342 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



If her honour is invaded, the de- 

 fence of her reputation is no longer 

 a matter of choice; and it signifies 

 not whether the attack be made 

 openly, manfully, and directly, or 

 by secret insinuation, and by hold- 

 ing such conduct towards her as 

 countenances all the suspicions that 

 mahce can suggest. If these ought 

 to be the feelings of every woman 

 in England who is conscious that 

 she deserves no reproach, your 

 royal highness has too sound a 

 judgment, and too nice a sense of 

 honour, not to perceive, how much 

 more justly they belong to the 

 mother of your daughter — the mo- 

 ther of her who is destined, 1 trust 

 at a very distant period, to reign 

 over the British empire. 



" 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 repre- 

 Bentations which might then aii^j- 

 ment the painful diificulties of 

 your exalted station. At the ex- 

 piration of the restrictions I still 

 was inclined to delay taking this 

 step, in tlie hope that I might owe 

 the redress I sought to your gra- 

 cious and unsolicited condescen- 

 sion. I have waited, in the fond 

 indulgence of this expectation, 

 until, to my inexpressible mortifi- 

 cation, I find that my unwilling- 

 ness to complain has only produc- 

 ed fresh grounds of complaint ; and 

 I am at length compelled, either to 

 abandon all regard for the two 

 dearest objects which I possess on 

 earth, — mine own honour, and my 

 beloved child ; or to throw myself 

 at the feet of your royal highness, 

 the natural protector of both. 



" I presume, sir, to represent to 

 jour royal highness, that the se- 



paration, 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 wouldfain hope 

 that few persons will be found of 

 a disposition to think lightly of 

 these. To see m)'self cut offfrom 

 one of the very few domestic en- 

 joyments left me — certainly the 

 only one upon which I set any 

 value, the society of my child — in- 

 volves me in such misery, as I 

 well know your royal highness 

 could never inflict upon me, if you 

 were aware of its bitterness. Our 

 intercourse has been gradually di- 

 minished. A single interview 

 weekly seemed sufficiently hard 

 allowance for a mother's aftections. 

 That, however, was reduced to 

 our meeting once a fortnight ; and 

 I now learn, that even this most 

 rigorous interdiction is to be still 

 more rigidly enforced. 



" But while I do not venture to 

 intrude my feelings as a mother 

 upon your royal highness's notice, 

 I must be allowed to say, that in 

 the eyesof an observing audjealous 

 world, this separation of a daughter 

 from her mother will only admit 

 of one construction — aconstruction 

 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 inno- 

 cence, and disregard the sentence 

 of complete acquittal which it pro- 

 duced, — or is wicked and false 

 enough still to whisper suspicions 

 in your ear, betrays his duty to jou. 



