14] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



CHAPTER II. 



Sir Francis Burdett^s Motion for a Regency Bill. Parliamentary Pro- 

 ceedings respecting the Priricess ofo Wales. 



ON February 23(1, a motion was 

 brought forward in the House 

 of Commons, by sir Francis Bur- 

 dett, which, if not of present poli- 

 tical importance, touched upon a 

 curious and interesting point of the 

 constitution, and appears to have 

 made a more serious impression 

 on the House than might at first 

 have been expected. The hon. 

 baronet, inhis introductory speech, 

 after premising ihat he regarded it 

 as an imperious duty to call the 

 attention of parliament to a sub- 

 ject of the greatest magnitude, said, 

 that it appeared to him that violent 

 encroachments had been made on 

 the true principles of the constitu- 

 tion, by those measures which had 

 been adopted in consequence of 

 the unfortunate malady under 

 which his majesty is labouring. 

 The first of these was in 1788, 

 when it had been determined that 

 the heir apparent to the crown had 

 no more right to the government 

 of the nation than any other sub- 

 ject. The steps taken at this pe- 

 riod were justified on the plea of 

 necessity ; but in his opinion there 

 were two principles which go- 

 verned the whole jf this question : 

 1st, That the powers and preroga- 

 tives annexed by the common law 

 to the crown descend by heredi- 

 tary succession, and not by elec- 

 tion : 2ndly, That its powers are 

 never suspended ; for if the func- 



tions of royalty were, for any time, 

 to cease, one of the three branches 

 of the constitution would be abro- 

 gated, and a dissolution of legal 

 government would ensue. Both 

 these principles, he thought were 

 unnecessarily and unwarrantably 

 departed from at the period refer- 

 red to. In 1810 this mischievous 

 precedent was followed; the usurp- 

 ation was renewed, and a fiction 

 was resorted to, creating a phan- 

 tom of royalty, in order to elect 

 and appoint an executive magis- 

 trate. As a further usurpation of 

 power, restrictions were placed 

 upon the person selected to possess 

 some of the prerogatives of the 

 crown, all of which were bestowed 

 by the law for the benefit of the 

 people. His object was, to prevent 

 on future occasions this lawless as- 

 sumption of authority, and to de- 

 stroy that pretence of necessity, 

 which in fact never existed, be- 

 cause many legal remedies remain- 

 ed. He did not mean to tie down 

 the House to any distinct proposi- 

 tion, but simply to provide against 

 any interruption in the exercise of 

 the royal authority in the event of 

 the death of the Prince Regent 

 during the continuance of his Ma- 

 jesty's malady ; he, however, did 

 not hesitate to state, that in his 

 view, it would be right to give to 

 the regent powers as uncontroled 

 as those belonging to the king 



