should have been acted-they declare him without hesitation to be the witness of truth, of unquestion. able veracity. He does not appear even to have been asked, to whom he told the fact before; when he told it; what was done in consequence of his information; and, if he never told it, how he could account for having concealed it so long?-The next circumstance of Bidgood's deposition went still further; it went to accuse her royal highness of criminal intercourse with captain Manby: and this implied accusation rested on some unimportant facts, relative to putting out the candles, the placing of basons and towels, &c. "What is the charge (she indignantly asks) that he would insinuate? That I meditated, and effected, a stolen, secret, clandestine intercourse with an adulterer? No-Captain Manby, it seems, according to his insinuation, slept with me in my own house, under circumstances of such notoriety, that it was impossible that any of my female attendants, at least, should not have known it. Their duties were varied on the occasion; they had to supply basons and towels in places where they never were supplied except when prepared for him; and they. were not only purposely so prepared, but prepared in an open passage, exposed to view, in a manner to excite the suspicion of those who were not admitted into the secret! And what a secret was it that was thus to be hazarded? No less than what, if discovered, would fix captain Manby and myself with high treason. Not only therefore must I have been thus careless of reputation, and eager for infamy; but I must have been as careless of my life as of my honour. Lost to all sense of shame, surely I must have

still retained some regard for life." "But, sire, may I ask, did the commissioners believe this man's suspicions? If they did, what do they mean by saying that these facts of great indecency, &c. went to a much less extent than the principal charges; and that it was not for them to state their bearing and effect? The bearing of this fact, unquestionably, if believed, is the same as that of the principal charge; namely, to prove me guilty of high treason. They, therefore, could not believe it; but if they did not believe it, and, as it seems to me, sire, no men of common judgement could on such a statement, how could they bring themselves to name Mr. Bidgood as one of those witnesses on whose unbiassed testimony they could so rely?"

The next deposition which her royal highness examines is that of Fanny Loyd; who swore that one of the medical attendants of the princess told her that the princess was with child, or looked as if she was with child :-this deposition was most pointedly contradicted by the medical attendant alluded to: and yet Fanny Loyd was declared by the commissioners to be a person whose credit there appeared no reason to question. But, on this point, the princess complains that the conduct of the commissioners was unfair in another respect; for though the fact, that the medical attendant positively contradicted what Fanny Loyd asserted, was known when the declarations were forwarded to his majesty, this contradiction was not stated; while the charge of Fanny Loyd, which it so fully refuted, was recorded.

The other allegations are examined with equal acuteness, and rebutted with equal success: but as they were of minor importance

we shall pass them over, and conclude our account of this letter by extracting some of the closing paragraphs, which are distinguished for their solemn and pathetic eloquence:

"But, how am I to insure a patient attention to all this statement? How many will hear that the lord high chancellor, the lord chief justice of the king's bench, the first lord of the treasury, and one of your majesty's principal secretaries of state, have reported against me, upon evidence which they have declared to be unbiassed and unquestionable; who will never have the opportunity, or, if they had the opportunity, might not have the inclination, to correct the error cr that report by the examination of my statement?

I feel, therefore, that by this proceeding my character has received essential injury. For a princess of Wales to have been placed in a situation in which it was essential to her honour to request one gentleman to swear that he was not locked up at midnight in a room with her alone; and another, that he did not give her a las civious salute, and never slept in her house, is to have been actually degraded and disgraced. I have been, sire, placed in this situation: I have been cruelly,-your majesty will permit me to say so, cruelly degraded into the necessity of making such requests: a necessity which I never could have been exposed to, even under this inquiry, if more attention had been given to the examination of these malicious charges, and of the evidence on which they rest.

"If, indeed, after the most diligent and anxious inquiry, penetrating into every circumstance connected with the charge, searching

every source from which informa tion could be derived, and scrutinizing with all that acuteness into the credit and character of the wit. nesses, which great experience, ta lent, and intelligence could bring to such a subject; and above all, if, after giving me some opportu nity of being heard, the force of truth had, at length, compelled any persons to form, as reluctantly and as unwillingly as they would against their own daughters, the opinion that has been pronounced;no regard, unquestionably, to my honour and character, nor to that of your majesty's family, as in some degree involved in mine, could have justified the suppression of that opinion, if legally called for, in the course of official and public duty. Whether such cau tion and reluctance are really manifest in these proceedings, I must leave to less partial judgements than my own to determine.

"In the full examination of these proceedings, which justice to my own character has required of me, I have been compelled to make many observations which I fear may prove offensive to persons in high power. But, "under" the circumstances of the report, "sire, what could I do? Could I forbear, in justice to myself, to announce to your majesty the existence of a conspiracy against my honour, and my station in this country at least, if not against my life? Could I forbear to point out to your ma jesty how long this intended mischief had been meditated against me? Could I forbear to point out my doubts, at least, of the legality of the commission under which the proce ding had been had? or to point out the errors and inaccuracies into which the great and able men, who were named in this commission, un

der

der the hurry and pressure of their great official occupations, had fallen in the execution of this duty? Could I forbear to state, and to urge the great injustice and injury that had been done to my character and honour, by opinions pronounced against me without hear ing me? And if, in the execution of this great task so essential to my honour, I have let drop any expressions which a colder and more cautions prudence would have checked, I appeal to your majesty's warm heart and generous feelings to suggest my excuse, and to afford my pardon.

