Secret History of the Court of England Volume I Part 19

The extraordinary events that occurred in the year

1820

are so closely interwoven with the weal and wo of the British people, that it may be considered as one of the most serious periods in English history.

On the 15th of January, the Duke of Kent became indisposed with a severe cold. On the 17th of the same month, it was reported, "that his royal highness' illness had a.s.sumed most alarming symptoms;" and Sir David Dundas went off expressly to Sidmouth to attend his royal highness. The duke's disorder increased, and at half-past one, P. M., January 23rd, this prince was deprived of his mortal existence, in the fifty-third year of his age. But a few days before, his royal highness was in good health, and in the prime of life! The public will one day be made acquainted with the particulars of the REAL CAUSE of his death. At present, we shall only observe, that his royal highness was too virtuous to be allowed to live long in a vicious court!

The public journals dwelt with much force upon the kind attentions and tender offices performed by the d.u.c.h.ess, which, if true, were only what every good wife ought to have done. Who can be nearer to a wife than her husband? and what lady of feeling and integrity would not blush to be negligent in the best services and the most unwearied attentions to the ordained partner of her life? Royalty, however, has so many and such peculiar privileges, that what is considered _wonderous grace_ with them is merely thought _common decency_ in the vulgar part of Adam's offspring.

About this time, the king's health was stated to be "very much on the decline," (hypocrisy!) and the journals announced "that George the Third expired without a struggle, on the 29th of January, in the eighty-second year of his age, and the sixtieth of his reign." But we have the gratification of setting history right in this particular. Of course, the letters and notices of this intelligence were immediately forwarded by the appointed messengers to the several foreign courts. It would be unnecessary for us here to offer any remark upon the character of George the Third, as we have previously noticed the origin of that unhappy disease which so lamentably afflicted him during the latter years of his truly unfortunate life. His majesty bequeathed a sum of money to each of his sons; but George the Fourth thought proper to withhold the Duke of Suss.e.x's portion. This unjust act was the primary cause of the quarrel between these royal brothers, which lasted till the death of George the Fourth. But, as "kings can do no wrong," little was thought of his majesty's dishonesty. Monarchs are aware of their privileges, and have, therefore, in many instances, not scrupled to commit the most heinous crimes. His late majesty was one of this kind, and yet he was called "His most gracious, religious, and benevolent majesty!" What a profanation of terms were these!

As a necessary preliminary to a new reign, George the Fourth was proclaimed in London on the 31st of the same month.

In February, a _pretended_ mysterious political plot was publicly adverted to, by the name of "The Cato-street Conspiracy." It was said that information having been received at Bow-street, that a meeting of armed persons was to be held at a house in Cato-street, Mary-la-bonne, and, as the magistrates feared something serious would be the result, they forwarded a formidable body of their officers to the place. On the arrival of these persons, they found the number of men amounted to thirty, armed with guns, swords, daggers, and other weapons, and appeared ready to leave the place, which was a hayloft at the top of the house. The officers demanded an entrance, which was refused. Captain Fitzclarence then arrived, with a party of the guards, and a scene of much violence ensued. Some of the party were taken to Bow-street, which was lined with soldiers. The result proved serious to a police officer, named Smythers, who was stabbed in the affray, which produced his death; and it was sworn, that Arthur Thistlewood inflicted the wound.

This heart-rending tragedy was generally thought to have been produced by _government spies_; indeed, several newspapers stated as much at the time. We, however, KNOW such to have been the case, and that the characters of "blood-hounds" were but too well performed. Our bosoms swell with indignation at the recollection of such monstrous plots against the lives and liberties of our countrymen, and we regret that the plotters did not fall into their own snares.

On the morning after this lamentable occurrence, a "Gazette Extraordinary" was issued, signed "SIDMOUTH," offering one thousand pounds for the detection of Arthur Thistlewood, who stood charged with the crime of high treason. The reward had the desired effect, as he was soon apprehended. Three of his companions were afterwards taken, and FIVE MARTYRS, in all, suffered as traitors on the 1st of May.

