The Earl of Winchilseafelt, that he should not be acting with that courtesy towards the noble Earl at the head of his Majesty's Government which that noble Earl deserved, and which he begged to assure the noble Earl, with perfect sincerity, he individually entertained for him, on account of the consistency of his public life, although he differed from him warmly upon many questions—he felt that he should not act with proper courtesy to the noble Earl if he allowed what had lately appeared in public in connexion with his name to pass without affording him an opportunity to give an explanation to their Lordships. The matter to which he alluded was a statement made in the other House of Parliament to the effect, that a letter had been written to the noble Earl by a noble Marquess holding the office of Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, recommending the abolition and destruction of the Church Establishment in that country. He thought it right and courteous to the noble Earl to give him an opportunity of stating that he had not received such a letter. If the noble Earl should call upon him (the Earl of Winchilsea) to say, in the first instance, whether he believed that such a letter had ever been written to him, he should honestly avow, that he did not believe it possible. Although there had been many acts in the official conduct of the noble Marquess in question from which he dis- 411 sented, yet he did not believe the noble Marquess capable of writing such a letter. But, if the noble Marquess had written such a letter, he was sure the noble Earl had not given it the slightest attention. He believed, the letter which had been sent forth to the world through the public prints, in consequence of what had occurred in the other House, to be a gross fabrication of that party of agitators in Ireland, whose object was to make the Protestant patty in that country dissatisfied and distrustful of his Majesty's Government, in order the more effectually to effect their own traitorous projects of separation. Having succeeded in organizing the Catholics, they thought they had now only to stir up the Protestants to hostility to the Government to succeed in their objects; and they sought to do this by disseminating, that the Government were preparing to subvert the Established Church in that country. No one who had noticed the noble Earl's frequent declaration of attachment to the Established Church, could for one moment believe, that he was capable of lending himself to such a plan. If he had wanted a proof of the noble Earl's sincerity upon that point, he should have found it in the answer he lately gave to the body of Dissenters who had waited upon him, wherein he warned them, that if they persevered in the course they were pursuing, they would give just ground of suspicion that they entertained the expectations which their enemies imputed to them. No one act of the noble Earl's Administration had diffused more general satisfaction than that. He (the Earl of Winchilsea) thanked the noble Earl for his firmness upon that occasion. He hoped the noble Earl would not think him wanting in courtesy in the course he had taken. The statement which had gone forth had been made, he firmly believed, for the most mischievous and dangerous purposes, to further the ends of a party hostile to the interests of both countries. If that statement should be allowed to remain unanswered, it would be productive of great pain to the friends of the Church.
§ Earl Greycertainly had not to complain of any want of courtesy on the part of the noble Earl in the course which he had pursued, seeing that he had given him notice of his intention; but he must express his surprise, after the flattering manner in which 412 the noble Earl had spoken of him, and after what had passed no longer ago than yesterday in another place, that the noble Earl should have thought it necessary to put this question. The noble Earl had stated, that a letter had been referred td in the other House of Parliament which, if true, would have shown that a proposal had been made by the noble individual who lately occupied the important situation of Lord-lieutenant of Ireland which recommended, to use the noble Earl's own words, nothing short of the abolition and destruction of the Established Church in that country. The noble Earl had given him credit for sincerity in the professions which he had made of his anxiety to support the Church, and his resolution and determination to maintain it inviolate. Giving him that credit, he thought the noble Earl, without any answer from him, might have concluded that no such proposition could have been made to him from any one holding a high and important situation in the State, without immediately causing a separation between that individual and himself. He had, however, no hesitation in stating, that no proposition recommending the abolition and destruction of the Established Church in Ireland had been made to him; and he was sure, that no such proposition was made to any other person by the noble Marquess who was lately at the head of his Majesty's Government in Ireland. He must, however, at the same time admit that a letter was written to him of the date stated in another place, a letter perfectly consistent with the duty of the noble person referred to, pointing out to him (Earl Grey), for communication to the Cabinet, the