Star.
London, England, 1811-01-29 00:00:00

deemed it necessity to take for
~cement, they had never pretended
. electing Peers. (How.) Nor had
HOI . _autionally proceeded to interfere with
.Thei.ooso oliAoicei.oott took the Woolsack at a guar-' the composition and conduct of the House of Lords.
ter past five. • —(Hear.)—But should their Lordships think that
Earl GRO•SVENOR stated, that not having very recently at. ! any sieekietien was necessary on the Regent, as to
tooted in Hts place, lie ion fade this opportunity of expressing the creation of Peers, he wouh
lei dtsaperibatton of ow greater part of the fate proceding,. . l say, that the
approved of the urging it hlsewhere, in the first inatance, was a
though he certainly had, in the first instance,
male of 1„6..,di„g I,y gin. I kind of infringement on the House of Lords. What
r ertyatio. ' would the House of Commons think, it the House of
Th. Duke of NORFOLK presented a Petition from the town i.
Lords proposed, during the present existence of the
of Leweivio saner, on the subject of the RegencTs praying t" ' circumstances, to interfere with their privileges in the
the appointment of the Prince oi Wales without restrictions, etc. ~ . .
. origination of Money.bills ? Perhaps some Ministers
The Petition, on the motion of the Noble Duke, was ordered to
1;.: read, which was accordingly done by the Lowe, and to tie . elsewhere, who had joined others in their usurpation of
upon the table. , the powers of the Government, could not be supposed
REEORIE FROM THE COMMITTEE OS THE'RECIEINCY IIILL• very careful of the privileges of the Houseof Commons
The Report of the Committee was brought up, in such transactions. The present Administration,
The Duke of SUSSEX then rose, and said, that which had been particularly distinguished by the title
he.had taken that opportimity for the purpose of ex- • of the No Popery Administration, was the most pa-
pressing once more, generally, the opinions he enter.' pistical Administration he had ever heard of. If ge-
, tkned.respecting the important measures then passing : . neral report spoke true, money had actually been is-
under the consideratihn of the Noose, feeling, as he sued previous to the passing of the recent resolutions
2441, in their full force, all the objections he had al- . of Parliament on that subject.--lifeer.)—His Royal
ready stated. . His objections were insuperable to all Highness had never yet heard of any Sovereign that
the leoling provisions of this measure, with the ex. dispensed with oaths, except the Pope. (Hear.)—
ception of the resolution, that it was unfortunately But this no popery administration found no delicacy
teeessary to.
have a Regent—of the resolution by in such a matter. They were quite equal to such a
which tlae*Alection of il4errinee to be the Regent difficulty—in their facilities of dispensation they might
was ma4e-rpant of tote eommitting. the care of his be said to have swallowed the Pope ! (Hear.) He
.11Clielity's Strain' to (hi guardianship of the Queen. ; begged the House to consider welt the delicate situa.
These who were the framers of this measure had pro. tion in which they were placing the Constitution by
needed
_by what he considered to be a series of viola. encouraging the two Houses of Parliament to inter-
Idols. They commenced by a violation of precedents ; fere with the Executive branch of the Government,
, for there was no precedent which they had quoted ' and the peculiar rites and duties of the Kingly office.
that was sufficiently analogous to the present case ; Such was the lust of power and dominion which often
and, then, they violated the law by the two Houses prevailed in the hearts of men, that it behoved
of Parliament taking upon themselves to do that ! them to watch over it constantly and check its pro-
which required the concurrence of the three branches 1 ! gress. How insidious a measure it was to shut up
consequently, they had violated, under form of laws' that House from the Constitutional exercise of the
the constitution of the land. His Royal Highness I Kingly power vested in the person of the Regent !
