The National Register. — London, England, 1820-08-20 00:00:00

odiiar THE QUEEN"S LETTER TO THEE ING. The following letter front her Majesty, which is dated August 7th, was sent by the Queen's mes senger early in the morning of the Sth to the Cottage at Windsor, accompanied with a note to Sir Benjamin Bloomfield,written by the Queen. desiring Sir Benjamin to deliver it immediately to the King. Sir Benjamin I.lltxtmfield being then absent, the le:ter was received by Sir Wm. Keppell, who fin.- warded it immediately to Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, at Carlton House, who returned it in the afternoon of the Sth to the Queen, informing her Majesty that he had received the King's commands and general instructions, that any communications that might he made should pass through the channel of his Majesty's Government. The Queen imme diately despatched a messenger with the letter to Lord Liverpool, desiring his Lordship to lay it before his Majesty. Lord Liverpool was at Coombe wood. He returned an answer that he would lose no time in laying it before the King. On the 11th no reply having been received, the Queen wrote again to bird Liverpool, requesting infi'rmation whether any further communication would be made on the subject of the letter to his Miijesty. Lord Liverpool wrote the same day from Coombe-wood that he had not received the King's commands to make any communication to her Majesty in "onse quence of her letter:— St tt.—Af er the unparalleled and unprovoked persecution which dining a series of years, has been carried on arainst me under the name and authority of your Majesty--and which persecution, instead of being molified by time, time has rendered only more and more malignant and unrelenting—it is not without a great sacrifice of private feeling that I now, even in the way of remon strance, bring myself to address this letter to your Majesty. But, bearing in mind that Royalty rests on the basis of public good ; that to this paramount consideration all others ought to submit; and aware of the consequences that may result from the present unconstitutional, illegal, and hitherto unheard-orpmceedines ; with a mind thus impressed, I cannot refrain from laying my grievous wrongs once more before your Majesty, in the hope that the justice which your Majesty may, by evil-minded counsellors, be stili disposed to refuse to the claims of a dutiful, faithful. and injured wite, you may be induced to yield to considerations con meted with the honour and dignity of your crown, the stability of your throne, the tranquillity of your dominions, the nappmess and safety of your just and loyal people, whose generous hearts revolt pt oppression and cruelty, and especially when perpetrated by a perversion and mockery of the laws. A sense of what is due to my character and sex forbids me to refer minutely to the real causes of our domestic separation. or to the numerous and unnierited insults offered rue previously to that period; but leaving to your Majesty to reconcile with the mar riage sow the act of driving, by such means, a wife from beneath your tool, with an infant in her arms, your Majesty will permit me to remind you, that that act was entirely your own; that the separation, so far from being sought for by me, was a sentence pronounced upon me, without any cause assigned. other than that of your own inclinations, which, as your Majesty was pleased to allege, were not under your controul. Not to have felt, with regard to myself. chagrin at this decision of your Majesty, would have argued great insensibility to the obligations of decorum ; not to have dropped a tear in the face of that beloved child, whose future sorrows were then but too easy to forsce, would have marked me as unworthy' of the name of mother; but not to have submitted to it without repining would have indicated a consciousness of demerit, or a want of those feelings which belong to affronted and insulted female honour. •• The tranquil and comfortable society" tendered to me by your Majesty formed, in my mind, but a poor compensation for the grief occasioned by considering the wound given to public morals in the fatal example produced by the indulgence of your Majesty's inclinations; more especially when I contemplated the disappointment of the nation, who had so munificently pro. vidcd for our union, who had fondly cherished such pleasing hopes of happiness arising from that union, and who had hailed it will such affictionate and rapturous joy. But alas ! even tranquillity and comfort were too much for me to enjoy. From the very threshold of your Majesty's mansion the mother of your child was purAted by spies, conspirators. and traitors. employed, encouraged, and rewarded to lay snares for the feet, and to plot against the reputation and life, of her whom yntir Majesty had so recently and so solemnly vowed to honour, to love, and to cherish. In withdrawing from the embraces of my parents, in giving my hind to the mm of George the Third and the heir-apparent of the throne of England, nothing less than a voice front Heaven would have made me fear injustice or wrong of any kind. What, then, was my astonishment at finding that treasons against me had been carried on and matured, perjuries against me had been nietho. dized end embodied, a secret tribunal had been held, a trial of my actions had taken place, and a decision had been made upon those actions, without nay having been informed of the nature of the charge, or of the names of the witnesses? and what words can express the feelings excited by the fact, that this proceeding was founded on a request made, and on