"¦^iSS^-

HISTORY

REGENCY AND REIGN

ming iBeovQC tiie ^ifoutttf.

By WILLIAM COBBETT.

LONDON:
PRINTED BV MILLS, JOVVE-fT, AND MILLS,
BOLT-COUaT;
PUBLISHED BY WILUAM COBBETT, 183, FLEET-STREET.
18.30.

PREFACE.

1. The proper business of a Preface is two
fold j first, to tell the reader why the work is
written and published; and, second, to describe
to him the manner in which it is done, and to
apprize him of other circumstances the want of
a previous knowledge of which might produce
inconvenience to him.
2. With regard to the first, the why is, that
we may have, at once, a record of the acts and
character of the king in question, while these
are all fresh in our minds, while a great part of
the actors are still alive, while official and other
documents are within our reach, while the field
is fairly open for controversy on the inatters
stated, and, above all, that the History may
A 2

PREFACE.

be of use; that it may afford us an example
of what we ought to follow, or warn us against
what we ought to shun. Of what use to us of
this day is the history of the tyrant, Henry VIIL,
or that of his racking and ripping-up daughter,
Elizabeth, compared to what it would have been
to our fathers, if written at the close of their
savage reigns? And, of what use would the
history of the transactions of the late regency
and reign be to our great grandchildren, com
pared to the use that it must naturally be to
us? In short, history, like all other writing,
is valuable in the proportion in which it is cal
culated to produce good effects; in proportion
as it is calculated to stimulate men to useful
exertion, or to make them shun that which is
mischievous ; in proportion as it is calculated to
have a practical effect in the affairs and on the
condition of men. To have these effects it
must come, not only before the nation have
forgotten the transactions and characters to

PREFACE.
which it relates, but before it has ceased to
feel the effects of those transactions. Ancient
history may, with a few learned and deep-
thiuking persons, be of real use; but, to the
mass of mankind, it ean be but little other
than romance.
3. It may be said, that the writer, having
lived during the period, or part of it, of which he
is the historian, may possibly have been engaged
in the transactions of it himself, and cannot,
therefore, be expected to be so impartial as he
ought to be. But, what is the great business
of history ? It is to record facts ; and, if the
facts be true, of what consequence are the feel
ings of the historian ? He may, indeed, when
delineating motives and consequences and cha
racters, give way to his bias ; but, then, as in
the case .o{ the faets, he exposes himself to con
tradiction, and the matter is set right; dis
cussion takes place ; and out of discussion comes
the establishment of truth.

PREFACE.
4. There is, however, one disadvantage to set
against the advantages of history written imme
diately at the end of a reign ; and that is, that,
in dealing with character, the historian, in this
country and under our present laws, must take
great care as to what he says. The writer, at
Brighton, who was burnt in effigy, the other
day, for hinting that the present king was not
a strong-minded man, and the two brothers,
who were shut up in different gaols, and heavily
fined, for comparing the late king to Sardana-
I'ALUS, afford instances that it is not very safe
to deal with living characters ; and the prose
cution of the latter for a libel on George the
Third, years after he was dead, shows clearly,
that the nearness of the historian to the period,
the transactions of which he records, must be,
as far as relates to delineation of character, a
great disadvantage. He must (and, upon the
whole, this is, perhaps, a good) confine himself
to facts, leaving the reader to draw inferences :

PREFACE.
the less he dabbles in the dirt of debaucheries
the better. His business is to show his readers
what has been done, and what are, or were, the
effects of it: what were the measures of the
reign of which he is the historian, and in what
way, and to what extent, they produced hap
piness or misery, renown or dishonour.
5. So much for the motive of publishing this
history at this time : and now, as to the manner.
It is published in small Numbers, because that
mode gives more time to the reader; engages
his attention better; and presses on his purse by
degrees. The paragraphs are numbered; be
cause by that means the matter is more easily
referred to. And it is written in the first
PERSON, because I have been an actor in publie
matters, during the whole of the period to which
the history will relate.
6. For the better understanding of the trans
actions of the regency and reign of George the
Fourth, it will be necessary to prefix a sketch of

PREFACE.
that of the country for the whole period from
the " Reformation " to the coinmencement of
the regency of George the Fourth. It will be a
mere sketch; but, it will be found to notice those
prominent measures, the fruits of which the
English nation has been destined to taste in
these latter times.
Wm. COBBETT.
Kensington, 30th August, 1830.

SKETCH

HISTORY OF ENGLAND,

FROM THE

Protestant Reformation to the Regency of Geo. IV.

7. That change in the religion of England,
which took place in the reigns of Henry VIIL,
Edward VI., and Elizabeth, and which is gene
rally called the Reformation, has produced, in
process of time, a still greater, and a most fatal,
change in the natuie of the English government.
Before that event, full one- third part, and, in
deed more, of the real property of the country
belonged to the church ; that is to say, it was
held in trust by the clergy of different denomi--
nations, as bishops, priests, monks, nuns, &c.,
for the maintenance of religion, and for the re
lief of the poor and the stranger. These trustees
were, therefore, in fact, the lords, or owners of
something approaching to one-half of the whole
of the houses and lands of England.
8. From the very nature of the Catholic insti
tutions this state of things gave the common
a5

INTRODUCTORY
people great advantages, and in various ways,
especially as it prevented them from being borne
down by the aristocracy. Where there is an aris
tocracy who are hereditary lawgivers, and are
sustained by a law of primogeniture, the com
mons, if left without some power to protect them
against such an aristocracy, must, in the nature
of things, be, whatever they may call themselves,
the slaves of that aristocracy. This protection,
the commons, or people, of England found in the
Catholic church, which not only had an interest
always opposed to the encroachments of the
aristocracy, but which was, from the very nature
of its institutions, the cause of a distribution of
property favourable to the commons. In the first
place it took a tenth part of the whole of the
produce of the earth, and out of it relieved the
wants of the poor, the aged, the widow, and the
orphan : next, the celibacy of the clergy, that is
of the great mass of land-owners, necessarily took
from them all motive for accumulating wealth,
and caused them to distribute it, in some way or
other, amongst the commons : next, the mo
nastics, whose estates were immense, could pos
sess no private property, and were, of course,
easy landlords, let their lands at low rents, and
on leases for lives, so that the renters were, in fact
pretty nearly the proprietors ; one and the same
family of farmers held the same farm for ages-
and hence arose the term yeoman, which is re-

SKETCH.
tained in our law-writs, but which has now no
application. The nobility were compeUed to
follow, in this respect, the example of the church ;
and thus the commons were the joint-proprietors,
in fact, of the whole country ; they acknowledged
the owner as lord of the soil ; but they held the
estates for lives ; they had rents or fines to pay,
at stated times, but with this reservation, the
estates were theirs ; they could not, like rack •
renters, be turned out at the pleasure of the
owner ; and, of course, they were independent,
free, and bold, just the reverse of the rack-
renters of the present day. Another great cause
of public happiness, arising out of this distribu
tion of property, was, that those great landlords,
the clergy, always, from the very nature of the
institutions, resided in the midst of their es
tates, and, of course, expended their revenues
there, returning to those who laboured the fair
share of the fruits of their labour ; aud, though
the aristocracy had no such positive ties with
regard to residence, example must have had, in
this respect also, great eflfect upon them.
9. The Reformation broke up this state of
society in England ; and it has, at last, pro
duced that state which we now behold ; a state
of rack-renters, of paupers, and of an aristocracy
making the laws and burdening the commons,
or people, at their pleasure. The Reformation
took from the church, that is, in fact, from the

INTRODUCTORY
people at large, of whom the clergy vvere the
trustees, all their share of the property of the
country. If the makers of this Reformation had
divided this property amongst ihe people; if they
had sold it and applied the proceeds to the use
of the nation at large, as was done by the makers
of the French Revolution of 1 789, there would
have been no real injury done to the commons ;
but this is what the makers of the Reformation
did not do ; they did precisely the contrary ; and
this too from a very obvious cause. The French
Revolution was made by the people ; the English
Reformation was made hy the aristocracy against
the wishes of the people. The French revolu
tionists divided the property amongst the people;
the English aristocracy took the property to
themselves !
10. But this was not all that they did against
the people. Having become the lords of the
immense estates of the church, they, as was
natural, began to put an end to that joint-pro
prietorship which had before existed, and, the
lives dying off, they assumed the absolute posses
sion : the race of yeomen was, little by little,
swept away, and the occupants became rack-
renters, wholly dependent on the will of the
aristocracy. From even the parochial clergy
the aristocracy had taken a great part of their
revenue, while, at the same time, they allowed
them to marry; and thus were the poor left

sketch.
without relief, and the churches without revenues
to keep them in repair. Yet it was absolutely
necessary, that provision should be made for
these objects ; for, in the reign of Elizabeth, so
great and so general was become the misery of
the people, and so manifestly was open rebellion
approaching, that it was, after numerous efforts
to avoid it, finally resolved on to make by law
an effectual and permanent provision for the
poor, and for the repair of the churches. And
how did reason and justice say that this ought
to be done ? By a tax, certainly, exclusively on
the property taken from the church and given
to the aristocracy. This is what ought to have
been done ; aud even this would have been but
a poor compensation for all that the commons
had lost ; but instead of this a law was made to
tax all thepeople for the relief of the poor and
for the repairing of the churches ; and this tax,
for England alone, now amounts to the enormous
sum of seven millions and a half of pounds ster
ling in a year.
II. The Stuarts, who came to the throne
immediately after the making of this law, besides
being a feeble race of men, had not the protec
tion which Elizabeth had found in the dread
which the people had had of seeing the crown
on the head of a Frenchman. The Stuarts, nei
ther loved nor respected, had not the power to
witJi&tand the effects of the old grudge against

introductory
the aristocracy, combined, as it now was, with
the most furious fanaticism, hardly got quietly
along through the reign of James I. ; and, in
that of Charles I., had to undergo all the suffer
ings of a revolution. The Republicans, amidst
all their fury against the remains of the Catholic
church, did not forget i^s es^a^es; and, in spite
of the arguments of the Royalists, proceeded
very coolly, and, as all the world must say, very
justly, to take the estates back again for pub
lic use.
12. The restoration of the Stuarts, which,
like that of Louis XVIIL, was produced partly
by the tyranny of the man at the head of affairs
and partly by treachery, restored these immense
estates to the aristocracy ; but did not restore to
the Crown the estate which the Republicans
had taken from it ; so that, while the aristocracy
retained all their enormous increase of wealth
and power, the king, like the poor, became a
charge on the public revenue; and thus were
king as well as people placed at the mercy of the
aristocracy ; a state in which they have remained
from that day to this,
1 3. Next came the " Glorious Revolution "
of 1688; and here the reader must have his
senses at command to enable him to set the de
lusion oi names at defiance. This revolution was
made by the aristocracy, and for their sole bene
fit, and, like the Reformation, against the wish

SKETCH.
of the people. It was forced upon the nation by
an army brought from abroad ; it was made by
laws, passed by those who had not been chosen by
the people to make laws ; and that the revolution
was for the benefit of the aristocracy, what need
w^ of more proof than is contained in the fol
lowing facts, well known to all the world ; that
James IL, who was a Catholic himself, wished
to place Catholics upon a level with Protestants
as to all civil rights ; that the nation was then but
at only about fifty years from the death of many
who had witnessed the transfer of the church-
estates to the aristocracy, only at about forty
years from the time when those estates had been
taken frcm the aristocracy by the republicans,
and applied to public uses, and only at about
thirty years from the time when the estates had
been given back to the aristocracy again ; that
it was evident, that if the king could be a
Catholic himself, and were permitted to place
Catholics upon a level with Protestants, all men
would say, that the Reformation was unnecessary,
and that the estates had beeu taken from the
Catholic church unjustly, from which conclusion
there could be but one step to the resumption of
those estates by the nation.
14. To these facts add the following ; that the
Prince of Orange was not invited to England by
any meeting or assemblage of the people, nor by
any person or body of persons chosen by the peo-

1 ntroductory
pie for that purpose, or for the making of laws ;
that he was invited to England by the aristocracy,
and through agents sent to Holland by them ;
that the Dutch army, brought over by William,
marched to London with him and displaced the
English soldiers stationed there ; that the general
commanding the English army went over to
William ; and that laws were immediately passed
for disarming suspected persons, and for ena
bling the new government to put info prison
whomsoever it suspected of designs hostile to it.
Add these facts to the former, and then nothing
further need be said with regard to the actors in,
or the motives to, this " Glorious Revolution."
15. But, though, by these and similar means,
aud by a pretty free use of the gallows and the
scaffold, the aristocracy secured the estates for
this time, the thing was by no means settled
thus. A war with France became necessary
"for the preservation of the Protestant reli
gion" ; that is to say, the quiet possession of
the church-estates. To carry on this war, and
to bind the monied people to the new govern
ment, it was necessary to borrow money ; and
hence arose, the funds, the bank, and the national
debt. These brought taxes, and so heavy as to
create great discontents. The people felt them
selves loaded with ten or twelve millions a year,
instead of the million and a half, wliich they
had had to pay in the reign of James II. ; so

sketch.
that, soon after the accession of George L, the
first king of the House of Brunswick, he had to
encounter an open rebellion ; and the aristocracy,
though they had so pared down the independence
and power and influence of the people, found it
necessary to pare it down still more ; and this
they eflfected in the year 1715, by an act, called
the Riot act, and by another called the Septennial
mi,
16. By the first of those laws all assemblages
cf the people out of doors were, in effect, put
down. And, why was this ? Certainly not be
cause they were favourable to the government.
But the Septennial bill can leave no doubt in
the mind of any man. One of the charges
against the Stuarts was, that they had not
-called new parliaments frequently enough ; and
that, thus, they had deprived the people of the
power of changing their representatives as often
as raight be necessary. The right of the people
was to choose a new parliament every year.
But, those who introduced William, did not re
store this right ; but enacted, that, in future,
there should be a new parliament every three
years. However, in 1815, they found, that the
people had still too much power ; and, in this
year, they, whom the people had chosen for
three years, made a law to authorise themselves
to sit for four years longer ! Aye, and that
every future parliament should sit for seven years

introductory
instead of three ; though the declaration against
the Stuarts stated, that " new Parliaments ought
to be frequently called," and that this was an
unalienable right of the people of England.
17. But, audacious as this was in itself, it was
less audacious than the pretexts set forth for the
passing of the law. These were, that su^h fre
quent elections were attended with " grievous
expenses " ; that they caused " violent and last
ing heats and animosities"; and that they might,
at this time, favour the views of a " restless and
" popish faction in causing the destruction of the
"peace and security of the government." Now,
if this had been a mere faction, why take away
the rights of all the people, in order to counter
act its restlessness ! Why, in order to keep
down a mere faction, subvert the fundamental
laws and usages of the country, and violate, in
this daring manner, the solemn compact so re
cently entered into between the crown and the
people !
IS. It was, then, under the auspices of the
Riot act and of the Septennial act that the
House of Brunswick began its reign in England ;
and, though Mr. Canning will not, by those
who knew him, be deemed much of an authority
upon the subject, he did say, in the House of
Commons, in 1822, that, if the people of Eng
land could have had their will, the House of
Brunswick would never have worn the Crown of

sketch.
this kingdom. The dislike of the people was
not, however, to the House of Brunswick, but to
the exercise of the power of the aristocracy, who,
by this last-mentioned act, left hardly the sem
blance of power in the hands of the people. The
members of that house have, in general, con
ducted themselves with great moderation ; but,
in its name, the aristocracy has gone on with its
encroachments, which, however, seem at last to
be destined to counteract themselves.
19. The "^ZonoMS revolution" hrought wars ;
first for the keeping out of James and his family,
and second for the preservation oi Holland and of
Hanover. These brought debts; and these
brought taxes. The American colonies, now the
United States, all of which, observe, had been
settled by the Stuarts, began, in 1770, to present
food for taxation. The parliament (the Sep
tennial parliament) passed laws to tax them.
The Americans had seen how their brethren in
England had, by degrees, lost their property and
their liberty. They raised the standard of " No
taxation without representation;" the
septennial parliament raised the standard of
"Unconditional Submission;" the battle
began ; and how it ended all the world knows.
20. It was impossible for these two standards
to remain raised for seven years, as they did,
without attracting the attention of the world, and
particularly of the intelligent and brave people

introductory
of Fiance, especially as the latter had to take a
part in the conflict. The success of the Ameri
cans, in conjunction with the armies of France,
beckoned to the people of France to follow the
bright example. As it was absolutely impossible
for Lafayette not to imbibe the principles of
Washington, so it was impossible that the French
shoidd not imbibe the principles of the Ameri
cans. And, now it was that our aristocracy be
gan to see the effects of their septennial system
recoil upon themselves. The French people, who,
as Fortescue clearly shows, had never derived
from the Catholic church the benefits which the
English had derived from it ; the French people,
always borne down by a great standing army,
while England had none ; the French people,
pressed to the earth by taxes, partial as well as
cruelly heavy, such as England had, at that time,
never heard of; the French people, insulted in
their wretchedness by a haughty, a squandering,
and most profligate court, and higher clergy;
this oppressed and brave people resolved, in 1789,
no longer to endure the degrading curse, and, at
one single effort, swept away their grinding and
insolent aristocracy and clergy, and, in their rage,
the throne itself; and, by that act, sent dread
into the heart of every aristocrat upon the face of
the earth.
21. Our septennial law-makers remained, how
ever, spectators for about two years and a half;

sketch.
but, in the meanwhile, the example was working
here. The Septennial bill had produced all its
natural consequences, wars, debts, and taxation ;
and, as the cause of the evils was seen, the peo
ple had begun, even during the American war, to
demand a Reform in the Commons House of
Parliament as the only cure for existing evils,
and as the only security against their recurrence
for the future. When the standard of the right
of representation had been raised by thirty millions
of people only twenty miles from them, those of
England could not be expected to be dead to the
call. They were not ; and it required no long
time to convince our aristocracy that one of two
things must take place 5 namely, that the French
people must be compelled to return under their
ancient yoke; or, that a change must take place
in England, restoring to the people the right of
freely choosing their representatives; the con
sequences of which, to this aristocracy, were too
obvious to need pointing out, even to parties not
deeply interested in those consequences. The
obstacles to war were very great. There was the
DEBT, which, by the unsuccessful American war,
had been made to amount to a sum, the annual
interest of which demanded six times the amount
of the taxes which had existed in the reign of
James II. There were, besides, heavy burdens
entailed upon the country by that war on account
of half-pay and of other things. On the other

INTRODUCTORY
hand, we had a most advantageous commercial
treaty with France, which the Republicans in
France were ready to continue in force. The
interests of the people of England manifestly
pointed to peace : their wishes, too, were in
favour of peace; and this latter is proved by
their conduct, and still more clearly by the Pro
clamations for checking French principles ; by
the Aristocratical Associations formed for
that purpose ; and by the terrible laws passed
for the purpose of cutting off all communication
between the people of the two countries.
22. But the alternative was, Parliamentary
Reform, or put down the Republic of France.
That really was the alternative, and the only one.
The former ought to have been chosen; but the
latter was resolved on, and that, too, in spite
ofthe acknowledged risk of failure; for, so much
did the aristocracy dread the other alternative,
that failure, when compared with that, lost all its
terrors. To war then they went; in war they
continued for twenty-two years, except the short
respite procured by the peace of Amiens, which
was, in fact, a truce rather than a peace. At the
end of twenty-two years, Louis XVIIL was re
stored to the throne of France; but of that event
and its causes and consequences, the details will
come into the history to which this sketch is an
introduction. 23. During the fight every thing but the dread

sketch.
of the eifect of the example of the French ap
pears to have been overlooked by our aristocracy ;
and, of course, they thought nothing ofthe debt
which they were contracting, though that was, as
the sequel will show, destined to undo all that
they were doing against the French, and to ren
der that parliamentary reform, which it had been
their great object to root out of the minds of the
people, more necessary and more loudly called
for than ever. They had advanced only about
six years in the war when they found themselves
compelled to resort to a paper-money, and to
make it a legal tender. This was a very import
ant crisis in the affairs of the septennial parlia
ment and of the aristocracy, and the consequences
which have resulted, and will result from it, are
to be ranked amongst those which decide the
fate of governments. Therefore this matter calls
for full explanation.
24. At the time when this war began, 1793,
William Pitt, a son ofthe late Earl of Chat
ham, was the Prime Minister. He had estab
lished what he called a Sinking Fund, and had
adopted other measures for reducing the amount
of the DEBT, which had now reached the fearful
amount of two hundred millions and upwards.
A new war was wholly incompatible with Pitt's
schemes of reduction ; and he, of course, would
be, and he really was, opposed to the war of
1793, though he carried it on (with the excep-

introductory
tion of the truce before-mentioned) until the day
ofhis death, which took place in 1806. And
here we behold the direct, open, avowed, and
all-ruling power of the aristocracy ! This body
had, for many years, been divided into two
" parties," as they called them, bearing the two
nick-names of Tories and Whigs, the etymology
of which is of no consequence. The Tories af
fected very great attachment to the throne and
the church; the Whigs affected perfect loyalty,
indeed, but, surprising devotion to the rights erf
the people, though it was they who had brought
in the Dutch king and his army, and who had
made the Riot act and the Septennial bill ; so
that, if they were the friends of the people, what
must their enemies have been 1 The truth is,
there was no difference, as far as regarded the
people, between these two factions ; their real
quarrels were solely about the division of the
spoil; for, whenever any contest arose between
the aristocracy and the people, the two factions
had always united in favour ofthe former; and
thus it was in regard to that all-important ques
tion, the war against Republican France.
25. Pii'T, who was the son of a Whig- Pen
sioner and had begun his career, not only as a
Whig, but as a Parliamentary reformer, was now
atthe head of the Tories ; and Charles Fox,
who had not only been bred a Tory and begun
his career as a Tory, but who had, and v.'ho held

sketch.
to the day of his death, two sinecure offices, was
at the head of the Whigs. These were the two
men of the whole collection who could talk
loudest, longest, and most fluently, and who
were, therefore, picked out by their respective
parties to lead in carrying those " debates,"
as they are called, which have been one of the
great means of amusing and deluding and enslav
ing this nation. Every effort was made by the
respective parties to exalt their champions in the
public estimation : they were represented as the
two most wonderful men that the world had ever
seen: as orators, Pitt was compared to Cicero,
and Fox to Demosthenes : Pitt, as a lawgiver,
surpassed Lycurgus ; Fox more nearly resem
bled Solon ! The people, always credulous and
vain enough as to such matters, carried away by
the jugglery, ranged themselves under one or the
other of these paragons and took their respective
names as marks of honourable distinction ; and
thus, for thirty long years, were the industrious
and sincere and public-spirited people of this
country divided into Pittites and Foxites ;
thus were they for those thirty years the sport of
the aristocracy who employed these political im
postors, while every year of the thirty savv an
addition to their burdens and a diminution of
their liberties,
26. In this state stood the factions, when, in
1793, came the question of war against the
B

introductory
Republic of France. Pitt, for the reasons before
stated, was decidedly opposed to war. The por
tion of the aristocracy that supported him were
for war; but, they were for their leader too,
because, if he quitted his post. Fox came in with
the tribe of Whigs at his heels. Besides, a vast
majority of the people, whether Pittites or Fox
ites, were against the war. So that Pitt had
reason, to fear, that, with a war on his shoulders,
he would be unable to retain his power. But the
Foxite portion of the aristocracy, seeing the
common danger, and seeing the grounds of Pitt's
opposition to war, went over and joined the Pittite
party ; leaving Fox with a small party about
him, to carry on that " constitutional o^^'osition"
which was necessary to amuse and deceive the
people. 27. Thus supported by the two bodies of the
aristocracy united, Pitt went into this memorable
war, which, though attended with numerous im
portant consequences, was attended with none
equal, in point of ultimate effect, to the measures
by which paper- money was made a legal tender
in 1797. The aristocracy, in resorting to this
expedient, were not at all aware, that, though it
gave them strength for the time, it must, in the
end, bereave them of all strength ; that it must
take from them the means of future wars, or
compel them to blow up that system of debts and
funds, which had been invented bv them as a

sketch.

rock of safety, and without the existence of
which the whole fabric of their power must go
to pieces.
28. In the meanwhile, however, on they went
with the war, and with the struggle between them
and the people on the score of Parliamentary
Reform ; the people ascribing the war and all
its enormous debts and taxes to the want of that
refonn, and the aristocracy ascribing their com
plaints to seditious and treasonable designs, and
passing laws to silence them, or punish them ac
cordingly. When this war began (1793) the
Septennial bill had been in existence seventy-
nine years, and that it had produced its natural
fruits is clearly proved by the following unde
niable facts ; namely, that, at the time of the
** Glorious Revolution," in 1688, one of the
charges against King James was, "that he had
*' violated the freedom of election of members to
" serve in parliament"; that, one of the standing
laws of parliament is, " that it is a high crime
" and misdemeanor in any peer to interfere in the
*' election of members to serve in the House of
"Commons"; that, in 1793, Mr. Grey, novv
Earl Grey, presented a petition to the House of
Commons, signed by himself and others, stating,
" that a decided majorify of that House was re-
" turned by one hundred and fifty -four men partly
" peers, and partly great commoners, and by the
" ministry of the day ; " that he offered to
u 2

introductory
prove the allegation by witnesses at the bar of the
House, and that he was not permitted to bring
his witnesses to the bar ; that there was an ap
pendix to this petition, containing a list of the
names of all the peers and great commoners, who
thus returned the members, exhibiting the num
ber of members returned by each, and that this
list is recorded in the Annual Register for the
year 1793; that, in 1779, the House of Com
mons had resolved, that an attempt to traffic in
seats in that House was " highly criminal in a
'¦' minister ofthe king ; that it was an attack on
" the dignity and honour of the House, an in-
" fringement on the rights and liberties of the
" people, and an attempt to sap the basis of
" our free and happy constitution;" that, on
the 25th April, 1809, Lord Castlereagh, then
a minister of the king, having been proved to
have thus trafficked, the House resolved, " that
" it was its bounden duty to maintain, at all
" times, a jealous guard on its purity, the at-
" tempt, in the present instance, not having been
" carried into effect, the House did not think it
" necessary to proceed to any criminating reso-
" lutions"; that, alas! in only sixteen days
after this, Mr. Madocks, member for Boston,
accused this same Castlereagh, together with two
other ministers of the king, not only with traf
ficking in a seat, but of having completed the
bargain, and carried it into full effect ; that.

sketch.
having made this charge, Mr. Madocks moved,
that the House should inquire into the matter ;
that the House then debated upon this motion ;
that there were three hundred and ninety-five
members present ; and that (hear it, every honest
man on earth 1) three hundred and ten voted
against all inquiry, and that, too, as the speakers
in the debate openly declared, " because this
" traffic was as notorious as the sun at noon
"day"! 29. Such was the state of things in the year
1809. The next year George III. became, from
insanity, incapable of performing the office of
king ; then, therefore, began the Regency of his
eldest son and heir apparent, and it is of this ten
years' regency, and of the ten years' reign that
followed it, that the following is the history.

B 3

HISTORY

REGENCY AND REIGN OF GEORGE IV.

CHAPTER I.
From the Birth of the King to his Mari'iage.

30. This king, who was born on the 12th of
August, in the year 1762, was the eldest son of
King George III., and of Charlotte, Princess of
Mecklenburgh Strelitz. Matters relating to his
childhood and his boyish days are as uninterest
ing to the world as are the matters relating to a
blackbird, or linnet, from the time of its being
hatched to that of its flying from the paternal
nest. Matters relating to his amours, and other
sensual indulgences, at a more advanced period,
could, even if we could come at an accurate de-

history of [Chap.
tail of them, only serve as entertainment to the
idle, encouragement to the profligate, and to fill
the sensible and sober with disgust. To be sure,
as a cause oi great expense to the nation, he was
always, from his very birth, an object of interest;
but, unless vve knew, or had heard of, something
in his juvenile conduct to hold up as an example
to our children, which, as far as my knowledge
and hearing have gone, is not the case here, it is
best to pass over this comparatively insignificant
part of his life, come at once to the period when
he came openly in contact with the nation's
purse, and, turning a deaf ear to both sycophants
and satirists, relate truly what he did, or what
was done in his name, leaving the world to judge
of his character by his actions,
31. For these reasons I shall pass over all the
previous part of this king's life, and come at
once to the time when he entered into that mar
riage which led to consequences which have en
gaged the attention, as well as excited some de
gree of feeling, in every part of the civilized
world. The brave and unfortunate Caroline,
who was the victim of this matrimonial contract,
and of whose persecutions, sufferings, death, and
burial, the historian's duty will be to give, in the
proper place, a full and faithful account, was the
second daughter of Charles William, Duke of
Brunswick, and was, at the time of her marriage,
twenty-sixyearsof age. ThePrince of Wales (since

I.] GEORGE IV.
George IV.), her husband, who had then attained
the age of thirty three years, was greatly embar
rassed with debts, which, until this marriage was
proposed, the nation was by no means disposed to
pay. The country was at this time involved in a
most expensive and wasteful war against the people
of France : a war undertaken to put down princi
ples, and, in the opinions of all considerate men,
tending to produce, eventually, great suffering to
the English nation ; and, therefore, the people
were not in a very good humour with royalty,
32. The discussions relative to the American
revolution had produced a revolution in France ;
and it had been found, that, in like manner, this
latter event would produce a revolution in Eng
land. Various are the words made use of by the
parties in the disputes touching these revolii-
tions; but the short and true state of the case is
this : thepeople of all these nations were become
sensible that they suffered from the whole of the
governing powers being in the hands of theprivi-
leged orders. The Americans had successfully
resisted the attempts to keep them under the
yoke. The French had risen and broken the yoke
to pieces. And now the English were making
an attempt to regain their right of choosing their
representatives. 33. In the midst of a general ferment, arising
from this cause, war against the French people
was commenced by Pitt, in 1793, which war

HISTORY OF

[Chap.

was going on at the time of the marriage of the
Prince of Wales with the Princess of Brunswick.
The taxes, on account of the war, pressed hea
vily upon the nation ; the government armed
itself at all points. Soldiers of all descriptionsj
barracks ; new laws relative to the press ; the
Habeas Corpus Act was suspended ; every thing,
in short, to restrain and compel ; but still money
was necessary ; and, under such circumstances,
an enonnous sum, granted to pay the debts oi a
prince who had always received a large annual
stipend out of the taxes, was what even Pitt,
daring as he was, had not the confidence to pro
pose vvithout being furnished with some plausible
pretence for the proposition. The marriage, as
we shall by-and-by see, furnished this pretence ;
and every thing that could be thought of was done
to make the people part with the money freely.
34. The marriage took place on the Sth of
April ; and though it was, of course, to be consi
dered as a measure of state-policy, it certainly
gave great and universal satisfaction. The
Prince, notwithstanding his extravagance, was, &t
this time, by no means unpopular. He had been
studiously shut out from all public authority, vvas
regarded as in opposition to his father's ministers,
and, as those were very cordially and justly hated,
the Prince, except with regard to his expenses,
stood in rather a favourable light. The Princess,
who was of a most frank and kind disposition.

I.]: GEORGE IV.
extremely affable and gracious in her deportment,
by no means suflfered in a comparison with the
Queen ; and, upon the whole, the nation seemed
delighted vvith the prospect that their future king
and queen held out to them.
35. In a few days after the celebration of the-
marriage ; that is to say, on the 27th of April,
the king officially communicated to the parlia
ment his request, that a settlement should be
made on the Prince, suitable to the alteration in
his situation ; and he observed, at the same time,,
that " the benefit of any settlement that the
" House might raake must fail in its most desir-
" able effect, if means were not provided to
" extricate his Royal Highness from the incum-
" brances under which he laboured to a great
" amount," 36. Upon this message from the king, Pitt
founded his proposition to the House. Those
membeis who composed what was called the
opposition, or Whigs, or, at least, the most active;
of them, such as Fox, Sheridan, the Duke of
Bedford and others, were also personal friends of
tbe Prince. They, therefore, were ready- to conr
cur with the minister in this particular case. But,
there were men, on both sides of the House, to.
oppose any grant of money with a view of paying
the debts of the Prince. Amongst these was Mr,
Grey, now Earl Grey, who actually made a
motion to take 20,000^. a year from the sum pro-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
posed by the minister. This motion was lost ;
but 99 members voted for it ; and the speech of
Mr. Grey was well calculated to producfe upon
the country an impression very little favourable to
the Prince, who had had his debts paid by par
liament once before, and who was now pretty
loudly reminded of that fact by some members'
sitting on both sides of the House.
37. This former payment of the Prince's debts'
took place in 1787. The amount was, at that
time, very large ; and, certainly, with a clear
annual allowance of sixty thousand pounds,
money enough to maintain 3,000 labourers' fami
lies, the nation had a right to complain, when a
new clearing off of debts was called for. Never
theless the new debt, which had arisen, the rea
der will perceive, in the space of little more than
seven years, amounted to the enormous sum
of 639,890/. sterling ; that is to say, to 80,000/,
for every year since the last clearing off of his
debts ; and, as will be perceived, to 20,000/.
a-year more than the whole of his annual allow
ance. Thus he had been spending at the rate
of 140,000/. a-year instead of 60,000/., and had
been living on what would have maintained
7,000 labourers' families!
38. The minister, who liked well enough to
make this exhibition of the Prince, proposed, as
the amount of his new settlement, 125,000/. a
year, besides the rents of the Duchy of Cornwall,

I.] GEORGE IV.
valued at 13,000/. a year more. But out of this
138,000/. a year, 73,000/. was to go towards the
payment of his debts, and was to be placed, for
that purpose, in the hands of commissioners!
Thus leaving him 65,000/. a year to live on, a sum
not equal to half of that which he had annually
expended for seven years before. At the same
time an act of parliament was passed " to pre-
" vent future princes of Wales from contracting
" debts," an act which seemed wholly unneces
sary, except for the purpose of conveying, in
an indirect way, the censure of the parliament
on the conduct of the prince. As to " future
princes of Wales," this was, however, an act of
flagrant injustice. It was an act to keep them, by
law, in a state below that of what the law calls a
femme covert, and, indeed, to keep them in a
state of infancy ; a state little compatible with
the sacredness of the person of the party. But,
as we shall all along perceive, it has been the
constant policy of the aristocracy to prevent the
kingly part of the government from being over
burdened with popularity or respect.
39. The minister was most vehemently cen
sured for this by the personal friends of the
prince, who declared it to be an insult intended
and contrived; and this it certainly was. Yet
it was not easy to blame Pitt and his party for
their conduct upon this occasion ; for how was
a minister, after the large sum paid for a similar
c

HISTORY OF [Chap,
purpose, in 1787? again to call upon the nation
for an immense sum to pay oflf the prince's debts,
without doing something that should amount to
a censure on him by whom those debts had been
contracted? The transactions of 1787 had left
the prince no justification and no excuse for this
new mass of debts. At that time he had had,
from the time ofhis coming of age in 1783, an al
lowance from the king, out of the civil list, of
50,000/. a year ; an allowance enormous, espe
cially if we consider the then low price of all
household expenses. Nevertheless, it required but
four years to involve the prince in debts ; a cir
cumstance that reflected less credit on him thanthe
friends of kingly government could have wished
to see belong to so distinguished a branch of
the royal family ; a circumstance, in fact, which
was, in itself, no weak argument in favour of the
French, who were contending for a Republican
government. 40. It was not, therefore, without some severe
animadversions on his conduct, that the House
of Commons entertained a proposition to pay oflf
the debts of 1787; and they did not pass the
grant, until the king had given them the strong
est assurances, that a similar application, for a
similar purpose, would never again be made. In
his message ofthe 21st of May, 1787, the king,
after expressing his great concern at being under
the necessity of acquainting the House of the

L] GEORGE IV.
extent of the prince's debts, and after observing
\\ovr painful it was to him to propose, on this
account, an addition to the burdens ofhis people,
proceeds thus : "His Majesty could not, however,
*' expect or desire the assistance of this House,
*' but on a well-grounded expectation that the
"prince will avoid contracting any debts in fu-
" ture. With a vievv to this object, and not from
" any anxious desire to remove any possible doubt
" ofthe sufficiency of the prince's income to sup-
"port amply the dignity of his situation, his
" majesty has directed a sum of 10,000/. per an-
" num to be paid out of his civil list, in addition
" to the allowance which his majesty has hither-
" to given him ; and his majesty has the satis-
"faction to inform the House, that the Prince of
" Wales has given his Majesty the fullest assu-
" ranee ofhis determination to confine his future
" expenses ivithin his income, and has also settled
"a plan for arranging those expenses in the
"several departments, and for fixing an order for
'' payment under such regulations as his majesty
" trusts will effectually secure the due execution
" of the prince's intentions,"
41. Upon this message the minister proposed,
and the parliament voted, the sum of 161,109^.
to pay oflf the debts ; a sum perfectly monstrous,
if we consider the prices of things at the time,
and if we also consider, that it must have been
contracted within the short space of about three
c2

HISTORY OF [Chap.
years and a half. The nation, however, always
foolishly liberal, seems to have been willing to
overlook the past, in consequence of the solemn
assurances oi the prince, conveyed to it under
the hand of the king himself, that this should be
the last application of the kind.
42. When, therefore, another application of
precisely the same kind vvas to be made, how
could any minister advise the king to make it,
without accompanying that application with a
proposal to do a something in the way of security
for the future, and of censure for the past ? Ac
cordingly the king recommended and the parlia
ment adopted, in 1795, the appointment of com-
missionersto superintend thepayment of thedebts,
and the passing of the act before-mentioned.
43. It is easy to conceive how disagreeable it
must have been to the prince to have every debt,
and the nature of every debt, canvassed before
commissioners ! And how very different this
was from placing, at once, the 639,890/. at his
own disposal. There was a commission to sit
for at least nine years, as they were to pay only
73,000/. a year. All this time there must neces
sarily be a great many discontented creditors,
who are by no means the most patient or most
friendly of mortals. The prince was a debtor
all the while; and, while the nation thought,
and truly thought, his allowance very large, he
found that what he was receiving was much

I.] GEORGE IV,
too small for those purposes which he deemed
his wants.
44. Thus his marriage, instead of affording the
prince thdX relief from embarrassment, which his
friends said he had been led to expect from it,
was, to him, a season of the deepest humiliation.
Those friends were very loud in their reproaches
against the minister ; and the prince's brother,
the Duke of Clarence (now William IV.) said,
in his place in the House of Lords, that, " when
" the marriage of the prince was agreed upon,
" there was a stipulation that he was to be ex-
" oneratedfrom his debts,"
45. The marriage had failed, therefore, of ac
complishing one of its apparent objects. In such
cases personal affection is never much to be relied
on. The thing is altogether an aflfair of state-
policy ; and, under circumstances such as have
here been stated, it is but too natural to suppose
that the other party in the marriage would derive
no advantage from the disappointment of the
above-mentioned pecuniary hopes. There were,
indeed, added to the annual sum, 27,000/. for
expenses of the marriage ; 28,000/. for jewels
and plate ; and 26,000/. to finish the prince's
palace of Carlton House : but, there was a con
trol as to the expenditure of those sums, which
were by no means to be spent by the prince. So
that in fact, his pecuniary circumstances, his ca
pacity of spending money, became lowered, and

HISTORY OF [Chap.
greatly lowered, by his marriage, which of neces
sity augmented his household expenses.
46. It is very true, that 65,000/. a year, clear
of all taxes, undeducted from by house-rent, fur
niture, repairs, and many other of those outgoings
which so largely deduct from other men's incomes,
was a sum so large, that one can hardly ima
gine how it was to be disposed of without an abso
lute throwing of it away. But having seen, that,
during the seven years previous to the mar
riage, the prince had expended 140,000/. a
year, we are not to be surprised, that he expe
rienced deep mortification at being reduced to
less than half the sum ; and, especially when he
saw his stipend placed in the hands of commis
sioners, responsible to the law for the distribution
of the money.
47. This mortification was strongly expressed
by his friends in parhament; and, certainly, any
thing more mortifying, more humiliating, cannot
well be imagined than the provisions of the act
relating to the application of the new settlement
of 140,000/. a year. The commissioners were to
be, thc speaker of the House of Commons ; the
chancellor of the Exchequer ; the master of the
King's household; the accountant-general of
the court of Chancery ; and the surveyor-gene
ral of the crown-lands. They were to have
complete power to examine all creditors on oath;
to inquire into the origin and nature of every

IJ GEORGE IV.
debt ; to watch over the future expenditure;
and, in short, to be absolute, as to all the pecu
niary aflfairs of the prince, who was placed under
a guardianship and control as severe as if he
had still been an infant, or something even lower
in the scale of intellectual capacity.
48. Francis Duke of Bedford, in advert
ing to these measures, in his place in parliament,
vehemently censured the ministers. He said,
that " a variety of circumstances would occur to
" candid minds in extenuation of the errors of
" the prince, which were of 2, juvenile description,
*' and did by no means call for asperity of cen-
"sure." ITie Earl of Lauderdale said, that
" it did not become so great and opulent a peo-
"ple to act with severity towards a young
" prince, from who se virtues, abilities, and ac-
" complishments, they might justly expect to
" derive so much contentment."
49. The nation, however, does not appear to
have thought that thirty-three years of age was
a very "juvenile " stage oflife. If it were such,
however, in this particular case, the nation could
see no objection to a guardianship, and control
such as are usual in the "juvenile " state. And
as to those virtues and abilities oi which the Earl
of Lauderdale spoke, though no one was pre
sumptuous enough to deny, or to express a doubt
as to their existence ; no one, on the other hand,
appeared to be able to deduce a proof of them.

HISTORY OF [Chap.
from what had happened in 17S7j or from the
present exhibition of debts which had been con
tracted notwithstanding the solemn assurances
given at the former period.
50. Harsh, severe, humiliating, as the measures
of Pitt certainly were, they met with the appro
bation of the nation at large, who, whatever they
might think of the prince himself, had a very bad
opinion of some, at least, of those who were re
garded as being in his confidence and in his fa
vour. Besides, the nation looked attentively at
the causes of the debts. They looked at the list
of claimants and of claims. They looked at the
items; and in them they did not discover any
thing which seemed to form a compensation,
either in possession or in hope, for the immense
sums which the prince's indulgences had drained
from the fruit of their labour. Indeed, the
princess seems to have been, in regard to this
point, their only source of consolation. Con
cluding, from the experience of mankind, that
matrimony would put an end to those things
which had been so costly to them, and had so
long filled them with alarm, they looked upon the
princess as giving them much better security
than they could have in commissionerships and
acts of parliament.
51. The ma»iage had brought the prince a
wife, but it had brought him none of those other
things which his friends and partizans, at least.

I]

GEORGE IV.

said he expected from it ; and it had brought him
worse than no fortune at all ; for it had, in fact,
taken from him, as to the management of his pe
cuniary concerns, all sort of power, and even
of influence. The reader will judge for himself,
whether these immediate consequences of the
marriage (so different from those that had been
anticipated) were likely to operate in the mind
of the husband favourably towards the wife.
Precisely how they did operate we cannot pretend
to know; but certain it is that domestic happi
ness was not long an inmate at Carlton House.
52. The mortification of the prince seemed to
admit of little addition : it seeined to be com
plete ; but it did receive an addition in the con
duct of the parliament towards the princess, on
whom, by an act pased on the same day with that
which established a commission to manage the
aflfairs of the Prince, they settled a jointure of
50,000/. a year, leaving the expenditure entirely
under her own control! Thereby making by
law a contrast between the husband and wife, to
the disgrace of the former. Never did the prince
to the hour of his death forget this ! Mr. Grey,
who was in fact the beginner of the attack upon
bim, he never forgave ; and this is the real cause
of his unconquerable aversion to every arrange
ment that included the putting of Lord Grey into
power. Certainly, the treatment of the prince
in this case, was, in itself considered, most in-
c5

HISTORY OF [Chap. I.
suiting ; but before we say that a man is insulted,
we must consider what the man is; and not
merely what his rank is, but vvhat his character
is, and what his conduct has been ; and if we
thus consider in this case, we cannot say that
there could be an insult inflicted; for, what, alas !
was that character, and what had been that
conduct?

Chap, IL] GEORGE IV.

CHAPTER II.
From the Marriage ofthe King, in April, 1795,
to the commencement of his Regency, in July,
1811.

