Star. — London, England, 1813-03-18 00:00:00

F - • • - • _44 tVliiibread) read in order to ptoduce a false sion, and that on his head was to fell th e bla me of the whole publication. He could hardly su pp o s e , however, that even if he had read any document with, the vie?, imputed to him by the Noble Lord, that; kny man could *2o'lll2le it as a justification of such 1 Conduct as the publication of that blasted evidence.— He had indeed reed the Minute which was sent by the Cabieet that made ieto the Illustrious Person whose, acquittal it pronounced. The Noble Lord had said that he was the first person *lto had ever read a state document in that House ; tart he apprehended that no course could be more decorous, mere proper, more fair, or more Parliamentary than that of reading an authentic document. ; But the Noble Lord had said that it was a garbled extract—it was not a garbled, for he had read - the whole of it. It was, said the Noble ' Lord, a garbled extract, for it was impossible to make sense of it without the former Minute. (Hear, hear.)' lie could inform . the Noble Lord, however, that he bad not teen the first person who read those docu ments in the House, for the Hon. Gentleman behind him (Mr. Cochrane Johnstone) had the priority of him.—(Near. hear.)—lf there was any credit in the'' ict, to that Hon. Gentleman, therefore, be resigned it ; but he was quite satisfied that the credit or blame of the second reading should attach to him. ' Gtarite' in g also to the Noble Lord, that he had read. a gar bled extract, he could remind him also, that it'wonld notbave been the first of that description, fbr certain garbled extracts of a production called t he “Letters of a Protestant," had been read in that Home by the Portland Cabinet, which extracts could only have been taken from the. Council Book. The Noble Lord hes,: knew whether he had any share in those letters; but this was certain, that they had been ascribed to a tenon connected with ' his Lordship. Taking the blame, however, of having read the Minute upon himself, his motive for reading it was to shew how the lattor.Cabinet had differed from the former—how imequivoLdly they had pronounced their opinion 'upon tile innocence of her Royal Highness, and how they had advised that she might be received by his Majesty without delay, in a manner becoming her exatted rank and station. But there was a Minute be _ yond that which he had read, and which referred to a requeit matte by her Royal flightless for an apart ment in .omi , e)f the Royal p;alaces in order to enable her 10) al HiOness to attend ;.he Drawing-room wiill more convenierjce. The Cabinet had justified the request, but left the compliance with it to his Ma jesty's pleasure, After all those proceedings, and in the face of those decisions, it was that the deposition pt Lady Douglas was sent forth into the world through the medium of the public Papers, and, he would mention two of those Papers to slim that the, publication did not interfere with the plans of Admi nistration, nor were disagreeable to the residents at Carlton House. On recollection, he would pass over One of the Pacers, and in justice to the Prince of Wales, he would select the other—he would fix on The Morning Herald, in order to enable she friends of his Royal Highness to vindicate him from an share in the publicatibu ; (or whoeyer saw at the head of that Paper the crest of his Royal Highness conspi. cnonsly emblazoned—whoever knew the habits of the 'key. Proprietor of that Paper--whoever knew thA this Rev. Praprietor had hem lately distinguished as a Divine by honours and promotion cut of the ;tesual ;terse—whoever knew all this, and read the gross and scandalous publications which had recently eppeered in The Morning Herald, must conclude that they st ere not disagreeable in a MA quarter.— (Hear, hear.) --Ht. won'd not assume that the Noble .-1...cFcl had uttered any words which bore such an inrcreree—he would not assume that he said AL/. 'thing whicb .went to assert the necessity of tal:ing Off the false impressien of her Royal Highness's in liocence ; but this he would say, that after that ver dict of ir.n*Ace had been pronounced by two , . Cabinets, after Wile been confirmed in that House, it had been dein t eiecessary to give to the world evidence thus branded with the stamp of per jury,4Cries of hear.) it had seemed right to poi. lute t l7l public ,the filthy, disgusting, and nauseous (Wad of beastly ' stories, contradicting each other-e-that detail which, he lamented to say, bore Che nathe and impression of the late Right Honour able Spencer Perceval—of him ,who told that illus. pious Princess that she was oppressed and injured, Ind that she should publish, as necessary to her justi tation, all that disgusting stuff which was before