would have resulted to him. He knew it had been said that that noble lord was of all others the most capable of managing the house of Commons, so as to conduct the business of a government there with satisfaction to the country. He certainly had a happy and peculiar knack of managing the present house of Commons. His mode of management was a new mode, one adopted at considerable risk; it consisted simply in constant concession. Even with regard to this coercion bill he still pursued the same mode-namely, concession. Government should not have made such concession, when after the fullest consideration they brought in this bill, stating that it was necessary for the support of the government of Ireland; they should not have been afraid to have sent it down to the house of Commons. He was sure that if the house of Commons truly represented the feelings and opinions of the country, it would not have rejected such a bill. But the noble lord's mode of management, on the contrary, was to give way to the hon. member for Dublin, point after point, and to raise the latter higher and higher every day in the opinion of the people of Ireland. All these occurrences, it appeared, or it was said, had arisen from a change of opinion in the lord-lieutenant of Ireland; it was, therefore, desira ble to know, since the lord-lieutenant had stated in the first instance, the necessity of re-enacting those clauses, what had afterwards caused at any period a change in his opinion on the subject. If the bill which now stood for a third reading was persevered in, of course no one would call for this correspondence. But as the measure was to be altered, and avowedly, too, VOL. LXXVI.

in consequence of the disclosures made with regard to this corre spondence, their lordships, before they were called upon to consent to such a measure, would have a right to see what that correspondence was. On the 15th of April the lord-lieutenant wrote to the effect that this bill was absolutely necessary, and it appeared that he was now of the same opinion. They were told, however, that, in some communications which had taken place in the interval, he had exbibited a wavering of mind on the subject, contained in a letter of 21st June. On the production of the measure brought forward by earl Grey, no steps had been taken upon the letter, and there was no reason for calling for it. But their lordships were now in a different position, a new bill was brought forward, founded on the letter of the 21st of June, which it was therefore necessary to lay before the house.

The minister, who conducted the business of the government in the house of Commons, had said, that he could have fought the bill as it stood, till it was discovered that there existed a wavering of opinion on the part of the lord-lieutenant of Ireland; therefore it was evident that the foundation of the altered measure consisted in that letter, the production of which was absolutely necessary. Such a communication could not be justly called a private communication. It was the more necessary to have the letter on the table, in as much as earl Grey had stated, that it was written in consequence of a communication made by a person connected with the government to the marquis Wellesley, referring to the state of things in this [K]

country, and the difficulties of government here.

Lord Melbourne admitted, that lord Wharncliffe had given a fair and candid statement of the facts, but denied the comments with which he had accompanied them, and the inferences which he had deduced from them. It was true that the chancellor of the exchequer had authorized the communication to Mr. O'Connell of the fact that the particular clauses to be introduced into the new coercion bill had not yet been finally determined, but he had not authorized a communication to the greater extent to which it had unfortunately been carried. Those members of the cabinet; who were opposed to the clauses in question, yielded to the majority, so that the statement was perfectly accurate that the bill had been brought in with the concurrence of the whole cabinet and with the assent of the lord-lieutenant, his excellency having declared himself ready to carry on the government of the country, in whatever shape the bill was renewed. Under these circumstances, the chancellor of the exchequer met the house of Commons, when he found Mr. O'Connell in possession not merely of the communication which had been authorized, but of the substance of the lord-lieutenant's letter, and of the fact that the lord-lieutenant did not think the clauses against public meetings essential to the tranquillity of Ireland. Lord Althorp thereupon resigned; but the only difficulty, which had brought him to this resolution, consisted in the difficulty of maintaining the clauses in question under the knowledge then communicated that the Irish government did not think them necessary.

That difficulty had now been removed; and such being the case, lord Althorp owed it to the king and to the country, under the peculiar difficulties of the present crisis, to return to office. As to the abandonment of the original bill, he confessed he had never deliberated on any subject on which he found it more difficult to come to a satisfactory conclusion in regard to the best mode of proceeding; but ministers had adopted that which they thought the wisest, because the most fair and candid. If they had persisted in the bill as originally introduced, they would have been asked, on the third reading, whether their colleagues were prepared to support it in the other house; and they must have answered, No, and confessed that they were willing to press on the Lords a bill which they could not press in the Commons.

To the production of the lordlieutenant's letter he would not consent, and even if he were willing, he had it not to produce. It was a private confidential letter addressed to the prime minister, with whom the lord-lieutenant holds no official correspondence, and not to the secretary for Ireland with whom it was usual for him to have such correspondence. No reason had been stated to justify so great and so novel a violation of principle, which would break in upon the secrecy of confidential communication, shackle and impair the security of all future correspondence between ministers, and set a precedent inconvenient in the highest degree to the public service. Considering the course which ministers had now resolved to follow, nothing could be more advantageous to them than the production of the