53. It was not in reason nor in nature to
expect, that a marriage, a marriage of mere
state-policy, and attended by circumstances so
mortifying to the husband as those detailed in
the foregoing chapter, should be happy, espe
cially when that husband had at his nod scores
of women, equal in point of accomplishments
and far surpassing in personal charms, the lady
with whom it was his lot to be united; that
such a marriage should be happy was not to be
expected ; but, it might have led to a life free
from scandal, free from disgrace, free from
cruelty to the disliked party, and free from
measures throwing enormous burdens on the
people ; it might have been free from all these ;
it might not have been made the cause of taking
from the labour of the people a million of
pounds, or thereabouts, in measures to bring

HISTORY OF [Chap.
disgrace and infamy on this unfortunate lady ;
and it might not have been the cause of keeping
millions of Catholics out of the enjoyment of
their rights for, at least, twenty-four years, and
thereby producing troubles, commotions, and
bloodshed without end : it might have been free
from all these consequences, and, as the sequel
will most amply prove, it was productive of them
all, 54. When vve behold such mighty and fatal
effects, arising, as we shall see these did, from
the mortification, the caprice, or the antipathy,
from the mere selfish passions, and, almost, from
the animal feelings and propensities, of one sin
gle man; when we see a whole community thus
aflflicted, and its peace and even greatness endan
gered by such a cause, must we not be senseless
indeed, must we not be something approaching
to brutes, if we do not seek for some means of
protecting ourselves against the like in future ?
This king has, by his parasites (and enough of
them he always had), been called the " first
gentleman in his kingdom." Gentleman is a
very equivocal term ; but, if its meaning be to
be interpreted by the conduct of George IV., it
will hardly be greatly coveted by the majority of
mankind. He had, in this case, two duties to
fulfil, both of a sacred nature ; one towards
his wife; and another towards that virtuous,
industrious, forgiving, and too generous people.

IL] GEORGE IV.
from whose care and toil he had, for thirty-three
years, derived the means of living in ease, splen
dour, and even extravagance.
55. With regard to the first of these duties,
though the law restrained him in the choosing
of a wife, this restraint was a condition upon
which he was to enjoy royal magnificence and
power ; and, though it restrained him in his
choice, it did not compel him to marry any
body. A good and dutiful son, even in the
lowest walks of life, will hesitate long before he
marry against the loish of his father and family.
So that there is no excuse to be built on this
ground. He was perfectly free to refuse the
hand of the lady that had been chosen for him ;
to take that hand was his own voluntary act;
therefore, he was bound by every tie that ought
to bind a husband; and, though personal affec
tion was wanting, were there not the dictates of
justice ? Was there not his solemn vow ; did
he not promise before God, that he would love
and cherish and keep constant to this lady ?
Was there not, supposing a want of every- thing
else, common humanity to tell him, that it was
cruel to the last degree even to slight a person
situated as the princess was, in a foreign country,
cut oflf from home, parents, and friends, sur
rounded with envious rivals and satirists, and
placed solely under his protection and at his
mercy ? Amongst the honest boasts of England,

HISTORY OF [Chap.
is, that it possesses " manly hearts to guard the
fair," As far as belonged to the people of
England, the unfortunate Caroline experienced
the literal truth of this poetic description; but,
we shall presently see how it was exemplified in
the conduct of him who was one day to be their
king, and the mildness of whose reign and gene
rosity oi whose character have been extolled by
those who were amongst his intimates and coun
cillors. 56. As to his duty towards the nation, it
bound him, in the first place, to refrain from any
indulgence, from giving way to any passion, from
doing any-thing which, operating in the way of
example, might be injurious to public morals.
We are all aware of the powers oi fashion; we
know that in dress, in eating, in drinking, in
sports and pastimes of all sorts, the high are fol
lowed as nearly as possible by the low. As the
servant-maid imitates as nearly as possible the
dress of her mistress, and the footman the airs of
his master, so will a people imitate, in a greater
or less degree, the example of their rulers. If
snuff became sought after because it was by a
shrewd tobacconist named "Prince's mixture"
is it to be believed that ill-treatment of a wife at
Carlton House would not have its pernicious in
fluence on every man at all prone'to disregard the
marriage vow ? Besides, for what had the nation
given to this prince such enormous sums of money?

IL] GEORGE IV.
For what had it a second time discharged the
long score of his squanderings ? For the purpose
of seeing him lead a life of sobriety, order, and
conjugal fidelity; for the purpose of seeing a
family of children about him; for the purpose
of seeing him not only not a bad example to
married men, but to set a good example ; and
finally to render all dispute about succession to
the throne next to impossible, and to prevent that
which Englishmen have always hated, that suc
cession calling in foreigners to reign. These
were the purposes for which the nation had made
such great pecuniary sacrifices ; and he by his
conduct to his wife defeated them all ; and by
tliat conduct, and that conduct alone, laid the
foundation of all those discontents, troubles, com
motions, and all that waste of money and that
spilling of blood, to which I have alluded in the
first paragraph of this present chapter ; and of
this fact no man, when he is fully informed of ali
the circumstances, can possibly doubt.
57. The marriage, as we have seen, took place
on the Sth of April, 1795. On the 7th January,
1796, two days only short of nine months, the
princess was delivered of a daughter, who was
baptized by the name of Charlotte, and of
whose premature death I shall in due time and
place have to speak. During these nine months
even, the princess has since complained, not only
of neglect the most mortifying, but of indignities

HISTORY OF [Chap,
the most gross and insupportable. She was a
woman of too high a spirit to endure this treat
ment unresented, CrueUy and cowardice always
go together ; or the former, at least, is never
unaccompanied by the latter. Men are cruel,
in many cases, only because they are cowardly.
The courageous robber even spares the life of his
victim ; the cowardly one kills him, lest he should
bring him to justice. The princess did not bear
her ill-treatment with tameness; she made her
husband feel that she was not to be insulted with
impunity ; but this, of course, only added to his
antipathy; which at the end of only one year and
five or six days from the day of the marriage, led
to a message from him to her proposing a sepa
ration from bed and board. It was a lord who
had the high honour to deliver this message ; it
vvas a peer, an hereditary law-giver, who was
charged with this noble mission, and who ac
tually had the manliness to deliver the deli
cate message to the wife and mother from his
own lips.
58, The princess, however, very prudently
requested to have her husband's wishes stated in
writing ; but she at once told the bearer ofthe
message, that though she must, of course, submit
to the arrangement that the prince might resolve
on, she desired it might be clearly understood
that any such arrangement, if once made should
be -final, and that under no circumstances he

IL] GEORGE IV.
should retain the right to alter it, Tliis answer
produced the written proposal, which must be
preserved here in the prince's own words.
Shameful words to be by any man addressed to
any woman. What must they be then when ad
dressed by a husband to a wife, and to a wife,
too, with an only child in her arms, and that
child only three months old ! The man over
comes the historian here, and makes him, for the
honour of his sex and country, recoil at the
thought of putting the words upon record. But
not only is this demanded by truth and justice ;
it is necessary to a clear understanding of the
most important transactions of the regency and
the reign of this king, Windsor Castle, April 30, 179(7.
Madam,
As Lord Cholmondeley informs me tliat you -wish I would
define, io wiiting, lhe terms upon which we are to live, I
shall endeavour to explain myself upon tbat head, with os
much clearness and with as much propriety as the nature of
the Buhject will admit. Our inclinations are not in our
power, nor should either of us be held answerable to the other,
because nature has not made us suitable to each other, Tran.
quil and comfortable society is however in our power; let our
intercourse tljerefore be restricted to that, and I will dis
tinctly subscribe to the condition which you required through
Lady Cholmondeley, that even in the event of any accident
happening to my daughter, which I trust Providence in its
mercy will avert, I shall not infringe the terms ofthe restric
tion, by proposing at any period, a connexion of a more par
ticular nature, I shall now finally close this disagreeable

HISTORY OF [Chap.
correspondence, trusting that as we have completely explained
ourselves to each other, the rest of our lives will be passed ia
uninterrupted tranquilUty, I am. Madam, With great truth.
Very sincerely yours,
(Signed) GEORGE P.
59. It is unnecessary to remark on the rudeness
and grossness of this letter ; they are too obvious
not to fill every one with disgust ; but, taking
subsequent events into view, it is curious that the
writer, even at so early a period, should have
anticipated the possibility of some accident hap
pening to the infant daughter ! His pious re
liance on the mercy of Providence to spare the
life of his child, while he was casting oflf the
mother to whose breast that child was clinging,
does, perhaps, surpass any-thing of the kind ever
heard of before. To this letter the princess sent
an answer, in French, on the sixth of May, in
the follovving words :
L'ateu de votre conversation avec Lord Cholmondeley, ne
m'^tonne, ni ne m'ofifense. C'^toit me confirmer ce que vous
m'avez tacitement insinui depuis une annie. Mais il y aurout
apres cela, un manque de delicatesse ou, pour mieux dire,
une bassesse indigne de me plaindre des conditions, que vous
imposez a vous m^me.
Je ne vous aurois point fait de reponse, si votre lettre
n'^toit conf ue de maniere a faire douter, si cet arrangement
vient de vous, ou de moi; et vous syavez que vous m'an.
noncez I'honneur. La lettre que vous m'annoncez comme

IL] GEORGE IV.
la derniere, m'oblige de communiquer auRoy, comme a moa
Souverain et a mon Pere, votre aveu et ma reponse. Vous
trouverez fi incluse la copie de celle que j'ecris au Roy. Je
TOUS en previens pour ne pas m'attirer de votre part la moin
dre reproche de duplicite. Comme je n'ai, dans ce moment,
d^ autre protecteur que Sa Majesty, je m'en rapporte unique-
ment a lui. Et si ma conduite merite son approbation, je
serai, du moins en partie, consolee.
Du reste, je conserve toute la reconnoissance possible de ce
que je me trouve par votre moyen, comme Princesse de Galles,
dans une situition a pouvoir me livrer sans contrainte, a une
vertu chere a mon coeur, je vieux dire la bienfaisance. Ce
sera pour moi un devoir d'agir de plus par un autre motif,
Sfavoir celui de donner 1' exemple de la patience, et de la
resignation dans toutes sortes d'epveuves. Rendez moi lajus-
tice de me croire, que je ne cesserai jamais de faire des voeux
pour votre bonheur, et d'etre votre bieu devouee.
(Signed) CAROLINE.
Ce6deMay, 1796.

TRANSLATION.
The avowal of your conversation with Lord Cholmondeley
neither surprises nor offends me. It merely confii-med what
you have tacitly insinuated for this twelvemonth. Eut after
this, it would be a want of delicacy, or rather an unworthy
meanness in me, were I to complain of those conditions
which you impose upon yourself.
I should have retumed no answer to your letter, if it had
not been conceived in terms to make it doubtful, whether this
arrangement proceeds from you or from me, and you are
aware that the credit of it belongs to you alone.
The letter which you announce to me as the last, obliges
me to communicate to the King, as to my Sovereign and my
Father, both your avowal and my answer. You will find
enclosed the copy of my letter to the King. I apprise you of
it, that I may not incur the slightest reproach of duplicity
from you. As I have at this moment no protector but His

HISTORY OF [Chap.
majesty, I refer myself solely to him upon this subject, and
if roy conduct meets his approbation, I sliall be in £0me de
gree at least consoled. I retain every sentiment of gratitude
for the situation in which I find myself, as Princess of Wales,
enabled by your means, to indulge in the free exercise of a
virtue dear to my heart, I mean charity.
It will be my duty likewise to act upon another motive,
that of giving an example of patience and resignation under
every trial.
Do me the justi-je to believe that I shall never cease to pray
for your happiness, and to be. Your much devoted CAROLINE.
6th of May, 1796.
60. In these documents we have the real
foundation of not only all the inquietudes, the
scandal, the shame, the mortification,and the just
reproach, which this king had to endure for the
rest of his life, and the laughing holiday, in and
about Loudon, on the very day oi his funeral ;
not only of these, for these would, comparatively,
be an insignificant matter ; but the foundation
also of mischievous appointments and measures
innumerable ; the foundation, and the sole foun
dation ofthe long-continued and disastrous power
of Perceval, Eldon,^ Liverpool, Sidmouth, Castle
reagh, and Canning; the cause, in short, ofthe
waste of hundreds of millions of money, the cause
of national disgrace in war, the cause of laws,
the stain of which will never be eflfaced, and,
finally, the real root of that mass of suffering on
the part of the people of this once happy nation.

IL] GEORGE IV.
which suflfering, arrived at the utmost verge of
endurance, now threatens the very existence of
the state, now causes to totter to its base that
famous fabric of government, which, for so many
ages, was the pride of Englishmen, and the admi
ration of the world.
61. This is ascribing great effects to an appa
rently inadequate cause; but the sequel will prove
the truth of what is here asserted. The " Wrath
of Achilles," sung by Homer and Pope, was not to
Greece, a more "direful spring of woes " than the
conduct of this royal husband was to England.
And what was his apology for that conduct ? "Our
" inclinations are not in our power, nor should
" either of us be ansvjerable to the other, because
" nature has not made us suitable to each other."
Shameful words ! Was this the language of the
"first gentleman in England ?" And was it for
this that this generous nation had loaded him
with luxuries out of the fruit of its cares and
toils 1 Was it for this that his enormous debts
had been twice discharged; that 27,000/. had
been given to defray the expenses ofhis marriage,
28,000/. for additional jewels and plate, and
26,000/. to beautify the matrimonial mansion;
and was it for this that, after all his squanderings,
the nation still gave him 138,000/. a year, and
settled on his wife a jointure of 50,000/. a year !
Was this the return that he made for indulgence,
kindness, and generosity, which, all the circum-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
stances considered, never was surpassed by the
conduct of any nation in the world. The Pro
digal Son, as described in that most beautiful
of all beautiful writings, the parable in the Gospel
of St, Luke, arose and said, " I will go to my
" father, and say unto him. Father, I have sinned
"against heaven and before thee, and am no
" more worthy to be called thy son," But the
father, hke the English nation, " while he was
" yet a great way off, saw him, and ran, and fell
" on his neck, and said unto his servants. Bring
" forth the best robe and put it on him ; and put a
" ring on his hand ; and bring hither the fatted
" calf, and let us eat and be merry," How like
the conduct of this kind and good father to that
of the English nation towards this prodigal Prince
of Wales ! If the parable had gone on to record
that this prodigal afterwards became, though
with experience to warn him, a greater prodigal
than before, would it not also have recorded the
punishment due to prodigality so incorrigible ?
62. It is impossible to put upon this letter of the
prince, any other construction, than that it meaned
to tell the princess, that he should no longer be
be bound by his marriage-vow, and that he
absolved her from hers ; in short, that he mean
ed to live with what women he pleased, and
that she might live with what men she pleased 1
Besides the scandal ; besides the shame brought
upon the nation ; for, it must bear the .shame of

II.] GEORGE IV.
being under rulers thus acting; besides these, here
was laid the pretty certain foundation of a dis
puted succession; and even if this were never
to take place (and we very narrowly escaped it)
what Englishman must not have blushed at the
thought of the prospect of being governed by a
king, who had given to his wife and the mother
of his child (who would naturally succeed him on
the throne) a license like that expressed in this
letter ? But, about the character or feelings of
the nation, he seems, in this case at any rate, to
have cared nothing. His ovvn mere animal
pleasures appear to have been his only care.
Yet, he was now thirty-four years of age, and
within one year of that age, which the sober, cau
tious and wise Americans have deemed, by their
laws, an age suflScient for the man who is to be
-the Chief Magistrate of their great Republic.
63. For the parties to live under the same
roof, after this scandalous insult on the wife,
was impossible. The Princess soon afterwards
went to reside in a house at BLACKHE.vrn, in the
parish of Greenwich, and on the side of the very
beautiful Park there, which is at the distance
of about five miles from St. James's Palace in
Westminster. At this place, which has become
memorable from the subsequent transactions
connected with it, she resided in a sort of "hum
ble retirement," as she afterwards described it,
" banished, as it were, from her husband, aud

history of [Chap.
" almost estranged from the whole of the royal
"family, having no means of having recourse,
" either for society or advice." Besides which,
she could write and speak English but very imper
fectly ; and as, from the very first, from the day of
her arrival in this country, the Queen and the
Princesses showed her little or no countenance;
the nobility, notwithstanding the character and
conduct that that word ought to imply, studi
ously shunned her the moment she was cast off
by her husband. The people, always just when
not deceived, felt for her as they ought, and upon
all occasions that offered expressed their indig
nation at the treatment she had received. Cruel
husband was not and never will be a title to re
spect in England. In no country is it, indeed,
respected; but in England it is detested and ab
horred. It was soon discovered that this un
protected foreign lady was not visited by the
Queen ; that she came into her presence only on
state occasions ; and that, in short, she had, of
the whole family, no friend but the old king, who
frequently went alone to visit her.
64. This conduct in the female part ofthe royal
family greatly offended the nation, and justly of
fended it. What ! the people exclaimed, do they
see their daughter and sister-in-law, and she their
niece and cousin too, driven from her husband's
roof with a baby three months old in her arms, of
which baby they are the grandmother and the

II.] GEORGE IV.
aunts ; do they see this, and feel no compassion
for the sufferer, though a stranger in the land, and
though they know that she has thus been punish
ed and degraded for no fault, and in violation of
the most solemn vows ; do they see this, and by
keeping aloof from, not only give her no support
or consolation, but tacitly tell the world that
there is some just cause for her banishment !
This conduct gave great offence to the English
nation, who, with the exception of the aris
tocracy, did itself everlasting honour by its con
duct towards the persecuted lady; showed a love
of "fair play," of that proneness to take part
with the weak against the strong, which has ever
been amongst its best characteristics. And the
royal family have not failed to experience the
natural effects of this feeling in the nation, whose
regard for that family has never been what it vvas
before the period now under consideration.
65. But, alas ! the sufferings of the unfortunate
princess were not to end here; here they but
made a mere beginning ; her banishment was
the smallest part of what she was destined to
endure. If, indeed, she had been permitted to
enjoy that " tranquil and comfortable society,"
which the prince, in giving her her discharge,
said was "within their power," she might, though
injured and insulted, have led a life free from
anxiety, particularly as she might with justice
have discarded from her mind all regard for, and
D

history of [Chap.
care about, him. But, to suffer her to lead this
sort of life appears to have been very far from his
thoughts ; for, as it was afterwards amply proved,
she was no sooner in her state of banishment,
than means were set to work to obtain against
her such evidence as would, if established, justify
the husband in demanding a divorce,
66. No steps were, however, openly taken,
until the year 1 806 ; though the pretended
(jrounds of those steps had, some of them,
existed five years before. These steps were :
1. A COMMUNICATION to the King, by the Prince
of Wales, of certain information that he had
received relative to the conduct of his wife ;
2. A WARRANT of the king, authorising and
commanding the lord chancellor, the secretary
of state for the home department, the first lord
of the treasury, and the lord chief justice of
the court of King's Bench, to inquire into the
truth of the allegations, and to report the
result to the king. When we have these do
cuments recorded, we shall have before us the
true source of more cabal, intrigue, and mischief,
than ought to exist in any nation in ten cen
turies. The steps were the natural offspring
of the cruel and insulting letter from the prince
to his wife, on the 30th of April, 1796. As
we shall by-and-by see, the plot was hatching
during the whole of the ten years; and the
reasons why it was attempted to be put in exe-

II.] GEORGE IV.
cution now, and not before, will be stated by-
and-by, and vvill be found to be a matter of
great importance, connected as those reasons
were with political measures deeply affecting the
interests of the country.

THE WARRANT.
GEORGE R,
Whereas Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor
Thomas Lord Erskine, Our Chancellor, has this day laid
before Us an Abstract of certain written Declarations touch
ing the Conduct of Her Royal Highness Ihe Princess of
Wales : We do hereby authorise, empower, and direct, the
said Thomas Lord Erskine, Our Chancellor; Our right trusty
and right well-beloved Consin and Councillor George John
Earl Spencer, one of Our Principal Secretaries of Slate ; Our
right trusty and well-beloved Councillor William Wyndham
Lord Grenville, First Commissioner of Our Treasury : and
Our right trusty and well-beloved CounciUor Edward Lord
EUenborough, Our Chief Justice, to hold Pleas before Ourself,
to inquire into the truth of the same, and to examine upon
oath such Persons as they shall see fit, touching and con-
ceming the same, and to report to Us the result of such
Examinations. — Given at Our Castle of Windsor, on the
twenty-ninth day of May, in the forty-sixth year of Our
Reign.
G. R,

d2

history of [Chap.

THE REPORT,
May ii please your Majesty,
Your majesty having been graciously pleased, by an in
strument under your majesty's royal sign manual, a copy of
which is annexed to this report, to " authorise, empower, and
" direct us to inquire into the truth of certain written decla-
" rations, touching the conduct of her royal highness the
" Princess of Wales, an abstract of which had heen laid before
" your majesty, and to examine upon oath such persons as we
" should see fit, touching and concerning the same, and to
*' report to your majesty the result of such examinations," we
have, in dutiful obedience to your majesty's commands, pro
ceeded to examine the several witnesses, the copies of whose
depositions we have hereunto annexed ; and, in further exe
cution of the said commands we now most respectfully submit
to your majesty the report of these examinations as it has
appeared to us : but we beg leave at the same time humbly to
refer your majesty, for more complete information, to the
examinations themselves, in order to correct any error of
judgment into which we may have unintentionally fallen
with respect to tury part of this business. On a reference to
the above-mentioned declarations, as the necessary foundation
of all our proceedings, we found that they consisted in certain
statements, which had been laid before his royal highness the
Prince of Wales, respecting the conduct of her royal highness
the Princess. That these statements not only imputed to her
royal highness great impropriety and indecency of behaviour,
but expressly asserted, partly on the ground of certain alleged
declarations from the princess's o-wn mouth, and partly on the
personal observation of the informants, the following most
important facts, viz. -. That her royal highness had been preg
nant in the year 1802, in consequence of an illicit intercourse
and thiit she had in the same year been secretly delivered of a
male child, which child had ever since that period been
brought up hy her royal highness, in her o-wn house, and under
her immediate inspection.

II.] GEORGE IV.
These allegations thus made, had, as we found, heen fol
lowed by declarations from other persons, who had not indeed
spoken to the important facts of the pregnancy or delivery of
her royal highness, but had related other particulars, in them
selves extremely suspicious, and still more so when connected
with the assertions already mentioned.
In the painful situation in which his royal highness was
placed by these communications, we learnt that his royal
highness had adopted the only course which could, in our
judgment, with propriety be foUowed. When infoi-mationa
such as these had been thus confidently aUeged, and parti
cularly detailed, and had been in some degiee supported by
collateral evidence, applying to other points of the same
nature (though going to a far less extent), one line only could
be pursued.
Every sentiment of duty to your majesty, and of concern
for the public welfare, required that these particulars should
not be withheld from your majesty, to v. hom more particularly
belonged the cognizance of a matter of state so nearly touch
ing the honour of your majesty's royal family, and, by possi
bility, affecting the succession of your majesty's crown.
Your majesty had been pleased, on your part, to view the
subject in the same light. Considering it as a matter which,
on every account, demanded the most immediate investigation,
your majesty had thought fit to commit into our hands the
duty of ascertaining, in the first place, what degree of credit
was due to the informations, and thereby enabling' your
majesty to decide what further conduct to adopt concerning
them. On this review, therefore, of the matters thus aUeged, and
ofthe course hitherto pursued upon them, we deemed it pro
per, in the first place, to examine those persons in whose
declarations the occasion for this inquiry had originated.
Because if they, on being examined upon oath, had retracted
or varied their assertions, aU necessity for further investiga
tion might possibly have been precluded.
We accordingly first examined on oath the principal in
formants, Sir John Douglas, and Charlotte his wife; who both

HISTORY OF [Chap.
positively swore, the former to his having observed the fact of
the pregnancy of her royal highness, and the latter to all the
important particulars contained in her former declaration, and
above referred to. Their examinations are annexed to this
report, and are circurastantial and positive.
The most material of those allegations, into the truth of
which we had been directed to inquire, being thus far sup
ported by the oaths of the parties from whom they had pro
ceeded, we then felt it our duty to follow up the inquiry by
the examination of such other persons as we judged best able
to afford us information as to the facts in question.
We thought it beyond all doubt that, in this course of in
quiry, many particulars must be learnt which would be ne
cessarily conclusive on the truth or falsehood of these de
clarations. So many persons must have been witnesses to the
appearances of an actually-existing pregnancy ; so many cir
cumstances must have been attendant upon a delivery ; and
difficulties so numerous and insurmountable must have been
involved in any attempt to account for the infant in question,
as the chUd of another woman, if it had been iu fact the child
of the princess ; that we entertained a full and confident ex
pectation of arriving at complete proof, either in the afiirmative
or negative, on this part of the subject.
This expectation was not disappointed. We are happy to
declare to your majesty our perfect conviction that there is no
foundation whatever for believing that the child now with !the
princess is the cliild of her royal highness, or that she waa
delivered of any child in the year 1802; nor has any-thing
appeared to us which would warrant the belief that she was
pregnant in that year, or at any other period within the com
pass of our inquiries.
The identity of the child now with the princess, its parent
age, the place and the date of its birth, the time and the cir
cumstances of its being first taken under her royal highness's
protection, are aU established by such a concurrence both of
positive and circumstantial evidence, as can, in our judgment,
leave no question on this part of the subject. That child was

II.] GEORGE IV.
beyond all doubt, bom in the Brownlow-street hospital, on
the llth of July, 3802, of the body of Sophia Austin, and was
first brought to the princess's house in the montli of November
following. Neither should we be more warranted in ex
pressing any doubt respecting the alleged pregnancy of the
princess, as stated in the original declarations — a fact so fully
<:ontradicted, and- by so many witnesses, to whom, if true, it
must in various ways have been known, that we cannot think
it entitled to the smallest credit. The testimonies on these
two points are contained in the annexed depositions and
letters. We have not partially abstracted them in this
report, lest by any unintentional omission we might weaken
their effect; but we humbly offer to your majesty this our
clear and unanimous judgment upon them, formed on full
deliberation, and pronounced without hesitation ou the result
ofthe whole inquiry.
We do not, however, feel ourselves at liberty, much as we
should wish it, to close our report here. Besides the allega
tions of the pregnancy and delivery of the princess, those
declarations, on the whole of which your majesty has been
pleased to command us to inquire and report, contain, <ns we
have already remarked, otlier particulars respecting the con
duct of her royal highness, such as must, especially con
sidering her exalted rank and station, necessarily give occa
sion to very unfavourable interpretations.
From the various depositions and proofs annexed to this
report, particularly from the examinations of Robert Bidgood,
WiUiam Cole, Frances Lloyd, and Mrs. Lisle, your raajesty
will perceive that several strong circumstances of this de
scription have been positively sworn to by witnesses, who
cannot, iu our judgment, be suspected of any unfavourable
bias, and whose veracity in this respect we have seen no
ground to question.
On the precise bearing and effect of the facts thus appear
ing, it is not for us to decide; these we submit to your ma
jesty's wisdom : but we conceive it to be our duty to report
on this part of the inquiry as distinctly as on the former
facts, that, as on the one hand, the facta of pregnancy and
E

HISTORY OF [Chap.
delivery are to our minds satisfactorily disproved, so on the
other hand, we think that the circumstances to wbich we
now refer, particularly those stated to have passed between
Ler royal highness and Captain Manby, must be credited until
they shaU receive some decisive contradiction; and if true
are justly entitled to the most serious consideration.
We cannot close this report without humbly assuring your
majesty, that it was on every account our anxious wish to
have executed this delicate trust with as little publicity as
the nature of the case would possibly allow ; and we entreat
your majesty's permission to express our full persuasion,
that if this wish has been disappointed, the failure is not
imputable to any-thing unnecessarily said or done by us.
AU which is most humbly submitted to your majesty.
(Signed) ERSKINE,SPENCER,
GRENVILLE,
ELLEN BOROUGH.
July 14th, 1806.
67. It does not comport with my plan to
enter here into the case of the cruelly-treated
princess, who was, during the whole of her mar
ried life, dogged by spies, and beset by perjurers
and traitors; her case, which forms the great
characteristic of the regency and reign of this
" mild " and " generous " and " gentleman "
king; hercase, though as we go along we shall
find it force itself upon us here and there, must
wait for full display, till we come to the date of
her death and burial. In this place it is my
business to show how this affair of the princess
affected the great and general interests of ihe

I.] GEORGE IV.
mation ; how it affected the policy of the king
dom, external as well as internal ; how clearly it
showed that the interests and safety of millions
were thought little of in comparison with the
-fedulgence of the passions of one single man,
68. One thing, in this report, will have
stricken every reader / namely, that the princess
'Should have the child in her own house four
years, and that no complaint should have been
made by the prince before now. When we look
at the evidence, we find that the originators of
the whole story were a Sir John Douglas and
HIS WIFE, who had gone to live at Blackheath
(near Montague-House, the princess's place of
residence) in 1801, and who swore positively
to the facts of the pregnancy and delivery in
1802. They both swore, also, that they com
municated the facts to the prince from a deep
sense of duty, as loyal subjects ; the four lords
say, in this their report, that it was the bounden
duty oi the prince to communicate to the king
matter "so nearly affecting the honour of the
" royal family, and, by possibility, the succes-
" sion to the crown ; " but it does not appear to
have occurred to those lords to state why the
prince had not made the communication to the
king at an earlier period ! He might not be
uiformed of the facts before. Strange, indeed !
What ! a child kept in the house of the princess
ion four years, nursed as if it were her own ; and
E 2

HISTORY OF [Chap.
the prince, her husband, never hear of it, though
only at five miles distance from his own palace,
though his wife was surrounded by servants
that had been, for the greater part, in his own
service ! But did those Douglases, those loyal
people, those people who swore that they com
municated the facts to him from a sense of their
duty as loyal subjects, did those people suppress
their anxiety about the succession to the crown
for four years ? Did they hide the facts for
four years ? and if they did, were they to be be-
lieved when they communicated the facts ?
And how came the four lords not to ask (and
it does not appear that they did) at what time it
was that the Douglases first communicated the
-facts to the prince ? and if the first commonica-
tion were in 1806, how came the lords never to
ask the Douglases why they did not communi
cate the facts before the year 1 806 ? And when
it became clear that the evidence ofthe Douglases
was false, how came they not to he prosecuted for
perjury? And if the tribunal were (as vvas alleged)
not of a nature to bring those, who had sworn
falsely before it, under the law for punishing
perjury, why did the ministers of that day coun
sel the king to appoint such a tribunal.^
69. Who, then, were the ministers of that
day ? And here, when we answer this question,
we see all the mystery removed ; we see why the
child lived so quietly for four years ; we see' why

II.] GEORGE IV.
the Douglases could restrain their feelings of
loyalty no longer than the year 1806; we see
how it came to burst out all at once at that
time ; and this leads us to the development of
intrigue upon intrigue, of the existence of which,
and of the injurious consequences to the country,
not one man out of ten thousand has any the
most distant idea.
70. The ministers of that day were those who
are called the Whigs. They consisted of a
coalition indeed; but this was the name they
bore ; and the principal offices were filled thus :
Lord Grenville, first lord of the treasury; Lord
Erskine, lord chancellor : Lord Spencer, sec
retary of state for the home department ; Mr.
Fox, secretary of state for the foreign depart
ment; Mr. Windham, secretary of state for the
department of war and colonies; Mr. Grey (now
Earl), first lord of the admiralty; Lord Moira,
master general of the ordnance ; Lord Fitz
wiUiam, president of the council; Lord Sid
mouth, privy seal ; Lord Henry Petty (now
Marquis of Lansdown), chancellor of the ex
chequer; and EUenborough, the lord chief
justice, had a seat in the cabinet. How this
ministry came to be in power is a matter which
belongs to the history of George III. For our
present purpose, it is, as to this matter, sufficient
to say, that this ministry had succeeded that of
PiTT, upon his death, which took place in Janu-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
ary, 1806, Now, let it be well remembered,
that Fox, who, and whose adherents, had now
got iuto power, had always been a sort of poli
tical mentor of the prince; that Erskine, who
was now the lord chancellor, had, for many
years, been one of his chief companions ; and
that Lord Moira, who was now master general
of the ordnance, had been on the footing of a
brother with the prince for a great many years,
his " personal friend " par excellance,
71. The princess, in her answer to the report
of the four lords, distinctly declared that the
report, and the whole of the proceeding against
her, were the fruit of a "foul conspiracy;" and
though there be in the documents no proof oi
any subornation of the Douglases, it is, at any
rate, certain, that their information against the
princess was not made known to the king until,
as appears by the warrant, (paragraph 66,)
ihe month of May, 1806; that is to say, until
about a hundred days after the Whigs, the
prince's friends, got info power ! For four
years, while Addington and Pitt were ministers,
the child lived very quietly; the Douglases had'
known of the pregnancy and delivery ; they (as
they swore) were alarmed for the succession to
the throne, and yet the first trace of their com
municating the information is, from the docu
ments, found to bein December, 1805. But, at
any rate, we find that they had made the com-

II,] GEORGE IV.
munication to the prince before the Srd of that
month ; what time before is not stated ; but on
that day Lady Douglas gave a narrative to the
Duke of Sussex, who took it down in writing,
and it was signed by him, as having been made
in his presence : and the " true copy " was at
tested by Bloomfield. The narrative sets out
with stating that the narrator has been " ordered
by the Pnnce of Wales " to give the narrative j
but the precise time of the first communication
to him does not appear. It was, however, before
the Srd of December, 1805, Well, then, here
was all the story about the pregnancy and the
delivery ; here were the loyal Douglases at last
performing the duty, which for four long years
they had neglected in so unaccountable a
manner; here the husband had all the story
about his wife and the child, regularly written
down and attested ; and yet from this time to
the month of May, and late in that month too,
there are no traces of his having communicated
the matter to the king. In fact it is clear that
he did not make any such communication. For
as the warrant (paragraph 66) proves, the king
never heard of the matter until the 29th of May,
1806 ; that is to say, until six months, all but a
few days, after the prince had the attested declara
tions in his hands 1 Very surprising at the least.
72, When the communication was at last
made to the king, it consisted of abstracts of the

history of [Chap^
declarations of the Douglases, Why, then, were
these not laid before the king sooner ? If they
were worthy of serious attention in May, why
not in the previous December ? Oh 1 there was
the chancellor, Thomas Lord Erskine, NOW
to lay them before the king ! But, was there
not the chancellor, John Lord Eldon, to lay
them before the king in December ? The
prince's friends came into power in February ^
and they, it appears, soon discovered the ne
cessity of making this matter known to the king,
though there does not, from the documents,
appear to have been any ground of accusation
against the princess, which did not exist, and
which had not been amply detailed, on the Srd of
the previous month of December.
73, The princess, conscious of her innocence,
and indignant at the " foul conspiracy " against
her, would, if she had been left to herself, or
had had only some female friend of plain sense,
able to write English, have blown the conspirators
into the air in a short time ; but, unhappily for
her, and unhappily for the nation also, the fac
tion out of place got her into their hands ; and,
as we are now about to see, sacrificed her to their
own purposes of povver and emolument. The
warrant was issued, the commission held, and the
report made, without her being at all informed
of the matter. It was an exparte affair alto
gether ; the first intimation that she received of

II.] GEORGE IV.
the matter was in the report (par. 66), which
was sent to her by the lord chancellor. On
the 17th of August, she wrote to the king a
commentary on this report, and praying for
documents and further information. At last, on
the 8th December, she sent to the king her grand
statement of complaints against her persecutory.
All this time she had not been received at court.
But, on the 28th of January, she received,
through the lord chancellor, a message from the
king, saying that he did not think it necessary for
him " longer to decline receiving her into his
presence ; " but, at the same time, giving her a
gentle reprimand on the score of levity of con
duct. The princess instantly answered, that she
should attend the king with great joy ; and the
king, in reply, told her that, at some days dis
tance, he would rather, receive her in London
than at Windsor, The queen and familv were
at Windsor 1 Before, however, the interview
was to take place in London, he wrote to her to
say, that it must be again deferred; ior, " that
" the Prince of Wales, upon receiving the seve-
" ral documents, which the king directed his
" cabinet to transmit to him, made a formal
" communication to him, of his intention to put ¦
" them into the hands of his lawyers ; accom-
" panied by a request, that his majesty would
" suspend any further steps in the business, until
" the Prince of Wales should be enabled to
e5

history of [Chap."
'^siibmit to him the statement which he pro-
" posed to make. The king therefore considers
" it incumbent upon him to defer naming a day
" to the Princess of Wales, until the further re-
" suit of the prince's intention shall have been
" made knotvn to him,"
74. This intimation, which was dated 10th
February, 1807, was enough to inflame any one,
and particularly a spirited woman ; and now she
threatened to do that which she ought to have
done at first ; namely, expose the whole affair to
the public. The prince had had all the docu
ments in his hands for seven months ; and now,
when he found that the princess vvas about to be
received at court, he wanted further delay, and
she was, though the charges against her were
proved to be false, still to remain in a state of
disgrace ! In her answer, therefore, to this in
timation, she declares that she will endure this
treatment no longer ; and she tells them that, if
another week pass without her receiving informa
tion that the king is ready to receive her, she will
cause all the documents to he published. In this
letter, which was dated on the 16th of February,
1 807, the princess rises in her demands; she
says, that now, after all this delay, and all the
suspicions against her, to which this long banish
ment from court must have given rise, a mere
reception by the king, or at the court, will not
be sufficient for the clearing of her character j

IL] GEORGE IV.
that now it will be necessary that she be received
into the bosom of the royal family, and restored
to her former respect and station amongst them j
and that, besides this, it will be necessary that
she be " restored to the use of her apartments
in Carlton House; " or, that she have assigned
to her " some apartment in one of the royal
palaces" in or near London. She then states,
distinctly, that these are the conditions on which
alone she can or will refrain from publishing all
the documents : and she concludes her letter in
these words : — " I trust, therefore, sire, that I
" may now close this long letter, in confidence
" that many days will not elapse before I shall
" receive from your majesty, that assurance that
" my just requests may be so completely granted,
" as may render it possible for me (which no-
" thing else can) to avoid the painful disclosure
" to the world oi all the circumstances of that
" injustice, and of those unmerited sufferings
" which these proceedings, in the manner in
" which they have been conducted, have brought
" upon me."
75. No answer having been given to this
letter, the princess, on the 5th of March, again
wrote to the king on the subject, for the last
time ; and, after expressing her mortification at
not having received an answer to her letter, said,
in conclusion, " I am now reduced to the neces-
" sity of abandoning all hope that your majesty

history of [Chap.
" will comply with my humble, my earnest, and
" anxious requests. Your majesty, therefore,
" will not be surprised to find that the publica-
" tion of the proceedings alluded to will not be
" withheld beyond Monday next ! "
76. The publication vvas delayed, however ; it
never appeared until 1813 ; and then, as will be
shown in due time and place, it was brought
forth by the acts of the writer of this history,
had it not been for whom, the probability is,
that it never would have appeared at all, or, at
least, during the reign of George IV. And now I
have to unfold an intrigue, the like of which has
scarcely ever been heard of, and in the history of
which we shall see how a whole nation was made
to suffer for these whims (to give them the mild
est terms) of one single man. The requests of
the princess were granted ; she was received at
court, and into the royal family ; she had apart
ments allotted her in Kensington Palace. But,
as all the world saw, these outward signs did not
clear her of all suspicion. The newspapers had,
for seven months, been ringing with the crimina
tions and recriminations ; those on her side had
repeatedly threatened publication; on the other
side it was stated, that she had not been entirely
acquitted; even the 'newspapers of the out-
faction allowed that she had been guilty of some
" trifiing levities," and that the king had given
her a gentle reprimand. Therefore, to be re-

II.] GEORGE IV.
ceived at court, and to have apartments in a
palace, were not enough to wipe away all impu
tation. It was known that a royal commission
had been sitting on her conduct; it was ac
knowledged that she had been reprimanded j
and, therefore, it was impossible that some sus
picion should not remain against her, until the
whole affair should be made public. This, there -
fore, she ought to have done; and her not doing
was, as we shall see in time, the cause, and the
sole cause, of all those indignities and calamities
which marked the remainder of her life, and that
finally brought her to an untimely end.
77. How came she, then, not to do this ? The
answer to this question developes the grand in
trigue above alluded to ; but to give this answer
properly, we must now go back, and get into
party-politics. We have seen (in paragraph 70)
that a new ministry, called the Whigs, was
formed in February, 1806; that this ministry
contained the most distinguished friends of the
prince ; and that it was not until they came into
power that the prince laid before the king,
through the chancellor, the charges against his
wife. The new apposition consisted, of course,
of those who had been in the ministry of Pirr,
and who were now out of place. There were
the then late chancellor, Eldon, the Dundasses,
Lord Castlereagh, Jenkinson, Canning, Huskis
son, and some others of less note; but there

history of [Chap.'
now came a man amongst them, who soon sur
passed all the rest in povver as well as in impu
dence and insolence towards the people. This
was that Spencer Perceval, of whose signal
death we shall have to speak by and by I This man,
a sharp lawyer, inured, from his first days at the
bar, to the carrying on of state prosecutions ; a sort
of understrapper, in London, to the attorneys-
general in London, and frequently their deputy
in the counties ; a short, spare, pale-faced, hard,
keen, sour-looking rnan, with a voice well suited
to the rest, with words in abundance at his com
mand, with the industry of a laborious attorney,
with no knowledge of the great interest of the
nation, foreign or domestic, but with a thorough
knowledge of those means by which power is
obtained and preserved in England, and with no
troublesome scruples as to the employment of
those means. He had been solicitor-general
under Pitt up to 1801, and attorney-general
under Addington and under Pitt up to February,
1806. This man became the adviser of the
princess, during the period of the investigation
and correspondence, of which we have just seen
the history ; and, as we are now about to see, the
power he obtained, by the means of that office,
made him the prime minister of England to the
day of his death, though no more fit for that
office than any other barrister iu London, taken
by tossing up or by ballot.

II,] GEORGE IV.
78, At the close of paragraph 75, we have-
seen that the king was told that the publication.
would take place on the Monday. That Mon
day was the 9th of March. In this difficulty
what was to be done ? The Whig ministry,
with their eyes fixed on the probable speedy suc
cession of the prince, or, at least, his accession
to power, the king having recently been in a
very shakey state ; the Whig ministry, with
their eyes fixed on this expected event, and not
perceiving, as Perceval did, the power that the
unpublished book (for " The Book " it is now
called) would give them with the prince as well
as with the king; the Whig ministry would not
consent to the terms of the princess, thinking,
too, that in spite of her anger and her threats,
she would not throw avvay the scabbard as to
wards the king,
79, In the meanwhile, however, Perceval,
wholly unknown to the Whigs, had got the
BOOK actually printed, and bound up ready for
publication, and it is clear that it was intended
to be publishedr- xm the Monday named in the
princess's letter; namely, on the 9th of March,
unless prevented by the king's yielding to the
wishes of Perceval. He did yield ; that is to
say, he resolved to change his ministers ! A
ground for doing this was, however, a difficulty
to be got over. To allege and promulgate the
true ground would never do ; for then the public

history of [Chap.V
would have cried aloud for the publication, which
contained matter so deeply scandalous to the
king and all the royal family. Therefore another
ground -WHS alleged; and herein we are going to
behold another and another important conse
quence, and other national calamities, proceeding
from this dispute between the prince and his
wife. 80. This other ground that was chosen was
the Catholic Bill. The Whigs stood pledged
to pass a law for the further relief of the Roman
Catholics. They had in September, 1806, dissolv
ed the parliament, though it vvas then only ybwr
years old, for the purpose of securing a majority
in the House of Commons ; and into this new
House, which had met on the 19th of December,
1806, they had introduced the Catholic Bill,
by the hands of Mr. Grey (now become Lord
Howick) with the great and general approba
tion of the House, and with a clear understand
ing, that, notwithstanding all the cant and hy
pocrisy that the foes of the Catholics had, at
different times, played off about the conscientious
scruples oi the king, the king had now explicitly
and cheerfully given his consent to the bringing
in of this bill. What, therefore, was the surprise
of every -body, when on the 13th of March (mark
the dates), it began to be rumoured through the
newspapers, that the king had changed his mind
about the Catholic Bill; th&t his scruples of

II.] GEORGE IV.
conscience had returned upon him. This caused
dreadful alarm in the tabernacles of the Whigs,
the understrappers of which faction, who had
scarcely as yet touched the second half-year's
salary, ran about in a fright as great as that of
people who feel an earthquake under their feet.
To make a young man of sound mind in sound
body resolve never to be a state-dependent, to
hedge or ditch or fill dung-cart, rather than de
pend on a government for food and raiment,
there needed nothing but the bare sight of these
wretched people at that time.
81. Their fears were but too well founded,
though the chiefs of the faction did every-thing
in their power to preserve their places. They
not only offered to withdraw the Catholic bill,
but actually withdrew it, and that, too, by the
hands of that same Lord Howick (now Earl
Grey) who had brought it in amidst the plaudits
of that same House, who now, on the 18th of
March, without a single word, suffered that very
bill to be withdrawn! But, the doctrine that
the Whigs now openly avowed, and which we
shall presently have to notice, exhibited the
nature of this "beautiful constitution" in its
true light. They withdrew the bill; but the
Catholics, to whom they stood solemnly pledged,
were coming with a petition for the bill that had
been thus withdrawn. The ministers (having no
thought of quitting their places), therefore, in

history of [Chap.
the hope of pacifying the Catholics, and of pre
serving some little matter of character for poli
tical consistency and honesty, entered, in the
Council-Book, a minute in these words : " That
" they trusted that his majesty would see the in-
" dispensable necessity of their expressing, on
" withdrawing the bill, the strong persuasion
" they felt of the benefits which would result
" from a different course of policy to the Catho-
" lies of Ireland ; and they further stated, that
" it was indispensable to their characters, that
" they should openly avow these sentiments, not
" only on the present occasion, but in the event
" of the Catholic petition coming forward : and
" they further insisted, that the present deference
" to his majesty might not be understood as re-
" straining them from submitting for his ma-
"jesty's decision, from time to time, such inea-
" sures as circumstances might require respecting
*' the state of Ireland."
82. The king, or rather Perceval, seems to
have had no idea of the possibility of the Whig
ministry remaining in office after they had been
told that the king disapproved of the bill ; he
must, indeed, have regarded it as impossible
that any men on earth could be so base as to
withdraw, for the sake of retaining their places,
a measure which they had repeatedly represented
as " absolutely necessary to the tranquillity and
safety of the kingdom." Alas 1 well as he knew

II.] GEORGE IV.
them, he greatly underrated the extent of their
political meanness and servility. He was, there-.
fore, astonished when he found tliem still clinging
to their places on the miserable shuffle contained
in this minute of council; and, therefore, to
make short work with them, to choke them off
as it were, the king was advised, not only to ex
press his disapprobation of this minute of council,
but to require of the ministers that they should
withdraw it too ; and, further, that they should
sign a declaration of a directly opposite nature,
pledging themselves never to bring forward again
the measure they had abandoned; nay more,
never to propose, even to the king himself, any
thing connected with the Catholic question,
83. If this had failed, the king must have sef
fire to Whitehall and Downing-street. It suc
ceeded, however, not because the Whigs would not
have signed even this declaration, if they could
have hoped that they could thereby have retained
their places ; but they saw in this paper not the
hand and the mind of the poor old king, but of
somebody else, andjfthey could see that that
somebody, or those somebodies, who were in
deed Perceval and his party, had got the power
of turning them out ; and that, therefore, even the
signing of this declaration, degrading as it would
have been, would not save them. Having refused
tb set their hands and seals to such a glaring
proof of their baseness, they were turned out.

