Star. — London, England, 1811-02-26 00:00:00

P.W.TAM,EA7';IIt2e4PROCIEDINGS. Ttcittsx.oKsi !RI'S, FEBRUARY sS. Mr. GARS( WM' art; I'.t mat were heard on the question or the atimi. , ill::.ty I Ads' L'ioncurry's letter adtnittinA the of fence chard .1 w hive been ennunitted by her. The LO RD 1 INkla It did. tbiok tbe.evislisce of au admissible kind. and tht faeeler col::::deratioli of the case was adjourned till TharAblikY: ' l 4 l ' • 'l'he s,soctd trading of Lord Rene Ina Les Bill, respecting the Debtor and Creditor Ibil, was bull for March the sth. The further con4eration of the Banbury Peerage case was lard far the 12th 414 arch. _ _ Lord GREN VILLE% movrtl the second reading of the Bill to specting Capital Offences against the Revenue, which being read, his Lordship moved that it should be committed, which was also agtmil to. HI4 Lordship then moved, that the Committee CO/1.• aiST of those w!ro ,ornsed the Conunluee for the consideration of the Affairs of the Revenue. The Earl of BUCKINGHAMSHIRE moved the revival of tke Committee on Indian Affairi, and that they should report the m 4 of their procmlings to the House. Agreed to. The Mem bers's befbre,toutethar with such Lords at attended during the present .Sessaos;--A . Oloarned till Thu:3l.y. HOUSE OF COMMONS. • The Sun Fire-office and West Country Fire Insurance Dill were 'Mtraraily road a third time, and passed. Mr. GIANT presented at thellar the 13th Report of this Cosa. sniasioners of Military Inquiry. An Aeclunt was presented of the Bullion imported and ex ported within a certain period. Mr. R. WARD, in the absence of Mr. Yoaae, pave notice, that he would move the Ordinary Estimates of the Navy on Wed nesday WESTERN JUNCTION CANAL BILL. Mr. LOWNDES moved, that the Western June tion Canal till should be read .a• second time. . Sir W. SCOTT, in a speech of considerable length, I opposed the second reading,, on the ground, among many, that the Canal, if permitted to take place, would prove highly injurious to the Oxford Canal Company, the Commissioners of the River Thames, the Corporation of the City of London, and the cre ditnrs of the River Thames; and that there was not si landholder from London downwards, that did not deprecate the execution of the project. That the Commissioners of the Thames had expended not less than £70,000, and the City of London a very large sum also, on the navigation of the Thames --that the navigation ofthe said river would he greatly injured as well as its water dangerously diminished by this Canal. , He then read the'statements of several emi nent engineers, which were strongly against this navi gation, as.pregnant with evils far superior to any ad. vantages which could be derived from it. The Uni versity of 'Oxford and the City of London had both petitioned against it ; and the Right Hon. Gentle man particularly pointed out the injury that would be sustained by a Mill belonging to the Bodleian Library, in having its streams weakened nr diverted by this intended navigation. He concluded by ex peeeinra Nape, that the River Thames, which was toteipmfd a beauty and a blessing wherever it flawed that part of the country, would be protected by the Ream, and moved, that the Bill be read a second time thie day six months. tfriIIIMEON L , in a speech of some length, seconded the Ktienn OE Sir W. Scott. - : Mr: SUI.LIVAhI spoke in favour of the Bill being reed osecond time. He said the Western Junction . G iune waniess dcajoryriediesoono,ol:tthheanGbraynay Grand Junction r Co r mpany, and that they had lately conveyed goods. to the merchants of London, the tonnage of ..•. hate= and that the Western Junction would a poinmunication with Bristol, that could not • ;Oho highly advantageous. He denied that it hit . *amid deprive the Thames of a pint of water, and thif butted of losing a part of its stream, it would be ,fitesl by it. ".."." BROWN (Anthony) followed on the same .slam- HO hoped the House would not endeavour to -*Press thitt active spirit of enterprise Which bad at all times been found so beneficial to the country, and in , iVa t nneinstance more than that of Canals. That this measure was brought forward by the Grand Junction vrietors, and Was indispensably necessary to the O Offecting of that navigation. He adverted to the giinietit of Sir W. Scott, relative to the mill of the Bodleian Library, and hoped the public would not b allowed to fuller on account of such an obiection, tbf a clause might b&added to prevent that. It seem. . i a to him co be rather a fanciful injury , than other wises and as the argument appeared to be so . little Mad* mit,' he did not think it necessary to answer it • any farther. Mr. VANSITTART spoke against the Bill. Mr. LOVEDEN was for it. Mr FREEMANTLE thought the bill shoild be pik o pia at least to go to a Committee. • ' ' Colonel FRANKLAND spoke decidedly against the setettd-reading. i •On'.4 division the Members were— 'or , the second•reading - - 92 Against . it - - 103 Ordmet on the motion of Mr. Gitcs, that there ;be bidhefore the House Copies of all letters sent by Ifs letjeatelleCretary of Stite to Lords Lieutenants . , ' of .VuM.it! in the year ISIO, relative to the Militia. : Ins MAJESTY% sTATE OP HEALTH IN 1804. i Mr.