Lord Grey understands these matters better than I do, but I do not see how the reversal of O’Connell’s sentence can injure, morally, the House of Lords. It was (I have no doubt) the honest decision of the majority of those who, from their legal habits, and attention to the case, had a right to decide; and that the lay Lords abstained from voting was surely an act of honesty. It shows, however, the absurd constitution of a court of justice, where ninety-nine of the hundred judges are utterly incapable of forming any just opinion of the subject.
I mean to write a pamphlet upon the payment of the Catholic and Presbyterian clergy in Ireland; the honest payment—without any attempt to gain power over them. Their refusal to take it is no conclusive objection, and they would take it a poco a poco, if it were honestly given. We must have a regular Ambassador residing at the Court of Rome; patronage must be divided with an even hand between Catholic and Protestant; all their alleged wrongs about land must be impartially examined, and, if just, be speedily redressed; a large army be kept ready for immediate action, and the law be put in force against O’Connell and O’Connellism, in spite of all previous failures. Will Lord Grey or Howick dissent from these obvious principles?
Adieu, dear Lady Grey!
