The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-06-26 00:00:00

THE STATESMAN.

MR. RUILVE TOOKE'S THOUGHTS mit Me ROYAL
MARRIAGE ACT.
IN A LETTER ro A EMEND ON TOR REPORTED MAR-
RIAGE ur III! /LOYAL I:I6tINESS TRU PRINCE or wALEII.
These remarks, thotizh made in the year I 757, and
occasioned by the reports then current of the marriage'
of the Prince u: Waies uith Mrs. Pieherhert, have an!
immediate reference to principles which excite the in-,
terest of the present moment, relative to Royal affair
and Inure especially to the objects of Lord Holland'si
Ilioootl in the Rouse of Peers. The letter is replete
with that peculiar acumen fur which the eelrbratud
writer was a, the following extract will
sufficiently evince:—

Such a marriage, (i. e. a marriage with Mn. V.)
it is said. is generally held to be both highly imptnper,
it'd /Celt!!! i:Mpii;'its. 1, proper : because Mrs. Fits.
lierbert was an English subject, and nut descended from
a aurcr:/,os house. And regally impossib:t : because
there is an Act u; Parliament iu the way.
They however who affect to be shocked at this im-
propriety. lutist either know very little, or must grossly
dissemble the little which they know, of the history of.
their conntry. To match in marriage with a subject
was, at all times within memory. a Ousatuon and well-
preccdeuted practice of the sovereigns of this realm :
nor was it ever interrupted down to the sees' acresssio•
of the present family on the throne—only seventy-
three years ago. The two itineediate predecessors of
Ueorge the First, being themselves (as well as our great
Elizabeth) the issue of such a match. Not only so,
but the House of Stuart itself, which inintediately pre-
ceded the House of ilanover, and the very soverrigo
under whom the House of Balmier claims, being the
issue of such a match. The race of Tudor also, which
immediately preceded that of Stuart, and the very so-
vereign under whom the House of Stuart claims, being
the issue of such a match. Three out of Six sove-
reigns of the House of Stuart, and Three. out of Fine
sovereigns of the House of Tudor, were the issue of
such matches. So that the mujoritn, for a course of
two hundred and thirty years, namely, Si r out of the
sovereigns, immediately preceding the House
of Bo wser. were the issue of such matches.
fur did any mischief ever arise to this country
nor, if esami vied fairly, nill it appear prob.ible that any
mischief et er•hould arise front such a practice. Un 1
the contrary, the greatest mischiefs may be shown at
all times and in all countries to have arisen from the
oppusit; practice. Such mischief, for instance, 'as I
arose from the marriages of Maximilian with the
daughter of Charles Duke of Burgundy; and of his sus
Phillip with the daughter 4.f Ferdinand and Isabella,
which via:is-104A all Etarupe for centuries ; and of which
the Dutch, even at this day. still ft-el the fatal conse-
quences.
This degrading notion of impropriety. and that a
beautiful Englishwoman is unworthy to be the coin.:
pananion of an English prince, is a ridiculous phan-
tom, imported into this land only with the House
of Hamner; to whom, indeed. it was .formerly
tau phantom, but a serious and well-founded ronsi-
deration : fur, by the Itermanie confederacy, which
away truly and properly lee stiled a Republic of Princes, I
the law of succession in tlertatany has been settled in
the true spirit Of stlcis 3 fepliblie: whirl, considered
'nerdy iu all its ;lets, exclusive interests of its
leeklati gig Sovereieas, nith a vilest royal disregard and
contempt of the subject. By that law, indeed, the •
issue 1.1. an Ulletlll3l 11131111 (AS it is absurdly and arro-
gantly staled), %is., of a Sovereign with a Consort not
descended of a sovereign house ; all issue of such a
match is barred the succession in Berman!: so. at
this present period, the diadem by an unequal match •
of Prince Jamie of Wirtenther4, eldest nephew of the
reigning Duke, will he set aide, and the issue of a
younger branch succeed. An Elector of Ilanuver had,
therefore, good reason to be cautions. by his marriage,
to preserve the Electorate to his posterity. hut when
the sovereignty of lin er and of the kingdoms of
threat Britain and !retina became veft n 1 in one per-
son (which is precisely the period when this ridi-
culous notion of impropriety commenced in this
kingdom); it because the interest of the subjects I
of lireat Britain (and of I hoover too; for the
union is must undoubtedly prejudicial to both), in-1
stead of adopting this new and degrading prejudice,
must anxiously to take advantage of the only possible
Walls of a peaceful .eparation, which this very law '
of the succession in liermany afforded.
From the access' , therefore, of the lionse of lia-
nuver to this realm, such. a marriage (however instill
feVent before) became not only not improper, but
most devoutly to 1w wished for by the subjects of !
Brest Britain and Hanover ; and the Sovereign or
the Prince who shall patriotically, for the happiness of
both dininiims, separate this foreign possession frugal
his successor on the throne of lireat Britain, will de-
serve additional gratitude and additional blessing from
bulb. 'tud although, as I can easily believe, it naight
happen, that a less noble bat more_ attnial4Laset'tve
should prielatiw this' engine' separaitioiirire siker and
benefit being the same, we should only transfer that
additional gratitude and blessing, where we should
owe the obligation, to English beauty and merit.
Such au event, to render it completely beneficial,
would leave us nothing to pray fur, but for an offspring
by such a marriage.
But by an Act of Parlianseot, 12 Oro. 111. such a mar-
riage (whether proper and beneficial, or otherwise) is
said nose to be legally impossible: for that Act recites—
.. 'fbat no descendant of the body of his late Majesty
King ileorge the Second, male or female (ether than
the issue of Princes:en, who have married or may here
after marry into foreign families) shall beton/Me elf con-
tracting matrimony, without the previous couteirat et hie
Majesty, his heirs or successors. signified under.the fheat
Seal. awl declared in Council and that every marri-
age or matrimonial contract of any Mich demendam,
without such consent first had and obtained, shall be
nuff mid void to all intents and purposes whatsoever.
Provided always, that in case any such descoadant of
the body of his late Majesty King neoige,thelkeood,
hying ague the age ty'twentirpflre years, all persist is
his or her resolution to contract a marriage disapproved
of or dissented from by the King. his heirs or ffac-
resfor.,- that then such deseiodasit, upon 'riving satire
to the King's Privy Cosistedaliarmay ti,t_aery• lime, from the
sapiration of twelve tale absdate after es*
gives to the Council at aforesaid. contrast sale
and . his or her marriage with the pew befsis
poommed and rejected wily he fitly side aghast
the previous roosent of his Igajesty. his heirs or is
eess-
sort : and such marriage shiM be good,'M if this Act had

