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THE QUEEN'S ANSWER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 LETTER FROM THE KING 
 
 
 HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 
 ' ( 
 
 FROM N COBBETT'S REGISTER. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 1821. 
 
^ o* 
 
 .h 
 
THE QUEEN'S ANSWER, &c, 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 No! I cannot, upon reflection, bring myself to use the 
 name of her majesty in this way. A pamphlet has been pub- 
 lished, entitled " A letter from the king to his people." It 
 bears date from " Carlton Palace." It has the King's arms 
 at the head of it. It is signed " GEORGE." The writer 
 addresses the people as his " subjects." In short, the thing is 
 sent forth with all the circumstances calculated to induce us 
 to believe, that the King is the real writer; and, then, at the 
 close, it is declared, that it is a " literary fiction? put forth 
 with the " most loyal intentions." When I first heard of and 
 had just seen, this fiction, I conceived the design to give it 
 answer in the same form; but, when I came to read the thing, 
 I found it so horrible a performance, that I could not bring 
 myself to put the design in execution. However, as the pam- 
 phlet contains what the enemies of the queen appear to think 
 the King's case; and as it purports to be a true history of this 
 family quarrel, I think it right to notice all the parts of it, on 
 which common sense and common decency can suffer them- 
 selves to dwell for a moment; for a great deal of it is so very 
 foolish, so glaringly absurd, as well as so foul, as to set all 
 commentary at defiance; and indeed, it seems impossible, 
 
that these parts, at least, can have proceeded from any mind 
 in a state of sanity. If the writer had praised the king with- 
 out censuring the queen, I should not have said a word upon 
 the subject. But, his main object has been to asperse the 
 queen, and to compel her to quit the Kingdom. Her majesty 
 could not condescend to notice such a performance; but, if 
 she had deigned to request any one to do it, I may venture 
 to believe, that such person, if acquainted, as I am, with so 
 many facts, relating to the matter, would have given to this 
 shameful attack on her majesty, the following 
 
 ANSWER. 
 
 Mr. Parasite, 
 
 The first three pages of your letter are wholly unworthy of 
 notice. But, in the fourth, you break cover: you enter into 
 matter: you speak of the marriage and the almost instant se- 
 paration. I must take your own words; for, I fear, in any 
 case to make them mine, or to impute them to the king. 
 
 " Debarred thus from active employment, and destined to 
 pass my time in royal idleness; surrounded with pleasures at 
 every step, and captivated with beauty; it would not be the 
 most difficult enigma to solve, how I became thoughtlessly 
 extravagant. Notwithstanding I had experienced the gene- 
 rosity of my countrymen, when twenty- four years of age; 
 yet in nine years after my debts became again the object of 
 serious consideration. In the midst of a war then raging, ex- 
 pensive beyond all former precedent, and with no glimpse of 
 termination; when monarchy throughout Europe was threat- 
 ened with annihilation; some powerful and unanswerable 
 motive, or some importaat and ostensible good, could alone 
 justify the minister of the day, in applying to parliament for 
 the payment of the debts of an extravagant prince, for such 
 I acknowledge myself to have been. The justification of the 
 measure was found to be in my marriage. The nation most 
 generously paid my debts, made provision for such marriage, 
 
and I became an expedient party to the contract. For me 
 there was no escapes the interest of my creditors demanded 
 such a sacrifice; a sacrifice of which my heart could only ap- 
 preciate the extent. But although the match xvas forced, and 
 I was left (unlike my subjects) to no voluntary choice, I had 
 still a right to expect in a princess of exalted ancestry, and 
 one previously adii <:1 to me by relationship, a female of chaste 
 person and uncontaminated taste. But the morning which 
 dawned upon the consummation of this marriage, witnessed 
 its virtual dissolution. Our daughter, the lamented princess 
 Charlotte, the child of a fond and admiring nation, was born 
 preciselv at the moment prescribed by nature. Of the cau- 
 ses which led to this immediate separation, which however 
 was for a time most carefully concealed, and concealed, I 
 trust, from no ungenerous feeling on my part, it does not be* 
 long to me to detail the explanation. But who beside ourselves 
 was interested in it? Surely the family of the illustrious fe- 
 male in question! Did they complain? Did they remonstrate? 
 Did they demand a restitution of conjugal rights between us? 
 Did they interfere to conciliate, to palliate, to explain? Never. 
 By their silence then xvas 1 justified in requiring at a proper 
 moment, a more openly avowed separation. The first wrong 
 ■was done to me" 
 
 This, mind, I do not regard as the language of the king. 
 It is not on his words and sentiments that I am about to 
 comment; but, on those of some officious slave, who may 
 think, perhaps, that he is doing what will please the king; 
 but which, as I shall show, has a direct tendency to destroy 
 the remaining reverence for the kingly office, and to imprint 
 an everlasting stain on His Majesty's character. 
 
 How can it, with truth, be said, that the king, when young, 
 was " debarred from active employment, and destined to pass 
 his time in " royal idleness?'''' Surely the same may be said 
 with as much truth, of every heir of a Peer: and, then, we 
 are in a pretty state indeed, having txvo out of the three 
 
branches of the legislatures, " destined to idleness, thought- 
 lessness, and extravagance" Have " Republicans and Le- 
 vellers" asserted any thing equal to this? What, had the 
 king, when young, no inducement to study? Was history, 
 were the laws, were all the sciences beneath his notice? Could 
 there, in this country of arts, manufactures, commerce and 
 agriculture, be nothing found to engage the thoughts of a 
 young man, destined by laws to be a king? Monstrous! and, 
 if the fact were not false, what a satire, what a stain on both 
 head and heart of His Majesty! 
 
