your majesty's royal sign manual, a copy of which is annexed to this report, to authorize, empower, and direct us to enquire 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 abovementioned declarations, as the neces sary 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 alledged 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 decla rations 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 learn 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, ap plying 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 ma jesty, to whom more particularly be longed 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 ascer taining, in the first instance, what degree of credit was due to the informations, and thereby enabling your ma jesty 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 enquiry 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 declaration, 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 enquire, 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 enquiry 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 enquiry, many particulars must be learnt which would be necessarily conclusive on the truth or falsehood of these declarations. So many persons must have been witnesses to the appearances of an actually exist ing pregnancy; so many circumstances must have been attendant upon a real delivery; and difficulties so numerous and insurmountable must have been in volved in any attempt to account for the infant in question, as the child of another woman, if it had been in fact the child of the princess; that we en tertained a full and confident expectation of arriving at complete proof, either in the affirmative or negative, on this part of the subject.

This expectation was not disappoint

ed. We are happy to declare to your majesty our perfect conviction that there is no foundation whatever for believing that the child now with the princess is the child of her royal highness, or that she was delivered of any child in the year 1802; nor has any thing appeared to us which would warrant the belief that she was pregnant in that year, or at any other pe riod within the compass of our enqui

ries.

The identity of the child, now with the princess, its parentage, the place and the date of its birth, the time and the circumstances of its being first taken under her royal highness's protection, are all established by such a concurrence, both of positive and circumstantial evidence, as can, in our judgment, leave no question on this part of the subject. The child was, beyond all doubt, born in the Brownlow-street hospital, on the 11th day of July, 1802, of the body of Sophia Austin, and was first brought to the princess's house in the month of November following. Neither should we be more warranted in expressing any doubt respecting the alleged pregnancy of the princess, as stated in the original declarations;-a fact so fully contradicted, and by so many witnesses, to whom, if true, it must in various ways have been known, that we cannot think it entitled to the smallest credit. The testimonies on these two points are contained in the annexed depositions and letters. We have not partially abstracted them in this report, lest, by any unintentional omission, we might weaken their ef fect; but we humbly offer to your majesty this our clear and unanimous judgment upon them, formed on full deliberation, and pronounced without hesitation, on the result of the whole enquiry.

We do not, however, feel ourselves at liberty, much as we should wish it, to close our report here. Besides the

allegations of the pregnancy and delivery of the princess, those declarations, on the whole of which your majesty has been pleased to command us to enquire and report, contain, as we have already remarked, other particulars respecting the conduct of her royal highness, such as must, especially considering her exalted rank and station, necessarily give occasion to very unfayourable interpretations.

to any thing unnecessarily said or done by us.

All which is most humbly submit. ted to your majesty. (Signed)

ERSKINE, SPENCER, GRENVILLE, ELLENBOROUGH,

(J. Becket.)

July 14, 1806. A true copy;

to the King.

On the precise bearing and effect of the facts thus appearing, it is not for us to decide; these we submit to your majesty's wisdom; but we conceive it to be our duty to report on this part of the enquiry, as distinctly as on the former facts; that, as on the one hand, the facts of pregnancy and delivery are to our minds satisfactorily dispro ved; so, on the other hand, we think that the circumstances to which we now refer, particularly those stated to have passed between her royal highness and Captain Manby, must be credited until they shall receive some decisive contradiction; and, if true, are justly entitled to the most serious consider. ation.

We cannot close this report, with out humbly assuring your majesty, that it was, on every account, our anxious wish, to have executed this delicate trust, with as little publicity as the nature of the case would possibly allow; and we entreat your majesty's permission to express our full persuasion, that if this wish has been dis*ppointed, the failure is not imputable

Blackheath, Aug. 12, 1806. Sire, With the deepest feelings of gratitude to your majesty, I take the first opportunity to acknowledge having received, as yesterday only, the report from the lords commissioners, which was dated from the 14th of July. It was brought by Lord Ershine's footman, directed to the Princess of Wales; besides a note enclosed, the contents of which were, that Lord Erskine sent the evidences and report by command of his majesty. I had reason to flatter myself that the lords commissioners would not have given in the report, before they had been properly informed of various circumstances, which must, for a feeling and delicate-minded woman, be very unplea sant to have spread, without having the means to exculpate herself. But I can, in the face of the Almighty, assure your majesty that your daughter-in-law is innocent, and her conduct unquestionable; free from all the indecorums and improprieties, which are imputed to her at present by the lords commissioners, upon the evidence of persons who speak as falsely as Sir John and Lady Douglas themselves. Your majesty can be sure that I shall be anxious to give the most solemn denial in my power to all the scandalous stories of Bidgood and Cole; to make my conduct be cleared in the most satisfactory way, for the tran quillity of your majesty, for the ho

