from their own conduct. When they advised the message, and the green bag that accompanied it, to be brought down to parliament, it ought to have made no difference in their minds, whether the queen remained abroad or not: they were bound by their duty to the king, and to the country, to pursue a steady course, without any alteration of their views in consequence of her presence or her absence. On the contrary, they told her, that if she continued to live abroad, she might with impunity act in such a manner, as to bring disgrace on the king and country; but if she came to England to trouble them, then it would be imperative on the noble lord, as an honest man, to bring down a green bag. He was sure it was the general feeling of the House that this bag should be never opened, whatever insinuations ministers might throw out respecting its contents; for as soon as they admitted that the matter was negotiable, that moment there was an end of their whole case, as far as concerned the public.

He maintained, that the contents of the green bag, whether true or false, ought not to be gone into for there was no public interest concerned: none, at least, which ministers had not shown themselves very willing to sacrifice. He had a right to assume, from their conduct, that the whole filth which now lay on the table, had been collected for the purpose being exhibited in terrorem against the queen, and therefore he protested against the opening of this Pandora's box. An honest minister would have thrown a veil over such statements as this bag was said to contain, and would

of

have deprecated their promulgation; but the resolution of the present ministers was, that all this poison, which would prevent any modest female from looking into a public paper, was to be diffused over the country, if the queen came to England. Ministers were willing to grant her money, if she would stay away; but, because she had rejected their offer with contempt, because she had come to this country in defiance of their denunciations, and had asserted that alone which she came hither to defend her own honour-she forsooth was to be accused, and this mass of filthy falsehood poured out upon the country. If ministers had, like statesmen, and honest men, advised the king, from a sense of duty, to adopt this course of proceeding, they would have persevered in it with inflexible resolution. The course on which they had entered should have been like the gates of hell:

:

"Who enters here, leaves hope behind." Having screwed their courage up to such a proceeding, they should have pursued it with undeviating constancy, even if they should have lost their heads in consequence. But public honour and public principle were to be given up, if the queen would only relieve ministers from the embarrassment of her presence.

Sir Francis added, that he felt some parliamentary difficulty in the extraordinary mode of proceeding which was proposed. They were called on to address the queen: and if she was to be treated with that respect, it was not, surely, too much to ask mi

nisters to withdraw the stigma which they had cast upon her character. Either the green bag or the present motion should be withdrawn. How any man could hold the bag in one hand, and vote for this motion with the other, he was at a loss to conceive. But Mr. Wilberforce had not told them, what they were to do after the passing of this resolution, which, by the by, implied guilt, and at the same time declared that there was no guilt. Perhaps he had not yet made up his mind on this point, and he would not press him to explain his intentious at too early a period. Suppose the address voted, he did not know whether it was intended to be carried up by his majesty's ministers. It was at all events an admission of her title to respect; and was, pro tanto, evidence against the green bag.

Likewise, there was another consideration affecting the dignity of that House: What, if her majesty should not choose to receive the address? and, in fact, should not comply with it? She had always been anxious to do what was wished by the House of Commons: she had thrown her life and her honour on them; and therefore there could be no doubt of her confidence in the integrity of the House, or of the deference which she was disposed to pay to its opinions. But,

"To the liege lord of my dear native land,

"I owe a subject's homage; yet even him,

"And his high arbitration I reject. "Within my bosom reigns another lord,

Honour, sole judge and umpire of my conduct." This point she could not concede;

especially, when the House asked it in order to get ministers out of a scrape-to enable them to sneak away with their green bag.

