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Perceval be procured. The expense of the campaign of 1809 had been underestimated, and the poor results of the war raised a strong opposition to its continuance. Perceval doggedly insisted that it must go on. Although his steady debating skill carried the government on in the House of Commons till the prorogation on 21 June 1810, its position remained very critical. They had depended on the followers of Lord Sidmouth and of Canning; but Bathurst had deserted early in the session, and Canning toward its close. Perceval vainly applied to Lord Sidmouth and to Lord Castlereagh to take office under him. In September Canning intimated that no assistance of this sort was to be looked for from him. In October the king went out of his mind again, and, his recovery being uncertain, the ministry found itself face to face with the difficult question of a regency, a question none the less embarrassing in that Perceval's own relations with the Prince of Wales were strained; he had been the princess's counsel and her warm supporter in 1806 (see, Life of Eldon, p. 117; , Memoirs, ii. 165; Edinburgh Review, cxxxv. 29). On 20 Dec. Perceval introduced resolutions in the House of Commons identical with those of 1788. Again the whigs contended for the indefeasible right of the Prince of Wales to be regent. Perceval steadily adhered to the former precedent, and proposed to bind the regent by the same restrictions as before. The Prince of Wales and his brothers protested against them in writing. But Perceval was immovable. He introduced his scheme into the House of Commons on 31 Dec., and was immediately involved in a life-and-death struggle with his opponents. Yet, in spite of the opposition of Canning, the first three resolutions were carried, but only by majorities of twenty-four, sixteen, and nineteen in a full house. The fifth resolution, which gave the household and the custody of the king's person to the queen, came on for debate on 1 Jan. 1811. Canning, Castlereagh, Wilberforce, and others supported the opposition's amendment, and the government was defeated by thirteen, in spite of a speech which showed Perceval's personal superiority in debate over all his opponents; nor did he succeed in restoring his own form of the resolution on the report stage. The Regency Bill eventually passed the House of Lords substantially unchanged.

Before the Prince of Wales assumed the regency he had prepared a list of new ministers whom he intended to supplant Perceval and his colleagues. Lord Grey, upon whom he proposed to confer a chief place in the contemplated administration, made it a condition that the prince should cease to consult his friends—Sheridan and Lord Moira in particular—on political affairs. The negotiation consequently proved abortive. It seemed likely, too, that the king might recover, and it was abundantly clear that as soon as he recovered he would dismiss Perceval's supplanters. Accordingly the regent made no change in the ministry. He disingenuously informed Perceval on 4 Feb. that he was only restrained from doing so by his fear of interfering with the king's recovery by anything so agitating as a change of government.

On 12 Feb. 1811 a session of parliament opened. The demands upon the budget were enormous. Perceval proposed a grant of 2,100,000l. for Portugal; acceded to the recommendation of the select committee on commercial credit that 6,000,000l. should be advanced to the manufacturers who were suffering from the over-speculation of previous years; and, when Horner proposed resolutions in favour of the resumption of cash payments, strenuously and successfully resisted them. In July the bill making bank-notes legal tender was passed, avowedly because gold was so appreciated that for currency purposes it was unprocurable, while bank-notes were worth but eighty per cent. of their face value. It is clear that Perceval, if no worse, was no better a financier than his contemporaries, and knew no difference between financial right and financial wrong.

Perceval's position was now secure. The prince's personal friends were voting for the government, and that by their master's desire. His tenacity and perseverance had carried him through a struggle in which he seemed foredoomed to failure. He had no rivals among his opponents whom he needed to fear. His only foes were in the cabinet. Lord Wellesley and he could not work together. To Wellesley Perceval seemed to be starving the Peninsular war; to Perceval Wellesley appeared prejudiced and extravagant. During the autumn of 1811 communications passed between Wellesley and the regent with a view to a change of policy and of ministry. It was assumed that, when the regency restrictions expired early in 1812, the prince would place Wellesley at the head of the administration. The prince wanted money, and Lord Wellesley was apparently prepared to concede what Perceval would certainly refuse. Wellesley dissented from the cabinet's decision as to the regent's future allowance, and placed his resignation in Perceval's hands. The danger, however, passed away. Wellesley was replaced by Castle-