to the house of Brunswick than he was; but if he had a sister in the same situation, he would say she was exceedingly ill treated.

Mr. W. Smith fully participated in what fell from the honourable member who spoke last: if his sister had been treated as the princess had been, he should feel extremely sore. He regretted he could not see his way clear how justice could be done to the prin. cess, and therefore he wished his honourable friend would explain what further proceedings he had in contemplation.

Mr. Ponsonby could not agree to the motion of his honourable friend; yet he was almost inclined so to do, from the admirable, incomparable, resistless eloquence with which he urged it. He would ask, Is it competent for this house to grant the prayer of the princess's letter? The report of 1806 ought not to be laid before the house. Is there any thing in it that ought to be submitted to their consideration? Suppose the report on the table, what could they do with it? Could they address the regent for a trial? could they condemn? could they acquit? This is truly an attack on the government; and the defence of the noble lord worthy of the newspapers which advocate his cause. He denied that any person in opposition had any connection with the publication of the papers, or with any part of the transaction; he dis claimed all knowledge of all proceedings therein, and he should despise any one who could make the royal quarrels a source to prove a stepping stone to office: he had never so done; those he acted with had never so done; and he wished he could say as much for the living and the dead, and that all could lay their hands on their hearts and

say the same. He despised such base and despicable conduct from the bottom of his soul.

Mr. Whitbread said, provided he should succeed in his motion of tonight, and obtain the report alluded to in the letter of the princess of Wales to the speaker, it certainly was his intention, in the event of success to his first motion, to have followed it up by motions for such papers as might appear necessary for the furtherelucidation of the busines, and for the justification or conviction of the person who had thrown herself, as a last resource, upon the justice and mercy of the house. But the few hours which had passed since he moved his amendment, had so entirely altered the state of the case, that he should not now even press a division. The most complete de fiance on the part of the princess of Wales had been thrown out, in the presence of those persons who had the fullest opportunity of inquiry, and whose duty it was to inquire into every part of her conductwho have the means of searching her very heart. So completely did she now appear acquitted of all possible imputation of blame, even by the persons from whom the aspersions were, by the world, sup posed, in the last report, to have been thrown upon her, that it was in his mind unnecessary to press the matter to a division. Her innocence was acknowledged entire complete. To such restrictions as the prince regent, in his capacity of father to the princess Charlotte, or by the advice of his ministers, might think proper to impose upon her intercourse with her daughter, she must submit. It was her lot. But she had the satisfaction of knowing that her reputation henceforward was, by the confession of all, without imputation or reproach.

From

From these considerations, he should not press a division.

Mr. Canning could not sufficiently praise the honest and manly warmth shown by Mr. Whitbread: but all motions similar to the present he should resist. He never would consent to support that which, however plausible at the moment, would endanger the permanent interests of the country. Besides, the necessity of such motions is lessened, if the object be to declare the entire acquittal of the princess; because, from the tone of the noble lord, as well as his repeated declarations of her innocence, further proceedings are unnecessary. He was prepared to assert and maintain, that the words and meaning of the cabinet report in 1807 conveyed a complete, satisfactory, and unlimited acquittal. He would not have supported the late minute of the council, had he been in the cabinet; he should have been content to say that his royal highness was the master of his own family; as father and sovereign, he had a right to direct and control the conduct of his daughter, and to regulate whom she should see, and whom she should not see. The minute, he was glad to hear owned, left acquitted innocence as it was before the council made their report. It is hard to stop these discussions here; but it is better they should be so done, than left where it would be difficult to control their circulation. He entirely disapproved of the original publication of the letter, as the cause of all the mischief. He would not have raised the flame by calling in the aid of other persons to assist the cabinet, which has given to the proceeding a character of uncasiness and anxiety that has been very injurious.

Sir W. Garrow maintained, that the prince regent was placed, by the appearance of the letter in print, in a situation that forced him to take the opinion of grave and honourable persons as to the line he was to take upon this subject. He denied being a party to the publication of the extract which appeared in a newspaper some days back. What took place was this: he and Mr. Adam and Mr. Jekyll were not called to revise the proceedings of the council in 1806, but they were commanded by the prince to give their opinions upon questions proposed to them. They met at his house, locked up all the papers while the subject was in discussion; they destroyed all the copies but one, and he had not seen the papers since, till he was shown the extract that was printed in one of the newspapers the other day.

