1830.] UNMEASURED LANGUAGE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 245 that he should not have indulged in the remarks which he had made on the Saturday had he been aware that the Lord Steward, being also governor of Windsor Castle, could not leave till he had handed over the body of the king to the Lord Chamberlain. The incident is scarcely worth notice, except as affording a very early indication of the policy of Mr. Brougham-" that he at least had no intention of any longer forming a portion of what was termed his Majesty's opposition, but that he was about to resume in earnest the character of an opponent."* The voice of public scandal, whose echo never died away, asserted that the Marquis of Conyngham and his family had very important private interests to take care of at Windsor Castle, in the few hours that elapsed between the death of the king and their departure from the palace of which they had long been inmates. On the 29th of June the business of parliament commenced. A message from the king recommended "such temporary provision as may be requisite for the public service in the interval that may elapse between the close of the present session and the meeting of a new parliament." During the remaining three weeks of the session there was much sharp discussion in both Houses. On the 30th of June, in the House of Lords, earl Grey, upon the question of an Address to his Majesty, moved an amendment to adjourn, in order to give time for the consideration of the Civil List, and the expediency of providing a Regency. The original motion was carried by a large majority. In the House of Commons, lord Althorp moved a similar amendment which was also lost. On that night, after the proposed amendment had been negatived, a new debate arose upon the question being put on the original Address. Several years had passed since the House of Commons had heard such unmeasured language as now proceeded from the orator who was the real leader of the Opposition. It is difficult to understand how this fierceness should have been provoked by any act or manifest temper of the government -by anything beyond the popular suspicion that the duke of Wellington was an enemy to the liberties of his country. A threat was supposed to have been held out in the other House by the duke which Mr. Brougham thus interpreted for him-" if you leave government in the minority, I will resign, and where then will you get a Field-Marshal to superintend your finances and your law-courts ?" Mr. Brougham then warned the government that in the event of a new election they might look back even to the parliament with some of the pleasures of memory. Their case might be the same as that of prince Polignac, who must needs send the representatives of France to their constituents, and in choosing a new Assembly that great nation was up, not in arms, but in the panoply of reason. "We can perceive, sir, in this country as in that, that the day of force is over, and that the Minister who hopes to rule by an appeal to Royal favour or military power may be overwhelmed, though I in nowise accuse him of such an attempt. Him I accuse not. It is you I accuse-his flatterers-his mean, fawning parasites." Sir Robert Peel rose: "I ask the hon. and learned gentleman, as I am one of those on this side of the House to which he is referring, whether he means to accuse me of such conduct? . . . . I ask him whether he presumes - whether he presumes to call me the mean and fawning parasite of any * Roebuck, "History of the Whig Ministry," vol. i. p. 251. |