The Sun. — London, England, 1817-11-13 00:00:00

WIZ= THE LATE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. ;~ The deepinterest which rill ranks of the people take in 'every thing that relates to the recent NationA Calamity, and the professional eminence of the Writer of the following Letter, render it, in no slight degree, our duty to present it to the Public Besides, there have been so many rumours, dittusedby:.malevolence,,and eavrly adopted by credulity and ignorance, that it is full time to cheek their c i r cul a tion We are inclined to believe that all possible aid was rendercd to the departed VRINCESS 'by her Medical Attendants, but the public mind appears to be. strongly agitated by the subject, and can only he appeased by a full con viction that the dreadful Event . resulted from the inevitable will of Heaven, and was not, in any respect, occasioned, or accelerated, by human error or neglect. We need hardly add that our Paper shall be open to candid and scientific Enquiry. FOR THE SUN. ON THE NECESSITY OF A PUBLIC ENQUIRY INTO THE CAUSE OF TilF, DEATH OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE AND HER INFANT. MR. EDITOR,—The Shock which the whole Nation has felt by the Death alter Royal High ness the Princess CHARLOTTE and her INFANT, has thrown the People of England into a deplor able state of melancholy, perhaps never so uni versally and so extensively experienced before, under any calamitous circumstance whatsoever. We are called upon, as a Coroner is upon an Inquest, to ascertain how the particular and un fortunate ,Visitation bath fallen so heavily upon the whole nation, and at a time too when its hopes were elevated to the highest pitch of expectation ; when lonising forward, in the transports of joy, with " sure and certain hope" that the offspring of a Branch sh promising would tend to perpe tuate the Descent of so valuable, so religious, and so endearing a Mother. I repeat it, the Shock cannot but he felt, from the sudden change of so high an expectation, without exciting an extraordinary alarm in every breast. It cannot but be so telt, not only in England, but over all elirope. The general conversation that has passed, up to the period of my writing this paper (for I would not sit down to write till l I had heard all that hag been publicly printed upon the subject), embraces nothing but what is about this uncommon and fatal catastrophe. Newspapers are perused with the most eager and clone attention, in order to discover the figure of Truth, to lead the Reader through the la byrinth of contradiction, yet ,notwithstanding, we cannot discern, from a combination of all the relations, the true cause whiCh produced so sud den and so fatal an effect—all that we really know is—that we lost the concentrated hopes of Eng land. on Thursday morning a 1 half-past two o'clock. In the Times Newspaper. of Thursday we were prepared, by the following paragraph, to under stand,a that on the Monday the labour had.sc rca ly commenced—it runs thus :" We hope that her R o yal Highness's Labour may appear in some degree longer, because recourse was had to pro fessional skill earlier .than is the case with per sons in an ,humbler situation."—On Friday morn ing there appeared, in all the Papers, one only authenticated Letter, sheaving that it was drawn up at Claremont by one hand, with an intention of informing the Public at once of all the circum stances that had occurred during this eventful process, so that if we were to sit down contented with that relation, and had no other rosonrce left us, we must surrender ourselves up to that know ledge only. Two out of the three Bulletins (as they call them) flattered our prospects ; the last deadened them anti, upon the whole, it appears, that on the Monday there was no Labour at all ; that it was only a day of, what is called by Nurses, grumbling. Then comes forth a Bulletin to spew . at what time her Royal Highness tVRB first taken in Labour, and which Bulletin is dated Wednesday morning 8 o'clock. '' The labour of her Royal Highness the Prin cess CHARLOTTE is going on very slowly, but we trust favourably. _ _ " M. BAILLIE, R. CROFT, J. Slims." Then this was followecl by a second Bul. letin, viz. " Wednesday Evening Half-past 5 &clock. " The labour of her Royal Highness the Prin cess CHARLOTTE has, within the last three or otir hours, considerably advanced, and will, it is hoped, within a few hours be happily completed. " M. BAILLIE, R. CROFT, J. Sims.