by both landholders
and farmers, that the treasury-bench began to feel alarm. This, in fact,
drove them to the expediency of strengthening their ranks by opening the
doors of office to the Grenville party; which, though not united with
the whigs, was generally opposed to ministers. Lord Grenville, the
political head of the party, had retired from public life, but the
Marquess of Buckingham was gratified by a ducal coronet, and Mr. Charles
Wynne was made president of the board of control. A greater accession
was gained in the exchange of Lord Sidmouth for Mr Peel, as secretary of
state for the home department. Lord Sidmouth, however, was permitted to
retain a seat in the cabinet, but Mr. Canning was compelled to retire,
the part which he had taken in the affairs of the queen having created
feelings of resentment against him in the king's mind.

MOTION TO RESTORE ROMAN CATHOLIC PEERS TO THEIR SEATS IN PARLIAMENT.

On the 30th of April, Mr. Canning, "wishing perhaps to give eclat to his
departure from the scene of his glory," moved in the house of commons
for leave to bring in a bill for restoring the right of sitting and
voting in parliament to Roman Catholic peers. In his speech he asked;
"Do you imagine it never occurred to the representatives of Europe, when
contemplating the imposing spectacle of the coronation; that it never
occurred to the ambassadors of Catholic Austria, of Catholic Fiance, or
of states more bigoted, if there be any more bigoted, to the Catholic
religion, to reflect, that the moment this solemn ceremony was over, the
Duke of Norfolk would become disseized of the exercise of his privileges
among his fellow peers? stripped of his robes of office, which were
to be laid aside, and hung up, until the day, when the coronation of a
successor to his present most gracious sovereign should again call him
forth to assist at a similar solemnization? Thus after being exhibited
to the peers and people of England, to the representatives of princes
and nations of the world--the Duke of Norfolk, highest in rank among the
peers--the Lord Clifford and others, like him, representing a long line
of illustrious ancestors, appeared as if they had been called forth and
furnished for the occasion, like the lustres and banners that flamed and
glittered in the scene; and were to be, like them, thrown by as useless
and temporary formalities. They might, indeed, bend the knee and kiss
the hand; they might bear the train