stance of his having issued a second com- | maker, but not the law whereby he was to mission. But lord Hardwicke had chosen to reserve those doubts, and not to decide upon them, by the terms in which the two commissions were drawn, and their effect on each other; care having been taken by the noble lord, to insert a clause in the second commission, purporting that the one should not affect the other.

Mr. Windham said, that he should not have risen, but for what had fallen from the learned gentleman who spoke last. As the argument then stood, they knew not on what grounds the authors of those proceedings rested them. On one hand it was said, that they were acting from necessity; on another, that they were acting upon law. It was, he conceived, impossible that both positions could be true. The learned gentleman, in his opening, had clearly stated, that the necessity of the case obliged them to have recourse to irregularities, and he had heard the same doctrine, stated elsewhere, and yet the learned gentleman had declared, that there was no existing necessity, but that the proceeding proposed was strictly legal, and that to address his Royal Highness to take upon him the Regency, was clearly illegal. Amidst these jarring opinions, gentlemen might surely doubt the necessity asserted on the one hand, and the legality of the proceeding asserted on the other. That wonderworking machine, the political capacity of the Sovereign, was the grand spring of all the arguments, on which the gentlemen of a certain profession relied. Mr. Windham explained what he conceived to be meant by that expression, in terms stripped of the technical obscurity, in which the expression was involved, and contended, that the royal prerogatives were attached, not merely to the life of the Sovereign, but to the King's political authority. He rejected the idea of the act they were about to take being a legal one, and said, that when from necessity they were obliged to have recourse to an irresponsible act, he conceived it to be much more safe that it should stand upon its own ground, distinguished as an irregular proceeding, justified only by necessity. They would then know what it was, and posterity, would know on what its merits had rested. The learned gentleman who had spoken early in the debate, had said, that the argument against the motion amounted in fact to an assertion, that they had the power to make the law

be made. That was the very distinction, which, in his mind, applied to the present instance. He reasoned upon the distinction, and put the case of a patron having a right to present to a living. The patron could not fill the living himself, and, if he was correctly informed, a clergyman who had an advowson in his own gift, could not appoint himself to it, but by a special process. After urging this to prove that declaring that the act was an act of the King, when there was no king, and they all knew there could be none, was a counterfeit and a delusion, Mr. Windham closed his remarks by affirming, that be never gave a vote with more heartfelt conviction against a motion, than he should do upon the present occasion.

The Master of the Rolls reminded the House, that no amendment had been proposed. Gentlemen would do well, therefore, to consider the question before the House. It was whether there should be a commission issued under the Great Seal, to open the parliament. It was universally admitted, that there ought; the only question was, who should issue that commission. No person, therefore, had stated any mode of providing for the opening of parliament, except his right hon. friend, and the Committee, having no other proposition before them, were bound to decide upon that. All the arguments advanced against the present resolution, went against the resolutions already voted. The Committee, therefore, after having voted those resolutions, would not surely now undo all that was done.

The resolution was agreed to, immediately reported to the House, and ordered to be communicated to the Lords at a conference.

Memorandum touching the Situation of the Speaker.] At the end of this day, Mr. Speaker Grenville desired to call the attention of the House to a circumstance respecting his own situation, as possibly the House might to-morrow, be desired to attend the commissioners to be authorized by his Majesty's commission for opening the session of parliament. He said, that after the election of a Speaker, it had been the usage of parliament for the House to present the Speaker to his Majesty, or his Majesty's commissioners, for the royal approbation, at which time the Speaker (being approved) requested

1161] Memorandum touching the Situation of the Speaker. A. D. 1789.

his Majesty's gracious indulgence for any omissions of his in the execution of his office; and, if it was at the beginning of a parliament, did also, on behalf of the Commons, lay claim to their ancient rights and privileges; but, if the election of the Speaker was in the middle of a parliament, the Speaker was presented for the royal approbation, but the claim on behalf of the House was omitted.-Mr. Speaker added, That in the present case he had received no directions from the House for his conduct in this respect, and that it was his intention to follow the precedents of the restoration and the revolution, in which cases the Speaker was not presented for the royal approbation; but he further added, That if the House thought it proper to give him any special directions, it would be his duty to obey them. After a short pause,

Mr. Pitt said, that it seemed to be the general sense of the House, that the Speaker should govern himself by those precedents to which he had referred.

Mr. Burke said, that every step they took was attended by fresh difficulty. They had just set up a phantom to represent the Great Seal, and now their Speaker was to bow before it, and to claim their rights and privileges from a creature of their own creation. After abandoning the precedent of the Revolution, in addressing the Prince of Orange to take the Crown, they were going to resort to the precedent of the Revolution in another instance. If it was fit to be adopted in the one case, he wished to know why it had not been thought fit to be followed in the other. They had set up a fiction for the Great Seal, and thus having invaded the constitution, the next step they took was to disgrace the House of Commons.

