on Smith was followed by Mr Emerson
Tennent,[24] one of the Secretaries to the Board of Controul.

Mr Macaulay next spoke, and condemned the conduct of Lord Ellenborough
in a speech of great bitterness and great ability.

The motion was negatived by a majority of 242 to 157.

The minority included Lord Ashley, Sir Robert Inglis, and six other
gentlemen, who generally support your Majesty's servants.

The debate was a very animated one, with a strong infusion of Party
zeal.

[Footnote 22: See _ante_, p. 445. (Ch. XI, 'The Gates of Somnauth')]

[Footnote 23: Robert Vernon Smith (1800-1873), afterwards
President of the Board of Control, created Lord Lyveden in
1859.]

[Footnote 24: James Emerson (1804-1869), afterwards Sir James
Emerson Tennent, M.P. for Belfast, author of _Letters from the
AEgean_, etc.]

[Pageheading: CRIMINAL INSANITY]

_Queen Victoria to Sir Robert Peel._

BUCKINGHAM PALACE, _12th March 1843._

The Queen returns the paper of the Lord Chancellor's to Sir Robert
Peel with her best thanks.

The law may be perfect, but how is it that whenever a case for its
application arises, it proves to be of no avail? We have seen the
trials of Oxford and MacNaghten conducted by the ablest lawyers of the
day--Lord Denman, Chief Justice Tindal, and Sir Wm. Follett,[25]--and
_they allow_ and _advise_ the Jury to pronounce the verdict of _Not
Guilty_ on account of _Insanity_,--whilst _everybody_ is morally
_convinced_ that both malefactors were perfectly conscious and aware
of what they did! It appears from this, that the force of the law is
entirely put into the Judge's hands, and that it depends merely upon
his charge whether the law is to be applied or not. Could not the
Legislature lay down that rule which the Lord Chancellor does in
his paper, and which Chief Justice Mansfield did in the case of
Bellingham; and why could not the Judges be _bound_ to interpret the
law in _this_ and _no other_ sense in their charges to the Juries?[26]

[Footnote 25: Solicitor-General. His health gave way in middle
life, and he died in 1845.]

[Footnote 26: In consequence of the manner in which the trial
terminated, and the feeling excited in the country, the House
of Lords put certain questions on the subject of criminal
insanity to the Judges, whose answers have been since
considered as establishing the law.]

[Pageheading: PRINCESS MARY OF BADEN