The Sun. — London, England, 1820-08-14 00:00:00

THE QUEEN'S LET rER THE KING. Sia,—After the unparalleled and unpro.VOked persecution which, during a series of years, has been carried on against me under the name and authority of . yont Majesty—and'which persecution, instead ollbeing mollified by time, time has rendered only more and more malignant and unrelenting— it is not without a great sacrifice of private feel ing that . i . noW,even in the Way of remonstrance, bring myself to address this letter to your Ma- But, bearing in -mind that Royalty rests on the basis of public . good ; that. to this para mount consideration all others ought to submit ; and aware of the consequences that. may result from the present unconstitutional, illegal, and 'hitherto unheard-of proceedings ;—with a mind thus impressed, 't 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 still dis posed to refuse to the claims of a dutiful, faith ful, and injured wife, you may be induced to - yield to considerations connected with the ho nour and dignity of your Crown, the stability of your Throne, the tranquillity oI your dominions, the happiness and safety of your just and loyal peopl i e,. whose generous hearts revolt at oppres sibn and cruelty, and especially when perpe trated by a perversion and a mockery' of the laws.. jesty. A sense of what is due to my character and sex Forbids me to refer Minutely to the real causes bf our domestic separation, -or to the numerous unmerited insults offered me previously to that period ; but, leaving to your Majesty to,recon tile with the marriage-vow the act of driving, by such means, a wife from beneath your roof, 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,,pther than that of your' own inclinations, which, as your Majesty was pleased'to - allege, were not under your control. • , Not . to have felt, with regard to myself, cha grin 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 easyto foresee, would have marked. inc 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" ten dered to me by your Majesty formed, in my mind, but a poor compensation for the grief occa sioned by considering the wound given to public moVals in the fatal example produced by the in dulgence of your Majesty's inclinatiOns; more especially-when 'I contemplated the disappoint- Inent of the nation, who had so munificently provided for our Union, who had fondly cherished such pleasing hopes of happiness arising' from that union, and' who' had hailed it with such af fectionate and rapturous joy. But, alas:l 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 pursued by spieS, conspirators, ana traitors, employed, encouraged, and reward ed to lay snares for thefeet, and to plot against the reputation and life, of her whom your Majesty had so recently and so solemnly vowed to honour, to love, and to cherish. In withdrawing from the embraces of my pa rents, in giving my hand' to the, son of George the Third and the heir-apparent to the British throne, nothing less than a voice from He a v en would have mae- 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 methodized and 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 my - 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 lay .child, and my natural as well as legal guardian and protector ? Wotwithstanding,'however, the unprecedented conduct of that tribunal—the conduct which has since undergone, even in Parliament, severe and unanswered animadversions, and which has been also censured in minutes of the Pxivy.Council— uot,withstanding Uae secrecy of the proceedings of Qlris tribunal — nutwithstanding the strong tempta-; tion to the giving of false evidence against roe,he tore it--nAtwithstandin g that there ,wasno oppor tunityrufforded me of rebutting.that evidence-'—not- all these circumstances, so decidedly f av ourable to Illy 'enemies —even this secret tri bunal acquitted .rrie of all c.rirne, and the.reby . anonounced ,principal "accusers to have boon' guilty of The grossest peciury. But it was now (after the trial ;$4:4 over) discaFered, that the na ture of the tribunal was such AS to render false swearing' before it not legally criiniiial ! And thus, at the suggestion and,/eßust of your Ma jesty,, had beelt created, to take cognizance of and try my conduct, a. tribunal , tompetent toad- minister oaths, competext to examine witnesses; on oath, competent to try, competent to acquit and connietent, moreover, to screen those who 'had-gworn falsely agtinfif me from suf-„ J' ring the aniins and penalties which .the law awards to wilful and corrupt perjury. Great as ' my indignation naturally' must have been'at this shameful evasion of law and justice, that indigna tion was.lost in pity for him who could lower his princely plumes to the dust by giving his counte nance and favour 'ito the most conspicuous of those abandoned and notorious perjurers. Still there