"there, since the time of that Gascon, "who being turned out at the door, "jumped in again at the window." It is easy to trace this obsequious ness in many things respecting the King's malady: though all men knew what that malady was, no one, not even the physicians themselves could find a proper name for it it was (said one of them) some thing between insanity and delirium, but more approaching delirium than any thing else, for it never rose so high as insanity: others talked of "the integrity of the royal mind," and of there being "no failure of "his Majesty's faculties:" it was admitted however, that he entertained certain "erroneous views of things," a modern phrase to express raving! and that the disorder was similar to that of 1789, when, as you have informed us, his Majesty firmly believed that London had been under water for a fortnight. The same means of coercion too, that had been practiced on former occasions, were also resorted to on this, but it may be questioned notwithstanding all these circumstances (far more than sufficient truly, to decide the case of a common man, and transfer his property to his next of kin) whether our ministers would not have considered his Majesty qualified to reign over us, if he could but have used bis two fore fingers and thumb; for it seems that in the year 1804, when he was afflicted with the same disorder, was attended by some of the same physicians, and under the coercion and controul of Doctor Simmons and his keepers from St. Luke's, it appears, that during all that time, there was no interruption of the royal authority; military operations were carried on by land and by sea; criminals were executed, reprieved, and pardoned; assignments were made of the crown lands; places and pensions granted, and what is more than all the rest, his Majesty exercised the functions

of a law maker, giving his assent to several acts of parliament, in cou sequence of one full third part of the legislative authority, being vested in him by the constitution, Will not the world read with astonishment, that when his Majesty exercised so large a portion of the legis lative authority, and the totality of that executive power which controuls the British empire, he was himself under the controul of others, and that when these men, these keepers from St. Luke's, who had at that time the custody of his royal person, were withdrawn, in order that the Chancellor might take his orders unrestrained, it was deemed not perfectly safe for his lordship to be left alone with him. Let us hear what that Chancellor himself says, or at least is

reported to say, in the Morning Chronicle of the 29th of last month, given as part of his speech in the house of Lords the preceding day: he said, that "he "remembered a great man, now no

more, Mr. Pitt, had expressed "his astonishment, when he found "that he had never seen his Majes

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ty except in the absence of those "who had been in the habit of con

trouling him. He knew the dan"gers of this proceeding, but he had "determined to see his Sovereign, "and judge of his complaint when "he was free from restraint," &c. So then his Majesty governed this country when he was thought so unable to govern himself, that his own ministers, persons the best acquainted with the state he was in, thought their persons in danger when they came within his grasp this was the state in which he exercised a third portion of the legislative authority, as much as falls to the share of either the house of Lords or Commons, and the whole of the executive. And this, according to the Lord Chancellor, is government according to the law of England, for said this great law oracle on a for

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mer occasion," the King's political capacity continues the same in infancy, infirmity, age, and decrepitude."-Once a man and twice a child, is a sage remark, pointing out the course of nature, but no infirmities, natural or adventitious, can, according to the Chancellor's doctrine, affect the political cupacity of a crowned head, which consequently, I suppose, must be constructed after a fashion different from other heads: puling infancy, in its cradle, or superannuated and drivelling dotage, can afford, it should seem, according to this maxim, sufficient capacity for government in this free country in America it is somewhat different; but then they are deprived in that country of all the benefits resulting from the splendour of a throne! We have how ever, had nothing to do with America, for many years back; that subject is foreign to my purpose, which is to mark the difference between the two systems, as maintained by the followers of two great statesmen, both now no more. The Lord Chancellor, the mouth-piece of the Pittites, says, the King's political capacity exists in spite of infancy, infirmity, or decrepitude, which I think must mean that he is able to govern us before reason is formed in the mind, and after it has deserted it, and even during the time it may be suspended; that whether royalty appears in a slabbering bib, or in a straight waistcoat, or in a senseless trunk from which memory itself is departed, still it is royalty, and we are bound implicitly to obey it. According to the great and learned Lord Eldon, there is a something that adheres to the sacred person during its whole course of existence; in the childhood that precedes manhood, as well as that which succeeds it, and when even manhood itself may be said to be suspended, by the interruption of that reason, which alone distinguishes us from

VOL. IX.

