puted to her as a mortal sin. Nobody, during the continuance of the proceedings against her majesty, could know, so well as her legal advisers, the sufferings under which she laboured. They had been compelled to break in upon her rest at all hours of the day and night, because there was no memory except her's to which they could apply for information which was indispensably necessary for them to have before they could proceed to the cross-examination of the witnesses produced against her. Was her mind, too, he would ask, freed from all subjects likely to inflame it? or was it not inflamed by a persecution which had been carried on against her with unrelenting malice for four-and-twenty years, which had already subjected her to trials, and which was to end at last in that most odious and unconstitutional of all measures-a bill of Pains and Penalties ? He knew no person whose passions were so much under their command as not to have felt some degree of irritation at such treatment; and he would say, that it was much better, that such irritation should be expressed at the moment, than pent up in the breast and brought forward at a future time for worse purposes. When hon. gentlemen viewed her situation in this light, he trusted, that not one of them would be found who could view it with any other feeling than that of sincere commiseration for her sufferings.

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Mr. Alderman Wood trusted, that there was not a single member who would rashly give credit to the charges which the hon. member for Surrey had so boldly urged against her majesty, and all of which were destitute of foundation. He called upon that hon, member to come forward, and to mention any one bill of her majesty's that was unpaid. The hon. member had stated, that none of her majesty's bills were paid, and had insinuated, that money which she had received to pay them had been expended in promoting the most wicked purposes. Now, if the House were to call for an account of every farthing expended by her majesty, he would undertake to say, that they would find it expended in such a manner as would give universal satisfaction. The bills of all her tradesmen were paid monthly. It was true, that such had not been the case immediately after her arrival.

The expenses of her journey had made her in want of money; and her first quarter's allowance was in great part con

sumed in defraying them. As the hon. member was so much in the secret of her majesty's expenditure, he must know, that she had not received a farthing of her allowance for the last quarter; but, that notwithstanding, she had discharged every claim outstanding against her, by means of the assistance afforded her by a banker. If the hon. member, could state one single bill that was unpaid, it was now his duty to do so. He should not have intruded on the attention of the House, had he not thought it necessary to inform them, that there was not the smallest particle of truth in this new charge preferred against her majesty.

Mr. H. Sumner said, that he had spoken from general rumour, and that as the hon. alderman was not an accredited agent of her majesty, he must still continue under his former impression.

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Mr. Brougham said, that the language used by the hon. member for Surrey was the occasion of his addressing the House again that evening. The hon. member had objected to the worthy alderman's explanation, because he was not an accredited agent of her majesty. This was the usual trick with gentlemen on the other side of the House. They talked of her majesty as if she were an independent sovereign, not as if she were only like themselves-a mere subject. They looked upon her legal advisers as responsible for her conduct, Now, he would inform them, as he had had occasion to inform them before, that her majesty was responsible for her own conduct. had, it was true, her legal advisers; and he and his hon. colleagues, as to matters of law, were, if he might use a figure of speech, her responsible advisers. Nothing, in his opinion, could be more correct than the manner in which the worthy alderman had just come forward. As for himself, though he had been in situations where he was likely to hear of such rumours as had been adopted as facts by the hon. member for Surrey, he must say, that he had never heard of them from any thing like creditable authority, until the present evening. worthy alderman asserted, that there was no truth in them, and he, for one, believed his assertion. As to the law expenses, of which it might be expected that he should know something, be would merely say, that they were submitted to as strict an audit as any other species of public accounts. The sums to defray

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them were issued by the treasury, and the person who received was deemed acconntable for them. The sum already issued, to meet these expenses, was 50,0007. and he would say, that it would fall short to cover them. If the hon. gentleman should think, that they were too much, he could only say, that her majesty regretted, as much as he could, the absolute necessity there was for incurring them. Lord Liverpool had however, confessed, that the refusal of a specification of the witnesses and the charges to be brought against her majesty, necessarily entailed upon her greater expenses than would fall upon the opposite side.

Mr. H. Sumner said, that if the learned gentleman could declare, after inquiry to-morrow, that every bill had been paid off, he would readily give up his opinion, and be most happy to hear the statement. As for the worthy alderman's assurance, he could not think it more certain than the rumour which had reached him.

Mr. Alderman Wood said, that he did not want any credit from the hon. gentleman, but he was sure the House would believe him, when he told them, that the book was regularly shewn to him by her majesty's steward, and that every article was paid for monthly.

Lord Nugent said, that ever since he had the honour of a seat in the House, it had been considered as part of its courtesy, that when any gentleman stated a circumstance as a fact within his own personal knowledge, he should be free from any positive contradiction, especially on such loose grounds as those assumed by the hon. member for Surrey. He thought, that an apology was due to the worthy alderman.

