune-Repeated Mates thereon 

 -State of the Kings Health requiredfrom Ministers in the House oj Lom^ 

 ,„ons-fheir Jns^r not satisfactory-Mr. Pitt attacks the Naval Adnu- 

 nist ration-Debate on Sir John Wrottcsley^s Motionjor an Investigation 

 of the Causes of the Irish Insurrection^Divmon— negatived. 



BEFORE we proceed farther in 

 our account of the parliamen- 

 tary session of the present year, it 

 becomes necessary to notice a cir- 

 cumstance of our domestic history, 

 Avhich occurred early in the spring, 

 and which occasioned the most lively 

 sensation both within and without 

 the walls of parliament. 



On the 14th of February, it was 

 publicly announced, by an oiVicial 

 bulletin, at the palace of St. James's, 

 that, on that day, his majesty was 

 much indisposed : and a succession 

 of similar notices, left little doubt 

 of the serious nature of the com- 

 munication. The alarm and con- 

 sternitiori thus excited, throughout 

 the metropolis, and the whole em- 

 pire, is more easily to be conceived 

 than expressed. The dreadful visi- 

 tation of 1789 on our beloved sove- 

 reign, was present to every mind. 

 The uneasiness of that period, and 

 the height to which the differences 

 of opinion both in the legislature 

 and the public, had proceeded, on 

 the mode to be adopted for supply- 

 ing the temporary suspension of the 

 executive branch of the coiistitutionj 

 4 



was recollected with increased dis- 

 may and apprehension. No provi- 

 sion had been suggested by the wis- 

 dom of parliament on that occasion 

 (or on the more recent alarm in 

 1801, when it was universally sup- 

 posed, that another attack of the 

 same nature, although in a slighter 

 degree, had been experienced), to 

 me«t the inconveniences necessarily- 

 attendant on a similar calamity. 

 But if the public mind were thus agi- 

 tated during a period of profound 

 peace, and during the administration 

 of a most popular ministry, how 

 must its anxiety be now increased, 

 when every exertion the country 

 could make, was employed to repel 

 the threatened invasion of the roost 

 powerful and infuriate enemy Bri- 

 tain had ever encountered ; — when 

 consolation was derived, and energy 

 excited, by the promise which the 

 speech from the throne had given, 

 of the personal appearance of our 

 gallant sovereign, in the ranks of his 

 loyal and faithful people, should the 

 foe venture to set his foot on Bri- 

 tish ground ; — when the reins of go- 

 vernment were in the hands of those, 



to 



