No. 302. Minute of Cabinet. Jan. 7, 1832. At a Meeting of your Majesty's servants at the Foreign Office on Saturday, January 7, The Lord President, PRESENT: The Viscount Althorp, Mr. Grant, Earl Grey laid before them the Minute of the Conversation which he had the honour of having with your Majesty on Wednesday the 4th inst., and the observations which your Majesty had been pleased to make on that conversation. Your Majesty's servants, deeply sensible of the condescending kindness of your Majesty, in receiving so graciously the communication which, with their concurrence, Earl Grey had made to your Majesty, beg to express their acknowledgment of the enlightened and paternal sentiments of your Majesty on the present very difficult state of public affairs, and their entire adoption of your Majesty's opinion of the necessity of resisting any proceedings which may tend to the establishment of a dangerous and unconstitutional control over the Government, which would be equally fatal to the efficiency of the executive power, and to the independence of the Legislature. With respect to the particular object of their present deliberation, after repeating their sincere gratitude for the disposition shown by your Majesty to receive with favour such advice as, in conformity with the views already explained to your Majesty by Earl Grey, they may find it necessary, in the execution of their duty, to tender to your Majesty, they humbly hope that your Majesty will allow them to defer submitting their final opinion on the best manner of acting with respect to this important matter, till they can have the assistance of the Lord Chancellor at another meeting of your Majesty's servants early in the ensuing week. All which, &c. No. 303. Earl Grey to Sir H. Taylor. East Sheen, Jan. 8, 1832. My dear Sir,-My report of what had passed between His Majesty and me in the conversation with which he honoured me at Brighton, and the statement of His Majesty's feelings and opinions on the very important subjects which it had been my duty to lay before him, were received by the Cabinet with all the feelings of respect and gratitude which this new proof of confidence and kindness must necessarily inspire. In the deliberation which followed, and which turned, of course, upon the same topics which had before occupied the King's servants, nothing material occurred which at all altered the views I had before had the honour of explaining to His Majesty; or which could make it necessary for me to trouble His Majesty further at present. We confined ourselves, therefore, to the mere expression of our deep sense of His Majesty's gracious disposition, and our readiness to second His Majesty's just and beneficent views, in resisting any dangerous encroachments on the power of the Crown, or the independence of the Legislature; and I am sanguine in my expectation and belief that the settlement of the Reform question, if we are fortunate enough to effect it in a satisfactory way, will furnish to the Government more effectual means for this purpose than it has for some time possessed. Various and concurrent information from different quarters strongly confirms what I have already told you, of the determination of the leaders of the Opposition to resist the new Bill as they did the last; and I have nothing more encouraging to hold out, than I had when I had the pleasure of seeing you at Brighton, except that in an interview which I had after the Cabinet with Lord Somers, he unequivocally declared his intention of supporting the Bill on the second reading, and probably throughout, though he reserved the right of considering any alterations that may be proposed in the Committee. His chief difficulty, indeed the only one that he specified, was with respect to metropolitan districts; and even as to these, after discussing this point with him, he did not seem to have finally made up his mind. Accounts from Ireland, and more particularly a letter from the Attorney-General to Mr. Stanley, encourage a belief, which I believe I expressed to you at Brighton, that Mr. O'Connell's late campaign has been, in a great degree, a failure. I send herewith, according to His Majesty's desire, copies of the lists of Peers, and the minute of my con versation with His Majesty. The lists will probably require some revision, with a view to a proper selection of names from them. I write to-day to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to get everything prepared with as little delay as possible for issuing the Proclamation for the Fast, which can only be done by His Majesty in Council. There will be, I understand, a Recorder's report; and it will also be necessary to hold a Council for appointing the new Sheriffs, which, according to what I learnt yesterday from the Lord President, cannot be till the end of the month, or at least not before the 22nd. It would be desirable to expedite all these matters at once, if it can be done, to save His Majesty the trouble of two journeys, which may be done by postponing the day of the fast till a later period in February, it being usual, as the Clerk of the Council informs me, to have the Fast generally six weeks, but never less than a month, after the issuing of the Proclamation. I am, &c. GREY. No. 304. Sir H. Taylor to Earl Grey. (Private.) Brighton, Jan. 9, 1832. My dear Lord,-I have had the honour of submitting your Lordship's letter of yesterday to the King, who was much gratified by learning that your report of what passed here between you and him, and the communication of his feelings and opinions, had been so well received by your colleagues. The general ex pression of the sentiments of the Cabinet as being in unison with his own, upon points to which your Lordship observed that His Majesty's feelings were most anxiously directed (as indeed they have not since for a moment ceased to be), has also proved very satisfactory to His Majesty, and will, I hope, tend to quiet the apprehensions he had admitted. It is to be lamented that nothing has yet occurred to remove the impression that the leaders of the Opposition are determined to resist the new Bill; but it would seem that they are much divided as to the character and extent of their opposition, and the grounds upon which to rest it; and His Majesty cannot but build a hope upon this circumstance, as well as upon the occasional intimation of a friendly disposition of some of them, Lord Somers for instance, that the necessity for resorting to the measure, which he believes to be not less repugnant to your feelings than it is to his own, will become daily less urgent. The King has learnt with pleasure, that a recent letter from the Attorney-General of Ireland to Mr. Stanley and other accounts confirm the belief you expressed here, that Mr. O'Connell is losing ground. His Majesty will be quite ready to go to London for a Council whenever it may be required, but it certainly would be a matter of convenience if the Proclamation for the Fast, the Recorder's report, and the appointment of the new Sheriffs, could all be brought forward on the same day. I have, &c. H. TAYLOR. P. S.-I have troubled your Lordship with a separate letter on the subject of a conversation held yesterday with Lord Wharncliffe. |