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served heir to the Earl of Stirling in right of his mother, and sought infeoffment of certain lands claimed. Upon this, the Officers of State in Scotland took measures to reduce the service and infeoffment; and the pleas of Mr. Humphreys not being considered satisfactory by the Lord Ordinary (Cockburn), he was called on to produce further proof. This he sought to supply by an old map of Canada, on the back of which was written what purported to be extracts from the charter of King Charles, these extracts having been made, it was alleged, in 1707 by a person who had seen the originals in Canada. There were also various certificates attached to the map, bearing the names of Louis XV. and Fénélon, the Bishop of Nismes. This document, Humphreys alleged, was given him by Mdlle. Le Normand, a fortune-teller in Paris. Various other documents mentioned in the libel were found to have come from the same quarter. The trial lasted four days, during which the most eminent experts in France and Britain were examined concerning the documents. The prisoner's counsel, Mr. Patrick Robertson, made a feeling and eloquent speech on his behalf. The jury found the documents on the map forged, but that it was not proved that the prisoner forged them, or uttered them knowing them to be forged. The other documents they found were not proven to be forged, or uttered by the prisoner knowing them to be forged. On the verdict being pronounced, the prisoner fell into the arms of his friend, Colonel D'Aguilar, who had accompanied him daily into court. Lord Meadowbank pronounced judgment, and assoilzied the prisoner.

29.-Chartist riot at Llanidloes, Wales. The "Trewythen Arms" inn ransacked, and the inmates expelled. The mob were armed with guns, pistols, and pikes, and seemed to be, for a while, in entire possession of the town.

30.-Lord Brougham proposes, but afterwards withdraws, a motion to disallow certain Ordinances relating to the liberty of the press in Malta, founded on a report presented by the special commissioners, Mr. Geo. C. Lewis and Mr. John Austin.

May 1.-The ship Tory leaves England with the first company of emigrants for New Zealand.

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Cheltenham Theatre destroyed by fire. Government issues a proclamation empowering magistrates to apprehend all persons illegally assembled for drilling, or meeting

armed with bludgeons in a manner calculated to cause breaches of the peace.

4.-The opium in the British factories at China having been all delivered up, Captain Elliott, with some difficulty, obtains the release of the merchants and others held in confinement under the orders of Commissioner Lin.

The Duke of Newcastle dismissed from the Lord-Lieutenancy of Nottingham, for refusing to make additions to the Commission of the Peace recommended by the Lord Chancellor, because the parties were not of his opinions in politics, and did not belong to the Established Church.

The Rt. Hon. J. Abercromby announces his intention of retiring from the Speakership of the House of Commons.

5.-Mehemet Ali, claiming hereditary power in Syria, takes the field against the Sultan.

6.-Debate in the House of Commons on the Government proposal to suspend the constitution in Jamaica, because the Assembly there had refused to adopt the Prisons Act passed by the Imperial Legislature. The technical question before the House was, 66 That the Speaker do now leave the chair." The debate was protracted till 2 A. M., when the division showed a Ministerial majority against Sir R. Peel's amendment of only 5 in a House of 583.

In the Court of Exchequer, Lord Abinger delivers judgment in the case of the Canadian prisoners. The Court were of opinion that the return to the writ of habeas corpus was a sufficient and valid return, and, therefore, that the prisoners must be remanded to their former custody. The Court was not called upon to pronounce an opinion as to whether the prisoners had been legally sentenced to transportation or not, as her Majesty's Government would be advised on that subject; but it was clear they had pleaded guilty to the crime of high treason in Upper Canada, and therefore, if the sentence of transportation was irregular, and the prisoners wished to avail themselves of that irregularity, they might be again indicted, and put upon their trial for high treason in this country. Under all the circumstances, the Court felt bound to discharge the writ of habeas corpus, and to order that the prisoners be remanded to their former custody.

7. The Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel have an audience of her Majesty this afternoon, on the business, as was currently reported, of the formation of a new Ministry.

Lord Melbourne in the Lords, and Lord John Russell in the Commons, announce the resignation of Ministers in consequence of the vote on the Jamaica Bill-a measure requiring more than ordinary support and confidence, bu which had met with less than was usually accorded to them.

8.-Henry Vincent, delegate to the Chartist National Convention, arrested on the charge of inciting to riot at Newport.