Let us not, in common with hirelings, talk of the "wisdom of ministers,"

and the "bravery of the guards," combined with the several loathsome execrations on artificers and agriculturists; but let us inquire, is there no resemblance to be observed between this conspiracy and the Manchester ma.s.sacre? The intelligent reader will not find the similarity difficult to trace.

The queen's return to England being now expected, Mr. Canning resigned his place in the cabinet as president of the Board of Controul, and retired to the Continent. One of his biographers says, "His conduct on this occasion, according to universal consent, was marked by the most perfect correctness and delicacy of feeling." Perhaps it might be so considered by some people; but to us it does appear that a man of sound public principles, of high and honourable private feelings, had no middle course to take at this juncture. Either the Queen of England was GUILTY, or she was the MOST PERSECUTED AND AGGRIEVED OF WOMEN. Will any one say that, in the _first_ instance, it was the duty of a minister of high station to desert the painful, but responsible, situation in which he stood, from any feeling of esteem or attachment to an individual so unworthy? In the other case, if Queen Caroline, as almost every body believed, and as Mr. Brougham _solemnly swore he believed_, was INNOCENT, was there any circ.u.mstance or consideration upon earth,--the wreck of ambition, the loss of fortune, or the fear of even death itself,--which should have induced an English gentleman, a man of honour, a man who had the _feelings of a man_, to leave a FEMALE, whom he called "FRIEND," beneath the weight of so awful an oppression? To us, we must confess, Mr. Canning's conduct on this occasion appears one of the greatest blots we are acquainted with upon his public and private character, the almost unequivocal proof of a mind unused to the habit of taking sound and elevated views of the human action. Mr. Canning had, during a long career,--a career continued through nearly thirty years,--been the forward and unflinching opponent of popular principles and concessions. He had never once shrunk from abridging the liberties of the subject; he had never once shown trepidation at any extraordinary powers demanded by the crown. With his arms folded, and his looks erect, he had sanctioned, without scruple, the severest laws against the press; he had advocated the arbitrary imprisonment of the free citizen; he had eulogized the forcible repression of public meetings; and he had constantly declared himself the determined enemy of parliamentary reform. The only subject on which he professed liberal opinions (the Catholic question) was precisely that subject to which the great bulk of the community was indisposed. Such had been the career, such was the character, of Mr. Canning up to the time of his cowardly desertion of the injured Caroline, Queen of England!

Her majesty was now daily expected to land upon our sh.o.r.es; and powerful as was the arm of tyranny, her arrival was much feared by her husband and his ministers.

We have before mentioned that the queen desired several times, _most particularly_, to see Mr. Brougham. It is true that various places for meeting had been appointed; but some apology or other was invariably made by the learned gentleman. Her majesty finally wrote that she should be at St. Omers on a certain day, ON HER WAY TO ENGLAND, in the metropolis of which she was resolved to arrive as soon as possible. Her majesty had previously appointed Mr. Brougham her attorney-general, desiring he would choose a solicitor to act with him, and he named Mr.

Denman. One excuse for not attending to his appointment with the queen, Mr. Brougham ascribed to his electioneering business in Westmoreland; and another was, Mrs. Brougham's being in a situation too delicate for him to leave her. Such excuses ought not to have prevented Mr.

Brougham's giving his attention to the important business of the queen; indeed, he was once within four leagues of her majesty's abode, with a CERTAIN LETTER in his pocket from the _highest authorities_; but Mr.

Brougham did not venture to lay it before the queen, nor did he seek for an interview. The commission thus entrusted to this learned gentleman was the same which Lord Hutchinson undertook some time afterwards.

