The National Register. — London, England, 1820-10-02 00:00:00

Till; QUEEN. The general attention has recently been so un devidedly devoted to one subject, and that subject has been treated unon in so many different ways, that it appears to be almost exhausted, vet there are two or three points in the discussion connected with the Queen, which appear by her most zealous advocates to have been hardiy touched upon. In the first place, if the conduct of the Queen be all which it is alleged to be, it ought to be remem bered, that in the statutes relating to lewdness and incontinence, is a particular provision, that no prose cution shall take place at a greater distance of time than eight months after the offence is alleged to have been committed; and now it appears that three years have elapsed since the time when the Queen is last supposed to have been guilty of the adulterous in - tercourse with which she is charged ; and we con• eeive that this principle of limitation, in this and a variety of other instances, is in conformity with the deep and sound principles of christianity, which suppose that repentance and amendment may blot out past offences ;—and if even the Queen had been guilty of what she is charged with, is not a period of three years, and especially since in the course of that three years her only child has died, sufficient to have brought about a change of sentiment an d con duet ? And why ia the Queen (by a Bill of Pains and Penalties made to supersede and annihilate law) to be made responsible for offenws after such a period, tOutrary to all the principles of established law ? If this istoutinence alleged is to be considered, though committed not within the pale and operation of English law, as an offence against English law, why is the offender to be deprived of the saving clauses of the English law ?—Surely the dreadful conse quences of vice committed before an individual comes to a throne, are not such as to make it impos- sib le that no change of conduct may take place ! If tkey be, what shall we say to Kings who may have been the most profligate Princes? And if the Queen had all her rights as Queen, and held her drawing rooms, no one would be obliged to go into her pre sence who did not clime it—it would not be com pulsory: and were she ever so bad a character, it would not be the first time that a Queen of indif ferent character has been heard of in the history of nations, and who was yet let alone. It is to be lamented that in Kings or Queens any blemish of an extraordinary and notorious kind should be ma nifest; but after all, Kings and Queens are only men and women, and have the faults of both sexes ; end it is for the general good and convenience of human society under a monarchy, so long as that form of government remains approved in such soci ety, that respect and honours attached to situations of supreme governors should not be removed except in some very flagrant and extreme cases obviously demanding degradation for the public good, upon plain and palpable principles of law and morality, of self-preservation on the part of the people, or some thing plainly allied to self-preservation on the part of the government. Indeed, in society, many and great evils arc to be borne rather than risk the sta bility of an established system of things, or bre:.k in upon a sort of mysterious reverence for situation in monarchy, where honour, and, of course, external respect is necessary and inherent in its existence; and if this is a defect in the form of government (as perhaps we arc disposed to think it i.), it is yet inhe rent in the principle of monarchy us a form of government. We only ask those who pretend to support and to be attached to monarchy, in the ab stract, in any shape, as a form of government, how they dare to Le guilty of such gross inconsistencies as to be ready to break in upon the ordinary forms and principles of law, for the sake of visiting the offences of monarchy, instead of leaving them to be visited only when a necessity not contrary to, but arising out of, the principles of law, and superior to • NATIONAL REGIrtER, all law, and involving the claims of equity, and the very preservation of the government itself, make uch visitation indispensable? and whatever might be the inconvenience and embarrassment arising from having a Queen supposed to be as dirty as the green bag would make lice out to be, such a case would y t never involve a state-necessity of this kind; for, if strict morality, and not public conve rience, were the ground-work of the stability of monarchy, we are sorry to sa►y that monarchy would never have lasted half a century in any kingdom or in any nation. Another and unanswerable objection to the Bill is, that the party who makes the marriage contract is one of the three branches of the legisla ture who is to make this same contract void. Now if any human obligation is contracted between two parties, it surely can never be just that one of the contracting parties should be able to set aside the contract, except by a regular judicial process; and a man who marries a woman can never be justified in getting a parcel of servants and a host of particular friends and adherents to be a jury, to whom he is to appeal upon the subject of such a difference between him and his wife, and upon the consent of those alone who are notoriously favourable to him and his views in general, to set aside a contract made in the face of heaven, and only voidable by adultery on the part of the wife, clearly proved before impartial and disinterested witnesses. It is not enough to say that among those to whom the appeal is to be made, there are many even bitter opponents to him. If the majority are his adherents and particular friends, and a majority are to decide, the pretence that there is a minority not well disposed towards him would be ridiculous. Either a contract of this solemn nature ought to be set aside by a jury whom no one would, on common principles of human justice, impeach, or not attempted to be set aside at all. And as to de gradation without divorce, it 44 absolutely impious to expect him (who has sworn to love, honour, and cherish his wife, so long as she is his wife, " till death do them part") to degrade and injure that wife ! Can those who are such sticklers for moral and social obligation whenever the violation thereof can be pleaded in argument against their opponents, can they take away the title of Countess or Marchioness, &c. from a woman with out divorcing her "a vinculo matrinumii?" Can they deprive her of her privileges and rights as a wife any further than those of intercourse of bed and board, under certain circumstances, without a lawful dissolution of the marriage contract ? They cannot—they cannot strike out from matrimony what is inherent in it, not only as a social, but a divine obligation, while it exists, unless death separate the parties who have contracted. Who are the blas phemers ? Gracious Heaven ! Who are the seditious here ? Those, we affirm, who would trifle with this contract; and we have no hesitation in saying, that if Parliament attempt to separate from a sacred obligation that which, while the obligation is un dissolved, is inherent in it, Parliament will do an act of impiety. The fact is, that by travelling out of the plain road of law and justice, the ministers, many of them individually honest and well inten• tioned men, though too much led by party spirit and a desire to retain their power, have placed Parlia ment, the country, the crown, and themselves in a very lamentable situation. They cannot retract without danger to themselves, and they cannot go on without violating justice, if they do what they propose, and without risking the best interests of the country. Already, indeed, the evil done is be. yond all calculation, but they may yet avert danger to themselves, and save the country from peril, if they will but come forward after the Queen's defence has been heard, and if they are wholly satisfied with the same, acknowledge they are so ; if nut still acknowledge that the nature of the evidence and the circumstances of the case, at all events, do not justify them in persisting in the prosecution, that they have done what they thought best, and that if they have been mistaken, they throw themselves on the candour of the public, and, to shew that they did not act as they have acted, with a view to their own interests or ambition, let them resign their places, and promise to support such a mild and conciliatory system of government and public measures, as shall cause the present fermentation of men's minds to subside. IVe have no motive in this advice, but a sincere desire of public happiness. We neither court the smile, nor fear the frown of ministers or opposi tion ; but we are convinced that the present coun sels of government cannot, and ought not to stand. Extract of a Letter, dated Oporto, Sept. 13 What do you think of the heroism of the pimple of Oporto ? Are they not a daring set to attempt such a change without being organized, and pre viously on a good understanding with the rest of the Grandees. However, the fact is, they were tired of oppression and excessive despotism; the voice of the nation was general, and it only wanted a beginning. Thus it Wag left a second time for the people of ()porta to strike the blow ; and, now it is struck, we find ourselves with all the north of Portugal in our favour, with even considerable de sertion from Lisbon to the good cause. The key of the river Tagus, Fcrt St. Julian, is in the posses. awn of the artillery of Lisbon, and in our favour. The citizens of Lisbon in general (but particularly the military) are in the Oporto cause; but, the old governors holding good places, it goes hard wick them to resigm them. The Portuguese Regency have issued a Procla mation, convoking the Cortes, at the same time that they designate the gallant Patriots at Oporto Insurgents. The Members of the Regency how ever content themselves with treading in their track, and following them as their leaders. The coquetry of indirectly aspersing the Patriots of Oporto, is probably to conciliate, in some degree, the Court of the Brazils, as it very probable the Regents will ultimately be sent off to the Brazils, as Portugal will dispense with their future services. Cite Junta of the Supreme Government of the Kingdom have issued an animating address to the people of Lisbon, and the spirit of Liberty is extending itself in every direction. The powerful voice of a nation cannot be resisted, and they are determined to be free.— Portugal is tranquil, and whether the Cortes arc assembled by the Regency or the Constitutionalists, they must produce an important change. Portugal is our ancient ally, and we must rejoice in every circumstance that adds to her happiness, or improves her condition. The revolution, like that of Spain and Naples, recognizes the sovereign, and it is likely. to succeed without a civil commotion, which seldom ends otherwise than in military tyranny, or some fatal change for the worse. Extract of a letter, dated Glasgow, Sept. 21:— " On Saturday last an Address to the Queen having been set in motion in this City, the inhabitants were invited by - hand-bills to sign it it! the Laigh Kirk Sewsion•House. On Monday many signatures were obtained; but the Magistrates interfered, declared they would not allow the Address to remain there; and on being remonstrated with, the Acting Chief Magistrate said, if it was not instantly taken away, he would send a pouc of constables, :tnd enforce his orders. It was dim removed to Mr. Tnmbull's Session House, Campbell-street. In the course of the first eight hours no fewer than 8000 persons signed the Address ; 15.0(X) nine signatures were affixed yesterday, and about 3,000 tc•day ; making altogether 26,000." Springfield new Bridge.—.Thc new beautiful gothic iron bridge, lately opened to the public over the River Chalmer, in the County of ESFCX, in the Great East Road leading from Chelmsford to Col chester, Harwich, &e. is the first bridge in this country ever erected, without resting on or thrusting against piers, it being a flat straight-line bridge. similar to the same architect's design of Waterloo, but without any spandells, it having nearly a straight cord, keeping together the basement ends of the eliptic arches, which cross the river in one span, resting wholly on cast-iron columns driven into the river banks on which it is placed. Being a a bridge on the principle of tenacity, the principal stress and pull on the iron is longitudinally. There arc groves on the top of those iron columns, on which the whole bridge has room to contract or expand, so necessary from the changes in this country from heat to cold, as the other previous iron bridges have suffered materially from the want of this pre caution. In short, evidence has been given bethre the House of Commons that the arches of the Southwark Bridge rise from two to two and a hal inches in the middle of the day, and settle again in the evening. Of those iron columns introduced on the river, instead of piers or buttresses, if they resist the floating ice, of which, from their strength and dimensions there can be no doubt, Mr. Dodd, the engineer, has certainly introduced an economical plan in bridge building, as in this there is no occa sion for expensive batterdeaux, coffer damns, &c. a saving most desirable_ in the expensive work of bridge building. $l6