interefts and happiness were fo materially connected. He was not aware it was neceflary for him to fay any more than to exprefs his readiness to explain any thing that he might have left imperfect, if called upon for explanation. He wifhed, however, to learn whether the Houfe defired that there fhould be a Secret Committee to examine the debts, or that they would leave the whole matter to be finally fettled under a legislative provision. The Chancellor of the Exchequer concluded with moving, "That his Majefty be enabled to appropriate 65,000l. annually, from the 10th of October 1794, towards providing for the establishment of his Royal Highnes the Prince of Wales."

Mr. Grey faid, that he had on a former evening occafion to exprefs the painful fenfations with which he entered upon this fubject. The motion offered for the concurrence of the Houfe, was of fuch a nature, that it was fcarcely poffible for any one who held a feat there with a due regard to his duty, to hear it without ftrict attention and ferious concern: He, for his part, could not refrain from anfwering what had fallen from the Right Hon. Gentleman; for, however divided they might be on general political topics, all muft, on this occafion, feel the fentiments that muft neceffarily arife in good minds upon it, and feeling them, fhould not fhrink from, but meet the queftion face to face, however painful the effort might be. It was indeed, as the Right Hon. Gentleman had truly faid, a cafe pregnant with difficulty, for it involved many moft important confiderations, of fo oppofite a nature, that they directly clashed with each other. There could be in that House but one wish to make a fuitable and liberal provifion for his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales, the Heir Apparent to the Crown. There might further be a hope and defire, by liberality and indulgence on the prefent occafion, to conciliate his feelings, to infpire him with affection and confidence, and cement the bond of union between him and that people, whom at a future period he might be called to govern. This was the inducement held out to them to make the required proviLion, and if duly anfwered in effect, certainly fhould have weight; and it was the duty of the Houfe, by all proper means, to promote so very defirable an end. But there was a more fevere duty, a duty which they owed the Public, which the nature of the occafion impofed in a time of unparalleled diftrefs, fuch as the prefent, not to drain the people and vote away their money to be fquandered in unpardonable prodigality. It was a duty alfo, which they owed to the Prince himself, to teach him, if reflection had not taught him, that as his family were called to the Throne for the VOL. III.

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good of the people, fo his fituation was created not merely for the purposes of luxury and indulgence, but in fubfervience to that great end; and that though they were bound in turn to confult his comfort and enjoyment, that the obligation on their part ceafed, if thefe became his fole objects; and that in confequence of the provision made for the fupport of his rank out of the pocket of the Public, thousands ought to blefs his munificence and bounty, as thoufands had caufe already to lament his extravagance and folly.

Mr. Grey said, he did not mean on the present occafion to charge the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Pitt) with having done any thing which his duty did not require. The difcuffion was attended with difficulties to both parties. On the one hand it was not defireable for the minifter, after having repeatedly called upon the people in the courfe of the feffion, to contribute to fuch an extent to the fupport of the war, to bring forward any fresh burdens. Neither was it defireable for them, who had uniformly oppofed his measures, by concurring in the prefent motion, to fhare in the unpopularity which must inevitably attend fuch a propofition. On the other hand, he was fully aware that by any oppofition, they fubjected themfelves to the fufpicion of difrefpect to the Royal Family, and to the unpleafant confequence of that mifreprefentation, which would be fo eagerly circulated through all the channels of courtly influence. Perfonal confiderations however ought to give way to paramount obligations; he was, therefore, determined to fpeak plainly; if he fhould be fo unfortunate as to create offence, he would at least have the confolation to have done his duty. He could have wifhed that the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Pitt), in bringing forward his motion, had avoided any of the topics which had been employed to inflame and to provoke divifion of fentiment in that House. It had been too much the fashion of that Right Hon. Gentleman to represent those who differed from him in opinion, as perfons unfriendly to monarchy and its neceffary splendour and dignity. He was as fincere a friend to monarchy and its real fplendour and dignity, though he might be a lefs pleafing one, as any flippery fycophant of a court. That the Prince of Wales ought to have an establishment on the prefent occafion there was no doubt; there was no doubt also that the people would grant it; but the ftability of the monarchy of the country depended not upon unwieldy establishments; and there might occur occafions, he could readily fuppofe, for his Royal Highness to render himself infinitely more refpectable, dignified, and popular in the present ftate of things, by a temporary relinquishment of the trappings of a court, and re

tirement,

tirement, than by all the fplendour which the opulence of this country, if exhaufted for the purpose, could bestow upon him.

