could recommend such forbearance? He saw no motive for further compliment to this new Hannibal, who had, on the altars of his own inordinate ambition, sworn unextinguishable enmity to this country. Were he to speak of the first consul in any other relation than that which he had assumed to the concerns of Britain, he would speak of him with the deference befitting his high station, and with the respect which his wonderful actions must demand. But when he wilfully opposed himself to the welfare of these realms, nay, openly struck at the root of their prosperity, the language of complacency on that head was ill-timed and mischievous. If, said his lordship you would avert war, you must show yourselves on a level with the exigency. You must, in the immortal language of Shakspeare, "Be stirring as the time; be fire with fire; Threaten the threat'ner, and outface the brow Of bragging honour". not from any false ostentation of courage, but to insure this solid, this inappreciable advantage, which the bard truly indicated would be the result: So shall inferior eyes, That borrow their behaviour from the great, the crisis, and said, in allusion to Bonaparte, Russia, if not in his power, was at least, in his influence-Prussia was at his beckItaly was his vassal-Holland was in his grasp Spain at his nod-Turkey in his toils-Portugal at his feet. When he saw this, could he hesitate in stating his feelings, still less could he hesitate in giving a vote that should put us upon our guard against the machinations and workings of such an ambition? In another part of his speech, Mr. Sheridan drew a striking picture of the malignant character of Bonaparte's ambition, particularly as it related to this country. In the tablet and volume of his mind, he said there might be some marginal note about cashiering the King of Etruria, but the whole text was occupied with the destruction of this country. This was the first vision that broke upon him through the gleam of the morning, this was his last prayer at night, to, whatever deity he addressed it, whether to Jupiter or to Mahomet, to the god of battles or the goddess of reason. An important lesson was to be learnt from the arrogance of Bonaparte. He said he was an instrument in the hands of Providence-an envoy of God; he said he was an instrument in the hands of Providence to restore Switzerland to happiness, and to elevate Italy to splendour and importance, and he (Mr. Sheridan) thought It is impossible adequately to describe the he was an instrument in the hands of Provi- effects produced out of doors on the minds of dence to make the English love their consti- the people by these energetic harangues; tution the better; to cling to it with more and their influence was the greater when it fondness; and to hang round it with truer was considered that Lord Moira and Mr. tenderness. Every man felt when he reSheridan were the particular friends of the turned from France, that he was coming prince; but then came the conclusion of the from a dungeon, to enjoy the light and life of speech, which reverberated throughout the British independence. Whatever abuses country:-" Amidst the general note of preexist, we should still look with pride and paration some surprise is excited in the pleasure upon the substantial blessings we public mind, that at such a crisis-at such a still enjoy. He believed too, that Bonaparte moment-nay, at the instant, involving the was an instrument in the hands of Provi- very fate, the existence, and the coinmercial dence to make us more liberal in our poli- prosperity of the country, no station equal to tical differences, and to render us determined, his prominent rank in the state was assigned with one hand and heart, to oppose any to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. aggression that might be made upon us. If He was only a colonel of dragoons, while that aggression was made, his honourable military commands of the highest importfriend (Mr. Fox) would, he was sure, agree ance were bestowed on the junior branches with him, that we ought to meet it with of the royal family." This had its strong a spirit worthy of these islands; and that we effects upon the hearts, the nerves, and the ought to meet it with a conviction of the minds of the populace, and immediately after, truth of this assertion, that the country the correspondence of the prince on the which had achieved such greatness had no subject of his receiving a military command retreat in littleness; that if we could be was published. content to abandon every thing, we should find no safety in poverty, no security in abject submission. Finally, that we ought to meet it with a fixed determination to perish in the same grave with the honour and independence of the country. Lord Moira spoke to the same effect. He was not for speaking of Bonaparte, he said, in such terms of gentleness and moderation as other noble lords had used. What was there in the procedure of the first consul that We have said that these letters were the composition of Dr. Parr and Mr. Sheridan. The Morning Chronicle," an authority of some importance on the subject, says, on the contrary, it is now known that they were written by M. Fonblanque, who then enjoyed more of the confidence of the prince than his professional advisers. The Princess of Wales had lived ten years in retirement, when, in 1806, in consequence