dans toutes sortes d'épreuves. Rendez-moi la justice de me croire, que je ne cesserai jamais de faire des vœux pour votre bonheur, et d'ètre votre bien dévouée.*

"Ce 6 de Mai, 1796.

(Signed)

"CAROLINE."

1

The date of his Royal Highness's letter is the 30th of April, 1796. The date of our marriage, your Majesty will recollect, is the 8th day of April, in the year 1795, and that of the birth of our only child the 7th of January, 1796.

On the letter of his Royal Highness I offer no comment. I only entreat your Majesty not to understand me to introduce it, as affording any supposed justification or excuse for the least departure from the strictest line of virtue, or the slightest deviation from the most refined delicacy. The crime which has been insinuated against me would be equally criminal and detestable; the indelicacy imputed to me would be equally odious and abominable, whatever renunciation of conjugal authority and affection, the above letter of his Royal Highness might in any construction of it be supposed to have conveyed. Such crimes and faults derive not their guilt from the consideration of the conjugal virtues of the individual who may be the most injured by them, however much such virtues may aggravate their enormity. No such letter, therefore, in any construction of it, no renunciation of conjugal affection or duties, could ever palliate them. But whether conduct free from all crime, free from all indelicay (which I maintain to be the character of the conduct to which Mrs. Lisle's observations apply), yet possibly not so measured, as a cautious wife, careful to avoid the slightest appearance of not preferring her husband to all the world, might be studious to observe: whether conduct of such description, and possibly, in such sense, not becoming a married woman, could be justly deemed, in my situation, au offence in me, I must leave to your Majesty to determine.

In making that determination, however, it will not escape your Majesty to consider, that the conduct which does or does not become a married woman materially depends upon what is known by her to be agreeable to her husband. His pleasure and happiness ought unquestionably to be her law; and his approbation the most favourite object of her pursuit. Different characters of men require different modes of conduct in their wives; but when a wife can no longer be capable of perceiving, from time to time, what is agreeable or offensive to her husband, when her conduct can no longer contribute to his happiness, no longer hope to be rewarded by his approbation, surely to examine that conduct by the standard of what ought, in general, to be the conduct of a married woman, is altogether unreasonable and unjust.

What then is my case? Your Majesty will do me the justice to remark, that, in the above letter of the Prince of Wales, there is not the most distants urmise, that crime, that vice,

*TRANSLATION. The avowal of your conversation with Lord Cholmondeley, neither surprises, nor offends me. It merely confirmed what you have tacitly insinuated for this twelvemonth. But after this, it would be want of delicacy, or rather an unworthy meanness in me, were I to complain of those conditions which you impose upon yourself. I should have returned no answer to your letter, if it had not been conceived in terms to make it doubtful, whether this arrangement proceeds from you or from me, and you are aware that the credit of it belongs to you alone. The letter which you announce to me as the last, obliges me to communicate to the King, as to my Sovereign and my Father, both your avowal and my answer. You will find enclosed the copy of my letter to the King. I apprize you of it; that I may not incur the slightest reproach of duplicity from you. As I have at this moment no protector but his Majesty, I refer myself solely to him upon this subject, and if my conduct meets his approbation, I shall be in some degree at least consoled. I retain every sentiment of gratitude for the situation in which I find myself, as Princess of Wales, enabled by your means to indulge in the free exercise of a virtue dear to my heart, I mean charity.— It will be my duty likewise to act upon another motive, that of giving an example of patience and resignation under every trial.-Do me the justice to believe that I shall never cease to pray for your happiness, and to be your much devoted

6th of May, 1796.

CAROLINE.

that indelicacy of any description, gave occasion to his determination; and all the tales of infamy and discredit, which the inventive malice of my enemies has brought forward on these charges, have their date, years and years after the period to which I am now alluding. What then, let me repeat the question, is my case? After the receipt of the above letter, and in about two years from my arrival in this country, I had the misfortune entirely to lose the support, the countenance, the protection of my husband-I was banished, as it were, into a sort of humble retirement, at a distance from him, and almost estranged from the whole of the Royal Family. I had no means of having recourse, either for society or advice, to those from whom my inexperience could have best received the advantages of the one, and with whom I could, most becomingly, have enjoyed the comforts of the other; and if in this retired, unassisted, unprotected state, without the check of a husband's authority, without the benefit of his advice, without the comfort and support of the society of his family, a stranger to the habits and fashions of this country, I should, in any instance, under the influence of foreign habits, and foreign education, have observed a conduct, in any degree deviating from the reserve and severity of British mauners, and partaking of a condescension and familiarity which that reserve and severity would, perhaps, deem beneath the dignity of my exalted rank, I feel confident (since such deviation will be seen to have been ever consistent with perfect innocence), that not only your Majesty's candour and indulgence, but the candour and indulgence, which, notwithstanding the reserve and severity of British manners, always belong to the British public, will never visit it with severity or censure.

