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Erskine May, Index L-Q

L M N O P Q

LADIES, debates in the Commons attended by, ii. 29; their exclusion, 52, n.

Lambton, Mr., his motion for reform, i. 361, 410

Lancaster, Duchy of, the revenues of, attached to the crown, i. 227, 235, 248; present amount, ib.

Land bill (Ireland) 1870, iii. 448

Land revenues of the crown. See Revenues of the Crown

Land tax, the, allowed twice over to crown tenantry, i. 253; reduced by vote of the Commons, ii. 101; third reading of a land tax bill delayed, i. 74; ii. 103

Lansdowne, Marquess of, his amendment to resolutions for a regency, i. 212; his motions respecting the marriages of Catholics and Dissenters, iii. 152; for relief of English Catholics, ib.

Lauderdale, Earl of, condemned the King's conduct to the Grenville ministry, i. 115

Law, the, improvement in the spirit and administration of, iii. 389; legal sinecures abolished, 390

Legislatorial attornies, election of, at public meetings, ii. 351; practice of, imitated by the Chartists, 408

Leicester, case of bribery from corporate funds of the borough of, i. 413

Lennox, Lady S., admired by George III., i. 263

Lethendy caes, the, iii. 245

Letters, opened at the Post-office, by government, iii. 44; the former practice,  45, and n.; case of, in 1844, 46

Libel, the Libel Act, ii. 260-264; Lord Sidmouth's circular to the lord-lieutenants respecting seditious libels, ii. 345; conduct of judges in libel eases, 348, 349. See also Sedition, etc.

Liberal Party, the. See Party

Liberty of opinion. See Opinion, Liberty of

Liberty of the subject. See Subject, Liberty of

Licensing Act, the, ii. 242; not renewed, 243

Life peerages, i. 290; to women, 292; the Wensleydale peerage case, 295

Liverpool, Earl of, his ministry, i. 128; conducted the proceedings against Queen Caroline, 130; his administration, ii. 182, 187; disunion of the Tories on his death, 189; his ministry and the Catholic question, iii. 140

Loans to government, members bribed by shares in, i. 382; cessation of the system, 386

Local government, the basis of constitutional freedom. iii. 275; vestries, open and select, 276; Vestry Acts, ib., 277; municipal corporations before and after reform, 278-294; local boards, 296; courts of quarter sessions, 297

Logan, the Rev., his defence of Warren Hastings, ii. 259

London, city of, address George III., condemning the proceedings against Wilkes, ii. 20

London, Corporation of, extortion practised by, on dissenters, iii. 90; address of the Common Council on the Manchester Massacre, ii. 356; schemes its reform, iii. 286

London Corresponding Society, the, ii. 282, 283; reported on by a secret committee, 302; trial of members of, for high treason, 307; inflames public discontent, 315; calls a meeting at Copenhagen House, ib.; address on an attack on George III., 324; increased activity of, 328; suppressed by Act, 329

London Magazine, the, one of the first to report parliamentary debates, ii. 36

Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, the residence of, enforced, iii. 306

Lords, House of, relations with the crown, i. 2, 307; the influence of the crown exerted over the Lords, 23, 54, 66, 143, 312; debates on the influence of the crown, 52; rejection of the India Bill by the Lords, 71; they condemn the Commons' opposition to Mr. Pitt, 79; their proceedings on the reform bills, 142, 308, 424; the proposed creation of peers, 143, 312, 426; position of the house in the state, 273, 302; increase of its numbers, 274-282; such enlargement a source of strength, 303; twelve peers created in one day by Queen Anne, 274; the representative peers of Scotland and Ireland, ib., 280; proposed restrictions upon the power of the crown, and the regent, in the creation of peers, 275, 278; profuse creations by George III., 277; composition of the house in 1860, 282; its representative character,285; the rights of peers of Scotland, 286; the appellate jurisdiction of the Lords, 290; bill to improve it, 298; the life-peerage question, 291; Lords spiritual, 299; their past and present number, ib.; attempts to exclude them, 300; the political position of the house, 302; the influence of parties, 305; collisions between the two houses, 306; the danger now inereased, 307; the creation of sixteen peers by William IV., 309: creation of new peers equivalent to a dissolution, 315; position of the house since reform, 316; their independence 317; the scanty attendance in the house, 320; smallness of the quorum, 321; indifference to business, ib.; deference to leaders, ib.; influence of peers over the Commons through nomination boroughs, 333; and through territorial influence, 353, 362; refusal of the Lords to indemnify the witnesses against Walpole 378; the proceedings against Wilkes, ii. 5, 10; the book 'Droit le Roi' burnt, 7; their address to condemn the city address on the Middlesex election proceedings, 21; debates on those proceedings, 16, 22; strangers and members excluded from debates, 30, 52; scene on one occasion, 31; report of debates permitted, 49, 54; presence of strangers at divisions, 57; publicity given to committee proceedings, 58; to parliamentary papers, ib.; the privilege to servants discontinued, 73; and prisoners kneeling at the bar, 74; the control of the Lords over the executive government, 85; they advise the crown on questions peace and war, and of a dissolution, 86; their rejection of a money bill, 105; relative rights of the two houses, 108; conduct of the house in debate, 125; the Catholic peers take their seats, iii. 174. See also Parliament; Peerage; Peers.

