This having been done, and Ld. Howick having waited upon him on Wednesday, 4th March, he remarked that the clauses went further than the Irish Mutiny Bill, and when Ld. Howick explained to him how far they were to be carried, he started, and exclaimed, ‘I’m sorry for it, I can’t approve of it’; and in the course of their conversation on the subject, in which Ld. Howick urged all the arguments for the measure, he appeared not to be more reconciled, but as Ld. Howick understood, he still gave his consent that the Bill in its present form should be brought into Parlt. On coming out of the closet, Lord Howick communicated his conversation to Ld. Grenville and Ld. Sidmouth, the former of whom remarked, that since Lord Howick had had this conversation with the King, he should not speak on the subject to His Majesty, as he knew it to be so disagreeable to him. Ld. Sidmouth, it appears, did hold some conversation on the subject to the King, in which he repeated Ld. Howick’s conversation in a sense which induced the K. to believe that the additional clauses would not be brought into Parliament till some further communications were held with him. Ld. Howick, having a different impression of his conversation, brought the proposed Bill into the House, which was read the first time, and ordered to be printed. [Sidenote: THE CATHOLIC QUESTION] On Monday, the 9th, or Tuesday, the 10th, Ld. Grenville received a mysterious letter from Ld. Sidmouth regretting that he must differ from his colleagues on so important a point as the Catholic Bill, and requesting to have a conversation with him on the subject. From this conversation it appeared that he was determined to oppose the Bill in the House of Lords, and that his friends should take the same line in the H. of Commons. As it appeared from this and other circumstances that the King and his friends were resolved to oppose the Bill, it became a question what course it was proper for Ministers to pursue. It was proposed by some to bring the Bill through the Commons, so as to pledge that House on the subject, and if any placemen voted against it, to turn them out instantly, or propose doing so to the King; and if this measure should not be assented to by him, not to insist upon it immediately, nor yet quite give it up, but bring the Bill into the H. of Lords, and on its rejection in that House, to resign, and commence an active and vigorous Opposition. But to this course of proceeding it was objected by Ld. Grenville that it would lead to a protracted contest between the King and the Ministry, which, in the present state of affairs, could not but be prejudicial to the country; and the question was therefore proposed whether they should resign, or yield the question in dispute.