Star. — London, England, 1821-07-07 00:00:00

. • • . t. ...- sas a nd t h e fib tiAffinT IV. Stat. 6.7, which are to be Wel in the year'grioks, concur in this doctrine.— ea Gen p roceeded to observe, that • ..linsu lAl lYnot`trntsble it Lordships with a recapi tulation of the arguments he had used. He had now closed the legal argument on behalf of the Queen, which, he conceived, had already established her case. Considering all the circumstances of the times, he had endeavoured to abstain from extraneous matter, and to confine himself strictly to the law of the case. He was happy in knowing that the disputes which had lately interrupted the discussion of this most im• portant question—that the various contentions by which the country had been distracted, would, in aftertimes, cease to influence men's minds on this question. They would not be under the necessity of recurring to remote ages for the purpose of explain ing that whiCh otherwise would appear almost unin- No; the question, if it ever should arise, woilld be decid ed by the labours of the present day, by the labotirs'V those who bad been occupied in searching into Abe history of the Saxon, Monarchs, and tracing tIA gediduct of.those who had succeeded the Norman Conqueror. Before this impartial and calm tribunal, all At heats and animosities which prevailed in the present day would vanish. They would sit in dignified judgment onthe opinion given by the great lawyers of the nineteenth century; and, as-he firmly believed, finding they had no difficulties to explain—perceiving that Owl had no obscurities to clear up—they would not be under the aecessity of referring to...those remote periods of our history to which he had been obliged to allude, but would look back to the first decision that had ever been given on this question, with that decided confidence which the names of those Privy Councillors before whom the case was argued would in aftertime command; a judgment which he ventured confidently to pro nounce would not derogate from the high character they had so long maintained. Mr. Mulles! felt that little was left for him to do, after the display of historical research and the pro . fluidity of legal argument by nhich the case of her Majesty had been supported by his Learned Friend. Its a case, however, of such vast importance, so inti. matcly interwoven with the great institutions of the country, so interesting to the nations around, and so sure to guile the judgment of all posterity, it would be inexcusable in him if he were to decline stating what was the impression on his mind on this subject. With respect to their Lordships, he had only to pray that he might not be supposed to compromise the rights of his Illustrious Client, if he addressed them in the language of deprecation, or if he seemed to re• quest a favour; and, on the other hand, he trusted they would not be offended, if, in stating the Queen's right with boldness and confidence, be should appear to anticipate, with anything like presumption, that judgment which he hoped and believed their Lord ships would ultimately give. Ile therefore entreated their Lordships to believe, that in the one case he did not mean to compromise or surrander. any right, and in the other, that he had no intention of treating their Lordships with disrespect, if he assumed that that which was clear to his own mind, must also be clear to the mind of every impartial man. The ceremony of the coronation of Kings and Queens of England was to be considered in various points: it was an an cient custom—it was a solemn compact—it was a re ligious solemnity—it was also a popular exhibition. In all that might fall from him in considering the coronation in its more important and solemn cha racter, he begged to be understood as throwing no reflection whatsoever on that part of it which might be considered merely ceremonial. On the part of her Majesty, and of those who were assigned to support her claims, neither here nor elsewhere had • one word of disrespect been uttered as to this impor tant ceremony. In.& free country, and in a Kingly State, much depended on the recollection of customs which had their origin in ancienttimes. The people viewed these sacred customs with respect and reve mime ; they tended to bind them more closely to established constitutions ; and new ones could not be established until they were removed. The recollec tion of those customs formed apart of the ties which, as well as his rights and his property, bound every man to his native land. There was a moral dignity in having tbose rights upheld in their integrity; and, where a recollection of ancient customs ceased to operate, such rights were either forgotten, or, if known, were not properly supported. It was, there fore, no small misfortune for any political institution to be divested of this character. An English travel ler, who had passed through the most prosperous part of America, and who spoke with rapture of everything he had seen, observed— ,, Still, there is one defect, which nothing but time can rernedy— namely, an absence of all ancient recollections. This defect was not overlooked by the extraordinary individual whose death had just been announced to the people of Europe, who, with resources almost inexhaustible, with military power unrivalled,' with counsellors the most sagacious, and with a train of ich illustrious acts as a soldier, as had scarcely ever before dignified that name, found it was impossible to form a Nobility without having recourse to the re collections of former ages. He spoke, therefore, of ancient customs and establishments with aU the re spect that was due to their antiquity. But it was necessary, with reference to the present case, to con sider the feelings with which they connected them selves, and to point out the principles on which they rested: and, if he might use the language of one of the greatest geniuses this country ever saw, and who might, perhaps, be considered her best historian, he would say— " This is the English, not the Turkish Court; " Not Arum-ads an Amuratls succeeds, " But Harry, Harry!".