 But, now we come to the motive to the marriage. The 
 king, you say, consented to " the contract" for the sake of 
 his creditors. This, you say, was his motive. This demand- 
 ed " the sacrifice" This is a horrible libel on the king, and 
 especially when published in his name, and dated from his 
 Palace. But, what " sacrifice'''' did the interest of the credit- 
 ors demand? A sacrifice of -what? I want to know -what 
 it was that he sacrificed; for, in the whole history of the 
 transactions, I in vain look for any sacrifice on the part of 
 the king; and the only victim that I can see is the unfortu- 
 nate w ife, and subsequent mother. — Had the king indeed dis- 
 liked his bride; and had he, nevertheless, still lived with her 
 supporting all the appearance of content in this respect; had 
 he subdued his own feelings so far as never to suffer them to 
 give offence to the wife; had he done every other thing ne- 
 cessary to keep the dislike unknown from the world; then, 
 indeed, there would have been a sacrifice on his part, though 
 the calling of it a sacrifice might be going too far; for it would 
 have been the mere performance of a duty, and a very sa- 
 cred duty too. But, what sacrifice could there be, when the 
 morning, that dawned on the consummation of the marriage, 
 witnessed its virtual dissolution? Could this short space of 
 restraint be called a sacrifice? — And that, too, be it observ- 
 ed, when the husband himself, according to his own letter 
 
to the wife, had nothing to allege, except his uncontrollable 
 inclinations? 
 
 There was " no escape" you say, for the king. " Escape'''' 
 from xvhat? The interest of his creditors demanded the mar- 
 riage! Good God! what a declaration to put forth under 
 the name of the king! And is this to be tolerated! Is it 
 to be published in the king's name, that he actually did mar- 
 ry in order to get his Debts paid! Was ever declaration so 
 shameful as this? Talk of obligation to creditors, indeed! 
 What was this obligation, when compared with the obliga- 
 tion, contracted towards the xvife? To creditors the debtor 
 was bound as other debtors are. The debt arose out of the 
 thingsreceivedontheone side, and delivered on the other side^ 
 The creditors had, doubtless, the usual prospect of gain in 
 view, and a more than ordinary security for payment. But, 
 what was the nature of the obligation towards the wife? 
 Why, a most solemn contract to love, to cherish, to honor, to 
 obey, to worship with his body, to abide by in sickness and 
 in health, to abstain from all others, and to keep her alone y 
 as long as the parties both should live. What, compared 
 with this, was the obligation to creditors? and, was this obli- 
 gation towards the wife to be considered as nothing; as a 
 thing to be contracted as a mere " expedient" in order to get 
 money from the nation to pay debts with! Really, to state this, 
 and to state it in the king's name too; to put these words in- 
 to the king's mouth; to make them drop from his pen, and to 
 cause it, or endeavour to cause it, to be believed, that the 
 king is the real author of such sentiments; that is something 
 too monstrous to be credited, if we had not the fact before 
 our eyes. 
 
 In another part of the Letter, the king is made to speak thus 
 to his people, on the subject of leaving the ^iieeti's name out 
 of the Liturgy, and we shall see how it squares with the fore- 
 going. " When the powers of my regency merged in the suc- 
 cession of the throne, one of the first duties devolving upon 
 
me as a head of the Church, was " to settle according to the 
 Act of Uniformity, such parts of the Liturgy as were affect- 
 ed by the decease of my venerable Father the King of bless- 
 ed memory. How lightly have too many of my subjects 
 thought of the feelings by which their sovereign must have 
 been influenced upon so solemn an occasion! How inconsi- 
 derately have too many of my subjects viewed this vital act 
 of religion as a mere matter of form, requiring only a dash 
 of the pen! How narrowly have too many of my subjects 
 confined their sense of this form, within the bounds of cus- 
 tom and precedent! How blindly have too many of my sub- 
 jects viewed this act of devotional formularity. And how 
 completely have too many of my subjects separated the act 
 to be done, from him upon whom fell the most painful duty 
 of its performance! Behold then, your Sovereign, in the pre- 
 sence of that God to whom all hearts are open: required by the 
 first servant of our holy national Church, to sanction as head of 
 that Church, a formulary, in which the thousands and tens of 
 thousands, and millions of his subjects were to address their 
 prayers and praises, and supplications to the King of 
 Kings" 
 
 Now, compare this with what the Parasite has said about 
 the marriage of expediency; the marriage to get money to pay 
 debts; compare the two, and what an odious hypocrite would 
 this writer make the king appear to be! He first represents 
 his Majesty as having married solely to get money to pay his 
 debts; and as having virtually dissolved the marriage in twelve 
 hours after the consummation. It represents him as having 
 broken the most solemn of all contracts; as having gone to 
 the altar, and there in the presence of God, made vows the 
 most solemn, and of breaking those vows directly afterwards, 
 having made them with a view of instantly breaking them; 
 and after this it represents this same man as impressed with 
 so deep a sense of the importance of religious forms; and 
 so conscientiously alive to religious duties; so filled with 
 
the fear of doing any thing to offend God; so replete with 
 pious and reverential awe in the discharge of his duties, as to 
 refuse the insertion of his wife's name in the Liturgy of the 
 Church, lest she should afterwards be found not to be a wo- 
 man of strictly moral conduct; while he has no scruple what- 
 ever to cause his own name to be inserted in that Liturgy! 
 The reader will bear in mind, that they are not the words, 
 the declaration, of his Majesty, that we have been reading; 
 but of some corrupt parasite; and that this picture of the most 
 odious hypocrisy, and, indeed, of the most glaring blasphe- 
 my, put forth under the king's name and signature, has been 
 put forth by one, who abuses the Reformers, and accuses 
 them of designs to pull down the Church and Throne! 
 
