Council of Regency

“ The Lords therefore thought it right to take the settlement of the kingdom into their own hands. At a great council it was determined to form a Council of Regency, drawn from all orders represented in Parliament, to assist the great officers of the crown. The dangers which beset the country induced all parties for a time to rally honestly round the throne. The royal princes, who might become party leaders, were on [243] that account excluded from the Council. The national party again gained the majority in the Commons, and again elected De la Mare as their Speaker. ”

“ But though no one was invested with the office of regent, a council of twelve was named by the prelates and peers at the king's coronation, July 16, 1377, without whose concurrence no public measure was to be carried into effect. I have mentioned in another place the modifications introduced from time to time by parliament, which might itself be deemed a great council of regency during the first years of Richard. ”

“ The parent of the infant sovereign, Prince Albert, was appointed Regent, with the cordial approval of the nation; the dissent of the Queen's uncle, the Duke of Sussex who, with a very misplaced ambition, urged instead the appointment of a Council of Regency, of which he hoped to become the most influential member, only serving to make the unanimity of the rest of the Parliament more conspicuous. ”

“ The Regent saw the necessity of firmness. “It is a maxim,” he declared, “that the king is always a major as regards justice; that which was done without the states-general has no need of their intervention to be undone.” The decree of the council of regency, based on the same principles, suppressed the right of succession to the crown, and cut short all pretensions on the part of the legitimatized princes’ issue to the rank of princes of the blood ”

“ In his will, Louis XIV. had named the Duc de Bourbon a member of the Council of Regency, as soon as he should reach the age of twenty-four; but on the death of le Grand Monarque, his wishes were immediately set aside, and the Regent, the Duc d’Orléans, proceeded to appoint the Council himself, with Monsieur le Duc as its president. ”

“ They were these: that the Regency should be vested in the Prince, with the power of freely choosing his Ministers, unrestrained by any Council. He had declined, and begged still to decline, to detail the other powers, because the House might reject his opinions as to its right to deliberate on the present crisis. If he gained its approval, he would be honoured by the Prince’s permission to state to him the opinions which, after due inquiry, Ministers were able to form on the further proposals that might be submitted to Parliament. ”

“ If a Regent or a member of the Councilof Regency, appointed in accordance with article 50, dies or is prevented by any circumstances from performing his duties as Regent or as a member of the Council of Regency, the Council of Ministers may with the consent of Parliament appoint another person to replace him, in accordance with the provisions of articles 51, 53 and 54. ”

“ Two King's messengers go from the Secretary of State's Office daily to Windsor, and return to London, as they have been accustomed to do for a number of years past. The messenger who arrives at noon brings a daily account of the King's health to the Prince Regent, and the Members of the Queen's Council.—His Majesty has never been left since his afflicting malady, without one of the Royal Family being in the Castle, and a member of the Queen's Council, appointed under the Regency Act. ”

“ If the Khedive has not provided for a Regency during his life, one will be formed of the persons who may at the time be at the head of the departments of the Interior, of War, of Finance, of Foreign Affairs, of the Council of Justice, of the Army, and of the General Inspection. They shall proceed to the nomination of a Regent in the following manner. These different Chiefs of the Administration shall elect the Regent from among themselves ”

“ The Speaker was answered in a long deduction by the Attorney-General, and by Charles Yorke, who said, that on the first Regency Bill after the Revolution, ten Judges had given their opinions that the regal power may be both delegated and divided. Lord Strange asked shrewdly, “If it was probable that there would be no dissensions in the Council of Regency, which was to be composed of the present Ministry? Survey them ”

“ They were dying of hunger, were over head and ears in debt, had fallen into utter contempt, and our affairs were suffering accordingly.
The council of the regency, let me say here, was composed of the following persons: M. le Duc d’Orleans, M. le Duc, the Duc du Maine, the Comte de Toulouse, Voysin the Chancellor, myself—since I must name myself,—Marechal de Villeroy, Marechal d’Harcourt, Marechal de Besons, the Late Bishop of Troyes, and Torcy, with a right to vote; with La Vrilliere, who kept the register, and Pontchartrain, both without the right to vote. ”

“ The present Ministers will form provisionally the Council of the Government. The interest which I take in my Son induces me to invite the Chamber to form the Regency by a law without delay.
Unite all for the public safety, in order to remain an independent Nation. ”

“ The king shall be of age after having completed eighteen years. Should the king die before the heir of the crown has attained this age, the government shall be conducted by the council of state, acting with regal power and authority, in the name of the king, until the estates of the realm shall have appointed a provisional government or regency; and the council of state is enjoined strictly to conform to the enactments of this constitution. ”

“ Article XXV.—When a Regent, or one who should become such, is suffering from an incurable disease of mind or body, or when any other weighty cause exists therefor, the order of the Regency may be changed, with the advice of the Imperial Family Council and that of the Privy Council. ”

“ And when the King in the first case emerge from minority, in the second come to complete health, in the third return from captivity, the Regency shall tender him account of its deeds and answer to the nation for the time of its office, even as is prescribed of the council of Guardians at every ordinary Sejm, in their own persons and property. ”

“ So, in default of any other recognized authority, the Lord Chancellor, and the Speaker, took the lead in their different assemblies, and, after vainly trying to find out how they should act, an Order in Council cut the Gordian Knot, adjourning Parliament to the 29th of November, a decision which was confirmed in the House of Commons by a majority of 285. When they again met, they, after discoursing of the King, set to work to concoct a Regency. ”

