XXXVII. 1839. brought before her Majesty on the following morning, she CHAP. stated that she would consent to no change in the ladies of her household, erroneously conceiving that what Sir Robert intended was the change of all the ladies of her household. Sir Robert, however, remained firm, conceiving, as he afterwards stated in the House, that taking into view the difficulties of his position, having to contend with a hostile majority in the House of Commons, and very great embarrassment in Ireland and the colonies, he could not carry on the government with advantage to the country, unless cordially supported, or at least not thwarted, by those who enjoyed her Majesty's confidence. The Queen's advisers, consisting of the late Cabinet, conceived that this was an unwonted and unjustifiable encroachment on the control, which naturally belonged to her, of the ladies of her own household, and accordingly, after written communications to this effect, drawn on the Queen's side by Lord Melbourne's Cabinet, had been interchanged, the negotiation broke off, Lord Melbourne Peel's was sent for, and the whole Whig Ministry were rein- Parl. Deb. stated in power, in the situations they had respectively 989, 1001. held before their resignations.1* * "BUCKINGHAM PALACE, May 10, 1839.-The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir R. Peel, to remove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings." To this communication Sir R. Peel, the same forenoon, returned the following answer: "Sir R. Peel presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has had the honour of receiving your Majesty's note of this morning. Sir R. Peel trusts that your Majesty will permit him to state to your Majesty his impression with respect to the circumstances which have led to the termination of his attempt to form an Administration for the conduct of your Majesty's service. "In the interview with which your Majesty honoured Sir R. Peel yesterday morning, after he had submitted to your Majesty the names of those he proposed to recommend to your Majesty for the principal executive appointments, he mentioned to your Majesty his earnest wish to be enabled, by your Majesty's sanction, so to constitute your Majesty's household that your Majesty's confidential servants might have the advantage of a public demonstration of your Majesty's full support and confidence; and at the same time,,so far as possible consistently with such demonstration, each individual appointment in the household should be entirely acceptable to your Majesty's personal feelings, On your Majesty's expressing a desire that the Earl of Liverpool should hold an office in the household, Sir R. Peel immediately requested your Majesty's perVOL. VI. 2 B 1 Sir R. Statement, xlvii. 987, CHAP. XXXVII. 1839. 136. Observa From the failure of the attempt to construct a Ministry upon Conservative principles on a matter apparently so slight as the Ladies of the Bedchamber, it is evident that Sir R. Peel was by no means sanguine as to the success of R. Peel, his mission, nor annoyed at the failure of the attempt to Lord Mel-, fulfil it. He himself said shortly afterwards in Parliabourne, and the Duke of ment, that "his difficulties were not Canada, they were Wellington, on the sub- not Jamaica; his difficulties were Ireland." Lord Mel tions of Sir ject. bourne observed in the House of Peers: "I frankly declare that I resume office unequivocally, and solely for this reason, that I will not abandon my Sovereign in a situation of difficulty and distress, and especially when a demand is made upon her Majesty with which I think she ought not to comply-a demand inconsistent with her personal honour, and which, if acquiesced in, would render her reign liable to all the changes and variations of political parties, and render her domestic life one constant scene of unhappiness and discomfort." And the Duke of Wellington said: "It is essential that the Minister should possess the entire confidence of her Majesty, and with that view should exercise the usual control permitted mission at once to confer on Lord Liverpool the office of Lord Steward, or any other office which he might prefer. Sir R. Peel then observed that he should have every wish to apply a similar principle to the chief appointments which are filled by the ladies of your Majesty's household; upon which your Majesty was pleased to remark, that you must retain the whole of these appointments, and that it was your Majesty's pleasure that the whole should continue as at present without any change.' The Duke of Wellington, in the interview to which your Majesty subsequently admitted him, understood also that this was your Majesty's determination, and concurred with Sir R. Peel in opinion, that considering the great difficulties of the present crisis, and the expediency of making every effort, in the first instance, to conduct the public business of the country with the aid of the present Parliament, it was essential to the success of the mission with which your Majesty had honoured Sir R. Peel, that he should have such public proof of your Majesty's entire support and confidence, which would be afforded by the permission to make some changes on your Majesty's household, which your Majesty resolved on maintaining entirely without change. Having had the opportunity, through your Majesty's gracious consideration, of reflecting upon this point, he humbly submits to your Majesty that he is reluctantly compelled, by a sense of public duty, and of the interest of your Majesty's service, to adhere to the opinion which he ventured to express to your Majesty."