It has seemed, therefore, to the compiler of this volume, that a narrative of these transactions in their historical sequence, so as to exhibit the connection which has frequently existed between them; to show, for instance, how the repeal of Poynings' Act, and the Regency Bill of 1788, necessitated the Irish Union; how Catholic Emancipation brought after it Parliamentary Reform, and how that led to municipal and ecclesiastical reforms, might not be without interest and use at the present time. And the modern fulness of our parliamentary reports (itself one not unimportant reform and novelty), since the accession of George III., has enabled him to give the inducements or the objections to the different enactments in the very words of the legislators who proposed them or resisted them, as often as it seemed desirable to do so. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Mr. Hallam's View of the Development of the Constitution.--Symptoms of approaching Constitutional Changes.--State of the Kingdom at the Accession of George III.--Improvement of the Law affecting the Commissions of the Judges.--Restoration of Peace.--Lord Bute becomes Minister.--The Case of Wilkes.--Mr. Luttrell is Seated for Middlesex by the House of Commons.--Growth of Parliamentary Reporting.--Mr. Grenville's Act for trying Election Petitions.--Disfranchisement of Corrupt Voters at New Shoreham. CHAPTER II. The Regency Bill.--The Ministry of 1766 lay an Embargo on Corn.--An Act of Indemnity is Passed.--The _Nullum Tempus_ Act concerning Crown Property; it is sought to Extend it to Church Property, but the Attempt fails.--The Royal Marriage Act.--The Lords amend a Bill imposing Export Duties, etc., on Corn. CHAPTER III. Mr. Grenville imposes a Duty on Stamps in the North American Colonies.--Examination of Dr. Franklin.--Lord Rockingham's Ministry Repeals the Duty.--Lord Mansfield affirms a Virtual Representation in the Colonies.--Mr. C. Townsend imposes Import Duties in America.--After some Years, the Civil War breaks out.--Hanoverian Troops are sent to Gibraltar.--The Employment of Hanoverian Regiments at Gibraltar and Minorca.--End of the War.--Colonial Policy of the Present Reign.--Complaints of the Undue Influence of the Crown.--Motions for Parliamentary Reform.--Mr. Burke's Bill for Economical Reform.--Mr. Dunning's Resolution on the Influence of the Crown.--Rights of the Lords on Money-bills.--The Gordon Riots. CHAPTER IV.