The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-12 00:00:00

i

formed, although Some dissimilitude of opinion,
on minor points, might exist—the great principles
of.. it.tortial and external policy being agreed
upon. On the Orders in Council, and the
policy pursued by this country towards America, it
was considered better when the negociation was corn.
mewed, not to come to any decision, as the details
were intricate and complicated, but to decide only I
en those great measures with which the parties were
most immeAiately connected, leaving other points to
future arragement and discussion. The Right Hon.
Gent. then read sevel al documents, which had been
omitted by Mr. Ponsonby, and observed, that see-
ing the faieness with which the proposition had been
made, and deeply lamenting its failure, he felt it his
duty to offer his humble services to the Prince Re-
i‘eit. It had been repeatedly asserted, that his
Royal Highness had interposed the question of the
Household, and thereby caused the failure. This
was most unfounded, as he would speedily and sa-
tisfactorily prove. airing the commission the Earl
of Moira had from the Prince Regent, he men-
tioned that the llouse:lold interfered, most ma-
terially interfered, with the negociation between
his Lordship and the two Noble Lords (Grey. and 1
Grenville). The Prince Regent, with that magna-
'limity which he ale ays possessed, said, " If my
Household is in iie way of public good, I
give it up to their discretion."—On which the No-
ble Earl returned for answer, " My Prince,
I can never consent to it, for I think you have al-
ready given up sufficient."—[blear!]—This state-
ment he (Mr. Canning) thought was due not only to
his Royal Highness, bit to the Noble Lerd (Moira),
and another Noble Lord (Yarmouth) who had made
*a statement, that the Household would resign, if .it
was necessary for the country's welfare. When
speaking of my Lords Grey and Grenville, he said,
their integrity and talents were_great ; but it was a
question for the House and country to consider,
whoteer the great preponderance of aristocracy or
weight of landed property should go before ability ?
[Hear, hear!]—This was a kind of argument that
that great man, Mr. Burke, said, was right ; but he
could not see why wealth should go before ability.—
Pear, heart]—Being olSliged to enter into a detail,
he thought it his duty to give the explanation he had.
It was not his intention to vote on this question, for
which reason he would ask liberty to withdraw.—
[The Right Hon. Gent. withdrew for a few minutes,
and returned, on which he and Mr. Ponsonby mu-
tually explained.]
Mr. 'II HaNEY began by stating that the Right
Hon. Gentleman who spoke last appeired to him
from his speech to have entered on the late negocia-
lions with warm, and, as he believed, unfounded
prejudices against the high connections which existed
amongst his friends. It was hard to accuse his
Friends of being unreasonable in their demands, after
the Marquis Wellesley had stated in a letter to Earl
Grey that he had not been able to procure authority
to explain what he meant. [Hear, hcar!l Then,
as to the propositions of Lord Moira, and the accu-
sation against his Noble Friends of damping the
hopes oT the country, and depriving it of their ser-
vices ut a time when they were so necessary; they
bad thought it fair to as% in the outset, whether the
Noble Fed had powers to agree to the usual changes
in the Officers of the Household,—the usual changes,
be repeated, and not a change of the whole House-
hold, nor any thing like It. Theanswer of the Noble
Earl was, that his powers were unrestricted; but on
public grounds he could not agree to this. Then
they mid a new piece of information.—The conver-
sation between Lott! Meira and the Prince. If he
bad been in the situation of Lord Moira, the plan
which tie should have thought most proper to adopt,
could have been to have read the minute of the con.
versation het ween him and the persons to whom he had
applied, and then leave it to the Regent to judge
of it; but Lord Moira, certainly not, he should think,
in the theatrical manlier of the Right Hon. Gentle-
man, asked the Prince witether, if he proposed to
him to remove any of the officers of his Household,
he would agree to it. His Royal Highness replied,
every one of them. Upon which the Noble Earl was
stated to have said, then not one of them shall be re-
moved. He defied the annals of the world to pro-
duce any such termination of a negociation as this.
When the Prince was ready to grant more than was
required—when every thing was settled—instead of
going back and saying I am happy to be able to in-
form yon that all difficulties are removed—a difficulty
is immediately started, and the Noble Lord said,
then not one of them shall be removed. But sup-
pose, as the Noble Lord had that night stated their
intentions. to have been, some of the members of
the Household had said we will go? If Lords Grey
and Grenville had known what the Noble Lord
(Yarmouth) had that night stated respecting the
Household, would this difficulty have occurred? There
wouel have been no difficulty on this point ; and some
other trick or dt vice must have been found to prevent
the formation of the Administration. [Hear! Lear!,]
It was not Lords .Grey and Grenville who had
brolvii dr. the negociation, but Lord Moira. The
Right totLGentleinan had said, there- were difficul-
ties in the way'not to be overcome; but he (Mr. Tie-
rney) said, that after the explanations which they had
heard that night, there were none. The business
might be settled to-morrow. If Lords Grey and
Grenville had been in the room during the conversa-
tion at Carlton House, the difficulty would have been
at an end; and some other difficulty must have been
conjured up to get rid of the Administration. The
country wished for a combined Administration. The
general principles on• which powerful parties could
combine, had been agreed upon. The only difficulty
that stood in the way had now been done away ; and
why did they not go on to form the new Administra-
tion ?—But then, they must first get rid of the old
one. To this the Members of the old one were na-
turally averse. They would be happy, they said, to get
an accession of' strength; but then the question was,
who was to go out ? Very glad to see you, they said,
but can't ask you to sit down : there are no chairs. [A
laugh.) But if they could make room they might very
well say, our's is the most convenient Cabinet in the
world for you to join: we care nothing about your
principles; this is liberty hall ; every one may do. as
he pleases : for the basis of our Cabineris, that we
are to have no Cabinet measure at all. [Hear, hear!
ant( a,langlq All this might be very pleasant, but
what would the country think of it? Were the
Centinons to 04 back the same Ministry, even

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