Star.
London, England, 1811-01-05 00:00:00

Wf!

the two 'Mises of Parlianient It appeared to '
that it was much better at once to allow the Mi-
nisters to act upon their own responsibility, unti! the
deft, ieney in the Royal Authority is filled up. It would
be almost impossible for the two Houses of Parliament
to interfere directly hi every issue of public money for
the service of the State. If that were to be attempted,
there mnst be every week or two conferences between
the two Houses, and there would be repeated and
'endless debates on every particular issue. He thought
therefore it. would be much better to empower the
Lords s►f the Treasury to grant the proper Warrant!
during the time that the royal authority remains un-
supplied. He should therefore move, " Ist, that it
was necessary, under the urgency of the present con-
juncture, that during the time that the exercise of the
royal authority is suspended, the various sums of
money granted by Parliament fur the Navy, Army,
and Ordnance, and specifically appropriated to those
purposes, should be is'ued and supplied. 2d, that
it was expedient, for that purpose, that the Lords of
the Treasury should issue their Warrants to the Au-
ditor and other Officers of the Exchequer. And 3dly,
that the said Auditor and other Officers of the Er-
,chequer are hereby authorised and commanded to pay
and issue from the Exchequer the sums of money con-
tained in the said Warrants signed by three or more
of the Lords of the Treasury, as well as in the Waif:
rant of the 51st December, 1810."

On the question being put,
Sir JOHN SEBRIGHT approved, in the warmest
terms, the Chancellor of the Exchequer's conduct,
he thought it the best and manliest tint could be
adopted. He for one would have wished for less de-
lay, but he was confident, that upon the whole the
Right Hon. Gentleman had acted for the best; he
had not flinched from his duty, and he had admired
him for that, as well as for the candour of his sta•e-
Se ent s, which he had a frequent opportunity to remark.
Lord TEMPLE begged the House to carry in
mind the former assert;ons of the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman, who had said that he foresaw no minas in-
convenience from delay, and to his conduct in this
present instance, when the House was apprised of any
embarrassment, till the money in the Treasury was
completely exhausted. He had himself given proofs
that he did not reckoq on the validity of the War-
: rant of the Treasury, to direct issue of monies, since
he had before tried every other means,, and had
only resorted to that one, when he found that all the
others had failed him. He denied that the clauses in
the Act of 1788 could, at any time, dispense with the
forms established in the Exchequer Office. His Noble
Relation was bound in law to observe them ; he bad
applied ,to the Attorney and Solicitor General, and
had been told by them that he could not legally dis-
pense with them. , Ministers alone' had acted con.
trary to the Constitution, by their attempt to issue
money on their own responsibility, when Parliament
was sitting. .
Mr. ROSE justified the conduct of the Ministers,
in having had recourse to the Exchequer. He re-
plied to the observations. which Lord Temple had
made on the two Acts of Parliament quoted by Mr.
Perceval ; and remarked, that he did remember some-
-1 thing in the times of 1788, concerning the Officers of
the Exchequer passing money through their hands,
but his memory was rather impaired, and I,e could
!not point to the case directly. He concluded by sta.
I ting it as his opinion, that Mr. Perceval had done ac.
cording to his ditty, and consonant to he trust and
• responsibility of his situation.
Mr. PONSONBY remarked on the resolution pro-
posed by Mr. Perceval, that it was the fixed opinion
of both the Attorney and the Solicitor-General, that
the Auditor of the Exchequer had done his duty in
what had now occasioned this debate. He bowed to
such eminent authority, and needed not to explain
himself any further on the subject. He observed,
however, that all this.difficulty had sprung from ill-
timed procrastination in supplying the suspended
powers of Royalty. All the logic and eloquence in
the House could not have told them better than this
Resolution now before them, of the necessity of filling
the vacancy sooner. He affirmed that Ministers, in
the Resolutions now proposed, were presuming to take
up the fallen functions of Royalty. When the printing
of the papers was proposed the night before, I,e did not
think there was such aßesolutionitirking behind them.
He approved of quickness and promptitude in the pub-
lic business, but wished that promptness to be accord-
ing to the Constitution of the kingdom. He hoped
that no one would. have ever proposed, in the most
extreme hurry of national affairs, to do a thing which
the three branches of the realm alone could do. lie
would praise a Minister who took upon him the re-
sponsibility which promoted the welfare of his coun-
try, but he would ever condemn that Minister, who
Took on himself responsibility for the wounding of the
Constitution. He concluded by saying, he protested
against doing the pubic business by unconstitutional
modes, when they had it in their power to avoid it
all, by instantly constituting a Regent by Address,
which was agreeable to the dictates of common sense,
and the opinion of the nation.
Mr. DUNDAS opposed the sentiments of the
Right Honourable Gentleman on theexpediency of
the present Resolution. It had been stated by the
Right Honourable Gentleman, that he feared the Of-
ficers of the Exchequer would not obey the *arrant
which was-expected to be granted on account of the
illegality of the proceeding • yet the same Honour-
able Gentleman had confessed that it was necessary
sonic mode should have been adopted for procuring
of tht public money for present exigencies. He coo-
chided by saying, that the appointing of Regent was
not to be done so long as it could be avoided, until
that want of regal authority was injuring the national
prosperity.
Sir ARTHUR PIGGOTT supported the conduct
of Lord Grenville as constitutional.

