ever occurred: to exhibit the King publicly to the world
as a cypher, and something less than a cypher, as an unsuccessful
competitor in a political squabble, is to take from the Crown all
the dignity with which it is invested by that theoretical
attribute of perfection that has been so conveniently ascribed to
it. Both King and Ministers have been greatly to blame, the one
for the egregious folly which made him rush into this sea of
trouble and mortification without calculation or foresight; the
other for the unrelenting severity with which they resolved to
gratify their revenge and ambition, without considering that they
could not punish him without degrading the throne of which he is
the occupant, and that the principle involved in his impunity was
of more consequence in its great and permanent results than any
success of theirs. But it would have required more virtue,
self-denial, wisdom, and philosophy than falls to the lot of any
public man individually in these days to have embraced all these
considerations, and it would have been a miracle if a great mob
of men calling themselves a party could have been made to act
under the influence of such moral restraints. The King's present
behaviour only makes matters worse. When he found himself
compelled to take these people back, and to surrender himself a
prisoner into their hands, he should have swallowed the bitter
pill and digested it, and not kept rolling it in his mouth and
making wry faces. He should have made a very bad business as
tolerable as he could, by yielding himself with a good grace; and
had he treated them with that sort of courtesy which one
gentleman may and ought to show to all those with whom he is
unavoidably brought into contact, and which implies nothing as to
feeling and inclination, he would have received from them that
respect and attention which it would have been equally their
interest and their desire to show. This would have rendered their
relations mutually much more tolerable, a decent veil would have
been thrown over all that was humiliating and painful, and the
public service must have gained by the tacit compromise; but
extreme folly, great violence in those about the King, and hopes
of emancipation secretly cherished, together with the intensity
of his hatred of his Ministers, have conspired to keep his
Majesty in his present unwise, irksome, and degrading posture.

The night before last there was a great concert on the staircase