the eabl c ; but now when Mr. Perceval was dead, and when years had gor.e by, after those documents had :sin in undisturbed obscurity, they were suddenly heincd into' the glare of day, not for the purpose icn had caused theircompilation, not for the Jehrpose vindicirtion, but order to calumniate her of whom Perceval and others had been the friends, the Avisers, the couneelloill, and the dcfenders—(Hear, *ear.) L was now imposible that the matter should est where it was—the soon:: it was decided the bet-, er ; and wfien he bad given the notice in pursuance, ff which he rose that nt;ht, hit felt that he was act *, not as tfai Aivecate of the Princess of Wales, tut as the advricate of justice—(bear.) They must time to a.decition, one way or the ocher. It was kw eleven years since chose charges bad been brought , *ward, and the Princess was still in the midst of be fiery ordeal. At all . timpt had her Royal High-1 ,ess called for a trial—in 1806 she had called for ne, in 1813 she threw herself upon that House, and hey knew that she wrote a letter claiming at their lands—nut mercy, not ceitipasSiOn—but what be hen claimed for her (feeling that eefei was now her ase.might be that orevery man who s had g Fife or ' daughter, whose honour should be'assailed) a tri.: l nd 'All acknowledgment of her innocence, or an el ehlishment of her gpilF. 'How then did he ask theca o peocred ? Before an open and legal tribunal.— , )itt, (say the enemies of her Royal Highness) no I I t shalt not be. Every Ong 411111 read the evidence , hhich has bred given against you—you shall be tried every alehouse in the kingdom — we will hold you letth to the world in this naked, shatneful, unprotec-; Id, deserted state ! (Hear, hear.) He Claimed no hing by way of mercy—he was not the person to ecide the.question of guilt or innocence—but this to called - for, that some step . should be taken which vould bring matters to 'a crisis, thit`lier Royal H less might no longer suffer from the Shafts of calurn iy —that she might be pronounced innocenlr or gull. y, in a word, it was justice that he demiMed (hear, leer.) There were various mode's of corning to the' w islied-for elusion, and having understood from *Ur . its stated in thelteport of the Conftissioltele that there was no-other Step to be taken except what thi Law Officers might advise in the form of a pro secntisin of Lady Douglas, he had thought it possi ble for him to move an Address to the Prince Re gent, praying that he might direct his Law-Officers to prosecute -Lady Douglas for perjury, itccordinjc to the prayer of the petition of Sir John and Lady Do uglas, who were placed in the same situation as the Princess of Wales, and were either the most guilty or innocent persons in the world. This had been his original intention, but he had since been told that a technical difficulty existed as to this mode of proceed ing, notwithstanding the opinion of those great au thdrates who had signed the Report, and that, ac cording to Law Officers, either a prosecution would not lie, or if it would, that it would not be possible to bring conviction home. On that account he would alter his motion so as to relieve the House and the Prince Regent from all technical difficulties, and to bring the matter to an issue. There were certain cir cumstances which he now telt it his duty to allude to, and they were of such a nature that the purest inno cence could not afford protection under them. —ln one of the depositions he had seen a direct denial of a charge relative to words made use of, and yet, if the statement in the public papers was entitled to credit, that person who was called to account for what he was alleged to have said, bad declared on ihis lath "that he never uttered the words imputed to With but treated it as the infamous lie of the day." A Noble Person was reported to hive shaken his head significantly, and to have said with a smile, a , that he could not help thinking there must be remethiag in the servants' deptisition." "Good Goo! (exclaimed Mr. Whitbread) what protection can innocence af ford, if credulity is so great id one instance, and in credulity so obstinate in another Does it not be come us as men—as Members of the Legislature—as lovers of justice—as lovers of the Constitution—as lovers of the Throne, to bring the matter to a final issue r —(Hear, hear.)