Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 2 (of 2)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 2 (of 2)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Hanover, House of; Queens -- Great Britain -- Biography
Mr. Denman, the Queen’s solicitor-general, was not less legally
audacious, if one may so speak, than his great leader. In a voice of
thunder, and in presence of the assembled peerage of the realm, he
denounced one of the King’s brothers as a calumniator. Mr. Rush, who
was present on the occasion, says, ‘the words were, “Come forth, THOU
SLANDERER!”--a denunciation,’ he goes on to say, ‘the more severe from
the sarcasm with which it was done, and the turn of his eye towards
its object.’ That object was the Duke of Clarence; and in reference to
the exclamation, and the fierce spirit of the hour generally, Mr. Rush
says: ‘Even after the whole trial had ended, Sir Francis Burdett, just
out of prison for one libel, proclaimed aloud to his constituents, and
had it printed in all the papers, that the ministers ALL DESERVED TO BE
HANGED. This tempest of abuse, incessantly directed against the King
and all who stood by him, was borne during several months, without the
slightest attempt to check or punish it; and it is too prominent a fact
to be left unnoticed that the same advocate who so fearlessly uttered
the above denunciation was made attorney-general when the prince
of the blood who was the OBJECT OF IT sat upon the throne, and was
subsequently raised to the still higher dignity of lord chief justice.’
By the end of the third day of the defence the testimony had assumed so
favourable an aspect for the Queen that ministers began to deliberate
upon the question of throwing up the bill altogether. During the
following fortnight, however, the subsequent testimony was not so
decidedly contradictory of what the witnesses on the other side had
sworn to, and the government then decided that the bill should take
its course. The first witness was a Mr. Lemann, clerk to the Queen’s
solicitor. His deposition was to the effect that he had been sent
to Baden to solicit the attendance of Baron Dante, the Grand Duke’s
chamberlain. The baron, who was proprietor of an estate in Hanover,
and who consulted his memoranda before answering the solicitation,
finally, and under sanction, if not order, of his ducal master, refused
to attend as a witness. Colonel St. Leger simply proved that he did not
resign his appointment in the Queen’s household from any knowledge of
her having conducted herself improperly, but on account of ill health.
The Earl of Guildford spoke to the general propriety of the Queen’s
conduct abroad while under his observation; and Lord Glenbervie showed
that the royal reputation had not been dimmed, in his eyes at least,
during his residence in Italy, or otherwise he would not have permitted
Lady Glenbervie to act, even for a brief time, as lady-in-waiting to
the Princess. Lady Charlotte Lindsay deposed to having heard reports
unfavourably affecting that reputation, but she had never seen anything
to confirm them. Persons of inferior rank, in attendance on the
Princess, deposed to the same effect. The testimony of Dr. Holland and
Mr.
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