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 AA 000 578 395 6 
 
 LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE KING 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 THE TWENTY-THIRD EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED FOR WILLIAM SAMS, 
 
 BOOKSELLEP TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OV YORK; 
 
 No. 1, St. JAMES'S STREET, 
 
 SOLD ALSO BY W. BLACKWOOD, EDINBUKGli; J. P- ARCHER, DUBLIN} 
 ^ta ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS I« THE UNITED KINGDOM. 
 
 MDCCCXXl.
 
 » 
 
 M
 
 Carl fan Palace , l)n.\, \H9A). 
 
 TO AM, ()I)|{ I.OVlN(J SlilVn-.CTS 
 
 AND CODNIIIYIVIKN, 
 iiowr.VKii t'.xAi.ri'.n in hank <m iiiimui.k in station, 
 
 TflK KIN(J 
 
 Sbcntis nliftf \w most nffctlionnlr (^rcc(^lt(^. 
 
 I IIFi lihcrfy n( llw prosK docs iiol pcrmil (t> your 
 King, ihc poHsihilily of rcunaiuinfj; itj;iH)r;intor|);issiii/j^ 
 events, or iinuflodcfl hy (he public ji^ilalion : ;il oiio 
 Jind l.lic s.unr l.inic il conveys to nic scnlitJicnls of 
 HUtislciction or ^roiiiids of cotJipljiiiil ; tli(^ promiscul 
 support of tlic (-oMstitiilioDiil, :ind \\ni tlirciit of tlio 
 disaficcted. My <nvii condncl, Ihc mciisurcs of my 
 executive, the state of my kiii;.;<l()m, iiiid (lie eoii- 
 dition of my subjects, :ir<^ jilaced Ijclorc nic in us 
 many various, eonrnscici, and contradictory positions, 
 as the great (T or lesser (h'^nee of information, lh(». 
 rivalsliip of ])arty, the animosity o( prcrjudiee, or 
 the insidiousness of faction allcMiialeiy su^'^i^est. In 
 this chaos of contrariety, to me the first ^rcjat dif- 
 ficidty is, to dis(;over the truth; the next, so to 
 manaj^e tin; discovery, as to produce from it some 
 sound and disj)asKionatc course of action. 
 
 This liberty of the press, in itself a^reat abstract 
 good, capable alike of beinjj^ converted into a bane 
 or antidote; and, by discreet and conscientious 
 management, capable also of prom(tting and effect- 
 
 n
 
 ing immortal benefits to mankind, or inflicting upon 
 them irremediable ills, keeps up at least a constant 
 communication between us, depriving the courtier 
 of the power of concealing from his Sovereign 
 public opinion, and placing him within the effect 
 of inquiry. With such a constant possibility of ex- 
 planation, a Monarch may be misguided, but can- 
 not be uninformed ; he may adopt decisive rules of 
 government, but cannot remain ignorant of their 
 effects. 
 
 Although it is presumed that I become acquainted 
 with political occurrences and opinions, solely 
 through the channel of my official advisers, 
 and can only constitutionally address my people 
 through the regular organ of parliament, or of my 
 council ; yet, at this momentous crisis, pregnant 
 with evil to our common country, and to me so in- 
 teresting as a man and a husband, but above all, as 
 the inheritor of my Royal Father's crown, the form 
 and mode of this communication may stand shielded 
 and excused, in the generally anomalous character 
 of the circumstances to which I shall hereafter 
 advert: nor, on so singular an occasion, do I think 
 it derogatory to the dignity of my exalted station, 
 to attempt the dispersion of a mist, in which too 
 many of my subjects have wandered, led on by a 
 generous delusion. 
 
 I will not accuse, I do not accuse, of disaffection 
 either to my person or government, all who are ad- 
 vocates for the cause of the Queen; for in that 
 cause, I perceive plainly a variety of motives in 
 activity ; in the combination of those motives, dif- 
 fering widely from each other, the immediate danger 
 ^DCars to consist : but it is also, from their dis- 

 
 3 , 
 
 cordance, that future tranquillity may be expected. 
 I am persuaded that, could my subjects upon re- 
 flection, be brought to consider the probability of 
 my being an injured and calumniated Priiice, they 
 would abstain from further insult to the crown in- 
 herited from George the Third. I am also per- 
 suaded that public opinion, although forced into 
 extremes by the goadings of a portion of the daily 
 press, alike unrestrained by truth, and as devoid 
 of principle, as lost to the common civilities of so- 
 ciety, would soon right itself; when a plain and 
 simple narrative (such as any man of reasonable 
 mind might comprehend) should supersede the dis- 
 torted and tortured facts which have lately pre- 
 occupied too great a part of the nation. 
 
 So many years have elapsed since the period of 
 my unhappy marriage, that it may not be inexpedient 
 (indeed, it appears absolutely necessary, in order 
 to develope certain springs of action) to recall the 
 times and circumstances in which, and by which, 
 this event was produced. 
 
 The French Revolution was at its height; the 
 Royal Family of France had been murdered ; Hol- 
 land had imbibed the revolutionary mania, and the 
 Stadtholder had fled to this protecting country ; at 
 home, a traitorous spirit was actively at work ; trials 
 for high treason had served only to increase the in- 
 solence of faction, and foster rebellion ; Ireland 
 was on the verge of open revolt : and every politi- 
 cal appearance threatened an attempt upon the con- 
 stitution of these realms ; a dreadful war was raging: 
 yet, amidst and in the face of all these evils, it was 
 the wish of my Royal Father to strengthen the suc- 
 cession to the throne of these realms ; and the more 
 
 B 2
 
 especially, as my royal brother of York had been 
 married four years, without the expectation of a 
 family. No moment could be less auspicious than 
 the one chosen. My own inclination was averse to a 
 marriage of expediency ; nor need I tell my subjects 
 under what disadvantages a Prince of the Royal 
 Family labours, and more especially the heir-appa- 
 rent born in the kingdom, in a chance for matrimo- 
 nial happiness ; and for myself, confined by the laws 
 of my country within the limits of the realm, I could 
 never hope to lead my countrymen to the field of 
 battle, in her just wars, or extend my sphere of use- 
 ful acquirement, by foreign travels, and the personal 
 examination of the customs, manners, and govern- 
 ment of other countries. Of the character of their 
 prinoes and courtiers, I could only learn by inter- 
 mediate report. 
 
 Debarred thus from active employment, and des- 
 tined to pass my time in royal idleness, surrounded 
 with pleasures at every step, and captivated with 
 beauty, it would not be the most difficult enigma to 
 solve, how I became thoughtlessly extravagant. 
 Notwithstanding I had experienced the generosity 
 of my countrymen, when twenty-four years of age ; 
 yet, in nine years after, my debts became again the 
 object of serious consideration. In the midst of a 
 war then raging, expensive beyond all former pre- 
 cedent, and with no glimpse of termination ; when 
 monarchy throughout Europe was threatened with 
 annihilation, some powerful and unanswerable mor 
 tive, or some important and ostensible good, could 
 alone justify the minister of the day, in applying to 
 parliament for the payment of the debts of an ex- 
 travagant Prince, for such I acknowledge myself to 
 have been.
 
 5 
 
 The justification of the measure was found to be 
 in my marriage. 
 
 The nation most generously paid my debts, made 
 provision for such marriage, and I became an ex- 
 pedient party to the contract. For me there was no 
 escape; the interest of my creditors demanded 
 such sacrifice ; a sacrifice of which my heart could 
 only appreciate the extent. 
 
 But, although the match was forced, and 1 was 
 left (unlike my subjects) to no voluntary choice, I 
 had still a right to expect in a Princess of exalted 
 ancestry, and one previously allied to me by re- 
 lationship, a female of chaste person and uncon- 
 taminated taste. 
 
 But the morning which dawned on the consum- ' 
 mation of this marriage, witnessed its virtual dis- 
 solution. 
 
 Our daughter, the lamented Princess Charlotte, 
 the child of a fond and admiring nation, was born 
 precisely at the moment prescribed by nature. 
 
 Of the causes which led to this immediate se-' 
 paration, which however was for a time most care- 
 fully concealed ; and concealed, I trust, from no 
 ungenerous feeling on my part, it does not belong 
 to me to detail the explanation. But who beside 
 ourselves was interested in it ? Surely the family 
 of the illustrious female in question ! Did they 
 complain ? Did they remonstrate ? Did they de- 
 mand a restitution of conjugal rights between us? 
 Did they interfere to conciliate, to palliate, to ex- 
 plain? Never. By their silence, then, was I justi- 
 fied in requiring at a proper moment, a more openly 
 avowed separation. The first wrong was done to me. 
 
 The situation in which my Royal Father was
 
 6 
 
 placed towards us both, was one of peculiar de- 
 licacy, and requires your particular attention. In- 
 dependently of his own good and well-intentioned 
 motives, he could not but feel that I had sacrificed 
 my happiness to obedience to his will, and to those 
 urgent and pressing political influences which di- 
 rected that will. To him, therefore, it must have 
 been painful to find, that all chance of connubial 
 connexion was destroyed as soon as formed; it 
 must also have been painful to him to know, that in 
 commanding my marriage, he had (however un- 
 intentionally) clogged my high station with a source 
 of constant anxiety and unceasing misrepresenta- 
 tion. Again: as towards the then Princess of 
 Wales, his late Majesty, my revered Father and 
 King, could not but have felt, that a marriage so 
 brought about at his urgent desire, and enforced 
 upon one positive condition, called forth from him 
 more especially every increased attention towards 
 the illustrious female whom he had introduced into 
 the country ; nor could this fatherly attention be 
 otherwise than the more marked and decisive, on 
 account of the relationship of that illustrious female 
 in question to the then Queen of these realms. His 
 most sacred Majesty was thus doubly and peculiarly 
 bound to the protection of the interesitsof this illustri- 
 ous female, as well as to a gentlemanly forbearance to- 
 wards a son, through his influence so unexpectedly, 
 so unusually, and I may add, so unhappily, circum- 
 stanced. This line of nice distinction and difficult con- 
 duct, so honourably and so nobly adhered to by his 
 late Majesty, led to the erroneous supposition, that 
 my honoured and royal parent and myself were at 
 variance upon this important occasion: but such
 
 was not in the slightest degree the fact; the subject 
 was, as it were, interdicted mutually from our con- 
 ferences and meetings, and I always honoured my 
 royal parent the more highly for the motives which 
 influenced and marked out the line of conduct he 
 felt himself peculiarly called upon to adopt. His 
 aim was, to soften by every means of alleviation in 
 his power the situation of the Princess ; but, at tae 
 same time, he was left without cause of accusation 
 against his son's early determination. 
 
 Having rested the propriety of my conduct upon 
 the silence of the relatives of the' Princess, on an 
 occasion when silence on their part could only have 
 been imposed by a knowledge of the means of jus- 
 tification ; and having discovered the principle which 
 generosity and hospitality dictated to my late Father 
 and King in his conduct towards the Princess, I now 
 refer to a letter, dated Windsor Castle, April 30, 
 1796; which letter has been termed, insolently, un- 
 justifiably, and almost traitorously, a letter of license. 
 
 " It was always competent for the Princess of Wales 
 to demand from me, if she felt herself so justified, the 
 restitution of her conjugal rights." That a female 
 of her lofty daring should not have taken such a step, 
 admits a very strong argument in favour of the re- 
 tiring husband ; at all events, it allows of the infer- 
 ence, that there was a domestic and personal cause for 
 separation, to which the parties mutually consented. 
 
