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+Project Gutenberg's The Greville Memoirs, by Charles C. F. Greville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Greville Memoirs
+       A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II
+
+Author: Charles C. F. Greville
+
+Editor: Henry Reeve
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2009 [EBook #30590]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREVILLE MEMOIRS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stacy Brown, Eve Behr, Paul Murray and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+    In this work, all spellings and punctuation were
+    reproduced from the original work except in the very few
+    cases where an obvious typo occurred. These typos are
+    corrected without comment.
+
+    In the original work, monetary pounds were expressed as
+    an italicized "l." after the number. For the text
+    version, I am using the more conventional £100 form for
+    clarity.
+
+    In the original volumes in this set, each even-numbered
+    page had a header consisting of the page number, the
+    volume title, and the chapter number. The odd-numbered
+    page header consisted of the year of the diary entry, a
+    subject phrase, and the page number. In this set of
+    e-books, the year is included as part of the date (which
+    in the original volume were in the form reproduced here,
+    minus the year). The subject phrase has been converted to
+    sidenotes, usually positioned where it seemed most
+    logical but occasionally simply between two paragraphs of
+    the even-odd pair.
+
+    In the original book set, consisting of three volumes,
+    the master index was in Volume 3. In this set of e-books,
+    the index has been duplicated into each of the other
+    volumes.  To make the index easier to use in this work,
+    the page number has been added to each Diary date.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                       The Greville Memoirs
+
+                     A JOURNAL OF THE REIGNS
+                                of
+                         KING GEORGE IV.
+                               and
+                         KING WILLIAM IV.
+
+
+                           By the Late
+                   CHARLES C. F. GREVILLE, Esq.
+             Clerk of the Council to Those Sovereigns
+
+                            Edited by
+                           HENRY REEVE
+                  Registrar of the Privy Council
+
+
+                         IN THREE VOLUMES
+                             VOL. II.
+
+                          Second Edition
+
+                              LONDON
+                     LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
+                               1874
+
+
+
+
+                  CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XI.
+
+Accession of William IV.--The King's Proceedings--His
+  Popularity--Funeral of George IV.--Dislike of the Duke of
+  Cumberland--The King's Simplicity and Good-nature--Reviews the
+  Guards--The First Court--The King in St. James's Street--
+  Dissolution of Parliament--The King dines at Apsley House--The
+  Duke of Gloucester--The Quaker's Address--The Ordinances of
+  July--The French Revolution--Brougham's Election for
+  Yorkshire--Struggle in Paris--Elections adverse to Government--
+  The Duke of Wellington on the French Revolution--Duke of
+  Cumberland resigns the Gold Stick and the Blues--George IV.'s
+  Wardrobe--Fall of the Bourbons--Weakness of the Duke's
+  Ministry--The King at Windsor--The Duke of Orleans accepts the
+  Crown of France--Chamber of Peers remodelled--Prince Polignac--
+  The New Parliament--Virginia Water--Details of George IV.'s
+  Illness and Death--Symptoms of Opposition--Brougham--Charles X.
+  in England--Dinner in St. George's Hall--Lambeth--Marshal
+  Marmont--His Conversation--Campaign of 1814--The Conflict in
+  Paris--Dinner at Lord Dudley's.
+                                                            Page 1
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Belgian Revolution--The Duke of Wellington and Canning--The
+  King's Plate--Gloomy Forebodings--Retreat of the Prince of
+  Orange--Prince Talleyrand--Position of the Government--Death of
+  Huskisson--His Character--The Duke of Wellington and Peel--
+  Meeting of Parliament--The Duke's Declaration--The King's Visit
+  to the City abandoned--Disturbances in London--Duchesse de
+  Dino--The Cholera--Southey, Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill--
+  Dinner at Talleyrand's--The Duke of Wellington resigns--Mr.
+  Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the Council--Lord Spencer and
+  Lord Grey sent for--Formation of Lord Grey's Administration--
+  Discontent of Brougham--Brougham takes the Great Seal--
+  Character of the New Ministers--Prospects of the Opposition--
+  Disturbances in Sussex and Hampshire--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Brougham--Lord Sefton's Dinner--The New Ministers sworn at a
+  Council.
+                                                           Page 40
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A Proclamation against Rioters--Appointments--Duke of Wellington
+  in Hampshire--General Excitement--The Tory Party--State of
+  Ireland--More Disturbances--Lord Grey's Colleagues--Election at
+  Liverpool--The Black Book--The Duke of Wellington's Position
+  and Character--A Council on a Capital Sentence--Brougham in the
+  House of Lords--The Clerks of the Council--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Lyndhurst--The Chancellor of Ireland--Lord Melbourne--Duke of
+  Richmond--Sir James Graham--Lyndhurst Lord Chief Baron--Judge
+  Allan Park--Lord Lyndhurst and the Whigs--Duke of Wellington
+  and Polignac--The King and his Sons--Polish Revolution--
+  Mechanics' Institute--Repeal of the Union--King Louis
+  Philippe--Lord Anglesey and O'Connell--A Dinner at the
+  Athenæum--Canning and George IV.--Formation of Canning's
+  Government--Negotiation with Lord Melbourne--Count Walewski--
+  Croker's Boswell--State of Ireland--Brougham and Sugden--Arrest
+  of O'Connell--Colonel Napier and the Trades Unions--The Civil
+  List--Hunt in the House of Commons--Southey's Letter to
+  Brougham on Literary Honours--The Budget--O'Connell pleads
+  guilty--Achille Murat--Weakness of the Government--Lady Jersey
+  and Lord Durham--Lord Duncannon--Ireland--Wordsworth.
+                                                           Page 73
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Introduction of the Reform Bill--Attitude of the Opposition--
+  Reform Debates--Peel--Wilberforce and Canning--Old Sir Robert
+  Peel--The City Address--Agitation for Reform--Effects of the
+  Reform Bill--Brougham as Chancellor--Brougham at the Horse
+  Guards--Miss Kemble--Vote on the Timber Duties--Lord
+  Lansdowne's Opinion of the Bill--Reform Bill carried by one
+  Vote--The King in Mourning--The Prince of Orange--Peel's
+  Reserve--Ministers beaten--Parliament dissolved by the King in
+  Person--Tumult in both Houses--Failure of the Whig Ministry--
+  The King in their Hands--The Elections--Illumination in the
+  City--The Queen alarmed--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the Bill--
+  Lord Grey takes the Garter--The King at Ascot--Windsor under
+  William IV.--Brougham at Whitbread's Brewery and at the British
+  Museum--Breakfast at Rogers'--The Cholera--Quarantine--Meeting
+  of Peers--New Parliament meets--Opened by the King--'Hernani'
+  at Bridgewater House--The Second Reform Bill--The King's
+  Coronation--Cobbett's Trial--Prince Leopold accepts the Crown
+  of Belgium--Peel and the Tories--A Rabble Opposition--A Council
+  for the Coronation.
+                                                          Page 121
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XV.
+
+Preparations for the Coronation--Long Wellesley committed by the
+  Chancellor for Contempt--Alderman Thompson and his
+  Constituents--Prince Leopold goes to Belgium--Royal Tombs and
+  Remains--The Lieutenancy of the Tower--The Cholera--The Belgian
+  Fortresses--Secret Negotiations of Canning with the Whigs--
+  Transactions before the Close of the Liverpool Administration--
+  Duke of Wellington and Peel--The Dutch invade Belgium--Defeat
+  of the Belgian Army--The French enter Belgium--Lord Grey's
+  Composure--Audience at Windsor--Danger of Reform--Ellen Tree--
+  The French in Belgium--Goodwood--The Duke of Richmond--The
+  Reform Bill in Difficulties--Duke of Wellington calls on Lord
+  Grey--The King declines to be kissed by the Bishops--
+  Talleyrand's Conversation--State of Europe and France--
+  Coronation Squabbles--The King divides the old Great Seal
+  between Brougham and Lyndhurst--Relations of the Duchess of
+  Kent to George IV. and William IV.--The Coronation--Irritation
+  of the King--The Cholera--A Dinner at St. James's--State of the
+  Reform Bill--Sir Augustus d'Este--Madame Junot--State of
+  France--Poland.
+                                                          Page 165
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform--Resolution to carry the Bill--
+  Holland--Radical Jones--Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords--
+  Dorsetshire Election--Division among the Tories--Bishop
+  Phillpotts--Prospects of Reform--Its Dangers--Riots at
+  Bristol--The Cholera at Sunderland--An Attempt at a Compromise
+  on Reform--Lord Wharncliffe negotiates with the Ministers--
+  Negotiation with Mr. Barnes--Proclamation against the Unions--
+  Barbarism of Sunderland--Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe--
+  Bristol and Lyons--Commercial Negotiations with France--Poulett
+  Thomson--Lord Wharncliffe's Proposal to Lord Grey--Disapproved
+  by the Duke of Wellington--Moderation of Lord John Russell--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor--The Second Reform Bill--Violence
+  of Lord Durham--More Body-snatchers--Duke of Richmond and Sir
+  Henry Parnell--Panshanger--Creation of Peers--Division of
+  Opinion--Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers--Lord
+  Wharncliffe's Interview with the King--Opposition of the Duke
+  of Wellington--The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
+                                                          Page 197
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Measures for carrying the Second Reading of the Reform Bill in
+  the House of Lords--The Party of the Waverers--The Russo-Dutch
+  Loan--Resistance of the Tory Peers--Lord Melbourne's Views on
+  the Government--Macaulay at Holland House--Reluctance of the
+  Government to create Peers--Duke of Wellington intractable--
+  Peel's Despondency--Lord Grey on the Measures of Conciliation--
+  Lord Wharncliffe sees the King--Prospects of the Waverers--
+  Conversations with Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston--Duke of
+  Richmond on the Creation of Peers--Interview of Lord Grey with
+  the Waverers--Minute drawn up--Bethnal Green--The Archbishop of
+  Canterbury vacillates--Violence of Extreme Parties--Princess
+  Lieven's Journal--Lord Holland for making Peers--Irish National
+  Education--Seizure of Ancona--Reform Bill passes the House of
+  Commons--Lord Dudley's Madness--Debate in the Lords.
+                                                          Page 237
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Debate in the House of Lords--Lord Harrowby's Position--Hopes of
+  a Compromise--Lord Melbourne's View--Disturbances caused by the
+  Cholera--The Disfranchisement Clause--The Number '56'--Peers
+  contemplated--The King's Hesitation--'The Hunchback'--Critical
+  Position of the Waverers--Bill carried by Nine in the Lords--
+  The Cholera in Paris--Moderate Speech of Lord Grey--End of the
+  Secession--Conciliatory Overtures--Negotiations carried on at
+  Newmarket--Hostile Division in the Lords--Lord Wharncliffe's
+  Account of his Failure--Lord Grey resigns--The Duke of
+  Wellington attempts to form a Ministry--Peel declines--
+  Hostility of the Court to the Whigs--A Change of Scene--The
+  Duke fails--History of the Crisis--Lord Grey returns to
+  Office--The King's Excitement--The King writes to the
+  Opposition Peers--Defeat and Disgrace of the Tories--
+  Conversation of the Duke of Wellington--Louis XVIII.--Madame du
+  Cayla--Weakness of the King--Mortality among Great Men--
+  Petition against Lord W. Bentinck's Prohibition of Suttee heard
+  by the Privy Council--O'Connell and the Cholera--Irish Tithe
+  Bill--Irish Difficulties--Mr. Stanley--Concluding Debates of
+  the Parliament--Quarrel between Brougham and Sugden--Holland
+  and Belgium--Brougham's Revenge and Apology--Dinner at Holland
+  House--Anecdotes of Johnson--Death of Mr. Greville's Father--
+  Madame de Flahaut's Account of the Princess Charlotte--Prince
+  Augustus of Prussia--Captain Hess--Hostilities in Holland and
+  in Portugal--The Duchesse de Berri--Conversation with Lord
+  Melbourne on the State of the Government.
+                                                          Page 274
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Foreign Difficulties--Conduct of Peel on the Resignation of Lord
+  Grey--Manners Sutton proposed as Tory Premier--Coolness between
+  Peel and the Duke--Embargo on Dutch Ships--Death of Lord
+  Tenterden--Denman made Lord Chief Justice--Sketch of Holland
+  House--The Speakership--Horne and Campbell Attorney- and
+  Solicitor-General--The Court at Brighton--Lord Howe and the
+  Queen--Elections under the Reform Act--Mr. Gully--Petworth--
+  Lord Egremont--Attempt to reinstate Lord Howe--Namik Pacha--
+  Lord Lyndhurst's Version of what occurred on the Resignation of
+  Lord Grey--Lord Denbigh appointed Chamberlain to the Queen--
+  Brougham's Privy Council Bill--Talleyrand's Relations with Fox
+  and Pitt--Negro Emancipation Bill--State of the West Indies--
+  The Reformed Parliament meets--Russian Intrigues--Four Days
+  Debate on the Address--Peel's Political Career.
+                                                          Page 324
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XX.
+
+Appointment of Sir Stratford Canning to the Russian Embassy--
+  Cause of the Refusal--Slavery in the West Indies--The Reformed
+  Parliament--Duke of Wellington's View of Affairs--The Coercion
+  Bill--The Privy Council Bill--Lord Durham made an Earl--Mr.
+  Stanley Secretary for the Colonies--The Russians go to the
+  Assistance of the Porte--Lord Goderich has the Privy Seal, an
+  Earldom, and the Garter--Embarrassments of the Government--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor at the Privy Council--Hobhouse
+  defeated in Westminster--Bill for Negro Emancipation--The
+  Russians on the Bosphorus--Mr. Littleton Chief Secretary for
+  Ireland--Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington--Moral of a
+  'Book on the Derby'--The Oaks--A Betting Incident--Ascot--
+  Government beaten in the Lords on Foreign Policy--Vote of
+  Confidence in the Commons--Drax _v._ Grosvenor decided--Lord
+  Eldon's Last Judgment--His Character--Duke of Wellington as
+  Leader of Opposition--West India Affairs--Irish Church Bill--
+  Appropriation Clause--A Fancy Bazaar--The King writes to the
+  Bishops--Local Court Bill--Mirabeau.
+                                                          Page 357
+
+
+
+
+                            A JOURNAL
+                              of the
+                 REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XI.
+
+Accession of William IV.--The King's Proceedings--His
+  Popularity--Funeral of George IV.--Dislike of the Duke of
+  Cumberland--The King's Simplicity and Good-nature--Reviews the
+  Guards--The First Court--The King in St. James's Street--
+  Dissolution of Parliament--The King dines at Apsley House--The
+  Duke of Gloucester--The Quakers' Address--The Ordinances of
+  July--The French Revolution--Brougham's Election for
+  Yorkshire--Struggle in Paris--Elections Adverse to Government--
+  The Duke of Wellington on the French Revolution--Duke of
+  Cumberland resigns the Gold Stick and the Blues--George IV.'s
+  Wardrobe--Fall of the Bourbons--Weakness of the Duke's
+  Ministry--The King at Windsor--The Duke of Orleans accepts the
+  Crown of France--Chamber of Peers remodelled--Prince Polignac--
+  The New Parliament--Virginia Water--Details of George IV.'s
+  Illness and Death--Symptoms of Opposition--Brougham--Charles X.
+  in England--Dinner in St. George's Hall--Lambeth--Marshal
+  Marmont--His Conversation--Campaign of 1814--The Conflict in
+  Paris--Dinner at Lord Dudley's.
+
+
+                              1830.
+
+
+London, July 16th, 1830 {p.001}
+
+I returned here on the 6th of this month, and have waited these
+ten days to look about me and see and hear what is passing. The
+present King and his proceedings occupy all attention, and nobody
+thinks any more of the late King than if he had been dead fifty
+years, unless it be to abuse him and to rake up all his vices and
+misdeeds. Never was elevation like that of King William IV. His
+life has been hitherto passed in obscurity and neglect, in
+miserable poverty, surrounded by a numerous progeny of bastards,
+without consideration or friends, and he was ridiculous from his
+grotesque ways and little meddling curiosity. Nobody ever invited
+him into their house, or thought it necessary to honour him with
+any mark of attention or respect; and so he went on for above
+forty years, till Canning brought him into notice by making him
+Lord High Admiral at the time of his grand Ministerial schism. In
+that post he distinguished himself by making absurd speeches, by
+a morbid official activity, and by a general wildness which was
+thought to indicate incipient insanity, till shortly after
+Canning's death and the Duke's accession, as is well known, the
+latter dismissed him. He then dropped back into obscurity, but
+had become by this time somewhat more of a personage than he was
+before. His brief administration of the navy, the death of the
+Duke of York, which made him heir to the throne, his increased
+wealth and regular habits, had procured him more consideration,
+though not a great deal. Such was his position when George IV.
+broke all at once, and after three months of expectation William
+finds himself King.
+
+
+July 18th, 1830 {p.002}
+
+[Page Head: KING WILLIAM'S ACCESSION.]
+
+King George had not been dead three days before everybody
+discovered that he was no loss, and King William a great gain.
+Certainly nobody ever was less regretted than the late King, and
+the breath was hardly out of his body before the press burst
+forth in full cry against him, and raked up all his vices,
+follies, and misdeeds, which were numerous and glaring enough.
+
+The new King began very well. Everybody expected he would keep
+the Ministers in office, but he threw himself into the arms of
+the Duke of Wellington with the strongest expressions of
+confidence and esteem. He proposed to all the Household, as well
+as to the members of Government, to keep their places, which they
+all did except Lord Conyngham and the Duke of Montrose. He soon
+after, however, dismissed most of the equerries, that he might
+fill their places with the members of his own family. Of course
+such a King wanted not due praise, and plenty of anecdotes were
+raked up of his former generosities and kindnesses. His first
+speech to the Council was well enough given, but his burlesque
+character began even then to show itself. Nobody expected from
+him much real grief, and he does not seem to know how to act it
+consistently; he spoke of his brother with all the semblance of
+feeling, and in a tone of voice properly softened and subdued,
+but just afterwards, when they gave him the pen to sign the
+declaration, he said, in his usual tone, 'This is a damned bad
+pen you have given me.' My worthy colleague Mr. James Buller
+began to swear Privy Councillors in the name of 'King George
+IV.--William, I mean,' to the great diversion of the Council.
+
+A few days after my return I was sworn in, all the Ministers and
+some others being present. His Majesty presided very decently,
+and looked like a respectable old admiral. The Duke [of
+Wellington] told me he was delighted with him--'If I had been
+able to deal with my late master as I do with my present, I
+should have got on much better'--that he was so reasonable and
+tractable, and that he had done more business with him in ten
+minutes than with the other in as many days.
+
+I met George Fitzclarence, afterwards Earl of Munster,[1] the same
+day, and repeated what the Duke said, and he told me how delighted
+his father was with the Duke, his entire confidence in him, and
+that the Duke might as entirely depend upon the King; that he had
+told his Majesty, when he was at Paris, that Polignac and the Duke
+of Orleans had both asked him whether the Duke of Clarence, when
+he became King, would keep the Duke of Wellington as his Minister,
+and the King said, 'What did you reply?' 'I replied that you
+certainly would; did not I do right?' 'Certainly, you did quite
+right.'
+
+      [1] [Eldest son of King William IV. by Mrs. Jordan, who was
+          shortly after the accession created an earl by his
+          father. The rank of 'marquis's younger children' was
+          conferred upon the rest of the family. The King had
+          nine natural children by Mrs. Jordan: 1, George, a
+          major-general in the army, afterwards Earl of Munster;
+          2, Frederick, also in the army; 3, Adolphus, a
+          rear-admiral; 4, Augustus, in holy orders; 5. Sophia,
+          married to Lord de l'Isle; 6, Mary, married to Colonel
+          Fox; 7, Elizabeth, married to the Earl of Errol; 8,
+          Augusta, married first to the Hon. John Kennedy Erskine,
+          and secondly to Lord John Frederick Gordon; 9, Amelia,
+          married to Viscount Falkland.]
+
+He began immediately to do good-natured things, to provide for
+old friends and professional adherents, and he bestowed a pension
+upon Tierney's widow. The great offices of Chamberlain and
+Steward he abandoned to the Duke of Wellington. There never was
+anything like the enthusiasm with which he was greeted by all
+ranks; though he has trotted about both town and country for
+sixty-four years, and nobody ever turned round to look at him, he
+cannot stir now without a mob, patrician as well as plebeian, at
+his heels. All the Park congregated round the gate to see him
+drive into town the day before yesterday. But in the midst of all
+this success and good conduct certain indications of strangeness
+and oddness peep out which are not a little alarming, and he
+promises to realise the fears of his Ministers that he will do
+and say too much, though they flatter themselves that they have
+muzzled him in his approaching progress by reminding him that his
+words will be taken as his Ministers', and he must, therefore, be
+chary of them.
+
+At the late King's funeral he behaved with great indecency. That
+ceremony was very well managed, and a fine sight, the military
+part particularly, and the Guards were magnificent. The
+attendance was not very numerous, and when they had all got
+together in St. George's Hall a gayer company I never beheld;
+with the exception of Mount Charles, who was deeply affected,
+they were all as merry as grigs. The King was chief mourner, and,
+to my astonishment, as he entered the chapel directly behind the
+body, in a situation in which he should have been apparently, if
+not really, absorbed in the melancholy duty he was performing, he
+darted up to Strathaven, who was ranged on one side below the
+Dean's stall, shook him heartily by the hand, and then went on
+nodding to the right and left. He had previously gone as chief
+mourner to sit for an hour at the head of the body as it lay in
+state, and he walked in procession with his household to the
+apartment. I saw him pass from behind the screen. Lord Jersey had
+been in the morning to Bushy to kiss hands on being made
+Chamberlain, when he had received him very graciously, told him
+it was the Duke and not himself who had made him, but that he was
+delighted to have him. At Windsor, when he arrived, he gave
+Jersey the white wand, or rather took one from him he had
+provided for himself, and gave it him again with a little speech.
+When he went to sit in state, Jersey preceded him, and he said
+when all was ready, 'Go on to the body, Jersey; you will get your
+dress coat as soon as you can.' The morning after the funeral,
+having slept at Frogmore, he went all over the Castle, into every
+room in the house, which he had never seen before except when he
+came there as a guest; after which he received an address from
+the ecclesiastical bodies of Windsor and Eton, and returned an
+answer quite unpremeditated which they told me was excellent.
+
+[Page Head: DISLIKE OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.]
+
+He is very well with all his family, particularly the Duke of
+Sussex, but he dislikes and seems to know the Duke of Cumberland,
+who is furious at his own discredit. The King has taken from him
+the Gold Stick, by means of which he had usurped the functions of
+all the other colonels of the regiments of the Guards, and put
+himself always about the late King. He says the Duke's rank is
+too high to perform those functions, and has put an end to his
+services. He has only put the Gold Sticks on their former
+footing, and they are all to take the duty in turn.
+
+In the meantime the Duke of Cumberland has shown his teeth in
+another way. His horses have hitherto stood in the stables which
+are appropriated to the Queen, and the other day Lord Errol, her
+new Master of the Horse, went to her Majesty and asked her where
+she chose her horses should be; she said, of course, she knew
+nothing about it, but in the proper place. Errol then said the
+Duke of Cumberland's horses were in her stables, and could not be
+got out without an order from the King. The King was spoken to,
+and he commanded the Duke of Leeds to order them out. The Duke of
+Leeds took the order to the Duke of Cumberland, who said 'he
+would be damned if they should go,' when the Duke of Leeds said
+that he trusted he would have them taken out the following day,
+as unless he did so he should be under the necessity of ordering
+them to be removed by the King's grooms, when the Duke was
+obliged sulkily to give way. When the King gave the order to the
+Duke of Leeds, he sent for Taylor that he might be present, and
+said at the same time that he had a very bad opinion of the Duke
+of Cumberland, and he wished he would live out of the country.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S ODDITIES.]
+
+The King's good-nature, simplicity, and affability to all about
+him are certainly very striking, and in his elevation he does not
+forget any of his old friends and companions. He was in no hurry
+to take upon himself the dignity of King, nor to throw off the
+habits and manners of a country gentleman. When Lord Chesterfield
+went to Bushy to kiss his hand, and be presented to the Queen, he
+found Sir John and Lady Gore there lunching, and when they went
+away the King called for their carriage, handed Lady Gore into it,
+and stood at the door to see them off. When Lord Howe came over
+from Twickenham to see him, he said the Queen was going out
+driving, and should 'drop him' at his own house. The Queen, they
+say, is by no means delighted at her elevation. She likes quiet
+and retirement and Bushy (of which the King has made her Ranger),
+and does not want to be a Queen. However, 'L'appétit viendra en
+mangeant.' He says he does not want luxury and magnificence, has
+slept in a cot, and he has dismissed the King's cooks, 'renversé
+la marmite.' He keeps the stud (which is to be diminished) because
+he thinks he ought to support the turf. He has made Mount Charles
+a Lord of the Bedchamber, and given the Robes to Sir C. Pole, an
+admiral. Altogether he seems a kind-hearted, well-meaning, not
+stupid, burlesque, bustling old fellow, and if he doesn't go mad
+may make a very decent King, but he exhibits oddities. He would
+not have his servants in mourning--that is, not those of his own
+family and household--but he sent the Duke of Sussex to Mrs.
+Fitzherbert to desire she would put hers in mourning, and
+consequently so they are. The King and she have always been
+friends, as she has, in fact, been with all the Royal Family, but
+it was very strange. Yesterday morning he sent for the officer on
+guard, and ordered him to take all the muffles off the drums, the
+scarfs off the regimentals, and so to appear on parade, where he
+went himself. The colonel would have put the officer under arrest
+for doing this without his orders, but the King said he was
+commanding officer of his own guard, and forbade him. All odd, and
+people are frightened, but his wits will at least last till the
+new Parliament meets. I sent him a very respectful request through
+Taylor that he would pay £300, all that remained due of the Duke
+of York's debts at Newmarket, which he assented to directly, as
+soon as the Privy Purse should be settled--very good-natured. In
+the meantime it is said that the bastards are dissatisfied that
+more is not done for them, but he cannot do much for them at once,
+and he must have time. He has done all he can; he has made Errol
+Master of the Horse, Sidney a Guelph and Equerry, George
+Fitzclarence the same and Adjutant-General, and doubtless they
+will all have their turn. Of course the stories told about the
+rapacity of the Conynghams have been innumerable. The King's will
+excited much astonishment, but as yet nothing is for certain known
+about the money, or what became of it, or what he gave away, and
+to whom, in his lifetime.
+
+
+July 20th, 1830 {p.007}
+
+Yesterday was a very busy day with his Majesty, who is going much
+too fast, and begins to alarm his Ministers and astonish the
+world. In the morning he inspected the Coldstream Guards, dressed
+(for the first time in his life) in a military uniform and with a
+great pair of gold spurs half-way up his legs like a game cock,
+although he was not to ride, for having chalk-stones in his hands
+he can't hold the reins. The Queen came to Lady Bathurst's to see
+the review and hold a sort of drawing-room, when the Ministers'
+wives were presented to her, and official men, to which were
+added Lady Bathurst's relations; everybody was in undress except
+the officers. She is very ugly, with a horrid complexion, but has
+good manners, and did all this (which she hated) very well. She
+said the part as if she was acting, and wished the green curtain
+to drop. After the review the King, with the Dukes of Cumberland,
+Sussex, and Gloucester, and Prince George and the Prince of
+Prussia, and the Duchess of Cumberland's son, came in through the
+garden gate; the Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Augusta were
+already there; they breakfasted and then went away, the Duke of
+Gloucester bowing to the company while nobody was taking any
+notice of him or thinking about him. Nature must have been merry
+when she made this Prince, and in the sort of mood that certain
+great artists used to exhibit in their comical caricatures; I
+never saw a countenance which that line in Dryden's M'Flecknoe
+would so well describe--
+
+            And lambent dulness plays around his face.
+
+At one there was to be a Council, to swear in Privy Councillors
+and Lords-Lieutenant, and receive Oxford and Cambridge addresses.
+The review made it an hour later, and the Lieutenants, who had
+been summoned at one, and who are great, selfish, pampered
+aristocrats, were furious at being kept waiting, particularly
+Lord Grosvenor and the Duke of Newcastle, the former very
+peevish, the latter bitter-humoured. I was glad to see them put
+to inconvenience. I never saw so full a Court, so much nobility
+with academical tagrag and bobtail. After considerable delay the
+King received the Oxford and Cambridge addresses on the throne,
+which (having only one throne between them) he then abdicated for
+the Queen to seat herself on and receive them too. She sat it
+very well, surrounded by the Princesses and her ladies and
+household. When this mob could be got rid of the table was
+brought in and the Council held. The Duke was twice sworn as
+Constable of the Tower and Lieutenant of Hants; then Jersey and
+the new Privy Councillors; and then the host of Lieutenants six
+or seven at a time, or as many as could hold a bit of the
+Testament. I begged the King would, to expedite the business,
+dispense with their kneeling, which he did, and so we got on
+rapidly enough; and I whispered to Jersey, who stood by me behind
+the King with his white wand, 'The farce is good, isn't it?' as
+they each kissed his hand. I told him their name or county, or
+both, and he had a civil word to say to everybody, inviting some
+to dinner, promising to visit others, reminding them of former
+visits, or something good-humoured; he asked Lord Egremont's
+_permission_ to go and live in his county, at Brighton.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING IN ST. JAMES'S STREET.]
+
+All this was very well; no great harm in it; more affable, less
+dignified than the late King; but when this was over, and he
+might very well have sat himself quietly down and rested, he must
+needs put on his plainer clothes and start on a ramble about the
+streets, alone too. In Pall Mall he met Watson Taylor, and took
+his arm and went up St. James's Street. There he was soon
+followed by a mob making an uproar, and when he got near White's
+a woman came up and kissed him. Belfast (who had been sworn in
+Privy Councillor in the morning), who saw this from White's, and
+Clinton thought it time to interfere, and came out to attend upon
+him. The mob increased, and, always holding W. Taylor's arm, and
+flanked by Clinton and Belfast, who got shoved and kicked about
+to their inexpressible wrath, he got back to the Palace amid
+shouting and bawling and applause. When he got home he asked them
+to go in and take a quiet walk in the garden, and said, 'Oh,
+never mind all this; when I have walked about a few times they
+will get used to it, and will take no notice.' There are other
+stories, but I will put down nothing I do not see or hear, or
+hear from the witnesses. Belfast told me this in the Park, fresh
+from the scene and smarting from the buffeting he had got. All
+the Park was ringing with it, and I told Lady Bathurst, who
+thought it so serious she said she would get Lord Bathurst to
+write to the Duke directly about it. Lord Combermere wanted to be
+made a Privy Councillor yesterday, but the Duke would not let it
+be done; he is in a sort of half-disgrace, and is not to be made
+yet, but will be by-and-by.
+
+
+Grove Road, July 21st, 1830 {p.009}
+
+I came and established myself here last night after the Duchess
+of Bedford's ball. Lady Bathurst told me that the Queen spoke to
+her yesterday morning about the King's walk and being followed,
+and said that for the future he must walk early in the morning,
+or in some less public place, so there are hopes that his
+activity may be tamed. He sent George Fitzclarence off from
+dinner in his silk stockings and cocked hat to Boulogne to invite
+the King of Würtemberg to come here; he was back in fifty-six
+hours, and might have been in less. He employs him in everything,
+and I heard Fitzclarence yesterday ask the Duke of Leeds for two
+of his father's horses to ride about on his jobs and relieve his
+own, which the Duke agreed to, but made a wry face. Mount Charles
+has refused to be Lord of the Bedchamber; his wife can't bear it,
+and he doesn't like to go to Windsor under such altered
+circumstances. I hardly ever record the scandalous stories of the
+day, unless they relate to characters or events, but what relates
+to public men is different from the loves and friendships of the
+idiots of society.
+
+
+July 24th, 1830 {p.010}
+
+Went to St. James's the day before yesterday for a Council for
+the dissolution, but there was none. Yesterday morning there was
+an idea of having one, but it is to-day instead, and early in the
+morning, that the Ministers may be able to go to their fish
+dinner at Greenwich. I called on the Duke yesterday evening to
+know about a Council, but he could not tell me. Then came a Mr.
+Moss (or his card) while I was there. 'Who is he?' I said. 'Oh, a
+man who wants to see me about a canal. I can't see him. Everybody
+will see me, and how the Devil they think I am to see everybody,
+and be the whole morning with the King, and to do the whole
+business of the country, I don't know. I am quite worn out with
+it.' I longed to tell him that it is this latter part they would
+willingly relieve him from.
+
+I met Vesey Fitzgerald, just come from Paris, and had a long
+conversation with him about the state of the Government; he seems
+aware of the difficulties and the necessity of acquiring more
+strength, of the universal persuasion that the Duke will be all in
+all, and says that in the Cabinet nobody can be more reasonable
+and yielding and deferential to the opinions of his colleagues.
+But Murray's appointment, he says, was a mistake,[2] and no
+personal consideration should induce the Duke to sacrifice the
+interests of the country by keeping him; it may be disagreeable to
+dismiss him, but he must do it. Hay told me that for the many
+years he had been in office he had never met with any public
+officer so totally inefficient as he, not even Warrender at the
+Admiralty Board.
+
+      [2] [Sir George Murray was Secretary of State for the
+          Colonial Department.]
+
+In the meantime the King has had his levee, which was crowded
+beyond all precedent. He was very civil to the people, particularly
+to Sefton, who had quarrelled with the late King.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING GOES DOWN TO PARLIAMENT.]
+
+Yesterday he went to the House of Lords, and was admirably
+received. I can fancy nothing like his delight at finding himself
+in the state coach surrounded by all his pomp. He delivered the
+Speech very well, they say, for I did not go to hear him. He did
+not wear the crown, which was carried by Lord Hastings. Etiquette
+is a thing he cannot comprehend. He wanted to take the King of
+Würtemberg with him in his coach, till he was told it was out of
+the question. In his private carriage he continues to sit
+backwards, and when he goes with men makes one sit by him and not
+opposite to him. Yesterday, after the House of Lords, he drove
+all over the town in an open calèche with the Queen, Princess
+Augusta, and the King of Würtemberg, and coming home he set down
+the King (_dropped him_, as he calls it) at Grillon's Hotel. The
+King of England dropping another king at a tavern! It is
+impossible not to be struck with his extreme good-nature and
+simplicity, which he cannot or will not exchange for the dignity
+of his new situation and the trammels of etiquette; but he ought
+to be made to understand that his simplicity degenerates into
+vulgarity, and that without departing from his natural urbanity
+he may conduct himself so as not to lower the character with
+which he is invested, and which belongs not to him, but to the
+country.
+
+At his dinner at St. James's the other day more people were
+invited than there was room for, and some half-dozen were forced
+to sit at a side table. He said to Lord Brownlow, 'Well, when you
+are flooded (he thinks Lincolnshire is all fen) you will come to
+us at Windsor.' To the Freemasons he was rather good. The Duke of
+Sussex wanted him to receive their address in a solemn audience,
+which he refused, and when they did come he said, 'Gentlemen, if
+my love for you equalled my ignorance of everything concerning
+you, it would be unbounded,' and then he added something
+good-humoured. The consequence of his trotting about, and saying
+the odd things he does, is that there are all sorts of stories
+about him which are not true, and he is always expected
+everywhere. In the meantime I believe that politically he relies
+implicitly on the Duke, who can make him do anything. Agar Ellis
+(who is bustling and active, always wishing to play a part, and
+gets mixed up with the politics of this and that party through
+his various connections) told me the other day that he knew the
+Duke was knocking at every door, hitherto without success, and
+that he must be contented to take a _party_, and not expect to
+strengthen himself by picking out individuals. I think this too,
+but why not open his doors to all comers? There are no questions
+now to stand in his way; his Government must be remodelled, and
+he may last for ever personally.
+
+
+July 25th, 1830 {p.012}
+
+Yesterday at Court at eleven; a Council for the dissolution. This
+King and these Councils are very unlike the last--few people
+present, frequent, punctual, less ceremony observed. Though these
+Ministers have been in office all their lives, nobody knew how
+many days must elapse before Parliament was summoned; some said
+sixty, some seventy days, but not one knew, nor had they settled
+the matter previously; so Lord Rosslyn and I were obliged to go
+to Bridgewater House, which was near, and consult the journals.
+It has always been fifty-two days of late.
+
+In the afternoon another embarrassment. We sent the proclamations
+to the Chancellor (one for England and one for Ireland), to have
+the Great Seal affixed to them; he would only affix the Seal to
+the English, and sent back the Irish unsealed. The Secretary of
+State would not send it to Ireland without the Great Seal, and
+all the Ministers were gone to the fish dinner at Greenwich, so
+that there was no getting at anybody. At last we got it done at
+Lincoln's Inn and sent it off. The fact is, nobody knows his
+business, and the Chancellor least of all. The King continues
+very active; he went after the Council to Buckingham House, then
+to the Thames Tunnel, has immense dinners every day, and the same
+people two or three days running. He has dismissed the late
+King's band, and employs the bands of the Guards every night, who
+are ready to die of it, for they get no pay and are prevented
+earning money elsewhere. The other night the King had a party,
+and at eleven o'clock he dismissed them thus: 'Now, ladies and
+gentlemen, I wish you a good night. I will not detain you any
+longer from your amusements, and shall go to my own, which is to
+go to bed; so come along, my Queen.' The other day he was very
+angry because the guard did not know him in his plain clothes and
+turn out for him--the first appearance of jealousy of his
+greatness he has shown--and he ordered them to be more on the
+alert for the future.
+
+
+July 26th, 1830 {p.013}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING DINES AT APSLEY HOUSE.]
+
+Still the King; his adventures (for they are nothing else)
+furnish matter of continual amusement and astonishment to his
+liege subjects. Yesterday morning, or the evening before, he
+announced to the Duke of Wellington that he should dine with him
+yesterday; accordingly the Duke was obliged, in the midst of
+preparations for his breakfast, to get a dinner ready for him. In
+the morning he took the King of Würtemberg to Windsor, and just
+at the hour when the Duke expected him to dinner he was driving
+through Hyde Park back from Windsor--three barouches-and-four,
+the horses dead knocked up, in the front the two Kings, Jersey,
+and somebody else, all covered with dust. The whole mob of
+carriages and horsemen assembled near Apsley House to see him
+pass and to wait till he returned. The Duke, on hearing he was
+there, rushed down without his hat and stood in his gate in the
+middle of servants, mob, &c., to see him pass. He drove to
+Grillon's 'to drop' the King of Würtemberg, and at a quarter past
+eight he arrived at Apsley House. There were about forty-five
+men, no women, half the Ministers, most of the foreign Ministers,
+and a mixture rather indiscriminate. In the evening I was at Lady
+Salisbury's, when arrived the Duke of Sussex, who gave a short
+account to Sefton of what had passed, and of the King's speech to
+the company. 'You and I,' he said, 'are old Whigs, my Lord, and I
+confess I was somewhat astonished to hear his Majesty's speech.'
+I went afterwards to Crockford's, where I found Matuscewitz, who
+gave me a whole account of the dinner. The two Kings went out to
+dinner arm in arm, the Duke followed; the King sat between the
+King of Würtemberg and the Duke. After dinner his health was
+drunk, to which he returned thanks, sitting, but briefly, and
+promised to say more by-and-by when he should give a toast. In
+process of time he desired Douro to go and tell the band to play
+the merriest waltz they could for the toast he was about to give.
+He then gave 'The Queen of Würtemberg,' with many eulogiums on
+her and on the connubial felicity of her and the King; not a very
+agreeable theme for his host, for conjugal fidelity is not his
+forte. At length he desired Douro to go again to the band and
+order them to play 'See the conquering hero comes,' and then he
+rose. All the company rose with him, when he ordered everybody to
+sit down. Still standing, he said that he had been so short a
+time on the throne that he did not know whether etiquette
+required that he should speak sitting or standing, but, however
+this might be, he had been long used to speak on his legs, and
+should do so now; he then proposed the Duke's health, but
+prefaced it with a long speech--instituted a comparison between
+him and the Duke of Marlborough; went back to the reign of Queen
+Anne, and talked of the great support the Duke of Marlborough had
+received from the Crown, and the little support the Duke of
+Wellington had had in the outset of his career, though after the
+battle of Vimeiro he had been backed by all the energies of the
+country; that, notwithstanding his difficulties, his career had
+been one continued course of victory over the armies of France;
+and then recollecting the presence of Laval, the French
+Ambassador, he said, 'Remember, Duc de Laval, when I talk of
+victories over the French armies, they were not the armies of my
+ally and friend the King of France, but of him who had usurped
+his throne, and against whom you yourself were combating;' then
+going back to the Duke's career, and again referring to the
+comparison between him and Marlborough, and finishing by
+adverting to his political position, that he had on mounting the
+throne found the Duke Minister, and that he had retained him
+because he thought his Administration had been and would be
+highly beneficial to the country; that he gave to him his fullest
+and most cordial confidence, and that he announced to all whom he
+saw around him, to all the Ambassadors and Ministers of foreign
+Powers, and to all the noblemen and gentlemen present, that as
+long as he should sit upon the throne he should continue to give
+him the same confidence. The Duke returned thanks in a short
+speech, thanking the King for his confidence and support, and
+declaring that all his endeavours would be used to keep this
+country in relations of harmony with other nations. The whole
+company stood aghast at the King's extraordinary speech and
+declaration. Matuscewitz told me he never was so astonished, that
+for the world he would not have missed it, and that he would
+never have believed in it if he had not heard it.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S SPEECH AT APSLEY HOUSE.]
+
+Falck[3] gave me a delightful account of the speech and of Laval.
+He thought, not understanding one word, that all the King was
+saying was complimentary to the King of France and the French
+nation, and he kept darting from his seat to make his acknowledgments,
+while Esterhazy held him down by the tail of his coat, and the
+King stopped him with his hand outstretched, all with great
+difficulty. He said it was very comical.
+
+      [3] [Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St.
