not to be had. But it was asked, was the nation so poor, or the Prince so economical, that masters could not be afforded at so great a distance? The young princess must come to London like the daughters of farmers and petty squires for the benefit of masters? And what masters? For music, drawing, dancing, French, and German; that is for accomplishments which divert the mind from solid knowledge and real acquirements; which qualify a girl for a dancing-room, but usually disqualify her for any thing else, and least of all prepare her to govern a great country. Why is she not brought into society? exclaims her mother! May not the father, it was answered, have been taught by experience the evils of society at an early period of life? To personages of such high rank the dangers of general society are great in youth. Princes are surrounded by flattery and adulation. They may indeed see all the world, but they know nothing of it. Truth is not allowed to approach them; and those who minister to their passions probably become their favourites. Who has not heard of the poison of the air of a court? and obviously it is a poison to which youth is chiefly exposed. Queen Elizabeth was educated in seclusion. With respect to the education of the Princess, it was asked, is she then such a child that she must remain at her mother's knee to receive the instructions of masters? Is this then the personage who is fit to assume the reins of government in the event of a vacancy, and to rule this great people in these eventful times? She might thus be at once a sovereign and a pupil; unfit to go alone without the help of her mother, the nation being incapable of going on without the direction of the child!

The imputations, (it was also observed,) to which the letter alluded, were

made many years before The investigation had been closed for upwards of six years. During all this period her Royal Highness wa pleased to maintain the most profound silence on the subject, though every motive which had been stated in her letter, as the inducement to this last step, equally existed at every former moment.-The only rational explanation of all this was said to be, that her Royal Highness had unfortunately got into the hands of counsellors, who, either from indiscretion, or from bad motives, but cer tainly not with any regard to their royal client herself, to the royal family, or to the country, were determined to drag the whole of this cause from the obscurity in which, prudence on the one hand, and magnanimity on the other, had buried it, into the broad day of public investigation. If it were not resolved to bring this matter to an ultimate enquiry, why, it was asked, should the letter have been written, as it was known to have been, by a lawyer? Why was it officially transmitted with copies, duplicates, and all circumstances of solemnity, through the Prince Regent's public servants-the ministers of the country? And why, at last, when the generosity of the Prince and the prudence of his ministers declined to revive these discussions-why was it with so much previous preparation, with such preliminary pomp, ushered into the world?

With respect to the insinuations in the letter, it was remarked, that the advisers of her Royal Highness should have explained to her, that the matter would not end there-that other consequences might and must result from it-that here was not a defiance which could be thrown out with impunitythat the grave charge of subornation of perjury, to destroy her reputation, would not be overlooked-that if the

Prince Regent had studiously maintained a silence of fifteen years, upon all the unhappy differences between the illustrious personages in question, he had now another duty to perform -that silence would be no longer delicacy to any of the parties-That charges and insinuations could not be permitted to be brought against him without reply or refutation-that he must not be accused of improper treatment towards his daughter, both with respect to her education and her intercourse with the world and her mother -and that any attempt which injudicious counsellors might make to weaken the affection of the daughter for the father, must be met and defeated. The advisers of the Princess called for further enquiry. They said " that a day ought not to pass without further investigation of her conduct." If they were so anxious to have an enquiry, said their opponents, there could be no reason for refusing their request.

Her Royal Highness alluded to the result of the enquiry before the noble lords who had formerly investigated her case, and appealed to the "evidence of her innocence" and "the complete acquittal which it produced." Upon the point of "ample vindication" and "complete acquittal," the report, said her opponents, does "in the clear and unanimous judgment of the commissioners," acquit her Royal Highness of actual criminality; but her Royal Highness, they added, betrayed great imprudence in calling for a further investigation, not that there existed a shadow of reason for apprehend. ing that a second enquiry would be likely to attach any greater stain to her character than had been occasioned by the first, but because there were other subordinate circumstances, the detail of which should, upon every principle of delicacy, be withheld from the world.

The young Princess, it was remark

ed, was not seventeen-an age at which her studies must be supposed to be still going forward-But her mother seemed desirous that those studies should be interrupted, in order that her Royal Highness might mix in societies where she might acquire a knowledge of mankind. What societies it was asked? Balls and routs ?

