prince. He was to be debarred from
conferring peerages except on the king's issue of full age; from
granting reversions or any office or pension except during pleasure, and
from disposing of the king's property; and the charge of the king's
person and the management of the household were to be in the queen's
hands. These restrictions were based on the idea that the king would
speedily recover; if his illness was prolonged they were to be open to
revision by parliament. The prince promised to accept the regency, and
stated his objections to the restrictions. The existence of the
government seemed drawing to an end. Pitt was extremely popular, and the
London merchants, expecting that he would soon be driven from office,
offered him a gift of L100,000, which he declined to accept. Before he
could bring the restrictions before the commons, the speaker, Cornwall,
died, and on January 5, 1789, William Wyndham Grenville, joint-paymaster
of the forces, was elected in his place. A fresh examination of the
physicians was urged by the opposition. Willis told the committee that
good progress was made; Dr. Warren's account was less favourable. Willis
was represented by the prince's party as a charlatan, and Warren was
pitted against him as the doctor of the opposition. After this delay
Pitt laid the restrictions before the house as resolutions. They
certainly impaired the power of the executive, and would have weakened
any ministry appointed by the regent. No exact date was fixed for their
duration, and it is conceivable that, after the regency had lasted for
some years, the upper house would have refused to remove the restriction
as to the creation of peers, and would, as in 1719, have attempted to
limit their number by withholding from the regent a part of the royal
prerogative. And as the management of the household would have placed a
patronage of over L80,000 a year[218] at the disposal of the queen, who
was hostile to Fox, a court influence might have been established in
favour of Pitt and adverse to the new ministry. The queen was accused of
intrigue and violently attacked by the opposition press. Fox urged his
objections to the resolutions with much force, but they were adopted by
both houses, and on the 31st the prince accepted the offer of the
regency made by the lords and commons on those terms, on the
understanding that the restrictions were temporary.

His party was in high glee; medals were struck to commemorate his
r