Imatges de pàgina
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that, on such an occasion, her Majesty had not resorted to the advice of those who were her professional advisers, and that she should have suffered by a base and pernicious interference. It was a full month ago since ministers had communicated to Mr Brougham the principle on which they intended to act. He had no hesitation in stating, that if her Majesty had allowed that practical separation to continue which had so long subsisted, and had remained abroad, so far from bringing on any measure of this kind, his Majesty's ministers would have felt it their duty to avert this painful examination. He deprecated the assertion, that it was a flagrant breach of duty to have held out what was termed a bribe to her Majesty that it was a forgetfulness of constitutional duty to have offered any sum of money, without previously consulting the House, who were ultimately to vote it. In contracting with a foreign power for a subsidy, no previous mention was made to Parliament of the sum so to be given. No doubt the treaty would be afterwards to be submitted to Parliament, and such would be the understanding with all the contracting parties; but still it was the practice to arrange the amount of the sum, without any previous application to Parliament. It was said that the offer had been made to her Majesty on condition of her resigning her titles and rank as Queen. No such proposition could be made; nor could it be said that proceedings should be commenced as against her Majesty, in consequence of her not resigning her honours and titles as Queen. Her Majesty could not resign those titles; they belonged to her, and they could not be removed, unless the legislature concurred in an act for that purpose. Therefore such a proposition could not be made to, or effectively complied with by her

Majesty. What was understood was, that by her Majesty remaining abroad, the whole of those conflicts would be avoided which must arise from her residence in this country; for it could not be denied, that, if her Majesty remained here, with the rights and pri vileges of her rank as Queen, it would occasion daily conflicts in a particular quarter, which there would be no lack of disposition to turn to another purpose. The understanding with respect to her Majesty's title as Queen was, that (assuming her residence abroad) she should travel under such a title as might prevent the recurrence of those circumstances which must be painful to her Majesty, and which arose from conflicts with public officers abroad while travelling under her title as Queen. But this was never meant to be understood as requiring her Majesty to surrender any legal right or title which she possessed; and the honourable and learned gentleman possessed a document which would put this matter beyond all doubt, and shew that no such thing was ever in contemplation as to take away any of her Majesty's legal rights or titles.

As to the reports of his Majesty's ministers acting as men and as ministers in opposition to her Majesty, and wishing to deprive her of those rights and privileges which she ought to enjoy, he would say, that there was no foundation for the charge. There existed no such disposition amongst his Majesty's ministers. But in looking at the privileges of her Majesty, the House should distinguish between those which she held as matters of right, and those which she enjoyed as matters of grace and favour on the part of his Majesty. If not debarred from those which belonged to her as matters of right, she ought not to complain that she did not enjoy those which are only given as matters of favour. As an instance of a privilege

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of the latter description, he would mention reception at court;-of this the King himself must be the best and sole judge, for no one would assert that he had not a right to regulate his own court and his own family; and no one could justly complain of his doing so. When this subject was before the House on a former occasion, it was held that the King was the regulator of his own court, and the Queen of her drawing-room; and that the King had the undoubted right to arrange his court and family as he pleased. He apprehended that any honours paid to the Royal Family were derived from the favour of the Crown; and any want of respect to the Crown might be a ground for depriving any member of that family of those privileges. He apprehended that the coronation was also a privilege which must be considered as derived from the grace and favour of the Crown; but he would admit, that in this the Crown should not act irrationally, but upon intelligible principles. In the same manner must be viewed the reception by authorities at home or abroad; they all proceeded from the grace and favour of the Sovereign. Was it meant to be said, that the Crown, for exercising its undoubtprerogative in withholding these distinctions, was to be accused of injustice towards that individual whom its determination affected? He should be prepared, at another time, to contend, that it was entirely in the discretion of the Crown, whether the members of the Royal Family should be prayed for in the liturgy, by name, or generally as the Royal Family; but, above all, he should contend that it was for the Crown to grant or withhold such a favour. As to the treatment of the Queen by the foreign ministers of the Crown, this point had been settled since 1817, when instructions had been issued in consequence

of application made by the minister at Stutgard. These instructions distinctly said, that they were not in their official character to give to her Majesty any public or official reception; that they were not themselves to be the instrument of introducing her Majesty at foreign courts; and that if any foreign court should think fit to give a public reception to her, they