Is there much valuable knowledge to be obtained in such quarters-much health for the body or the mind? Would her mother advise her to follow the example of some other ladies, and obtain a knowledge of mankind by attending chemical and anatomical lectures? Would she have had her perfect herself in the accomplishments of dancing and speaking, by passing her nights at the operas or the theatres -or improve her judgment of the powers of harmony, by a nearer intercourse with celebrated singers than from the box to the stage? Was her royal grandfather's education prosecuted in the way now recommended? Assuredly it was not; and yet no monarch ever sat upon the throne with more ability, more judgment, and more knowledge of the constitution and of the laws of the country.

As to the last point urged in the letter, it was remarked, that the rite of confirmation is undoubtedly an impressive and salutary one; but the most rigid divines have never considered it as essential to the welfare of the soul; and in the church of England it is no sacrament. Who, then, can believe that it was really felt by the Princess of Wales as a personal grievance requiring remonstrance, that the princess Charlotte, her daughter, had not yet been confirmed? But the statement, that "all the other branches of the royal family have been confirmed when younger than the Princess Charlotte now is," was not correct. The Prince her father was not confirmed until he was near eighteen

years of age, nor was the king her grandfather Where then is the justice of complaining because the Princess Charlotte has not been confirmed at an earlier age?

The letter was evidently not the production of the Princess of Wales; and there was a good deal of bad taste, it was remarked, in so much parade and affectation of maternal tenderness and domestic feeling, when every one must have been convinced that it was not a mother who herself expressed her own feelings, but some persons employed to make out a case, and who talked of sympathies and feelings with all the cold and canting commonplace of thorough-bred metaphysicians. Why should the Prince be the only father in the empire whose management of his child was to be criticised by the public? Why is he not to be permitted to judge how much, or what company she should see; what accomplishments she ought to learn; what preceptors it is proper that she should have and when her proficiency in her studies may render their further superintendence unnecessary? If it had been alledged that the health, or the character, or the education, of the presumptive heiress of the crown had been neglected, the public would have felt a laudable interest in having such neglect remedied; but it was too much to say that any person had a right to enquire why the young Princess went into company so little or so much-why she had, or had not been confirmed; what progress she made in her education; what visits she should receive and pay; thus attempt. to pry into all those little details of paternal care and domestic duties which the letter of the advisers of the Princess of Wales obtruded on public notice, to the astonishment and disgust of every father and mother in

the country. The paternal kindness of the Prince to his daughter, his care of her health, of her education, and her principles, had long been a theme of applause, not only to those very persons who were now endeavouring to insinuate the contrary, but to the whole nation; and the publication of the letter, lamentable as it was on many other accounts, had, in one re spect at least, proved not unsatisfac tory; as it brought forth into full view the parental feeling which his Royal Highness the Prince Regent had evinced towards his amiable and illustrious child, and the credit which the cultivated mind and affectionate heart of that child did to the unwea ried exertions of her royal father.Such were the reflections made on the letter which the Princess had been advised to publish.

The insinuations, however, which that letter contained, were of such a nature that further enquiry was held indispensable; and the Prince Regent accordingly referred the whole matter to a commission, composed of the dignitaries of the church, and the high officers of the law, who, after various meetings, and much delibera tion, made a formal report_on the subject. This report stated, that, after a full examination of the documents, the commissioners were of opinion, that, under all the circum stances of the case, it was highly fit and proper, with a view to the welfare of her Royal Highness the Prin cess Charlotte, in which were equally involved the happiness of his Royal Highness in his parental and royal character, and the most important interests of the state, the intercourse between her Royal Highness the Prin cess of Wales and her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte, should continue to be subject to regulation and re straint. That the motives by which

his Royal Highness had been actuated in the postponement of the confirmation of the Princess Charlotte were most laudable, as it appeared by a statement under the hand of her Majesty the Queen, that his Royal Highness had conformed in this respect to the declared will of his Majesty, who had been pleased to direct, that such ceremony should not take place till the Princess should have completed her 18th year. The commissioners also noticed some expressions in the letter of her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, which might possibly be construed as implying a charge of too serious a nature to be passed over without observation. They referred to the words, "suborned traAs this expression, from the manner in which it was introduced, might perhaps be liable to be misunderstood, (although it might be impossible to suppose that it could have been so intended) to have reference to some part of the conduct of his Royal Highness, they felt it their bounden duty not to omit this opportunity of declaring that the documents laid before them afforded the most ample proof, that there was not the slightest foundation for such an aspersion.

