was, therefore, of opinion, that the motion ought to be negatived.

Lord Thurlow desired him to tell the Prince of Wales, that the information was of a nature much too important for his Roy- MR. WHITBREAD observed, that the al Highness not to take some proper steps Hon. Member who had brought forward in consequence. This he communicated to the present motion had stated his intention the Prince of Wales, and in a short time to him; and he had told him, that he afterwards, the facts as stated, were sub- thought his first Resolution could not be mitted to some of the King's Ministers. adopted. He, therefore, did not rise in An authority was then issued under the support of it, for he concurred in much that King's Sign Manual to certain Members of had fallen from the Noble Lord opposite; the Privy Council, to take up the investi- and thought that, at this period at least, gation of the whole of the case. Many no such motion should be entertained by meetings were held, and many witnesses the House, as might render it the vehicle were examined thereupon; and he (Sir S. of communicating to the public at large, Romilly) was the only other person pre- those matters which it was much better sent besides the Commissioners, at these should be suppressed. He must, howexaminations, which were conducted by ever, remind the Noble Lord of his exthe four Noble Lords mentioned, and he pression of his readiness to make explana< took down all the depositions. He must tions, particularly with respect to the declare in the most solemn manner, that no more recent parts of these transactions. If inquiry was ever conducted with greater the House dismissed this subject without impartiality, nor was there ever evinced a any farther explanations or proceedings, more anxious desire to discharge justly a the Princess of Wales would, in his mind, great public duty. With respect to the be grossly injured. Her Royal Highness propriety of instituting proceedings against complained to the House, of vague, and Lady Douglas, he should beg to state, that ambiguous blame thrown upon her, and the objections to the institution of such pro- demanded explanation at least. By the ceedings, did not arise from any doubts of common uncontradicted rumour, it apthe right of the Commissioners to adminis- peared that she had addressed a letter to ter an oath, as some persons had insinuated, the King, impeaching the proceedings of nor indeed from any doubt as to whether the four Noble Lords who were the Comthe facts sworn to were true or false, but missioners in 1806; and it should be refrom other circumstances. He was prepar-membered, that in so doing, she was uned to maintain, that the legality of the Commission, composed of certain Members of His Majesty's Privy Council, required no other authority but the authority of the King, directing them to inquire into the circumstances of a charge of High Treason and that it was not only their were untrue. : right, but their duty to go into such inquiry. Ought a bill, for instance, to be sent down, at once, to a Grand Jury of the county of Middlesex, without any preliminary proceedings? No man, he believed, who was acquainted with the duty imposed upon the King's Privy Councillors, would hazard such an assertion. It was their duty to inquire into all matters of a treasonable nature, before they referred them to the regular tribunals for trial. In the recent case, for instance, of Margaret Nicholson, the Privy Council found the woman to be insane; and no proceedings whatever were instituted against her. Sir Samuel Romilly argued at some length, in proof of the legal right of the Privy Council to act as a tribunal of investigation for the purpose specified, of which, he contended, no doubt could reasonably be entertained. He

derstood to be acting under the advice of Mr. Perceval. Lord Eldon, it was also stated, approved of that letter. The same was said of Sir T. Plumer, now His Majesty's Attorney-General, who, being present, could contradict the assertion if it

the

He wished to know from the Noble Lord opposite, whether with the privity and knowledge of those persons, and for the purpose of making Her Royal Highness's innocence manifest to world, a work was not printed, intended to be published and circulated throughout England and Europe? When the Noble Lord talked of an appetite for slander and calumny, was he not aware that newspapers had lately teemed with paragraphs and extracts, the tendency of which was to libel the Princess of Wales? Was not the public mind in a state of agitation on this subject, which it was highly expedient to allay? Nobody doubted that Lady Douglas was a perjured person; but though that was not doubted, she still remained a competent witness: and, therefore, some check ought to be put to the propagation of ambiguous reports. It appeared that her

her, and to receive her at once, in the manner due to her exalted rank and station in the community! But now, in 1813, was raked up the old evidence of 1806, by some of those very persons, in order to defame her, and punish her by additional restrictions! Ought she to submit to these imputations? Ought not that House to interfere? The Noble Lord, indeed, had observed, that any of her Royal Highness's legal advisers who chose to do so, might come forward in her behalf. There was a time when she did not want legal advisers,

