ness prepared, on my advice, and supposing the public exigency demands it, to part with the whole of your Household?" The reply was, "I am." "Then," rejoined his lordship, "not one of them shall be dismissed."-{Loud chears from all sides.) The right honourable Member then adverted to a misapprehension which he said prevailed, and which he wished to correct. It had been said, that when Lord Moira surrendered his powers to the Prince Regent, he recommended to his Royal Highness the retaining of the former Government. What actually passed during that interview, he could not pretend to say; but he could assert that he saw Lord Moira within five minutes after he came from the closet of the Prince, and he declared that he had not offered one tittle of advice to that effect. His lordship's veracity was such as left him no right to doubt the truth of what he said. After deploring that the country had been thus deprived of an Administration which might have been splendid in great names, splendid in great talents and abili ties, and vigorous in action, the right honourable Member concluded by observing that he had come down to the House solely with a view to trouble them with those details into which he had entered, should they be called for; and with recommending to the honourable Member with whom the motion had originated, to withdraw it, if he saw fit in his own discretion, and in the peculiar circumstances of the Government at present.

Mr. Tierney contended, that with respect to the proposi tion made by the Marquis Wellesley, it was merely asking the noble lords (Grey and Grenville) and their friends, to join an Administration already said to be formed, and that even thus Marquis Wellesley had not sufficient authority to explain subsequently a misunderstanding alleged to have arisen. With respect to Lord Moira's negociation, they had been charged with having sacrificed the hopes of the coun try to their enmity to the existing Household. In the first place, the question put by Lord Grey was merely as to those places in the Household usually subject to the controul of the Administration; such officers as were usually removable upon a change of Ministers. To this Lord Moira objects in limine; and here they had to learn something entirely new, instead of doing what he (Mr. Tierney) would have done in similar circumstances, read the minute of the conversation to his Royal Highness without a comment, and then waited his Royal Highness's further commands;

instead of this, he takes a course highly theatrical, as far as effect may be considered, independent of motive, to which he (Mr. Tierney) did not intend the slightest objection; but, like the right hon. gentleman, he comes forward with a sudden display. Is, said the noble lord to the Prince Regent, Is your Royal Highness prepared, on my advice, supposing public exigency to require it, to part with the whole of your Household? Then what is the answer of his Royal Highness-precisely what might be expected from his good sense and public spirit-I am ready, replied the Prince, to part with them all.-Then, rejoined the noble lord, not one of them shall be removed. Now this appeared to him (Mr. Tierney) as rather going to a greater length than circumstances called for. For if the noble lord had stopped at this gracious reply on the part of the Prince Regent, and reported it to the noble lords in question, there could be no doubt that every difficulty would be at once removed; but there was upon this very point a most unfortunate misunderstanding. It had been rumoured that certain noble lords, now in the Household, would have resigned the moment his noble friends had agreed to come into office. There had been cer tainly various rumours, particularly respecting the different accounts given by two brothers upon this matter. A noble lord (Yarmouth) had gone so far as to state, that his noble friends were aware of the intention, on the part of the noble lords alluded to, to resign their places in the Household, the moment those noble friends had consented to form an Administration. To prove how improbable it was that there was any such consciousness in that quarter, at least, he begged leave to state a circumstance that had occurred that day. On referring to a right honourable friend (Mr. Sheridan) as to the truth of the statement, respecting the intended resignations, that right honourable gentleman answered, "I will bet five hundred guineas no such thing was ever in contemplation." (Hear!) He denied, therefore, that his noble friends broke off the negociation; it was not their act, but that of Lord Moira. And now here they were after all these negociations, brought back to the old question they had decided upon three weeks ago-(hear!)-with the self-same gentlemen before them, partly recovered from their sus pended animation, and begging that they may be kept a little longer from sinking-(a laugh). Why the only ob stacle to the formation of an efficient Government had been VOL. 111.-1812.

