The National Register. — London, England, 1813-02-14 00:00:00

TIIE NATIONAL REGISTER. s' To this an aiiso er was received, aodressed to the Pritii.es., but thatin consequence of her Royal Highness's demand, her letter had been read to the PRINCE REGENT on the 20th, but that he had not been pleased to express his pleasure thereon. " Here the correspondence was closed—and some days after this copies of the letter were in circulation. After this publication a farther disclosure of the circum stances which have divided the Royal Family, may certainly vow be reasonably expected. The minutes of " The delicate Investigation," instituted in 1808-7, before the Lords Eits - IKINE, GRENVILLE, SPENCER, and ELLENBOROUGH, by command of his MAJESTY, will, now it is said, be published. The following curious statement bas already appeared in the Morning Chronicle. 46 We have been long in possession of the whole particulars of the Investigation, but have abstained from publishing them in the hope that feelings of a parental, if not of a connubial tenderness, would have made the disclosure for ever unnecessary. We lament that that hope is disappointed. The rejection of the letter of her Royal Highness the Princess of WALLS (the prudence of which we do not attempt to justify, has led to an exasperation that is not now likely to subside until the whole case shall be brought betbre the public tribunal—and from certain passages in a *respectable morning paper of yesterday (Thursday). copied into The Courier of last night (the same evening), we see that the resolution is taken to print it entire. •6 We are prevented on this day from going further into the matter. We could, undoubtedly, give a correct sketch of the proceedings uncle , the Commission issued by his MAJESTY to Lord ERSK I NE, then Lord Chancellor, Lord GRENVILLE, Lord SPENCER, and Lord ELLEN SOROUCH—but we fear that nothing short of the examinations verba tim will enable the public to form a true judgment on the case, since so much depends on the circumstantial rather than the positive evi dence. Of the main charge brought against the illustrious Personage, the acquittal was complete ; but the above noble Commissioners stated, that other strong circumstances had been positively sworn to, by witnesses who could not in their judgment be suspected of any bias, and whose veracity in other respects they had seen no grounds to question, which necessarily gave occasion to very unfavourable im putations : that they must be credited until they should receive some decisive contradict on, and that they were justly entitled to the most serious consideration of his MAJESTY. After a long defence prepared, as it is said, by Mr. PERCEVAL, Lord ELDON, and Sir TIIOM AS PLO MER, the above Report was confirmed by his MAJESTY'S then con fidential Servants, and it was upon this body of evidence that the book, with most curious animadversions, was prepared for publication. A elange of Ministers, however, took place on the 25th March, 1807, • and then her Royal Highness's legal advisers being at the head of the Government, they revised the proceedings, and on the 21st April, by a minute of Cabinet, declared not only that the two main charges were completely disproved ; but were also of opinion, that all the othe' particulars of conduct brought in accusation against the illustrious person, to which the character of criminality could be ascribed, were either satisfactorily contradicted, or rested upon evidence of such a nature, and which was given under such circumstances, as rendered it in the judgment of his M A J Esr Y'S confidential servants, undeserving of credit. Thus by one Cabinet her Royal Highness did not receive the ample and complete acquittal which is stated in the Letter ; but by the KING'S l'iMilisters, now in the confidence of the PRINCE REGENT, she 'as most fully acquitted. Upon these two verdicts the public and posterity will have to decide ; and with the reserve which we have uniformly held on the subject, we set forbear to state the impression which a careful perusal of the immense volume made on our mind at the tine, and which impression continues unchanged. One word only more at this time.— By an error of the press it was said, that the arrangements, which amounted to a perfect separation, made by his MAJESTY, tool• pl.ice in MO --It should have been printed 1809; and this will be iound to be a most _important docu ment in the case." On the letter of the Princess our remarks must, for the present. be y recommended to every heart, ' ,no which pervades * t.: FEB. 14 , . it throughout. That a mother should complain of being separated from her child is very natural, and that she should wish to enjoy the society of her daughter more than once a fortnight, ought not to excite surprise. While on these points, her letter commands, if not approbation. sympathy and compassion ; but when she complains of the imp,,ssibi lity of obtaining proper teachers at Windsor, we hardly know how to believe her serious. We know not what teacher. her Royal Highness may think proper for her daughter, whom it is impossible to procure at Windsor, or any other place, the seat of royalty. The time lost, in journies to town, does not to us appear a circumstance so calculated to wound the sensibility of a mother, as it is represented to be in this letter, nor does that which is described to be so distressing both to her parental and religious feelings, that her Daughter has never yet enjoyed the benefit of confir mation, although above a year older than the age at which all the other branches of the ROYAL FA MILV have partaken of that solemnity, strike us as that which ought to be made a source of so much uneasiness. However desirable it may be, that that solemnity should not be unnecessarily deferred, we see no reason for thinking the PRINC E less competent properly to determine when it shall take place, than any other person. The assertion that her Royal Highness has been treated as if she were still more culpable than the perjuries of her sub orned traducers represented her, and held up to the world as a Mother who might not enjoy the society of her only Child, is certainly not less afflicting than strong. That she should think so is a subject of lamentation, but when she resolved to speak of her suborned traducers, she ought to have made up her mind to go somewhat further. She ought to have stated by whom her traducers were suborned, that the guiltless might not be suspected. Either she ought not to have said so much or she ought to have said more. Justice required that she should be, on this subject, silent, or distinct. The confidence with which her Royal Highness refers to the investigation is entitled to the respect due to conscious • innocence; but, while we state this, we feel it our duty to give the language held by " The Courier" on this part of her letter, and with an extract from that journal, containing an extract from another, we take leave of this subject for the present. " fler Royal Irghness alludes to the result of the enquiry before the Noble Lords, and she appeals to the " Evidence of her innocence's and " the complete acquittal which it produced. There were seve. ral wittrsses examined—among others, Mrs. LISLE, RoßEar BID GOOD, WILLIAM COLE, FRANCES LLOYD, and others. Without alluding to the evidence more particularly now (for we suppose the letter is meant as a kind of preface to the publication of the enquiry) we state the words and opinions of a Morning Paper, and we preter stating those words and opinions to our own. " Upon the point of ample vindication" and " complete acquittal," the report does " in the clear and unanimous judgment of the Commissioners," acquit her Royal Highness of actual criminality ; but we think it extremely un advised in her Royal Highness to call for a farther investigation :" net that there exists a shadow of reason for apprehending that a second enquiry would be likely to attach any greater stain to her Royal Highness's character, than has been occasioned by the first ; but be cause there are other subordinate circumstances, the detail of which should, upon every principle of femaledelicacy, be withheld from the world : and " til ,ugh the facts of pregnancy and delivery are satisfac torily disproved ;" yet cannot a sensible mind, we should conceive, do other than shrink from the adoption of any course, which must give universal publicity to the evidence of R. lituooon, W. Cot r, F p I.LQYD, arid MM. 1.141. E. very bri, . It comb strorlo: b ~ •mt ' -'!.., feeli _ I - ' ' 4l° ,ll I- • M 'l'. 7. 4 • - .96 6,