COBBETT'S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER. VOL. XXIII. No. 8.] LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1813. [Price 1s. 225] PRINCESS OF WALES. It is now more than a year since I ventured to assert, that the BOOK would come out. Recent events seem to be fast -She -[226 me an insight into many things, with re- flect, before I proceed to my intended dis- public prints have proceeded, till, at last, they explicitly state, that the Princess of Wales was, upon oath, accused of HAV pressing on the day of its appearance; and, really, there does not appear to me to be any good reason, why the performances of PERCEVAL and his like should not be made matter of animadversion as well as the performances of other people.---The discussed. From one stage to another the PRINCESS OF WALES's LETTER to her Husband, which Letter will be found below, challenges a full public disclosure of every thing connected with the INVES-ING BEEN DELIVERED OF A MALE TIGATION of 1806. It challenges this CHILD, and that the said child, under the disclosure; and, besides this, it contains name of "BILLY FAWCETT," is NOW matter that seems to render further sup- ALIVE !- -Reader, do you not see the pression wholly incompatible with preserva- importance, the fearful import, of such tion of character in her accusers. statements? -It has been disproved, they asserts, that she was completely acquilled; tell us. The accusation, they say, has been she asserts also, that the evidence against proved to be false; and, that, upon such her was PROCURED BY SUBORNA-proof, the Princess has been acquitted. TION; she asserts, that these suborned Acquitted: How acquitted? Before what witnesses were PERJURED!--Now, if tribunal? What court of justice was she these assertions be true, of what a character tried in? Who had the power to try her? must have been the conduct of those, who Who had the legal authority to pronounce set on foot, and urged on, the proceedings an acquittal? Was she confronted with against her? And is it not just, is it not her accusers? And where was this done? necessary, that the people of England If such an accusation was preferred against should be rightly informed who those per- her, an accusation amounting to a charge sons were?- -It was my intention to en- of high treason, if coupled with that of ter, in this Number, upon a full discussion the child not being the child of her husband; of the divers points relating to this matter, if such an accusation was preferred, it which have been mooted in the public ought to have been made before some maprints. But, some AUTHENTIC AND gistrate, some magistrate known to the IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, apper-laws; and it could be legally entertained by taining to the subject, having been trans- no other person or persons.But, I am mitted to me since the publication of the departing from my intention. I will wait Last Register; documents which have given with all the patience I am master of till H next week. In the meanwhile I beg my readers to believe, that I shall state nothing from myself of the truth of which I am not quite certain. Copy of a Letter from Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent : ** SIR,It is with great reluctance that I presume to obtrude myself upon your Royal Highness, and to solicit your attention to matters which may, at first, appear rather of a personal than a public nature. If I could think them so-if they related merely to myself-I should abstain from a proceeding which might give uneasiness, or interrupt the more weighty occupations of your Royal Highness's time. I should continue, in silence and retirement, to lead the life which has been prescribed to me, and console myself for the loss of that society and those domestic comforts to which I have so long been a stranger, by the reflection that it has been deemed proper I should be afflicted without any fault of my own-and that your Royal Highness knows it. tion. At the expiration of the restrictions don at regard for the two deatest objects "I presume, Sir, to represent to your Royal Highness, that the separation, which every succeeding month is making wider, of the Mother and the Daughter, is equally injurious to my character, and to her education. I say nothing of the deep wounds which so cruel an arrangement inflicts upon my feelings, although I would fain hope that few persons will be found of a disposition to think lightly of these. To see myself cut off from one of the very few domestic enjoyments left me-certainly the only one upon which I set any value, the society of my Child-involves me in such But, Sir, there are considerations of misery, as I well know your Royal Higha higher nature than any regard to my own ness could never inflict upon me, if you happiness, which render this address a were aware of its bitterness. Our interduty both to Myself and my Daughter. course has been gradually diminished. A May I venture to say-a duty also to my