 This letter of the 30th of April, above alluded to, 
 may be considered as containing the terms of our 
 separation. On this letter, which evidently refers 
 to former conferences and previous communications, 
 and was written to the Princess at her own request, 
 I have but one observation to make, namely, —
 
 " That pending the arrangement for an open and 
 avowed separation, the then Princess of Wales, 
 through the medium of Lady Cholmondeley, re- 
 quired that the separation should be final and conclusive, 
 as to any future 'particular intercourse, and not to be re- 
 newed at any period, even though our child the Princess 
 Charlotte should die." To this proposition I assented ; 
 by this proposition I have abided, and ever will 
 abide. It is an extra proposition emanating from 
 the Queen ; it contains her own terms. 
 
 From the moment of this open and avowed separa- 
 tion, rendered perpetual by the proposition of her 
 Royal Highness ; I can call herself and the kingdom 
 to witness, whether any thing has been withheld 
 from the personal accommodation of the Princess of 
 Wales? Whether a suitable establishment, regu- 
 lated by herself, was not provided for her comfort ? 
 Whether I ever interfered with her arrangements, 
 her society, or her social convenience ; in short, I 
 boldly challenge my people to the proof, whether I 
 had ever been guilty of any step, directly, or indi- 
 rectly, to break in upon that arrangement of tran- 
 quillity, and comfortable society, which was the 
 basis of our mutual separation. 
 
 This separation between the Princess and myself, 
 partook not in its origin, of the smallest poHtical mix- 
 ture ; it was purely an unhappy but unavoidable do- 
 mestic occurrence, of which the good manners of both 
 parties might have softened the effect ; and in which, 
 strict propriety of conduct, such as befitted the 
 second lady in the land, might have commanded my 
 respect; though an insurmountable obstacle was op- 
 posed to any further feeling. During this separation, 
 the Princess of Wales possessed the most uncon-
 
 trolled choice and command of her own household; 
 she was mistressofher own conduct; wasstillthe wife 
 of the heir-apparent to the throne, and mother of the 
 heiress presumptive. The Princess must have been 
 aware of the superior legal responsibility attached to 
 the high and important rank she held in tlie empire ; 
 and the peculiarity of her situation demanded a 
 greater degree of discretion ; painful and singular 
 as was that situation, it was one in which the Prin- 
 cess might haA^e shone with additional splendour, had 
 she maintained a dignified and elegant association. 
 
 I am charged by the giddy press and the partisans 
 of the Queen, with having, upon all occasions, be- 
 sieged her with spies and suborned traducers. 
 
 At the period of this separation in 1796, the then 
 Princess of Wales surrounded herself, not with any 
 friends of mine, but with an establishment of her 
 own choice. But suppose, for argument sake, this 
 false assertion to be true ; how completely useless 
 would have been the office of those spies and tale- 
 bearers, had the conduct of her Royal Highness 
 given no grounds for their occupation ! In such a 
 case, the more closely her Royal Highness had been 
 watched, the more spotless, chaste and unquestion- 
 able would her conduct have appeared. Ought it, 
 under any circumstances, even of presumed aggra- 
 vation, to have been otherwise ? 
 
 I approach now the period of the first investigation 
 of 1806, which took place te7i years after the separa- 
 tion ; and which carried back its research four years 
 from the date of its report. The very circumstance, 
 that it became necessary to trace through several 
 years the conduct of her Royal Highness, allows me 
 fairly to assert that which was the fact ; namely.
 
 10 
 
 " that it was not until after tale upon tale had been 
 in wide circulation for a long period ; nor until those 
 reports assumed the threatening character of high 
 treason, that I determined to advise with a retired 
 Lord Chancellor on the measures necessary to be 
 adopted." Had I been actuated by the foul spirit 
 attributed to me, I had at that moment an opportu- 
 nity of gratifying such revenge, by demanding a 
 public trial instead of a private investigation. The 
 base political purposes to which the privacy of that 
 proceeding was subsequently applied, might almost 
 tempt me to regret that I had not done so : yet I 
 do not regret it, since the motive was (even at the 
 very moment of an inquiry becoming legally expe- 
 dient) to shield the object of it as much as possible 
 from publicity, I might almost say, to accommodate 
 her acquittal. Upon this occasion, the reputation 
 and character of those eminent noblemen, Lords 
 Erskine, Spencer, Grenville, and EUenborough, 
 must first be destroyed, before I can be charged 
 with provoking an unnecessary inquiry into the exist- 
 ence of circumstances which had long been circu- 
 lating through every rank of society, which were at 
 the time generally believed to be true, or enveloped 
 in a mystery far removed from that absence of all 
 doubtful and suspicious appearances, which should 
 characterize the conduct of a Princess of Wales. 
 On this occasion, the same honourable feelings 
 which had invariably guided the conduct of my 
 Royal Father and King, inclined him still to shield 
 and protect her Royal Highness, and to place the 
 least culpable interpretation upon the circumstances 
 of that mysterious case. It was the same generous 
 feeling which induced my Royal Father to adopt, as
 
 11 
 
 a previous step, my proposal of a private and confi- 
 dential inquiry, in a matter, where less considerate 
 conduct might, at once, have transferred the cause 
 of offence to a pubhc tribunal. Throughout the 
 whole of this affair, her Royal Highness was treated 
 with a delicacy suitable to the peculiarity of her 
 situation, to which every, and the most generous, 
 consideration was paid. Her Royal Highness was 
 aware of it, and at the moment felt herself so treated. 
 
 Did I, upon this occasion, dissent from the line 
 of conduct recommended to be pursued? No. 
 Did I interfere with the duties of the noble lords 
 commissioners upon the occasion ? No. Did I, as 
 a husband, cease to perform the terms of separa- 
 tion, even after the imperious necessity which had 
 devolved upon me as Prince of Wales, of requir- 
 ing indemnity for the succession to the throne ? 
 No. I assert, that in the conflicting duties imposed 
 upon me as a husband, and as Prince of Wales, that 
 when the admonition of my royal parent was deem- 
 ed sufficient for the occasion, I acquiesced. Nor, 
 on a subsequent occasion, did I hesitate to pay the 
 debts of the illustrious person in question, in her 
 character of my wife. Nay more, I carried still 
 further the spirit of conciliation, and proof of my 
 acquiescence in the result of such investigation, by 
 the subsequent advance to honour and distinction 
 of one of the parties implicated criminally in the 
 charge against the then Princess of Wales. I am, 
 therefore, on that occasion, the avowed approver of 
 the result of the inquiry ; and stand convicted, 
 either of being regardless of my own honour, or of 
 being satisfied that the accusation was over- 
 strained. 
 
 Before I dismiss this part of my letter, I would
 
 12 
 
 direct the attention of ray subjects and countrymen 
 to the rigour of the law, applicable to the wife of 
 the heir-apparent to the throne. An error which, 
 in any female of less distinguished rank, is merely 
 a civil injury, in the wife of the Prince of Wales is 
 a crime against the nation. The mere act of offence 
 is in both cases alike; but in the one may be at- 
 tended with the last penalty, that of death. If, 
 therefore, in any proceedings connected with the 
 case of a prince of Wales, there appears a greater 
 measure of legal harshness, to which our moral feel- 
 ings are opposed, it should be remembered, that the 
 anomaly is created by the statutes of the realm. I 
 made not the law for myself. 
 
 When the Princess of Wales had received the ad- 
 monitory letter of 1806^ no complaint at the time 
 was made by her, either against its justice, or the 
 mode in which the inquiry had been conducted. It 
 was reserved to revive the painful subject seven 
 years after its occurrence ; and to attack the pro- 
 ceedings, as well as the intermediate restraint which 
 had been imposed on the intercourse of the Princess 
 with our daughter, in a letter dated early in 1813, 
 addressed to me as Regent of these United King- 
 doms. That letter, as containing a matter of com- 
 plaint deserving of inquiry, was submitted, without 
 regard to the personally offensive remarks contain- 
 ed in it, to several dignitaries of the church and of . 
 the law. Upon this second report, the restriction 
 alluded to was still continued, and the aspersions 
 cast upon the testimony of certain witnesses con- 
 nected with the inquiry of 1806, were pronounced 
 to be wholly groundless, and without the slightest sup- 
 port of Proof. 
 
 It is important for me to draw your attention to
 
 13 
 
 the circumstance, that the two reports were drawn 
 up by noblemen of differing political sentiments, 
 accustomed to constant parliamentary opposition ; 
 if therefore from such an ordeal, the proceedings of 
 1800 have escaped censure, and consequently be- 
 came stamped with a character of fair and impartial 
 justice, I have a right to demand, and do demand, a 
 full and complete acquittal from all those false and 
 unprincely motives, by which my conduct has been 
 stigmatized ; I plead guilty only of one motive, 
 " That of preserving to my daughter her rights, 
 and protecting the purity of succession to the throne 
 of my ancestors." 
 
 Had the result of this second report, produced by 
 a set of political reasoners wholly opposed to the 
 first commissioners, varied from the report of such 
 commissioners ; had it brought home to the witnesses 
 upon the former occasion, any charge of perjury, or 
 have elicited any trace of unworthy motive, or cor- 
 ruptly contrived evidence ; it would have been my 
 unavoidable duty as Regent, and the office most 
 pleasing to me as a husband and man, to have re- 
 vived that inquiry, and have punished the guilty 
 participators in it ; and besides, it was at all times 
 open to the Princess to bring her accusers before the 
 tribunals of her country. Unless, therefore, every 
 principle of civilized conduct has been violated by 
 me, and I alone have proceeded upon impulses dif- 
 ferent from all mankind, surely, on my own account, 
 I must have rejoiced at any elucidation which had 
 sprung up, had it been only for the mere selfish pur- 
 pose of wiping from myself the mortification of such 
 recorded aspersions. Was it to be supposed, that I 
 should tamely cover myself with the mantle of my
 
 14 
 
 own shame, could I have had it in my power to 
 destroy every thread of the garment ? I should 
 have deserved the scorn of the age, and ill merited 
 the allegiance of my father's subjects, could I have 
 hesitated one moment in following the minutest ray 
 which might detect the mystery of 1806, and com- 
 pletely clear her Royal Highness from those 
 charsfes. 
 
 But from the date of this letter in 1813, the whole 
 transaction, which had hitherto been treated as a 
 domestic difference, assumed on the part of the 
 Princess of Wales a political aspect. To this point 
 I shall subsequently refer ; for the present, there, 
 fore, I will pass on to the period of her departure to 
 visit the continent. 
 
 Upon this occasion, her Royal Highness ad- 
 dressed her intentions to me, through the medium 
 of the Earl of Liverpool, in a letter dated the 25th 
 July, 1814, in which her Royal Highness stated as her 
 first and her most urgent motive for wishing to re- 
 tire to the continent, "the restoration of tranquillity 
 to my mind." Her Royal Highness then goes on to 
 complain of the indignities and mortification to which 
 she had been exposed, by being withheld from re- 
 ceiving her nearest relations, and the most intimate 
 friends of the late Duke of Brunswick, her father ; 
 and alludes to the rupture of the proposed alliance 
 between our daughter, the Princess Charlotte, and 
 the Prince of Orange. Her Royal Highness also 
 pointing out her route, states that she intends to re- 
 turn to Brunswick her native country, and with a de- 
 gree of uncertainty adds, she may afterwards travel 
 into Italy and Greece, and proposes certain ar- 
 rangements as to the disposition of her private pro-
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
 perty. To all these points I subjoin the reply as 
 transmitted through my prime minister, with this 
 one observation, that Lord Liverpool does not silent- 
 ly pass over the circumstance of her Royal High- 
 ness possessing apartments in a royal palace, (to 
 which her Royal Highness makes no allusion in her 
 letter,) but absolutely states, that such apartments 
 will still be retained for the use of her Royal High- 
 ness ; thus, if any conscious doubts had existed in 
 the mind of the Princess, and this omission was 
 intended to draw from me any expression as to the 
 length of her stay on the continent, or whether I 
 considered that the departure of the Princess was 
 intended to be permanent, such doubts are clearly 
 removed by the specific allusion of Lord Liverpool 
 to those particular apartments in a royal palace. 
 
