Star.
London, England, 1821-02-06 00:00:00

"'" 'there—(Hear, hear, hear). Ile had thus stated his'
its opinions on them; since, as Lord Bacon had truly opinions without any object but justice, and without
said—" You will sooner know which way the wind communicating with otbers. He had also delivered
blows .by casting up a straw, :than by casting up a them without reference to the appeals to the Public.
stone." Here he cloied the points of difference be- Never had he heard so many adjurations to look out
tween himself and Ministers: they were as nothing of the House; never so many forewarnings, so
in comparison with the whole, on which he cor- many menaces—(Heer, hear). But he was tint to
dialle agreed with them. He approved of their in- be moved by such considerations, and the House
stituting the proceedings. The Honourable Gentle would do well to form their judgments on their
man (Sir James Mackintosh) had asked where was own minds, and without regard to other impres-
the necessity for these proceedings? In the coin se of aions, to give- their votes honestly—(Hear, hear).
his experience, there never was a case More impera- Nothing could so entirely destroy the Legislature, as
tive; for it was impossible to allow the Queen, labour- their trembling in every breath of *popular air—as
ing under such charges as she did, to mount the throne their balancing loyal Addresses against Addresses of
without making a communication to Parliament. another description—as their attempting to adopt
If Ministers had suffered this, the, House, instead the opinions of the Public, without reference to the
of the motion now before it,- would have been dis- intrinsic merits of the questions before them—(Hear,
cussing whether they should or should not he im- hear, leear). Even if they tried to accommodate them-
peached for withholding from Parliament the evi. selves to this test, they would find it a difficult thing
dence of the momentous charges of which they had to determine precisely what public opinion really
knowledge—(Cheers).—lt was asked b.: the Learned was. They would find it to be most fickle, most un-
Gentleman, what would have been the evil if they constant, and =St ungrateful—(Hear.) Fickle and
had not proceeded? Was it no evil then to admit unconstant! for public opinion would not'be the same
imputed adultery to the Throne?—(Hear, hear.— at the end of three months—ungrateful! for if they
Would it have been a slight thing to place at the studiously consulted what the multitude believed,
head of the female society of this country (that female under impression of passion, and not of reason, pub-
society distinguished by all the feelings and princi- lic opinion would be the first to turn round against
pies that could delight human kind)—would it have them—(Hear, hear). But if lie professed an otter
been a slight thing to have permitted her to assume disregard to that public opinion which the political
the highest rank, and to set the foremost example Advisers of her Majesty had caused and relied on—
among these, who was labouring under such heavy to that public opinion which would itself change,
charges?—(Hear, would-give no opinion if appealed to when sober from its own intoxication;
upon the proceedings, but that opinion he could not if he utterly disregarded such popular sentiments as
help influencing him, and it must be the justification these Advisers instilled (and when speaking of the
of his conduct in private life, where this party was Queen's Answers to Addresses, he made allowances
concerned, and of his negative to the present motion. for their intemperance, on account of her unhappy
While admitting this influence of the proceedings on situation), it was because they emanated from the
his judgment, he was also ready to concede to ‘Gen- arts not only of the fatal enemies to the peace of the
tlemen opposite, that the Bill not having been car- country, but the greatest enemies of the Queen ber-
ried throtigh, the Queen was entitled to the benefits self. He believed, too, that a great change had taken
of an acquittal as far as her rights and privileges place in public opinion, and that it would be ulti-
were involved. But he had to consider what was due mately and decidedly in their favour, if they were
On her accusers—now the accused, and he felt coin- not too anxious to form their deliberations to its will,
pelled to.aenuit. them when he saw these conridera- but on con'cieatious motives—(Loudcheering).
tions forced upon him by the motion. He saw the Lord NUGENT declared that language had been
absolute necessity for proceeding against the Queen, used in that House which would not have been tole-
and the same exposure would have been the inevitable rated in any other place, of any woman in England,
consequence of any attempt of Ministers to evade it. who had a father, a brother, or a husband to have
Ilad they attempted this, then they would have been defended her. Upon his honour lie believed that the
guilty of a dereliction of duty, and have given proof Queen was innocent of every gait of the charge that
of their wish to retain office. The only inquiry re- had been brought against her. They had been told,
niaitting was, if the course of the proceedings was that if the charges were not substantiated against
not, under all circumstances, the wisest? Atter con- her Majesty, she should be placed in the same situ-
sidering all the evils that had resulted from them, ation as if no such charges had been brought against
and having bad experience of what they were calcu- her. But how had these pledges been kept? Her
latest to produce, he was persuaded that in making name had still been excluded from the Liturgy ; and
the choice of evils, the selection was, on the whole, she had suffered unmerited persecution, and every
that which was the most likely to attain the ends of jus- species of insult and degradation. The Hon. Member
tice, and on his conscience lie believed it to be as for Surrey had said, that lie considered the Queen as
favourable to the Queen as any which could have morally convicted, but not brought up for judgment.
been adopted—(Heare, from the Opposition). As Geri- He knew no answer for that but one, and that was,
tlemen challenged, by cheering this opinion, he would by giving the phrase a flat denial. Public justice had
briefly state why he preferred the Bill of Pains and acquitted the Queen of all guilt; and instead of fix-
Penalties. lie took it for granted that it was conceded ing a stigma on the head of her Majesty, had fixed
to him there could be but two ways of proceeding— it on the bead of Ministers. He begged to call the
by a Bill of Pains and Penalties, or by Impeachment. attention of the House to a pamphlet published since
If the latter had been chosen, a Committee of that the acquittal of the Queen by the Lords, whiCh had
House must have decided on ex paste evidence, and dared to speak over and over again of the guilt of
the House must have voted, aye or no, on the charges the Queen, under the title of" A Speech by the Lord
placed before it. The prejudice thus raised against Chancellor of England." He was sure, that if that
the accused must have operated for the long interval Noble Lord had any knowledge of this libel, he would
which must elapse before sire could have entered feel it his duty to prosecute its author to conviction.