-97-111,TBREAD rose, in consequence of .the stit6 Which' he had given a'few days ago, to submit erftho ton sideration of the House,a matter which, he . :bid do doubt, wassiti be regarded as most highly in muting to the feelings, and of the greatest import mite to the interest's of that House, and of the coml. try. This position, when beshould state what he bad .to offer tot House, would not, he trusted, admit E, -4 dosiit or contradiction. When future historians, after the party heats and political animosities of re etiltihttnt shall haste been consigned to 'that silence' . and oblivion to which the animosities and feuds of ; former periods have been 'already consigned—when , the* hiatteins ' temOred from the period, and unin.; flupytettity - the circumstances under whiCh the events-, *if Will have to record have taken place, shall come with an impartial judgment, and unprejudiced feeling tonarratothe transactions f:recent tintes;they will, not. •withitanding the' irnprestiOnt which the influence of party animosity migb(baye made to the contrary, in; tar i ng, n review 'of the' transactions of the present reign, conclude, that tinder' no circumstances, and in swi times; have the people of any country . been mare} l o y a l is, more affectionately attached to the person of their Sovereign than the peOple of this country &me been, dtiring a long series 'of years. If they; s how only loch 'back to the period of the. last twenty..4ye' Years, they would 44 that the love - And •ottudinsiiit of his subjects Vieff. not given alone to k i she Lag during the prosperous l td successful portion !Wm' of his reign, %It *at they increased in • of 14 isisonatAction and io4rntjty ; and, iii.of - sui; 'ferreirclirnisistion.had been considerably . strengthen.: ed, as his facirliies and health had unhappily declined, if. On, ibe people had delighted in the prosperitieh. of his Majesty's Government—if they sincerely sympathised in his sorrows, if they mourned over his sufferings, they Kra -a just right to know that no foul trick had been, at any time during the existence of such respectful devotiem to their Monarch's interests and person, practised by his Majesty's Ministers, either towards the King, or towards the people.— ( Hear, hear I) If he could be able to chew, that accor ding to a statement made by the Right Hon. Gentle man (Mr. Yorke) opposite, en a former night, „ the 4. ging had not fair play," that neither the King nor ibe people had fair play shewst them by the Admi nistration, of which that Right Hon. Gentleman formed a part, he trusted that he should do enough to excite the indignation of that House, and to induce them peremptorily to call for an efficient and full en- 1 gniry into the whole of the case. This he would con. tidently undertake to•shew, if that House, by agree ing to his preliminary motion, should put him in a condition to prove. It must be in the recollection of the House, that when the calamity had fallen up fn his Majesty in 1788, though there were abundant ru. moors afloat upon the subject, yet such was the tender affection and ardent zeal of his faithful people, that they could not persuade themselves of the fact, that his Majes t y was seriously suffering under the maltdy given out - by report, until the truth of the representa non was hut too fully confirmed by the report of the physicians. When it was afterwards established, by proof, that the King's mind was unsound—that his mental faculties were deranged—and that he was is capable of personally exercising his royal functions, the two Houses resorted to such measures as they thought proper for supplying the defect of the royal authority. But, on its being announced to Parlia ment by the Noble Lord, who at that period filled the high office now held by Lord Eldon, that he haA it in command from his Majesty to acquaint Parlia ment, thin. he had sufficiently recovered to authorise a confident expectation, that after a short interval he should be enabled personally to resume his royal functiorA ; such was tl4e delicacy, such the kffec tion and veneration of the two _ Houses of Par- liament towards the Sovereign, that though theyl had made very considerable progress with the measures they were to adopt, they immediately sus pended