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

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
lI 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
Royal 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, Oti
'COni,i tint (notwithstanding the vote of censor'
upon him) be lessened in public estimation. The
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-lamented
vrincess, she 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 support
and solid consolation in a submissive resignation
to the ways of PrOvidence ; and I cannot bell
recommending to those females to bear themselves
up with fortitude, who have newly exchanged
their conditions froth a virgin state, and cherisbea
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 astonisltel
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.

at tl,l