 But, as relating to the case of her majesty, how important 
 would the declarations here brought forward be, if they re- 
 ally had come from the King; as this parasite would have us 
 believe they do! Here, we are told (and under the king's 
 name too,) that the marriage was one of expediency on the 
 part of the king; that it was forced; that it was virtually dis- 
 solved the next morning-. Now, if we were to believe this; if 
 we were, as this writer would have us to believe, that the 
 king has said this, what more should we want to account for 
 the long train of persecutions against her majesty? What 
 enemy of the king suggested this statement, then? This is a 
 real enemy of the king. This is an enemy of the throne, in- 
 deed. He brutally says, in another part of his book, that the 
 king loathed the queen. If so, what need should we have to 
 seek further for a cause for all these accusations against her 
 majesty? And, how imperiously should we be called on to 
 stand forward in her defence? Here we should see clearly 
 the origin of all the tales, all the slanders, all the machina- 
 tions, all the conspiracies and all the swearings that have 
 filled all the civilized world with disgust and horror. It is 
 for the king's friends to disown, and for his law-officers to 
 punish, the author, of these intolerably outrageous attacks, 
 
10 
 
 upon his motives and his character, made under his own name. 
 or those friends must not be surprised to find, that unwary 
 persons, imposed upon by the boldness of the imposture, give 
 credence to the statement, draw the natural conclusions, and 
 bestow detestation and abhorrence on him, whom it is fitting 
 they should behold with affection and speak of with reverence. 
 
 However, after all, every thing in these declarations, made 
 in the king's name, sinks out of sight, when compared with 
 the base and blackguard insinuations contained in them against 
 her majesty. There is something so vile, so filthy, so beastly, 
 so much worse than brutal in that to which I allude, that I 
 cannot proceed further to notice it, without begging pardon 
 of both king and queen even for attempting to describe the 
 infamy of the pretended friend of the former and the avowed 
 ssailant of the latter. 
 
 The task must, however, be performed: let us, then, take 
 a look at the horrid words: — M Though the match was forced, 
 I had still a right to expect a female of chaste person and un- 
 contaminated taste ." As to taste, that is a thing wholly un- 
 reducible to any standard. But, he proceeds: " but, the 
 morning which dawned on the consummation of the marriage 
 witnessed its virtual dissolution. Our daughter, the child of a 
 fond admiring nation, was born precisely at the moment pre- 
 scribed by nature. Of the causes which led to this immediate 
 separation, it does not belong to me to detail the explanation." 
 And then the king is made to say, " the first wrong was done 
 to me." 
 
 Wives look at this! Husbands, even the most unfeeling, 
 profligate, base and abandoned, look at this: and say, whether 
 even ruffian, in stew begotten and in brothel bred, ever was 
 yet found so shamelessly infamous as to deal in insinuations 
 like these: and, when you have answered this question, say 
 what is due to the men, who have written, printed and pub- 
 lished a book, putting these insinuations into the mouth of the 
 king, and sending them forth under his royal signature! 
 
11 
 
 All, the reader will perceive, was discovered between the 
 evening- and morning-? It is here clearly insinuated, that the 
 king discovered want of chastity; for, it is asserted, and the 
 words are marked by italics, that the first xvro?ig- was done 
 to him. The remark as to the precise moment of the birth of 
 the princess Charlotte, and the calling of her "the child of a 
 fond admiring nation,'''' admit of some latitude of interpreta- 
 tion; but, coupled with the other parts of the statement, to 
 what a sum of infamous calumny does the whole amount; 
 and to what horrid ideas would they not give rise in the 
 mind of any one who had been imposed upon by the signa~ 
 ture and the date of this nefarious publication; which, ob- 
 serve, has come forth with the King's arms at the head of it; 
 dated at Carlton Palace; and with an imprint, purporting that 
 it is published by Turner, the King's Stationer, and sold by 
 Sams, bookseller to his royal highness the duke of Tori! The 
 audacity of this is beyond every thing ever before supposed 
 possible; and yet, it would seem, that^/JW editions have been 
 suffered to go abroad with as little interruption as just so 
 many Religious Tracts'. 
 
 However, leaving his majesty's character to be on this oc- 
 casion, defended by his law officers, let me, begging his ma- 
 jesty's pardon even for noticing the foul calumny, proceed 
 to inquire a little into the possible foundation of that calumny. 
 
 Only a. few hours passed, it is asserted, while the parties 
 were alone. The context necessarily implies this, even if the 
 assertion had not been made. The discovery could not have 
 been made before the consummation of the marriage; for in 
 that case, what horrid baseness in the husband must the con- 
 summation imply! Could it possibly be made afterwards! 
 Could the proof of the first wrong- be discovered after the 
 consummation, and yet before the daxvn of day! Surgeons in 
 the pursuit of their necessary studies; butchers, in the cut= 
 ting up of carcases, find themselves compelled to familiarize 
 their minds with the ideas here awakened; but was there 
 
12 
 
 ever before heard of a man so audacious as to impute such 
 brutality of thought and of language to a husband? The hus- 
 band himself, if such an one could be found upon earth, must 
 raise against him the voice of all woman kind, and must flee 
 from society as a monster unfit to be suffered tojlive except 
 among brutes. And yet a prince, famed for accomplished 
 manners, priding himself on those accomplishments alledged, 
 even in this very book, to be uncommonly sensible to the 
 power of female charms, and of exquisite ntceness in point of 
 taste, is here, by some unknown parasite, aided and abetted 
 by the king's stationer and the duke of York's bookseller, ex- 
 hibited to the world as speaking of the secrets of the wed- 
 ding night, and that too, in a way, that would, if imitated by 
 a drunken sailor, in a Portsmouth Point brothel, send the 
 beastly blackguard neck and heels into the street. 
 