21

already removed-(No, no! from the Ministerial benches). He could certainly very well understand why gentlemen on the other side should take the alarm at any apprehension of such obstacles being removed-(a laugh)—but as this matter of the Household was now so much better understood, he did not see why the negociations might not be re sumed to-morrow, and the gentlemen opposite put under water again (a laugh). He could account for the amiable milkiness of disposition that tempted gentlemen in power to call upon all those out of power to support them by an union, but the sober truth was, that in the present mode of extending an Administration, they could not expect to get new till they got rid of the old, so that the question would not be merely the difficult one of who is to come in, but the still more difficult one of who is to go out-(a laugh). But this present Government had been inefficient three weeks ago; had they acquired any efficiency since? He thought they had rather lost than gained; they had a principle before, but now they had none. The basis of the present Cabinet was, that they had no Cabinet measures-(a laugh). Every man might do according to his own discretion-no very limited latitude—(a laugh.) It was, in short, liberty hall; every man might do as he pleased—(a laugh)—though there might be still some awkward jostling between opposite discretions; between those, for instance, who thought the Catholic question a vital one, and those who thought that it involved the safety of the principles of the Revolution, and the sanctity of the Coronation Oath; and he believed that there were two Members of the present Cabinet, who thought that the Constitution and the Coronation Oath would be risked by a concession of the Catholic claims. There might, to be sure, be questions where this liberty of discretion might give rise to some slight symptoms of practical difficulty, as should one Member of the Cabinet propose an immediate application of all the wealth and military means of the country, to support the campaign in the Peninsula upon a grand and striking scale; but this campaign not being a Cabinet measure, we might have another proposition from another Member of the Government, refusing in the exercise of this discretion any further aid to the Peninsula, than that of 500%. and a corporal's guard-(a laugh.) After some further observations, Mr. Tierney concluded with an exhortation to the House to act pon that night in the way best calculated to enable them

to go back to their constituents with an honest confidence -(hear, hear !)

Mr. Fuller said, that it was now evident what gentlemen on the other side had been hunting after-places, pensions, and power were all they aimed at! So much for their patriotism!-(a laugh.)-But the country knew them; and that true man of honour, Lord Moira, was not to be cajoled-(a laugh.)-All the efforts of those early friends could not tear that truly noble, honest man, Lord Moira, from the heart of his Prince-(a laugh, and cries of hear!)-The country understood the whole business-(a laugh)-They saw that the Prince Regent had done all he could do, and no man should be asked to do more-(a laugh.) The country would now stand by the Prince and defend him against the worst of all tyrannies, an oligarchy-(a laugh, and cries of hear!)-an oligarchy that contained not one Car dinal Wolsey, but fifty Cardinal Wolseys-(a laugh)— sticking to the last for the very Household; was that love of country?-(Hear! and laughter.)-It was nonsense to talk of it-why the fact was, that Chesterfield laid it down over and over again-(loud laughter.)-Chesterfield laid it down, that when a man begins to truckle about places, he is no patriot-(A general laugh.)

Mr. Martin (of Galway) contended that the Prince had done every thing in his power to carry into effect the advice. of Parliament. His Royal Highness could not have given up the Household question, without stultifying himself, and admitting the justice of all the base calumnies which had been uttered against him and the noble persons concerned.

Lord Castlereagh, at that late period of the night, would not trespass long upon the House. If the question rested on the comparative merit of the different Addresses that had been proposed, that subject had been so satisfactorily argued, that he would not have risen on the occasion; but there were one or two points connected with the transaction so accurately detailed by the right honourable gentleman, on which he wished to make some remarks. In commenting on transactions of such a delicate nature be would be cautions not to aggravate the differences of public men, or to widen breaches, injurious to the welfare of the State. With respect to the original motion, the expressions which it contained were unexceptionable. He concurred in the sentiment of every member of that proposition. In the first place, the thanks to the Regent for his gracious atten

tion to the express wishes of the House; in the second, the regret his Royal Highness had not found it possible to form a more comprehensive Administration. To all this he would have no hesitation in being a party, and to the farther expression of hope that his Royal Highness would avail himself of any opportunity that might occur for strengthen. ing his present Administration. But when it came to be asked, with what motive this Address was moved, he put it to the House if the obvious import of it was not calculated to throw a shade over the Administration (subject to the view of Parliament) which was charged with the fate and the interests of the country. The Address was uncalled for by any message from the Crown. It could lead to no practicable result. Its only effect would be to bring the Administration under the insinuation, founded on its external structure, and not on its conduct, that it was not likely to possess the confidence of the country. He trusted, therefore, that the honourable gentleman would withdraw his motion-for he could not conceive it possible that the House, by adopting it, would sanction for no other purpose but to disqualify the Government from executing the arduous task in which they had engaged. With respect to that Administration, whatever might have been their public services, they certainly had not shewn any disposition to stand between the Crown and the people.-All parties, it was confessed, had acted, during the late transactions, with the greatest liberality. Three or four distinct nego ciations had failed, and the Crown was obliged to call on the present Administration to charge itself with the affairs. of the country. It was his consolation, that while on the one hand he and his colleagues had never stood between the Crown and the people; on the other hand they had never shewn a disposition to shrink from the discharge of public duties, deterred as they otherwise might be by the accumulated difficulties which the late transactions had occasioned. Ministers were ready to do all that was required of them, trusting that Parliament would give them full and fair confidence. They wished their conduct to be judged by their acts, in order that they might receive the support of Parliament it they were deserving of it, and if they were not, that they might bow to the decision of the House. He hoped that the late transactions would induce the House not again to push the principle which they had so strongly asserted. Those must be blind who could not see the