The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-04-14 00:00:00

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INIPERIAL PARLISIMENT. • ••q,

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110Ci.7. OF LOIDS—Mo%Dar. Areio.l3.

Baron Tyne&le, (!rely the k.erl of„ Dalkeith),
and Baron Gordan (the Marquis n 1 Huntley). were
introduced by Lords Reay and Cawdor, took
the oaths and tilvir seats.
/shout a doairi of Bolls, both
were brought up from the Commons.
The attendant_ of the Lords was this day very
great, and the spare below the Bar was r •markably
crowded with stranvrs, from a previous know.
ledge the important business which WAS to take
place.

CHANGE OF ADMiNISTEtATION.
The order of the day for summouing their Lord-
ships being read,
The Marquis of STAFFORD rose, and address-
ed the House in pursuance of the notice he had
given. He began by repressing his regret that such
an important topic should have fallen to hi; IA to
bring under their considesation, instead of its bring
brought forward by ore of their number mote able
to dive the motion its due riled There were times,
however, and this be conceived to be one, when it
became the duty of any Noble Lind, however inca-
pable. to step forward to persevere in what he
might concesve to be his duty His sentimerfts upon
this occasion, were, he conceived, explanatory of
the most y.e.netal sentiments of the country. He
had had the honour, upon a former occasion, and in
a formet Parliament, of living notice of a motion
for th- purpese of effeCtiog a change in this then
Administration. which nuAion had been prevented
by a change taking place at that very time He was
thee actuated by motives equally for the goal of his
country, as upon the rresent occasion. Imme,l-
ately upon the demise of an illustrious Statesman,
(Mr. Pitt), /mantes had been taken to form an
Administrazion, composed of men of the greatest
abilities; an Administration, of which the House
and the country seeasel higt ly to apptoves.but not-
withstanding the general approval of their forma-
tion ansfcandue. they had been lately dismissed
from His Majesis Council;; for no other reason
than that :h. y had refused to sign a pledge, which,
if th y had signed, they w uld have been liahle to
inapeac:imeat I He lamented extremely, that His
Majesty sh uld have b. ea advised to an act which
W.D 5) unwarranted by the principle. of our glorious
Constitution. He was far from attachim: any blame
to our most gracirus Sovereign, as he was heard to
addlOWll.4!ge •11.- principies t tat the king can Jo
no v• mg He was not only hound to do so from
inclination, but term gratitude; but surely it is
consistent with the Coned:to:on ca thecriantry that
some persons should be responsible fs r the advice
riven As be wished, however. to ay 41 mention-
ing any Matters that might t:nd to excite religious
atiari:iiy, he should co tent hiluen, upon the pre.
sent occasion, w submitting a maims for • heir
Lcrifiltps• eonwideraiion. Ihe Nobs,. Lord tiro
eonclnde.t with en ving, o That this li..U•e • mill
resolve, that fcerint4 the neee•sity of a firm and
sable Government in this imp., ;ant crisis of public.
affairs, it is impies.ed with deepest regret at
the recent change which has sik.n place in
His M ljesty's Councals, a rig et which is greatly
increased fay the cause to wli;ch that change MA.
been as:ribed ; it beiri tie opinion rat this House,
that it is contrary to the first doves of the tropisms.
ble Minister. of the Crown to restrain themselves by
any pledg-, expressed or implied, so as to debar
them cm giving to His Majesty any advice which
in their judgement the course *circumstances miry
vender neceso.ry foe the honour and security of his
,minions "
This motion being read by the Lord Chancellor,
d ABERDEEN rose, and axpiessed his senti-
ments in opposition to it. He should abstain, he
said, trom euterirg any farther than was absolutely
necessity, open a subject so intimately cenneeed
with Ms Sovereign; for, although the greater part
of the moti as appeared to be a general oath, and
a sort of abstract preposition, yet the evident inten-
tion in bringing it forward upoe the present occa-
sion, was by way of justification of His Majesty's
late Ministers. The Noble blarquis must be anaie
that in such a question there must be two parties in-
volved ; that although it might be intended princi-
pally to apply to the responsibility of Ministers, yet
it likewise tended to trench upon the prerogative of
the Crown; and he aught therefore to be cautiou., lest
is his anxiety to exculpate Ministers, there should
be any censure thaws; towards that quarter, to
which no censure could possibly attach. From the
manner in which the minion was brought forward,
it was impossible to consider it without referring to
those ci:cumstances which were immediately con-
netted with it, and which, though not expressed,
seemed to form the pretext for it. When llis Ma-
jesty's late Ministers consented to withdraw a
mea-
sure, the importance et which they had so strongly
impressed upon His Majesty and on Parliament,
they not only made a declaration of their intention
to support any such measures that might be after-
wards brought forward; but even intimated the
probability of their proposing similar measures to
is Majesty, in fulfilling their official capacity.
To what situation dia this reduce His Majesty,
whose opinions were immutable upon the Catholic
subject ? It naturally occurred to him, that from
the declaration which his Ministers then took upon
themselves to make; they were dispose) upon some
future occasion to propose some such measure to
him again, when perhaps he might not be so able
to resist it with the same effect as he conceived him-
self bound to do. It appeared to him (Lord Aber-
deen), that His Majesty had no other line of con-
due to pursue than that which he adopted; namely.
to demand an assurance from his Ministers, that so
long as oey continued his ci ofidential servants,
they would not take upon themselves to propose
measures of that nature. When, therefore, the late
Ministers got the merit of adhering strictly to what
they conceived to be their own line of duty, it should
also be recollected, that they ought to have attended
en the real construOion of the cath formerly taken
by His Majesty, by which he was equally bound as
Ivey were. The Noble Marquis had hinted at some
secret adviser, tend had stated, that the Constitu-
tion had admitted of no aft of the Crown without
some responsible adviser. This last ;night be the
case, and vet), necessarily so ; but it was surely im-
possible to make out that to be true which was
false, or give reality to that which has none. lie
..eras convinced, it those advisers were demanded,
ww.