Sir Francis further protested against the proposed inquiry, from respect to the character of the royal family, and from a desire of seeing justice done to the queen and to the country. He saw nothing but disgrace and degradation attaching to the persons who brought this charge, and who stood convicted of attempting to compound a crime. To compound a felony was, by the statute law, the next offence to a felony itself; but ministers were here compounding high treason, or something very like it. They had been acting like those wretches who extort money from honourable men, by charging them with crimes; and well might her majesty have shrunk from the contents of that filthy and horrid bag, if she had not possessed ten times the nerve of the king's ministers. How durst ministers say, that they would degrade their queen? The question might perhaps by and by take a different turn, and the House might inquire, how they had done their duty as privy councillors. If understrappers in diplomacy had not thought, that it was a merit to insult her, and if every indignity had not been studiously heaped upon her, she would not have troubled the king or the country.

The speech of Sir Francis Burdett produced a great effect, both in the House and throughout the country. He had, in fact, touched, with considerable skill, on those apparent inconsistencies in the conduct of ministers, which were forced upon them, partly by the

peculiar nature of the case, and partly by the state of the public mind. The course prescribed by simple justice was straight and obvious:-" Treat the queen either as completely innocent, or as laboaring under strong and reasonable suspicion of licentious conduct; and, in the latter case, bring the matter into a course of fair and immediate inquiry." It was on this principle, that Sir Francis Burdett argued the question, without deigning to make any allowance either for political expediency or for respect to public opinion. The ministers, however, wisely thought, that it was their duty to act like statesmen, rather than like speculative moralists. They therefore wished neither to treat the queen as completely innocent, nor to bring her unnecessarily to trial. They thought, that both branches of the alternative might be avoided; and, though, if forced to choose, they would adopt the latter, yet, that they ought not to have recourse to it, till the queen, by insisting on an express or implied declaration, that every suspicion against her was unfounded, left them no other resource. This view of the matter the baronet kept completely in the back ground. We grant, that, after the royal message was sent to parliament, it would have been more consistent, to have, from that moment, thrown aside every idea of any middle course, and to have proceeded immediately to the examination of the charges against her majesty. A numerous party in the House of Commons, however, were averse to any thing like resolute measures. They wished to avoid the discussion, and they

thought, that this might be done by delay and negotiation. Ministers, if they had not yielded to the wishes of these gentlemen, might have experienced great embarrassment from such an accession (though only temporary) to the strength of the opposition.

Mr. Canning replied to Sir Francis Burdett; but not with his usual success. The truth is, that he had already declared, in the strongest language, his admiration of her majesty's character, and his ardent hope, approaching. nearly to conviction, that she would come from the ordeal pure and unsullied; and it was, therefore, impossible for him to found either his argument or his declamation upon the only basis on which the conduct of the government could be defended-strong suspicions against the queen, and a conscientious belief of her guilt. He made, however, some very just remarks on the conduct of Mr. Brougham at St. Omer, in not producing to his royal mistress the memorandum of which he was the bearer, and of permitting her to receive an inaccurate statement of the proposed terms of arrangement from lord Hutchinson. Mr. Brougham's reply was as mysterious as his conduct had been. Nobody, said he, who was not actually on the spot, could form any idea of the strong and unaccountable accidents, by which he was prevented from calling her majesty's attention to lord Liverpool's memorandum, previously to the delivery of lord Hutchinson's communication.

Mr. Tierney wished to know, whether her majesty would consent to be regulated by this reso

lution, and he thought the best thing that could be done would be to adjourn, in order to ascertain her majesty's disposition on the subject. He had, however, no doubt, from the speech which they had heard from Mr. Brougham, that her majesty would reject the proposal. One of the most extraordinary things in this extraordinary case was, that ministers should vote for the present motion. The resolution proposes to thank her majesty for preventing those discussions, which, whatever might be their ultimate result, could not but be distressing to her majesty's feelings, disappointing to the hopes of parliament, derogatory from the dignity of the crown, and injurious to the best interests of the empire. Thus ministers, by supporting this resolution, expressly acknowledged that the proceeding they had instituted was derogatory from the dignity of the crown, and injurious to the best interests of the country. It was, after this, quite impossible that they could go on. In order that time might be had to ascertain her majesty's determination, he again urged the House to adjourn to to-morrow. The House, however, expressed its impatience of any further delay so unequivocally, that Mr. Tierney immediately abandoned his proposal.

