Star. — London, England, 1822-03-07 00:00:00

I M .... ^ T - ,_ :~ . was about sixteen miles from Colchester; and, during the whole progress, it went with such speed, that it appeared to be a funeral going post; some parts of the procession were a mile asunder ; the funeral of the poorest man in the kingdom would be conducted with more decorum and solemnity than was the fu neral of the Queen of England ; the only appearance of solemnity wa,s that of the people, who, during the whole way, flocked from all sides, in thousands and hundreds of thousands, to pay the last solemn tribute of their esteem to the remains of their persecuted Queen. On the arrival of the funeral at Harwich, the conduct of those who had the charge of it was characterised by the same want of respect to her re mains; the funeral drove up, and without waiting for any human being, the body was dragged out of the hearse and hurried away to the vessel—was low ered down without a pall—.without the Crown—and without any one of those accompanying ceremonies which attend the fnnerals of distinguished foreigners leaving England to be interred in a foreign country. The body was . then placed in a boat, with Sir Geo. Nayler, the undertaker, and deputy undertaker —but not one of her attendants—not one of her servants, who were paying their last duties, was permitted to enter the boats. Was that the interment suitable to the dignity of the Queen of England ? Were those the ceremonies that should have been observed on so solemn an occasion ? A regard for decency alone would have required different conduct. Here endo the funeral as tar as concerned his Majesty's Govern-, ment, ezcept that it appeared they changed their ori ginal plan, and suffered the undertakers to embark. If expedition, and a desire to comply with her late Majesty's testament was the object of Government, why did not the ship sail till the next morning? here it was clear there was no hurry. Such conduct was shameful; to hurry away the hearse which contained the body of a Queen, as if it were a fish-cart. What occasion was there for inflicting such indignities on a lifeless corpse? Why not more Solemnity ? Why not more decorum? On the 19th the remains of her Majesty arrived at Stack; here there were no prepa rations: the body was left on the shore until it was conveyed by the zeal of the inhabitants to the church. Te Magistrates, to manifest their attachment, ap plied twice to the Government to be perMitted to go in procession to meet the funeral, but were re fused ; however, they went along with the people, anxious to pay every repect to her remains.— Tile next day it proceeded; and everywhere during its progress to Brunswick was evinced the same re gard for her as in England. The people flocked from aii quarters to shew their zeal—unreduced by bribes, uninfluencei by money or money's worth—with a ed to oppression, and a strong feeling against the infliction of unmerited injury. Nothing could Le more touching than to see the affectionate regards and kind attentions which the women everywhere paid to her Majesty's remains; everywhere flowers were , strewed, and the daughters of the principal inhabi tants attended clad in mourning. Iler remains at length arrived at Brunswick, and were there deposited' in the tomb of her proud ancestors. In Brunswick there was the same manifestation of feeling as else where, except amongst the Magistrates ; and such was the conduct adopted there on her interment, that I.: ':•ht say no funeral rites were pert& med—there was: an absence of the usual ceremony ; but it might be said no ceremony was used on the interment of he 'tither. No; because the ceremony was lei formed before, where he had been first interred after the bat tle in which he fell, and he was removed to the tomb of Iris ancestors. Such might be the conduct of the Knights of Brunswick, like the French Knights of the Revolution, who held the doctrine that " death was an eternal sleep." She now rests in the tomb of her ancestors, by the side of her brother and father, who fell victims to a most oppressive tyranny ; but he doubted much if that tyranny ever produced an example more harsh and black than the present. There was not a place in the world in which the name of Queen Caroline would not be uttered to Heaven by those who prayed for an alleviation from suffer ing, and that her lot may not be theirs. Before he concluded he would come back to England, and call the attention of the House to the conduct of his Ma jesty's Nlluisteis. They knew the solicitude and the anxiety of the Public on that occasion—there was not one in any class who was not anxious to shew her Majesty's remains every respect. Government, then, should not have adopted a course that would shock public feeling ; it was their duty to have used every means to conciliate it. They had unless than the request of the Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London for that purpose, who were treated with contempt, unless when it suited party views to treat them otherwise: but he looked upon them as a most respectable body, and thought their opinion ought to be respected even by those opposed to them. On the occasion in question they put their opinion on record, and that was the opinion of the greatest part of the people. The Hon. Member here referred to the Resolution adopted by the Aldermen and Com mon Council. He thought that the Lord Mayor might have attended the funeral. If Government possessed the slightest portion of that common sense which conducts