writ appears to have been originally confined to the courts of King's Bench and Chancery; the court of Common Pleas was included at a more recent period. But it seemed of great importance, that the whole courts of Westminster Hall should equally be invested with this salutary privilege; and this improvement accordingly formed one of the objects of the bill. Another of its provisions would have bestowed upon the judges the same power of issuing this writ in vacation as in term time; and it seems a glaring absurdity indeed, that a constitutional remedy of the highest importance to every English subject should be inaccessible to him at certain pe

riods, merely because it may be inconvenient that the supreme courts of justice should, at such seasons, hold their sittings. But the most important of the improvements contemplated by this bill, was a provision by which the judge, or court issuing the writ, should at all times be empowered to investigate the truth or falsehood of the facts stated in the return-a power without which the mere issuing of the writ must, in many instances, prove altogether nugatory.-Leave was accordingly given to bring in the bill, in which, however, little progress was made during the course of the present session.

THE unbecoming discussions which had occurred during the last session of parliament, upon the differences be twixt his Royal Highness the Prince Regent and the Princess of Wales, had filled with disgust the minds of all honourable men. In the prosecution of our duty as recorders of the events of the times, we must not shrink from the further details of this painful subject; and while we shall state them with all the delicacy due to the elevated personages more immediately concerned, we shall be mindful, at the same time, of the paramount claims of truth.

In the month of June, 1814, Eng. land was visited by many illustrious strangers from the continent, and preparations were made to entertain them according to the splendour and magnificence which became the British court. The Queen, therefore, determined to hold her drawing rooms in the course of that month, and accordingly notified that intention to the public. The appearance of the Prince Regent at these drawing-rooms was of course indispensable, but his Royal Highness, for reasons which he himself deemed satisfactory, had determined not to meet the Princess. He therefore communicated to the Queen

his resolution upon this point; and her Majesty accordingly signified to the Princess the impossibility of her appearing at the drawing-rooms. To this intimation the Princess returned the following answer :

"Madam,-I have received the letter which your Majesty has done me the honour to address to me, prohibiting my appearance at the public drawing-rooms which will be held by your Majesty in the ensuing month, with great surprise and regret.

"I will not presume to discuss with your Majesty topics which must be as painful to your Majesty as to myself.

"Your Majesty is well acquainted with the affectionate regard with which the King was so kind as to honour me, up to the period of his Majesty's indisposition, which no one of his Majesty's subjects has so much cause to lament as myself; and that his Majesty was graciously pleased to bestow upon me the most unequivocal and gratifying proof of his attachment and approbation, by his publie reception of me at his court, at a season of severe and unmerited affliction, when his protection was most necessary to me. There I have since uninterruptedly paid my respects to your Majesty. I am now without appeal or protector.

But I cannot so far forget my duty to the King and to myself, as to surren der my right to appear at any public drawing-room to be held by your Majesty.

"That I may not, however, add to the difficulty and uneasiness of your Majesty a situation, I yield in the present instance to the will of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, announced to me by your Majesty, and shall not present myself at the drawingrooms of the next month.

"It would be presumptuous in me to attempt to enquire of your Majesty the reasons of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent for this harsh proceeding, of which his Royal Highness can alone be the judge. I am unconscious of offence; and in that reflection, I must endeavour to find consolation for all the mortifications I experience; even for this, the last, the most unexpected, and the most severe; the prohibition given to me alone to appear before your Majesty, to offer my congratulations upon the happy termina tion of those calamities with which Europe has been so long afflicted, in the presence of the illustrious personages who will in all probability be as sembled at your Majesty's court, with whom I am so closely connected by birth and marriage.

"I beseech your Majesty to do me an act of justice, to which, in the present circumstances, your Majesty is the only person competent, by acquainting those illustrious strangers with the motives of personal consideration towards your Majesty which alone induce me to abstain from the exercise of my right to appear before your Majesty; and that I do now, as I have done at all times, defy the malice of my enemies to fix upon me the shadow of any one imputation which could render me unworthy of their society or regard.

"Your Majesty will, I am sure, not be displeased that I should relieve my

self from the suspicion of disrespect towards your Majesty, by making public the cause of my absence from court at a time when the duties of my sta tion would otherwise peculiarly demand my attendance."

There was something inconsistent in the request made to the Queen, to communicate to her visitors the causes of the absence of the Princess of Wales, while the latter expressed her determination to make the whole case known to the world; and the Queen accordingly replied to this demand in the following terms :

"The Queen has received, this afternoon, the Princess of Wales's letter of yesterday, in reply to the communication which she was desired by the Prince Regent to make to her; and she is sensible of the disposition expressed by her Royal Highness, not to discuss with her topics which must be painful to both. The Queen considers it incumbent upon her to send a copy of the Princess of Wales's letter to the Prince Regent; and her Majesty could have felt no hesitation in communicating to the illustrious stran gers who may possibly be present at her court, the circumstances which will prevent the Princess of Wales from appearing there, if her Royal Highness had not rendered a compliance with her wish to this effect unneces sary, by intimating her intention of making public the cause of her absence."

The correspondence which followed was immaterial; but on the 3d of June the Speaker of the House of Commons received from the Princess of Wales a note in the following terms. This paper was communicated to the House.

"The Princess of Wales desires Mr Speaker will inform the House of Com. mons, that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has been advised to take such steps as have prevented her from

appearing at court, and to declare his Royal Highness's fixed and unal terable determination never to meet the Princess of Wales upon any occa sion, either in public or private.'

