HE national gratitude to Lord Wellington, which had kept pace with his services, received its consummation when those services were brought to a conclusion by the general peace in Europe. On May 10th, a message from the Prince Regent was communicated to the House of Commons, the purpose of which was to inform the House, that his Royal Highness had conferred upon that victorious commander the rank and title of a Duke and Marquis of the United Kingdom, and recommending the grant to him and his successors of such an annuity as might support the high dignity of the title conferred, and prove a lasting memorial of the gratitude and munificence of the

nation.

The message being taken into consideration on the 12th, the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose to call the attention of the House to the distinguished services of the Duke of Wellington. Of the substance of this speech it is not necessary to recite the particulars, since no reader can be unacquainted with the actions which during a series of years had been accumulating fresh laurels on this eminent character. The climax

of praise in this as in other parliamentary eulogies, was a comparison between him and the great Duke of Marlborough, the only British commander who, in the general estimation, could be named as his rival in military fame; and the public rewards bestowed in his day upon the latter, were apparently the measure of those destined for the hero of the present age. The Speaker concluded with moving a resolution, "That the sum of 10,000l. be paid annually out of the consolidated fund for the use of the Duke of Wellington, to be at any time commuted for the sum of 300,000l. to be laid out in the purchase of an estate.

Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Ponsonby, and Mr. Canning, who followed, all agreed in the high merits of the noble Duke, and objected to the grant as too small, especially since a large sum would be necessary for a mansion suitable to the dignity conferred upon him. Ą motion was in consequence made for an additional 100,000l. making in all the sum of half a million granted to the Duke, which passed nem. con.

A similar message from the Prince Regent being communicated to the House of Lords, an

equal

equal unanimity took place in the proceedings upon it. Lord Liverpool was the orator on this occasion, who moved the same grants to the Duke which were first proposed in the other House, and to which no addition was proposed by the Lords.

At the same time, in consequence of messages from the Prince Regent, pecuniary grants were made by parliament to Lord Wellington's associates in victory, Generals Graham, Hill, and Beresford, now raised to the peerage. In addition to the pecuniary remuneration so liberally and cheerfully voted by parliament to the Duke of Wellington for his distinguished services, the House of Commons resolved to pay him the highest tribute of respect and applause that it was possible to be stow on a subject, that of its thanks, accompanied with a deputation of its members to congratuJate him on his return to this country. Lord Castlereagh rose in the house on June 27th, to make a motion for this purpose, which was unanimously agreed to; and a committee was appointed to wait on his Grace, to know what time he would name for receiving the congratulations of the house. Lord Castlereagh having reported from the committee that it was the duke's desire to express to the house his answer in person, the following day, July 1st, was appointed for the solemnity.

At about a quarter before five, the Speaker being dressed in his official robes, and the house being crowded with members, some of them in military and naval uniforms, and many in the court dresses in which they had been attending the Speaker with an ad

dress to the Prince Regent on the peace, the house was acquainted that the Duke of Wellington was in waiting. His admission being resolved, and a chair being set for him on the left hand of the bar towards the middle of the house, his Grace entered, making his obeisances, while all the members rose from their seats. The Speaker then informing him that a chair was placed for his repose, he sat down in it for some time covered, and the members resumed their seats,

He then rose, and spoke, uncovered, to the following effect:

"Mr. Speaker; I was anxious to be permitted to attend this House, in order to return my thanks in person for the honour they have done me in deputing a committee of their members to congratulate me on my return to this country; and this, after the house had animated my exertions by their applause upon every occasion which appeared to merit their approbation, and after they had filled up the measure of their favours by conferring upon me, at the recom mendation of the Prince Regent, the noblest gift that any subject had ever received. I hope it will not be deemed presumptuous in me to take this opportunity of expressing my admiration of the great efforts made by this house and the country at a moment of unexampled pressure and difficulty, in order to support the great scale of operations by which the contest was brought to so favourable a termination. By the wise policy of parliament, the government was enabled to give the necessary support to the operations which were carried on under my direction; and I was encouraged, by

the

the confidence reposed in me by his Majesty's ministers, and by the commander in chief, by the gracious favour of his royal highness the Prince Regent, and by the reliance which I had on the support of my gallant friends, the general officers of the army, and on the bravery of the officers and troops, to carry on the operations in such a manner as to acquire for me those marks of the approbation of this house, for which I have now the honour to make my humble acknowledgments. Sir, it is impossible for me to express the gratitude which I feel; I can only assure the house, that I shall always be ready to serve his Majesty in any capacity in which my services can be deemed useful, with the same zeal for my country which has already acquired for me the approbation of this house."

This speech was received with loud cheers, at the end of which the Speaker, who had sat covered during its delivery, rose, and thus addressed his Grace:

"My Lord,-Since last I had the honour of addressing you from this place, a series of eventful years has elapsed; but none withont some mark and note of your rising glory.

The military triumphs which your valour has achieved, upon the banks of the Douro and the Tagus, of the Ebro and the Garonne, have called forth the spontaneous shouts of admiring nations. Those triumphs it is needless on this day to recount. Their names have been written by your conquering sword in the annals of Europe, and we shall hand them down with exultation to our children's children.

It is not, however, the grandeur

of military success which has alone fixed our admiration, or commanded our applause; it has been that generous and lofty spirit which inspired your troops with unbounded confidence, and taught them to know that the day of battle was always a day of victory; that moral courage and enduring fortitude, which, in perilous times, when gloom and doubt had beset ordinary minds, stood nevertheless unshaken; and that ascendancy of character, which, uniting the ener. gies of jealous and rival nations, enabled you to wield at will the fate and fortunes of mighty empires.

