The National Register.
London, England, 1820-07-03 00:00:00

etr

No. 1,252—V0L. XIII.]

THE QUEEN.

Flews the first agitation of the important question
regarding her Majesty, we determined, and w•e ad.
tiered closely to our determination, not to go fully
into the subject, so long as a possibility of avoiding
it existed. The opening of the GRPFN BAR before
the Secret Committee of the House of Lords " shuts
the door of accommodation in our face," and now,

though obliged to do so, it is with pain, grief, and
shame for human nature, that we at last take up our
pen to review the conduct of his Majesty's advisers
upon the late occasion respecting the Queen. We say
" his Majesty's advisers," for we arc persuaded, and
there is every reason to believe,that the King,whether
right or wrong in his views of his Consort's conduct,
had he followed his own judgment, would have in-
stituted proceedings in an open, manly, and straight-
forward manner, and not have convulsed the country
by attempting a mode of proceeding inconsistent
with the common forms of justice; making the
Parliament as once judge and jury, and, we may
say, (if a Bill of attainder, or divorce, or any other
sentence upon a proceeding of an extraordinary na-
ture takes place), in some degree, executioners
alau—for this is the direct consequence of a pro-
ceeding by a Secret Parliamentary Green Bag
Committee. Besides, the strong suspicion which
must attach to a Committee nominated by Ministers,
and the necessary influence of political power in
such a case, wielded in a judicial matter; and above
all, the usual mode in Secret Committees, of only
examining papers, and not personal evidence, upon
which to found a charge against a stranger, a wo-
man, and a Queen—
" Mark, the progress of these men 1"

Tbeyare desired to institute proceedings against the
Queen; they have the papers and information be-
fore them; they declare that they cannot, upon
legal grounds, institute a criminal prosecution;
they arc threatened with dismissal ; they agree if
theQuetti should come over to England, to try what
may be done in Parliament ; and they use their
influence there, to supply, as they pretend, the de-
fect of law. Not having, as it appears, any formed
plan upon which to proceed, they consent, for the
sake of keeping their places, to do what the -King
(who, with his impressions, must naturally be
somewhat under the influence of human passions,)
wishes, if possible, and if not, to make a merit with
the King of having done all they can to serve his
views. They put to sea, reedy to drive before any
wind—but put to sea they must. Not caring what
the public may think of a Secret Committee, of men
sitting, in an extra-judicial shape, upon the charac-
ter and honour of a woman, with respect to charges
upon which they have not the honesty or the deci-
sion to give an opinion, and to act: not caring what
impression is made upon the nation, not only as to
their own character, of which they scent heroically
regardless, but also as to their royal master, in per-
mitting a Secret Committee to supply the place of a
regular and responsible prosecution. They ask the
Parliament to do what they themselves skulk as long
as they can, and keep their places, from doing.
For what purpose can they have wanted a Secret
Committee? It cannot re .11y be to supply the de-
fect of law. If the crime be not a statutably trea-
sonable adultery, still they ought to apply surely in
some cpen way fora divorce. If adultery be the
crime, committed where or how it may, divorce is
suiiicient, we presume, for them. It ia nut neces-
sary, became they have insulted the object of their
resentment, that they should also have her blood ;
or, surely if they were greedy of her biood, they
might Live prosecuted her under the statute, and
the exception to time applicability of the statute might
have been made either he lirni"e, or in arrest of
„judgment if conviction should take place. If al-
;owed in lanine, then an ordinary proceeding for
simple divorce might take place; or, if in arrest of
judgment, still upon u ge.. al verdict, or even spe-
cial verdict, there would be sonic ground Mr
demanding the aid of the legislature; or, if a difii-
eulty occurred upon legal points in commenciog a
judicial proceeding, • Cleo on inquiry, open and un-
disguised by Grcen Bags. t have limn instituted
before the Commons, as in the case of the late Lord
l~lelville; and impeachment tr trial, with a view to
divorce, might have ken demanded of the I louse of
Lords by the Commons, and then at least there
would be an open, clear, and wanifebt judicial