+          James's. M. de Laval was the French Ambassador. This
+          dinner took place on the day after the publication of
+          the ordinances of July. Three days later Charles X. had
+          ceased to reign. M. de Laval instantly left London on
+          the receipt of the intelligence, leaving M. de
+          Vaudreuil as Chargé d'Affaires.]
+
+
+July 27th, 1830 {p.016}
+
+Review in the morning (yesterday), breakfast at Apsley House,
+chapter of the Garter, dinner at St. James's, party in the
+evening, and ball at Apsley House. I don't hear of anything
+remarkable, and it was so hot I could not go to anything, except
+the breakfast, which I just looked in to for a minute, and found
+everybody sweating and stuffing and the royalties just going
+away. The Duke of Gloucester keeps up his quarrel with the Duke;
+the Duke of Cumberland won't go to Apsley House, but sent the
+Duchess and his boy. The Queen said at dinner the other day to
+the Duke of Cumberland, 'I am very much pleased with you for
+sending the Duchess to Apsley House,' and then turned to the Duke
+of Gloucester and said, 'but I am not pleased with you for not
+letting the Duchess go there.' The fool answered that the Duchess
+should never go there; he would not be reconciled, forgetting
+that it matters not twopence to the Duke of Wellington and a
+great deal to himself.
+
+I have been employed in settling half a dozen disputes of
+different sorts, but generally without success, trifling matters,
+foolish or violent people, not worth remembering any of them. The
+Chancellor, who does not know his own business, has made an
+attack on my office about the proclamations, but I have
+vindicated it in a letter to Lord Bathurst.
+
+
+July 28th, 1830 {p.016}
+
+Yesterday Charles Wynn and I settled the dispute between Clive
+and Charlton about the Ludlow matters. Charlton agrees to retire
+from the contest both in the Borough and Corporation, and Clive
+agrees to pay him. £1,125 towards his expenses, and not to oppose
+the reception of any petition that may be presented to the House
+of Commons for the purpose of re-opening the question of the
+right of voting. Both parties are very well satisfied with this
+termination of their disputes. Met the Chancellor at Lady
+Ravensworth's breakfast yesterday, who told me he had sent a
+rejoinder to my letter to Lord Bathurst about the proclamations.
+
+
+July 29th, 1830 {p.016}
+
+Yesterday a standing Council at the levee to swear in Lord
+Hereford and Vesey Fitzgerald, and to declare Lord Bathurst
+President of the Council and the Duke of Northumberland
+Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Previously the King received the
+address of the dissenting ministers, and then that of the
+Quakers, presented by William Allen; they were very prim and
+respectable persons; their hats were taken off by each other in
+the room before the Throne Room, and they did not bow, though
+they seemed half inclined to do so; they made a very loyal
+address, but without 'Majesty,' and said 'O King.' There was a
+question after his answer what they should do. I thought it was
+whether they should kiss hands, for the King said something to
+Peel, who went and asked them, and I heard the King say, 'Oh,
+just as they like; they needn't if they don't like; it's all
+one.'
+
+[Page Head: ORDINANCES OF CHARLES X.]
+
+But the great event of the day was the reception of the King of
+France's two decrees, and the address of his Ministers, who
+produced them; nothing could surpass the universal astonishment
+and consternation. Falck told me he was reading the newspaper at
+his breakfast regularly through, and when he came to this the
+teacup almost dropped from his hands, and he rubbed his eyes to
+see whether he read correctly. Such was the secresy with which
+this measure was conceived and acted on, that Pozzo, who is
+quicker and has better intelligence than anybody, had not a
+notion of it, as Matuscewitz told me. Aberdeen learnt it through
+the 'Times,' and had not a line from Stuart. That, however, is
+nothing extraordinary. I suspect somebody had it, for Raikes
+wrote me a note the day before, to ask me if there was not
+_something bad_ from France. Matuscewitz told me that Russia
+would not afford Charles X. the smallest support in his new
+crusade against the Constitution of France, and this he
+pronounced openly _à qui voulait l'entendre_. I suspect the Duke
+will be desperately annoyed. The only Minister I had a word with
+about it was Lord Bathurst, whose Tory blood bubbled a little
+quicker at such a despotic act, and while owning the folly of the
+deed he could not help adding that 'he should have repressed the
+press when he dissolved the Chambers, then he might have done
+it.'
+
+
+July 30th, 1830 {p.018}
+
+[Page Head: REVOLUTION IN PARIS.]
+
+Everybody anxious for news from France. A few hope, and still
+fewer think, the King of France will succeed, and that the French
+will submit, but the press here joins in grand chorus against the
+suppression of the liberty of that over the water. Matuscewitz
+told me he had a conference with the Duke, who was excessively
+annoyed, but what seems to have struck him more than anything is
+the extraordinary secresy of the business, and neither Pozzo nor
+Stuart having known one word of it. Up to the last Polignac has
+deceived everybody, and put such words into the King's mouth that
+nobody could expect such a _coup_. The King assured Pozzo di Borgo
+the day before that nothing of the sort was in contemplation.
+This, like everything else, will be judged by the event--desperate
+fatuity if it fails, splendid energy and accurate calculation of
+opposite moral forces if it succeeds. I judge that it will fail,
+because I can see no marks of wisdom in the style of execution,
+and the State paper is singularly puerile and weak in argument. It
+is passionate and not dexterous, not even plausible. All this is
+wonderfully interesting, and will give us a lively autumn.
+
+The King has been to Woolwich, inspecting the artillery, to whom
+he gave a dinner, with toasts and hip, hip, hurrahing and three
+times three, himself giving the time. I tremble for him; at
+present he is only a mountebank, but he bids fair to be a maniac.
+
+Brougham will come in for Yorkshire without a contest; his
+address was very eloquent. He is rather mad without a doubt; his
+speeches this year have been sometimes more brilliant than ever
+they were; but who with such stupendous talents was ever so
+little considered? We admire him as we do a fine actor, and
+nobody ever possessed such enormous means, and displayed a mind
+so versatile, fertile, and comprehensive, and yet had so little
+efficacy and influence. He told me just before he left town that
+Yorkshire had been proposed to him, but that he had written word
+he would not stand, nor spend a guinea, nor go there, nor even
+take the least trouble about the concerns of anyone of his
+constituents, if they elected him; but he soon changed his note.
+
+
+July 31st, 1830 {p.019}
+
+Yesterday morning I met Matuscewitz in St. James's Street, who
+said, 'You have heard the news?' But I had not, so I got into his
+cabriolet, and he told me that Bülow had just been with him with
+an account of Rothschild's estafette, who had brought intelligence
+of a desperate conflict at Paris between the people and the Royal
+Guard, in which 1,000 men had been killed of the former, and of
+the eventual revolt of two regiments, which decided the business;
+that the Swiss had refused to fire on the people; the King is gone
+to Rambouillet, the Ministers are missing, and the Deputies who
+were at Paris had assembled in the Chambers, and declared their
+sittings permanent. Nothing can exceed the interest and excitement
+that all these proceedings create here, and unless there is a
+reaction, which does not seem probable, the game is up with the
+Bourbons. They richly deserve their fate. It remains to be seen
+what part Bourmont and the Algerian army will take; the latter
+will probably side with the nation, and the former will be guided
+by his own interest, and is not unlikely to endeavour to direct a
+spirit which he could not expect to control. He may reconcile
+himself to the country by a double treachery.
+
+_At night._ To-day at one o'clock Stuart's messenger arrived with
+a meagre account, having left Paris on the night of the 29th. The
+tricoloured flag had been raised; the National Guard was up,
+commanded by old Lafayette (their chief forty years ago), who
+ruled in Paris with Gérard, Odier, Casimir Périer, Lafitte, and
+one or two more. The Tuileries and the Louvre had been pillaged;
+the King was at Rambouillet, where Marshal Marmont had retired,
+and had with him a large force. Nobody, however, believed they
+would fight against the people. The Deputies and the Peers had
+met, and the latter separated without doing anything; the former
+had a stormy discussion, but came to no resolution. Some were for
+a republic, some for the Duke of Orleans, some for the Duke of
+Bordeaux with the Duke of Orleans as Regent. Rothschild had
+another courier with later intelligence. The King had desired to
+treat, and that proposals might be made to him; all the Ministers
+escaped from Paris by a subterranean passage which led from the
+Tuileries to the river, and even at St. Cloud the Duke told
+Matuscewitz that 'Marmont had taken up a good military position,'
+as if it was a military and not a moral question. Strange he
+should think of such a thing, but they are all terrified to death
+at the national flag and colours, because they see in its train
+revolutions, invasions, and a thousand alarms. I own I would
+rather have seen an easy transfer of the Crown to some other head
+under the white flag. There was Lady Tankerville going about
+to-day enquiring of everybody for news, trembling for her brother
+'and his brigade.' Late in the day she got Lady Jersey to go with
+her to Rothschild, whom she saw, and Madame Rothschild, who showed
+her all their letters. Tankerville, who is a sour, malignant
+little Whig (since become an ultra-Tory), loudly declares Polignac
+ought to be hung. The elections here are going against Government,
+and no candidate will avow that he stands on Government interest,
+or with the intention of supporting the Duke's Ministry, which
+looks as if it had lost all its popularity.
+
+
+August 2nd, 1830 {p.020}
+
+Yesterday (Sunday) we had no news and no reports, except one that
+Marmont was killed. I never believe reports. The elections still
+go against Government. G. Dawson returned from Dublin; all the
+Peels lose their seats. Fordwich beat Baring at Canterbury by 370
+votes. It is said the King was in a state of great excitement at
+Woolwich the other day, when it was very hot, and he drank a good
+deal of wine.
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.]
+
+_Evening._--This morning, on going into town, I read in the
+'Times' the news of the day--the proclamation of the Provisional
+Government, the invitation to the Duke of Orleans, his proclamation,
+and the account of the conversation between Lafitte and Marmont.
+It is in vain to look for private or official information, for the
+'Times' always has the latest and the best; Stuart sends next to
+nothing. Soon after I got to George Street the Duke of Wellington
+came in, in excellent spirits, and talked over the whole matter.
+He said he could not comprehend how the Royal Guard had been
+defeated by the mob, and particularly how they had been forced to
+evacuate the Tuileries; that he had seen English and French troops
+hold houses whole days not one-fourth so strong. I said that there
+could not be a shadow of doubt that it was because they _would_
+not fight, that if they _would_ have fought they must have beat
+the mob, and reminded him of the French at Madrid, and asked him
+if he did not think his regiment would beat all the populace of
+London, which he said it would. He described the whole affair as
+it has taken place, and said that there can be no doubt that the
+moneyed men of Paris (who are all against the Government) and the
+Liberals had foreseen a violent measure on the part of the King,
+and had organised the resistance; that on the appearance of the
+edicts the bankers simultaneously refused to discount any bills,
+on which the great manufacturers and merchants dismissed their
+workmen, to the number of many thousands, who inflamed the public
+discontent, and united to oppose the military and the execution of
+the decrees. He said positively that we should not take any part,
+and that no other Government ought or could. He does not like the
+Duke of Orleans, and thinks his proclamation mean and shabby, but
+owned that under all circumstances his election to the Crown would
+probably be the best thing that could happen. The Duke of Chartres
+he had known here, and thought he was intelligent. The Duke
+considered the thing as settled, but did not feel at all sure they
+would offer the Crown to the Duke of Orleans. He said he could not
+guess or form an opinion as to their ulterior proceedings.
+
+After discussing the whole business with his usual simplicity, he
+began talking of the Duke of Cumberland and his resignation of the
+command of the Blues. Formerly the colonels of the two regiments
+of Life Guards held alternately the Gold Stick, and these two
+regiments were under the immediate orders of the King, and not of
+the Commander-in-Chief. When the Duke of Wellington returned from
+Spain and had the command of the Blues, the King insisted upon his
+taking the duty also; so it was divided into three, but the Blues
+still continued under the Commander-in-Chief. But when the Duke of
+Cumberland wanted to be continually about the King, he got him to
+give him the command of the Household troops; this was at the
+period of the death of the Duke of York and the Duke of
+Wellington's becoming Commander-in-Chief. The Duke of Cumberland
+told the Duke of Wellington that he had received the King's verbal
+commands to that effect, and from that time he alone kept the Gold
+Stick, and the Blues were withdrawn from the authority of the
+Commander-in-Chief. The Duke of Wellington made no opposition; but
+last year, during the uproar on the Catholic question, he
+perceived the inconvenience of the arrangement, and intended to
+speak to the King about it, for the Duke of Cumberland was
+concerned in organising mobs to go down to Windsor to frighten
+Lady Conyngham and the King, and the Horse Guards, who would
+naturally have been called out to suppress any tumult, would not
+have been disposable without the Duke of Cumberland's concurrence,
+so much so that on one particular occasion, when the Kentish men
+were to have gone to Windsor 20,000 strong, the Duke of Wellington
+detained a regiment of light cavalry who were marching elsewhere,
+that he might not be destitute of military aid. Before, however,
+he did anything about this with the King ('I always,' he said, 'do
+one thing at a time') his Majesty was taken ill and died.
+
+On the accession of the present King the Duke of Cumberland
+wished to continue the same system, which his Majesty was
+resolved he should not, and he ordered that the colonels of the
+regiments should take the Stick in rotation. He also ordered
+(through Sir R. Peel) that Lord Combermere should command the
+troops at the funeral as Gold Stick. This the Duke of Cumberland
+resisted, and sent down orders to Lord Cathcart to assume the
+command. The Duke of Wellington, however, represented to Lord
+Cathcart that he had better do no such thing, as nobody could
+disobey the King's orders gone through the Secretary of State,
+and accordingly he did nothing. But the King was determined to
+put an end to the pretensions of the Duke of Cumberland, and
+spoke to the Duke on the subject, and said that he would have all
+the regiments placed under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
+The Duke recommended him to replace the matter in the state in
+which it stood before the Duke of Cumberland's pretensions had
+altered it, but he would not do this, and chose to abide by his
+original intention; so the three regiments were placed under the
+orders of the Horse Guards like the rest, and the Duke of
+Cumberland in consequence resigned the command of the Blues.
+
+
+August 3rd, 1830 {p.023}
+
+[Page Head: WARDROBE OF GEORGE IV.]
+
+Notwithstanding the above story, the King dined with the Duke of
+Cumberland at Kew yesterday. I went yesterday to the sale of the
+late King's wardrobe, which was numerous enough to fill Monmouth
+Street, and sufficiently various and splendid for the wardrobe of
+Drury Lane. He hardly ever gave away anything except his linen,
+which was distributed every year. These clothes are the
+perquisite of his pages, and will fetch a pretty sum. There are
+all the coats he has ever had for fifty years, 300 whips, canes
+without number, every sort of uniform, the costumes of all the
+orders in Europe, splendid furs, pelisses, hunting-coats and
+breeches, and among other things a dozen pair of corduroy
+breeches he had made to hunt in when Don Miguel was here. His
+profusion in these articles was unbounded, because he never paid
+for them, and his memory was so accurate that one of his pages
+told me he recollected every article of dress, no matter how old,
+and that they were always liable to be called on to produce some
+particular coat or other article of apparel of years gone by. It
+is difficult to say whether in great or little things that man
+was most odious and contemptible.
+
+Nothing from France yesterday but the most absurd reports.
+
+
+August 5th, 1830 {p.023}
+
+Yesterday morning at a Council; all the Ministers, and the Duke of
+Rutland, Lords Somers, Rosslyn, and Gower to be sworn Lieutenants.
+Talked about France with Sir G. Murray, who was silly enough to
+express his disappointment that things promised to be soon and
+quietly settled, and hoped the King would have assembled an army
+and fought for it. Afterwards a levee. While the Queen was in the
+closet they brought her word that Charles X. was at Cherbourg, and
+had sent for leave to come here; but nobody knew yesterday if this
+was true or not. In the afternoon I met Vaudreuil, and had a long
+conversation with him on the state of things. He said, 'My family
+has been twice ruined by these cursed Bourbons, and I will be
+damned if they shall a third time;' that he had long foreseen the
+inevitable tendency of Polignac's determination, ever since he was
+here, when he had surrounded himself with low agents and would
+admit no gentleman into his confidence; one of his _affidés_ was a
+man of the name of Carrier, a relation of the famous Carrier de
+Nantes. Vaudreuil's father-in-law had consulted him many months
+ago what to do with £300,000 which he had in the French funds, and
+he advised him to sell it out and put it in his drawer, which he
+did, sacrificing the interest for that time. He had hitherto done
+nothing, been near none of the Ministers, feeling that he could
+say nothing to them; no communication had been made to him, but
+whenever any should be he intended to reply to it. Laval ran away
+just in time, and Vaudreuil was so provoked at his evasion that he
+sent after him to say that in such important circumstances he
+could not take upon himself to act without his Ambassador's
+instructions. No answer of course. He thinks that if this had not
+taken place a few years must have terminated the reign of the
+Bourbons, and that it is only the difference between sudden and
+lingering death; that when he was at Paris he had seen the
+dissatisfaction of the young officers in the Guards, who were all
+Liberal; and with these sentiments, what a condition they must
+have been in when called upon to charge and fire on the people
+while secretly approving of their conduct, 'entre leurs devoirs de
+citoyens et de militaires!'
+
+I had a conversation with Fitzgerald (Vesey) the other day about
+the Government and its prospects. They want him greatly to return
+to office, but he is going abroad again for his health, and I
+suspect is not very anxious to come in just now, when things look
+gloomy. He thinks they have acted very injudiciously in sending
+down candidates to turn out their opponents, attempts which
+generally failed, and only served to exasperate the people
+interested more and more against them. Such men as the Grants, as
+he said, cannot be kept out of Parliament. But they manage
+everything ill, and it is impossible to look at the present
+Ministry and watch its acts, and not marvel that the Duke should
+think of going on with it. If he does not take care he will be
+dragged down by it, whereas if he would, while it is yet time,
+remodel it altogether, and open his doors to all who are capable
+of serving under him (for all are ready to take him as chief), he
+might secure to himself a long and honourable possession of
+power. Then it is said he can't whistle off these men merely
+because it is convenient, but he had better do that than keep
+them on bungling through all the business of the country.
+Besides, I have some doubts of his tender-heartedness in this
+respect.
+
+
+Goodwood, August 10th, 1830 {p.025}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING GOES TO WINDSOR.]
+
+On Saturday, the 7th, the King and Queen breakfasted at Osterley,
+on their way to Windsor. They had about sixty or seventy people
+to meet them, and it all went off very well, without anything
+remarkable. I went to Stoke afterwards, where there was the usual
+sort of party.
+
+The King entered Windsor so privately that few people knew him,
+though he made the horses walk all the way from Frogmore that he
+might be seen. On Saturday and Sunday the Terrace was thrown
+open, and the latter day it was crowded by multitudes and a very
+gay sight; there were sentinels on each side of the east front to
+prevent people walking under the windows of the living-rooms, but
+they might go where else they liked. The King went to Bagshot and
+did not appear. All the late King's private drives through the
+Park are also thrown open, but not to carriages. We went,
+however, a long string of four carriages, to explore, and got
+through the whole drive round by Virginia Water, the famous
+fishing-pagoda, and saw all the penetralia of the late King,
+whose ghost must have been indignant at seeing us (Sefton
+particularly) scampering all about his most secret recesses. It
+is an exceedingly enjoyable spot, and pretty, but has not so much
+beauty as I expected.
+
+Came here yesterday and found thirty-two people assembled. I rode
+over the downs three or four miles (from Petworth), and never saw
+so delightful a country to live in. There is an elasticity in the
+air and turf which communicates itself to the spirits.
+
+[Page Head: FRENCH DEMOCRACY.]
+
+In the meantime the French Revolution has been proceeding rapidly
+to its consummation, and the Duke of Orleans is King. Montrond,
+who was at Stoke, thinks that France will gravitate towards a
+republic, and principally for this reason, that there is an
+unusual love of equality, and no disposition to profit by the
+power of making _majorats_, therefore that there never can be
+anything like an aristocracy. We are so accustomed to see the
+regular working of our constitutional system, with all its parts
+depending upon each other, and so closely interwoven, that we have
+difficulty in believing that any monarchical Government can exist
+which is founded on a basis so different. This is the great
+political problem which is now to be solved. I think, however,
+that in the present settlement it is not difficult to see the
+elements of future contention and the working of a strong
+democratical spirit. The Crown has been conferred on the Duke of
+Orleans by the Chamber of Deputies alone, which, so far from
+inviting the Chamber of Peers to discuss the question of
+succession, has at the same time decreed a material alteration in
+that Chamber itself. It has at a blow cut off all the Peers of
+Villèle's great promotion, which is an enormous act of authority,
+although the measure may be advisable. There is also a question
+raised of the hereditary quality of the peerage, and I dare say
+that for the future at least peerages will not be hereditary, not
+that I think this signifies as to the existence of an aristocracy,
+for the constant subdivision of property must deprive the Chamber
+of all the qualities belonging to an English House of Lords, and
+it would perhaps be better to establish another principle, such as
+that of promoting to the Chamber of Peers men (for life) of great
+wealth, influence, and ability, who would constitute an
+aristocracy of a different kind indeed, but more respectable and
+efficient, than a host of poor hereditary senators. What great men
+are Lord Lonsdale, the Duke of Rutland, and Lord Cleveland! but
+strip them, of their wealth and power, what would they be? Among
+the most insignificant of mankind; but they all acquire a
+factitious consideration by the influence they possess to do good
+and evil, the extension of it over multitudes of dependents. The
+French can have no aristocracy but a personal one, ours is in the
+institution; theirs must be individually respectable, as ours is
+collectively looked up to. In the meantime it will be deemed a
+great step gained to have a monarchy established in France at all,
+even for the moment, but some people are alarmed at the excessive
+admiration which the French Revolution has excited in England, and
+there is a very general conviction that Spain will speedily follow
+the example of France, and probably Belgium also. Italy I don't
+believe will throw off the yoke; they have neither spirit nor
+unanimity, and the Austrian military force is too great to be
+resisted. But Austria will tremble and see that the great victory
+which Liberalism has gained has decided the question as to which
+principle, that of light or darkness, shall prevail for the future
+in the world.
+
+
+London, August 14th, 1830 {p.027}
+
+Stayed at Goodwood till the 12th; went to Brighton, riding over
+the downs from Goodwood to Arundel, a delightful ride. How much I
+prefer England to Italy! There we have mountains and sky; here,
+vegetation and verdure, fine trees and soft turf; and in the long
+run the latter are the most enjoyable. Yesterday came to London
+from Brighton; found things much as they were, but almost
+everybody gone out of town. The French are proceeding steadily in
+the reconstruction of their Government, but they have evinced a
+strong democratical spirit. The new King, too, conducts himself in
+a way that gives me a bad opinion of him; he is too complaisant to
+the rage for equality, and stoops more than he need do; in fact,
+he overdoes it. It is a piece of abominably bad taste (to say no
+worse) to have conferred a pension on the author of the
+Marseillaise hymn; for what can be worse than to rake up the old
+ashes of Jacobinism, and what more necessary than to distinguish
+as much as possible this Revolution from that of 1789? Then he
+need not be more familiar as King than he ever was as Duke of
+Orleans, and affect the manners of a citizen and a plainness of
+dress and demeanour very suitable to an American President, but
+unbecoming a descendant of Louis XIV.
+
+The new Charter is certainly drawn up with great moderation, the
+few alterations which have been made approximating it to the
+spirit of the English Constitution, and in the whole of the
+proceedings the analogies of our revolution have been pretty
+closely followed. But there has been a remarkable deviation,
+which I think ominous, and I can't imagine how it has escaped
+with so little animadversion here. That is the cavalier manner in
+which the Chamber of Peers has been treated, for the Deputies not
+only assumed all the functions of Government and legislation, and
+disposed by their authority of the Crown without inviting the
+concurrence of the other Chamber, but at the same time they
+exercised an enormous act of authority over the Chamber of Peers
+itself in striking off the whole of that great promotion of
+Charles X., which, however unwise and perhaps unconstitutional,
+was perfectly legal, and those Peers had, in fact, as good a
+right to their peerages as any of their colleagues. They have
+reconstructed the Chamber of Peers, and conferred upon it certain
+rights and privileges; but the power which can create can also
+destroy, and it must be pretty obvious after this that the Upper
+Chamber will be for the future nothing better than a superior
+Court of Judicature, depending for its existence upon the will of
+the popular branch. There are some articles of the old Charter
+which I am astonished at their keeping, but which they may
+possibly alter[4] at the revision which is to take place next
+year, those particularly which limit the entrance to the Chamber
+of Deputies to men of forty, and which give the initiation of
+laws to the King. But on the whole it is a good sign that they
+should alter so little, and looks like extreme caution and a
+dislike to rapid and violent changes.
+
+      [4] They are altered. The first translation of the Charter
+          which I read was incorrect.
+
+[Page Head: POLIGNAC.]
+
+In the meantime we hear nothing of the old King, who marches
+slowly on with his family. It has been reported in London that
+Polignac is here, and also that he is taken. Nobody knows the
+truth. I have heard of his behaviour, however, which was worthy of
+his former imbecility. He remained in the same presumptuous
+confidence up to the last moment, telling those who implored him
+to retract while it was still time that they did not know France,
+that he did, that it was essentially Royalist, and all resistance
+would be over in a day or two, till the whole ruin burst on him at
+once, when he became like a man awakened from a dream, utterly
+confounded with the magnitude of the calamity and as pusillanimous
+and miserable as he had before been blind and confident. It must
+be owned that their end has been worthy of the rest, for not one
+of them has evinced good feeling, or magnanimity, or courage in
+their fall, nor excited the least sympathy or commiseration. The
+Duke of Fitzjames made a good speech in the Chamber of Peers, and
+Chateaubriand a very fine one a few days before, full of eloquence
+in support of the claim of the Duke of Bordeaux against that of
+Louis Philippe I.
+
+In the meantime our elections here are still going against
+Government, and the signs of the times are all for reform and
+retrenchment, and against slavery. It is astonishing the interest
+the people generally take in the slavery question, which is the
+work of the Methodists, and shows the enormous influence they
+have in the country. The Duke (for I have not seen him) is said
+to be very easy about the next Parliament, whereas, as far as one
+can judge, it promises to be quite as unmanageable as the last,
+and is besides very ill composed--full of boys and all sorts of
+strange men.
+
+
+August 20th, 1830 {p.029}
+
+On Monday to Stoke; Alvanley, Fitzroy Somerset, Matuscewitz,
+Stanislas Potocki, Glengall, and Mornay were there. Lady Sefton
+(who had dined at the Castle a few days before) asked the King to
+allow her to take Stanislas Potocki to see Virginia Water in a
+carriage, which is not allowed, but which his Majesty agreed to.
+Accordingly we started, and going through the private drives,
+went up to the door of the tent opposite the fishing-house. They
+thought it was the Queen coming, or at any rate a party from the
+Castle, for the man on board the little frigate hoisted all the
+colours, and the boatmen on the other side got ready the royal
+barge to take us across. We went all over the place on both
+sides, and were delighted with the luxury and beauty of the whole
+thing. On one side are a number of tents, communicating together
+in separate apartments and forming a very good house, a
+dining-room, drawing-room, and several other small rooms, very
+well furnished; across the water is the fishing-cottage,
+beautifully ornamented, with one large room and a dressing-room
+on each side; the kitchen and offices are in a garden full of
+flowers, shut out from everything. Opposite the windows is moored
+a large boat, in which the band used to play during dinner, and
+in summer the late King dined every day either in the house or in
+the tents. We had scarcely seen everything when Mr. Turner, the
+head keeper, arrived in great haste, having spied us from the
+opposite side, and very angry at our carriages having come there,
+which is a thing forbidden; he did not know of our leave, nor
+could we even satisfy him that we were not to blame.
+
+[Page Head: GEORGE IV.'S ILLNESS AND DEATH.]
+
+The next day I called on Batchelor (he was _valet de chambre_ to
+the Duke of York, afterwards to George IV.), who has an excellent
+apartment in the Lodge, which, he said, was once occupied by Nell
+Gwynne, though I did not know the lodge was built at that time. I
+was there a couple of hours, and heard all the details of the
+late King's illness and other things. For many months before his
+death those who were about him were aware of his danger, but
+nobody dared to say a word. The King liked to cheat people with
+making them think he was well, and when he had been at a Council
+he would return to his apartments and tell his _valets de
+chambre_ how he had deceived them. During his illness he was
+generally cheerful, but occasionally dejected, and constantly
+talked of his brother the Duke of York, and of the similarity of
+their symptoms, and was always comparing them. He had been
+latterly more civil to Knighton than he used to be, and
+Knighton's attentions to him were incessant; whenever he thought
+himself worse than usual, and in immediate danger, he always sent
+for Sir William. Lady Conyngham and her family went into his room
+once a day; till his illness he always used to go and sit in
+hers. It is true that last year, when she was so ill, she was
+very anxious to leave the Castle, and it was Sir William Knighton
+who with great difficulty induced her to stay there. At that time
+she was in wretched spirits, and did nothing but pray from
+morning till night. However, her conscience does not seem ever to
+have interfered with her ruling passion, avarice, and she went on
+accumulating. During the last illness waggons were loaded every
+night and sent away from the Castle, but what their contents were
+was not known, at least Batchelor did not say. All Windsor knew
+this. Those servants of the King who were about his person had
+opportunities of hearing a great deal, for he used to talk of
+everybody before them, and without reserve or measure.
+
+This man Batchelor had become a great favourite with the late
+King. The first of his pages, William Holmes, had for some time
+been prevented by ill health from attending him. Holmes had been
+with him from a boy, and was also a great favourite; by
+appointments and perquisites he had as much as £12,000 or £14,000
+a year, but he had spent so much in all sorts of debauchery and
+living like a gentleman that he was nearly ruined. There seems to
+have been no end to the _tracasseries_ between these men; their
+anxiety to get what they could out of the King's wardrobe in the
+last weeks, and their dishonesty in the matter, were excessive,
+all which he told me in great detail. The King was more than
+anybody the slave of habit and open to impressions, and even when
+he did not like people he continued to keep them about him rather
+than change.
+
+While I was at Stoke news came that Charles X. had arrived off
+Portsmouth. He has asked for an asylum in Austria, but when once
+he has landed here he will not move again, I dare say. The
+enthusiasm which the French Revolution produced is beginning to
+give way to some alarm, and not a little disgust at the Duke of
+Orleans' conduct, who seems anxious to assume the character of a
+Jacobin King, affecting extreme simplicity and laying aside all
+the pomp of royalty. I don't think it can do, and there is
+certainly enough to cause serious disquietude for the future.
+
+Sefton in the meantime told me that Brougham and Lord Grey were
+prepared for a violent opposition, and that they had effected a
+formal junction with Huskisson, being convinced that no
+Government could now be formed without him. I asked him if
+Palmerston was a party to this junction, and he said he was, but
+the first thing I heard when I got to town was that a negotiation
+is going on between Palmerston and the Duke, and that the former
+takes every opportunity of declaring his goodwill to the latter,
+and how unshackled he is. Both these things can't be true, and
+time will show which is. It seems odd that Palmerston should
+abandon his party on the eve of a strong coalition, which is not
+unlikely to turn out the present Administration, but it is quite
+impossible to place any dependence upon public men now-a-days.
+There is Lord Grey with his furious opposition, having a little
+while ago supported the Duke in a sort of way, having advised
+Rosslyn to take office, and now, because his own vanity is hurt
+at not being invited to join the Government, or more consulted at
+least, upon the slight pretext of the Galway Bill in the last
+Parliament he rushes into rancorous opposition, and is determined
+to give no quarter and listen to no compromise. Brougham is to
+lead this Opposition in the House of Commons, and Lord Grey in
+the Lords, and nothing is to be done but as the result of general
+deliberation and agreement. Brougham in the meantime has finished
+his triumph at York in a miserable way, having insulted Martin
+Stapylton on the hustings, who called him to account, and then he
+forgot what he had said, and slunk away with a disclaimer of
+unintentional offence, as usual beginning with intemperance and
+ending with submission. His speeches were never good, but at his
+own dinner he stated so many untruths about the Duke of
+Wellington that his own partisans bawled out 'No, no,' and it was
+a complete failure. His whole spirit there was as bad as
+possible, paltry and commonplace. That man, with all his talents,
+never can or will _do_ in any situation; he is base, cowardly,
+and unprincipled, and with all the execrable judgment which, I
+believe, often flows from the perversion of moral sentiment.
+Nobody can admire his genius, eloquence, variety and extent of
+information, and the charm of his society more than I do; but his
+faults are glaring, and the effects of them manifest to anybody
+who will compare his means and their results.
+
+
+August 23rd, 1830 {p.033}
+
+[Page Head: CHARLES X. IN ENGLAND.]
+
+General Baudrand is come over with a letter from King Louis
+Philippe to King William. He saw the Duke and Aberdeen yesterday.
+Charles X. goes to Lulworth Castle. What are called moderate
+people are greatly alarmed at the aspect of affairs in France,
+but I think the law (which will be carried) of abolishing capital
+punishment in political cases is calculated to tranquillise men's
+minds everywhere, for it draws such a line between the old and
+the new Revolution. The Ministers will be tried and banished, but
+no blood spilt. Lord Anglesey went to see Charles X., and told
+him openly his opinion of his conduct. The King laid it all upon
+Polignac. The people of Paris wanted to send over a deputation to
+thank the English for their sympathy and assistance--a sort of
+fraternising affair--but the King would not permit it, which was
+wisely done, and it is a good thing to see that he can curb in
+some degree that spirit; this Vaudreuil told me last night. It
+would have given great offence and caused great alarm here.
+
+
+August 24th, 1830 {p.033}
+
+Alvanley had a letter from Montrond yesterday from Paris. He was
+with M. Molé when a letter was brought him from Polignac,
+beginning, 'Mon cher Collègue,' and saying that he wrote to him
+to ask his advice what he had better do, that he should have
+liked to retire to his own estate, but it was too near Paris,
+that he should like to go into Alsace, and that he begged he
+would arrange it for him, and in the meantime send him some
+boots, and shirts, and breeches.
+
+The French King continues off Cowes, many people visiting him.
+They came off without clothes or preparation of any kind, so much
+so that Lady Grantham has been obliged to furnish Mesdames de
+Berri and d'Angoulême with everything; it seems they have plenty
+of money. The King says he and his son have retired from public
+life; and as to his grandson, he must wait the progress of
+events; that his conscience reproaches him with nothing.
+
+The dinner in St. George's Hall on the King's birthday was the
+finest thing possible--all good and hot, and served on the late
+King's gold plate. There were one hundred people at table. After
+dinner the King gave the Duke of Wellington's health, as it was
+the anniversary of Vimeiro; the Dukes of Cumberland and
+Gloucester turned their glasses down. I can't agree with Charles
+X. that it would be better to '_travailler pour son pain_ than to
+be King of England.'
+
+I went yesterday all over Lambeth Palace, which has been nearly
+rebuilt by Blore, and admirably done; one of the best houses I
+ever saw. Archbishop Juxon's Hall has been converted into the
+library of the Palace, and is also a fine thing in its way. It is
+not to cost above £40,000. The Lollards' Tower, which is very
+curious with its iron rings, and the names of the Lollards
+written on the walls, is not to be touched.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH MARSHAL MARMONT.]
+
+_At night._--Went to Lady Glengall's to meet Marmont. He likes
+talking of his adventures, but he had done his Paris talk before
+I got there; however, he said a great deal about old campaigning
+and Buonaparte, which, as well as I recollect, I will put down.
+
+As to the battle of Salamanca, he remarked that, without meaning
+to detract from the glory of the English arms, he was inferior in
+force there; our army was provided with everything, well paid,
+and the country favourable, his 'dénuée de tout,' without pay, in
+a hostile country; that all his provisions came from a great
+distance and under great escorts, and his communications were
+kept up in the same way. Of Russia, he said that Buonaparte's
+army was destroyed by the time he got to Moscow, destroyed by
+famine; that there were two ways of making war, by slow degrees
+with magazines, or by rapid movements and reaching places where
+abundant means of supply and reorganisation were to be found, as
+he had done at Vienna and elsewhere, but in Russia supplies were
+not to be had. Napoleon had, however, pushed on with the same
+rapidity and destroyed his army. Marshal Davoust (I think, but am
+not sure) had a _corps d'armée_ of 80,000 men and reached Moscow
+with 15,000; the cavalry were 50,000 sabres, at Moscow they were
+6,000. Somebody asked him if Napoleon's generals had not
+dissuaded him from going to Russia. Marmont said no; they liked
+it; but Napoleon ought to have stopped at Smolensk, made Poland
+independent, and levied 50,000 Cossacks, the Polish Cossacks
+being better than the Russian, who would have kept all his
+communications clear, and allowed the French army to repose, and
+then he would have done in two campaigns what he wished to
+accomplish in one; instead of which he never would deal with
+Poland liberally, but held back with ulterior views, and never
+got the Poles cordially with him. Of the campaign of 1813 he said
+that it was ill conducted by Napoleon and full of faults; his
+creation of the army was wonderful, and the battle of Dresden
+would have been a great movement if he had not suddenly abandoned
+Vandamme after pushing him on to cut off the retreat of the
+Allies. It was an immense fault to leave all the garrisons in the
+Prussian and Saxon fortresses. The campaign of 1814 was one of
+his most brilliant. He (Marmont) commanded a _corps d'armée_, and
+fought in most of the celebrated actions, but he never had 4,000
+men; at Paris, which he said was 'the most honourable part of his
+whole career,' he had 7,500.[5] Napoleon committed a great fault
+in throwing himself into the rear as he did; he should have
+fallen back upon Paris, where his own presence would have been of
+vast importance, and sent Marmont into the rear with what troops
+he could collect. I repeated what the Duke of Wellington had once
+told me, that if the Emperor had continued the same plan, and
+fallen back on Paris, he would have obliged the Allies to
+retreat, and asked him what he thought. He rather agreed with
+this, but said the Emperor had conceived one of the most splendid
+pieces of strategy that ever had been devised, which failed by
+the disobedience of Eugene. He sent orders to Eugene to assemble
+his army, in which he had 35,000 French troops, to amuse the
+Austrians by a negotiation for the evacuation of Italy; to throw
+the Italian troops into Alessandria and Mantua; to destroy the
+other fortresses, and going by forced marches with his French
+troops, force the passage of Mont Cenis, collect the scattered
+_corps d'armée_ of Augereau (who was near Lyons) and another
+French general, which would have made his force amount to above
+60,000 men, and burst upon the rear of the Allies so as to cut
+off all their communications. These orders he sent to Eugene, but
+Eugene 'rêvait d'être roi d'Italie après sa chute,' and he sent
+his aide-de-camp Tascher to excuse himself. The movement was not
+made, and the game was up. Lady Dudley Stewart was there,
+Lucien's daughter and Buonaparte's niece. Marmont was presented
+to her, and she heard him narrate all this; there is something
+very simple, striking, and soldierlike in his manner and
+appearance. He is going to Russia.
+
+      [5] [This assertion of Marmont's is the more curious as it
+          was to his alleged treachery that Napoleon when at
+          Fontainebleau chose to ascribe his defeat.]
+
+[Page Head: CRADOCK'S MISSION TO CHARLES X.]
+
+He was very communicative about events at Paris, lamented his own
+ill-luck, involved in the business against his wishes and
+feelings; he disapproved of Polignac and his measures, and had no
+notion the _ordonnances_ were thought of. In the morning he was
+going to St. Germain for the day; when his aide-de-camp brought
+him the newspaper with the _ordonnances il tomba de son haut_.
+Soon after the Dauphin sent to him to desire that, as there might
+be some 'vitres cassées,' he would take the command of the
+troops. Directly after the thing began. He had 7,000 or 8,000
+men; not a preparation had been made of any sort; they had never
+thought of resistance, had not consulted Marmont or any military
+man; he soon found how hopeless the case was, and sent eight
+estafettes to the King one after another during the action to
+tell him so and implore him to stop while it was time. They never
+returned any answer. He then rode out to St. Cloud, where he
+implored the King to yield. It was not till after seven hours'
+pressing that he consented to name M. de Mortemart Minister, but
+would not withdraw the edicts. He says that up to Wednesday night
+they would have compromised and accepted M. de Mortemart and the
+suppression of the edicts, but the King still demurred. On
+Wednesday night he yielded, but then the communications were
+interrupted. That night the meeting at the Palais Royal took
+place, at which the King's fate was determined; and on Thursday
+morning when his offers arrived, it was too late, and they would
+no longer treat. Marmont said he had been treated with the
+greatest ingratitude by the Court, and had taken leave of them
+for ever, coldly of the King and Dauphin; the Duchess of Berri
+alone shook hands with him and thanked him for his services and
+fidelity. He says never man was so unlucky, that he was _maréchal
+de quartier_ and could not refuse to serve, but he only acted on
+the defensive; 2,000 of the troops and 1,500 of the populace were
+killed. The Swiss did not behave well, but the Lanciers de la
+Garde beautifully, and all the troops were acting against their
+feelings and opinions. Marmont said that Stuart had sent Cradock
+to Charles X. to desire he would go as slowly as he could, to
+give time for a reaction which he expected would take place.
+Cradock did go to the King, but I rather doubt this story.[6]
+
+      [6] [Colonel Cradock (the late Lord Howden) was sent by the
+          Ambassador to the King, and had an audience at
+          Rambouillet, but it was at the request and instigation
+          of the Duke of Orleans. The proposal entrusted to
+          Colonel Cradock was to the effect that the King and the
+          Dauphin, having abdicated, should quit France with the
+          Princesses, but that Henry V. should be proclaimed King
+          under the regency of the Duke of Orleans. Louis
+          Philippe offered to support this arrangement, and to
+          carry on the Government as Regent, if Charles X.
+          sanctioned it. The King received the communication in
+          bed. The Duchess of Angoulême was consulted, and
+          vehemently opposed the scheme, because, said she,
+          speaking of the Orleans family, 'ils sont toujours les
+          mêmes,' and she referred to the preposterous stories
+          current at the time of the death of the Duc de
+          Bourgogne, and the regency of 1715. The offer was
+          therefore rejected. These facts were not known to Mr.
