The National Register. — London, England, 1813-02-14 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. FEB. 14 PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES. LETTER OF THE PRINCE'S OF NVALEi TO THE PRINCE REGENT. gi Sta—lt is with great reluctance that I presume to ob trude myself upon your Royal Highness, and to solicit your attention to matters which may, at first, appear rather of a personal than a public nature. if I could think them so— if they related merely to myself—l should abstain from a proceeding which might give uneasiness, or interrupt the more weighty occupation of your Highness's time. I should continue, in silence and retirement, to lead the life which has been prescribed to me, and console myself for the loss of that society and those domestic comforts to which I have so long been a stranger, by the reflection that it has been deemed proper I should be afflicted without any fault of my own—and that your Royal Highness knows it. dg But, Sir, there are considerations of a higher nature than any regard to my own happiness, which render this ad dress a duty both to Myself and my Daughter. May 1 ven ture to say—a duty also to my Husband, and the People committed to his care ? There is a point beyond which a gliiltless woman cannot, with safety, carry her forbearance. If her honour is invaded, the defence of her reputation is no longer a matter of choice ; and it signifies not whether the attack be made openly, manfully, and directly—or by e cret insinuation, and by holding such conduct toward: her as countenances all the suspicions that malice can suggest. If these ought to be the feelings of every woman in England who is conscious that she deserves no reproach, your Royal Highness has too sound a judgment, and too nice a sense of honour, not to perceive, how much more justly tbcy belong to the Mother of your Daughter—the Mother of her who is destined, I trust at a very distant period, to reign over the British Empire. _ _ . " It may be known to your Royal Highness, that during the continuance of the restrictions upon your Royal autho rity, I purposely refrained from making any representations which might then augment the painful difficulties of your exalted station.' At the expiration of the restrictions I still was inclined to delay taking this step, in the hope that I might owe the redress I sought to your gracious and unso lieited condescension; I hive waited, in the fond indulgence of this expectation, until, to my inexpressible mortification, I find that my unwillingness to complain, has only produced fresh grounds of complaint; and I am at length compelled, either to abandon all regard for the two dearest objects which I possess on earth, mine own honour, and my be loVed Child, Or to throw myself at the feet of your Royal Highness, the natural protector of both. I pre:dine, Sir, - to represent to your Royal Highness, that the separation, which every succeeding month is making wider, of the Mother 'and the Daughter, is equally injurious to my character and to her education. I say nothing of the deep wounds which so cruel an arrangement inflicts upon my feelings; although I would fain hope that few persons will be found of a dis Position to think lightly of these. To set myself cut off from one of the very few doi tricots left me—ceitaiuly the only . one upon vi] 107 value, the society of my Child—involves me in such misery as I well know your Royal Highness could never inflict upon me if •fau were aware of its bitterness. Our intercourse has been gradually diminished. A single interview weekly seemed sufficiently hard allowance for a Mother's affections— that, however, was reduced to our meeting once a rot tnight ; and I now learn that even this most rigorous interdiction is to be still more rigidly enforced. " But while I do not venture to intrude my feelings as a Mother upon your Royal Highness's notice, I must be al lowed to say, that in the eyes of an observing and jealous world, this separation of a Daughter from her Mother will only admit of one construction—a corstruction fatal to de Mother's reputation. Your Royal Highness will also pardon me for adding, that there is no less inconsisgency than ir• justice in this treatment.—He who dares advise your Royal Highnr_.ss to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the sentence of complete acquittal which it pro duced—or is wicked and false enough still to whisper sus picions in your car, betrays his duty to you, Sir, to yot Daughter, and to your People, if he counsels you to permit a day to pass without a further investigation of my conduct. I know that no such calumniator will venture to recommend a measure which must speedily end in his utter confusion. Then let me implore you to reflect on the situation in which I am placed; without the shadow of a charge against me-- without even an accuser —after an inquiry that led to my ample vindication—yet treated as if I were still more culpa ble than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, and held up to the world as a Mother who may not en joy the society of her only Child. d• The feelings, Sir, which arc natural to my nnexamp'el situation, might justify me in the gracious judoient :;(.1:r Royal Highness, bad I no other motives for addressing you but such as relate to myself. But I will not disguise from your Royal Hi loess what I cannot for a moment con from myself, that the serious, and it soon may be, the irre parable injury which my Daughter sustains from the plan ;,t. present pursued, has done more in overcoming illy clue tance to intrude upon your Poy:il Highness, than any sulicr. ings of my own could accomplish ; and if, for her sake, I presume to call away your Royal Ilijness's attention froni the other cares of your exalted tati.nr, I feel confident I an not claiming it for a matter of inferior importance either to yourself or your people. The powers with which the Constitution of these realms vests your Royal Highness in the regulation of the Royal Family, I know, because I am so advi.crL are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, Sir, is ma ac to 'our ex cellent SCIIFe and liberality of mind in the exerci,e of those powers; and I willingly hope that your own racental feel ings will lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine for impelling me to repreQent the unhappy consequences which the present system must entail upon our beloved Child. " Is it possible, Sir, that any one can have attempted to persuade your Royal Highness that her character will rvq be injured by the perpetual violence offered to her so ooge-e rrangement inflicts upon " IS It POSSUM ' , r.-ir, iudL uui VLi Sr 16.4,4" n hope that few persons persuade your Royal Highness that her character will flo be ink lightly of these. To injured by the perpetual violence offered to her stionge.e very few domestic enjoy- affections—the studied care taken to estrange her from my one upon which I set any society, and even to interrupt all communication between , / •; (*. •• . 4; I