8. On the recommendation of Lord Melbourne, the Queen sends for the Duke of Wellington to assist her in the formation of a Government. The Duke explains that, as the principal difficulty of a new Ministry would be in the House of Commons, he would recommend that Sir Robert Peel should be at once consulted. This was immediately done, and Sir Robert intimated that though he was not insensible to the difficulties that might beset a new Government, yet having been a party to the vote of the House which led to those difficulties, nothing would prevent him from giving her Majesty every assistance in his power. In the evening Sir Robert submitted to her Majesty the names of the Duke of Wellington, the Earl of Aberdeen, Lords Lyndhurst, Ellenborough, and Stanley, Sir James Graham, Sir Henry Hardinge, and Mr. Goulburn, as colleagues with whom he was prepared to act. To these colleagues, as Sir Robert Peel afterwards explained, he mentioned that in all the subordinate appointments in the Household, below the rank of a Lady of the Bedchamber, he would propose no change to her Majesty; and that in the superior class he took it for granted the holders would at once resign their offices.

9.-During an interview with the Queen, Sir Robert Peel states that it would be of great importance as an indication of her confidence if certain offices of the Household of the higher rank, which might not be voluntarily relinquished by the ladies holding them, were subject to some change. Her Majesty stated in reply that she must reserve the whole of these appointments for herself.

The Globe, a Ministerial paper, announces "The determination which it is well known her Majesty has taken, not to allow the change in the Government to interfere with the ladies of her Court, has given great offence to the Tories."

10. The Queen to Sir Robert Peel: "The Queen, having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to reTove the Ladies of her Bedchamber, cannot consent to a course which she conceives to be Suntrary to usage, and is repugnant to her feel

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Sir Robert Peel to the Queen: "Having had the opportunity through your Majesty's gracious consideration of reflecting upon this int, he humbly submits to your Majesty that be is reluctantly compelled by a sense of public Caty, and of the interests of your Majesty's serFe, to adhere to the opinion which he venred to express to your Majesty. He trusts he may be permitted at the same time to express to your Majesty his grateful acknowledg ments for the distinction which your Majesty conferred upon him by requiring his advice and assistance in the attempt to form an Administration, and his earnest prayer that whatever arrangements your Majesty may be enabled to make for that purpose may be most conducive

to your Majesty's personal comfort and happiness, and to the promotion of the public welfare."

11.-The Melbourne Ministry recalled. At a Cabinet meeting the following minute was adopted :-" Her Majesty's confidential servants having taken into consideration the letter addressed to her Majesty by Sir Robert Peel on the 10th of May, and the reply of Sir Robert Peel of the same day, are of opinion that, for the purpose of giving to the Administration that character of efficiency and stability, and those marks of the constitutional support of the Crown which are required to enable it to act usefully to the public service, it is reasonable that the great officers of the Court, and situations in the Household held by Members of Parliament, should be included in the political arrangements made in a change in the Administration; but they are not of opinion that a similar principle should be applied or extended to the offices held by ladies in her Majesty's Household."

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The literature of the Ministerial crisis receives to-day an addition of a kind not so common thirty years ago as now, in the form of an account, by a correspondent of the Spectator, of a dreadful shipwreck in a calm sea; one of those awful visitations of Providence which occasionally arise to cast a shadow over the spirit of human enterprise.' The conduct of the crew is thus set forth :-RICE: "If she did not leak so confoundedly, I should feel equally satisfied. But don't you think-to put it merely as a matter of personal safety, and not (God knows) that I care a button about the property of our employers-don't you think, somehow" (boat strikes again). RUSSELL. (Chief Mate): "I only think that we are getting too near to this infernal island. ship there! d'ye hear? you at the helm!" THE FISH (in choice Punic-from behind) : "Maning me, sir? And is it turning of me tail again that your honour will see me, before I git me biscuit and me grog? Isn't it me that's making this splash now, and that's laving the sea behind me in such an iligant manner: and what would your honour do widout me?" RUSSELL: "Throw that beast something, d'ye hear?" Ay, ay, sir." HOWICK (as they approach): "What do you say-suppose we were to land? I don't wish to say anything to vex our mate, but it will not be denied that the boat is going down." RUSSELL (in great wrath): "Who says going down? My boat -built with these hands--going down! Sir, she can't go down-I defy her! (Ship gradually sinking, in a manner particularly apparent to those on shore, who raise ironical cheers.) No, no, she can't go down." HOLLAND: Yet perhaps we could get a little nearer to the shore, in case of accident. If forced at last (which God forbid) to land among these

