subsisted any, he was totally unacquainted with it. The dignity, the honour of Parliament had been called upon to support and protect the purity of his Majesty's character; and this they had done, by a strong and decisive condemnation of the libel, which his Majesty had submitted to the consideration of the House. But having done this, it was neither consistent with the honour and safety of Parliament, nor with the rights and interests of the people, to go one step farther. The rest belonged to the courts below.

When he had finished speaking, he left the House, not being able to stay for the division.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Prince of Brunswick visits Mr. Pitt at Hayes.— Anecdote concerning him.-Motion concerning General Warrants-Mr. Pitt's Speech against them.- Mr. C. Townshend's Bon Mot.

In the month of January 1764, the hereditary Prince of Brunswick came to England, to espouse the Princess Augusta, the King's sister. When the ceremonies were ended, he paid a visit to Mr. Pitt, who was confined to his chamber

by a severe fit of the gout, at his seat at Hayes in Kent. This visit was very far from being agreeable at St. James's. The Prince was just come from Berlin; and whether the conjecture was well founded, or not, that he carried a complimentary message from the King of Prussia to Mr. Pitt, the visit at least shewed the high estimation in which Mr. Pitt was held by the Prince, by the King of Prussia, and his allies, who at this time were Russia and Poland; while we were without any ally; and the great minister of this country, who had conducted the late war with so much honour to himself, and advantage to the Nation, was proscribed at Court, and deserted in Parliament. He was retired to Hayes

to his ability, glory, and integrity-where this young Prince distinguished him, by the most gracious marks of esteem and affection, filled with sentiments which were known to be those of the King of Prussia, and the Empress of the North. After this circumstance, his Serene Highness did not experience the most cordial reception in the British Court, and he was permitted to embark for the Continent, in a very dangerous and tempestuous season *.

* There is a circumstance concerning this Prince, which seems to insinuate, that the effects of this visit were not confined to an embarkation in stormy weather. When General Spoerken died,

On the fourteenth of February 1764, Sir II. Meredith moved, "That a General Warrant for "apprehending and seizing the authors, printers, "and publishers of a seditious libel, together "with their papers is not warranted by law." Seconded by Sir G Savile. Although the Constitution, the law of the land, common sense, and the true principles of justice, all united in condemning a General Warrant; yet all the Law Officers of Government, all the subalterns of the Ministry, all the people who called themselves King's Friends, and all whom these could command or influence, pertinaciously defended, not indeed the legality, for that was impossible, but the necessity of the Government possessing a power to issue these warrants whenever the Secretary of State in his discretion should think fit. The de

the Duke of Brunswick solicited to succeed him in the command at Hanover; and from his having behaved very gallantly in the British service, and having married the King's sister, every body in Germany and England thought his claim so just, he must undoubtedly be appointed; but the Queen's brother, a youth at that time, was preferred to him.

Another instance of the Queen's influence has been stated to be, the payment of her brother's debts (the Duke of Mecklenburgh); soon after which, his Majesty applied to Parliament for the payment of his own debts; or in the parliamentary language, to discharge the arrears of his Civil List.

bate having continued all night, was adjourned to the seventeenth.

On the adjourned debate, Mr. Pitt, being able to attend, spoke in favour of the motion, He began with observing, that all which the Crown had desired, all which Ministers had wished, was accomplished in the conviction and expulsion of Mr. Wilkes; it was now the duty of the House to do justice to the Nation, to the Constitution, and to the Law. Ministers had refused to lay the warrant before the House, because they were conscious of its illegality. And yet these Ministers, he said, who affected so much regard for Liberty and the Constitution are ardently desirous of retaining for themselves, and for their successors, a power to do an illegal act. Neither the Law Officers of the Crown, nor the Minister himself, had attempted to defend the legality of this warrant. Whenever goaded upon the point, they had evaded it. He therefore did not hesitate to say, that there was not a man to be found of sufficient profligacy to defend this warrant, upon the principle of legality. It was no justification, he said, that General Warrants had been issued. Amongst the warrants which were laid before the House, to shew the practice of office, there were two which had been issued by himself; but they were not against libels. One Dd

VOL. I.

was, for the seizure of a number of persons on board a ship going to France; the other for apprehending the Count de St. Germain, a suspected foreigner; and both in a time of war with France. Upon issuing the latter warrant, he consulted his friend the Attorney General (who was afterwards Lord Camden), who told him the warrant would be illegal, and if he issued it he must take the consequences; nevertheless preferring the general safety, in time of war and public danger, to every personal consideration, he run the risk, as he would of his head, had that been the forfeit, upon the like motive, and did an extraordinary act, against a suspicious foreigner, just come from France; and who was concealed at different times, in different houses. The real exigency of the case, of the time, and the apparent necessity of the thing, would, in his opinion, always justify a Secretary of State, in every extraordinary act of power. In the present case, there was no necessity for a General Warrant. Ministers knew all the parties. The plea of necessity could not be urged; there was no pretence for it. The nation was in perfect tranquillity. The safety of the State was in no danger. The charge was, the writing and publishing a libel. What was there in this crime, so heinous and terrible, as to require this formidable instrument; which, like an inundation of