Page images
PDF
EPUB

Geo. Fludyer

Lord Apsley

Richard Master
John Bond, jun.
Henry Banks

Sir Wm. Lemon, bt.
Sir Samp. Gideon, bt.
John Wilmot
Robt. Nicholas
Richard Hopkins
Henry Addington
John Rolle
Francis J. Brown
Robert Preston
Robert Shaftoe
Barne Barne
Alexander Irvine
Viscount Belgrave
Lord Charles Fitzroy
Thos. B. Bramston
Sir John Rushout, bt.
Chas. W. B. Rouse
John Baring
General Philipson
Major-gen. Bathurst
Major W. Williams
Philip Rashleigh
Hon. R. Edgecumbe
John Jas. Hamilton
Samuel Smith
Charles Edwin
Hon. capt. Berkeley
Thomas Master
Francis Baring
George Sutton
George Medley
Hon. Thomas Onslow
Robt. Thistlethwaite
John Robinson
John Stanley

John Dawes
James B. Burges
Rt. Hon. Tho. Harley
Visc. Grimston
Baron Dimsdale
John Calvert
Lionel Darell
Wm. Egerton
Sir G. Yonge
Jer. Crutchley
Phil. Metcalfe
Visc. Hinchinbroke
Sir C. F. Ratcliffe, bt.
Benj. Bond Hopkins
Geo. Sumner
Cha. Alex. Crickett
William Praed
Hon. Chas. Marsham
Sam, Thornton
Wal. Spenc. Stanhope
John Blackburne
Lord Arden
Jn. Peach Hungerford
Wm. Pochin
Col. Macnamara
Charles Lord Smith
John Hunter

Penn A. Curzon
Hon. Edw. Jas. Eliot
Hon. John Eliot
John Thomas Ellis
Thomas Kempe
John F. Cawthorne
Bamber Gascoyne
Sir Watkin Lewis
Geo. Aug. Selwyn
Nath. W. Wraxall
Hon. Thomas Fane
Robert Colt

George Rose
Matthew Bloxham
John Strutt
Earl of Courtown
Sir Philip Halles, bt.
Sir Thomas Rich
Hugh Boscawen
Wm. Young
Christ. Hawkins
Henry Drummond
Wm. Mainwaring
Lord Muncaster
Robert Wood

Major-gen. Rooke
Marquis of Worcester
Col. John Sutton
Lord Mulgrave
Sir Arch. Macdonald
Richard Vernon
Charles Brandling
Hon. J.T.Townshend
Thomas Brooke
John Barrington
Mark Gregory
Sir Jn. Wodehouse, bt.
Henry Pierse
Edwin Lascelles
Sir Jas. Langham, bt.
Hon. Henry Hobart
Robert Smith
Humph. Minchin
Sir W. Dolben, bart.
Robert Fanshaw
John Stephenson
John Pardoe, jun.
John Smyth
Wm. Sotheron
Wm. M. Pitt
Hon. Wm. Cornwallis
Sir H. Houghton, bt.
George Bowyer
John Aldridge
Thomas Johnes
Francis Annesly
Rich. A. Neville
Earl of Lincoln
Sir C. Middleton, bt.
John Henniker
Rich. Jos. Sulivan
Geo. B. Brudenell
C. W. Cornwall
Wm. Bellingham
R. Pole Carew
John Kynaston
Philip Stephens

Charles Brett
Hon. W. H. Bouverie
J. C. Villiers
George Hardinge
Earl of Tyrconnell
Geo. Osbaldeston
Hans W. Mortimer
John Drummond
John Peachey
John Hill
Edw. Phelips
John Fleming
James Amyatt
Henry Thornton
Paul Le Mesurier
Earl Gower
Sir Ed. Littleton, bt.
Sir Geo. Howard, bt.
Henry Cecil

Hon. Rich. Howard
James Gordon, jun.
Wm. Smith
John Langston
Sir John Rous, bt.
Jos. Grigby
Sir Jos. Mawbey, bt.
Lord Geo. Lenox
John Calvert, jun.
Alex. Popham
Sir Benj. Hammet
Sir Charles Kent, bt.
George Jennings
Sir Greg. P.Turner,bt.
Hon. Dud. Ryder
Hon. col. Phipps
Col. Boscawen
Sir Fras. Sykes, bt.
Thos. Farrer
Sir Robt. Lawley, bt.
Sir G.Shuckburgh, bt.
Clement Tudway
Sir John Scott
HOL. Thos. Thynne