—.--- It was necessary, therefore, for this purpose, to exa mine the situation in which the Monarch of this Realm bad stood ; and to see whether they could not trace that which appeared at first view to be a theatrical exhibition, to principles with which the Constitution .of the country was nearly connected. The corona tion of the King of England rested on custom alone. There was no law to convene the subjects of the realm to witness the imposition of the crown on the Royal brow. Selden, in his work called." Titles of Ho nour," thought these distinctions not unworthy of the application of his great talents. In page 190, speaking of the coronation of the Emperor, he says, " he shall be, on his elevation to the dignity, crowned, si firte, non habuerit =rem ;" distinctly adding, " Si uxorens habuerit, tam neratteel coronari, conduct in eccleoir, ot debet larosterni ante altaria," &c. The prerogative and rights of the Queen were tra ced by this very ' able author through several Saxon institutions, to the ordinance of Ethelwolf, which, for reasons of policy, deprived the consort of the King of the title and style ofsQueen, and confined it to that of conjus. This ex ception, however, which proved the rule, never pre vailed except in tlft King's time. Throughout this work, one monition was constant and unvarying, namely, that no departure should ever be attempted with respect to the ancient observances and cus tomary forms on such extraordinary occasions. His Learned Friend's research had reached through the kingly history from William 1: to the present time. — He should recur to the principle on which rested the recognition of the Royal quality of a Queen. He, in , the next place, should advert to her as the mother is: those heirs who were in future to reign over the sub ject. There had, in early times, been always great disputes as to the succession, a misfortune which was rendered the more frequent, owing to the habits of Kings in those days, as well as by the custom of be trothing illustrious young persons together at a very early age, who were afterwards permitted to dissent from these engagements at a more mature period of life. These disputes also not unfrequently arose out of the interference of the Church whilst it was Catho lic,. as to the validity of marriages contracted within certain degrees of consanguinity. So Matthew Paris in his history stated, that in the case of Arvisa, the Archbishop interposed, and protested before King John she was not his lawful wife. That marriage was annulled. Considerable doubts, too, bad pre vailed with respect so the connection of CharleS 11. with Mrs. Waters, whom it was supposed he had man ied, which would have legitimated his son, the 'Duke of Monmouth. The Public were never satis fied until the King publicly disclaimed such a mar riage. The case of George I. would suffice to shew, that where a Monarch of another country came over to this country with a wife to assume the Royal au thority, that it was necessary a public coronation should take place, to set the matter at rest for ever. The cases of twenty-seven Queens of England all .crowned with their husbands, if previously married, bore most strongly on this question. There was but one exception, namely, that of Henrietta Maria, the Consort of Charles I. William, the Coixpieror, was crowned alone, his Duchess being in Normandy; Wil liam 11. died unmarried ; Henry 1. was cross aed with his wile; Henry H. was thrice crowned, at Lon ion, Lincoln, and Warwick, at each of his sons' births ; Richard was crowned in Cyprus with his Queen Bel ' lingeria ; Henry 111. was crowned alone; all the other Monarchs up to henry VIII. were similarly crowned with their wives, if they were married ; this last was certainly no very desirable precedent to quote as to the treatment of a Royal wife. Besides, such was the unsettled state of things about this time, that it may very fairly be doubted, whether, after the death of Anne Boleyn, any one dared to say, there was any Church in this country, or not, at the hazard of their lives. Three out of four of this King's wives were his own subjects ; the fourth, Anne of Cleves, was so' glad to be separated from him, that she acceded to a proposition to be considered and addressed as his sis ter. The case of Henrietta Maria was one of great peculiarity ; she was a Papist, and came into Eng land, at a period when that Religion was peculiarly obnoxious and detested, and when all the laws against Popish recusants were in full vigour and malignancy; for Charles I. to have issued a