CHAP. 109. is refused Aug. 7. soon after ensued. The Queen, with that resolution and indomitable spirit which, for good or for evil, has ever 1821. been the characteristic of her race, though refused a The Queen ticket, resolved to force her way into the Abbey, and admittance: Witness, at least, if she was not permitted to take part in, her death. the ceremony. She came to the door, accordingly, in an open barouche, drawn by six beautiful bays, accompanied by Lord and Lady Hood and Lady Anne Hamilton, and was loudly cheered by the populace as she passed along the streets. When she approached the Abbey, however, some cries of an opposite description were heard; and when she arrived at the door, she was respectfully, but firmly, refused admittance by the door-keeper, who had the painful duty imposed on him of denying access to his sovereign. She retired from the door, after some altercation, deeply mortified, amidst cries from the people, some cheers, but others which proved how much general opinion had changed in regard to her. Such was the chagrin she experienced from this event, that, combined with an obstruction of the bowels that soon after seized her, mortification ensued, which terminated fatally in little more than a fortnight afterwards. The ruling passion appeared strong in death. She ordered that her remains to Chron.; should not be left in England, but carried to her native 473, 474; land, and buried beside her ancestors, with this inscription, "Here lies Caroline of Brunswick, the injured Queen of England."1 1 Ann. Reg. 348; App. Hughes, vi. Martineau, i. 260. 110. to Ireland. Aug. 12. Before the death of the Queen was known, the King King's visit had made preparations for a visit to Ireland, and it was not thought proper to interrupt them. On Saturday 11th August, his Majesty embarked at Holyhead, and on the following afternoon landed at Howth in the Bay of Dublin, where he was received with the loudest acclamations, and the most heartfelt demonstrations of loyalty, by that warm-hearted and easily-excited people. They escorted him with the most tumultuous acclamations to the viceregal lodge, from the steps of which he thus X. 1821. addressed them: "This is one of the happiest days of CHAP. my life. I have long wished to visit you. My heart has always been Irish from the day it first beat, I loved Ireland, and this day has shown me that I am beloved by my Irish subjects. Rank, station, honours, are nothing; but to feel that I live in the hearts of my Irish subjects, is to me exalted happiness." These felicitous expressions diffused universal enchantment, and, combined with the graceful condescension and dignified affability of manner which the Sovereign knew so well to exhibit when inclined to do so, roused the loyalty of the people to a perfect enthusiasm. For the week that he remained there, his life was a continued triumph: reviews, theatres, spectacles, and entertainments, succeeded one another in brilliant succession; and after a short sojourn at Slanes 1 Ann. Reg. Castle, the seat of the Marquess of Conyngham, he re- 1821, 129, turned to England, and soon after paid a visit to Hanover, to Chron.; Hughes, vi. where he was received in the same cordial and splendid 474, 475. manner.1 131; App. the Queen. The funeral of the Queen took place on the 14th 111. August, at the very time when the King was receiving Funeral of the impassioned demonstrations of loyalty on the part of his Irish subjects; and it caused a painful and discreditable scene, which led to the dismissal of one of the most gallant officers in the English army from the service which his valour and conduct had so long adorned. It had been directed by her Majesty that her body, as already mentioned, should be taken to Brunswick to be interred. Anxious to avoid any rioting or painful occurrence in conveying the body from Brandenburg House, where she died, to the place where it was to be embarked, Harwich in Essex, Ministers had directed that the hearse which conveyed the body, with attendants suitable to her rank, should proceed by a circuitous route through the north suburbs of London and the new road to Islington. The direct road to Harwich, however, lay through the city; and the people were resolved that the procession X. 1821. CHAP. should go that way, that they might have an opportunity of testifying their respect to the illustrious deceased. As the orders of the persons intrusted with the direction of the procession were to go the other way, and they attempted to do so, the populace formed in a close column twenty deep, across the road at Cumberland Gate, and after a severe conflict, both there and at Tottenham Court Road, in the course of which two men were un1 Ann. Reg. fortunately killed by shots from the Life-Guards, the pro1821, 126, cession was fairly forced into the line which the people to Chron.; desired, and proceeded through the city in great pomp, amidst an immense crowd of spectators, with the Lord Mayor and civic authorities at its head, the bells all tolling, and the shops shut.1 127; App. Hughes, vi. 474, 475; Martineau, i. 261. 