- And then comes the third and the last, dared " Wednesday, 10 o'Clock. " At nine o'clock this evening, her Royal Highness the Princess CHARLOTTE was delivered of a still-born male child ; her Royal Highness is doing extremely well. ",M. BAILLIE, R. CROFT,' J. St.sts." In addition to these Bulletins, which I should rather call WELL AUTHENTICATED DI,TATCII the account to which I alluded, abd which t:ave general information to the public, appeared in all' the Papers. This account ;may be easily refer red to, every Newspaper on the same day having had a similar copy, word tor word. It must therefore be taken for granted, that such a Paper contained all Heat is intended ftli- the information of the public, upon this afflicting, melancholy, and un paralleled event. If then, the public cannot pro cure any furtheo information from any other an thorny, they must be satisfied 'with what is thus told them; or, as the agitation of the public mind has ra; , ed an anxious disposition to know every' relative occurrence which passed during the short, but lacerating interval of time, embracing only about forty-seven hours, that anxious disposi tion will naturally continue unabated. Until the truths be obtained, there will be a strong pro pensity to seek, through every channel possible, for more information ; and with the hopes of ob taining it, truth and falsehood trill be to jumbled together for want of more p-articular and well authenticated documents, that it will lye It-Apossi ble fur the public mind to be put to rest until the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, be placed before them. Forty•seven hours embraced the time of snfier ing, and the time for enquiry into that suffering,. and there are during that time but three Bulletins. so that we are apprized only of three periods of that which furnished, minute by minute, she slow and unchecked progress of death ; every minute of which time acted as if human art had nothing to do with the catastrophe ! ! A blast from lightning could not have been more decisive! I have said, atm truth and falsehood in the Public Papers will be jumbled together, and as a proof of it, if the Papers be searched, and if in formation be obtained that did not come directly from authenticated dispatches, there will be shewn contradictions to those authenticated dispatches. And I shall not only shew contradictions, but I shall also slim apparently designed omissions - of very great importance, and such omissions as cleat ly prove, to my mind, that they ought not to leave been kept hack from the public knowledge I might say for myself, that had • I;heen in such a situation, I shoiald hare felt a self-accusation in . leaving thus concealed what I could have told. It will- be curious for the Public to know that The Morning Chronicle only—although The :flints, The Post, The Courier, and The Sun, seem to be furnished from the Fountain Head, gas the important information to convey to us text Dr. Sims was not in the Chamber of the Princess, nei ther . . before, nor a►t the delivery, and yet tits - name is annexed to three authenticated dispatches ! There is nobody, there is not a woman - in this Country that has experienced the Tactus Eruditus in the practice. of Midwifery, but who must know that nothing less than what that proof demon strates can justify a signature. to a situation so conditioned ; so that it appears, as far as we can thread that maze in which the authenticated dis patches have entangled us, that • there is yet much, too much, to be explained. Perhaps it might be said that time high reputations for skill of Dr. BAILLIE, and Sir RICHARD CROFT, must not be disputed; and it might be very easily inferred that, as they married two sisters, the daughters of the late Dr. DENMAN, there was, in all probability, a consonancy of opinion between them, which could not be shaken by a third person; for if Dr. Sims signed"the authenticated dispatches, from their report to him of the situation of the Prin cess, he must have signed the Bulletins from their report, for he could know nothing else but what they told him,. or what Mrs. GLIFF;THS• might have told hint. If it be true that Dr. Stms never was in the Chamber of the Princess, during the L►bour and the Delivery, I cannot anticipate in my. imagina tion more than one reason for his absence; namely, that it might be feared, as the Princess had never seen Dr. SIMI betore, his person would alarm her, and consequently act upon her, to her prejudice. This consideration might ,be founded, but such a risk argues a great want of foresight. Common precaution, without any ex traordinary exertion of the mind, should -have in structed those who had the ckrge of the Prin cess, to have introduced Dr. SIMs to her ROYAL 1-Itontgass some time before, that his person might be as familiar to her as that of Dr. CROFT. This measure would have been in reality a double security against danger, if one or the other of them had- failed from sickness ; and that conside ration might have been assigned to 'her- ROYAL LIIGHNESS as the reason why it was prudent to in troduce him, for if Sir RICHARD CROFT had fallen ill her ROYAL HIGHNESS must !hen have had a stranger ! Sed humanum est errare! _ Quere9 Was Dr. Sims ever in the Chamber of the PIiIICCSS before lt,er delivery, or at her de.. livery ? Now we come to another Wspoted 'fact, Oahe titer or not the faculty did mire to 'tett; as we were 'tOld in the authenticated dispatell'e's ; or Whe ther, as haVe been tad since, Si, ITIOARIS CR6VT remaineil'in the Chamber from tiro time of the laboir r 6 the death ?