of reports injurious to her honour, the king commissioned the Lord Chancellor Eldon, Lord Grenville, Lord Erskine, and Lord Ellenborough, to institute what was termed a delicate investigation" into the conduet of her royal highness. Rumour had charged her with intrigues with Captain Manby and Sir Sydney Smith, and it was even said she had been delivered of a son, William Austin. A number of witnesses were examined, the principal of whom were Sir John and Lady Douglas. The princess was declared in nocent, the mother of the child was declared to be a poor woman of Deptford, but the conduct of the princess was at the same time declared to have been characterised by "an unguarded levity." The cause of the princess was espoused with much warmth by the ministry, during the Percival adminis tration. George the Third had been subject, after his recovery in 1789, to relapses of short duration, and it is understood that in 1804 he was for some time deprived of his reason. In 1810 it became necessary to communicate to parliament the undoubted return of the former illness. The question of the regency was revived and discussed with great keenness. The proceedings terminated on the 5th February, 1811, when the bill appointing the Prince of Wales Regent, under a number of restrictions, became a law. The restrictions were to continue till 1st February, 1812. In 1813, the differences between the Prince Regent and the Princess of Wales began to assume a serious character. In the preceding year some questions had been put to Mr. Percival, who, under other circumstances, had been the great champion of the princess; but no information was elicited. But on the 2d of March of this year, a letter was received by the Speaker of the House of Commons from the princess, in which she informed him that she had received from Lord Sidmouth a copy of a report made by a certain number of the members of the Privy Council, to whom certain documents and other evidence affecting her character had been referred; that the report conveyed vague aspersions upon her; that she knew nothing of the evidence on which the members of the Privy Council had proceeded, and had not been heard in her defence; and that she desired the fullest in vestigation into her conduct. On Friday, March 5, the subject was brought before the House by Mr. Cochrane Johnson, who submitted a series of resolutions, with a view to further information. Lord Castlereagh contended that the report of the Privy Council had been misconstrued; that it had reference merely to restraints on the intercourse between the princess and her daughter, rendered necessary by the removal of the latter to Windsor; and that "it was not by any means just to infer that any criminality was imputed to the princess, for the separation alone was sufVOL. V. G On this ficient to justify the restraints." occasion, Mr. Stuart Wortley, now Lord Wharncliffe, made a speech which produced a great sensation. He exposed the hypocrisy of the declaration of Lord Castlereagh; for why, he said, "was it necessary now to ran sack the evidence of 1806, and to rake to gether the documents of that period, to found a report upon what regulations were necessary to govern the intercourse between the princess and her daughter, when he could at once say, I am father of this child, and I will act as a father is empowered to do; I am prince of these realms, and I will exercise my pre rogative of educating the successor to the throne ?" The concluding observations of the honourable gentleman were striking : "He said he had as high notions of royalty as any man; but he must say that all such proceedings contributed to pull it down. He was very sorry we had a royal family who did not take warning from what was said and thought concerning them. They seemed to be the only persons in the country who were wholly regardless of their own welfare and respectability. He would not have the Prince Regent lay the flattering unction to his soul, and think his conduct would bear him harmless through all these transactions. He said this with no disrespect to him or his family: no man was more attached to the House of Brunswick than he was; but had he a sister in the same situation with her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, he would say she was exceedingly ill-treated." The innocence of the princess having been admitted, the matter was for the present allowed to rest. On this occasion, the pill which the prince was obliged to swallow was a very bitter one. The proud aristocracy of England taught him to feel that they were his masters-that they would tolerate their nominal sovereign, only so long as his behaviour did not tend to bring discredit on the government-that the condition of his power was the exercise of it in accordance with their views. What a change since the days of the Tudors and the Stuarts! In those days the withdrawal of the royal favour was a sentence of condemnation. What a change even since 1772, when the Royal Marriage Act, which though it stigmatized the best families of England as unworthy of an alliance with any of the descendents of George the Second, and excited in a peculiar degree the indignation of the people, was yet carried through both Houses by great majorities-in the Upper House by as many as three to one! That the administration would have been pleased with the submission of the prince can