honourable character, a most kind and affectionate husband, further, that he was neither a spendthrift nor a gambler; but from the liberality of his nature, had been led into difficulties which had compelled him to reduce his establishment and live abroad, because the House of Commons had withheld that assistance which would have prevented the necessity. Lastly, as to the cause of his unpopularity, which a right hon. gentleman had ascribed principally to his marriage; the real ground had been stated by another hon. member by their "No Popery" cry had turned out their opponents: but the crime brought its own punishment, in the resentment of the persons he had offended; whilst he was deserted by his own party, especially that individual who had made a tool of him, as he had since made of another, and who, for which last act, deserved im peachment as much as any minister who had yet been brought to the scaffold. Crown the truth, or purposely brought it into collision with the people to divert their attention from acts of deeper mischief, and thus throw a tub to the whale. As to the present bill, had they only renewed it in its former shape, with the simple statement that his royal highness, after ten years' absence, was desirous of returning to England with his family, in the only way that, consistently with his honour and interest, he could return, viz. by being placed upon the same footing as the other branches of the Crown, the present ground of objection to the bill-viz. his zeal in the service of those who would not have existed; instead of which ministers had not only run their heads against a wall, but actually built it for the purpose. In place of a grant of 6,000l. to the only party wishing it, they called upon parliament for double the amount, for reasons false in themselves, or which, if true, were revolting to the sense and feelings of the people, and humiliating to all the parties brought forward, excepting that illustrious female whose exemplary conduct had gained her the esteem and admiration of the country. But the individual who, if not a party to the act, had been placed by ministers in an invidious light, was he whose splendid means, afforded him by the country, had hitherto prevented that application to parliament, which the chancellor of the Exchequer had now deemed to be neces sary, and to whom he must say, that upon the face of that application, discredit attached somewhere; and whoever the cap fitted, the party ought to wear it. But his chief object in addressing the House, was to defend the individual whose personal character had been the sole ground of opposition to that grant in a former instance, the real object of the present bill; and with respect to which, no member of that House had at that time, felt a stronger prejudice against the party than himself, for reasons connected with his political conduct: but the same motive which had dictated his former vote, called on him now to declare his conviction, that no man had been more grossly calumniated than his royal highness. As to his politics, was it unnatural that, born and educated at Court, with a bishop for his tutor, he should be a Tory in his principles, and like all others, whatever they might pretend, an enemy to civil and religious liberty? But in private life, he knew that his royal highness was in all respects, a manly, open, The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, he must still maintain the necessity of placing additional means at the disposal of the duke of Cumberland, for the education of his son. Over and over again, he must declare, that this grant was not intended as an addition to the income of his royal highness; and that, if that son had not been born, the proposed addition would not have been made. The king's ministers, upon contemplating the necessity of securing for the royal child an education in England, felt that the means of effecting such a purpose should be placed at the disposal of the father, and more particularly as his royal highness did not enjoy the addition of 6,000l. a-year, which had been made a few years ago to the incomes of the other princes. It would be most unjust of the House to require his royal highness to reside in this country for the purpose of educating his child, and thereby to place him, in a worse situation as to pecuniary matters than he stood in before. Mr. Tierney said, he could not allow the bill to pass, without expressing the reasons which influenced him to oppose the grant. He begged of the House to believe him, when he declared, that in judging of this proposition, he threw out of his mind the former transactions relating to the duke of Cumberland. Were his royal highness the most popular prince in England, still he should oppose such a motion as this, from the unwarrant [1126 able precedent which it set. How could family. The duke of Sussex was twentythe government draw a distinction between eight years of age before such an appli the step which they now proposed, and cation was made for him; the duke of that which the House had already twice | Cambridge was twenty-nine; the duke of rejected? What had occurred since to Kent thirty-two; and the duke of Cumalter the relation of the parties? Nothing berland twenty-eight. Why, then, with but the birth of a child, still in early in these precedents, was it deemed expefancy; while a parliamentary provision of dient to grant this little prince 6,000l. 6,000l. a-year was required for his edu- a-year? Nobody had asked for it. cation, forsooth! In bringing this question With whom, then, did the notion origi forward, the government had thought nate? At first, he confessed he was proper to couple the cases of two children caught with the idea of having this young who were very differently situated. The prince educated in England; but, oit alteration which had taken place in the more consideration, he had changed his families of the dukes of Kent and Cum- opinion; for if, as was said, the duke of berland, since