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gami, otherwise Bartolomo Bergami, had so en-
tered the service of her Royal Highness,
the said
Princess of Wales, a most unbecoming and disgust-
ing intimacy commenced between her Royal High.
ness and the said Bartolomo Pergami, otherwise
Bartolomo Bergamí:

"And whereas her Royal Highness not only advanced the said Bartolomo Pergami, otherwise Bartolomo Bergami, to a high situation in her Royal Highness's household, and received him into her service, and that in high and confidential situations about her Royal Highness's person, but bestowed upon him other great and extraordinary marks of favour and distinction, obtained for him orders of knighthood and titles of honour, and conferred upon him a pretended order of knighthood, which her Royal Highness had taken upon herself to institute, without any just or lawful authority:

"And whereas her said Royal Highness, whilst the said Bartolomo Pergami, otherwise Bartolomo Bergami, was in her said service, further unmindful of her exalted rank and station, and of her duty to your Majesty, and wholly regardless of her own honour and character, conducted herself towards the said Bartolomo Pergami, otherwise Bartolomo Bergami, in other respects, both in public and private, and in the various places and countries which her Royal Highness visited, with indecent and offensive familiarity and freedom, and carried on a licentious, disgraceful, and adulterous intercourse with the said Bartolomo Pergami, otherwise Bartolomo Bergami, which continued for a long period of time, during her Royal Highness's residence abroad, by which conduct of her said Royal Highness, great scandal and dishonour have been brought upon your Majesty's family and this kingdom.

"Therefore, to manifest our deep sense of such scandalous, disgraceful, and vicious conduct on the part of her said Majesty, by which she has violated the duty she owed to your Majesty, and has rendered herself unworthy of the exalted rank and station of Queen Consort of this Realm, and to evince our just regard for the dignity of the Crown and the honour of this Nation, we, your Majesty's

most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in Parliament assembled, do hereby entreat your Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Com

Lord Dacre presented the following petition from her Majesty:- ༈ ༈༙ ༥ ༢༣ ༦ ཊྛཱ

"THE PETITION ·

Of Caroline Amelia, Queen Consort of England, to the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in Parliament assembled.

"The Queen has heard, with inexpressible astonishment, of the proceedings of the House of Lords; proceedings which have in view the dissolving of her privileges, and founded upon the Report of a Secret Committee, before whom she had no counsel to assert her rights, and who have proceeded en, tirely on written papers, and by whom no witnesses have been examined. She further learns, with surprise and regret, that her counsel were last night refused a hearing at the bar of the House of Lords; and further, that a list of the witnesses, on a future occasion to be produced against her, has been refused to her. Under such circumstances, her Majesty doubts whether she can do more than make her most solemn protest against the whole of such proceedings. Still, however, she relies on the justice of your Lordships, and still prays that her counsel may be heard at your bar to state her claims.”

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The concluding prayer of this petition was forthwith complied with, and Messrs. Brougham and Denman were called in. We cannot do better than extract the following passage from the speech of the former, which will exhibit at once the object of her Majesty's ap plication. He said," he was instructed to make answer generally, and to take an objection to the whole of the proceedings. Her Majesty had been last night served with a copy of the bill which had been read a first time and ordered to be printed. That bill contained charges of the grossest nature against that Illus trious Personage, and her Majesty could not suffer the shortest interval to elapse without preferring at the bar, by her counsel, objections to the whole course of proceeding funditus. As a bill had been brought in and read a first time by their Lordships, her Majesty could not

mons, in this present Parliament assembled, and but express her regret and disappoint

by the authority of the same, that her said Majesty, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, from and after the passing of this act, shall be, and is hereby, deprived of

the title of Queen, and of all the prerogatives,

rights, privileges, and exemptions appertaining to her as Queen Consort of this realm; and that her said Majesty shall, from and after the passing of

this act, for ever be disabled and rendered incapable of using, exercising, and enjoying the same, or any of them; and moreover, that the marriage between his Majesty and the said Caroline Amelia Elizabeth be, and the same is hereby from henceforth for ever wholly dissolved, annulled, and made void, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever."

