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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Secret History of the Court of England, from
+the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth,
+Volume II (of 2), by Lady Anne Hamilton
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Secret History of the Court of England, from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth, Volume II (of 2)
+       Including, Among Other Important Matters, Full Particulars of the Mysterious Death of the Princess Charlotte
+
+
+Author: Lady Anne Hamilton
+
+
+
+Release Date: September 30, 2011  [eBook #37571]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECRET HISTORY OF THE COURT OF
+ENGLAND, FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE
+FOURTH, VOLUME II (OF 2)***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Steven Gibbs, Lisa Reigel, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
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+      See 37571-h.htm or 37571-h.zip:
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+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37571/37571-h.zip)
+
+
+      Project Gutenberg also has Volume I of this work. See
+      http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37570
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text in italics in the original is surrounded by underscores
+      (_italics_).
+
+      Text in a Gothic font in the original are surrounded by equal
+      signs (=Gothic=).
+
+      Characters superscripted in the original are surrounded by
+      curly braces (example: SAM{L}).
+
+      A row of asterisks represents a thought break or an ellipsis
+      in a poetry quotation. Other asterisks indicate censored names.
+
+      The original uses two kinds of blockquotes--one type has words
+      in a smaller font, and the other uses extra white space before
+      and after the quotation. The transcriber has used wider margins
+      to represent the smaller font and two blank lines before and
+      after to represent extra white space.
+
+      Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the
+      original. A few typographical errors have been corrected. A
+      complete list follows the text.
+
+
+
+
+
+                            SECRET HISTORY
+
+                                OF THE
+
+                         =Court of England=,
+
+            FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD TO THE
+                     DEATH OF GEORGE THE FOURTH;
+
+              INCLUDING, AMONG OTHER IMPORTANT MATTERS,
+
+               FULL PARTICULARS OF THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH
+
+                                OF THE
+
+                         PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
+
+
+              BY THE RIGHT HONORABLE LADY ANNE HAMILTON,
+
+    _Sister of His Grace the present Duke of Hamilton and Brandon;
+                   and of the Countess of Dunmore._
+
+
+     "OF MEANER VICE AND VILLAINS, SING NO MORE,
+      BUT MONSTERS CROWN'D, AND CRIME ENROBED WITH POWER!
+      AT VICE'S HIGH IMPERIAL THRONE BEGIN,
+      AND BOLDLY BRAND SUCH PRODIGIES OF SIN;
+      WITH PREGNANT PHRASE, AND STRONG IMPARTIAL VERSE,
+      THE CRIMES OF LORDS AND CRIMES OF KINGS REHEARSE!"
+
+
+                               VOL II.
+
+
+                               LONDON:
+                PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM HENRY STEVENSON,
+                    13, WELLINGTON STREET, STRAND.
+                                1832.
+
+
+
+
+SECRET HISTORY,
+
+_&c. &c._
+
+
+The coronation of George the Fourth, which had been postponed from time
+to time, at length took place on the 19th of July. We think, situated as
+her majesty then was, she ought to have been attended to the Abbey by
+all the noblemen and gentlemen whose courage and honour had permitted
+them to espouse and support her cause; and, with such a phalanx, could
+she have been refused admittance? Instead of such arrangement, however,
+her majesty went at an early hour, accompanied by two ladies and one
+gentleman!--was refused admittance at the first door, and sought for
+entrance at another, with the same ill success. It was true, her majesty
+had not an imperative right to be _crowned_, though she had an undoubted
+title to be present at the ceremony of her husband's coronation. Nay,
+claiming her right of admission in the character of cousin to his
+majesty, ought to have entitled her to very different treatment. Her
+majesty would not have encroached upon another's privileges, by entering
+Westminster Hall, because that might be considered the king's dining
+room; and the queen was too well informed to pass the boundary of
+privilege.
+
+On the evening of the 18th of July, Lord and Lady Hood slept at
+Cambridge House, and, after retiring for the night, they were disturbed
+by the announcement that a messenger waited from Mr. Brougham to see
+Lord Hood. His lordship saw the messenger, whose business was to say,
+"If Lord Hood wanted any tickets for the coronation, he might have as
+many as he pleased." Lord Hood said, "I have _my own_, and that is quite
+enough; I need no more." It becomes a wise general to provide against
+the inroad of an enemy, and Lord Hood _ought_, and was in duty bound, to
+have accepted Mr. Brougham's offer of tickets, though that offer was
+made so SECRETLY, and at _such a late hour_. Lord Hood was either not
+sufficiently _firm_ in the interest of her majesty, or else some
+previous understanding had existed upon the subject of these tendered
+tickets; for all well-dressed ladies were admitted upon the presentation
+of a ticket, and the name never required. There cannot be a doubt that
+the king had positive fears of the arrival of her majesty, because his
+carriage was kept in waiting to convey him to Carlton House, should the
+queen be announced. Well might he say to the bearers of his train, "Hold
+it wider." Yes, indeed, he required room to breathe, for CONSCIENCE is
+an obtrusive monitor, as well as a privileged guest, in all companies.
+
+In addition to the negligence of the _professed friends_ of the queen,
+we are sorry to say, that the ministers had prepared means, very
+demeaning, as well as perfectly _unconstitutional_. A covered boat was
+in waiting at the back of the hall, on the Thames, to convey the queen
+(if deemed needful) to the Tower; but, some persons of principle and
+property being aware of this abuse of power, many boats were upon the
+river, to render assistance, if required, to an insulted queen. Eight
+regiments of soldiers were in and near London, FIVE of which were THE
+DETERMINED FRIENDS OF THE QUEEN! Was it not rather a peculiar
+circumstance that Alderman Wood (who was in the procession of the lord
+mayor) was the loudest in his applause to the king? But, before we
+conclude this work, our readers will have no reason to be surprised at
+this conduct of the inconsistent and interested alderman. It was
+likewise very strange, that Lord Liverpool, the then first lord of the
+Treasury, was NOT PRESENT AT THE CORONATION! From whence was this
+unusual non-attendance upon the monarch to be attributed? Because Lord
+Liverpool, seeing the danger likely to result from the refusal of her
+majesty to the coronation, had advised the king to receive his consort.
+At first, his majesty consented, but shortly afterwards retracted his
+promise. Lord Liverpool, however, had caused this permission of his
+majesty for the queen's presence at the coronation to be made known to
+her, and a plan of the interior of the Abbey was enclosed at the same
+time, in which a seat was expressly ordered to be prepared for her
+majesty. We can positively assure our readers of the truth of this; for,
+two evenings previous to the coronation, we were sitting with one of
+her majesty's private friends, when the servant brought in a note, which
+that friend read with the greatest vivacity. It contained an assurance,
+that the king had consented to her majesty's being received at the
+banquet, and a plan was produced, exhibiting a seat, in which the queen
+and her attendants were to sit. Her majesty's impression was, we can
+confidently say, "That the Earl of Liverpool had advised the king to
+permit her to be received, in order to prevent ill consequences; for
+that, in case any riot should take place during the procession, the king
+_might have been smothered in the crowd_!" The Earl of Liverpool,
+however, had disobliged his majesty in the November previous, by
+abandoning the Bill of Pains and Penalties; but what else could he have
+done? If sentence had been passed against her, the mighty rush of public
+opinion would have probably overwhelmed the whole regal circle.
+Doubtless, Earl Lauderdale had given his royal master another version of
+the matter, as, from _his representation_, the king _again refused_ to
+see his consort; in consequence of which, the most arbitrary measures
+were taken to prevent the appearance of the queen at the coronation. We
+must also place upon record that, on the 24th of the same month, Lord
+Lauderdale's honours (_extra_ knight of the thistle, &c.) appeared in
+the Gazette, which were, no doubt, bestowed upon him for his avowed
+enmity to the queen.
+
+We are sorry that Lord Hood, her majesty's only _male_ attendant to the
+coronation, did not act a little more as became his duty to his royal
+mistress on this trying occasion. His lordship offered neither
+resistance nor remonstrance to the insult of refusing her majesty an
+admittance to the Abbey; but tamely, not to say _cowardly_, submitted to
+it, as he immediately led the queen to her carriage! Yet Lord Hood was a
+peer! but, gentle reader, he was also a--PENSIONER! We put the question
+to every honest-hearted Englishman, what force would have dared to
+oppose the queen's entry into the Abbey, if she had been properly
+surrounded and attended by her legal advisers and friends? Had such been
+the case, the "accomplished gentleman" would have met his injured,
+basely-treated wife, whose gaze must have brought a blush upon his
+guilty cheek. Such an unexpected visit had been contrary to his
+royally-fixed determination, as he then _would_ have "met her in
+public."
+
+The English character has ever been proverbial for morality, gallantry,
+justice, and humanity; though we cannot help thinking it suffered a
+little degradation when the queen was refused admittance to the scene of
+her husband's coronation. This, indeed, is a blot upon the annals of our
+country, which the stream of time will never be able to wash away.
+History cannot forget the conduct of the sovereign in this instance,
+who, when about to enter into a solemn compact with his people, and
+while calling THE OMNIPOTENT GOD to witness his faith and sincerity,
+"that he will most truly deal out justice, and love mercy, in his
+kingly station," at the same moment _refused_ BOTH to his own wife! Let
+not such vindictive and disgraceful conduct be forgotten, when the
+_taste_ and _elegant manners_ of George the Fourth are extolled!
+
+Amongst the gay throng of fawning courtiers that attended this ceremony
+was the Marquis of Londonderry, whose glittering appendages and costly
+array were of an unusual quality. Yet, gorgeous as was the sight, the
+absence of the queen rendered the coronation pomp an uninteresting scene
+of solemn mockery in its character, and an insulting imposition to the
+nation, who, while hearing the royal engagements made to them,
+nationally and individually, saw the first law of nature inverted by the
+very personage for whom this "mighty show" was designed. But are we not
+justified in supposing that George the Fourth possessed but a weak
+understanding, a frail heart, and strong prejudices, and that his
+judgment was perverted by bad counsel? Had his majesty been a sensible
+man, he would have perceived that all the advantages of his rank and
+station were conferred upon him by his fellow-men, and would not have
+squandered the national wealth upon unworthy characters. The title of
+king carries no such charm with it as to exempt its possessor from any
+of those infirmities which are incidental to his species; but he is
+doomed to drag about with him a frail tenement of clay, sometimes well
+and sometimes ill shaped, and liable every moment to be dissolved, and
+reduced to a state of putrefaction, in common with all those who
+contribute, by their labour, to its support. But how differently did
+George the Fourth consider his title and power at this period of his
+vanity! He concealed, as much as possible, the defects of his nature
+from "vulgar eyes," by exhibiting himself on a public stage, in borrowed
+plumes, like the jackdaw in the fable, who astonished his fellow-daws by
+assuming the gaudy plumage of the peacock. Thousands of weak mortals
+flocked about the royal actor, and expressed such extreme delight at the
+pageant scene, that we could hardly wonder to find him and his created
+nobles so inflated with pride as to consider themselves of a superior
+nature to the rest of mankind, and to believe that those who so much
+admired their external appendages were born to be their slaves. We
+deprecate such grovelling servility in the people as much as we pity the
+pride of the nobles. As well might a worm or a grub, when decorated with
+the ephemeral wings of a butterfly, look contemptuously on the crawling
+snail!
+
+But a few years before the insult was offered to the queen at the
+coronation, her brother, the Duke of Brunswick, had fallen in the field
+of battle, while bravely fighting against Napoleon at Waterloo. Her
+majesty was now, therefore, bereft of every natural connexion, save her
+vindictive and cruel husband; and history hardly presents a more trying
+situation than that in which the persecuted and shamefully-treated Queen
+of England was placed.
+
+The Duke of Newcastle, who _distinguished_ himself upon the queen's
+trial, by pronouncing judgment against her majesty without hearing the
+evidence in her favour, was the boroughmonger selected to bear the
+"sword of mercy" before the king at the coronation! We ought not,
+probably, to find fault with the choice of George the Fourth in this
+instance; as the duke's subsequent acts have proved him so _worthy_ of
+being the bearer of such an emblem,--to which the people of _Newark_ can
+fully testify!
+
+Upon her majesty's arrival at Brandenburgh House, after being refused
+admittance to the coronation, she took a cup of tea, and then retired to
+her room for nearly four hours. In this interval, the queen resolved to
+visit Scotland; she wrote to Lord Liverpool upon the subject, and
+requested his lordship to apprize the king of her intention. This letter
+was received by his lordship, and answered in the usual strain, "that he
+(Lord Liverpool) had laid her majesty's letter before the king, but had
+not received his majesty's commands thereon." In the intermediate time,
+it was announced, the king would visit Ireland; and his majesty left
+Carlton House at half-past eleven o'clock, on the 31st of July, on his
+way to Portsmouth for Dublin.
+
+On the 30th of July, the evening previous to the king's departure, her
+majesty visited the theatre, and was much indisposed, but would not be
+persuaded to retire before the performance was concluded; indeed, it was
+the queen's usual line of conduct not to disturb any public assembly by
+retiring earlier than was positively needful. Before her majesty went
+to the theatre, she felt indisposed, but declined remaining at home, for
+fear of disappointing the people. When her majesty returned from the
+theatre, she was very sick, and had much pain in her bowels the next
+day. In the afternoon of this day, Dr. Holland called, apparently by
+chance, and, on feeling her pulse, said she must have further advice.
+She objected, as having most confidence in him, who had travelled with
+her; but to satisfy his mind, her majesty said he might bring whom he
+liked. Next day (Wednesday) he brought Dr. Ainslie, who desired to have
+more assistance called in; and on Thursday morning, Dr. Warren
+accompanied the other two, both _king's physicians_, according to
+_etiquette_, we believe. _Previous to this_, she seemed much surprised
+herself at her illness, and said to Dr. Holland, "DO YOU THINK I AM
+POISONED?" This day she was told, they hoped things would end well; but
+if she had any papers of consequence, she had better dispose of them,
+as, in the event of her decease, every thing must go to the king, or the
+ministers,--we forget which. At this, she astonished them all by her
+greatness of mind; for her majesty did not betray the slightest
+agitation, but immediately and coolly answered--"O yes, I understand
+you; it shall be done." She sat up almost the whole of that night with
+her maid Brunette only, burning letters, papers, and MS. books. She then
+called Hyronemus (her maitre d'hotel) and made him swear to burn every
+thing she gave, him in the kitchen fire. More letters, papers, and MS.
+books were then given him, besides a large folio book, full, or nearly
+so, of her own writing. It was about two feet long, and five or six
+inches thick, and bound. This book she always said contained the whole
+history of her life ever since she came to this country, together with
+the characters of the different persons she had been intimate with.
+Besides papers, she sorted all her little trinkets, wrapped them in
+separate papers, and wrote herself the names of all her different
+friends who were to have them, charging Brunette to dispose of them
+after her death according to the directions; but these presents _never
+reached their destination_.
+
+From Thursday, her majesty seemed regularly to get worse, and the
+inquiries after her health by the people at large were equal to the
+interest she had raised in the country. It was pretty generally said
+that her majesty's danger arose from a stoppage in the bowels. Various
+were the remedies prescribed; and, among innumerable others, a bottle of
+_Croton Oil_, with the following kind letter, was sent to an individual
+of her majesty's household:
+
+     "SIR,
+
+     "I am aware that nothing but the great, the very great, danger
+     her majesty is in would excuse this unauthorised intrusion;
+     but, learning from the papers the nature of her majesty's
+     complaint, I have taken the liberty to forward to you, with
+     the view of having it handed to Doctor Maton, or Dr. Warren, a
+     medicine of strong aperient properties, called "Croton Oil,"
+     one drop of which is a dose. There is no doubt but it is known
+     to some of her majesty's medical advisers. It is but lately
+     known in this country. It may be proper to observe that Doctor
+     Pemberton has _himself_ taken it. I have given it to more than
+     one person; its operation is quick and safe. Two drops, when
+     made into pills with bread, usually produce alvine evacuations
+     in half or three quarters of an hour. It has struck me that
+     this medicine may be administered with success to her majesty.
+     At all events, I can have done no harm in taking the liberty
+     to suggest it. Fearful of appearing anxious to make myself
+     obtrusive, I have declined giving my name.
+
+                                       "Your's respectfully,
+                                                     "A CHEMIST."
+
+     "Some suspicion may, perhaps, be attached to the circumstance
+     of this letter being anonymous. I can only answer, that Dr.
+     Warren or Dr. Maton will know the medicine to be what it is
+     represented; if not, the chemist at Hammersmith may be
+     referred to.
+
+     "GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!"
+
+Both the medicine and the letter were referred to Dr. Pemberton, of
+Great George-street, Hanover-square, who used to attend her majesty, but
+had been obliged to give up practice from suffering with the "tic
+douloureux." The poor old man came, though bent double with pain, saw
+the remedy, and gave it as his decided opinion, "that, if a passage
+cannot be obtained in any other way, I certainly would try this, which
+is _sure_ to have EFFECT, as without it her majesty must die; I have,
+indeed, taken two drops of it myself, therefore the queen might very
+safely take one."
+
+When the king's physicians were told Dr. Pemberton's opinion, they still
+persisted that _they could not take it upon themselves to give her
+majesty the medicine_!
+
+No one was suffered to approach the queen but the king's physicians,
+_except in their presence_, though her majesty most anxiously asked for
+William Austin, saying, "How odd it is that he never comes near me;" in
+the meanwhile, he was weeping bitterly outside the door, but was always
+told, either "the queen is asleep," or else, "too ill to see him." Her
+majesty's sufferings must have been dreadful, and they seemed to come on
+periodically, when her cries could be heard in all the adjacent rooms,
+and then it appeared that the doctors _dosed_ her with laudanum, which,
+of course, added to the CONSTIPATION of her bowels, as well as rendered
+her quite insensible when her friends did see her. Her majesty seemed
+most partial to Dr. Holland, who sat up with her every night, till
+Saturday, when she was a little better; but, being called to town, he
+left her majesty under the care of Dr. Ainslie, we think. Next morning,
+being Sunday, her majesty got up and dressed herself, and sat in her
+chair. Either in the night or in the morning, Dr. Ainslie brought her
+majesty a draught to take, which the queen dashed out of his hand, in a
+very marked manner, spilt it, and said, "I am well; do you not see I am
+well, Sir? I want no physic." At which, Dr. Ainslie felt somewhat
+offended, as well he might.
+
+On the Sunday before her death, her majesty said, "I should much like to
+take the sacrament; and I desire that the clergyman who does the duty at
+Hammersmith may be sent for to administer it." Application was
+immediately made; but the gentleman said, "I cannot administer it,
+without leave from the rector, who is now at Richmond." A messenger went
+to Richmond, and found that the rector had gone to dine in London, and
+that the clergyman must either go there to him, or solicit permission
+from the king's ministers! Notwithstanding this unfeeling piece of
+tyranny, her majesty said, "I do not doubt but my intentions will be
+accepted by God, the same as if I had been permitted to receive it." The
+queen was truly an example of patience and resignation, for she never
+repined, not even in her most agonizing moments. Her majesty, alas! too
+well knew she must eventually be the VICTIM OF TYRANNY.
+
+Let every thinking being contrast the profession of Christianity with
+the contemptible procedure set forth in the anecdote just related. At
+the time her majesty requested to receive the sacrament, she believed
+herself near death; and, in accordance with the sentiments and doctrines
+of the Church of England, she very naturally desired to express her
+reliance on the Saviour by receiving this ordinance; yet even this
+gratification was denied her, until she was sinking into the embrace of
+death! This disgraceful circumstance is almost without a parallel in the
+annals of persecution. A virtuous and noble-minded queen, lying on the
+bed of death, which had been prepared for her by the hand of cruel and
+ill-judged Malignity, was refused this last comfort of religion; while a
+felon, who may have imbued his hands in the blood of his
+fellow-creature, is allowed to receive this emblem of salvation previous
+to his transition from time to eternity! Here, then, is sufficient to
+inform "The Many" of the policy of the "Established Church." May we not
+ask how far the English clergy are removed from Popery? as it is
+evident that the attentions of a rector or a bishop (under the crown)
+are equally difficult to be obtained as the Catholics believe those of
+St. Peter to be!
+
+In contemplating the above exposure of malice, many questions naturally
+suggest themselves; for instance, What could prevent the curate's
+_immediate attention_ to the wish of the dying queen? for had even the
+meanest parishioner desired it, HE MUST have attended to the request.
+What was meant by asking leave of "the rector, or the king's ministers,"
+who were at some distance from the abode of sorrow? Was it not intended
+to add fresh insults to injuries already too deep? Did the ministry
+think thereby to prevent an _encroachment_ upon his majesty's comforts
+in the world to come, (as he had declared, that he never again would
+meet the queen) and, by refusing the outward rites of the church, shut
+the door of hope in the sufferer's face?
+
+Her majesty, in her agony, frequently exclaimed, "I know I am
+dying,--THEY HAVE KILLED ME AT LAST! but I forgive all my enemies, even
+Dumont," her maid Brunette's sister, who had done her majesty the
+greatest injury,--"I charge you (turning to her maid Brunette) to tell
+her so." Brunette and her majesty's maitre d'hotel, Hyronemus, wished to
+marry. Her majesty called them to her, and joined their hands over her
+body, (one standing on each side of the couch) and charged Hyronemus to
+be kind to Brunette. Her majesty then told them, she had left them all
+her linen (by right, belonging to her lady in waiting) and two of her
+carriages. On Tuesday, her majesty became much worse, and moaned
+terribly with pain, from four o'clock till ten at night, when she
+rapidly grew weaker, till Dr. Holland, with the awful watch in his hand,
+feeling her pulse, at last closed her majesty's eyelids, and declared
+"All is over!"
+
+Malice and Crime had now done their worst; the fatal blow had been
+struck, and Caroline, the injured and innocent Queen of England was for
+ever relieved from her despicable and heartless persecutors!
+
+     "O, what a noble mind was here o'erthrown!"
+
+Every person now left the room, except Dr. Lushington (one of the
+executors) and Lady Hamilton. Dr. Lushington said, "You, my lady, or
+Lady Hood, must not quit the body." Lady Hamilton replied, "Then, sir,
+let it be me." Shortly afterwards, the alderman and Mrs. Wood went into
+the chamber of death, the alderman offering the services of his wife to
+assist in the last sad duties to the lamented queen. In the interval,
+Brunette, the queen's maid, said that her majesty had desired no one
+might go near her body except herself; and Dr. Lushington complied with
+the request. Lady Hamilton observed, Brunette was not strong enough to
+move the body; Brunette, therefore, chose the _housemaid_ to assist her.
+Shortly afterwards, Dr. Lushington requested Lady Hamilton's presence
+again; and, upon her appearance in the gloomy chamber, said, "Now, you
+must remain here; and promise me not to lift up the sheet which covers
+the body, or permit any one else to do so." Lady Hamilton promised; when
+very soon afterwards Mrs. Wood went into the room, as she said, "to have
+a peep." Lady Hamilton prevented it, saying, she had given her word, and
+Mrs. Wood must therefore desist. The body, very speedily after life was
+extinct, became much discoloured, and, though it was washed and prepared
+for the grave-clothes in less than two hours after the decease, it
+exhibited a very great change, as well as being much swollen. The
+housemaid who assisted Brunette to prepare her majesty for the
+grave-clothes, said, the body turned quite BLACK before their task was
+finished, and swelled exceedingly, and on the following Thursday became
+quite offensive, when the leaden coffin arrived. On the Monday after,
+the rooms were lighted up, and hung with black, for her majesty _to lie
+in state_! Oh! sad mockery to her persecuted remains!
+
+The housemaid, who helped Brunette to lay her majesty out, was quite
+disgusted at the unfeeling manner in which Brunette performed this sad
+duty; for she tossed the body about most indecently; and, when
+remonstrated with for such behaviour, said, "La! I mind her no more than
+an old hen!!!" The morning after her majesty's death, Lady Anne
+Hamilton's own maid went creeping into Brunette's room, expecting to
+find some show of grief, at least, for the loss of so good a mistress.
+What, then, was her astonishment to find her up, dressed, and in the
+highest spirits! "I never was so happy," said she, "in all my life. I
+can now get up when I like, go to bed when I like, and do every thing as
+I like!"
+
+Previous to the funeral, some difficulty arose from an uncertainty
+_where_ the deceased queen had kept her cash; and, without any ceremony,
+Mr. Wilde took up her majesty's watch, (the one presented by the
+inhabitants of Coventry, and which was very valuable) and said, "I will
+advance forty pounds, and return the watch when the money is paid!!!"
+Yet, at the time of her majesty's death, she must have been in
+possession of fourteen or fifteen hundred pounds! because Mr. Obequina
+had advanced the queen, but a few days before her death, the sum of two
+thousand pounds; and it was an indisputable fact, that not more than
+four or five hundred pounds had been expended out of this sum. The queen
+deposited this money where she always kept her trinkets, in a small blue
+box. In this box also her majesty frequently kept the Coventry watch,
+(which she seldom wore) as well as two miniature pictures of herself.
+This identical box, the executors gave into the care of Lord Hood; but
+he very properly refused to receive it, until they locked it and took
+the key. Dr. Lushington promised one of the miniatures to Lady Hamilton,
+and the other to William Austin, the protege of the ill-fated queen;
+but, up to this period, such promise has not been fulfilled in either
+case.
+
+It is well known that the queen, in her jocular moments, used to say,
+"They did not like my young bones, so they shall not have my old ones;"
+and, in her last illness, her majesty unfortunately added, "and that as
+soon as possible." This formed an excuse for the tools of George the
+Fourth to hurry her funeral beyond all decorum; as, in one single week
+after her majesty's death, did Lord Liverpool order that all the
+cavalcade should be ready. The route was chalked out, and strict orders
+given that, on no account, was the procession to go through the city;
+but every avenue was so choked up and barricaded by overturned coaches,
+carts, and rubbish, that they were _obliged_, at Piccadilly, to turn
+through Hyde Park; and, at Cumberland Gate, the scene of bloodshed
+commenced. We observed a pool of blood in the gateway, and a woman with
+her face all over blood, and two men lying dead. The people had pulled
+down the wall and railing for a hundred yards opposite Connaught-place;
+and the horse-soldiers (the Blues, we think) were pursuing the unarmed
+multitude down the park. A spent ball had fallen _very near the hearse_,
+and a gentleman in the retinue got off his horse, picked it up, and
+said, "This will be proof against them." At last Sir Robert Wilson,
+being a military man, rode up to the soldiers, and contrived to end the
+combat. The procession was then suffered to pass quietly along Edgeware
+and the New Roads till it came opposite to Portland-road, when the same
+obstructions of overturned carts, waggons, &c., prevented the cavalcade
+from continuing along the City-road, or turning into _any street_
+eastward, until it arrived at Temple Bar, when it turned into the city,
+to the great joy and acclamations of the millions of people who had
+followed, and who had lined the streets, windows, and tops of houses,
+although it rained in torrents, and the well-dressed women who attended
+were ancle deep in mud; nor did the people gradually drop away till the
+procession had entirely left the suburbs of London.
+
+Sir George Naylor, king at arms, had his instructions where they should
+rest each night. The delays in London had been so many, that they were
+obliged (to fulfil orders) to travel at _full trot_ to Ilford, where the
+procession arrived a little after six o'clock in the evening, having
+been more than twelve hours in performing this first stage of the
+journey. We pass over the insulting orders of Lord Liverpool, in their
+_minute detail_, and only advert to that part of them wherein he states
+to Mr. Bailey, the undertaker, that the body was to reach Harwich the
+second night. Various disgraceful altercations took place during the
+several stoppages on the road; and the mourners were treated similarly
+to their departed mistress. At length the sea opened upon their view;
+and the most prominent object upon it was the "Glasgow" frigate,
+stationed at some distance from Languard Fort. The procession arrived at
+Harwich, on Thursday, at half-past eleven, at which place, not even a
+single hour was allowed for retirement or repose; for the order was
+almost immediately given, that the coffin should be taken to the quay,
+and from thence lowered by a crane into a small barge. This was not
+accomplished without great difficulty, the coffin being extremely heavy.
+Four men rowed the boat to the side of the "Glasgow," which was waiting
+to receive the remains of England's injured queen. Sir G. Naylor and his
+secretary, with Mr. Bailey, accompanied it, and added the sad mockery of
+laying a paltry crown upon the coffin. The ladies and the rest of the
+suite followed in boats. At this moment, the first gun was fired from
+the fort. Such was the indelicate hurry and rude touch of the persons
+engaged in the removal of the royal coffin, that before it was received
+on board the "Glasgow," the crimson velvet was torn in many places, and
+hung in slips. When the boat reached the "Pioneer" schooner, the coffin
+was hoisted on board, the crown and cushion were laid upon it, and the
+pall was thrown out of the boat to a sailor on deck, by one of the three
+gentlemen who had it in charge, with no more ceremony than if it had
+been his cloak. Before it could possibly be announced that the corpse
+was safe on deck, the sailors were busily employed in unfurling the
+sails, and in less then ten minutes the "Pioneer" was under sail, to
+join the "Glasgow" frigate. The body and the mourners were at length
+received on board the "Glasgow," and here followed perplexity upon
+perplexity. The captain had not been informed of the probable number in
+this melancholy procession, and was incompetent to set before them
+sufficient food, or furnish them with suitable accommodation. Corn beef
+was therefore their daily fare; and hammocks, slung under the guns,
+were the beds assigned to the gentlemen, while the ladies were very
+little better provided for in the confined cabins. The coffin was placed
+in a separate cabin, guarded by soldiers, and with lights continually
+burning. On the 19th of August, the "Glasgow" appeared before the port
+at Cuxhaven; and, as she drew too much water to get up the Stade, she
+resigned her charge to the "Wye," commanded by Captain Fisher.
+
+On Monday evening, the 20th, the remains of the Queen of England were
+landed at Stade. The coffin, _without pall_, or _covering of any kind_,
+was brought up the creek, a distance of three miles, the mourners
+following in boats. On their arrival at the quay, no preparation had
+been made for receiving the body on shore, and had it not been for the
+sympathy of the inhabitants of the place, the coffin must have been laid
+upon the _earth_; but they were so impressed with the necessity of
+paying regard to decency, and so incensed against the heartless and
+abominable conduct manifested towards the queen, that they, as if by one
+consent, brought out their tables and chairs, to afford an elevation for
+the coffin from the ground; and thus a kind of platform was raised, on
+which it was protected from further injury. After a short delay, arising
+from want of due notice having been given of the arrival of the
+procession, the citizens of the town, headed by the magistrates and
+priests, proceeded to meet it. The coffin was then taken up, and carried
+into the church, which was lighted, and partially hung with black. A
+solemn anthem was sung, accompanied by the deep-toned organ; after which
+the numberless crowd retired, leaving the royal corpse to the care of
+those who were appointed to watch over it. Early the next day the
+procession departed for Buxtehude. About a quarter of a mile from this
+town, it was met by the citizens and magistrates, who attended it,
+bareheaded, to the church, where the royal remains were deposited for
+the night. On the ensuing day, the 22nd, the procession was met on its
+entrance into Saltan, by the authorities, in the same manner as before
+named. On the 23d, it reached Celle, where the coffin was carried into
+the great church of the city, and placed upon the tomb of the
+unfortunate sister of George the Third, Matilda, Queen of Denmark. On
+the 24th, the procession was met at Offau, by Count Aldenslaben, the
+grand chamberlain of the court, and arrangements were made, that the
+funeral should take place at midnight. The mourners were immediately to
+proceed to Brunswick, and the funeral procession to follow, so as to
+arrive by ten the same night at the gates of the city, there to be met
+by the mourners; but further delay of interment than this was strictly
+forbidden. At the appointed hour, the last stage of the cavalcade
+commenced. On a near approach to the church, whose vaults were to
+receive the remains of this royal victim, the children of a school
+(founded and supported by a lady of truly patriotic principles) walked
+before the hearse, strewing flowers on the road. Arriving at the
+church, the Brunswick soldiers demanded the privilege to bear the
+remains of their beloved princess through the church to the vault, in
+which were deposited those of her illustrious ancestors. This being
+granted, the corpse was borne by as many of them as could stand under
+the coffin into the abode of death. It was then placed upon an elevation
+in the centre of the vault, which had previously been prepared for its
+reception, and where it will remain until another occupy its place; her
+majesty's coffin will then be removed to the space appointed for it.
+After an oration had been delivered in German, the curtain was drawn
+over our persecuted and destroyed queen. The mourners retired, and the
+assembled crowds dispersed, shortly after two o'clock.
+
+It may possibly be asked, "Did not the nephew of the queen (the son of
+her brother, the late duke) meet the funeral, and follow it to the last
+abode of royalty?" To the eternal disgrace of George the Fourth, this
+youth was not permitted to do so. The kingdom of Brunswick was governed
+by two commissioners, under the controul of the King of England, and the
+young prince had been commanded to leave Brunswick previous to the
+ceremony of the interment of his aunt! The inhabitants of Brunswick had
+also been ordered to keep within their houses, to shut their windows,
+and not to appear upon the occasion. This imperious order was generally
+attended to. One gentleman, however, was independent and noble-minded
+enough to furnish flambeaux to be carried before and on each side of
+the procession, until it had reached the church. Every expression of the
+inhabitants indicated how much they were attached to the Princess of
+Brunswick, and the more superior and well-informed part of the community
+mourned that her days had been blighted by the delusive prospects held
+out to her family, in her alliance to the heir-apparent of England. The
+Brunswickers were afraid to express their sentiments in public
+companies; but, privately, they could not suppress their opinions, that
+"it was very strange not the least notice of the funeral had been
+communicated to them until the evening previous to the ceremony."
+
+These unconstitutional and vindictive arrangements for the queen's
+funeral will ever be considered an indelible stain on the characters of
+those who concocted them. The law enacts that the dead shall be carried
+the nearest way to the place of interment; but the "notorious
+government" laid all possible restrictions in this case, and, in short,
+offered every indignity to the departed. If the English people had been
+resolute, and the lord mayor but consented, the body might have been
+taken into the Mansion-House, and the corpse EXAMINED, previous to its
+being taken from London, as considerable suspicion was caused by the
+unusual privacy and secrecy required immediately after her majesty's
+demise. The lord mayor (Thorpe) was the acknowledged friend of the
+queen, and ought not to have demurred to the generally-expressed opinion
+upon this subject.
+
+It was rather a peculiar circumstance that George the Fourth should have
+_contrived_ so well to be out of the way of death, both in his
+daughter's and his consort's case! But the prerogatives of royalty are
+numerous as well as _unnatural_, particularly when exercised by DESPOTIC
+PRINCES, who live only for their own gratification, and with whom the
+good of the people is an unimportant consideration. When the tidings of
+her majesty's death were communicated to her heartless husband by Lord
+Londonderry, the royal yacht was lying in Holyhead roads. Etiquette
+prevented the landing of the king while the unburied remains of his
+consort were upon English ground; therefore, despatches were forwarded
+to cause the first lord of the Treasury to press for an early removal of
+the body of the queen, in order that facility might be given to the
+landing of the king in Ireland.
+
+After paying this _formal_ attention to the awful intelligence he had
+received, his majesty landed at Howth, and, as soon as he had reached
+the viceregal lodge, addressed the gaping multitude in the following
+_eloquent_ speech:
+
+     "_My Lords and Gentlemen, and
+         my good Yeomanry_,
+
+     "I cannot express to you the gratification at the kind and
+     warm reception I have met with on this day of my landing
+     amongst my Irish subjects. I am obliged to you, _very much_
+     obliged to you; I am _particularly_ obliged by your escorting
+     me to my _very_ door. I may not be able to express my feelings
+     as I wish. I have travelled far; _that is_, I have made a long
+     _sea voyage_; I have sailed down the English Channel, and
+     sailed up the Irish Channel; and I have _landed_ from a
+     _steam boat_; besides which, _particular circumstances_ have
+     occurred, known to you all, of which it is BETTER, at present,
+     _not to speak_ (alluding to the queen's sudden death) upon
+     these subjects. I leave it to your DELICATE and _generous
+     hearts_ to APPRECIATE MY FEELINGS! However, I can assure you
+     that THIS IS THE HAPPIEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I have long wished
+     to visit you; my heart has always been IRISH!! From the day it
+     first beat, I have loved Ireland. This day has shewn me, that
+     I am beloved by my Irish subjects. _Rank, station, honours,
+     are nothing_; but to _feel_ that I _live_ in the hearts of my
+     _Irish subjects_ is, to me, the most _exalted happiness_!
+
+     "I must now, once more, thank you for your kindness, and bid
+     you farewell. Go and do by me as I shall do by you; drink my
+     health in a _bumper_; and I shall drink all your's in a bumper
+     of good _Irish whiskey_!!!"
+
+Who that reads this address will not acknowledge his majesty's genius
+for speaking was equal to his talents for ruling? Shades of Fox,
+Grattan, and Sheridan, what a display of eloquence was here, delivered,
+too, by the "most polished man in Europe!" We may easily account for the
+rapturous admiration which the Irish people evinced for their monarch!
+Naturally eloquent themselves, they knew how to appreciate the energy
+and beauty of what a _king_ addressed to their taste and understanding.
+When he assured them, in the _most elegant_ and _lofty_ language, that
+"his heart was _entirely Irish_," and that, in proof of the sincerity of
+his royal professions, he would "drink all their healths in a bumper of
+good Irish whiskey," they felt, with its superiority, the exhilirating
+stimulant of kingly declamation, and yielded to all the ecstacy that
+forms so prominent a characteristic of their sensations. The declaration
+of a _British_ king, that his heart was _wholly Irish_ was a kindness
+as highly strained, with respect to them, as disheartening to the
+feelings of all his other subjects. Great as was our _admiration_ of the
+_nobleness_, both in matter and style, of this oratorical display, we
+scarcely were able, for a time, to reconcile our startled judgment to
+the perfect equity of this _sudden_ partiality for a people who had
+never before experienced any mighty favours from the same quarter. But
+our error, we frankly confess, was the child of our stupidity: we
+understood his majesty to the simple letter, rather than in the _royal_
+meaning, of what he addressed to his long-forsaken children, and were
+too dull to understand his language till some time afterwards, when he
+visited his German dominions. But when, after assuring his Hibernian
+subjects that his heart was _wholly Irish_, he, in the same _exquisite_
+style, protested that his heart was _entirely Hanoverian_, we were wise
+enough to comprehend his majesty. There is a kind of ductility in this
+sort of affection that soars as much above the ordinary course of human
+feeling as the language in which the sentiment is conveyed surpasses the
+general powers of lingual eloquence. _Such goodness_ and _such
+eloquence_ may be ADMIRED, but we hope they will never be COPIED!
+
+However gaily and flatteringly his majesty was received by his Irish
+subjects, all unbiassed people were shocked at the unbecoming
+incongruity of a king lost in the intoxication of mirth and wine, while
+his persecuted consort's passing hearse was calling forth the tears of
+his pitying people. Even under circumstances the most proper and
+respectful towards her late majesty, in regard to the conveyance of her
+remains to their destined place of rest, the appalling knowledge that,
+while her obsequies were performing, her husband's heart and soul were
+wrapped in the transports of convivial enjoyment, would have deepened
+the gloom of the dismal occasion, and excited exclamations of anguish
+and astonishment; but, witnessing the sordid neglect and studied insult
+with which the government conducted the melancholy preparation and
+procession, they combined with the sad spectacle the idea of her
+husband's simultaneous joy and merriment, and felt disgusted at such
+indecent and unmanly conduct. Of the qualities of the Irish character,
+generally viewed, there is much to admire; they are liberal and
+kind-hearted, and, in some few instances, have shewn a public spirit and
+a manly sense of their political wrongs and oppressions. We cannot,
+however, compliment either their delicacy, as men, in not feeling for
+the _cruel death_ of an amiable woman, or their loyalty, as subjects, in
+slighting the memory of their sacrificed queen. At the cold indifference
+manifested by the Hibernian _ladies_, at this period, we were perfectly
+amazed. Over and above the tenderness natural to their hearts, their sex
+had an interest in her case, which ought to have awakened their concern,
+and commanded their tears. But the whole drama of life abounds with
+discordant scenes; and, without _female_ inconsistency, the piece would
+be incomplete.
+
+     "All the world's a stage,
+      And men and women are the players!"
+
+A tyrant drops his head upon the scaffold, and they weep!--an innocent
+queen is poisoned, and they "show no sign of sorrow!"--a cruel, cowardly
+yeomanry, and a brutal, sanguinary soldiery, massacre an unarmed
+populace, and thanks and a subscription acknowledge and reward their
+heroism!--_here_ a people are stripped of their rights and privileges,
+and content themselves with complaining!--_there_ a country is
+everwhelmed in penury and wretchedness, and finds a cure for all its
+distresses in the casual visit of its despotic ruler, and his unmeaning
+and stupid speeches!
+
+The despicable figure which the king made at this period, and the
+fulsome flatteries bestowed upon him by the Irish people, did not escape
+the keen penetration of the illustrious and patriotic Lord Byron. We had
+the pleasure of his lordship's acquaintance for some years before his
+lamented death; and he was in the habit of sending us many brilliant
+effusions of his muse, which he probably never intended for publication.
+But the following verses, on the subject of which we have just been
+speaking, possess so much poetical beauty and justness of expression,
+that we cannot refrain from gratifying our readers by inserting them in
+this place.
+
+
+THE IRISH AVATER[31:A].
+
+     Ere the daughter of Brunswick is cold in her grave,
+       And her ashes still float to their home o'er the tide;
+     Lo! George the triumphant speeds over the wave
+       To the long-cherish'd isle, which he lov'd like his--bride.
+
+     True, the great of her bright and brief era are gone,--
+       The rainbow-like epoch, where freedom would pause
+     For the few little years out of centuries won,
+       Which betray'd not, or crush'd not, or wept not her cause.
+
+     True, the chains of the Catholic clank o'er his rags;
+       The castle still stands, and the senate's no more;
+     And the famine, which dwelt on her freedomless crags,
+       Is extending its steps to her desolate shore.
+
+     To her desolate shore,--where the emigrant stands
+       For a moment to gaze, ere he flies from his hearth;
+     Tears fall on his chain, though it drops from his hands,
+       For the dungeon he quits is--the place of his birth!
+
+     But he comes! the Messiah of royalty comes!
+       Like a goodly leviathan roll'd from his waves;
+     Then receive him, as best such an advent becomes,
+       With a legion of cooks and an army of slaves!
+
+     He comes, in the promise and bloom of three-score,
+       To perform in the pageant the sovereign's part;
+     And long live the shamrock which shadows him o'er,--
+       Could the green on his _hat_ be transferred to his _heart_.
+
+     Could that long-withered spot but be verdant again,
+       And a new spring of noble affections arise,
+     Then might freedom forgive thee this dance in thy chain,
+       And the shout of thy slavery which saddens the skies.
+
+     Is it madness or meanness which clings to thee now?
+       Were he God,--as he is but the commonest clay,
+     With scarce fewer wrinkles than sins on his brow,--
+       Such servile devotion might shame him away.
+
+     Age roar in his train, let thine orators lash
+       Their fanciful spirits to pamper his pride;
+     Not thus did thy GRATTAN indignantly flash
+       His soul o'er the freedom improved and denied.
+
+     Ever glorious Grattan! the best of the good!
+       So simple in heart, so sublime in the rest,
+     With all that Demosthenes wanted endued,
+       And his rival, or victor, in all he possess'd.
+
+     When TULLY arose, in the zenith of Rome,
+       Tho' unequalled preceded, the task was begun;
+     But GRATTAN sprung up like a god from the tomb!
+       Of ages, the first, last, the saviour, the one.
+
+     With the skill of an Orpheus to soften the brute,
+       With the fire of Prometheus to kindle mankind,
+     Even Tyranny, listening, sat melted, or mute,
+       And Corruption shrunk, scorch'd, from the glance of his mind.
+
+     But back to my theme; back to despots and slaves!
+       Feasts furnished by Famine, rejoicings by Pain;
+     True Freedom but welcomes, while Slavery still raves,
+       When a week's Saternalia has loosened her chain.
+
+     Let the poor squalid splendour thy wreck can afford
+       (As the bankrupt's profusion his ruin would hide)
+     Gild over the palace. Lo, Erin, thy lord!
+       Kiss his foot with thy blessing for blessings denied.
+
+     Or if freedom, past hope, be extorted at last;
+       If the idol of brass find his feet are of clay;
+     Must what terror, or policy, wring forth be class'd
+       With what monarchs ne'er give but as wolves yield their prey?
+
+     Each brute hath its nature,--a king's is to reign;
+       To reign!--in that word see, ye ages, comprised
+     The cause of the curses all annals contain,
+       From Caesar the dreaded to George the despised!
+
+     Wear, Fingal, thy trappings! O'Connell proclaim
+       His accomplishments!--His!!!--and thy country convince
+     Half an age's contempt was an error of fame,
+       And that "_Hal is the rascaliest, sweetest young prince!_"
+
+     Will thy yard of blue ribbon, poor Fingal, recall
+       The fetters from millions of Catholic limbs?
+     Or will it not bind thee the fastest of all
+       The slaves, who now hail their betrayer with hymns?
+
+     Aye, build him a dwelling; let each give his mite,
+       Till, like Babel, the new royal dome has arisen;
+     Let thy beggars and helots their pittance unite,
+       And a palace bestow for a poor-house and prison.
+
+     Spread, spread for Vitellius the royal repast,
+       Till the gluttonous despot is stuff'd to the gorge,
+     And the roar of his drunkards proclaim him at last
+       The FOURTH of the fools and oppressors,--called GEORGE!
+
+     Let the tables be loaded with feasts till they groan,--
+       Till they groan like thy people through ages of woe;
+     Let the wine flow around the old Bachanal's throne,
+       Like the blood which has flow'd, and which yet has to flow.
+
+     But let not his name be thine idol alone;
+       On his right hand, behold a SEJANUS appears!
+     Thine own CASTLEREAGH!--let him still be thine own!
+       A wretch never nam'd but with curses and jeers!
+
+     Till now, when the isle, which should blush at his birth,
+       Deep, deep as the gore which he shed on her soil,
+     Seems proud of the reptile which crawl'd from her earth,
+       And for _murder_ repays him with _shouts and a smile_!
+
+     Without one single ray of her genius, without
+       The fancy, the manhood, the fire of her race,
+     The miscreant, who well might plunge Erin in doubt
+       If she ever gave birth to a being so base.
+
+     If she did, let her long-boasted proverb be hush'd,
+       Which proclaims that from Erin no reptile can spring;
+     See, the cold-blooded serpent, with venom full flush'd,
+       Still warming its folds in the breast of a king!
+
+     Shout, drink, feast, and flatter! Oh, Erin, how low
+       Wert thou sunk by misfortune and tyranny, till
+     Thy welcome of tyrants hath plunged thee below
+       The depth of thy deep to a deeper gulph still.
+
+     My voice, though but humble, was rais'd for thy right;
+       My vote, as a freeman's, still voted thee free;
+     This hand, tho' but feeble, would arm in thy fight,
+       And this heart, tho' outworn, had a throb still for thee!
+
+     Yes, I love thee and thine, tho' thou art not my land;
+       I have known noble hearts and great souls in thy sons,
+     And I wept with the world o'er the patriot band
+       Who are gone,--but I weep them no longer as once.
+
+     For happy are they now reposing afar,
+       Thy GRATTAN, thy CURRAN, thy SHERIDAN,--all
+     Who for years were the chiefs in the eloquent war,
+       And redeem'd, if they have not retarded, thy fall.
+
+     Yes, happy are they in their cold English graves;
+       Their shades cannot start to thy shouts of to-day,
+     Nor the steps of enslavers and chain-kissing slaves
+       Be stamp'd in the turf o'er their fetterless clay.
+
+     Till now I had envied thy sons and thy shore;
+       Tho' their virtues were hunted, their liberties fled,
+     There was something so warm and sublime in the core
+       Of an Irishman's heart, that I envy their dead!
+
+     Or if aught in my bosom can quench for an hour
+       My contempt for a nation so _servile_, tho' sore,
+     Which, tho' trod like the worm, will not turn upon power,
+       'Tis the GLORY OF GRATTAN, the GENIUS OF MOORE!
+
+     [31:A] _Avater_ is the Hindoo expression for a divinity
+     assuming the human form, and residing on earth.
+
+Speedily after the queen's death, Lord Sidmouth retired from office, and
+was succeeded by Mr. Robert Peel. Several other changes also took place
+in the ministry.
+
+There was only _one_ occurrence that could have been more gratifying to
+the people of England than the secession of Lord Sidmouth from office,
+and that was--his being rendered amenable to the laws for his share in
+the frequent outrages of the constitution, and his almost numberless
+violations of the liberties of the subject. We had hoped that he would
+have remained in office until he had received his FULL REWARD, in the
+return of the days of ministerial responsibility, in spite of bills of
+indemnity and venal majorities. But, for the honour of justice, we hope
+yet to see the day when he shall be subject to an honest tribunal for
+his political misdeeds. His name will ever awaken the liveliest
+indignation in the bosoms of Englishmen; not, indeed, that his _talents_
+made him formidable against the liberties of his country, but because he
+so readily lent himself to the dangerous views of his _superiors_.
