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John Bligh, Lord Clifton (Earl of Darnley).
William Norton, Lord Grantley.

John Hely Hutchinson, Lord Hutchinson.
George James Cholmondeley, Earl Cholmondeley.
Richard Lumley Sanderson, Earl of Scarborough.
John Howard, Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire.
Frederic Howard, Earl of Carlisle,

DXXVII.

JANUARY 4, 1811.

The Lords and Commons agreed in five resolutions,-1st, That the Prince of Wales should act as Regent, in such a manner and to such an extent as the present circumstances and the urgent concerns of the nation seem to require.' 2ndly, That he should be disabled for a limited time from granting a peerage; or 3rdly, any office in reversion, or office, salary, or pension, for any other time than during his Majesty's pleasure, except offices required by law to be granted for life, or during good behaviour.' 4thly, That the King's property should be vested in trustees; and 5thly, That the care of the King should be in the hands of the Queen, assisted by a Council. The Opposition moved to leave out the words and to such an extent' from the first resolution, on the motion of Lord Lansdowne. This was rejected. Another motion, however, to leave out the words, 'subject to such restrictions and limitations as may be hereafter provided,' was carried by 105 to 102.

The following protest was inserted on the insertion of the words and to such an extent,'

Because we think ourselves called upon to protest in the most solemn manner against the principle of suspending during his Majesty's indisposition any of those lawful prerogatives of the Crown, which the Constitution vests in the King, not for his personal benefit, but as a trust on behalf of the people; and to declare, that in our opinion, if such prerogatives are necessary and advantageous to the people under the permanent Government of a King, they are equally advantageous and more necessary under the temporary and precarious authority of a Regent, especially in a period of extensive warfare and great national embarrassments.

Adolphus Frederic, Duke of Cambridge.

George John Spencer, Earl Spencer.

Frederic, Duke of York.

James St. Clair Erskine, Earl of Rosslyn.

George James Cholmondeley, Earl Cholmondeley.

Frederic Ponsonby, Lord Ponsonby (Earl of Bessborough).
Augustus Frederic, Duke of Sussex.

Henry Richard Fox Vassall, Lord Holland.

Edward, Duke of Kent.

James Maitland, Lord Lauderdale (Earl of Lauderdale).
William Henry, Duke of Clarence.

George Keith Elphinstone, Lord Keith.

William Frederic, Duke of Gloucester.

William Charles Keppel, Earl of Albemarle.

Francis Humberstone Mackenzie, Lord Seaforth.

Thomas Erskine, Lord Erskine.

Thomas Dundas, Lord Dundas.

William Henry Vane, Earl of Darlington.

John Christopher Burton Dawnay, Lord Dawnay (Viscount
Downe).

Francis Rawdon, Lord Hastings and Rawdon (Earl of Moira).
Gregory William Twisleton, Lord Say and Sele.

DXXVIII.

JANUARY 4, 1811.

When the fifth resolution came forward, Lord Liverpool informed the House, that if it were opposed he should call for proxies. Several Lords avowed that they could not be called in the present case, and Lord Erskine argued that this privilege was often and should be suspended. After an attempt to postpone the debate, which was defeated by 3 (102 to 99), Lord Lauderdale, as Teller, refused to admit proxies, and the House divided on the subject, when the motion for excluding them was carried by 102 to 99. The following protest, headed by Lord Arden, was entered.

Ist, Because the right of voting by their proxies is an inherent right of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of the United Kingdom as now assembled, the exercise of which cannot be restrained in any manner not sanctioned by the usages of the House.

2ndly, Because if, by a previous Standing Order of the House, or its previous resolution in any particular case, the House hath a power of determining that proxies shall not be used, the Lords absent either directly or in effect have (as they ought to have) a voice by their proxies upon the question, whether such Standing Order or Resolution shall be made, it appearing from the Journals, that the Lords absent have a right by their proxies to vote, and have so voted against the question being put, whether proxies shall be used in the business depending before the House.

3rdly, Because if it were otherwise, it would be in the power of a majority of the Lords present, in every case in which they foresaw that the legal and constitutional majority of the House, consisting of Lords present and Lords having constituted proxies, were likely

to differ from them, to determine by a resolution that proxies should not be used on the depending question, against the judgment of the legal and constitutional majority of the House.

4thly, Because, in the present case, the principal question having been put, and the House being actually engaged in a division thereupon, and the Lords present having voted therein, it appears to us to have been altogether irregular and against order, to entertain any motion at that particular time introduced touching the use of proxies upon the business of the principal question, and that the use of proxies could not be regularly or constitutionally restrained by any such proceeding.

John Scott, Lord Eldon (Lord Chancellor).
Robert Banks Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool.
Dudley Ryder, Earl of Harrowby.

Henry Phipps, Lord Mulgrave.

Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield.

George Kenyon, Lord Kenyon.

Heneage Finch, Earl of Aylesford.

George Douglas, Lord Douglas of Lochleven (Earl of Morton).