single interview weekly seemed sufficiently Husband, and the people committed to his hard allowance for a Mother's affections. care? There is a point beyond which a That, however, was reduced to our meetguiltless woman cannot with safety carrying once a fortnight; and I now learn, that her forbearance. If her honour is invaded, the defence of her reputation is no longer a matter of choice; and it signifies not whe- "But while I do not venture to intrude ther the attack be made openly, manfully, my feelings as a Mother upon your Royal and directly-or by secret insinuation, and Highness's notice, I must be allowed to by holding such conduct towards her as say, that in the eyes of an observing and countenances all the suspicions that malice jealous world, this separation of a Daughcan suggest. If these ought to be the feel-ter from her Mother will only admit of one ings of every woman in England who is conscious that she deserves no reproach, your Royal Highness has too sound judgment, and too nice a sense of honour, not to perceive, how much more justly they belong to the Mother of your Daughter -the Mother of her who is destined, I trust, at a very distant period, to reign over the British Empire. a "It may be known to your Royal Highness, that during the continuance of the restrictions upon your royal authority, I purposely refrained from making any representations which might then augment the painful difficulties of your exalted sta even this most rigorous interdiction is to be still more rigidly enforced. construction, a construction fatal to the Mother's reputation. Your Royal Highness will also pardon me for adding, that there is no less inconsistency than injustice in this treatment. He who dares advise your Royal Highness to overlook the evidence of my innocence, and disregard the sentence of complete acquittal which it produced, or is wicked and false enough still to whisper suspicions in your ear,-betrays his duty to you, Sir, to your Daughter, and to your People, if he counsels you to permit a day to pass without a further investigation of my conduct. I know that no such calumniator will venture to recom mend a measure which must speedily end in his utter confusion. Then let me implore you to reflect on the situation in which I am placed; without the shadow of a charge against me-without even an accuser-after an Inquiry that led to my ample vindication-yet treated as if I were still more culpable than the perjuries of my suborned traducers represented me, and held up to the world as a Mother who may not enjoy the society of her only Child. injure my Child's principles-if they fail, must destroy her happiness. "The plan of excluding my Daughter from all intercourse with the world, appears to my humble judgment peculiarly unfortunate. She who is destined to be the Sovereign of this great country, enjoys none of those advantages of society which are deemed necessary for imparting a knowledge of mankind to persons who have infinitely less occasion to learn that important lesson; and it may so happen, by a chance which I trust is very remote, that she should be called upon to exercise the powers of the Crown, with an experience of the world more confined than that of the most private individual. To the extraordinary talents with which she is blessed, and which accompany a disposition as singularly amiable, frank, and decided, I will "The feelings, Sir, which are natural to my unexampled situation, might justify me in the gracious judgment of your Royal Highness, had I no other motives for addressing you but such as relate to myself: but I will not disguise from your Royal Highness what I cannot for a moment conceal from myself,-that the serious, and it soon may be, the irreparable injury which my Daughter sustains from the plan at pre-ingly trust much: but beyond a certain sent pursued, has done more in overcoming my reluctance to intrude upon your Royal Highness, than any sufferings of my own could accomplish: and if, for her sake, I presume to call away your Royal Highness's attention from the other cares of your exalted station, I feel confident I am not claiming it for a matter of inferior importance either to yourself or your people. "The powers with which the Constitution of these realms vests your Royal Highness in the regulation of the Royal Family, I know, because I am so advised, are ample and unquestionable. My appeal, Sir, is made to your excellent sense and liberality of mind in the exercise of those powers; and I willingly hope, that your own parental feelings will lead you to excuse the anxiety of mine, for impelling me to represent the unhappy consequences which the present system must entail upon our beloved Child. "Is it possible, Sir, that any one can have attempted to persuade your Royal Highness, that her character will not be injured by the perpetual violence offered to her strongest affections--the studied care taken to estrange her from my society, and even to interrupt all communication