Lords, House of (Ireland), composition of, iii. 300

Lords spiritual. See Bishops

Lottery tickets (government), members bribed by, i. 384

Lowe, Mr., his opposition to the reform bill, 1866, 431; a member of Mr. Gladstone's cabinet, 1868, 447

Loughborough, Lord, joins the Tories, ii. 166; prompts the repressive policy of the government, 286

Luddites, outrages of, ii. 340

Ludgershall, price of seat, i. 339

Lunatics, a state provision for, iii. 409

Lushington, Dr., a life peerage offered to, i. 294; disqualified from parliament, 317

Luttrell, Colonel, his sister married to the Duke of Cumberland, i.262; opposed Wilkes for Middlesex, ii. 14; enforced the exclusion of reporters, 51

Lyndhurst, Lord, his motion on the life-peerage case, i. 295; brought in the Dissenters' Chapels Bill, iii. 200

Lyttelton, Lord, his address respecting the regency, i. 172; his complaint against the book called 'Droit le Roi,' ii. 7

Lyttleton, Mr., his motion on the dismissal of the Grenville ministry, i. 115


MACCLESFIELD, Lord, his decision touching the rights of the king over his grandchildren, i. 264

Mackenzie, Mr. S., dismissed from office, i. 34

Mackintosh, Sir J., his defence of Peltier, ii. 333; his efforts to reform the criminal code. iii. 397

M'Laren and Baird, trial of, for sedition, ii. 351

Magistrates, military interference in absence of, ii. 276; the summary jurisdiction of, iii. 404

Manchester, Duke of, strangers excluded on his motion relative to war with Spain, ii. 31

Manchester, public meeting at, ii. 353; the massacre, 354; debates thereon in Parliament, 355-358

Mansfield, Lord, exhorted George III. to exert his influence over parliament, i. 37; the precedent of his admission to the cabinet cited, 104; his opinion on the right of the Commons to incapacitate Wilkes, ii. 16, 22; accused by Wilkes of altering a record, 9; his decisions touching the rights of juries in libel cases, ii. 253, 258; produced the judgment in Woodfall's case to the House of Lords, 256; his house burnt by the Protestant rioters, 275; his opinion on military interference in absence of a magistrate, 276; his decision in the negro case, iii. 36; and recognising toleration, 91; his tolerant acquittal of a priest, 96; a cabinet minister, 392

Manufacturing districts, state of the, ii. 352, iii. 211

Marchmont, Lord, his motion on the Middlesex election proceedings, ii. 19

Margarot, M., trial of, for sedition, ii. 298

Marriages, laws affecting the, of Dissenters and Catholics, iii. 151-153, 188-192; effect of Lord Hardwicke's Act, 151

Martin, Mr., his duel with Wilkes, ii. 5

Mary (Queen of England), her sign manual affixed by a stamp, i. 217

Marvell, A., reported proceedings in the Commons, ii. 35

Massachusetts, proposal of James II. to tax, iii. 343; constitution of, suspended, 353

Maynooth College, founded, iii. 270; Peel's endowment of, 271; popular opposition to, ib.

