"should submit to your Majesty their opi- nuary, 1807. Dales must now be strictly The Princess, upon receiv"nions as to the answer to be given by your attended to. "Majesty to the request contained in the ing this message, immediately wrote to "Princess's letter, and as to the manner in the King, intimating to him, that she "which that answer should be communi- would wait upon him at Windsor, on the "cated to Her Royal Highness. They Monday following. The King, the mo"have, therefore, in dutiful obedience to ment he received her letter, wrote back, 66 your Majesty's commands, proceeded to that he preferred receiving her in London, "re-consider the whole of the subject, in" upon a day subsequent to the ensuing "this new view of it; and after much de-"week." To this letter the Princess re"liberation, they have agreed humbly to turned no answer, and waited, of course, "recommend to your Majesty the draft of a to hear from the King, respecting the time "Message, which, if approved by your for her reception, when he should come to "Majesty, they would humbly suggest London. All these Letters, you will bear "your Majesty might send to Her Royal in mind, make part of THE BOOK, and Highness through the Lord Chancellor. will appear in my next Number. "Having before humbly submitted to your "Majesty their opinion, that the facts of "the case did not warrant their advising "that any further steps should be taken "upon it by your Majesty's Government, they have not thought it necessary to ad"vise your Majesty any longer to decline "receiving the Princess into your Royal "presence. But the result of the whole case does, in their judgment, render it "indispensable that your Majesty should, "by a serious admonition, convey to Her "Royal Highness your Majesty's expecta"tion that Her Royal Highness should be "more circumspect in her future conduct; " and they trust that in the terms in which "they have advised, that such admonition "should be conveyed, your Majesty will "not be of opinion, on a full consideration "of the evidence and answer, that they " can be considered as having at all exceed "ed the necessity of the case, as arising out "of the last reference which your Majesty "has been pleased to make to them." In this minute of the cabinet there are evident marks of timidity. At every period you see the hesitation of the parties from whom it came. It was not till nearly four months, you will perceive, after the date of the Princess's letter of defence, that they made this minute; and, you will perceive, too, that, in the mean while, the Princess had written, on the 8th of December, 1806, another letter to the King, urging a speedy decision on her case. She had manifestly the strong ground, and the cabinet were puzzled beyond all descrip tion. Thus, then, every thing appeared to be The Princess had obtained settled at last. her great object: that is to say, her readmission to court; and here, perhaps, the whole affair would have ended, and the world would never have been much the wiser for what had passed. But, now, just when the Princess was about to be received at court, all the charges against her having been shown to be false; just as the King was about to receive her back into his presence and thus to proclaim her innocence to the world; just as her sufferings of almost a year were about to be put an end to, and she was anxiously expecting, every hour, a message from the King appointing the time for her waiting upon him; just then, all was put a stop to, and the King acquainted her, that he had been requested to suspend any further steps in the business! And by whom, think was this request made? Why, BY THE PRINCE OF WALES HIMSELF! The Prince had, as the King informed the Princess on the 10th of February, 1807, made a formal request to him, to suspend all further steps; that is to say, to put off receiving the Princess, till. when, think you? Why, till he (the Prince) should be enabled to submit to the King a statement which he proposed to make to him upon the papers relating to the Princess's defence, after consulting with his own lawyers! The King, agreeably to the advice of his cabinet, sent a message to the Princess, through the Lord Chancellor, Erskine, containing the admonition, recommended in the minute of Cabinet above inserted. This message was sent on the 28th of Ja ... you, till It was now that the serious work began. It was now that the advisers of the Princess began to change the tone of her letters, and, from the plaintive to burst forth into the indignant. Her Royal Highness answered the King's letter on the 12th of February, 1807, intimating her design to represent to him in another letter the various grounds on which she felt the hardship of her case, which was done in a letter dated the 16th of February, 1807, in a most able manner. This is the document, which, above all the rest, is worthy of your attention, Perceval was, I dare say, the sole author of it, and it does infinite honour to him as a man of talents. Whether for reasoning, language, or force, I never read any thing to surpass this letter. The reasoning is clear as the brook and strong as the torrent; the language is dignified while the feelings it expresses are indignant; and, in short, it makes out such a case, it presents such a picture, that I no longer am surprised at the pains which were afterwards taken to conciliate its author and to keep it from the eye of the world. Who could have been the Prince's advisers upon this occasion; who could have been the cause of drawing forth this terrible letter I presume not to