tinue and be of force during the regency established by this act, and that warrants for their payment shall be issued from the treasury as usual. 27. Enacts that the lords of the Treasury shall direct the sum of 60,000l. annually to be issued from the civil list revenues to the keeper of his Majesty's privy purse; out of which, the said keeper shall make payments, not exceeding a sum mentioned, to such persons, and for such purposes, as has been heretofore done; and also another sum mentioned to the orderof her Majesty; and shall invest the remainder in some of the government securities in his name, in trust for his Majesty; as also the surplus of the revenues of the duchy of Lancaster. 28. Directs an oath to be taken by the keeper of the privy purse, and the person appointed to receive for her Majesty, that none of the money has been applied to the use or benefit of any member of the House of Commons, or for the purpose of procuring an interest in any place returning members of parliament. 29. Enacts a number of provisions respecting the care and management of his Majesty's personal property. 30. Gives power to the Regent, by the advice of the commissioners of the Treasury, to make grants out of the droits of the crown and admiralty, in such manner as his Majesty has been accustomed to do. Correspondence between the Regent and Mr. Perceval. The following are circulated as copies of the letters that passed between 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 it incumbent 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 ser vants. 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. This consideration alone dictates the decision now communicated to Mr. Perceval. of indispensable duty, from a just Having thus performed an act 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 estimation, be the least, that that 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 crisis, and most difficult to be reconciled to the genuine principles of the British constitution. MR. PERCEVAL'S ANSWER. Downing-street, Feb. 11, 1811. Mt. 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 have induced your Royal Highness to honour his colleagues and him with your commands for the continuance of their services, in the stations intrusted to them by the 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. regret the impression of your Mr. Perceval has never failed to 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 executive go. vernment, your Royal Highness increased by the temporary sus will not find them in any degree pension 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 night think proper to employ, would find in that full support and countenance which, as long as they Highness's commands, they would were honoured with your Royal feel confident they would continue to enjoy ample and sufficient ness effectually to maintain the means to enable your Royal Highunited kingdom. great and important interest of the that, whatever doubts your Royal And Mr. Perceval humbly trusts, Highness may entertain with respect 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 The Lords Commissioners (the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of Montrose, Earl Camden, and the Earl of Westmoreland) being seated on the woolsack, the Lord Chancellor read the following most gracious speech: My Lords and Gentlemen,-In execution of the commission which has now been read to you, we are commanded 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 important 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 direct the powers with which he is invested, to the advancement of the prosperity, 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 skill of his Majesty's forces both by sea and land. The capture of the islands of Bourbon and of Amboyna has 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 cooperation 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 per● severance of Lieutenant-General Lord Viscount 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 anxious 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. Prince Regent's Message, March 12. The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought up a message from the Prince Regent: it was read from the chair, and was in substance as follows: The Prince Regent, in the name and in the behalf of the King, thinks proper to inform the House of Commons, that the maintenance of a body of Portuguese troops in British pay had been attended with the most important effects in the conduct of the war. The Prince Regent hopes the House of Commons will enable him to continue the same for the present year, according as circumstances and the nature of the contest may require. were directed to report the same as it should appear to them, together with their observations thereon, from time to time, to the House ;-met and examined a variety of witnesses, and have agreed upon the following Report: Your Committee directed its attention to three points; First-The extent of the difficulties and embarrassments which are at present experienced by the trading part of the community: Second-The causes to which Prince Regent's Message, April 8. the same should be ascribed; and GEORGE P. R. of Third-The expediency, with a view to the present and future inThe Prince Regent, in the terests of the merchants and maname and on behalf of his Manufacturers, and of the public, of jesty, having taken into his serious any assistance being afforded by consideration the accounts which parliament. he has received of the severe distresses to which the inhabitants of a part of the kingdom of Portugal have been exposed in their persons and property, in consequence the invasion of that country, and especially from the wanton and savage barbarity exercised by the French armies, in their recent retreat, which cannot fail to affect the hearts of all persons who have any sense of religion or humanity, desires to be enabled by the House of Commons to afford the suffering subjects of his Majesty's good and faithful ally, such speedy and effectual relief as may be suitable to this interesting and afflicting G. P. R. occasion. Report from the Select Committee on the state of Commercial Credit. The Select Committee, appointed to inquire into the State of Commercial Credit; and who Your Committee found, that memorials had been presented to his Majesty's treasury towards the latter end of the last and the beginning of the present year, stating the great embarrassments and distress which were felt amongst the manufacturers in the cotton trade in Glasgow and Paisley, and their vicinity, and praying for public assistance; that the same were confirmed by the representation of a meeting held in the city of London on the 12th of February, which sent a deputation to wait upon the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with a copy of the resolutions adopted at that meeting. These resolutions your Committee have inserted in the appendix to this report. Your Committee found, by the evidence of the witnesses which they examined, that those statements and representations were founded on fact. It appeared to your Committee, |