the publication of that letter soon convinced me, that one ought not to take it for granted, that the mass of the people know much about particulars as to any sort of public matter; and that to suppose one's readers to be on the other side of the Atlantic is no bad way of making any case that one discusses quite clear to the people of England; nay, even to nine-tenths of those who walk, in decent clothes, about the streets of London itself.

It is, therefore, in the full conviction that I shall communicate information to a great portion of the people here as well as to the eight millions of people who inhabit the United States, that I now renew my correspondence with you, leaving my promised communication, about the mode of keeping large quantities of sheep upon your farm, till the return of peace, lest, by fulfilling that promise at this time, I should subject myself to the charge of conveying comfort and giving assistance to the enemies of my Sovereign, than which, assuredly, nothing can be further from my heart.

The subject, upon which I now address you, is one of very great interest and of very great importance. It is interesting, as involving the reputation of persons of high rank; and it is important, as being capable of raising questions as to rights of most fearful magnitude.

You will have seen, in your own newspapers, copious extracts from our English daily papers upon the subject of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales; but, these extracts you will find so confused, so dark, so contradictory, so unintelligible upon the whole, so topless and tail-less, that you will from them be able to draw no rational conclusion. You will see Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales abused by these journalists; you will see all sorts of charges by them preferred against her; you will hear one insinuation following another, till, at last, the ear sickens with the sound; but, you will find nowhere any clear statement of her case. Even her own Letter, which I shall, though for a second time, insert below for your perusal, does not go far enough back to produce that view of her case which ought to be exhibited, in order to a defence of her against the base insinuations which have, for a long while, been in circulation. In short, all that will reach your country, through the channel of these corrupt London Journalists, can only serve to mislead you as to the real merits of the case; and, even I, with a most earnest desire to lay before the world the means of forming a correct judgment, should fail of my object, were I not to revert to the earliest period of that connexion between the Princess and the Prince, which has, unhappily, been, for some years, interrupted.

It is generally well known, but not improper to state here, that the Princess of Wales is the daughter of the late Duke of Brunswick, and that her mother is a sister of our present King. Of course she is a first cousin of the Prince her husband. They were married on the 8th of April, 1795, the Prince being then 32 years of age, and the Princess being 26 years of age; the former will be 51 the 12th day of next August, and the latter will be 45 on the 17th of next May. On the 7th of January, 1796, that is to say, precisely nine months from the day of their marriage, was born the Princess Charlotte of Wales, who, being their only child, is the heiress to the Throne, and who, of course, has now completed her 17th year.

Here you have an account of who the parties most concerned are, and of the how and the when of their connexion. But, there were some cir

cumstances, connected with the marriage of the Prince and Princess, to which it will be necessary to go back, in order to have a fair view of the matter.

The Prince, at the time when he was about to be married, in 1795, was greatly in debt. He had an annual allowance from the nation, besides the amount of certain revenues in the county of Cornwall belonging to him as Duke of that county. But, these proving insufficient to meet his expenses, he was found, in 1795, to have contracted debts to the amount of 639,890l. 4s. 4d. ; for we are very particular, in this country, in stating the fractions of sums in our public accounts. You will, perhaps, stare at this sum; but you may depend upon my correctness in stating it, as I copy it from the documents laid before Parliament.

When the Prince was married, a proposition was made to Parliament for the payment of this sum of debt, which, indeed, seems to have been stipulated for before the marriage; for, in the report of the debate upon the subject of the debts, the Duke of Clarence is stated to have said, "that when the marriage of the Prince of Wales was agreed upon, there was a stipulation that he should be exonerated from his debts." Much and long opposition was, however, made to the proposed payment by the country, and those who made this opposition contended, that, after having paid his debts, to a great amount, in 1787, upon a clear understanding, that no more debts should be contracted on his account, the nation ought not to be called on again, and that the King ought to pay the debts out of his annual allowance, which we here call the Civil List, and which amounts to nearly half as much as your whole American revenue, though there are eight millions of you on whom to raise that revenue. See how rich a nation we must be!

