142] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



other causes unconnected with 

 guilt or innocence. With regard 

 to the minute of council to which 

 the honourable gentleman had re- 

 ferred, it made a distinction be- 

 tween criminality and • mmor 

 charges, and therefore was not so 

 complete an acquittal as had been 

 represented. He deprecated these 

 appeals to the public as injurious 

 to the peace of the Royal Family, 

 and said that the house was now 

 called upon to interfere merely 

 about the etiquette of a drawing- 

 room. 



Mr. Whitbread commented with 

 severity on the speech of the right 

 hon. gentleman as special, minute, 

 wavering, assuming a right to ex- 

 clude, yet seeming conscious that 

 the party advised had no such 

 right. He contended that a great 

 indignity, a cruel punishment, had 

 been inflicted on an innocent per- 

 son, who had been protected by 

 the King as long as he enjoyed the 

 use of his faculties, and was now 

 to look for other protectors. He 

 said, that in the cases of George 

 I. and H. the charges were spe- 

 cific. GeorgeH. directed the pub- 

 lication of all the letters that pass- 

 ed between his son and himself, 

 and circulated them among the fo- 

 reign ministers, that all the world 

 might know the grounds on which 

 he had acted. How different the 

 schemes now devised to attack a 

 woman, and contrive obstacles to 

 her defence ! He dwelt with 

 much warmth upon many of the 

 circumstances attending the pre- 

 sent case, and concluded with 

 hoping that the Princess, if denied 

 the protection of this house, would 

 assert her right to appear at court, 

 and dare the advisers of the Re- 

 gent to execute their intentions. 



Mr. Stuart Worthy said, he 



could not vote for the motion, not 

 thinking it in parliamentary form ; 

 but he could not help saying that 

 he thought the present proceedings 

 against the Princess of Wales were 

 cruel in the extreme. Some other 

 members, who joined in the de- 

 bate, also expressing their disap- 

 probation of the motion, Mr. Me- 

 thuen consented to withdraw it. 



It was not, however, the inten- 

 tion of the hon. gentleman to 

 withdraw the subject entirely from 

 the consideration of the house ; 

 and having given notice of an in- 

 tended motion relative to the Prin- 

 cess of Wales, he rose on June 

 23rd to introduce it. He declared, 

 that in deference to the opinion of 

 the house, he should not retrace 

 his former steps, but should con- 

 fine himself to the topic of her 

 Royal Highness's income. After 

 expressing his regret and astonish- 

 ment that nothing had yet been 

 done to amelioratethe condition of 

 the Princess, he proceeded to 

 make a statement of her present 

 income, which was only five thou- 

 sand per annum, independent- 

 ly of the Prince Regent's plea- 

 sure ; and he concluded with mov- 

 ing, " That this house will, on 

 Tuesday next, take into conside- 

 ration the correspondence commu- 

 nicated to the Speaker on Friday, 

 June 3rd, by her • Royal Highness 

 the Princess of Wales." 



Juord Castlereagh, in his reply, 

 observed, that this was the first 

 time parliament'had been told that 

 an increased provision for her 

 Royal Highness was the object 

 which her friends had in view ; 

 but although he was happy to find 

 this the declared purpose of the 

 motion, yet he would depart from 

 that dry consideration so far as 

 was necessary to distinguish those 