HISTORY OF [Chap.
and were of course succeeded by Perceval, Eldon,
and the rest of that set who, under Pitt, had so
long ruled this deluded nation.
84, The defence of themselves, on the part
of the Whigs, and the subsequent conduct and
management of the parliament, exhibit, in their
full blaze, all the beauties of this beautiful and
" venerable constitution," The history of the
withdrawing of the Catholic bill now came out :
and a history more disgraceful never stained the
character of any government on earth. The
public cried aloud for an explanation of this
matter. It was at once understood by every
body that the ministers had been turned out on
account ofthe Catholic bill, and a cry was raised
that they had attempted to force the king to
break his coronation oath by making concessions
to the Catholics ! O how this nation was the
sport of hypocrisy on this occasion ! The
Whigs, in order to parry this deadly cry, said
that what they had done had been with the
Icing's consent ; that, so far from their having, in
this case, attempted to force him to act against,
his conscience, they had consulted him before
ihey brought in the bill, and not only consulted
him, but had explained all the details of the
measure to him, and had, after this, brought in
the bill with his cordial approbation,
85, No doubt ofthe truth of this; but then
the withdrawing of the bill, which was a fact

II.] GEORGE IV,
then fresh in every mind, became, in the eyes
of every man of sense, an act of indelible dis
grace, involving a principle utterly subversive of
every idea of any thing like representative go
vernment. Lord Howick, who was now. Fox
having died in the autumn of 1806, become
secretary of state for foreign affairs, had to per
form the task of giving, in the House of Commons,
the explanation of this matter, which, on the
26th of March, 1807, he did in these strange
and memorable words : " It has been stated,"
said he, " by some persons who have animad-
*' verted upon this transaction, that ministers
" were not warranted in bringing forward a
" public measure without previously obtaining
" the consent of his majesty. But this extra-
" vagant proposition scarcely deserves serious
" notice. According to any rational view of the
" subject, the duty of a magistrate appears to be
" two-fold. He may act in a double capacity
" upon different occasions; namely, as a minis-
" ter, and as an individual member of parlia-
" ment. There was no minister who had not
" acted so occasionally. If, indeed, it were
" culpable to pursue the course some extrava •
" gant writers now maintain, Mr, Pitt's conduct
*' upon the slave trade and parliamentary re-
" form would have been highly censurable ; for
" that distinguished statesman, in both these
" instances, brought forward the propositions as

HISTORY OF [Chap,
" an individual member of parliament. The
" constitutional distinction, which, in concur-
" rence with my colleagues, I take between the
" duty of a minister in the one case and the
" other, is this ; that when a minister brings
" forward any motion as a measure of govern-
" ment which has undergone any discussion in
" the cabinet, he violates his duty, unless suck
" measure shall have received the sanction of
" that authority, I should, of course, feel
" myself very culpable, if I attempted to bring
" forward any measures in parliament as a
" ministerial measure unless I had previously
" submitted that measure to the consideration of
" the king, and obtained his majesty's consent to
" its adoption. It was therefore that I laid before
" his majesty all the particulars with regard to
" the measure respecting the Catholics, and
*' waited to obtain his majesty's approbation be-
" fore I attempted to submit the consideration
" of that measure to this house," Here we
have the modern creed of the Whig politicians.
What does the English constitution, or the law
of parhament, know of any two-fold capacity of
the members of the House of Commons ? Ac
cording to that constitution, those members are
the guardians ofthe property and the liberties of
the people ; and they are nothing else. But,
now we learn ; now, for the very first time since
the parliament of England began to exist, the

II,] GEORGE IV.
House of Commons are flatly and plainly told,
that there is another body, namely, the cabinet
council, who discuss bills, and resolve upon
adopting them, before they are presented to that
house, before leave be given to bring them in 1
One of their own members rises in his place, and
plainly tells them, that he has recently brought
in a bill because the king wished him to do it,
and that he has since withdrawn that bill be
cause the king changed his mind, and for no
other reason whatever, though he was, at the
same time, firmly convinced, that the passing of
the bill was necessary to tranquillize and concili
ate a fourth part of the people of the kingdom I
Nay, he does not stop here ; but goes on to say,
that, unless he had obtained the king's approba
tion for bringing in the bill, he should have re
garded it as an act highly culpable to have
brought it in 1 We might, perhaps, have pre
sumed, before, that such really was the case ; but
now it is openly avowed, that bills, before leave
be moved for to bring them in, are discussed and
resolved upon in the cabinet; that is to say,
amongst men who are the king's servants during
pleasure, and that they receive the sanction of
their master before they are proposed to the par
liament. What pretty stuff have Blackstone and
Paley and that foreign sycophant De Lolme been
writing about the checks and balances in that
wonderful product of human wisdom called the

HISTORY OF [Chap.
English constitution ! As to the distinction be
tween bills brought forward as measures of the
cabinet, and bills originating with persons as in
dividual members of parliament, what does the
constitution know of such distinction ? Does
any writer upon our constitution make such a
distinction ? Does Blackstone, who has given
us a commentary upon the whole of our laws,
talk of any such distinction ? Has he once
named such a thing as a cabinet ? Can the par
liament recognise the existence of any such
council, or body of men ? Is not such a body
utterly unknown to our laws ? Besides, let us
ask a little, what bills there are, of any conse
quence, which are not measures of the cabinet, if
we admit of this distinction ? All bills relating
to the army; all bills relating to the navy; all
bills relating to the church ; all bills relating to
the colonies ; all bills relating to foreign con
nexions and subsidies ; all bills relating to loans
and taxes, not only in the principal, but also
in the amount; in short, no one will pretend
to deny, that every bill, in which the people
are generally interested, must, according to this
distinction, be regarded as a measure of the
cabinet; and therefore, if to all such bills the
king's consent, previously obtained, be an indis
pensable requisite, we may call upon Blackstone
and Paley to come forth from the grave, vindi
cate their writings, and tell, if they can, of what

II.] GEORGE IV.
use is a House of Commons, except that of
amusing the unthinking mass of the people with
the idea that they are represented, and that the
laws, by which they are taxed and bound, are
made with their own consent. Yes, Mr. Black
stone, you, who, through four mortal volumes,
which, piled upon one another, might supply the
place of a stool, have rung the changes upon the
blessings arising from the checks and balances
of the EngUsh constitution, do rise and tell us,
where, if Lord Howick's doctrine be sound, or if
the parliament be content to act upon it, or,
rather, to be passive under it, we are to look for
those inestimable checks and balances. It is
the peculiar business of the House of Commons
to frame and to pass bills for the raising of
money upon the people ; and, when they pass
any bill, for the placing of the public money at
the disposal of the crown, it is called a grant.
Now, as all these bills, without one exception,
are what Lord Howick terms measures of the
cabinet, what a farce, if his doctrine were sound,
would this granting work be 1 According to
this doctrine, it is resolved in the cabinet to bring
in a bill for granting the king money ; the king
has the bill submitted to him, and directs it to
be brought in ; the secretary to the treasury
brings it in ; it is passed without a division ;
and this, this. Lord Howick would tell us, is the
true "practice of the constitution in this free
F

HISTORY OF [Chap.
country," where, as Blackstone says, the people
by their representatives, tax themselves !
86. Here was, then, a grand blow given to the
"venerable constitution." But it was speedily
followed by another, coming still from the same
cause. We have seen that the Whig ministry
dissolved the parliament, when it \vs.sfour years
old, and we are now going to see this parliament
dissolved vvhen on\y four months old ! The new
ministry had nominally at its head, the late Duke
of Portland ; but Perceval, who was chancellor
of the exchequer, was, in fact, the master of the
whole affair, co-operating, however, cordially
wilh Eldon, who now again became chancellor.
The moment the dismission of the Whigs was
resolved on, the other party set up the cry of
" NO POPERY." The walls and houses, not
only of London, but of the country towns and
villages, were covered with these words, some
times in chalk and sometimes in paint ; the
clergy and the corporations were all in motion ;
even the cottages on the skirts of the commons
and the forests heard fervent blessings poured out
on the head of the "good old king for preserving
" the nation from a rekindling of the fires in
" Smithfield ! " Never was delusion equal to
this 1 Never a people so deceived ; never public
credulity so great; never hypocrisy so pro
found and so detestably malignant as that of
the deceivers ! The mind shrinks back at the

II.] GEORGE IV.
of an eternity of suffering, even as the lot
of the deliberate murderer ; but if the thought
were to be endured, it would be as applicable
to that awful sentence awarded to hypocrisy like
this. 87. However, it answered its purpose for the
time ; the rage of the people from one end of
England to the other, was excited against the
Whig ministry ; and in this state of things, on
the 27th of April, 1807, the parliament was
dissolved. It was done by commission, in a
speech which contained the follovving passage :
" We are further commanded to state to you,
" that his majesty is anxious to recur to the
"sense of his people, while the events which have
" recently taken place are yet fresh in their re-
" collection. His majesty feels, that in resorting
" to this measure, under the present circum-
" stances, he at once demonstrates in the most
"unequivocal manner, his own conscientious
"persuasion oi the rectitude of those motives
" upon which he has acted ; and affords to his
" people the best opportunity of testifying their
" determination to support him in every exercise
" of the prerogatives of his crown, which is con-
" formable to the sacred obligations under which
" they are held, and conducive to the welfare of
" his kingdom, and to the security of the con-
" stitution. His majesty directs us to express
"his entire conviction that, after so long a
f2

HISTORY OF [Chap.
" reign, marked by a series of indulgences to
" his Roman Catholic subjects, they, in common
'* with every other class of his people, must feel
" assured of his attachment to the principles of
" a just and enlightened toleration; and of his
" anxious desire to protect equally, and promote
" impartially, the happiness of all descriptions
" ofhis subjects."
88. Away went the delusion all over the
country 1 The ministerial members got turned
out of their seats, as a set of delinquent ser
vants are driven out of their places. Many of
them did not dare to show their faces in the
boroughs and counties where they before had
been elected ; and, in short, as Mr. Windham
told Perceval in the House of Commons, the
new ministry sent the majority of the parliament
back to the people to be torn to pieces. And all
this on a pretext as false as perjury itself! There
were the people putting up prayers for the pro
longation of the life of the " good old king," as
their sole protector against the horrors of popery,
and exclaiming against those ministers who had
wanted to force him to break his coronation oath,
when he had actually consented to the measure
after all its details had been explained to him;
and he had had no objection to it, and no
thought of changing the ministry, till the princess
threatened him with the publication of the book 1
89. These transactions, however, disgraceful

IL] GEORGE IV.
as they were to the factions, and little creditable
as the temporary delusion might be to the un
derstandings of the people, did a great deal of
good in the end, by opening the eyes of the
people with regard to the true character of the
factions, and of the House of Commons,- The
people saw ministers bring in a bill ; they saw
the house approve of it; they saw the same minis
ters withdraw the bill without a word from the
house against this step ; they heard the minister^
declare that they held it to be their duty to have
the king's previous consent to every bill that
they brought in ; they heard them declare that
the bill had been withdrawn because the king
had changed his mind relative to if ; they saw
one parliament dissolved, at four years old, to
suit one ministry; they saw another dissolved at
four months, to suit another ministry. They
could not see all this without great disgust being
excited in their minds with regard to the factions
and the house also. Great disgust was excited;
and from the period of these striking transactions
the factions date their fall. From this time the
main body of the people began to see that there
was no difference in the factions; that both
sought the public money ; that all their profes
sions and promises were false ; and that, of every
quarrel between them, the people became the
only sufferers. So that from this affair ofthe
poor ill-treated princes.s, arose this great good to

HISTORY OF [Chap.
the nation, that it, never since that time, has
been the sport of any faction ; but, as we shall
see in the sequel, this was only a small part of
the good which ought to endear her memory to
the people of England.
90. But, alas 1 while she was laying the foun
dation of the ruin of the factions, and of the
monopoly of the aristocracy, she was, in conse
quence of the bad advice under which she acted,
laying the foundation of all those persecutions
and calamities that finally overtook her. Her
interest, her honour, her personal safety, de
manded a publication of the book ; and, as was
stated before, the book, under the direction of
Perceval, was, at the time vvhen she wrote her
last letter, as before cited (par. 75), actually
printed and bound up for publication. But the
king having consented to turn out the ministry,
Perceval, who had lodged the books with a
bookseller, to be ready for sale on the day ap
pointed, took them all (or, as he thought all)
home to his country-house, and there burnt
them, not leaving one in the possession of even
the princess herself. He had now obtained what
he wanted: he had made use ofthe princess for
his own immediate elevation, and, as we have to
see by and by, for the duration of his power over
her husband as well as over her father-in law :
she had thus fully answered his ends, and that of
his party; and she was now, therefore, left to

IL] GEORGE IV.
her fate; left to drawl along a sort of half-dis-.
graceful life, until fifteen years afterwards, that
very party found an occasion for destroying her.
91. She had, indeed, apartments allotted her,
in Kensington Palace ; she was received at court; ,
but the king, her only friend, was daily grow
ing older ; he was stone blind ; his mind had had
a severe shock in 1804, which was the second of
the kind that he had experienced ; the courtiers
of both factions were looking up to her husband ;
the people, generally speaking, thought her inno
cent; nobody pretended that the charges against
her were not false ; but, still, every one said.
Why does she not publish the proofs of her inno- .
cence ? And this very argument was urged as ,
corroborative ofthe charges against her, in 1820;
and that, too, by the very faction, whose advice
had prevented her from publishing in 1807!
Perceval and his co-operators, who wished to
keep THE book from the eyes of the world, in
order to have it to hold up in the face ofthe hus
band in case of a Regency-question arising, pre
vailed, in an evil hour prevailed, on the princess
to be silent on the subject of the book, per
suading her, that her appearance at court and
her residence in a palace would satisfy the people
of her perfect innocence, and that whenever the
prince came into power, either as king or regent,
she would take her proper station as princess-
regent or queen, and that the circumstance of
G

HISTORY OF [Chap.
her daughter being the heiress-apparent would of
necessity give her great weight and power. Thus
they prevented her from making, while her hus
band was weak, that attack, which, when he be
came strong, it was too late for her to think of
making, 92, Thus, then, she had to live in this state of
neglect until the year 1811, when the derange
ment of mind of the king rendered a regency
necessary. And now, strictly speaking, begins the
history of the Regency and Reign of George IV,,
during which we shall find, that greater inno
vations were made in the governing of the king
dom, greater inroads on the rights and liberties of
the people, greater severities exercised on them,
and a greater mass of misery endured by them,
than during any former, or any ten former,
reigns, the reign of George III, not excepted,
though that reign has been justly called a reign
of taxation and of terror.

III.] GEORGE IV.

CHAPTER III.
From the Commencement of the Regency, in July,
1811, to the Death of the Prime Minister,
Perceval, in May, 1812.

93. From the spring of 1807, until the month
of June 1810, there had been, at times, ruraours
relative to the state of the king'« mind. People
talked about it very familiarly ; but, as is always
the case where great and terrible power exists,
and especially with a press, nine-tenths of which
was always directly or indirectly interested in pro-
plating falsehood, amidst the mass of contra
dictory reports, the publie could come at no cer
tainty relative to the facts. There is nothing hke a
corrupt press, which has the appearance or name
of being free, for the propagation- or sustaining
of falsehood ; and, accordingly, with three hun
dred newspapers in circulation, and with all the
boast about entire freedom of the press, the En
glish people knew no more than the people of
China did what was the real situation ofthe king
during the three last-mentioned years. If any
G 2

HISTORY OF [Chap,
person, being a private individual, had by any ac
cident happened to come at a certain knowledge
of the state of the king, and so certain as to be
able to produce proof of it on oath, he would not
have dared to make it known through the means
of the press, unless willing, to subject himself to
utter pecuniary ruin, and to a great chance of
losing his life. But, at last, the fact of the de
rangement of mind and absolute insanity of the
king could be disguised no longer ; and, in the
month of November, 1810, out came the fact.
94. It is of the greatest importance that the
English people, at the important crisis in which I
am writing, be enabled to call to mind the circum
stances attending the disclosure of this insanity
of the king. It was not announced in any offi
cial manner, until the month of November. The
king had prorogued the parliament by commis
sion, on the 21st June, 1810; but now, when
the fact of the insanity could no longer be de
nied, it was declared openly in Parliament that
the king had been incapable of affixing his sig
nature to the commission for their further proro
gation. In order to disguise the true state of the
king from the people, fabricated stories were in
cessantly promulgated through the newspapers.
In the month of October, and so late as the 25 th
of that month, it was stated that the king's
daughter, the Princess Amelia, died ; and it was
related of her that, just before her death, she

III.] GEORGE IV.
had ordered a ring to be made, which she herself
had placed on the finger of her father. This ac-
countwas published, as I have observed before, on
the 25th of October. On the same day, it was
declared through the same channels, that the
king was in perfect health. The words of this
announcement or declaration are so remarkable,
that they must find their place here, taken from
a public paper, called the ' Moming Chronicle^
of the 25th of October. " This day his majesty
" enters into the 51st year of his reign ; and we
" rejoice to learn, that he possesses^er^ec/ health,
" and promises the enjoyment of many years in
" the bosom of his family and people." Bat
tles, sieges, even conquests, are of little conse
quence when compared with the means by which
a nation is duped and deluded on to its ruin.
This same, this very same instructor of the public,
on the 2nd of November, that is to say, seven
clear days only after the former announcement,
announced to the public, that the king had been
in a state of great " agitation " from the date
of three weeks before that 2nd of November.
Nay, it announced to the public that, on the 25/A
of October, the very day when it before announced
that the king was in perfect health, the king was
in so dangerous a state that his attendants had
thought it necessary to communicate the intelli
gence to the prime minister ; that a council was
held accordingly, and that the king was even then

HISTORY OF [Chap,
consigned to the care of his physicians and
keepers ! Was ever nation so imposed upon as
this ? Was ever people so deluded by a press ?
Even after the 25 th of October, these same vehi
cles of intelligence informed the people, that the
king had been riding out in Windsor Park with
several members of his family and several of the
nobility and gentry. But, at last, the fact could
be denied no longer, and out it came, that the
king had not been able to sign the commission
for the prorogation of the parliament in June,
though every thing had been transacted in his
name, orders of council had been issued, and par
ticularly one, for putting up prayers and thanks
givings for an abundant harvest, which order
began in these words, " At the court at Wind-*
"sor, the 17th of October, ISIO, present the
" King's most excellent Majesty in Council."
95. The parliament had been prorogued by tb©
king on the 21st of June. It met again on the 1st
of November, in consequence of the king's ac
knowledged inability to sign the commission for
their prorogation. We have seen that, on the 17th
of October, the proclamation for the thanksgiv
ing had represented him as present in the council
at Windsor. On the same day another procla
mation was issued in the same style, for further
proroguing the parliament to the 29th of Novem
ber; but, in order to give effect to this proclama
tion, it was necessary that a commission should

III.] GEORGE IV.
be signed for the further prorogation, and that
this commission should be signed by the king;
but, after the physicians had been called in, as
we have before seen, on the 25 th of October, it
would have been a step a little too bold to put
the king's name to the bottom of a commission,
which must have been dated after that 25 th of
October, and before the time of prorogation.
Therefore, there could be no commission. The
Houses met agreeably to the proclamation, and
motions being made in each House, they ad
journed to the 15 th of November, on which day
they re -assembled, and, in both Houses, an ad
journment was moved and carried, that adjourn
ment being to the 29th of November. The Houses
met again on the 29th of November, and entered
into long debates with regard to the state of the
king, and with regard to the probability or im
probability of his recovery. In the meanwhile,
preparations were making by the two hostile par
ties for a grand struggle, as to which should have
the government in its hands in the case of a
regency. The party which had the power in
their hands, discovered not the smallest desire to
give it up. The prince, who was of course to be
regent, had continued to live on the usual terms
with his party, which was that of the people
called Whigs. This party strongly protested
against all limitation of powers ; and that the
regent should, at once, be possessed of all the

HISTORV OF [Chap.
powers that belonged to the king. The prince,
his brothers, and all his party, contended stoutly
for the possession of these full powers ; but the
other party contended for the contrary, and
finally they prevailed, owing to the great distrust
which the country entertained, and justly enter
tained, of the Whig faction. The prince and the
whole of his brothers signed a protest against any
regency that should not give to the prince all the
powers of king ; but this had very little effect
upon the people : indeed, it rather strengthened
the hands of Perceval and his party, and tended
to enable them finally to effect their purpose. A
regency was, therefore, at last established by law
for a limited period with limited powers.
96. This act was passed on the 5th of Feb.
1811, and the provisions were as follows: 1.
That the Prince of Wales should be regent. 2.
That he should sign, " George, Prince Regent,
in the name and behalf of his majesty." 3. That
his power should cease when the health of the
king should be restored. 4. That the acts passed
and the orders and appointments made by the
regent should remain good, unless countermanded
or reversed by the king. 5. That no act ofthe
regent should be valid unless done in the name
of the king, and according to the provisions of
the act. 6. That the regent should, before he
entered on his office, take three oaths ; first, an
oath of allegiance to the king; second, that he

III.] GEORGE IV.
would faithfully execute the office of regent, ac
cording to the provisions of the act ; and third, that
he would inviolably maintain and presreve the Pro
testant religion, which oaths he was to take before
the privy council. 7. That he should further, at the
time of taking these oaths, make, subscribe, and
audibly repeat the declaration of the 30th of
Charles II., for disabling papists from sifting in
ihe Houses of Parliamenf ; and should produce to
the privy council a certificate that he had taken
the sacrament of the Lord's supper, in some one
or other of the royal chapels, which certificate
should be signed by the person administering the
same. 8. That, until the 1st day of February,
1812, he should be restrained from granting
peerages, or summoning heirs-apparent, or ap
pointing to titles in abeyance. 9. That he
should be restrained from granting offices in re
version, or for a longer period than during his
majesty's pleasure, except those which by law
are granted for life, 10. That he should not be
restrained from granting pensions under the
lst of George the Third, and the 43rd and 45th
of George the Third, which relate to certain
httle matters connected with the sea service and
the colonies. 11. That he should not have
power to give the royal assent to the repeal of
the act for the settlement of the crown, the act
of uniformity, or the act of union with Scotland.
12. That, if the regent did not reside in the
g5

HISTORY OF [Chap.
kingdom, or, if he married a papist, his power
should cease. 13. That the care of the king,
and that the appointment of a part of the house
hold, should be vested in the queen. 14. That
no officer of the household should make any ap
pointment but during his majesty's pleasure; that
a council should be appointed to assist her majesty,
of which John Lord Eldon was to be one. 16.
That these councillors should take an oath pro
mising to assist her majesty faithfully. 17- That
this council should have all the powers relative
to the care of the king, and should have power
to notify his restoration to health. 18. That,
on the king's declaring, by proclamation, his
resumption of the royal authority, the powers
of the regent should cease, 19, That, in case
of the death of her majesty, the care of the king's
person should be vested in her council. That
the letters patent and of privy seal for the issues
of money from the civil lists to her majesty
should continue in force. 20. That 60,OOOZ. a
year should be issued out of the civil list to the
keeper of his majesty's privy purse, part of which.
sum to be placed at her majesty's disposal, and
that the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster
should be applied in somewhat the same manner.
21. Thatthe care of the king's real and personal
estate and property should be committed to trus
tees ; and that these trustees should be answer
able to the queen as well as to the regent, for the
keeping of these for the use ofhis majesty. That

III.] GEORGE IV.
the regent should have power to dispose of the
droits of the crown and of the admiralty.
97- Here was a sort of partnership sovereignty
established : a sort of probationary royalty in
the regent ; and it is truly curious, that, in the
preamble of this act, the act is ascribed to the
king himself, whose exercise of the royal autho
rity the same bill declares not to be in existence.
It says, " Be it enacted by the king's most
" excellent majesty, by and with the consent of
*' the lords spiritual and temporal and the com-
*' mons;" though it says, in the same sentence,
that the personal exercise of the royal authority
hy his majesty is interrupted. At any rate, it
was an act passed without the assent of either king
or regent. But the great and interesting question
¦was, not whether the act were agreeably to the
laws and constitution of the country or not ; not
whether it was right or wrong thus to defer the
full exercise of the royal authority for a year;
hut whether, limited as the powers were, the
prince, upon being invested with them, would take
Ais old friends and companions, the Whigs, to be
Ais ministers. This was tbe great question that
agitated the'country, and particularly those who
belonged to the two political factions. Men in
general, unacquainted with the hidden motives
that were at work, no more expected that Per
ceval and Eldon would continue for one mo
ment to be ministers under the regent, than they

HISTORY OF [Chap.
expected the end of the world. They saw in
these men, the very men who had protected his
wife in 1806 and 1807; they saw in these men
those who had actually turned out his friends,
because they had given her that protection; they
saw in these men those who had notoriously
made it a point to keep in the back ground not
only all his favourites, but himself; and they
saw in these men the persons who, when, at last,
compelled to put a regency into his hands, had
so put it with all the trammels and all the de
grading conditions contained and expressed in
the Regency Bill just described. How, then,
were people in general to imagine that he would
retain these men in power for one single moment
beyond that the arrival of vvhich would enable
him to discard them ? They had left him full
power to choose his ministers, and, of course, to
put all the immense patronage into their hands;
and who was to believe that he would choose
Prrchval and Eldon (and their colleagues) to
be the organs of his will and the possessors of all
this patronage; and that he could leave his own
fnends, to whom and to whose political principles
he stood so firmly pledged, still bereft of all those
powers and emoluments for which they had so
long been sighing? Yet, this he did! He had
protested against the limited regency; he had
complained that it would deprive him of the
power of doing the good that he sought for the

III.] GEORGE IV.
country ; his brothers had joined him in the com
plaint; his friends had protested still more vehe
mently, and had accused the promoters of the
limitation of endeavours to subvert the kingly
government: and yet he chose for his ministers
the very men who had been the promoters, and,
in fact, the doers of all these things so bitterly
complained of!
98, But, those who did not look beyond the
surface, did not perceive that Perceval and El
don had still the princess in their hands; that
they had THE BOOK in their hands : the peo
ple did not perceive this, and the Whigs them
selves seem to have forgotten it ; for they were
all on tip-toe expecting to be called in to supply
the place of Eldon and Perceval, Before the
passing of the bill, a deputation from the two
Houses of Parliaraent waited upon the prince and
upon the queen, describing to each of them the
substance of the bill which was intended to be
passed. The prince expressed his regret at
the restrictions which it was intended to im
pose, but, nevertheless, accepted the regency on
these terms. The queen was all acquiescence,
of course ; but now came the great point to be
settled; namely, whether the Tories or the
Whigs were to be ministers ; and this point was
settled in favour of the former ! The message
from the prince to Perceval upon this occasion,
is a couple of documents which do not admit

HISTORY OF [Chap.
of description or abbreviation ; we must, there
fore, have them here at full length. They should
be read with great attention, because we shall,
by-and-by, be fully enabled to judge of their sin
cerity and consistency ; and enabled also to pe
netrate completely into the motives of this deci
sion ofthe prince, which filled the whole country
with surprise, and plunged into despair those
seekers after power and emolument who had so
long been called his friends.
The PniNCE Regent's Letter.
Carlton-House, February 4, 1811.
The Prince of Wales considers the moment to be arrived,
which calls for his decision with respect to the persons to be
employed by him in the administration of the executive go.
vernment of the country, according to the powers vested in
him by the bill passed by the two Houses of Parliament, and
now on the point of receiving the sanction of the great seal.
The prince feels it incumbent upon him, at this precise junc
ture, to communicate to Mr. Perceval his intention not to re
move from their stations those whom hejinds there, as his majes
ty's official servants. At the same time the prince owes it to
the truth and sincerity of character, which, he trusts, will ap*
pear in every action ofhis life, in whatever situation placed,
explicitly to declare, that the irresistible impulse off Ual duty and
affection to his beloved and afflicted father, leads him to dread
that any act of the regent might, in the smallest degree, have
the effect of interfering with the progress of his sovereign's re
covery. — This consideration alone dictates the decision now com
municated to Mr. Perceval. — Having thus performed an act of
indispensable duty, from a just sense of what is due to his
own consistency and honour, the prince has only to add, that,
among the many blessings to he derived from his majesty's
restoration to health, and to the personal exercise ofhis royal

III,J GEORGE IV.
functions, it will not, in the prince's estimation, be the east.
that that most fortunate event will at once rescue him from a
situation of unexampled embarrassment, and put an end to a
state of affairs ill calculated, he fears, to sustain the interests
ofthe United Kingdom, in this awful and perilous crisis, aud
most difficult to be reconciled to the genuine principles of the
.British constitution. Mr, Perceval's Answer.
Downing-Street, February 5, 1811.
Mr. Perceval presents his humble duty to your royal high
ness, and has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
rojal highness's letter of last night, which reached him this
morning. — Mr. Perceval feels it his duty to express his hum
ble thanks to your royal highness _/"ot- the frankness with which
your royal highness has condescended, explicitly, to communi
cate the motives which have induced your royal highness to
honour his colleagues and him with your commands for the
continuance of their services, in the stations intrusted to
them hy the king. And Mr. Perceval begs leave to assure
your royal highness, that, in the expression of your royal
highness's sentiments of filial and loyal attachment to the
king, and of anxiety for the speedy restoration of his majes
ty's health, Mr. Perceval can see nothing but additional mo
tives for their most anxious exertions to give satisfaction to
your royal highness, in the only manner in which it can be
given, hy endeavouring to promote your royal highness's
views for the security and happiness of the country. — ^Mr.
Perceval has never failed to regret the impression of your
loyal highness, with regard to the provisions of the regency
bill, which his majesty's servants felt it to be their duty to re-
Commend to parliament. But, he ventures to submit to your
royal highness, that, whatever difficulties the preseut awful cri
sis of the country and the world may create in the administration
of the executive government, your royal highness will not find
them in any degreeincreasedby the temporary suspension of the
exercise of those branches of the royal prerogatives which has
been introduced by parliament, in conformity to what was iu-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
tended on a former similar occasion ; and that whatever mi
nisters your royal highness might think proper to employ,
would find in that full support and countenance which, as long
as they were honoured with your royal highness's commands,
they would feel confident they would continue to enjoy, am
ple and sufficient means to enable your royal highness effec
tually to maintain the great and important interest of the
United Kingdom. — And Mr. Perceval humbly trusts, that,
whatever doubts your royal highness may entertain with re
spect to the constitutional propriety of the measures which
havebeen adopted, your royal highness will feel assured that
tliey could not have been recommended by his majesty's ser
vants, nor sanctioned by parliament, but upon the sincere,
though possibly erroneous, conviction, that they in no degree
trenched upon the true principles and spirit of the constitu
tion. — Mr. Perceval feels it his duty to add, that he holds
himself in readiness, at any moment, to wait upon your royal
highness, and to receive -any commands with which your royal
highness may be graciously pleased to honour him.

99. It would be a bold thing to say that dis
simulation equal to this never was before wit
nessed in the world ; but, it is not being at all
bold to say, that dissimulation to surpass it never
was witnessed, since the use of words was in
practice amongst men. The prince's letter to
Perceval was clearly intended to make the
Whigs believe that he would call them to power
as soon as the restrictions on his authority should
cease. The expression of the rescuing him from
a situation of unexampled embarrassment ; and
the expression of state of affairs, ill calculated
to sustain the interests of the kingdom, and not
reconcileable to fhe principles ofthe British con-

III.] GEORGE IV.
stitution, and his telling Perceval that the
fear of retarding the progress of the king's reco
verv, bv turning out his chosen servants, was the
" consideration which alone dictated his deter-
" mination not to remove them from the places
" in which he found them " left by his father :
these expressions, together with the protestations
of truth and sincerity ; and Perceval's thanks
for the frankness with which the communication
had been made to him : these were taken by the
public as certain signs that the prince only kept
Perceval in for the present; but that he would
certainly get rid of him as soon as the year of
restraint had expired.
100. So completely successful was this dissi
mulation, that it appears to have imposed upon
the Whig place-hunters themselves. Besides
these written communications, however, there
were certain overt acts which seemed to forbid
every human being to believe that the prince
was not eager to get rid of the old rainisters ; he
actually sent for Lords Grenville and Grey,
who were the two surviving leaders of the party
that had been in power in 1807, a.ni proposed to
them to form a ministry to them. The other
party were actually preparing to quit their of
fices ; and had made the arrangements necessary
in the several departments, for delivering the bu
siness up to successors. After all this, out came
the announcement, all at once, that the ministry

history of [Chap.
was not to be changed ! The real cause unques
tionably was this ; that Perceval and Eldon
had the Princess of Wales in their hands ; that
they were in possession of the book, and of all
its secrets ; that they could have brought out the
letter, that never-to-be-forgotten letter, which
the reader will find in paragraph 58 of this His
tory; that they were in possession of the warrant
issued by the recommendation of the Whigs,
and which will be found in paragraph 66 of this
History; that they were in possession of the re
port on the conduct of the Princess, to be
found in the same paragraph ; that they were in
possession of the whole of the documents men
tioned in this paragraph from 67 to 79 inclu
sive ; and that the publication of these docu
ments, the publication of the proof of all the
conspiracy, as the Princess of Wales had called
it in her letters to the king ; that the publication
of the proof of all this, would have filled the
English people, with what I will not, what I dare
not, describe ; but which, I may safely say,
would have inspired feelings with regard to the
regent which, according to every principle of
human nature, he must have been desirous
to prevent the existence of, at the expense
of any-thing, no matter what, short of life
itself. 101. If he pacified Perceval and Eldon,
then this terrible history remained unknown; and

III.] GEORGE IV.
the Princess would, of course, be kept quietly
to vegetate at Kensington Palace and at Blackr
heath alternately. Perceval and Eldon would
have brought her out ; they would have conr
tended that she should be called the princess
regent; they would have contended that she
had not only always been innocent, but that she
had been cruelly oppressed and conspired
against; they would have contended that she
should hold drawing-rooms and have a court;
and, let it be observed, they would have had the
whole nation with them as with the voice of one
man. There was not a woman in the kingdom who
would not have reproached her husband, her son,
or her brothers, if he had not espoused the cause
of Perceval and Eldon in such a case as this.
So that the prince was compelled to keep the
ministers in their places, or to encounter all the
dreadful hostility that they were thus enabled to
Taise up against him. Whether he really at first
intended to change the ministry, one may doubt.
The sending for Lords Grenville and Grey to
form a ministry might be a mere blind arranged
before-hand with Perceval; and the prepara
tions for quitting office on the part of the old
ministers might be the same. And, indeed, the
very regency bill itself, though protested against
so vehemently, might have been a matter ar
ranged beforehand. But, at any rate, if these
matters were not all previous arrangement, we

HISTORY OF [Chap.
must conclude that Perceval went, at the last
moment, with the book in his hand, and that
that produced the decision which filled the whole
country with surprise.
102. The decision having been taken, and the
communication made to the world, the Whig fac
tion put the best face upon the matter that they
could. They said, and they published in all sorts
of shapes, that the prince had, in keeping in
Perceval and his set, been actuated solely by
filial affection for his revered father, whose re
covery, he was afraid, might have been retarded,
if, upon return to the use of his reason, he found
his old and faithful servants turned out of his
offices ; but that if he found at the end of the
year that the derangement of the king still con
tinued, then he would put an end to the power of
these men, and put his own friends in their
places; and that this was the true meaning of
his letter to Perceval. To this it was answered,
that supposing the king to return to his reason
before the termination of the year, must not his
recovery be retarded as eflfectually, by learning
that his son had intended to turn out his servants
at the end of the year, as by finding that he had
actually turned them out? and supposing the
king to return to his reason after the expiration
of the year ; must not his complete recovery be
retarded, must he not be replunged into his dis
mal situation, upon finding his servants turned out

III.] GEORGE IV.
of office, as effectually as he would have been, if
he had found them turned out of office before the
end of the year ? A reply to this was impossible ;
every man of sense said that there was great dissi
mulation somewhere, that the true cause of keep
ing Perceval in power was carefully kept out of
sight. 103. Nevertheless the Whig faction, always
greedy of gain, always cormorants after the pub
lic money, still nourished and cherished the fond
hope that, at the end of the year, the prince
would take them into power ; and that, as there
was every reason to believe that his own power
would be of considerable permanence, they should
be able at last to fasten themselves upon the
public for a generation at least. They, therefore,
conjured up all sorts of stories tending to encou
rage the belief that the month of February, 1812,
was to see them in possession of the public purse.
Through their newspapers they related that the
prince merely tolerated Perceval and Eldon
and the rest of the ministers, that he saw them
as seldom as possible, and only just for that
length of time which was necessary for the sign
ing of papers; that, at his levees, he turned his
back upon them, seemed hardly to know them^
while he received Lords Grenville and Grey,
and all the persons of that party, in the most cor
dial manner, shook them by the hand, and as
much as said to the whole court, and to the

HISTORY OF [Chap.
foreign ambassadors, " These are the men in
whom I confide."
104. With stories like thesCj the nation were
amused until the month of January, 1812. In
the meanwhile, the other party were not idle.
Having prevailed, through the means before-
mentioned, over their rivals, so as to keep their
places for the year, at any rate, their next busi
ness was to keep them after the expiration of the
year. There was no reason, there could be no
reason, why the same motive that made the
PRINCE keep them in 1811, should not make
him keep them in 1812. Let that motive be
what it might. Why not have them for minis
ters in the one year as well as in the other?
They talked of the limitation of his powers.
How were his povvers limited ? He had all the
powers of peace and war; the power of choosing
his own ministers ; the power of appointing or
dismissing officers of the army or the navy ; all
the powers relative to the judiciary ; and all the
real limitation that there was, related to the
making of peers, to the appointment of the
officers of the household, to the granting of
places iu reversion, and to the custody and ma
nagement of the private property of the king.
The limitations were degrading, to be sure ; but,
as affecting the kingly power, they were of no
consequence whatever, especially as they were to
last for a year. Neither in these limitations.