evidence, furnished, by order of the father of my child, and my natural as well as legal guardian and protector? Notwithstanding, however, the unprecedented conduct of that tribunal—conduct which has since undergone, even in Parlia ment, set ere and imansweted animadversions, and which has been also censured in minute; of the Privy Cotiecil—notwith• standing the secrecy of the proceedings of this tribunal—not with standing the strong temptation to the giving of talse evidence against me Wu e it—notwithstanding Mat there was no op r• tuniay afforded me of rebutting that evidence—notwithstanding all these circumstances, so decidedly favourable to my enemies— even this :evert tribunal acquitted me of all crime, end thereby pronounced my princi pal accusersto have been guilty Id the grossest perjury. But it was tiow (after the trial was over) discovered, that the nature of the tribunal ivas such as to render false swearing before it not (Timbal, ! And thus, at the suggotion and rr pire.t of your Al ajeety, had been created, to take cognizance of and t ry my conduct, a tribunal competent to administer oaths, compeamt to examine witnesses on oath, competent to try, com petent to acquit or condemn, and competent, moreover, to screen those who had sworn falsely against we treat soffering the pains and penalties which the law ma anis to wilful and corrupt perjury. Great as my indignation naturally must have been ut this shame ful evasion of law and justice, that indignation was lost in pity tar him who could lower his princely plumes to the dust by giving his couhtena.)ce and favour to the 1110 it convictions of those aban doned and notorious perjurers. St,li there was one whose upright mind nothing could warp, in whose breast injustice Jaeger found a piace. t.eose hand was always ready to raise the unfertutiate, lied to reseue the ivy resell. NATIONAL REGISTER.. While that good anti Nracielus fattier and Sovereign remained in the exerci,e of his royal funct:ote:, his unottuding dau.„,,hter.in law had nothing to fear. As lung as the protecting hand of your late ever-beloved and ever lamented father was held over me, I its. safe. But the melancholy event which deprived the nation of the active exertions of its virtuous King, bereft me of friend and protector, and of all hope of future tranquillity and safety.— To calumniate your innocent wife was now the shortest roast to Royal favour ; and to betray her was to lay the sore foundation of bettiolless riches and titles of honour. Before claims like these, talent. virtue, long services. your own personal friendships, your lioyal engagements, pron Mes, and pledges, written as welles ve -- bal. melted into air. Your Cabinet was founded on this basis. You took to your councils men, of whose persons, as well as whose rinciples, you hub invariably expressed the strongest dislike.— The interest of the nation, and even your own feelings, in all other remeaas, were sacrificed to the gratification of your desire to aggravate toy sufferings, and ensure my humiliation. You took • , your councils and your bosom, men whom you hated, whose abandonment of. and" whose readiness to sacrifice me were their only merits, and a hose power has been exercised M a manner, and has been attended with consequences, worthy of its origin.— From this unprincipled and unnatural union have sprung the manifold evils which this nation has now to endure, and which pretent a mass of misery and of degradation, accompanied with acts of tyranny and cruelty, rather than have seen which inflicted on his industrious, titithful, and brave people, your royal father would have perished at the head of that people. When to calumniate, revile, and betray me. became the sure path to honour and riches, it would have been strange indeed if calumniators, revilers and traitors, had not abounded. Your Court became much less a scene of polished manners and refined intercourse than of low intrigue and scurrility. Spies, Baccha nalian tale-bearers, and foul conspirators, swarmed in those Maces wbich had before been the resort of sobriety, virtue, and honour. To enumerate all the various privations and mortifi canons which I had to endure—all the insults that were wantonly heaped upon me, from the day of your el...ra tion to the Regency to that of my departure for the Conti nent—would be to describe every species of personal offence that can be ofMred to, and every pain short of bodily vio lence that can be inflicted on, any human being. Bereft of pa rent, brother, and father-imlaw, and toy husitand far my dead liest foe; seeing those who have promised me support bought by rewards to be amongst my enemies; restrained fioni accusing my foes in the face of the world, out of regard for the character of the father of my child, and from a desire to prevent her happi ness from being disturbed; shunned front motives of selfishness by those who were my natural associates ; living in obscurity, while I ought to have been the centre of all that was splendid ; thus humbled, I had one conso:ation left—the love of my dear and only child. To permit me to enjoy this was too great an indulgence. To see my daughter; to fold her in my arms; to receive her cheering caresses, and to hear from her lips assur ances of never-ceasing love;—thus to be comforted, consoled. upheld, and blessed, was too much to be allowed me. Even on the slave mart die cries of .