Star.
London, England, 1802-04-01 00:00:00

PARLIAMENTARr PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE OF LORDS, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3t.
Mr. Mass was heard for the refpoßdent in the Scotch Ap-
peal, Galles v. Scott, and others, the 'further confederation of
which was deferred till to-morrow. '

The Marquis of SALISBURY informed their LoriMips, that
his Mayfly having been waiteduporr with their Addrefs, re-
lative to the Civil Lift Arrears, had gracioully received the

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

On the Motion of Mr. W. Dont/AS. the Dundee Twapentdes
Scotch Bill was read a third time, paffed, and ordered to be
carried to the Lords.
Mr. BUIDON brought Ip the Retort of the Committee on
the encouragement to be given to Life Boats, which, after
fome telling converfation, was ordered to lie on the table, and
to be printed.
On the Motion of Lord GLa aflame, the order for the
Report of the Committee on the Corn Trade between Great
Britain and Ireland, to be referred to a Committee of the
whole Honk, was poßponed to Fridarnext.
The Sheriffs of the City of London having attended at the
Bar, Mr. Sheriff RAVfLINS prefented a Petition from the Lord
Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of Lon-
don, praying for repeal of the income Tax, which Was order-
ed to lie on the table.

Mr. SHERIDAN We notice, that, on the faced dap after
the Eager reeds, it was his intention to draw the attention of
the Honk to fame late proceedings in the Carnatic.

PRINCE OF WALES.
Mr. Mammies SUTTON having called the atten-
tion of the Houfe to the claims of his Royal High.
nefs the Prince of Wales to the revenues of the
Duchy of Cornwall fince his birth, addrefred the
Chair to the following effea—,4 Sir, I rife in con-
fequence of the notice which I have given, and in
order to difcharge the duty, to the performance of
which I have pledged myfelf, to propofe that the
' Houfe fbould enter into an examination of the ac-
counts of the Prince of Wales, refpeaing the fums
due to him from his revenues of the Duchy of
Cornwall. Although fatisfied as I have reafon to
be, with the force oithe arguments upon which the
claims of his Royal Highnefs are founded, and
feeling as I do, great confidence in the juftice
of thefe claims, and in the decifion of the Houfe ;
yet I am not fo vain as to think that no informa-
tion is neceffary in addition to that which has been
already advanced upon a fubjea of fo much con-
cern, in which the interefts of the Prince and of
the public are equally implicated. I haie,'Sir, up.
on a former occafion, Rated Tome circumftances
which were not unfavourably received, and it is
now my duty to go more at length into the grounds
by which the rights of the Prince of Wales may be
belt maintained. I am thankful to the Houfe for
the attention and indulgence with which I was
heard, at the moment to which I allude, and the
only return I think rnyfelf enabled to make, is to
endeavour to be as wort as poffible in the obferva-
tions I have to fubmit. It is necelTary to premife
that the objet of my motion goes to the appoint-
ment of a Committee, for enquiring into, and af-
certaining what Rims have been received, and by
whom, from the revenues of the Duchy of Corn-
wall, from the birth of his Royal 'Highnefs the
Prince of Wales, to his coming of age, and in
what way, or in what.part or parts they have been
applied ? and alto for the purpofe of afcertaining
the amount of the fums advanced to his Royal
Highnefs from the period of his coming of age,
until the sth of June, r7og ? In fupporting tins
motion, I do not feel much hefitation in contend-
ing. whatever appeal might be made to the Courts
of Law, or whatever decifions may have previouf-
ly taken place on fubjeas of this nature, that it is
the province of Parliament to difcufs and deter-
mine the queftion which is thus brought forward
for their confideration. There are two principal
points which in my mind call for particular ex-
amination. The &it is whether the Prince is or
is not entitled to the rums arifing from the revenues
of Cornwall from the period already mentioned ?
and the fecond, whether the public have, by the
application of thefe funs, derived any benefit from
them ? I (ball undertake to Rate, that the firit
point is one which does not involve any nice or
abftrufe queftion of law, and I hope I (hall be
able to fatisfy the Houfe, that upon that head they
can entertain no doubt whatever. The title of
the Prince of Wales to the revenues of the
Duchy of Cornwall, originated in a grant from
King Edward HI. to his fon, the hlack Prince, and
in the records of that grant it is exprefsly Rated
that they were aligned to him for the maintenance
of the dignity attached to his birth. It recognized
molt explicitly the inveitment of the revenues of
the Duchy in the perfon of the eldeft urn of the
King—fo born he was undoubtedl y entitled to them,
and his claims to the property were eftabli (Ind from
the hour of his birth. I mutt however obferve, that
the King is entitled to manage the produce of the
revenues until the Prince attains his full age ; but
I with to be clearly underftood in raying, that the
prefent queltion is by no means one which
lies between his Majetty and the Prince. The
King has not received any of the revenues, nor
have they in any refpea been applied to his ufe ;
but if they had, I think it my duty to remark,
that neither I nor any other perfon would have
been permitted to agitate the queftion here or elle-
where. I underfland, that doubts have been enter-
tained with refried to the juftice of the claims for
which I am an advocate, by a Noble and learned
friend of mine in the other Boat, and by another