—For the sake of the govern. ing authorities of the kingdom, this consummation was to be anxiously wished for; for was not the pub lic character of the person who held the reins of go.' vernment shocked at those proceedings? Was not royalty, wherever it existed, shocked by them Though his Majesty had received the Princess of Wales into his favour, and continued his paternal protection pp 'to the last period of his mental exist ence, yet were there persons who would smile and shake their heads, and, as he !,ad heard, there were some in whose esteem the Princess of Wales was lowered in consequence of the publication of this evi dence; which had beeu twice declared unworthy of eredit, for no other reason, but because it was pub lished after her Royal Highness's acquittal. He felt it his duty, therefore, to arrest the progress of such injurious impressions ; it was the duty of that House to rescue the Princess of Wales from this shameful exposure. And here he would revert to that period when this unhappy Princess first came, a str.inger, to these shores :—ln 1795 she had been married amidst the congratulations of the nation; in 17173 she had wveg, birth to the Ptincess Charlotte. t a whisper is breathed against her character or cuojoct at that period yct, in fifteen months after her arrival, the public were unhappily informed that a separation had taken place. True it has, thatLis Roy al Highness had stated that their tempers did not to-, , ree ; yet there were circumstances of ..ogravation hich plainly in dicated that the Princess was not acceptable. From that time they knew that this illustrious Lady, against whom calumny had not yet dared to breathe,this young and distinguished foreigner—was separated trom her husband, without a friend, without a prxector, with cut the trappings of royalty, without the consolation of her daughter's society—bereft of every natural connection—her friends fix removed—au exile in the and of her adoption; this situated, this unhappy Lady had , Jo conducted liena , :f for a series of years, that no disclqsme of the sliofvest imputation had been made. But he would suppose, that after a lapse of years, such guilt as was now - charged against the Princess had been proved, and he would ask what remedy a husband would have, who was thus cir. cumstanced, in common life ? Would he not be told by the Judges that he should have used greater cau tion—that a young and amiable foreigner should not have been left thus exposed to danger—thus unpro. tected by a husband's care ? But when they consi dered a Princess of Wales thus situated—bereft of society, of amusement, of her child, if to her such a charge as,this could be brought home, no mitigation could be pleaded for her offence, but it must be ex piated by tier blood. If they looked to the situation in which the succession to the Throne was placed un der existing circumstances, how did it stand ? Lady Douglas was again examined as a credible wisness be fore Mr. Conant. Lord Eldon, the Chancellor of England, he who had been a party to the Report ' Which established the innocence of the Princess—he it was that now stated Lady Douglas to be a credible witnesse ! --(Hear, Hear.)—Lady Douglas swore that the Princess was delivered of a male child, and if this depositioi were true, then the Princess Charlotte would have no right to the Throne, unless the child was proved to be the offspring of an adulterous inter course. The year 1802 was the period when these acts of criminality, when the fact, not only of pregnancy, but the birth of a male child were sworn to have taken place in the deposition of Lady Douglas.— That deposition he would not read, he could wish never to have seen it, and yet, had not certain events happened, the Book containing that and all the other affidavits would have been given to the public seven years ago. This deposition, be it remembered, re . (erred entirely to circumstances which had occurred lirce years before, and had not, during the whole of the; intermediate period, been communicated by . ' Lady 4.l;,: s tzias to any living person.—(Hear, hear.) — Hi s • R 441 ,Highness them as it was incumbent upon him to do, ) 41 ,,1 the subject before his Majesty, and a Commission wag ef)on after appointed to in. vestigate and to repOrt upon Fhose . charges. The names of the persons who foie e 4 was Commission, were such as could not be mentioned without ho. nour, and such as must be deerried on all lido; to be most fully competent to frame a just and a wile decision. But he must confess, that he had ob served with some surprise, that while her Royal Highness was pronounced innocent' Of the main charge, because 'the evidence on whiCh it was found ed was not entitled to credit, the lesser criminality was considered as established 'upon the testimony of cole and Didgood. He held LA his hand a pamph. • ‘.llt, lately published, under itiffe, in wtieh ever* thing was " assumed, and which purported, most falsely he'believed, to be published by Royal Au thority. This most malicioes poblication thus ushered into the world, so calculated by the fictitious , unction annexed to it to mislead, was advertised in large letters on the outside of a shop in the City, as if to prepossess even