ail pi coceedings upon them, and waited in fond and anxious expectation for the full restoration of his Majesty. W o4tever might have been the chi ' ferences of opinion-whatever the party heat and po litical anim . ity which characterised these differences, as to the mode of supplying the temporary deficiency, all feelings of personal consideration or party hosti.! lily, instantly subsided into 'one common sense al gratificatino, at the prospect that burst upon the nation ; and every eye glistened with joy and glad ness at the approaching restoration of the King to his reason and Lis throne. When about twelve years afterwards; in the year 1801, the indisposition of his Majesty was again announced to the public by i a nitification from his physicians, that notification was so guarded, that, it the nation had not been aware' of the malady with which his Majesty had been previously afflicted, it would have been impossi ble for any man to know from any thingthat appeared upon the face of the statement of the physicians, that the Kii.g, thotigh undoubtedly indisposed, was not still compateia to the. exercise of all his royal func tions. Yet from what had recently come to the knowledge ~ f the public by the examination of the physicians before the Lords' committee, it was fully established, that at that very period the King was of unsound mind. On the '2J of February, 1801, the first notice of his Majesty's illness was published, though it was now known that his Majesty's mental health was then impaired, that he was incapable of his royal functions, that his judgment was in eclipse ; yet by reference to their journals, they woull find, that two days after, via. on the 24th of Fele-nary, 1801, a commission was issued, signed with the King's sign manual. It was not to be f-rgetten, too, that in the beginning of that year, 1801, a remarkable political event bad taken place. After a long struggle, and a considerable prod of adherence to power, Mr. Pitt at length thoneht tropei to resign the seals of his office, which had been committed to him so long before. A Noble Lord (Sidra anth) not now a Member, was then I . selected as successor to Mr. Pitt ; and after a certain i ' period, took his seat in that House (the precise day he could not call to mind) on his re-election, after ent 7ing upon office. It was not material to fix the I day , but of this he was certain, that on the 10th of March the bulletins ceased.' He would leave it to the House to determine, whether the bulletins had been discontiriued for any other purpose than to impress the public with an opinion that the King was fully reco vered ; whereas it was now clear, that he was not then recovered ; nay more, that he had afterwards a considerable relapse ; and yet, notwithstanding all this, the functions of the Executive were uninterrupt edly exercised, and various important acts of state performed,' for either of which no constitutional sane.' tion could possibly have been procured from the King in the state of mental incapacity in which his Majesty then was. Yet such was the delicacy of the two Houses of Parliament upon the' subject, and of the public, that no notice had been taken of the matter, except by one Honourable Gentleman no longer a Member of that House, who had given notice of a motion respecting the state of his Majesty's health.— This notice having been seen in the notice-book by a Right Honourable Friend of his (Mr. Sheridan), he thinking it not proper to be made at the time, on die day when it was to be brought forward W.V. ed an adjournment, which was seconded by Mr. Pitt, who at, the same time stated, that he would I take care that . props notice should be supplied to the House .of the state of his Majesty's health, if that should be necessary. In the year 1804., only ! three years after, 'his Majesty was again afflicted will the same diaease. He wattakenill on the 14th of Fe. bruary, and on the following day,. the 15th, it was announced to the public. The object of his motion was to bring the circumstance; attending that indis. f position of the King article; the consideration of the ' House. The motion with .seLiah, he meant to eori, elude would be, for • a Comniittke.to examine the Lords' journals for the cridence,V.the PhYsicbatis re , specting his Majesty's Mite in I-MC . l'nd to report the ,smote to the Hope. - This be meant only as prelbni. ,yorr op t another enquiry, in the course of which, if functions--and when still further peened by Mr. ,shelliclose should grant his motion, he should pledge Pitt, that there was no - nec,staty suspensi nof tl isiestseit to prove. what he should assert before Royal functions , and addoi, that he 50e,.1 t ill ' , t" le rot he sat down. It would appear by