statement the other night. The impression which his statement had conveyed to his mind was certainly, that the commissioners had set down something contrary to what the witness now alleged to have been her evidence. That this had been the impression on his mind he had then stated to the house, and had thought it necessary to send a note to his right honourable and learned friend (sir S, Romilly), to request an explanation relative to this statement. If a witness were afterwards to give an account of a transaction different from his deposition regularly taken, the effect of this would be to destroy the credit of such witness. He thought he had some cause of complaint against his honourable friend (Mr. Whitbread), who having sat near him for some time before he made his statement, never intimated to him, that it was his intention to bring forward such a charge against the four noble commissioners; with three of whom, at least, he had lived in the greatest habits of intimacy, and whose honour was as dear to him as his own. He could not help saying, that the impression made on his mind, by the statement, was, that the commissioners were charged with having submitted to his majesty, as the deposition of Mrs. Lisle, something which was substantially different from what that witness meant to say. A graver and more serious charge could not have been made on men, who were upon their oaths, discharging a painful duty, in which the character of one of the most illustrious persons in the nation was concerned. If they had acted in such a manner, he thought they would be deserving of impeachment, and the most serious punishment.

Sir F. Burdett could not see any

grounds for attacking the honourable gentleman (Mr. Whitbread), who had brought this important subject forward in a manner which was highly creditable to his great abilities and to his strong sense of public duty. So far from regretting that the subject had been brought forward in the manner it had been, he thought that it was most fortunate for the public that it had so come forward. He thought that it must be supposed to convey the greatest satisfaction to every person in the country, to find, that in consequence of the manner the business was brought forward, innocence had been made apparent to the world, and the fullest conviction was produced on the public mind, that the object of all those inqui ries was completely innocent. He thought that the right honourable gentleman (Mr. Ponsonby) had himself shown want of memory in the representation which he had given of the words of the honourable gentleman. The whole of the proceedings before that commission were so anomalous, that he could not be surprised if irregularities had taken place. When he considered the mode of the examination, he could see no analogy between it and the usual mode of taking examinations in open court or before magistrates. It was altogether a secret proceeding, and a witness might be allowed to feel and express her sense of any thing which appeared to her to be incorrect in it. If the honourable gentleman (Mr. Whitbread) had not verified this document before the statement, he had done so since: and he did not see any thing in his conduct deserving of the reprehension which it had met with from many members. He could not avoid returning his thanks to the honourable gentleman,

gentleman, for the manner in which he had brought forward this great question; and he thought that it had been productive of the happiest effect, as nothing could be more important than that the innocence of the illustrious personage should be so completely vindicated to the world.

Mr. Ponsonby said a few words in explanation, and the conversation dropped.

March 24.—On the motion of Mr. Cochrane Johnstone, the petition of sir John and lady Douglas was read; and

Mr. Cochrane Johnstone then said, in rising to call the attention of the house to the petition which had just been read, he would, as he laboured under severe indisposition, be as brief as possible. He believed -he was persuaded that the house would agree with him, that the petition of sir John and lady Douglas was nothing more than an impudent attempt to give a colouring of truth in the eyes of the nation to the falsehoods they had sworn. The petition, however, was before them; but in justice to her royal highness the princess of Wales, he thought it ought not to be entered on their journals without giving it some mark of their reprobation. Some might think it was wholly unworthy of their notice, and that by noticing it they would give it a degree of importance which other wise would not be attached to it. He thought differently, as he felt they ought not to confine their view of it to the case as it stood at present: he therefore wished some mark of reprobation to be put upon it, to guard against such an effect. The petition appeared to him to originate in a wish to persevere in the most detestable falsehoods. He concluded by moving-" That the

petition of sir John Douglas and Charlotte his wife, laid on the table of the house on the 16th of March, is regarded as an audacious effort to give, in the eyes of the public, a colour of truth to the falsehoods before sworn to by them, in prosecuting their infamous designs against the honour and life of her royal highness the princess of Wales."

Sir F. Burdett seconded the motion.