+Personally, he was of no importance. The son of a provincial
+medicine-vender, he had neither rank nor birth to command respect. The
+tool of Mr. Pitt in early life, Mr. Addington had cunning enough to
+stipulate for a peerage just at the time he was found unfit for a
+minister. The failure of his attempt to abridge the liberties of the
+dissenters covered him with disgrace. Such a design should have been
+entrusted to abler hands; but it was not his lordship's fault that the
+dissenters escaped religious persecution. His next exploit, however,
+proved more successful; he declared eternal hatred of reform and
+reformers in 1816. The seizure, the imprisonments, the tortures, and the
+outrages, occasioned by the employment of his _moral friend_ Oliver
+have, in the language of Pope, occasioned him to be
+
+     "Damned to everlasting fame!"
+
+The liberation of his victims, after long confinements, ruined in
+circumstances, wounded in mind, and some of them destined to premature
+death, through their unwholesome confinement, complete the picture of
+this nobleman's LEGISLATION! To prevent an investigation into such cruel
+acts, a bill of indemnity screened his lordship, his agents, and
+minions, from the tribunals of that day; but if _earthly_ justice should
+never be vindicated, there is a tribunal before which he must one day
+meet his victims! The part which Lord Sidmouth had in the _reward of the
+Manchester massacre_ is well known, and will not be likely to add to the
+quiet of his repose. This lamentable portion of his history involves the
+double charge of misadvising his prince, and patronising a violation of
+the laws, in the most wanton and cruel manner! No man, indeed, has been
+more instrumental in the ruin of his country, and he may probably live
+to reap some of the bitter fruits himself!
+
+During this year, the _affable_ king made his pompous entrance into
+Hanover, where he threw gold and silver amongst the crowd, with as much
+confidence as if it had been his own!! If he had allowed some of this
+said "gold and silver" to have remained in the pockets of its real
+owners, it would have redounded much more to his credit.
+
+In one single week this year, eleven persons were hung for forging Bank
+of England notes. Such a sanguinary penal code of laws as our's would
+really disgrace a nation of savages! Even our common laws, which ought
+to be intelligible to the meanest understanding, are an unfathomable
+abyss, and frequently exceed the utmost penetration of even the
+"gentlemen of the long robe." Indeed, our laws appear designed to
+perplex rather than to elucidate, to breed contentions rather than to
+prevent them. The principal MERIT of the English jurisprudence seems to
+consist in its _intricacy_, and the learned professors of it may almost
+be said _to live upon the vitals of their clients_. It not unfrequently
+happens that, for trivial omissions upon some useless observance of
+forms, the victim is incarcerated in a prison, and, after enduring all
+the horrors of these dens of thieves, expires in want, disease, and
+apparent infamy!
+
+
+The year
+
+     1822
+
+was one of great interest and importance, both abroad and at home; but
+to the latter we shall chiefly confine ourselves.
+
+On the 18th of January, a cabinet council was held, at which Lord
+Sidmouth was present, notwithstanding his previous resignation of the
+seals of office. From this, it is evident that, though out of OFFICE in
+reality, this _noble_ lord was in place _specially_.
+
+Ireland, at this time, presented a sad appearance; outrages of every
+kind were of daily occurrence, and famine, with its appalling front,
+stared the lower classes in the face. Much blood was shed, and yet no
+efficient means were taken to subdue the cause of these fatal
+insurrections. The King of England, though he had professed so much
+_love_ for his dear Irish subjects in his late _eloquent_ speech,
+screened himself, under his assumed popularity, from blame on such
+serious charges, while his incompetent and mean advisers, believing
+their persons safe under the protection of their PUISSANT PRINCE, gave
+themselves no trouble about so _insignificant_ a matter. Disgrace and
+infamy, however, will ever be attached to their names for so flagrant a
+dereliction of duty to the Irish people!
+
+In April, Thomas Denman, esq., the late queen's solicitor-general, was
+elected to serve the office of common-sergeant for the city of London;
+and, on the 27th of May, he commenced his career with trying the unnamed
+servant of a bookseller for selling an irreligious and seditious book.
+Mr. Denman sentenced him to eighteen months' imprisonment in the House
+of Correction and, at the end of that time, to find sureties for five
+years, himself in one hundred pounds, and two others in forty pounds
+each!
+
+In narrating this circumstance, we cannot forbear expressing our
+detestation of all prosecutions in matters of RELIGION. They neither
+redound to the honour of Christianity, nor effect the slightest benefit
+to morality. Every one has an undoubted right to entertain what
+religious opinions may best accord with the dictates of that
+all-powerful monitor--CONSCIENCE; and all endeavours to _force_
+different opinions are only so many attempts to make men _hypocrites_.
+"But," say our religious prosecutors, "the Bible must not be attacked,
+or the true religion will fall into contempt." As an answer to this
+argument, we say, that if the said true religion will not bear the test
+of examination and argument, the sooner it falls into contempt the
+better! The glorious truths of the New Testament, however, are
+sufficiently manifest, and do not require the puny and adventitious
+advocacy of Cant. The strong arm of the law is not requisite to uphold
+Christianity, for it possesses within its own pure doctrines sufficient
+to recommend it to the admiration and gratitude of mankind. When these
+doctrines are attacked, let Christians endeavour, by fair and mild
+reasoning, to support their beneficence and purity, and they will be
+sure to make converts. But, if they once attempt to FORCE CONVICTION,
+their defeat is inevitable! It is, therefore, contrary to common sense,
+as well as being unjust and deplorable, that a man should be punished
+for disbelieving any particular sentiment. What proof did Mr.
+Denman[40:A] give of the mild and forgiving doctrines of Christianity
+in his severe sentence against this man? Was it from motives of
+Christian charity that he traduced him before a public tribunal? Were
+the proceedings of the court at all calculated to impress the man's mind
+with the true spirit of Christianity? The contrary might well be said.
+For neither was the accusation distinguished by that moderation which
+ought to be observed even against the worst of criminals, nor was it
+very humane to imprison him eighteen months, and afterwards keep the arm
+of justice suspended by binding him in sureties for five years not to so
+offend again. It will be but fair to ask, whether, if the _religious_
+welfare of this man had been deemed by his prosecutors worthy of the
+slightest consideration, they would not have proceeded directly contrary
+to what they did? But, as Dr. Watts has justly observed, when speaking
+of religious prosecutors, "They are too apt to denounce damnation upon
+their neighbours without either justice or mercy; and, while pronouncing
+sentences of divine wrath against supposed heretics, they _add their
+own human fire and indignation_!" Such prosecutions, therefore, only
+tend to excite the contempt of those very persons who are expected to be
+made better by them. With respect to the other count of the foregoing
+indictment, "that the publication was calculated to bring the king and
+his ministers into contempt," we think such an attempt of the publisher
+was totally unnecessary; for both the king and his ministers were then
+in the full zenith of their _fame_, and had the sincere prayers of the
+greater part of the community for their speedy deliverance from--this
+world!
+
+     [40:A] Mr. Denman has since been created "Sir Thomas," and, at
+     the period of our writing this, holds the office of
+     attorney-general. On the 21st of May, 1832, Lord Stormont
+     brought forward a motion in the House of Commons relative to a
+     general crusade against the press, for what his lordship
+     pleased to term "infamous, obscene, and scandalous libels." It
+     must ever be gratifying to patriots when public men openly
+     confess their errors; and we are, therefore, most happy to
+     record the following extract from Sir Thomas Denman's speech,
+     delivered on the above occasion, relative to the prosecution
+     upon which we have so freely commented:
+
+          "In May, 1822, he (Sir Thomas Denman) first sat as
+          common-sergeant, and was called upon to try a case
+          of most atrocious libel in 'The Republican:' it
+          contained a summing up of all the blasphemies which
+          had ever been promulgated in that paper, and direct
+          incitements to insurrection. The prosecution was
+          instituted by a constitutional association, which
+          thought the attorney-general was negligent of his
+          duty; but he believed that that association obtained
+          but little credit for thus undertaking his
+          functions. There were two aldermen upon the bench,
+          one of whom thought that two years' imprisonment was
+          the least that could be awarded as a punishment,
+          while the other thought that one year would be
+          sufficient. The middle course was pursued, and
+          the man was sentenced to _eighteen_ months'
+          imprisonment. Though this was the _mildest_
+          punishment which had been awarded on any case of a
+          similar description at that time, yet he (the
+          attorney-general) had been held up to odium as a
+          cruel judge. THE PUBLIC, IT WAS CLEAR, HAD REAPED NO
+          BENEFIT WHATEVER, and he (the attorney-general) had
+          experienced some pain during the whole of the
+          eighteen months that that man was in prison; for he
+          felt a strong disinclination to proceed against any
+          man who was fairly stating his opinions. The young
+          man was twenty-one years of age, and what he was
+          doing was certainly mischievous; _but when his
+          imprisonment expired, he could assure the House that
+          it was to himself a great comfort_. The liberty of
+          the press was established in this country, and that
+          alone was enough to induce people to publish those
+          opinions; and that liberty would make him extremely
+          cautious of prosecuting merely for opinion. During
+          periods of public excitement, the classes from which
+          juries were taken gave no encouragement to
+          prosecutions, and if only one juryman stood out upon
+          a case, the prosecution was obliged to be dropped.
+          He, therefore, except some very atrocious
+          circumstances should occur, did not think it
+          expedient to proceed. In striking special juries, it
+          was impossible to go into the heart of society, and
+          act as spies in families to ascertain the sentiments
+          of jurymen. _It was necessary to submit to a great
+          deal, lest by legal proceedings bad should be made
+          worse._ PROSECUTIONS AGAINST THE PRESS WERE BETTER
+          LEFT ALONE."
+
+     The last sentence of this speech contains advice which we hope
+     to see _practised_ by all future attorney-generals. In the
+     case of Sir Thomas Denman, however, it is only adopted through
+     _necessity_; for he freely confesses his wish to prosecute, if
+     he could only insure the verdict of a jury! It is, indeed, a
+     gratifying truth, that attorney-generals cannot controul the
+     decisions of juries; and it is well for the people of England
+     that they cannot. Were it otherwise, the press would soon
+     become worse than useless, and every independent writer
+     speedily be consigned to a prison. We cannot, consequently,
+     join Sir Thomas Denman in his lamentation; and we regret that
+     a gentleman of such lofty pretensions to liberality and
+     patriotism should have tarnished his fame by thus exposing
+     himself to the censure of his countrymen. While upon this
+     subject, we would give a word of advice to Lord Stormont. His
+     lordship has been described as a young man of considerable
+     natural abilities, which have been highly improved by a
+     liberal education. How, then, can he be so blind to the spirit
+     of the present age as to suppose himself capable of restoring
+     the very worst part of Toryism,--that of undermining the
+     glorious LIBERTY OF THE PRESS? His noble father (who was
+     educated in the Pitt school of politics) may have impressed
+     him with an idea of its practicability; but the people are now
+     changed, the age is changed, and we warn him not to expose
+     himself to the disgust of the English people, by making futile
+     attempts to destroy the grand palladium of national liberty.
+     As well, indeed, might he essay to execute Herod's commands to
+     slay the innocents, as to restore, by such means, the absolute
+     power which the Tories so unfortunately exercised during the
+     last two reigns!
+
+In the early part of this month, an elegant service of plate was
+presented to Alderman Wood, as an acknowledgement for his
+_disinterested_ services in the cause of the late queen; while, strange
+to say, the large service of plate subscribed for the queen by the
+country, at only one shilling each, never reached its destination! The
+funds for this purpose were entrusted to the care of Messrs. Wood, Hume,
+and others; the amount collected was more than three thousand pounds
+during the first few months of the subscription, which regularly
+increased till the queen's death. The cause of the opening of this
+subscription was owing to the fact of her majesty being refused all
+suitable conveniences for the dinner table, as she could only have a
+dinner served upon blue-and-white earthenware! To this fact, the
+noblemen and gentlemen who dined at her majesty's table can fully
+attest. We are inclined to think, however, that the alderman's services
+to the queen have been a little overrated. That Mr. Wood was her
+majesty's best and most disinterested friend, thousands were led to
+believe; but that he was not so, we shall endeavour to PROVE.
+
+When a subscription was proposed for a service of plate for her majesty,
+a Scotch lady forwarded one hundred guineas towards it. Alderman Wood
+had the chief management of this subscription, as of almost every thing
+else that related to the queen. The alderman employed one Pearson to
+collect the money. This Pearson was the fellow that cut such a figure in
+the Manchester massacre; and, therefore, he was thought, we suppose, a
+_very capable person_ for such an undertaking. After collecting a
+considerable sum of money, Pearson was about taking his leave of this
+country for America; but, intimation having been given of his perfidy,
+he was stopped.
+
+Alderman Wood said his friends also wished _him_ to have a service of
+plate, but his subscription was to be raised by _half-crowns_; indeed it
+was expected that four or eight friends would join, and not present the
+alderman with less than a GOLDEN PIECE. Unfortunately, the poor queen
+died before the money the people intended to raise for her plate was
+completed. At first, her friends wished to have a monument erected to
+her memory in Hammersmith; but no ground could be obtained for this
+purpose, and it was feared that her enemies would treat any pillar to
+her honor with the same indignity that they had treated herself.
+Alms-houses were then proposed to be built, but _NOTHING HAS YET BEEN
+DONE WITH THE MONEY_, (amounting to about three thousand pounds) either
+principal or interest. Mr. Wood has been frequently applied to, through
+the public papers, concerning this money, but no answer has ever been
+given. The alderman managed the subscription for his own plate much
+better; for he took good care to receive it as soon as possible! The
+alderman is known now to be very _rich_ from his Cornwall mines; he has,
+besides, two distant relations in Gloucester, brothers, worth a million
+between them, which he may probably share, they having no relations.
+When, however, he went for the queen, his mines were unprofitable, and
+himself embarrassed. Be that as it may, the queen certainly, by his
+urgent entreaties, employed _his_ coach-maker in South Audley-street,
+and most of _his_ other tradespeople.
+
+The ill-natured world will talk; and some people went so far as to
+accuse the _disinterested_ and _patriotic_ alderman with sinister
+motives in these recommendations, and that he had actually "a feeling in
+every thing that came into her majesty's house!" Whether or not this was
+the case, the alderman most assuredly spoke to the queen, very
+animatedly, to purchase Cambridge House, opposite to his own, in South
+Audley-street, though her majesty said she would never sleep in it, nor
+did she. The enormous sum which Mr. Wood persuaded the queen to give for
+this house was sixteen thousand pounds! but, notwithstanding her majesty
+made several improvements in it, it only sold at the queen's death for
+six thousand pounds!! This fact will speak volumes. Are no interested
+motives to be traced here?
+
+We do not wish to deprive Alderman Wood of any merit that may justly be
+his due; but, though he accompanied her majesty to England, he certainly
+did not persuade her to come over, as some people have imagined. He, nor
+any one else, had any hand in that; it was the spontaneous determination
+of the queen herself! That the alderman REFUSED the house, 22,
+Portman-street, which was offered for the queen's accommodation till a
+better could be provided cannot be denied; he preferred receiving her
+majesty into his own house. It is also well known that the alderman, by
+his officious and ungentlemanly, nay, we may say, IMPUDENT conduct, lost
+her majesty many friends in the higher circles, who would not act with
+_him_. Nor can this be wondered at when his vulgar manners to his
+superiors are taken into consideration. That we may not be supposed to
+assert this without reason, we will here relate a few instances, which
+came immediately under our own observation.
+
+The queen gave a dinner to the Duke of Bedford, Earl Grey, Lord
+Tankerville, and other noblemen and gentlemen. His grace of Bedford
+handed her majesty down the room, and sat on her right, and Earl Grey on
+her left. Instead of the vice-chamberlain (according to etiquette)
+sitting at the top of the table to carve, Mr. Wood seated himself
+_there, above every one_, and, _grinning_, ordered her vice-chamberlain
+to go to the other end opposite him, thus publicly proclaiming his
+ignorance and impudence! Earl Grey is reckoned the proudest man in
+England, and it was said, he observed, "It is the first, and shall be
+the last, time that the alderman shall sit above me."
+
+When the queen came from Dover to town, accompanied by this alderman and
+Lady Anne Hamilton, he presumptuously seated himself by her majesty's
+side, thus forcing her lady to take the seat opposite, with her back to
+the horses! We need hardly offer a remark upon so great a breach of good
+manners; for any individual, possessing the spirit of an Englishman,
+would always give precedence to a lady.
+
+When her majesty went to St. Paul's cathedral, Mr. Wood placed himself
+at the coach door to attend her out, and kept laughing and talking to
+her till they arrived near the statue of Queen Elizabeth, where the lord
+mayor and his retinue met her, after coming from the church for that
+purpose; but when his lordship (Thorpe, naturally a modest man)
+perceived that the queen was so engaged that she never lifted up her
+eyes, he and his procession were turning back in confusion to re-enter
+the church, when one of the queen's followers caught firmly hold of the
+officious alderman's gown, stopped them, and said, "Mr. Wood, Mr. Wood,
+don't you see the lord mayor come to hand the queen?--you would not
+affront the city so as not to let him?" Sir Robert Wilson, who was near,
+said, "Do run and call the lord mayor back, thousands of eyes are upon
+us!" His lordship turned round, and the procession proceeded into the
+church, as it ought to have done from the carriage door; but Mr. Wood
+was exceedingly angry, and would follow next to her majesty, though
+repeatedly told that it was Lady Anne Hamilton's place, as her majesty's
+lady in waiting.
+
+At the city concert, also, Alderman Wood displayed his indecorous
+conduct. The orchestra was elevated about a foot, and at the right of
+the orchestra two chairs were placed, one for the queen, and the other
+for her lady in waiting, who sat next the people. Alderman Wood stood
+behind her majesty the whole time, laughing and whispering, in the most
+intimate style, in her ear; and though her lady kept her face towards
+them, wishing it to appear _to the public_ that at least she had a
+_share_ in the conversation, alas! too many saw she was never spoken to
+by either!
+
+From such impudent and vulgar conduct as this, we heard a certain royal
+duke observe, "I wish to serve the queen, but I will not be Mr. Wood's
+cat's-paw, nor play second fiddle to him!" Similar observations were
+made by noblemen of the very first rank in this country. It may be
+asked, "Why did the queen allow herself to be guided so much by this
+alderman?" Because her majesty thought him _honest_, and was not aware
+that he kept any other persons away. "Could no one tell her majesty the
+real state of things?" No! for Mr. Wood actually set her against every
+one, except himself and his own creatures, in order to preserve entire
+influence over her majesty. Indeed, her legal advisers could hardly
+speak to the queen, without this very officious gentleman being present.
+He began by prejudicing her majesty against them all; for he said, "No
+lawyers are good for any thing; I esteem _myself_ above them all." _We
+ourselves heard him say so._ When he had thus persuaded her majesty of
+his own superiority, and introduced himself into all the consultations
+of her law advisers, (unless they demanded a _private_ audience) he
+began to attack the _Whigs_, and amused himself by constantly abusing
+them. He has frequently been heard to say, "The Whigs are worse enemies
+of your majesty than the ministers; they would sacrifice you if they
+could." But, for himself, he led her to believe that he could do any
+thing with the people! In the city, he conceitedly told her majesty, at
+the head of her own table, (where he _usually sat_, till Lord Hood took
+his place) in November, when his friend Thorp was elected mayor, that
+"they wanted to elect me mayor a third time, but I would not accept the
+office;" while, at this very election, there was but ONE SINGLE VOTE for
+him, and that was the new lord mayor's, who could not vote for himself!
+
+It is very lamentable to consider that her majesty was so much guided by
+this one man in most of her actions, even to the fatal day of the
+coronation, upon which occasion, however, he took particular care not to
+attend her. There is every reason to believe, notwithstanding, that her
+going at all was owing to his _secret_ advice, though he pretended to
+the contrary. Those who heard him at the _king's dinner_ were disgusted
+at his being the _loudest_ to applaud his majesty! Most certainly, the
+coronation day did not end to her majesty as she had been led to expect;
+and she discovered, or fancied so, that she had no friend or adviser in
+England on whom she could rely; and, therefore, determined to visit
+Scotland. It was remarked to the queen, by a _true_ friend, who sought
+only her honour and happiness, that Scotland was a proud nation, and
+that it would not be there thought that Alderman Wood was of sufficient
+rank to attend her majesty. The queen quickly and _indignantly_ replied,
+"Alderman Wood! I should never think of taking _him_! No, no; I shall
+only take Lord and Lady Hood, and Lady Hamilton!" All the world knows
+her majesty never named the alderman in her will; but all the world does
+not know that, a short time before her death, she said, "I OWE WOOD
+NOTHING!"
+
+The alderman also seized every opportunity he could to persuade the
+queen to go _abroad again_. On one of these occasions, a friend of her
+majesty overheard the hypocritical adviser, and immediately said, "How
+can you, Mr. Wood, pretend to be her majesty's best friend, and yet want
+her to do that which would ruin her in the eyes of the whole country?"
+"I do not _want_ her to go," replied he, "but if she _will_ go, I wish
+to point out to her the best way of doing it." "Sir, there is _no good
+way_ for the queen to quit the country, and if you should unfortunately
+succeed in persuading her to do it, you will be her ruin!"
+
+Thus it will be seen, that "all is not gold that glitters;" but Mr. Wood
+ought hardly to find fault with us for stripping him of his borrowed
+plumes, considering the length of time he has been allowed to wear them!
+If the public had known these particulars at the time they occurred, it
+is doubtful whether the alderman would have ever received _his plate_;
+therefore, he owes us a little gratitude for not mentioning them before
+that (to him) _golden_ opportunity!
+
+Alderman Wood, however, we are sorry to say, was not the only false
+friend her majesty had to lament. Many others "held with the hare in one
+house, and ran with the hounds in another." Some of these even attended
+public meetings in the quality of friends, and then wrote as enemies in
+the public journals. Some inveighed against her in public, and wrote,
+spoke, and acted for her cause in private. One of her judges, to our
+positive knowledge, spoke admirably for her in parliament, and yet
+privately, in more places than one, impugned the character of her
+majesty! Even while the queen was abroad, her _presumed_ friends were
+extremely negligent at home. They permitted insidious paragraphs to
+appear in the newspapers, day after day, month after month, and year
+after year, without either contradiction or explanation; by which
+shameful neglect, the public mind became so impregnated with falsehood
+and insinuation, that, had not the queen returned to this country as
+she did, her name would have been recorded in history as infamous! Sure
+never woman was so shamefully treated, both by friends and foes; indeed,
+her majesty might well have exclaimed, with Gay,
+
+     "An open foe may prove a curse,
+      But a _pretended_ friend is worse!"
+
+On the 12th of August, while his majesty was absent on a visit to
+Scotland, an extraordinary excitement prevailed by the reported "sudden
+death" of the Marquis of Londonderry. It is hardly necessary to enter
+into the various causes assigned for so unexpected an event; it is
+sufficient to know, that his lordship committed suicide, by cutting his
+throat with a small knife, at his seat, Foot's Cray, and that a
+coroner's inquest (either from conviction, or in kindness to his
+surviving friends) returned a verdict, that his lordship inflicted the
+wound while "delirious and of insane mind."
+
+It is an obligation imposed upon every independent historian to lend his
+assistance to a just and honest estimate of the character of public men.
+It leads to useful, though not always to gratifying, reflections, to
+examine the causes which pointed them out as objects worthy of being
+entrusted with political command. By what strange union of
+circumstances, then, or by what unlucky direction of power, did the
+Marquis of Londonderry attain to the high and important offices which he
+successively held for so long a period?--a period the most momentous
+and ominous, the most fertile in change, the most wicked in court
+intrigue, and the most fraught with terror, of any in our annals! We
+have heard his lordship described as having been amiable in private
+life; but who has denied the manifest mediocrity of his genius for the
+situations he was allowed to fill? Some of his public proceedings,
+however, prove him not to have possessed much of "the milk of human
+kindness," as we shall presently shew. He was, indeed, only qualified to
+act as a mere associate, to be put forward in the face of Europe, not as
+himself a high and original power, but as a passive organ for the
+expression of sentiments, or for the execution of measures, hereafter
+traceable only as the opinions and actions of the "united cabinet" of a
+wicked chief magistrate. The panegyrists of his lordship have also
+trumpetted forth eulogiums on his "personal bravery." And if bravery
+consists in fighting duels, proposing the most unconstitutional acts,
+fearlessly oppressing the innocent, and in defying the power of a
+justly-enraged people, Lord Londonderry assuredly possessed "personal
+bravery" in an eminent degree!
+
+His lordship was born on the 18th of June, 1769, and consequently died
+in the 53rd year of his age. He commenced his career, like his patron,
+Mr. Pitt, as the advocate of parliamentary reform; and, also like that
+apostate minister, Lord Londonderry abandoned his early patriotic
+pledges and principles for the emoluments of office, which he first
+entered in 1797, as keeper of the privy seal, and, shortly after, one
+of the lords of the treasury, of Ireland. In the following year, he
+became secretary to the lord lieutenant. Honours and places were now
+lavishly heaped upon him. In 1802, his lordship received the appointment
+of the Board of Controul, and, in 1805, was raised to the high and
+responsible office of minister of war! On the death of Mr. Pitt in 1806,
+his lordship was obliged to resign, with all the other "clerks in
+office," as the _debris_ of Mr. Pitt's cabinet were called. On the
+resignation of the Grey and Grenville administration, in 1807, he
+resumed his former situation of minister of war, in which he continued
+till the ill-starred Walcheren expedition and his duel with Mr. Canning
+drove him from office, scorned and ridiculed by the whole of Europe. The
+year 1809 gave his lordship an opportunity of shewing how much he
+admired the existing abuses in church and state; for, on an
+investigation taking place into the Duke of York's shameful neglect of
+duty, as commander-in-chief, this year, the noble marquis was peculiarly
+active in his defence, and circulated a considerable sum of money in
+bribing those who were likely to appear as witnesses against the royal
+libertine. On the assassination of Mr. Perceval, in 1811, his lordship
+was made foreign minister, in which situation he continued till his
+death. Holding so high an office at a time when our foreign exertions
+were the most extensive and important, and acting as our negotiator when
+Europe might have been composed and re-adjusted by our councils, he had
+opportunities, which few ministers have enjoyed, of benefitting his
+country and the whole human race. But how did he employ these rare
+opportunities? Alas! his name is only to be found in treaties and
+conventions for clipping the boundaries, impairing the rights, or
+annihilating the existence of independent states; and he gloried in the
+opportunity of stifling liberty in all the lesser states of Europe. Even
+the colonial and commercial interests of Great Britain herself were
+bartered away for snuff boxes and the smiles of Continental despots! If,
+however, there is one action more than another calculated to brand the
+name of Castlereagh with immortal infamy, it is the mean, tyrannical,
+and inglorious conduct which he exercised towards the greatest man that
+ever reigned over a free and enlightened people--the Emperor NAPOLEON!
+To view the career of this truly illustrious man is to look back upon
+the course of a blazing star, that, drawing its fiery arch over the
+concave of heaven, fixes the admiring attention of the sublunary world,
+and dazzles, while it arrests, the wondering eye! What language can do
+justice to the mental powers and noble daring of the man who subdued the
+blood-thirsty enemies of his country, and laid Europe at his feet? In
+Napoleon, we saw the triumphant opposer of all despots, and the restorer
+of order to his own disorganized and distracted subjects. See him from
+his bold and judicious exertions at Toulon to his assumption of the
+imperial title, and the dread-inspiring attitude he presented to
+terrified and retiring Russia,--then judge his gigantic energy and
+valour! As first consul, he pacified Europe; and, as emperor and king,
+revenged her breach of the peace. Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland,
+Prussia, the Netherlands, Germany, Sardinia, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and
+Naples, were all in arms against his power; yet--all fell before it!
+
+The termination of the great war in Europe was not the peculiar triumph
+of that cabinet of which Lord Londonderry was the most prominent tool.
+The campaigns of 1813 and 1814 were guided by the skill and spirit of
+Russian and German officers,--aided, to be sure, by British
+soldiers,--and with the whole civilized world for their allies. The
+English ministers, or rather, the MONIED INTEREST of England, were
+bankers to the "Grand Alliance," and furnished the sinews of the war.
+But, even with such mighty odds against him, the towering and gigantic
+genius of Napoleon would have defied them all, if English money had not
+BRIBED some of his generals. It was this, and this only, that completed
+his downfall. To talk of the Duke of Wellington as the conqueror of
+Napoleon is an insult to the understanding of any intelligent man, and
+for Lord Castlereagh to have boasted of having subdued him, as his
+lordship was wont to do, "was pitiful, was wonderous pitiful!" The
+English cabinet, at this period, was the same "incapable" cabinet. The
+men were the same satellites to Mr. Pitt, subordinates to Mr.
+Perceval,--nay, even to Lord Sidmouth, of Manchester notoriety,--whom
+the independent members of parliament had long known and despised.
+Circumstances ruled these ministers, whose position was chosen for them,
+and improved by others. They could not have resisted that universal
+impulse which they had not created, but which Bonaparte himself had
+provoked; for he defied the whole "Grand Alliance," and, so far, was the
+author of his own reverses, which, however, he would not so soon have
+experienced if Fouche, Duke of Otranto, had not suffered his avarice to
+get the better of his duty. It was this wicked duke, who, dreading the
+detection of his treachery, devised a plan for assassinating the Emperor
+Napoleon on his road to Waterloo. But, though this diabolical intention
+proved a failure, he succeeded too well in putting his illustrious
+master in the power of the British government. Not content, however,
+with betraying his king, Fouche, though he capitulated for Paris, gave
+up the rest of France to the discretion of her enemies and the tender
+mercies of the Russian cossacks! This most consummate of traitors
+likewise exposed those who had assisted him to execute his diabolical
+plans, and actually signed lists for their proscription! Even the treaty
+for the capitulation of Paris proved a mere juggle; for none of its
+provisions were properly adhered to by Lord Castlereagh. The Parisians
+were here most shamefully deceived. It could never have been
+contemplated by them, for instance, that the capital was to be rifled of
+all the monuments of art and antiquity, whereof she had become possessed
+by right of conquest. A reclamation of the great mortar in St. James'
+Park, or of the throne of the King of Ceylon, would have just as much
+appearance of fairness as that of Apollo by the Pope, and Venus by the
+Grand Duke of Tuscany. What a preposterous affectation of justice did
+our foreign secretary evince in employing _British_ engineers to take
+down the brazen horses of Alexander the Great, that they might be
+re-erected in St. Mark's Place at Venice,--a city to which the Austrian
+emperor has no more equitable a claim than we have to Vienna! Lord
+Castlereagh's authority for emptying the Louvre was not only an act of
+unfairness to the French, but one of the greatest impolicy as concerned
+our own countrymen, since, by so doing, he removed beyond the reach of
+the great majority of British artists and students the finest models of
+sculpture and of painting the world has produced. Although England was
+made to bear the trouble and expense of these removals, the complacent
+Castlereagh gave all the spoil to foreign potentates, whose smiles and a
+few trifling presents compensated _him_ for their loss! But what will
+posterity think of a British minister's violating a treaty for such
+paltry gratifications?
+
+We come now to speak of the conduct of the departed minister to the
+betrayed Emperor of the French. Napoleon always declared that he gave
+himself up to England, in the confidence of promises, sacredly made to
+him by Lord Castlereagh, that he should be allowed to remain in this
+country. "My having given myself up to you," were Napoleon's words, "is
+not so simple a matter as you imagine. Before I went to Elba, Lord
+Castlereagh offered me an asylum in England, and said that I should be
+very well treated there, and much better off than at Elba." But how did
+his lordship fulfil these promises? This will be best explained in the
+language of Napoleon himself, in a protest which he wrote on board the
+Bellerophon, August 4th, 1815, of which the following is a translation:
+
+
+"I hereby solemnly protest, in the face of heaven and of man, against
+the violence done me, and against the violation of my most sacred
+rights, in forcibly disposing of my person and my liberty. I came
+voluntarily on board of the Bellerophon; I am not a prisoner, I am the
+guest of England. I came on board even at the instigation of the
+captain, who told me he had orders from the government to receive me and
+my suite, and conduct me to England, if agreeable to me. I presented
+myself with good faith, to put myself under the protection of the
+English laws. As soon as I was on board the Bellerophon, I was under
+shelter of the British people.
+
+"If the government, in giving orders to the captain of the Bellerophon
+to receive me, as well as my suite, only intended to LAY A SNARE FOR ME,
+it has forfeited its honour and disgraced its flag.
+
+"If this act be consummated, the English will in vain boast to Europe of
+their integrity, their laws, and their liberty. British good faith will
+be lost in the hospitality of the Bellerophon.
+
+"I appeal to history; it will say that an enemy, who for twenty years
+waged war against the English people, came voluntarily, in his
+misfortunes, to seek an asylum under their laws. What more brilliant
+proof could he give of his esteem and his confidence? But what return
+did England make for so much magnanimity? They feigned to stretch forth
+a friendly hand to that enemy; and when he delivered himself up in good
+faith, they sacrificed him.
+
+                                             (Signed) "NAPOLEON."
+
+
+Napoleon, however, acquitted the English PEOPLE of any participation in
+this crime, and said, "We must not judge of the character of a people by
+the conduct of their government."
+
+Europe should understand how little the English people are implicated in
+the crimes of their king or his ministers. The PEOPLE did not vote
+millions after millions for a crusade against French and American
+liberty. _They_ did not commission a Wellington to interfere in the
+re-enthronement of a Bourbon; _they_ did not depute a Castlereagh to
+dictate the slavery of Saxony and Genoa; nor should _they_ be charged
+with the gross injustice, dastardly inurbanity, and forcible
+imprisonment of the greatest man and the most magnificent monarch of
+modern or ancient times,--of a man whose mental superiority was
+honourable to human nature, and which threw into utter darkness the
+abilities of every other sovereign!
+
+British annals have, indeed, been stained by many a dark and unsightly
+spot; our volumes will exhibit divers foul and desperate deeds in the
+domestic history of the last two kings: but never was an act more
+_nationally_ disgraceful than the banishment of Napoleon to St. Helena!
+He was never accountable to England, much less to the English
+boroughmongers, for his political conduct. He had been the general, the
+first consul, and the emperor of the French. He arose amidst the storms
+of the revolution; he was (as he himself felt and said) the "sword-arm
+of the republic," with which it chastised and humbled to the dust the
+accursed confederacy of despots who had endeavoured to rivet an old,
+worn-out, oppressive, and rejected dynasty on thirty millions of
+Frenchmen. He conquered at first by the help of that flame of liberty
+which raged with a fierceness proportioned to its long suppression; and,
+latterly, having raised himself above his contemporaries by his powerful
+genius, he was made emperor by his countrymen and fellow-soldiers,
+partly because a large portion of the people, weary of the violent
+fluctuations of an ill-constituted democracy, desired the repose even of
+absolute government, and partly because he was looked upon as the
+fittest instrument for foreign conquest, which had become a favourite
+habit, though originating in an absolute necessity. Never let it be
+forgotten, that he was chosen first consul for life (a distinction used
+only for the sake of republican appearances, and known to mean king all
+over Europe) by the votes of the French people at large! The question
+was submitted to them in the separate departments; all voted that took
+interest in the affirmative or the negative; and the result was, his
+election by more than 3,500,000 voices against 374! Can the House of
+Hanover say as much for their succession to the throne of the STUARTS?
+NAPOLEON was not only the elected sovereign of the French people, but he
+was acknowledged in that capacity by all his enemies. As first consul,
+the allies, including England, made the treaty of Amiens with him. As
+emperor, the Continental sovereigns not only often acknowledged, but
+_flattered_, and bowed to the earth before him; and this country, at the
+least, negotiated with him for peace. Whence, then, arose Lord
+Castlereagh's right to treat him as an offender amenable to England?
+When, by a marvellous succession of ill-fortune, he fell from his
+towering height, and left for ever his post at the head of the French
+government, he became a private individual; and this country had no more
+business to interfere with his personal freedom than with that of
+Marshal SOULT, or any other of the military men who had equally sought
+to crush us. Some canting and arrogant people talked of his
+_crimes_--his tyranny--his unjust aggressions in Spain and elsewhere.
+But we deny that Napoleon was a tyrant. After his return from Elba, he
+wished to be at peace with all mankind, and to devote the remainder of
+his days to increase the happiness and prosperity of his people. Which
+of his enemies could say as much? We quote the following letter in
+justification of what we here advance, which the emperor addressed to
+all the sovereigns of Europe:
+
+                                         "_Paris, April 4, 1815._
+
+     "SIRES, MY BROTHERS,--You have no doubt learnt in the course
+     of the last month my return to France, my entrance into Paris,
+     and the departure of the family of the Bourbons. The true
+     nature of those events must now be made known to your
+     majesties. They are the results of an irresistible power,--the
+     results of the unanimous wish of a great nation, which knows
+     its duties and its rights. The dynasty which force had given
+     to the French people was not fitted for it; the Bourbons
+     neither associated with the national sentiments nor manners;
+     France has therefore separated herself from them; her voice
+     called for a liberator. The hopes which induced me to make the
+     greatest sacrifice for her have been deceived; I came, and,
+     from the spot where I first set my foot, the love of my people
+     has borne me into the heart of my capital. The first wish of
+     my heart is to repay so much affection by the maintenance of
+     an honourable peace. The restoration of the imperial throne
+     was necessary for the happiness of the French people. It is my
+     sincere desire to render it at the same time subservient to
+     the maintenance of the repose of Europe. Enough of glory has
+     shone by turns on the colours of the various nations. The
+     vicissitudes of fortune have often enough occasioned great
+     reverse, followed by great success; a more brilliant _arena_
+     is now open to sovereigns, and I am the first to descend into
+     it. After having presented to the world the spectacles of
+     great battles, it will now be more delightful to know no other
+     rivalship in future but that resulting from the advantages of
+     peace, and no other struggle but the sacred one of felicity
+     for our people. France has been pleased to proclaim with
+     candour this noble object of her unanimous wish. Jealous of
+     her independence, the invariable principle of her policy will
+     be the most rigid respect for the independence of other
+     nations. If such then (as I trust they are) are the personal
+     sentiments of your majesties, general tranquillity is secured
+     for a long time to come, and Justice, seated on the confines
+     of the various states, will of herself be sufficient to guard
+     the frontiers.
+
+                                          "I am, &c.
+                                                      "NAPOLEON."
+
+If further proof be needed against his being a tyrant, it may be found
+in the following extracts from the Additional Act to the Constitution of
+the Empire of France, 1815:
+
+     "Rights of Citizens.--All Frenchmen are equal in the eye of
+     the law, whether as contributors to the public taxes and
+     imposts, or as to admission to civil and military employments.
+     No one can be prosecuted, arrested, imprisoned, or exiled,
+     except according to the forms prescribed by the law.
+
+     "Liberty of worship is granted to all.
+
+     "Every citizen has the right of printing and publishing his
+     thoughts (signing his name) without any previous censorship,
+     and subject only to legal responsibility after the publication,
+     by the verdict of juries, even where there should be no
+     occasion but for a correctional penalty. The right of
+     petitioning is secured to all citizens. Every petition is
+     individual.
+
+     "The French people declare moreover that, in the delegation
+     which they have made, and which they shall make, of their
+     powers, they have not intended to give, nor do they give, the
+     right of proposing the re-establishment of the Bourbons, or
+     any prince of that family, upon the throne, even in case of
+     the extinction of the imperial dynasty; nor the right of
+     re-establishing either the ancient feudal nobility, or the
+     feudal and signorial privileges or titles, or any privileged
+     and dominant worship; nor the power of making any attempt upon
+     the irrevocability of the sale of the national domains: they
+     formally interdict to the government, the chambers, and the
+     citizens all propositions to that effect.
+
+     "Done at Paris the 20th of April, 1815.
+
+                                  (Signed) "NAPOLEON.
+                                           "The Duke of BASSANO."
+
+Nothing but their own love of tyranny, therefore, could induce these
+sovereigns to wage war against a happy people, like the people of
+France. But Napoleon's virtues were too luminous for their dim eyes to
+look upon. The abolition of the slave-trade ought to be held in
+everlasting remembrance by all the friends of justice and humanity.
+
+     "IMPERIAL DECREE.
+
+     "Napoleon, Emperor of the French. We have decreed, and do
+     decree, as follows:
+
+     "Art. 1.--From the date of the publication of the present
+     decree, the trade in negroes is abolished. No expedition shall
+     be allowed for this commerce, neither in the ports of France
+     nor in those of our colonies.
+
+     "Art. 2.--There shall not be introduced to be sold in our
+     colonies any negro, the produce of this trade, whether French
+     or foreign.
+
+     "Art. 3.--Any infraction of this decree shall be punished with
+     the confiscation of the ship and cargo, which shall be
+     pronounced by our courts and tribunals.
+
+     "Art. 4.--However, the ship-owners who, before the publication
+     of the present decree, shall have fitted out expeditions for
+     the trade may sell the produce in our colonies.
+
+     "Our ministers are charged with the execution of the present
+     decree.
+
+                                  (Signed) "NAPOLEON.
+                                           "The Duke of BASSANO."
+
+Beside these noble examples of good government, many other advantages
+were bestowed on the French people by their emperor. Their "Code
+Napoleon," their "Legion of Honour," their "Central Schools," their _new
+roads_, _bridges_, and _canals_, will be lasting evidences of the
+gigantic powers of his mind, and of his sincere desire to serve his
+country, and render himself worthy of the exalted station to which he
+had been called by her gratitude for his pre-eminent military services.
+Had Napoleon bounded his ambition to the glory of ruling France upon
+free and liberal principles, it had been happy for himself, his
+relations, and his country; but to talk of his foreign despotism, and
+his _carrying_ tyranny to where, in fact, he _found_ tyranny,--tyranny
+the most rank and inveterate,--is to use the language of folly or of
+knavery, and to merit the contempt of every thinking mind.
+
+But if it be even allowed that Napoleon was all that his enemies would
+make him, where did our ministers get the unheard-of privilege of
+setting themselves up as cosmopolite censors? By what right did the
+British government constitute itself a tribunal to judge and punish, in
+the last resort, delinquent monarchs? Could it by any reasoning have
+made out a claim to that office, was it just or decent to make a victim
+of _one_,--a man of unquestioned talent and greatness of soul,--and at
+the same moment to compliment and make alliances with all the worse
+tyrants, the maudlin hypocrites, and base violaters of their word? Or
+did these moral Quixotes and immaculate judges only profess to "do
+_justice_" upon _one_ sinner "against the spirit of the age,"--and that
+one a _fallen_ enemy?
+
+The only plausible pretence for the treatment of the abdicated emperor
+was--that his surpassing genius, and his great hold on the military part
+of the French character, rendered him a necessary exception to the rule
+regarding prisoners of war, and made it indispensable to the safety and
+repose of the world, that he should be prevented from appearing again on
+the grand stage of European politics. This is confessedly on the
+dangerous plan of doing positive injustice for the sake of what the
+doers think safe and necessary. But we deny the necessity. We say the
+argument is built on utter ignorance of human nature, and a wilful
+blindness to all history and experience. Napoleon was grand in his
+views, because he admired and loved greatness for its own sake. He never
+sullied his conquests by partitioning and dividing the conquered. He
+could afford not to weaken his enemies by petty violations of national
+integrity. He encouraged every thing liberal and noble, which did not at
+the same time interfere with his personal authority. He cherished
+literature, art, and science; and they, in return, reflected true glory
+upon him. He never insulted and mocked mankind by pretending an eternal
+right in himself and his successors to trample them under his feet,
+because he was an emperor. He had always a respect for liberty, though
+he so often forgot it in his greater eagerness for power. He never laid
+claim to _holiness_, but acknowledged himself, in his proudest moments,
+sovereign, "_by the constitutions of the empire_." He was not
+vindictive; his long military rule was never sullied by any act which
+could be compared in infamy with the imprisonment of the unfortunate
+TRENCK by that Prussian FREDERICK, whom the legitimate abusers of
+NAPOLEON call "the _Great_." The prominent fault of his career as a
+leader of a new and revolutionary period, was that, instead of looking
+forward, he looked backward, and became an imitator instead of an
+original. He evidently had the glories of former ages strongly in his
+view; and was to be a great conqueror, not because the times wanted
+_him_, but because there are medals and statues in the world, and
+dynasties were founded by CAESAR. In the height of his prosperity, he was
+a CHARLEMAGNE--another "Emperor of the West;" and, in his adversity, he
+forgot the Prince Regent of England so far as to talk to him of
+THEMISTOCLES[68:A]. And yet there was a romance even in this, which set
+him above all ordinary conquerors. He had the poetry, as well as the
+prose, of the military art about him. _He_ would never have sunk into a
+mere lounger and man of pleasure, or stood behind any commonplace man
+with a gold stick in his hand.
+
+     [68:A] The following is a translation of the letter above
+     referred to:
+
+                                     "Rocheford, 13th July, 1815.
+
+     "YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,
+
+     "A victim to the factions which distract my country, and to
+     the enmity of the greatest powers of Europe, I have terminated
+     my political career, and I come, like Themistocles, to throw
+     myself upon the hospitality of the British people. I put
+     myself under the protection of their laws, which I claim from
+     your royal highness, as the most powerful, the most constant,
+     and the most generous of my enemies.
+
+                                                      "NAPOLEON."
+
+As a soldier, his military career has never been surpassed in
+brilliancy. Quick, active, decisive, he never paused in the vigorous and
+persevering execution of the plans which his genius prompted him to
+undertake. He introduced a new, high, and successful mode of conquest,
+by striking immediately at the centre of armies and countries; and he
+was finally overthrown, both as general and sovereign, not because his
+individual antagonists were greater, but because the very physical
+remains of old English liberty were greater, and because public opinion
+was greater than all. He possessed, in an eminent degree, the great art
+of estimating and working upon the characters of his adversaries, and
+the still greater art of gaining the affections of his soldiers, who
+were always passionately fond of him, and who at this day adore his
+memory.
+
+As a prince and a conqueror, his master-passion was a restless ambition,
+the impetuous tide of which bore him onward to his ends through many
+signal acts of injustice and violence. We shall not dwell upon them:
+there has been plenty of "envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness," to
+ring the changes on his worst deeds, and an abundance of those feelings,
+we find, survive the object that particularly roused them. Neither shall
+we indulge in uselessly regretting the good he _failed_ to do, or in
+reproaching him with the want of moderation and wisdom. Our business is
+with the illustrious soldier as he was, not as he might have been
+without his defects:
+
+     "His warlike mind, his soul devoid of fear;
+      His high-designing thoughts were figured there."
+
+His character was spoilt, or at least not adapted to the purposes of
+freedom, by a military education. The BOURBONS brought him up at one of
+their military schools, where his head was filled with CAESAR and
+ALEXANDER, and then complained of him for his ambition: that is to say,
+the legitimate monarchs will let you be as ambitious and warlike as you
+please, provided you assist _their_ ambition and wars; but if not, you
+are a blood-thirsty conqueror and a tyrant. Some writers have attempted
+to confound, on _this_ occasion, ambition with mere ordinary
+selfishness. This is paltry and ridiculous. Napoleon was never so cool
+as when contemplating eminent success. Those who have carried him the
+news of victory have frequently supposed that he had learnt it before,
+or that he did not credit them. It warmed no feature of his countenance;
+it lit up no additional lustre in his eye. Yet this was not
+indifference; he had acquired a habit of subduing the ordinary emotions
+of mankind. Defeat and error certainly enraged him towards those who
+contributed to such mortifications; but they never had power to hurry
+him into any efforts to repair disaster. His intemperance never extended
+itself to his plans or resources, as a general. Let us look to the
+course of his feelings when the thunderbolt of his fortune was expended
+at Moscow. He had recourse to no dribbling efforts on which to hang the
+flame of military hope. He negotiated the plan of his retreat with all
+the precision of an attorney, who leaves nothing unprovided for. Trifles
+alone disturbed Napoleon. The offence of an inattention on the part of
+an attendant would make him angry; but if the world had burst asunder,
+and only left him a place to stand upon, he would have regarded it
+through his eye-glass as an experiment in natural philosophy!
+
+Had Napoleon lived in times of less turbulence, he would have been a
+still greater statesman than a warrior. It is a fact not to be disputed,
+that it was this great man who definitively freed the entire Continent
+of Europe from that democratic mania, of all other tyrannies the most
+cruel, savage, and unrelenting, and which was in full, though less
+rapid, progress when he, by accepting the diadem of France, restored the
+_principles_ of monarchy to its vigour, and, at one blow, overturned the
+many-headed monster of revolution. To attain this beneficial end, HE
+SPILT NO BLOOD! The decapitation of Louis, in which he could have had no
+concern, completely overwhelmed the Bourbon dynasty; but Napoleon, in
+one single day, re-established that monarchial form of government which
+the imbecile ministers of England had, with so much expense of human
+life and treasure, been for many years unsuccessfully attempting to
+restore!
+
+One of Napoleon's greatest admirers was Mr. Fox, who, speaking of him
+one day, said, "If we even shut our eyes on the martial deeds of this
+great man, we must allow that his _eloquence alone_ has elevated the
+French people to a higher degree of civilization than any other nation
+in Europe,--they have advanced a century during the last five years.