those who cottld tot purchase the work, with an impression of the guilt of her Royal Highness. In the introduction it was ob- , served, that the depositions of the Dbliglases were placed first in order, because those were the- only do cuments which contained any matter seriously affect ing the Princess. Mote this :wily tribunal of ell ranks and descriptions of persons, assembled in MI sorts of places, drunk and sober, was. the Princess of Wales, the mother of -the Heir Apparent to the Throne, thus called to receive judgment on her con duct. To recur then to the evidence. The deposi tion of Frances Lloyd, stated positively• that Dr. Mills had informed her of the pregnancy of the Prin cess of Wales. This is contratlicted. on oath by that respectable person,_ an oath that might have satisfied an incredulity less obstinite than Lord Moira's. It was however inferred, that Frances Lloyd must have committed an• error, and }trust have intended to swear that Mr. Edmeads was the Gentleman who had disclosed to her the important secret. Well then, Mr. Edmeads is accordingly sent for, .ead with an equal degree of spirit, he too denies that he bad ever known or communicated such a circumstange. He could not help their being a little astonished that the testimony of Lloyd, thus blasted and destroyed, • had been made by the Commissioners one of the grounds of tlitOtAFport. The next witness was one whose 'eidetic milst necessarily make a very deep impression, beca use it was the evidence of a pet son of rank and a lady of high and unblemished elm racter—he meant Mrs. Lisle. She had been placed l Gear the person of the Princess from her first arrival, 'and had remained, he begged the House to-recollect, with her Royal Highness until the year 1812. (Hear, hear.)—This ' in his opinion*, was the best, because the practical evidence of her zentime.its on ►the conduct of the Princess of Wales. Unfavourable inferences had, hoarever, been drawn from her depo sition, and there was some reason to wonder at the manner in which it was framed, when compared with the evidence out of which it had been extracted. —lt ought to be considered too, what then was the state of 'Mrs. Lisle's mind, dejected and downcast by a severe domestic affliction. He hit regret at being obliged to detain the House so long ; but it was necessary, he f'und it. indispensable, after what had taken place, to call upon the Public to suspend their judgment ; be felt it to be his duty to do all that in las Rower lay, to arrest the progress of public 1 opinion, With respect to this unfortunate and high born Codividnal, unfairly influenced as that opine i. had been. He would, for this purpose, read i. 1.. a part of the &Position ; and then compare it with the evidence, a copy of which had been put that morning into his hands, delivered by Mrs. Lisle before the Commissioners, in ISii6. The deposition attributed a flirting manner to her Royal Highness ;—and Ile would now spew, from the paper wLich he held in his hand, how this declaration had been drawn from that respectable witness. In the examination, the- Commissioners, and. in pardcular his Noble Friend, Lord Erskine, pursued a train of interrogation, which, had he been sitting judicially in any other Court, he felt convinced that he would not have sanctioned. The questions were all of a leading na ture, and, in some instances, such as might naturally perplex and delude the witnesses. Take, for example Did not Captaih Manby sit'next to the Princess 'at table ?"—" He did." " Now, Mrs. Lisle, can you lay, that all the time was pa-sed in the same 'way by her Royal Highness and Caitain Manby ?" Was this (said Mr. Whitbread), he would put it to any professional man, a regular, a fair, or indeed any thing but a ludicrous na:de of examining a wit ness ?--(lfear, hear.) ‘e What, then, her Royal Highness an d Captain Manby sat apart ?"---" They did." 44 What do you suppose they had been talk ing about ?"- -(a laugh.)—" I did not listen."— " Now, Mrs. Lisle, answer rue as a woman of rea l son, of honour, and of the world-2 before GOD, was She conduct of her Royal Highness such as was fit , for a married woman ?"—To this, Mrs. Lisle, whose feelings, excruciated. as they had been reoently by her domestic loss—a loss which such a question must' have brought back to her recollection, answered is a collected and becoming manner—" My Lord, my daughter lived well with her husband." This answer, was not inserted in the deposition. Lord Ellenbo rough then observed, " You had better ask her, 'Any. married woman ?' " To this Mrs. Lisle made no an. swer. " Did you not think her very free in converse. don ?"