The queen felt very indignant at Mr. Brougham's so repeatedly declining his engagements, and wrote to Lord Liverpool to request his lords.h.i.+p would send a frigate to convey her to England. Fearing, however, that this might be against the state projects then in contemplation, the queen, by the same post, wrote to her former friend and lady in waiting, Lady Anne Hamilton, to repair to her immediately at St. Omers, and attend her in her former capacity; and also, to Alderman Wood, that if Lord Liverpool refused or delayed to send a frigate, the Alderman would hire a vessel for the purpose of bringing her to this country immediately.

Little time was lost in obeying these commands of the Queen of England.

In the mean time, Mr. Brougham wrote to her majesty, requesting leave to meet her at Calais; to which the queen replied, she should choose to see him at the inn at St. Omers. Shortly after the arrival of her majesty's lady in waiting and the alderman, Mr. Brougham was announced, and informed her majesty that he was accompanied by Lord Hutchinson, (now Lord Donoughmore) the KING'S PARTICULAR FRIEND, who was the bearer of a message to her majesty from the king, and asked leave when he might have the honour of introducing him to her majesty. "No, no, Mr. Brougham, (said the queen) no conversations for me; he must put it in writing, if you please; we are at war at present." "But, madam, it is impossible that so many sc.r.a.ps of different conversations can be properly arranged." "Then, I don't see Lord Hutchinson," said the queen. "Madam, if you insist upon it, it shall be done; and when will your majesty be pleased to receive it?" "To-morrow morning you may bring it me; and so good evening to you, as I suppose you are fatigued with your journey."

The next morning, Mr. Brougham arrived with Lord Hutchinson's letter, which the queen opened and read in Mr. Brougham's presence; in the conclusion of that letter, her majesty was earnestly entreated to wait the return of a courier from Paris. "PARIS! PARIS!" said the queen, "what have I to do with PARIS?" Mr. Brougham, in _much confusion_, said, "Your majesty MUST HAVE MISTAKEN; it must mean _Calais_; my friend is too honourable to mean any thing of that kind, or to do any thing wrong." "No, no, Mr. Brougham; Paris, Paris! Look there!" pointing the sentence out to him. Then added the queen, "You will come and dine with me to-day." "May not I bring Lord Hutchinson with me, please your majesty?" "Certainly not." "But I hope you will see Lord Hutchinson?"

"Yes; let him come directly." The queen then a.s.sembled her whole household, and received his lords.h.i.+p in the midst of a _formal circle_, talked upon indifferent subjects for about a quarter of an hour; then rose, and, gracefully courtesying, left the room. Most of the household followed; and Mr. Brougham, with his friend, Lord Hutchinson, did not remain long behind. Mr. Brougham afterwards returned; but appeared exceedingly disconcerted. Lady Hamilton was present, and tried to draw him into conversation upon various subjects; but he answered, rather abruptly, "You and the alderman are leading the queen to her destruction." The lady replied, that was a mistake; she did not interfere in political affairs. Mr. Brougham begged pardon, and the subject was ended by the queen entering the room to dinner. The dinner pa.s.sed off very well; her majesty appeared in good spirits, as did Mr.

Brougham. It was the queen's general practice not to sit long after dinner; she, therefore, soon retired with her lady; and the gentlemen adjourned to the drawing-room to await the serving of coffee. By her majesty's orders, her maids were waiting with her travelling dress, with the carriages all ready in the court-yard, in the first of which her majesty immediately seated herself, as also Lady Hamilton and Alderman Wood. The moment before her majesty drove out of the yard, she desired her maitre d'hotel to inform Mr. Brougham "that the queen would drink coffee with him _in London_;" yet five minutes had not elapsed from leaving the dinner-table to her driving out from the inn, as fast as four post-horses could convey her. This was the only time her majesty was ever known to show fear; but, at the appearance of any horseman, she became very much agitated from the supposition that she should be detained in France, under a PRETENCE of not having a correct pa.s.sport, the want of horses, or some such trivial excuse. The queen was aware that the King of England had, not long before, placed Louis the Eighteenth upon the throne of France; therefore he could not object to _any_ proposition her husband thought proper to require. Her majesty also KNEW that a courier had been despatched to PARIS, and that that courier was one of _Mr. Brougham's brothers_! Mr. Brougham himself actually joined with Lord Hutchinson in trying to persuade her majesty to remain in France till the return of the courier. The queen's active and intelligent mind saw every thing at a glance, and she _acted_ with the prompt.i.tude of her character. Alderman Wood proposed that her majesty should rest that night at D'Estaing's fine hotel at Calais, instead of sleeping on board a common packet, which would not sail till the morning. "No, no," said the queen, "drive straight to the sh.o.r.e;"