Royal Highness, finding the intercourse between her and the young Princess was restricted more and more, addressed a letter to the Prince Regent, which was twice returned unopened. At length, it seems, it was read to his Royal Highness, and the cold answer returned was, that Ministers had received no commaands on the subject. That letter at last found its way into the public prints; and then his Royal Highness, not as the Head of his Family, but as Prince Regent, by the advice of Ministers, summoned a Privy Council to consult what he should do: and the extraordinary advice when Mr. Perceval, and Lord Eldon, and of this Privy Council to his Royal High- others, were her legal advisers! But one ness was, not to refer to the present con- of them was now dead, and the others had duct of the Princess of Wales, but to the become mute! He had declared last night, evidence of 1806 or 7! Was there ever that if no one else did, he would stand up, advice so preposterous, and so cruel! The not as her advocate, but for the cause of levities of her Royal Highness in 1806 justice. She ought not to be the only were to be punished in 1813, more severely person in this country, so famed for its huthan was thought necessary in former years, manity, without a friend, or a legal adby increased restrictions and restraints! viser. What recourse was left to her but Mr. W. then adverted to the opinion lately an appeal to the justice of Parliament? given by the legal advisers of the Prince Her request to the Prince Regent was siRegent, which had but recently been made milar to that of Anne Boleyne to Henry the known, and which stated, that, according, VIIIth,- Prove me guilty, or admit me to, their experience, cases not of graver im- to be innocent!' "The Speaker of the port might be sent to a jury. Here then, House of Lords has twice returned her it would appear, there must be doubts as to letter, as we hear, unopened. You, Sir, the succession to the Throne ! When the (addressing the Speaker) have, with great Noble Lord and his Colleagues framed propriety, submitted the letter which you their last Report, had they not all this have received, to our consideration. Suppose before them? If so, let the House see you had refused to present her petition! It what this Cabinet did, who, in 1807, pro- might have happened, Sir, that nobody nounced a verdict of entire acquittal on the else would have presented it. The Hopart of her Royal Highness, and who fast-nourable Gentleman, who is the mover of ened such serious imputations on her in 1813! By the advice of Lord Eldon and Mr. Perceval, as it was understood, the Princess of Wales threatened publicity to the former proceedings, and then she was re-admitted at Court. Her advisers must, at that period, have been fully persuaded of her innocence, or they never would have recommended her to risk such a publication to the world. Mr. W. then commented on the various circumstances connected with the transactions of 1807, when an unanimous opinion was declared, that all the particulars of the Princess's conduct, to which any character or colour of criminality could be ascribed, were either satis factorily contradicted, or rested on evidence under such circumstances as to render it unworthy of credit. This was a complete verdict of not guilty. The King had been previously advised to receive her Royal Highness, with a reproof for her unguarded conduct; but those ministers advised no reproof, and called on His Majesty to restore

this question, once gave in a petition, which he told me 135 Members had refused to present. This might have been the situation of the Princess of Wales." Mr. W. then moved as an amendment to the motion, that after the word' that,' the following should be adopted: "An address to the Prince Regent, praying that a copy of the Report to which her Royal Highness had referred, be laid before the House."

LORD CASTLEREAGH was sorry to trouble the House a second time, but trusted to their indulgence. He could assure the Hon. Gentleman who spoke last, that he was glad to find the question in his hands, as he had met it in a manly manner, and had put it on the true grounds, of an attack on the Ministers of the day. He denied that the opinions of the Members of the Privy Council who signed the minute were binding on all the Ministers of the day, who were not then consulted; or that he, as a Minister, could be viewed as any

then in the Cabinet, but a professional man. All he should say was, that he never discovered any just foundation for the charges made against the Princess. Certainly he was not one of her advisers now. The situation he held would probably have precluded him from that: but he had not been applied to, and he presumed her Royal Highness employed those in whom she had more confidence.

THE HON. MR. BRAND admitted the competency of the Privy Council in the case they had before them; but contended, that their report exposed the affairs of the country to much difficulty and danger. He made various animadversions on the speech of the Noble Lord, and concluded by observing, that if they refused to entertain the application of the Princess, they refused justice to the first subject in the country.

party to the advice of Mr. Perceval, in his [ had, in that advice, the satisfaction of professional capacity. He disclaimed any being joined by Mr. Perceval, who was not knowledge of the circulation of paragraphs reflecting on her Royal Highness. He wished she had still such advisers as Mr. Perceval; then such a letter would have neither been written nor published. As to the letter being returned unopened, it was an unfortunate circumstance attached to the separation of the Prince and Princess, that all correspondence had been at an end, lest it might aggravate the existing misunderstanding. That was not the first letter which had been so returned. The restrictions on the intercourse between the Princess and her daughter was not of that vindictive nature, which might be called punishment. The alteration in the visits from once a week to once a fortnight, was made when the young Princess went to Windsor, to prevent the interruption of her education by too frequent visits to town, and was not intended to be continued when she should return to London to reside. All the circumstances of this part of the case, he did not feel justified in submitting. They had appeared, however, sufficient to men of as honourable minds as the Hon. Gentleman. He must say, that the publication of the letter was such an appeal to the country against the Prince Regent, and such an appeal to the daughter against the father, as to render every change in the plan impossible. Of all the passages in it, he most disapproved of that canting one about Confirmation. There was no restraint on the intercourse between the Princess of Wales, and the Rev. Bishop of Exeter: and if she had communicated with that Prelate, she must have known that the King, from religious motives, had enjoined that her confirmation should not take place till she at-up old documents, on which they had actained the age of 18. His Royal Highness had condescended to advise with his servants in his anxiety to discharge every part of his important trusts with the greatest attention to the public welfare. He should resist, therefore, the production of the documents, since no parliamentary ground could be alleged for it.

