from your Majesty's presence and kindness, have given a heavy addition to them all; and, surely, my bitterest enemies could hardly wish that they should be increased. But on this topic, as possibly not much affecting the justice, though it does the hardship, of my case, I forbear to dwell.--Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to recollect, that an occasion of assembling the Royal Family and your subjects, in dutifuŭ and happy commemoration of Her Majesty's birth-day, is now near at hand. If the increased occupations which the approach of Parliament may occasion, or any other cause, should prevent the Commissioners from enabling your Majesty to communicate your pleasure to me before that time, the world will infallibly conclude (in their present state of ignorance), that my answer must have proved unsatisfactory, and that the infamous charges have been thought but too true. The Lord Chancellor informed my Council, that the letter should be conveyed to your Majesty on that very day; and further, was pleased, in about a week or ten days afterwards, to communicate to my Solicitor, that your Majesty had read my letter, and that it had been transmitted to his Lordship, with directions that it should be copied for the Commissioners, and that when such copy had been taken, the original should be returned to your Majesty.- -Your Majesty's own gracious and royal mind will easily conceive what must have been my state of anxiety and suspense, whilst I have been fondly indulging in the hope, that every day, as it passed, would bring me the happy tidings, that your Majesty was satisfied of my innocence, and convinced of the unfounded malice of my enemies, in every part of their charge. Nine long weeks of daily expectation and suspense have now elapsed, and they have brought me nothing but disappoint- -These considerations, Sire, will, I trust, in ment. I have remained in total ignorance of your Majesty's gracious opinion, rescue this adwhat has been done, what is doing, or what is dress from all imputation of impatience. For, intended upon this subject. Your Majesty's your Majesty's sense of honourable feeling will goodness will, therefore, pardon me, if in the step naturally suggest, how utterly impossible it is which I now take I act upon a mistaken conjec- that I, conscious of my own innocence, and beture with respect to the fact. But from the Lord lieving that the malice of my enemies has been Chancellor's communication to my Solicitor, and completely detected, can, without abandoning from the time which has elapsed, I am led to all regard to my interests, my happiness, and my conclude, that your Majesty had directed the honour, possibly be contented to perceive the copy of my letter to be laid before the Commis- approach of such utter ruin to my character, sioners, requiring their advice upon the subject; and yet wait, with patience and in silence, till it and, possibly, their official occupations, and their overwhelms me. I therefore take this liberty of other duties to the State, may not have, as yet, throwing myself again at your Majesty's feet, allowed them the opportunity of attending to it. and entreating and imploring of your Majesty's But your Majesty will permit me to observe, that goodness and justice, in pity for my miseries, however excusable this delay may be on their which this delay so severely aggravates, and in parts, yet it operates most injuriously upon me; justice to my innocence and character, to urge my feelings are severely tortured by the sus- the Commissioners to an early communication of pense, while my character is sinking in the opi- their advice.--To save your Majesty and the nion of the public —It is known, that a Re-Commissioners all unnecessary trouble, as well port, though acquitting me of crime, yet imput- as to obviate all probability of further delay, I ing matters highly disreputable to my honour, have directed a duplicate of this letter to be prehas been made to your Majesty; that that Re-pared, and have sent one copy of it through the port has been communicated to me; that I have Lord Chancellor, and another through Colonel endeavoured to answer it; and that I still re. Taylor to your Majesty.I am, Sire, with main, at the end of nine weeks from the deli- every sentiment of gratitude and loyalty, your very of my answer, unacquainted with the judg- Majesty's most affectionate and dutiful Daughter. ment which is formed upon it. May I be per-in-law, servant and subject, C. P. mitted to observe upon the extreme prejudice which this delay, however to be accounted for by the numerous important occupations of the Commissioners, produces to my honour? The world, in total ignorance of the real state of the facts, begin to infer my guilt from it. I feel myself already sinking in the estimation of your Majesty's subjects, as well as of what remains to me of my own family, into (a state intolerable to a mind conscious of its purity and innocence) a state in which my honour appears at last equivocal, and my virtue is suspected. From this state I humbly entreat your Majesty to perceive, that I can have no hope of being restored, until either your Majesty's favourable opinion shall be graciously notified to the world, by receiving me again into the Royal Presence, or until the full disclosure of the facts shall expose the malice of my accusers, and do away every possible ground for unfavourable inference and conjecture.The various calamities with which it has pleased God of late to afflict me, I have endeavoured to bear, and trust I have borne with humble resig. nation to the Divine will. But the effect of this infamous charge, and the delay which has suspended its final termination, by depriving me of the consolation which I should have received Montague House, Dec. 8th, 1806. The Lord Chancellor has the honour to pres sent his most humble duty to the Princess of Wales, and to transmit to Her Royal Highness the accompanying Message from the King, which Her Royal Highness will observe he has His Ma jesty's commands to communicate to Her Royal Highness.