was one whose. upright, mind - no thing could warp, in whose breast injustice never found a place, whose hand was always ready to raise the unfortunate, and to rescue the oppressed. While that good and gracious Father and Sove reign remained in the exercise of his Royal func tions, his unoffending daughter-in-law had no ' thing to fear. As long as the protecting hand of your late ever-beloved and ever-lamented Father was held over me, 1 was safe. But the melan choly event which deprived the nation of the active exertions of its virtuous King bereft me of friend and priltector, and of all hope of future tranquillity and safety. To calumniate your in nocent wife was now the shortest road to Royal favour; and to betray her was to lay the sure foun dation of boundless riches and titles of honour. Before claims like these, talent, virtue, long ser vices, your own personal friendships, your Royal engagements, promises, and pledges, written as well as verbal, melted into air. Your Cabinet was founded on this basis. You took to your councils men, of whose persons, as well as whose principles, you had invariably expressed the strongest dislike. The interest of the nation, and even your own • feelings, in all other respects, were sacrificed to the gratification of your desire to aggravate my .sufferings, and ensure my humi- Thation. You took to your councils and your bosom men whom you hated, whose abandonment of, and whose readiness to sacrifice me were their only merits, and whose power has been, exercised in a manner, and has been attended with conse quences, worthy of its, origin. From this un principled and unnatural union have sprung' the manifold evils which this nation has now to en dure, and which present a mass of misery and of degradation, accompanied with acts of tyranny and cruelty, rather than have seen which inflict ed on his industrious, faithful and brave people, your Royal Father would have perished at the head of that people. When to calumniate, revile, and betray me, becalm 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 man ners and refined intercourse than of low intrigue and scurrility. Spies, Bacchanalian tale-bearers, and foul conspirators swarmed in those places which had before been the resort of sobriety, virtue, and honour. To enumerate all the 'va rious privations and mortifications which I had to endure—all the insults that, were wantonly heaped upon me, from the day of your elevation to the Regency to that of my departure for the Continent—would be to describe every species of personal offence that can be offered to, and every pain short of bodily violence that can be in flicted on, any human being. Bereft of parent,bro— ther, and father-in-law, and my husband for my deadliest foe ; seeing those who have promised me support bought by rewardslo be amongst my enemies; restrained from accusing my foes in the face of the world, out of regard for the charac- ter of the father of. my child; and from a desire to prevent her happiness from being disturbed ; shunned, from motives of selfishness, by those who were my natural associates ; living in obscu rity, while 1 ought to have been the centre of all that was splendid ; thus humbled, 1 had one con solation left—the love of my dear and only child. To permit me to. enjoy this was too great an in dulgence. To see my daughter; to fold her in my arms ; to mingle my tears with her's ; to re ceive her cheering caresses, and to hear from her lips assurances of never-ceasing love ; thus to be comforted, consoled, upheld, and blessed, was too much to be allowed me. Even on the slave mart the cries of " Oh ! my mother, my mother ! .Oh ! my child, my child !" have prevented a se paration of the victims of avarice. But your Ad visers, more inhuman than the stave-dealers, re morselessly. tore the mother from the child. Thus bereft of the society of my child, or re duced to the necessity of imbittering 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 ! Nvere never to come. To mothers—.and those mothers who have been suddenly bereft of the best and most affectionate and only daughters —it belongs to estimate my sufferings and my wrongs. Such mothers will judge of my affliction upon hearing of 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 sorrows. Every being with a heart of humanity in its 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 conspi racies, and indefatigable efforts for the destruc tion 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 her ; you had 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 redoubling your persecu tions. Let the world pass its judgment on the consti tuting of a Commission, in a foreign country, consisting of inquisitors, spies, and informers, to dimmer, collect, and arrange matters of accusa tion ft g ain s t your wife, without any complaint haying been communicated to her : let the world judge of the employment