84] ANNUAL REGISTER, ISUi. 



on an extended basis. It was wor- 

 thy of notice, though not directly 

 connected with this topic, that, 

 advertin<;f to aa obseivatiou made 

 by Mr. Whitbiead, his lordship, 

 at this period, totally disclaimed 

 any knowledge whatever that this 

 country was on the eve of a war 

 with America. 



On May ^Oth Mr. Martin of 

 Galway announced his intention 

 of moving on the next VVednesda)', 

 if something were not done to pre- 

 vent it, an address to the Prince 

 Regent, beseeching him to carry 

 into effect without delay, his gra- 

 cious declaration in answer to the 

 address of the House of Commons. 



On June 1st Mr. Canning rose 

 for the purpose of apprizing the 

 last hon. member and Mr. Wort- 

 ley, that he had on that day re- 

 oeived an intimation from a noble 

 friend of his in the other house, 

 that upon the morning of that day, 

 the Prince Regent had given direc- 

 tions to him (the Marquis of 

 Wellesley) to proceed forthwith in 

 taking such measures as appeared 

 to him best calculated to form a 

 strong and efficient administra- 

 tion. 



Mr. Wortley then, in conse- 

 quence of some statements which 

 had appeared in the newspapers, 

 put the following questions to Mr. 

 Ponsonby: 1. Whether any per- 

 son, up to this morning, did make 

 any proposition to the riglit hon. 

 gentleman, or to any of his right 

 hon. friends, to form part of an 

 administration; and did they give 

 a refusal on personal grounds, or 

 on what other grounds .'' 2. Whether 

 in what had passed in those proposi- 

 tions, if any were made, his friends 

 insisted on any, and what con- 

 ditions.'"' Mr. Ponsonby answered 



the first question absolutely in thtf 

 negative; the second fell of 

 course. 



On Monday, June 3id, the mat- 

 ter was taUen up in the House 

 of Lords, after a motion for ad- 

 journment from the Earl of Liver- 

 pool. The Duke of Norfolk 

 begged previously to ask of the 

 Earl if he was only a temporary 

 minister until a successor was 

 appointed. The Earl replied that 

 he was in the same situation he 

 held on Friday se'nnight, in which 

 he continued only till the Prince 

 Regent should be pleased to sig- 

 nify his pleasure as to any future 

 arrangement. 



The Marquis W^ellesley then 

 rose and informed the house that 

 the Prince Regent had been pleased 

 to require his opinion with a view 

 to the formation of an administra- 

 tion, and that he had stated this 

 opinion with the freedom wiiich 

 his duty demanded ; further, that 

 he had this day tendered to his 

 royal iiighness his resignation of 

 the authority thus vested in him, 

 which had been accepted. He 

 then lamented, that the most 

 dreadful personal animosities, and 

 the most terrible difficulties arising 

 out of questions the most compli- 

 cated and important, should have 

 interposed obstacles to an arrange- 

 ment so essential to the public 

 welfare. He had desired and ob- 

 tained his royal highness's per- 

 mission to state to the house all 

 the circumstances of this transac- 

 tion in which he had any share, 

 but at the same time his advice 

 was that such disclosure should not 

 be called for, under the conviction 

 that at the present crisis it would be 

 highly mischievous. Earl Stan- 

 hope thought it was the duty of 



their 