+          Greville at the time, nor till long afterwards, but
+          they confirm his information that 'Cradock _did_ go to
+          the King,'.]
+
+
+August 27th, 1830 {p.038}
+
+At Court the day before yesterday; Parliament was prorogued and
+summoned. General Baudrand came afterwards and delivered his
+letter, also a private letter 'from the Duke of Orleans to the
+Duke of Clarence'--as the French King called them, 'anciens
+amis.' He was well received and well satisfied. I never knew such
+a burst of indignation and contempt as Polignac's letter has
+caused--a letter to the President of the Chamber of Peers. As
+Dudley says, it has saved history the trouble of crucifying that
+man, and speaks volumes about the recent events. Such a man to
+have been Prime Minister of France for a year!
+
+
+August 29th, 1830 {p.038}
+
+[Page Head: DINNER AT LORD DUDLEY'S.]
+
+Dined with Dudley the day before yesterday to meet Marmont, who is
+made very much of here by the few people who are left. He had been
+to Woolwich in the morning, where the Duke of Wellington had given
+orders that everything should be shown to him, and the honours
+handsomely done. He was very much gratified, and he found the man
+who had pointed the gun which wounded him at Salamanca, and who
+had since lost his own arm at Waterloo. Marmont shook hands with
+him and said, 'Ah, mon ami, chacun a son tour.' Lady Aldborough
+came in in the evening, and flew up to him with 'Ah, mon cher
+Maréchal, embrassez-moi;' and so after escaping the cannon's mouth
+at Paris, he was obliged to face Lady Aldborough's mouth here.
+This was my first dinner at Dudley's, brought about _malgré lui_
+by Lady Glengall. He has always disliked and never invited me, but
+now (to all appearance) we are friends. He said he had been to see
+an old man who lives near the world's end--Chelsea--who is 110
+years old; he has a good head of hair, with no grey hairs in it;
+his health, faculties, and memory perfect; is Irish, and has not
+lived with greater temperance than other people. I sat next to
+Palmerston, and had a great deal of conversation with him, and
+from the tenour of his language infer that he has no idea of
+joining Government. Agar Ellis assured me the other day that there
+was not a word of truth in the reported junction between Lord Grey
+and Huskisson. The Duke has got two months to make his arrangements,
+but I am afraid he is not prepared for all the sacrifices his
+position requires. It is now said that the exasperation against
+the late Ministers (particularly Polignac) is so great in France
+that it is doubtful whether they will be able to save their lives.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Belgian Revolution--The Duke of Wellington and Canning--The
+  King's Plate--Gloomy Forebodings--Retreat of the Prince of
+  Orange--Prince Talleyrand--Position of the Government--Death of
+  Huskisson--His Character--The Duke of Wellington and Peel--
+  Meeting of Parliament--The Duke's Declaration--The King's Visit
+  to the City abandoned--Disturbances in London--Duchesse de
+  Dino--The Cholera--Southey, Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill--
+  Dinner at Talleyrand's--The Duke of Wellington resigns--Mr.
+  Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the Council--Lord Spencer and
+  Lord Grey sent for--Formation of Lord Grey's Administration--
+  Discontent of Brougham--Brougham takes the Great Seal--
+  Character of the New Ministers--Prospects of the Opposition--
+  Disturbances in Sussex and Hampshire--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Brougham--Lord Sefton's Dinner--The New Ministers sworn at a
+  Council.
+
+
+Stoke, August 31st, 1830 {p.040}
+
+On Sunday I met Prince Esterhazy[1] in Oxford Street with a face
+a yard long. He turned back with me, and told me that there had
+been disturbances at Brussels, but that they had been put down by
+the gendarmerie. He was mightily alarmed, but said that his
+Government would recognise the French King directly, and in
+return for such general and prompt recognition as he was
+receiving he must restrain France from countenancing revolutions
+in other countries, and that, indeed, he had lost no time in
+declaring his intention to abstain from any meddling. In the
+evening Vaudreuil told me the same thing, and that he had
+received a despatch from M. Molé desiring him to refuse passports
+to the Spaniards who wanted, on the strength of the French
+Revolution, to go and foment the discontents in Spain, and to all
+other foreigners who, being dissatisfied with their own
+Governments, could not obtain passports from their own Ministers.
+Yesterday morning, however, it appeared that the affair at
+Brussels was much more serious than Esterhazy had given me to
+understand; and, as far as can be judged from the unofficial
+statements which we have, it appears likely that Belgium will
+separate from Holland altogether, it being very doubtful whether
+the Belgian troops will support the King's Government.
+
+      [1] [Prince Paul Esterhazy, Austrian Ambassador at the
+          Court of St. James for many years.]
+
+Madame de Falck is just come, but brings no news. Falck[2] has
+heard nothing. He left Holland before the outbreak. In the event
+of such a revolution, it remains to be seen what part Prussia
+will take, and, if she marches an army to reduce Belgium to
+obedience, whether the Belgians will not make overtures to
+France, and in that case whether King Louis Philippe will be able
+to restrain the French from seizing such a golden opportunity of
+regaining their former frontier; and if they accept the offer,
+whether a general war in Europe will not ensue.
+
+      [2] [Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St.
+          James.]
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S FOREIGN POLICY.]
+
+In these difficult circumstances, and in the midst of
+possibilities so tremendous, it is awful to reflect upon the very
+moderate portion of wisdom and sagacity which is allotted to those
+by whom our affairs are managed. I am by no means easy as to the
+Duke of Wellington's sufficiency to meet such difficulties; the
+habits of his mind are not those of patient investigation,
+profound knowledge of human nature, and cool, discriminating
+sagacity. He is exceedingly quick of apprehension, but deceived by
+his own quickness into thinking he knows more than he does. He has
+amazing confidence in himself, which is fostered by the deference
+of those around him and the long experience of his military
+successes. He is upon ordinary occasions right-headed and
+sensible, but he is beset by weaknesses and passions which must,
+and continually do, blind his judgment. Above all he wants that
+suavity of manner, that watchfulness of observation, that power of
+taking great and enlarged views of events and characters, and of
+weighing opposite interests and probabilities, which are
+essentially necessary in circumstances so delicate, and in which
+one false step, any hasty measure, or even incautious expression,
+may be attended with consequences of immense importance. I feel
+justified in this view of his political fitness by contemplating
+the whole course of his career, and the signal failure which has
+marked all his foreign policy. If Canning were now alive we might
+hope to steer through these difficulties, but if he had lived we
+should probably never have been in them. He was the only statesman
+who had sagacity to enter into and comprehend the spirit of the
+times, and to put himself at the head of that movement which was
+no longer to be arrested. The march of Liberalism (as it is
+called) would not be stopped, and this he knew, and he resolved to
+govern and lead instead of opposing it. The idiots who so rejoiced
+at the removal of this master mind (which alone could have saved
+them from the effects of their own folly) thought to stem the
+torrent in its course, and it has overwhelmed them. It is
+unquestionable that the Duke has too much participated in their
+sentiments and passions, and, though he never mixed himself with
+their proceedings, regarded them with a favourable eye, nor does
+he ever seem to have been aware of the immensity of the peril
+which they were incurring. The urgency of the danger will
+unquestionably increase the impatience of those who already think
+the present Government incapable of carrying on the public
+business, and now that we are placed in a situation the most
+intricate (since the French Revolution) it is by no means
+agreeable to think that such enormous interests are at the mercy
+of the Duke's awkward squad.
+
+Sefton gave me an account of the dinner in St. George's Hall on
+the King's birthday, which was magnificent--excellent and well
+served. Bridge[3] came down with the plate, and was hid during
+the dinner behind the great wine-cooler, which weighs 7,000
+ounces, and he told Sefton afterwards that the plate in the room
+was worth £200,000. There is another service of gold plate, which
+was not used at all. The King has made it all over to the Crown.
+All this plate was ordered by the late King, and never used; his
+delight was ordering what the public had to pay for.
+
+      [3] [Of the house of Rundell and Bridge, the great
+          silversmiths and jewellers of the day.]
+
+
+September 9th, 1830 {p.043}
+
+[Page Head: GLOOMY FOREBODINGS.]
+
+Came from Stoke the day after the Egham races, and went to Brocket
+Hall on Saturday last; returned the day before yesterday. Nothing
+can exceed the interest, the excitement, the consternation which
+prevail here. On Saturday last the funds suddenly fell near three
+per cent.; no cause apparent, a thousand reports, and a panic on
+the Stock Exchange. At last on Monday it appeared that the Emperor
+of Russia had, on the first intelligence of the revolution in
+France, prohibited the tricoloured cockade and ordered all Russian
+subjects to quit France. As we went down on Saturday Henry told me
+that there had been alarming accounts from the manufacturing
+districts of a disposition to rise on the part of the workmen,
+which had kept Lord Hill in town; and this I fancied was the cause
+of the fall, but it was the Russian business. They have since,
+however, rallied to nearly what they were before. At Brocket I had
+a long conversation with my brother-in-law,[4] who is never very
+communicative or talkative, but he takes a gloomy view of
+everything, not a little perhaps tinctured by the impending ruin
+which he foresees to his own property from the Liverpool Railroad,
+which is to be opened with great ceremony on the 15th; moreover he
+thinks the Government so weak that it cannot stand, and expects
+the Duke will be compelled to resign. He has already offered him
+his place, to dispose of in any way that may be useful to him. I
+said that I thought one of the Duke's greatest misfortunes was his
+having no wise head to consult with in all emergencies; this he
+said was very true, for there was nobody who would even speak to
+him about anything; that Peel, who was the man who might naturally
+be expected to put himself forward, never would; and that
+repeatedly he had got him (Francis) to go to or write to the Duke
+about some matter or other on which it was necessary to refer to
+him. In the business of Huskisson, Huskisson himself was most
+anxious to have it made up, and wished Peel to speak to the Duke;
+but Peel would not stir, nor would Dudley, and it ended in
+Francis' being charged with the negotiation, the result of which
+everybody knows.
+
+      [4] [Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards First Earl of
+          Ellesmere, proprietor of the Bridgewater Estates and
+          Canal, which was threatened by the competition of the
+          newly-made Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Lord
+          Francis held the office of Secretary at War in 1830 for
+          a very short time, having previously been Irish
+          Secretary when Lord Anglesey was Lord Lieutenant.]
+
+In the meantime the affairs of Belgium are in a very critical
+state; the Prince of Orange has entirely failed in reducing the
+malcontents to submission, and after passing two or three days at
+or near Brussels in fruitless negotiation and the interchange of
+proud civilities, he was obliged to retire and carry back to the
+King a proposal that Belgium and Holland should be separated and
+a Federal Union established between them. Last night, however, a
+proclamation of the King appeared, well drawn up, and couched in
+firm, temperate, and sensible language, in which he declares that
+he will do all that the circumstances of the case may render
+necessary, but that all shall be referred to the States-General,
+and they shall decide upon the measures to be adopted. This will
+probably excite great discontent, and it is at least doubtful
+whether the Belgian Deputies will consent to go to the Hague at
+all. My belief is that this proclamation is the result of
+encouragement from Prussia.
+
+The night before last I had a letter from the Duc de Dalberg with
+a very sensible view of the state of France and of affairs
+generally in Europe, auguring well of the stability of the
+present Government, provided the other Powers of Europe do
+nothing to disturb the general tranquillity. I never was so
+astonished as when I read in the newspaper of the appointment of
+Talleyrand to be Ambassador here. He must be nearer eighty than
+seventy, and though his faculties are said to be as bright as
+ever (which I doubt), his infirmities are so great that it is
+inconceivable he should think of leaving his own home, and above
+all for another country, where public representation is
+unavoidable. Dalberg told me that several of the Ministers are
+going out--Guizot, Marshal Gérard, and Baron Louis, the two
+latter _accablés_ with the _travail_, and the first unused to and
+unfit for official business;[5] Louis is seventy-three.
+
+      [5] [A curious estimate, taken at the time, of the man who
+          for the next eighteen years had a larger share of
+          official life and business than any other Frenchman.]
+
+[Page Head: BAD PROSPECTS OF THE SESSION.]
+
+In the meantime the Duke does nothing here towards strengthening
+his Government, and he will probably meet Parliament as he is.
+There are some circumstances in his favour, and I think it
+possible he may still extricate himself from his difficulties.
+There is unquestionably a notion amongst many persons (of the
+aristocracy) that he is the only man to rely upon for governing
+this country in the midst of difficulties. It is hard to say upon
+what this feeling (for it is more of a feeling than an opinion)
+is founded; not certainly upon any experience of his abilities
+for Government either as to principles or the details of
+particular branches of business, or his profound, dispassionate,
+and statesmanlike sagacity, but upon certain vague predilections,
+and the confidence which he has infused into others by his own
+firm, manly, and even dictatorial character, and the recollection
+of his military exploits and splendid career, which have not yet
+lost their power over the minds of men, and to this must be added
+his great influence over the late and present sovereigns.
+
+The short session which will begin on the 28th of October will be
+occupied with the Regency and Civil List, and it is probable that
+both those matters will be produced in a form to give general
+satisfaction; that will be strength as far as it goes. The Tories
+are alarmed at the general aspect of affairs, and I doubt whether
+they will not forget their ancient grievances and antipathies,
+and, if they do not support the Government, abstain at least from
+any violent opposition, the result of which could only be to let
+in the Whigs, of whose principles they have the greatest
+apprehensions. I can perfectly understand that there may be many
+men who, wishing sincerely to see a stronger Government formed,
+may think that any change at this moment which may present to
+Europe a spectacle of disunion and weakness here would be a
+greater evil than the temporary toleration of such Ministers as
+ours; and if the Duke does find such a disposition, and profits
+by it dexterously and temperately, he may float through the next
+session, and at the end of it negotiate with other parties on
+more advantageous terms than he possibly could do now, when all
+his concessions would appear to be extorted by force or by the
+urgent difficulties of his position.
+
+
+September 10th, 1830 {p.046}
+
+The Duke is very much disturbed about the state of affairs,
+thinks ill of France and generally of the state of Europe. I
+think the alarmists are increasing everywhere, and the signs of
+the times are certainly portentous; still I doubt there being any
+great desire of change among the mass of the people of England,
+and prudent and dexterous heads (if there be any such) may still
+steer on through the storm. If Canning were alive I believe he
+would have been fully equal to the emergency if he was not
+thwarted by the passions, prejudices, and follies of others; but
+if he had lived we should not have had the Catholic question
+settled, and what a state we should be in now if that were added
+to the rest!
+
+
+September 14th, 1830 {p.046}
+
+Last Saturday to Panshanger; returned yesterday with Melbourne,
+George Lamb, and the Ashleys. George said there would be a
+violent Opposition in the approaching session. William[6] told me
+he thought Huskisson was the greatest practical statesman he had
+known, the one who united theory with practice the most, but
+owned he was not popular and not thought honest; that his
+remaining in with the Duke when Goderich's Ministry was dissolved
+was a fatal error, which he could never repair.
+
+      [6] [William Lamb, second Lord Melbourne, afterwards Prime
+          Minister.]
+
+I found Sefton in town last night, and went to the play with him.
+He has had a letter from Brougham, who told him he should go to
+the Liverpool dinner and attack the Duke of Wellington; that it
+was the only opportunity he should ever have in his life of
+meeting him face to face, and he then proceeded to relate all
+that he should say. Sefton wrote him word that if he said half
+what he intended the chairman would order him to be turned out of
+the room. He won't go, I am persuaded.
+
+
+Newark, September 18th, 1830 {p.047}
+
+[Page Head: DEATH OF MR. HUSKISSON.]
+
+Went back to Panshanger last Tuesday; found there Madame de
+Lieven, Melbourne, and the Hollands and Allen. Lord Holland was
+very agreeable, as he always is, and told many anecdotes of
+George Selwyn, Lafayette, and others. I saw them arrive in a
+coach-and-four and chaise-and-pair--two footmen, a page, and two
+maids. He said (what is true) that there is hardly such a thing
+in the world as a good house or a good epitaph, and yet mankind
+have been employed in building the former and writing the latter
+since the beginning almost. Came to town on Thursday, and in the
+afternoon heard the news of Huskisson's horrible accident, and
+yesterday morning got a letter from Henry with the details, which
+are pretty correctly given in the 'Times' newspaper. It is a very
+odd thing, but I had for days before a strong presentiment that
+some terrible accident would occur at this ceremony, and I told
+Lady Cowper so, and several other people. Nothing could exceed
+the horror of the few people in London at this event, or the
+despair of those who looked up to him politically. It seems to
+have happened in this way:--While the Duke's car was stopping to
+take in water, the people alighted and walked about the railroad;
+when suddenly another car, which was running on the adjoining
+level, came up. Everybody scrambled out of the way, and those who
+could got again into the first car. This Huskisson attempted to
+do, but he was slow and awkward; as he was getting in some part
+of the machinery of the other car struck the door of his, by
+which he was knocked down. He was taken up, and conveyed by
+Wilton[7] and Mrs. Huskisson (who must have seen the accident
+happen) to the house of Mr. Blackburne, eight miles from Heaton.
+Wilton saved his life for a few hours by knowing how to tie up
+the artery; amputation was not possible, and he expired at ten
+o'clock that night. Wilton, Lord Granville, and Littleton were
+with him to the last. Mrs. Huskisson behaved with great courage.
+The Duke of Wellington was deeply affected, and it was with the
+greatest difficulty he could be induced to proceed upon the
+progress to Manchester, and at last he only yielded to the most
+pressing solicitations of the directors and others, and to a
+strong remonstrance that the mob might be dangerous if he did not
+appear. It is impossible to figure to one's self any event which
+could produce a greater sensation or be more striking to the
+imagination than this, happening at such a time and under such
+circumstances: the eminence of the man, the sudden conversion of
+a scene of gaiety and splendour into one of horror and dismay;
+the countless multitudes present, and the effect upon them--crushed
+to death in sight of his wife and at the feet (as it was)
+of his great political rival--all calculated to produce a deep
+and awful impression. The death of Huskisson cannot fail to have
+an important effect upon political events; it puts an end to his
+party as a party, but it leaves the survivors at liberty to join
+either the Opposition or the Government, while during his life
+there were great difficulties to their doing either, in
+consequence of the antipathy which many of the Whigs had to him
+on one side and the Duke of Wellington on the other. There is no
+use, however, in speculating on what will happen, which a very
+short time will show.
+
+      [7] [Thomas Grosvenor Egerton, second Earl of Wilton.]
+
+Agar Ellis told me yesterday morning that he had received a
+letter from Brougham a day or two ago, in which he said that he
+was going to Liverpool, and hoped there to sign a treaty with
+Huskisson, so that it is probable they would have joined to
+oppose the Government. As to the Duke of Wellington, a fatality
+attends him, and it is perilous to cross his path. There were
+perhaps 500,000 people present on this occasion, and probably not
+a soul besides hurt. One man only is killed, and that man is his
+most dangerous political opponent, the one from whom he had most
+to fear. It is the more remarkable because these great people are
+generally taken such care of, and put out of the chance of
+accidents. Canning had scarcely reached the zenith of his power
+when he was swept away, and the field was left open to the Duke,
+and no sooner is he reduced to a state of danger and difficulty
+than the ablest of his adversaries is removed by a chance beyond
+all power of calculation.
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF HUSKISSON.]
+
+Huskisson was about sixty years old, tall, slouching, and
+ignoble-looking. In society he was extremely agreeable, without
+much animation, generally cheerful, with a great deal of humour,
+information, and anecdote, gentlemanlike, unassuming, slow in
+speech, and with a downcast look, as if he avoided meeting
+anybody's gaze. I have said what Melbourne thought of him, and
+that was the opinion of his party. It is probably true that there
+is no man in Parliament, or perhaps out of it, so well versed in
+finance, commerce, trade, and colonial matters, and that he is
+therefore a very great and irreparable loss. It is nevertheless
+remarkable that it is only within the last five or six years that
+he acquired the great reputation which he latterly enjoyed. I do
+not think he was looked upon as more than a second-rate man till
+his speeches on the silk trade and the shipping interest; but
+when he became President of the Board of Trade he devoted himself
+with indefatigable application to the maturing and reducing to
+practice those commercial improvements with which his name is
+associated, and to which he owes all his glory and most of his
+unpopularity. It is equally true that all the ablest men in the
+country coincide with him, and that the mass of the community are
+persuaded that his plans are mischievous to the last degree. The
+man whom he consulted through the whole course of his labours and
+enquiries was Hume,[8] who is now in the Board of Trade, and
+whose vast experience and knowledge were of incalculable service
+to him. Great as his abilities unquestionably were, it is
+impossible to admire his judgment, which seems repeatedly to have
+failed him, particularly in his joining the Duke's Government on
+Goderich's resignation, which was a capital error, his speech
+afterwards at Liverpool and his subsequent quarrel with the Duke.
+In all these cases he acted with the greatest imprudence, and he
+certainly contrived, without exposing himself to any specific
+charge, to be looked upon as a statesman of questionable honour
+and integrity; and of this his friends as well as his enemies
+were aware. As a speaker in the House of Commons he was luminous
+upon his own subject, but he had no pretensions to eloquence; his
+voice was feeble and his manner ungraceful; however, he was
+(unfortunately) one of the first men in the House, and was
+listened to with attention upon any subject. He left no children.
+Mrs. Huskisson has a pension of £1,200 a year. The accounts from
+Paris improve, inasmuch as there seems a better prospect than
+there has been lately of tranquillity in the country. Sneyd
+writes word that there is little doubt but that the Duc de
+Bourbon was assassinated.[9]
+
+      [8] [John Deacon Hume, the Assistant Joint Secretary of the
+          Board of Trade.]
+
+      [9] [The Duc de Bourbon-Condé was found hanging in his
+          bedroom. Suspicion pointed to Madame de Fenchères, his
+          mistress, as privy to the cause of his death, which
+          however, was never clearly ascertained. The Duke had
+          made an ample provision for Madame de Fenchères in his
+          will, but the bulk of his vast property, including
+          Chantilly, was bequeathed to the Duc d'Aumale, fourth
+          son of King Louis Philippe. The Duc de Bourbon was the
+          father of the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien.]
+
+Last night to Brockett Hall, where I slept and came on here
+to-day. The King has paid me £300 for Goodison, the late Duke's
+jockey, which settles all he owed at Newmarket, and was a very
+good-natured act.
+
+George Seymour is made Master of the Robes, and gives up his
+place[10] in the House of Lords, so Jersey[11] within two months
+has got an enormous place to give away.
+
+     [10] He did not give it up; wanted Jersey to appoint his
+          brother Frederick, which he refused to do; so the other
+          remained.--_November 15th._
+
+     [11] [Lord Jersey was Lord Chamberlain of the Household at
+          the time.]
+
+
+Chatsworth, September 27th, 1830 {p.050}
+
+[Page Head: HUSKISSON'S LAST MOMENTS.]
+
+Got to Sprotborough last Sunday; Lord Talbot and Lady Cecil,
+William Lascelles, Irby, Lady Charlotte Denison, Captain Grey. It
+rained all the time of the races. They offered Priam to
+Chesterfield for £3,000 before his match, and he refused; he
+offered it after, and they refused. There were a number of
+beautiful women there--my cousin Mrs. Foljambe, Misses Mary and
+Fanny Brandling the best. Came here on Friday night, and found as
+usual a large party, but rather dull; Granvilles, Newboroughs,
+Wharncliffes, G. Seymours, Sir J. and Lady Fitzgerald (very
+pretty), Talbots, Madame Bathiany, Beaumonts, G. Lamb. Yesterday
+Brougham came with his brother, sister, and daughter-in-law, in
+the highest spirits and state of excitement, going about
+Yorkshire, dining and speechifying; he was at Doncaster too. Lord
+Granville was just returned from Huskisson's funeral at
+Liverpool. It was attended by a great multitude, who showed every
+mark of respect and feeling. He died the death of a great man,
+suffering torments, but always resigned, calm, and collected;
+took the Sacrament, and made a codicil to his will, said the
+country had had the best of him, and that he could not have been
+useful for many more years, hoped he had never committed any
+political sins that might not be easily forgiven, and declared
+that he died without a feeling of ill-will and in charity with
+all men. As he lay there he heard the guns announcing the Duke of
+Wellington's arrival at Manchester, and he said, 'I hope to God
+the Duke may get safe through the day.' When he had done and said
+all he desired, he begged they would open a vein and release him
+from his pain. From the beginning he only wished to die quickly.
+Mrs. Huskisson was violently opposed to his being buried at
+Liverpool, and it was with great difficulty she was persuaded to
+consent to the repeated applications that were made to her for
+that purpose.
+
+
+Buckenham, October 25th, 1830 {p.051}
+
+A month nearly since I have written a line; always racing and
+always idleness. Went from Chatsworth to Heaton Park; an immense
+party, excellent house and living, and very good sport for the
+sort of thing in a park, with gentlemen riders.
+
+I have lost sight of politics, and know nothing of what is going
+on, except that all things look gloomy, and people generally are
+alarmed. Last week the Arbuthnots were at Cheveley, and I had a
+curious conversation enough with him. I told him that I was
+desirous of the success of the Duke of Wellington's Administration,
+but felt strongly the necessity of his getting rid of many of his
+present Cabinet, who were both inefficient and odious, that I
+thought one great misfortune was that he had nobody to tell him
+the truth, and very few men with whom he was on terms of
+confidential cordiality. He owned it was so, but said that _he_
+never concealed from him disagreeable truths--on the contrary,
+told him everything--and assured me that at any time he would tell
+the Duke anything that I thought he ought to know. I told him to
+give him a notion how meanly Aberdeen was thought of, that
+Alvanley had told Talleyrand not to notice him, but to go at once
+to the Duke when he had any important business to transact, and
+that he might tell the Duke this if he pleased, but no one else.
+He said he would, and then he began to talk of Peel, lamenting
+that there was nothing like intimate confidence between the Duke
+and him, and that the Duke was in fact ignorant of his real and
+secret feelings and opinions; that to such a degree did Peel carry
+his reserve, that when they were out of office, and it had been a
+question of their returning to it, he had gone to meet Peel at
+Lord Chandos's for the express purpose of finding out what his
+opinions were upon the then state of affairs, and that after many
+conversations he had come away knowing no more of his sentiments
+and disposition than before they met. I said that with a Cabinet
+like this, and the House of Commons in the hands of Peel, I could
+not imagine anything more embarrassing; he owned it was, and then
+complained of Peel's indisposition to encourage other men in the
+House of Commons, or to suffer the transaction of business to pass
+through any hands but his own; that the Duke had been accused of a
+grasping ambition and a desire to do everything himself, whereas
+such an accusation would be much more applicable to Peel. All this
+proves how little real cordiality there is between these two men,
+and that, though they are now necessary to each other, a little
+matter would sever their political connection.
+
+Here we have an American of the name of Powell, who was here
+nineteen years ago, when he was one of the handsomest men that
+ever was seen, and lived in the society of Devonshire House.
+Three years of such a life spoilt him, as he confesses, for the
+nineteen which followed in his native country; and now he is come
+back with a wife and five children to see the town he recollects
+become a thousand times more beautiful, and the friends who have
+forgotten him equally changed, but as much for the worse as
+London is for the better; he seems a sensible, good sort of
+fellow.
+
+Baring told me the other day that he remembered his (B.'s) father
+with nearly nothing, and that out of the house which he founded
+not less than six or seven millions must have been taken. Several
+colossal fortunes have been made out of it.
+
+
+London, November 8th, 1830 {p.053}
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S DECLARATION AGAINST REFORM.]
+
+Went from Buckenham to Euston, and then back to Newmarket, where
+I never have time or inclination to write or read. Parliament
+met, and a great clamour was raised against the King's Speech,
+without much reason; but it was immediately evident that the
+Government was in a very tottering condition, and the first night
+of this session the Duke of Wellington made a violent and
+uncalled-for declaration against Reform, which has without doubt
+sealed his fate. Never was there an act of more egregious folly,
+or one so universally condemned by friends and foes. The
+Chancellor said to Lady Lyndhurst after the first night's debate
+in the House of Lords, 'You have often asked me why the Duke did
+not take in Lord Grey; read these two speeches (Lord Grey's and
+the Duke's), and then you will see why. Do you think he would
+like to have a colleague under him, who should get up and make
+such a speech after such another as his?'
+
+The effect produced by this declaration exceeds anything I ever
+saw, and it has at once destroyed what little popularity the Duke
+had left, and lowered him in public estimation so much that when
+he does go out of office, as most assuredly he must, he will
+leave it without any of the dignity and credit which might have
+accompanied his retirement. The sensation produced in the country
+has not yet been ascertained, but it is sure to be immense. I
+came to town last night, and found the town ringing with his
+imprudence and everybody expecting that a few days would produce
+his resignation.
+
+The King's visit to the City was regarded with great
+apprehension, as it was suspected that attempts would be made to
+produce riot and confusion at night, and consequently all the
+troops that could be mustered were prepared, together with
+thousands of special constables, new police, volunteers, sailors,
+and marines; but last night a Cabinet Council was held, when it
+was definitively arranged to put it off altogether, and this
+morning the announcement has appeared in the newspapers. Every
+sort of ridicule and abuse was heaped upon the Government, the
+Lord Mayor, and all who had any share in putting off the King's
+visit to the City; very droll caricatures were circulated.
+
+I met Matuscewitz last night, who was full of the Duke and his
+speech, and of regrets at his approaching fall, which he
+considers as the signal for fresh encroachments in France by the
+Liberal party, and a general impulse to the revolutionary
+factions throughout Europe. I hear that nothing can exceed the
+general excitement and terror that prevails, everybody feeling
+they hardly know what.
+
+
+November 9th, 1830 {p.054}
+
+Yesterday morning I sallied forth and called on Arbuthnot, whom I
+did not find at home, but Mrs. Arbuthnot was. I had previously
+called on the Villiers, and had a long conversation about the
+state of everything. They did not apprise me of anything new, but
+Hyde,[12] who ought to be informed, gave me an account of the
+resolutions which Brougham means to propose, very different from
+what I heard elsewhere. He said that they were very strong,
+whereas all other accounts agree that they are very moderate. I
+walked with Mrs. Arbuthnot down to Downing Street, and, as she
+utters the Duke's sentiments, was anxious to hear what she would
+say about their present condition. I said, 'Well, you are in a
+fine state; what do you mean to do?' 'Oh, are you alarmed? Well,
+I am not; everybody says we are to go out, and I don't believe a
+word of it. They will be beat on the question of Reform; people
+will return to the Government, and we shall go on very well. You
+will see this will be the end of it.' I told her I did not
+believe they could stay in, and attacked the Duke's speech, which
+at last she owned she was sorry he had made. She complained that
+they had no support, and that everybody they took in became
+useless as soon as they were in office--Ellenborough, Rosslyn,
+Murray. It was evident, however, that she did contemplate their
+loss of office as a very probable event, though they do not mean
+to resign, and think they may stave off the evil day. In Downing
+Street we met George Dawson, who told us the funds had fallen
+three per cent., and that the panic was tremendous, so much so
+that they were not without alarm lest there should be a run on
+the Bank for gold. Later in the day, however, the funds improved.
+In the House of Lords I heard the Duke's explanation of putting
+off the dinner in the City. On the whole they seem to have done
+well to put it off, but the case did not sound a strong one; it
+rested on a letter from the Lord Mayor telling the Duke an
+attempt would be made on his life. Still it is a hundred to one
+that there would have been a riot, and possibly all its worst
+evils and crimes. The King is said to be very low, hating Reform,
+desirous of supporting the Duke, but feeling that he can do
+nothing. However, in the House of Lords last night the speakers
+vied with each other in praising his Majesty and extolling his
+popularity. Lady Jersey told me that the Duke had said to her,
+'Lord, I shall not go out; you will see we shall go on very
+well.'
+
+     [12] [Thomas Hyde Villiers, brother of George, afterwards
+          fourth Earl of Clarendon, died in 1832.]
+
+
+November 10th, 1830 {p.055}
+
+[Page Head: DISTURBANCES IN LONDON.]
+
+It was expected last night that there would be a great riot, and
+preparations were made to meet it. Troops were called up to
+London, and a large body of civil power put in motion. People had
+come in from the country in the morning, and everything indicated
+a disturbance. After dinner I walked out to see how things were
+going on. There was little mob in the west end of the town, and
+in New Street, Spring Gardens, a large body of the new police was
+drawn up in three divisions, ready to be employed if wanted. The
+Duke of Wellington expected Apsley House to be attacked, and made
+preparations accordingly. He desired my brother to go and dine
+there, to assist in making any arrangements that might be
+necessary. In Pall Mall I met Mr. Glyn, the banker, who had been
+up to Lombard Street to see how matters looked about his house,
+and he told us (Sir T. Farquhar and me) that everything was quiet
+in the City. One of the policemen said that there had been a
+smart brush near Temple Bar, where a body of weavers with iron
+crows and a banner had been dispersed by the police, and the
+banner taken. The police, who are a magnificent set of fellows,
+behave very well, and it seems pretty evident that these troubles
+are not very serious, and will soon be put an end to. The attack
+in Downing Street the night before last, of which they made a
+great affair, turned out to be nothing at all. The mob came there
+from Carlile's lecture, but the sentry stopped them near the
+Foreign Office; the police took them in flank, and they all ran
+away.
+
+I went to Brooks's, but there was hardly anybody there, and
+nothing occurred in the House of Commons but some interchange of
+Billingsgate between O'Connell and George Dawson. The Duke talks
+with confidence, and has no idea of resigning, but he does not
+inspire his friends with the confidence he feels or affects
+himself, though they talk of his resignation as an event which is
+to plunge all Europe into war, and of the impossibility of
+forming another Administration, all which is mere balderdash, for
+he proved with many others how easy it is to form a Government
+that can go on; and as to our Continental relations being
+altered, I don't believe a word of it. He may have influence
+abroad, but he owes it not to his own individual character, but
+to his possession of power in England. If the Ministry who
+succeed him are firm and moderate, this country will lose nothing
+of its influence abroad. I have heard these sort of things said
+fifty times of Ministers and Kings. The death of the late King
+was to be the greatest of calamities, and the breath was hardly
+out of his body before everybody discovered that it was the
+greatest of blessings, and, instead of its being impossible to go
+on without him, that there would have been no going on with him.
+
+The King gave a dinner to the Prince of Orange the other day, and
+invited all his old military friends to meet him. His Majesty was
+beyond everything civil to the Duke of Wellington, and the Queen
+likewise. Lord Wellesley, speaking of the letter to the Lord
+Mayor, and putting off the dinner in the City, said 'it was the
+boldest act of cowardice he had ever heard of.'
+
+[Page Head: THE DUCHESSE DE DINO.]
+
+After some difficulty they have agreed to give Madame de Dino[13]
+the honours of Ambassadress here, the Duke having told the King
+that at Vienna she did the honours of Talleyrand's house, and was
+received on that footing by the Emperor and Empress, so he said,
+'Oh, very well; I will tell the Queen, and you had better tell
+her too.'
+
+     [13] [The Duchesse de Dino was the niece of Prince
+          Talleyrand, then French Ambassador at the Court of St.
+          James. The precedent is a curious one, for it is
+          certainly not customary for the daughter or niece of an
+          unmarried Ambassador to enjoy the rank and honours of
+          an Ambassadress.]
+
+They say the King is exceedingly bullied by the _bâtards_, though
+Errol told me they were all afraid of him. Dolly Fitzclarence
+lost £100, betting 100 to 10 that he would go to Guildhall, and
+he told the King he had lost him £100, so the King gave him the
+money. It seems that the Duke certainly did make some overtures
+to Palmerston, though I do not exactly know when, but I heard
+that they were very fair ones.
+
+
+November 11th, 1830 {p.057}
+
+Yesterday the funds rose, and people's apprehensions began to
+subside. Everybody is occupied with speculating about the numbers
+on Tuesday next, and what majority the Ministers will get.
+Yesterday came a letter from Lord Heytesbury from St. Petersburg,[14]
+saying that there was reason to believe that the disorder now
+raging in Russia is a sort of plague, but that they will not admit
+it, and that it is impossible to get at the truth. We ordered
+Russian ships to be put under a precautionary quarantine, and made
+a minute to record what we had done.
+
+     [14] [This is the first mention of the cholera morbus, or
+          Asiatic cholera, then first appearing in Europe. The
+          quarantine establishments are under the control of the
+          Privy Council, and Mr. Greville, as Clerk of the
+          Council, was actively employed in superintending them.
+          A Board of Health was afterwards established at the
+          Council Office during the prevalence of the cholera.]
+
+
+November 12th, 1830 {p.058}
+
+The funds have kept advancing, everything is quiet, and Ministers
+begin to take courage. The Duke means if he has a majority of
+twenty on Tuesday to stay in. It seems his idea is that the
+resolutions of Brougham will be framed in general terms on purpose
+to obtain as many votes as possible; that they will be no test of
+the real opinion of the House, because most of those who may
+concur in a general resolution in favour of Reform would disagree
+entirely as to specific measures, if any were introduced; but it
+is evident that the support of the Duke's friends is growing
+feebler every day. Yesterday morning I met Robert Clive, a thick
+and thin Government man, and he began with the usual topic, for
+everybody asks after the State, as one does about a sick friend;
+and then he went on to say (concurring with my opinion that
+everything went on ill), 'Why won't the Duke strengthen himself?'
+'He can't; he has tried, and you see he can't do anything.' 'Ah!
+but he must make sacrifices; things cannot go on as they do, and
+he must make sacrifices.' Lord Bath, too, came to town, intending
+to leave his proxy with the Duke, and went away with it in his
+pocket, after hearing his famous speech; though he has a close
+borough, which he by no means wishes to lose, still he is for
+Reform. What they all feel is that his obstinacy will endanger
+everything; that by timely concession, and regulating the present
+spirit, real improvements might be made and extreme measures
+avoided. I met Rothschild coming out of Herries' room, with his
+nephew from Paris. He looked pretty lively for a man who has lost
+some millions, but the funds were all up yesterday; he asked me
+the news, and said Lafitte was the best Minister France could
+have, and that everything was rapidly improving there.
+
+
+November 15th, 1830 {p.058}
+
+[Page Head: ROBERT SOUTHEY.]
+
+Yesterday morning I breakfasted with Taylor[15] to meet Southey:
+the party was Southey; Strutt, member for Derby, a Radical; young
+Mill, a political economist; Charles Villiers, young Elliot, and
+myself. Southey is remarkably pleasing in his manner and
+appearance, unaffected, unassuming, and agreeable; at least such
+was my impression for the hour or two I saw him. Young Mill is
+the son of Mill who wrote the 'History of British India,' and
+said to be cleverer than his father. He has written many
+excellent articles in reviews, pamphlets, &c., but though
+powerful with a pen in his hand, in conversation he has not the
+art of managing his ideas, and is consequently hesitating and
+slow, and has the appearance of being always working in his mind
+propositions or a syllogism.
+
+     [15] [Henry Taylor, the author of 'Philip van Artevelde.'
+          Edward Strutt was afterwards created Lord Belper.
+          'Young Mill' was the eminent economist and philosopher
+          John Stuart Mill. 'Young Elliot,' Sir Thomas Frederick
+          Elliot, K.S.M.G., long one of the ablest members of the
+          Colonial Department, to which Henry Taylor, the poet,
+          himself belonged.]
+
+Southey told an anecdote of Sir Massey Lopes, which is a good
+story of a miser. A man came to him and told him he was in great
+distress, and £200 would save him. He gave him a draft for the
+money.' 'Now,' says he, 'what will you do with this?' 'Go to the
+bankers and get it cashed.' 'Stop,' said he; 'I will cash it.' So
+he gave him the money, but first calculated and deducted the
+discount, thus at once exercising his benevolence and his
+avarice.
+
+Another story Taylor told (we were talking of the negroes and
+savages) of a girl (in North America) who had been brought up for
+the purpose of being eaten on the day her master's son was
+married or attained a certain age. She was proud of being the
+_plat_ for the occasion, for when she was accosted by a
+missionary, who wanted to convert her to Christianity and
+withdraw her from her fate, she said she had no objection to be a
+Christian, but she must stay to be eaten, that she had been
+fattened for the purpose and must fulfil her destiny.
+
+When I came home I found a note to say my unfortunate colleague
+Buller[16] was dead. He had had an operation performed on his lip,
+after which he caught cold, got an inflammation in the windpipe,
+and died in two or three days. He was a very honourable, obliging,
+and stupid man, and a great loss to me, for I shall hardly find a
+more accommodating colleague.
+
+     [16] [James Buller, Esq., senior Clerk of the Council.]
+
+In the evening I dined with Lord Sefton to meet Talleyrand and
+Madame de Dino. There were Brougham and Denman, the latter
+brought by the former to show Talleyrand to him. After dinner
+Talleyrand held a circle and discoursed, but I did not come in
+for his talk. They were all delighted, but long experience has
+proved to me that people are easily delighted with whatever is in
+vogue. Brougham is very proud of his French, which is execrable,
+and took the opportunity of holding forth in a most barbarous
+jargon, which he fancied was the real accent and phraseology. He
+told me he should have 250 votes on his motion. I said to him,
+'They think they shall have a majority of 150.' He said, 'Then
+there must be 650 to divide, for at the lowest computation I
+shall have 250.' But at night Henry told me that the Duke, though
+he put a good face on it, was in fact very low, and that, from
+what Gosh [Arbuthnot] had said, he would certainly resign unless
+he carried the question by a large majority. In the morning I
+called on Lady Granville, who told me, as a great secret, that
+the Duke, notwithstanding his speech, was prepared to offer a
+compromise, and her story was this:--She had dined at Ludolf's a
+few days ago to meet the Duchesse de Berri. All the great people
+dined there, among others the Chancellor and Lady Lyndhurst, and
+after dinner Lady Lyndhurst came up to her bursting with
+indignation, and confided to her that the Duke had resolved to
+offer a resolution to the effect that in any future case of
+borough delinquency the representation should be transferred to a
+great town, and that she thought after what had passed this would
+be so disgraceful that it disgusted her beyond expression, and a
+great deal more to this effect. I confess I don't believe a word
+of it. I met the Prince of Orange last night in excellent spirits
+and humour, and quite convinced that he will be recalled to
+Brussels.