Mazzini, J., his letters opened by government, iii. 46

Meetings. See Public Meetings

Melbourne, Viscount, in office, i. 145; his sudden dismissal, 146; reinstated, 153; in office at the accession of her Majesty, 154; organised her household, ib.; kept in office by the 'bedchamber question,' 155; retired from office, 158; his ministries, ii. 205, 206; receives a deputation of working men, 389; reception of delegates from trades' unions, 405; framed the Tithe Commutation Act, iii. 219; and the first Irish Corporations Bill, 292

Melville, Lord, his impeachment, ii. 93; impeachment of, a blow to the Scotch Tories, ii. 180

Members of the House of Commons, number of nominee members prior to reform, i. 361; members bribed by pensions, 369; bribery under Charles II., 376; under William III., 377; George II., 378; and George III., ib., 381; bribed by loans and lotteries, 382; by contracts, 387; wages to, provided for in Lord Blandford's reform bill, 412; the abolition of property qualifications, 448; their exclusion from the House of Lords, ii. 31; the system of pledges to constituents considered, 70; certain privileges of, discontinued, 73. See also Commons, House of

Meredith, Sir W ,his speech against capital punishments. iii. 395

Middle classes, the, strength given to Whigs by adhesion of, ii. 186, 196, 365; a combination of the working and middle classes necessary to successful agitation, 384,416

Middlesex, electors of, cause of, supported by public meetings, ii. 268

Middlesex Journal, the, complaint against, for misrepresenting debates, ii. 39

Middlesex, sheriffs of, committed by the House in the Stockdale actions, ii. 80

Military officers, deprived of command for opposition to the policy of George III., i. 28, 47; this practice condemned under the Rockingham ministry, 34

Military and Naval Officers Oaths Bill, the, iii. 143

Militia, the Catholics in, ii. 114

Miller, proceeded against for pub1ishing debates, ii. 41; interposition of the city authorities, ib.; tried for publication of a libel, 254

Mines, labour of children, etc., regulated in, iii. 411

Ministers of the crown, the responsibility of, i. 6, 108; regarded with jealousy by George III., 9; constitutional re1ations between the crown and ministers, 14, 108, 115, 154, 159, 205; the influence of the Crown exerted against its ministers, 36, 66, 90, 106; appeals by ministers from the House of Commons to the people, by dissolutions of parliament, 86, n., 141, 150, 158, 308, 421, ii. 90; the pledge exacted by George III. of his ministers, 107; ministers supported by the crown and the Commons in reform, 142, 310, 424; the influence of great families over ministries, 165; numerous applications to, for peerages, 283; votes of want of confidence, 57, 77, 81, ii. 90; and of confidence, 141, 425, ii. 91; ministers impeached by the Commons, 92; the stability of recent ministries considered, 95; ministers defeated on financial measures, 101; increasing influence of public opinion over, 144, 186, 264, 364; the principles of conciliation between, 157, 217; responsibility of ministers to their supporters, 192, 214; the premiership rarely held by the head of a great family, 229; revision of salaries of, iii. 387

Minorities, proposed representation of, at elections, in reform bill (1854), i. 452; Lord Cairns's clause, 1867, iii. 439

Mohun, Lord, cudgelled Dyer for a libel, ii. 244

Moira, Earl, his mission to the Whig leaders, i. 125; the 'household question,' 126

Moravians, See Quakers

Morton, Mr., moved the insertion of the Princess of Wales's name into the Regency Bill, i. 174

Muir, T., trial of, at Edinburgh, for sedition, ii. 292; comments thereon in Parliament, 299

Municipal Corporations, See Corporations

Murray, Lady A., married to the Duke of Sussex, i. 270

Murray, Mr., his refusal to kneel at the bar of the Commons, ii. 74

Mutiny bill, the passing of, postponed, i. 82

Mutiny Act (Ireland), made permanent, iii. 313; repealed, 316


'NABOBS', the, their bribery at elections, i. 335, 338; rank themse1ves among the 'King's friends,' 335

Napoleon, First Consul of France, demands the repression of the press, ii. 332, the dismissal of refugees, iii. 54; trial of Peltier for libel on, ii. 333

Naturalisation Act, passing of, iii 53

Navy, impressment for, iii. 21; flogging in, abated, 405

Negroes, freed by landing in  England, iii. 35; in Scotland, 37; the slave trade and slavery abolished, ii. 277, 404, iii. 39

New Brunswick, the constitution of, iii. 358

Newcastle, Duke of, in office at accession of George III., i. 12; his resignation, 21; dismissed from his 1ord-lieutenancy, 23

Newenham, Mr., his motion respecting the debts of Prince of Wales, i. 251

New Shoreham, voters for the borough of, disfranchised for bribery, i. 339

Newfoundland, the constitution of, iii. 358

Newport, the Chartist attack on, ii. 409

New South Wales, a legislature granted to, iii, 359; transportation to, abolished. ib.; democratic constitution of, 370