nour of your illustrious family, and the gratification of your afflicted daughterin law. In the mean time, I can safely trust your majesty's gracious justice to recollect, that the whole of the evidence on which the commissioners have given credit to the infamous stories charged against me, was taken behind my back, without my having any opportunity to contradict or explain any thing, or even to point out those persons, who might have been called to prove the little credit which was due to some of the witnesses, from their connection with Sir John and Lady Douglas; and the absolute falsehood of parts of the evidence, which could have been completely contradicted. Oh! gracious king, I now look for that happy moment, when I may be allowed to appear again before your majesty's eyes, and receive once more the assurance from your majesty's own mouth that I have your gracious protection; and that you will not discard me from your friendship, of which your majesty has been so condescending to give me so many marks of kindness; and which must be my only support, and my only consolation, in this country. I remain, with sentiments of the highest esteem, veneration, and unfeigned attachment,

Sire,

heart, to express my gratitude for the kindness and protection which I have uniformly received from your majesty. I needed no caution or reserve, in expressing my confident reliance, that that kindness and protection would not be withdrawn from me on this trying occasion, and that your majesty's justice would not suffer your mind to be affected to my disadvantage, by any part of a report, founded upon partial evidence, taken in my absence, upon charges not yet communicated to me, until your majesty had heard what might be alleged, in my behalf, in answer to it. But your majesty will not be surprised nor displeased that I, a woman, a stranger to the laws and usages of your majesty's kingdom, under charges, aimed originally at my life and honour, should hesitate to determine in what manner I ought to act, even under the present circumstances, with respect to such accusations, without the assistance of advice in which I could confide. And I have had submitted to me the following observations, respecting the copies of the papers with which I have been furnished. And I humbly solicit from your majesty's gracious condescension and justice, a compliance with the re-quests which arise out of them.

In the first place, it has been observed to me, that these copies of the report, and of the accompanying papers, have come unauthenticated by the sig nature of any person, high or low, whose veracity, or even accuracy, is pledged for their correctness, or to whom resort might be had, if it should be necessary hereafter to establish, that these papers are correct copies of the originals. I am far from insinuating that the want of such attestations was intentional. No doubt it was omitted through inadvertence, but its importance is particularly confirmed by the state in which the copy of Mrs Lisle's examination has been transmit. ted to me; for in the third page of

that examination, there have been two erasures, on one of which some words have been subsequently introduced, apparently in a different hand-writing from the body of the examination, and the passage, as it stands, is probably incorrect, because the phrase is unin. telligible; and this occurs in an important part of her examination.

The humble, but earnest request, which I have to make to your majesty, which is suggested by this observation, is, that your majesty would be graciously pleased to direct, that the report, and the papers which accompany it, and which, for that purpose, I venture to transmit to your majesty with this letter, may be examined, and then returned to me, authenticated as correct, under the signature of some person, who, having attested their accuracy, may be able to prove it.

In the second place, it has been observed to me, that the report proceeds, by reference to certain written declarations, which the commissioners de scribe as the necessary foundation of all their proceedings, and which contain, as I presume, the charge or information against my conduct. Yet copies of these written declarations have not been given to me. They are described indeed, in the report, as consisting in certain statements, respecting my conduct, imputing, not only gross impropriety of behaviour, but expressly asserting facts of the most confirm ed and abandoned criminality, for which, if true, my life might be for feited. These are stated to have been followed by declarations from other persons, who, though not speaking to the same facts, had related other particulars, in themselves extremely suspicious, and still more so, as connected with the assertions already mentioned. On this, it is observed to me, that it is most important that I should know the extent, and the particulars of the charges or informations against

me, and by what accusers they have been made; whether I am answering the charges of one set of accusers, or more; whether the authors of the ori ginal declarations, who may be collected from the report to be Sir John and Lady Douglas, are my only accusers; and the declarations which are said to have followed, are the declarations of persons adduced as witnesses by Sir John and Lady Douglas to confirm their accusation; or whether such declarations are the charges of persons, who have made themselves also the authors of distinct accusations against me.

The requests, which I humbly hope your majesty will think reasonable and just to grant, and which are suggested by these further observations, are,

First, That your majesty would be graciously pleased to direct, that I should be furnished with copies of these declarations; and, if they are rightly described in the report, as the necessary foundation of all the proceed. ings of the commissioners, your majesty could not, I am persuaded, but have graciously intended, in directing that I should be furnished with a copy of the report, that I should also see this essential part of the proceeding, the foundation on which it rests.

Secondly, That I may be informed whether I have one or more, and how many accusers; and who they are; as the weight and credit of the accusation cannot but be much affected by the quarter from whence it originates.

Thirdly, That I may be informed of the time when the declarations were made. For the weight and credit of the accusation must also be much af fected by the length of time which my accusers may have been contented to have been the silent depositories of those heavy matters of guilt and charge; and,

Lastly, That your majesty's good. ness will secure to me a speedy return