The Sun.
London, England, 1810-12-21 00:00:00

trumßEß. 5700.1

IPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF PEERS.

TUURSDAY, DEC. 20.

STATE OF THE NATION.
About half-pastfoir o'clock, Earl Camden, Lord
president of the Council', entered the House. The
li
lurehdance of the Peers was pretty full, and his
rdshie immediately laid upon he table the Re-,
l'"ft ',ot. i-ne Committee appoihted to examine the
Oyill-Physici;hrs touching the stated' his Majesty's
'ealth; _which, being first reed shOrt by the Clerk,
4s ordered. to be printed for the ese of their Lord.
ship,- ,
11 Lord HoLLAND rose. He was induced, -lie said,
4 sirougesetese of public duty, when he consider-
vd the monientous---avri critical situation in which
i6t t-uutry w is -plated, -to address their Lordships
i
l';lti,is state o! tee pr ,ceedings, with letereiice to
eenerel se: e:•et leen they- shortly woul,l .have
dlicuss. In this view, of tese critical
4'•l to mete uns cireuniStances, he would have to
kt seine quest 0:-,s,:whictL'st.ruck him to be of the
krealest Onnortance- to:those who, at this period of
Palapi:y .cziarnity, were the official directors: of .his
testy S Goverinneet. Those questions necessaii-
,Y aro.e.out Of the n.,0,1e6t proceeding which those
Ministers had deelartd their intention. to adopt, and
'they related to. points which would evince to all
Lordships I.:me necessity there was for their
cal ,ittg to the'mosi speedy, nay an immediate deci-
-B.l",.ifit werepossibk., upOn the greaiquestidu pend.
!rig hetorohote 'Houses. It was not -however his
41,(erition to press these questions: in aey nostik
Delta of view, but merely
.10 state, what eoutts
inena call for an iminvdi tic d- isiun,
acrd on Ahich they W. •did consider wnether or not
safety t.l•the•pubitc service a decision on such
•,15°.11,1ts druid be ant- longer postponed.. He would
mrst beg leave to say a very tew words as to'the
bde of prc>ceeding_which the N;)1.1e. Secretary of
, tate had declared -it was the ,tion of Ministers
to propose-in deli House'-ti ThurSclay next. They
‘vere to submit- to toe consideration of ,the House
three- ReSointirins, -overe agteed to by outh
Houses' in 1788. Onque first of those, uittortu-
!*tely, there was not the smallest hope of any nit-
4ence cif :opinion (eking place. Tile second re-,
slated to tlie right as supposed by some to
4evoi-ve, in such circumstance, upon the Huuse of
U,,on this propos,tion, it • was his in-
tention to move the previous questioe. 13,A, wiib
tespett to the tithd Resolution, which went pradi.
e4lly to recommend the mode of I)l'A:ceding by 811,
and was therefore ii,e.more especially qv ut thy et tue
most serious attention of their Lordship,, a NuOie
Friend 'of his bad given notice
.of his determination
to propose an atuen,itnent, substitut iug, instead t here-
;l!! an Address to his R,ryal Highness ihe Prince of
Wales, to take ni,on him the Civil and y
Atl-
tbinistration of the Government. This Amendment
would therefore involve the question of prekrence
between the two modes of procteding, by Bill or
by Address. These coasidelatioos would embrace a
Variety of questions, more or less referring to the
fundamental principles of the Constitution. Not'.
'withstanding the great differeiice of opinion enter-
tained as to the preferable (node of proceeding by,
Address,-or by what was called by 13111, and the dn.
fetent opinions ehtertained-by ..iNeblelFriend, then
absent, for wl(ose sentiments arid authorities re,
sheet was equally protbend, and cordial, he 'telt, it in-
eumberit on. him to' declare, that in every view he
Was able to take of the: s.,bjeet, it appeared
to him, wit h' refel ence to the genuine principles of
. the. Constitution, to-be utterly impossible to -.pro,
ceed in any other. itiode than by, the mode of Ad-
dress. Yet 'betides conside.rattons, it .was very
likely that a third oeirtion, or rulejor the guidance
.of their decisions ,A cifild'. held by many Noble
Lords, and' by nutty of hound
and accurate ender-,
standiegs,. n itnely,i ►hat their votes-must be decided
by the present state of the public service, They
.'ere all agree4.l it was necessary to supply the
deficiency wh-•.ch 'atihapeily existed as to the personal,
exercise of the royal authority ; in _viewing this, it
'would be imperative upon their Lord-hip:No consi-
der ibeevast diffeience of circumstances between the
Present period and that of 1788. At that period such
a line of conduct may be witlibUt co;nusiti ing
the,happiness or the safety of the Empii e ; but in such
a perilous crisis as the present, were that precedent
to befully acted upon, it may 'evert tend to lay the
country at the feet of the eheiny, It. was this con-
sideration, so strongly_ pressing on his'initid, that in-
duced him to put the queries he was about to the No-
ble Lords opposite.. _They all referred, an :l essen-
tially, to Vie actual state anal safety of the country.
In putting these questions, he was actuated by no
party spirit, but. solely by a . sense of put4ie duty.
in the first place, with regard Mille case of Sweden,
it was a generaleopinioe, that were hostilities corn-
_ milted against this country by that, or by. any
Power, that such . hostilities conp not be met by
counter hostilities ithotit a previous declaration of
war, or a solemn prociateat ion setting forth the am-
_ fives for hostile preceeciiiiBs on the, part of the corm-
. try. He should wish to know what line of .coridu,A,
• - Would_ be pursued in such a case;
_under the suspen-
sion of the exercise-of the royal authority. He may
be told that Ministers mired upon theirs responsibi-
lity on the nec:essily of the case, but in the present
circumstances of the country) lie thought that spe-
Cies of resiiiinsibility a great evil to the State. He
well remembered the fatal Consequences of stretch-
mg the doctrine of necessity too tar, as in the case
of the important 'question of ship-money, where the
King was advised - that he was the sole judge of the
necessity,of the case. His next qUestion -respected
the recent intelligence Rout, South America, espe-
cially from Buenos Ayres, which obviously requir-
' ed some important steps to be taken, either -with a
IP reference to the common cause of liberty -or the
ge-
ileral interests of humanity. - Another point 'was