There will certainly be a Levee on the 21st, and I suppose a Drawing-room. I take it for granted some notice will be given to-day in our House of a motion on the papers. As I shall see you so soon, I will add no more.
Yours truly,
W. H. F.
The relations between France and Spain continued to attract very great attention, both in and out of Parliament, and not only were suggestive questions asked of the Government as to this country being bound by treaty to support the Bourbons in France, but the Earl of Liverpool in the House of Lords, and Mr. Canning in the House of Commons, while producing papers illustrating the late negotiations at Vienna, Paris, and Madrid, gave an exposition of affairs that strongly reflected on the conduct of the French Ministers. A still more important debate on the same subject came on on the 24th of April, in which Lord Grenville and the Duke of Buckingham spoke in favour of Ministers.
The question of the Catholic claims came on for discussion in the House of Commons on the 17th of April, but Mr. Plunket went through the usual arguments in favour of the Catholic claims with less than the ordinary amount of success, and the last of these motions of adjournment was carried by 333 to 111. In a subsequent debate, a misunderstanding between Mr. Peel and Mr. Charles Williams Wynn, as to the system on which each considered Ireland was to be governed, threatened serious consequences, according to the following representations:—
THE RIGHT HON. W. H. FREMANTLE TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
East India Office, Ten o'clock.
I have been here from ten, and am going to the Aylesbury Commission, or should have called on you. I met the Duke of Wellington yesterday in the Park, who had been sent to by Lord Liverpool in the morning, to discuss the question regarding Wynn and Peel. He threw the whole blame on Lord Liverpool for not having originally shown the papers to Peel, but said that it could not lead to ultimate quarrels—that Lord Liverpool must interfere, and that he, the Duke, was to see Peel this morning. It appears to me, from the Duke's language, that the discussion and the settlement of the difference must now proceed from Lord Liverpool, as it is the complaint of Peel against him for not being apprised of the terms on which we came into the Government. The Duke appeared to entertain no doubt of settling it amicably, but my object, pressed upon him, was to take care it should be done speedily, and that no public appearance of difference should be manifested in the House of Commons. Probably you have seen the Duke of Wellington before you receive this. A good speech from you in the House of Lords to-night would be more likely to strengthen us and set us right than anything else.
W. H. F.
The Duke of Wellington had never seen the correspondence till yesterday, when shown to him by Lord Liverpool.