+Bonaparte combines the declamation of a Cicero with the soul-stirring
+philippicks of a Demosthenes; he appeals _to the head and the heart_, to
+honour and to self-interest, at the same time. Had this wonderful man
+turned his attention to poetry, instead of war, he would have beaten
+Homer out of the field! Whatever his manner of delivery may be, and I
+understand it is impressive, he is certainly the greatest orator that
+the world ever produced. The soaring grandeur of his conceptions is
+admirable, and his adaptation of the deeds and sayings of the heroes and
+statesmen of ancient times to present circumstances, not only shows the
+extent of his reading and the correctness of his taste in their
+application, but also serves to assure the French people that he is as
+capable of governing as he has proved himself to be in leading them
+forth to conquest. But it is in his power of simplification that he
+shines most; although as romantic as Ossian, he disdains all rodomontade
+and circumlocution; and, by stripping his subject of all extraneous
+matter, he reduces the most complex proposition down to the laconic
+simplicity of a self-evident axiom."
+
+What, then, are we to think of a British minister, who could violate his
+most sacred pledges of protection to a man of this exalted description?
+But Lord Castlereagh's mind was not capable of estimating the worth and
+talents of Napoleon, and the mean expedient to which his lordship
+resorted to gain possession of the emperor's person will ever reflect
+the greatest possible disgrace upon his character, both as a man and a
+minister. The petty, vexatious, and unjustifiable conduct, to which the
+Emperor Napoleon was afterwards subjected at St. Helena, was equal in
+meanness to his capture. When the emperor quitted the Bellerophon, on
+the 8th of August, the officers and ship's company were in
+consternation; they felt implicated in the shame and the injustice of
+such a procedure. Napoleon traversed the deck to descend into the
+sloop, with calmness and a smile upon his lips, having at his side
+Admiral Keith. He stopped before Captain Maitland, charged him to
+testify his satisfaction to the officers and crew of the Bellerophon,
+and, seeing him extremely grieved, said to him, by way of consolation,
+"_Posterity cannot, in any way, accuse you for what is taking place; you
+have been deceived as well as myself._" Napoleon enjoyed, during
+twenty-four days, the protection of the British flag; he sojourned in
+the inner roads of Torbay and Plymouth; and it was not until after that
+lapse of time, on the 8th of August, when passing on board the
+Northumberland, that Admiral Keith disarmed the French,--the delivering
+up of arms being one of the characteristics of prisoners of war. The
+arms of the emperor, however, were not demanded.
+
+It would be unnecessary to give a copy of the "official" regulations,
+which Lord Castlereagh ordered to be observed towards the illustrious
+Napoleon; their tyrannical operation will be made manifest in the
+following correspondence:
+
+
+LETTER FROM COUNT MONTHOLON TO THE GOVERNOR, SIR HUDSON LOWE.
+
+                                  "_Longwood, 23rd August, 1816._
+
+"GENERAL,
+
+"I have received the treaty of the 2nd August, 1815, concluded between
+his Britannic Majesty, the Emperor of Austria, the Emperor of Russia,
+and the King of Prussia, which was annexed to your letter of the 23rd
+July.
+
+"The Emperor Napoleon protests against the contents of that treaty. He
+is not the prisoner of England: after having abdicated, into the hands
+of the representatives of the nation, for the advantage of the
+constitution adopted by the French people, and in favour of his son, he
+repaired voluntarily and freely to England, to live there as a private
+individual, in retirement, under the protection of the British laws. The
+violation of all laws cannot constitute a right; in point of fact, the
+person of the Emperor Napoleon is in the power of England; but in fact,
+and of right, he has not been and is not in the power of Austria,
+Russia, and Prussia, even according to the laws and customs of England,
+who never admitted into the balance, in the exchange of prisoners, the
+Russians, the Austrians, the Prussians, the Spaniards, the Portuguese,
+although she was united to those powers by treaties of alliance, and
+made war conjointly with them. The convention of the 2nd August, made
+fifteen days after the Emperor Napoleon was in England, cannot, of
+right, have any effect; it exhibits only a spectacle of a coalition of
+the four great powers of Europe for the oppression of a SINGLE MAN!--a
+coalition disclaimed by the opinion of all people, and at variance with
+all the principles of sound morality. The Emperors of Austria and of
+Russia, and the King of Prussia, not having, either in fact or of right,
+any controul over the person of the Emperor Napoleon, they have had no
+power to decree any thing concerning him. If the Emperor Napoleon had
+been in the power of the Emperor of Austria, that prince would have
+recollected the relations which religion and nature have placed between
+a father and a son,--relations which are never violated with impunity.
+He would have recollected, that Napoleon has four times restored him to
+his throne: at Leoben, in 1797, and at Luneville, in 1801, when his
+armies were under the walls of Vienna; at Presburg, in 1806, and at
+Vienna, in 1809, when his armies were masters of the capital, and of
+three-fourths of the monarchy. That prince would have recollected the
+protestations which he made to him at the bivouac of Moravia, in 1806,
+and at the interviews at Dresden, in 1812. If the person of the Emperor
+Napoleon had been in the power of the Emperor Alexander, he would have
+called to mind the bonds of friendship contracted at Tilsit, at Erfurt,
+and during twelve years of daily intercourse. He would have remembered
+the conduct of the Emperor Napoleon on the day after the battle of
+Austerlitz, when, having it in his power to make him prisoner with the
+wreck of his army, he contented himself with his parole, and suffered
+him to operate his retreat. He would have called to mind the dangers
+which the Emperor Napoleon personally braved to extinguish the
+conflagration of Moscow, and preserve to him that capital. Certainly,
+that prince would not have violated the duties of friendship and
+gratitude towards a friend in misfortune. If the person of the Emperor
+Napoleon had even been in the power of the King of Prussia, that
+sovereign would not have forgotten, that it depended on the emperor,
+after the day of Friedland, to place another prince on the throne of
+Berlin; he would not have forgotten, in the presence of a disarmed
+enemy, the protestations of devotedness and the sentiments which he
+expressed to him in 1812, at the interviews of Dresden. Accordingly, it
+is obvious in the Articles 2 and 9 of the said treaty of the 2nd August,
+that, being unable in any way to influence the fate of the Emperor
+Napoleon's person, which is not in their power, those same persons agree
+to what shall be done thereon by the King of Great Britain, who
+undertakes to fulfil all obligations. These princes have reproached the
+Emperor Napoleon with having preferred the protection of the English
+laws to their protection. The false notions which the Emperor Napoleon
+had of the English laws, and of the influence which the opinion of a
+great, generous, and free people had on their government, induced him to
+prefer the protection of their laws to that of his father-in-law, or his
+old friend. The Emperor Napoleon was ever competent to ensure what
+concerned him personally, by a diplomatic treaty, either by replacing
+himself at the head of the army of the Loire, or by placing himself at
+the head of the army of the Gironde, which General Claus commanded. But,
+seeking thenceforward only retirement, and the protection of the laws of
+a free nation, either English or American, all stipulations appeared to
+him unnecessary. He thought the English would be more bound by his
+frank, noble, and confident procedure, than they would have been by the
+most solemn treaties. He was mistaken. But this error will always make
+true Britons blush; and, both in the present and in future generations,
+it will be a proof of the faithlessness of the English administration.
+An Austrian and a Russian commissioner have arrived at St. Helena. If
+the object of their mission be the fulfilment of the duties which the
+Emperors of Austria and Russia contracted by the treaty of the 2nd of
+August, and to see that the English agents, in a small colony, in the
+midst of the ocean, do not fail in the attentions due to a prince, bound
+to them by the ties of kindred and by so many other relations, there may
+be recognised in this procedure some characteristics of those
+sovereigns. But you, sir, have affirmed that those commissioners had
+neither the right nor the power to form any opinion as to whatever takes
+place on this rock.
+
+"The English ministry have caused the Emperor Napoleon to be transported
+to St. Helena, 2000 leagues from Europe. This rock is situated in the
+tropic, 900 leagues from any continent; it is subject to the consuming
+heats of this latitude; it is covered with clouds and fogs during three
+quarters of the year; it is at once the driest and the most humid
+country in the world; such a climate is most adverse to the emperor's
+health. It was hatred that dictated the choice of this abode, as well as
+the instructions given by the English ministry to the officers
+commanding at this place. They have been ordered to call the Emperor
+Napoleon, 'General,' wishing to oblige him to acknowledge that he has
+never reigned in France; and this has determined him not to assume a
+name of incognito, as he had resolved to do on quitting France. As first
+magistrate, for life, of the republic, he concluded the preliminaries of
+London and the treaty of Amiens with the King of Great Britain; he
+received, as ambassadors, Lord Cornwallis, Mr. Merry, and Lord
+Whitworth, who sojourned in this quality at his court. He accredited to
+the King of England Count Otto and General Andreossy, who resided as
+ambassadors at the court of Windsor. When, after an interchange of
+letters between the two administrations of foreign affairs, Lord
+Lauderdale came to Paris, invested with full powers from the King of
+England, he treated with plenipotentiaries invested with full powers
+from the Emperor Napoleon, and sojourned several months at the court of
+the Thuilleries. When, subsequently, at Chatillon, Lord Castlereagh
+signed the ultimatum which the allied powers presented to the
+plenipotentiaries of the Emperor Napoleon, he thereby recognised the
+fourth dynasty. That ultimatum was more advantageous than the treaty of
+Paris; but it was demanded that France should renounce Belgium and the
+left bank of the Rhine, which was contrary to the propositions of
+Frankfort, and to the proclamations of the allied powers, which was
+contrary also to the oath by which at his coronation the emperor had
+sworn to the integrity of the empire. The emperor then thought that the
+natural limits were necessary to the guarantee of France, and to the
+equilibrium of Europe. He thought that the French nation, in their then
+existing circumstances, ought rather to incur all the chances of war
+than to depart from them. France would have obtained that integrity, and
+with it preserved her honour, if TREASON had not come to the aid of the
+allies.
+
+"The treaty of the 2nd August and the British bill in parliament call
+the emperor, 'Napoleon Bonaparte,' and do not give him the title of
+general. The title of General Bonaparte is doubtless eminently glorious;
+the emperor bore it at Lodi, at Castiglione, at Rivoli, at Arcola, at
+Leoben, at the Pyramids, at Aboukir; but for seventeen years he has
+borne that of first consul and of emperor. It would be to allow that he
+has not been either first magistrate of the republic, or sovereign of
+the fourth dynasty. Those who think that nations are mere flocks, which
+belong, _by divine right_, to certain families, are not in the spirit of
+the age, nor even in that of the English legislature, which several
+times changed the order of its dynasty, because great changes that had
+taken place in opinions, in which the reigning princes did not
+participate, had rendered them inimical to the welfare and to a great
+majority of that nation. FOR KINGS ARE ONLY HEREDITARY MAGISTRATES, WHO
+EXIST BUT FOR THE WELFARE OF NATIONS, AND NOT NATIONS FOR THE
+SATISFACTION OF KINGS. It was the same spirit of hatred which ordained
+that 'the Emperor Napoleon should not write or receive any letter,
+unless it was opened and read by the English ministers and the officers
+of St. Helena.' He has thus been denied the possibility of receiving
+news from his mother, his wife, his son, his brothers; and when,
+desirous of avoiding the inconvenience of seeing his letters read by
+subaltern officers, he wished to send letters sealed to the Prince
+Regent, the answer was, that they could only undertake to let open
+letters pass; that 'such were the instructions of the ministry.' This
+measure needs not be reflected on; it will give strange ideas of the
+spirit of the administration which dictated it; _it would even be
+disclaimed at Algiers_! Letters have arrived for general officers of the
+emperor's suite; they were unsealed, and were remitted to you; you did
+not communicate them, because they had not passed through the channel of
+the English ministry. It was necessary to make them travel over again
+4000 leagues, and those officers had the pain of knowing that there
+existed on this rock, news from a wife, a mother, children, which they
+were not to know for six months. The heart rises at this!! We were not
+allowed to subscribe for the Morning Chronicle, the Morning Post, and
+some French journals. Some odd numbers of the Times were now and then
+sent to Longwood. Upon the demand made on board the Northumberland, some
+books were sent, but all those relative to transactions of late years
+were carefully withheld. It was afterwards wished to correspond with a
+London bookseller, in order to have direct means of obtaining some books
+that were wanted, and those which related to the events of the day: this
+was prevented. An English author having performed a voyage in France,
+and having printed it in London, took the trouble to send it you, that
+it might be offered to the emperor; but you did not think yourself
+empowered to transmit it to him, because it had not come to you by the
+channel of your government. It is also said that other books sent by
+their authors could not be transmitted, because on the title page of
+some were the words 'To the Emperor Napoleon,' and on others 'To
+Napoleon the Great.' The English ministry are not authorized to order
+any of these vexations; the law of the British parliament, though
+iniquitous, considers the Emperor Napoleon as a prisoner of war; and
+prisoners of war have never been forbidden to subscribe for journals, or
+to receive books which are printed. Such a prohibition is made only in
+the dungeons of the inquisition.
+
+"The isle of St. Helena is ten leagues in circumference; it is
+inaccessible on all sides; the coast is surrounded by some brigs, and
+there are posts placed on its verge within sight of each other, which
+render all communication with the sea impracticable. There is only one
+small village, James Town, where vessels arrive and depart. To prevent
+an individual from quitting the island, it is sufficient to guard the
+coast by sea and land. In interdicting the interior of the island,
+therefore, there can only be one object, that of excluding an easy ride
+of eight or ten miles, which exclusion, in the opinion of professional
+men, is shortening the life of the emperor.
+
+"The emperor has been established at Longwood, a site exposed to all
+winds, a sterile tract, uninhabited, destitute of water, unsusceptible
+of any culture. There is a precinct of about 1200 toises uncultivated;
+at the distance of 300 or 400 toises, upon a peak, they have established
+a camp; another has just been placed about the same distance, in the
+opposite direction; so that, amidst the tropic heats, on whatever side
+we turn, we behold nothing but camps. Admiral Malcolm, having conceived
+how useful a tent would be to the emperor in such a situation, has
+caused one to be pitched by his sailors, twenty paces in front of the
+house; this is the only place where any shade can be found. However, the
+emperor has no reason but to be satisfied with the spirit which animates
+the officers and soldiers of the brave 53rd., as he also was with the
+crew of the Northumberland. Longwood House was built to serve as a barn
+for the Company's farm; subsequently, the lieutenant-governor of the
+island had some rooms fitted up there; it served him as a country-house,
+but it had none of the conveniencies of a dwelling. For a year past, men
+have been constantly at work there, and the emperor has been continually
+exposed to the inconvenience and insalubrity of inhabiting a house in a
+state of building. The room in which he sleeps is too small to contain a
+bed of ordinary dimensions: but every addition to Longwood House would
+prolong the annoyance of the workmen's attendance. Yet in this miserable
+island there are beautiful spots, presenting fine trees, gardens, and
+pretty good houses, Plantation House among others; but the positive
+instructions of the ministry prohibit you from giving that house, which
+might have spared much expense from your treasure, expense employed in
+building at Longwood some cottages covered with pitched paper, which are
+already out of repair. You have forbidden all correspondence between us
+and the inhabitants of the isle; you have in fact placed the house of
+Longwood in a state of exclusion; you have even fettered the
+communications of the officers of the garrison. It seems to have been a
+study to deprive us of the few resources which this miserable country
+affords, and we are here as we should be on the uncultivated and
+uninhabited rock of Ascension. During the four months that you, Sir,
+have been at St. Helena, you have deteriorated the situation of the
+emperor. Count Bertrand observed to you, that you were violating even
+the law of your legislature; that you were trampling under foot the
+rights of general officers, prisoners of war: you answered, that you
+recognised only the letter of your instructions, that they were worse
+even than your conduct appeared to us.
+
+                            "I have the honour to be, General,
+                  "Your very humble and obedient Servant,
+                      (Signed) "The General C{te}. DE MONTHOLON."
+
+"P.S. I had signed this letter, Sir, when I received your's of the
+17th. You annex to it an estimate of an annual sum of twenty thousand
+pounds sterling, which you deem indispensable to meet the expenditure of
+the establishment at Longwood, after all the reductions have been made
+which you have judged practicable. The discussion of this statement
+cannot in any manner concern us. The emperor's table is scarcely what is
+strictly necessary; all the provisions are of bad quality, and four
+times dearer than at Paris. You ask of the emperor a fund of twelve
+thousand pounds sterling, your government allowing you only eight
+thousand pounds sterling, for all these expenses. I have had the honour
+to tell you that the emperor had no funds; that for a year past he had
+not received or written any letter; and that he was in complete
+ignorance as to what is passing or may have been passing in Europe.
+Transported by violence to this rock, 2000 leagues distant, without the
+power of receiving or writing any letter, he now remains entirely at the
+discretion of the English agents. The emperor has always desired, and
+does desire, to defray all expenses whatever himself; and he will do so
+as soon as you will make it possible for him, by removing the
+prohibition imposed on the merchants of the island, of forwarding his
+correspondence, and by consenting that it shall not be subject to any
+inquisition by you or any of your agents. As soon as the wants of the
+emperor shall be known in Europe, the persons who are interested
+concerning him will send the necessary funds for supplying them.
+
+"The letter of Lord Bathurst, which you have communicated to me, gives
+rise to some strange ideas. Were your ministers then ignorant that the
+spectacle of a great man struggling with adversity is the sublimest of
+spectacles? Were they ignorant that Napoleon at St. Helena, amidst
+persecutions of all kinds, which he confronts only with serenity, is
+greater, more sacred, more venerable, than on the first throne in the
+world, where he was so long the arbiter of kings? Those who in this
+position are wanting in what is due to Napoleon, vilify only their own
+character, and the nation which they represent.
+
+                         (Signed) "The Gen. C{te}. DE MONTHOLON."
+
+
+FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME.
+
+                                  "Longwood, 9th September, 1816.
+
+"GENERAL,
+
+"I have received your two letters of the 30th August; there is one of
+them which I have not communicated. Count Bertrand and myself have had
+the honour of telling you several times, that we could not take charge
+of any thing which would be contrary to the august character of the
+emperor. You know better than any one, Sir, how many letters have been
+sent from the post-office to Plantation House; you have forgotten that,
+upon the representations which we have made to you repeatedly, you
+answered, that your instructions obliged you to let nothing go to
+Longwood, either letter, book, or pamphlet, unless those articles had
+passed the scrutiny of your government. The lieutenant of the Newcastle
+having been the bearer of a letter to Count Lascases, you kept that
+letter, but the officer deeming his delicacy compromised, you
+transmitted it thirty days after it had reached this island, &c. We are
+sure that our families and our friends write to us often; hitherto we
+have received very few of their letters. But it is by virtue of the same
+principle, that you this day disavow that you have retained the books
+and pamphlets that have been addressed to you, and yet you keep them.
+
+"Your second letter of the 30th August, Sir, is no answer to that which
+I had the honour to write to you, to remonstrate against the changes
+effected by you in the course of that month, and which demolish all the
+basis of our establishment in this country.
+
+"1. 'There is no part of my written instructions more definite, or to
+which my attention is more pointedly called, than that no person
+whatever should hold any communication with (the emperor) except through
+my agency.' You give a Judaical interpretation to your instructions;
+there is nothing in them which justifies or authorizes your conduct.
+Those instructions your predecessor had; you had them for three months
+previous to the changes which you effected a month ago. In short, it was
+not difficult for you to reconcile your different duties.
+
+"2. 'I have already acquainted (the emperor) personally of this.'
+
+"3. 'In addressing all strangers and other persons, except those whose
+duty might lead them to Longwood, in the first instance to Count
+Bertrand, (or asking myself) to ascertain whether (the emperor) would
+receive their visit, and in not giving passes, except to such persons as
+had ascertained this point, or were directed to do it, I conceive,' &c.
+
+"4. 'It is not, Sir, in my power to extend such privilege, as you
+require, to Count Bertrand,' &c.
+
+"I am obliged to declare to you, Sir, 1st, That you have communicated
+nothing to the emperor. 2nd. For more than two months you have had no
+communication with Count Bertrand. 3rd. We require of you no privilege
+for Count Bertrand, since I only ask a continuation of that state of
+things which existed for nine months.
+
+"5. 'I regret to learn that (the emperor) has been incommoded with the
+visits,' &c. This is bitter irony.
+
+"Instead of endeavouring to reconcile your different duties, Sir, you
+seemed determined to persist in a system of continual vexations. Will
+this do honour to your character? Will it merit the approbation of your
+government and your nation? Permit me to doubt it.
+
+"Several general officers, who arrived in the Cornwallis, desired to be
+presented at Longwood. If you had referred them to Count Bertrand, as
+you had hitherto referred all strangers presenting themselves in the
+island, they would have been received. You have doubtless your reasons
+for preventing persons of some distinction from coming to Longwood;
+allege, if you choose, as you commonly do, the tenour of your
+instructions; but do not misrepresent the intentions of the emperor.
+
+"The younger Lascases and Capt. Pionkowski were yesterday in the town.
+An English lieutenant accompanied them thither, and then, conformably to
+orders existing until that day, left them at liberty to go and see what
+persons they wished. Whilst young Lascases was talking with some young
+ladies, the officer came, and, with extreme pain at being charged with
+so disagreeable a commission, declared that your orders were not to lose
+sight of him. This is contrary to what has taken place heretofore. It
+would, I think, be proper that you should make known to us the changes
+you are effecting. This is forbidding us every visit to town, and thus
+violating your instructions[88:A]. Yet you know that scarcely one of
+the persons at Longwood goes to the town once a month, and there is no
+circumstance which can authorize you to change the established order.
+This is carrying persecution very far! I cannot conceive what has
+occasioned your letter of the 8th of September; I refer, Sir, to the
+postscript of my letter of the 23rd August. The emperor is ill, in
+consequence of the bad climate and privations of all kinds, and I have
+not made known to him all the fastidious details that have been made to
+me on your part. All this has been going on for two months, and should
+have been terminated long ago, as the postscript of my letter of the
+23rd August is explicit. It is now high time that the thing should be
+ended; but it appears to be a text from which to insult us.
+
+                          "I have the honour to be, General,
+                   "Your very humble and obedient servant,
+                         (Signed) "The Gen. C{te}. DE MONTHOLON."
+
+
+     [88:A] However tyrannical the orders of Lord Castlereagh might
+     have been, we cannot help remarking on the petty pleasure Sir
+     Hudson took in executing them, even to the very letter. It was
+     this kind of conduct in Napoleon's jailer that gave rise to
+     the following distich:
+
+     "Sir Hudson Lowe, Sir Hudson Lowe,
+      By name, and ah! BY NATURE SO!"
+
+     Napoleon himself said of this governor, "I have had to do with
+     men of all countries; I never saw any who had so bad a
+     physiognomy, and a more execrable conversation. He writes with
+     the intention of being amicable. That is a contrast to the
+     ignoble vexations that are daily imagined. There is something
+     sinister in all this." Without contradicting the repeated
+     asseverations of Sir Hudson Lowe, that he only acted according
+     to instructions, we must say, that any man of honour should
+     rather have resigned his office than have executed them; for
+     they were not only unnecessary to the security of Napoleon,
+     but they were also ILLEGAL. But Sir Hudson did not possess
+     moral courage; he was captious and mistrustful, and was not at
+     all calculated for the delicate offices he had to perform; he
+     created his own fears, and lost his understanding in
+     endeavouring to foresee misfortune. Count Lascases thus writes
+     of him:
+
+     "The noble-minded English beside us," says the Count, "as well
+     as those who merely visited the island, used to say that our
+     treatment would experience a great and blessed change when the
+     new governor appeared, &c. &c. This new Messiah at length
+     came; but, gracious God!--the word escapes involuntarily from
+     my pen,--it was an executioner, a _gens-d'arme_, whom they had
+     sent. On his appearance, every thing assumed a dark and gloomy
+     aspect; every appearance of external respect, and all the
+     forms prescribed by a due regard to decency, which had
+     hitherto been observed, at once disappeared; every day since
+     has been to us a day of greater pain and more insulting
+     treatment; he has narrowed still farther the boundaries
+     prescribed to us, and even endeavoured to interfere with our
+     domestic economy; he has strictly interdicted all intercourse
+     with the natives, and even prohibited all society with
+     officers of his own nation; he has ordered our residence to be
+     surrounded with ditches and palisades; he has increased the
+     number of soldiers, and endeavoured to make prisons within
+     prisons; he has surrounded us with objects of affright, and
+     reduced us to close custody. The emperor remains almost always
+     in his prison, and no longer leaves his apartment. The few
+     audiences which he has given to that officer have been highly
+     disagreeable and oppressive to him; he has put an end to them,
+     and determined not to see the governor any more. 'I had just
+     grounds,' he observed, 'to complain of the Admiral, though he
+     had at least a heart; but this man has not even a vestige of
+     the character of an Englishman, he is nothing but a low
+     Sicilian _sbirro_.' Sir Hudson Lowe pleads the instructions of
+     his minister in justification of himself, with respect to all
+     these complaints; if this justification is well founded, his
+     instructions are most barbarous; but he can bear witness, at
+     the same time, that he endeavours to carry them into execution
+     in a barbarous manner."
+
+Count Lascases also felt so indignant at the treatment which his noble
+master experienced, that he reproached the governor, in no very measured
+terms, with his want of common humanity, and boldly asked him, "Do you
+or do you not wish to kill the emperor?" For this, and writing
+complaints to his friends, all his private papers were seized, and
+himself dismissed the island. The following farewell letter was written
+to him, on this occasion, by the emperor:
+
+
+"MY DEAR COUNT LASCASES,
+
+"My heart sensibly feels what you endure; torn away fifteen days ago
+from my presence, you were shut up during that period in secret,
+without my being able to receive, or give you, any news, without your
+having communicated with any one, French or English; deprived even of
+the servant of your choice.
+
+"Your conduct at St. Helena has been, like your life, honourable, and
+without reproach: I love to tell you so.
+
+"Your letter to one of your friends, a lady in London, has nothing in it
+that is reprehensible; you there pour forth your whole heart into the
+bosom of friendship. That letter is like eight or ten others, which you
+have written to the same person, and which you have sent unsealed. The
+commandant of this place, having had the delicacy to sift out the
+expressions which you confide to friendship, has reproached you with
+them. Latterly he threatened to send you away from the island, if your
+letters contained any more complaints against him. He has, by so doing,
+violated the first duty of his place, the first article of his
+instructions, and the first sentiment of honour. He has thus authorized
+you to seek the means of conveying the effusions of your feelings to the
+bosom of your friends, and of acquainting them with the culpable conduct
+of the commandant. But you have been very artless: it has been very easy
+to take your confidence by surprise.
+
+"They were waiting for a pretext to seize your papers; but your letter
+to your London friend could not authorize a police visit to you; for it
+contains no plot, no mystery; it is simply the expression of a noble and
+frank heart. The illegal and precipitate conduct pursued on this
+occasion bears the stamp of a very base personal hatred.
+
+"In countries the least civilized, exiles, prisoners, and even
+criminals, are under the protection of the laws, and of the magistrates.
+The persons appointed to guard them have chiefs, either in the
+administrative or judicial order, who superintend them. Upon this rock,
+the man who makes the most absurd regulations executes them with
+violence, transgresses all laws, and there is no one to restrain the
+excesses of his temper.
+
+"They envelop Longwood with a mystery, which they would wish to render
+impenetrable, in order to conceal a criminal conduct; and this leaves
+room for suspecting the most criminal intentions!!
+
+"By some rumours artfully spread, it was wished to mislead the officers,
+strangers, inhabitants, and even the agents who are said to be
+maintained by Austria and Russia in this place; doubtless, the English
+government is deceived in the same way by adroit and fallacious
+statements.
+
+"Your papers, among which it was known that there were some belonging to
+me, have been seized without any formality, near my apartment, with a
+marked and ferocious exultation. I was apprized of this a few moments
+afterwards: I looked through the window, and saw that they were taking
+you away. A numerous staff was parading round the house; I could fancy I
+saw so many South Sea islanders dancing round the prisoners whom they
+were going to devour.
+
+"Your society was necessary to me; you alone read, spoke, and understood
+English. How many nights have you sat up, during my fits of sickness!
+Yet I enjoin you, and, if need be, I order you, to request the
+commandant of this place to send you back to the Continent. He cannot
+refuse that, since he has no controul over you, but by the voluntary act
+which you have signed. It will be a great consolation to me to know,
+that you are on your way to more fortunate countries.
+
+"On arriving in Europe, whether you go to England, or return home,
+dismiss the remembrance of the ills which they have made you suffer;
+boast of the fidelity which you have shewn me, and of the great
+affection which I bear you.
+
+"If you should one day see my wife and my son, embrace them. For two
+years, I have not heard from them, directly or indirectly. There has
+been for six months in this place a German botanist who saw them in the
+garden of Schoenbrunn, some months before his departure; the barbarians
+have carefully prevented him from giving me any news from them.
+
+"My body is in the power of the hatred of my enemies; they forget
+nothing which can glut their vengeance. They are killing me by inches.
+But the insalubrity of this devouring climate, the want of every thing
+that sustains life, will, I feel, put a speedy end to this existence,
+the last moments of which will be an opprobrium on the English
+character; and Europe will one day signalize with horror that crafty and
+wicked man[94:A], whom true Englishmen will disown as a Briton.
+
+"As there is every reason to think, that you will not be permitted to
+come to see me before your departure, receive my embraces, the assurance
+of my esteem, and my friendship. Be happy.
+
+                                             (Signed) "NAPOLEON."
+
+"_11th December, 1816._"
+
+
+     [94:A] Sir Hudson Lowe is, doubtless, the person here alluded
+     to by the emperor; but he would not have dared to act as he
+     did if such tyrannical and unfeeling conduct had been against
+     Lord Castlereagh's approbation.
+
+We might add many other proofs of the inhumanity exercised towards
+Napoleon, were it necessary to our purpose. Let our readers look over
+the writings of O'Meara, Lascases[94:B], and numerous other persons now
+living, both French and English, who bear the most heart-rending
+testimony to all that was done to torture and to put an end to the life
+of this great man.
+
+     [94:B] Particularly his eloquent and manly "Appeal to the
+     Parliament of Great Britain, on the case of the Emperor
+     Napoleon."
+
+The inhuman conduct pursued towards the captive emperor at length became
+the subject of parliamentary inquiry. A motion to this effect was
+introduced to the House of Peers by Lord Holland, in the month of March,
+1817. Of the motives by which this noble lord was actuated, it is
+difficult to award sufficient praise. He declared, "My chief motive in
+bringing forward this motion is to rescue parliament and the country
+from the stain that will attach to them, if any harsh or ungenerous
+treatment has been used towards Napoleon." Such an anxiety for the
+character of his country was, doubtless, a patriotic and proper motive;
+but it never ought to claim precedence of the great, permanent, and
+universal feelings of pity for the unfortunate, which are among the
+noblest characteristics of our nature. His lordship, therefore, might
+have insisted more upon the merit of a motive to which, on all
+occasions, he has shewn himself to be eminently entitled. That the
+praiseworthy object of Lord Holland's motion was not attained must be
+matter of deep regret to every man who wishes to maintain the reputation
+of his country. But the ministers shuffled over the charge by reading
+partial extracts from those documents which his lordship wished to have
+produced, while they refused an examination of the entire papers. This,
+to say the least of it, had a very suspicious appearance. Such a mode of
+proceeding was contrary to the long-established usages of the House, to
+the laws of evidence, and to the common course of practice in all
+investigation; and, however it might answer Lord Castlereagh's purpose,
+was little calculated to dispel the doubts of impartial inquirers, or to
+make a satisfactory case to the world and to posterity. What judgment
+would a foreigner form of this matter, who might have heard the
+blessings of our happy administration of justice extolled to the skies?
+A captive, the most illustrious ever classed under that head, complained
+of the unnecessary rigour of his treatment. A British peer made a motion
+in parliament to inquire into the truth of these allegations, and for
+the production of papers connected with and tending to elucidate the
+subject. The secretary of state contended, that the assertions of the
+complainant were groundless, read partial extracts from the papers in
+question, but refused their entire production, and negatived the motion
+for them, without assigning any sufficient reason. If Lord Castlereagh
+thought the inference to be drawn from such a garbled statement would be
+favourable to his cause, he must have built his logic, not upon the
+REASON of the matter, but upon the VOTES OF HIS PENSIONED ADHERENTS,--a
+mode of conclusion not at all uncommon or unnatural to this minister.
+His lordship, indeed, considered his conduct to Napoleon as meritorious,
+on account of that great man having been the enemy of England! But does
+it follow that, because the uncertain events of war had placed the
+French emperor in a situation to claim the protection of our laws as a
+private individual, that his lordship was justified in betraying his
+misplaced confidence, or in treating him with the same spirit of
+hostility when he was a helpless captive, as when he was a powerful
+general arrayed in arms against the whole of Europe? A doctrine, more
+repugnant to humanity, more dangerous in its consequences to society,
+cannot be conceived. From what code of morality, or from what system of
+religion, did his lordship borrow such a principle? Much has been said
+of Lord Castlereagh's kindness of heart; but what a dark scroll of
+evidence does the treatment of Napoleon at St. Helena exhibit against
+such an assertion! To commiserate a fallen foe, to be moved by the sad
+spectacle of his fortunes, is the natural propensity and inseparable
+concomitant of every man possessing "PERSONAL COURAGE," or "KINDNESS OF
+HEART:"
+
+               "The truly brave
+     Will valorous actions prize,
+     Respect a great and noble mind,
+     Albeit in enemies;"
+
+while to oppress an adversary in your power, whether among nations or
+individuals, is not only considered _cowardly_, but abject, ungenerous,
+and savage. There is no circumstance which reflects so much disgrace on
+the national character of the Romans as their behaviour to Hannibal. The
+treatment which he received has been stigmatized as an act of
+complicated meanness, cruelty, and injustice. In modern times, the case
+of Napoleon seems most closely to resemble that of Hannibal, both in the
+splendour of his achievements while he was victorious, and in the sad
+similitude of fortune after his being defeated and betrayed into the
+hands of his enemies. It is true that Napoleon did not "play the Roman"
+and kill himself, as Hannibal did[97:A]; but a portion of the words
+which the Carthaginian general used on that occasion might have been
+aptly repeated by Napoleon, with merely an alteration of names: "The
+victory which Flamininus gains over a man, disarmed and betrayed, will
+not do him much honour. This single day will be a lasting testimony of
+the great degeneracy of the Romans. They have deputed a person of
+consular dignity to spirit up Prusias impiously to murder one who is his
+guest!" It is curious to reflect that, in the annals of the world, the
+same action, according to circumstances, at one time is a crime,--at
+another, an act of heroism! The same man is at one time a Claudius,--at
+another, a Marcus Aurelius. Cataline is but a vile conspirator. If,
+however, he had been able to found an empire, like Caesar, he would have
+been esteemed a benefactor. Our Oliver Cromwell was acknowledged till
+his last hour, and his protection sought by all sovereigns; but after
+his death, his body was suspended on a gibbet: he only wanted a son like
+himself to enable him to form a new dynasty. So long as NAPOLEON was
+fortunate, Europe bowed at his footstool, while the first princes
+thought it an honour to ally themselves with his family, and to obtain
+his smile was esteemed a favour. As soon, however, as he fell a prey to
+treachery, it was pretended that he was nothing more than a miserable
+adventurer, an usurper, without talent and without courage!
+
+     [97:A] Plutarch assigns him three different deaths; but Livy
+     tells us, that Hannibal drank poison, which he always carried
+     about with him, in case he should be taken by surprise.
+
+But, even allowing that any sufficient argument could have been urged
+for the detention of Napoleon, surely all restraint beyond what was
+strictly necessary for the security of his person was unjustifiable, and
+every species of mortification, not only ungenerous, but absolutely
+criminal. Lord Castlereagh ought, at least, in giving directions for his
+custody, to have been particularly circumspect that no real or seeming
+unkindnesses were exercised against the captive emperor. If the coercive
+measures adopted were thought necessary, they should have been
+introduced in a more conciliatory manner, and with every allowance for
+the irritation and impatience which exile and imprisonment will be sure
+to produce upon the most apathetic being in creation. But, when we take
+into consideration the ungentlemanly and ignoble proceedings pursued
+against Napoleon at St. Helena, can we feel surprised at the bursts of
+indignation which now and then escaped him at the cowardly conduct of
+his jailer? That he should have viewed Sir Hudson Lowe as the meanest
+creature in existence, is not at all to be wondered at; for it appeared
+as if
+
+     "Some demon said, 'Sir Hudson Lowe,
+      Although we've got the dreaded foe,
+          Yet here the question pinches:
+      How shall we crush this mighty man?'
+      Sir Hudson cried, 'I know the plan;
+          We'll make him DIE BY INCHES!'"
+
+Neither could Napoleon help considering Lord Castlereagh as the "demon"
+here alluded to. His lordship had induced him on board a British ship,
+under the most sacred promises of bringing him over to this country,
+that he might pass the remainder of his days under the blessings of our
+so-much-boasted constitution, as being "the envy and admiration of the
+whole world!" What milder appellation than "demon," therefore, did his
+lordship deserve, when, violating every principle of hospitality, he
+took advantage of Napoleon's faith in such promises, and seized upon the
+opportunity it afforded him of arresting the emperor as a prisoner of
+war, and of sending him to a barren rock, far from his wife, child, and
+friends, to be a prey to an unwholesome climate, and the rude insults of
+a mean and pitiful man like Sir Hudson Lowe!
+
+     "Great God of war, and was it so
+      That Britons crush'd a fallen foe!
+          Had Wellington been taken,
+      (And there were chances on that day)
+      Would Bonaparte have used his sway,
+          And left him thus forsaken?"
+
+Indeed, there was once a time when this same Lord Castlereagh might have
+been taken prisoner by Napoleon, which would most probably have been
+done, if the French emperor had possessed no loftier ideas of justice
+and honour than his lordship exhibited. This circumstance is related by
+Mr. O'Meara, in Bonaparte's own words, as follows:
+
+     "When Castlereagh was at Chatillon with the ambassadors of the
+     allied powers, after some successes of mine, and when I had,
+     in a manner, invested the town, _he was greatly alarmed lest I
+     might seize him_ and make him _prisoner_. Not being accredited
+     as an ambassador, nor invested with any diplomatic character
+     to France, I might have taken him as an enemy. He went to
+     Caulincourt, to whom he mentioned that _he laboured under
+     considerable apprehensions that I should cause violent hands
+     to be laid upon him_, as he acknowledged I had a right to do.
+     It was impossible for him to get away without falling in with
+     my troops. Caulincourt replied, that as far as his opinion
+     went, he would say that I should not meddle with him; but that
+     he could not answer for what I might do. Immediately after, he
+     (Caulincourt) wrote to me what Castlereagh had said, and his
+     answer. I signified to him in reply, that he was to tell
+     Castlereagh to make his mind easy, and stay where he was: that
+     I would consider him as an ambassador. At Chatillon,
+     (continued Bonaparte) when speaking about the liberty enjoyed
+     in England, Castlereagh observed, in a contemptuous manner,
+     that it was not the thing most to be esteemed in England; that
+     it was an USAGE they were obliged to put up with; but that it
+     had become an abuse, and would not answer for other
+     countries."
+
+It will thus be seen that GRATITUDE, at least, ought to have prompted
+different conduct in Lord Castlereagh towards Napoleon; instead of
+which, the charges brought against Sir Hudson Lowe by Mr. O'Meara
+were not only deemed unworthy of inquiry, but his lordship actually
+dismissed the accuser from the British service. Thus a deserving and
+generous-minded officer was ruined, without even a hearing, for merely
+attempting to do an act of justice to the exiled Emperor of France! The
+charges against Sir Hudson Lowe, however, remained the same, and this
+summary mode of revenge inflicted on Mr. O'Meara was not at all
+calculated to acquit Lord Castlereagh from sharing in the accusation of
+wantonly oppressing Napoleon. Could any thing tend more to criminate his
+lordship than the sudden punishment of the accuser, while in the act of
+preferring his complaint? Grant that Mr. O'Meara had misconducted
+himself, and that he had thus given his employer a right to dismiss
+him, surely he ought not, in common honesty, to have done so till he had
+first given him every opportunity of making good his charges. His
+lordship's readiness to stigmatize, and even silence him, in this
+manner, wore any appearance but that of an honourable anxiety to meet
+and to defy his adversary. We cannot devote space sufficient to bring
+forward the charges of Mr. O'Meara; but the inquirer will find himself
+amply repaid for his trouble by their perusal. As Sir Hudson Lowe can
+only be looked upon as a cowardly ruffian, who scrupled not to _execute_
+the orders of his superiors in office, however unjust they might be, the
+real odium of Napoleon's treatment and death must rest upon the
+government, of which Lord Castlereagh was the most active member. Mr.
+O'Meara was appointed medical attendant upon the emperor by this
+government, and his professional ability and private worth have never
+been questioned. If Lord Castlereagh, therefore, willed not the death of
+Napoleon, it was his duty to have removed those causes of complaint
+which Mr. O'Meara emphatically pointed out "would render Bonaparte's
+PREMATURE DEATH as inevitable as if it were to take place under the
+hands of the EXECUTIONER!" The public are aware how fatally this
+prediction was fulfilled; but the whole evidence of Mr. O'Meara would
+carry conviction to the mind of any man who had not previously
+determined to disbelieve truth. Indeed, he has been confirmed in many
+essential points of his statements by the admissions of either the
+governor's advocates or the governor himself. One of these advocates
+stated that Mr. O'Meara was discharged for disobeying orders; but of
+what nature were those orders? The governor wanted him to act as a spy
+upon the emperor, and to sign false reports of the state of his health!
+Consequently, Mr. O'Meara did indignantly refuse to perform such a base
+and cruel service; and what man of honour and principle would not have
+done the same? A refusal of this kind reflects no disgrace upon Mr.
+O'Meara, but will rather hand his name down to posterity as one
+deserving better treatment than he unfortunately experienced.
+
+In contemplating the manifold deprivations to which Napoleon ultimately
+fell a victim, we cannot help remarking upon one peculiar trait of the
+human mind,--that of being more moved by fiction than reality; for a
+tale of imaginary woe will excite more exquisite feeling, more real
+sympathy, than the severest reverses of fortune which may have occurred
+in our time, or which may be even present to our view! If Napoleon, for
+instance, had been an ideal personage, and the history of his life had
+been made the subject of romance or poetry, what mind so dull but would
+have moralized upon the vicissitude of human affairs?--what heart so
+cold but would have felt some commiseration for the captive? But when
+all that a poet's fancy could have formed and blended of surprising
+extremes, to raise the interest of the reader in the hero of the
+tragedy, had actually occurred and been signally manifested in this
+extraordinary man,--when he, who at one time was raised to an elevation
+and possessed a power never enjoyed by any other individual, was hurled
+headlong from his height to the abyss of humiliation, was imprisoned,
+exiled, captive, and forlorn,--how happened it that the feelings of our
+nature were not to take their accustomed course, that the sources of
+sympathy were to be dried up, and compassion, which had hitherto been
+considered amongst the most amiable of virtues, was all at once to lose
+its very essence and property, and not only not to be numbered amongst
+our weaknesses, but catalogued amongst our crimes? For the prevalence of
+this disposition,--which, alas! was too observable even among those
+classes in whom education and the intercourse of enlightened society
+would have naturally led to an expectation of better feelings and
+sounder conclusions on the subject,--it is difficult to account; unless
+it be true in morals, as in mechanics, that the motion may be continued
+when the impulse has ceased, and that to this we must refer the state of
+national feeling at the time Napoleon was suffering an accumulation of
+indignities at St. Helena. Since his death, however, the injustice and
+inhumanity of his treatment have been freely acknowledged and severely
+commented on; and there is every reason to believe that his great name
+will be finally rescued from that misrepresentation which interested
+writers have endeavoured to surround all his actions.
+
+From the affinity between fear and hatred, there is no wonder that when
+Napoleon was arrayed as our enemy, we joined hatred with hostility. But,
+at the time of his seizure on board the Bellerophon, he was no longer
+formidable; he was then in our hands. Upon what principle, then, did
+active hatred continue when both hostility and apprehension had ceased?
+Did a consciousness of inclemency (to use the mildest term that the
+occasion will admit) towards the object of it sufficiently account for
+the continuance of this hatred? It had been better, indeed, if Lord
+Castlereagh, as well as his coadjutors at that period, who cherished
+this inextinguishable species of enmity, had considered whether the
+world and posterity might not be apt to ascribe the meanest and most
+wicked of motives to such conduct. And let all the detracters of
+Napoleon recollect, that the illiberal invectives in which they have so
+freely indulged against him will, instead of making any lasting
+impression upon his fame, only serve to perpetuate their own disgrace
+and that of his ignoble persecutors. While his figure will stand
+conspicuous through history, the crowd of monarchs and ministers, who
+have alternately crouched to and calumniated, truckled to or trampled
+upon him, can only escape oblivion as they make the group which shade
+the back ground of the picture, and give a force, _by forming a
+contrast_, to the grandeur of the leading figure. Lord Castlereagh will
+assuredly form one of this back-ground group; but we envy him not in
+_such fame_. The conduct of his lordship to Napoleon, instead of
+displaying that dignified sentiment and enlightened understanding which
+should adorn the character of a nobleman, and which we should naturally
+be led to expect from a "secretary of state for foreign affairs," has
+degraded his name to the level of the meanest of the mean. We will not
+say that we had rather been a chimney-sweeper than have been guilty of
+his lordship's treachery to Napoleon; but, considering it as a
+deliberate exposition of the wickedness of his heart and his abandonment
+of every honourable feeling, which will be put on record, and handed
+down to posterity, we certainly will say, that all the wealth and titles
+of Lord Londonderry, together with his immense political power and the
+smiles bestowed on him by his despotic patrons, should never have
+induced us to have done the like.
+
+Would that it were in our power here to close the catalogue of crimes,
+which are written in characters of blood, against the Marquis of
+Londonderry. The death of Napoleon was followed by the persecutions of
+an innocent and noble-minded WOMAN,--"the injured Queen of England!" But
+this self-important man had been so hardened in iniquity, that it was by
+no means a difficult task to persuade him to assist in her ruin. Her
+majesty was too well acquainted with the SECRETS OF STATE to be allowed
+the free exercise of her rights; and as his lordship had lent his
+assistance to prevent many of these disreputable secrets from being
+made public[107:A], self-preservation might have operated as a further
+inducement for him to enter the lists of her most bitter enemies. How
+fatally the Marquis of Londonderry and his colleagues succeeded in their
+diabolical plans have been already explained. But the inglorious triumph
+added not to his lordship's peace of mind; for, from that period, he was
+observed to exhibit "a conscience ill at ease." And it was a very
+remarkable fact, that the marquis should have selected the precise time
+of the year, only twelve months after, for his own destruction as that
+in which his royal mistress met her fate! A circumstance of this
+singular nature should operate as a great moral lesson for the
+consideration of mankind generally, though Providence might have
+designed it as a warning to the "titled wickedness" of our land. Such is
+the condition of our nature, that we cannot mortgage either our moral or
+our physical energies so as always to repel the accusations of our own
+hearts, which are sure, eventually, to reprove us for evils committed.
+
+                         "O then beware;
+     Those wounds heal ill that men do give themselves:
+     Omission to do what is necessary
+     Seals a commission to a blank of danger;
+     And danger, like an ague, subtly taints
+     Even then when we sit idly in the sun!"
+
+On what a slender thread hangs human life, and how worthless are titles
+and wealth, if all is not at peace within! On what a "beetling ledge"
+the favourite of royalty tracks his uncertain way! By what a fragile
+tenure the courtier holds the rewards of his servility, on which he is
+so accustomed to pride himself! The suicide of the gay and puissant
+Marquis of Londonderry was, indeed, a memento full of lessons of
+humility to the fawning parasites of power.
+
+     [107:A] More particularly the affair of the bondholders. His
+     lordship also strenuously exerted himself to prevent any
+     public inquiry into the cruel death of the Princess Charlotte.
+
+In the October of this year, Mr. Henry Nugent Bell, of whom we have
+before had occasion to speak, died at his house, Whitehall Place, in the
+30th year of his age. This individual merits a little commiseration,
+notwithstanding the disgraceful part he took in the Manchester murders,
+and other similar missions of Lord Sidmouth; because, though the tool of
+despotic ministers, he made some amends to the public by _betraying_ his
+base employers. The newspapers generally reported his death to have
+proceeded from a _natural cause_; but this was not the case. We can
+POSITIVELY state that he died UNFAIRLY; but whether from his own hand,
+or from the design of an enemy, we are not able to determine. Mr. Bell
+appears never to have forgiven himself for his dereliction from the path
+of virtue, and only urged, in extenuation of his conduct, the _cruel
+necessity_ he was under to oblige his patron. Once enlisted under the
+banners of Sidmouth, the unfortunate man soon found out the necessity of
+not being over-scrupulous in his actions. One crime succeeded another;
+and thus a man of education and talent was made the victim of unjust
+and diabolical proceedings.
