16] 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



incapableof the functions of royal- 

 ty. Should the event take place, 

 such a bill as that proposed would 

 remove many of the difficulties ex- 

 perienced in the former instances, 

 and enable the government to put 

 itself into a state of activity in a 

 much shorter time. He should 

 therefore vote in favour of the 

 motion. 



Lord Cas/Zereag^ admitting that 



parliament had a right to enter in- 

 to such considerations without a 

 message from the crown, thought 

 however, that it would not be 

 prudent for them to expose them- 

 selves to a conflict with the crown 

 on such a remote contingency. It 

 appeared to him, that the hon. ba- 

 ronet's object was, to destroy the 

 discretionary power of parliament 

 upon the subject, and that he pre- 

 ferred the determination of the 

 question on the hereditary princi- 

 ple. Whichever way it was de- 

 termined, there was a balance of 

 inconveniences: but the reason 

 why it was better that it should 

 rest in the discretion of parliament 

 was, that this body felt it to be its 

 first duty to take care that the 

 royal power should be returned 

 undiminished into the hands of its 

 legitimate possessor, as soon as the 

 incapacity of exercising it was re- 

 moved; whereas upon the here- 

 ditary principle, the royal power 

 being immediately and fully trans- 

 ferred to the regent, there was not 

 the same security for its resump- 

 tion. 



Mr. Whitbread spoke in favour 

 of the motion, as thinking it the 

 most proper time for a parliamen- 

 tary arrangement on the subject, 

 now that party heats were so much 

 allayed, that there was no danger 



of reviving the animosities to which 

 former discussions had given birth. 

 After a reply from sir Francis 

 Burdett to the objections to his 

 motion stated by the members of 

 ministry ; in which he avowed that 

 he should at all times prefer here- 

 ditary power, to contingent and 

 purely accidental power placed in 

 the hands of a few ministers, sup- 

 ported by such majorities as he 

 had seen in that House ; and urged 

 upon the House the great consti- 

 tutional importance of the ques- 

 tion ; a division took place, for the 

 motion, 73 ; against it, 238 : Ma- 

 jority, 165. . 



In the parliamentary history ot 

 the last year, notice was taken of 

 an effort made by some of the 

 members of opposition to engage 

 the House of Commons in a dis- 

 cussion respecting the situation of 

 the princess of Wales, and in par- 

 ticular, to elicit from Mr. Perceval 

 some information on a subject with 

 which his former relations to that 

 princess, had rendered him well 

 acquainted. The attempt then 

 failed ; but in the present year the 

 circumstances in which her royal 

 highness was placed became a 

 prominent topic in the debates 

 of parliament, and interested the 

 whole nation for a considerable pe- 

 riod to an uncommon degree. A 

 general account of the transactions 

 on this subject will properly come 

 under our head of Domestic Oc- 

 currences ; but that part of them 

 in which parliament was concern- 

 ed must necessarily occupy a place 

 in the narrative of the proceed- 

 ings of that body. 



As early as February ^4-, the 

 hon. Cochrane Johnstone had giyeft 

 notice of an intention to submit a 



