sojourn abroad, and the numerous stories which have been circulated to her disadvantage, it is not our intention to treat. During the interval of her absence from this country, she had been visited by many and severe afflictions. Her gallant brother, the Duke of Brunswick, fell, it will be recollected, at the battle of Quatre Bras, on the 16th of June, 1815. Her beloved daughter, the Princess Charlotte, her venerable and revered father-in-law, the King, and her friend and relative, the Duke of Kent, had all paid the debt of nature during her temporary absence from this country.

On the demise of his late excellent Majesty, and the consequent accession of her royal consort, various were the rumours which prevailed as to the probable return of her Majesty to these realms.

At length, on the 26th of May, the Queen arrived at Dijon, and was expected to reach St. Omer's, on her way to Calais, on the 30th. Here it was supposed she would remain some time for the purpose of consulting and making some necessary arrangements with her friends on this side the water.

On the 1st of June, Mr. Brougham, the Queen's confidential legal adviser, left London for Dover, with the view of meeting her Majesty at Calais. Mr. Brougham was accompanied by Lord Hutchinson, who was employed confidentially to submit such proposals to her Majesty, as it was hoped would at once meet her wishes, and induce her to remain on the continent. His Lordship and Mr. Brougham embarked for Dover on Friday afternoon, and on Saturday morning they proceeded to St. Omer's where they met her Majesty. Lord Hutchinson's proposals, delivered in the presence of Mr. Brougham, were said to be, "That her Majesty should renounce all right, title, and claim to the name, dignity, and honors of the Queen of England, and should from henceforth be styled and considered simply as Princess Caroline of Brunswick. That her Majesty should agree never to put her foot in England, or any part of the British dominions: that should she comply with these conditions, an income of 50,000l. a-year should be settled upon her, which she might enjoy without molestation;

should she refuse, criminal proceedings would be instituted against her afresh, and the severest penalties might be expected." Her Majesty expressed the utmost indignation at the offer; gave immediate directions to proceed to the coast; and left the hotel (accompanied by Lady Anne Hamilton, young Austin, and Alderman Wood, who had met her Majesty on the other side Paris) so abruptly, that Mr. Brougham was not aware of her departure until he saw her drive off. On her arrival at Calais, her Majesty went on board the common packet, then lying in the harbour, at half-past nine at night, although from the state of the tide the vessel could not sail till the next morning. We extract the following digest of the circumstances attending the arrival of her Majesty from a dispassionate and well written volume, to which we have already had occasion to refer.*

"At one o'clock on Monday her Majesty landed at Dover, under a royal salute, fired on the responsibility of the commandant of the fort, who had received no orders on the subject. She was hailed with the fondest enthusiasm by the people; the corporation presented her with an address; and, on her leaving the town for Canterbury, the populace took the horses from her carriage, and drew it a considerable distance. Her Majesty slept at Canterbury, where, arriving late in the evening, she was received by torch-light, amidst the shouts and acclamations of the people. At Canterbury, also, an address was presented to the Queen, and various gratulatory demonstrations were made. At Gravesend, the horses were again taken from her carriage; and, in every town and village through which she passed, the utmost affection and oyalty to her person were displayed. Still accompanied by Lady Anne Hamilton and Mr. Alderman Wood, in her landau, she slowly entered the metropolis, over Westminster Bridge, on Tuesday evening. The streets, the windows, the house-tops, were thronged with myriads of applauding spec

Henry VIII. and George IV.; or the Case fairly stated. By Thomas Harral,

tators. The procession, thus formed, had all the imposing air of a triumphal entry. The crowd halted at intervals, compelled the horses to stop, and rent the air with acclamations of Long live our gracious Queen Caroline!'' God bless her!'-Down with her enemies!' &c. Proceeding along Parliament-street, up Cockspur-street, and through Pall Mall, they halted in front of Carlton House, and gave three cheers. They then moved forward, up St. James's-street, and thence to the residence of Alderman Wood, in South Audley-street, where they arrived a little after seven o'clock.

"Her Majesty's entrance into the metropolis, on the very day that the King first went down to parliament, to give the royal assent to certain bills which had been passed, might have been accidental, might have been unavoidable; but that the extraordinary cavalcade should have been directed to pass in front of Carlton House, when the distance of only a few yards could have been lost by proceeding up the Haymarket, seems not very consistent with that delicacy and propriety which ought to have been preserved by her Majesty's advisers. To support the Queen is one thing; to insult the King is another.

