of hearing himself talk, and loved on
such occasions to display all that eloquence which he fully believed
himself to possess, and which he had no opportunity of letting out on
any Parliamentary or public platform. Then, when the King had
exhausted himself in repeating over and over again his reasons for
refusing the demands made upon him, Wellington would quietly return to
the fact that there was no practical way out of the difficulty but to
assent to {77} the proposition. The King usually gave way, and the
interview had a satisfactory close. The King was appeased by the sound
of his own eloquence, and the taciturn minister had his way.

This course of policy Wellington resolved to adopt with regard to the
question of Catholic Emancipation. He listened to all the talk about
the coronation oath and the declaration that George would rather retire
to his kingdom of Hanover, abdicate the throne of England, and leave
the English people to find a Catholic--that is, a pro-Catholic--king in
the Duke of Clarence, and then merely pointed out to the sovereign that
something had to be done, and that his Majesty's advisers could think
of nothing else but the course which they proposed for his acceptance.
The King gave way to a certain extent, but he put his foot down, as the
modern phrase goes, on the maintenance of the Oath of Supremacy in its
existing form.

There is an interesting account given of the final interview which the
Duke of Wellington, Lord Lyndhurst, and Robert Peel had with their
royal master on this subject. Without an alteration in the terms of
the Oath of Supremacy it was absolutely impossible that Roman Catholics
could enter the House of Commons, for the oath contained the very words
no Catholic could possibly consent to utter or subscribe. The King
absolutely and vehemently refused to give his consent to any alteration
of the oath, and he then asked his three ministers what, under the
circumstances, they proposed to do. The ministers informed the
sovereign that they proposed to ask his permission for them to make
announcement in the two Houses of Parliament that they had ceased to
hold office and were no longer responsible for the work of
administration. George took the announcement at first with gracious
composure, and told them he supposed he could not find any fault with
them for their act of resignation. He carried his kindness even
further, for, as we learn on the authority of one of the three