The Prince Regent's Speech-Addresses thereon and Debates.-Thanks to Lord Minto-State of the King's Health.-Debate on Colonel M Maha's Appointment of Paymaster of Widow's Pensions-Distillery Bill. T HE session of parliament was opened on January 7, with the Prince Regent's Speech, delivered by commission: it was to the following effect :-Commencing with the expression of deep concern for his Majesty's continued indisposition, respecting which the reports of the Queen's council were to be laid before the two houses, it particularly adverted to their indispensable duty of continuing to preserve for his Majesty the facility of resuming his royal authority in the event of his recovery. The success of the measures for the defence and security of Portugal were next touched upon, with the reputation acquired by the British and Portuguese troops in their acVOL. LIV. tions with the enemy. The surprize of a French corps in Estremadura, by Lieut.-Gen. Hill, was mentioned with commendation; from which a transition was made to the general merits of Lord Wellington in the direction of the campaign; and the spirit shewn by the Spanish nation in their peculiar system of warfare, the extension of which was placed in balance against the success of the enemy in some quarters. This part of the subject concluded with the Regent's confident hope that parliament would enable his Majesty to continue the most effectual aid for supporting the contest in the Pepinsula. The speech then took notice of the success of the British [B] arms arms in the reduction of Java, and In the house of lords, the ac- been submitted to their lordships, and yet they were called upon to pledge themselves to a system which had brought the country into its present alarming situation. He said, he retained his objections to every part of the system he had so often condemned; and he particularly requested their lordships to consider the portentous way in which the state of Ireland had been alluded to in the speech: the attention of parliament was not directed to the oppressions and grievances of which the Irish complained, but solely to the revenue to be drawn from them. He concluded by giving notice, that this subject would in a short time be brought distinctly before their lordships. The Earl of Liverpool, in reply, contended, that the system thus condemned had justified itself by experience; and professed his own readiness, and that of his colleagues, to defend their conduct when the day should come for canvassing the subject. He thought there was nothing in the address which could prevent any member from concurring in the assurance given to the Regent of assistance in the discharge of his arduous duties. Earl Grey went over the same ground with Lord Grenville, and denied that opposing measures of administration fraught with ruin to the country would be withholding the support to the Regent necessary for the conduct of his government. Some other lords spoke on the occasion; but the address was agreed to nemine dissent ente. The proceedings respecting the speech in the House of Commons were were rendered remarkable by an unusual circumstance. After it had been read by the Speaker, and Lord Jocelyn was rising to move the accustomed complimentary address, Sir Francis Burdett rose at the same time, and having first caught the Speaker's eye, it was decided that he was in possession of the house. The baronet then, after a speech of warm and desultory invective against the principles of the war, the defects of the representation, and a variety of other matters of grievance, moved an address to the Prince Regent, intended, he said, "to embrace every point which his own sense of duty to his constituents, and to the country in general, suggested to him as essential." Accordingly, the proposed address was framed in the style of a memorial or remonstrance, laying before his Royal Highness all the instances of misgovernment and oppression, of infringment of the public liberty, and accumulation of abuses, which, in the opinion of the mover, a series of past years had afforded. After it had been read, Lord Cochrane rose to second the motion, and in his speech particularly dwelt upon the misconduct of the war, and the little hope of final success. Lord Jocelyn then moved the address, which he had prepared, by way of amendment to that proposed by the honourable baronet, and was seconded by Mr. Vyse. Of the debate which followed, it is scarcely necessary to record the particulars, since the members in opposition, who agreed with Sir Francis Burdett in parts of his statement of publicevils, could bot concur with him in all points, and thought that many of the to pics introduced would be better reserved for future discussion. They made some objections to the ministerial address, similar to those which were advanced in the House of Lords, and were replied to in a similar manner. The house then divided on Sir F. Burdett's address, which had only one vote in its favour besides the two tellers, against 238. Lord Jocelyn's amendment was carried without a division. On Jan. 8, Lord Jocelyn appearing at the bar of the house with the report of the committee on the address, the question was put, that it should be brought up; when Mr. Whitbread rose to deliver those sentiments on the subject which the unexpected occurrence of yesterday had prevented him from declaring. He then at length stated his reasons for disagreeing with the address. These chiefly turned upon the fallacy of the hopes attempted to be excited by the present state of the Peninsula, concerning which he wished for more ample information in several points (which he mentioned) than had been afforded; upon the expression "conciliatory," applied to the negotiations with America, which appeared to him by no means entitled to that appellation: and upon a supposed impossibility of negociating a peace with France, arising from the personal character of its present ruler. He was answered by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who began in a strain of sarcasm respecting the past prophecies of the honourable gentleman, which had been proved erroneous in the event; and he went on to shew the reasons there were for looking forward cheerfully and sanguinely to the result of the con[B 2] test test on the Peninsula. He adverted to several of the questions that had been asked by Mr. Whitbread, to some of which he gave general replies; and he affirmed that our army in Spain was at this moment 10,000 stronger than it had been the last year. He defended the conduct of government with respect to America, and represented the contingent evil of war as greater to her than to this country; and having noticed some other of the honourable gentleman's objections to the address, he concluded with hoping that the house would not be prevented, by the gloomy picture he had drawn, from concurring in it. After Mr. Whitbread had called upon the last speaker for an explanation of his meaning in quoting upon him a satirical couplet from Pope, and had received a disavowal of any intention of giving offence; General Tarleton rose, and made a number of observations concerning the unfavourable state of affairs in the Peninsula, and the hopeless nature of the contest in which we have been so long engaged. He was followed by Mr. Creevey, whose remarks chiefly related to the public revenue, which, according to his information, bad experienced a rapid and alarming decline; and for the purpose that the returns of taxes for the last year might be laid upon the table before the address was voted, he concluded with moving that the word "now" be left out of the motion before the house, and "this day se'nnight" be inserted in its place. This called up again the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who said, he had the satisfaction to state, that the honourable gentleman had taken a black and very unfounded view of the revenue of the country. He acknowledged a diminution in the year 1811 of two millions from that of the preceding year; but the receipt in the latter was the greatest ever known; and that important branch, the excise, had produced more in 1811 than in the preceding year. After some further debate, in which the former topics were recapitulated, Mr. Creevey's motion was put and negatived; and the report was then brought up and agreed to. The thanks of the houses of parliament voted on occasion of military success, are generally such mere matters of course, in which ministers take the opportunity of gaining reflected approbation of their own measures, and their opponents seldom choose to expose themselves to the hazard of appearing reluctant to join in the praise due to meritorious services, that it is scarcely worth while to record them in the register of parliamentary transactions. Sometimes, however, the motions for this purpose call forth discussions which it is not unimportant to notice; and one of this kind occurred in the House of Commons on Jan. 10, upon the motion of the Chancellor of the Exchequer for thanks to Lord Minto, governorgeneral of India, on account of the conquest of the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, and the operations in the island of Java. The right honourable gentleman introduced his motion with an eulogy of the wise and well-arranged plans of the governor-general, which bad given birth to these successes. He went through the |