It remains for me now to make some remarks upon the further contents of the paper, which was transmitted to me by the Lord Chancellor, on the 28th ult. And I cannot, in passing, omit to remark, that that paper has neither title, date, signature, nor attestation ; and unless the Lord Chancellor had accompanied it with a note, stating, that it was copied in his own hand from the original, which his Lordship had received from your Majesty, I should have been at a loss to have perceived any single mark of authenticity belonging to it; and as it is, I am wholly unable to discover what is the true character which does belong to it. It contains, indeed, the advice which your Majesty's servants have offered to your Majesty, and the message which, according to that advice, your Majesty directed to be deli vered to me.

Considering it, therefore, wholly as their act, your Majesty will excuse and pardon me, if, deeply injured as I feel myself to have been by them, I express myself with Féedom upon their conduct. I may speak, perhaps, with warmth, because I am provoked by a sense of gross injustice; I shall speak certainly with firmness and with courage, because I am emboldened by a sense of conscious innocence.

Your Majesty's confidential servants say, "they agree in the opinions of the four Lords," and they say this, "after the fullest consideration of my observations, and of the affidavits which were annexed to them.". Some of these opinions, your Majesty will recollect, are, that "William Cole, Fanny Lloyd, Robert Bidgood, and Mrs. Lisle, are witnesses who cannot," in the judgment of the four Lords, " be suspected of any unfavourable bias ;” and “whose veracity, in this respect, they had seen no ground to question ;" and "that the circumstances to which they speak, particularly as relating to Captain Manby, must be credited until they are decidedly contradicted." Am I then to understand your Majesty's confidential servants to mean, that they agree with the four noble Lords in these opinions? Am I to understand, that after having read, with the fullest consideration, the observations which I have offered to your Majesty; after having seen William Cole there proved to have submitted himself, five times at least, to private, unauthorized, voluntary examination by Sir John Douglas's Solicitor, for the express purpose of confirming the statement of Lady Douglas (of that Lady Douglas, whose statement and deposition they are convinced to be so malicious and false, that they propose to institute such prosecution against her as your Majesty's Law Officers may advise, upon a reference, now at length, after six months from the detection of that malice and falsehood, intended to be made)-after having seen this William Cole, submitting to such

repeated voluntary examinations for such a purpose, and although he was all that time a servant on my establishment, and eating my bread, yet never once communicating to me that such examinations were going on-am I to understand that your Majesty's confidential servants agree with the four Lords in thinking, that be cannot, under such circumstances, be suspected of unfavourable bias? That after having had pointed out to them the direct, Alat contradiction between the same William Cole and Fanny Lloyd, they nevertheless agree to think them both (though in direct contradiction to each other, yet both) witnesses, whose veracity they see no ground to question? After having seen Fanny Lloyd directly and positively contradicted in au assertion most injurious to my honour, by Mr. Mills and Mr. Edmeades, do they agree in opinion with the four noble Lords, that they see no ground to question her veracity ?—After having read the observations on Mr. Bidgood's evidence; after having seen that he had the hardihood to swear that he believed Captain Manby slept in my house at Southend, and to insinuate that he slept in my bed-room; after having seen that he founded himself on this most false fact, and most feul and wicked insinuation, upon the circumstance of observing a bason and some towels where he thought they ought not to be placed; after having seen that this fact and this insinuation were disproved before the four noble Lords themselves, by two maid-servants, who, at that time, lived with me at Southend, and whose duties about my person and my apartments must have made them acquainted with this fact, as asserted, or as insinuated, if it had happened; after having observed too, in confirmation of their testimony, that one of them mentioned the name of another female servant (who was not examined), who had, from her situation, equal means of knowledge with themselves-I ask whether, after all this decisive weight of contradiction to Robert Bidgood's testimony, I am to understand your Majesty's confidential servants to agree with the four noble Lords in thinking, that Mr. Bidgood is a witness, who cannot be suspected of unfavourable bias, and that there is no ground to question his veracity? If, Sire, I were to go through all the remarks of this description, which occur to me to make, I should be obliged to repeat nearly all my former observations, and to make this letter as long as my original answer; but to that answer I confidently appeal, and I will veature to challenge your Majesty's confidential servants to find a single impartial and honourable man, unconnected in feeling and interest with the parties, and unconnected in Council with those who have already pledged themselves to an opinion upon this subject, who will lay his hand upon his heart, and say that these the witnesses, on whom that Report so mainly relies, are not to be suspected of the grossest partiality, and that their veracity is not most fundamentally impeached.

