upon them from their Tory enemies and their Radical
friends; but they were in a scrape, and had, in fact, got the
country into a scrape too, and their duty now was to take that
course which on the whole seemed to promise the best results,
whatever it might personally cost them and to whatever reproaches
they might render themselves liable. If they were satisfied that
no other Government would at present be formed, and that the Irish
Church question could be settled in no other way, they ought to
swallow the pill. He said he thought they were not indisposed to
face the obloquy, if it must be so, and that all depended upon the
conduct of the Lords, and upon their affording the Government a
decent pretext for taking the Bill. I asked how. He said that what
he thought of was this--earnestly conjuring me not to commit him
and his friends by saying he had suggested any such thing (which
satisfied me that it was not only his own idea, but that of others
also belonging to the Government)--that last year the Lords had
thrown out the Bill, because the appropriation clause being a
money clause, they could not touch it, but that now this objection
was removed as to form, and they were at liberty to cut it out if
they pleased, and return the Bill without it to the Commons; that
if they would at the same time pass a resolution declaring that if
any surplus was reported such surplus should be at the disposal of
Parliament, without expressing any opinion as to the way in which
Parliament should deal with it, this, he thought, would be
sufficient to enable the Whigs _salvo honore_ to take the Bill;
neither party would be compromised or committed to anything at
variance with the principles they had already professed, and the
alteration in the state of the question produced by the discovery
of that legal process to which the clergy had had recourse would,
together with such a resolution, be a sufficient warrant to them
to pass the Bill. I told him that I would not commit him, and I
would endeavour (if I had an opportunity) to ascertain if there
was any chance of the Lords taking such a course, to which I could
see no objection.

Petworth, July 24th, 1836 {p.356}

[Page Head: THE MINISTRY IN DIFFICULTIES.]

Came here yesterday from Hillingdon, the day before from London.
In the morning (Friday) there was a meeting of the Ministerialists
at the Foreign Office; called by Lord John Russell, to talk to
them about the Church Bill. After