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house of commons on January 3rd, by the chancellor of the exchequer, and related to the issue from the exchequer of certain sums for the use of the army and navy. These sums had been expressly appropri ated by parliament to the naval and military services, but a difference of opinion had arisen between the treasury and the exche quer, which required a resolution of that house to sanction the proceeding of the executive government. After putting to the other side of the house whether there was any objection to his making a motion on the subject without notice, which was answered by No, no, he moved, "That there be laid before the house a copy of the warrant from the lords com missioners of the treasury, directed tothe auditor of the exchequer, dated the 31st of December 1810; together with copies of the correspondence that has taken place between the lords of the treasury and the auditor of the exchequer, relative thereto."

This motion, after some observations respecting the imprudence of deferring the application to the exchequer until the period when the money was immediately wanted for the public service, was agreed to, and the papers were presented, and ordered to be printed.

Lord Grenville, stating his objec tion to draw the order required without the authority of the great seal, privy seal, or sign manual, and desiring a short delay for consideration. After an answer from Mr. Perceval, Lord Grenville transmits a case for the opinion of the attorney and solicitor general, who give it in the following terms: "Having considered the several statutes to which we are referred, and the general practice which we understand to have prevailed in the exchequer, as well before as since appropriation acts similar to the 50th Geo. III. c. 115, have been annually passed, we do not think that the warrant of the lords commissioners of the treasury is in law a sufficient authority imperative upon the auditor, nor consequently a legal sanction for his proceeding to obey the same, nor that any discretion is left to him by the law on this occasion, for the exercise of which he will not be responsible. V. Gibbs. Thos.

Plumer."

The next letter is from Mr. Harrison to Lord Grenville, stating the urgent necessity of his complying with the treasury warrant, and the readiness of the lords commissioners to take the responsibility upon themselves. To this Lord Grenville returns the reasons for the difficulty he feels with respect to complying, and suggests an application to parliament for the means of removing it.

The first of these was a warrant signed by the lords of the treasury to the auditor of the exche-quer, requiring him to draw an order on the bank on account of The subject being taken up the treasurer of the navy for again in 'the house of commons, 500,000l. for the service of the on January 4th, a letter was pronavy; and the second was a war-duced from the deputy clerks of the rant of the same kind for the same sum, on account of the army. The third was a letter from the auditor,

privy seal, Mess. Larpent, stating reasons why they could not prepare letters to pass the privy seal,

for the issue of sums of money for the service of the army and navy. They give a copy of the oath of office taken by them, the tenor of which they conceive prohibitory of their complying with the requisition made to them.

After the house had resolved itself into a committee for the discussion of this matter, the chancellor of the exchequer made a speech introductory to the following motion" That it is the opinion of this committee, that it is necessary, in the exigencies of the present conjuncture, that, until due provision shall be made for supplying the defect in the royal authority, such sums as have been appropriated for the services of the navy and army, by the act of last session of parliament, and other acts for enabling his Majesty to raise three millions, should be issued, in conformity with said acts accordingly; and that it is expedient that the lords commissioners of his Majesty's treasury should be required to issue their warrants to the auditor of the exchequer, for the payment of such sums as the exigency may render necessary; and that the said auditor and officers of the exchequer are authorized and commanded to pay obedience to the warrant in this be half, and to pay such sums as appear necessary, according to the -warrant of any three or more of the lords commissioners of the treasury, which they may issue from time to time."

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proposed of getting over the difficulty was an assumption of the executive power by the two houses of parliament, for which they had no authority. The question being at length called for, several amendments were proposed, the tendency of which was to limit the sums to be drawn by the treasury, and to ensure their application. These were all negatived, and the question was carried without a division: the report was then brought up, and ordered to be communicated to the lords.

