138] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



invested ; and under the same 

 provision she might supply sub- 

 stitutes for the greater part, or 

 even the whole, of the members 

 originally appointed by parlia- 

 ment. The main object, how- 

 ever, of this first part of the bill 

 was, that there should be an 

 increase ; and it would be for 

 their lordships to decide, in the 

 progress of the bill, whether the 

 appointments should be made by 

 her majesty, or by parliament. 



With respect to the other ob- 

 ject of the bill, he thought their 

 lordships could not fail to per- 

 ceive that it tended to effect a 

 very necessary amendment in the 

 act of the 51st of the king. That 

 act provided that, if her majesty 

 should cease to have the custody 

 of his majesty's person during a 

 prorogation, parliament should 

 assemble forthwith ; and in case 

 of the event happening between 

 the dissolution of one parliament, 

 and the day of meeting of another, 

 the old parliament was to assem- 

 ble forthwith, even though that 

 event shpuld happen only the 

 day before that appointed for the 

 meeting of the new parliament. 

 Now, if such an event should 

 occur during a dissolution ; after 

 the writs were issued, or any day 

 previous to writs being returnable, 

 the greatest inconvenience would 

 be occasioned ; for all the expense 

 which individuals might be put 

 to in the elections would be lost, 

 as the returns to the new parlia- 

 ment would, in fact, be abrogated. 

 The act had made the same pro- 

 vision for the case of her majesty 

 ceasing to have the custody of 

 the king's person, as for the 

 demise of the king ; but though 

 it might be very proper to put 



the case of the demise of the 

 Regent on the same footing as 

 that of the king, there could be 

 no reason for similar provisions in 

 the case of her majesty. As, by 

 the Regency act, the care of the 

 king would, in the event of the 

 demise of the queen, be vested 

 in her majesty's council, there 

 was clearly no necessity for the 

 forthwith meeting of parliament ; 

 and he could see no solid objec- 

 tion to the alteration of the clause 

 alluded to, by substituting the 

 power to summon parliament at a 

 short notice. 



The Lord Chancellor concluded 

 by moving the second reading of 

 the bill, in the committee on 

 which he intimated that he had 

 some additional clauses to pro- 

 pose. 



Earl Grey, after some stric- 

 tures on the unprepared manner 

 in which the noble and learned 

 lord had thought proper to lay 

 his bill before the House, began 

 with saying that he had a word or 

 two previously to mention on the 

 first clause. If, he observed, it 

 really did appear that the duties 

 of the queen's council could not 

 be performed by the present 

 number, an addition ought cer- 

 tainly to be made. With respect 

 to tile mode of effecting the 

 addition, he continued to think 

 that it would be better to follow 

 the example of the first forma- 

 tion of the council. This was, 

 however, a matter of inferior im- 

 portance compared with the other 

 part of the bill, which made a 

 material alteration in the Regency 

 act, the second part of which 

 was neither more nor less than a 

 total repeal of the act which re- 

 lated to the meeting of parlia- 

 ment 



