Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

most distinguished admirals who have fought the battles that have given us the dominion of the seas) and here the Prince seated himself at the top of the table-his royal brothers and cousin seating themselves on each hand according to seniority, and all the officers of his household, not privy counsellors, ranging themselves on each side of the entrance to the saloon. The privy counsellors then proceeded, all in full dress, according to their rank-the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor the Archbishop of York, the Lord Privy Seal, &c. &c. and as they severally entered they made their reverence to the Prince, who made a grateful return to each, and they successively took their places at the table, and lastly, Mr. Fawkener and Sir Stephen Cotterell took their scats, as clerk and keeper of the records. The Prince then spoke to the following effect:

My Lords--I understand that by the act passed by the parliament appointing me Regent of the united kingdom, in the name and on behalf of his Majesty, I am required to take certain oaths, and to make a declaration before your lordships, as prescribed by the said act. I am now ready to take these oaths, and to make the declaration prescribed.

The Lord privy Seal then rose, made his reverence, approached the Regent, and read from a parchment the oaths as follows-The Prince

with an audible voice pronounced

after him :

"I do sincerely promise and swear that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to his Majesty King George,

most of my power and ability, consult and maintain the safety, honour, and dignity of his Majesty, and the welfare of his people. So help me God."

The prince then subscribed the two oaths. The Lord President then presented to his royal highness the declaration mentioned in an act made in the 30th year of King Charles II. intitled, "An act for the more effec tual preserving the king's person and government, by disabling papists from sitting in either house of parliament," and which declaration his royal highness audibly made, repeated, and subscribed. The Lord President signed first, and every one of the privy counsellors in succession, signed these instruments as witnesses, and the same were delivered into the hand of the keeper of the records.

The Prince then delivered to the president of the council a certificate of his having received the sacrament of the Lord's Supper at the chapel royal of St. James, on Sunday, the 27th of January ult. which was also countersigned and delivered to the keeper of the records, who deposited all these instruments in a box at the bottom of the table.-The lord president then approached the Regent, bent the knee, and had the honour followed, and afterwards the Archto kiss his hand. The royal dukes bishop of Canterbury, and all the rest according to the order in which

they sat at the long table, advancing to the chair on both sides. During the whole ceremony the Prince Regent maintained the most dignified and graceful deportment.

The So help me God."

"I do solemnly promise and swear, that I will truly and faithfully execute the office of Regent of the united kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, according to an act of parliament passed in the 51st year of the reign of his Majesty King George the Third (intitled, an Act, &c.) and that I will administer, according to law, the power and authority vested in me by virtue of the said act; and that I will in all things, to the ut

ceremony being closed, a short levee took place in the drawing-room, when his royal highness addressed himself to the circle; and afterwards he gave an audience of a few minutes to Mr. Perceval, who had the honour again of kissing his hand, as first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer.

His royal highness gave private audiences also to the Archbishop of

Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, Earls Camden, Westmoreland, Liverpool, Bathurst, and Derby, the Marquis Wellesley, Lords Mulgrave, Palmerston, and Gwydir, Sir D. Dundas, Messrs. Ryder and M. Sutton.-The latter laid before his royal highness the proceedings of some courts martial, and took his royal highness's commands upon the same.

This consideration ALONE dictates the decision now communicated to Mr. Perceval.

Having thus performed an act of indispensable duty, from a just sense of what is due to his own consistency and honour, the Prince has only to add, that, among the many blessings to be derived from his Majesty's restoration to health, and to the personal exercise of his royal functions, it will not, in the Prince's

THE PRINCE REGENT AND MR. estimation, be the least, that that

[merged small][ocr errors]

Copies of the letters that passed be tween his Royal Highness the Regent and Mr. Perceval, on the annunciation of his Royal Highness's determination to retain the present

ministers in his service.

THE REGENT'S LETTER. Carlton House, Feb. 4, 1811. The Prince of Wales considers the moment to be arrived, which calls for his decision, with respect to the persons to be employed by him, in the administration of the executive government of the country, according to the powers vested in him by the bill passed by the two houses of parliament, and now on the point of receiving the sanction of the great seal. The Prince feels itincumbent upon him, at this precise juncture, to communicate to Mr. Perceval his intention not to remove from their stations those whom he finds there, as his Majesty's official servants. At the same time the Prince owes it to the truth and sincerity of character, which, he trusts, will appear in every action of his life, in whatever situation placed, explicitly to declare, that the irresistible impulse of filial duty and affection to his beloved and afflicted father, leads him to dread that any act of the Regent might in the smallest degree, have the effect of interfering with the progress of his Sovereign's recovery.

most fortunate event will at once rescue him from a situation of unexampled embarrassment, and put an end to a state of affairs, ill calculated, he fears to sustain the interests of the united kingdom, in this awful and perilous caled to the genuine principles of the crisis, and most difficult to be recon

British constitution.

MR. PERCEVAL'S ANSWER.

