fair; but he appealed to the House, whether he had so objected. On the contrary, he had merely risen to ask for information; and that information was, it seems, to be denied the House. Mr. Burke added some general reflections on the steps that had been taken by the two Houses hitherto, and said that every step in which they proceeded, was an attempt to introduce some new principle in the constitution.

Mr. Pitt said, that surely it was not introducing any new principle in the constitution for him, as a member of that House, to refuse giving any information of what was about to pass in the other House.

Mr. BURKE observed, that he must still insist, that the act or sending up the resolutions to the House of Lords, tended fundamentally to destroy the deliberative capacity of that and the other House of parliament. To vote resolutions in the abstract, was a new mode of proceeding, attended with much inconvenience. Their former regular way had this advantage; they were not committed by the other House, but had frequent opportunities of knowing whether the bill introduced by the other House, and grounded upon their resolutions, was a monster or not. By the mode that had been adopted of their voting resolutions, in the name of the House of Lords, and obtaining the subsequent concurrence of that House, the House of Lords had pledged themselves to the bill founded on those resolutions, and that House, in the same respect, were pledged; so that the two Houses were mutually pledged to each other; a circumstance, which tended to undermine and take away the deliberative capacity of both. For this they had but one precedent, and that was the Irish propositions; but, at that time, much weighty and serious argument had been urged against such a mode of proceeding. For his part, he thought the reason assigned for it, a bad one at that time, and he thought so now. The same reason,

that they were obliged to wait the concurrence of a third party.

The question being then put, it was agreed, that a present conference should be held in the painted chamber. As soon as the conference was over, Mr. Pitt informed the House, that the next step which he should propose, would be to lay the resolutions, voted by the two Houses, before the Prince of Wales, in order to know whether his royal highness was willing to accept the regency upon those conditions, and therefore he gave notice that he should make a motion for an humble address for that purpose, on the morrow. In answer to Mr. Grey, he called upon the House to recollect the steps which they had taken. They had, in the first instance, examined his majesty's physicians, and ascertained his incapacity. An intention having then been intimated, to assert a right to assume the exercise of the royal authority, it became necessary to discuss that point, and to decide upon it: having done so, the House had proceeded to lay the grounds upon which a bill was afterwards to be brought in, appointing and declaring a regent; and these grounds were contained in certain resolutions, which they had sent up to the Lords, and which now awaited their answer.

Mr. BURKE said, that the conduct of the right honourable gentleman was arbitrary in the extreme, and that he had made "sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas," the rule of his proceedings. The right honourable gentleman said, that the only cause of delay, had been the discussion of their right to act. He desired to know who it was that had questioned that right? Where was the question to be found? The right honourable gentleman had forced the House into the discussion, and, in his haughty style, had said to the House," Slaves, do you presume to hesitate, or hint a doubt upon the matter? I will put an end to your scruples. The question shall be debated; it shall be decided." They all knew the nature of the dominion, which the right honourable gentleman meant to exercise over the regent's government. It was as absolute a tyranny, as any exercised by Julius Cæsar, Augustus, or Oliver Cromwell. With regard to the doubt of the right

that House had to act, of which the right honourable gentleman had talked, no man meant it, no man had said it; but the right honourable gentleman had stooped from the dignity of the supreme sovereignty which he had assumed, to combat a right which had not been claimed. Mr. Burke said, he disliked this union of the fox's tail, and the lion's skin. It was an unnatural junction of low cunning, and supreme authority.

January 27.

