No. 442.

The King to Earl Grey.

St. James's Palace, May 17, 1832.

The King transmits to Earl Grey the copy of a communication which has been made by his order to the Duke of Wellington and many other Peers; and acquaints him that, in the event of the declaration being made in the House of Lords which is therein suggested, Earl Grey is authorised by His Majesty to state to the House of Lords, that His Majesty has been pleased to express his desire that Earl Grey and his colleagues should continue in his Councils.

WILLIAM R.

(Enclosure.)

Sir H. Taylor to the Duke of Wellington.

St. James's Palace, May 17, 1832.

My dear Lord Duke, I have received the King's commands to acquaint your Grace, that all difficulties and obstacles to the arrangement in progress will be removed by a declaration in the House of Lords this day, from a sufficient number of Peers, that, in consequence of the present state of things, they have come to the resolution of dropping their further opposition to the Reform Bill, so that it may pass, as nearly as possible, in its present form.

Should your Grace agree to this, as he hopes you

will, His Majesty requests you will communicate on the subject with Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Ellenborough, and any other Peers who may be disposed to concur with you.

I have, &c.

H. TAYLOR.

N.B. In the letters to other Peers the introduction is 'With reference to what has passed between His Majesty and Y. R. H. or Y. L.,' and the last paragraph is omitted, the letter ending with the words 'present form.'

No. 443.

Memorandum from Sir H. Taylor.

May 17, 1832.

The King is prepared to take steps to obtain from Peers a declaration in the House that, in consequence of the present state of things, they have come to the resolution of dropping their further opposition to the Reform Bill, and will therefore absent themselves from the discussion, so that it may pass without delay; and that the King may be relieved from being again advised. to exercise his prerogative in an extensive creation of Peers for the purpose of carrying the Bill.

His Majesty has ordered me to add an autograph list of Peers who have declared to him personally their intention not further to oppose the Reform Bill, if His Majesty shall be thereby relieved from the necessity of making Peers for the purpose of carrying the Bill as it now stands; and His Majesty is prepared to communi

cate to them his wish to that effect, before the House of Lords meets this day.

H. TAYLOR.

No. 444.

Earl Grey to the King.

Downing Street, May 17, 1832.

Earl Grey presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has the honour of acknowledging your Majesty's most gracious letter of this day, authorising him, if the declaration expected to be made by the opposers of the Reform Bill should prove satisfactory, to announce your Majesty's desire that he and his colleagues should continue in your Majesty's Councils.

He also has the honour of enclosing, for your Majesty's information, a list of Peers present, and of the speakers in the debate in the House of Lords this evening.

He is sorry to inform your Majesty that nothing could be more unsatisfactory or embarrassing. The Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst opened the discussion in two speeches of extreme violence, which seemed to be made less with a view to the explanation of their own conduct, than for the purpose of attacking the conduct of your Majesty's present servants. They were followed, in speeches of extreme virulence, by Lords Carnarvon, Mansfield, Winchelsea, and Haddington; and the debate ended without any declaration of the nature which Lord Grey had been taught to expect,

by the communication which he had the honour of receiving from your Majesty this morning.

This rendered it impossible for him to say more than that the communication which he had the honour of receiving from your Majesty on Wednesday last had yet produced no decisive result, and places him and his colleagues in a situation of extreme embarrassment, which must be the subject of consideration in a Cabinet summoned for to-morrow at twelve, the result of which Earl Grey will have the honour of communicating to your Majesty.

All which, &c.

GREY.

No. 445.

Earl Grey to Sir H. Taylor.

(Private.) Downing Street, May 17, 1832. My dear Sir Herbert,-I have not yet recovered my astonishment at what has passed in the House of Lords to-night. It was in vain that I endeavoured to prevent irritation by answering in a very mitigated tone, not to say tamely, two extremely violent speeches from the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst, in the hope that the expected declaration would come at last. They were followed by speeches still more bitter from Lord Mansfield, Lord Carnarvon, Lord Haddington, and others, but not a word of any declaration of abstaining from opposition. They got up in a body at the end of Lord Carnarvon's speech, and left the House; which was, I suppose, intended as a secession, but without any declaration of an intention to let the Bill

pass, so that they are at liberty to return in force whenever they may see a favourable opportunity for striking a blow.

This leaves us in a situation of extreme embarrassment; we have no security against their re-appearing in force at any moment; and they are evidently combined, and determined to exert their united efforts to overthrow the Administration if it remains in our hands, whenever they may see an opening for an attack: in short, we remain entirely at their mercy. As the Peers were leaving the House, Lord Strangford said to somebody near him, 'You see Sir H. Taylor's famous letter did no good.'

In these circumstances I see no resource but our reverting to the Minute which was delivered to the King by the Lord Chancellor and me at Windsor. But this will be the subject of our deliberation in the Cabinet, which is to meet at twelve to-morrow.

It is evident that a very improper use has been made of the papers communicated to the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst by the King. The Duke of Richmond's dissent was openly stated, and there were other allusions to what had passed between the King and his Ministers.

The best solution of the difficulty would be the formation of a new Administration; and when our resignation is made a charge against us, I should like to know what is to be said of Sir R. Peel's refusal to take office?

I have, &c.

GREY.