knew, that by this public expression of his sentiments i Thus striking at one of those legal rights of the
and reprohation•et the measures pursued by the Mi.! Crown, at the present moment, was unworthy of
nisters, he might Anal himself exposed to a variety of ; British honour, and particularly of those hereditary
attacks from different quarters. He felt himself, i legislators who were the hereditary counsellors of the
however, regardless of that danger, and determined : Crown. Our ancestors had, it would appear, wisely
on such an exigency to acquit Iris conscience; and thrown a delicate veil over the rights and duties of
):perform his duty as a Peer of Parliament, by deli- I the King. Regencies might be sometimes rendered
oieering his free and unbiassed opinion upon what ' necessary; but there was nobody who would not wish
/means it was proper for the House of Lords to adopt. ; that such a necessity should toe occur—but since dint
He was aware thet among ether things he might bu , necessity had occurred he most maintain, that the
accused of a want of delicacy : he could not tell ex. ' Regent ought nos to be a mere commissioner, or a
actly upon what ground ; but he would say generally, ! Prime Minister. (Hear.) The illustrious person
in answer to any such accusation, that much as he ad-' whom they had selected to be Regent, was the eldest
mired the virtue of delicacy, it wasa virtue' son of the King and the heir-apparent if the Crown.
which must give way, to a considerable extent, to the (Hear.) It was their duty, he repeated, to preserve
necessity which great and important public exigencies' and maintain those rights of the Crown, to guard the
imposed. All the precedents quoted or reported went liberties of the people and to keep the two Houses of
tin further than to prove that our ancestors had not met , Parliament from going astray, by suspending the
with a case of csiotnity similar to the present. No ! Executive Pewer. A King himself could have no
cases in the report had the smallest analogy to it.' With more need of useless powers than a Regent. What
respect to the violas,ion of law, he need only appeal : were the prerogatives of the Crown intended for ?
to the manner in, which the Parliament had been , Who dispensed those powers ? the Crown ; which de-
opened. The Commission by which it was opened, , prived them from just Constitutional grounds, to use!
professed to be the act of the Sovereign himself. The ' them fur the maintenance of the constitution. If the;
Great Seal which had been made use of was the high ', power of conferring honours were taken away from,
instrument by which thefat of the King himself was ! the Crown, the Constitution itself must be impaired.
signified. It was the organ of the Royal Authority. • The King had not those powers of conferring honours
It was, as it were, the, mouth of the Sovereign. But for private purposes, but for public objects ; they be-
where, and when, he would ask, had the will of the longed to him in virtue of the Kingly office which he
King been made known, when it was notorious that i held, and were considered necessary to the carrying on
their very proceedings went upon the unfortunate fact lof the government of the country. If then, they were
that for the present the King was without any will of admitted to be necessary to the Kingly office, how
his own ? Such a proceeding could not bear the test I could it be maintained that they are not necessary to
of examination ; but (I'd bear upon the very face of ! the office of Regent, instituted precisely for the pur-
it an untruth. (Hear, hear.) This was the act of I pose of -supplying that high branch of the Constitu-
the two Houses of Parliament assuming the exercise tion ; there could be no doubt that the power of be-
of the kingly authority without any responsibility at- i stowing the honours of the Peerage was given to the
tufted to them. There was not one precedent to be ; Crown to enable it to reward distinguished merit ;
found of the two Houses of Parliament assuming and and, secondly, to prevent mischief to the Crown itself,
exercising the legislative powers of the Crown.— or to the Constitution, by any powerful combination
Let their Lordships quote the statutes, and see how formed within the House of Lords for dangerooe
those precedents stood : that of the 16th of Edward Ipurposes of ambition. (Hear, Hear.) If it were
11. the 33d of Henry VIII. the Ist of Philip and I not so, it would be time to consider what the state of
Mary, and still more, that of the 15th of Charles 11. 1 the Monarchy might soon become, it the right of
which inflicted the penalties of a firemimire (as men,' making Peers were taken from the Sovereign. Se-
tioned• in the 16th of Richard II.) on those who mains pamte the power of conferring honour from the kingly
mined the power of,tlie two Houses of Parliament tti office, and they would soon find out the consequen-
enact Laws without the King.. Such being' his de- , ces. Indeed, he would say, rather than curtail, they
tided opinion of the impropnety of the course pur- should augment the powers of the regent, seeing that
sued, he should trouble their Lordships with stating, his temporary government must unavoidably be
what, in his judgment, would have been the best much weaker than that of a King ! (Hear, hear!)
