regency as the legal representatives of King Ferdinand; and of the Independents, who aimed to govern themselves. An attempt was made by King Joseph, by means of emissaries, to establish his authority in the provinces of Spanish North America, but with very indifferent success, an aversion to the French usurpation being general. It was a more important matter to discover what might be expected from the court of Great Britain; and the junta of Caraccas entered into a correspondence on the subject with the governor of Curaçao. In reply to his application to the ministry for instructions, Lord Liverpool, on June 29th, wrote a letter for the purpose of a public declaration of the system on which the British government meant to act with respect to the Spanish colonies. The substance of it was, that the obligations of justice and good faith must lead his Majesty to discourage every step tending to separate the Spanish provinces in America from the mother country; but that if Spain should be compelled to submit to the yoke of the common enemy, and lose its independence, his Majesty would think it his duty to afford every assistance to those provinces in rendering them independent of French Spain. A copy of this letter was communicated to the regency at Cadiz, and was published in all the Spanish newspapers. The latter part of this year was marked by the recurrence of a domestic calamity, productive of a change in the government which forms an era in the annals of the present reign. His Majesty, in consequence, it was supposed, of deep affliction from the sufferings of his youngest daughter, the Princess Amelia, which terminated in her death on November 2d, was again attacked by the mental malady under which he had before laboured, so that when parliament re-assembled on the 1st of November, a proclamation was issued for its farther prorogation. After successive adjournments, supported by the favourable opinions of the physicians relative to his Majesty's progress towards recovery, it became necessary to supply the deficiency in the executive branch of government by a regency. On December 20th, Mr. Perceval in the House of Commons moved three resolutions copied from those of Mr. Pitt on the like occurrence in 1788-9, of which the third only, that the proper mode of supplying the deficiency would be by a bill, produced a division; Mr. Ponsonby moving as an amendment, that an address should be presented to the Prince of Wales praying him to take upon himself the office of Regent. The amendment was rejected by 269 votes against 157. In the House of Lords the same resolutions, and a similar amendment, were moved, which last was rejected by 100 against 74. The arguments in the debates being of the same kind with those used on the former occasion, it is unnecessary to advert to them. The remaining proceedings relative to the regency belong to the parliamentary transactions of the following year. The extraordinary rigour with which the French government in this year pursued the plan of excluding British commerce from all the parts of the continent subject to its influence, began to produce the effect of considerably reducing the demand for our manufac tures, of which those of cotton were particularly affected; and numerous failures in that branch were the consequence. A great depreciation of the value of the last loan to government was one of the first symptoms of pecuniary difficulties and gloomy prospects, of which some tragical results made a strong impression on the public. In Ireland, the spirit of discontent, never long dormant, took the turn of a violent antipathy to the union of the two kingdoms; and a numerous meeting held at Dublin, unanimously voted a strong petition for its repeal, though certainly with very little prospect of success. A. D. 1811. YEAR OF GEORGE III. 51 & 52. PARLIAMENT 4 & 5. gency Bill, and Debates. - Passed, and accepted by the Prince of Wales, who retains the subsisting Ministry. Speech by Commission. Mr. W. Pole's Letter enjoining magisterial Proceedings against the Electors of Delegates to the Catholic Committee in Dublin, and parliamentary Notice taken of the same. — Catholic Petition to both Houses, rejected. Further Proceedings of the Irish Catholics, and of Government. Acquittal of Dr. Sheridan. -Motion for Censure of the Lord Chancellor.- Relief of Commercial Distresses. - Parliamentary Enquiry into the State of Bullion and Currency. - Consequent Resolutions.-Lord Stanhope's Bill against the Sale of Gold Coin at advanced Prices, and the Depreciation of Bank Notes.- Budget. - Re-appointment of the Duke of York to the Office of Commander-in-Chief. · Clause in the Mutiny Bill allowing Commutation for Corporal Punishment. Bill for the Interchange of British and Irish Militias.- Lord Sidmouth's proposed Bill for altering the Toleration Act. - Portugal.Retreat of Massena, and Pursuit by Lord Wellington. - Almeida taken. Battle of Albuera. - Failure at Badajos. Campaign in Catalonia and Estremadura.- French Capture of Badajos. - Battle of Barrosa. Capture of Tarragona by the French. - Their Successes in Valencia.