The proposition was, however, at last agreed to; but, it ought to be borne in mind, that, through the whole of the discussions, the ground upon which this new call upon the public purse rested, was the Prince's marriage. The debts were not paid off in a ready sum; but, were to be liquidated by certain yearly deductions to come out of an additional yearly allowance to be made to the Prince; and, in case of the death of the King or of the Prince before the debts were all paid, the payment of the remainder was to fall upon the public revenues. So that it amounted to exactly the same thing in effect as if a simple vote had been given for the payment of the debts, at once, out of the year's taxes.

The King, in his message to the Houses, in about twenty days after the marriage took place, asked for an establishment to be settled upon the Prince" and his august spouse," and, at the same time, told them, that the benefit of any such settlement could not be effectually secured to the Prince," till he was relieved from his present encumbrances to a large amount." Upon this ground the Prince's annual amount from the nation was augmented. It was raised at once, from 60,000l. a year to

125,000l. a year; and, of this sum, 25,000l. a year were set apart for the discharge of his debts. To this was added a sum of 27,000l. for preparations for the marriage; 28,000l., for jewels and plate; and 26,0007. for finishing Carlton House, the residence of the Prince.

It was necessary to enter into this statement, in order to show you what were the circumstances under which the Prince and Princess came toge ther, and to make you acquainted with the fact, that her Royal Highness did really bring to her Royal Spouse one of the greatest blessings on earth; namely, a relief from heavy pecuniary encumbrances, which en

cumbrances would, it is manifest, have continued to weigh upon his Royal Highness had his marriage not taken place.

But, Her Royal Highness also brought with her other claims to love and gratitude. She was represented at the time, and with truth, I believe, as a person of great beauty, but not greater than her sweetness of manners, her acquired accomplishments, and her strength and greatness of mind. She was received in England with transports of joy; addresses of admiration and gratitude poured in upon her from all quarters, and her husband was congratulated as the happiest of men. A similar torrent of addresses came in upon the birth of the Princess Charlotte of Wales. In short, no events seem ever to have caused such unmixed joy in this country as the marriage of this illustrious Lady and the birth of her child.

What a contrast, alas! is presented in the occurrences of the present day! What short-sighted mortals we are! Who, though the most farseeing of men, could, in 1796, while addresses of congratulation were succeeding each other to the Prince and Princess upon the birth of their child; who, at that day, could have anticipated, that the time was to come, when the mother would have to complain, aye, and to make public her complaints, of being debarred a free communication with that child!

This leads us to a consideration of the Princess's Letter; but, I ought, in the first place, to remind you, that it was not, as was stated at the time in print, many months after the Princess Charlotte was born before her Royal Mother had a place of residence separate from that of the Prince. Now, this might happen without ground of blame on either side. There are so many ways in which misunderstandings in families are created; there are so many causes from which the society of man and wife become disagreeable; and these causes may be founded in so many incidents having nothing of crime or blame belonging to them, that, when separations of this sort take place, it is a harsh judgment that will insist upon affixing blame to one party or the other. Therefore, I, for my part, have always been willing to content myself with expressing merely regret upon this subject, in which respect, I am satisfied, that I did no more than follow the example of the great mass of the community. Had things continued in this state; had the parties, though living at a distance from each other, suffered the world to hear nothing from them in the way of complaint against each other, all would yet have been well. Unhappily this has not been the case; accusations of a very serious nature are, in the public prints, now stated to have taken place in private, and, at last, the consequence has been the writing and the publication of that Letter of the Princess, which I am now about to make a subject of most respectful consideration and remark.

This, however, I shall defer till my next Number, for reasons, which, when that Number shall appear, will, I imagine, be obvious to all my readers. WM. COBBETT.

London, 24th Feb. 1813.

Copy of a Letter from Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent :

"SIR,-It is with great reluctance that I presume to obtrude 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—I should abstain from a proceeding which might give uneasiness, or interrupt the more weighty occupations of your Royal Highness's time. 1 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.

"But, Sir, there are considerations of a higher nature than any regard to my own happiness, which render this address a duty both to myself and my Daughter. May I venture to say-a duty also to my husband, and the people committed to his care? There is a point beyond which a guiltless 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 secret insinuation, and by holding such conduct towards 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 they 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 authority, 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 unsolicited condescension. I have 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 beloved child; or to throw myself at the feet of your Royal Highness, the natural protector of both.