 Her Royal Highness then leaves England by her 
 own voluntary act, at her own express desire, re- 
 taining by the avowed will of the Prince (acting on 
 behalf of the King) a residence, to which, at any 
 time, she might return. There is also a second point 
 in this letter of the Princess, on which I would 
 make one short observation. Her Royal Highness, 
 referring to the mode of disposal of part of her pro- 
 perty, uses this expression : " The Princess of 
 Wales hopes the Prince Regent will grant this 
 favour, the last that she will solicit.'" I ask, then, is 
 this the language of a wife receiving injuries from a 
 husband ; or is it not characteristic of language from 
 a wife to a husband who, though separated from that 
 husband, had ever been accustomed to receive from 
 him every favour and benefit which could with 
 honour be granted ? I subjoin the reply alluded to, 
 as it corrects the political points contained in the 
 letter of the Princess.
 
 16 
 
 Letter of Lord Liverpool to the Princess of Wales, 
 dated the 2Sth of July , ISl^. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool has had the honour to receive the letter of her 
 Royal Highness. Having communicated it to the Prince Regent, he 
 has ordered him to inform her Royal Highness that he can have no 
 objection to the intentions of her Royal Highness to effect the design 
 which she announces to the Prince Regent, of returning to her 
 native country, to visit her brother the Duke of Brunswick, assuring 
 her, that the Prince Regent will never throw any obstacle in the way 
 of her present or future intentions as to the place where she may 
 wish to reside. 
 
 " The Prince Regent leaves her Royal Highness at liberty to 
 exercise her own discretion as to her abode in this country or on the 
 continent, as it may be convenient to her. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool is also commanded, on the part of the Prince 
 Regent, to inform her Royal Highness, that he will not throw any 
 obstacles in the way of the arrangements of her Royal Highness, 
 whatever they may be, respecting the house at Blackhcath, which 
 belonged to the late Duchess of Brunswick, or the rest of the private 
 property of her Royal Highness. But that, for reasons rather too 
 long to explain, the Prince Regent will not permit the Princess 
 Charlotte to be ranger of Greenwich Park, or to occupy any of the 
 houses at Blackheath, which her Royal Highness has hitherto 
 occupied. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool has also been enjoined, on the part of the Prince 
 Regent, before he closes the letter which he has the honour to send 
 to her Royal Highness, to tell her, in relation to the two articles which 
 her Royal Highness has put in her letter concerning the rupture of 
 the marriage of the Princess Charlotte with the hereditary Prince of 
 Orange, as well as to the reason for which the allied Sovereigns did 
 not, previously to their departure from England, pay their visit to her 
 Royal Highness ; that, as to the first article, Lord Liverpool is com- 
 manded by the Prince Regent to inform her Royal Highness, that the 
 Prince Regent is not persuaded that the private considerations of the 
 circumstances in which the Princess is placed, can have been an 
 obstacle to the marriage of the Princess Charlotte. As to the second 
 article, Lord Liverpool is also onjoined, on the part of the Prince 
 Regent, to signify to her Royal Highness, that the Prince Regent 
 never opposed himself to the allied Sovereigns making a visit to her 
 Royal Highness during their stay in London. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool has the honour to be, with all esteem and the 
 highest consideration. 
 
 " P. S. The Prince Regent can make no difficulties on the subject 
 of the directions which the Princess has the intention of giving as to 
 the house at Blackheath ; neither will the Prince Regent oppose her 
 Royal Highness's retaining the apartments in the Palace of Kensing- 
 ton, in the same manner as she possessed them while in London, for 
 the convenience of herself and suite."
 
 17 
 
 At the period then of the departure of her Royal 
 Highness from the kingdom, ,the very last commu- 
 nication between us was on my part, that of assur- 
 ing her, that the residence more particularly occu- 
 pied by her as a state residence, should be consi- 
 dered as remaining still at her disposal ; thus placing 
 a seal of oblivion on the past; and according every 
 thing but personal communication. 
 
 Her Royal Highness was enabled to quit England 
 as became her rank, with a suite of her own choice, 
 with zealous friends among that suite, and with 
 every facility afforded her of rendering her stay on 
 the Continent comfortable and convenient. Her 
 public reception at foreign courts naturally depended 
 on, and was regulated by, established etiquette. 
 
 I have thus brought down the material circum- 
 stances of my unhappy marriage, to the period of 
 the departure of her Royal Highness for the Conti- 
 nent ; the transactions in themselves, however un- 
 fortunate, are plain and simple, easily understood, 
 and as capable of explanation, when viewed with- 
 out any selfish tendency to party or faction. The 
 incidents may be thus briefly stated : — 
 
 1. Our private separation. 
 
 2. Our public separation. 
 
 3. The interval between our public separation 
 and the inquiry of 1806. 
 
 4. The complaint of the Princess in 1 8 1 3, as to the 
 restricted intercourse between herself and daughter. 
 
 5. The retirement of the Princess to the Continent. 
 
 The first point, (the reasons of our private separa- 
 tion), it does not become me to explain; her Royal 
 Highness might (if she had so pleased,) have claimed 
 in the proper court, the restitution of her conjugal 
 
 c
 
 IS 
 
 rights; such a proceeding would have produced an 
 e:?cplanation. 
 
 As to the second point, we separated upon terms 
 mutually understood, and to which the Princess 
 added herself a peremptory condition ; those terms 
 have by me been inviolably preserved ; as a husband, 
 I enabled my wife to maintain the dignity of her 
 rank and station as Princess of Wales ; I visited her 
 separation with no pecuniary privations, but, on the 
 contrary, paid for her, debts exceeding her means 
 of expenditure, to the amount of forty-nine thousand 
 pounds ; the government of the country, at the same 
 time, liquidating a further sum of thirty-one thou- 
 sand pounds. 
 
 As to the third point, the preceding remarks, in 
 part apply. On the subject of the actual inquiry, I 
 may be allowed to say, that the Prince of Wales is 
 born with certain rights previously created, as a line 
 of duty to be by him fulfilled. The preservation of 
 the chastity of his wife, with a view to the purity of 
 the succession, is one of those duties. When, there- 
 fore, in consequence of rumours, too loud and too 
 deep to remain unheard, I demanded an inquiry, 
 as part of the duty of my high birth and national 
 rank, I submitted the case to the responsible mi- 
 nisters of the crown ; I acquiesced in the sentence 
 passed upon the termination of the inquiry, and 
 bowed to the decision which had been pronounced 
 by the warm and zealous friend of the Princess, who 
 was judge upon the occasion. "^ 
 
 ^. As to the fourth point, I endeavoured, by every 
 toeans in my power, to prevent our disputes from 
 faking a political turn, embarrassing to the govern- 
 pei^t of the eountry ; and I most particularly aimed
 
 19 
 
 at preserving, in the mind of the Princess Charlotte, 
 a neutrality on the delicate occasion ; the restric- 
 tion imposed on the intercourse between the Prin- 
 cess and her daughter was connected with the sys- 
 tem of her education, which, by law, rested with 
 the Sovereign. When, at a subsequent period, in 
 1813, the Princess of Wales addressed to me as 
 Regent, a letter alluding to such restriction, and 
 also to the proceedings of 1806, almost grown out 
 of recollection, I submitted such letter to noblemen, 
 differing in political opinion from those who had on 
 the former occasion made a report on the conduct 
 of the Princess ; the result of this re-inquiry pro- 
 duced no change, no imputation on the former state- 
 ments and evidence, and I still continued to con- 
 sider the whole affair as one of domestic inconve- 
 nience, inasmuch as the succession to the throne 
 was pronounced 7iot to be endangered. 
 
 As to the fifth point, upon the retirement of her 
 Royal Highness to the Continent, I continued to the 
 Princess her residence in a royal palace, leaving it 
 as a domicile open to her return ; and, I declare, upon 
 my honour as a Prince, that I never, on any pre. 
 vious occasion, threw the slightest obstacle in the 
 way of her Royal Highness's comfort, tranquillity, 
 and domestic arrangement. The affairs of Princes 
 cannot be conducted in the same obscure and un- 
 ostentatious mode as those of private individuals ; 
 to snatch a few moments of private life is, in a 
 Prince, to enjoy real happiness. All the difficulties 
 which have occurred in the case in question have 
 been produced and created, they were not of natural 
 origin, but have been foisted on the original evil by 
 factious persons, seeking to advance their own poHfli- 
 
 c2
 
 20 
 
 eal purposes. Had not the Princess placed herself 
 avowedly in such hands, many of the mortifications 
 of her situation had been avoided ; they would, in- 
 deed, have had no existence. Finally, I declare 
 again, upon ray honour, that my conduct aimed to 
 keep the whole unhappy affair within the character 
 of a domestic and purely personal misfortune ; and 
 it is only by the attempts made by faction, to give 
 it a political complexion, that the attention of the 
 people has been fixed upon it as a national grievance. 
 
 I have now, my subjects and fellow-countrymen, 
 gone through the first great division of my letter ; I 
 approach the second, I trust, with feelings as a 
 King, suitable to the occasion. 
 
 Hitherto I have appeared only as Prince of 
 Wales, and Regent. 
 
 Her Royal Highness quitted England as Princess 
 of Wales early in August in the year 1814, and in 
 the succeeding November (a short interval of three 
 months), appears to have consulted my tranquillity, by 
 furnishing grounds for a third inquiry into the pro- 
 priety of her conduct. After three years of rumours, 
 a commission to examine into their truth or falsehood 
 was a third time rendered necessary for the honour of 
 the crown of these realms ; thus, in both cases, as 
 well in the investigation of 1 806, as also in that of 
 1818, it was not until year^ of rumour had been al- 
 lowed to rouse suspicions, that any official measures 
 were adopted to inquire into their reality. 
 
 Possibly the great error has been, that such ru- 
 mours were permitted to remain so long without an 
 inquiry. Had spies really surrounded her Royal 
 Highness, the purposes of a commission of inquiry
 
 21 
 
 would have been anticipated and rendered unne- 
 cessary. 
 
 When the powers of my regency merged in the 
 succession to the throne, one of the first duties de- 
 volving upon me as a head of the Church, was, 
 " to settle according to the Act of Uniformity, such 
 parts of the Liturgy as were affected by the decease 
 of my venerable Father and King of blessed memory." 
 
 How lightly have too many of my subjects thought 
 of the feelings by which tlieir Sovereign must have 
 been influenced upon so solemn an occasion ! 
 
 How inconsiderately have too many of my subjects 
 viewed this vital act of religion as a mere matter of 
 form, requiring only a dash of the pen ! 
 
 How narrowly have too many of my subjects con- 
 fined their sense of this form, within the bounds of 
 custom and precedent! 
 
 How blindly have too many of my subjects viewed 
 this act of devotional formulary ! 
 
