bles.

CHAPTER XXXV.

{GEORGE IV. 1825--1826.}

Meeting of Parliament..... Bill for the Suppression of
Unlawful Associations in Ireland..... Catholic Relief
Bill..... Committee of Inquiry into the State of
Ireland..... Mr. Hume's Motion against the Irish Church
Establishment, &c...... State of the Irish Charter
Schools..... Debates on Alleged Abuses in Chancery.....
Regulation of the Salaries of the Judges..... Rejection of
the Unitarian Marriage Act, &e...... Act against
Combinations among Workmen..... Free Trade
System..... Surrender of the Charter of the Levant
Company..... Report of Treaties..... Financial
Statements..... Proposals for the Abolition of certain
Taxes, &c...... Prorogation of Parliament..... Great
Commercial Panic..... The Burmese War..... Review of
Foreign Relations.

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Parliament was opened by commission on the 3rd of February. The speech
took a pleasing view of all our affairs, foreign and domestic, except
those of Ireland, where strife and animosity still prevailed. The usual
addresses were carried by large majorities.

BILL FOR THE SUPPRESSION OF UNLAWFUL ASSOCIATIONS IN IRELAND.

The proceedings of the Catholic Association in Ireland created alarm
in the minds of ministers. It was clear, however, to them that public
opinion would be against the enactment of a partial law against that
body, while the Orange societies, which were also mischievous in their
tendency, were tolerated. A bill, therefore, was introduced by Mr.
Goulburn "to amend the acts relating to unlawful associations in
Ireland." This produced a warm discussion, which extended by adjournment
through four nights. In the course of this debate Mr. Canning vindicated
himself against the insinuations of those who considered him estranged
from the Catholic cause. He remarked:--"I have shown that, in 1812, I
refused office rather than enter an administration pledged against the
Catholic question. Nor is this the only sacrifice I have made to the
Catholic cause. From the earliest dawn of my life, ay! from the first
visions of my ambition, that ambition was directed to one object,
before which all others vanished comparatively into insignificance;
that object, far beyond all the blandishments of power, beyond all the
rewards and favours of the crown, was to represent in this house the
university at