and out she got like a girl of fifteen, and was in the packet before any one else. "There," said her majesty, "now I can breathe freely--now I am protected by English laws." The queen was hardly seated, when Alderman Wood presented her with a note from Mr. Brougham, entreating her majesty to return, if only for the night, to D'Estaing's, and promising that no harm should happen to her. "No, no," replied the queen, "I am safe here, and I WILL NOT TRUST HIM;" and then threw a mattress in the middle of her cabin, with some blankets, and slept there all night. In the morning, when her majesty was about to land at Dover, she seemed a little intimidated, in consequence of the dense mult.i.tude through which she had to pa.s.s. Her majesty's fears, however, were entirely groundless, as she soon found the hearts of Britons were friendly to her cause, though they exemplified it rather roughly; for her feet were never permitted to touch the ground from the time her majesty left the vessel till her arrival at the inn, which she availed herself of with feelings of the most gratifying description, at the sympathy manifested in the cause of persecuted virtue.

As soon as her majesty could procure horses, she set forward to Canterbury, where she was received with similar acclamations. The populace insisted upon drawing her majesty out of the town, and then would not suffer the horses to be put to without her personal entreaties. Thousands of blessings were poured on her head, without one dissenting voice; and in this manner did her majesty proceed all the way to London.

The queen took up her abode at 77, South Audley-street, until another more suitable residence could be provided for her. The family of Alderman Wood, who previously inhabited this house, left it immediately after receiving intelligence that her majesty would make a temporary use of it, and they occupied apartments at Flagdon's hotel.

On the ensuing day, several of the n.o.bility and members of the House of Commons called to inquire after her majesty's health. On the ninth of this month, her majesty removed from South Audley-street to 32, Portman-square, the residence of the Right Honourable Lady Anne Hamilton, by whom the queen was attended. Her ladys.h.i.+p's servants were continued, and her majesty was much pleased with the respectful and generous attentions rendered.

On the 16th, the queen received an address from the common council of the city of London, to which she returned an answer, so feelingly expressed, as to excite the sympathy and admiration of all present.

On the afternoon of the sixth day of the queen's entry into London, a message was delivered from the king to both houses of parliament, communicating certain reports and papers respecting the queen's misconduct while abroad. On the following Thursday, a committee was appointed in the House of Lords; but the queen transmitted a communication to the House of Commons, protesting against the reference of her accusations to a SECRET TRIBUNAL, and soliciting an open investigation of her conduct.

Thus was commenced a prosecution in principle and object every way calculated to rouse the generous and const.i.tutional feelings of the nation; and the effects were without a parallel in the history of all countries! Could a more outrageous insult possibly have been offered to her dignity, to the honour of her husband the king, or to the morality and decency of the community at large?

Up to this time, Prince Leopold had not tendered his respects to her majesty; yet he was the widowed husband of the queen's only and dearly-beloved daughter! His serene highness had been raised from a state of comparative poverty and obscurity to be honoured with the hand of England's favourite princess, from whose future reign was expected a revival of commerce and an addition of glory. Though this prince was enjoying an annual income of FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS from the country; though he had town and country residences, of great extent and magnificent appearance; though he abounded with horses and carriages; yet not one offer did he make of any of these superfluous matters to the mother of his departed wife, by whose means he had become possessed of them all! Grat.i.tude, however, is generally esteemed a _virtue_, and therefore a German prince could not be supposed to know any thing about it.