III.] GEORGE IV.
then, nor in the filial affection ofthe prince for
his father's complete recovery, could any man
of sense perceive any ground whatever for post
poning the appointment of that Whig ministry
which it was affected to believe the prince re
garded as necessary to the well-being of the
country. But, a very solid reason for not turn
ing out Perceval was found in the power which
he had with regard to the princess and THE
BOOK. He had, as has been before observed,
the power of bringing her forward, and making
her the triumphant rival of her husband. This
power he had completely in his hands, backed
as he was by the indignant feelings of an enter
prising, brave, and injured woman. But, it was
necessary for him to do something in order to
keep this great and terrific power in his hands.
If he lost the princess, he lost his only prop;
and, even without losing her, if he lost the book,
or, rather, if the secrets of the book escaped and
became public, he then lost his power. It was,
therefore, of the greatest importance to him, that
nobody should possess a copy of this book but
Aimself! The reader will please now to turn
hack to paragraph 79, which he will find in
Chapter II. He will there find that Perceval
ousted the Whigs by the means of this book,
and not by the means of the Catholic question,
as the hoodwinked nation were taught to believe.
The book had been prepared by Perceval himself:

history OF [Chap.
it had been printed, in a considerable edition, by
Mr, Edwards, printer, in the Strand ; the whole
edition had been put into the hands of a book
seller ; the day of publication was named, that
being the 9th of March, 1807; but on the 7th of
March, or thereabouts, the king determined
upon turning out the W^higs and taking in Per
ceval. Instantly Perceval suppressed THE
BOOK ; took the edition out of the hands of the
bookseller, thinking- that he had every copy in his
own possession. The story has been in print
about his having burned the books in the court
yard of his country house ; but, be this as it
may, he certainly appears to have thought
that no one but himself had a copy of THE
BOOK, In this, however, he was deceived ;
for several copies of this book, as many as
four or five, at least, were in the hands
of private individuals. This must have been a
source of great trouble to Perceval; for if the
book were once published, his power was gone.
The PRINCESS he might be able to keep quiet
but the public was a less manageable being. To
be sure the publication of the book, he must have,
been aware, would cover the Whig faction with
monstrous odium; but it would at the same time
have rendered the prince independent of him.
God knows what the effect might have been at
thaf time, while Napoleon was the master of
the greater part of Europe ! God knows what

III.] GEORGE IV.
might have been the effect with regard to the
stability of the throne itself; but of the effect
with regard to the prince in the eyes of the
people, no one could doubt. Still, however, a
publication of the book at that time would have
rendered the prince quite careless as to the
friendship of Perceval. To prevent that publi
cation was, therefore, a matter of great conse
quence with the latter; and accordingly, every
possible exertion was made to prevent the possi
bility of such publication.
105. When a book is put into the hands of a
printer, there is required in order to prevent a sur
plus copy from being printed, or several surplus
copies, uncommon vigilance and exaction. In or
dinary cases, no such pains are required, because
the temptation is not great. In this case, it is pro
bable that every possible precaution was taken ;
but still, there must have been many compositors
into whose hands the manuscript was necessarily
put ; and there must have been many persons too
within whose reach the sheets would come. In
short, in spite of all the vigilance that was em
ployed, or that might have been employed, four
or five copies of the book, an octavo volume of
about 350 pages, got into private hands. To get at
these copies advertisements appeared in all the
public papers, as soon as the prince had deter
mined to keep Perceval as his minister. These
advertisements plainly enough described the con- ¦
H

HISTORY OF [Chap.
tents of the book, and contained offers of high
price for tlie book to such persons as might have
a copy to dispose of. In this manner the copies
were bought up : one was sold for 300Z., one or
two for 500?. each, one for 1000?., and the last
for 1500?. As mentioned in paragraph 90,
Perceval thought he had destroyed the whole
in 1807, but he now thought, at any rate, that
he had the whole in his possession that had not
been destroved. The public paid great attention
to these curious advertisements ; and they won
dered, upon leaniing vvhat the nature ofthe book
was, that the princess herself should still remain
silent. Perceval, however, found the means to
amuse her in the manner that the Whigs had been
amused by her husband. At present the queen,;
was alive : and, therefore there was a queen to
hold drawing-rooms, if necessary ; and then the
Princkss Chakloite was growing up, and was
heiress-apparent to the throne ; and her mother
would surely enjoy distinction suited to her rank
if she had 'out patience to wait a little while.
106. Thus was the secret kept locked up in
the hands of Perceval and Eldon, and their
immediate associates ; thus was the princess
amused during the year 1811; and thus were,
Whigs amused, though more impatient than any
party, always looking forvvard to power and
emolument vvith more greediness than. any other;
thu.Sj too, were the public amused, not however

III.] GEORGE IV.
without looking forward with uncommon curiosity
to see what would take place when the prince
should be in possession of what were termed his
" full potvers," The Irish, never the first to dis
cover duplicity practised upon them, looked for
ward with great anxiety to the arrival ofthe full
powers. The prince had always professed his
anxiety to see what was called the emancipation
of the Catholics. The Whigs had made that a
great test of their liberality and justice. The
Irish regarded the old king as the great obstacle
to their obtaining of that inestimable blessing.
They were a little chagrined, indeed, when they
found that Perceval and Eldon, who had put
Out the Whigs upon that very question, were
still retained in power by the priNce. But,
*' never mind," they said, " we have only about
'*' eleven months to wait till the prince gets his
*' full powers ; and he will then fulfil his- pledges
*' to Ireland." In the meanwhile the prince,
having been installed as regent, and having
taken the oaths according to the act, proceeded
on the 12th of February, 1811, to open the par
liament, or rather, to commence his legislative
functions, by a speech to both Houses, which
speech, however, he did not go to deliver in per
son, but issued a commission for the purpose.
The speech was as follows :
My Lords and Gentlemen, — In execution of the com
mission which has now been read lo you, we are commanded
h 2

history of [Chap.
by llis royal highness the Prince Regent to express, in the
strongest m-anner, how deeply he laments, not only in common
with all his majesty's loyal subjects, but with a personal and
filial affliction, the great national calamity wliich has been the
occasion of imposini; upon his royal highness the duty of exer
cising, in his majesty's name, the roj'al authority of this king
dom.  In conveying to you Ihe sense which his royal high
ness entertains ofthe great difficulties attending the imjiortant
trust which is reposed in him, his royal highness commands
us to assure you, that he looks with the most perfect confi
dence to the wisdom and zeal of parliament, and tothe attach
ment of a loyal and affectionate people, for the most effectual
assistance and support ; and his royal highness will, on his
part, exert his utmost endeavours to direct the powers with
which he is invested to the advancement of the prosperity,
welfare, and security of his majesty's dominions.  We are
directed to inform you, that liis royal highness has great sa
tisfaction in being enabled to state, that fresh opportunities
have been afforded, during the late campaign, for distinguish
ing the valour and skill of his majesty's forces both by sea and
land.  The capture of the islands of Bourbon and of Am-
boyna have still farther reduced the colonial dependencies of
the enemy.  The attack upon the island of Sicily, which
was announced to the world with a presumptuous anticipation
of success, lias been repulsed by the persevering exertions
and valour of his majesty's land and sea forces.  The judi
cious arrangement adopted by the officers commanding on
that station derived material support from the zeal and ardour
which were manifested during this contest by the inhabitants
of Sicily, and from the co-operatiou of the naval means which
were directed by his Sicilian majesty to this object.  -In
Portugal, and at Cadiz, the defence of which constituted the
principal object of his majesty's exertions in the last cam
paign, the designs of the enemy have been hitherto frustrated.
The consummate skill, prudence, and perseverance of Lieute
nant-General Lord Viscount Wellington, and the discipline
and dete mined bravery of Ihe officers and men under his com
mand, have been conspicuously displayed throughout the

.III.] GEORGE IV.
whole of the campaign. The effect of those distini:uisbed
qualities, in inspiring confidence and energy into the troops of
his majesty's allies, has been happily evinced hy their gene
ral good conduct, and particularly by the brilliiint part whicb
they bore in the repulse of the enemy at Busaco. And his
royal highness commands us further to stnte, that he trusts
you will enable him to continue the most effectual assistance
to the brave nations ofthe Peninsula, in tho support of a con
test which they manifest a determination to maintain with
imabated perseverance ; and his royal highness is persuaded,
that you will feel that the best interests ofthe British empire
must be deeply affected in the issue of this contest, on whioh
the liberties and independence of the Spanish and Portuguese
nations entirely depend.  We have it likewise in command
to acquaint you, that discussions are now depending between
this couutry and the United States of America ; and that it is
the earnest wish of his royal highness th-at ho may find himself
enabled to bring these discussions to an amicable termina
tion, consistent with the honour of his majesty's crown, and
the maritime rights and interests ofthe United Kingdom. 
¦ Gentlemen of the House of Commons, — We are directed
to acquaint you, that his royal highness the Prince Regent
has given his commands that the estimates for the expenditure
ofthe current year should be l-aid before you ; and his royal
highness has great satisfaction in acquainting you, that al
though the difficulties under which the commerce of this king
dom has laboured, have in some degree affected a part of his
majesty-'s revenue, particularly in Ireland, yet that the reve
nue of Great Britain in the last year, though unaided by any
new taxation, is greater than was ever known in any preced
ing year. And his royal highness trusts to your zeal and li
berality to afford his majesty adequate supplies for the support
of the great contest in which he is necessarily engaged. 
My Lords and Gentlemen, — We are commanded by his
royal highness to declare to you, that it is the most anxious
wish of his heart, that he may be enabled to restore unim
paired iuto the hands of his majesty the government of his
kingdom ; and that his royal highness earnestly prays thatthe

histouy of [Chap.
Almighty may be pleased in his mercy to accelerate the ter-
minatinn of a calamity so deeply lamented by the whole na
tion, and so peculi-arly aflfiicting to his royal highness him
self. 107. It was hard for any one to discover in
this speech any-thing at all encouraging to the
Whig faction. Here are praises on the proceed
ings in the navy and the army ; also boasting of
the flourishing state of the finances ; and a deter
mination expressed to pursue the policy which the
men in power have been pursuing for a long while;
yet, on the mere mention of the prince's anxious
desire to be enabled to replace the authority
in the hands of his father, did the hungry Whigs
and their partisans build a hope, and proclaim the
confident expectation, indeed, that the prince
detested his ministers, and sighed for the moment
when he should be able to get out of their hands,
though that same moment would take from him
the whole of the kingly powers for an inde
finite length of time, and perhaps for ever ! Even
the slender circumstance of the speech having
been made by commission instead of having been
made in person was seized hold of as a proof,
and a strong proof, that the prince abhorred his
ministers ; and it was actually asserted most in
dustriously through all the prints of the Whigs,
that he never would disgrace his lips by uttering
a speech written by such ministers.
108. Thus, with regard to the political parties
and intrigues, things went on until the month of

III.] GEOKGE IV.
January, 1.812. We shall, by-and-by, have to
observe upon the events of the war during this
year, and upon the other measures deeply affect
ing the country; but we must first pursue this
grand party-intrigue to its upshot. In the month
of January, 1812, rumours began to be afloat re
specting the intentions of the prince with regard
to his ministers. Until now all had been confi
dent expectation on the part of the Whigs, who
had, during the ten or eleven preceding months,
looked upon themselves as the real possessors of
the places and pensions: and only kept out of
the apparent possession merely to indulge the
excessive and admirable filial feelings of the
PRINCE, and that too for a short space of time.
But the time was now at hand when they were
to be undeceived. During the past year, the
Marquess of Wellesley, who was secretary of
state for foreign aifairs, had, the public were
told, tendered his resignation, and that the
PRINCE had desired him to keep the seals of
office till the expiration of the restrictions. This
was regarded as conclusive in favour of the ex
pected change, and the Whigs at their gambling-
houses had a sort of general carouse in anticipa
tion of their triumph. On the 13th of February,
however, 1812, during a debate relating to the
then dispute with America, a Whig member
having let fall some expressions predicting a
speedy destruction of the ministers' power. Per-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
CBVA I. answered that " the golden dreams of
his opponents would, he imagined, end by pro
ducing the mortification usually attendant on all
such dreams." This vvas an ominous sign. It
threw the whole party into consternation. They
rallied again on the 15th, and went so far as to
tell the public that Mr. Perceval had explained
away his words. On the 17th, however, the
whole town began to perceive that the ministers
were to retain their places. Still there was a
story about overtures to Lords Grey and Gren
ville; and the public were in a state of un
certainty as to the real facts till the 19th,
when, in the follovving letters, the one from the
Prince to the Duke of York, and the answer
through the duke from Lords Grey and Gren
ville, came forth, and pronounced the doom of
the unfortunate Whigs.

The Prince's Letter to the Duke of York, rela-
tive to the Ministry, dated Carlton-House,
Vith Feb, 1812.
My dearest Brother,
As the restrictions on the exercise of the
royal authority will shortly expire, when I must
make my arrangements for the future adminis
tration of the powers with which I am invested.

III.] GEORGE IV.
I think it -right to communicate to you those seti-
timents which I was withheld from express
ing at an early period of the session, by my earn
est desire that the expected motion on the affairs
of Ireland might undergo the deliberate discus
sion of parliament, unmixed with any other con
sideration. I think it hardly necessary to call your recol
lection to the recent circumstances under which
I assumed the authority'l'delegated to me by par
liament. At a moment of unexampled difficulty
and danger, I was called upon to make a selection
of persons to whom I should intrust the functions
of the executive government.
My sense of duty to our royal father solely de-
' cided that choice, and every private feeling gave
way to considerations which admitted of no
doubt or hesitation. I trust I acted in that re
spect as the genuine representative of the august
person whose functions I was appointed to dis
charge ; and I have the satisfaction of knowing,
that such was the opinion of persons for whose
judgment and honourable principles I entertain
the highest respect.
In various instances, as you well know, where
the law of the last session left me at full liberty,
I have waved my personal gratification, in order
that his majesty might resume, on his restoration
to health, every power and prerogative belonging
to his crown. I certainly am the last person in
I

HISTORY OF [Chap.
the kingdom to whom it can be permitted to de
spair of our royal father's recovery.
A new cera is now arrived, and I cannot but
reflect with satisfaction on the events which have
distinguished the short period of my restricted
regency. Instead of suffering in the loss of any
of her possessions, by the gigantic force which
has been employed against them. Great Britain
has added most important acquisitions to her
empire; the national faith has been preserved
inviolate towards our allies ; and if character is
strength applied to a nation, the increased and
increasing reputation of his majesty's arms
vvill show to the nations of the continent how
much they may still achieve when animated by a
glorious spirit of resistance to a foreign yoke.
In the critical situation of the war in the Penin
sula, I shall be most anxious to avoid every mea
sure which can lead my allies to suppose that I
mean to depart from the present system. Per
severance alone can achieve the great object in
question, and I cannot withhold my approbation
from those who have honourably distinguished
themselves in support of it. I have no predilec
tions to indulge, no resentments to gratify, no
objects to attain, but such as are common to
the whole empire. If such is the leadhig prin
ciple of my conduct, and I can appeal to the
past as the evidence of what the future will be, I
flatter myself I shall meet with the support] af

III.] GEORGE IV.
parliament, and of a candid and enlightened
nation. Having made this communication of my sen
timents, in this new and extraordinary crisis of
our affairs, I cannot conclude without expressing
the gratification I should feel, if some of those
persons with whom the early habits of my publie
life were formed, would strengthen my hands, and
constitute apart of my government. With such
support, and aided by a vigorous and united
administration, formed on the most liberal basis,
I shall look with additional conV dence to a pros
perous issue of the most arduous\ mtest in which
Great Britain was ever engaged.
You are authorized to communicate these sen
timents to Lord Grey, who, I have no doubt, will
make them known to Lord Grenville.
I am always, my dearest Frederick,
Your affectionate Brother,
GEORGE, P. R.
P.S. — I shall send a copy of this letter imme
diately to Mr. Perceval.

Answer of Lords Grey and Grenville to the
Duke of York, dated I5th Feb. 1812.
Sir, — We beg leave most humbly to express
to your royal highness our dutiful acknowledg-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
ments for the gracious and condescending man
ner in which you have had the goodness to com»
municate to us the letter of his royal highness
the Prince Regent, on the subject of the arrange
ments to be now made for the future adminis
tration of the public affairs ; and we take the li
berty of availing ourselves of your gracious per
mission to address to your royal highness in this
form what has occurred to us in consequence of
that communication. The Prince Regent, after
expressing to your royal highness in that letter his
sentiments on various public matters, has, in the
concluding paragraph, condescended to intimate
his wish that some of those persons with whom
the early habits of his public life were formed,
would strengthen his royal highness's hands, and
constitute a part of his government, and his
royal highness is pleased to add, that with such
support, aided by a vigorous and united admi
nistration, formed on the most liberal basis, he
would look with additional confidence to a pros
perous issue of the most arduous contest in which
Great Britain has ever been engaged. On the
other parts of his royal highness's letter we do
not presume to offer any observations ; but in the
concluding paragraph, in so far as we may ven
ture to suppose ourselves included in the gracious
wish which it expresses, we owe it, in obedience
and duty to his royal highness, to explain oiir-
selves with frankness and sincerity. We beg

III.] GEORGE IV.
leave most earnestly to assure his royal high
ness, that no sacrifices but those of honour
and duty could appear to us too great to be
made, for the purpose of healing the divisions of
the country, and uniting both its government and
its people. All personal exclusion we entirely
disclaim ; we rest on public measures ; and it is
on this ground alone that we must express with
out reserve the impossibility of our being united
with the present government. Our differences
of opinion are too many and too important to
admit of such an union. His royal highness will,
we are confident, do us the justice to remember
that we have twice already acted upon this im
pression ; in 1809, on the proposition then made
to us under his majesty's authority ; gnd last
.year, when his royal highness was pleased to re
quire our advice respecting the formation of a
new government. The reasons which we then
humbly submitted to him are strengthened by the
increasing danger of the times ; nor has there,
down to this moment, appeared even any ap
proximation towards such an agreement of opi
nion on the public interest, as can alone form a
basis for the honourable union of parties previ-
, ously opposed to each other. Into the detail of
those differences we are unwilling to enter; they
embrace almost all the leading features of the
present poUcy of the empire ; but his royal
, highness has, himself, been pleased to advert to
E

Ill STORY OF [Chap.
the late deliberation.s of parliament on the aflfairs
of Ireland. This is a subject, above all others,
important in itself, and connected with the most
pressing dangers. Far from concurring in the
sentiments which his majesty's ministers have,
on that occasion, so recently expressed, we enter
tain opinions directly opposite : we are firmly
persuaded of the necessity of a total change in
the present system of that country, and of the
immediate repeal of those civil disabilities under
which so large a portion of his majesty's subjects
still labour on account of their religious opinions.
To recommend to parliament this repeal, is the
first advice which it would be our duty to offer
to his royal highness, nor could we, even for the
shortest time, make ourselves responsible for any
further delay in the prospect of a measure, with
out which we could entertain no hope of render
ing ourselves useful to his royal highness, or to
the country. We have only further to beg your
royal highness to lay before his royal highness
the Prince Regent, the expression of our humble
dutj', and the sincere and respectful assurance of
our earnest wishes for whatever may best promote
the ease, honour, and advantage of his royal
highness's government, and the success of his
endeavours for the public welfare.
We have the honour to be, &c. &c.
(Signed) GREY.— GRENVILLE.

III.] GEORGE IV.
109. Every one saw that the Whigs were thus
excluded, let what else might happen, for the
remainder of the life of the prince, whether as
REGENT or KING, Unless, indeed, they should
choose to call in the people, by the means of a
reform of the Commons' House of Pailiament;
and this they were then told ; of this they were
then warned ; this warning they did not take,
and the consequence was, that they had to un
dergo exclusion to the end of this prince's life.
110. In February, 1811, the pretended reason
for keeping Perceval and his colleagues irt
power, was, that by dispossessing them of that
power, the prince might possibly risk the pre
vention of a complete recovery ofhis father, if he
should happen to be restored to reason, and find
his favourite seiYants discharged. That pretence
could avail no longer ; the season for making
that pretence was now passed ; now the king's
malady had become confirmed ; now, therefore,
another pretence was necessary ; that pretence,
is, as stated in the letter to the Duke of York,
that, in so critical a situation of the war, the
prince fears that turning out his ministers may
lead his allies to suppose that he means to " de
part from the present system of upholding his
alliartce, und carrying on the war." That is to
say, he is afraid to turn out Perceval, Eldon,
and-thetr colleagues, lest his allies on the con
tinent should suspect that he has ceased his
K 2

HISTORY OF [Chap.
desire to aid them in the war in the manner that
they have been aided, while he has been guided
by the councils of these ministers. Never was
pretence so bald and so barefaced as this. Just
as if his new ministers could not have declared
their readiness to carry on the war with as much
vigour as the old ones ! Just as if Lord Gren
ville, vvho would naturally have been the new
prime minister, had not carried on the war in
conjunction with PiTr and Dundas ; and just as
if he and Lord Grey had not carried on the war
with renewed vigour when they became ministers
in 1806 1 Just as if the making of these men his
ministers, and Lord Grenville especially, who
was one of the great authors of the war itself,
and who had signalized himself by the haughty
and insolent state-paper, in which he rejected
the proposition of the first consul to treat for
peace; just as if the appointment of these men
to office, instead of keeping in Perceval, would
have made the allies suspect his warlike propen
sities, and thereby have broken up or weakened
the alliances 1
111. But, look at the cool insult offered to
Lord Grey, and, through him, to Lord Gren
ville, in the last paragraph but one, in the
prince's letter to the Duke of York. In the
foregoing paragraph, the prince expresses his
determination not to turn out his ministers, for
the reasons there alleged. Then follows this

III.] GEORGE IV.
paragraph, which drops in almost incidentally,
in which he expresses a wish that " some of those
persons with whom the early habits of his public
life were formed, would strengthen his hands and
constitute a part of his government." This
letter he authorizes the duke to communicate
to Lord Grey, and says that he has no doubt
that he will communicate the contents of it to
Lord Grenville. Never vvas insult so great as
this before offered to mortal man. These two
lords are told that they may come, if they will,
and serve, in some capacity or other, under Per
ceval and Lord Eldon 1 The answer of the
two lords is any-thing but dignified. Indeed, the
dignified course would have been to give no
answer at all. Such a letter, addressed to men
worthy of being ministers, and standing in the
situation in which these two lords stood, should
have received no answer ; or, at the most, should
have been sent back with a few words, intimating
to the duke that he must certainly have made a
mistake with regard to the persons to whom he
had sent his letter. Be this as it may, however,
most bitter were the reproaches which the Whigs
bestowed on the prince, to whom they ascribed
almost every quality that men in general are
anxious to be thought not to possess ; and, in
short, he who had for so many years been the
object of their fawning flatteries, now became

HISTORY OF [Chap.
an object of their incessant sarcasm, ridicule, and
abuse. ] 12. Had tbe Whigs been popular, the nation,
who could not fail to have been shocked at the
proceedings attending the retaining of Perceval
in power, would have openly sided with them ;
and, in that case, Perceval would have found
himself greatly embarrassed. But, the Whigs
had, while in power, in ISOG and 1807, rendered
themselves so odious to the people, that their
present humiliation seemed to give general satis
faction. They had, for more than twenty years,
during which time they had been out of office,
been professing their hostility to Pi it's wasteful^
ness in the public expenditure, and to all his
numerous encroachments on the liberties of the
people. They had been preaching economy, and
inveighing against the taxes ; and, above all
things, they had been demanding a reform of
the parliament. They began their ministerial
career by an act the most shameful, the raost
barefaced, the most flagrantly profligate, and
containing in it the greatest insult that had ever
been offered to public opinion, in anv country
calling itself free. Lord Grenvillu was, as has
been before observed, the prirae minister of this
Whig ministry ; he was, as has been the custom
for a long time, the first lord of the Treasury ;
but, here arose a difficulty ; for, he was already

l^IL] GEORGE IV.
auditor of the Exchequer for life, which office
purports or pretends to be the post of the officer
who is to examine and check the accounts of
the first lord of the Treasury. To unite the two
oflfices; to set a man to audit; that is to say, to
examine and check, his own accounts; this
seemed to be a thing impossible ; it seemed to
be what the poet calls
" To solder close impossibilities
" And make them kiss."
That, however, which was clearly impossible with
all the rest of mankind ; that which had never ex
isted before, except in the imagination of that
poet who had conjured up ghosts and witches to
aid him in carrying on his dramatic designs ; that
which seemed a thing so monstrous as not to be
suflfered to exist in real life ; that thing the Whig
faction found the means of accomplishing.
1 13. The oflfice of auditor of the Exchequer,
though a perfect sinecure in the person of the au
ditor, had been in the hands of Lord Grenvillk
for about twenty years. In the accounts since laid
before parliament, the income of this oflfice is
stated at four thousand pounds a year ; so that,
at the time when Lord Grenville became
prime minister, he had drawn from the public
purse about eighty thousand pounds on account
of this sinecure alone ; besides having been a
secretary of state or speaker of the House of
Commons about eighteen years of that time ;

HISTORY OF [Chap.
and having on account of those offices, drawn
about six thousand pounds a year. The nation-
thought that something nearly approaching to
two hundred thousand pounds might have satis
fied a man for twenty years of services ; but, still
he wanted to retain the oflfice of auditor of the
Exchequer, though now become first lord of the
Treasury. To enable him to do this was against
all rule, as well as against all reason ; it was
against all precedent ; and, therefore, an act of
parliament for this express purpose was resorted
to : and, as if to make the manner of doing the
thing as odious as the matter was oflfensive to
the nation, this act was brought into the House, of
Commons by Charles Fox himself, who had
oftentimes reproached this Lord Grenville with
having been one of the chief instruments in the
producing and in the prolonging of that war
which had brought such hardships upon the peo
ple, and the country into such danger. This was
the first act of the Whig administration; the
second was, the bringing into England from Han
over a body of troops to serve in England and
Ireland while English and Irish soldiers were em
ployed infighting the battles of Germany abroad.
There vvas already a body of such troops serving
in these countries: when Pitt introduced them,
the Whigs reproached him with breach of the
constitution, and with sinister designs as to the
liberties of the country ; but having grasped hold

III.] GEORGE IV.
of power themselves, they lost scarcely a month
before they added to the number of those troops.
At that time the tax on income, or property,
which tax the Whigs had opposed as to its very
principle ; they had over and over again pro
tested against it ; had declared it to be a confis
cation of men's estates ; had called it a tax levied
by force, like the contributions of a highwayman ;
had loaded it with every epithet calculated to
excite resentment against those by whom it was
imposed and upheld : this tax they found at
six and a quarter per cent, upon men's incomes ;
and, instead of abolishing it, instead of lowering
it, they at once raised it from six and a quarter
to ten per cent. ! The manner vvas here, again,
full as offensive as the matter; for, Fox, in
speaking in support ofthe measure, insisted solely
upon the necessity of it, and added, that people
must do as they could ; if they were compelled to
move from the first floor to the second, and found
themselves unable to remain even there ; they
must go from the second floor to the garret. In
such a case as this, the writer of history ean have
no authority, except in rare cases, other than the
reports pubhshed by newspaper reporters. I do
not, therefore, pledge myself for the perfect cor
rectness of this saying of Mr. Fox ; but I pledge
myself for its substance, and for the general dis
content and disgust that it excited. The chan
cellor ofthe Exchequer, Lord Henry Petty, now
k 5

HISTORY OF [Chap.
Marquess of Lansdowne, had, like all his prede
cessors, and all his successors, a new scheme of
finance ; and a report was laid upon the table of
the house in a large volume describing this
scheme, of which it is necessary only to say
that it proposed to pay oflf the whole of the na
tional debt in the course of comparatively few
years, the projector taking the precaution that
the debt should not be extinguished too soon
nor too suddenly ! The mirth and contempt
excited by this species of imbecility were soon,
however, supplanted by a general alarra at the
project of taxation which this chancellor had
prepared. Two projected taxes p.articularly gave
great oflfence, and, indeed, roused the resentment
ofthe country: the one was a tax on pig iron,
and the other a tax on home-brewed beer. Thus,
men saw the exciseman coming, at last, to super
intend the iron furnaces, and to put their gauging-
rules into the barrels in the cellars of private
houses. People exclaimed, parodying the words
of scripture, that the little finger of the Whigs
vvas heavier than the loins of the Tories! The
war, for undertaking and persevering in which
they had condemned Pixr in the most vociferous
manner, from 1793 to tlie year 1801 ; and for
renewing which they had reproachedADDiNGTON,
in 1803, vvhich renewal they denominated by every
term expressive of breach of faith and of perfidy ;
that vvar, after a pretended attempt to put an end

IIL] GEORGE IV.
to it, which attempt was a mere blind, they car
ried on with more expense and extravagance than
ever ; they found England at peace with the King
of Prussia with whom they went to war solely on
the ground that he had committed an act of
aggression on Hanover ; and, upon that occasion,
the prime minister, who spoke for the rest, of
course, said that Hanover ought to be con
sidered as dear to us as Hampshire. They granted
more pensions without public services, during
the fifteen months that they were in power, than
had ever been granted at any former period in a
like space of time. Keeping in mind their for
mer professions, they were approached with
complaints of abuses which the people hoped
that they should now have redressed. These
applications, however respectful and humble,
they received with more contumely than their
predecessors had ever exhibited on sirailar former
occasions ; and, finally, not to dwell longer
on the enumeration of their oflfences, they bore
themselves towards the people with a loftiness,
a haughtiness, with disdain and with inso
lence such as had never been beheld in any
ministry that had gone before them. As toparlicc^
mentary reform, not a word escaped them on
the subject; and, if spoken of by any indepen
dent member of parliament, or any-body else,
they treated it with that derision with which men
treat the words of an idiot.

HISTORY OF [Chap.
1 14. So that, when they were turned out of oflfice,
hypocritical as the pretence for turning them out
was, foul as were the motives of their rivals, and
-well as all these were understood by every man of
sense in the kingdom, their expulsion from oflfice
was a day of jubilee to all England : those who
were deluded by the cry of " no popery," rejoiced
at an imaginary escape from a return of the fires
in Smithfield; and those who had too much sense
to be thus deluded, rejoiced at the mortification
inflicted on hypocrisy, perfidy, and insolence, such
as few men in the world had ever before witnessed.
115. For these reasons, the return of Perceval
and his colleagues to power, may be said to have
been hailed as a blessing by the nation in general,
and by the parliamentary reformers in particular,
who saw clearly, that, as long as the Whigs re
tained their power in the then state of things,
there was not the smallest hope of any reform at
all, much less of such a reform as would hold out
to the people any fair expectation of a redress
of their manifold grievances. They knew, indeed,
that Perceval and his party were full as much
opposed to reform as the Whigs ; but they also
knew that the Whigs, as soon as they were turned
out of povver, would return into the ranks of
reform, and, with this assurance in their minds,
that, without a reform of the parliament, by
which they would place the people at their back,
they never would enter the paradise of power

III.] GEORGE IV.
again. So that the joy was general when they
were chased from that paradise, the wide
world before them, and reform for their only
hope. 116. Having thus brought the history ofthe
party intrigues, the history of these two celebrated
factions, down to the month of February, 1812,
we must now step back a little, and take a look
at those money aflfairs, the management of which,
during the career of Perceval, laid the founda
tion of all those changes, all those troubles, all
those important events which have taken place
since the year 1810. The restriction, as it was
called, on the Bank of England, but which was,
in reahty, a stoppage of the bank, which took
place in the month of February, 1796, had made
paper money, that is to say, bank notes, the legal
tender of the country ; its sole medium of ex
change ; its sole measure of value. The history
of the reign of George the Third, up to the time
of the commencement of the regency, will be
found to contain a detail of all the contrivances
by which the circulation of gold was supplanted
by thatof paper-money; the detail of alltbe actsof
parliament; of all those numerous financial tricks
by which the country was drained of its gold, and
by which its money-affairs were kept going
without any real measure of value. But, in the
year 1810, Perceval being minister, first
lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the

HISTORY OF [Chap.
Exchequer, and Vansittart being his secretary
of the Treasury, the Whigs, joined by Canning,
Huskisson, and some others of the Prrr party
whom Perceval had kept out of power on
account of their evident desire to supplant him;
the Whigs, thus joined by these disaffected Toriesj
made and carried a motion for the appointment
of a committee to make inquiry into the causes
of the depreciation of the paper-money, compared
with bullion. That is to say, to inquire into the
causes why a one-pound note would sell in the
market for no more than about fourteen shillings
in silver of due weight and fineness; or, to state
it the other way, why a guinea in gold would sell
for seven-and-twenty shillings, which was actually
the case when this committee of the House of
Commons was moved for and appointed. We
must bear in mind, that this committee was called
the Bullion Commiitee; because, as we shall see
further on, it was this committee that laid the
foundation of a series of measures, producing, at
several stages of the twenty years which have
since elapsed, greater confusion in the aflfairs of
the civilized world, greater fluctuation in the
nominal value of property of every description,
more transfers of property from hand to hand, a
greater and more sudden change in men's for
tunes, a greater degree of injustice and of suffer
ing, than ever was before produced by any
power whether of kings, of emperors, of legis-

III.] GEORGE IV.
lative bodies, of general councils; and whether
producing war, pestilence, or famine, as its ul
timate effects.
117. The paper-money having depreciated in the
degree before described, and the coin of the realm
having, of course, disappeared, it came into the
•minds of this bullion committee, who chose one
Thomas Horner, a Scotch lawyer, and an Edin
burgh reviewer, as their chairman ; it came into
the heads of this committee, of which Canning
and Huskisson were two, to make, in the spring
ofthe year, 1810, a report to the house, recom
mending that the Bank of England should be
compelled by law to resume its payments in
specie, according to the terms of its charter ;
that is to say, that it should be compelled, at the
end of two years from the date of the act which
it proposed to be passed, to pay its notes on
demand in the current coin of the realm. This
report was made to the house, as I have observed
before, in 1810; but it did not come on to be
discussed until the winter of 1811, when there
took place that which will be remembered
during the lives of those who were alive at that
time and acting on the scene ; but which, if
related to posterity, will hardly be deemed to be
possible. Perceval and his party contended
against the passing of the proposed act. Well
they might; for to execute the act would have
been absoltitcly impossible without putting a

HISTORY OF [Chap.
stop to the war, which was still going on at a
rate more expensive than ever, and without,
moreover, plunging the whole kingdom into con
fusion ; but, their objection was founded on an
assertion of the most impudent falsehood that
ever was attempted to be imposed upon any por
tion of mankind. Perceval and his party con
tended that the paper-money had not depreci
ated ; but that it was the gold that had risen in
price ! After many days of debating upon the
subject, VANsiTTARr proposed a resolution to the
house, which vvas this : " That the promissory
notes of the said company [Bank of England]
have hitherto been, and are, at this time, held in
public estimation to be equivalent to the legal
coin ofthe realm, and generally accepted as such,
in all pecuniary transactions to which such coin
is legally applicable." Our children will hardly
believe that a legislative assembly, all bound by
oath to do their duty to his majesty and the
people, could be brought to adopt this resolution,
in the face of a report of their ovvn house, founded
on the evidence of numerous merchants, bankers,
and traders, that aguinea would sell for seven-and-
twenty shillings in bank notes ; and that, of
course, it required a one-pound note and seven
shillings in silver to purchase a guinea in gold.
Yet did this house, consisting of six hundred and
fifty-eight members, actually pass this resolution
by a majority of three to one ; though it was

III.] GEORGE IV.
notorious that agents of the government itself
were, at that very moment, purchasing guineas
at seven-and-twenty shillings in paper, in order
to be sent to the English armies and fleets serving
abroad. Our children will hardly believe this,
unless there were the records of this house to
refer to ; and if by any accident they should be
destroyed, the fire that consumes them will pro
duce a conflagration to be hailed with delight by
all those who have a regard for the honour of
England. 118. The proposition of the bullion committee
was, indeed, free from the charge of impudent false
hood ; but of its folly it would be very diflficult
to produce an equal amongst all the wild schemes
of hasty and shallow- minded men. The export
ation of the precious metals which had been pro^
duced by substituting paper for gold and silver,
had sent that large proportion of the whole of
the specie of the civilized world ; had sent that
large share, which always must belong to a
country so abundant in valuable things as Eng
land is; had sent that large share to be distri
buted amongst the other nations of the world-
This caused prices to rise in all those other
Countries ; but, the rise was still greater in Eng
land herself, because the paper cost nothing, and
because there was not, and could not be, any
check on the increase of its quantity. This rise
in the price of commodities of every description.

HISTORY OF [Chap.
and also in the price of real property, had pro
duced an outrageous violation of contracts for
time of every description. A farm, mortgaged
twenty years before for a thousand pounds, had
now to pay in reality the interest of little better
than half the sum. It had produced a virtual
violation of testaments, of marriage settlements,
of grants of annuities, and, in short, of every con
tract for time, be the nature of it what it might.
119. The bullion committee, with a very dull
man at its head, and with not a member belonging
to it of any profundity, wishing to put an end to
this progress of depreciation ofthe paper, thought
they had found out the remedy in their proposi
tion to compel the bank to return to a payment
of its notes in gold. But this committee did not
reflect that, if this measure were adopted, a vio
lation of contracts on the other side would take
place ; they did not recollect the wills that had
been made, the mortgages entered into, the mar
riage settlements made, the annuities granted,
the leases for various terms entered into; they did
not recollect the number of these which must
have taken place since the vvork of depreciation
had begun; they did not recollect that if the
lenders had been robbed before, the borrower
would be robbed now ; and that, though it is at
all limes unjust to rob either lender or borrower, it
is a thousand times more dangerous to a state, a
thousand times more injurious to the commu-

III.] GEORGE IV.
nity at large, to do wrong to the borrower than it
is to do wrong to the lender ; because the bor
rower is of necessity the poorer of the two ; and,
for the more important reason, that the industry
and activity of the country are to proceed from the,
borrower and not from the lender.
120. But, above all things, the members of this
committee forgot, or had not the powers of mind
duly to estimate, the vast consequence, the great,
the terrible consequence of compelling a nation
to pay in gold of full tale and full weight and
fineness, sums enormous vvhich it had borrowed
in depreciated paper. From the time when the
paper began to depreciate, to the time when the
bullion committee proposed that the bank should
be compelled to pay its notes in gold, more than
FIVE hundred-millions of pounds sterling of
the debt had been contracted ; that is to say,
the parliament had borrowed more than five
hundred millions in depreciated paper, which the
bullion committee now proposed that the nation
should be compelled to pay in gold of full weight
and fineness. And, vve are here to observe, that
the difference between fourteen and twenty, as
stated by the bullion committee, vvas not the real
difference between the value of the paper and that
of the gold. Gold having been driven out of the
circulation of the country, there was, in fact, no
measure of valueforit as compared with the paper;
tliere was no standard of value left in the country ;

HISTORY OF [Chap^i
there vvas no market price of gold; because there
was no deposit to which the people could go to de
mand gold in exchange for the paper. Guineas were
sold, it is true ; but the seller sold with all the
disadvantages attending an application of the
commodity with regard to which application he
understood nothing. The guinea, when pur
chased, vvas exported ; and, of course, the profit
and risk of the exporter must be considered as
added to the price of the commodity; so that,
there being no standard in either gold or silver
whereby to ascertain the amount ofthe depreci
ation of the paper, another standard must be
sought, and the best and truest that presents itself
is the bushel of wheat, vvith regard to which the
fact is, that, on an average of years, the bushel
of wheat, after the depreciation of the paper
began, down to the time of the report of the bul
lion committee, had been more than double the
price at which that commodity had sold on an
average of years, during an equal number of years
preceding the commencement of the depreciation.
121. Therefore, to compel the nation to pay in
gold the interest of sums borrowed in paper,must
have been ruinous to all the active classes of society ;
to all, indeed, but the lenders of money. So far as
the rejection of this proposition went, the mi
nisters acted wisely; and, let it be observed,
in passing, that this was a Whig proposition ;
that Horner was a creature of the Grenvilles ;

HI.] GEORGE IV.
that he was an Edinburgh Revieiver ; that his
project was supported by the whole body
of the Whigs ; and that, thus, it was they who
laid the foundation of all the confusion and all
the terrible ruin, in the pecuniary affairs of the
nation, which have taken place between that day
and this ; these words being put upon the paper in
June, 1831. The discussions of which I have
been speaking took place in the session of 181 1,
and the resolution above cited, was passed
on the Srd of May in that year, three months
after the Prince Regent chose Perceval and
his colleagues, and rejected the Whigs. But,
in spite of this consoling resolution, the depreci
ation of the paper being found to go, rapidly -oii,
people began to make two prices, one price for
gold and another price for paper. Landlords, in
divers instances, seeing that the progress of the
depreciation would soon rob them of the whole of
their rents, began to make specific contracts to
prevent their estates arriving at this paint. In
order to secure himself against a total loss of his
rents. Lord King, a baron of the House of Peers,
demanded of his tenants payment of his rents in
.gold ; . but, at the same time, made the demand
in so equitable a manner, as to leave those tenants
no just cause of complaint. I have observed
before, that there was in reality no standard
of value ; butLoj-d King,' taking the market price
of gold as his standard, first ascertained hylool^Kng

HISTORY OF [Chap.
back at the regular records, how much paper'a gui
nea was worth, at the time the lease was granted j
he then examined into the fact of how much
paper a guinea was worth at the time of the
payment of the rent ; and, according to that
standard, he demanded payment; or, if that
were refused, he demanded pavment in gold in
full tale, and of full weight and fineness. This,
the law, as it then stood, enabled him to do ;
because, though the law sanctioned, in effect, the
payment of debts, in general, in bank notes, it
did not, as yet, go the length of compelling a
creditor to accept of payment In that way. It
prevented him from proceeding to recover the
debt by mesne process, and gave other indul
gences to the debtor ; but it had not yet taken
from the landlord the power of distraint, in case
of non-payment of rent.
122. It was easy to perceive that the example
of Lord King would be speedily and generally fol
lowed by the land-owners ; for they were greatly
suffering in their incomes from the depreciation
of the paper-money. The minister saw, on the
other hand, that a demand of gold payments on
the part of the landlords would soon produce-
two prices openly in all the pecuniary transac
tions of life ; they saw that gold would become
the medium of those transactions between man
and man; that the taxes would be paid in paper-
money, accordirig to the law, as it then stood ;

III.] GEORGE IV.
and that, as the paper would then continue to
depreciate at a still greater rate, the government
must go to pieces for want of means to carry it
on, and this, too, at a time when the expenditure
was perfectly enormous on account of the war.
Nothing could prevent these consequences but
the passing of a new law ; and, therefore, in the
month of June, a law was brought in, and it was
passed on the .llth of July of this same year,
181 1. This- law set out with making it a mis
demeanor, punishable by fine and imprison
ment, and, if in Scotland, by transportation, for
any person to exchange the current gold coin for
more than its nominal value in bank notes, or to
exchange bank notes for less than their nominal
value in the current "gold coin; and it then
enabled tenants to refuse to pay their landlords
'in gold; arid, in case of distraint, to replevy the
goods taken in distress, after tendering the land
lord payment in bank notes ! Thus, on the 3d of
May, 1811, these 658 representatives of the
people passed a resolution declaring that bank
notes were at that time in public estimation to
be equivajpnt, or equal in value, to the current
coin of the realm ; and, on the 24th of July, in
that same year, 1811; that is to say, in sixty-two
days after the passing of the resolution, that very
same.658-#epresentatives passed a law to fine, im
prison, and,' in some cases, transport, any. man
vihOf in any pecuniary transaction^ should glv6. a

HISTORY OF [Chap.
preference to the gold before the paper ! and
(hear it our children, and restrain your indigna
tion, if you can 1) the man, Nicholas Vansit
tart, who proposed both the resolution and the
law, has since been made a peer of the realm,
under the title of the Baron of Bexley !
123, I shall here leave this affair of the paper-
money atpresent; not, however, without beseeching
the reader to let it remain deeply imprinted on his
mind, because he will have to recur -to this trans
action as to the root of those numerous legisla-
lative proceedings which have related and which
relate to the currency of the country, which have
produced so much distress- arid so much confu
sion, and which, of all the causes which have,.
been at work, has been the . most conspicuous
and the most powerful in the producing of those
great changes in the beginning of which we. are
now living in the year one tbpusand eight hun
dred and thirty-one. . '
124. Thus, Perceval -really ruled the country
in precisely what manner he pleased. He was the
master of all the classes in the country. The
Whigs had the confide;ice of nobody; nobody
could indulge expectations of any good, arising
from a change of men' in power; the danger ¦
from Buonaparte and the French nation became
daily .greater and greater; and people of pro
perty, dee^iing things in a very uncertain state,
still clung to. the government, apparently, totally

ill.] GEORGE IV.
regardless of what were, or might be, its deeds, or
their consequences. Lord Ellenborougii, who
had been a cabinet minister, along with the
Whigs, but who, pretty much regardless of party
connexions, was a stickler, and arraed at all
points for the defence of those who wielded the
powers of the state ; Ellenborough was lord
chief-justice of the Court of King's Bench ;
Gibbs was attorney- general; whole troops of
victims to the libel law were crammed into jails,
the corrupt part of the press was more audacious
than ever, and the other part of it (never very
considerable) was reduced nearly to silence. But
human enjoyments of every description are of un
certain duration : political power, when founded
on force, is of a nature still more mutable than
human enjoyments in general ; of which observa
tions this haughty and insolent Perceval was
destined, in the spring of 1812, to afford to the
world a striking, a memorable, and a most awful
example. He had gotten possession of the highest
oflfice in the state ; by his secret, relative to the
Princess and her BOOK, he had secured his in
fluence with the Prince Regent for their joint
lives ; he had bent the proud necks of the land
lords to fine, imprisonment, or transportation, if
they attempted to make inroads on his system to
support the all-corrupting paper-money ; the
press he had extinguished, or had rendered the
toolof his absolute will; the most eminent amongst
L

HlSTORYv OF [Chap.
the writers who opposed him, Cobbett (the
author of this History), Leigh and John Hunt;
Finnerty, Drakard, Lovel, together with
many more, were closely shut up in jail, for long
terms, with heavy fines on their heads, and long
bail at the termination of their Imprisonment,
Not content with all this, he meditated the com
plete subjugation of London to the control and
command of a military force. Not only did he
meditate this, but had the audacity to propose it
to the parliament ; and, if his life had not been
taken in the evening of llth of May, 1812, he,
that very evening, was going to propose, in due
form, a resolution for the establishment of a per
manent army, to be stationed in Marybonne Parkj
for the openly-avowed purpose of keeping the
metropolis in awe,
125. The site of this fortress was to be in
Marybonne Park, or, as It is now called, the
Regent's Park. The area was to contain twenty-
seven statute acres of ground, and it was to be
surrounded by a wall of great height and thick
ness, so as to make it proof against any-thing but
a regular assault by bombs and cannon. It was
to contain foot, horse, and artillery; and the re
port of Perceval's speech upon the subject made
him say, that " fatal consequences might arise
from the separation of men from their horses,
because, in cases of need, the people might inter
cept the men in their way to their horses." It

III.] GEORGE IV.
was alsosaid in very plain terms, in justification
of the measure, that this new species of fortress
was to serve as a place of lodgment or garrison
for other troops, in case of their being brought to
the metropolis for the purpose of upholding the
¦ govemment. In vain did men refer to the prin
ciples of the constitution ; in vain did they re
present, that a standing soldier, and that barracks
and inland fortresses, were wholly unknown to
our forefathers ; in vain was all this said, the
country was humbled ; it had been brought down
by its fears, by the new and heavy burdens that
had been laid upon it, and especially by the fre
quent suspensions of the Act of Habeas Corpus,
by the new treason-laws, and by divers other
measures, and by all the whole series of Acts
which had been passed during the preceding
twenty-two years. The press was brought down
to a state of perfect slavery ; and, a thing which
ought never to be forgotten, both the political
parties joined together most cordially in approv
ing of this oppression of the press ; a remarkable
proof of which occurred in the result of a motion
made, in the House of Commons, on the 20th of
March, 1811, by Lord Viscount Folkestone;
a motion the object of which was, to call to ac
count and to reprove the then Attorney-Gene
ral Gibbs for the use which he had made of the'
power of prosecuting on ex-officio informations.
After a long debate, begun by Lord Folkestone,
in a speech which never can be forgotten by the
L 2

history of [Chap.
people of England, there appeared upon the
division only 38 for the motion, and 121 against
it. Not one single man of the persons called the
Whigs, who had ever taken any conspicuous
part in public matters, was found to vote for the
motion, with the exception of Sir John Newport
and Sir Samuel Romilly. So that the press
either lay totally prostrate, or was made use of
for the purpose of upholding Perceval and his
iron system of government. Against his measure
for establishing the inland fortress scarcely a man
in parliament opened his mouth, and the few
that did were laughed at as fools, or reviled as
traitors by the London press, it being unsafe for
any man boldly to write in their defence.
126. It was In this state of things, and with a
resolution ready prepared, and In his pocket, to
move for the establishment of Marybonne Park
fortress, while special commissions were an
nounced to go into the North to try men for what
was called " rioting" in the counties of York,
Nottingham, Chester, Leicester, Stafford, and
Lancaster; itwas in this state of things, and thus
armed and prepared, that Perceval walked into
the lobby ofthe House of Commons in the even
ing of the llth of May; feeling that he had
this once high-spirited nation at his feet; seeing
every one bow and crouch before him ; it was
just at this moment that a bullet entered his
heart, and brought him down dead in that lobby !
J 27. To stop here to moralize would be a thing

