02] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



motion for the Address was tlien 

 agreed to. 



On May Ytli the Earl of Liver- 

 pool moved the third reading of 

 the bill for granting an annuity 

 to the duke of Cambridge. 



The Earl of Lauderdale having 

 moved that the message from the 

 crown relative to the marriage of 

 the royal dukes be read, he said, 

 after his request had been com- 

 plied with, that his purpose was, 

 to bring to their lordships recol- 

 lection that a principle had been 

 implied in the proceedings which 

 had taken place on this subject. 

 The declared principle was, that 

 provision was to be made for 

 certain members of the royal 

 family in consequence of their 

 nuptials. It was not, that provi- 

 sion should be made for one in 

 preference to another, but for all 

 such members of the royal family 

 as married with the consent of 

 the crown. If that was an im- 

 proper law, it ought to be altered ; 

 but while it existed, it should be 

 fairly acted upon. On the con- 

 trary, it was a desertion of duty 

 in parliament to make it a matter 

 of favour whetlier or not a provi- 

 sion should be voted after a mar- 

 riage had been regularly con- 

 tracted according to the law. In 

 looking at the bills on the table, 

 their lordships would find that 

 there was one member of the 

 royal family who had married 

 with the consent of the crown, 

 and for whom no provision had 

 yet been made. Now, if the ques- 

 tion was viewed in the light in 

 which he had endeavoured to 

 place it, their lordships would be 

 of opinion that an abstract right 

 of provision existed in conse- 

 quence of the mairiage. It ap- 



peared, however, from what had 

 been done in this case, that some 

 other principle must guide the 

 decisions of another place. To 

 him, he must own, this proceed- 

 ing appeared in the utmost degree 

 unfair and improper. His lord- 

 ship hinted at the same thing 

 respecting the case of the duke 

 of Cumberland, though he was 

 glad to see, from one of the bills 

 on the table, that this prejudice 

 was removed. 



Lord Holland said, he did not 

 object to this grant on account 

 of its amount, but on account of 

 the manner in which it was given. 

 When he considered the sums 

 of money which had, at different 

 periods during the present reign, 

 been voted by parliament to the 

 crown, he must regard them as 

 fully adequate to the purpose for 

 which they were destined ; and 

 he thought that the splendor of 

 the crown would be much better 

 consulted, if the provisions neces- 

 sary on the marriage of members 

 of the royal family were advanced 

 out of these sums, than by apply- 

 ing to parliament for additional 

 grants, with the chance of having 

 to experience a refusal. It was 

 most unjust to charge the conso- 

 lidated fund with this provision. 



The Earl nf Liverpool made 

 some remarks on the positions of 

 the two lords, though he seemed 

 most inclined to hold with the 

 former. With respect to the 

 latter, he said he was ready to 

 enter into a detailed view of the 

 subject whenever the noble baron 

 might think proper to bring it 

 forward. 



The bill was then read a third 

 time, and passed. 



On May 14th the Prince Re- 

 $ gent's 