+
+After a great deal of ministerial manoeuvring, Mr. Canning succeeded in
+his suit for the foreign secretaryship. The situation of the Marquis of
+Londonderry had long been the darling, though for many years the
+unattainable, object of this gentleman's intrigues or importunities. The
+country, however, had no cause to rejoice in the appointment of Mr.
+Canning to an office of such conspicuous importance, and many people
+felt considerable surprise at so unexpected a promotion, as the right
+honourable gentleman had been previously selected as the new
+governor-general of India. It was a well-known fact, that Mr. Canning
+had fallen into personal disgrace with his majesty, and all his
+vacillating conduct with respect to our ill-treated queen had not been
+able to restore him to royal favour. There have, however, been instances
+where a minister has been forced upon the king by public opinion, as was
+the case with the _first_ Mr. Pitt, in the reign of George the Second.
+This Mr. Pitt was in high favour with the PEOPLE of England, acquired
+through his known attachment to freedom, and through the irresistible
+ascendency of his upright and unbending character. George the Second,
+notwithstanding, showed great opposition to the appointment of this
+worthy man, who was hated by his king _only_ because he feared his
+politics; yet Mr. Pitt was finally made secretary of state, and proved
+himself worthy of the popularity with which the PEOPLE had invested
+him. But the case of Mr. Canning was of a widely different nature. In
+him, the PEOPLE took no interest, except that which leads all men to
+watch their enemy's motions. He had not the _honour_ of being disliked
+at court for his politics,--they were of the most accommodating
+character; he had given a _personal_ offence to the "first gentleman of
+the land." By the country, on the other hand, it was his political
+principles, history, and character, that were held in the most
+disrepute. Placed in such circumstances, the public must have been aware
+that this political adventurer would not be _very patriotic_ in his
+endeavours to obtain pardon for his crime against the "puissant prince;"
+and how far, therefore, such a man could be entrusted with power was a
+question not difficult to solve. As for the nation generally, they
+regarded Mr. Canning but in the nature of an HIRED ADVOCATE, retained
+for the mean purpose of palliating the weaknesses or transgressions of a
+cabinet, the great majority of whose members he excelled in making witty
+or fallacious speeches. His countrymen recollected his conduct through
+life too well to imagine that he was made foreign secretary to introduce
+any real improvement into the policy or councils of the nation. They
+felt convinced of his being chosen as the apologist of bad measures, not
+the author of good ones; and that he held the language of one of
+Shakespeare's heroes to be good sentiment: "A plague of opinion!--a man
+may wear it on both sides, like a leather jerkin!"
+
+Mr. Canning was, indeed, known to be a fit agent for the "Holy
+Alliance;" he was the sworn antagonist of every reform in church and
+state; and wheresoever a grievance or an abuse appeared, there stood he,
+arrogantly to charge as public enemies all who testified to the
+existence of either. Even the unfortunate country gentlemen, reduced as
+they now were, by their blind support of Mr. Canning's system, to a
+state bordering on pauperism, could hardly have hoped, from such a
+rooted foe to liberty, for any shadow of relief or of assistance. "Be
+quiet, gentlemen," was the self-important style of his addresses, "see
+what an example the poor have set you; be patient, as they are, and you
+will soon be prosperous, like me!" From a minister of this description,
+no consolatory expectations could possibly be formed by any class or
+party. We might certainly look for a few better speeches than Lord
+Londonderry made; for his were, indeed, but poor maudlin affairs. The
+new acts would only have a better chance of being varnished over, while
+we might expect them to be much worse in their nature than they had
+been; because, as ministers had no intention to reform the system, it
+must, of necessity, become more vicious every day. The only measure on
+which Mr. Canning had ever taken any particularly active part, was the
+emancipation of the Catholics; and our readers will form some opinion of
+his SINCERITY on this subject, and of the IMPORTANCE which Mr. Canning
+attached to it, when we inform them that the _honourable_ gentleman
+actually promised the Earl of Liverpool not to discuss the matter if he
+might only be allowed to retain the foreign secretaryship! The conduct
+of the Earl of Liverpool, also, leads to an observation which reflects
+any thing but honour on the character of his lordship. We know that the
+power of this premier over the king was omnipotent, owing to his being
+in possession of SECRETS, of the most vital importance to his majesty
+and the royal family. By his lordship threatening to be no longer prime
+minister, he could, at almost any time, have forced his own schemes of
+policy upon the vitiated court. By the admission of Mr. Canning to
+office, he had driven his royal master to the wall, and compelled him to
+do that which all the world had before supposed would have been more
+unpalatable to his proud feelings than the admission of even the Whigs
+to office. If Lord Liverpool could, therefore, bring in a minister so
+personally disliked as Mr. Canning notoriously was by his majesty, could
+he not also have prevented that odious and atrocious measure, commonly
+called the "Queen's TRIAL,"--Mr. Canning's declared disapprobation of
+which created the very difficulty which had just been overcome? That
+disgraceful proceeding against an injured woman, with all its horrid
+consequences, it now became indisputably evident, might have been
+avoided, had Lord Liverpool but only have shown as much pertinacity in
+the CAUSE OF INNOCENCE as he had now done in that of PARTY. His personal
+power in the cabinet was, however, much increased by the nomination of
+Mr. Canning. There was a tacit, though well-understood, separation of
+interests during the life of Lord Londonderry, who usually headed one
+division of the ministers, with the Duke of Wellington in the number of
+the subalterns of his party, while Lord Liverpool led the other wing of
+Tory pensioners. There was nothing now, therefore, to stand against the
+first lord of the Treasury, unless Mr. Canning's inveterate spirit of
+intrigue should possess him (a thing by no means unlikely) to see a
+rival in his benefactor, and to undermine Lord Liverpool, as he had done
+one of his former colleagues.
+
+What an enviable opportunity to enter office did this period afford to
+any man having the real welfare of his country at heart; for all the
+blessings that had been promised from the "glorious battle of
+Waterloo,"--that wind-up of a war against the liberties of Europe,--were
+yet to come: taxation remained undiminished; the liberties of the
+subject were gradually declining; the commerce of England was almost at
+an end; and her people poor and unhappy. Here, then, was a wide field
+for a patriotic minister to display his abilities, by restoring the
+country to its wonted prosperity! But, while Mr. Canning and his
+colleagues were indulging in luxury at the expense of the nation, the
+just complaints of the public were designated "the cries of a faction,"
+and the miserable victims of their misrule said to betray an "ignorant
+impatience" when they prayed for relief. After years of peace, the
+expenditure of government exceeded the income of the Treasury, and our
+visionary and delusive system of finance required to be bolstered up by
+additions to our already overwhelming debt; strength of council was
+superseded by strength of army; all public discussion, however peaceably
+conducted, was opposed; acts of coercion were encouraged and abetted;
+and England, once the pride of nations, became desolated by the worst
+complication of ignorance and obstinacy that ever disgraced a cabinet!
+To whatever department of the state we turned our eyes, the same
+indifference to its prosperity seemed manifest. The ARMY, preponderating
+beyond all precedent in time of peace, had become an overgrown source of
+profligacy and barter; commissions and promotions, instead of being
+rewards for service and merit, were sold to the best bidder, and the
+produce applied to pamper the vitiated appetite of royalty. In the NAVY,
+once our bulwark and our boast, the services of effeminate lordlings
+seemed more courted than those of bluff and able seamen, commissioners
+more important than shipwrights, and large expensive establishments kept
+up on shore, while our fleets were rotting in the docks. Our TRADE was
+neglected, while pirates infested the seas, and destroyed our
+merchantmen. In our FOREIGN POLICY, all was danger and uncertainty; the
+calm of peace was only prolonged by our unexampled apathy and puerile
+forbearance. Foreign powers owed us money that we dare not demand;
+nations were struggling for liberty and independence that we must not
+assist; and outrages committed that we could not avenge. In the past, a
+long and sanguinary war, in which were sacrificed an incalculable number
+of lives and immense treasure; while in the future was exhibited the
+most dreary prospect of our declining power. At home, our decay was
+still more apparent: the sacred flame of liberty, to which we were
+indebted for our preference over other nations, was attacked on all
+sides by every means that treachery could devise; the malignity of the
+ministers visited faithful servants with dismissal without inquiry or
+hearing; the sovereign was recommended and advised to treat his subjects
+with contumely and neglect; while the constitution itself was assailed
+by spies and informers, who first created and abetted the commission of
+the crimes which they afterwards denounced! This was, indeed, a fearful
+state of affairs; but history will justify us in the picture we have
+drawn. Though these and ten thousand other evils were evidently the
+results of imbecility, folly, and knavery, which had mainly been
+assisted by bribery, lavishly bestowed on those who had possessed
+themselves of those secrets of state recorded in our volumes, yet he who
+dared to hint at such an unpleasant truth, or even to doubt the honesty
+of ministers, was sure to be denounced a traitor. But, thank heaven! the
+power of the Tories now received a check. The manly stand made by a few
+members of the House of Commons, during the previous session of
+parliament, had opened the eyes of the long-blinded public, and the late
+acts of oppression[116:A], with which the Londonderry cabinet had
+disgraced itself, furnished fresh cause for censure and new inducements
+for perseverance. The ministry, therefore, which Mr. Canning joined were
+humbled and degraded before he became one of its members; but, instead
+of raising it from the disgrace into which it had fallen, his
+underhanded conduct only aggravated matters, and rendered him a greater
+object of suspicion to patriotic men than even their avowed enemies.
+
+     [116:A] The treatment and death of Napoleon, the funeral of
+     the late queen, the conduct of the ministers and soldiers on
+     that occasion, the murders at Cumberland Gate, the dismissal
+     of Sir Robert Wilson for an attempt to stop the scene of
+     bloodshed, formed but a portion of the black catalogue of
+     their misdeeds.
+
+Various royal diversions and exhibitions were displayed throughout this
+year, and the "first gentleman in the world" was too often made to
+appear the "first knave on the stage of life." George the Fourth's means
+had been bestowed so bounteously, that he had become arrogant, and
+considered THE PEOPLE merely in the light of SLAVES, created only to
+administer to his passions and caprices. He could hardly be said to know
+the nation, except by the representation of his hirelings. Neither did
+he care to know the subjects from whom his strength was derived, because
+they sometimes exhibited more independence than suited his princely
+ideas of decorum. Indeed, he not unfrequently found the popular voice
+rather formidable against the attainment of some of his wishes; and it
+would have been well if parliament had taken a lesson from former and
+better times in this particular. In the works of our oldest honest
+historians, we find very plain language used by parliaments to their
+kings, and the latter generally receiving the sharpest rebukes for their
+vanity and partiality,--not as designed affronts, but as wholesome
+chastisements. Matthew Paris tells us, when Henry the Third asked for
+money to defray the expenses of a foreign expedition, "which his people
+thought did not at all concern England," that his parliament told him,
+"It was very imprudent in him to ask money for any such purposes, and
+thereby impoverishing his subjects at home, by his squandering it in
+idle expeditions, and that they flatly refused supplying him on any such
+account." Upon thus remonstrating, "that he had engaged his royal word
+to go abroad in person that year, and that he must have a supply," they
+asked him, "What has become of all the money your majesty has had
+already, and how it comes to be lavished without this kingdom being one
+shilling the better?" But the freedom with which the people treated
+their sovereigns in those days was not confined to remonstrances. One of
+the greatest and most victorious of our princes, Edward the First, had
+an inordinate desire of making, in person, a campaign in Flanders, that
+he might support a confederacy he had entered into, to reduce the power
+of France, and had demanded an extraordinary supply for that purpose.
+The people, conceiving the quarrel to be very indifferent to England,
+strongly opposed his leaving the kingdom upon any such idle expedition.
+"The people of England," said the parliament, "do not think it proper
+for you to go to Flanders, unless you can secure out of that country
+some equivalent, which may indemnify us for the expense." We have a like
+instance in the reign of that great and powerful king, Henry the Second.
+This prince being strongly tempted to make an expedition abroad, in
+person, became so fond of the proposal that he laid it before his
+parliament, with a most earnest request for their consent, "it being the
+sole and darling purpose of his heart!" But his parliament, honest to
+the people, thought that he had no business abroad, and "that it was
+much better for him to keep the money at home." Accordingly, the
+question was put and carried, for "An address to the king to keep within
+his own dominions, according to his duty." Edward the Third likewise
+received several mortifications of the like kind; and it appears from
+the whole tenor of history, that the great care of our ancestors was to
+root from the breast of their kings every principle of vain glory,
+which, the more ridiculous it is, becomes generally the more expensive
+to the nation. What an amazing contrast, then, does all this offer to
+the proceedings of the parliament of George the Fourth, who generally
+addressed him in the most adulatory language, and gave him money to
+gratify all his inordinate vanity. But the House of Commons, during his
+reign, spoke not the sentiments of the PEOPLE.
+
+
+At the commencement of the year
+
+     1823,
+
+some friends of the late ill-fated queen addressed Mr. Canning upon the
+subject of certain letters and papers, preserved from the period of her
+majesty leaving this country in 1814. Mr. Canning, however, did not
+think proper to reply to this communication. At the expiration of two
+months, another respectful inquiry was submitted, but it also shared the
+fate of its predecessor. A third expostulatory epistle was forwarded,
+and a certain individual received an anonymous reply, saying, "Things
+were changed; times were altered; and it was impossible that Mr. Canning
+could serve the king and the cause of the person so much disliked by his
+majesty!" This circumstance affords indubitable proof, that a man in
+office can never prove himself free from the trammels of party, or
+unwarped by elevation to power. Humanity and generosity were, however,
+alike forgotten in this case for _interested_ motives,--a meanness which
+no man of integrity would have committed. But, to any one acquainted
+with the truckling arts of Mr. Canning, such conduct was no more than
+might have been expected.
+
+Early in this year, Mr. Vansittart was released from the _fatigues_ of
+the financial department, and raised to the chancellorship of the duchy
+of Lancaster, at the same time sinking his humble name for the more
+agreeable title of Lord Bexley. Mr. Robinson succeeded him in the
+Exchequer, and Mr. Huskisson was appointed president of the Board of
+Trade. The latter changes gave the public much pleasure, as those
+individuals were supposed to possess a manly sense of propriety, as well
+as liberal opinions, from which the country hoped to reap some benefit
+in financial and commercial administration.
+
+Very soon after these political arrangements were completed, the royal
+family were much annoyed by applications on behalf of the _protege_ of
+her late majesty, William Austin, as the trifling income he received was
+not sufficient to support him in comfort and respectability. But,
+although he had been left her majesty's residuary legatee, his claims
+were totally disregarded.
+
+Notwithstanding the bold language used in memorials and private
+addresses to the king at this time, the interest and happiness of the
+population of this mighty empire were treated as subjects of no
+consequence. The besotted "Prince of Dandies" was rioting in luxury and
+adulterous embraces, and neither felt nor cared for public distress. He
+was too great, _in his own estimation_, to condescend to men of low
+estate; he was too mighty to listen to the cry of the destitute; and too
+noble to heed the incessant petitions of the rabble, as all those who
+complained of existing grievances were denominated by him and his
+ministers. But the "accomplished gentleman" was not above receiving half
+the peasant's loaf; and, like the locust, he made the increase of the
+land his prey. It was _acknowledged_ in the House of Commons that the
+coronation expenses amounted to two hundred and thirty-eight thousand
+pounds! and that even the DRESS of the monarch, for whom such a mighty
+show was made, cost twenty-four thousand pounds!!! This abominable
+expenditure, too, was for the _honour_ of George the Fourth, whose
+excesses and debaucheries would have disgraced the most debased of his
+subjects,--the man who had dishonestly permitted the most valuable jewel
+to be extracted from the crown of England, to bestow upon the _lusty
+person_ of his mistress. A beautiful jewel, that formerly belonged to
+his deceased daughter Charlotte, was also given to this same _kind_
+lady. The jewel belonging to the crown was, upon compulsion only,
+afterwards restored, but the other is still retained! Some celebrated
+jewellers, not ten miles from Ludgate Hill, could bear testimony, that
+the choicest trinkets in their possession were culled, by this "Prince
+of Abominations," for presents to his mistresses and confidants. Such,
+however, was the easy character of the English nation, that they
+submitted to the absolute command of a tinselled despot, and became
+dupes to custom.
+
+
+The misrule of the year
+
+     1824
+
+opened with the unfortunate ratification of the "movements" in Italy
+and Spain, which tended to consolidate arbitrary power throughout
+Europe, so that the Continent might be considered as one federal
+despotism, each state possessing its peculiar coercive government, under
+the controul of the "Holy Alliance," improperly so called.
+
+The public now lost an uncompromising friend in Thomas, Lord Erskine,
+who died on the 17th of January, in the 74th year of his age. His
+lordship was not a favourite with the king; his sentiments were of too
+liberal a cast for George the Fourth's ideas of subjection and tyranny.
+Neither did Lord Erskine ever become a welcome visiter at the palace,
+because the court-minions knew that he despised intrigue and villany.
+The poison of the court was of too malignant a character for his
+lordship. There, all direct terms were disused in discourse, and distant
+insinuations supplied their place. Every shining reputation was sure to
+be sullied, and the ministers, as well as the officers of the army, and
+clergymen of the "Established" church, were perpetually left to the
+discretion of that sort of people, who, as they could not be useful to
+the state themselves, suffered none to serve it with reputation and
+glory. The king himself had no informations but what were conveyed to
+him by the canal of a few favourites, who acted always in concert
+together, and even when they seemed to disagree in their opinions, they
+were only in the province of a single person to their sovereign. A
+tainted atmosphere like this was, therefore, ill-suited to the
+enlightened and patriotic mind of Lord Erskine, who proved himself to
+be a talented and equitable judge, an admirable statesman, and a most
+accomplished and kind-hearted gentleman. The native sweetness of his
+disposition inclined him to universal humanity; his unbiassed judgment
+and his keen penetration well fitted him for the important situation of
+Lord Chancellor; and his unclouded understanding guided him to support
+beneficial measures for the people, while his indignant and noble soul
+poured forth its majestic language on the oppressors of his
+long-enslaved country. His lordship was ever actuated by the best of
+motives, while his conduct was free from all party extremes. On the
+memorable proceedings against Queen Caroline, his lordship freely
+delivered his sentiments upon their unjustness and wickedness, and we
+shall never forget the energy with which he closed his eloquent remarks:
+"All the powers of Europe," said he, "are in array against one deserted,
+betrayed, and unprotected woman! I am an old man, and have had more
+experience than most of your lordships in proceedings of this kind; I
+could not have interest or object in attempting to deceive or mislead
+you; and, therefore, I shall ever defend myself against any imputation
+which may be directed against the purity of my motives, in doing what I
+thank my God I have done, and which, under similar circumstances, if
+unhappily they occurred, I should repeat." The freshness and vigour of
+youth glistened in his lordship's eye as these words burst from his
+lips, which proclaimed him deserving of being numbered among the
+venerated champions of our injured and oppressed queen.
+
+We have also to record the death of another determined enemy of tyranny,
+in the person of Lord Byron, who expired at Missolonghi, on the 19th of
+April, after an illness of ten days. His lordship had rendered himself
+highly popular among the Greeks by his pecuniary and personal services
+in their good cause, and, to show their great respect for his worth, and
+sorrow for his loss, they would not permit the celebration of their
+usual festivities at Easter. His lordship's genius as a poet is freely
+acknowledged; but, though he possessed many public and private virtues,
+they have been but little estimated, while the tongue of Slander has
+enlarged upon his frailties with much greater severity than they really
+deserved. As we were personally intimate with his lordship, we may be
+allowed to know something of his private sentiments and opinions, and we
+willingly testify to the exalted ideas he entertained in the cause of
+universal freedom and equitable government, as well as to his general
+benevolence and kindness of heart. In religion, his lordship avowed
+himself a free thinker, a determined enemy to pious fraud and cant, and
+a despiser of all prosecutions, having for their object the stifling of
+conscientious opinion. These liberal sentiments called forth the pious
+rage of many ignorant and intolerant ministers of the gospel, who
+attempted to darken his bright fame by their bigotted tirades against
+his pretended infidelity, as well from the PULPIT as in their numerous
+vituperating pamphlets. Such a system of enforcing the mild and
+benevolent doctrines of Christianity, however, will work no conversions
+but on those whose minds are clouded by the baneful effects of
+ignorance. The gigantic power of Lord Byron's genius could not tamely
+endure the thraldom of being confined to certain modes of narrow-minded
+faith. He felt that he had a right to examine and to judge for himself
+in matters of such vital importance to his eternal peace, and for which
+no one should have condemned him. If his lordship occasionally expressed
+his indignation at religious prosecutors and Pharisees, ought it,
+therefore, to be inferred that he was an infidel? No real Christian, we
+are convinced, would so demean himself; and from the intolerant portion
+of religious professors, his lordship's fame has little to fear.
+Posterity will be the best judge of such matters, as it will be sure to
+discard all private acrimony and party feeling; to its award, therefore,
+we shall confidently look for a removal of the stigma of "INFIDEL" from
+the character of the illustrious author of "Childe Harold."
+
+Would that it were in our power, before closing the account of this
+year, to record the passing of some beneficial act for relieving the
+oppressed people of England; but we cannot. Our ministers seemed as
+resolutely determined as ever to plunge and flounder onward in the track
+that had already procured them the detestation of the British public,
+and effected the ruin and misery of our once-flourishing and happy
+country. Looking backward upon their conduct, nothing could be seen but
+political turpitude; the present was pregnant with wretchedness; but, in
+contemplating the future, the patriot was animated to exertion by the
+cheering star of Hope. The baneful influence of the cabinet over our
+legislative assemblies, the time-serving politics of our church
+dignitaries and their dependants, and the sycophantic spirit of all
+those who came within the vortex of the court, formed in themselves a
+combination of evils, to remove which would indeed require the united
+moral energies of the people.
+
+The king, as usual, was hunting after the most frivolous pleasures, and
+gave himself no manner of concern about the grievances of his people.
+How applicable is the language of Cowper to this vitiated monarch:
+
+                     "King though he be,
+     And king of England, too, he may be weak,--
+     May exercise amiss his proper powers,
+     Or covet more than freemen choose to grant;
+     Beyond that mark is TREASON!"
+
+That derogatory doctrine, however, which proclaims "the king can do no
+wrong," has proved the evil genius of liberty, and the very soul of
+despotism. George the Fourth ever made it his shield, and was content to
+let the odium of his actions fall upon his ministers. But his majesty
+should have recollected that a king of England is not king by hereditary
+right. The nation is not a patrimony. He was not king by his own power,
+but by the power of the LAW. All the authority he possessed was given
+him by the law, under whose protection alone he reigned. It may,
+therefore, seem surprising that this monarch so frequently dared to
+outrage the very power to which he owed his existence as a king; but it
+is still more surprising that the people permitted him to do it with
+impunity: for no king ought to have been allowed
+
+     "To smother Justice, property devour,
+      And trample Law beneath the feet of Power;
+      Scorn the restraint of oaths and promis'd right,
+      And ravel compacts in the people's sight;
+      For he's a TYRANT!--and the PEOPLE FOOLS,
+      Who basely bend to be that tyrant's tools!"
+
+This is, indeed, powerful language; the importance of the subject was
+deeply felt by the poet; but its truth will plead the best justification
+of the censure. George the Fourth unhappily considered himself of a
+different species to the rest of mankind, and lost all the natural
+feelings of our nature for his subjects. Blinded with prejudices, the
+truth stung him like a scorpion; his wounded pride instantly took the
+alarm, and the rash intruder upon his dignity and his pleasures was sure
+to be dismissed with hauteur, if not ever after denied the royal
+presence. This was, indeed, a lamentable state of things; but which,
+however, had one consolation: it was impossible that it could continue
+much longer; for if nothing else happened, its own iniquity would be
+sure to produce its destruction.
+
+
+We now enter upon the year
+
+     1825,
+
+the eleventh of peace, though not of plenty. It is true that public
+opinion now began to gain considerable ascendency, though every possible
+advantage was taken to undermine the _liberty of the press_, and heavy
+fines were imposed upon various persons for publishing facts
+disreputable to the lordlings in power.
+
+In the January of this year, several most respectable individuals
+expressed an earnest desire to press for a public inquiry into the
+mysterious and hitherto-unaccounted-for death of her royal highness the
+Princess Charlotte. Among the rest was Lord Tullamore, who obtained an
+audience of the Earl of Liverpool for this purpose on the 18th. The
+premier, at first, treated his lordship with much coolness and reserve;
+but when Lord Tullamore mentioned the letter of Queen Charlotte to Dr.
+Sir Richard Croft, the noble earl exhibited signs of the most acute
+pain, and became dreadfully agitated. His lordship eagerly inquired if
+that letter was forthcoming; and admitted, that the subject had been
+mentioned to him before, but that the party was not so respectable as
+the present. Lord Tullamore then repeated those words from the other
+letter to the doctor--"Come, my boy, throw physic to the dogs,"--when
+the earl became so confused and embarrassed, that it was quite evident
+he was well acquainted with the contents of both those letters. Previous
+to Lord Tullamore's retiring from this audience, the premier requested
+to know if he had Queen Charlotte's letter in his possession, to which
+Lord Tullamore replied, that his instructions went no further. Though
+suffering exceedingly from the gout in his feet, the Earl of Liverpool
+politely rose from his seat, pressed his lordship's hand, called him his
+dear lord, and hoped to see him again.
+
+When detailing the particulars of this interview on the ensuing day,
+Lord Tullamore said, that the noble earl had certainly admitted the fact
+of THE MANNER OF THE DEATH OF THE PRINCESS!
+
+Shortly afterwards, a second interview took place with the same
+noblemen, when Lord Liverpool was more composed, and said the business
+did not rest with him, but that it must be investigated in the office of
+the secretary, by Mr. Peel. His lordship then, saying he was in haste,
+took leave of Lord Tullamore in the kindest manner, very different from
+the cool and reserved demeanour and address so conspicuous upon his
+_first reception_. Immediate application was made at Mr. Peel's office,
+but _that_ secretary was not in the administration when the melancholy
+event occurred, and therefore could not be responsible for any
+circumstance attending it!!
+
+Let the unprejudiced reader duly weigh this simple statement of facts,
+and judge dispassionately. Lord Liverpool was first lord of the Treasury
+at this time, as well as at the period of the princess' death; he was,
+therefore, of necessity the principal actor in all state business; he
+well knew that a secretary of state was answerable only for
+circumstances and transactions in his department during his
+secretaryship; no one could be amenable for that which occurred at the
+period his predecessor held office. Yet this premier, by the most
+unmanly and guilty-looking subterfuge, put off all inquiry upon such an
+important subject, pretending that it did not belong to his department,
+and then referring it to a secretary, by whom Lord Liverpool well knew
+the matter could not be investigated, for the reasons before mentioned.
+In consequence of these shuffling contrivances against justice, this
+most serious inquiry was negatived, while every principle of right was
+set at open defiance, and the most honourable of the community privately
+insulted. One fact, however, may clearly be deduced from this
+circumstance: that Lord Liverpool was TOO WELL INFORMED upon all this
+most heart-rending tragedy, and he therefore, for his own sake, put off
+the inquiry, hoping the subject would be either forgotten, or adverted
+to in a more agreeable manner.
+
+While these unsuccessful attempts were making to obtain a public inquiry
+into the cause of the Princess Charlotte's death, the well-paid
+court-minions were busily employed in calumniating the characters of
+every person engaged in so laudable an undertaking. The most unfounded
+reports were industriously circulated to wound their good names, while
+reasons, the farthest from the truth, were injuriously assigned to
+blacken their motives. Yet, if we take into account the wickedness and
+voluptuousness of the court at this period, as well as the imbecility
+and arrogancy of the king's ministers, Surprise will naturally give way
+to Disgust, and Anger wonder at Toleration. The JUNIUS that exposed and
+animadverted upon the ministerial delinquencies of a Bedford and a
+Grafton, a Sandwich and a Barrington, neither knew, nor could possibly
+imagine, the incomparably bolder task of doing justice to the public and
+private turpitude of a Liverpool and a Sidmouth, a Bathurst and a
+Canning, a Wellington and a Bexley, an Eldon and a Melville! To paint
+the characters of these men in their true colours would, indeed, be a
+difficult task. Our darkest tints and our deepest shades would give but
+a faint outline of the blackness of the originals. When we look back
+upon the accumulated burthens, the ills upon property and patience which
+they inflicted, what an ocean of insults and what a wild waste of
+oppressions do we behold! The three grand pillars of the state _in its
+purity_, and the people _in their freedom_, were nearly demolished.
+Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the Family Compact, were scrolls
+mouldering on the shelves of these ministers, and ready to be swept out
+of their several departments, together with the copies of their oaths
+"to advise their royal master according to the dictates of their
+consciences,"--consciences, the only proof of the existence of which was
+given in their constant violation. If it be urged, that Lord Sidmouth,
+who was the home-secretary at the death of the Princess Charlotte, was
+not in office at the time of Lord Tullamore's interview with the
+premier, we can only say, his power to do harm was as great as if he had
+been, if not greater, and that he took especial care to exert himself
+strenuously, that no "inquiry" about the Princess Charlotte should be
+instituted.
+
+The premier, at this eventful period, was eager to engage the assistance
+of all his Tory friends, whether in or out of office, to enable him to
+bolster up his own misrule. The ancient author who correctly observed,
+that "there are vices of MEN and vices of TIMES," would have improved,
+as well as have enlarged, his maxim by adding, that "bad times are made
+by bad men." Of the truth, that "bad rulers too often make a mean
+people," the ministerial subjugation of nations has afforded innumerable
+evidences. But, with science and the manual arts, the knowledge of the
+best means of banishing liberty and liberal sentiments had now
+wonderfully advanced. The proficiency in despotism to which the Earl of
+Liverpool and his junto had attained certainly entitled them to take
+precedence of any anterior ministry. These men, throughout their
+whole conduct, from the highest down to the humblest of their
+misdeeds,--whether they betrayed the king who received their services,
+or the people who paid their salaries,--whether they dishonoured the
+crown by insulting a virtuous queen, or injured the country by screening
+public plunderers and private murderers,--whether they outraged justice
+by acquitting the guilty and convicting the innocent,--were ever true
+to themselves. With all their arts, however, they could not destroy the
+SPIRIT of our free constitution; for that will ever remain immoveably
+fixed in the British bosom. The flame whose rays shot hence across the
+Atlantic can never be wholly extinguished. The sparks with which England
+herself animated the hearts of her regenerated colonists, warmly
+cherished by every American, will never cease to feed the parent fire.
+Lord Liverpool might have assisted to re-burthen France with the hated
+Bourbons, and other parts of the Continent with their legitimate
+despots; but this could only last for a time. The fire of liberty was
+but smothered for a season, as after events have sufficiently attested.
+
+It will assuredly be matter of great surprise to posterity, how men of
+such circumscribed talents as were to be found in the cabinet of the
+Earl of Liverpool should find it possible to effect so much mischief.
+But Fortune delights in maintaining a sort of rivalship with Wisdom, and
+piques herself on her power to favour fools as well as knaves. These
+beings, however, were indebted to various aids for their long and too
+successful career; yet their principal dependance rested on the
+supineness of the people. The generous forbearance of Englishmen
+unhappily cherished the power which their patriotic vengeance should
+have destroyed. They were looking for gratuitous justice and liberality,
+instead of deserving relief by the ardour and nobleness of their own
+exertions. Had Britons but borne in mind that "zeal, without _action_,
+is nothing worth," their condition had been very different to what it
+was at the period of Lord Tullamore's praiseworthy attempts to obtain an
+inquiry into one of the blackest crimes recorded in our annals; for
+Thought is the projector, and Faith the encourager, of all our views and
+wishes; though it is only ACTION that can render them effectual and
+profitable.
+
+At the period of Lord Tullamore's interviews with the premier, the
+Marchioness of Conyngham held an entire and very injurious sway over the
+actions of our voluptuous monarch; her will soon became an absolute law,
+and, to supply means for this lady's insatiable wishes, the nation was
+burthened beyond all honourable limits. Yet, strange to say, one of her
+ladyship's sons, Lord Mountcharles, professed himself most anxious to be
+entrusted with the previously-named "INQUIRY." His lordship was,
+consequently, allowed to undertake that the matter should be
+investigated; but no sooner had the marchioness' son obtained an
+interview with George the Fourth, than he hypocritically said, "The
+inquiry into the death of the Princess Charlotte is all useless. You may
+rely upon it, the idea has originated in some ungenerous feeling towards
+his majesty." But, in this particular, my Lord Mountcharles acted
+dishonourably to the trust reposed in him. From undoubted authority, WE
+KNOW that George the Fourth received Lord Mountcharles into his
+friendship _to prevent the further elucidation of this matter_,--at
+least, as far as his lordship was concerned. Another of the _professed_
+friends of justice, also, who was known to have been a witness upon this
+business, was speedily afterwards enlisted under the "royal banner,"
+and, though previously _poor_ and in "holy orders," soon found abundant
+means to play for no trivial sums in St. James'. But his principles may
+be more correctly ascertained by the fact that, after receiving the most
+generous services from his friends, he was mean enough to abscond from
+his bail, when fifty pounds was offered for his apprehension. Such was
+the Reverend JOSEPH B----, whose apostacy in this common cause fixes
+upon his name eternal discredit. Yet, notwithstanding his dissolute
+habits, this clergyman has very frequently occupied a seat at the table
+of Lord Teynham, and was in the habit of receiving considerable
+attentions from many of the lordlings in power. If his word might be
+deemed worthy of credit, he was no stranger to the friendship of his
+royal highness the Duke of Sussex, and other branches of the royal
+family. But of one point, we are well assured, that he who was mean
+enough to desert a post of duty, though it might be a post of danger, to
+revel in ease and luxury, was, at least, undeserving the notice of any
+honourable man. However strange it may appear, this divine (so called)
+was most unceasing in his endeavours to rouse the country to a due sense
+of the impositions forced upon it, declaring all consequent sufferings
+would be "light as dust in the balance," compared to the tortures of a
+guilty and harassed conscience. Thus, under the mask of religion and
+patriotism, did this faithless character hide his real sentiments and
+intentions, and while professing to serve the cause of liberty, he was
+in reality the aider and abettor of tyrants,--dishonourable in his
+engagements, and a disgrace to his order. We may pity and even forgive
+his want of honour to his friends; but the subject from which he shrunk
+was of such vast national importance, that his desertion of the cause of
+justice and his dereliction from the path of duty in this matter must
+always be considered as unpardonable offences.
+
+Such vacillating conduct, however, we are sorry to record, was not
+confined to the two gentlemen just mentioned. Many, whose prospects of
+aggrandizement appeared upon the wane, exhibited an anxiety to ascertain
+the probable result of this inquiry. Amongst this number, was a
+fashionable fortune-hunter, who boasted of being the illegitimate son of
+a royal duke,--the sudden and unexpected death of whom, it was currently
+reported, had left this unfortunate offspring totally unprovided for.
+Added to a tolerably honest appearance and pleasant address, this
+gentleman possessed considerable talent, which he could exemplify in
+farce, comedy, or tragedy, as the circumstances might require. In the
+words of Lord Byron, "he had ten thousand names, and twice as many
+attributes." He also professed himself the uncompromising enemy of
+oppressors, and as being ever ready to hazard his life in bringing the
+murderers of the Princess Charlotte to their merited punishment. But
+exteriors are too frequently deceptive, and this self-styled patriot was
+ultimately proved unworthy of the notice of any respectable person.
+Under false pretences, he found means to reach "the board of
+hospitality," fed upon the ample provision, and then, like the reptile
+of eastern climes, stung the benevolent hand that had furnished the
+sources for his enjoyment, by an attempt to defame one of the proudest
+and most noble characters our country can boast!
+
+Would that we had no more instances of treachery to offer; but too many
+others might be given of persons, calling themselves _professional_
+gentlemen,--particularly one residing in Duke-street, St. James',--who,
+after volunteering their services to bring this "hidden thing of
+darkness to light," forsook their friends, and accepted a BRIBE as a
+reward for their silence. We could also extend our record of mean
+expedients adopted by men in power to suppress this disgraceful
+business,--such, indeed, as would almost stagger the faith of those who
+had not been eye-witnesses of their depravity. Indignation rises in our
+breasts while contemplating such a picture of human wickedness! Our
+readers, we feel assured, do not desire more proofs than we have already
+given of the principal fact,--that the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE WAS POISONED,
+through the instrumentality of those who ought to have been the first to
+protect so amiable and virtuous a woman! It is, therefore, only a
+matter of minor importance to expose those who have failed in their loud
+professions of seeing justice enforced on her murderers. No history,
+perhaps, is richer in recorded crime than that of our own country; but
+neither the annals of this or any other empire can furnish a more
+striking instance of unmanly barbarity, of greater wickedness, or of
+more horrid depravity, than that of which we are now speaking. Let us
+hope the people of 1832 will seriously reflect on the enormity of this
+revolting act, and be no longer lost in an apathy that has already
+proved so disastrous to their liberties. Let them not suffer their good
+sense to be lulled and amused by the "raree-shows" of royalty, or by the
+glitter of any grandeur supplied by the produce of their own labour.
+Nothing confers, either on a king or his ministers, any real dignity or
+glory, except their virtue and their good deeds; and the people ought,
+therefore, not to suffer their courage to be deterred, or their judgment
+to be imposed upon, by the pomp and glare of state ostentation. The
+people, we say, ought now to make amends for their long neglect, and
+exhibit a stronger and more determinate resolution than ever for that
+"inquiry" which Lord Liverpool so often refused; for, so long as the
+death of the Princess Charlotte remains unavenged, so long will
+cowardice and ignominy be attached to the name of Englishman!
+
+In the month of April, Mr. Brougham visited his native country, for the
+purpose of being invested with the title of "Lord Rector of the
+University of Glasgow." We should not have noticed a circumstance of
+such trivial importance to the public, did it not afford us an
+opportunity of introducing a most admirable speech, which that learned
+gentleman had an opportunity of delivering on the occasion by reason of
+some allusion being made to the trial of the late Queen Caroline. To
+explain the impropriety of calling such persecuting proceedings a
+"trial," Mr. Brougham said,
+
+
+"If he could bring himself, on such a day as this, to those habits of
+contentious discussion to which he was sometimes accustomed, he should
+have to analyze his friend's splendid speech, and object to the whole of
+his eulogy. But there was one part of that speech which had caused him
+considerable pain: his friend had talked of 'the trial' of the late
+queen. Never had he (Mr. Brougham) either in public or private, before
+heard so great a profanation of the attributes of those judicial
+proceedings, which by profession and habit he had been taught to revere,
+than to use the name of 'trial' when speaking of such an event. It was
+no trial, he said, and so did the world. The subject was gone by, and
+not introduced by him; but still the phrase, when dropped, must be
+corrected; for 'trial' it was none. Was that a trial where the accused
+had to plead before those who were interested in her destruction?--where
+those who sat on the bench of justice, aye, and pretended to be her
+judges, had pre-ordained her fate? Trial!" continued Mr. Brougham, "I
+repeat there was, there could be, none, where every channel of
+defamation was allowed to empty itself upon the accused, borne down by
+the strong arm of power, overwhelmed by the alliance of the powers and
+the princedoms of the state, and defended only by that _innocence_ and
+that law which those powers and those princedoms, united with the powers
+of darkness, had combined to destroy. Trial it was none, where every
+form of justice was obliged to be broken through on the very surface
+before the accusers could get at the imputed grounds of their
+accusations. This, forsooth, a trial!--call it not so, for the sake of
+truth and law. While that event deformed the page of their history, let
+them be silent about eastern submissiveness; let them talk not of Agas,
+the Pachas, and the Beys,--all judges, too, at least so they call
+themselves,--while they were doomed to remember they had had in their
+own times ministers of their own crown, who, under the absolute
+authority of their own master, consented to violate their own pledge, to
+compromise and stifle their own avowed feelings, and to act as slaves,
+crouching before the foot-stool of power, to administer to its caprice.
+Let them call that a trial which was so conducted, and then he would say
+the queen had been tried at the time when he stood for fifty-six days
+witnessing the sacrilegious proceeding. Did he now, for the first time,
+utter this description of its character? No, no; day after day did he
+repeat it in the presence of all the parties, and dared them to deny the
+imputation; he dared them then, but not now, lest he should be forced
+to see the same faces in the same place again, professing to exercise
+the same functions. If it were in his power to repeat in their hearing
+now what he had said in their presence before, they might, indeed, call
+that a trial in his case which they had called it in the other; but to
+whom it looked not like a chamber of justice, but rather the gloominess
+of the den; not indeed of judgment, for he could not liken it to such,
+but rather to others--(here Mr. Brougham paused)--But no, he could not
+sustain the allusion, lest, perchance, for the very saying of it, (for
+he could not be prevented from thinking of it so) he should again have
+to submit to the test of power,--an alternative which his veneration for
+the constitution of his country and its honours forbade him to
+precipitate.
+
+"How many long years," said Mr. Brougham, "had they not seen, when to be
+an Englishman on the Continent was a painful, if not a degrading,
+condition? He meant, during that dark and murky night of power, when the
+machinations of the family of the tyrants of Europe were at work, and
+when they could reckon upon the minister of England as silently
+suffering, nay, permitting their deadly march against the liberties of
+mankind. England then had her fair name degraded by being considered as
+the ABETTOR of every tyrant's plan for the subjugation of his subjects.
+Then was the time when no despot could open his glaring eye, flashing
+with vengeance for his prey, without catching the glistening eye of the
+supplicant British minister. Then was the time when no tyrant could hold
+out his hand, after shaking in it the chains he had forged to bind and
+excoriate his people, without its meeting the cordial grasp of
+friendship of the British minister. Then was the time when the oppressor
+stalked abroad with the countenance of the rulers of that land, which
+was called the champion and the protectress of the free. Then did horrid
+tyranny, more grim in its blasted actions than even in the vices of its
+original debasement, disfigure the fair face of Europe, while linked and
+leagued (O, shame upon the pen of history!) with the freest government
+upon earth,--to which, nevertheless, the tyrant never turned his glance,
+or stretched his hand in vain, during such disastrous times. That black
+and disgraceful night of intellect and freedom had now gone down, the
+sky was clear, and the view was changed into a brighter prospect. Now,"
+continued Mr. Brougham, "we can _speak out_, and look abroad with clear
+vision. What man is there now, I ask, in half-represented England, in
+unrepresented Scotland,--aye, where and which of you, in either country,
+or even in tortured, insulted, and persecuted Ireland,--where, I say,
+can the man be found, who dared to look forth in the broad face of day,
+who dared to raise his voice before his fellow-men, and say, '_I
+befriend the Holy Alliance_?' Not only, I repeat, is there no such man,
+I will not say so wicked, but so childish,--I will not say so stricken
+with hostility to free principles, or so bent upon the destruction of
+his own individual character,--in the whole walk of society, as to avow
+such sentiments. O, no; not out of Bedlam could we find him!--hardly
+there, save in the precipitation of a maniac's rage, could we behold a
+being in the shape of a man to stand up and say, '_I am the friend of
+the Holy Alliance_.' If there be the man where freedom shines, who could
+look with complaisance on the accomplished despot who fills the Calmuc
+throne, who can behold with meekness that specious and ungrateful
+imbecility which promised first, and then refused, free institutions to
+the Germans who had bled and died in thousands to restore his throne; if
+there be any man who can approve the scourge of fair Italy, and the
+tyrant of Austria; if there be, I repeat, any such man, so reckless of
+himself as to admire or approve, (for that is out of the maddest rage of
+speculation) but even to _tolerate_ the mere mention of the name of that
+cruel tyrant of his people at home,--the baffled despot, thank God! of
+South America,--but whose sway it pleased Providence still to permit at
+home, and to suspend for a short season the doom of that nameless
+despot. If there be a man, I say, so monstrous and unnatural as to
+approve of these royal minions, then it was a consolation to know that
+he had the grace to confine his thoughts to the regions best adapted for
+their culture, to lock them up in the innermost recesses of the offices
+of state, or to confine his silent migrations to the merest purlieus of
+the court, or perchance to lurk 'behind the arras,' to live there among
+the vermin which were its natural tenants, and there to gloat upon the
+merits of Alexander, Frederick, Francis, or Ferdinand,--have I named
+him?--among the spiders, the vipers, the toads, and those who hated the
+toads, the lizards. To such an association and contact were these lovers
+of despots confined; not a word of approbation from any member of the
+government could be extorted for them. He had often seen much ability
+and ingenuity devised and exercised to endeavour to get out even a
+smooth word in favour of the Holy Alliance in parliament; but no, the
+attempt was fruitless,--all cheered the sentiments which were breathed
+against these tyrants. So that whoever loved them 'behind the arras,'
+had at least, if not the better principle, the better taste,--was, if
+not better in demeanour, at least more ashamed in practice to avow
+himself as their champion, and rather to prefer to hide himself from
+that sun of day, which would almost feel disgraced by being compelled to
+shine upon him in common with the better part of mankind."
+
+
+The facts and well-merited castigations contained in this most eloquent
+address were not very creditable to the character of the voluptuous king
+and his servile ministers. Mr. Brougham here uttered some startling
+TRUTHS, and accompanied their recital with that keenness of remark for
+which he is so famous. We need hardly say how heartily we agree with him
+in the detestation he expressed against the queen's persecutors. Would
+that he had performed HIS OWN PART more consistently with her majesty's
+wishes and interests!
+
+On the 6th of March, Science mourned the death of her favourite son, in
+the Reverend Doctor Samuel Parr, a celebrated philologist, erudite
+classical scholar, and a profound mathematician, in the 79th year of his
+age. The weekly, monthly, and annual registers, did not forget to name
+the transcendent merits of the deceased in _literary pursuits_; but they
+either forgot or declined to mention the interest this worthy gentleman
+had taken in the cause of the Princess of Wales, and also after she
+became Queen of England. The memorials and testimonies of Doctor Parr in
+her cause were not chimerical opinions, as some have imagined, but the
+real sentiments of his honest and manly heart.
+
+The close of this eventful year was marked with unprecedented calamity.
+The "panic," as it was briefly termed, which prevailed in the city of
+London, seemed to have overtaken the most wealthy of its inhabitants,
+and poverty and consternation appeared in all their terrors. The
+political horizon was also of the most foreboding and gloomy character.
+The "House of Incurables," however, still arrogantly boasted of the
+"freedom and prosperity of the nation," and shut their eyes against all
+the proofs of a contrary nature.
+
+There was a time when some atonement for unjust acts would have been
+instantly demanded from the sovereign by the people; for we read in
+"Rapin," that Edward the Second, when conquered and made prisoner by his
+wife, was tried by the parliament, which decreed, "that (though kings
+are supposed _incapable_ of doing wrong) he had done all possible wrong,
+and thereby must forfeit his right to the crown." Again, for the sake of
+illustration, we may mention, that the parliament tried and _convicted_
+Richard the Second; thirty-one articles were alleged against him, in the
+form of an impeachment, two of which were very remarkable, though
+perhaps not uncommon; the first was, "that he had BORROWED MONEY WITHOUT
+INTENDING TO PAY IT AGAIN!!!" the other, "that he had declared, before
+witnesses, 'he was master of the lives and property of his subjects.'"
+What a lesson, also, does the wretched death of our first Charles offer
+of the imbecility of kings, and of their blind contempt for the people,
+from whom their crowns and their wealth must always be derived. But,
+with some men, example is disregarded, and advice neglected, if not
+despised. George the Fourth, for instance, reckless of all consequences,
+appears to have held it as a maxim, "I am determined to make every body
+as miserable as I can; and, so long as all my wants are supplied, no
+matter from what source they are derived!"
+
+
+At an early part of
+
+     1826,
+
+the Duke of Devonshire attended the coronation of the despotic
+Nicholas, since the murderer of the brave Poles, as the representative
+of George the Fourth, King of England; and his splendid retinues and
+sumptuous fetes created no little astonishment in the Russian capital at
+John Bull's extravagance.
+
+In January, his majesty _returned_ one thousand pounds of the public
+money, to relieve the distressed Spitalfields' weavers, who were
+suffering every possible hardship from the want of employment. We feel
+great pleasure in recording every instance of the _charitable_
+intentions of this king, entertaining no fear of being wearied with
+their detail. We should be equally happy, were it in our power, to
+record the payment of those loans and promissory notes, to which this
+personage had subscribed while Prince of Wales. It is a good old maxim,
+"Be _just_ before you are _generous_;" and we cannot help thinking, that
+if the "first gentleman in the world" had given his accommodating ladies
+a little less, and satisfied the demands of the holders of those bonds,
+he would have acted more "as became a man." But no; his kingly dignity
+kept him aloof from the civil proceedings of his foreign creditors, and,
+being a stranger to honour, the documents were left undischarged!
+
+The king at this period being reported unwell, the parliament was opened
+by commission. His majesty's indisposition could hardly be wondered at,
+when the gay life he had led was taken into consideration. Besides, as
+he was now getting into the "sear and yellow leaf," it might naturally
+be supposed that the prickings of Conscience sometimes annoyed him into
+bodily pain. Indeed, though the fact was only known to a few persons at
+court, his majesty had long been getting into a very low and desponding
+state, and frequently appeared lost in abstraction, from which he was
+but seldom relieved by shedding tears! He knew that there were blemishes
+upon his escutcheon, which, though he had long been able to conceal them
+by bribery and trickery, might some day or another be exposed to the
+rude gaze of the multitude. He had long unsheathed the sword of
+oppression against his suffering people, and he could not possibly tell
+at what period it might be lifted against his royal self.
