A circumstance occurred which brought the state of our relations with Russia under the attention of parliament. A mercantile house, Messrs. Bell, of London, had fitted out a vessel laden with goods for the coast of Circassia. On attempting to land her cargo she was seized by a Russian man-of-war and confiscated, first, on the ground of the violation of the blockade, to which the Russian government had subjected the whole of the Circassian coast; and, secondly, for an alleged violation of the custom-house regulations established by the same authority in the ports of that country. This proceeding of the Russian government was generally denounced as unjustifiable; and the subject was brought before parliament on the 17th of March by Mr. Roebuck, who moved for copies of all the correspondence which had taken place between the British and Russian government on this transaction. Lord Palmerston entered into a lengthy statement of the occurrence; but the papers were refused, on the ground that the question was still under negotiation. Mr. Roebuck repeated his inquiries on the subject, when Lord Palmerston stated that, upon a full consideration of all the circumstances of the case, the government had come to the conclusion that there was no room for making any further demand upon the Russian government. Another matter, in which our relations with Russia were concerned, was brought before the house of commons on the 22nd of March by Lord Dudley, who inquired of Lord Palmerston whether any consular agent had been appointed to the state of Cracow. Lord Dudley Stuart said, that in the preceding session a motion had been made by the member for Lancaster for an address to the king, praying that his majesty would appoint a consul to reside in that city; and that the noble secretary for foreign affairs had stated that it was the intention of government to make such appointment, on which the motion for an address was withdrawn. Lord Palmerston admitted the correctness of this statement. It had been his intention, he said, to send a consular agent to Cracow; but he had since been induced to depart from his purpose, finding that greater difficulties would attend it than he had anticipated. His lordship did not state what those difficulties were, and the house seems not to have thought it expedient to press the government further upon the subject.
A more important point of our foreign policy considered this session was the situation of the province of Texas. On the 9th of March, Mr. Barlow Hay moved for “copies of all correspondence which had taken place between our government and those of Mexico and of the United States on this subject;” stating at the same time his sense of its importance, and the suspicions he entertained of the ambitious project of the American government in respect to it. Lord Palmerston admitted the importance of the subject, and its claim on the anxious attention both of the government and the public; but he resisted the production of the papers moved for, and on a division the motion was rejected by a majority of forty-one to twenty-eight.
MOTION ON THE STATE OF THE NATION.
WILLIAM IV. 1836—1837
At this time the state of public affairs was such as to induce Mr. Roebuck to bring the subject before parliament. On the 9th of June, when the order of the day had been moved for the second reading of the Irish tithe bill, Mr. Roebuck moved an amendment that the house should resolve itself into a committee for considering the state of the nation. He made some observations upon the extraordinary position in which the representatives of the people were placed. Two bills had been sent to the other house of parliament, but they were told that the house of lords would not take them into consideration until something had been done by that house to please them. He contended that there was no government in the country: ministers were no longer in the position in which they were at the beginning of the session. They stated then that they would place their existence as ministers on the fate of the Irish corporation bill. What had become of that bill? It was laid on the shelf till the lords knew what that house was about. The other house virtually said, “If you do not what we like, we will not pass your bill.” What good could be got from playing over the farce of discussing the Irish tithe bill? Did they not know that if it passed that house, defeat awaited it elsewhere. Ministers, in fact, were useless for good purposes; and as far as the people were concerned, they were mischievous. Mr. Roebuck’s motion was seconded by Colonel Thompson, who said that ministers had started with a large stock of popular energy in their favour; but, in their fear of the boiler bursting, they had let the fire go out. Like Spanish generals, they had always one eye in their own camp, and the other in the enemy’s; and all their efforts were paralysed by their fear of being too successful. Their situation had become desperate: if any event in the chapter of human accidents should fall out to give them a reprieve, the only consequences would be, that as they had dwindled, dwindled before, they would dwindle, dwindle again. There was no stock of good luck which such conduct would not run out. It was clear what was coming: the Tories must return to power. How long they would stay there was another question; but their return was a phasis, a phenomenon which ministers had rendered it inevitable to go through. Mr. O’Connell eschewed the doctrines of Mr. Roebuck and Colonel Thompson. It was his duty, he said, in the name of the people of Ireland, to protest against his majesty’s government being blamed for not doing more. Government had the confidence and the affections of the people; and whatever might be the opinions of others, he, for one, hoped that they would long continue to occupy their present situations. Lord John Russell, in reply, disclaimed any community of sentiment with Mr. Roebuck in the constitutional views he had broached, either in reference to church or state. He was decidedly opposed to the voluntary system, and to the abolition of the house of lords. As for the doctrine of the honourable member for Bath, that men of moderation and compromise never succeed in establishing anything good or useful, his lordship said it was, on the contrary, his decided conviction that to the moderation and mediation between violent or extreme opinions on both sides, which had been exercised by Lord Somers, and the great Whig leaders at the Revolution, the country was indebted for all her subsequent prosperity. In reference to Mr. Roebuck’s reproach against ministers for not having conciliated the dissenters and popular favour generally by adopting the voluntary principle in church matters, his lordship said that such a course would not have that effect: his own opinion was not in favour of the voluntary system, and he believed that the people of this country were, like himself, still attached to the established church. The opposition, properly so called, took no part in this discussion, and Mr. Roebuck’s motion was negatived without a division. The discussion proved one great fact, namely, that between the extremes of opposition, the Whigs might for a long period maintain their places on the treasury benches; but at the same time they could not but feel embarrassment in a position which left them dependent on their opponents, now on the Radicals and now on the Tories. Had it been possible for the two to have united on any great question, the Whig ministry would soon have been no more; but oil and water might almost as soon have commingled, as the Tories and the Radicals agree.