the evidence upon his own authority , but upon. the ophtion-s a ces which he wished toehave produced, that of one of authority of the Physic; .4::S ; mearnets theleb.s. te the Physicians who had - attended his 'Majesty in doubt, that he had pelsonally no :1;:::;•Si VI L',, '...: '-- 11804, and was also in attendance upon him in On the 6th if March, the Lerd-Chaneell rs: , .1 • his present malady, that the period of his Majes- the House of Lords, nett he hid been eh. eh ' ' : '3 ..is ,0 !, 7 ty's illness, in the former instance, continued from en th e eo n au d also evil I.:.0 4r.h, and niter h ; eon se the 14th of February to the 23d of April, in that year. plained to him the net ure of a bill tie n ee. ~ r , • en e n His Majesty, it appeared, on the latter day attended alienating certain Crown Laaeds to the Del,: (It V! !le a Council in person, which the. physicians considered that his Majesty had comni !nJ:J ie,,, oe g . , , eye , ~ as evidence of his being - then . fulry restored. The sent to that Bill On the 9e et hlnch, .• se . ....misen; bulletins ceased on the Sld of ' March, 1804 ; and signed by the King wits ',sues; ; and en, it Li:einem yet it was not till the SW of April that the phynehin was asked on that des', whether he he -I teno n: e t l e , e y s to whose evidence he had alluded (Dr. Heberden), ledge of the state of the Nie t s's Ite..lot, unr. • a e ig ,.. considered the King's recovery complete, of which le Pet ttiOrequent with Inm, that ne es. 1' I • ' s' et s. asse ,11'.y . 1 — considered his attendance in Council a demenstra- hind severed from his b eny ra.her to ,ii dent 'lt s ..o tion. That physician itlso had continued in after.. voreien, he declared, the: lie was ew lie ce w i t - t. dance upon his Majesty nntil the 2nd of Ap r il. It was deing, ead svoeld Gds.!. the whole of ills he ;vv r ;„ was to this period of 1804 that his inquiry would be spoesinility up et himself. New tins wis hi nt leis particularly directed. With secret to what bed motion wits intClllC.l to aecertein, acid :,... ,1.. Id . i cos.. taken place in 1801, he did not think it necessary to fidently call upon the. house to Connnees to pn: hin institute any investigation, as well because maay of in a shuetion to hr . te n s s ••• ' - . . I , it :, I. raspoae.) et f . 0 once. ee Was ready to take up -ft Innis. !I . to :,...y, that his Ma. the persons who were implicated in the transec dons of that period were now no more, as because jeoy ve is at that time onsoate e in mild, and to a none of those others who were concerned in them at he we; i censer:tent to perio.i long poneentr— t h. his fancticts—[l)./[ hie reason vets cloo.led, and h's were now in office to give alarm to the public, lest jedgmeitt eclipsnl. Vet, whilst the Dint' was ell they shonlil on any future occasion be guilty of the per. in don st ate, Lord. niiot of t, on the eseh of Match, same conduct. But as he found, that dne of the sons, who, under the late aci far establishing a Re- brought down a me,seee t.. that House iron t he gency, was to be o f t h e Queen's Council, had been King—from the Kene, dere-nes:l as he was in les Lord high Chancellor in 1801 and also in 1804— mental cuir pnence„teil ies •pehle of exercisine en. when he knew that a Noble Lord, now a Member of cretion. This fact he shoeld 'orohily assert ; anal:e the other House (Lord Sidmouth) was at the head therefore called upon the friends CI that Noble Led of the Administration in b• h instances—ashen he pe r . to Place hint and them,elves in a situation to answ er ceived a Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr, ,to his charge. To se y, then, that they were pre pared to share the retnetnibility, would be worse abaft Yorke) who was a Secretary of State in 1804, and a idle—it would nut be sincere. lie celled upset e l Noble Lord under the gallery (Lord Castlereagh) , who was in his Mejesty% Cabinet at that period, h e , House to put him in the situation to prove Ins char rs. It wes necessary for the character of the individual; was persuaded that the House would feel how noses- that they should be disproved, if not fonnded, and sery it was to enable hira to prove his assertions, or, i if his assertions were not founded, to give the Noble . it was material to the pubiic diet they should tie proved if true—because, if the case was as he ha-I and Honourable persons he had mentioned an opp h. I `stated it, the public had been imposed up-, and omit). to disprove them. With regard, however, to the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite (Mr. might again, if not prevented by the result of the in. Yorke), or the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) under the cluirY he proposed. He should have supposed, that