would he not either have expressed his disbelief of the assertion in the strongest terms, or, if he had given it belief, would he not have pro totally unfit for his situation, and guilty of one of the most daring and grossest breaches of the constitution?-Yet, when it was actually proved that all this had been done, there were men found bold enough to maintain that it was perfectly justifiable, and to shelter this violation of the constitution under the convenient and most accommodating plea of necessity. the years 1801 and 1804, and upon which facts | in the name of the king, when the king could he grounded certain resolutions, which, although not legally or constitutionally act for himself, his statements were not and could not be con- and even to put his name to acts of parliament troverted, were nevertheless rejected. One of or other acts of the executive power, at a time the king's maladies began about the 12th of when his name would not be recognised in any February, 1801, and lasted until the beginning court of law as the name of a person competent of March, yet during this time though the so-to the performance of the most trifling act,— vereign was under the care and control of his physicians, councils were held, members were sworn, war was declared (by acts, if not regularly and officially,) against Sweden, and ex-nounced the minister so conducting himself, as peditions were sent out with as much activity as if the king were perfectly, well, and competent to the full exercise of the royal authority and prerogatives. By the testimony of the bulletins, as well as by the evidence of the physicians, it was proved, that in the month of June of the same year his majesty suffered a relapse, yet all went on as usual; and the public could not possibly have divined that one branch of the British constitution was to all intents and purposes defunct. During the royal malady in the year 1804 the case was still more flagrant, and the proceedings and conduct of ministers more unconstitutional, and daringly criminal. From the 10th of February to the 3d of April in that year, according to the decisive and unquestioned evidence of Dr. Heberden, his majesty was again disordered; yet during this period of mental malady a commission for giving the royal assent to fifteen bills was issued; and other acts which, by the constitution, required the personal exercise of the royal authority were performed. Upon the strength of these facts, earl Grey moved, that the name of John Lord Eldon should be struck out from the list of the queen's council. On this curious and highly interesting subject we shall offer only one remark :-Had any one, previous to the statement of earl Grey, been told that any British minister had dared to act The regency bill now became the great question of parliamentary discussion, and the restrictions which were to be imposed upon the regent formed the principal ground of the opposition, which was made to it. We shall not enter into a detail of the arguments which were used in support of, and against the restrictions, but it was immediately concluded by the opposition, that the regent could not consistently keep those persons as his ministers, who had clogged his government with so many severe restrictions, and this conviction was so firmly rooted, that they had actually begun to appoint each other to the different offices of the cabinet. They were, however, not sufficiently grounded in the character of the regent, nor did they consider that his royal highness could pass a more severe censure upon his afflicted father, than by an immediate removal of those ministers in whom his father had reposed the most unlimited confidence. The hopes of his majesty's recovery were still sanguine, and the physicians were decidedly of opinion, that the malady | functions, it will not, in the prince's estimation, be the would be only temporary. Under these cir- least, that that most fortunate event will at once rescue cumstances it would have been a gross violation him from a situation of unexampled embarrassment, and of every honourable and tender feeling towards put an end to a state of affairs ill calculated, he fears, to sustain the interest of the united kingdom, in this awful his majesty, were the regent to have instituted and perilous crisis, and most difficult to be reconciled to those changes, which on the supposed recovery the genuine principles of the British constitution. of his majesty, could not but sensibly affect him. The prince, therefore, in all his actions, had the wishes of his father before him, and he was constantly guided by the principle by which his father would have acted, had his faculties been spared him. The regent, therefore, determined to retain his father's ministers, and informed Mr. Perceval of it in the following letter, which is not less creditable to him in the relation of a son, than it is in that of the regent: Carlton-house, February 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 ceremonial of the regency took place on the 5th of February, 1811, at Carlton-house, with great pomp and courtly etiquette. The following was the oath which his royal highness took; "I do solemnly promise and swear, that I will be faithful, and bear true allegiance to his majesty king George:" after which another oath was administered to him, by which he swore to execute the high office of regent, and to administer according to law, the power and authority vested in him. Although the political measures of the regent excited the general attention of the country, still it was by no means diverted from the afflicted monarch, for whose recovery the most ardent prayers were directed to Heaven. The hopes of the people were constantly kept alive by the reports of his majesty's council, which were published quarterly, of the state of his majesty's health: the first of which appeared on the 6th of April, and was as fol lows: 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 servants. 