LON 
important political meafure.s. But thefe difcuffions, as 
the negotiations entirely failed, cannot be confldered in- 
terefting at the prefent day. 
On the 20th of March, a meflage was fent to both 
houies, from the prince-regent, refpefting a provifion for 
the princeifes, his fillers. It Hated, that, purfuant to powers 
vetted in his majefty, the king, by letters patent bearing 
date the id of Feb. 1802, had 6een pleafed to grant to 
their royal highnefles the princeifes Augulta-Sophia, Eli¬ 
zabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia, an annuity of 30,000!. 
to take effeft from the demile of his majefty; and his royal 
highnefs, being defirous to provide for their eftablilhnrient 
by an immediate grant, recommended the fubjeft to the 
conlideration of parliament. 
On March the 23d, the meflage was taken into cotifi- 
deration in the houfe of commons; when Mr. Creevey, 
after fome obfervations refpefting the falling-off of the 
confolidated fund, from which the required provifion was 
intended to be paid, and on the late large flam granted to 
the regent, from which he thought the additional charge 
might be defrayed, concluded by moving to defer the con¬ 
lideration of the meafure. 
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, in reply, firft Ibowed 
the groundlelfnefs of the gentleman’s apprehenlions con¬ 
cerning the confolidated fund; and then entered into 
fome llatements to prove that it was a miltake to fuppofe 
that there was a large difpofable fund in the hands of the 
prince, fince he had taken upon himfelf the payment of 
the debts of the princefs of Wales, to the amount of 
49,000k and fo large a part of his income as 70,000k had 
been given to a commilfion under the leal of the.duchy 
of Lancafier, for the liquidation of thofe debts which had 
been brought before the houfe. 
Mr. Whitbread concurred in the propriety of poftpon- 
ing the committee, on account of the contradictory ftate- 
ments made by gentlemen on'both lides of the houfe from 
the very fame papers, which proved that a further invef- 
tigation was neceffary. He, for one, had underllood that 
the princeifes were to live with the queen, and that it was 
on this account that the addition of 10,000k had been 
made to her income; for it was difficult to imagine on 
what other account it could have been made. With re- 
fpeft to the payment of the princefs of Wales’s debts by 
the prince, he thought it one of tbs mod complete jug¬ 
gles that was ever heard of, for a perfon to undertake to 
pay the debts of another to fave the expenfe to the people, 
when he came to get his own debts paid by that fame people. 
The motion for the amendment being put, and nega¬ 
tived without a diviflon, the original queltion was carried ; 
and the Chancellor of the Exchequer then made a ftate- 
nient of the propofed grant. By the afts which had enabled 
his majefty to grant an annuity to the princeifes in cafes 
cf his demife, 30,000k was to be divided among the prin- 
cefles then living; if their number ihould fall to three, 
each was to have 10,oool. if to two, zo,oool. was to be di¬ 
vided between them ; and, if only one remained, 12,000k 
was to be allotted to her. The melancholy circumftance 
which had taken place in the royal family rendered it ne¬ 
ceflary that the condition of the princeifes Ihould be con- 
fidered as if the demife of the crown had actually oc¬ 
curred ; and, though they might (till form a part of the 
domeftic eftablilhment at Windfor, he thought it of impor¬ 
tance that they Ihould be enabled to form feparateeltablilh- 
ments if they chofe it. He would therefore propofe, that 
to each of the four princeffes there Ihould be granted the 
fum of 9000I. per annum, exclulive of 4000k from the 
civil lift : at the death of one of them, the furvivors to 
have 10,000k each; and the fame to continue when there 
fhould be two furvivors only ; the foie furvivor of the 
whole to receive 12,000k He concluded with moving an 
annuity of 36,000k to be granted to, the king for the pur- 
pofe above-mentioned. 
Mr. Tierney did not think the fum Hated too much for 
feparate eftablifhments for the princeifes ; but he did not 
fee why it fhould be taken for granted that they would 
defse to ceafe forming one family as at prefent, ia which 
Vol. Xiljk No. 906. 