+
+The Tory government of persecuted England still appeared to think that
+the persons composing their _Sanhedrim_ were the only interested
+individuals in giving and opposing laws. But had not every Englishman a
+direct interest in the affairs of government? If government should act a
+part that might endanger the safety of the community, surely every man's
+property would be equally at stake. All national affairs, therefore,
+ought to be conducted with a view to the _general_ good, and not for the
+mere aggrandizement of a privileged and self-elected set of hirelings.
+When _secret missions_ were the order of the day, as was the case at
+this period, the public might be assured that "something was rotten in
+the state of Denmark!" for state secrecy is always the forerunner of
+evil to the people. But no men of upright principles were to be found in
+George the Fourth's cabinet. We do not mean to say that England did not
+possess such characters, but then they had taken the advice of the poet,
+
+             "When evil men bear sway,
+     The post of honour is a private station!"
+
+When the Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward his budget this
+year, the galleries and lobbies of the House of Commons were actually
+converted into a "Stock Exchange." We need not offer a remark upon this
+circumstance,--the intelligent reader will draw his own inferences from
+such an exhibition. Shortly after this, the House proposed "that five
+thousand pounds per annum be added to the salary of Mr. Huskisson."
+Repeated discussion ensued, but the proposition was finally abandoned,
+and two thousand pounds only agreed to. Mr. Huskisson was undoubtedly a
+man of great talent; yet he was already in the receipt of a sufficient
+remuneration for the exercise of that talent, as he then enjoyed _two_
+incomes from the people: as treasurer to the navy, three thousand
+pounds, and as president of the Board of Controul, five thousand pounds,
+making together the _annual_ amount of eight thousand pounds! Some
+people, however, are not to be satisfied, as Mr. Huskisson said, that he
+felt considerable anxiety and _hardship_ arising from the union of the
+two offices or situations, and that, from the great pecuniary
+responsibility attached to the treasurer of the navy, the two offices
+were more than he could possibly attend to! "Then," _modestly_ added
+the president, "the pay-master is an officer fully acquainted with the
+details of business, and perfectly familiar with all the operations
+necessary for the proper and effective management of the department." We
+do not doubt the verity of this remark, or dispute the qualifications of
+Mr. Huskisson for _one_ of the offices; yet we cannot help thinking it
+was a _little_ slip of the tongue, when this gentleman said, "I cannot
+say from _my own knowledge_ whether, at this moment, matters are going
+on _right or wrong_ in my office, but I have entire confidence in the
+_pay-master_." This curious confession of Mr. Huskisson proved that he
+enjoyed the emoluments arising from a situation, to the business of
+which he paid little or no attention! Would an unprejudiced and honest
+administration have exercised the imposing means here set forth? or
+would any real representatives of the people have sanctioned such
+mal-practices by their vote?
+
+The manufacturing districts unfortunately continued in a most melancholy
+and alarming situation. Riots, disorder, and distress, universally
+prevailed. To relieve the people's grievances, however, the king
+returned eight thousand pounds more of the public money to the
+distressed weavers of Spitalfields. But we cannot help thinking, that
+such an inadequate sort of relief very much resembled a bankrupt's
+paying one farthing in the pound, and then claiming the gratitude of his
+ruined creditors!
+
+Let not our readers suppose that the _worthy_ parliament were idle this
+year. The matter printed for the House during its short sitting, from
+February to May, occupied twenty-nine bulky folio volumes, independent
+of the journals, votes, private acts, and other matters of equal
+importance to the nation! In this brief session, also, no less than
+seventy-nine new acts of parliament were added to the already ponderous
+and indigestible statute-book. Here was industry indeed! But, good
+reader, in all this mass of business, not a single act was passed for
+the amelioration of the distressed condition of the people.
+
+The health of the Duke of York now began to decline; and, although he
+had been in the receipt of such enormous sums from the people, he was
+actually destitute of a home,--at least of one he could call his own.
+Here was a disgraceful circumstance!--the heir presumptive to the throne
+of England, through his abominable and reckless extravagance, obliged to
+accept the hospitality of an acquaintance! An accumulation of diseases,
+arising from excesses of every kind, soon became manifest, and the duke
+was at length declared to be seriously indisposed. On the 14th December,
+he was pronounced, by his medical attendants, to be in the most imminent
+danger.
+
+The revenue was deficient in its returns from the former year, two
+hundred and thirty-three thousand, nine hundred, and forty pounds! which
+arose from the very general stagnation of trade and the paralization of
+commerce. This enormous deficiency in the country's income, however, had
+no effect upon the men in power; for the most wanton expenditure was
+still kept up, both at home and abroad. Our ambassadors appeared the
+very type of their sight-loving and spendthrift master, and thousands
+were swallowed up in glittering baubles and unmeaning pageantry. At the
+time the "Dandy of Sixty," (as the ingenious and patriotic Mr. Hone
+usually termed him) was meditating on the most expeditious way of
+squandering the hard-earnings of the poor, his wicked and unmanly
+ministers pampered the royal appetite in all its childish wishes and
+unconstitutional desires, verifying the words of Pope,
+
+     "Fools grant whate'er Ambition craves."
+
+
+The internal state of the country at the opening of
+
+     1827
+
+exhibited the most lowering prospects; for when the people are suffering
+from oppressive enactments and injurious policy, the country cannot
+possibly wear a smiling countenance. Some of the milk-sop daily
+journals, notwithstanding, were very profuse in their complimentary
+language to royalty, and announced, as a matter of wonderful importance,
+the kindness and brotherly affection manifested by the king to the Duke
+of York, as his majesty had spent nearly two hours with his brother at
+the residence of his Grace of Rutland! What astonishing kindness! what
+inexpressible condescension that a man should visit his own brother who
+was at the point of death! But the king's condescension did not put
+aside the visit of the general conqueror, Death! for the Duke of York
+expired, at the mansion of the before-named nobleman, on the 5th of
+January, being then in the sixty-fourth year of his age.
+
+If we were to form our judgment by the eulogiums bestowed on the
+character of the deceased duke, by the greater portion of the press, he
+was one of the brightest and most illustrious ornaments of society. But
+such disgraceful truckling to royalty and the "powers that be" could
+only tend to degrade the national character in the consideration of all
+well-informed men, who would observe in such unmerited compliments a
+convincing proof that Truth was a creditor, whose claims were "more
+honoured in the breach than in the observance." To prove that our
+complaints on this head are well-founded, let our readers look over the
+following outline of the royal duke's virtues, which we copy from
+"Baldwin's Annual Register for the year 1827:"
+
+
+"Never was the death of a prince accompanied by more sincere and
+universal regret; and seldom have the public services of one so near the
+throne BEQUEATHED TO THE COUNTRY SO MUCH SOLID AND LASTING GOOD, as
+resulted from his long administration of the British army. His private
+character, frank, HONOURABLE, and SINCERE, was formed to conciliate
+personal attachments; a personal enemy he had never made, and a friend
+once gained, he had never lost. Failings there were: he was improvident
+in pecuniary matters; his love of pleasure, though it observed the
+decencies, did not always respect the moralities, of private life; and
+his errors in that respect had been paraded in the public view by the
+labours of unwearying malice, and shameless unblushing profligacy. But
+in the failings of the Duke of York, there was NOTHING THAT WAS
+UN-ENGLISH, NOTHING THAT WAS UN-PRINCELY.
+
+"Never was man more easy of access, _more fair and upright in his
+dealings_, more affable, and even simple, in his manners. Every one who
+had intercourse with him was impressed with the openness, sincerity, and
+kindness, which appeared in all his actions; and it was truly said of
+him, that _he never broke a promise, and never deserted a friend_.
+Beloved by those who enjoyed the honour of his private intercourse, his
+administration of a high public office had excited one universal
+sentiment of respect and esteem. In his youth, he had been tried as a
+general in the field. The campaigns in Flanders terminated in a retreat;
+but the duke,--unexperienced as he was, at the head of an army which,
+abounding in valour, had yet much to learn in tactics, and compelled to
+act in concert with allies who were not always either unanimous or
+decided,--displayed many of the qualities of an able general, and nobly
+supported that high character for daring and dauntless courage which is
+the patrimony of his house. He was subsequently raised to the office of
+commander-in-chief of all his majesty's forces; that office he held for
+upwards of thirty-two years, and his administration of it did not
+merely improve, it literally created, an army. During his campaigns, he
+had felt keenly the abuses which disgraced its internal organization,
+and rendered its bravery ineffectual; he applied himself, with a
+soldier's devotion, to the task of removing them; he identified himself
+with the welfare and the fame of the service; he possessed great
+readiness and clearness of comprehension in discovering means, and great
+steadiness and honesty of purpose in applying them. By unceasing
+diligence, he gave to the common soldier comfort and respectability; the
+army ceased to be considered as a sort of pest-house for the reception
+of moral lepers; discipline and regularity were exacted with unyielding
+strictness; THE OFFICERS WERE RAISED BY A GRADUAL AND WELL-ORDERED
+SYSTEM OF PROMOTION, which gave merit a chance of not being pushed aside
+to make way for mere ignorant rank and wealth. The head as well as the
+heart of the soldier took a higher pitch; the best man in the field was
+the most welcome at the Horse Guards; _there was no longer even a
+suspicion that unjust partiality disposed of commissions_, or that
+_peculation was allowed to fatten upon the spoils of the men_; the
+officer knew that one path was open to all, and the private felt that
+his recompense was secure."
+
+
+In a similar strain, the writer continues at a far greater length than
+our patience will allow us to quote. What man of understanding but must
+have felt disgusted at such a fulsome panegyric, which has not so much
+as a word of truth to recommend it! We despise the historian who
+sacrifices his integrity by an attempt to mislead posterity in this
+manner. It will, however, prove but an attempt; for will posterity
+overlook the general iniquitous and abandoned conduct of the royal
+libertine, both abroad and at home?--his cowardice and want of skill in
+the field?--his tergiversation to his creditors?--his infamous conduct
+with regard to certain foreign bondholders?--his notorious practices as
+a seducer?--his gross and unpardonable dereliction of duty at the Horse
+Guards?--his refusal to inquire into the conduct of the soldiers at the
+Manchester massacre?--his shameful acceptance of ten thousand pounds a
+year of the public money, for only calling upon his dying father twice a
+week, which Earl Grey pronounced to be "an insult to the people to ask
+it?"--his receiving this sum, and his going down to Windsor with a bible
+in his carriage, on _pretence_ of visiting his royal father after he had
+ceased to exist?--or his bigotted, ridiculous, and futile opposition to
+the claims of the Catholics? Will posterity, we repeat, forget to
+canvass all this, and much more, of which the Duke of York was
+notoriously guilty?
+
+If we pass over the meanness of the royal duke in accepting payment for
+visiting his own father, we are naturally led to inquire why this money
+was paid from the public purse, when the king was allowed sixty thousand
+pounds per annum for his private demands? Could this fund have been
+better applied than for the use of him for whom it was voted? If,
+therefore, it was considered necessary to pay a son for visiting his
+father, surely such money ought to have been applied for the purpose.
+Was it justifiable, in times of universal suffering and distress, to
+raise from an over-taxed and over-burthened people such a sum
+unnecessarily, when there were funds from which it might have been
+taken,--funds which must else be diverted from the purpose of their
+creation, and pass into hands for whom they were not intended? Was it
+not an insult to the sense of the nation to debate about what might be
+the feelings of the sovereign, if he should recover from the gloomy
+condition into which he was plunged by the afflicting hand of
+providence, and find his money had been so appropriated? Would not his
+majesty's feelings have been more hurt, in such an event, by his knowing
+that a reward was necessary to induce a son to take care of his father?
+Was there no delight in filial affection? Was not the sense of duty
+powerful enough? Was there no beauty in the common charities of our
+nature? No loveliness in gratitude? Were the claims of veneration
+cold?--the warmth of regard frozen? With respect to the country, it
+presented a serious aspect. Admitting that his royal highness, in the
+discharge of his office, must attend twenty times a-year at Windsor,
+then he would be paid five hundred pounds a time for such attendance: a
+single journey would discharge the wages of a thousand labourers for a
+week, and the annual salary satisfy twenty thousand for the same period.
+Would it not have been more beneficial to the state, more conducive to
+the happiness of society, to have expended the ten thousand pounds in
+some honourable employment, in the erection of some work of art, that
+would have called hundreds into action, who were steeped up to the neck
+in penury, and worn down to the earth by wretchedness, than in forming a
+salary for the royal duke for doing that which it was his bounden duty
+to perform? But even this view does not put the question in its broadest
+light. The sixty thousand pounds set apart as the annual privy purse of
+the king was now useless to his majesty, for he could no longer
+recognize his property, direct its disposal, or enjoy it. In fact,
+during the greater part of the Duke of York's guardianship, his father
+was a corpse! On what ground, on what pretence, then, could this wicked
+grant be continued, as well as the accumulation of the sixty thousand
+pounds a year, for the service of one who no longer needed either? Why,
+only for the purpose of feeding the inordinate profligacy of the Duke of
+York, and for the gratification of the regent's malice against his
+innocent, though calumniated, wife! What, also, will posterity think of
+Lord Castlereagh's conduct on this occasion, who proposed the disgusting
+grant to parliament? He stigmatized as infamous the refusal to grant
+from the _public_ purse that which the public _ought not to pay_; thus
+boldly classing _virtue_ with _crime_,--pourtraying _prodigality_ to be
+right,--disguising _corruption_ under the mask of honour,--and
+attempting to cast the dark shade of _infamy_ over those few who were
+honest enough to oppose measures, which justice disapproved, and good
+policy condemned. By reducing such cases down to the level of common
+life, we the better discover their injustice and unfold their rapacity.
+If the constable of a village possessed of a rental, arising from a
+parochial allowance for his services more than adequate to supply his
+wants, were deprived of reason, and rendered unfit for his office, and
+if one of his sons were to declare that he would not superintend the
+care of his infirm and aged father, unless he was allowed a salary for
+performing his duty, what would be thought of such a son? But if this
+son averred that he would not take this salary from his father's
+allowance, but would demand _it from the parish_, how severe would be
+the censure that would follow his footsteps, and imprint itself on his
+name! However difficult it may be found to believe, it is nevertheless a
+fact, that the Duke of York would only receive the said ten thousand
+pounds a year from the PUBLIC, and refused to take it from the privy
+purse of his father. But this privy purse being already drained by his
+royal elder brother, he had not the opportunity of taking it from that
+source! Ought the country to have been thus trifled with and plundered,
+when it was writhing under general distress and an immense load of
+taxation,--taxation produced by bestowing unmerited pensions and
+unnecessary salaries? But ministers imagined, that when their countrymen
+became impoverished, their spirits would get depressed, and their
+liberties fall an easier prey to their pecuniary plunderers. But why
+were not bolder exertions made to defeat this grant by those members of
+the House of Commons who were in the habit of talking loudly of their
+patriotism? Why was not the unblushing audacity of ministers and their
+time-serving tools put to the test? Why were they not told that, among
+all the distressing periods of our history, not one could be mentioned
+in which the people were less able to sustain any additional
+burthens,--not one in which it would have been more indecorous,
+disgraceful, and unfeeling than at that juncture? Why did they not
+represent how much better it were that a son should pay to his father
+the attentions dictated by nature, without fee or reward, than that,
+oppressed as the community already was with the failure of trade and the
+expenses of government, another shilling of taxation should be added to
+their burthens? Why did they not ask the Treasury Bench with what face
+it could talk of retrenchment and economy, while it augmented the weight
+by which the country was borne down? When we reflect on the scandalous
+meanness that turned so many poor clerks adrift, while it kept safely
+floating in the harbour of ease and plenty, men who were doing so little
+for the public service,--when we consider this, and add to it the
+circumstance of the Duke of York's unconscionable grant,--when we place
+together the wretchedness of the ministry's savings, and the enormity of
+their waste,--our indignation rises at the injustice. We feel that we
+are Britons; for we feel that we detest such oppression and oppressors.
+Our hearts are held to the patriotic _minority_ by a spontaneous and
+involuntary attachment, as sure and lasting as our hatred and disdain of
+that portion of parliament, whose only object in obtaining their seats,
+and only business in exercising their privileges, was to serve the
+interest of the ministry at the expense of the people, and to promote
+and help to perpetuate the mystery and the humiliation, the
+impoverishment and the slavery, it was their especial duty to prevent or
+diminish.
+
+Of his royal highness' profligacy and neglect of duty, enough was proved
+in the exposures of Mrs. Clarke to satisfy the most scrupulous of their
+enormity. Of his utter recklessness of every honourable principle and
+disregard of virtue, many families, whose peace he was the cause of
+ruining, yet live to bear their afflicting testimony. Of his imbecility
+and cowardness in the field of battle, we need only mention his
+disastrous and disgraceful campaign in Holland, to call forth the
+indignation and contempt of every honest man, who must also feel shocked
+at the number of lives sacrificed to his royal highness' headstrong
+obstinacy. Of his achievements, particularly after his return from
+Germany, we believe they were chiefly confined to the parade in St.
+James' park, and to the Tennis Court in James-street, with pretty
+frequent relaxation amongst the nymphs of Berkeley-row. Nevertheless,
+his royal parents early pronounced him the "Hope of the Family;" and
+once, in an hour of festivity, when this prince was so intoxicated as to
+fall senseless under the table, his _elegant_ and _accomplished_ elder
+brother, with his glass in hand, standing over the fallen soldier,
+performed the ceremony of baptism, triumphantly and sarcastically
+exclaiming,
+
+     "HERE LIES THE HOPE OF THE FAMILY!"
+
+Of his ridiculous and futile opposition to the Catholics, after times
+have given abundant proof. And of his getting into debt without the
+means of paying is a deplorable fact, to which his ruined creditors are
+even now (in 1832) freely testifying! Would it not have been thought
+treason had they suspected that the king's son,--the prince who,
+according to the writer in the Annual Register, "never broke a promise,"
+"whose failings had nothing in them un-English or un-princely," and "who
+was fair and upright in his dealings,"--would have treated them as a
+common swindler, by getting their forbearance during his life, and dying
+without discharging his obligations? It is true that the duke left some
+property, which he consigned to his brother, the king, for the purpose
+of discharging his debts. We also know that the king promised to do so,
+and to supply any deficiency that might arise; but with what fidelity it
+was kept, the world is pretty well aware. The extortionate demands of a
+mercenary mistress were stronger in the eyes of George the Fourth than a
+solemn engagement made to a brother on his death-bed!
+
+Though the executors of the late duke declared that his freehold and
+leasehold estates were mortgaged beyond their intrinsic value, nothing
+satisfactory was said about the jewels of his royal highness, which were
+valued a very few days after his death, and were calculated as being
+worth one hundred and fifty thousand pounds. These jewels, we are aware,
+were carried down to Windsor by desire of his majesty, but how they were
+disposed of remains to be explained. It was known that a large portion
+of these valuables had belonged to the Duchess of York in her lifetime,
+and as some legacies bequeathed by her royal highness at her demise have
+been paid since the death of her husband, it is inferred that the jewels
+have been, in some way or other, made available for that purpose. The
+legality of the application of any part of the personal property of the
+duke to purposes in which the interests of the creditors at large have
+not been consulted is, however, very questionable. Some part of the
+duke's property was bequeathed to his sister Sophia; but how far such a
+bequest was consistent in a man overwhelmed in debt, or how any
+honourable woman could accept from a brother that which was not his to
+give, is a matter totally irreconcileable with our notions of justice
+and fair dealing. One of these said jewels was also bestowed on the
+king's mistress, which, whenever and wherever it is recognized, cannot
+possibly add any lustre to her corpulent charms.
+
+The Duke of York was _elected_ Bishop of Osnaburgh when only _eleven
+months old_; but we leave the reader to judge how _capable_ a child of
+this age was to perform the duties of a bishop! Here, indeed, was a
+wanton disgrace inflicted on religion and the Established Church of
+England! If money had been wanted to purchase toys for this baby prince,
+could it not have been supplied from some more creditable source? We are
+here naturally led to inquire, who was the _former_ Bishop of Osnaburgh?
+If this question should lead to inquiry among the friends of Truth and
+Justice, it may possibly be productive of much good to a CERTAIN INJURED
+AND PERSECUTED INDIVIDUAL.
+
+Among the high church and high tory characters, his royal highness was
+held in much esteem for his PIETY! They boasted of his always travelling
+with a bible in one pocket of his carriage and a prayer-book in the
+other, but we know that the last journey he took, thus equipped, was on
+a Sunday, in order to make some bets on a race-course for the ensuing
+day!
+
+In contemplating the enormous means possessed by his royal highness, we
+are at a loss to account for his dying so deeply in debt. We find him
+enjoying out of the taxes an annuity of twenty-six thousand pounds, a
+pension of seven thousand pounds, and an annuity of twelve thousand
+pounds sponged from the poor people of Hanover. Notwithstanding this
+income of forty-five thousand pounds a-year, and his immense receipts as
+commander-in-chief, colonel of regiments, &c. &c., such an embarrassed,
+pauper-like state of existence has seldom been exposed,--head and ears
+in debt, and himself dying in another man's house, without a roof of his
+own to cover his shame! At his principal banker's, he had but a balance
+of forty-four pounds, fifteen shillings, and a penny, at his death. Like
+the old story of the many items of sack to one item of bread, we find
+that his royal highness' horses were more valuable than his books. But
+one of his disgraceful transactions more deeply concerns the
+public:--the scandalous grant of public land for a rent never paid, and
+an advance of forty-seven thousand pounds of the public money, by way of
+accommodation, upon a mortgage of land which already belonged to the
+people. Common honesty required that the late Tory ministers, in leasing
+public land to the duke, should exact its fair value; but, so far from
+it, the duke obtained an immediate advance of thirty thousand pounds,
+and eventually of forty-seven thousand pounds, upon his lease. Never was
+there a more flagrant exposure of the insolent impunity with which Tory
+ministers betrayed the public interests. It was the duty, _the sworn
+duty_, of the Tory commissioners of woods and forests, to let the public
+land upon the best terms. Instead of which, they not only granted a
+lease to a notorious insolvent, a man who for very many years had never
+paid his way,--a man so involved that sheriff's officers followed his
+carriage and seized it directly he got out of it,--but they granted this
+man a lease so much under its value that he immediately got thirty
+thousand pounds advanced upon it. In other terms, the public were
+defrauded of thirty thousand pounds; but this is purity compared to what
+follows. These Tory ministers advance forty-seven thousand pounds of the
+public money to the duke, knowing that he is insolvent and cannot pay
+the interest. Their mode of securing the principal is still more
+nefarious. Instead of pursuing the usual course of business, when ground
+landlords advance money to tenants covering their estates on building
+leases, they paid the money, not to those who built on the land, or not
+by instalments exactly as the land was covered, but to the duke, _who_
+got people to build for him on credit, and never paid them. The crown,
+of course, seized for its claims of rent and loan, and, possessing
+itself of the property of the duke's creditors, the builders, left them
+the victims of their misplaced confidence in the royal honour,--of a man
+who once thought that his mere word "on the honour of a prince" was
+sufficient to paralyze the House of Commons in their inquiries into his
+malversation of office. Such a playing into the hands of the duke,
+whilst he was defrauding the confiding tradesmen and workmen, is
+monstrous. We ask a question, Were not sums of money clandestinely paid
+to the duke, and smuggled into the accounts of the Army Pay-office, and
+did not, on one occasion, one of the sworn commissioners, in examining
+and passing the accounts of the paymaster-general, publicly declare,
+that the ministers who had signed the warrant for this illegal payment
+to the duke,--a payment without any vote of parliament,--deserved to be
+IMPEACHED?
+
+From the above statement, it will be seen why the late Tory
+administration so resolutely resisted all attempts made in the House of
+Commons to obtain an annual statement of the land-revenue department.
+The grant to the duke of a lease for sixty years of valuable mines in
+Nova Scotia, also appears to be a job infamous beyond any recent
+precedent. The public ought to have nothing to do with the private debts
+of this weak, bad man; and it should rest with the royal family whether
+they suffer the duke to go to his account, with all his imperfections on
+his head, as an insolvent, defrauding his creditors.
+
+When the disreputable life of the duke is taken into consideration, what
+an insult was offered to the understandings of an informed people, at
+the command issued for all persons to robe themselves in garments of
+decent mourning, upon the demise of this son of Mars and Venus! The
+country, indeed, had more cause for rejoicing than mourning; as they had
+lost an enemy to every thing liberal and beneficial. "What!" said the
+inquiring citizen, "am I to put on the garb of sorrow when I have no
+cause to mourn? What was the Duke of York to me, or to my family?
+Nothing less than an intruder upon our scanty means, and yet we are
+commanded, as good citizens and loyal subjects, to put ourselves and
+families into decent mourning?" But such was the order issued from the
+office of the Lord Chamberlain, and it was certainly complied with by
+all those who depended upon the favour of the court, and by persons who
+wished to be thought--_fashionable_! Happy, however, are we to know,
+that the sensible and independent portion of the nation viewed such an
+absurd order with the contempt it merited. Had the duke been a private
+gentleman, he would have had the exact portion of tears shed to his
+memory as he deserved,--would have been buried and forgotten, except by
+his creditors, who would scarcely have waited till the turf had covered
+him, before his house and effects would have been sold, his family
+turned into the street, and every one paid as much in the pound as his
+property would have allowed. But the adored of Mrs. Clarke, being the
+son of a king, no such insult was offered to his manes. His disappointed
+creditors were left nothing but promises for the articles with which he
+had been so lavishly supplied; and some of these broken-hearted men, we
+can attest from personal knowledge, were afterwards reduced to the
+greatest possible distress, while others have closed their miserable
+days in a parish work-house,--martyrs to the broken faith of his royal
+highness the Duke of York, of whom Sir Walter Scott impiously said, in
+the language of Scripture "There has fallen this day in our Israel, a
+prince, and a great man!" How forcibly the language of Shakespeare
+applies here:
+
+         "The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
+     An evil soul, producing holy witness,
+     Is like a villain with a smiling cheek,--
+     A goodly apple rotten at the heart;
+     O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!"
+
+Indeed, the whole panegyric which follows the quotation from Scripture
+is of that description which is sure to raise for its author a monument,
+whereon will be engraved, "Grovelling servility to royalty, and a mean
+sacrifice of public duty at the altar of private friendship." The
+following brief extract will be sufficient to establish the justness of
+our censure:
+
+
+"The RELIGION of the Duke of York was SINCERE. His family affections
+were strong, and the public cannot have forgotten the _pious_ tenderness
+with which he discharged the duty of watching the last days of his royal
+father. No pleasure, no business, was ever known to interrupt his
+regular visits to Windsor, where his unhappy parent could neither be
+_grateful_ for, nor even be sensible of, his unremitted attentions.
+(!!!) His royal highness prepared the most splendid victories our annals
+boast, by an unceasing attention to the character and talents of the
+officers, and the comforts and health of the men. Terms of service were
+fixed for every rank, and neither influence nor _money_ was permitted to
+FORCE any individual forward. (!!!) It has never been disputed(?) that,
+_in the field_, his royal highness displayed INTELLIGENCE,(!) MILITARY
+SKILL,(!!) and his family attribute, the most UNALTERABLE COURAGE.(!!!)
+If a tradesman, whose bill was unpaid by an officer, thought proper to
+apply to the Horse Guards, the debtor received a letter from
+HEADQUARTERS, requiring to know if there existed any objections to the
+account, and failing in rendering a satisfactory answer, he was put on
+stoppages until the creditor's demand was satisfied. Repeated
+applications of this kind might endanger the officer's commission,
+_which was then sold for the payment of his creditors_."
+
+
+While Sir Walter enlarges upon the duke's VIRTUES, (virtues, indeed!) in
+a similar strain to the above, he uses the most palliative language to
+gloss over his notorious vices. Not a syllable does he say about his
+royal highness' OWN CREDITORS BEING LEFT UNPAID, nor does he advocate
+the propriety, that the commander-in-chief ought to have been "put on
+stoppages until HIS numerous creditors were satisfied," or that the
+several commissions he held in the British army should have been "sold
+for the payment of HIS creditors!" In eulogizing the "military skill,
+intelligence, and unalterable courage of his royal highness," all
+allusion to the duke's _precipitate flight from Lisle_ is carefully
+omitted, and that Houchard, the governor of that fortress, lost his head
+for not driving him into the sea, which it was proved he might easily
+have done, through the duke's obstinacy and WANT of _military skill_!!!
+Are the very clear statements and unshaken evidence of Mrs. Clarke also
+to be set at nought, because a small majority of the most venal House of
+Commons of any in our history thought proper to acquit his royal
+highness from her charges? Was not every honourable man in England
+convinced of their verity? And did not universal execration COMPEL the
+commander-in-chief TO RESIGN, in defiance of that contemptible and
+loathed majority? Yet all these well-known FACTS are so smoothed down by
+misrepresentation and shuffling excuses, that his royal highness is
+actually made to appear a MARTYR TO POPULAR OPINION!!! When speaking of
+the duke's "_pious_ attentions" to his royal father, the "celebrated
+novel-writer" says not a syllable about the infamy of receiving ten
+thousand pounds a-year for such unnecessary services,--unnecessary,
+because, at their commencement, they were only formally bestowed for the
+sake of gain, and not through a sense of filial duty; and, for a greater
+part of the period, they were less necessary, for _forms_ could be of no
+use to a _dead monarch_!
+
+We entertain the highest possible opinion of Sir Walter Scott's literary
+talents, which makes us the more regret that so fair a fame should be
+clouded by this incontestable proof of his want of principle and his
+total disregard of historical verity. We do not wish to quarrel with the
+talented knight's POLITICS or his _gratitude_ to George the Fourth for
+bestowing on him a title, which adds little to the character of any man
+of sterling worth, and nothing to him who was before a stranger to
+virtuous principles; but we do not like to see the historian's glorious
+shield--TRUTH--broken in pieces by bespattering a public defaulter with
+praises, when such a man deserved nothing but the contempt and
+detestation of all who regard upright dealings. Let not Sir Walter
+Scott, then, thus attempt to mislead the people of England in the
+character of their princes, by palliating their public abuses, and
+varnishing their private misconduct; nor let him disseminate doctrines
+unnatural, nonsensical, and injurious to the rights of human nature.
+History is materially injured when the waters of truth are corrupted by
+infusing into their channel the flatterer's poison. Such a vile cause
+cannot be maintained without having recourse to falsehood, and the
+cowardly concealment of conscious malversation. Honest purposes love the
+light of truth; and the friends of liberty and man become justly alarmed
+whenever they see the press disgraced by its perversion. We are well
+aware that the Tories were lavish in their rewards to obsequious
+political writers, and that needy, unprincipled, and aspiring persons,
+to receive the infection, were always at hand. But can any man be really
+great and honourable, can he be a patriot or a philanthropist, can he be
+a zealous and sincere friend to law, order, and religion, who thus
+hesitates not to break down all the fences of honour, truth, and
+integrity? Did Sir Walter Scott, when he penned the character of the
+late Duke of York, mean to proclaim to the world that vice is virtue,
+guilt is innocence, cowardice is bravery, swindling is correct
+dealing?--or that conscience is but a name, and honour a phantom? Since
+the art of printing was invented,--since the era when Ignorance and
+Superstition were first driven before the light of Reason, exhibited in
+the circulation of a free press,--we unhesitatingly affirm there has
+never been published an eulogium so totally at variance with fact as
+that written by the author of "Waverly" on his royal highness of York.
+In sober reason and in the language of common sense, we would calmly
+appeal to the dispassionate reflection of every thinking Englishman,
+whether such a prostitution of truth and genius is becoming the proud
+fame of Sir Walter Scott? The power of such a celebrated writer over
+general opinion is too considerable not to deeply deplore the certainty
+of his misguiding some portion of the public by the apparent sincerity
+of his mis-placed eulogium, and by his neglecting to lead his readers to
+a path of just thinking. Scorning alike the meanness of flattery and the
+crime of delusion, we have not hesitated to deliver our unbiassed
+sentiments on the character of the Duke of York, (which are certainly
+more in accordance with facts) with that freedom to which we deem the
+historian to be justly entitled. We have not allowed the example of Sir
+Walter Scott to interfere with our fixed purpose,--that of "AWARDING
+HONOUR ONLY WHERE HONOUR IS DUE!"
+
+It is a melancholy reflection that so little protection or encouragement
+should have been afforded to writers of strict independence and
+integrity, more particularly about the period of the Duke of York's
+death, when Toryism was flourishing in the plenitude of its glory and
+its power. The former patriotic spirit of literary men had almost
+disappeared before ministerial bribery; and to write with that honesty
+and boldness of purpose which JUNIUS wrote was a matter of rare
+occurrence; and when any author did venture to imitate that great
+benefactor of mankind, his temerity was sure to call down the vengeance
+of the powerful, and, too frequently, without awakening the sympathy of
+the public. Had those noble authors, who once defended the cause of
+freedom and truth, been living at this period, how would they have
+despised such instances of the degradation of talent as those we have
+quoted! Could they, for a moment, have risen from their graves, what
+would have been their astonishment at such a perversion of the blessings
+of the press? In a country professing to be free, and boasting of its
+rights and privileges, it was surely natural to expect, that he who
+advocated its best and dearest interests would be certain of its ardent
+support; that whoever devoted his time and talent to the exposition of
+public abuses would be an object of general esteem, and enjoy the
+protection of the PEOPLE, at least, if not of the government. But such
+was seldom the case; and hence but too many writers resigned their
+probity, and betrayed the public, by making ministerial delinquencies
+appear as good government, and royal vices as elegant pastimes and
+gentlemanly exploits! Most of the daily and other periodical
+publications were in the pay of government, and they scrupled not to
+deny the most glaring truths, if, by so doing, they could please their
+patrons.
+
+We deeply regret that so many could be found to wage war against the
+sound principles of the English constitution, and so few that invariably
+adhered to the cause of liberty and justice. That writer, who is
+prompted by the pure love of his country's weal, and acknowledging no
+party, seeks no adherents but those who are friends to her sacred cause,
+will look back upon such a debased state of the press with mingled
+feelings of indignation and pity. Be it ever remembered, that the
+general corruption of that powerful engine is always first aimed at by a
+minister who intends the slavery of the people. Had public writers but
+maintained one grand universal adherence to the broad and general light
+of TRUTH, the people of England would never have been burthened by such
+men as Liverpool, Londonderry, and Sidmouth; nor would they have had to
+endure their present immense load of taxation. Whenever the people are
+properly united, and headed by an honest press, not all the standing
+armies of their enemies will prevent them from obtaining their
+constitutional rights. But when the people stand apart from each other,
+and when ministers can obtain the services of venal writers, the star of
+liberty grows dim, and patriotism becomes dangerous and obsolete.
+
+The Earl of Liverpool was prevented from taking his seat at the head of
+the government at this period, by a sudden attack of paralysis. His
+cabinet were consequently thrown into great disorder and contention. The
+united influence of Lord Eldon, the Duke of Wellington, and Mr. Peel,
+however, proved inefficient to prevent the choice of prime minister
+falling on Mr. Canning. Many discussions arose upon this change of
+administration, and the frequent quarrels in the cabinet were of a
+nature not very reputable to the members composing it. Within
+forty-eight hours after Mr. Canning had received his majesty's commands
+to form a ministry, no less than seven of the former leading members
+resigned office, through vexation and jealousy at his appointment. The
+inconsistent Lord Bexley, however, considered that _second_ thoughts
+were best, and retracted his resignation. Sir John Copley was created
+Baron Lyndhurst, and appointed Lord High Chancellor, upon the
+resignation of the Tory veteran Lord Eldon, who, though he had for so
+many years been amassing enormous wealth, was now _mean_ enough to be an
+idle pauper upon the resources of our impoverished country for the
+annual income of four thousand pounds! His lordship had been for more
+than twenty years Speaker of the House of Peers, at a salary of three
+thousand pounds, and Lord Chancellor at fifteen thousand pounds per
+annum; while the salaries of the offices in his gift, in the legal
+department alone, amounted to more than forty-two thousand pounds per
+annum. The legal and ecclesiastical patronage at his disposal was also
+immense; yet this pretended _poor_ man would not retire without an
+ex-chancellor's salary! While "this keeper of the king's conscience"
+took especial care of his own purse, he did not forget to look after
+that of his family; and places, pensions, and church preferments were
+most bountifully heaped upon them.
+
+In contemplating the long period of his lordship's enjoying the
+emoluments of his office, we are led to consider "the means whereby he
+got the office." His unmanly desertion of the virtuous cause of Queen
+Caroline was the principal, though not the only, reason of his rapid
+promotion. In this instance, he committed an indelible stain upon his
+integrity for the sake of obtaining patronage and wealth. Let the
+following passage, dictated by this time-serving lawyer, when he
+advocated the Princess of Wales' cause against the Douglases, bear us
+out in the justness of our remarks:
+
+
+"However Sir John and Lady Douglas may appear my ostensible accusers, I
+have _other enemies_, whose ill-will I may have occasion to FEAR,
+without feeling myself assured that it will be strictly regulated, in
+its proceedings against me, by the _principles of fairness and
+justice_!"
+
+
+Who would suppose that boaster of "fairness and justice," Lord Eldon,
+one of the most forward of the professed friends of the Princess of
+Wales, could have proved so heartless and active an oppressor of Queen
+Caroline? We are forcibly reminded of two passages of Scripture, which
+powerfully apply to his lordship's desertion from the path of honour in
+this instance; namely, the 2nd Book of Kings, ch. viii, v. 13, and the
+2nd Book of Samuel, ch. xii, v. 7 and 8! Lord Eldon not only at that
+time, however, expressed his decided opinion that other enemies existed,
+but he afterwards named the very parties, and pointed out with what
+clearness and facility the offence might have been proved against them!
+But his lordship soon afterwards _sneaked_ into lucrative office, and
+had something better to do for _himself_ than procuring justice for the
+injured, insulted, and persecuted Princess of Wales! Out upon such
+blood-suckers of their country, we say, and may their _crying_
+professions of SINCERITY and CONSCIENTIOUS MOTIVES ever be viewed as the
+ravings of hypocrisy!
+
+Mr. Canning's ministry proved but of short duration. Soon after his
+appointment to the premiership, his health began to decline, and within
+four months he was numbered with the dead. This event took place on the
+morning of the 8th of August, and his remains were consigned to the tomb
+prepared to receive them, in Westminster Abbey, followed by a long
+procession of dukes, lords, and other great personages,--the admirers of
+his political principles.
+
+In taking an impartial review of Mr. Canning's political career, we
+cannot help thinking that all his public acts were _aristocratical_,
+and afforded indubitable proof of his love of place. Like most men who
+have risen to great eminence, he owed much to chance. He was lucky in
+the time of his decease, and in the day of his deserting his old
+friends. To very few has it happened to be supported by a party as long
+as its support was useful, and to be repudiated by it when its affection
+would have been injurious. The same men who, as friends, had given him
+power,--as enemies, conferred on him reputation! But his name is not
+connected with any great act of legislation. No law will be handed down
+to posterity protected by his support. After generations will see in him
+a lamentable proof of prostituted talent, and little or nothing to claim
+their gratitude. The memorialist may delight in painting the talents he
+displayed, but the historian will find little to say of the benefits he
+bestowed. Mr. Canning was very irritable and bold in his manners. He
+defended his conduct in the House and out of it; that is to say, he made
+some bitter speeches in parliament, and wrote three challenges, or
+demands for explanation: one to Mr. Hume, one to Sir Francis Burdett,
+and one to an anonymous pamphleteer. The author of this pamphlet was Mr.
+(now Sir John Cam) HOBHOUSE, though the fact is little known; but, for
+some unexplained cause, the book was speedily withdrawn from
+publication. A few having been sold, however, we were fortunate enough
+to procure one, the following extracts from which may not prove
+unacceptable to our readers:
+
+
+"SIR,--I shall address you without ceremony, for you are deserving of
+none. There is nothing in your station, in your abilities, or in your
+character, which entitles you to respect. The first is too often the
+reward of political, and frequently of PRIVATE, crimes. Your talents,
+such as they are, you have abused; and, as for your character, I know
+not an individual of any party, or in any class of society, who would
+not consider the defence of it a paradox. Low as public principle has
+sunk, _you_ are still justly appreciated; and no one is deceived by
+_qualities_, which, even in their happiest exertions, are not calculated
+or employed to conciliate esteem.
+
+"To what a state of degradation are we sunk, when a defendant is to be
+cheered into being a plaintiff; to be applauded when he assaults the
+sufferings of the oppressed, and arraigns the motives of men of honour
+and unsullied reputation! You are yourself aware, sir, that in no other
+assembly in England would you have been allowed to proceed, for an
+instant, in so gross a violation of all decencies of life as was
+hazarded by that speech, which found a patient and a pleased audience in
+the House of Commons. Can there exist in that body,--composed as it
+undoubtedly is of men, who, in the private relations of life, are
+distinguished for many good qualities,--an habitual disregard of
+decency, a contempt for public opinion, an absurd confidence, either
+individually or in mass, to which, absolving themselves from the rules
+of common life, they look for protection against the censures of their
+fellow-citizens? Were it not for such a groundless persuasion, there is
+not a gentleman (for such a being is not quite extinct in parliament)
+who would not have thought himself compromised by listening to your
+insolent attacks upon the national character, and to a flashy
+declamation, which, from beginning to end, supposed an audience devoid
+of all taste, judgment, spirit, and humanity.
+
+"I am at a loss, sir, to account for the insulting policy of your
+colleagues in office, who, though they take their full share with you in
+the public hatred, are far from being equal competitors for its
+contempt. Those worthies must have had some motive, deeper than their
+avowed designs, for entrusting their defence to such 'inept hands.' Were
+they afraid of your partially redeeming your character by silence? Were
+they resolved, that if you were yet not enough known, some decisive
+overt act should reduce you below the ministerial level? Did they
+suspect, that you were again willing to rebel or betray? How was it that
+you were selected for the odious and TREACHEROUS task of justifying the
+rigorous measures of the imbecile, but unfeeling, SIDMOUTH, directed as
+they were against the aged, the infirm, the powerless of his own
+countrymen? How was it that you were required to emerge from your
+suspected, though prudent, silence, in behalf of him whom you had first
+insulted by the offer of your alliance, then by your coarse hostility,
+and, lastly, by the accepted tender of an insidious reconciliation?
+
+"You know, sir, and the world should know, that when your seducer, Pitt,
+was tired of you, you offered yourself to this silly, vain man, who
+thought your keeping too dear at the proposed price, and accordingly
+declined the bargain. You know, and the world may remember, the
+immediate consequence of this slight of proffered service was your
+lampoons in parliament, your speeches in the papers,--I forget where
+they fell, but whether in one or the other, they were equally
+_unprepared_ and opportune; these, and other assaults, manfully directed
+against those whose forbearance was the sole protection of your
+audacity, can hardly have slipped through the meshes of the ill-woven
+memories of your colleagues. Perhaps, then, it was intended to reduce
+you to irretrievable humiliation, and to fit you for the lowest agency,
+by making you the loudest encomiast of the most undefensible measure of
+him whom you have reprobated as the 'most incapable of all ministers,
+the most inept of all statesmen.' You have kissed the hand that
+chastised you, and have lost but few opportunities of testifying your
+FEIGNED REPENTANCE to him who commands you from that eminence, which you
+were adjudged incapable to occupy, even so as to save the few
+appearances required from ministerial manners.
+
+"Your submission to Lord Castlereagh, tricked out, as he appears, in
+those decorations of fortune which might well deceive a vulgar eye, was
+not surprising: it was the natural deference of meanness to success. But
+it was not expected, even from your condescension, that the butt of his
+party, the agent of that department which had, even in these times of
+peace, with infinite address, contrived to make the executive
+administration not only hateful but ridiculous, that the very minister
+who had no character for talents should be defended by him who had shewn
+himself unequal to the defence of his own. Your reply to those who spoke
+the language of their constituents, of unprejudiced Englishmen, of human
+nature itself, and who stepped forward to rescue the parliament from
+indelible disgrace, was such as is seldom hiccupped up from the
+Bacchanalian triumph of ministerial majorities.
+
+"What, sir! one of the present cabinet dare to accuse any individual of
+too _much faith_ in common rumour or in proffered information? A member
+of that cabinet, whose _belief_ in the idle, malicious falsehoods of
+spies, pimps, bullies, and all the abandoned broken characters, whom
+their promises allured into perjury, has been proved by the verdict of
+juries, has been recorded in the courts, has been the object of general
+indignation, and, after having been the cause and excuse of a wanton
+attack on our liberties, has been judged by the cabinet itself so little
+qualified for examination that believing parliament has been instructed
+to indemnify the rogues who told the lies, and the fools who believed
+them. What! an apologist for the gulled, the gaping Sidmouth, to
+deprecate the indiscriminating reception of tales and tale-bearers? a
+defender of him who put his trust in Castles, who employed Oliver, and
+who, on the faith of atrocious fabrications, of which he was alike the
+encourager and the dupe, has persecuted and imprisoned, has fettered and
+fractured, and might have put to death, his fellow-countrymen, even to
+decimation.
+
+"You tell us, you should have thought yourself '_a dolt and idiot_' to
+have listened for a moment to complaints against an agent of the home
+department, a runner of Bow-street, a gaoler's turnkey, or a secretary's
+secretary. Mighty well, sir! but let a runaway from the hulks, a
+convicted felon, tell you, that a bankrupt apothecary, a broken-down
+farmer, and a cobbler, are the centre of a widely-spread conspiracy,
+have formed and partially executed a plan for razing the kingdom, and
+for taking the Tower of London,--have provided arms, have published
+manifestoes; let the same respectable evidence impeach the loyalty of
+the nobles and gentry in particular districts, and of the lower classes
+in all; let this single felon assert that he is honest, and the majority
+of his countrymen are rogues,--you do not think YOURSELF A DOLT AND
+IDIOT!!! you do not think Lord Sidmouth a dolt and idiot for
+proceeding, chiefly upon such information, to hang, draw, and quarter
+the first individuals designated by this credible witness! But whatever
+you or your colleagues thought, the JURY did think the secretary of the
+home department a DOLT AND IDIOT, and shewed their opinion by their
+verdict. I will take leave to observe, that there is this difference
+between the credulity of such men as Mr. Lambton, and of such ministers
+as yourself and your colleagues: the former may interpose to save, but
+the consequence of the latter has been to destroy.
+
+"To brand with the names of 'rebel and traitor' those whom you have been
+unable to prove rebellious and traitorous, is but in the ordinary course
+of official perseverance and incorrigible folly; but that you should
+presume to assail those unfortunate individuals, the victims of your own
+recorded credulity, by making a mockery of old age and of natural
+infirmities, which have been occasioned by your own injustice!!--such an
+outrage upon your audience--how is that to be accounted for? '_The
+revered and ruptured Ogden!!!_' This mad, this monstrous sally was
+applauded--was received with roars of laughter! and if there was a
+confession from some more candid lips, that such allusions were not
+'quite in good taste,' an excuse was drawn from the _warmth_ of the
+debate, clear as it was, to those accustomed to your patchwork, that the
+stupid alliteration was one of the ill-tempered weapons coolly selected
+from your oratorical armoury.
+
+"The little knot of dependants, who were willing to make common stock
+and carry themselves to market with you, have become ashamed of the
+trifling, oscillating buffoon, whom they mistook for the head of a
+party, and who accepted the first and lowest vacancy that could replace
+him in the precincts of power. Even the miserable chuck-farthing, Ward,
+who has learnt from you how to run riot on his apostacy, owns, that he
+hesitates between the disgrace of 'serving without wages, and of being
+dismissed without a character.'
+
+"Go on, sir, I pray you; proceed with your pleasantries; light up the
+dungeon with the flashes of your merriment,--make us familiar, make us
+pleased, with the anguish of the captive; teach us how to look upon
+torture and tyranny as agreeable trifles; let whips and manacles become
+the play-things of parliament; let patriotism and principle be preserved
+only as vain names, the materials of a jest; and, as you have disturbed
+the bed of sickness with your unhallowed mirth, hasten, with appropriate
+mockery, the long foretold approaching _Euthanasia_ of the expiring
+constitution. But confine your efforts to that assembly where they have
+been so favourably, so thankfully received. You will find no other
+hearers. You are nothing but on that stage. The clerks, the candles, the
+heated atmosphere, the mummeries and decorations, the trained, packed
+paper audience, confused, belated, and jaded into an appetite for the
+grossest stimulants; these are the preparations indispensable to your
+exhibition. Thank heaven, however, the House of Commons is not the only
+tribunal; and it is possible, that, in spite of your extraordinary
+progress and probable success, there may still be, in this country, a
+body of men, now _dispersed_, but whom their common interest will ONE
+DAY COLLECT AND UNITE, FOR THE DEFENCE OF THEIR RIGHTS AND THE
+PUNISHMENT OF THEIR OPPRESSORS[187:A].
