The new reign began with an event that stirred the whole nation to the very depths, and wrought irreparable scandal through every grade of society—the trial of the unfortunate Caroline, Queen of George IV. Happily, the episode is now forgotten, and there is no necessity to revive it. But the trial of a Queen, publicly charged with degrading personal conduct, is unique in modern history, and it created naturally an extraordinary excitement among all classes at the time; and, as feeling upon the subject ran exceedingly high, and a spirit of disorder and disaffection was widespread, the Brigade had a part to play in it, which cannot entirely be passed over. The trial itself took the form of a Bill of Pains and Penalties, read a first time in the House of Lords, July 5th. On the second reading, evidence was heard, and the proceedings, beginning on the 17th of August, did not end until the 6th of November, when there was a majority of twenty-eight in favour of the measure. At the third reading (November 10th), the majority sank to nine votes, and thereupon Government abandoned the Bill. The populace had ever been the partisans of the unhappy Queen, and, when she arrived in England in June, she met with a reception which could only compare with that which greeted Charles II. on the restoration of the Monarchy in 1660. So, also, when the withdrawal of the Bill was announced, London was illuminated on three successive nights, and, the results of the inquiry being forgotten, a universal joy manifested itself through the whole country, which almost equalled the unbounded enthusiasm displayed after the fall of Napoleon.