through the ufual forms, and confiding in the support of great and decifive majorities, received at length the royal affent. 1 The oppofition to this famous act, though weak in refpect to numbers, was nevertheless unusually ardent and animated. General Conway, with the magnanimous firmness of an ABDIEL, fingly protested against the right; and colonel Barré, a speaker of great eminence in the house, in reply to the reflections of Mr. Charles Townshend on the pretended ingratitude of the Americans, whom he styled "children planted by our care, and nourished by our indulgence," broke out into a moft eloquent and indignant exclamation" They planted by your care!" faid he, "NO- your oppreffions planted them in America-they fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated and inhofpitable wilderness, expofed to all the hardships to which human nature is liable. They nourished by your indulgence! -No; they grew by your neglect of them: your care of them was displayed, as foon as you began to care about them, in fending perfons to rule them who were the deputies of deputies of minifters-men whofe behaviour on many occafions has caufed the blood of thofe fons of liberty to recoil within them-men who have been promoted to the highest feats of justice in that country, in order to efcape being brought to the bar of a court of juftice in their own. I have been converfant with the Americans, and I know them to be loyal indeed; but a people jealous of their liberties, and who will vindicate them if ever they should be violated; and let my prediction of this day be remembered, that the fame spirit of freedom which actuated that people at first, will accompany them ftill." The house fat awhile apparently hesitating and amazed, but the event fhewed how tranfient was the impreffion. An occafional indifpofition of the king exciting much alarm in the poffible profpect of a long minority, for which no public provifion had been made, on the 22d of April 1765 the king went in ftate to the houfe of pcers, and in a speech to both houses of parliament recommended to their serious attention the making fuch provifion as would be neceffary in cafe any of his children fhould fucceed to the throne before they should refpectively attain the age of eighteen years. In confequence of this recommendation a bill was brought into the house of lords, framed on the plan of the regency act, of the twenty-fourth of the late king, empowering his majesty to appoint, by inftrument in writing under his fign manual, either the queen or any other person of his royal family ufually refident in Great Britain, to be regent of thefe kingdoms until the fucceffor to the crown fhall attain the age of eighteen years. The council of regency to confift of the dukes of York and Gloucester, the princes Henry Frederic and Frederic William, brothers to the king; William Auguftus duke of Cumberland, uncle to his majesty; and the great officers of ftate for the time being. Some remarkable circumftances attended the origin and progrefs of this bill. It was understood to be introduced into parliament officially only, the oftenfible minifters not having been previoufly or confidentially confulted on the fubject. A doubt arifing on the question, "Who were the royal family?" it was explained by the law lords to be the defcendants of king George II. and in this construction lord Halifax, the fecretary of ftate, moft readily acquiefced, declaring it to be perfectly confonant to the royal intention. In this point however his lordship appeared to be egregioufly mistaken; for when the bill was tranfinitted to the commons, a motion was made by Mr. Morton, a confidential friend of the earl of Bute, to infert the name of her royal highness the princefs dowager of Wales, the omiffion of which was declared to be a grofs indignity offered to a princess who merited the esteem and gratitude of the English nation. The bill accordingly paffed with this important amendment; but it foon appeared that a very deep re fentment ་ fentment was harbored by the princess at the conduct of the ministers in the whole of this tranfaction, which she confidered as an open and flagrant affront, inftigated by a malicious and infidious defign on their part to exclude her altogether from the future eventual administration of affairs. A refolution was immediately formed by the cabinet of Carlton House to difcard the present minifters, who had lately on various occafions been found very refractory. For this purpose it was neceffary to make overtures either to Mr. Pitt or the duke of Newçaffle, the leaders of the two great parties now in oppofition. At the latter end of May (1765) the duke of Cumber land held a conference with lord Temple and Mr. Pitt at Hayes, and acquainted them that the king had refolved to change his minifters, and wifhed to engage his lordship, Mr. Pitt, and their friends in his fervice; but first the duke requested to know the conditions." Mr. Pitt with warmth affured his royal highnefs, "that he was ready to go to St. James's on this provifo--that he could carry the constitution along with him." The refult of the conference not being fatisfactory, it became a matter of indispenfable neceffity