The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT of tlid JULIE JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF Tilt:
(From the Times.)
We have let pass, longer perhaps than we ought to
have done, the infamous treatment experienced by an
illustrioug arid exemplary woman at the hands of Queen
Victoria's Ministers, through their hired agents of the
Downing-street press. But yesterday's morning paper
has so far outraged every law of decencyl and every
practice of civilised society, that further forbearance
would be a gross insult to our readers, and downright
treason to our own sense of duty, as subjects and as
men. The intended victim of this ruffianly brutality is
—guess who ? No other than Queen Adelaide, one
of the most unobtrusive, inoffensive, amiable, and vir-
tuous ladies in this island! Queen Adelaide was com-
pelled, as is very well known, to try the climate of the
Mediterranean for her health during the whole of last
winter. On her voyage out or home, we do not recol-
lect which, the Hastings, which conveyed her Majesty,
touched at Lisbon, and it certainly was whispered, we
hope untruly, that whatever courtesies may have been
received by the Royal invalid in that port, she was not
indebted for an undue share of respect to any func-
tionaries or employes of Lord Melbourne's Govern-
ment. The slanderers who write for the Ministerial
press have opened, however, a fresh vein of com-
mentary upon the visit of Queen Adelaide to Lis
bon, and on her Majesty's proceedings there.
" During her recent absence " (viz., her vale-
tudinarian exile, says this lying impostor), " her
great delight in the societies in *hich she
mingled was to indulge in ill-natured criticisms on the
Queen (Victoria). When she was at Lisbon, for instance,
the decrying Queen Victoria was her favourite theme. At
the Duke of Palmella's she took every opportunity of
sneering at her Majesty, whose most innocent gratifica
tions were tortured into charges against her. Among
other grounds of dissatisfaction with the Queen, was her
visiting Drury-lane Theatre and the Opera. In the
true Airs. Candour style the Queen Dowager observed
that she was not aware whether her Majesty was a fre-
quent attender of Church, but it could not be doubted
she was a frequent attender of the theatre ; and the
enjoyment of an opera on a Saturday night was not,
perhaps, the best preparation for Sunday devotions."
Such is the decorous language held towards the widow
of poor King William ! Now, it were useless to mince
matters with fellows like the fabricator of these base
falsehoods. There never yet were penned or uttered a
series of downright untruths, more unmanly (ungentle-
manly is too weak a word), more mean and paltry, more
flagitious and rancorous—nay, to those who have ever
known Queen Adelaide, more despicably ludicrous, than
those we have just quoted. There does not live a more
kind or considerate, a more discreet or less uncharitable,
Princess, or one who has always been more sensitive in
her perceptions of what best became her own character
and dignity in her relation to others. We defy and
human being to bring evidence of her having ever ex-
pressed herself in terms otherwise than most respectful
and affectionate towards the niece of her deceased
Sovereign at home or abroad— in London, at
Bushy, at Lisbon, or at Malta. We pronounce
the whole tale to be one wicked calumny, and
challenge the morning Cabinet libeller to pro-
duce one atom of credible authority for his
wretched servants'-hall tattle. At the same time we

will take leave to say, that if Queen Adelaide had
(though she did not) hinted a serious disapproval of
the never-ending scenes of frivolous and dissipated idle-
ness, plays, operas, balls, dinners, crowds, without inter-
mission, into which those whose duty it was to have
advised better habits have, until recently, from the very
first hour of her reign, contrived to plunge their inno-
cent and unpractised Mistress, the Dowager Queen
might have said no more than many parents would be
ready to sanction, as springing from genuine, conscien-
tious, maternal anxiety for the safe progress of ill-guided
youth, responsible for much, yet unprepared in all
things. Again, the monstrous charge is brought
against Queen Adelaide, that "she is bent on mischief ;"
that, " she is delighted to act a part which she thinks
may annoy her Royal Mistress ;" that " she makes a
parade of her Tory predilections, and of her hatred
of all who" support the Government of Queen Victoria ;"
that " she seems anxious to show her Queen how
much higher she stands with the Tories than her Mis-
tress ;" that " the Tories use her as an instrument for
annoying the Queen," and that she will assuredly " reap
nothing but mortification from the part she is now act-
ing." Indignation and contempt are words of strong
meaning—disgust and abhorrence are stronger still ;
but we will venture to affirm that a new phraseology
must be discovered before one half the force of scorn-
ful execration which the above string of rascalities to-
wards an esteemed and well-beloved Princess—a moral,

