The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-03-05 00:00:00

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Those, be said, evho 'were connected with Govern-
meat last Session of Parliament, must eelsollect how
that' mestere was brought 'before the House. It
was then urged that the House was not cotepetent
to the decision of the question, and the matter was
referred to a Court of LRw. The Prince did go
accordingly with his claim into a Court of Law, and
the matter, he believed, was proceeded on. He
begged. however, to observe, that he Epoice as a man
uninformed. But what was rather strange, while
this measure was in a train fur adjudication, it oc-
curred that his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales,
had been condemned to a peunance of twelve years ;
and after seven years expiration, a new light
broke out, and it was discovered thet Ministers
should interfere to put a period to this severity. For
his part, all this seers a little extraordinary, nor
does he know how to obtain any information on the
sehjed, except by moving for some paper which he
does not know even how to term, or in a Com-
mittee. I-k had to observe, that since the rear
179.5, the Prince neither directly or indirectly had
made any application to Parliament, even hr in-
truding the most distant intimation of a wish. The
Prince, on the King's Message, and the resolutions
of the House, accepted the grant of 60,0001. with all
the filial gratitude and respect due to the pa-
tenial and gracious interposition of his Majesty,
and what refleds the highest honour on his Royal
' Highness is this, that his Message .conveys a clear
and candid explanation to the House and the pub-
lic, that though he accepts with gratitude the grant
which has been offered, yet he cannot pledge him-
self to resume his state and dignity until he had dis-
charged certain demands, in which his honour was
highly interested. But what he wished to know
particularly, was this i—when it was mentioned as
an objedion to the accommodation of his Royal
I highness, that no additional burdens should be laid
on the people—was the Prince in reality any burden
on the people ? He differed very much with an
Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Johnstone) on the calcula-
tion he had made between the Prince and the pub-
lic. The public had received 233,0001. of the
Prince's money, and the whole sum that ought
to be stated against him was 125,0001. for the dis-
charbee of his debts ; as to any other charge, when
you have a Prince of Wales, you must support his
dignity, and the sum laid out -on Carlton House
should be put to the account of the public, and'
not his Royal Highness. As to the sum of
60,0001. granted as en outfit to his Royal High-
ness on .coming of age, it rhonld certainly nut
he placed in the account against kim ; for was
there a father in that House who would not
cheerfully give his son an outfit, according to hit
abilities, on -such an occasion ? But noe to enter
into the rainutiz of the business, and to sum up
the whole, 161,0001. only could he stated against
the Prince; and the public had,,for so considerable
a length of time, the Prince's moiler, and the inte-
rest accumulating on the same; so that, pn a calcu-
lation of the same, it will appear, that after every
fair deduction is made, the public still owes 'the
Prince upwards of 300,0001. which he was confi-
dent would be fully proved, if the business was suf-'
fered to come to a final adjudication. He would
say, with confidence, that the present Prince of
Wales was the least expensive Prince to the country
that it ever had ; and he would contend, that his
Royal Highness (notwithstanding all that had been
said on the score of extravagance and burtheniug
the people) had not cost the country snore than
30,0001. from the day of his birth to the present
moment. He then adverted to the rise of every ar-
ticle of late, and said it was an objet worthy of at-
tention, that his Royal Highness's grandfather, in
the year 1738, bad a revenue of 100,0001. to which
the Prince's income of 1'25,0001. in 1795, was cer-
tainly not equivalent; for the depreciation of mo-
ney, and the rise of every necessary and luxury of
life, must render the difference very material,
and when all those circumstances were considered.
he was confident, if a committee. was granted,
any incumbrances that mayoccur would not appear
to the disadvantage of his Royal Highness. And
surely when the increased expence, which was ac-
knowledged by every rank in life, was considered,
the cry of economy should not be alone direEted to-
wards the Prince of Wales. He wished to know if
no increase had been made in the salaries at the
public offices on that head. He could produce
some items which should render Gentlemen cautious
of entering on this topic. A new officelthat of Un-
der Secretary of State) was established in 1796, and
in two years the 'salary was raised from 15001. to
20001. on the account of the increased expence of
every necessary of life. He stated before, that he
rejoiced at having this business brought forward.
and he could wish that the business may be sifted
to the bottom, because he was confident the most
scrutinizing investigation would produce nothing to
the .disadvantage of his Royal Highness. • rho
Prince had stated, ina candid and manly manner.
that he felt himself bound to discharge claims 'on
his honour, before he could resume his state and •
dignity. He did not speak from any authority, but
he must supposethat the debts alluded to principally
consisted of a foreign debt, which was not provided
for by the settlement of 1795, and the 10 per cents..
which werestruck off bytheCommissioners. How far
that measure was right, on the part of the Com-
missioners, he should not enquire; but the Prince
thought he should 'not avail himself of that settle-
ment, and felt bound, in honour, to discharge what
they had struck of—And surely this was a debt of
honour. -If the Committee was granted, and he
found an excess in the Prince's expenditure during
the last eight years, be-should not think it extraatche
nary ; and though no man.could look cloier than he
did at the application of 'the public money, yet he
should vote for its discharge, unless it was, appa-
rently teo extravagant. He might be a&nated by feel-
ings of gratitude and affeCtion towards his Royal
Highness, from whom he has experience many proofs
of polite attention; but on the present occasion he was
not less influenced by what he felt to be his duty as a
Member of Parliament, deeply interested in the e
splendour and dignity .of the Heir Apparent to the
Crown. His Majesty's most gracious Message tends
to that objed, but the •resolutions of the House are
insufficient to attain it. It therefore concerned the
character of the House to enquire into the nature of
the impediment; which opposed this .most desirable
objet ; -for which purpose he should vote for the
Motion of the Hon. Gentleman who introdaced the
aelneet.
The CHANCELLOR of the :BIECHEQUPIt
the felon. Gentleman who has just sat down 11-
'l.l e The brtging 'up die Repurt of the Results.
tions on tile day when the Hbuie was preparing to

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