After the bill was read a first time, the Earl of Liverpool moved, "that copies should be sent to her Majesty, and her Majesty's Attorney-General, and also to the King's Attorney-General;" which was agreed to.

On the next day, Thursday, the 6th,

ment that she had not been heard by her counsel yesterday, before the first reading of the bill; and that, under all the circumstances of the case, their Lordships had not thought fit to comply with her request. On her part he had to state objections applicable to the ресиliar circumstances in which her Majesty was placed, and to the relation in which their Lordships might possibly be placed with regard to her, in case the proceeding went forward. He was also instructed to speak to the mode of proceeding; and touching the time, whe ther a stated period was fixed upon, or if it was intended to delay the further proceeding, without specifying any par ticular time. These matters he was to go into either entirely or partially, as

there was a possibility that circumstances might occur which would make a further delay requisite. He was also to speak to certam matters that might be well calculated to produce an immediate effect in regard to the further proceedings of their Lordships. He was authorized to state that this was the only stage of the business that now could allow her Majesty to make the statements to which he alluded, with any effect. And that she felt it a matter of serious detriment, that her petition should have been rejected yesterday, and that she was not allowed to be heard before the hill was read a first time. Last of all, her Majesty had to complain of a certain Report, which was stated to have been laid on the table of that House, but of which, as a Parliamentary document, of course, her Majesty could know nothing. How ever, it was not to be concealed that that Report had gone abroad, and had been made known to the public in every shape and form of announcement. Its substance had been stated in print, and spoken of, and every person, man, woman, and child, could repeat it to the letter. It had appeared in all the newspapers; it formed the subject of all conversation; it was a topic of universal interest; but it might, for aught he knew, be a fabrication-a gross and scandalous libel on their Lordships' committee. But as the charges which that Report was said to convey had been so generally and consistently circulated, and as their Lordships had not committed or visited with any marks of their displeasure, any of the persons who had dared to prostitute their pens and tongues to the publication of such charges, he could not but feel such conduct on the part of their Lordships as at least affording some foundation for believing that the Report had a bona fide existence; and upon this point her Majesty was most desirous of being heard. If the Report did exist, it contained statements which went even beyond the bill; and which could not be affirmed by the passing of the bill, or negatived by its being thrown out. Those statements might, however, have the effect of exciting prejudices the most injurious to her Majesty's cause, and ought to be answered without delay. He therefore submitted, with all respect to the House, that counsel were to speak generally to the whole of the proceedings, and that the subjects which he had particularized were the only ones on which he had received instructions."

An objection was made to this mode

of argument, and the counsel being ordered to withdraw, the House pro ceeded to deliberate. After a time, they were again called in, and the Lord Chancellor informed them that "he was commanded by the House to allow them to be heard at the bar, confining themselves to the mode of proceeding upon the bill, and the time and times of the proceeding."

Mr. Brougham then proceeded with his address. He said, he had some difficulty to comprehend what the particular points were to which the House had limited or rather tied him down; but taking them up with all possible good faith and zeal, he begged the House, if he failed in not catching the right sense of these restrictions, and should therefore say anything which might not come exactly within their limits, to impute it to misapprehension on points which he had not had time to consider, and not to any intentional deviation from the strict meaning of their Lordships' injunction. He had been instructed by her Majesty to speak against this procedure by bill; but he now gathered from the restriction imposed upon him, as to the points to which his observations were confined, that he would be right in assuming that their Lordships had sanctioned the proceeding by bill, and had not only done that, but had come to a solemn decision to go on with it; and altho' there were grave objections against it, had so inflexibly decided as to refuse to hear one word against that deter mination. This bill was, then, to be looked upon as unalterable for the present, and irrevocable God knows how long, and therefore he was now tied down to the mode and time. As to the former of the two, he did not see what he could say upon it. There could be but one mode of proceeding with respect to a particular bill that was established by the rules of the House, and it was not the part of couns sel to instruct them upon it. He had no new mode to propose. He did not mean to suggest that the third reading should take place before the second(A laugh.) or that another Secret Committee should be appointed to back by their report the opinion of the first, Such modes he did not mean to propose, or any other equally novel and fanciful, and which he could hardly state with a grave countenance. On the mode of proceeding, therefore, he was left nothing to object, either matter of fact, or