never been made, ext.Ess both !louses of Parliament
shall before the expiration of the said twelve months ex•
pressly declare their disapprobation of such intended
marriage."

Now I acknowledge this to be an
but I deny it to hare the smallest force
tient education of our Noblemen and V
our Parliaments were formerly coml
with the principles of law, arid the
of our ancestors having always instil
nut h wonder that there should •
of a very different description and s
stable, the nursery. the Faming-house
house), who absurdly imagine that
pass an Act, and that stick Act of
ought, or can, bind the subject in
The laws of lied indeed are as eat(
as his nature: but as all things but
the obects and effects of human la\
This .%et of Parliament transgresses t..
for thongh law may regulate the exercise
rights, it cannot totally take them au
n attorney knows that you cannot
to a tenant, and by any form of words
drawing the water; what reasonable
must a Judge, according to the law.
ence, give to an Act of Parliament ,
to empower a parent who had begotten
organs of speech, to tie up the child'
strain his aricalation ; until that
to take on he interdiction, and perusii
gunge; or until the son should hal
Parliament than his father, and
Si., ty) their pet mission, itithout the
enjoy the common distinction of a
construction, I ask, must a Judge
of Parliament, res:raining eye-sip
digestion

For ;sty own part, I can more easil
with whom his Majesty advised fur
Act. were %tiling to deceive hie
Malice of a law, than that they
eeived. For, knowing none of that
not, without proof, believe, that
country any persons so base as to
parent to degrade his children to so
castration, to the wintattly state and
a friar ; and to compel them by an .
00/ an. 4 fixed period. to a life of forced
(or ratfier uxt.cos) •Itintself, likr
pleased to grant a dispensation to
dignity of manhood. and reinvest
rights of an anititalt
Hut though I am willing to suppose
criminaliy ilecr:tful in thus sham
with a more heinous imputation.
tify such fallacy. Were it possible,
I) very far from admitting, that any
could demand from his Ministers the
contained in this !set. it would ha
repeat to him the old English fable
flatterers; and to remind hint, that
baa graciously provided that this '
be repelled than the ocean.
But, whether deceiving or decei,
suaded that the fault of this Act
shawl law (which will for ever be
liansent which could enact it;) is
has been said (but I believe nut ,
born poets : and I have read (what
ordinary) that the (louse of Austria
osekiog poets. Be it so. Bat no w
wt.; and no Sovereign is able to tr
jesty. I ant confident, required no
tees than such proper and prodoat a.
Rad restraints ass father might justly
provide and employ against the possible
and heedlessness of youth. And
reasonable and becoming manner
degradat' ) to carry his royal
into effectual and due execution.
throng's ignorance or design, appearh
have given him more power than he
sibly obtain, have literally given