 To make, however, common sense of this imputation against 
 her majesty, the proof of rvant of chastity must have been 
 discovered before the wedding night. For that alone is re- 
 concileable with the first wrong as here alledged, and the 
 immediate separation; unless we go upon the supposition, that 
 the king had very sedulously studied as an accoucheur . Yet, 
 if the discovery took place before the marriage, where was 
 the taste and where the fine sentiment, that could endure the 
 marriage ceremony. Oh! that was compelled by justice due 
 to the poor creditors! Indeed! And did justice to the credi- 
 tors: did their interest produce the consummation too. Never 
 was there so scrupulously honest a debtor in the whole world! 
 The thing, if not a barefaced blackguard lie, from the begin- 
 ning to the end, would certainly be a miracle; which, indeed, 
 is the only objection to a great many other of the miracles, 
 witnessed by us and our forefathers. But, then, if the con- 
 summation did not take place, and even this would appear to 
 be insinuated by this parasite; if the consummation did not 
 take place, what is the necessary conclusion? why, that the 
 princess Charlotte was what I will not even name! — And 
 
13 
 
 this, I think, caps the climax of infamy in the way of insinu- 
 ation; while, if we believed the letter to be what it calls it- 
 self, it would, when we recollect the accounts of the king's 
 sorrow at the death of the royal lady, hold him forth as the 
 most consummate hypocrite that ever disgraced the human 
 form. But, our consolation is, that the whole of the story is 
 a lie; a complicated lie, invented for the purpose of injuring 
 the queen, without, apparently, caring one single straw about 
 the injury likely to be done to the king; and yet this abomi- 
 nable book is published by the Kings Stationer and sold by 
 the dake of York's Bookseller. 
 
 Before I quit this expose de motifs as to the instant virtu- 
 al dissolution of the marriage, let m« advert to another part 
 of the book, where the king is represented as speaking of her 
 majesty as an object of loathing. There is another passage, 
 which has made me laugh: " The queen is growing old. We 
 are both beyond the hey-day of life." What! the king is not 
 growing old, I suppose! Oh no! It is not polite to call him 
 old; nor is it loyal; for the king M never dies." But, the 
 queen, being only a subject, dies like other folks: of course 
 she is growing old; and, as far as I have observed, this is the 
 only true remark respecting her, from the beginning to the 
 end of the letter, so audaciously inscribed to the king. 
 
 As to her majestv having, however, been an object of 
 loathing, to be sure, large allowances are to be made for 
 taste. But, who that ever saw her majesty, at any time of 
 her life, will not say, that this description is not most gross 
 and malicious abuse? I saw the queen, just 20 years ago last 
 Thursday week. I was so placed (in the privy chamber, I 
 think, they call it,) at St. James 1 palace, as to see all the per- 
 sons going to the late queen's drawing room; and, after see- 
 ing great numbers pass, I asked who that, "pretty gay little 
 lady was," and was told, that it was the princess of Wales. 
 I thought her the most beautiful of the whole; and I will not 
 attempt to describe my feelings with regard to him, who 
 
14 
 
 could be voluntarily separated from such a wife. I never 
 saw her majesty from that time, 'till I saw her coming up 
 Shooter's hill, on the memorable sixth of June last, when I 
 recognised in her face all that good-humour and all that vi- 
 vacity, which had so much pleased me in 1801. 
 
 As to what is beautiful and what is not, there is no stand- 
 ard. All depends upon taste; and our tastes vary with our 
 characters, which are as various as are the wild plants of the 
 field. — But, I know what my own taste in female beauty is, 
 and I will describe it. A woman, five feet two inches high 
 (without her shoes) half an inch more or less. Plump, even 
 when young, and prone to crum, rather than crust, as she 
 increases in years. Small-boned, small hand, and small and 
 nimble fe^t, and giving evident proofs, that the fruits of her 
 love are not, for want of an ample natural supply, to be ban- 
 ished to a hireling breast. Sprightly eyes of I care not what 
 colour; features that speak; a voice at once feminine and firm; 
 a laugh that banishes melancholy from my abode; a temper 
 that sets disguise at defiance; a will, that, by its ripplings, 
 prevents life from becoming a stagnant pool; a heart that 
 shows its tenderness, not in sighs and whines, but in exces- 
 sive fondness for children and in active boldness at the bed- 
 side of the yellow fever or the plague; and, if I cannot enjoy 
 that heart I am unworthy to enjoy its possessor. 
 
 That this is my taste I have given the best possible proof; 
 and, it is well known, that her majesty might have sitten for 
 the picture. I had, on Monday, the opportunity of seeing her 
 majesty, from a distance of about four yards, for a whole 
 hour, or more; and independent of her station and the inter- 
 esting circumstances connected with the occasion that brought 
 me, among so many others, into her presence, saw in her a 
 beautiful woman. Not a doll; not an immovable thing, made 
 of wax, with glass eyes stuck on its face. But a living being; 
 a being with features that tell what is passing in the heart. 
 No affectation about her; all is goodness, real graciousness; 
 
15 
 
 and, still, all is dignity; every thing to inspire affection and 
 to rivet attachment. And, when one reflects on all she has 
 undergone, on all her sufferings, all her dangers, and on her 
 fortitude and on her bravery, is it possible to refrain from 
 exerting in her service whatever we possess of talent or of 
 strength? — No man of unperverted mind can now behold 
 the queen without feeling eager to serve her and proud to 
 yield her respect and obedience. 
 
 And yet this Parasite has the audacity to tell the People, 
 and under the King's name, too, that this royal lady, is an 
 object of loathing! However, this is no more than a repeti- 
 tion of one of the blackguard assertions, made so incessantly 
 at the West End of London, for many years, previous to her 
 Majestj^'s arrival. I heard, years ago, of a book kept in a 
 certain house, where people might go and read the evidence 
 given against her, by the perjured wretches in 1806; but, 
 where they were not shown any of the statements in her de- 
 fence. There has been a perfect system for calumniating the 
 Queen; and, had not " the book''' been published in 1813, it 
 seems impossible for her to have been preserved. 
 
