Majesty will now touch, lest it should escape him tomorrow, and that is the French occupation of Ancona. He is aware that it has been a subject of regret to His Majesty's Government, and that they would have prevented it if they could have done so; and His Majesty is confident that they will not lose sight of the importance of shortening, as much as possible, the duration of that occupation. He cannot conceal from Earl Grey that he views it with jealousy, as he does every proceeding of France; and that he suspects, in every step France takes, an arrière pensée, at variance with its professions. This appears to him to have been betrayed in this instance as in many others. He is convinced that Captain Gallois and Colonel Combes, whose proceedings were decidedly those of Propagandists and Revolutionists, acted under secret instructions, and that those were issued with the hope that the flame would have been raised by those fire-brands, although, to save appearances, their conduct might be afterwards disavowed by those who directly or indirectly instructed them.

The King agrees with Earl Grey that the present French Government attaches importance to the preservation of peace; but he does not believe that this will secure other States from the attempts of France to disturb their tranquillity, and to sow dissension among

them.

WILLIAM R.

(Private.)

No. 414.

Sir H. Taylor to Earl Grey.

Windsor Castle, April 17, 1832. 12 P.M.

My dear Lord,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of yesterday and this day, and to acquaint you that I have submitted them to the King.

To begin with the most interesting question, I will not deny that I had feared that His Majesty's letter of yesterday would prove very annoying to you, but that I had not anticipated the serious and painful impression it appears to have produced, as I concluded you must have seen His Majesty's letters to Lord Palmerston, which would have satisfied you that His Majesty had not taken up a new ground, or expressed to you feelings which he had concealed from others placed in confidential and responsible situations. I sincerely hope that the letter from the King, which I have the honour to forward to your Lordship with this, will have the effect of removing, in a great measure, the impression previously made, and of satisfying you that the free expression of His Majesty's sentiments does not imply a diminution of confidence. With regard to other distressing symptoms which you have once or twice noticed to me lately, I must observe, as before, that some allowance should be made for the effects of the continued agitation, during fourteen months, of a question which has assumed so many features, and has been the occasion of almost uninterrupted worry, uneasiness, and embarrassment. It is natural that all this should have produced some irritability and impatience;

and during His Majesty's last visit to London, and since his return here, there has been a good deal of nervous excitement, such as I had not observed before, and which I ascribe to the above causes. It is now subsiding, and His Majesty is resuming his usual calmness. These circumstances have, however, contributed to the more direct and more forcible expression of sentiments, which I can assure your Lordship that His Majesty has not ceased to entertain, and has repeatedly uttered to me.

What you say on the subject of the instruction to be moved by Lord Salisbury was very satisfactory to the King, particularly as to the absence of communication between him and Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe. I have, &c. H. TAYLOR.

No. 415.

Earl Grey to Sir H. Taylor.

(Private.) Downing Street, April 18, 1832. My dear Sir Herbert,—I received the King's letter and yours this morning. Having had a conversation with His Majesty after the levee, it is not necessary for me to say anything more in answer to the former. I rest upon the assurance that His Majesty's confidence is not withdrawn ; at the same time I perceived, with considerable pain, both in His Majesty's letter and in what passed in the interview with which he honoured me, symptoms of feelings which it must be to me a cause of deep regret that His Majesty should continue in any degree to entertain.

In stating to me that he had not withdrawn his confidence, His Majesty at the same time expressed, with some warmth, the necessity under which he felt himself of insisting that no instructions relating to Foreign Policy should be sent without his previous concurrence: the repetition of this, after what I had said in my letter to His Majesty on this point, gave me, I confess, considerable pain. I ventured to remind His Majesty that, in no case, had any instructions of importance been sent without their having been previously submitted to His Majesty; that I myself had never acted in any matter of consequence without taking His Majesty's opinion; and that I felt confident His Majesty could not suspect Lord Palmerston, or any member of his Government, of such a breach of duty, as committing His Majesty on any subject of Foreign Policy without authority to do

So.

His Majesty did not dissent from this, and expressed himself as well satisfied with the conduct, not only of Lord Palmerston but of the other two Secretaries of State; but neither in saying this, nor in the long conversation that followed, was there that expression of cordial feeling which I have heretofore experienced in my communications with His Majesty.

I have served His Majesty to the best of my ability, and it will be my pride and my duty to do so as long as my services are agreeable to His Majesty; but the moment His Majesty ceases to regard them with a favourable eye, I trust that he will, with the frankness which has always marked His Majesty's conduct, signify to me the change which may have taken place in his opinion.

The assiduity with which reports of such a change are circulated is really surprising, partly from things caught from conversation, but still more from invention. I cannot help suspecting that some of those who have access to His Majesty's society assist in propagating these reports. I desired Wood to send you an extract from the Standard,' in which His Majesty's altered feelings are alluded to; and for the last two days I have heard nothing but stories of expressions used by His Majesty in his conversations with the Princesses and others, of his being pledged to nothing beyond the second reading of the Bill, and of his being entirely indifferent as to any alterations which may be made in the Committee. It cannot be necessary for me to say that I know all such statements not only to be untrue but to be impossible; but they show the necessity of guarding against even a casual expression, which may be perverted by persons always on the watch for anything that might be represented unfavourably to His Majesty's Government.

The restored confidence of the public by the passing of the second reading will give me much more liberty as to alterations in the Committee; and I am sincerely disposed, for the purpose of conciliation, to adopt any which I can assent to with honour. If the same disposition exists on the part of Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe, I shall have the most sanguine hope of being able to bring this long depending question to a satisfactory termination.

But I have had accounts of communications between Lord Wharncliffe and Lords Lyndhurst and Ellen