STATE PAPERS. 



361 



No. 3. 

 Lord Melville's Letter to 

 Canning, May 23rd. 



Mr. 



Park Lane, May 23rd, 1812. 

 Dear C'atining, — You will pro- 

 bably have received to-night from 

 Lord Liverpool, the answer to the 

 proposal which you left with him 

 and commnnicated to me this af- 

 ternoon. Having stated to you 

 my strong repugnance, or rather 

 my decided objection, under pre- 

 sent circumstuiices, to join an ad- 

 ministration of which Lord Wel- 

 lesley was to be the head, it might 

 be sufficient for me to refer to 

 Lord Liverpool's reply, more espe- 

 cially as 1 do not wish to enter into 

 any detailed reasoning on a ques- 

 tion relating to a matter of per- 

 sonal feeling. 1 think it due, how- 

 ever, to you, as well as to myself, 

 to state distinctly, that I have no 

 objection to act with an adminis- 

 tration formed on the two princi- 

 ples mentioned in your memoran- 

 dum ; though 1 think it improbable 

 that any consideration, which the 

 government can give to the sub- 

 ject of the restrictions on the 

 Roman Catholics, will enable it to 

 propo:<e such a system as will 

 wholly satisfy their claims, and 

 at the same time afford that degree 

 of security to the Protestant esta- 

 blishment, which is generally felt 

 to be necessary. — 1 remain, &c. 



Melville. 



No. 4. 

 Minute of a Communication made 

 by Lord Wellesley to Lords 

 Grey and Grenville, at Lord 

 Grey's house, May 23rd. 



Lord Wellesley stated, that he 

 had received the commands of his 



royal highness the Prince Regent, 

 to lay before his Royal Highness 

 the plan of such an administra- 

 tion as he (Lord Wellesley) might 

 deem adapted to the present crisis 

 of affairs. 



That he had apprised his Royal 

 Highness of the necessity of ascer- 

 taining the views and dispositions 

 of all parties with regard to cer- 

 tain general principles previously 

 to the formation of any such 

 plan. 



That he considered liimself 

 merely as the instrument of exe- 

 cuting his Royal Highness's com- 

 mands on this occasion, and that 

 he neither claimed nor desired for 

 himself any station in the admi- 

 nistration which it was in his 

 Royal Highuess's contemplation to 

 form. 



Under these circumstances, he 

 requested to know whether any 

 obstacle existed to the concurrence 

 of Lords Grey and Grenville, or 

 their friends, in the following ge- 

 neral principles, as the basis upon 

 which an administration might be 

 formed. 



First, That the state of the laws 

 affecting the Roman Catholics, and 

 the claims of that body of his 

 Majesty's subjects, should be taken 

 into immediate consideration, with 

 a view to a conciliatory adjustment 

 of those claims. 



Secondly, That the war in 

 the Peninsula should be prose- 

 cuted on a scale of adequate 

 vigour. 



Lord Wellesley stated, that, as 

 Mr. Canning and he agreed in 

 these principles, he had requested 

 Mr. Canning to communicate them 

 to Lord Liverpool. 



Lord Wellesley has reduced the 

 substance of this communication 



to 