John Freeman Mitford, Lord Redesdale.

Alleyne Fitzherbert, Lord St. Helens.

Thomas De Grey, Lord Walsingham.

Richard Edgecumbe, Earl of Mount Edgecumbe.

Edward Lascelles, Lord Harewood.

John Craggs Eliot, Lord Eliot.

James Graham, Earl Graham (Duke of Montrose).

John Luxmore, Bishop of Hereford,

Francis Napier, Lord Napier.

Richard Colley Wellesley, Lord Wellesley (Marquis Wellesley).

John Fane, Earl of Westmorland.

John Jeffreys Pratt, Earl Camden.

Henry Bathurst, Earl Bathurst.

William Shaw Cathcart, Viscount Cathcart.

William Murray, Earl of Mansfield.

Charles William Henry Scott, Lord Tindall.

Alexander Home, Earl Home.

Frederic Irby, Lord Boston.

Henry Pelham Clinton, Duke of Newcastle.

DXXIX.

JANUARY 5, 1811.

It had become necessary during the time that the settlement of the Regency was pending, to authorise the issue of money from the Exchequer for the public service, in accordance with a vote of the Commons, a blank

being left for the Lords Spiritual and Temporal.' The introduction of these words was opposed, and objection was also taken to the use of the word 'commanded' as uttered by Parliament to the officers of the Exchequer. The Opposition asserted that this was an unconstitutional assumption. The resolution was, however, carried, and the following protest inserted.

Because the principle on which the resolution is founded would justify the assumption of all the executive powers of the Crown by the two Houses of Parliament, during any suspension of the personal exercise of the Royal authority.

Because this unprecedented and unconstitutional measure might have been avoided, without injury to the public service, by resorting (as was suggested in debate) to the mode of proceeding sanctioned by our ancestors in 1688, namely, an Address to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to take upon him the civil and military administration of affairs, and the disposal of the public revenue, until the means of supplying the defect in the exercise of the Royal authority should be finally adjusted.

William Henry, Duke of Clarence.

James St. Clair Erskine, Earl of Rosslyn.

James Maitland, Lord Lauderdale (Earl of Lauderdale).
George John Spencer, Earl Spencer.

William Charles Keppel, Earl of Albemarle.

Henry Richard Fox Vassall, Lord Holland.

Thomas Erskine, Lord Erskine.

DXXX.

JANUARY 28, 1811.

An ordinary appeal case from the Court of Session in Scotland (Millar against McKellar) was before the House on petition. Earl Grosvenor took the opportunity of asserting that till the defect in the Constitution occasioned by the King's illness was remedied, it was irregular to deal with any other business than that of remedying the defect, and moved that the petition be not received. His motion was negatived without a division, and the following protest was inserted. Millar's petition was subsequently withdrawn.

Because the authority by which Parliament has now the means of deliberating, is derived from a proceeding irregular, and only to be justified by the necessity of the case, it ought therefore to be strictly circumscribed by the same rule, and not be permitted to extend to matters beyond the purposes for which it was created.

Because, the above proceeding has no connection with those

objects to which the attention of Parliament is now from an act of necessity directed.

Because, if a Parliament, meeting under the circumstances of the present, when one branch of the Legislature is incapable of exertion, should assume to itself a free scope in the objects of its deliberation before the defect in the Legislature is supplied, subjects may be brought into discussion by which a precedent may be established subversive of the Monarchy and the Constitution.

Robert Grosvenor, Earl Grosvenor.

Charles Grey, Earl Grey.

Henry Fitzmaurice Petty, Marquis of Lansdowne.
James Maitland, Lord Lauderdale (Earl of Lauderdale).

DXXXI.

JANUARY 28, 1811.

In naming the Council which should assist the Queen in the care of the King's person, Lord King moved the omission of Lord Eldon's name, insisting particularly that the Chancellor had violated his duty in 1804. He referred to the fact that Lord Eldon had affixed the Great Seal to certain documents on the 9th and 23rd of March in that year. An attempt had been made before to insert the names of the Archbishop of Armagh and the Duke of Bedford, but it failed, in the latter case by 86 to 68. The motion to omit Lord Eldon's name was lost by 139 to 54The following protest was inserted; twenty-four Peers protesting without reasons.

Ist, Because it is of the highest importance, that in the appointment of her Majesty's Council the public should have every security which previous conduct can afford, that the persons composing the same will not act under any undue bias, but that whilst they follow the course prescribed to them by their duty, for restoring his Majesty to the public exercise of his royal functions whenever he shall be in a capacity to resume them, they will neither expose his Majesty to the danger of a too early pressure of business, nor concur in representing his Majesty as qualified to act in his high office before his recovery shall be complete.

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2ndly, Because it appears by the evidence of Doctor Heberden, taken on oath before a Committee of this House, That he was first called upon to attend his Majesty on the 12th of February, 1804; that he believed his Majesty presided at Council on the 23rd of April following, and that he should consider the interval between

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