66 "commands, most attentively considered" the honour and interests of your Majesty's "the original Charges and Report, the" Illustrious Family, that Her Royal High"Minutes of Evidence, and all the other "ness the Princess of Wales, should be adpapers submitted to the consideration of "mitted with as little delay as possible, your Majesty, on the subject of those" into your Majesty's Royal Presence, and "charges against Her Royal Highness the "that she should be received in a manner "Princess of Wales.- -In the stage in "due to her rank and slation, in your "which this business is brought under" Majesty's Court and Family.- -Your "their consideration, they do not feel them- " Majesty's confidential servants also beg "selves called upon to give any opinion as "leave to submit to your Majesty, that "to the proceeding itself, or to the mode" considering that it considering that it may be necessary that "of investigation in which it has been your Majesty's Government should pos"thought proper to conduct it. But ad-"sess the means of referring to the state of 66 verting to the advice which is stated by "this transaction, it is of the utmost im"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales portance that these documents, demon"to have directed his conduct, your Ma- strating the ground on which your Ma"jesty's confidential servants are anxious" jesty has proceeded, should be preserved "to impress upon your Majesty their con- "in safe custody; and that for that pur"viction that His Royal Highness could pose the originals, or authentic copies of not, under such advice, consistently with" all these papers, should be sealed up and "his public duty, have done otherwise" deposited in the office of your Majesty's "than lay before your Majesty the State-" Principal Secretary of State.' 66 ment and Examinations which were sub 66 66 as your 66 PRESENT, The Lord President "The Lord Privy Seal "The Lord Chancellor The Earl of Bathurst "mitted to him upon this subject." CABINET MINUTE, April 21, 1807. "After the most deliberate consideration, "however, of the evidence which has "been brought before the Commissioners, "and of the previous examinations, as well of the answer and observations which" The Duke of Portland "have been submitted to your Majesty "The Earl of Chatham 66 upon them, they feel it necessary to de- "Your Majesty's Confidential Servants "clare their decided concurrence in the" think it necessary to notice, in a separate "clear and unanimous opinion of the Com- "Minute, the request of Her Royal High. missioners, confirmed by that of all ness the Princess of Wales, that for her Majesty's late confidential servants, that "more convenient attendance at your Ma"the two main charges alleged against "jesty's Court, some apartment should be "Her Royal Highness the Princess of "allotted to her in one of the royal palaces; "Wales, of pregnancy and delivery, are" although it appears to your Majesty's "completely disproved; and they further" Confidential Servants that some arrange"submit to your Majesty, their unani-"ment in this respect may be supposed mous opinion, that all the other particu- "naturally to arise out of the present ståte "lars of conduct brought in accusation" of this transaction, yet they humbly con against Her Royal Highness, to which "ceive that this is a subject so purely of a "the character of criminality can be "private and domestic nature, that your "ascribed, are either satisfactorily contra- "Majesty would not expect from them any "dicted, or rest upon evidence of such a "particular advice respecting it." nature, and which was given under "such circumstances, as render it, in the "judgment of your Majesty's confidential 66 66 Thus ended the matter at that time. The Princess was, soon afterwards, received at court with great splendour, and she had apartments allotted to her in Kensington Palace, which is situated at but about two miles from St. James's. Up to this moment the conduct of Perceval seems to have been perfectly honourable. He might possibly have ambitious views from the beginning. He might possibly think that one way to power was through the gratitude of the Princess, at some distant day; but, in the outset of the business, he could hardly have entertained an idea of things taking the sudden turn that they took in the month of March, 1807: indeed, it was impossible; for how was he, who had written the Princess's defence, and so clearly seen her innocence, to foresee, or to suppose it possible, that any obstacles would be opposed to her reception, even after an admonition had been given her? Up to this period, therefore, the conduct of Perceval appears to have been truly honourable; he had proved himself to be a wise adviser, and a most able and zealous advocate. He found the Princess banished from the court and the royal palaces, and loaded with numerous imputations. He cleared her of them all, and restored her to that situation which was the object of her prayer. Princess; and, it was his failing to do this, which