mode of proceeding, both for the interests of the If they were to give way to the influence and power
Crown and of die Country: and that was, to request of a self-constituted body of men, they might soon
his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to take upon have to give up the best institutions in the country,
himself the exercise of the Royal functions. The handed down to them by the wisdom of centuries
;resit Seal, if necessary, could then have been used, past. His Royal Highness could see no shadow of
anti the Prince invested with full power to give his reason for thus wounding the Constitution. He could
assent or dissent to measures of legislation ; and there not see how it could be consistent with the duty pro-
would have been no infringement on the Constitu- fessed to the King, his Royal father, and to his bro-
tomtit:inns of procedure. It was the duty of Par- then, the Prince, to make such attempts, and at such
tament, in such circumstances, not to have attempt- a period. Was it fair and manly to deprive the Re-
ed to curtail, separate, and diminish the Royal rights gent of some of the consolations which his situation
sin) pacrogatives, but to preserve and maintain them; might afford him, to make up a little for the acknow-
en that when it should please the A toitoiery to restore ledged embarrassments that must attend his new du-
the Ki, his Fevered father, to the exercise of his . ties ? In such a state of evident difficulties, such a
Royaf tbnctions, he shciold find them in a state en- situation of Royal servitude, ought they to divest the
the, unshackled, and unimpaired. (Hear.) It was their, person who has condescended to accept the office, un-
duty to give to the government, at such a crisis, the der all circumstances, of what a sense of honour and
means of eisergy, vigour, and effect. It was the inter- duty, or his own generous disposition, might prompt
est of their Lordships, as well as their duty, to keep up him to perform ? He should be very sorry to see
the rights and prerogatives of the Crown, which were this measure brought to its conclusion, leaving the
important and essential to the balance of the Consti. Prince without this power of dispensing honours.—
ation ; by the distinction of which they must inevita. , Warmly as he felt his duty to his revered and Royal
i impair and injure the whole. His Royal High- Ifather—warmly as he was attached to his Royal broo
'teas readily admitted that the rig was the servant o*; tier, the Prince of Wales—and deeply as he regard-
the people, inasmuch as the kingly office itself sires a !ed all that ought to be held dear and sacred in the
trust for the public benefit; yet, while he admitted . Constitution for the benefit of the country—he conies-'
the. correctness of that description, it was to be re- sed that, like other men, he had his predilections in
mentbeied that the King was not a servaut in the : favour of some public persons, in preference to others,
situation of one who was to obey another. On the' and a corresponding wish to see them employed in
contrary he obeyed non* while all others were under the conduct of the affairs of Government ; but yet
him, and owetf to him legal duties. The law ever 'he would say, that he should always feel himself

styled that high magistra-te of the country, " Our
Sovereign Lord the Kiag." It was particularly in-
cwt.:bent upon them to take care that the exercise of
the Royal fdliCtions by the privilege of the Royal .
Veto should not be unconstitutionally circumscribed,
limited, or violated. (hear.) He had heard many '
aitusions to history, respecting cases of a similar na-
tter, but he must repeat;that they did not apply to
the circumstances of the present case. The House of
Commons had endeavoured, in various instances, to
increase their own power and consequence, and obta:n
their just tight in the Constitution. In Richard the
S.esoud's time, they first chose their Speaker ; but

‘y.
bound to support those who best discharged in their,
stations the duties they owed to their country. He
bad before said, that he was aware of the possibility
of attacks upon him for his public conduct, as he had
heard much already of misrepresentations of the cea,
duct of his Royal brothers and himself—misrepresen,,,
tations and attacks conducted with a baseness that ha
could not have expected. He and his brothers, eel
Royal Peers, had dose nothiog which was not called,
for by thei; situations and feelings. If they were not
the legal, they were at least, the natural representa-
tives of what regarded the person and interests of,
their Royal father; Having thus explaiticti the sea-

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PARIANtrimRr PROCEEDINGS. i their owl) Aggrandizem,
---- • Ito the tight of electii
HOUSE OF LOROS, MONDAY, JAN. lti. 1 they uncostitutionall)