erhaps, even more sure to attract
notice in this case than in the other, since to introduce into a bill a
clause which had no connection whatever with its title had something of
the appearance of a deliberate slight to the two Houses. A bill to
naturalize the Prince was, of course, indispensable. But into it the
ministers, without any notice, had introduced a clause enabling him
"during his life to take precedence in rank after her Majesty in
Parliament and elsewhere as her Majesty might think fit and proper, any
law, statute, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding." It was
admitted that no such precedence had been given to Prince George of
Denmark, nor to Prince Leopold. And there were obvious difficulties in
the way of conferring such a life-long precedence, because, as Lord
Brougham had pointed out, it was possible that the Queen might die
without issue, in which case the King of Hanover would become King of
England also, and his son the Prince of Wales; and it would have been an
inconceivable anomaly that a foreign naturalized prince should take
precedence of the Prince of Wales, whose special rank and importance was
recognized in many acts of Parliament. This objection was so clearly
insuperable, that Lord Melbourne consented to alter the clause so as to
give the Prince precedence only "after the heir-apparent." But even this
concession failed to satisfy the objectors, the King of Hanover, among
others, positively refusing to waive his precedence over any foreign
prince. And eventually the minister withdrew the clause altogether, and
the bill, as it was passed, was confined to the naturalization of the
Prince. Lord Melbourne had thus contrived to make the Queen and Prince
appear as if they were desirous to induce the two Houses by a sort of
trick to confer on the Prince a precedence and dignity to which he was
not entitled, and to render the refusal of Parliament to be so cajoled a
fresh cause of mortification to the royal pair. The course that was
eventually adopted is understood to have been suggested by the Duke of
Wellington--to withdraw the affair altogether from the cognizance of
Parliament, and to leave it to the Queen to confer on the Prince
whatever precedence she might choose, as it was certainly within her
right to do. And so, a few days after the bill had passed, she did by
letters-patent give him precedence next to herself "on all occasions and
in all meetings, except when otherwise provided by act of