Star.
London, England, 1811-02-26 00:00:00

of his reign, %It *at they increased in • of 14
isisonatAction and io4rntjty ; and, iii.of-sui;
'ferreirclirnisistion.had been considerably.strengthen.:
ed, as his facirliies and health had unhappily declined,
if. On, ibe people had delighted in the prosperitieh.
of his Majesty's Government—if they sincerely
sympathised in his sorrows, if they mourned over his
sufferings, they Kra -a just right to know that no foul
trick had been, at any time during the existence of
such respectful devotiem to their Monarch's interests
and person, practised by his Majesty's Ministers,
either towards the King, or towards the people.—
( Hear, hear I) If he could be able to chew, that accor-
ding to a statement made by the Right Hon. Gentle-
man (Mr. Yorke) opposite, en a former night,„ the
4.ging had not fair play," that neither the King nor
ibe people had fair play shewst them by the Admi-
nistration, of which that Right Hon. Gentleman
formed a part, he trusted that he should do enough
to excite the indignation of that House, and to induce
them peremptorily to call for an efficient and full en-1
gniry into the whole of the case. This he would con.
tidently undertake to•shew, if that House, by agree-
ing to his preliminary motion, should put him in a
condition to prove. It must be in the recollection of
the House, that when the calamity had fallen up fn
his Majesty in 1788, though there were abundant ru.
moors afloat upon the subject, yet such was the tender
affection and ardent zeal of his faithful people, that

they could not persuade themselves of the fact, that
his Majesty was seriously suffering under the maltdy
given out-by report, until the truth of the representa-
non was hut too fully confirmed by the report of the
physicians. When it was afterwards established, by
proof, that the King's mind was unsound—that his
mental faculties were deranged—and that he was
is-
capable of personally exercising his royal functions,
the two Houses resorted to such measures as they

thought proper for supplying the defect of the royal
authority. But, on its being announced to Parlia-
ment by the Noble Lord, who at that period filled
the high office now held by Lord Eldon, that he haA
it in command from his Majesty to acquaint Parlia-
ment, thin. he had sufficiently recovered to authorise
a confident expectation, that after a short interval
he should be enabled personally to resume his royal
functiorA ; such was tl4e delicacy, such the kffec-
tion and veneration of the two _ Houses of Par-

liament towards the Sovereign, that though theyl
had made very considerable progress with the
measures they were to adopt, they immediately sus-
pended ail pi coceedings upon them, and waited in
fond and anxious expectation for the full restoration
of his Majesty. W o4tever might have been the chi-
' ferences of opinion-whatever the party heat and po-
litical anim . ity which characterised these differences,
as to the mode of supplying the temporary deficiency,
all feelings of personal consideration or party hosti.!
lily, instantly subsided into 'one common sense al
gratificatino, at the prospect that burst upon the
nation ; and every eye glistened with joy and glad-
ness at the approaching restoration of the King to
his reason and Lis throne. When about twelve years
afterwards; in the year 1801, the indisposition of
his Majesty was again announced to the public by
i a nitification from his physicians, that notification
was so guarded, that, it the nation had not been
aware' of the malady with which his Majesty had
been previously afflicted, it would have been impossi-
ble for any man to know from any thingthat appeared
upon the face of the statement of the physicians, that
the Kii.g, thotigh undoubtedly indisposed, was not
still compateia to the. exercise of all his royal func-
tions. Yet from what had recently come to the
knowledge ~f the public by the examination of the
physicians before the Lords' committee, it was fully
established, that at that very period the King was of
unsound mind. On the '2J of February, 1801, the
first notice of his Majesty's illness was published,
though it was now known that his Majesty's
mental health was then impaired, that he was
incapable of his royal functions, that his judgment
was in eclipse ; yet by reference to their journals,
they woull find, that two days after, via. on the
24th of Fele-nary, 1801, a commission was issued,
signed with the King's sign manual. It was not
to be f-rgetten, too, that in the beginning of that
year, 1801, a remarkable political event bad taken
place. After a long struggle, and a considerable
prod of adherence to power, Mr. Pitt at length
thoneht tropei to resign the seals of his office,
which had been committed to him so long before. A
Noble Lord (Sidra anth) not now a Member, was then I
. selected as successor to Mr. Pitt ; and after a certain i
' period, took his seat in that House (the precise day
he could not call to mind) on his re-election, after
ent 7ing upon office. It was not material to fix the
I day, but of this he was certain, that on the 10th of
March the bulletins ceased.' He would leave it to the
House to determine, whether the bulletins had been
discontiriued for any other purpose than to impress the
public with an opinion that the King was fully reco-
vered ; whereas it was now clear, that he was not
then recovered ; nay more, that he had afterwards a
considerable relapse ; and yet, notwithstanding all
this, the functions of the Executive were uninterrupt-
edly exercised, and various important acts of state
performed,' for either of which no constitutional sane.'