has, step by step, finally led to the present disclosure. He had, indeed, done much for the Princess; he had cleared her of every imputation; he had restored her to the court; he had replaced her in a palace; but, her husband being now exalted, her non-exaltation operated with regard to her character in nearly the same way as her exclusion from court had formerly operated. Therefore she had a new ground of complaint; the imputation against her honour was revived, not in words, but in the want of acts, more espe cially as her defender was now placed our the highest pinnacle of power. In this light the Princess herself, from her last letter to the Prince, seems to have We are now to view his subsequent viewed the matter; for, she there says, conduct towards her, and herein it is that that she has waited with patience, since he was, as appears to me, wanting in his the establishment of the Regency, to see duty both to the Prince and Princess. He what would be done. I, for my part, and others, had contrived, by one means strongly urged, at the time, the propriety and another, to suppress THE BOOK, of giving her an establishment suitable to which was ready for publication when he the new rank of her husband, and especially was made minister. But, the Princess the means of enabling her to hold a court. had been received at court, she was inha- This was not listened to. The ministers biting a palace, and the affair was at rest. seem to have thought it best to leave her in There was no blame, therefore, in the comparative obscurity; but, her own spirit suppression; but when the REGENCY and her consciousness of innocence, have came to be established in the person of the defeated their views. Still, however, all Prince; when the husband came to be ex-might have remained undisturbed, if a free alted to the rank, the power, and splen-intercourse had been permitted between her dour of a King, how could Perceval reconcile it with the letter of 16th February, 1807, and with the minute of the 21st of April in that year, to leave the Princess of Wales, the wife of the Regent, in her former comparatively obscure and penurious state? How came he to do this; and that, too, at a time when he was so amply providing for the splendour and power of the Queen, and was granting the public money for the making of new establishments for the maiden sisters of the Regent ? Alas! We are now to look back to that wonderful event, the choosing of Perceval for minister by the Regent, the choosing of the author of the letter of 16th February, 1806, to the exclusion of those who had always been called the Prince's Friends. The Prince was certainly advised by prudent men, when he took this step; for he avoided a certain evil at the expense of no certain, and, indeed, of no probable, good that a change of ministry would have effected. But, I blame Perceval for keeping his place without faluting for, or without doing, something in behalf of the and her daughter; and, I am sincerely of opinion, from a full view of her character and disposition, as exhibited in the whole of these documents, that, provided no restraint had been laid upon the indulgence of her maternal affections, she would, without much repining, have preserved in her magnanimous silence. But, when she saw her self deprived of that indulgence; when she saw her intercourse with her only child was more and more restrained; when she saw the likelihood of an approaching total ex clusion from that child, and took into her view the effect which the notoriety of that exclusion must have upon her reputation, she found it impossible longer to withhold the statement of her grievances. Even now, even after the writing of her last letter to the Prince; aye, and after the publishing of that letter, all might have been quietly set at rest, if the Prince had found advisers to recommend the acceding to her reasonable request. Such advisers he did not find; and we have the consequences before us. Upon the Report of the Privy Council to the Prince dated on the 19th of February, 1813, I will not make any comment; and, will only request you, my honest friend, first to read the minute of the Gabinet of 21st of April, 1807, and see who it is signed by; then to read the defence of the Princess together with her letter of the 16th of February, 1807, as you will find them in my next Number; then to read care fully the Report of the Privy Council of 19th February, 1813, and see who that is" supper with what appetite they may.' signed by; and then to pass your judgment upon the conduct of the parties concerned. In the mean while I must beg leave to point out the necessity of reading all the subjoined documents with great care. Every word will be found to be of importance, when you come to the perusal of the Princess's Defence. I shall have great pleasure in publishing and in circulating it through the world; and when that is done, let her base enemies " go to I am your faithful friend, P. S. In the placing of the documents in pages 409 and 410, of the