“ Towards eight o’clock in the morning a messenger from M. le Duc d’Orleans came to remind me of the Regency Council at eight o’clock, and to attend it in my mantle. I dressed myself in black, because I had only that suit with a mantle, and another, a magnificent one in cloth of gold, which I did not wish to wear lest it should cause the remark to be made, though much out of season, that I wished to insult the Parliament and M. du Maine. I took two gentlemen with me in my coach, and I went in order to witness all that was to take place. ”

“ A decree was passed by which all power was taken from the hands of M. du Maine and placed in those of the Regent, with the right of placing whom he pleased in the council; of dismissing anybody as it should seem good to him; and of doing all he might think fit respecting the form to be given to the government; authority over public affairs, nevertheless, to remain with the council, and decision to be taken by the plurality of votes, the vote of the Regent to count double in case of equal division ”

“ On the death of the duke, however, he became a member of the Regency Council, and devoted himself with energy and success to the reorganization of the state. In the departments of education, state-religion, agriculture and commerce, his administration was uniformly successful, and he became in a real sense the head of the state. ”

“ The hubbub which followed his entrance, and which lasted until his Majesty and all who accompanied him were in their places, was another singularity. Everybody sought to penetrate the Regent, the Keeper of the Seals, and the principal personages. The departure of the bastards from the cabinet of the Council had redoubled attention, but everybody did not know of that departure; now everybody perceived their absence. The consternation of the Marechals—of their senior— (the governor of the King) was evident. ”

“ This resolution was carried in full council. The Regent hoped that the Parliamentary men, accustomed to the comfort of their Paris homes, and to the society there of their wives; children, and friends, would soon grow tired of being separated from them, and of the extra expense they would be put to, and would give in. I agreed to the project, although I saw, alas! that by this exile the Parliament would be punished, but would be neither conciliated nor tamed into submission. To make matters worse, Blois was given up, and Pontoise was substituted for it! ”

“ The powers of regent may not be conferred upon two or more persons jointly, and during the continuance of a regency no changes may be made in the constitution. [748] If by chance the throne should fall wholly vacant, the choice of a sovereign would devolve upon the legislative chambers, specially re-elected for the purpose, and deliberating in joint session. The civil list of the crown is fixed at the beginning of a reign. ”

“ They are carefully educated for the highest public duties. Year by year those deemed fitter for less important offices are drafted off. There remain at last the very few who are thought competent to the functions of Regent or Camptâ, and from among these the Sovereign himself selects at pleasure his own successor and the occupant of any vacant Regency. ”

“ The Regency as appointed by the Prince in the midst of hurry and confusion, was as lame a Government as could well be, mostly all old superannuated Generals, who had never seen an enemy, or lawyers, who if they knew anything of the jurisprudence of their country, are entirely ignorant of Politics and Finance. ”

“ In the event of the King being under age, the King's father or mother or, in default thereof, the oldest relative of legal age who is nearest in succession to the Crown, according to the order established in the Constitution, shall immediately assume the office of Regent, which shall exercise during the King's minority. 2. If the King becomes unfit for the exercise of his authority, and this incapacity is recognized by the Cortes Generales, the Crown Prince shall immediately assume the Regency, if he is of age. ”

“ Should the Prince upon whom the regency devolves be still in his minority and this duty pass to a more distant relative, the regent who actually takes office shall continue in the same until the King becomes of age. ”

“ In Great Britain, on the contrary, the practice has been to make provision for each such contingency when it should arise. A regency can be created and a regent designated only by act of Parliament. Parliamentary enactments, however, become operative only upon receiving the assent of the crown, and it has sometimes happened that the sovereign for whom a regent was required to be appointed was incapable of performing any governmental act. ”

“ On the 5th of February the Lords and Commons had their final conference over the Regency Bill, they agreed to the interpolation of two words "and Commons," and the thing was all but finished. It only wanted what was done immediately afterwards, the Royal Commissioners to give the Royal Assent, the Deputy Clerk of the Crown to read the title of the Act, the Clerk Assistant of the Parliaments to utter the words "Le Roi le veult"—and the Prince of Wales was de facto Regent. ”

“ The Regent shall not have power to assent to any Bill for changing the order of succession to the Crown or for repealing or altering an Act of the fifth year of the reign of Queen Anne made in Scotland entitled “An Act for Securing the Protestant Religion and Presbyterian Church Government.”
Guardianship, &c. of Sovereign during Regency. 5. ”

“ Whereas Your Majesty, by Your Majesty’s Royal Message to both Houses of Parliament, has recommended that Parliament should review the provision made for the delegation of royal functions to Counsellors of State in the event of the Sovereign's illness or absence or intended absence from the United Kingdom, and should consider whether it be not expedient to make provision far including among such Counsellors the person who is the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the Throne if that person, although not of full age, is of such age that his accession would not necessitate a Regency ”

“ The late Regency, for the present (interinamente) to exercise the executive power; they and the Ministers to be responsible to the Cortes for their conduct in the administration of public affairs and to grant no offices which were not absolutely and indispensably necessary in the actual circumstances of the nation. ”

“ If a Regency becomes necessary under the Regency Act, 1937, on the succession to the Crown of a child of Her Majesty and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh while under the age of eighteen years, His Royal Highness, if living, shall be the Regent. ”