"Dowager came into, was, in reality, giving up a thing which custom had sanctioned."

While the Government, and, it must be added, the Queen, were sustaining this defeat in the House of Commons, the same want of management and of a conciliatory spirit was subjecting them in the House of Lords to another defeat on a subject on which the Queen was still more sensitive; that, namely, of the precedence to be given to her future husband.

This, too, was a subject on which previous communication between the leaders of Government and of the Opposition might have been advantageously resorted to, and all the annoyance that arose from the non-settlement of the question possibly avoided.

On the same day (the 27th January) on which the House of Commons went into committee on the Prince's Annuity Bill, the Lord Chancellor, in the House of Lords, moved the second reading of that for His Royal Highness's naturalization. In this Bill it was proposed to insert a clause, having for its objects to give Prince Albert, precedence for his life, "next "after Her Majesty in Parliament or elsewhere, as Her Majesty may think fit and proper," &c. "

13 Hansard, vol. li. pp. 575-576.

Unfortunately, by an accidental omission, as stated by Lord Melbourne, no mention had been made in the title of the Bill of the subject of precedence; and the Duke of Wellington, therefore, on the ground that the House had no previous knowledge of the contents of the Bill, and also considering the very large powers which it proposed to confer on the Queen, moved the adjournment of the discussion. In this he was supported by Lord Brougham, who also objected to the mode in which it was sought to give the Prince the desired precedence. "In former Bills," he said, "the precise

precedence of the Prince was fixed. This "Bill at once naturalized Prince Albert, and "enabled Her Majesty to affix him any rank "she chose. He had a constitutional objection to such a course. It ought to be taken by

Parliament, not by the Crown." He objected, too, to the proposed arrangement, as giving the Prince precedence "not only of the Dukes of "the Blood Royal, but of the Prince of Wales."

Suppose," he added, "(which God forbid!) "that the Queen had paid the debt of nature "before any issue of the approaching marriage "was born, we should have a King and a

14 Hansard, vol. li. p. 578.

'Prince of Wales, while Prince Albert would "be placed in the anomalous position of a "foreign naturalized Prince, the husband of a “deceased Queen, with a higher rank than the "Prince of Wales.15

Lord Melbourne and the Lord Chancellor admitted that the subject of precedence should have been mentioned in the title, and agreed to the postponement of the discussion. It was

brought on again on the 31st, when the Lord Chancellor, with a view to meeting some of the objections urged by Lord Brougham, announced that it was now intended to fix the precedence which the Queen should be empowered to give the Prince, " next after "next after any heir apparent to the

"throne."

This, however, as he refused to add the words suggested by Lord Brougham, in order to limit the precedence thus given to the lifetime of Her Majesty, does not appear to have removed the objections which had been taken to the measure. And though the Bill was read a second time with little further discussion (Lord Londonderry only speaking in defence of the interests of the King of Hanover), it was thought expedient when the House went into

15 Hansard, vol. li. p. 579.

Committee on the Bill on the 3rd Feb., to omit all reference to precedence, and to make the Bill what the Duke of Wellington had originally imagined it to be-one of simple naturalization.

Lord Brougham on this occasion pressed for information whether or not it was intended to effect the proposed object by the exercise of the Queen's prerogative; but Lord Melbourne declined to say, and the Bill passed in its new shape.

It cannot be wondered at if the Queen was, as she herself says,16 most indignant at what had occurred, or that the first impression made on the young Prince's mind by the proceedings in both Houses should have been a painful one. But as has been already said, he soon understood the nature of our political parties, and that the proceedings in Parliament were only the result of high party feeling, and were by no means to be taken as marks of personal disrespect, or of want of kind feeling towards himself.

16 The Queen's Journal.

CHAPTER XIII.

1840.

DEPARTURE FROM GOTHA AND ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.

ON the 14th January 1840, Lord Torrington and Colonel (now General) Grey, left Buckingham Palace with three of the Queen's carriages for Gotha, whence they were to escort Prince Albert to England for his marriage. It had been now settled that this should be celebrated on the 10th February. They were also bearers of the Garter with which the Prince was to be invested before he left Gotha.

Arriving on the afternoon of the 20th, they were presented the same evening to the Duke, by whom and the young Princes they were most kindly received. Later in the evening they were presented to the Dowager Duchess, from whom so many letters have been quoted, at an evening-party at her own house. The next