second sheet of the present Number, there is a mistake. They should have come into the next Num This Report of the Privy Council brought forth the Princess's Letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons. That Letter would probably have produced the effect that has since been produced; but, the motion of Mr. Cochrane Johnstone did it more speedily. That motion drew from the ministers a full and complete acknowledgment of the innocence of the Princess; and that acknowledgment has drawn forth, through the channel of a paper, the property of a Reverend Divine, who has re-ber. The Printer has also erred in supcently been made a Baronet, a publication of the Depositions AGAINST the Princess; but, with shame for my country, with shame for the English press; and with indignation inexpressible against its conductors, I say it, while the documents against her have all been poured forth in hasty succession, her defence; her able, her satisfactory, her convincing, her incontrovertible answer to all, and every one of the charges against her, and her exposure of the injustice and malice and baseness of her enemies, have been carefully, by these same prints; the prints attached to both. the political factions, been kept from the public eye! Any thing so completely base as this do not recollect to have before witnessed, even in the conduct of the London press; but, my friend, this nefarious attempt to support injustice will not succeed. In the present Double Number of my Register I have inserted all the Evidence against the Princess; in another Number, next week, of the same description, I shall insert the whole of her defence; and, thus you will have before you the whole of what has been called THE BOOK. You will then be at no loss to decide upon every point relating to this important affair, and upon the conduct of all the parties, who, by these documents, will be brought under your view. posing and noting that those documents do This THE BOOK. THE REPORT OF THE FOUR LORDS. Considering it as a matter which, on every account, demanded the most immediate, investi, gation, your Majesty had thought fit to commit into our hands the duty of ascertaining, in the first instance, what degree of credit was due to the informations, and thereby enabling your Majesty to decide what further conduct to adopt concerning them.---On this review therefore of the matters thus alleged, and of the course hitherto pursued upon them, we deemed it pro per, in the first place, to examine those persons in whose declarations the occasion for this In quiry had originated. Because if they, on being examined upon oath, had retracted or varied their assertions, all necessity for further investigation might possibly have been precluded. We accordingly first examined on oath the principal informants, Sir John Douglas, and Charlotte his wife; who both positively swore, the former to his having observed the fact of the pregnancy of Her Royal Highness, and the latter to all the important particulars contained in her former declaration, and above referred to. Their examinations are annexed to this Report, and are circumstantial and positive. -The most material of those allegations, into the truth of which we had been directed to inquire, be ་ thus far supported by the oath of the parties from whom they had proceeded, we then felt it our duty to follow up the Inquiry by the examination of such other persons as we judged best able to afford us information, as to the facts in question.--We thought it beyond all doubt that, in this course of inquiry, many particulars must be learnt which would be necessarily conclusive on the truth or falsehood of these de clarations. So many persons must have been witnesses to the appearances of an actually existing pregnancy; so many circumstances must have been attendant upon a real delivery; and difficulties so numerous and insurmountable must have been involved in any attempt to ac count for the infant in question, as the child of another woman, if it had been in fact the child of the Princess; that we entertained a full and confident expectation of arriving at complete May it please your Majesty,-Your Majesty having been graciously pleased, by an instrument under your Majesty's Royal Sign Manual, a copy of which is annexed to this Report, to "authorize, empower, and direct us to inquire "into the truth of certain written declarations, "touching the conduct of Her Royal Highness "the Princess of Wales, an abstract of which "had been laid before your Majesty, and to ex"amine upon oath such persons as we should see "fit, touching and concerning the same, and to report to Your Majesty the result of such exa"minations," We have, in dutiful obedience to Your Majesty's commands, proceeded to examine the several witnesses, the copies of whose depositions we have hereunto annexed; and, in further execution of the said commands we now most respectfully submit to Your Majesty the report of these examinations as it has appeared to us: But we beg leave at the