-The Lord Chancellor would have done himself the honour to have waited personally upon Her Royal Highness, and have delivered it himself; but he considered the sending it sealed, as more respectful and acceptable to Her Royal Highness. The Lord Chancellor received the original paper from the King yesterday, and made the copy now sent in his own hand. January 28th, 1807. To Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. The King having referred to his confidential Servants the proceedings and papers relative to the written declarations which had been before His Majesty, respecting the conduct of the Princess of Wales, has been apprized by them, that after the fullest consideration of the exami nations taken on that subject, and of the observatious and affidavits brought forward by the Princess of Wales's legal advisers, they agree in the opinions submitted to His Majesty in the original Report of the four Lords, by whom His Majesty directed that the matter should in the first instance be inquired into; and that, in the present stage of the business, upon a mature and deliberate view of this most important subject in all its parts and bearings, it is their opinion, that the facts of this case do not warrant their advising that any further steps should be taken in the business by His Majesty's Government, or any other proceedings instituted upon it, except such only as His Majesty's Law Servants may, on reference to them, think fit to recommend for the prosecution of Lady Douglas, on those parts of her depositions which may appear to them to be justly liable thereto.In this situation, His Majesty is advised, that it is no longer necessary for him to decline réceiving the Princess into his Royal Presence.- -The King sees, with great satisfaction, the agreement of his confidential Servants, in the decided opinion expressed by the four Lords upon the falsehood of the accusations of pregnancy and delivery, brought forward against the Princess by Lady Douglas.- -On the other matters produced in the course of the Inquiry, the King is advised that none of the facts or allegations stated in preliminary examinations, carried on in the absence of the parties interested, can be considered as legally, or conclusively, established. But in those examinations, and even in the answer drawn in the name of the Princess by her legal advisers, there have appeared circumstances of conduct on the part of the Princess, which his Majesty never could regard but with serious concern. The elevated rank which the Princess holds in this country, and the relation in which she stands to His Majesty and the Royal Family, must always deeply involve both the interests of the state and the personal feelings of His Majesty, in the propriety and correctness of her con. duct. And His Majesty cannot, therefore, forbear to express, in the conclusion of the business, his desire and expectation that such a conduct may in future be observed by the Princess, as may fully justify those marks of paternal regard and affection which the King always wishes to shew to every part of His Royal Family. His Majesty has directed that this message should be transmitted to the Princess of Wales by his Lord Chancellor, and that copies of the proceedings, which had taken place on the subject, should also be communicated to his dearly beloved Son, the Prince of Wales. Montague-House, Jan. 29, 1807. SIRE, Ihasten to acknowledge the receipt of the paper, which, by your Majesty's direction, was yesterday transmitted to me, by the Lord Chancellor, and to express the unfeigned happiness which I have derived from one part of it. I mean that, which informs me that your Majesty's confidential servants have, at length, thought proper to communicate to your Majesty their advice," that it is no longer necessary for 66 your Majesty to decline receiving me into your Royal presence." And I, therefore, humbly hope that your Majesty will be graciously pleased to receive, with favour, the communication of my intention to avail myself, with your Majesty's permission, of that advice, for the purpose of waiting upon your Majesty on Monday next, if that day should not be inconvenient; when I hope again to have the happiness of throwing myself, in filial duty and affection, at Windsor Castle, Jan. 29, 1807. The King has this moment received the Prin cess of Wales's letter, in which she intimates her intention of coming to Windsor on Monday next; and his Majesty, wishing not to put the Princess to the inconvenience of coming to this place so immediately after her illness, hastens to acquaint her, that he shall prefer to receive her in London, upon a day subsequent to the ensuing week, which will also better suit his Majesty, and of which he will not fail to apprize the Princess. (Signed) GEORGE. R. To the