Star.
London, England, 1820-08-09 00:00:00

the honotii of those wcio wc#e the cf those
Bills—more to the honour of the Revolution—more
to the honour of those who came into rower after
the Revolution, and more conducive to the si.fety
the Goiernment of King William, if it more consti-
tutional course IrAd been pursued, and it, by vio-
lating the laws in order to reach ore individual; a
precedent had not been found which es:osed the li-
bertiei bf posterity to destruction. there were otiair
Acts of a 'similar nature besides those to which he
had adverted ; but they were to be found only in t!te
reign of that monster Henry VIII. who had a short
seny of getting rid of his wives. Times, however,
were now changed ; the public mind would not heat,
such proceedings; Ministers could not get into that
bloody Course which those precedents pointed .it,t;
What were all those precedents but so m .zc:s
of tyrannical power wreaked on the. victims of
royal vengeance, which should be painted out a-;
shoals to be avoided, as beacons of infamy, insteiti
of being made use of by Ministers to j4is2ify the:
own conduct to the world ?—(Lotrd
With respect to this Lady, she seemed, of Al
beings% to be placed in the most extraordinary sift:.
ation : she appeared, from Kilt to last, attel...ted
a train of misfortunes, which tulthiag lirer own
magnanimity and courage could enable he; :n stand
up against—such a train of misfortunes,
conduct herself in whatever way she mitihr, she -.vita
sure to create enemies. Whatever actions sere
tributed to her—whatever qualities she will said to
possess, whether they were good or bad—they had
had the sure effect of inducing some persons tu+ iaive
part against her. Her amiable qualities fie; e. 110
protection to her; her virtues were sanCtitied and
holy traitors to her ;" one party persecuted her on
account of the hatred they bore to her vices, and
'another party abandoned her out of love and airec-
tion to her virtnes—(,lpittlause). —She was, howev:r,
'in his opinion, entitled to the support of every hones':
and manly mind : he thought the decision she had
evinced, the firmness she had exhibited, the magna-
nimity with which she had come forward to meet
the charge made against her, by throwing bcii.elf
on that sense of justice for which the people of thil
country ever were and ever would be renowned,
demanded the confidence of the nation—(App!aust-',.
They Were bound to believe her innocent, when she
came to this country and defied all the statements cf
her most virulent enemies. She called on them t.,)
substantiate the charge against her, to br ing_ her lace
to face with her accusers, or else to state her inno
cence to the Public, and pay to her that resi:ect
which was due to-her high rank. Fortuna.tery for
her Majesty her cause had been taken up by tl:c
great body_ of the people at large, and had been sec..:
ported with great force and ability by the uncorrupt
and honourable part of the public Press. In noticing
this point, he could not help remarking, that on a
occasion the liberal part of the Press had behavcd
a. manner_ quite inconsi • tent with itself in calling upna
the Attorney-General to prosecute passages, whicb,
though very stupid and scurrilous, were certaillly
notof sufficient importance to demand that notifie,
In coniequenct of that call, a motion had been made
in the House of Commons on a paragraph which h, t
appeared in an obscure provincial paper, reflectir,,--
in most indecent terms on her Majesty the Qacm.
That motion he deemed on many acyounts to have
been both unnecessary and unwise; unneces-ary,
because the paragraph was so indecent and so
ill-written as to carry its own refutation along
with it ; unwise, because it gave the Govern-
ment an opportunity of declaiming generally against
the Press, and of holding out threats to it, calculated
to terrify even those who were not the most timid.
It was unwise, too, on anothir ground x no restrictions
whatever ought to be imposed upon the Press ; liberty
had been lost in many countries by them ; but, as far
as he kneiv'anythins of history, never endangered
even by its utmost licentiousness. He had himself,
at various periods of his life, been as much the object
of slander and calumny as any man possibly could
be ; but those calumnies had never given him a mo-
ment's uneasiness, or excited an angry feeling in his
mind against the authors of them. If what was said
of him was false, the greater the calumny, the more
likely would it be to do him good, and the au hnis
harm, when detected. If what was said of him was
true, the truth ought to be told of him ; he only re-
ceived the castigation which he merited. Before
Ministers pushed this measure further, let them look
at the gulf that was yawning at their feet. If they
were not as blind as moles—and their work was
equally dark and dirty—they would see that the
same pit that buried the Crown of the Queen, might
also swallow up the Crown of the King I When pre-
cedents were newly formed, for arbitrary and oppres-
sive purposes, there was no security fcr the length
to which they might be carried. .It was alleged by
Ministers that this was a national question, and that
the State was interested in the investigation which
they had been pleased to institute. But how could
any act committed by her Majesty on the banks
of Como be said to be a national question ?
And ,was it to be endured that this construction was
to be-given under the cant of religion and morality ?
Could morality and religion say, ' that the nation
were to be shocked at the knowledge of her Majesty's
conduct in Italy, which knowledge was only conimu-
nicated to the country through the representatives
of that religion and that morality? If such circuits-
stances were calculated to shock the feelings of a
nation, and to become the grounds of depriving a
Sovereign of rank and power, none but a Saint could
sit with safety on a throne. But, admitting the
validity of the argument attempted to befounded on
morality, was example on the part of the Queen only'
of importance to the nation? Surely the conduct of
the King was in this respect at least an object ei
equal consideration? Whether Ministers in the dan-
gerous path which they were now pursuing—a path
beset with dangers both to the Crown and to the
country, would attend to the warning voice of the
Public, was not the question to be considered at pre-.
sent. It was the duty of the people to express their
opinions fearlessly and openly, whether they were
attended to or neglected—(Applause).—After some
further observations, in the course of which he con-
demned the punishments that had recently been in-
acted on individuals who had been found guilty cf
exerting themselves in the 'cause of Retoim, partic:.-
larly instancing the sentence of Mr. Hunt, w bkli lie
described to be cruel and undeserved, the lion.
Baronet conclu,ded by declaring, that he •was happy
to lend his assist ice on this Occasion to oppose a Y 5.-