might be proper for the dignity and comfort of his father. Mr Ponsonby perhaps forgot that the deficiency in the civil list, although a very proper subject in other circumstances for the consideration of parliament, had no immediate connection with the measure then proposed to the house. He forgot also, when he objected to the household establishment, that his majesty, although severely afflicted, was still the king of England, and could not, in decency even, be entirely stripped of dignity and splendour; and he must have forgotten also, what was at that moment in evidence before the committee, that, since his lamented indisposition, his majesty had been in the habit of communicating with his family and his ministers; that he had shewn himself competent to all the purposes of ordinary intercourse, and feelingly alive to his unfortunate condition. In circumstances such as these, which might still recur, even if a sense of decorum had not opposed all miserable plans of economy, the feelings of humanity would have exclaimed against them. Had the suggestion of Mr Ponsonby, which was enforced by many of his friends," that it should be left to the heir-apparent to decide upon what was proper for the dignity and comfort of his majesty," been adopted by parliament, his royal highness must have been placed in a situation very distressing to his delicacy.

Other objections were made to the proposed plan by Mr Tierney. It was a most alarming thing, in his opinion, that two courts should be created; that the Prince Regent, exercising the royal functions, should have a splendid court, while the queen should also have her court, to the support of which the enormous sum of 100,0001. was to be applied! What object could the ministers have in view by a proseeding so extraordinary? they could

mean nothing else than to create a secret and a dangerous influence; to oppose the splendour, the influence, and intrigue of her majesty's court to the legitimate authority of the Prince Regent's. The minister, in short, by placing grooms of the bed-chamber, masters of the robes, and equerries, at the disposal of the queen, must certainly have intended to subvert the constitution! Mr Tierney condescended to make some observations, which were not very worthy of the occasion. "His objection," he said,

was, that splendid personages were to be placed round his majesty, at the same time that the queen also had splendid personages attached to her household. Why could not one master of the robes and one treasurer serve for both? It was not well to let it go out to the country, that in his majesty's present state a master of the robes was necessary to take care of his dress."

These objections having been overruled, a bill was brought in to make provision for the better support of his majesty's household, and for the care of his majesty's real and personal property during the continuance of his indisposition. Mr Tierney renewed his attack. He contended, that as the civil list had been maturely ar ranged in the year 1804, and as there had, from that year downward, been a regular excess in the departments of the lord steward, the lord chamberlain, &c. an account should be laid before parliament, shewing the amount of the charges and the reasons of the excess. This proposal was readily acceded to; but when the accounts were produced, Mr Tierney expressed his dissatisfaction with them; and, in conjunction with other members of the house, renewed his opposition to the bill. He began, by paying some merited compliments to the character

of the Prince Regent. Alluding to the act of the preceding year, by which, his royal highness had been called to the regency, Mr Tierney remarked, "that the restrictions contained in that act were such as the Prince of Wales felt were not only painful, but injurious and insulting to the character of his royal highness. Since the passing of that act up to the present moment, his royal highness had conducted himself in such a manner, as not only to call forth the admiration of the country, but also to remove any suspicion, (if any man had suspicion lurking in his mind at the time the act passed), that his future conduct would not be regulated in the same manner. The whole of his royal highness's conduct had been directed by attention to the comforts of his royal father, and had on all occasions done credit to himself, and would refute any insinuations to the contrary. There was nothing in his royal highness's past conduct that could lead him to a suspicion, that if he was clothed with full powers he would abuse those powers." Mr Tierney, however, contended, that the measure before the house, was one of great financial but still greater political importance; that, although the Prince Regent was now to be permanently invested with the royal authority, and to enjoy the revenues of the sovereign, he was still left in possession of part of a revenue which belonged to him only as Prince of Wales, and which ought now to fall into the exchequer ; that the result of the arrangement would be such as to place at the disposal of his royal highness a civil-list revenue exceeding that which his royal father had enjoyed by 20,000l. ayear; that a part of this large fund was to be placed beyond the controul of parliament; that if the prince were to have a privy purse, as to the pro