Mr. Pitt reminded the right hon. gentleman, that the death of the late Speaker having added to the difficulties under which they laboured, the House had thought proper to act upon the necessity of the case, and choose a new Speaker, without waiting for the royal pleasure to be signified on that point. With regard to the right hon. gentleman's question, why it had been fit to adopt the précedent of the Revolution in one case, and to abandon it in the other? the reason was obvious; in the one case the precedent of the Revolution applied, and in the other it did not. The Convention parliament had agreed to address the Prince of Orange to become king. Why? Be

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cause, in that case, the throne was vacant. They could not now address the Prince of Wales to take upon him the Regency, because the law knew no such thing as a regent, and because the throne was full, the King still living, and having a right to retain his crown as long as he existed, The business which they had to do, therefore, was to appoint a person to exercise a portion of the royal authority during his Majesty's incapacity, and that appointment could only be made by Act of Parliament.

Colonel North could not consent that the Speaker should present himself to the commissioners, because he could not consent that he should humble himself before persons of their own rank and station; but if the parliament had been opened by a person representing his Majesty, he should have thought differently.

The Speaker feared that he had not made himself clearly understood by the hon. gentleman; and explained the three things which it had been customary for a new Speaker to do at the beginning of Parliament, and the two of them which it was usual for a Speaker to do, if chosen in the middle of a parliament.

Mr. Pitt said, he understood that it was the intention of the Speaker to conform to the precedent of the Revolution. At that time the convention parliament had chosen a speaker, and when king William was afterwards seated on the throne, that speaker was not presented to the King. That was the precedent which, he conceived, the present Speaker would follow; consequently, he would neither be presented to the commissioners, nor claim the rights and privileges of the House, which had been already claimed of his Majesty, nor ask for indulgence towards whatever he might have occasion to state in parliament.

Mr. Anstruther having desired to know what measure was next to follow,

Mr. Pitt said, that he hoped the two Houses would meet early to-morrow that they might carry up the resolution to the conference soon, and having the commission ready sealed, might open the parliament forthwith, and as soon as they had done so, and were returned to that House, he should immediately move for the resolutions which they had voted, to be read, and then move for leave to bring in a bill for appointing a regent, founded on those resolutions.

given to bring in a bill to provide for the care of his Majesty's royal person, and for the administration of the royal authority, during the continuance of his Majesty's ill

The Lords Commissioners Speech on Opening the Parliament.] Feb. 3. The Lords sent a message to the Commons, by the usher of the Black Rod, desiring their immediate attendance to hear the Com-ness."-Ordered nem. con. mission read for opening the parliament. The Lords Commissioners were, the Archbishop of Canterbury, earl Bathurst as Speaker in the absence of the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Privy Seal, the marquis of Carmarthen, lord Sydney, and the Lord Chamberlain of the household. When the Speaker came to the bar with the Commons, earl Bathurst stated, that the illness of his Majesty had made it necessary that a commission in his name should pass the Great Seal, and which they would hear read. The clerk then read the commission; and having concluded, Earl Bathurst delivered the following Speech to both Houses:

Feb. 5. Mr. Pitt having presented the Regency Bill to the House,

Mr. Powys wished to know, before that or any other bill was read a first time, whether the commission, under the authority of which they sat as a parliament, had expired or not; whether the commissioners were "functi officio," or still possessed their powers, and whether another commission would not be necessary to give the royal assent to any bill which the two Houses might think proper to pass.

The Attorney General said, that the commission, under the authority of which the parliament was opened, was still in full force. That commission contained words giving powers so broad, that it was apprehended by some persons that they would authorize the giving the royal assent to any bill which might pass; but other persons, who grounded their opinions on the conduct of lord Hardwicke in 1754, thought differently. In 1754, lord Hardwicke had put the Great Seal to a commission for opening the parliament, and to a subsequent commission, for giving the royal assent to a naturalisation bill; the royal assent to which was given under the

"My lords, and gentlemen, "In pursuance of the authority given us by his Majesty's commission under the Great Seal, which has now been read, amongst other things, to declare the causes of your present meeting, we have only to call your attention to the melancholy circumstance of his Majesty's illness, in consequence of which it becomes necessary to provide for the care of his Majesty's royal person, and for the administration of the royal authority, during the continuance of this calamity, in such manner as the exigency of the case appears to re-joint authority of both commissions. quire."

As soon as the Commons returned to their House, the Speaker reported, that the House had been at the House of Peers, at the desire of the Lords Commissioners appointed for opening the present parliament; and that earl Bathurst, being one of the said commissioners, made a speech to both Houses of which he had, to prevent mistakes, obtained a copy; which he read to the House. The standing orders were then moved and read, as at the commencement of a session, and the votes were ordered to be printed. The bill for preventing Clandestine Outlawries was read a first and second time.

Debate in the Commons on the Regency Bill.] Mr. Pitt rose and said, that the causes of the opening of the parliament having been mentioned, and the measures which were intended to be brought forward having been entered into and much discussed, it was not necessary at present for him to do more than to move That leave be

Mr. Sheridan said, that it was usual for all commissions of the kind to contain words giving a power to the commissioners to adjourn and prorogue parliament. It appeared rather extraordinary that those words should be left out of the present commission.

The Attorney General said, if the hon. gentleman would consult the rolls of parliament, he would find that, at different times different commissions had been issued for opening parliament. At one time, such commissions furnished powers for giving the royal assent to bills, at others, they imparted powers to prorogue and adjourn, and at others, the powers granted were merely those of opening parliament, and continuing it open. On the present occasion, it was only thought necessary to give powers to open the parliament, and continue it open.

Mr. Anstruther admitted that the commission was good, if not liable to any other objection, whether it contained powers general, or powers limited or specific. He