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Upon these Letters I shall first observe, that we have here a fresh proof, and a most striking one it is, of the sound sense, the moderation, and delicacy of sentiment, of the Princess of Wales; and, for my part, I cannot help regarding it as most fortunate for this country, that its future sovereign had her early education under, and is said to entertain a most ardent affection for, such a mother. Another remark upon these Letters will, perhaps, be unnecessary; namely, that their date shows them to have been written within thirteen months after the marriage took place, and, which is singular enough, the Prince's Letter is dated on the very day twelvemonth that the Parliament were engaged in discussing His Majesty's gracious Message, relative to the provision to be made for the august spouse" of his son, including the discharge of his debts, as necessary to his future comfortable establishment. In the midst of these melancholy reflections we must not, however, overlook the substantive fact, that, according to these Letters, it is manifest, that the proposition for a separation originated with His Royal Highness. This is very material. This, together with the cause of separation, as stated in his Letter, clears all up to that interesting period, which is of very great consequence; for there is no just man, who, in viewing the circumstances of the sequel, can possibly overlook the cause from which all has proceeded. You will have observed, too, that the base calumniators of the Princess have said, that the bare fact of her living in a state of separation from her husband amounts to a presumptive proof of her guilt. How material is it, then, to be informed rightly as to the real cause of that separation! If the separation had been caused by any fault, or even any alleged fault, of the Princess, her case, at this day, would have been very different indeed from what it is. But, the Prince's Letter leaves no room for doubt upon this important point. It clears all up. If she had been the proposer of the separation, her case would have been very materially affected by it; for, though her innocence must still have been acknowledged, the world might have said, that it was the separation which led to the charges, and that, therefore, she must thank herself for them. As the case now stands, she is quite free from even this imputation; and, instead of agreeing with her enemies, that she has discovered rashness, our only wonder is, that she has, with so good a cause, been able so long to remain silent, especially when we reflect on the endless insinuations that have been thrown out against her.

I must now crave your attention to the interesting proceedings which have taken place since my last letter to you went from under my hand. In the postscript to that letter, I noticed, and, indeed, I inserted, the Princess's Letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons. It is stated, in print, that a similar Letter was sent to the Lord Chancellor, who is the Speaker, or chairman, of the House of Lords; but, it seems, that, for reasons which I attempt not to dive into, the Lord Chancellor did not communicate that Letter to the House. That Letter, as you will have seen, was occasioned by a Report, made to the Prince by certain members of what is called the Privy Council. And here I should give you some account of this Council. It consists of whomsoever the King pleases to name, and he generally makes all his Ministers Privy Councillors. Some of the Bishops, too, and of the Judges generally belong to it. So that, especially if there occur frequent changes of Ministers, the Privy Council is rather a numerous body, consisting of persons of all parties, seeing that when once a man becomes a Privy Councillor,

he

always remains a Privy Councillor, except his name be expunged from the list on account of some flagrant and scandalous offence.

But, when the Privy Council assembles, it is not to be understood that all the members are present, or that they come promiscuously. In fact, they do not come, unless they be summoned to come; and, of course, the King, or the Regent, causes to be summoned those members, and those only, whom his Ministers advise him to cause to be summoned. I have entered into these particulars, in order to explain to you the nature of the body, whence the Report, which I am here about to insert, proceeded. You will see, that the Report itself states, that the persons who made it were specially summoned for the purpose of taking the Princess's Letter into their consideration, and of making a report to the Regent thereon.

Report, &c. to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent.

The following Members of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council, viz. -His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, -The Right Hon. the Lord High Chancellor,- His Grace the Archbishop of York,- His Grace the Lord Primate of Ireland, The Lord President of the Council,-The Lord Privy Seal,-The Earl of Buckinghamshire,-The Earl Bathurst,-The Earl of Liverpool,-The Earl of Mulgrave,-The Viscount Melville,-The Viscount Sidmouth,-The Viscount Castlereagh,-The Right Hon. the Lord Bishop of London,―The Right Hon. Lord Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench,-The Right Hon. the Speaker of the House of Commons,-The Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer,-The Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Duchy,-- His Honour the Master of the Rolls,-The Right Hon. the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas,*-The Right Hon. the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer,-The Right Hon. the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty,The Right Hon. the Dean of the Arches-Having been summoned by command of your Royal Highness, on the 19th of February, to meet at the office of Viscount Sidmouth, Secretary of State for the Home Department, a communication was made by his Lordship to the Lords then present, in the following terms:

