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feated itself, she complains that there still remained imputations, "strangely sanctioned and countenanced by the report," respecting which she could not remain silent without incurring the most fatal consequences to her honour and character; since the report distinctly and emphatically stated, that the circumstances detailed against her must be credited, till they were decisively contradicted. Against the substance of the pro. ceeding itself, and the manner in which it was conducted, however, she first of all considers herself bound to protest, especially that any of the charges should ever have been entertained upon testimony so little worthy of credit; charges which displayed in every sentence the motive in which they originated; and that, if it had been thought proper to investigate them, the ordinary legal modes of inquiry were not pursued, but one adopted which was open to many objections, and which could not do her justice, while it debarred her entirely from proceeding against those witnesses who had most foully and falsely calumniated her character. She was willing, however, to suppose that the commissioners, through the pressure and urgency of their official occupations, "did not, perhaps could not," give that attention to the case which must have enabled them to detect the villainy of her accusers. Still she could not help most solemnly protesting against their giving in such a report upon ex parte examination, without affording her an opportunity of explaining or defending her conduct, or even hearing one word which she could urge. However, she conceived, she should have no reason to lament, that at last a fit opportu

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nity had occurred for laying open her heart to his majesty. For more than two years, she had been informed that her conduct had been made the subject of investigation, and that her neighbours' servants had been examined concerning it; but the cause of this she did not learn for some time, nor till the investigation had actually taken place." His royal highness the duke of Kent on the 7th of June announced it to me. He announced to me, the princess of Wales, in the first communication made to me with respect to this proceeding, the near approach of two attorneys (one of them, I since find, the solicitor employed by sir John Douglas,) claiming to enter my dwelling with a warrant, to take away one half of my household for immediate examination upon a charge against myself. Of the nature of that charge I was then uninformed. It now appears it was the charge of high treason committed in the infamous crime of adultery. His royal highness, I am sure, will do me the justice to represent to your majesty, that I betrayed no fear; that I manifested no symptoms of conscious guilt; that I sought no excuses to prepare or to tutor my servants for the examination which they were to undergo."

From this period, till the appearance of the report, her royal highness stated that her impatience had been most painful, but at the same time most natural: it was known, not only to her, but to the whole world, that an inquiry of the most delicate nature and tendency had been instituted into her conduct; and she looked to the result, with an absolute conviction that her innocence and honour would be esta blished, to the dismay and disgrace of her accusers: she had taught

herself

herself most firmly to believe, "that it was utterly impossible, that any opinion which could in the smallest degree work a prejudice to her honour and character, could ever be expressed in any terms, by any persons, in a report upon a solemn formal inquiry, and more especially to his majesty, without her having some notice, and some opportunity of being heard." Had only the ordinary means and opportu nities granted to accused persons been granted to her; had she been treated as the lowest person in the state, if accused of the most trifling crime, would assuredly have been treated, her honour and innocence must then, in any opinion which could have been expressed, have been fully vindicated, and effectually established. "What then, sire, must have been my astonishment and my dismay, when I saw that notwithstanding the principal accusation was found to be utterly false, yet some of the witnesses to those charges which were brought in support of the principal accusation witnesses, whom any person interested to have protected my character would easily have shown, out of their own mouths, to be utterly unworthy of credit, and confederates in foul conspiracy with my false accusers are reported to be free from all suspicion of unfavourable bias!'heir veracity, in the judgement of the commissioners, not to be questioned !'ject of inquiry, which had in law and their infamous stories and insinuations against me, to be such as deserve the most serious consideration, and as must be credited till decisively contradicted !' "

by it, she had a right to be immediately informed of that circumstance; if the report condemned her, the weight of such a sentence should not have been left to settle in any mind, much less in the mind of his majesty, without giving her an opportunity of clearing her cha racter. "And why all consideration of my feelings was thus cruelly neglected; why I was kept upon the rack, during all this time, ignorant of the result of a charge which affected my honour and my life ;and why, especially in a case where such grave matters were to continue to be credited,' to the prejudice of my honour, 'till they were decidedly contradicted,' the means of knowing what it was that I must at least endeavour to contradict were withholden from me a single unnecessary hour, I know not, and I will not hurt myself in the attempts to conjecture." After these preliminary and general remarks, her royal highness points out the hardship she had suffered by the proceeding having been under warrant or commission: had the inquiry been entered into before his majesty's privy council, or be fore any magistrates who were legally authorized to take cognisance of treason, the investigation would have been conducted in a more me. thodical manner, and in a manner which would have preserved her from hearing matters made the sub