"It was on the same day, however, that a message from his Majesty was delivered to both Houses, announcing the event of the Queen's arrival, and calling the attention of Parliament to certain papers respecting the conduct of her Majesty since her departure from this kingdom. In the Upper House, the Earl of Liverpool intimated, that he should, on the following day, propose an address to the King, pro formâ, and move that the papers be referred to a secret committee, to consider and decide whether any, and if any, what steps should be pursued. In the Commons, Lord Castlereagh moved an address to the King, which was agreed to; and gave a similar intimation to that of the Earl of Liverpool, in the Lords. On the succeeding day (Wednesday, June 7,) the Earl of Liverpool moved the address, and also the appointment of a secret committee, of fifteen lords, to be chosen by ballot. In answer to some observations of the Marquis of Lansdowne, that the

House of Lords composed the supreme court of judicature of the country that they were the only court before which her Majesty could be tried that the other House might find articles of impeachment against her Majesty, which must be judged by their Lordships; the Earl of Liverpool observed, that had there been evidence to convict her Majesty of high treason, it would not have been proper to try the case before the House of Commons. His Lordship then put the supposititious case respecting the commission of the crime of adultery, by a Queen of England with a foreigner, in a foreign country; and contended that such a case fully answered the objection of the noble Marquis, as it precluded the possibility of an impeachment by the House of Commons. The case was not one of judicial cognizance; it would admit only of a legislative remedy: it was resolved into a question of expediency. Lord Holland thought, that the House of Commons, which was the grand inquest of the nation, might come to a different conclusion; that were the course to be by a bill of divorce, or a bill of pains and penalties, the House would be in an awkward predicament, and that the report of the secret committee could be nothing else than a prejudgment of the case. The Lord Chancellor repeated, and enlarged upon, the arguments of the Earl of Liverpool; and contended, that a secret committee, instituted for a previous inquiry, was analogous to a grand jury in a court of law, which affirmed or negatived a bill of indictment. A secret committee he also regarded as a protecting interference, which might, as a mediate power, recommend proceedings more advantageous to the accused, than could, in the first instance, result from an open deliberation in either House. The Marquis of Lansdowne, on the other hand, thought, that the illustration of the learned lord, relative to the office of a grand jury, was unfortunate for his argument; as the grand jury, which inquired into the propriety of instituting proceedings in a court of law, was distinct from the petty jury, which tried the cause; but, in the present case, the grand jury, which was to find the bill, was the same with the petty jury which was to pronounce the verdict. The

motion for the appointment of the committee was agreed to; but the ballot did not take place till the following day; and then, with the view of allowing time for conciliation, the farther proceedings were deferred till Monday. The members chosen, were as follows: The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President, the Dukes of Beaufort and Northumberland, the Marquisses of Lansdowne and Buckingham, the Earls of Liverpool, Harrowby, and Beauchamp, Lord Sidmouth, the Bishop of London, Lord Redesdale, Lord Erskine, and the Earl of Lauderdale.

In the House of Commons, on Wednesday, June 7, Mr. Brougham, the Queen's Attorney-general, read a message from her Majesty, which, after some prefatory observations, proceeded as follows:

Upon her arrival, the Queen is surprised to find that a message has been sent down to parliament, requiring its attention to written documents, and she learns with still greater astonishment, that there is an intention of proposing that these should be referred to a secret committee. It is this day fourteen years since the first charges were brought forward against her Majesty. Then, and upon every occasion during that long period, she has shewn the utmost readiness to meet her accusers, and to court the fullest inquiry into her conduct. She now also desires an open investigation, in which she may see both the charges and the witnesses against her a privilege not denied to the meanest subject of the realm. In the face of the sovereign, the parliament, and the country, she solemnly protests against the formation of a secret tribunal, to examine documents privately prepared by her adversaries, as a proceeding unknown to the law of the land, and a flagrant violation of all the principles of justice. She relies, with full confidence, upon the integrity of the House of Commons, for defeating the only attempt she has reason to fear. The Queen cannot forbear to add, that even before any proceedings were resolved upon, she had been treated in a manner too well calculated to prejudge her case. The omission of her name in the Liturgy, the withholding the means of convey