X. 1821. till that contraction was alleviated, a thing which the CHAP. great majority of the Legislature was resolved not to do. It is remarkable that at the very same time Lord Liverpool demonstrated in the House of Lords, that the general consumption of the country, in articles of comfort and luxury, had considerably increased in the last year.* This fact is important, as affording an illustration of the observation already made1 as to the eternal law of nature, 1 Ante, c. that the division of labour and improvement of machinery, i. §§ 41, 42. capable of indefinite application to manufacturing indus- Ann. Reg. try, have no tendency to cheapen the production of the 1821, 73; subsistence of man, and consequently that the first and Report, the last to suffer from a contraction of the currency, and 1821; Parl. enhancement of the value of money, are the classes engaged App. in the cultivation of the soil.2 rassed the landholder, in proportion as his estate has been encumbered with mortgages, and other fixed payments assigned on it during the depreciation of the currency. The only alleviation for this evil is to be looked for in such a gradual reduction of the rate of interest as may lighten the burdens on the landed interest. At present the annual produce of corn, the growth of the United Kingdom, is, upon an average crop, equal to our present consumption, and that, with such an average crop, the present import prices, below which foreign corn is by law altogether excluded, are fully sufficient, more especially since the change in the currency, to secure to the British farmer the complete monopoly of the home market. The change in the value of our money is virtually an advance upon our import prices; and the result of every such advance, supposing prices not to undergo a corresponding rise in other countries, must but expose this country to greater and more grievous fluctuations in price, and the business of the farmer to greater fluctuation and uncertainty. Protection cannot be carried farther than monopoly, which the British farmer has completely enjoyed for the last two harvests-the ports having been almost constantly shut against foreign imports during thirty months."-Commons' Report, June 18, 1821; Parl, Deb., v. 81, Appendix. Commons' June 18, Deb. v. 79, CHAP. X. 1821. 105. the desire for reform among the agriculturists. This long-continued and most severe depression in the price of agricultural produce, coupled with the reiterated refusals of Parliament to do anything for their relief, at Increase of length came to produce important political effects. It spread far and wide among the landowners and farmers, who in every age had been the firmest supporters of the throne, the conviction that they were not adequately represented in Parliament, and that no relief from their sufferings could be anticipated, until, by a change in the composition of the House of Commons, their voice was brought to bear more directly and powerfully upon the measures of Government. Everything was favourable; all the world was at peace; trade had revived; the seasons were fine; importation was prohibited, and had ceased. Nevertheless prices were so low that it was evident that a few more such years would exhaust all their capital, and reduce them to beggary. Reform had become indispensable, if they would avoid ruin. Now, accordingly, for the first time, the desire for parliamentary reform spread from the towns, where it had hitherto prevailed, to the rural districts, and gave token of an important change in this respect in the landed interest; and the ablest of the historians of the time in the Radical interest has borne testimony to the fact that, but for the change in the currency, the alteration of the constitution never could have taken place.* * “ In the beginning of 1822,” says Miss Martineau, “ every branch of manufacturing industry was in a flourishing state; but agriculture was depressed, and complaints were uttered at many county meetings, both before and after the meeting of Parliament. These incessant groanings, wearisome to the ears, and truly distressing to the hearts, were not borne idly to the winds. The complainers did not obtain from Parliament the aid which they desired, but they largely advanced the cause of parliamentary reform. If the agricultural interest had been in a high state of prosperity from 1820 to 1830, the great question of reform in Parliament must have remained much longer afloat than it actually did, from the inertness or opposition of the agricultural classes, who, as it was, were sufficiently discontented with Parliament to desire a change. Extraordinary as this may appear, when we look only to the preponderance of the landed interest in the House at that time, we shall find, on looking abroad through the country, that it was so. Such politicians as Cobbett pre X. 1821. 106. of George July 19. Lord Castlereagh, to whom the mutability of the CHAP. populace was well known, had prophesied, at the close of the proceedings against the Queen, that "in six months the King would be the most popular man within his Coronation dominions." This prediction was verified to the letter. iv. The symptoms of returning popularity were so evident, that his Majesty, contrary to his inclination and usual habits, was prevailed on by his Ministers to appear frequently in public, both in the parks and principal theatres, on which occasions he was received with unbounded applause. This favourable appearance induced Government to determine on carrying into effect the coronation, which had been originally fixed for August in the preceding year, but had been postponed in consequence of the proceedings against the Queen, and the disturbed state of the public mind which ensued. Her Majesty, who