SETTLEMENT ON THE PRINCE OF WALES.
On the 23rd of June, a message was delivered from the king to the house of commons, requesting means for a separate establishment for the Prince of Wales. The young prince had now attained his twenty-first year, and was of such extravagant habits, that his profusion was the talk of the nation. He was particularly intimate with Fox, and was linked in with the coalition ministry; and the Duke of Portland suggested to his majesty that a demand should be made of a hundred thousand a-year for his maintenance. The king, however, disliked the prince’s connexion with his present ministers, and therefore, he put his decided negative upon this proposal; asserting that he could not think of burthening his people with so large a grant, and encouraging his son in his extravagant habits. Ministers had bound themselves to procure this sum for their royal friend, but were obliged to submit to the king’s will; namely, that fifty thousand a-year should be allotted by himself out of the civil list, and that parliament should merely grant sixty thousand as an outfit. A vote to this effect was carried without opposition: the young prince giving a proof of his filial duty and public spirit, by signifying his desire that the king’s wish should be consulted, and his readiness to accept whatever he might think proper in his wisdom and goodness to grant. At the same time he continued his close intimacy with Fox, and gave all the countenance he could to a ministry which his majesty abhorred.