munication of my intention to avail myself, with your Majesty's permission, of that advice, for the purpose of waiting upon your Majesty on Monday next, if that day should not be inconvenient; when I hope again to have the happiness of throwing myself, in filial duty and affection, at your Majesty's feet. Your Majesty will easily conceive, that I reluctantly name so distant a day as Monday, but I do not feel myself sufficiently recovered from the measles, to venture upon so long a drive at an earlier day. Feeling, however, very anxious to receive again, as soon as possible, this blessing, of which I have been so long deprived, if that day should happen to be in any degree inconvenient, I humbly entreat and implore your Majesty's most gracious and paternal goodness to name some other day, as early as possible, for that purpose. To the King. I am, &c. C. P. His Majesty lost not a moment in answering this letter, which was couched in the following terms: Windsor Castle, January 29, 1807. The King has this moment received the Princess of Wales's letter in which she intimates her intention of coming to Windsor on Monday next; and his Majesty, not wishing to put the Princess to the inconvenience of coming to this place so immediately after her illness, hastens to acquaint her, that he shall prefer to receive her in London upon a day subsequent to the ensuing week, which will also better suit his Majesty, and of which he will not fail to apprize the Princess. To the Princess of Wales. (Signed) GEORGE R. The hopes and expectations of the Princess Charlotte were in some degree damped by the general tenour of his Majesty's letter, as it was her fondest wish that the restoration of her mother to the circle of the royal family might take place at Windsor, where she could be an eyewitness of the scene, and enjoy the pleasure of it with all the enthusiastic warmth of her generous nature. What, then, must have been her feelings, when the following letter was written by his Majesty to her mother: Windsor Castle, February 10, 1807. As the Princess of Wales may have been led to expect, from the King's letter to her, that he would fix an early day for seeing her, his Majesty thinks it right to acquaint her, that the Prince of Wales, upon receiving the several documents, which the King directed his cabinet to transmit to him, made a formal communication to him of his intention to put them into the hands of his lawyers; accompanied by a request, that his Majesty would suspend any farther steps in the business, until the Prince of Wales should be enabled to submit to him the statement which he proposed to make. The King, therefore, considers it incumbent upon him to defer naming a day to the Princess of Wales, until the further result of the Prince's intention shall have been made known to him. To the Princess of Wales. (Signed) GEORGE R. On the receipt of this letter the Princess of Wales wrote to his Majesty, remonstrating in strong terms against this most extraordinary and unaccountable interposition of the Prince of Wales, at such a time, and under such circumstances; and she trusted his Majesty would recal his determination not to see her till the Prince's answer respecting her vindication was received. In the. letter, besides other topics which were dwelt upon to shew the hardness of her case, she introduced copies of the letter of the Prince to her, first stating the conditions on which they were to live separate, and of her answer to the proposal. Of the reproof respecting her conduct, which his Majesty, by the advice of his confidential servants, had transmitted to her, she complained not so much for what it did, as for what it did not, contain, since there was no particular mention of what was the cause and object of censure. Soon after this letter was sent, the Grenville administration went out of office, and they were succeeded by the friends of the Princess. It was, therefore, natural to suppose, that the object of her various petitions would be granted. Accordingly they had been but a very short time in power, when, by a Minute of Council, dated April 22, 1807, they humbly submitted to his Majesty, that it was essentially necessary, in justice to her Royal Highness, and for the honour and interests of his Majesty's illustrious family, that her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales should be admitted with as little delay as possible into his Majesty's presence; and that she should be received in a manner due to her rank and station in his Majesty's court and family. Notwithstanding this advice, it does not appear that the Princess of Wales was ever on the same footing, either at court or in the royal family, as she had previously been, while her intercourse with the Princess Charlotte was subjected to additional restraint. Why her only child, whose sex and years in a peculiar manner called for the utmost exertions of maternal tenderness, should be denied to her, is a mystery, the solution of which is now beyond our hopes. Mr. Perceval, a very few months before his death, publicly declared, in his place in the House of Commons, that he knew of nothing against the character of the Consort of the Prince Regent; and yet she was debarred from the society of the only being who could have solaced her under her afflictions. On the acquittal of her Royal Highness from. those heavy and serious charges which had been brought against her, addresses of congratulation were poured in from all parts of the country; and the answer which she gave to the address of the City of London deserves particular notice, as it refers to that line of education in regard to politics, which she would have adopted for the Princess Charlotte. "I thank you," she said, "for your loyal and affectionate address: it is to me the greatest consolation to learn, that during so many years of unmerited persecution, notwithstanding the active and persevering dissemination of the most deliberate calumnies against me, the kind and favourable sentiments, with which they did me the honor to approach me on my arrival in this country, have undergone neither diminution nor change in the hearts of the citizens of London, The sense of indignation and abhorrence you express against the foul and detestable conspiracy which, by perjured and suborned traducers, has been carried on against my life and honour, is worthy of you, and most gratifying to me. It must be duly appreciated by every branch of that illustrious House, with which I am so closely connected by blood and marriage, the personal welfare of every one of whom must have been affected by the success of such atrocious machinations. The consciousness of my innocence has supported me through my long, severe, and unmerited trials; your approbation of my conduct under them is a reward for all my sufferings. I shall not lose any opportunity I may be permitted to enjoy of encouraging the talents and virtues of my dear daughter, the Princess Charlotte; and I shall impress upon her mind my full sense of the obligation conferred upon me by the spontaneous act of your justice and generosity. She will therein clearly perceive the value of that Constitution, which, in the natural course of events, it will be her high destiny to preside over, and her sacred duty to maintain, which allows no one to sink under oppression; and she will ever be bound to the City of London, in ties proportioned to the strength. of that filial attachment I have had the happiness uniformly to experience from her. Be assured, that the cordial and convincing proof you have thus given of your solicitude for my prosperity and happiness will be cherished in grateful remembrance by me to the latest moment of my |