Mr. Yorke requested Mr. C. Johnstone to withdraw his motion. Mr. C. Johnstone refused to do so; adding, that it was a proud day for. him, because it had completely established the innocence of her royal highness the princess of Wales.

The question was put, and Mr. C. Johnstone's motion was negatived without a division.

March 17.-Mr. Whitbread presented a petition from sir John and lady Douglas, requesting to be permitted to reswear their depositions before such a tribunal as would subject them to a prosecution if they proved to be false. The honourable member expressed his indignation at the obscene and disgusting depositions of lady Douglas and others, that appeared to have been published by authority, though they had been repeatedly declared to be unworthy of credit; and observed, that he had heard that another inquiry was going on

under

ander the direction of the lord chancellor, Mr. Conant the magistrate, and others, without the knowledge of the other ministers, though it was a matter of state. He then read a deposition of Mrs. Lisle, which had been put into his hands, and which explained, that the princess, being taken ill in the night, got up to procure a light when seen in the female servant's room. He likewise condemned the mode of questioning adopted by the lords commissioners, as showing an eager desire to find guilt. A gentleman of integrity and honour, he said, had this morning put into his hands a correct copy of the full evidence of Mrs. Lisle. He did not himself mean to vouch for its authenticity; but he would read some parts of it, to show how much it differed from the deposition given to the public. Some of the questions put to Mrs. Lisle were highly ridiculous, unfair, and improper; nor were seve ral of those said in the evidence to have been put by lord Erskine, such as could be expected of that great lawyer. When they had asked Mrs. Lisle whether captain Manby was not in the habit of always sitting next the princess at dinner, and she had answered in the affirmative, they then put a ridiculous question, to know whether their modes of sitting at dinner resembled that in which she and the four commissioners sat round the table where the examinations were carried on. They also asked, if the princess and captain Manby did not sit apart from the rest; and when Mrs. Lisle answered in the affirmative, they asked-What do you suppose they talked about? To which her answer was, that she did not hear. Mr. Whit bread said, he could hardly suppose that any lawyer would

allow such questions to be put to a witness, especially the two noble lords who were concerned in these examinations. When Mrs. Lisle was asked, whether the conduct of the princess of Wales was such as became a married woman? she did not answer in the manner stated in her deposition, but in a way more collected and dignified. To the question, what was the occasion of her talking particularly to captain Manby? she replied, that she did not know. But he would ask, was it not natural that the princess of Wales, when excluded from that high sphere of society in which she ought to move, should amuse herself in conversation with a stranger who was likely to have something new to communicate to her, rather than that she should confine herself to what she could alwayscommand-the conversation of her own ladies? From the nature of several of the questions put to Mrs. Lisle, it would appear as if the commissioners were fishing for something, as if in a cross-examination. After a few remarks on the account given in Mrs. Lisle's evidence relative to captain Hood and Mr. Chester, he remarked, either that this evidence was false, or that the noble lords acted hastily. Was it not very silly to hear them gravely ask her, whether Mr. Chester was not a very handsome man ? . And did it become the grave character of two eminent lawyers to ask, why the princess of Wales got up at night, and went into her servant's room for a light? Must the princess be denied that which would be permitted to every woman in the kingdom? Mrs. Lisle said, she heard the princess say, that she had done so because she was ill, and wanted a candle. How then could this deposition be admitted as evi

dence

dence of guilt in the princess, when the answers of Mrs. Lisle were more calculated to show her innocence? The princess had been for eleven years, and still continues, under persecution; and yet, after all, nothing has been fairly proved against her, though a great portion of the talent of the country had been employed against her. Why were fresh examinations instituted last autumn! Why, at the time that the princess of Wales had corresponded with the queen about the confirmation of the princess Charlotte, was no intimation given to her of the king's injunction on that subject? Why was no restraint laid on her intercourse with her daughter in 1806, while the examinations against her were going on? She had not now, as formerly, the happiness of having lord Eldon for her adviser: no, of late he had preferred the duty of being the bearer of stern messages, rather than the office of intercession and consolation. She had acted very properly, in his opinion, of late; for, as soon as the restricted terms of intercourse were communicated to her, she immediately remonstrated; and though her letter to the prince had been blamed by many, he could not but say, upon a comparison of them, that it was infinitely more becoming and respectful than those she sent by the advice of Mr. Perceval in 1807 to the king and though he would not have advised her to send the letter, he saw nothing improper in her letter to the prince. Even from the confession of her opponents, it was not the prayer, or the contents, but the publication of that letter that was blamed. In speaking of the princess of Wales, he asked, Should she leave the country? Was it for innocence to fly? She

