To become a part of your administration with the previous knowledge of your unaltered opinions as to the policy of resisting all consideration of the state of the laws affecting his majesty's Roman catholic subjects, would, it is felt, be to lend my self to the defeating of my own declared opinions on that most important question; opinions which are as far as those of any man from being favourable to precipitate and unqualified concession; but which rest on the conviction that it is the duty of the advisers of the crown, with a view to the peace, tranquillity, and strength of the empire, to take that whole question into their early and serious consideration; and earnestly to endeavour to bring it to a final and satisfactory settlement.

With this result of the opinions of those whom I have consulted, my own entirely concurs: and such being the ground of my decision, it is wholly unnecessary to advert to any topics of inferior importance.

After the expressions, however, with which you were charged on the part of all your colleagues, I should not be warranted in omitting to declare, that no objection of a personal sort should have prevented me from uniting with any, or all of them, in the public service, if I could have done so with honour; and if, in my judgment, a cabinet, so constituted in all its parts, could have afforded to the country, under its present great and various difficulties, an adequately efficient administration. I cannot deny myself the satisfaction of adding, that the manner of your communication with me has entirely corresponded with the habits and sentiments of a friendship of so many years; a friendship which our general concur. rence on many great political princi

ples has strengthened, and which our occasional differences have in no degree impaired.

On the public grounds which I have stated, I must entreat you to lay at the feet of the prince regent, together with the warmest expressions of my dutiful attachment to his royal highness, and of my acknowledgment for the favourable opinion which his royal highness has been graciously pleased to entertain of me, my humble but earnest prayer to be excused from accepting office on terms which, by a sacrifice of public character, must render me inefficient for the service of his royal highness's government.

I presume, at the same time, humbly to solicit an audience of the prince regent, for the purpose of explaining in person to his royal highness the grounds of my conduct, on an occasion on which I should be grieved to think, that his royal highness could, for a moment, consider me as wanting either in duty to his royal highness, or in zeal for the public service; and assuring his royal highness that my inability to assist in forwarding his highness's purpose of procuring strength to his administration, on the plan which has been suggested by his royal highness's confidential servants, does not arise from any disposition on my part, to shrink from the encounter of those difficulties which press, at this time, upon the country and upon the crown. I am, &c. (Signed) GEO. CANNING.

No. 5. Explanatory Letter from Lord Liverpool to the Marquis Wellesley.

Fife house, May 19, 1812. My dear Lord,-After the receipt

of the paper which you sent to me in the afternoon of yesterday, I should certainly have felt it to be unnecessary and fruitless to trouble you with any further correspondence, if I were not desirous to correct the misapprehension into which you appear to have fallen respecting my opinions, and those of my colleagues, upon the Roman catholic question.

In the communication which pass ed between us on Sunday, as well as that which I previously had with Mr Canning, I certainly stated my opinions upon the Roman catholic question to remain unchanged, and that I was not aware that those of my colleagues had undergone any change. With repect to myself individually, I must protest against its being inferred from any declaration of mine, that it is, or ever has been, my opinion, that under no circumstances it would be possible to make any alteration in the laws respecting the Roman ca

tholics.

Upon the last occasion on which the subject was discussed in parliament, l'expressly stated that circumstances might arise, in which, in my judgment, some alteration in those laws would be advisable. I have always been desirous of hearing the specific proposition which should explain distinctly, what part of the existing securities it was intended to repeal what part it was intended to -and what were the new securities which it has been so often declared must be substituted in the place of some of those which are at present in force.

preserve

I have never heard any satisfactory explanation on this point.

I will fairly own, that in the present state of the opinions and feelings of the Roman catholics, I do not be

lieve such a project to be practicable, consistently with the attainment of the avowed objects of really satisfying the Roman catholics, and of affording an adequate security to the established church and constitution.

Entertaining this opinion, I have felt it to be my duty to continue to resist parliamentary enquiry on that subject, which, in my judgment, could be productive of no other effect than that of alarming the protestants on the one hand, and deluding and deceiving the Roman catholics on the other.

