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

6

I

NATI

Majesty's household ; and to dispose, 'order; and manage
all other matters and things, relating to the care of his Ma-
jesty's Royal person, during the time aforesaid valid that for
the better enabling her Majesty to discharge this important
trust, it is also expedient that a Council should be appointed, to
advise and assist her Majesty, in the several matters aforesaid ;
and with power, from time to time, as they may see cause, to
examine upon oath the Physicians anti others, attending his
Ma-
jesty's person, touching the state of his Majesty's health, and
all matters relative thereto."
The Right lion: Gentleman thm briefly adverted to the differ-
ent clauses contained in that Resolution. He did not mean
that there should be any limitation in her Majesty's power to be
ntrusted with the care of the King's person ; ( hear, near !) the
limitations attached only to her power of disposing of the King's
household ; these limitations he meant to last for the same pe-
riod as those attached to the Regent's power, and to be like-
wise regulated by a Bill. No limitation as to tlx care of the
Royal person could posibly be assigned. As long as his Ma-
esty laboured under his present infirmity, no choice could be
more congenial to all the feelings of human nature ; should it
he unfortunately prolonged, it would be for the consideration
of Parliament to adopt such further mcasurts as they might
deem expedient. Let if the power over the household, to which
be had before alluded, were nut granted to her Majesty, should
the King recover in the. spaCe of six weekS;or any other given
period, he might find all his household changed, and his most
ancient servants, to whom he had been long accustomed, dis•
missed from their employment. On the whole of those consi-
derations the Right Hon. Gentleman was sure that Parliament
would find limitations to the Regent's power absolutely neces-
sary: they were, he would repeat, to considEr the Monarchy
and the Monarch.

The first Res.()lotion having been read from the Chair,
Mr. I,Ans observed, that the arguinents ut the Right Hon.
Gentleman were toundtd un the principle that the throne was
full, and he was ready n) admit the soundness of the doctrine.
It was, however, essential to define what was really meant by
political capacity in tile person filling the throne, or the ambi-
guity of the expression might otherwise lead into great errors.
If it was meant by the political capacity now attributed to his •
Majesty, that all authority delegated by him, might continue to
be administered in his name; this he was willing to allow, but
he would not admit that doctrine of political capacity, if it
meant that his Majesty was able to use his discretion, and to
superintend the exercise of the authority so delegated by
him. To snpnly that deficiency the House was then assembled;
the question was not who should be the Regent, that the Prince
should be called to that high office was universally admitted,
but they were to decide whether it should be with or without
any restrictions. The precedent of 1788 had been quoted as a
precedent which ought to,he followed in all its points, but the
Hon. Gentleman denied the authority of such a precedent, in-
asmuch as that boasted authority wanted the most necessary
clualification to comt:tute a precedent, it had never been acted
upon, it wanted the test of experience, the only mode of judging
of the effects of any measure. The Hon. Gentleman contended
besides, that immense allowances ought to be made for the dif-
ference of living since the pei iod of 1788, twenty diptrous,
twenty tremendous years had pa,•sed over our heads ; and in
mentioning the pre,ent state of the country, and of the war in
"chich we found ourselves cngaged,the Rich. [ion. Gentleman
b spol;cn with a levity highly indecorous. (11cor, ;war I) In
.17?,8, we were not only at peace, but in a state of perfect secu-
rity ; no domineering power striding over the whole world,
threatened this country with destruction. In 1788 began in
France those troubles which haveslnee 'spread desolation over
Europe. He would ask the Right Hon. Gentleman, if, when
the latent e_f•els of that political epidemy burst forth in thia coun-
try, as in every other, they would have been smothered by a
government limited as he proposed the Regency to be. He
merely meant to know whether he thought, that in that very
particular moment the Royal prrogative ought to have been
limited ? and if he answered in the negatiVe, as it might be na-
turally supposed ; on what grounds would he jmtify the restric-
tions he now meant to put on the Regent's power.--( Hear;
hear ! ) In the period which immediately followed 1788, the
wild extravagance of jacobinical principles, might in some de-
grce hive operated as an antidote to the poison they too clum•
lily concealed : hese doctrines..had now assumed both In the
House and abroad, a 'more • plausible appeneance., and had of
course become riiire dangerous. The flonn Meinher thought
besides that the distinction made by 'the Right Hon. Gentte-
man, between the power tate;:ssary to the Crowa,to carry on the
'war, and those r Mr the Other .d;ttlet ,of .C.overtnient
comp:t ti ly unconstitwional. He considered the- King and the
people ~s one 10 a political views - He muuld asiehigui if in the
txr.-lienTe is htttl scqulred,while:itt .or When .connected
Achshititratnory,T had- fOund that the Prerogative
tot Ceeitnn ss-as tnaro. tliaftet:Pitielf7.on7arry the nit •itiures .)