"I presume, 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 disposition to think lightly of these. To see myself cut off from one of the very few domestic enjoyments left me-certainly the only one upon which I set any value-the society of my child -involves me in such misery, as 1 well know your Royal Highness could never inflict upon me, if you 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 fortnight; 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 allowed 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 construction fatal to the Mother's reputation. Your Royal Highness will also pardon me for adding, that there is no less inconsistency than injustice in this treatment. He who dares advise your Royal Highness to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the sentence of complete acquittal which it produced-or is wicked and false enough still to whisper suspicions in your ear,-betrays his duty to you, Sir, to your 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 culpable than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, and held up to the world as a Mother who may not enjoy the society of her only child.

"The feelings, Sir, which are natural to my unexampled situation, might justify me in the gracious judgment of your Royal Highness, had I no other motives for addressing you but such as relate to myself; but I will not disguise from your

Royal Highness what I cannot for a moment conceal from myself,-- that the serious, and it soon may be, the irreparable injury which my Daughter sustains from the plan at present pursued, has done more in overcoming my reluctance to intrude upon your Royal Highness, than any sufferings of my own could accomplish and if, for her sake, I presume to call away your Royal Highness's attention from the other cares of your exalted station, I feel confident I am 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 advised, are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, Sir, is made to your excellent sense and liberality of mind in the exercise of those powers; and 1 willingly hope, that your own parental feelings will lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine, for impelling me to represent 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 not be injured by the perpetual violence offered to her strongest affections-the studied care taken to estrange her from my society, and even to interrupt all communication between us? That her love for me, with whom, by His Majesty's wise and gracious arrangements, she passed the years of her infancy and childhood, never can be extinguished, I well know; and the knowledge of it forms the greatest blessing of my existence. But let me implore your Royal Highness to reflect, how inevitably all attempts to abate this attachment, by forcibly separating us, if they succeed, must injure my Child's principles-if they fail, must destroy her happiness.

"The plan of excluding my daughter from all intercourse with the world, appears to my humble judgment peculiarly unfortunate. She who is destined to be the Sovereign of this great country, enjoys none of those advantages of society which are deemed necessary for imparting a knowledge of mankind to persons who have infinitely less occasion to learn that important lesson; and it may so happen, by a chance which I trust is very remote, that she should be called upon to exercise the powers of the Crown, with an experience of the world more confined than that of the most private individual. To the extraordinary talents with which she is blessed, and which accompany a disposition as singularly amiable, frank, and decided, I willingly trust much: but beyond a certain point the greatest natural endowments cannot struggle against the disadvantages of circumstances and situation. It is my earnest prayer, for her own sake, as well as her country's, that your Royal Highness may be induced to pause before this point be reached.

"Those who have advised you, Sir, to delay so long the period of my daughter's commencing her intercourse with the world, and for that purpose to make Windsor her residence, appear not to have regarded the interruptions to her education which this arrangement occasions; both by the impossibility of obtaining the attendance of proper teachers, and the time unavoidably consumed in the frequent journeys to town which she must make, unless she is to be secluded from all intercourse, even with your Royal Highness and the rest of the Royal Family. To the same unfortunate counsels I ascribe a circumstance in every way so distressing both to my parental and religious feelings, that my Daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of Confirmation, although above a year older than the age at which all the other branches of the Royal Family have partaken of that solemnity. May I earnestly conjure you, Sir, to hear my entreaties upon this serious matter, even if you should listen to other advisers on things of less near concernment to the welfare of our Child?

"The pain with which I have at length formed the resolution of addressing myself to your Royal Highness is such as I should in vain attempt to express. If I could adequately describe it, you might be enabled, Sir, to estimate the strength of the motives which have made me submit to it: they are the most powerful feelings of affection, and the deepest impressions of duty towards your Royal Highness, my beloved Child, and the country, which I devoutly hope she may be preserved to govern, and to show, by a new example, the liberal affection of a free and generous people to a virtuous and Constitutional Monarch.

"I am, Sir, with profound respect, and an attachment which nothing can alter, your Royal Highness's most devoted and most affectionate Consort, Cousin, and Subject, (Signed) "CAROLINE LOUISA. "Montague-house, 14th of Jan. 1813."