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CHAP. IX.

Rumours concerning the Conduct of the then Princess of WalesMilan Commission-Her cruel Situation abroad-Mr. Brougham's Proposition in June 1819, for a permanent Arrangement between her and the Prince Regent-The Reply of the Ministers-Remarks on Mr. Brougham's Conduct in the Transaction-The Policy of Ministers with respect to the Queen, after the Accession of George IV-Communications with Mr. Brougham-Lord Liverpool's Memorandum of the Terms on which the King was willing to come to an Arrangement with her Majesty-Mr. Brougham's Conduct, after he receives this Memorandum-His InconsistencyProceedings of her Majesty-Her Arrival at Geneva-Met by Alderman Wood and Lady Anne Hamilton-Apparent Changes in her Plans-Is met by Lord Hutchinson and Mr. Brougham at St. Omer-Negotiation at St. Omer-The Failure of it, and her Majesty's Departure for Calais-Mr. Brougham's mysterious Conduct-Probable Causes of it-The Queen Lands at DoverHer Journey to London-Her Reception-Causes of it.

DURING

URING the absence of the queen in different parts of the continent, reports, extremely prejudicial to her character, had been very current both abroad and in England. It was not of a mere common act of immoral gallantry, that she was suspected: the charge against her, was that of living in a state of habitual adultery with a man, whom she had raised from the rank of a menial servant. Such rumours touched the honour of the crown too nearly to be neglected. It was necessary to ascertain on what foundation they rested, and how much of truth or falsehood they contained. In so doing, two so doing, two modes of proceeding might be adopted the one, public and notorious; the other, private, though not clandestine. To have

adopted the former course would have been indelicate and cruel. It would have been, in effect, to say to the whole world-The Princess of Wales is suspected of immoral conduct: let all who have any curiosity, come and listen to the inquiries, which the honour of the British crown renders necessary. A private investigation of her conduct was, therefore, the only rational mode of procedure; and it was that which was adopted. In 1818, Mr. Cooke, a gentleman in extensive practice and of high reputation at the Chancery bar, assisted by Mr. Powell, an attorney, was dispatched into Germany and Italy, to collect evidence with respect to the conduct of the then princess of Wales. The personal character of Mr. Cooke was a complete se

curity, that the investigation would be conducted with the most perfect integrity.

This proceeding was afterwards the subject of much obloquy; and all the common places against spies and informers were brought into play against it. Will, how ever, any one maintain, that, whatever might be the behaviour of the princess of Wales, her husband and his ministers had no concern with it, and were not entitled to have any information concerning it? They who will not assert this, must admit that inquiry was necessary; and, if inquiry was to be instituted, into what hands could it be entrusted with more safety, than into those of a man like Mr. Cooke?

England. Such were the instructions, which had been sent to our diplomatists. They were first issued in 1817, in answer to an application from our envoy to the court of Wurtemburg, for directions as to the manner in which he was to behave towards the princess, if she came to Stutgard; and they had since been rigorously acted upon. They were supposed to be necessary corollaries to her exclusion from the court here; but, we confess, that we do not see the connexion between the two matters. The personal quarrels, subsisting between her and her husband, might justify him in refusing to admit into his own presence a wife whom he detested; but, why should she not be ushered by his ambassadors into the presence of other sovereigns? If, indeed, she had been refused access to the court of London on the ground, that her personal qualities were such as to render it improper to admit her into exalted society, the directions issued to our ambassadors would have been reasonable; for, how could a minister present to a foreign sovereign, her who, at home, was too degraded to be admitted into the royal presence? Her exclusion, however, from the court here, did not stand on that footing. She had not been deemed unworthy of the presence of George III.; and, from the time when he ceased to be able to hold the reins of power, to that when her exclusion took place, she had done nothing to forfeit any of the privileges of her situation. ought, however, to be mentioned, that, at the time when these directions were first issued, the rumours concerning the recent impropriety

