508 Right Hon. Viscount Esher [March 5, 



King Leopold and Stockmar, and the Prince Consort later, and 

 the Queen apparently always, believed that control and independent 

 criticism by the Crown was the most effective check upon the danger 

 W'hich besets Constitutional Monarcliies of leaving the administration 

 of State affairs in the hands of specialists. From the critical zeal of 

 the Queen and of the Prince, Ministers occasionally suffered incon- 

 venience ; but, as these volumes, I think, show, the country derived 

 nothing but benefit. And if this is true, it is a lesson for all time, 

 both for Sovereigns and for public servants. 



The Bedchamber Plot. 



The correspondence of Queen Victoria illustrates in a striking 

 manner the working of our curious system of constitutional checks 

 and balances. After the death of Mr. Pitt in 1806 it is well known 

 that the power and the influence of the Crown began to decline, and 

 when the Queen came to the Throne in 18o7 no one could have 

 realised that within two years Sir Robert Peel, of all men, a spirit so 

 proud and cold, would find himself saying to a young girl not yet 

 twenty years old, " that he had consulted with those who were to have 

 been his colleagues, and that they agreed . . . that unless there was 

 some demonstration " of confidence, they could not undertake to govern 

 the country. This Queen was a mere child, and these were grave men. 

 Imagine the u'ony of the situation ; and yet it is the material factor 

 in the history of our country. The Queen in later years used to 

 speak of the episode of 1839, the Bedchamber Plot, as was called her 

 well known refusal to part with her Whig ladies, when Sir Robert 

 Peel tried to form a Tory Government, and she used to say that 

 although she knew she had acted wrongly, she had never been able to 

 determine what, under the circumstances, would have been the right 

 course to take. The Queen's action, the action of this young girl, 

 resulted in the return of Lord Melbourne to office, so curiously was 

 the power of the Crown directly and effectively exercised by a youth- 

 ful and female Sovereign. Possibly her youth and sex accounted 

 somewhat for the result. 



Here is the Queen's description of the matter : — 



"When to my utter astonishment he asked me to change my 

 Ladies — my principal Ladies ! — this I of course refused ; and he upon 

 this resigned, saying, as he felt he should be beat the very first night 

 upon the Speaker, and having to begin with a minority, that unless 

 he had this demonstration of my confidence he could not go on ! 

 You will easily imagine that I firmly resisted this attack upon my 

 power, from these people who pride themselves upon upholding the 

 prerogative ! I acted quite alone, but I have been, and shall be, 

 supported by my country. ..." 