to continue for fome time longer the present minifters in office. But Mr. Grenville, now thoroughly apprized of the hoftile refolutions of thofe who directed the interior cabinet, and prefuming on their prefent inabity to carry their defigns into execution, kept no measures with the court, and infifted, in concert with the duke of Bedford and his other colleagues, upon the immediate difmiffion of Mr. Stuart Mackenzie, brother to lord Bute; the duke of Northumberland, whofe fon had recently married the daughter of lord Bute; and Mr. Fox, his conftant and powerful parliamentary advocate, now created lord Holland. And the duke of Bedford is faid to have made perfonally to the king warm and indignant remonftrances against that fyftem of bafenefs and duplicity of which his majesty's minifters found themselves the victims. Another advance was now made on the part of the court to gain over Mr. Pitt and lord Temple, who by command waited on his majefty together at the queen's palace (June 25), but without effect-the brother patriots infifting upon a total change of men, meafures, and counfels, whilst on the part of the court it was made an indifpenfable condition, that the "king's friends" who held fubordinate offices should be permitted to continue in their prefent fituations. His Majesty being refolved at any rate to part with his present ministers, now at open war with the cabinet of Carlton Houfe, the duke of Cumberland was again applied to; and a negotiation being opened through his mediation with the duke of Newcastle, the arrangements for a new administration were in a fhort time fettled *. His grace, unable to fuftain the fatigues and cares of the department he had formerly occupied, now chofe for himself the honorable finecure of lord privy feal, to which, in confideration of past services and obligations, was now for the first and last time annexed the patronage of the CHURCH. The marquis of Rockingham, a nobleman of great probity and understanding, of just and generous fentiments, and of amiable and conciliating manners, was placed at the head of the treafury; Mr. Dowdefwell, a man of fterling talents and inflexible virtues, equally a stranger to the artifice and fervility of courts, being appointed chancellor of the exchequer. The earl of Northington was confirmed in his poft as chancellor of Great Britain, and lord Egmont as first This was the last public tranfaction in which the duke of Cumberland took part, his royal highnefs dying fuddenly of an apoplexy in the autumn of the prefent year, October 31, 1765, in the forty-fixth year of his age. This prince being the youngeft of the numerous family of king George II. Louifa queen of Denmark excepted, and not born till fome years after the acceffion, was confequently a native of England; and happily not being fent to GERMA NY for EDUCATION, he might boaft" that his heart was truly English." His perfonal and public virtues rendered him highly respectable; and by the victory of Culloden he had the glory of eftablishing, it may be hoped for ever, the liberties of his country, and of fixing the crown of these realms beyond all danger of future attempts on the head of his father. firft lord of the admiralty. Lord Winchelsea fucceeded the duke of Bedford as prefident of the council; and the feals, lately in the poffeffion of the earls of Sandwich and Halifax, were transferred to the duke of Grafton (a young nobleman diftinguished by his parliamentary talents, and who had early attained to an high degree of political eminence) and general Conway, a name of unfullied honor, upon whom the task of conducting the bufinefs of government in the houfe of commons chiefly devolved. The earl of Hertford, brother to the general, fucceeded the duke of Northumberland in the government of Ireland. Lord Temple condemned in terms of bitterness and acrimony, and Mr. Pitt with more decorum and reserve, the acceptance of the new minifters. Had the duke of Newcastle and his friends been proof against the temptations and allurements of office, it was faid that an effectual termination muft have been put to the fecret reign of the favorite; whereas now his influence was at the most but fufpended until a more suitable opportunity offered for making another difplay of his power and verfatility. And the nation at large, though not unwilling to acknowledge the merits of the prefent ministers, were astonished and displeased to see a new arrangement of administration formed on whig principles, from which lord Temple and Mr. Pitt were excluded. On the other hand, the minifters complained of the inflexibility of men who, when great conftitutional points might be with certainty fecured, would not fcruple to put all to the hazard rather than accede to terms of reasonable accommodation. On the 14th of January 1766 the parliament was convened for the dispatch of business, and their attention was immediately excited and ongroffed by the disturbances and tumults which had taken place in almost all parts of the continent of America, in confequence of the STAMP ACT paffed in the laft feffion. As the queftion relative to this famous act was chiefly a contest of principle, it is fcarcely worth while to remark |