CHAPTER III.

REIGN OF GEORGE III. (_concluded_).

The Congress at Vienna--Napoleon's Escape from Elba--Military Preparations--England supplies the Money--Wellington organises his Army--Napoleon's Journey through France--His Entry into Paris--The Enemy gathers round him--Napoleon's Preparations--The New Constitution--Positions of Wellington and Blucher--The Duchess of Richmond's Ball--Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras--Blucher's Retreat--The Field of Waterloo--The Battle--Charge of the Old Guard--Arrival of the Prussians--The Retreat--French Assertions about the Battle refuted--Napoleon's Abdication--The Allies march on Paris--End of the Hundred Days--The Emperor is sent to St. Helena--The War in America--Events on the Canadian Frontier--Repeated Incapacity of Sir George Prevost--His Recall--Failure of American Designs on Canada--Capture of Washington by the British--Other Expeditions--Failure of the Expedition to New Orleans--Anxiety of the United States for Peace--Mediation of the Czar--Treaty of Ghent--Execution of Ney and Labédoyère--Inability of Wellington to interfere--Murat's Attempt on Naples--His Execution--The Second Treaty of Paris--Final Conditions between France and the Allies--Remainder of the Third George's Reign--Corn Law of 1815--General Distress--Riots and Political Meetings--The Storming of Algiers--Repressive Measures in Parliament--Suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act--Secret Meetings in Lancashire--The Spy Oliver--The Derbyshire Insurrection--Refusal of Juries to convict--Suppression of seditious Writings--Circular to Lord-Lieutenant--The Flight of Cobbett--First Trial of Hone--The Trials before Lord Ellenborough--Bill for the Abolition of Sinecures--Death of the Princess Charlotte--Opening of the Session of 1818--Repeal of the Suspension Act--Operation of the Corn Law--The Indemnity Bill--Its Passage through Parliament--Attempts at Reform--Marriages of the Dukes of Clarence, Cambridge, and Kent--Renewal of the Alien Act--Dissolution of Parliament and General Election--Strike in Manchester--Congress of Aix-la Chapelle--Raids of the Pindarrees--Lord Hastings determines to suppress them--Malcolm's Campaign--Outbreak of Cholera--Campaign against the Peishwa--Pacification of the Mahratta district--Apparent Prosperity of Great Britain in 1819--Opening of Parliament--Debates on the Royal Expenditure--Resumption of Cash Payments--The Budget--Social Reforms--The Scottish Burghs--Roman Catholic Emancipation rejected--Weakness of the Government--Meeting at Manchester--The Peterloo Massacre--The Six Acts--The Cato Street Conspiracy--Attempted Insurrection in Scotland--Trials of Hunt and his Associates--Death of George III. 87