The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-13 00:00:00

Only hasten to my arms, my charmer ! and I will acknow-
ledge you in spite of Parliament, and in spite of every thing
that does not feel the same warmness, the same adoration I
do for you, and which shall never cease but with my death.
I mention this with superlative pleasure to-day, as this very
one makes a year that our souls have been united together;
and with the greatest truth, and satisfaction to myself, I can
add, my dearest Augusta, with that sincerity every man
must pronounce his fate on the last day of judgment,
that my* affection haS never one moment cooled towards
you, but has hourly augmented, and does so still,
for which I ant most grateful to the Almighty, and which
gratitude I hope to prove to my Creator by my conduct to-
wards you. I will fight for 'you, my Augusta : I will die
thy husband. Nothing ever can, ever shall, alter my affec-
tion for you, which was formed by an admiration of your
amiable qualities, and ripened by my respect for your vir-
tues. Our bonds were united by the most sacred ties ever
religion could invent ; and I defy the power of profane hands
to break them
"Should the annulling of our marriage take place, which
I doubt, my Augusta, it will make no difference in my senti-
ments, my charmer: On the contrary, it will increase my
love for you. My grief will augment my endeavours to make
thee happy, which, God knows, I have ever in view. Come
over then, and I will acknowledge you ; for I will not live in
any country -where I cannot live with you.. God has
given me my Augusta, and nothing but the Almighty
can take her away from me. She will always be the- same ;
loved and respected by me. I shall ever consider her
and acknowledge her as my wife. Whatever she desires
shall be my desire ; whatever may be tier pleasure shall
be mine also ; what can I say more, what can I
do more, to prove the sincerity of my affections towards you,
my Augusta? Speak, and it shall be done; for I live only
with the thoughts of making you happy. Whatever may
happen, I shall never absent myself further from here than
Florence or Lucca. No consideration in the world, except
. your own peculiar desire, will ever engage me to leave Italy.
No place is better calculated for my health, nor is any one
safer; for, at least, no one can lay hands upon me here. I
shall not write again after this, as I shall begin to expect you ;
for you will have received my letter from Leghorn, and the
money also, after which, I trust, you will set off. As for me,
I have received no letters from any one of the family; and
considering this asa silent ordernot to write, I shall certainly
accede to it."
" Rome, April the 19th, 1794.—M05t happy did thy two
dear letters of last night make me, my truly amiable Augusta.
The last post missed, so that I got two at once, my trea-
sure, which more than compensated for the anxiety my wife's
-silence Faye me. You tell me, my soul, that' this mouth
your trial is to come on. I tremble for it, because my best
half is to endure the whole attack which pride, envy, and
malice can invent, whilst the other is at Rome, incapable
of rendering her any service. Oh, my Augusta! my angel !
what persecutions you must endure for me ; indeed, my
soul's delight, it will ever-be-the study of my life to prove
to you my gratitude on every occasion, but never shall
be able to do enough. Words cannot suffice. nor action ;
but if I see you in some manner happy, that is all I can de-
sire. Let the courts determine what they please, you are al-
ways my wife; the dearest one I could ever have, and the
only one I will have. Acknowledge thee I ever will, and
whoever won't look upon thee as such shall never enter our
house. What is sacred, no one can break ; and tho' for a
moment our child may be persecuted, a time wilL come when
he shall have justice done him, and my name he shall ever
have, yours also, for we are but one. . . . • • • •
" Augusta, my dear wife, mind, in spite of every profane
law, that by the sacred you are mine, and mine only, till
death us do part."
" In short, whatever may happen, my dearest Augusta
knows her duty, that she has promised to be my wife; and
that though the judges on earth do not acknowledge it, the
Great Judge of all, to whom every one must once give an
account of his actions, has received our mutual promises, and
inserted them in a book from which no spiritual or profane
hands can ever blot them. Secure in this truth, I care not
for anything; and once joined by my Gussy, my own wife,
I shall brave the insults and attacks of every one, and rest
attached to her, to whom both duty and 'inclination solely
and most strongly bind me. Yes, my. Augusta, my dearest
wife! trust to my honour. Never will I deceive you."
" My dearest Augusta,
" Though your letter of yesterday forbodes me no good,
by informing me of the unfortunate sentence that will for the
moment condemn our cause, yet it is so replete with affection
that I cannot but feel grateful for thy kind expressions, and
more resolved than ever to acknowledge thee for my. wife.
That you are so by the law of God no one for a moment
doubts ; nay, the most scrupulous allow this, which gives
ease to my wounded breast
" The decision of the powerful for a while must be sub-
mitted to ; but my Augusta may remain assured that as
soon as I can strike a blow with security my utmost efforts
shall be employed to that purpose. For this reason I must
most particularly intreat thy departure from England, and
joining me ; for till when we have maturely consulted about
the matter I cannot act, as both circumspection and deter-
mination must be used in the cause." •
" Your letter, which you talked of in your last, and which
I had not received before, my dearest Augusta, is now come
into my hands. My angelic wife !—for that you are, and
shall ever be as long as I live, in spite of all laws,—the
horror I felt in reading it cannot be so easily described ! I
conceive your anguish, and pity you from the bottom of my
soul, my own heart's delight I On sue you may rely,
my angel and be assured whatever is in my power I will
do, and with pleasure that I will be constant to
you ; that I will acknowledge you for my wife youniay re-
main assured of. If you can have one moment's - uneasiness
on that head, my lovely Gussy, you wrong me greatly; for
instead of this affecting me- it only makes me stand by you
more resolutely, and makes my love more violent, by teach-
ing me the greater obligations, in showing me all what you
suffer on my account; for thy love for me. Never for a mo-
ment have I, never for a moment will I, forget thee and our
cause, you may be assured."
" The newspapers mention the sentence of Doctors' Com-
mons, which I do not conceal, as also my intention of defend-
ing thy cause, and endeavour, as soon as it is possible, to get
justice done me
" I trust my letter to my father will raise in him senti-
ments of affection and esteem. I wrote with delicacy, and
yet with a certain determined character, which my situation
and circumstances require
" I cannot describe to my own charming wife the strong
desire I have of seeing our dear little boy."
Major Roche Lee then deposed to the following letters
being in the hand-writing 'of Lady Augusta Murray :
" To-day my beloved Prince took a sacred, a solemn oath ;
called on Heaven to witness it ; swore before the Almighty
on the Bible never to have any wife but me, and in future to
look upon himself as sacredly promised to me. I accepted the
religious promise that the Bible had witnessed—that had been
addressed to the Almighty, and gave mine in exchange. I
must record this day as the forerunner of, perhaps, many
happy ones. 0 Lord, Creator of all things, lam not worthy
of the mercies you lavish upon me, but yet I dare not trust to
them."