—" I thought she likedCept.Manby's convey., sation better than that of her Ladies." It was not unna tural, Mr. Whitbread resumed, that in the situation of her Royal Highness, a situation of retired royalty, destitute of the trappings and splendour that belong to it, she should prefer the society of a person capable of supplying new topics of conversation, to the ordi nary tone and discourse of her female associates.-- Let them look at their own wives, and sisters, and daughters ; observe their conduct, and that of the most virtuous of the sex, and say whether they would feel any thing but hatred and contempt for the man who could, upon such grounds, affix such imputations on a woman ?—(Hear, hear !) Next came Mr. Hood. 44 Did not the Princess ride out in a whiskey with Mr. Hood ?"•••gg She did." "Did Mr. Hood drive ?” 4 , He did." 4 , Were they attended by a man or a boy servant ?"--64 I do not recollect." So eiltied this important part of the evidence, and such W•lb the lat.- I portant disclosures which it produced. V ith respect to Mr. Chester she was asked, 4 , if he was tot a pretty young man ?" and the answer to this, a simple affir mative being calculated to produce an effect, was carefully preserved in the deposition. " Have you any recollection of her Royal Highness getting up at night and leaving her room for a light ?" 1 have." The next was a pretty question to be put by two lawyers,' 44 Why did she get up that night i . " 14 1 heard her say, that having been indisposed, and her light being extinguished, ;he went to a *marl's room to procure another." The public mind was at the present moment the only shield of her koyal High. ness, and ought, he could ask, such a deposition to haie bees sent abroad, when the evidence on which it was foundid so clearly explained the whole? After having run the gauntlet through the circle of Sir S. Smith, captain Manby, Mr. chesier r and 14r 4g9da ... Captain Moore. was next introduce& 46 Captes . Moore was present at dinner ? " - 4 ' Yes." " Where did they go after dinner ?" •-. 4 Down stairs." , " Did sou leave them there together ?" •.. 4 Yes, twice." dt For what purpose did you leave them ?"—" 'l'a fetch a book each time." l —" Were you absent long?" " the first time about twenty minutes."—" And the second e. "I do not recollect."—" How long did,' Captain Moore stay ?" "He went away befove the , .rest of the company." Here the statement that Cap rain Moore was twenty minutes alone with the Prin cess, was accounted for in a very natural manner. Mrs. Lisle went out for a book which she could no; find in less time, nor had she been enjoined not to re. turn. Thus had such trash bfea so garbled, as ere. viously to injure her Royal Highneas in the puhlic mind.—llear, hear.)—Mr. Lawrence followed, hat be had read enough ; what he had read was free* ,notes,. which he believed, or had been assured, were authentic, and he asked if they did not take the whole sting out of the deposition ?—(Hear, hear.) —The 'latter questions,. indeed, if they conveyed any insi nuation at all, seemed to cast a reflection on the esti. hatable and venerable character of Mrs. Lisle herself. But what then was the case as it had been made out s and now stood against her Royal Highness? Frances. Lloyd was proved to be perjured. Mrs. Lisle's testi, many amounted to nothing; and all that remained; as as the evidence of Cole and Bidgo ad ; and he wished that both those witnesses had undergone the examioa tion of an Ikon. and Learned Gentleman opposite, who was peculiarly qualified fee such an office (Mr. Garrow). He had, now a few observations to make upon the general aspect of the question. Eleven years. had the Princess of Wales now been suffering under this persecution ; for either it was persecution, or jus tice had not. been done.—(Hear, hear.)—During Liao whole of this protracted and afflicting period, her situation could ticat be better described than in the words of one of the paragraphs, in the letter wtittea by Mr. Perceval ; a situation of friends turned ene mies—of servants, who seemed traitor; and spies—of a foul conspiracy of social and domestic treason, and in which she could look to no security but to that principle of j ustice which c-nstaittly actuated his Ma jesty. We tad now seen a combinatien of rank, ta lent, and character—a combination of all the &sr:au thorities, horn the Seate, the Church, and the Law,' again examining her conduct, and pronouncing an opinion, while she was still left without a defender, or any other support, than that native spirit, which conscious innocence could alone inspire. Much ha 4 been said of the responsibility that attached to the advisees of her Royal Highness. He would nets isleink from his share, although he pretended not to i Know to whom was to be attributed the publication !of that. Letter, addressed to tl.e Prince, which had led to all the recent disclosures. With respect to the paragraph, which