knowledge that their
laws cannot be enforced, and the latter said that, whatever might
be done, the Irish would take nothing at the hands of Stanley. It
is unfortunate that his attachment to the Church makes him the
unfittest man in the country to manage Irish affairs, and he has
contrived to make himself so personally unpopular that with the
best intentions he could not give satisfaction. Under these
circumstances his remaining there is impossible, but what is to
be done with him? He is of such importance in the House of
Commons that they cannot part with him. I asked John Russell why
they did not send Hobhouse to Ireland and make Stanley Secretary
of War. He said would he consent to exchange? that he was tired
of office, and would be glad to be out. I said I could not
suppose in such an emergency that he would allow any personal
considerations to influence him, and that he would consent to
whatever arrangement would be most beneficial to the Government
and conducive to the settlement of Irish affairs. The truth is
(as I told him) that they are, with respect to Ireland, in the
situation of a man who has got an old house in which he can no
longer live, not tenable; various architects propose this and
that alteration, to build a room here and pull down one there,
but at last they find that all these alterations will only serve
to make the house habitable a little while longer, that the dry
rot is in it, and that they had better begin, as they will be
obliged to end, by pulling it down and building up a new one. He
owned this was true, but said that here another difficulty
presented itself with regard to Stanley--whether he would, as a
leading member of the Cabinet, consent to any measures which
might go so much further than he would be disposed to do. I said
that I could not imagine (whatever might be his predilections)
that his mind was not awakened to the necessity of giving way to
the state of things, and that he might consent to measures which
he felt he was not a fit person to introduce and recommend. He
assented to this. He then talked of the views of the Protestants,
of the Lefroys, &c., that they began to admit the necessity of a
change, but by no means would consent to the alienation of Church
property from Protestant uses, that they were willing where there
was a large parish consisting entirely of Catholics that the
tithes should be taken from the rector of such parish and given
to one who had a large Prote