n

1

most encouraging prospect for the future These vain Legislators never considered the controuling influence of example on female morals; the pernicious effect, on society, of holding up to the contemplation of the rising generation, a triumphant adultress, revelling in all the luxury of guilt, and obtaining not merely pardon, (which it is not for a Christian to withhold) but protection, countenance, and sup port, from a liberal world, without the observance of that indispensable condition prescribed by a Divine lawgiver,-Repentance; and for no other reason than that she had succeeded in making the partner of her sin, her partner for life!

The Duke of Clarence took an active part in opposition to the bill, and, in the course of a long speech, made an observation which it would ill-become the historian of the times to pass over without an appropriate comment. He stated the Royal marriage act to be an act ❝ in consequence of which he could not marry; it, indeed, placed him in the same situation in which the present bill would generally place those who should unfortunately fall under its proNow the whole scope of the argu

visions, i

L* Substance of the Speeches of his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, in the House of Lords, April 8, May 16, 21, and 23, 1800, against the Divorce Bill. 3830 901 01 1.

ment detailed in the printed speech, whence this passage is extracted, goes to establish the point, -that if the bill passed into a law, its inevitable effect would be to reduce divorced adulteresses to the necessity of leading a life of prostitution; even a "perpetual prostitution," was expressly stated to be the consequence of the bill. But I shall adopt the reflections of a contemporary writer on this remark, which are in perfect unison with my own." The analogy contended for, then, is, that the act alluded to absolutely prevents the marriage of the male members of the Royal Family, and reduces them to the necessity of living in a state of perpetual fornication. If such were really the effect of the act, it must meet with the unqualified reprobation of every good Christian, and ought instantly to be expunged from the Statute book. But the act of the 12th Geo. III. has no such sin to answer for. It only prohibits the marriage of the Royal Family without the previous consent of the King; nor is the prohibition even absolute, for where any one of the Royal Family, of the age of twentyfive, has given twelve months notice to the Privy Council of his intention to marry, he is at liberty to marry, unless, in the interval, both Houses of Parliament have expressly declared their disapprobation of the proposed

connection. The fact, therefore, was misrepresented, and seems to have been intended only to supply an excuse for any of those illustrious personages, if any such there should ever unfortunately be, who, forgetting what they owed to their God, their country, and themselves, should be induced to lead a profligate and im moral life. But no such excuse can be found. If personages, so circumstanced, should ever feel the hardship of being unable to contract such marriages as their inclination might lead them to form; they should consider, first, the principle of the prohibition, the sacrifice of individual convenience to general good, dedueing the wisdom and necessity of it from those melancholy pages of our history which exhibit the destructive consequences of the civil contentions which divided the rival Houses of York and Lancaster, and deluged the kingdom with blood; and, secondly, that from the situation which imposes such hardships adequate advantages arise; the comforts of affluence without exertion of body or mind; rank, and dignity, without any previous effort to obtain them, and exclusive privileges without the necessity of personal qualifications; and, thirdly, they should recollect, that no human law whatever can afford an excuse for the violation of a divine precept."

The very weak, and most objectionable arguments urged, in opposition to this salutary measure, were most ably confuted by Lords Auckland, Eldon, Hobart, and Grenville; and by the Bishops of London, Rochester, and Durham. And the bill, at length, passed the Upper House by a small majority. In the Lower House it was supported by Mr. Pitt, who considered its provisions as calculated, upon the whole, to produce a beneficial effect on society; but it was thrown out, on the report, by a majority of thirty-nine. Thus the Commons, for the third time, defeated the virtuous efforts of the Lords, and left a crime, which strikes at the root of all domestic happiness, scatters discord and misery over the social system, and shakes to the centre the whole fabric of civil society, to the sole correction of laws which experience had proved to be wholly inadequate to its suppression, or even to its prevention. The Parliament was prorogued on the twenty-ninth of July...

Military operations on the Continent---Genoa surrenders to the Austrians---Buonaparté enters Italy---Drives the Austrians from Milan and Pavia---Unaccountable inactivity of the Austrian Commander, General Melas--- Battle of Marengo---The French defeated on every side---Battle restored by a masterly manœuvre of General Desaix--- Victory finally declares for the French---Impatience of the Aus trian troops to attack the French the next morning--Disgraceful Convention concluded by. Melas--- Moreau enters Germany and overruns Saxony---An Armistice--Renewal of military operations in Germany---The Battle of Hohenlinden--- Peace concluded at Luneville---By this treaty the French realize the projects of Brissot and Robespierre by extending their boundary to the Rhine--Affairs of Egypt --Treaty of El Arish--- Kleber assassinated---He is succeeded in the command of the Army by Menou---State of Public Affairs at the close of the eighteenth century---View of Mr. Pitt's policy--- Considerations on the probable state of the country had a different system of policy been pursued--- The argument illustrated by a reference to the actual state of those powers who had procured peace with France---The origin of the war, its progress, and its partial failure, considered in relation to Mr. Pitt's conduct--- Effect of the war upon England beneficial on the whole---Scarcity of Corn