III.] GEORGE IV.
not compatible with my plan, which here de
mands a true account of the cause of his death.
A man named John Bellingham, vvho had
been a merchant at Liverpool, and who had, ac
cording to his own account at least, experienced
very great losses owing to wrongs done him by
the merchants, the courts, and the government,
in Russia, to which country he traded, in which
country he had been, in which country he
had made many applications to the English mi
nister for redress; having obtained no redress,
he returned to England, where, wearied out
with useless applications for redress which he
made to divers departments of the government
here, he, at last, became desperate, and resolved
to get rid of his life, but to take revenge on some
one of the government. For this purpose, he
went in to the lobby of the House of Commons,
armed with two pistols well-loaded. He there
sat him down on a bench, waiting the arrival of
the ministers ; and, Perceval being the first of
them that entered the lobby, he deliberately rose
from his seat, and shot him dead, the ball ac
tually going through his heart. Having done
this, he returned to his seat vvithout saying a
word, having put the pistol back again into his
pocket ; and, if he had risen in a minute or two
afterwards, and had walked quietly out into the
street, he would have escaped, and the committer
of the murder would never have been known

history of [Chap.
unless he had chosen to divulge it ; but, having
uo desire to escape, and hearing people demand
"Where's themurderer! Where's the murderer! "
he rose from his seat, and very placidly said,
" I am the man that killed Mr. Perceval; and
here is the pistol with which I killed him." He
was Instantly seized ; as soon as a troop of horse-
guards could be brought, he vvas sent to Newgate*
He was tried as soon as possible, and, of course,
underwent the penalty of the law due to wilful
and premeditated murder. His conduct in pri
son, at his trial, and at the place of executioni
all indicated that he had for some time beeri
bereft of his sober senses ; and proved that he
was one of those unhappy men who are driven to
a state of insanity by not being able to bear mis
fortunes, and especially misfortunes proceeding
from what they deem wrongs. Nothing can
exceed the consternation with which this deed
filled the parliament, and all persons engaged in
the government. The Speaker of the House of
Commons (Abbott) ordered the doors to be
locked, and ordered some of the members to go
before, and others to follow, the prisoner, to assist
the serjeant-at-arms to defeat any attempt that
might be made at a rescue. The alarm in the
House of Lords was still greater. All the forms
of proceeding were cast aside ; the Lord Chan
cellor himself immediately made a motion for
shutting the doors in order to prevent further

III.] GEORGE IV.
mischief beiug perpetrated. In the meanwhile,
the Duke of Cumberland had been and seen
the dead body ; and came into the House of
Lords and declared the fact. The Lord Chief
Justice (Ellenborough), who was, when the
murder was committed, sitting on a trial in the
Court of King's Bench, and who, upon hearing of
what had happened, had quitted his court, leav
ing plaintiffs and defendants and counsellors and
jurors, all in a fright, hurried into the House of
Lords, where he soon moved that some evidence
might be taken at the bar, in order to ground
thereon a regular proceeding of some sort. This
was at once agreed to; and, after evidence had
been produced and taken down in great haste,
proving that Perceval had been killed in the
lobby of the Commons, the House hastily passed
a resolution, addressing the Regent upon the sub
ject, requesting him to issue a proclamation for
the speedy prosecution of the offender or offen
ders ; and, this motion having passed, the House
immediately adjourned to two o'clock the next
day. 128. Bellingham was first dragged into the
House of Commons, thither he was followed by
the people in the lobby ; so that the House was
filled cram full with members, reporters, specta
tors, messengers, and persons of all descriptions
mingled pell-mell ; so that it was nearly an horn-
before any-thing like order could be restored, and

HISTORY OF [Chap.
before men appeared to know what they were at.
In the meanwhile, however, the news of the deed
and of its result, had spread itself in every direc
tion throughout this immense metropolis; and,
before Bellingham was brought out, from fifty
to a hundred thousand per.sons had assembled in
the area before and near the house of parliament ;
and their expressions and exclamations on the
subject were by no means calculated to quiet the
alarms of those within. The prisoner, Belling
ham, having been examined, he was about to be
conveyed to a coach which was brought for the
purpose of receiving him, at a quarter before
eight o'clock. This coach, which had been sent
for by the order of the magistrates, immediately
occupied the attention of the people. The pri
soner was taken from the committee-room, and
guarded by the messengers and police-oflficers to
the southern entrance of the House of Commons.
One of the oflficers came out and entered the car-t
riage, and the opposite door was immediately
pulled open amidst the cheers of the people.
Upon this, the officers returned to the prison-
room, and informed the chairman of the magis
trates, that he did not think it secure to proceed
with the prisoner without the aid of a military
force. In consequence of this report, a troop of
horse-guards vvere sent for, who soon arrived full
armed, with pistols, swords, and carabines. The
people expressed great dissatisfaction at the ap-

III.] GEORGE IV.
pearance of the soldiers, who, however, remained
opposite the parliament-house until midnight,
when the prisoner, brought along a private pas
sage, was put into a coach, accompanied by
several police-oflficers and one of the members of
the House of Commons, who was also a justice
of the peace. The coach, thus filled, and driving
at a great rate, was guarded by the soldiers, and,
by these means, about one o'clock in the morn
ing ofthe 12th of May, Bellingham was lodged
in the prison of Newgate.
129. The alarm by no means subsided. The
two houses of parliament met on the 12th ;
and the House of Lords did nothing but resolve
to adjourn from day to day. The extent of the
alarm may easily be guessed at from the reported
words of the Lord Chancellor, Eldon, upon the
occasion : " He trusted that the noble lords
would give him credit, when he declared that the
state of the country was such that it was neces
sary that the house should sit from day to day,
in order to be ready to take such steps as cir
cumstances might require ; for it was impossible
to say what might happen in the course of a few
days." The fears, so clearly manifested in this
speech, had arisen from the persuasion, that
Bellingham must have had some accomplices
or instigators ; and, indeed, thathis conduct had
proceeded from a plan concerted in the northern
counties, or, at least, that there was some sort of
L 5

HISTORY OF [Chap.
connexion between him and the persons engaged
in the disturbances in those counties. Owing to
the same persuasion, all the troops near at hand
were called out under arms as soon as the death
of Perceval was known ; and, at Windsor
(then the place of residence of the king, queen,
and princesses), the greatest consternation pre
vailed In the evening, and during the night, of
the llth. A regiment of dragoons, quartered
in the barrack on Hounslow Heath, were marched
thence to Colnbrook, on the road between Lon
don and W^Indsor.
130. These alarms were augmented by what
every one who reflects must look upon as a very
great indiscretion on the part of the government ;
namely, the causing to be published oflficially, in
the London Gazette, divers stupid anonymous
threatening letters, of which oflficial publications
the following is a curious and, 1 trust, never again
to be imitated specimen :
" Whitehall, May 19, 1812.
" avhereas it has been hurably represented to his Royal
" Highness the Prince Regent, that the following anonymous
" threatening letters have been sent to the Right Hon. Colonel
" M'M-ahon. " • Provisions cheaper — Bread or 'Blood — Tell your Master
•' * he is a Damn' d unfeeling Scoundrel, and if he don't attend
'* * to lhe above. Death shall be his portion, and that soon, it'^
" ' coma to the point now, and we are determined to strike the
*' ' decisive hlo-w.
'¦ ' May 12, 1812. Vox Populi.
" ' Addressed to Colonel M'Mahon,
" ¦ Carlton-House, Pall-Mali.

III.] GEORGE IV.
" ' George Prince of Wales. Take care of yourself foe
" ' your life is in danger, you shall meet the same fate as Mr.
" ' Perceval if Billenghallis hung before this reach you. You
" ' blackguard you shall be shot before three months is elapsed
" ' if Billenghallis hung you shall be shot as sure as I remain,
" ' an Enemy to all the damned Royal Family.
" ' Addressed to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent,
" • Windsor.
" ' With Speed.'
" His Royal Highness, for the better apprehending aud
'-' bringing to justice the persons concerned in writing and
" sending Ibe anonymous letters above-mentioned, is hereby
" pleased, in the name and on tbe behalf of his Majesty, to
" promise his Majesty's most gracious pardon to any one of
' ' tbem (except the person who actually wrote the said letters)
" who shall discover his, her, or their accomplice or accom-
" plices therein, so that he, she, or they may he apprehended
" and convicted thereof. R. RYDER.
*' Amd, as a further encouragement, a reward of One Thou-
" SAND Founds is hereby offered to any person making such
" discovery as aforesaid (except as is before excepted), to be
" paid on the conviction of any one or more of the .offeiiders
*¦' by the Right Hon. lhe Lords Commissioners ofhis Majesty's
" Treasury." 131. While these letters were, according to
the date of the first of them, being sent in the
manner which is stated in the proclamation, other
indications were shown of the discontents of the
people. Upon the news of the death of Perce
val arriving at Nottingham, at Leicester, at
Truro, and indeed all over the country, demon
strations of joy were shown by the ringing of
bells, the making of bonfires, and the like ; and,
at Nottingham particularly, soldiers were called

HISTORY OF [Chap,
out to disperse the people upon the occasion.
Looked at soberly, here were no grounds for
alarm. Those who write anonymous letters, very
seldom act according to those letters. The very
act itself shows that the party writing or sending
is afraid to (^o any-thing; and as to the writings
on the walls In London, " Rescue Bellingham,
or die," these were too low to bestow even con
tempt upon ; besides that, a wise government
would have (^nsidered that writings of this de
scription might have been, and very likely were,
the offspring of men who wished to see severe,
laws passed against the people, and vvho really
had no object in view but that of calumniating
the people and causing thein to be enslaved.
132. Nothing ever heard of in man can ex
ceed the calmness with which Bellingham met
his fatCi He committed the deed on the Mon
day, vvas tried on the Friday, and was executed
the next Monday morning at eight o'clock. He
wrote to his wife on the Sunday night, a letter in
which he spoke in the greatest calmness of her
and of his children ; told her that he sent her his
watch and his prayer-book, and prayed God to
preserve her and her children. After writing
this letter, he went to sleep as if nothing extra
ordinary was expected in the morning. During
the trial on the Friday, troops had been placed
in readiness at no great distance from the Ses
sions-house where he was tried. For the time

IIL] GEORGE IV.
of execution, a larger portion of troops had been
provided. Some thousands of soldiers vvere in
motion by five o'clock, and many bodies of mili
tary were assembled by six, taking their stations,
as the government papers informed the public, in
convenient places, least likely to excite the peo
ple's attention. At the place of execution, the
prisoner thanked God for having enabled him to
meet his fate with so much fortitude and resigna
tion. At the moment when the hangman was
making the usual preparations ; at the moment
that he was going out of the world ; at the mo
ment when he was expecting every breath to be
his last, his ears were saluted with " God bless
you, God bless you, God Almighty bless you, God
Almighty bless you ! " issuing from the lips of
many thousands of persons. The newspapers in
formed the public that a few persons exclaimed
"Bellingham for ever !" Others stated that
there were many persons anxious to possess some
relic oi the deceased ; and that the great-coat
in which he was executed was sold for ten pounds,
while other parts of his dress vvere bought at a
price . equally exorbitant. The buttons of his
clothes were all sold at high prices.
133. These circumstances are of importance
only as they show what the feeling of the nation
was at this time. With regard to the fact of the
offender going out of the world amidst the bless
ings of the people, I, the author of this History,

HISTORY OK [Chap.
can vouch for its truth, having been an eye and
ear-witness of the awful and most memorable
scene, standing, as I did, at the window of that
prison out of which he went to be executed, and
into which I had been put in consequence of a
prosecution ordered by this very Perceval, and
the result of vvhich prosecution was a sentence to
be imprisoned two years amongst felons In New
gate, to pay a thousand pounds to the Prince
Regent at the end of the two years, and to be
held in bonds for seven years afterwards; all
which was executed upon me to the very letter,
except that 1 rescued myself from the society of
the felons by a cost of twenty guineas a week,
for the hundred ancl four weeks ; and all this I
had to suffer for having published a paragraph, in
which I expressed my indignation at the flogging
of English local militia-men, at the town of Ely, in
England, under a guard of Hanoverian bayonets.
From this cause, I vvas placed in a situation to
witness the execution of this unfortunate inan.
The crowd was assembled in the open space just
under the window at which I stood. I saw the
anxious looks ; I saw the half-horrified counte
nances ; I saw the mournful tears run down ; and
I heard the unanimous blessings. What, then,
were these tears shed, and these blessings bestowed
by Englishmen, upon a murderer ! He was a
murderer, to be sure ; the act was unjustifiable ;
there is no defence to be offered for it without an

III.] GEORGE IV.
abandonment of every principle of justice known
amongst men ; but, the people did not rejoice be
cause a murder had been committed ; they did
not shed tears for and bless Bellingham because
he had committed a murder ; but because ills act,
clearly wicked as it was in itself, had ridded them of
one whom they looked upon as the leader amongst
those whom they thought totally bent on the
destruction of their liberties. In a speech which
the Marquess of Wellesley was reported to
have made a few days after this affair took place,
the people of England were described as having
become ferocious and bloody. Not they, indeed.
Their character was in nothing changed ; they
were still the same humane people ; had still the
same horror at the shedding of blood as their
fathers had been famed for for a thousand years.
Their conduct upon this occasion only shows,
and it does show In the most striking light, the
deep discontent that they felt at the terrible laws
that had been passed, and were almost dally pass
ing, to abridge their liberties, and to deprive them
of all security, whether for property, limb, or life.
134. The House of Commons, having recovered
from their fright, made the first use of that re
covery by proceeding to take measures for grant
ing sums of public money to the family of the de
ceased minister, the particulars of which grants
will be a subject of observation hereafter. In ad
dition to the money, they resolved upon a monu-

HISTORY OF [Chap,
ment to his memory, as they did in the case of
Pitt. One member proposed a public funeral,
attended by all the heraldic insignia and oflficers
of the king, and to be paid for out of the public
money. This intended honour was, however, de
sisted from, for reasons at which every reader will
be able to guess after what has been said of the
feelings of the people. The funeral took place
on Saturday the 16th of May, at the unusual
hour of seven o'clock In the morning, when the
body was put Into a hearse, and carried to the
little village of Charlton, in Kent, about eight
miles from London. Whether by accident or not,
a considerable body of cavalry-soldiers marched
along the same road that the funeral went, a short
distance before the hearse. Thus fell Spencer
Perceval, at the threshold of the House of Com
mons, in the 50th year of his age ; and, which is
not, perhaps, wholly unworthy of notice, he fel!
on the anniversary of the ever-memorable day of
the making of Mr. Maddox's motion respecting
the conduct of this same Perceval, and into the
grounds of which motion the honourable body to
which they both belonged refused to inquire.
Alas ! how fleeting are human triumphs, and how
capricious Is the exercise of human power ! With
those majorities, those overwhelming majorities,
by the means of which he had so often yielded
protection to others, when assailed with all the
artillery of political warfare, he was not able to pro-

IIL] GEORGE IV.
tect himself against a little bit of lead scarcely sur
passing in bulk a single knot of a cat-o' -nine-tails!
135. This event was productive of very great
consequences. It took away the head of the
faction that were in power, and opened the way
for new intrigues on the part of the Whigs, who
were all alive and in action Immediately ; but,
before I speak of that intrigue and of the curious
manner in which they were again kept out of
place, let me speak of the other consequences of
the death of Perceval. He had special commis
sions in his eye ready for the counties of the
North. These dwindled into nothing directly,
and, as to the fortress in Marybonne Park, as to
that daring project, it never was again heard of,
^nd never has been mentioned In parliament from
that day to this. Dreadful menaces were uttered
by violent men ; menaces incessant : the clergy
and other bodies ; but particularly the clergy, ad
dressed the Regent, and called upon him for vigor
ous measures. The bishop, dean and chapter,
archdeacons and clergy, of the diocese of Salis
bury, in their address to the Regent upon this
occasion, called Perceval "an upright minister,
and one of the brightest examples of public and
private virtue ;" they tell the Regent that, " as
ministers of religion, they are called upon to
strenuously exert themselves against those who
have stirred up thepeople fo outrage against good
government." They accuse part of the people of

history OF [Chap.
being domestic traitors, carrying on their secret
machinations, and they say that they rest with
confidence on the Supreme Disposer of all events,
and firmly trust, that, under his continued pro
tection, the councils of the Prince Regent will
be characterized by that energy and decision
which are best calculated to allay internal turbu-
le'nce, and to carry on the vvar to a successful
conclusion. This was the language of the clergy
of a whole diocese, with the bishop at their head,
and this was the language which distinguished all
the public addresses and other papers of the
clergy, from the beginning to the end of that
long and bloody and fatal war, which loaded the
nation with a debt, which is now (1831) shaking
the state to its very centre, and is producingj
with regard to tithes and other church revenues,
that very event which these clergy of the church
urged the carrying on of the war for the sole pur
pose of preventing.
13fi. But, now, how was the place of Perce
val to be supplied ? If the public in general
had known the parties well, they would have seen
no necessity for going out of Perceval's minis
try to find a successor for him ; there were Lords
Liverpool and Castlereagh; there were Lords
Sidmouth and Harrowby and Bathurst ; in
short, there was not a man amongst them who was
not as fit to be prime minister as Perceval him
self, and vvho was destitute of no one quaHty for

UL] GEORGE IV.
carrying on the affairs of that system of govern
ment as well as he, save and except, that no man
was quite equal to him in point of unsparing se
verity, and of undisguised disregard for the peo->
pie and for their sufferings on account of the
burdens imposed upon them. But, the nation
was grown heartily tired of the war ; it despaired
of seeing an end to it without utter ruin to the
country; the expenditure was arrived at an
amount that frightened even loan-mongers and
stock-jobbers ; and the shock given to people's
confidence by Perceval's recent acts, whieh had
proclaimed to the whole world the fact of the de
preciation of the paper-money ; these things
made even the pretended exclusively loyal secretly
rejoice at his death, which they could not help
hoping would lead to some very material change
in the managing of the, affairs of the country.
The clergy were still stanch to the system of
war and of boundless taxation ; but the main
part of the people were not ; on the contrary, it
was the general desire that a change of men in
power should take place.
137. It vvas clearly the desire ofthe Prince
Regent and of the Queen, and of a great part
of the proprietors of boroughs, that no change
of men should take place ; but the difficulty was,
to accomplish this desire, which was to disappoint
the nation, and still to preserve the appearance
of not having opposed this desire : in other

IllSTORY OF [Chap,
words, the diflficulty was, to have it appear, that
the prince, and the court, and the borough pro
prietors, were willing that there should be a
change ; and yet, at the same time, effectually
to prevent that change. To bring in the Whigs
was a thing desired by nobody but themselves ;
but to bring in some of them, and some others
that played a double game between the two fac
tions, and thus form what was termed a strong
and united government, was a great favourite with
a large part of the people of every class of life.
How this favourite object was defeated ; how
Perceval's set were retained In power, taking
Lord Liverpool from amongst them and putting
him at the head, I am now about to relate.
138. The Marquess of Wellesley and Can
ning had both, at one time, belonged to the
Perceval administration ; but both, npon some
pretence or other, had retired from it, the true
reason being, that each of them wanted to be
master; and that, for the reasons before-stated,
Perceval was necessarily the master of the
whole, and thus must. have been, for the joint
lives of himself and the Prince Regent. The
first step, therefore, which the Regent was ad
vised to take, vvas to authorise Liverpool to
open a negotiation with Wellesley and Can
ning, offering them posts in a new-modelled
ministry ; but, they being given clearly to under
stand that neither of them was to be the head

III.] GEORGE IV.
of the ministry, declined making a part of that
ministry. There was now a danger that Wel
lesley and Canning would join Lords Gren
ville and Grey and the Whigs, vvhich would
have formed a party too strong for Liverpool,
Eldon, and their set, to resist, especially at such
a time of general depression In the country, on
the eve of a war with America, in the midst of a
stagnation of trade, and almost suspension of
manufactures, and vvhen several of the counties
of the North were in a very turbulent state,
added to which was the depreciation ofthe paper-
money, and the expenditure, whieh was now
become perfectly enormous,
139. To prevent a union between these two
parties, the Prince Regent was next advised to
commission Wellesley to form an administra
tion. Wellesley and Canning were con
joined in the business. That was clearly under
stood. They first made their overtures to
Liverpool and his colleagues, who drily, but
flatly, rejected them. Wellesley next ad
dressed himself to Lords Grey and Grenville,
Liverpool well-knowing that they would never
come in unless they were at the head. After a
great deal of very unmeaning correspondence
between them, they also rejected the proposition
of Wellesley. Here the matter would have
rested, the Perceval administration would have
remained quite to the satisfaction ofthe Prince

history of [Chap,
Regent and the courtiers ; the prince would
have been exculpated from all blame for not hav
ing done his best to obtain a strong and united
administration, and the Perceval ministry would
have remained without another word said about
the matter. But, there vvas Lord Moira in the
way : Perceval being gone, the Prince, for
very powerful reasons, wished to provide for Lord
Moira. Yet, Lord Moira, having always be
longed to the Whigs, how was he to be brought
in to a ministry with Liverpool and the rest of
the Perceval set without incurring the charge of
having deserted his party ? This was a nice point;
it was a seemingly insuperable obstacle, yet it
was overcome, and Lord Moira found It consis
tent to join with Liverpool and the Perceval
crew. Wellesley's power to form a ministry
was declared to be at an end; and Lord Moira
was authorised by the Prince to form a new
administration ! He made his overtures, of course,
to Lords Grey and Grenville : at first he did
it unoflficially, in letters to Lord Grey ; but,
finding that the fish would not bite without au
thority on the hook, he obtained the authority,
and then made his overtures, which, however,
were at last rejected. In the course of his letters
to Grey, Lord Moira had expressed his dissa
tisfaction at the course taken by the two Whig
lords ; therefore, when they finally rejected his
overtures, he declared himself at liberty to sepa-

III.] GEORGE IV.
rate from them for the purpose of aiding hia
royal master to carry on the government ; and
thus the Perceval administration still con-.
tinued, with the sole admission of Lord Moira
into an ofiice having no sort of weight as con
nected with political matters ; and Liverpool,
who had remained silent and snug all the while,
not seeming at all to expect the great powers
about tobe placed in his hands, found himself, one
Tuesday morning, first lord of the Treasury and
prime minister ; and Vansittart, who had
brought in the famous resolution about the one-
pound note and the shilling in 1811, was ap
pointed his Chancellor of the Exchequer,
140, Thus were the Whigs once more turned
out, or rather kept out, on the barren common,
while their rivals were fattening in the dank pas
tures of vvar and taxation. But, Perceval had
left several very troublesome legacies behind him.
He had, indeed, left a very valuable legacy to his
successors ; namely, THE BOOK, and all the
secrets connected with the affair of the ill-treated
Princess of Wales. It has been before shown,
that it was this grand secret that first made him
minister ; that it was it which preserved his place
when the Prince became regent, with limited
powers ; that it still made him prime minister
when the Prince became possessed of all the
kingly powers, and that (general convulsion out
of the question) it must have made him minister

history of [Chap.
for the joint lives of himself and the Prince Re
gent, whether he were regent or king. But this
secret was not less valuable to his successors thau
to himself. They, in stepping into the possession
of his power, stepped also into the possession of
the source of that power. The Princess was
still alive ; she might, at any day, be brought
forward ; there was, as vve shall see by and by,
a very general claim putting forward for her by
the people, who vvere beginning to insist that she
ought to be styled the Princess Regent, andto
hold her courts accordingly. If, therefore, Liver
pool, EldoNj Sidmouth, and the rest of the
Perceval administration, had been turned out at
this time, they might have joined the people,
brought out all the history of the transactions
of 1806 and 1807, and insisted upon her being
acknowledged as Princess Regent, and upon
her holding her courts and drawing-rooms ;
things which the other party could not do, be
cause it was that party who had instituted the in
vestigation against her, who had refused her jus
tice; who had advised the late king, first not to
receive her at court, and afterwards not to place
her upon an equal footing with the rest of his
family, and vvho, in short, had been the instru
ments in the work of her degradation. This,
therefore, was the true cause of the retaining of
the Perceval administration in povver, and of
the exaltation of Liverpool ; benefits which

III.] GEORGE IV.
they exclusively owed to the valuable legacy left
them by this little hard-twisted lawyer.
141. But he left them other legacies, which,
had they been men of sense and of love for their
country, they would have shuddered at receiving.
Amongst these legacies was the war which im
mediately afterwards commenced between Eng
land and the United States of America ; a war
the most unjust on our part that ever nation was
engaged in, and bringing upon this country, in its
result, disgrace such as England never had befbre
to endure, and followed by consequences such as
will require all the wisdom, all the talent, all the
courage, all the public virtue, of every description,
that England can command, to prevent those con
sequences from finally being fatal to her power.
142. This is one of the great events of the
regency and reign of George the Fourth. The
war vvhich terminated in the independence of
these States, laid the foundation of all the cala
mities with which the nation was afflicted during
the reign of George the Third. That war was
unjust in its principle, and, in the conduct of it,
most disgraceful. This war was equally unjust;
its progress and consequences were ofthe greatest
importance to the country ; and, therefore, the
real grounds of this war ought here to be placed
clearly upon record. From the commencement
of the unjust and unnecessary war against the
republicans of France, disputes between England
M

HISTOEY OF [Chap.
and the United States had arisen relative to the
rights of the parties on the seas. The success of
England against France depended, in a great
measure, on the power of the former to intercejJt
and destroy the commerce of the French. By
her navy, she soon accomplished nearly the de
struction of the French naval force, and also of
their mercantile marine ; but the French do not,
as we do, depend so much on operations on the
waters. Their trade forms a much smaller part,
in proportion, than ours does, of the resources of
the country ; having a cold climate and a hot
climate and a medium climate, all within the
same ring-fence, they have not that need of ex
ternal commerce that we have ; they do not so
much depend upon imports and exports ; but
still they want some outlet for their produce in
exchange for various commodities, without whicb,
in the present state of the world, great confusion
must be produced in the affairs of the nation.
Besides this, France is now-and-the.i visited with
that great calamity a scarcity of bread, which
can receive alleviation by no other means than
those afforded by other countries, which other
countries cannot come to their relief except by
the means of ships. One of these calamities was
experienced in France in the year 1793, just at
the breaking out of the war betv/een this country
and that. The Americans, having prodigious
t[uantities of corn and of flour to spare, sent him-

. UI.] . geor ge lv.
dreds of ship -loads to France, a great part of
which were intercepted by English ships of war
and privateers, brought into England, where the
cargoes were detained, paying to the owners pret-
. ty much what our government thought proper.
This was an extension ofthe rights -of belligerents
: against neutrals, such as had never been heard of
-before; the President of America had issued
a proclamation, declaring those states neutral-;
but our government, whenever it suited Its pur
pose, set that neutrality at defiance. The same
thing was done with regard to the maritime com
merce of the United States in their intercourse
with the French West India islands as long as
• they remained in possession ofthe French. When
Holland, owing to the invasion of the French,
was compelled to join in the war against England,
neutrals trading with it and with its islands, were
treated in the same manner. The French weie
carrying on a sweeping and successful war upon
• the continent, and England the same sort of war
upon the seas.
143. The United States remonstrated ; nego
ciations endless were going on ; their policy was
to remain at peace if possible ; but, though they
did not go to war, they incessantly remonstrated
against this disregard of the laws of neutrality,
keeping on, all the while, making preparations for
their defence in case of the dire necessity arriving.
144. They acknowledged, and I trust they.and
M 2

history OF [Chap.
all the world will always be compelled to acknow
ledge, our right, when at war, to stop merchant
ships on the high seas, to search them, to ascer
tain whether they be bound to our enemy's port,
and, if so, whether they have on board articles
contraband of war, that is to say, arms, ammu
nition, horse-furniture, and other things used in
war ; and, if bound to a port which we are block
ading, if they have provisions on board ; and, in
such cases, to take out the provisions, to take out
the munitions of war, to bring the ship into port
for that purpose, in some cases to condemn both
ship and cargo ; and, in all cases, where the
property on board be found to be the property of
an enemy, to seize and confiscate that property.
Further, the rights of a belligerent with regard to
neutrals extend to a prohibition, after due notice,
to enter any port ofany enemy of that belligerent
which is placed in a state of efficient blockade.
145. These are the rights of England upon the
seas when she is at war ; and these rights she
can never give up, and can never relax in the en
forcement of, without a surrender of her character
and her power.
i46. But far were our ministers from being
content with the enjoyment of these rights.
Buonaparte had issued two decrees, one dated
at Berhn, and the other at Milan, prohibiting all
British goods from entering any port under the
control of France, which then embraced almost

III.] GEORGE IV.
the whole of the Continent ; and, not only British
goods, but any goods of any country coming last
from any British port at home or abroad. In
what was called retaliation for this, our ministers
declared all the ports of all the countries under
the control of France to be in a state of block
ade, which was, to be sure, the most monstrous
stretch of the rights of a belligerent ever before
dreamed of in the world. For many years the
Americans endured this. By false papers, hy
sham certificates of origin, by clandestine invoices,
by licenses obtained here in England ; by one
means or another, they contrived to carry on still a
lucrative commerce, always, however, protesting,'
always remonstrating, and frequently menacing,
from the hps or the pens of their negociators..
At last, however, our ministers began to do that
for which the Berlin and Milan decrees could
afford no excuse, and for which nothing could
offer a palliation ; that is to say, they began to
impress seamen on board the American ships on
the high seas, under the pretence that they were
the subjects of the king and deserters from his
service. If they had confined these impressments
to British subjects, the thing would have been a
cruel novelty ; but this was impossible in a case
where all spoke the same language; all had the
same manners ; all were of the same nation, ex
cept by the mere accident of locality and birth.
English naval oflBcers, seldom remarkable for

history of [Chap;
moderation in the exercise of their power, being
once authorised to stop American ships on the
high seas, and to take British subjects out of
them ; and having the physical power to take out
of them whom and as many as they pleased;
these oflficers, being thus authorised, would, as a
matter of course, consider every man whom they
wished to take, tobe a British subject; and, under
this pretence, they impressed hundreds upon hun
dreds of native Americans, compelled them to
serve on board English ships of war, had them
flogged for disobedience or neglect, placed them
in battle like the rest of the sailors, where many
of them were wounded and many of them killed.
147. This was too much, not perhaps for the^
cool politicians of the American government to
endure, but too much for the people of America^
to endure. The people took the matter in hand ;
letters and certificates from impressed American
seamen were authenticated and published,- con
taining all the horrid details of the cruelties that
had been endured by the suffering parties ; the
American newspapers were filled with these blood-
stirring details, and the whole country, from one
end to the other, cried " M^ar, loss of commerce,
invasion, extermination, rather than endure,
this!" The American government did every-«
thing in its power to assuage this anger : it called
upon the people to wait the result of the nego
ciations then going on upon the subject. Dur-

III.] GEORGE IV.
ing these negociations, they offered terms so fair
that it fills one with indignation to think that this
country had to suffer from a war in consequence
of a rejection of those terms. They offered to pass.
an act, imposing a penalty on any American captain,
that should take on board, a British subject as a
seaman ; they offered to agree that any British oflfi-
cer, civil or military, duly authorised by the.govern-
ment, should be permitted to go on board of any
mercantile American ship in any port, whether
within the British dominions, or any other domi
nions, and cause tobe taken any American seaman
before a magistrate, being any usual magistrate.
ofthe place or port ; and if that magistrate deter
mined that the man claimed was a British sub
ject, they agreed to give him up at once on the
bare decision of that magistrate ; but they ex
pressed, their determination to encounter all
hazards rather than suffer foreigners to stop their
ships upon the high seas, and to take out of them
persons of any description whatsoever under pre
tence of those persons being foreign subjects. No
thing could be more reasonable or more just than
this ; yet the proposition was haughtily rejected
by those insolent and feeble-minded creatures,
who were afterwards beaten single-handed in a
war of aggression, of invasion, and extermination,
waged against this free and happy people under
this wise and moderate government,
148, These terms having been rejected, the

history of [Chap.
congress passed an act, a little while before the
death of Percev^al, as a sort of prelude to the
war, still hoping, however, to avoid war. This
act explains clearly, and in few words, the
grounds of this memorable war ; and it is of vast
importance that the English people should always
have it to refer to as a ground of accusation
against the ministry and the parliament that in
volved them in this war, and thereby not only
added seventy millions to the enormous debt, but
actually created that American navy with which
we shall one day have to cope, and which we
must finally overcome, or surrender that sove
reignty of the seas without which our country is
England only In mere name. The reading of
this law explains the whole matter : here are the
grounds of complaint, here is the remedy, short
of war : the remedy did not succeed, and war
was the consequence.
A B'lli for the Protection, Recovery, and Indemnification of
American Seamen,
The preamble states, that His Britannic Majesty has caused
to be impressed out of the ships of the United States, sailing
onthe high seas, under the American flag, divers liege citizens
of said States, and hath compelled them to serve on board the
ships of war of Great Britain, and to fight against the United
States, and that nurabers of them are yet detained. — It is
therefore enacted, that from and after the 4th day of June
next, any person or persons who shall impress any native
seaman of the United States, sailing on the high seas, or in
any port, river, haven, basin, or bay, under pretence or colour

III.] GEORGE IV.
Q#a commission from any foreign power, shall, fer every snxilij
offence, be adjudged a- pirate and felon, and on conviotioni,
SuflTer death ; and the trial in such case shall be had where thai
offender is apprehended or may be first brought. — That it shall,
he lawful for any seaman, sailing under the flag of the United!
States, on any person or persons attempting to impress him,.
to repel by force ; and if any person so attempting to impress;
said seaman shall be killed, maimed, or wounded, such sea-'
man, on the general issue, may give the special matter in evi
dence,, which is hereby declared a perfect justification. That-.
on information being given to the President of the United?
States, proving satisfactorily to him that any citizen of th9f
United States shall have been impressed, and shall be yet de-
tained, or shall hereafter be impressed, to cause the most:
rigorous retaliation on any ofthe subjects of said Govemment.
taten on the high seas, or within the British territories^^
whom he is hereby authorised to cause to be taken and seized;
for that purpose, any treaty to the contrary notwithstanding.
—That any seaman, heretofore or hereafter impressed, may
attach, in the hands of any British subjeeti or in the hands of
tpiy debtor of smy British subject, a sum equal to thirty dol
lars per month for the whole time he shall have been detained
on board any British vessel or vessels.— That the President-
ofthe United States may capture, by way of reprisal, as many
British subjects, on the high seas or within the British terr.'-
torie^s, as may be equal to the impressed American seameu in
Ijie possession of Great Britain, and hy a cartel to exchange
the same. — That the President, whenever sufficient testimony
shall be produced that the commander of any public armed
vessel of any foreign nation shall have taken or impressed
fi-om on board any ship or other vessel of the United States,
whUe at any port or place not within the jurisdiction of such
foreign na;tion, or while on her passage to or from any port or
place any seaman, mariner, or other person not being iu the
military service of an enemy qf such foreign nation, may pro
hibit by proclamation, every person residing within the United.
States or its territory, from aifording aid, succour, or provi
sions, of whatever kind, to snch ship or vessel ; and any pilot
m5

HISTORY OF [Chap.
or other person residing within the United States, who shall,
after such prohibition shall have been made known, and before
the'same shall be revoked, afford aid, succour, or provisions,
as aforesaid, to such ship or vessel, and be thereof convicted,
shall be sentenced to be imprisoned not exceeding one year,
and fined not exceeding one thousand dollars. — That from and
after the -ith of June next, whenever full and sufficient testi
mony shall be produced, that the commanders of public armed
vessels of any foreign nation have impressed or takeu from
on board any ship or vesseV within the jurisdiction of the
United States, or while on her passage to or from any port or
place, any seaman, mariner, or other person, the President
may prohibit, by proclamation, the landing from on board
any ship or other vessel of the foreign nation (whose com
mander or commanders have offended as aforesaid) any goods,
ware, ormerchandise within any of the ports of the United
States or the territories ofthe United States.
149. This act of the congress was absolutely
forced upon them by the people. All the mercan
tile part of the congress appeared to be dead to
every sentiment of public spirit ; and the members
of the Eastern States, as the Americans call them,
but vvhich lie in the northern part ofthe country,
were almost all hostile to the act, and hostile to
every measure of resistance against the acts of
our ministry. They had been plotting for years
for the purpose of counteracting the federal, or
general, government in every step which it had
takeii for the defence of the citizens of America
against the arbitrary acts sanctioned by the
English ministry. The great cities in America are
all great places of external commerce; the merchants
are all connected withmerehants and manufacturers

UI.] GEORGE IV,
in England by ties of interest. The commerce of
America was, and is, more than half of the whole,
carried on to and fiom the English dominions;
the English merchants are the creditors of those
in America, generally their lenders, and very fre
quently an apparently great merchant there is
little more than an agent carrying on trade, and
apparently owning ships, in virtue of the money,
and, in great part, for the benefit of the English
merchant, who is the real owner of the money
and of the ships. Therefore, the merchants in
America, particularly in the north, whence come
the ships to carry on the greater part of the ex
ternal commerce, were all decidedly against a war
withEngland, and against all resistance ofthe acts
of her ministry, committed against American
citizens ; for, in fact, they looked upon England
as their country much more than they did
America : but not so with the people at large ;
and it was a curious thing to behold that it was
the farmers and labourers and country-people
generally, that demanded vengeance on those who
had impressed and tyrannised over the maritime
citizens. It was on them, too, that even the com
mercial cities had to rely for defence after the
war broke out ; thus verifying the prediction of
Mr, Jefferson ; namely, that if ever the country
should be placed in a state of peril, it must rely
for its safety on the arms of the tillers of the
ground.

HISTORY o^ [Chap-
150. The act of the Americans, which act we
have just seen, and which was passed in May
1812, was, as was evident to all but the stupid
and arrogant men who ruled England, a mere pre
amble to a declaration of war ; and, accordingly,
this declaration very speedily followed it. In
America so important an aflfair as that of making
war is not left to the decision of the executive
magistrate and his ministers. It is not left to
those who have commissions in the army and
the navy to bestow ; it is not left to those whose
felations and dependants may fatten upon con
tracts arising out of the war : it is a power, the
exercise of which is retained by the people
themselves ; and the act is performed by the
whole body of the representatives of the people.
War Is, in short, enacted In the same manner as
any other thing Is enacted ; and this war was
enacted by the Congress in the following act :
" Act of Congress, declaring war against England,
" An Act, declaring war between the United Kingdom of Great
" Britain and Ireland, and the Dependencies thereof, and the
" United States of America, and their Territories,
" Be it enacted, by the senate and house of representatives
" of the United States of America, in congress assembled,
." That war be and the same is hereby declared to exist be-
" tween the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,.
" and the Dependencies thereof, and the United States of
" America, and their Territories ; and that the President of
" the United States be and he is hereby authorised to use the
'• -B-hole land and iia-val forces" of the United States to -carrj"
" the same into effect ; and to issue to private armed vessels

m.] GEORGE. IV.
"ofthe United States, commissions or letters of marque and-
" general repriss^l, in such form as he shall tliink proper, and-
" under the seal of the United States, against the vessels,;
" goods, and effects of the government of the United King-
" dom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the subjects thereof*
" June 18, 1812. — ^Approved, " Jam.es Madison. '
'f IVashinglon, July 18; 4 o'ciocfc p. m."
151, It was in this simple, plain, sensible, and,
honest manner, that the United States declared
tiiis war. Here are none of those false professions*
and pretences that other governments resort to.'
It is the declaration of a free people, and it is,
made in words becoming such a people. The-
English ministry did not answer this declaration
at all. They could not answer it; but issued a
miserable order in council for the seizure and
detention of American vessels ; and not for the
Condemnation of them ; not for making prize of"
them ; and not for comraitting hostilities against
the United States in any manner whatever. All
the documents relating to the grounds oi this
liiost important war ought to be preserved ; and
even the small space which is alone compatible
with my plan demands the insertion of this order
in coilneil, which was the only answer ever given
to the plain and honest declaration on the partof
America. " At the Court at Carlton House, the 31st of July, 1812,
" present his Royal Highness the Prince Regent in Coun-
" cil : — It is tliis day ordered, by his Royal Highness the
"Vi'inee Regent, in tlie name and an tbe behalf of his Ma--

HISTORY OF [Chap,
'•jesty, and by and with the advice ofhis Majesty's Privy
" Council, that no ship or vessel belonging to any of his
" Majesty's subjects, be permitted to enter and clear out for"
" any of the pons within the territories of the United
" States of America, until further order; and his Royal
" Highness is further pleased, in the name and on behalf of
" his Majesty, and by and with the advice aforesaid, to order,
" that a general embargo or stop be made of all ships and'
" vessels whatsoever, belonging to the citizens of the United
" States of America, now within, or which shall hereafter
" come into, auy ofthe ports, harbours and roads, within any
" part of llis Majesty's dominions, together with all persons
" and effects on board all such ships or vessels ; and that the
•• commanders of his Majesty's ships of war and privateers
" do detain and bring into port all ships and vessels belonging
" to the citizens ofthe United States of America, or bearing
" the flag of the said United States, except such as may be
" furnished with British licenses, which vessels are allowed
" to proceed according to the tenor ofthe said licenses ; but
" that the utraost care be taken for the preservation of all and
" every part of the cargoes on board any of the said ships or
*' vessels, so that no damage or embezzlement whatever be
" sustained; and the Coramanders of his Majesty's ships of
" war and privateers are hereby instructed to detain and bring
" into port every such ship and vessel accordingly, except
" such as are above excepted : and the Right Hon. the Lords
" Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury, the Lords Com-
" missioners of the Admiralty, and Lord Warden of the
•' Cinque Ports, are to give the necessary directions herein
" as to them may respectively ajipertain. " Chetwynd."
152, This order in council was intended for
the insolent purpose of making the world believe
that it was beneath the English government to
declare vvar against sucl^ a country as America,
and at the same time for the base purpose of se-

Ill,] GEORGE IV,
ducing the commercial part of the United States
from their due obedience to the government of
their country ; to eflfect which latter purpose, as
we shall see farther on in this history, the foulest
means had, for a long while, been employed.
Both these purposes were completely defeated in
the end, as will hereafter be shown by the events
of 1814 and 1815, until we come to the history
of which years we must lay aside the subject of
this second war against America ; not, however,
without adverting to the memorable words of the
president Madison, in that message to the con
gress, which the congress immediately answered
by the above declaration of war. " Our mode-
" ration and consideration (said he in his mes-
"sage of the 1st June 1812) have had no other
"effect than to encourage perseverance in wrong-
" doing. We behold our seafaring citizens still
" the daily victims of lawless violence committed
" on the great and common highway of nations,
*' even within sight of the country which owes
*' them protection. We behold our/ vesselsj
"freighted with the products of our/ soil and
"industry, or returning with the honest pro-
" ceeds of them, wrested from their lawful desti-
"natioii, confiscated by prize courts no longer
" the organs of public law, but the instruments of
" arbitrary edicts ; and their unfortunate crews
" dispersed and lost, or forced or inveigled in
" British ports into British fleets ; whilst argu-

HISTORY OE [Chap«
"^ ments are employed in support of these aggres--
" sions, which have no foundation but in a prin-
'.' ciple equally supporting a claim' to regulate our
" external commerce in all cases whatsoever,— -r
"We behold, in fine, on the side of Great Bri-
" tain, a state of war against the United States j
'^ and on the side of the United States,; a state o£
"peace towards Great Britain, — ^Whether the^
'' United States shall continue passive under these.
"progressive usurpations, and these accumulating,
" wrongs ; or, opposing force to force, in defence
"of their liatural rights, shall commit a just
'' cause Into the hands of the Almighty Disposer;
"of events ; avoiding all connexions which might
" entangle it in the contests or views of other"
'^ powers, and preserving a constant readiness to'
" concur in an honourable re-establishment of
" peace and friendship, is a solemn question,'
" which the constitution wisely confides to the'
'* legislative department of the government. In'
" recommending it to their early deliberations,'
" I am happy in the assurance that the decision'
" will be worthy ofthe enlightened and patriotic'
" councils of a virtuous, a free, and a powerful'
" nation," 153, It was pretended bythe English ministers
and noised about by their hireling press, that'
the Americans favoured France in the war which'
she was carrying on against England ; or, rather,
that England was carrying ou against her ; and

Ill,] GEORGE IV.
eiven the members of parliament were quite in '
the habit of representing, by their speeches, Mr.
Madison as a mere tool in the hands of Napo
leon. Nothing was ever more false than this :
one single instance of this partiality was never
produced, France also had committed aggres
sions against the Americans ; but she had never
committed that great aggression of all, namely,
the impressing and flogging of native American
citizens. The truth is, that both nations, England
and France, wished to force America Into the war,
each of them on its own side ; and the Americans
resolved to take part with neither. There was
a faction in America, on each side also ; but the
nation and the government were for strict and
honest neutrality ; for cheap government, and
for getting out of debt. The Enghsh faction in
America was by far the most powerful, and in '
the sequel we shall see what base means were'
made use of for the purpose of raising up an
opposition to the government ; but tbose means
recoiled at least upon the heads of the men that
had employed them.
154, With regard to public opinion in England
relative to this important war, the war may be
said to have been popular ; because the myriads
who fattened upon war, were all for war ; and
because the press was in such a state, was so
shackled on the one hand, and so completely
mercenary on the other hand, that it was impos-

HISTORY OE [Chap.
sible for the people to come at any-thing like
the truth upon the subject ; any man who should
have dared to make a statement in print relative
to the treatment of impressed American citizens ;
any man who should have dared truly to describe.
the flogging and other brutal usage of those in
nocent persons, would have been prosecuted by
the. attorney general, would have been ruined,
and half put to death. So that the state of
things was much worse than if there had been
HO press at all ; and, besides this, the payers of
taxes were so cowed down, they had been brought
hy degrees to so complete a state of slavery;
the national mind was become so abject ; that
even an event like this war, fraught as it mani
festly was with a monstrous addition to the debt,
Mid with disgrace such as England never before
experienced ; even an event like this seemed to
attract far less attention than a gala day for the>
showing off of splendour purchased with the,
sweat of the people. ,
155, This war was a legacy, left by Perceval
to his successors, and the expense of it a legacy left
to the oppressed people of England, That op
pressed people most sincerely rejoiced that he
was no more ;. and at Nottingham, LeicestCi,
SheflSeld, Wakefield, Chester, Birmingham, Car
lisle, and many other places, they openly ex
pressed their satisfaction by every demonstration
of joy. Those who lived on the taxes, on the

Ill,] GEORGE IV.
Other hand, expressed their sorrow : both the po*-
litical factions, feeling it to be a common cause,
mourned at the event, and well would it have
been for the people if they had contented them
selves with mourning. But, besides mourning,
they fell to vvork with wonderful unanimity, and,
as if with a desire to punish the people for their.^
joy, by inflicting on them the effects of enor
mous pensions to the widow and the eldest son
of the deceased minister, besides voting them
fiifty thousand pounds down in ready money.
The two pensions, if calculated on the usual dura
tion of life, could not be reckoned at a less sum
than another sixty or eighty thousand pounds ;:
and these grants were made out of the taxes
raised upon the people at a time when distress
was so pinching, when hunger was so sharp, as to
drive thousands upon thousands of English men.
and women to brave all the dangers of the terri*
ble penal code ; they were made at a time whetE
the industrious people in the north were so pressed^
with hunger as to venture their lives for the sake
of a handful of potatoes, and when a woman-
Was actually hanged at Manchester upon a:
charge of highway robbery, she having snatched
some potatoes from a cart to carry home to her
naked and starving children.,
156. Both the political factions joined in sup
porting and applauding this grant. Both sides
of the House joined in this holy work of grati-

HISTORY OF [Chap. .
tude : nay, those who had always censured the acts
of Peiicbval; those Whigs whom he had sup
planted in place and in power and emolument ;
those Whigs who had reproached him for his
duplicity, who had represented him as the waster
of the public money, who had described him as
every-thing that was Inefficient and wicked in a
minister : those Whigs actually took the lead in
this heaping of taxes upon his family ; and that
too, as in the case of Prrr, upon the ground of
his great public services ; upon the ground of the
services which he had rendered to the nation.
Insults innumerable have been heaped upon this
English nation; but of all -the insults this per-.
haps was the greatest. He had been a minister
five years ; he had held a sinecure for many
years before that, part of the five years he re
ceived from the public about six thousand pounds
a year, and the latter part of the time about
twelve thousand pounds a year ; the smallest
sum exceeding the annual salary of- the presi
dent of the United States of America'; besides
having secured in reversion to himself the great
sinecure of his brother Lord Arden, which
reversion, if sold by Perceval, would have
brought him a hundred thousand pounds. And,
with regard to his services, instead of the country
being bettered during his administration, there
was no one respect in which it was not become
worse. He had, during the five years, added

III.] GEORGfi IV,
fourteen millions a year to the taxes, besides
having added a hundred and fifty millions to the
national debt ; and had thus, during the five
years that he had been minister, expended (be
yond the revenue in existence before) more than
two hundred millions of pounds sterling, the
effects of which have been felt from that day to
this, and are still felt by every family in the coun
try, those only excepted who live upon the taxes.
157. And while these facts were well known
to the whole nation, this grant of money was
heaped upon his family as a remuneration for his
services 1 However, flagrant as this transaction
was, it tended to good ; because it convinced men
in the first place that there was no difference be
tween the two factions ; and in the next place,
that there was no remedy to be found for the
evils of the country except in a reform of the par
liament; a reform which both the factions
seemed resolved never to grant as long as they
-should possess the power of refusing. There
-was manifestly nothing that could relieve the
nation short of a reform of the parliament : even
the death of Perceval brought no hope of re
lief : his system of ruling remained, with an ad
ditional enormous burden upon the people, as
a sort of punishment, inflicted upon them for
- having rejoiced at his death.