+
+
+November 16th, 1830 {p.061}
+
+[Page Head: DEFEAT OF THE WELLINGTON MINISTRY.]
+
+The Duke of Wellington's Administration is at an end. If he has
+not already resigned, he probably will do so in the course of the
+day. Everybody was so intent on the Reform question that the
+Civil List was not thought of, and consequently the defeat of
+Government last night was unexpected. Although numbers of members
+were shut out there was a great attendance, and a majority of
+twenty-nine. Of those who were shut out, almost all declare that
+they meant to have voted in the majority.[17]
+
+     [17] [The division was taken on Sir Henry Parnell's motion
+          to refer the Civil List to a Select Committee, which
+          was carried by 233 to 204.]
+
+I went to Mrs. Taylor's at night and found Ferguson, Denman, and
+Taylor, who had just brought the news. The exultation of the
+Opposition was immense. Word was sent down their line not to
+cheer, but they were not to be restrained, and Sefton's yell was
+heard triumphant in the din. The Tories voted with them. There
+had been a meeting at Knatchbull's in the morning, when they
+decided to go against Government. Worcester had dined at Apsley
+House, and returned with the news, but merely said that they had
+had a bad division--twenty-nine. Everybody thought he meant a
+majority _for_ Government, and the Duke, who already knew what
+had happened, made a sign to him to say nothing. Worcester knew
+nothing himself, having arrived after the division; they told him
+the numbers, and he came away fancying they were for Government.
+So off the company went to Madame de Dino, where they heard the
+truth. Great was the consternation and long were the faces, but
+the outs affected to be merry and the ins were serious.
+Talleyrand fired off a courier to Paris forthwith.
+
+Yesterday morning I went to Downing Street early, to settle with
+Lord Bathurst about the new appointment to my office. Till I told
+him he did not know the appointment was in the Crown; so he
+hurried off to the King, and proposed his son William. The King
+was very gracious, and said, 'I can never object to a father's
+doing what he can for his own children,' which was an oblique
+word for the _bâtards_, about whom, however, it may be said _en
+passant_ he has been marvellously forbearing.
+
+I had a long conversation with Lady Bathurst, who told me that
+the Duke had resolved to stand or fall on the Reform question,
+that he had asked Lord Bathurst's opinion, who had advised him by
+all means to do so; that Lord Bathurst had likewise put his own
+place at the Duke's disposal long before, and was ready to resign
+at any moment. It is clear that Lord Bathurst had some suspicion
+that the Duke had an idea of not standing or falling by that
+question, for he asked him whether anybody had given him
+different advice, to which he replied, though it seems rather
+vaguely, 'No, oh no; I think you are quite right.' I told her the
+substance of what I had heard about his being disposed to a
+compromise. She said it was quite impossible, that he would be
+disgraced irredeemably, but owned it was odd that there should be
+that notion and the suspicion which crossed Lord Bathurst's mind.
+I do think it is possible, but for his honour I hope not. The
+Bathursts felt this appointment of William was a sort of 'Nunc
+dimittis,' but there is yet something between the cup and the
+lip, for Stanley got up in the House of Commons and attacked the
+appointment, and it is just possible it may yet be stopped.
+
+Went to Brookes' in the evening, where there was nobody left but
+Sefton baiting Ferguson for having been out of the division. He
+told me that it was not impossible Lord Spencer would be put at
+the head of Government. They will manage to make a confounded
+mess of it, I dare say. Billy Holmes came to the Duke last night
+with the news of the division, and implored him to let nothing
+prevent his resigning to-day.
+
+
+November 17th, 1830 {p.062}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S BEHAVIOUR AT THE CRISIS.]
+
+Went to Downing Street yesterday morning between twelve and one,
+and found that the Duke and all the Ministers were just gone to
+the King. He received them with the greatest kindness, shed
+tears, but accepted their resignation without remonstrance. He
+told Lord Bathurst he would do anything he could, and asked him
+if there was nothing he could sign which would secure his son's
+appointment. Lord Bathurst thanked him, but told him he could do
+nothing. The fact is the appointment might be hurried through,
+but the salary depends upon an annual vote of the House of
+Commons, and an exasperated and triumphant Opposition would be
+sure to knock it off; so he has done the only thing he can do,
+which is to leave it to the King to secure the appointment for
+him if possible. It will be a great piece of luck for somebody
+that Buller should have died exactly when he did. William
+Bathurst may perhaps lose the place from his not dying earlier,
+or the new Government may lose the patronage because he did not
+die later; but it is ill luck for me, who shall probably have
+more trouble because he has died at all.
+
+The Duke and Peel announced their resignations in the two Houses,
+and Brougham put off his motion, but with a speech signifying
+that he should take no part in the new Government. The last acts
+of the Duke were to secure pensions of £250 a year to each of his
+secretaries, and to fill up the ecclesiastical preferments. The
+Garter remains for his successor. The Duke of Bedford got it,
+and, what is singular, the Duke of Wellington would probably have
+given it him likewise. He was one of five whom he meant to choose
+from, and it lay between him and Lord Cleveland.
+
+I met the Duke coming out of his room, but did not like to speak
+to him; he got into his cabriolet, and nodded as he passed, but
+he looked very grave. The King seems to have behaved perfectly
+throughout the whole business, no intriguing or underhand
+communication with anybody, with great kindness to his Ministers,
+anxious to support them while it was possible, and submitting at
+once to the necessity of parting with them. The fact is he turns
+out an incomparable King, and deserves all the encomiums that are
+lavished on him. All the mountebankery which signalised his
+conduct when he came to the throne has passed away with the
+excitement which caused it, and he is as dignified as the
+homeliness and simplicity of his character will allow him to be.
+I understand he sent for Lord Spencer in the course of the day,
+who probably said he could not undertake anything, for he
+afterwards sent for Lord Grey (after the House of Lords), and as
+he must have been very well prepared, it is probable that a new
+Government will be speedily formed.
+
+I went to Lady Jersey's in the evening, when she was or affected
+to be very gay and very glad that the Duke was out. I found there
+the Prince of Orange, Esterhazy, Madame de Dino, Wilton,
+Worcester, Duncannon, Lord Rosslyn, Matuscewitz, &c. There has
+been a strong idea that the Chancellor [Lyndhurst] would keep the
+seals. Both Holmes and Planta have repeatedly told the Duke that
+he would be beaten in the House of Commons, and they both knew
+the House thoroughly. Still he never would do anything. He made
+overtures to Palmerston just before Parliament met through Lord
+Clive, and the result was an interview between them at Apsley
+House, but it came to nothing. I dare say he did not offer half
+enough. It is universally believed that Peel pressed the Civil
+List question for the purpose of being beaten upon it, and going
+out on that rather than on Reform, for Planta told him how it
+would be, and he might very well have given the Committee if he
+had liked it; but he said he would abide by it, and he certainly
+was in excellent spirits afterwards for a beaten Minister. Now
+that this Reform has served their purpose so well, and turned out
+the Duke, the Opposition would be well satisfied to put it aside
+again, and take time to consider what they shall do, for it is a
+terrible question for them. Pledged as they have been, it is sure
+to be the rock on which the little popularity they have gained
+will split, as it is a hundred to one that whatever they do they
+will not go far enough to satisfy the country.
+
+
+November 19th, 1830 {p.064}
+
+The day before yesterday Lord Grey went to the King, who received
+him with every possible kindness, and gave him _carte blanche_ to
+form a new Administration, placing even the Household at his
+disposal--much to the disgust of the members of it. Ever since
+the town has been as usual teeming with reports, but with fewer
+lies than usual. The fact is Lord Grey has had no difficulties,
+and has formed a Government at once; only Brougham put them all
+in a dreadful fright. He all but declared a hostile intention to
+the future Administration; he boasted that he would take nothing,
+refuse even the Great Seal, and nourished his Reform _in
+terrorem_ over their heads; he was affronted and furious because
+he fancied they neglected him, but it all arose, as I am told,
+from Lord Grey's letter to him not reaching him directly, by some
+mistake, for that he was the first person he wrote to. Still it
+is pretty clear that this eccentric luminary will play the devil
+with their system.
+
+[The letter could not be the cause. The history of the
+transaction is this:--When Lord Grey undertook to form a
+Government he sent for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Holland, and these
+three began to work, without consulting with Brougham or any
+member of the House of Commons. Brougham was displeased at not
+being consulted at first, but was indignant when Lord Grey
+proposed to him to be Attorney-General. Then he showed his teeth,
+and they grew frightened, and soon after they sent Sefton to him,
+who got him into good humour, and it was made up by the offer of
+the Great Seal.--_November 23rd._]
+
+
+November 20th, 1830 {p.065}
+
+[Page Head: DISCONTENT OF BROUGHAM.]
+
+Here I was interrupted, and broke off yesterday morning. At
+twelve o'clock yesterday everything was settled but the Great
+Seal, and in the afternoon the great news transpired that
+Brougham had accepted it. Great was the surprise, greater still
+the joy at a charm having been found potent enough to lay the
+unquiet spirit, a bait rich enough to tempt his restless
+ambition. I confess I had no idea he would have accepted the
+Chancellorship after his declarations in the House of Commons and
+the whole tenor of his conduct. I was persuaded that he had made
+to himself a political existence the like of which no man had
+ever before possessed, and that to have refused the Great Seal
+would have appeared more glorious than to take it; intoxicated
+with his Yorkshire honours, swollen with his own importance, and
+holding in his hands questions which he could employ to thwart,
+embarrass, and ruin any Ministry, I thought that he meant to
+domineer in the House of Commons and to gather popularity
+throughout the country by enforcing popular measures of which he
+would have all the credit, and thus establish a sort of
+individual power and authority, which would ensure his being
+dreaded, courted, and consulted by all parties. He could then
+have gratified his vanity, ambition, and turbulence; the Bar
+would have supplied fortune, and events would have supplied
+enjoyments suited to his temperament; it would have been a sort
+of madness, mischievous but splendid. As it is the joy is great
+and universal; all men feel that he is emasculated and drops on
+the Woolsack as on his political death-bed; once in the House of
+Lords, there is an end of him, and he may rant storm and thunder
+without hurting anybody.[18]
+
+     [18] [Lord Grey's Administration was thus composed:--
+
+          First Lord of the Treasury   Earl Grey.
+          Lord Chancellor              Lord Brougham.
+          Lord President               Marquis of Lansdowne.
+          Lord Privy Seal              Lord Ripon (in 1833).
+          Chancellor of the Exchequer  Viscount Althorp.
+          Home Secretary               Viscount Melbourne.
+          Foreign Secretary            Viscount Palmerston.
+          Colonial Secretary           Viscount Goderich, and
+                                         afterwards Mr. Stanley.
+          Board of Control             Mr. Charles Grant.
+          Board of Trade               Lord Auckland.
+          Admiralty                    Sir James Graham.
+          Postmaster-General           Duke of Richmond.
+          Paymaster-General            Lord John Russell.
+          Irish Secretary              Mr. Stanley.]
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY'S ADMINISTRATION.]
+
+The other places present a plausible show, but are not well
+distributed, some ill filled. Graham Admiralty, Melbourne Home,
+Auckland Board of Trade--all bad. The second is too idle, the
+first too inconsiderable, the third too ignorant.[19] They have
+done it very quickly, however, and without many difficulties. As
+to the Duke of Richmond, people are indignant at a half-pay
+lieutenant-colonel commanding the Ordnance Department, and as an
+acquisition he is of doubtful value, for it seems the Tories will
+not go with him, at least will not consider themselves as his
+followers; so said Lord Mansfield and Vyvyan.
+
+     [19] [This is a remarkable instance of the manner in which
+          the prognostications of the most acute observers are
+          falsified by events. The value of Mr. Greville's
+          remarks on the men of his time consists not in their
+          absolute truth, but in their sincerity at the moment at
+          which they were made. They convey a correct impression
+          of the notion prevailing at that time. Thus Sir James
+          Graham became unquestionably a very active First Lord
+          of the Admiralty, Lord Melbourne a 'considerable' Prime
+          Minister of England, and Lord Auckland a painstaking
+          and well-informed Governor-General of India.]
+
+
+November 21st, 1830 {p.067}
+
+The Duke of Richmond's appointment was found so unpalatable to
+the army that they have been forced to change it, and he is to be
+Master of the Horse instead, which I suspect will not be to his
+taste. [He afterwards refused the Mastership of the Horse, and it
+ended in his being Postmaster-General, but without taking the
+salary.]
+
+There have been some little changes, but no great difficulties.
+It was at first said that there would be no Opposition, and that
+Peel would not stir; but William Peel told me last night that the
+old Ministerial party was by no means so tranquilly inclined.
+Peel will not be violent or factious, but he thinks an attentive
+Opposition desirable, and he will not desert those who have
+looked up to and supported him. Then there will be the Tories
+(who will to a certainty end by joining him and his party) and
+the Radicals--three distinct parties, and enough to keep the
+Government on the _qui vive_. The expulsion of the late
+Government from power will satisfy the vengeance of the Tories,
+and I have no doubt they will now make it up. Peel will be the
+leader of a party to which all the Conservative interest of the
+country will repair; and it is my firm belief that in a very
+short time (two or three years, or less) he will be Prime
+Minister, and will hold power long.[20] The Duke will probably
+never take office again, but will be at the head of the army, and
+his own friends begin to admit that this would be the most
+desirable post for him. Lord Lyndhurst will be greatly disgusted
+at Brougham's taking the Great Seal. I met him the day before
+yesterday, when he had no idea of it; he thought it would
+certainly be put in Commission, and evidently looked forward to
+filling the office again in a few months. He said that he had
+long foreseen this catastrophe, and it was far better to be out
+than to drag on as they did; that he had over and over again said
+to the Duke, and remonstrated with him on the impossibility of
+carrying on such a Government, but that he would never listen to
+anything. Sir John Leach, too, was exceedingly disappointed; he
+told me he had not heard a word of what was going on, that he was
+contented where he was, 'though perhaps he might have been
+miserable _in another situation_.'[21]
+
+     [20] [This prediction was not fulfilled until 1841 (for the
+          short Administration of Sir Robert in 1834 can hardly
+          be reckoned), but it _was_ fulfilled at last.]
+
+     [21] [Lord Grey certainly contemplated at one moment the
+          offer of the Great Seal to Lord Lyndhurst, but the
+          spectre of Brougham rendered that impossible. Brougham
+          himself would have preferred the advancement of Sir
+          John Leach to the Woolsack, which would have left the
+          Rolls at his own disposal, and enabled him to retain
+          his seat in the House of Commons. But this suggestion
+          was by no means welcome to Lord Grey, and Lord Althorp
+          at once declared that he could not undertake the
+          leadership of the House of Commons if Brougham was to
+          remain in it in any official position to domineer over
+          him.]
+
+In the meantime the new Government will find plenty to occupy
+their most serious thoughts and employ their best talents. The
+state of the country is dreadful; every post brings fresh
+accounts of conflagrations, destruction of machinery, association
+of labourers, and compulsory rise of wages. Cobbett and Carlile
+write and harangue to inflame the minds of the people, who are
+already set in motion and excited by all the events which have
+happened abroad. Distress is certainly not the cause of these
+commotions, for the people have patiently supported far greater
+privations than they had been exposed to before these riots, and
+the country was generally in an improving state.
+
+The Duke of Richmond went down to Sussex and had a battle with a
+mob of 200 labourers, whom he beat with fifty of his own farmers
+and tenants, harangued them, and sent them away in good humour.
+He is, however, very popular. In Hants the disturbances have been
+dreadful. There was an assemblage of 1,000 or 1,500 men, a part
+of whom went towards Baring's house (the Grange) after destroying
+threshing-machines and other agricultural implements; they were
+met by Bingham Baring, who attempted to address them, when a
+fellow (who had been employed at a guinea a week by his father up
+to four days before) knocked him down with an iron bar and nearly
+killed him. They have no troops in that part of the country, and
+there is a depôt of arms at Winchester.
+
+The Prince of Orange, who has been fancying without the least
+reason that he should be recalled to Belgium, is now in despair;
+and the Provisional Government, on hearing of the change of
+Ministry here, have suspended their negotiations, thinking they
+shall get from Lord Grey a more extended frontier. Altogether the
+alarm which prevails is very great, and those even are terrified
+who never were so before.
+
+
+November 22nd, 1830 {p.069}
+
+[Page Head: BROUGHAM LORD CHANCELLOR.]
+
+Dined yesterday at Sefton's; nobody there but Lord Grey and his
+family, Brougham and Montrond, the latter just come from Paris.
+It was excessively agreeable. Lord Grey in excellent spirits, and
+Brougham, whom Sefton bantered from the beginning to the end of
+dinner.[22] Be Brougham's political errors what they may, his
+gaiety, temper, and admirable social qualities make him
+delightful, to say nothing of his more solid merits, of
+liberality, generosity, and charity; for charity it is to have
+taken the whole family of one of his brothers who is dead--nine
+children--and maintained and educated them. From this digression
+to return to our dinner: it was uncommonly gay. Lord Grey said he
+had taken a task on himself which he was not equal to, prided
+himself on having made his arrangements so rapidly, and on having
+named no person to any office who was not efficient; he praised
+Lyndhurst highly, said he liked him, that his last speech was
+luminous, and that he should like very much to do anything he
+could for him, but that it was such an object to have Brougham on
+the Woolsack. So I suppose he would not dislike to take in
+Lyndhurst by-and-by. He would not tell us whom he has got for the
+Ordnance. John Russell was to have had the War Office, but
+Tavistock[23] entreated that the appointment might be changed, as
+his brother's health was unequal to it; so he was made Paymaster.
+Lord Grey said he had more trouble with those offices than with
+the Cabinet ones. Sefton did nothing but quiz Brougham--'My Lord'
+every minute, and 'What does his Lordship say?' 'I'm sure it is
+very condescending of his Lordship to speak to such _canaille_ as
+all of you,' and a thousand jokes. After dinner he walked out
+before him with the fire shovel for the mace, and left him no
+repose all the evening. I wish Leach could have heard Brougham.
+He threatened to sit often at the Cockpit, in order to check
+Leach,[24] who, though a good judge in his own Court, was good
+for nothing in a Court of Appeal; he said that Leach's being
+Chancellor was impossible, as there were forty-two appeals from
+him to the Chancellor, which he would have had to decide himself;
+and that he (Brougham) had wanted the Seal to be put in
+Commission with three judges, which would have been the best
+reform of the Court, expedited business, and satisfied suitors;
+but that Lord Grey would not hear of it, and had forced him to
+take it, which he was averse to do, being reluctant to leave the
+House of Commons.
+
+     [22] [Lord Brougham had taken his seat on the Woolsack as
+          Lord High Chancellor on the afternoon of this day, the
+          22nd of November. The patent of his peerage bore the
+          same date.]
+
+     [23] [The Marquis of Tavistock, Lord John Russell's eldest
+          brother, afterwards Duke of Bedford. Lord John has
+          since held almost every Cabinet office: his brother's
+          notion that his health was unequal to the War Office in
+          1830 is amusing.]
+
+     [24] [The Master of the Rolls was at that time the presiding
+          Judge of Appeal at the Privy Council, which was
+          commonly spoken of as 'the Cockpit,' because it sat on
+          the site of the old Cockpit at Whitehall; but the
+          business was very ill done, which led Lord Brougham to
+          bring in and carry his Act for the creation of the
+          Judicial Committee in 1832--one of his best and most
+          successful measures.]
+
+He said the Duke of Richmond had done admirably in capturing the
+incendiary who has been taken, and who they think will afford a
+clue whereby they will discover the secret of all the burnings.
+This man called himself Evans. They had information of his
+exciting the peasantry, and sent a Bow Street officer after him.
+He found out where he lived and captured him (having been
+informed that he was not there by the inmates of the house), and
+took him to the Duke, who had him searched. On his person were
+found stock receipts for £800, of which £50 was left; and a
+chemical receipt in a secret pocket for combustibles. He was
+taken to prison, and will be brought up to town. Montrond was
+very amusing--'You, Lord Brougham, when you mount your bag of
+wool?'
+
+
+November 23rd, 1830 {p.071}
+
+[Page Head: COUNCIL OF THE NEW MINISTERS.]
+
+Yesterday at Court; a great day, and very amusing. The old
+Ministers came to give up their seals, and the new Ministers came
+to take them. All the first were assembled at half-past one; saw
+the King in his closet severally, and held their last Council to
+swear in George Dawson a Privy Councillor. Each after his
+audience departed, most of them never to return. As they went
+away they met the others arriving. I was with the old set in the
+Throne Room till they went away, and on opening the door and
+looking into the other room I found it full of the others--Althorp,
+Graham, Auckland, J. Russell, Durham, &c., faces that a
+little while ago I should have had small expectation of finding
+there. The effect was very droll, such a complete _changement de
+décoration_. When the old Ministers were all off the business of
+the day began. All the Cabinet was there--the new Master of the
+Horse (Lord Albemarle), Lord Wellesley, his little eyes twinkling
+with joy, and Brougham, in Chancellor's costume, but not yet a
+Peer. The King sent for me into the closet to settle about their
+being sworn in, and to ask what was to be done about Brougham,
+whose patent was not come, and who wanted to go to the House of
+Lords. These things settled, he held the Council, when twelve new
+Privy Councillors were sworn in, three Secretaries of State,
+Privy Seal, and the declarations made of President of Council and
+Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. The King could not let slip the
+opportunity of making a speech, so when I put into his hands the
+paper declaring Lord Anglesey Lord-Lieutenant he was not content
+to read it, but spoke nearly as follows:--'My Lords, it is a part
+of the duty I have to perform to declare a Lord-Lieutenant of
+Ireland, and although I certainly should have acquiesced in any
+recommendation which might have been made to me for this
+appointment by Earl Grey, I must say that I have peculiar
+satisfaction in entrusting that most important charge to the
+noble Lord, whom I therefore declare with entire satisfaction
+Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. And, my Lords, I must say that this
+day is since that of the death of my poor brother (here his voice
+faltered and he looked or tried to look affected) the most
+important which has occurred since the beginning of my reign, for
+in the course of my long life it has never happened to me to see
+so many appointments to be filled up as on this day; and when I
+consider that it is only last Tuesday night that the force of
+circumstances compelled those who were the confidential advisers
+of the Crown to relinquish the situations which they held, and
+that in this short space of time a new Government has been
+formed, I cannot help considering such despatch as holding forth
+the best hopes for the future, and proving the unanimity of my
+Government; and, my Lords, I will take this opportunity of saying
+that the noble Earl (Grey) and the other noble Lords and
+gentlemen may be assured that they will receive from me the most
+cordial, unceasing, and devoted support.' The expressions of
+course are not exactly the same, but his speech was to this
+purpose, only longer. Brougham kissed hands in the closet, and
+afterwards in Council as Chancellor and Privy Councillor, and
+then went off to the House of Lords.
+
+
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A Proclamation against Rioters--Appointments--Duke of Wellington
+  in Hampshire--General Excitement--The Tory Party--State of
+  Ireland--More Disturbances--Lord Grey's Colleagues--Election at
+  Liverpool--The Black Book--The Duke of Wellington's Position
+  and Character--A Council on a Capital Sentence--Brougham in the
+  House of Lords--The Clerks of the Council--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Lyndhurst--The Chancellor of Ireland--Lord Melbourne--Duke of
+  Richmond--Sir James Graham--Lyndhurst Lord Chief Baron--Judge
+  Allan Park--Lord Lyndhurst and the Whigs--Duke of Wellington
+  and Polignac--The King and his Sons--Polish Revolution--
+  Mechanics' Institute--Repeal of the Union--King Louis
+  Philippe--Lord Anglesey and O'Connell--A Dinner at the
+  Athenæum--Canning and George IV.--Formation of Canning's
+  Government--Negotiation with Lord Melbourne--Count Walewski--
+  Croker's Boswell--State of Ireland--Brougham and Sugden--Arrest
+  of O'Connell--Colonel Napier and the Trades Unions--The Civil
+  List--Hunt in the House of Commons--Southey's Letter to
+  Brougham on Literary Honours--The Budget--O'Connell pleads
+  guilty--Achille Murat--Weakness of the Government--Lady Jersey
+  and Lord Durham--Lord Duncannon--Ireland--Wordsworth.
+
+
+November 25th, 1830 {p.073}
+
+The accounts from the country on the 23rd were so bad that a
+Cabinet sat all the morning, and concerted a proclamation
+offering large rewards for the discovery of offenders, rioters,
+or burners. Half the Cabinet walked to St. James's, where I went
+with the draft proclamation in my pocket, and we held a Council
+in the King's room to approve it. I remember the last Council of
+this sort we held was on Queen Caroline's business. She had
+demanded to be heard by counsel in support of her asserted right
+to be crowned, and the King ordered in Council that she should be
+heard. We held the Council in his dressing-room at Carlton House;
+he was in his bedgown, and we in our boots. This proclamation did
+not receive the sign manual or the Great Seal and was not
+engrossed till the next day, but was nevertheless published in
+the 'Gazette.'
+
+Yesterday the accounts were better. There was a levee and Council,
+all the Ministers present but Palmerston and Holland. The King
+made a discourse, and took occasion (about some Admiralty order)
+to introduce the whole history of his early naval life, his first
+going to sea and the instructions which George III. gave Admiral
+Digby as to his treatment. All the old Ministers came to the levee
+except the Duke of Wellington, who was in Hampshire to try his
+influence as Lord-Lieutenant in putting down the riots. Anson as
+Master of the Buckhounds was made a Privy Councillor, not usually
+a Privy Councillor's place, but the King said he rather liked
+increasing the number than not. Clanricarde has a Gold Stick, so
+there is Canning's son-in-law in office under Lord Grey! There has
+been a difficulty about the Master-General of the Ordnance, and a
+little difference between Lord Grey and Lord Hill: when the Duke
+of Richmond was withdrawn, Grey determined to appoint Sir W.
+Gordon, but as Gordon would have to give up a permanent for a
+temporary office, he bargained that he should have the Grand Cross
+of the Bath. Lord Grey at the same time promised his brother Sir
+Charles Grey a Grand Cross, but Lord Hill (who as Commander-in-Chief
+has all the Crosses at his disposal) was offended at what he
+considered a slight to him and went to the King to complain. It is
+probable that Lord Grey knew nothing of the matter, and fancied
+they were all recommended by himself. As the matter stands now,
+Gordon's appointment is suspended. The only other difficulty is to
+find a Secretary at War. Sandon is to have it, if they can make no
+better arrangement. I had a long conversation with the Duke of
+Richmond yesterday about refusing the salary of his office, and
+entreated him to take it, for most people think his declining it
+great nonsense. He alleged a great many bad reasons for declining,
+but promised to consider the matter.
+
+I am in a very disagreeable situation as regards my late
+colleague's place. Lord Bathurst wrote a letter to Lord Lansdowne
+stating that the King had approved of his son's appointment, and
+that he had intended to reduce the salary of the office. Lord
+Grey spoke to the King, and said that after what had passed in
+both Houses he did not wish to do anything, but to leave the
+office to be dealt with by a Committee of the House of Commons,
+under whose consideration it would come. Lord Lansdowne said he
+certainly should do nothing either, so that it remains to be seen
+whether they will give me a colleague, a deputy, or nothing at
+all.
+
+
+November 28th, 1830 {p.075}
+
+The Duke of Wellington, who as soon as he was out of office
+repaired to Hants, and exerted himself as Lord-Lieutenant to
+suppress the disorders, returned yesterday, having done much
+good, and communicated largely with the Secretary of State. The
+Government are full of compliments and respects to him, and the
+Chancellor wrote him a letter entreating he would name any
+gentleman to be added to the Special Commission which was going
+down to the county over which he 'so happily presided.' He named
+three.
+
+[Page Head: DISTURBED STATE OF THE COUNTRY.]
+
+There has been nothing new within these three days, but the alarm
+is still very great, and the general agitation which pervades
+men's minds unlike what I have ever seen. Reform, economy, echoed
+backwards and forwards, the doubts, the hopes and the fears of
+those who have anything to lose, the uncertainty of everybody's
+future condition, the immense interests at stake, the magnitude
+and imminence of the danger, all contribute to produce a nervous
+excitement, which extends to all classes--to almost every
+individual. Until the Ministers are re-elected nobody can tell
+what will be done in Parliament, and Lord Grey himself has no
+idea what sort of strength the Government will have in either
+House; but there is a prevailing opinion that they ought to be
+supported at this moment, although the Duke of Wellington and
+Peel mean to keep their party together. Lyndhurst's resignation
+with his colleagues (added to his not being invited to join this
+Government) has restored him to the good graces of his party, for
+Lord Bathurst told me had behaved very honourably. He means now
+to set to work to gain character, and as he is about the ablest
+public man going, and nearly the best speaker, he will yet bustle
+himself into consideration and play a part once more. Peel,
+Lyndhurst, and Hardinge are three capital men for the foundation
+of a party--as men of business superior to any three in this
+Cabinet. But I doubt if the Duke will ever be in a civil office
+again, nor do I think the country would like to see him at the
+head of a Government, unless it was one conducted in a very
+different manner from the last. For the present deplorable state
+of things, and for the effervescence of public opinion, which
+threatens the overthrow of the constitution in trying to amend
+it, Peel and the Duke are entirely responsible; and the former is
+the less excusable because he might have known better, and if he
+had gone long ago to the Duke, and laid before him the state of
+public opinion, told him how irresistible it was, and had refused
+to carry on the Government in the House of Commons with such a
+crew as he had, the Duke must have given way. Notwithstanding the
+great measures which have distinguished his Government, such as
+Catholic Emancipation, and the repeal of the Test Acts, a
+continual series of systematic blunders, an utter ignorance of,
+and indifference to, public opinion, have rendered the first of
+these great measures almost useless. Ireland is on the point of
+becoming in a worse state than before the Catholic question was
+settled; and why? Because, first of all, the settlement was put
+off too long, and the fever of agitation would not subside, and
+because it was accompanied by an insult to O'Connell, which he
+has been resolved to revenge, and which he knows he can punish.
+Then instead of depriving him of half his influence by paying the
+priests, and so getting them under the influence of Government,
+they neglected this, and followed up the omission by taxing
+Ireland, and thus uniting the whole nation against us. What is
+this but egregious presumption, blindness, ignorance, and want of
+all political calculation and foresight? What remains now to be
+done? Perhaps nothing, for the anti-Union question is spreading
+far and wide with a velocity that is irresistible, and it is the
+more dangerous because the desire for the repeal of the Union is
+rather the offspring of imagination than of reason, and arises
+from vague, excited hopes, not, like the former agitation, from
+real wrongs, long and deeply felt. But common shifts and
+expedients, partial measures, will not do now, and in the state
+of the game a deep stake must be played or all will be lost. To
+buy O'Connell at any price, pay the Catholic Church, establish
+poor laws, encourage emigration, and repeal the obnoxious taxes
+and obnoxious laws, are the only expedients which have a chance
+of restoring order. It is easy to write these things, but perhaps
+difficult to carry them into execution, but what we want is a
+head to conceive and a heart to execute such measures as the
+enormous difficulties of the times demand.
+
+
+December 1st, 1830 {p.077}
+
+[Page Head: THE RESULTS OF TORY GOVERNMENT.]
+
+The last two or three days have produced no remarkable outrages,
+and though the state of the country is still dreadful, it is
+rather better on the whole than it was; but London is like the
+capital of a country desolated by cruel war or foreign invasion,
+and we are always looking for reports of battles, burnings, and
+other disorders. Wherever there has been anything like fighting,
+the mob has always been beaten, and has shown the greatest
+cowardice. They do not, however, seem to have been actuated by a
+very ferocious spirit; and considering the disorders of the
+times, it is remarkable that they have not been more violent and
+rapacious. Lord Craven, who is just of age, with three or four
+more young Lords, his friends, defeated and dispersed them in
+Hampshire. They broke into the Duke of Beaufort's house at
+Heythrop, but he and his sons got them out without mischief, and
+afterwards took some of them. On Monday as the field which had
+been out with the King's hounds were returning to town, they were
+summoned to assist in quelling a riot at Woburn, which they did;
+the gentlemen charged and broke the people, and took some of
+them, and fortunately some troops came up to secure the
+prisoners. The alarm, however, still continues, and a feverish
+anxiety about the future universally prevails, for no man can
+foresee what course events will take, nor how his own individual
+circumstances may be affected by them.
+
+The Government in the meantime promises fair, and they begin by a
+display of activity, in early attendance at their offices, and
+unusual recommendation of diligence and economy. But Lord Grey's
+Government is already carped at, and not without apparent reason.
+The distribution of offices is in many instances bad; many of the
+appointments were bad, and the number of his own family provided
+for is severely criticised. There are of Lord Grey's family:
+Howick, Under-Secretary; Ellice, Secretary of the Treasury;
+Barrington, Lord of the Admiralty; Durham, Privy Seal; Wood,
+Private Secretary (though he has no salary); and Lambton's
+brother in the Household. Melbourne at the Home Office is
+considered an inefficient successor to Peel, Graham too young and
+not enough distinguished for the Admiralty; Poulett Thomson is
+said to entertain the most Radical opinions; Althorp put him in.
+There never was a more sudden rise than this; a young merchant,
+after two or three years of Parliament and two or three speeches,
+is made Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Treasurer of the
+Navy, and a Privy Councillor. Then Althorp as Chancellor of the
+Exchequer may be a good one, but nobody expects much from
+anything that is already known about him. This constitution of
+the Government has already done harm, and has stamped a character
+of rapacity upon Lord Grey, which he will hear of in proper time;
+but at this moment he has got all the press on his side, and
+people are resolved to give him credit for good intentions.
+Brougham has captivated the Archbishop of Canterbury by offering
+to give livings to any deserving clergyman he would recommend to
+him. I met him at dinner yesterday in the greatest spirits,
+elated and not altered by his new dignity. He is full of projects
+of reform in the administration of justice, and talks of
+remodelling the Privy Council as a Court of Appeal, which would
+be of great use.
+
+
+December 2nd, 1830 {p.078}
+
+[Page Head: LIVERPOOL ELECTION.]
+
+Yesterday a levee and Council and Recorder's report. Clanricarde
+and Robert Grosvenor[1] sworn in.
+
+      [1] [Afterwards Lord Ebury.]
+
+The Liverpool election, which is just over, was, considering the
+present state of things, a remarkable contest. It is said to have
+cost near £100,000 to the two parties, and to have exhibited a
+scene of bribery and corruption perfectly unparalleled; no
+concealment or even semblance of decency was observed; the price
+of tallies and of votes rose, like stock, as the demand
+increased, and single votes fetched from £15 to £100 apiece. They
+voted by tallies; as each tally voted for one or the other
+candidate they were furnished with a receipt for their votes,
+with which they went to the committee, when through a hole in the
+wall the receipt was handed in, and through another the
+stipulated sum handed out; and this scene of iniquity has been
+exhibited at a period when the cry for Reform is echoed from one
+end of the country to the other, and in the case of a man
+(Denison) who stood on the principle of Reform. Nobody yet knows
+whence the money for Denison comes (the Ewarts are enormously
+rich), but it will be still more remarkable if he should pay it
+himself, when he is poor, careful of money, and was going to
+India the other day in order to save £12,000 or £15,000. If
+anybody had gone down at the eleventh hour and polled one good
+vote, he would have beaten both candidates and disfranchised the
+borough. As it is, it is probable the matter will be taken up and
+the borough disfranchised. The right of voting is as bad as
+possible in the freemen, who are the lowest rabble of the town
+and, as it appears, a parcel of venal wretches. Here comes the
+difficulty of Reform, for how is it possible to reform the
+electors?
+
+
+December 5th, 1830 {p.079}
+
+The country is getting quieter, but though the immediate panic is
+passing away men's minds are not the less disquieted as to our
+future prospects. Not a soul knows what plan of Reform the
+Ministers will propose, nor how far they are disposed to go. The
+Duke of Devonshire has begun in his own person by announcing to
+the Knaresborough people that he will never again interfere with
+that borough. Then the Black Book, as it is called, in which all
+places and pensions are exhibited, has struck terror into all who
+are named and virtuous indignation into all who are not. Nothing
+can be more _mal à propos_ than the appearance of this book at
+such a season, when there is such discontent about our institutions
+and such unceasing endeavours to bring them into contempt. The
+history of the book is this:--Graham moved last year for a return
+of all Privy Councillors who had more than £1,000 a year, and
+Goulburn chose to give him a return of _all persons_ who had more
+than £1,000 a year, because he thought the former return would be
+invidious to Privy Councillors; so he caused that to be published,
+which will remove no obloquy from those he meant to save, but draw
+down a great deal on hundreds of others, and on the Government
+under which such things exist. I speak feelingly, for 'quorum pars
+magna sum.'
+
+[Page Head: POLITICAL CHARACTER OF WELLINGTON.]
+
+The Duke of Wellington gave a great dinner yesterday to all the
+people who had gone out of office (about fifty), so that it is
+clear they mean to keep together. Whether he looks forward to be
+Prime Minister again it is impossible to say, but his real friends
+would prefer his taking the command of the army, whatever his
+fools and flatterers may do. Lord Lyndhurst, who loses everything
+by the fall of the late Government, cannot get over it,
+particularly as he feels that the Duke's obstinacy brought it
+about, and that by timely concessions and good management he might
+have had Lord Grey, Palmerston, and all that are worth having.
+Peel, on the contrary, is delighted; he wants leisure, is glad to
+get out of such a firm, and will have time to form his own plans
+and avail himself of circumstances, which, according to every
+probability, must turn out in his favour. His youth (for a public
+man), experience, and real capacity for business will inevitably
+make him Minister hereafter. The Duke of Wellington's fall,[2] if
+the causes of it are dispassionately traced and considered,
+affords a great political lesson. His is one of those mixed
+characters which it is difficult to praise or blame without the
+risk of doing them more or less than justice. He has talents which
+the event has proved to be sufficient to make him the second (and,
+now that Napoleon is gone, the first general) of the age, but
+which could not make him a tolerable Minister. Confident,
+presumptuous, and dictatorial, but frank, open, and good-humoured,
+he contrived to rule in the Cabinet without mortifying his
+colleagues, and he has brought it to ruin without forfeiting their
+regard. Choosing with a very slender stock of knowledge to take
+upon himself the sole direction of every department of Government,
+he completely sank under the burden. Originally imbued with the
+principles of Lord Castlereagh and the Holy Alliance, he brought
+all those predilections with him into office. Incapable of
+foreseeing the mighty events with which the future was big, and of
+comprehending the prodigious alterations which the moral character
+of Europe had undergone, he pitted himself against Canning in the
+Cabinet, and stood up as the assertor of maxims both of foreign
+and domestic policy which that great statesman saw were no longer
+fitted for the times we live in. With a flexibility which was more
+remarkably exhibited at subsequent periods, when he found that the
+cause he advocated was lost, the Duke turned suddenly round, and
+surrendered his opinions at discretion; but in his heart he never
+forgave Mr. Canning, and from that time jealousy of him had a
+material influence on his political conduct, and was the primary
+motive of many of his subsequent resolutions. This flexibility has
+been the cause of great benefits to the country, but ultimately of
+his own downfall, for it has always proceeded from the pressure of
+circumstances and considerations of convenience to himself, and
+not from a rational adaptation of his opinions and conduct to the
+necessities and variations of the times. He has not been
+thoroughly true to any principle or any party; he contrived to
+disgust and alienate his old friends and adherents without
+conciliating or attaching those whose measures he at the eleventh
+hour undertook to carry into execution. Through the whole course
+of his political conduct selfish considerations have never been
+out of sight. His opposition to Canning's Corn Bill was too gross
+to admit of excuse. It was the old spite bursting forth, sharpened
+by Canning's behaviour to him in forming his Administration,
+which, if it was not contumelious, certainly was not courteous.
+When at his death the Duke assumed the Government, his disclaiming
+speech was thrown in his teeth, but without much justice, for such
+expressions are never to be taken literally, and in the subsequent
+quarrel with Huskisson, though it is probably true that he was
+aiming at domination, he was persuaded that Huskisson and his
+party were endeavouring to form a cabal in the Cabinet, and his
+expulsion of them is not, therefore, altogether without excuse. On
+the question of the Test Act it was evident he was guided by no
+principle, probably by no opinion, and that he only thought of
+turning it as best he might to his own advantage. Throughout the
+Catholic question self was always apparent, not that he was
+careless of the safety, or indifferent to the prosperity of the
+country, but that he cared as much for his own credit and power,
+and never considered the first except in their connection with the
+second. The business of Emancipation he certainly conducted with
+considerable judgment, boldly trusting to the baseness of many of
+his old friends, and showing that he had not mistaken their
+characters; exercising that habitual influence he had acquired
+over the mind of the King; preserving impenetrable secresy; using
+without scruple every artifice that could forward his object; and
+contriving to make tools or dupes of all his colleagues and
+adherents, and getting the whole merit to himself. From the
+passing of the Catholic question his conduct has exhibited a
+series of blunders which have at length terminated in his fall.