Proclamation for her being crowned,.would have brought on himself all the weight of unpopularity, and in the minds of the Public have excited unappeasable alarm. His ac quiescence in the popular prejudice should not be taken as a precedent against the present claim, where all the precedents save this were on the opposite side. If the King on this occasion addressed his wish to her that she should assent to be absent from the ceremony, it was a proof that she was possessed of the right to be crowned, though she waived it in consideration of his peace. But it was the peculiar misfortune of his Royal client to be placed in such a situation that she was neither solicited to yield, nor could she in jus tice to her own character yield that which, had she been otherwise circumstanced, she would have felt a delicate pleasure in conceding to her Royal consort, could it have been given up without making agreatcr sacrifice of character and importance on her own part. The custom of the realm was part of the common law of the land, to which even the King himself was subject. " Nihil died poles! re:, pant quoddejurepotest." Lord Coke had said that a King could not create a king within the realm, as in the case of Beauchamp, created King of the Isle of Wight by Henry VI. Nothing, in fact, but an actof the Legisla ture could alter the law of the land. The coronation was a solemnity in which his Majesty took an oath to ob serve the laws and customs of this realm. It should not, therefore, be slightly altered, and it would be indeed dangerous to say, that the King had it in his power to exclude the highest subject in the land, and rob the ceremony of some of its most imposing fea tures by doting so. Was it contended, that the King could exclude every Peer of the realm from attend ing, as he might do, at a ball or a banquet at his Palace ? Such restrictions, on what the law phrase said was to be solemner adults, a solemn ceremony, would go far towards vitiating its solemnity alto gether, and tend to destroy the security of that on which his own right depended. Could the Earl Mar shal, or the Constable of England, who we re mere ly ornamental appendages of this ceremony, be ex ' eluded ? Certainly not. How then could they ex clude the more essential participator in this cere-. mony, the Queen ? Who could be more important in the eyes of the nation to be strictly defined and pointed out than the woman whose children were to govern this People in after ages, when the Ki ng was gathered to his ancestors ? Protect then the Royal mind from the fatal influence of feelings directly contrary to those in which such a ceremony should be conducted, and let there be no such material de parture from ancient custom and usage in a ceremony which, as COmyn in his Digest talk " Dignity," had detailed with so much caution, using the words usual to every item of description to guard against error in a ceremony of such high dignity, that it entailed the dignity of Esquire on every person officiatihg at it as an attendant on their Majesties. If those rights were matter of grace and favour, he should like to know the proof by which such a position could be esta blished? William I. had his Queen crowned imme diately on her arrival in this country, and so had the .--,.._ - Henries and the Edwards their Omni crowned im mediately on their becoming Queens; but who could thence prove that their Coronations were the regula tions of those Monarchs? The Dei Gratist was net conferred by the pleasure of the King, but by the laws. He was quite at a loss to know by what argu ments on the other side such a proposition would be ' established. If from the beginning of time it was determined that the rights of the Queen should be regulated, should be supported on fixed principles, he should like to know how it could be shewn, that the possession or the exercise of them rested solely upon an act of kindness on the part of the King, and not upon the fixed custom of the country. ,If the summonses to the Peers and to the other per sons required to attend were the same for the coro nation of both, it would be too much to say that those rights were solely possessed through the acts of grace and favour of each King ; it would be too much to maintain that those acts of favour and grace were requisite its acknowledgments of those rights. When Prince Henry, son of Henry H. had married a Prin cess of the Royal House of France, who had not been about to be crowned with him, the Court of France remonstrated with him, and demanded satisfaction for • the indignity and insults offered to one of the Princesses of that kingdom, although she was then his wife. It was dented that the father and uncle of that Queen-consort had sufficient ground for looking upon the refusal to have her crowned as an indignity and as a violation of the stipulations of the marriage contract ; for, although the right of being crowned had not been explicitly stated in the marriage arrange ments, yet it was without doubt implied, and the re fusal of it had therefore been regarded as an insult. When, therefore, the father of the present Queen had signed the marriage contract, by which his daughter became the wife of the Prince of Wales, he virtually stipulated that when that Prince should have suc ceeded to the throne of his ancestors, those rights to which his wife should as Queen become entitled, the placing of the Crown, among others, upon her head, as on the head of all the former Queens of Eng land, should be given to her; that that Princess who had become by the marriage the Princess of Wales, and wife to the Heir Apparent to the Throne, should, on her husband's becoming Monarch, parti cipate in all the honours, privileges, and preroga tives, as each former Queen of England had done.