Captain FitzGerald was considerably blamed by various people for this letter, so much so that two months later—an evidence of the continuance of the scandal, which had by that time assumed very serious proportions—he wrote a second and a third letter, which he sent to the Marchioness of Hastings, as well as copies to Flora Hastings’ brother, begging that they should be shown to everyone interested. They ran as follows:—
“Brussels, May 30th, 1839.
“I have been blamed by so many people for having made (as they say) an unnecessary exposure of the outrage inflicted on Lady Flora Hastings at Buckingham Palace that I think it necessary to explain why I published a narrative of the principal facts attending it. I was living at Brussels when it occurred; everyone there knew of it before I did. On the 13th of March I received a letter from England giving me a minute detail of what had happened, from which I thought there could not be a doubt of her innocence, and that her brother had fully done his duty. I was soon undeceived. Letters poured in upon me from all quarters containing the same injurious reports. I found that Lord Hastings’ proceedings were unknown, except in his own circle, and at Buckingham Palace; that he was abused in the London Clubs for not having acted with sufficient spirit, and that infamous stories were circulated about his sister, under the old plea of propagating lies with strictest injunctions to secrecy. Everyone except her own family are acquainted with them. Whenever I tried to trace them to their source,
I was met by the same answer: ‘I cannot give up my authority, and I must beg of you not to quote me, but I assure you the report is very generally believed.’ It was said that the present was at least the second error, as when she left Buckingham Palace last year she was certainly pregnant. Bets were laid on the time when her situation would force her to ‘bolt’ from the Palace! At Vienna it was believed on the 15th of March that she had remained an hour on her knees begging mercy of the Queen, and that Lord Hastings having, as a Peer, forced his way into the Royal presence, had upbraided Her Majesty, who made him no answer, but curtsied and retired when his tirade was over! I immediately went to England; when I arrived in London I found all these reports in circulation. Lady Flora’s family were not in town, and the generality of indifferent people were inclined to believe them. The known fact that no one of the Queen’s household had been punished for the insult she had received seemed to say that the Government did not think her assailants deserved punishment, or, in other words, that she had not been ill-treated by them. The inference from which was, that she had been favoured and spared from motives of humanity. Nothing seemed to me to prevent the complete establishment of this opinion, but the prompt punishment which the Duchess of Kent had inflicted on Sir James Clark by dismissing him from Her Royal Highness’s household. I landed in the City, and remained there many days to ascertain what judgment the respectable and unprejudiced citizens had passed on the case. I consulted with many persons, and by their assistance was present at many discussions held by people who did not know me, at those respectable houses where men of business pass their evenings, and discuss the news and speculations. I found public opinion was universally against Lady Flora. The general idea was that ‘she had been treated with unnecessary harshness,’ that she ‘should have been got quietly out of the way,’ that ‘such things occurred every day in palaces, people who place their daughters in them must take the consequences of doing so.’ It was often said ‘her brother would not have been so quiet if he had not known that more than he liked would have come out if the thing had not been hushed up.’ I concluded that the opinion of the people at large was the same as that of the people of London, as they were both acted on by the same fallacious evidence, anonymous statements in newspapers; and I was confirmed in my original opinion that it was the duty of Lady Flora’s family to extinguish all false reports by publishing a full statement of the case, and openly challenging contradiction. I felt that Lord Hastings could not do himself justice in publishing his own acts, and that delicacy, brotherly love, and family pride might prevent him from being sufficiently accurate and minute in stating his sister’s wrongs. I therefore determined to publish it myself.
“Hamilton FitzGerald.”
To the Marchioness of Hastings (Countess of Loudoun) Captain FitzGerald wrote:—
“Dear Lady Hastings,—The manner in which I find myself avoided by ‘serviles’ for having exposed their infamy made it necessary for me to write my reasons for publishing. I sent Hastings a copy of it, and I now send you one. I have no idea of publishing it, unless unforeseen circumstances do not make it useful to do, but I beg of you either to show it, or give a copy of it to anyone you choose. My first was a statement of the facts, this is one of the lies of the infamous; the actors knew that Flora’s established character would show off their filth, so they tried to sap it. I have both Lady Portman’s and Lady Tavistock’s statement of their conduct. By the former it appears the doctor went of his own accord to tell his suspicions to Lady Portman, and asked her opinion. This proves breach of trust, plotting, and malignity. Why, if he had suspicions, did he not go to the Duchess of Kent? No! that would have stopped his agitation. Why did Lady Portman reduce an unanswerable examination into a doubtful consultation of physicians on the state of Flora’s health? Because she knew it would have answered all the lies in circulation about former misconduct. But, bad as all this is, it is not as bad as Lady Tavistock’s conduct. She says when she heard the reports in February she wished to have spoken of them to Flora, but was prevented by circumstances, and it became her duty to tell the Prime Minister of them. What, I should like to know, prevented her speaking to Flora? It could be nothing but a combination having decided that neither Flora nor her Royal Mistress should be informed of what was going on. Lord Melbourne, having been informed of it, should either have stopped it, or informed the Duchess of it, if he believed the report. I think Lady Tavistock’s short note would convict her and Lord Melbourne before any court in London.”
Of course, these letters present the case from one side; the pity is that nothing remains in the way of evidence upon the other. The Queen seems to have thought that the private expression of her sorrow was sufficient. She did not realise, or she chose to ignore, that her very position made the matter a public one, and that the whole country was talking about and discussing the probability of Lady Flora’s guilt. Either she herself had taken too great a part in the humiliation of Lady Flora to allow herself to show displeasure to anyone without being unjust, or she was obstinately determined to do and say no more to clear her mother’s friend and servant, or she was screening one of her own people. Lady Flora’s reputation would probably have suffered all through a long life had she lived, because of the Queen’s silence and disregard, but the illness which had afflicted her early in the year returned, and she died in July.
Of this the Tories, who were, as has been said, in an excited, disaffected state, made great capital. Their papers announced the illness of Lady Flora, but ignored the mention of any specific disease; she was raised to the position of a martyr that the Queen might be the more effectually denounced. “Poor girl! the wound has not been healed, and the calumniated lady is sinking under a blow inflicted by the yet unpunished slanderers, who still seek the favour of the Sovereign in the very Palace where the victim of their fiendish and indelicate malignity is lying with breaking heart and bowed down spirit. She has borne up nobly against the flood of demonised falsehood which has been let loose upon her; now Nature can no longer sustain the contest, and the body is prostrated by the agony of the mind. We dare not trust ourselves to speak as we feel, but this we will say, that if Lady Flora Hastings die, her death will fling a blight upon the Palace, which Royal banquetings will never overcome, and regal smiles never make to pass away.”
This is but a sample of many articles and paragraphs. The Baroness Lehzen, though her name had not publicly appeared in the trouble, was regarded generally as the most obnoxious person about the Court, probably because she was never known to give counsel, and yet was believed to be always whispering in the ear of the Queen.