vigour
soon overawed the organised gangs which, in one or two instances, had
only been dispersed by military force. Finally, they prosecuted Carlile
and Cobbett for instigating the poor labourers to crime. The former was
convicted at the Old Bailey, and condemned to a long term of
imprisonment, with a heavy fine. The trial of Cobbett was postponed
until the following July, when the frenzy of reform was at its height.
He defended himself with great audacity in a speech of six hours,
calling the lord chancellor with other leading reformers as witnesses,
and succeeded in escaping conviction by the disagreement and discharge
of the jury.

[Pageheading: _ALTHORP'S FIRST BUDGET._]

Two other questions engaged the attention of parliament on the eve of
the great struggle over the reform bill. One of these was the settlement
of the civil list, which the Duke of Wellington's ministry had failed to
effect. William IV. was not an avaricious sovereign, nor did he share
the spendthrift inclination of his brother. But he was disposed to
stickle for the hereditary rights of the crown, both public and private,
and he greatly disliked the details of his expenditure being scrutinised
by a parliamentary committee. Now, Grey and his colleagues stood pledged
to such a committee, and could not avoid promoting its appointment. They
propitiated the king, however, by excluding the revenues of the Duchy of
Lancaster from the inquiry, and ultimately succeeded in persuading the
house of commons to grant a civil list of L510,000 a year. But the
publication of a return containing a complete list of sinecure offices
and pensions was turned to good account by the economists, and produced
an outburst of public indignation, which was by no means unreasonable.
Great results were expected from the report of the select committee on
the civil list, which revised the salaries of officials in the royal
household, as well as the emoluments of pensioners. It was even demanded
that no regard should be paid to vested interests, but Grey firmly
supported the private remonstrances of the king against such an act of
confiscation. In fact, the savings recommended by the committee were so
trifling that it was thought better to waive the question for the time,
and the first economical essay of the new _regime_ ended in failure.

The budget introduced by Althorp soon after the meeting of parliament on
February 3, 1831, and in anticipation of the reform bill, was equal