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

RiiAM;l

•
found the House in this situtation. He could not
consider this as an applicatioh from the Prince of
Wales; he considered his Royal Highness as pas-
sive in :lie question. He was called upon, how-
ever, to vote upon the question, and he nieant to
take it as he found it. The House had proposed
certain sum, to enable the Prince of Wales to resume
his state and dignity ; that sum WO found insuffici-
ent for the desired objet. What was the situation
of the House? They were called upon, either to
give up the object, or to enlarge the sum. He wish-
ed- to know, what sum was necessary for the pro-
posed purpose, in order that he -might know whe-
ther the object to be attained was worth the sum to
be given fur it? Upon this question he could not
decide, till it Ifas ascertained what sum v. as ac-
tuallx necessary, and therefore lie should fur
the Committee.

Mr. FULLER explained.
Mr. GOLDING supported the previous question.
Mr. SHERIDAN said, that after the maint..r iu
which the Motion of his Hon. Friend (Mr. C.d-
craft) had been met, he must suppose that. there
was in reality little oppo,:ition to it ; and indeed he
had observed so little difference of opinion upon the
subject, that he deprecated any hostile division
upon this question. From the indisposition of Gen-
tlemen on the other side to address the House, he
could not but 'think that they wished the original
Motion to be carried, and particularly, because he
could not but think that the Right Honourable
Gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) must
wish to give full e ilea to his Majesty's Message.
With respe& to the Prince's disposition upon the
subject, they ought to consider what was fit for the
Prince, and not exactly what he wished. Was it
honourable to the Prince to believe that His Royal
Highness was indifferent as to the resumption of
that splendour and dignity which he owed to the
Country. What was the question ? The Right
Hon. Gentleman (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
had said he lamented that circumstances should pre-
vent the Prince of Wales from immediately resuming
his state anddignity; circumssanceswhich,were they
known, would do the highest honour to his Royal
Highness's feelings, 'Wily should not the House
know those circumstances, as well as the Right Hon.
Gentleman ? The opposition to the motion of his
Hon. Friend seethed merely to turn upon points of
form ; he did not doubt that his Hon. Friend would
have any objection to change the shape ofhis motion,
so as to meet those objedions. An Hon. Gentle-
man (Mr. Johnstone) had regretted that the Prince
of Wales should have made any compromise of his
claims ; he (Mr. Sheridan) did not 'regret it ; he
thought the Prince's Law Officers had Advised him
well in advising him to make that compromise, as
there must have been a great indelicacy in the mode.
in which those claims must have been prosecuted,
and the manner in which the set-off against them
must have been required.. The Hon. Gentleman,
(Mr. Johnstone) had said,•that in 1795 there were a
great many Sacribins, and the resumption of the state
and dignity of the Prince of. %vales was more neces-
sary at that period than at the present. According to
this argument, the greater the number of Jacobins,
the greater degreh of state and splendour was requi-
site for the branches of the Royal Family: God
forbid that the Jacobins should be the principal
supporters of the Monarchy ! Two owls once dis-
