245 
LON 
the maintenance of lire royal dignity, and the full power 
of noi mating to all vacancies of officers of his houfe- 
liold, with the except. 1 of the lord-chamberlain, the 
gentlemen and grooms of the bed-chamber, the equerries, 
the captain of the yeomen of the guards, and the captain 
of the band of gentlemen penfiotiers. Her majelty to be 
affifted by a council, the members of which are named in 
the bill; and, in cafe of their death or refignation. She has 
authority to nominate others from among the members of 
the privy-council. 
Some provifions were made, at the fame time, for the 
eventual cafe of his majefty’s being re ft o red to mental 
health and power; but this was placed entirely in the 
hands of the queen and her council, no public body be¬ 
ing in veiled with a power-of enquiring into the faff of 
liis recovery. As an examination by both hotifes of par¬ 
liament preceded the declaration of the king’s incapacity, 
it may feem incongruous that the very momentous cir- 
ctimflance of reftoring him to his high functions fhould 
be decided upon by a kind of fecret junta ; and, although 
tile characters of its members in the prefent inftance pre¬ 
cluded all fufpicion of collufion, yet it may perhaps be 
widled that fuch a precedent had not been eftabliflied for 
future times. 
The feelings of the regent on his acceffion to power 
were foon made known in a way the nation had not been 
prepared to expect. It was announced that the prefent 
minilters were to be continued in office. As the reftric- 
tions impofed upon him, though fome diminution of his 
influence, by no means prevented him from effectually fup- 
porting an adminiffration of his own choice, it was ob¬ 
vious that fome other caufe had produced this unexpected 
determination. And it cannot be doubted that the ex¬ 
pected fhort term of the regency operated as well to dif- 
incline the prince to the delicate and fomewhat-invidious 
tafk of marking out the members of a new miniltry, as to 
render the perlons themfelves who poflefTed his confidence 
unwilling to come forward and take upon them, at fuch 
a critical period, the burthen and refpoufibility of offices 
which they were likely to hold for fo fhort a time. In a 
letter hich has been made public, as that by which his 
royal highnef's appriled Mr. Perceval of his intention not 
to remove from their fixations thofe whom he found in 
them as his majelty’s official fervants, he explicitly de¬ 
clares, “ that the irrefiltible impulfe of filial duty and af- 
feftion to his beloved and afflicted father leads him to 
dread that any aft of the regent might, in the fmalleft de¬ 
gree, have the effect of interfering with the progrefs of 
liis Sovereign's recovery ; and that this confideration alone 
dictates the decifion now communicated to Mr. Perceval.” 
Thar his royal'highnefs really regarded his fituation as 
that of the ceremonial rather than the efficient head of 
the ftate, was apparently indicated by his declining to 
open the parliament in perfon ; and delivering by com¬ 
mission, on Feb. iz, a fpeech in no refpeft different (ex¬ 
cept in as far as it touched upon the circumftance of the 
regency) from that which the ministry would have dic¬ 
tated had the king ftill been fitting on the throne. The 
cuttomary addrefies, in echo to the fpeech, vveie moved in 
both houfes, objected to, commented upon, defended, and 
then patted nem. dijf. 
An addrefs, however, of a very different complexion, 
from the lord-mayor, aldermen, and commons, of the city 
of London, was prefented to the regent on the 24th of 
February. It was, in fact, a ffrong remonflranee, respect¬ 
ing the infult lately received by the corporation of Lon¬ 
don, through the ministers of the crown ; the grievances 
and diftrtfies undergone by the country in-general; the 
criminal deception praftifed by minifters in carrying on 
the government by the royal authority duiing his majefty’s 
incapacity; the restrictions laid qpon liis royal highnels 
by the regency-bill ; and the defefts of the representa¬ 
tion in parliament. The regent’s anfwer was guarded 
and general: the feelings fuggefted by his fituation were 
however expreffed, where he affured the addreffers, that 
Vol. XIII. No. 903. 
D O N. 