Princess of Wales. Windsor Castle, Feb. 10, 1807. As the Princess of Wales may have been led to expect, from the King's letter to her, that he would fix an early day for seeing her, his Majesty thinks it right to acquaint her, that the Prince of Wales, upon receiving the several documents, which the King directed his Cabinet to transmit to him, made a formal communication to him of his intention to put them into the hands of his lawyers; accompanied by a request, that his Majesty would suspend any further steps in the business, until the Prince of Wales should be enabled to submit to him the statement which he proposed to make. The King, therefore, considers it incumbent upon him to defer naming a day to the Princess of Wales, until the further result of the Prince's intention shall have been made known to him. (Signed) To the Princess of Wales. GEORGE. R. [Here should have come in the Princess's Letter to the King, of the 12th of Feb. 1807; but it will be found inserted in the foregoing Number of the Register, at p. 409.] SIRE, By my short letter to your Majesty of the 12th instaut, in answer to your Majesty's communication of the 10th, I notified my inten tion of representing to your Majesty the various grounds on which I felt the hardship of my case; and a review of which, I confidently hoped, would dispose your Majesty to recal your deter, mination to adjourn, to an indefinite period, my reception into your royal presence; a determi nation which, in addition to all the other pain which it brought along with it, affected me with the disappointment of hopes, which I had fondly cherished with the most perfect confidence, be cause they rested on your Majesty's gracious as surance. -Independently, however, of that communication from your Majesty, I should have felt myself bound to have troubled your Majesty with much of the contents of the present letter, 1 letter of the 10th instant, your Majesty may conceive, though I am utterly unable to express. -That Letter announces to me that his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, upon receiving the several documents which your Majesty directed your Cabinet to transmit to him, made a personal communication to your Majesty of his intention to put them into the hands of his Lawyers, accompanied by a request, that your Majesty would suspend any further steps in the business, until the Prince of Wales should be enabled to submit to your Majesty the statement which he proposed to make; and it also announces to me that your Majesty therefore considered it incumbent on you to defer naming a day to me, until the further result of the Prince of Wales's intention should have been made known to your Majesty.This determination of your Majesty, on this request, made by His Royal Highness, I humbly trust your Majesty will permit me to entreat you, in your most gra cious justice, to re-consider. Your Majesty, I am convinced, must have been surprised at the time, and prevailed upon by the importunity of the Prince of Wales, to think this determination necessary, or your Majesty's generosity and justice would never have adopted it. And if I can satisfy your Majesty of the unparalleled injustice and cruelty of this interposition of the Prince of Wales, at such a time, and under such Upon the receipt of the paper, which, by your Majesty's commands, was transmitted to me by the Lord Chancellor, on the 28th of last month, and which communicated to me the joyful intelligence, that your Majesty was "ad"vised, that it was no longer necessary for you "to decline receiving me into your royal pre"sence," I conceived myself necessarily called upon to send an immediate answer to so much of it as respected that intelligence. I could not wait the time which it would have required, to state those observations which it was impossible for me to refrain from making, at some period, upon the other important particulars which that paper contained. Accordingly, I answered it immediately; and, as your Majesty's gracious and instant reply of last Thursday fortnight, announced to me your pleasure, that I should be received by your Majesty on a day subsequent to the then ensuing week, I was led most confidently to assure myself, that the last week would not have passed, without my having received that satisfaction. I, therefore, determined to wait in patience, without further intrusion upon your Majesty, till I might have the opportunity of guarding myself from the possibility of being misunderstood, by personally explaining to your Majesty, that whatever observations I had to make upon the paper so communicated to me on the 28th ultimo, and whatever complaints respecting the delay, and the many cruel circum-circumstances, I feel the most perfect confidence stances which had attended the whole of the proceedings against me, and the unsatisfactory state in which they were at length left by that last communication, they were observations and complaints which affected those only, under whose advice your Majesty had acted, and were not, in any degree, intended to intimate even the most distant insinuation against your Majesty's justice or kindness.