The National Register.
London, England, 1812-05-24 00:00:00

hausted themselves in vaii, eirort, .ind tired iiut th►: pa-
tience of the nation.

On the 26th of June 1807, on the usual motion for an
address to the Throne, fraught with charges against the
Administration, Mr. PERCEVAL to-e in rep!y to Lord.
HowicK, now Earl GREY, and entered into an elaborate
deferee if himself and his colleagues.
He observed, that notwithstanding the almost indefen-
bible reeener in which the Opposition had dissolved the
Parrament which ,existed at the commeneement of their
Administration, still they could see welling in the last
Perliament which rendered a dissolution necessary :
" Nething," said Mr. P. 44 in the known and proheble
differences of the Members of the last Parliament, on cer-
tain great questi-us ; nothing in the division which pre-
vailed, upon a particular topic, between the Soteareign
and his late Ministers, which division, in my mind, pecu-
liarly suggested the propriety of an appeal to the coun-
try." 66 I would refer to the Speech front the Ti.rone, at
the dose of the last Parliament, for a cheail of these rea-
sons. What, I would beg gentlemen to recollect, was the
situation in which the King stood ? Did he not appear as
the sole obstacle, of a measure which proposed concessions
to relieve a portion of his people ? Did he not api,eer as
a barrier in the way of those concessionc, ? n,w,' in such
ciecurnstences, was it not , necessary •to the honour and
character of the sovereign, to shew that it was not by his
will alone that the measure.l refer to shonld he -resieted,
but that such woo the •general sentiment of the country ?"
" The Catholic quevien, and a certain other measure, if
measure it could be called (which had for its object the
forcing back of the late Ministers into power, in opposition
to the :on isee'.ty of the Crown), had been just discussed :
And I would ask any man in his senses, whether that wag
not the precise period to- choose, for the reasons I heve
already stated ; and particularly when the immediate pur.
pose of the dissolution was to ascertaie the sentimeets of
the peophl upon .the nature and object of these measure."
Fe denied that the dissolution had occasioned material in-.
convenience to any classes of men, or any injury to the
public business. After insisting upon his Majesty's right
to understand the. Coronation Oath for himself, and thats
if he thought any proposition contrary to that great oei.:l,
he would, of course, by so acceding to it, be guilty of a
breach of his oath, Mr. PERCIWAL proceeded to sheer
that the Church would have been in
.danger,. had the late
Ministers been permitted to follow the course they lied en-
tered upon with respect to the Catholics. " Would they nor,
if in their power, have repealed the Test Act t' Yes,' ee.
claimed a voice out of the Opposition Bench )—Then, re.
smiled Mr. PEACEVA I, those who regarded that act as essen.
tial C., the safety of our Church Establishment were cor-
rect and consistent in supposing the Church in danger un-
der the government of such Ministers. Therefore the cry
of the Church in danger was raised ; and if it were a
false cry, it never couhl have been productive of such cf..
tects as this Noble Lord imagined, nor could it ever have.
been promoted by so insignificant an individual as himself."
Mr. PERCTVAL then expressed his firm conviction slut
The proposed concessions would not have contented those