tion could possibly have been procured from the King
in the state of mental incapacity in which his Majesty
then was. Yet such was the delicacy of the two
Houses of Parliament upon the' subject, and of the
public, that no notice had been taken of the matter,
except by one Honourable Gentleman no longer a
Member of that House, who had given notice of a
motion respecting the state of his Majesty's health.—
This notice having been seen in the notice-book by a
Right Honourable Friend of his (Mr. Sheridan), he
thinking it not proper to be made at the time, on
die day when it was to be brought forward W.V.
ed an adjournment, which was seconded by Mr.
Pitt, who at, the same time stated, that he would
I take care that. props notice should be supplied
to the House .of the state of his Majesty's health,
if that should be necessary. In the year 1804., only
! three years after, 'his Majesty was again afflicted will
the same diaease. He wattakenill on the 14th of Fe.
bruary, and on the following day,. the 15th, it was
announced to the public. The object of his motion
was to bring the circumstance; attending that indis.
f position of the King article; the consideration of the
' House. The motion with .seLiah, he meant to eori,
elude would be, for • a Comniittke.to examine the
Lords' journals for the cridence,V.the PhYsicbatis re,
specting his Majesty's Mite in I-MC.l'nd to report the
,smote to the Hope. - This be meant only as prelbni.

,yorr optanother enquiry, in the course of which, if functions--and when still further peened by Mr.
,shelliclose should grant his motion, he should pledge Pitt, that there was no - nec,staty suspensi nof tl
isiestseit to prove. what he should assert before Royal functions, and addoi, that he 50e,.1 till',
t"le
rot
he sat down. It would appear by the evidence upon his own authority, but upon. the ophtion-s aces
which he wished toehave produced, that of one of authority of the Physic; .4::S ; mearnets theleb.s. te
the Physicians who had -attended his 'Majesty in doubt, that he had pelsonally no :1;:::;•Si VI L',, '...: '--
11804, and was also in attendance upon him in On the 6th if March, the Lerd-Chaneell rs: ,
.1 •
his present malady, that the period of his Majes- the House of Lords, nett he hid been eh. eh ' ' : '3
..is ,0 !, 7
ty's illness, in the former instance, continued from en the eon aud also evil I.:.0 4r.h, and niter h ;eon se
the 14th of February to the 23d of April, in that year. plained to him the net ure of a bill tie n ee. ~ r , •en en
His Majesty, it appeared, on the latter day attended alienating certain Crown Laaeds to the Del,: (It V! !le
a Council in person, which the. physicians considered that his Majesty had comni !nJ:J ie,,, oeg. , , eye , ~
as evidence of his being- then.fulry restored. The sent to that Bill On the 9e et hlnch, .• se.....misen;
bulletins ceased on the Sld of ' March, 1804 ; and signed by the King wits ',sues; ; and en, it Li:einem
yet it was not till the SW of April that the phynehin was asked on that des', whether he he -I tenon:et le, eys
to whose evidence he had alluded (Dr. Heberden), ledge of the state of the Niets's Ite..lot, unr. • a eig,..
considered the King's recovery complete, of which le Pet ttiOrequent with Inm, that ne es. 1' I • ' s' et s. asse ,11'.y.