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matter of law, But as to the second point, the time, that indeed he could not understand; but this was but the one point on which he was permitted to address their Lordships, whereas he had naturally thought, in the first instance, that there were two-which mistake arose from the mode having been separated from the time, as a distinct and substantial topic; but if he were to go into an argument to prove that their Lordships should change the mode of proceeding before the second reading, he should be stopped by the rules of the House, according to which, when strictly enforced, counsel could not be heard against the bill until the second reading. He was, consequently, to speak as to time, and that only. He was not allowed to urge those weighty considerations to their Lordships which might counteract the effect of the charges suspended over his Illustrious Client, and which were, perhaps, suspended for her absolute destruction; but the very existence of charges, which were not allowed to be answered, made it the interest of her Majesty to require justice in the speediest manner. She asked for no delay she was ready to enter at once upon her defence, and to repel the charges in the Report and preamble of the Bill-and to prove them in the whole, and every part, a tissue of unparalleled falsehood! She called upon their Lordships with an earnest, a pressing, and he might say, a clamorous voice, for open and immediate justice! She was prepared to enter into her defence that evening, if it was their Lordships' pleasure, or to morrow; and, in her behalf, he had to require that the second reading of the bill might be brought on as soon as possible, for the purpose of throwing it out. He spoke on this point principally from his own feelings as an individual; and he had to implore their Lordships not to interpret any thing that he might say, under the pressure of these, in his own disfavour or that of his Illustrious Client. He must deprecate their Lordships laying any stress upon anything that resulted from unfounded rumour or interested misrepresentation. He trusted nothing of that kind would operate to the prejudice of his Client in that place, from whence equal justice should emanate to the lowest as well as to the highest individual in the realm. God send she had never risen higher than to the humblest of the King's subjects! She would then, in such a

case, have those benefits which were allowed to the meanest; she would, with reference to trial, have been furnished with a copy of the indictment, a list of the witnesses, and all those other advantages which the equal laws of England extend to all under their protection. The evidence against her would be examined in a Court of Justice, and she would have the benefit of a verdict of a Jury of her country. None of those persous would have been the followers of party, or influenced by gratitude for favours received, or influenced by hope of favours in expectation; but she would be tried by twelve honest, upright, and impartial Englishmen. Such would have been the lot of his Illustrious Client, had her fortunes been among the humblest; but her present very exalted station tended to destitute her of all these fair and legal advantages."

The bill was read a first time, and the Earl of Liverpool stated, that on the following Monday he should be prepared to name the period for the second reading. Lord Grey pressed the neces sity of an earlier day, and moved, that their Lordships should be summoned for to-morrow; but this was negatived upon a division, by a majority of 37.5

On the same day, in the House of Commons, Sir R. Fergusson submitted the following motion with respect to the Milan Commission:

"That an humble Address be presented to his Majesty, praying him to give directions to the proper officer to lay before the House copies of all Commission or Commissions, Instruction or Instructions, which have been issued by his Ma jesty's command, since the departure of her Majesty the Queen from this kingdom, in the year 1814, for the purpose of taking depositions, or otherwise making inquiry, respecting her Majesty's

conduct, together with the amount of all sums of same end."

money, and by whom they were issued, to the

In reply to the speech with which Sir R. Fergusson introduced his motion, Lord Castlereagh gave some explanations touching that Commission, which it is of importance should be put upon record.