About this period, her majesty received numerous communications, tending to prove the infamous proceedings against her to have been adopted without reference to honour or principle, and to warn her from falling into the snares of her mercenary and vindictive enemies. We lay before our readers the following, as sufficient to establish this fact.

"An officer of the frigate which took her majesty (when Princess of Wales) to the Continent averred, in the presence of three _unimpeachable_ witnesses, that a very few days before her majesty's embarkation, CAPTAIN KING, while sitting at breakfast in his cabin with the surgeon of the frigate, received a letter from a _brother of the prince regent_, which he read aloud, in the presence of the said surgeon, as follows:

"DEAR KING,

"You are going to be ordered to take the Princess of Wales to the Continent. IF YOU DON'T COMMIT ADULTERY WITH HER, YOU ARE A d.a.m.nED FOOL!

You have _my_ consent for it, and I can a.s.sure you that you have that of _MY BROTHER, THE REGENT_.

"Your's, (Signed) ********.

"The officer who made the above statement and declaration is a most CREDITABLE PERSON, and the witnesses are all in this country."

"_London, May 7th, 1820._

"Furnished to supply the queen with PROOF that the _royal duke_ in question is leagued against her, in accordance with the WISHES OF THE KING!"

"PRIVATE DOc.u.mENT.

"Captain King's agent is Mr. STILLWELL, 22, Arundel-street, Strand, London; and the surgeon, who was present during the period the royal duke's letter was read, is JAMES HALL. The witnesses were--Mr.

FRESHFIELD, 3, Tokenhouse-yard; Mr. HOLMES, 3, Lyon's-inn; and Mr.

STOKOE, 2, Lancaster-court; as also before BARRY O'MEARA.

(Signed) "BARRY E. O'MEARA."

On the 24th of June, a deputation of the House of Commons was appointed to wait upon her majesty with the resolutions adopted by the House on Thursday, the 22nd. They arrived at a quarter past one o'clock. Mr.

Wilberforce and Mr. S. Wortley occupied the first carriage. At their appearance, strong symptoms of displeasure were indicated. They were then introduced to the queen, Mr. Brougham standing at her majesty's right hand, and Mr. Denman at her left. They severally knelt and kissed her majesty's hand. Mr. Wilberforce then read the resolutions, and her majesty replied to them. On their departure, Mr. Brougham accompanied the deputation to the door; and, after they had taken their seats in the carriages, Mr. Brougham returned to shake hands with them, although the mult.i.tudes a.s.sembled outside hissed them exceedingly.

Her majesty's answer to the before-mentioned resolutions was superior to the tricks of her enemies. In it the queen refused terms of conciliation, unless they accorded with her duty to her own character, to the king, and to the nation! "A sense of what is due to my character and s.e.x," said the queen, "forbids me to refer minutely to the REAL CAUSE of our domestic differences!" Indeed, her majesty's reply was an appeal to those principles of public justice, which should be alike the safeguard of the highest and the humblest individuals. Mr. Wilberforce exposed himself to much censure upon the part he had taken in the House; and, as he so unhesitatingly hinted at the awful contents of the "Green Bag," he said, "by suppressing her own feelings, the queen would endear herself to the country." We suppose Mr. Wilberforce meant, that, by suppressing her own feelings of honour, she would gratify the honour of the country; and, by again quitting it, demonstrate her grat.i.tude for its unshaken loyalty; but the queen was firm in her resolve to _claim justice_, whether it was given or withheld.