a man through life, they would have seen they had but one course to pursue, and that was to conciliate public feeling and comply with the re quest of that respectable body, the Aldermen and Common Council of the City of London. Why Mi nisters came to the decision of drawing her through bye lanes, and not give the People an opportunity of strewing their respect for her, perhaps they should hear in the course of that night, but all the conse quences of provoking the people to a violation of the rest upon their heads. If the People, on hand, were wrong-headed, on the other hand , as too great a sacrifice of human blood— ., hear). Whether the People should have opportunity of honouring her Majesty when when living was purchased at too dear a price. Id not help feelleeply on the subject—he • enough to rec ollect when sire first came to country, full of hope, and life, and joy, beauti - thought, and amiable, and *shortly after she to beat)—(clear). Th at - - - infamy upon all those concerned. in the i nstitution of it, while it wi ll remain one of triumph to those Noble Lords who stood forward in defence of themselves Nil she Constitution, and of that gallant People who were .ready to protect her late Majesty. .He knew that the fate of his motion would be that of all the motions connected with that illustrious Lady ; but he • uld be ashamed, as an English gentleman, if be did not fearlessly give expression to his sentiments on at subject. He hoped that he had done it with the feelings of a Gentleman. His anxiety was great to on record the sentiments of an individual on a subject which, whether one looked to the present or future, deeply affected the character of the Eng lish nation. The Hon. Member concludeilby moving she following Resolution - " That this House eandders the respect and solemnity due by 111111 kit custom to the funerals of the laoseens of England, have, it the ems of her late Majesty Queen Caroline; been unneeessa irOy and indecorously violated." Mr. CALVERT said he was present When the . cof- fin was lowered, and that it appeared to him to have been done with the greatest solemnity. All due de corum, he could assure the House, was observed in the naval part of the ceremony.; and he believed that every solemnity was observed through the whole joist ney. He thought the Hanoverian Government made every exertion possible. There was great difficulty in providing for so many horses, upwards of sixty. Sir G. COCKBURN said he rose to vindicate the naval part from the imputation of the Hon. Mover . Mr. BENNET immediately said, so far from throw ing censure on the naval part, they conducted them selves with that good sense and feeling which charac terised the Navy on every occasion. Sir G. COCKBURN said, Captain White was there to receive all persons attached to the procession who were to go on board. He (Sir G. Cockburn). even asked the Hon. and Learned Gentleman what description of force he preferred, whether a small or large frigate? He replied that he preferred a large, one, as being the most respectable, and a large one was accordingly ordered round from Portsmouth, and on the coffin being put on board guns were fired. Mr. CALVERT said that Sir George Nayler cer tainly attended with the pall and crown when the cof fin was lowering. Mr. GossET f rose, and said he was not in the House when the Honourable Member fer Shrews bury spoke ; but if there was anything wrong in lowering the coffin, the fault was attributable to him. He conceived the mode adopted the most convenient, as the beach was so shallow that it could not be easily carried. The coffin was lowered by means of a crane, and though officers were appointed to work ir, as trey were not accustomed to the use of it, it was determined that four men who had should work it. Every accommodation was given to those who at tended the funeral. As the funeral was approach ing Ilarwich, he rode out of the town to meet it, and said there was no time to be lost, as the tide would not answer if they did not make haste, and it would not suit before two or three o'clock the follow ing morning. It was intended that the coffin should be placed in the Town hall, but on examining it, it was found that the winding of the stairs was too nar row. It was then determined that it should be placed in his own house, for which purpose he had the win dows taken out. Ile thought there was no reason to complain of any absence of respect. _ _ Mr. HUME thought it his duty to state, that he had never witnessed conduct more creditable in the parties than that of Captain White and his men. He had no hesitation in saying that every possible sign of proper feeling was manifested on their part while the body was being lowered into the boat. What his Hon. Ft iend had complained of was, that no boats were ready to convey the mourners on board. When Lord Hood asked what convey ance was prepared to carry them on board, he found none ready. He then inquired in what way he and the rest of the household were to be brought back ? Captain White said, he bad received no instructions, but he had no doubt that instructions would soon be received, and be would take it upon himself to say, that his vessel should attend to reconvey his Lordship or any part of the household safe to England. His conduct was very gentlemanly, but no boats were ready to take the mourners with the body, and an hour after the coffin was embat ked, it was a matter in debate whether they should go over in the packet or by the frigate. He gave the Hon. Member