Newspapers, the first, ii. 240, 243; stamp and advertisement duties first imposed, 245; increased, 327; removed, 380-383; improvement in newspapers, 264, 337; commencement of 'The Times' and other papers, 265, n.; measures of repression, 330, 358

New Zealand, constitution granted to, iii. 372

Nomination boroughs. See Boroughs

Nonconformists. See Dissenters

Norfolk, Duke of, his eldest son abjured the Catholic faith, 1780, iii. 99, n,; his Catholic Officers Relief Bill, 143; enabled by Act to serve as Earl Marshal, 154

'North Briton,' the, proceedings against, ii. 248, 250, iii. 2

North, Lord, his relations, as premier, with George III., i. 44; his complete submission to the King, 44, 49, 58; his overtures to Chatham, 48; to the Whigs, 49; his ministry overthrown, 56; his conduct in office approved by the King, 57; joined the 'coalition ministry,' 63; dismissed from office, 71; liberal in creation of peers, 277; in the bribery of members, 381; with money sent by George III., ib.; by shares in a loan, 384; his second loan, 386; approved the Middlesex election proceedings, ii. 18, 24; his carriage broken by mob, 47; his personalities in debate, 126; in office, 142, 145; driven from office, 150; the Coalition, 153; his measure to conciliate the American colonies, iii. 355

Northampton borough, cost of electoral contest for (1768), i. 339; case of bribery from the corporate funds of, 413

'North Briton' (No. 45), the publication of, ii. 3; riot at the burning of, 8

Northumberland, Duke of, supported in bribery at elections by George III., i. 341

Norton, Sir F. (the speaker), supported Dunning's resolutions. i, 53; his speech to George III. touching the civil list, 238, 239; altercations with, when in the chair, ii. 128

Nottingham Castle, burnt by mob, ii. 387

Nova Scotia, responsible government in, iii, 368

Nugent, Lord, his bill for Catholic relief, iii. 151; obtained relaxation to Irish commerce, 310


OCCASIONAL CONFORMITY ACT, the, iii. 82

O'Connell, Mr., advocated universal suffrage, etc.,i. 416; reprimanded for libelling the house, ii. 60; his position as an orator, 121; leads the Irish party, ii. 201; heads the Catholic Association, 369; agitates for repeal of the Union, 393; trials of, 394, 397; released on writ of error, 399; returned for Clare, iii. 163; his re-election required, 174; his motions on Irish tithes and Church, 260-267

O'Connor, F., presents the Chartist petition, ii. 412, 413

Octennial Act, the (Ireland), iii 306

Official salaries, revision of, since the Reform Act, iii. 386

Officers under the crown, disqualified from sitting in parliament, i. 348, 372; number of, in parliament, 135, 374

Oldfield, Dr., his statistics of parliamentary patronage, i. 36l

Oliver, Mr. Alderman, proceeded against by the Commons for committing their messenger, ii. 44, 46

Oliver, the government spy, iii. 41

Onslow, Mr. G., ordered the house to be cleared, to exclude the peers, ii. 32; to hinder the reporting the debates, 33; complained of the publication of debates, 39; the soubriquet given him by the reporters, 38

Opinion, liberty of, the last liberty to be acquired, ii. 238; the press, from James I. till the accession of George III., 240; the 'North Briton' prosecutions, 247; the law of libel, 252; political agitation by public meetings, 265; by associations, 269; democratic associations, 279; repressive measures, 1792-99, 286; Napoleon and the English press, 332; the press, before the Regency, 336; repressive measures under the Regency, 340; the contest between authority and public opinion reviewed, 363; the Catholic Association, 368; the press under George IV., 376; its freedom 379; the Reform agitation, 383; for repeal of the Union, 393; Orange lodges, 400; trades' unions, 404; the Chartists, 407; the Anti-Corn Law League, 413; political agitation reviewed, 417. See also Press; Political Associations; Public Meetings

Orange societies, suppressed by Act, ii. 371; revived, 373; organisation of, 400; in the army, 402; dissolved, 403; peculiar working of Orange societies. ib.