1—
considered his attendance in Council a demenstra- hind severed from his b eny ra.her to ,ii dent 'lts ..o-
tion. That physician itlso had continued in after.. voreien, he declared, the: lie was ew lie ce wit -t.
dance upon his Majesty nntil the 2nd of April. It was deing, ead svoeld Gds.!. the whole of ills he ;vv r;„
was to this period of 1804 that his inquiry would be spoesinility up et himself. New tins wis hint leis
particularly directed. With secret to what bed motion wits intClllC.l to aecertein, acid :,... ,1.. Id . i cos..
taken place in 1801, he did not think it necessary to fidently call upon the. house to Connnees to pn: hin
institute any investigation, as well because maay of in a shuetion to hr. te n s s ••• ' - . . I, it :, I. raspoae.) etf .0 once. ee
Was ready to take up -ft Innis. !I. to :,...y, that his Ma.
the persons who were implicated in the transec-
dons of that period were now no more, as because jeoy ve is at that time onsoate e in mild, and to a
none of those others who were concerned in them at he we; i censer:tent to
perio.i long poneentr— th.
his fancticts—[l)./[ hie reason vets cloo.led, and h's
were now in office to give alarm to the public, lest
jedgmeitt eclipsnl. Vet, whilst the Dint' was ell
they shonlil on any future occasion be guilty of the
per. in don st ate, Lord. niiot of t, on the eseh of Match,
same conduct. But as he found, that dne of the
sons, who, under the late aci far establishing a Re-
brought down a me,seee t.. that House iron the
gency, was to be of the Queen's Council, had been King—from the Kene, dere-nes:l as he was in les
Lord high Chancellor in 1801 and also in 1804— mental cuir pnence„teil ies •pehle of exercisine en.
when he knew that a Noble Lord, now a Member of cretion. This fact he shoeld 'orohily assert ; anal:e
the other House (Lord Sidmouth) was at the head therefore called upon the friends CI that Noble Led
of the Administration in b• h instances—ashen he per. to Place hint and them,elves in a situation to answer
ceived a Right Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr, ,to his charge. To se y, then, that they were pre-
pared to share the retnetnibility, would be worse abaft
Yorke) who was a Secretary of State in 1804, and a
idle—it would nut be sincere. lie celled upset el
Noble Lord under the gallery (Lord Castlereagh)
, who was in his Mejesty% Cabinet at that period, he , House to put him in the situation to prove Ins char rs.
It wes necessary for the character of the individual;
was persuaded that the House would feel how noses-
that they should be disproved, if not fonnded, and
sery it was to enable hira to prove his assertions, or, i
if his assertions were not founded, to give the Noble . it was material to the pubiic diet they should tie
proved if true—because, if the case was as he ha-I
and Honourable persons he had mentioned an opp h. I
`stated it, the public had been imposed up-, and
omit). to disprove them. With regard, however, to
the Right Honourable Gentleman opposite (Mr. might again, if not prevented by the result of the in.
Yorke), or the Noble Lord (Castlereagh) under the cluirY he proposed. He should have supposed, that
gallery, he did not meal to impute Any blame to them without the evidence of the Physicians, or the test of
the Right. Hon. Gentleman opposite, they might
—bemuse he could not possibly know whether they
were guilty. But whether guilty or not, that wouldexpected some more ettisfactory proof of his
have
come out in the inquiry which he proposed to insti- IMajesty s recovery, than the statement of Physicians.
tute. To John Lord-Eldon, however, now as then When a King of England has been placed in a situ.
