THE proceedings against the queen brought great discredit not only upon the king, but upon his ministers; and it is the opinion of a high authority connected with their party, that they never recovered the loss of prestige which followed their conduct in this unhappy transaction. 'It was damaging enough,' he said, 'to have embarked in an affair which, be the facts of the case what they might, the people of England could never be brought to regard, except as cruel and iniquitous. It was still worse to fail.' The king, whose malignant passions they had stooped to gratify in direct opposition to their own convictions, was furious at the result of the trial, declared his intention of dismissing them, and was with difficulty induced to change his mind, in consequence of a statesman-like remonstrance from the Duke of Wellington. But Lord Liverpool never regained the royal confidence, and His Majesty permitted no opportunity to escape him of showing that such was the case. If the Clerk of the Council is to be believed, there was no love lost between the king and his ministers. They,' he says, 'do not conceal their contempt or dislike of him, and it is one of the phenomena of the present times, that the king should have ministers whom he abuses and hates, and who entertain corresponding sentiments of aversion to him; yet they defend all his errors and follies, and he affords them constant countenance and protection.'

The Ministry were not more popular in the country than they were at court. Public meetings were held in all parts of

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the kingdom, at which addresses to the Crown were adopted, entreating His Majesty to dismiss from his service ministers whose 'injustice and folly had so scandalously compromised the dignity of the Crown and endangered the tranquillity of the nation.' The adherents of the Government exerted themselves to procure counter addresses from county meetings and other similar bodies-hole and corner' men, as they were termed; but it was found impossible to obtain even from them any expression of approval of the conduct of the Ministry in the proceedings against the queen. They confined themselves to the more prudent course of denouncing the unconstitutional and revolutionary' steps which had been taken by the enemies of the existing order of things.' Even the staunch Tory Fremantle wrote to the Marquis of Buckingham, 'Never was anything so low and wretched as the Treasury bench. It is quite disgraceful and contemptible.' 'As to the ministers,' said Curran in the House of Commons, 'they had fully proved their inability to govern; never was the community so universally impressed with the conviction of the incapacity of their responsible rulers as at the present moment! so general was the feeling, that all ranks of men looked to their removal as their only hope.'

At this juncture the Ministry were deprived of the services of their most eloquent and popular defender in the Commons, by the resignation of Mr. Canning. It was well-known that Canning was one of the oldest friends whom the queen possessed 31

When the Ministry resolved to institute proceedings against the queen he proposed to retire; but at their urgent solicitation he consented in the meantime to retain his office and his seat in the Cabinet, taking no part, however, in their action against Her Majesty. It appears that even at this stage Canning cherished the hope that an amicable arrangement might be effected, which would avert the public scandal that was certain to ensue if measures were taken to procure a divorce. But when the efforts of Wilberforce to bring about a compromise failed, Canning at once sought an interview with the king and tendered his resignation. His Majesty, as he afterwards declared, with extreme reluctance, at the instigation of Lord Liverpool commanded Canning to remain in office, but granted him permission to abstain, as completely as he might think fit, from any share in the proceedings against the queen. In compliance with His Majesty's injunctions, Canning accordingly retained his office and position in the Government, taking no part of course in the preparation of the bill of Pains and Penalties, and even spending the autumn on the Continent. On his return to England, he found that the conduct of the Ministry in connection with the queen's case was still the subject of general animadversion, and that the position of Her Majesty would without doubt be keenly discussed in the ensuing session of Parliament. In these circumstances, he was obliged to reconsider his own position and the course which he ought to pursue. To use his own words, 'For a minister to absent himself altogether from the expected discussions in the House of Commons, intermixed, as they were likely to be, with the general business of the session, appeared quite impossible. To be present as a minister taking no part in these discussions would only be productive of embarrassment to him, and of perplexity

of the question. He therefore found it necessary once more to wait upon the king and again to tender the resignation of his office, which was now accepted. An attempt was made to keep the affair secret, which was of course unsuccessful; and as soon as it became public, Canning was obliged to make known to his constituents his reasons for resigning, and he at the same time intimated his intention again to leave England until the agitation connected with this affair had ceased.

Canning's retirement was a serious blow to his colleagues. They endeavoured to persuade Peel to accept the vacant office; but he was too cautious to cast in his lot with a ministry which was both out of favour at Court and unpopular in the country, and which was allowed to remain in office simply because there was at this time no other body of men to whom the administration of affairs could be transferred. Lord Liverpool was therefore obliged to patch up his Government with the materials at his disposal, and the office which Canning had vacated was conferred on Bragge Bathurst, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

Parliament met on the 23rd of January. As had been foreseen, the proceedings of the Ministry in the case of the queen were at once brought under the notice of the representatives of the people. On the first day of the session Lord Archibald Hamilton intimated his intention to bring forward a motion relative to the omission of the queen's name from the Liturgy. Numerous petitions from influential public bodies and meetings were presented, complaining in strong terms of the injustice inflicted on Her Majesty, and praying the Parliament to exert its influence in advising the king to dismiss from his councils men whose conduct had so seriously endangered the dignity of the Crown and the peace and prosperity of the nation. It was on the presentation of one of these petitions from Hampshire