was the case, it became an honourable and proud feeling in the people, with such impression on their minds, to say, "We will stand by this woman, because she is an ill-used woman." If her Majesty had been received here as Queen, till it was decided by law that she was not Queen, with all due honours-because if her head were struck off next week, still, while it remained on her shoulders, it was the head of the Queen-the tone of the country would not have been altered, and the existing state of things would not have taken place. But when the people saw an attempt made to whisper away her character -when they saw the noble lord coming down with his green-bag, which irritated them still more, and heard him declaring that he would bring no direct charge, but that there was something very dreadful in that bag, they became quite certain that some foul play was intended against the Queen. It was impossible not to look with apprehension to the scenes, disclosures, and investigations, with which they were now threatened. But it was possible yet to avoid this evil, and to tranquillize the country. It was to be done, however, only by a change of administration, and, so help him God, the question would never be adjusted, nor tranquillity restored to the country, till then. He declared to God that he made this observation with no view to office. Any public proceeding, instituted by the present administration, could not be regarded but as an unfair and unjust proceeding. If the Queen could not be irrefragably convicted of guilt and criminality, ministers must stand convicted of the highest guilt and criminality.

Lord Nugent, Lord Milton, Mr Hobhouse, Mr Denman, and Mr Scarlett, all spoke against the motion of Lord Castlereagh.

Mr Stuart Wortley and Mr Wilberforce supported the motion, though without wishing to throw any reproach upon the Queen for rejecting the conciliatory proposition, of which they had been the bearers. The former did not blame her Majesty for rejecting their mediation; by no means, she had full liberty to do so; on the contrary, he admired, and no man of feeling could refrain from admiring, the magnanimity with which this illustrious female had acted, not only upon this, but upon all other occasions. Feeling still, however, all the evils of the inquiry, he thought that those of omitting it would be still greater. An adjournment for six months, or in other words for ever, could never satisfy the House, the country, or either of the illustrious individuals, who were parties to it. Mr Wilberforce conceived that the course taken by her Majesty was owing to her own high and proud feeling, and not to the instigation of her legal advisers. If the House had been unanimous in the vote of Thursday, it might have saved the trouble of farther discussion. The honourable member lamented the manner in which the great law of God and nature was trifled with in the statute relating to the royal marriages. He thought it better that the investigation should originate in the House of Lords.

The motion was finally carried by a majority of 195 to 100.

All obstacles to the operations of the Lords' Committee being now removed, that body immediately proceeded to the exercise of its functions. A few days necessarily elapsed before the result could be produced-an interval which was passed by the public in a state of eager curiosity, though, on the part of the majority, with a full preparation to hold it at nought when

proceeding; but if ministers were guilty of injustice, their Lordships were accomplices in it. If there were any part of the conduct of his Majesty's ministers to which they could look back with more particular satisfaction than another, he believed it to be that which had been employed in endeavours to avoid, by some compromise, the public discussion of the present subject. He thought if there were any occasion on which a public man might be excused for making some sacrifice of consistency, it was for such an object. The present report could be regarded in no other light than the verdict of a grand jury. The Earl of Carnarvon pointed out the difference between the present proceeding and the verdict of a grand jury. He made also severe strictures on the intention of celebrating the coronation at such a period as the pre

sent.

The Earl of Darnley condemned ministers, particularly in respect to the affair of the Liturgy.

Earl Grey, in answer to Lord Harrowby, still insisted, that if those advisers had before them evidence of the Queen having been guilty of an adulterous intercourse with a foreigner, aggravated by a long course of licentious conduct-if that charge was true, the case was one which, consistently with the dignity of the Crown, and the welfare of the country, admitted of no compromise whatever.

The Earl of Liverpool defended anew the conduct of ministers in endeavouring to avoid a public investigation; but when the Queen came to the country-when her conduct was forced upon public attention-when no medium was left between admitting her to the exercise of all her rights and privileges, and allowing her full influence on the morals of the country; --and proceeding against her, suppo

sing the charges to be true, they were compelled to bring them forward.

The Marquis of Buckingham defended the report, stating, that it expressed the unanimous opinion of the committee.

The debate concluded with Lord Holland strongly censuring the conduct of ministers-the course of whose proceedings was from the beginning wrong-highly inconsistent-highly dangerous-derogatory from the honour of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country. He dissented entirely from the whole course of proceeding.

Considering how deeply this report struck at the honour and welfare of the individual concerned, it could not but be expected, that, even in a disposition much less ardent, it should kindle an extraordinary agitation. That which it produced was manifested by an immediate and decisive step. On the following day, Lord Dacre, now the regular channel for such communications, presented the following petition :

"CAROLINE REGINA

"The Queen, observing the most extraordinary report made by the secret committee of the House of Lords, now lying upon the table, represents to the House, that she is prepared, at this moment, to defend herself against it, as far as she can understand its import. Her Majesty has also to state, that there are various weighty matters touching the same, which it is absolutely necessary, with a view to her future defence, to have detailed in the present stage of the proceeding. The Queen, therefore, prays to be heard this day, by her counsel, regarding such matters."

