"I am sensible too, that I expose myself to the risque of dis pleasing those who may soon be the judges of my conduct, but I trust to their candour and their sense of honour, confident that they will enter into the feelings which alone influence my determination,

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"It would ill become me to question the power of parliament, or the mode in which it may at any time be exercised; but however strongly, I may feel the necessity of submitting to its authority, the question, whether I will make myself a party to any measure proposed, must be decided by my own feelings and conscience, and by them alone. As a subject of the state, I shall bow with deference-if possible, without a murmur-to every act of the sovereign authority; but as an accused and injured Queen, I owe it to the King, myself, and all my fellow subjects, not to consent to the sacrifice of any essential privilege, or withdraw my appeal to those principles of public justice which are alike the safeguard of the highest and the humblest individual."

This refusal of Her Majesty to agree to the request of the House of Commons, put a stop to all negociation: and accordingly,

On Monday, June 26, Lord Dacre presented a Petition to the House of Lords, against the Secret Committee, which was received: it was as follows:

"To THE LORDS SPIRITUAL AND TEMPORAL IN PARLIAMENT. ASSEMBLED.

"CAROLINE R.-The Queen having been informed that proceedings are about to be instituted against her in the House of Lords, feels it necessary to approach your Lordships, as a petitioner and a fellowsubject. She is advised, that, according to the forms of your Lordships' house, no other mode of communication is permitted. Now, as at all times, she declares her perfect readiness to meet every charge affecting her honour; and she challenges the most complete investigation, of her conduct. But she protests, in the first place, against any secret inquiry and if the House of Lords should notwithstanding persist in a proceeding so contrary to every principle of justice and of law, she must in the next place declare, that even from such an unconstitutional course she can have nothing to apprehend, unless it be instituted before the arrival of those witnesses whom she will summon immediately to expose the whole of the machinations against her. She is anxious that there should be no delay whatever in finishing the enquiry; and none shall be occasioned by her Majesty. But the Queen cannot suppose that the House of Lords will commit so crying an injustice as to authorize a secret examination of her conduct in the absence of herself and her counsel, while her defence must obviously rest upon evidence which for some weeks cannot reach this country. The instance that it arrives she will entreat the House of Lords to proceed in any way they may think consistent with the ends of justice but in the mean time, and before the first step is taken, her Majesty desires to be heard by her counsel at your Lordships' bar this day upon the subject matter of the Petition,"

On the motion of Lord Dacre, council were called in, in support of the above Petition, and Wr. Brougham and Mr. Denian, at great length, spoke against the formation of the Secret CommitAnd on the next day, Earl Grey moved that the order for the meeting of the Committee to consider the papers, be discharged; which was negatived.

tee.

On Tuesday, July 4, the Earl of Harrowby laid on the table the Report of the Secret Committee, to whom the Papers, connected with his Majesty's Message, had been referred. Clerk read the Report; as follows:

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"By the Lords' Committee, appointed to a Secret Committee to examine the papers laid before the House of Lords on Tuesday the 6th ́of June last, in two sealed bags, by his Majesty's command, and to report thereupon, as they shall see fit, and to whom have been since referred several additional papers, in two sealed bags, relative to the subject matter of his Majesty's most gracious Message of the 6th of June last. Ordered to report,

"That the Committee have examined with all the attention due to 'so important a subject the documents which have been laid before them, and they find that those documents contain allegations supported by the concurrent testimony of a great number of persons in various situations of life, and residing in different parts of Europe, which deeply affect the honour of the Queen, charging her with an adulterous connexion with a foreigner originally in her service in a menial capacity; and attributing to her Majesty a continued series of conduct highly unbecoming her Majesty's rank and station, and of the most licentious character.

"These charges appear to the Committee so deeply to affect not "only the honour of the Queen, but also the dignity of the Crown, and "the moral feelings and honour of the country, that in their opinion it is indispensable that they should become the subject of a solemn inquiry which it appears to the Committee may be best affected in the course of a legislative proceeding, the necessity of which they 'cannot but most deeply deplore."