gallery, he did not meal to impute Any blame to them without the evidence of the Physicians, or the test of the Right . Hon. Gentleman opposite, they might —bemuse he could not possibly know whether they were guilty. But whether guilty or not, that wouldex pected some more ettisfactory proof of his have come out in the inquiry which he proposed to insti- IMajesty s recovery, than the statement of Physicians. tute. To John Lord - Eldon, however, now as then When a King of England has been placed in a situ. Lord Chancellor, and to Lord Viscount Sidmoutle tion not to be capable of performieg his royal functions —when reduced to a state of health in which a pri. who was at that period at the head of his Ma rate individual would not be allowed the disposal jesty's government, he thought, in his conscience, of his property—when he has been under restraint— that the whole blame was justly imputable.— This he was not only prepared to assert, but prepared when he has been taken out in a morning to be shewe to prove. Lord Eldon was Lord High Chancellor to his subjects under colour of being recovered, and has , l in 1801, when a great and important political change been carried home to be placed again underrestraint— I was effected : he . was also Lord High Chancellor in when his incapacity had been solemnly voted by the two Houses of Parliament—was it right or proper,he 1804, when another important political oliange had also taken place—a change certainly not brought would ask, that a King of England, after having been about in the same manner as that in 1801, when Mr. I in such a situate l), should have his recovery esta. - Pitt, looking to the successor that waito replace him, ,blished on no better authority than the statement contemplated the prospect of retaining all the pan. tion to Dr. Heberden, whether the King wa se, of physicians ? In the Committee he had put a gars calk in fl uence, if not the official power, from which he . i 1.4 was professing• to retire. The change in 1804 was fir recovered as to be competent to attend all of a very different description. On that occasion the ; public and private business ? To this Dr. Heheie den ansvvered yes. Another physician answered, also, two great parties, which had been so long in opposi- 1 I yes, and Dr. Willis, in a most positive manner, v. tion to each other in that House, acted in unison swered, most assuredly. Bat he would contend, on tilt under the guidance of the two greatest political leaders that had ever distinguished themselves upon contrary, that his Majesty was not at the time so far any arena in opposition to the Government of • recovered as, in the case of an individual in private life, would warrant the persedin a commice (1: , that day. They took their stand upon one of the great measures of that Administration, and mustered lunecy. Tke Lord Cha su ucellor, he had heard, ssi woeld not, as he had declared in Court, take the opinions of ' upon a divison within fifty of the majority which supported the Ministerial measure. Upon that I physicians on an applicetion to supeisetie a corneno symptom of his 'declining influence in that House, i ston of lunacy-- s he would hear the opinions of the :foieci and upon a consideration of them A GU.I Mr. Addington thought it prudent to resign his office in a manner certainly not conformable to the' , his own judgment. l'hat Noble Lord knevewel fashion of more recent times, when Ministers, after the difficulty of proving the peifect recovery of pc :- flatting themselves reputedly in minorities, still sons M such a complaint—he well knew that mese ventured to cling to office, and to retain then places. individuals so affected appeared in every other res. —But the union did not take place. Mr. Pitt con. pect in perfect mental health, until a certain che:4 av touched, upon which their. delusion turned, whit whom he was solicitous to co-operate. Lord , rented to come into o ffi ce without the support of those as wnen the whole fabric raised by their morbid curmin c e Eldon, too, consented to accept office in that isli;'..i to conceal their defect iastantle was overthrown. Tee nistretion ; and thus, after many years of contention, reble Lord, therefore, would net supersede a corn when the hopes *of the nation were anxiously amid. mission of lunacy without the fullest proof of the per. patting an union of the two great parties, under the feet restoratian of the patient. Would the House, auspices of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, for the salvation of therefore, or ought they to be satisfied with a sea. their common country, these fond expectations were ment of the Physicians, that his Majesty was coneys frustrated by the acceptance of office, on a system