who had last spoken credit for his exertions, and only regretted that he had not attended the preceding part of the procession. No complaint had been made by his Hon. Friend of the manner in which the funeral was received on the other side of the water. The body had not been suffered to be borne by common under takers; but eight Majors had offered themselves for that purpose. The people too bad insisted—he be lieved against the wish of the Authorities, on remov ing the coffin from the hearse to a carriage which had' been prepared for it, which was drawn by a number of the most respectable inhabitants. He had no hesitation in saying, that had there been no inter ference on the part of the Government, the same would have .happened on this side of the water. — That of which his Honourable Friend principally complained was the way in which the funeral had been conducted in this country. With respect to the black hangings, every one who knew what oc• tuned at Brandenburgh House must regard what had taken place there as a mere mockery—(Hear).— On the Saturday the workmen began to knock up black cloth, though it was intended that thefunerall should take place on the Monday. It was only - by. a strong representation from Lotd Hood that it was' postponed till the Tuesday. It was this indecent haste that was complained of. But though it was deter mined that the corpse should be removed on the fol lowing Tuesday, the fixing up of black cloth was con tinued, as it should seem, merely for the sake of ex pending so much black cloth and other materials to no purpose —(Hear, hear). Whatever the expense in curred in this way might have been, it was not in clined to spew respect for her late Majesty. The Cu the body, contrary tothem on all similar occa sions, to be carried out aline main roads into the lanes and, bye-waysr This was most uncommon.--• He did no t know whether it was the law; but he un-, &mood that every path - through which a lune*, passed, became immediately a public way. The Go- vernment gave Orders that the corpse should be rer',l moved by a circuitous route, and carried thronib bye-ways. It was the want of certainty, as to the road which it would take, that produced so great an accumulation of individuals at the west end of the town, as had been found there on the day of the &- lanai. Had it been known that it would take the road it in the end did take; those who had come from Whitechapel to the West-end, would not have gone 1* far to obtain a sight of it.. Ministers ought not to have supposed the People would submit to the dil 'trace of.seeing the iemains of that Queen removed through lanes and bye-ways. He hoped the Secre tary of State had communicated with Sir Robert Baker on this subject. That Magistrate would in. form him that the disposition of the People seemed everything that could be wished, and all they complained of was, that it was proposed to tarry the corpse out of the highways—(fiew - , hear). — That Magistrate, exercising a discretion for which he (Mr. Hume) applauded him, had determined on al. terinF the route of the procession. lie was certain that it Sir Robert Baker had been allowed to follow the course he was disposed to adopt, there would have been no riot, no disorder, no bloodshed. An Officer from the Government had prevented Sir Robert Baker from acting as he was about to do, or that Magistrate, who deserved a reward very different from that which he had received, would have taken a course that must have prevented much mischief.— lie then came to that part of the conduct of the Go vernment which had been most culpable—that' respecting the military, which had led to the most disgraceful scene that had 'ever fallen under his ob-1 servation. Ile himself had seen a great part of it, and lie lamented to say, the soldiers sent to act under the orders of the civil power had, in fact, acted against and broken the peace which they ought to have preserved. He did not blame the Officers, for , they, it appeared, had not ordered the men to act as they did. The men ought only to have acted in obe dience to the orders of their Officers ; but they had attacked the people with their swords, and even with fire-arms, without orders. Soldiers acting such a part were nothing but a lawless band with arms in their hands, attacking their fellow-subjects whom they ought to have protected, and they were guilty of the murder and manslaughter which had been committed. He admitted that the soldiers were placed in a very perilous and painful position, but how often were soldiers drawn up where they must be exposed to be shot at, and yet abstained from act ing rill they were ordered forward by their Officers? Here then was a want of discipline. He would lingly admit that stones had been thrown, and that the soldiers had been otherwise much insulted ; but -still he must say, that in his eyes they had been the first aggressors. He gave credit to Sir Robert Baker for his conduct through the day, and was of opinion that if the orders sent for a detachment to advance to Tottenham-court-road, had arrived ten minutes sooner, the result would have been most calamitous. With the military force at their back, Ministers must have triumphed, if they could value such as they would have gained by cutting down and riding over the helpless populace. That no respect was intended .ta the Queen was plain from what took place after the body had been carried through the City. The moment the procession left Whitechapel, all the orna ments were removed, the attendants