ew Syrian
acquisitions. On his part he showed no disposition to proceed further
against his sovereign; he occupying himself with completing the
subjugation of Syria, and attempting to extend his conquests in Arabia,
which attempt was unsuccessful.

CHAPTER XLVI.

{WILLIAM IV. 1836--1837}

_Meeting of Parliament..... The Question of Orange
Lodges..... Bill to Reform the Irish Municipal
Corporations..... Irish Tithe Bill..... Commutation of
Tithes in England..... Bill for Registration of Births,
Deaths, and Marriages, &c...... Bill to alter the Revenues
and Territory of the different Sees..... Bill to abolish the
secular Jurisdiction of Bishops, &c...... Bill to amend the
English Municipal Corporation Act..... Bill to Allow Felons
Counsel to Address the Jury, &c...... Abolition of
Imprisonment for Debt, &c...... Election Committees.....
New Houses of Parliament..... Motion for the Reduction of
Taxation on behalf of the Agriculturists..... The Budget,
&c...... Discussions on the Colonies and our Foreign
Relations..... Prorogation of Parliament..... The Affairs
of Ireland..... State of the Continent_

MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

{A.D. 1836}

Parliament reassembled on the 14th of February. In his speech his
majesty alluded to disputes between France and the United States, which
he was endeavouring to allay; and to the civil contests in the northern
province of Spain, for the termination of which he had also adopted
measures which he hoped would succeed. His majesty also alluded to
a treaty which he had concluded with the Queen of Spain for the
suppression of the slave-trade. He expressed his regret that the
agricultural interests in England still suffered, and recommended
parliament to institute inquiry, with the view of ascertaining whether
there were any measures which could be adopted for its alleviation. He
then referred to the various measures affecting the united church of
England and Ireland, and the state of the poor of Ireland. In the lords
the address was moved by the Duke of Leinster, and seconded by the Earl
of Burlington. The only part of it which gave rise to a discussion was
a passage which repeated the hope, expressed in the speech from the
throne, that the Irish municipal corporations would be subjected to a
process of change, "founded upon the same principles as those of the
acts which had already passed for Eng