The evidence, which the commissioners collected, was not communicated to the world, nor did any change immediately take place in the public situation of the princess. It was probably thought, that, even if all that was said against her were true, it was punishment enough to keep her in the situation, in which she had been for some years. That situation was a cruel one. Though no specific charges had been established against her, she had been formally excluded from the English court; and this exclusion here, had led to consequences abroad, which must have been most galling to the feelings of any high-spirited woman. Our ambassadors and envoys were ordered not to give her, in their official character, any public or official reception; they were not themselves to be instrumental in introducing her at foreign courts; and if any foreign court should think fit to give her a public reception, they were not to assist on such occasions, as the ministers of

It

of her conduct had been very renouncing the splendor of the

prevalent.

In the month of June, 1819, a communication was received by lord Liverpool from Mr. Brougham, who was known to be the professional adviser of the princess, and understood to be charged with the confidential management of her affairs. The proposal contained in this communication was, in substance, that her then income of 35,000l. a year should be secured to her for her life, instead of terminating with the demise of the crown; and that she should undertake, upon that arrangement being made, to reside permanently abroad, and not to assume at any time the rank or title of queen of England. This proposal, however, was stated to be made without any authority from the princess, or knowledge of it on her part; and therefore the government only replied, that there would be no indisposition, at the proper time, to entertain the principle on which the proposal was grounded, if it met with the approbation of her royal highness. The negotiation, however, went no further at that time.

Mr. Brougham has always adhered to his original declaration that the proposition, which he thus made to lord Liverpool, was entirely an act of his own, unknown to his royal client; and he has more than once defended it, as being merely a suggestion, on the part of the princess's legal adviser, that, if such an offer should be made to her by the government, he would advise her to adopt a course of which that should be the basis. He must then have conceived, that it would be prudent in her to purchase a provision for life at the price of

royal dignity which awaited her, and of exiling herself for ever from the land whose throne she ought to have filled. He could not mean to advise her to conclude a bad bargain; and yet he was willing to recommend to her, to part with her most precious rights for the continuance of her annuity. Circumstances must have been known to Mr. Brougham, which taught him to consider as favourable, terms, which it would have been ridiculous to have offered to an innocent woman. We confess, too, that for an unauthorized agent to commence of his own accord a negotiation, by which a royal title is to be bartered away, does seem in the highest degree presumptuous.

There is one circumstance, which, in estimating this transaction, ought not to be forgotten. The princess set out in the month of September, 1819, to meet Mr. Broughamn at Lyons; she waited for him in France some time: but though it was a season of the year, when he could not be much occupied by either parliamentary or professional avocations, he allowed her to wait in vain; till at last, finding that there was no chance of his coming, she set out from Toulon on the 26th of January, 1820, and returned to Leghorn. Here, therefore, we have a proposal made by Mr. Brougham on behalf, but, as he says, without the authority of the princess of Wales: shortly afterwards, we find in the princess an expectation of consulting with him: she even passes several weeks in waiting for him. It is strange, that, under such circumstances, he should make no communication to her with respect to

what had passed between him and lord Liverpool. The correspondence, in point of time, between Mr. Brougham's proposal and the princess's intended consultation with him, leads to a strong suspicion, that these two things were not totally independent of each other.

By the accession of her husband to the throne in 1820, the princess became de facto queen of England; and it was now necessary to determine upon the line of conduct, which was to be observed towards her. According to reports current at the time, the king wished to adopt the most decisive measures immediately, and to take steps for obtaining a divorce. The ministers endeavoured to dissuade him; he was obstinate; and they, it is said, were forced at last to tender their resignations, Some have even asserted, that their resignation was accepted; that an endeavour was made to form a new administration, of which lord Wellesley was to be the head; and that, for more than four and twenty hours, the country was without ministers. Whatever truth may have been in these reports (and from what passed in parliament, as well as out of it, they were clearly not without some foundation), the counsels of lord Liverpool and his associates finally prevailed; and his majesty abstained from taking any steps with a view to dissolve his matrimonial connexion.