-That paper established the opinion which I certainly had ever confidently entertained, but the justness of which I had not before any document to establish, that your Majesty had, from the first, deemed this proceeding a high and important matter of state, in the consideration of which your Majesty had not felt yourself at liberty to trust to your own generous feelings, and to your "In the painful situation in which His Royown royal and gracious judgment. I never did "al Highness was placed by these communica-, believe that the cruel state of anxiety in which I "tions, we learnt that His Royal Highness had had been kept, ever since the delivery of my "adopted the only course which could, in our Answer (for at least sixteen weeks), could be at "judgment, with propriety, be followed. When all attributable to your Majesty; it was most un- "informations such as these, had been thus like every thing which I had ever experienced" confidently alleged, and particularly detailed, from your Majesty's condescension, feeling, and "and had been in some degree supported by justice; and I found from that paper, that it was "collateral evidence, applying to other facts of to your confidential servants I was to ascribe the "the same nature, (though going to a far less length of banishment from your presence, which "extent,) one line only could be pursued. they, at last, advised your Majesty it was no "Every sentiment of duty to your Majesty, and longer necessary should be continued. I per- "of concern for the public welfare, required ceive, therefore, what I always believed, that it "that these particulars should not be withheld was to them, and to them only, that I owed the "from your Majesty, to whom more particularly protracted continuance of my sufferings and of "belonged the cognizance of a matter of State, my disgrace; and that your Majesty, considering the whole of this proceeding to have been instituted and conducted under the grave responsibility of your Majesty's servants, had not thought proper to take any step, or express any opinion, upon any part of it, but such as was recommended by their advice. Influenced by these sentiments, and anxious to have the opportunity of conveying them, with the overflowings" of a grateful heart, to your Majesty, what were my sensations of surprise, mortification, and disappointment, on the receipt of your Majesty's that your Majesty will hasten to recal it.--I should basely be wanting to my own interest and feelings, if I did not plainly state my sense of that injustice and cruelty; and if I did not most loudly complain of it. Your Majesty will better perceive the just grounds of my complaint when I retrace the course of these proceedings from their commencement.- The four noble Lords, appointed by your Majesty to inquire into the charges brought against me, in their Report of the 14th of July last, after having stated that His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had laid before him, the charge which was made against me, by Lady Douglas, and the declarations in support of it, proceed in the following manner. so nearly touching the honour of your Ma"jesty'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. Considering it as a matter which, on every account demanded the most immediate "investigation, your Majesty had thought fit to commit into our hands the duty of ascer "taining, in the first instance, what degree of * Report. too favourably dealt with by them? and that the advice which has been given to your Majesty, that your Majesty need no longer decline to receive me, was hastily and partially delivered? I am confident that your Majesty must see the very reverse of this to be the case that I have every reason to complain of the inexplicable delay which so long withheld that advice. And the whole character of the observations with which they accompanied it, marks the reluctance with which they yielded to the necessity of giving it. For your Majesty's confidential servants advise your Majesty, "that it is no "longer necessary for you to decline receiving "me into your Royal Presence." If this is their opinion and their advice now, why was it not their opinion and their advice four months ago, from the date of my answer? Nay, why was it not their opinion and advice from the date even of the original Report itself? For not only had they been in possession of my answer for above sixteen weeks, which at least furnished them with all the materials on which this advice was at length given, but further, your Majesty's confidential servants are forward to state, that after having read my observations, and the affidavits which were annexed to them, they agree in the opinions (not in any single opinion upon any particular branch of the case, but in the opinions generally) which were submitted to your Majesty, in the original Report of the four Lords. If, therefore (notwithstanding their concurrence in all the opinions contained in the Report), they have, nevertheless, given to your Majesty their advice, " that it is no longer ne 66 "credit was due to the information, and there-ings, as to induce a suspicion that I have been "by enabling your Majesty to decide what fur ❝ther conduct to adopt respecting them." His Royal Highness then, pursuing, as the four Lords say, the only course which could, in their judgment, with propriety, be pursued, submitted the matter to your Majesty. Your Majesty directed the Inquiry by the four noble Lords. The four Lords in their Report upon the case, justly acquitted me of all crime, and expressed (I will not wait now to say how unjustly) the credit which they gave, and the consequence they ascribed to other matters, which they did not, however, characterize as amounting to any crime.