• Oh ! my mother, my mother ! Oh ! my child, my child !" have prevented a separation of the victims of avarice. But your advisers, more inhuman than the slave dealers, remorselessly tore the mother from the child. Thus bereft of the society of my child, or reduced to the necessity of imbiuering her life by struggles to preserve that society, I resolved on a temporary absence, in the hope that time might restore me to her in happier days. Those days, alas! were never to come. To mothers—and those mothers who have been suddenly bereft of die best and most affectionate and only daughters—it belongs to estimate my sufferings and my wro n gs. Such mothers will judge of my affliction upon hearing the death of my child. and upon my calling to recollection the last look, the last words, and all the affecting circumstances of our separation. Such mothers will see the depth of my sor rows. Every being with a heart of humanity in us bosom will drop a tear in sympathy with me. And will not the world,then, learn with indignation, that this event, calculated to soften the hardest heart, was the signal for new conspiracies, and indefa tigable efforts for time destruction of this afflicted mother? Your Majesty had torn my child from me; you had deprived me of the power of being at hand to succour ljer; you hail taken from me the possibility of hearing of her last prayers for her mother; you saw me bereft. forlorn and broken-hearted ; and this was the moment you chose for re doubling your persecutions. Let the world pass its judgment on die constituting of a corn. mission, in a foreign country, consisting of inquisitors spies. anti informers. to discover, collect, and arrange matters Of accu sation against your wife, without any complaint having been communicated to her : let the world judge of the employment of ambassadors in such a business. and of the enlisting of fo. reign courts in the enterprise: baton the measures which have been adopted to give final eflect to these preliminary proceedings it is for me to speak; it is for me to remonstrate with your Ma jesty ; it is for me to protest; it is for me to apprize you of my detei inination. I have always demanded a fair trial. This is what I now demand, and this is refused me. Instead of a fair trial, I am to be subjected to a sentence by the Parliament, passed in the shape of a law. Against this I protest, and upon the following grounds:— The injustice of refusing me a clear and distinct charge, of refusing me the names of the witnesses, of refusing me the names of the places where the alleged acts have been committed —these are sufficiently flagrant and revolting; but it is against the constitution of 11w Court itself that I particularly object, and that I most solemnly protest. Whatever may be the precedents as to Bills of Pains and Penalties, none of them. except those relating to the Queen of Henry the Eighth, can apply here ; for here your Majesty is the igabitii: Here it is intended by the Bill to do you what you deem /pod and to do me great harm. You are, therefore, a party, and the only complaining party. You have made your complaint to the House of Lords. You have conveyed to this House written documents sealed up. A Secret Committee of the House have examined these documents. They have reported that there are grounds of proceeding ; and then the House, merely upon that report, have brought terward a Bid containing the most outrageous slanders on me, and sen tenting me to divorce and degrerlation. The injustice of putting forth this Bill to the world for six weeks before it is even proposed to afford me an opportunity of contradicting its allegations is too manifest not to have shocked the nation : and, indeed, the proceeding. even thus tar are such as to convince every one that no justice is intended sue.— But if none of these proem:dint, if none of these clear indica tions of a determination to do me wrong had taken place, I should see, in the constitution of the house of Lords itself, a certainty that I could expect no justice at its hands. Your Majesty's Ministers have tid..ivd this prosecution; they are responsible for the advice they give ; they are liable to pi. nishment if they tail to make good their charges; and not only are they part of my judges, but it is they who have brunght in a hill ; and it is too notorious that they have ulways a majoi ity in the House ; so that, without any outer, here is ample pool that tile House will decide in favour of the Bill, and, of course, against me. But further, there are reasons for your Ministers having a ma jority in this case, which reasons do not imply to common cases. Your Majesty is the to you it belongs to appoint and to elevate Peers. Many of the present Pet rs have been raised to t! at dignity by yourself, and almost the whole can be, ut your will and pleasure, further elevated. The far gr.,:: ter part of the Peers hold, by themselves and their families, iil,;ces, pensions, and other emoMinents, solely at the will and pleasure of your Majesty, and these, of romse your Majesty can tike away whenever you [kw*. There arc more than (here of the Peers in .this situation, and there are many of them who might thus be deprived of tilt, be tter part of their incomes. lf, contrary to all expectation, there should be found, in some Peers, likely to amount to a majority, a disposition to reject the Bill, some of these Peers may be ordered away to their ships, regiments, governments, and other duties; and which is an equally alarming power, new Peers may be crested for the pur yose, and give their vote in the decision. That your Majesty's Ministers would devise these measures, if found necessary to render their persecution successful, there can be very little doubt; seeing that they have hitherto stopped at nothing, however unjust or odious. To regard such a body as a Courl of Justice would be to calumniate that sacred name ; and for me to suppress an expres • sion of my opinion on the subject, would be tacitly to lend my self to my own destruclion, as well as to an imposition upon the nation and the world. In the House of Commons I can discover no better grounds of security. The power of your Majesty's Ministers is the same in both Houses; and your Majesty is well acquainted with the fact. that a Majority of this House is composed of persons placed in it by the Peers and by your Majesty's reasary. It really gives me pain to state these things to your Majesty ; and, if it gives your Majesty pain, I beg that it may be observed. and remembered. that the statement has been forced flout me.