“You will have seen by the papers that Castlereagh laid upon the Table on Wednesday
papers relating to the Princess of
Wales’s pecuniary situation, which were ordered to be
referred to a Committee of the whole House on Monday next. In the evening of
Wednesday I received at the House of Commons a note from Lady C. Campbell No. 1, enclosing the note from
C[astlereagh] No. 2, to which I replied, ‘I
would see Brougham in the evening and
we would communicate further.’ I did see
Brougham after the debate, at Michael Taylor’s, and we agreed
| 1813-14.] | THE PRINCESS OF WALES. | 199 |
“Yesterday morning before 10 o’clock I had sent a note to Lady C. Campbell to say ‘that I had seen Brougham, that we had agreed upon the mode of proceeding respecting this insidious offer made in so unhandsome a manner, and that I would be at Connaught House at two o’clock, to submit the result of our counsel, in the shape of a letter to the Speaker.’ At two o’clock I was preparing to set out to recommend the letter No. 3, which is the production of Brougham, when to my infinite surprise I received from the Princess the Papers Nos. 4 and 5, to which I replied by the Note, No. 6. I then went and found Brougham in Westminster Hall, to whom I communicated the contents. His convulsions in consequence were very strong. I then went to Lady C. Lindsay who burst into tears upon perusing the papers. I then called upon St. Leger, who was thunderstruck and mortified to the greatest degree, but he entreated me to call upon the Princess; which I did, and found her and Lady C. Campbell together. She received me very civilly, and told me she saw I disapproved of what she had done. With the proper prefaces and in the mildest tone, I told her that I did exceedingly disapprove it; and that after her communication of the night before, I had reason to complain of her having sent an answer without having previously shown it to me or Brougham, and that I was much chagrined and disappointed at what she had done: that the crisis had just arrived, which would have put her in possession of all she wanted; and that I firmly believed her income would have followed on her own terms; but that the last paragraph of her letter appeared to me to have surrendered everything, and her words would be retorted upon her whenever she wished to assert the rights of her station. She said she meant to relinquish nothing, and particularly that she meant to go to St. Paul’s (for which measures had been taken). I told her I thought ‘it might impair the tranquillity of the mind of the Prince Regent’ if she were present, and she would be told so. We parted by my wishing her success, and that all might answer her expectation.
| 200 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. IX. |
“You may suppose the effect the communication of these matters had upon Sefton, Tierney, Jersey, &c. Tierney had been in counsel with us, and was quite decided. In the evening I received the enclosed 7, 8 and 9, to which I shall only answer that when called upon I will advise, but it shall be on my own terms.”