-Parl. Deb. xlvii. 985; and Ann. Reg. 1839, pp. 121, 122. XXXVII. 1 Parl. Deb. to the Minister by the Sovereign in the construction of CHAP. the household. There is the greatest possible difference 1839. between the household of the Queen-consort and the household of the Queen-regnant; that of the former, xlvii. 987who is not a political personage, being comparatively of 72-84. little importance." 1 989, xlviii. a Speaker, Jamaica The first trying question which awaited the Ministry 137. after their resumption of office, was the election of a Election of Speaker, in consequence of the resignation of Mr Aber- and second cromby, who had held it for four years, on the ground Bill of ill health. Two candidates, both unexceptionable in point of qualification, were proposed-Mr Shaw Lefevre by the Ministry, Mr Goulburn by the Opposition. The former was carried by a majority of 18, which might be considered as a fair test, at that period, of the comparative strength of parties in the House of Commons. Government, however, were not so fortunate in their next measure, which was a second Jamaica Bill. It was strongly opposed in the Commons by Sir R. Peel, and only carried by a majority of 10. In the Lords it was reduced to the shape for which Sir R. Peel had contended in the Lower House. As so amended, it allowed time to the Jamaica Assembly to re-enact the usual laws, without which the business of the island could not proceed, and invested the Governor and Council with power to re-enact these laws in the event of the Assembly separating without renewing them. In this form the bill passed the House of Lords, and was accepted by the Jamaica Assembly ;"a measure," said Lord J. Russell, "in its present state,, 2 Parl. Deb. not nearly so effective as I could wish, and only better xlix. 85. than none." 2 CHAPTER XXXVIII. ENGLAND FROM THE RESTORATION OF THE WHIG MINISTRY XXXVIII. 1839. 1. Queen's after her IT is now time to resume the story of the personal CHAP. life of the Sovereign, which, amidst the multiplied transactions-social, colonial, and parliamentary of this period, has been hitherto overlooked, but now came to exercise an important influence on public affairs. Ever popularity since her accession to the throne, the youthful Queen had accession. been the object of intense interest and affection to her subjects, and this increased in warmth as the period of her expected coronation approached. A graceful and accomplished horsewoman, the young Sovereign delighted in appearing before her admiring people, by whom she was always greeted with enthusiasm. No apprehensions of personal danger from the insane or disaffected for a moment deterred her from showing herself in this manner, though the event proved that such fears would have been too well founded. "Let my people see me," was her constant answer to those who suggested the possibility of such risk. This intrepid conduct met with its deserved reward; the Queen's popularity increased every day. The spectacle of a youthful and beautiful Queen appearing on horseback amidst her subjects, with no other guards but their loyalty and affection, was one which could not fail of speaking to the heart of a nation, in which the chivalrous feelings were still so strongly rooted as they XXXVIII. 1839. were in the English people. people. One melancholy event, CHAP. terminating in a mournful end, alone interrupted this cordial feeling; but its influence was of short duration; and even while it lasted—while the people lamented that their Sovereign should have been misled by erroneous information—yet they respected the motives by which she had been actuated, and saw in it only a proof of her 440; Ann. Reg. 1837, earnest desire to uphold the purity of a court to which 227, Chron. her sway had lent so much lustre.1 1 Mart. ii. tion. 1838. The coronation took place on the 28th June 1838, 2. and though shorn of much of the quaint feudal splendour, Her coronawhich had now become antiquated, it was conducted on June 28, a scale of very great magnificence. So general was the interest excited by its approach, that it was calculated that, on the day when it took place, four hundred thousand strangers were added to the million and a half which already formed the population of the metropolis. The great change introduced was the substitution of a procession through the streets for the wonted banquet in Westminster Hall; a change suited to the altered temper of the times, and abundantly justified by the result; for instead of a limited assembly of nobles, the whole inhabitants of London were admitted to witness the ceremony. "The earth," says the contemporary annalist, "was alive with men, the habitations in the line of march cast forth their occupants to the balconies and the house-tops. The windows were lifted out of their frames, and the asylum of private life, that sanctuary which our countrymen guard with such traditional jealousy, was on this occasion made accessible to the gaze of the entire world. The morning was dark and lowering, but the clouds rolled away with the firing of the guns from the Tower; and before the procession set out, the sun was shining with uncommon brilliancy. The procession moved from Buckingham Palace, up Constitution Hill, along Piccadilly, down St James's Street, and thence along Pall Mall and Parliament Street to Westminster Abbey. The |