112. of Sir R. Wilson from the army. The procession reached Harwich without further interDismissal ruption, and the unhappy Queen was at length interred at Brunswick on August 23d. But the occurrence in London led to a melancholy result in Great Britain. Sir Robert Wilson, who had remonstrated with the military on occasion of this affray, from motives of humanity, and taken an active part in the procession, though not in the riot, and the police magistrate who had yielded to the violence of the populace, and changed the direction of the procession, were both dismissed, the first from the service, the last from his situation. However much all must regret that so gallant and distinguished an officer as Sir Robert Wilson should have been lost, even for a time, to the British army, no right-thinking person can hesitate as to the propriety of this step. Obedience is the first duty of the armed force it acts, but should never deliberate. He who tries to make soldiers forget their duty to their sovereign, or sets the example of doing so, fails in his duty to his king, but still more to his country;2 for the cause of vi. 475, 476; freedom has been often thrown back, but never yet was, Ann. Reg. 1821, 128. in the end, promoted by military revolt; and it was not a time to provoke such a catastrophe in Great Britain, 2 Hughes, X. when military revolution had just proved so fatal to CHAP. the cause of liberty not less than of order in southern Europe.* 1821. 113. the Cabinet. Notwithstanding the favourable state of general feeling in the country, and the improved condition of the Changes in manufacturing classes, Ministers felt that their position was insecure, and that it was highly desirable to obtain some further accession of strength, both in the Cabinet and the House of Commons. The continued and deep distress of the agricultural interest had not only led to several close divisions in the preceding session in the House of Commons, but occasioned several public meetings, where the voice of that class had made itself loudly heard. They had actually resigned upon his Majesty's demand for a divorce; they had been all but shipwrecked on the Queen's trial; and on occasion of the late riots at her funeral, the King had let fall some alarming expressions as to the way in which that delicate affair had been conducted. It was deemed indispensable, therefore, to look out for support; and the Grenville party-a sort of flying squadron between the Ministerialists and Liberals, but who had hitherto always acted with the Whigs-presented. the fairest prospect of an alliance. Proposals were made accordingly, and accepted. Lord Grenville, the head of the party, was disabled by infirmities from taking an active part in public life, and could not be lured from his retreat; but the Marquess of Buckingham was made a duke; Mr Wynne, President of the Board of Control and Mr H. Wynne, envoy to the Swiss Cantons. This coalition gained Ministers a few votes in the House of Commons; but it was of more importance as indicating, as changes in the Cabinet generally do, the commencement ; * Sir R. Wilson was afterwards restored to his rank in the army, and was for some years Governor of Gibraltar. It is due to the memory of this distinguished and gallant soldier to say, that his friends assert that the words which he spoke to the military on this unhappy occasion were such as urged them to forbearance and temper only towards the populace, and by no means X. 1821. 1 Twiss's Life, ii. 446; Life of CHAP. of a change in the system of government. The admission of even a single Whig into the Cabinet indicated the increasing weight of that party in the country, and as they were favourable to the Catholic claims, it was an Sidmouth, important change. Lord Eldon, ultimus Romanorum, presaged no good from the alliance. "This coalition,” 1821, 4, 5; he said, "will have consequences very different from Hughes, vi. 482. those expected by the members of the administration who brought it about. I hate coalitions." 1 iii. 382; Ann. Reg. 114. A still more important change took place at the same Retirement time, in the retirement of Lord Sidmouth from the mouth, who onerous and responsible post of Home Secretary. A life by Mr Peel of thirty years in harness, oppressed with the cares of of Lord Sid as Home Secretary. official life, had nearly exhausted the physical strength, though they had by no means dimmed the mental energy, of this conscientious and intrepid statesman; and though no decline in his faculties was perceptible to those around him, he felt that the time had arrived when he should withdraw from the cares and responsibility of office, and dedicate his remaining years to the enjoyment of his family, to which he was strongly attached, and his duties to his Maker. He deemed it a fitting opportunity to take such a step, when the internal situation of the country was so tranquil that the public service could sustain no detriment by his withdrawing from it; for had it been otherwise, he would, at any hazard to his own health or life, have remained at his post. He was succeeded in his arduous duties by a much younger man, Mr, afterwards SIR ROBERT PEEL, one of greater talents, and whose mind was more in harmony with the spirit of the age, but not of greater energy and integrity, and by no means of equal moral courage. Lord Sidmouth's abilities, calculated to shake their allegiance to their sovereign; and his chivalrous character, notwithstanding his party zeal, leads the author to believe that this was really the fact. * "The truth is, it was because my official bed had become a bed of roses that I determined to withdraw from it. When strewn with thorns, I would not have left it."-Sidmouth's Life, iii. 390. |