In the confideration of the prefent question, which neceffarily involved the debts, Mr. Grey declared himfelf willing to imitate the example of the Right Hon. Gentleman, and to confider abstractly what income, under the present circumftances, it would be fuitable to grant to a Prince of Wales. The Right Hon. Gentleman had referred to former inftances. He had stated that a hundred thousand pounds had been granted to the great grandfather of his Royal Highness, and that the fame fum had been allowed to his grandfather, with the addition of the income of the Dutchy of Cornwall. He thence inferred that no lefs an addition than what he had propofed, viz. twenty-five thoufand pounds, would be neceffary, in order to make the income equal to what it was at thofe former periods. He had asked if there was any perfon in private life, whofe increase of expence would not be found greatly to exceed that calculation. In answer to that propofition, which he would adopt for the fake of argument, he would fuppofe the cafe of a man in private life, who by habits of waste and prodigality was constrained from time to time to raise money, and was daily adding to the debt-would not fuch a man, if reduced again to gain a fupply, confider the means out of which it was to be drawn? If the estate, which was the fource of his income, was burdened with debt, a confequent neceffity muft arife for a curtailment of his expence. It was to be confidered, whether, when the country had been groaning under the accumulated corruptions of a century, during which it had been oppreffed by wars, undertaken from the weaknefs or wickednefs of minifters; and at this time, when it was engaged in a conteft, of which it was neither poffible to calculate the extent nor the end, it would be proper to exceed the utmoft profufion of former periods. A habit of expence had lately been created, and had grown up to a moft alarming height, among all orders of fociety. Was it fitting that the Legislature fhould fet an example of encouraging a habit which threatened the moft pernicious confequences, and even the fubverfion of the conftitution itfelf, fince it feemed more and more to be bringing this country into a refemblance to what had been the fituation of France, previous to the era of the revolution? It was this habit which annihilated the independence of the rich, and aggravated the miferies of the poor. Was it fitting that the Legiflature itfelf, whofe independence was endangered, fhould encourage fuch a fyftem of extravagance? The immenfe extent of the

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danger, and the ftriking example exhibited of its effects in another country, ought, if any thing, to inculcate a leffon of the neceflity of moderation in the prefent moment.

The Right Hon. Gentleman had ftated, that George II. when Prince of Wales, enjoyed an income of a hundred thousand pounds, without any revenue from the Dutchy of Cornwall, and that his fon, when Prince of Wales, had a hundred thoufand in addition to the fum arifing from the Dutchy. But it was to be recollected that the establishment of the late Prince of Wales, for feveral years after his marriage, amounted to no more than fifty thousand pounds; that it was not increased till his family had grown up, and that no application was at any time made to Parliament for the pay- ment of his debts. He would afk the Right Hon. Gentleman whether he had always adhered to the fame fcale of calculation, and whether, if he had, he would not have proposed a larger income for his Royal Highnefs in the first inftance. He defied him to compare his prefent ftatements with his former conduct, wherever a fimilar queftion had been agitated. The income first granted to his Royal Highnefs was fitty thousand pounds, which, including the income of the Dutchy of Cornwall, amounted to a fum of fixty-three thou fand pounds. Afterwards, in 1787, when the debts were difcharged, and an addition of ten thousand pounds made to his income, the Right Hon. Gentleman ftated that his income was then fo ample as to put out of all doubt his capacity for maintaining an establishment fuitable to his rank. And yet, though the accounts on the table relative to the neceffary increafe of expences did not exceed twelve thoufand pounds, he had that day propofed an addition to his eftablishment of no less than fixty-five thoufand pounds. Taking all thefe circumflances together, he confidered this to be a fum out of all proportion, and more than the Houfe ought to grant under the prefent circumftances. It was therefore his intention to propofe, that inftead of fixty-five, only forty thoufand pounds fhould be added to his prefent income. It had been originally his intention to have propofed that the whole income of the Prince fhould amount only to one hundred thousand pounds; but as his grandfather had been ftated to have enjoyed this fum in addition to the revenue of the Dutchy of Cornwall, he was willing, in the prefent inftance, to go all the length of the liberality of former times. To the article of marriage expences he had no objection, he only hoped that when the Right Hon. Gentleman ftated fuch a fum to have been expended, he would likewife fhew that fuch a demand had been ufual on former occasions.

With regard to the incumbrances of his Royal Highness, Mr. Grey faid, when he recollected the part which he had taken with respect to a fimilar application, he found it more particularly neceffary to come decidedly forward with an avowal of his fentiments. When he adverted to what had taken place on the former occafion, and the folemn affurances then given, that the claim urged at that time fhould be the laft the Houfe fhould hear of, he felt himfelf compelled to refift the fmalleft claim that might be made in the prefent inflance. If a fum had been accumulated out of the favings of the Dutchy of Cornwall during the minority of the Prince, if a refource could be prefented by a reduction of thofe trappings of ftate, which incumbered monarchy without adorning it, or lastly, if any aid could be derived from thofe great favings, which, during the indifpofition of an illuftrious Perfonage, were reprefented as having taken place during the prefent reign, he was aftonifhed that any application fhould be made to Parliament at this time, and under the exifting circumitances, which contained the smallest reference to thofe incumbrances. The very tine which the Right Hon. Gentleman had pointed out as the leaft confiftent with the dignity and policy of the Legiflature, was that very line which he felt himfelf compelled to take, namely, from difapprobation of the mode in which the debts had been contracted, to make no provifion for them at all. This was the only mode which he conceived would operate as an effectual preventive against the repetition of fimilar demands. He here defired the Right Hon. Gentleman to confider how far his propofition would give to the Prince of Wales a large and magnificent income. By his mode of ftatement, he taught the Prince to believe, that a fum of a hundred and thirty-eight thousand pounds was no more than was neceflary for the maintenance of fuch an establishment as he ought to have. While it was propofed to apply a confiderable part of his income to the liquidation of his debts, had any thing been done to diminish the fcale of his expenditure? What then was the effect of this conduct, but to hold out an encouragement, or provide an excufe for the contraction of new debts? On the other hand, the highest regard had been profeffed for the dignity of his Royal Highness. How far, he would afk, was his dignity confulted by the mode propofed to be adopted by the Right Hon. Gentleman? An income was given him to fupport his dignity, and in the fame breath means were provided to secure his difgrace and degradation. What could be more degrading to a Prince, than to tie him down in the manner which had been fuggefted; than to fay, that we cannot truft him, and

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