Against the

E. L. Loveden
Wm. Chas. Sloper
P. C. Crespigny
Samuel Salt
Thos. Fitzherbert
Richard Beckford
Wm. Wrightson
John Cleveland
Abel Moysey
Earl of Upper Ossory
Hon. St. A. St. John
Wm. Colhoun
Visc. Fielding
Hon. Gen. Vaughan
Sir Gilbert Elliot, bt.
Wm. Clive
Henry Strachey
John Kentick
Sir Robt. Clayton, bt.
Sir John Morshed, bt.
Thomas Hunt
Viscount Palmerston

Samuel Estwicke
John Madocks
Major John Scott
James Adams
Wm. Selwyn
Lord Herbert
Richard Gamon, jun.
Earl of Mornington
Sir H. Dashwood, bt.
Francis Burton
Samuel Smith
Robert Waller
Sir John Jervis, K. B.
Henry Beaufoy
Henry Duncombe
Wm. Wilberforce
Rich. Slater Milnes
Hon. Henry Fane
Lord F. Campbell
Sir James Duff, bt.
Pat. Home
Burnet Abercrombie
Earl of Fife
Col. Wemys
Arch. Douglas
John Hamilton
Lord Wm. Gordon
Sir Hect. Munro, K.B.
Sir A. Edmonston, bt.
Robt. Allard. Barclay
Sir Chas. Preston, bt.
Ilay Campbell
Rt. hon. H. Dundas
Sir A. Ferguson, bt.
Sir J. S. Denham, bt.
Alex. Brodie
David Murray
Hon. gen. Murray
Sir Geo. Douglas
Mark Pringle
Major Moore
Licut.-gen. Grant
And. M'Dowall

Question.

Sir Peter Burrell Sir Charles Gould Charles Gould Thomas Whitmore Thomas Scott Charles Sturt James Macpherson Sir Sam. Hannay, bt. Sir Herb. Mackworth Earl of Lisburne John Campbell Rowland Stephenson John G. Phillips John Crewe Sir John Frederick, bt. Hans Sloane James Dawkins Thomas Lister John Lee Jas. C. Satterthwaite Humphry Sanhouse Sir Robt. Smyth, bt.

SirW. Molesworth, bt.
John Walker Heneage
Sir Hen. Fletcher, bt.
Wm. Lowther
Sir W. W. Wynn, bt.
Rich. Middleton
Lord Geo. Cavendish
Edw. M. Mundy
Lord G. A. Cavendish
Edward Coke
John Pol. Bastard
Hon. George Damer
Wm. Ewer

Hon. W. S. Conway
Hon. Andrew Foley
Edward Winnington
Sir G. W.Vanneck, bt.
Sir John Eden, bt.
John Tempest
W. Hen. Lambton
Sir Chas. Davers, bt.
Sir C. W. Bampfylde
Sir Roger Mostyn, bt.
James Fraser
John Webb
John Harrison
Dudley Long

Hon. Gen. Norton
J. Clarke Jervoise
John B. Garforth
John Lowther
Roger Wilbraham
Sir G. Cornwall, bt,
John Scudamore
James Walwyn
Wm. Plumer
W. P. A'Court

[blocks in formation]

LEE

Wm. Weddell
Wm. Clayton
David Howell
Edw. Cotsford
Col. W. Popham
John Morgan
W. Mostyn Owen
Whitshed Keene
Peter Delme
Sir Jas. Erskine, bt.
Sir M. W. Ridley, bt.
Sir John Miller, bt.
Edw. Rushworth
Thomas P. Leigh
Sir Edw. Astley, bt.
Thos. Powys
Sir W. Middleton, bt.
Charles Grey
Rt. hon. W.Windham
Ld. E.C.Ca. Bentinck
C. M. Pierpoint
Dan. P. Coke
Lord Visc. Malden
Hon. G. S. Conway
Lord Chas. Spencer
Lord Robert Spencer
Hon. Pereg. Bertie
Francis Page
Hugh Owen

Rt. hon. F. Montagu
Sir George Collier
Earl Ludlow
Sir Walter Rawlinson
John Willet Payne
Wm. Evelyn
Wm. Middleton
Filmer Honeywood
Hon. Hor. Walpole
Lord visc. Duncannon
Thos. Stanley
Sir G. Warren, K. B.
Ab. Rawlinson
Sir Ed. Swinburne, bt.
Sir John Sinclair, bt.
Hon. Henry Pelham

John Cotes
Orlando Bridgeman
John Nesbitt
Henry Penton
Hon. Edw. Foley
Hon. col. North
Hon. Robt. S. Conway
Philip Francis
Thos. Jer. Clarke

George Skeene
Sir David Carnegie, bt.
John Anstruther
George Dempster
Sir Robert Laurie, bt.
Alexander Stewart
Col. Fullarton
Sir W. Cunynghame
Col. Dundas

John Shaw Stuart
Fras. H. Mackenzie
Sir Thos. Dundas, bt.

