The National Register. — London, England, 1811-01-06 00:00:00

Our Ring, actual , anti tab* N°. J5B. • Tiriffri PR ICE 9d. SUNDAY, JANUARY 6,1811. PO)LITIC'Ai DISQ No. 150. PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT. mr••••••••• . The importance of the parliamentary proceedings during the week, so loudly calls for the deep consi deration of every friend to his King, Country, and Constitution, as to compel us to delay the conclu .sion of our yearly political retrospect .to our next number. We shall therefore confine ourselves, for the present, to the mighty changes which the lapse of a few days has effected in the relative situations (if parties ; .to the propriety or impropriety of the .Resolutions passed, and to the consequences which they are likely to produce. . A week ago Ministers stood on the broad basis cif the Constitution, a firm unbroken band. Aware of the necessity of restoring the exercise of the royal functions, they adopted a line of proceedings which maintained the dignity and independence of Parlia rnert, and tended .to invest the Regent, not with hered►tary authority, which he might claim as his • right, but with powers created and delegated by : the people, through the medium of their Representa . tives. This measure, though strongly opposed by the inconsistent, not to say corrupt, advocates. of . popular rights, . which. in this instance they vainly attempted to abridge, was carried by a large ma . joi-ity . ; and initead of an Address, a Bill was pre pared as in 1783, to authorise the Pzince of WALES to perform the suspended functions of the Crown. Dive Revolutions, similar to those passed during his Tvlajesty's first illness, were laid bettire a Committee ‘,l the whole House. They appointed .his Royal Highness Regent, with such restrictions and limi tations as the wisdom of Parliament might deem proper; r to .secure the restoration of the Kingly power to the Monarch by whom it had been so long and prosperously wielded, as soon as he should have • regained .his mental health. They allowed -his re- Fl esentatime, not successor, to ncr.rard . military aild Laval achievements with peerag►es, and only de layed hisvonferring bucli distinguished honours on nien who did not expose their lives to the unter taintrof war in the service of their country, for the *, ':pace of a year. Such a delay could not deptive them of their splendid reFEkuneration, for they shared only the. conuntka 401tifts of mortality.with Lir Vol. 1•1 7 .- No.. Gj e vat. • • • I Regent himself : hitt it would prey -lit the latter from acquiring such an accession of supporters in, the House of Peers, as might enable him, should the sceptre at any time revert to our Moi..trch's hand, to perplex the Councils of the State, and , check The springs of Administration. His itoyal Highness's virtues'and patriotic di,position readered, it is true, such fears chimerical : but it was neces sary to guard against possibility itself, and to avoid forming a precedent which in fwure years, and with a Prince less dutiful towards his Royal Parent, and less disposed to promote the welfare of his country, might endanger the possession of the Throne, and the peace and liberties of our descend, ants. The other Resolutions allowed him to dispose of all places during his Majesty's pleasure; placed the private property of the King in the hands of trustees, and gave to the Queen the care of his person, .and the right of removing from, or appoint ing to,. the several offices of his Househoid, with a council to advise her Majesty, and from time to time examine the King's Physicians. Such was the nature of the Bill which on Tues day last was submitted to the consideration of a Committee of the whole House. The attacks of the Opposition were made on the three most import ant points : the restrictions, and the .witholden rights of granting Peerages, and of appointing his Majesty's Household. To impose restrictions on a Regent, they said, was to impair the Royal Authority itself, of which be exercised the functions. As well might they have pretended, that to lay a veil over the cyy of a. picture, was to conceal the beauties of the original. A Regent is the reflected image of a King, whose place he supplies by convention. Ought therefore ParliaMlent, acting in politics as we are told the Romiin Catholics do in religion, to have attril,uted to the image, all the powers of the Monarch wlu m it vas to represent ? It may be said that a Regent iy not a mere lifeless figure, clad in purple, and •- seated On a Throne, the &My 7:ot. a King: that he is alt active agent, whose duty is to hold. in trust the Regal Authority, and exert it as .suits the necessities of the State.—But is he to mit it as he chooses, or as the study and esterience of the past tell him the Mo. parch 'whom he represents would have done, hftd not illtiess chained his faculties Is he to - have a - • I~ NO tF ...., . * - ' t ', . # r~ i 1f .. 3P . ~..