• A contemns reader will he sorprized,
that there are Acts of Parliament which
mt•mber an Aet, plumed bat a few }ears
the Justices of the Price to take forty a,
Let the reader ask 111111,L•If--Ctould thi.

•• It appeared' in oar books, that,
commute law sloth confront Ads or Pa
times shall adjed:r theme to be void:
Parliament i. against conisnon right
mint, or impossible to lie performed,
rontroul it, and adjudge suds Ad I
stabiles are Made against common
those who made them would nut put
Lo►d Coke, in Bonham's ease.

• It most he remembered by the Reader,
the only legal intercourse between the
right of marriage is the most essential
Lind, may be incontestably concluded
is which all naturalists concur: viz.
much more solicitous for the promotion
lion of animists. H it also remembered,
have a right to that. from which soother
thee a right to debar him.
Hy this Act (if it could be a law)
would be empowered to defeat the regular
ter of the lust itoportaure to the happiness
and to determine in which broncit of '
shoidit desesiod : for he might refuse
and grant it to the 'meager. Had
Livorno. 11.. been in ItUSWILIii)II of this
applying it. the posterity of the late
might have been at Ibis day opal tb
a math more likely eifect and consequemee
lass) the contending lease of two brothers,
ferret and dtiput_alities qiighk moan
- Asp, tlitiiiihilniest
A Partisans-at which could pest soda
at any application of it.

.vErßoiroLocica TABLE FOR

Rises our last Notice the weedier 1
sad the ha) -harvest is eneseemelag
of the metropolis. It Is, however, .._
than the average time. Nalhlag Aridly ineves..__
recently occurred militia the range t Mr meal
dos. bet we learn from a that
fortnight. between, 0 and fl Vise& to the !VW
Perth permeated a very singular mad le,'
The dumb beim* arranged
.1a strata. P'
'acted thy mya of the mettlag sun a
produced • dhipky of all the colears
name whteb. the red. onnage.
slaminated. The masted*. frees
Inflows gave them the a ppearenee
RTIWS; while the streets aml houses
of colour which they amine 'bee lb
• Mode lionelne glass. A sisallar
I was observed the same creels, at r

IS. a....
I. N....
fla Tu...

r....
5....

I o'cioek.

ee
N
al

I
'Week. at

0

as

M
7 $

THE QUEEN.
" Brim, brave. by Heavens—she deserves s Crow' r.