"What I have said, I have said under the pressure of much misfortune; under the provocation of great and accumulated injustice. Oh! sire, to be unfortunate, and scarce to feel at liberty to lament; to be cruelly used, and to feel it almost an offence and a duty to be silent, is a hard lot; but use had in some degree inured me to it.But to find my misfortunes and injuries imputed to me as faults; to be called to account upon a charge made against me by lady Douglas, who was thought at first worthy of credit, although she had pledged her veracity to the fact of my having admitted that I was myself the aggressor in every thing of which I had to complain,-has subdued all power of patient bearing; and when I was called upon by the commissioners, either to ad. mit by my silence the guilt which they imputed to me, or to enter into my defence in contradiction to it, no longer at liberty to remain silent, I, perhaps, have not known how, with exact propriety, to limit my expressions.

"In happier days of my life, before my spirit had been yet at all lowered by misfortune, I should have been disposed to have met

such a charge with the contempt which, I trust, by this time, your majesty thinks due to it. I should have been disposed to have defied my enemies to the utmost, and to have scorned to answer to any thing but a legal charge before a competent tribunal; but in my present misfor tunes, such force of mind is gone. I ought, perhaps, so far to be thankful to them for their wholesome lessons of humility. I have therefore entered into this long detail, to endeavour to remove, at the first possible opportunity, any unfavourable impressions; to rescue myself from the dangers which the continuance of these suspicions might occasion, and preserve to me your majesty's good opinion, in whose kindness hitherto I have found infinite consolation, and to whose justice, under all circumstances, I can confidently appeal.

"Under the impression of these sentiments, I throw myself at your majesty's feet. I know that whatever sentiments of resentment, whatever wish for redress, by the pu nishment of my false accusers, I ought to feel, your majesty, as the father of a stranger smarting under false accusations as the head of your illustrious house dishonoured in me-and as the great guardian of the laws of your kingdom, thus foully attempted to have been applied to the purposes of injustice, will not fail to feel for me. At all events, I trust your majesty will restore me to the blessings of your gracious presence, and confirm to me, by your own gracious words, your satisfactory conviction of my innocence."

Nine weeks having elapsed after this letter was sent to his majesty, without any reply, the princess again wrote, expressing her anxiety, and her wish to learn whether she might again be admitted to the

royal

delay as possible, into his majesty's presence; and that she should be received in a manner due to her rank and station, in his majesty's court and family."

Notwithstanding this advice, it does not appear that the princess of Wales was ever on the same foot ing, either at court or in the royal family, as she had previously been; while her intercourse with her daughter was subjected to great restraint. Nothing however occurred, that is publicly and officially known, till the month of January 1813. At this time the princess was so much debarred from the society of her daughter, that she determined to write to the prince regent on the subject: she found, however, great difficulty in getting her letter conveyed to him; and though it had been transmitted to his ministers on the 14th, it was not till the 23d that it was read to him. In this letter she dwelt with great force on the hardship and injustice of widening the separation between mother and daughter;-it was not only cutting her off from one of the few domestic enjoyments which she still retained, but it was giving countenance to those reports which had been proved to be totally unfounded.

In consequence of this letter, which soon after it was sent appeared in one of the daily papers, various cabinet meetings were held; and at length, on the princess writing to lord Liverpool, to know the reason why her daughter had been suddenly prohibited from meeting her, on a day when she was given to understand permission would be allowed her, his lordship informed her, that in consequence of the publication of her letter, his royal highness had thought fit, by the advice of his confidential servants,

to signify his commands that the intended visit of the princess Charlotte to her mother should not take place. To this note of lord Liverpool, lady Anne Hamilton, by command of her royal highness, sent a very caustic and haughty reply; and as she understood that cabinet meetings were still held, as was publicly rumoured, respecting her conduct, she wrote to the earl of Harrowby, as president of the council, protesting against any resolutions affecting her, which they might adopt.

Shortly afterwards, the meetings of the privy council still continuing, and there being little doubt that they were engaged in examining anew into the charges against her royal highness, she felt herself bound to take some public and decisive step for the protection of her own honour and character. Accordingly, immediately on the meeting of the house of commons, she addressed a letter to the speaker: the contents of this letter, and all the subsequent proceedings in the house on this subject, will be found in the other parts of this volume.

The attention and interest of the nation were first drawn to this sub. ject, in consequence of the publication of the princess's letter to the prince; which was followed by the publication of most of the other documents which we have anaFysed, as well as of the depositions on which the charges were founded; the papers in the interest of the prince publishing the depositions, and the papers which favoured the princess publishing her explanatory and vindicatory letters. It was a subject well calculated to excite a very deep and general degree of interest:

but perhaps there scarcely ever was a subject on which the nation were so nearly agreed. Even those

who