Orators and oratory. See Parliamentary Oratory

Orsini conspiracy, the, plotted in England, iii. 57

Oxford University, state of feeling at, on Catholic relief, iii. 137; admission of dissenters to degrees at, 198

Oxford borough, the seat for, sold by the corporation, i. 338


PAINE, T., tried for seditious writings, ii. 280

Pains and penalties, bill of, against Queen Caroline, i. 131

Palmer, the Rev. T. F., trial of, for sedition, ii. 296; comments thereon in Parliament, 299

Palmerston, Viscount, his removal from office, 1851, i. 160; the reform bill of his ministry, 456; his resolutions on the Lords' rejection of the Paper Duties Bill, ii. 110; adhered to Mr. Canning, ii 189; in the Duke of Wellington's ministry, 192; in office, 216; secession of the Peelites, 219; his overthrow in 1857 and 1858, 220, 221, iii. 58; his second ministry, ii. 222; political tranquillity under his rule, iii. 426; his death, 429; change of policy which ensued, 430

Papal aggression, 1850, the, iii. 227.—Court, diplomatic relations with, Bill, 230, n.

Paper duty, the, abolished, ii. 382

Paper Duties Repeal Bill (1860), rejected by the Lords, i. 318, ii. 108

Parish, the, local affairs of, administered by vestries, iii. 276

Parke, Sir J. See Wensleydale, Baron

Parliament, government by, established at the Revolution. i. 1; constitutional position of, at the accession of George III., 2, 16; violation of parliamentary privileges by the crown, 23, 28, 36, 45, 54, 143; the reform of parliament, 138, 308, 393; the dissolution of, of 1784, 86; of 1807, 116; of 1830, 417; of 1831, 141, 424; of 1834, 150; of 1841, 158; influence of families over parliament, 165; the meeting of parliament during George III.'s illnesses, 175, 207; commissions for opening parliament during his illness, 186, 213; second opening after King's recovery (1789), 189; adjournments caused by the King's inability to sign the commission for prorogation, 176, 207; parliament and the revenues of the crown, and the civil list, 229-260; the duration of parliament, 440; motions for triennial parliaments, 441; time between summons and meeting of, shortened, 449; relations of parliament to the crown, the law, and people, ii. 1-112; the unreported parliament, 30, n.; publication of the debates and division lists, 34, 53, 55; petitions to parliament, 60; the publication of parliamentary papers, 58; relinquishment or certain parliamentary privileges, 73; privilege and the courts of law, 75; the publication of papers affecting character, 78; control of parliament over the executive government, 85; over supplies to the crown, 108; sketch of parliamentary oratory, 112; group of parliamentary orators of the age of Chatham and Pitt, 113; of later times, 118; character of modern oratory, 123; the personalities of former times, 125; increased authority of the chair, 128. Secessions of the Whigs from, 148, 173, 321; repression of the press by Parliament, 244; attempted intimidation of, by the silk-weavers, 266; by the Protestant Associations, 272; relations of the Church and Parliament, iii. 226; supremacy of, over the Irish Parliament, 305; Parliament since the Reform Act, 385; vast amount of public business, 422. See also Commons, House of, Lords, House of

Parliament (Ireland), state of, before the Union, iii. 299; exclusion of Catholics, ib., 303; expired only on demise of the Crown, 301; Poynings' Act, 303; supremacy of the English Parliament, 306; agitation for independence, 312, 316; submits to the permanent Mutiny Bill, 313; independence granted, 316; corrupt influence of the government, 317; motions for Parliamentary Reform, 319; the Union carried, 329