of all persons in the world, in the exalted rank in which she had been placed, was the most unprotected. Let the house look to the circumstances which had brought on those accusations; how she had been elevated to her high rank; and how, because she was not agreeable to the taste of her husband, she had since been brought down! Compare her case with that of Caroline Ma tilda of Denmark, who, in consequence of a political struggle in that country, being involved in sus-> picion, was ordered to be confined in prison, where she died of grief. She was described by the historian as suffering in consequence of her being far removed from the equitable tribunals of this country. In Denmark she could not receive that justice which she was certain of experiencing had she been so fortunate as to be subject to the mild and equitable laws of England. Caroline Matilda, an English princess, could not have justice in Denmark : but the case of the princess of Wales was different she was in England, and she might therefore expect to have her conduct judged of by the laws of England. She was suspected, and she asked to be. brought, and to have her conduct investigated, before an English tribunal. An English princess could not obtain English justice in Denmark; but she, a German princess, asked with confidence for English justice in England. She, the niece of this very Caroline Matilda, asked that justice in England, which had been denied to her aunt in Denmark. Caroline Matilda endeavoured to escape from her persecutors: the first person she met was her chief enemy; him she could not meet, and she returned to her room. Again she made an attempt, and though met by a file of men with

fixed bayonets, persevered: but her husband being removed, she was secured, and conveyed to the castle of Cronsberg. Every endeavour was made on the part of her brother-in-law, the father of this very princess of Wales, to rescue her: but she, being removed from her children, died broken-hearted at the early age of twenty-four. The evidence against her, as historians stated, far from warranting a legal conclusion of her guilt, did not amount even to presumptive proof of it. On what, in the present instance, did the princess of Wales stand?-She stood on this-lord Eldon, as a lawyer, said, the greater part of the evidence was satisfactorily disproved, and as for the remainder, he (Mr. Whitbread) and all men utterly discredited it. The princess of Wales had the consolation of thinking that she was surrounded by ladies of the first rank in the kingdom, who would not, from regard to their own character, have remained about her person were they not satisfied of her innocence. If she wished to quit this country, she had now no father to go to; nor had she even her father's country to afford her an asylum. He who would have afforded protection to Caroline Matilda, was not now in existence to protect his own daughter. He had forfeited his life in the battle of Jena, having died in consequence of a wound which he there received. The princess, however, had the satisfaction of knowing, that he lived to be informed of her acquittal, and died in the persuasion of her entire innocence, What protection then had the princess of Wales? She had not that of her husband and of the law, Her father, who had endeayoured to protect Caroline Matilda, was no more. Her husband had 1813.

withdrawn from her royal highness his protection; and was that house to withhold from her its protection also? She had, indeed, her noblet mother here-the sister of Caroline Matilda; she had her own bosom to retire to. She had also her gallant brother, though he had not now the same means of affording her protection as formerly. She therefore, or rather he (Mr. Whitbread) in her name, called on that house the representatives of the people of England-to become the protec tors of an innocent, traduced, and defenceless stranger-the mother of their future queen. He wished most sincerely that "The Book," now lying on the table of the house, before him, had never been printed; he wished that the threatening let ter to his majesty in the year 1807, threatening that The Book should be published on the following Mon. day, had never been written, He did not ask of the house to approve of any subsequent letter which had since been published: he only asked of them to compare that letter with the threatening letter dictated by Mr. Perceval. He should not, how ever, read the two. He would not do it, on account of Mr. Perceval, who was now no more, He did not wish to execute justice on him, but he would on lord Eldon, if he could, because on him he thought justice should be done. He would read the two letters, for the sake of executing justice on the one, were it not that he might thereby seem to be doing an act of injustice to the memory of the other. One word more, and then he had done. It was never too late to conciliate; and if even now matters could be brought to that crisis, he was certain the nation would esteem it the greatest boon that could be conferred on the country. He con

F.

cluded