A Regency inevitable — Prince of Wales waited on — He undertakes the Regency — French and English prisoners of war — Roman Catholic soldiers — Roughness of manners — Passing of Regency Bill — The Prince's companions — Inauguration of the Prince as Regent — Improvement in the health of the King.
All the year the Lords and Commons had been incubating a Regency, and matters were so far advanced, that on the 8th of January, the House of Commons received a message from the Lords that they had "ordered the Lord President, and the Lord Privy Seal to attend his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales with the several Resolutions agreed to by the Lords and Commons, for the purpose of supplying the defect of the personal exercise of the royal authority during his Majesty's illness, on the part of their lordships, and desired that that House would appoint a proportionate number of their members to go with them. Also that they had ordered Earl Harcourt, and Earl Morton, to attend her Majesty with the Resolution and Address agreed to by the Lords and Commons respecting the care of his Majesty's royal person, and the direction of such part of his Majesty's household as may be requisite for the comfort of his Majesty, and for the maintenance of the Royal dignity; and desired that the House would appoint a proportionate number of their members to go with them."
The Commons chose, as under, to go with the Lords to wait upon the Prince of Wales:—The Chancellor of the Exchequer (the Right Hon. Spencer Perceval), the Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Right Hon. Richard Ryder), the President of the Board of Control for the affairs of India (the Right Hon. Robert Saunders Dundas, afterwards Lord Melville), and Sir William Grant, the Master of the Rolls; whilst the members chosen to wait upon the Queen were Lord John Thynne, Lord Palmerston (Secretary at War), Lord Clive and Colonel Desbrowe.
On the 11th of January these two deputations went in great state, the one to the Prince, the other to the Queen. The Prince received them in the grand drawing room of Carlton House, standing with his Chancellor, William Adam, Esq., and Earl Moira on his right hand, the Duke of Cumberland and Mr. Sheridan on his left; whilst behind him were four Officers of his household, Mr. Tyrwhitt, Colonel M'Mahon, General Bloomfield, and General Turner.
The Lord President, as chief of the deputation, then read a paper, informing the Prince that "they were a Committee appointed to attend his Royal Highness with the resolutions which had been agreed to by the Lords and Commons, for the purpose of supplying the defect of the personal exercise of the royal authority, during his Majesty's illness, by empowering his Royal Highness to exercise that authority in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, subject to such limitations and restrictions as shall be provided.
"And that they were directed to express the hope which the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons entertain, that his Royal Highness, from his regard to the interests of his Majesty, will be ready to undertake the weighty and important trust proposed to be invested in his Royal Highness, as soon as an Act of Parliament shall have been passed for carrying the said resolutions into effect."
The Lord President first read and then delivered to the Prince the Resolutions, and he replied:—
"My Lords and Gentlemen,
"I receive the communication which the two Houses have directed you to make to me of their joint Resolutions, on the subject of providing for 'the exercise of the Royal Authority during his Majesty's illness,' with those sentiments of regard which I must ever entertain for the united desires of the two Houses.
"With the same sentiments I receive the expressed hopes of the Lords and Commons, that from my regard for the interest of his Majesty and the Nation, I should be ready to undertake the weighty and important trust proposed to be invested in me, under the Restrictions and Limitations stated in those Resolutions.