— Was it therefore to be assumed that, because her Majesty had lost her friends—because her father-in law could not new take her under his protection— because there was no power upon the Continent to speak for her, her claims were less powerful, her right less valid, that Englishmen would be more cal lous to her being possessed of those rights to which her birth, her rank, and her name entitled her? Her rights might be said to be founded upon custom ; that was true ; her Majesty founded her right upon custom. Would to Goy that she could now ask any claim from her Royal Consort' ith an expectation of receiving that boon, or that she could, consistently with her rank and dignity, waive any of her rights to gratify the wishes of that Royal Personage I But that could not now be.. Her Majesty founded her right to be crowned upon custom, and if custom was not secure, there was nothing secure in the country. —The crown itself (continued Mr. Denman) is sup ported by custom. Why do we now submit to a , King, or to the government of a King? Because, at all times a King had subsisted in this country; be cause time, beyond memory, proves that a Kingly Government had been the practice of England.— Nothing, therefore, can be more dangerous than a separation . of the privileges and rights which custom has interwoven with the very nature and existence of those institutions. Why do Juries daily decide upon the properties and lives of their fellow men ? Why do the Peers assemble in the House of Lords, or the Commons in their House? Or why do the King, Lords, and Commons, legislate for us and the people of this kingdom? It is because custom,long-fixed esta blished custom, has sanctioned all those institutions. If custom be destroyed, away with titles, dignities, offices, property, and all that is valuable to us as sub jects and as men. Prescriptive tight alone preserves us from anarchy and confusion. I say not this to derogate from the value of those possessions, but to add to their support ; to prove that they are founded upon the surest grounds, the soundest principles that guide the human heart. But without the consequences it is impossible that we should enjoy the benefit of the principles ; if we admit the premises, we must also admit the deductions. Remove, therefore, the land marks of custom, and away with all the grounds of allegiance and obedience; all the pillars of society will be shaken, and we shall be plunged amidst the ruin of all the institutions into that state of confusion hich we all deprecate and which we all abhor."— I le would not speak of the circumstances of the case. His Learned Friend had not done so, so neither would he. Her Majesty, in the present instance, stood for ward to vindicate the rights, not only of herself, but of the future Queens of England ; and not only of the Queens, but of every subject of England's future Mo. narchs. Injustice to one, was injustice to all; if the rights of one were successfully invaded, so might the rights of every subject : if the rights of the first sub ject might be violated with impunity, by how much greater care might not those of the lowest? His Learned Friend and he, he hoped, had shewn, that those rights belonged to the Queen ; they had even done the duty of their adversaries, for they had shewn that in each interruption in the long list of coronations through which they had travelled, not one exception had sufficient weight to prove that the Queens had at any time forfeited, lost, or suffered their rights to be lost or forfeited. James 11. and Charles 11. afforded I no proofs against them, and neither did the case, much misrepresented elsewhere, of the wife of George I.— The marriage of that King had not been celebrated in England, his divorce had not been known in Eng land, his wife had never visited England, and as even the Electress of Hanover she was there unknown. If she had come to England, and then claimed the rights of Queen, then the cases might be parallel, but she had not done so. Upon the prescription and customs of the country the Queen founded her rights; upon that principle which the Barons in the reign of Henry 111. had maintained, when they declared, Nelumus kges Anglia mutare qua ab antiquo usitatee suet. He had therefore shewn, that the right of the Queen to be crowned could not be alienated nor lost. He would make no observations, after the able comments of his Learned Friend, upon the Liber Regalis, for they would be unnecessary ; he would merely state that that book, in speaking of the various ceremonies practised up,, the occasion of the coronations, never failed to the words, Ab antiquo usu et de consueludi ne rep.; He would not therefore fatigue their Lortishi p ,°; • going over those arguments which had already ben)! so ably stated. He hoped that what he had st , tei would not tend to weaken their force, nor the stro : , case which had been laid