+The position in which he then stood was this:--He had a Government
+composed of men who were for the most part incompetent, but
+perfectly subservient to him. He had a considerable body of
+adherents in both Houses. The Whigs, whose support (enthusiastically
+given) had carried him triumphantly through the great contest,
+were willing to unite with him; the Tories, exasperated and
+indignant, feeling insulted and betrayed, vowed nothing but
+vengeance. Intoxicated with his victory, he was resolved to
+neglect the Whigs, to whom he was so much indebted, and to regain
+the affections of the Tories, whom he considered as his natural
+supporters, and whom he thought identity of opinion and interest
+would bring back to his standard. By all sorts of slights and
+affronting insinuations that they wanted place, but that he could
+do without them, he offended the Whigs, but none of his cajoleries
+and advances had the least effect on the sulky Tories. It was in
+vain that he endeavoured to adapt his foreign policy to their
+worst prejudices by opposing with undeviating hostility that of
+Mr. Canning (the great object of their detestation), and
+disseminating throughout all Europe the belief of his attachment
+to ultra-monarchical principles. He opposed the spirit of the age,
+he brought England into contempt, but he did not conciliate the
+Tories. Having succeeded in uniting two powerful parties (acting
+separately) in opposition to his Government, and having nobody but
+Peel to defend his measures in the House of Commons, and nobody in
+the House of Lords, he manifested his sense of his own weakness by
+overtures and negotiations, and evinced his obstinate tenacity of
+power by never offering terms which could be accepted, or
+extending his invitations to those whose authority he thought
+might cope with his own. With his Government falling every day in
+public opinion, and his enemies growing more numerous and
+confident, with questions of vast importance rising up with a
+vigour and celerity of growth which astonished the world, he met a
+new Parliament (constituted more unfavourably than the last, which
+he had found himself unable to manage) without any support but in
+his own confidence and the encouraging adulation of a little knot
+of devotees. There still lingered round him some of that
+popularity which had once been so great, and which the recollection
+of his victories would not suffer to be altogether extinguished.
+By a judicious accommodation of his conduct to that public opinion
+which was running with an uncontrollable tide, by a frank
+invitation to all who were well disposed to strengthen his
+Government, he might have raised those embers of popularity into a
+flame once more, have saved himself, and still done good service
+to the State; but it was decreed that he should fall. He appeared
+bereft of all judgment and discretion, and after a King's Speech
+which gave great, and I think unnecessary offence, he delivered
+the famous philippic against Reform which sealed his fate. From
+that moment it was not doubtful, and he was hurled from the seat
+of power amidst universal acclamations.
+
+      [2] [The following passage will no doubt be read with
+          surprise, for in later years Mr. Greville became and
+          remained one of the Duke's most steady admirers, and as
+          he has himself stated in the memorandum written
+          nineteen years afterwards, which is inserted at the end
+          of it, the opinion he entertained of him at this time
+          was unjust. But he at the same time decided 'to leave
+          it as it is, because it is of the essence of these
+          Memoirs not to soften or tone down judgments by the
+          light of altered convictions, but to leave them
+          standing as contemporary evidence of what was thought
+          at the time they were written.' These are his own
+          words.]
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+        [Memorandum added by Mr. Greville in April 1850.]
+
+    N.B.--I leave this as it is, though it is unjust to the
+    Duke of Wellington; but such as my impressions were at
+    the time they shall remain, to be corrected afterwards
+    when necessary. It would be very wrong to impute
+    _selfishness_ to him in the ordinary sense of the term.
+    He coveted power, but he was perfectly disinterested, a
+    great patriot if ever there was one, and he was always
+    animated by a strong and abiding sense of duty. I have
+    done him justice in other places, and there is after all
+    a great deal of truth in what I have said here.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Page Head: AN ESCAPE FROM THE GALLOWS.]
+
+December 12th, 1830 {p.084}
+
+For the last few days the accounts from the country have been
+better; there are disturbances in different parts, and alarms
+given, but the mischief seems to be subsiding. The burnings go
+on, and though they say that one or two incendiaries have been
+taken up, nothing has yet been discovered likely to lead to the
+detection of the system. I was at Court on Wednesday, when Kemp
+and Foley were sworn in, the first for the Ordnance, the other
+Gold Stick (the pensioners). He refused it for a long time, but
+at last submitted to what he thought _infra dig_., because it was
+to be sugared with the Lieutenancy of Worcestershire. There was
+an Admiralty report,[3] at which the Chief Justice was not
+present. The Chancellor and the Judge (Sir C. Robinson) were
+there for the first time, and not a soul knew what was the form
+or what ought to be done; they did, however, just as in the
+Recorder's reports. Brougham leans to mercy, I see. But what a
+curious sort of supplementary trial this is; how many accidents
+may determine the life or death of the culprit. In one case in
+this report which they were discussing (before the Council)
+Brougham had _forgotten_ that the man was recommended to mercy,
+but he told me that at the last Recorder's report there was a
+great difference of opinion on one (a forgery case), when
+Tenterden was for hanging the man and he for saving him; that he
+had it put to the vote, and the man was saved. Little did the
+criminal know when there was a change of Ministry that he owed
+his life to it, for if Lyndhurst had been Chancellor he would
+most assuredly have been hanged; not that Lyndhurst was
+particularly severe or cruel, but he would have concurred with
+the Chief Justice and have regarded the case solely in a judicial
+point of view, whereas the mind of the other was probably biassed
+by some theory about the crime of forgery or by some fancy of his
+strange brain.
+
+      [3] [The High Court of Admiralty had still a criminal
+          jurisdiction, and the capital cases were submitted to
+          the King in Council for approval.]
+
+This was a curious case, as I have since heard. The man owes his
+life to the curiosity of a woman of fashion, and then to another
+feeling. Lady Burghersh and Lady Glengall wanted to hear St. John
+Long's trial (the quack who had _man_-slaughtered Miss Cashir),
+and they went to the Old Bailey for that purpose. Castlereagh and
+somebody else, who of course were not up in time, were to have
+attended them. They wanted an escort, and the only man in London
+sure to be out of bed so early was the Master of the Rolls, so
+they went and carried him off. When they got to the court there
+was no St. John Long, but they thought they might as well stay
+and hear whatever was going on. It chanced that a man was tried
+for an atrocious case of forgery and breach of trust. He was
+found guilty and sentence passed; but he was twenty-three and
+good-looking. Lady Burghersh could not bear he should be hanged,
+and she went to all the late Ministers and the Judges to beg him
+off. Leach told her it was no use, that nothing could save that
+man; and accordingly the old Government were obdurate, when out
+they went. Off she went again and attacked all the new ones, who
+in better humour, or of softer natures, suffered themselves to be
+persuaded, and the wretch was saved. She went herself to Newgate
+to see him, but I never heard if she had a private interview, and
+if he was afforded an opportunity of expressing his gratitude
+with all the fervour that the service she had done him demanded.
+
+In the meantime the Government is going on what is called well--that
+is, there is a great disposition to give them a fair trial.
+All they have done and promise to do about economy gives
+satisfaction, and Reform (the awful question) is still at a
+distance. There has been, however, some sharp skirmishing in the
+course of the week, and there is no want of bitterness and
+watchfulness on the part of the old Government. In the Committee
+which has been named to enquire into the salaries of the
+Parliamentary offices they mean to leave the question in the
+hands of the country gentlemen; but they do not think any great
+reductions will be practicable, and as Baring is chairman it is
+not probable that much will be done. They think Brougham speaks
+too often in the House of Lords, but he has done very well there;
+and on Friday he made a reply to Lord Stanhope, which was the
+most beautiful piece of sarcasm and complete cutting-up (though
+with very good humour) that ever was heard, and an exhibition to
+the like of which the Lords have not been accustomed. The Duke of
+Wellington made another imprudent speech, in which (in answer to
+Lord Radnor, who attributed the state of the country to the late
+Government) he said that it was attributable to the events of
+July and August in other countries, and spoke of them in a way
+which showed clearly his real opinion and feelings on the
+subject.
+
+[Page Head: THE CLERKS OF THE COUNCIL.]
+
+After some delay Lord Lansdowne made up his mind to fill up the
+vacancy in my office, and to give it to William Bathurst; but he
+first spoke to the King, who said it was very true he had told
+Lord Bathurst that his son should have it, but that he now left
+the matter entirely to his decision, showing no anxiety to have
+William Bathurst appointed. However, he has it, but reduced to
+£1,200 a year. I was agreeably surprised yesterday by a
+communication from Lord Lansdowne that he thought no alteration
+could be made in my emoluments, and that he was quite prepared to
+defend them if anybody attacked them. Still, though it is a very
+good thing to be so supported, I don't consider myself safe from
+Parliamentary assaults. In these times it will not do to be idle,
+and I told Lord Lansdowne that I was anxious to keep my
+emoluments, but ready to work for them, and proposed that we
+Clerks of the Council should be called upon to act really at the
+Board of Trade, as we are, in fact, bound to do; by which means
+Lack's place when vacant need not be filled up, and a saving
+would be made. My predecessors Cottrell and Fawkener always
+acted, their successors Bailer and Chetwynd were incompetent, and
+Lack, the Chancellor's Clerk, was made Assistant-Secretary, and
+did the work. Huskisson and Hume, his director, made the business
+a science; new Presidents and Vice-Presidents succeeded one
+another in different Ministerial revolutions; they and Lack were
+incompetent, and Hume was made Assistant-Secretary, and it is he
+who advises, directs, legislates. I believe he is one of the
+ablest practical men who have ever served, more like an American
+statesman than an English official. I am anxious to begin my
+Trade education under him.
+
+Parliament is going to adjourn directly for three or four weeks,
+to give the Ministers time to make their arrangements and get rid
+of the load of business which besets them; although there is
+every disposition to give them credit for good intentions, and to
+let them have a fair trial, there are not wanting causes of
+discontent in many quarters.
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY AND LORD LYNDHURST.]
+
+All the Russells are dissatisfied that Lord John has not a seat
+in the Cabinet, and that Graham should be preferred to him, and
+the more so because they know or believe that his preference is
+owing to Lambton, who does what he likes with Lord Grey. My mind
+has always misgiven me about Lord Grey, and what I have lately
+heard of him satisfies me that a more overrated man never lived,
+or one whose speaking was so far above his general abilities, or
+who owed so much to his oratorical plausibility. His tall,
+commanding, and dignified appearance, his flow of language,
+graceful action, well rounded periods, and an exhibition of
+classical taste united with legal knowledge, render him the most
+finished orator of his day; but his conduct has shown him to be
+influenced by pride, still more by vanity, personal antipathies,
+caprice, indecision, and a thousand weaknesses generated by these
+passions and defects. Anybody who is constantly with him and who
+can avail themselves of his vanity can govern him. There was a
+time when Sir Robert Wilson was his 'magnus Apollo' (and
+Codrington), till they quarrelled. Now Lambton is all in all with
+him. Lambton dislikes the Russells, and hence Lord John's
+exclusion and the preference of Graham. Everybody remembers how
+Lord Grey refused to lead the Whig party when Canning formed his
+junction with the Whigs, and declared that he abdicated in favour
+of Lord Lansdowne; and then how he came and made that violent
+speech against Canning which half killed him with vexation, and
+in consequence of which he meant to have moved into the House of
+Lords for the express purpose of attacking Lord Grey. Then when
+he had quarrelled with his old Whig friends he began to approach
+the Tories, the object of his constant aversion and contempt; and
+we knew what civilities passed between the Bathursts and him, and
+what political coquetries between him and the Duke of Wellington,
+and how he believed that it was only George IV. who prevented his
+being invited by the Duke to join him. Then George IV. dies, King
+William succeeds; no invitation to Lord Grey, and he plunges into
+furious opposition to the Duke.
+
+About three years ago the Chancellor, Lyndhurst, was the man in
+the world he abhorred the most; and it was about this time that I
+well recollect one night at Madame de Lieven's I introduced Lord
+Grey to Lady Lyndhurst. We had dined together somewhere, and he
+had been praising her beauty; so when we all met there I presented
+him, and very soon all his antipathies ceased and he and Lyndhurst
+became great friends. This was the cause of Lady Lyndhurst's
+partiality for the Whigs, which enraged the Tory ladies and some
+of their lords so much, but which served her turn and enabled her
+to keep two hot irons in the fire. When the Duke went out Lord
+Grey was very anxious to keep Lyndhurst as his Chancellor, and
+would have done so if it had not been for Brougham, who, whirling
+Reform _in terrorem_ over his head, announced to him that it must
+not be. Reluctantly enough Grey was obliged to give way, for he
+saw that with Brougham in the House of Commons, against him he
+could not stand for five minutes, and that the only alternative
+was to put Brougham on the Woolsack. Hence his delay in sending
+for Brougham, the latter's speech and subsequent acceptance of the
+Great Seal. Grey, however, was still anxious to serve Lyndhurst,
+and to neutralise his opposition has now proposed to him to be
+Chief Baron. This is tempting to a necessitous and ambitious man.
+On the other hand he had a good game before him, if he had played
+it well, and that was to regain character, exhibit his great and
+general powers, and be ready to avail himself of the course of
+events; but he has made his bargain and pocketed his pride. He
+takes the judicial office upon an understanding that he is to have
+no political connection with the Government (though of course he
+will not oppose them), and that he is to be Chief Justice on
+Tenterden's death or retirement. This is the secret article of the
+treaty, and altogether he has not done amiss; for there are so few
+Chancellors in the field that he will probably (if he chooses)
+return to the Woolsack in the event of a change of Government, and
+he is now in a position in which he may join either party, and
+that without any _additional_ loss of character. The public will
+gain by the transaction, because they will get a good judge.
+
+In Ireland the Government have made a change (the motives of
+which are not apparent) which will be very unpopular, and
+infallibly get them into trouble in various ways. They have
+removed Hart and made Plunket Chancellor. Hart was very popular
+with the Bar; he was slow, but had introduced order and
+regularity in the proceedings of the Court. There were no arrears
+and no appeals. Plunket is unpopular, and was a bad judge in the
+Common Pleas, and will probably make a worse Chancellor; he is
+rash, hasty, and imprudent, and it is the more extraordinary as
+Hart was affronted by Goderich and went with Anglesey, so upon
+the score of confidence (on which they put it) there is in fact
+not a pretext for it.
+
+[Page Head: SIR JAMES GRAHAM.]
+
+As yet not much can be known of the efficiency of the rest of the
+Ministers. The only one who has had anything to do is Melbourne,
+and he has surprised all those about him by a sudden display of
+activity and vigour, rapid and diligent transaction of business,
+for which nobody was prepared, and which will prove a great
+mortification to Peel and his friends, who were in hopes he would
+do nothing and let the country be burnt and plundered without
+interruption. The Duke of Richmond has plunged neck-deep in
+politics, and says he is delighted with it all, and with Lord
+Grey's candour and unassuming bearing in the Cabinet. He is
+evidently piqued that none of his party have followed him, and
+made a speech in the House of Lords the other night expressing
+his readiness to defend his having taken office, when nobody
+attacked him. Knowing him as I do, and the exact extent of his
+capacity, I fancy he must feel rather small by the side of Lord
+Grey and Brougham. Graham's elevation is the most monstrous of
+all. He was once my friend, a college intimacy revived in the
+world, and which lasted six months, when, thinking he could do
+better, he cut me, as he had done others before. I am not a fair
+judge of him, because the pique which his conduct to me naturally
+gave me would induce me to underrate him, but I take vanity and
+self-sufficiency to be the prominent features of his character,
+though of the extent of his capacity I will give no opinion. Let
+time show; I think he will fail. [Time did show it to be very
+considerable, and the _volvenda dies_ brought back our former
+friendship, as will hereafter appear; he certainly did _not
+fail_.]
+
+He came into Parliament ten years ago, spoke and failed. He had
+been a provincial hero, the Cicero and the Romeo of Yorkshire and
+Cumberland, a present Lovelace and a future Pitt. He was
+disappointed in love (the particulars are of no consequence),
+married and retired to digest his mortifications of various
+kinds, to become a country gentleman, patriot, reformer,
+financier, and what not, always good-looking (he had been very
+handsome), pleasing, intelligent, cultivated, agreeable as a man
+can be who is not witty and who is rather pompous and slow, after
+many years of retirement, in the course of which he gave to the
+world his lucubrations on corn and currency. Time and the hour
+made him master of a large but encumbered estate and member for
+his county. Armed with the importance of representing a great
+constituency, he started again in the House of Commons; took up
+Joseph Hume's line, but ornamented it with graces and flourishes
+which had not usually decorated such dry topics. He succeeded,
+and in that line is now the best speaker in the House. I have no
+doubt he has studied his subjects and practised himself in public
+speaking. Years and years ago I remember his delight on Hume's
+comparison between Demosthenes and Cicero, and how he knew the
+passage by heart; but it is one thing to attack strong abuses and
+fire off well-rounded set phrases, another to administer the
+naval affairs of the country and be ready to tilt against all
+comers, as he must do for the future.[4] Palmerston is said to
+have given the greatest satisfaction to the foreign Ministers,
+and to have begun very well. So much for the Ministers.
+
+      [4] [This opinion of Sir James Graham is the more curious
+          as he afterwards became one of Mr. Greville's
+          confidential friends, and rose to the first rank of
+          oratory and authority in the House of Commons. As
+          Secretary of State for the Home Department in the great
+          Administration of Sir Robert Peel he showed
+          administrative ability of the highest order, and he
+          was, perhaps, the most trusted colleague of that
+          illustrious chief. The principal failing of Sir James
+          Graham was, in truth, that he was not so brave and bold
+          a man as he looked.]
+
+
+December 14th, 1830 {p.091}
+
+[Page Head: LORD LYNDHURST AND THE WHIGS.]
+
+There is a delay in Lyndhurst's appointment, if it takes place at
+all. Alexander[5] now will not resign, though he himself proposed
+to do so in the first instance. His physician signed a certificate
+to say that if he went on this Committee it would cost him his
+life; some difficulty about the pension is the cause, or the
+peerage that he wants. He is seventy-six and very rich, a wretched
+judge, and never knew anything of Common Law. If it is not
+arranged, it will be a bad business for Lyndhurst, for the Duke
+and his friends are grievously annoyed at his taking the office,
+having counted on him as their great champion in the House of
+Lords. Mrs. Arbuthnot told me the other night that they considered
+themselves released from all obligations to him for the future.
+However, they have not at all quarrelled, and they knew his
+deplorable state in point of money. Dined yesterday at Agar
+Ellis's with eighteen people. Brougham in great force and very
+agreeable, and told some stories of Judge Allan Park, who is a
+most ridiculous man, and yet a good lawyer, a good judge, and was
+a most eminent counsel.
+
+      [5] [The Chief Baron.]
+
+Park is extraordinarily ridiculous. He is a physiognomist, and is
+captivated by pleasant looks. In a certain cause, in which a boy
+brought an action for defamation against his schoolmaster,
+Campbell, his counsel, asked the solicitor if the boy was
+good-looking. 'Very.' 'Oh, then, have him in court; we shall get
+a verdict.' And so he did. His eyes are always wandering about,
+watching and noticing everything and everybody. One day there was
+a dog in court making a disturbance, on which he said, 'Take away
+that dog.' The officers went to remove another dog, when he
+interposed. 'No, not that dog. I have had my eye on that dog the
+whole day, and I will say that a better behaved little dog I
+never saw in a court of justice.'
+
+One of Brougham's best speeches was one of his last at the Bar,
+made in moving for a new trial on the ground of misdirection in a
+great cause (Tatham and Wright) about a will. He said that on
+that occasion Park did what he thought no man's physical powers
+were equal to; he spoke in summing up for eleven hours and a
+half, and was as fresh at the end as at the beginning; the trial
+lasted eight days. This same evening Lord Grosvenor, who is by
+way of being a friend to Government, made an _amicable_ attack
+upon everything, and talked nonsense. Lord Grey answered him, and
+defended his own family appointments in a very good speech.
+
+
+December 15th, 1830 {p.093}
+
+Dined yesterday with Lord Dudley; sat next to Lady Lyndhurst, and
+had a great deal of talk about politics. She said that the Duke
+never consulted or communicated with the Chancellor, who never
+heard of his overtures to Palmerston till Madame de Lieven told
+him; that he had repeatedly remonstrated with the Duke upon going
+on in his weakness, and on one occasion had gone to Walmer on
+purpose (leaving her behind that he might talk more freely) to
+urge him to take in Lord Grey and some of that party, but he would
+not; said he had tried to settle with them, and it would not do;
+had tried individuals and had tried the party. Up to a very late
+period it appears that Lord Grey would have joined him, and
+Lambton came to her repeatedly to try and arrange something; but
+this answer of the Duke's put it out of the question. Then after
+Lord Grey made his hostile speech it seems as if the Duke wanted
+to get him, for one day Jersey made an appointment with Lady
+Lyndhurst, never having called upon her in his life before, came,
+and entreated her to try and bring about an accommodation with
+Lord Grey, not making use of the Duke's name, but saying he and
+Lady Jersey were so unhappy that the Duke and Lord Grey should not
+be on good terms, and were so anxious for the junction; but it was
+too late then, and the Lyndhursts themselves had something else to
+look to. They both knew very well that Brougham alone prevented
+his remaining on the Woolsack, still they have very wisely not
+quarrelled with him. After dinner I took Lyndhurst to Lady Dudley
+Stuart's, and had some more talk with him. He thinks, as I do,
+that this Government does not promise to be strong. What passed in
+the House of Commons the other night exhibited deplorable weakness
+and the necessity of depending upon the caprices of hundreds of
+loose votes, without anything like a party with which they could
+venture to oppose popular doctrines or measures. He thinks that
+Peel must be Minister if there is not a revolution, and that the
+Duke's being Prime Minister again is out of the question; says he
+_knows_ Peel would never consent to act with him again in the same
+capacity, that all the Duke's little cabinet (the women and the
+toad-eaters) hate Peel, and that there never was any real
+cordiality between them. Everything confirms my belief that Peel,
+if he did not bring about the dissolution of the late Ministry by
+any overt act, saw to what things were tending, and saw it with
+satisfaction.
+
+
+December 16th, 1830 {p.094}
+
+At Court yesterday; William Bathurst sworn in. All the Ministers
+were there, and the Duke of Wellington at the levee looking out
+of sorts. Dined at the Lievens'; Lady Cowper told me that in the
+summer the Duke had not made a _direct_ offer to Melbourne, but
+what was tantamount to it. He had desired somebody (she did not
+say who) to speak to Frederick,[6] and said he would call on him
+himself the next day. Something, however, prevented him, and she
+did not say whether he did call or not afterwards. He denied ever
+having made any overture at all. To Palmerston he proposed the
+choice of four places, and she thinks he would have taken in
+Huskisson if the latter had lived. He would have done nothing but
+on compulsion; that is clear. It is very true (what they say Peel
+said of him) that no _man_ ever had any influence with him, only
+_women_, and those always the silliest. But who are Peel's
+confidants, friends, and parasites? Bonham, a stock-jobbing
+ex-merchant; Charles Ross, and the refuse of society of the House
+of Commons.
+
+      [6] [Sir Frederick Lamb.]
+
+Lamb told me afterwards, talking of the Duke and Polignac, that
+Sébastiani had told him that Hyde de Neuville (who was Minister
+at the time Polignac went over from here on his first short
+visit, before he became Minister) said that upon that occasion
+Polignac took over a letter from the Duke to the King of France,
+in which he said that the Chambers and the democratical spirit
+required to be curbed, that he advised him to lose no time in
+restraining them, and that he referred him to M. de Polignac for
+his opinion generally, who was in possession of his entire
+confidence. I think this _may_ be true, never having doubted that
+these were his real sentiments, whether he expressed them or not.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING AND HIS SONS.]
+
+There has been a desperate quarrel between the King and his sons.
+George Fitzclarence wanted to be made a Peer and have a pension;
+the King said he could not do it, so they struck work in a body,
+and George resigned his office of Deputy Adjutant-General and
+wrote the King a furious letter. The King sent for Lord Hill, and
+told him to try and bring him to his senses; but Lord Hill could
+do nothing, and then he sent for Brougham to talk to him about
+it. It is not yet made up, but one of them (Frederick, I believe)
+dined at the dinner the King gave the day before yesterday. They
+want to renew the days of Charles II., instead of waiting
+patiently and letting the King do what he can for them, and as he
+can.
+
+The affair at Warsaw seems to have begun with a conspiracy
+against Constantine, and four of the generals who were killed
+perished in his anteroom in defending him. With the smallest
+beginnings, however, nothing is more probable than a general
+rising in Poland; and what between that, Belgians, and Piedmont,
+which is threatened with a revolution, the Continent is in a
+promising state. I agree with Lamb, who says that such an
+_imbroglio_ as this cannot be got right without a war; such a
+flame can only be quenched by blood.
+
+
+December 19th, 1830 {p.095}
+
+The week has closed without much gain to the new Government. On
+the debate in the House of Commons about the Evesham election
+they did not dare go to a division, as they would certainly have
+been beaten, but Peel made a speech which was very good in
+itself, and received in a way which proved that he has more
+consideration out of office than any of the Ministers, and much
+more than he ever had when he was in. Men are looking more and
+more to him, and if there is not a revolution he will assuredly
+be Prime Minister. The Government is fully aware how little
+strength they have, so they have taken a new line, and affect to
+carry on the Government without Parliamentary influence, and to
+throw themselves and their measures upon the impartial judgment
+of the House. Sefton informed me the other night that they had
+resolved not to take upon themselves the responsibility of
+proposing any renewal of the Civil List, but to refer the whole
+question to Parliament. I told him that I thought such conduct
+equally foolish and unjust, and that it amounted to an abdication
+of their Ministerial functions, and a surrender of them into the
+hands of the Legislative power; in itself amounting to a
+revolution not of dynasty and institutions, but of system of
+Government in this country. He is the _âme damnée_ of Lord Grey,
+and defends everything of course.
+
+O'Connell is gone rabid to Ireland, having refused a silk gown
+and resolved to pull down Lord Anglesey's popularity. Shiel
+writes word that they have resolved _not_ to give Lord Anglesey a
+public reception, and to propose an ovation for O'Connell. The
+law appointments there, made without any adequate reason, have
+been ingeniously contrived so as to disgust every party in
+Ireland, and to do, or promise to do, in their ultimate results
+as much harm as possible. So much for the only act that the
+Ministers have yet performed.
+
+I had some conversation with Lyndhurst yesterday, who thinks the
+way is already preparing for Peel's return to office, and that he
+must be Prime Minister. I told him that I thought Peel had a fine
+game to play, but that his own was just as good, as Peel could do
+nothing without him in the other House; to which he replied that
+they should have no difficulty, and could make a Government if
+the Duke of Wellington did not interpose his claims and aspire
+again to be at the head; to which I said that they must not
+listen to it, as the country would not bear it; he said he was
+afraid the Duke's own set and his women were encouraging him in
+such views. Now that it is all over his own Cabinet admit as
+freely as anybody his Ministerial despotism. Lyndhurst partakes
+of the general alarm at the state of affairs, and of the
+astonishment which I and others feel at the apathy of those who
+are most interested in averting the impending danger. Yesterday
+Mr. Stapleton (Canning's late private secretary) called on me to
+discuss this subject, and the propriety and feasibility of
+setting up some dyke to arrest the torrent of innovation and
+revolution that is bursting in on every side. All the press
+almost is silenced, or united on the other side. 'John Bull'
+alone fights the battle, but 'John Bull' defends so many
+indefensible things that its advocacy is not worth much. An
+anti-Radical upon the plan of the Anti-Jacobin might be of some
+use, provided it was well sustained. I wrote a letter yesterday
+to Barnes,[7] remonstrating upon the general tone of the 'Times,'
+and inviting him to adopt some Conservative principles in the
+midst of his zeal for Reform. Stanley told me that his election
+(at Preston) was lost by the stupidity or ill-will of the
+returning officer, who managed the booths in such a way that
+Hunt's voters were enabled to vote over and over at different
+booths, and that he had no doubt of reducing his majority on a
+scrutiny.
+
+      [7] [Mr. Barnes was then editor of the 'Times' newspaper,
+          and retained that position till his death in 1841. Mr.
+          Greville was well acquainted with him, and had a high
+          opinion of his talents, character, and influence.]
+
+
+December 22nd, 1830 {p.097}
+
+[Page Head: BISHOP OF EXETER AND LORD MELBOURNE.]
+
+Dudley showed me Phillpotts' (Bishop of Exeter) correspondence
+with Melbourne and minutes of conversation on the subject of the
+commendam of the living of Stanhope; trimming letters. The Bishop
+made proposals to the Government which they rejected, and at
+last, after writing one of the ablest letters I ever read, in
+which he exposed their former conduct and present motives, he
+said that as the Ministers had thought fit to exert the power
+they had over him, he should show them that he had some over
+them, and appeal to public opinion to decide between them. On
+this they gave way, and agreed to an arrangement which, if not
+satisfactory to him, will leave him as to income not much worse
+off than he was before.
+
+
+December 23rd, 1830 {p.097}
+
+Last night to Wilmot Horton's second lecture at the Mechanics'
+Institute; I could not go to the first. He deserves great credit
+for his exertions, the object of which is to explain to the
+labouring classes some of the truths of political economy, the
+folly of thinking that the breaking of machinery will better
+their condition, and of course the efficacy of his own plan of
+emigration. The company was respectable enough, and they heard
+him with great attention. He is full of zeal and animation, but
+so totally without method and arrangement that he is hardly
+intelligible. The conclusion, which was an attack on Cobbett, was
+well done and even eloquent. There were a good many women, and
+several wise men, such as Dr. Birkbeck, M'Culloch, and Owen of
+Lanark.
+
+[Page Head: LORD ANGLESEY AND O'CONNELL.]
+
+O'Connell had a triumphant entry into Dublin, and advised that no
+honours should be shown to Lord Anglesey. They had an interview
+of two hours in London, when Lord Anglesey asked him what he
+intended to do. He said, 'Strive _totis viribus_ to effect a
+repeal of the Union;' when Lord Anglesey told him that he feared
+he should then be obliged to govern Ireland by force, so that
+they are at daggers drawn. There is not a doubt that Repeal is
+making rapid advances. Moore[8] told me that he had seen
+extraordinary signs of it, and that men of the middle classes,
+intelligent and well educated, wished for it, though they knew
+the disadvantages that would attend a severance of their
+connection with England. He said that he could understand it, for
+as an Irishman he felt it himself.
+
+      [8] [Thomas Moore, the poet.]
+
+
+Roehampton, December 26th, 1830 {p.098}
+
+At Lord Clifden's; Luttrell, Byng, and Dudley; the latter very
+mad, did nothing but soliloquise, walk about, munch, and rail at
+Reform of every kind. Lord Anglesey has entered Dublin amidst
+silence and indifference, all produced by O'Connell's orders,
+whose entry was greeted by the acclamations of thousands, and his
+speeches then and since have been more violent than ever. His
+authority and popularity are unabated, and he is employing them
+to do all the mischief he can, his first object being to make
+friends of the Orangemen, to whom he affects to humble himself,
+and he has on all public occasions caused the orange ribband to
+be joined with the green.
+
+We had a meeting at the Council Office on Friday to order a
+prayer 'on account of the troubled state of certain parts of the
+United Kingdom'--great nonsense.
+
+The King of the French has put an end to the disturbances of
+Paris about the sentence on the ex-Ministers by a gallant _coup
+d'état_. At night, when the streets were most crowded and
+agitated, he sallied from the Palais Royal on horseback, with his
+son, the Duc de Nemours, and his personal _cortége_, and paraded
+through Paris for two hours. This did the business; he was
+received with shouts of applause, and at once reduced everything
+to tranquillity. He deserves his throne for this, and will
+probably keep it.
+
+
+December 30th, 1830 {p.099}
+
+Notwithstanding the conduct of King Louis Philippe, and the happy
+termination of the disorders and tumults at Paris last week, the
+greatest alarm still prevails about the excitement in that place.
+In consequence of the Chamber of Deputies having passed some
+resolutions altering the constitution of the National Guard, and
+voting the post of Commandant-General unnecessary, Lafayette
+resigned and has been replaced by Lobau. I never remember times
+like these, nor read of such--the terror and lively expectation
+which prevail, and the way in which people's minds are turned
+backwards and forwards from France to Ireland, then range
+excursively to Poland or Piedmont, and fix again on the burnings,
+riots, and executions here.
+
+Lord Anglesey's entry into Dublin turned out not to have been so
+mortifying to him as was at first reported. He was attended by a
+great number of people, and by all the most eminent and
+respectable in Dublin, so much so that he was very well pleased,
+and found it better than he expected. War broke out between him
+and O'Connell without loss of time. O'Connell had intended to
+have a procession of the trades, and a notice from him was to
+have been published and stuck over the door of every chapel and
+public place in Dublin. Anglesey issued his proclamation, and
+half an hour before the time when O'Connell's notice was to
+appear had it pasted up, and one copy laid on O'Connell's
+breakfast table, at which anticipation he chuckled mightily.
+O'Connell instantly issued a handbill desiring the people to
+obey, as if the order of the Lord-Lieutenant was to derive its
+authority from his permission, and he afterwards made an able
+speech. Since the beginning of the world there never was so
+extraordinary and so eccentric a position as his. It is a moral
+power and influence as great in its way, and as strangely
+acquired, as Bonaparte's political power was. Utterly lost to all
+sense of shame and decency, trampling truth and honour under his
+feet, cast off by all respectable men, he makes his faults and
+his vices subservient to the extension of his influence, for he
+says and does whatever suits his purpose for the moment, secure
+that no detection or subsequent exposure will have the slightest
+effect with those over whose minds and passions he rules with
+such despotic sway. He cares not whom he insults, because, having
+covered his cowardice with the cloak of religious scruples, he is
+invulnerable, and will resent no retaliation that can be offered
+him. He has chalked out to himself a course of ambition which,
+though not of the highest kind--if the _consentiens laus bonorum_
+is indispensable to the aspirations of noble minds--has
+everything in it that can charm a somewhat vulgar but highly
+active, restless, and imaginative being; and nobody can deny to
+him the praise of inimitable dexterity, versatility, and even
+prudence in the employment of the means which he makes conducive
+to his ends. He is thoroughly acquainted with the audiences which
+he addresses and the people upon whom he practises, and he
+operates upon their passions with the precision of a dexterous
+anatomist who knows the direction of every muscle and fibre of
+the human frame. After having been throughout the Catholic
+question the furious enemy of the Orangemen, upon whom he
+lavished incessant and unmeasured abuse, he has suddenly turned
+round, and inviting them to join him on the Repeal question, has
+not only offered them a fraternal embrace and has humbled himself
+to the dust in apologies and demands for pardon, but he has
+entirely and at once succeeded, and he is now as popular or more
+so with the Protestants (or rather Orangemen) as he was before
+with the Catholics, and Crampton writes word that the lower order
+of Protestants are with him to a man.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              1831.
+
+
+January 2nd, 1831 {p.101}
+
+[Page Head: A DINNER AT THE ATHENÆUM.]
+
+Came up to town yesterday to dine with the Villiers at a dinner
+of clever men, got up at the Athenæum, and was extremely bored.
+The original party was broken up by various excuses, and the
+vacancies supplied by men none of whom I knew. There were Poulett
+Thomson, three Villiers, Taylor, Young, whom I knew; the rest I
+never saw before--Buller, Romilly, Senior, Maule,[9] a man whose
+name I forget, and Walker, a police magistrate, all men of more
+or less talent and information, and altogether producing anything
+but an agreeable party. Maule was senior wrangler and senior
+medallist at Cambridge, and is a lawyer. He was nephew to the man
+with whom I was at school thirty years ago, and I had never seen
+him since; he was then a very clever boy, and assisted to teach
+the boys, being admirably well taught himself by his uncle, who
+was an excellent scholar and a great brute. I have young Maule
+now in my mind's eye suspended by the hair of his head while
+being well caned, and recollect as if it was yesterday his
+doggedly drumming a lesson of Terence into my dull and reluctant
+brain as we walked up and down the garden walk before the house.
+When I was introduced to him I had no recollection of him, but
+when I found out who he was I went up to him with the blandest
+manner as he sat reading a newspaper, and said that 'I believed
+we had once been well acquainted, though we had not met for
+twenty-seven years.' He looked up and said, 'Oh, it is too long
+ago to talk about,' and then turned back to his paper. So I set
+him down for a brute like his uncle and troubled him no further.
+I am very sure that dinners of all fools have as good a chance of
+being agreeable as dinners of all clever people; at least the
+former are often gay, and the latter are frequently heavy.
+Nonsense and folly gilded over with good breeding and _les usages
+du monde_ produce often more agreeable results than a collection
+of rude, awkward intellectual powers.
+
+      [9] [Afterwards Mr. Justice Maule.]
+
+
+Roehampton, January 4th, 1831 {p.101}
+
+Called on Lady Canning this morning, who wanted me to read some
+of her papers. Most of them (which are very curious) I had seen
+before, but forgotten. I read the long minute of Canning's
+conversation with the King ten days before his Majesty put the
+formation of the Administration in his hands. They both appear to
+have been explicit enough. The King went through his whole life,
+and talked for two hours and a half, particularly about the
+Catholic question, on which he said he had always entertained the
+same opinions--the same as those of George III. and the Duke of
+York--and that with the speech of the latter he entirely
+concurred, except in the 'so help me God' at the end, which he
+thought unnecessary. He said _he_ had wished the Coronation Oath
+to be altered, and had proposed it to Lord Liverpool. His great
+anxiety was not to be annoyed with the discussion of the
+question, to keep Canning and Lord Liverpool's colleagues, and to
+put at the head of the Treasury some anti-Catholic Peer. This
+Canning would not hear of; he said that having lost Lord
+Liverpool he had lost his only support in the Cabinet, that the
+King knew how he had been thwarted by others, and how impossible
+it would have been for him to go on but for Lord Liverpool, that
+he could not serve _under_ anybody else, or act with efficacy
+except as First Minister, that he would not afford in his person
+an example of any such rule as that support of the Catholic
+question was to be _ipso facto_ an exclusion from the chief
+office of the Government, that he advised the King to try and
+make an anti-Catholic Ministry, and thought that with his
+feelings and opinions on the subject it was what he ought to do.
+This the King said was out of the question. In the course of the
+discussion Canning said that if he continued in his service he
+must continue as free as he had been before; that desirous as he
+was to contribute to the King's ease and comfort, he could not in
+any way pledge himself on the subject, because he should be
+assuredly questioned in the House of Commons, and he must have it
+in his power to reply that he was perfectly free to act on that
+question as he had ever done, and that he thought the King would
+better consult his own ease by retaining him in office without
+any pledge, relying on his desire above all things to consult his
+Majesty's ease and comfort. He said among other things that,
+though leader of the House of Commons, he had never had any
+patronage placed at his disposal, nor a single place to give
+away.
+
+[Page Head: THE DUKE AND MR. CANNING.]
+
+About the time of this conversation Canning was out of humour with
+the Duke of Wellington, for he had heard that many of the
+adherents of Government who pretended to be attached to the Duke
+had spoken of him (Canning) in the most violent and abusive terms.
+In their opinions he conceived the Duke to be to a certain degree
+implicated, and this produced some coldness in his manner towards
+him. Shortly after Arbuthnot came to him, complained first and
+explained after, and said the Duke would call upon him. The Duke
+did call, and in a conversation of two hours Canning told him all
+that had passed between himself and the King, thereby putting the
+Duke, as he supposed, in complete possession of his sentiments as
+to the reconstruction of the Government. A few days after Mr.
+Canning was charged by the King to lay before him the plan of an
+Administration, and upon this he wrote the letter to his former
+colleagues which produced so much discussion. I read the letters
+to the Duke, Bathurst, Melville, and Bexley, and I must say that
+the one to the Duke was rather the stiffest of the whole,[10]
+though it was not so cold as the Duke chose to consider it. Then
+came his letter to the Duke on his speech, and the Duke's answer.
+When I read these last year I thought the Duke had much the best
+of it; but I must alter this opinion if it be true that he knew
+Mr. Canning's opinions, as it is stated that he did entirely,
+after their long interview, at which the conversation with the
+King was communicated to him. That materially alters the case.
+There was a letter from Peel declining, entirely on the ground of
+objecting to a pro-Catholic Premier, and on the impossibility of
+his administering Ireland with the First Lord of the Treasury of a
+different opinion on that subject from his own. There was likewise
+a curious correspondence relative to a paper written by the Duke
+of York during his last illness, and not very long before his
+death, to Lord Liverpool on the dangers of the country from the
+progress of the Catholic question, the object of which (though it
+was vaguely expressed) was to turn out the Catholic members and
+form a Protestant Government for the purpose of crushing the
+Catholic interest. This Lord Liverpool communicated (privately) to
+Canning, and it was afterwards communicated to the King, who
+appears (the answer was not there) to have given the Duke of York
+a rap on the knuckles, for there is a reply of the Duke's to the
+King, full of devotion, zeal, and affection to his person, and
+disclaiming any intention of breaking up the Government, an idea
+which could have arisen only from misconception of the meaning of
+his letter by Lord Liverpool. It is very clear, however, that he
+did mean that, for his letter could have meant nothing else. The
+whole thing is curious, for he was aware that he was dying, and he
+says so.
+
+     [10] [This correspondence is now published in the third
+          volume of the Duke's 'Correspondence,' New Series, p.
+          628.]
+
+
+January 12th, 1831 {p.104}
+
+Passed two days at Panshanger, but my room was so cold that I
+could not sit in it to write. Nobody there but F. Lamb and J.
+Russell. Lady Cowper told me what had passed relative to the
+negotiation with Melbourne last year, and which the Duke or his
+friends denied. The person who was employed (and whom she did not
+name) told F. Lamb that the Duke would take in Melbourne and two
+others (I am not sure it was not three), but not Huskisson. He
+said that it would be fairer at once to say that those terms
+would not be accepted, and to save him therefore from offering
+them, that Melbourne would not be satisfied with any Government
+which did not include Huskisson and Lord Grey, and that upon this
+answer the matter dropped. I don't think the Duke can be blamed
+for answering to anybody who chose to ask him any questions on
+the subject that he had _made no offer_; it was the truth, though
+not the whole truth, and a Minister must have some shelter
+against impertinent questioners, or he would be at their mercy.
+An Envoy is come here from the Poles,[11] who brought a letter
+from Prince Czartoryski to Lord Grey, who has not seen him, and
+whose arrival has naturally given umbrage to the Lievens.
+
+     [11] [This Envoy was Count Alexander Walewski, a natural son
+          of the Emperor Napoleon, who afterwards played a
+          considerable part in the affairs of France and of
+          Europe, especially under the Second Empire. During his
+          residence in London in 1831 he married Lady Caroline
+          Montagu, a daughter of the Earl of Sandwich, but she
+          did not live long. I remember calling upon him in St.
