140] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



The Earl of Lauderdale, agree- 

 ing;- in general with the Chancel- 

 lor's suggestion, said that if, 

 however, the whole patronage of 

 the Windsor establishment was 

 to be vested in the queen, he 

 ishould feel himself under the 

 necessity of objecting to it. 



The Lord Chancellor declared, 

 that with a very little alteration 

 there could not be a better bill 

 than that which he had presented 

 to the House ; and that even as it 

 now stood, he conceived it was 

 not less calculated for the general 

 benefit of the state than any 

 that could be founded upon the 

 suggestions of those noble lords 

 who opposed it. With respect 

 to the principal difficulty to 

 which that noble earl had advert- 

 ed, he would find in the last 

 clause a provision that removed 

 his objection altogether. It was 

 there stated, that the powers 

 granted to the commissioners 

 under this bill were only such as 

 they would have derived under 

 the 51 of the king. 



The Marquis of Buchingham 

 expressed his gratitude to the 

 noble and learned lord for the 

 readiness he showed in making an 

 essential alteration in the bill ; 

 for he could not help saying 

 that, in strict principle, he should 

 be better satisfied to have the 

 new commissioners appointed by 

 parliament, tlian by any other 

 power. 



The previous question was 

 then negatived, and the bill was 

 read a second time. 



On May 25th, the House 

 having resolved itself into a com- 

 mittee on this bill, the Lord 

 Chancellor said, that it appearing 

 to be the opinion of their lord- 



ships that the additional menders 

 of the queen's council should be 

 nominated by parliament, as in 

 the Regency act, he had pre- 

 pared amendments for the pur- 

 pose of framing the first clause in 

 that view, giving the power to 

 the queen of filling up any 

 vacancy that might occur, by an 

 instrument under her majesty's 

 hand and seal. He then pro- 

 posed four additional members of 

 the queen's council to be ap- 

 pointed in tlie bill ; namely, 

 George earl of Macclesfield, 

 WiUiam lord bishop of London, 

 Alleyn lord St. Hellens, Morton 

 lord Henley of Ireland. 



The insertion of these names 

 was agreed to. 



Lord Holland then rose, and 

 observed, that upon former occa- 

 sions they had been called upon 

 to legislate with a view to the 

 probable recovery of the king, in 

 which view the provisions of the 

 Regency act were worded. If 

 they were now to be called upon 

 to alter those provisions, which 

 could only be upon the ground 

 of [the probability of the king's 

 recovery having ceased, it was 

 not in any respect satisfactory 

 that such alteration should be 

 confined to the provision now in 

 question. If that trust had be- 

 come of a less important nature 

 from the less probabihty of the 

 king's recovery, at any rate this 

 fact fought to be ascertained by 

 previous inquiry, and then it 

 might be a ground not for this 

 partial measure, but for a general 

 review of the Regency act. 

 His lordship then instanced in 

 the Windsor establishment, which, 

 considering the general distress 

 of the country, it would be an 

 -[- act 



