656 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



Indian af- 

 fttirl. 



Anniver- 

 sary of the 

 revolution 

 celebrated. 



Indispoii- 

 tion of the 

 king. 



The ques- 

 tion of a 

 regency 

 discussed. 



his being aWe to fulfil his intention ; but, at the 

 suggestion of Sir William Dolben, some regulations 

 for restraining the cruelties practised aboard the 

 slave-ships were enacted, which were confirmed and 

 extended during l.lie subsequent year.* 



Perpetual disputes having arisen, as had been fore- 

 seen and foretold between the two Indian boards of 

 direction and controul. the minister thought proper 

 to introduce his famous declaratory act, by which va- 

 rious new and important powers were conferred on 

 1 of controul, under pretence of explaining 

 the former. After this new act, not a doubt could 

 remain, that the crown and the commissioners were 

 invested even with superior powers of patronage over 

 Indian affairs, to those which Mr Fox wished to have 

 given to parliament in the bill which he proposed. 

 The only difference was, that Mr Pitt had obtained 

 forthe crown an influence, which his opponent sought 

 to gain to the representatives of the people, by a fair, 

 single, and decisive measure. 



On the 4th of November, the nation joined, with- 

 out distinction of parties, in celebrating the centena- 

 ry anniversary of the glorious revolution in 1688 ; 

 but their attention was almost immediately called to 

 a more melancholy object of public feeling. The 

 king's health, which had for some time been decli- 

 ning, was affected with fever and delirium. This oc- 

 casioned a suspension of the royal functions, for which 

 the constitution, in all its fulness, had provided no 

 express remedy. The analogy of the common law 

 seemed indeed to point out the Prince of Wales as 

 vhe natural successor to the throne during its tempo- 

 rary vacancy ; and as the party now in opposition 

 were avowedly the friends of his Royal Highness, a 

 change, in every department of office, was likely to 

 be the result of his majesty's continuing under the 

 present affliction. Parliament met in November, but 

 adjourned till December. On the 4-th of that month, 

 the important question of a regency began to be dis- 

 cussed. Mr Fox decidedly insisted on the right of the 

 Prince of Wales to assume the vacant functions of roy- 

 alty whenever parliament should pronounce it necessa- 

 ry that a regent should be appointed. Mr Pitt, with no 

 less decision, pronounced the doctrine of the prince's 

 right to the regency treason against the consti- 

 tution, and contended, that the prince had no more a 

 right to be elected than any other individual. It was 

 retorted, with great severity by the opposition, that 

 this was really to make the crown elective. If a stran- 

 ger, said Mr Fox, were to ask, is your throne he- 

 reditary or elective ? he must now answer, I cannot 

 tell, I must ask the king's physicians, if his majesty is 

 well, it is hereditary ; if he is unwell, it is elective. 

 The revolution, it was contended by ministers, had 

 conferred the crown by the election of a new prince ; 

 but it was answered, that the revolution was not a 

 precedent for the regular progress of government, 

 any more than the sick man's physic was proper du- 

 ring health. Nothing in the present circumstances 



made it necessary to break the hereditary line of suc- 

 cession. The case, though i,ew, did not sanction a 

 revolutionary reversion to the people, as the primary 

 fountain of power. It was a case to be- judged of by 

 analogy the sovereign was dead for the present in 

 point of political capacity ; and the hereditary na- 

 ture of the government suggested no other successor 

 than the lawful heir. The doctrine of Mr Pitt, how- 

 ever, prevailed in a parliament, whose zeal for the 

 revolutionary doctrine of electing a regent, so much 

 at variance with their principles on the public election 

 of representatives, may be suspected of having been 

 influenced by the hopes (that were never abandoned,) 

 of his majesty's recovery. The question of the prince's 

 right to the regency being decided, Mr Pitt, before 

 he laid the full plan of the regency before the House of 

 Commons, acknowledged the propriety of the Prince 

 of Wales being elected to that office by parliament, 

 and submitted to his royal highness the terms on 

 v.-!,'ch it was proposed that he should hold the re- 

 gency. The answer of the Pnnce was temperate, 

 but decided. He lamented, for the sake of the pub T , )e 

 lie. that those powers with which it was proposed to Ol vv"; 

 invest him, were such as degraded and divided the ex- .'ccep 

 ecutive power ; yet, that a conviction of the evils tlu 01 

 that must result to the nation from his refusal, would l>1 re 

 induce him to undertake the painful trust. 



On the 16th of January, ITSf), the whole plan of R cstr 

 the regency was submitted to parliament. The prince tionsi 

 was to exercise the regency during t;is majesty's ill- the 

 ness, withotit being admitted to any share in the care 

 of the royal person, or interference with the king's 

 household and private affairs; he was to grant no 

 pension nor reversion, and no office but what the 

 law absolutely required for any other terms than 

 during the king's pleasure, nor any peerage except 

 on the royal issue. The persons attendant on his 

 majesty, and the officers of his household in general, 

 were to be under the exclusive controul of the queen. 

 The disposal of one fourth of the civil list was thus 

 put in the hands of her majesty, and indirectly re- 

 tained for the strength of a party whom she was 

 known to favour. During these events, his majesty 

 continued chiefly under the care of Dr Willis, who, 

 of all his physicians, had been the most sanguine in 

 his opinion of his recovery ; hitherto these hopes had 

 been indefinite as to time. During the month of 

 February they became more and more decisive. 



Amidst circumstances so important to the general AfFai 

 interests of the empire, the Irish parliament assert- Irela 

 ing their legislative independency, and voted an address 

 to the Prince of Wales, beseeching him to assume 

 the functions of royalty. The lord lieutenant having 

 refused to transmit their address, the Irish peers and 

 commons voted an unqualified censure on his conduct, 

 and sent commissioners to London to wait on his 

 royal highness; .but this measure, and all others con- 

 nected with the plan of regency, was rendered un- 

 necessary by tlie recovery of his majesty, which was 



17 



* When witnesses were examined at the bar of the 



of Commons, on the subject of this horrible traffic, it appeared 



_ _ .... j 



by the'whip, to jump in their irons ; this was calfcd dancin*. They had not, as was emphatically stated, whe 

 tlier, as much room, either in length or breadth, as a man has in his coliin. 



a 



