The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1820-06-24 00:00:00

THE QV

The House of Commons wit/ meet thitieveninis,
for the sole purpose of receiving the Query's
answer to the Address voted yesterday monitor,
but which, in consequence of the very advanced
hour at which the eliiisom took place, was not pre-
waited to her M %JESTY until three o'clock iii the
afternoon. The *lnner, we cannot doubt, will he
in conformity with the wishes expressed by ti-.e
majority of the House of Commons; for how could
her Meactere venture to oppose herself singlv
unsupportedagainstof
such
an
overwhelming
motion
are The terms
are undoubtedly so expressed, Es to guard against
the possibility of its being ever conceived that any
concemion now made by the Quers upon those
points which had occasioned the failure of the late
negociation, could be construed into an admission
on her part derogatory to her MAJESTY'S honour
mid dignity, or as evincing a disposition to shriek
from the moot rigid inquiry; still there are some
circumstances involved in this proceeding of the
House of Commons which cannot be considered 's,
quite free from objection. We are, indeed,
cerely rejoiced that by any means the disclosure of
the scandalous gleanings from Italy, contained in
the green bag, should be avoided ; yet it may we;
be asked why the House of Commons, without
any means of determining the innocence or critM-
notify of the QUEEN, should, by so large a mokar
as supported Mr. Wstnettootten's 'notion, express
their opinion that the Queen of ENGLAND ought
to yield a point which, in her Maicrry's mind, in-
volved her boomer and dignity, and still more whe
they should appeir so extremely anxious to induce
her to leave the country ? We certainly do not
condemn Mr. WILBERFORCE, and the majoritv of
the House of Commons who voted with him, for
having adopted this very anomalous mode of pro-
cedure; but we cannot contmend the Minister..
by whose instrumentality Pailiament has been
placed in so very novel and painful a situation. It
is now very evident, from the events which have
taken place, that the Ministers of the Crew!' were
under no absolute necessity of advising the Kivu,
to commuuicate to Parliament the papers contain-
ing matters of charge against the QUEEN. There
was an alternative open to them, which the House
of Commons has compelled them to adopt, and
through which this distress:tig case will, we trust,
be at length adjusted. This alternative of nego-
ciation they might have pursued with as much fa.
cility and advantage before they had made the
communication to Parliament as afterwards, and hav-
ing commenced the negotiation, they might have
conducted it to a fortunate issue by making such a
public avowal of the Qucex's rights and dignities,
and such all acknowledgment that no concesssione
upon her part could be construed into an admission
derogatory to her honour, or as evinciog any dis-
position to shrink from inquiry, as they have now
consented to make in conjunction with the House of
Commons, and in the attitude of humble suppli-
cants to her MAJESTY. All that the QUEEN and
her official advisers required in the late negociations
was, that her rank, title, and dignity should he
publicly and officially conceded, as the only ad-
missible basis of further arrangements. The re-
storation of her name to the Liturgy was suggested.
as the most obvious and natural mode of effecting
this object, but that the object itself was more
prised than the means, was manifest, from the cir-
cumstance that this point was suggested with an al-
ternative; and it is not improbable that with this
facility upon the part of the QUEEN, her MAJESTY
would have conceived that her object had been ef-
fected, if the Ministers of the Crown had made a
public declaration similar to that in which they have
concurred with the House of Commons. The con-
duct of Minister. in this distressing business has
throughout been undecided and wavering. In the
commencement it betrayed timidity, mingled with
precipitation ; in its progress it wanted both judg-
ment and firmness; used now, if the affair draw
happily to a conclusion, the country will owe
this advantage exclusively to the interference of
the House of Commons, who, however, have
been compelled to act upon the most violent pre-
sumption in the absence of proof, and to couch
their advice in hints, which would be unintelligible:
were it not for the commentary which every OW
in the country must supply as well as he can Item
vague and crude conjectures.
When the copies of the correspondence teed of
the protocols of the conferences in the late iicgo-
elation were published, we took the liberty of
painting out the great and manifold advantar.%
which the QUEEN had obtained during the progress
of the discessions. 'These advaidages were enume-
rated by Mr. BROUGHAM during the debate mi
Thursday night as topics of congratulation for her
MAJESTY, yet great and signal as they were they
sink into unimportance in computisou with the
triumph which was reserved for her by the
proceedings in the House oC Comment. Iler


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