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The Earl of Liverpool, on the next day, brought in a Bill relative to the subject-matter of the said Report: the following of which is the substance :

A Bill to deprive her Majesty, Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth, of the title, prerogatives, rights, privileges, and pretensions, of Queen Consort

of this realm, and to dissolve the marriage between his Majesty and the said Queen."

Whereas, in the year 1814, her Majesty, Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth, then Princess of Wales, and now Queen Consort of this realm, at that ́¡time residing in Milan, took into her service one Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, a foreigner in a low situation, the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, having before served in a similar capacity: and whereas after the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, had so entered her service, a most improper intercourse took place between them. She not only advanced him to a high situation in her household, and employed his relations- some in inferior, and others in confidential situations but bestowed on him various other marks of her approbation; having obtained for him the decorations of several foreign orders, and and even instituted, on his account, an order of her own will, without any competent authority. And, forgetful of her rank and station, and wholly regardless of her honour and character, she conducted herself towards the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, with indecent and offensive familiarity and freedom, and carried on with him a scandalous and adulterous intercourse: by which great scandal and dishonour were brought on her Royal Highness, as well as on this kingdom. And the said scandalous and adulterous conduct towards his Majesty having rendered the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth unworthy of the situation of Queen of this realm; therefore we your

Majesty's most dutiful subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, do humbly entreat your Majesty,

That it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the consent of the said Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, that the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth shall, from and after the passing of this Act, be hereafter deprived of the title and dignity of Queen of this realm, and of all rights, prerogatives, privileges, and pretensions connected therewith; and that, from and after the passing offthis Act, the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth shall for ever be rendered incapable of enjoying the same any way whatsoever.

"And be it further enacted, that the marriage between the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth and his Majesty be wholly dissolved, annulled, and made void, to all intents and purposes."

On Thursday, July 9, Lord Dacre presented a Petition to the House of Lords from her Majesty; as follows:

"CAROLINE REGINA,

"The Queen has heard, with inexpressible astonishment, that a bill, conveying charges, and intended to degrade her and to dissolve her marriage with the King, has been brought by the first Minister of the King into the House of Lords, where her Majesty has no Counsel or other officer to assert her rights. The only alleged foundation for the bill is the Report of the Secret Committee, proceeding solely on papers submitted to them, and before whom no single witness was examined. The Queen has been further informed, that her Counsel last night were refused a hearing at the bar of the House of Lords, at ..that stage of the proceeding when it was most material that they should be heard, and that a list of the witnesses, whose names are known to her accusers, is to be refused her. Under such circumstances, the Queen doubts whether any other course is left to her, but to protest in the most solemn manner against the whole of the proceeding; but she is anxious to make one more effort to obtain justice, and therefore desires that her Counsel may be admitted to state her claims at the bar of the House of Lords."

After which her Majesty's Councel were called in, and heard in defence of the above Petition of her Majesty.

The House of Lords, postponed the second reading of the Pains and Penalty Bill till the 17th of August following; and adjourned till the 15th of the same month: still hopes were entertained, it was not too late to adjust differences between the royal parties; but the publication of the following letter from the Queen to the King, gave evidence of the fallacy of those surmises: it appeared in the Times London Newspaper of Monday, August 14, 1820. Its great importance renders it imperative on us to insert it at full length; for without it, the history could not be considered complete.

LETTER FROM THE QUEEN TO THE KING.

SIR, After the unparalleled and unprovoked persecution which, during a series of years, has been carried on against me under the Dame and authority of your Majesty and which persecution, instead of being mollified by time, time has rendered only more and more malignant and unrelenting-it is not without a great sacrifice of privatefeeling that I now, even in the way of remonstrance, bring myself to address, this letter to your Majesty. But, bearing in mind that Royalty rests on the basis of public good; that to this paramount consideration all others ought to submit ; and aware of the consequences that may result from the present unconstitutional, illegal, and hitherto unheard of proceedings; with a mind thus impressed, I cannot refrain from laying my grievous wrongs once more before your Majesty, in the hope that the justice which your Majesty may, by evil-minded counsellors, be still disposed to refuse to the claims of a dutiful, faithful, and injured wife, you may be induced to yield to considerations connected with the honour and dignity of your crown, the stability of your throne, the tranquility of your dominions, the happiness and safety of your just and loyal people, whose generous hearts revolt at oppression and cruelty, and especially when perpetrated by a perversion and a mockery of the laws.

