now become the immediate heir to the throne,
vested both the guardianship of his person and the Regency of the
kingdom in his mother, the Princess Dowager of Wales, who, however, in
the latter capacity, was only to act with the advice of a council,
composed of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Cumberland, and nine
principal officers of state. It was not concealed by either the King or
the Duke that they would have preferred a different arrangement, one
which would have conferred an uncontrolled Regency on the Duke himself;
but the bill was passed by great majorities in both Houses, and served
in some respects as a model for that which was now to be brought
forward, the difference being that the Regent was not to be expressly
named in it. To quote the words of the royal speech, the King "proposed
to the consideration of the two Houses whether, under the present
circumstances, it would not be expedient to vest in him the power of
appointing from time to time, by instrument in writing under his
sign-manual, either the Queen or any other member of the royal family
usually residing in Great Britain, to be the guardian of the person of
his successor, and the Regent of these kingdoms, until such successor
should attain the age of eighteen years, subject to such restrictions
and regulations as were specified and contained in an act passed on a
similar occasion in the fourteenth year of the late King; the Regent so
appointed to be assisted by a council, composed of the several persons
who, by reason of their dignities and offices, were constituted members
of the council established by that act, together with those whom the
Parliament might think proper to leave to his nomination."

It may be doubted whether such a power as his Majesty desired was quite
consistent with the principles of the constitution. Parliament had,
indeed, granted Henry VIII. the still greater power of nominating a
series of successors; but the appointment which he consequently made by
will was eventually superseded, when, on the failure of his immediate
descendants, the representative of his elder sister, whom he had passed
over, was seated on the throne, to the exclusion of the descendants of
his younger sister, to whom he had given the preference. In France, the
last two kings, Louis XIII. and XIV., had both, when on their
death-beds, assumed the right of making the arrangements for the Regency
which would become necessary, the heir to the throne being in ea