The Regency Bill was read for the first time in
the House of Commons on Wednesday. It provides for the appoint- ment of Queen Mary as Regent in case of the demise of the Crown while the heir to the Throne is under the age of eighteen. The only limitations upon the Royal power of the Regent are that she cannot give the Assent to "any Bill varying the order or course of succession to the Crown as established by the Act of Settlement, or to any Bill for repealing or altering the Act of Uniformity or that part of the Act of Union with Scotland which relates to the estab- lishment of the Presbyterian Church." If the object of these limitations is to prevent any great change in the Constitution of the kingdom from taking place during a Regency, we cannot see why they should not be extended so as to include, for instance, the whole of the Acts of Union with Scotland and Ireland, and also, for the sake of complete security, the Regency Act itself. The naming of Queen Mary as Regent was clearly the right course.
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