Downing-street, Feb. 5, 1811. Mr. Perceval presents his humble duty to your royal highness, and has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your royal highness's letter of last night, which reached him this morning.

Mr. Perceval feels it his duty to express his humble thanks to your royal highness for the frankness with which your royal highness has condescended explicitly to communicate the motives which induced your royal highness to honour his colleagues and him with your commands for the continuance of their services, in the stations entrusted to them by the King. King. And Mr. Perceval begs leave to assure your royal highness, that in the expression of your royal highness's sentiments of filial and loyal attachment to the King, and of anxiety for the restoration of his Majesty's health, Mr. Perceval can see nothing but additional motives for their most anxious exertions to give satisfaction to your royal highness, in the only manner in which it can be given, by endeavouring to promote

your royal highness's views for the security and happiness of the country. Mr. Perceval has never failed to regret the impression of your royal highness, with regard to the provisions of the regency bill, which his Majesty's servants felt it to be their duty to recommend to parliament. But, he ventures to submit to your royal highness, that, whatever difficulties the present awful crisis of the country and the world may create in the administration of the executive government, your royal highness will not find them, in any degree in creased by the temporary suspension of the exercise of those branches of the royal prerogatives, which has been introduced by parliament, in conformity to what was intended on a former similar occasion; and that whatever ministers your royal highness might think proper to employ would find in that full support and countenance which, as long as they were honoured with your royal highness's commands, they would feel, confident they would continue to enjoy ample and sufficient means to enable your royal highness effectually to maintain the great and important interest of the united kingdom.

respect

And Mr. Perceval humbly trusts, that, whatever doubts your royal highness may entertain with to the constitutional propriety of the measures which have been adopted, your royal highness will feel assured that they could not have been recommended by his Majesty's servants, nor sanctioned by parliament, but upon the sincere, though possibly erroneous conviction, that they in no degree, trenched upon the true principle and spirit of the constitution.

Mr. Perceval feels it his duty to add, that he holds himself in readiness, at any moment, to wait upon your royal highness, and to receive any commands with which your royal highness may be graciously pleased to honour him.

SPEECH

DELIVERED IN THE NAME OF THE

PRINCE REGENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.

Tuesday, Feb. 12.

The Lord Chancellor informed their Lordships that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, not finding it convenient to attend personally, a commission had been ordered by his Royal Highness to pass in his Majesty's name, declaring the purposes for which their further attendance in parliament was desired. The house. adjourned for a short time in order to robe, and, on its resumption, the commission was read, running in his Majesty's name, but signed for and in behalf of his Majesty by the Prince Regent, before both houses, the Commons being in attendance. below the bar.

After which the

Lord Chancellor read from the wool

sack the following speech in the name of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent:

My Lords and Gentlemen,

In execution of the commission which has now been read to you, we are com manded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to express, in the strongest manner, how deeply he laments, not only in common with all his Majesty's loyal subjects, but with a personal and filial affliction, the great national calamity which has been the occasion of imposing upon his Royal Highness the duty of exercising, in his Majesty's name, the royal authority of this kingdom.

In conveying to you the sense which his Royal Highness entertains of the great difficulties attending the impor tant trust which is reposed in him, his

Royal Highness commands us to assure you, that he looks with the most perfect confidence to the wisdom and zeal of parliament, and to the attachment of a loyal and affectionate people, for the most effectual assistance and support; and his Royal Highness will, on his part, exert his utmost endeavours to vested to the advancement of the prosdirect the powers with which he is inperity, welfare, and security of his Majesty's dominions.

We are directed to inform you, that his Royal Highness has great satisfaction in being enabled to state, that fresh opportunities have been afforded during the late campaign, for distinguishing the valour and the skill of his Majesty's forces both by sea and land.

The capture of the islands of Bourbon and Amboyna have still further reduced the colonial dependencies of the

enemy.

The attack upon the island of Sicily, which was announced to the world with a presumptuous anticipation of success, has been repulsed by the persevering exertions and valour of his Majesty's land and sea forces.

The judicious arrangement adopted by the officers commanding on that station, derived material support from the zeal and ardour which were manifested during this contest by the inhabitants of Sicily, and from the co-operation of the naval means which were directed by his Sicilian Majesty to this object.

In Portugal and at Cadiz, the defence of which constituted the principal object of his Majesty's exertions in the last campaign, the designs of the enemy have been hitherto frustrated. The consummate skill, prudence, and perseverance of Lieut. Gen. Viscount Lord Wellington, and the discipline and determined bravery of the officers and men under his command, have been conspicuously displayed throughout the whole of the campaign. The effect of those distinguished qualities, in inspiring confidence and energy into the troops of his Majesty's allies, has been happily evinced by their general good conduct, and particularly by the brilliant part which they bore in the repulse of the enemy at Buzaco. And his Royal Highness commands us further to state, that he trusts you will enable him to continue the most effectual assistance to the brave nations of the Peninsula, in the support of a contest which they manifest a determination to maintain with unabated perseverance; and his Royal Highness is persuaded that you will feel that the best interests of the British empire must be deeply affected in the issue of this contest, on which the liberties and independence of the Spanish and Portuguese nations entirely depend.

