ght before the cabinet, and
its members were found to be divided in opinion thereon. The minority,
consisting of Lord Althorp, and Messrs. Grant, Rice, Ellice, and
Abercromby, objected to a renewal of the clauses in question, though
they acquiesced in the determination of the majority, that the bill
should be proposed in the form desired by the premier. On the second
reading of the bill, Lord Durham objected to the clauses regarding
public meetings, when Earl Grey declared his dissent from him to be
absolute; if he could not have proposed the bill with these clauses, he
would not have proposed it at all. Without them, he said, the bill would
be ineffectual, impolitic, and cruel: it would punish the miserable
victims of delusion, and let those escape who supplied to Ireland
the fuel of agitation and disturbance. In these sentiments the
lord-chancellor coincided; the clauses, he said, were as necessary as
any others. Attention must be paid to the cause of excitement, as well
as to the parties excited; the clauses regarding public meetings no
doubt were a suspension of rights; but so were all the other clauses of
the bill, to which no objection had been raised. The second reading of
the bill was carried without any serious opposition, and the committee
was fixed for the 7th of July; but in the meantime disclosures were made
in the commons, which stopped the progress of the bill in its present
shape, and which led to the resignation of Earl Grey.

RESIGNATION OF EARL GREY, ETC.

Instead of meeting O'Connell with bold defiance, Mr. Littleton, the
Irish secretary, had committed the fatal error of secretly negotiating
with him, soothing him, and even entrusting him with the views and
determinations of the cabinet, giving him assurances, or encouraging
expectations, for which he had no authority. He seems to have expected
some communication from the lord-lieutenant regarding the omission of
the clauses; and he resolved, before the ministers or the cabinet had
made any decision known to him, to communicate to O'Connell, under the
seal of secrecy and confidence, the sentiments of the Irish government,
and to communicate it as ensuring a similar determination on the part
of government. He spoke of the propriety of acting thus to Lord Althorp,
who said that he saw no harm in it; but, at the same time, entreated him
to use extreme caution in his communication, and by no means to commit
himself in what he said. Under these cir