The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-08-05 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 5, 1820;

" The Canoe for which HAMPDEN fell in the laid, and SYDNEY died on the Scaffold."'

PROVIDENT 'LIFE OFFICE.
REGENT-STREET.

berh instituted in the Ecclesiastical or other Courts.
or whether the Queen could have been con-
stitutionally impeached. Nye bow to the decision
of the great law authorities by whom the Throne is
surrounded ; and we conclude, that as no method of
trial known to the ordinary tribunals, nor even the es-
traordinarY *node of impeachment, has been adopted,
that a Bill was the only proceeding that cont.) reach
the offence of the Query. But we cannot disguise
from ourselves that a hill inflicting penalties onghtin
very few cases indeed to be resorted to. If impeach-
ment has been likened to tieliah's sword, which should
only be brought out of the temple on 'solemn occasions,
Isn't MSC+ Male is this observation trite of •inzle laws
mule for -a single case, which at once create the
offence, regulate the proof, decide upon the evidence,
and invent the punishment ?—a mode of crinsinal
!conviction to anomalous, and so fearfully liable
to-injustice, 43 to have been censured and rejected
by many of the most enlightened men of ancient
amt modern times—not writing in the heat of blood
but placing beacons to guide states and empires in
the right comae of legislation*. Without yielding
to their arguments, we may be permitted to obterve,
that, when the Parliament of England has .auctioned
laws against individnals, it has usually been either
when the &r, used peewit tied from trial, as in the
eases of the Earl of Clarendon and Lord Bolingbroke—
ot when a sudden insurrection and invasion to change
the dynasty were apprehended. as in the cast of Bishop
Atterbnry—or when peculiar circumstances occurred,
as the tale of Sir John Fenwick, who, after a Bill was
found against him by a tirand Jury, defrauded justice
by a pretended contribution, and abusing the lenity
of the law and the mercy of his prosecutors, bribed
one of the witnesses against him to ro abroad. But
is this case what is the reason for a Bill of Paine and
Penalties ? Has the Queen fled from justice ? Is
there a paramount State necessity fur punishment ?
Are there any cireumstances leading us to suppose
that justice will be defrauded if this bill does not'
pass? That the Queen has nut fled from justice is
not only the admission, but forms one of the chief
charges of her prosecutors This point, therefore,
requires no proof. Is there. thee, a paratuonnt State
necessity ? We confess we are unable to perceive it.
I he Queen, it is well known, has fur many years un-
happily been separated from your Majesty, and during
the last six years, indeed, has resided out of this
country. It is impossible, therefore, for any sober.
tuintitel man to maintain that there is danger lest the
succession of the Crown be tainted. As little, or
nearly as little, is there any danger fur the future.
The rest point of the succession, then—the only one
on which the conduct of the Queen is of paramount
Wears' to she State—is not acne*. Even if we go
a step further, and inquire whether the behaviour of
the Queen has affected the public morals of England ?
to this question also, we must reply in the negative.
The Queen has been several yeare resident abroad :
hether, as her enemies Anti, her life was lice -
tiou;—or whether, as her friend% stoutly maintain,
she upheld her royal* character—the influence of her
example could extend only to the inhabitants of Como
or of Athent To tite wires and aanghters of Eng-
lan I she was eztiuct—resuoved from their sphere of
action, as effectually as it she hail been drat—and to
their ears the detail' of her domestic life, the scandal
tales of her neighbours and her servants, the scenes
of immorality which are alleged to have happened,
are now, for the first time, to be revealed by the in-
quiry your Majesty hat been advised to set on foot.
If then there is no par.ttnount neceesity, nor even a
prima
.fivie case of policy, for proceeding against the
Queen by bill, let us next inquire whether the ends
of justice will be defeated if this bill does not pass ?
It is difficult to say they would. If the law of Eng-
land has made no provision fur trying the Queen on
a charge of immoral conduct abroad, the reason is
probably to be found in the conclusion We have just
made, that each conduct does nut seriously affect the
State. But, on the other hand, we are compelled to
represent that the ends of justice may be grossly de-
feated sty the passing of the bill now pending in Par-
liament. Fur what, let us humbly ask, is the situation
of the Queen ? Separated from her husband during the
first rear of her marriage, she has been out of that circle
of domestic duties and &Illicitly affections which alone
are of power to keep a wife holy and Nate from evil
For the period to which the accusation extends she
has been also removed front the control of pnblic
opinion—the best remaining cheek this world can af-
ford upon female behaviour. Many women, unhap-
pily, there are in England, who have abandoned hus-
bands is.trinly attached to them, and a loner fatuity- wig
children dependent upon them for maternal caw; •
not one has yet been exposed to such an ordeal, or
threatened with such a disgrace, as the Queen. Is it
just (may we ask') that an offence deserving of pe-
culiar indulgence should be visited with extraordinary
severity ?
Much distrust, it must also be manifest, will attach,
to the witnesses'. It is well known (without undue
prejudice we may say it), that the stendard of morality
for female conduct is not so high in Italy as it is in
England ; and the consequence is that a ready belief
is given to any story, however improbable, which
affects the honour of a woman. Again, the witnesses
do not give evidence in th it own country s and their
characterin.their own neighbourhood is not at •take.
If persons of some rank its England have accused the
Queen falsely, what may we nut expert front the stray
servants of au Italian town—from the jele-on and flat-
sum of a licenriunc people—from the caves-droppers of
the whole,Continent, solicited and brought/up:titer by
an emissary of the British Conti, 14 ku is even now ran-
sacking the Milanese for evidence against the Queen.
There are other circumstances tending to pollute
the steeialutbittstice in this high matter. It is is
kaftan (sae the suspicious,l that, in voting on
a bill, some of that political affection which the House
of Lords may entertain should not enter into this de-