of Ambassadors in such a business, and of the enlisting of foreign Courts in the enterprise : but on the measures which save b een a d opte d to give final effect to these prelimina r y proceedings it is for me to speak ; it is for me to remonstrate with your Majesty ; it is for me to protest ; it is for me to apprize you of my 41etermination. I have always demanded a .fair trial. Tiii6 is *hat I ROW demand, and tbis is refused me. In stead 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 dis tinct charge„ of refusing me , the names of the witnesses, of fefusing me the names of the places t, whepe, tile alleged actsikave been committed ; these are snftl i ciently o Ugant amerevoltisig; but it is against the constitution of the Court itself that I particularly object, and that I most so lemnly 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 plaintiff. Here it is intended by the Bill to do you what you deem good, 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 tip. A secret Com mittee of the House have examined these docu ments. They have reported that there are grounds of proceeding ; and then the House, tnere)y upon that report, have brOught forward a Bill containing the most outrageous slanders on me, and sentencing me to divorce and degrada tion. 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 al legations is too manifest not to have shocked the nation ; and, indeed, the proceedings even thus far are such as to convince every one that no jus tice is intended me. But if none of . these pro ceedings, if none of these clear indications 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 adrised this prosecution; they are responsible for the advice they give ; they are liable to punishment if they fail to make good their charges ; and not only are they part of my judges, but it is they who have brought in the Bill; and it is too notorious that they have always a majority in the House ; so that, without any other, here is ample proof that the House will decide in favour of the Bill, and, of course, against me. But further, there are reason 6 for your Minis: ters having a majority in this case, and which reasons do not apply to common cases. Your Majesty is the Plaintiff: to you it belongs to appoint and to elevate Peers. Many of the pre sent Peers have been raised t 6% that dignity by yourself, and almost the whole can be, at your will and pleasure, further elevated. The far greater part of the Peers hold, by themselves and their families, offices, pensions, and other emoluments, solely at the will and pleasure of your Majesty, and these, of course, your Ma jesty can take away whenever you please. There are more than .101er-fifths of the Peers in this si tuation, and there are many of them who might thus be deprived of the far better part of their incomes. If, contrary to all expectation, there should be found ) in some Peer s) likely to amount to a majo rity, a disposition to reject the Bill, some of these Peers may be ordered away to their ships, regi ments, governments, and other duties; and, which is an equally alarming power, new Peers may be created for the purpose, and give their vote in the decision. That your Majesty's Ministers would advise these measures, if found necessary to render their prosecution successful, there can be very little doubt; seeing that they have hi therto stopped at nothing, however unjust or odious. To regard such a body as a Court of Justice would be to calumniate that sacred name ; and for me to suppress an expression of my opinion on the subject would be tacitly to lend myself to my.own destruction, 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 Treasury. 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 from me. I must either protest against this mode of trial, or, by tacitly consenting to it, suffer my honour to be sacrificed. No inno cence can secure the accused if the Judges and Jurors be chosen by the accuser; and if I were tacitly to submit to a tribunal of this description, I' should be instrumental in my own dishonour. On these grounds I protest against this species o f trial. I demand a trial in a Court where the Jurors are taken impartially from amongst the people, and where the proceedings are open and f a i r . Such a t r i a l I court, and to no ot h er will willingly submit.lf your Majesty persevere i n the present proceeding, 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 ; anti I will not, except compelled by actual force, submit to any sentence which shall not be pronounced by a Court of Justice. 