say; but, certainly, there never existed in the world a man exposed to the advice of more indiscreet or more faithless friends. At the close of this letter (and now, as the plot thickens, you must pay close at tention to dates); at the close of this letter, which, you will bear in mind, was dated on the 16th of February, the Princess, for the first time, THREATENS AN APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC, un less she be speedily received at Court, and also allowed some suitable establishment in some one of the Royal Palaces, if not in Carleton House. To this letter, however, she received no answer; and, on the 5th of March, which was on a Thursday, she wrote to the King to say, that, unless her requests were granted, the publication would not be withheld beyond the next Monday, which would have been on the 9th of March, 1807. The publication did not appear, but Mr. Perceval was Chancellor of the Exchequer in less than fifBeen days from that time? We all remember how sudden, how surprising, trow unaccountable, that change was. The cause was stated to be the Catholic Bill; but, at the time, all men expressed their wonder that that cause should have been attended with such an effect. The Bill had been, by the Whig ministry, introduced into Parliament with. the understood approbation of the King; and the Whigs, clinging to place, had withdrawn the Bill, upon some objection being started on the part of the King. But, this would not do; the King insisted upon their signing a promise that they would never mention such a Bill to him again. This they could not do without ensuring their de struction as ministers. Upon this ground, therefore, they were turned out, as all the world thought; and away went this "most "thinking nation" to a new election, bawling out bigotry on one side, and nopopery on the other! But, you see, my friend, that there really appears to have been no choice left to the King. He, very likely, had sincere scruples as to the Catholic Bill, and had, in some sort, had it forced upon him; and, that being the case, he had a right to make the Bill the ground of the dismission of his ministers; but, that the case of the Princess of Wales would have produced the same effect, if the Bill had not existed, there can, I think, not be the smallest doubt. In short, there appears to have been no other way left of getting rid of a thing, which must have operated most injuricusly in the opinions of the world to one, at least, of the parties concerned; and, I think, you will agree with me, that His Majesty, in this case, acted the part of a prudent man, and of a kind and considerate father. He had read all the documents, and especially the famous letter of the Princess of the 16th of February; and he saw the consequence of a publication of those documents; therefore, he took, as you will see, the effectual means of preventing that publication. If as much good sense had lately prevailed, we should not now have these documents to make our remarks on. The Whig ministry being removed, the four Lords and Lord Moira, and all those who were called the Prince's friends, being out of the cabinet and out of place, there remained no longer any obstacle to the receiving of the Princess at Court; and, accordingly, on the 21st of April, 1807, the following Minutes of Council were laid before the King, as a prelude to that step. "MINUTE OF COUNCIL, "APRIL 21, 1807. 66 PRESENT, "The Lord Chancellor (ELDEN) "The Lord President (CAMDEN) "The Lord Privy Seal (WESTMORLAND) "The Duke of PORTLAND "The Earl of CHATHAM "The Earl of BATHURST "Vicount CASTLEREAGH "Lord MULGRAVE "Mr. Secretary CANNING "Lord HAWKESBURY. "Your Majesty's confidential servants have, in obedience to your Majesty's "CABINET MINUTE, April 21, 1807. "The Lord Chancellor The Earl of Bathurst The Lord President "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 ad"papers 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 station, 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 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 "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 66 not, under such advice, consistently with all these papers, should be sealed and up "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." "ment and Examinations which were sub"mitted to him upon this subject. "After the most deliberate consideration, "however, of the evidence which has "been brought before the Commissioners, "and of the previous examinations, as well "as of the answer and observations which" "have been submitted to your Majesty "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 your" ness the Princess of Wales, that for her Majesty's late confidential servants, that "inore 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 state "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." and which nature, was given under "such circumstances, as render it, in the "judgment of your Majesty's confidential " servants, undeserving of credit.