between us? That her love for me, with whom, by His Majesty's wise and gracious arrangements, she passed the years of her infancy and childhood, never can be extinguished, I well know; and the knowledge of it forms the greatest blessing of my existence. But let me implore your Royal Highness to reflect, how inevitably all attempts to abate this attachment, by forcibly separating us, if they succeed, must point the greatest natural endowments cannot struggle against the disadvantages of circumstances and situation. It is my earnest prayer, for her own sake, as well as her country's, that your Royal Highness may be induced to pause before this point be reached. "Those who have advised you, Sir, to delay so long the period of my Daughter's commencing her intercourse with the world, and for that purpose to make Windsor her residence, appear not to have regarded the interruptions to her education which this arrangement occasions; both by the impossibility of obtaining the attendance of proper teachers, and the time unavoidably consumed in the frequent journeys to town which she must make, unless she is to be secluded from all intercourse, even with your Royal Highness and the rest of the Royal Family. To the same unfortunate counsels I ascribe a circumstance in every way so distressing both to my parental and religious feelings, that my Daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of Confirmation, although above a year older than the age at which all the other branches of the Royal Family have partaken of that solemnity. May I earnestly conjure you, Sir, to hear my entreaties upon this serious matter, even if you should listen to other advisers on things of less near concernment to the welfare of our Child? "The pain with which I have at length formed the resolution of addressing myself to your Royal Highness is such as I should in vain attempt to express. If I could adequately describe it, you might be enabled, Sir, to estimate the strength of the motives which have made me submit to it: they are the most powerful feelings of affection, and the deepest impressions of duty towards your Royal Highness, my beloved Child, and the country, which I devoutly hope she may be preserved to govern, and to shew by a new example the liberal affection of a free and generous people to a virtuous and Constitutional Monarch. "I am, Sir, with profound respect, and an attachment which nothing can alter, your Royal Highness's most devoted and most affectionate Consort, Cousin, and Subject, (Signed) "CAROLINE LOUISA. "Montague-house, 14th of Jan. 1813." SUMMARY OF POLITICS. AMERICAN WAR.It will be useless, perhaps, but I cannot refrain from calling the attention of the public once more to the gross delusions practised upon it by the hired prints, with regard to this war. the truth!-Nothing can, however, be more flattering to the Americans than these statements, which show how uneasy this country is under the war with them; how sorely we feel the effects of it; and how anxious we are to get out of it.—There is a coxcomb, who publishes in the Times news-paper, under the signature of VETUS, who would fain make us believe, that the people of America, or, at least, the agricul tural part of the population, are a sort of half-savages. If Vetus had to write to them, he would not find many fools enough to tolerate his sublimated trash. He imputes their dislike to English politics to their ignorance. He does not know, perhaps, that they, to a man (if natives) are as well acquainted with all our laws as we are ourselves; that they know all about our Excise taxes, and Custom-house taxes, and Assessed taxes, and Property taxes, full as well as we do; and, that they know all about our law of libel, our sinecures, and At first they said, that there would be no our paupers. If he were to go amongst war; that war was the cry of the mere them, and to have the impudence to tell rabble; and that though Mr. Madison was them, that these are proofs of civilization, himself corrupted by France, the Congress they would, or, at least, I hope so, make were not. When the Congress met, they, him remember the assertion as long as he however, actually declared war. Then had life in his carcass. -The Americans our hirelings told us, that the people were have always had their eyes fixed upon us; enraged with both President and Congress, and, does this foolish man imagine, that and that, as the election of President was they do not know how to set a proper value approaching, they would turn Mr. Madi- upon our system of government? -When son out, and that thus the war would be they come to England, as some of them do, put an end to. That election has now they sometimes reach London by the way terminated; but, until the termination, or, of Blackwater, where, while they behold rather, the result, was known, we heard of immense places for the education of officers nothing but the certain defeat of Mr. Madi- of the army, they see ragged, or, rather, son. He was sure to lose