THIS day Mr. Pitt, after recapitulating the steps that had been already taken, observed, that before the House proceeded any further, he thought it would be both most respectful to the Prince of Wales, and most expedient in the order of their proceedings, to endeavour to know whether his royal highness was willing to accept the regency upon the terms of the resolution which they had come to. With this view he moved, "That a committee be appointed to attend his royal highness the Prince of Wales, with the resolutions which have been agreed to by the Lords and Commons for the purpose of supply. ing the defect of the personal exercise of the royal authority during his majesty's illness, by empowering his royal highness to exercise such authority, in the name and on the behalf of his majesty, subject to the limitations and restrictions which the circumstances of the case appear at present to require; and that the committee do express the hope which the Commons entertain, that his royal highness, from his regard to the interests of his majesty and the nation, will be ready to undertake the weighty and important trust proposed to be invested in his royal highness, as soon as an act of parliament shall have been passed for carrying the said resolutions into effect." This motion gave rise to a considerable degree of altercation, in which Mr. Pitt was accused, and defended himself against the accusation, of having treated the Prince of Wales, throughout the whole course of the proceeding, with the most shameful want of attention and respect. He said, he hoped that gentlemen would in future consider the grounds of rumours, before they hastily

Mr. BURKE observed, that he placed no confidence whatsoever in mere rumour, and the rather, because he knew what the right honourable gentleman's conduct had been; and was too fully convinced that he had shewn great want of respect and attention to the prince, in the whole course of the proceedings respecting his royal highness. The right honourable gentleman had talked of etiquette, denied all consciousness of guilt, and called for the proof. If they had been accusing the right honourable gentleman of a crime, they must have had recourse to the laws; but, it was a want of civility and good manners, where both were so eminently due, that they were charging him with, and that charge was easily made out. The right honourable gentleman had said, that to treat the prince with disrespect, was to treat his majesty with disrespect; the right honourable gentleman was, in that opinion, correct, since those who injured the Prince of Wales, undoubtedly injured the king. That fact being admitted, what were they, then, to think of the right honourable gentleman's not having consulted the Prince of Wales on the subject of convening the privy council, and the measures to be taken therein? The right honourable gentleman had declared that the king's servants were not to take orders from the prince, but to consider him as any other member of the council. Was the man, he would ask, to be regarded as shewing the necessary degree of respect and civility to the Prince of Wales, who, because he was not by law bound to take orders from his royal highness, therefore chose to pass him by without notice? In what a peculiar situation did his royal highness stand! A grievous calamity had fallen on his family, and he had thereby lost the protection of a father, who, in a state of capability, would have guarded him from the insolence of his servants. There was an evident and a gross want of attention and even of humanity in the right honourable gentleman's conduct; since, in the case of an affliction having befallen the father, who, he would ask, ought to be consulted as to what was necessary to be done, so soon as his eldest son? Was it not usual, in all

cases of illness and disaster happening to the head of a family, to have recourse to the next person in it, as the one most interested in the event of the affliction? Great incivilities, when premeditated, might pass into something of a higher nature than want of respect, and might be met upon other grounds; but, in considering that no more notice was due to the Prince of Wales than to any other member of the privy council, there had been a reprehensible want of attention.

the

Mr. Burke said, that the right honourable gentleman had forced the House to debate the question of right, without having previously communicated to the Prince of Wales, that a right, in which his royal highness was so much interested, was about to be made the subject of discussion. That was, in his mind, a great indecency, and the more so, after the respectful, but at the same time dignified manner, in which that discussion had been deprecated by the Duke of York, and a declaration made, that the Prince of Wales, from a thorough regard to the constitution, whatever right he might have, was willing to accept regency on such terms as the two Houses of parliament should think proper to give it. Mr. Burke praised the fraternal affection manifested by the Duke of York, which, he said, proved his royal highness to be a worthy person, and afforded well-grounded hopes that he would be ready and willing to assist his brother. With regard to the manner of communicating the intended restrictions to the Prince of Wales, the right honourable gentleman could not be ignorant that when papers were sent to his majesty, the usual mode of transmission was by a black box, which was deemed respectful, the box being Mr. Burke added, considered as marking the respect. that he would leave the degree of disrespect manifested in this instance to the judgment of the public, who would, doubtless, decide it in their usual manner. It was beyond a question, that those who approved the right honourable gentleman's conduct, would have imitated it, had they been in his situation. As to the question then before the House,