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 che rishing me, agreeably to your solemn vow, 'you have pursuecd me with hatred and scorn, and with all the means of destruction. You wrested from me my child, and with hdr my only comfort and consolation. You sent me sor rowing through the world, and even in my sorrows pursued me with unrelenting perse cution. Having left me nothing but my inno cence, you would now, by a mockery of justice, deprive me even of the reputation of possessing that. The poisoned bowl and the poniard are ~ means more manly than perjured witnesses lola partial tribunals ; and they are less cruel, inas much as life is less valuable than honour. If w life would have satisLed your Majesty, you should have had it on the sole cgndition of giving me a p ac e in the same tomb wifkilly child.i. but k , - . since u wou.id,., send me' dishopoured I to ' , the ~giye,:t !ill resist De acaturtpftwith all th v e rncan.s - ithatit shall prea r se God to give me. CAROLINE, R• (Signed) Brandenburgh-House, 182 a. n" . The above Letter from her Majesty which is dated August 7th, was sent by the Queen's Messenger early in the morning of the Bth to the Cottage at 'Windsor, accompanie d with a noteto Sir Benjamin. Bloomfield, written by the Queen, desiring Sir Benjamin to deliver it immediately to the King' Sir Benjamin Bloomfield hieing then absent, the letter sx 3s received by Sir William Keppell, who forwarded ii imme diately to Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, at Carlton llMlsef who returned it in the afternoon of the Bth to the Clucel, l ,„' informing her Majesty that he bad received the Kin;." commands and general instructions, that any communic a tions that isoglit he made should pass through the channe l of his Majesty's Government. The Queen immediately dispatched - a messenger with tlte latter to Lord Liverpool , desiring his Lordship to lay it before his Majesty, Lar d Liverpool was at Cowbewood. He returned an answer that he would' lose no time in layirx it before the King. On the I Mr, no reply having been received, the Queen wrote again to Lord Liverpool, requesting information whether any further communication would be made on the subject of the letter t‘i his Majesty- Lord Liverpool wrote tile same day from Combs" wood that he had not received the King's commands to make any communication to her Majesty in consequence of her let' ter. At a late hour Nast night no answer had been receiverl. THE QUEEN. SIR GERARD NOEL TO THE. EARL OF LIVERPOOL , Exton Park, August t %• Mr Loate—The present moment seems to me to claim the best exertions of every one to preserve the Empire in prosfs ,- runs tranquillity, arid I therefore ham no scruple, as or" old Member of the House, who have in general given my stir port to Ministers. though always without fixed devotedness 1 1 ? party, in addressing your Lordship previously to. the meetinf, of Parliament. I lament extremely taint- obliged to complain that his Ma ' jesty's !Ministers, instead of adhering to an undeviating pla t) of healing 'measures in order to jus.tify the cautionary re:gut'," bums of the two last years, and unequivocally to mark t i !` wish of Administration snore generally to attain the COO' deuce of the people-, have ventured to adopt with pertinacitl t the monstrous measure of the Bill of Pains and Penalti es against the Q'tieen, which onhappily forms:the most importan t undertaking of the new reign, and by which. the, are exar t: perating the public discontents, and almost calling forth aOL sanctioning, by theii , conduct in this sad affair, that imp° . tience against which those cautionary regulations• have hee l " directed, and hereby creating such wide-spreading dissensi oo. as will put in jeopardy every class of societ), and may eve , '" tually tend to weaken our national respectability in thr• • Courts of Europe. My Lord, it is to me a great proof of the inattention of tit Cabinet that the return of the Queen to England was no foreseen, as the obvious comer:pence of its proceedings with' regard to her Majesty; fur, when the storm began to threaten against her, imanediately on the demise of the late King, tri es strong symptoms of its having been gathering in his life" time ; and when, upon her last arrival at Rome, where stle,i. was personally known,. and had been formerly acknowledgv as Princess of Wales the Court Nitre treated her Majes t, as a disowned individual ; being thus a discarded heretic it t , a Roman-Catholic country; must it not have been apparen t t her Majesty that her best course was• rapidly to escape, MI to throw herself on the protection of the British nation ? assert, therefore, without the fear of successful contra diction, that it is the coadust of his Majesty's adviser'' which has forced the Queen into England. 