hardly be doubted: but on March the 15th the subject was again agitated. The examination of Lady Douglas had been continued, and the evidence had been published in the "Morning Post" and the "Morning Herald" of the same day, the latter paper being then edited by Sir Bate Dudley, who enjoyed the intimacy of the prince. Mr. Whitbread endeavoured to elicit some information as to what was intended from Lord Castlereagh, without effect. On the 17th, Mr. Whitbread moved an address, recommending the prose cution of the two newspapers. "She, the princess," he said, "or rather he (Mr. Whitbread) in her name, called on that Housethe representatives of the people of England to become the protectors of an innocent, traduced, and defenceless stranger-the mother of their future queen." After a warm discussion, the motion was negatived without a division. The proceedings in parliament produced the greatest excitement throughout the country. The general impression was, that the treatment of the princess had been harsh; and addresses from the Livery and Corporation of London, and other public bodies, couched in warm language, were presented in numbers to the princess. That from the livery, which was carried almost unanimously, stated "the indignation and abhorrence with which they viewed the foul conspiracy against the honour and life of her royal highness, and their admiration of her moderation, frankness, and magnanimity under her long persecution. At that time, the impression throughout the country certainly was, that designs of a most unwarrantable nature were entertained against the princess. The manifestation of public feeling produced its effect; for all further proceedings were for a time abandoned. Next year, however, 1814, this unhappy subject was again revived. On the 23d May, the queen, by directions of the Prince Re gent, intimated to the princess, that she could not be received at two drawing-rooms to be held in the ensuing months, as it was "his fixed and unalterable determination not to meet the Princess of Wales upon any occasion either in public or private.". The mortification was great, as the Emperor Alexander and the King of Prussia were expected in this country. The princess addressed a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons on the subject, in which she inclosed the correspondence to which the intimation of Queen Charlotte had given rise. One of the documents read to the House, a letter to the prince, had the following paragraph: "Sir, the time you have selected for this proceeding is calculated to make it peculiarly galling. Many illustrious strangers are already arrived in England; amongst others, as I am informed, the illustrious heir of the House of Orange, who has announced himself to me as my future son-in-law. From their society I am unjustly excluded. Others are expected, of rank equal to your own, to rejoice with your Royal Highness in the peace of Europe. My daughter will, for the first time, appear in the splendour and publicity becoming the approaching nuptials of the presumptive heiress of this empire. This season your Royal Highness has chosen for treating me with fresh and unprovoked indignity; and, of all his majesty's subjects, I alone am prevented by your royal highness from appearing in my place to partake of the general joy, and am deprived of indulgence in those feelings of pride and affection permitted to every mother but me." Mr. Methuen moved an address to the regent, on the subject of his fixed determination never to visit the Princess of Wales. Mr. Whitbread was loud in the reprobation of the proceeding. "It has been intimated," he said, "to all, that to visit her was to exclude themselves from the court. To all the injuries she has borne, she has submitted in silence. Where does the burden rest of agitating the question ? Upon those who have planned and advised this foul indignity and injustice." Mr. Stuart Wortley expressed himself indignant at the want of a proper sense of what was due to the public mind. "He could not help saying, that he thought the present proceedings against the Princess of Wales were cruel in the extreme, and he could not acquit the parties who had adopted this new proceeding against her of cruelty. He hoped the House would hear no more of it; he lamented the revival of it as a misfortune, at this time in particular, when such illustrious relatives and strangers were about to visit that court from which she was so studiously excluded; and it appeared to him most strange, that while the whole world were rejoicing on the return of peace, and the subsiding of all animosities among nations of every description, this illustrious individual should be the only exception in the general joy, and the only person excluded from enjoying it." All the speakers condemned the proceeding. Mr. Tierney observed, that the Right Honourable Gentlemen would go home and tell their colleagues in office, that there is but one sentiment in this House of the unbecoming indignity, insult, and cruelty, offered to the Princess of Wales; that there is but one sentiment both here and in the country at large! that she is under the protection of this House and the nation. He said, this subject could not rest where it was; something must be done, and that effectually. He hoped it would be done before the next day; and if not, he should be ready to support whatever