Her royal highness next proceeds, again to notice the delay which took place in sending a copy of the report to her if her innocence were thoroughly established

no substantive, criminal character; and from having her reputation injured by calumny, which, though proved to be unfounded, could not be punished. The letter next proceeds to make particular observa tions on the report itself, and on the examinations: it is of course impossible for us to follow her royal highness through nearly all these Q 2

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observations :—the most important, however, either in respect to the falsity of the charges brought against her, or as displaying her feelings and character, we slrall give in as brief a manner as possible.

She dwells with great force of argument on the extreme improbability of lady Douglas's accusation respecting her pregnancy: to believe it, it is necessary to believe "that a person guilty of so foul a crime as adultery, so highly penal-so fatal to her honour, her station, and her life-should gratuitously and uselessly have confessed it;" and not only confessed the fact, but have added to this madness, the still greater madness, if possible, of determining to bring up the child in her own house, and to suckle it herself. But those who could credit all this, were called upon to lend their faith to more: for, if the statements of lady Douglas were true, the princess, after having thus made her her confidante in a case where her honour and her life were at stake, sought an occasion, wantonly and without provocation, from the mere fickleness and wilfulness of her own mind, to quarrel with her; to insult her openly and violently; to endeavour to ruin her reputation; and to expose her in infamous and indecent drawings, in letters to her husband! As however the commissioners most unequivocally and decidedly acquitted her of the charges of adultery and pregnancy, she goes to consider the other charges, which, though they involved, comparatively speaking, no criminality, the commissioners were disposed to think entitled to some credit. She very justly com. plains that these charges are brought forward, and reported

upon, not merely as containing substantive matters in themselves, but as containing evidence of the charges of pregnancy and delivery; and that the commissioners hint at par ticulars and circumstances, which in their judgement must give occasion to the most unfavourable interpretations, and which must be credited till they are decidedly con tradicted-without ever specifying what these circumstances are. There were indeed circumstances respecting captain Manby particularized; but they contained much matter of opinion, of hearsay, of suspicion. Are these hearsays, are these opi nions, are these suspicions and conjectures of these witnesses to be believed against. me, unless deci dedly contradicted? How can I decidedly contradict any person's opinion? I may reason against its justice, but how can I contradict it? Or, how can I decidedly contradict any thing which is not precisely specified, nor distinctly known to me?"

The witnesses who, in the opinion of the commissioners, were particularly deserving of credit, were W. Cole, R. Bidgood, F. Loyd, and Mrs. Lisle: the evidence of the last her royal highness examines separately, because, as she had a high respect for her character, she could not wish it to be thought that the observations she should feel herself compelled to make on the testimony of the other witnesses, in the smallest degree applied to her. In the deposition of W. Cole, sir Sydney Smith is the first person mentioned; with whom he asserted her royal highness was too inti mate-but allowing the truth of all this witness stated, what did this intimacy amount to that her royal highness was amused and interested with sir Sydney Smith's

con

vourable interpretations of conduct could be decidedly contradicted: there could be no other mode, but the declaration of the princess and sir Sydney Smith: the latter, in consequence of his absence from the country, could not make his declaration; but the princess in the most solemn manner denied the charge. "I am sure, however, your majesty

grading situation to which this report has reduced your daughterin-law, the princess of Wales; when you see her reduced to the necessity of either risking the danger, that the most unfavourable interpretations should be credited; or else of stating, as I am now degraded to the necessity of stating, that not only no adulterous or criminal, but no indecent or improper, intercourse whatever, ever subsisted between sir Sydney Smith and myself; or any thing which I should have objected that all the world should have seen!"