Mr. H. Sumner stated, that if the worthy alderman had made a declaration regarding what had fallen within his own knowledge, he should have given implicit credence to him. But it appeared, that the steward had merely shown the books to him, and the books only contained an account of what was paid. The worthy alderman therefore, could not know how much remained unpaid.

Mr. S. Wortley expressed his regret, that the hon. member for Surrey had brought forward such charges as he had done, on no better authority than mere rumour. He had obtained all that he wished in a manifestation of the feelings of the House, and, if called upon to

divide, should certainly divide in favour of the larger sum.

Mr. Western wished to know, why this provision should not be made out of the Civil List, instead of being made an additional burden on the people.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that the treasury had no more power of converting the Civil List from the purposes to which it was appropriated, than they had of converting to other uses any parliamentary grant.

Mr. Lennard regretted, that the gentlemen who professed themselves so anxious to save the public money, had not reminded the House, that this was the first time, that a separate allowance had been asked for a Queen Consort. Till the present time, the queen had been always considered part of the royal household, and all the expenses incident to the situation of a queen consort had been paid out of the Civil List. He did not wish to curtail the Crown of any thing essential to its honour or its splendor, but he begged leave to remark, that the splendor of the Crown and the honour of the Crown were not always synonymous terms. The Crown was in possession of the revenues of the duchy of Cornwall, of the 4 per cent duties, of the droits of Admiralty; and it would have been more consistent with those large professions of economy so often heard from ministers, if they had applied some of these sources of revenue to the support of the Queen; or at least, if they had given up the droits to the use of the public.

The original motion was then agreed to.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

Thursday, February 1. PETITIONS RELATIVE TO THE QUEEN.] Sir G. Robinson, before he presented a petition from Northampton, thought it requisite to make a few observations upon the manner in which it had been got up. The parties sent a requisition to the mayor, desiring him to call a public meeting of its inhabitants, to take into consideration the late proceedings against her majesty. The mayor refused to do so. The requisitionists in consequence issued a hand-bill calling such a meeting, and at that meeting the petition which he had to present, and which was signed by 1,660 persons, was adopted. He had presented to his majesty, at the levee, an address to a simi

lar effect; and he wished to give publicity to that fact, as the address was not likely to see the light among those of lord Sidmouth's selection. The petitioners expressed their fears, that further persecutions were in store for her majesty, but, prayed the House to exert its influence to put a stop to them. They likewise prayed for an examination into the conduct of the Milan commission, and for the restoration of her majesty's name to the Liturgy.

Mr. Lambton presented a petition to the same effect from the town of Yarm. The gentleman who had put the petition into his hands had informed him, that with the exception of the postmaster and one or two individuals who lived upon the taxes, all the inhabitants of the town had concurred in the object of the petition; and he was informed, that if time had been allowed, every inhabitant of the town would have signed it, with the exceptions which he had before made.

Mr. Beaumont, in presenting a similar petition from the county of Northumberland, trusted, that he might be allowed to say a few words regarding it, in consequence of the peculiar circumstances under which the meeting at which it was adopted had been convened. A requisition had been presented to the High Sheriff, signed by gentlemen of very large landed property in the county, desiring him to call a public meeting. To that requisition he had given a positive refusal, without assigning any reason for so doing. The requisitionists, in consequence, called a meeting on their own authority-and at that meeting agreed to this petition. The petitioners regarded the appointment of the Milan commission, and all the proceedings adopted under it, as deeply affecting the character of the British government; and with this opinion he entirely concurred. They likewise prayed, that a suitable provision should be made for her majesty, and that her name should be reinserted in the Liturgy, conceiving her entitled to all the dignities belonging to one filling her exalted station, and not convicted of any offence by which she had forfeited them.

Sir M. W. Ridley assured the House of the respectability of the individuals by whom this petition was subscribed. Many of them were persons of the greatest weight both from property and character. With regard to their prayer, its object had his hearty approbation. It was, indeed,

but a claim of common justice, to demand for a person acquitted, the full benefit of an acquittal; for no resolution of the House had ever been more completely fulfilled by the event, than that by which it was declared, that the late inquiry must be derogatory from the honour of the Crown, and injurious to the best interests of the empire.

