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

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. Ifx 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. The
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 good 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 the 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 himself 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 upon the terms of the basis.k
minute he reducz.cf to writing; in the presence of the 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, convulsee !
as he was, that after what had taken place in the course of, the
.esa
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 OfEnglaudt. and the whole b.; egected zu such a maul I

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