The National Register. — London, England, 1812-06-14 00:00:00

360 claims, they inquired whether.or not the contemplated Administration was to be furnished with .a greater extent of authority over the great Officers of die Rousehold than what the former projected Administra - - tion was proposed to have, and which was usually granted in new poli tical arrangements ; to which the Earl of Malta answered, that the Regent had given him no infirmation upon the subject; nor had even hint ed at such a concesssion. Upon this the Noble Lords refused to accept , of any offices in which they would not be permitted the power to give stability to the new arrangements. The consultation closed with mutual expressioneof'regret..To give strength and efficiency to any Government tt was necessary there should be a mutual concurrence and agreement in principles upon which it is framed--next, a geed . understanding with the Crown—and lastly, a good and sound character to each Meth ber composing the Administration, and a countenance of honour, aild a heart of integrity in the eyes of .the people. These qualifications 'only gave strength' and efficiency to a Government. His Noble Friends . had been rashly blamed for hastily breaking up the negociationS, but it was not their blame that they listened to them. If any , blami could be attached, it would be with the Noble Marquis and Earl Moira,.who submitted plans of Governments.. via:twat haying well .weighed the principles of the Constitution.. such principles as were held to be funda mental ,and established firmly at the glorious Revolution. It was a violation of those principles which lost the House of Stuart the Crown. The Right - Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to enumerate the various changes of Administration from 1766 to the present day, in every ohe of which the change of the Officers of the 'Household took, place as a ne cessary part of• the measures of such Administrations. He hoped his Noble ,Friends (Grey and Grenville) stood acquitted from any wish to monopolize poster to themselves; that they stood acquitted of any wish to horethe tezlings of any person whatever, hut, above all, the illustri ous petisbnage s., often alluded to;_ they were incapable of any such motiveir. they had acted; not on private, but public grounds. He en tirely arreed in the Amendment of his Noble Friend (Lord Folke stone) "'m - all parts, at -the same time he did conceive that it contained toe much matter of detail for the House to enter into at present. He was,therefere,readyero vote for the Amendment of Ms other Noble FrientV(Ldrd Milton) ; : which was consistent with the dignity of the Houses,Houses,antrthe princip les of the Constitution. Mr. ilecidetitsr shortly explained. Mr. CA N N . ING declared that his sole object in rising, was to state to theL'House the nature and colou r o f the _ transactions, as he and the Noble Persons with whom lie had &en concerned, understood them. • 'l' he Right Honourable Gentleman had truly stated, that the *object of - the Vote of the House, in the former instance, was to induce the Prince Regent to take measures for providing a strong and efficient Administration—the Right Honourable Gentleman had also rightly stated the characteristics of efficiency and strength in an Administration —but the error into which the Right Honourable Gentleman. appeared to have fallen, was, •that he took it for granted that there was only one way of formingshch an Administration, and that was, to cut short the labour of tlieperson appointed to form the Administration, by leaving him nothing to do but to surrender his commission into the hawk of that man, who cotild command the.grcater number of votes in the House of Commims.-.-(ffear, hear!) —When to Marquis Wellesley the commis, *ion was entrusted to form an Administration, it was iebviously.not tended that she proceeding was to be conducted on' the ground of the greatest numerical following in that House. '1 he view that was enter tained by • Marquis Wellesley and himself upon the subject was cer tainty not, when such a Commission was entrusted to a public nian, that, because lie may-not have a.great numerical following in the House of Commons - , therefore both he anti his coMmissipti should merge in the superior pretensions of those T he may confer with, who may have a greater Parliamentary coming. It was perfectly true that an Administration would be most strong and efficient When formed of Alembers, amongst whom, there could be no canvassing , of princi ples, no clashing oe contradictory opinions- 'of men tined closely by previous consent and cencirrence upon all the great leading fea tures of policy and government-intimately connected by the ties of colifitlenti;il ieterceuree,. • and the habitual attachment to long settled principles—and from this union of private confidence and pub is associetien; to be onanimoue upon all the great measures of State policy upon which they would have to decide. But when he ad mitted this to the Rieht firm. (;entlenian, he admitted a principle which if it were to be a.cteLl'npore, - would render it impossible for anychange of Admi ee,traticua to takeliace iu this:country, hut such as would include only the Right Hon. Gentleman and' his ft - keels. Though such an Ad ministration, if it could he formed, would he the strongest, yet he was of opinion, and in this he concurred With Marquis Wellesley, that an Administration of considerable strength might be formed of public men, who, t hough they might perhaps differ upon questions. of compare. tive I y minor int erest,shourd yet agree upon subjects and measures of vital importance, as connected with the external and internal policy of the em pire. In taking this view of the c ase, therefore, his Noble Friend had selected the two great and prominent. questions which appeared most essentially affecting the highest ituerests of the State. Undoubtedly, there were Imre : . other points. of doubtful policy, upon which a differ ence of opinion inOit prevail, which difference, however, might in dis cussion be accommodated by mutual concession, if not by ami cable and diectual persuasion on either side. Why even the ques tion of the Orders in Council, which had been adverted to by the kion. Gentleman, was one of this descriptions-involving wuch . . . THE NATIONAL REGISTER. JUNE 14. important matterfor consideration, and creating strong if not fundamen. tal