On the two occasions referred to in the reign
of George III., the next heir being at enmity with the King and his
ministers, this was considered the loyal and courtly doctrine; and, from
its apparent advancement of the rights of Parliament, there was no
difficulty in casting odium on those who opposed it. But I must avow
that my deliberate opinion coincides with that of Burke, Fox, and
Erskine, who pronounced it to be unsupported by any precedent, and to be
in accordance with the principles of the Polish, not the English,
monarchy. The two Houses of Parliament would be the proper tribunal to
pronounce that the sovereign is unable to act; but then, as if he were
naturally as well as civilly dead, the next heir ought of right to
assume the government as Regent, ever ready to lay it down on the
sovereign's restoration to reason, in the same way as our Lady Victoria
would have returned to a private station if, after her accession, there
had appeared posthumous issue of William IV. by his queen. It is easy to
point out possible abuses by the next heir as Regent, to the prejudice
of the living sovereign; but there may be greater abuses of the power of
election imputed to the two Houses, whereby a change of dynasty might be
effected. I conceive, therefore, that the Irish Parliament[121] in 1789
acted more constitutionally in acknowledging the _right_ of the next
heir, in scouting the fiction of a commission or royal assent from the
insane sovereign, and in addressing the Prince of Wales to take on
himself the government as Regent.
Pages:
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237