Blackheath. This was certainly not the situation in which the country would wish to see the wife of the Prince Regent placed, or in which they considered that she ought to be placed. At a time when additional grants were wanted for the other branches of the royal family, it was natural to ask, why had she been so neglected?

Mr. Tierney then rose, and said that he had yet another objection to make relative to the civil list, and that was with respect to the provision which it contained for the Princess of Wales. There was talk, indeed, of a separation, but the House knew nothing of such a separation: the right honourable gentleman, Mr. Perceval, however, knew a great deal about it; he had acted as counsel in that investigation so much talked of; and it was surpris. ing he should now sit so mute, and hear all this whispered about respecting his favourite Princess, his client, and not have one word to say in her defence! It struck him (Mr. Tierney) very forcibly, that there was now a person in this country representing the Prince Regent's wife, who was as much a Queen as he a King.

Thus called upon, however, the Chancellor of the Exchequer did say, on the 17th of April, 1811, "that what he had stated with respect to the Princess of Wales was, that neither in his situation as counsel to her Royal Highness, nor in any other character, was he conscious that there existed a ground of charge. He should always be prepared to make the same statement."

Mr. Whitbread, on this occasion, also said, “I have heard that the Queen is about to hold a drawing-room of course no hopes can now exist of his Majesty's recovery; because if there were any, such a step would not be resorted to; but in case that drawing-room be held, I would wish to know if there is to be any public appearance of the Princess of Wales? This is no private concern the public have a right to demand, why the acknowledged consort of their Regent does not appear in public as such. No affectation of delicacy can be permitted to stand in the way of a nation's anxiety, upon a question of such national importance. If any man can satisfy the public upon this topic, it is the right honourable gentleman, Mr. Perceval. They believe him to have conscientiously undertaken her defence to have written her vindication-to have perused that vindication to have published it. That vindication is said to have involved in it an attack upon her royal consort. It was known to have been an attack upon his Royal Highness, and the Regent's first minister is known to have been the author of it: and after he had published it; after it had been read by one and one hundred, it was bought up at an enormous expence; bought up by the private secretary of the honourable gentleman. I ask him now, does he retain his former opinion of the unexceptionable conduct of the Princess of Wales ? I ask him, if he did not lately in the House solemnly record his confirmation of that opinion?

and if it is now what it was the other night, I call проп him to explain, if he can, his apparent dé sertion of her just claims to that respect, notice, provision, and consideration, due to the undoubted Princess Regent of these realms. These are questions, which, as he values his own consistency, as he values the character and claims of the Princess, and as he respects the Prince, his master, he is bound to answer."

to To these close and pressing questions, Mr. Perceval gave such an answer as most completely exculpated her Royal Highness from all guilt or culpability whatever. Notwithstanding this, the public journals that were supposed to be in the confidence of the Regent's ministers, and of course, under the influence, in a great degree, of this same Mr. Perceval, and his colleagues, continued, from time to time, to cast the most cruel, though indirect, censure on the conduct and character of the Princess of Wales; and from the circumstance of very frequent conferences being held between the Regent, the Lord-Chancellor, &c. added to the knowledge of some disagreement at Windsor, it was at length suggested that a very important charge was about to take place in the connubial relations of the Prince Regent and his wife. Though the innocence of the Princess had been proved to the entire satisfaction of his Majesty's cabinet, as well as to that of every honest, unprejudiced man in the kingdom, it was most unfeelingly hinted, in some of the papers above

alluded to, that as the constitution knew nothing of the council's authority or decisions, another trial, before another tribunal, would be necessary, A jury was talked of, and facts hinted at, as very. proper to come before it.

Such was the rankling spleen of Her Royal Highness's enemies!-such was the bitter animosity with which they never ceased to pursue her! Her acquittal worked no change in the minds or the malice of her adversaries; with undeviating rancour they watched all her steps; with unbounded vindictiveness they ripped open every wound; endeavoured by every artifice to lacerate her keenest sensibilities; to torture and goad her to desperation; and so to poison the public mind against her, as to render her the object of universal scorn and derision. With more bitter animosity was human being never before hunted; yet every diabolical effort failed of its object: the good sense and unshaken virtue of the people of England, resisted every attempt of the enemies of their favourite Princess. In proportion to the malignity of her fees, the zeal of her friends enkindled; but, alas! her Royal Highness had to contend against all the power, and all the wealth, and all the influence of the aristocracy: the great body of the people was decidedly ind her favour; but the people had no means of rescuing her from the hands of her persecutors, who had the art and the power to misrepresent every thing she said or did, and to palliate, excuse, and defend whatever was done to her prejudice. What, how

ever, was the dismay with which they were struck on reading in the Morning Chronicle of Wednes day, the 10th of February, the following Letter of the Princess of Wales to the Prince Regent!HL

"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 of a public nature. If I could think them so-if they related merely to myself I should abstain from a proceeding which might give an-. easiness, or interrupt the more weighty occupations of your Royal 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 been so long 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 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 suspi cions that malice can suggest. If these ought to be the feelings of every woman in England who is couscious 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 3 c

17.