AL REGISTER.

the Executive Government ?• He, for his own 1 ';` a. far
different idea of the power delegated to the Crown he thought
the exertion of that power in creating Peers by no means detri-
mental to the interests or liberty of the people ; it added weight
to the Legislative Body, and increased the national representa-
tion, in proportion to the increase of property. To limit the
Regency power ie this respect, would amount to the same thing
as limiting the power of the King himself. That part of the
Resolutions which related to the Royal Housohold might, in his
opinion, he reduced into a very narrow compass. The places
in that huu•ehol which were ofttn the reward of service,
would, by the regulations proposed by the Right Hon. Cent're-
man, be now put at the disposal of the Queen, who had no
share whatever in the Executive Government ; not only that,
hut the nation would be saddled with two establishments, the
one for the Regent, and the other for the King, who in his pre-
sent situation was unable to enjoy that splendour, with . which
it was thought proper to surround him. In consequence of the
considerations he had submitted to the House, the Honourable
Member would move, by way of an Amendment, That all the
words beginning by " subject to such limitations and exce2-
tiens" should be omitted.

Mr, CAAN!NG thonght the House was now arrived at that
point where authority ceases and discretion begins. \k hen he
said the point at which authority ceases, he meant, that autho-
rity failed the House technically, as a Parliamentary authority,
able to give sanction to the deeds of the two Houses. They
were assembled to supply the deficiency of the Executive Power,
and whether the Prince was invested with sufficient atithorHe
to fulfil that purpose, with or without restrictions, there was no
doubt, no possibility that he would be considered in any other
light than as a trustee to his Majesty. In defining the authority
they were thus about to entrust to the Regent, he would not
adopt his, Hon. Friend's opinion; he would not admit the dis-
tinction between the power necessary to carry on the war, and
that which was indispensible for the internal government of the
coentrv. These two ways in which the Royal authority acted,
were not to be separated ; and even in carrying on the war, it
was not by solitary and unconnected acts that the Executive
Government principally acted, but by its hyluence and impres-
sims on the whole of the Slate, wlose resources they called into ne-
tioz. In all modes of warfare, this power, unrestricted, was
hardly adequate to 'nett the failures anal the difficulties of every
kind, springing at every step ; and in. the arduous warfare in
which we were engaged, Government was left with still less
men to meet increased diffienlties. To the restrictions pro-
posed in 1783, new ones were now proposed; to the exceptions
then named, new ones were now mentioned. Becanse he
would not consent to the restricting of the Regent in the grant-
ing of peerages; he should he asked, " What! would you rob
a gallant and victorious officer of those marks o his Sovereign's
favour to meritorious persons, as rewards for great and gallant
services to the State, the power should be allowed to be 60 e'er•
cased, that the Regent would be following the Constitution, and
would not be acting in a way that would tend to undo it. Prero-
gative ceased to be prerogative when it was exercised in the
manner proposed by the Bill. The provisions of the Bill were
practically inconvenient and injudicious. What was it that
made honors re respectable to the meritorious hero It was the
reflection that they flowed spontaneous from the Sovereign's
mind; and to use the words that have been before repeated in
that House, when they were bestowed in such a tuannerithen
they " blest him that gave, and him that took:" But what
would be the reflections of those who received 'honours front
the Regent. if followed by such a Bill as was proposed ? That
he received honours agreeably to the regulations.olan Act of Par-
liament, when they ought to have been the spontaneous rewards
of the Sovereign. Such would be the galling reflections that
would rankle in the bosom of an Officer. who had been honour-
ed agreeably to the regulations of an Act of Parliament, and
that would make those honours sit uneasy oa the honoured. In
his opinion, therefore, to restrict the Regent with respect to the
peerage, as proposed would be the source of endless discussions
in that House.. Questions might arise, whether the Rtent, as
the officer of Parliament for the distribution of honours by con.
ferrlieg Peerages, had not exceeded • the' • trust by giving them,
where they were not.metited,•or whether hq badmat omitted to
give where they were merited: Such in all human probability
would be the consequence, one way or the other the Regent's
disposal of Peerages could scarcely escape • discussion in that
Efuuse. He would 'rather that the prerogative, with respect to
the Pretrao.in the eerson of the Regent, should be suspended fur
a twelveluonth, than that it .ahould be restricted a& proposed, and
flee: Regent thereby exposed to.oppositi nt froM the Parlianent.
Much had at .ditYerent tunes been said about the lavish use of the
•Peerage, and that tended to gbie an undue influence to the
Crowell; but he could not see that any undueinetience had been
given to the Crownby thei use-it lead made of the peerage, and
he ktittLted n:uch wbether, ihe pore?' the peerage ,ZINISCV/0/ to the
tatp unlimitetorere c' f
, . AW' •

-