Mr. Herbert rose, but could not be heard for some time, from the loud cries of" Question, question!" which burst from all parts of the house. He opposed the motion. He could not consent to express such an opinion on the evidence of the petitioners, on which they might still have to act as judges; against such a resolution he would raise his voice, and, though he might stand alone, take the sense of the house on the subject.

Mr. Whitbread contended that no regular grounds had been laid for the motion, which declared that sir John Douglas had attempted to set up, in the eyes of the public, that evidence as good, which had been proved to be false. They had not that evidence before them; and therefore, whatever his sentiments were on the subject, and the more he reflected on it, the more he was satisfied that their evidence was false from beginning to end, and a part of a most wicked and atrocious attempt on the honour and life of the princess of Wales; still, as they had not the documents before them, on which such a resolution should be founded, he would not concur with the motion. He thought it would be better that the house should resolve not to take it into consideration at all; and that the previous question should be moved

to

to get rid of the subject, or the order of the day passed on to, or any other mode adopted, which would enable them to quit the subject without giving an opinion on it: if, however, he must say aye or no to the question, his vote would be no, for the reasons he had already stated.

The solicitor-general, after a conversation had been carried on to some length, moved that the house do adjourn; which was carried without opposition.

March 31. Mr. Whitbread assured the house that it was with great pain and reluctance that he now came forward to call the attention of the house to a circum stance connected with a subject which he had hoped it would never have been necessary again to discuss or allude to in that house. Nevertheless, some circumstances had since occurred, so novel, and so important in their nature, that he felt himself obliged by his public duty to submit them to their consideration. On Saturday last, a letter, purporting to be from the earl of Moira, to a member of the grand lodge of freemasons, appeared in many of the public pa pers. There was every reason to believe that the letter did really come from the noble lord, and he understood that his lordship avowed it. The public had lately been told, or at least induced by general rumour to believe, that all further investigation had been stop ped; and they had heard with great satisfaction that the princess Charlotte had visited her royal mother. They had hoped this unhappy business was on the point of being favourably terminated. The letter, however, which had been published under the sanction of the high name of lord Moira, contain

ed paragraphs, which he thought required a full explanation; and as the noble lord was upon the point of leaving this country, to execute the high duties with which he was intrusted in India, it ap peared to him absolutely necessary, that before his departure he should explain the meaning of certain pa ragraphs (of which he alone could know the meaning), but which, according to the obvious construction of them, were considered by the public as reflecting upon her royal highness the princess of Wales. He should now point out the paragraphs which, as he thought, his lordship should be called upon to explain before he left England. In that letter there was the following sentence:

"When the prince did me the honour of relating to me this re presentation of lord Eardley's, expressing great uneasiness that the asserted notoriety of the interviews at Belvidere, and the comments of the neighbours, should force him to take any public steps, I suggested the possibility that there might be misapprehension of the circumstances; and I entreated that, before any other procedure should be determined upon, I might send for the steward (Kenny) and the porter (Jonathan Partridge) to examine them. This was per mitted. I sent for the servants, and questioned them. My report to the prince was, that the matter had occasioned very little observation in the house, none at all in the neighbourhood, and that it was entirely unnecessary for his royal highness to notice it in any shape. The servants had been desired by me never to talk upon the subject: lord Eardley was informed, that his conception of what had been stated by the servants was found to

be

be inaccurate; no mention was ever made to any one, not even to the lords who conducted the inquiry, three years afterwards, of the particulars related by the servants; and the circumstance never would have been known at all, had not the legal advisers of the princess, for the sake of putting a false colour on that investigation, indiscreetly brought it forward. The death of Kenny, in the interval, tempted them to risk this procedure. Jonathan Partridge having been known at the time when he was questioned to be devoted to the princess, from his own declaration to the steward, no one can doubt but that her royal highness would the next day be informed by him of his having been examined. The measure was most offensive, if not justified by some uncommon peculiarity of circumstance. Yet absolute silence is preserved upon it for so long a period by her royal highness's advisers: a forbearance only to be solved by their being too cautious to touch upon the point while Kenny was alive."