'I he a ttenol', 7 to persuade her Majesty to rennsin.on the Continent, MOO. happened at St. Omer's, could only excite her great° . i alarm; and her good sense and knowledge of the woe iJr and of the principles of tire Beitish ohfio C hl o ,e n rh s re t r i rt t i t i e sr ti nt o e r c i l — son e lh ei a : , : i i s , i e d e e n r i :r i g s t e besides d,iiilt a ityb,ea r nd u a p s o s i n i gs the bi line e w clearly and immediately pointed out to her Majesty that, to accept its conditions was wholly, inconsistent w ith h er digat t i ; arid her repose; that without the pr o t e cti on o f the Church, which was withheld, and without British saltcella r which the communicationcould not assure to her Maje 9 tY' . - there was neither safety nor permanency to life or forttl ascertained, to. her : and most fitly therefore shun steadily O il• promptly proceeded on her journey. Can it then be charg e o . against her Majesty that she has intruded offensively oil t h shores of England ?. If indeed, my Lord, instead of instituting that Milan Crc mission (for the cost of which I know not upon what princiP the Chancellor of the Exchequer can ask front the Contro° l !,. 10 provide), the Cabinet, by a geuerous and prudent antio. patio!), had intimated to her Majesty, that, after the de w ' s ; trj the late Kil', the protection of the Church of Engl aLl 3 and an increased: allowance as Queen of England, should I ) afforded to her,. to soften the misfortunes of the [Loyal sePa r3' • tion, which had so solemnly and irrevocably been agreed-oil:. long ago her Majesty might possibly have been induced 4. remain ;broad ; and, in consideration of the relief which marriage withthe present King, when Prince of Wales, gas e td. the nation from theapprehension, strangely but strongly excit).., at that time by various circumstances, that the influence of eery might revive in these rentrast feeling al so grateful acku',", ledgment to both their Majesties for their meeting the of the people, then so impressively declared : Parliamen t doubt would have agreed to pass am act enabling his Maie si o to make such provision, which would, in that case, hav e bee d mutually desirable; but, my Lord, adverting to the ort` l e i, posture of affairs, I pronounce that the Queen had 00,81toor native in the overture at St. Omer's for staying abroad, .01, is else Bill of Pains and Penalties a fair alternative or 3, 0 ,, consequence of the failure of the negotiations with her ' jesty in Loudon ; arid I cannot contemplate that 13111, s 0• o• gitiurately commenced, without disgust, or without •r:,,t, nishinent as to its policy in a ministerial point of v,! e t es „ regard being had to the enormous growing expences trial, and to the disadvantage which must result fio . ' to r unwarrantably terming it a cause between the cou'? ns and the Queen, whereas the repugnance of the country , .of the trial is so notorious as probably to render the questl7oo defraying the charges of so unjustifiable and pernicio u , extravagance, if your Lordships and those wino act perm, urge this portentous Bill relentlessly forward in spite of warning voice, most embarrassing to his :Majesty's Ash tration, at a time perhaps even more r listressit.gly ot": tto 4 than the present, and in a predicament entirely with themselves. With sentiments,thein, of parting (de'', t he and somewhat of painful anxiety for the future—and to ob e, _`.o call to public duty, so well made by Lord John Russell , o_ e r rto Mr. Wilberforce, and all those Members who have lit supported the present Administratiun, I venture ti' al,,""to this letter of remonstrance to your Lordship as Prime 1-70ti seer ; for not all tine bias of attachment and of priva te i' o polt tude which I owe to his Majesty, and which it ilitlicts one; my heart a must severe pang to resist, can otherwt.t rate than to make me regret with deeper sorrowistf.TlyA Majesty is advised to assent to the carrying on this o c i wi to measure which demands from me a conduct inn contrast a re those feelings, and in oppnisition to that bias; .e fr ont according to tire best of my judgment, I should 5wer',... 30 0," the,paramottut duty of my 'station did I not declare r_ltoicoe. that I will endeavour to inter rupt and thwart the 0 1 %,.. of this Bill in every stage ; and did I nut, witty cr'ie's,, 0 . 1 ; impression on my mind to the unprupitions c0n5e , 1 1 7..„„ ) , " it generally, and especially to the present Adioiniser,c'.. passed into a law, roost earnestly recommend that Yo _' . l set . to ship should be disposed to consider it kinder arid "_ o( tit4 withdraw the Bill, rather than to press the second of it. when the Peers shall re-assemble. I have the honour to be, • My Lord, your Lordship's !host obedient and very humble S'ervantl,,f GERAftI) THE WITNESSES against TIIE atio' l " We have already st a t e d, that the 11°11I5 to 'v e." Cotton-garden, occupied by Sir 'room . " til t! minirr, Mr. L EY , an d . th e o ther Otlicers,°r the i ouSe of Lords, are th e pl a c e s appointed ' 6 ' G o t use of the Witnesses against the Q 15 } 1: % 6 ton-garden ter'' i s s it ua t e d. at the rear of the it is angle of the house of Lords, to schic, h proaclied by a n arro w . passage from tne o ort end of Abingdon-street. A situati on toor" 'pletely retired, and more convenient f9r tl e. ~l