all other political questions, and the legislative annals of
1831-32 are otherwise singularly devoid of historical importance. The
coronation of William IV., which, as has been seen, took place on
September 8, 1831, was hardly more than an interlude in the great
struggle, yet it served for the moment to assuage the animosities of
party warfare. The king himself, who disliked solemn ceremonials, and
the ministers, deeply pledged to economy, were inclined to dispense with
the pageant altogether. It was found, however, that not only peers and
court officials but the public would be grievously disappointed by the
omission of what, after all, is a solemn public celebration of the
compact between the sovereign and the nation. The coronation was,
therefore, carried out with due pomp and all the time-honoured
formalities, but without the profuse extravagance which attended the
enthronement of George IV. There was no public banquet, and the public
celebration ceased with the ceremony in Westminster Abbey. The Duke of
Wellington and other leading members of the opposition had been duly
consulted by the government; there was a welcome respite from
parliamentary warfare; the king's returning popularity was confirmed;
and all classes of the people were satisfied.

[Pageheading: _THE CHOLERA EPIDEMIC._]

Two months later, the appearance of the cholera at Sunderland added
another grave cause of anxiety to all the difficulties created by the
defeat of the reform bill in the house of lords, and the ominous riots
at Bristol. A similar but distinct and infinitely milder disease had
long been known under the name of _cholera morbus_, or more correctly
_cholera nostras_. Asiatic cholera, as the new disease was called, had
no affinity with any other known disease, and excited all the greater
terror by its novelty, as well as by the suddenness of its fatal effect.
It was first observed by English physicians in 1817, when 10,000 persons
fell victims to it in the district of Jessor in Bengal. About the same
time it attacked and decimated the central division of the army of Lord
Hastings, advancing against Gwalior. Before long it spread over the
whole province of Bengal, and eastward along the coasts of Asia as far
as China and Timur in the East Indies, crossed the great wall, and
penetrated into Mongolia. In 1818 it broke out at Bombay, and during the
next twelve years continued to haunt, at intervals, the cities of Persia
and Asiatic Turkey,