On January 5th, the resolutions of the commons being brought up to the lords, produced a debate, opened on the part of ministers by the Earl of Liverpool. He was followed by Lord Grenville, who declared that he was still of opinion, that the ministers in this business had acted in a manner as injurious to the real interests of the country, and as subversive of the principles of the constitution, as it was possible for them to have done. After various observations concerning the law with respect to issues from the treasury, and the illegality of the act required from himself, he concluded that it was the duty of parliament to relieve. the country from its present difficulties in as short a time as possible, during the crippled state of the executive government. He said, he meant to accede to the resolution proposed to their lordships, because he felt the inconvenience of delaying the issuing of public money; but he condemned in the highest degree the conduct of those by whom the necessity had been created.

The lord chancellor, in answer to those who might ask why he had

not made use of the great seal on this occasion, said, that it did not appear to him how he could have employed it to draw money from the exchequer for such services as these.

. Some observations of earl Spen cer relative to the application of the privy-seal for this purpose, called up the Earl of Westmorland, who declared that, as far as he was concerned, if the necessity of coming before parliament, or of having recourse to the issuing of a warrant by the lords of the treasury, could have been averted by the exercise of the privy-seal, he, as being intrusted with the keeping of that seal, should have been willing to have taken upon himself the responsibility of affixing the seal.

. After some other lords had spoken, and some amendments had been moved, which were negatived, the report was agreed to, and a message was ordered to be sent to the commons, desiring a conference on the subject of the said resolution.

A protest against the resolution was, however, entered on the Journals, signed by 21 lords, in the following terms:

"Dissentient, 1. Because the principle on which the resolution is founded would justify the assumption of all the executive powers of the crown by the two houses of parliament, during any suspension of the personal exercise of the royal authority.

2. Because this unprecedented and unconstitutional measure might have been avoided without injury to the public service, by resorting (as was suggested in the debate) to the mode of pro

ceeding sanctioned by our ancestors in 1688, namely, an address to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, to take upon him the civil and military administration of affairs, and the disposal of the public revenue, until the means of supplying the defect in the exercise of the royal authority should be finally adjusted.

The relation of the proceedings in the two houses during the debates on the several clauses of the Regency bill is involved in singular perplexity, resulting from the fluctuations of party and the vacillations of opinion, whence proceeded a variety of amendments and re-amendments, admitted in one house, and rejected in the other, according to the prevalent feelings of the day. In several of the contested points the ministers were defeated; and at one time it seemed probable that the proposed restrictions would be in great part annulled; but at the actual passing of the bill, it appeared that they had recovered their ground, a circumstance that may reasonably be attributed to the flattering reports of the King's progress in amendment, which excited sanguine expectations that a very short period would intervene before he would be in a capacity for resuming the royal authority. It was doubtlessly recollected, that in 1789 a recovery had taken place while parliament was still occupied with discussions concerning a regency bill; and a majority looked forward rather to the revival of the present administration, than to the temporary transfer of power to a new one. After, therefore, the draught of the proposed bill had

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MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &c. OF NATIONS AND CLASSES OF PEOPLE.

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Present State of Education and Literature in Iceland
Religious Service and Character of the Icelanders
Rural Affairs of the Icelanders

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On the Osage Indians
Morals and Manners of New Spain
Military Constitution of New Spain

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USEFUL PROJECTS AND IMPROVEMENTS.

Drainage of the Bogs in Ireland

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Report to the Institute on Writing Ink

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On the Culture of Parsneps

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On the Horticultural Management of the Spanish Chesnut-tree 510 On the Cultivation and Manufacture of Woad

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Report on Captain Manby's Invention for saving the Lives of

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ANTIQUITIES.

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Memorandum on the Earl of Elgin's Pursuits in Greece
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Translations of two Letters of Nadir Shah, with Introductory

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Ode on the Installation of the Duke of Gloucester as Chancellor
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From Eighteen Hundred and Eleven, by Mrs. Barbauld
Johnson and Burke compared, by Mr. Cumberland
Stanzas on Love and Indifference, by Mrs. Tighe
The Lily, by Mrs. Tighe

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