Page images
PDF
EPUB

that the ministers abroad were desired not to receive her as Queen, or admit her to court, but to lavish upon her all other civilities. And what were they? She might have passports, forsooth, when she left any of their towns; that was the civility they were by far the most ready to grant. (hear.) She was also allowed letters of safe conduct, clearances, and bills of health; posthorses might even be ordered for her, with the high additional accommodation of a ministerial courier, though, if such were the instructions of the noble lord, it did not appear that they had been in this respect obeyed. Yet, after all, to what did these boasted civilities amount-civilities to the Queen of England-Queen whether we will or not-nay, Queen whether she herself will or not: these were to be lavished upon her: what every merchant, trader, dealer, and chapman, or even gentleman's servant, could obtain, was to be lavished upon her, while every tittle of respect due to her elevated station was to be rigorously withheld. And could they wonder that any person, but more especially a woman, and still more especially this woman, born a princess, niece to Frederick of Prussia, niece to George III. daughter to the heroic Duke of Brunswick, and consort to his present Majesty, the first sovereign in Europe; could they wonder that this exalted female should feel acutely, when the ministers of her own country ventured to treat her with indignity? (hear.) He would say, not only the ministers of her own country,

but foreign ministers also. She complained that those courts which were most under the influence of the English government, treated her with the greatest disrespect. Without hunting through the conduct adopted by different courts, he would go at once to the proceedings of the Hanoverian minister, the minister of a court most likely to be swayed by the government of England. He would mention only two instances, by which the House would be enabled to judge of the treatment her Majesty had received abroad. The Hanoverian minister, Baron Ompteda, who had been most graciously and hospitably received by the Queen, when she was Princess of Wales -who had insinuated himself into her confidence, who had partaken largely of her liberality, who had passed several months at a time under her roof -this man (not indeed the envoy of Hanover to this country, but to the holy see) was discovered, not merely spying into her actions, bribing strangers to watch her, and even bribing her own servants, but it was found out that he employed a smith to pick the locks of her writing desk, (shouts of hear,) in order to examine any papers that might be in her possession. (hear, hear.) Unluckily for him, that which he found proved that he had been on a false scent, and demonstrated the innocence, instead of the guilt, of the illustrious personage. (hear, hear.) A young naval officer, to whom the transaction became known, felt incensed and indignant at such a base attempt. He did not wonder that his passions should be

*

excited, that he should feel warmly and forcibly, when such a proceeding was pursued towards his mistress and benefactress. Actuated by such feelings, he demanded personal satisfaction, the Baron being at the time without the bounds of his mission. He immediately made a movement-a backward movement-to the city of Milan, where he was vainly sought for in his fastnesses. Thus menaced, he retreated to the mountains, where a sort of mountain warfare was carried on against him by the gallant lieutenant, but without success: and, at length, the Baron was expelled from the Austrian territories, not indeed for picking locks, but for refusing to fight a duel. (a laugh.) He was obliged to decamp, and another minister succeeded him in his official capacity. This he adduced as a proof of the consequences that were occasioned by the ministers of this country treating her Majesty in a slighting and disrespectful manner. It evidently produced a feeling in the minds of the ministers of other states to treat her in the same way. Men might be found, truckling to the higher powers in the hope of establishing their fortune, who would descend to such vile contrivances; but Baron Ompteda must necessarily bave been influenced by a base spirit, when he engaged in so abominable a transaction, in order to conciliate the favour of his employers. Because, he would distinctly state, as those things were sometimes talked of out of doors, that he entirely acquitted those who had sent Baron

U

Ompteda on his mission to the holy see-he entirely acquitted the ministers of the Hanoverian government of having given him any instructions to conduct himself in this disgraceful affair as he had done. The Baron, he believed, thought that he could not do a better service for his friend at court he thought that he could not make himself more useful to him than by acting the part which he (Mr. Brougham) had described. That proceeding was, however, unauthorized bythe individual alluded to (we understood Count Munster.) He was now in England, and he believed there was no man in this country more likely to condemn such an act than he was. Baron Reding was now the Hanoverian minister at Rome, and his conduct towards her Majesty was also worthy of remark. The moment it was notified by the bishops to the chief of the Consistory at Rome, that her Majesty's name was not inserted in the Liturgy, the body-guard which had previously been allowed to her was immediately withdrawn: but that was not all— the heads of the government affected not to know her-they pretended that she came concealed as the Countess of Oldi, as she bad before done; and because she was not acknowledged by this government, because slight and disrespect were offered to her by the ministers of her own country, they thought they would be justified in doing the same. But Baron Reding, the Hanoverian minister went a great deal further. He would not call her by the title of "Queen," he would not

call her by the title of " Princess of Wales," but he sometimes called her " Caroline of Brunswick," in so many words, without the epithet of Princess," which she certainly was entitled to before her marriage; and at other times he called her by a different name-a name which the House had never heard, "Caroline of England"-a designation that had never, at any period of her life, belonged to her. This he mentioned incidentally, to show how far insolence and absur dity might be carried. Every Englishman who entered his excellency's society must have heard him talk in this manner of the consort of his own sovereign, who, he was persuaded, had too mach the feelings of a gentleman, of a prince, and of a man of honour, to allow any individual to insinuate himself into his favour by treating a female rudely and disrespectfully. (hear, hear.) He had thus stated the whole sum and substance of this important question. Her Majesty had commanded him to call for a full, fair, and open investigation. The speedier the beginning of it was, the more completely would she be gratified-the more ample it was, the more decided would be her satisfaction. But, that it would be a short investigation, he, who knew the course of such proceedings, felt it to be impossible. Therefore, no time was to be lost: for, if the investigation went on, they might expect to sit to no ordinary period of the session. But in calling for inquiry, her Majesty protested strenuously and decidedly against a

« PreviousContinue »