Lord Chancellor, and to Lord Viscount Sidmoutle tion not to be capable of performieg his royal functions
—when reduced to a state of health in which a pri. who was at that period at the head of his Ma-
rate individual would not be allowed the disposal
jesty's government, he thought, in his conscience,
of his property—when he has been under restraint—
that the whole blame was justly imputable.—
This he was not only prepared to assert, but prepared when he has been taken out in a morning to be shewe
to prove. Lord Eldon was Lord High Chancellor
to his subjects under colour of being recovered, and has-
,
lin 1801, when a great and important political change been carried home to be placed again underrestraint—
I
was effected : he.was also Lord High Chancellor in when his incapacity had been solemnly voted by the
two Houses of Parliament—was it right or proper,he
1804, when another important political oliange had
also taken place—a change certainly not brought would ask, that a King of England, after having been
about in the same manner as that in 1801, when Mr. I in such a situate l), should have his recovery esta.
-
Pitt, looking to the successor that waito replace him, ,blished on no better authority than the statement
contemplated the prospect of retaining all the
pan.
tion to Dr. Heberden, whether the King wa se, of physicians ? In the Committee he had put a gars-
calk influence, if not the official power, from which he .
i 1.4
was professing• to retire. The change in 1804 was fir recovered as to be competent to attend all
of a very different description. On that occasion the ; public and private business ? To this Dr. Heheie
den ansvvered yes. Another physician answered, also,
two great parties, which had been so long in opposi-1
I yes, and Dr. Willis, in a most positive manner, v.
tion to each other in that House, acted in unison
swered, most assuredly. Bat he would contend, on tilt
under the guidance of the two greatest political
leaders that had ever distinguished themselves upon contrary, that his Majesty was not at the time so far
any arena in opposition to the Government of •recovered as, in the case of an individual in private
life, would warrant the persedin a commice (1:
, that day. They took their stand upon one of the
great measures of that Administration, and mustered lunecy. Tke Lord Cha suucellor, he had heard, ssi
woeld
not, as he had declared in Court, take the opinions of
' upon a divison within fifty of the majority which
supported the Ministerial measure. Upon that I physicians on an applicetion to supeisetie a corneno
symptom of his 'declining influence in that House, i ston of lunacy--she would hear the opinions of the
:foieci and upon a consideration of them A GU.I
Mr. Addington thought it prudent to resign his
office in a manner certainly not conformable to the' , his own judgment. l'hat Noble Lord knevewel
fashion of more recent times, when Ministers, after the difficulty of proving the peifect recovery of pc :-
flatting themselves reputedly in minorities, still sons M such a complaint—he well knew that mese
ventured to cling to office, and to retain then places. individuals so affected appeared in every other res.
—But the union did not take place. Mr. Pitt con. pect in perfect mental health, until a certain che:4
av touched, upon which their. delusion turned,
whit whom he was solicitous to co-operate. Lord ,
rented to come into office without the support of those as
wnen the whole fabric raised by their morbid curmince
Eldon, too, consented to accept office in that isli;'..i to conceal their defect iastantle was overthrown. Tee
nistretion ; and thus, after many years of contention, reble Lord, therefore, would net supersede a corn-
when the hopes *of the nation were anxiously amid. mission of lunacy without the fullest proof of the per.
patting an union of the two great parties, under the feet restoratian of the patient. Would the House,
auspices of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, for the salvation of therefore, or ought they to be satisfied with a sea.
their common country, these fond expectations were ment of the Physicians, that his Majesty was coneys-
frustrated by the acceptance of office, on a system of tent on any perticuler day, or on any hour of ae
eeclusion, by the administration of 1804. During
day, to the personal exercise of his functions ? It
this period, Lord Eldon was the only person who had
such a statement, in the case of an individual, be ad-
access to his Majesty. Whether that Noble Lord ex- motel by Lord Eldon in the Court of Cimacery,
erted himself in the interviews he had with his Sove. sufficient to set aside a commission of lunace ? lie
had taken much pains to ascertain by what rules the
reign, to promote the union so greatly desired by all
practice of the Court of Chancery tvas reg,ulated in
' classes, and by no person, he believed, more than by
such cases. He found it had been laid down by Isord
Mr. Pitt, or not, it was impossible for him to know.
