The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-01-17
TRAGEDY OF 4 QUEEN
Story of the Wife of George
~ Told BY ereevey Papers

= ~ Oid py CFeeVeg GapeES
II is simple justice 10 remember. that
70 this day. If the law Of England
counts for anything at all, Queen Caro-
Inc was innocent, says the London
Mail, in its review of the Creevey pa
pers. How undesirable is the gulf
which divides those who are not innO-I
cent from those who are not guilty no
man has ever discovered. but there is
an eloquent phrase in English which
we are wont 70 use Of those whose rec
ord leaves them neither free from Of
tense nor guilty Of il. Queen Caroline,
II the worst alleged Of her be true, was
more sinned against than, shining.
And the nation felt that. Nothing in
Mr. Creevey's story OF Queen Caroline
IS 50 striking as the cheering which we
can almost hear whenever she appears
IN the streets, the resolutions and adj
dresses which pour in upon her from
north and south and east and west. We
can almost see her going down the Tiy-
er, passing the house Of commons in her
state barge, the river and shores Of it
filed with 100000 people
There was not q single vessel in the
river that did not hoist its colors and
man its yards for her, and il IS with
the greatest difficulty that the water
partisans, are kept from destroying the
bulk which lies of the house Of COM
mons to protect the witnesses in Cotton
garden.
Once, as ne was writing his letters.
CreeVey heard noise of hurrahing and
shouting in the street, ard ran out to
see.
It was, I may say, the navy Of Eng
land marching to Brandenburgh house
with an address to the queen. I have
seen nothing ike this befoTe-nothing
approaching st. There were thousands
OF seamen, all well dressed, all sober
the best-Iooking. the finest men you can
imagine. Mcdonald asked one Of them
how many they were, to which he an
swered very civilly; I don't know
exactly, sir, but we are many thou
sands, and should have been many
more, but we would not let any man
above 10 come, because we have so far
10 walk"
"This procession" adds Creevey. de
cides the fate of the queen. When the
seamen take a part, the soldiers can't
fail to be shaken" Nor were they.
The guards were on her side, and one
battalion had mutinied
George ", had he been but one inch
e. king, could hardly have viewed the
scenes which took place daily, without
some apprehensiOn-We know, indeed,
that when Caroline came back to Eng
land he sent nervOusIy to his ministers
to ask what they would do. The fell
low was Kissed today going to court,
and hooted loudly" Lord Brougham
wrote to Creevey, and so. from day to
day, through weeks and months and
years, the wretched destinies of a man
and a woman unfOlded themselves be-
fore the world.
The Trial.
Were ever so many plots for novels,
SO many situations for plays, as real
life afforded in these moving days? One
Sunday afternoon the Duke Of yelling
ton dashed madIy in a closed carriage
along PAIL Mall, and let himself iD by
a back door of the palace 1t was the
occasion. we need not doubt OF the
drawing up Of the bill against the
queen. dissolving her marriage and
abOlishinE her title, When the trial
came on Creevey was in the lords, and
sat near the queen. AS the names of
the peers were being called, people
came in who said the queen was on her
way and as far as Chariug Cross.
Two minutes after. the shouts of the
pOpulace announced her near approach,
and some minutes after, two folding
doors within a few feet Of me were sud
denly thrown open, and in entered her
majesty.
queen Caroline, at that supreme mo-
ment of her strange career, must have
borne a manner difficult TO describe; it
was. said Creevey, beyond his powers.
The records of the house of lords tell
of those long days, when the greatest
men in England sat IN that chamber
to try the queen. We need not pause at
this great epoch in our story It is not
a pleasant thing to read, even now, and
the intensity which swayed the people
then must have been almost too great
TO be borne.
OF the kind bought forged evidence and
perjury abroad; it is less Tepugnaut
than to believe that their witnesses
SPOKE the truth.
BUT we must believe that Caroline
Incurred much blame. She behaved
with levity quite unworthy Of a
queen. "A fOotman, ny lords. a COM
mon foOtman" the solicitor general was
able to say with truth, was the COM
panion of the wife Of the heir apparent
of England, at a masked ball"
Yet all this time Caroline was the
lawful wife, the only lawful wife, Of
the man who ruled England, and when
her uncle died and the regent became
king in name she refused to sell her
title 10 the government for $4,000
year Instead, when she came TO Eng
salute. Whatever else she may not
have been, she was open 20 her con-
duct. and it was not against her at
her trial that Lord DeEman hurled his
challenge, Come forth, thou SANDER
err'
Ministers dropped their bill. after
first abandoning the divorce clause.
The queen had triumphed, but it was
the beginning Of the end Of her fall
ures. Who has not heard that knock
which came to the abbey door when
George ". was crowned
Lord Brougham, who followed her on
foot on the way 10 the abbey, wrote
thus to Mr. Creevey Of the scene which
took place The queen had driven
down Constitution hin at 5.15 IN the
morning.
..The queen has lost Incidentally
Rroughan wrote again. "by getting out
of he. carriage and tramping about;
but she was resolved, at any rate, TO
enter the abbey, If she should enter at
all. with the dignity Of the queen of
England. Lord Hood obtained ticket
which would have admitted her alone,
but Caroline refused 10 so into the alb
hey except as queen. She returned
through Plccadilly. and the people,
saws BrOugham ''crammed COckspur
street and Pail Mall, hooting and ours
ing the king and his friends, and huZ-
Zahing her.
The uncroWned queen went home, and
before a month had past she was be-
ing borne back to Brunswicl1-in her
coffin. The coronation which had brok-
en- her heart had broken her mind ana
body, too. Her lawyers laid out her
win and papers on the bed, and she
signed her name four times lin the
7efeadiesf manner possible.