+          James's Place, and seeing cards of invitation for Lady
+          Grey's assemblies stuck in his glass. The fact is he
+          was wonderfully handsome and agreeable, and soon became
+          popular in London society.]
+
+
+January 19th, 1831 {p.105}
+
+To Roehampton on Saturday till Monday, having been at the Grove
+on Friday. George Villiers at the Grove showed me a Dublin paper
+with an attack on Stanley's proclamation, and also a character of
+Plunket drawn with great severity and by a masterly hand; it is
+supposed to be by Baron Smith, a judge who is very able, but
+fanciful and disaffected. He will never suffer any but policemen
+or soldiers to be hanged of those whom he tries. George Villiers
+came from Hatfield, where he had a conversation with the Duke of
+Wellington, who told him that he had committed a great error in
+his Administration in not paying more attention to the press, and
+in not securing a portion of it on his side and getting good
+writers into his employment, that he had never thought it
+necessary to do so, and that he was now convinced what a great
+mistake it was. At Roehampton nothing new, except that the Reform
+plan is supposed to be settled, or nearly so. Duncannon has been
+consulted, and he and one or two more have had meetings with
+Durham, who were to lay their joint plans before Lord Grey first,
+and he afterwards brought them to the Cabinet.
+
+[Page Head: CROKER'S BOSWELL.]
+
+Ellis told me (a curious thing enough) that Croker (for his
+'Boswell's Life of Johnson') had collected various anecdotes from
+other books, but that the only new and original ones were those
+he had got from Lord Stowell, who was a friend of Johnson, and
+that he had written them under Stowell's dictation. Sir Walter
+Scott wanted to see them, and Croker sent them to him in Scotland
+by the post. The bag was lost; no tidings could be heard of it,
+Croker had no copy, and Stowell is in his dotage and can't be got
+to dictate again. So much for the anecdote; then comes the story.
+I said how surprising this was, for nothing was so rare as a
+miscarriage by the post. He said, 'Not at all, for I myself lost
+_two reviews_ in the same way. I sent them both to _Brougham_ to
+forward to Jeffrey (for the "Edinburgh"), and _they were both
+lost in the same_ way!' That villain Brougham!
+
+G. Lamb said that the King is supposed to be in a bad state of
+health, and this was confirmed to me by Keate the surgeon, who
+gave me to understand that he was going the way of both his
+brothers. He will be a great loss in these times; he knows his
+business, lets his Ministers do as they please, but expects to be
+informed of everything. He lives a strange life at Brighton, with
+tagrag and bobtail about him, and always open house. The Queen is
+a prude, and will not let the ladies come _décolletées_ to her
+parties. George IV., who liked ample expanses of that sort, would
+not let them be covered. In the meantime matters don't seem more
+promising either here or abroad. In Ireland there is open war
+between Anglesey and O'Connell, to whom it is glory enough (of his
+sort) to be on a kind of par with the Viceroy, and to have a power
+equal to that of the Government. Anglesey issues proclamation
+after proclamation, the other speeches and letters in retort. His
+breakfasts and dinners are put down, but he finds other places to
+harangue at, and letters he can always publish; but he does not
+appear in quite so triumphant an attitude as he did. The O'Connell
+tribute is said to have failed; no men of property or respectability
+join him, and he is after all only the leader of a mob; but it is
+a better sort of mob, and formidable from their numbers, and the
+organisation which has latterly become an integral part of mob
+tactics. Nothing can be more awful than the state of that country,
+and everybody expects that it will be found necessary to
+strengthen the hands of the Government with extraordinary powers
+to put an end to the prevailing anarchy. O'Connell is a coward,
+and that is the best chance of his being beaten at last.
+
+Lord Lyndhurst took his seat as Chief Baron yesterday morning,
+Alexander retiring without an equivalent, and only having waited
+for quarter day. Brougham has had a violent squabble in his Court
+with Sugden, who having bullied the Vice-Chancellor and governed
+Lyndhurst, has a mind to do the same by Brougham; besides, he
+hates him for the repeated thrashings he got from him in the
+House of Commons, and has been heard to say that he will take his
+revenge in the Court of Chancery. The present affair was merely
+that Brougham began writing, when Sugden stopped and told him 'it
+was no use his going on if his Lordship would not attend to the
+argument,' and so forth.
+
+I met Lyndhurst at dinner yesterday, who talks of himself as
+standing on neutral ground, disconnected with politics. It is
+certainly understood that he is not to fight the battles of the
+present Government, but of course he is not to be against them.
+His example is a lesson to statesmen to be frugal, for if he had
+been rich he would have had a better game before him. He told a
+curious anecdote about a trial. There was a (civil) cause in
+which the jury would not agree on their verdict. They retired on
+the evening of one day, and remained till one o'clock the next
+afternoon, when, being still disagreed, a juror was drawn. There
+was only one juror who held out against the rest--Mr. Berkeley
+(member for Bristol). The case was tried over again, and the jury
+were unanimously of Mr. Berkeley's opinion, which was in fact
+right, a piece of conscientious obstinacy which prevented the
+legal commission of wrong.
+
+
+Roehampton, January 22nd, 1831 {p.107}
+
+[Page Head: O'CONNELL ARRESTED.]
+
+The event of the week is O'Connell's arrest on a charge of
+conspiracy to defeat the Lord-Lieutenant's proclamation. Lord
+Anglesey writes to Lady Anglesey thus:--'I am just come from a
+consultation of six hours with the law officers, the result of
+which is a determination to arrest O'Connell, for things are now
+come to that pass that the question is whether he or I shall
+govern Ireland.' We await the result with great anxiety, for the
+opinion of lawyers seems divided as to the legality of the
+arrest, and laymen can form none.
+
+
+January 23rd, 1831 {p.107}
+
+No news; Master of the Rolls, George Ponsonby, and George
+Villiers here. The latter told a story of Plunket, of his wit.
+Lord Wellesley's aide-de-camp Keppel wrote a book of his travels,
+and called it his personal narrative. Lord Wellesley was quizzing
+it, and said, 'Personal narrative? what is a personal narrative?
+Lord Plunket, what should you say a personal narrative meant?'
+Plunket answered, 'My Lord, you know we lawyers always understand
+_personal_ as contradistinguished from _real_.' And one or two
+others of Parsons, the Irish barrister. Lord Norbury on some
+circuit was on the bench speaking, and an ass outside brayed so
+loud that nobody could hear. He exclaimed, 'Do stop that noise!'
+Parsons said, 'My Lord, there is a great echo here.' Somebody
+said to him one day, 'Mr. Parsons, have you heard of my son's
+robbery?' 'No; whom has he robbed?'
+
+[Page Head: O'CONNELL'S CASE.]
+
+Nothing but talk about O'Connell and his trial, and we have more
+fears he will be acquitted than hopes that he will be convicted.
+They still burn in the country, and I heard the other day that
+the manufacturing districts, though quiet, are in a high state of
+organisation.
+
+
+January 25th, 1831 {p.108}
+
+Met Colonel Napier[12] last night, and talked for an hour of the
+state of the country. He gave me a curious account of the
+organisation of the manufacturers in and about Manchester, who
+are divided into four different classes, with different objects,
+partly political, generally to better themselves, but with a
+regular Government, the seat of which is in the Isle of Man. He
+says that the agriculturists are likewise organised in Wiltshire,
+and that there is a sort of free-masonry among them; he thinks a
+revolution inevitable; and when I told him what Southey had
+said--that if he had money enough he would transport his family
+to America--he said he would not himself leave England in times
+of danger, but that he should like to remove his family if he
+could.
+
+     [12] [Sir William Napier, author of the 'History of the
+          Peninsular War.'.]
+
+The King is ill. I hope he won't die; if he does, and the little
+girl, we shall have Cumberland, and (though Lyndhurst said he
+would make a very good King the other night) that would be a good
+moment for dispensing with the regal office. It is reported that
+they differ in the Cabinet about Reform; probably not true. What
+a state of terror and confusion we are in, though it seems to
+make no difference.
+
+
+January 31st, 1831 {p.109}
+
+At Roehampton on Saturday; Lord Robert Spencer and Sir G.
+Robinson. Agar Ellis had just resigned the Woods, after asking to
+be made a Peer, which they refused. All last week nobody thought
+of anything but O'Connell, and great was the joy at the charge of
+Judge Jebb, the unanimous opinion of the King's Bench, and the
+finding of the Grand Jury. Whatever happens, Government are now
+justified in the course they have taken; and now he has
+traversed, which looks like weakness, and it is the general
+opinion that he is beaten; but he is so astute, and so full of
+resources, that I would never answer for his being beaten till I
+see him in prison or find his popularity gone. The subscription
+produced between £7,000 and £8,000. It is an extraordinary thing,
+and the most wonderful effect I ever heard of the power of moral
+causes over the human body, that Lord Anglesey, who has scarcely
+been out of pain at all for years during any considerable
+intervals, has been quite free from his complaint (the tic
+douloureux) since he has been in Ireland; the excitement of these
+events, and the influence of that excitement on his nervous
+system, have produced this effect. There is a puzzler for
+philosophy, and such an amalgamation of moral and physical
+accidents as is well worth unravelling for those who are wise
+enough.
+
+Yesterday there was a dinner at Lord Lansdowne's to name the
+Sheriffs, and there was I in attendance on my old school-fellows
+and associates Richmond, Durham, Graham, all great men now!
+
+              While some do laugh, and some do weep,
+                Thus runs the world away.
+
+Lord Grey was not there, for he was gone to Brighton to lay the
+Reform Bill before the King. What a man Brougham is; he wants to
+ride his Chancery steed to the Devil, as if he had not enough to
+do. Nothing would satisfy him but to come and hear causes in our
+Court;[13] but as I knew it was only to provoke Leach, I would not
+let him come, and told the Lord President we had no causes for him
+to hear. He insisted, so did I, and he did not come; but some day
+I will invite him, and then he will have forgotten it or have
+something else to do, and he won't come. He is a Jupiter-Scapin if
+ever there was one.
+
+     [13] [At the Privy Council, where the Master of the Rolls
+          was at that time in the habit of sitting with two lay
+          Privy Councillors to hear Plantation Appeals.]
+
+
+February 6th, 1831 {p.110}
+
+[Page Head: THE CIVIL LIST.]
+
+Parliament met again on the 3rd, and the House of Commons
+exhibited a great array on the Opposition benches; nothing was
+done the first day but the announcement of the Reform measure for
+the 2nd of March, to be brought in by Lord John Russell in the
+House of Commons, though not a Cabinet Minister. The fact is that
+if a Cabinet Minister had introduced it, it must have been
+Althorp, and he is wholly unequal to it; he cannot speak at all,
+so that though the pretence is to pay a compliment to John Russell
+because he had on former occasions brought forward plans of
+Reform, it is really expedient to take the burden off the leader
+of the Government. The next night came on the Civil List, and as
+the last Government was turned out on this question, there had
+existed a general but vague expectation that some wonderful
+reductions were to be proposed by the new Chancellor of the
+Exchequer. Great, then, was the exultation of the Opposition when
+it was found that no reductions would be made, and that the
+measure of this Government only differed from that of the last in
+the separation of the King's personal expenses from the other
+charges and a _prospective_ reduction in the Pension List. There
+was not much of a debate. Althorp did it ill by all accounts;
+Graham spoke pretty well; and Calcraft, who could do nothing while
+in office, found all his energies when he got back to the
+Opposition benches, and made (everybody says) a capital speech.
+There is certainly a great disappointment that the Civil List does
+not produce some economical novelty, and to a certain degree the
+popularity of the Government will be affected by it. But they have
+taken the manliest course, and the truth is the Duke of Wellington
+had already made all possible reductions, unless the King and the
+Government were at once to hang out the flag of poverty and change
+their whole system. After what Sefton had told me of the
+intentions of Government about the Pension List, and my reply to
+him, it was a satisfaction to me to find they could not act on
+such a principle; and accordingly Lord Althorp at once declared
+the opinion and intentions of Government about the Pensions,
+instead of abandoning them to the rage of the House of Commons.
+There is not even a surmise as to the intended measure of Reform,
+the secret of which is well kept, but I suspect the confidence of
+the Reformers will be shaken by their disappointment about the
+Civil List. It is by no means clear, be it what it may, that the
+Government will be able to carry it, for the Opposition promises
+to be very formidable in point of numbers; and in speaking the two
+parties are, as to the first class, pretty evenly divided--Palmerston,
+the Grants, Graham, Stanley, John Russell, on one side; Peel,
+Calcraft, Hardinge, Dawson, on the other; fewer in numbers, but
+Peel immeasurably the best on either side--but in the second line,
+and among the younger ones, the Opposition are far inferior.
+
+
+February 9th, 1831 {p.111}
+
+Just got into my new home--Poulett Thomson's house, which I have
+taken for a year. The day before yesterday came the news that the
+French had refused the nomination of the Duc de Nemours to the
+throne of Belgium, the news of his being chosen having come on
+Sunday. The Ministers were _rayonnants_; Lord Lansdowne came to
+his office and told it me with prodigious glee.
+
+Met with Sir J. Burke on Sunday at Brooks's, who said that
+O'Connell was completely beaten by the address of the merchants
+and bankers, among whom were men--Mahon, for instance (O'Gorman
+Mahon's uncle)--who had always stood by him. I do not believe he
+is completely beaten, and his resources for mischief are so great
+that he will rally again before long, I have little doubt.
+However, what has occurred has been productive of great good; it
+has elicited a strong Conservative demonstration, and proved that
+out of the rabbleocracy (for everything is in _ocracy_ now) his
+power is anything but unlimited. There are 20,000 men in Ireland,
+so Lord Hill told me last night. Hunt[14] spoke for two hours
+last night; his manner and appearance very good, like a country
+gentleman of the old school, a sort of rural dignity about it,
+very civil, good-humoured, and respectful to the House, but dull;
+listened to, however, and very well received.
+
+     [14] [Henry Hunt, a well-known Radical, had just been
+          returned for Preston, where he had beaten Mr. Stanley.]
+
+
+February 12th, 1831 {p.112}
+
+The debate three nights ago on Ireland, brought on by O'Gorman
+Mahon, is said to have been the best that has been heard in the
+House of Commons for many years. Palmerston, Burdett, Althorp,
+Peel, Wyse, all made good speeches; it was spirited, statesmanlike,
+and creditable to the House, which wanted some such exhibition to
+raise its credit. I saw the day before yesterday a curious letter
+from Southey to Brougham, which some day or other will probably
+appear. Taylor showed it me. Brougham had written to him to ask
+him what his opinion was as to the encouragement that could be
+given to literature, by rewarding or honouring literary men, and
+suggested (I did not see his letter) that the Guelphic Order
+should be bestowed upon them. Southey's reply was very courteous,
+but in a style of suppressed irony and forced politeness, and
+exhibited the marks of a chafed spirit, which was kept down by an
+effort. 'You, my Lord, are _now_ on the Conservative side,' was
+one of his phrases, which implied that the Chancellor had not
+always been on that side. He suggested that it might be useful to
+establish a sort of lay fellowships; £10,000 would give 10 of £500
+and 25 of £200; but he proposed them not to reward the meritorious,
+but as a means of silencing or hiring the mischievous. It was
+evident, however, that he laid no stress on this plan, or
+considered it practicable, and only proposed it because he thought
+he must suggest something. He said that honours might be desirable
+to scientific men, as they were so considered on the Continent,
+and Newton and Davy had been titled, but for himself, if a
+_Guelphic_ distinction was adopted, 'he should be a _Ghibelline_.'
+He ended by saying that all he asked for was a repeal of the
+Copyright Act which took from the families of literary men the
+only property they had to give them, and this 'I ask for with the
+earnestness of one who is conscious that he has laboured for
+posterity.' It is a remarkable letter.
+
+
+February 13th, 1831 {p.113}
+
+[Page Head: THE FIRST WHIG BUDGET.]
+
+The Budget, which was brought forward two nights ago, has given
+great dissatisfaction; Goulburn attacked the taxation of the
+funds (half per cent. on transfer of stock and land) in the best
+speech he ever made, Peel in another good speech. The bankers
+assailed it one after another, and not a man on the Government
+side spoke decently. Great of course was the exultation of the
+Opposition, and it is supposed that this will be withdrawn and a
+Property Tax laid on instead. There is a meeting to-day in
+Downing Street, at which I suspect it will be announced. The
+Budget must appear hurried, and nothing but the circumstances in
+which they are placed could have justified their bringing it on
+so soon. In two months, besides having foreign affairs of the
+greatest consequence on their hands, they have concocted a Reform
+Bill and settled the finances of the nation for the next year,
+which is quite ludicrous; but they are obliged to have money
+voted immediately, that in case they should be beaten on Reform
+or any other vital question which may compel them to dissolve
+Parliament, they may have passed their estimates and be provided
+with funds. Their secrets are well kept--rather too well, for
+nobody knew of this Budget, and not a soul has a guess what their
+Reform is to be. At present nothing can cut a poorer figure than
+the Government does in the House of Commons, and they have shown
+how weak a Government a strong Opposition may make.
+
+I have just been to hear Benson preach at the Temple, but I was
+so distant that I heard ill. His manner is impressive, and
+language good without being ambitious, but I was rather
+disappointed. Brougham was there, with Lord King of all people!
+
+
+February 15th, 1831 {p.114}
+
+Yesterday morning news came that O'Connell had withdrawn his plea
+of not guilty and (by his counsel, Mr. Perrin) pleaded guilty, to
+the unutterable astonishment of everybody, and not less delight.
+Sheil wrote word that his heart sank at the terror of a gaol, and
+'how would such a man face a battle, who could not encounter
+Newgate?' Everybody's impression was that it was a compromise
+with the law officers, and that he pleaded guilty on condition
+that he should not be brought up for judgment, but it was no such
+thing; he made in the preceding days several indirect overtures
+to Lord Anglesey, who would listen to nothing, and told him that
+after his conduct he could do nothing for him, and that he must
+take his own course. He comes to England directly, and will be
+brought up for judgment (if at all, which I doubt) next term. He
+gives out that he was forced to do this in order to hasten to
+England and repair in the House of Commons the errors of O'Gorman
+Mahon. There is no calculating what may be the extent of the
+credulity of an Irish mob with regard to him, but after all his
+bullies and bravadoes this will hardly go down even with them.
+Sheil says 'O'Connell is fallen indeed.' I trust, though hardly
+dare hope, that 'he sinks like stars that fall to rise no more.'
+It is impossible to form an idea of the astonishment of everybody
+at this termination of the law proceedings, which have ended so
+triumphantly for Lord Anglesey and Plunket. Lord Anglesey,
+however, wrote word to Lady Anglesey that no one could form an
+idea of the state of that country: that fresh plots were
+discovered every day, that from circumstances he had been able to
+do more than another man would, but that it was not, he firmly
+believed, possible to save it.
+
+[Page Head: LORD ALTHORP'S BUDGET.]
+
+There was a meeting at Althorp's on Sunday, when he agreed to
+withdraw the Transfer Tax, and that there should be no Property
+Tax. A more miserable figure was never cut than his; but how
+should it be otherwise? A respectable country gentleman, well
+versed in rural administration, in farming and sporting, with all
+the integrity of £15,000 a year in possession and £50,000 in
+reversion, is all of a sudden made leader in the House of Commons
+without being able to speak, and Chancellor of the Exchequer
+without any knowledge, theoretical or practical, of finance. By
+way of being discreet, and that his plan may be a secret, he
+consults nobody; and then he closets himself with his familiar
+Poulett Thomson, who puts this notable scheme into his head, and
+out he blurts it in the House of Commons, without an idea how it
+will be received, without making either preparations for
+defending it or for an alternative in case of its rejection. If
+Althorp and Poulett Thomson are to govern England, these things
+are likely to happen. The Opposition cannot contain themselves;
+the women think they are to come in directly. Goulburn said to
+Baring as they left the House on Friday, 'Mr. Baring, you said
+last year you thought my Budget was the most profligate that any
+Chancellor of the Exchequer had ever brought forward; I think you
+will now no longer say it was the _most_ profligate.' Last night
+Praed[15] made his first speech, which was very good.
+
+     [15] [Winthrop Mackworth Praed, a young man of great
+          promise, who had just entered Parliament. He took his
+          degree in 1825, and was regarded by the Tories as the
+          rival and competitor of Thomas Babington Macaulay. But
+          unhappily he died in 1839.]
+
+
+February 17th, 1831 {p.115}
+
+The day before yesterday Duncannon called on me, and told me
+O'Connell had got up an opposition to him in Kilkenny; that he
+was of opinion that the recent events would diminish neither his
+power nor his popularity, and that in fact he was infallible with
+the Irish mob. As Richard says, 'if this have no effect, he is
+immortal.'
+
+The Duke of Wellington called on my family yesterday; he says the
+Reform question will not be carried, and he thinks the Government
+cannot stand, that things are certainly better (internally), and
+that the great fear is lest people should be too much afraid.
+
+Went to Lady Dudley Stewart's last night; a party; saw a
+vulgar-looking, fat man with spectacles, and a mincing, rather
+pretty pink and white woman, his wife. The man was Napoleon's
+nephew, the woman Washington's granddaughter. What a host of
+associations, all confused and degraded! He is a son of Murat,
+the King of Naples, who was said to be 'le dieu Mars jusqu'à six
+heures du soir.' He was heir to a throne, and is now a lawyer in
+the United States, and his wife, whose name I know not, Sandon
+told me, was Washington's granddaughter. (This must be a mistake,
+for I think Washington never had any children.)[16]
+
+     [16] [Achille Murat and his wife were living at this time in
+          the Alpha Road, Regent's Park. It was said she was
+          Washington's grand-niece, but I am not sure what the
+          relationship was, if any. She was certainly not his
+          granddaughter.]
+
+
+February 24th, 1831 {p.116}
+
+[Page Head: WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+At Newmarket for three days, from Saturday till Tuesday; riding
+out at eight o'clock every morning and inhaling salubrious air.
+Came back the night before last and found matters in a strange
+state. The Government, strong in the House of Lords (which is a
+secondary consideration), is weak in the House of Commons to a
+degree which is contemptible and ridiculous. Even Sefton now
+confesses that Althorp is wretched. There he is _leading_ the
+House of Commons without the slightest acquaintance with the
+various subjects that come under discussion, and hardly able to
+speak at all; not one of the Ministers exhibits anything like
+vigour, ability, or discretion. As Althorp cannot speak, Graham
+is obliged to talk, or thinks he is, and, as I predicted, he is
+failing;[17] with some cleverness and plenty of fluency, he is
+unequal to the situation he is placed in, and his difference with
+Grant the other night and his apology to O'Gorman Mahon have been
+prejudicial to the Government and to his own character. The
+exultation of the Opposition is unbounded, and Peel plays with
+his power in the House, only not putting it forth because it does
+not suit his convenience; but he does what he likes, and it is
+evident that the very existence of the Government depends upon
+his pleasure. His game, however, is to display candour and
+moderation, and rather to protect them than not, so he defends
+many of their measures and restrains the fierce animosity of his
+friends, but with a sort of sarcastic civility, which, while it
+is put forth in their defence, is always done in such a manner as
+shall best exhibit his own authority and his contempt for their
+persons individually. While he upholds the Government he does all
+he can to bring each member of it into contempt, and there they
+are, helpless and confused, writhing under his lash and their own
+impotence, and only intent upon staving off a division which
+would show the world how feeble they are. Neither the late nor
+any other Government ever cut so poor a figure as this does.
+Palmerston does nothing, Grant does worse, Graham does no good,
+Althorp a great deal of harm; Stanley alone has distinguished
+himself, and what he has had to do has done very well. It is not,
+however, only in the House of Commons that the Government are in
+such discredit; the Budget did their business in the City, and
+alienated the trading interest. It is a curious circumstance that
+both Goulburn and Herries have been beset by deputations and
+individual applications for advice and assistance nearly as much
+since they left office as when they were in it by merchants and
+others, who complain to them that it was quite useless to go to
+Lord Althorp, for they find that he has not the slightest
+acquaintance with any of the subjects and interests on which they
+addressed themselves to him, and one man told Herries this, at
+the same time owning that he was a Whig in principle, and had
+been an opponent of the late and a supporter of the present
+Government. The press generally are falling off from the
+Government, which is an ominous sign. While the Government is
+thus weak and powerless the elements of confusion and violence
+are gathering fresh force, and without any fixed and loyal
+authority to check them will pursue their eccentric course till
+some public commotion arrives, or till the Conservative resources
+of the country are called into action and the antagonistic
+principles are fairly brought to trial.
+
+     [17] It was on Lord Chandos's motion to take into
+          consideration the state of the West Indies.
+
+The King went to the play the night before last; was well
+received in the house, but hooted and pelted coming home, and a
+stone shivered a window of his coach and fell into Prince George
+of Cumberland's lap. The King was excessively annoyed, and sent
+for Baring, who was the officer riding by his coach, and asked
+him if he knew who had thrown the stone; he said that it
+terrified the Queen, and 'was very disagreeable, as he should
+always be going somewhere.'
+
+In the House of Commons Committee on the Parliament Offices they
+are making the whole thing ridiculous by the sort of reductions
+they suggest. Hume proposed to cut down the President of the
+Council to £1,000 a year, on which Stormont moved he should have
+nothing, and this (which was intended to ridicule Hume's proposal)
+was carried, but will probably be rescinded. There is no directing
+power anywhere, and the sort of anarchy that is fast increasing
+must beget confusion. Nobody has the least idea how reform will
+go, or of the nature of what they mean to propose, but the King
+said to Cecil Forrester yesterday, who went to resign his office
+of Groom of the Bedchamber, 'Why do you resign?' He said he could
+not support Government or vote for Reform. 'Well, but you don't
+know what it is, and you might have waited till it came on, for it
+probably will not be carried;' and this he repeated twice. Lord
+Durham has volunteered to give up his salary as Privy Seal, which
+is no great sacrifice, considering how long he is likely to enjoy
+it, and everybody gives him credit for having suggested the relief
+to coals for his own interest. Lady Holland, who has got a West
+Indian estate, attacked him about the sugar duties, and asked him
+if they would not reduce them. He said 'No.' She retorted, 'That
+is because you have no West Indian estate; you have got your own
+job about coals done, and you don't care about us.' In the House
+of Lords they have it all their own way. The other night, on Lord
+Strangford's motion about the Methuen treaty, Brougham exhibited
+his wonderful powers in his very best style. Without any
+preparation for the question, and after it had been exhausted in a
+very good speech of Goderich's, he got up, and in answer to
+Strangford and Ellenborough banged their heads together, and
+displayed all his power of ridicule, sarcasm, and argument in a
+manner which they could not themselves help admiring. The next
+night he brought forward his Chancery Reform measure in a speech
+of three hours, which, however luminous, was too long for their
+Lordships, and before the end of it the House had melted away to
+nothing. But, notwithstanding this success, he must inwardly chafe
+at being removed from his natural element and proper sphere of
+action, and he must burn with vexation at seeing Peel riot and
+revel in his unopposed power, like Hector when Achilles would not
+fight, though this Achilles can never fight again, but he would
+give a great deal to go back to the field, and would require much
+less persuasion than Achilles did.
+
+
+February 25th, 1831 {p.119}
+
+[Page Head: LADY JERSEY AND LORD DURHAM.]
+
+A drawing-room yesterday, at which the Princess Victoria made her
+first appearance. I was not there. Lady Jersey made a scene with
+Lord Durham. She got up and crossed the room to him and said,
+'Lord Durham, I hear that you have said things about me which are
+not true, and I desire that you will call upon me to-morrow with
+a witness to hear my positive denial, and I beg that you will not
+repeat any such things about me,' or, as the Irishman said,
+'words to that effect.' She was in a fury, and he, I suppose, in
+a still greater. He muttered that he should never set foot in her
+house again, which she did not hear, as after delivering herself
+of her speech she flounced back again to her seat, mighty proud
+of the exploit. It arose out of his saying that he should make
+Lady Durham demand an audience of the Queen to contradict the
+things Lady Jersey had said of her and the other Whig ladies.
+
+I saw Lady Jersey last night and had a long conversation with her
+about her squabbles. She declares solemnly (and I believe it)
+that she never said a syllable to the Queen against her quondam
+friends, owns she abused Sefton to other people, cried, and
+talked, and the end was that I am to try to put an end to these
+_tracasseries_. She was mighty glorious about her _sortie_ upon
+Lambton, whom she dislikes, but she is vexed at the hornets' nest
+she has brought round her head. All this comes of talking. The
+wisest man mentioned in history was the vagrant in the Tuileries
+Gardens some years ago, who walked about with a gag on, and when
+taken up by the police and questioned why he went about in that
+guise, he said he was imprudent, and that he might not say
+anything to get himself into jeopardy he had adopted this
+precaution. I wonder what Lambton would say now about appointing
+others instead of Palmerston and Co. if they should go out, which
+he talked of as such an easy and indifferent matter. What
+arrogance and folly there is in the world! I don't know how long
+this will last, but it must end in Peel's being Prime Minister.
+What a foolish proverb that is that 'honesty is the best policy!'
+
+I am just come home from breakfasting with Henry Taylor to meet
+Wordsworth; the same party as when he had Southey--Mill, Elliot,
+Charles Villiers. Wordsworth may be bordering on sixty;
+hard-featured, brown, wrinkled, with prominent teeth and a few
+scattered grey hairs, but nevertheless not a disagreeable
+countenance; and very cheerful, merry, courteous, and talkative,
+much more so than I should have expected from the grave and
+didactic character of his writings. He held forth on poetry,
+painting, politics, and metaphysics, and with a great deal of
+eloquence; he is more conversible and with a greater flow of
+animal spirits than Southey. He mentioned that he never wrote
+down as he composed, but composed walking, riding, or in bed, and
+wrote down after; that Southey always composes at his desk. He
+talked a great deal of Brougham, whose talents and domestic
+virtues he greatly admires; that he was very generous and
+affectionate in his disposition, full of duty and attention to
+his mother, and had adopted and provided for a whole family of
+his brother's children, and treats his wife's children as if they
+were his own. He insisted upon taking them both with him to the
+drawing-room the other day when he went in state as Chancellor.
+They remonstrated with him, but in vain.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Introduction of the Reform Bill--Attitude of the Opposition--
+  Reform Debates--Peel--Wilberforce and Canning--Old Sir Robert
+  Peel--The City Address--Agitation for Reform--Effects of the
+  Reform Bill--Brougham as Chancellor--Brougham at the Horse
+  Guards--Miss Kemble--Vote on the Timber Duties--Lord
+  Lansdowne's Opinion of the Bill--Reform Bill carried by one
+  Vote--The King in Mourning--The Prince of Orange--Peel's
+  Reserve--Ministers beaten--Parliament dissolved by the King in
+  Person--Tumult in both Houses--Failure of the Whig Ministry--
+  The King in their Hands--The Elections--Illumination in the
+  City--The Queen alarmed--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the Bill--
+  Lord Grey takes the Garter--The King at Ascot--Windsor under
+  William IV.--Brougham at Whitbread's Brewery and at the British
+  Museum--Breakfast at Rogers'--The Cholera--Quarantine--Meeting
+  of Peers--New Parliament meets--Opened by the King--'Hernani'
+  at Bridgewater House--The Second Reform Bill--The King's
+  Coronation--Cobbett's Trial--Prince Leopold accepts the Crown
+  of Belgium--Peel and the Tories--A Rabble Opposition--A Council
+  for the Coronation.
+
+
+March 2nd, 1831 {p.121}
+
+[Page Head: THE FIRST REFORM BILL.]
+
+The great day at length arrived, and yesterday Lord John Russell
+moved for leave to bring in his Reform Bill. To describe the
+curiosity, the intensity of the expectation and excitement, would
+be impossible, and the secret had been so well kept that not a
+soul knew what the measure was (though most people guessed pretty
+well) till they heard it. He rose at six o'clock, and spoke for
+two hours and a quarter--a sweeping measure indeed, much more so
+than anyone had imagined, because the Ministers had said it was
+one which would give _general_ satisfaction, whereas this must
+dissatisfy all the moderate and will probably just stop short
+enough not to satisfy the Radicals. They say it was ludicrous to
+see the faces of the members for those places which are to be
+disfranchised as they were severally announced, and Wetherell,
+who began to take notes, as the plan was gradually developed,
+after sundry contortions and grimaces and flinging about his arms
+and legs, threw down his notes with a mixture of despair and
+ridicule and horror. Not many people spoke last night: Inglis
+followed John Russell, and Francis Leveson closed the debate in
+the best speech he has ever made, though rather too flowery.
+Everything is easy in these days, otherwise how Palmerston,
+Goderich, and Grant can have joined in a measure of this
+sweeping, violent, and speculative character it is difficult to
+conceive, they who were the disciples of Castlereagh and the
+adherents of Canning; but after the Duke of Wellington and Peel
+carrying the Catholic question, Canning's friends advocating
+Radical Reform, and Eldon living to see Brougham on the Woolsack,
+what may one not expect?
+
+What everybody enquires is what line Peel will take, and though
+each party is confident of success in this question, it is thought
+to depend mainly upon the course he adopts and the sentiments he
+expresses. Hitherto he has cautiously abstained from committing
+himself in any way, and he is free to act as he thinks best, but
+he certainly occupies a grand position when he has _omnium oculos
+in se conversos_, and the whole House of Commons looking with
+unalterable anxiety to his opinions and conduct. Such has the
+course of events and circumstances made this man, who is probably
+yet destined to play a great part, and it may be a very useful
+one. God knows how this plan may be received in the country, and
+what may be its fate in Parliament. The Duke of Wellington,
+however, is right enough when he says that the great present
+danger is lest people should be too much afraid, for anything like
+the panic that prevails I never saw, the apprehension that enough
+will not be done to satiate the demon of popular opinion, and the
+disposition to submit implicitly to the universal bellow that
+pervades this country for what they call Reform without knowing
+what it is. As to this measure, the greatest evil of it is that it
+is a pure speculation, and may be productive of the best
+consequences, or the worst, or even of none at all, for all that
+its authors and abettors can explain to us or to themselves.
+
+O'Connell made his explanation the other night, which was
+wretched, and Stanley's was very good, but it matters not; he
+will tell the people in Ireland that he had a victory, and they
+will believe him. Nevertheless his defeat in Kilkenny is an
+excellent thing, and will contribute greatly to destroy the
+prestige of his power.
+
+
+March 3rd, 1831 {p.123}
+
+Last night the debate went on, nobody remarkably speaking but
+Macaulay and Wetherell; the former very brilliant, the latter
+long, rambling, and amusing, and he sat down with such loud and
+long cheering as everybody agreed they had never heard before in
+the House of Commons, and which was taken not so much as a test of
+the merits of the speech as of an indication of the disposition of
+the majority of the House. Wetherell was very good fun in a
+conversation he imagined at Cockermouth between Sir James Graham
+and one of his constituents. It is thought very strange that none
+of the Ministers have spoken, except Althorp the first night. The
+general opinion is that the Bill will be lost in the House of
+Commons, and that then Parliament will be dissolved, unless the
+King should take fright and prefer to change his Ministers.
+
+
+March 5th, 1831 {p.123}
+
+On Thursday night the great speeches were those of Hobhouse on one
+side and Peel on the other, which last was received with the
+greatest enthusiasm, and some said (as usual) that it was the
+finest oration they had ever heard within the walls of Parliament;
+it seems by the report of it to have been very able and very
+eloquent. The people come into the 'Travellers' after the debate,
+and bring their different accounts all tinctured by their
+particular opinions and prejudices, so that the exact truth of the
+relative merits of the speakers is only attainable by the
+newspaper reports, imperfect as they are, the next day. The
+excitement is beyond anything I ever saw. Last night Stanley
+answered Peel in an excellent speech and one which is likely to
+raise his reputation very high. He is evidently desirous of
+pitting himself against Peel, whom he dislikes; and it is probable
+that they are destined to be the rival leaders of two great
+Parliamentary parties, if things settle down into the ancient
+practices of Parliamentary warfare. The other events of last night
+were the resignation of Charles Wynne and his opposition to the
+Bill, and the unexpected defection from Government of Lord
+Seymour, the Duke of Somerset's son, and Jeffrey's speech, which
+was very able, but somewhat tedious.
+
+
+March 7th, 1831 {p.124}
+
+Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of, but Reform. Every
+creature one meets asks, What is said now? How will it go? What
+is the last news? What do _you_ think? and so it is from morning
+till night, in the streets, in the clubs, and in private houses.
+Yesterday morning met Hobhouse; told him how well I heard he had
+spoken, and asked him what he thought of Peel's speech; he said
+it was brilliant, imposing, but not much in it. Everybody cries
+up (more than usual) the speeches on their own side, and despises
+those on the other, which is peculiarly absurd, because the
+speaking has been very good, and there is so much to be said on
+both sides that the speech of an adversary may be applauded
+without any admission of his being in the right. Hobhouse told me
+he had at first been afraid that his constituents would
+disapprove this measure, as so many of them would be
+disfranchised, but that they had behaved nobly and were quite
+content and ready to make any sacrifices for such an object. I
+asked him if he thought it would be carried; he said he did not
+like to think it would not, for he was desirous of keeping what
+he had, and he was persuaded he should lose it if the Bill were
+rejected. I said it was an unlucky dilemma when one-half of the
+world thought like him and the other half were equally convinced
+that if it be carried they shall lose everything.
+
+Dined at Boodle's with the Master of the Rolls and Charles Grant,
+who talked about Peel and the reconstruction of the Tory party;
+that Peel and Wetherell do not _yet_ speak, but that the parties
+have joined, and at the meeting at Wetherell's Herries went to
+represent Peel with sixteen or eighteen of his friends. Ross,
+another of Peel's _âmes damnées_, told me the same thing and that
+they would soon come together again. Grant said he knew that the
+Duke of Wellington had expressed his readiness to take any part
+in which it was thought he could render service, either a
+prominent or a subordinate one or none at all. If so he will be a
+greater man than he has ever been yet.
+
+Grant talked long and pathetically about the West Indies, and
+told me a curious anecdote on the authority of Scarlett, who was
+present. When Wilberforce went out of Parliament he went to
+Canning and offered him the lead and direction of his party (the
+Saints), urging him to accept it, and assuring him that their
+support would give him a strength which to an ambitious man like
+him was invaluable. Canning took three days to consider it, but
+finally declined, and then the party elected Brougham as their
+chief; hence the representation of Yorkshire and many other
+incidents in Brougham's career.
+
+[Page Head: THE FIRST SIR ROBERT PEEL.]
+
+Grant gave me a curious account of old Sir Robert Peel. He was
+the younger son of a merchant, his fortune (very small) left to
+him in the house, and he was not to take it out. He gave up the
+fortune and started in business without a shilling, but as the
+active partner in a concern with two other men--Yates (whose
+daughter he afterwards married) and another--who between them
+made up £6,000; from this beginning he left £250,000 apiece to
+his five younger sons, £60,000 to his three daughters each, and
+£22,000 a year in land and £450,000 in the funds to Peel. In his
+lifetime he gave Peel £12,000 a year, the others £3,000 and spent
+£3,000 himself. He was always giving them money, and for objects
+which it might have been thought he would have undervalued. He
+paid for Peel's house when he built it, and for the Chapeau de
+Paille (2,700 guineas) when he bought it.
+
+
+March 10th, 1831 {p.125}
+
+The debate has gone on, and is to be over to-night; everybody
+heartily sick of it, but the excitement as great as ever. Last
+night O'Connell was very good, and vehemently cheered by the
+Government, Stanley, Duncannon, and all, all differences giving
+way to their zeal; Attwood, the other way, good; Graham a total
+failure, got into nautical terms and a simile about a ship, in
+which he floundered and sank. Sir J. Yorke quizzed him with great
+effect. To-day the City went up with their address, to which the
+King gave a very general answer. There was great curiosity to
+know what his answer would be. I rather think this address was
+got up by Government. Brougham had written to Liverpool _to
+encourage the Reformers there_, as he owned to George Villiers
+last night; and Pearson was with Ellice at the Treasury for an
+hour the day before this address was moved in the City. They have
+gone so far that they certainly wish for agitation here. The Duke
+of Wellington is alarmed; nobody guesses how the question will
+go. Went to Lady Jersey the day before yesterday to read her
+correspondence with Brougham, who flummeried her over with notes
+full of affection and praise, to which she responded in the same
+strain, and so they are friends again. While I was reading her
+reply the Duke of Wellington came in, on which she huddled it up,
+and I conclude he has not seen her effusion. News arrived that
+the Poles have been beaten and have submitted. There is a great
+fall in the French funds, as they are expected not to pay their
+dividends. Europe is in a nice mess. The events of a quarter of a
+century would hardly be food for a week now-a-days.
+
+
+March 11th, 1831 {p.126}
+
+[Page Head: PROBABLE RESULTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+It is curious to see the change of opinion as to the passing of
+this Bill. The other day nobody would hear of the possibility of
+it, now everybody is beginning to think it will be carried. The
+tactics of the Opposition have been very bad, for they ought to
+have come to a division immediately, when I think Government
+would have been beaten, but it was pretty certain that if they
+gave time to the country to declare itself the meetings and
+addresses would fix the wavering and decide the doubtful. There
+certainly never was anything like the unanimity which pervades
+the country on the subject, and though I do not think they will
+break out into rebellion if it is lost, it is impossible not to
+see that the feeling for it (kept alive as it will be by every
+sort of excitement) must prevail and that if this particular Bill
+is not carried some other must very like it, and which, if it is
+much short of this, will only leave a peg to hang fresh
+discussions upon. The Government is desperate and sees no chance
+of safety but from their success in the measure, but I have my
+doubts whether they will render themselves immortal by it. It is
+quite impossible to guess at its effects at present upon the
+House of Commons in the first return which may be made under it,
+but if a vast difference is not made, and if it shall still leave
+to property and personal influence any great extent of power, the
+Tory party, which is sure to be revived, will in all probability
+be too strong for the Reforming Whigs. The Duke of Wellington
+expected to gain strength by passing the Catholic question,
+whereas he was ruined by it.