“the happiefl moment of his life would be when by the 
blefiing of Providence he fhould be called upon to refign 
the powers now delegated to him, into the hands of liis' 
beloved and revered father and fovereigu.” 
Another proof of the manner in which the regent viewed 
the temporary.authority with which he was invetted, was 
afforded in a communication made to the houfe of com¬ 
mons, Feb. 21, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hating, 
that his royal highnefs, on being informed that-a motion 
was intended to be made for fome' provifion for the re¬ 
gent’s houfehold, declared that he would not-, for his own 
perfonal magnificence, add another burthen to thofe al¬ 
ready impofed on the nation. The faft was further ex¬ 
plained by Mr. Adam, who (aid, that the regent put into 
his hands the letter from Mr. Perceval, mentioning the 
intended provifion, accompanying it with written instruc¬ 
tions, that, fhould any proportion for an ettablifhment, or 
a .grant from the privy purfe, be made to the houfe, he 
fhould inform that affembly, that his R. H. declined it ; 
and that, duiing a temporary regency, he would not accept 
that which ought to belong to the crown. 
The commercial diftreffes of the nation began to be fo 
fenfibly fell', that the attention of government was necef- 
faril-y drawn to them ; and, on the iff of March, the Chan¬ 
cellor of the Exchequer moved for a committee to con¬ 
sider the prefent ftate of commercial credit. He laid that 
various applications had for fome time been made to him 
on the fubjeft, which at firfl: did not feem to demand Se¬ 
rious attention ; but that of late they had become fo nu¬ 
merous, and were fupported by fuch authorities, that he 
thought it expedient to bring the matter before the houfe. 
He accordingly propofed the appointment of a committee 
of twenty-one members, which was then nominated, and 
comprifed the individuals moll distinguished for commer¬ 
cial knowledge, taken indifferently from both fides of the 
lioufe. On the 7th of March, the firit report of the com¬ 
mittee was brought up. Ie began with dating three points 
to which they had thought proper to direct their atten¬ 
tion : — iff, the extent of the difficulties and embarrafT- 
ments at prefent experienced by the trading part of the 
community ; adly, the caufes to which the fame might 
he aferibed ; 3ftly, the expediency, with a view to the pre- 
fent and future interefts of the merchants and manufac¬ 
turers, of affording any afliftance by parliament. The 
committee then refer to memorials prefented to the trea- 
ftiry-board from the cotton-manufafturers of Glafgovv 
and Paifley, and to the reprefentation of a meeting held 
in London on the 12th of February ; the Statements of 
which they had found, upon the examination of evidence, 
to be founded on faft ; and whence they drew the eon- 
cluficn, that the principal part of the dittre-fs complained 
of had arifen out of great and extenfive fpeculations, 
which commenced upon the opening of the South-Ame- 
rican markets in the Brafils and elf'ewhere. (See p. 164, 
170.) The committee alfo found that great diltrefs oc¬ 
curred in a quarter much connefted with this trade, viz. 
among the importers of produce from the foreign Welt- 
India Blands, and from South America ; a great propor¬ 
tion of the returns for the manufaftures exported to thofe 
parts of the world coming home in Sugars and coffee, 
which not being entitled to Sale in the home-market, there 
were no immediate means of realizing their value. An¬ 
other caufe which might he considered as connefted with 
and aggravating the exiiiing diltrefs, vvas the extent to 
which the fyftem of warehouiing the goods of foreigners, 
as well as of native merchants, for exportation, had been 
carried. Upon the w hole, the committee ft ate d, “ that the 
embarraffments at prefent experienced are of an extenfive 
nature; and that, though many circumftances create a 
great difference between the prefent period and that of 
3793, yet that the d iff refs is of fuch a nature as to render par¬ 
liamentary relief highly expedient and neceffary, and likely 
to be productive of extenfive and important benefit; and, 
having coniidered the happy effect-of the relief afforded 
in 1793, they recommend fimilar provifions to be adopted 
5 & in 