This report was communicated to the Princess by Lord Sidmouth. Her Royal Highness was immediately advised to address herself to the Lord Chancellor, and to the Speaker of the House of Commons. In her letters to these distinguished personages, she stated, that the report which she had just received was of such a nature that her Royal Highness was persuaded no person could read it without considering it as conveying aspersions upon her; and although their vagueness rendered it impossible to discover precisely what was meant, or even what she had been charged with, yet as the Princess felt conscious of no offence

VOL. VI. PART I.

whatever, she thought it due to herself, to the illustrious houses with which she was connected by blood, and by marriage, and to the people among whom she held so distinguished a rank, not to acquiesce for a moment under any imputations affecting her honour. That she had not been permitted to know upon what evidence the members of the privy council proceeded, still less to be heard in her defence. She knew only by common rumour of the enquiries which they had been carrying on, until the result of those enquiries was communicated to her, and she had no means of knowing whether the members acted as a body to whom she could appeal for redress, at least for a hearing, or only in their individual capacities, as persons selected to make a report upon her conduct. She was therefore com. pelled to throw herself upon the wisdom and justice of parliament, and to desire that the fullest investigation might be instituted into her whole conduct during the period of her residence in this country. She feared no scrutiny, however strict, provided she might be tried by impartial judges known to the constitution, and in the fair and open manner which the law of the land prescribes.

When the letter which had been received by the Speaker was read to the House of Commons, Mr Whitbread called on Lord Castlereagh to declare whether it was his intention to submit any proposition to the House on the subject. His lordship answered, that he would be ready, painful as the subject was, to give every proper explanation when a fit opportunity occurred.

On the 5th of March, Mr Cochrane Johnstone made a motion on this subject. He called upon the House to enter into resolutions declaring, that the commission in 1806 to Lords Erskine, Grenville, Spencer, and Ellen

F

borough, to enquire into the charges against the Princess of Wales, was illegal-that the acquittal of her Royal Highness by that commission was invalid, because if they had power to acquit, they might also have condemned that the Princess was therefore not legally acquitted of the charges brought against her, and that this uncertainty might endanger, at some future period, the succession to the crown. He then moved an address to the Prince Regent, that the whole documents connected with the enquiry of 1806 should be laid before the House.

In support of the motion it was observed, that a commission had been granted by the king in 1806, to four noble lords, Grenville, Spencer, Erskine, and Ellenborough, to examine into certain accusations which had been preferred against the Princess of Wales. That the report made by the commissioners contained the most unqualified opinion, that the charge preferred by Sir John and Lady Dou glas, against the Princess of Wales, of having been delivered of a child in the year 1802, was utterly destitute of truth. That the birth, and real mother of the child said to have been born of the Princess, had been proved beyond all possibility of doubt. The report concluded with some objections made by the commissioners to the manners of the Princess.-That a letter dictated by Lord Eldon, Mr Perceval, and Sir Thomas Palmer, though signed by the Princess of Wales, purporting to be written by her Royal Highness to the king, on the 9th of October 1806, as a protest against the report of the commissioners, contained a formal and elaborate criticism upon the nature of the commission under which her conduct had been reviewed; asserted, in the most unqualified terms her own innocence, and desrcibed the charges of

her accusers as originating in a foul conspiracy. In this letter the Princess of Wales threw herself, and the honour of her family, on the justice of the king-her honour and her life being at the mercy of the malice of her accusers. She complained of the exparte crimination, and of the manner and way in which the charges were credited.-That after an interval of painful suspence, the duke of Kent announced to her Royal Highness the near approach of two attornies to take away by warrant, half of her family, in order to examine them as witnesses to a charge made against her. The only request she made on this occasion was, that the Duke of Kent should remain in the room with her till her servants were gone, for fear she should be suspected of holding any conversation with them.-That the charge brought against the Prin cess before that tribunal by Sir John and Lady Douglas was nothing short of treason; that if the commissioners had power to aequit her Royal Highness of the crime charged, they had equally the power to convict her, and what was the state of that country in which such a thing was even possible? That the noble lords had no autho rity to give a judgment on the occa. sion-they had no right to pronounce an acquittal, for they had no right to find a verdict of guilty.-As a question of law, the matter was left as the commissioners found it.—But what became of Sir John and Lady Douglas? They still persisted in the same story; but if all they maintained were so notoriously false, why were they not prosecuted?-That no proceedings of the late privy council, except the report, had been transmitted to the Princess of Wales-that copies of all the examinations ought to be given to her; and it was the duty of ministers to communicate to the Princess of Wales the fresh informations