course, civil, or criminal, Your Majesty might be advised to pursue, before I offered any observations or answer. To this alternative, however, I am driven;-I must either remain silent, and reserve my defence, leaving the imputation to operate most injuriously and fatally to my character; or I must, by entering into a defence against so extended a charge, expose myself with much greater hazard to any future attacks. But the fear of possible danger, to arise from the perverted interpretation of my answer, cannot induce me to acquiesce under the certain mischief of the unjust censure and judgment which stand against me, as it were, recorded in this Report. I shall therefore, at whatever hazard, proceed to submit to Your Majesty, in whose justice I have the most satisfactory reliance, my answer and my observations upon this part of the case.

"And here, Sire, I cannot forbear again presuming to state to Your Majesty, that it is not a little hard, that the Commissioners (who state in the beginning of their Report, that certain particulars, in themselves extremely suspicious, were, in the judgment which they had formed upon them, before they entered into the particulars of the Inquiry, rendered still more suspicious, from being connected with the assertion of pregnancy and delivery,) should have made no observation upon the degree, in which that snspicion must be proportionably abated, when those assertions of pregnancy and delivery have been completely falsified and disproved; that they should make no remark upon the fact, that

all the witnesses, (with the exception of Mrs. Lisle,) on whom they specifically rely, were every one of them brought forward by the principal informers, for the purpose of supporting the false statement of Lady Douglas; that they are the witnesses therefore of persons, whom, after the complete falsification of the charge, I am justified in describing as conspirators, who have been detected in supporting their conspiracy, by their own perjury. And surely, where a conspiracy to fix a charge upon an individual, has been plainly detected, the witnesses of those who have been so detected in that conspiracy,-witnesses that are brought forward to support this false charge, cannot stand otherwise than considerably affected in their credit, by their connection with those who are detected in that conspiracy. But instead of pointing out this circumstance, as calling at least, for some degree of caution and reserve, in considering the testimony of these witnesses, the Report, on the contrary, holds them up as worthy of particular credit, as witnesses, who, in the judgment of the Commissioners, cannot be suspected of unfavourable bias : whose veracity, in that respect, they have seen no ground to question; and who must be credited, till they receive some decided contradiction.

"Now, Sire, I feel the fullest confidence that I shall prove to Your Majesty's most perfect satisfaction, that all these witnesses (of course, I still exclude Mrs. Lisle) are under the influence, and exhibit the symptoms of the most unfavorable bias;--that their veracity is, in every respect, to

be doubted;-and that they cannot, by any candid and attentive mind, be deemed worthy of the least degree of credit upon this charge; Your Majesty will easily conceive, how great my surprise and astonishment must have been, at this part of the Report. I am indeed a little at a loss to know whether I understand the passage, which I have cited from the Report. "The

witnesses, in the judgment of the Com"missioners, are not to be suspected' of un“favorable bias, and their veracity, in that respect, they have seen no reason to question." What is meant by their having seen no reason to suspect their veracity in that respect? Do they mean what the qualification seems to imply, that they have seen no reason to question it in other respects? Is it meant to be insinuated that they saw reason to question their veracity, not in respect of an unfavorable bias, but of a bias in my favor? I cannot impute to them such au insinuation, because I am satisfied that the Commissioners would never have intended to insinuate any thing so directly contrary to the truth.

"The witnesses specifically pointed out, as thus particularly deserving of credit, are W. Cole, R. Bidgood, F. Lloyd, and Mrs. Lisle. With respect to Mrs. Lisle, I trust Your Majesty wilł permit me to make my observations upon her examination, as distinctly and separately as I possibly can, from the others. Because, as I ever had, and have now as much as ever, the most perfect respect for Mrs. Lisle, I would

avoid the possibility of having it imagined that such observations, as I shall be under the absolute necessity of making upon the other witnesses, could be intended, in any degree, to be applied to her.

"With respect to Cole, Bidgood, and Lloyd, they have all lived in their places for a long time; they had lived with His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales before he married, and were appointed by him to situations about me; Cole and Lloyd immediately upon my marriage, and Bidgood very shortly afterwards. I know not whether from this circumstance they may consider themselves as not owing that undivided duty and regard to me, which servants of my own appointment might possibly have felt; but if I knew nothing more of them than that they had consented to be voluntarily examined, for the purpose of supporting the statement of Lady Douglas, on a charge so deeply affecting my honor, without communicating to me the fact of such examination, Your Majesty would not, I am sure, be surprized to find, that I saw in that circumstance alone, sufficient to raise some suspicions of an unfavorable bias. But when I find Cole, particularly, submitting to this secret and voluntary examination against me, no less than FOUR times; and when I found, during the pendency of this Inquiry before the Commissioners, that one of them, R. Bidgood, was so far connected and in league with Sir John and Lady Douglas, as to have communication with the latter, I thought I saw the proof of such

decided hostility and confederacy against me, that I felt obliged to order the discontinuance of his attendance at my house till further orders. Of the real bias of their minds, however, with respect to me, Your Majesty will be better able to judge, from the consideration of their evidence. "The imputations, which I collect to be considered, as cast upon me by these several witnesses, are too great familiarity and intimacy with several gentlemen,-Sir Sydney Smith, Mr. Lawrence, Captain Manby, and I know not whether the same are not meant to be extended to Lord Hood, Mr. Chester, and Captain More.

"With Your Majesty's permission, therefore, I will examine the depositions of the witnesses, as they respect these several gentlemen in their order, keeping the evidence which is applicable to each case, as distinct from the others as I can. And I will begin with those which respect Sir Sydney Smith, as he is the first person mentioned in the deposition of W. Cole. ".

"W. Cole says that Sir Sydney Smith first visited at Montague House in 1802; that he observed that the Princess was too familiar with Sir Sydney Smith. One day, he thinks in February, he, (Cole) carried into the Blue Room to the Princess, some sandwiches which she had ordered, and was surprized to see that Sir Sydney was there. He must have come in from the Park. If he had been let in from Blackheath, he must have passed through the room in which he (Cole) was waiting. When he had left the sandwiches, he returned, after some time,