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LORD JOHN RUSSELL to MR. WILBERFORCE

TVNIBRIDGE-WELLS, Aug. 3, le2o.
Sll,-1 address to eon a public letter, 'because you
ate a public man on whom much depends. Although I
generally differ with you in politics. 1 warmly 54.011
~llr generous efforts for the welfare of mankind, and I
believe you capable of doing at this moment a great
benefit to your emiotry. Fur this reason I communicate
to you, in the torn, of a petition to the King, my senti-
ments on the one subject of the present day. The
Wl•igs, 3s you well know, hate no power whatct yr. It
is useless for them to originate any thin!. If they move
in part, they are defeated by a ministerial majority : it
they attend public meetings, it is said they are endea-
vouring to bring about a revolution, and new laws to
restrain freedom are immediately enacted. Hut you, Sir,
and some others. whose 'lmport is the sole strem:th of
Administration, are bound to interfere if .they bate any
thing of the wisdom and prudence which you attribute
to their general conduct.
In the following paper I have given no opinion on the
guilt or innocence of the queen. I regret and dis-
approve of the measure of leasing her Majesty's name
out of the Liturgy-1 regret, though I cannot severely
blame, the language of many of the addretses that have
been presented to her.
I do not wish to prejudice a question of which we
know nothing. • I have also omitted many topics that
might have been insisted urn. You are perfectly
aware of the nattye of the &scissions that will take
place, and the temper in which they will be met. In
Motu hands is, p4rhaps, Sir, the fate of this country.
The future historian will ask, whether it was right to
risk the welfare of Englantl—her boasted constitution—
her national power—on the event of an inquiry into the
conduct of the Princess of Wales, in her villa upon the
Lake of Como ? From the majority which followed
you in the House of Commons, he will conclude you had
the power to prevent the die being thrown. He will
ask, If you wanted the inclination ?
I remain, your faithful and obedient servant,
JOHN KUS.SCLL.

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF TO HIS
MAJESTY THE KINO.

We, your Majesty's most dutiful and obedient sub-
jects, approach your Majesty with feelings of the deep-
est anxiety and the most profound respect, but at the
same time with a firm conviction of the uprightness of
I our intentions, to address your Majesty on the snbject
of her Majesty the Queen.
Were the conduct of the Queen a private natter, were
it a subject that concerned your Majesty alone, we
should be the last persons to intrude with our advice,
or to delay the trial of the Queen's conduct a single in-
stant. Hut your Majesty has nobly shown that you
consider it a matter of public import : your Majesty has
proved, by offers of an amicable arrangement, that yon
were ready to allow a Queen, charged with a total
abandonment of her duty, still to retain the title of your
wife, and to be notified as such to time powers of Europe.
It was only when the Queen landed in England that
your Majesty interfered on behalf of the public interests
and the pnbiic morals of the country. and sent down to
your Houses of Parliament the information which
had been received respecting her Majesty's conduct
ivbroad.
To your Majesty, therefore, it would be superfinous,
and consequently indecorous. to urge that persons of
your milted station are nut raised to such eminent
rank fur the purpose of involving their subjects in all
their domestic differences ; but, viewing this difficult
question as your Majesty has viewed it—namely, ss a
matter of State—.we mast be permitted to expresa our
doubts whether your Majesty has been wisely advised
to bring it arward at all. It appears that rat Ma-
jesty's servants hays thought right to proceed against
the Queen by a Bill of Pains sad PrnAti", Par be it
from as to canvass whether missy proceeding %%mid have