Lord Liverpool thought the advice which must in this instance have been

given to the illustrious petitioner, was of a most extraordinary nature. She applied to be heard in the present stage by counsel; but their Lordships were, as yet, in no stage whatever of the proceeding. It was impossible that counsel could be heard till after the first reading of the bill. As to the report, neither her Majesty nor any other person out of that House could regularly have any knowledge of it. Lord Dacre strongly urged the granting of the petition. Considering the high station of the illustrious petitioner-considering the delicate situation in which she was placed-and considering also the interest which these proceedings had excited from one end of the country to the other, he trusted that their Lordships would pause before they excluded her Majesty from making any statement important to her honour and character, perhaps even to her life!

Lord Ellenborough replied, whether a petition came from a Princess, or one of the lowest subjects in the kingdom, their Lordships were bound to act according to the principles of equal justice. He would vote against the petition for this reason that it asked that which, if prayed for by any other individual in the country, would not be granted.

Earl Grey felt this to be a case of peculiar difficulty, and did not wish that any undue advantage should be granted to her Majesty. The case, however, was very peculiar. It might become a case of divorce, without any of those previous proceedings in the ecclesiastical courts which made other parties acquainted with the particulars of the charge and evidence. Her Majesty might claim the right to do something to counteract the unfavourable impression which the report had produced. He had doubted the propriety of hearing counsel on the appointment of the committee;

but since it was granted then, the claim here was much stronger. Considering the deep sympathy taken in her Majesty's situation-considering the agitation into which the public mind was thrown by the proceedings

though it would be far from his inclination to advise their Lordships to yield to any popular clamour, he did think that, when such a claim on their justice as that which now came from her Majesty was made, it could not be either for public interest or the honour of the House to stand too much upon precedents.

The Lord Chancellor considered the proposition as totally out of the question. He would be glad to know where, in the history of Parliament, it was to be found that counsel were ever admitted to be heard against a measure of some kind or other not yet submitted to their Lordships, but which some noble Lord was expected to propose. Let the subject who petitioned be high or low, he would ask their Lordships, whether they were prepared to hear counsel against the privilege of a peer to present a bill? He conceived that their Lordships, as well as juries, were perfectly qualified to dismiss from their minds every thing that passed in a preliminary inquiry.

The Marquis of Lansdowne and Lord Holland spoke in favour of the petition; Lord Redesdale and the Marquis of Buckingham against it. The proposition was finally negatived without a division.

This question being decided, nothing was left to delay the grand and long-impending step-the introduction of the bill of Pains and Penalties. Lord Liverpool immediately rose and proposed it. After the most deliberate consideration, he could discover no other course in which he could move. Impeachment was, by the

highest legal authorities, considered inapplicable. Its adoption would certainly have hazarded the loss of the measure from the mere wrong course pursued. From the judicial habits of this House, and from the analogy of the present to a divorce case, the House of Peers appeared the proper quarter in which any proceeding should commence. Ministers wished, as far as possible, to avoid prejudicing the case of the accused party. He was, however, free to say, that the bill on their Lordships' table, founded on the allegations contained in the report, did tend to create some degree of prejudice. He was ready to admit that fact-it was an unavoidable consequence; for there was nothing in the form of justice, though it went to protect an individual who was accused, that did not tend to excite some prejudice. Even where a person was taken into custody, and brought before a magistrate on oath, though the administration of the oath was meant to assist the individual accused, still it went, to a certain extent, to raise a prejudice against him. It was a circumstance that arose out of the very nature of justice itself. He would now state to their Lordships what the nature of the bill was. It was a bill of pains and penalties; and its preamble would point out with as much particularity as was ever displayed in any criminal case, and as much as the nature of the circumstances required, the offences charged against the accused party. It had been endeavoured to frame the bill in a manner that should not bear more severely on the illustrious personage accused, than the safety of the state and the ends of substantial justice required. With respect to any question relative to a provision for the illustrious personage, their Lordships must be aware that it could not originate in that House. As to the more immediate proceedings,

he wished a copy of the bill to be forwarded in the most respectful manner to each of the illustrious individuals concerned. He would wish to delay the second reading for a few days, and would be disposed to fix on that day fortnight as a proper and reasonable time. It was most satisfactory to reflect, that the country had no precedents of a case similar to the present, during a period of 200 years, except in the instance of one individual, who never came over to this country. There had not been a Queen in this country during that time, against whom even a whisper of shame had been raised to affect her character or sully her reputation. There was no longer an opportunity of avoiding the shame and scandal of this investigation, whatever its result might be. Nothing now remained for their Lordships to do but to pursue a clear and straight-forward course-to perform their duty boldly-determined, whatever public clamours might exist, to take care that public justice was satisfied.

The Clerk then read the bill.