"The proceedings of 1806 and 1807, and last year, are in the recollection of the House, as well as the ample and unqualified vindication of the Princess's conduct, to which those proceedings led.

"It is impossible for the Princess of Wales to conceal from herself the intention of the advice which has now been given to the Prince Regent, and the probability that there are ultimate objects in view, pregnant with danger to the security of the succession, and the domestic peace of the realm.

"Under these circumstances, even if the Princess's duty towards herself could suffer her to remain silent, her sense of what is due to her daughter, and to the highest interests of the country, compels her to make this communication to the House of Com

mons.

"The Princess of Wales incloses copies of the correspondence which has passed, and which she requests Mr Speaker will communicate to the House."

After this letter had been read, Mr Methuen moved, "That an humble address be presented to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, to pray his Royal Highness that he will be graciously pleased to acquaint this House, by whose advice his Royal Highness was induced to form the fixed and unalterable determination never to meet her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either in private or public,' as communicated by his Royal Highness to her Majesty; together with the reasons submitted to his Royal Highness, upon which such advice was founded."

In support of this unreasonable motion, Mr Methuen exclaimed, "What,

sir, shall the boasted liberty of this country be henceforth considered but as an empty name! Shall that soil, which has been hitherto said to confer, instantaneously, freedom on the most abject slave who had the good fortune to tread it-must this sacred soil lose its longacknowledged charm, and sink to the lowest level in the scale of nations! Shall this House, distinguished as it has been in the cause of humanity, in the cause of the poor African, deny the smallest portion of the same christian-like balm, to heal the wounds of a princess! Or is it for the slave alone that the manly heart can feel, or the eloquent tongue can plead? I should like to ask the House, if the very cir cumstance of the Princess Charlotte being at all permitted to see her mother, is not a strong proof of her innocence; as her visits ought to be altogether prohibited, if her mother were an unfit person for her society? I should be glad to know if the Here. ditary Prince of Orange does not consider her as innocent, when he writes to her, as a proper compliment to his future mother-in-law, to inform her of his approaching nuptials with her daughter? She has received also letters of congratulation from the Prince and Princess Dowager of Orange. I should not be at all astonished to hear the publication of these letters objected to. But, sir, I cannot see any other course she had left to take. She had already written to you, sir, who so ably and so honourably fill that chair which I am now addressing. She next wrote to the Chancellor, and afterwards to the Regent himself. I need not inform the House with what effect. She had therefore no resource, but an appeal to the hearts and understandings of her future subjects. But, sir, if a precedent were wanting to vindicate her conduct on this occasion, it would be easy to find one, and that of the highest authority. It must be

fresh in the memory of the House, that in the year 1804, his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, with a spirit well worthy the heir-apparent of the British throne, desirous of being foremost in command in case of invasion, then threatened by that restless and merciless scourge of mankind, whose sun of glory is now set, and whose dreams of mad ambition are now happily at an end, applied to his Majesty for a command. His Majesty refused the request; the Prince felt his character concerned, and appealed to the tribunal of the public, publishing his letters to his Majesty and the Duke of York. The Annual Register of that year will assist any gentleman's memory which may be defective on this subject. Among many strange and undefined charges, for want of proving criminality, I have heard the charge of bad taste most commonly urged against her. But, sir, though I consider bad taste as by no means a desirable ingredient in the composition of a princess, yet when we reflect upon the various perils with which her paths through life have been beset, when we reflect upon her education abroad, and her situation at home, ought no allowances to be made for a princess who has not had the happiness to have the taste, or at once to understand the feelings or manners of this country? But, sir, I agree with her Royal Highness, that the time chosen to proscribe her is peculiarly galling; and I feel the full force of that part of her letter which applies to the approach of her daughter's nuptials and the event of her own coronation. And I should like to ask if she is to be excluded from either of these ceremonies? I hope when the necessary supplies for the marriage are granted by parliament, they will be granted conditionally, that the marriage shall be a public one, and that the Princess of Wales shall appear at it

with all the consequence and splendour due to her situation.

"I could have wished, sir, that at a time when the peace of Europe is settling, that of England might have been confirmed; and that no unhallowed difference might have intruded itself on the presence of imperial and royal visitors, to quench the flame of enthusiasm, and check the full tide of gratitude flowing towards those to whom, under Providence, we are so signally indebted. Under all circumstances, her Royal Highness, to use her own words, is entitled to be proved guilty, or treated as innocent. She has a right to claim this, which is the common birth-right of the English; she has a right to claim it as a subject, as a fellow-creature, as the wife of the Prince Regent, and as the mother of our future Queen."

Mr Bathurst, in answer to this gentleman, said, "He must observe that there was no prohibition against the Princess of Wales attending her Majesty's drawing-room. The Prince had only signified his determination of not meeting her there; and if she had persisted in what she was pleased to term her right of attending, it would have then been a serious consideration for the Prince Regent, whether he could go himself or not. Any discussion on this subject would come with more propriety when the future establishment of the Princess Charlotte should be moved for, in case of her marriage, and that her mother was not present at that ceremony. Another honourable member had intimated his intention of discussing the subject, should that occasion take place. It was not an unusual thing for members of the royal family to be excluded from the court of the sovereign. It was a thing which had frequently happened, without any imputation against the character of those branches of the royal family whe