--That is the Question. All the Newspapers on Friday morning told us, from one antheneicared dispatch, that Mrs. GRIT FITI:IS discovered that the Princess Conid not swallow her gruel, and that she was so restless, that Mrs. GRIEFITO ‘'vas 'prompted to give - the alarm, by calling up the Faculty 'out of their beds.—Hirc is another dilemma in Which the Pub lie are left, and which they a're paitichlarly anxious / • to haVe cleared up to their satisfaction ; for, if Sir it. CROFT' did sit up and was in the Chamber, there was no occasion to call him, and Mrs. GRIP FITHS'Sname is used to nO purpose. , --I, as well as the Public, want very much to know what sup port the Princess had after her delivery, when site could have swallowed, and before the fatal hour had drawn so near that she could not swallow.l might be permitted here to say that the late Doc tor THYNNE,, than whom this City never expe rienced a more enlightened Practitioner, always, after a severe protracted birth ) gently revived the Mother by giving her tea-spoons full, from time to time, of wine., beaten up with egg, &c. Sec.—As to what are called SPASMS, in tire authenticated Dispatch; I consider the tern) purely to belong to the late JOHN HUNTER, and to the Lecture -Rooms in Windmill-street ;- it is a term that is used to express something which is not understood, as well as to express something well understood, and which is not wished to be explained. The symptoms of not being able to swallow, and the convulsive ac tion of the body, plainly indicate tokens of a dying patient,-6ut not the cause of the patient's dying. It is not the intention of the Present Writer to prejudge 'any man. The Friends of Dr. 13:AILLIE and Sir R. CROFT say, very truly, that no man's reputation stands higher than theirs. Indeed they, must hare been selected front reputation alone, because this was the first child. Al this I grant ; but I have also seen it observed in the Newspapers,-that their reputation is so high as to preclude Public Enquiry, and that, consequently, we are to be left without any farther report titan what has been hitherto given but to that posi tion I must beg leave, at once, as one of the Public, 'to object. It is enough that good for tune has so far followed the chariot-wheels of these Gentlemen, as to advance them forward to so •distinguished a practice,' - and I should conceive that their Friends, in their - zeal, must have gone tots far when they say that professional reputation has placed theta above enquiry ; I shijold be very apt to think that airy themselves would, when the Public call for it, readily challenge enquiry. The Public mind must, and will be seisfied, that what is 'low only known of a transaction of forty-seven 'hours, by three authenticated Dispatches, must, by a et itidal Enquiry, be examined into from minute -to minute. The result of the examination will, doubtless, be disappointing Co the Public it these Gentlemen be not, by such Enquiry, solidly con firmed in their high reputations ; whereas, now, front cowl adietions in reports, and from want of knowledge of more minute facts, their reputation and their skill cannot be seen clearly, on account of the mystery that stands between their high abilities and the truth of the case. I remember once hearing Lord ASHBURTON say, upon an en quiry into character, " that reputation, like the sensitive plant, fadeth at the touch ;" and I feel so much for the honour of these. Gentlemen, that I cannot help thinking it would be not only a duty, but an act of high professional pride in themselves, to ask for a Public Enquiry.— They mistake me very much who may think that a Public Enquiry would be, in my mind, a 'subtraction for a moment of any part of their reputation.- No 'such thing,—it is the circumstances of the - case, anti not any reputed Mosier • in them, that imperiously cans for inquiry with open doors. Every day giVes us an in stance of Boards of Inquiry being called upon, for inquiring into the conduct of mcn, purely that their reputations shall not be blasted by ca. lartiny. A man cannot lose the substance of a little ship of war, without being brought to a Court-Martial. A Hero cannot lose a battle by land, without being exposed to a Court-Martial, and shall we tacitly yield to the loss of these HoPes OF ENGLAND, without authentically knowing how the dreadful event came to pass ? Therefore I trust, that the Gentlemen of the Faculty will ac cePttbe challenge, not forgetting what those who affect to differ ft - Om them might say ; thee might _say, that death had made them his stalking horse, and that death by them has tints caught his prey in the net. • .That would not do ; they have to alefeud themselves upon more exalted grounds.,--- The Public only want a more minute investiga tion front them, and they cannot have forgotten that the conduct of the business of Bethlem Hos pital has been very recently inquired into, without tl!'