were aware, at every step they took, that they had no ground to stand on; and that they went on with witness after witness, fishing for any ground of charge that might turn up. This was no offence in them; but it was a most heinous one in the king's ministers.

Mr. Tierney then contended, that the mode of procedure by a bill of Pains and Penalties, was oppressive and unjust, and that the abandonment of the prosecution, after it had been once instituted, was no less blameable than its original commencement. If, indeed, he were asked what would appear the most degrading point in the late proceedings to those who should read of them in history, he would answer that it was that ministers had not passed the bill. They had said to the House of Commons, who were expecting that it would come down to them, "You gen tlemen have nothing to do with this bill; a moral conviction of her majesty's guilt has been created in another place; and to prevent your meddling with it, we are determined that it shall not pass." He was surprised that the highest legal authority in the kingdom, the lord chancellor, the great guardian of its laws, and the grand depository of its justice, should have concurred, without any apparent reluctance, in that determination. Had he put any protest against it upon record? No: the bill was abandoned without any dissent being expressed by him, or indeed by any members of the other House, with the exception of about ten peers, who, by entering their protest against its abandonment, did themselves as

much honour, as those, who had neglected to do so, had done themselves disgrace.

The advocates for the bill asked of their opponents, whether it was fitting, that a Queen to whom treason and adultery was imputed, should be allowed to sit on the throne of England. What, however, had been the result of the late proceeding? Why, that her majesty had not merely had adultery imputed, but, if the ministers of the crown were to be believed, actually proved against her; so that they had now placed upon the throne, not merely imputed guilt, but guilt of which they had in their own minds moral conviction: and the House

was thrown into such a situation that it was obliged afterwards to proceed to vote 50,000. of the public money for her support and maintenance? Her majesty, however, with a spirit worthy of her rank and station, said, that she would not touch a farthing of what had been voted her, until the House cleared her character from all unfounded aspersions; so that, if it had not been for her conduct, which on this point deserved the highest praise, the people of England would have been reduced by ministers to the necessity of paying the same honours to a Queen whom they could not respect, as they would bestow on one who was the object of their esteem and admiration.

The most interesting speech in this important debate, was that of Lord Castlereagh: for instead of dwelling on general topics, he went into the particular circumstances of the principal transactions, and unfolded the mysterious course which Mr.

His

Brougham had followed. lordship's statement on the latter topic, was to the following effect: In the month of June, 1819, a communication had been received by his majesty's government from the hon. and learned gentleman, who was known to be the professional adviser of her majesty, and understood to be charged with the confidential management of her affairs in this country. The proposal contained in this communication was, that her majesty (at that time princess of Wales) should be secured in her then income of 35,000l. a year for her own life, instead of its terminating with the demise of the Crown; and that she should undertake, upon that arrangement being made, to continue permanently to reside abroad, not assuming at any time the rank, style, or title of Queen of this country. As this proposal was stated to be made without any authority or knowledge on the part of the princess of Wales; and as it could not be carried into effect without the aid of parliament; the only answer given on the part of his majesty's government was, that there would be no indisposition, at the proper time, to entertain the principle on which the proposal was grounded, if it should turn out that it met with the approbation and concurrence of the princess. Of course, it rested with the party making the proposal, to ascertain this point before any further step could be taken by his majesty's government. Upon the demise of his late majesty, an alteration in the Liturgy became necessary. It was not till some days after that alteration had been made, that the

communication was renewed between the hon. and learned gentleman and his majesty's government. In that renewed communication, no intimation was given by the hon. and learned gentleman that, in his judgment, though of course he could not take upon himself to answer for the Queen, the change in her majesty's situation, by the demise of the late king, was likely to create any material obstacle to the completion of an amicable arrangement' founded on the basis of his original proposal-and in respect to the Liturgy in particular, he stated, that, by the manner of arranging the new form of prayer -omitting the name of the heir presumptive, as well as that of the Queen-it seemed to him, that any unfavourable inference against her majesty, which must have arisen, if the name of the duke of York had been inserted, and that of the Queen omitted, was happily obviated. With this knowledge of the hon. and learned gentleman's sentiments; and with the implied, and indeed avowed readiness on his part, to submit to her majesty a proposal, formed on this basis, and to offer his advice to her majesty in favour of her acceptance of it; the substance of it was reduced into writing, and put into his hands on the 15th of April, 1820, to be by him communicated and recommended to her majesty. In saying that the memorandum of the 15th of April contained the substance of the honourable and learned gentleman's suggestion, it ought to be observed, that the only essential difference was this

that, instead of 35,000l. a year, an annual allowance of 50,000l. was proposed. This most im

portant memorandum the hon. and learned gentleman kept in his pocket from the 15th of April till the end of May, without, on the one hand, making any communication of it to her majesty, or, on the other, giving to the king's ministers reason to apprehend, that any circumstance had occurred to render it less fit for her majesty's acceptance, or the prospect of that acceptance more doubtful than he conceived it to be, when he first undertook the negotiation. What prevented the hon. and learned gentleman from proceeding to the continent to wait upon her majesty during this long interval, it was not easy to conjecture; especially after the election for Westmoreland was over. There was indeed a Whig candidate who claimed his support at Carlisle; but was this a sufficient reason for the neglect of a duty of this importance, on the part of an advocate who feels that there is no sacrifice which he is not bound to make for the interests of his illustrious client? At the end of May, however, he went to St. Omer, her majesty having then proceeded so far on her way to England; and on his arrival there, he found that her majesty had surrendered herself to other counsels, and that the wisdom of alderman Wood would be consulted in preference to any advice which he might have to offer. Whether from this, or from any other unexplained motive, operating on the mind of the hon. and learned gentleman, who had gone to St. Omer for the express purpose of tardily delivering the memorandum of the 15th of April, and of advising with her majesty on the subject of it, he returned to England.

