Volume I Part 14 (2/2)
We have given this detail to satisfy the scrupulous portion of society, that the prince merited a thousand-fold more exposure and execration than he ever received.
At this period, Mr. Whitbread was very pressing with the Princess of Wales, advising her to make a tour upon the continent, in order to divert her mind from the provocations she was so frequently called upon to endure. Upon one occasion, he urged the subject with considerable warmth, and his great earnestness surprised her royal highness. With her usual readiness, she said, ”I feel sure Mr. Whitbread does not intend any thing disagreeable in these remarks; but, Sir, are you aware that Mr. Canning has been pressing the same opinion upon my notice? and I do not comprehend _why_ this suggestion is made by you also. If I go away, shall I not leave my beloved child exposed to the determinate will and caprice of the queen, and others, who, doubtless, will vex her as much as possible? Are you, Sir, _requested_ to represent this to me, or is it your private opinion?” Mr. Whitbread replied, ”It is _my personal opinion_, and solely to provide against any unhappy effects arising from the queen's displeasure, which,” he added, ”I well know is unbounded.”
On the 27th of May, the princess went to the Opera House. It was her first appearance in public since her triumphant acquittal. Her royal highness was received with considerable acclamations, while even her enemies were compelled to acknowledge ”the dignity, delicacy, and feeling, pre-eminently displayed in her behaviour.”
On the 30th, the regent gave a grand supper and ball, but the princess was not invited.
The supplies required for the service of this year amounted to upwards of one hundred and twenty millions!
Endless vexations and anxieties attended the Princess of Wales up to the year
1814;
but the public voice cheered her to the ultimate defeat of her base enemies.
The transactions of this year do not reflect much credit upon certain mis-named _ill.u.s.trious_ individuals, and can never fail to excite contempt in the minds of the British people. The Douglas party were promised _rewards_, which they could not obtain, except in a less degree, as it was alleged they had failed in a princ.i.p.al part of their unworthy undertaking; namely, the degradation of the princess, by a full and unlimited verdict against her royal highness, agreeable to the charges they had preferred.
The disappointed queen was indignant, beyond bounds, at the honourable acquittal of the Princess of Wales. ”What!” said her majesty, ”am I for ever to be disappointed by the adroit talents of the princess, whose very name I hate! It must not be. If she be recognised as an unblemished character, I am well satisfied the odium of the whole proceeding will fall upon _me_; and rather would I prefer death than suffer her royal highness to triumph over me!”
Lord Castlereagh was then consulted by the queen, and he engaged to do his utmost against the princess; and the regent again suggested the idea of her going abroad, when steps, more effectual, might be taken to ruin her character. Lord Castlereagh, therefore, the next day informed the princess, by a note, ”that for the present time all interviews with the Princess Charlotte must cease.”
On the 7th of January, the Princess of Wales gave an entertainment at Montague House, where a select party was invited, in honour of the Princess Charlotte's birth-day, who had now attained her eighteenth year.
An unexpected event, about this period, gave the Princess Charlotte an interview with her mother for nearly two hours, in which these affectionate relatives enjoyed an undisturbed conversation. The Princess Charlotte was very explicit in her communications to her dear mother on the severity of the queen, during the time she had lately spent with her majesty at Windsor; and, among other observations, remarked, ”HER MAJESTY IS A TYRANT TO ALL AROUND HER. If you walk out with the queen,”
continued the charming and n.o.ble princess, ”you are sure to be told your pace is disagreeable,--either too quick or too slow. If you feel pleasure in seeing any sweet pretty plant, and express admiration of its several beautiful colours, and its various delicate appearances, you are sure to be told, such observations prove your _want of taste and judgment_. Indeed, my dear mother, I like anybody better than my _disagreeable grandmother_, and I can never permit myself to remain with her so long again. When I am at the castle, I am seldom _allowed to see my grandfather_, the king; and, when I do, he scarcely looks at me, and seems extremely unhappy. When my royal father goes to the castle, he is always with the _queen alone_, and very rarely pays a visit to the king.” Such was the ingenuousness of the Princess Charlotte. She would immediately speak the _truth_, and defy all results, rather than act with dissimulation to please or conciliate any one. This was the longest interview which was to fall to the lot of these high-spirited and generous-minded personages. Alas! their destiny might have been pourtrayed by the pen of cruelty, and traced in characters of blood! At parting, the princess most tenderly embraced her mother, and that parent for the moment forgot all her sorrows. But what was her agitation, when her ONLY HOPE was saying, ”Farewell!” Agonizing--beyond all expression--agonizing! We must sympathize with such sorrows, and admit the propriety of the remark of the Princess of Wales at this separation, ”My life has already been too long, since it has been one continued scene of misfortune!”
The prince regent now paid a visit to the Duke of Rutland, for the avowed purpose of standing sponsor to the young marquis, the duke's son and heir. The preparations for the reception and accommodation of his royal highness were upon the most magnificent scale, which, we are sorry to relate, were little else than thrown away. In the evening, the sparkling goblet was so freely emptied by the royal guest, that he was obliged to be _carried_ to the chamber prepared for him. Do not imagine, gentle reader, that we are disposed to dwell ill-naturedly on the mischances of this luckless night; but the prince was unfortunate, and committed such sins and transgressions in this ducal apartment, and IN _the bed_ prepared for him, that, at a very early hour, his carriage was ordered, and his royal highness was on the road to London! The domestics at Belvoir Castle were left to relate this very disagreeable incident, and testify that the means required for the _purification_ of their master's premises were of no common quality!
