One of the provisions of the statute of 12 & 13 Wm. III. (passed in 1700) for settling the succession in the House of Hanover, was, " That no person who shall hereafter come to the possession of this crown shall go out of the dominions of England, Scotland, or Ireland, without consent of parliament." This clause, how ever, was repealed in 1716, by I Geo. I. stet. 2, c. 51. The repealing act was passed to gratify the king, whose "impa tience to visit his German dominions," says Coxe in his Life of Walpole,' 1 77, " now became so great as totally to over , come every restraint of prudence and sug gcstion of propriety, and imperiously to demand indulgence." "The ministry," continues the historian, "were consider ably embarrassed on this occasion; and drew up a strong remonstrance, repre senting the inconvenience which would result from the projected journey. The remonstrance, however, not only failed of success, but so far exasperated the king, that he declared he would not en dure a longer confinement in this king dom." It was thought more respectful to his majesty to obtain a repeal of the restraining clause at once, than to ask parliament merely for the leave of ab sence; and the bill passed through all its stages in both Houses without a dissent ing voice, the Tories being favourably disposed to the principle, and the Whigs averse or frightened to offend the king. His majesty, who was at variance with his eldest son, now interposed another dif ficulty, refusing to intrust the govern ment during his absence to the prince, without joining other persons with him in the commission, and also limiting his authority by the most rigorous restric tions. Upon this point, however, he yielded at last to the representations of the ministers, who concluded a long ex position of reasons against his leaving the kingdom at all at that crisis by stating that, " upon a careful perusal of the pre cedents, finding no instance of persons being joined in commission with the Prince of Wales," in the appointment of a regency, "and few, if any, restrictions upon such commissions," they were of opinion that the constant tenor of ancient practice could not conveniently be receded from. (See the paper in Coxe, ii. 51-54.) Upon this the king submitted to give the prince the sole direction of affairs; "yet," says Coxe, quoting from the work called 'Ile Political State of Great Britain,' " he appointed him Guardian of the Realm and Lieutenant, an office unknown in England since it was enjoyed by Edward the Black Prince." In point of fact the title given to the prince it the original Latin commission was Custos Regni nostri et locum tenens, which were the same words that had been commonly used in all such commissions down to the reign of Henry VIII., with this difference only, that one of the two titles (more frequently Custos regni) was alone employed. The earliest use of the term regent appears to have been in the commission from Henry VIII. to Queen Katherine Parr, when he went over to Boulogne in 1544, in which she is stated Rectrix et Gubernatrix regni nostri. Queen"Mary, the wife of William HI., whose case is the next that occurs, seems, as already stated, to have had no commission ; and, being queen regnant in her own right, she was not even popularly styled regent.
When George I. went abroad the next time, in May, 1719, he intrusted the go vernment during his absence not to a regent, or any single person, but to thir teen lords justices, namely, the Arch bishop of Canterbury and the principal officers of state. A translation of the commission issued on this occasion, or rather, of the warrant to the attorney general to prepare the commission, hat been printed in the report of a corffmit tee of the House of Commons which sat in December, 1788, and affords us pro bably the most complete information to be found, in a printed form, on the sub ject of the present article. The commit tee state that they had found no entry of any earlier commission, except of the one issued in 1695, and that that was nearly the same with this of 1719, which appears to have been also closely followed in others subsequently issued. The com
mission begins by reciting that his ma jesty had "determined, for divers weighty reasons, speedily to go in person beyond the seas." The persons commissioned are appointed to be " our guardians and justices (Justiciarii must be the Latin term) of our said kingdom of Great Bri tain, and our lieutenants in the same, during our absence out of our said king dom, or till further signification of our pleasure ;" and they are authorized, four being made a quorum, "to execute the office and place of guardians, &c., and to order, do, and perform all and every act and acts of government and administra tion of government, and all other matters and thihgs whatsoever, which, by virtue or by reason of the aforesaid office or place, have been usual, or may be lawful ly ordered, done, or performed." Power is afterwards specially given to keep the king's peace, to cause the laws and cus toms of the kingdom to be specially ob served by all, to punish criminals and offenders, to hold the parliament then existing, and to continue, prorogue, and dissolve it, and likewise to summon and hold another parliament and other parlia ments, and the same to continue, pro rogue, and dissolve ; also to direct and grant authority to the lieutenant, or jus tices and general governors, of the king dom of Ireland for the time being, to summon, hold, prorogue, and dissolve the parliament and parliaments in the said kiugdom, and likewise to prepare and transmit the bills which may be proposed to be enacted in such parliaments, accord ing to the laws and statutes of the king dom of Ireland ; to summon and hold the Privy Council, and to appoint committees of the same ; with the advice of the Privy Council, to issue proclamations, " and to do and perform all other things which have been usually done, or may be done, by us, by or with the advice of the same ;" to appoint and authorize persons to treat with the ambassadors, commissaries, and ministers of emperors, kings, princes, re publics, or states, and to make and con chide treaties, conventions, and leagues thereupon ; to confer, rant, and present to all benefices, dignities, and ecclesias tical promotions, where the presentation is in the crown ; to issue commands, au thorities, orders, and warrants, under the privy seal or otherwise, to the treasurer, or commissioners of the treasury, and other officers, for and concerning the col lection, levying, application, payment, and disposal of the royal treasure and re venue ; to command the army ; to sup press invasions and insurrections ; to ex ecute and employ martial law in time of war, if that should happen ; in like man ner to command and employ the naval forces of the kingdom ; to appoint to and discharge from all offices at the disposal of the crown ; to grant pardons for high treason and all other crimes and offences; and, finally, to do all these things in Ire land as well as in Great Britain.
This enumeration is probably the most authentic compendium that has been pub sished of the powers of government ordi nurily exercised by the crown. It does not, however, profess to be an enumera tion of all the powers resident in the crown ; and it will be especially ob served, that (besides, perhaps, some ap pertaining to the office of supreme head of the church) the power of creating peers and conferring honours is not made over to the lords justices. That is a power which, we believe, never has been dele gated, or attempted to be delegated, if we except only the case of the patent granted by Charles L, in 1644, to Lord Herbert (better known as the Earl of Glamor gan), which, after the Restoration, he was compelled to resign by the interference of the House of Lords.