aunts; do they see this, and feel no compassion for the sufferer, though a stranger in the land, and though they know that she has thus been punished and degraded for no fault, and in violation of the most solemn vows; do they see this, and by keeping aloof from, not only give her no support or consolation, but tacitly tell the world that there is some just cause for her banishment! This conduct gave great offence to the English nation, who, with the exception of the aristocracy, did itself everlasting honour by its conduct towards the persecuted lady; showed a love of "fair play," of that proneness to take part with the weak against the strong, which has ever been amongst its best characteristics. And the royal family have not failed to experience the natural effects of this feeling in the nation, whose regard for that family has never been what it was before the period now under consideration.

65. But, alas! the sufferings of the unfortunate princess were not to end here; here they but made a mere beginning; her banishment was the smallest part of what she was destined to endure. If, indeed, she had been permitted to enjoy that "tranquil and comfortable society," which the prince, in giving her her discharge, said was "within their power," she might, though injured and insulted, have led a life free from anxiety, particularly as she might with justice have discarded from her mind all regard for, and

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care about, him. But, to suffer her to lead this sort of life appears to have been very far from his thoughts; for, as it was afterwards ainply proved, she was no sooner in her state of banishment, than means were set to work to obtain against her such evidence as would, if established, justify the husband in demanding a divorce.

66. No steps were, however, openly taken, until the year 1806; though the pretended grounds of those steps had, some of them, existed five years before. These steps were: 1. A COMMUNICATION to the King, by the Prince of Wales, of certain information that he had received relative to the conduct of his wife ; 2. A WARRANT of the king, authorising and commanding the lord chancellor, the secretary of state for the home department, the first lord of the treasury, and the lord chief justice of the court of King's Bench, to inquire into the truth of the allegations, and to report the result to the king. When we have these documents recorded, we shall have before us the true source of more cabal, intrigue, and mischief, than ought to exist in any nation in ten centuries. The steps were the natural offspring of the cruel and insulting letter from the prince to his wife, on the 30th of April, 1796. As we shall by-and-by see, the plot was hatching during the whole of the ten years; and the reasons why it was attempted to be put in exe

cution now, and not before, will be stated byand-by, and will be found to be a matter of great importance, connected as those reasons were with political measures deeply affecting the interests of the country.

GEORGE R.

THE WARRANT.

WHEREAS Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor Thomas Lord Erskine, Our Chancellor, has this day laid before Us an Abstract of certain written Declarations touching the Conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales: We do hereby authorise, empower, and direct, the said Thomas Lord Erskine, Our Chancellor; Our right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin and Councillor George John Earl Spencer, one of Our Principal Secretaries of State; Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor William Wyndham Lord Grenville, First Commissioner of Our Treasury: and Our right trusty and well-beloved Councillor Edward Lord Ellenborough, Our Chief Justice, to hold Pleas before Ourself, to inquire into the truth of the same, and to examine upon oath such Persons as they shall see fit, touching and concerning the same, and to report to Us the result of such Examinations.-Given at Our Castle of Windsor, on the twenty-ninth day of May, in the forty-sixth year of Our Reign.

G. R.

THE REPORT.

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 "authorise, empower, and "direct us to inquire into the truth of certain written decla"rations, touching the conduct of her royal highness the "Princess of Wales, an abstract of which had been laid before

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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 possi bility, 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 place, what degree of credit was due to the informations, and 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 investiga. tion might possibly have been precluded,

We accordingly first examined on oath the principal informants, Sir John Douglas, and Charlotte his wife; who both