malice, as I have already had on the other part of the chargo, from the excess and extravagance of his confederate Lady Douglas.

What is the charge that he would insinuate? That I meditated and effected a len, secret, clandestine, intercourse with an adultero.3 No.Captain Manby, it seems, according to his nuation, slept with me in my own house, under c cumstances of such notoriety, that it was impossible that any of my female attendants, at least, should not have known it. Their duties were varied on the occasion; they had to supply basons and towels in places where they never was supplied, except when prepared for him; and they were not only purposely so prepared, but prepared in an open passage, exposed to view, in a manner to excite the suspicion of those who were not admitted into the secret. And what a secret was it, that was thus to be hazarded! No less than what, if discovered, would fix Captain Manby and myself with High Treason! Not only, therefore, must I have been thus careless of reputation, and eager for infamy; but I must have been as careless of my life, as of my honour.-Lost to all sense of shame, surely I must have still retained some regard for life.Captain Manby too, with a folly and madness equal to his suppossd iniquity, must then have put his life in the hands of my servants, and depended for his safety upon their fidelity to me, and their perfidy to the Prince their master. I the excess of vice and crime in all this is believed,

could its indiscretion, its madness, find credulity to adopt it almost upon any evidence? But what must be the state of that man's mind, as to prejudice, who could come to the conclusion of believing it, from the fact of ne water-jugs and towels being found in an unusual place, in a passage near For as to his suspicion being my bed- om? rais by what he says he saw in the looking-glass, it was as true as it is false, that could not occasion, his believing, on any particular night, that Captain Manby slept in my house; the situation of these towels and basons is what leads to that belief.

But, Sire, may I ask, did the Commissioners believe this man's suspicions? If they did, what do they mean by saying that these facts of great indecency, &c. went to a much less extent than the principal charges? And that it was not for them to state their bearing and effect? The bearing of this fact unquestionably, if believed, is the same as that of the principal charge; namely, to prove me guilty of High Treason. They, therefore, could not believe it. But if they did not believe it, and, as it seems to me, Sire, no men of common judgment could, on such a statement how could they bring themselves to name Mr. Bidgood as one of those witnesses on whose unbiassed testimony they could so rely? or how could they, (in pointing him out with the other three as speaking to facts, particularly with respect to Captain Manby, which must be credited till decidedly contradicted) omit to specify the facts which he spoke to that

they thus thought worthy of belief, but leave the whole, including this incredible part of it, recommended to belief by their general and unqualified · sanction and approbation.

But the falsehood his charge does not rest on its incredibility alone. My serve Mrs. Sander, who attended constantly on my person, an

Laze bedroom was close to mine, was examined by the Co missioners; she must have known this fact if it had been true she positively swears "that she did not know or believe, that Captain Manby staid till very late hours with me; that she never suspected there was any improper familiarity between us. M.Wilson, who made my bed, swears, that she had been in the habit of making it ever since she lived with me, that another maid, whose name was Ann Bye, assisted with her in making it, and swears from what she observed, she never had any reason to believe that two persons had slept in it. Referring thus by name to her fellow-servant, who made the bed with her, but that servant, why I know not, is not examined.

As your Majesty then finds the inference drawn by Bidgood to amount to a fact so openly and undisguisedly profligate, as to outrage all credibility; as your Majesty finds it negatived by the evidence of three witnesses, one of whom, in particular, if such a fact were true, must have known it; as your Majesty finds one witness appealing to another, who is pointed out as a person who must have been able, with equal means of knowledge, to have confirmed her if she spoke true, and to

inf

have contradicted her if she spoke false. And, Sire, when added to all this, your Majesty is graciously pleased to recollect that Mr. Bidgood was one of those who, though in my service submitted themselves voluntarily to be mined previous Commissioners, in conto the appointment of firmation of ay Douglas's statement, without g me of the fact; and when I state to your Majesty, upon the evidence of Philip Krackeler and Robert Eaglestone, whose deposition. I annex, that this unbiassed witness, during the pendency of these examinations before the Commissioners, was seen to be in conference and communication with Lady Douglas, my most ostensible accuser, do I raise my expectations too high, when I confidently trust that his malice, and his falsehood, as well as his connection in this conspiracy against my honour, my station in this kingdom, and my life, will ap pear to your Majesty too plainly for him to receive any credit, either in this or in any other part of his testimony?

The other circumstances, to which he speaks, are comparatively too trifling, for me to trouble your Majesty with any more observations upon his evidence.

The remaining part of the case, which respects Captain Manby, relates to my conduct at East Cliff.

How little Mrs. Lisle's examination affords for observations upon this part of the case, except as shewing how very seldom Captain Manby cal

led upon me while I was there, I have already observed. Mr. Cole says nothing upon this part of the case; nor Mr. Bidgood. The only witness amongst the four whose testimonies are distinguished by the Commissioners as most material, and as those on which they particularly rely, who says any thing upon this part of the case, is Fanny Lloyd. Her deposition is as follows.*

"I was at Ramsgate with the Princess in 1803. "One morning when we were in the house at "East Cliff, somebody, I don't recollect who, "knocked at my door, and desired me to prepare "breakfast for the Princess. This was about six " o'clock; I was asleep. During the whole time I "was in the Princess's service, I had never been "called up before to make the Princess's breakfast.

I slept in the house-keeper's room, on the ground"floor. I opened the shutters of the window for "light. I knew at that time that Captain Manby's "ship was in the Downs. When I opened the "shutters, I saw the Princess walking down the "Gravel-Walk towards the sea. No orders had "been given me over-night to prepare breakfast early. The gentleman the Princess was with 66 was a tall man. I was surprised to see the "Princess walking with a gentleman at that time "in the morning. I am sure it was the Princess.'

What this evidence of Fanny Lloyd applies to, I do not feel certain that I recollect. The circumstances which she mentions might, I think, have occurred twice while I was there; and which time * Appendix (A) p. 13.

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