 Having now done with what may be called the brutal part 
 of this performance, I shall proceed to such of the rest as 
 are at all worthy of notice. The writer attempts to justify 
 the proceedings of 1806, upon the ground of numerous ru- 
 mors; but, the worst of it is, that the Tribunal to try her con- 
 duct sat and decided without ever hearing her in her defence. 
 
 The main, charge, lurking behind is, that, in 1813, the 
 Queen became a politician; that she made the domestic dis- 
 pute a question of factious politics; and that, therefore, she 
 then forfeited all claim to any species of indulgence; though 
 bv the by, I never heard, that her Majesty ever asked for 
 any indulgence. 
 
 This is, however a curious charge; and, as the reader will 
 presently see, as unfounded as all the rest. There is a very 
 pretty passage that precedes this charge against the Queen, 
 
16 
 
 and in this passage her alleged political interfering is ascri- 
 bed to the '.'higs! It is fitting that both king and queen 
 should know the real facts of the case, which I am very cer- 
 tain they do not, and which I am also certain, that nobody 
 will, or can, state to them, except myself. But, first let us 
 hear what this writer in the king's name says on the subject: 
 for, here is the apology for not taking the Whigs into power 
 in 181 '2, when the Prince became Regent. " The distin- 
 guished characters with whom, in my earlier years, I had 
 intimately associated, had created in the public mind, a wide- 
 ly extended, and readily believed opinion, that when the 
 sceptre of my father should descend to me, I should, from 
 among those associates, have chosen the members of my admi- 
 nistration. During the discussion of the terms of the regency, 
 I was careful to avoid giving any pledge of the line of poli- 
 cy I might find it expedient to adopt. A short previous ad- 
 ministration, composed of those political friends by whom it 
 was conjectured my councils would have been directed, had 
 enabled me to form some opinion of their executive talents; 
 and tfotwithstanding, an overture was made by me to them, 
 to propose an administration. But when I found the condi- 
 tions required would have reduced me to a mere political au- 
 tomaton, of which they were to possess the key; that not con- 
 tent with forming the administration, they required also, that 
 I should be surrounded in my household by their adherents, 
 and left to no choice in the appointment of my own attend- 
 ants; when with this, I compared the candour and the unequi- 
 vocal absence of all personal feeling, with which the bill crea- 
 ting the Regency was carried by the then ministry, and 
 above all, the frank, loyal and respectfd regret which was 
 shewn to the calamity of my revered Parent; and the so im- 
 mediate provision made for the resumption by him of the regal 
 dignity, that should it have pleased Providence so to have 
 restored him; my Royal Father would have awakened as if 
 from a dream, and have found himself unreminded of his 
 
17 
 
 affliction when to this I added the important consideration, 
 thai the flame of freedom rvas beginning to glimmer in Spain, 
 that the then administration were prepared to take advantage 
 of every circumstance favorable to the destruction of the 
 military Tyrant of Europe, and when all these various con- 
 siderations were upheld by the weight of personal character 
 ■which was contained in the then cabinet; I felt sufficiently 
 justified in not suffering former prepossessions to stand for 
 one moment in the way of newly created duties- I felt that 
 an existing experienced executive, was, at such a time, safer 
 than a theoretical cabinet. I had also a doubt in my own mind, 
 whether, during my Sovereign's life, I ought as Regent, to 
 adopt the principles of those who had been violently oppo- 
 sed to my Royal Father's measures, or pursue a line of poli- 
 cy unchanged, and such as my king would have continued had 
 he remained the active head of the empire. — This was a 
 feeling of THE HEART; it was MINE." 
 
 Reader, bear in mind, that it is not the king who says 
 this; and therefore, if you can suppress your contempt for 
 the writer, you may laugh at it as long as you please. Com- 
 pare this wretched stuff with the language of the queen, when 
 her majesty puts pen to paper. However, here you have this 
 man's reasons for the king's not choosing his servants from, 
 amongst his old friends, in 1812. And then, you are told by 
 this parasite, that the rejection of these old friends caused 
 the matrimonial differences " to be converted into a political 
 attack upon the king's authority.'''' Nothing can be more false 
 than this. The whigs as a party, never took the part of the 
 queen. — Mr. Whitbread did; but the whigs never did. Per- 
 ceval and his party had, indeed, taken her part. By so doing 
 they had put the whigs out, in 1 807; and if Perceval had 
 been put out, in 1812, when the prince became regent, he 
 would, without doubt, have brought her case forward again! 
 Nobody can' doubt of this; and, therefore, it is not quite im- 
 possible, that this, amongst others, might be a reason for the 
 
 6 
 
18 
 
 king's rejecting his old friends, and for keeping Perceval 
 and his people in power; a reason pretty nearly as powerful, 
 perhaps, as the " favoring of the cause of freedom in Spain" 
 The whigs could not, as they then stood, very well take part 
 with the princess. It was under them that the inquiry took 
 place in 1806; therefore they, though out, could not well 
 meddle with a matter, which if it all came out, made against 
 them very much, as they then stood. So that, by keeping in 
 Perceval and his men, both parties would naturally remain 
 quiet as to the princess. This is what did happen; and what 
 a deal, then, has the affair of this lad)' had to do in the great 
 concerns of this country, for many years past! 
 
