Citizen-King, surrounded by Republican institutions, was invited to reign by the favour of the Garde Nationale—the armed representatives of the populace. The insurrection, that succeeded in vesting Louis-Philippe with a semblance of Royal power, and that effectually tore to shreds the constitution fixed by the Allies in 1815, began in Paris on the 26th of July, 1830, just two days after the dissolution of Parliament in London. The general election took place about a month later; and in the excited state of men’s minds, when widespread sympathy was felt and expressed for the aspirations of the Orleanist faction in France, the result could not but reflect the movement that was carried on there, and give impetus to an agitation which had already acquired considerable strength. ----- Footnote 151: Alison’s _History of Europe_ , 1815-52, iv. 214, etc. Footnote 152: King Leopold I. was a near relation of our Royal Family, being uncle of Queen Victoria, brother of the Duchess of Kent. His first wife, moreover, was Charlotte, only child of George IV., by his Queen, Caroline. Had this Princess lived, she would have become Queen of England, and her husband, like his nephew subsequently became, would have been Prince Consort. ----- Parliament opened on the 26th of October, and three weeks later, on the fall of the administration of the Duke of Wellington, Lord Grey was called to office. The winter passed gloomily, and a wild spirit of revolt was abroad. The southern counties around London were “in a state of open insurrection;” the agitators, frequently referring to events in Belgium and France, inflamed the passions of the people; outrages and excesses were committed, and so great was the consternation created by the fear of disorder, that the King’s visit to the city (November 9th) had to be given up. It is unnecessary to describe the various vicissitudes which attended the great struggle for Reform. Suffice it to say that the country continued to be the prey to an increasing agitation, unparalleled in modern British history, and that the Bill was finally passed into law by a large majority, June 7, 1832, because those that opposed it were intimidated into silence, believing that further resistance would end by plunging the nation into the abyss of civil war.