With respect to the opinions of my colleagues, there are some who entirely agree with me in the view which I have taken of this question; but I am sure it must be known to you from discussions at which you have been present, that there are others who have always entertained and avowed different opinions from those professed by me, upon some parts of this subject.

You must recollect that considera. tions of a very high importance, but which might be only temporary in their nature, induced us all, up to a very late period, to be decidedly of opinion that it was not proper, that under such circumstances the measure should be entertained.

You may be of opinion that since the month of February last these considerations have ceased to be in force; but they are still regarded by others as not having lost their weight. Besides the consideration to which I have referred, the conduct and temper which the Roman catholics have been induced to manifest, the prin ciple upon which the question has been brought forward, the circum, stances of Europe at this time, give rise to objections which are felt in a

--

greater or less degree by different per

sons.

I have thought this explanation due to my colleagues and to myself. In one point we are all agreed, that this is not the moment at which the question ought to be entertained with a view to any immediate practical consequence. I am aware, that in this sense of our duty, our opinions may be at variance with your's; but it is material that these opinions should not be misunderstood, or subject to the interpretation to which my silence might render them liable, if I had not returned some answer to that part of your paper.

Upon the subject of the manner in which the war in the peninsula has been managed, I forbear entering into any particulars at present; but I think it material to observe, with respect to my declaration, that since your resignation it had been found practicable to make some extension of the military efforts in the peninsula, that this has not arisen from any means which were in existence at the time when you were in office, and which there had been then any indisposition or objection to direct to that object, but it has grown out of events which have subsequently occurred, and which may place at the disposal of government, means which were at that time unavoidably applied to another service.

As this letter is merely explanatory, I will not give you the trouble of returning any answer to it; but I am sure you will see the justice and propriety of considering it as a part of the correspondence which has passed between us on the subject to which it relates.

I am, &c. (Signed) LIVERPOOL. Marquis Wellesley, K. G.

No. 6.

Copy of Lord Wellesley's Reply to Lord Liverpool's Explanatory Letter of the 19th May, 1812,

Apsley House, May 21, 1812. My dear Lord,-Although you have had the goodness to dispense with my returning any answer to your letter of the 19th inst. some further observations on my part may, perhaps, contribute to promote the professed object of that letter, by explaining and correcting whatever may ap pear doubtful or erroneous in the course of our recent correspondence.

When you informed me, that your opinion upon the claims of the Roman catholics remained unchanged, and that you were not aware of any change in the opinion of your colleagues on that subject, I certainly concluded, that the policy which has been pursued during the present session of parliament, would be continued by the new cabinet. Subsequent reflection satisfies me, that such a conclusion was just and reasonable; nor can I admit, that I have fallen into any misapprehension of that system of policy, when I have described it as consisting, not only in the denial of any present relief to the Roman catholics, but even a peremptory refusal to consider the state of the law which affects their civil conditior.

Whatever may be the different character or complexion of the opinions of the several members of the present cabinet, the practical result has been to pursue the course which I have described, during the present session of parliament; and your explanation on this point closes with an admission that you are all agreed to continue the same policy in the pre

sent moment.

No suggestion is made of the time

r circumstances, in which any alteration of this system of policy can be expected; no prospect is afforded of any conciliatory proceeding, which might tend to open the way to an amicable settlement; and, while a desire of hearing specific propositions of security is professed, the very consideration of the question is denied to parliament, and is not pursued by any other authority.

This statement is no misapprehension of the tenor of your explanatory letter; and in such a state of the practical consequences of the united councils of the present cabinet, it may be deemed superfluous to analyze individual sentiments.

This task (however useless with regard to present practice) is requi、 red from me, by the strong protest which you have made against any inference to be drawn from any decla. ration of your's" that it is, or ever has been, your opinion, that under no circumstances it would be possible to make any alteration in the laws respecting the Roman catholics." To this protest, you have added an assurance, "That upon the last occasion, on which the subject was discussed in parliament, you expressly stated that circumstances might arise in which, in your judgment, some alteration in those laws would be advisable."