same time humbly to refer Your Majesty, for more complete information, to the examinations themselves, in order to correct any error of judgment, into which we may have unintentionally fallen, with respecting to any part of this business. On a reference to the above-mentioned declarations, as the necessary foundation of all our proceedings, we found that they consisted in certain statements, which had been laid before His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, respecting the conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess. That these statements, not only imputed to Her Royal Highness great impropriety and indecency of behaviour, but expressly asserted, partly on the ground of certain alleged declarations from the Princess's own mouth, and partly on the personal observation of the informants, the following most important facts; viz. That Her Royal Highness had been pregnant in the year 1802, in consequence of an illicit intercourse, and that she had in the same year been secretly delivered of a male child, which child had ever since that period been brought up by Her Roy-proof, either in the affirmative or negative, on al Highness, in her own house, and under her immediate inspection.These allegations thus made, had, as we found, been followed by decla rations from other persons, who had not indeed spoken to the important facts of the pregnancy or delivery of Her Royal Highness, but had related other particulars, in themselves extremely suspicious, and still more so when connected with the assertions already mentioned. -In the painful situation, in which His Royal Highness was placed, by these communications, we learnt that His Royal Highness had adopted the only course which could, in our judgnient, with propriety be followed. When informations such as these, had been thus confidently alleged, and particularly detailed, and had been in some degree supported by collateral evidence, applying to other points of the same nature (though going to a far less extent,) one line only could be pursued. Every sentiment of duty to your Majesty, and of concern for the public welfare, required that these particulars should not be withheld from your Majesty, to whom more par-lowing. Neither should we be more warranted ticularly belonged the cognizance of a matter of State, so nearly touching the honour of your Majesty's Royal Family, and, by possibility, affecting the Succession of your Majesty's crown. -Your Majesty had been pleased, on your part, to view the subject in the same light. this part of the subject.This expectation was not disappointed. We are happy to declare to your Majesty our perfect conviction that there is no foundation whatever for believing that the child now with the Princess is the child of Her Royal Highness, or that she was delivered of any child in the year 1802; nor has any thing appeared to us which would warrant the belief that she was pregnant in that year, or at any other period within the compass of our inquiries. -The identity of the child, now with the Princess, its parentage, the place and the date of its birth, the time and the circumstances of its being first taken under Her Royal Higimess's protection, are all established by such a concur rence both of positive and circumstantial evidence, as can, in our judgment, leave no question on this part of the subject. That child was, beyond all doubt, born in the Brownlow-street Hospital, on the 11th day of July, 1802, of the body of Sophia Austin, and was first brought to the Princess's house in the month of November fol in expressing any doubt respecting the alleged pregnancy of the Princess, as stated in the origi nal declarations-a fact so fully contradicted, and by so many witnesses, to whom, if true, it must, in various ways have been known, that we cannot think it entitled to the smallest credit. loved Councillor Edward Lord Ellenborough, DEPOSITIONS ACCOMPANYING THE REPORT. (No. 2.)—Copy of the Deposition of Charlotte Lady Douglas. The testimonies on these two points are contained in the annexed depositions and letters. We have not partially abstracted them in this Report, lest, by any unintentional omission, we might weaken their effect; but we humbly offer to your Majesty this our clear and unanimous judgment upon them, formed on full deliberation, and pronounced without hesitation on the result of the whole Inquiry.We do not however feel ourselves at liberty, much as we should wish it, to close our report here. Besides the allegations of the pregnancy and delivery of the Frincess those declarations, on the whole of which your Majesty has been pleased to command us to inquire and report, contain, as we have already I think I first became acquainted with the remarked, other particulars respecting the conPrincess of Wales in 1801. Sir John Douglas had duct of Her Royal Highness, such as must, espe- a house at Blackheath. One day, in November cially considering her exalted rank and station, 1801, the snow was lying on the ground. The necessarily give occasion to very unfavourable Princess and a Lady, who, I believe, was Miss interpretations.