differences. , • When they came to consider that topic they foresaw there would be' muck difficulty in adjusting it; the difficulty in all hs discouragenients they did not disguise from themselves, but they did not despair that by candid and liberal discussion it might be sur mounted. If x therefore; it .. sheuld be necessary, that there should be a previous consent upon all points of public policy and principle, it would be absolutely imnssible to torin any Administration. Th e best practical mode then was, to endeavour to obtain a concurrence 'upon some great principles, if it could net be had upon all points pre vious to the formatidn . of an extended Administration. It was under this impression that .Matquis Wellesley and himself had Axed upon the two propositions quoted, as the basis ot the new Government; .the one presenting the great leadisig feature of internal policy—the other laying down the principle of the whole system of eiternalpolicy of the empire. It was Unnecessary fox' him ao'repeat, that the basis contained in these propositions embraced conciliation to the 'Catholics, and an effective prosecution of the war in the Peninsulalrabasiirepors which it was cod. dently hoped that the superstructure of 1 strung united Administration might be formed. The question With 'respect to America, he would not deny, was one which would be very fairly open to discussion. There had been a considerable variance Of circumstances since the Orders in Council had been first entorded, which might require a de liberate' vision of the policy upon which they were founded; and without venturing to state the opinion, which'upon such revision he may entertain upon the subject, he had no . hesitation to state, that he was then •perfectly ready to enter into a'serious and dispassionate con sideration of that whole question. But he felt it necessary here to gtkard himself by adding, that if it had been meant to depart from the principles of the policy on width the Orders in Council were ori ginally issued, or to abandon the assertion of any part of the great maritime rights of the country, that would• have' amounted to a difference which would be vital to the negotiation. With respect to the basis which had -•been suggested, he was most ready to admit, that the proposition had been .met by the Noble Lords' to whom it had been addre3sed in a fair, candid, manly, and consistent manner. The objection they took to the second proposition, he admitted, was just, ai it was not to be dented, that it involved a question ot policy rather than of principle. But the : Right 'Hon. Gentleman must at the tame nine admit, that all that Was asked of them in agreeing to the basis, was to recognise generally the principle of 'continuing the contest instead of withdrawing froth it. 'No man could thrk of suggesting to them to pledge themselves to persevere in a 'contest, whith upon examination, should appear to be hopeless. In the application that.was• made to the Noble Lords, they were left in ful! possession of all their former opi nions as to thespolicy of the war, and collie' on only to take the war as they should now find*, and not to determine against its effectual prosecution till•they should haste satisfied themselves as to its hope lessness. If they had, in the course of the communication, made a point of abandoning the war, that would have at once put an end is the negotiation; but in demanding that the grounds for continuing the War should be considered, they required only that which Marquis Wel• iesley and himself Were p• rfectly ready to concede to them. With as pect to the correspondence which had taken place relative to the basis, as connected with the Catholics, the Right Honourable Gentleman by having read the documents to the House had saved him a g oo d deal ot trouble. The Matter of these documents was so fully before the House, that it would be 'necessary for him to read only a few lines. The Right Hon. Gent. had alluded to the difference noticed by Earl Grey, between the basis proposed by Marquis Wellesley to' that Noble Earl and Lord Grenville, and the propositions communicated by himself (Mr. C.) to 'the Earl of Liverpool. He noticed this point, in order to explain to the House the variance, and the cause of it. .As the Right Honourable' Gentleman had read the minute of Marquis Wellesley, it would not he necessary for him 'to trouble the House by reading it over again. His own minute stated, that it was proposed ,6 to take Into early and serious consideration the state of the laws affecting the Catholics,'with a sincere and earnest desire of an early and sitistactury adjustment of their dame." And on the subject of t he Peninsular war, it proposed, that it should be prosecuted ‘ 4 with the beet means of the country." He mentioned these particulars to mark more strongly the variance pointed out by Earl Grey, which variance arose from thir o circumstance of Marquis Wellesley and hi mself having gone to the respective interviews without having reduced the basis to any written form, which they considered unnecessary, as they had previously, ueoi ts .n full consideration, mutually agreed up on the terms of the basis.k minute he reducz.cf to writing; in the presence of t he Earl of Liverpool; that of Marquis Wellesley bad been written immediately after his 1 - !7 , turn from j!:ari Grey. The fact was, that there was no material Mt- ference between the • two minutes, as would be obvious upon cons!. deration. •It was only' to his term ear:y" for Marqpis Wellesley s term 46 immediate," in the part respecthig toe cohsideratio noon the Ca: tholic claims, and the difference Would Le removed. His te . had reference to the motion, Of which he had given notice on the subject, whilst Marquis 'Wellesley's idea was that the attention of the Adml: mistration should be turned td the subject during the recess, convul s ee ! as he was, that after what had taken place in the course of , the . es a sion, nothing coeld be dune during this Session, bat c,orpu,sion hostile, or•a pledge from an ;imitable Administration. !he next , c! to sideration "was, that the measims of concilation stiould be exteudLder the Catholics OfEnglaud t . and the whole b.; egected zu such a maul I .itisi m .- as to ins Ki ng doi { e rring a; the tt citing al cond pr , the war means. o n whit qtrately Noble / two pet had be' Friend his Nol means. stating distin whicl was li resist had I Nptu able Nubi nicat, Yriuc