"The Commission, if it was to be so called," said the Noble Lord, "was instituted upon the principle of uniting legal intelligence, industry, and skill, with a view to separate truth from false hood. Nor was the Commission confined to Milan, but extended to all Eu rope. He hoped he need not assure the honourable member of the indisposition of Ministers to take any step that was not perfectly consistout with the prin

ciples of British justice; and when the opportunity should arrive, he had no doubt of being able to prove that such an indisposition was entertained and acted upon by Ministers. He would submit to the House, that it was im possible for Ministers, when facts and communications were flowing in upon them, to avoid instituting some proceed ing, which was calculated to satisfy, from its character, the minds of those most concerned in the result of the inquiry. The honourable member had spoken of the Vice-Chancellor, and certainly there was nothing in the conduct of that gentleman calculated to blemish his character. Certainly there was no ground of objection to his being employed in 1818, or before it, by his present Majesty, then Prince of Wales; and certainly, in any event, he (Lord Castlereagh) was yet to learn, that there was any thing in the conduct of that distinguished lawyer, connected with this transaction, inconsistent with his character. On the contrary, the interference of such an individual might well be considered as a pledge for the integrity and propriety of the proceeding in which he had engaged. The Vice Chancellor had applied to Mr. Cook to superintend the Commission. He (Lord Castlereagh) had not the pleasure of knowing this gentleman; he saw him but once, but certainly he never saw an individual better calculated to excite fa

vourable impression than this gentleman, by the respectability of his appearance, and the gravity of his character!(Loud laughter.)-Certainly the gentlemen opposite must admit, that it would be highly improper to have sent a young gentleman upon such a mission, who might indeed have been more enabled to get into secrets of that nature. He could not imagine a character more suited to the nature of the task, than that of the individual who had been employed. As to his ignorance of foreign languages, did not that fact convey an assurance that it was not intended that this gentleman should arrive at his objects by the arts of insinuation. He (Lord Castlereagh) would assure the House in the strongest manner, that no injunction, no caution, had been omitted by the Government, against receiving, or being prejudiced by hearsay statements; and he was sure that, when the informa tion came before the House, there would not be a second opinion as to the sincerity with which Ministers had urged their injunctions; and, above all, the NEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 79.

impression that the individuals going out would derive any advantage from succeeding in making out matter of charge against her Majesty. He was satisfied, in short, that as soon as the whole of the case was laid before them, they would see reason to respect the principles and the mode in which the proceeding was carried on."

The previous question upon this motion was carried without a division,

On Monday, the 10th, the Earl of Liverpool, pursuant to notice, and after a short introductory speech, fixed Aug. 17 for the second reading of the bill; or, in other words, for the commencement of the trial of her Majesty. On the second reading the witnesses will be examined de die in diem at their Lordships' bar.

On Tuesday, the 11th, Lord Dacre presented the following petition from the Queen :--

"CAROLINE REGINA.

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"To the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, in Parliament

assembled,

the House of Lords have appointed the second reading of a bill for the Degradation and Divorce of her Majesty for Thursday, the 17th of August next; and as it is necessary and expedient for her defence, that she should be furnished with a list of the witnesses to be produced against her, the

"The Queen having received information that

Queen desires such list may be forthwith commu

nicated to her Majesty's Attorney-General,"

The specific prayer of this petition was brought before the House in a distinct shape, the following Friday (July 14), by Lord Erskine, who moved

"1. That a list of the witnesses should be fur

nished forthwith to her Majesty's legal advisers.

"2. That the delivery of such list should not exclude the House from the right of examining

other witnesses, if necessary, not named in the list. "3. That copies of the depositions should also be furnished."

