CHAP. acquitted. Mr Brougham himself intended to have done X. this, after having merely presented her maid Mariette 1820. 1 Life of George IV., 447. Bron for examination. But she was not to be found : and the case went on with most able arguments by Mr Denman and Mr Williams, followed by evidence led at great length for her Majesty, and powerful replies by the Attorney and Solicitor General. The speech of the first (Sir Robert Gifford) was in an especial manner effectiveso much so, that the Radical leaders gave up the case for lost, and Cobbett threw off 100,000 copies of an answer to it.1 It was not the evidence for the prosecution which had this effect, for it was of so suspicious a kind that little reliance could be placed on it, but what was elicited, on cross-examination, from the English officers on board the vessel which conveyed her Majesty to the Levant, men of integrity and honour, of whose testimony there was not a shadow of suspicion. Without asserting that any of them proved actual guilt against her Majesty, it cannot be disputed that they established against her an amount of levity of manner and laxity of habits, which rendered her unfit to be at the head of English society, and amply justified the measures taken to exclude her from it. The result was, that on the 6th November the second reading of the bill was carried by a majority of 28, the numbers being 123 to 95, which was equivalent to a finding of guilty. In committee, when the divorce clause came forward, it was sustained by a majority of 129 to 62, the Opposition having nearly all voted for the clause, with the view of defeating the bill in its last stage. This proved successful; for on the third reading, on 10th November, the majority sunk to NINE, the 2 Parl. Deb. numbers being 108 to 99. Upon this, Lord Liverpool 1743; Ann. rose and said, that with so slender a majority he could not think of pressing the measure farther, and withdrew the bill.2 iii. 1726, Reg. 1820, 184, 190. No words can convey an adequate idea of the general transports which prevailed through the British Islands CHAP. X. 1820. 88. transports ple. when the intelligence of the withdrawal of the bill was received. London was spontaneously, though partially, illuminated for three successive nights-those who did not concur in the general joy, and they were many, joining General in the festivity from a dread of the sovereign mob, and of the peoof the instant penalty of having their windows broken, which in general followed any resistance to its mandates. Edinburgh, Dublin, Manchester, Liverpool, and all the great towns, followed the example. For several days the populace in all the cities of the empire seemed to be delirious with joy; nothing had been seen like it before since the battle of Waterloo; nothing approaching to it after, till the Reform Bill was passed. Addresses were voted to the Queen, from the Common Council of London, and all the popular constituencies in the kingdom; and her residence in London was surrounded from day- 1 Ann. Reg. break to night by an immense crowd, testifying in their 1820, 192, usual noisy way the satisfaction they felt at her victory. bett's Life Yet, amidst all these congratulations, the position of her 447, 449; Majesty was sensibly deteriorated even by the complete- 447. ness of her triumph.1 193; Cob of Geo. IV. Hughes, vi. action of Being now secure of her position, and independent of 89. the support of the populace, she ceased to court them, Rapid reand this speedily cooled their ardour in her cause. They public opicomplained that she was now always encircled by a coterie nion. of Whig ladies, and no longer accessible to their deputations. When the struggle was over and the victory gained, the King and his Ministers defeated, and the Queen secured in her rank and fortune, they began to reflect on what they had done, and the qualities of the exalted personage of whom they had proved themselves such doughty champions. They called to mind the evidence in the case, which they had little considered while the contest lasted, and they observed, not without secret misgivings, the effect it produced on the different classes of society. They saw that the experienced hesitated at it, the serious shunned it, the licentious gloated over it. The reaction so usual X. 1820. CHAP. in such cases, when the struggle is over, ensued; and, satisfied with having won the victory, they began to regret that it had not been gained in a less questionable cause. 1 Hughes, vi. 447; Ann. As has often been the case in English history, old feelings 193; Mar- revived when recent ones were satiated; and, strange to 260; Twiss's say, the most popular years of the reign of George IV. don, ii. 412. were those which immediately followed the greatest defeat his Government had experienced.1* Reg, 1820, tineau, i. Life of El 90. tion of the The Ministers, however, who were not aware of the Consterna- commencement of this reactionary feeling, and looked Ministry, only at their public position as the King's Government, who resolve felt most acutely the defeat they had undergone. It all their posts. but overturned the Administration; with men of less to remain at nerve and resolution at its head, it unquestionably would have done so. But Lord Liverpool, Lord Castlereagh, and Lord Sidmouth, resolved to remain at their posts, conscious that to desert their Sovereign at this crisis would be nothing less than for his generals to abandon him in the day of battle. They were well aware that they were at the moment the most unpopular men in the British dominions; they were never seen in the street without being reviled by the mob; and anonymous letters Sidmouth, every day threatened them with death, if the proceedings iii. 332,340; against her Majesty were not abandoned.2 They paid of Eldon, no regard to these threats, and walked