who had previ ously been on foot. wet e allowed to ride, and the whole procession was like that of the funeral of the most ordinary personage. An inquiry ought to have been instituted after the verdicts of Murder and Man— slaughter had been returned. Had a soldier been shot, and the Coroner's Inquest returned a verdict against ten persons, did any one believe that then the matter would have been allowed to rest up to this time without an inquiry being set on foot ? He hoped the lion. Officer was then in the House who on a former night reflected on the Coroner's Inquest', that had sat on the body of Honey. He (Mr. Hume) knew some of the individuals who had served on it, and he could state, that a more respectable Jury had never sat, and no Jury had ever been more fairly called tygether. Ministers, he contended, on the oc casion oithe funeral, had not only treated the late Queen with disrespect, but they had marked their contempt for some of the most important institutions of the country. He therefore felt it to be his duty to support the motion of his Hon. Friend. Mr. GOSSETT, in explanation, merely stated that 'the mourners might have availed themselves of Cap tain White's boat, to have accompanied the coft from shore, and that some surprise was expressed at their not having done so. • General GASCOYNE said, it appeared from the last speaker's own admission, that the real complaint was confined to what had happened before the corpse left London. The Honourable Member for Aber deen, when at Brandenburgh House, with all that so-1 Ilemnity and grief which the occasion inspired, could not lay aside his-economy so far as to escape regret at , witnessing the great waste of superfine black cloth, which he foresaw must occur from decorating the, apartment in which the body lay with funeral em blems, for the short time the remains of her Majesty were to remain there I—(Laughter).—He then di verged from this topic to accuse the military of a ' want of discipline, for attacking the crowd, though, he admitted that they were placed in a very difficult position, being insulted and pelted till some of them dropped from their hones. Did he mean to say that when a person put on. a red coat he had no longer a right to defend his life? Or did he mean to say that the military were not to be called out to preserve the I peace, but merely to be used for the purposes of pageantry ? Did he mean to complain that the mili tary were employed at all? If so, be must wish that the body of the Queen had been wholly given up to '77 - :~ • Bet had thk bees been the consequence ? Th ey told that not a single soldie r Gent : tend m m a il n it .s a ti r l y v e jt: lnera ten , sdoalnioatfsytheit,74C°ne,bi King. He agreed with the Honour. Aberdeen this personalities were bad much regretted' an allusion liad:fallen , him (General Gascoyne) on a former night. The- Honourable GVntlennan bad, however, in a great measure alleviated and relieved those feelings of regret which he had experienced, by replying to it, not on the same night.--not in the heat of the moment—not - in the course of the de. bate; but by coming down on the following d ay , a f., ter having slept on is, and that too in the absen ce of the individual with whom be was a little at variance Mr. DENMAN spoke to order. As the allusioni referred to a former debate, and,from their charactet promised to be inconvenient to the House, he put it to the Chair if they were not better avoided ? • General GASCOYNE was about to reply; but wai restrained by cries of ig Chair, Chair !'' The SPEAKER said, that having been appealed to, he must declare that there could not be two opi nions on the subject. It was difficult fur him to inter fere on every breach of the rules of the House ; though the more the House departei from those rules, the greater would be the degree of inconve nience found. He would not justify himself for nr.t having before interfered ; and having suffered the breach of rule in the former instances, he must now put it to the House if they would allow him to inter fere at this point? at the same time, he pronounced the course of the Honourable and gallant Member to be contrary to the roles of the House. General GASCOYNE only meant to say, that'as he had made one personal allusion to the Honour able Member, the Honourable Member had made one still stronger regarding him. It Was too fre quent a pi actice with the Gentlemen on his right to affect a monopoly of independence—a ',Utile no more likely to belong to the opponents of every measure and opinion of - Ministers, than to those who occasiu. ally differed from both sides. He would c,,nclude with a remark from a very celebrated production-- "'Brother, brother, we are both in the wrong 1" Mr. PEEL . regretted the agitation of this ques• tion ; he had hoped the Hon. Member would not have brought it forward without very sufficient cause: his discretion was of course absolute in exercise, but it was for him (Mr. Peel) to explain the grod .