For the repeated thanks and grants bestowed upon you by this house, in gratitude for your many and eminent services, you have thought fit this day to offer us your acknowledgments; but this nation well knows that it is stin largely your debtor. It owes to you the proud satisfaction, that amidst the constellation of illus trious warriors who have recently visited our country, we could present to them a leader of our own, to whom all, by common acclamation, conceded the pre-eminence; and when the will of heaven, and the common destinies of our nature, shall have swept away the present generation, you will have left your great name an imperishable monument, exciting others to like deeds of glory,and serving at once to adorn, defend, and perpetuate the existence of this country amongst the ruling nations of the earth.

It now remains only, that we congratulate your Grace upon the high and important mission on which you are about to proceed, and we doubt not that the

same

same splendid talents so conspicuous in war, will maintain with equal authority, firmness, and temper, our national honour and interests in peace."

His Grace then withdrew, making the same obeisances as when he entered; and all the members rising again, he was reconducted by the serjeant to the door of the house. After he was gone, Lord Castlereagh moved, that what the Duke had said on returning thanks to the house, together with the Speaker's answer, be printed in the votes, which was agreed to nem.

con.

This was the termination of one of the most impressive and dignified scenes that had been witnessed by modern times in either house of parliament.

In the parliamentary history of the last year, we had to record certain proceedings respecting the Princess of Wales, which excited considerable interest in the nation. It would have been gratifying to every friend of the royal family if no farther occasion had been given of bringing before the public the unfortunate differences which have so long prevailed among the illustrious personages composing it; but we find ourselves obliged again to allot a place in our pages to a discussion in parliament arising from the same lamented cause.

Or June 1st, Mr. Methuen rose in the House of Commons, in consequence of a correspondence which had been laid before the public, to ask a right honourable gentleman (Mr. Bathurst) which of his Majesty's ministers it was who had advised his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to take those measures which had been taken to prevent the Princess of

Wales from appearing at her Majesty's drawing-room, Mr. B hav ing declined an answer, Mr. M. gave notice that he should on Friday next bring forward a motion on the subject.

Mr. Ponsonby desired to say a few words on a subject connected with that which had been introduced; and having read a paragraph from the Morning Herald, professing to give an account of an opposition council held with relation to this matter, in which the names of several peers and commoners were given a little disguised by dashes, he declared the paragraph a most impudent falsehood, no such meeting having been held or thought of. This assertion was confirmed by Mr. Whitbread.

On June 3d, the Speaker acquainted the house, that since they met he had received a letter from the Princess of Wales with three enclosures, which he was desired to communicate to the house, and which he would read, with their pleasure. This being signified, he read the first letter, in which her Royal Highness requested the Speaker to inform the house that the Prince Regent had been advised to take such steps as have prevented her from appearing at court, and to declare his "fixed and unalterable determination never to meet the Princess of Wales on any occasion, either in public or private." The Princess then made some observations on the dangerous nature of this advice, and on the duty which she found incumbent on her, to make this communication to the house, toge. ther with the correspondence which had passed on the occasion.

The accompanying letters were

then,

then, upon order, read by the clerk of the house. The first was a letter from the Princess of Wales to the Regent, enclosing a note which she had received from the Queen, and her answer. In this letter her Royal Highness, alluding to the declaration made by the Regent of never meeting her, demands what circumstances can justify the proceeding he has thought fit to adopt; states the possibility of their being called upon to appear in public together; and pleads the peculiar hardship of treating her with this marked indignity, at a time when so many illustrious strangers are expected to visit Eng

land.

The Queen's letter to the Princess informs her of the Prince Regent's declaration above quoted, and gives it as a reason why it is impossible for her Majesty to receive her at a drawing-room at which he must necessarily be present. The remainder of the correspondence consists of letters and replies between the Queen and the Princess, in which the former declines entering into any farther explanation of the conduct pursued on this occasion. (See the Letters at length in the State Papers.)

After the letters had been read, Mr. Methuen rose, and the house being cleared of strangers on motion of Mr. Lygon, he began his speech with a reference to the proved innocence of her Royal Highness of any criminal charge, which ought to have procured for her a very different treatment. He defended her appeal to the nation by the publication of the letters in question, and dwelt on the peculiar severity of exposing her to indignity at such a period as the present. He asked if it were in

tended to exclude her from the ceremonial of her daughter's nuptials, or from that of an eventual coronation; and he claimed for her the common birth-right of English subjects, to be proved guilty or treated as innocent. He concluded with moving, "That an humble address be presented to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to pray his Royal Highness that he will be graciously pleased to acquaint the house, by whose advice his Royal Highness was induced to form the and unalterable determination never to meet her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either in private or public," as communicated by his Royal Highness to her Majesty ; together with the reasons submitted to his Royal Highness, upon which such advice was founded."

fixed

The motion being seconded, Mr. Bathurst denied that it was within the province of the House of Commons to interfere in this case He observed, that there had been no prohibition against the Princess's attending her Majesty's drawing-room, and the Prince had only signified his intention of not meeting her there. He said it. was not an unusual thing for members of the Royal Family to be excluded from the court of the sovereign; and referred to the frequent dissensions in that family during the reigns of George I. and II. He did not conceive that the restriction of the Princess from attending the Queen's drawingrooms during the present month necessarily implied animosity towards her. The unhappy differences between the Prince and Princess of Wales might have arisen from difference of taste, or

other