conversation, and with his account of the various and extraordinary events and heroic achievements in which he had been concerned. On lady Douglas's depositions to the same effect, her royal highness makes the following pointed and just remarks, which indeed go far to destroy the credibility of all her evidence these remarks are delivered with all that proud and sar-will feel for the humiliated and decastic display of feeling, which in several other parts characterizes this letter: "Your majesty will have an excellent portraiture of the true female delicacy and purity of my lady Douglas's mind and character, when you will observe that she seems wholly insensible into what a sink of infamy she degrades herself, by her testimony against me. It is, not only that it appears from her statement that she was contented to live in familiarity and apparent friendship with me after the confession which I had made of my adultery-for, by the indulgence and liberality, as it is called, of modern manners, the company of adulteresses has ceased to reflect that discredit upon the characters of other women who admit of their society, which the best interests of female virtue may, perhaps, require-but she was contented to live in familiarity with a woman, who, if lady Douglas's evidence of me is true, was a most low, vulgar, and profligate disgrace to her sex; the grossness of whose ideas and conversation would add infamy to the lowest, most vulgar, and most infamous prostitute."

The commissioners had said, that the charge respecting the princess of Wales and sir Sydney Smith must, in their opinion, be credited till it was decidedly contradicted; but they had not thought proper to explain how inferences and unfa

The next person with whom any improper intercourse was insinuated, was Mr. Lawrence the painter; and this charge rested on the evidence of Cole. But had the com missioners sifted and examined this evidence, as they ought to have done? had they conducted their inquiries on this point, as if they wished to learn the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? The princess did not wish or mean to push these questions; but she could not help lamenting, that Mr. Cole was not examined against Mr. Cole; as, if he had, his prevarica. tions and his falsehoods could never have escaped the commissioners. The letter then proceeds to point out some most material and pal pable contradictions in Cole's evidence: "Is this one of those witnesses who cannot be suspected of unQ 3

favour

favourable bias, and whose veracity is not to be questioned, and whose evidence must be credited till de cidedly contradicted?"

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The next person with whom the examinations charged the princess with improper familiarity, and with regard to whom the report represented the evidence as particularly strong, was captain Manby: the witnesses in support of this charge were Bidgood, Loyd, and Mrs. Lisle the last stated that her royal highness behaved to captain Manby only as any woman would who likes flirting. She would not have thought any married woman would have behaved properly, who behaved as her royal highness did to captain Manby. She cannot say whether the princess was attached to captain Manby ;-only that it was a flirting conduct. But this flirting conduct could not have been any thing very improper, because it passed openly in the company of the princess's ladies, of whom Mrs. Lisle herself was one. After this general remark, the princess goes on to state in a very frank and full manner, the origin and the circumstances of her acquaintance with captain Manby; and then thus solemnly appeals to his majesty: "Let me conjure your majesty, over and over again, before you suffer this circumstance to prejudice me in your opinion, not only to weigh all the circumstances I have stated, but to look round the first ranks of female virtue in this country, and see how many women there are of most unimpeached reputation, of most unsullied and unsuspected honour, character, and virtue, whose conduct, though living happily with their husbands, if submitted to the judgement of persons of a severer cast of mind, especially if saddened at the moment

by calamity, might be styled to be flirting."- "How would it be endured, that the judgement of one man should be asked, and recorded in a solemn report, against the con duct of another, either with respect to his behaviour to his children, or to his wife, or to any other relative? How would it be endured, in general, (and I trust that my case ought not in this respect to form an exception,) that one woman should in a similar manner be placed in judgement upon the conduct of another? and that judgement be reported, where her character was of most importance to her, as amongst things which must be credited till decidedly contradicted? Let every one put these questions home to their own breasts, and, before they impute blame to me for protesting against the fairness and justice of this procedure, ask how they would feel upon it, if it were their own case?-But, perhaps, they cannot bring their ima ginations to conceive that it could ever become their own case: a few months ago, I could not have believ ed that it would have been mine."

The evidence of Bidgood respecting captain Manby is next investigated: he swore that in the reflection of a looking-glass he saw the princess of Wales and the captain salute one another: notwithstanding the incredibility of this statement, and that it rested solely upon his testimony, yet the commissioners do not seem to have put a single question to him, to try and sift the credit which was due to him and his story; but, assuming that he was telling the truth, and not paying attention to the circumstances of his deposition-that in a room with the door open, and a servant known to be waiting just by, such a scene of gross indecency

should

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