they meant that in polish of manner and external grace he was very fine gentleman. Nevertheless, he was, all through his life, a cowardly, licentious man, who would stoop to any act of meanness and treachery. Fortunately, his personal influence was small, and beyond raising a storm of national indignation at the beginning of his reign by trying in vain to force a Bill through Parliament to secure a divorce from his wife, Queen Caroline, his occupancy of the throne made little difference in English affairs.
2. Holy Alliance.—There was considerable unrest and discontent at the beginning of this reign, arising almost entirely from hard times, and the harsh laws passed by the Government against the right of the people to meet and discuss public affairs. One outcome of this feeling was an attempt, called the Cato Street Conspiracy, to murder the ministry, in 1820. The conspirators were seized, some were put to death, and others banished for life. Abroad, the Emperors of Russia and Austria, and the Kings of Prussia, France, and Spain, formed an alliance, called the “Holy Alliance,” to crush out any efforts that might be made by their subjects to increase their freedom, or secure their rights. This alliance was the result of the fear aroused by the French Revolution, and of the growing feeling in Europe in favour of liberty. The British Government, and Lord Castlereagh, the Foreign Secretary, in particular, were charged with being too friendly to the Holy Alliance, and too hostile to the oppressed people of other nations. But Castlereagh’s suicide, in 1822, removed one obstacle to a more liberal policy, and henceforth the tide of Reform began to flow more strongly, and with fewer interruptions.
3. Canning, Peel, and Huskisson.—After Castlereagh’s death, George Canning, a brilliant and liberal-minded statesman, became Foreign Secretary. Unlike Castlereagh, he was a friend of the oppressed everywhere, and while he managed England’s foreign affairs, her influence was thrown into the scale of freedom. He would not aid the Turks, who were trying to crush out a revolt in Greece, nor the Spanish, when their colonies in America rose to gain their independence. He saved Portugal from an attack from France and Spain, when Portugal sought to introduce Parliamentary Government, Nor was Canning indifferent to wrongs nearer
