We should not act with justice or honour if we neglected to state this omission; because the letter reflected much credit upon the princess, and ought to have been the first read when the council assembled. The result of this new inquiry, however, was what the vindictive queen intended it should be; for the almost-distracted Princess of Wales was refused the natural privilege of intercourse with her only daughter!

In the mean time, every opportunity was gladly embraced to detract the character of the princess. Base inuendos and malicious remarks were incessantly poured forth against her, until her life became one continued scene of sorrow and abuse, caused by those from whom she ought to have experienced protection. Under these imputations, the princess again appealed, by an address to the Speaker of the House of Commons; and, after many inquiries and replies, the subject was dismissed with an acknowledgment, that "Her royal highness is declared free from all imputation."

We must not here forget to mention, that Mr. C. Johnstone submitted a motion, on the 5th of March, "to request the prince regent will permit the copy of a certain report, made in 1806, to be laid before the House;" but Lord Castlereagh opposed it, as

[[226]]being unnecessary, and the document was consequently refused.

Notwithstanding the disgust manifested by every honest Englishman at the base conduct of Sir John and Lady Douglas, when they preferred their abominable charge against the character of the Princess of Wales in the year 1806, they had the hardihood to present a petition to the House this year to re-swear to the truth of their former depositions concerning the conduct of the Princess of Wales! No proceedings, of course, took place in consequence of this attempt still to propagate their calumnies; but a motion was made by Mr. C. Johnstone, a few days afterwards in the House of Commons, "That the petition of Sir John and Lady Douglas ought to be regarded as an audacious attempt to give a colour of truth, in the eyes of the nation, to evidence which they had delivered touching the conduct of her royal highness the Princess of Wales, and which evidence was a foul and detestable endeavour to bring the life and honour of her royal highness into danger and suspicion." This resolution, however, could not be passed, in consequence of the House not being in possession of the evidence, which was refused, as we have just stated, by Lord Castlereagh; but many members expressed their agreement with the sentiments of the resolution.

What was the real reason for not prosecuting Sir John and Lady Douglas, after the House had rejected their petition with such indignation, on the motion of Mr. Johnstone, it is not very easy to

[[227]]divine; that alleged by Lord Castlereagh is most certainly not a satisfactory one. It has been often insinuated, that if the conspiracy against the life and honour of the Princess of Wales did not originate with her royal relatives, it was certainly fostered and brought to maturity by persons connected with the queen and the prince regent; and the evidence of Bidgood and Cole very much favours that opinion. If the Douglases, and Bidgood and Cole, were the "suborned traducers," to which her royal highness alluded in one of her letters to the prince about this time, the impunity with which the knight and his lady were suffered to continue at large cannot excite surprise. This impunity, the report that Bidgood had received a pension of one hundred and fifty pounds a year, and the direct interference of the Prince of Wales in promoting the inquiry, and in entering his caveat to prevent the princess being received at court, have thrown a suspicious veil around this part of the proceedings, which will not be very soon removed.

On the 23rd of March, the Princess of Wales had to bear another severe stroke of fortune, in the death of her mother, the Duchess of Brunswick, who was interred with much funeral pomp, at Windsor, on the 31st. This melancholy event, following so closely after her late persecutions, was as much as the princess could endure; and had it not been for the sympathetic attentions of one confidant, her royal highness would, no doubt, have sunk under her immense load of sorrow.

[[228]]In July and August, the princess devoted the greater portion of her time to correspondence with the prince, her husband. Very many of the letters could not, we think, have met the eye of the regent, or answers must have been sent, if only in common courtesy, as the prince knew his honour, and also that of his family, were at stake. We have transcripts of all these letters; but shall content ourselves with only introducing the last she wrote to his royal highness previous to her going abroad. The following is a literal copy of it:

"23rd of Aug., 1813.