Pall Mall, Dec. 20th, 1782.
My dear Brother,
I am still unable to send you any final answer, although I must
confess that I think we approach much nearer to it than we have
done yet.
The Cabinet met yesterday. As I was not quite satisfied with
what I had said the day before on the subject of recognition,
and of the preamble, I thought it better to put a few words to
paper, and to send them to Townshend. I enclose a copy of that
paper and the letter which went with it. They were delivered to
Townshend during the Cabinet. I heard nothing at all from him
last night.
This morning I was surprised and shocked--and I cannot say which
I was most--by seeing in the papers the conversation which had
passed in the House on the subject of Ireland, of which
Fitzpatrick, though it was evidently a concerted thing, had not
thought proper to give me any notice whatever. I immediately
resolved to say something about it in the House to-day.
Accordingly I sent a note to Townshend, desiring to be allowed
to wait upon him in the morning. I told him my intention, and
questioned him upon the subject of the Cabinet. He showed me,
what (he said) was not properly a minute, but a memorandum taken
there. I could not copy that, but as soon as I came home I
endeavoured to recollect it, and believe the enclosed is very
near the words. This I said immediately was only losing time,
and that it was very useless for him to trouble himself with
writing such a despatch, as I would take upon myself to make
your answer to the two points it contained: First, that the bill
you had sent over was drawn expressly to avoid the question of
what _had been_ the right, as it declared only what _is_ now the
right; and that if there was to be any reservation as to its
being now the right, I would only say that this would be the
most disgraced country in Europe. As to the other point, I knew
perfectly that every step you had taken was with a full
knowledge of the circumstances of the case, because I had sent
them over to you myself a few days after my arrival in London.
That being the case, Townshend said he would not write, but
state these things to the Cabinet, which was to meet again
either to-morrow or the next day; I do not positively remember
which. I then stated to him what I meant to say to-day, in which
he acquiesced. He told me General Conway wished to see me, as he
thought that he had struck out an idea which might answer
effectually; and he showed me a few words which were to explain
this idea. They were in the form of a resolution, and went only
to say, that Great Britain had, by the repeal, renounced all
thoughts of exercising any right to make laws to bind Ireland.
You may easily guess the answer which I made to this.
From Townshend I went to Conway. Him I found very strongly
impressed with Lord B.'s ideas about renunciation, complete
satisfaction, and the effect of a declaratory law, and of the
repeal of it, which, he said, left things as they were before. I
combated all this very strongly, and at last got him to
acquiesce in the idea of a recognition, provided that the words
were such as not to imply that England _never had_ the right. I
said that I conceived, as this was merely a point of honour, and
not a reservation of anything to be exercised in future, that
all that Government could desire was to use such words as should
not _necessarily_ imply that the right never existed; that this
was expressly the description of the words in your bill, which
were so drawn as to go only to present right, and yet so as to
be very satisfactory to Ireland. In all this he acquiesced, and
then wished that some notice might be given in the "Dublin
Gazette;" that the cause had only been heard because it was
pending before; and that after the holidays, something
satisfactory would be done. I answered as to the first, that
after the opinion delivered privately by the Chancellor, and in
the House of Commons, as I had understood, by the
Attorney-General, that even a new cause could not be rejected by
the Judges, such a ground would be a very bad one to take. To
this he agreed. As to the other point, I said that it was my
intention to state it in the House of Commons, which I
apprehended would answer nearly the same purpose. He assented to
this also, and so I left him. I then went to the House of
Commons; there I saw Townshend, and asked him what day the
Parliament was to meet after Christmas, because I thought it
would give more solemnity if I gave notice for a particular day,
and moved for a call on that day; and that the earlier it was,
the better it would be. He said they met on the 21st. I proposed
that day, and he agreed. Hartley rose at the same time with me,
and being called to, moved for a call on the 22nd. I then got up
and said, that if I had not been prevented, I was going to have
moved it for the 21st; but I would now trouble the House only to
give notice that on that day a very important business would be
brought before them on the subject of Ireland; that I had
understood that a conversation had taken place the day before on
that subject; that I lamented exceedingly that I had been so
unfortunate as to be absent at that time, because if I had been
there I should have thought it my duty to have stated to the
House, in justice to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, that the
business in question had been submitted by you to the
consideration of Government, and had been in the contemplation
of the King's servants a considerable time before any notice had
been given of a motion to be made upon it by a noble Lord in the
House; that I wished further, in justice to you, to say, that
"there was no man in either kingdom more decidedly of opinion
that the good faith of Great Britain was solemnly pledged to
Ireland, by the repeal of the 6th Geo. I., in the last sessions,
upon the avowed and explained principle of putting an end to
every idea of legislation and jurisdiction over that kingdom;
and that there was no man more eagerly desirous than you, that
that faith so pledged, and upon that principle so explained,
should be religiously adhered to and maintained, as the national
honour and national interest required it should be maintained,
sacred and inviolable."
