the object of this plan, the prince has only to be convinced, that any measure is necessary, or even conducive to that end, to be the first to urge it, as the preliminary and paramount consideration of any settlement, in which he would consent to share.

"If attention to what is presumed might be his majesty's feelings and wishes on the happy day of his recovery, be the object, it is with the truest sincerity the prince expresses his firm conviction, that no event would be more repugnant to the feelings of his royal father, than the knowledge that the government of his son and representative had exhibited the sovereign power of the realm in a state of degradation, of curtailed authority and diminished energy; a state hurtful in practice to the prosperity and good government of his people, and injurious in its precedents to the security of the monarch, and the rights of his family.

Upon that part of the plan, which regards the king's real and personal property, the prince feels himself compelled to remark, that it was not necessary for Mr. Pitt, nor proper to suggest to the prince, the restraint he proposes against the prince's granting away the king's real and personal property. The prince does not conceive, that during the king's life, he is by law entitled to make any such grant; and he is sure, that he has never shewn the smallest inclination to possess any such power. But it remains with Mr. Pitt, to consider the eventual interests of the royal family, and to provide a proper and natural secarity against the mismanagement of them by others.

"The prince has discharged an indispensable duty, in thus giving his free opinion on the plan submitted to his consideration.

"His conviction of the evils, which may arise to the king's interests, to the peace and happiness of the royal family, and to the safety and welfare of the nation, from the government of the country remaining longer in its

present maimed and debilitated state, outweighs in the prince's mind every other consideration, and will determine him to undertake the painful trust imposed upon him by the present melancholy necessity (which of all the king's subjects he deplores the most) in full confidence that the affection and loyalty to the king, the experienced attachment to the House of Brunswick, and the generosity which has always distinguished this nation, will carry him. through the many difficulties, inseparable from this most critical situation, with eomfort to himself, with honour to the king, and with advantage to the public,

(Signed)

G. P.

Carlton House,

Jan. 2, 1789.

No. III.

To his Royal Highness George Prince of Wales, The humble Address of the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons in Parliament assembled.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS,

We, his majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons of Ireland in parliament assembled, beg leave to approach your royal highness with hearts full of the most loyal and affectionate attachment to the person and government of your royal father; to express the deepest and most grateful sense of the numerous blessings which we have enjoyed under that illustrious house, whose accession to the throne of these realms has established civil and constitutional liberty, upon basis which we trust will never be shaken; and at the

same time to condole with your royal highness upon the grievous malady with which it has pleased Heaven to afflict the best of sovereigns.

"We have, however the consolation of reflecting, that this severe calamity hath not been visited upon us until the virtues of your royal highness have been so 'matured, as to enable your royal highness to discharge the duties of an important trust, for the performance, whereof, the eyes of all his majesty's subjects of both kingdom's are directed to your royal highness.

"We therefore beg leave humbly to request, that your royal highness will be pleased to take upon you the government of this realm, during the continuation of his majesty's present indisposition, and no longer; and under the stile and title of Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name of, and on behalf of his majesty, to exercise and administer according to the laws and constitution of this kingdom, all regal powers, jurisdiction, and prerogatives to the crown and government thereof belonging,"

No. IV.

The following was the answer of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

L MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"The Address from the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons of Ireland, which you have presented to me, demands my warmest and earliest thanks. If any thing could add to the esteem and affection I have for the people of Ireland, it would be the loyal and affectionate attach

ment to the person and government of the king my father, manifested in the address of the two houses.

"What they have done, and their manner of doing it, is a new proof of their undiminished duty to his majesty, of their uniform attachment to the House of Brunswick, and their constant wish to maintain inviolate the concord and connection between the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, so indispensably necessary to the prosperity, the happiness, and the liberties of both.

"If, in conveying my grateful sentiments on their conduct, in relation to the king my father, and to the inseparable interests of the two kingdoms, I find it impossible to express adequately my feelings on what relates to myself, I trust you will not be the less disposed to believe, that 1 have an understanding to comprehend the value of what they have done, a heart that must remember, and principles that will not suffer me to abuse their confidence.

But the fortunate change which has taken place in the circumstance, which gave occasion to the Address, agreed to by the Lords and Commons of Ireland, induces me to delay, for a few days, giving a final answer; trusting, that the joyful event of his majesty resuming the personal exercise of his royal authority, may then render it only necessary for me to repeat those sentiments of gratitude and affection to the loyal and generous people of Ireland, which I feel indelibly imprinted on my heart."

"

Soon after the above answer was given by the Prince of Wales to the commissioners, delegated by the Lords and Commons of Ireland. His majesty was restored to the prayers and wishes of a loyal and affectionate people. The Irish commissioners were again requested to wait on his royal highness, who addressed them in the following terms, equally honourable to his heart and to his head; displaying, ́ ́ with equal happiness, his gratitude to Ireland, and his filial piety to his royal father

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"The happy event of the king's recovery, and the consequent re-assumption of the exercise of his auspicious government, announced by his royal commission, for declaring the further causes of holding the parliament of Great Britain, has done away the melancholy necessity which gave rise to the arrangement proposed by the parliament of Ireland; nothing can obliterate from my memory, and my gratitude, the principles upon which that arrangement was made, and the circunstances by which it was attended; I consider your kindness to his majesty's royal family and the provision you made for preserving the authority of the crown, in its constitutional energy, as the most unequivocal proof which could be given of your affectionate loyalty to the king at this time, when by an afflicting dispensation of Providence, his government has suffered an intermission, and his house was deprived of its natural protector.

3

"I shall not pay so ill a compliment to the lords and commons of Ireland, as to suppose that they were mistaken in their reliance on the moderation of my views, and the purity of my intentions-A manly confidence directing, the manner of proceeding towards those who entertain sentiments becoming the higher situation to which they are born furnishes the most powerful motives to the performance of their duty-at the same time that the liberality of sentiment which, in conveying a trust, confers an honour, can have no tendency to relax that provident vigilance, and that public jealousy which ought to watch over the exercise of power."

" MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

"Though full of joy for the event which enables me to take leave of you in this manner, personally, I cannot but