Star.
London, England, 1821-02-07 00:00:00

for the country, and he still believed in his conscience
that, under different management it might have been
effectual. He not. came to the time and circum-

stances under winch the official proceedings hadbeen
commenced. He had heard an Hon. Member: (Sir
Robert Wilson), early in the debate, call for an ex-
planation upon this subject; and certainly the manner
in which that Hon. Officer bad expressed himself,
would induce a disposition to explain every point
upon which he might be disposed to•inquize. Infor-
rnation bad been gradually coming in upon them
from all quarters, and forced them to decide upon
some official measure, by which they might ascertain
its truth or falsehood. The Princess Charlotte died in
November, 1817 ; while the first actual proceedings of
the Milan Commission was dated August, 1818.--
It was the voyage to Greece, which her Majesty un-1
dertsok in the Autumn of 1817, which determined
Ministers to proceed without delay to gain some offi-
cial knowledge of her conduct. It was in consequence
of the flood of intelligence which burst in upon them
respecting the particulars of tiat voyage that the
Milan Commi"ssion was established. The death of
the Princess Chai lone had no more to do with it than
the most extraneous event which could have oc-
curred. It was imposSible that anything connected
with the whole business could be charged as con-
spiracy upon any individuals whatever. It was the
greatest prostitution of the word conspiracy, to apply
at to the allegations made against the Queen, when
• its tremendous import was considered. The Honour-
able and Learned Gentleman opposite had now shewn

what him of defence he had at fir.t intended to adopt.
The He.editary Grand Master of the Order of St.
Careline had remained in Paris, according to the
Honourable and Learned Member's own admission,
by his express desire ; and other witnesses had been
kept unexamined in this country, to be ready if the
Bill came down to that House. So that they would
have ,come. there, and have given that evidence
upon honour, which they dared not have given in
another place upon oath—(Loud Cheers). The
Noble Lord then adverted to the disposition on
the part of her Majesty to continue to agitate the
country with this question. With respect to the
Message which she had sent down to the House a
few nights ago, he had -never witnessed any proposi-
tion so received by Parliament under such auspices. A
chill of disapprobation had pervaded even the ranks
of Gentlemen opposi,e—(Loud cheering).—LThe state
of the country, be it what it might, should never
stop him in the honest and conscientious discharge of
his duty. And whenever a question of difficulty or
danger pressed upon him for decision, he would never
look for the opinion of the nation, because he did not
'know how to collect it. But he would turn to that
deliberative and wise assembly of the nation, and by
their opinion he would be guided—(WWear, hear).—.
GOD knew that he did not undervalue the opinion of
the People of this country, when they had time to
reflect upon any question, because he knew they pos-
sessed that innate love of truth, which at once en-
nobled and distinguished them above all the nations
of the earth, and which should never fail even-

tually to bring them to a just and sound conclu.
sion. But he would never consent that Parliament
should abdicate its functions—(//eur, hear, hear).—
It was the well-digested opinions of the Public upon
which he would he disposed to rely with confidence,
and not upon that clamorous fury which had been
excited and encouraged by the conduct of the Ho-
nourable Gentlemen opposite, or by their dismal pro-
phecies—those prophecies which had for ever flut-
tered before the country as a bird of evil omen in the
hour of ra!amity. If he had been unfortunately in-
duced to listen to their prophecies and advice, and
adopted what they termed conciliation, but what was
in fact humiliating the nation helm e its worst ene-
mies it would have been at this moment prostrate at
the feet of the great Tyrant, and he at the head of
Europe ! —(Loud cheering). He hoped he was as little
actuated by motives of sordid or selfish interest as
the Right.Honourable Gentleman opposite. After a
long and arduous course of public service for the last
thirty years, he should have been ashamed to have
so far sacrificed the morality of the country, as to
enter the closet of the King, and advise him to pre-
sent the Queen to his People as deserving their prat ors
and the dignities which attached to her rank!—
lie hoped it would not be C.ought that he was obsti-
nately resolved to defend what he knew to be wrong,
but could he be called upon to decide on the arrange-
ment of the Liturgy again, he would do the same
again to-morrow—(Hear, hear).—lle did not look at
the state of the country with that dismay which had
been expressed by some Honourable Gentlemen. On
the contrary, he even viewed it with confidence.—
With respect to that desperate faction which had
been alluded to by an Honourable Member in the
debate of last night (Mr. NVhitmore), he was con-
vinced that it not only existed in this country, hut in
all others ; and that at the present moment they
seemed to be acting with an alarming degree of
sympathetic feeling. He considered that the course
which the Hon. Gentlemen opposite were pursuing,
would be almost an insurmountable obstacle in the

