"THE BEDCHAMBER PLOT.” 423 sition of the Royal Household. Then he was disagreeably impressed by the completeness of the arrangements for surrounding the Queen with the nearest relatives of the Whig Ministers.* For instance, the great difficulty before Sir Robert Peel,-as, indeed, before any other British statesman, was the government of Ireland, on which his policy was in direct opposition to the policy of Lords Normanby and Morpeth; yet the two ladies in closest attendance upon the Queen were the wife of Lord Normanby and the sister of Lord Morpeth. Sir Robert, acting, as was afterwards acknowledged, upon his strict constitutional right, resolved to propose no change in the offices below that of Lady of the Bedchamber. He hoped that the ladies who held the higher offices would resign of their own accord; if not, he was determined to propose a change. As much as this he intimated to the Queen, who, however, as at a later period seems to have been admitted, misunderstood him, and supposed him to contemplate the removal of all her servants and household friends. She stopped him in his expression of a desire to consult her predilections by declaring that she would allow of no change in the female appointments of her Household. On referring for advice to Lord John Russell, he pronounced her Majesty in the right; and she then requested him to support her now, as she had before supported him and his colleagues. To Lord Melbourne and the Duke of Wellington she also referred the latter gave it as his opinion that if the Queen persisted *Hansard, 4th series, xlvii. 984. 424 PEEL'S LETTER TO THE QUEEN. in her determination Sir Robert must retire: the former summoned a meeting of his colleagues, who, in council, recommended her Majesty to address the following note to Sir Robert Peel :-" The Queen, having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the Ladies of the Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings." Without delay Sir Robert Peel replied (May 20th):-"Sir Robert Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has had the honour of receiving your Majesty's note of this morning. In respectfully submitting to your Majesty's pleasure, and humbly returning into your Majesty's hands the important trust which your Majesty had been graciously pleased to commit to him, Sir Robert Peel trusts that your Majesty will permit him to state to your Majesty his impression with respect to the circumstances which have led to the termination of his attempt to form an administration for the conduct of your Majesty's service. In the interview with which your Majesty honoured Sir Robert Peel yesterday morning, after he had submitted to your Majesty the names of those whom he proposed to recommend to your Majesty for the principal executive appointments, he mentioned to your Majesty his earnest wish to be enabled, with your Majesty's sanction, so to constitute your Majesty's household that your Majesty's servants might have the advantage of a public demonstration of your Majesty's full support and confidence, and that at the same time, so far as possible, consistently with that demonstration, PEEL'S LETTER TO THE QUEEN. 425 each individual appointment in the household should be entirely acceptable to your Majesty's personal feelings. On your Majesty's expressing a desire that the Earl of Liverpool should hold an office in the household, Sir Robert Peel requested your Majesty's permission at once to offer to Lord Liverpool the office of Lord Steward, or any other which he may prefer. Sir Robert Peel then observed that he should have every wish to apply a similar principle to the chief appointments which are filled by the ladies of your Majesty's household; upon which your Majesty was pleased to remark that you must reserve the whole of those appointments and that it was your Majesty's pleasure that the whole should continue as at present, without any change. "The Duke of Wellington, in the interview to which your Majesty subsequently admitted him, understood also that this was your Majesty's determination, and concurred with Sir Robert Peel in opinion that, considering the great difficulties of the present crisis, and the expediency of making every effort, in the first instance, to conduct the public business of the country with the aid of the present Parliament, it was essential to the success of the commission with which your Majesty had honoured Sir Robert Peel, that he should have that public proof of your Majesty's entire support and confidence which would be afforded by the permission to make some changes in that part of your Majesty's household which your Majesty resolved on maintaining entirely without change. "Having had the opportunity, through your Majesty's gracious consideration, of reflecting upon this point, he 426 RECALL OF THE MELBOURNE MINISTRY. humbly submits to your Majesty that he is reluctantly compelled, by a sense of public duty and the interests of your Majesty's service, to adhere to the opinion which he ventured to express to your Majesty. "He trusts he may be permitted at the same time to express to your Majesty his grateful acknowledgments for the distinction which your Majesty conferred upon him, in requiring his advice and assistance in the attempt to form an administration, and his earnest prayers that whatever arrangements your Majesty may be enabled to make for that purpose, may be most conducive to your Majesty's personal comfort and happiness, and in (to ?) the promotion of the public welfare."* The Melbourne Ministers now resumed their places, and in this unsatisfactory way terminated one of the most curious and semi-comical episodes in our Parliamentary history. It was a laughable, and yet a melancholy spectacle, to see the leaders of the great Whig party taking shelter "behind the petticoats of their wives and sisters," and leaning upon their delicate arms steady their faltering steps. We agree with Mr. Trevelyan that, whether the part which they played was or was not forced upon them by circumstances, -and for ourselves we hold that it was of their own choosing, their example was disastrous in its effect upon English public life.† They resigned because * Doubleday, 'Political Life of Sir Robert Peel, ii. 274-277. + Lord Brougham was no honest or impartial critic of the Melbourne Cabinet, but he was clearly justified in his attack upon their conduct on this occasion:-"I thought," he said, "that we belonged to a country in COMMENTS ON THE CRISIS. 427 they could not conduct the government of the country; they returned to office, not because they were stronger in repute, capacity, character, or influence, but because the Queen, acting on their advice, clung to the ladies of the Bedchamber. As for Sir Robert Peel, everybody now admits that he acted within his constitutional right. Yet it is difficult to believe that, had no other embarrassments been in his path, he would have allowed a few ladies of the Bedchamber to exclude him from the service of his country, or deprive him of the reward of an honourable ambition. We think it more creditable to his foresight and patience to assume that he was not wholly convinced of the prudence of accepting office at such a juncture; and that he not unwillingly availed himself of the reluctance of his opponents to surrender it. The Melbourne Cabinet, on resuming their places, were compelled to deal with the Jamaica difficulty, and delivered themselves from it by the simple expedient of proposing a bill such as Sir Robert Peel was prepared to which the government by the crown and the wisdom of Parliament was everything, and the personal feelings of the sovereign absolutely not to be named at the same time; to be, of course, most respectfully venerated, but never to be allowed to interfere with the sober judgment of Parliament, to countervail the highest interest of the State. . . . I little thought, in this advanced period of our history, to be obliged to argue this question with Whigs, the descendants of the Ministers who, because they would not subscribe to this creed, refused to be Ministers in 1812. I little thought to have lived to hear it said by the Whigs of 1839, Let us rally round the Queen; never mind the House of Commons, never mind measures; throw principles to the dogs; leave pledges unredeemed; but, for God's sake, rally round the throne."" |