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people, we could easily protest we loved them, and had always intended this visit. They might maul us a little, perhaps, after all our rogueries yet even that's better than drowning, you know. At all events, I suspect we shall gain nothing further by stopping here. In the first place, here are these waves playing the very devil with the boat; then there's that beast behind, grabbing all our biscuits; and vis-à-vis we have those incensed natives, ready to tear us to pieces, some say. A pretty situation, by G-!" RUSSELL (with all the spurious dignity of a little man in a dilemma of his own making): "I regard, sir, with perfect satisfaction the present posture of affairs. I am persuaded that this cockboat is working gradually a great and useful change. (Boatswain announces another leak.) I think our present situation so satisfactory, that, for my part, I wish to cast anchor exactly where we are, neither further from the sea nor nearer to the shore than we find ourselves at this moment. My advice is, that we remain in this situation for the term of our natural lives. (Boatswain announces a new hole in the boat's bottom; water heard rushing in.) Yes, I know all about that. You'll say the water is coming in. Well, sir, what then?-Sir, 'in scanning the general scope' of this boat, I and my partners, you must know, always considered that the water would have as fair a prospect as any other element of obtaining a position in it; and guided, sir, by those principles which I have ever- (sudden and total immersion of the cockboat, amidst the most horrible yells of triumphant execration ever heard on this coast). " Friday afternoon. -I break open my letter to announce the extraordinary fact, that, after three days' immersion, the bodies have been seen this afternoon floating on the water, and that the vital spark is not extinct! Four o'clock. -The men live, and are swimming for their lives. Five o'clock. They are trying to reach this shore. What will the natives do with them?"

12.-Outbreak in Paris and attack by the rioters on the Conciergerie and Hôtel de Ville. The National Guard speedily mustered in great numbers, destroyed the barricades, and seized the more prominent disturbers of the peace. About 100, it was reported, were killed. This rising had the effect of terminating a ministerial crisis of some weeks' duration, Marshal Soult at once placing himself at the head of affairs.

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My impression decidedly was, that I should not appear to the country to be in possession of that confidence; and that impression I could not overcome; and upon that impression I resolved to act. Who were my political opponents? Why, of the two I have named, one, the Marquis of Normanby, was publicly stated to be a candidate for the very same office which it was proposed I should fill, namely, the office of Prime Minister. The other noble lord has been designated as the leader of this House; and I know not why his talents might not justify his appointment, in case of the retirement of his predecessor. it possible I ask you to go back to other times; take Pitt, or Fox, or any other Minister of this proud country, and answer for yourselves this question-is it fitting that one man shall be the Minister, responsible for the most arduous charge that can fall to the lot of man, and that the wife of the other-that other his most formidable political enemy-shall, with his express consent, hold office in imme diate attendance on the Sovereign? Oh no! I felt it was impossible; I could not consent to this. Yes, feelings more powerful than reasoning on those precedents told me that it was not for my own honour or the public interests that I should consent to be Minister of England. The public interests may suffer nothing by my abandonment of that high trust; the public interests may suffer nothing by my eternal exclusion from power; but the public interests would suffer, and I should be abandoning my duty to myself, my country, and, above all, to the Queen my sovereign, if I were to consent to hold power on conditions which I felt to be-which I had the strongest conviction were incompatible with the authority and with the duty of a Prime Minister."-In the Upper House, Lord Melbourne said: "I frankly declare that I resume office unequivocally and solely for this reason, that I will not abandon my Sovereign in a situation of difficulty and distress, and especially when a demand is made upon her Majesty with which I think she ought not to comply-a demand inconsistent with her personal honour, and which, if acquiesced in, would render her reign liable to all the changes and variations of political parties, and make her domestic life one constant scene of unhappiness and discomfort."

13. The small remnant of the Chartist National Convention removes its sittings from London to Birmingham. They were met at the railway by a mob of about 5,000 people, and conducted through the principal streets, to the great terror of peaceable people. At their first meeting a majority of the delegates adopted a manifesto, urging their supporters to withdraw any money they might have in banks, to deal exclusively with Chartists, to rest a "sacred month" from all labour, and to prepare themselves with the arms of freemen to defend themselves. In the Northern Star Feargus O'Connor urged that their memorial to

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17.-Prince Louis Napoleon writes from "17, Carlton House Terrace," to the editor of the Times: "I see with pain in your Paris correspondence that it is wished to cast upon me the responsibility of the late insurrection. rely upon your kindness to refute in the most distinct manner this insinuation. The intelligence of the bloody scenes which took place has caused me as much surprise as grief. If I were the soul of a plot, I would also be the chief actor in it in the day of danger; nor would I shrink back after a defeat."