Tellers for the Question, Thomas Steele : Against it, William Adam.

Dec. 18. Mr. Pitt having moved the order of the day for receiving the Report of the Committee on the State of the Nation,

Colonel Fitzpatrick asked the right hon. gentleman, whether there would be any inconvenience in adjourning the consideration of the report till the next day? He added, that his right hon. friend Mr. Fox was obliged, by illness, to be absent; and he should imagine it would be the general Sir John St. Aubyn, bt wish, that no part of the important proRich. Benyon

Hon. Lionel Damer
Lord Visc. Downe
Wm. Joliffe
John Macbride
Mich. A. Taylor
Sir H. Fetherstone, bt
Rt.hon.gen. Burgoyne

Wharton Amcotts
Earl of Inchiquin
Sir Grey Cooper, bt.

Wm. Lawrence
Gerard Noel Edwards
Wm. Dickenson
Major Lemon
Wm. Hussey
Sir Godfrey Webster
Hon. Edw. Monckton
R. B. Sheridan
Thos. B. Parkins

Hon. Wm. Norton

Hon. Thos. Pelham
John Courtenay

ceeding which they were engaged in, should be agitated in the absence of so considerable a member of that House, unless such delay was likely to create real loss of time, and serious inconvenience, neither of which, he presumed, would be the case if his request could be complied with, because there was every reason to believe that his right hon. friend could be present in his place upon the ensuing day, and the report might then be taken into consideration and voted, if the House thought proper, so as to be carried up to the House of Lords on Saturday.

Mr. Pitt said, it certainly was his wish to show every mark of personal respect to the right hon. gentleman, consistently with the urgency of public business; but where it was not consistent with the conducting of the public business, however he might regret the circumstance, he should think

Sir John Thorold, bt. Rt.hon. R. Fitzpatrick it his duty to refuse; but, as the only dif

Chas. A. Pelham

Hon. R. L. Saville

George Anson Lord Penrhyn Nath. Newnham John Sawbridge Lord Clive

Richard P. Knight

Clement Taylor

Visc. Melbourne

Sir Peter Parker, bt.

Visc. Maitland

Lord John Russell

Robert Vyner
Robert Kingsmill
Hon. Hugh Conway
John Calcraft
Robert Ladbroke
Robert Burton
John Ord

Sir H. Bridgman, bt.
Geo. Forrester

Rt. hon. C. J. Fox

Lord Jn. Townshend

ference which adjourning the considera-
tion of the report until the next day could
occasion, would be the circumstance of
having the resolutions, if voted, to carry
up to the Lords on Saturday instead of
Friday, the delay would not prove mate-
rial;
and if there was a chance that the
right hon. gentleman could be present
upon the morrow, it certainly would be
desirable to wait a day; therefore, al-

Rt. Hon. Edm. Burke Sir M. Le Fleming, bt. though he was sorry the House had been

given the trouble of assembling unnecessarily, he would cheerfully acquiesce upon that ground.

The question of adjournment was then put, and carried.

Dec. 19. Mr. Alderman Watson appeared at the bar with the Report of the Committee on the State of the Nation.

The question being put, "That the Report be brought up,'

[ocr errors]

Sir John Sinclair said, that he could most sincerely affirm, that, with regard to the first resolution, there was no individual in that House who felt more the calamity which had befallen the King and the country, than himself. In respect to the rights of the two Houses to provide the means for supplying the deficiency in the exercise of the royal authority, he must still be of opinion, that it was not necessary for that House to make a declaration of its rights, on the slight ground of the expression of a doubt of the right of the Prince of Wales, stated in the speech of one of its members. If the right hon. gentleman who first expressed his doubts of the right of that House, instead of doing so, had brought forward a motion, declaring the Prince of Wales's right, no man would have more firmly resisted such a motion than himself. In the third resolution, there was something dark and mysterious; and whatever ideas he had of the character and abilities of the right hon. gentleman, who had called upon the House to declare their right, by the second resolution, which appeared to him to be unnecessary, the mystery in the third resolution demanded explanation. He gave the right hon. gentleman credit for too much manliness of mind, to suppose that he would endeavour to entrap that House, and fetter its future conduct, by any equivocal resolution, but, previously to bringing up of the report, he must beg to know what his reasons were for the wording of the third resolution, and also desire an explanation of what was meant by the Bill to be passed by the Houses of Parliament. He was afraid the two Houses were intended to be called upon to exceed their constitutional powers, and this was a time of too critical a nature, for any part of so very important a proceeding to be suffered to remain in the dark, or be subject to any kind of doubt. Every step in such a proceeding should be clearly understood, and maturely considered.