We have it likewise in command to acquaint you, that discussions are now depending between this country and the United States of America; and that it

is the earnest wish of his Royal Highness that he may find himself enabled to bring these discussions to an amicable termination, consistent with the honour of his Majesty's crown, and the maritime rights and interests of the United Kingdom.

Gentlemen of the House of Commons, We are directed to acquaint you, that his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has given his commands that the estimates for the expenditure of the current year should be laid before you; and his Royal Highness has great satisfaction in acquainting you, that although the difficulties under which the commerce of this kingdom has laboured, have in some degree affected a part of his Majesty's revenue, particularly in Ireland, yet that the revenue of Great Britain in the last year, though unaided by any new taxation, is greater than was ever known in any preceding year. And his royal highness trusts to your zeal and liberality to afford his Majesty adequate supplies for the support of the great contest in which he is necessarily engaged.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

We are commanded by his royal highness to declare to you, that it is the most auxious wish of his heart, that he may be enabled to restore unimpaired into the hands of his Majesty the government of his kingdom; and that his royal highness earnestly prays, that the Almighty may be pleased in his mercy to accelerate the termination of a calamity so deeply lamented by the whole nation, and so peculiarly afflicting to his royal highness himself.

PROTEST.

AGAINST THE REJECTION OF LORD KING'S MOTION FOR OMITTING THE NAME OF 66 JOHN LORD ELDON," AS ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S COUNCIL.

DISSENTIENT,

First, because it is of the highest importance, that in the appointment of her Majesty's council the public should have every security, which previous conduct can afford, that the persons composing the same will not act under any undue bias, but that whilst they follow the course prescribed to them by their duty, for restoring his Majesty to the public exercise of his royal functions, whenever he shall be in a capacity to resume them, they will neither expose his Ma

jesty to the danger of a too early pressure of business, nor concur in representing his Majesty as qualified to act in his high office, before his recovery shall be complete.

Secondly Because it appears by the evidence of Dr. Heberden, taken on oath before a committee of this house, "that he was first called upon to attend "his Majesty on the twelfth of February 1804; that he believed his Majesty "presided at council on the twenty"third of April following; and that he "should consider the interval between "those periods as constituting the dura"tion of his Majesty's disease at that "time." Yet nevertheless it appears from the journals of this house that between the two days above mentioned, John Lord Eldon, being then Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, did, on the fifth of March, 1804, receive, and in his Majesty's name signify his Majesty's consent to a bill, entituled, "An act "to enable his Majesty to grant the in"heritance in fee simple of certain manors, messuages, lands, and hereditaments, in the parishes of Byfleet, "Weybridge, Wallin, Wallinleigh, and "Chertsey, in the county of Surrey, to "his royal highness Frederick Duke of "York and Albany, for a valuable con"sideration ;" and that he did also put the great seal to a commission dated 9th of March, by virtue of which fifteen bills received the royal assent; as well as to a commission dated March 23d, under which seventeen other bills received the royal assent; although his Majesty was, at that time, as appears by the evidence above recited, afflicted by a malady of the same nature and character with that which has now occasioned a suspension of the regul functions!

Thirdly because it further appears from the same evidence," that after "the period when his Majesty was so "far recovered as to be able to transact "business at any period of any day, he "still retained such marks of indisposi"tion about him as made it expedient "that some one of his physicians should "be about his person for some months "afterwards; and that Dr. Heberden

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

his Majesty was perfectly recovered, his Majesty not only continued in a state which required medical guidance, but that both Dr: Simmons and his assistants were still in attendance on, and possessed a controul over his Majesty; yet, that nevertheless, while his Majesty was still subject to such personal controul, the said John Lord Eidon, as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, did receive his Majesty's pleasure on divers important matters of his Majesty's regal government, and did, in virtue of his said office, perform various public acts requiring the sanction of the King's au. thority.

Fourthly: Because John Lord Eldon having so conducted himself, is not, in our own judgment, a person to whom the sacred trust of acting as one of her Majesty's council in the care of his Majesty's person, and in the discharge of the other most important duties, by this act committed to the said council, can with propriety or safety be committed.

[blocks in formation]

TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES, REGENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

The dutiful and loyal address of the lord mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city of London, in common council assembled.

May it please your Royal Highness, We, the lord mayor, aldermen, and commons of the city of London, in common council assembled, most humbly approach your royal highness with the warmest assurances of affectionate attachment to your royal person, and unshaken adherence to those sacred principles which seated your family upon the throne of this realm; fully convinced that those principles afford the best security to the honour and dignity of the sovereign, and the rights and interests of the people.

H

« VorigeDoorgaan »