- A., • ••

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i that none other would be fonad than the secret die-
, ketes et fits tsil..jesty's own -eonseienA.. If, hcravever.
at was to toes that thb-Ortsent Mintstets wells
'no
O ei
btresponsible toth. fir •deceoors, he could see no
rearms for their shrinking !tom that responsibility,
for it appeared to him mat it was the only line or
eondnll that His Majesty could nave pursued, con-
sistent with his crvo dignity and honour, and in
conformity with his na. oral disposition. It had been
argued. that this :evolved a question intimately
eonnetted wait the Constirution ; out, for his part.
he could see no other connrßion it had with it, than
that it seemed to caustera3 the free exercise of the
undoubted prerogative of use Crown ; and under
these ciicumstancss he should therefore move the
previous qnestia..
The Earl of HARDWICK!: said, that having in-
vestigated, with great care, every pat of the sitb;ea,
be had the satistaihion to think that lie was enabled
give a clear and decided opinion upon it. 'lleac
could be no doubt, in the mind of any man who
impartially considered this country, either in its do-
r ritestic situation, or in relation to its colonies.
dependencies, or connesaiort with foreign countries,
that the removal of His Majesty's late Ministers
was the most unfortunate event that could have
taken place in the present conjunflure of affairs.—
Firmness and stability w. re essentially requisite at
the present moment ; for such an Administration
as the last, who had been appointed by His Majesty,
wi.h the general: concurrence of His people ; he
should be exceedingly glad, could he be convinced
that those who had succeeded them, possessed simi-
lar qtafications. He, however, considered their
appointment as hostle to the real interests of the
country ; and therefore it was, that he exceedingly
regretted the change which had taken place. He
also thought, that the late Ministers had been most
injuriously treated, and their c indild most un-
fairly misrepresented. In their endeavours to as•
similate the law of the United Ktn.olorn to the Irish
Ad of Parliament, passed 1793, they had been
stated; as attempting to deceive the King. But how
was such an allegation borne out ? There existed no
Test Law in Ireland fir Protestant Dissenters ; so
that in assimilating the Laws of the two countries,
these would have been the only description of His
Majesty's subjeds, in both of them, that would have
been eschadA from eijoying the privilege of legally
holding high Commis suns in the Army. Although
the original intention of the late Ministers was
n• idler more nor less than that of assimilat.
,ng the Laws in that tespeet, yet suet inge-
nuity Mg!it account for their br ny(ng - for-
ward the late Biil. But another much more co-
gent reason after wards occurred to them, as cre-
ating the I,ecesoty of • variation, without any in-
wimp of deception on their part. It was stated,
by a Noble Earl, who was Chief 'Secretary in Ire-
land, in the year 179 J ; that at the time of passing
the Irish Act. sow, promise was held out, mac the
prov Lions of it should be afterwards applied to
the N..y. (lice, the :Voile iced was iatterspud by
a cr.../ A./ ea I/ He had, at least, understood it
to have b:eil sa stated.