motion might be brought forward to insure that end; and with respect to the next drawing-room, he said, if they did not make the satisfactory arrangement to which he alluded, her royal highness would do right to maintain her own dignity, and her own rank, and not be kept away.' The first act of this drama closed by an application of the princess for leave to visit the continent, soon after an income of 35,000%. had been settled on her by parliament. Mr. Whitbread and other friends of the Frincess of Wales always viewed her departure from England as an important, and even a dangerous measure. Whatever might be her conduct abroad, it was obvious that it would be open to misconstruction, and even if innocent, might be made to appear otherwise. Reports occasionally found their way into the public papers unfavourable to the conduct, if not the reputation, of the princess; and soon after the death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, on the 16th November, 1817, a commission was formerly appointed to examine into the reports which had been furnished by a Baron D'Ompteda, charged with watching the princess. Whatever cause of dislike towards the Princess of Wales the prince may have had, or believed he had, it is impossible for any one to approve of the manner in which he evinced that dislike. Domestic strife is but too frequent in the world, and in humble life the irritation caused by the impossibility of escaping from the presence of each other, may inflame the hatred of parties to a degree little short of madness. But a prince, who lives separate from his wife-who may avoid her presence as long as he pleases-has no justification for nourishing a degree of hatred towards her approaching to monomania. But the prince, however amiable in many respects, was a spoiled child, to whom, during his whole life, nothing had been so important as the indulgence of every inclination, every caprice. A regard for his own dignity, had he been wise or politic, would have taught him that whatever sentiments he entertained towards the princess, he ought never to have manifested any with which the world (which in reality cares no more for princes than for others, whatever it may effect), can readily sympathize. His conduct appeared little and unmanly; and appearances are everything in king-craft. His father well knew the effect of appearances, and skilfully availed himself of them-as the nation knows at this day to its cost. The besetting sin of the prince was profusion. The Civil List was constantly in arrear, and the exertions of Mr. Tierney to introduce something like economy in the different departments were incessant. On May 6, 1816, Mr. Tierney animadverted with great severity on the expenditure of 50,000l. for furniture at Brighton, immediately after 534,000l. were voted for covering the excess of the Civil List. "He lamented,' he said, "that his royal highness was surrounded by advisers who precipitated him into such profusion. At his time of life something different ought to be expected. But there were those about him who encouraged and promoted those wasteful and frivolous projects." Mr. Brougham, on another occasion, inveighed with great severity against the indifference to the distress of the country manifested by the prince's profusion. During this period, the Prince Regent was exceedingly unpopular. On his way to parliament, in 1816, he was even openly insulted. On the 29th January, 1820, George the Third departed this life, and the Prince Regent, who had exercised the sovereignty with restrictions since 1811, and without restrictions since 1812, became now king. By the laws of this country, the Queen Consort is invested with certain rights and privileges, and much anxiety had always been relt with respect to the period when it would become necessary for the wife of the sovereign to assert her rights. It was feared that the appearance of the queen in this country would be the signal for the recommencement of proceedings for which a foundation was laid in the inquiries instituted on the continent; and from the unguarded levity, to speak in the language of the commissioners, which belonged to her character, the reports circulated to her prejudice, led many persons to believe that she would best consult her safety by continuing to live on the continent. penalty which the law attaches to the infidelity of the wife of the sovereign is death; but the age for punishing gallantry with death is past, and, under the particular The circumstances of her case, fortified with the letter of license as it has been called, in which she was told as far back as in 1796, that " our inclinations are not in our power, nor should either of us be answerable to the able to each other," it would have ill become other, because nature has not made us suitthe king to pursue the queen vindictively. Though it has been said of George IV. by Lord Byron,† that he was "Charles to his people-Henry to his wife," cruelty was never really supposed to belong to his character. But his amour propre had been deeply wounded in the case of the In that epigram of his lordship, perhaps the most severe that ever was penned, occasioned by the Prince Regent standing on the opening of the vaults at Windsor, between the tombs of Charles I. and Henry VIII. We present it to our readers as a literary curiosity. Famed for contemptuous breach of sacred