Was it then noble, was it generous, was it manly, was it just, in your Majesty's confidential servants, instead of fairly admitting the isjustice which had been, inadvertently and unintentionally, no doubt, done to me, by the four noble Lords in their Report upon the evidence of these witnesses, to state to your Majesty that they agree with these noble Lords in their opinion, though they cannot, it seems, go the length of agreeing any longer to withhold the advice which restores me to your Majesty's presence? And with respect to the particulars to my prejudice, remarked upon in the Report as those "which justly deserve the most serious cousideration, and which must be credited till decisively contradicted," instead of fairly avowing, either that there was originally no pretence for such a remark, or that, if there had been originally, yet that my answer had given that decisive contradiction which was sufficient to discredit them; instead, I say, of acting this just, honest, and open part, to take no notice whatsoever of those contradictions, and content themselves with saying, that "none of the facts or allegations stated in preliminary examinations, carried on in the absence of the parties interested, could be considered as legally or conclusively established.".

They agree in the opinion that the facts or allegations, though stated in preliminary examination, carried on in the absence of the parties interested, must be credited till decisively con tradicted, and deserve the most serious consideration. They read, with the fullest consideration, the contradiction which I have tendered to them; they must have known that no other sort of contradiction could, by possibility, from the nature of things, have been offered upon suck

subjects; they do not question the truth, they do not point out the insufficiency of the contradiction, but in loose, general, indefinite terms, referring to my answer, consisting, as it does, of above two hundred written pages, and coupling it with those examinations (which they admit establish nothing against an absent party), they advise your Majesty, that "there appear many circumstances of conduct, which could not be regarded by your Majesty without serious concern; and that, as to all the other facts and allegations, except those relative to my preguancy and delivery, they are not to be considered as "legally and conclusively established," because spoken to in preliminary examinations, not carried on in the presence of the parties concerned. They do not, indeed, expressly assert, that my contradiction was not decisive or satisfactory; they do not expressly state, that they think the facts and allegations want nothing towards their legal and conclusive establishment bat a re-examination in the presence of the parties interested, but they go far to imply such opinions. That those opinions are utterly untenable, against the observations I have made upon the credit and character of those witnesses, I shall ever most confidently maintain; but that those observations leave their credit wholly unaffected, and did not deserve the least notice from your Majesty's servants, it is impossible that any honourable man can'assert, or any fair and unpre. judiced mind believe.

I now proceed, Sire, to observe, very shortly, upon the advice further given to your Majesty as contained in the remaining part of the paper; which has represented that both in the examinations, and even in my answer, there have appeared many circumstances of conduct which could not be regarded but with serious concern, and which have suggested the expression of a desire and expectation that such a coaduct may in future be observed by me, as may faily justify these marks of paternal regard and affection, which your Majesty wishes to shew to all your Royal Family.

And here, Sire, your Majesty will graciously permit me to notice the hardship of the advice which has suggested to your Majesty to convey to me this reproof. I complain not so much for what it does, as for what it does not contain; I mean the absence of all particular mention of what it is, that is the object of their blame. The circumstances of conduct which appear in these examinations, and in my answer, to which they allude as those which may be supposed to justify the advice which has led to this reproof, since your Majesty's servants have not particularly mentioned them, I cannot be certain that I know. But I will venture confidently to repeat the assertion, which I have already made, that there are no circumstances of conduct spoken to by any witness (whose infamy and discredit are not unauswerably exposed and established), nor any where apparent in my auswer which have the remotest approach either to crime or to indelicay.