coursing in the rains of an old tower, ardently pray-
ed for tne continuance of the reign of a Prince, who,
as stated in the country, because they derived a ma-
terial advareage from it; so, if the arguments of the
Hon.:Gentleman were to prevail, the Royal Family
might say, God send plenty of Jacobins, for
then we shall enjoy more splendour and greater
dignity. An Honourable Baronet (Sir R. Buxton,)
seemed to think that there was no necessity for any
splendor to be attached to the Prince of Wales, but
that his virtues were sufficient. That splendor
ought to be necessarily attached to Monarchy, there
couldbe no doubt ; but if the argument of the Hon.
Baronet Was to be applied to the Prince of Wales,
it ought to be applied to all; for instance, if
it was diseovered that splendor was unnecessary
for the branches of the Royal Family, it might
next be discovered that a house at the public ex.
pence Was unnecessary ; or for the Speaker to give his
hospitable dinners in ; that a state-coach to go up to
St. James's was useless ; and that the Speaker might
walk up to St. James's wrapped up in his virtues
and a warm surtout: it might next be discovered
that there was no necessity for any shew or parade
for the Judges going the Circuits, and the Chief
Justice might be sent down in the Mail Coach to
hold the assizes. It was needless to pursue the ar-
gument further; every one must be convinced that
state and splendour were necessary appendages to
the Monarchy, and to the officers of Government.
It was acknowledged that there were impediments
which would prevent the Prince of Wales from
immediately resuming that state and splendour
which was wished ; and those impediments it was
acknowledged, arose from circumstances which did
His Royal Highness the highest honour ; it was
therefore, in his opinion, necessary that the House
should know what those circumstances were, which
would be obtained by granting the Motion of his
Honourable Friend.
Lord HAWKESBURY said, he should not have
risen hadit not been for the construction put by the
Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Sheridan), on the silence
of Gentlemen on this side of the House, who, as
the fact was, rather chose to give silent votes upon
the question, considering that it had been suffi-
ciently discussed by others. In opposing the
original motion, they were actuated by no other
motive than that of duty to their King and the
Public • and if there was a difference of opinion
upon the subject, it was principally as to the
means. The Honourable Gentleman who had
last spoken, 'as well as several other Honourable
Gentlemen, seemed to have mistaken the tendency
of his Majesty's Message ; he did not see in the
terms or the sense of it, any thing which held out
an idea of the Prince of Wales immediately resum-
ing his State find Dignity ; the objed of the Message
was, a Provision for the comfort and dignity of
the Prince of Wales, and provision had been pro-
posed accordingly, fot the purpose of increasing
that comfort and dignity without an immediate re-
sumption of His Royal I lighnes's State and Dignity
being in contemplation. In 1795, a considerable
difference of opinion prevailed upon the subject,
but it was then thought proper nut to adopt any
measure for the immediate payment of the debts of
the Prince of Wales. His Right Hon. Friend the
then :-hancellor of the Exchequer proposed an
increase of the income of his Royal Highness, and
.an appacyr:atiou of 73,0001. per annum for the

