THE ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT.
In the year 1771, the Duke of Cumberland had contracted a private marriage with Mrs. Horton, widow of Christopher Horton, Esq., a daughter of Lord Irnham, and sister of Colonel Luttrell. It was also generally believed, that his majesty’s other brother, the Duke of Gloucester, had married the widow of the Earl of Waldegrave. This gave offence to their majesties, who prided themselves on the antiquity of the House of Brunswick, on the family of Guelph, and the “antique blood” of Este, from which they were equally descended. The blood of princes, they thought, would be contaminated by any admixture with less precious blood, and especially with that which could not substantiate its claim to pure nobility. Such blood, they imagined, could not be found in all England, but the families out of which the royal dukes had chosen their wives were especially deficient in aristocratic pretensions; the Luttrells being an undistinguished stock of Irish Protestants, and the Countess Dowager Waldegrave, the natural daughter of Sir Edward Walpole. Under these circumstances, the royal dukes were forbidden the court, and his majesty sent a message to both houses of parliament, importing that he thought it would be wise and expedient to render effectual, by some new provision, the right of the sovereign to approve all marriages in the royal family. In consequence of this message, a bill was brought into the house of lords, by which it was declared that no member of the royal family, being under twenty-five years of age, should marry without the king’s consent; and that after attaining that age, they were at liberty, if the king refused his consent, to apply to the privy council, by announcing the name of the person they wished to espouse, and if, within a year, neither house of parliament should address the king against it, then the marriage might be legally solemnised. The bill further declared that all persons assisting in, or knowing of any intention in any member of the royal family to marry without fulfilling these ceremonies, and not disclosing it, incurred the penalties of a premunire. The bill encountered a violent opposition in the house of lords, but it was carried by a large majority, and then sent down to the commons. In the commons it was opposed with still greater violence: it being denounced by Burke and various speakers as cruel and oppressive, and as being calculated to extend the dangerous power of ministers and the limits of prerogative. The bill was, however, carried by a majority of forty members. In the house of lords, nineteen peers entered a long protest, declaring that if the bill passed into a law, it would, nevertheless, be void. The excitement out of doors on the subject was scarcely less violent than that within the house. It was said there, that the bill should be entitled “an act for encouraging fornication and adultery in the descendants of George, II.” As for the Duke of Gloucester, in the course of the spring, he openly avowed his marriage with the widow of the late Earl of Waldegrave, and both brothers abstained from going to court for ten years, and lived as strangers to his majesty.
EAST INDIA AFFAIRS.
During the month of February, Lord North had called the attention of the house to the affairs of the East India Company, which were every day increasing in importance, and involving greater interests. In March, Mr. Sullivan, deputy chairman of the company, moved for leave to bring in a bill for the better regulation of its officers and concerns in India. The bill was brought in and read a second time, but it was then laid aside. In the course of the debates upon it—many charges and defences passed between certain members of the house and others that had acquired vast fortunes in India, and these accusations led to a secret committee of inquiry, which forthwith commenced its task: a task that was not completed during this session.
THE SESSION CLOSED.
This session closed on the 10th of June, when the king expressed his satisfaction at the temper and moderation displayed by the members during their sitting, and thanked them for the additional security which they had provided for the honour and welfare of his family: thanks which chiefly referred to the royal marriage act. The supplies voted for this year were £7,860,250; and the national debt amounted to £127,500,000. In the course of the session, it may be remarked, that the ancient and barbarous custom of peine forte et dure, by which felons refusing to plead, were stretched on their backs and pressed to death by heavy weights, was abolished by an act, which declared that all who acted thus contumaciously were to be adjudged guilty of the crimes laid to their charge. At the close of the session Lord North seemed firmly seated in office, and this conviction brought over many waverers, and time-servers to his side. Nevertheless, he was soon after doomed to lose the support of one of the best of his debaters, in the person of Charles Fox, who was suddenly converted to Whig principles, and who consequently resigned the admiralty.