The Sun.
London, England, 1808-07-01 00:00:00

the Crown Lands, _no favour would be-shewn, nor
would any other principle than that of a lair open.
competition ; and far from tieing a boon to any one,
the ground for these houses, and the houses them-
selves, if it should be thought fit to build them,
would be the dearest in -London. But nobody must
imagine that it was in contemplation to•make-the
retrenchment of the Park .a matter of lucre, or that
the extent necessary for the recreation of the metro-
polis would be narrowed one inch.
Mr. WINDII.ANI supported the Motion. He want-
ed some security against the execution of the plan
now before the-Treasury. If the Papers moved for
were produced for the objea assigned by the Hon.
Mover, it would he certain that no step would be
taken till Parliament could turn its attention tp this
matter in the next Session. Though it was proposed
to build only eight 'houses on the verge, there would
be no limit when once the precedent of trenching on
the Park should be introduced. He did not com-
plain of the power the Crown had over the Parks,
he wished to know how the case stood between the
.Crown and the Public; whether thearrangement
made in t7g4. included the Parks ; whether they
were like other Crown lands included in' that ar-
rangement, more under the controul of the House,
or like the at her Crown lands, wholly under-the dis-
cretion of hiS Majesty. Mr. 'Windham expatiated
at considerable length, and with much whimsicality,
on the • importance of the Parks, which he described
as the lungs of London, and drew a moving piCtere
• of the dlsappointnient that would be felt by a. citizen
walking from Whitechapel to get a little fresh air in
Hyde Park, and finding the area of it crowded with
houses, vomiting smoke, and preventing vegetation.
The Parks were the only appendages of royalty that
this capital contained. There were no Palaces, ex-
cept that of St. James's, now -no- longer used as a
royal residence;, of that edifice he did not think so
meanly as others did. It certainly had, in addition
to th charaderisucs of spaciousness and antiquity,
one principle of likeness to a palace, that it was not
like any thing else. It could not possibly be taken
for the residence of a private individual. But.being
no longer used, it became more necessary to pre-
serve the Parks in their full extent. It was not sof-
- ficient to say, that the public comfort might still•be
-*consulted, though buildings should be to a certain
extent ereeled. That was done at Paris, in • the
'conversion of the gardens of Orleans into the Palais
Royal---a very beautiful thing, and combining much
of public convenience and amusement,. but viewed
with dissatisfaCtion when compared with the
gardens for which it was substituted. Ott all these
"consi;teratioris, he protested against the design re-
sommended by the Surveyor,General of Crown
Lands.

Mr. SHERIDAN coincided entirely in the opinions
of his Right Hun. Friend. He had long turned his
thoughts to the architedural improvements of West-
minster, and had formed some plans which he
intended to propose to be carried into.eireet. But it
was a fixed-principle with him, that not one inch of
the Parks should.be taken from the Public. It. ap- •
peared that the plan now under cwisideratiOn,
though so short is time known to the.TreAsury, was
far advanced ; and he could not conceive wn)
Fordyce should assume the right of naming particu.-
lar individuals treatit with them, and as if his recUm-
Inemiation at xtu, ,p4ap.sina pvvnuns nwst necessarily
be acceded to. He thought it ;fight nut only that
there should be a competition, but that there should
be obligations to build in a style- of proper grandeur.
He censured the taste of the houses in Hamilton.
place, and blamed the injustice of depriving .the in-
habitants of Park-lane of the prospeiA of the
He would preter building in Rotten-sow, .where the
Gentlemen may lounge up and down, with Ladies. to,
look
.at ,them, without any injury to .anyone. lie
Was ready• to do justice to the fairness of -,Mr. Fir.
dyce's conduet in his (Alice, which was by no mean&
liable to the charge of favouritism. He acknow;.
legged also the great benefit which the,hind revenue
had derived from Mr. Fordyce's plan. He hoped
his Majesty's Ministers would give assurance that the
plan which had excited.so rimeii alarm Would not be
proceeded on, and that his. Hon, Friend *would. on
that assurance withdraw his motion. He gave 'mike'
that be would, early in the next Session, bring for-
ward his
,plan for the systematic architemiural im-
provement of Westminster. He had communicated
this plan to his Hon. Friends when in otticel but
they were adverse to it from motives of economy 3
though he thought he had given them reason to be-
lieve that it Would not be so expensive as they at
first imagined.
Aftei a few words From the SECRETARY at WAR
and Mr. HosiciSSON, the House divided--,-For the
Motion, 2a=Against it, 3(5. AdjoUrned.