a violent party man, that several Peers had intended. to take an opportunity of declaring their intention of not opposing the Reform Bill in the Committee and in the subsequent stages, but that your speech was so peremptory and unconciliatory that they abandoned their intention.'

I am aware that every communication of this nature must be received with caution; and I am aware also, from what has been further said to me, that those who were disposed to make such a declaration had formed an unreasonable expectation of some communication from your Lordship, which might have afforded an opening, for they state that none had been given, nor any inducement for any Peer to make such a declaration as His Majesty wished.

Under all circumstances, His Majesty has not abandoned the hope that some one may come forward, and others concur, to the effect suggested by him; and he flatters himself that his letter to Lord Mansfield may do some good.

His Majesty has learnt with regret, from your Lordship's letter, that an improper use has been made of the papers communicated to the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst by His Majesty. But His Majesty orders me to observe, upon this point, that he cannot admit that, circumstanced as he was, he was under any obligation not to make such communication to those two Peers as he might consider advisable and necessary. His Majesty had accepted the resignation of your Lordship and your colleagues; and although you continued, at his request, in the discharge of your official functions, His Majesty was avowedly in communica

tion with the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst with respect to the formation of a new Administration. It was natural, it was indispensable, it was due to himself, that His Majesty should put these individuals in possession of the grounds on which he applied to them; and he felt, above all, the necessity of stating to them freely, though with full justice to both parties, what had passed on the subject of a creation of Peers, because the principle on which he had acted, and the honesty of his proceedings on that subject, had been called in question, and had been misrepresented in public print, at public meetings and in other quarters, not excepting even the House of Commons, in a manner which placed his character before his subjects in an odious and a disgraceful light.

The King does not deny having communicated to the Duke of Wellington and to Lord Lyndhurst the fact of the Duke of Richmond having dissented from the advice given to him, to make Peers for the purpose of carrying the Reform Bill; but, upon this subject and many others, he does not believe that he stated any thing to them which was not matter of public notoriety.

The King will await with extreme solicitude the result of your deliberations, and I need not add how anxiously I pray that it may tend to His Majesty's ease and satisfaction.

I have, &c.

H. TAYLOR.

No. 449.

Minute of Cabinet.

May 18, 1832. Your Majesty's servants having been assembled to consider the situation in which they now find themselves, in consequence of what passed last night in the House of Lords, and having before them your Majesty's most gracious letter of this morning to Earl Grey, have agreed to submit to your Majesty as follows:-They beg leave, in the first place, to renew to your Majesty the assurance of their grateful sense of your Majesty's most gracious wish that they should continue in your Majesty's councils; of their anxious desire to do everything in their power for your Majesty's ease and comfort; and, at the same time, of their deep regret that the event of last night's discussion in the House of Lords has not realised the

hope which your Majesty entertained, and which they had cherished, that declarations expected to be made by the chief adversaries of the Reform Bill would have put an end to all fear of its not being carried, unimpaired in its principles and in its essential provisions, and as nearly as possible in its present form.

The first security, therefore, proposed in the Cabinet Minute of the 16th instant having failed, your Majesty's servants see no other possible except the second, which was submitted in the same Minute, viz. ' such a creation of Peers as would afford your Majesty's servants sufficient power to overcome the opposition to the Bill.' An assurance of your Majesty's consent to such a creation,

in the event of any fresh obstacle arising, which should, in the humble judgment of your Majesty's servants, render it necessary for the success of the Bill, would afford to your Majesty's servants the security which, for the public safety, they feel themselves compelled to require as a condition of their continuance in office.

But they feel increased reluctance in pressing it upon your Majesty after the feelings expressed by your Majesty, in terms still stronger than on any former occasion, in your Majesty's most gracious letter of this morning to Earl Grey, terms which have given them more pain because they have formerly had your Majesty's gracious permission to recommend such a creation as might be sufficient to secure the success of the Bill, and your Majesty's specific consent to the number of forty-one Peers.

They beg most humbly to assure your Majesty that nothing could make them indifferent to your Majesty's honour, to your scruples of conscience, and to your future peace; still less could they overlook these considerations from any punctilious adherence to a mere form.

To insure them, on the contrary, there is no personal sacrifice which they would not readily make, provided it could be effectual for that purpose. But in the present state of the public mind, in the actual situation of the country, they are convinced that, whilst all the difficulties which with deep sorrow they now see pressing upon your Majesty would be greatly increased, they themselves would be deprived of all hope of acting usefully for your Majesty's service, either now or hereafter, if they were to continue in your

Majesty's councils without a full and indisputable security, as was expressed in their former Minute and assented to by your Majesty, for insuring the speedy settlement of the Reform Bill in such a manner as would satisfy the just expectations of the public, and put an end to the agitation which now unhappily prevails.

All which, &c.

No. 450.

The King to Earl Grey.

St. James's Palace, May 18, 1832.

The King's mind has been too deeply engaged in the consideration of the circumstances in which this country is placed, and of his own position, to require that His Majesty should hesitate to say, in reply to the Minute of Cabinet left with him this afternoon by Earl Grey and the Lord Chancellor, that it continues to be, as stated in his recent communications to his confidential servants, His Majesty's wish and desire that they remain in his councils.

His Majesty is, therefore, prepared to afford to them the security they require for passing the Reform Bill unimpaired in its principles and in its essential provisions, and as nearly as possible in its present form; and with this view His Majesty authorises Earl Grey, if any obstacle should arise during the further progress of the Bill, to submit to him a creation of Peers to such extent as shall be necessary to enable him to carry the Bill, always bearing in mind that it has been and still