the brute creation. This is the Pittite doctrine of monarchy, and I suppose they will say too, that it is the doctrine of the constitution; for Pitt and the constitution are synonymous with these people; every opposition to their measures they conceive to be sufficiently answered by-Mr. Pitt said so, or did so, or this is the precedent left. us by the great statesman now no more! as if that man had been the founder of our government, a greater lawgiver than the Great Alfred himself. The true constitutional doctrine is, however, the doctrine of Mr. Fox, that Monarchy is an office, a trust, delegated by the people, for their own benefit, and not for the personal satisfaction, or ambition, or glory of him who holds it. This is an axiom of the very highest importance, and it must afford great satisfaction to the people to find it subscribed to by the Prince of Wales. It is an advantage derived from honest old English patriotism counteracting the infectious servility too prevalent in courts, and which promises the most happy results. I shall not trouble you with a string of quotations to prove it to be a genuine, fundamental, and I may indeed add, a necessary and indispensable part of our free government, as it has in fact been of every other government pretending to freedom, ancient or modern. This is proved indeed, by the universality of a custom which has prevailed in all free governments, of exacting. from the Monarch a solemn pledge, or promise, that he will do certain things, in the exercise of his kingly office, deemed requisite and necessary for the good of his people, and which, by an appeal to heaven, he promises to perform when invested with the sovereign authority: this is the original contract alluded to in the vote of abdication in 1688, and not that tacit convention, supposed by some philosophers, to have been coeval with the first existence of so

the office, or to continue to hold it; as, if the king should turn catholic, or marry a catholic, or get a pretended absolution from the pope, to dispense him with keeping the oath, as some kings have done; or if the Prince, heir to the crown should turn quaker, and refuse to take the oath, or if the King should deny the christian faith, and renounce the communion of the church of England, or make war upon his people by the aid of foreigners, as King John did, with many other acts which might be mentioned in violation of the compact between Prince and people; in all which cases the office would be either entirely forfeited from offence, or suspended from unfitness or disqualification, and consequently the throne in either case vacated. These are consequences naturally resulting from the proposition that the Monarchy is an office stipulated and contracted to be filled, or executed, in a certain way; but this the Pittites deny; and this denial goes to the very subversion of a free or limited Monarchy: if they are consistent, it must lead them to downright despotism, to a government, in fact, without check or constitution. He who is governed by a King without such a check, says one of the ancients, is governed by a man and a beast; and indeed I do not see how it is possible that such a government as that described by the principles promulgated by the Lord Chancellor,could long continue, without degenerating into a state very unworthy a society of rational beings, from the mere consequences of those frailties and infirmities which are the common lot of humanity. -I intended when I sat down to write, to offer some remarks on an unconstitutional doctrine very dogmatically asserted by Lord Grenville, respecting the three estates of the parliament, and also some refleçtions suggested by a facetious speech

ciety it is a reality, not a hypothesis, and properly called original, because it "exceeds the memory of any be"ginning." Agreeable then to this primitive contract, the office or trust of King is to be discharged, and not otherwise; and if we consult the compact, vulgarly called the coronation oath, we shall find that though it has been changed in form several times, according to the exigency of circumstances, yet it has always aimed at the same object, the preservation of our ancient laws, franchises, and free customs. The last declaration of these fundamental laws and customs were what is called the Bill of Rights, on which foundation the House of Brunswick were admitted to the throne, and vested with the regal office, hereditarily, on condition of preserving to us these privileges. The object in this whole transaction was of an official nature, not a personal one: the family were quite strangers to us; his present Majesty is the very first of them who by birth could claim the name of an Englishman; and surely, these are circumstances, which, duly considered, make the Lord Chancellor's doctrine appear still more ridiculous. The Prince, therefore, who holds the British sceptre, must hold it conditionally, and officially, and no otherwise. The first condition certainly is, that he must be compos mentis; for as he is to govern agreeable to certain fundamental laws and free customs, a person who is not of sound mind, is absolutely incompetent to perform the office, and so it should seem too, would one be, that was either in infancy or dotage. There must be a rational state of mind, such as is competent to take an oath, understand it, and keep it, for that is the pledge given in return for the trust confided: there are many other conditions also requisite, the failure in any of which is a failure of competency to undertake

of Lord Stanhope's, but find I must defer them to a future letter,

And remain, &c.

TIMOTHY TRUEMAN.

Devonshire, Feb. 12, 1811.

