CHORUS. I forbid untimely doom- And from whom, as from their source, All the good the righteous know. Ath. Hearing these friendly blessings I rejoice, When they had fiercely my request denied. CHORUS. Here let Faction never roar, Let them love as brethren should, Ath. Has she not now the way of blessing found? Much good shall to my people hence redound. Pay ye these awful goddesses the meed Of honour due, and through your lives succeed : And crown with blessing those who do the right. CHORUS. Rejoice ye in your wealth profuse, CATHENA stations herself at the head of the Chorus in t Ath. Rejoice ye likewise: I your way must show : Now by the light of these attendants go; And while the victims bleed, descend, descend! Lead ye, my friends, these settlers to their seat? And yours, my citizens, be good complete! CHORUS. All ye that in the city of Pallas dwell, Ath. Your blessings I approve; and I will send Old men and young, the matron and the maid, Edinburgh: Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work, BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. No. CCLXXXIV. JUNE, 1839. VOL. XLV. THE LATE POLITICAL EVENTS. A SPACE of time of less than a week's duration, has recently presented us in this country with a succession of public events of absorbing interest and momentous importance. They have been said to involve, in a material point, the power and position of royalty itself: they unquestionably concern, in no ordinary degree, the government of the country, and the progress and prospects of the contending political parties or principles into which national opinion is divided; and they af fect, in the nearest manner, the honour and character of the political men who have on either side been engaged in them. This last consideration may, indeed, be of less weight than the rest; but it is yet a matter of the utmost moment to us all, not on personal but on public grounds, that we should thoroughly know whether the men who are to carry on the great business of government on the one hand, or of the control over government on the other, are animated by principles of patriotism and integrity, or are prompted to action only by reckless ambition or sordid interest. The singular and important events to which we refer, have passed before us with such rapidity, that, as a preliminary to any remarks on the late changes of administration, it may be well to prefix a short outline of the facts in the order of their occurrence, confining ourselves to matters which cannot be disputed. On the 7th of May, the Administration of Lord Melbourne, which had VOL. XLV. NO. CCLXXXIV, plainly been maintaining, for some time past, but a lingering existence, voluntarily resigned, placing their resignation on the ground that the result of the division upon the Jamaica Bill showed that they did not possess the confidence of the House of Commons, and consequently could not continue the management of public affairs with advantage to the country. In the Upper House, Lord Melbourne admitted that the vote of the previous evening was "not only necessarily fatal to the ultimate success of that great measure, but that it also does, with sufficient clearness and distinctness, indicate such a want of confidence on the part of a great proportion of that House of Parliament, as to render it impossible that we should continue to administer the affairs of her Majesty's Government in a manner that can be beneficial to the country." In the House of Commons, Lord John Russell's statement, to the same effect, was made in these terms:-" In continuing in the administration of affairs, not having, as we think we have not, a sufficient degree of confidence and support to carry on those affairs efficiently in this House, we should be exposing to jeopardy the colonial empire of this country, many of whose colonies are, I will not say in a state of hazard, but in which questions of considerable importance are pending. Hitherto her Majesty's Ministers have thought themselves justified in continuing in the administration of affairs, supported as we were by the confidence of the 3 A Crown, and by the confidence of the House of Commons. But, sir, after the vote of last night, I do not think we are entitled to say, that upon very great and important affairs, upon which Government was obliged to come to a decision, we have had such support and such confidence in this House as would enable us sufficiently to carry on the public affairs.' On this admitted want of confidence and inability to conduct public affairs, the Ministry resigned. The Queen having sent for Lord Melbourne, that nobleman, "on Wednesday morning last, tendered to her Majesty advice as to whom she ought to apply to, and the course which her Majesty ought to take." In other words, feeling that the formation of a Conservative administration was the only advisable or practicable step in the existing state of the country, he advised her to apply to the Duke of Wellington, who again suggested to the Queen that Sir Robert Peel was the person best qualified to undertake the task of forming an administration, the main difficulties of which would lie in the House of Commons. At that interview, we have the assurance of the Duke of Wellington that nothing passed inconsistent with the principle, that the person intrusted with the formation of a new administration should be untrammelled in all points, either in regard to the conduct to be pursued in the formation of an administration, or in respect to the principles which ought to be adhered to as to the mode in which the royal household ought to be managed. At the interview which took place between her Majesty and Sir Robert Peel on Wednesday morning, when he undertook the task of forming a new administration, the Queen, while she expressed her regret at parting with the Administration which had quitted office, interposed no obstacle of any kind to the execution of the task thus committed to Sir Robert Peel. This important commission was intrusted to him on the usual "constitutional principles," without any limitation being then proposed as to the appointments connected with the household. In the communications which took place in the course of Wednesday between Sir Robert Peel and some of those confidential friends whom he proposed to select as members of his Administration, the subject of the household arrangements at the palace naturally came under discussion. The appointments to the offices of the