HISTORY OF [Chap.

CHAPTER IV.
From the Death of fhe Prime Minister, Percevdl,
in May, 1812, to the Fall of Napoleon, in
April, 1814,

158. The great affairs that took place during
this period were, 1. The transactions relating to
the Princess of Wales ; and, 2. The events of
the Continental war. Those of the war against
the United States of America, though passing
¦during the same period, must, in order not to
divide them, be related in the next chapter,
159. In order to enter upon this affair relative
the Princess of Wales, the reader ought, be
fore he enter on It, to read the whole of Chap
ter II, and that part of Chapter III, which is
contained in paragraphs 104 to 106, both inclu-
clusive ; for vve are now going to see in what
manner it was that THE BOOK was at last made
public. Perceval had, in the manner that we
have seen in the paragraphs last referred to, se
cured, as he thought, the possession of power, for
the joint lives of himself and the Prince Regent;

IV.] GEORGE IV.
but it will be seen presently, that if Bellingham
had not killed him at the time when he did, he
must have ended his days from mere worrying;;
¦and that this would have arisen from circum
stances the mere surface only of which had hi-
'therto been seen by the people of this kingdom.
The Book was published ; the effects have been
seen ; but the secret cause of the publication has
hitherto been known only to one person besides
the author of this history, who must therefore
now, as far as relates to this matter, bring his
own agency upon the stage.
160, Perceval, as we have seen before, in the
paragraphs last alluded to, had got fixed in place
in spite of all the prince's long profession of
friendship for the Whigs ; and this final act of
fixing him we have seen to take place on the 1 1 th
of February, 1812. It was the secret of the BOOK
that was the cause of fixing him ; and we have
seen what enormous sums were expended in order
to get up a few stray copies of the book. If that
book could have been got at and published at
that time, there would have been an end, at once,
of the power of Perceval. The Whig faction,
who knew what the secret was full well, and who
had all the contents of the Book within their
reach, could have published it; but, then, they
would have published their own shame ; and,
besides, the Grenvilles now made the most
powerful part of that faction. Fox and Wind-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
HAM were gone ; and the faction had still some
lingering hope that the prince might turn to
them ; a hope which they could never entertain
for a moment if they were once the cause of pub
lishing the Book. Therefore they held their
peace. But there were other men in parliament,
who, though detesting Perceval, had had no
share in the Whig ministry or patronage when it
was in power, and who were, in fact, really men
of independence. These men and their conduct
I shall mention presently, when I have described
that which set them to work.
-161, At the time when the Prince Regent
came into the possession of what were called
his full powers, 1 had been, for the cause which
I have mentioned in a former part of this his
tory, in the prison of Newgate for one year and a
half, and had another six months to endure of
this imprisonment. When I had been in the
prison about a year, Mr, Cochrane Johnstone
(brother ofthe Earl of Dundonald) with whom
I had been acquainted several years, in conse
quence of my having defended his cause when he
was, as I then deemed, and yet deem, most un
justly treated by the Government, brought to me
a manuscript copy of all that part of THE BOOK
which did not consist of the evidence. There
was the king's warrant, the report of the four
lords, and a list of the witnesses, and the prin
cess's defence. Here was quite enough for me.

IV.] GEORGE IV.
here it vvas clearly stated as matter of charge,
that the Princess had had a male child, which
was still alive ; and that the Lords had deter
mined, upon the clearest evidence, that this was
a false charge ; and it was also specified that
the Prince of Wales had laid the charge before
the king ; and that the king had thereupon or
dered the investigation to take place. In pos
session of this document, which I knew to come
from an authentic source, I made several copies,
and so deposited them as to put them out of the
reach of any possible tyrannical seizure of papers ;
and, as I was very far from being certain of any
spot where papers would be perfectly safe in
England, I sent one copy to the United States
of America by a safe hand. Thus sure of the
ground upon which I stood, I, as occasion served,
during the latter partof 1811, and the begin
ning of 1812, threw out significant hints upon
the subject, every now-and-then calling for a
publication of the account of the " delicate inves
tigation," as it had been called. When the
Prince became in possession of his full powers,
those outward appearances which astonished
other people, did not at all astonish me, who
knew, as the public in general knew, that Perce
val had been the adviser ofthe Princess,
162, Immediately after the Prince became in
possession of his powers as aforesaid, the cor
poration of London met to present an address to

history of [Chap.
him. Before the arrival of the day for doing
this, I had a conference with Mr. Alderman
Wood ; and I either showed him the documents
relative to the Princess, or very fully explained
them to him. The Alderman, who was and is
a very upright, humane and politically brave man,
wished very much to have carried, in the city,
an address to the Princess at the same time,
styling her Princess Regent ; and, as I strongly
urged, to observe towards her all the forms of
respect and reverence due to a queen upon the
fexaltation of her husband. I insisted, in my
public writings, on the propriety and decorum of
her being permitted to hold her drawing-rooms
in like manner as her husband held his leveca.
Mr, Wood found no man to second his views in
the corporation of London, Those great patriots,
who had made such a noise in the world, hung
back here, to a man ; and the Alderman, not
being at that time in parliament himself, could
do nothing efficient ; but, in the meanwhile,
these discussions set on foot by me, and particu
larly the talk of an address to the Princess Re
gent from the city of London, excited great at
tention ; and the people, always on the side of
the Princess, began loudly to demand that
something should be done to draw her out from
the obscurity in which she lived ; for, though
she had apartments in Kensington-palace, still
she hved the life of a private indivddual : never

IV.] GEORGE IV.
approached the rest of the royal family, was never
mentioned in their court circulars ; and this the
people thought very unjust as well as unseemly,
¦while her husband was holding his courts with a
¦degree of splendour before unknown, and which
was of itself offensive to the main body of the
people. Perceval, however, thinking himself
secure, not only recommended nothing to be done
to make her state more honourable ; not only
totally disregarded the feelings and expressions
of the nation upon the subject ; but. In evil hour
for him, he even went so far as to make a propo
sition in parliament, which, indirectly, cast a slur
upon her, the having espoused whose cause had
been the sole source of all his greatness.
163, We have seen that the Prince came in
possession of his full powers on the llth of Fe
bruary, 1812, On the 23d of March ensuing,
Perceval brought before the House of Com
mons a message from the Regent, proposing a
new grant of money for his sisters and his mothe.-.
This proposition was in itself a most odious pro
position, considering the then situation of the
country, loaded to the very breaking-down with
taxes, and making new loans every year to the
amount of not less than twenty millions of money !
The message proposed to give an additional nine
thousand pounds a year to each of the Princess
es, amounting, in the whole, to thirty-six thou
sand pounds, and raising the allowance to the
n2

history of [Chap.
Queen to fifty- eight thousand pounds a year. At
the sarae time, there was no proposition whatever
for doing anything for the Princess of Wales,
though the wife of the Regent and the mother
df the Princess Charlotte, the then heiress to
the throne. The Whigs, as a faction, did not,
for the reasons I have before stated, dare to make
any opposition even to this. But, some men of
independence, who detested Perceval, did not let
slip this opportunity of calling him to account.
The three men who took the lead on this occa-
tion, were Creevey, Whitbread, and TierneY, '
the two former had never been in any office at
all ; Tierney had been in office under Adding
ton, for a short time, but had not been In oflfice
with the Whigs. They were, all three, men of con
siderable talent, and Creevey and Whitbread
men of good character with the public ; Whit
bread's talents were of the first order, and,
though a brother-in-law of Lord Grey, he had
never been soiled by a touch of the public money.
The attack upon Perceval was begun by
Creevey on the 23d of March, upon Perceva^.
moving for the Prince's message to be taken
into consideration. It would be tedious, and use-
Jess, to give an account of the arguments in this
•debate, the result of which was most humiliating
to Perceval, The speakers, and particularly
Whitbread, pushed him home upon the subject
ofthe BOOK, upon the subject ofhis having been

IV,] GEORGE IV,
the Princess's advocate ; and he accused him,
in direct terms, of having now abandoned and
betrayed her for the purpose of ingratiating him
self with her husband, and thus securing to hlm^
self power and emolument. Whitbread insisted
that she ought to be permitted to hold her courts,
unless a separation from her husband were openly
proclaimed ; and that the passing her over upon
this occasion, without notice, was, in effect, to
proclaim to the nation that she had been found
to be a guilty woman, and unworthy of enjoying
the honours belonging to royalty. He finally
brought it to this point : " Either she is guilty or
" she is Innocent ; if the former, let the minister
" bring forth his charge against her, and let her
" be repudiated and punished ; if the latter, let
" her enjoy all the honours becoming the wife
" of the reigning prince."
164, At fir.st, Perceval folded himself up,
and refused to give any answer at all ; but, thus
pressed by Whitbread and his associates, he,
at last, said, " that, as for what he was bound to
" do from regard to the country and his own
" character, he should always judge for himself.
" He would, however, say thus far, that, neither
" in his capacity of Counsellor to her Royal
" Highness, nor in any other character, had
" he any charge against her Royal Highness,
" orthe means of bringing forward any charge,
" and that he never meant to cast the slightest

history of [Chap.
" reflection upon her ; and that no separation
"from her husband was intended," Then his
opponents poured on him with all their artillery ;
and then carae the public and the press, exclaim
ing, " This is very strange : while we behold the
" royal pair living apart, and while there were,
" only the other day, rumours of separation, the
" counsellor of the Princess and minister of the
" King knows of no ground of charge against
" the Princess 1 " " Really," exclaimed every
one, " as there is no charge against the Regent's
" wife, it is to be hoped that her royal spouse
" graciously intends her speedy return to Carlton-
" house, and that this is the true reason why the
" Prince does not call for a separate establish-
" ment for his wife, while he is so very attentive
" In adding to the means of splendour to be en-
" joyed by his sisters and his mother 1 "
165. Oh the 17th of April (allowing him very
little time for rest) Whitbread renewed the
attack upon Perceval, during one of the stages
of the bill for granting the enormous additional
sum of money to the Princesses and to the
Queen, which, as I said before, was a measure
exceedingly offensive in itself, the Princesses
having already allowances far too great, and the
Queen having fifty-eight thousand pounds a year,
with parks, palaces and gardens endless, and ex
empted from all taxes, Whitbread, upon this
occasion, having first observed that the QueeN

IV.] GEORGE IV,,
was about to hold a drawing-room, asked whe
ther there was to be any pubUc appearance of thCi
Princess of Wales, and he demanded, in the
name of the people, why the acknowledged con-
siort of the Regent did not appear in public as
such. He then went on to say, that THE
BOOK contained an attack on the Prince, and
tiiat Perceval was the author of that attack j
and then he proceeded to ask, what in all the
world could have rendered Perceval so dear to
his Royal Highness. Few men that England
has ever seen could speak so ably as Whitbread j
and, upon this occasion, he seems to have drawn
forth all his shafts, and to have driven them in tcj
the very heart, through the thick hide, of the little
pale-faced lawyer. There sat Perceval, with
out opening his lips ; and without daring to open
his lips, as the whole country felt. Richard
RypER, the brother of Lord Harrowby, and
then secretary of state, whose great versatility and
pliancy of talent make him now content with the
oflfice of Registrar of the Consistory Court ; this
Ryder spoke, not in answer to any-thing that
Whitbread had said ; but to express his hope
that his right honourable Friend, Mr. Perceval,
would continue true to the confidence reposed in
him, and that he would not be tempted by either
threats or attacks, to deviate from a "proper and
" respectful silence," This was followed by roars
of laughter, and by a degree of public scorn such

HISTORY OF [Chap.
as had scarcely ever been witnessed before, Per
ceval said not a word; but the public inter
preted his silence into a confession that he was
unable to defend himself. Further attacks were
in store for him; and, upon this occasion, I, on
the 25th April, called upon him to publish the
BOOK, telling him that his silence should avail
him nothing ; that he might skulk into corners if
he chose ; but that he must face the Book at last;
and I concluded the essay, vvhich I refer to, in
the following words : " Mind, 1 foretel it:,face
" this book he must, if he live but a few months
" longer." The truth of the prophecy was left
unascertained, for Perceval lived only seventeen
days longer, when his existence was terminated
in the manner described in Chapter III, para
graph 126 and onwards, on the llth of May,
1812, 166, There was no reason for Perceval's
death-putting a stop to inquiries in the House of
Commons, relative to the Princess of Wales;
but, it did put a stop to them completely : not
another word was said about her : the Whigs
began again to be alive with expectation, and the
latter part of the session of IS 12 lingered away
while those intrigues were going on with Lords
Grey, Grenville, Wellesley, and the im
pudent spouter, Canning, as mentioned in the
last Chapter, paragraph 135 to 140 inclusive.
The Whig faction, mixed up with the Gren-

IV,] GEORGE IV,
VILLES, as I have before observed, were kept
curiously amused until the end of the session of
1812. From that time to the opening of the
next, the subject lay dormant : there were no
meetings of the people any-where : there was
nothing to create an occasion for making a stir
upon the subject : the people thought a good
deal about it ; but still there was no opportunity
for putting the thing in motion. The parliament
met on the 30th of November, 1812, None of
the members appeared to recollect any-thing about
the poor Princess ; but, on the 14th of January,
she was advised to write a long letter to the
Prince Regent, in which she recapitulated her
various wrongs, and grievously complained ofthe
injury done to her character by almost wholly
cutting off all communication between her and
her daughter. She coraplained that the inter-^
views between them were at first Hmited to once
a week, then to once a fortnight, and that she
learned that even this interdiction was now about
to be more rigidly enforced. She observed that
every mother would make the case her own, and
would naturally conclude, that, tojustify this sepa
ration of the mother from the child, the mother
must be bad. She complained, that, while there
was no charge existing against her, no accuser to
he found ; yet she was treated as if she were still
more culpable than the perjuries of her suborned
traducers had represented her, and held up to the
N 5

HISTORY OF [Chap.
world as a mother who was unfit to be in com
pany with her child,
' 167, The Prin<:!ESs had not a mind, this time,
'that her advisers should betray her. She there
fore, having sent her letter to the Prince, and
having received no answer at the end of a couplfe
of days or so, sent the letter to the press ; and if
she had done that in 1 807, she would never have
had a trial in 1820, and, in all probability, would
'have heen, at this day, alive and happy in Eng;-
land. The publication of the letter of the wife
¦<;ompelled the husband to bestir himself. Shfe
called for investigation : she said, "Prove mfe
guilty, or treat me as innocent." He chose to
to do neither, but issued an oi-der to the Privy
Council, a committee of vvhom were to report to
him on the subject. They met and reported tb
him, and their report was that it was right that
the Intercourse between the mother and the
daughter should continue to be restricted as it
then was, and that there was no foundation for
the assertion, implied in the letter, that the
Prince had suborned the traducers. This com
mittee, of the Privy Council, consisting of the
Archbishops of Canterbury, York, and Ar
magh, the Lord Chancellor Ei.don, Lords Har
rowby, Westmorland, Buckinghamshire,
Bathurst, Liverpool, Mulgrave, Melville,
Sidmouth, Ellenborough, the Bishop of
London, Abbott the Speaker, Vansittart,

JV.J GEORGE IV,
Charles Bathurst, Sir Wm. Grant, Sir
Archibald M'Donald, Sir Wm. Scott, and Sir
John Nichol; this bunch reported to the Prince,
in substance, that he had had nothing to do in
the suborning of Douglas and his wife, and that
he did very right in keeping the mother and the
daughter separated from one another ; and, on
the 23d of February, they made this report, a
copy of which was communicated to the Prin
cess, While these transactions were passing, it
became manifest to me that the Princess had no
real friends in the parliament ; and that the afi-
fair would at last be smothered, unless something
were done to cause a publication of the whole
BOOK, There was yet no part of the particulars
of the charge against the Princess before the
public, who had heard nothing, as yet, about the
birth of the male child ; and this was always
earefiilly kept out of sight by all those, who took
the affair up from apparent friendship for the
Princess, It was to get out this story about the
male child that I had so long been wanting ; and
this story was now brought out in the following
manner. 168. Mr, Cochrane Johnstone lived in
laondon at this time, and he had recently been
returned a member for a Cornish borough. Whe
ther he wrote to me, who lived then at Botley
in Hampshire, or I wrote to him, upon the sub
ject, I do not now recollect; but in the latter

history of [Chap.
part of the month of February, I came up to him
for the express purpose of stirring in this matter.
,The Princess's letter to the Regent had been
published, but the report ofthe Privy Council to
him upon the subject had not been published
when I came up to London, I arrived on the
24th of February, and held a consultation with
Mr, Johnstone as to how we should go to work.
We were perfectly convinced that the Whigs
would not stir an inch except for some selfish pur
pose of their own. We wanted the exposure, in
the first place, from a love of justice, from a de
sire to see this Injured lady righted; and, in the
next place, for the purpose of making the people
see what deeds this government was capable of.
We were contending, along vvith millions of
others, for a restoration of the people's rights ;
and we were convinced that an exposure of this
whole matter would tend greatly to weaken those
by whom those rights were withheld. Dispatch,
however, was necessary to us, for there was a
petition against the return of Mr, Johnstone,
by which we expected that he would be ousted
from his seat, an event which shortly after hap
pened. Mr. Alderman Wood was not then in
parliament, and there was not a man in that
house that we knew any-thing of that would have
made any move whatsoever upon the subject.
The object was to get THE BOOK published
whole and entire ; and the way to do this was to

IV,] GEORGE IV,
make it worse for the enemies of the Princess
to keep it unpublished than to publish it. To
work we went, then, drew up two resolutions to
be raoved by Mr. Johnstone ; and, in one ofthe
last days of February, he gave notice in his place,
that, on the fourth of March, he would move the
resolutions, which he did, in the words hereafter
to be stated. But, now observe, the Princess
OF Wales, seeing this notice of motion before
the House of Coramons, resolved to appeal to the
House herself before the motion should come on;
nay, to appeal to both Houses, to the Speaker of
each of which she, on the first of March, en
closed a letter in the following words :
" Montague House, Blackheath, March 1, 1813.
" The Princess of Wales informs Mr. Speaker that she has
" received from Lord Viscount Sidmouth a copy of a report,
" made in pursuance of the orders of his Royal Highness the
" Prince Regent, hy certain members of His Majesty's most
"honourable priry council, to whom it appears, that his
" Royal Highness had heen advised to refer certain doca-
" ments and other evidence respecting the character and con-
" duct of her Royal Highness. — The report is of such a
" nature, that Her Royal Highness feels persuaded no person
" can read it without being sensible ofthe aspersions which it
" casts upon her ; and although it is so vague as to render it
" impossible to discover the tenor ofthe charge, yet asher Royal
" Highness is conscious of no offence, she feels it due to her-
" self, to the illustrious houses to whioh she is connected by
" blood and marriage, and to the people among whom she holds
" so distinguished a rank, not to acquiesce for a single mo-
" ment in any imputation affecting her honour. — The Prin-
" cess of Wales has not been permitted to know on what eri-
" dence the members of the privy council proceeded in their

history of [Chap.
*' investigation ; nor has her Royal Highness been allowed
" to be heard in her own defence. She knew only by com-
" mon rumour that such an inquiry had been instituted, until
" the result was communicated to her inthe formof the report.
"She knows not whether she is to consider the members of
" the privy council by whom her conduct has been inquired
" into, as a body, to whom she would be authorised to apply
" for redress, or in their individual capacity, as persons se-
" lected to make the reporton her conduct. — ^The Princess nf
" Wales is therefore compelled to throw herself on the wis-
" dom and justice of parliament, and she earnestly desires a
" full investigation of her conduct during the whole period
•¦ of her residence in this country. Her Royal Highness
" fears no scrutiny, however strict, provided it be conducted
" by impartial judges, and in a fair and open maimer, accord-
" ing to law. — Itis her Royal Highness's wish either to be
" treated as innocent, or to be proved g-uilty. — Her Royil
" Highness desires that this letter may be communicated to
" the House of Commons.''
169, The Lord Chancellor, who is the
Speaker of the House of Lords, sent her
letter back twice, without taking any notice
of it. The Speaker of the House of Com
mons, who got the letter on the Monday, not
having laid it before the House, received, on
the Tuesday, a copy of the letter from her Royal
Highness, which she requested to be read to
the House that very day. The Speaker, Abbott,
after a very poor apology, and in great apparent
embarrassment, read the letter on the second
of March, The House seemed astounded : the
reporters stated that an awful silence of some
minutes ensued. This silence was broken by
Whitbread, who asked the Ministers, in a very

rv,] GEORGE IV,
significant manner, what they had to say upon
the subject. After a considerable pause Castle-
liEAGH observed, that as Mr. Cochrane John
stone had given notice of a motion on the subjeet
of the Princess, he did not think it necessary
now to say any-thing on what had taken place.
170. The public curiosity as well as indigna
tion were now at their height. They had not
seen all ; but they had seen enough to convince
them that the Princess had been treated with
unheard-of cruelty and injustice, and that she had
been sacrificed again and again on the merciless
altar of political intrigue.
171. On the 5th of March, Mr, Cochrane
Johnstone moved the two resolutions in the
following words :
1.- — Resolved, That, from the disputes touching- the succes
sion to the throne, bitter public animosities, tumultuous con
tentions, long and bloody civil wars, have, at various periods
of the history of this kingdom, arisen, causing great misery
to the good people thereof, grief and af3iction to the Royal
family, and in some cases exclusion of the rightful heir. —
That, therefore , loyalty and affection to wards the Sov ereign , and
a just- regard to the happiness of the people, call upon every
subject of this realm, and upon this house more especially, to
neglect nothing within their power to prevent the recurrence of
similar calamities from a similar cause. — ^That it has heen stated
to this House by a member thereof, who has offered to prove
the same by witnesses, at the bar of this House, that, in the
year 1806, a commission was issued under his Majesty's
Royal sign manual, authorizing and directing the then Lord
ChanceUor Erskine, Earl Spencer, the then secretary of state
forthe home department, Lord Grenville, the then first lord of

HISTORY OF [Chap.
the Treasury, and the tlien and present Lord Chief Justice
Ellenborough, to inquire into the truth of certain written de
clarations, communicated to his Majesty by his Koyal High
ness the Prince of Wales, touching the conduct of her Royal
Highness the Princess of Wales. — That the said commis
sioners, in pursuance of the said authority and direction, did
enter into an examination of several witnesses, and that they
delivered to his Majesty a report of such examination, and
also of their judgment of the several parts alleged against
Her Royal Highness, which report, signed by the four com
missioners aforesaid, and dated on the 14th of July, 1806, was
accompanied with copies of the declarations, examinations,
depositions, and other documents on which it was founded.
— That it has been stated to this House, in manner aforesaid,
that the said written accusations against her Royal Highness
expressly asserted, * that her Royal Highness had been preg
nant in the year 1802, in consequence of an illicit intercourse,
and that she had in the same year been secretly delivered of
a male child, which child had ever since that period beea
brought up by her Royal Highness in her own house, and un
der her immediate inspection. That the report further stated,
that the commissioners ' Iirst examined on oath the principal
informants. Sir John Douglas and Charlotte his wife, who
both positively swore, the former to his having observed the
fact of the pregnancy of her Royal Highness, and the other
to all the important particulars contained in her former decla
ration, and before referred to,' and that the report added,
' that the examinations are annexed to the report, aud are
circumstantial and positive.' — That the commissioners, after
the above statements, proceeded in their said report to state
to his Majesty that they thought it tlieir duty to examine
other witnesses as to the facts in question, and that they
stated, as the result of such farther examination, ' their per
fect conviction that there is no foundation whatever for
believing that the child now with the princess is the child of
her Royal Highness, or that she was delivered of any child
in 1802, or that she was pregnant in that year,' and that the
commissioners added, ,' that this was their clear and unani-

IV.] GEORGE IV.
mous judgment, formed upon full deliberation, and pronoun
ced without hesitation, on the result of the whole inquiry. —
That the noble Lords composing tlie commission aforesaid
had not, and could not, in that capacity, have any legal power
to pronounce a judgment or decision in the case ; that the
matter of charge submitted to them as a subject of inquiry
amounted to a charge of high treason, a crime known to the
laws, and therefore .triable only in a known court of justice ;
that if, as justices of the peace (a character belonging to them
as privy councillors), they weie competent to receive infor
mations and take examinations regarding tbe conduct of her
Royal Highness, they had no legal power in that capacity,
nor in any other capacity that could be given to them, to pro
nounce an acquittal or a condemnation upon the charge refer
red to them ; for that, to admit them to have been competent
to acquit, is to admit thera competent to have found guilty,
and this would be to admit their competence to have sent her
Bloyal Highness to an ignominious death, in virtue of a deci-
sion founded on selected ex parte evidence, taken before a se
cret tribunal. That the whole report, as far as it relates to
the judgment of the commissioners (if the making of it be not
an unlawful act), is at least of no legal validity, and, in the
eye of the law, leaves the question of the guilt or innocence
of her Royal Highness where the commissioners first found
it-; -that tbe depositions and examinations upon oath (sup
posing the commissioners to have taken them in their capacity
of justices of the peace) possess a legal character ; but that
no legal decision has yet been made upon any of the impor
tant facts stated in these depositions aud examinations, and
that it has not yet been legally decided that the fact posi
tively sworn to, of her Royal Highness having been delivered
of a male child in tbe year 1802, is not true. — That in any
claim to the succession to the throne, which, by possibility
at least, may hereafter be set up, by any aspiring personage
possessed of great power, tlie circumstantial and positive
evidence of Sir John Douglas, and of Charlotte his wife, if
again called for, would still retain all its legal character and
weight, while it might happen, that the evidence ou the other

HISTORY OF [Chap,
side might, from death or other causes, be found deficient ;
and that there can be no doubt that if it should hereafter ba
made to appear, that the facts sworn to by Lady Douglas are
true, and if the identity of the male child so bom should be
proved, he would be the legal heir to the throne, notwith
standing any assertions, or any proofs, relating to the alleged
illicit intercourse of her Royal Highness the Princess of
Wales. — That, therefore, the honour of her Royal Highness
the Princess of Wales, the sacred right of the Princess Char
lotte of Wales, the safety of the throne, and the tranquillity
of the country, do all unite, in a most imperious call ou this
House, to institute now, while the witnesses on both sides
are still living, and while all the charges are capable of being
clearly established, or clearly disproved, an ample and impar
tial investigation of all the allegations, facts, and circumstanqes.
^pertaining to this most important subject of inquiry.
II. — Resolved, that an humble address be presented to
his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, requesting that Hia
Royal Highness will be graciously pleased to order, that a-
copy of a report made to his Majesty on the 14th day of July„
1S06, by the then Lord Chancellor Erskine, Earl Spencer,
Lord Grenville, and Lord Chief Justice Ellenborough, touch*
ing the conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales,
be laid before the House, together with the copies of the fol«
lowing written documents annexed to the report, namely-^
[Here foUoived a list of the documents.]
1 72. It win be observed, that the numerous facts
stated in the first resolution, and also that the
list of documents, mostly a statement of the evi
dence of the witnesses that had been examined
by the four lords, and which were thirty-three in
number, had been furnished us by that part of
the book which Colonel Johnstone had ob
tained in manuscript, and which we had had in
our possession for a year and a half, but whicb

IV.] GEORGE IV.
we did not dare publish, and of which we did
not dare state the substance, unless it were first
stated in sorae document printed by order of
the House of Commons or House of Lords, No
ttiatter for the truth of the facts ; there was a
law of libel to be made to fit us, and, in fact,
there was no stating the facts even ; there was no
speaking to the people about the matter, except
in the shape of resolutions or documents of some
sort, emanating from the Houses of Parliament.
Rotten boroughs have been very wicked things,
and have done mischief enormous ; but upon this
occasion, one of them gave Mr, Cochrane John
stone the power of doing, in the space of a few
days, more real good to the country than I have
ever known any other member of parliament do, or,
indeed, than any other member of parliament has,
perhaps, had the power of doing, in an equal num
ber of years. For here was the whole story now
come to light ; here was the charge of pregnancy
and delivery plainly stated ; and here was laid the
ground for an investigation of some sort ; or, at
the very least, for a publication of THE BOOK,
which, as long as paper and print would last,
must continue to hand down from generation to
generation the true character of those who had
heen concerned in these atrocious transactions.
173. When the motion was made by Mr.
Johnstone, a very great consternation was pro
duced in the House of Commons. He stated his

HISTORY OF [Chap.
reasons very clearly, though briefly, and insisted
that it was the duty of the parliament to adopt
the resolutions and to act upon them. The mo
tion was seconded by Mr. John Wharton, The
Ministers opposed the motion upon the ground
that there vvas no necessity for Inquiry. Sir
Samuel Romilly, who had been solicitor-gene
ral to the Prince, and also solicitor-general under
the Whigs, let out, that he had been chief adviser
ofthe Prince in the case of the Investigation;
but he excited great discontent vvith his conduct
by his not accounting for the non-prosecution of
of Douglas and his wife, both of whom had
sworn positively to the pregnancy, and the latter
even to the delivery, Whitbread, who was a
friend of Romilly, shifted very adroitly from this
point; but the public asked this of Romilly:
Did Lady Douglas swear to the pregnancy and
the delivery ? Was she not proved to be per
jured ? To both these questions he answered.
Yes ; but, when it was put to hira why he did
not indict her for perjury, he answered that that
arose from circumstances which he did not think
proper to explain! He maintained that there
was a legal competency to indict her for per
jury; he allowed that she had sworn falsely
before a competent tribunal '; but he would not
tell why she was not indicted for perjury. The end
of Sir Samuel Romilly was very melancholy and
awful ; but, in contemplating that end, just men

IV,] GEORGE IV,
could not overlook this transaction. The Whigs
acted a very curious part. Mr, Ponsonby, bro
ther-in-law of Lord Grey and the then late Lord
Chancellor of Ireland, opposed the motion of
Mr. Johnstone, and deprecated all attempts to
get into power, by exciting family feuds and dis
sensions. Even Whitbread, before the debate
had concluded, recoraraended, in a sideway man
ner, a withdrawing of the motion. Canning
observed that the acknowledgments of innocence
made during the debate had rendered further pro
ceedings unnecessary. An amendment had been
proposed to leave out the first resolution and
adopt the second. Yorke expressed his hope,
that the mover would withdraw the motion ; Mr,
Cochrane Johnstone declined to assent to the
amendment or to withdraw the resolution, and
said that though defeated in that House, he con
sidered that as the proudest day of his life. This
debate took place on the 5th of March : it hav
ing been put off from the fourth to the fifth ;
and, in ten days from that tirae, THE BOOK
was printed and published, and to be bought in
all the book-shops in London! Never was in
dignation equal to that which was excited by
the publication of this book, which was the
subject of conversation in every tavern, in every
coffee-house, in every ale-house, and by every
fire-side. 174, Now came the time for the people to

history of [Chap.
show themselves, and, in a regular constitutional
¦way, to express their determination to support
the Princess, and also to express their abhorrence
of her persecutors, I have before observed on
the laudable endeavours of Mr, Alderman Wood,
in February and March the year before, when
the Prince came into possession of his full powers.
Now, however, there remained no difficulty ;
now, every doubt was cleared away ; now was a
proper occasion for the people to assemble and
to express their sentiments and determinations
upon the subject. The people had not, indeed,
the power to punish her traducers ; they had not
the power to replace her in Carlton-house ; they
had not the power to give her admission to her
daughter ; but they had the power to show to
all the world, and to that daughter in particular,
that they themselves had not lost the character
left them by their fathers ; that they were lovers
of justice, and haters of false accusers and cow
ardly and cruel persecutors,
175. THE BOOK having circulated amongst
the public for about a week, I thought it high
time that the people of London and Westminster
should begin to stir ; and so thought my friend,
Mr. Cochrane Johnstone. The people them
selves were everywhere calling for meetings, in
order to present addresses to the Princess ;
but, in such cases, there always must be some
body to take the lead, I lived at seventy miles

IV,] GEORGE IV.
from London, and had no place of abode in either
city, and had not then been compelled to be a
liveryman of London. Mr. Johnstone lived nei
ther in London nor in Westminster, and had little
or no connexion with either. Thus situated, we
Jesortedto the great patriot and friend of huma
nity and justice. Sir Francis Burdett ; and,
not a little to our surprise, found him, not only
very cold upon the subject, but decidedly against
the calling of the people of Westminster together
for the purpose of addressing the Princess ! Up-
5etby this coldness of the baronet, I was for giving
the matter up, as far as related to Westminster ;
but Mr, Johnstone, who, in the first place,
never gave any-thing up for a trifle, and who had
more acquaintance with the springs and wires
that move people in high life than I had, sug
gested that we should wait upon the late Lady
Oxford, who was said to espouse warmly the
cause of the Princess, and who was also said (at
least, as Mr, Johnstone so understood) to have
considerable influence with our slow-blooded and
suddenly-become prudent baronet. Her Ladyship
made us no promise to exert any influence that she
might possess with the torpid patriot ; but de
lighted us exceedingly by her brilliant and hearty
conversation, and by the indignation which she
expressed at the treatment of the Princess.
Leaving, for a few days, the baronet to recover
himself from his torpor, I returned to him singly

HISTORY OF [Chap.
in the hope of 'prevailing upon him to have the
meeting called ; or, at the least, to find out the
reasons that made him so backward in the busi
ness. I could do neither ; but I found that he
was immoveable, giving for the only answer, that
there was no power any-where sufficient to get
justice for the Princess ; and that she must con
tinue to endure patiently, and then, "like the anvil,
" she would outlive the hostility of the hammer";
a figure the most completely expressive of the
blessings of passive obedience and non-resistance
that I had ever heard in my whole life, and that
has never been effaced from my memory.
176. From this gentleman, I went back to
Mr. Johnstone's, who lived in Alsop's-build-
ings, in the New- road ; and, walking out into the
garden where I understood he was, there J found
with him Mr. Alderman Wood, " Oh,"'*said I
to myself, " this is not a man of the anvil," In
short, the Alderman had resolved now to put
into execution his intention of the year before,
which the opposition of Waithman, Favell,
and other patriots had then defeated. He told
us that the opposition to his intention was, and
from the same parties, still as great as it had
been before ; but that he was resolved to appeal
from the patriots to the livery; and thathis busi
ness with me was to request that I would draw
up a proper address to the Princess to be pre
sented to her at Kensington Palace, which I

IV.] GEORGE IV,
at once agreed to do, and did it accordingly.
This makes no deduction whatsoever from the
merit of Mr, Wood in this case, any more than
it deducts from the merit of a king, vvhen he
adopts and utters a speech which has been written
by his minister. It vvas Mr. Wood's own inten
tion and undertaking ; and I vvas only his secre
tary in putting the expression of his sentiments
into words; 1 being more able in that respect
than the Alderman was ; and he having the good
sense to perceive this, and not being cursed with
that self-conceit which would have made him
ashamed of receiving assistance so useful.
177. Far was this from being the case with
some of those who belonged io the corporation
of London, and vvho had generally co-operated
with him in his public proceedings, and particu
larly in those proceedings which had the olaject
of a parliamentary reform In view. Amongst
these persons there was a common councilman,
named Robert Waithman, a man, who, for many
years, had taken a conspicuous part in the poli
tics of the city ; a man not destitute of the
powers of utterance, and a raan of sound princi
ples also ; but a man so enveloped, so completely
swallowed up by self-conceit, that, thougli per
fectly illiterate, though unable to give to three
consecutive sentences a grammatical construc
tion, seemed to look upon hiraself as the first
orator, the first writer, and the first statesman of
o

HISTORY OF [Chap.
the whole world. Of nothing that did not ori
ginate with himself; of nothing in which any
other man took the lead ; of no resolution or
motion into which this haberdasher had not put
his pen, did he ever approve, and did he ever not
mar, or endeavour to mar. Mr, AVood having
been the first proposer of an address to the Prin
cess, and especially his having determined upon
an address which had not been written by
Waithman, and into which he had not been suf
fered to put his pen ; for I had made that a
condition with Mr. Wood : these circumstances
were quite enough to ensure the opposition of
Waithman, who, besides, had a sort of sinister
leaning towards, and had a pretty constant under
standing with, the faction called the Whigs, who
wished by all means to prevent this address, and
who, doubtless, urged him on to his opposition.
Waithman had long been the Cock of the de
mocratic party in the city; he was a great speech-
maker, could make very free with facts ; and,
when It suited his purpose, could resort to as
fold play as most men ; and Wood, not being
gifted In the like manner, the former made no
doubt of his triumph, the anticipation of which
was full of mahgnity of heart; for it was this
address, or the failure of this address, which
would manifestly give the tone to the whole
kingdom upon this important subject. Upon the
conduct of such trifling individuals do great
events sometimes turn !

