X.

1820.

76.

ment of the

troubles about the Queen.

CHAP. facturers still find their best customers in the men who cultivate the adjoining fields. Notwithstanding the great extent of our foreign commerce, the manufactures consumed in the home market are still double in value those consumed in all foreign markets put together: our own husbandmen take off fifty times the amount of our manufactures per head which those of the grain-growing countries do, from whom we now derive so large a part of our subsistence; and small as is the number of their inhabitants to those of the rest of the world, our exports to our own colonies, emancipated and unemancipated, are nearly equal to those to all the rest of the world put together. These, and all other social questions, how momentous Commence soever, were cut short in this Parliament by the proceedings against the Queen, which entirely engrossed the attention of the Legislature and the interest of the people during the whole remainder of the year, and not only seriously shook the Ministry, but violently agitated the nation. This unhappy Princess, the second daughter of the sister of George III., and of the illustrious House of Brunswick, had been married early in life to the Prince of Wales, now the reigning Sovereign, without their ever having seen each other, or possessing the smallest acquaintance with each other's tastes, habits, or inclinatious. It is the melancholy fate of persons in that elevated sphere in general to have marriages imposed upon them as a matter of state necessity, without the slightest regard to their wishes or happiness; and great is the domestic misery to which this necessity too often leads. But the peculiar circumstances of this case rendered the situation of the royal pair beyond the ordinary case of crowned heads calamitous. The Prince at the time of his marriage was deeply attached to, and had been married, though without the consent required by the Marriage Act, and of course illegally, to another lady of great personal and mental attractions. The Princess, to whom he was afterwards compelled to give his hand, though possessed

X.

1820.

of great liveliness and considerable talent, and no small CHAP. share of personal charms, was totally unsuited to his tastes, and repugnant to his habits. The consequence was, that both parties were inspired with a mutual aversion from the moment they first met: the marriage ceremony was gone through, but it was more a form than anything else; after the first few days they never met in Lord private, and after the birth of the Princess Charlotte, no bury's hope remained of any farther issue to continue the direct 146, 214. line of succession to the throne.1

1

Malmes

Diaries, iii.

her life

The Princess, after her separation from her husband, 77. lived chiefly at Blackheath, and there Mr Perceval, after- Sketch of wards Prime Minister, was for long her principal adviser: prior to but Mr Canning also shared her society, and has recorded this period. his opinion of the liveliness of her manner, and the charms of her conversation; and Sir Walter Scott has added his testimony to the flattering opinion. It was scarcely possible that a Princess of a lively manner, fond of society, and especially of that of young and agreeable men, and living apart from her husband, should escape the breath of scandal, and it would probably have attached to her notwithstanding the utmost decorum and propriety on her part. Unfortunately, however, the latter qualities were precisely those in which the Princess was most deficient; and without going the length of asserting that her conduct was actually criminal, or that she retaliated in kind on her husband for his well-known infidelities, it is sufficient to observe that the levity and indiscretion of her manners were such as to awaken the solicitude of her royal parents; and that a " delicate investigation" took place, the particulars of which have never been disclosed, and upon the import of which the only observation which vi. 422; can safely be made is, that no public proceedings were i. 251. adopted in consequence of it.2

When the Continent was opened to British travellers after the peace, the Princess of Wales, to the great relief of her royal spouse, went abroad, with a separate

2 Hughes,

Martineau,

X.

1820.

78.

abroad, and

in conse

quence of it.

CHAP. allowance of £35,000 a-year, and for several years little was heard of her in this country, except her occasional appearance at a foreign court. It appeared, however, Her conduct that, unknown to the public, her conduct was strictly proceedings Watched; confidential persons of respectability were sent abroad to obtain evidence; and, from the information received, Government conceived themselves called upon to send instructions to our ambassadors and ministers at foreign courts, that they were not to give her any official or public reception: and if she were received publicly by the sovereign, they were not to be present at it. This, with her formal exclusion from the English court, which had been previously pronounced, rendered her situation abroad very uncomfortable; and to put an end to it, and get matters arranged on a permanent footing, Mr Brougham, who had become her confidential adviser, proposed to Lord Liverpool, in June 1819, though without the knowledge of her Royal Highness, that, on condition of her allowance of £35,000 a-year, which she at present enjoyed, being secured for her by act of Parliament or warrant of the Treasury for life, instead of being, as at present, dependent on the life of the Prince-Regent, she should agree to remain abroad during the whole remainder of her life. The Ministers returned a favourable answer to this application; and it was no wonder they did so, for it went to relieve them from an embarrassment which all but proved fatal to the Administration. The Prince strenuously contended for a divorce, as not only justified, but called for, in the circumstances, which, he maintained, were such as would entitle any private subject to that remedy. The Cabinet opposed this, as likely to lead to a very serious agitation in the present 1 Hughes, disturbed state of the public mind. At length they came to Ann. Reg. a compromise, to the effect that, if she remained abroad, no further proceedings of any sort should be adopted against her Royal Highness; but that, if she returned to England, they would accede to the Prince's wishes.1

vi. 422;

1820, 123, 124; El

don's Life, ii. 362.

a

a

X.

