atory to the regency bill. Grenville had voted in favour of the
restriction on the creation of peers, and it is therefore not surprising
that the reply which he and Grey drafted appeared to the prince too weak
in its protest against the limitations. He therefore adopted in its
stead another reply which Sheridan had composed for him. The two lords
thereupon addressed to the prince a remonstrance, which practically
claimed for themselves the right of responsible ministers to be the sole
advisers of their prince. This remonstrance provoked the ridicule of
Sheridan, and certainly did not please the prince, who since the fall of
the Grenville ministry had refused to be regarded as a "party man". The
regent, accordingly, gave Perceval to understand that he intended to
retain his present ministers, but solely on the ground that he was
unwilling to do anything which might retard his father's recovery, or
distress him when he should come to himself. This reason was probably
genuine. The king appeared to be recovering; he had had several
interviews with Perceval and Eldon, and had made inquiries as to the
prince's intentions. Soon, however, the malady took a turn for the
worse, and the physicians came to the conclusion that it was
permanent.[41]

Before February, 1812, when the restrictions expired, and a permanent
regency bill was passed, the prince drifted further away from his former
advisers, and had been pacified by the loyal attitude of Perceval and
Eldon. Further overtures were conveyed to the whig lords through a
letter from the prince regent to the Duke of York, in which he declared
that he had "no predilections to indulge or resentments to gratify," but
only a concern for the public good, towards which he desired the
co-operation of some of his old whig friends, indicating Grenville and
Grey. They declined in a letter to the Duke of York, alleging
differences on grounds of policy too deep to admit of a coalition.
Eldon, on his part, expressed a similar conviction, but the regent never
fully forgave what he regarded as their desertion. Wellesley, who was
strongly opposed to Perceval's policy of maintaining the catholic
disabilities, resigned the secretaryship of foreign affairs, protesting
against the feeble support given to his brother in the Peninsula, and
was succeeded by Castlereagh. In April Sidmouth became president of the
council in place of Camden, who remained in the cabinet without office;
and in the next month