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ness the Prince of Wales, shall not extend to the granting of any rank or dignity of the peerage of the realm to any person whatever, except to (persons who have rendered eminent service to the country, by sea or land.)

Resolved, That the said power shall not extend to the granting of any office whatever in reversion, or to the granting of any office, salary, or pension, for other term than during his Majesty's pleasure, except such offices as are by law required to be granted for life or during good behaviour, and except(An exception will here be introduced in favour of persons rendering eminent services to the country by sea or land.)

Resolved, That, the said power shall not extend to the granting of any part of his Majesty's real or personal estate, except as far as relates to the renewal of leases.'

To the first of these resolutions an amendment was moved by the Honourable Mr. W. Lambe, to leave out all the words which contained the restrictions: it was however lost by the trifling majority of 24; and in a division respecting the second resolution, the majority was only 16. The fourth resolution, respecting the King's private property, was unanimously agreed to, and the consideration of the fifth resolution was postponed to the following day.

On that day, 1st January, 1811, the House met, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer briefly recapitulated the arguments which he had previously used, recommendatory of the adoption of the resolutions, when Earl Gower moved an amendment, to leave out certain words in the second resolution, after the words 'Queen's most excellent Majesty,' respecting the power of the Queen in removals, &c., and to insert words to the following effect, together with the sole direction of such persons and establishment, as are suitable in the present circumstances to the care of the King's sacred person and royal dignity.'

The speeches of Sir Samuel Romilly and Mr. Whitbread, in support of this amendment, and in annulling every restriction whatever upon the Regent, made a powerful impression

upon the House, and on a division taking place, ministers were left in a majority against them of 13.

On the following day, Lord Porchester moved as an amendment to the first resolution, that the words subject to such limitations and exceptions as shall hereafter be provided,' be left out.

On this amendment the brilliant powers of Sheridan were exerted with extraordinary effect; he entered into a far more extensive view of the subject than any of the speakers who had preceded him, and the character which he drew in this speech of Buonaparte will always stand on record as one of the most forcible delineations which was ever drawn of that extraordinary man. He closed his speech with these memorable words- Whatever are my hopes and views of reform, I say now, as I have ever said, that we are struggling to preserve a condition of society far above that which the other civilized nations of the world have attained. Is this then the moment to fetter or restrict the constitutional powers of him whom the public voice has unanimously called to preside over our destiny during the unhappy indisposition of his Sovereign and father? Shall we send him forth with a broken shield and half a spear to that contest, on the issue of which depend not alone the safety of Great Britain, but the rights and happiness of mankind?

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Mr. Perceval then moved as an amendment to Lord Porchester's amendment, That the Queen have unlimited power over the household. On a division the ministers were again left in a majority against them of three. The resolutions, therefore, as presented to the Lords, went to restrain the Regent from the granting of peerages, &c., for a limited term; but they granted him the whole of the household, except what the two Houses might in their wisdom deem suitable to the care of his Majesty's person.

The resolutions passed in the House of Commons came on for discussion in the House of Lords on the 4th of January; but the arguments used by the Peers, in support of and against the resolutions, were so similar to those used by the Commons, that it is unnecessary to enter into any exposition of

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them. On the first resolution, however, Lord Lansdowne moved an amendment for leaving out the words subject to such restrictions,' &c., and on a division, ministers were left in a minority.

Lord Liverpool then proposed the omission of the privilege which had been supported by his friend, Mr. Perceval, in the Commons, namely, that of granting peerages for extraordinary naval and military services; and certain opposition lords, who preferred the full restriction to an invidious distinction, voting on this occasion with the ministers, the numbers were for Lord Liverpool's amendment-Contents, 106; Non-contents. 100. This amendment being agreed to by the Commons, the resolutions were passed, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer then stated. that as the two Houses had now agreed on their resolutions, he trusted they would also concur in appointing a committee to attend his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and her Majesty the Queen with the resolutions which the two Houses of Parliament had agreed to. The committee who were to wait upon the Prince should inform him that the two Houses of Parliament, considering on the means of supplying the deficiency in the royal authority, had resolved to empower his Royal Highness to take upon himself the office of Regent, subject to such limitations and restrictions as appeared to them to be proper in the present circumstances; and they were also to express their hope that, in his regard for his Majesty and the nation, his Royal Highness would take upon himself the weighty and important trust reposed in him, as soon as a bill should be passed for that purpose.

