"My Lords and Gentlemen; "We have it particularly in charge from his Majesty to assure you, that you cannot so effectually meet the most earnest wish of his Majesty's heart, as by persevering in your uniform exertions for the public welfare, and by improving every occasion to promote the prosperity of his faithful people, from whom his Majesty has received such repeated and affecting marks of invariable zeal, loyalty, and attachment, and whose happiness he must ever consider as inseparable from his own."

Debate in the Lords on the Address upon the King's Recovery.] After the Commons had withdrawn, the Lord Chancellor again read the speech from the woolsack.

The Earl of Chesterfield said, that he felt it peculiarly honourable to himself to be permitted to move an address, which must be so congenial to the feelings of every noble lord. The emotions of joy on the happy recovery of his Majesty were so generally felt, that it would not be necessary for him to urge a single argument for the motion which he was about

go

to make. In consequence of the King's distressing malady their lordships had been occupied for a considerable time in making provision for the executive vernment, but that Bill, in which they had proceeded so far, was now, thank Heaven, rendered unnecessary. They had their King again; and therefore there could not be, in his mind, any hesitation on the measure now to be taken. His lordship then moved the following Address:

"Most Gracious Sovereign; "We your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords spiritual and temporal, in Parliament assembled, beg leave to approach your throne, and return our most humble thanks for the gracious Speech which your Majesty has commanded to be made to both Houses of

Parliament.

"We most sincerely congratulate your Majesty on your happy recovery from your late indisposition, and upon your being again enabled to attend to the urgent concerns of your kingdoms, and to exercise personally your royal authority.

"We acknowledge, with all possible thankfulness, the goodness of Almighty God, in attending to the prayers of a loyal, affectionate and afflicted people, and in restoring your Majesty to the wishes of your faithful subjects; and we most

earnestly hope that the blessing of your Majesty's just and benevolent government may long be continued to us.

"We humbly offer to your Majesty our most sincere expressions of gratitude for your gracious acceptance of our best endeavours to prove our zealous and affectionate attachment to your person, and our anxious concern for the honour and interests of your crown, and the security and good government of your dominions.

"Your Majesty may be assured that we will without delay apply ourselves to the consideration of the different objects of national concern which require our attention.

"We most humbly thank your Majesty for the orders which you have been graciously pleased to give for laying before this House a copy of the treaty of defensive alliance which your Majesty has concluded with the king of Prussia.

"We are sensible that your Majesty's endeavours, in conjunction with your allies, to prevent as much as possible the extension of hostilities in the north of Europe, and to contribute to the restoration of general tranquillity, are the natural result of your Majesty's known wisdom and humanity; and we have a full reliance on the continuance of your exertions towards promoting so salutary an object.

"We hear with satisfaction that your Majesty continues to receive from all foreign courts the strongest assurances of their friendly disposition towards this country.

"We are conscious, Sir, that we ensure to ourselves the approbation of your Majesty, when we attend to the public welfare, and to the advancement of the prosperity of your people, whose zeal, loyalty, and attachment to your Majesty, are the natural and spontaneous effects of their uniform experience of your Majesty's virtues, and of the constant blessings derived from your mild and auspicious go

vernment."

Lord Cathcart said, he considered as peculiarly flattering to himself, the circumstance of seconding the motion for the Address; it was a distinction of which, on such a day, any noble lord might be proud. Though he knew it to be unnecessary to say a syllable, yet it was impossible to repress the emotions of ecstasy with which the heart was pregnant upon so joyful an occasion. The emotions of gratitude to the Divine Being for the mercy extended to the nation, were cer

tainly beyond his power to describe. To estimate them aright, noble lords must look back and reflect on the sorrow which they felt on the first rumour of his Majesty's illness. They must reflect on the dangers which they had avoided. The national bark had been tossed on a most tempestuous sea, threatening every instant to dash on the rocks, and from which nothing but the skill and steadiness of their able pilot had preserved them.

Earl Stanhope said, that while he, in common with every man, acknowledged the goodness of Providence in the restoration of his Majesty, a doubt occurred as to the parliamentary proceeding now suggested. The House had come to an unanimous resolution, that his Majesty was rendered incapable, by illness, from executing the duties of his office; and the two Houses claimed a right, and in consequence of that right, proceeded to make provision for supplying the deficiency in the executive government. A bill was in progress through the House, in which there was a clause, specifying the manner in which his Majesty was to resume the reins of government. The Queen and her council were to decide when his Majesty should be capable of re-assuming his government. Now, the two Houses having first, by the examination of physicians, ascertained the fact, that the King was incapable, and having by a clause in the bill, declared their sense as to the manner in which the nation should be satisfied of the King's restored powers, he wished to know, whether the present measure was strictly parliamentary? He had no hesitation in giving full confidence as to the fact of his Majesty's restored health; but it was essential that they should act strictly in consonance to order. If the King could declare himself well, and of himself re-assume the reigns of government, why introduce the clause into the bill by which the Queen and her council must declare his capacity before he could re-assume his authority. If that clause was right, surely the present measure was wrong. He urged the House to avoid rashness and precipitation; and he wished the present motion might be deferred just only for sufficient time to enable the House to do away the resolution that stood on their Journals.