-To this Report I made my answer. That answer, together with the whole proceedings, was referred by your Majesty, to the same four noble Lords, and others of your Majesty's confidential servants. They advised your Majesty, amongst much other matter (which must be the subject of further observations), that there was no longer any reason why you should decline receiving me.- -Your Majesty will necessarily conceive that I have always looked upon my banishment from your Royal Presence, as, in fact, a punishment, and a severe one too. I thought it sufficiently hard, that I should have been suffering that punishment during the time that this Inquiry has been pending, while I was yet only under accusation, and upon the principles of the just laws of your Majesty's kingdom, entitled to be presumed to be innocent, till I was proved to be guilty. But I find this does not appear to be enough, in the opinion of the Prince of Wales. For now, when after this long Inquiry into matters which required immediate investigation, I have been acquitted of every thing which could call for my banishment from your Royal Presence. After your Majesty's confidential servants have thus expressly advised your Majesty that they see no reason why you should any longer decline to receive me into your presence:-after your Majesty had graciously notified to me your determination to receive me at an early day, His Royal Highness interposes the demand of a new delay; desires your Majesty not to take any step; desires you not to act upon the advice which your own confidential servants have given you, that you need no longer decline seeing me ;-not to execute your intention, and assurance, that you will receive me at an early day;-because he has laid the documents before his Lawyers, and intends to prepare a further statement. And the judgment of your Majesty's confidential servants, is, as it were, appealed from by the Prince of Wales (whom, from this time, at least, I must be permitted to consider as assuming the character of my accuser);—the justice due to me is to be suspended, while the judgment of your Majesty's sworn servants is to be submitted to the revision of my accuser's Counsel; and I, though acquitted in the opinion of your Majesty's confidential servants, of all that should induce your Majesty to decline seeing me, am to have that punishment, which had been inflicted upon me during the Inquiry, continued after that acquittal, till a fresh statement is prepared, to be again submitted, for aught I know, to another Inquiry, of as extended a continuance as that which has just terminated. Can it be said, that the proceedings of the four noble Lords, or of your Majesty's confidential servants, have been so lenient and considerate towards me and my feel cessary for you to decline receiving me," what could have prevented their offering that advice, even from the 14th of July, the date of the original Report itself? Or what could have warranted the withholding of it, even for a single moment? Instead, therefore, of any trace being observable, of hasty, precipitate, and partial determination in my favour, it is impossible to interpret their conduct and their reasons together in any other sense, than as amounting to an admission of your Majesty's confidential servants themselves, that I have, in consequence of their withholding that advice, been, unneces sarily and cruelly banished from your Royal Presence, from that 14th of July to the 28th of January, including a space of above six months; and the effect of the interposition of the Prince, is to prolong my sufferings and my disgrace, under the same banishment, to a period perfectly indefinite.The principle which will admit the effect of such interposition now, may be acted upon again; and the Prince may require a further prolongation upon fresh statements and fresh charges, kept back possibly for the purpose of being, from time to time, conveniently interposed, to prevent for ever the arrival of that hour, which, displaying to the world the acknowledgment of my unmerited sufferings and disgrace, may, at the same time, expose the truly malicious and unjust quality of the proceedings which have been so long carried on against me. This unreasonable, unjust, and cruel interposition of His Royal Highness, as I must ever deem it, has prevailed upon your Majesty to recal, to my prejudice, your gracious purpose of receiving me, in pursuance of the advice of your servants. Do I then flatter my. self too much, when I feel assured, that my just entreaty, founded upon the reasons which I urge, and directed to counteract only the effect of that unjust interposition, will induce your Majesty to return to your original determination? Restored, however, as I should feel myself, to a state of comparative security, as well as credit, by being, at length, permitted, upon your Majesty's gracious re-consideration of your last determination, to have access to your Majesty; yet, under all the circumstances under which I should now receive that mark and confirmation of your Majesty's opinion of my innocence, my character would not, I fear, stand cleared in the public opinion, by the mere fact of your Majesty's reception of me. This revocation of your Majesty's gracious purpose has flung an additional cloud about the whole proceeding, and the inferences drawn in the public mind, from this circumstance, so mysterious and so perfectly inexplicable, upon any grounds