— "Your Majesty's confidential servants, "therefore, concurring in that part of the opinion of late servants, as stated "in their Minute of the 25th January, "that there is no longer any necessity for your Majesty being advised to decline "receiving the Princess into your Royal "presence, humbly submit to your Ma"jesty, that it is essentially necessary, in "justice to Her Royal Highness, and for 66 66 your 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 ambitions 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 | Princess; and, it was his failing to do [368 that they took in the month of March, 1807: this, which has, step by step, finally led indeed, it was impossible; for how was he, to the present disclosure. who had written the Princess's defence, deed, done much for the Princess; he had He had, inand so clearly seen her innocence, to fore-cleared her of every imputation; he had see, or to suppose it possible, that any restored her to the court; he had replaced obstacles would be opposed to her reception, her in a palace; but, her husband being even after an admonition had been given now exalted, her non-exaltation operated her? Up to this period, therefore, the with regard to her character in nearly the conduct of Perceval appears to have been same way as her exclusion from court had truly honourable; he had proved himself formerly operated. Therefore she had a to be a wise adviser, and a most able and new ground of complaint; the imputation zealous advocate. He found the Princess against her honour was revived, not in banished from the court and the royal words, but in the want of acts, more espepalaces, and loaded with numerous imputa- cially as her defender was now placed on tions. He cleared her of them all, and the highest pinnacle of power. restored her to that situation which was the object of her prayer. In this light the Princess herself, from viewed the matter; for, she there says, her last letter to the Prince, seems to have that she has waited with patience, since the establishment of the Regency, to see what would be done. I, for my part, strongly urged, at the time, the propriety of giving her an establishment suitable to the new rank of her husband, and especially the means of enabling her to hold a court. This was not listened to. The ministers comparative obscurity; but, her own spirit seem to have thought it best to leave her in and her consciousness of innocence, have defeated their views. Still, however, all We are now to view his subsequent conduct towards her, and herein it is that he was, as appears to me, wanting in his duty both to the Prince and Princess. He and others, had contrived, by one means and another, to suppress THE BOOK, which was ready for publication when he was made minister. But, the Princess had been received at court, she was inhabiting a palace, and the affair was at rest. There was no blame, therefore, in the suppression; but when the REGENCY came to be established in the person of the Prince; when the husband came to be ex-might have remained undisturbed, if a free alted to the rank, the power, and splendour 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 penu-her maternal affections, she would, without rious 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 ? intercourse had been permitted between her 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 much repining, have preserved in her magnanimous silence. But, when she saw herself deprived of that indulgence; when she saw her intercourse with her only child was the likelihood of an approaching total exmore and more restrained; when she saw view the effect which the notoriety of that clusion from that child, and took into her exclusion must have upon her reputation, she found it impossible longer to withhold the statement of her grievances. 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. last letter to the Prince; aye, and after the Even now, even after the writing of her The Prince was certainly advised by pru-publishing of that letter, all might have dent men, when he took this step; for he been quietly set at rest, if the Prince had avoided a certain evil at the certain, and, indeed, of no probable, good to her reasonable request. Such advisers expense of no found advisers to recommend the acceding that a change of ministry would have ef- he did not find; and we have the conse-fected. But, I blame Perceval for keeping quences before us. his place without stipulating for, or without doing, something in behalf of the L the Prince dated on the 19th of February, 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, 1813, I will not make any comment; and, will only request you, my honest friend, first to read the minute of the Cabinet of 21st of April, 1807, and see who it is sign ed 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. 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 recently been made a Baronet, a publication of the Depositions AGAINST the Princess; bur, 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 I 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. 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→ ber. The Printer has also erred in supposing and noting that those documents do not make part of THE BOOK. They do make part of the Book, and their proper place will be pointed out in the next Number.- -I hope I shall be excused for sending forth the accusation unaccompanied by the defence, but, it has been out of my power to avoid it. Yet, I think it my duty to state here, that, after a carefu perusal of the whole of the Book, great part of which I had, indeed, seen long ago, I have no hesitation in saying, that there cannot rest, in the mind of any man of sound judgment and without undue bias, the smallest doubt, that all; yes, all the accusations against the Princess were false, and the production of a base and malicious conspiracy against her, the object of which was totally to destroy her reputation and degrade her for ever from all rank and dignity in the country. This is my sincere and decided opinion; and in this opinion I am confident I shall be joined by every impartial person in the kingdom, |