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 reco-rity, and for the care of his majesty's royal person during very. This conclusion ALONE dictates the decision now communicated to Mr. Perceval. Having thus performed an act of indispensible duty, from a just 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 We the members of the council, here present, appointed to assist her majesty in the execution of the trust committed to her majesty by virtue of the statute passed in the 51st year of his majesty's reign, entitled, "An act to provide for the administration of the royal autho the continuance of his majesty's illness, and for the resumption of the exercise of the royaí authority by his majesty;" having called before us, and examined on oath, the physicians and other persons attendant on his majesty, and having ascertained the state of his majesty's health by such other ways and means as appear to us to be necessary for that purpose, do hereby declare the state of 684 his majesty's health, at the time of this our meeting, as official papers when the public are not to be made acquainted with the real state of the business. follows: That the indisposition with which his majesty was afflicted at the time of the passing of the said act, does still so far exist, that his majesty is not yet restored to such a state of health as to be capable of resuming the personal exercise of his royal authority. That his majesty appears to have made material proThat his majesty appears to have made material progress towards recovery since the passing of the act; and that all his majesty's physicians continue to express their expectations of such recovery. We give the report of the 6th July in full : WE the under-written, members of the council apcommitted to her majesty, by virtue of the statute, passed pointed to assist her majesty in the execution of the trusts in the 51st year of his majesty's reign, entitled "An act to provide for the administration of the royal authority, and for the care of his majesty's royal person, during the continuance of his majesty's illness, and for the resumption of the exercise of the royal authority by his majesty,” having duly met together, on the 6th day of July 1811, at the Queen's-Lodge, near to Windsor-Castle, and having called before us, and examined upon oath, the physicians and other persons attendant upon his majesty, and having ascertained the state of his majesty's health by all such other ways and means as appeared to us to be necessary for that purpose, do hereby declare and certify, that the state of his majesty's health, at the time of this our meet personal exercise of his royal functions. That his majesty's bodily health is but little disordered. His That, in consequence of an accession of mental disorder, subsequent to our report of the 6th April last, a change took place in the system of management which had been previously adopted for his majesty's cure. majesty's health is represented to us by all the physicians as certainly improved since the 6th of April. We are unable, however, to ascertain what would be the effects of Thus did a loyal people anxiously look forward to the period when his majesty's recovery would be publicly announced. The official report, however, which appeared on the 6th of July, was by no means of that favourable nature which the people had reason to expect, and ing, is not such as to enable his majesty to resume the indeed it contains as gross a contradiction as can be met with in any official paper that was ever published. In the report of the 6th of April, it states that all the physicians expressed their expectations of his majesty's recovery. In the report of the 6th of July it is stated, "that his majesty's mental health is certainly improved since April the 6th;" and in the subsequent passage we read, that "some of his majesty's physicians do not entertain hopes of his majesty's recovery quite so confident as those which they had expressed on the 6th of April." In their report of the 6th of July, the public were informed that the mental health of his majesty was improved, and yet the physicians' hopes were not so confident of his recovery as when his malady was more virulent on the 6th when his malady was more virulent on the 6th of April. We know not how to reconcile this contradiction, and can only attribute it to that confusion which is purposely introduced into an immediate recurrence to any system of management, which should admit of as free an approach to his majesty's presence as was allowed in a former period of his majesty's indisposition. Some of his majesty's physicians do not entertain hopes of his majesty's recovery quite so confident as those which they had expressed on the 6th of April. The persuasion of others of his majesty's physicians, that his majesty will completely recover, is not diminished; and they all appear to agree, that there is a considerable probability of his majesty's final recovery; and that neither his majesty's bodily health, nor his present symptoms, nor the effect which the disease has yet produced upon his ma jesty's faculties, afford any reason for thinking that his [ments, in Windsor-Castle, and in the still deeper majesty will not ultimately recover. solitude of his blindness, Presented with a universal blank of Nature's works, he was surrounded only by kind and faithful attendants, who administered every comfort to his situation, whilst they exercised that unvaried reserve upon all important subjects, which was necessary to preserve the repose of their afflicted monarch. If the late partner of his throne visited him in his affliction, and the mournful duty of those visits was never neglected, it was not to speak the language of affectionate kindness, but to gaze in silence upon his sorrows, and to see, that as