18. Disturbance at Glasgow on the occasion of her Majesty's birthday. At night a mob 200 strong mustered on the Green, and, armed with sticks, marched up to the Cross with the view of creating a disturbance. They were overpowered by the police, and the most prominent carried off to prison.

Fire in Bucklersbury, near the Mansion House, destroying the premises occupied by Mr. Baker, stationer, and causing the death of two of his children and two domestics.

Died at Florence, Caroline Murat, sister of Napoleon I. and ex-Queen of Naples.

20.-At the Dublin meeting to address the Queen on the stand she had made against the Tories, Mr. Henry Grattan declared that if they had succeeded her Majesty's life would not have been safe. "I tell you more, that if her Majesty was once fairly placed in the hands of the Tories I would not give an orange-peel for her life. If some of the low miscreants of the party got round her Majesty, and had the mixing of the Royal bowl at night, I fear she would have a long sleep."-O'Connell was ready with even more than his usual flattery. "When I entered the Reform Club," he said, "a friend seized me by both hands, exclaiming, 'She has done it! England has triumphed, and Ireland is saved.' May the great God of heaven bless her who did it!-that creature of only nineteen-lovely as she is young, and pure as she is exalted. She was something which might be dreamed of in chivalry or fairyland. There she was, in the power of the weakness of her sex. . . . But it was not her head that she consulted; it was from the overflowing

feelings of her young heart that she was induced to take the course she so nobly pursued. Those excellent women who had been so long attached to her, who had nursed and tended to her wants in her childhood, who had watched over her in her sickness, whose eyes beamed with delight as they watched her increasing daily in beauty and in loveliness-when they were threatened to be forced away from her, her heart told her that she could as well part with that heart itself as with those whom it held so dear."

21.-Lord Palmerston writes to Sir J. M'Neill, at Shahrood, authorizing him to inform the Shah that his designs upon Affghanistan are in complete contravention of the spirit of the alliance subsisting between the two nations.

22.-Three motions discussed by the General Assembly regarding the Auchterarder case. Dr. Cook proposed that the Veto Act having been found to infringe on civil and patrimonial rights, Presbyteries should be instructed to proceed with settlements in the manner practised before the Act was passed.-Dr. Muir sought to make an addition, to the effect that Presbyteries, in settling presentees, ought to consider their suitableness to the mind and situation of the people of the parish.-Dr. Chalmers, while admitting that the House of Lords had settled the mere "civil right" in the Auchterarder case, insisted that the principle of non-intrusion was an integral part of the Church's constitution which should not be abandoned, and that no presentee should be forced upon any parish contrary to the will of the congregation. For Dr. Chalmers's motion as against Dr. Muir's the numbers were 197 to 161; and as against Dr. Cook's, 204 to 155. Dr. Chalmers's motion was therefore declared to be carried by a majority of 49.

24. Capt. Elliott and the British merchants leave Canton.

25.-Great Chartist demonstration on Kersal Moor, near Manchester. Feargus O'Connor said he came there because the magistrates and the Queen pronounced the meeting illegal and unconstitutional. "I have good authority for asserting," he said, "that all the Hanoverian clubs in London are at work to know how they can dispose of our young Queen, and place the bloody Cumberland on her throne in her stead." Other violent speeches were delivered by Rushton of Manchester, Fletcher of Bury, and others.

27. Mr. Charles Shaw Lefevre elected Speaker of the House of Commons, by a majority over Mr. Goulburn of 18 in a House of 620. In this division there were 8 pairs, II Liberals and 9 Tories absent, and two vacancies-Ludlow and Carlow.

30. In retaliation to some extent for the attempts of Government to control the liberties of the City, the Court of Common Council, by a majority of 46, decline to forward any address on the subject of the recent Ministerial crisis.

30.-Mr. T. B. Macaulay addresses the electors of Edinburgh with the view of succeeding Mr. Abercromby in the representation of the city. He was elected without opposition on the 4th of June.

