Page:The new monthly magazine and literary journal. Volume 3, 1821. (IA s3id13414670).pdf/11

 THE

LITERARY JOURNAL.

HISTORICAL REGISTER.

JAN. 1, 1821.

POLITICAL EVENTS.-GREAT BRITAIN.

The great object of general attention, the “Bill of Pains and Penalties,” being thrown out of the House of Lords, the high excitement of public feeling which prevailed during the uncertain state of that measure, naturally began to subside. It has been followed by few circumstances of interest under the head of domestic events. The unexpected prorogation of parliament, and the refusal of his Majesty, through the Earl of Liverpool, to assign one of the royal palaces as a place of residence for the Queen, were the last acts of Government in the drama which had so long engaged the public attention. Lord Liverpool, in conveying to her Majesty the King’s refusal, stated also that until parliament should meet for the dispatch of business, the allowance which she had till then enjoyed, would be continued to her, and that when parliament met, it would determine the amount of the provision to be made for her in future. After this communication from the noble lord, the following letter from the Hon. Keppel Craven was forwarded as her Majesty’s reply ; the receipt of which Lord Liverpool acknowledged, but he also stated at the same time, that he had not received his Majesty’s commands upon it.

“Brandenburgh House, Nov. 18.

“My Lord,—I have been honoured by her Majesty’s commands to acknowledge the receipt of your lordship’s letter of yesterday, and to state that her Majesty cannot for a moment misunderstand its real purport.

“The Queen perceives that the King’s ministers have resolved to prevent parliament from assembling for the dispatch of business at the time to which both Houses had adjourned. The justice and wisdom of the legislature would at that period, beyond all doubt, have restored her to the full enjoyment of those rights which the constitution has vested in the Queen-Consort. The ministers plainly shew that such is their belief, and they are determined, for some purposes of their own, to delay the redress to which she is entitled.

“In a measure thus alike contemptuous towards parliament and the nation, the Queen perceives a still deeper design. It is impossible to doubt that the authors of the late Bill have formed the project of trying in some other shape their baffled scheme of degrading her Majesty, and ruining the best interests of the august family to which she belongs. Defeated in their first attempt—disgraced in the eyes of the people—consigned

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