I confess freely to you, that I had always understood your recorded opinion on this subject in a very different sense: I had supposed, that you considered the disabilities imposed by statute upon the Roman catholics, not as temporal and occasional securities, against a temporal and occasional danger, but as an integral and permanent part of the constitution in church and state, established at the Revolution.

In this opinion, I had always un

derstood, that several of the principal members of the present cabinet concurred with you; and that you felt, in common, an apprehension, that the removal of any important part of this system of restraint would endanger the foundations of the establishment of our laws, liberties, and religion.

Viewing in this light your sentiments, and those of the respectable persons to whom I refer, I am persuaded that I shall not be suspected of intending to cast any reflection upon the honour or honesty of those principles, or of the persons who maintain them.

I have ever considered those principles to be pure and honest in the minds in which I supposed them to reside; and, while I gave full credit to their sincerity, I lamented their erroneous foundation and dangerous tendency.

I must further declare, that from some accident, I did not hear the statement in parliament to which you refer, as having been made by you, on the last occasion in the House of Lords.

I now, however, understand your opinion to be, that circumstances may arise, in which, in your judgment, some alteration would be advisable in the laws affecting the Roman catholics.

I should be desirous of urging the same enquiry respecting circumstances, which you have made respecting securities; and I should be anxious to hear the specific statement of all, or any of those circumstances, under which you would advise any alteration in the laws respecting the Koman catholics.

The explanation which you require respecting securities, is attainable only by a full consideration and discus

sion of the whole subject; and I therefore view the declared intention of resisting the first step towards such a discussion, as an effectual barrier against that explanation, which you consider to be the necessary preliminary to any alteration of the existing

statutes.

The details of your reasoning on this part of the question render the prospect of any settlement utterly hopeless. You require a change in the state of the opinions, feelings, conduct and temper of the Roman catholics, as a preliminary, even to the consideration of the causes of their complaints. But is it possible to expect effectual change in the temper of the Roman catholic body, while you refuse even to enquire into the nature of their grievances?

The repeated rejection of their claim, without any other deliberation than that which has arisen on the mere question of taking the petition into consideration, is not a course of proceeding calculated to mitigate the severity of disappointment.

Reason and moderation must appear in our consideration of their prayer, if we hope to infuse those qualities into their proceedings.

You require, also, a change in the circumstances of Europe.-Ignorant of the events which may have furnished any hope of such a change, since I had the honour of a share in his royal highness's councils, I must consider the determination to delay this interesting question, until Europe shall have assumed a new aspect, as a virtual negative upon the substance of the claim; and I feel this point with a greater degree of pain because I am convinced, that the continuance of Ireland in her present condition, must protract, if not perpetuate, the

present unhappy condition of Eu

rope.

But, until these preliminaries shall have been established, you declare, that it will be your duty to resist parliamentary enquiry, which, in your judgment, could be productive of no other effect, than " to alarm the protestants, and to delude the Roman catholics." At the same time, you offer no hope, that the means of relief will be opened by any other authori ty.

I cannot understand through what channel of reason or passion, the protestants should be alarmed, or the catholics deluded, by a full and fair consideration of the state of the laws affecting the latter body. Indeed, I cannot conceive any proceeding so likely to remove alarm, and prevent delusion, as that which appears to you likely to create both.

On the other hand, I apprehend much more danger, both of alarm and of delusion, from any system of measures to be founded on the general and indistinct terms, in which you state, that " circumstances may arise, in which some alteration in the laws would be advisable."

You refer to considerations of a "very high importance," which, until a very late period of time, have precluded the executive government and parliament from entertaining this measure; and you suggest, that in the opinion of some persons, these considerations have not lost their weight.

I presume, that you refer to the sentiments of the most exalted and venerable authority in these realms, on the claims of his majesty's Roman catholic subjects.

As your letter seems to bear some reference to the course of my