time under punishment; and next -"the worst thing" his admirer" ever knew him do” slandering Mrs. Thistlewood. Here was enough; the charm of the mob-orator was dissolved. "At times I had some difficulty to avoid laughing in Hunt's face; at times I was vexed at being a party in such a piece of contemptible vanity. I contrasted all this glare and noise with the useful results of calm, sober thought, and silent determination; and I made up my mind that, when once out of this, I would not, in future, be a party in such trumpery exhibitions in the unworthy setting up of the instrument instead of the principle of a great cause. This is but a fair representation of the relation between the demagogue and his followers in all critical times of any state; and if such critical times cannot but arise in every state from the inevitable inequalities of human condition, those have much to answer for who, by needlessly abridging liberty of popular speech and action, stimulate the powers of the demagogue, and the passions of the simple and ignorant, who know of no better leader. "1 The simple-minded men who had followed Hunt were surprised, when brought into the presence of the privy council, at the actual appearance and manners of the rulers of the land, whom they had regarded as their cruel persecutors. They found no cruelty and ferocity in the faces and demeanor of the tyrants: the "goodlooking person in a plum-colored coat, with a gold ring on the small finger of his left hand, on which he sometimes leaned his head," while eying the prisoners Lord Castlereagh; or the person who addressed them Lord Sidmouth—" a tall, square, and bony figure, upwards of fifty years of age, with thin and rather gray hair, forehead broad and prominent," and whose "mild and intelligent eyes" looked forth from "cavernous orbits; "" his "manner affable, and much more encouraging to freedom of speech than" had been expected.2 Perhaps there was something of the same surprise on the other side. It certainly appears that the prisoners were treated with kindness and respect by the great men they had to deal with, from the Home Secretary to the police officials, when the parties were brought face to face. If they could have known each other better beforehand their feelings, ideas, and interests perhaps there would have been no Six Acts on the one hand, or Spa-fields and Manchester meetings on the other. As it was, the leaders and comrades of the discontented had to take their trial at York, on the 16th of this month of March, 1820; they were found guilty, and were to appear for judgment, in the Court of King's Bench, at the end of April. They were found guilty of unlawful assembling, for the purpose of moving and inciting to contempt and 1 Bamford, ii. p. 22. 2 Ibid. i. p. 106. CHAP. I.] LESSONS LEARNED BY EXPERIENCE. 271 hatred of the government; and their sentences were various terms of imprisonment, in different jails, and the giving of large securities for future good behavior. Hunt spent the next two years and a half in Ilchester jail, whence he sent forth incessant complaints of bad treatment complaints which may fairly be considered as efforts, natural in such a man, to keep himself in the eye of the world, as his followers appear to have been satisfied with the usage they met with in their several places of confinement. Some of them learned certain lessons, through the experience of their adventures, which enlightened them as to the causes of social evils which they had hoped to remedy by political action. They found, on occasion of the trial, that " among us at York,"1 "the same really contemptible feeling of classism, the curse of England and Englishmen, and of Englishwomen also, existed in too great a degree among the witnesses. There were the broad-cloth' and the narrow-cloth' ones the rich and the poor; and the former seldom sought opportunities for intercommunication with the latter, but rather shunned them." The conclusion drawn is one which it is worth some suffering to arrive at: 2 "First of all, [for men] to respect themselves; next, to invite to a respectful equality by unoffending manners; and, thirdly, to assert their right position in society, by withholding the smallest deference to mere assumption. This would be quite sufficient, without rudeness or noise, to restore the natural balance of society." Such conclusions, arrived at by men whose action is a part of the history of their time, are a worthy subject of historical record. One other trial, for the seditions of the preceding year, remained, that of Sir Charles Wolseley and a coadjutor, Mr. Harrison, for their conduct and speech at a meeting in favor of parliamentary reform, at Stockport, in July, 1819. The sentence was eighteen months' imprisonment, and the giving of securities at the expiration of the term. interests so gen With the new reign, new interests opened, eral, and admitting of such overt expression, that the spies and secret agitators who had, of late, become the curse of the country, found themselves driven from their diabolical game. They are not traceable among the scenes and movements which were now to engross the mind of the nation, and fix the attention of the world. 1 Bamford, ii. p. 89. 2 Ibid. p. 90. CHAPTER II. THE one thing that men said to each other, in England and abroad, when they heard the news of the death of George III., was, that never had there been an accession to the throne more merely nominal. The new King had virtually reigned for eight years; his opinions and character, in the office of ruler, were well known; and there would be no change of ministry. There would be a royal funeral, a public mourning, a new parliament, and a new regal title; and that would be all. This saying, which appeared a truism, turned out not to be exactly true. The King having died on Saturday, January 29, 1820, the Accession of meeting of the privy council took place on Sunday, when the new sovereign declared his accession, and took the oaths; and on Monday he was proclaimed.1 For some days he had been ill; and almost before his proclamation was over, he was in a state of great danger from inflammation of the lungs. During that week there was an expectation that this would prove the shortest reign in English history-the sharpest lesson ever given as to the nearness of the throne to the grave; but after a struggle of nine days, the disease was overcome, and the business of a new reign proceeded. George IV. The demise of the crown having happened during the parlia mentary recess, the two Houses, in obedience to the bidding of the law in such cases, met immediately that is, on the Sunday, when the Lords were sworn in. The Commons had to wait till Monday, for the return to town of the Lord High Steward. After the administration of the oaths, both Houses adjourned to the day after the royal funeral, which was to take place on the 16th of February. During this interval, while people in the streets were talking of the singular quietness and absence of change under this new reign, so that the resignation of ministers had been a mere form, those ministers were in daily expectation of being dismissed by their sovereign, while their heads were in hourly danger from Thistlewood and his gang, whose quarrel with them was as holders of the offices which they believed themselves about to vacate. 