The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-09-02 00:00:00

THE QI'EES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE-STATESMAN.

LETIFR xxr.

" Mace. heave. by He men, —she deaercen a Crown '•'
tit that hoot been intendrd towards her Majesty was
Acnsour, candour, firling, and brnerolence.--Mt.
" Cswasso's Speech.

Siß,—The proceedings against her Majesty, or
rather the persecutions, as they are now universally
and properly termed, involve, as I have repeatedly
shown, considerations much bevund oppression and
injustice to an individual. They constitute a violation,
the most flagrant anti direct, of every known principle
of justice. How else rut we construe the fact of with-
holding from her MajL:sty her rights and dignities,
previous to any form of trial ? What other inter-
pretation can we put upon the ano-Lalous and mire
ceJected proceedings in the !louse of Lords? And
this character is. I maintain, strictly applicable to
t:,e manner of conrinctiog these pro. ceilings, as well
as to the proceedings themselves. The House of
Lords, in the first place. constitute themselves Accuser, ,
lirnnil Jury, Petit Jory. and Judge. And he:. du •
they proceed in there different capacities i The
Minister, Lord Liverpool, sends a tlz--en !fag of
accusations to the House. Ile proposes the appoint-
ment of a Secret Committee; and this Secret Com-
ntittee is, as a mattes of tours,, composed al t
wholly of his colleanes anti partisans. As a mailer
coarse also. the Committee find in the Green I:ag,
grounds of accusation against her Majesty: anti they ;
recommend what they are pleased to call a Bill of
Pains and Penalties ; this is the passing of an ex past
there any thine in any one of these mea-
sur •1 that is not a direet and palpable violation of the
wait ob..ions a:ol ordinary prin. ivies of justice -
His n-it the 'onion of the legis'ative and judicial
authority been reprobated in all aces ? Hare ACensfr,
thanti Jury, Petit Jury, and Jude..., ever before beets
t tanhined, as on this occasion ? Has any pr.treeding
s r monstrous ever before been attempted its any age
or nation ? We know that, ammo; barbarians and
s!ares, persons hare frequently. by a summary pro•
teas of despotism, been iticar.a rated, t tor.llre4.. 4.r de.
rived of their property anti their hies. Vitt I defy
avy man to Oleic me an in.:fa/ire, in a free or t iviliz.
• tion, of such complicated iniquity as is now at-'
-excited to he practised again.,, her llajesty, under
the pretended forms of pan. The Bill of Pains and
Penalties, as this monstrous measure is being
brought in, the Attorney-Ueneral is item ticteti to
irsttute a voyage of discovery in search of the
crlmirt.:l acts by which it is to be supported ; for he
has not stated, and dares not state. any speeilic act of
caimleality against her Majesty, well knowing that it
it cot in his power to prove it. " lib ! but if I can-
not prove a specific creme," says he, " 1 n ill by a
thousand acts of inderorwm, of which my witnesses are
excellent judges, even stable boys. postilion., pilots and
c.haniberina'ids, fke. he. Ike. make out ea. eonstrietire
reline !" Stich is the scandalou' course of proceeding
by which the persecutors of the Queen have already
succeeded in inciting the ridicule, contempt, and indig-
nation of the whole British nation : and will bring
upon themselves, if they persevere in the same abomin-
able conduct, a more serious punishment. Besides
de-tying all specification of the alirdged acts, they have
not thought it snfficient to refuse to the Queen'.
Counsel, what the principles of justice, in critideal
cases, always require. a list of the witnesses which are
to Le brought forward against her : but they hare
thrown every obstacle In the way of an efficient cross-
examination of seitnerses palpably base. In cons.--
quenee of these unjust and inconsistent measures, and
the high Indignation, which they could not fail uni-
versally to excite, oar blessed legislators now find them•
selves in a state of merited etnbarrassuwni ; and, u ith-
out the candour, the manliness, Or the honesty to con-
fess their error, and to retread their steps, they keep
shuffling, in the vain hope, that, by some legal or other
jaggk, they can by degrees allay the ferment they
have raised, and finally succeed in their object. They
maw will areomplish that object. They ought, there-
fore, to make a merit of necessity, and, with Ow
decency they may, retire front the contest. It
would be iu vain that a future Oorernor-General of
to pia, or a brother-in-law of the principal hero of the
Milan Tribunal. or a brother of the St. Omer's nego-
tiator, with other persons similarly situated, should
attempt to influence the course of the proceedings, to
tier uniue favour into the one scale, and to pre-
judice the other. Their machinations hill he defeated.
The public thoroughly know them. 'I hey atten-
tively- watch the movements of these partizans, and
the House cannot, therefore, for their own Interests,
and for that of the country, too soon measure back
their steps, and either kick the case oat of Court with
disgrace, or specify the precise acts of criminality
charged. and grant a list of the witnesses. If
they proceed, and do not comply with either the
one, or with the other, none but an idiot will
believe, that to ascertain truth can he any part of
their object. Some of the wiser and most ex-
perienced of their Lordships, some, who are states-
Lien and legislators, as well as members of the Upper
House of Parliament, discover and admit the dangerous
labyrinth by which they are ready, in consequence of
these insensate proceedings, to be engulfed ! and the
Unfledged Lordlitics, who are neither statesmen nor
legislators, would do well nut to delay imitating their
esample. Those of their Lordships to whom I allnde,
with the approbation which their conduct and cha-
racter merit, are by no means ignorant of the
situation of the public mind ; on the contrary,
tbey have expressly avowed that the expression
of distrust cad indigestion. which their proceedings,
in this case, have already excited, are not the effect of
popular' clamour," but of " pe4lie °pianos" most
waugultomilly prooottnced. It now behoves them to
emaidtler, whither, ern If the Queen were as guilty as
her aelisars have represested her, there would be so
statagwrli psiug a daisies of the House of Lords, in
dines. to *three of public opinion, raised
to dtgadviii•r" mach heyood the ordinary
ASIA fIDILS.
Apt. ..c
• ,-

lic &siting attired nr Lirsanne on Priday the
Ilk is his way to Italy, for which he at oat on the
hawing morniNg.