+
+
+March 15th, 1831 {p.127}
+
+It is universally believed that this Bill will pass, except by
+some of the ultras against it, or by the fools. But what next?
+That nobody can tell, though to see the exultation of the
+Government one would imagine they saw their way clearly to a
+result of wonderful good. I have little doubt that it will be
+read a second time, and be a good deal battled in Committee.
+Although they are determined to carry it through the Committee
+with a high hand, and not to suffer any alterations, probably
+some sort of compromise in matters of inferior moment will be
+made. But when it comes into operation how disappointed everybody
+will be, and first of all the people! Their imaginations are
+raised to the highest pitch, but they will open their eyes very
+wide when they find no sort of advantage accruing to them, when
+they are deprived of much of the expense and more of the
+excitement of elections, and see a House of Commons constructed
+after their own hearts, which will probably be an assembly in all
+respects inferior to the present. Then they will not be
+satisfied, and as it will be impossible to go back, there will be
+plenty of agitators who will preach that we have not gone far
+enough; and if a Reformed Parliament does not do all that popular
+clamour shall demand, it will be treated with very little
+ceremony. If, however, it be true that the tendency of this Bill
+will be to throw power into the hands of the landed interest, we
+shall have a great Tory party, which will be selfish, bigoted,
+and ignorant, and a Radical party, while the Whig party, who will
+have carried the measure, will sink into insignificance. Such
+present themselves to my mind as possible alternatives, as far as
+it is practicable to take anything like a view of probabilities
+in the chaos and confusion that mighty alterations like these
+produce.
+
+I dined with Lord Grey on Sunday; they are all in high spirits.
+Howick told his father that he had received a letter from some
+merchant in the north praising the Bill, and saying he approved of
+the whole Government except of Poulett Thomson. In the evening
+Brougham, John Russell, and others arrived. I hear of Brougham
+from Sefton, with whom he passes most of his spare time, to
+relieve his mind by small talk, _persiflage_, and the gossip of
+the day. He tells Sefton 'that he likes his office, but that it is
+a mere plaything and there is nothing to do; his life is too idle,
+and when he has cleared off the arrears, which he shall do
+forthwith, that he really does not know how he shall get rid of
+his time;' that 'he does not suffer the prolixity of counsel, and
+when they wander from the point he brings them back and says, "You
+need not say anything on that point; what I want to be informed
+upon is so." He is a wonderful man, the most extraordinary I ever
+saw, but there is more of the mountebank than of greatness in all
+this. It may do well enough for Sefton, who is as ignorant as he
+is sharp and shrewd, and captivated with his congenial offhandism,
+but it requires something more than Brougham's flippant _ipse
+dixit_ to convince me that the office of Chancellor is such a
+sinecure and bagatelle. He had a levee the other night, which was
+brilliantly attended--the Archbishops, Duke of Wellington, Lord
+Grey, a host of people. Sefton goes and sits in his private room
+and sees his receptions of people, and gives very amusing accounts
+of his extreme politeness to the Lord Mayor and his cool
+_insouciance_ with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The stories of
+him as told by Sefton would be invaluable to his future
+biographer, and never was a life more sure to be written
+hereafter.
+
+
+March 17th, 1831 {p.129}
+
+The night before last Wynford attacked Brougham's Bill, and got
+lashed in return with prodigious severity. He is resolved to
+press it, though George Villiers told me he had promised
+Lyndhurst to wait for his return to town. Notwithstanding his
+vapouring about the Court of Chancery, and treating it as such
+child's play, Leach affirms (but he is disappointed and hates
+him) that he is a very bad judge and knows nothing of his
+business. 'He was a very bad advocate; why should he make a good
+judge?'
+
+The Reform Bill is just printed, and already are the various
+objections raised against different parts of it, sufficient to
+show that it will be pulled to pieces in Committee. Both parties
+confident of success on the second reading, but the country
+_will_ have it; there is a determination on the subject, and a
+unanimity perfectly marvellous, and no demonstration of the
+unfitness of any of its parts will be of any avail; some of its
+details may be corrected and amended, but substantially it must
+pass pretty much as it is.
+
+[Page Head: BROUGHAM AT THE HORSE GUARDS.]
+
+Brougham has been getting into a squabble with the military. At
+the drawing-room on Thursday they refused to let his carriage
+pass through the Horse Guards, when he ordered his coachman to
+force his way through, which he did. He was quite wrong, and it
+was very unbecoming and undignified. Lord Londonderry called for
+an explanation in the House of Lords, when Brougham made a
+speech, and a very lame one. He said he ordered his coachman to
+go back, who did not hear him and went on, and when he had got
+through he thought it was not worth while to turn back. The Lords
+laughed. A few days after he drove over the soldiers in Downing
+Street, who were relieving guard; but this time he did no great
+harm to the men, and it was not his fault, but these things are
+talked of.
+
+Dined yesterday with General Macdonald to meet the Kembles. Miss
+Fanny is near being very handsome from the extraordinary
+expression of her countenance and fine eyes, but her figure is
+not good. She is short, hands and feet large, arms handsome, skin
+dark and coarse, and her manner wants ease and repose. Her mother
+is a very agreeable woman. I did not sit next to Fanny, and had
+no talk with her afterwards.
+
+
+March 18th, 1831 {p.130}
+
+Met Robert Clive yesterday morning; very low about the Bill,
+which he thinks so sure to be carried that he questions the
+expediency of dividing on the second reading; complained bitterly
+of the bad tactics and want of union of the party, and especially
+of Peel's inactivity and backwardness in not having rallied and
+taken the lead more than he has; he is in fact so cold,
+phlegmatic, and calculating that he disgusts those who can't do
+without him as a leader; he will always have political but never
+personal influence.
+
+
+March 20th, 1831 {p.130}
+
+On Friday night, after not a long but an angry and noisy debate,
+there was a division on the timber duties, and Government was
+beaten by forty-three, all the Saints, West Indians, and
+anti-Free-traders voting with the great body of Opposition. Their
+satisfaction was tumultuous. They have long been desirous of
+bringing Ministers to a trial of strength, and they did not care
+much upon what; they wanted to let the world see the weakness of
+Government, and besides on this occasion they hoped that a defeat
+might be prejudicial to the Reform Bill, so that this matter of
+commercial and fiscal policy is not decided on its own merits,
+but is influenced by passion, violence, party tactics, and its
+remote bearing upon another question with which it has no
+immediate relation. Althorp was obliged to abandon his original
+proposition of taking off 5s. from the duty on Baltic timber,
+which is 55s. (and 45s. on deals), and adding 10s. to the
+Canadian, which is already 10s. He proposed instead to take off
+6s. from the former this year, 6s. next, and 3s. next, so as to
+give plenty of time for the withdrawal of capital, and to meet
+all contingencies. The proposal was not unfair, and in other
+times would have been carried. Poulett Thomson made a very good
+speech, clear and satisfactory. Peel was what is called very
+factious--that is, in opposition--just what the others were,
+violent and unreasonable as far as the question is concerned, but
+acting upon a system having for its object to embarrass the
+Government.
+
+[Page Head: THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+I still think the second reading of the Reform Bill will pass,
+and, all things considered, that it would be the best thing that
+could happen; it is better to capitulate than to be taken by
+storm. The people are unanimous, good-humoured, and determined; if
+the Bill is thrown out, their good humour will disappear, the
+country will be a scene of violence and uproar, and a most
+ferocious Parliament will be returned, which will not only carry
+the question of Reform, but possibly do so in a very different
+form. We should see the _iræ leonum vincla recusantûm_, and this
+proposition is so evident, this state of things is so indisputable,
+that it is marvellous to me how anybody can triumph and exult in
+the anticipation of a victory the consequences of which would be
+more unfortunate than a defeat. If indeed a victory could set the
+matter at rest, confirm our present institutions, and pacify the
+people, it would be very well; but Reform the people will have,
+and no human power, moral or physical, can now arrest its career.
+It would be better, then, to concede with a good grace, and to
+modify the measure in Committee, which may still be practicable,
+than to oppose it point blank without a prospect of success.
+
+
+March 22nd, 1831 {p.131}
+
+The debate began again last night, and was adjourned. It was
+dull, and the House impatient. To-night they will divide, and
+after a thousand fluctuations of opinion it is thought the Bill
+will be thrown out by a small majority. Then will come the
+question of a dissolution, which one side affirms will take place
+directly, and the other that the King will not consent to it,
+knowing, as 'the man in the street' (as we call him at Newmarket)
+always does, the greatest secrets of kings, and being the
+confidant of their most hidden thoughts. As for me, I see nothing
+but a choice of difficulties either way, and victory or defeat
+would be equally bad. It is odd enough, but I believe Lord
+Lansdowne thinks just the same, for he asked me yesterday morning
+what I expected would be the result, and I told him my opinion on
+the whole question, and he replied, 'I can add nothing to what
+you have said; that is exactly my own opinion,' and I have very
+little doubt that more than half the Cabinet in their hearts
+abhor the measure. Knatchbull was taken ill in the morning, and
+could not go to the House at all.
+
+
+March 23rd, 1831 {p.132}
+
+The House divided at three o'clock this morning, and the second
+reading was carried by a majority of _one_ in the fullest House
+that ever was known--303 to 302--both parties confident up to the
+moment of division; but the Opposition most so, and at last the
+Government expected to be beaten. Denman told somebody as they
+were going to divide that the question would be lost; Calcraft
+and the Wynnes' going over at the eleventh hour did the business.
+I believe that this division is the best thing that could happen,
+and so I told the Duke in the morning, and that I had wished it
+to be carried by a small majority; I met him walking with
+Arbuthnot in the Park. He said, 'I could not take such a course'
+(that was in answer to my saying I wished it to be read a second
+time, to be lost in the Committee). I said, 'But you would have
+nothing to do with it personally.' 'No; but as belonging to the
+party I could not recommend such a course,' which seemed as if he
+did not altogether disagree with my view of it. I stopped at the
+'Travellers' till past three, when a man came in and told me the
+news. I walked home, and found the streets swarming with members
+of Parliament coming from the House. My belief is (if they manage
+well and are active and determined) that the Bill will be lost in
+Committee, and then this will be the best thing that could have
+occurred.
+
+
+March 24th, 1831 {p.132}
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL CARRIED BY ONE VOTE.]
+
+The agitation the other night on the division was prodigious. The
+Government, who stayed in the House, thought they had lost it by
+ten, and the Opposition, who were crowded in the lobby, fancied
+from their numbers that they were sure of winning. There was
+betting going on all night long, and large sums have been won and
+lost. The people in the lobby were miscounted, and they thought
+they had 303. At the levee yesterday and Council; the Government
+are by way of being satisfied, but hardly can be. I met the Duke
+of Wellington afterwards, who owned to me that he thought this
+small majority for the Bill was on the whole the best thing that
+could have occurred, and that seems to be the opinion generally
+of its opponents.
+
+Nothing particularly at the levee; Brougham very good fun. The
+King, who had put off going to the Opera on account of the death
+of his son-in-law Kennedy, appeared in mourning (crape, that is),
+which is reckoned bad taste; the public allow natural feeling to
+supersede law and etiquette, but it is too much to extend that
+courtesy to a 'son-in-law,' and his daughter is not in England.
+Somebody said that 'it was the first time a King of England had
+appeared in mourning that his subjects did not wear.' In the
+evening to the Ancient Concert, where the Queen was, and
+by-the-bye in mourning, and the Margravine and Duchess of
+Gloucester too, but they (the two latter) could hardly be
+mourning for Lord Cassilis's son. Horace Seymour, Meynell, and
+Calvert were all turned out of their places in the Lord
+Chamberlain's department on account of their votes the other
+night.
+
+The change of Ministers at Paris and Casimir Périer's speech have
+restored something like confidence about French affairs. The
+Prince of Orange is gone back to Holland, to his infinite
+disgust; he was escorted by Lady Dudley Stewart and Mrs. Fox as
+far as Gravesend, I believe, where they were found the next day
+in their white satin shoes and evening dresses. He made a great
+fool of himself here, and destroyed any sympathy there might have
+been for his political misfortunes; supping, dancing, and acting,
+and little (rather innocent) orgies at these ladies' houses
+formed his habitual occupation.
+
+A sort of repose from the cursed Bill for a moment, but it is
+said that many who opposed it before are going to support it in
+Committee; nobody knows. When the Speaker put the question, each
+party roared 'Aye' and 'No' _totis viribus_. He said he did not
+know, and put it again. After that he said, 'I am not sure, but I
+think the ayes have it.' Then the noes went out into the lobby,
+and the others thought they never would have done filing out, and
+the House looked so empty when they were gone that the Government
+was in despair. They say the excitement was beyond anything. I
+continue to hear great complaints of Peel--of his coldness,
+incommunicativeness, and deficiency in all the qualities
+requisite for a leader, particularly at such a time. There is
+nobody else, or he would be deserted for any man who had talents
+enough to take a prominent part, so much does he disgust his
+adherents. Nobody knows what are his opinions, feelings, wishes,
+or intentions; he will not go _en avant_, and nobody feels any
+dependence upon him. There is no help for it and the man's nature
+can't be altered. I said all this to Ross yesterday, his devoted
+adherent, and he was obliged to own it, with all kinds of regrets
+and endeavours to soften the picture.
+
+
+April 14th, 1831 {p.134}
+
+The Reform campaign has reopened with a violent speech from Hunt
+denouncing the whole thing as a delusion; that the people begin
+to find out how they are humbugged, and that as it will make
+nothing cheaper they don't care about it. The man's drift is not
+very clear whether the Bill is really unpalatable at Preston or
+whether he wants to go further directly. At the same time John
+Russell announced some alterations in the Bill, not, as he
+asserted, trenching upon its principle, but, as the Opposition
+declares, altering it altogether. On the whole, these things have
+inspirited its opponents, and, as they must produce delay, are in
+so far bad for the Reform cause. Besides, though the opinion of
+the country is universally in its favour, people are beginning to
+think that it may be rejected without any apprehension of such
+dreadful consequences ensuing as have been predicted. Then the
+state of Ireland is such that it is thought the Ministers cannot
+encounter a dissolution, not that I feel any security on that
+head, for I believe the Cabinet is ruled by two or three men
+reckless of everything provided they can prolong their own power.
+
+
+April 24th, 1831 {p.134}
+
+[Page Head: DEFEAT AND DISSOLUTION.]
+
+At Newmarket all last week, and returned to town last night to
+hear from those who saw them the extraordinary scenes in both
+Houses of Parliament (the day before) which closed the eventful
+week. The Reform battle began again on Monday last. The night
+before I went out of town I met Duncannon, and walked with him up
+Regent Street, when he told me that he did not believe the
+Ministers would be beaten, but if they were they should certainly
+dissolve instantly; that _he_ should have liked to dissolve long
+ago, but they owed it to their friends not to have recourse to a
+dissolution if they could help it. On Monday General Gascoyne
+moved that the Committee should be instructed not to reduce the
+members of the House of Commons, and this was carried after two
+nights' debate by eight. The dissolution was then decided upon.
+Meanwhile Lord Wharncliffe gave notice of a motion to address the
+King not to dissolve Parliament, and this was to have come on on
+Friday. On Thursday the Ministers were again beaten in the House
+of Commons on a question of adjournment, and on Friday morning
+they got the King to go down and prorogue Parliament in person
+the same day. This _coup d'état_ was so sudden that nobody was
+aware of it till within two or three hours of the time, and many
+not at all. They told him that the cream-coloured horses could
+not be got ready, when he said, 'Then I will go with anybody
+else's horses.' Somebody went off in a carriage to the Tower, to
+fetch the Crown, and they collected such attendants as they could
+find to go with his Majesty. The Houses met at one or two
+o'clock. In the House of Commons Sir R. Vyvyan made a furious
+speech, attacking the Government on every point, and (excited as
+he was) it was very well done. The Ministers made no reply, but
+Sir Francis Burdett and Tennyson endeavoured to interrupt with
+calls to order, and when the Speaker decided that Vyvyan was not
+out of order Tennyson disputed his opinion, which enraged the
+Speaker, and soon after called up Peel, for whom he was resolved
+to procure a hearing. The scene then resembled that which took
+place on Lord North's resignation in 1782, for Althorp (I think)
+moved that Burdett should be heard, and the Speaker said that
+'Peel was in possession of the House to speak on that motion.' He
+made a very violent speech, attacking the Government for their
+incompetence, folly, and recklessness, and treated them with the
+utmost asperity and contempt. In the midst of his speech the guns
+announced the arrival of the King, and at each explosion the
+Government gave a loud cheer, and Peel was still speaking in the
+midst of every sort of noise and tumult when the Usher of the
+Black Rod knocked at the door to summon the Commons to the House
+of Peers. There the proceedings were if possible still more
+violent and outrageous; those who were present tell me it
+resembled nothing but what we read of the 'Serment du Jeu de
+Paume,' and the whole scene was as much like the preparatory days
+of a revolution as can well be imagined. Wharncliffe was to have
+moved an address to the Crown against dissolving Parliament, and
+this motion the Ministers were resolved should not come on, but
+he contrived to bring it on so far as to get it put upon the
+Journals. The Duke of Richmond endeavoured to prevent any
+speaking by raising points of order, and moving that the Lords
+should take their regular places (in separate ranks), which,
+however, is impossible at a royal sitting, because the cross
+benches are removed; this put Lord Londonderry in such a fury
+that he rose, roared, gesticulated, held up his whip, and four or
+five Lords held him down by the tail of his coat to prevent his
+flying on somebody. Lord Lyndhurst was equally furious, and some
+sharp words passed which were not distinctly heard. In the midst
+of all the din Lord Mansfield rose and obtained a hearing.
+Wharncliffe said to him, 'For God's sake, Mansfield, take care
+what you are about, and don't disgrace us more in the state we
+are in.' 'Don't be afraid,' he said; 'I will say nothing that
+will alarm you;' and accordingly he pronounced a trimming
+philippic on the Government, which, delivered as it was in an
+imposing manner, attired in his robes, and with the greatest
+energy and excitation, was prodigiously effective. While he was
+still speaking, the King arrived, but he did not desist even
+while his Majesty[1] was entering the House of Lords, nor till he
+approached the throne; and while the King was ascending the
+steps, the hoarse voice of Lord Londonderry was heard crying
+'Hear, hear, hear!' The King from the robing-room heard the
+noise, and asked what it all meant. The conduct of the Chancellor
+was most extraordinary, skipping in and out of the House and
+making most extraordinary speeches. In the midst of the uproar he
+went out of the House, when Lord Shaftesbury was moved into the
+chair. In the middle of the debate Brougham again came in and
+said, 'it was most extraordinary that the King's undoubted right
+to dissolve Parliament should be questioned at a moment when the
+House of Commons had taken the unprecedented course of stopping
+the supplies,' and having so said (which was a lie) he flounced
+out of the House to receive the King on his arrival. The King
+ought not properly to have worn the Crown, never having been
+crowned; but when he was in the robing-room he said to Lord
+Hastings, 'Lord Hastings, I wear the Crown; where is it?' It was
+brought to him, and when Lord Hastings was going to put it on his
+head he said, 'Nobody shall put the Crown on my head but myself.'
+He put it on, and then turned to Lord Grey and said, 'Now, my
+Lord, the coronation is over.' George Villiers said that in his
+life he never saw such a scene, and as he looked at the King upon
+the throne with the Crown loose upon his head, and the tall, grim
+figure of Lord Grey close beside him with the sword of state in
+his hand, it was as if the King had got his executioner by his
+side, and the whole picture looked strikingly typical of his and
+our future destinies.
+
+      [1] When Lord Mansfield sat down he said, 'I have spoken
+          English to them at least.' Lord Lyndhurst told me that
+          Lord Mansfield stopped speaking as soon as the door
+          opened to admit the King. He said he never saw him so
+          excited before, and in his robes he looked very grand.
+          He also told me that he was at Lady Holland's giving an
+          account of the scene when Brougham came in. He said, 'I
+          was telling them what passed the other day in our
+          House,' when Brougham explained his part by saying that
+          the Usher of the Black Rod (Tyrwhit) was at his elbow
+          saying, 'My Lord Chancellor, you must come; the King is
+          waiting for you: come along; you must come,' and that
+          he was thus dragged out of the House in this hurry and
+          without having time to sit down or say any more.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT.]
+
+Such has been the termination of this Parliament and of the first
+act of the new Ministerial drama; there never was a Government
+ousted with more ignominy than the last, nor a Ministry that came
+in with higher pretensions, greater professions, and better
+prospects than the present, but nothing ever corresponded less
+than their performances with their pretensions. The composition
+of the Government was radically defective, and with a good deal
+of loose talent there was so much of passion, folly, violence,
+and knavery, together with inexperience and ignorance mixed up
+with it, that from the very beginning they cut the sorriest
+possible figure. Such men as Richmond, Durham, Althorp, and
+Graham, in their different ways, were enough to spoil any
+Cabinet, and consequently their course has been marked by a
+series of blunders and defeats. Up to the moment of the
+dissolution few people expected it would happen, some thinking
+the King would not consent, others that the Government would
+never venture upon it, but the King is weak and the Ministry
+reckless. That disposition, which at first appeared so laudable,
+of putting himself implicitly into the hands of his Ministers,
+and which seemed the more so from the contrast it afforded to the
+conduct of the late King, who was always thwarting his Ministers,
+throwing difficulties in their way, and playing a double part,
+becomes vicious when carried to the extent of paralysing all free
+action and free opinion on his part, and of suffering himself to
+be made the instrument of any measures, however violent. It may
+be said, indeed, that he cordially agrees with these men, and has
+opinions coincident with theirs, but this is not probable; and
+when we remember his unlimited confidence in the Duke up to the
+moment of his resignation, it is impossible to believe that he
+can have so rapidly imbibed principles the very reverse of those
+which the Duke maintained.[2] It is more likely that he has no
+opinions, and is really a mere puppet in the hands into which he
+may happen to fall. Lord Mansfield had an audience, and gave him
+his sentiments upon the state of affairs. He will not say what
+passed between them, but it is clear that it was of no use.
+
+      [2] The King was extremely opposed to the dissolution, and
+          had remonstrated against it ever since it was first
+          proposed to him in March. See Lord Grey's letter in the
+          'Times' of March 26, 1866.
+
+The Queen and the Royal Family are extremely unhappy at all these
+things, but the former has no influence whatever with the King.
+In the meantime there are very different opinions as to the
+result of the elections, some thinking that Government will not
+gain much by the dissolution, others that they (or at least
+Reform) will win everything. It seems to me quite impossible that
+they should not win everything, but time is gained to the other
+side. The census of 1831 will be out, and the chapter of
+accidents may and must make much difference; still I see no
+possibility of arresting the progress of Reform, and whether this
+Bill or another like it passes is much the same thing. The
+Government have made it up with O'Connell, which is one mouthful
+of the dirty pudding they have had to swallow, as one of their
+own friends said of them.
+
+
+April 26th, 1831 {p.139}
+
+[Page Head: THE GENERAL ELECTION.]
+
+Last night at the Queen's ball; heaps of people of all sorts;
+everybody talking of the elections. Both parties pretend to be
+confident, but the Government with the best reason. The county
+members, as Sefton says, are tumbling about like nine-pins, and
+though it seems not improbable that the Opposition will gain in
+the boroughs, they must lose greatly in the counties; and we must
+not only look to the relative numbers, but to the composition of
+the respective parties. A large minority composed of borough
+nominees, corporation members, and only a sprinkling of what is
+called independence would not look well. Large sums have been
+subscribed on both sides, but on that of the Opposition there is
+a want of candidates more than of places to send them to.
+
+I met Lyndhurst last night, and asked him what it was he said in
+the House of Lords. He said it was nothing very violent, but that
+it was not heard. The Duke of Richmond had spoken to the point of
+order, and said in a very marked way 'he saw a noble Earl sitting
+by a _junior_ Baron.' This was Lyndhurst, who was offended at the
+sneer upon his want of _ancienneté_, and who retorted that before
+the noble Duke made such speeches on points of order he would do
+well to make himself acquainted with the orders of the House, of
+which it was obvious he knew nothing. The Duke of Devonshire told
+Lady Lyndhurst that her husband ought to resign his judicial
+situation because he had displayed hostility to Government the
+other night, but it would be a new maxim to establish that the
+judges were to be amenable to the Minister for their political
+opinions and Parliamentary conduct.
+
+
+April 29th, 1831 {p.140}
+
+The night before last there was an illumination, got up by the
+foolish Lord Mayor, which of course produced an uproar and a
+general breaking of obnoxious windows. Lord Mansfield and the Duke
+of Buccleuch went to Melbourne in the morning and remonstrated,
+asking what protection he meant to afford to their properties. A
+gun (with powder only) was fired over the heads of the mob from
+Apsley House, and they did not go there again. The Government
+might have discouraged this manifestation of triumph, but they
+wished for it for the purpose of increasing the popular
+excitement. They don't care what they do, or what others do, so
+long as they can keep the people in a ferment. It is disgusting to
+the last degree to hear their joy and exultation at the success of
+their measures and the good prospects held out to them by the
+elections; all of which may turn out very well, but if it does not
+'who shall set hoddy-doddy up again?' Lord Cleveland has
+subscribed £10,000 to the election fund.
+
+Lord Yarborough, by a very questionable piece of political
+morality, has given the Holmes boroughs in the Isle of Wight to
+Government; they are the property of Sir L. Holmes's daughter,
+whose guardian he is as well as executor under the will. In this
+capacity he has the disposal of the boroughs, and he gives them
+to the Ministers to fill with men who are to vote for their
+disfranchisement. A large price is paid for them--£4,000--but it
+makes a difference of eight votes, and if the Bill is carried
+they will be worth nothing. The elections promise well for
+Government even in the boroughs, as I was persuaded they would.
+O'Connell has put forth a proclamation entreating, commanding
+peace, order, and support of the Bill's supporters. Tom Moore
+called on me yesterday morning. He said that he was a Reformer
+and liked the Bill, but he was fully aware of all that it might
+produce of evil to the present system. He owned frankly that he
+felt like an Irishman and that the wrongs of Ireland and the
+obstinacy of the faction who had oppressed her still rankled in
+his heart, and that he should not be sorry at any vengeance which
+might overtake them at last. I hear renewed complaints of Peel,
+of his selfish, cold, calculating, cowardly policy; that we are
+indebted to him principally for our present condition I have no
+doubt--to his obstinacy and to his conduct in the Catholic
+question first, to his opposition and then to his support of it.
+Opposing all and every sort of Reform _totis viribus_ while he
+dared, now he makes a death-bed profession of acquiescence in
+something which should be more moderate than this. All these
+things disgust people inconceivably, and it is not the less
+melancholy that he is our only resource, and his capacity for
+business and power in the House of Commons places him so far
+above all his competitors that if we are to have a Conservative
+party we must look to him alone to lead it.
+
+
+May 7th, 1831 {p.141}
+
+[Page Head: THE QUEEN ALARMED IN THE CITY.]
+
+Nothing could go on worse than the elections--Reformers returned
+everywhere, so much so that the contest is over, and we have only
+to await the event and see what the House of Lords will do. In
+the House of Commons the Bill is already carried. It is supposed
+that the Ministers themselves begin to be alarmed at the devil
+they have let loose, and well they may; but he is out, and stop
+him who can. The King has put off his visit to the City because
+he is ill, as the Government would have it believed, but really
+because he is furious with the Lord Mayor at all the riots and
+uproar on the night of the illumination. That night the Queen
+went to the Ancient Concert, and on her return the mob surrounded
+the carriage; she had no guards, and the footmen were obliged to
+beat the people off with their canes to prevent their thrusting
+their heads into the coach. She was frightened and the King very
+much annoyed. He heard the noise and tumult, and paced backwards
+and forwards in his room waiting for her return. When she came
+back Lord Howe, her chamberlain, as usual preceded her, when the
+King said, 'How is the Queen?' and went down to meet her. Howe,
+who is an eager anti-Reformer, said, 'Very much frightened, sir,'
+and made the worst of it. She was in fact terrified, and as she
+detests the whole of these proceedings, the more distressed and
+disgusted. The King was very angry and immediately declared he
+would not go to the City at all. It is supposed that Government
+will make a large batch of Peers to secure the Bill in the House
+of Lords, but the press have already begun to attack that House,
+declaring that if they pass the Bill it will be from compulsion,
+and if they do not that they are the enemies of the people.
+
+
+May 11th, 1831 {p.142}
+
+The elections are going on universally in favour of Reform; the
+great interests in the counties are everywhere broken, and old
+connexions dissevered. In Worcestershire Captain Spencer, who has
+nothing to do with the county, and was brought there by his
+brother-in-law, Lord Lyttelton, has beaten Lygon, backed by all
+the wealth of his family; the Manners have withdrawn from
+Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire, and Lord E. Somerset from
+Gloucestershire; Lord Worcester too is beaten at Monmouth.
+Everywhere the tide is irresistible; all considerations are
+sacrificed to the success of the measure. At the last Essex
+election Colonel Tyrrell saved Western, who would have been beaten
+by Long Wellesley, and now Western has coalesced with Wellesley
+against Tyrrell, and will throw him out. In Northamptonshire
+Althorp had pledged himself to Cartwright not to bring forward
+another candidate on his side, and Milton joins him and stands.
+The state of excitement, doubt, and apprehension which prevails
+will not quickly subside, for the battle is only beginning; when
+the Bill is carried we must prepare for the second act.
+
+
+May 14th, 1831 {p.142}
+
+[Page Head: LORD MUNSTER'S PEERAGE.]
+
+The elections are still going for Reform. They count upon a
+majority of 140 in the House of Commons, but the Tories meditate
+resistance in the House of Lords, which it is to be hoped will be
+fruitless, and it is probable the Peers will trot round as they
+did about the Catholic question when it comes to the point. There
+is a great hubbub at Northampton about a pledge which Althorp is
+supposed to have given not to bring forward another candidate
+against Cartwright which the anti-Reformers say he has violated
+in putting up Milton, and moreover that such conduct is very
+dishonest; and as his honesty was his principal recommendation,
+if he should have forfeited that what would remain to him? On the
+contrary his friends say that he gave no such pledge, that he
+expressed a hope there might be no contest, but the people would
+have Milton, and though Althorp regretted his standing, as he did
+stand they were obliged to join for their common safety. So much
+for this electioneering squabble, of which time will elicit the
+truth. Last night I went to Prince Leopold's, where was George
+Fitzclarence receiving congratulations on his new dignity (Earl
+of Munster). He told me everybody had been very kind about it--the
+King, Lord Grey, his friends, and the public. He had told
+Lord Grey he was anxious his brothers and sisters should have the
+rank of marquis's sons and daughters (to give them titles). Grey
+had only objected that their titles would then represent a higher
+rank than his own,[3] but that he laid no stress on that
+objection, and it would be done directly. Melbourne has written a
+letter to the Lord Mayor assuring him that ill health is the only
+obstacle to the King's visit to the City, and that there is no
+foundation for the report of his displeasure, the Lord Mayor's
+explanation having proved quite satisfactory. This is not true, I
+believe, but they make him say so.
+
+      [3] [If Lord Grey said this it was a mistake. The younger
+          sons and daughters of marquises take rank after earls.]
+
+
+May 22nd, 1831 {p.143}
+
+[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM AS A JUDGE.]
+
+At Epsom all last week for the races at a house which Lord
+Chesterfield took; nobody there but the three sisters[4] and their
+two husbands. Rode out on the downs every morning, and enjoyed the
+fine country, as beautiful as any I have seen of the kind. After
+the races on Friday I went to Richmond to dine with Lord and Lady
+Lyndhurst, and was refreshed by his vigorous mind after the three
+or four days I had passed. He thinks the state of things very bad,
+has a great contempt for this Government, is very doubtful what
+will happen, thinks Lord Grey will not stand, and that Brougham
+will be Chancellor and Prime Minister, like Clarendon; he talked
+of the late Government, the Duke of Wellington and Peel; he said
+that the former meddled with no department but that of Foreign
+Affairs, which he conducted entirely; that he understood them
+better than anything else, and if he came into office again would
+be Foreign Secretary; that in the Cabinet he was always candid,
+reasonable, and ready to discuss fairly every subject, but not so
+Peel. He, if his opinion was not adopted, would take up a
+newspaper and sulk. Lyndhurst agreed with me about his manners,
+his coldness, and how he disgusted instead of conciliating people;
+he said that when any of his friends in Parliament proposed to
+speak in any debate, he never encouraged or assisted them, but
+answered with a dry 'Do you?' to their notification of a wish or
+intention. He said that this Bill was drawn up by Lambton himself,
+but so ill done, so ignorantly and inefficiently, that they were
+obliged to send for Harrison, who, in conjunction with the
+Attorney-General, drew it up afresh; that when John Russell
+brought it forward the Bill was still undrawn.[5] He says that
+there is not the least doubt they never had an idea of bringing
+forward any such measure as this till they found themselves so
+weak in the House of Commons that nothing but a popular cry and
+Radical support could possibly save them. It is very remarkable
+when we look back to the moment of the dissolution of the late
+Government, when Brougham was in the House of Commons armed with
+his Bill, which, though unknown, was so dreaded, and which turns
+out to have been mere milk and water compared with this. He said
+Brougham was offered the Attorney-Generalship by a note, which he
+tore in pieces and stamped upon, and sent word that there was no
+answer; that he has long aspired to be Chancellor, and wished to
+get into the House of Lords. He ridicules his pretensions to such
+wonderful doings in his Court and in the Bills he has announced;
+says that he has decided no bankruptcy cases, and, except some
+Scotch appeals in the House of Lords, has got rid of hardly any
+arrears; and as to his Bills, the Bankruptcy Bill was objectionable
+and the Chancery Bill he has never brought on at all; that he
+knows he affects a short cut to judicial eminence, but that
+without labour and reading he cannot administer justice in that
+Court, although no doubt his great acuteness and rapid perception
+may often enable him at once to see the merits of a case and hit
+upon the important points. This he said in reply to what I told
+him of Brougham's trumpeter Sefton, who echoes from his own lips
+that 'the Court of Chancery is such a sinecure and mere child's
+play.'
+
+      [4] [Lady Chesterfield, Mrs. Anson, and Miss Forester.]
+
+      [5] [Compare the details of the preparation of the Reform
+          Bill published by Lord Russell in the last edition of
+          his 'Essay on the British Constitution.' Much of this
+          conversation of Lord Lyndhurst's is extremely wide of
+          the truth, but it is retained to show what was said and
+          believed by competent persons at the time.]
+
+In the meantime the elections have been going languidly on, and
+are now nearly over; contrary to the prognostications of the
+Tories, they have gone off very quietly, even in Ireland not many
+contests, the anti-Reformers being unable to make any fight at
+all; except in Shropshire they are dead-beat everywhere.
+Northamptonshire the sharpest contest, and the one which has made
+the most ill blood; this particular election has produced a good
+deal of violence; elsewhere the Reformers have it hollow, no
+matter what the characters of the candidates, if they are only for
+the Bill. Calcraft and Wellesley, the former not respected, the
+latter covered with disgrace, have beat Bankes and Tyrrell.
+Lowther had not a chance in Cumberland, where Sir James Graham got
+into another scrape, for in an impertinent speech he made an
+attack upon Scarlett, which drew upon him a message and from him
+an apology. Formerly, when a man made use of offensive expressions
+and was called to account, he thought it right to go out and stand
+a shot before he ate his words, but now-a-days that piece of
+chivalry is dispensed with, and politicians make nothing of being
+scurrilous one day and humble the next. Hyde Villiers has been
+appointed to succeed Sandon at the Board of Control as a Whig and
+a Reformer. He was in a hundred minds what line he should take,
+and had written a pamphlet to prove the necessity of giving
+Ministers seats in both Houses (as in France), which he has
+probably put in the fire. I am very glad he has got the place, and
+though his opinions were not very decided before, he has always
+been anti-Tory, and has done nothing discreditable to get it, and
+it was offered to him in a very flattering manner.
+
+
+May 28th, 1831 {p.146}
+
+Yesterday Lord Grey was invested with the blue ribband, though
+there is no vacancy; the only precedent is that of Lords
+Liverpool and Castlereagh (which was thought wrong), but it was
+on the occasion of the peace after Bonaparte's overthrow and when
+Castlereagh returned with such _éclat_ from Paris that the whole
+House of Commons rose and cheered him as he entered it.
+
+I met Alexander Baring the other night, who said it was certain
+that the King was full of regrets at the extent of the measures
+into which he had been hurried, when I told him of Lord Grey's
+Garter, and asked him what he said to that, and how that bore out
+the assertion of the King's regrets. The fact is that although on
+one side a most indecent though effectual use of the King's name
+has been made, on the other there is nothing that is not asserted
+with equal confidence about 'his difficulties and his scruples.'
+Sefton told me that it was the sort of things that were said that
+made the King write to Lord Grey (he saw the letter) and tell him
+that he thought it of the greatest importance at the present
+moment to confer upon him a signal mark of his regard and of his
+satisfaction with the whole of his conduct. It is, I believe,
+true that the King felt some alarm and some doubt about the
+dissolution, but I do not believe that he has any doubts or fears
+at present. Indeed, how should he not have suffered himself to be
+led away by these people and to become identified with their
+measure? They have given him an ample share of the praise of it;
+they assure him it will be eminently successful; he sees himself
+popular and applauded to the skies, and as far as things have
+gone it has been successful, for the elections have gone on and
+gone off very peaceably, and the country in expectation of the
+passing of the Bill is in a state of profound tranquillity.
+
+
+June 5th, 1831 {p.147}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING AT ASCOT.]
+
+All last week at Fern Hill for the Ascot races; the
+Chesterfields, Tavistocks, Belfasts, George Ansons, Montague,
+Stradbroke, and Brooke Greville were there. The Royal Family came
+to the course the first day with a great _cortége_--eight coaches
+and four, two phaetons, pony sociables, and led horses--Munster
+riding on horseback behind the King's carriage, Augustus (the
+parson) and Frederick driving phaetons. The Duke of Richmond was
+in the King's calèche and Lord Grey in one of the coaches. The
+reception was strikingly cold and indifferent, not half so good
+as that which the late King used to receive. William was bored to
+death with the races, and his own horse broke down. On Wednesday
+he did not come; on Thursday they came again. Beautiful weather
+and unprecedented multitudes. The King was much more cheered than
+the first day, or the greater number of people made a greater
+noise. A few cheers were given to Lord Grey as he returned, which
+he just acknowledged and no more. On Friday we dined at the
+Castle; each day the King asked a crowd of people from the
+neighbourhood. We arrived at a little before seven; the Queen was
+only just come in from riding, so we had to wait till near eight.
+Above forty people at dinner, for which the room is not nearly
+large enough; the dinner was not bad, but the room insufferably
+hot. The Queen was taken out by the Duke of Richmond, and the
+King followed with the Duchess of Saxe Weimar, the Queen's
+sister. He drinks wine with everybody, asking seven or eight at a
+time. After dinner he drops asleep. We sat for a short time.
+Directly after coffee the band began to play; a good band, not
+numerous, and principally of violins and stringed instruments.
+The Queen and the whole party sat there all the evening, so that
+it was, in fact, a concert of instrumental music. The King took
+Lady Tavistock to St. George's Hall and the ball room, where we
+walked about, with two or three servants carrying lamps to show
+the proportions, for it was not lit up. The whole thing is
+exceedingly magnificent, and the manner of life does not appear
+to be very formal, and need not be disagreeable but for the bore
+of never dining without twenty strangers. The Castle holds very
+few people, and with the King's and Queen's immediate suite and
+_toute la bâtardise_ it was quite full. The King's four sons were
+there, _signoreggianti tutti_, and the whole thing 'donnait à
+penser' to those who looked back a little and had seen other
+days. We sat in that room in which Lyndhurst has often talked to
+me of the famous five hours' discussion with the late King, when
+the Catholic Bill hung upon his caprice. Palmerston told me he
+had never been in the Castle since the eventful day of Herries'
+appointment and non-appointment; and how many things have
+happened since. What a _changement de décoration_; no longer
+George IV., capricious, luxurious, and misanthropic, liking
+nothing but the society of listeners and flatterers, with the
+Conyngham tribe and one or two Tory Ministers and foreign
+Ambassadors; but a plain, vulgar, hospitable gentleman, opening
+his doors to all the world, with a numerous family and suite, a
+Whig Ministry, no foreigners, and no toad-eaters at all. Nothing
+can be more different, and looking at him one sees how soon this
+act will be finished, and the same be changed for another
+probably not less dissimilar. Queen, bastards, Whigs,[6] all will
+disappear, and God knows what replaces them. Came to town
+yesterday, and found a quarrel between Henry Bentinck and Sir
+Roger Gresley, which I had to settle, and did settle amicably in
+the course of the evening.
+
+      [6] Not Whigs--they are _les bienvenus_, which they were
+          not before.--_July 1838._
+
+
+June 7th, 1831 {p.148}
+
+[Page Head: DINNER AT HANBURY'S BREWERY.]
+
+Dined with Sefton yesterday, who gave me an account of a dinner
+at Fowell Buxton's on Saturday to see the brewery, at which
+Brougham was the 'magnus Apollo.' Sefton is excellent as a
+commentator on Brougham; he says that he watches him incessantly,
+never listens to anybody else when he is there, and _rows_ him
+unmercifully afterwards for all the humbug, nonsense, and palaver
+he hears him talk to people. They were twenty-seven at dinner.
+Talleyrand was to have gone, but was frightened by being told
+that he would get nothing but beefsteaks and porter, so he stayed
+away. They dined in the brewhouse and visited the whole
+establishment. Lord Grey was there in star, garter, and ribband.
+There were people ready to show and explain everything, but not a
+bit--Brougham took the explanation of everything into his own
+hands--the mode of brewing, the machinery, down to the feeding of
+the cart horses. After dinner the account books were brought, and
+the young Buxtons were beckoned up to the top of the table by
+their father to hear the words of wisdom that flowed from the
+lips of my Lord Chancellor. He affected to study the ledger, and
+made various pertinent remarks on the manner of book-keeping.