 And how completely have too many of my subjects 
 separated the act to be done, from him upon whom 
 fell the most painful duty of its performance ! 
 
 Behold then, your Sovereign, in the presence of 
 that God to whom all hearts are open ; required by 
 the first servant of our holy national Church, to 
 sanction as head of that Church, a formulary, in 
 which the thousands and tens of thousands, and 
 millions of his subjects were to address their prayers, 
 and praises, and supplications to the King of Kings. 
 
 Behold him thus situated, called upon to doubt 
 and to decide between his conscience and his feel- 
 i'igs,J^hether his own wife deserved, without hesi- 
 tatio^, to be admitted to tlie high dignity, defacip\^\ 
 of Queen of these United Kingdoms. Behold hirri^
 
 thus situated, and himself obliged to decide, no other 
 authority, according to the laws of the realm, having 
 power to relieve him from the duty. And why was 
 I thus called upon to doubt r Because my council, 
 according to their oaths, which is "to advise for the 
 King's honour and good of the public, without par- 
 tiality, through affection, love, meed, doubt, or 
 dread;" and in performance of their duty, which is 
 " to inquire into all offences against the government ;" 
 had not left me unacquainted with the existence of 
 a prima facie case, of gross and long-continued adul- 
 tery, alleged to be committed by the late Princess 
 of Wales, now dejure the Queen. 
 „ It became therefore evident, it was unavoidable, 
 that whenever the Queen thought proper to return 
 to my kingdom, she must meet this charge, the truth 
 or falsehood of which remained still to be proved. 
 My council strictly confined themselves to their 
 legal duty, that of inquiring only : and the features of 
 that inquiry imposed upon them the painful duty of 
 placing the Queen in a state of abeyance. 
 
 This solemn decision, I may say, this vitally re- 
 ligious act, presented itself to me in two points of 
 view. Was I, with such knowledge in my pos- 
 session, to recommend unhesitatingly and specially, 
 the name of the Queen, to the prayers of the church? 
 Or was I to leave the name to be inserted when her 
 Majesty should have wiped off this foul charge of 
 adultery ? In the first case, it might possibly have 
 r fallen to my painful office, again to have expunged the 
 ^insertion; and in the second case, it might happily 
 rhave been my duty to have supplied the omission. 
 Whiclvof the two modes afforded the least proba- 
 bility of future embarrassment: As yet, only a
 
 23 
 
 primd facie suspicion of adultery was exhibited 
 against the Queen , I had a right to presume her 
 innocent, I had a right to expect that future cir- 
 cumstances might justify the insertion of her Ma- 
 jesty's name, but such an insertion being a matter 
 of discretion, the words " and all the Royal Family," 
 did not exclude the Queen. To have inserted the 
 Queen's name specially, and subsequently to have 
 found myself obliged by the law of the land to ex- 
 ■■ punge it ; would, with a great degree of reason, have 
 subjected me to the charge of having first introduced 
 > such name, that I might enjoy the malicious triumph 
 of erasing it ; thus adding increased harshness to 
 any future sentence. By using the phrase, " and all 
 • the Royal Family, " any future alteration, under any 
 J* circumstances of substantiated guilt or innocence, 
 would be rendered unnecessary. To have inserted the 
 uame of the Queen, with a knowledge such as I pos- 
 . sessed through my legal council, would, in my opinion, 
 have been contrary to the laws of the kingdom; 
 for among other charges which might have been 
 brought forward against the Queen, was, " her pro- 
 bable conversion to the Roman Catholic faith.'* But 
 to postpone the insertion of the name of the Queen, 
 and afterwards to have been called upon to supply 
 L f.the omission, would, to her Majesty, have been a 
 ^^gracious act of acquittal, and restoration to regal 
 t^^honour ; and I had a right to hope that such would be ' 
 ; the result. Besides, the object and intention of the 
 . ipostponement of this insertion, was most certainly, 
 y jiiot with a view to any proceedings against tlTe Queen, 
 '^^ni in anticipation of that continuance of mutual sepa- 
 .-..ration, which the Queen, in her letter of leave, de- 
 .. Glared .to be " necessary to my future tranquillity.'"
 
 24 
 
 I will suppose for one moment, the insertion to 
 have been made. Had it been done- under conceal- 
 ment from me, of existing circumstances, my ministers 
 would have been gidlti/ of misprision of treason, and been 
 liable to impeachment. But as it was done with my 
 knowledge ; if ten thousands often thousand tongues 
 were to demand of me, to tarnish the crown of your 
 King, I would abandon it to the people rather than 
 commit so great a crime. Whatever may have been 
 the indiscretions of THE man, the future historian of 
 England shall never record them as connected with 
 THE King. 
 
 It should not be overlooked, that the alteration of 
 the Liturgy was also to regulate my own public devo- 
 tion, as well as that of my subjects ; should I not then 
 by the special insertion of the name of the Queen, 
 under existing circumstances, have most deservedly 
 subjected myself to a charge of impious and detest- 
 able hypocrisy? " You have been praying yourself 
 specially for the Queen, you Royal Hypocrite! 
 whilst you have w atched her destruction ;" would ha\ e 
 been a just and unanswerable accusation against me; 
 an accusation, which, if well-founded, would have 
 rendered the word of the King unworthy of belief. 
 
 Those only are the real exclusionists, who do not 
 choose to comprehend the Queen, as implied in the 
 words, " and all the Royal Family." 
 
 Had either the religious or legal considerations of 
 this important point permitted me conscientiously to 
 have inserted the name of the Queen in the Liturgy 
 of the Church ; all other minor considerations would 
 have had no bearing upon the question ; for that 
 which would have been consistent with religion and 
 law, could not have been contra bonos mores. I dwell
 
 25 
 
 not therefore on the subject, as connected with the 
 morals of the country, but in its consideration, and 
 in all its vital bearings, I cannot but have contem- 
 plated the consequences of a Queen charged with 
 high crimes and misdemeanors, sitting upon that' 
 throne so lately occupied by the personification of 
 chastity and matrimonial excellence. 
 
 Will the virtuous and noble, the high-minded and 
 chaste, the amiable and domestic females of England, 
 adopt the Queen as an example and model worthy of 
 their imitation ? Will they pronounce her faultless ? - 
 Will they compose her court ? If I can place the 
 Queen on the throne of my ancestors upon such 
 terms, I am ready to do so. Upon none other, cang- 
 or ought a Queen to sit upon the throne of pre- 
 eminent England. 
 
 I proceed now to the offer of an ample allowance 
 offered to the Queen, provided she continued to re-, 
 main abroad in the retirement she had voluntarily 
 adopted ; and the alternative with which that offer 
 was accompanied. I have pointed out this trans- 
 action, and the suspension in the Uturgy, as acts which 
 may appear to have emanated more immediately from 
 my own personal feelings. 
 
 I have previously remarked, that from the period of 
 my becoming Regent, the differences between the 
 Princess and myself had assumed a political cha- 
 racter, and been treated by many as a party question. 
 
 The companions of my youth, and the distinguished 
 characters with whom, in my earlier years, I had in- 
 timately associated, had created in the public mind, 
 a widely-extended, and readily believed opinion, 
 that when the sceptre of my Father should descend 
 to me, I should, from among those associates, have
 
 26 
 
 chosen the members of my administration. During the 
 discussion of the terms of the regency, I was careful 
 to avoid giving any pledge of the line of policy I 
 might find it expedient to adopt. A short previous 
 administration, composed of those political friends 
 by whom it was conjectured my councils would have 
 been directed, had enabled me to form some opinion 
 of their executive talents ; and notwithstanding^ an 
 overture was made by me to them, to propose an 
 administration. But when I found the conditions 
 required would have reduced me to a mere po- 
 litical automaton, of which they were to possess the 
 key ; that not content with forming the administra- 
 tion, they required also, that I should be surrounded 
 in my household by their adherents, and left to no 
 choice in the appointment of my own attendants ; 
 when with this, I compared the candour and the 
 unequivocal absence of all personal feeling with 
 which the bill creating the Regency was carried by 
 the then ministry ; and above all, the frank, loyal, 
 and respectful regret which was shewn to the cala- 
 mity of my revered Parent ; and the so immediate 
 provision made for the resumption by him of the regal 
 dignity, that it should have pleased Providence so to 
 have restored him, my Royal Father would have 
 awakened as if from a dream, and have found himself 
 unreminded of his affliction ; when to this I added 
 the important consideration, that the flame of free- 
 dom was beginning to glimmer in Spain ; that the 
 then administration were prepared to take advantage 
 of every circumstance favourable to the destruction 
 of the military tyrant of Europe ; and when all 
 these various considerations were upheld by the 
 ^weight, pf.personal character which was contained
 
 27 ■ - • 
 
 M' tll6 then cabinet ; 1 felt sufficiently jufttifted in 
 hot suffering former prepossessions to stand for one 
 moment in the way of newly-created duties. I felt 
 that an existing experienced executive, was, at such 
 a time, safer than a theoretical cabinet. I had also 
 a doubt in my own mind, whether, during my So- 
 vereign's life, I ought, as Regent, to adopt the 
 principles of those who had been violently opposed 
 to my Royal Father's measures, or pursue a line 
 of policy unchanged, and such as my King would 
 have continued had he remained the active head of 
 the Empire. This was a feeling of the heart ; it was 
 mine. 
 
 This, my determination, produced two conse- 
 quences; 1. A series of unbroken, glorious, and 
 important victories, attended with such results, as 
 the history of the world, within a similar period of 
 time, cannot produce ; 2. The conversion of my 
 matrimonial differences into a political attack upon 
 my authority. 
 
 From this moment, then, the Queen, by becoming 
 the tool of party, gave to her cause and her conduct 
 a new feature, and an importance which required 
 the vigilant eye of the government. 
 
 I have been led into this digression, that the dis- 
 tinction I still endeavoured to uphold between my 
 marital and royal station, might be plainly and 
 easily comprehended. I return now to the consi- 
 deration of the offer made to the Queen, of an allow- 
 ance upon certain stipulations; viz., that the Queen 
 should cease to use the name and style of Queen of 
 England, and remain abroad, where she had volun- 
 tarily seceded. :son£ J 
 
 The period when this determination was decided
 
 28 
 
 upon, must not be Ibrgotten ; it must not only not 
 be forgotten, but it should be allowed its due 
 weight in the decision of so momentous an affair. 
 It appears almost, indeed, to be overlooked, that I 
 met my first parliament in the month of April, at 
 the very period, and while a set of infuriated, mis- 
 guided and unhappy culprits were on their trial 
 for a conspiracy to overturn the constitution and 
 government of these realms, of which the com- 
 mencement was intended to be, the indiscriminate 
 assassination of my cabinet ministers. The general 
 situation of the country, at that precise moment, 
 appears also to have been throv^ni into the back 
 ground. I cannot better recall those unhappy in- 
 auspicious moments, than by repeating again to 
 my subjects the topics addressed to the Lords and 
 Commons in Parliament assembled, upon our first 
 meeting. 
 
 Ml/ Lords mid Gentlemen, 
 
 " Deeply as I regret that the machinations and designs, of the dis- 
 affected should have led in some parts of the country, to acts of 
 open violence and insurrection, I cannot but express my satis- 
 faction at the promptitude with which those attempts have been 
 suppressed by the vigilance and activity of the magistrates, and by 
 the zealous co-operation of all those of my subjects whose exertions 
 have been called forth to support the authority of the laws. 
 
