"it is proposed that he shall be personally and principally concerned, and by which the "royal authority, and the public welfare, may "be deeply affected, the Prince would be unjustifiable were he to withhold an explicit "declaration of his sentiments. This silence might be construed into a previous approba"tion of a plan, the accomplishment of which 66 every motive of duty to his Father and Sove "reign, as well as of regard for the public interest, obliges him to consider as injurious to "both. In the state of deep distress, in which "the Prince, and the whole royal family, were "involved, by the heavy calamity which has "fallen upon the King, and at a moment when government, deprived of its chief energy and

support, seemed peculiarly to need the cordial "and united aid of all descriptions of good

subjects; it was not expected by the Prince, "that a plan should be offered to his considera"tion, by which government was to be ren"dered difficult, if not impracticable, in the "hands of any person intended to represent "the King's authority;-much less the hands "of his eldest son, the heir-apparent of his "kingdoms, and the person most bound to "the maintenance of his Majesty's just preroga"tives and authority, as well as most interested

"in the happiness, the prosperity, and the

"The Prince forbears to remark on the "several parts of the sketch of the plan laid "before him; he apprehends it must have "been formed with sufficient deliberation to preclude the possibility of any argument of "his producing an alteration of sentiments in "the projectors of it. But he trusts, with

"confidence, to the wisdom and justice of Par "liament, when the whole of the subject, and "the circumstances connected with it, shall "come under their deliberation.

"He observes, therefore, only generally on the heads communicated by Mr. Pitt, and "it is with deep regret the Prince makes the observation, that he sees, in the contents of

"that

paper, a project for producing weakness, disorder, and insecurity, in every branch of "the administration of affairs. A project for

dividing the royal family from each other; "for separating the court from the state, and, "therefore, by disjoining government from its "natural and accustomed support. A scheme " for disconnecting the authority to command. "service from the power of animating it by "reward, and for allotting to the Prince all "the invidious duties of government, without "the means of softening them to the public,

by any one act of grace, favour, or benigs nity.

"The Prince's feelings, on contemplating "this plan, are also rendered still more painful "to him, by observing, that it is not founded ❝on any general principle, but is calculated to "infuse jealousies and suspicions (wholly

groundless, he trusts) in that quarter, whose "confidence it will ever be the first pride of "his life to merit and obtain.

"With regard to the motive and object of "the limitations and restrictions proposed, the "Prince can have but little to observe. No

light or information is offered him by his Majesty's ministers on these points. They "have informed him what the powers are which they mean to refuse him, not why they are "withheld.

"The Prince, however, holding, as he "does, that it is an undoubted and fundamen"tal principle of the constitution, that the

powers and prerogatives of the crown are "vested there, as a trust for the benefit of the people; and that they are sacred only as they are necessary to the preservation of that

*This was strange loose doctrine to put into the mouth of the heir apparent. It was tantamount to an acknowledgment of an existing right in the people to strip the Crown of the powers and prerogatives which the law had vested in it, when

"poise and balance of the constitution, which "experience has proved to be the true security "of the liberty of the subject,-must be "allowed to observe, that the plea of public

utility ought to be strong, manifest, and

urgent, which calls for the extinction, or suspension, of any one of those essential rights in the supreme power, or its represen"tative; or which can justify the Prince in consenting, that in his person an experiment "shall be made, to ascertain with how small a portion of the kingly power the executive government of this country may be carried

46 on.

ever, in their estimation, they should cease to be necessary for their own benefit.-For who, but the people, could decide whether it was necessary or not? And whether the people were to act, of themselves, or through the medium of their representatives, the effect would be the same. According to this doctrine, the constitution may be radically altered, or totally destroyed, whenever the voice of the people shall be raised against it, and proclaim its inefficacy to preserve the due balance of political powers in the state, and, consequently, to promote and secure their happiness and welfare. Against the prevalence of such notions, no constitution which human wisdom could devise, could be expected to stand. The doctrine, however, is as unconstitutional as it is dangerous, and those advisers who led the Prince to adopt it, for the poor purpose of courting popular favour, whatever praise might be due to their ingenuity, could claim no credit for their prudence or discretion.

"The Prince has only to add, that if "security for his Majesty's repossessing his rightful government, whenever it shall please "Providence, in bounty to the country, to

remove the calamity with which he is "afflicted, be any part of the object of this plan, the Prince has only to be convinced "that any measure is necessary, or even conducive, to that end, to be the first to urge it "as the preliminary and paramount consi"deration of any settlement in which he would "consent to share.

"If attention to what is presumed to be "his Majesty's feelings and wishes on the happy day of his recovery be the object, it is with "the truest sincerity the Prince expresses his "firm conviction, that no event would be

more repugnant to the feelings of his royal

father,* than the knowledge, that the go"vernment of his son and representative had "exhibited the Sovereign power in a state of "degradation, of curtailed authority, and di"minished energy-a state, hurtful in practice "to the prosperity and good government of his "people, and injurious in its precedent to the

his

His Majesty's continued confidence in Mr. Pitt, after recovery, supplies the best answer to this insinuation.