priety of which there could be no doubt, his royal father, in the condition to which he was reduced, could certainly have no occasion for such a purse; that the privy purse belonged to the office, not to the person of the king; that, instead of leaving to the uncontrolled disposal of the prince an annual sum of 70,000l., parliament ought at once to interpose and pay the debts which his royal highness had contracted; and that it would be much more creditable to the house to enter on a thorough revisal of the civil list, and establish it upon a footing suit, able to the dignity of the crown, and the generosity of the nation, than to add to a revenue, which had been found inadequate to the purposes to which it was destined. The right honourable gentleman then proceeded in a strain of argument, calculated to sow distrust betwixt the prince and the ministers, for whom his royal highness had by this time indicated a predilection. "If they did not enter at present upon a full arrangement," said he, "every year they went on they would be continually exposed to a fresh discussion on the subject of the civil list. It was true, they were told, that the average excess had been hitherto discharged out of the droits of admiralty and the excess of the Scotch revenue, and that if the expenditure of his royal highness should exceed that average excess, it would be necessary to come to parliament. What was this, he would ask, but an indirect statement, that an addition was to be made to the civil list to the amount of this average excedent, while in the outset he was to be curtailed of 50,0001. enjoyed by his fa ther? The fact was, that this was a plan to keep the Prince Regent always in restraint, always under the necessity of applying for something from ministers, for which, no doubt, he was to give something to ministers

in return.

Their conduct appeared here in the most artful light. He wanted, therefore, to see the prince entirely free from ministers. During the whole of the last reign, animosi, ties had taken place respecting the paying off the debts contracted by the civil list. Why, then, would not the minister at once come down, and ask from the house, he would not say a lavish grant, but such a sum as they ought to grant? Was it the way that the civil list ought to be provided for at the commencement of a reign, to tell the house that the excedent of 124,0001. was to be paid out of the droits of admiralty and Scotch revenue? Every thing in this business was left unexplained, and the house was left completely involved in doubts and perplexities. Throughout the whole bill, there was an apparent distrust of his royal highness, while every thing was calculated to appear like very great kindness to him. In place of the 100,0001. taken from the civil list, 70,0001. were to be given him, for which he was to be under no controul. But this was one side of the picture only, and it was proper also to look at the other. Here, then, was a settled distrust manifested respecting the intentions of his royal highness; he was considered by them as incapable and unfit to be trusted with the management of his father's servants; the father was placed under the controul, not of his son, but of others. The distrust entertained of the Prince Regent was the real reason for all this conduct."

Mr Tierney took the lead in these discussions on the part of opposition; but objections of a different kind were started by other members. Complaints were made of the obscurity of that part of the civil-list accounts which was comprehended under the head of diplomacy. The charge in this depart

ment had increased, it was said, at a period when the country seemed to have no opportunity of sending out diplomatists; and some minute objections, which it were useless to recapitulate, were made to the various items of charge. If the house should pass the bill, it must, without information, recognise the necessity of an excess in the expenditure above the revenue of the civil list to the amount of 124,0001. annually. The provision for paying the prince's debts was described as highly irregular. No application of this kind ought to have been made to parliament in any other shape than that of a message from the prince.

Mr Whitbread summed up the arguments of opposition, and concluded with the following piece of declamation, which may afford a tolerably fair specimen of his eloquence. "This bill," said he, "teemed with influence: Under it three commissioners were appointed to take care of his majesty's property; these gentlemen were to take an oath of secrecy, so that the parliament could know nothing of their proceedings; to the queen, who was not their mistress, to the prince, who was not their master, they were bound to explain all their acts; but they must conceal every thing from the Commons' House of Parlia ment, who ought to be acquainted with every farthing expended. He conceived it right, in an argument of this kind, to put extreme cases; and he would ask, as had been done by an honourable baronet (Sir F. Burdett), whom he did not then see in his place, suppose this money was laid out in the purchase of Cornish boroughs, suppose it was expended in procuring seats in that house, for the benefit of the real and personal estate of the king, though, in a narrow view, he might benefit by it, still, being destructive of the constitution, must it

not ultimately be destructive of the monarch? When the two courts were constituted, a factious opposition from the queen's court might be experienced by the ministers of the regent, who were the proper ministers of the

crown."