before their Loriship: That case was so strong, that in no Court of Ju, could it be got over. The claim which her M a j est , had put forth was in self-defence. It was a duty Nl' the part of her Majesty, stronger in his opinion the duty she had had to perform when she had b called to another Bar to answer to charge s „, eit against her. He thought so, because, if the c l et. urination there had been unfavourable, there m o t have been various explanations given which wo o l] vindicate her Majesty's honour; but if she suffe re j her right to be unclaimed in circumstance s w hi ff made it as clearly her right as any rights belongic, to their Lordships or to any English subject, L.l longed to them, she felt that she would be sacrificioz her own honour and the most sacred principles of j t , tire. It would have been easy for her Majesty t o b a , e purchased tranquillity by the loss of honour ; but th at 'was a purchase foreign to her feelings, and incoft s k. tent with her character. It was not for the c a ke ' the pageantry of a coronation that her Majesty n o , came forward : to her mind it would bring recollec. tions of the most painful nature; but a deep %rule of duty, which it belonged not to her magnanimity to neglect, impelled her to defend het own right, and the rights of the community, which could not be Sa cure it bet's wet e violated. But the c(msci , r 3sne „ e r her own integrity, aft of having pet formed her duty, would induce her Majesty to submit with 6, 111 4 ness and resignation to any decision their landthip s might pronounce. After Mr. DENMAN hid concluded, Mr. 'Jammu...Nl stated, that he had certain into ments to lay before the Court. The LORD Cu. Nc eL;.oit inquired whether the i were verified as exact copie.? Mr. Boot:C:11AM re;ilied in the negative. Sufficien t time to compare them with the or iginal had not beta allowed. If, however, their Lordships would take them de Lene es.x, he had no doubt that they mdi be proved, if necessary, to be exact with the origin a l, The Court Was then ordered to be cleared, and strangers retired. After the Court had deliberate, for about a quarter of an hour, the doors v. et e o f and Counsel were called in. A conversation NI took place between the LORD CHANCELLOR, the At. lORREY-GENERAL, Mr. BROUGHAM, and Lord Hu. ROWDY, in which it was regulated that the deo ments should be received, on condition that then should, if required, be compared with the origin: l , and proved to be correct. Lord HARROWBY then stated, that the Court had agreed to adjourn to to-morrow morning at let o clock, when the Attorney and Solicitor-tit:err! were to be heard, in reply to the arguments wbia had already been advanced at the Bar. PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS. nousr. OF LORDS, JULY 6. The Earl of SHAFTESBURY presented a Petitlna Eta ChigweU, in the County of Essex, in favour cf the Bill (turn venting Cruelty to Horaes.—Laid on the tab'.e. The Assessed Taxes Composition Bill was read a third tin, and pasted. The Duke *of Clarence's Provision 8111, the Approprittia Bill, the Bankruptcy Court Bill, the Customs Officers Reif Bill, the Exchequer Bills for Public Works mu, the Metrych Police Bill, tke Lotteries Bill, the Irish Stamp Dtities and tit Tobacco Duties Bills, went respectively through Comnsittts and were reported.—Adjourned to Monday. THE EVENING STAR. LONDON. SATURDAY, JULY 7, 1821. THE FUNDS. PRICES OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONt O'CLOCK: Bank Stock 233-3 per Cent. Reduced 77 77% i ft 3 per Cent. Cons. 78 3 / 4 3 / 4 1 / 1 ex. div. 4. per Cent. 95 3 / 4 1 / 4 —Navy 108 3 / 4 les 14 ex. div. Lg. Anns. 19 5-16 3 / 4 —Exch. Bills. 2s. 4s. ss. pr. Consols for Account 78 78 3 / 4 A. It is not his MAJEsry's intention to go in person to close the present Session of Parliament. The proro gation will take place by Commission. We have received, this forenoon, the Paris Papers of Wednesday. They are quite barren of intelligence. It is mentioned, as matter of report, that four Colo nels of the Royal Guard, attended by their Adjutant. Majors, ate to make part of the Extraordinary Ea bassy from France, which is to be present at the Coronation of our KlNG.—French 5 per Cents. Tues. day, 86fr.5c. A Mail from Flanders has anived this foremen with Papers to the 3d of July. The following is 5 5 extract : TRIF.STE, JUNE 12. We have just received letters from Zante of a verl late date; the following are the most remarkable particulars they contain : " The extirpation of Christianity in Greece is the plan of the Turks, who seem . resolved to ruin them selves, notwithstanding the moderation of the ails' tian Princes. " Letters received at Zantc inform the faithful, that besides the other martyrs who have sealed with their blood the cause of the faith, the Rorneli, Who commands at Joannina, has hanged Gabriel, Arch. bishop of Joannina, a venerable man, well knots for his exemplary life, as well as several other Prelate% under the pretext that they encouraged the rebelbo Fresh alarms are excited at Prevasa, for the fated the Christians of that town. It was feared that the Turkish Army besieging Joannina would be obliged to fall back. towards L'Arta, and it is probable that on its retreat it would massacre all the Greeks. It is supposed, however, that the Tut ks bo.greoll mss• .. ,