of the personal exercise of the royal authority by his majesty, shall then be separated, by any adjournment or prorogation, such parliament shall forthwith meet and sit.

XXIII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That in case any such proclamation as aforesaid shall issue in any or either of such cases as aforesaid, at any time subsequent to the dissolution or expiration of a parliament, and before the day appointed by any writs of summons then issued for assembling a new parliament, then and in such cases the last preceeding parliament shall immediately convene and sit at Westminster, and be a parliament to continue during the space of six months and no longer, to all intents and purposes, as if the same parliament had not been dissolved or expired, but subject to be sooner prorogued or dissolved: Provided also, that if any such proclamation as aforesaid shall issue in any or either of such cases as aforesaid upon or at any time after the day appointed by any writs of summons then issued for calling and assembling a new parliament, and before such new parliament shall have met and sat as a parliament, such new parliament shall immediately after such proclamation convene and sit at Westminster, and be and be deemed to be a parliament in being to all intents and purposes under the provisions of this act.

XXIV. And be it also enacted,

That in case of the death of her ma

vided nevertheless, that in such case, nothing in this act contained shall extend or be construed to extend to empower the regent, or the said council, to nominate, appoint, or remove any of the officers or persons of his majesty's household, by this act made subject to the nomination, appointment, or removal of her majesty, until due provision shall have been made by parliament in that behalf.

XXV. And be it further enacted, That if any person, being a member of the House of Commons, shall accept of any office of profit from the crown, by the nomination and appointment of the regent in the name and on behalf of his majesty, or of her majesty the queen during the continuance of the regency hereby established, the election of such member shall be and is hereby declared to be void, and his warrant shall issue for a new election, in the form and like manner as if such member had been appointed to such office by his majesty.

XXVI. And be it further enacted, That all letters patent, letters of privy seal, and of other lawful authorities of what nature or kind soever, then granted or issued by his majesty, by reason whereof sums of money have been issued, or payments of any sums have been directed to be made applicable to the use of the queen's civil government, or for the use of any of the branches of his majesty's royal family ; the same are hereby enacted to continue and remain in full force respectively during the continuance of the regency, and that warrants be granted by the lord high treasurer, lords commissioners of the treasury, for the payment of the several sums therein respectively contained; which warrants the said lord high treasurer, or lords commissioners of the treasury, are hereby respectively required to issue, at the usual and accustomed times,

or

and in the usual and accustomed man

ner.

XXVII. And be it further enact ed, That the lord high treasurer or lords commissioners of his majesty's treasury for the time being shall direct, and they are hereby required annually to direct the sum of 60,000l. to be issued out of the monies in the civil list revenues to the keeper of his majesty's privy purse for the time be ing, in like manner, and at such times and in such proportions as has heretofore been usual and accustomed in respect to the issue of the sum of 60,000l, as aforesaid; and that the said keeper of his majesty's privy purse shall, and he is hereby authorised and directed, during the continuance of his majesty's indisposition, out of the monies so issued to him, to make such payments, and issue and apply such sums (not exceeding the sum of 15,4617. in the whole in the year,) to such persons, in such proportions, and at such times, for such purposes, and on such accounts and in such manner as he hath heretofore usually paid, issued, and applied the same by the authority and direction of his majesty; and the said keeper of his majesty's privy purse shall, and he is hereby authorised and directed to issue and pay to such persons as her majesty may think proper to appoint for this purpose, out of such 60,000l. as aforesaid, such sums of money, (not exceeding 42157. in each quarter of the year in the whole, the first payment whereof shall be made for the current quarter as soon as may be after the passing of this act) as her majesty shall, by any order or orders in writing made for that purpose, direct, to be by such persons so to be appointed as aforesaid paid and applied in such sums and proportions, and to such persons and for such pursuch accounts, and in and poses, upon such manner, as the same have been heretofore accustomed to be paid and