IV,] GEORGE IV.
178, Conceit and malignity met, however, in
this case, with their signal and most appropriate
punishment. The Common Hall consists of the
Lord Mayor, the Aldermen, the Common Coun
cilmen, and the Livery. Upon this occasion,
the hall, which contains many thousands of per
sons, was, nevertheless, exceedingly crowded,
though the Lord Mayor had done everything in
his povver to keep the intended meeting from the
knowledge of the public. Mr. Wood having, in
a short speech, moved the address, it was opposed
by three x'\ldermen of the Tory faction, one of
whom moved an adjournment ; this proposition
vvas received with most clamorous disapproba
tion. This might have been a warning to
Waithman ; but his inordinate conceit over
powered his prudence ; he did not, however, put
himself forward as the leader in the making- cf
a proposition to throw aside the address, and to
pass a mere resolution iu Its place. In order to
eff'ect this purpose, he put forward a Liveryman
of the name of Sturch, who lived in West
minster, who had long been the political tool of
BuBDE-rr in that city, and vvho vvas, doubtless,
sent into the city of London upon this occasion to
assist Waithman in the defeating of Wood ; be
cause Burdett, having refused to call a meeting
in Westminster, was naturally anxious to prevent
the success of such a meeting In the city. What
plotting, what intriguing, what baseness, from
o2

HISTOEY OF [Chap,
the very highest to the very lowest, was put in
practice against this unfortunate woman !
179. This Sturch vvas an ironmonger, a man
of fair character, of deraure deraeanour, and
not wholly Incapable of making a plausible state
ment, and urging plausible reasons. He argued
that the discussion ofthe subject vvas premature;
that it vvas not ripe for discussion ; that it was
not a subject for a Common Hall to discuss ;
but having said that the Livery would degrade
themselves by passing the vote, he was assailed
with marks of disapprobation so strong and so
vehement, as to induce his friend Waithman to
step forward and beg the Livery to behave with
impartiality towards his excellent friend, vvho had
so long laboured for the people in Westminster,
who vvas novv delivering the sentiments of a well-
informed mind, and who novv ought to be lis
tened to vvith respect. After this, Sturch con
cluded by speaking of the danger that was to be
feared from this Injudicious proceeding, and by
urging the necessity of waiting, at least, until an
additional light had been thrown upon the mys
terious and painful subject.
180. Then came Waithman, who began by
saying that he had endeavoured to persuade
Wood from persevering in his motion. He very
soon discovered that the Livery had seen through
his motives ; and, which vvas quite new to him,
he was met with a clamorous " No ! no !" He

IV.] GEORGE IV.
testily observed that his opinions might be worth
nothing in comparison with those of many gen
tlemen who now express their disapprobation.
He then checked himself; endeavoured to recover
his ground ; floundered about ; got some ap
plause by talking about rotten boroughs and
parliamentary reform ; but having seized this
opportunity to return to the address, and to pro
pose that It should be turned into a resolution,
he was received with " No,no, the address, thead-
dress !" which appears to have stung him to the
quick ; his face, which was none of the whitest,
seemed to have assumed a ten times darker die.
His look was furious, while he uttered the words :
"I am sorry tha.t my well-weighed opinions are
" in opposition to the general sentiment so has-
" tily adopted; but I hope that the Livery will
" consider the necessity of preserving its charac-
"ter ior purify and wisdom,"
181. The Cock crowed in vain ; Mr. Wood
refused to make any alteration in his motion ;
Waithman attempted to address the Hall again,
but In vain ; the motion vvas carried almost una
nimously, and the address was agreed to in the
following words : —
TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS OF
WALES.
The 'numble Address of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Liiery,
ofthe City of London, in Common Hali assembled.
May it please your B.oyal Highness,
We, His Majesty's loyal subjects, the Lord Mayor, Alder-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
men, and Livery, of the City of London, in Common Hall
assembled, bearing in mind those sentiments of profound
veneration and ardent affection viith which we hailed the
arrival of your Royal Highness in this country, humbly be
seech your Royal Highness to receive our assurances, that
in the hearts of the citi^ns of London those sentiments have
never experienced diminution or change.
Deeply interested in every event connected with the sta
bility of the throne of this kingdom, under the sway of the
House of Bruns-\vick ; tenderly alive to every circumstance
affecting the personal welfare of every branch of that illus
trious House, we have felt indignation and abhorrence inex
pressible, upon the disclosure of that foul and detestable
conspiracy -i\-hicli, by perjured and suborned traducers, lias
been carried on against your Royal Highness's honour and Ufe.
The veneration for the lavi-s, lhe moderation, tlie forbear
ance, tlie frankness, the magnanimity, which your Royal
Highness has so eminently displayed under circumstances so
trying, and during a persecution of so long a duration ;
these, while they demand on expression of our unbounded
applause, cannot fail to excite in us a confident hope, that
under the sway of your illustrious and beloved daughter, our
childreu will enjoy all tho benefits of so bright an example ;
and we humbly beg permission most unfeignedly to assure
your Royal Highness that, as well for the sake of our couift
try as from a sense of justice and of duty, we shall always
feel, and be ready to give proof of, the most anxious solicitude
for your Royal Highness's health, prosperity, and happiness.
1S2. But the carrying of the address was no
thing, in point of effect upon the government
and country, compared with the presenting of it
to the Princess, which was to take place, at
Kensington Palace, to which the Lord Mayor, the
Aldermen, the Sheriffs, and a hundred of the
Livery, were to go In the state carriages. They
would have to go four miles through the most

IV.] GEORGE IV,
populous and showy parts of London and West
minster, and close by the palace in which the
Prince Regent resided, A message had been
sent to the Princess to know when she would be
pleased to receive the address. When the ap
pointed day had arrived, all the streets leading
from the Guildhall to Carlton House were lined
with anxious spectators ; but the Lord Mayor,
who was a poor creature, had privately ordered
the procession to proceed up Holborn, along
Oxford-road, across Hyde-park, and thus to
Kensington Palace ; thus missing the splendid
part of the two cities, and avoiding the palace
of the Regent, When the procession came
back, however, this supple magistrate received his
due punishment ; the procession came back by
the way of Knightsbridge, and entered Picca
dilly. Thus far the Lord Mayor had yielded to
the almost direct force of the people ; but when
he came to Park-lane, he ordered his carriage to
turn up, in defiance of the cries " To Carlton
House! to Carlton House!" which burst from
all quarters. The two Sheriffs followed him.
They were In their state carriages also ; but the
gold gilding and the mace and the sword of
state did not protect them from the strongest
marks of indignation from the people, who
groaned, hissed, and pelted their carriages with
mud as long as they were in view. The remain-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
ing part of the procession, at the head of which
was the carriage of Mr, Alderman Wood, pro
ceeded along Piccadilly, down St James's-street,
into Pall JNlall, and by the Prince's palace of
Carlton House, opposite which the people
groaned, hissed, and uttered other expressions of
disapprobation. 1S3, These details, unimportant in them
selves, are of the last Importance as descriptive
of the feelings of the people, and as tending to
elucidate future proceedings and events. Impor
tant in all respects as this proceeding was, itwas
particularly important to Mr. Alderman Wood,
The discussion of the matter in the Common Hall
and his resolute conduct there, had justly given
him. In the opinion of the whole nation, the merit
of this brilliant affair, which gave so heavy a
blow to both the political factions, and which in
effect gave the reformers an advantage over those
factions vvhich they had never possessed before.
The horses were taken from Wood's carriage,
which vvas drawn to the palace by the people ; the
Princess treated him with particular marks of
her attention, placed him by her side, and con
versed with him for a considerable time : on his
return, the people again supplied the place of the
Alderman's horses ; he was cheered and ap
plauded with enthusiasm not to be described ;
and it at once became the universal opinion

1V,J GEORGE IV,
that he was the great friend and protector of the-
Princess, an opinion, too, which was no more
than his just due,
184, The answer which the Princess gave to
the address, which was in the following words,
will be found to be vvell written, and extremely
well adapted to the occasion ; and the expression
of her gratitude to the city of London was vvell
calculated to ensure her the support of that city
in future,
I thank you for your loyal and affectionate address . It is
to me the greatest consolation to learn, that during so many
years of unmerited persecution, notwithstanding the active
and persevering dissemination ofthe most deliberate calumnies
against me, the kind and favourable sentiments with which
they did me the honour to approach me on my arrival in this
country, have undergone neither diminution nor change in the
hearts of the citizens of London.
The sense of indignation and abhorrence you express against
the foul and detest-able i-onspiracy which by perjured and
suborned traducers has been carried on against my life and
honour, is worthy of you, and most gratifj'ing to me. It
must be duly appreciated by every hranch of that illustrious
House with which I am so closely connected by blood and
marriage ; the personal welfare of every one of whom must
have been affected by the success of such atrocious machina
tions. The consciousness of my innocence has supported me
through my long, severe, and unmerited trials ; jour appro
bation of my conduct under them is a reward for all my
sufferings. I shall not lose any opportunity I may be permitted to enjoy,
of encouraging the talents and virtues of my dear daughter,
tbe Princess Charlotte ; and I shall impress upon her mind
o 5

HISTORY OF [Chap.
my full sense of the obligation conferred upon me by this
spontaneous act of your justice and generositj^
She will therein clearly perceive the value of that free
Constitution which, in the natural course of events, it will
be her high destiny to preside over, and her sacred duty to
maintain, which allows no one to sink under oppression; and
she -B-ill ever be bound to the city of London in ties propor
tioned to the strength of that filial attachment I have had
the happiness unifoi-mly to experience from her.
Be assured, that the cordial and convincing proof you
have thus givon of your solicitude for my prosperity and hap
piness, will be cherished in grateful remembrance b)"- me to
the latest moment of my life ; and the distinguished pro
ceeding adopted by the first city of this great empire, will
be considered bv posterity as a proud memorial of my vindi
cated honour.
185. The reader will easily Imagine that all this
was wormwood at Carlton House. The efiect vvhich
it would produce upon the country had been clear
ly foreseen, and, therefore, every wheel had been
put In motion to prevent it: Sturch, Waith
man, the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs; every engine
had been set in movement to prevent this effect :
they all failed however : the other cities, begin
ning with the city of Rochester, followed the ex
araple of the city of London : the whole country
was roused in favour of the Princess, and filled
with indignation against her persecutors. And,
the reader is now going to see two most striking
proofs of the effect of a good beginning. The
Common Council of the city of London are the
representatives of the Livery, and this court
consists of Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Com-

IV,] GEORGE IV.
mon-councilmen. This body frequently acts in
dependently of the Livery. They may present
addresses in which the Livery do not join, and
in which they are not called upon to join. In
some cases the bodies meet separately, each pre
senting, upon the same subject, its own petition
or address. Waithman, who was the old Cock of
the Conimon Council, after this brilliant affair of
Kensington palace, could not rest till he too had
got some little share of the clappings and huzzas;
and therefore a Common Council was called for
the purpose not of passing a resolution upon the
subject, but for the purpose of agreeing to an
address ; and, which would astonish any one
not acquainted with the character and mo
tives of this man, he himself was the mover of
this very address, w-hich was also presented to the
Princess by theLord Mayor, Aldermen, and Com-
mon-councilmen ; amongst whom was Waith
man, who, as mover of the address, was formally
introduced to her Royal Highness, whose hand he
very dutifully kissed ! But this was a dull affair
compared with the former ; the assemblage of
the persons comparatively small, the carriage, in
which Waithman was, the horses were sufl'ered to
drag quietly along the street ; every one in Lon
don duly appreciated his conduct ; and as to the
country, this proceeding of the Common Council -
had not the smallest effect, the whole effect
having been produced before.

HISTORY OF [Chap.
186. Novv, too, came forth my man of the
" Anvil," Sir Francis Burdett, the member for
Westminster, who, the reader will remember, had
refused to promote a meeting in that city. He
had, even at this time, by the meansof his various
intrigues and his tools, nearly extinguished all
active public spirit in that city ; but it was
a little too much to suffer Alderman Wood to
carry off all the glory of this great exploit ; and,
after long hesitation ; after putting the thing off
as long as possible, a meeting in Westminster vvas
called, at which also an address vvas passed which
was also to be presented to the Princess at Ken
sington palace. The torpid and mortified Baronet
did not, however, appear at the meeting, but he
sent to be read at the meeting a long letter,
stating that he was confined by illness, at which
he vvas " exceedingly mortified ;" but in which he
expressed his hearty approbation of the object of
the meeting ; and pledged himself to support the
cause of the injured Princess vvith all his might.
This w-as the very man, vvho, but a few weeks be
fore, had expressed his determination to have
nothing to do vvith the matter ; had told me and
Mr. Johnstone, that there was no-where any
power to get justice for the Princess ; and that,
like the anvil under the hammer, she must con
tinue patiently to endure !
187. It is curious to observe, and it is plea
sant to observe, the power which talent, zeal.

IV'l GEORGE IV.
and honesty have over stupidity and insincerity,
however closely associated vvith impudence or
cunning. Here was I, the writer of this history,
filling no public capacity, having no direct povver,
possessing no influence derived from personal con
nexions or from weight of purse ; having not the
means of getting a meeting called, or an address
proposed, by any direct influence of mine, any
more than I have the power of causing this Island
to be moved farther to the north, or farther to
the south. Yet It was really I that put all these
beings into motion ; and compelled them in fact
to do the things which they did, even against
their own Inclination ; and while they were curs
ing and swearing at the idea of being mere tools
in my hands, such tools they were, though they
knew it, and though they knew that I knew it too 1
188, In this case I always except Mr. Wood ;
for he made the proposition to me, or at least,
he came to me for the purpose. But the bring
ing out of the BOOK, which led to all these pro
ceedings, was solely my work ; it originated In
my mind ; and I scorn to disguise, that I was
actuated partly by recollecting that the Prince had
received my thousand pounds fine. It Is good
that men In power should know that those who
suffer from their acts, have memories ; and that
they have not to expect from them indulgence
in return for severities. Men seldom act from
motives wholly unmixed, Mr. Johnstone aud

history of [Chap,
I had both our severities to complain of: the
Prince REGENThad refused hirn what he deemed,
and what I deemed, bare justice; and he had
got my thousand pounds. When, therefore, we
sat down, looking at each other across the
table, and stating our complaints ; and vvhen he
said to me, let us do something, now, before I be
turned out of my seat, I answered, " Do ! vvhat
" can we do ? We have no more povver than
" those two cats which are sitting there be-
" fore the fire. What is our railing worth ?
" Nobody will listen to us ; and as to the Prince
" Regent, he thinks less of us than of any two
" flies that he sees buzzing about his horses,
" Petitions aud memorials from us are only so
" much paper for the clerks in the offices to
" take home for their wives to singe their stale
" fowls with. If, indeed, vve could sef his wife
" in motion, she might do something for us in
" time." '•' God !" said he, " don't you recol-
" lect the ' delicate investigation,' and the
" manuscript papers which 1 brought you when
" you were in Newgate ? " I recollected them
very well, and had a copy safe at home. In a
few months after this conversation between us,
the transactions took place vvhich I had men
tioned in paragraph 168.
1S9. Some one will say : Is this what you call
writing history ? Yes, this is real history : it is
tracing great events to their causes ; it is diving

IV.] GEORGE IV.
down to the springs of action : it is showing men
what they could not know without reading of, or
hearing of, vvhat is here said : it Is conveying
facts that will stick to the raemory; It Is teaching
those who have power, that those on vvhom they
exercise that power, are not always destitute of
the means of obtaining justice at last, in one
shape or another. It is showing, that, how
ever ph3'sical force may prevail for awhile, it is
the mind which will prevail at last; and where
is the young man, vvho vvill not be amused and In
structed at seeing this Sturoh and Waithman
and Burdett and his creatures, and their like all
over the countrj', set in motion, and made to
dance and to gabble just as 1 pulled the wires,
though they envied and hated rae from the bot
tom of their souls ; though they knew how I
laughed at seeing their capers, and hearing their
gibberish ; though they knew that they were my
tools, and that I knew it too I Far, however,
was this from being sport with the government,
and at Carlton House ; it produced prodigious
uneasiness there, and the raore uneasiness because
it furnished no ha.nd\e for taking vengeance on the
parties who caused the uneasiness. There could
be no prosecution for libel here ; there were El
lenborough and Gibbs, with hearts as good and
with fangs as strong and as sharp as ever. There
were the whole tribe of oppressors, just as keen
as ever for imputing sedition to writers and

history of [Chap,
printers ; and they could, too, clearly see the mo
tive and the tendency of the things that were
written and printed; and yet, while they ground
their teeth at the parties they could not bite,
they could not prosecute men as libellers for
praising the wife of the Regent; for defending
her; for maintaining that she was innocent; for
expressing conterapt, detestation, and abhor
rence of her persecutors ; for calling her ac
cusers perjured and suborned; because she her
self under her ovvn name asserted them to have
been suborned ; and because we had it under
the hands of the commissioners, that they had
taken false oaths before a tribunal competent to
receive those oaths. They could not prosecute
men for publishing addresses, presented by cor
porate bodies to one of the royal family ; still
less could they think of prosecuting the answers
of that royal personage to those addresses. Yet,
to publish these addresses, vvas all that we, the
reformers, wished to be able to do : it was a
formidable mode of attacking the system which
we wished to change : we had the most deadly
weapons placed in our hands by the Princess;
or, rather, by hor stupid persecutors themselves ;
but, at the same time, we were covered with ar
mour that rendered us completely invulnerable,
though we had to deal vvith the most sharp-
sighted, raost cunning, and most cruel set of
men that ever wielded the scourge of power ;

IV.] GEORGE IV,
men vvho missed no opportunity of inflicting
punishment for offences, as they called them,
which tended to excite a suspicion of the purity
of the government ; or. In other words, tended
towards producing that parliamentary reform,
which they knew must deprive them of the large
emoluments vvhich they received out of the
purses of the people,
190. They did not fail to show their anger
upon every occasion that presented itself, vvhile
the reformers on their side made their mortifica
tion as great as possible. The nation was now
divided into two parties ; the Reformers on one
side, and the Whig and Tory factions on the
other side ; for, though hating one another as
rivals for the public money. In that only were
they rivals, always uniting most cordially against
the people ; and especially against every one
who laboured to effect a diminution of their
emoluments. These emoluments formed a tree
loaded with golden fruit : these factions fought
like Greek and Trojan /or the tree ; but who
ever aimed at the destruction of the tree itself,
they regarded as a common enemy, and united
most heartily against him.
191. The'mortificatlon of the Prince Re gen
and the government, showed itself in a very
striking manner, by the refusal of the Secretary
of State to cause to be published in the London
Gazette the address of the Common Hall, and

history of [Chap.
the answer of the Princess. This Gazette is
published weekly, under the authority of the
Secretary of State, It sends forth all official
documents ; especially all documents relating to
public transactions with which the royal family
is connected. It, is in short, the record of histori
cal facts, placed in an authentic form, and sent
forth under the authority of the government; and
it had contained every address and every answer of
this description for a great number of j'ears. In
the case of the city of London, such documents
had invariably been inserted in the Gazette, upon
being transmitted to the office by an officer of
the city, called the Remembrancer. Upon this
occasion, these documents vvere not Inserted ;
but, Mr, Wood was not a man to see this slight
cast upon his address without exposing the
spitefulness of the cause. The city Remembrancer
was instructed to apply to the writer of the Ga
zette to be Informed of the cause of the omission ;
he received for answer, that the Secretary of
State, through whom he always received such do
cuments, had not transmitted these to him for
insertion. Upon this the Remembrancer applied
to the Secretary of State, requesting him to cause
the documents to be inserted; and from him he
received an answer In the following words : —
Whitehall, April 7, 1813.
Sir, — I have just received your letter of this day's date ,
inclosing a copy of an Address from the Lord Mayor, Alder-

IV.] GEORGE IV.
men, and Livery of London, to Her Royal Highness the
Princess of Wales, with a copy of Her Royal Higliness's
Answer thereto, and desiring that I will order the s-arae to
be inserted in the London Gazette: in reply, Ihave to ac
quaint you, that in the exercise of the discretion which
belongs to my official situation, I do not think it proper to
cause the Address and answer above-mentioned to be in
serted in the London Gazette. I am, Sir, your most obedient
humble servant, Sidmouth.
" To the City Remembrancer.
192. This Secretary of State was Viscount
Sidmouth, whora we have seen Prime Minister in
the reign of GeorgellL and vvhom we shall, by-
and-by, see the prime Instrument In procuring
and carrying into effect laws for imprisoning
people at pleasure, and for virtually demolishing
all the remains of the liberty of the press. He
was the son of vvhat was called a Doctor ; he had
been a practising barrister of very inferior note ;
Pitt found it convenient to make him speaker of
the House of Commons ; it vvas found convenient
to make him Prime Minister for a short time, in
order to keep the Whigs out of power ; upon the
death of Prrr, he had formed a sort of coalition
with those Whigs who had had the meanness to
permit it as a condition to be allovved to share in
the public money; he had joined Perceval in
the turning out of those Whigs ; and he was now
become Secretary of State under Perceval and
his successor,
IPS. A very fit. person for carrying pn the

HISTORY OF [Chap,
work that was now to be performed. But these
men do not seem to have perceived, that they
gained nothing; but, on the contrary, lost a great
deal by these expositions of their spite. What
they had to do was, to draw the people away
from the Princess ; to make them believe that
she had not been Ill-treated ; aud that, at any
rate, If perjury had been committed against her,
and If the perjurors had been suborned, they, at
any rate, knew nothing of the subornation. If
it had been their object to convince the people
of precl.iely the contrary of this ; If It had been
their object to confirm all the suspicions that
already existed in their minds, and to Induce
them to form a determination to maintain the
Princess against all her enemies and at all risks ;
if these had been their objects, they could not
have acted otherwise than In the manner in
vvhich they did ; of which manner of acting this
conduct, on the part of Sidmouth, forraed an In
teresting specimen. Why not publish the ad
dress and the answer In the Gazette ? Why
refuse to put upon record a declaration of that
innocence vvhich the ministers themselves had
been compelled to confess iu their places in Par
liament ? Why refuse to let it go down to pos
terity that the Princess had been falsely accused
and honourably acquitted ? Why close the re
cords against the admission of this important fact ?
This vvas manifestly an act of crying injustice;

IV.] GEORGE IV,
it discovered a spirit of foul and implacable hos
tility; and this being" raanifest, men naturally
inferred, comraon sense corapeUed them to infer,
that the proceedings against the Princess had
been of the foulest and most malignant character
from the beginning to the end. The spite so
evident in Sidmouth's refusal had great weight
in favour of the Princess. It confirmed her
friends ; It decided the wavering ; and in the
month of May, 1813, it may be truly said that
there was not an honest man nor a virtuous
woraan in England, who did not take part
with her, and who did not despise her perse
cutors, 194, But, it was not merely the vindication of
an innocent and Injured woman ; it vvas not as
the raeans of preserving her only that made men
of sense and public spirit zealous in her cause,
and made them set a high value upon the dis
closures that had been made with regard to her.
Their views and desires, without at all neglecting
her, went a great deal farther. They saw, in the
development of these intrigues and transactions,
the sure means of filling the people with sus
picion and disgust vvith regard to the conduct of
the two greedy and unprincipled factions, and
thereby of proraoting the cause of parliamentary
reform ; or, in other words, getting the public
purse out of the hands of those factions.
195. This was the greatest step that the re-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
formers had ever gained towards the accomplish
ment of their object. It vvas not here discon
tented individuals complaining ; it was not public-
spirited men, whether by writing, speaking, or
combining, endeavouring to wrest unjust power
from the hands of the boroughmongers : for such
men the charges of sedition and treason were
always readv, and the jail.?, dungeons, and gib
bets, vvere always at hand. Here It vvas a very
different matter ; here such men were urging the
people on to espouse the cause of a personage
belonging to the royal family Itself; here these
men vvere doing their utmost to maintain the
high character of the wife of the reigning sove
reign, and the mother of the heiress to the throne.
The charges of sedition and treason had no
ground to rest upon here. The words Jacobin,
Leveller, Revolutionist, Democrat, Republican,
Atheist, which the boroughmongers had rung in
our ears for a quarter of a centurj', lost, In this
case, that power of delusion by the means of
vvhich those boroughmongers had been so long
frightening and beggaring the nation. The
Princess was our shield ; under that shield we
fought most zealously and most successfully ;
and, had it not been for the peace on the Conti
nent, which vve shall find speedily following the
transactions of vvhich I am now speaking, the
reform of the parliament niight possibly have
been accomplished In the jear 1814. Every

IV.] GEORGE IV.
thing promised fair for that result. The enemies
ofthe Princess were obstinate ; they were power
ful, and power never listens to reason ; the Prin
cess was brave ; the question must have been
brought to an issue ; she would soon have found,
that out of the pale of the reformers she had not
a friend upon the face of the earth ; she raust
have joined them openly in a short tirae ; she
must have put herself at their head. With the
exception of very vile women, and such as lived
on the tithes and the taxes ; every woman was
loud in her cause, and with the women she would
have had all the men ; and therefore the result
of the struggle was certain,
196. This struggle was however prevented by
the peace which took place in not many months
after the time of which vve are now speaking ;
and in what manner the peace produced that
effect, we shall presently see. Both the factions
clearly saw their danger ; they saw vvhat must
be the consequence if the Princess remained In
the hands of the reforraers ; and yet itwas a mat
ter of extreme difficulty for them to take her out
of their hands : neither of them dared to espouse
her cause, for that would have been sure to cause
the exclusion from power ; and If they did not
espouse her cause ; if they did not take her part as
the reformers did, how was she to be made to be
Heve that it was prudent In her to quit the re
formers, and to place herself in their hands ?

HISTOUY OF [Chap.
197. Ia this dilemma they resorted to all sorts
of intrigues ; certain women of quality, detest
ing the reformers from the bottom of their
hearts, tendered her offers of their friendship
and services; wheedled themselves into her con
fidence; communicated to the factions all her
views and intentions, and continually whispered
in her ear suspicions with regard to the reform
ers; gave her "prudent" advice; contrived to
make her reserved and cold towards the reform
ers, vvhom they represented as her enemies at
bottom, and as only wishing to make a tool of
her for the purpose of undermining and over
throwing royalty altogether. Amongst the raen
that contrived to get Into her councils were
Whitbread andBRouGHAM,neitherofvvhom had
ever been In place, because no place had ever yet
been within their reach, sufficient to reward their
extraordinary merits ; but they belonged deci
dedly to the faction called the Whigs ; they were
both in Parliament ; they occasionally let drop
expressions favourable to her cause; they thus
ingratiated themselves with her, professing,
doubtless, great anxiety to see justice done her;
but. In the meanwhile, always whispering in her
ear the necessity of keeping aloof from the re
formers. They succeeded to a great extent ; and
thus she was kept quiet, vvhen she ought to
have been continually in motion. We urged
her right to hold drawing-rooms; vve urged her

IV.] GEORGE IV.
to hold them ; vve urged her to hold a court in
the palace at Kensington, unless she were per
mitted to hold her drawing-rooms at St. Jaraes's,
If she had followed our advice, she would have
soon convinced her husband, that she had In reality
the most power of the two. But the Intriguers
prevailed; they kept her quiet; they frightened
her at the idea of listening to men whom they
represented as wishing to overthrow her family.
Ill short, thus beset, she acted a part so un
decided and so equivocal, and showed, appa
rently at least, so little sense of her wrongs, and
so little desire to obtain redress for those wrongs ;
she appeared to be so contented in her state of
seclusion ; so little sensible of the dishonour of
being banished from the court ; so passive, so
tame, that at last the people began to cool, and,
not a few of them began to doubt, that there
must be something at bottom that made her re
luctant to set her enemies at defiance. This,
however, could not have lasted long ; she would
soon have found some new affront, some new
mark of degradation would have been inflicted
upon her; she would then have been roused to
open resentment, and thrown back into the hands
of the reformers, there to remain. But now, in
April 1814, just a year after she had received the
address from the Common Hall of the city of
hoiiAon, peace took place, in consequence of the
fall of Napoleon ; and that fall, of the causes of
p

HISTORY OF [Chap.
which vve shall have to speak by-and-bj', was not
much more complete in his case, than the step
which she had been induced to take at the insti
gation of her insidious advisers, finally was fatal
to her. She was safe nowhere but In England :
everywhere else her bitter eneraies had the
nieans of effecting her ruin. They had suc
ceeded in keeping her quiet for a short space, but
they could not have succeeded in this long ; she
even began to testify great impatience ; but novv
the way was open for them to advise her to travel
upon the Continent, and in evil hour she lis
tened to and followed that advice, by which she
brought upon herself a long string of new
charges, had again to encounter the effect of
new perjuries, new caluranies, and a long series
of persecutions, ending at last in her death ; all
which raay fairly be ascribed to her having lis
tened to the deadly advice of these insidious
deceivers, to vvhich must, however, be added, an
innate, an inveterate propensity in herself to
think meanly of the people,
198. It was so manifest that England was her
only place of safety ; it was so clear that her
absence would cool the people in their zeal for
her ; that she would become in some degree
forgotten ; that, besides these considerations, the
women would wonder (and English women in
particular) how a mother could voluntarily sepa
rate herself from her daughter, and especially a

IV,] GEORGE IV.
mother who had made it ground of former com
plaint to both houses of Parliament, that she was
not permitted to see her daughter more than
twice a week ! In short, this step was so mani
festly calculated to give her husband a triumph
over her, and to lay the foundation of her seclu
sion for life, if not for her destruction, that the
wonder is how it became possible for her to be
prevailed upon to adopt it.
199. With regard to the motives of those who
gave her the advice, all doubt has been since removed
by Canning, who, not belonging to the Minis
try at the time, contrived to become one of her
advisers ; he ingratiated himself With her, flat
tered her, supplanted Mr, Wood, and, indeed,
Brougham and Whitbread besides; and perhaps
the giving of this advice formed no small part of
his claim to the premiership which he afterwards
obtained. He has since confessed, and even
boasted, in his place in Parliament, that it was
he who prevailed upon her to exchange England
for the Continent as the place of her residence ;
and, at the same time, he declared that he did
this, " because he saw that sedition had marked
her for its own ;" that is to say, that he saw she
would become a powerful instrument In the hands
of those who wished to effect a reform of those
monstrous abuses of which he had always been a
zealous and deeply interested upholder. Such was
the motive with which this advice was given. From

HISTORY OF [Chap
the monielit that It vvas acted upon, began those
miseries ofthe Princess, which were destined to
end only vvith her life. Everywhere she moved
amidst spies and informers ; at every court she
met with an insult, in every tovvn and every vil
lage she vvas dogged by a spy ; the creatures, fed
by her bounty, were everywhere ready to betray
and defame her; she,, at last, vvas brought to an
open trial ; arraigned as an adulteress and a most
dissolute woman ; was saved from an Ignomi
nious sentence by those very English reformers
on vvhom she had been prevailed to turn her
back ; and even this second triumph, which the
reformers had given her, she vvas induced to cast
away by again listening to the advice of the foes
of reform. Here she ended ; her death was the
consequence ; and again the reformers rescued
her remains from dishonour.
200. Of the details of this last set of proceed
ings, which took place in 1820 and in 1821, I
shall have to speak hereafter ; and I must novv
return a little to speak of that great event, the
fall of the Emperor Napoleon ; an event, the
greatest In itself, and the greatest In its conse
quences, of any which took place during this
regency and reign,
201. The progress, the wonderful exploits, of
Napoleon, together vvith the manner in which he
had foisted his brothers upon the states which his
army had overrun ; these along with the ground

IV.] GEORGE IV.
of his new war against the Emperor of Russia -will
find a place In that part of the history of this
country vvhich vvill belong to the reign, the ruin
ous and desolating reign, of George 111, We
have here to speak of the overthrow, the de
thronement and the banishment of Napoleon, in
the month of April 1814, He fell twice; once
in 1S14. and once in 1815, It is of the first fall
which we have novv to speak : we shall then
speak of the second fall ; and then describe the
consequences of both to this our own country ;
for these consequences are the matters which are
interesting to us. It is, however, an interesting
raatter to know how so much power as that which
he possessed in 1813 came to be melted away in
a moment ; therefore I shall, as briefly as pos
sible, describe the causes of a change so wonder
ful and so sudden,
202, If he had, in this his attack upon Russia,
confined himself within narrower bounds, he
would, no doubt, have brought the Autocrat upon
his knees ; but his cormorant ambition induced
him to aim at the capture of Moscow, the ancient
capital of the Russian empire. If he had had pa
tience to wait for the return ofspring, he might even
have accomplished this ; nay, he might have suc
ceeded In the winter, had not the Autocrat re
sorted to a species of hostility, more horrible than
the world had ever heard of before, and such as
could, be justified by no motive whatsoever, not

HISTOEY OF [Chap.
even that of preserving the independence of a
state, together with the life of its sovereign, and
of all its established authorities.
203. Napoleon had made his calculations with
great exactness. He knew the number of days
that would be required to take his army to Mos
cow; he knew the exact degree of suffering which
that array would have to endure upon its march
thither ; but he knew that he should meet with
no resistance there ; he knew that his army would
be vvell provided for during the reraainder of the
winter ; and he reasonably calculated, that in the
spring he should be able to dictate his own terms
of peace, one of vvhich was that the " magnani
mous Alexander" &hon\A ag&inloin him in the
war against England. All this knowledge was
rendered useless ; all these calculations were made
to be false, by an act on the part of the Autocrat,
such as never before had been conteraplated ; an
act before deemed too horrible to be attributed to
the mind of any human being ; an act, the very
thought of perpetrating which, fills us with inde
scribable horror ; namely, the setting fire to and ut
terly destroying the whole of the city of Moscow,
containing three hundred thousand souls ; the
whole of whom, with the exception of a handful of
troops, for whom provision had been made and
conveyances had been prepared beforehand, pe
rished, either in the flames, or upon the snow I
Let the reader contemplate this scene for a mo-

IV.] GEORGE IV,
ment ; let him hear the screaming mothers ; let
him reflect upon the nuraber of thera that must
have been under the operations of childbirth;
let him  but the thing is too horrible
to think of; let him only know these two facts,
that in England the act was, by the public prints,
ascribed to orders given by the Autocrat ; and
that those same prints, generally speaking the
Sentiments of those who lived on the taxes and
on the tithes, applauded to the skies the magna
nimous giver of the order, and the Instrument by
whom the order was executed I Aye, and scarcely
was there to be found a single publication in Eng
land to express disapprobation of the ferocious
deed ; every feeling being lost, every sentiraent
of raercy having been banished from the breast,
by the desire of seeing produced such a revolu
tion in France as should restore the Noblesse and
the tithes in that countrj', and thereby furnish an
unanswerable argument, wherewith to silence the
reformers of England ; which, as it had been the
original object of the war against the republicans
of France, was still the object of the war against
the Emperor of France, who, though a despot, had
showed a determination not to restore the ancient
Noblesse, and not to restore tithes,
205. Napoleon, instead of finding a great
and well-provided citj-, wherein to quarter his
troops, together with all the means which it
would naturally furnish of obtaining fresh sup-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
plies according to the Russian manner, found a
wide-spread heap of smoking ashes, the residuum
of buildings, consisting of wood, surrounded with
snows strewed with dead bodies. To retreat was
almost as certain destruction as to He down on
the snow and perish at once. Retreat, however,
he did ; but the far greater part of his army
perished from the Intensity of the cold, or were
burled in the mountains of snows. The blazing
of Moscow, and the certain consequences of that
horrible act, emboldened the states of Europe
to rise simultaneously for his destruction ; and,
before he, with the reraains of his array, joined
by the detachments which he left on his vvay,
could reach the confines of France, the whole of
those states were in arms against him. Austria
and Prussia, which had crouched down before
him ; Bavaria, whose chief he had erected into a
king ; all the petty states of Germany, through
which he had to pass ; even his brother-in-law
Murat, whom he had made king of Naples,
and his other brother-in-law Le Clerc, whom
he had made king of Sweden, joined In the
league ; he had to cut his way to France through
myriads of bayonets ; the English army in Spain
entered France dn the south side, at the same
time. When he arrived at Paris, he found that
treachery had not left him one square yard of
earth on which he could find safety ; and, thus
reduced, he consented to a treaty of abdication.

IV.] GEORGE IV.
which consigned him to the little island of Elba,
as his prison for life, superintended and watched
by an agent of the government of England.
205, But, it is to take a very shallow view of
the matter to ascribe this signal fall to mere
physical causes and the reverses of war. We
must look a great deal deeper than this, in order
to discoverthe real causes ofthe fall of Napoleon.
The combination against him was formidable;
every bayonet out of France and Belgium, put in
motion by English money (the loans of vvhich
we have yet to pay), was pointed at him ; but
notwithstanding all this, if the French had felt
towards him as in the days of the Republic, all
his enemies would have been scattered like dust
before the wind. But his vanity was the cause
of his ruin. He was a tyrant ; but that might
have passed,had he not had the vanity to ally him
self with the ancient despots of Europe, Hehad
doue many things to offend the French people,
which their inordinate love of military glory and
their unbounded admiration of his exploits, made
them overlook ; but his casting ofi^ the wife, who
had been his sensible and faithful companion
when he began his career, and taking, in her stead,
a daughter of the house of Austria, was an act
to obliterate which from the minds of men no
brilliancy of military exploits was sufficient.
His despotic acts had greatly shaken him
ifl the attachment of the people; his abolish-
Q

HISTORY OF [Chap.
ing of the Republic, his assuming the title of
Emperor, his severe and insolent acts and de
meanour, had lost him the love of the people ;
but his vanity lost him his crown ; and vanitj',
too, of a species the most contemptible. He
must needs be not only a royal personage himself,
but he must become a propagator of the breed
of the old royal race ; he must marry amongst
them ; and, what was most abominable, after all
that the French people had done and had suf
fered, in order to rid themselves for ever of the
pernicious influence of the detested house of
Austria, he must needs bring a daughter of that
very house, and insultingly place her over that
same French people ; he must bring, to be the
sovereign empress of France, the niece of that
same Marie Antoinette, whom the French
people, in delivering theraselves from her unbear
able tj'ranny and Insolence, had, in the excess of
their ungovernable ; and, indeed, unwarrantable,
resentraent against her, dragged as a malefactor
to the scaffold I
206, To himself, the consequence of his
vanity was ruin ; for, had it not been for that
empty vanity, even his resolution to be an Em
peror or a King would, had it not been for this
matrimonial alliance, not prevented him from
being able to destroy all the old dynasties ; all
the sovereigns of the continent would have been
of his creation ; the right to reign would, every-

IV.] GEORGE IV.
where, have rested upon the same foundation.
But this marriage with the house of Austria
seemed actually to have turned his brain. He
became insolent. He spoke of the people in a
style more haughty, more disdainful, than any of
the old sovereigns ever had done. Even when
chased to the frontiers of France, he still pre
served this insolent style in speaking of the peo
ple. His Arch -chancellor of the empire, an
upstart, whom he had entitled the Count de Fon-
TANES, made a report to him, in which, after
complaining of other acts of hostility committed
by the alHed sovereigns, he coraplains of an
appeal which those sovereigns had made to the
people, and of the democratical principles incul
cated by that appeal. The words are ever me
morable ; the utterance and promulgation of
them by Napoleon ; this at once base and in
solent act merited the fate which he finally
experienced ; only he should have received that
fate at the hands of the peopjle. One would
thiiik that the man must have been mad ; but
when one reflects on the thoughts and feelings
which are engendered by long possession of abso
lute power, one can account for even these most
audacious words, promulgated to the world by a
man whom Pitt had truly called the " child and
the champion of jacobinism ;" that is to say, of
the plain and generous and just principles of^
democracy. This man owed all his riches, all
o2

HISTORY OF [Chap.
his power, all his rank, all his glory, to thepeople
of France, He possessed not a shilling or a hem
of a garment which had not been bestowed by
them. They ordered him forth, or rather they
led him forth, for the purpose of crushing all
the old despotisms ; all the glory achieved by
their wondrous valour, and their still more
wondrous disinterestedness, they heaped upon
him. Even now, when his own cormorant ap
petite for fame, and for personal and for family
aggrandizement, had brought him back almost a
fugitive to their frontiers, they were still ready to
rescue him ; but, the Allies having made an ap-
pieal to the people of France, he, as will be seen
by the following words of the report, resented
that appeal ; not because it was an act of hos
tility to him, but because it had a tendency to
encourage the people to be refractory and dis
obedient to sovereign sway ! " In the interval,"
says this audacious report, " a Gazette, now
" under the Influence of the Allied Powers,
" published to all Europe a declaration, which is
" said to be furnished with their authority : it
" would be melancholy to believe it. This de-
" claration is of a nature unusual in the diplo-
" macy of kings. It is no longer to kings, like
" themselves, that they explain their grievances,
" and send their manifestos : it is to the people
" that they address them ; and from what mo-
" tive do they adopt such a new method of pro-

IV.] . GEORGE IV.
" ceeding ? It is to separate the cause of the
" people from that of their governors, though
" the interest of society has every-where united
" them. May not this example he fatal? Should
" it be given, especially at this period, when
" people's minds, agitated by the diseases of
" pride, are so averse to bending under the au-
" thority which protects them, while it represses
" their audacity ? And against whom is this in-
" direct attack airaed? Against a great raan, who
" merited the gratitude of all kings ; because,
" -by re-establishing the throne of France, he has
" closed vp the volcano which threatened them
" all,"
207. Never did Austria, Prussia, Russia, or even
the Dey of Algiers, put forth any-thing so Insulting
to the people as this. In vain did the insolent man,
who arrived in Paris a few days after the issuing
of this report, issue his decrees for the raising of
troops, for the raising of levies en masse ; in vain
did he strut and supplicate atthe sarae tirae; the
people became disgusted with his vanity and in
solence; the AlHes pushed on towards Paris ; and
he, not having the courage to leave his dead body
in the ditch of that city, fled to Fontalnbleau,
where, by a treaty in the following words, he ab
dicated his imperial and all other titles and claims,
and consented to be sent a tame prisoner to a
Httle insignificant spot In the Mediterranean sea,
called the Isle of Elba 1 This treaty is a docu-

HISTORY OF [Chap,
ment which will be memorable in the history of
Europe. Young men should read, clearly under
stand, and well remeraber every part of it.
ARTICLES OF THE TREATY BETWEEiV THE AL.
LIED POWERS AND HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR
NAPOLEON.Art. 1. His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon renounces for
himself, his successors, and descendants, as well as for all the
members of liis faniily, all right of sovereignty and dominion,
as well to the French Empire, and the Kingdom of Italy, as
over every other Country.
Art. 2. Their Majesties the Emperor Napoleon and Maria
Louisa shall retain their titles and rank, to be enjoyed during
their lives. The mothei*, the brothers, sisters, nephews, and
nieces, of the Emperor, shall also retain, wherever they may
leside, the titles of Princes of his family.
Art. 3. The Isle of Elba, adopted by his Majesty the Em
peror Napoleon as the place of his residence, shall form, du
ring his life, a separate principality, which shall be possessed
by him in full Sovereignty and property ; there shall be be
sides granted, in full property, to the Emperor Napoleon, an
anuual revenue of 2,000,000 francs, in rent charge, iu the
great booi of France, of which 1,000,000 shall be in reversion
to the Empress.
Art. 4. The Duchies of Parma, Pl,-icentia, and Guastalla,
- shall be granted, in full properly and Sovereignty, to her Mo-
jesty the Empress Maria Louisa; they shall pass to her son,
and to the descendsnta in the right line. The Prince her son
shall from henceforth take lhe title of Prince of Parma, Pla
centia, and Guastalla,
Art. 5. All the Powers engage to employ their good offices
to cause to be respected by the Barbary powers the flag and
territory ot the Isle of Elba, for which purpose the relations
with the Barbary Powers shall be assimilated to those with
France, Alt. €, There shall be reserved in the territories hereby

IV,] GEORGE IV,
renounced, to his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, for himself
and his family, domains or rent-charges in the great book of
France, producing a revenue, clear of all deductions and
charges, of 2,500,000 francs. These domains or rents shall
belong, in full property, and to be disposed of as they shall
think fit, to tbe Princes aud Princesst s of his family, and shall
be divided amongst them in such manner that the revenue of
each shall be iu the following proportion, viz. Fratics,
To Madame Mere  300,000
To King Joseph and his Queen  300,000
To King Louis  200,000
To the Queen Hortense and her children . , 400,000
To King Jerome and his Queen  400,000
To the Princess Eliza  300,000
To the Princess Paulina  300,000

2,500,000
The Princes and Princesses of the House of the Emperor
Napoleon shall retain besides their property, moveable and
immoveable, of whatever nature it may be, which they shall
passess by individual and public right, and the rents ofwhich
they shall enjoy (also as individuals).
Art. 7, The annual pension of the Empress Josephine shall
be reduced to 1,000,000, in domains, or in inscriptions in tha
great book' of France : she shall continue to enjoy in full pro
perty, all her private property, moveable and immoveable,
with power to dispose of it conformably to the French laws.
Art. 8. There shall be granted to Prince Eugene, Viceroy
of Italy, a suitable establishment out of France.
Art. 9. The property which his Majesty the Emperor Na
poleon possesses in France, either as extraordinary domain, or
of private domain attached to the Crown, the funds placed by
the Emperor, either in the great book of France, in the Bank
of Fiance, in the Actions des Forets, or in any other manner,
and which his Majesty abandons to the Crown, shall be re
served as a capital, which shall not exceed 2,000,000, to be
expended in gratifications in favour of such persons, whose

HISTORY OF [Chap.
names shall be contained in a list to be signed by the Emperor
Napoleon, and shall be transmitted to the French Government.
Art. 10. All the Crown diamonds shall remain in France,
Art. 11. His Blajesty the Emperor Napoleon shall return to
the Treasury, and lo the other public chests, all the sums and
eflects that shall have been taken out by his orders, with the
exception of what has been appropriated from the Civil List.
Art. 12. The debts of the Household of his Majesty the
Emperor Napoleon, such as they were on the day of the signa
ture of the present Treaty, shall be immediately discharged
out of the arrears due by the public Treasury to the Civil List,
according lo a list whicli shall be signed by a Commissioner
appointed for that purpose.
Art. 13. The obligations of the Mont-Napoleon, of Milan,
towards all the creditors, wheiher Frenchmen or foreigners,
shall be exactly fulfilled, unless there shall be any change made
in this respect.
Art. 14. There shall be given all the necessary passports for
the free passage of his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, or of
the Empress, the Princes, and Princesses, and all the persona
of their suites who wish to accompany them, or to establish
themselves out of France, as well as for the passage of all the
equipages, horses, and effects belonging to them. The Allied
Powers shall in consequence furnish officers and men for
escorts. Art. 15. The Frenoh Imperial Guard shall furnish a detach
ment of from 1,200 to 1,300 men, of all arms, to serve as an
escort to tho Emperor Napoleon to St. Tropes, the place ofhis
embarkation. Art. 16. There shall be furnished a corvette, and the neces
sary transport vessels, to convey to the place ofhis destination
his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon andhis household; and
the corvette shall belong, in full property, to his Majesty the
Emperor. Art. 17. The Emperor Napoleon shall be allowed to take
•with him and retain as his guard 400 men, volunteers, as well
officers, as sub-officers and soldiers.
Art. 18. No Frenchman, who shall have followed the Em^

IV,] GEORGE IV.
peror Napoleon or his Family, shall be held to have forfeited
his rights as such, by not returning to France, within three
years ; at leost they shall not he comprised in the exceptions
which the French Government reserves to itself to grant after
the expiration of that term.
. Art. 19, The Polish troops of all arms, in the service of
France, shall be at liberty to return home, and shall retain
their arms and baggage, as a testimony of their honourable
services. Tbe officers, sub-officers, and soldiers, shall retain
the decorations which have been granted to them, and the
pensions annexed to those decorations.
Art. 20. The high Allied Powers guarantee the execution
of all the Articles of the present Trealy, and engage to obtain
that it shall be adopted and guaranteed by France.
Art. 21. The present Act shall be ratified, and the ratifica
tions exchanged at Paris within two days, or sooner if
possible. Done at Paris, the llth of April, 1814.
(L.S.) The Prince de METTEBxrcir.
(L.S.) J. P. Comte de Stadion.
(L.S.) Andre Comte de Rasoumoufsky.
(L.S.) Charles Robert Comte de Nesselrode.
(L.S.) Castlereagh.
(L.S.) Charles Augusts Baron de Hardenberg,
(L.S.) Marshal Ney.
(L.S.) Caulixcouht.
208, The disgrace here Inflicted upon this vain
and insolent man is too obvious to require obser
vation ; but it is not inappropriate to mark his
baseness towards the French people. Not one
stipulation does he obtain in favour of the peo
ple of France ; not a .single stipulation even for
those soldiers who had gained him his glories,
and thousands upon thousands of whom he had
a5

HisroRY OF [Chap,
left prisoners in the hands of the enemies of
France; but, if he had been Jew or loanmonger,
he could not have stipulated more tightly for him
self, and for every member of his family, to sup
port whom, in luxury and with their upstart titles,
he loaded the people of France with the payment
of an annuity of a hundred thousand pounds
sterling a year. It was great baseness in the BouR-
BONs to submit to this ; but he ought to have
died a thousand deaths rather than to purchase
his life upon such terras; or, rather, to sell the
people of France in a manner so barefaced,
209. In the meanwhile the Bourbons, with
all their train of old tyrannical noblesse, which
time and the miseries of banishment had left
them, were returning to Paris; where, on the
30th of May, 1814, they entered Into trea
ties with the AUies, These treaties, which will be
presently inserted, must be read with great care
and attention. In order that the reader may have
a clear view of the terms to which the Bourbons
submitted for the sake of regaining their power,
and more especially for the sake of living in
idleness, luxury, and debauchery, on the fruit
and labour of the industrious people of France.
In every line of them we see the insolence of the
Allies,^ and the baseness of the Bourbons ; in
every line of them, revenge on the brave people of
France ; in every line of them, an anxious desire to
stifle the spirit of liberty for ever.

