On Thursday Mr. Lowe put himself right with the House
of Commons by a most unreserved and hearty acknowledgment that he had at Retford been greatly in fault in drawing the Queen's name into the discussion at all, and quite wrong as to the facts which he had assumed. Even had the facts been true, it was wrong to state them, "and it was wrong, because no one has a right,—and no one looking at the matter calmly and dispassionately, feels this more strongly than I do,— to drag the name of the Sovereign, even indirectly, into our disputes in this House." After the communication made by her Majesty, "nothing remains for me except to express my most sincere and extreme regret, as one who is wholly and heartily a dutiful and loyal subject of her Majesty, that by my fault—a fault that I admit—I have caused her Majesty to have been put to what she will have felt the disagreeable necessity of making a communication on the subject to this House,—a necessity that ought never to have been imposed on her." Mr. Charles Lewis attempted to make some comment, but was suppressed by the House. The leader of the House received the apology in silence.
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