views which that noble person had adopted with respect to the situation of Ireland, and pointing out what appeared to him to be the best means of removing those evils under which that unhappy country had so long suffered. That letter, he must observe, was of the most confidential nature. When it was referred to in another place, no intimation was given of the time at which it was written. His noble friend (Lord Althorp) after that statement had been made, questioned him (Earl Grey) as to his recollection of such a letter having been addressed to him. His answer was, that with respect to the particular expressions to which his noble friend referred, he had no recollection of them. Some difficulty was experienced 413 in ascertaining whether any letter had been written; but the date having been ascertained, reference was made to the voluminous correspondence which he had with the noble Marquess while he was Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and a letter—that to which he supposed allusion had been made—was found. Now that letter was one which he thought it was the duty of the noble Marquess to write; because in that communication he stated his views of questions concerning Ireland which were then under the consideration of his Majesty's Government. But, he repeated, it was a letter strictly and entirely confidential, to be communicated only to his Majesty's Ministers, and which had reference solely to the momentous questions which were then under their consideration. Having stated this, he thought he had stated enough to show to their Lordships, that it was a letter to which no public reference could fairly be made; and he would add, that it could only have been produced to the public by a most foul and scandalous violation of confidence. It was not for him to state how the person getting possession of such a letter, the character of which was most evidently confidential, could satisfy himself as to the propriety of making it public. Speaking of his own notions of the obligations of honour, he should say that, if a letter came into his possession bearing the character, as that letter did, of a confidential communication, he should have thought himself precluded from making use of it, unless he had the sanction of the individual by whom it was written, or of him to whom it was addressed. But when he said this, let not the House suppose, that there was anything in that letter discreditable to the noble Marquess. It was a letter which ought not to have been publicly produced, because it was furnished to assist deliberations in the Cabinet, which led to measures that were afterwards brought before Parliament; and whether those measures went further, or fell short of the advice given in that communication, was a matter of no importance. They all knew that men's opinions were frequently altered and modified before they agreed on settled and specific plans of policy. He should say, that, whether the measures that had been brought forward went further or fell short of the advice that had been given, was not a matter of interest to the public. It was 414 enough to say, that the measures which Government had afterwards proposed had received the sanction of the Legislature. He knew very well, that of those measures the noble Earl entertained an opinion very different from his. All he would say was, that these measures were framed and brought forward in a spirit of sincerity and truth. They were not intended for the abolition and destruction of the Established Church;—no; they were adopted as the best means for protecting and supporting that Establishment, which he was sure all of their Lordships wished to preserve. It was not necessary for him to say more. He was certain, that their Lordships would not countenance a precedent so inconvenient,—he would say, so dangerous,—to any set of Ministers, as to sanction the production of documents which were only intended for deliberation in the Cabinet, pending the introduction of measures before the Legislature. He called on their Lordships to judge of Ministers by their actions and measures alone; and he was sure, that the noble Earl, acting upon the principle of candour and fairness which he had professed, would agree with him in saying, that such a question as this could never have arisen unless the most dishonourable conduct had been pursued,—unless the grossest breach of faith had been perpetrated in some quarter or another. That the noble Marquess, to whom reference had been made, had written a letter—a confidential letter—was true, but that that communication had been disclosed by him to another party nobody would, for a moment, believe. The information alluded to must have been obtained by the foulest and most treacherous abuse of public confidence of which any example could by possibility be found. He could not sit down without again stating how utterly at variance with every notion and principle of honour he should hold, in the execution of his private duty, or his public duty in that House, the introduction, for any purpose whatever, of a confidential communication.
The Earl of Winchilseasaid, he agreed with the noble Earl entirely in his opinion, that the publication of this letter was a most treacherous act. He, however, had only done his duty; and he felt gratified in giving the noble Earl an opportunity of making so satisfactory an explanation.