GENERAL HISTORY, 



[15 



himself. Further, he should pro- 

 pose that the powers now exer- 

 cisedby the Prince Regent, should, 

 in case of the death or disability of 

 his royal highness, be exercised 

 by the heir to the crown, the prin- 

 cess Charlotte of Wales. He then 

 anticipated, some objections that 

 might possibly be made against 

 vesting such a power in the prin- 

 cess, and also replied to the plea 

 that might be urged against the 

 necessity of such a regulation at 

 present; and he concluded with 

 moving, " That leave be given to 

 bring in a bill to provide against 

 any interruption of the exercise of 

 the royal authority, in the event 

 of the death of his royal highness 

 the Prince Regent, during the con- 

 tinuance of his Majesty's malady.'' 



The motion was seconded by 

 lord Cochrane. 



Mr. Bathurst highly approved of 

 the open and candid manner in 

 which the hon. baronet had sub- 

 milted his motion to the House ; 

 but he brought arguments to prove 

 that the consideration of such a 

 topic was at present unnecessary, 

 and that it might safely be left to 

 the two Houses of Parliament to 

 provide for such cases when they 

 should occur. As to the right in 

 the heir of the crown to exercise 

 the royal authority in the event of 

 an interruption of the regal func- 

 tions, that was a question which 

 might now be considered as at 

 rest, since no doubts had been 

 /aised concerning it during the 

 progress of the last regency bill. 

 Another objection to the motion 

 was, that in his opinion it could 

 not be received by the House un- 

 less it came recommended by the 

 crown. On the whole, he saw 



many solid reasons for avoiding all 

 discussion on the subject. 



Mr. Brand, in supporting the 

 motion, gave his reasons for not 

 concurring with the last speaker in 

 either of the grounds he took for 

 opposing it ; its not coming re- 

 commended by the crown, and its 

 being unnecessary. He could not 

 believe that it was essential to 

 have the recommendation of the 

 crown before the House entered 

 upon the discussion of a question 

 of such vital importance to the 

 state ; and he thought that it was 

 a point of great magnitude, and of 

 commanding necessity. There was 

 only one life between us and the 

 recurrence of the former diffi- 

 culty ; and under such circum- 

 stances the bill ought undoubtedly 

 to be received, and the remedy 

 proposed by the hon. baronet, or 

 some other, to be adopted. 



Lord A. Hamilton and Mr. 

 Wynn spoke to the same purpose. 

 The latter, however, thought that 

 the more eligible mode of attain- 

 ing the object would be, to refer 

 the consideration of the question 

 to a committee of the House. 



Mr. Ponsonby ^WovreA, that such 

 measures as that now proposed 

 should generally proceed from the 

 government ; but there might be 

 cases in which, if parliament was 

 moved to the consideration of 

 them, it was fully competent to 

 determine them, even though go- 

 vernment might be unwilling to 

 offer the subject to its attention. 

 The contingency itself did not ap- 

 pear to him so improbable as to 

 some gentlemen, considering the 

 state of his Majesty'sbodilj'health, 

 which rendered it not unlikely that 

 he might live many years, though 