 " The wisdom and firmness manifested by the late parliament and 
 the due execution of the laws, have greatly contributed to restore 
 confidence throughout the kingdom ; and to discountenance those 
 principles of sedition and irreligion, which had been disseminated 
 with such malignant perseverance, and had poisoned the minds of 
 the un\vary and ignorant. 
 
 '* I rely upon the continued support of parliament, in my deter- 
 mination to maintain, by all the means intrusted to my hands, the v .1 
 public safety and tranquillity. 
 
 " Deploring, as we all must, the distress which still unhappily prie- " "' 
 vails among many of the labouring classes of the community, and 33 
 anxiously looking forward to its removal or mitigation, it is^ in Uia- -^ 
 meantime, our common duty, eflectually to protect the loyal, tiic'"'
 
 29 
 
 peaceable, and ihe industrious, against those practices of turbulence 
 and intimidation, by which the period of relief can only be deferred, 
 and by which the pressure of the distress has been incalculably ag- 
 gravated. 
 
 " I trust that an awakened sense of the dangers which they have 
 incurred, and of the acts which have been employed to seduce them, 
 will bring back by far the greater part of those who have been un- 
 happily led astray, and will revive in them that spirit of loyalty, that 
 due submission to the laws, and that attachment to the constitution, 
 which subsist unabated in the hearts of the great body of the people, 
 and which, under the blessing of Divine Providence, have secured to 
 the British Nation, the enjoyment of a larger share of practical free- 
 dom, as well as of prosperity and happiness, than have fallen to the 
 lot of any nation in the world." 
 
 If to the pending trials alluded to, and this gene- 
 ral reference to the state of the kingdom, suffering 
 under severe privations in some of its provinces, are 
 added the numerous cases of treason, libel, and 
 minor political offences under the progressive cogni 
 zance of the courts of lav^^ ; I think my subjects and 
 countrymen will admit, that to such previously ex- 
 isting evils no addition was wanting to renew internal agi- 
 tatioti which was beginning to subside. The return of 
 the Queen, under the circumstances which she must 
 necessarily meet, was, of all others, calculated to 
 revive that internal agitation ; and why was it so 
 calculated ? Because the Queen had (as I have pre- 
 viously remarked) given, by her conduct, a political 
 feeling to the differences between us. Had this not 
 been the case, she could not have had, at least she 
 ought not to have had, any motives for her return ; 
 or had she any, she ought to have sacrificed them 
 to the welfare of our country. 
 
 From 1796 we had been separated, a period now of 
 twenty-four years ; disturbed by an almost constant 
 suspicion of her conduct: the Queen had been 
 estranged from Court, our Royal Daughter was no 
 more ; and her Majesty had but one duty to perform
 
 30 
 
 towards me, " the performance of an agreed separa3 
 
 tion." /: ' 
 
 A Queen Consort of England has no political raim; 
 she possesses in ease of the Sovereign, certain inhe- 
 rent prerogatives ; those prerogatives are capable of 
 being enjoyed by her, in her absence ; they required 
 not her presence. The presence of the Queen could 
 neither revive trade (languishing in some of its 
 branches), tranquillize the irritation of distress, ot 
 conciliate the clamour of faction ; and, indeed, many 
 records of English History hand down to us, the 
 impolitic and dangerous counsels, which have ensued 
 from the interference of Queens Consort in the po- 
 litical contests of the times. Although by way of 
 eminent distinction, the word " Queen" is applica- 
 ble only to the King's wife, yet, it originally sig- 
 nifies a wife, or woman. A Queen of England (un- 
 less Queen in her own right,) is a subject of the 
 King, and can claim no political character from the 
 people ; to her, at a coronation, no oath is admi- 
 nistered, and no homage or allegiance offered. Th^' 
 coronation of a Queen is distinct, and subsequent to' 
 that of the King ; it is not at all necessary to the ac*^- 
 cession or title to the throne ; and when performed^ 
 is a ceremony so performed for the greater honour* 
 of the kingly office. It proceeds from the King*. '"'^ 
 If, therefore, I am to define the office or duty of 
 a Queen Consort, I might sum it up in a few wordsj' 
 " To give a tone to the morals of the country.'* Does 
 not the late reign furnish an indisputable proof of 
 the truth of this axiom? =^ 
 
 Since then the Queen had deprived herself of the 
 
 •- - — . - -vC,a.-5 
 
 ■^ m 0$ nmbrk) m- Taylor', aiory (^ RegaiUif. ■ - ^^^"
 
 31 
 
 possibility of performing the duties of her statipn> 
 and her return could produce none of those effects 
 which were so evident during the long reign of my 
 late Royal and revered Parents, could the next ob- 
 ject of my solicitude be otherwise, than an attempt, 
 still to treat the long borne separation, as a personal 
 and domestic transaction ? 
 
 The Queen was growing old, we are both beyond 
 the hey-day of life, and the levities of conduct attri- 
 buted to her, might now be supposed to have worn 
 or to have been wearing away. Our country re- 
 quired political repose ; and, above all, an internal 
 quietude. Had no charge of adultery at all existed, 
 there were sufficient grounds on both sides, for wish- 
 ing, and for rendering desirable, a continuance of 
 the existing separation. 
 
 In private life, what would the friends of a mar- 
 ried couple, so long divided as the Queen and myself 
 have been, think of the conduct of a wife, who would 
 wish to return to her husband, under circumstances, 
 such as have occurred between us ? Would any fe- 
 male in England so meanly conduct herself? Would 
 any husband in England so take back a wife ? If he 
 would not, why should your King? If the female 
 would not so return, why should the Queen ? You 
 will tell me, *' To claim her rights." I reply, that 
 the Queen possesses no political rights ; but certain 
 prescribed prerogatives; those prerogatives are 
 legally defined, their value as personal advantages 
 can be ascertained, they can be enjoyed by the 
 Queen, as well absent as present. I have offered 
 her an equivalent. You will tell me, " That sh& 
 chooses to return to our country, and that I have no 
 right to restrain heryV;^ .Xhe Queen has chosen to re-
 
 32 
 
 turn, and by the laws of the realm must she now 
 abide ; the Queen Is my subject. 
 
 If, then, I am asked, '* Why did I offer the Queen 
 fifty thousand pounds a year to remain abroad, and 
 cease to use openly the style and title of Queen 
 of England," I answer, " To purchase the tranquil- 
 lity of my country ; to prevent a recurrence of those 
 acts which had seduced so many of my subjects into 
 danger, and to bring them back to that spirit of 
 loyalty, that due submission to the laws, and that 
 attachment to the constitution, which I hope still 
 subsists in the hearts of the great body of my people;" 
 all which I knew would be endangered by the selfish 
 return of a Queen, who never can, and never will, sit 
 upon the throne of England whilst George the Fourth 
 wears the crown of his forefathers ; until the female 
 nobility shall, in a body, justify him in such act, 
 with their sanction and presence, every other rank 
 of the virtuous and the chaste would coincide. 
 
 Before I conclude this subject of an offered pen- 
 sion, I cannot but regret extremely, that the chance 
 of cool and dispassionate deliberation which the 
 Queen might have been disposed to have given to 
 my offer and its alternative, was greatly diminished 
 by the neglect of her Attorney-General, in the de- 
 livery of an ultimatum communicated to him in the 
 month of April. Such neglect rendered Lord Hut- 
 chinson's communication so much the more sudden, 
 stern, and unexpected. Of the zeal of that gentle- 
 ■man (her Majesty's Attorney-General) no one can 
 entertain a higher opinion than myself; for his 
 own sake, I may be allowed to say, that nothing 
 disgraced his advocacy, but the threat of per- 
 sonal danger held out to the assembled Peer»
 
 33 
 
 Peers of the realm. Otherwise, who would not wish 
 to have a cause so defended ? Had also her Majesty's 
 Solicitor-General omitted one or two similes in his 
 declamation, he had also retired from his duty with 
 more dignity. Upon the grounds of the case I am 
 silent ; but, looking to the conduct of the Lord Chan- 
 cellor, the differences which existed between the 
 members of the cabinet ; the splendid and argu- 
 mentative talents of the Opposition, all tending and 
 working together to elicit truth and produce an im- 
 partial judgment; I may fearlessly ask, if, under 
 such principles and in such an assembly, justice is 
 not to be found ? I ask, fearlessly, where does she 
 dwell upon earth ? I view, finally, the pause which 
 this unhappy affair has taken, as a striking proof of 
 that inflexible adherence to parliamentary avowals, 
 which combines the good man with the great mi- 
 nister; and as the performance of the pledge, that 
 " the Queen should have an equivalent for any and 
 every obstacle which the anomaly of her case pre- 
 sented in the obstruction of her trial." 
 
 I am now dravv'ing towards the close of this my 
 letter, in the which my faithful subjects and ex- 
 cellent fellow-countrymen will (I trust) agree with 
 me, not only that the difference existing between 
 her Majesty and myself arose out of a domestic 
 cause, and was solely of a domestic nature; but 
 that all the popular feeling which has been excited, 
 has arisen from the political misdirection imposed 
 upon the transaction, a transaction important to the 
 nation only as it can be connected with their wel- 
 fare. How that welfare can be promoted by forc- 
 ing upon a loathing husband an equally loathing 
 wife, appears to me, a problem in government, not 
 
 J)
 
 34 
 
 easily to be maintained in argument, or proved by 
 historical reference. If 1 am unhappily united to 
 a bad wife, or the Queen be under the caprice of a 
 bad husband ; provided those unpleasantries be con- 
 fined within the limits of our personal conduct, and 
 are not mixed up with aifairs of state, I see then no 
 impediment to the due constitutional performance 
 of my duties as King : but on the contrary, if the 
 people disturb my kingly office, and clog its ex- 
 ecutive or dignity with an unseasonable family 
 blister, the chance is that the system of government 
 may become ill executed, greatly obstructed, or 
 completely embarrassed. If such is the aim of the 
 partizans of the Queen, I have then only to declare 
 this my determination, " That if the claims of the 
 Queen can make no impression on me upon their own 
 merits, any political association which she may form 
 to give weight to, or" to disguise such claims, will 
 only call forth from me as your King, a firmer de- 
 fence of my own rights, which are the rights of the 
 constitution under which I, the nobles, and the 
 people, all alike find reciprocal protection." 
 
 My people will now (I trust) begin to allow 
 themselves more clearly to define, and more ac- 
 curately to preserve the distinction between my 
 conduct as Prince of "Wales, with reference to the 
 purity of the succession to the throne of my fore- 
 fathers, and my behaviour as a separated husband. 
 In the one case, the performance of painful public 
 duties has devolved upon me, but I feel satisfied 
 that their unavoidable performance has not been acr 
 companied by uncourteous or vexatious personal 
 conduct. To the high individual as a separate wife, 
 every attention has been invariably paid, and upon
 
 35 
 
 every occasion, money has been at her command for 
 the purposes of comfort, pleasure, or fickleness. 
 Surely, in return for such complete observance of 
 the terms of mutual separation, the Prince of Wales 
 had a right to expect the performance of the only 
 duty remaining to be performed by, and the only 
 one required of, the Princess; namely, " A71 un- 
 questionable arid unequivocal 'proprieti/ of conduct.'" 
 
 I could not probably fix upon a more convenient 
 or appropriate mode of portraying the conse- 
 quences of the present public effervescence than by 
 anticipating the sentiments which some historian of 
 my reign may hand down to future ages. I will do 
 this in two ways ; First, Upon the supposition, that 
 the Queen (even after what has already occurred,) 
 will be reinstated in all the prerogatives of her rank;" 
 and secondly, " That the Queen will remain estranged 
 from the crown." 
 