The grounds of policy, on which the ministers declined commenc. ing proceedings against the queen, and even opposed themselves to the declared wishes of their sovereign, are not difficult to discover. However strong their conviction might be of the queen's

guilt, they could not but be aware, that there might be great difficulty in establishing it by legal evidence. The testimony of witnesses, when permitted to tell their own story in private, is always very different from that which they give in a court of justice, particularly when sifted by cross-examination. The king was not at that moment very popular; and it was generally supposed, that his conduct to his wife, especially in the first months of her married life, had not been in perfect accordance either with the rules of morality, or with the dictates of generous feeling. If she were attacked, there could be little doubt, but that she would recriminate upon him; and the scenes, that would be thus forced upon the attention of the world, were not such as a friend of virtue would unnecessarily drag into notoriety. One effect was sure to follow-the degradation of the crown in general opinion; and, at such a moment, whatever lowered the high authorities of the state, was to be deprecated most earnestly. The country had been violently agitated; the labouring classes had been spurning at the bonds of regular subordination ; and though the tumult had apparently subsided, was it prudent to give at once excitement and encouragement to disaffection by a public prosecution of her who wore the crown? Such a measure could not fail to occupy every mind with intense interest; and, whatever the merits of the case might be, a powerful party would attach themselves to her majesty's cause. Some would adhere to her, as a means of annoying ministers; others, from animosity against the king; others, from a

wish to overturn the constitution of the country, which, they might think, could never be assailed with more success, than when she, who shared the throne, led on the attack. Even pity might have some share in directing the resolutions of the cabinet. It was at that time imagined, that the crime, with which her majesty stood charged, was treasonable; nor had it then occurred to any one, that, as a foreigner cannot commit treason out of England, and as a queen, who commits adultery, is guilty of treason only by being accessary to the treason of the adulterer, she could not incur the penalties of the statute of Edward III. by criminal intercourse, in a foreign land, with one who was not a subject of the English crown. A prosecution, there fore, against her for her supposed improper behaviour was to put her on her trial for her life; and it is not surprising, that those ministers, whose party had in former times protected her against very grave charges, should be averse to take steps of such severity against a daughter of the house of Brunswick. Why should she be reduced to plead for her life, why should the royal dignity be profaned, why should popular madness be stirred up, why should the peace of the country be risked, merely to deprive her of an empty title, and to free the monarch from a nominal tie? They were convinced, indeed, that her behaviour had been most disgraceful, and that she ought not to preside in a court here. But the question, as it appeared to them at that time, was not, whether shall we proceed against her capitally, or permit her to

live among us with all the splendor and influence of her royal dignity? It was merely-Shall we wantonly commence criminal proceedings against her, or shall we allow her to lead an obscure life in foreign countries, not formally deprived of the crown, yet sharing in none of its real privileges, disgraced herself, but incapable of disgracing it? That she would consent to some such arrangement, they had every reason to suppose. They probably suspected, that the proposition, which Mr. Brougham had, in the preceding year, laid before lord Liverpool, had not been made without her previous sanction; and even if it was unauthorized by her, it at least showed, that her professional adviser thought, that it would be wise in her, and that probably she would not be unwilling, to agree, in consideration of a liberal annuity, to spend all her days abroad, and to abstain from assuming the royal style of England. The policy, therefore, which they followed, cannot be

blamed as either rash or unadvised. Believing her to be a guilty woman, they thought that she ought not to enjoy the benefit of the splendor of the English crown, or to be allowed to take her station here at the head of our wives and daughters; that enough would be done, if she eonsented (as Mr. Brougham thought she would) to live in comparative obscurity abroad; and that therefore it was needless to tamper with the public peace and morals by the indecent and dangerous exposure, which would be inevitable, if steps were taken to obtain a formal divorce; while all the essential good that could

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