382 DEFENCE OF QUEEN CAROLINE. [1820. 



and 1814; and my standing and position in Parlia- 

 ment gave me great weight in a case like ours, which 

 was in part political, and with which parties in both 

 Houses were much mixed up. From these circum- 

 stances, and from my intercourse with the Opposition 

 leaders, both in the Lords and Commons, I had 

 authority with the public and Parliament, but especi- 

 ally with the Queen herself. I could form an opinion 

 upon the probable effects of different proceedings to 

 be taken on our part ; and I could more easily than 

 the others communicate with the Queen, and with 

 those of her household and in her confidence. It must 

 further be observed that I was acquainted with cir- 

 cumstances, unknown to them, of great indiscretions 

 on her part, though entirely unconnected with the 

 charges against her. Of the utter groundlessness of 

 those charges we all had the most complete and un- 

 hesitating belief; and I quite as much as any of the 

 others. The evidence and discussion at the trial not 

 only failed to shake the conviction with which we 

 set out from our knowledge of the Milan proceedings, 

 and from our communication with such of her house- 

 hold as had attended her in the south, but very greatly 

 confirmed it, and removed whatever doubts had for a 

 moment crossed our minds. I can most positively 

 affirm, that if every one of us had been put upon our 

 oaths as jurymen, we should all have declared that there 

 was not the least ground for the charges against her. 

 The same was the clear and decided opinion of those 

 most acquainted personally with her habits, from 

 having been long on intimate terms with her as Lord 

 Archibald Hamilton ; or having been her ladies as 

 Lady Charlotte Lindsay and Lady Glenbervie. All 



