TRIAL OF THE QUEEN.
On the 17th of August mobs of the most terrific description surrounded the two houses of parliament, and filled every street in the vicinity. In this state of things the lords took their places to try the queen: the judges being requested to assist at the deliberations. The names of the peers having been called over, Lord Liverpool moved the order of the day for the second reading of the bill of pain and penalties. The Duke of Leinster moved as an amendment that the order should be rescinded; but this was negatived, and the Earl of Liverpool then moved that counsel be called in and heard in support of the preamble of the bill. On the appearance of the counsel Mr. Brougham obtained leave to state his objections to the principles of the bill in its present state of progress, which he did in a speech of great length, and with extraordinary talent. Taking advantage of the popular feeling he concluded in these terms:—“True it is, that your committee has reported in favour of the bill, but that cannot pledge the house: and he is the greatest of all fools who consults his apparent consistency at the expense of his absolute ruin. The sooner you retrace the step into which you may have been led at an unwary moment, the greater will be the service you render to the country. If you decide that this bill ought not to proceed, you will be the saviours of the state.” Mr. Denman followed on the same side with a speech of great eloquence; and the speeches of the queen’s counsel were answered by the king’s attorney and solicitor-general. Mr. Brougham replied: urging a variety of arguments in favour of his original proposition, and showing the impolicy of the principle contended for by ministers. Successive attempts were made by Lords King and Grey to stop all further proceedings; but their motions were negatived, and the attorney-general was ordered by the lord chancellor to state his case. His statement occupied two days, and the examination of witnesses engaged the attention of the peers to the 6th of September. The evidence in support of the bill was summed up on the 7th of September, and on the 9th an adjournment took place to the 3rd of October, in consequence of an application from her majesty’s counsel. On that day Mr. Brougham entered on the defence in a speech of great power; and he was followed by Mr. Williams, who declared that he should be able to rebut many of the prominent points sworn to in the prosecution by the clearest testimony. The examination of the witnesses for the defence lasted from the 5th of October to the 24th, and Mr. Denman proceeded to sum up the evidence. At the conclusion of his speech he remarked:—“We have fought the battles of morality, Christianity, and civilized society throughout the world; and in the language of the dying warrior I may say:—
‘In this glorious and well foughten field We kept together in our chivalry.’
“While he (Mr. Brougham) was achieving the immortal victory, and the illustrious triumph, protecting innocence and truth by the adamantine shield of his prodigious eloquence, it has been my lot to discharge only a few random arrows at the defeated champions of this disgraceful cause.” Dr. Lushington followed on the 26th of October, with a luminous view of the case, and the king’s attorney and solicitor-general replied. The peers then debated, and on the 6th of November divided on the second reading of the bill, Which was carried by one hundred and twenty-three against ninety-five. Many peers entered strong protests; and a protest was read from the queen by Lord Dacre, in which she made the most solemn assertions of innocence. In this protest it was observed, that “unless these unexampled proceedings should bring the bill before the commons, the queen would make no reference whatever to the treatment experienced by her during the last twenty-five years.” This innuendo produced its effects. The lords, indeed, now evidently began to tremble, lest they should be precipitated into the gulf which by their recent vote they had approached. It was felt, moreover, that the king did not come into court “with clean hands;” and therefore when the divorce clause came under discussion several peers, and among them several bishops, who considered the queen guilty, declared their aversion on religious scruples, to vote for it. The partisans of the queen, headed by Earl Grey, seized the advantage offered to them by this difference of opinion among her opponents, and they gave their strong support to it, and the clause was carried. But by this movement the fate of the bill became evident. It was read a third time by a majority of nine on the 10th of November; but there was yet one question to be put,—“that this bill do now pass,” and ministers shrunk from the point. The queen petitioned to be heard by counsel against this final step; but Lord Liverpool, in reply, declared that with so small a majority, in the actual state of public feeling, he, and his colleagues felt bound to abandon the bill. A motion was made that the question should be put off to that day six months, which was carried; and thus ended, in defeat and disgrace, the domestic war which George IV. had been carrying on for twenty-five years against his consort. On the 29th of November, her majesty went in state to St. Paul’s to return public thanks, on which occasion she was surrounded by such multitudes as to make it difficult for her to reach the cathedral. The general joy was also manifested by illuminations, ringing of bells, firing of cannon, and the presentation of addresses of congratulation. But Queen Caroline was soon destined to see her popularity wane. Tired with the constant rout, orders were given that addresses should only be presented on one day of the week; and she gradually withdrew herself from the leaders of the whig party. This was the signal for the desertion of her cause. What Queen Caroline was doing soon became as indifferent to the people as what other members of the royal family were doing, and her final fate an object of curiosity more than of interest. At the close of the trial of Queen Caroline, parliament was prorogued to the 23rd of January.