were not to assist on the occasion as the ministers of this country. But it would be found that it was laid down in those instructions, quite as broadly, that they were equally enjoined to obtain for, and give to her Majesty, every possible facility and comfort in the prosecution of her travels through the kingdoms where they might be stationed; and that she was not to receive any interruption. He hoped the House, at least, were satisfied with the explanations which he had given; but he had no hesitation in saying, that the miseries which had attended her Majesty's travels arose from the situation of her Majesty herself. He had already explained, that her Majesty, since the accession of his Majesty, had travelled under no other character than that of Queen of England; and the fact was, that her Majesty was in the habit of pressing the question of her public situation upon the public authorities of countries; and, first, upon our own ministers, because they were the channels of the highest respectability for introduction to foreign courts. As to guards of honour, which were matters of favour, and by no means matters of right, they were not usually granted to those travelling under an incognito; and from this, and other circumstances, it was to be inferred, that her Majesty's own acts were the only reason why every facility, of every kind, was not experienced by her. There had been no unbecoming severity exercised towards her Ma

jesty, even after her unwished-for arrival in this country. Immediate notice had been given that her income would be continued without interruption. If a palace had not been provided, it was merely because there was none in readiness; and others of the Royal Family were in a similar situation. He did not disguise from himself, nor attempt to conceal from others, the difficulties of the peculiar situation of the House; nor its anxious embarrassment, under the circumstances of the case; nor the desire which it must feel to conclude such a discussion. But he trusted, that whatever were the difficulties of the case; whatever might be their feelings upon it; yet, under the influence of our happy constitution, there would be wisdom enough in both Houses of Parliament to meet them; that there would be found to prevail the most temperate deliberation, and an absence of all that feeling and irritation upon the subject, which might prevent Parliament from arriving at the only goal, which, he would assure the House, was contemplated by his Majesty's Government-namely, the execution of impartial justice between the parties, without favour or affection. He did trust that the tone and attitude which were always assumed by Parliament upon great occasions would be preserved upon this; and that though the people could not help sharing in the anguish which the unfortunate circumstances of the case were calculated to cause to every bosom in the country, yet they would have the satisfaction of knowing that the interests of justice were properly supported. But if there was any disposition to evade this question, coming as it did before Parliament; if, unfortunately, an illustrious personage had lent her ear to any mischievous or false adviser, (loud and repeated cries of Hear, hear, hear,)

who had taught her either that her honour or her innocence and he trusted that she might be able to vindicate both-would be supported by the agitation of the country, she could reap nothing but regret and disappointment from allowing herself, however undesignedly, to be the dupe of such wicked and dangerous men. If she had any enemies upon earth, whose advice could make her cause despicable as well as odious in the sight of all honest men, they were those who would advise her to a garbled, untrue, and inaccurate disclosure of facts, or who advised any disclosure but to Parliament, which would hear her with that favour with which it was always disposed to listen to the accused. It was only by ignorant, weak, or wicked persons, that any appeal could be advised, which might have the effect of reviving crimes, or repeating agitations, which had already disturbed and disgraced the country.

Lord Castlereagh was answered by Mr Brougham, whose observations, independent of the great talent by which they were marked, excited peculiar interest, from the confidential situation in which he stood, with regard to the Queen. He began by expressing his satisfaction, that the hour was at length arrived when he might freely, fully, and openly defend those interests to the best of his abilities, although he must do so, unfortunately, under the consciousness of his inadequacy to so great a task-great, as regarded those interests which were here at stake, and yet more so, as regarded those others which they involved. It was to Parliament that the illustrious lady, who was the subject of this debate, addressed herself; but it was to the high court of Parliament, and not to any selected band of mutes, that she made her appeal. Her sagacity, not inferior to that of

any person in public or private life whom he had ever met with, her natural propriety of conduct, a propriety maintained under circumstances the most dangerous and hostile to do mestic harmony and domestic virtue, satisfied the mind of her Majesty, that an open investigation could alone answer the ends of justice. Exposed as she had been to unusual and imminent temptation, separated from all those friendships and that regular intercourse which were the best guardians and preservatives of female virtue; under all the perilous circumstances in which she was placed, she courted, and declined not, inquiry. Although deprived of that salutary assistance and control which was best afforded by habits of a domestic nature of that advantage which must always be reaped from an association with those where the feelings of nature were most cherished-the illustrious lady in question came forward with, to all appearances, nothing but conscious innocence to support her. The moral vigour, the strong faculties to which he had alluded, would of themselves, independent of her illustrious birth, have prevented any mean or degrading concession on her part.