learned friend They have, Sir, I am hap.
py to fay, Ratted doubts cinly. If it be maintain.
ed that the King is entitled to receive the reve-
nues during the infancy of the Prince without ren-
dering an account of the diffiurfements and appli-
cation of inch rums, I have to ()Verve in anfNer,
that no fuels doctrine or practice was kno'wn or re-
forted to even in gitard;anfhip in chivalry. Ani
fhould my alfertion he found incnrreCt in that te-
epee, it would be funicient for my purpole to Hate
that the whole of that feudal fyilem teas abolilhed
by the At of Charles 11. Again, if any prero-
gative of the Crown be let up, it mull ante out of
the grant; but here I (hall endeavour to thew, tint
no filch right can be eltabliffied from the experi-
ence of many fucceilive reigns. The Biotic Prince
continued in poileflion of the Duchy of Cornwall
and all its revenues and profits for eorty years,and
his Ibis Richard had afterwards livery of polTerlion.
Henry IV. when his eldeft fon was but ten years'
of age, alto ave to the Prince livery ef poireftion.'
But the molt material circumftances in favour of
the claims will he foitnd to have occurred in the
reign of Henry VI. During that reign, and from
the year 1f53 to 1455, an Mt of Parliament was
palled in the fourteenth year of the Prince of
Wales, granting, after the application of a certain
part of the revenues to the maintenance of the.
Prince, the refidue to be difpnfed of for the benefit
of his Majefty's Houfehold ; but loon after, in
1459, a Petition was prefented by the Prince's
Council, aliening Lis,Royal Highnefs's right to
the enjoyment oldie revenues from his birth, and
calling for livery as abfolute and ample as any that
had been given to hispredeceffers. This was called
a Petition of Right, and I beg, Sir, to aflc, what
is the inference to be drawn from this pucedent ?
The dedudion is plain and undeniable; that the
King 'poirelfed no right by his prerogative, or if
he did, it may be demanded why he complied witla
the object of the Petition which fct the right at de-
fiance ? Thus, Sir, I hope I (hall not be thought
prefumptuous in raying that we have fufficrent
proof that the eldeft fon of the Kin" is entitled,
from the moment of his birth, to all the profits
and revenues arifing out ofslte Duchy of Cornwall,
and that the claim has been famdioned by the de-
cifion of Parliament. In the next reign, in the
year 147 z, We learn that Edward the Fourthgrant.
ed livery of poireffion of the Duchy of Cornwall to
his eldeli fon, then only eight years old, and the
patent vetting in the Prince the dignity and rive.
nues recognized his title to them in the fullelt fettle
which can fat* the molt fctupulous mind; while
it mutt' not be palled over that the grant was rad:
fled by the Lords and Commons. ‘Ve next come
to the reign of Henry tb. Seventh, and here oar
attention is arrelled by fart: which are in every
point of view incontrovertible. Prince Arthur was
born in 1486, and livery was given to him cagily
in the fame terms, and conaituting the Prince of
age with refine to the Duchy of Cornwall when
born, .as folly as if he bad attained the age of 21.
Upon this Chief Juftice Dodderidge remarks, that
it (hewed the King was bound to make livery to
the Prince, equalty as if he had reached his 2 tit
year ; and that the title .if his Majefly to any ad-
vantages arifing from the DuchyofCornwall ceafail
the moment the Piince of Wales was born. Prints
Henry, aftErwards Henry VIII. was on the fame
principle put into poifeffion of the revenues, and
was immediately, upon the death of Arthur, ad-
mitted into poiTeGion of the property of the Duchy.
The fame courfe was purfued with I efped to Prince
Edward, the fon of Henry the Eighth. During
the reigns of Edward the Sixth, and Qt2eens Mary
and Elizabeth, there was no Duke eat
We now come to a reign in which (pule circum-
fiances very formidable to the claims which rhave
the honour to fupport occurred, I mean that.
James the Fiat, He was fora long time derti:s
of retaining, for the tile of the Crown, the etre-
nues of the Duchy of Cot nwall ; yet he at length
yielded to the jullice of the c tie, and granted li-
very to his eldeft fon, Prince Henry. iNhen that
Prince died, and the Duke of York became Prince
of Wales, fome teeth difficulties prefented
felves, for James then Honed the quellion, that as
he was not primogenitus, he was not entitled to the
revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall. It was, how.
ever, folemnly decided to the contrary ; and the
claim was cliablifhed. Paffing over Charles the
Second, James the Second, King William, and
Queen Anne, I now come to the prefent Family.
iVhen King George the girft came to the thmne,
his fon George the Second was thirty years of age.
He nos admitted to the poffeffion, but no charter
of livery took place. When King George the Se-
cond came to the throne, Frederick Prince of Wales
was not quite of age, no charter of livery was made
out ; but what is very remarkable, the Prince re•
ceived an account of the funs due upon the reve-
nues from the Duchy of Cornwall during the time
of his minority, to the moment he.came of age.
In 1760, George the Third afcended the throne,
and in 176 z, the Prince wasborn. From that ;p-
-liant his title to all the revenues of the Duchy com-
menced; and being born Duke of Cornwall, he
was clearly entitled to e very advantage arifing from
the right which he poilefled immediately upon his
birth. • I have here to obferve, if any a& was no.
ceilaty to carry that right into effect, that the
Prince has been cruelly treated. His right has,
however, been recognized by an Ad of Parliament
paired in his prefent Majelty's reign when the
Prince was only fix years old, for it WAS exprefsly
made for the purpok of enabling his Maje ill' to
grant 'cafes in the Duchy of Cornwall during his
Royal Highnefs's minority. Finding therefore.
Sir, all the legal declarations and proceedings from
the earliell period to the actual moment in whkb,
have the lionortr of addreffing the noble; nitt
, nly recogniaiag, but confirming hosed *sr