..f smallest intention, in tilt: iottaw . 2t, to an'y Manic Upon Mr. IlAst,A:',t. than whOM ti eie is ticA a man in tlYz kingdom ulore :Ailed in his profesLiou ; Or upOn Pr..i.loNito, who is not , O ti 'COni,i tint (notwithstanding the vote of censor' upon him) be lessened in public estimation. Th e general voice dwells upon this melancholy then le , and feels die shock with more intensity. than per haps ever was experienced before in the history of Princes. With respect to the much-lamente d v r i ncess , s he is now out of the reach of ail sot' row and suffering, and I might be permitted 14 ' hope, that not only her Royal ratter, but bet ab•ient disconsolate Mother also, Brill find suppo rt and solid consolation in a submissive resignation to the ways of PrOvidence ; and I cannot bell recommending to those females to bear themselve s up with fortitude, who have newly exchange d their conditions froth a virgin state, and cherisbe a in their imaginations the natural fruition of be' coming matrons, not henceforth to tremble at tile example that has passed, like timid doves whet' they hear the hawk's rustling wing. I will nos' close this question, which I conceive to be No solidly founded in reason, and too strongly sop' ported by light and reflection, to be denied public inquiry. Names, in such a case, canon' Supply the place of truth; and from such. authority as the Moral ARCHDEACON PALE?, come to his conclusion—" We appear astonislte l when we see the multitude tarried away by 50000 ; if sounds work miracles, it is always upon igno' ranee ; the Influence of names is in exact prorr tioti to the want of knowledge." I am, Sir, &c. &c. &c. Nuv. 11, 1817. • JESSE FOOT. Dean-street, Sdh o. THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE .\ND HER BAD; • It being found impossible to coMplete the *1;0 1 ' of the necessary arrangements for the Funeral Tuesday next (the day originally eked), it ": 1)5 yesterday determined to postpone the solohn . ce - re'_ mony of the interment to this day se'n.nl', (Thursday, Nov. 20), by which time it is expecte ° the Mikes of KENT find CAMBRIDGE will boll' have afrived from the Continent. Tile Coffins (of which We gave a correct de' scription in our last) were yesterday completed' The plate on that of the Illustrious PRINCESS i 5 of silver-gilt, and contains the following seription " DEPOSITUNI ILLUsTaisslmiE F NCIPISS/C CH ATILOTTZ AUGUST. , ILLUSTRISSIMI PIU? CJPIS ' GFOEGII AuGucTl Fr 4 DERICI VAlNciris WALLI}E, BRITANNIA%LI:‘ , 2 lIFGENTIS, FILIIE f.;ONSORTISQLIE SERENISSI!kiI PRINCfPIS LEOPoLP/ GEORGII FRUDERICI, DUCTS SAIiONI/E, MARCHIONIS MISN2fr LANDGRAVII THURINGUE, PRINCIPLS COSUBW SAALI'ENDENSIS, ExERCITULINI REGIS MJIIIESCALLII B , IAJESTAT'I REGULI A i ‘NCTIGRIBUS CONSILIIS Nr)BiLlsslml ORDINIS PERIsCFLIMS F.T IoNORATISSINII oliDI:41 miLITARTs DE lIALNEO F(4.111715 : O.BIIT Gl'A DIE N')VFMBRIS, ANN() DOMINI MDCCCXVII: xTATIs sum XXII:" The Country Papers still teem with accounts the heaft-rending grief for the loss of our atniao C H and belove:l PRINCESS. In many towns bells are tolled every day, as though ere family had lost its dearest member; In sca•qiorts the ships of all nations, anxious '‘) evince their sympathy in this afflicting calamitf' have hoisted their colours half mast high. lived where has every species of amusement been slsr pended. Addresses of Condolence will be pre" sented by every city to the PRINCE REGENT, a ll to the disconsolate Husband of our departe d Saint. We are extremely concerned to state, that ti'' indisposition of Prince LEOPOLD hourly incrcaso . His Serene Highness still reitsscs all console' Lion ; h e suffers no one to approach Urn. If Highness • passes all his time absorbed il l thought, and is absent to ever y thing excei l such objects as recall to his memory his dc' parted Consort. The most inconsiderable articW' , once possessed by the lamented PRINCESS, 2; C endeared to hint by fond recollections. !Lai r her bonnet and the cloak she wore in her last r': destrian excursion with hint, are kept constan'' ' before his eyes. They were hung by her ch' l t!/ hands upon a tcreen in the sitting parlour, el there they have remained ever since; nor will PRINCE either allow them to he removed, or i , l ‘, person whatever to touch them. Her Ro. l Highness's watch also remains on the mart"' piece in precisely the same situation in which i V herself placed it. f Yesteldl e y morning Sir BENJAMIN BLoomP t ° addressed a letter, by desire of the PRINCE F GENT, to Dr. Sir RICHARD CROFT, in %aid) P i‘ Royal Highness expresses his entire apprubvi''' ) of*the medical skill and ability displayed by ri: t Gentlenian, in the eventful confinement of V Beloved Daughter, during her arduous !Ind pt' f . tracted labour, adding, that it was the Wit.C,A , I [ j9 tow noel 11), liter jhd