1820.

79.

the Queen's

her return

and

Liturgy, an to England.

Matters remained in this position, in a kind of lull, CHAP. during the remainder of the life of George III. But when that monarch died, in February 1820, and the strong step of omitting her Majesty's name in the Liturgy Omission of was taken, matters were brought to a crisis. The new name in the Queen loudly exclaimed, that such an omission was direct imputation on her honour, which could not for moment be submitted to; and that she would return to England instantly to vindicate her character. The King, learning this, as obstinately contended for an immediate divorce, in the event of her carrying her threat into execution; and as his Ministers refused to accede to this, they tendered their resignation, and attempts were made to form a new ministry, of which Lord Wellesley was to be the head. These failed; and it was at length agreed that, if the Queen returned, proceedings were to be immediately commenced against her. Attempts were, however, again made to avert so dire an alternative; it was even proposed to increase her allowance to £50,000 a-year, provided she agreed to take some other name or title than that of Queen, and not to exercise any of the rights belonging to that character. These proposals were formally transmitted to Mr Brougham, as her Majesty's principal law-officer, on the 15th April, and approved of by him. The indignant feelings and impetuous disposition of the Queen, however, rendered all attempt at accommodation fruitless. She was much incensed, in February, by being refused a guard of honour as Queen of England; and no sooner March 16. did she hear of the omission of her name in the Liturgy, than she took the bold resolution of returning imme- 1 Ann, Reg. diately to this country, alleging that England was her 1820, 127, real home, and to it she would immediately fly.1 How- Dudley's ever we may regret this resolution, and deplore the unfortunate results to which it led, we cannot but admire Queen, the spirit of a Princess who thus braved the utmost dan- 1820. gers, it might be to her life, in vindication of her honour,

129; Lord

Letters,

254; Let

ter of the

March 16,

X.

CHAP. or fail to admit that, in whatever else Queen Caroline was awanting, it was not in the courage hereditary in her race.*

1820.

80.

Her landland, and

enthusiastic reception.

She was met by Mr Brougham and Lord Hutchinson, who in vain endeavoured to get her to accede to the King's offer of £50,000 a-year, provided she would remain abroad, and not assume the title or duties of the Queen of England. She indignantly rejected the proposal, as an insult to her honour and a stain upon her character; and having dismissed Bergami, her alleged paramour, at St Omer, she landed at Dover on the afternoon of the 6th June. No words can adequately describe the universal enthusiasm which her arrival excited among the great bulk of the people. They had previously been prepared for her reception by the publication of her letters complaining of the treatment she had experienced, and she had been expected almost daily for several weeks past. The courage and decision displayed by her Royal Highness on this trying occasion excited general admiration, and was hailed as a convincing proof of her innocence. The spectacle of a Queen deserted by her husband, calumniated, as it was thought, by his Ministers, threatened with trial, it might be death, if she set her foot i. 252; Ann, on British ground, braving all these dangers in vindication Reg. 1820, of her innocence, awakened the warmest sympathy of the 134, 139; Lord Dud- multitude, in whom noble deeds seldom fail to excite the ley's Letters, 226. most enthusiastic feelings.1 Pity for her supposed wrongs, united with admiration of her real courage, and the fine

1 Martineau,

* "I have written to Lord Liverpool and Lord Castlereagh, demanding to have my name inserted in the Liturgy of the Church of England, and that orders be given to all British ambassadors, ministers, and consuls, that I should be acknowledged and received as Queen of England; and after the speech made by Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, in answer to Mr Brougham, I do not expect to receive further insult. I have also demanded that a palace may be prepared for my reception. England is my real home, to which I shall immediately fly."- Queen CAROLINE, March 16, 1820; Ann. Reg. 1820, p. 131. "Her promptitude and courage," said Lord Dudley at the time, "confounded her opponents, and gained her the favour of the people. Whatever one may think of her conduct in other respects, it is impossible not to give her credit for these qualities."-LORD DUDLEY'S Letters, 254.