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the prefent Prince of Wales. What was abfolutely neceffary for bare maintenance was fmall; but when the country chofe, for their own ftate, for their own magnificence, that the Heir to the Crown fhould appear with fplendour, to dif pute about twenty-five thousand pounds to a perfon of the elegance, munificence, and taste of the Prince of Wales, was beyond his conception-what he could not have suspected in that Houfe of Commons. That one hundred thoufand pounds a year was neceffary or proper he did not mean to ftate, but he took it on the univerfal pofition of every body, that that fum was neceffary; and if fo, he was amazed that a difpute on this occafion fhould have arifen refpecting the remaining twenty-five thousand pounds. How it came that a Prince of Wales was ever confidered as a perfon of fuch necessary large expence, he would not pretend to determine, because, pofitively speaking, he is no public character; but, on the pofition that one hundred thoufand pounds is not more than enough for any Prince of Wales, he must take leave to fay, that one hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds is not too much for this. But he faid, what chiefly called him up to fpeak was, the manner in which the Prince had been treated, which he conceived to be unjust and illiberal in the higheft degree.

The Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Pitt), whofe epithets were not of fo coarfe a nature as fome, but not the lefs fevere, though he did not knock down with a bludgeon, he wounded ten times deeper with a razor. He had, in his manner, if not in precife words, ufed every ill-natured expreffion he could utter. The other Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Fox) had pofitively ftated a breach of engagement on the part of the Prince in the meffage that House had received, that no farther debt should be incurred. Good God, Sir, faid he, that fuch a reproach fhould come from fuch a quarter! There may be faults to which we may not be fubject ourselves, which it is but charity to overlook in others; but of all men. living, that that Right Hon. Gentleman fhould condemn the Prince for being in debt, and then, on the promise of a future amendment, that he should err again, is the last of extraordinary measures which he could have fufpected him to be guilty of. What, Sir, is this wonderful unpardonable offence? He contracted a debt (a fmall one in the comparifon of the power of this country to pay); he had not the controul of his own income; it has ever been at the disposal of others, and when that debt was paid, he incurred in fome years a new incumbrance. The Prince does not affect to be more than man, and therefore he is fubject to the frailties of

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young men, and they are flight ones. Is there a man here who has been able precifely to keep every pecuniary engagement that he has been induced to make? I wifh, Sir, faid Mr. Joliffe, that we had any of us half the good qualities of the Prince, and not more faults. Is there any man who hears me who would think this an unpardonable fault in his fon? But is there any man who can boaft he has a fon like the Prince? He is the firft Gentleman-the most polished, the moft gracious, the most good-natured and benevolent of men. But, befide, he is Heir Apparent to the Chief Magistracy of the country; and we have been haggling all night whether the nation fhould grant to him, to maintain and keep up an eftablishment, not of his own forming, twenty-five thoufand pounds. But, Sir, the moft affronting part of the whole tranfaction is that where fifty thousand pounds was propofed as the jointure of the Princefs, there was almoft an univerfal cry of nemine contradicente. So that after you had been squabbling about twenty-five thousand pounds to the Frince, who is Heir Apparent to the throne, who was born and bred up among you, whom we all know, and most of us with the utmost familiarity, whom we ought to love and esteem, as an affront to him we are to vote, without a diffenting voice, fifty thousand pounds a year to the Princefs after his death, whom we have scarcely feen, of whom we know nothing; who may be as excellent as fhe is literally fair, but who may be the direct reverse. He muft fay, that expreffing unanimity on fuch an occafion, after what had paffed, was a pofitive affront to the Prince, because it would be marking not their inability, but their difinclination. He could mean no difrefpect to the Princefs, but as he wifhed refpect to the Prince, he could not fuffer this vote to appear to pafs with perfect unanimity.

Mr. Hawkins Brown approved of the fmaller fum, on the ground of the neceflity of the most rigid economy, in order to enable the country to support the expences of the present conteft, and 25,000l. a year, in fuch times as the prefent, was a very important confideration.

General Tarleton thought that his Majefty's minifters had managed the nuptials and establishment very badly, or, to use a vulgar expreffion, put the cart before the horse. They should have provided for the establishment before they brought the Princefs over to fhare in the bad fortunes of the Prince. In private life, no father of honour would agree to his fon, if deeply in debt, marrying any woman. This came home, he thought, to the minifters, in the present cafe.

Mr. Whitbread faid, that he had the preceding night abftained from fpeaking, left he fhould have been betrayed into

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any thing that might be unpleasant. He now wifhed to afk from the Right Hon. Gentleman, why the establishment of the Prince was dated from the 10th of October laft; this he conceived to be no less then a fraud upon the Public. An Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Jolliffe) had faid that their conduct towards the Prince was liberal, contrafted with that which they had obferved to his Royal Confort; if the Prince was in a ftate of difcredit with the Houfe, they had not put him in that. fituation. He could not help thinking that his Royal Highnefs, after the folemn pledge which he had formerly given, was extremely ill-advised to put his facred word at hazard by the prefent application. The only way to enable him to retrieve his credit was to give him an eftablishment of 100,000l. out of which he might make provifion for the liquidation of his debts. He must also remark that it was extremely indecent to advise his Royal Highness, under his prefent circumstances, to take up an expenfive eftablishment, before he knew whether that House would be difpofed to grant a fum adequate for the purpose. He muft conclude with faying, that retirement in the Prince's cafe was infinitely more honourable than court fplendour. As there were virtues, which no obfcurity of station could fhroud, fo there were likewife circumftances, which no fplendour of rank could veil.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer explained the circumftance of the establishment being dated from the 10th of October, by flating that it was occafioned by the extraordinary expences neceffarily incurred in the first inftance, and the length of time during which the arrival of the Princess had been expected.