way of their coming into office. They stood shackled
with pledges which they could never redeem. It
had never been his fortune to see, in any case of
public emergency, that they would give up the
views of party, and unite with the Government, in
any one object for securing the advantage of the
State. He was quite satishcd to leave the present
question, first to the decision of that House, and then
to the sound sense of the People—(Hear. hear).—
With regard to his Majesty, the dawn of his reign
had beefs overclouded by the necessity ivhich com-
pelled him to discharge a great public duty, out of
which some unhappy confusion had been brought
upon the country. Put it was not more clouded
than the dawn of his illustrious predecessor's reign,
which had afterwards shone forth with so much
splendour. If he (Lord Castlereagh) knew his Sove-
reign's heart, it contained but one consideration—but
one wish—the good of his People ! And whatever
might have been the impre sions in an agitated mo-
ment, he was convinced that such sentiments would

be returned by the grateful feelings of an affectionate
People—(The Nook Lord sat down amidst loud and
Lon g-continued cheering).
Mr. BROUGHAM then rose, and addressed the
House in a speech of peculiar energy and eloquence.
He examined minutely all the arguments which had
been urged against him, and declared solemnly, that
the coupe he had pursued during the whole of the

proceedings in the Queen's case, had been regulated
solely by what he thought most adiviatageens to ter
Majesty, and serviceable to the country, under the
circumstances in which be felt himself called upon
to act. He said be should do an injustice to the
Queen if he did not now, before the House, • before
the country, and before the world, make a solemn
asseveration, that bad he been seated as one of her
judges, and not standing at the bar as her advocate,
he should have put his hand upon his heart and said
—Not Guilty. "If I would not have done so (he
exclaimed), and if I did not believe the Queen guilt-
less of the charges imputed to her, I now imprecate
all the most horrid curses to fall ueon me that ever'
yet fell upon. the head of any man! —.[These words,
from the tone and manner in which they were deli-
vered, Produced a very great sensation in the House.] I
The important, the most material, question which
was now before the House was, whether any mea-
sure should at all have been introduced against her I
Majesty? The conduct of her Majesty was alleged
to have been carried on, not in private, but in public.
The place was in Naples, not in ordinary places ; and
when it was considered that it was alleged to have
been committed in various public places, it was asto-
nishing that it should not have been observed by any
witnesses above the character of those whom the No-
ble Lord had described. If any indecency were com-
mitted by her Majesty at a public masquerade, if
she were guilty-of any indecorum at a Theatre, if
she committed any impropriety at a ball, it could not
be said to be done in a corner ; it was not done before
a set of low servants, such as the Noble Lord had
mentioned, and who were produced on the trial ; it
was done, he had almost said, in the face of day ; but
though he could not strictly say so, because those balls
were held at night, yet he would say, that her conduct
must have been open to the observation of persons of
the highest rank—before the Royal Court of Naples.
Now, he would not dwell upon the improbability of
any impropriety having taken place under such cir-
cumstances, for that had been already argued several
times—hut he would ask, would it not strike the mind
of any man who was not disposed to be only of one
opinion on the subject, that if the story told by those
servants of this impropriety were true, it might have
been borne out by the testimony of some one of those
respectable individuals who must also have witnessed
some part of the alleged misconduct?—(Hear, hear).
If they had been called, and had given es idence cor-
roborative of that of the servants, then, indeed, there
might be some ground for the believing it ; hut if all
of those who were applied to had flatly disetedited
every such account, could it be said that theta was a