their marriages, when ad- Cumberland preferred a foreign residence, ditional incomes were applied for, was it would be cruel to tear from him a child this-the duke of Kent had died, leaving of such tender years. And then, how his widow not the income which he had came the sudden aversion for having a himselfenjoyed from parliament, but merely young prince educated in Germany? her jointure, and an infant daughter. For Did they not know, that his late majesty the education of that daughter her royal of beloved memory was in the habit of highness applied not to parliament, al- sending his children to Germany for though it was manifest her means would education? What the mischief was, he not enable her to maintain it suitably with really did not know. He could quite its destined station, were it not for the kind understand, that if this child had grown and liberal supply afforded her by her up, it might be right to guard him against brother the prince of Saxe Cobourg, who the chance of any inoculation of the not only volunteered to defray the ex- abominable principles of the Holy Alliance; penses of this child now, but for many but, how a child of six years old could be years to come; so that the mother was in danger he was at a loss to comprehend. relieved from the burthen cast upon her, All former grants to the royal family without any further call upon the country; were expressly guarded by the king's nor had it been her intention to make any control; but now they were called upon when the grant in her case was proposed. to give the money, by virtue of letters What was the case of the duke of Cum- patent, not to the king, but to the duke berland since the former period? He, of Cumberland. He disliked this departure 100, had had a child, but one four degrees from the old practice, which always re removed from the Crown; and yet this cognized the king as the head of the royal child, in the tender age of infancy, was family, and, further, gave the constitutional put forth with a claim of 6,000l. a-year, responsibility of the ministers for the due for purposes of education, as some gentle appropriation of the money. Here all men stated; but he would plainly ask, these guards were broken down; and if was it for such an object, this large sum the duke of Cumberland should pocket was called for? He would plainly say the money, and not leave his son a no. It was a grant to the duke of Cum sufficient time in England for his edu berland and not to his child; and his ob- cation, he was convinced that no man jection was that it was so. But he had would step in, and insist upon the unstrong objections to this bill on a variety natural separation of father and child; of grounds. It differed in the preamble and this he knew, that his majesty was from all former bills of supply for the too good to insist upon such a breach of members of the royal family. All that natural affections. A good deal had been the House could find in the preamble of urged respecting proper assurance of the this bill was, that "it is expedient to pro- education of the child in England, and vide for the education of a son of the but little comparatively upon the constiduke of Cumberland." He utterly denied tutional principle of the grant. In 1806, any such expediency. Let the House, when an additional 6,000l. a year had then, remember the ages at which it was been granted to the members of the royal thought fitting to apply to parliament for family, 7,000l. a-year was placed at the a provision for the princes of the royal disposal of the king for the education of the princess Charlotte: the present king, the father of her royal highness, was then prince of Wales, but the money was not intrusted to him, but to the king, the grandfather of the young princess. Let the same course be pursued on the present occasion, and then he should get rid of the greater part of his objection to the motion. He would defy any man to put his hand to his heart and state any reason why they ought to part from the old and wholesome precedent. He could not comprehend the meaning of all this, nor why the ministers chose to commit themselves thus with the country. Mr. Secretary Canning said, that among the topics introduced by the right hon. gentleman, he had principally dwelt upon the form of the bill, and complained that it left his majesty without that due control over the application of the money, which had been interwoven in all former grants to the royal family. Now, he denied that the right hon. gentleman had put a fair construction upon the meaning of the bill; for, as the bill was drawn, the House had a sufficient guarantee for the application of the money to the purpose for which they had intended it. For it was provided, that two things should be ascertained before a single payment was made by virtue of the bill: first, whether it pleased his royal highness to reside with his family in England, and superintend in person the education of the young prince; for in that case there was no doubt the money was intended immediately to pass into the hands of the royal duke. But, supposing it did not please the duke of Cumberland to take up his residence in England, and that he determined still to reside abroad-and really upon that point his majesty's government were at present without any information to guide their opinions-then, unquestionably, it would be the duty of his majesty's government, before they issued the money, to take such steps as would ensure the application of it according to the conditions upon which the grant was framed. So that in either alternative, the House had the assurance that their intentions could not be frustrated. Why it now pleased the duke of Cumberland to select a foreign residence, it was not their province to inquire; and while, on the one hand, it would be harsh to make this grant the positive condition of his return, so on the other they had every chance of tempting him to reside in this country. But, in any view of the | subject, whether he resided here or not, still they secured a British education for a British prince. Indeed, the right hon. gentleman himself admitted, that he was first struck with the propriety of securing such an object, though he had afterwards altered his opinion: so that the only dif ference between the right hon. gentleman and his majesty's ministers was thisthat they maintained the opinions they had set out with, while the right hon. gentleman had abandoned his. The government thought the young prince should be brought up here in England, and thus recorded the expediency of that opinion in the bill. And they must, in looking at the subject merely in a pecuniary view, at once see, that the duke of Cumberland did not benefit in that sense, when they considered the great additional expense which would be entailed upon his royal highness by the transference of his residence to this country, or by the arrangements here for the education of his child. Whether the whole of this money would be, pound by pound, applied to the education of the young prince in the first year or in the second year, he was not prepared to say; but this he would say, that as the grant was intended by his majesty's ministers to cover the public allowance for the whole minority of the prince of Cumberland, he thought it no more than a fair average of the actual expenses of such a personage until he had attained his full maturity. It was, he thought, the fair and preferable, the more respectful and delicate, course, to come at once with the general sum which was adequate to the general purpose, and not year after year be recurring to parliament for fresh supplies to meet a growing expenditure in the royal family. He knew not why such a proposal should be stigmatized by the epithets of dishonest, uncalled-for, and unconstitutional. No man could deny the principle, that it was proper to have a British prince educated at home. Neither could it be asserted that, covering the whole minority, the proposed grant was more than enough for carrying that principle into effect. He denied the application of the right hon. gentleman's precedents to the case before the House. In all the previous cases, the increase of income was at the time common to all the members of the royal family in whose behalf it was made; but here was a case in which they had denied one member of the illustrious family upon the throne, a grant which they had conferred upon the rest; and that personage having had subsequently born to him a son, in whose education the public had an interest, it was deemed right to secure to the parent the means of fulfilling that public expectation. Undoubtedly, it was right for the House, in that as well as in every other case, to guard the expenditure of the public money; but, it was unfair to impute motives to government which were not warranted upon the face of the transaction. He for one disclaimed any hidden motive in proposing this grant. It was to enable the duke of Cumberland to give his son a British education; it was to promote a subject of national importance; and, neither in the principle nor in the manner of its application, did he see any thing from the responsibility of which he shrunk to participate. Mr. Brougham said, he gave the right hon. gentlemen opposite entire credit for their declaration, that they were on this occasion uninfluenced by sinister motives. And it was further due to them to say, that they had at length put this question upon its fair issue, and had frankly avowed, that the only reason for conferring this grant upon the duke of Cumberland, was, because his royal highness had not obtained this 6,000l. a-year. In other terms, that the object in which the chancellor of the Exchequer had been frustrated in the years 1815 and 1816, was to be carried into execution in the year 1825. But, though the ministers said this, the bill did not; for the bill said the money was to be given for the education of the child. But he differed with the right hon. gentleman as to the power which he thought he would possess over this bill when it passed through parliament; he differed from him as to the construction of the law; and was sure his view would be sustained by the Crown lawyers and the lord chancellor, were the case referred to them as the legal advisers of the Crown. The act of parliament was imperative; and, from the moment it passed, the money became, as of right, vested in the duke of Cumberland. It would be then too late to negociate about its application to any other purpose than that to which it should please his royal highness to appropriate it. The right hon. gentle man would recollect, that in a late bill, the Catholic bill, the omission of the two words "shall and may," in the optional commission for regulating certain matters touching the question then at issue, had so altered the legal construction of that part of the bill, that they were obliged to re-cast it, and take from the Friday to the Monday before they could send it to that place, where it met the fate of all other bills which had for their object toleration for civil and religious liberty. It had been said, that there was a difference between the case of this infant and that of the other princes of the royal family who had been previously provided for; because they, meaning his late majesty's sons, had lived under the royal paternal roof, with all the advantages which attended it. Now, he must deny that to be the fact. The princes of the blood were completely emancipated from the paternal roof in early life-unless, indeed, the paternal roof could be supposed to cover the towns of Lisbon, and Gibraltar, Halifax, and Nova Scotia, and to have formed the garrisons where some of these illustrious princes had resided. The duke of Gloucester's case was still more in point; for there the income was rendered dependent upon the natural demise of his royal father. There was no getting rid of such a precedent; nor any seeing the length to which it was