oice of the other House of Parliament.

Such is the present state of this question, but how would it have stood
had not that other to which he alluded been carried two years ago? And
how did that one then stand? Why, the noble Duke and all his friends,
and a large proportion of the Irish people, were anxious that that
question should be carried. Such, also, do we know to a certainty was
the desire of the majority of the other House of Parliament, whilst at
the same time there was in this House a minority in its favour, daily
acquiring greater strength; and at present, I presume, no one will deny
that a large body of the best informed people of this country were also
decidedly for conceding this point. We do not now stand on worse ground
on the question of the repeal of the union than we should have done had
not the Catholic question been carried. I do not see the advantage,
therefore, of repeating reproaches against me for having given way on
that occasion from fear. I gave way because I conceived the interests of
the country would be best answered by doing so; I gave way on the
grounds of policy and expediency, and upon those grounds I am at this
moment ready to justify what I did. The noble Lord must forgive me for
saying that the state of irritation which has continued to exist in
Ireland since that question was carried must not be attributed to the
King's Ministers: they have done every thing in their power to
conciliate, and heal the divisions which distracted that country for so
many years previously to the settlement of that question. It is not my
duty, any more than my inclination, to cast imputation on any man; but
this I will say, that if the King's Ministers had been supported as
strongly as they have been opposed in their endeavours to heal those
divisions, Ireland would have been in a very different state from what
it now is.

_November 2, 1830._

* * * * *

_Magistrates should be appointed by Lords Lieutenant._

Lords Lieutenant of counties are generally chosen in consequence of
their possessing large properties, and from their weight and
consideration in the counties over which they preside. They must,
therefore, be the most highly interested in selecting proper persons,
and a proper number of persons, whom they know will do their duty well
as magistrates.

In choosing magistrates, in my opinion, it is essentially necessary that
local knowledge should operate. Before