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munication to the prince before the 3rd of that month; what time before is not stated that day Lady Douglas gave a narrative to the Duke of Sussex, who took it down in writing, and it was signed by him, as having been made in his presence and the "true copy was attested by BLOOMFIELD. The narrative sets out with stating that the narrator has been "ordered by the Prince of Wales" to give the narrative; but the precise time of the first communication to him does not appear. It was, however, before the 3rd of December, 1805. Well, then, here was all the story about the pregnancy and the delivery; here were the loyal Douglases at last performing the duty, which for four long years they had neglected in so unaccountable a manner; here the husband had all the story about his wife and the child, regularly written down and attested; and yet from this time to the month of May, and late in that month too, there are no traces of his having communicated the matter to the king. In fact it is clear that he did not make any such communication. For as the warrant (paragraph 66) proves, the king never heard of the matter until the 29th of May, 1806; that is to say, until six months, all but a few days, after the prince had the attested declarations in his hands! Very surprising at the least.

72. When the communication was at last. made to the king, it consisted of abstracts of the

declarations of the Douglases. Why, then, were these not laid before the king sooner? If they were worthy of serious attention in May, why not in the previous December? Oh! there was the chancellor, Thomas Lord Erskine, NOW to lay them before the king! But, was there not the chancellor, John Lord Eldon, to lay them before the king in December? The prince's friends came into power in February; and they, it appears, soon discovered the necessity of making this matter known to the king, though there does not, from the documents, appear to have been any ground of accusation against the princess, which did not exist, and which had not been amply detailed, on the 3rd of the previous month of December.

73. The princess, conscious of her innocence, and indignant at the "foul conspiracy" against her, would, if she had been left to herself, or had had only some female friend of plain sense, able to write English, have blown the conspirators into the air in a short time; but, unhappily for her, and unhappily for the nation also, the faction out of place got her into their hands; and, as we are now about to see, sacrificed her to their own purposes of power and emolument. The warrant was issued, the commission held, and the report made, without her being at all informed It was an exparte affair altogether; the first intimation that she received of

of the matter.

the matter was in the report (par. 66), which was sent to her by the lord chancellor. On the 17th of August, she wrote to the king a commentary on this report, and praying for documents and further information. At last, on the 8th December, she sent to the king her grand statement of complaints against her persecutors. All this time she had not been received at court. But, on the 28th of January, she received, through the lord chancellor, a message from the king, saying that he did not think it necessary for him "longer to decline receiving her into his presence; but, at the same time, giving her a gentle reprimand on the score of levity of conduct. The princess instantly answered, that she should attend the king with great joy; and the king, in reply, told her that, at some days distance, he would rather receive her in London than at Windsor. The queen and family were at Windsor! Before, however, the interview was to take place in London, he wrote to her to say, that it must be again deferred; for, "that "the Prince of Wales, upon receiving the seve"ral documents, which the king directed his "cabinet to transmit to him, made a formal "communication to him, of his intention to put "them into the hands of his lawyers; accom"panied by a request, that his majesty would "suspend any further steps in the business, until "the Prince of Wales should be enabled to

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submit to him the statement which he "posed to make. The king therefore considers "it incumbent upon him to defer naming a day "to the Princess of Wales, until the further result of the prince's intention shall have been "made known to him."

74. This intimation, which was dated 10th February, 1807, was enough to inflame any one, and particularly a spirited woman; and now she threatened to do that which she ought to have done at first; namely, expose the whole affair to the public. The prince had had all the documents in his hands for seven months; and now, when he found that the princess was about to be received at court, he wanted further delay, and she was, though the charges against her were proved to be false, still to remain in a state of disgrace! In her answer, therefore, to this intimation, she declares that she will endure this treatment no longer; and she tells them that, if another week pass without her receiving information that the king is ready to receive her, she will cause all the documents to be published. In this letter, which was dated on the 16th of February, 1807, the princess rises in her demands; she says, that now, after all this delay, and all the suspicions against her, to which this long banishment from court must have given rise, a mere reception by the king, or at the court, will not be sufficient for the clearing of her character;

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that now it will be necessary that she be received into the bosom of the royal family, and restored to her former respect and station amongst them; and that, besides this, it will be necessary that she be "restored to the use of her apartments in Carlton House or, that she have assigned to her "some apartment in one of the royal palaces" in or near London. She then states, distinctly, that these are the conditions on which alone she can or will refrain from publishing all the documents: and she concludes her letter in these words :-"I trust, therefore, sire, that I may now close this long letter, in confidence "that many days will not elapse before I shall 66 receive from your majesty, that assurance that my just requests may be so completely granted,

66

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as may render it possible for me (which no66 thing else can) to avoid the painful disclosure "to the world of all the circumstances of that

injustice, and of those unmerited sufferings "which these proceedings, in the manner in "which they have been conducted, have brought upon me.'

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75. No answer having been given to this letter, the princess, on the 5th of March, again wrote to the king on the subject, for the last time; and, after expressing her mortification at not having received an answer to her letter, said, in conclusion, "I am now reduced to the neces

sity of abandoning all hope that your majesty

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