The girl •nt BUCKINGHAMSHIRE (the
Noble Lord alluded to) here rose to explain, that
it was rm• rly in the contemplation of the Go-
vernment of Cis country, itt the event of the Bid
passing the tri,h Parliament, to introduce a simi-
lar Mill revealing die Navy ; but he never did
sate, nor could he conceive it possible, that the
passing of any Bill in the Irish Parliament, could
enable the fish Catholics to enter into the Navy.
The Earl of HAIIDWICKE continued and said,
,that the opinions of certain lawyers had been taken
upon the subject, at the time of passing the Irish
Ad t and it certainty, at all events, did behove His
Majesty's Ministers then to bring forward a 13111 to
extend its provisions to the Navy, so as to try the
effed of it. This, therefore, amounted to a proof
that there was no intention of aiming at deception.
The whole charge against the late fslin;sters„
amounted to notiong m ae than that of a mere
accident it timis.ion, in not explaining
.sufficiently
the charges that were found necessary, and which
they found themselves bound to introduce. When the
misunderstanding was discovered, what were they to
do ? they did that which it became them to do•as men
inclined to at in an honourable capacity towards
their Sovereign and their Country. Tory with-
drew the Measure, because they found it im-
possible to assimilate the two Ads, without ex-
citing discontents amongst the Protestant Dis-
senters in both countries, unless they extended
the provisions beyond the limits of the Irish Mt.
—Such being the circumstances of the case, he
thought it was highly criminal in any other set of
Ministers to endeavour to excite alarm, as to ■ny
intentions having been entertained of overturning
the Established Church. He should wish to speak as
resp.dfully of the present Ministers as possible, but
he could not conceive, that they were men possessed
of those abilities and qualifications sn essentially ne.
cessary for the preservation of the interests of their
country, either domestic or foreign. The motion,
therefore, had his most hearty concurrence.
Lord ERSKINE—.. My Lords, I rise for the
first time, to deliver my opinion upon this subjee.
It is one, upon which, like most other subjeds, the
opinions of men must be expened most mate-
rially to differ. I think, that on the present occa-
sion, the question ought to be discussed fairly upon
the consideration of the words of the motion itself,
without endeavouring to distort them. Any de-
parture from that principle ought nether to he
deemed contemptible, than as tending to produce
lasting impressions. 'through involving compli-
cated details, it is brought before you in a manner
that can admit of no doubts as to its real import,
at least in the minds of rational men. I have
stated the meaning of the words of the Motion,
shortly, as I understand them ; and if any blame be
at all attachable, then' can at least be none attach.2,l
to me in discussing the sulijeft now before your
Lordships. The Noble Lord who has just sat down,
has anticipated a considerable pit of what I meant
to say. That long list of penal and disabling statute•,
which existed previous to the year 1793, were, at
that time, in a great degree swept away by the be-
nevolent disposition of His present M.sjes:y ; and
1 hope and trust that the Roman Catholics of Ire-
land will, at all times, recoiled, that it was in this
happy Reign they had many of their penalties
swept away. This, I am coaviticed, will be their
feeling, when I reflca upon the maMosess of t' e
Inds charades. It has been during this Reign, dr«
,