— I must either protest against this mode of trial, or, by tacitly consenting to it, stiffer roy honour to be sacrificed. No innocence can secure the accused if the .l udges and Jurors be chosen by the accuser ; and if I were tacitly to .übmit to a tribunal of this description, I should he instrumental in my own dishonour. On these grounds I protest against this species of trial. I demand a trial in a Court where the Jurors are taken impartially from amongst the people, and where the proceedings are fair and open. Such a trial I court, and to no other will I willingly submit. If your Majesty persevere in the present proceedings, I shall, even in the Houses of Parliament. face my accusers ; but I shall regard any decision they may make against me as not in the smallest degree reflecting on my honour; and I will not, except compelled by actual force, submit to any sentence which shall not be prtonounceil by a Court of JuAiice. I have now frankly laid before your Majesty a statement of my wrongs, and a declaration of my views and intentions. You have cast upon me every slur to which the female character is liable. Instead of loving, honouring, and cherishing me, agreeably to your solemn vow, you have pursued me with hatred sad scorn. and with all the means of destruction.— You wrested from me my child. and with her my only comfort and consolation. You sent me sorrowing through the world. and even in my sorrows pursued me with unrelenting persecu tion. Having left Inc nothing but my innocence, you would now, by a mockery of justice. deprive me even of the reputation of possessing that. The poisoned bowl and the poinard are means more manly than perjured witnesses and partial tribunals; and they are less cruel, masmoch as life is less valuable than honour. If my . life would have satisfied ) our Majesty , you should have had it on the sole condition of giving me a place in the same tomb with my child: but. since you would send me dishonoured to the grave. I will resist the attempt with all the means that it shall please God to give me. (Signed) Brandenburgb House. August 7. 1820. CAROLINE, R. On Monday lust, about four o'clock, the remains of her late Royal Highness the Duchess of York were privately interred at Weybridge church, Sur rey, in a vault which had previously been prepared under her Royal Highness's special directions. Lord Byron has arrived in town from Italy. A ballot was taken at the East India House on Wednesday, for the election of a Director in the room of Sir David Scott, Bart. who had disqualified. At six o'clock the glasses were closed, and delivered to the scrutineers, who reported the election to have &lien on Josias Du Pre Alexander, Esq.— The numbers were—fi►r Josias Du Pre Alexander, Esq. 1059—for Neil Benjamin Edmonstone, Esq. 320. Her Majesty's new state carriage is a singularly neat and very elegant landau, and possesses all the requisite adornments of the art, with every possible convenience. The body is painted of a beautiful lake colour (the favourite colour of his late most excellent Majesty). The Royal arms and support ers are most excellently painted on the doors, and front and back, underneath which is a snake, which appears crushed from the weight. On each of the four side punnets is painted a Royal Coronet, with her Majesty's initials, C. R. The body is roomy and hangs low, the roof is flat and ornamented on the four corners with silver coronets; the joints at the top are also ornamented with silver Coronets on the four corners of the sides. Near the top there appears a :dyer Coronet, and her Majesty's cypher in silver letters underneath. The joints arc of chased silver, richly ornamented, and nothing can surpass the beauty of the lamps, which are of silver embos sed, surmounted by a superb Coronet of the same metal. The side lining, with the squabs and cushions, arc composed of the richest yellow silk, and the roof lined with the finest blue cloth, all superbly ornamented with rich lace. A Salisbury boot, with the seat cloth of the finest scarlet cloth, ornamented with live rows of deep gold fringe, with hangers. The carriage is very light, and most su perb►y ornamented. The wheels are painted lake and vermilliun, together with the hind standers.— Springs and perch richly gilt with gold. 'lime l►ar ness is superbly ornamented with silver, agreeable to royal etiquette, and every way made to corres pond with the carriage. Troops arc now stationed at Mitcham and Sutton, and must of the villages round the Metropolis. The northern roads are su crowded with troops on their march towards the Metropolis, that it would seem as if the Town was to be put in a state of blockade. The match to fight between Turner and Belcher ig off, Reicher challenged to fight either Randal or Turner, and tLe latter called upon him to accommodate him, but Belcher very advisedly it,- • ,- .. 7 ,.*•,,,, ,, ' 4,- _ •: 4 . ~. ' ..4tt, 1 4 14 ,. ' , ...i.:5 .•