Thurlow, that it was incumbent upon a party it.
That was a circumstance which must rest in the No.
ble Lord's own bosom, as in all probability there had ]edging a lucid interval, to prove it as fully and
been no witnesses present at any of these interviews, clearly as the party alleging derangement was t;o'''' I
But he must admit, however, that that Noble Lord to prove the insanity. The evidence in the former
had not shewn himself so decided as the Right Ho- case was required' to be as strong and demonstratire
as iunh• Lauer. • (Itere-171 T 1 In . Genthenan refereed
pourable Gentleman who was at that time At terrne
General. That Right Honourable Gentlemen had to the case of Parker, in which the wee oven; tens-
thought proper to declare, that "such an union would sionelly insane, did, as elledeed, in a lucid itites.;al, :to
sign over property to her blithe:el—al-4 though the
have been a disgrace to both Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox;
that they could not, in case it had taken place, meet witnessies, esno proved the lucid interysi, vole the
Mire:ie.:eel, yet the instrument was hell void, in
at a council without being ashamed of themselves." -
Yet it was unquestionable that Mr. Pitt wished for ciensonience of the habitat il derengesnent.) Froes
that union in his heart, witic!l his Ateerney-General
It was eqtielly nes4 doctrine, leid.chnen by ehas Noble ;tad Learned
tend, it W,13 obvious that before the lucid intervel
could not reconcile to his notions.
well known, too, that a Right Honoureble Gentlrn ' could ihe reeegnised, the disease :mist be entirely gone
man opposite, (Mr. G. Canning) was equally zealous and eissipated—that there must remain no latent
snarl:, is :lid) may revive the nhrensy or recal the de-
for that union, with the great leader of the party, Mr.
Pitt. It was true the Right Honourable Gentleman lusion— thl.tt the leterval shell net have been produc-
ed by medical expedients for certain occasioas, and
might say that he would net, as Attorney-General, part (Wear, Lear, hear.) At the
have known more of hat
w was iis the eontotoplittion iculer 1)-1 oness.
time when 1)r. Heberden represented his Majesty es
of the great leaders of that day, than the la mythic indi. having been sshwell as at arty time of any ail to be
viduel then addressing the House, but it was scarcely capable of business, another of the physinens admit-
p-ossible that the Attorney-Genera] should rot have el 1
tee tattit, he was liable to hurries, but that business
known facts, which came to his (Mr. Whitbread's)
knowledge, within a few days after they had taken gee:let:e3- had the effect of restonng him to calmness
place. -a- He begged the House to bear in mind, an:. c.:mi,sure.
.Why, this very effort of nesinses
vas what he ceneelercii as one of the medical exec-
that Lord Eldon had been particularly questioned i-
housense of Lords in 1601, as to the state of his dents (Hear, hr-^.r.) He could have wished to croso
the
Mr. Addington (now Lord S'd examinehhese phynciaos on their evidence. (Aired
Majesty's health,
o
mouth) had also been questioned in that House on
- frees the fee, vory Riwb.) He would wish to ask Dr.
, the same subject. When first asked about the state 14 berden whether, when he said that the hint rsh
11 after ' ""
of the King's health, it would be remembered, that perefectly w'e .ee end of -Aptil,.he did not'in'ese
Mr. Addington firstsaid, that his best course would that Dr. Simmons was -after in attendance on.lth
be, not to give any answer ; but when pressed for an Ma
jesty—that that physician continued for some titre
answer by Mr. Fox, he said that there was no neces- after in attendance on the King, and had employed
tart suspension of any necessary act of the emotive even other'
attendants near his Majesty's person• if
he had asked these questions, and Dr. Heberdel