Parnell, Sir H., his views of financial policy, iii. 419

Party, influence of, in party government, ii. 131; origin of parties, 133; parties under the Stuarts, and after the Revolution, 134, 136; Whigs and Tories, 135; their distinctive principles, 138, 144, 223; parties on the accession of George III., 140, 145; the American war a test of party principles, 147; secessions of the Whigs from Parliament, 148, 73, 321; overtures to the Whigs, 160; commencement of a democratic party 151; crisis on death of Lord Rockingham, ib.; the Coalition, 163-155; ruin of the Whigs, 166; principles of coalition, 157; the Tories under Mr. Pitt, 158, 168; the Whigs and the Prince of Wales, 161, 178, 182; effect of the French Revolution upon parties, 163, 166; position of the Whigs, 164, 167, 17l; the Tories in Scotland, 171; schism among the Tories, 174; parties on Pitt's retirement from office, 175; the Whigs in office, 1806, 177-179, iii. 24; coalesce with Lord Sidmouth's party, ii. 177; the Tories reinstated, 179; position of the Whigs, 180; the strength they derived from the adhesion of the middle classes, 181, 365; the Tories under Lord Liverpool, 182-189; under Canning, 189; influence of national distress and of proceedings against Queen Caroline, upon parties, 185, 186; increase of liberal fee1ing, 107; effect of the Catholic question upon parties, 190, 192, iii. 129, 140, 168; party divisions after Mr. Canning's death, ii. 191; the Duke of Wellington's ministry, ib.; secession of liberal members from his cabinet, 192; the Whigs restored to office, 195; supported by the democratic party, 196; Whig ascendency after the Reform Acts, 198; state of parties, ib.; the Radicals, ib.; the Irish party, 201; the Tories become 'Conservatives,' 203; increase in power, ib.; breaking up of Earl Grey's ministry, 204; dismissal of Lord Melbourne's ministry, 205; Liberals reunited against Sir R. Peel, ib.; his liberal policy alarms the Tories, ib.; parties under Lord Melbourne, 206; a conservative reaction, 208; effect of Peel's free-trade policy upon the Conservatives, 211, 212; the ob1igations of a party leader, 214; the Whigs in office, 216; Lord Derby's first ministry, ib.; coalition of Whigs and Peelites under Lord Aberdeen, 217; fall of his ministry, 218; the Peelites retire from Lord Palmerston's first administration, 219; his overthrow, in 1857 and 1858, 220; Lord Derby's second ministry, 221; passed the Jewish Relief Act, iii. 186; Lord Palmerston's second administration, ii. 222; fusion of parties, 223; essential difference between Conservatives and Liberals, ib.; party sections, 224; changes in the character, etc. of parties, 225; politics formerly a profession, 227; effects of Parliamentary Reform on parties, 230; the conservatism of age, 232; statesmen under old and new systems. ib.; patronage, an instrument of party 234; review of the merits and evils of party, 236; the press an instrument of party, 244, 264, 265; opposition of the Whigs to a repressive policy 288, 377; to the Six Acts, 358; the Habeas Corpus Suspension Bills, 311, iii. 12-19; the Treasonable Practices, etc. Bills, ii. 317-323; the Irish Church appropriation question adopted by the Whigs, iii. 266; abandoned by them, 268

Patronage, an instrument of party, ii. 234; the effect of competition, 235; abuses of colonial patronage, iii 362; surrendered to the colonies, 363

Patronage Act (Scotland), iii. 253. See also Church of Scotland

Pease, Mr., his case cited regarding Jewish disabilities, i. 85

Peel, Mr. See Peel, Sir R.

Peel, Sir R., the first, his Factory Children Act, iii. 411

Peel, Sir R. obtained the consent of George IV. to Catholic emancipation, i. 137; his first administration, 148; his absence abroad, ib.; his ministerial efforts, 150; advised a dissolution. ib.; resignation, 153; declines to take office on the 'bedchamber question,'155; his second administration, 158; his anti-reform declaration, 416; the character of his oratory, ii. 120; his commercial policy, ii. 187, iii. 418; seceded from Canning on the Catholic question, 189; opposes that measure, 141, 149; brings in the Relief Act, ii. 192, iii. 168; his first ministry, ii. 205; his policy and fall. ib., iii. 267; his relation to the Conservatives, ii. 209, 212; his second ministry, 209; his free-trade policy, 210; repeal of corn laws, 212, 413, 416; his obligations as a party leader, 214; obtains the bishops' consent to the repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, iii. 59; proposes to retire from the Wellington ministry, 166; loses his seat at Oxford, 168; the Irish Franchise Act, 172; his Dissenters' Marriage Bills, 190; plan for commutation of Irish Tithes, 266; resists the appropriation question, ib.; proposes endowment to Maynooth and the Queen's Colleges, 270; his scheme for Irish corporate reform, 294; the first minister to revise the criminal code, 398

Peerage, the number of, i. 73; of the United Kingdom, 281 and n.; antiquity of, 282; claims to, 283; changes in its composition, 284; the Scottish peerage, 286; fusion of peerages of the three kingdoms, 290; life peerages, 291; to women, 292; peerages with remainders over, 293; authorities favouring life peerages, ib.; the Wensleydale peerage case, 295; the peerage in its social relations, 322. See also Lords, House of; Ireland, Peerage of; Scotland, Peerage of

Peerage Bill (1720), rejected by the Commons, i. 275

Peers, scanty attendance of, at the house, affecting their political weight, i. 320; their influence over borough and county elections, 333, 353; their exclusion from debates in the House of Commons, ii. 32; the Catholic, restored to the privilege of advising the Crown, iii. 107, 148; exempted from the oath of supremacy, 146; the Catholic Peers Bill, 147; take seats in the House of Lords, 174; creation of, to carry the Union with Ireland, 331. See also Lords, House of

Pelham, Mr., bribery to members, a system under, i. 378

Peltier, J., trial of, for libel, ii. 333

Pembroke, Earl of, proscribed for opposition to court policy. i. 54

Penryn, the disfranchisement bill, i. 414; the proposal to transfer the franchise to Manchester, ib.