When first he read the paragraph, he could not avoid putting the same construction upon it which he found by the public papers had been put upon it out of doors. He did conceive it to mean that there was something in the evidence of Kenny which made the advisers of the princess afraid to advert to it during his lifetime; and with this impression on his mind, he had intended to have brought the matter before the house last Monday, in order that an impression should not go abroad injurious to the princess, after the earl of Moira should have left the country, and explanation was impossible. Upon reading the paragraph, however, over and over again, to try whether he could find out another meaning, it

occurred to him, that perhaps his lordship only meant that Kenny, if alive, could have contradicted any person who said that his lordship examined the witnesses in any manner that was improper, or unbecoming his dignity. Thinking that this might possibly be the meaning of the noble lord, he did not conceive it necessary to bring the bu siness before the house; but finding by some observations in one of the public-papers of this day, that the subject was viewed in another light out of doors, and that the public understood that part of the noble lord's letter according to its plain and obvious construction, he thought it now of the greatest importance that lord Moira should have an op portunity of explaining his meaning before he left the country. As any assertion which came from a man so high in rank and so high in character as lord Moira, must carry with it great weight, he thought that an impression ought not to be suffered to remain on the public mind, that either the princess or her advisers were ever afraid that her honour would have been in danger from any evidence which Kenny might have given. There was another paragraph which lord Moira, and none but he, could explain.

When it was stated in the letter, that Partridge, lord Eardley's porter, was known to be entirely devoted to the princess, he thought it ought to be explained what was meant by the devotion of one of lord Eardley's menial servants to the princess of Wales. As the noble lord was so soon to quit the country, and as this was a point of such high importance, he felt himself justified, even without previous notice, in making a motion for the purpose of allowing the noble lord an opportunity for explanation. He had before stated, that he had

from

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from time to time indulged the hope that there would no longer be occasion to mention this subject in parliament: but if new documents and new matter were thus laid before the public from day to day, he must say that he despaired of any termination of this business, unless it should be put finally to rest, either by a formal recognition of the innocence of the princess being recommended to the crown by its advisers, or by some parliamentary proceedings. He should not say in what manner this recognition should be made; but he thought, that if the advisers of his royal highness would advise him to grant her an establishment suitable to her rank, either from his own civil list, or in any other way, such a measure would give the greatest satisfaction to the public. After a few more observations, he concluded by a motion to the following effect :"That a message should be sent to the house of lords, desiring that the earl of Moira should be allowed to attend that house for the purpose of giving them information as to the knowledge of certain circumstances relative to the conduct of the princess of Wales."

The speaker said, that before he put the question, he felt it his duty to state to the house, that a grave consideration arose in his mind as to the parliamentary usage with respect to such a motion. The house was not in the habit of desiring the attendance of any noble lord, unless upon some investigation or matter pending in that house. If it was not stated to their lordships that there was some matter pending in the house, on which the evidence of a noble lord was required, he thought that their lordships would undoubtedly reject the application. If such an inquiry or

investigation were resolved upon, then it would be regular to make such an application; but his memory could not furnish him with a single precedent in the history of parliament, of such an application having been made, unless on a matter pending in the house.

Lord Castlereagh said, he thought the house must feel, that according to the custom of parliament, the present motion could not be received. He should, however, not confine himself merely to the forms of the house, but would say, upon the substance of it, that he was surprised that the honourable gentle. man should (after six times that the subject had been brought forward in different shapes, and the feeling of the house well known upon it) think it necessary again to bring the subject before them. He could conceive no other purpose which this could answer, but to agitate the public mind, and wound the delicacy of the house. This was merely a collateral point of a subject, into which the honourable gentleman well knew that the house did not wish to enter. He was also surprised that, at the close of his speech, instead of calling upon them to pronounce upon the question of guilt or innocence, he should merely have suggested an increase of the establishment of her royal highness. If no question of form had rendered the motion inadmissible, he should have opposed it in its substance, as he was convinced that no possible good could result from the interference of parliament; and he thought that, on the contrary, it might in every quarter prove injurious. He concluded by moving the order of the day, which after a short debate was carried, and thus the matter ended.

CHAP.