For my future conduct, Sire, impressed with every sense of gratitude for all former kindness, I shall be bound, unquestionably, by sentiment as well as duty, to study your Majesty's pleasure. Auy advice which your Majesty may wish to give to me in respect of any particulars of my conduct, I shall be bound, and be anxions to obey as my law. But I must trust that your Majesty will point out to me the particulars which may happen to displease you, and which you may wish to have altered. I shall be as happy in thus feeling myself safe from blame under the benefit of your Majesty's advice, as I am now in finding myself secure from danger, under the protection of your justice.

Your Majesty will permit me to add one word more.

Your Majesty has seen what detriment my character has, for a time, sustained, by the false and malicious statement of Lady Douglas, and by the depositions of the witnesses who were examined in support of her statement. Your Majesty has seen how many enemies I have, and how little their malice has been restrained by any regard to truth in the pursuit of my ruin. Few, as it may be hoped, may be the instances of such determined and unprovoked malignity; yet, I cannot flatter myself, that the world does not produce other persons, who may be swayed by similar motives to similar wickedness. Whether the statement, to be prepared by the Prince of Wales, is to be confined to the old charges, or is intended to bring forward new

circumstances, I cannot tell; but if any fresh attempts of the same nature shall be made by my accusers, instructed as they will have been, by their miscarriage in this instance, I can hardly hope that they will not renew their charge, with an improved artifice, more skilfully directed, and with a malice inflamed rather than abated, by their previous disappointment. I therefore can only appeal to your Majesty's justice, in which I confidently trust, that whether these charges are to be renewed against me either on the old or on fresh evidence ; or whether new accusations, as well as new witnesses, are to be brought forward, your Majesty, after the experience of these proceedings, will not suffer your Royal mind to be preJudiced by ex parte, secret examinations, nor my character to be whispered away by insinua. tions or suggestions which I have no opportunity of meeting. If any charge, which the law will recognize, should be brought against me in an open and a legal manner, I should have no right to complais, nor any apprehension to meet it. But till I may have a full opportunity of so meeting it, I trust your Majesty will not suffer it to excite even a suspicion to my prejudice. I must claim the benefit of the presumption of innocence till I am proved to be guilty, for, without that presumption, against the effects of secret insinuation and ex parte examinations the purest innocence can make no defence, and can have no security.

Surrounded, as it is now proved, that I have been, for years, by domestic spies, your Majesty must, I trust, feel convinced, that if I had been guilty, there could not have been wanting evidence to have proved my guilt: and that these spies have been obliged to have resort to their own invention for the support of the charge, is the strongest demonstration that the truth, undisguised, and correctly represented, could furnish them with no handle against me. And when I consider the nature and malignity of that conspiracy, which, I feet confident, I have completely detected and exposed, I cannot but think of that detection with the liveliest gratitude, as the special blessing of Providence, who, by confounding the machinations of my enemies, has enabled me to find, in the very excess and extravagance of their malice, in the very weapons which they fabricated and sharpened for my destruction, the sufficient guard to my innocence, and the effectual means of my justification and defence.

I trust, therefore, Sire, that I may now close this long letter, in confidence that many days will not elapse before I shall receive from your Majesty that assurance that my just requests may be so completely granted, as may render it possible for me (which nothing else can) to avoid the painful disclosure to the world of all the circumstances of that injustice, and of those unmerited sufferings which these proceedings, in the manner in which they have been conducted, have brought upon me.

I remain, Sire, with every sentiment of gratitude,

Your Majesty's most dutiful, most submissive Daughter-in-law, Subject and Servant,"

Montague-House, February 16, 1807.

(Signed)

C. P.

As these observations apply not only to the official communication through the Lord Chancellor, of the 28th ult.; but also to the private letter of your Majesty, of the 12th instant, I have thought it most respectful to your Majesty and your Majesty's servants, to send this letter in duplicate, one part through Colonel Taylor, and the other through the Lord Chancellor, to your Majesty.

To the King.

(Signed)

C. P.

SIRE,-When I last troubled your Majesty upon my unfortunate business, I had raised my mind to hope that I should have the happiness of hearing from your Majesty, and receiving your gracious commands, to pay my duty in your Royal presence, before the expiration of the last week. And when that hope was disappointed (eagerly clinging to any idea, which offered me a prospect of being saved from the necessity of having recourse, for the vindication of my