roline herself, was coupled with the intimation that if
the queen should "be so ill-advised as to come over to this country,
there must be _an end to all negotiations and compromise_."[36]
Considering the temper and disposition of the woman, the fact that she
had demanded the insertion of her name in the liturgy, the haughty
assertion of her claim "to be received and acknowledged as the Queen of
England," and the communication made at the same time of her desire that
a royal yacht should be in readiness to receive her at Calais,[37] it
appears to us a greater mistake on the part of the ministry could
scarcely have been made. It aroused her woman's nature, and flaming with
the anger and resentment which she had nourished for so long a course
of years, she boldly took up the gauntlet her enemies had flung at her
feet, and crossed the Channel almost as soon as the astonished
Government messenger himself.

The queen (for she was titular Queen of England now) arrived in London
on the 7th of June: "the road was thronged with an immense multitude the
whole way from Westminster Bridge to Greenwich. Carriages, carts, and
horsemen followed, preceded, and surrounded her coach the whole way. She
was everywhere received with the greatest enthusiasm. Women waved
pocket-handkerchiefs, and men shouted wherever she passed. She travelled
in an open landau, Alderman Wood sitting by her side, and Lady Ann
Hamilton [the Duke of Hamilton's sister] and another woman opposite....
The queen looked exactly as she did before she left England, and seemed
neither dispirited nor dismayed."[38] In one of the popular satires of
the day we see her standing on the balcony of Alderman Wood's house in
South Audley Street, receiving and acknowledging the enthusiastic
plaudits of her admirers. The very day she arrived at Dover, a royal
message was sent down to Parliament, by which the king commended to the
Lords an inquiry into the conduct of the queen; while on the following
day, Mr. Brougham read in the House of Commons a message or manifesto
from his client, declaring that her return was occasioned by the
necessity her enemies had laid upon her of defending her character and
conduct.

THE BILL OF PAINS AND PENALTIES.

Both parties now stood irrevocably committed to the fatal measure. A
secret committee of the House of Lords proceeded to open the celebrated
_green bag_, which contained the reports of the Milan Commission; and on
the 4th of July the