the Noble Lord had carted a canting one, is was to be observed, that the hin cess had made previous representations to her Ma. • jesty on the subject of the delay in the C-nfirme, 'ion of her daughter. No restraint had existed neon the intercourse between her koyal Highness and Princess Charlotte until the year 181 t,, when the ' Ring proposed some little alteration, adapted to the, change in the system of her education. It was last autumn when the Lord Chaucellor signified to the Princess of Wales thit further restrictions were about to be imposed. His Lordship was said to hwe re, gretted that her Royal Highness had not now her tomer advisers. He himself, however, who had been one of those advisers, Was converted into the stern messenger of rejected requests and arbitrary. mandates. The letter to which he had alluded was returned three times unopened, and nut till then pub- hilted. That publicity had, as he conceived, been productive of good, because it had brought the sia oration of her Royal Highness to a crisis. It was it letter which he should not, had he been the autlmr; be ashamed to acknowledge, although lie was willing to avow, that the threatening leiter sent by the ad ivice of the late Mr. Peroeval to the King, was Qffe which he could have never sanctioned. The Noble L2rd had affected to treat the whole as a matter ot private arrangement ; but his Royal Htbn%ss had now responsible advisers, and the question WAS ot the highest public moment. What followed the publi cation of this letter ? Then came the meetings of the Privy Council, at which the Speiker himself was present. The letter appzare , l on the 12th cf February 'and on the 1:ltli Mr. Conant examined Lady Dou glas. Viras there any clime then in publishing the letter, even if the Princess had authorised it—was 'that in itself High Treason —was the Princess of Wales to be beheaded to.:eanie her letter had appear ed in a public newsparer ? He understood that pri vate examinations were still proceeding—the Noble Lord disclaimed all knowledge ofelseni—but if such were the case, he did not see how the Noble Lord could justify himself in remaining longer in office. If he could not discover, as he confessed he had not .been able to discover, legal critninality, the inter course ought not to be interrupted. It should be un restricted, or interdicted altogether. If the restraint were only to last till, as the Noble Lord had said, Princess Charlotte should return to town, why not expostulate wiili g the Princess of Araks upt,u her im patience, and ppint out the time when it would be tally gratified. It would not have been difficult, he believed, to have persuaded her, if the advisers of the Prince Regent had been so disposed, to submit to any measure which, while it corresponded with the dignity of her station, did not outrage the feelings of nature. He had been extremely delighted with the result of the late debate, because it seemed to promise A final termination of those unhappy ditticenees.-- ( Nothing, in his opinion, was wanting then but a mutual disposition io conciliate, to bring about 'hi. desi: able accomplishment. 11e had then drawn up the sketch of 4 letter, which lie had submitted to the consideration of her Royal Highness, as fit to be ad dressed to the Pi ince R.:gent, and he hoped he should nut be thought to over.ltep the line of his duty, if ihe now read it to use House—(/lrap, hear, hear.) ' —The Hon. Gentleman her: iced an: draft, of %M• i the substance was as follt.wb :-1. Tilt Pisuci ss .wee more ventured to approach his Royt.i Highness, and t her letter was not refused a perusal, trusted that his Royal Highness a ould list be die:stied vith its con tents. The Report of the Privy Council had been communicated to her, and it mines:et upon hi I nii,d the necessity of asserting her innocence, And of demanding investigati_n. S 1 ,r had, %ids these fed ills, appealed to Parliament through the Lord Chan- Wig and the Speaker of tj,te House ot Comeaona— in the pub] : that I've] cnonsly ern 'Rey. Prop, this Rev. as a Divitv u,JuAI tour gross and s appeved i they were (Mar, hec Noble -Lot) atv inrctene 'thing whit-. bff the falsl stoi.er.ce ; I i trct uf it Cabinets, it had bee th../ evitlen jury—(Cris lute the pul n.tuseous other---that • the name a able Spenc :rious Print Ind that sh ration, aIY L'obl c ; bu Olen years :tin in un iral;-gcd in v'hiclthad c tf vindicatio Pcrcev .dviters, th Fur.) 4 ' es; where zr ; and w: •f which II VY, not A, , ut as the ome to ow eleven lrward, he 1-ery of ess called •ne, in 181 hey knew .ands—no hen claim , ase.nught dani ; hter nd en .ICIf abhshmet. o proceed 3ut, (say t shall ne vllich has every al orth to th id, desert !Inv; by lecfac the le calkd voull brie less migh ty —that y, in a w ge ar.) '1 wished-to: i