This brought up Lord Beauchamp, who began by assuring and
protesting that the part he had taken was upon the best motives,
&c., &c. He then went into the question of the writ of error,
how far it could have been rejected, and how useless it was in
Ireland, &c., &c. He then said that it was a point of
parliamentary fairness, that when one person had given notice of
a motion, it should be left to him, and not taken up in the
meantime by any other person.
I answered, that as to the noble Lord's motives, he must do me
the justice to say that _I_ had been perfectly silent on that
head. That with respect to the question about the writ of error,
neither did I conceive this to be a proper time for that
discussion. But that with regard to parliamentary fairness, I
did not imagine that His Majesty's Government would think
themselves justified in postponing so important a question, and
which would have been brought on before the recess if there had
been time, merely because the noble Lord meant to move something
about it at a distant day.
This ended the conversation on the subject; except that I added
that the noble Lord had misunderstood me when he imagined that
_I_ was to move the business on the 21st, as I _apprehended_
that it was the intention of Government to do it.
I cannot help thinking that by this, which has been done
entirely without the concurrence or even knowledge of Lord
Shelburne, we have gained a great point. By giving such a
notice, speaking from the Treasury bench in the hearing of, and
backed by Townshend and Pitt, I have most undoubtedly pledged
Government to do something on that day. If that is short of your
wishes, see in what a situation they stand; if not, you are
landed. In the meantime the notice and the explicit declaration
made in your name must surely be infinitely useful to you in
Ireland.
I wait with great impatience the final decision of the Cabinet.
Conway's expression was, that he conceived there was no
objection to any preamble which had not a retrospect. If we can
convince them that ours has none, or frame one not quite so
strong, but very near it, think what ground we stand upon, in
having obtained something stronger and more advantageous to the
interests of Ireland than any renunciation whatever. "For this
we must thank" Mansfield, who has certainly extricated us from a
scene of considerable difficulty.
If it could be done without great inconvenience to you in
Ireland, I should be very desirous either of coming back here,
in case I get away soon enough, or if not, of staying here till
the 21st; because I am convinced my presence here is of infinite
moment, to prevent their being frightened at the time into any
weakening of the preamble, and to goad them on to do something.
For you see, even in this case, the objection was not so much to
the taking any particular step, as to the doing anything at all;
and when forced to that, and driven from their intrenchments of
indolence and delay, you see how much they are inclined to take
the measures you wish. But this shall be decided by your wishes
on the subject, unless I should set out before I receive them.
I say nothing of the dissolution; I have not, however, lost
sight of that, and will press it to-morrow; but I thought the
other the more important point, having so fine an opening, which
I trust you will think I have not neglected.
D'Ivernois is come. He was with me this morning, and comes again
to-morrow. He says the business goes on at Geneva far better
than he could have expected, owing to the Constitution which the
mediating powers have given them, which appears truly, what he
states it, worse than that of Venice.
Believe me, my dear brother,
Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.