Mr. Wilberforce, in his reply, defended his resolutions on the ground, that such an address of the House to the queen as he recommended, was the very expedient which Mr. Brougham had been anxious to discover-a substitute for the insertion of her name in the Liturgy; for, surely, to be so approached by the Com

mons of England would be of more value in her eyes, than an introduction to any court whatso

ever.

The motion was carried by a majority of 391 against 134; and it was agreed, that Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. S. Wortley, Sir T. Ackland, and Mr. Bankes, should wait upon her majesty with the resolution.

On Saturday, the 24th of June, the deputation waited upon her majesty [See the Chronicle]. The gentlemen composing it were received with loud disapprobation by the assembled mob. After they had been presented to her majesty, Mr. Wilberforce read the resolutions of the House of Commons. The queen then put her answer into the hands of Mr. Brougham, who, after reading it to the deputation, delivered it to Mr. Wilberforce. It was in the following words :

"I am bound to receive with gratitude any attempt on the part of the House of Commons to interpose its high mediation for the purpose of healing those unhappy differences in the royal family, which no person has so much reason to deplore as myself. And with perfect truth I can declare, that an entire reconcilement of those differences, effected by the authority of parliament, on principles consistent with the honour and dignity of all the parties, is still the object dearest to my heart.

"I cannot refrain from expressing my deep sense of the affectionate language of these resolutions; it shows the House of Commons to be the faithful representative of that generous people, to whom I owe a debt of

gratitude that can never be repaid.

"I am sensible, too, that I expose myself to the risk of displeasing those who may soon be the judges of my conduct; but I trust to their candour and their sense of honour, confident that they will enter into the feelings which alone influence my determination.

"It would ill become me to question the power of parliament, or the mode in which it may at any time be exercised; but, however strongly I may feel the necessity of submitting to its authority, the question whether I will make myself a party to any measure proposed, must be decided by my own feelings and conscience, and by them alone. As a subject of the state, I shall bow with deference-if possible, without a murmur-to every act of the sovereign authority: but, as an accused and injured queen, I owe it to the king, myself, and all my fellow-subjects, not to consent to the sacrifice of any essential privilege, or withdraw my appeal to those principles of public justice, which are alike the safeguard of the highest and the humblest individual.”

The House of Commons met on that day, for the purpose of receiving her majesty's answer. After some private or formal business had been gone through, Mr. Wilberforce, accompanied by Mr. S. Wortley, entered. The former was loudly called for, but, though he had been at the head of the deputation, he did not obey the call. In his stead, Mr. S. Wortley, attended by Sir T. Ackland and Mr. Bankes, read from the bar the queen's an

swer.

Every thing that had been done, since her majesty's arrival in the country, was favourable to her cause. Though welcomed by the acclamations of the populace, she had nevertheless been received by the government with a royal message to parliament, which was intended to place her immediately in the situation of an accused culprit. The House of Commons, however, had declared that inquiry and accusation were premature; and the ministers had found it necessary to negotiate with her, whom at first they would treat only as a criminal. In that negotiation they had yielded many points, which they had till then withheld or refused; and it was ultimately broken off, because they would not concede enough. Still the Commons are unwilling to treat her as an accused or suspected person. They approach her with a most respectful address; and she, to whom, a few days before, no constituted authority would pay any formal mark of honour, has now the satisfaction of rejecting the most respectful supplications of the representatives of the people of England, communicated to her by a chosen deputation. All these circumstances, at the same time, that they confirmed her own courage, and the boldness of her unthinking partisans, raised her cause in the estimation even of the impartial and enlightened part of the public, who naturally thought, that accusers, who proceeded with so much hesitation, and allowed the dignity of parliament to be laid prostrate at the feet of the alleged culprit, must be conscious of some secret weakness or

frailty in their charges. To a woman, situated as she was, and