After again swearing to the Almighty never to marry
any man but Prince Augustus, after swearing to look upon
myself as sacredly bound by these oaths, and those I had
taken to him, which I did with great fervour, upon reading
over again those with which he binds himself to be my hus-
band, I answered the dear letter his servant brought me. I
thanked him with gratitude for the repeated proofs of love he
gives me ; but I dare not yet thank my Almighty for having
me a husband who will ever love me, and whom my ardent
wishes to make happy may make so. I dare not yet trust to
his being mine according to the rights of our Church. And
what are oaths unsanctioned there? they bind the honour-
able, but they do not satisfy the world."
"I am now come to the more serious part of your letter, my
dearest love. You tell me you will speak to Mr. Gunn about
your intention of marrying, and not name me ; but I think,
when you do confide in him sufficiently to tell him one thing,
you ought to tell the whole. You will not disclose any part
of your business to him without insisting first upon his sacred
word of honour never to mention the subject ; consequently,
the confidence must be full. If you tell him you are resolved,
and do not tell him who the woman'is you mean to marry,
he may imagine it some low person, some Italian, or, in short,
anything; and that the whim you dare not avow will
soon pass, and he will most undoubtedly refuse having
any thing to do with it. Then my treasure, you say you
will talk of honour to him. There is no honour in the case
if there is, I will not marry you. I love you, and I have rea-
son to hope and believe you love me; but honour, in the
sense you take it, is out of the question. I cannot bear to
owe my happiness to anything but affection, and all pro-
mises, though sacred in our eyes and in those of Heaven,
shall not oblige you to do any thing towards me that can in
the least prejudice your future interests. As for
honour, with the meaning Mr. Gunn will annex to it,—l
am ashamed to fancy it,—he will imagine I have been your
mistress, and that humanity, commonly termed honour,
now induces you to pity me, and so veil my follies
by an honourable marriage. My own beloved Prince, forgive
me if lam warm upon this subject. I wish you to feel you
owe me nothing; and whatever I oive you I wish to owe to
your love and to your good opinion, but to no other prin-
ciple. Tell Mr. Gunn, my own Augustus, that you love me;
that you are resolved to marry me ; that you have pledged a
sacred word ; tell him, if you please, that upon the Bible
you have sworn it; that I have done the same; and that
nothing shall ever divide us; but don't let him imagine that
I have been vile. Do this, my only loVe ; but pray take
care of the character of your wife, your Augusta."
" My dearest and now really adored husband ! you are but
this moment gone—the, sacred words I have heard still
vibrating in my ears—Still reaching my heart. Oh, my
prince ! my lover! and now indeed my husband, how I bless
the dear man who has made me yours. What a precious,
what a holy ceremony : how solemn the charges ; how dear,
and yet how awful. Do you feel happy, my only love
Tell me you do, that I may bless my destiny. To be your wife
is the summit of my wishes; I have attained that summit;
but if my loved, my adored, husband has one moment of
regret my happiness is fled, and despair returns. But do I
talk of despair when joy ought to be my only theme,—when
it fills my whole soul
" Shall I hear from you to-morrow morning, my only be-
loved ? Will you write to your wife ? Will you tell her
how you have gotten home, and whether the coming out has
given you cold ?
"Your dear note is just arrived, my dearest husband I I
will observe all you tell me, and assure you I feel happier
than words can express."
Among the documentary evidence tendered was a volume
of " Young's Night Thoughts," on a leaf of which was the
following entry, in the handwriting of the Lady Augusta
Murray :—" A present from Prince Augustus Frederick,"
after which appeared the following, in the handwriting of his
late Royal Highness :—" April 4, 1793—Augusta lost the
name of Murray for one more dear, Augustus Frederick."
The LORD CHANCELLOR suggested that with regard
fo the journal, Mr. Waddington should look it over and see
if it contained any other passages applicable to the subject,
Mr. ERLE thought it right to state that the journal com-
menced long prior to these transactions, and contained ob-
servations made during a tour in Italv, an account of the
first introduction of his Royal Highness to the Lady Augusta
Murray, and also the declaration that they were husband and
Rife.

Mr. WADDINGTON would look over the journal.
Mr. Eutu then tendered a prayer-book in evidence, on the
blank leaf of which was the following entry in the hand-
writing of the Lady Augusta :—" By this prayer-book I was
married at Rome to Prince Augustus Frederick, on the 4th of
April, 1793, by the Rev. Mr. ---- "