The prime minister’s letter to the Catholic archbishop of Armagh, a friend of Wellington’s from the Peninsular wars, was leaked to the press. In it, Wellington advised Curtis that he was ‘sincerely anxious to witness the settlement of the Roman Catholic question …. But I confess that I see no prospect of such a settlement. Party has been mixed up with the consideration to such a degree, and such violence pervades every discussion of it, that it is impossible to expect to prevail upon men to consider it dispassionately. If we could bury it in oblivion for a short time, and employ that time diligently in the consideration of its difficulties on all sides (for they are very great) I should not despair of seeing a satisfactory remedy.’

See DNB; Examiner, 28 December 1828 and Godwin's entries for 23 December 1828 and 19 January 1829.