 In THE FIRST CASE, the historian may be supposed 
 thus to express himself: "George the Fourth, after a 
 Regency of nearly nine years, succeeded to the throne 
 of his venerable and most excellent Father, whose 
 eventful reign had extended beyond the period of any 
 other British Monarch. The brilliant events of the 
 Regency of George the Fourth, unparalleled in his- 
 tory, are already recorded ; his reign commenced 
 amidst domestic losses, (his Brother, the Duke ot 
 Kent, having died very suddenly at Sidmouth, in 
 Devonshire, six days only before their Royal Parent) 
 public agitation, and great national distress, attended 
 with all those factious symptoms, which the English 
 History appears almost invariably to record, as a 
 symptom of peace. A month had not elapsed, before 
 a most atrocious conspiracy, aiming no less than at 
 
 D 2
 
 3G- 
 
 the indiscriminate assassination of all his Majesty's 
 Ministers during a cabinet dinner,' was detected. 
 On the twenty-first of April, His Majesty met his 
 parliament, and in his Royal Speech upon the oc- 
 casion, alluded to the disquietude and distress of 
 the kingdom, hinted at their cause, and expressed 
 a hope, that in the returning loyalty and legal obe- 
 dience of the people, a remedy for those evils would 
 be found. The atrociousness of the conspiracy 
 alluded to, had opened the eyes of the supine, and 
 alarmed the fears of the timid ; and a more impos- 
 ing public attitude being consequently produced, 
 tranquillity was gradually increasing into confidence. 
 At this moment, it pleased the Queen, (who had 
 now been separated from her Royal Husband 
 twenty -four years, and had estranged herself from 
 England for six years,) to return from the continent 
 under the auspices of one Wood, an Alderman of 
 the City of London. The Queen returned, in the 
 teeth of a proposition from the administration, that 
 she should still continue to remain abroad, and not 
 seek to disturb a connexion so long broken off; 
 and in defiance of a threat, that judicial proceedings 
 would follow her landing. The intrepidity of her 
 conduct was well calculated to please the English 
 Nation, and this daring and inconsiderate step, (a 
 step which her own legal adviser pronounced to be 
 unhappily taken, both as regarded herself, the par- 
 liament, the government, and the country) was ren- 
 dered immediately popular by the epithet of brave. 
 Would any but an innocent woman (said the po- 
 pulace) have thus conducted herself? 
 
 Whilst the Queen was pursuing her journey from 
 H^^^er, ^^g^the metropolis, a royal message was
 
 37 
 
 delivering to parliament ; and papers in sealed bags 
 brought down to both houses. The Queen arrived 
 on the very day on which his Majesty went down to 
 the House of Lords, to give his assent to the first 
 bill passed since his accession. After various in- 
 effectual delays, in the hope of effecting an arrange- 
 ment, by which the Queen might have again left the 
 kingdom ; the House of Lords proceeded to appoint 
 a secret committee, to examine the documents sent 
 down to them (the House of Commons suspending 
 their proceedings,) and shortly made a report on the 
 same, charging the Queen with an adulterous inter- 
 course with a menial of the name of Bergami, or 
 Pergami, on whom she had conferred, or for whom 
 she had procured, certain titles and orders of dis- 
 tinction. A bill of Pains and Penalties was there- 
 upon brought in by the Earl of Liverpool, after long 
 and elaborate arguments upon the propriety and 
 applicability of the proceeding, had taken place in 
 the House of Peers. The case presented an ano- 
 maly, for no statute existed, applicable to a charge 
 of adultery committed by a Queen of England, 
 abroad and with a foreigner. This nice distinction 
 took the offence from within the pale of high 
 treason, for inasmuch as the principal was not 
 amenable to the laws of the country ; consequently, 
 the, particeps criminis could not be judicially recog- 
 nized by the statutes of treason. Every preliminary 
 of this great measure, was discussed to the very 
 letter, with a degree of eloquence and profound 
 learning which reflected unfading lustre upon the 
 House of Peers, and on the individual noblemen, 
 who led both sides of the debates. The question 
 appeared new, and every aspect of its bearing was
 
 38 
 
 most minutely and rigidly examined ; great debate 
 more particularly took place on the question of 
 allowing to the illustrious accused, a list of wit- 
 nesses, as in cases of high treason ; when it was at 
 length decided to open the case, produce the evi- 
 dence, and allow the Queen an interval, (such as her 
 counsel should deem requisite) to prepare her 
 defence. Thus her Majesty was not only supplied 
 eventually with a list of witnesses; but had the 
 further guide of their sworn testimony. The At- 
 torney General, (Sir R. Gifford,) opened the case 
 according to his instructions, and by command of 
 the House, with little preliminary remark, and 
 certainly without inflation. Her Majesty's cause 
 was less upheld by the evidence of the witnesses 
 against her, (of whom the popular feeling pronoun- 
 ced a pre-judgment of perjury,) than by a deficiency 
 of refutation on her own part. The Queen was 
 most ably, most zealously, and most eloquently de- 
 fended by Messrs. Brougham, Denman, Lushington 
 and others ; and the House bore the license of their 
 harangues with a noble equanimity of patience. 
 After hearing both the charge and the defence, 
 which occupied forty-five days, the House adjourned 
 two days, before it met to debate the principle of 
 the bill ; which discussion occupied four days. The 
 second reading was carried by a majority of twenty- 
 eight, the numbers being for it 123, against it 95. 
 During the progress of the measure, several pro- 
 tests were entered on the Journals of the House, in 
 one of which the Lord Chancellor and the Prime 
 Minister were directly opposed to each other ; a 
 brother of the King absented himself wholly from 
 the investigation ; a cousin of the King voted against
 
 39 
 
 the measure in all its stages ; both the Ministry and 
 the Opposition were divided amongst themselves, 
 and intermingled their votes ; the preamble of the 
 bill underw^ent but little alteration in the com- 
 mittee : and in the clause for pronouncing a divorce 
 as part of the pains and penalties, all the Cabinet 
 Ministers, (nine) voted against it. The divorce 
 clause was however carried by a majority of 67, 
 there being contents 1 29, non-contents 62. Most 
 of the peers who had till this moment contended 
 against the principle of the bill in all its stages, 
 argued (with much plausible appearance of reason) 
 that since the Queen was virtually pronounced 
 guilty of an adulterous intercourse, by the votes of 
 the second reading ; divorce became the natural conse- 
 quence, as part of the sentence of the bill, they therefore 
 voted for it. The third reading of the bill, was 
 carried on the 10th November, by the small majority 
 of nine ; the numbers being for it 108, against it 99 . 
 Lord Liverpool, (who had brought in the bill, as 
 an individual peer, and not as a member of the ad- 
 ministration), immediately moved, that " the bill be 
 read that day six months,'' alleging the smallness 
 of the majority, as the motive *. 
 
 * Bill [as read a third time,] entitled. An act to deprive her 
 
 Majesty, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, of tlie title, prerogatives, 
 
 rights, privileges, and exemptions of Queen Consort of this 
 
 realm ; and to dissolve the marriage between his Majesty and 
 
 the said Caroline Amelia Elizabeth. 
 
 Whereas in the year one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, 
 
 her Majesty Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, then Princess of Wales, and 
 
 now Queen Consort of this realm, being at Milan, in Italy, engaged 
 
 in her service, in a menial situation, one Bartolomeo Pergami, a 
 
 foreigner of low station, who had before served in a similar capacity : 
 
 And whereas after tlic said Baitolomeo Pergami had so entered ihe 
 
 service of her Royal Highness the said Princess of Wales, a most un-
 
 40 
 
 The friends of the Queen received this unexpected 
 reprieve from the bill, after proof of the facts, and 
 admission of their reality, as a total and complete 
 
 becoming and degrading intimacy commenced between her said 
 Royal Highness and the said Bartolomeo Pergami, and her said 
 Royal Highness not only advanced the said Bartolomeo Pergami to 
 a high situation in her Royal Highness's household, and received into 
 her service many of his near relations, some of them in inferior and 
 others in high and confidential situations about her Royal High- 
 ness's person, but bestowed upon him other great and extraordinary 
 marks of favour and distinction, and conferred upon him a pretended 
 order of knighthood, which her Royal Highness had taken upon 
 herself to institute, without any just or lawful authority : And 
 whereas also her said Royal Highness, whilst the said Bartolomeo 
 Pergami was in her said service, further unmindful of her exalted 
 rank and station, and of her duty to your Majesty, and wholly 
 regardless of her own honour and character, conducted herself to- 
 wards the said Bartolomeo Pergami, both in public and private, in 
 various places and countries which her Royal Highness visited with 
 indecent and offensive familiarity and freedom, and carried on a 
 licentious, disgraceful, and adulterous intercourse, with the said Bar- 
 tolomeo Pergami, which continued for a long period of time, during 
 her Royal Highness's residence abroad ; by which conduct of her 
 said Royal Highness, great scandal and dishosour have been brought 
 upon your Majesty's family and this kingdom. Therefore, to mani- 
 fest our deep sense of such scandalous, disgraceful, and vicious con- 
 duct on the part of her said Majesty, by which she has violated the 
 duty which she owed to your JMajcsty, and has rendered herself un- 
 worth}' of the exalted rank and station of Queen Consort of this 
 realm ; and to evince our just regard for the dignity of the crown, and 
 the honour of this nation : we, your Majesty's most dutiful and 
 loyal subjects, the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons in 
 parliament assembled, do humbly entreat your Majesty that it may 
 be enacted ; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, 
 by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual, and tem- 
 poral, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by 
 the authority of the same, that her said Majesty, Caroline Amelia 
 Elizabeth, from and after the passing of this act, shall be, and is 
 hereby deprived of the title of Queen, and of all the prerogatives, 
 rights, privileges, and exemptions, appertaining to her as Queen Con- 
 sort of this realm ; and that her said Majesty shall, from and after 
 the passing of this art, for ever be disabled and rendered incapable 
 of using, exercising, and enjoying the same, or any of them ; and, 
 moreover, that the marriage between his Majesty and the said 
 Caroline Amelia Elizabeth be, and the same is hereby, from hence- 
 --forth for evfer, -wholly dissolved, annulled, and made void, to all in- 
 tents,instruction3, and purposes whatsoever.
 
 41 
 
 acquittal of her Majesty from all charge of crimi- 
 nality; and proclaimed their sense of her inno-- 
 cence by rejoicings and illuminations ; to which the 
 Lord Mayor of London, two days old in office, gave 
 his young countenance. Less riot and disturbance, 
 however, took place than might have been ex- 
 pected ; but this was principally owing to the mo- 
 deration of their antagonists ; who (whatever might 
 be their opinion of the guilt or innocence of the 
 Queen, and did not consider a happy escape in the 
 light of an honourable acquittal) were not disposed 
 to thwart the effect of a delusion which appeared in 
 many of its features to portray great generosity 
 and sympathy in supposed sufferings. The Queen 
 returned thanks in the church of the hamlet of the 
 parish in which she resided, and a second time on 
 the 29th of November, at St. Paul's, escorted by 
 the voluntary association of her friends, and was 
 received with due civic honour at Temple Bar by 
 the young Lord Mayor of London. Immense as 
 was the crowd assembled, judicious regulations, 
 prompted by the high responsibility which the 
 young chief magistrate took upon himself on the 
 occasion, prevented all confusion or accident. The 
 King had previously adjourned both Houses of Par- 
 liament, without a Speech either from the Throne 
 or by his Commissioners, The Speaker of the 
 House of Commons was hissed as he proceeded to 
 follow the Usher of the Black Rod to the House of 
 Peers ; nor did he (there being no Royal Speech, 
 but merely a command to adjourn) again enter the 
 House. This mode of separation appeared to the 
 nation very ungracious, and the disturbed reign of 
 Charles the First was ransacked for precedents.
 