--From the various depositions Heyman, came on foot, and walked several and proofs annexed to this Report, particularly times before the door. Lady Stewart was with from the examinations of Robert Bidgood, Wil-me, and said, she thought that the Princess liam Cole, Frances Lloyd, and Mrs. Lisle, your wanted something, and that I ought to go to her. Majesty will perceive that several strong circum- I went to her. She said, she did not want any stances of this description have been positively thing, but she would walk in; that I had a very sworn to by witnesses, who cannot, in our judg-pretty little girl. She came in and staid some ment, be suspected of any unfavourable bias, and time. About a fortnight after Sir J. D. and I whose veracity, in this respect, we have seen no received an invitation to go to Montague house; ground to question.On the precise bearing after that I was very frequently at Montagueand effect of the facts thus appearing, it is not house, and dined there. The Princess dined for us to decide; these we submit to your Ma- frequently with us. About May or June, 1802, jesty's wisdom: but we conceive it to be our the Princess first talked to me about her own duty to report on this part of the Inquiry as dis- conduct. Sir S. Smith, who had been Sir John's tinctly as on the former facts: that, as on the friend for more than twenty years, came to Eng. one hand, the facts of pregnancy and delivery land about November, 1801, and came to live in are to our minds satisfactorily disproved, so on our house. I understood the Princess knew Sir the other hand we think that the circumstances Sydney Smith before she was Princess of Wales. to which we now refer, particularly those stated The Princess saw Sir S. Smith as frequently as to have passed between Her Royal Highness and ourselves. We were usually kept at Montague. Captain Manby, must be credited until they house later than the rest of the party, often till three shall receive some decisive contradiction; and, or four o'clock in the morning. I never observed if true, are justly entitled to the most serious any impropriety of conduct between Sir S. Smith consideration.- -We cannot close this Report, and the Princess. I made the Princess a visit at without humbly assuring your Majesty, that Montague-house in March, 1802, for about a it was, on every account, our anxious wish to fortnight. She desired me to come there, be have executed this delicate trust with as little cause Miss Garth was ill. In May or June folpublicity as the nature of the case would possibly lowing, the Princess came to my house alone : allow; and we entreat your Majesty's permission she said she came to tell me something that had to express our full persuasion, that if this wish happened to her, and desired me to guess. I has been disappointed, the failure is not imput- guessed several things, and at last I said, I could able to any thing unnecessarily said or done by not guess any thing more. She then said she was US. -All which is most humbly submitted to pregnant, and that the child had come to life. I your Majesty. don't know whether she said on that day or a few days before, that she was at breakfast at Lady Willoughby's, that the milk flowed up to her breast and came through her gown; that she threw a napkin over herself, and went with Lady Willoughby into her room, and adjusted herself to prevent. its being observed. She never told me who was the father of the child. She said she hoped it would be a boy. She said, that if (No. 1.)-Copy of His Majesty's Commission, it was discovered, she would give the Prince of GEORGE R.--Whereas, our right trusty and Wales the credit of being the father, for she had well-beloved Councillor, Thomas Lord Erskine, slept two nights at Carlton-house within the year, our Chancellor, has this day laid before us an I said that I should go abroad to my mother. Abstract of certain written declarations touching The Princess said she should manage it very the conduct of her Royal Highness the Princess well, and if things came to the worst, she would of Wales, we do hereby authorize, empower, give the Prince the credit of it. While I was at and direct the said Thomas Lord Erskine, our Montague-house, in March, I was with child, and Chancellor, our right trusty and well-beloved one day said I was very sick, and the Princess Cousin and Councillor George John Earl Spen- desired Mrs. Sander to get me a saline draught. cer, one of our Principal Secretaries of State, She then said that she was very sick herself, and our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor W. that she would take a saline draft too. I observ Windham, Lord Grenville, First Commissioner ofed, that she could not want one, and I looked at our Treasury, and our right trusty and well-be-her. The Princess said, yes, I do. What do (Signed) ERSKINE, GRENVILLE, SPENCER, ELLENBOROUGH. July 14th, 1806.-A true Copy, J. Becket. APPENDIX. (A.) |