shadow of ground for believing the whole? Or if
there had been no application on the part of the
prosecutors for the testimony of any such respectable
individuals, must not the inference he this, and this
only, that no pains whatever had been taken by them
to inform themselves of whether there was a sufficient
ground for them to have gone upon? This, then,',
was what he charged upon Ministers, that in all and
every stage of this most unfortunate proceeding, fl orn
the sending out of the Milan Commission down to the
latest act in it, that they had not taken any of those
ordinary pains, or made any of those ordinary ex-
ertions, which would have. been necessary on the
most common occasion, where the object of the par-
ties was to inform themselves of the truth oh the in-
formation which they had got (Hear, hear).—•
The same objection applied to their conduct in tl.e
Secret Committee. They had called so many wit-
nesses, and they said that they might have called
lathers ; but he &Iced, why had they not called those
others? Why had they not called Dr. Holland,
Lady Charlotte Lindsay, Mrs. Falconer, and several
other most respectable indivaiials, whose situation
had given them such opportu %Lies as must have ren-
dered their te-timony of great importance? IVlry
!scud they not produced any of these to corroborate
some of the servants, as they might have done, if the
story told by some of thot.e servants were true ? But
it might, perhaps, be said to the friends of the Queen,
" Why did you not call those witnesses, and they
were open to you ?"—(C'heers from the Ministerial
side.) Ile would answer, "We did call them—
(Clieersjiynn the Opposition)—and it was because we
did call them, that we have a right to assume that if
you had called them before, they would have com-
pletely defeated the story which your servants and
others had got up"—(Cheers Iron the OppOsition).—
This omission of calling all are witnesses, whose evi •
dence would have put the country in possession of
the truth, was a stigma on the case, which no majo-
rity, however numerous, would destroy !—(Cheers
from the Opposition). It was a stigma on these pro-
ceedings, which, if, to u.e the words of the Master of
the Mint (Mr. Wellesley Pole), they (the Opposition)
were to be beaten to pieces, would never be torgotten
by the country—(Cheers and laughter). They had,
as was said, been beaten on one side, the other even-.
ing, and they were now to get the knock on the other
side tonight, which was to put an end to them; but
out of their ruin would arise what would prove the
disgrace of those who had been instrumental in bring-
ing on and sanctioning this violation of justice!—
(Cheers from the Orposition, foliated by still louder
cheers from the Ministerial Benelta). Ile said, out of
their ruins! and after the pavans which had been sung
in anticipation •f triumph had subsided and were
heard no more, would arise what would remain a
lasting disgrace to the Parliament which had sup-
ported such measures—measures which were scanda-
lous to Parliament!—(Cheersfiom the Oppt-sition).—
It would never, said the Learned Gentleman, be for-
gotten, that Ministers, having it in their power to
produce the means of ascertaining the truth, had
neglected those means—had chosen to bring in this
13111, when, by sending for one or two witnesses, who
were, he might say, living in their neighbourhood,
they might have prevented all the injustice and in-
famy which had followed. The Hon. and Learned
Gentleman followed up his reasoning on this part of
the question in a most impressiVe and eloquent man-
ner. Adverting to the Milan Commission, which
the Noble Lord had described as having been em-
ployed in a rigorous investigation to vindicate the•
character of the Queen, he observed, that the House
would not know what was the description of the wit-
nesses out of the 80 whom they had rejected. The
House might, however, judge of their anxiety to avoid
sending anything very low or mean when they sent
out Rastelli ; of their wish to avoid everything that
was filthy when they sent the pimp Cwhi—(Cheers);
of their determination to avoid sending any one who
was infamous and degraded, when they sent Ma-