 42 
 
 But the King could hardly have avoided reference 
 to the proceedings of the Lords, and the more es- 
 pecially as the Commons had been adjourned, sub- 
 ject to a call of the House, and to meet only for 
 business, in the event of the Bill of Pains and Pe- 
 nalties coming down to them. On the M^hole, then, 
 it appeared better to leave the ungracious mode of 
 adjournment for explanation till the next Sessions, 
 *when men's minds might have acquired greater 
 power of discrimination, a quality very seldom in 
 request on popular occasions. 
 
 Thus far have I brought down (and, I trust, fairly 
 and dispassionately) the outline of this transaction, 
 as it occurred; and with this outline (which will 
 serve, as far as it goes, for both speculations, that 
 of preceding *'* the restoration of the Queen to all 
 her prerogatives and her court," and that of still 
 *' restraining her from their enjoyment and exer- 
 cise,") I go on, in my assumed character of an his- 
 torian, to observe on the consequences of such op- 
 posite results. 
 
 First then, the historian may hereafter portray 
 the consequences of the Queen's restoration to her 
 prerogatives and court, in the following manner : — 
 
 " Whether the ministers mistook the popular cla- 
 mour for the real feeling of the nation, or were un- 
 willing to resign their seals of office ; or whether 
 they were intimidated by the examples of Spain, 
 Portugal, Naples, and Sicily, all at this time changing 
 their form of government, with more or less of 
 violence ; they advised the King to feel no impedi- 
 ment to the public reception of the Queen ; who, 
 having now the vantage ground, insisted upon the 
 insertion of her name in the Liturgy, and the ex*
 
 43 
 
 punging from the Journals of the House of Lords, of 
 all the proceedings connected with her case, as pre- 
 liminaries to such reception. The first was readily 
 accomplished ; to procure the second, the Prime Mi- 
 nister and the Lord Chancellor (two of the most able 
 ministers and upright men of the day) having re- 
 tired in disgust, every parliamentary finesse was re- 
 sorted to ; and, at length, with great difl&culty, and 
 amid violent debates and mutual recriminations, the 
 point was carried by a majority of one ; there being 
 for the expunging 91 ; against it 90. Bonfires and 
 illuminations, strong beer and roasted beasts were, 
 for a whole week, the order of each successive day ; 
 and in so great a joy, few troubled themselves to 
 calculate upon futurity. 
 
 " But short was the delirium, and dreadful the 
 consequences. 
 
 " The King was laughed at, and pitied as a dupe, 
 the Queen was openly scorned, faction was tri- 
 umphant, no competent administration could be 
 formed, and monarchy was on the wane. Those 
 who had opposed the Queen, not from vindictive 
 motives, but to justify the honour of the crown, felt 
 no longer an attachment to a bauble undignified with 
 the jewel of female chastity. The court was seldom 
 held ; when held, neglected ; official levees supplied 
 its place. The higher and respectable ranks of life 
 withdrew within their own pure and virtuous asso- 
 ciations ; and that intermixture of society which is 
 the true essence of a free government and a virtuous 
 court, no longer existed. Rich, vulgar plebeianism 
 took the lead in public. At foreign courts, the 
 younger branches of the nobility experienced great 
 difficulty of reception, not having chosen to be pre-
 
 44 
 
 sented at their own; but when received at such 
 courts, it was considered as a matter of especial 
 favour conceded to their pecuHar situation. Thus 
 was the national character subjected to sarcastic 
 insult ; and thus was the lustre of the Crown of 
 England obscured ; for whatever might have been 
 the personal faults of its sovereigns, as individuals 
 no more exempt from human frailty than the hum- 
 blest of their subjects, but rather more exposed to 
 their commission ; yet the Crown of England had 
 been entitled, for the last century at least, to the 
 homage due to unsullied and unquestionable honour. 
 Such were some of the effects of the Queen's resto- 
 ration. 
 
 *' The evil, however, stopped not here ; scarcely 
 had sufficient time elapsed to justify inconsistency, 
 than the truth of the original charges against the 
 Queen was loudly revived by that very press which 
 had forced her innocence down the throats of the 
 nation. The levellers and jacobins, who lorded 
 over public opinion, professed to defend their 
 change, by the discovery of some new evidence 
 which (said they), had we known before, would 
 have produced a different opinion. Thus, the very 
 men who had so conspicuously advocated the cause 
 of the Queen; who had poured into her ears ad- 
 dresses of congratulatory exultation; who had 
 headed her processions, and maddened the populace 
 in her behalf; these very men, who had artfully 
 drawn her to the very precipice of rebellion against 
 her husband and King ; these men, from whom she 
 could not but have expected eternal friendship and 
 never-ending adulation, finding her without influence 
 or patronage, became within six months, her scorn-
 
 45 
 
 ful foes. These very men, who had provoked the 
 measure of expunging the v^hole transaction from 
 the Records of Parliament, and who would fain have 
 burnt, in one huge pile, every paper and every 
 Journal which contained the adulterous evidence, 
 themselves were the first to direct the same press 
 which had borne down all opposition against her, 
 to insult, remind, and mortify her. The reign of 
 terror had commenced. Such were the effects of 
 this unaccountable delusion ! Such were the con- 
 sequences of excusing and exalting vice on the frail 
 
 plea of political expediency ! ! 
 
 ************** 
 
 I proceed now (still in the character of a propheti- 
 cal historian) to mark the consequences which might 
 follow the Queen's continued restriction from the 
 public exercise of her prerogatives. 
 
 " On Friday, the 10th of November, this bill of 
 Pains and Penalties passed the third reading, when 
 it was suspended, under the form of being read that 
 day six months, and the Lords adjourned to the 23d, 
 the day on which the Commons were to meet, to 
 pursue (if necessary) this important affair. On the 
 23d both houses met, and were instantly prorogued 
 by Commission, without any Royal Speech. This 
 hasty procurement of separation gave great offence 
 to the Queen's party ; the House of Commons being 
 summoned at the very moment when the Solicitor 
 General of the Queen was about to communicate to 
 the House, a message from her majesty. 
 
 ** It was evident that the King could have made 
 no Speech to the Houses of Parliament, omitting 
 all reference to the late momentous transaction. 
 Had his Majesty said, that he regretted the issue of
 
 46 
 
 it, he would have committed himself personally, be- 
 sides being guilty of the most unconstitutional error ; 
 that of presuming to know a parliamentary proceeding in 
 transitu, for as yet the bill was not absolutely aban- 
 doned. Had his Majesty, on the other hand, made 
 a Royal Communication, omitting, as he must ne- 
 cessarily have done, all reference to the bill in ques- 
 tion ; it might have been inferred, that future pro- 
 ceedings, in any shape, were abandoned ; besides, 
 the interval of adjournment was but for two months, 
 and not seven or eight, as usually happens, the bill 
 having driven the attendance of both houses to a 
 most unusual lateness. It was deemed therefore 
 most prudent, to encounter the accusation of an 
 ungracious prorogation, for so short a period as two 
 months, rather than be hurried into any hasty 
 avowal. But had there been no such prudent 
 ground for the proceeding, it was sufficiently jus- 
 tified by the subsequent conduct of the Queen ; 
 who assumed to herself an authoritative act of 
 government, having prepared her official adviser 
 with a message to be delivered to the Commons 
 House of Parliament ; a step which might well alarm 
 the servants of the Crown, and indeed the whole 
 nation ; for it aimed, in the shape of a message, at a 
 share of the Monarch's power, which the Queen 
 Consort does not possess, being onhj a subject *. It 
 is a radical error, for a Queen Consort to call the 
 
 « u 
 
 The Queen hath also many exemptions and minute prero- 
 gatives. For instance, she pays no toll, nor is she liable to any 
 amercement in any Court. But in general, unless where the law 
 has expressly declared her exempted, she is vpon the same footing 
 with other subjects ; and not his equal : in like manner as in the im- 
 perial law : ' Augusta lesibus sohita non est.' " Blachfone, cap. 4. 
 page 220.
 
 47 
 
 King's people, her •people, or for the King's subjects 
 to call themselves the subjects of the King s wife ; it 
 is a fault of misdirected loyalty. We may call our- 
 selves, by way of courtesy, the Queen's most dutiful 
 and affectionate servants ; but legally and constitu- 
 tionally we can only be the dutiful and affectionate 
 subjects of' the King,' 
 
 " During the interval between the prorogation and 
 the meeting of both Houses, the Queen proceeded 
 to Saint Paul's, continued to receive Addresses of 
 Congratulation, and renewed unsuccessfully her ap- 
 plication for a Royal Residence. But the people 
 had now time to reflect, to compare, to decide. 
 John Bull is never long misled, and now discovered 
 in the case, premature judgments, audacious false- 
 hoods, attempts at intimidation, and unproved asser- 
 tions ; above all, a complete absence of all those pro- 
 mises of refutation, which had been so lavishly and 
 so loudly proclaimed ; and the non-performance of 
 which was the more extraordinary, inasmuch as the 
 persons who might, if they could, have given such 
 testimony, were already in England, and at the 
 Queen's command. 
 
 " Upon the meeting of Parliament, the Commons 
 desired a conference with the Upper House, and 
 having thereat obtained leave to search the Journals 
 of the Peers, they became constitutionally ac- 
 quainted with the late proceedings. They found 
 therein a sentence of guilt pronounced, which (to 
 say the least of it,) was tantamount to the effect of a 
 true bill by a grand Jury. 
 
 With this impression upon their minds, the Com- 
 mons soon felt, that the question was now com- 
 pletely in their own hands. The passing of the
 
 48 
 
 Civil List bill was exactly the period, when their 
 influence would become apparent : but they previ- 
 ously determined once more to address the Queen, 
 by the same deputation, which had gone up on a 
 former occasion. This address commenced by the 
 firm and dignified assurance of the unshaken attach- 
 ment of the Commons to the throne, the constitution, 
 and the altar, and their determination to preserve 
 them from every attempt of factious anarchy. It 
 proceeded to express great regret for the past, and 
 a hope that by conciliatory measures, all further 
 personal legislation would become unnecessary. 
 It assured the Queen that she might rely upon the 
 continued care and attention of the commons ; 
 should her Majesty, by sacrificing some part of her 
 high claims, be the means of restoring tranquillity to 
 the public mind. It intimated that some points on 
 which the Queen had heretofore insisted, might be 
 the subject of future and favourable consideration ; 
 but that time was necessary to produce a change, 
 which should justify their concession ; and it finally 
 dwelt upon the total impossibility, that even should 
 the Queen gain the object of her wishes, it would 
 (under existing circumstances) be attended to her 
 with happiness or peace of mind." 
 