on her justification, which would have been infi- He concluded by declaring his determination to vote
nitely worse than anything of the kind which ha& Heartily for the motion of his Noble Friend.
been complained of in the other mode. —He Lord MILTON was anxious to make a few obser-
also doubted if an Impeachment could have been vations on the speeib of the Right Hon. Gentleman
maintained where the person with whom the crime (Mr. Peel). He could not avoid thinking the Right
was charged to have been committed, was not a sub. Hon. Gentleman had failed in making out the case
ject of the realm, and the place of its committal was he wished to snake. The Right Hon. Gentleman
beyond the jurisdiction of the kingdom. If any warned persons not to attend to public opinion, and
doubt existed on this point, so as to warrant the sup- at the same time applied public opinion to the sup-
position that it might lead to a technical acquittal, it port of his own argument; but whatever the Right
was a sufficient reason for not proceeding by Im- Hon. Gentleman might say on that subject, it was
peachment. The Bill of Pains and Penalties, he re- clear that opinion in favour of the Queen had been
peated, was favourable to the accused ; for no man so warmly given in every part of the kingdom, that
would credit thattany Peer of Parliament could be so it was impossible for Representatives to mistake the
base as to withhold from her the benefit of any doubt sentiments of their Constituents. The Right Hon.
in that mode which he would have extended to her Gentleman had said, his Majesty's Ministers were at
in impeachment. But if impeachment had been last placed upon the high ground of experience; yet
adopted, would it not have been necessary, for the he believed they knew the evidence they bad to offer
purpose of divorce and degradation, to follow it by before the proceedings in the House of Lords. If
a Bill like that which had been resorted to in the first that was so, they did 'not want experience at the
instance? On these grounds, he was decidedly in commencement of the accusation—(llean, hear).—
favour of the proceedings as they had been instituted. Since the conclusion of the Queen's trial, he had so:.
With respect to the general argument, if ever an ex lemnly entertained an opinion that her Majesty was
post facto law could be at all authorized, it surely not guilty. Before the trial, he was disposed to give
must be to visit such crimes as were clearly defined support to the accusation, believing that the Queen
by the laws of. Goo and by the laws of the realm, to really was guilty, and that it was.necessary to drive
meet such a case as this of the Queen of England— from the Throne adultery and immorality. The *re-
( Hear, hear),—which was one of great State ne- suit had proved his first view was erroneous. The in-
cessity. If anything could justify a departure from troduction of the Divorce Clause proved the miscon-
the usual coarse of administration, it existed here.— duct of Ministers. They knew that it could not be
Never, therefore, was there a greater necessity, though agreed to ; and he might ask, whether there could
the Honourable Gentleman had heard no word of be a stronger manifestation of immorality than the
it. never was there a greater necessity than to pre- act of introducing a divorce into a case wherein no
vent adultery and high treason being installed on the individual could fairly ask for a divorce? This was
Throne. But the Honourable Gentleman had told the general charge be brought against Ministers; but
them there was no danger to the succession in the he was prepared to contend, that they ought to have
crime, and that if committed, it was in the midst of proceeded by impeachment. That course would have
the Mediterranean. If he believed the crime had given the Queen the benefit of a verdict, declaring
been committed at all, did be think it lessened the her guilty or not guilty ; but notwithstanding her
danger of holding it up as an example to all that Majesty had been acquitted under the operation of
graced Britain in its female character—did be think the-Bill of Pains and Penalties, there was still a dis-
it weakened the argument, that it was committed in position to consider her guilty. The Noble Lord sup-
one place rather than in another ? It was no matter ported the motion for censure.
to him (Mr. Peel), and he held it to be of utter indif-. Mr. HORACE TWISS said, that as one of the
fereirce to morality and to the country. Ministers majority en the former division, he wished to ex-
then, in their offer to the Queen, and in their agreeing' plain the reasons of his vote, especially as on an oc-
to the wishes of the House of Commons, appeared, casiou like the present, where the Queen was not
60 far from having been actuated by a base desire personally affected,- he could not for a moment appear
for office, to have made a sacrifice of their personal to be acting as an advocate against her. The outcry
feelings, and almost of their ossn consistency in about the Liturgy had been raised, not by the Queen
order to avoid the necessity for that exposure of herself, who originally seemed comparatively indif.
which they were now accused—(Hear, hear, hear). ferent about that matter, but by certain distinguished
The same motive had let.l to the offers afterwards persons opposing the Government—(Hear, kear).—
reAde to her, which he could not characterize as un- This was the first time he had presented himself to the
wire but indbruitate. Ministers had adopted the House, and on that account he presumed the cheering
les:er evil. They had every reason, which a know- was friendly. They, long before she took this ob-
ledge of the human mind, and of the common rules jection, had suggested and propagated through the
of human action could give, to believe that their country this promising topic of complaint. In the.
offers would be accepted ; and could he now turn communications and negociations which followed
round, instructed by eveets, and censure them for her arrival, suggestions had indeed been made for
doing that, the consequences of which no man could the restoration of her name to the Liturgy, but the
have foieseen. NVould those who most blamed the earliest requisition to that effect by her negocia-
di.closeies that had been niadc, also blame the Go- tors. made as it was for the first time after six
vetnrueut for the exertions they had made to avoid 'days of tre4yi. wee accompanied with an Walk.