The supplies voted for the public and private services were FIFTY-SIX MILLIONS!

At the close of this year, the poor were perishing for want; yet the court became more splendid than ever! The ill-fated sovereign was as imbecile and as weak as an infant, and his representative a profligate ruler. What a condition for England!

War still raged at the commencement of

1812.

We will not, however, record the scenes of devastation and horror consequent from it; neither will we eulogize Lord Wellington for the victories he obtained. Much rather would we shed a tear at the remembrance of the slaughtered victims to kingly or ministerial ambition. Who that believes in the immortality of the soul can think of these horrid engagements without shuddering at the immense and inexpressible accountability of the destroyer? It would be utterly impossible to give an idea of the number of WIDOWS and ORPHANS who have had to mourn the

[[208]]consequences of splendid victories, as a wholesale murdering of soldiers are denominated. How many ducal coronets have been purchased at the expense of human existence! Rather should our brows never be encircled than at such an unnatural price!

On the 13th of February, the restrictions formerly in force against the prince regent terminated; and, properly speaking, it may be declared, he then assumed the kingly power. One hundred thousand pounds were voted for him, professedly to meet the expenses attendant upon his assumption of the regal authority.

This was a moment of triumph to the queen, and the sequel will prove that her majesty took especial care to turn it to her own account. The Duke of York was fully reinstated as "Commander-in-Chief," and, therefore, ready ways and means presented themselves to her majesty. The regent engaged that the queen should have the continued sanction of his name and interest, in all the various ways she might require. Accordingly, it was soon arranged, that her majesty should receive an additional sum of ten thousand pounds per annum FOR THE CARE OF HER ROYAL HUSBAND'S PERSON!

We cannot pass by this shameful insult to the nation without making an observation upon so unnatural an act. If the queen were the kind and affectionate wife she had so very frequently been represented to be, could she have allowed herself to receive an immense payment for merely doing her duty? But a more selfish woman, and a more unfeeling wife, never

[[209]]disgraced humanity, as this wicked acceptance of the public money fully testifies.