S4] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



The Prince Regent'' s Message to both Houses of Parliament respecting 



the Royal Marriages. 



ON April 13th the Prince 

 Regent sent a message to 

 both Houses of Parliament, of 

 which the following was commu- 

 nicated to the House of Commons 

 by Lord Castlereagh. 

 " George P. R. 



" The Prince Regent, acting 

 in the name and on the behalf of 

 his Majesty, thinks it right to in- 

 form the House of Commons, that 

 treaties of marriage are in nego- 

 tiation between his royal highness 

 the duke of Clarence and the 

 princess of Saxe Meiningen, 

 eldest daughter of the late reign- 

 ing duke of Saxe Meiningen ; 

 and also betweei\ his royal high- 

 ness the duke of Cambridge and 

 the princess of Hesse, youngest 

 daughter of the landgrave Fre- 

 derick, and niece of the elector 

 of Hesse. 



" After the afflicting calamity 

 which the Prince Regent and 

 the nation have sustained in the 

 loss of his Royal Highness's be- 

 loved and only child, the princess 

 Charlotte, his Royal Highness is 

 fully persuaded that the House 

 of Commons will feel how essen- 

 tial it is to the best interests of 

 the country that his Royal High- 

 ness should be enabled to make a 

 suitable provisic n for such of his 

 royal brothers as shall have con- 

 tracted marriage with the consent 

 of the Crown : and his Royal 



Highness has received so many 

 proofs of the affectionate attach- 

 ment of this House to his Majes- 

 ty's person and family, as leave 

 him no room to doubt of the con- 

 currence and assistance of this 

 House in enabling him to make 

 the necessai-y arrangements for 

 this important purpose.'* 



The message having been read 

 from tlie chair. Lord Castlereagh 

 said, that conformably to prece- 

 dent in former cases, he should 

 move that the message be referred 

 for consideration to a committee 

 of the House to-morrow. He 

 should abstain from any proceed- 

 ing which might have the appear- 

 ance of pledging the House to 

 an express line of conduct, and 

 should merely move, " That an 

 humble address be presented, &c. 

 [Here follows an address to the 

 Prince Regent, exactly copied 

 from his message to the House.] 



Mr. Tierney remarked that he 

 could have no objection to agree 

 to the proposition of the noble 

 lord. Not having been one of* 

 those favoured members who had 

 the advantage of hearing the 

 noble lord's views with respect 

 to the sums which ought to be 

 asked from the House, of course 

 he could at present form no opi- 

 nion on the subject. He could 

 not help thinking it was not very 

 respectful to the House to sum- 

 mon 



