Douglases. She has seen sir Sidney there very

late in the evening, but not alone with the princess. She has no reason to suspect he had a key of the park-gate. She never heard of any body being found wandering about at Blackheath. She has heard of somebody being found wandering about late at night at Mount Edgecumbe, when the princess was there. She heard that two women and a man were seen crossing the hall. The princess saw a great deal of company at Mount Edgecumbe. Sir Richard Strachan was reported to have spoken freely of the princess. She did not hear that he had offered a rudeness to her person. She told deponent she had heard he had spoken disrespectfully of her, and therefore she believes wrote to him by sir Samuel Hood

Sworn July 3.

CHAPTER X.

Report of the Commissioners.-Letter from the Princess of Wales to the King.-Her Royal Highness's Note to the Lord Chancellor and another Letter to the King-Notes sent by the Lord Chancellor to her Royal Highness.-Note from her Royal Highness to the Lord Chancellor, and the Answer.

THE following was the report of the commissioners.

May it please your majesty,

"YOUR majesty having been graciously pleased, by an instrument under your majesty's royal sign manual, a copy of which is annexed to this report, to 'authorize, empower, and direct us to inquire into the truth of certain written declarations, touching the conduct of her royal highness the princess of Wales, an abstract of which had been laid before your majesty, and to examine upon oath such persons as we should see fit, touching and concerning the same, and to report to your majesty the result of such examinations,' we have, in dutiful obedience to your majesty's commands, proceeded to examine the several witnesses, the copies of whose depositions we have hereunto annexed; and, in further execution of the said commands, we

now most respectfully submit to your majesty the report of these examinations as it has appeared to us: but we beg leave at the same time humbly to refer your majesty, for more complete information, to the examinations themselves, in order to correct any error of judgment into which we may have unintentionally fallen, with respect to any part of this business. On a reference to the above mentioned declarations, as the necessary foundation of all our proceedings, we found that they consisted in certain statements, which had been laid before his royal highness the prince of Wales, respecting the conduct of her royal highness the princess. That these statements not only imputed to her royal highness great impropriety and indecency of behaviour, but expressly asserted, partly on the ground of certain alleged declarations from the princess's own mouth, and partly on the personal observation of the informants, the following most important facts; viz. That her royal highness had been pregnant in the year 1802, in consequence of an illicit intercourse, and that she had in the same year been secretly delivered of a male child, which child had ever since that period been brought up by her royal highness, in her own house, and under her immediate inspection.

"These allegations thus made, had, as we found, been followed by declarations from other persons, who had not indeed spoken to the important facts

of the pregnancy or delivery of her royal highness, but had related other particulars, in themselves extremely suspicious, and still more so when connected with the assertions already mentioned.

"In the painful situation in which his royal highness was placed by these communications, we learnt that his royal highness had adopted the only course which could, in our judgment, with propriety be followed. When informations such as these had been thus confidently alleged, and particularly detailed, and had been in some degree supported by collateral evidence, applying to other points of the same nature (though going to a far less extent,) one line only could be pursued.

"Every sentiment of duty to your majesty, and of concern for the public welfare, required that these particulars should not be withheld from your majesty, to whom more particularly belonged the cognizance of a matter of state, so nearly touching the honour of your majesty'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 ascertaining, in the first instance, what degree of credit was due to the informations, and Ce

thereby enabling your majesty to decide what further conduct to adopt concerning them.

"On this review, therefore, of the matters thus alleged, and of the course hitherto pursued upon them, we deemed it proper, in the first place, to examine those persons in whose declarations the occasion for this inquiry had originated. Because if they, on being examined upon oath, had retracted or varied their assertions, all necessity for further investigation might possibly have been precluded.

"We accordingly first examined on oath the principal informants, sir John Douglas, and Charlotte his wife; who both positively swore, the former to his having observed the fact of the pregnancy of her royal highness, and the latter to all the important particulars contained in her former déclaration, and above referred to. Their examinations are annexed to this report, and are circumstantial and positive.

"The most material of those allegations, into the truth of which we had been directed to inquire, being thus far supported by the oath of the parties from whom they had proceeded, we then felt it our duty to follow up the inquiry by the examination of such other persons as we judged best able to afford us information, as to the facts in question.

"We thought it beyond all doubt that, in this course of inquiry, many particulars must be learnt.