Mr Brougham seemed to admit, that the abrupt arrival in England was an error, but excused it on account of her long residence abroad, and disunion from English society. Would those who heard him, possessing as he knew they did, the feelings of men and of gentlemen, with a living spark of honour animating their breasts, severely blame an error, if an error it was, which, under the guidance of perhaps not absolute wisdom, her Majesty had been induced to commit? After an absence of six years, placed in a difficult and trying situation, it would have been almost unnatural if the Queen had not open

VOL. XIII. Part I.

ed her heart, and given vent to her feelings in acknowledgment of the reception which she met with. It was perhaps a misfortune that such things had occurred, and that the possibility of their occurrence had not been prevented. The noble lord (Castlereagh) the organ in that House of a ricketty and shattered administration, the leading member of a cabinet whose only glory was, that it comprised the first military genius of his age, (the Duke of Wellington,) and the most successful_commander whom his country had produced; that noble lord had, it was true, endeavoured to shew that the form of proceeding which he recommended might wear the semblance of a just and impartial investigation. Did any man in sober sense even imagine that a select committee of that House bore the least similitude to a grand jury? Was there any thing at all analogous to the ordinary course of law, the forms of its process, or the rules of its dispensation, in the proceeding to which the noble lord invited their support? Many would concur with the noble lord's object, but few would assent to his reasoning. The evidence which the noble lord now talked of referring to a committee, was made up of papers only, of papers transmitted from beyond the Alps, and which, for reasons that he could not understand, were now for the first time to be disclosed. These papers, however, it appeared, were intended to save the committee the trouble of examining witnesses to their face. For his own part he knew nothing of the materials which were to constitute the subject of inquiry; his knowledge was confined to the exterior of a green bag. In that bag was contained not only all the documentary evidence, but all the evidence of any kind which could be adduced before a committee. He

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had reason to believe that no living witness would be brought forward for any further purpose than that of verifying certain signatures.

Mr Brougham then made severe strictures on the conduct of an eminent practitioner in Chancery, who had taken an active part in collecting the evidence; but the noble lord thought proper to contend, that all proceedings before a committee would be indifferent as to the result of an ulterior inquiry. This proposition he begged leave to deny at once. The report of a committee of that House was not indifferent to the fame or interests of any individual. What honourable member would choose to have his honour, his life, or his reputation, made dependent on the deliberations or judgment of such a tribunal? Who would be satisfied to have his whole conduct during six long years, and at the distance of a thousand miles, without the power of calling a single witness, or knowing what was in agitation against him, made a matter of grave inquiry? He called on every man who heard him to lay his hand on his heart and declare, whether in his own case he would put his trust, or rest his final hope, on a committee. The House would bear in mind what would be the probable composition of that committee, and would easily understand that it would sit within the wall of darkness. Was then a solemn parliamentary opinion to be recorded in this manner? The noble lord's distress, in bringing forward this proposition, was manifest. There was, he verily believed, nothing of his (Lord Castlereagh's) earthly goods, nothing of his future hopes, which he would not cheerfully surrender, in order to avoid the dreadful alternative which awaited him. How could the character of her Majesty, or of any other person, be said to be in se

curity, when left to the uncertain issue of a committee's investigation? Might not that character be in effect destroyed and blasted by the report of a committee? The House well knew, that if his Majesty's ministers thought that there were grounds of accusation, the committee would think so likewise. Why did not his Majesty's ministers act upon the persuasion which they affected to entertain? Why shift responsibility on other shoulders, or shelter themselves behind better names than their own? If the House upon its own rights thought proper to become accusers, he for one should be much more satisfied than with the report of a committee. Such a mode of proceeding would carry with it no prejudice, nor raise any obstruction to the free course of judicial inquiry. Admitting that something in the nature of a preliminary investigation ought to take place, it was not to the keeping of a committee that he would entrust a sacred charge-the charge of a Queen's honour and fair fame.

In regard to the negociation, Mr Brougham admitted the propriety with which ministers could make an offer, subject to the future sanction of Parliament. The offensive part of the proposition was, that 50,000l. had been offered, on condition of steps on the Queen's part, which would imply a tacit admission, that there was something about her, which would not bear the light. It was no doubt common for royal personages to travel under a borrowed name, but then this name was usually one belonging to their family; the privilege of using which, the Queen was required to renounce. He had been falsely represented, as having advised the Queen to reject the propositions only after having heard her impressions on the subject; he had given this advice immediately on their be

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