However facetiously we may have spoken of this ”untoward occurrence,”
yet we recoil with disgust and indignation from such scenes. How revolting is the reflection that this was the prince invested with _kingly authority_, and to whom so many millions of intelligent beings were looking for the redress of their grievances, and the amelioration of their many miseries!
The king's indisposition increased in the early part of this year, and the over-bearing tyranny of the queen consequently knew no bounds. In May, she addressed several notes to the Princess of Wales to forbid her appearance at the drawing-room, to which her royal highness replied very spiritedly. Some of these letters were afterwards published, but several were suppressed. It was at this time that the prince expressed his unalterable determination ”never again to meet the princess, either in public or private,” and the queen was the person who communicated his royal highness' unmanly vow to the princess.
About three weeks after this announcement, some ill.u.s.trious foreigners, who were formerly intimate with the family of the princess, paid her royal highness a visit; and, on the ensuing day, they received her royal highness' invitation to dine with her on that day se'nnight. It was accepted with pleasure; but, only about an hour previous to the appointed time for dinner, an apology was sent, asking pardon for the delay, which was said to be _unavoidable_, as the impediments arose from the COMMANDS OF THE REGENT, which had only been communicated to them a few hours before! Upon Mr. Canning's next visit to the princess, he explained the reason of this shameful conduct, by saying, ”that Colonel M'Mahon desired, as a compliment, they would dine at Carlton House that day, and expressed an apology for the _shortness of the invitation_, as the regent had some days before given him his instructions to invite them, but that he (the colonel) had FORGOTTEN IT IN THE HURRY OF BUSINESS. Now,” added Mr. Canning, ”I know this story to be an invention; for it was only on the very morning of the day appointed by your royal highness that a brother of the regent heard of their intended visit, and informed him of it; and the prince then commanded M'Mahon to invite the party to dine at Carlton House, which they could not refuse, as etiquette would forbid their accepting any engagement in preference to that of the regent.” Was there ever a more artful and vindictive piece of business concocted? How worthy was the master of such a scheming servant as M'Mahon!
In June, the allied sovereigns arrived in London, and fetes and festivals followed in close succession. New honours were conferred upon several persons, who had been leaders in the late war. Lord Wellington was created Marquis of Douro and Duke of Wellington. To support this new dignity, four hundred thousand pounds were granted to him by the boroughmongering majority!
In consequence of the queen's edict, the Princess of Wales was excluded from the drawing rooms, held in honour of the ill.u.s.trious guests; and this extra piece of persecuting malice sufficiently attested the _littleness_ of the minds of her too powerful enemies.
Under these trying circ.u.mstances, Mr. Canning and Mr. Whitbread again urged their advice, that it would be better for all parties if the princess absented herself for a period, as the queen was so severe to the Princess Charlotte, in consequence of her regard for her mother.
This consideration was enough for the fond parent. ”Yes,” said her royal highness, ”for the sake of my child, I will leave England; I feel a.s.sured that my afflicted father-in-law, the king, cannot long survive; he is falling very gradually. But the crisis may be sudden; in that case, you know my situation; and what has been refused to the Princess of Wales cannot, I presume, be refused to the Queen of England! In making this reference, I merely and only mean, that I have hitherto been treated with the most unmerited severity, and the greatest injustice; this, I hope, will not be permitted in the event of my being queen. I name this to satisfy you, as my friends, that whenever I can return to this country with safety to my child, and honour to my few zealous friends, I shall not lose one moment in answering the summons.”
On the 4th of June, Lord Castlereagh moved in the committee of the House, that fifty thousand pounds be annually paid to her royal highness the Princess of Wales. Mr. Whitbread offered some very correct and spirited remarks upon the subject, and the motion was agreed to. The princess, in the most generous manner, wrote to the Speaker on the 5th, declining to receive more than thirty-five thousand, adding, as a reason for this, her dislike to increase the already heavy burdens imposed upon the nation.
The ill-natured manner in which this most honourable act was received is best explained in the words of Lord Castlereagh, who, on the 8th, called the attention of the House to the letter of the princess, and concluded by saying, ”It is not my duty to vote the public money to a _subject_ who is not inclined to receive it.” Her royal highness certainly was not much indebted to Lord Castlereagh for his very elegant and n.o.ble mention of her name, thus made; and the most dim-sighted person might have easily seen that ”if the vessel came safe to sh.o.r.e,” a _marquisate_ would be the reward of the pilot.
The Princess of Wales at length requested leave of the ministers to go abroad. This was very readily granted; and, after some arrangements for correspondence, her royal highness prepared to depart. A very short interview was permitted with the child of her hopes and affections, while even that was attended by the ladies in waiting. They separated _then--TO MEET NO MORE IN THIS WORLD_!
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