In considering these base endeavours to injure innocence, in order to raise the _n.o.ble_ character of a voluptuous prince, we cannot help remarking that POWER was the _only_ weapon of the vitiated monarch, while RIGHT and JUSTICE formed the s.h.i.+eld of the oppressed Queen of England! Indeed, every man, glowing with the sincere love of his country, and actuated by that honourable affection for its welfare, which takes a lively and zealous interest in pa.s.sing events, must have considered such proceedings against her majesty fraught with inevitable evil. If her innocence, according to the prayers of millions of her subjects, should be made manifest, the public indignation would be sure to be roused, and probably prove resentful. The evidence was known to be of a description on which no magistrate would convict a common pickpocket, and therefore if the legislature should even be induced to consider her majesty guilty of the charges preferred against her, public opinion would certainly refuse to ratify the sentence, and turn with disgust from those promulgating it. In either case, those venerable tribunals, consecrated by our forefathers, must lose that beautiful, that honourable, that unbought, homage which a free people have ever been proud to pay them. No Englishman, we say, accustomed to reverence, with a prejudice almost sacred, the const.i.tution of a parliament, _majestic even in its errors and infirmities_, could contemplate, without pain, the possibility,--nay, the almost certainty,--that the hour was not far distant when the whole nation would look with cold indifference, or gloomy distrust, on the acts of a senate, their generous obedience to which (though it had been accompanied with suffering, and followed by privation) had been "the admiration of the whole world."

On the 6th of July, Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, usher, of the black rod, waited upon her majesty with a copy of the "Bill of Pains and Penalties"

against her, presented the previous day to the House of Lords, and which was forwarded by order of their lords.h.i.+ps. Her majesty went into the room where the deputation were waiting, and received a copy of this bill with great calmness. Upon an examination of the abominable instrument, her majesty said, "Yes, the queen who had a sufficient sense of honour and goodness to refuse the base offer of fifty thousand pounds a-year of the public money, to spend it _when, where, how, and with whom she pleased_, in banquetings, feastings, and excesses, providing it were in a foreign country, and _not at home_, has sufficient resolution to await the result of every investigation power can suggest." Like another Cleopatra, our insulted queen might have played "the wanton" with impunity; her imperial bark might have displayed its purple streamers, swelled with the softest Cyprian breezes. It might have sailed triumphantly down the Adriatic, to meet some highly-favoured lover! Yes, by desire of the king, her husband, the queen was requested to accept any terms beside those of a legitimate character. But her majesty preserved her usual firmness and serenity of mind during the unequalled proceedings inst.i.tuted against her, and frequently repeated the unequivocal expression, "Time will furnish sufficient proof of my innocence."

On the 5th of August, the queen took possession of Brandenburgh House, formerly the residence of the Margravine of Anspatch, situated near the Thames, and in the parish of Hammersmith. Her majesty left Lady Hamilton's house at four o'clock, attended by her ladys.h.i.+p, and accompanied by Dr. Lus.h.i.+ngton, in an entirely new and elegant open carriage, drawn by four beautiful bay horses. They drove off amidst united shouts of applause from the a.s.sembled people.

Will future generations believe the historian's tale, that a queen,--yes, a brave and virtuous Queen of England too!--was refused a house and a home by the sovereign, her husband? That she, who was lured from her princely home, arrived in the centre of England, and was denied a resting place by the king and his ministers! In consequence of which, she was necessitated to take up her abode in the mansion of a late lord mayor for the s.p.a.ce of three days, and then to accept the use of the house of her lady in waiting for nearly two months; while there were palaces totally unoccupied, and even mouldering into decay for want of being inhabited! This statement will, doubtless, appear overdrawn to future generations; but there are thousands now living who can testify to its accuracy. Ministers, indeed, entered into compact with Deception, and so glaringly committed their sentiments and characters, that, to preserve their own pretended _consistency_, they would have even uncrowned the king himself! A feverish sensation now pervaded the whole public mind, and from the highest to the lowest, the case of the queen was one universal theme of conversation.

On the 6th of August, her royal highness the d.u.c.h.ess of York died. Up to a very late hour of the day on which this occurred, no official communication had been made to the queen; but, in consequence of the event, her majesty requested to postpone several addresses which she had previously appointed to receive.