applied, under the immediate direction and authority of his majesty ; and such persons, so appointed as aforesaid, shall, before any such money shall be issued to him after the passing of this act, take an oath before some one of her majesty's council (which oath each of her majesty's said council is hereby authorised to administer) that he will faithfully apply and will justly account to her majesty for the faithful applica tion of such sums of money so issued to him as aforesaid; and such persons so appointed as aforesaid shall from time to time, within one month after the receipt of every such sum as aforesaid, render to her majesty a just and true account of the application thereof: Provided also, that the remainder of the aforesaid sum of 60,000l. shall be invested by the said keeper of his majesty's privy purse in some of the public funds, or government securities, in the name of the keeper of his ma jesty's privy purse for the time being, in trust for his majesty; and that the next surplus of the revenues of the duchy and county Palatine of Lancaster shall be from time to time paid under the order of the chancellor and council of the said duchy, into the hands of the keeper of his majesty's privy purse, whose receipt shall be a sufficient discharge for the same, and shall by him be invested in some of the public funds or government securities, in manner aforesaid; and that the governor and company of the bank of England shall place the said several sums on an account to be raised in the books of the said governor and com pany, intituled, "The Account of the Keeper of his Majesty's Privy Purse ;" and that upon the death or resignation of the present and every other keeper of his majesty's privy purse hereafter to be appointed, all and every the said stock or stocks and sum or sums of money arising from the dividends which shall accrue thereon, shall immediately

vest in the successor of the present or any future keeper of his majesty's privy purse respectively; and the keeper of his majesty's privy purse for the time being is hereby required to lay out and invest the dividends so accruing as aforesaid from time to time, in the purchase of other stocks and securities on the like account, and that the keeper of his majesty's privy purse for the time being shall from time to time execute declarations of trust of all such funds and securities, declaring that the same are held in trust for his majesty, by instruments to be executed under his hand and seal, to be deposited with her majesty.

XXVIII. Provided always, and be it enacted, That the said keeper of his majesty's privy purse, and such person so to be appointed as last aforesaid by her majesty, shall on or before the first day of January, 1812, and on or before the first day of January in every succeeding year during the continuance of the act, respectively take an oath before the barons of the court of Exchequer, or one of them, in the form following:

“I, A. B. do swear, That according to the best of my knowledge, belief, or information, no part of the money which has been issued to me for the service of his majesty's privy purse, by virtue of an act intituled, An Act [here insert the title of this act,] between the first day of January, and the first

day of January

has been applied directly or indirectly for the benefit, use, or behoof of any member of the House of Commons, or, so far as I am concerned, applicable, directly or indirectly, to the purpose of supporting or procuring an interest in any place returning members to parliament.

"So help me God." XXIX. And whereas an act passed in the 39th and 40th years of the

reign of his present majesty, intituled, "An act concerning the Disposition of certain real and personal Property of his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, and also the real and personal Property of her Majesty, and of the Queen Consort for the Time being :" and whereas it is necessary that provision should be made for the care of the real and personal estate and property of his majesty, during his indisposition, and for the preservation thereof for the use and future disposal of his majesty; be it therefore enacted, That all persons having the care or management of his majesty's real or personal estate or property, or any part thereof, now vested in any trustees for the use of his majesty, shall be and are hereby made and declared to be subject to the controul, order, direction, appointment, and removal of the several and respective trustees of the real and personal estate and property of which they are respectively in the care and management; and shall from time to time, and whenever required so to do, account to the respective trustees of the several and respective parts of the real and personal estate and property of which they so have the care and management, for all the rents, issues, profits, dividends, in. terests, and sums of money, arising or accruing therefrom respectively; and shall apply, pay over, lay out, invest, or otherwise dispose of the same, for the use of his majesty, in such manner as shall be from time to time ordered and directed by such trustees respectively, and as to such trustees shall appear most adviseable and beneficial for the care and improvements of such real and personal estate and property, and the preservation thereof, for his majesty's use and future disposal; and all the real and personal estate and property of his majesty, in relation to which no disposition shall have been made by his majesty before his illness, and which

shall not now be vested in any trustee or trustees for his majesty's use, shall immediately from and after the passing of this act vest in the queen's most excellent majesty, his royal highness the regent, and the keeper of his majesty's privy purse for the time being, as trustees thereof, for the use of his majesty, and for the protection and care thereof during his majesty's illness, and preservation thereof for his majesty's use and future disposal; and her said majesty, and his said royal highness the regent, and the keeper of his majesty's privy purse, may appoint a secretary and such other persons as may appear to them to be necessary for the management of and keeping the accounts of the said trust, with such salaries to be paid out of the proceeds of the trust property, as may appear to the said trustees to be proper; and all persons in the care or management of any real or personal estate or property, so vested in such trustees as last aforesaid, under this act, shall in like manner as a foresaid be subject to the order, controul, direction, appointment, or removal of such trustees as last aforesaid, and shall account to such trustees in like manner as is herein before directed, in relation to such real and personal estate and property as was vested in trustees before the passing of this act; and shall in like manner as aforesaid, apply, pay over, lay out, invest, or otherwise dispose of the rents, issues, profits, dividends, interests, and sums of money, arising or accruing therefrom respectively, according to the order and direction of such trustees as aforesaid: provided always, That all dividends arising from any public funds or securities shall be from time to time invested and laid out in the purchase of other like funds or public securities, unless any other order or direction shall be given by the trustees thereof respectively; and all trustees in whom any real or personal estate or property