A sense of what is due to my character and sex forbids me to refer minutely to the real causes of our domestic separation, or to the numerous unmerited insults offered me previously to that period; but, leaving to your Majesty to reconcile with the marriage vow the act of driving, by such means, a wife from beneath your roof, with an infant in her arms, your Majesty will permit me to remind you, that that act was entirely your own; that the separation, so far from being sought by me, was a sentence pronounced upon me, without any cause assigned, other than that of your own inclinations, which, as your Majesty was pleased to allege, were not under your control.

Not to have felt, with regard to myself, chagrin at this decision of your Majesty, would have argued great insensibility to the obligations of decorum; not to have dropped a tear in the face of that beloved child, whose future sorrows were then but too easy to fore-see, would have marked me as unworthy the name of mother; but, not to have submitted to it without repining would have indicated a consciousness of demerit, or a want of those feelings which belong to affronted and insulted female honour. The " tranquil and comfortable society" tendered to me by your Majesty formed, in my mind, but a poor compensation for the grief occasioned by considering the wound given to public morals in the fatal example produced by the indulgence of your Majesty's inclinations; more especially when I contemplated the disappointment of the nation, who had so munificently provided for our union, who had fondly cherished such pleasing hopes of

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happiness arising from that union, and who had hailed it with such affectionate and rapturous joy.

But, alas! ven tranquility and comfort were too much for me to enjoy. From the very threshold of your Majesty's mansion the mother of your child was pursued by spies, conspirators, and traitors, employed, encouraged, and rewarded to lay snares for the feet, and to plot against the reputation and life, of her whom your majesty had so recently and so solemnly vowed to honour, to love,

and to cherish.

In withdrawing from the embraces of my parents, in giving my hand to the son of George the Third and the heir-apparent of the British throne, nothing less than a voice from Heaven would have made me fear injustice or wrong of any kind. What, then, was my astonishment at finding that treasons against me had been carried on and matured, perjuries against me had been methodized and embodied, a secret tribunal had been held, a trial of my actions had taken place, and a decision had been made upon those actions, without my having been informed of the nature of the charge, or of the names of the witnesses? And what words can express the feelings excited by the fact, that this proceeding was founded on a request made, and on evidence furnished, by order of the father of my child, and my natural as well as legal guardian and protector.

Notwithstanding, however, the unprecedented conduct of that tribunal-conduct which has since undergone, even in Parliament, severe and unanswered animadversions and which has been also censured in the minutes of the Privy Council-notwithstanding the proceedings of this tribunal-notwithstanding the strong temptation to the giving of false evidence against me before it-notwithstanding that there was no opportunity afforded me of rebutting that evidence-notwithstanding all these circumstances, so decidedly favourable to my enemies-even this secret tribunal acquitted me of all crime, and thereby pronounced my principal accusers to have been guilty of the grossest perjury. But it was now (after the trial was over) discovered, that the nature of the tribunal was such as to render false swearing before it not legally criminal! And thus, at the suggestion and request of your Majesty, had been created, to take cognizance of and try my conduct, atribunal competent to administer oaths, competent to examine witnesses on oath, competent to try, competent to acquit or condemn, and competent, moreover, to screen those who had sworn falsely against me from suffering the pains and penalties which the law awards to wilful and corrupt perjury. Great as my indignation naturally must have been at this shameful evasion of law and justice, that indignation was lost in pity for him who could lower his princely plumes to the dust by giving his countenance and favour to the most conspicuous of those abandoned and notorious perjurers.

Still there was one whose uprightmind nothing could warp, in whose breast injustice never found a place, whose hand was always ready to raisethe unfortunate, and to rescue the oppressed. While that good and gracious father and Sovereign remained in the exercise of his royal functions, his unoffending daughter-in