mily (whom they wished officiously to assist) said to those refugees, "Come, let us forget and forgive." The consequence was, that the Netherlands were immediately cleared of those formidable persous. If machinations were to be practised against France, it was not in the Netherlands, it was not in this country, it was not under the protection of foreign powers, that they would be carried-no, it would be in France itself-in the electoral colleges, and even in the Chamber of Deputies. The bill was intended to prevent Jacobins from coming here-to keep away those who did not want to come here to discourage the visits of persons, who could do their business much better in their own country; so that, if the bill operated at all, its penalties must fall on those, who ought to be protected-on merchants, traders, and all those who came here to transact business. He was no alarmist, but he saw much in the state of the country to create some degree of apprehension. What! did he, on that account, entertain a dread of foreign Jacobins? No such thing. That was the commodity we had the least reason to fear. He would as soon expect a competition in our cotton and hardware manufactures, as a competition in Jacobinism. Unfortunately, our own home-manufacture was in too flourishing a state-it wanted no assistance from abroad. Let a cargo of foreign Jacobins be imported, and they would be found to stand no chance with those, which our native soil produced. Those who were formed in this country, were more sturdy, more inveterate, more violent, than those who were

manufactured abroad. They had so much good old English stuff about them, that no foreign Jacobins could stand in competition with them. No country in the world had so strong a dislike to the interference of foreigners in its internal concerns, as England. This was exemplified by her history. Great changes had been made in the government of the country at different periods, but foreigners were not permitted to assist. When the English rebelled against their king, and murdered him, it was without the aid of foreigners; when they recalled his son, it was without the aid of foreigners; and when they dismissed his other son, still it was without the aid of foreigners. Our ancestors, indeed, displayed a sort of over-anxiety to get rid of foreigners, when their assistance was offered in aid of any political design. If he were cursed with a disposition to effect any great change in the constitution of this country, he would not accept of the assistance of foreigners. He would say to them" I know you wish to lend us your friendly aid to dethrone the king, to put down the clergy, and to root out the aristocracy; but such is the perverse disposition of the people of this country, that the very best designs will be rendered abortive, will be disgraced, and contaminated, by your participation in them." No gentleman, for the last few months, could go through the streets without hearing the point mooted, whether particular facts could be believed on foreign evidence. What ill-feeling existed in the country at present, existed unfortunately between the higher and the lower orders. In the

course of the last three months, we had seen the country torn by convulsions, and presenting an aspect little short of actual rebellion. Plots and conspiracies had been fomented; compared with the object of which, any change of government was trifling-compared with the object of which, any change of religion, any contest between the church of England and the dissenters, or be tween the church of England and the church of Rome, was trifling; for the object aimed at was the subversion of all government and all religion, and the means, by which that fearful revolution, was to be effected were, murder and assassination. But this did not prove the necessity of such a bill; for up to the present day, no foreign interference had been traced in any of these transactions. Ministers asked for the Alien-bill, as if the provisional government of Glasgow was composed of Spanish liberales; as if a number of German students had influenced the proceedings at Manchester; as if the Cato-street conspiracy had been carried on by so many Napoleonists. Such a measure was not resorted to in times, when more peril was expected from abroad, when not a foreigner came to this country, that might not be supposed to carry the Pretender's commission in his pocket. The bill was a paltry measure-paltry, because it was founded on false assumptions - paltry, because it was contrary to the generous feelings of the country paltry, because it affected those who had not an opportunity of complaining.

The second reading of the bill

was carried by a majority of 113 to 63.

On the 10th of July, the House went into a committee on the bill, Sir James Mackintosh then moved, that certain instructions should be given to the committee. The first of these entitled the alien to have from the privy council a specification of the charges against him, to examine witnesses on oath in his behalf, and to employ counsel. The second, exempted from the operation of the bill all aliens, who had been settled in this country before the 1st of January, 1814. These two clauses had been proposed at the passing of former bills of the same kind, and had always been rejected. They now met with the same fate. The third instruction was of a more novel kind. It purported to exempt from the operation of the act, all alien witnesses, either for or against the bill of pains and penalties, then pending against the queen-not, as Sir James Mackintosh professed, that he believed ministers capable of abusing any of the powers conferred on them to so gross a violation of justice; but because it was requisite, that the minds of the witnesses should be freed from all apprehensions, and from the bias which might be created by the mere knowledge, that her majesty's prosecutors possessed an uncontrolled power over them. The debate on this third amendment was extremely keen. The ministers maintained, that parliament could not be justified in throwing the slur implied in such a provision on men, in whose hands it thought proper to leave the government of the country. The other party asserted, that no

imputation was thrown upon ministers, by the refusal to grant them large discretionary powers of doing mischief. The third instruction, like the other two, was negatived without a division.

On the third reading of the bill,

it was opposed by Mr. Hobhouse, in a very elaborate speech, but was carried by 69 votes against 23. It passed through the Lords without exciting much discussion. The division there, on the second reading of it, was 17 to 7.

curity, that the investigation would be conducted with the most perfect integrity.

This proceeding was afterwards the subject of much obloquy; and all the common places against spies and informers were brought into play against it. Will, how ever, any one maintain, that, whatever might be the behaviour of the princess of Wales, her husband and his ministers had no concern with it, and were not entitled to have any information concerning it? They who will not assert this, must admit that inquiry was necessary; and, if inquiry was to be instituted, into what hands could it be entrusted with more safety, than into those of a man like Mr. Cooke?

The evidence, which the commissioners collected, was not communicated to the world, nor did any change immediately take place in the public situation of the princess. It was probably thought, that, even if all that was said against her were true, it was punishment enough to keep her in the situation, in which she had been for some years. That situation was a cruel one. Though no specific charges had been established against her, she had been formally excluded from the English court; and this exclusion here, had led to consequences abroad, which must have been most galling to the feelings of any high-spirited woman. Our ambassadors and envoys were ordered not to give her, in their official character, any public or official reception; they were not themselves to be instrumental in introducing her at foreign courts; and if any foreign court should think fit to give her a public reception, they were not to assist on such occasions, as the ministers of

England. Such were the instructions, which had been sent to our diplomatists. They were first issued in 1817, in answer to an application from our envoy to the court of Wurtemburg, for directions as to the manner in which he was to behave towards the princess, if she came to Stutgard; and they had since been rigorously acted upon. They were supposed to be necessary corollaries to her exclusion from the court here; but, we confess, that we do not see the connexion between the two matters. The personal quarrels, subsisting between her and her husband, might justify him in refusing to admit into his own presence a wife whom he detested; but, why should she not be ushered by his ambassadors into the presence of other sovereigns? If, indeed, she had been refused access to the court of London on the ground, that her personal qualities were such as to render it improper to admit her into exalted society, the directions issued to our ambassadors would have been reasonable; for, how could a minister present to a foreign sovereign, her who, at home, was too degraded to be admitted into the royal presence? Her exclusion, however, from the court here, did not stand on that footing. She had not been deemed unworthy of the presence of George III.; and, from the time when he ceased to be able to hold the reins of power, to that when her exclusion took place, she had done nothing to forfeit any of the privileges of her situation. It ought, however, to be mentioned, that, at the time when these directions were first issued, the rumours concerning the recent impropriety