A resolution to the above effect was moved by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which was agreed to unanimously, and ordered to be communicated to the Lords in a ference.

On the 8th, the Earl of Liverpool rose and stated, that their Lordships were now arrived at that point of time in their proceedings upon the important business of supplying the existing defect in the exercise of the royal authority, at which they were called upon, in conformity to the precedent on which

they had hitherto proceeded, to adopt the means of affixing the great seal to the bill about to be brought in, enacting the establishment of a regency in the person of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The principle of this measure had been so amply discussed in that House already, that he did not feel it to be his duty to address their Lordships at any length upon the subject. He should not, therefore, enter into any arguments on the question, unless something should fall from any noble Lord which might require particular notice. It became necessary for him, therefore, only to state, that the Resolution he was about to move was strictly conformable with the resolution moved in January, 1789, except one variation. On that occasion, the name of his Royal Highness the Duke of York was inserted in the commission; but, at the request of his Royal Highness, it was afterwards omitted, so that the commission was passed and made out without his Royal Highness' name. On the present occasion, recollecting that circumstance, he had felt it his duty to make an application to the princes of the blood on the subject, requesting fo know from them whether they had any objections to the insertion of their names in the commission now to be made out. He had freceived from them an answer, expressive of their wish that their names should be omitted. This commission would be framed accordingly, and would resemble that of 1789, not as it was at first proposed, but as it was passed by the two Houses of Parliament. Under these circumstances, he would no longer detain their Lordships, but should proceed to move, that letters patent be issued, authorizing the affixing the great seal to the bill to be brought in, enacting the establishment of the regency in the person of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, in the King's name, by and with the advice of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in parliament assembled; the form running in the usual terms. After some observations from Lord Grey, the resolution was agreed to.

On the question of the restrictions, there seems to have been but one opinion pervading every branch of the royal family; and, from the strong opposition manifested by them,

it was too evident that they sat upon the Prince of Wales like a galling yoke, and that the satisfaction which he expressed in assuming the reins of government was anything but genuine. Of the temper of the male branches of the royal family, on this most momentous of all subjects which ever engrossed their attention, the following Protest, signed by every member of it, is sufficiently declaratory, although it must be acknowledged that this Protest of the royal Dukes was rather premature-for, at the time of its signature, the restrictions had not passed the two Houses of the Legislature, and, therefore, their exact spirit and tenor could not have been ascertained.

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It is however worthy of remark, that the assembly of the royal Princes, who signed the Protest, was convened by the Prince of Wales himself; and, therefore, it is not a presumptuous. conjecture to hazard, that the sentiments of the Princes were regulated in a great degree by those which were known to be the prevailing, though not the expressed ones of his Royal Highness.

“SIR,

"The Prince of Wales having assembled the whole of the male branches of the royal family, and having communicated to us the plan intended to be proposed by his Majesty's confiden-, tial servants, to the Lords and Commons, for the establishment of a restricted regency, should the continuance of his Majesty's ever-to-be-deplored illness render it necessary; we feel it a duty we owe to his Majesty, to our country, and to ourselves, to enter our solemn protest against measures we consider as perfectly unconstitutional, as they are contrary to, and subversive of, the principles which seated our family upon the throne. of this realm.

(Signed)

FREDERICK,
WILLIAM,

AUGUSTUS FRederick,
ADOLPHUS FREDERICK,

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