Mr. YORKE rose in reply to the Hononrable Ba-
ronet, and said, his arguments might have suited a
former occasion, had he used them then, for they
would then have been to the purpose. He contended
that the proceedings in Parliament had sanctioned all
that was now propofed. He justified the Adjourn,
ments of the Houses, and concluded by declaring he
did not foresee the difficulties which had arisen from
the refusal, at the Exchequer, to issue the money ap-
propriated by Parliament.
After some farther remarks from the CHANCEL-.
LOR of the EXCHEQUER, in the course of an
able reply to the argum&ts of his opponeotche stated,
that so fat' from having come to that House with false
he gate 'lbis Mai 640 heaitb,

RI. ,

die hopes he had held out of his speedy, (lay of his
immediate recovery, fell far short i.f the authority
given him for these assurances, by those in attendance
on his Majesty's person. (Ikar, he:...r, hear. )—He par.
titularly denied that the Address to a Regent woull
obviate their present difficulties, because if, as Mr.
Whitbread said, the two Houses had no right to ern.
power the Lords of the Treasury to obtain tr.3l:ey
from the Exchequer, they certaittlj could not 1ei5...4
the still greater power of confer, ing the riwal ant'..,.
rity.—Messrs. TIERNEY, W/MTEREAN aft. HOP.NER,
opposed the Resolutions.
Mr. C. W. WYNNE entered into a trail of argil..
merit against the Resolution, and defended Lora
Grenville from any imputation cast upon him for his
conduct on this occasion. He censured Minittet 'for
the delay which had reduced the House to a hurried
decision, or the risk of injuring the service at the coup.
try ; and concluded by saying he would move a;t
amendment, to restrain the Treasury front interfi ring
with the three millions of the Vote of Credit, and t.
confine the issuing of money to the service of the
army and navy alone.
: _After some further retnatlts from Mr. W. Surrtr,
Mr. WILBERMICE, and Sir .Toni Newroter, the ques-
tion was put upon Amendments po)posed by Mr. W.
WyNNE, which were negatived without a division.
The original question was then cal lied, the House•
resumed, and the report of the Committee was brought
up, read, and agreed tn. After which, on the motion
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Resolution,
Were ordered to be submitted to the Lords (this day.)
MALT nrrr.
Mr. WILLIAM SMITH called the attention of
i'fhe House to a report which had gone forth thmugft
the medium of the public papers, stating that his
I Majesty's Ministers had entered into an agreement
I with the Malt Distillers, to susp.md the Malt Duty
I Act for the ensuing six months, and representing that
this complaint would be attended with the worst ef.
fects, as it went to promote speculation. He felt It
his duty to set the public right on this sithiect, and to
1 state that so far was the measure, which had been
adverted to, from creating a spirit of speculation, that it
had a contrary tendency, and put an end to that spe.
culation which had already Droved so injurious to
trade.—Adjourned at HALF PAST surrax.