+
+"Believe me, sir, not an echo of those shouts of laughter which hailed
+your jests upon rebellious old age and traitorous disease, not an echo
+has been lost in the wide circumference of the British islands. Those
+shouts still ring in our ears; they will never die away as long as the
+day of retribution is deferred; they will never die away until we are
+finally extirpated by your triumph, or you are annihilated by our
+indignation. Do not flatter yourself that, by securing the connivance of
+parliament, you are safe from all national censure. _Parliament does not
+represent the feelings of the British nation._ It would be an assault
+upon the character of this great, this glorious people, to suppose that
+their representatives were sent to the House of Commons to encourage the
+playful ferocity of a hardened politician. The nobler portion of the
+nation are certainly not members of either house: the better educated,
+the more enlightened, and the more wealthy, at least the more
+independent, are to be found _without the walls of parliament_. You are
+(and what ministerial man is not?) an enemy to reform. But you shall be
+told, sir, that the necessity of reform, and of choosing our
+representatives from some other classes of society, was never so
+decidedly shewn as in the reception of your speech. If Mr. Canning was,
+on a former occasion[188:A], applauded for saying, that the constitution
+of that assembly could not be bad, which '_worked so well in practice_'
+as to admit of the selection of such men as Mr. Windham and Mr. Horner,
+I am sure it is to be allowed me to say, that the assembly can have no
+feelings or opinions, in common with the rest of their countrymen, which
+would receive, with shouts of approving laughter, such a speech as this
+of Mr. Canning.
+
+"You cannot be far from the close of your career; for, either we shall
+be so lost that all your farther efforts will be superfluous, or you
+will be so resisted as to disable you for ever from all noxious
+exertion. This, then, may be the time for summing up the evidence,
+furnished by the unbiassed, uncontradictory witnesses of your life; and
+for enabling your countrymen to pass the verdict.
+
+"Let him speak who ever knew you in possession of any respectable
+reputation. The rag you stole from Mr. Sheridan's mantle was always too
+scanty to cover your nakedness: like all mimics, you caught only the
+meaner characteristics of your archetype; oratorical, not orator;
+poetaster, not poet; witling, not wit. You were never the first or best
+in any one line of action. You might not have been altogether inept or
+slow in playing second parts, but on no one occasion have you ever
+evinced that sincerity, either of principle or capacity, which the
+lowest amongst us are accustomed to require from the pretenders to
+excellence. Your spirit was rebuked in presence of those accomplished
+persons whom the followers of all parties recognized as beings of a
+higher order, and were willing to yield even more deference than their
+unambitious merit required. The chances of survivorship have left you a
+great man in these days of little men; but you keep true to the epic
+rule; you end as you began; power has conferred upon you no
+dignity,--elevation has not made your posture more erect. The decency of
+your character consists in its entire conformity to the original
+conception formed of you in early life. It has borrowed nothing from
+station, nothing from experience. IT BECOMES YOU, BUT WOULD DISGRACE ANY
+OTHER MAN."
+
+
+     [187:A] How well has part of this prediction been fulfilled by
+     the people of 1832! May the rest be speedily accomplished!
+
+     [188:A] See motion for a new writ for the Borough of St.
+     Mawes, in the room of Francis Horner, esq., deceased.
+
+To a person of Mr. Canning's warmth of temper, such a production was
+felt most acutely; for he could not, with all his ready eloquence and
+talent, deny the truth of the writer's charges, or the justness of his
+severe censure. When men find themselves exposed, without the
+possibility of making out a good defence by argument, however speciously
+employed, it is no uncommon thing for them to abuse their accusers, by
+stigmatizing them with the epithets of "SLANDERER," "LIAR," "COWARD,"
+"DOLT," "IDIOT," and similar opprobrious names, which, however,
+generally fall harmless on the person to whom they are applied, while
+they recoil, with ten-fold vigour, on the head of him who disgraces
+himself and his cause by their adoption. Such was precisely the case
+with Mr. Canning, as the following letters will testify:
+
+
+MR. CANNING'S LETTER.
+
+                             "_Gloucester Lodge, April 10, 1818._
+
+     "SIR,--I received early in the last week the copy of your
+     pamphlet, which you (I take for granted) had the attention to
+     send to me.
+
+     "Soon after I was informed, on the authority of your
+     publisher, that you had withdrawn the whole impression from
+     him, with a view (as was supposed) of suppressing the
+     publication.
+
+     "I since learn, however, that the pamphlet, though not sold,
+     is circulated under blank covers.
+
+     "I learn this from (among others) the gentleman to whom the
+     pamphlet has been industriously attributed, but who has
+     voluntarily and absolutely denied to me that he has any
+     knowledge of it or its author.
+
+     "To you, sir, whoever you may be, I address myself thus
+     directly, for the purpose of expressing to you my opinion,
+     that,
+
+     "You are a liar and a slanderer, and want courage only to be
+     an assassin.
+
+     "I have only to add, that no man knows of my writing to you;
+     that I shall maintain the same reserve so long as I have an
+     expectation of hearing from you in your own name; and that I
+     shall not give up that expectation till to-morrow (Saturday)
+     night.
+
+     "The same address which brought me your pamphlet will bring
+     any letter safe to my hands.
+
+                          "I am, sir, your humble servant,
+                                         (Signed) "GEO. CANNING."
+
+     "N.B. Mr. Ridgway is requested to forward this letter to its
+     destination."
+
+
+THE AUTHOR'S REPLY,
+
+_Addressed to the Editor of the Examiner._
+
+     "SIR,--You are requested to insert in your paper the reply of
+     the Right Hon. George Canning to my public remonstrance with
+     that gentleman on the insult he lately dared to offer to the
+     people of England.
+
+     "I am agreeably disappointed. After ten days' deliberation, he
+     acknowledges the tribunal, and has determined to plead.
+
+     "Whilst his judges are deciding on the merits of his defence,
+     it shall be my care to provide the gentleman with another
+     opportunity of displaying his taste and talents in the
+     protection of his character.
+
+     "In the mean time, whilst Mr. Lambton is a 'dolt and an
+     idiot,' I am content to be a 'liar and a slanderer, and an
+     assassin,' according to the same inimitable master of the
+     vulgar tongue.
+
+               "I am, sir, your obedient servant,
+                                    "THE AUTHOR OF THE
+                            LETTER TO THE RIGHT HON. G. CANNING."
+
+It was hard indeed for Liberty to have so ready and so ruthless an
+antagonist as Mr. Canning. This minister was not satisfied with those
+legitimate and classical weapons he was so well skilled to wield, forgot
+the days of the "Anti-jacobin," and vociferated against and challenged
+every one whose pen or voice was raised in opposition to him. Thus,
+whether squibbing "the Doctor," as Lord Sidmouth was called, fighting my
+Lord Castlereagh, cutting heartless jokes on poor Mr. Ogden, flatly
+contradicting Mr. Brougham, swaggering over the Holy Alliance, or
+quarrelling with the Duke of Wellington, he was in perpetual personal
+scrapes,--one of the reasons which created for him so much personal
+interest during the whole of his parliamentary career. No imaginative
+artist, fresh from reading that career, would sit down to paint him with
+the broad and deep forehead, the stern, compressed lip, the deeply
+thoughtful and concentrated air of Napoleon. As little would the idea of
+his eloquence or ambition call to our recollection the swarth and iron
+features, the bold and haughty dignity, of Strafford. We cannot fancy in
+his eye the volumed depth of Richelieu's, the volcanic flash of
+Mirabeau's, or the offended majesty of Chatham's. We should sketch him
+from our imagination as we see him identically before us, with a
+countenance rather marked by intelligence, sentiment, and satire, than
+meditation, passion, or sternness,--with more of the petulant than the
+proud, more of the playful than the profound, more of the quick
+irritability of a lively temperament in its expression, than of the
+fixed or fiery aspect which belongs to the rarer race of men, whose
+characters are wrought from the most inflexible and violent materials of
+human nature. We do not wish to deny that Mr. Canning was an orator, a
+wit, and a poet. Such talents and accomplishments, however, are not of
+pre-eminent importance to the situation which he occupied at his death.
+A premier ought to be the bold opposer of corruption, the solid friend
+of his sovereign, and the uncompromising champion of the people's
+rights. He should always remember that the security of the throne arises
+from the interest which the sovereign possesses in the hearts of his
+subjects, and that all attempts to stifle their voice, under a sense of
+grievances, must tend to alienate their affections, and inevitably lead
+to similar calamities which, in other countries, have been produced by
+arbitrary and corrupt measures. Whether Mr. Canning was such a
+statesman, we need only refer to his general vacillating conduct to his
+superiors in office, and to the return made in 1820, that this gentleman
+had received from the country, during his public association with
+government, _two hundred thousand pounds_! Upon the demise of Mr.
+Canning, a pension was granted, by act of parliament, to the trustees of
+the family, of three thousand pounds per annum, and his widow, shortly
+after, created a peeress!
+
+The ensuing motley ministry, headed by Lord Goderich, (late Mr.
+Robinson) soon exhibited symptoms of its inefficiency to stand against
+the powerful phalanx of Toryism, then in array to oppose every thing
+like liberty. The philosopher, however, deeply deploring the many
+vicissitudes, the varying process, through which Opinion has to pass in
+order to be refined to Truth, but calmly aware that the sense of a
+people never ultimately retrogrades, might have observed through the
+clouds which, at this period, dimmed the political horizon, the sun of
+Liberty darting forth its smiling beams, and exhibiting signs of a
+speedy victory over the murky enemies of mankind,--the brighter period,
+when a more enlarged intelligence would necessarily triumph,--when
+warlike Tory despotism, founded on a feverish desire to keep the people
+down by the bayonet, would wear out its own harassed existence, and a
+system of freedom, sanctioned and confirmed by a long previous
+disposition of thought, would be realized, and the spirit and letter of
+that solemn compact, made and ratified between the crown and the people
+in 1688, be finally restored to the country.
+
+No Englishman, who cherishes in his heart a love of freedom, and who is
+at all conversant with the history of his country from its earliest era
+down to the period of the revolution, can be insensible of the
+acquisitions procured at that eventful period,--of the accumulation of
+strength gained by the popular branch of the constitution, the
+limitation to the power of the crown, and the extension of the admitted
+and declared rights of the people. Before the revolution, we were the
+slaves of kingly despotism, and the House of Commons itself was as much
+subservient to the tyranny of the throne as the personal liberty of the
+subject. We have heard much talk about Magna Charta, and the triumph
+over John at Runnymede, by the people,--who, by the way, had nothing to
+do with the struggle, for it was the struggle of the barons and the
+king, the former of whom in their several domains were as despotic to
+those beneath them as they felt the tyranny of the king they sought to
+humble. It was the invasion of their own power and possessions by John
+that fired their resentment and animated their public spirit, and hence
+ensued Magna Charta. But, with the exception of the single clause that
+forbids arbitrary and vexatious imprisonment, it scarcely adds, either
+in spirit or letter, any thing to the liberties of the people. Not so,
+however, with the compact as settled at the revolution,--not so with the
+Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement. The prerogative of the crown
+was by these measures curtailed, and the liberty of the people greatly
+extended and more clearly defined; the purity of the elective right was
+provided for, as also the short duration of parliaments, the
+discretionary power of the crown was prohibited, and standing armies in
+time of peace declared to be illegal! The pretended right of
+_suspending_ or of carrying into execution the laws, at the pleasure of
+the crown, was done away with; the levying of money for the use of the
+crown, by pretence of _prerogative_, without the consent of parliament,
+was forbidden; the right of the subject to petition the king was
+established; all elections of members of parliament were declared ought
+to be free; excessive bail and excessive fines were declared should
+neither be required nor enforced, nor cruel punishments inflicted; and
+for amending, strengthening, and preserving the laws, it was declared
+that parliaments ought to be held frequently. The further wise
+provisions and legislative enactments of that period are proofs that
+the liberties and happiness of the nation were the chief objects
+contemplated by our ancestors.
+
+But as all the wise limitations imposed by the friends of liberty on the
+power of the crown would be rendered ineffectual and useless, without a
+pure and freely-elected House of Commons, it had long been the chief
+design of the Tories to destroy this sacred palladium by bribery and
+corruption. How fatally they succeeded is well known. Thus all the
+hazards which our forefathers had incurred, all the treasures which they
+had expended, and all the blood that was shed to establish the freedom
+of themselves and their posterity, were rendered useless by Mr. Pitt,
+the Earl of Liverpool, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Canning, and their
+mercenary adherents. When this lamentable state of the power of the
+Tories is considered, and which had been produced by fifty bitter years
+of misrule, the difficulty of any other ministry being kept together
+will be apparent. The cabinet of Lord Goderich was a confused mixture of
+Whigs and Tories, and as the latter possessed a corrupted House of
+Commons, it were easy to prophesy which party would gain the ascendency,
+at least for a time; though it were equally observable, that
+
+     "The PEOPLE, by and by, would be the stronger!"
+
+In the month of September, the House of Commons lost one of its
+worthiest members in the Right Hon. Lord Archibald Hamilton, who died in
+the fifty-eighth year of his age, after a long and painful illness. His
+lordship was more than twenty years the representative of the county of
+Lanark, and one of his constituents publicly declared, that "the noble
+lord had conducted himself, throughout that long period, so much to the
+satisfaction of the county and honour to himself, that he was justly
+considered the pride of Clydesdale and the glory of Scotland." The name
+of his lordship was always to be found among those who supported the
+people's rights. His virtues and his talents placed him at the head of
+civil and religious liberty; he advocated every measure, both in and out
+of parliament, which had for its object the welfare of man,--of the
+meanest peasant as well as of the greatest lord. His affability and
+kindness of heart secured to him a numerous circle of friends, and his
+unwearied opposition in parliament to corruption and grants to pamper
+royal libertines gained for him the proud and inestimable title of
+PATRIOT.
+
+In November, the unfortunate creditors of the late Duke of York were
+informed that the assets of his royal highness would not furnish means
+to pay more than _one shilling_ in the pound! We know that the duke, in
+his dying hours, declared himself solvent. Whether he went out of the
+world with a falsehood in his heart and on his tongue, whether he was
+kept in ignorance of his affairs by those around him, or whether his
+estate had been foully dealt with by his family or others, are points
+which ought to have been better elucidated. We cordially pity the
+creditors, many of whom have been more grossly defrauded than in any
+case which has been punished in the Insolvent Court. The conduct of the
+royal family and the executors of the Duke of York must have appeared to
+the public in a very unamiable light; for why was not a thoroughly clear
+account of every thing laid before the creditors? Nothing, however, was
+said about the duke's jewels and the valuable diamond necklace belonging
+to his duchess!!! We impute nothing to the executors, Sir Herbert Taylor
+and Sir Benjamin Stephenson, both, doubtless, honourable men,--good Tory
+placemen; but if people will not make executorship accounts clear and
+public to all concerned in them, they are liable to be complained of.
+The wills and affairs of dead princes are always smuggled over and
+hushed up; but the creditors surely have a right to demand, because they
+have an interest in demanding, that the wills and executorship accounts
+of the royal family should be made as public as those of other
+individuals.
+
+During the session of parliament this year, Mr. Hume made a motion to
+repeal one of the odious "Six Acts" against the liberty of the press,
+which subjected to a stamp-duty those cheap periodical tracts that
+formed the most powerful instruments against the oppression of Toryism.
+The treatment which Mr. Hume received on this occasion will ever reflect
+the greatest disgrace on the _pretended_ Whig government and their
+friends. All those members who had opposed the passing of this act now
+either purposely absented themselves or advocated its _utility_, and
+the honourable member for Aberdeen had the mortification to see his good
+intentions frustrated at a time when he calculated upon certain success.
+
+Independently of the vexatious trouble which this act of Lord
+Castlereagh's framing caused the booksellers, it was found materially to
+injure the spreading of knowledge. But it was for this very purpose that
+it became the law of the land. Lord Castlereagh was aware of the truism,
+that
+
+     "MEN, ONCE IGNORANT, ARE SLAVES!"
+
+and consequently, to further his own unconstitutional views, he used
+every exertion to fetter the press and clap a padlock on the mouth of
+political knowledge. Wiser and better men, however, knowing that the
+free education of the people is the surest safeguard to the permanent
+happiness of the community, have lifted up their voices and given their
+votes against the subjugation of the Press,--the Leviathan protector of
+all that is worth living for. "The great mass of British subjects," said
+the venerable and patriotic Lord ERSKINE, "have no surer means of being
+informed of what passes in parliament and in the courts of justice, or
+of the general transactions of the world, than through cheap
+publications within their means of purchase; and I desire to express my
+dissent from that principle and opinion, that the safety of the state,
+and the happiness of the multitude in the laborious condition of life,
+may be _best secured by their being kept in ignorance of political
+controversies and opinions_. I hold, on the contrary, that the
+government of this country can only continue to be secure while it
+conducts itself with fidelity and justice, and as all its acts shall, as
+heretofore, be thoroughly known and understood by all classes of the
+people." Lord Erskine, however, is not singular in his view of this
+subject; for every philanthropist cannot but subscribe to the justice
+and equity of such doctrines. The prohibitory duty, therefore, on
+political periodicals must be considered as a scheme, emanating from a
+bad heart and weak head, to favour despotism. That law which requires
+publishers and printers of newspapers to enter into heavy securities, to
+answer to the consequences of the remote contingency of a LIBEL,--that
+is, publishing any thing having a _tendency_ to bring either house of
+parliament or his majesty's ministers _into contempt_,--must ever
+operate perniciously to the cause of freedom. For is it not one of the
+most sacred duties which a rational being owes to society, to his
+family, and to himself, to endeavour to "bring into contempt" a
+government, if it really be contemptible? To what did we owe the wreck
+of our liberties, at this period, except to the _contempt_ into which
+the preceding cabinets had been brought among the people? Is there an
+Englishman, possessing a particle of manhood, or breathing the
+inspirations of his ancestors, who would not blush at the human form,
+could he witness a being so debased as not to perpetuate the contempt
+into which public virtue had happily brought the names of Liverpool,
+Castlereagh, Eldon, Sidmouth, and the whole tribe of Tory locusts that
+so long fastened upon the vitals of his country? In America, the idea of
+indicting a man for endeavouring "to bring the government into
+contempt," would appear ludicrous. The language of the public
+authorities in America would be, "If the government is not contemptible,
+it will only gain strength from attacks; if it be contemptible, the
+citizens have a right to prove it so, and to demand a change: it is
+their duty to discuss the point, and to settle it by reason, and not to
+suppress it by indictment." Our readers will acknowledge, that we do not
+here advocate a doctrine we dare not practice; for we despise the
+unjustness of the "Six Acts," and will never allow their
+_unconstitutional_ powers to intimidate us in the discharge of our
+public duty.
+
+
+On the 29th of January,
+
+     1828,
+
+parliament was opened by commission, when the ministry, headed by Lord
+Goderich, was dissolved. The Duke of Wellington and Mr. Peel succeeded
+the former premier and secretary of state,--a change that could not
+possibly afford any satisfaction to the public. Mr. Brougham, in an
+address to the House of Commons on this subject, said, "Though I
+entertain the highest opinion of the duke's military genius, still I do
+not like to see him at the head of the finances of the country,
+enjoying, as he does, the full and perfect confidence of his
+sovereign,--enjoying all the patronage of the crown,--enjoying the
+patronage of the army,--enjoying the patronage of the church,--and, in
+fact, enjoying almost all the patronage of the state. The noble duke is
+likewise entrusted with the delicate functions of conveying constant and
+delicate advice to the ears of his royal master. As a constitutional
+man, this state of things strikes me as being most _unconstitutional_."
+Mr. Brougham further added, "I have no fear of slavery being introduced
+into this country by the power of the sword. The noble duke (of
+Wellington) may take the army,--he may take the navy,--he may take the
+mitre, he may take the great seal,--I will make the noble duke a present
+of them all. Let him come on with his whole force, sword in hand,
+against the constitution, and the energies of the people of this country
+would not only beat him, but laugh at his efforts." These were the
+excellent sentiments of Mr. Brougham, and we wish the noble Lord
+Chancellor may long continue the undeviating advocate of the people's
+rights and liberties.
+
+We have now to record the death of the Earl of Liverpool, which took
+place at his residence, Coome Wood, on the 4th of December, in the
+fifty-ninth year of his age, regretted by none but those who had
+feasted on the wealth of our country, under his long unfortunate sway
+over national affairs.
+
+Could we write as severe as the ministerial qualities of Lord Liverpool
+were injurious to the British people, what a hideous draught of
+distortion, both in principle and conduct, should we exhibit! Looking at
+the insignificant origin of his lordship, and the crooked crags of his
+political progress, we trace the wily ascent of an intriguing
+speculator, clinging to his towry height by principles hostile to the
+constitution of England. His career is marked by a glazy ichor, which,
+though repulsive to the chaste eye of public virtue, and offensive to
+the independent feelings of public spirit, will be as memorable as
+odious. Long after the praises of his lordship's minions shall be buried
+in oblivion, the iniquity of his deeds will pain the recollection of all
+good men, while he will be regarded as the favourite model of those who
+aspire to the ruin of their country. The character of this weak and
+daring man would not deserve the attention of history, if it were not so
+fatally united with the misfortunes of our country, which are mainly to
+be attributed to him and his notoriously wicked and over-bearing junta.
+
+When in the House of Commons in 1793, he (then Mr. Jenkinson) was
+foremost in opposing the memorable petition for parliamentary reform,
+brought forward by Mr. (now Earl) Grey, and defended the then existing
+state of the representation, maintaining, "that the House of Commons,
+constituted as it was, had answered the end for which it was
+designed,"--namely, we suppose, to subdue the people!
+
+Upon the assassination of Mr. Perceval in 1812, Lord Liverpool became
+first lord of the Treasury, by the especial request of the regent. Upon
+his lordship's advancement to this high and important office, Lord
+Sidmouth and Mr. Vansittart were announced as new members of the
+ministry. The first act of Lord Liverpool, or what may be termed his
+first important measure, was the introduction of a bill to increase the
+magisterial power in various districts of the country, where the
+inhabitants were suffering from want of employment. By this bill, such
+persons were not allowed the use of fire-arms, and forbidden to meet in
+companies. His lordship here mistook tyranny for justice, and appeared
+to set at defiance the opinion of the admirable Locke, that "there is a
+way whereby governments are dissolved, and that is, when the legislature
+and the prince, or either of them, act contrary to their trust."
+
+Another grievous inroad upon the liberties of the people, during the
+administration of this puissant lord, was his frequent union of offices
+diametrically opposite to each other; one of which, appointing the
+clergy to sit on the judicial bench, must ever be considered as an
+infringement upon that religion which his lordship considered as "part
+and parcel of the law of the land." The studies of clergymen were
+originally designed to fit them for the diffusion of "peace and
+good-will towards men," and not to form them for the exercise of
+_temporal_ power. We do not mean to say that, when people become
+clergymen, they are to renounce their rights as men; but this is a
+widely-different matter from investing them with the power of punishing
+a delinquent. Christ himself exercised no such functions, but left them
+to the secular authorities. Why, then, should those who pretend to be
+the followers of Christ presume to that which their master condemned?
+Alas! their conduct has too often proved them to be no followers of his;
+yet Lord Liverpool, well knowing the general vindictiveness and
+domineering austerity of their hearts, considered them the better fit
+for the magisterial office, as his intention was to rule by forcing the
+people into obedience, instead of soothing their irritated minds by a
+few timely concessions. For the sake of Christianity itself, we hope to
+see such an unholy union of spiritual and secular power speedily
+abolished.
+
+It was also under Lord Liverpool's administration that the most
+revolting scenes of MILITARY FLOGGING occurred. We might relate numerous
+instances of this barbarous custom, but one will be sufficient for the
+purpose of illustration: Three soldiers, (MERE BOYS!) in July, 1817, in
+company with others, met at the Rose and Crown public-house, Tower Hill,
+where at length a fight ensued. A court-martial being held, Thomas
+Hayes, Francis Hayes, and George Staniford were ordered to receive eight
+hundred lashes each! The execution of this sentence, so disgraceful to a
+civilized country, was commenced; but after Thomas Hayes (who was only
+twenty years of age) had received six hundred and seventy-five lashes,
+the surgeon pronounced his life to be in danger, and he was, therefore,
+carried away. Francis Hayes, only sixteen years of age, received three
+hundred and thirty-five lashes; and George Staniford, only seventeen
+years of age, two hundred lashes!--when both the latter had the
+remaining part of their sentence commuted, upon condition of their
+entering a condemned regiment! Thus three of our fellow-creatures, who
+had the misfortune to be English soldiers, and therefore, of all other
+men in the world, alone liable to be subjected to a system of refined
+cruelty, alike distinguished for its cold-blooded atrocity and the utter
+absence of any reasonable plea for its infliction, were tortured in this
+_Christian_ land as long as nature would bear the anguish, and that,
+too, before the number of lashes awarded by their unmerciful judges had
+been inflicted upon their poor backs! Is there a man whose heart retains
+a spark of feeling,--who has not been hardened by military education and
+habits,--that does not feel an involuntary shudder, a sickening of the
+heart, when he learns that three of his countrymen--_free-born
+Englishmen_, (oh, what a satire has that term become!)--were sentenced
+to have "the living flesh torn from their backs" by the horrid
+laceration of the "cat-o'-nine-tails," for being guilty of a
+public-house brawl! In the name of an all-merciful Providence, of what
+materials are military officers composed that they can endure such
+disgusting spectacles? We wonder how they have so long dared to set at
+defiance the indignation of the public, and tempt the just vengeance of
+heaven! Can they, after witnessing such scenes of unbearable
+torture,--of worse than Russian barbarity,--return to their wives and
+families, and eat their food with an appetite? But officers are
+GENTLEMEN,--_young sprigs of nobility_, in most cases,--and the
+sufferings of the private soldier may possibly be SPORT TO THEM! We
+hope, however, to see a law passed to give equal rights to the soldier
+as to the _brute_, at least; for no man in England, be he whom he may,
+is permitted to treat a dog as soldiers have been and are even _now_
+treated. Were all Englishmen punished in the same manner for the offence
+of brawling and drunkenness, where would the flogging system terminate?
+Certainly not with the private soldier or the foremast sailor; it would
+assuredly find its way to their _officers_, to the _noble_, the
+_bishop_, and the _prince_!!!
+
+Lord Liverpool allowed himself to be a prominent actor in the
+unprecedented persecutions against the Princess of Wales. Had not his
+lordship arranged the form of the secret proceedings abroad, and
+consented to the lavish expenditure of our means to suppress truth in
+that partial business, both the queen and her daughter might, at this
+time, have been in the enjoyment of health and happiness. His lordship
+said publicly, that the prosecution against her majesty in 1820 was "the
+most embarrassing question which ever perplexed any government." This
+short declaration spoke volumes; for truth is simple, and requires no
+adornment of language. At the conclusion of the mock trial of her
+majesty, there appeared, in the House of Lords, a majority of NINE for
+the Bill against the queen; yet, under these circumstances, his lordship
+thought proper to abandon the charges against her majesty! His motives
+for acting thus, we shall presently explain; but in the mean time we
+contend that such a proceeding was unconstitutional, and not to be
+defended on any honourable grounds. If the peers had really voted
+_conscientiously_, they were entitled to the award from their majority;
+if they had _not_ so voted, then they ought to have been expelled from
+the House for ever, as well as from all honourable society. Either way,
+therefore, Lord Liverpool acted wrong, and fully proved the verity of
+the old adage, "Power usurped is weakness when exposed; conscious of
+wrong, it is pusillanimous, and prone to flight."
+
+At the period of which we are speaking, certain documents were laid
+before Lord Liverpool, relative to the bonds and promissory notes
+entered into so solemnly by certain royal princes; and his lordship was
+assured that, if the bill of pains and penalties did pass, these
+disgraceful engagements, together with the attendant circumstances,
+should immediately meet the public eye. Here then was one of the secret
+reasons of his lordship's abandoning the infamous bill against the
+queen!
+
+The following is a true copy of the letter conveying this unwelcome
+intelligence, and which was delivered into Lord Liverpool's own hand:
+
+
+                                               "_Nov. 6th, 1820._
+
+"MY LORD,
+
+"Fearless of your displeasure, I beg to submit my sentiments to your
+lordship without further ceremony. I am in the possession of a copy of
+_a certain bond_, upon the execution of which your royal master was the
+first named, and to whom the largest share was to be advanced. If the
+bill against the queen _pass_, I will expose the whole transaction to
+the nation, and that will be sufficient to open the eyes even of the
+wilfully blind. You know the danger, and may provide against it in some
+degree. I shall also explain the unhappy consequences attendant upon
+some of the INJURED persons connected with this transaction.
+
+                                  "I am, my lord,
+                                         "Your humble servant,
+                                                    "&c. &c. &c."
+
+     "To the Right Hon.
+        Lord Liverpool."
+
+
+We here subjoin an exact copy of the bond referred to in this letter:
+
+     =Know all Men= by these presents, that We, George Prince of
+     Wales, Frederick Duke of York, and William Henry Duke of
+     Clarence, all living in the City of Westminster, in the County
+     of Middlesex, are jointly and severally, justly and truly,
+     indebted to John Cator, of Beckenham, in the County of Kent,
+     Esquire, and his Executors, Administrators, and Assigns, in
+     the penal sum of _Sixty Thousand Pounds_, of good and lawful
+     money of Great Britain, well and truly paid to Us, at or
+     before the sealing of these presents. Sealed with our Seals
+     this 16th day of December, in the Twenty-ninth year of the
+     Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of
+     God, King, Defender of the Faith, anno domini 1788.
+
+     The condition of the above-written obligation is such, that if
+     the above bounden George Prince of Wales, Frederick Duke of
+     York, and William Henry Duke of Clarence, or any or either of
+     them, or any of their Heirs, Executors, or Administrators,
+     shall well and truly pay, or cause to be paid, unto the
+     above-named John Cator, his Executors, Administrators, or
+     Assigns, the full sum of _Sixty Thousand Pounds_ of lawful
+     money of Great Britain, within the space or time of six
+     calendar months next, after any one or either of us, the said
+     George Prince of Wales, Frederick Duke of York, and William
+     Henry Duke of Clarence, shall come to and ascend the Throne of
+     England, together with lawful interest on the same; to be
+     computed from the day that such event shall happen, upon whom,
+     to the time of paying off this obligation, then, and in such
+     case, the same shall become null and void; otherwise to be
+     and remain in full force and virtue.
+
+                                 { GEORGE PRINCE OF WALES.  L. S.
+                      _Signed_   { FREDERICK.               L. S.
+                                 { WILLIAM HENRY.           L. S.
+
+To save the exhibition of this bond, as well as several others of a
+similar description, much to the discredit of the sovereign, Lord
+Liverpool readily gave his assistance, and thus was _forced_ to abandon
+the bill against the queen.
+
+In 1823, Lord Liverpool said in the House, that "The policy of the
+British government rested on the principle of the law of nations, which
+allowed every country to judge how it could best be governed, and what
+ought to be its institutions." This paragraph in his lordship's speech
+sufficiently proved him to be an _aristocrat_, in the true sense of the
+word. The policy of _his_ government was, doubtless, to concentrate
+power in the hands of the rulers, and to _force_ the mass of the people
+to submissive degradation and wretchedness.
+
+In 1825, his lordship was again disturbed by an inquiry into some state
+arrangements, relative to the mysterious demise of the Princess
+Charlotte, which had been made in 1817, and to which his lordship had
+been privy. But he declined all inquiries into this disgraceful subject,
+in a manner not very consistent with his own honour, or the importance
+of the question. In 1826, his lordship was once more solicited to
+receive the information, but he still declined, though he must have
+been aware of the justness of the claim. As we have fully explained
+these appeals to his lordship in a former part of our work, we have only
+considered it necessary to glance at them in this place.
+
+At length this statesman, after serving his king in direct opposition to
+the interests of the people, fell into the stupor of apoplectic and
+paralytic disease, and expired as previously stated.
+
+In this year, an inquiry was instituted into the death of the patriot
+HAMPDEN; and, in order to ascertain, if possible, the sort of wound by
+which he had been killed, his body was disinterred from Hampden church,
+Bucks. The exhumation was attended by Lord Nugent, Mr. Denman, and
+several other gentlemen. The following account of the investigation was
+given to the public by one of the party:
+
+
+"After examining the initials and dates on several leaden coffins, we
+came to the one in question, the plate of which was so corroded, that it
+crumbled and broke into small pieces on touching it. It was therefore
+impossible to ascertain the name of the individual it contained. The
+coffin had originally been enclosed in wood, covered with velvet, a
+small portion only of which was apparent near the bottom, at the left
+side, which was not the case with those of a later date, where the
+initials were very distinct, and the lead more perfect and fresher in
+appearance. The register stated, that Hampden was interred on the 25th
+day of June, 1643, and an old document, still in existence, gives a
+curious and full account of the grand procession on the occasion; we
+were, therefore, pretty confident that this must be the one in question,
+having examined all the others in succession. It was lying under the
+western window, near the tablet erected by him, when living, to the
+memory of his beloved wife, whose virtues he extols in the most
+affectionate language. Without positive proof, it was reasonable to
+suppose that he would be interred near his adored partner, and this
+being found at her feet, it was unanimously agreed that the lid should
+be cut open to ascertain the fact, which proved afterwards that we were
+not mistaken. The parish plumber descended, and commenced cutting across
+the coffin, then longitudinally, until the whole was sufficiently
+loosened to roll back, in order to lift off the wooden lid beneath,
+which was found in such good preservation that it came off nearly
+entire. Beneath this was another lid of the same material, which was
+raised without much giving way. The coffin had originally been filled up
+with sawdust, which was found undisturbed, except the centre, where the
+abdomen had fallen in. The sawdust was then removed, and the process of
+examination commenced. Silence reigned. Lord Nugent descended into the
+grave, and first removed the outer cloth, which was firmly wrapped round
+the body; then the second and a third, such care having been extended to
+preserve the body from the worm of corruption. Here a very singular
+scene presented itself. No regular features were apparent, although the
+face retained a death-like whiteness, and shewed the various windings of
+the blood-vessels beneath the skin. The upper row of teeth were perfect,
+and those that remained in the under jaw, on being taken out and
+examined, were quite sound. A little beard remained on the lower part of
+the chin; and the whiskers were strong, and somewhat lighter than his
+hair, which was a full auburn brown; the upper part of the bridge of the
+nose still remained elevated; the remainder had given way to the
+pressure of the cloths, which had been firmly bound round the head. The
+eyes were but slightly sunk in, and were covered with the same white
+film which characterized the general appearance of the face. As a
+difference of opinion existed concerning the indentation in the left
+shoulder, where it was supposed he had been wounded, it was unanimously
+agreed upon to raise up the coffin altogether, and place it in the
+centre of the church, where a more accurate examination might take
+place. The coffin was extremely heavy; but, by elevating one end with a
+crow-bar, two strong ropes were adjusted under either end, and thus
+drawn up by twelve men, in the most careful manner possible. The first
+operation was, to examine the arms, which nearly retained their original
+size, and presented a very muscular appearance. On lifting up the right
+arm, we found that it was dispossessed of its hand. We might, therefore,
+naturally conjecture that it had been amputated, as the bone presented a
+perfectly flat appearance, as if sawn off by some very sharp
+instrument. On searching carefully under the cloths, to our no small
+astonishment, we found the hand, or rather a number of small bones,
+enclosed in a separate cloth. For about six inches up the arm, the
+greater part of the flesh had wasted away, being evidently smaller than
+the lower part of the left arm, to which the hand was very firmly
+united, and which presented no symptoms of decay further than the two
+bones of the fore-finger being loose. Even the nails remained entire, of
+which we saw no appearance in the cloth containing the remains of the
+right hand. In order to corroborate or disprove the different statements
+relative to his having been wounded in the right shoulder, a close
+examination of each took place. The clavicle of the right shoulder was
+firmly united in the scapula, nor did there appear any contusion or
+indentation that evinced symptoms of any wound ever having been
+inflicted. The left shoulder, on the contrary, was smaller and sunken
+in, as if the clavicle had been displaced. To remove all doubts, it was
+judged necessary to remove the arms, which were amputated with a
+penknife. The socket of the left arm was perfectly white and healthy,
+and the clavicle firmly united to the scapula, nor was there the least
+appearance of contusion or wound. The socket of the right shoulder, on
+the contrary, was of a brownish cast, and the clavicle being found quite
+loose and disunited from the scapula, proved that dislocation had taken
+place. The bones, however, were quite perfect. Such dislocation,
+therefore, must have arisen, either from the force of a ball, or from
+Colonel Hampden having fallen from his horse, when he lost the power of
+holding the reins, by reason of his hand having been so dreadfully
+shattered. The latter, in all probability, was the case, as it would be
+barely impossible for a ball to pass through the shoulder without some
+fracture, either of the clavicle or scapula. In order to examine the
+head and hair, the body was raised up and supported with a shovel; on
+removing the cloths, which adhered firmly to the back of the head, we
+found the hair in a complete state of preservation. It was a dark auburn
+colour, and, according to the custom of the times, was very long,--from
+five to six inches. It was drawn up and tied round at the top of the
+head with black thread or silk. The ends had the appearance of having
+been cut off. On taking hold of the top-knot, it soon gave way, and came
+off like a wig. Here a singular scene presented itself. The worm of
+corruption was busily employed; the skull, in some places, being
+perfectly bare, whilst in others the skin remained nearly entire, upon
+which we discovered a number of maggots and small red worms on the feed
+with great activity. This was the only spot where any symptoms of life
+was apparent, as if the brain contained a vital principle within it,
+which engendered its own destruction; otherwise, how can we account,
+after the lapse of nearly two centuries, in finding living creatures
+preying upon the seat of intellect, when they were no where else to be
+found, in no other part of the body? He was five feet, nine inches, in
+height, apparently of great muscular strength, of a vigorous and robust
+frame; forehead broad and high; the skull altogether well formed, such
+an one as the imagination would conceive capable of great exploits."
+
+
+We offer no apology for inserting this very interesting inquiry into the
+cause of the death of one of England's greatest characters. Such
+investigations, we consider, possess peculiar interest to the lovers of
+truth, as well as being calculated to effect much public good. The
+deaths of many other illustrious individuals are yet involved in
+mystery, which may probably, at no distant period, be cleared up in the
+same way as that of Hampden has been. The sudden death of George the
+Third's next brother, Edward, Duke of York, calls aloud for inquiry;
+and, though it is impossible to make reparation to the departed duke
+himself, yet such inquiry might lead to the benefit of his INNOCENT,
+INJURED, and STILL SURVIVING OFFSPRING.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The excesses of the court at this period, as usual, were enormous. The
+man who had sworn to do justice and love mercy proved, by his
+deportment, that he cared not for either. In defiance of prudence, he
+continued to revel in gaiety and wantonness, totally regardless of the
+sorrows of his subjects, whose condition daily became more grievous, and
+whose petitions were disregarded in proportion to the pressure of their
+miseries. This man of pleasure exhausted what time he could spare from
+the indulgence of his passions in the invention of expensive and useless
+decorations and embellishments to the already gorgeous palaces in which
+he pleased to reside. He was still unwearied in his monstrous demands
+from the resources of the people, indefatigable in the accomplishment of
+all his lascivious pursuits, and deaf to the voice of remonstrance and
+humanity.
+
+
+At the commencement of the year
+
+     1829,
+
+the Catholics of Ireland exhibited so strong a determination to be
+emancipated from their long oppression, that the Duke of Wellington and
+Mr. Peel considered it expedient to pass a bill for their relief. We
+cordially agree in the principle of removing all civil disabilities from
+men on account of their religion; but we must nevertheless view the
+conduct of these two inconsistent ministers with the greatest possible
+contempt. Headed by the wicked Duke of York, they had frequently
+declared their fixed determination to oppose any further concessions to
+the Catholics, for fear of endangering the "established church," and had
+violently and obstinately opposed their just demands on every ground of
+right and of expediency! Even during the discussions of the preceding
+year, both of them had expressed no inclination to desert the
+principles which they had uniformly defended; yet, strange to say, all
+of a sudden, their opinions changed, and that which had so long appeared
+to them as being fraught with the greatest danger received their most
+zealous advocacy and support!
+
+Amongst the occurrences of this time, we cannot help noticing the
+pompous enthronement of one of the pretended followers of the meek and
+lowly Jesus,--the Bishop of London,--which took place in St. Paul's
+Cathedral, on the 16th of January. The cathedral was filled, at a very
+early hour, with a crowd of curious people to witness the installation
+of Dr. Bloomfield. After the parade of being met by the Bishop of
+Llandaff (Dr. Copleston), the prebends, canons, and other functionaries,
+the lord mayor, &c., the installation speech was delivered in the
+following words:--"I, Dr. Copleston, of the cathedral church of St.
+Paul, do induct, instal, and enthrone You, the Right Reverend Father in
+God, Charles James, _by divine permission_ (or by permission of the Lord
+Chancellor?) Bishop of London, into the bishopric and episcopacy of
+London; and the Lord preserve thy going out and coming in, from this
+time forth for ever more; and mayest thou remain in justice and
+sanctity, and adorn the place thou art _delegated to by God_! God is
+powerful, and may he increase your grace." How far the bishop was
+delegated by God, we do not pretend to determine; but fifteen thousand
+pounds per annum for the _great labours_ attendant upon this office
+were not, we think, a matter of indifference to the _pious_ bishop;
+because such a sum would enable his right reverend lordship to be
+"charitable to the poor," as well as to keep his "church in good
+repair," for which purposes such an immense sum was _originally_
+designed.
+
+In the November of this year, died Thomas Garth, esquire, general in his
+majesty's service, and colonel of the first regiment of dragoons. This
+gallant general had the good fortune to render himself agreeable to a
+certain lady of illustrious birth, by whom, _it was said_, he had one
+son, who bears the general's name, and who now is a captain in the army.
+This son was the chief mourner at the funeral of the general, which took
+place on the 27th of November, at St. Martin's in the Fields. It is,
+however, very probable, that the mystery of this very extraordinary
+affair will, ere long, be explained, though it may not redound to the
+_chastity_ of royalty. Many places and pensions have been bestowed to
+prevent an exposure of the circumstances attending the captain's birth,
+but we have reason to think that TRUTH will ultimately prevail. _We_
+could ourselves elucidate this mysterious business, if we deemed it
+requisite; but, as the matter is now pending in a court of law, it would
+be improper for us to interfere. In referring to subjects of this
+nature, we cannot help pitying the imbecility and sorrows of George the
+Third, which were, doubtless, considerably heightened, though not
+originally produced, by the delinquencies of his family, both male and
+female.
+
+
+In the early part of the year
+
+     1830,
+
+the king's health materially declined, though the greatest secrecy
+prevailed at Windsor upon the subject. His disease, however,
+progressively increased, and in the latter end of March, he became
+unable to take his usual exercise in the park. From time to time, the
+organs of the court pronounced his majesty again in tolerable health,
+and announced his intention to hold a drawing room at St. James'; but at
+the same time they well knew there was no probability that such an event
+could take place.
+
+On the 15th of April, the first bulletin was issued, and this official
+document regularly appeared till the announcement of the royal demise,
+which was as follows:
+
+
+"His majesty expired at a quarter past three o'clock this morning, in
+the 68th year of his age, and in the eleventh of his reign.--_June 26th,
+1830, Windsor Castle._"
+
+
+The death was lingering and painful, which is not to be wondered at when
+we consider what an artificial system of body there was to break up, and
+to what a magnitude it had grown. The wonder is, considering the life
+which the king had led in his youth, and the ease and luxury in which he
+indulged afterwards, that he lasted so long. After the usual ceremony
+of lying in state had been observed, his majesty was consigned to the
+royal vault at Windsor, on Thursday, the 15th of July. Immediately after
+which, the greatest bustle was observed in the apartments occupied at
+Windsor by the Marchioness of Conyngham, and a general scramble and a
+rapid packing up of valuables took place.
+
+We have so often had occasion to speak of the actions of George the
+Fourth, that little remains to be said of his general character. That he
+was handsome, dressed and lived extravagantly, put on fascinating
+manners when he wished to gain his point, and had an extraordinary good
+opinion of himself, are _accomplishments_ which we believe he possessed
+in an eminent degree. But what were such insignificant matters to the
+country in general, when their possessor owned the basest and most
+vindictive heart that ever disgraced the human bosom? Would his handsome
+person atone, in the eyes of doting parents, for the seduction of their
+daughters? Would his splendid habiliments afford a recompense to his
+ruined creditors? Would his fascinating manners compensate his injured
+and cruelly-oppressed wife for the brutal, unmanly, and infamous
+treatment she received from him? Or would his self-love satisfy the
+heavily-taxed people, who were compelled to administer to his
+extravagant demands for finery and baubles? Assuredly not; and such
+"accomplishments," therefore, only tended to render the actions of his
+majesty more disgusting in the eyes of the better part of the community.
+In truth, George the Fourth thought of nothing but his personal ease
+and comforts. When his mistresses or his friends became troublesome,
+they were instantly and unceremoniously dismissed, without causing the
+"first gentleman in the world" the least uneasiness as to their future
+good or ill fortune. In politics, he leagued himself with the Whigs as
+long as they served his purpose; but, directly they gave him the least
+trouble, he disowned their acquaintance. He indulged the follies and
+vices of his chosen companions, till indulging them longer became
+irksome. He supported the principles of his family as long as supporting
+them answered his ends. He consented to the passing of the Catholic
+Relief Bill on the same principle as he had shaken off poor Mrs.
+Robinson. Protestantism and Perdita were voted bores, and he therefore
+took the easiest course to rid himself of both. In the latter years of
+his life, he disliked public exhibitions, because they gave him trouble,
+and kept him a few hours from indulging his private passions, which he
+considered as so much time lost. This is the _true_ character of George
+the Fourth, whatever his minions may say to the contrary.
+
+Passing over many circumstances of dubious import, relative to the
+departed monarch, we proceed to notice some transactions of an unhappy
+complexion, and which reflect no small portion of dishonour upon his
+memory. When the late Duke of York returned from his military education
+in Prussia, he unfortunately brought with him the prevailing vice of
+the principal courts of Germany,--that of GAMBLING; and to his
+inordinate attachment to that ruinous propensity may be attributed the
+frequent loss of property and personal disgrace he endured. The late
+monarch, also, was equally addicted to a love of play, and the sum
+allowed him when he attained his majority soon proved insufficient to
+supply the natural consequences of that uncontrolled passion and his
+very lavish expenditure in finery of all kinds.
+
+In consequence of the mutual embarrassments of these royal brothers,
+they found themselves under the absolute necessity of raising money to
+discharge some of their most pressing accounts. The prince, in
+conjunction with the Dukes of York and Clarence, tried every imaginable
+source in this country, from which it was thought a supply could be
+raised, sufficient to avert the impending storm that hung over their
+heads; but all their endeavours failed. As a last resource, the late
+monarch was advised to attempt a loan in Holland; and Messrs. Bonney and
+Sunderland, then of George-yard, Lombard-street, were appointed notarial
+agents for the verification of the bonds; and the late Mr. Thomas
+Hammersley, of Pall-mall, banker, was to receive the subscriptions, and
+to pay the dividends thereon to the holders on the joint bonds of the
+Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Clarence. The sum
+intended to be raised was about one million sterling, the greater part
+of which was subscribed for by foreign houses only, at a price which
+would have proved very satisfactory if the contract had been faithfully
+performed. The negotiation for this loan commenced in 1788; but an
+interruption to its completion was occasioned by the death of Mr.
+Bonney, the notary. It was ultimately confirmed, to the great loss of
+those who had so rashly speculated in such a questionable security. The
+loan was to bear six per cent. interest, and the revenues of their royal
+highnesses were to be invested in the hands of the late Dukes of
+Northumberland and Portland, in order to ensure the due payment of
+interest and principal. A large portion of the money, to the amount of
+nearly half a million, had been received by the princes when the
+revolution in France, in 1793, presented an opportunity to resist the
+payment of those bonds which had been circulated, and even the interest
+due upon them was refused. During the revolution, some of the holders of
+these bonds escaped, and arrived in England; and, as their last
+resource, they made numerous applications to the princes for the
+interest due to them, if it were not quite convenient to discharge the
+bonds in full. But the law-advisers of the princes pretended that the
+present holders were not entitled to the interest, as they presumed the
+bona-fide holders had perished during the troubles in France and
+Holland; and that, consequently, other claims were not legal. On the
+part of the claimants, the bonds were produced which they had bought,
+and their right asserted to claim interest and principal equally as if
+they had been the original subscribers.
+
+This evasive attempt to resist the just discharge of loans, raised at
+such great hazards, must ever be considered as an indelible stain upon
+the characters of the princes concerned. We, however, would acquit the
+Duke of Clarence from any participation in the _profits_ of these bonds;
+his natural affection for his two elder brothers induced him to add his
+name to the bonds merely as a further security to their holders; and we
+doubt not that his present majesty will, if he have not already done so,
+make all the reparation in his power to the heirs of the original
+sufferers in these very dishonourable transactions.
+
+The holders of these bonds finding themselves so unjustly treated, M.
