X. 1820. CHAP. allowance of £35,000 a-year, and for several years little was heard of her in this country, except her occasional appearance at a foreign court. It appeared, however, Her conduct that, unknown to the public, her conduct was strictly proceedings Watched; confidential persons of respectability were sent quence of it. abroad to obtain evidence; and, from the information. 78. abroad, and in conse 1 Hughes, vi. 422; Ann. Reg. 1820, 123, 124; El don's Life, ii. 362. received, Government conceived themselves called upon to send instructions to our ambassadors and ministers at foreign courts, that they were not to give her any official or public reception; and if she were received publicly by the sovereign, they were not to be present at it. This, with her formal exclusion from the English court, which had been previously pronounced, rendered her situation abroad very uncomfortable; and to put an end to it, and get matters arranged on a permanent footing, Mr Brougham, who had become her confidential adviser, proposed to Lord Liverpool, in June 1819, though without the knowledge of her Royal Highness, that, on condition of her allowance of £35,000 a-year, which she at present enjoyed, being secured for her by act of Parliament or warrant of the Treasury for life, instead of being, as at present, dependent on the life of the Prince-Regent, she should agree to remain abroad during the whole remainder of her life. The Ministers returned a favourable answer to this application; and it was no wonder they did so, for it went to relieve them from an embarrassment which all but proved fatal to the Administration. The Prince strenuously contended for a divorce, as not only justified, but called for, in the circumstances, which, he maintained, were such as would entitle any private subject to that remedy. The Cabinet opposed this, as likely to lead to a very serious agitation in the present disturbed state of the public mind. At length they came to a compromise, to the effect that, if she remained abroad, no further proceedings of any sort should be adopted against her Royal Highness; but that, if she returned to England, they would accede to the Prince's wishes. 1 a a X. 1820. 79. the Queen's Liturgy, and her return to England. Matters remained in this position, in a kind of lull, CHAP. during the remainder of the life of George III. But when that monarch died, in February 1820, and the strong step of omitting her Majesty's name in the Liturgy Omission of was taken, matters were brought to a crisis. The new name in the Queen loudly exclaimed, that such an omission was direct imputation on her honour, which could not for moment be submitted to; and that she would return to England instantly to vindicate her character. The King, learning this, as obstinately contended for an immediate divorce, in the event of her carrying her threat into execution; and as his Ministers refused to accede to this, they tendered their resignation, and attempts were made to form a new ministry, of which Lord Wellesley was to be the head. These failed; and it was at length agreed that, if the Queen returned, proceedings were to be immediately commenced against her. Attempts were, however, again made to avert so dire an alternative; it was even proposed to increase her allowance to £50,000 a-year, provided she agreed to take some other name or title than that of Queen, and not to exercise any of the rights belonging to that character. These proposals were formally transmitted to Mr Brougham, as her Majesty's principal law-officer, on the 15th April, and approved of by him. The indignant feelings and impetuous disposition of the Queen, however, rendered all attempt at accommodation fruitless. She was much incensed, in February, by being refused a guard of honour as Queen of England; and no sooner March 16. did she hear of the omission of her name in the Liturgy, than she took the bold resolution of returning imme-1 Ann. Reg. diately to this country, alleging that England was her 1820, 127, real home, and to it she would immediately fly.1 How- Dudley's ever we may regret this resolution, and deplore the un- 254; Letfortunate results to which it led, we cannot but admire Queen, the spirit of a Princess who thus braved the utmost dan- 1820. gers, it might be to her life, in vindication of her honour, 129; Lord Letters, ter of the March 16, CHAP. or fail to admit that, in whatever else Queen Caroline was awanting, it was not in the courage hereditary in her race.* X. 1820. 80. Her landing in England, and enthusias tic reception. She was met by Mr Brougham and Lord Hutchinson, who in vain endeavoured to get her to accede to the King's offer of £50,000 a-year, provided she would remain abroad, and not assume the title or duties of the Queen of England. She indignantly rejected the proposal, as an insult to her honour and a stain upon her character; and having dismissed Bergami, her alleged paramour, at St Omer, she landed at Dover on the afternoon of the 6th June. No words can adequately describe the universal enthusiasm which her arrival excited among the great bulk of the people. They had previously been prepared for her reception by the publication of her letters complaining of the treatment she had experienced, and she had been expected almost daily for several weeks past. The courage and decision displayed by her Royal Highness on this trying occasion excited general admiration, and was hailed as a convincing proof of her innocence. The spectacle of a Queen deserted by her husband, calumniated, as it was thought, by his Ministers, threatened with trial, it might be death, if she set her foot 