ties, queen, towards whom he evidently entertained a strong and rooted dislike; and as the exercise of the queen's privileges would necessarily bring her in collision with the king, it was believed that, to rid himself of what he viewed (foolishly viewed, no doubt), as poisoning his existence, all the resources of power would be employed. The queen, on the other hand, was placed in a most critical situation. It became necessary for her to decide at once whether she would assert her rights or abandon them for ever. Besides, after the reports generally circulated, the failure to return would have been viewed as a confession of guilt. His majesty, who seems to have always had his wife uppermost in his mind, soon after the death of George III. caused the name of the Princess of Wales to be struck out of the Liturgy, without supplying its place with "Queen Consort." This was an irritating step. Prudence, too, required, if it were wished the queen should continue abroad, that she should not have been purposely insulted. But it would seem that the English ministers, and consuls, and Hanoverian ministers thought they could not better recommend themselves to favour than by insulting the queen. The inducements to remain abroad were great. With an income of 35,000l. a year, she must have had great power and influence, and her recollections of England could hardly inspire her with any very ardent desire to return to it. The queen determined on returning to England. She had wished, previous to taking this step, to consult with Mr. Brougham, her attorney-general, at Geneva, but a journey of such length was incompatible with his other engagements, and the interview was fixed at Calais. On the intentions of the queen being communicated to Lord Liverpool, who, being of a timorous and apprehensive character, dreaded the consequences of her return, Lord Hutchin son was selected on the part of the ministry to repair to France, and endeavour to dissuade her majesty from taking so hazardous a step, The whole country was in commotion. Alderman Wood, partaking of the general excitement, repaired to France, where he joined the queen at Montbard. For this step, he has been much blamed, as the determination of the queen was generally attributed to his advice; but it does not appear on any good evidence that the alderman either produced the determination or could have altered it. On the 3d of June Mr. Brougham, accompanied by his brother and Lord Hutchinson, proceeded to St. Omers. On the 4th of June, Lord Hutchinson wrote a letter to Mr. Brougham, offering 50,000%. for life, on condition of her never residing in the United Kingdom, or even visiting England, and her not assuming any title attached to the royal family of England. His lordship communicated at the same time an extract of a letter from Lord Liverpool to him ; the words were :-" It is material that her majesty should know confidentially, that if she shall be so ill advised as to come over to this country, there must be an end to all negotiation and compromise. The decision, I may say, is taken, to proceed against her as soon as she shall set her foot on the British shore." The terms were rejected. Another letter was written to Mr. Brougham by Lord Hutchinson, on the same day, which he immediately transmitted to her majesty, "once more earnestly imploring her majesty to refrain from rushing into certain trouble and possible danger; or, at least, to delay taking the step till Lord Hutchinson shall have received fresh instructions." The queen, however, on reading the letter, exclaimed, "My mind is made up;" and on the morning of the 5th of June, 1820, she landed at Dover. The whole nation was now in commotion. Never, perhaps, was witnessed in the history' of any people, such a degree of excitement. Her journey to and entrance into London was one continued triumph. On the 6th of June messages were conveyed to the two Houses, with papers respecting the conduct of the queen since her departure from the kingdom. Select committees of the two Houses were appointed to examine the papers; but the members were anxious to avert an inquiry, and repeated adjournments of the House of Commons took place, to allow of arrangement, if possible. Several meetings took place between the Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlereagh on the one part, and Messrs. Brougham and Denman on the other, with a view to an arrangement; but the negotiations failed. The queen was not averse to going abroad; but she stipulated for the insertion of her name in the Liturgy, and an introduction at foreign courts, as a protection from insult. The House of Commons, on the motion of Mr. Wilberforce, voted an address to the queen, declaring its opinion that, by not pressing. the propositions, she would be deemed desirous of sparing the necessity of painful. discussions, and not of shrinking from inquiry. The queen, however, would not yield. The Bill of Pains and Penalties was introduced by Lord Liverpool on the 27th of June. Her majesty was charged with adul-, tery with one Bartolomeo Pergami or Bergami, a foreigner of low station in her service, and the enactments were, dissolution of the marriage and deprivation of her, title and rights. The memorable trial of the queen now. commenced. Into the details of that proceeding it is impossible to enter. In the mean time, addresses were voted to her |