IV,] GEORGE IV,
TREATY OF PEACE.
In tite Name ofthe Most Holy and Undivided Trinity,
Article I. There shall be, reckoning from this date, peace
and friendship between his Majesty the Kiug of France and-
Navarre, on the one part, ond his Majesty the Emperor of
Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and his Allies on tha
other part, their heirs and successors, their respective states
and subjects in perpetuity. The high contracting parties
shall apply all their cares to maintain, not only between them
selves, but nlso as far as depends on tbem between all the
states of Europe, the good agreement and understanding so
necessary to its repose.
Art. II, The kingdom of France preserves the integrity of
its limits, such as they existed at the period of the 1st of Ja
nuary, 1792. It shall receive besides an augmentation of ter
ritory comprised within the line of demarcation fixed by the
following article : —
Art. Ill, On the side of Belgium, Germany, and Italy, the
ancient frontier, such as it existed on the 1st January, 1792,
shall be re-established, the same commencing from the North
Sea, between Dunkirk and Niewport, even unto the Mediter
ranean between Cagnes and Nice, with the following ratifica
tions : —
1. In the department of Jemappes, the canton of Dour
Merbes-le-Cfaateau, Beaumont, and Chimay, shall remain to
France ; the line of demarcation, where it touches the canton
ot Dour, shall pass between that canton and those of Boussu
and Paturage, as well as, farther on, between that of Morbea-
le-Chateau, and those of Binch and Thuin,
2. In the department of the Sambre and Meuse, the can
tons of Valcouit, Florennee, Beauing, and Gedume, shall be
long to France ; the demarcation, upon reaching this depart
ment, shall follow the line which separates the forementioned
«antons, from the department of Jemappes, and from the rest
of that of the Sambre and Meuse.
3. In the department of the Moselle, the new demarcation
where it differs from the old, shall be formed by aline to bb

HISTORY OF [Chap..
drawn from Perle as far as Fremorsdurf, orby that which se
parates the canton of Tholey, from the rest of the department
of the Moselle,
4. Iu the department of the Sarre, the cantons of Saarbrock
and Aruwal shall remain to France, as well as that part of the
canton of Lehach, which is situated to thesouth of aline tobs
drawn along the confines of the villages of Herehenbach.
Uebechosen, Hilsbach, and HaU (leaving these different
places without the French frontier) to the point where, taken
from Querselle (which belongs to France), tbe line which se
parates the cantons of Arnwal and Ottweiler, reaches that
-which separates those of Arnwal and Lehach ; the frontier on
this side shall be formed by the line above marked out, and
then by tbat which separates the canton of Arnwal from that of
Sliescastel. 5. The fortress of Landau having, prior to the year 1792,
formed an insulated point in Gerraany, France retains beyond
her frontiers a part of the deparlments of Mont Tonnerre and
the Lower Rhine, in order to join the fortress of Landau and
its dislrict to the rest of the kingdom. The new demarcation
proceeding from the point where, at Obersteinbach (which
remains without the French frontier) , the frontier enters the
department of the Moselle, and that of Mont Tonnerre, joins
the dep-arlment ofthe Lower Rhine, shall follow the line which
separates the cantons of Wcissenburgh and Bergzaheru (on
the side of France) from the cantons of Pirmasens, Dalm, and
Anweller (on the side of Germany), to the point where these
limits, near the village of Wobnersheim, touch the ancient dis
trict of lhe fortress of Landau, Of this district, which remains
as it v.-as in 1792, the new frontier shall follow the arm of the
river Queich, which, in leaving this district nearQueicheira
(which rests with France) , passes near the villages of Merlen-
Iieim, Knillelsheim, and Beiheim (also remaining French) to
the Rhine, which thence continues the boundary between
France and Germany, As to the Rhine, the Thalveg, or
course of tbe river, shall form the boundary; the changes,
liowever, which may occur in the course of the river, shall
have no effect on the property of the isles which are found

IV.] GEORGE IV.
there," Tbe possession of these isles shall be replaced under
the same form as at the period of the Treaty of Luneville,
6. In the department of the Doubs, the frontiers shall he
drawn so as to commence above La Ranconniere, near the
Loell, and follow the crest of the Jura between Cerneaux
Pequignot andthe village of Fontenelles, so far as that summit
ofthe Jura which lies about seven or eightmiles to the north
west of the village of La Brevine, where it will turn back
within the ancient limits of France.
7. In the department of the Leman, the frontiers between
the French territory, the Pais de Vaud, and the different
portions of the territory of Geneva (which shall make apart
of Switzerland), remain as they were before the incorporation
of Geneva with France. But the canton of Frangy, thatof
St. Juben (with exception of that part lying to the norlh of a
line to be drawn from the point where the river of La Laire
enters near Chancery into the Genevese territory, along the
borders of Sesseguin, Laconex, and Seseneuve, which shall
remain without the limits of France), the canton of Regnier
(with exception of that portion which lies eastward of a line
following the borders of the Muraz, Bussy, Pers, and Cornier,
which shall be without the French limits), and tbe canton of
La Roche (with exception of the places named La Roche and
Armanay, with their districts), sh-all rest with France. The
frontier shall follow the limits of those different cantons, and
the lines separating those portions which France retains from
those wbich she gives up.
8. In the departraent of Blont Blanc, France shall obtain the
snbprefecture of Chambery (with exception ofthe cantons de
I'Hopiial, St, Pierre d'Abigny, La Rocette, and Montme-
lian), the subprefecture of Anneey, with exception of that
part of the canton of Faverges, situated to the er.st of a line
passing between Ourechaise aud Marilen on the Frenoh side,
and Marlhod and Ugino on the opposite side, and which then
follows the crest of the mountains to the frontier of the can
ton of Thones. This line, with the limits of the aforenamed
cantons, shall constitute the new frontier on this side. On
the side of the Pyrenees, the frontiers remain as they wera

HISTORY OF [Chap,
between the two kingdoms of France and Spain, on the lst of
January, 1792. There shall be appointed on the part of both,
a mutual commission to arrange their final demarcation.
France renounces all claims of sovereignty, supremacy, and
possession over all countries, districts, towns, and places
whatsover, situated without the above stated frontier. The
principality of Monaco is replaced in the same situation as on
the 1st of January, 1793, The Allied Conrts assure to Franco
the possession ofthe principallity of Avignon, the Vanaissin,
the county of Monthealird, and all tbe inclosed districts once
belonging to Germany, comprised within the above indicated
frontier, wbich had heen incorporated wilh France before or
after the 1st of January, 1792, The powers preserve mu
tually the full right to fortify whatever point of their states they
may judge fitting for their safety. To avoid all injury to pri
vate property, and to protect ou the most liberal principles the
possessions of individuals domiciliated on Ihe frontiers, there
shall be named by each of the states adjoining France, com
missioners, to proceed jointly with French commissioners, to
the demarcation of their respective boundaries. So soon as
the ofiice of these oommissioners shall be completed, instra
ments shall be drawn up, .signed by them, and posts erected to
mark the mutual limits.
Art. IV. To secure the communications of the town of Geneva
with the other parts of the Swiss territory on the Lake, France
consents that the roads by Versoy shall be common to the two
countries. The respective Governments will have an amica
ble understanding on the means of preventing smuggling, the
regulation of tbe posts, and the maintenance of the roads.
Art. V. The navigation ofthe Rhine, from the point where
it becomes navigable to the sea and back, shall be free, so as
tobe interdicted to no person. Principles shall be laid down
at a future Congress, for the collection of the duties by the
states of the banks, in the manner most equal and favourable
to the commerce of all nations. It shall be also inquired and
ascertained at the same Congress, in what mode, for the pur
poses of more facile commuuication, and rendering nations
continually less strangers to each other, this disposition may

IV.J

GEORGE IV.

be extended to all rivers, that in their navigable course sepa
rate or traverse different states.
Art, vr, Holland, placed under the sovereignty of the
House of Orange, shall receive an increase of territory. The
title, and the exercise of its sovereignty, cannot, under any
circumstance, belong to a Prince wearing or designated to
wear a foreign crown. The German states shall be independ
ent, and united by a federative league, Iudependent Switzer
land shall continue under its own government. Italy, without
the limits ofthe countries which shall return to Austria, shall
be composed of sovereign stales.
Art. VII. The Island of Malta and ils dependencies shall
belong, in full possession and sovereignty, to his Britannic
Majesty, Art. VIII. His Britannic Majesty, stipulating for himself'
and his Allies, engages to restore to his Most Christian
Majesty, within periods afterw<-irds to be fixed, the Colonies,
Fisheries, Factories, and Establishments of every kind which
France possessed on the 1st of January, 1792, in the seas, or
on the continents of America, A,frica, and Asia, with the ex
ception, nevertheless, of the islands of Tobago, St. Lucia, and
the Isle of France and its dependencies, namely Rodigrue
and the Sechelles, all whioh his most Cliristian Majesty cedes
in full property and sovereignty to his Britannic Majesty, as
also that part of St. Domingo ceded to France by tbe Peace
of Basle, and which his most Christian Majesty retrocedeato
his Catholic Majesty in full property and sovereignty.
Art. IX. His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway, in '
consequence of arrangements entered into with his Allies, and
for the execution of the preceding Article, consents that the
island of Guadaloupebe restored to his most Christian Ma
jesty, and cedes all the rights which he might have to that
island. Art. X. His most Faithful Majesty, in consequence of ar
rangements entered into with his Allies, engages to restore
to his most Christian Majesty, without a period hereafter
fixed, French Guyana, such as it was on the 1st Jan. 1792.
The effect of the above stipulotion being to revive the dis-

HISTORY OF [Chap.
pute existing aLthat period as to limits, it is agreed that the
said dispute should be terminated by an amicable arrange
ment, under the mediation of his Britannic Majesty.
Art. XI. The fortresses and forts existing in the colonies
to be restored to his most Christian Majesty, in virtue of
Articles VIII., IX., and X., shall be given up in the state
in which they shall be at the time of the signature of tha
present treaty.
Art. XII. His Britannic Majesty engages to cause the sub.
jects of his Most Christian Majesty to enjoy, in regard to
commerce, and the security of their persons and properties,
within the limits of the British Sovereignty on the Continent
cf India, the same facilities, privileges, and protection, which
are at present granted lo the most favoured nations. On this
side, his most Christian Majesty having nothing more at heart,
than the perjietuity of the peace between the two Crowns of
France and England, and wishing to contribute, as much as
in him lies, to remove henceforward such points of contract
between the two nalions as might one day alter a good mutual
understanding, engages not lo erect any work of fortification
in the establishmenls to be restored to him, and which are
situated wilhin the limits of British sovereignty ou lhe Con
tinent of India, and to place in those establishments only the
number of troops necessary for the maintenance of the police.
Art. XIII. As to the French right of fishery cn the grand
bank of Newfoundland, on the coasts of ihe isle of that name
and the adjacent isles, and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence,
every thing shall be restored to the same footing as in 1792.
Art. XIV. The colonies, factories, and establishments to
Le restored to his most Christian Majesty by his Britannic
Majesty or his Allies, shall be given up, viz. those in the
seas of the North, or in the seas and on the Continents of
America and Africa, wilhin three months, and those beyond
the C-ape of Good Hope wilhin six months after the ratifica
tion ofthe present treaty.
Art. XV. The high contracting parties having reserved to
themselves by the 4th Article of the Convention of April 23,
tbe regulation in the present definitive treaty of peace, of the

IV,] GEORGE IV.
fate ofthe arsenals and vessels of war, armed and not armed,
which are in maritime fortresses, surrendered by France in
execution of Article 2. of the said Convention, it is ngreed
that the said vessels and ships of war, armed and not armed,
as also the naval artillery, the naval stores, and all the mate
rials of construction and armament, shall he divided between
France and lhe country where the fortresses are situated, in
the proportion of two-thirds to France, and one. third to the
powers to whom such fortresses shall appertain. The vessels
and ships which ure building, and which shall not be ready for
launching in six weeks after the presant treaty, shall bo con
sidered as materials, and as such divided in the proportion
above assigned, after being takeu to pieces. Commissaries
shall be mutually appointed to arrange the division aud draw
up a statement thereof, and passports shall be given by the
Allied Powers, to secure the return to France of the French
workmen, seamen, and agents. The vessels and arsenals ex
isting in the maritime fortresses which shall have fallen into
the power of the Allies anterior to tbe 23d of April, are not
included in the above stipulations, nor the vessels and arsenals
which belonged lo Holland, and in particular the Texel fleet.
The French Government binds itself to withdraw, or cause to
be sold, all that shall belong to it by the above-stated stipu
lations, within the period of three months after the division
Las been effected. In future, the port of Antwerp shall be
solely a port of commerce.
Art. XVI. lhe high contracting parties wishing to place
and cause to be placed in entire oblivion the divisions which
have agitated Europe, declare and promise, that in the coun
tries restored and ceded by the present treaty, no individual
of whatever class or condition shall be persecuted, harassed,
or disturbed in his person or properly, under ony pretext, or
for his attachment either to any of the contracting patties, or
to governments which have ceased to exist, or from any other
cause, unless for debts contracted to individuals, or for acts
posterior to the present treaty.
Art. XVII. In all the countries which may or sball change
masters, as well in virtue of tbe present treaty, as of the ar-

HISTORY OF [Chap,
rangements to be made in consequence thereof, the inhabitants
both natives and foreigners, of whatever class or condition,
shall be allowed a space of six years, reckoning from the
exchange of the latifications, in order to dispose, if they think
proper, of their property, whether acquired before or during
the present war, and to retire to whatever country tbey
please. Art. XVIII. The AUied Powers, wishing to give his most
Christian Majesty a new proof of tlieir desire to cause to dis
appear as much as lies in their power, the consequences of
the period of calamity so hfppily terminated by the present
peace, renounce, in toto, the sums which the Government
liad to re-demand of France, by reason ofany contracts, sup
plies, or advances whatsoever, made to the French Govern
ment in tbe different wars which have taken place since 1792.
His most Christian Majesty, on his side, renounces every
claim which he might make on the Allied Powers on similar
grounds. In execution of this Article, the high contracting
parties engage mutually to give up all titles, bonds, and
documents, relating to debts which they have reciprocally
renounced. Art. XIX. The French Government engages to cause to be
liquidated and paid all sums which it shall find itself bound
in duty to pay in countries beyond its territories, in virtue of
contracts or other formal engagements entered into between
individuals or private establishments, and the French autho-
.rities, both for supplies and legal obligations.
Art. XX. The high contracting powers, immediately after
the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, will
appoint commissaries to regulate and effectuate the execu
tion of the whole of the measures contained in Articles XVIII.
and XIX. These commissaries sball employ themselves in
the examination of the claims mentioned in the preceding
Article, of the liquidation of tbe sums claimed, and of the
mode which the French Government shall propose for paying
them. They shall also be charged with the giving up of the
titles, obligations, and documents, relative lo the debts which
the high contracting powers mutually renounce, in such way.

IV.] GEORGE IV.
tbat the ratification of tbe result of their labours shall com
plete this reciprocal renunciation.
Art. XXI. The debts specially hypothecated in their origin
on the countries which cease to belong to France, or contracted
for Iheir internal administration, shall remain a ^charge on
these same countries. An account shall in consequence he
kept for the French Government, commencing with the 22d
December, 1813, of such of those debts as have been con
verted into inscriptions in the great book of the public debt
of France. The titles of all such as have not been prepared
for the inscription, nor have been yet inscribed, shall be given
up to the Governments of the respective countries. State
ments of all these debts shall be drawn up by a mixed com
mission. Art. XXII, The French Government, on its side, shall
remain charged with the repayment of the sums paid by the
subjects of the above-mentioned countries iuto the Frenoh
chests, whether uuder the head of cautionnients, deposits, or
consignments. In like manner French subjects, servants of
the said countries, who have paid sums under the head of
oautionments, deposits, or consignments, into their respective
treasuries, shall be faithfully reimbursed.
Art, XXIII. The titulars of places subjected to caution-
ment, who have not tbe handling of the money, shall be repaid
with interest, until the full payment at Paris, by fifths and
annually, commencing from the date of the present Treaty.—
With regard to those who are accountable, the payment shall
take place, at the latest, six months after the presentation of
their accounts, the case of malversation alone excepted. A
copy of the lost account shall be transmitted to tbe Govern
ment of their country to serve it for information, and as a
starting point.
Art. XXIV. The judicial deposits and consignments, made
into the chest of the sinking fund iu execution of the law of
the 28th Nivoi3e,year 13 (18ih of January, 1805), and which -
belong to iha inhabitants of the countries wbich France ceases
to possess, sball be restored within a year, dating from the ex
change of tlie ratifications of the present treaty, iuto the bands

HISTORY OF [Chap.
ofthe authorilies of the said countries, with the exception of
such deposits and consignments as French subjects are inter
ested in ; in which case, they shall remain in the chest of the
sinking fund, not to'be restored but on proofs resulting from
tbe decisions of the competent authorities.
Art. XXV. The funds deposited by the communes and
public establishments in the chest of service and in the chest
ofthe sinking fund, or any olher government chest, sballbe
repaid to them by fifths from year to year, reckoning from tha
dote of the present treaty, with the deduction of advances
which shall have been made to them, and saving Ihe regular
claims made upon these funds by creditors of the said com
munes and public establishments.
Art. XXVI. Dating from the 1st of January, 1814, the
French Government ceases lo be charged with the payment
ofany pension, civil, military, or ecclesiastical, pension of re
tirement, or half pay, to any individual who is no longer a
French subject.
Art. XXVII. The national domains acquired for a valuable
consideration by French subjects, in the ci-devant departments
of Belgium, the left bank of the Rhine and of the Alps, with
out the ancient limits of France, are and remain guaranteed to
the purchasers.
Art. XXVIII. The abolition of the droits d'aubaine, .de
traction, and others of the same nature, in the countries which
reciprocally stipulated it with France, or which had been an
tecedently annexed to it, is expressly confirmed.
Art. XXIX. The French government engages to cause to
be restored the obligations and olher titles which shall have
l>een seized in the provinces occupied by the French armies
or administrations ; and in cases where restitution cannot be
made, these obligations and lilies are and remain annihilated.
Art. XXX. The sums which shall be due for all works of
public utility not yet terminated, or terminated posterior to
the 31st of December, 1812, on the Rhine, and in ihe de
partments detached from France, by the present treaty, shall
pass to the charge of future possessors of the territory, and

IV.] GEORGE IV.
shall be liquidated by the commission charged with the liqui
dation ofthe debts of the district.
Art. XXXI, All archives, charts, plons, and documents
whatsoever belonging to the countries ceded, and connected
with their administration, shall be faithfully restored at the
same time with the countries ; or, if that be impracticable,
within a period not more than six months after the surrender
of the said countries. This stipulation is applicable to ar
chives, charls, and plans, which may have been carried off in
countries forthe moment occupied by the different armies.
Art. XXXII. Within a period of two months, all the powers
who have been engaged in both sides in the present war, shall
send plenipotentiaries lo Vienna, in order to regulate, in a
General Congress, the arrangements necessary for completing
the dispositions of the present treaty.
¦ Art. XXXIII. The present treaty shall be ratified, and the
ratifications exchanged within a fortnight, or sooner, if practi
cable. In testimony whereof the respective plenipotentiaries have
signed the same, and afiixed thereto the seal of their arms.
(L. S.) (Sijfned) The Prince of BENEVENT.
(L. S.) The Prince of METTERNICH.
(L. S.) J. P. Count STADION.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE,
The high contracting parties, wishing to efface all traces of
the unfortunate events which have weighed heavily on their
people, have agreed explicitly to annul the effects of the trea
ties of 1805 and 1809, in as far as they are not already actually
aonnlled by the present trealy. In consequence of this de
claration, his most Christian Majesty engages that the decrees
issued against French, or reputed French subjects, being, or
having been, in the service ofhis Impeiial and Royal Aposto
lic Mojesly, sball remain without effect, as well as the judg
ments which may bave been passed in execution of these de
crees. The present additional article shall have the same
force and effect as if it had been inserted iu the patent treaty
of this date. It shall be ratified, and the ratification shall be

HISTORY OF [Chapi
exchanged at the same time. In testimony whereof, the re
spective plenipotentiaries have signed it, and afiBxed thereto
the seal of their arms. Done at Paris, this 30th May, 1814,
(L.S.) (Signed) Tbe Prince of BENEVENT.
(L. S.) Tbe Prince of METTERN ICB,
(L. S.) Count STADION.
The same day, at the same time and place, the same Treaty
of Definitive Peace was concluded — between France and
Russia; between France and Great Britain ; between France
and Prussia ; and signed, viz. The Treaty between France and
Russia : —
For France by M. Charles Maurice Talleyrand Perigord,
Prince of Benevent (ut supra); and for Russia, by MM.
Count Rasumouffsky, Privy Counsellor of his Majesty the
Emperor of all the Russias, Knight of the Orders of St,
Andrew, St. Alexander Newsky, Grand Cross of that of St,
Wolodimir ofthe 1st class ; and Charles Rohert Count Nes
selrode, Privy Counsellor of his said Majesty, Chamberlain,
Secretary of State, Knight of the Order of St. Alexander
Newsky, Grand Cross of that of St. Wolodimir of the 2d
class. Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold of Austria, of that
of tbe Red Eagle of Prussia, of the Polar Star of Sweden,
and of the Golden Eagle of Wurtemberg.
The Trealy between France and Great Britain: —
For France, by Charles Maurice Talleyrand Perigord,
Prince of Benevent {ut supra") ; and for Great Britain, by the
Right Hon, Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Privy
Counsellor of his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, Member of bis Parliament,
Colonel of. the Regiment of Londonderry Militia, and hia
Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, &o, — George
Gordon Earl of Aberdeen, Viscount Formartin, Lord Haddo,
Tarvis, and Kellie, &c,, one of the 16th Scotch Peers, Knight
of the most ancient Order of the Thistle, and his Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Imperial, Royal,
and Apostolic Majesty ; William Shaw Cathcart, Viscount
Cathcart, Baron (Jathcart and Greenock, Counsellor of his

IV.] GEORGE IV.
said Majesty, Knight of the Order of the Thistle, and of
several Russian Orders, General in his Armies, and his Am
bassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to his Majesty
the Emperor of Russia ; and the Hon. Charles William Stew
art, Knight of the moat Honourable Order of the Bath,
Member of his Parliament, Knight of the Prussian Orders
of the Black and Red Eagle, and of many others, and his
Envoy Extraordinary aud Minister Plenipotentiary to his
Majesty King of Prussia.
The Treaty between France and Prussia : —
For France, by M. C. Talleyrand Perigord, Prince of Bene
vent, (ut supra) ; and for Prussia by MM. Charles Au
gustus Baron Hardenberg, Chancellor of State to his Majesty
the King cf Prussia, Knight of the Orders of the Black and
Red Eagle, and of many other Orders, and Charles William
Baron Humboldt, Minister of State of his said Majesty, and
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to his.
Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic Majesty.
With the following additional articles : —
ARTICLE ADDITIONAL TO THE TREATY WITH
RUSSIA.
The Duchy of Warsaw having been under the administra
tion of a provisional council established by Russia ever since
that country was occupied by ber arms, the two high con
tracting parties have agreed to appoint immediately a Special
Cominission, composed ou both sides of an equal number of
commissaries, who shall be charged witb the examination and
liquidation of their respective claims, and all the arrange-
meats relative thereto. — The present additional article shall
have the same force and effect, as if inserted verbatim in the
patent treaty of this date. It shall be ratified, and the ratiii-
cations exchanged at the sarae time : In testimony whereof
the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and
affixed thereto the seal of their arms.
Done at Paris, this 30th day of May, 1814.
(L. S,) (Signed) The Prince of BENEVENT.
(L.S.) ANDREW Count RASUMOUFFSKY.
(L. &.) CHAS. ROBERT Count NESSELRODE..

HISTORY OF [Chap.
ARTICLES ADDITIONAL TO THE TREATY WITH
GREAT BRITAIN.
Article I. His most Christian Majesty, participating with
out reserve in all the sentiments of his Britannic Majesty
relative to a species of commerce, which is equally repugnant
to the principles of natural justice, and the lights of the times
in which we live, engages to unite, at a future Congress, all
Lis efforts to those ofhis Britannic Majesty, in order to cause
all the Powers of Christendom to proclaim the abolition of the
Slave Trade, in such manner that tbe said trade may cease
universally, as it sball cease definitively, and in all events on
the part of France, within a period of five 3'ears, and that be
sides, pending the duration of this period, no trader in slaves
shall be at liberty to import or sell them elsewhere, but in the
colonies of tbe slate to which he belongs.
Art. II. The British Government and the French Govern
ment will immediately appoint commissaries to liquidate their
respective expenses for tbe maintenance of prisoners of war,
forthe purpose of coming to an arrangement on the manner
of paying off the balance which shall be found in favour of
either of the two powers.
Art. HI. The prisoners of war respectively shall be bound to
discharge, before their departure from the place of their de
tention, the private debts which they may have there. con
tracted, or at least lo give satisfactory security.
Art. IV. There shall be on both sides, immediately after
ratification of the present Treaty, a removal of the sequestra
tion which, since the year 1792, may have been placed on the
funds, revenues, debts, and all other effects whatever ofthe
high contracting powers, or of their subjects. The same
commissaries mentioned in Act II., shall employ themselves
in tbe examination and liquidation of the cla'.ns ofhis Britan
nic Majesty upon the French Government, for the value of
property moveable or immoveable unduly confiscated by the
French authorities, as well as for the total or partial loss of
tlieir debts or olher property, unduly detained under seques
tration since the year 1792. France engaged to treat in this
respect the subjects of England with the same justice thatthe

IV,] GEORGE IV,
subjects of France have experienced in England ; and the Eng
lish Government wishing, on its part, to concur in this new
testimony that the Allied Powers have given to his most
Christian Majesty of their desire to remove entirely the con
sequences of the epoch of misfortune, so happily terrainated
by the present peace, engages on its side (as soon as complete
justice sball be done to its subjects), K> renounce the whole
amount of the excess which may be found in its favour, rela
tive to the maintenance of the prisoners of war, so tbat the
ratification of the result of the labours, of the undersigned
commissioners, and which shall be adjudged to belong to the
subjects of his Britannic Majesty, shall render its renunciation-
complete. Art. V. The two high contracting powers, desirous to
establish the most amicable relations between their respective
subjects, reserve to themselves a promise to come to an under
standing and arrangement as soon as possible, on tbeir com
mercial interests, with the intention of encouraging and aug
menting the prosperity of their respective States. The pre
sent additional articles shall have the same force and validity,
as if they had heen inserted in those words in the treaty of
this day. They shall be ratified, and the ratification shall be
exchanged at the same time. In faith of which the respective
plenipotentiaries have signed them, and affixed the seal of
their arms.
Dated and signed as above.
ADDITIONAL ARTICLE TO THE TREATY WITH
PRUSSIA.
Though the Treaty of Peace concluded at Basle the Sth
of April, 1795 ; that of Tilsit, of the 9th July, 1807 ; the Con
vention of Paris, of the 20th September, 1808 ; as well as all
the Convention and acts whatsoever, concluded since the
peace of Basle between Prussia and France, are already vir
tually annulled by the present Trealy, the high contracting
powers have nevertheless thought fit to declare expressly
that the said Treaties cease to be obligatory for all their
articles, both patent and secret, and that they mutually re-
R

HISTORY OF [Chap.
nounce all right, and release themselves from all obligation
which might result from them.
His Most Christian Majesty proraises tbat the decrees issued
against French subjects, or reputed Frenchmen, beiug or
having been in the service of his Prussian Majesty, shall be
of no effect, as well as the judgments which may have been
passed in execution of those decrees.
The present additional Article shall have the same force ond
effect, as if it were inserted, word for word, in the patent
Treaty of ihis day. It shall be ratified, and the ratifications
exchanged at the same time. In faith of which the respective
plenipotentiaries have signed it, and affixed their seals.
Dated and signed as above.
210. Humiliatingas these treaties were to France,
they were soon found not to be humiliating enough
to satisfy the Government of England. France,
in spite of the tyranny of Napoleon, was in a
happy state compared with that which she had
been In previous to the Revolution. The ac
cursed oppressions of the noblesse and clergy,
had been completely annihilated ; the tyr.annlcal
petty courts and petty parliaments had been de
stroyed] a code of laws, however defective, yet
of uniform and impartial effect, had been framed
by wise and just men, who had (the greatest of
all his glories) given it the name of Code Na
poleon ; the forms, functions, and consequences,
of law and justice were the same all over the
kingdom; the odious and horrible excise laws and
tithe laws had been totally abolished ; and, above
all things, the tithes and olher ecclesiastical im
positions had also long ceased to be; property,.

IV.]

GEORGE IV.

and especially landed property, had become widely
distributed and sub-divided in consequence of the
sale of the church property, as well as the estates
of the nobility having been confiscated and sold;
so that though the Bourbons, for awhile, at
least, regained the throne of France, it was
not that same France of which they had for
merly been the rapacious devourers, and of
. which they had been the cruel scourge ; and they
found it to be impossible, and the Allies found that
it would be impolitic, to advise them to attempt,
to restore the ancient order of things, or any
thing at all resembling that order of things.
They made some changes in the constitution ;
decreed a new one, and sent it forth as a grant
-from themselves, and not as a thing which the
people had a right to demand, much less to im
pose ; they made a change in names and forms ;
they restored the ancient noblesse to their titles ;
they established bishops and a priesthood ; but,
they left France divided into Departments as
they found it, and did not attempt to restore the
ancient Provinces; they did not attempt to re
store the estates of the noblesse, which had every
where been confiscated and sold ; they did not
attempt to restore the accursed game laws ; they
sanctioned stipendiary bishops and clergy, but
-made no attempt to restore any part of the
church property or the tithes ; and they left the
. Code Napoleon in full force and effect, merely

HISTORY OF [Chap.
changing the name of Napoleon for that of
BouiiBON, which, in fact, was doing no wrong- ;
for it belonged to them as much as it belonged
to him.
211. Amongst other things, which the Revo
lution had effected for France, it had cleared her
of that enormous debt ; or, rather, variety and
accumulation of debts which the Bourbons had
been heaping upon her for about a century and a
half; it had delivered her from those remorseless
hordes of blood-sucking loanmongers, tax-renters,
and Jews ; the wliich hordes and their pro
ceedings had been, in fact, the true cause of the
Revolution itself, first by burdening the people,
and next by urging them to that convulsive move
ment by which they had thrown off the intolerable
yoke. The lands of France were now in innu
merable hands, and the abolition of the law of
primogeniture (which the BourboNs did not
dare to re-enact), together with a positive law
for the equal division, amongst the children of a
family, of whatever property the head of that
family might die possessed, had made it impossi
ble for the Bourbons to cause a restoration of
any thing like the ancient order of things ; and
the infinite number of new proprietors, seeing their
titles confirmed for ever, and the claims of the
noblesse and clergy completely obliterated, were
rather pleased than otherwise at the restoration of
the Bourbons, The agriculture of France was.

IV,] GEORGE I\',
in spite of her long war, far more flourishing than
at any former period ; and it Is agriculture, which
must, after all, be the main pillar of every great
state, 212, Thus was France ready to start forward in
the career of commercial, as well as agricultural
prosperity. Unencumbered by debts, and by no
means disheartened, being able justly to estimate
the cause of Napoleon's fall; separating his
glory from her own ; retaining a full recollection
of all her vaillant deeds ; having, in the veterans
of her wars, stiil more than enough means to
take vengeance on her enemies whenever she
chose, she offered to the eyes of the English Go
vernment, a constant rival and a possible enemy,
greater than she had ever presented to it be
fore. 213. This was instantly felt in England : the
ink with which the treaties were signed was hardly
dry before we began to hear from the English
Government sounds of ominous forebodings;
sounds which indicated that it feared, and that
itwas convinced, that it had not done enough ; it
saw that it had not crippled France ; it saw that
Napoleon was not France ; and it began to sigh
for an excuse for doing more. The new consti
tution of France had given her a House of Lords
and a House of Commons ; these were thought
to be essentials in the keeping of her in subjec
tion j in the deluding of her peOple to beHeve
b3

HISTORY OF [Chap.
theraselves free, and to boast of their freedom while
they were enslaved. But, the.se mortal enemies to
the prosperity and happiness of France forgot that,
in making the French House of Lords and Com
mons, they had not at the same time made a
suitable set of rotten boroughs ; by the means
of which the Lords might choose the Commons,
while the King chose the Lords, and while the
people were left without any representatives at
all. The enemies of the freedom of France, and
of the freedom of mankind, had overlooked this
important omission ; when they discovered which,
they began to testify uneasiness,
214. Before we speak of the state of things
which this first fall of Napoleon produced in
England, we must go on to speak of his second
and last fall, in order to keep the subject sepa
rate. In point of time, the events and conclusion
of the new American war would precede this
last fall ; but we must reserve them also, and
return to them by-and-by, for the purpose of
keeping these great subjects distinct in our minds.
Being now, however, about to give the history of
the second fall of Napoleon, it has been neces
sary to state the grounds of uneasiness, in the
minds of the enemies of France, at their having
left their work unfinished in that country ; the
grounds for their wishing for an excuse for their
doing something more for the purpose of crippling
France for a great length of time.

IV.J

GEORGE IV.

215, This desire might exist in other coun
tries, or at least in other courts; but it no-where
existed in so great a degree as amongst the aris
tocracy and clergy, that is to say, amongst those
who have the government of England in their
hands. The treaty of peace was hardly signed,
before the public prints, at the beck of those
bodies, began to say that enough had not been,
done; the speeches in parliament breathed the
same language ; there was every where a cry
that measures ought to be adopted to prevent a
recurrence of that spirit oi jacobinism, as It was
called, which was inconsistent with " all regu
lar government," Indeed, the spectacle which
France presented, in contrast with England, was
quite enough to frighten those who lived on the
tithes and taxes of England, and who seemed
resolved that no change should take place. There
was France, without a debt, and without tithes,
without game laws, without any thing worthy of
the name of excise, without turnpike-tolls ; vvith
cheap living, and with the lands nearly equally
divided. The sight, particularly to the pen
sioners, the sinecurists, the grantees, and the
swarms of fund-holders, was truly hideous ; but,
if it were hideous to these, what was the sight of
a great kingdom, only twenty miles off, with
thirty millions of people ; having the Christian
religion restored, having a king at the head of
Uie government, and having its fields, its gardens?.

HISTORY OF [Chap.
its meadows, its vineyards, its mills and its houses
UNTITHED ? If the other sights were hideous
to the other parties, what was this sight to the
clergy of England and Ireland ?
216, Peace being restored, the long-prohibited
intercourse between the two countries being again
free, the English flocked to France ; the rich, to
gratify their curiosity; others, not rich, to live
cheap ; and all for the purpose of avoiding the
taxes in England. Incessant accounts were re
ceived of the great benefits which these emigrants
derived from their change of place, A large part
of them were fund-holders, pensioners, and others,
kept out of the public money ; so that here was
a regular enormous drain of wealth from England,
going to add riches and power to France, The
ports opened by the peace, French cattle, sheep,
hogs, poultry, eggs, fruit, and various other
things, came tumbling in upon us in abundance,
the proceeds being taken away in gold and silver,
and not left here for payment to absentees, as in
the case of the importations from the unfortu
nate Ireland. To add to these causes of uneasi
ness, a reduction of the currency of the country
(of which we shall have amply to speak by-and-
by) had caused such a reduction of prices, that
the landlords and farmers cried aloud to prevent
the importation of corn ; and, in answer to the
arguments of the ministers, who did not much
relish the passing of a bill so unpopular and so

IV.] GEORGE IV,
odious, the land-owners said, and truly said, that
they must be ruined, in a competition against
France, which was comparatively untaxed and
untithed! This was thunder; it was the thun
der-bolt itself to the aristocracy, and more
especially to the clergy. That single sentence
amounted to an exhortation to the nation
to imitate France in getting rid of taxes and
tithes, 217. Therefore, every wheel was put in motion
for the framing of an excuse for not leaving
France as she vjas ; and the course of events will
clearly show, that we have here seen the true
grounds, the real seeds, of the transactions, which
produced the second fall of Napoleon. This is a
matter of vast importance : stated in a plain pro
position, it is this : that, even before the treaties
above cited were formed, the English Government
wished to bring France down lower ; to do more
injury to France than was about to be done, and
that afterwards was done by those treaties ; and
that the second fall, of Napoleon, and all the
consequences of it with regard to France, which
ensued from that second fall, and that this addi
tional injury to France, were finally accomplished,
by means arising from this source. This is a
matter of so much importance, it has so many
bearings of a deeply interesting character ; it will
be found so essential In the elucidating of subse
quent events, that no details, however minute,

LIISTORY OF [Chap.
ought to be considered as unnecessary, if they
tend to enable the reader to judge fairly with
regard to the correctness or incorrectness of this
proposition. The impression on the minds of
men in general has been this : that Napoleon
was induced to quit Elba, and to come back to
France, by i;he restless spirit of his partisans in
that country, and by the opening which the dis
affection for the BtjuuBONs made for his return ;
that in short he came back, contrary to the
wishes of the government of England especially ;
and that that government, as well as the rest of
the Allies, afterwards punished him, by imprison
ment for life, for having broken a treaty to which
they wished him to adhere. This has been the
impression on the minds of men in general; but,
let us see whether a detail of the circumstances
can possibly leave a doubt in the mind of any
man, that his return was a thing desired, if not
absolutely contrived, by those governments, and
especially that of England, who had been his
greatest enemies, and who wished to make that
return a pretence for doing further injury to the
French nation, and to make it drink still deeper
of the cup of humiliation.
218, It is, and for many years has been, the
practice of the English Governraent, to make
use of that portion of the press, which it con
trives to have under its control, to prepare the
public mind for any great step which it has in

IV,],

GEORGE IV,

its contemplation to take. At the time which I
am now speaking of (April and May, 1814), the
two principal journals of London, devoted to Its
service, was a paper called the TIMES ; which,,
on account of its brutal and sanguinary doc
trines, has been usually called the " Bloody."
The other journal was called the COURIER,
Before, even before the treaty with the Bour
bons was formed, these journals were incessant
in their endeavours to produce a civil war in
France ; to blacken the character of the French
army ; to prevail on the allied sovereigns to
break the convention which had been made for
the release of prisoners of war ; and that, too,
for the purpose of preventing the French pri
soners from returning home ; to endeavour to
prevail on the same Allies (in violation of the
said convention), who had stipulated that their
armies should quit France by the first day of
June, to keep them still in France, pro
posing, at the same time, that England shoiild
pay the said troops, while so kept in France ; to
endeavour to prevail on the Allies to compel the
King of France to reduce his army In such a
manner as to render his kingdom defenceless,
suggesting, at the same time, that the treaty of
alhance made between France and the Allies
against Napoleon, should now be revived against
the King of France, and be continued in full
force for twenty years to come ; to prevail upon

HISTORY OF [Chap,
the Allies (let tho reader mark it well!) to strip
the museums and galleries of Paris of the statues,
pictures, and other valuable curiosities, brought
by the French armies from countries which they
had conquered ; to inculcate the doctrine, that
France, though Napoleon was overthrown, was
still the same ; that she was radically and sys
tematically the enemy of England, and that sus
picions and jealousies of France ought still to be
awake in the English bosom, as much as they
vvere before Napoleon's fall,
219. Now, if such, without the smallest mis
representation or exaggeration, was the language
of these Government journals, even while the
before-cited treaties of Paris were negotiating ;
and, if we afterwards saw the allied sovereigns
keep up an army In France for five years ; If we
afterwards saw the museums and galleries of
Paris stripped of their statues and pictures; can
the mind of any man refuse to see a conviction,
that these last-mentioned things were, at the
very least, anxiously desired by the Govern
ment of England, at the time when the treaties
of Paris were forming ; and can that mind refuse
to receive the further conviction, that that
Government rejoiced at, if it did not actually
contrive and instigate, the return of Napoleon,
in order to obtain an excuse to accomplish ends
so much desired, and which ends it did not ac
complish by the before-cited treaties of Paris ?

IV.] GEORGE IV.
220. The next chapter will clearly develop alt
these matters in the most satisfactory manner. It
is a subject of the very greatest importance, be
cause this return led to consequences, and lasting
consequences, with regard to the rights, liberties,
and lives of Englishmen. The primary causeof this
long and bloody war was, to prevent the example
of France from being a temptation to the people
of England to reform the parliament, and thereby
curtail the unjust power of the aristocracy, and
diminish the enormous abuses in the church.
This was the primary object of the war : the
mere restoration of the Bourbons, in 1814, had
not effected this object. It was necessary that
Buonaparte should return, in order that there
might be a pretence for humbling France in thfr
dust ; for compelling her to pay a tribute to the
kings; for degrading her in all sorts of ways;
and, above all things, for compelling her to have
a national debt, and to load herself with taxes
equal to the taxes of England. How far all this
was accomplished we shall see in the sequel ;
but in the next chapter we shall see how the
grand scheme was begun to be put in operation.
Never was there, in the whole world, any event
more mischievous in its consequences, than that
event of which I am now about to speak ; and, if
history had, for another twenty years, been silent
on the subject, no knowledge of the conduct of
their rulers, as to this event, would the people of
s

HISTORY, OF GEORGE IV. [Chap. IV,
England ever liave had. Already has one gene
ration grown up in the grossest ignorance with
regard to it: it is time to take steps to prevent
another generation from inheriting the'degradiiij^
ignorance.

END OF volume I.

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