Pensions from the crown, charged on civil list, i. 256; on crown revenues, ib.; restrained by parliament, ib., 258; consolidation of pension list, 261; the regulation of (1837), ib.; bribery by pensions, 369; holders of, disqualified from sitting in parliament, ib.

Perceval, Mr., formed an administration, i. 108; denied giving secret advice to George III., 110; the dissolution during his ministry, 116; his relations with the King, 117; his position at commencement of regency, 120; obnoxious to the Regent as adviser of Princess Caroline, 121; ministerial negotiations at his death, 125; in office, ii. 179, 182, iii. 129

Peto, Sir M., his Dissenters Burial Bills, iii. 193

Petitions to parliament, the right of petitioning endangered by George III.'s answer to the city address touching Wilkes, ii. 20; the commencement of the practice, 60; of political petitions, 61; forbidden under Charles II., ib.; petitions rejected and petitioners imprisoned by the Commons, 62; commencement of the modern system, 63; objected to by George III., 65; progress of the system, ib.; the numbers presented of late years, 66, n.; abuses of petitioning 68; debates on presentation of, restrained, 69; for grant of public money to be recommended by the crown, 103

Phillimore, Dr., his Catholic Marriages Bill, iii. 153

Pillory, punishment of, abolished, iii. 400

Pitt, Mr. See Chatham, Earl of

Pitt, Mr. William, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Shelburne, i. 62; his first refusals to assume the government, 63, 65; is premier, 71; his contest with the Commons, 72-83; his final triumph, 83; reflections on this contest, 83-89; his relations with George III., 87; in opposition to the King on reform, 90; quitted office on the Catholic question, 97; his mismanagement of that question, ib.; his pledge to the King not to revive it, 98; again in office, 99; with Addington, 101; evaded the Catholic question, 102; his opinion on the rights of Prince of Wales as Regent, 177-181; his letter to him respecting the regency, 180; moved resolutions for a bill, ib., 185; proposition as to use of the great seal, 181, 186; introduced the bill, 189; his conduct in these proceedings considered, 193; confirmed the King's confidence in him, 194; embarrassment caused by the King's illness on his leaving office, 196; brought forward the budget after his resignation, ib.; his doubts as to the King's sanity, on his return to office, 204; profuse in the creation of peers, 277, 279; his unfair conduct as to the Westminster scrutiny, 351; abolished some of the Irish nomination boroughs, 360; discontinued bribes to members, 382; by loans and lotteries, 386; advocated reform, 396, 397; his reform bill, 399; afterwards opposed reform, 402; his position as an orator, ii. 113; Tory principles never completely adopted by, ii. 146, 153 n., l58; entered Parliament as a Whig, 152, 156; the leader of the Tories, 158; his first ministry a coalition, 157; his policy contrasted with Mr. Fox's, 153 n., 159; his feelings towards the French Revolution, 163, 286; attempted coalitions with Fox, 165, 176; joined by portion of the Whigs, 166; the consolidation of his power, 168, 286; dangerous to liberty, 173; his liberal views on Catholic question, 174, iii. 115-123, 333; his retirement from office, ii. 175; his return, 176; the Tory party after his death, 179; member of the Constitutional Information Society, 270, 282; commences a repressive policy, 226; brings in the Seditious Meetings Bill, 319; opposes relief to dissenters, iii. 102-105, 109; his proposal for commutation of Irish tithes, 256; his Irish commercial propositions, 320; carried the Union with Ireland, 330; his India Bill, 381

Pitt, Mr Thomas, moved to delay the grant of supplies, ii. 102

Pius IX., his brief appointing bishops in England, iii. 228; and against the Queen's Colleges, 274

Placemen. See Officers under the Crown

Pledges, by members to constituents, considered, ii. 70

Plunket, Lord, the character his oratory, ii. 120; his advocacy of Catholic relief, iii. 146, 150