31.-In the Court of Queen's Bench, Lord Denman gave judgment in the case of Stockdale v. Hansard-an action for defamatory libel against the printers to the House of Commons for the publication of the Report of Commissioners of Prisons, in which certain strictures were made on some obscene books printed by the plaintiff. Lord Denman said that the supremacy of Parliament, on which the claim for exemption from responsibility was made to rest, might have been recognised as a valid authority, but the report complained of was not made by the sanction of the three co-ordinate powers acting harmoniously together, but by the House of Commons singly; a usurpation of authority abhorrent to the constitution of England. "Most willingly," said the Lord Chief Justice, "would I decline to enter upon an inquiry which may lead to my differing from that great and powerful assembly. But when one of my fellow-subjects presents himself before me in this court demanding justice for an injury, it is not at my option to grant or to withhold redress. I am bound to afford it him, it the law declares him entitled to it. Parliament is said to be supreme: I most fully acknowledge its supremacy. It follows, then, that neither branch of it is supreme when acting by itself." A jury summoned afterwards to assess damages, awarded 100l. to Stockdale.

June 1.-The inhabitants of Melbourne, Australia, celebrate the second anniversary of their city. Within the two years certain lots of land had advanced in price from 77. to 600l., and from 277. to 930l.

3. The Lords of the Committee of Privy Council recommend that the sum of 10,000l., granted by Parliament in 1835 towards the erection of normal or model schools, be given in equal proportion to the National Society and the British and Foreign School Society. They also recommend, that no further grant be made now or hereafter for these schools unless the right of inspection be retained, in order to secure a uniformity in the several schools, with such improvements as may from time to time be suggested by the Committee.

Lord John Russell introduces a bill for the legislative union of the two Canadas.

4.-Lord John Russell intimates the abandonment of the Government scheme of education, in consequence of the opposition manifested by various religious bodies.

7. The Right Hon. James Abercromby, Speaker of the House of Commons, raised to the peerage with the title of Lord Dunfermline.

10. An attempt made by a nadman to zater Buckingham Palace, with designs against

the Queen. He was seized by a sentry, and afterwards sent to Bridewell.

13. Duel at Wimbledon between Lord Londonderry and Mr. H. Grattan, M. P., arising out of statements made by the latter at Dublin (see May 20), which Lord Londonderry had described as "base and infamous." Lord Londonderry received his opponent's fire, and fired in the air. A hostile correspondence on the same subject took place between Mr. Grattan and Lord Brougham.

Murder of Capt. Bergholty, on board his vessel at Monkwearmouth, by the mate. After the murder the body was thrown over the ship's side, attached to a small boat, and rowed by Ehlert and one Müller up towards the bridge, where it was found on a sandbank by the police.

14.-The Lord President of the court of Session pronounces censure on seven-members of the Presbytery of Dunkeld, for their contempt of court in having inducted a minister to the church and parish of Lethendy, in defiance of the interdict of the Court. They were also found liable in expenses.

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Mr. Attwood presents a Chartist petition to the House of Commons, said to be signed by 1,280,000 people. It consisted of a cylinder of parchment about the diameter of a coach wheel, and was literally rolled into the House. His motion to submit the grievances complained of to the consideration of a Select Committee was negatived by 235 to 46 votes.

15. A woman, describing herself as Sophia Elizabeth Guelph Sims, makes application at the Mansion House for advice and assistance to prove herself the lawful child of George IV. and Mrs. Fitzherbert.

The Select Committee on Printed Papers present a Report on the Stockdale v. Hansard prosecution. In conformity with certain abstract views expressed in the debate, Lord John Russell submitted two resolutions; the first declaring the inexpediency of adopting measures for the purpose of staying execution of the writ against Hansard; the second that the House would enter into a consideration of the means of defending its essential privilege of publishing its votes and proceedings.

17.-Died, aged 65, Lord William Bentinck, Governor-General of India, 1827-35.

18. Mr. Grote's annual motion on the Ballot rejected by 333 to 216 votes. Mr. Macaulay spoke in favour of the measure, being the first time he addressed the House since his return from India.

Opening of railways from Newcastle to North Shields, and from Newcastle to South Shields and Sunderland.

20. As the result of two conversations with the French Ambassador, Lord Palmerston pronounces it as his opinion that it was necessary to save the Ottoman Empire from an exclusive

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