‘l , - of his dissent. From the most careful perusal of all the papers which had come to his hands, he had a settled conviction that it was the earnest pur pose of Ministers to observe the dying %I/1 , 1.es of her late Majesty, and to shew her remains those ho nours due-to her rank. He ai preached the d 3.11 siun with a determination to narrow the limits of it as much as possible; he would confine his rerna: ks t.) the proceedings on her funeral.; he would i e,t his case on the speeches of the Members for Mo;arosc and Shrewsbury, as they were left by the Hon. and gallant Members who were concerned in the conduct of the funeral. Was it possible for the House to d: aw any other inference than the proof of a sinctsre ish • oil the part of Government to shew the remains of her Majesty the utmost respect ? One Gentleman had spoken who was connected with the epartment of the Lnrd Chamberlain ; another gallant and lit . nour able Member had related the arrangements as they regarded the army : the gallant and Honourable Admiral behind him had stated what related to the naval arrangements. The Members for Shrewsbury and Montrose admitted that in these various .:apart ments the Gentlemen had behaved with propriety. Surely it ought not to he a ground of charge that in one particular instance or two a failure had occulted. Would any man believe it possible that any mind but that of a tailor would have been occupied during the solemnity of a funeral with a consideration of the waste of superfine black cloth used as a means cf testifying respect to the remains of the deceased ? He thought the attempt equally poor to set up a case on what was called a mockery of respect in the pre sence of the military, when one ground of the com plaint was, that the military were all withdrawn at a certain point. He considered the proper question left for the House, after trying off the effect of the speeches on both sides, to be narrowed to the consideration of the conduct of the funeral from Colchester to Harwich. The rapidity of the re moval arose from the desire of Ministers to comply with the request of her Majesty to be removed out of the country in three days from her death. That wish had been, as nearly as circumstances would allow, complied with. One of the chief complaints was, that the body had not been removed, according to custom, by the yeomen of the guard ; but the thing happened on the funerals of the other branches of the Royal Family, among whom were the Duke of Gloucester and the Duchess of York. He (Mr. Peel) had been informed by a competent, and, as he con ceived, the first authority on the subject, that in the instances of the Duchess of York and the Duke of Kent, the body was not removed but by the orders of Government, through the medium of the persons in the Lord Chamberlain's department. The Noble Lord at the head of his Majesty's Government having communicated to the Hon. and Learned Gentleman the intention of Government to take on itself the charge of the funeral, and to defray the expenses and no objection being then made by him to that arrangement, no impediment was or could have been anticipated. With respect to the obstructions thrown in the way of the funeral procession, he did not be lieve that, in the annals of the world, a more flagrant or a more disgraceful outrage was to be found. If we had heard of such an occurrence in the case of any other country—if we had been told that, in thV," case of the funeral of a Queen Consort in anothdr i country, the orders of the King for the funeral hair been disputed, and the route prescribed for the pia cession had been obstructed, and the course of that procession changed by a mob, we should have drawn the conclusion that such a country was in the utmost state of anarchy and confusion. When he heard it said that the conduct of Government on that occa sion was in opposition to the inclinations and wishes of the People of England, he could not but call to mind the description of such a proceeding which had been given on a former evening by the Hon. Member for Hertfordshire (Mr. Lamb), in which he most cor dially ccncurred, and say that it was degrading the i character of the People of England to confound them qucll S law mud' the our 11 ; • there wa —(Hear, • A bad an o •H dead as 1 He couli was old this tour tul, he 1 • ... • . • . t ' i , • . . * ' • . . . ~ - - . , , ~ ' . , • • / 4 i . . ~ . , . • .* • :3,...: „. , tr.. 71". - - - 44 11 il 4 was turned out doors. Ati • ..,4" 4 , , isalaelfey that yneriVbilMikkoss, lie Isetesial t , 'mot 'Abe imiadace and their - . it was thought the most convenient opportu• 4.. highloot so '?NM- , . • , but lig aThadlits befog , to . what would have m putting on the hucription before it left Eng- Illeg *filch wick on her. Nobody' vas adenine .. ~ Id then have been t there a contest arose, which he would leave lie was taken as tool by . t ;,;,•,.., , caressed thiPy conld not be put' p 4pw 4wiet -With; Sad been appointed to • . others who were present to explain; he would 110 baser than he to I • "", . ambitious queen, and they couldne no toe. ,ut di, Oa. sort of the Xing, while ~:11r sav that the inscription was taken off, and a views . . Then came on a trial; to ', . • on' her the opal complaint agaik the vernmeni'iraw-aat•of the - Honourabk Gentili .cene tok place which was by no means creditable to last injury, which was stopped by the manly'virtue their conduct with respect to the procession. Why stowed near the King. the agents of Government employed on that occasion. and noble feeling which beat hif o h ni in the bosoms of refuse to it pats throutch tbe City? Why.refase able Member fee Aber _ . The funeral then proceeded on co Harwich, which the People of England (and .... Ing? It continue to allow the trst Corporation in the nation to pay improper; and he bad .. ~ •....A Arrir;vier Us heati-1 Marl. That trial vial remain a record of their respects to their depertedQueesi? Why direct that had-fallen from hi -- . ._ ._ ________ __ ..,:_ --- _- -11 .:...n.........._ former night. The- I'