not, indeed, regard it in this light, since the prayer as now framed
implored the Divine protection for "all the royal family" in general
terms, in which she might be supposed to be included, and made no
separate mention of any member of the family.[185] But, unfortunately,
she was much more under the influence of counsellors who were neither
lawyers nor statesmen, but who only desired to use her as a tool to
obtain notoriety for themselves. A long negotiation ensued. It was
inevitable that some application should be made to Parliament in
connection with her affairs, since the annuity which had been settled
upon her by Parliament in 1814, on the occasion of her departure from
England, had expired with the life of the late King. And the ministers
proposed that that annuity should now be raised from L35,000 to L50,000,
on condition of her remaining abroad, having, by their positive refusal
to concur in any proceedings against her while she remained abroad,
extorted the King's acquiescence in this proposal, though he called it a
"great and painful sacrifice of his personal feelings." They sought to
conciliate her acceptance of it by mentioning her in it by her title of
"Queen," and by coupling with it a sanction to her appointment of her
law-officers, an Attorney and Solicitor General, an act which could only
be exercised by a Queen. And, though a part of the condition of her
residence abroad required that she should do so under some other title,
that seemed only a conforming to an ordinary practice of royal princes
on their travels. At the same time, the ministers stated frankly to Mr.
Brougham, a lawyer of the highest reputation as an advocate, whom she
had appointed her Attorney-general, that, if she should reject the
offer, and come to England, as she had already announced her intention
of doing, such a course would leave them no alternative, but would
compel them to institute proceedings against her.

Eventually she preferred the advice of others to that of Mr. Brougham,
or, as it may, perhaps, be more consistent with the real fact to say,
she yielded to her own feelings of hatred of her husband, which, it must
be confessed, were far from unnatural. She believed, or professed to
believe, that he had more to dread from an exposure of his conduct than
she had from any revelations of her actions; and, under this impression,
in the spring she crossed the Channel and took up her residence in
London. It was a step which see