 '* In answer to this address, the Queen made but 
 few remarks; but principally dwelt on the utter 
 impossibility of quitting a nation, who had treated 
 her with such unbounded generosity, and espoused 
 her cause with such enthusiastic ardour; and finally 
 proposed, that three friends, appointed by herself, 
 should confer with the deputation of the Commons, 
 and agree upon a basis for a complete adjustment." 
 To this it was objected, that the deputation had no
 
 49 
 
 such power of treating; but the difficulty was 
 eventually got over, by their consenting to meet the 
 friends of the Queen as individuals, and subse- 
 quently use their exertions to induce the House to 
 adopt such a course of conduct, as might result 
 from the conference ; after two meetings it was 
 eventually agreed, that the Queen should return to 
 Saint Omers, and find herself 'placed in the same situation, 
 as she would have been, had her legal advisers delivered 
 to her Lord Liverpool's communication of April, pre- 
 viously to that made by Lord Hutchinson. 
 
 " This departure was accomplished in so unex- 
 pected and in so judicious a manner, as far as the 
 coast, that until the Queen was saluted by the guns 
 at Dover, on her embarkation in a Royal Yacht, it 
 was but just rumoured. The Queen was accom- 
 panied by two of her legal advisers, v/ho were met 
 by two others, on the part of the Crown. The de- 
 parture of the Queen being made known to the 
 Parliament, a most gracious vote of thanks was 
 passed in both Houses ; the Commons renewed their 
 assurances, that they would pay all due attention to 
 her Majesty's interests. The Civil List bill was ex- 
 peditiously passed, and a Royal Message brought 
 down to both Houses by Ministers, in which the 
 King thanked the Commons for the generous pro- 
 vision made for the Queen's future comfort. Her 
 Majesty's Attorney-General, also on his return from 
 Saint Omer's, expressed the Queen's thanks, ac- 
 companied by her regret, on leaving England ; but 
 attributing the step she had taken to a thorough 
 conviction that she could never hope to promote the 
 happiness of the King ; and therefore her next wish 
 was to contribute to the tranquillity of the Kingdom. 
 
 E
 
 50 
 
 He also adverted to the impaired health of the 
 Queen; and the possibility, that she might not 
 again return to the Country of her adoption. 
 
 Thus ended an affair which could not possibly 
 have happened at a more critical moment, for whilst 
 it was proceeding, military revolutions were follow- 
 ing one another, through the South of Europe ; and 
 that the mania did not extend to England, can be 
 attributed solely to the sound principles of the vast 
 majority of the Kingdom ; principles which were 
 daily and hourly assailed, by a venal press ; and by 
 a system of the most pernicious, irritating, and base 
 political libels, and personal caricatures. But on 
 this occasion the Constitution floated above the 
 passions of the people, safe and unhurt as her Navy 
 rides on the turbulent billow, which dashes against 
 Albion's rocky sides. 
 
 '* Amidst these internal commotions, it pleased 
 Providence to bless the kingdom with a most 
 abundant harvest; so that the winter passed over 
 with much less proportionate privations to the 
 humbler classes of the community. Indeed it may 
 be rather said, that such heavenly bounty, ad- 
 ministered by charitable hands and feeling hearts, 
 rendered distress unknown. The following Spring 
 found the whole nation, except certain disappointed 
 speculating politicians, in good humour; and the 
 moment was most judiciously seized to administer 
 to the whole United Kingdom, the oath of allegiance. 
 The ceremony was accompanied by every mark of 
 joy and magnificence ; it was indeed a national 
 banquet. On the Tuesday, the magistracy took 
 the oaths in the. county towns. On the Thursday, 
 the population took them in every city, town, and
 
 ol 
 
 village, in the following manner : Lists had been 
 previously signed, and to each list was prefixed a 
 power by deputation to some person therein 
 named, to take the oath publicly for as many persons 
 as were contained in such list; and by its form, 
 all persons therein subscribed were held to be 
 bound by the oath of allegiance, recited also in such 
 instrument. On the Saturday, the Army took 
 the oaths, by regiments, squadrons, and detach- 
 ments, at their individual quarters ; and the Navy 
 by fifties, after the form of the general population. 
 This splendid and national rejoicing seemed to an- 
 nihilate every spark of disaffection. 
 
 " In the Autumn, the coronation of his Majesty 
 took place, and the first Act of Grace performed im- 
 mediately after, was, * to expunge from the Journals 
 of the Lords all the accusatori/ proceedi?igs connected 
 with the Queen of England.' 
 
 " This last step was considered an act of oblivion, 
 and a compliment to the crown." The Queen 
 remained abroad during her life, in conformity with 
 
 her word of honour." 
 
 * *• ****** 
 
 And now, my faithful subjects, and well-beloved 
 fellow-countrymen, your King takes his leave, re- 
 commending the alternative to your attention, and 
 praying to the God and Father of us all, that he 
 will so direct your steps, as to lead both to your 
 temporal and your eternal happiness ; praying also 
 that the crown of his forefathers may not be disho- 
 noured on his head, but that mutual love and con- 
 fidence may render happy both King and People. 
 
 My excellent subjects, may God Almighty bless 
 
 you«-« — ^FarewclJ. 
 
 GEORGE.
 
 52 
 
 APOLOGY. 
 
 Should the readers of the preceding Letter, have entertained 
 doubt of its authenticity, the Author and Publisher beg leave to 
 satisfy those doubts, by stating, " That it is one of those literary 
 fictions, which can only be justified by a good cause." Indeed 
 they feel so high a degree of veneration for the sacred name of 
 *' The King," which, (speaking constitutionally), " Never dies ;" 
 and so anxious a desire, that nothing directly or indirectly should 
 appear to trifle with its use ; that, previous to their determination 
 to publish, they submitted the following Question to the opinion 
 of a most eminent Counsel; which question at once proclaimed the 
 author's motive, and the answer subjoined, contains (we trust) our 
 justification. 
 
 THE QUESTION. 
 
 Suppose A. writes a letter entitled " A Letter from the King," and 
 having written and published such Letter, states, in a Postscript 
 annexed that such title was adopted to excite curiosity, and extend 
 its political utility ; and that such Letter was neither directly or 
 indirectly written by the King ; will such acknowledgment take the 
 assumption of the King's name, out of any and every statute of 
 premunire ? 
 
 OPINION. 
 
 I am clearly of opinion, that such acknowledgment as is proposed, 
 will take the Letter out of the Statutes of />reHij<m>e. The term and 
 the offence premunire, are now merely sounds: but I decidedly think, 
 that the Letter proposed, written in the tone and spirit which is sug- 
 gested, will not render the writer responsible to ani/ penalty whatever. 
 Temple, December Mh, 1820. 
 
 Thus far as to the legality of the act ; but should 
 our most gracious Sovereign chance to see a Pub- 
 lication thus imputed to him ; we beg leave most 
 respectfully to deprecate any sentiment of personal 
 dissatisfaction, which he may feel at our bold as-
 
 53 
 
 sumption ; assuring The King, that he does not 
 possess among his people, more disinterestedly loyal 
 subjects, than the Author and Publisher of this 
 Letter. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT TO THE FOURTH EDITION. 
 
 The Amanuensis of this Letter has heard many observations made 
 on this bold attempt of imputing to his Sovereign the senlimentsi con- 
 tained therein. He has taken some pains to discover the feelings of 
 the parties raising objections to it ; as well as of those who consider it 
 a timelT/ boldness. He has the satisfaction of finding, that those are 
 most violent against it, who are unable to answer its argument; and 
 those talk insidiously of this abuse of the King's name, who ai-e 
 great admirers and encouragers of caricatures on his person. In 
 some cases, there is also (even among those who think with himself) a 
 scrupulous feeling as to the mode in which his thoughts are conveyed. 
 Such feeling is conscientious and honourable, but on this occasion, 
 over nice. The mode adopted was the only one, capable of producing 
 a dispassionate review of the King's case ; it has succeeded beyond 
 the most sanguine expectation, as four editions within a Fortnight 
 testify. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT TO THE FIFTH EDITION. 
 
 From the moment of deciding upon the bold step of publishing 
 this Letter, it was also determined never to notice any reply, attack, 
 or abuse of it. We are most happy to know, that it has convinced 
 many of the most violent advocates of the Royal Tenant of Branden- 
 burg House, of their injustice towards their noble-minded Sovereign. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES, 
 
 Northumberland-court.
 
 1, St. Jameses Street. 
 WILLIAM SAMS, 
 
 HAS LATELY PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING WORKS: 
 
 A LETTER to the HOUSE OF COMMONS, on the Subject of 
 the Litany, and the Allowance to the Queen. By the Author of 
 the King's Letter to his People, 8vo. 2*. 
 
 THE CITY ADDRESS EXPOSED, In a Letter to the Right 
 Honourable the Lord Mayor. By the same, 8vo. 2*'. 
 
 OCCASIONAL REMARKS on Mr. TENNYSON'S Obssr^ 
 rations on the Proceedings against the Queen. By Wesley 
 Doyle, Esq., 8vo. is. 6d. 
 
 A FULL EXPLANATION of the Law respecting Prayers for the 
 Queen and the Royal Family. By Professor Christian. 
 
 TO-DAY, a POETICAL SATIRE. By Ernestus. Second 
 Edition, 8vo. 
 
 A COMPLETE TREATISE on ROUGE et NOIR; in which 
 is developed a Practical Method of successfully playing the Game. 
 2s. 6d. 
 
 THE VIEW and other POEMS, by Chandos Leigh, fcap. Svo. 5s. 
 
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 and Incidental subjects, being the Ideas of a Fortnight, Post Svo. 
 5s. bds. 
 
 OPOLEYTA, or a TALE of IND. A Poem in Four Cantos. By 
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 JAMES THE THIRD, King of Scotland, a Tragedy, in Five 
 Acts, Svo. 3*. 6d, 
 
 CATHERINE de MEDICIS, a Tragedy. By the Author of 
 James the Third, Svo. 35. 6d, 
 
 FASHIONABLE INTRIGUE, or the MATCH MADE UP, 
 
 A Comedy, in five Acts. By the Same, Svo. 
 
 TOO LATE FOR DINNER, a Farce, in Two Acts. By 
 Richard Jones, Esq. of the Theatre Royal CoventGarden, Svo. 2*. 
 
 THE YOUTHFUL DAYS of FREDERICK the GREAT, a 
 
 Melo-drama in Two Acts, by William Abbott, Esq. of the 
 Theatre Royal Covent Garden, Svo. 2s. 
 
 A CATALOGUE of Two Hundred Popular Works for Instruction 
 and Amusement, may be had of W. Sams, GRATIS. 
 
 An ADDRESS to the IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT upon tie 
 PRACTICAL MEANS of gradually ABOLISHING tae 
 POOR LAWS, and Educating the POOR systematically; 
 illustrated by an Account of the Colonies of Fredericksoord in 
 Holland, and of the Common Mountain in the South of Ireland. 
 By W. Herbert Saunders, Esq.
 
 IN THE PRESS, 
 
 A LETTER on our AGRICULTURAL DISTRESSES, their 
 Causes and Remedies ; accompanied with Tables and Copper- 
 Plate Charts, shewing and comparing the Prices of Wheat, Bread 
 and Labour, from 1550 to 1821 ; addressed to the Lords and 
 Commons. By William Playfair. 5*. 
 
 On the 3lst of Mat/ next loill he published y 
 
 (to be continued monthly,) 
 
 No. L of BRITISH HONOUR and HUMANITY DIS- 
 PLAYED, and RANK and PROPERTY DEFENDED, 
 
 as being beneficial to all classes of Society ; containing an account 
 of those Noblemen and Gentlemen who are particularly attentive 
 to the welfare and prosperity of their Tenants, Dependants, and 
 the Poor. Edited by WILLIAM PLAYFAIR. 
 
 Printing for William Sams, 1, St. James's Street.