was not aware that her popularity had declined as rapidly as that of her royal spouse had increased, was so imprudent as to prefer a claim, both to the King and the Privy Council, to be crowned at the same time as QueenConsort. The Council, however, determined that she was not entitled to demand it as a matter of right, and that in the circumstances they were not called on to concede it as a matter of courtesy; and her demand was in consequence refused. Upon this the Queen applied to the Duke of Norfolk, as Earl-Marshal of England, and sented themselves among the discontented farmers, and preached to them about the pressure of the debt, a bad system of taxation, a habit of extravagant expenditure, and of a short method of remedying these evils by obtaining a better constitution of the House of Commons. It was no smail section of the agricultural classes that assisted in carrying the question at last; and it would be interesting to know how many of that order of reformers obtained their convictions through the distress of these years."-MARTINEAU'S Thirty Years of Peace, i. 267. At that period the author, whose head was then more full of academical studies than political speculations, frequently stated it in company as a problem in algebra, easy of solution, "Given the Toryism of a landed proprietor, required to find the period of want of rents which will reduce him to a Radical reformer." He little thought then what momentous consequences to his country and the world were to ensue from the solution of the problem. X. 1821. CHAP. the Archbishop of Canterbury, for a place in the Abbey at the coronation; but as they were subject to the King in Council in this matter, the petition was of course refused, though in the most courteous manner. Upon this her Majesty declared her resolution to appear personally at the coronation, and deliver her protest into the King's own hand. This determination, being known, diffused a general apprehension that a riot would ensue on the occasion; and to such a degree did the panic spread, that 11, places to see the procession, which previously had been Ann. Reg. selling for ten guineas, were to be had on the morning of the ceremony for half-a-crown, and all the troops in London and the vicinity were assembled near Westminster Abbey to preserve the peace.1 Hughes, vi. 469,470; 1821, 124, 125; Mar tineau, i. 259. 107. on the occasion. The ceremony took place accordingly, but it soon Ceremony appeared that the precautions and apprehensions were alike groundless. This coronation was memorable, not only for the unparalleled magnificence of the dresses, decorations, and arrangements made on the occasion, but for this circumstance-it was the LAST where the gorgeous but somewhat grotesque habiliments of feudal times. appeared, or will ever appear, in the realm of England. All that the pomp of modern times could produce, or modern wealth purchase, joined to the magnificence of ancient costume, were there combined, and with the most imposing effect. The procession, which moved from the place where it was marshalled in Westminster Hall to the Abbey; the ceremony of coronation within the Abbey itself, which had seen so many similar pageants from the earliest days of English story; the splendid banquet in the Hall, where the Champion of England, in full armour, rode in, threw down his gauntlet to all who challenged the King's title, and backed his harnessed steed out of the Hall without turning on his sovereign, were all exhibited with the most overpowering magnificence. Sir Walter Scott, whose mind was so fraught X. 1821. 1 Sir Walter scription, Chronicle, with chivalrous images, has declared that "a ceremony CHAP. more august and imposing in all its parts, or more calculated to make the deepest impression both on the eye and the feelings, cannot possibly be conceived. The ex- Scott's Depense, so far as it is national or personal, goes directly Edinburgh and instantly to the encouragement of the British manu- July 23, facturer. It operates as a tax on wealth, and consider- 1821; Ann. ation for the benefit of poverty and industry—a tax will- 327, 346; Hughes, vi. ingly paid by one class, and not less acceptable to the 471, 472; other, because it adds a happy holiday to the monotony Chron. of a life of labour."1 Reg. 1821, App. to Wellington, George IV. Men whose names have become immortal, walked- 108. some of them, alas! for the last time-in that magnificent Aspect of pageant. There was Wellington, who grasped in his London hand the baton won on the field of Vittoria, and bore derry, and by his side the sword which struck down Napoleon on the plains of Waterloo, and whose Roman countenance, improved but not yet dimmed by years, bespoke the lofty cast of his mind; there Lord Castlereagh, who had recently succeeded to the title of Londonderry, in the magnificent robes of the Garter, with his high plumes, fine face, and majestic person, appeared a fitting representative of the Order of Edward III.; and there was the Sovereign, the descendant of the founder of the Garter, whose air and countenance, though almost sinking under the weight of magnificence and jewels, revealed his high descent, and evinced the still untarnished blood of the Plantagenets and Stuarts. Nor was female beauty wanting to grace the splendid spectacle, for all the noblest and fairest of the nobility of England, the most lovely 2 Sir Walter race in the world, were there, and added the lustre of supra; their diamonds, and the still brighter lustre of their eyes, vi. 173. to the enchantment of the matchless scene.2 But the first and highest lady in the realm was not there; and the disappointment she experienced at being refused admittance was one cause of her death, which Scott, ut Hughes, |