+Martignac, one of the original subscribers to them, made an application
+to the Court of Chancery, and the affair came on by way of motion. Sir
+Arthur Pigott, who was then Attorney-General to the Duchy of Cornwall,
+replied, "that he had never heard of the existence of such bonds; but
+his own opinion was, that the unhappy condition of France and Holland
+rendered the _identification_ of the bona-fide holders almost
+impossible, even presuming they ever had existed; but the inquiry should
+be made in the proper quarter!" That inquiry, however, never benefitted
+the distressed refugees. Sir Arthur Pigott, the legal adviser of the
+Prince of Wales, might, to please his master, attempt to deny the
+existence of these nominal securities; yet positive proof against such
+denial was, that they were actually floating in the "money market," as
+_common as any other security_, AT THAT VERY TIME! There was, indeed,
+scarcely a broker on the Exchange who had not some portion of them for
+sale; and it was an indisputable truth that means, of a disreputable
+nature, were used to depreciate their value in the money market.
+
+We must not here pass over the suspicious conduct (relative to these
+bonds) of the then secretary of state for the home department. Under the
+specious pretext of enforcing the Alien Act, this gentleman caused the
+whole of these injured claimants to be taken and put on board a vessel
+in the Thames, which was stated to be ready to sail for Holland. This
+vessel, however, cast anchor at the Nore, for the professed purpose of
+waiting to receive the necessary papers from the office of the secretary
+of state. The heart-rending destiny of the unfortunate victims now only
+remains to be told. Although no charge was preferred against them, they
+were thus unceremoniously sent out of the kingdom by the decree of
+arbitrary power. From the list of twenty-six unfortunate creditors of
+the princes, fourteen of them were traced to the _guillotine_. The other
+twelve perished by another concocted plan. The two principal
+money-lenders, M. Abraham and M. Simeon Boas, of the Hague, were
+endeavouring to maintain their shattered credit, and actually paid the
+interest themselves due upon these bonds for two years; but they were
+finally ruined, and one of the brothers put an end to his existence by a
+pistol,--the other by poison!
+
+Similar tragical scenes were attendant upon another loan, raised for the
+princes by M. John James de Beaume, and prepared by Mr. Becknel. The
+_signed_ acknowledgment of the princes was for one hundred thousand
+pounds, payable to the said De Beaume, and vesting in him the power to
+divide this bond into shares of one thousand pounds each, by printed
+copies of the bond, &c. The original bond was deposited, for safety, in
+the bank of Ransom, Morland, and Hammersley, while an attested copy, as
+well as the bankers' acknowledgment of their holding such security, were
+given to De Beaume as a proof of his authority in being the agent of the
+three English princes. They also gave him a letter of introduction to
+their correspondent in Paris, M. Perregaux. After considerable
+difficulty, and after having remitted and paid to the princes two
+hundred thousand pounds, in money and jewels, M. de Beaume and his
+associates were apprehended, and charged with treason, for asserting
+that George the Third of England was King of France!!! These unfortunate
+men were tried, condemned, and actually executed upon this paltry charge
+within twenty-four hours after their mock trial! So perished Richard
+Chaudot, Mestrirer Niette, De Beaume, and Aubert, either for purchasing
+the shares of the princes' securities, or for negotiating them. Such
+also was the fate of Viette, a rich jeweller, who had bought largely of
+the shares from De Beaume.
+
+Would that we could here close the catalogue of black offences against
+certain individuals; but we are obliged, as honest historians, to refer
+to the cruel death of Charles Vaucher, a banker in Paris. This gentleman
+quitted France in 1793, and fixed his residence in England, where he
+married an English lady. He had been the purchaser of twenty shares of
+the princes' bond, and, as was naturally to be expected, made
+application for the interest due thereon. The claim being refused, the
+injured gentleman applied for legal assistance; but the interest was
+still rejected, because the bond had not been named in the schedule laid
+before the commissioners appointed to examine into the extent of the
+debts of the Prince George! Further application was made; though,
+instead of obtaining justice, this unfortunate gentleman received an
+official order to quit England within the space of four days! Having
+other affairs to arrange, M. Vaucher petitioned the Duke of Portland
+(then prime minister) to allow him to remain until his affairs could be
+arranged; but his petition was refused, and a warrant issued, signed by
+the duke, directing William Ross and George Higgins, two of his
+majesty's messengers, to take M. Vaucher into custody till he should be
+sent out of the country, which was immediately put in force! He was
+conveyed to Rotterdam, and from thence to Paris, where he was
+imprisoned. On the 22nd of December, 1795, his trial took place upon
+similar charges to those of M. de Beaume, and he was soon found guilty,
+and guillotined!
+
+We could recite many other crimes relative to these bonds; but we think
+we hear the shocked reader exclaim, "Hold! enough!" Indeed such
+sickening details can hardly obtain credence in the minds of men,
+possessed of even the common feelings of our nature. To offer any
+palliation of such monstrous atrocities would only be an insult to the
+understandings of all unprejudiced observers of royalty!
+
+At the time of the Prince of Wales' greatest embarrassments, an attempt
+was made to divert the country into a belief of the honourable
+intentions of his royal highness by the sale of his racing stud, and
+some other property. But no sooner had parliament voted sufficient money
+to relieve the prince from his debts than the turf-establishment was
+revived in a more ruinous style than ever, the field of dissipation and
+extravagance enlarged, and fresh debts contracted to an enormous amount,
+which were not either in his or the nation's power to discharge. Strong
+doubts were also entertained that the money voted by parliament to this
+"prodigal son" was not applied to the purpose for which it was granted.
+Had a private individual so committed himself, he would have become the
+outcast of his family, while all the virtuous part of the community had
+instantly avoided him; but in the case of this prince, where the example
+was ten thousand times more contagious, such a flagrant breach of faith
+and such base ingratitude hardly received the slightest animadversion!
+Why should more indulgence have been shewn to this man, whose peculiar
+duty it was to respect popular favour, and to act in such a manner as to
+deserve it, and from whose exalted station the public had a right to
+expect lessons of morality and virtue, than to a private person, whose
+deviation from their rules only produces partial effects, and can be of
+no detriment to the community at large. How unjust it is, what an
+inversion of every fair and honourable principle, to suffer the bauble
+rank to afford a veil to moral depravity! To protect genius, to reward
+merit, and to relieve distress, is what _ought_ to be the duty of a
+prince; but when the nation was called on to liquidate immense debts,
+without a single instance of this kind on record to justify such a
+perversion of their money, it was perfidy to the public, and not a
+warranted liberality towards the prince, for any parliament to do so.
+Such conduct, indeed, would not have been tolerated had not the
+professed representatives of England (who were the nominees of a haughty
+and unfeeling aristocracy) put it beyond the remedy of the majority of
+the people. At the periods to which we now refer, the most disgraceful
+sums were also voted for the repairs and embellishments of Brighton
+Pavilion, Windsor Castle, Windsor Cottage, (so called) the Palace at
+Pimlico, and other fanciful buildings of royalty. The money required for
+these purposes, be it remembered, was drained from a heavily-oppressed
+people, whose industry, economy, and honesty were, in the aggregate,
+without a parallel. But it is a serious fact, that, from the accession
+of George the Third to the death of George the Fourth, the royal
+expenditure was ninety-two millions, ninety thousand, eight hundred, and
+seven pounds! Yet, in this amount, the salaries and official emoluments
+of the royal dukes are not included from the year 1815. We cannot help
+contrasting the evil done with the benefits that might have been
+bestowed by this money. What a fund it had made to lessen the hardships
+imposed upon the poor!--to mitigate the sufferings of the mechanic!--and
+to lighten the burdens of the honest citizen! Instead of which, it was
+expended merely to gratify pride and vice. The delight of doing good was
+the last sentiment for consideration; and though a vast field was open
+for the exercise of benevolence, yet the offices of real greatness were
+always neglected by George the Fourth and the greater part of his
+family.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Having now brought our history down to the providential release of
+England by the death of George the Fourth, we cannot part company with
+our readers before taking a general survey of the lamentable truths it
+contains. Authors have too often demeaned themselves by concealing
+facts, and, instead of being historians of an action, have proved
+themselves the mere lawyers of a party; they are retained by their
+principles, and bribed by their interests; their narrations are an
+opening of their case, and in front of their histories, therefore, ought
+to be written--"I am for the defendant," or "I am for the plaintiff."
+With such unworthy writers, we should be ashamed to claim affinity. Our
+unflinching exposures have been made with no sinister motives; for we
+have dared to brave prosecutions and persecutions, despising the bribes
+and defying the hate of the minions of power! Our's is the cause, the
+righteous cause, of the insulted and harassed classes,--the real
+productors of the national wealth,--who have so long endured the galling
+yoke of oppression. The time, however, is now fast approaching when
+fallacious speeches must yield precedence to solid reasoning, when
+honest governments must supersede systems of despotism, when vice must
+be recognized and punished in the case of the prince as well as in that
+of the peasant; when superior talents must be permitted to occupy
+superior stations; when individuals, most suited to serve the real
+interests of the kingdom, will be solicited to guide the helm of state;
+when all policy, opposed to freedom, will be annihilated; when
+interested men will be compelled to quit their seats in the councils,
+and weak men be afraid to venture another trial; when he who has the
+heart of a coward, or the spirit of a sycophant, will not dare to
+present himself for the suffrages of a free people! Yes, we repeat, such
+an era is at hand, and "the people" of England are about to enjoy that
+liberty and happiness, from which they have unjustly been debarred by
+the cruel and haughty hand of tyranny. An unjust government, whether
+professing Whig or Tory principles, will vainly attempt to stop this
+march of liberty by raising the old bugbear cry of--"Anarchy and
+confusion will be the consequences of entrusting the people with their
+political rights and privileges!" Such an unnatural doctrine has been
+held far too long by the titled and wealthy mortality of our land, who
+are not contented with enjoying the great advantages of rank and
+property, whether hereditary or acquired, but seem, by their behaviour,
+determined to prevent their less-fortunate brethren from tasting the
+happiness which would arise from a possession of their political rights.
+The tyrannical nature of such characters, unsatisfied with the elevation
+which their birth or fortune has given them, wish to trample on their
+"inferiors," and to force them still lower in the scale of intelligent
+beings. Contemptible proud men, thus to insult those who minister to
+their luxuries and their wealth! Such vain conduct, however, will never
+fail to excite the honest indignation of all who can think and feel, and
+who are remote from the sphere of corrupting influence. It is not only
+most highly culpable in a moral view, but extremely dangerous in a
+political. It arises from the hateful spirit of despotism, and, if not
+timely checked by the people, must soon become universal. A spirit of
+this nature would allow no rights to the poor but those which cannot be
+taken away,--the rights of mere animal nature. Such a spirit hates "the
+people," and would gladly annihilate all of them but those who
+administer to pride and luxury, either as menial servants, dependent
+tradesmen, or mechanics,--or common soldiers, ready to shed the blood of
+those who might render themselves obnoxious to their lordly tyrants.
+Notwithstanding such contempt of "the people," however, these mighty of
+the land think they are entitled to represent them in parliament; yet
+what can be expected from such proud men but that they should be as
+servilely mean and obsequious to a minister as they are cruel and
+unfeeling in their behaviour to the poor of their vicinity? By such
+behaviour, the ARISTOCRATS attempt to form a little world of their own,
+where Folly and Vanity reign supreme, but where Virtue, Learning, and
+Usefulness are alike unknown. The grand secret of its constitution is to
+claim dignity, distinction, power, and place, exclusively, without the
+painful labour of deserving either by personal merit, or by services to
+the commonwealth. They talk and laugh loud, applauding each other's
+self-complacency, and would not be supposed to cast an eye on the
+"inferior crowd," whose admiration, nevertheless, they are at the same
+time courting by every silly effort of pragmatical vanity! Men of this
+cast pay no more, and frequently not so much, as other people; yet they
+strangely conceive themselves privileged to treat tradesmen,--certainly
+respectable when honest, sober, and industrious,--as if they were not of
+the same flesh and blood with "gentlemen," but to be ranked with the ass
+and the swine. Such proud pretenders to superiority consider the world
+was only made for them, while their families and their houses must
+studiously be kept from plebeian contamination. This aristocratical
+insolence is also visible even at church,--in the immediate presence of
+Him who made high and low, rich and poor, and where the gilded and
+painted ornaments on the walls seem to mock the folly of all human
+pride. The pew of "the great man" is raised above the others, and
+furnished with curtains, adorned with linings, and accommodated with
+cushions. Even those who do not bow at the name of Jesus are yet
+expected to make their lowly obeisance to the lord in the gallery!
+However indifferent such mighty persons may feel towards religion, they
+are still zealous for the church; for this is useful, not only in
+providing genteely for their poorer relations and dependants, but as an
+engine to KEEP DOWN THE PEOPLE! The temporalities and splendours of the
+"established" church endear it to them; but, if it had continued in its
+primitive state, _when poor fishermen were its bishops_, how differently
+would they have viewed it!
+
+Against principles so dangerous and hostile to liberty, every friend of
+his country will not hesitate to shew a determined opposition. The
+poorer part of mankind,--that is, "the people,"--when they are not
+blinded by ignorance, in which the "great ones" have always endeavoured
+to keep them, may safely be entrusted with political power. "The people"
+have lately been presented with a proof of the selfish motives of these
+"great ones," which have done wonders in opening their eyes to the
+degraded condition in which they have so long been held, and the natural
+consequences of such enlightenment are rapidly being made known in
+language not to be misunderstood. They begin to view themselves as
+essential parts of one great body; they are therefore determined to
+possess an equal portion of political rights, and peaceably possess
+them; for they are too sensible not to be aware that all violence is not
+only wrong, but totally unnecessary to accomplish this end. If our
+exposition of the long-hidden things of darkness, as well as of the
+characters of their oppressors, should assist in producing this happy
+consummation, our reward will be ample; we desire no more.
+
+In taking a review of our past pages, the intelligent reader will hardly
+wonder at the awful complexion the present times have assumed. Every
+evil has its origin, and, however remote it may be, will ultimately
+produce its effects. What, then, it may be asked, is the cause of the
+present unhappy state of England,--of its political struggles and
+divisions? Have they not been mainly produced by the long-concealed
+secrets of state, which have, alas! led to the commission of crimes--of
+murders--that must force the tear of pity from the eye of
+compassionating humanity?
+
+According to the pure fabric of the British constitution, no nation on
+the surface of the globe ought to have been more happy, more
+consolidated in friendly intercourse and good understanding, nor more
+prosperous and contented, than this country. But, from the time of Queen
+Anne, the state has been gradually retrograding and divided into two
+aristocratical parties,--WHIGS and TORIES,--whose watch-words were
+principles, (which might be said to be constitutionally attached to
+opposition or place) but whose struggles have ever been for power. The
+spirit of party has been said to furnish aliment to the spirit of
+liberty; and so perhaps it does, but in this way: by first creating the
+despotism which it is the office of the spirit of liberty to counteract,
+and, if possible, to overthrow. If there had never been the party of the
+usurpers and abusers of power, there would have been no occasion for
+that of the leaguers and reformers. It is of necessity that party spirit
+must, on the whole, have done more harm than good, since assuredly it
+has raised more giants than it has yet slain. All party spirit,
+generally speaking, is injurious. It has been truly denounced by one of
+the greatest friends of freedom the world has ever seen,--the
+illustrious Washington,--as "the very worst enemy of popular
+governments." In his farewell address to the American people, he
+earnestly warns them against it as the thing from which, of all others,
+they had most to fear. "It serves always," he tells them, "to distract
+the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates
+the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the
+animosity of one class against another; foments, occasionally, riots and
+insurrections; it opens the door to foreign influence and corruption,
+which find a facilitated access to the government itself, through the
+channels of party passions." All party ascendencies have this character
+in common: that they serve to make the interests of the country
+subordinate to private ends. It is the established mode with dominant
+factions to distribute the loaves and fishes among their own adherents
+exclusively,--they could not, in fact, exist as factions otherwise.
+Worth and talent are no farther regarded than is necessary for the
+saving of appearances. The sort of followers whom your party minister
+delights to honour are those who will stick at nothing, who will stand
+by a leader through thick and thin, who will never consider the right or
+wrong of any thing, but support whatever their patron supports, and
+resist to the utmost whenever he gives the word,--men, in short, who are
+prepared to look only to their own and their party's advantage, without
+at all caring how the interests of the community at large may be
+affected by their conduct. Ever since the revolution of 1688, England
+has never been free from the trammels of some such dominant faction or
+other; and what have been the consequences? One long course of
+misgovernment, one unceasing heaping of burdens on the people, and of
+pensions and sinecures on the aristocracy,--one unvarying round of
+oppression, plunder, murder, corruption, and extravagance. Whether it
+was Tory or whether it was Whig that was in power, the result to the
+people was almost always the same. If the Whigs have, on the whole, been
+less to blame than their rivals, it is to be remembered, on the other
+hand, that their opportunities of doing evil have been fewer. However
+the two parties may differ, or affect to differ, on general principles
+of government, they have always agreed marvellously on one point,
+namely: the perfect propriety of making the most of their time while in
+office, to enrich themselves, their relations, and dependants, at the
+expense of the nation[240:A]. Thus, public opinion has long been the
+opinion of certain coteries, and public men, generally speaking, men
+neither brought forward by the public, nor for the sake of the public!
+It has been thought necessary that some one should make such a speech
+as would "tell well," and procure a round of cheers from the House. If
+such an individual could be found with a large landed estate and a
+coronet entailed upon him, so much the better; if not, why he must be
+sought for elsewhere. A school or college reputation, an able pamphlet,
+a club or county-meeting oration, pointed him out. The minister, or the
+great man who wished to be the minister, brought him into parliament: if
+he failed, he sank into insignificance; if he succeeded, he worked for
+his master during a certain time, and then became a minister or a great
+man himself. As for the people, he had nothing whatever to do with them;
+they returned some jolly 'squire, who feasted them well, or some nabob
+who purchased their votes. Under such a state of things, cheerfully
+acquiesced in, we say, it is hardly to be wondered at that what are
+called "the people" should have been very much plundered and very much
+despised. Were this base party spirit only banished from among us, were
+all party badges, watchwords, and distinctions, only discarded for ever,
+were superior talent and tried integrity but once to become the sole
+passports to preferment, our social system would then be placed on the
+very best possible footing. The time of so desirable a consummation, we
+hope and trust, is not far distant; though we are still in the midst of
+the manifold evils of which the so-much-lauded party spirit has been the
+source, and we must necessarily deal with matters as they are. Tory is
+again contending against Whig for the mastery, and with both the real
+interests of the people seem, as usual, to form only a secondary
+consideration. A greater proof of this cannot possibly be offered than
+in the following extract from a late parliamentary report:
+
+     "MR. DAWSON, in reference to the appointment of Lord Durham to
+     be lord privy seal, asked whether any portion of the salary
+     due to the noble lord from the time of his appointment to this
+     period had been paid, or whether he had made any application
+     for the payment of this salary. He wished to know the same
+     with respect to the post-master-general.
+
+     "SIR GEORGE WARRENDER said, that when the noble lord had found
+     that his was an efficient public office, he had determined to
+     take the salary. When the duke stated his determination not to
+     take the salary, there was upon the part of the committee the
+     general expression of an opinion that the noble duke, in so
+     doing, would be unfair to the office. The committee
+     communicated to him that he would be doing great injustice to
+     the office.
+
+     "MR. J. WOOD corroborated the statement of the honourable
+     baronet, both with respect to the Duke of Richmond and of Lord
+     Durham.
+
+     "The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said, that Lord Durham had
+     received a regular salary. The Duke of Richmond intended also
+     to receive the whole of his salary. He was sure that every
+     honourable member would agree with him in thinking that it was
+     not proper, because an individual had a large income, that he
+     should refuse his salary. Under these circumstances, he
+     thought that both his noble friends did not judge right."
+
+     [240:A] How lamentably is this fact illustrated by the present
+     Whig minister,--the _disinterested_ Earl Grey,--who has added
+     to the burdens of his country, by places and pensions to his
+     own family alone, more than sixty-two thousand pounds
+     annually!!!
+
+We can readily anticipate the surprise the public must have felt at the
+nonsensical and unjust doctrine here broached by the _Whig_ Chancellor
+of the Exchequer. A man in the possession of a large income was doing
+injustice to an office if he refused to take the salary pertaining to
+it, though such salary was drained from a heavily-taxed people! But it
+is really wonderful how much a little acquaintance with office will
+alter the liberal and patriotic opinions of a man,--even of that boaster
+of economy and retrenchment, the _honest-looking_ Lord ALTHORPE! When
+Lord Durham and the Duke of Richmond first accepted place, the public
+heard much of their high-minded contempt for gain, and were told how
+purely disinterested were their views on entering the public service.
+Time, however, proved that money was not altogether so offensive to
+these patriotic peers, and to avoid doing injustice to their offices,
+they at length consented (amazing condescension!) to receive their
+salaries. Such an act of justice _to an office_, which cannot be
+appreciated by the object, is in very bad taste, considering it is
+detrimental to the public, who would have felt grateful for a similar
+regard to its own interests. But the Duke of Richmond's conduct by no
+means surprised us: he who is only a Tory in disguise was just the man
+to pretend a contempt for salary before he was in place, and to clutch
+at it ravenously the moment he got into power. Some persons, when he
+first spoke of taking no pay, laughed at his unfitness for office, and
+he was strongly advised to resign, as he got nothing but ridicule for
+his pains. His grace heeded not this rebuke, but appears to have been
+actuated by the same feeling as the blind fiddler, who was recommended
+to begone, as every one laughed at him. "Hold thy peace," said the
+fiddler, "we shall have their money presently, and then we will laugh
+at them."
+
+Thus it will be seen that the interests of the people have never been
+considered by any ministry, however great its pretensions to honesty and
+patriotism. Added to this lamentable fact, an all-opposing and
+insuperable obstacle has, for many years, been obtruding itself on the
+energies of the country,--the embarrassing and overwhelming STATE
+SECRETS. These have ever formed a paramount consideration with royalty;
+and, in order to prevent them being made public, the constitution has
+been openly and shamelessly infringed, morality and honesty set at
+defiance, and the order of society reversed! The enormous charges
+entailed on this country, by bribing the parties in possession of these
+secrets, have been made fully manifest in our preceding pages. Still it
+had been utterly impossible for ministers to carry on such a ruinous
+system of peculation and crime, if they had not contrived the corruption
+of the people's representatives. This was so effectually accomplished by
+Pitt, Liverpool, Castlereagh, and Sidmouth, that every law they thought
+proper to propose, and every supply of money they demanded, for whatever
+iniquitous purpose it might be required, was sure to meet with the ready
+acquiescence of the House of Commons. Hence the crown became a mighty
+host of power, perpetually acquiring an accession of purchased
+adherents, who ever exhibited the greatest readiness to accomplish the
+unconstitutional purposes of their abandoned employers.
+
+It may here not be improper succinctly to explain of what materials this
+"host of power" consisted at the death of George the Fourth. Out of the
+six hundred and fifty-eight who composed the House of Commons, four
+hundred and eighty-eight, or nearly three-fourths, were returned by the
+influence or nomination of one hundred and forty-four peers, and one
+hundred and twenty-three commoners. These patrons, by themselves or
+their nominees, necessarily determined the decisions of both houses of
+parliament; and, consequently, engrossed the whole power of the state!
+In the exercise of this overgrown influence, however, they were happily
+a little restrained by the operation of public opinion, as prompted by
+the liberty of the press, and sustained by the trial by jury,--both of
+which they, in vain, attempted to destroy. This body of boroughmongers,
+as we have shewn, consisted of two hundred and sixty-seven
+individuals,--including lords, ladies, commoners, lunatics, and minors!
+They constituted the oligarchy,--that selfish faction so unhappily
+familiar to the public of the present day by the name of the
+"Conservatives," or the "Cumberland Club." Of this faction, so long the
+keepers of the now-explained secrets of state, the nominal ministers of
+the crown were, in effect, necessarily the tools or agents. Under such a
+monstrous system of government, carried on for the exclusive interest of
+the prevailing faction, the blackest deeds were countenanced by men in
+power, of the truth of which our volumes will furnish future generations
+with abundant proof. This usurpation of the whole power of the state by
+two hundred and sixty-seven persons, however, was not effected suddenly;
+it was the result of gradual encroachments on the right of suffrage by a
+succession of the votes of a corrupt and venal House of Commons,
+commencing with the septennial act, a little more than a century ago. As
+these two hundred and sixty-seven individuals returned nearly
+three-fourths of the Lower House, and constituted a majority in the
+Upper, their influence was supreme in both. To the one hundred and
+forty-four peers who influenced the House of Commons was added the whole
+tribe of the unchristianlike and ostentatious bishops, who, almost to a
+man, voted with the oligarchial members, in hopes of coming in for a
+share of the "loaves and fishes." From this, it is almost impossible to
+say which house of parliament was most corrupt of the two. Hence arose
+the incessant attempts to abridge the rights and liberties of the
+people, through the forms of the constitution. The independence of
+parliament became words of contempt to all who knew the secret spring of
+their automaton movements. But, independent of corruption, another
+grievous cause of complaint exists in the Upper House. It has been
+frequently proved that both IDIOTS and LUNATICS have exercised their
+"hereditary" right of assisting in the making of British laws!!! We also
+lately observed, in the farewell address of Lord Stanley, _who is heir
+to a peerage_, the reason assigned to his constituents for withdrawing
+from the House of Commons was, "the rapid growth of an infirmity under
+which he has long laboured." That infirmity is deafness; and here arises
+a curious question: if his lordship's infirmity disqualify him from
+sitting in a house whose functions are legislatorial, how can he be
+qualified for a seat in a house which is both _legislatorial_ and
+_judicial_? If his lordship's deafness unfit him to be a maker of laws,
+how can he, when he becomes a member of the Upper House, be fit for the
+discharge of the duties both of _legislator_ and _judge_,--HEARING, in
+the latter case, being more indispensable than in the former? How
+injurious is the doctrine of the legitimate descent of wisdom! A member
+of the Lower House becomes deaf, like Lord Stanley, or an idiot, like
+some scores of members who shall be nameless, and therefore unfit for
+the duties of legislation _there_; but if he happen to be the heir to a
+peerage, the death of a father makes the deaf to hear, and imbues the
+idiot with intellect; and he is in a moment fitted not only for
+_legislatorial_ but for judicial functions! How much longer will the
+people tolerate such "hereditary" privileges? But, even from the dawn of
+the French revolution, and the lesson which Napoleon gave to tyrants,
+the oligarchy and the people have maintained a constant and increasing
+struggle; and the year 1832 has plainly proclaimed to which party the
+victory will be ultimately awarded.
+
+From such an unconstitutional state of things as we have here briefly
+described, Englishmen may account for the unjust wars which have
+overwhelmed them with debt, poverty, and taxes, in order to retard the
+progress of liberty, and stultify the human intellect. In what a
+miserable plight did such wars leave this vast island, covered as she
+once was with the gorgeous mantle of successful agriculture! They left
+her "with Industry in rags, and Patience in despair: the merchant
+without a ledger, the shops without a customer, the Exchange deserted,
+and the Gazette crowded." Let us inquire for what purposes these wars
+were so obstinately maintained. Were they for the benefit of
+Europe?--for the happiness of mankind?--for the strengthening of
+liberty?--for the improvement of politics and philosophy? Alas! no. But,
+by these long and bloody wars, England has compelled the millions in
+America to manufacture for themselves, and the greater part of the
+Continent to do the same, to the manifest injury of our own artizans.
+Besides this impolicy, the American war, from 1776 to 1782, cost this
+country two thousand, two hundred, and seventy millions, and a half. The
+fleet alone, in 1779, created an expense of one hundred and eighty
+millions. During the crusade against French liberty, our national debt
+was increased from two hundred millions to nine hundred millions, and
+the interest from nine to forty-five millions per annum. And what was
+the object to be obtained by this war? To save Louis the Sixteenth, and
+to check that spirit of propagandism, announced in the French Chamber,
+from being formidably maintained and spread by the troops of France. To
+effect this, England took up arms when Louis the Sixteenth had gone to
+his ancestors, and when the Republican armies, flushed with victory, and
+threatened with the guillotine in the event of defeat, were become, from
+raw recruits, desperate and veteran soldiers. We reserved our defence of
+the monarch till he had perished on the scaffold,--our defence of the
+monarchy till the French Republic was declared "a besieged city, and
+France a vast camp!" Then we commenced a war with allies who were become
+anxious for peace, and who, in taking our money, reserved it to pay the
+expense of the campaign they had finished, without any consideration for
+the violent inclination for fighting which we had just been seized with.
+This was the policy which Mr. Pitt asked Mr. Canning if he approved of;
+this was the policy which Mr. Canning came into parliament to defend,
+and which he did defend on every occasion, and which he always boasted
+having defended to his dying day! But it is only a person well
+acquainted with the House of Commons at this period who could believe
+that Mr. Canning's defence of such ministerial imbecility received
+enthusiastic applause! There never was a collection of more glaring
+contradictions, more gaudy sophisms, than the youthful orator's
+declamatory harangue. The war was to be pursued because we were
+victorious; peace was to be refused on account of the successes of the
+enemy; France was too weak to be respected,--too formidable not to be
+opposed! As for the sums we were expending, they were insignificant when
+compared with the objects we had in view. Our ancestors, whose
+immaculate wisdom Mr. Canning was at that time so fond of citing, would
+certainly have been astonished to find that those objects were the
+re-establishment of Spain in its ancient power, and the subjugation of
+Rome to the authority of the Pope! The heart of any reflecting man must
+burn within him when he thinks that a sanguinary war was undertaken for
+the purpose of forcing France out of her undoubted right of choosing her
+own monarch,--a war which uprooted the very foundation of the English
+constitution, which declared tyranny eternal, and announced to the
+people, amidst the thunder of artillery, that, no matter how aggrieved,
+their only allowable attitude was that of supplication, which, when it
+told the French reformer of 1793 that his defeat was just, told the
+British reformer of 1688 his triumphal revolution was treason,
+forgetting that OUR KING HIMSELF WAS THE CREATURE OF THAT REVOLUTION!
+After an immense loss of life and treasure, the Bourbons were, for a
+time, restored to the throne of France, contrary to the wishes of at
+least nine-tenths of the French people; for the Bourbons had proved
+themselves incapable of learning Mercy from Misfortune, or Wisdom from
+Experience. Vindictive in prosperity, servile in defeat, timid in the
+field, vacillating in the cabinet, their very name had become odious to
+the ears of a Frenchman, and Napoleon had only to present himself to
+ensure their precipitate flight. The downfall of that great man, who
+shed a splendour around royalty unknown to it before, will ever be
+regretted by the majority of the French people, though British ministers
+have classed the unhallowed act in the list of their achievements! By
+the same tyrannical means, a prince was restored to Portugal, who, when
+his dominions were invaded, his people distracted, his crown in danger,
+and all that could interest the highest energies of man at issue, left
+his cause to be combatted by foreigners, and fled, with cowardly
+precipitation, to claim the shameful protection of Lord Castlereagh and
+his junta! A wretch was also restored to unhappy Spain, in the person of
+the "beloved" Ferdinand, who filled his dungeons and fed his rack with
+the heroic remnant that had braved war, famine, and massacre beneath his
+banners,--who rewarded Patriotism with a prison, Fidelity with torture,
+Heroism with the scaffold, and Piety with the inquisition! The royal
+monster proclaimed his humanity by the number of his death-warrants, and
+his religious zeal by embroidering petticoats for the blessed virgin!
+Such were the three dynasties restored by these cruel wars. As to the
+rest of Europe, how has it been ameliorated?--what solitary benefit have
+the "deliverers" conferred? If we look back to Lord Castlereagh's
+treaties of 1814 and 1815, we shall there find that the states of the
+feeble were given to the powerful, and guarantees made to preserve the
+institutions of every former tyranny. Saxony, Genoa, Norway, and, above
+all, unhappy Poland,--that speaking monument of regal murder and
+"legitimate" robbery, furnish a lamentable illustration of the cruel
+injustice of these treaties. Italy was also parcelled out to temporizing
+Austria, and Prussia, after fruitless toil and wreathless triumphs, was
+mocked with the promise of a visionary constitution; while England was
+left, eaten by the cancer of an incurable debt, exhausted by poor rates,
+supporting a "civil" list of near a million and a half annually, guarded
+by an unconstitutional standing army, misrepresented by the House of
+Commons, mocked with a military peace, and girt with the fortifications
+of a war establishment!!! This, frightful as the picture may appear, is
+but an outline of the miseries that have been produced by our long and
+sanguinary wars, undertaken to protect the monster of legitimacy, and to
+crush the rising liberties of an enlightened people! These are the
+"ACHIEVEMENTS" for which the Duke of Wellington received his title and
+his enormous wealth, and for which he unblushingly claims the
+_gratitude_ of Englishmen!!!
+
+While all this misery was being accomplished abroad, how were our
+ministers employed at home? Why, in feeding the bloated mammoth of
+sinecure, in weighing the farthings of some poor clerk's salary, in
+preparing Ireland for a garrison, and England for a poor-house,--in
+furnishing means for their spendthrift master to erect Chinese palaces,
+to decorate dragoons with his "tasteful" inventions, to purchase gold
+and silver baubles, and to load his mistresses and his minions with the
+produce of the people's industry! We had also, at this period, a "saint"
+in the Exchequer, who studied Scripture for some purpose: the famishing
+people cried out for _bread_, and the pious Vansittart gave them
+_stones_! But the idea that a man like Vansittart should entail a debt
+of above four hundred millions of pounds on the country; the idea that
+"the least, the meanest" of the Pitt tribe should make the House of
+Commons vote that the Bank note, worth twenty worn shillings, was as
+valuable as the guinea worth twenty-seven good ones, will hardly be
+credited by future generations. The weakest man that ever held office
+under a crown may well boast that he reduced the parliament of England
+to the lowest degradation, to the most abject servility, that a public
+assembly of gentlemen was ever trodden to. Yet, strange as it must
+appear, it was for such services that this same Vansittart was
+created--a lord!! Lord Bexley was consequently sent to the "Upper
+House," as a proof of the high approbation in which his talents were
+held by his admiring master! In that situation, he has since zealously
+exerted himself to preserve every existing abuse, and his ill-acquired
+title has ever figured in the list of those who vote against the people.
+
+To keep up such an iniquitous state of affairs, it was deemed necessary
+to persecute those who struggled to bring back the constitution to its
+original principles. Hence the employment of spies and informers; hence
+systematic massacre, imprisonment, and cruelty; hence the regular
+manufacture of forged seditious placards for the purpose of affording a
+pretext for the military execution against the reformers at Manchester
+and elsewhere; and hence, for such atrocities could happen under no
+other system upon earth, the murders, the cold-blooded murders, recorded
+in our preceding pages.
+
+Even the most superficial observer must be convinced that our country
+has long been gradually degenerating from its greatness, that the most
+fictitious and speculative means have uniformly been devised to prop her
+exchequer, and that the most plausible, though, to many, unintelligible,
+pleas advanced for introducing new taxes and new laws of an arbitrary
+description, tending to abridge the civil liberties and paralyze the
+energies of the people. These, however, have eventually failed of
+producing their desired end. Despotism, and the total thraldom of the
+mind, Providence will never allow to be the destiny of generous and
+noble-minded Englishmen,--at least for any length of time. An arbitrary
+use of power naturally leads to extremes, and these extremes eventually
+to a crisis, opening the door of dissatisfaction and inquiry, where a
+stand must be made, rescinding every possibility either of proceeding or
+of retreating. Is not such our present political situation? And whence,
+let us again inquire, arises this state of affairs? Surely not to be
+ascribed to a turbulent disposition or a moral degeneracy of the working
+classes. It is the grossest deceit and hypocrisy, not to say the most
+audacious and ungrateful calumny, to stigmatize them with such
+opprobrium; for never were any people more injured, more oppressed, nor
+more insulted, than were the tax-payers of England during the last two
+reigns! Ministers have too long imposed upon the credulity of the timid,
+by describing every riotous proceeding as the natural consequence of the
+progress of liberal opinions. The excesses of a few rioters, who most
+probably knew not the extent of the mischief they were doing, ought not
+to be attributed to the people generally. Such accusations are a gross
+libel on the peaceable spirit of Englishmen, and are only used by
+corrupt and designing men to raise an alarm against liberty; for
+mischief of this kind may be attributed, with more certainty, to the
+cowardice, folly, and wickedness of certain public functionaries,
+liberally paid to prevent such disgraceful exhibitions. But the "church
+and state" men have never failed to turn riots to the illustration of
+their own injurious theory. "See!" cry they, exulting over the scene,
+"the effects of power in the hands of the people!" Yet the people,--that
+is, the grand mass of the community,--were not at all concerned in
+effecting the mischief, for who beside such libellers would call an
+assemblage of all the refuse of society--the people? The first
+irregularities at Bristol, for instance, might have been suppressed by
+the slightest exertion of manly spirit; or, indeed, that destructive
+riot had never commenced but for the headstrong or cowardly, (we hardly
+know which to call it) conduct of Sir Charles Wetherell, who openly
+declared that he would insult the Bristol people with his detested
+person, "if a cannon forced his entrance!" Did not the Tories, then, we
+ask, both create and feed the riots at Bristol, for the purpose of
+frightening the people from reform? The people at large, we say, ought
+not to be blamed for such events; the whole of the culpability belongs
+to the aiders and abettors of them, and the appointed ministers of the
+law, in whom the people trust, but have mostly been deceived. This
+blame, however, has always been laid to the people, while all men of
+arbitrary principles rejoice at the calamity, as an auspicious event,
+confirming all their theories, and justifying their practice! But these
+have been some of the murderous means employed to augment and continue
+the political torpor of the people of England for the last sixty years.
+When any appeal to the people was in agitation on the subject of
+liberty, it was sufficient for Pitt, Liverpool, Castlereagh, Canning,
+Sidmouth, or any of their minions, to exclaim, "Remember the riots!" and
+the intended measure was sure to be relinquished immediately, when these
+despotic ministers chuckled over the success of their scheme, as though
+they had gained the most splendid victory. The excesses of the French
+revolution in 1793 were peculiarly grateful to the friends of tyranny in
+England. While the patriot wept, the factor of despotism triumphantly
+shouted, "Here is another instance of the people's unfitness to possess
+power, and the mischievous effects of excessive liberty!" Every art
+which ingenuity could practise, and influence assist in its operation,
+was exerted to vilify and misrepresent the real design of the French
+revolution. From this moment, persecutions were vigorously commenced
+against patriotism, and it became sedition to hint at parliamentary
+reform,--the root of the people's grievances. Never, since the expulsion
+of the Stuarts, were such vigorous laws enforced,--never before did Pitt
+so exult in the downfall of liberty. He and his followers no longer
+skulked, no longer walked in masquerade. They boasted of their
+principles, and claimed the honour of being the only friends to law,
+order, and religion! They talked of the English laws being too lenient
+for the punishment of sedition, and the acts consequently introduced for
+its more effectual suppression were made agreeable to the most refined
+notions of despotism. The clergy now stood forward in their pulpits, and
+preached, not the word of God, but that doctrine which led the nearest
+way to promotion, while many other needy and avaricious men wrote in
+favour of an arbitrary government. Thus fear in the well-meaning,
+self-interest in the knavish, and systematic subtlety among the
+state-secret keepers, caused a general uproar in favour of principles
+and practices at variance with constitutional liberty, and invested the
+reigning prince and his mother with all but absolute power. How
+zealously they took advantage of this state of alarm, our volumes fully
+explain. The friends of humanity, however, have now cause to rejoice
+that the film of deception is rapidly disappearing from before the eyes
+of the people, and that such panic fears, servile sycophantism, and
+artful bigotry, can no longer prevail over cool reason and liberal
+philanthropy. Such a feverish delirium has passed away, and sober sense
+perceives the necessity of destroying the destructive power which held
+so baneful a sway over English liberty during the last two reigns.
+
+Let our readers also not forget the part which the "established church"
+acted during this long period of misrule. How many of its ministers
+sacrificed principle and honesty for the pleasure of basking in the
+sunshine of the vicious court! Gold was the only god they worshipped,
+and the political creed of tyrants the only testament they read.
+Ministerial imbecility could always reckon upon their "holy" services,
+and, in proportion to the callousness and hypocrisy displayed, they were
+rewarded with bishopricks, deaneries, and other such well-paid
+offices,--the duties of which they allowed their poorer brethren to
+perform at wages something less than a common labourer. It is indeed
+hardly to be credited that in haughty England, who held up her episcopal
+head so pompously during the reigns of which we are speaking,--in this
+very country which groaned, and is still groaning, beneath the
+overwhelming expenses of keeping up a church establishment,--that the
+real "labourers in the vineyard" were paid so scantily, that their
+wages, in thousands of instances, did not amount to those of a
+journeyman mechanic! Yes, in the very heart of this metropolis were to
+be found men, on whom the fond and foolish ambition of their parents had
+been exhausted in bringing them up in this profession, who possessed
+learning and intellectual refinement, starving in back attics, in filthy
+courts and alleys. This miserable state of the working clergy was not
+confined to London alone. In many parts of this country (Wales in
+particular) it was no uncommon thing for a clergyman, with seven
+children, to do duty for two parishes, at only ten pounds a year each!
+And we ourselves are acquainted with a gentleman, sixty-four years of
+age, who was in the church more than forty years, receiving no sort of
+promotion during the whole of that long period, because he entertained
+what are termed "liberal principles," and who has lately been obliged to
+retire from his scanty pittance, and throw himself on the generosity of
+his friends for a living in his old age.
+
+Let us now take a glance at the drones of the hive,--the men who have
+ever shewn a peculiar readiness to make themselves a promotion-ladder
+out of the wreck of their country's liberties. The income of an
+Archbishop of Canterbury, exclusive of patronage and other valuable
+emoluments, is thirty thousand pounds. Most of the bishops are also
+paid, if not quite so extravagantly, in a degree amply sufficient to
+keep his grace in countenance. Many beneficed clergymen, particularly
+the younger sons and brothers of our aristocracy, who are not
+dignitaries of the church, by holding a plurality of livings, drain the
+country of incomes, varying from five thousand to twelve thousand pounds
+a year each. And yet these men neither distinguish themselves (although,
+as in every large class of society, there are honourable and favourable
+exceptions) either for their grace, learning, or piety,--the only
+qualification which they possess being the son, brother, nephew, or
+cousin of a peer, or commoner possessed of parliamentary influence.
+
+A very able article lately appeared in "Blackwood's Magazine," setting
+forth the abuses here alluded to in such a clear and bold manner, that
+we cannot refrain from making the following extract from it:
+
+
+"The trusts of the church are admitted to be, and used as, patronage in
+the most vulgar and corrupt sense of the term; and the minister of state
+who bestows them regularly does it to enrich his connexions, reward his
+adherents, or bribe his opponents. Why is this man made a bishop? He has
+been tutor in one noble family or is connected by blood with another, or
+he enjoys the patronage of some polluted female favourite of royalty, or
+he is the near relative of a minister, or at the nod of the premier, or
+he has been a traitor to the church in a matter affecting her existence.
+Why is this man made a dean? He has married a relative of the home
+secretary, or he is a turn-coat, who has joined the enemies of the
+church in the destruction of her securities, or it is necessary to
+preserve some powerful family from going into the opposition. Why is
+this stripling invested with an important dignity in the church? He is
+an illegitimate son of a member of the royal family, or he is the same
+to some nobleman, or he belongs to a family, which in consideration of
+it will give the ministry a certain number of votes in parliament. And
+why is this man endowed with a valuable benefice? He has potent
+interest, or it will prevent him from giving farther opposition to
+measures for injuring the church, or he has voted at an election for a
+ministerial candidate, or his connexions have much electioneering
+influence, or he is a political tool of the ministry. At the contest for
+the university of Oxford, which expelled Sir Robert Peel, it was
+generally asserted, that certain members of the ministry used every
+effort to gain votes for him by offers of church preferment; or, in
+other words, they used the property of the church as bribes to induce
+the clergy to support the assailant of her securities against the
+defender of them. After the carrying of the catholic question, the
+preferments, which fell into the hands of some of the apostate bishops
+or their connexions, proved that these men had been bought with their
+own property to turn their sacrilegious hands upon her. The disposal of
+what is called church patronage in this manner is not the exception, but
+the rule; it is not a matter of secrecy, or one that escapes public
+observation; it is looked on as a thing of course; and so far has this
+monstrous abuse been sanctified by custom, that while no one expects to
+see a vacancy in the church filled according to its merit, the filling
+of it in the most profligate way scarcely provokes reprobation.
+
+"Let us now look at those appointments in the church which are not in
+the hands of government. A great number of livings are private property.
+On what principle are they disposed of? The owners fill them without the
+least regard for qualification; they practically give them to their
+relations while yet in the womb or the cradle, and these relatives enter
+into orders from no other reason than to enjoy them as private fortunes;
+or clergymen and others buy such livings solely for private benefit. In
+the appointment of curates, those are chosen who are cheapest, the least
+formidable as rivals, and, in consequence, the most disqualified; care
+for the interests of the church is out of the question.
+
+"Then in the general appointment of the functionaries of the church,
+whether it rest with the government or individuals, qualification is
+disregarded. These are some of the inevitable consequences:--1st. The
+office of clergyman is sought by the very last people who ought to
+receive it. However brainless or profligate a youth may be, he still
+must enter into holy orders, because his friends have property or
+interest in the church; perhaps they select him for it in preference to
+his brothers, because he happens to be the dunce of the family. 2ndly.
+The system directly operates, not only to keep ability and piety at the
+lowest point amidst the clergy, but to render that portion of them which
+may be forced into orders useless to the church. 3rdly. The clergy and
+laity are separated from and arranged against each other. The minister
+has no interest in conciliating, preserving, and increasing the flock;
+its favour cannot benefit, and its hostility cannot injure, him. To give
+all this the most comprehensive powers of mischief, almost any man may,
+so far as concerns ability and character, gain admission into holy
+orders. A clergyman may be destitute of religious feelings, he may be
+grossly immoral, he may discharge his duties in the most incompetent
+manner, and lose his flock; he may do almost any thing short of legal
+crime, and still he will neither forfeit his living, nor draw on himself
+any punishment."
+
+
+All unbiassed individuals must acknowledge the likeness of the picture
+here drawn, notwithstanding the high Tory quarter from which it is
+painted. We are willing to acknowledge that these abuses have been
+practised ever since the unholy alliance between church and state; but
+they were certainly carried to a greater extent in the last two reigns
+than previously known. The whole church-system, indeed, presented this
+anomalous, inconsistent, but distinguishing feature: while the country
+was drained for its support, the actual working clergy, as we have
+shewn, were paid as the most degraded parish hacks; when the enormous
+revenue which the system produced, and which was amply sufficient to
+support the whole, by a proper equalization, in comfort and
+respectability, was swallowed up by a few court-sycophants, who were
+pampered by the very excess produced by the starvation and degradation
+of their less fortunate (or more conscientious?) brethren! Little
+serious amendment in the particulars here complained of, however, can be
+reasonably expected, till this all-corrupting and derogatory alliance of
+God and mammon shall be severed; for never have we so much cause for
+fear as when the enemies of public freedom are concealed under the garb
+of sanctity. The spiritual peers themselves seem fully determined to
+hasten this "consummation so devoutly to be wished;" for they must have
+but little foresight if they cannot see that their mad opposition to the
+wishes of a united and determined people will, ere long, bring their
+already dilapidated building about their own ears.
+
+Every person who will not abjectly resign his common understanding, and
+will bend his mind to investigate, IMPARTIALLY, what has been passing
+ever since the landing of Queen Charlotte upon our shores, must be
+satisfied of the bitter provocations which the British public have
+received,--the indignation arising from which has now burst forth, never
+to subside till some reparation be made. There are appointed limits to
+every evil; there are periods when things must reach their utmost
+boundary; when even forbearance becomes a crime. Such has been the issue
+of the long-concealed mysteries of state. Englishmen, we trust, will no
+more tolerate tyrannous power, murderous injustice, and oppressive
+enactments. The march of intellect has proclaimed her inquisitorial
+privileges; the enlightened understanding of the people of 1832 have
+discovered, to the utter dismay of tyranny, that no satisfactory reason
+can be assigned for the enormous load of taxation with which they have
+so long been oppressed. The discovery is now made, that there is no
+justice for the poor man, or man of inferior grade; but that all
+enactments have been scrupulously made in favour of the rich and the
+great. Impunity has been their privilege, while the mass of the
+community were forced to subscribe to the bitter penalty. Times have
+been, we are sorry to say, when even MURDER, if committed by rank, might
+be glossed over by a privy council, while the poor man, agonized by the
+reflections of his own accusing mind, was coldly, and even with
+asperity, consigned to the gallows! The lady of rank,--even of the
+_highest_,--might have an illegitimate offspring, and secretly hide her
+shame by consigning it to an asylum; but the poor woman, who had strayed
+from the path of virtue, through poverty, must be confronted with the
+moralizing, austere, brow-beating, clerical magistrate, reproached for
+her unfortunate lapse from rectitude, and be committed to the treadmill!
+Such an unequal administration of justice, we repeat, has been; but God
+grant that it may never occur again!