ILLNESS AND DEATH OF THE KING—REMARKS ON HIS CHARACTER.
Ever since his accession to the throne, the king’s health had in general been good. In the course of the present spring, however, symptoms of decline began to show themselves; and they increased so rapidly, that by the beginning of June his situation became one of serious alarm to his family. His majesty continued to transact business, but it was under such oppressive weakness, that it was clear to his medical attendants that his end was approaching. There was no active disease, indeed, but a general languor and weakness, which foretokened dissolution. His last days were spent in preparing for eternity; nothing seemed to give him greater pleasure than the presence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who attended him, and from whose hands he received the sacrament. His deportment at this solemn ceremony, as related by a church dignitary, was fully edifying. He says:—“His majesty had already experienced the blessed consolations of religion, and removed the doubts his anxious attendants were entertaining, by eagerly desiring the queen to send for the archbishop, seeming, as it were, anxious to ratify the discharge of his earthly by the performance of his spiritual duties. His grace promptly attended, attired in his robes, and at a quarter to eleven administered the sacrament to his majesty and the queen, Lady Mary Fox communicating at the same time. The king was very calm and collected; his faculties were quite clear, and he paid the greatest attention to the service, following it in the prayer-book, which lay on the table before him. His voice indeed failed, but his humble demeanour and uplifted eyes gave expression to the feeling of devotion and of gratitude to the Almighty which his faltering lips refused to utter. The performance of this act of religion, and this public attestation of his communion with that church, for the welfare and prosperity of which he had more than once during his illness ejaculated short but fervent prayers, was the source of great and manifest comfort to his majesty. Though the shorter form had been adopted by the archbishop, his majesty was nevertheless rather exhausted by the duration and solemnity of the ceremony; but as his grace retired, the king said, with that peculiar kindness of manner by which he was so much distinguished, and at the same time gently moving his hand and inclining his head, ‘God bless you! a thousand, thousand thanks!’ There cannot be more certain evidence of the inward strength and satisfaction which the king derived from this office of religion than that, in spite of great physical exertion, his majesty, after the lapse of an hour, again requested the attendance of the archbishop, who, in compliance with the wishes of the queen, read the prayer for the evening service, with the happiest effect on the king’s spirits. This being done, the archbishop, naturally fearing the consequences of so much mental exertion on his majesty’s debilitated frame, was about to retire, when the king motioned him to sit down at the table, on the opposite side of which he himself was seated. His majesty was too weak to hold any conversation, but his spirits seemed soothed and comforted by the presence of the archbishop, on whose venerable, benign countenance his majesty’s eye reposed with real pleasure. The king at this interview stretched his hand across the table, and taking that of the archbishop, pressed it fervently, saying in a tone of voice which was only audible to the queen, who was seated near his majesty, ‘I am sure the archbishop is one of those persons who pray for me.’ The afternoon of this day witnessed a still further diminution of his majesty’s strength; but in proportion to the decay of his bodily power, was the increase of his spiritual hope and consolation. At nine o’clock in the evening the archbishop was again summoned by his majesty’s desire. The king was now still less able to converse than on the last occasion; but his grace remained more than three quarters of an hour, supplying by his presence the same comfort to the king, and receiving from his majesty the same silent though expressive proof of his satisfaction and gratitude. At length, on the suggestion of the queen that it was already late, and the archbishop might become fatigued, the king immediately signified his assent that he should retire; and crossing his hands upon his breast, and inclining his head, said, as his grace left the room, ‘God bless thee, dear, excellent, worthy man! a thousand, thousand thanks!’” This was on Sunday, the 18th of June, the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo, which the king remembered, expressing his desire that the Duke of Wellington should hold his usual banquet on the morrow. That was the day on which his majesty breathed his last. He had spent a tranquil night, but no corresponding effect was produced upon his health. Decaying nature could no longer be recruited by ordinary sources of strength and sustenance. His majesty rose at seven o’clock, for during his illness he had not been wholly confined to his bed, but there was much in his language and manner which bespoke his sense of approaching death. “I shall get up once more,” he said to the queen, “to do the business of the country.” After joining in the service for the visitation of the sick, performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in which his majesty’s demeanour was characterised by the most genuine spirit of devotion. Sir Herbert Taylor was summoned, and was directed to get all things ready. As it was Monday, however, there were no papers, and consequently there was no business to transact. In the evening the archbishop visited his majesty for the last time: at half-past ten the king was seized with a fainting fit, on which he was removed into his bed, and from this time his voice was not heard, except to pronounce the name of his valet. In less than an hour death reigned in the palace of the English monarchs. His majesty expired without a struggle, and without a groan, the queen kneeling at the bedside and still affectionately holding his hand, unwilling to believe the reality of the sad event. “Thus expired, in the seventy-third year of his age, in firm reliance on the merits of his Redeemer, King William IV., a just and upright king, a forgiving enemy, a sincere friend, and a most gracious and indulgent master.”
Few monarchs, indeed, have possessed the love of their subjects in a greater degree than King William IV. By the common consent of all parties he had the welfare of his country truly at heart. There was but one opinion of his character, and that was expressive of his kindness and amiability. He does not appear to have had a personal enemy in the world, although he sanctioned measures to which a large section of the community were inimical: this is praise as singular as it is high when applied to a king. His intellectual faculties may not have been of a superior order; but he had what more than counterbalanced this defect—a heart which beat high with love for his country.