GENERAL HISTORY. 



[141 



tlien, upon order, read by the 

 clerk of the house. The first was 

 a letter from the Princess of Wales 

 to the Regent, enclosing a note 

 which she had received from the 

 Queen, and her answer. In this 

 letter her Royal Highness, allud- 

 ing to the declaratioii made by the 

 Regent of never meeting her, de- 

 mands what circumstances can jus- 

 tify the proceeding he has thought 

 fit to adopt ; states the possibility 

 of their being called upon to ap- 

 pear in public together; and pleads 

 the peculiar hardship of treating 

 her with this marked indignity, at 

 a time when so many illustrious 

 strangers are expected to visit Eng- 

 land. 



The Queen's letter to the Prin- 

 cess informs her of the Prince Re- 

 gent's declaration above quoted, 

 and gives it as a reason why it is 

 impossible for her Majesty to re- 

 ceive her at a drawing-room at 

 which he must necessarily be pre- 

 sent. The remainder of the cor- 

 respondence consists of letters and 

 replies between the Queen and the 

 Princess, in which the former de- 

 clines entering into any farther ex- 

 planation of the conduct pursued 

 on this occasion. [See the Letters 

 at length in the State Papers.] 



After the letters had been read, 

 Mr. Methuen rose, and the house 

 being cleared of strangers on 

 motion of Mr. Lygon, he began 

 his speech with a reference to the 

 proved innocence of her Royal 

 Highness of any criminal charge, 

 which ought to have procured for 

 her a very different treatment. He 

 defended her appeal to the nation 

 by the publication of the letters 

 in question, and dwelt on the pe- 

 ' uliar severity of exposing her to 

 indignity at such a period as the 

 prewiUt. lie asked if it were in- 



tended to exclude her from the 

 ceremonial of her daughter's nup- 

 tials, or from that of an eventual 

 coronation ; and he claimed for 

 her the common birth-right of 

 English subjects, to be proved 

 guilty or treated as innocent. He 

 concluded with moving, " That 

 an humble address be presented to 

 his Royal Highness the Prince 

 Regent, to pray his Royal High- 

 ness that he will be graciously 

 pleased to acquaint the house, by 

 whose advice his Royal Highness 

 was induced to form the " fixed 

 and unaltei-able determination ne- 

 ver to meet her Royal Highness 

 the Princess of Wales upon any 

 occasion, either in private or pub- 

 lic," as communicated by his 

 Royal Highness to her Majesty ; 

 together with the reasons submit- 

 ted to his Royal Highness, upon 

 which such advice was founded." 



The motion being seconded, 

 Mr. Bathurst denied that it was 

 within the province of the House 

 of Commons to interfere in this 

 case. He observed, that there had 

 been no prohibition against the 

 Princess's attending her Majesty's 

 drawing-room, and the Prince 

 had only signified his intention of 

 not meeting her there. He said it 

 was not an unusual thing for mem- 

 bers of the Royal Family to be ex- 

 cluded from the court of the sove- 

 reign ; and referred to the frequent 

 dissensions in that family during 

 the reigns of George I. and 11. 

 He did not conceive that the re- 

 striction of the Princess from at- 

 tending the Queen's drawing- 

 rooms during the present month 

 necessarily implied animosity to- 

 wards her. The unhappy differ- 

 ences between the Prince and 

 Princess of Wales might have ari- 

 sen from difference of taste, or 



