he people, from whom the powers of
government originated? Kings and princes, he said, derived their
power from the people; and to the people alone, by means of their
representatives, did it belong to decide in cases for which the
constitution had made no specific provisions. On these grounds Pitt
insisted that the Prince of Wales had no more right to supply the
existing deficiency than any other subject, though he admitted that it
was expedient for parliament to offer him the regency. Fox and Burke
replied to Pitt, but they were unable to refute his arguments, and his
motion was carried without a division, and a committee of twenty-one
was appointed to look for precedents, which all men knew were not to
be found. On the following day Lord Camden made a similar motion in the
lords, in doing which he strongly condemned the doctrine which Fox had
advanced, and contended, with Pitt, that the light and duty of naming
the regent, and limiting his power, belonged exclusively to the houses
of parliament. The motion of Fox was supported by Lords Loughborough,
Stormont, and Porchester, and controverted by Lord Stanhope and the lord
chancellor, the latter of whom declared that the doctrine was a new one
to him. Thurlow seems to have been induced to speak on this occasion,
in order to throw discredit on his rival, Lord Loughborough, who was a
friend of the Prince of Wales, and was looking for the chancellorship.
Recently the lord chancellor had been silent as a statue on the subject
in question, and from his conduct it appeared evident that he was
waiting to see how the malady of the monarch terminated, before he
decided upon what part he should take. It was more than suspected,
indeed, that Thurlow had, from the commencement of his majesty's
illness, been in correspondence with the prince and his friends, while
at the council-table, and on the woolsack, he seemed to agree with his
colleagues in office.

The report of the committee appointed to search for precedents was
brought up and ordered to be printed, on the 12th of December. On this
occasion Fox, aware that his doctrine was repudiated by the house, and
by the nation at large, relinquished the idea of pressing the claims of
the prince as a right, and only expressed his anxiety to procure for him
a full enjoyment of royalty, under the appointment of the two houses.
He was still ready, he said, to maintain, that while parliament had the
right to determine on the incapacity, the