"The gracious assurance of his royal highness for my happiness was this
day conveyed to me, by _the desire of her most gracious majesty_.
"The many former favours and kindnesses bestowed by my royal benefactor
is retained in my mind with the deepest sense of gratitude.
"That I regret, with heartfelt grief, the invisible power that
determined my inevitable misery, and marks the hand that gave the blow
to my eternal peace. Could no other arm inflict the wound than he who,
in happier moments, indulged me with the most apparent unfeigned
friendship? That I shall not, to my latest breath, cease to complain of
such injustice, heaped upon me in the eyes of the world, and before the
nation, who at my hands have lost their dearest hopes.
"My conscious innocence is the only right I plead to a just and Almighty
God! That I consider this deed of so foul a nature as to stamp with
ignominy, not only its perpetrators, but the throne itself, now to be
obtained by the death of its own offspring, _and that death enforced by
the Queen of England_, whose inveterate hatred is fully exemplified, by
heaping wrongs upon the unfortunate partner of your once happy choice,
who now only impedes your union to another.
"To remove now this only remaining obstacle, I am called upon by the
ministers. With a view of tranquillizing my mind, every restitution is
offered me. But, no doubt, many will be found amongst them, who can,
without a pang, enjoy the reward of such services--_as her majesty will
most liberally recompense_.
"It has ever been my highest ambition to fulfil the arduous duty of my
situation; to be rewarded by upright encomiums; and to merit, as a
subject and a servant, the approbation of my most gracious benefactor,
as conveyed to me on the 9th of this month by Sir B. Bloomfield, would
have been a sufficient recompense to me under any circumstances of life.
"I can, therefore, only assure his royal highness, with unfeigned
sincerity, that I should feel happy upon any occasion to forfeit my life
for his peace and happiness; nor can I more fully evince the same than
by assuring his royal highness, that this melancholy circumstance shall
be eternally buried in my mind.
(Signed) "RICHARD CROFT."
"November 10th, 1817."