or drove to the House every day as if nothing had occurred; and the people, admiring their courage, abstained from actual 2 Life of Twiss's Life ii. 398, 404, 405. "The Whig faction flocked round the Queen directly after the abandonment of the bill; and her lawyers, who now called themselves her constitutional advisers, belonged to that faction who thought to get possession of power by her instrumentality, she having the people at her back. But the people, who hated this faction more than the other, the moment they saw it about her, troubled her with no more addresses. They suffered her to remain very tranquil at Brandenburg House; the faction agitated questions concerning her in Parliament, concerning which the people cared not a straw; what she was doing soon became as indifferent to them as what any other person of the royal family was doing: the people began to occupy themselves with the business of obtaining a Parliamentary reform; and her way of life, and her final fate, soon became objects of curiosity, much more than interest, with the people."-COBBETT's Life of George IV., 454. X. 1821. violence.* Division, as might naturally have been ex- CHAP. pected, ensued in the Cabinet, and more than one resignation was tendered to his Majesty; but one only—that of Mr Canning, as President of the Board of Controlwas accepted, who was succeeded by Mr Bragge Bathurst, and the Government, as a body, ventured to weather the storm. 91. popularity ment, and The result showed that they were right, and had not miscalculated the effect of just and courageous conduct Return of on the English mind. Though liable to occasional fits of Governof fervour, which for the time have often looked like na- causes of it. tional insanity, the English mind, when allowed time for reflection, and not precluded from thinking by the pressure of suffering, quickly in general regains its equilibrium, and never so much so as after a decisive victory. In the present instance, the change in the public feeling was so rapid and remarkable, that it attracted the notice of the King himself, and his Ministers felt no difficulty in meeting Parliament. Nor is it surprising that this was so; for reflection soon taught the nation that their zeal, how generous and honest soever, had been exerted on an unworthy object; that the Queen was by no means the immaculate character they supposed; and that * "Matters here are in a very critical state. Fear and faction are actively, and not unsuccessfully, at work; and it is possible we may be in a minority and the fate of the Government determined in a very few days."-Lord SIDMOUTH to Mr BATHURST, 27th October 1820. "I cannot describe to you how grievously I suffer, and have suffered, on account of the dangerous and deplor able situation in which our country, the King's Government, and indeed all of us, have been placed-a situation from which I profess to see no satisfactory or safe deliverance."-Ditto to ditto, 28th October 1820. "One day, at this time, when Lords Castlereagh and Sidmouth were walking through Parliament Street, they were violently hooted at by the mob. Here we go,' said Lord Sidmouth, the two most popular men in England.' 'Yes,' replied Lord Castlereagh,' through a grateful and admiring multitude." "-Life of Sidmouth iii. 330, 333. "It is clear beyond dispute, from the improvement of the public mind, and the loyalty which the country is now everywhere displaying, if properly cultivated and turned to the best advantage by Ministers, that the Govern ment will thereby be enabled to repair to the country and to me those evils, of the magnitude of which there can be but one opinion."-GEORGE IV. to Lord ELDON, Jan. 9, 1821; Twiss's Life of Eldon, ii. 413. X. 1821. CHAP. however culpable and heartless the King's conduct had been to her in the outset of her married life, latterly at least the principal fault had been on her side; in truth, also, be the fault where it may, her habits abroad had been such as rendered her unfit to be placed at the head of English society. The trial, they saw, was of her own seeking; she was offered the title of Queen, and a handsome provision abroad; and they could not regard without regret the enthusiasm which had prevailed in favour of a woman whom the highest court in the kingdom, upon evidence the force of which all must feel, had virtually pronounced guilty. The battle had been a drawn one the people could pride themselves on their victory, the Ministers on the evidence by which they had justified their proceedings; and both parties having thus something to gratify their self-love, their mutual irritation was lessened, and reconciliation resulted from a proceeding which presaged at first irreparable alienation. 92. Parliament, proceed ings. Parliament met, after being prorogued in the end of Meeting of November, on the 23d January, and Ministers were able and first to congratulate the country with reason on the improved condition of the people, and more contented temper of the public mind. In truth, the change in both respects was most remarkable; and Ministers, who had anticipated a narrow division, if not a defeat, on the question of the Queen, and their conduct in regard to her, were, to their surprise, supported by large majorities in both Houses, which on 6th February rose to 146 in the Commons. This great victory in a manner terminated the contest of parties on that painful subject. It was now evident that the long proceedings which had taken place on the Queen's trial, and the weighty evidence which had come out against her, had completely changed the public iv. 460,507; opinion on the subject, and that even the Radicals must 1821, 15, 21. look out for some fresh subject of complaint in their attempts to overturn the Government.1 1 Parl. Deb. Ann. Reg. Such a subject would, but for the manly and judicious |