Page:History of the Radical Party in Parliament.djvu/175

 i822.] Death of George III. to the Death of Castlereagh. 161 the session that he remained firm in his adherence to the cause of Catholic emancipation. On commercial and financial questions, too, he was becoming increasingly Liberal. He had, however, given up any hope of ministerial advancement, and so he accepted the appointment of Governor-General of India, which had been offered to him by the Company, and he believed that this would be his last session in Parliament. Lambton took no very active part in the proceedings of the session, but he did enough to show that he sympathized with the Radicals, and was prepared openly to work with them. On the 22nd of March he presented a petition from Newcastle on behalf of Hunt, whose treatment in prison was the subject of debate in both Houses. The petitioners, in the course of their statement, referred to " the notorious and avowed corruptions which have crept into your House." This passage was strongly objected to ; the reception of the petition was opposed by Wynne, the new Grenville ally, Peel, and other ministerialists, and on a division it was rejected by 123 to 22, the minority being almost purely Radical.* Nor was this the only question on which the extreme party acted together. On the 2nd of July Hobhouse moved to repeal the house and window tax, but was defeated by 146 votes to 59. In the mean time petitions in favour of reform continued to be pre- sented, and it was evident that whatever might be the state of opinion on the question inside Parliament, the agitation out- side was steadily growing. The Whigs generally, and Russell in particular, were quite alive to this fact, and were prepared to advance their bids for Barrett, T. M. Hobhouse, J. C. Roberts, Col. Bernall, R. Hume, J. Robinson, Sir G. Birch, J. James, W. Wilson, Sir R. Bury, Lord Maberley, J. Wood, Alderman Calvert, N. Maule, Hon. W. Creevey, T. Monck, J. B. Bennett, Hon. H. G. Ellice, E. Nugent, Lord Lambton, J. G. Fergusson, Sir R. Palmer, C. F. Gaskell, R. Ricardo, D. Tellers. M
 * The names given in Hansard are