of tent on any perticuler day, or on any hour of ae eeclusion, by the administration of 1804. During day, to the personal exercise of his functions ? It this period, Lord Eldon was the only person who had such a statement, in the case of an individual, be ad access to his Majesty. Whether that Noble Lord ex- motel by Lord Eldon in the Court of Cimacery, erted himself in the interviews he had with his Sove. sufficient to set aside a commission of lunace ? lie had taken much pains to ascertain by what rules the reign, to promote the union so greatly desired by all practice of the Court of Chancery tvas reg,ulated in ' classes, and by no person, he believed, more than by such cases. He found it had been laid down by Isord Mr. Pitt, or not, it was impossible for him to know. Thurlow, that it was incumbent upon a party it. That was a circumstance which must rest in the No. ble Lord's own bosom, as in all probability there had ]edging a lucid interval, to prove it as fully and been no witnesses present at any of these interviews , clearly as the party alleging derangement was t;o'''' I But he must admit, however, that that Noble Lord to prove the insanity. The evidence in the former had not shewn himself so decided as the Right Ho- case was required' to be as strong and demonstratire as iunh• Lauer. • (Itere - 171 T 1 In . Genthenan refereed pourable Gentleman who was at that time At terrne General. That Right Honourable Gentlemen ha d to the case of Parker, in which the wee oven; tens thought proper to declare, that "such an union would sionelly insane, did, as elledeed, in a lucid itites.;al, :to sign over property to her blithe:el—al - 4 though the have been a disgrace to both Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox; that they could not, in case it had taken place, meet witness i es, esno proved the lucid interysi, vole t h e Mire:ie.:eel, yet the instrument was hell void, in at a council without being ashamed of themselves." - Yet it was unquestionable that Mr. Pitt wished for c i ensonience of the habitat il derengesnent.) Froes that union in his heart, witic!l his Ateerney-General It was eqtielly nes 4 doctrine, leid . chnen by ehas Noble ;tad Learned tend, it W,13 obvious that before the lucid intervel could not reconcile to his notions. well known, too, that a Right Honoureble Gentlrn ' could i he reeegnised, the disease :mist be entirely gone man opposite, (Mr. G. Canning) was equally zealous and eissipated—that there must remain no latent snarl:, is :lid) may revive the nhrensy or recal the de for that union, with the great leader of the party, Mr. Pitt. It was true the Right Honourable Gentleman lusion— th l .tt the leterval shell net have been produc ed by me dical expedients for certain occasioas, and might say that he would net, as Attorney-General, part (Wear, Lear, hear.) At the have known more of hat w was iis the eontotoplittion iculer 1)-1 oness. time when 1)r. Heberden represented his Majesty es of the great leaders of that day, than the la mythic indi. having been sshwell as at arty time of any ail to be viduel then addressing the House, but it was scarcely capable of business, another of the physinens admit p-ossible that the Attorney-Genera] should rot have e l 1 tee tatt i t , he was liable to hurries, but that business known facts, which came to his (Mr. Whitbread's) knowledge, within a few days after they had taken gee:let:e3 - had the effect of restonng him to calmness place. -a- He begged the House to bear in mind, an:. c.:mi,sure. .Why, this very e ff ort of nesinses vas wh at h e ceneelercii as one of the medical exec that Lord Eldon had been particularly questioned i housense of Lords in 1601, as to the state of his dents (Hear, hr-^.r.) He could have wished to croso the Mr. Addin g ton (now Lord S'd examinehhese phynciaos on their evidence. (Aired Majesty's health, o mouth) had also been questioned in that House on - frees the fee, vory Riwb.) He would wish to ask Dr. , the same subject. When first asked about the state 14 berden whether, when he said that the hint rsh 11 aft er ' "" of the King's health, it would be remembered, that per e fectly w ' e .ee end of - Aptil,.he did not ' in ' ese Mr. Addington firstsaid, that his best course would that Dr. Simmons was - after in attendance on . lth be, not to give any answer ; but whe n pressed for an M a jesty—that that physician continued for some titre answer by Mr. Fox, he said that there was no neces- after in attendance on the King, and had employed tart suspension of any necessary act of the emotive even other ' attendants near his Majesty's person • if he had asked these questions, and Dr. Heberdel 1 1 r se . . • • • :1 !:. :4 ix 11. er. 11 f+ 1 d- in '7l ai- ire the .r.tt