capable of being unconstitutionally carried. The duke of Sussex, except the allowance made to him by parliament as one of the royal offspring, had never received one shilling of the public money, in any manner, or form, whatsoever. It was the lot of that illustrious prince to have married a lady in a foreign country, and by that most unfortunate of all acts, the royal marriage act, such foreign marriage was illegal in England, by the very worst of all human laws that same identical royal marriage act, which had been well described by Mr. Wilberforce as the most unconstitutional act that disgraced the Statute-book; and for the violation of such an act had his royal highness suffered by a heavy diminution of his income. The pecuniary effect of that step had been, to reduce the income of his royal highness, to 18,000l. a-year. The duke of Sussex had never applied for an increase of income-he had never dreamt of applying for it; never had he compounded with his creditors; always had he ensured for each of them a course of payment for 20s. in every pound of debt which was contracted. By his royal highness's excellent management, with the assistance of a learned person who superintended his affairs, his debts had been reduced from 100,000. to a very HOUSE OF LORDS. Tuesday, June 14. inconsiderable residue. They were now sunk to a sum hardly worth mentioning ; and, this had been effected without exposing his royal highness to any circum- COLONIAL INTERCOURSE BILL.] Earl stances, whereby the royal dignity could Bathurst, in moving the second reading of be degraded in his person. He trusted this bill, entered into a history of the law he had now redeemed his pledge by re- respecting Colonial Intercourse, and stated sisting this bad measure, to the utmost of the object of the present measure. After his power. The last stage was at hand, describing the dispute which had arisen and he hoped to God the House might with the United States on the subject of still do its duty, and act so as to look trade with the British colonies, be observback on that night's vote with satisfaction. ed, that in all former measures for But, be the event what it might, they on regulating the colonial trade, prohibition his side had done their duty, and could was the rule, and admission the exception; look confidently to the people for sup-whereas, in the present bill admission port. Nor had they any reason to expect formed the rule, and prohibition the that even the prince, whose wishes they exception. Besides the regulation of the had opposed, would misconstrue the inte- colonial trade, the extension of the waregrity of their motives. The illustrious housing system was another object of this House to which he belongs, is renowned bill. The part which related to that for a magnanimous spirit towards fair and object allowed all goods to be warehoused honourable adversaries. The duke of either for importation or exportation, and York freely overlooked, both officially authorized re-exportation, without suband as an individual, the part taken by jecting the merchandise to any additional those who, in 1809, had the painful task duty. There were certain articles which to perform of censuring his conduct. Her after importation could not be exported late majesty, the most persecuted of without paying a duty imposed for the women, was also the most forgiving. She protection of British trade; but it was not had left behind her an illustrious person- thought necessary that this protection age closely connected to her by blood and should any longer exist. Warehouses affinity, who partook of that magnani- might therefore be established on a more mous spirit of forgiveness, which so emi-extensive system than the former state of nently characterized that royal lady. The the law authorised. Their lordships would late Mr. Perceval received his forgiveness observe that this was a complete abanand enjoyed his favour. The same for- donment of what had hitherto been regiveness had been extended to his suc-garded as the English colonial system; cessors in place; and a much less important person, the individual who then addressed them, though far removed from such conflicts, yet by the accident of the times, having come into what inferior minds might deem a collision with that highest quarter, where false rumours were propagated by interested malice or by intrigue, as if the faithful discharge of his public and professional duties had incurred the personal displeasure of the so-in the same manner, no trade was allowed vereign, had the extraordinary satisfaction of knowing that a gracious, and the more gracious because a voluntary, as surance had been given by that illustrious personage, that all such rumours were utterly without foundation. The duke of Cumberland would after that night's vote, he had no doubt, show, by his candid construction of their motives, that he be-all the advantages of British ships. In longed to the same family with the duke of York, the late queen, and the sovereign himself. The House divided: Ayes 170; Noes 121. The bill was then read a third time. but it was an alteration which the changes in the political and commercial relations of other nations with respect to this country required. The trade of the colonies would, by this bill, be identified with the trade of the mother country. Formerly, no trade was allowed between the colonies and this country, except in British ships; no trade was allowed between one colony and another, except in British ships; and, between one port of this country and another, except in British ships. In could no longer be said that we placed our colonies in a worse situation with respect to trade than the United States. The colonies would now not only enjoy the same advantages as the United States, but colonial vessels would be entitled to short, the colonies were now placed in the same situation, with respect to trade, as if they formed parts of the mother country. The changes which Europe and the new |