Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 1 (of 3)Walpole, Horace
History
Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 1 (of 3)
Walpole, Horace
Great Britain -- History -- George II, 1727-1760
He was answered by Murray, the Solicitor-General,[133] a frequent
antagonist of his, who had quickness and eloquence enough to defend
or not to want the knowledge of the Law, of which he was master. He
said, “There could be no hurt in omitting the words that conveyed
any doubtful meaning; that the Bill was calculated against unlawful
acts, such as force and usurpation, upon the foundation of former
examples, particularly the disposition made by Henry the Eighth;
that it was only a clause _in terrorem_; that there must be an
overt act; that the House had already passed a sanction of the same
nature in the marriage clause: but if these words were disliked,
you might insert _unlawfully and without consent of Parliament_;
and that the Regent would certainly not be included within the
words.”
Fox accepted the proposed words, but would have omitted _in order_,
which would still leave the necessity of the overt act in full
force. He insisted “that the clause affects nobody but those who
assist the Regent in endeavouring the repeal of this Act, and
consequently that she is tied up from innovating, while her Council
are at liberty to attempt what farther usurpations they please
upon hers and the royal authority. It is difficult to ascertain
what her accomplices must or must not will and know, to include
them within the penalty; that if she takes out letters-patent
to be sole Regent, are the clerks who draw them to be subject
to the præmunire? That it must be right to omit the words _in
order_, since in the Solicitor’s opinion they were useless; in
his, dangerous: but supposing they were still to remain, he could
not help insisting on being told, what punishment there would be
for him or any man who should attempt to cancel the Regency Bill
without the connivance of the Regent?” The Solicitor replied, “That
such act would be against the King, because he was in her hands;
but that this provides against doing it _with_ her consent. That
the words _in order_ were neither so unheard of, nor so formidable
as was pretended; that the Coventry Act has the equivalent words
_with intent_; and that the Mutiny Bill (brought in by Mr. Fox) has
even the words _in order_. He owned that those words were inserted
to prevent the connivance of the Regent from giving an air of
legality to any attempts of innovation.” The Master of the Rolls
said, “He could not point out words to describe the crime, but he
thought _with intent_ preferable to _in order_.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account