MR. STUART WORTLEY said, he felt warmly on the subject as a man of honour. He could not vote either for the original motion, or for the amendment: but yet he did not think that the Noble Lord had given a satisfactory answer to either of them. He was extremely averse to seeing the Royal Family dragged, year after year, before the House of Commons. He thought the Noble Lords, the Commissioners, went further, in the first instance, than the case seemed to require; and that they should have confined themselves to the criminal charge alone, with a view to the possible proceedings on which their advice was taken. The first report of some of the present Ministers advised the King to receive the Princess; and now this last Report raked

quitted her Royal Highness before. If the Prince Regent had said, "As your husband, and as the father of your child, I choose to restrict you to visiting her once in a week," the public might have been satisfied with an arrangement which it was his right to make, if he thought fit. however, should have been

,

SIR THOMAS PLUMER having been per-aware, that his own conduct, at those pesonally alluded to, hoped for a short indul- riods, when those accusations were going on against would not gence. He did not know whether he was accused of once being her Royal Highness's and he thought that the RF legal adviser: whether it was for the ad- ought not to be insensible to the events vice he then gave; or for his now having which had taken place on the Continent. ceased to be one of her Royal Highness's legal advisers. In 1806, he waited on her at her request, and gave his professional advice. Had he done wrong in that? He should not disclose that evidence; but he

MR. W.SMITH thought, that if a sister of his were treated as the Princess of Wales had been, he should feel extremely He regretted much that he could not sore. see very clearly how redress was to be af

Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden. LONDON: Printed by J. M'Creery, Black-Horse-Court, Fleet-street.

COBBETT'S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER.

VOL. XXIII. No. 12.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 20, 1813. [Price 1s.

353]

NOTICE.

[354

possession of some facts relative to the endeavours that were still making for the The present Double Number of the Resame purpose; but, still I said, that the gister contains all the Depositions against Book would come out. I assured my readthe PRINCESS OF WALES; the Double Num-ers, in the most unqualified terms, that they ber, to be published next week, will con- would, at no very distant day, see the whole tain the whole of her defence; and thus, these two Double Numbers will contain every word of what has been called THE

BOOK.

N. B. The Index to the last volume of the Register will be published in a few

weeks.

TO JAMES PAUL,

OF BURSLEDON, IN LOWER DUBLIN TOWN-
SHIP, IN PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, IN THE
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA; ON MATTERS
RELATING TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE
PRINCESS OF Wales.

Letter IV.

London, 19th March, 1813.

My dear Friend,

of the famous BOOK.

Since the date of my last letter to you, the BOOK, the real, the genuine Book, has made its appearance in print, in a com plete form, in an octavo volume, and being page for page and word for word with the original work. Thus, then, my prophecy is fulfilled; and, though prophets are said not to be honoured in their own countries, I ought, I think, to expect my due share of credit in yours.

With such a mass of matter before us; overlaid, as we now are, with materials for comment, it is no easy thing to determine where to begin. After a little reflection, however, it appears to me to be the best way, to set out by giving you a short history of this Book, and, before we come to an examination of its contents, as they affect the Princess of Wales, to shew you what were the uses which political and party intrigue has made of those contents.

You must remember, that, while I was in Newgate for writing about the flogging The history of the Book is this: When of the English Local militiamen at the the Princess of Wales, in consequence of town of Ely, and the employment of Ger- the Letter of the Prince, which you have man troops upon the occasion; you must already seen, quitted Carleton House, she remember, that, while I was in that jail, went to reside in a house called Montague and not many months before the expiration House, at Blackheath, near Greenwich, of my two years, and the payment of a fine which is about five or six miles distant from of a thousand pounds, which the Prince London. There, in the year 1801, she Regent received in behalf of his Royal became accidentally acquainted with a Lady Father, who, during my imprisonment, Douglas, the wife of Sir John Douglas, was become incapable of governing in per- who, as an officer of marines, greatly disson; you must remember, that, at the tinguished himself at the siege of St. Jean time here referred to, I confidently pre- D'Acre, when that place was so bravely dicted, and, indeed, positively asserted, defended by Sir Sidney Smith against Buothat the BOOK would come out in spite of naparte. Lady Douglas and her husband all that could be done to prevent its pub- soon became extremely intimate with the lication. It was notorious, that many Princess, who, according to the statement thousands of pounds had been expended in of Lady Douglas, seems to have been very order to prevent the appearance of this fond of her indeed. This intimacy conBook; it was notorious that the most ex-tinued until 1804, when the Princess, after traordinary means had been resorted to in some previous bickerings, dismissed Lady order to secure that object; and I was in Douglas from her society. M