- Other Actions in Spain. -Proceedings of the Cortes. Hamburg annexed to France. - Marine Conscrip tion. Birth of a Son to Napoleon. Ecclesiastical Council. --- Napoleon's Visit to the Sea-coast, and Holland. - Campaign between the Russians and Turks. — Differences between Russia and France. Austrian Affairs. Prussia and Confederacy of the Rhine. Sweden. - Repulse of the Danes at Anholt. Suspension of Intercourse between Great Britain and America. · Action between the Little Belt and the President. Fruitless Negotiations to terminate the Differences between the two Countries. - Occurrences in South America.· War between Buenos Ayres and Montevideo. - West Indies, — Insurrection at Martinico.-East Indies.- Dethronement of the Rajah of Travancore. Conquest of Java, by the British. Various Naval Actions. Great Losses by Shipwreck.-. Enumeration of the People of Great Britain. Riots THE close of the preceding year left the parliament fully occupied in the important business of settling the regency. On December 31st, a conference was held between the two Houses, after which, the assent of the Lords to the resolutions already mentioned was announced. Mr. Perceval, then, at the close of a long speech, moved five propositions as the foundation of an intended bill for regulating the office of Regent. Of these, the first appointed the Prince of Wales Regent, under certain restrictions and limitations; by the second, he was restrained from conferring the rank of peerage for a time to be limited; by the third, from granting offices in reversion, or places and pensions, for a longer term than during the royal pleasure; the fourth formed regulations respecting the King's private property; and the fifth vested the management of his household in the Queen. The first stand made by the opposition was against the leading proposition, that the Regent should be laid under restrictions; and the Honourable Mr. Lambe moved as an amendment, "That the entire royal power should be conferred upon him without any restrictions." On a division, the amendment was negatived by 224 to 200; the smallness of which majority denoted a general opinion that the ministers held their places on a frail tenure. They were avowedly destitute of the Prince's confidence, and were therefore expected to be immediate sacrifices to the regency; but on the other hand, the expectation of the King's speedy recovery, regarded by his physicians as little less than certain, gave them a strong reversionary interest; and thus a kind of equilibrium of hopes and views was created, which will account for various fluctuations of party during the progress of this momentous transaction. An unforeseen difficulty proceeding from the sus pension of the royal authority, was the first thing which required parliamentary interference. On January 3d, the chancellor of the exchequer acquainted the House of Commons, that a difference of opinion had arisen between the treasury and the exchequer respecting the issue of certain sums which had been appropriated by parliament to the use of the army and navy, and he moved for certain papers relative to the subject. After the House had resolved itself into a committee for their consideration, the chancellor of the exchequer moved, that until due provision be made for supplying the defect in the royal authority, the commissioners of the treasury should be required to issue their warrants to the auditor of the exchequer for the payment of such sums as the exigency may render necessary; and the officers of the exchequer be authorized to pay obedience to such warrants. After a long debate, the motion was carried without a division. The same being brought into the House of Lords, January 5th, the lord chancellor was asked why he had not made use of the great seal on this occasion, who replied, that it did not appear to him how he could have employed it to draw money from the exchequer for such services as these. Some observations being made relative to the application of the privy seal for the same purpose, the Earl of Westmorland declared that if the difficulty could have been averted by that means, he should have been willing to take upon himself the responsibility of affixing the seal. The motion at length passed, but a protest against it was entered by 21 lords, on the ground of the unconstitutional character of the proceeding, which might have been avoided by an address to the Prince of Wales to take upon himself the office of Regent. The regency bill, after much discussion, finally passed into a law on February 5th. The powers granted and restrictions imposed were conformable to the propositions first moved by the minister, and the latter were to continue till after the 1st of February 1812. The restoration of the King to his authority, was provided for by means of a simple notification from the Queen and her council, to the privy council, of his recovery, after which his resumption of power would follow of course. The exercise of this great trust was confided to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Duke of Montrose, the Earls of Winchelsea and Aylesford, Lord Eldon, Lord Ellenborough, and Sir |