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PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.

HY does the King of the Belgians receive from the English nation an annual pension of fifty thousand pounds? To answer that question we must go back to the time of George IV. And what a time it was! It is true that we shall find nothing wonderful or instructive in the life of the Royal George. Certainly he was the king, but there was about him little kingly nature, and, for all the money the nation As the lavished upon him, little kingly service. Prince of Wales he had been profligate and dissolute, and had, right royally or otherwise, cost the nation immense sums of money to keep him and to pay his debts. He had given, during that period, an example that all men would do well not to imitate, but to avoid; and when he came to be king he fancied that he had done some clever things. The historian says, "I believe it is certain about George IV., that he had heard so much of the war, knighted so many people, and worn such a prodigious quantity of marshal's uniforms, cocked hats, cock's feathers, scarlet and bullion in general, that he actually fancied he had been present in some campaigns, and, under the name of General Brock, led a tremendous charge of Poor, foolish, the German legion at Waterloo."

almost silly, king! This man, when he was the Prince of Wales, so unlike in his tastes, dispositions, and deportment to the Prince who owns the title in this year of grace, 1864, married Caroline Amelia Augusta, second daughter of the Duke of Brunswick, by Augusta, the eldest sister of his Majesty, George III., on the 6th of April, 1795. He had previously married-so report said, but which report had been contradicted by Mr. Fox in the House of Commons, who designated the statement "a monstrous calumny" -a Mrs. Fitzherbert, a lady many years older than the prince, but of great beauty and of agreeable manners. If the marriage was actually celebrated, it was not binding by the law which had been passed, rendering all marriages of the royal children void without the written consent of the sovereign. However, be it so or otherwise, the prince consented to the marriage with his cousin on the understanding that his debts should be paid. "Lovers of long sums," says Thackeray, "have added up the millions and millions which in the course of his brilliant existence this

single prince consumed. Besides his income of £50,000, £70,000, £100,000, £120,000 a-year, we read of three applications to Parliament; debts to the amount of £160,000, of £650,000, besides mysterious foreign loans, whereof he pocketed the proceeds. What did he do for all this money? Why was he to have it? If he had been a manufacturing town, or a populous rural district, or an army of five

thousand men, he would not have cost more. He, one solitary, stout man, who did not toil, nor spin, nor fight, what had any mortal done that he should be pampered so? In 1784, when he was twenty-one years of age, Carlton Palace was given to him, and furnished by the nation with as much luxury as could be devised. His pockets were filled with money; he said it was not enough; he flung it out of window; he spent £10,000 a-year for the coats on his back. The nation gave him more money, and more, and more. The sum is past counting." And yet, for all that, when the marriage with his cousin was proposed he was desperately in debt. The handsome prince— for all authorities are agreed upon his personal beauty-must have considered that his business in the world was to spend money, not upon works of public usefulness, but upon his own vices and low desires. His disappointment must have been very considerable, when he found that there was a condition attached to his spending. Marry his cousin! Well, if he must he must, but there was no condition about loving her. When this cousin of Brunswick arrived in London, in charge of the Earl of Malmesbury, to whom had been deputed the office of demanding her hand for the heir of England's throne, the bridegroom hastened to receive her. "When," reports the Earl, "she attempted to kneel, the prince gracefully raised her, and gave her an embrace; then, turning round, said, ‘Harris, I am not well; pray get me a glass of

brandy.' Harris said, having reference to the proprieties of the situation, 'Sir, had you not better have a glass of water?' Upon which this gentle prince said, with an oath, 'No, I will go to the queen.'" That reception contrasts strangely with the reception given to the affianced bride of the Prince of Wales of 1863; the difference being simply that the one was a marriage of convenience, and the other a marriage of love. The one gives earnest of a long day of happiness, as the other indicated a life of misery. How could it be otherwise? After the marriage, as might have been expected, in a very few months, a separation took place; not, however, before the birth of a daughter-the Princess Charlotte-who became to the nation the promise of a virtuous and a happy reign. Soon after her birth a separation took place between the prince and her mother; the latter, on the death of her uncle, George III., went to reside in Italy and other places, there being no home for her in England. During her absence abroad, many reports to her prejudice were currently circulated, which were greedily caught up by the prince, who was doubtless anxious to justify to the public mind his separation from his wife. When the prince became king, and ascended the throne as George IV., the queen resolved to return to England to assert the rights of her station. The king, whose dislike to his wife had not decreased, endeavoured to induce her to main abroad, and offered her an increase of income

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on condition that she did not assume the title of queen. This offer she spurned, and, as evidence of her intention, landed at Dover on the 5th of June, 1820. She was met by the people in large numbers, who gave her a hearty welcome, her progress to London being one continuous triumph. The king upon this was compelled to take action. He sent certain papers to both Houses of Parliament, containing statements relative to the conduct of the queen while abroad, and recommended that immediate attention be paid to them. In the Commons this communication was anticipated by queen, who represented that she had returned to England with the intention of manifesting her innocence and maintaining her rights; at the same time she protested against the appointment of any secret tribunal to investigate the charges against her. Despite this protest, the Lords appointed a secret committee, which reported, as the result of their labours, that a Bill of Degradation and Divorce should be brought in, which was done. Mr. Brougham, Mr. Denman, and other eminent men were counsel for the queen. part which Brougham sustained during the trial certainly did much to lay the foundation of his future fame. His speech, which he wrote nine times over before delivery, is a masterpiece of eloquent logic. At its conclusion, he said, "Such, my lords, is the case now before you. Such is the evidence in support of this measure-evidence inadequate to prove a debt-impotent to deprive of a civil right-ridiculous to

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