AT. 36.] AND THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. 211 



that the letter, though addressed to him, was much 

 more intended for the public, unless a satisfactory 

 answer should be given ; and that nothing could pos- 

 sibly prevent its reaching the public but such an 

 answer to the remonstrance as would place, or be uni- 

 versally believed to place, the Princess and her advisers 

 in the wrong. The refusal to read, or in any way to 

 entertain the subject, gave us a complete right to pub- 

 lish, and to complain of the refusal as an aggravation 

 of the cause of complaint. We published it accord- 

 ingly, and it was read and devoured by the whole 

 country. I recollect no instance of such effects being 

 produced by any statement of a case, or appeal to the 

 public upon a grievance. The suddenness of the pro- 

 ceeding, and the plain and simple nature of the com- 

 plaint on a subject by which the domestic feelings of 

 all were affected, no doubt contributed mainly to the 

 effect produced. The impression made against the 

 Prince, and in favour of his wife and child, was uni- 

 versal and inconceivable; and the daughter was re- 

 garded as making common cause with her mother 

 at all events, as suffering under the same maltreat- 

 ment. The men of Carlton House were undeceived 

 too late, and any answer of an ordinary kind would 

 now have proved unavailing. No defence was possible 

 of the conduct pursued ; and any extenuation of it, or 

 even explanation, came too late. Nothing but a posi- 

 tive denial of the statement could be of the least avail. 

 The Prince and his advisers were therefore driven to 

 commit a second error, almost as great as their first. 

 For the first we had not been prepared it seemed too 

 great a blunder to be possible, and we never had con- 

 templated the possibility. We were not so much taken 