had been

!feuded towards

n Act of Parliament; n."l-3i3"1 1r:71 M'
s•
kAGlisotahra!t
clemaddesbeernfeeiniitnesio.desicadtotHwaxredrsoith her
cr. 1‘
orce of law.* The an- stau's nesscn, June 7, 19e0.
d tientlemen (of whom
'posed) imbuing them tityran ill:
. consequent wise Acts TO THE EDITOR OF THE STATES3IAN.
cored obedience ; I do
sscndtehretofupnerdacemiereetalli
I now be found persons Sin—The proceedings, in respect to her kj.,,,
d education (from the insteid of approaching towards a saisfactnry arraeir:
ment, appear to be daily increasing in I d* ar
range.
tune isur ite al,
justice, and monstrosity, if I mar so speak. it ,
1 . ttahnedyt
havehecouoltiiitviutgo-
of Parliament will, or
d i review
wi
n ..t,
s all cases fehistsoerer.
%man are boundiA, so i once that their character was such as never coil:fibers,
tensive and illiutitable ! tflee•lettrerloYf trrilesueirparoceeto
laws have their limits. I led to the desires! issue. Their very eommentomeg
les them, and is ;mil: ! 14'33 tainted by a circumstance of no ordinary • stespinse
exercise of Ullr natural I In Lord Liverpool's memorable hieunworn i
um, of of
i away. if every cow- I ;ith of April, comintinicated Mr. Rto rougliam,wkile
not even lease a pump . . , deprive
the _
flats restrain hitt, from it is attentpteu to
tie or just construction rights and dignities, that invaluable one of app' r.
ve, his oath, or consci- hie legal advisers, to defend the re.sni.d. r, is es.
t which should attempt pressly and alone excepted. This exception lima
Totten a child with the j every one, at the time it became first knot''', as bras
Mparent id's tongue, and re- eff was tll gabs'.
Hutt singular and inexplicable. N 1 ....
1....f0g
should consent
nun him the ascot lan-
surprise at all diminished by recollecting., as col.
ave none interest with
!wiled with it, the unusual alacrity and dispatch with
d obtain (perhaps at which the loird Chancellor had introdui•eil her an.
he father's consent, to I queened Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor-timer." be.
i human being ? What I fore the Bar. Upon this arrangement it cannot T:t
n give to a similar Act necessary now to make a single comment. The
-sight, or eating, or subsequent proceedings speak volumes. I shall
ashy believe, that those
therefore pass, without further preface, to the nr.
or the passing of this . . .
h unsot% which has just been broken off, and
g
iiu with the false sem- which ought never to hare commenced. I say it
r were themselves de. %melt never to have commenced ; because, the sin
hat dncription, I will yea non insisted upon by the opposite parties bring
it there exist in this incompatible, it was impossible it could hare any fa-
o advise or to assist a Your:able issue. The Queen felt it necessary " that
something worse than the recognition of her rank and privileges, Queen,' as
snd abject condition of
in unnatural law, frith. should be the basis of any arrangement to be made.
Forced celibacy. until— Ministers felt it lie:emery that the Queen should ab- ,
ke the Pope, shall be stain from the exercise of her rights and dignities as .
o restore them to the
!Queen, excepting that of the appointment of legal ad-
them with the natural risers. lice.; and they farther insisted that the neitotia-
tion " must hare for its basis her Majesty's resiiltors
PP°" them rather thus tient!.. k a
." Under these circumstances, the Queen',
' law, than load them legal advis.•rs think
fit to propose an arbitration. This
I do not mean to ere-1 ...
tie, which lam sin monsters reject. But they, notwithstanding, think a
any English sovereign , a little anres..rred eopeersation might be of great sr.
rs the unnatural power ; vice: and, for that purpose, the Manager of the limns
mare been their duty to 1 of Commons, and the Waterloo Military Captain, tis
tole of S:anute and. his ! the part of Ministers, are appointed to meet her %-
hat the lied of Nature I jests'', legal advisers. And what do they effect? They
s torrent Cu no more
1 make confusion worse confounded. After five ray
.eived. I am firmly per. i 1 ferences, to the delay of all public business, they finish
of Parliament, of this by rendering an arrangement more difficult than tries
. a reproach to the Par- 1 they began. From the protocols of these conferences
s chicly their own. It !(I blush for the servility of my country, when Iwe
it truly) that men are 1 the disgusting jargon of foreign diplomacy introdemi
hat is still more extra- into our laneuage), we learn that neither the chugs
"atria has the power of , •
against tne Queen were to be „retracted by her one
no man is born a law-
n make one. Ira Ma- Rents, nor admitted by hermit; How this could bap
. mere from his Minis- i, pen, and negotiation proceed, r am utterip at
it and legal regulations I comprehend. Yet such was the proposition of" do.
ustly and affectionately lute wisdom..