far as the care and skill of man could relieve them, they were soothed and mitigated. In the hour of national foreboding, when the success of military ambition seemed almost complete, the stedfast heart of the patriot king was aroused not by his people's fears; in the glorious day of triumph, when every foe lay prostrate at the feet of England, and the struggles of twenty years were at length repaid, the pious king, whose prayer had ever been uplifted for his people's safety, joined not in the hymn of thanksgiving, and bowed not before that power from which alone he had looked for succour. In the periods of domestic happiness, or domestic misery, his mind was equally unconscious. The blooming heiress of the British crown received not his blessing on her union, nor did her untimely re We shall not enter into any further detail of the official reports, but in the examination of the physicians, previous to the report of July 8th, 1812, we find the following account given by Dr. Matthew Baillie, of the state of his majesty's mind: "The errors of his majesty's mind are at present as strongly impressed upon it as during any period of his illness; for a few weeks lately, his majesty has been able occasionally to relate anecdotes more distinctly than for two or three months previous to that period; within the last two or three days his majesty's mind has been entirely lost in error." It is a task amounting almost to an impossibility, to follow correctly the different circumstances of his majesty's malady. The bulletins of the physicians were the only authentic re-moval draw from his eye the most sacred tear cords of his majesty's retirement from the concerns of the world. From these it will be seen, that though in the earlier stages of his malady, he was subject to paroxysms which excited the most alarming apprehensions, his life during the last six or seven years of his existence, was one of tranquillity, though of mental aberration. In the solitude of his apart that would have been shed for her loss. His spirit has fled without the consciousness that the beloved partner of his throne had gone before him to the house of all living; he was finally spared the pang which a father feels when his son in the vigour of youth and health precedes him to the grave. But if his majesty were thus insensible to subjects which were never mentioned to him, | presence of the king, in order to guard against because they would have excited the most acute sympathies in his feeling mind, the habits of his former life ever retained their influence over him. Those whose duties placed them around him, during this long night of his mind, now weep for a monarch, and a man, who always retained the strong features of the virtues of his ordinary life. He never lost the consciousness of that dignity with which he was in vested; he never forgot to unite with it the kindest consideration for those by whom he was surrounded; he never departed from his regular habits of temperance in diet; and though his food was moderate, it was rather to assist nature during the want of exercise, than to obviate any indulgences of appetite. His late majesty always retained, till the infirmities of age began to weigh him down, the same taste for music which he had displayed during his active life. In his retirement he performed with skill upon the pianoforte, and he pleased himself with the imagination that his affectionate family were his auditors. We cannot conceive any thing more pathetic than the venerable monarch playing from memory the sublime airs of his favourite Handel, and believing that his family were his auditors. It is highly honourable to those persons in immediate attendance upon his majesty, that during the long period of his afflicting malady, no improper disclosures concerning his domestic habits were made by those who had the means of personal observation. An affectionate veneration for a beloved sovereign prevailed over all the temptations of curiosity, and no unauthorized eye ever invaded the privacy of his retirement. During the queen's life, she judged it necessary to draw a strict line as to the persons who were to be admitted into the any unpleasant or imprudent communication. The most afflicting privation was that which prevented the whole of the royal family, with the exception of the prince regent, from approaching him; but her majesty in this as well as all the public domestic occurrences in which she was connected, acted from the purest motives of state prudence. The duty of the physicians who attended his majesty was certainly of the most delicate. nature, and although they disagreed upon the mode of treatment which ought to be adopted toward his majesty, and at the same time making every allowance for a little private pique which existed amongst them, the nation has every reason to be grateful for their services, although they were not crowned with ultimate success. In the present malady, Sir Henry Halford, to use the language of the bar, was the leading physician; and in order to account for some discrepancies which crept into the reports of the physicians, the following account appeared in a particular publication, which may be designated an eulogy upon Sir Henry Halford, for the sentiments are in direct variance with the opinions expressed by the physicians themselves in their respective reports. "The medical attendance on the royal sufferer has generally been directed by the ministerial influence of the day. The authority of Lord Thurlow, in his first illness, committed him to the charge of Dr. Willis, whose system of coercion was carried on in his own way, while the other physicians were mere lookerson. The severity of this half medical character made a powerful impression on the royal mind; and the name, after his recovery, vibrated on his nerves with a harsh recollection, which he could at all times but ill disguise, when pro |