 But, it is very true, that at the epoch here alluded to, the 
 affair of the queen did make a great stir, and was fast going 
 on to mix itself with politics. It is also true, that that which 
 was done at that time laid the foundation of all the popular 
 support, that her majesty has now received; and, it is fur- 
 ther true, that the prime mover in what was then done was 
 not Peter Moore, nor E dward Ellice, nor the heroes Brougham 
 and Denman, but that it was myself, which, I am sure, will 
 be a piece of news to the king, the queen, the ministry, the 
 whigs, and the people. And now I will relate the facts, pre- 
 cisely as they took place; and, when, reader you have heard 
 them, you will exclaim with some character in Shakspeare, 
 " how poor a thing may do a noble office!" And you will 
 recollect the mouse in the fable, that let the Hon loose from 
 the toils of his hunters. 
 
 In 1807, the result of the investigation began to make some 
 noise; and the Morning Post had violently attacked the Doug- 
 lasses. Sir John Douglas wrote to me protesting, that all 
 the swearings were true; and I, in consequence of that, pub- 
 lished some articles bearing on that side, though the whole 
 amount of what was known at that time was little more than 
 mere rumor. — Perceval came into power; all was hushed up; 
 
19 
 
 and the public remained in total darkness, until 1812; the 
 period above referred to by this parasite. 
 
 In 1811, I had gotten possession of all the material parts 
 of "THE BOOK." When, therefore, the Prince became 
 Regent, I endeavoured to bring the matter forward, by insist- 
 ing on the propriety of the Princess holding her courts, as 
 the Prince, her husband was now holding his. — -My motive 
 in this was, my conviction of her innocence from what 1 had 
 seen in " the Book" and also my opinion, that, if she did not 
 hold her courts then, she never would; and the foundation of 
 my opinion was this: that, if " the Book'''' lay hidden many 
 years from the eyes of the People, if the Princess remained 
 silent, 'till the Prince became king, the people would, at 
 least, think that there was a something to hide; and that they 
 would easily acquiesce in her degradation. Besides, the 
 ivitnesses, might all die. The Lords of the Commission might 
 die. Not a single copy of " the book" might be left in ex- 
 istence; and, there might remain to the Princess no possible 
 chance of obtaining even a hearing. 
 
 An opportunity for starting the question offered, when 
 addresses to the prince were presented on his being appoint- 
 ed Regent. I contended, that addresses ought also to be 
 presented to the Princess; and, in the city of London, by a 
 worthy Alderman, ahuays her friend, some movements were 
 made towards this measure. These were counteracted by 
 movements on the part of others, whom it is not necessary 
 now to point out; and, thus, no addresses were, at that time 
 presented to the Princess? 
 
 In 1813, when all was settled down into tranquillity with 
 regard to this affair; when not a word was said about the 
 Princess, the thing was again put in motion, and " the hook" 
 was forced out in the following manner. 
 
 Mr. Cochrane Johnstone was, at that time, a Member of 
 Parliament; and to whom I proposed the measure of bring- 
 ing forward a motion in parliament such as should compel an 
 
20 
 
 6pen and explicit declaration in Parliament, of the innocence 
 of the Princess, and of the falsehood of the charges preferred 
 against her in 1806. Mr Johnstone, who was a gallant and 
 active and zealous and honest politician, caught at any pro- 
 position. The nature of the motion was settled between us 
 at his house in Alsop's Buildings about twelve o'clock; and, 
 in five hours afterwards, he had given notice of his motion 
 in the House of Commons! — It was a real pleasure to have 
 to act with this gentleman. Always sober; always up early; 
 alrvays ready; always decisive and prompt; and never moping 
 in despair. Never was a man more calumniated jhan Mr. 
 Johnstone has been. 
 
 The motion consisted of two resolutions; and though, cer- 
 tainly, they did appear to be wholly uncalled for by any then 
 before the public, still they had enough of plausibility in them 
 to raise a long debate, his part of which the mover perform- 
 ed with admirable dexterity, Mr. Whitbread took the mat- 
 ter up: the Douglasses were roughly handled; the Lords 
 Commissioners did not escape; and, in short, the subject en- 
 gaged the exclusive attention of the public. 
 
 We fwho were in possession of " the book'''' ourselvesj on- 
 ly wanted to get that book into the hands of the public, and 
 through a channel not our own. Care was taken to work into 
 the Resolutions enough to excite uncommon curiosity; and, 
 at last, so much was drawn out in the debates, that it was bet- 
 ter even for the enemies of the Princess, to publish the whole. 
 — Accordingly, out came the book, first from the shop of Mr. 
 Jones, I think it was in Newgate street, and, afterwards, from 
 every shop in the kingdom. 
 
 This is what I wanted. The PEOPLE were now the 
 judges. We, of the press, had now matter whtreon to work 
 openly! We had before confined ourselves to suppositions 
 and hints. But now we had all the facts and circumstan- 
 ces; we had the evidence; we had the Princess' defence in 
 
21 
 
 her letters to the king; and, we were enabled to maintain her 
 cause boldly and effectually. 
 
 This was a most important service rendered to the Prin- 
 cess; and I say this without any scruple, because I am sure, 
 that I shall never accept of reward, in any shape, or of any 
 kind, at her hands. It was a most important service, because 
 it made the People her judges; because it established her inno- 
 cence; because it excited, in her favor, those feelings, which 
 never ceased to exist in the public breast; with which feel- 
 ings she was received at Dover; and which feelings height- 
 ened by additional wrongs, heaped on her, have now saved 
 her from total degradation. 
 
 Let any one suppose the case of a continued suppression 
 of " the Book" until this day. The rumors for the last six 
 years, added to her unaccountable silence of a preceding 
 eight years, would have made a general presumption oj her 
 guilt certain. Look at the great argument, in answer to the 
 charges of the bill and the swearings of the Italian witnes- . 
 ses. What has it been? Why, that heavier charges and 
 tougher swearings were brought against her in 1806; and, 
 that THEY were all false! This has been the great argu- 
 ment with the press, and round every fire-side. But, this ar- 
 gument never could have existed, if Mr. Johnstone and my- 
 self had not forced out the book. For, be it known, that 1 had 
 tried, in 1812, more than one other member of parliament 
 to do that which Mr. Cochrane Johnstone did, in 1813. 
 They would not stir. — Timidity, laziness, something always 
 defeated my project. But, Mr. Johnstone was a man of ac- 
 tion, and he feared nobody. 
 