without ever having delivered that memorandum, or even informed her majesty, that he was charged with any communication from his majesty's government. It was true, that a communication was made (apparently at the hon. and learned gentleman's earnest request) to her majesty by a noble lord, who had accompanied him to St. Omer; but it was equally true, that the noble lord had no commission or authority from any quarter whatever to make that communication, and that the memorandum, which had been confided to Mr. Brougham alone, had never even been put into the hands of that noble lord by his majesty's government. This circumstance might account for the difference between the terms of the communication made by the noble lord to her majesty, and those contained in the memorandum. That noble lord had certainly no communication to make to her majesty respecting the proposed arrangement; but he had been apprised of the course which his majesty's government had determined to adopt in the event of her majesty's coming to England, with the understanding that he should, in fairness to her majesty, apprise her of that determination, in the event of such being her final decision, after the terms to be proposed by Mr. Brougham should have been (if contrary to expectation they were) finally rejected, but not otherwise.

The noble lord then justified the whole course taken by ministers antecedent to the prosecution, and repeated, that their uniform desire was, to ward off, if possible, the necessity of exposing the details of the case.

He

also declared, that the evidence did not rest upon the testimony of abandoned characters, but of travellers of all ranks, who had visited the places where her majesty had resided; and he posi tively denied, that up to the period of the institution of the Milan commission, which was dated in March 1818, although the parties did not go over until the August following, ministers had officially taken the least pains to collect testimony against her majesty. No servant of the crown had, up to that period, received instructions upon the subject; although undoubtedly they had communications forced upon them by the notoriety of the circumstances. The death of the princess Charlotte had nothing more to do in the way of influencing government as to the time of instituting the Milan commission, than any other circumstance. The reason why the investigation had not been taken up sooner was, that her majesty did not return from the long voyage till shortly before that time; and it was not till late in that year, that ministers were made acquainted with the whole extent of the charges relative to her conduct during that voyage. If any inquiry was instituted for the purpose of fishing and prying, whether any of the subordinate agents of government had acted contrary to their instructions-if it was wished to ascertain whether the country had, by this commission, been involved in unnecessary expense-he should be prepared to give every information that could be required. At present he should only say, that the commission had been instituted on the report of a legal

adviser of the crown of high character, who had said, that if called upon to wind up the charges, and give an opinion on them, that opinion must be against the party accused. That person, at the same time, thought that such a proceeding should be founded on evidence, which could not be impeached, and which ought, therefore, to be previously inquired into. If the gentlemen opposite were to call before them Mr. Cooke and Mr. Powell, who had conducted the evidence, and were to examine them as to the injunctions under which they took the various depositions and examinations, they would find, that no precautions had been omitted, which the spirit of justice could dictate.

Mr. Brougham's reply was by no means satisfactory, and was singularly deficient in perspicuity

a quality which the speeches of that learned gentleman, whether argumentative, or declamatory, generally possess in a very eminent degree. Admitting that he had made in 1819 a proposition on the part, but without the knowledge of her majesty, such as lord Castlereagh had mentioned, he contended, that it was made under circumstances totally dif ferent from those, under which the government had adopted it as the basis of their offers to the Queen. When it was brought forward by him, the Queen was princess of Wales; the late king was alive and in perfect health; no apprehension existed of his death and of the consequent demise of the crown; such an

event as the demise of the crown was not then contemplated; and surely there was a wide difference between covenanting not

to take up a future and contingent dignity, and abdicating that which was already in actual possession. In the latter case, the Queen was required to step down from her station, to give up all claim to its honours, to abandon the throne itself, to part with all her rights and privileges. This circumstance could not but affect an arrangement, which was to be made, with a person not merely expectant of a right, but, possessing one which she could not give up. To whom, then, was the delay to be attributed? To the ministers, who had suffered the interval between June 1819, and February 1820, to elapse without acting upon the proposition which had been made to them. That proposition, in fact, was nothing more than a suggestion on the part of her majesty's legal adviser that, if certain terms were offered to her by the government, he would recommend her to adopt a course, of which they -should be the basis. But their delay was the very thing, which made it impossible that the terms could be accepted: for there was all the difference in the world, between the situation of her majesty in June 1819, and in Feb. 1820. It had been asked, why he (Mr. B.) had not gone over to the continent sooner : and why he had from the 15th of April, kept in his pocket the proposition he was charged to deliver? Now, he had never, for one moment, concealed from lord Liverpool the impossibility of his going to such a distance as Geneva. He had never given him the slightest reason to suppose, that he could be absent more than six or seven days from his place in that House. When

he set off to meet his royal mistress at St. Omer, his belief certainly was, that her interests, and those of the country, equally required, that the threatened investigation should not go on; not that he conceived she had any thing to dread from the severest scrutiny into all parts of her conduct (for the conduct of innocence dreaded no scrutiny), but because she was surrounded by all those dangers that a person can be threatened with, who had resided in a country, where, for six years, her life and her honour had been equally the objects of a conspiracy; and where witnesses could be bought for money to rake up, from every corner of Italy, every scandal that could be invented, or idle tale that malice and detraction could frame. His belief was also this-that there were certain cases, which, from the mere odious nature of the charges that were to be adduced, and the abominable details of the accusation, would induce a person to pause before he ran into a trial, when, by an honourable arrangement, he might obtain all that his character required the other party to concede. He did feel, that if, by an honourable arrangement, her majesty could obtain terms which were consonant with her own honour (and others, no person could have dared to recommend her), and which would have obviated all idea of investigation, her majesty would have been justified in availing herself of them. And although, from the first moment of seeing her, he perceived that the negotiation was at an end; yet, after her first rejection of the terms, he continued, subsequently to her arrival in this