Police, modern system of, iii. 403

Political associations, commencement of, ii. 265, 268, 270; for Parliamentary Reform, 269, iii. 96; anti-slave trade, ii. 277, 404, democratic, 279, 281, 315, 324, 328; proceeded against, 292, 304; suppressed, 329, 343, 359; associations for suppressing sedition, 290, 367; for Catholic relief 368; finally suppressed, 375; for repeal of the Union with Ireland, 393; Orange lodges, 400; trades' unions, 404; the Chartists, 407; the Anti-Corn Law League, 413

Ponsonby, Mr., chosen leader of the Whigs, ii. 182

Poole, borough, electoral corruption at, i. 338

Poor laws, the old and new systems, iii. 405; in Scotland and Ireland, 408

Population, great increase of, in the manufacturing districts, ii. 352; its effect on the position of the Church, iii. 211

Portland, Earl of (1696), the enormous grant to, by William III., recalled, i. 229

Portland, Duke of, headed the 'coalition,' i. 65; assisted George III in opposing the Army Service Bill, 106; in office, 108

Post Office. See Letters, Opening at

Potwallers, the electoral rights of, i. 331

Poynings' Act, the, iii. 303

Pratt, Lord Chief Justice. See Camden, Lord

Presbyterians, in England, iii. 67; in Scotland, 68, 74; in Ireland, 70, 268. See Church of Scotland

Press, the, under censorship, ii. 239; from the Stuarts to accession of George III., 240-246; the attacks on Lord Bute, 247; general warrants, 249; the prosecutions of, 1763-1770, 250; publishers liable for acts of servants, 252; the rights of juries in libel cases, 253-263; the progress of free discussion, 264, 337 364, 376, 383; caricatures, 265; laws for repression of the press, 318, 327 330, 348, 358; the press and foreign powers, 332; the press not purified by rigour, 366; complete freedom of the press, 379; fiscal laws affecting, 380; public jealousies of, 382. See also Opinion, liberty of

Prince Regent. See Wales, Prince of

Printers, contest of the Commons with, ii. 33, 39. See also Debates in Parliament

Prisons, debtors', iii. 32; improved state of, 401

Privileges and elections committee, trial of election petitions before, i. 363

Privileges of parliament. See Parliament; Crown, the

Protection, etc., against Republicans' Society, the, ii. 291

Protestant associations, the, ii. 272, iii. 97; the petition, and riots, ii. 273, iii. 97. See also Orange Societies

Protestant Dissenters Ministers Bill, iii. 134

Protestant Catholic Dissenters, bill for relief of, iii. 106

Public meetings, commencement of political agitation by, ii. 265, 268; riotous meetings of the silk-weavers, 226; meetings to support the Middlesex electors, 268; for Parliamentary reform 1799, ib.; in 1795, 315; in 1831, 386; of the Protestant Association, 273, iii. 97; to oppose the Sedition and Treason Acts, ii. 324; in the manufacturing districts, 1819, 351; for Catholic relief, 373; for repeal (Ireland), 393; of the trades' unions, 405; the Chartists, 407, 410; the Anti-Corn Law League, 413; laws to restrain public meetings, 319, 343, 359

Public money, difficulties in the issue of, caused by George III.'s incapacity, i. 214; motions for, to be recommended by the crown, ii. 103

Public Opinion. See Opinion, Liberty of; Press, the; Political Associations; Public Meetings

Public Works Commission, the, separated from Woods and Forests, i. 255

Publishers, criminally liable for acts of servants, ii. 252

Puritans, the, under Queen Elizabeth, iii. 65; under James I. and Charles II., 71, 70; numbers imprisoned, 76. See also Dissenters


QUAKERS, number of, imprisoned, temp. Chas. II., iii. 76; motions for relief of, 112; excepted from Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act, 101; admitted to the Commons on making an affirmation, 177. See also Dissenters

Qualification of members, the Acts repealed. i. 448

Quarter Sessions, courts of, county rates administered by, iii. 297; efforts to introduce the representative system into, ib.

Queen's Bench, Court of, the decision in favour of Stockdale, ii. 79, 80; compelled the sheriffs to pay over the damages, 80

Queensberry, Duke of, his rights as a peer of Great Britain and of Scotland, i. 286, 288

Queen's Colleges, Ireland, founded, iii. 273; opposition from Catholic clergy, 274

Quoad sacra ministers, the, in the Church of Scotland, iii. 249

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