MY LORDS, -I have it in command from His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to acquaint your Lordships. that a copy of a Letter from the Princess of Wales to the Prince Regent having appeared in a public paper, which Letter refers to the proceedings that took place in an inquiry instituted by command of His Majesty, in the year 1806, and contains, among other matters, certain animadversions upon the manner in which the Prince Regent has exercised his undoubted right of regulating the conduct and education of his daughter the Princess Charlotte; and His Royal Highness having taken into his consideration the said Letter so published, and adverting to the directions heretofore given by His Majesty, that the documents relating to the said Inquiry should be sealed up, and deposited in the office of his Majesty's Principal Secretary of State; in order that His Majesty's Government should possess the means of resorting to them if necessary; His Royal Highness has been pleased to direct, that the said Letter of the Princess of Wales, and the whole of the said documents, together with the copies of other letters and papers, of which a schedule is annexed, should be referred to your Lordships, being Members of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, for your consideration; and that you should report to His Royal Highness your opinion, whether, under all the circumstances of the case, it be fit and proper that the intercourge between the Princess of Wales and her daughter, the Princess Charlotte, should continue to be subject to regulations and restrictions:

Their Lordships adjourned their Meetings to Tuesday the 23rd of February; and the intermediate days having been employed in perusing the documents referred to them, by command of your Royal Highness, they proceeded on that and the following day to the further consideration of the said documents, and have agreed to report to your Royal Highness as follows:

The Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas was prevented by indispo. sition from attending, during any part of these proceedings.

In obedience to the commands of your Royal Highness, we have taken into our most serious consideration the Letter from Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales to your Royal Highness, which has appeared in the public papers, and has been referred to us by your Royal Highness, in which Letter the Princess of Wales, amongst other matters, complains that the intercourse between Her Royal Highness and Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, has been subjected to certain restrictions.

We have also taken into our most serious consideration, together with the other papers referred to us by your Royal Highness, all the documents relative to the Inquiry instituted in 1806, by command of His Majesty, into the truth of certain representations, respecting the conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, which appear to have been pressed upon the attention of your Royal Highness, in consequence of the advice of Lord Thurlow, and upon grounds of public duty, by whom they were transmitted to His Majesty's consideration. And your Royal Highness having been graciously pleased to command us to report our opinions to your Royal Highness, whether, under all the circumstances of the case, it be fit and proper, that the intercourse between the Princess of Wales and her daughter, the Princess Charlotte, should continue to be subject to regulation and restraint.

We beg leave humbly to report to your Royal Highness, that after a full examination of all the documents before us, we are of opinion, that under all the circumstances of the case, it is highly fit and proper, with a view to the welfare of Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, in which are equally involved the happiness of your Royal Highness in your parental and royal character, and the most important interests of the State, that the intercourse between Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales and Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, should continue to be subject to regulation and restraint.

We humbly trust that we may be permitted, without being thought to exceed the limits of the duty imposed on us, respectfully to express the just sense we entertain of the motives by which your Royal Highness has been actuated in the postponement of the confirmation of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, as it appears, by a statement under the hand of Her Majesty the Queen, that your Royal Highness has conformed in this respect to the declared will of His Majesty, who had been pleased to direct, that such ceremony should not take place till her Royal Highness should have completed her 18th year.

We also humbly trust that we may be further permitted to notice some expressions in the Letter of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, which may possibly be construed as implying a charge of too serious a nature to be passed over without observation. We refer to the words-" suborned traducers." As this expression, from the manner in which it is introduced, may, perhaps, be liable to misconstruction (however impossible it may be to suppose that it can have been so intended), to have reference to some part of the conduct of your Royal Highness, we feel it our bounden duty not to omit this opportunity of declaring that the documents laid before us afford the most ample proof, that there is not the slightest foundation for such an aspersion.

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Such was the Report, made to the Prince Regent upon this occasion. The Princess, in her Letter, inserted in the postscript to my last, states that a copy of this Report had been transmitted to her by Lord Sidmouth. Now, we must, I think, take it for granted, that this Report was intended

to be an answer to the Princess's Letter of complaint respecting her exclusion from her daughter; for, if it were not intended to be such, why was a copy of it sent to her? If it had been intended solely for the pur. pose of satisfying the Prince, that he had acted rightly in insisting upon such exclusion; then, it would have been sufficient to lay the Report before him; and if the intention had been to settle any doubt in his mind as to the propriety of the exclusion; in that case, also, the Report would naturally have been confined to the perusal of the Prince and of his advisers and friends. If intended as an answer to the Letter of the Princess, it would, of course, be communicated to her; and, if it failed to convince her that she was wrong, or to silence her complaints, there it was ready for the justification of the Prince in the eyes of the nation and of the world.

Assuming, therefore, as we safely may, that this Report ought to be considered as the best answer that could be given to the complaint of her Royal Highness, let us now, my friend, inquire a little how far it ought to be considered as a satisfactory answer.