Mr. Whitbread expreffed himself satisfied with this explanation, but faid he found upon the table an account of 68,000l. for plate and jewels, when the fum allowed was only 27,000l.

Mr. Grey faid, that no doubt the Houfe would be ready to make a liberal provision for the paft, if they faw any promife with refpect to the future. But what muft they think when they found, that the Prince, on the eve of his prefent application, had not only exhausted the additional fum granted for his establishment, but contracted a new debt of 68,000l. ? He concluded with moving, that inftead of 65,000l., 40,0001. be inferted in the refolution.-The amendment was negatived.

Mr. Huey then moved an amendment, "that a fum be provided, by a fale of part of the land revenue of the Crown, or of the Dutchy of Cornwall, fufficient to replace the fame;" which, after a fhort conversation, fimilar to that which took VOL. III.

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place previous to the difcuffion in the Committee of the preceding day, was alfo negatived.

The original refolutions were then put and carried, and a bill ordered to be brought in, in purfuance of the fame.

In a Committee on the Poor Relief Bill, a divifion was moved on one of the claufes, when, there not being forty Members prefent, the House of course adjourned till Monday,

HOUSE OF LORDS.

MONDAY, May 18.

Heard counsel on a Scotch appeal, Chalmers verjus Rofs Adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
MONDAY, May 18.

The Call of the Houfe was deferred to Thurfday fe'nnight. Agreed to go into a Committee of Ways and Means, and of Supply, on Wednesday next.

A new writ was ordered for the Borough of Shoreham.

ADDITIONAL ALLOWANCE TO SOLDIERS.

General Macleod rofe to make the motion, of which he had on a former day given notice, relative to certain allowances granted by his Majefty to the army now ferving in Great Britain, without the confent of Parliament. He claimed the candour and indulgence of the Houfe, as the question was of the greatest conftitutional importance, and he lamented that a Right Hon. Gentleman, the Secretary at War, was not in his place to give the neceffary explanation. What he had to urge he was aware was not likely to conciliate the favour of the Right Hon. Gentleman oppofite, nor could it be agreeable to any of his Majefty's minifters, for it implicated them in common with an illuftrious Perfonage, for whom he had the greatest refpect, in a fufpicion of negligence or criminality. Of late the aftonishing increase in the pay of the foldiers had become an alarming and dangerous precedent, not fo much indeed from the quantity of money granted as the manner of it. There is an abufe of words, which, from long habits, forms an abuse of things; and fo it was in the prefent inftance. It was the language of that House, and indeed it is the common language of the day, to call the army "His Majesty's army;" and fo far as the money paffes through the hands of his minif ters, and the foldiers are fubject to his command and difcipline, it is his Majefty's army; but in the general fenfe it is the army

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of the nation. In fact, it is dependent on the Parliament for its existence; for if the Parliament were at any time to refufe the fupplies for its fupport, it could no longer be embodied. By taxes on the people at large the money is raised for its fupport, and a regular account is obliged annually to be given to Parliament by his Majefty's minifters of the mode in which the money granted for its fupport has been expended. It fo happens that this law, which is fo effential in the conftitution, for the profperity and fafety of the nation, has been twice violated in a fhameful degree. In 1792, an extra allowance for bread had been allowed to the army ferving in Great Britain; first of three halfpence, and foon thereafter of another additional penny; amounting, together, to twopence halfpenny per day. For meat an extra allowance had been made of whatever that article of provifion might exceed fourpence halfpenny per pound. This would amount, on the doweft average, to three halfpence per pound. But in order to calculate the just and full amount of thefe extras, it would be neceffary to afcertain the number of men in arms, in the pay of Government in this ifland. He fuppofed he was greatly under the mark when he stated the army at one hundred thousand men; but this he fhould take at a very moderate average, unless he fhould be fet right by fome of his Majesty's minifters, who, from their official fituation, might poffefs the means of exactly knowing the truth. After a fhort paufe, as I have no answer, faid the General, I thall fuppofe that the army, at a medium, confifts of one hundred thousand men, which, at the extra allowance for bread and fundries for 1792, was 379,600l. This fum was granted by his Majefty without the confent of Parliament. A new allowance, without the confent of Parliament, was granted for 1795, for the following items:

For bread

For meat, of which it is impoffible to make any precife or definite eftimate

£151,840

227,769

£759,200

Half of this, though originally granted without confent of Parliament, had been ratified by its fubfequent approbation. The new allowance, lately granted without the confent of Parliament, by itself amounted to 379,600l.

General Macleod did not fay, nor did he think, that the extra allowance to the foldiers was more than the exigency of the times demanded: In a time of great general scarcity, every confiderate man must wish that fome allowance of this nature fhould be given to the privates in the army. It was not the

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