The Lord Chancellor could not hear without the utmost surprise, the noble earl suggesting a doubt concerning the propriety of the measure. With respect

to the clause introduced into the bill, the noble earl was mistaken as to the prin ciple on which it was founded, and also as to its tendency. In the first place, surely no declaration of the two Houses on the occasion of the King's illness could take from him the right of governing; nor could any clause in any such bill interrupt his reassumption of his powers on the restoration of his health. Neither was the clause in question, nor the bill itself, (a bill, all the passages of which he wished to bury in everlasting oblivion, and he took this opportunity to say, he trusted, once for all, that there never would be provocation to recollect one passage of it, since no one passage in it was drawn in distrust of any of the branches of the royal family) founded on the examination of the physicians. The measure was founded on the fact of the King's illness; a fact of which parliament had the best testimony, namely that the king neither met the parliament, nor issued any commission for the duty to be executed by others, as it had been done this day. It was his peculiar duty, from his office, to take the King's pleasure on the subject; and he having communicated to parliament, after the last prorogation, that no commission had been issued, the two Houses properly took upon themselves the task of providing for the emergency; then, in framing a temporary government, they introduced the clause alluded to by the noble earl, as they thought it right that those who were to have the government entrusted to them, might have it definitely determined, and that there might be no doubt on the means in which his Majesty was to re-assume the reins on his restoration to health.

The Address was agreed to nem. dis.

The King's Answer to the Lords' Address.] To the Address of the Lord's his Majesty returned this Answer:

"My Lords,

"This very dutiful and affectionate Address calls forth my warmest thanks; the sentiments expressed in it have so universally prevailed among my loving subjects, that they must, if possible, increase my solicitude for the prosperity and happiness of this my native country.'

Debate in the Commons on the Address upon the King's Recovery.] The Speaker having reported the Lords Commissioners Speech to the House,

allude to any thing that had passed in former debates, that could revive any difference of opinion, or tend to prevent that unanimity which ought to distinguish the vote of the House on that day; but, he trusted that he should not be accused of any disposition to disturb the harmony which every man must wish should prevail on such an occasion, by reminding the House, that they had reason to congratulate themselves on their having proceeded with more caution than expedition, and on the steady and zealous attention which they had uniformly shown equally to maintain the dignity of the crown, and to preserve the rights of the people. It must also be a great source of exultation to them, to find that his Majesty was able on his return to the exercise of the duties of his office, not only to approve, but likewise to applaud their proceedings.-It was, he thought, an auspicious circumstance, that the speech which announced his Majesty's happy recovery, should be the first also to make mention of a most important foreign alliance. Nothing on the subject of popular alliances had, he believed, for some years been stated in a speech from the throne; not that he meant to impute any blame on that account to the immediate predecessors in office of the right hon. gentleman below him, or to any ministers during any part of the period to which he alluded, but merely to observe, that the alliance with the King of Prussia, as well as the present flourishing state of our commerce and credit, was, in his opinion, a proof not only of the wisdom and talents of his right hon. friend, but of the confidence which was reposed in him by foreign nations, as well as by the people of this country. He hoped that no objection would be made to that part of the speech that part of the speech which he had just mentioned, and his reason for hoping it was, that when the right hon. gentleman, whom he then saw in his place, had applauded the measures of his Majesty's ministers respecting Holland, the right hon. gentleman had expressly stated that he approved of those measures, under the expectation that ministers would not rest there, but would follow up the restoration of the Prince of Orange to his authority, with such alliances with other foreign powers, as should best conduce to strengthen and promote the interests of Great Britain.

Mr. Fox observed, that he was far, very far indeed, from rising for the purpose of

preventing the unanimous vote of the House, or of disturbing in any degree whatever the harmony which all must eagerly desire to see prevail on the present joyful occasion. He declared, that he trusted and hoped that the address would pass nemine contradicente; but, he could not avoid remarking that the hon. gentleman who spoke last, seemed to have taken considerable pains to prevent, if it were possible, that unanimity and harmony so generally to be desired on such an occasion as the present, and to create a difference of opinion. For himself he saw nothing in his Majesty's speech which seemed liable to objection; nor was there any part of the address open to an exception. He had listened to the noble lord who moved the address with great attention, and he had never listened to a mover of an address with more satisfaction. The noble lord had not only moved it with great ability, but, if he would allow him to say so, in a manner which did more honour to his heart than his head. The noble lord had moved it like a man of understanding, because he had expressed the feelings of a man, and the feelings of a loyal and faithful subject to his sovereign': he had moved the address with as much elegance as he had ever witnessed, and, in his mind, with as much judgment. The noble lord had judiciously passed over the other topics stated in the speech, because, undoubtedly, every man must feel that his Majesty's recovery was so far the paramount topic, that all others, weighty and important as they were in themselves, appeared light and trivial in comparison with it. The hon. gentleman, on the other hand, who had seconded the address, had thought proper to mingle with the congratulations of that House, on the happy recovery of the sovereign, praise and panegyric on the personal conduct of the king's minister. On such a day as that, at least, Mr. Fox said, he conceived that the Chancellor of the Exchequer might have been kept in the back ground by his friends, in order to let his Majesty stand forward as the only prominent figure in the picture.-With regard to the expressions of applause bestowed on parliament by his Majesty, he had no objection to them, because he thought it the sort of language which it was always to be wished his Majesty should hold to his parliament; but he had never understood that it was either fit or constitutional to consider such applause, as applying to the conduct of