__1829:__

__February:__

After over a year of Parliament debates, a Bill concerning extending the extension of the Franchise in England went to the House of Lords. On the 17th, the House was packed as each Lord was determined to vote on the issue. The proposals on Reform were as follows:

1: The Franchise was to be extended to men with a property ownership worth £10 and those paying an annual rent of £35.

2: Rotten Boroughs were to be largely abolished, almost all of them were to be gotten rid of and the constituencies added to others.

3: New measures regarding voting corruption and attempted bribery were to be taken with a special commission monitoring elections being set up.

4: Polling was to be cut down to one day but constituencies were allowed multiple polling stations.

5: Counties were divided into more efficient voting areas and certain cities were given a greater voting say in the elections.

After a gruelling day of debates and speeches, the Bill was put to the vote and by the slimmest of margins, passed. The jubilation amongst the Liberal movement was felt and there were cases reported of impromptu parties in the streets. The truth of the matter was that the franchise was still only open to less than a million people. But the Act also stipulated further reform being possible, thus keeping hopes high.

King George IV was dead set against the Bill but he was also bloated and riddled with various afflictions. He was open to pressure to eventually allow the Bill to pass into law, slightly raising his viewing in the public.

__April:__

After an extremely difficult labour, Princess Adelaide, wife of Prince William finally gave birth to a young boy. Amazingly, the child survived and various rumours were abound regarding the boy’s true parentage. It was Prince William for certain however as he later revealed that the child was possibly conceived on the night he and his wife saw Beethoven’s Tenth. The child was baptised Alfred and became the second in line to the Throne of Great Britain.

__May:__

After nearly ten years of secrecy, the Treaty of Meiningen, the Treaty which bound the independent German states together was finally made public. It had taken that long to simply get all states on board and agree with the proposal of the Treaty. Under the stipulations of the Treaty of Meiningen, the German states were to all agree to abolishing tariffs amongst themselves and agree to a mutual protection pact, to secure their independence. Prussia, Austria and France had each tried to bring at least one German state into their camp by fair means or foul and the German states had had enough.

The Treaty was finally made public on the 14th May, much to the dismay of the three Empires surrounding the states. The famous Austrian diplomat Metternich allegedly spent three days hurling abuse at the so called ‘traitors’. Though no official name was given, the states who had signed the Treaty were referred to as the Meiningen Pact before long. Although both Prussia and Austria were furious at the nations expressing their independence, France’s reaction was curiously muted. This was because of the rising influence of the King of Rome, Napoleon II who himself was to be crowned on his twenty-first birthday as Emperor.

Despite that though, Napoleon II had gradually been brought into the workings of the French Government by Talleyrand, the young man’s mentor. Since 1827, Napoleon II had taken a firm interest in the workings of the Government and had shown himself to be talented, charismatic, intelligent and competent. Above all, Napoleon II was also shaping up to be something of a pacifist leader, showing little sings of the militarism of his father. It was because of Napoleon II that France actually entered dialogue with the Meiningen Pact and tried to work a trade agreement acceptable to all states concerned. Although tensions heightened over the following few years, War was not sought out by France.

__November:__

The New England elections for the office of President took place with much interest garnered by the surrounding nations. The Industrial Party, led by Jack Pail did rather well, its criticisms of the Federalist Government now included how the Federalists had changed the length of the Presidential term from four to five years, thus empowering their own cause along with allowing the President unlimited terms in office. The fear of the Industrial Party was that with such power invested into one man, a War like the one of 1812 would easily be caused akin to what Madison had done.

The election however saw a clear Federalist victory, most people happy with how they had been running the country. Harold Garston resumed his tenure as President, his own plans for the Republic remaining largely the same as his predecessor, Clinton. The Shawnee sent a note of congratulations to the Federalist Party, showing their ties to the party. The Alliance between the two nations had become valuable over the years and with a new decade about to dawn; it would prove to be highly important.