which are open to their knowledge, has made, and will leave so deep an impression to my prejudice, as scarce any thing short of a public exposure of all that has passed can possibly efface. The publication of all these proceedings to the world, theu, seems to me, under the present circumstances (whatever reluctance I feel against such a measure, and however I regret the hard necessity which drives me to it), to be almost the only remaining resource for the vindication of my honour and character. The falsehood of the accusation is, by no means, all that will, by such publication, appear to the credit and clearance of my character; but the course in which the whole proceedings have been carried on, or rather delayed, by those to whom your Majesty referred the consideration of them, will shew, that, whatever measure of justice I may have ultimately received at their lands, it is not to be suspected as arising from any merciful and indulgent consideration of me, of my feelings, or of my case. It will be seen how my feelings had been harassed, and my character and honour exposed, by the delays which have taken place in these proceedings: it will be seen, that the existence of the charge against me had avowedly been known to the public from the 7th of June in the last year. I say known to the public; because it was on that day that the Commissioners, acting, as I am to suppose (for so they state in their Report), under the anxious wish, that their trust should be executed with as little publicity as possible, authorized that unnecessary insult and outrage upon me, as I must always consider it, which, however intended, gave the utmost publicity and exposure to the existence of these charges: I mean, the sending two Attorneys, armed with their Lordships' warrant, to my house, to bring before them, at once, about one half of my household for examination. The idea of privacy, after an act so much calculated, from the extraordinary nature of it, to excite the greatest attention and surprise, your Majesty must feel to have been impossible and absurd; for an attempt at secrecy, mystery, and concealment, on my part, could, under such circumstances, only have been construed into the fearfulness of guilt.It will appear also, that from that time I heard nothing authentically upon the subject till the 11th of August, when I was furnished, by your Majesty's commands, with the Report. The several papers necessary to my understanding the whole of these charges, in the authentic state in which your Majesty thought it proper graciously to direct that I should have them, were not delivered to me till the beginning of September. My answer to Undoubtedly against such a proceeding I have ever felt, and still feel, an almost invincible repugnance. Every sentiment of delicacy, with which a female mind must shrink from the act of bringing before the public such charges, however conscious of their scandal and falsity, and however clearly that scandal and falsity may be manifested by the answer to those charges, the respect still due from me to persons employed in authority under your Majesty, however little respect I may have received from them; my duty to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; my regard for all the members of your august family; my esteem, my duty, my gratitude to your Majesty, my affectionate gratitude for all the paternal kinduess which I have ever experienced from you; my anxiety not only to avoid the risk of giving any offence or displeasure to your Majesty, but also to fly from every occasion of creating the slightest sentiment of uneasiness in the mind of your Majesty, whose happiness it would be the pride and pleasure of my life to consult and to promote; all these various sentiments have compelled me to submit, as long as human forbearance could endure, to all the unfavourable inferences which were through this delay daily increasing in the public mind. What the strength and efficacy of these motives have been, your Majesty will do me justice to feel, when you are pleased graciously to consider how long I have been contented to suffer those suspicions to exist against my innocence, which the bringing before the public of my accusation, and my defence to it, would so indisputably and immediately have dispelled. The measure, however, of making these proceedings public, whatever mode I can adopt (considering especially the absolute impossibility of suffering any partial production of them, and the necessity that, if for any purpose any part of them should be produced, the whole must be brought before the public) remains surrounded with all the objections which I have enumerated; and nothing could ever have prevailed upon me, or can now even prevail upon me, to have recourse to it, but an imperious sense of indispensable duty to my future safety, to my present character and honour, and to the feelings, the character, and the interests of my child. I had flattered myself, when once this long proceeding should have terminated in my reception into your Majesty's presence, that that circumstance alone would have so strongly implied my innocence of all that had been brought against me, as to have been perfectly sufficient for my honour and my security; but accompanied, as it now must be, with the knowledge of the fact, that your Majesty has been brought to hesitate upon its propriety, and accompanied also with the very unjustifiable observations, as they |