-Whether the clergy of the esta blished church are bound to obey the proclamation is a question which was agitated in the year 1715, a gainst a clergyman of the name of JOHNSON, who was cited before the bishop for omitting the service of the

GALITY OF FAST DAYS.

SIR,

I have observed with satisfaction you have constantly decried those annual disgraces to religion and morality, called GENERAL FASTS.-It has frequently occurred to me that many persons have kept them that otherwise would not have so done, from an idea that some legal penalty attached to those who opened their shops or transacted any business on these days. Now the fact is that there is not in the whole statute book any law which enjoins the observance of any fast, specially appointed by the King, or inflicts any penalty on such as shall carry on their usual avocations on those days.

signed by him in his defence was--that the King's proclamation had not, the force of a LAW, and that he was prohibited by the Stat. 5 and 6 Edward VI. from keeping any holidays than such as are therein mentioned:

This defence had the effect of staying the proceedings for six years, when on account of Mr. Johnson's publishing his case the prosecution was revived, but no adjudication took place; as he afterwards retracted his defence, probably the effect of some previous compromise. However, taking it in its fullest extent, it is a question merely clerical, and by no means binding upon the laity. A CONSTANT READER. London, Feb. 18.

Rt. Hon. theSpeaker Rt.Hn.Sir J.Anstru-
R. Dundas
ther, Bart.
Sir F. Nepean,

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C. Arbuthnot R.B. Sheridan W. Elliott G. Ponsonby C. M. Sutton J. C. Villiers S. Perceval R. Fitzpatrick J. Prevor Sir W. Grant Sir J. Mansfield Sir A. Macdonald Sir J. Banks, Bart. K. B. Sir J. Sinclair, Bart.

Bart.

Sir D. Dundas,

K. B.

Sir W. Scott
Sir J. Nicholl
J. Foster
I. Corry
T. Grenville
G. Canning
C. Yorke
T. Wallace
G. Rose
C. Long
G. Tierney

This day his royal highness the Prince of Wales, Regent of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by virtue of an act passed in the present session of parliament, intituled, an act to provide for the "administration of the royal autho"rity; and for the care of his Majesty's royal person, during the "continuance of his Majesty's illness, and for the resumption of the "exercise of the royal authority by "his Majesty," was, at his first coming into the council, pleased to declare, that understanding that the law required that he should take and subscribe certain oaths and declarations, he was now ready to do so; his royal highness accordingly took and subscribed the oaths and declarations required by the said act; after which all the members present of his Majesty's most honourable privy council had the honour of kissing his royal highness's hand.

The following are the additional particulars of the ceremony of installing the regent:

About twelve o'clock on Wednesday a party of the flank companies of the grenadiers, with their colours, the band of the 1st regiment, marched into the court-yard of Carlton-house, where the colours were pitched in the

centre of the grand entrance: the band struck up God save the King, and continued playing that national piece alternately with martial airs during the day. About a quarter before two o'clock the Duke of Montrose arrived, being the first of the privy counsellors who attended; he was followed by all the royal dukes, and a very numerous assemblage of privy counsellors who had all arrived by a quarter before three o'clock. The whole of the magnificent suit of state apartments were opened, and about half past two o'clock Earl Moira, of his royal highness's council, being also a privy counsellor of the king, brought a message from the prince to the president of the council, Earl Camden, desiring his attendance on the prince in an adjoining room, according to the usual form, to communicate to him officially the return to the sum mons, &c. The noble earl accordingly went with Earl Moira made the necessary intimation to his royal highness, and returned to the company; who during this time of waiting were highly gratified with seeing the Princess Charlotte on horseback, accompanied by two grooms, make the tour of the beautiful gardens in the front of the palace. His royal highness appeared to be in excellent health and spirits.

After Earl Camden's return, the Prince approached in grand procession, preceded by the officers of his own household, and several of his council, among whom were Earl Moira, Lords Keith, Cassilis, Hutchinson, Mr. Sheridan, Mr. M. Angelo Taylor, Mr. Tyrwhitt, Colonel Mac-Mahon, Col. Blomfield, Gen. Hulse, Mr. Bicknell, &c. &c. The Prince was also accompanied by all the royal dukes. They passed through the room where the privy counsellors were assembled, through the circular drawing-room, into the grand saloon (a beautiful room in scarlet drapery, embellished with portraits of all the