_.._.

.r.
w

•
payment of the :Prince's (Kis. His Right, HMI.
Friend (the ('hencellor off' the Exchequer). Wee
few niehts since proposed to restore his 'Royal
Highness to the full use of his income. As ko thee
question respec:ing his ROva) Highness% immediate
resumption of his state and dignity, there-were itn•
pediments which prevented it; those impediments
were stated to be certain debts, which the Prince of
Wales conceived himself bound in honour to pay, S
and His Royal Highness woul 1 not resume his sta
till those debts were liquiarted.—As to His. RoeW
Highness's feelings, he could say nothing, but the
question was,_Could the House, after the At of
1795, take cognizance of any further debts of the
Prince of Welts? Some of them might be of mt. h
a nature, that it would be neither proper -nor rig i
for the House to take cognizance of them. P. • •
thought that consistently, the House could open 114)
new account of the debts of the Prince of Wales.
It would he unjust to press His Royal Highness to
resume his splendour until he had discharged those •
debts of honour, nor ought he to. be called up-
on to do it. The House had proposed to give
him the full use of his income, which would e -
able him to discharge those debts four years
sooner than he otherwise could have done. In !
doing this he thouelit they had aged conformably
to their duty, consistently withthe At of 1795, and
in a manner which would be creditable to the illus-
trious personage alluded to. He objeeted to the •
motion for the appointment of a Meet Committee '
to inquire into tne causes which prevented the im-
mediate resumption of the state and splendor of the
Prince of Wales ; they did his Royal Highnets the
highest honour ; yet many of them might be found
to be of a private nature, which it would be indeli-
cate and improper to inquire into. Under these
circumstances he should support the previous qUes-
don.
S:r JOHN WROTTESLEY conceived the
question had two objects, the resumption of the
dignity of his Royal Highness, and his personal
comfort. He most cordially supported the Motion,
fully persuaded that it was calculated to promote
those two desirable objeffs, but in doing so he de-
s;red to be understood that he considered himself at
liberty ,to adopt any opinion afterwards which
the result of further inquiry might suggest to
him. If an invetigation took place, circumstances
might be brought before the House which might
induce a change in the sentiments of those who at
present were desirous of supporting the Motion. He
thought it was a matter of national prudence,as well
of national dignity and honor, to allow his !loyal
Highness to resume the splendour of his former
style of living ; but with regard to the Bill which
was before Parliament, he could not consent to sup-
port it without further proofe-There was an ambi-
guity about the bill which he highly disapproved
of, and it was not enough, in order to justify his
supporting its provisiops, that he should merely be
told it had the sandion of his Majesty's Ministers,
and of the servants of his Royal Highness.
tertaining the ideas he did, be should certainly vote
for the Motion.
Mr. Wsa. SMITH said, he also meant to give
his vote for going into 'the inquiry, He consiclere
ed it extremely necessary, and -he entertained pre-
cisely the same sentiments on the subjed as the
Hon. Baronet who fiad just sat down. There was
not only, with regard to the Bill, a degree of ambi-
guity which it was impossible to develope, but it
was contradidory to every measure adopted in and
since the year 1795. He trusted that the inquiry
would be gone into, in order that every thing which
should be done might be done openly, and upon
principles every man might avow. He did not
meal to dispute the propriety 'of his Royal High-
ness being enabled to support that dignity and
splendour which naturally belonged to his high
rank ; but the objedion he entertained was this: in
the year 1795 an Hon. Gentleman, net now in the
House, proposed that the sum of 125,0001. a year
should be granted for the support of his dignity ;
but though at the same time he proposed that sues
as absolutely necessary to enable the Prince to live
in the style which the honour of his charader re-
quired, he rendered the provision ineffedual by ano-
ther proposition for deduding 75,0001. to be ap-
propriated to the liquidation of his debts. Now,
these two things were perfedly eontradidory. If it
was so necessary to the honour and interest of the
country that the Prince of Wales should live in a
style of splendour, and that to support it a cer-
tain sum at least wee necessary, it could not pos-
sibly .be consistent for part of that money to be
applied to the payment of debts. It had happened,
that the House, by not seeing the question in this
point of view, and applying itself to the establish-
ment of an adequate income on the one hand, and
the payment of the Prince's debts on the other, had,
in fad, neither effeded the one or the other. The
dignity and comfort of his Royal Highness, he con-
sidered inseparable from the interest of the come-
try, and, therefore, he should vote against the pre-
vious question. •
Lord CASTLEREAGH said, it was not from
any doubt that remained on his mind, as to the
necessity and propriety of placing his Royal High.
ness in that independent station, which had been so
justly considered by many gentlemen necessary to
the real interests of the country ; but he could not
avoid feeling his mind biassed, by the grounds
stated by his Right Hon. Friend (the Chancellor of
the Exchequer). He could not bring his mind at
all to comprehend, or, at least, approve the distinc-
tinction made by the Hon. Gentleman who spoke
last. He had two grounds of objedion to going
into the enquiry ; first., he thought it would be alto-
gether without the authority, sandion, or approba-
tion of his Royal Highness. Without such sane-
don end approval on the part of his Royal High-
ness, it would be extremely premature to enter
into an investigation of his private concerns ; this
was of itself a decisive objection ; but there WIS
another reason, namely, that the result of the en-
quiry might be the means of producing an died upon
the public mind, greatly injurious to the charader of
Parliament. In 1795, measures were taken, the ob-
jeds of which were to liquidate the existing debts of
the Prince, and to guard agalrat new ones. It was
distinctly understood by the public, at that time, that
the extent of his debts were estimated at least
within the 60,0001. the provision appropriated by
Parliament for the adjustment of them. The ac-
count of the commissioners was presumed not to
',contain any material error; it was supposed to have
been prepared with such caution and deliberation,
that the public could not imagine it contnined any
-etrone.)us statement. It was therefore he thought
it woeid be more for the boom. of the PriuCe wf

~ Y

~,.: .