Mr Perceval made a most satisfactory reply, to which it is impossible to do justice, otherwise than by select ing some of the most prominent passages. "The question before the house," he said, "" was, Whether or not the objections to the bill were of such a description, that it was their duty not to proceed with it without that detailed enquiry which had been so strongly recommended? The honourable gentlemen had pointed out several items in the papers, into which they wished that some enquiry might be made before they could acknowledge the necessity of agreeing to the grants in the bill. If, on a view of the expences of the household, and of the charges likely to be brought upon it, it should satisfactorily appear that no more was asked for than what was indispensable, no enquiry would then be deemed necessary; but should any jealousy exist in the house, with respect to particular points, it would then become a question, Whether that enquiry ought not rather to take place hereafter, than be allowed to interrupt the important business before the house? Although, on a general view of the civil list, it might appear that no greater sum was required than what was sufficient to defray the expences of the household, there might be some points requiring subsequent detailed information." In reply to an observation which had been made on that branch of the civil list which relates to diplomatic missions, Mr Perceval observed, "much had also been said of the grants to foreign ministers. The right honourable gentle

man who opened the debate, had said, generally, that a great number of those sums ought to be explained, but had not stated any particular item. The honourable, gentleman, however, who had last spoken, had particularized several sums, which appeared to him objectionable on the face of them, and required explanation. The first thing which seemed to strike the ho nourable gentleman with surprise on this subject was, that when the number of missions at different courts were lessened, the expences should be increased. The house would observe, however, that there was no increase in the salaries. On the contrary, in the salaries there was a considerable diminution. But the honourable gentleman and the house ought to know, (and in saying this he went a great way towards giving the explanation required), that in the state in which things were on the continent, it would not be wise, in many cases, to send missions on an established salary. The duration of those missions was not likely to be long. In preference, therefore, it was advisable to send special missions ; but the expences of these missions were defrayed in a very different manner from the others. The honourable gentleman declared, that an explanation on this subject was due to Marquis Wellesley, who, by a misconception, he stated, had received the expences, described in the papers, over and above his salary. No such thing. The noble marquis had not received a farthing of salary on account of his mission to Cadiz. He had not received a farthing as a remuneration for his services. But the ho nourable gentleman characterised the expences as large, and seemed to think they were disproportioned to the length of the service by which they had been incurred. Now, it was very evident, that the expences of a person

going to any place in the character of an ambassador for a short time, must be much greater in proportion than the expences of a person going in the character of an ambassador for a long period. The honourable, gentleman also declared, that a debt of explanation was due to Sir Sydney Smith. The house had already heard an explanation on that subject, and amply sufficient it was. They had heard that the money which he had received was in return for expences incurred many years ago. 'Oh then,' said the honourable gentleman, the country ought sooner to have discharged this obligation.' But let it be recollected at what a distance these services were performed-in Egypt and on the coast of Syria; what a difficulty there existed to procure vouchers of the expences; how frequently Sir Sydney Smith was absent from the country, and consequently interrupted in the arrangement of the accounts; how anxious he naturally was that there should be every possible degree of exactitude on the subject; and it would not appear surprising that some delay had taken place. If, however, more explanation was thought necessary, he‍had no objection to the production of the details from the different offices; but he was confident it would not be found in these details that any sum had been given to Sir Sidney Smith as a remuneration for his services. All that had been given was merely a remuneration for his expenditure. Let the honourable gentleman consider the nature of Sir Sidney Smith's services; the character of the people with whom he had to deal, and the effectual way in which he discharged the trust reposed in him, and he did not think that he himself would deem the sum stated to be greater than, under all the circumstances of the case, it was proper to expend. If,

on showing that 70001. was paid to Sir Sidney Smith for his services when employed, half in a military and half in a diplomatic character, in Egypt and Syria, the honourable gentleman intimated that he did not think it an extravagant sum; on what principle could he say that there was due to Sir Sidney Smith's honour and character any explanation, but simply a statement on what ground the expences were incurred? Parliament being employed, under the recommendation of the speech from the throne, in making a provision for his majesty's household, the honourable gentleman suddenly interrupted them in the midst of the business: Oh, oh,' says he,

here is an item of 70001. to Sir Sidney Smith; I do not think the sum excessive; I do not want any expla nation for our own satisfaction, but, for the purpose of clearing the honour and character of Sir Sidney Smith, pray, suspend all your proceedings, and arrest the progress of the bill at present under the consideration of the house.' The observations of the honourable gentleman on the expences to foreign ministers were all general, except those which related to Sir Sidney Smith, the Marquis Wellesley, Mr Arbuthnot, and Sir Arthur Paget." Mr Perceval further said, "he trusted, that whatever might be due to any other party, he had not left the character of Sir Sidney Smith exposed to any cloud or stain; and therefore the fine figure which the honourable gentleman so eloquently introduced of the debt of explanation due to Sir Sidney Smith on this occasion, might serve to wind up a magnificent period in the honourable gentleman's speech, but had no relation whatever to the subject before the house. The same remark was equally applicable to what the honourable gentleman had said of his

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