made by the negotiators on the paid
risible ineonsideration
!i"l'' risers
and acceded to on the part of the '
it was their duty, in a 1 4
of her Majesty. But this was not all.
r (without injustice or .
and paternal designs
nrgociators were, it seems, not to act asapponests,
in. But they, either in concert! If it was quite consistent in Ministers
ipearing by this act to Ito blunder on, in a career at once insane anti
lie could wish, or pea- the public however expected of the legal adrisemi
hitn none. her 3lajesty, some more firmness and dignity, then,
2 consent to the prolongation of so ridiculone a faith
112,11; rerteulnaeat.sheeerg' without the possibi lit yof any but au urfamtatllsiebeen
ears since, which directed and both parties are much mistaken, if theyimagiaed.
ty shillings out of twenty. , the public do not see throne+ them, or are tit beffillstil
thie Act be II lan ? '0%.• their charges of factiousness, from interpositgist
hat, iii sand eases. the • •
,i matter, which, besides the protection id skit 40i
' Parliament, and some-
sid: for when as tel of !from injustice, involves the preservation of !AMP
lit and reason. or repolt- ' remains of their own rights and liberties. If 111.110
sl, the common law shall
, raid... .. smile I conceive themselves to possess the right of me*
tsnfilaw and right, %hit+ that the Queen 'should abstain from the exorcist d
tin execution," ite. dr.— any or all her rights and privileges, is there'll.*
ginable reason why they should not consider dim
Reeder. that marriage is selves equally entitled, when, and as far mI t rib
the sexes. And that Mae
tial natural right of man-
their convenience, to exercise the same powerever at
ed front this observation. King and the people ? Against the esterase of MA
la' That nature has been tyranny, in its fullest extent, no guarantee AI lo
widen than the ores.. ea- i 2_a" - train, resets exert ourselvei, on this ottemisli. 6
Owed, that so man eta : "" iiaeas we
thee am has at the same oblige Ministers not only to retract bee to ....
i to the Queen, to the country, and to Mw wetg P
law) a King of England . the arragent awl unwarrantable assamptissef Iliffi
"Mier succession (a mat' : illy al and most unconstitutional powers: Av.& hi
mimes of every country), • - 1111
tj the family the Royally assertion of Lord Castlereagh that they art 0, 40
le hls consent to the elder • constitute an act either legal or sonstindimal.
d his late Milkiest)", King I I now come to the present state dal* • " '
his power. and capable of
ate Duke of c0„,b,,,1„d . nary proceedings. Ministers, netwltisending
1 the throne; or (what 6 " nothing could be conducted inn frifft si ill'ilrreiss/
!segue's* of such melee many" than the conferences benne* thlle
brothers, claiming . _lsy dif- tires and the Queen's legal ado - .
.110!i____bet• __Ausg••••••_._ -It the swkinutt pfteraleelfi 'of . , le
m ' y"'" "811" It I the filthy green bags, or of having MISS ssa "
M a Bill would not marlin new expedient 1 and they make. or "OS *
.....m. , berforce resolves, doubtless withal airy •
i
OWSID
OR THE LAST WEEK. or communication with them, to bare odes di
sovereign remedy, that never-failing Min
- the sense of Parliament. This is new 1 IA ~,,,,, •
Strand, June 24, lOW and we shall shortly see the Ism& As brat -)4 .:.
' has eoutinued sessonsible sasnewhast ,
• Fore, however. it um/ afar",
__.---- •
1:0
g generally in the skink], ea
it must presumed, dust to OM O4 •
r nearly three weeks bar
igiguy unt,,,w,gagiad as, differences, and to obsiin a ling aerangollesso tan
iOf our ppertmom ebsw,.. the two high wiles immediately dowormed. •
wen
t. Mat es Friday to "'lns. rlibße aisiallnlMlPlllltls
lit
iltir evening. ttsr stria they sneak' have
'WVand *Ming oppeerame. to be ealeuLsted 1;7 .-lteelilliZtil
it hoMmilbis '''
ea, eta/west
i%ti. ea- site of these east% Irteiie fairLfrai a his
Li at ruts
ars *fatly= r spectrum ; thebast2,l74tittionks:useers of ifilTalir iilig -Ile
' ibld 1,7, .;,szsgte der, es 114mNy soil aseeatimstiemil /
vitritts and pneileges s you have emenst
II
saes of st beautifel•
sea preseutrd that waned; 'g? " far, as _ion.' lit least, of peer
a they are sieved throogh i ',sem nas appears.. willing Mat rollittl is
a r boom
Her *marmites IN the sky i stabling from till" amerti7rodell teogeissis e
Usrse, 1 the sinallest assereslon, be
I therefore, out of est m absslem (I had
I - pedirat t. l
i bw ill
nite)s wisdoms" Sit) tsk IS ra ek. hip .
hi 1 PAIONSTeII. gear seats law me appealte Neale. I
* •
Meta. may be farther frigliased hsto the atietyl
.
absemiesiag these alike mid phalli"
Omsk sae
::: sit: irrriirr Or* re....: re.
broz..ts :Now • . e:
el
la"
lIIMI - lord edvians, have mot bees ebb I*
NA skoi A ;
i• Nt.lll Mr or ahashost. chey ushier,
11:fas. a. of s
MI lark ift r
I
ak se* sine'. is what an a
. 11
WA i roc .is ylott I ' ONO oight,'0ight,' wogs
•