+
+The present emancipation of the human mind from ignorance and
+vassalage, through the medium of dauntless and cheap publications, has
+discovered to all classes of the community that the administration of
+our national affairs have never been satisfactorily explained; that all
+has been artifice and delusion; that the rulers of the country have
+assumed to themselves an extraordinary stretch of power,--a power above
+law,--employing the country's revenues in enriching themselves,
+corrupting the sources of justice, and plotting schemes against the
+happiness of mankind generally. Hence, the people, weary of their
+burdens, with no prospect presented to them of having their condition
+ameliorated by their rulers, and disgusted with those who have so
+constantly deluded and insulted them, have at last been goaded into the
+exhibition of a determined spirit no longer to submit their privileges
+and their liberties to such a state of misrule. They have, indeed, as if
+with one accord, protested against all further fraud, imposition, and
+slavery. They are determined to have a parliament of their own
+selecting, and to demand that the principles and legitimate rights of
+the British constitution be restored to their pristine vigour.
+
+It may here be proper to inquire, "Who and what are they that have so
+long opposed the just rights of the people?" Is there a member of the
+House of Lords who has been elevated to the peerage for the last sixty
+years and upwards, excepting some few individuals in the army and navy,
+who does not owe his wealth and title to his weight, interest, and
+exertions to further and perpetuate the corruption of the House of
+Commons, or for some courtly servility or secret crime committed to
+pamper the self-love, or to gratify the vindictive feelings, of their
+royal patrons? Let the facts recorded in our volumes supply the answer.
+The PEOPLE, however, are not now to be blinded with the glitter of
+nobility, or their ears startled by the pompous-sounding title of "My
+lord." They will rather view such ennobled characters in the light of
+enemies to their country, and pensioners on their industry. They have
+exhibited themselves as a proud, arbitrary, and selfish faction, leagued
+against the spirit of liberty, and anxious for nothing but their own
+individual aggrandizement. But as all unconstitutional power, sooner or
+later, is sure to over-reach itself, they have, by their exactions,
+frauds, and galling oppressions, sown the seeds of their own
+destruction. The people of England are naturally of an easy and
+contented disposition; but even their inherent generosity will not brook
+being treated exactly like the subjects of Russian Nicholas,--the
+assassin of the gallant Poles!
+
+In recurring to the period of Queen Charlotte's tyranny, the enlightened
+mind must feel petrified at the callous delinquency displayed by her
+ministers. It is indeed hardly to be credited, that she should have
+found men,--we will not say _English_-men, because some were of another
+country,--so congenial to her own views and sentiments. To paint this
+German princess and her adherents in their proper colours would be
+impossible; but every crime and enormity was sanctioned in her reign
+(for George the Third was a mere cypher in the affairs of state) that
+crime and enormity can be supposed to comprehend; spoliation, murder,
+incest, espionage, sanguinary plottings, the most inhuman outrages,
+persecution, and oppression were of common occurrence. Who, we ask, was
+the secret contriver, aider, and abettor of most of the ills Queen
+Caroline endured? Who pocketted enormous sums from the illegal sale of
+cadetships? Who made unfair use of government information to speculate
+in the funds for the sake of "filthy lucre?" Who indulged in improper
+intimacies with that wholesale inventor of taxes, William Pitt? Who
+conceived some of the diabolical plots, executed, too fatally executed,
+against the holders of her favourite prince's bonds? And who wrote, as
+well as commanded to be written, such tender, comforting, and promising
+letters to the late Dr. Croft, just before and immediately after the
+execution of that cold-blooded deed,--the murder of Princess Charlotte?
+The answers will easily be supplied by the intelligent reader. But let
+us hope the day of retribution is fast approaching, when Justice will
+preside at the examination of all the circumstances attending that most
+unnatural act,--the foulest, blackest crime "that ever yet this land was
+guilty of." Had the secret actions of Queen Charlotte been generally
+known in her life, she would have appeared the basest and most abandoned
+of women; but the deception and shew of virtue which she so artfully
+practised made people think her the most amiable of queens. Had she not
+have shielded her myrmidons from exposure, they would, long ago, have
+appeared to the public eye as a class of beings of the basest and most
+odious description. Impeachment had followed impeachment, and the law
+would have denounced them as men who had violated every principle of
+honour, of humanity, and of Christianity!
+
+Some of our readers may probably view these reproaches as unmerited
+aspersions, or hateful invectives, proceeding from a vindictive,
+malignant, and democratic spirit, and their author deserving to be
+anathematized as the most execrable of the human race. But TRUTH,
+irrefragable Truth, is our defence; she has now burst her bonds, and
+will no longer be prevented, by the threats of power, from boldly
+speaking out! Common observation, indeed, might have ascertained that
+the unnatural and usurped power, which so long controlled the destinies
+of this country, was of a _foreign_ character, and totally at variance
+with the constitution and chartered rights of Englishmen! Did not JUNIUS
+expose the illegality of this power? and did not the noble-minded
+CHATHAM remonstrate against it? But though Tyranny and Corruption
+trembled to their very centres at the attacks of these champions of
+liberty, the base fabricks remained unimpaired till the death of their
+mistress,--the puissant Charlotte of Mecklenburgh Strelitz!
+
+We come now more immediately to the consideration of those political
+transactions that ensued when the final incapacity of George the Third
+to discharge the duties of his sovereignty was made known. At this
+period, Queen Charlotte, in collusion with her hopeful son, the Prince
+of Wales, came into full power, which she exercised with a spirit truly
+in accordance with her restless ambition and mercenary desires. A system
+of despotism, veiled under the specious garb of piety and the country's
+safety, was immediately put in force; and new taxes levied under various
+pretences, but in reality for the purpose of bestowing wealth on her
+zealous adherents. Indeed, in every proposition of the "devourers of the
+public wealth," for increasing the amount of "SECRET-SERVICE MONEY," a
+zealous abettor was always found in the queen. German craft is never at
+a loss for deceptive plans, nor is German prejudice easily pacified. No
+machinations were too hideous, nor too infamous, when suggested by the
+one to gratify the other. If the queen and her son had gained what they
+strenuously endeavoured to obtain--ABSOLUTE POWER--who would not have
+justly felt alarm, not merely for the liberties of his country, but for
+his own individual safety? The proscriptions of the Roman Decemviri and
+the more recent and horrible cruelties of the French Robespierre are
+appalling instances of what people CAN DO when armed with absolute
+power. Had these guardians of the British public, therefore, but
+succeeded in obtaining such power, to what lengths they would have gone
+may be estimated by the crimes they actually did commit and countenance
+without it! Where would the voice of mercy have prevailed on them to
+sheath the sword of persecution? Their ministers, by distorting the
+constitution from its original meaning, presumed to tear Englishmen from
+the bosom of their families, without any assigned cause, loading them
+with irons, and immolating them in damp and dreary dungeons! Some
+actually died, horrible as the fact may appear, under this treatment,
+while the survivers were released without any investigation, without any
+trial whatever,--nay, without their even being made acquainted with the
+nature of the suspected offence,--and denied the slightest redress for
+their cruel injuries! Considering, we say, that such monstrous injustice
+was practised, it is not too much to suppose that, with absolute power,
+the same parties would have erected the triangle at the Royal Exchange
+and at the Mews! We might then have expected to see Englishmen running
+naked through the streets of London, with caps of burning pitch upon
+their heads, and blood streaming from their lacerated bodies, or
+observed them hanging on the lamp-posts, or before their burning
+dwellings! Did not these horrors actually take place in Ireland in the
+years 1797 and 1798, when the tyrannical Castlereagh held a public
+situation in that betrayed, forlorn, and persecuted country? At the very
+time these atrocities were committed in Ireland, spies, informers,
+executioners, and all the refuse of society, were employed as the
+principal instruments of Castlereagh's government; and when Queen
+Charlotte and her son made that Hibernian monster minister of this
+country, Castle, Oliver, and Edwards, with many other such wretches,
+shared the smiles and favours of himself and his colleagues.
+
+The history of Caroline of Brunswick, in whose unhappy fate every person
+possessed of Christian feeling and principle must be interested, also
+fully evinces the hateful passions of Queen Charlotte's heart. That
+victim of a detestable conspiracy was the object of a sanguinary
+determination from the moment she so unhappily came over to this
+kingdom. Queen Charlotte, finding herself then defeated in the ambitious
+desire she had always cherished, that one of her own relations should be
+the future queen of England, became this noble-minded woman's most
+uncompromising and inveterate enemy. Into the highest favour and most
+unlimited confidence, her majesty now received the abandoned Lady
+Jersey, though she _pretended_, with so much austerity, to preserve the
+unsullied PURITY OF HER COURT; but this pretension was only made the
+better to impose upon the country, and to effect the destruction of the
+guiltless and unoffending niece of the king her husband! Her majesty,
+however, did not live to see such a wicked scheme accomplished.
+
+When the husband of the unfortunate Caroline attained, by the death of
+his father, to regal authority, surrounded by the titled hirelings of
+his own creation and the dependants on his bounty, he judged the
+opportunity peculiarly favourable to the final ruin of his
+long-persecuted consort. Every plot, therefore, that could be devised by
+a servile ministry and a corrupt parliament, was put into active
+operation for the purpose of depriving her of those constitutional
+rights which the demise of George the Third had entitled her to expect.
+The Duke of York stipulated with the king that, in the event of a
+divorce being granted, his majesty _should not marry again_,--otherwise,
+he threatened to take part with Queen Caroline! So much for the
+consistency, love of duty, and purity of motive, which the duke boasted
+in the House of Lords as solely actuating him in the line of conduct he
+had followed in opposing the queen!
+
+The injurious reports which ministers circulated regarding Queen
+Caroline's conduct rendered it impossible for her majesty to remain
+abroad, even if she had so wished; for they presumed to treat her as the
+most abandoned of the human race, and therefore it became necessary for
+any virtuous woman, thus publicly accused, to appear in person, and
+assert her innocence. In the whole management of the ensuing "trial"
+against this ill-fated queen, justice, feeling, honour, and common sense
+were all equally outraged! What was the tribunal before which her
+majesty was called? How was it constituted? Who sat there "to administer
+evenhanded justice?" The ministers who brought forward the charges
+against their queen, the officers of the king's household, two of the
+king's brothers, with many other _noble_ persons closely connected with
+the court, who held places and pensions at its will, and looked up to it
+for new honours, for patronage, for wealth, and for power! Were such
+people, then, calculated to administer justice? Justice, indeed! Was the
+refusing a list even of the names of the witnesses impartial justice?
+Was it impartial British justice, when the ministers of the king sat as
+judges, jurors, and accusers? Like triple-headed monsters, did they not,
+in that joint capacity, most profligately bribe, clothe, feed, house,
+and amuse a horde of discarded miscreant Italian servants? Was the
+instructing, drilling, marshalling, living, and conversing _all_
+together of these wretches, who were watched and kept under lock and key
+by these Cerberi, an example of the impartiality of British justice? Was
+the permitting the witnesses instantly to return to their den and
+communicate all their evidence to those who had not been before the
+House of Lords another proof of the impartiality of what is commonly
+termed "the highest court of judicature of the first nation in Europe?"
+Was the treating her majesty as guilty before her trial a fair specimen
+of the beauty of this court? Monstrous profanation of terms! Was ever
+common sense so insulted? Was justice ever so outraged? Were those
+iniquitous proceedings an evidence of that
+
+     "Justice, by nothing biassed or inclined,
+      Deaf to persuasion, to temptation blind;
+      Determined without favour, and the laws
+      O'erlook the parties to decide the cause?"
+
+When the law-officers of the crown declared, that "there existed no
+grounds upon which legal proceedings could be instituted," two obvious
+and distinct paths were open to ministers. They had their election to
+advise, either that her majesty should return to this country with all
+the honours and constitutional privileges belonging to her high station,
+or else that she should be prevailed upon to establish her court abroad.
+Yet ministers determined to deviate into a dark and crooked path. They
+did not venture openly to advise that the queen should return; and yet,
+as if determined that she should come to this country, they took care to
+render it impossible for her to remain abroad! Was not the name of the
+noble-minded Caroline insultingly excluded from the Liturgy? And what
+reason was assigned for so unjustifiable a proceeding? The Archbishop of
+Canterbury and other church pluralists gave this: "If any defiled name
+should there be inserted, the principles of morality would be invaded,
+the foundations of religion would be sapped, and the destruction of our
+constitution must inevitably follow!" Now, even allowing the queen to
+have been the abandoned character represented by her hireling
+enemies,--nay, more, had she been a MURDERESS,--these impudent and
+canting hypocrites need not have searched far for a precedent to prove
+her eligibility for a place in the Liturgy! Were Henry the Eighth, Queen
+Mary, Charles the Second and his queen, James the Second and his queen,
+all pure and undefiled? But the place-hunting clergy need not have gone
+out of their own generation for an example of infamy. What were Queen
+Charlotte, George the Fourth, the Duke of York, or, though last, not
+least in the VIRTUES of his family, the _undefiled_ Ernest of
+Cumberland? Our volumes fully explain what they were! and yet their
+names graced the Liturgy, as the Attorney-General has declared that the
+words "Royal Family" comprehend _all_ the individuals of the royal
+family. But it may be objected that the names of York and Cumberland
+were not _specifically_ mentioned in the days of Queen Caroline's
+persecutions. Well, then, the Prince of Wales' name, at least, did
+figure in our Prayer Book, and was he "pure and undefiled?" The _pious_
+sons of the church formally prayed that "God would endue him with his
+holy spirit," &c.; but it did not appear, by his actions, that their
+prayers produced the least effect. When he became king, he was prayed
+for, "to be endued with heavenly gifts, to incline to the will of God,
+and walk in his ways." Did his infamous conduct to his wife, and his
+living in open adultery with the Marchioness of Conyngham and others,
+qualify him for a place in the prayers of the church, as "pure and
+undefiled?" If ministers, therefore, consented to deprive the queen of
+this dignity, because of her imputed immorality, might it not have
+proved a precedent against George the Fourth himself? The lawyers, even
+Lord Eldon, if it had suited his purpose, might have afterwards cited
+the case of Caroline as a case in point, while the country could not
+refuse to dethrone the king on the same plea as they had dethroned the
+queen, more particularly as it was so easy a matter to prove the gross
+adultery and immorality of George the Fourth; for his derelictions from
+virtue were as notorious as the sun at noon-day. Would to heaven, we
+say, that a king might have been dethroned for immoral conduct, as the
+world had not then been so cursed with their atrocious deeds. When at
+foreign courts, her majesty justly claimed the honours pertaining to her
+exalted rank, but was insultingly told that she was not known as a
+queen! Thus subjected, _untried and unheard_, to every indignity which
+could only have followed upon proof and condemnation, her majesty had no
+alternative left but to return to England, and boldly face her
+mean-spirited and unmanly enemies. Had her title been proclaimed, had
+foreign courts been instructed to receive her with the honours due to a
+queen of England, her continuing to remain abroad would not have worn
+the appearance of shrinking from the defence of her reputation,--a fear
+to which she was utterly a stranger. Her noble soul scorned danger; for
+a braver heart than her's never beat in human breast. But her husband's
+ministers rendered her absence from this country incompatible with her
+honour; they _forced_ her to return, and they, and they alone, were
+responsible for all the mischief that might have ensued to the country
+from such an unavoidable step on the part of the queen. No one, we
+think, will doubt that the most serious mischief would have occurred, if
+these men had persisted in their headlong career. But, _like all
+cowards_, when they found the danger hovering over their _own_ heads,
+they shrunk from the contest, and took refuge in a timely retreat!
+
+Nothing in the whole history of human suffering could equal the wrongs
+of her majesty. With respect to the bill of Pains and Penalties, the
+various records of persecution may be searched in vain for a case so
+foul, so false, so full of premeditated and disciplined perjury,--the
+inquest on Sellis was JUSTICE when _compared_ with this, though the hand
+of Lord Ellenborough may be traced in both. The mock "trial" of
+Caroline, Queen of England, we say, cannot be matched for rancour,
+cruelty, for monstrous and unnatural malignity. There never was a case
+at all like it: it is without an example in history, and can never
+become a precedent; for future generations will read it with pity and
+with horror. The foul charges preferred against the queen by the lowest
+of the low were disproved by noblemen of the first consideration, by
+ladies of the highest rank and of the most unblemished honour, by
+gentlemen of family, of education, and integrity, and by distinguished
+and gallant soldiers. The evidence of such respectable characters as
+these present a picture of her majesty which future generations will
+admire and venerate. But it is impossible that impartial and discerning
+Englishmen should believe that the "Bill of Pains and Penalties,"
+nominally aimed against the queen, had not, for its main objects, the
+doing away with trial by jury and the liberty of the press, and, on
+their ruins, to establish a system of absolute despotism. Whether these
+effects were originally foreseen and intended by the sagacious
+projectors of that wicked measure, is a matter of little importance; it
+is quite obvious that such would have been its consequences. The
+place-loving Lord Eldon, however, tried hard to make people believe that
+bills of Pains and Penalties were then "part and parcel" of the
+constitution of the kingdom. But a trial of such an indescribably
+infamous description was never before attempted; and even if it had
+been, Lord Eldon, as a good chancellor, ought to have declared against
+it, instead of attempting to defend and perpetuate it. With overbearing
+oligarchs, any sort of precedent was deemed sufficient; and it is rather
+wonderful that they did not, by the help of precedent, endeavour to
+re-establish the STAR CHAMBER! If they had succeeded in such a point,
+the first of the kind attempted in modern times, the faction would,
+doubtless, have considered themselves authorised, whenever it had suited
+their views, to proceed by a bill of Pains and Penalties against any
+obnoxious individual, instead of going before a common jury! To
+establish such a monstrous system, we repeat, was one of the real,
+though disguised, objects of ministers, in the prosecution of Queen
+Caroline; for they perceived the progress of political knowledge, and
+felt alarmed lest they should lose their arbitrary authority, if they
+could not adopt some such tyrannical measure to frighten the people into
+obedience. It was the glorious majesty of the press that bravely
+defeated such infamous machinations against liberty, for which future
+generations will have cause to venerate and worship it.
+
+The queen, however, was most grievously slandered and ill-treated by the
+Tory portion of public writers. Nothing, indeed, could have been more
+villanous than the charges which blackened the columns of certain
+newspapers,--journals that, in their general colouring, were too foul
+and too dark to obtain belief. Well remunerated by government, the
+scurrilous editors of such libels against female majesty appeared to
+exult in the pain they inflicted; so long as they satisfied the hateful
+revenge of their abandoned employers, their end was answered. However
+much such prostitution of talent is to be lamented, there was yet a
+worse crime committed by the enemies of Queen Caroline. The ministers of
+the "established" church scrupled not to take part against her, and,
+instead of confining themselves to the exposition of the mild and
+forbearing doctrines of the Christian religion, not unfrequently
+indulged their wicked disloyalty by delivering the most foul and
+blasphemous denunciations against their queen, even from the pulpit!
+This, of course, could only be done with a view of pleasing those who
+had "rich livings" to reward their misplaced zeal. One of these
+contemptible _reverends_, by the name of Blacow, was so violent against
+her majesty, that the queen's law-advisers thought it right to punish
+his impertinence by an action, in the Court of King's Bench, for a
+malicious libel, which was contained in a sermon preached by him in St.
+Mark's Church, Liverpool, and which was afterwards published in the
+shape of a pamphlet. The jury having found the reverend defendant
+guilty, the following sentence was passed upon him by the presiding
+judge:
+
+
+"The defendant," Mr. Justice Bailey said, "had been convicted of a
+libel, contained in a sermon preached by him. He was a clergyman, and
+had uttered the libel within the church. It was, he rejoiced to say, a
+rare instance of so sacred a place being corrupted to such purposes(?).
+Of all other places, the house of God, where charity and brotherly love
+alone should be inculcated, was the last which should be made a theatre
+for attacks upon the characters of living persons. Every man had enough
+to do to look to his own character, and it was not necessary to go
+abroad and make ourselves inquisitors into those of others. This libel
+was uttered at a time, and upon a subject, upon which there was no great
+unanimity of thinking, and was therefore, in its nature, calculated to
+excite far other feelings than such as ought to be indulged in within
+an edifice devoted to God. The defendant had exercised a most wise
+discretion to-day, in the line of conduct which he had adopted; and the
+court had reason to believe that, looking back to his past conduct, he
+felt contrition for what he had already done. Under all these
+circumstances, the court having taken the whole matter into their
+consideration, did order and adjudge that, for this offence, the
+defendant was to pay to the king a fine of one hundred pounds, be
+imprisoned in the King's Bench Prison for six months, and, at the end of
+that time, give securities for his good behaviour for five years,
+himself in five hundred pounds, and two sureties in one hundred pounds
+each, and to be further imprisoned until these sureties are perfected."
+
+
+Thus foiled in patronizing clergymen and public writers to vilify their
+queen, as well as being compelled to abandon the "Bill of Pains and
+Penalties," ministers began to feel alarmed lest her majesty should
+publish an exposition of those state secrets and crimes, which she had
+so frequently threatened. A more certain plan, therefore, to rid
+themselves and their abandoned king from this dread of certain disgrace,
+if not of entire ruin, was now secretly put in force; and her majesty
+was devoted to a premature end, as we have before explained. One thing,
+however, we have forgotten to mention in our account of that period,
+which is this: Lord P----, one of the then ministers, and who is now a
+member of the _Whig_ government, was fatally correct in FORETELLING the
+death of this injured woman; for he very incautiously said, in a letter
+to a friend, "THE QUEEN WILL BE DEAD IN LESS THAN FOURTEEN DAYS!" The
+letter containing this fatal prediction is now in being; but we could
+not prevail upon its possessor to allow us to publish a copy of it.
+
+If we have been too prolix in our account or too severe in our remarks
+respecting our late basely-treated queen, we hope our readers will
+excuse us. We certainly might say much more, but the subject being one
+of importance to history, we could not reconcile it with our duty to say
+less. We are sure every generous-minded Briton will lament, with us, the
+untimely end of her majesty. Alas! that the page of history should be
+darkened by such foul transactions as Truth has obliged us to record!
+Thousands and tens of thousands of the hard-earned money of the
+tax-payers of this kingdom, with the pledge of peerages to add to the
+"illustrious dignity" of the House of Lords, were presented to the
+persons who effected these diabolical acts of atrocity. The money might
+possibly have been paid; but, in one or two instances, the perpetrators
+of these sanguinary deeds became too remorse-stricken to wait for the
+honours of nobility, and made their exit from the world by committing
+suicide!
+
+The public must have been frequently surprised at the number of persons,
+of obscure origin, who, without having either distinguished themselves
+in the world by their talents, or conferred the least benefit upon their
+country, were ennobled, loaded with wealth, and received into favour,
+by the profligate George the Fourth. But the following anecdotes, among
+many others that might be adduced, will explain to our readers the
+secret causes of such advancement.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. William Knighton was a surgeon, and in his professional capacity
+attended Sir John M'Mahon (whose numerous villanies we have before set
+forth) in his last illness, and immediately upon his decease took
+possession of all his papers, and carried them away, under pretence that
+M'Mahon had given them to him. When the prince's _grief_ had a little
+subsided, he went for these papers, but, to his great surprise and
+consternation, found all the drawers empty! He sent for Mr. Knighton,
+and asked him about the matter. "Yes," said Knighton, "M'Mahon gave them
+to me!" "But you mean, of course, to restore them?" "Yes, certainly; but
+only upon a proper remuneration." "Oh!" said the regent, "I always
+_meant_ to give you M'Mahon's place!" Nor could he do less, since he
+then had made himself master, not only of the _private secrets_, but
+_public ones_ also, which were of the greatest possible consequence. The
+Duchess of Gloucester was present at this dialogue between her brother
+the Prince Regent and Mr. Knighton. Our informant had this account from
+her royal highness' own lips, who also added, "And so my poor brother is
+obliged to keep this viper about him!" But the ministers said, "The
+prince may entrust his future secretary with his _private_ affairs, but
+his _public_ ones belong to us alone, as keepers of his conscience." Mr.
+Knighton, however, was compensated for this "loss of secrets" by
+receiving the _honour_ of knighthood. He was also employed to deliver a
+certain titled lady of an illegitimate child, in Hanover-square, and his
+faithfulness, in keeping this secret from the public, was rewarded by
+making him a present of the house, most elegantly furnished, in which
+the disgraceful affair took place!!! Sir William Knighton had likewise a
+thousand pounds per annum for his professional attendance on the king!!!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, who was some time private secretary to his late
+majesty, also acquired place and wealth by possessing himself of his
+master's private transactions. This gentleman was sent from Windsor, by
+George the Fourth, to the Earl of Liverpool with a large bill for
+diamonds due to Messrs. Rundell & Co., and for money to pay it. The bill
+was so large (seventy thousand pounds) that the prime minister
+_insisted_ upon knowing who these diamonds were for. Sir Benjamin very
+reluctantly confessed that they had been purchased for Lady Conyngham!
+Lord Liverpool instantly took Bloomfield with him in his own carriage to
+Windsor, and requested an audience of the king. His lordship, much to
+his credit, emphatically told his majesty that Sir B. Bloomfield must
+resign, or he himself would. The king was so enraged with his secretary
+for informing the earl of these particulars, that he struck Bloomfield a
+violent blow, when the mortified knight quickly asked, "WHO POISONED THE
+PRINCESS CHARLOTTE?" It was owing to this circumstance that Bloomfield
+was sent as ambassador to Sweden, into _honourable_ exile, and, to
+soothe his wounded pride and prevent his exposure of certain infamous
+transactions, in which he himself had acted a very prominent part, he
+was shortly after created--a LORD!!! A good round sum of money was also
+given him to hush up the matter. We cannot help admiring the conduct of
+Lord Liverpool in this instance,--the only one, that we are acquainted
+with, which deserved the thanks of his country; for his lordship boldly
+refused to pay for the aforesaid diamonds without the consent of
+parliament, which the king, for shame, could not agree to!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Duke of Wellington, who has been frequently termed the mushroom
+duke, obtained his wealth and titles for exposing the brave army of
+England to unnecessary dangers and hardships. The position which he
+chose for that army at Waterloo would have assuredly proved its entire
+destruction, if it had not been for the treachery of Field Marshal
+Grouchy, one of Napoleon's generals! But the Wellesley family were in
+possession of the STATE-SECRETS, and it was therefore deemed prudent to
+shower wealth and honours upon the whole family.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Mr. Conant, the chief magistrate of Bow-street, was knighted for
+conducting the secret investigation against the Princess of Wales in
+1813.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Marquis of Conyngham, it is well known, obtained his title through
+the prostitution of his wife to the libertine George the Fourth. The
+baneful influence which this designing woman exercised over his majesty,
+to the very last moments of his life, is a deplorable fact, which not
+only proved mischievous to the best interests of the country, but will
+for ever brand the name of her contemptible husband with derision and
+disgust. This shameless mistress stood as the fountain of emolument and
+preferment, and she took every advantage of that situation to promote
+the aggrandizement of her family. The indulgent country, however, would
+hardly have found fault with this second, Mrs. Clarke, had not, in some
+instances, the very laws of the constitution been infringed, and the
+domestic policy of the country become endangered, by the effects of her
+improper influence, which, as it was _secret_, was fraught with the
+greater injury. Had the marchioness confined herself to benefitting her
+own family, the mischief would not have been so deplorable; but when the
+highest offices in the church were bestowed on persons scarcely before
+heard of,--when political parties rose and fell, and ministers were
+created and deposed, to gratify the ambition of a prostitute,--then the
+palace of the king appeared as if surrounded by some pestilential air,
+and every honourable person avoided the court as alike fatal to private
+property and public virtue. Thus the entrance to Windsor Castle became,
+as it were, hermetically sealed, by the "lusty enchantress" within, to
+all but her favoured minions! The court of George the Fourth certainly
+differed from that of Charles the Second, although the number and
+reputation of their several mistresses were nearly the same in favour
+and character; but George the Fourth had no confiscations to confer on
+the instruments of his pleasure, and therefore took care to rob the
+country of gold to make up such deficiency. The reigns of these two
+monarchs, dissimilar as they might be in some respects, nevertheless
+possessed this resemblance: that an illegitimate progeny of royalty were
+thrust forward to the contempt of all decency, and proved a heavy tax on
+the forbearance of virtuous society. The wicked George the Fourth, as we
+have been very credibly informed, gave the Marchioness of Conyngham more
+than half a million of money, as well as bestowing many titles to
+gratify her insatiable ambition. We really have no words to express our
+abhorrence of such proceedings!
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Towards the close of George the Fourth's wicked career, he pretended to
+be very much attached to the drama, and that accomplished and
+fascinating actress, Miss Chester, was therefore engaged as READER to
+his majesty. Sir Thomas Lawrence, at that time engaged in taking a
+portrait of this lady, as well as one of the king, was entrusted with
+the delicate negotiation. A meeting was soon obtained, and a kind of
+excuse adopted to have Miss Chester near the king's person, as "PRIVATE
+READER," at an annual salary of six hundred pounds! Thus was another
+beauty added to the royal establishment, and her name emblazoned in the
+"red book" of the country's burdens. For the kind attentions this lady
+bestowed on the "polished" monarch, she has lately been admitted to that
+refuge for royal mistresses, titled dames, and pensioned members of the
+aristocracy--HAMPTON-COURT PALACE! Without disputing Miss Chester's
+claims to be maintained at the public expense among the noble drones
+there domiciled, it is not without something like disgust and
+indignation that we view one of our most ancient kingly edifices, built
+by the liberality of the nation, and at this moment supported by the
+public purse, being converted into an asylum of this description.
+Englishmen are thus taxed to support the paramours, and minions of
+royalty in ease and luxury! But we need not confine our indignation to
+this one royal residence; for is not Bushy Park within a mile of
+Hampton, where the progeny of an actress kept at that place form now a
+portion of our _noble_ aristocracy? We do not charge these unworthy
+doings exclusively on the Tories; for, alas! the Grey Whigs seem to be
+treading very closely in the footsteps of their predecessors in office,
+by tolerating such royal doings, as well as filling their own pockets
+and that of their families.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From such disreputable means of acquiring title and wealth, England has
+long been imposed on, and the ancient nobility of the country degraded.
+Any pre-eminent degree of merit, if exercised for the country's benefit,
+was sure to render its possessor a certain object of George the Fourth's
+vengeance. His private court, therefore, found their best security in
+their want of virtue. By a voluntary submission to the tyrant's
+caprices, they retained the _high privilege_ of his smile and favour,
+and built the bulwark of their safety on their _own personal
+insignificance_! And yet, strange as the infatuation may appear, these
+very creatures fancied their nature had undergone a real metamorphosis
+by his majesty granting them a title; they considered themselves refined
+by a kind of chemical process, sublimed by the sunshine of royal favour,
+and thus separated from the dross and the dregs of ordinary
+humanity,--from that humanity of which the mass of mankind partake, and
+which, contemptible as it may seem to upstart lords, is the same with
+the prince upon the throne and the beggar upon the dunghill. But from
+such proud characters, we may trace the present contempt in which
+nobility is almost universally held. The great endeavour of George the
+Fourth's favourites has been to keep "the people" at a distance, lest
+their own _purer_ nature should be contaminated by plebeian society; and
+the first lesson they teach their offspring is, not to revere God, but
+to maintain their own dignity in the scale of being! To men of such
+principles, the king had only to make his wishes known, however
+monstrous and unjust they might be, and they were immediately, and, in
+too many cases, _fatally_ executed. Under such a government as that of
+the last sixty years and upwards, it was fortunate indeed to escape
+notice,--to creep through the vale of obscurity, and to die in old age,
+without the prison, the pointed steel, or the poisoned cup! From a
+vigorous mind, in every way calculated to find pleasure and honourable
+employment in noble and virtuous actions, George the Fourth degenerated
+into a monster, delighting in baubles and in a wantonness of wickedness
+that produced the most flagitious habits, and which rendered him the
+most despicable man in the whole circle of society; yet he was
+designated "the most accomplished gentleman of the age!!!" We are aware
+that he was surrounded with flatterers and sycophants, who wished to
+gratify their _own_ avarice and pride by extending _his_ tyrannical
+power; but ought such a mean excuse to be urged in extenuation of his
+crimes? A man, like him, endowed with nature's choicest gifts, both of
+mind and body, which were farther heightened by the most liberal
+education, should have spurned such minions from his presence, and kept
+company with none but the virtuous and the patriotic. Away, then, with
+that vindication of George the Fourth's unjust deeds, which would fix
+the stigma of crimes, prompted by his _own_ love of sensuality, to the
+"advice of evil counsellors!" Evil counsellors would not have dared to
+present him the cup of flattery, if he had not shewn himself so
+greedily desirous of swallowing its contents. Let every friend of man
+and of his country, then, guard against two similar reigns of horror,
+and defy, as we do, fines and imprisonment, in attempting, by every
+lawful and rational means, to push back the gigantic strides of tyranny,
+whether in a king or an overbearing ministry. Even now we are cursed
+with a power, generated by Queen Charlotte and the late king, her son,
+which is trying, by every scheme of ingenuity and desperation, to bring
+back its former unjust, intolerant, and corrupt ascendency, both in
+church and state; but who is there that can contemplate the possibility
+of such a state of affairs occurring again, without feelings of horror?
+What man in the possession of his senses but would exclaim against the
+national misfortune of having another Pitt, a Liverpool, a Londonderry,
+a Canning, or a Wellington, in power? Awful, however, as the havoc
+appears which these men have made, the country need not yet give itself
+up to despair. We believe that there is a fund of vigour in the empire
+that may stand experiments, the least of which would shake the sickly
+frames of other empires to dissolution. There is probably no dominion on
+earth that has within itself so strong a repulsion of injury, or so
+vivid and rapid a spring and force of restoration. Its strength is
+renewed like that of the young eagle; and it is this very faculty of
+self-restoration that has so long allowed the empire to hold together,
+notwithstanding the infinite speculations, tamperings, absurdities, and
+crimes of men in power, under the guidance of Queen Charlotte and
+George the Fourth. Yet is it right that England should be kept merely
+above bankruptcy, while she has the original power of being the first,
+most vigorous, richest, and happiest portion of the world? Where does
+the earth contain a people so palpably marked out for superiority in all
+the means of private and public enjoyment of affluence, influence, and
+security? The most industrious, strong-minded, and fully-educated
+population of the world inhabit her island. She has the finest
+opportunities for commerce, the most indefatigable and sagacious efforts
+and contrivances for every necessity and luxury of mankind;
+inexhaustible mines of the most valuable minerals, and almost the
+exclusive possession of the most valuable of them all,--COAL; a
+singularly healthy and genial climate, where the human form naturally
+shapes itself into the most complete beauty and vigour; a situation the
+most happily fixed by Providence for a great people destined to
+influence Europe,--close enough to the Continent to watch every
+movement, and influence the good or peril of every kingdom of it from
+Russia to Turkey, and yet secured from the sudden shocks and casualties
+of European war by the Channel, of all defences, the cheapest, the most
+permanent, and the most impregnable!
+
+When these immense and enviable advantages are compared with the present
+state of England, heavy indeed must the sins of our rulers appear! But a
+new class and character of hostility is now happily starting up to
+oppose further inroads upon our liberties, and the question will
+speedily be brought to a decision, not between the obsolete and formal
+parties of the two houses of parliament, but between the Treasury bench
+and the delegates of "the people,"--that people itself shewing a bold
+and virtuous character, commissioning its representatives with a voice
+of authority, and exhibiting a rigid determination to see that their
+duty is done, unexampled in the history of Britain! This is the kind of
+spirit that has long been wanted, and we look to it as the sure cure for
+the decaying vitality of the constitution. We are no advocates for a
+revolution brought about by popular passion, by the vulgar artifice of
+vulgar demi-gods, by the itinerant inflammation of pretended patriotism;
+but the present state of public feeling appeals not to the ambition of
+the democrat, to the baseness of the incendiary, the sordidness of the
+plunderer, or the fury of the assassin. There is nothing in it but the
+natural expression of honourable minds, disdaining to look calmly upon
+injustice, extortion, and royal profligacy, whether practised by Whig or
+Tory, and however sanctioned by time. The people are indignant at the
+callous venality of public men, and feel themselves insulted by the open
+spoil which bloated sinecurists and state-secret keepers have so long
+committed upon the honest gains of society. They cannot see the
+necessity of that strangling burthen of taxes which makes industry as
+poor as idleness, and they shrink from the view of their withering
+effect on the freedom and prosperity of England. The people who observe
+matters in this light are not the wild haters of all governments, nor
+the sullen conspirators against the peace of mankind; but the father of
+the industrious family, the man of genius, honesty, and virtue, the
+sincere patriot, are those who now feel themselves compelled to come
+from their willing obscurity into the front rank of public care, to
+raise up their voices, till now never heard beyond the study or the
+fireside, and demand that the House of Commons shall at last throw off
+its fetters, scorn the indolence, meanness, and venality of the Upper
+House, knowing no impulse but its duty, no patronage but that of public
+gratitude, and no party but its country! Such feelings are so just, that
+they have become universal, and so universal, that they have become
+IRRESISTIBLE! The minister, be he Whig or Tory, must yield to them, or
+he instantly descends from his power. All candidates for public
+distinction will thus be compelled to discover that the most prudent
+choice, as well as the most manly, generous, and principled, is to side
+with the country. Then may we hope to see sinecures extinguished; the
+obnoxious patronage of government destroyed; every superfluous expense
+of the public service rent away; the enormous salaries of ministers and
+the feeders on the civil list reduced; the annuities to ministerial
+aunts, cousins, and connexions of more dubious kinds, on the pension
+list, unsparingly expunged; which, by disburthening the nation of
+unnecessary taxes, will enable the Englishman to live by his labour. If
+these things may be done by the Russell reform bill, it will be only by
+a circuitous process. BUT ENGLAND HAS NO TIME TO WAIT. What must be done
+at last cannot be done too speedily. The truth is, that the nation is
+disgusted with the insolent extravagance of the Grey cabinet, which
+utters the most zealous declarations of economy and withdrawal of taxes,
+while the people remain unrelieved of a single impost. They observe a
+premier lavish of the public money on his own family, while a Chancellor
+of the Exchequer starts up, and sapiently condemns certain members of
+the Whig government for refusing their salaries! Thus the old Tory
+system is still attempted to be perpetuated, under the banners of the
+Whigs; the tax-gatherer makes his appearance with undiminished demands;
+the necessaries of life increase in price as they decrease in
+excellence; every thing, in short, that man eats, drinks, or wears,
+loads him with an additional tax, paralyzing his industry, and
+overwhelming him in poverty.
+
+Every candid and impartial observer will acknowledge that the public
+voice is not raised against government itself, nor against the many
+admirable institutions of this country; but against the perversions of
+government; against unconstitutional and wicked rulers; against abuses
+of trust, office, and authority; against impositions and corruptions
+pervading every department of the state, which have been reduced to
+system, and teem with every species of fraud, tyranny, and oppression;
+against the Star Chamber of Toryism; against the misappropriation of
+unnecessary, extortionate, and oppressive imposts; against despotic
+enactments; against fictitious prosecutions and arbitrary imprisonments;
+against the perversions of law and the decrees of political judges;
+against spies and hireling ruffians, suborned to deprive the subject of
+his liberty, aided by the corrupt practices of heart-hardened clerical
+and other magistrates; against packed juries, and the artful
+construction of libel; against the iniquitous forms and delays of the
+chancery and other courts;--against these, we say, and all such
+violations of the chartered rights of Britons, is that voice proclaiming
+its DETERMINATION TO BE FREE!--to be masters of their own wealth, their
+own industry, their own personal security, and their own liberties! The
+people of England will no longer be swayed by those upstart peers which
+George the Fourth created. What claims have such state-pensioners on
+public confidence? Why should sensible men give up their judgments to a
+selfish and hypocritical faction of--LORDS? What better, in the name of
+heaven, are they than the rest of human creatures?
+
+     "Remove their swelling epithets, thick laid
+      As varnish on a harlot's cheek; the rest,
+      Thin sown with ought of profit or delight,
+      Will far be found unworthy."
+
+It is, indeed, idle to suppose that the present highly-enlightened
+inhabitants of this country can be thwarted from their wishes by the
+vote of such men; for almost all the ancient nobility are with the
+people. Englishmen, we repeat, care not for the vote of time-serving
+lords, for the prayers of worldly-minded bishops, or for the tears and
+vehement gestures of ex-chancellors! The people have resolved to redeem
+the constitution from their polluting hands. The pupils of those who
+have brought the country to its present impoverished state by their
+misrule, during the last two reigns of vice and profligacy, will seek in
+vain for the support of the people of 1832! A different form of
+government is now dawning upon us, and the Tories have "fallen, for ever
+fallen!" Murder, we trust, will now no longer be committed with impunity
+by rank; exactions, weighing down a people's existence, will cease; the
+needy will no longer be required to pamper the insatiable avarice and
+voluptuousness of the great; a system of pure justice in the
+administration of national affairs will rectify those abuses which have
+for so many years ingulphed the kingdom in misery. If the people do but
+prove true to themselves, nothing can now prevent their emancipation
+from the thraldom of that overgrown power, by which they have cruelly
+been enslaved. Yet the disease has been so long accumulating, that it
+still lies deep, and will require both energy and skill to eradicate it.
+They must, therefore, be upon their guard against the machinations of
+their wily enemies, who will magnify every little ebullition of public
+feeling into an attempt to overturn the existing institutions of the
+country. Sensible men, and true friends to the constitution, and
+therefore to the king, who forms so considerable a part of it, will
+understand the Tory cry of "SEE THE EFFECTS OF POWER IN THE HANDS OF THE
+PEOPLE!" and will not be led into a fear of some future evil, from
+popular commotion, by such an attempt to divert them from their
+constitutional rights. In this respect, vigilance is highly necessary to
+protect them from the secret depredations of their former artful
+tyrants, who are ever on the alert to regain their lost power. Let the
+people, then, avoid all riots, tumults, and popular commotions, with the
+utmost care, and preserve peace, good order, and security to all ranks
+of society. True patriots will be careful to discourage every thing
+which tends to destroy these natural fruits of a free constitution, not
+only because whatever tends to destroy them tends to destroy all human
+happiness, but also because even an accidental outrage in popular
+assemblies and proceedings, as we have before shewn, is used by the
+enemies of freedom to discredit the cause of liberty. By the utmost
+attention to the preservation of the public peace, Englishmen will
+defeat the malicious designs of servile courtiers; but, whatever may
+happen, they will not desert the cause of humanity. Through a dread of
+licentiousness, they will not forsake the standard of liberty. It is the
+part of fools to fall upon Scylla in striving to avoid Charybdis. Who
+would wish to see restored the despotic sway of Queen Charlotte and
+George the Fourth, through the fear of a few transient outrages being
+committed by the excitation of a long-insulted people? Both these
+extremes are despotic while they last; but the former is a torrent that
+would rush its headlong course for ever, if it met not a barrier
+sufficiently strong to resist its power, while the latter may be
+compared to a spring flood, that covers the meadows to-day, and
+disappears on the morrow. The learned and eloquent DR. PRICE has a
+passage so applicable to this subject, that our readers must excuse our
+introducing it. This humane philosopher observes,
+
+
+"Licentiousness and despotism are more nearly allied than is commonly
+imagined. They are both alike inconsistent with liberty, and the true
+end of government; nor is there any other difference between them than
+that one is the licentiousness of great men, and the other the
+licentiousness of little men; or that by one, the persons and property
+of a people are subject to outrage and invasion from a king or a lawless
+body of grandees; and that by the other, they are subject to the like
+outrage from a lawless mob. In avoiding one of these evils, mankind have
+often run into the other. But all well-constituted governments guard
+equally against both. Indeed, of the two, the last is, on several
+accounts, the least to be dreaded, and has done the least mischief. It
+may be truly said, if licentiousness has destroyed its thousands,
+despotism has destroyed its millions. The former having little power,
+and no system to support it, necessarily finds its own remedy; and a
+people soon get out of the tumult and anarchy attending it. But a
+despotism, wearing a form of government, and being armed with its force,
+is an evil not to be conquered without dreadful struggles. It goes on
+from age to age, debasing the human faculties, levelling all
+distinctions, and preying on the rights and blessings of society. It
+deserves to be added, that in a state disturbed by licentiousness, there
+is an animation which is favourable to the human mind, and puts it upon
+exerting its powers; but in a state habituated to despotism, all is
+still and torpid. A dark and savage tyranny stifles every effort of
+genius, and the mind loses all its spirit and dignity."
+
+
+MR. BAILEY, of Nottingham, an independent writer of great talent, has
+well defined the causes of political convulsions, and the line of
+conduct to be pursued by "the people" in times of great excitement. In
+that gentleman's "Discourse on Revolutions," he says,
+
+
+"That the progress of civilization may be retarded in states, by the
+measures of governments, cannot be doubted. That the tendencies towards
+disturbance in states, which inevitably await on advancing civilization,
+may be restrained in their development by a politic or resolute
+government, even whilst its policy is anomalous to the spirit of the
+age, can as little be doubted. But what, it may be fairly asked, is in
+reality gained by this procedure? The principle of revolution is not
+annihilated, the nature of social man is not altered, the impetus of
+knowledge is not weakened, the momentum of public opinion is not broken!
+After every thing is done which cunning or tyranny can suggest, to avert
+the day of demand and concession, IT WILL ARRIVE, when demand will be
+made in a voice of thunder by an infuriated populace, and concession, of
+the most humiliating description, be granted by an abject sovereign!
+
+"As fires longest pent up in obscurity at length burst out with the most
+resistless fury, so revolutions longest deferred are attended, in their
+crisis, with the most terrible consequences. Were the rulers of nations
+actuated by a spirit of sound wisdom, those dreadful convulsions could
+never arise in states, on account of social rights, which, after causing
+the death of thousands of the citizens, and desolating towns and
+provinces, leave palaces in ruins, and thrones vacant.
+
+"Revolution ought always to be the work of the government, not of the
+people, except through the expression of public opinion. This is the
+only species of power which the people can beneficially employ for the
+redress of grievances,--at least, in old states, where a long indulgence
+in habits of venality and corruption by the government, and a
+widely-extended ramification of interests springing therefrom, and
+pervading all classes of the community, must create a strong disposition
+in favour of the existing order of things among large masses of the
+citizens. Physical force ought never to be employed for the correction
+of social evils, until every species of negative resistance has been
+proved to be unavailing.
+
+"When despotism has arrived at that state of audacious temerity, that it
+makes a mockery of suffering, and tramples on remonstrances, sacrificing
+alike the property, the persons, and consciences of men to its
+ungovernable lust of dominion, it is justifiable to arraign such tyrants
+at the tribunal of nature, that so their impotence may be exposed, and
+their crimes punished."
+
+
+Let us hope, therefore, that Englishmen, in freeing themselves from
+despotism, will studiously avoid such scenes as lately took place at
+Bristol. Britons should recollect that a determined and virtuous people
+can do any thing and every thing by firmness and quietness; but all
+violence defeats its own ends, and gives advantage to our enemies. A
+thorough reform in church and state MUST take place; a crisis is at
+hand, and those who wish to see England escape a trial of misery and
+blood will heartily wish, and openly and resolutely demand, to see a
+change of that long system, under which Corruption has thickened round
+the high, while Poverty and Taxation have smitten the low. A longer
+delay to remedy these evils may unhappily irritate the people into a
+spirit of vengeance, which the tears of Lord Eldon, the bullying of the
+Marquis of Londonderry, the professions of a Whig ministry, the
+intrigues of German women, or the threatenings of Wellington's bayonet
+law would vainly attempt to oppose! Sullen visions are now upon the
+clouds, to which place-hunters and renegados are afraid to lift their
+terrified eyes. But if they tremble at those visions, what will be their
+fate when they ripen into substance, and let loose their thunders upon
+the heads of the enemies of our country? May the necessity for such
+vengeance be obviated by a timely concession to the constitutional
+demands of an enlightened people is our sincere prayer!
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+Printed by W. H. STEVENSON, 5, Whiskin Street, Clerkenwell.
+
+
+
+
+      *      *      *      *      *      *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+
+The word "manoeuvring" uses an oe ligature in the original.
+
+The following corrections have been made to the text:
+
+     Page 1: Of meaner vice and villains[original has villians]
+
+     Page 47: When the queen came from Dover[original has Dovor] to
+     town
+
+     Page 138: In the month of April, Mr.[period missing in
+     original] Brougham
+
+     Page 144: 'behind the arras,'[original has double quote]
+
+     Page 149: [quotation mark missing in original]"Then,"
+     _modestly_ added the president
+
+     Page 161: amongst the nymphs of Berkeley-row[original has
+     Berkely-row]
+
+     Page 191: SIR,--You[original has Yor] are requested
+
+     Page 214: where[original has were] it was supposed he had been
+     wounded
+
+     Page 219: the Bishop of Llandaff (Dr. Copleston),[comma
+     missing in original] the prebends
+
+     Page 228: bank of Ransom, Morland, and Hammersley[original has
+     Hammersly]
+
+     Page 263: presented this anomalous, inconsistent[original has
+     inconsistant]
+
+     [94:A] had been against Lord Castlereagh's[original has
+     Castereagh's]
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SECRET HISTORY OF THE COURT OF
+ENGLAND, FROM THE ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE THIRD TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE THE
+FOURTH, VOLUME II (OF 2)***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 37571.txt or 37571.zip *******
+
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