Her Royal Highness says, that she was, for awhile, permitted to see her daughter only once a week; that she is at present (that is to say, at the time of writing her Letter) permitted to see her only once in two weeks, and that she has reason to apprehend that even that degree of intercourse is about to be further contracted. She then proceeds to remark that, though forbearance had hitherto marked her conduct, though she had thus far consoled herself in her retirement with the consciousness of her innocence, she could now, no longer remain silent; that her love for her child and for her own honour called upon her to complain. Her reasoning was this: if it becomes notorious to the whole world, as it very soon must, that I am not permitted to see my daughter; that the Queen and my husband's sisters are not only permitted to be with her as often as they please, but that, she even lives amongst them, and is brought up under their eye; if this fact become notorious to the whole world, what must that world think of me? Her conclusion is, that, if she continued to endure this without complaint, the world must think that the motive for her silence could be nothing less than the fear of an inquiry into her conduct and an exposure of some sort of guilt of which she was conscious. This was her reasoning upon the subject, and you will not, I am sure, hesitate to say, that her reasoning was undeniably just. Therefore, said she, I claim permission to see my child, as other mothers see their children, seeing that I have done no act that ought to deprive me of that right of nature; and, she adds, if there be any doubt upon this point, after the full and clear acquittal which was pronounced in my favour against the calumnies which my perjured and suborned traducers had raised against me; if there remain any doubt as to this point, let there be a fresh inquiry or let me not be treated as a guilty woman, as a mother unworthy of being permitted to have an intercourse with her daughter.

Such was the complaint of the Princess of Wales, and what sort of an answer does the Report give to this complaint? Does it deny the allegations with regard to the prohibition of an intercourse with her daughter? Does it deny, that the natural conclusion to be drawn from that prohibition is injurious to the mother's reputation? Does it deny, the clear and complete acquittal of the Princess with regard to the charges that had been brought against her? Does it deny that she was traduced by

persons perjured and suborned? No it denys none of these; it evades all these points; it touches upon no one of them, except, indeed, that of the perjured and suborned traducers, and, as to that, it only says that the Prince himself was not the suborner, and that he had no knowledge of a subornation having been resorted to; an assertion, by the bye, which the Princess's Letter does not appear to have called for, seeing that it does not charge the Prince with that base and detestable act.

To me it appears, therefore, that this Report contains no answer at all to the Letter of the Princess. It says, indeed, that the Prince has laid the Documents relating to the inquiry of 1806, and also other documents and evidence before the Privy Council; but it does not say what other documents or what other evidence these were; and it does not intimate to her that her challenge to a fresh inquiry has been, or is to be accepted. It informs her, that, after examining all these documents and this evidence, the intercourse between the Princess and her daughter ought to continue to be subject to regulation and restraint; but it does not say what sort of regulation; it does not mark out what degree of restraint; it does not say whether it ought to be a week, or a fortnight, or any greater or less period, that ought to form the interval of the visits between the mother and her child.

Again, therefore, I say, that, as to the main point, and, indeed, as to all the main points, in the letter of her Royal Highness, this Report contains no answer at all. Yet, without containing an answer to the letter, without clearly denying any of its allegations, and without attempting to controvert any part of its reasoning, the Report does seem, as her Royal Highness says, to cast an aspersion upon her. For, it gives, as the grounds of the opinion that the intercourse between her and her daughter ought to be subject to restraint; it gives, as the grounds of this opinion, a conclusion drawn from a perusal of the documents and evidence produced to the Privy Council, relating to the conduct of the mother; the inevitable inference to be drawn from which is, that the conduct of the mother, according to those documents and the evidence, appeared to be not what it ought to have been, and such as justified, if not called for that regulation and restraint which was recommended.

This is so clear, that I will not suppose it possible for any man to entertain a doubt upon the subject. If the Report, without saying anything about documents or evidence, had said that it was right, that the mother should be restricted in her visits to her daughter; if it had said this without giving any reason for it, without assigning any cause, the Princess might still have had reason to complain of the hardship; but she would have had no ground whereon to found a new complaint of an aspersion upon her character. The Report, on the contrary, by bringing forward the documents of 1806, and also other documents and evidence as the cause of the restraint, certainly called for that reply which the Princess gave in her letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons. She there calls for the interference of Parliament; she says that she has not been permitted to know who have been her accusers; that she has not been allowed to be heard in her defence; and that, while she is told in this Report that certain documents and evidence have formed the ground of an opinion that her intercourse with her child ought to be subject to regulation and restraint, she is not suffered to know what those documents and that evidence are. Therefore, she throws herself on the wisdom and justice of Parliament; she earnestly desires a full investigation of her conduct during

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