Mr. Pilt answered, that he wished not

to bring forward any point in that House which was not clearly understood; and, therefore, the hon. baronet did him no more than justice, when he gave him credit for not having any intention, by any equivocal resolution, to entrap that House and fetter its future proceedings. In respect to the information which the hon. baronet wished to receive, it would be recollected, that he had, in his general opening of the resolutions, explained the whole of their object. With regard to the means of providing for the defect in the exercise of the royal authority, in consequence of his Majesty's unhappy incapacity, he had stated that, as in consideration of law, his Majesty's political capacity was entire, their first proceeding must be by the royal authority, which was by a bill, sanctioned by the concurrence of the King and the two Houses of Parlia ment. Now, though the necessity of the case did not oblige them to act without the royal authority, it did oblige them to provide the means of supplying the defect arising from his Majesty's indisposition, by issuing a commission under the great seal, appointing commissioners to open the. parliament, in the name of his Majesty, in the usual form, and state the reasons for calling them together. This he conceived to be the only mode of proceeding that could be adopted consistently with the principles of the constitution.

Sir John Sinclair could not avoid expressing his utmost astonishment, that the right hon. gentleman should call the system of measures which he had explained to the House, a system consistent with the principles of the constitution, when it was contrary to law. Every gentleman conversant with the statute law, knew that it was, by the 13th Charles 2, declared illegal for the two Houses to legislate for themselves, or make laws without the King; and, by the same statute, the declaration that they had any such power, was pronounced thigh treason in the person making it, and he was liable to all the pains and penalties of a premunire. Sir John added, that the mode to be adopted appeared to him to be highly objectionable. The proper and simple mode of procedure was, for the two Houses to address the only individual that all mens eyes were fixed on, as the fit person to undertake the administration of government, in like manner as our ancestors had addressed the Prince of Orange, at the memorable æra of the revolution.

Mr. Powys said, that his anxiety on the present alarming occasion was equal to that of the hon. baronet; although he believed the stating on what that anxiety turned, was premature in that stage of the business, he would venture to intimate, that when the report should be brought up, he believed he might undertake to prove that the right hon. gentleman's system was not founded either in precedent or law.

The report having been brought up, and the first resolution read and agreed to, the second was read, when

Sir Grey Cooper rose, and desired to be permitted to state, with great submission, a doubt which had occurred to him, whether the House, in its present limited and imperfect capacity, could, with propriety, and consistent with the order and regularity of their proceedings, agree to the resolution now under deliberation. He requested the members to consider and advert to the very peculiar and unprecedented circumstances under which they were assembled, and now sitting. They were one of the estates of the kingdom, assembled at Westminster, but not assembled in parliament; they were maimed and mutilated in their legislative functions by the present unfortunate incapacity of the King to exercise the royal authority. They had met on the 20th of November last, at the expiration of a period to which they had been duly prorogued by the commission from the King. On that day, no commission came to prorogue them to a farther time. The Speaker had arranged the proceeding on that occasion in the best possible manner. When he had taken the chair, by the desire of the members present, the minister opened to the House the deplorable cause which prevented his Majesty's servants from taking his pleasure with respect to a farther prorogation. The House paused, and hesitated in what they ought to do in such an exigency. By the ancient rules and principles parliamentary proceedings, it was, as he conceived, irregular for them, in the situation in which they then stood, to do any business, or to make any order, other than for adjourning from day to day. But, upon reading a precedent of the 9th of September 1690, which bore considerable analogy to their proceeding in their present situation, the House assumed energy enough to adjourn for fourteen days, and to order a call of the House; and upon the ground of this precedent, [VOL. XXVII.]

[ocr errors]

and the very special circumstances of the case, they perhaps might be justified in making such order. They met again on the 4th of December, and were informed by the minister, that the same cause unhappily continued to prevent the servants of the crown from taking the King's pleasure, touching any act to be done, either for the farther proroguing parliament, or for issuing the summons for its meeting for the dispatch of business; and they were then informed, that there was a necessity for their immediately proceeding to supply the defect in the exercise of the functions of the royal authority. Since that measure had been recommended by the minister, and adopted by the House, they had, in all the steps which they have hitherto taken, acted under the authority, and moved by the mere impulse of that necessity; and if any part of their proceedings transgressed the clear limits of that necessity, and the direct course which it points out to us, it was, in his humble opinion, an act of self-constituted power, and of very dangerous tendency and consequence

