national concern. With these partizans, therefore, the dread which the Princess Charlotte felt at leaving the country, was the sole and only probable cause of the rupture of the marriage. A different complexion was, however, given to it by the other party; who, in their turn, declared that the marriage was positively and solely broken off by the Princess Charlotte requiring a recognized right to visit the Princess of Wales, without limit or restraint, and a similar right to receive her at the hereditary house. In answer to which demand, the young prince declared himself willing to allow her Royal Highness to visit the Princess of Wales, making the right, however, subject to such limitation and restraint as HE may think proper; but he could not, by any means, allow the Princess of Wales to be received at his house. The Princess Charlotte, however, being firm in her purpose of establishing a recognised and undisturbed right of intercourse with her royal mother, the negotiation was understood to have finally broken off on this point.

In this conflict of opinions, a third party steps in, and asserts, that the negotiation was broken off in consequence of the extraordinary treatment of an exalted personage; and that the King of Prussia, and several of the princes of her house, were present during the discussion. As far, however, as the assertion of the Princess Charlotte herself may be considered as decisive of this

important question, it must be admitted, that the situation of her mother was the efficient cause of the rupture of the negotiation; for, in her letter to Lord Liverpool, she says, that she objects to be carried out of the kingdom at this time, when her presence might be so desirable to alleviate the situation of her mother; and, in the same letter to Lord Liverpool, there was a complaint made of the system of privacy and seclusion which had been adopted throughout the entire education of the Princess Charlotte,- a system which, however it may have been authorized by precedent, in the case of other princesses of the royal family, was by no means applicable to the person likely to sway the sceptre of these realms.

Firm and resolute in her determination to break off all negotiation respecting her marriage with the Prince of Orange, the Princess Charlotte wrote a letter to him expressive of her sentiments, in which she assured him that no personal objection to the union had influenced her in the determination she had come to; but that she was guided to it by those principles, a dereliction from which she would consider as a stigma upon her character.

On the receipt of this letter, the rejected suitor left London and set sail for Holland.

It is a curious coincidence, that, at the fête given by the city of London to the allied sovereigns, the Prince of Orange and Prince Leopold

of Saxe-Coburg sat close to each other; the one had lost the presumptive heiress to the first throne in the world, the other had gained her.

This positive rejection of the Prince of Orange exposed the Princess Charlotte to the most urgent remonstrances and expostulations on the part of the Prince Regent. From some quarters the most severe animadversions were passed upon her; and, by certain individuals, the dismissal of the Prince of Orange was denounced as a mere whim and caprice, and that no substantial grounds could be adduced by the Princess Charlotte for the line of conduct which she had adopted. Thus, in their way of reasoning, were the interests of the nation to be sacrificed at the shrine of female instability and it was shrewdly argued, that the objections might not be of an insuperable nature; as a partial concession of the claims or conditions, made by either party, would, in a moment, place the business again in the fairest train of being ultimately completed. Reports were therefore raised of a renewal of the negociation; and that, should it then fail, the fault could be attributed to the Princess Charlotte, and to her only.

The negociation, was, however, not renewed; and the Prince of Orange afterwards entered into a matrimonial alliance with one of the archduchesses of Russia, sister to the Emperor Alexander and to the Duchess of Oldenburg, who had taken such an active interest in his union with the Princess Charlotte of Wales.

6

The harassed situation in which the Princess Charlotte of Wales had been for some time, materially injured her health, and medical advice was resorted to. Dr. Baillie, Messrs. Cline and Keate were consulted; and, on the 6th July, the following certificate was made by those high professional characters :

Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Wales, being still not altogether free from the complaint in her right knee, and her Royal Highness's general health being considerably impaired, we recommend a residence on the sea-coast for two or three months this autumn; as the means most likely to restore her general health, and to cure what remains of the local affection.

July 6, 1814.

(Signed)

M. BAILLIE,

H. CLINE,

R. KEATE.

The advice was subsequently followed, and the Princess Charlotte repaired to Weymouth.

It now becomes the duty of the historian to record one of the most extraordinary and -singular actions which distinguish the short life of the Princess Charlotte of Wales; and which certainly exposed her to the severe censure of all those who viewed the affair in its proper light, and who could not be brought to qualify a positive breach of decorum, and a total neglect of all the dignity due to her rank, by the broad appellation of an act of a high and undaunted spirit. Unmerited aggression may, it is allowed, do much towards the commission of an indecorous act; but, in all cases, there is a dignity due to ourselves, and to

the rank we hold in society, which ought invariably to protect us from the commission of any act which could bring opprobrium on our heads. It must, however, at the same time, be admitted, that we cannot always keep a command over those feelings which suddenly impel us to action, when a series of undeserved injuries presses upon us, and no other outlet presents itself to our deliverance, than some bold and extraordinary act, which, under any other circumstances, would never have been attempted.

On the 16th July, the Princess Charlotte received an intimation from the Prince Regent, that an entire change in her establishment was in contemplation; and it was given with all that kindness and affection for which the Prince has been so universally distinguished in every point connected with the treatment of his beloved daughter. It is impossible to divine the motive of the Prince Regent for the adoption of this apparently harsh measure, nor was it ever elucidated to the satisfaction of the public. It is certain, that some altercations had taken place between the Prince and his daughter, in consequence of the latter rejecting the Prince of Orange; and it was generally credited, that the sudden dismissal of the establishment of the Princess Charlotte had some connexion with that unpleasant subject. It is, however, very difficult to trace that connexion; for the rejection of the Prince of Orange arose from motives which could have originated only in