Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 573, 1 May 1858, Page 3

Extracts.

HANOVER AND THE CROWN JEWELS. (Prom the'Times,'January 9.) The jewels are to be sent back to Hanover. The arbiters—Lord Wensleydale, Sir Page Wood, and Sir Laurence Peel,- —compelled to act according to the strict law of the case, have decided that the patriotic feelings of George 11., George 111., and old Queen Charlotte must be indulged; and the jewels, consequently, be given up. Let us be thankful it is no worse. Could the desires of these Royal personages, for whom England and the English people had done so little, have been fulfilled, every cupboard in Windsor Castle would have been swept out, and the sweepings despatched to Hanover, for fear of mistakes. We ought to be duly grateful for what we have received. The advantages of the union between that lovely Electorate and the Three Kingdoms were so obviously on our side that we must not grumble if our departed benefactors hoM us to the letter of the bond. But for the assistance which Hanover so lavishly afforded to us during our continental wars it might have fared but badly with the English flag. During the reigns of the first two Georges the interests of the Electorate were kept strictly subservient to the interests of Great Britain. Our fathers were never embroiled in hostilities for the benefit of Hanover. All our military operations in the north of Germany were conducted with an entire disregard of what might befall the hereditary dominions of the House of Brunswick. No adventurers from that interesting part of the world ever found grace or favour in the sight of English Sovereigns, to the prejudice of their adopted subjects. The endeavour seems always to have been to bestow the most anxious care upon the interests of the : country which had called them to the barren honours of an inglorious throne, while their own native subjects—Hanoverians born and bred— were dismissed by their own Electors from their presence with unnatural indifference. Every student of English history is well aware of the extraordinary difficulties against which every English Minister from 1714 to 1760 had to contend when it was necessary to persuade either the First or Second George to avert his anxious gaze for a while from English policy, and to bestow one passing glance upon the important destinies of his own people. They could scarcely be persuaded to visit Hanover. For our good they had come among us, and they would not—however their hearts might be inwardly wrung—spend one hour in Hanover which they could, possibly avoid; George 111., again, gloried in the name of Briton, and while he remained a responsible agent never bestowed a thought upon Hanover which England might have claimed. Of that Sovereign, however, we would say but little; when so heavy a calamity as he was afflicted with has fallen upon any man, pity bids us stand aside and refrain from all criticism which might be construed as a reflection upon his memory. Queen Charlotte, however, knew very well what she was about, and, like other previous members of the family into which she had married, was careful in all things to dissociate things English from things German. To so high a point did the Consort of George 111. push this excellent principle, that when she was dead it was found that the very clothes with which she had been furnished when she came among us had been packed up in va- \ rious trunks, and were directed by her will to be returned to Germany. She would not insult us with any of her leavings,—a Royal and a gracious thought. What wonder, then, that the jewels which she had purchased out of the savings of her income—and. from what sources that income was derived we need not say—were also assigned to follow in the wake of the rejected garments ? England had done so little for her husband, her sons, and herself. The change was so inconsiderable fium that glorious principality which had the honour of her birth to the English throne that indeed there was no great reason why she should have been particulary chary in the matter. For half a century, or thereabouts, she discharged the painful duties of an English Queen; so, clearly, the obligation was not on her side. Besides, various members of her family must from time to time have given her many an anxious thought, and, as the British Parliament invariably refused all requests to clear them from the consequences of their extravagance, the royal matron was compelled to draw upon her private resources, which she frequently d*d, as is sufficiently notorious, and with no sparing hand. Let us then console ourselves for the loss of these jewels; we had no right to expect that either George II or Queen Charlotte should do anything for the ungrateful nation which had done so little for them. The matter, as we before remarked, might have been worse. Had these illustrious personages possessed the power, as they had the will, no doubt all the Regalia of England would many years back have been j safely lodged in the Green Vaults of one or other of those powerful States which gave j them birth. We may, however, disabuse the English public of auy such apprehension. The Regalia of England are intact. Neither the earlier Georges nor Queen Charlotte/happily, could lay their hands upon them. .The jewels of which we are about to be deprived are not those old historical ornaments in the Tower of London, which it would have been shameful to us as a nation to resign. The Hanoverian "!loot" is of tho value of about £100,000. The jeWs of which it consists are those which are worn upon half-State occasions. They can be easily replaced, for no historic value attaches to them other than their connexion with Hanover atid Queen Charlotte. Painful as it is to disconnect ourselves from associations such as

these, the trial must be borne. To speak seriously tor a moment, we would say that there is not an Englishman who will not hear with the highest satisfaction that this trumpery has I been packed off to Hanover, and with it the last bond which united us to that famous Principality We have done with Hanover and things Hanoverian. So let us be glad, and rejoice that we English people can henceforth have our insignificant country to ourselves, and ! Jet us leave all German Principalities to the ! grandeur they have inherited and the jewels they have won. A Hanoverian Potentate has put Colonel Blood to shame—much good may he gain by his successful foray.