Queen's household had taken place under the late administration, and the chief places were held by ladies connected more closely than usual with the administration that appointed them. One lady, for instance, was the wife of the late Colonial Secretary and former Viceroy of Ireland; two others were sisters of another Cabinet minister; others were nearly connected by relationship with different individuals of the Ministry which Sir Robert Peel was about to succeed. That delicacy and a sense of propriety would have dictated the retirement of those ladies, thus closely connected with the former Government, was so obvious, that it did not oceur to Sir Robert Peel that any question as to their dismissal would arise. It is important, however, to observe that, before introducing the subject to the Queen's notice, he announced to his friends on Wednesday night, at his own house, the exact course which he meant to propose for her Majesty's approbation : "I said to those who were intended to be my future colleagues, with respect to all the subordinate appointmentsmeaning every appointment below the rank of a lady of the bedchamber-I said to them I should submit to her Majesty no change whatever with respect to those. With respect to the superior class, I stated to them that those ladies who held such offices, and who were in immediate connexion with our political opponents, would probably relieve us from any difficulty by relinquishing their offices. But I stated at the same time that I did think it of great importance, as conveying an indication of her Majesty's entire support and confidence, that certain offices in the household of the higher rank should be subject to some change. I did expressly, with respect to the higher offices, namely, the ladies of the bedchamber, state, that there were some instances in which, from the absence of any strong party or political connexion, I thought it would be wholly unnecessary to propose such a change.' In the correctness of this statement, Sir Robert Peel appealed to the recollections of Sir James Graham, Mr Goulburn, Lord Stanley, and Sir Henry Hardinge, in whose presence he thus re-announced his intentions. When Sir Robert Peel proceeded on Thursday to submit to her Majesty the names of certain persons who were to form part of his proposed Administration, an obstacle unexpectedly occurred on the very point as to which, from his erroneously attributing to others his own delicacy of feeling, he had not anticipated that any difficulty could arise. The impressions of Sir Robert Peel as to the nature of the proposal made by him to the Queen, with regard to the formation of the household, are conveyed in his letter of 10th May, addressed to her Majesty, resigning into her hands the commission to form a government, in which he recapitulates his view of what had taken place on Thursday. The substance of that letter will be afterwards quoted. In the mean time, it may be noticed merely, that Sir Robert Peel disclaims having proposed, or thought of proposing, the removal from any offices under the rank of ladies of the bedchamber; while even as to these, following out the view which he had already announced, that it was only in the case of those ladies who were closely related to his political opponents that any change would be necessary, he did not propose a general removal, but only that" some changes" should be made in that department. The impression on the mind of her Majesty is stated to have been different from that of Sir Robert Peel. From the explanation of Lord John Russell, it is not easy to gather what her Majesty understood to be the nature of Sir Robert's proposal; whether it embraced a total or only a partial change in the appointments of the ladies of the bedchamber. From the later explanations, however, of Lord Melbourne, which were evidently intended as supplementary to those of Lord John Russell, and as filling up any deficiencies in the statement of his colleague in the House of Commons, we are informed that, being summoned by the Queen on Thursday, he was given to understand by her Majesty, that, at the close of the audience of that day, "the Right Honourable Baronet made a proposal that he should have the power of dismissing the ladies of her Majesty's household, not stating to what extent he would exercise that power-not stating how many, or whom, it was his intention to propose to remove-but asking the power of dismissing the ladies of the household, and leaving unquestionably upon her Majesty's mind a very strong impression that it was intended to employ that power to a very great extent-to such an extent, certainly, as to remove all the ladies of the bedchamber, as well as some of those filling an inferior situation in the household." That the impression thus formed by her Majesty was an erroneous one, and that Sir Robert Peel never did propose, or mean to propose, the dismissal of all the ladies of the bedchamber, and far less of any of those filling inferior offices, which is otherwise plain from the announcement of his intentions on Wednesday night to his intended colleagues, is distinctly admitted by Lord Melbourne; for he proceeds:-"Such, my Lords, was the impression on her Majesty's mind-an impression which, from what has since transpired, is evidently erroneous. No doubt such an impression was a mistaken one. The Right Honourable Baronet has distinctly stated that he had no such in tention, and there cannot be the slightest doubt upon the point." Upon this impression, however, thus communicated by her Majesty, and now admitted to be erroneous, Lord Melbourne proceeded to act. Conceiving, as he says, the question to be one too important for himself alone to decide, he immediately summoned his colleagues; and the result of their consultation was, that they "advised her Majesty to return to the Right Honourable Baronet the following letter:" "Buckingham Palace, May 10, 1839. "The Queen having considered the proposal made to her yesterday by Sir Robert Peel, to remove the ladies of her bedchamber, cannot consent to adopt a course which she conceives to be contrary to usage, and which is repugnant to her feelings." Sir Robert Peel respectfully resigned In answer to this communication, into her Majesty's hands the authority to form a ministry. In his letter he thus explains what he had meant to propose, and what he conceived he had proposed to her Majesty the day before : "In the interview with which your Ma |