the House of Commons, Convocations have not been viewed in the same light as of old. But the calling together the Convocation for ecclesiastical purposes, although entirely laid aside in this country, continues unaltered in England, and it is as regularly convened by the King's writ as the Parliament. The Archbishop talked of the absurdity of calling so many of the Irish Clergy to London : but he forgot that the Convocations are provincial, and the Clergy to be convened in their respective provinces. But what the Archbishop seemed chiefly to reprobate was, the idea of having any other representatives of the Bishops in the United Parliament than the four metropolitans. The idea of having a rotation of Bishops he treated as absurd, inasmuch as it would be impossible for any Bishop to make himself acquainted with parliamentary business during the short period for which he should sit in Parliament. I found most of the Bishops, indeed I may say all, agreeing with me, that acquiring a knowledge of parliamentary business was no very essential a requisite to the episcopal character. The interests of the Church in Ireland, the chief object of their attention as legislators, would be best known to them by a residence in their respective dioceses; and, at all events, nothing connected with that part of their duty could come in competition with the flagrant neglect of their pastoral functions, to which the Archbishop's regulation would necessarily open a door. Exclusive of their metropolitical jurisdiction, to which constant recourse must be had in this kingdom, the Archbishops have each an extensive diocese to superintend; and, of all the Bishops, the presence of the Primate and of the Archbishop of Dublin is the essential. There is scarcely a great institution to which they are not acting trustees, nor a charitable Board at which their attendance is not essentially necessary.

If I were not afraid of breaking in too long upon your Lordship, I could state to you a variety of other reasons for opposing the regulation, which, on the very face of it, tends to render

the four Archbishops eternal absentees, and to introduce the same disorders in the Church in this kingdom that required the intervention of Parliament, under the reigns of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

T. L. MEATH.

Private.

The Duke of Portland to Lord Castlereagh.

Bulstrode, Wednesday, March 12, 1800. My dear Lord-Although our friend King has not yet been able to fulfil the engagement he made with me, respecting your letter, the contents had made too great an impression upon me to suffer me to wait for it, or to let any other consideration prevent my endeavours to remove the anxiety which you feel in the supposition of your progress not having kept pace with the expectations of the King's confidential servants— a supposition which, I assure you, is totally groundless, and inconsistent with the confidence which they are disposed, and most fully warranted, to repose in your zeal as well as in your judgment. I think it is extremely probable that impatience may have been expressed, and that you may have heard of the calculations made of the time when the articles would be returned, when the attendance of members here would be desirable upon the question of Union. The liberality of the terms offered to Ireland, the very able and advantageous manner in which they have been opened, and the very great superiority which you have manifested in all the debates on the subject, will not unnaturally or very unreasonably have led people here to infer that the point was carried, and that there could be no serious intention of fighting the details, which cannot but prove more strongly the utility, the advantage, and the necessity of the measure, and expose the ignorance, the arrogance, and the interested or treacherous designs of its opponents. But, although hopes of this business being completed within a proportionable space to that which was given to the

discussion of it last Session in the Parliament of this kingdom should have been generally expressed, the knowledge which the Members of Government have of the difficulties of every description with which you have to contend, makes them as incapable of suspecting you of having suffered the measure to have been unnecessarily delayed, as of having omitted or neglected to avail yourself of any circumstance which could promote or insure its success.

Let me, therefore, entreat you, my dear Lord, to disregard absolutely whatever reports may reach you respecting the impatience or the doubts of Administration concerning the progress of the great business you have in hand. Whatever may be its progress, be assured that we shall be perfectly satisfied with it, and that every one of the King's servants will be equally ready to give you unlimited credit and unreserved support for the ability which you have uniformly shown throughout the conduct of this great measure, and with which, I trust, you will bring it to a successful and happy issue, notwithstanding all the disappointments to which you will be exposed by timidity and baseness, and the delays and obstacles which will be opposed to it by interested and disappointed ambition. Such victories as you gained the other day over one of the champions of the Opposition, and, as the public voice says, (for I have not been fortunate enough to see the papers which contained an account of the debate in which you confuted the Speaker), you came off as triumphantly some days before from another, cannot fail, I think, in as effectually securing the success of the measure as it has already done in establishing the fame of your own talents and character.

Believe me most sincerely, &c.,

Lord Camden to Lord Castlereagh.

PORTLAND.

Wildernesse, March 23, 1800.

Dear Castlereagh-The busy idleness of London has prevented me from writing to you either in answer to your last

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letter or before I received it; and I take advantage of having come to this place by myself not only to address you, but to exonerate myself from various epistolary debts.

The Duke of Portland showed me the draft of his letter to you, which, I assure you, conveyed the unanimous opinion of all those who have witnessed the zeal, ability, and spirit, with which you have gone through this Session. I promise you that Mr. Pitt has spoken of you in the way you could wish, and the private letters from Ireland contain perfect satisfaction in your Parliamentary exertions. You have therefore the greatest reason to be satisfied with yourself-the best person

to be satisfied with.

I had meant, but was prevented, to reply to the proposition you made in your letter as soon as I received it-I mean, to that of coming to England during the period when the Articles are debating here, and to have strongly advised you not to persist in that intention. As you observe that it is possible the Opposition may raise some clamour, and may be enabled to make some impression during the recess, who is so likely to counteract it as yourself? for you may be assured, when the principal is absent, there is a sort of languor in the general proceedings, extremely detrimental to the cause. I hope, therefore, I confess, not to see you yet, and I rather imagine you will not receive encouragement from hence, for I know how much your presence is thought necessary in Ireland; and Cooke or Beresford would be able to give information upon the details very advantageously, and can be better spared from Ireland.

The Speaker has disappointed me. The zeal he showed in difficult periods of my Government, and a higher opinion than, I confess, I now entertain of his ability, had made me very desirous of his adopting that line of conduct which would make his return to Government not very difficult; and I alike wished Government not to drive him unnecessarily into violent opposition. I must allow, however, in his Speech and in his

late conduct, he has opposed the measure so much more violently than was necessary, and has shown so much partiality, that I unwillingly think he will not be able to retrieve himself; and your party seem now to be so much more firm, that I do not think his opposition any longer as formidable as it has been. We hope not to detain the Articles here longer than three weeks, and I hope all the business may be gone through by the end of July, in both countries.

The suspense we are in, from the continuance of the frost, respecting all continental intelligence, is most provoking, and prevents active operations. We hope, and have reason to believe, however, that a despatch which was sent through France, assuring Austria of our active and zealous co-operation, has arrived, by which means they will know our intention before it it is necessary to reply to Buonaparte's overtures. Much indeed depends on the steadiness of that court, upon which we have not too much reason to rely: at the same time, they have appeared more in earnest, and it certainly is their policy at present to proceed, as their aggrandizement is our object as well as their own, as a most powerful neighbour on that side of France is more than ever necessary. Believe me, &c.,

CAMDEN.

London, March 24.

I did not seal my letter till I came to town, which I am very glad I did not, as it enables me to give you intelligence you will be glad to receive that "our accounts from Austria are very satisfactory, and that the campaign opens with very fair prospects of success."

Private.

Mr. Wickham to Lord Camden.

C.

Augsburg, March 26, 1800.

My Lord-I had much pleasure in receiving a letter from your Lordship, though on so very melancholy an occasion as Mr. Stewart's illness.