was vested, before the passing of this act, or in whom the same is vested by the provisions of this act, shall hold all such estates and property for the use and benefit of his majesty, and preserve the produce thereof, and of all rents, issues, profits, dividends, interest, and sums of money, arising and accruing therefrom, for his majesty's use and benefit, and for the future disposal of his majesty, in case no disposition shall have been made thereof by his majesty before his illness; and all such real and personal estate and property, and rent, issues, profits, produce, dividends, interest, and sums of money aforesaid, arising and accruing therefrom, whereof no disposition shall have been made by his majesty before his illness, shall, if no disposition thereof shall hereafter be made by his majesty, go and be disposed of according to law: provided always, that nothing in this act con tained shall be construed to invalidate, or in any manner to affect any disposition which shall have been made, or which shall hereafter be made, by his majesty, by deed, will, or otherwise, of any such property or proceeds there. of as aforesaid, either before or after his majesty's illness, which should have been, or would be a good and valid disposition of such property, if this act had not passed.

XXX. And whereas his majesty hath been accustomed from time to time, by the advice and on the recom mendation of the commissioners of the treasury, to make grants out of the droits of the crown and of the admirality to persons concerned or interested in the capture of any vessels and cargoes, or other property, condemned to or becoming vested in his majesty, as droits of the crown or of the admiralty, or to persons praying for relief as of his majesty's bounty in any cases of damage or injury sustained by them on account of or in any manner connected with any capture or prize,

or occasioned by any engagement with ships of the enemy; be it therefore enacted, That the said regent shall have full power and authority, by the advice and on the recommendation of the commissioners of the treasury for the time being, or any three or more of them, out of the droits of the crown or the droits of the admiralty, or any part or parts thereof, from time to time to make any such grants to persons concerned or interested in the capture of any vessels or cargoes, or other property, which have been or may hereafter be condemned to or become vested in his majesty as droits of his crown or of the admiralty, or to any person or persons praying for relief in any cases of damage or injury sustained by or on account of any matter or thing arising out of or in any manner connected with capture or prize, or occasioned by any engagement with ships or vessels of the enemy, in such manner as his majesty hath heretofore by the advice of the said commissioners been accustomed to make any grants of the same.

PROTESTS.

called into activity otherwise than by the adjudication of the estates of the realm.

Those who have maintained a right in the two houses, have admitted the expediency of conferring the appointment on his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

Finally, those who deny any posi tive legal right, either in the prince to assume, or the estates to confer the exercise of the royal authority, do nevertheless approve of the estates of fering, and of the prince accepting, the office of regent on the present me lancholy occasion.

To select, therefore, topics of disagreement among men who are disposed to concur in the practical conclusion of supplying the defect in the exercise of the royal functions, by a regent, in the person of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, seemed to us repugnant to the maxims of prudence, and directly at variance with those examples of moderation and temper, which, at remoter periods of our history, as well as at the glorious revolution of 1688, had been held out to us by the conciliatory policy and wisdom of our ancestors.

2. Because the agitation of the ques

1. Because it is always unwise, and often unsafe, to assert abstract principles, on the truth of which the proceeding proposed to be adopted does not exclusively rest; and on the present occasion, it seems peculiarly unnecessary to exact a compliance with speculative and questionable premises, to establish a conclusion in which all seem practically to concur.

Those who have regarded the prince as having a right to assume the royal functions on the declared incapacity of his father, have always held that the exercise of that right could not be

and delay in supplying the means of exercising the royal authority, must either be injurious to the public service, or subversive of the constitution of this kingdom. For the functions of the executive government cannot be discontinued during a period of extensive war and great national embarrassment, without injury to the public welfare; and the duties of the kingly office cannot, on the other hand, be discharged by those who usurp the royal authority, unsanctioned by the laws, the consent of the estates, or the knowledge of their sovereign, without imminent danger to the constitu tion of the country.