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STATE PAPERS.

1:

The Prince Regent's Speech, Jan. 7.

My Lords and Gentlemen,

W

E are commanded by his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to express to you the deep sorrow which he feels in announcing to you the continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition, and the unhappy disappointment of those hopes of his Majesty's early recovery which had been cherished by the dutiful affection of his family and the loyal attachment of his people.

The Prince Regent has directed copies of the last reports of her Majesty the Queen's council to be laid before you, and he is satisfied that you will adopt such measures as the present melancholy exigency may appear to require,

In securing a suitable and ample provision for the support of his Majesty's royal dignity, and for the attendance upon his Majesty's sacred person during his illness, the Prince Regent rests assured, that you will also bear in mind the indispensable duty of continuing to preserve for his Majesty the facility of resuming the personal exercise of his royal authority in the happy event of his recovery, so earnestly desired by the wishes and the prayers of his family and subjects.

The Prince Regent directs us to signify to you the satisfaction with which his Royal Highness has observed, that the measures which have been pursued for the defence and security of the kingdom of Portugal have proved completely effectual; and that on the several occasions in which the British or Portuguese troops had been engaged with the enemy, the reputation already acquired by them has been fully maintained.

The successful and brilliant enterprize, which, terminated in the surprize, in Spanish Estremadura, of a French corps by a detachment of the allied army under Lieut.General Hill, is highly creditable to that distinguished officer, and to the troops under his command, and has contributed materially to ob struct the designs of the enemy in that part of the Peninsula.

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The Prince Regent is assured, that while you reflect with pride and satisfaction on the conduct of his Majesty's troops, and of the allies, in these various and important services, you will render justice to the consummate judg ment and skill displayed by Gen Lord Viscount Wellington in the direction of the campaign. In Spain, the spirit of the people remains unsubdued; and the system

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of war, so peculiarly adapted to the actual condition of the Spanish nation, has been recently extended and improved, under the advantages which result from the operations of the allied armies on the frontier, and from the countenance and assistance of his Majesty's navy on the coast. Although the great exertions of the enemy have in some quarters been attended with success, his Royal Highness is persuaded, that you will admire the perseverance and gallantry manifested by the Spanish armies. Even in those provinces principally occupied by the French forces, new energy has arisen among the people; and the increase of difficulty and danger has produced more connected efforts of general resistance.

The Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of his Majesty, commands us to express his confident hope that you will enable him to continue to afford the most effectual aid and assistance in the support of the contest, which the brave nations of the Peninsula still maintain with such unabated zeal and resolution.

His Royal Highness commands us to express his congratulations on the success of the British arms in the island of Java.

The Prince Regent trusts that you will concur with his Royal Highness in approving the wisdom and ability with which this enterprize, as well as the capture of the islands of Bourbon and Mauritius, has been conducted under the immediate direction of the Governor General of India, and that you will applaud the decision, gallantry, and spirit, conspicuously displayed in the late operations of the brave

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army under the command of that distinguished officer Lieut.-Gen. Sir Samuel Auchmuty, so powerfully and ably supported by his Majesty's naval forces.

By the completion of this system of operations, great additional security will have been given to the British commerce and possessions in the East Indies, and the colonial power of France will have been entirely extinguished.

His Royal Highness thinks it expedient to recommend to your attention the propriety of providing such measures for the future government of the British possessions in India as shall appear from experience, and upon mature deliberation, to be calculated to secure their internal prosperity, and to derive from those flourishing dominions the utmost degree of advantage to the commerce and revenue of the United Kingdom.

We are commanded by the Prince Regent to acquaint you, that while his Royal Highness regrets that various important subjects of difference with the government of the United States of America still remain unadjusted, the difficulties which the affair of the Chesapeake frigate had occasioned have been finally removed; and we are dia rected to assure you, that in the further progress of the discussions with the United States, the Prince Regent will continue to employ such means of conciliation as may be consistent with the honour and dignity of his Majesty's crown, and with the due maintenance of the maritime and commercial rights and interests of the British empire. vedanta de boyuted to

Gentlemen of the House Come mons,His Royal Highness has Vinare directed

directed the estimates for the service of the current year to be laid before you. He trusts that you will fornish him with such supplies as may be necessary to enable him to continue the contest in which his Majesty is engaged, with that spirit and exertion which will afford the best prospect of its successful termination.

His Royal Highness commands us to recommend that you should resume the consideration of the state of the finances of Ireland, which you had commenced in the last session of parliament. He has the satisfaction to inform you, that .the improved receipt of the revenue of Ireland in the last, as compared with the preceding year, confirms the belief, that the depression which that revenue had experienced is to be attributed to accidental and temporary causes.

My Lords and Gentlemen,-The Prince Regent is satisfied that you entertain a just sense of the arduous duties which his Royal Highness has been called upon to fulfil, in consequence of his Majesty's continued indisposition.

Under this severe calamity, his Royal Highness derives the greatest consolation from his reliance on your experienced wisdom, loyalty, and public spirit; to which, in every difficulty, he will resort, with a firm confidence, that, through your assistance and support, he shall be enabled, under the blessings of Divine Providence, successfully to discharge the important functions of the high trust reposed in him; and in the name and on the behalf of his beloved father and revered sovereign, to maintain, unimpaired, the prosperity and honour of the nation.

Declaration of the Members of her Majesty's Council respecting the State of his Majesty's Health made on the 5th of Jan. 1812.