1 Martineau, on British ground, braving all these dangers in vindication Reg. 1820, of her innocence, awakened the warmest sympathy of the Lord Dud- multitude, in whom noble deeds seldom fail to excite the ley's Letters, 226. most enthusiastic feelings.1 Pity for her supposed wrongs, united with admiration of her real courage, and the fine i. 252; Ann.. 134, 139; "I have written to Lord Liverpool and Lord Castlereagh, demanding to have my name inserted in the Liturgy of the Church of England, and that orders be given to all British ambassadors, ministers, and consuls, that I should be acknowledged and received as Queen of England; and after the speech made by Lord Castlereagh in the House of Commons, in answer to Mr Brougham, I do not expect to receive further insult. I have also demanded that a palace may be prepared for my reception. England is my real home, to which I shall immediately fly." - Queen CAROLINE, March 16, 1820; Ann. Reg. 1820, p. 131. "Her promptitude and courage," said Lord Dudley at the time, "confounded her opponents, and gained her the favour of the people. Whatever one may think of her conduct in other respects, it is impossible not to give her credit for these qualities."-Lord DUDLEY'S Letters, 254. X. expression of Mr Denman, that if she had her place at CHAP. all in the Prayer-Book, it was in the supplication "for all who are desolate and oppressed," found a responsive echo in the British heart. 1820. 81. the Radical the occa That these were the feelings of the vast majority of the British people, who hailed the arrival of the Queen Views of with such enthusiastic feelings, is beyond a doubt; and leaders on it was honourable to the nation that they were so general. sion. But the Radical leaders, who fanned the movement, were actuated by very different and much deeper views. Better informed than the multitude whom they led, they had no confidence in the ultimate vindication of the Queen's innocence; but, so far from being deterred by that circumstance, they built on it their warmest hopes, and considered it as a reason for the most strenuous efforts. Innocent or guilty, they could not but gain by the investigation, and the agitation to which it would infallibly lead : "Careless of fate, they took their way, Scarce caring who might win the day; If her innocence were proved, they would gain a triumph over the King, force upon him a wife whom he could not endure, overturn his Ministers, and perhaps shake the monarchy if her guilt, they would gain the best possible ground for declaiming on the corruption which prevailed in high places, and the monstrous nature of those institutions which gave persons of such character the lead 1 Twiss's in society. The views they entertained, and the hopes Life of by which they were animated, have been stated by one 363; Ann. of the ablest of their number, whose voluminous writings 139, 140; and sterling sense have given him a lasting place in Bri- 427, 429. tish annals. 1* Lord Eldon, more correctly, as the event "The people, in their sense of justice," says Cobbett, "went back to the time when she was in fact turned out of her husband's house, with a child in her arms, without blame of any sort having been imputed to her: they compared what they had heard of the wife with what they had seen of the husband, and they came to their determination accordingly. As far as related to the question of guilt or innocence, they did not care a straw; but they took a large Eldon, ii. Reg. 1820, Hughes, vi. X. 1820. CHAP. proved, foresaw the issue of the crisis, when he wrote at the time, "Our Queen threatens to approach England; if she can venture, she is the most courageous lady I ever heard of. The mischief, if she does come, will be infinite. At first, she will have extensive popularity with the multitude; in a few short weeks or months, she will be ruined in the opinion of all the world." 82. Enthusias tic recep tion of the Queen at Dover and The reception which the Queen met with was such as might swell her heart with exultation, and flatter the Radicals into the hope of an approaching subversion of the Government. Nothing like it had been witnessed in London. since the restoration of Charles II. An immense multitude awaited her arrival at the harbour of Dover; the thunder of artillery from the castle, for the first and last time, saluted her approach; the road to London was beset with multitudes eager to obtain a glimpse of her person. She entered the metropolis, accompanied by two hundred thousand persons. Night and day her dwelling was surrounded by crowds, whose vociferous applause of herself and her friends was equalled by their vituperation of the King, and threats against his Ministers. Government were in the utmost alarm: meetings of Ministers were held daily, almost hourly. Their apprehensions were much increased by symptoms of insubordination being manifested in one of the regiments of the foot-guards stationed in the Mews barracks at Charing Cross, which, although ostensibly grounded on the inconveniences and crowded state of their barracks, were strongly apprehended to be connected with the excited 1820, 139, feelings of the populace in the metropolis, with whom the household troops were in such constant communication. The Duke of Wellington was sent for, and by his 330, 331. presence and courage succeeded in restoring order, and next morning the disaffected troops were sent off in two 1 Ann. Reg. 143; Martineau, i. 254; Sidmouth's Life, iii. view of the matter: they went over her whole history; they determined that she had been wronged, and they resolved to uphold her.”—COBBETT's Life of George IV., 425. |