ee nation,
the Princess Charlotte: she whose looks of health and gladdening smiles
had been long hailed by the nation with heartfelt satisfaction by her
future subjects, expired on the 6th of November, after giving birth to a
still-born child. The indications of sorrow on this event becoming
known were unusually general and sincere. The civic procession and
entertainment on the Lord Mayor's Day was abandoned; public
entertainments were suspended; and on the 19th, the day of her
interment, every shop was closed, and funeral sermons were preached in
churches and chapels to large and attentive congregations. The day of
her funeral was one of voluntary humiliation, and of sorrowful
meditation on the instability of human happiness. Brief as were the days
of this good princess, she had not lived in vain; her life was a bright
illustration of piety and virtue. "Put not your trust in princes, nor in
the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he
returneth to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish."

CHAPTER XXXI.

{GEORGE III. 1818--1820}

Meeting of Parliament..... Motion for Secret Committees
preparatory to a Bill of Indemnity..... Extension of
the Bank Restriction..... Treaty with Spain..... Royal
Marriages..... The Supplies..... The Alien Act, &c......
Prorogation of Parliament..... State of the Manufacturers of
Lancashire, &c..... Death of Queen Charlotte..... Meeting of
Parliament..... Duke of. York appointed Guardian to His
Majesty..... Committee on the Criminal Code..... Measures
for Resumption of Cash-Payments..... Financial
Statement..... Catholic Claims..... Foreign Enlistment
Act..... Slave-Trade, &c...... Prorogation of
Parliament..... Seditious Assemblages..... Meeting of
Parliament..... Motion for Inquiry into the State of tha
Nation..... Parliamentary Reform..... Cession of Parga to
the Turks..... Death of George III.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1818}

Parliament was opened on the 27th of January by commission. The
principal topics of the speech were the continued indisposition of
his majesty; the death of the Princess Charlotte; an assurance of the
continued friendly disposition of foreign powers; the improved state of
industry and public credit; the restored tranquillity of the
country; the treaties with Spain and Portugal on the abolition of the
slave-trade; and