 Let not the friends of the king, therefore, blame the xvhigs 
 for this stir in 1813; for they, poor things, were as innocent 
 as the child unborn, not only of all act, or part, in the mak- 
 ing of the stir, but of all knowledge of the source whence the 
 thingsprang. The public applauded Mr. Whitbread, and very 
 justly; but, he was, on this occasion, no more than a puppet 
 
22 
 
 put in motion by us. I enjoyed exceedingly the seeing of the 
 big talkers at work like bees in a tar-barrel to extricate them- 
 selves from the confusion, into which we had thrown them. 
 Let not the poor whigs be blamed for this signal service to 
 the queen, for babes at the breast were not more clear of the 
 sin than they. 
 
 As to the queen, her majesty has never known, I am very 
 sure, the source of the exertions in her favor in 1813. But, 
 we had other sch mes which, if they had been adopted, would 
 have enabled ber, to a certainty, to hold her court in 1813; 
 and which would, of course., have prevented her from going 
 abroad, and have spared her, the king, and the nation all that 
 has happened in consequence of that unwise and almost in- 
 sane step, which the advice of Canning induced her to take. 
 
 "When " the book" had been published, the princess stood 
 triumphant. That was the time, therefore, for her to take the 
 measures necessary to the full enjoyment of her rights. These 
 measures, however, must have come from herself; and to 
 submit them fairly and fully to her, she must have been seen 
 and spoken to by the person who had the measure to submit. 
 Mr. Johnstone endeavoured, but in vain, to obtain an audi- 
 ence of her royal highness. He applied, for this purpose, to 
 a countess, then upon intimate terms with the princess. A 
 great don, who was admitted to her royal highness's presence 
 was also applied to. These great personages had, doubtless, 
 their own views; and, notwithstanding the reproof given in 
 the fable, by the Ox to the Cur, they so contrived the mat- 
 ter, that Mr. Johnstone could get no audience; while his par- 
 liamentary puppet, Mr. Whitbread, was the Burleigh of the 
 princess's cabinet; and while this Burleigh was so managing 
 the matter as la-weary and disgust the princess, and to make 
 her ready to listen to any advice, that would remove her 
 from the sound of the voices of prosing, shilly-shally coun- 
 sellors. 
 
23 
 
 The Princess was herself acquitted; she heard the public 
 loud in her behalf, and as loud against her enemies, she saw 
 that she was completely triumphant; but still she saw, amidst 
 this multitude of words, that nothing was DONE for her; that 
 no one even PROPOSED TO DO any thing for her;,and 
 that, though innocent and injured, she was still to be degra- 
 ded! Was not this enough to fill any body with disgust; and 
 what, then, must the effect of it have been upon a person of 
 uncommon decision, promptitude and spirit, and that person 
 an injured Princess too? 
 
 Had Mr. Johnstone found his way to the Princess, ten 
 minutes would have decided the matter. She would have 
 had no prosing; no lecturing; no melancholy-engendering 
 forebodings. The path would have been clearly marked out 
 for her; and all that has happened since convinces one that she 
 would have pursued it. It was the path of reason, of honor, 
 of true dignity, the path of peace , too, for the Prince as well 
 as for herself. But she had fallen not "amongst thieves," in- 
 deed; but amongst prosers, amongst lesson-mongers; and ever- 
 lasting procrastinators; amongst men, who are always misera- 
 ble if they have not something to debate about; and, really, 
 whose only fear seems to be, that their debating should cause 
 something to be done. 
 
 Thus have I given a true account of the stir in 1813; and 
 from it the reader will see, what a poor shuffle it is, on the 
 part of this Parasite, to accuse the Whigs of making the king's 
 " matrimonial differences a subject of political attack'''' on 
 him. The Princess herself knew not the real source of the 
 agitation; and she must now laugh at the exposition of this 
 adventure of her life. — At any rate, I have here clearly shown, 
 that she had no hand in producing the agitations of 1813; 
 and, that, therefore, this charge, like all the rest, has its 
 foundation in falsehood and malignity. 
 
 The remaining part of the Letter of the Parasite, published 
 by the king's stationer, in the king's name (oh, audacity!) is 
 so very absurd; it savours so strongly of drunkenness or of 
 
24 
 
 insanity, that I cannot bring myself to notice it otherwise 
 than in general description. It represents the king as persona- 
 ting thty tur* historian, and writing this part of the history 
 of his own reign! Then it represents him as supposing,^-*?, 
 that the Queen will be supported in her claims by the Parlia- 
 ment; that her name will be restored to the Liturgy; and 
 that she will hold her court. Second, that she will not be 
 supported by the Parliament; that a negociationfa la Protocol) 
 will be renewed; and that she will go out of the country in 
 so silent a manner, that the people will hear nothing of the 
 matter 'till she is safely landed in France. In ih? first case, 
 revolution, blood, and atheism, are anticipated as the final ef- 
 fect. In the second case, are predicted harmony, peace, plen- 
 ty, and everlasting prosperity and happiness! 
 
 Was there ever so mad a wretch as this Parasite! To 
 comment on such matter would really be like going to Bedlam 
 and arguing with the inmates th< re. All that remains, then, 
 is to dismiss this at once audacious and stupid and beastly 
 performance, with the expression of a hope, that, as this is 
 the first, so it will be the last, time, that one will dare thus to 
 vilify the Queen under the name of the king; to date his pro- 
 ductions from the very Palace of the King; and cause it to be 
 published by the Ki.g^s stationer, and sold by the Duke of 
 TorlCs bookseller. 
 