1 Annual Register, 1820, pp. 16, 17. CHAP. II.] AN UNHAPPY MARRIAGE. 273 the Queen. The King, while yet suspended, as it were, over the grave, was planning to begin life anew. He required perempto- Position of rily from his ministers that they should procure him a divorce;1 and they, unable to endure the idea of such a scandal, positively refused. On the 13th of February, Lord Sidmouth, in a note to Earl Talbot, in apology for not having written sooner, said: "If you knew how the day was passed, you would not be surprised at the omission. The government is in a very strange, and, I must acknowledge, in a precarious state." The ministers remained in office by a compromise on this point which afterwards cost them dear. They induced the King to drop the subject by pointing out the advantage of the Queen remaining quietly abroad, which she would no doubt do if impunity from divorce were granted her on that condition; and they readily promised to gratify the King's wishes, if she should return to give any trouble. When they gave this promise, they little understood the woman they had to deal with, or the disposition of the English people to succor and protect the unhappy and oppressed, irrespective of the moral merits or demerits of the sufferer. King's in 1795. No pity can be too deep for the misfortunes of all the parties involved in the unhappy marriage which the King was now bent on having dissolved. In the early days marriage when the young Prince of Wales had a heart which might have expanded and warmed under happy domestic influences, his feelings were cruelly dealt with; he was under the common doom of English princes, forbidden to marry where he loved. He was not gratified in his natural wish to travel abroad, where he might possibly have seen some lady, included within the provisions of the Royal Marriage Act, whom he might have loved. He knew himself to be disliked by his parents; and it was almost inevitable that he should seek solace in an illicit love, and in extravagant pleasures. He loved Mrs. Fitzherbert; and plunged into debt so deep that it caused parliament two months' debate to settle how he should be extricated. By this debate, and some misunderstandings about his debts, his feelings were exasperated; and it was in a spirit of recklessness that he agreed to marry somebody anybody chosen for him by the King. He looked upon his marriage as a state necessity, and as an unavoidable method of getting his debts paid. The King decided that he should marry the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, the second daughter of the King's sister; and commands were sent to Lord Malmesbury, at Hanover, to repair to Brunswick, to ask the Princess Caroline in marriage for the Prince of Wales. No 1 Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, ii. p. 367. discretion was allowed to Lord Malmesbury 1 no time for observation no opportunity for making any cautionary representations. All was considered settled before the negotiator saw the poor young creature who thought herself the most fortunate of princesses. "All the young German princesses had learned English, in hopes of being Princess of Wales.” 2 The tale of this courtship read now, after the event, is truly sad. The gay flights of the young bird before going into the net, and the closing down of her fate upon her, make the heart ache. "The Princess Caroline much embarrassed," says the Earl of Malmesbury in his Diary,3 "on my first being presented to her; pretty face not expressive of softness her figure not graceful. Vastly happy with her future expectations. The Duchess [the mother] full of nothing else - talks incessantly." If this Duchess could, for a single moment, have seen what she had to answer for in her miseducation of her daughter, it might have made her dumb with grief and shame, instead of talkative with triumph; but she was not a woman who could feel responsibility. She was no more able to think and feel on behalf of her daughter than her brother, the King of England, on behalf of his son; and the wretchedness of their children in marriage was, therefore, assured beforehand. As for the father, the Duke of Brunswick, "he entered fully into her future situation - was perfectly aware of the character of the Prince, and of the inconveniences which would result, almost with equal ill effect, either from his liking the Princess too much or too little. He said of his daughter: 'Elle n'est pas bête, mais elle n'a pas de jugement elle a été élevée sévèrement, et il le falloit.' — (She is no fool; but she has no judgment. She has been severely brought up; and it was necessary.) He desired me to advise her never to show any jealousy of the Prince.” 4 As for this severity of training, Lord Malmesbury certainly thought less well of the method than those who had adopted it. He says: "If her education had been what it ought, she might have turned out excellent; but it was that very nonsensical one that most women receive privation, injunction, and menace." And how had it issued? Her father observes, "that his daughter writes very ill, and spells ill, and he was desirous that this should not appear." "Princess Caroline very missish at supper. I much fear these habits are irrecoverably rooted in her. She is naturally curious and a gossip; she is quick and observing, and she has a silly pride of finding out everything." "Argument with the Princess about her toilet. She piques herself on dressing quick; I dis 5 1 Diaries and Correspondence of the Earl of Malmesbury, iii. 2 Diaries, iii. p. 151. 5 Ibid. p. 189. 3 Ibid. p. 148. one of 4 Ibid. p. 159. 7 Ibid. p. 193. 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