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completely justify their conduct; but they would not, for the sake of that advantage, set a bad example. Nay, what power had the house to enforce its production, or to what office in the state would they apply for it? Whereever such an application was directed, the answer would be, have no such document in our possession;" so entirely and strictly was it a private communication. He himself had never seen the original, but only an extract from it. Lord Ellenborough remarked very justly that Lord Melbourne's assumption of the chancellor of the exchequer having authorized the communication to Mr. O'Connell only of the fact that the question was still under consideration, while Mr. Littleton had gone the further length of communicating likewisethe lord-lieutenant's letter, was inconsistent with dates and facts, on which no doubt had as yet been thrown. It appeared from the statement of the Irish secretary that his communication to the member for Dublin took place on the 20th of June. At that time, lord Althorp could not authorize him to mention that the question was still undecided, and under consideration, because there was nothing requiring consideration, or that could be the subject of decision; for earl Grey had informed them that, until he received the lord-lieutenant's letter on the 23rd, he had no reason to suppose that any difference of opinion existed among the members of the cabinet. If there had been previous differences, they had all, by that time, been cleared away; for, by that time, the prime minister had given instructions to the attorney-general to draw up the

Mr. Littleton have communicated to Mr. O'Connell on the 20th, the substance of the lord-lieutenant's letter, for that letter was not written till the 21st, and not received till the 23rd. The substance, however, might have been communicated in this sense, viz. that persons, who had been previously in communication with his excellency, might have reason to conjecture to what opinion he was likely to be brought, and might thus be able to state by anticipation the purport of a despatch which they expected, and the contents of which they had themselves been instrumental in creating.

He

Earl Grey himself repeated that a communication had been made to lord Wellesley, without his knowledge, which led to the letter of the 21st of June, to the subsequent difference of opinion, and to all the other consequences of the transaction. would answer for it, that, till he received the lord-lieutenant's letter on the 23rd of June, he had no idea whatever that any difference would arise, the bill having been agreed to, with the omission of only the court-martial clauses. It was on the 19th, that he had given instructions to the attorneygeneral to frame the bill, a circumstance which he recollected from his having made the communication to the attorney-general at the drawing-room which was held on that day. Earl Grey further stated that he blamed nobody; that he was convinced every thing had been done with the best and purest intentions; and that he had himself counselled lord Althorp to continue in office with the re-constructed ministry, as an act of duty to his sovereign and to the country, what

ever share of obloquy and misrepresentation he might incur. As to the letter, it was a private letter, addressed to himself. It was in his possession: no person had a right to call for it; and he would not give it up without the sanction of the noble marquis who had written it. It was said, however, that this letter was made the foundation of a public measure, of the new bill. He did not understand it to be so. The clauses had been abandoned, not on account of that letter, which was in the possession of ministers before the first bill, was brought in, but because the disclosure of the contents of that letter had rendered it impossible to carry those clauses through the house of Commons, an alteration which he deeply regretted, thinking, as he did, that these clauses formed the most valuable part of the bill. Lord Wharncliffe withdrew his motion.

In the house of Commons, lord Althorp announced, on the 17th of July, that he still continued to be chancellor of the exchequer, but admitted that he could not pretend that the new government had as great claims on the confidence of the house and of the country, as when earl Grey had been its head. He had himself remained in office under the new minister, because he had always concurred with him on every subject brought under the consideration of the former cabinet, because his majesty had been pleased

nor

to request the continuance of his services, and because he had been urgently advised to do so by earl Grey himself, whose retirement from office he well knew had been occasioned by his own resignation. The principles of the government of earl Grey would still be adhered to. The administration, while feeling it their duty not to submit to the legislature any propositions which could be productive of danger to the institutions of the country, would take care to see those institutions placed in such a situation as would be neither more less than adequate for the purposes in view, and would carry forward such reasonable but effectual reforms as the people had a right to expect in consequence of reform in parliament. Mr. O'Connell was extremely well pleased. He considered from the appointment of lord Duncannon to the home office, that ministers intended honestly and fairly to do Ireland right, and administer justice impartially. He expressed his heartfelt satisfaction at the prospect of a coercion bill being introduced, which, retaining the clauses that gave government the power of proclaiming disturbed districts, would not hinder the free expression of public opinion. He would cheerfully support it; he would give every assistance to the protection of persons and property, or to any means of preventing agrarian disturbances.

N the 18th of July, lord Al

sions of the existing measure than

in a bill to continue and amend the coercion act. He explained it to be the intention of government to re-enact only those parts of the bill which referred to the proclaiming of districts. The lord-lieutenant would have power to proclaim any district which he might think necessary; and, in these districts, any meeting, not convened by the high sheriff of the county, or with his sanction, would be held to be illegal. No person would be allowed to leave his home between sunset and sunrise, except on lawful business; and constables would have power to make people show themselves at any hour of the night, when they might call at their houses. The bill would endure only till the 1st of August 1835. He scarcely thought, that it would be necessary to assign to a house of Commons any other reason for not proposing to re-enact the remaining provi

pared to hold themselves responsible for the security of Ireland without such powers, such powers ought not to be forced upon them. He admitted, however, that the true reason was, the knowledge which parliament had obtained, that the Irish government did not think the provisions in question necessary; but on the source of that opinion in the Irish government he threw no further light, except that the letter of the lordlieutenant stated, that although agitation had prevailed throughout the country during the winter, there had been no attempts at disturbance for several weeks; that this opinion was expressed in consequence of communications made by "a member of the government in this country;" that the lord-lieutenant was then asked whether he still thought the whole of the bill absolutely necessary; to which he answered, that if, in the