The
fact was indignantly denied in the House of Lords by the Duke of
Wellington; and in the course of the session a remarkable proof was
afforded how little influence such motives had on the decisions of our
government, when they acquiesced in the passing of a bill which was a
virtual repeal of the Alien Act, which had existed for more than half a
century, and of which more than one Continental sovereign would
certainly have desired the retention. Of late, indeed, it had been so
modified, that practically it had become little more than a dead letter;
and now, in 1844, without being formally repealed, it was virtually
abrogated by an act which enabled all foreigners to obtain letters of
naturalization, which conferred on them every right of British subjects,
except those of becoming members of Parliament,[265] or of the Privy
Council.
Generally speaking, few governments had enjoyed more of the confidence
of the nation than Peel's did in 1844; yet in this year it was exposed
to two remarkable mortifications. The charter of the East India Company,
as framed by Pitt in subsequent events, which has led to the entire
extinction of the political power of the Company, makes anything beyond
this brief mention of the transaction superfluous at the present time.
The other mortification of the ministry to which allusion has been made
fell upon it at home in the Parliamentary discussion of the
Prime-minister's financial measures, on which his judgment was usually
regarded as pre-eminent, and on which a large majority of the House was
generally disposed implicitly to follow his guidance.
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