hood to the Government of the country. The King had indeed, very early after the general question had engaged his attention, admitted this opinion, and he has never ceased to entertain it and to feel persuaded that it would tend more than any other measure to the peace and tranquillity of a country so long distracted.

His Majesty also concurs with Earl Grey in considering the present a very propitious moment for introducing such an arrangement; and he doubts whether the Orange party would be found adverse to it (namely to rendering the Catholic clergy stipendiary and dependent on the Government) provided security may be shown to be thereby given to the existence and the maintenance of the Protestant clergy, which, in His Majesty's opinion, could not fail to be one of its effects. The idea is not new; it has often been suggested and canvassed, and has found advocates in the ranks of the most strenuous Protestants.

The King cannot conclude this long letter without repeating to Earl Grey that he will be glad of an early opportunity of conversing on all these important subjects with him.

No. 293.

WILLIAM R.

Sir H. Taylor to Earl Grey.

(Private.) Brighton, Dec. 22, 1831. My dear Lord, The King having determined that his letter to your Lordship should reply to that which you addressed to him on the 19th, and that which

I had the honour of receiving with it yesterday morning of the same date, and having noticed every part of it, there remains for me to trouble your Lordship with little more than the acknowledgment of them.

His Majesty has received, in the most friendly spirit, every remark which you have made upon the embarrassment which may result from the Archbishop's disclosure of His Majesty's sentiments on the metropolitan representation, and I have no doubt they will have the effect of producing greater caution, though he does not apprehend that, in this instance, the communication of his opinion will prove injurious. His Majesty has however entrusted me to communicate with the Bishop of Worcester, when he comes here for Christmas, and I shall not scruple to introduce His Majesty's opinion, that the opponents of the Bill ought to suffer it to go into Committee, in such terms as will not only have the desired effect on him, but induce him to convey it to others. Indeed the King's sentiments on this point are very decided, and have been unequivocally expressed.

There is only one other point on which I need touch, and I do so with His Majesty's full sanction. Your Lordship is aware that I was private Secretary to King George the Third, when the correspondence took place with the Administration of which you were a member, on the Catholic question, and I was of course privy to all that passed (His Majesty being blind), and had opportunities of learning his sentiments not consigned to paper. I am almost confident that he more than once said that he should not object to a proposition for giving a stipend to the Roman Catholic clergy, and

that he observed that no better expedient could be found for reducing the influence of the Pope in Ireland, and for transferring their dependence to the Government from which they would derive the means of support. I have heard the late Duke of York express the same opinion, and the King assures me that the late Mr. Perceval had frequently stated it to him as an arrangement which he should be glad to effect.

I have, &c.

H. TAYLOR.

No. 294.

Earl Grey to Sir H. Taylor.

East Sheen, Dec. 24, 1831.

My dear Sir, I cannot send the enclosed letter to the King without adding a word to thank you for yours of the same date with that which I received yesterday from His Majesty.

The kindness and confidence expressed by His Majesty is more like that of a friend to an equal, than that of a Sovereign to a subject, and I never can be sufficiently grateful for it.

It is my intention to wait on His Majesty the week after next, say Tuesday the 3rd of January, if it should be convenient to His Majesty. We shall then have a full opportunity of discussing all the difficulties of the present crisis, and I will only say at present that I have not yet seen sufficient symptoms of conversion to encourage me to entertain a very sanguine expectation of there being a majority in the House of Lords, in favour of the second reading; and it is a matter for

very serious consideration, whether we shall be justified in carrying the Bill on to that stage, without something like an assurance, that the country would not be exposed to all the disastrous consequences of a second rejection.

What you say of the opinion of George the Third, and of some of the most powerful opponents of the Catholic Relief Bill, would be very consolatory and encouraging, if there were not too much reason to fear that the violent Protestant party, whatever their individual opinions may be, would seize on this or any other measure as a ground for assisting their implacable opposition to the present Administration.

The measure, however, of providing for the Catholic clergy, which, as His Majesty justly observes, is by no means a new idea, and in the expediency of which it has given me the greatest pleasure to learn that His Majesty so entirely concurs, must be attempted, as of indispensable necessity to the peace and safety of Ireland. I am, &c.

GREY.

No. 295.

Earl Grey to the King.

East Sheen, Dec. 24, 1831.

Earl Grey begs leave to acknowledge your Majesty's most gracious and condescending letter of the 22nd, which he had the honour of receiving yesterday evening, and to offer to your Majesty the expression of his sincere and heartfelt gratitude for this new proof of your Majesty's confidence and kindness.

As your Majesty is pleased to allow Earl Grey the honour of waiting on your Majesty, to submit to your Majesty in person the views entertained by his colleagues and himself, of the present situation of affairs as connected more particularly with the Reform Bill, a permission of which Earl Grey hopes to be able to avail himself at the beginning of next month, he will not trouble your Majesty at present with any observations on that subject further than to say, that he will always keep anxiously in view your Majesty's known opinions on every part of this important question; and that he will not even suggest for your Majesty's reconsideration, any proposition which is not in strict accordance with them, except under the conviction of its expediency with a view to the peace and good government of the country. Earl Grey, however, cannot help adding a single word as to the consequences which your Majesty appears particularly to apprehend from the representation of the London districts. By the provisions of the new Bill much has been done in the way of shortening the duration of the poll, and regulating the manner in which it is to be taken in different divisions to prevent the recurrence of disorder and tumult; these regulations may be further assisted by the plan which is in contemplation for granting charters to the different towns which are, in future, to send members to Parliament, and which, subject to such modifications as the particular circumstances of their situation may require, may, Earl Grey thinks, be extended to the metropolitan districts.

It is remarkable, that in the city of London, frequent