Mr. Bennet was desirous of offering a few remarks on the petition now before the House, chiefly in relation to the conduct of the high sheriff of Northumberland in refusing to call a county meeting. He was astonished, that any person filling such an office should have ventured upon a weak or frivolous or no pretext at all, to decline assembling the county, after a requisition so signed. The property of the requisitionists, did not amount to less than 200,000l. per annum. It was therefore too much, that an obscure person, whose name and person were as little known as any individual residing in the lanes or alleys of London, should presume to set his opinion against the wishes of such requisionists. He new not whether the sheriff acted entirely from his own will, but there was some reason to suspect, that he had received a hint elsewhere; for a hole-and-corner address was then in a course of preparation. Although signed by many respectable persons, he could not behold with sentiments of respect the originators of these sham-loyal productions, working like moles, concealed in darkness, and only marked by the quantity of dirt which they threw up around their holes and corners. The mock-loyal address in question was brought forward under the auspices of the lord lieutenant, a copy of whose letter, sent through the county, he held in his hand. He should advert, however, to one point only which it contained, and which seemed meant as an apology for not daring to show their faces at a public meeting, and for the want of that spirit and gallantry which had been displayed by one or two individuals, who manfully avowed their dissent from the resolutions of other assemblies. The noble duke had stated in this letter, that his reason for not proposing a requisition calling for a county meeting was, his persuasion, that the sheriff would, from his impartiality, refuse to comply with it. Now, there certainly was no need of a county meeting for the purpose contemplated; but, when the noble duke went on to say, that there were no

other means of convening the county, he must deny the assertion. The noble duke (of Northumberland) could hardly have read the act, to the passing of which he had, by his unfounded statements, largely contributed, or he must have known, that he, as lord-lieutenant, might have himself called the county together; and that it might also have been assembled under the authority of a certain number of magistrates. It was not probable, that he would have experienced any difficulty in finding pliant magistrates or obsequious clergymen to assist in carrying his wishes into effect. The truth was, that the mock loyalists dared not to come openly forward, from their consciousness, that if they did, they would be beaten out of the field. He held a copy of their address in his hand, and had never met with a grosser libel, or a string of more foul aspersions on respectable individuals.

Mr. Robert Price presented a similar petition from the borough of Leominster, in the county of Hereford. The sentiments expressed in the petition were, he believed, generally entertained in the county which he had the honour to represent. The late vote of the House, the most extraordinary to which he could have imagined it possible for a House of Commons to come, was, he believed, in direct opposition to the sentiments of nine-tenths of the whole community.

Ordered to lie on the table, and to be printed.

CIRCULAR DESPATCH TO HIS MAJESTY'S MISSIONS AT FOREIGN COURTS, RELATIVE то THE DISCUSSIONS AT TROPPAU AND LAYBACH.] Sir Robert Wilson, understanding, that there was no objection to his motion, moved for a copy of the circular despatch to his majesty's missions at foreign courts, dated from the Foreign Office, 19th January, 1821. The motion was agreed to, and, on the following day, was presented to the House by lord Castlereagh. The following is a copy of the said despatch:

Circular Despatch to His Majesty's Missions

at Foreign Courts.

Foreign Office Jan. 19, 1821. SIR,I should not have felt it necessary to have made any communication to you, in the present state of the discussions begun at Troppau and transferred to Laybach, had it not been for a circular communication which has been addressed to the courts of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to their several missions,

and which his majesty's government conceive, if not adverted to, might (however uninten tionally) convey, upon the subject therein alluded to, very erroneous impressions of the past as well as of the present sentiments of the British government.

It has become, therefore, necessary to inform you, that the king has felt himself obliged to decline becoming a party to the measures in question.

These measures embrace two distinct objects-1st. The establishment of certain future political conduct of the allies in the cases general principles for the regulation of the therein described;-2ndly. The proposed mode of dealing, under these principles, with the existing affairs of Naples.

The system of measures proposed under the former head, if to be reciprocally acted upon, would be in direct repugnance to the fundamental laws of this country. But even if this decisive objection did not exist, the the principles on which these measures rest, to British government would nevertheless regard be such as could not be safely admitted as a system of international law. They are of opinion, that their adoption would inevitably sanction, and, in the hands of less beneficent monarchs, might hereafter lead to a much more frequent and extensive interference in the internal transactions of states, than, they ties from whom they proceed, or can be reare persuaded, is intended by the august parconcileable either with the general interest, or with the efficient authority and dignity of independent sovereigns. They do not regard the alliance as entitled, under existing treaties, to assume, in their character as allies, any such general powers, nor do they conceive, that such extraordinary powers could be assumed, in virtue of any fresh diplomatic transtheir either attributing to themselves a supreaction among the allied courts, without macy incompatible with the rights of other states, or, if to be acquired through the special accession of such states, without introducing a federative system in Europe, not only unwieldy and ineffectual to its object, but leading to many most serious inconveni

ences.

With respect to the particular case of earliest moment, did not hesitate to express Naples, the British government, at the very their strong disapprobation of the mode and circumstances under which that revolution was understood to have been effected; but they, at the same time, expressly declared to the several allied courts, that they should not consider themselves as either called upon, or justified, to advise an interference on the part of this country; they fully admitted, however, that other European states, and especially Austria and the Italian powers, might feel themselves differently circumstanced; and they professed, that it was not their purpose to prejudge the question as it might affect them, or to interfere with the course which such states