This motion was resisted chiefly on the ground of precedent; a Committee having been appointed to search the Journals, and they reporting that there existed no case precisely analogous. While, however, it was deemed expedient, for obvious reasons, to withhold the required list of witnesses, it was explicitly stated by Lord Liverpool, that after the evidence for the Crown had been heard, any time which her Majesty's legal advisers might consider ne cessary, would be granted, to enable her to enter fully and completely on her defence. The motion was rejected, upon a division, by a majority of 50.

This was the last parliamentary proceeding upon the subject, and it is not probable that any thing more will be done VOL. XIV.

2 G

291

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Paisley.

FOREIGN POLITICS.

Two occurrences have

Place

Tostapa nierozori oitohor whence they will proceed to now, till the 17th Aug. to which period gow, from whence they both Houses are expected to adjourn... Her Majesty has received Addresses from the Common Council, and Common Hall, of the City of London, from the electors of Westminster, &c. and the inhabitants of various places i in different parts of the e country.

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The Coronation, which was to have taken place on the first of August was postponed by proclamation in the Gazette of the 15th of July. No day is named for performing the august ceremony.i

1

which deserve to be noticed under this
division of the Digest. On the oth
inst, the Spanish Cortes
be to bui
were solemnly
installed, and the King proceeded in

state to open their session. His Ma

jesty's speech was moderate, wise, and
woknow,
apparently sincere. We
may
therefore, venture to enroll Spain upon
the list of free countries, and its govern-
ment among the limited monarchies of
Europe.

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In Scotland the trials for High Trea- The other occurrence to which we alson, of those who were concerned in luded, is a revolution at Naples. We the rebellious, outrages at Glasgow, Pais- know, as yet, too little of its origin, proley, &c. in the beginning of last April, gress, and object, to reason upon them. have commenced. Two of the Bonny- What is known, indeed, or rather what muir Radicals were found guilty at is stated, would lead us to consider the Stirling, when the remainder withdrew transaction with no favourable e eye. It their plea of Not guilty, and threw appears to have been purely a themselves on the mercy of the Crown. insurrection, and we are The last accounts from the North stated that the commission was sitting at Glas

до

mirers of that liberty which owes its birth to camps and garrisons.

¶ ylis(

COMMERCIAL REPORT.

Lloyd's Coffee House, July 20, 1820. THE fluctuations of the weather have had, as might be expected, considerable effect on the prices current at the CORN Market. This is always the case, in a greater or a less degree, at this season of the year, but has lately been felt with a promptness not to be passed by without observation. According to the best intelligence we have been able to obtain, assisted also by much personal inspection, the late rains and storms have been local; and some places have rather wanted rain, while others have had a superabundance. This may account for that forwardness to watch the market, to which we have alluded. In some districts the corn has been very much laid, and the prospect of its recovery is very uncertain ; in others, the grain has stood extremely well, and promises an abundant supply. Hence, also, a variety of opinions are afloat, and are likely to continue, for some weeks to come; till, at length, the close of the month of August will cancel or confirm them. We expect, however, that the harvest will not be uniformly good, or bad; and that there will be this year a considerable difficulty in striking a fair average for the kingdom at large.

FE

Somewhat of the same diversity attends the plantations of Hops in Kent and Sussex they have been very much incommoded by vermin, while in Worcestershire they have been comparatively free. The same may be said of that singular phenomenon the honey-dew. the late rains had refreshed the bines, and they once more looked cheerfully; but the effect has not been permanent (in the Eastern counties), and fresh honey has made its appearance. However, the calculations of the duty have risen from 90,000 to 100,000, and even to 105,000l. which shews, that the planters are far from being out of heart with respect to the ultimate gathering.

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If we may depend on information that has reached us, the price of our native WOOLS has been gradually improving, of late; and with this must be connected a concurrent decline in the price of foreign wool, especially the inferior kinds of German. Spanish wool maintains itself steadily. From hence we infer, that wool of the lower descriptions will not reach us from abroad in the abundance it has done; and that our farmers may contemplate the value of this part of thei

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