The point in question therefore was, whether the second Resolution now reported was, or was not, an act of neces sity, for the purpose of supplying the defect in the legislature, by the King's incapacity. He contended, that the resolution declaring the right and duty of the House, was not necessary, because there appeared to him no real impediment or obstacle to their progress, which it was requisite to remove and clear away before they could act in their deliberative capacity. That there was no claim of right, no denial of their authority, no matter of which the House could, consistently with the gravity and order of its proceedings, take parliamentary notice or cognizance. At the Revolution, the Convention Parliament did not, in the famous Committee on the State of the Nation, declare what it was their right or their duty to do. It appears that Finch and sir Edward Seymour, and some other leading men at that time, delivered and maintained opinions, directly contrary to the principles on which the first resolution of the 28th of January, 1689, was grounded. But the grand committee proposed no resolution, to vindicate or establish their right against such assertions. They exercised their right, and did the noble work they were about; and they thought, that the doing the deed, comprehended in it, and incons

[3 E]

testibly proved both their right and their duty to do it.

Having submitted to the House these observations on the order of their proceedings, he requested the indulgence of their attention to some remarks upon the precedents on which the right hon. gentleman had laid the foundation of his resolutions, and particularly on the precedent of the 32nd and 33rd of Henry the 6th, which, being the only one touching the supply of the defect in the royal authority from sickness, bore with the most force on the present state of things and persons. The precedent had been much relied on; it had been proposed as a pattern for their proceeding in the great and arduous affair which a most deplorable necessity imposed upon them. They had been called upon by the great law authorities in that House to follow the example of their ancestors, and not to leave them in the lurch, by departing from the principles on which they acted. But, before they determined to follow the example of their ancestors, it seemed to him that they should consider what sort of persons those same ancestors were. He would venture to undertake to prove, by the irrefragable evidence of records, and the authentic history of the times, that, during the course of all the proceedings which collectively form that precedent, both Houses of Parliament were in the most abject and humiliated state of dependence on the power and will of Richard Duke of York, and the potent and formidable faction of the noble families who adhered to him and followed the projects of his ambition: and that every step they took every declaration they made, and every act they did or passed, were taken and done under the impression of immediate force, and irresistible influence. He desired to be permitted to state facts anterior to the year 1454, in which that precedent principally arose, in order to introduce, with more regularity and clearness, the documents and evidence by which he intended to support his proposition. After the assassination of the virtuous Duke of Gloucester, the King's uncle, Richard Duke of York, became first Prince of the Blood, and presumptive heir to the crown. The impeachment of the great minister and favourite, the Duke of Suffolk, and his banishment and death, soon followed. Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, succeeded to the favour of the Queen, the powers of administration,

some

and the unpopularity of his predecessor. The Duke of York, trusting to the advantage which that unpopularity and the weakness of the government gave him, raised an army in the year 1452, and marched with 10,000 men from Wales to the gates of the city of London, for the purpose, as he gave out, of a reformation in the government, and the removal of the Duke of Somerset from all his power and authority. The manner in which he was foiled in this bold enterprise, of his being the dupe of his confidence in the promises of the court, and of his escape from the power of his enemies, are facts well known to all those who have ever looked into the history of this eventful period. He lived in retirement at his castle on the borders of Wales till the latter end of the year 1453. The Prince of Wales was born in October 1453: and, about this time, the king fell into a disorder in his mind, which rendered him unfit even to maintain the appearance of royalty. The queen and Somerset found themselves obliged by this exigency to yield, for a time, to the high power and connexions of the Duke of York. Somerset was actually sent to the Tower on the 13th of February, 1454. Richard was appointed, or, more properly speaking, appointed himself Lieutenant to the King, for holding the parliament, which having been first assembled at Reading, was, after several prorogations and adjournments, assembled at Westminster on the 14th of February. About this time, the famous earl of Warwick, the earls of Salisbury and Westmoreland, and many others of the Duke's followers, were admitted into the council, in the place of the former administration, and had the whole government in their hands. By their command and influence the Committee of Lords was sent on the 23rd of March to the King, who lay sick at Windsor, to take his pleasure upon certain questions stated in their commission. On the 25th of March, the Bishop of Carlisle, one of the deputed Lords, reported to the House, that they found the King in a state of perfect lethargy and insensibility. Then followed, on the 27th of March, the famous transaction of the nomination and election of the Duke of York to his first Protectorate, by the Peers spiritual and temporal in Parliament assembled without any participation or even consent of the Commons. Sir Grey observed, that he did not consider

« PreviousContinue »