corning in contact with Magistracies and municipalities
of known Liberal principles, and industriously ferreted
out every Corporation Magistrate hostile to the present
Government. The Tories make no secret of the ad-
vantdgv which ti:ey anticipate from her movement : and
in Leicesteni4e ti:e gratulations of the party on ac-
count of her derif:ypsirations in their favour know no
bounds. If the Queer' Dowager look fairly into her
situation, she will profit by, the remarks which have
been with reluctance drawn from us. The public can
never behold with satisfaction conduct, on the part of
tarry Member of the Royal Family, indicative of a
wish to afford evidence of dist,:aion. The Queen
Dowager ought not to suffer herself to be ex-
hibited as the partizan of a faction ht;,:3tile to the
Government of her Sovereign. Let her ine For-
suaded that in seeking to afford gratification to the
Tories, by entering into their views, and seconding their
plans, she is rousing a jealousy in the nation, which
would willingly evince towards her the respect to which
her situation entitles her. A Queen Dowager enlisted
in hostility against the Queen's Government is a very
unseemly spectacle. Alluding to the reference in the
Chronicle of yesterday, to the subjects of Queen Ade-
laide's conversations abroad (the scene of which was
erroneously made the Duke of Palmella's—it was a
higher quarter, and onr mistake arose from men-
tion having been made of the Duke of Palmella
as one of the parties present on the occasion), the
Standard supposes that the Queen Dowager was
merely repeating Tory conversation ; " for really her
Majesty is charged with saying very little that did not
pass in the mind of every reflecting person in the coun-
try at that time when the Queen was dragged from the-
atre to theatre, night after night, and every night in the
week, for the purpose, as it is now fully well ascertained,
of alienating 1;;.r from her earlier and more quiet friends."
and fastening the bed-chamber ladies' chains upon her.
We should be sorry tt; think so ill of the people of this
country as to believe that
they entertained the feelings
here attributed to them. VV:: en was it ever before
made the subject of reproach to y t h that it should
have a relish for the innocent enjoyment: of the thea-
tre ? But if the theatre be more than an innocent
enjoyment—if some of the wisest and best men ',‘lat•
ever lived have considered it a valuable school, in
,vhich the workings of the human he:rt may be
advantageously studied—and in which the les-
sons of experience may bo anticipated—who, more
than a Queen—who, from her elevation, excluded from
the collisions that in ordinary life sharpen the faculties
—may derive benefit from the mirror of life presented
in the drama ? Did Queen Elizabeth derive only
amusement from the searching glances afforded by
Shakspeare into the recesses of the human heart ? A
queen ought to be debarred from no innocent means of
enjoyment, and more especially when these means are
peculiarly adapted to contribute to the development of
the mental faculties. If Queen Adelaide's views cor-
respond with the views expressed by the Standard, we
can only observe that they say little for her liberality,
and less for her judgment. We are conscious of no
want of respect for Queen Adelaide, and we would
once more entreat her to shun the counsels which would
array her against the Queen of these realms. Loyalty
is a duty from which no subject is exempted.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
Little fastidious as the Tory press has ever been as
to •the means by which its factious objects may be ac-

complished, it has surpassed it self in the bad taste and
indecency which have cnaracterised its commentaries on
everything furnishing the shadow of a pretence for mak-
ing injurious observations against her Majesty—the
Queen regnant.
" Awed by no shame, by no respect controlled,"
that press shrinks not from the utterance of any slander,
however atrocious, nor hesitates to promulgate against
the Sovereign calumnies which, if published against the
humblest person in the State, would entail no trifling
legal penalty. Not content with assailing her Majesty's
public conduct, they invade the Royal privacy, and not
only disseminate the most malignant reports to the So-
vereign's prejudice, but endeavour to excite discord and
animosity between her Majesty and those most closely
connected, both by kindred and position, with the
throne. First, it was fiendishly attempted to sever the
natural bond of affection which unites the Queen with
her Royal and Illustrious Mother ; now it is attempted
to infuse the leprous distilment of hate and hostility
between her Majesty and the Queen Dowager ; and
even, while affecting to offer congratulations on the
approaching nuptials, the Standard occultly insinuates
its obloquy in such terms as the following—" It is, in-
deed, a promise of tranquillity and honour to the So-
vereign's future life, and of benefit to her people, that
she will have near her one faithful friend above the
temptation of official salary, or the lure that influences
needy dependents, who will tell her the truth ; and,