Chapter 4

Introduction of the Reform Bill--Attitude of the Opposition-- Reform Debates--Peel--Wilberforce and Canning--Old Sir Robert Peel--The City Address--Agitation for Reform--Effects of the Reform Bill--Brougham as Chancellor--Brougham at the Horse Guards--Miss Kemble--Vote on the Timber Duties--Lord Lansdowne's Opinion of the Bill--Reform Bill carried by one Vote--The King in Mourning--The Prince of Orange--Peel's Reserve--Ministers beaten--Parliament dissolved by the King in Person--Tumult in both Houses--Failure of the Whig Ministry-- The King in their Hands--The Elections--Illumination in the City--The Queen alarmed--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the Bill-- Lord Grey takes the Garter--The King at Ascot--Windsor under William IV.--Brougham at Whitbread's Brewery and at the British Museum--Breakfast at Rogers'--The Cholera--Quarantine--Meeting of Peers--New Parliament meets--Opened by the King--'Hernani' at Bridgewater House--The Second Reform Bill--The King's Coronation--Cobbett's Trial--Prince Leopold accepts the Crown of Belgium--Peel and the Tories--A Rabble Opposition--A Council for the Coronation. Page 121