d the attorney-general was ordered by the lord
chancellor to state his case. His statement occupied two days, and the
examination of witnesses engaged the attention of the peers to the 6th
of September. The evidence in support of the bill was summed up on the
7th of September, and on the 9th an adjournment took place to the 3rd of
October, in consequence of an application from her majesty's counsel. On
that day Mr. Brougham entered on the defence in a speech of great power;
and he was followed by Mr. Williams, who declared that he should be able
to rebut many of the prominent points sworn to in the prosecution by
the clearest testimony. The examination of the witnesses for the defence
lasted from the 5th of October to the 24th, and Mr. Denman proceeded to
sum up the evidence. At the conclusion of his speech he remarked:--"We
have fought the battles of morality, Christianity, and civilized society
throughout the world; and in the language of the dying warrior I may
say:--

'In this glorious and well foughten field
We kept together in our chivalry.'

"While he (Mr. Brougham) was achieving the immortal victory, and the
illustrious triumph, protecting innocence and truth by the adamantine
shield of his prodigious eloquence, it has been my lot to discharge
only a few random arrows at the defeated champions of this disgraceful
cause." Dr. Lushington followed on the 26th of October, with a luminous
view of the case, and the king's attorney and solicitor-general replied.
The peers then debated, and on the 6th of November divided on the second
reading of the bill, Which was carried by one hundred and twenty-three
against ninety-five. Many peers entered strong protests; and a protest
was read from the queen by Lord Dacre, in which she made the most solemn
assertions of innocence. In this protest it was observed, that "unless
these unexampled proceedings should bring the bill before the commons,
the queen would make no reference whatever to the treatment experienced
by her during the last twenty-five years." This _innuendo_ produced its
effects. The lords, indeed, now evidently began to tremble, lest they
should be precipitated into the gulf which by their recent vote they had
approached. It was felt, moreover, that the king did not come into court
"with clean hands;" and therefore when the divorce clause came under
discussion several peers, and among them several bishops, who considered
the queen guilty, declared their