D O N. 28 ! 
cafe the fum would be greater than necelfary. He thought 
alfo that the 36,000k propofed might be laved from the 
civil lift by a fundamental inquiry into its feveral branches 
of expenditure. He had another obfervation to make, 
which was with refpeft to the provifion for the princefs 
of Wales, which was comparatively inadequate to her fta- 
tion. She was the wife of the regent, and as much the 
reprefentative of the queen as the regent was of his ma¬ 
jefty. He then alluded to the reparation between the high 
parties in queltion ; and to the Chancellor of the Exche- 
quer’s intimate knowledge of the circumftances, as having 
been her royal liighnefs’s counfel and champion in the in- 
veftigation which had been fo much talked of. 
This hint feemed to be a fignal for the members in op- 
pofition to take up the caufe of the princefs of Wales 9 
which became the principal topic of the remaining debate. 
In the courfe of it, every provocation was given to Mr. 
Perceval to induce him to open on a fubjeft with which 
he was fuppoled to be fo well acquainted ; but nothing 
more was obtained from him than the following declara¬ 
tion :—“ That neither in his capacity of counfellor to her 
royal highnefs, nor in any other character whatever, had 
he any charge againft her royal highnefs, or the means of 
bringing forward any charge ; and that he never meant t® 
call the flighted: refleftion upon her.” 
The bill was read a third time, and parted, on the i7tlt 
of April. It met with no oppofition in the houfe of lords. 
On the 27th of February, fir Thomas Turton intro¬ 
duced in the houle of commons one of thofe motions 0% 
the Hate of the nation which are common at the begin¬ 
ning of a feffion, but have generally no other effeft than 
to give large fcope to the members on each fide for attack 
and defence of the meafures adopted by government. 
The honourable baronet in his fpeech took a very ex¬ 
tended view of the ftate of public affairs, foreign and do¬ 
meftic, both retrofpedlory and prefent, from which he in¬ 
ferred much paft impolicy in the plans of minifters, and 
melancholy profpefts from perfevering in the fame fyf- 
tem. He concluded by moving, “That this houfe will 
refolve itfelf into a committee of the whole houfe, to take 
into conlideration the ftate of the nation.” The debate 
was nothing more than a conteft between the minifters and 
the oppofitionifts, in which the political points at iffue be¬ 
tween them were recapitulated ; but, although feveral of the 
principal fpeakers took their lhare in it, there can be no 
advantage in occupying more of our pages with topics to 
which lb much l’pace has already been devoted. The point 
’ chiefly noticed upon thefe occafions is the diviflon, as that 
lhows the relative ftrength of the parties at the moment: 
upon this occafion, there appeared for the motion 136, 
againft it 209, majority 73. 
The fubjeft of the orders in council, which conftituted 
fo important a part of the negotiations between this coun¬ 
try and the United States of America during the lad year c 
appears prominent in the parliamentary difcuffions of the 
prefent year; and, although their importance has unfor¬ 
tunately been diminilhed by the event—for the Americans 
decided the queltion by arms, whilft our fenate was de¬ 
bating it—they cannot be palled over in a relation of the 
principal occurrences in the metropolis of trade. 
February 2S, the marquis of Lanfdowne role to call the 
attention of the houle of lords to the lyftem of policy 
which had refulted from thofe orders, fo injurious to the 
manufacturing and commercial interefts of the country, 
and to the welfare of the ftate. He fpecified the particu¬ 
lar orders which he meant to confider, to be thofe ifiued 
in November 1807, prohibiting the trade to France and 
the countries dependent upon her, at the fame time in- 
fifting on American veffels coming firlt to our ports and 
paying a tax there; and alfo to the order of April 1809, 
partly revoking the former orders, by opening the trade 
with the north of Europe. He then took a view of the 
eftefts ®f thefe orders as to their operation on the enemy $ 
their operation on the neutral; their influence on the 
commerce and internal refources of this country; and. 
their eft efts dk its maritime policy. Under thefe -heads 
4 C 