We, the under-written members of the council, &c. having duly met together, on this 4th day of Jan. 1812, at the Queen's Lodge, near to Windsor Castle, and having called before us, and examined upon oath, the physicians and other persous attendant upon his Majesty, and having ascertained the state of his Majesty's health by all such ways and means as appear 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 meeting, is not such as to enable his Majesty to resume the personal exercise of his royal authority:

That his Majesty's bodily health appears to us to be as good as at any of the periods of our former reports:

That his Majesty's mental health appears to us not to be worse than at the period of our last reports

That all the physicians attending his Majesty agree in stating, that they think his Majesty's complete and final recovery improbable; differing, however, as to the degree of such improbability: some of them expressing themselves as not despairing,-others as not entirely despairing, and one of them representing that he cannot help despairing of such recovery. (Signed)

C. CANTUAR, E. EBOR, MONTROSE, WINCHILSEA,

AYLESFORD, ELDON, ELLENBOROUGH,

W. GRANT.

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had been read in the presence of all the physicians, and one of the -members of the council had left Windsor, the physician alluded to in the last clause of the report, stated, in writing, to the other members of the council then remaining at Windsor, " that he had, unquestionably, made use of an expression, which he was apprehensive might carry a meaning far beyond what he intended to express, and assured the council, that whilst he thought the final recovery of his Majesty very improbable, he by no means despaired of it."

The members of the council to whom the above statement was made, (having sworn the physician alluded to, to the truth thereof) afterwards communicated the same to the whole council, assembled this 5th day of January, who have deemed it right to subjoin this fact to the above declaration.

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Declaration of the Members of her Majesty's Council, respecting the State of his Majesty's Health, made on the 4th of April, 1812. +. "We, the underwritten, do thereby declare and certify, that the state of his Majesty's health, at the time of this our meeting, is not such as to enable him to resume the personal exercise of his royal authority.

"That bis Majesty's bodily health is as good as at any of the periods of our former reports.

"That his Majesty's mental health is as much disordered as it

has been during any part of his Majesty's indisposition.

That all the physicians in attendance concur in thinking, that his Majesty's final and complete recovery is extremely improbable, and they do not expect it; but they also concur in stating, that. they do not entirely despair of it." Signed as above.

Declaration of the Members of lier Majesty's Council, respecting the State of his Majesty's Health, made on the 4th of July, 1812. "We, the underwritten, do hereby declare and certify, that the state of his Majesty's health, at the time of this our meeting, is not such as to enable his Majesty to resume the personal exercise of his royal functions.

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That his Majesty's bodily health is as good as it was at the period of our last report.

"That his Majesty's mental health is as much disordered as during any period of his Majesty's indisposition.

"That the hope of bis Majesty's ultimate and complete recovery is diminished since the period of our last report; but that such recovery is not absolutely despaired of." Signed as above.

Letter from his Royal Highness the Prince Regent to the Duke of York, and Answer from Earl Grey and Lord Grenville.

My dearest brother,-As the restrictions on the exercise of the royal authority will shortly expire, when I must make my arrangements for the future administration

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of the powers with which I am invested, I think it right to communicate to you those sentiments which I was withheld from.expressing at an earlier period of the session, by my earnest desire, that the expected motion on the affairs of Ireland might undergo the deliberate discussion of parliament, unmixed with any other consideration.

I think it hardly necessary to call your recollection to the recent circomstances under which I assumed the authority delegated to me by parliament. At a moment of unexampled difficulty and danger, I was called upon to make a selection of persons to whom I should entrust the functions of the executive government.

My sense of duty to our royal father solely decided that choice; and every private feeling gave way to considerations which admitted of no doubt or hesitation. I trust I acted in that respect as the genuine representative of the august person whose functions I was appointed to discharge; and I have the satisfaction of knowing, that such was the opinion of persons, for whose judgment and honourable principles I entertain the highest respect.

In various instances, as you well know, where the law of the last session left me at full liberty, I waved any personal gratification, in order that his Majesty might resume, on his restoration to health, every power and prerogative belonging to his crown. I certainly am the last person in the kingdom to whom it can be permitted to despair of our royal father's recovery. A new æra is now arrived, and I cannot but reflect with satisfacton, on the events which have

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distinguished the short period of my restricted regency. Instead of suffering in the loss of any of her pos sessions, by the gigantic force which has been employed against them, Great Britain has added most important acquisitions to her empire. The national faith has been preserved inviolate towards our allies; and if character is s'rength, as applied to a nation, the increased and increasing reputation of his Majesty's arms will shew to the nations of the continent how much they may still achieve when ani mated by a glorious spirit of resistance to a foreign yoke. In the critical situation of the war in the Peninsula, I shall be most anxious to avoid any measure which can lead my allies to suppose that I mean to depart from the present system. Perseverance alone can achieve the great object in ques tion; and I cannot withhold my approbation from those who have honourably distinguished themselves in the support of it. I have no predilections to indulge-no resentments to gratify-no objects to attain, but such as are common tọ the whole empire. If such is the leading principle of my conductand I can appeal to the past in evidence of what the future will be1 flatter myself I shall meet with the support of parliament, and of a candid and enlightened nation.

Having made this communica tion of my sentiments in this new and extraordinary crisis of our affairs, I cannot conclude without expressing the gratification I should feel, if some of those persons with whom the early habits of my public life were formed, would strengthen my hands, and constitute a part of my government. With such sup

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