his election; naked, children tumbling along the road and, indeed, several successive arrivals by the side of their chaise, crying as they brought us the news of his having actually go, "Pray bestow your charity; pray belost it. To which was added, that his slow your charity!" The Americans rival, Mr. Clinton, had pledged himself to know how to estimate these things. They nake peace with England. At last, are at no loss to draw the proper inferences however, comes the news, that Mr. Madi-from such facts; and it is not the trash of son was re-elected! After this one would have supposed that the hireling press would, at least, have kept silence upon the subject; but, no. It had still a falsehood left; and, it is now telling the people, the "thinking people" of England, that, next year, there will be a re-election of the Senale, when Mr. Madison will have a majority of ten against him in that body, and that, in consequence of such change, he will be compelled to make peace with us. What a people must this be to be thus deceived! And still to listen to such publications; aye, and to rely upon them too as implicitly as if they had always spoken Vetus about civilization that will cloud their reasoning.—The American farmers are great readers. There are absolutely none of them who do not read much. They know, that we pay more in poor-rates only than double the amount of the whole of their revenue! That fact alone is enough for them. With that fact before their eyes, they will be in no haste to attain what this fop calls a high state of civilization. Besides, as to the fact all those who know America will say, that the farmers there are a class of men beyond all belief superior in understanding to those of England, or of any country in Europe. ment of the power of again taxing the coat or the candlestick of the American farmer. He does not perceive, that it will stop from our treasury many millions a year. When he is talking of the folly of introducing manufactures into America, he does not perceive, that that is the most deadly blow that the Americans can give to our taxing system. From the empty verbiage of this writer, who has been well termed an old batlered hack, I come to something of more importance; namely, the debate of the 18th instant, in the House of Commons, upon the subject of the war with America. I, perhaps, should not call it a debate, where, as to the only point at issue, all the speakers seem to have been of one mind and sentiment. But, be it what it may, it is of great importance to the liberties of mankind; and, as such, I shall notice it somewhat in detail.LORD CASTLEREAGH (aye, that is the man, Americans!) opened the discussion in the character of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. This man's name is well known. to the world. This is now the man, who, after Ferceval, is to maintain the justice.. and necessity of a war against America. -The Papers, relating to the negocia-. tion between the two countries, had been. laid before the House; and, in consequence of this, Lord Castlereagh, on the 18th, brought forward a motion for " an Address, "to the Prince Regent, expressing the regret of Parliament for the failure of the negociation, and pledging themselves to a zealous and cordial co-operation with "His Royal Highness in the prosecution of the war, in support of the rights and "interests of Great Britain, and the Honour of His Majesty's Crown." This motion was carried with an unanimous voice, just as similar motions used to be during the former American war, when about forty of such addresses were carried up to the King.I shall now proceed to notice such parts of the speeches as seem to me worthy of particular attention.-Lord Castlereagh set out with relating what had passed in regard to the Orders in Council, and, after having referred to the time and manner of their repeal, and to the pledges of support of the war given in case that repeal should fail of producing peace with America, he said, as it is stated in the report in the Morning Herald, that, "he, therefore, He senselessly urges on the war "should support the war against her. He, without at all perceiving the consequences "therefore, now flattered himself, that to which it leads. He does not perceive," Government would meet with that supthat it will effectually deprive our govern- "port which had been so liberally pro They have plenty; they have no dread of up in his own country.- -To bring about this, to create manufactures in America was the policy of Mr. Jefferson; an object which has been now attained, through the means of our hostility and of the revolution in Spain.- -The continuation of the war for about three years longer will for ever put an end to English connexion; and thus, the grand object of Mr. Jefferson's policy will have been secured during his probable life-time. This silly fellow, Vetus, seems to be wholly ignorant of the subject. He knows nothing either of the character or interests of the American people. |