 Having the pen in hand, however, I cannot refrain from 
 observing shortly on what has passed since I began this pa- 
 per, in Parliament, with regard to her Majesty the queen. 
 The king has merely called on the Parliament to make a 
 pecuniary provision for her Majesty. Unquestionably this 
 ought to come from the Civil List Allowance; because that 
 allowance contemplates a king and a queen. It is not 
 granted to a Bachelor or a widowed King. It is granted, as 
 it was to the late king, for the support of him, wife and chil- 
 dren. Therefore, and especially at the present time, let us 
 hope, that circumstances do, unhappily, prevent the royal 
 
25 
 
 parties from living together, the separate allowance to her 
 Majesty will come from that already settled on the king. 
 
 But besides sufficient pecuniary allowance, there will 
 doubtless be something in the way of real property granted 
 to her majesty. It appears that she has purchased the lease 
 of Marlborough House. This house and its gardens and yard 
 belong to the public* The duke of Marlborough rents the 
 whole of our stewards for 75l. a year! Yes 751. The lease, 
 which was granted in 1785, expires in 15 years time. The 
 prince of Cobourg pays, not seventy-five pounds, but three 
 thousand, a year, to the duke! So that the public is a pretty 
 easy landlord.' However, the queen has bought the lease; the 
 prince, her son in law, is her majesty's tenant now; and, there 
 can be no doubt, I should think, of his having, at once, agreed 
 to give up this convenient place to her majesty. Thus her 
 majesty will have a suitable residence in town; and, surely 
 one of the manv palaces in the country will be allotted to her 
 
 majesty. 
 
 Besides, the late queen had granted to her for life, the 
 manor of Richmond in Surrey, and also the office of steward 
 and keeper of the courts of the said manor, and all demesne 
 lands and other lands in lease. Now, these have all fallen in 
 to the public by the death of the late queen; and, what so 
 proper; what so suitable in all respects; what so likely to con- 
 ciliate the people, as to grant them, for life, to her present 
 majesty? There is no subject on which I would sooner pe- 
 tition parliament than this; but, 1 hope, that every step of 
 this sort will be rendered wholly unnecessary by the steps 
 which his majesty himself appears to be disposed to take, if 
 I am to judge from his truly gracious (though not quite 
 grammatical) speech to the parliament. 
 
 A palace, a suitable allowance from the civil list, the manor 
 of Richmond, and the name in the liturgy seem, now thank 
 God, to be all that remain wanting to putting an end for 
 ever to this unhappy family dispute, which never ought to 
 
26 
 
 have been knoxvn to the world, and which it has filled with 
 scandalous and disgraceful details. The king comes at last, 
 and tells the parliament and the world, that he regards the 
 attachment of his people as the best safeguard of this throne; 
 and truly says, that he has that attachment. His majesty 
 thus rebukes the slanderers of his faithful and dutiful people, 
 and in so doing he gives us a pledge of his sincere and ardent 
 desire to restore to us all the rights, of which we have been 
 deprived, during the last twenty-seven years. That concilia- 
 tion, which, with my feeble voice, I have recommended for 
 so many years, seems, at last, to be becoming " the order of 
 the day." 
 
 As to the " question of the liturgy," I hope it will prove 
 no question at all. It is said, that the French used to laugh 
 at James II. for his having quarrelled with his subjects for 
 the sake of a mass. A quarrel about the liturgy would be a 
 great deal more ridiculous. All is now settled but this; and, 
 surely, this ought not to stand in the way of a restoration of 
 harmony! The ministers are not conjurers, to be sure; but 
 they know the worth of their places; and, will they risk them 
 for this? They must know that long debates about collects 
 and prayers will give a dreadful shock to the hierarchy. 
 They must know, that if they persist, a considerable portion 
 of the people will quit the church. They must know that they 
 must yield at last, or yield their places. And, surely, they will 
 then, yield, and keep their places as long as they can. They 
 may be forced out by other means; but why force themselves 
 out? They would, I think, carry their question on the litur- 
 gy axjirst; but they would be beat out of it at last; and then 
 out of place at the same time. 
 
 Let me indulge the hope, that before the next number of 
 this work will come from the press, all disputes relative to 
 the queen will have been put an end to by the act of his ma- 
 jesty hi nself; and this will be much more likely to do him 
 honor, than books, abusing his royal consort, published un- 
 
 RD -7.6 
 
27 
 
 der his name, issued by a man calling himself his stationer, 
 and sold by another, calling himself the bookseller of the duke 
 of Tork. 
 
 WM. COBBETT. 
 
ANSWER 
 
 TO THE 
 
 KINGS LETTER. 
 
Published by JOHN CONRAD, No, 121 ChesmtSt, 
 
 A LETTER 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, TO HIS PEOPLE. 
 
 NEW BOOKS 
 
 FOH SALE BY 
 
 JOHN CONRAD, 
 
 No 121 Chesnut St. 
 Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, by Miss Aiken, 2 vols. 
 Conversations on the Bible, enlarged edition, 2 vols. Barton's 
 poems— No Fiction, 2 vols.— Schoolcraft's narrative— Mr. Ada-i's 
 report on Weights and Measures— Malthus on Political Econo- 
 my—Examination ofthe Tariffproposedby Mr.Baldwin— Lord By- 
 ron's Tragedy— United States Pharmacopea— Narrative of the 
 British campaigns at Washington, &c. by a British officer— Mr. 
 Dunonceau's oration on the early history of Pennsylvania— 
 Chalmer's application of Christianity to the commercial and ordi- 
 nary affairs of life. 
 

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