+There was a man whom Brougham called 'Cornelius' (Sefton did not
+know who he was) with whom he seemed very familiar. While
+Brougham was talking he dropped his voice, on which 'Cornelius'
+said, 'Earl Grey is listening,' that he might speak louder and so
+nothing be lost. He was talking of Paley, and said that 'although
+he did not always understand his own meaning, he always contrived
+to make it intelligible to others,' on which 'Cornelius' said,
+'My good friend, if he made it so clear to others he must have
+had some comprehension of it himself;' on which Sefton attacked
+him afterwards, and swore that 'he was a mere child in the hands
+of "Cornelius,"' that 'he never saw anybody so put down.' These
+people are all subscribers to the London University, and Sefton
+swears he overheard Brougham tell them that 'Sir Isaac Newton was
+nothing compared to some of the present professors,' or something
+to that effect. I put down all this nonsense because it amused me
+in the recital, and is excessively characteristic of the man, one
+of the most remarkable who ever existed. Lady Sefton told me that
+he went with them to the British Museum, where all the officers
+of the Museum were in attendance to receive them. He would not
+let anybody explain anything, but did all the honours himself. At
+last they came to the collection of minerals, when she thought he
+must be brought to a standstill. Their conductor began to
+describe them, when Brougham took the words out of his mouth, and
+dashed off with as much ease and familiarity as if he had been a
+Buckland or a Cuvier. Such is the man, a grand mixture of moral,
+political, and intellectual incongruities.
+
+
+June 10th, 1831 {p.150}
+
+Breakfasted the day before yesterday with Rogers, Sydney Smith,
+Luttrell, John Russell, and Moore; excessively agreeable. I never
+heard anything more entertaining than Sydney Smith; such bursts
+of merriment and so dramatic. Breakfasts are the meals for poets.
+I met Wordsworth and Southey at breakfast. Rogers' are always
+agreeable.
+
+
+June 15th, 1831 {p.150}
+
+Five new peerages came out yesterday--Sefton, Kinnaird, Fingall,
+Leitrim, and Agar Ellis; John Russell and Stanley are to be in the
+Cabinet. At the ball at St. James's the other night George Dawson
+told me that they had 270 people in the House of Commons on the
+side of the Opposition, if they could command their attendance;
+that he did not mean to say no Reform Bill would pass, but that
+the details of this Bill had never yet been discussed, and when
+they were it would be so clearly shown that it is impracticable
+that this identical measure never could pass. The Opposition are
+beginning to recover from their discouragement; there is to be a
+meeting at Lord Mansfield's on Friday, and they do, I believe,
+mean to fight it out.
+
+
+June 19th, 1831 {p.150}
+
+[Page Head: THE CHOLERA.]
+
+The last few days I have been completely taken up with quarantine,
+and taking means to prevent the cholera coming here. That disease
+made great ravages in Russia last year, and in the winter the
+attention of Government was called to it, and the question was
+raised whether we should have to purify goods coming here in case
+it broke out again, and if so how it was to be done. Government
+was thinking of Reform and other matters, and would not bestow
+much attention upon this subject, and accordingly neither
+regulations nor preparations were made. All that was done was to
+commission a Dr. Walker, a physician residing at St. Petersburg,
+to go to Moscow and elsewhere and make enquiries into the nature
+and progress of the disease, and report the result of his
+investigation to us. He turned out, however, to be a very useless
+and inefficient agent. In the meantime as the warm weather
+returned the cholera again appeared in Russia, but still we took
+no further measures until intelligence arrived that it had reached
+Riga, at which place 700 or 800 sail of English vessels, loaded
+principally with hemp and flax, were waiting to come to this
+country. This report soon diffused a general alarm, and for many
+days past the newspapers have been full of letters and full of
+lies, and every sort of representation is made to Government or
+through the press, as fear or interest happen to dictate. The
+Consuls and Ministers abroad had been for some time supplying us
+with such information as they could obtain, so that we were in
+possession of a great deal of documentary evidence regarding the
+nature, character, and progress of the disease. The first thing we
+did was to issue two successive Orders in Council placing all
+vessels coming from the Baltic in quarantine, and we sent for Sir
+Henry Halford and placed all the papers we had in his hands,
+desiring that he would associate with himself some other
+practitioners, and report their opinion as speedily as possible
+whether the disease was contagious and whether it could be
+conveyed by goods. They reported the next day _yes_ to the first
+question, _no_ to the second. In 1804, on the occasion of the
+yellow fever at Gibraltar, Government formed a Board of Health,
+and took the opinion of the College of Physicians, and it was
+intended to pursue the same course in this instance, but Lords
+Lansdowne and Auckland chose to take Halford's preliminary
+opinion, contrary to my advice, for I foresaw that there would be
+a great embarrassment if he and the College did not agree. Just so
+it turned out, for when the case was submitted, with all the
+papers, to the College, they would not adopt his opinion, much to
+his annoyance, and, as I believe, because they did not like to be
+merely called on to confirm what he had already said, and that
+they thought their independence required a show of dissent. The
+report they sent was very short and very unsatisfactory, and
+entirely against all the evidence they had before them; they
+advised precautionary measures. I immediately wrote back an answer
+saying that their report was not satisfactory, and desiring a more
+detailed opinion, and the reasons which had dictated their
+conclusion; but in the meantime we set to work in earnest to adopt
+measures against any emergency. The only way of performing
+quarantine (with goods), it was found, would be by the employment
+of men-of-war, and we accordingly asked the Admiralty to supply
+ships for the purpose. This Lord Grey, Sir James Graham, and Sir
+Byam Martin objected to, but Sir Thomas Hardy and Captain Elliot
+did not. We proved that the ships would sustain no injury, so
+after a battle they agreed to give them. We made a variety of
+regulations, and gave strict orders for the due performance of
+quarantine, and to-morrow a proclamation is to be issued for
+constituting a Board of Health and enjoining obedience to the
+quarantine laws, so that everything has been done that can be
+done, and if the cholera comes here it is not our fault. Most of
+the authorities think it will come, but I doubt it. If indeed it
+is wafted through the air it may, but I don't think it will if it
+is only to be communicated by contact. All the evidence proves
+that goods cannot convey it; nevertheless we have placed
+merchandise under a discretionary quarantine, and though we have
+not promulgated any general regulations, we release no vessels
+that come from infected places, or that have got enumerated goods
+on board. Poulett Thomson, who is a trader as well as Privy
+Councillor, is very much disgusted in his former capacity at the
+measures he is obliged to concur in in his latter. This topic has
+now occupied for some days a good deal of the attention even of
+the fine fools of this town, and the Tories would even make it a
+matter of party accusation against the Government, only they don't
+know exactly how. It is always safe to deal in generalities, so
+they say that 'Government ought to be impeached if the disease
+comes here.'
+
+[Page Head: MEETING OF PEERS.]
+
+There was a meeting of Peers to the amount of nearly seventy at
+Lord Mansfield's the other day, which went off greatly to their
+satisfaction. They unanimously agreed to determine upon nothing
+in the way of amendment until they had seen the King's Speech, to
+which, however, they will consider themselves bound to move an
+amendment, provided it contains anything laudatory of the Reform
+Bill. The Duke of Wellington was not at the meeting, having been
+taken ill. I met him the day before at dinner, and had a good
+deal of conversation with him. He is in pretty good spirits, and
+thinks they may make a good fight of it yet; told me that
+Lyndhurst would certainly go thoroughly with them, praised him
+largely, said he was the best colleague that any man ever had,
+and that he should be very sorry ever to go into any Cabinet of
+which he was not a member. The King dined with the Duke
+yesterday, and was to give him a very fine sword. Aubin, who was
+to have acted in 'Hernani' before the Queen on Wednesday next, is
+suddenly gone off to Rome as _attaché_ to Brook Taylor, who is
+there negotiating. Taylor happened to be in Italy, and they sent
+him there, some doubts existing whether they could by law send a
+diplomatic agent to negotiate with the Pope; but it was referred
+to Denman, who said there was no danger. He is not accredited,
+and bears no _official_ character, but it is a regular mission.
+Lord Lansdowne told me that Leopold is inconceivably anxious to
+be King of Belgium, that short of going in direct opposition to
+the wishes and advice of all the Royal Family and of the
+Government he would do anything to be beking'd, and, what is
+equally absurd, that the others cannot bear that he should be
+thus elevated.
+
+
+June 23rd, 1831 {p.153}
+
+The King opened Parliament on Tuesday, with a greater crowd
+assembled to see him pass than was ever congregated before, and
+the House of Lords was so full of ladies that the Peers could not
+find places. The Speech was long, but good, and such as to
+preclude the possibility of an amendment. There was, however, a
+long discussion in each House, and the greatest bitterness and
+violence evinced in both--every promise of a stormy session. Lord
+Lansdowne said to the King, 'I am afraid, sir, you won't be able
+to _see_ the Commons.' 'Never mind,' said he; 'they shall _hear_
+me, I promise you,' and accordingly he thundered forth the Speech
+so that not a word was lost.
+
+There has been a reconciliation between the Wellingtonians and
+the old Tories, and they are now firmly knit in opposition to the
+present Government. Winchilsea, who was the last Tory who stuck
+to Lord Grey, renounced him in a hot speech, which evidently
+annoyed Lord Grey very much, for he made a long one in reply to
+him. Winchilsea is a silly, blustering, but good-natured and
+well-meaning man. Last night 'Hernani' was acted at Bridgewater
+House before the Queen and all the Royal Family. Aubin, who had
+acted Don Ruy, was sent to Rome, so Francis Leveson took the
+part. I was disappointed, though all the company were or
+pretended to be in ecstasies. The rhyme does not do, the room is
+not good for hearing, and with the exception of Miss Kemble (who
+was not so effective as I expected) and Craven, the actors were
+execrable.
+
+[Page Head: PREVENTION OF CHOLERA.]
+
+News came the day before yesterday that Marshal Diebitsch had died
+of the cholera. It was suspected that he had made away with
+himself, for he has failed so signally in his campaign against the
+Poles that his military reputation is tarnished; and it is known
+that his recall had been decreed, and that Count Paskiewitch was
+to succeed him. The alarm about the cholera still continues, but
+the Government are thrown into great perplexity by the danger on
+one hand of the cholera and the loss to trade on the other. A
+board of health has been formed, composed of certain members of
+the College of Physicians, Sir William Pym, Sir William Burnet,
+Sir Byam Martin, Sir James M'Grigor, and Mr. Stewart; and they in
+their first sitting advised that all the precautions established
+by our Orders in Council against the plague should be adopted
+against the cholera. This opinion was given under the authority of
+Dr. Warren, who, it appears, exercises the same ascendency in this
+Board that he had previously done in the College of Physicians on
+the same subject. The fact is that he takes the safe side. They
+have nothing to do with trade and commerce, which must shift for
+themselves, and probably the other members will not take upon
+themselves the responsibility of opposing measures which, if the
+disease ever appears here, and should they be relaxed, will expose
+the physicians to the odium and reproach of having been
+instrumental to its introduction. We, however (Auckland, Poulett
+Thomson, and I), are resolved to make the Cabinet take upon
+themselves the responsibility of framing the permanent rules which
+are to guide us during the continuance of the malady. It is
+remarkable that there never was more sickness than there is at
+present, without its being epidemic, but thousands of colds, sore
+throats, fevers, and such like; and a man at Blackwall has died of
+the English cholera, and another is ill of it, but their disorders
+seem to have nothing to do with the Indian cholera, though some of
+the symptoms are similar. These men cannot have got their cholera
+from Russia, but their cases spread alarm.
+
+
+June 25th, 1831 {p.155}
+
+John Russell brought his Bill in last night, in a good speech as
+his friends, and a dull one as his enemies, say. In the Lords
+Aberdeen attacked Lord Grey's foreign policy in a poor speech,
+which just did to show his bitterness and as a peg for Grey to
+hang a very good reply upon. The Duke of Wellington spoke
+afterwards; not much of a speech, but gentlemanlike and
+anti-factious, and _approving_ of all Lord Grey had done about
+Belgium. Lord Grey passed a very fine eulogium upon Lord
+Ponsonby. However, this was necessary, for he is going as
+Minister to Naples, not having a guinea. The Emperor Don Pedro is
+coming here, and Henry Webster is to be his conductor.
+
+
+June 30th, 1831 {p.155}
+
+At Court yesterday to swear in the Duke of Leinster, Mr. Justice
+Vaughan, and Sir E. Hyde East. Lord Ponsonby was there, just
+returned from Brussels. The first time of Stanley's and John
+Russell's being at a Council since they came into the Cabinet.
+
+
+July 3rd, 1831 {p.155}
+
+Went to Oatlands on Saturday, returned on Monday; nobody there
+but Emily Eden. Many revolutions that place has undergone in my
+time, from the days of the Duke of York and its gaieties (well
+remembered and much regretted) to its present quiet state. The
+Belgians have not yet made up their mind about Leopold, who does
+not know whether he is king or no king. The Reform Bill came on
+again last night, but it no longer excites so much interest.
+Nobody spoke well but Lord Porchester.
+
+
+July 5th, 1831 {p.156}
+
+The night before last Lord Harewood attacked Brougham in the
+House of Lords about the appointment of a magistrate without
+consulting him as Lord-Lieutenant. As usual his own party say he
+made out a good case, and the others that he made none. They say
+(and I believe with truth) that Brougham does not dislike such
+scrapes, and is so confident in his own ingenuity that he never
+doubts of getting out of them. Lyndhurst attacked him sharply. In
+the House of Commons last night the debate went on languidly,
+except a splendid speech from Macaulay and an answer (not bad,
+they say) from Murray. Lord Grey sent for me yesterday morning to
+talk over the coronation, for in consequence of what the Duke of
+Wellington said in the House the night before he thinks there
+must be one. The object is to make it shorter and cheaper than
+the last, which occupied the whole day and cost £240,000.
+
+
+July 8th, 1831 {p.156}
+
+The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried at five in the
+morning by 136 majority, somewhat greater than the Opposition had
+reckoned on. Peel made a powerful speech, but not so good as
+either of his others on Reform. Goulburn told me that the speech
+in answer to the Lord Advocate on the Irish Bill, when not 100
+people were in the House, was his best. The coronation fixed for
+the 23rd. Breakfasted with Rogers; went afterwards to the Duchess
+of Bedford's, where I met Lady Lyndhurst. I desired her to tell
+Lyndhurst all the Duke had said to me about him, for in these
+times it is as well they should draw together. He will be a match
+for Brougham in the House of Lords, for he can be concise, which
+the other cannot, and the Lords in the long run will prefer
+brevity to art, sarcasm, and anything else.
+
+[Page Head: CONTEST IN POLAND.]
+
+People are beginning to recover from their terror of the cholera,
+seeing that it does not come, and we are now beset with alarms of
+a different kind, which are those of the Scotch merchants for
+their cargoes. We have a most disagreeable business on our hands,
+very troublesome, odious, and expensive. The public requires that
+we should take care of its health, the mercantile world that we
+should not injure their trade. All evidence proves that goods are
+not capable of bringing in the disorder, but we have appointed a
+Board of Health, which is contagionist, and we can't get them to
+subscribe to that opinion. We dare not act without its sanction,
+and so we are obliged to air goods. This airing requires more
+ships and lazarets than we have, and the result is a perpetual
+squabbling, disputing, and complaining between the Privy Council,
+the Admiralty, the Board of Health, and the merchants. We have
+gone on pretty well hitherto, but more ships arrive every day;
+the complaints will grow louder, and the disease rather spreads
+than diminishes on the Continent. This cholera has afforded
+strong proofs of the partiality of the Prussians in the contest
+between the Russians and the Poles. The quarantine restrictions
+are always dispensed with for officers passing through the
+Prussian territory to join the Russian army. Count Paskiewitch
+was allowed to pass without performing any quarantine at all, and
+stores and provisions are suffered to be conveyed to the army,
+with every facility afforded by the Prussian authorities and
+every relaxation of the sanitary laws. The Duke of Wellington
+says that the contest will very soon be over, that the Russian
+army could not act before June, and that between February and
+June the country is not practicable for military operations. They
+have now so many months before them that the weight of their
+numerical superiority will crush the Poles. Austria and Prussia,
+too, do their utmost by affording every sort of indirect
+assistance to the Russians and thwarting the Poles as much as
+they can.
+
+
+July 10th, 1831 {p.157}
+
+The last two or three days I have been settling everything for
+the coronation,[7] which is to be confined to the ceremony in the
+Abbey and cost as little money and as little trouble as possible;
+and yesterday I was the medium of great civilities from Lord Grey
+to the Duke. He desired me to go to the Duke and show him the
+course of proceeding we mean to adopt, and request him to make
+any suggestion that occurred to him, and to enquire if he would
+have any objection to attend the Council at which it is to be
+formally settled on Wednesday, to which Peel and Rosslyn are
+likewise invited. I spoke to the Duke and Peel, and they will
+both come. All this is mighty polite.
+
+      [7] [The arrangements for coronations are made by a
+          Committee of the Privy Council, which sits as a Court
+          of Claims.]
+
+They have made a fine business of Cobbett's trial; his insolence
+and violence were past endurance, but he made an able speech. The
+Chief Justice was very timid, and favoured and complimented him
+throughout; very unlike what Ellenborough would have done. The
+jury were shut up the whole night, and in the morning the Chief
+Justice, without consulting either party, discharged them, which
+was probably on the whole the best that could be done. Denman told
+me that he expected they would have acquitted him without leaving
+the box, and this principally on account of Brougham's evidence,
+for Cobbett brought the Chancellor forward and made him prove that
+_after_ these very writings, and while this prosecution was
+hanging over him, Brougham wrote to his son 'Dear Sir,' and
+requesting he would ask his father for some former publications of
+his, which he thought would be of great use on the present
+occasion in quieting the labourers. This made a great impression,
+and the Attorney-General never knew one word of the letter till he
+heard it in evidence, the Chancellor having flourished it off, as
+is his custom, and then quite forgotten it. The Attorney told me
+that Gurney overheard one juryman say to another, 'Don't you think
+we had better stop the case? It is useless to go on.' The other,
+however, declared for hearing it out, so on the whole it ended as
+well as it might, just better than an acquittal, and that is all.
+
+
+July 11th, 1831 {p.158}
+
+Dined with Lord Grey yesterday. In the middle of dinner
+Talleyrand got a letter announcing that Leopold's conditional
+acceptance of the Belgian throne had been agreed to by a great
+majority of the Chamber; and a Mr. Walker, who brought the news
+(and left Brussels at five o'clock the day before), came to Lord
+Grey and told him with what enthusiasm it had been received
+there. Lord Grey wrote to the Chancellor, with whom Leopold was
+dining, to tell him of the event.
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON AND THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+This morning I got a note from the Duke of Wellington declining
+to attend the Council on Wednesday, and desiring I would impart
+the same to Lord Grey and the King. He says that it would give
+rise to misrepresentations, and so it would. He is right to
+decline. It is, however, Peel who has prevented him, I am
+certain. When I told Peel on Saturday, he looked very grave, did
+not seem to like it, and said he must confer with the Duke first,
+as he should be sorry to do otherwise than he did. Yesterday I
+know the Duke dined with Peel, who I have no doubt persuaded him
+to send this excuse. The Government are in exceeding delight at
+the Duke's conduct ever since he has been in opposition, which
+certainly has been very noble, straightforward, gentlemanlike,
+and without an atom of faction or mischief about it. He has done
+himself great honour; he threw over Aberdeen completely on that
+business about foreign policy which he introduced soon after the
+meeting of Parliament, and now he is assisting the Government in
+their Lieutenancy Bill, and is in constant communication with
+Melbourne on the subject.
+
+
+July 13th, 1831 {p.159}
+
+I took the Duke's note to Lord Grey, who seemed annoyed, and
+repeated that he had only intended the invitation as a mark of
+attention, and never thought of shifting any responsibility from
+his own shoulders; that as there was a deviation from the old
+ceremonial, he thought the Duke's sanction would have satisfied
+those who might otherwise have disputed the propriety of such a
+change. 'Does he then,' he asked, 'mean to attend _the Committee_?'
+I did not then know; but yesterday in the House of Lords I asked
+the Duke, and he said 'No, for the same reasons,' that upon
+consideration he was sure he had better not go, that by so doing
+he might give umbrage to his own party, and he could only do good
+by exercising a powerful influence over them and restraining them,
+and that his means of doing good would be impaired by any
+appearance of approximating himself to Government, that when the
+general plan of the arrangements was settled, he should have no
+objection to lend a helping hand, if wanted, to the details with
+which he was very conversant. I wrote on a slip of paper that he
+would _not_ come, and gave it to Lord Grey, who said nothing. Peel
+did not write to me, but he and Rosslyn do the same as the Duke.
+
+[Page Head: RESERVE OF MR. PEEL.]
+
+The Belgian deputation came yesterday, and Lebeau and his
+colleagues were in the House of Lords. We had been promised a
+good day there between Londonderry and Brougham and Plunket, but
+the former made a tiresome, long speech; the latter spoke civilly
+and dully; and Brougham not at all, so it ended in smoke. In the
+other House on Monday the Ministers got a good majority (102) on
+the wine duties, to their great delight, but the Opposition were
+not only mortified at the defeat, but disgusted and enraged at
+the conduct of Peel (their leader, as they considered him), who
+came into the House, got up in the middle of Herries' speech,
+walked out and was heard of no more that night; never voted, nor
+gave any notice of his intention not to vote. The moral effect of
+this upon his party is immense, and has served to destroy the
+very little confidence they had in him before. It is impossible
+to conceive by what motives he is actuated, because if they were
+purely selfish it would seem that he defeats his own object; for
+what can he gain by disgusting and alienating his party, when
+although they cannot do without him, it is equally true that he
+cannot do without them? I walked home with William Banks, who
+went largely into the whole question of Peel's extraordinary
+disposition and conduct, and said how disheartening it was, and
+what a blow to those who looked to him as a leader in these
+troublous times. Henry Currey (no important person, but whose
+opinion is that of fifty other like him) told me that his conduct
+had been _atrocious_, and that he had himself voted in the
+minority against his opinion because he thought it right to
+sacrifice that opinion to the interests of his party. The fact
+is, if Peel had imparted his sentiments to his party he might
+have prevented their dividing on this question with the greatest
+ease. There is nothing they are not ready to do at his bidding,
+but his coldness and reserve are so impenetrable that nobody can
+ascertain his sentiments or divine his intentions, and thus he
+leaves his party in the lurch without vouchsafing to give them
+any reason or explanation of his conduct. In the meantime the
+other party (as if each was destined to suffer more from the
+folly of its friends than the hostility of its foes) has been
+thrown into great confusion by Lord Milton's notice to propose an
+alteration in the franchise, and a meeting was called of all the
+friends of Government at Althorp, when Milton made a speech just
+such as any opponent of the Bill might make in the House of
+Commons, going over the old ground of Fox, Pitt, Burke, and
+others having sat for rotten boroughs. They were annoyed to the
+last degree, and the more provoked when reflecting that it was
+for him Althorp had been led to spend an immense sum of money,
+and compromise his character besides in the Northamptonshire
+election. His obstinacy and impracticability are so extreme that
+nobody can move him, and Sefton told me that nothing could be
+more unsatisfactory than the termination of the meeting. I guess,
+however, that they will find some means or other of quieting him.
+
+The Opposition divided last night 187 against 284 on the question
+of hearing counsel for the condemned boroughs--not so good a
+division for the minority as they expected, and after a very
+powerful speech of Attwood's, to which nobody listened.
+
+There is a fresh access of alarm on account of the cholera, which
+has broken out at St. Petersburg, and will probably spread over
+Germany. The cordon of troops which kept it off last year from
+St. Petersburg appears to have been withdrawn, which is no doubt
+the cause of its appearance there. We have constant reports of
+supposed cases of disease and death, but up to this period it
+does not appear to have shown itself here, though a case was
+transmitted to us from Glasgow exceedingly like it. The sick man
+had not come from any infected place. The Board of Health are,
+however, in great alarm, and the authorities generally think we
+shall have it. From all I can observe from the facts of the case
+I am convinced that the liability to contagion is greatly
+diminished by the influence of sea air, for which reason I doubt
+that it will be brought here across the water. If it does come it
+will pass through France first. The King of Prussia has at last
+insisted upon a rigid execution of the quarantine laws in his
+dominions. Marshal Paskiewitch was detained on his road to take
+the command of the army, and sent a courier to the King to
+request he might be released forthwith, urging the importance of
+the Emperor to have his report of the state of the army; but the
+King refused, and sent word that the Emperor himself had
+submitted to quarantine, and so his aide-de-camp might do the
+same.
+
+
+July 14th, 1831 {p.162}
+
+The effects of Peel's leaving the party to shift for itself were
+exhibited the night before last. He went away (there was no
+reason why he should not, except that he should have stayed to
+_manage_ the debate and keep his people in order), and the
+consequence was that they went on in a vexatious squabble of
+repeated adjournments till eight o'clock in the morning, when
+Government at last beat them. The Opposition gradually dwindled
+down to twenty-five people, headed by Stormont, Tullamore, and
+Brudenell, while the Government kept 180 together to the last;
+between parties so animated and so led there can be no doubt on
+which side will be the success. The Government were in high
+spirits at the result, and thought the fatigue well repaid by the
+display of devotion on the part of their friends and of factious
+obstinacy on that of their enemies. After these two nights it is
+impossible not to consider the Tory party as having ceased to
+exist for all the practical and legitimate ends of political
+association--that is, as far as the House of Commons is
+concerned, where after all the battle must be fought. There is
+still a rabble of Opposition, tossed about by every wind of folly
+and passion, and left to the vagaries and eccentricities of
+Wetherell, or Attwood, or Sadler, or the intemperate zeal
+of such weak fanatics as the three Lords above mentioned;
+but for a grave, deliberative, efficient Opposition there seem to
+be no longer the elements, or they are so scattered and disunited
+that they never can come together, and the only man who might
+have collected, and formed, and directed them begs leave to be
+excused. It is a wretched state of things and can portend no
+good. If there had not been prognostications of ruin and
+destruction to the State in all times, proceeding from all
+parties, which the event has universally falsified, I should
+believe that the consummation of evil was really at hand; as it
+is I cannot feel that certainty of destruction that many do,
+though I think we are more seriously menaced than ever we were
+before, because the danger is of a very different description.
+But there is an elasticity in the institutions of this country,
+which may rise up for the purpose of checking these proceedings,
+and in the very uncertainty of what may be produced and
+engendered by such measures there is hope of salvation.
+
+[Page Head: PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION.]
+
+Yesterday a Council was held at St. James's for the coronation;
+the Princes, Ministers, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of
+London were present. The King read an address to the Lords
+desiring that his coronation might be short, and that all the
+ceremonies might be dispensed with except those in the church.
+Lord Grey had composed a paper in which he had made the King say
+that these ceremonies were at variance with the genius of the age
+we live in, and suited to another period of society; but the
+Archbishop objected to these expressions, and thought it better
+to give the injunction without the comments; so Lord Grey wrote
+another and shorter paper, but he showed the first to Lord
+Lansdowne and me, and we both told him that we thought the
+Archbishop was right and that the second paper was the best. The
+Duke of Gloucester was very indignant at not having been summoned
+in a more respectful way than by a common circular, and
+complained to the Lord President.[8] I told him to throw it all
+on me. He had been grumbling to the Duke of Sussex before, who
+did not care. Leopold was too much of a king to attend, so he
+came to the levee (but _en prince_ only) and not to the Council.
+Lieven told me it was true that the Grand Duke Constantine was
+dead, and that it was a very good thing.
+
+      [8] [It is customary to summon the Royal Dukes to a Council
+          by a letter This formality seems to have been
+          overlooked in this instance.]
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XV.
+
+Preparations for the Coronation--Long Wellesley committed by the
+  Chancellor for Contempt--Alderman Thompson and his
+  Constituents--Prince Leopold goes to Belgium--Royal Tombs and
+  Remains--The Lieutenancy of the Tower--The Cholera--The Belgian
+  Fortresses--Secret Negotiations of Canning with the Whigs--
+  Transactions before the Close of the Liverpool Administration--
+  Duke of Wellington and Peel--The Dutch invade Belgium--Defeat
+  of the Belgian Army--The French enter Belgium--Lord Grey's
+  Composure--Audience at Windsor--Danger of Reform--Ellen Tree--
+  The French in Belgium--Goodwood--The Duke of Richmond--The
+  Reform Bill in Difficulties--Duke of Wellington calls on Lord
+  Grey--The King declines to be kissed by the Bishops--
+  Talleyrand's Conversation--State of Europe and France--
+  Coronation Squabbles--The King divides the old Great Seal
+  between Brougham and Lyndhurst--Relations of the Duchess of
+  Kent to George IV. and William IV.--The Coronation--Irritation
+  of the King--The Cholera--A Dinner at St. James's--State of the
+  Reform Bill--Sir Augustus d'Este--Madame Junot--State of
+  France--Poland.
+
+
+July 15th, 1831 {p.165}
+
+A Committee of Council sat yesterday at the Office about the
+coronation; present, the Cabinet, Dukes of Gloucester and Sussex,
+Archbishop and Bishop of London; much discussion and nothing
+done. Brougham raised every sort of objection about the services
+and the dispensing with them, and would have it the King _could_
+not dispense with them; finally, the Attorney-General and
+Solicitor-General were sent for to the House of Lords and desired
+to reconsider the Proclamation.
+
+
+July 20th, 1831 {p.165}
+
+I have been laid up with the gout these last few days, unable to
+move, but without violent pain. The Committee of Council met
+again on Friday last, when the Proclamation was settled. A Court
+of Claims is to sit, but to be prohibited from receiving any
+claims except those relating to the ceremonies in the Abbey. The
+Lords went to St. James's and held the Council, at which the King
+made a little speech, to the effect that he would be crowned to
+satisfy the tender consciences of those who thought it necessary,
+but that he thought that it was his duty (as this country, in
+common with every other, was labouring under distress) to make it
+as economical as possible. A difficulty arose about the
+publication of the Proclamation, usually done by heralds with
+certain ceremonies. The first proclamation is not the one to be
+acted on; the second does not announce the coronation, but refers
+to the first. I asked Brougham what was to be done. He said both
+must be read. Lord Grey suggested neither, which was done.
+
+The other day Long Wellesley carried off his daughter, a ward in
+Chancery, from her guardians, and secreted her. The matter was
+brought before the Chancellor, who sent for Wellesley. He came,
+and refused to give her up; so Brougham committed him to the
+Fleet Prison. The matter was brought the next day before the
+House of Commons, and referred to their Committee of Privileges;
+and in the meantime Brougham has been making a great splutter
+about his authority and his Court both on the judicial bench and
+from the Woolsack. The lawyers in the House of Commons were
+divided as to Wellesley's right of privilege in such a case.[1]
+
+      [1] [Both the Chancellor and Mr. Wellesley wrote to the
+          Speaker, and their letters were read to the House
+          before the Committee of Privileges was appointed.
+          Meanwhile Mr. Wellesley remained at his house in Dover
+          Street in charge of two officers of the Court of
+          Chancery. There is, I believe, no doubt that the
+          committal was good, and that Mr. Wellesley's privilege
+          as a member of Parliament did not protect him, a
+          contempt of the Court having been committed. A similar
+          point has recently been raised in the Court of Queen's
+          Bench upon the committal of Mr. Whalley.]
+
+[Page Head: ALDERMAN THOMPSON AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.]
+
+There has been exhibited in the course of the last few days one
+of the most disgraceful scenes (produced by the Reform Bill) ever
+witnessed. On the question of the disfranchisement of Appleby a
+certain Alderman Thompson, member for the City, who stood deeply
+pledged to Reform, voted for hearing counsel in defence of the
+borough, on which there was a meeting of his ward, or of certain
+of his constituents, to consider his conduct. He was obliged to
+appear before them, and, after receiving a severe lecture, to
+confess that he had been guilty of inadvertence, to make many
+submissive apologies, and promise to vote no more but in
+obedience to the Minister. It is always an agreeable pastime to
+indulge one's virtuous indignation, and wish to have been in the
+place of such an one for the sake of doing what he ought to have
+done but did not do, by which, without any of the risk of a very
+difficult and unpleasant situation, one has all the imaginary
+triumph of eloquence, independence, and all kinds of virtue; and
+so in this instance I feel that I should have liked to pour upon
+these wretches the phials of my wrath and contempt. If the
+alderman had had one spark of spirit he would have spurned the
+terrors of this plebeian inquisition, and told them that they had
+elected him, and that it was his intention, as long as he
+continued their representative, to vote as he thought proper,
+always redeeming the pledges he had given at his election; that
+he would not submit to be questioned for this or any other vote,
+and if they were not satisfied with his conduct when the
+Parliament should be over they might choose whom they would in
+his place. What makes the case the more absurd is, that this
+question of Appleby is monstrous, and it never ought (by their
+own principle) to have been put in Schedule A at all. There was a
+debate and a division on it last night, and a majority for the
+Ministers of seventy-five in a very full House; the worst
+division they have yet had. Every small victory in the House of
+Commons is probably equivalent to a great defeat in the House of
+Lords, unless they do what is now talked of--make as many Peers
+as may be necessary to carry the Bill, which I doubt their daring
+to do or the King consenting to do. The lapse of time and such
+difficulties and absurdities will probably obstruct the Bill, so
+as to prevent its passing. God knows what we shall have instead.
+
+Prince Leopold started on Saturday, having put his pension into
+trustees' hands (by the advice of Lambton), to keep up Claremont
+and pay his debts and pensions, and then hand over the residue to
+the Exchequer, the odds being that none of it ever gets there,
+and that he is back here before the debts are paid. It seems
+that, desirous as he had been to go, when the time drew near he
+got alarmed, and wanted to back out, but they brought him (though
+with difficulty) to the point. He has proposed to the Princess
+Louise, King Louis Philippe's daughter.
+
+Halford has been with me this morning gossiping (which he likes);
+he gave me an account of his discovery of the head of Charles I.
+in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, to which he was directed by
+Wood's account in the 'Athenæ Oxonienses.' He says that they
+also found the coffin of Henry VIII., but that the air had
+penetrated and the body had been reduced to a skeleton. By his
+side was Jane Seymour's coffin untouched, and he has no doubt her
+body is perfect. The late King intended to have it opened, and he
+says he will propose it to this King. By degrees we may visit the
+remains of the whole line of Tudor and Plantagenet too, and see
+if those famous old creatures were like their effigies. He says
+Charles's head was exactly as Vandyke had painted him.
+
+
+July 26th, 1831 {p.168}
+
+At Oatlands on Saturday, and came back on Sunday night. Nobody
+there but my father, mother, Walpole, Sneyd, and Alava; very
+different from what I once remember it. There has been a great
+deal of talk about the Duke of Wellington giving Lord Munster the
+Lieutenancy of the Tower, the truth of which is as follows:--It
+is in the King's gift, and he sent to the Duke and desired him to
+name somebody. The Duke would have liked to name one of
+three--Fitzroy Somerset, Colin Campbell, or Hardinge. The latter
+would not have been agreeable to Government, and therefore it
+would have occasioned the King an embarrassment; the second was
+provided for, and Lord Hill advised the first to remain as he is
+(though I don't see why he could not have had both); so the Duke
+thought it would gratify the King if he was to name Munster.
+Munster wrote a very civil letter to the Duke, full of thanks and
+saying that he begged he would not think of him if he had anybody
+else to give it to, and that he would take upon himself to
+explain to the King his not accepting it. The Duke persisted,
+and so he had it. I must say he might have found some one out of
+the number of his old officers to give it to rather than Munster.
+
+The King of France's Speech arrived yesterday, but nothing was
+said in the House of Lords, because Lord Grey was at Windsor. It
+will make a stir--the general tone of it, and the demolition of
+the fortresses which cost us seven millions. Not one of the
+papers made a remark upon it; nothing will do for them but
+Reform.
+
+[Page Head: THE CHOLERA.]
+
+Fresh claims have been raised about cholera morbus. A man at Port
+Glasgow insists upon it, without much apparent reason, that it
+prevails there; so we have sent a medical man down, in order to
+quiet people's minds and to set the question at rest. Lord Grey,
+who is credulous, believes the Glasgow man's story, and spread
+the news in his own family, who immediately dispersed it over the
+rest of the town, and yesterday nobody could talk of anything
+else; not believing it very much, and not understanding it at
+all, for if they did they would not be so flippant. Lady Holland
+wrote to Lord Lansdowne to desire he would recommend her the best
+_cholera_ doctor that he had heard of. I have just received a
+letter from Moore, saying he has ordered his publisher to send me
+a copy of 'Lord Edward Fitzgerald,' and that he only sends copies
+to the Duke of Leinster and me, but begs I will send him no
+opinion, for 'opinions fidget him'--'genus irritabile vatum.'
+
+
+July 27th, 1831 {p.169}
+
+Yesterday Aberdeen asked Lord Grey some questions in a very few
+words, accompanied as usual with a sneer, which is very
+unbecoming, and of course gave Lord Grey the advantage of
+repelling it with scorn. The Duke spoke, and pretty well, but
+laid some stress more on Portugal than upon Belgium, which is
+what I cannot understand, but Alava told me that when he came to
+town yesterday he had said to him that, as an Englishman, he had
+never felt so deeply affected for the honour of his country as in
+this transaction. I met him after the debate, and he said he
+thought he had done some good by what he said. The question of
+the Belgian fortresses is not without great difficulty, and the
+strong part of it for Government is that their demolition was
+agreed to by all the Powers interested (except Holland), and
+without the presence of the French Plenipotentiary at the meeting
+when it was decided. I am inclined to think that the manner in
+which it was blurted out in the King of France's Speech, as a
+clap-trap for him, will have made the principal difficulty,
+though the policy may be very questionable.
+
+
+July 28th, 1831 {p.170}
+
+On Tuesday night they got through Schedule A, but in a very
+bungling manner, and the events of the night, its enemies say,
+damaged the Bill, not, however, that anything can hurt it in the
+House of Commons, though such things may tell in the House of
+Lords; but on the question of Saltash, which the Opposition did
+not consider as a very strong case, so little that they had not
+intended to divide on it, John Russell and the rest suddenly gave
+way, and without informing their friends moved that it ought to
+be in Schedule B. On a division all the Ministers voted with, the
+Opposition, so the borough was transferred to B. Their friends
+were furious, and not without reason, that they had not
+determined where it ought to be placed, and have transferred it
+themselves instead of leaving them in the dilemma they were in
+when the division arrived. A court and levee yesterday.
+
+
+Oatlands, July 31st, 1831 {p.170}
+
+[Page Head: CANNING'S NEGOTIATION WITH THE WHIGS.]
+
+The Arbuthnots and Mr. Loch here. I rode down after the Opera
+last night; walked for an hour and a half with Arbuthnot under
+the shade of one of the great trees, talking of various old
+matters and some new, principally about Canning and his disputes
+and differences with the Duke of Wellington. He says that the
+Duke's principal objection to Canning was the knowledge of his
+having negotiated with the Whigs previously to Lord Liverpool's
+illness, which was communicated to the Duke; he would not say by
+whom. The person who went between them was Sir Robert Wilson,
+deputed by Brougham, and those who afterwards joined Canning. Sir
+Robert spoke to Huskisson, and he to Canning. What they said was
+this: that finding his view so liberal, they were ready to
+support and join him, and in the event of his becoming Minister
+(on Lord Liverpool's death or resignation) that they would serve
+under him. Arbuthnot does not know what answer Canning sent to
+this, nor whether he _did_ anything on it, but when on Lord
+Liverpool's illness Canning went to the King at Windsor, he told
+him that if the Tories would not consent to his being named
+Minister 'he was sure of the Whigs,' but this he entreated the
+King not to mention. Immediately after Canning the Duke went to
+the King, and to him the King directly repeated what Canning had
+said. The Duke told the King that he was already aware of
+Canning's intercourse with the Whigs, and with that knowledge
+that he could not consent to his being Prime Minister, as he
+could have no confidence in him. Shortly after this, and before
+the resignation of the Ministers, but after the difficulties had
+begun, Knighton came to Arbuthnot, and said he was afraid his
+Royal Master had done a great deal of mischief by repeating to
+the Duke what Canning had said, that he was very anxious to bring
+the Duke and Canning together again, and asked him (Arbuthnot) to
+go with him to Canning and see what could be done. Arbuthnot
+declined, but said if Canning _wished_ to see him he would go.
+Canning sent for him, and they had a long conversation, in which
+he expressed his desire to go on with the Duke, and it was agreed
+the Duke should call on him and have a conversation and see what
+could be arranged. The Duke called on him, and they talked of a
+variety of matters, but not a word passed about the formation of
+a new Ministry. Arbuthnot went to the House, and told Canning how
+much he was surprised and disappointed that nothing had come of
+this conversation, to which he made no reply, but Arbuthnot found
+afterwards that between his leaving Canning and the Duke's going
+to him Peel had been to him and proposed that the Duke should be
+Prime Minister. This so offended Canning, believing that it was a
+measure of the party and done with the Duke's consent, that he
+resolved not to utter a word to the Duke on the subject, and so
+ended the hopes of their agreement.
+
+It does not appear, however, as if anything could have been done,
+for Canning was bent upon being Prime Minister; and I asked
+Arbuthnot to what the Duke would have consented, and he said,
+'Not to that,' that after the transaction with the Whigs he could
+not have felt sufficient confidence in Canning to agree to his
+being Prime Minister. (If he distrusted Canning he ought to have
+refused to act with him at all, not merely objected to his being
+Prime Minister, but the ground of his objection was shifted.)
+Originally the King could not bear Canning, and he was only
+persuaded by the Duke to take him into the Cabinet. Afterwards he
+was so offended at the influence he acquired there, and
+particularly with that which he had got over the mind of Lord
+Liverpool, that he one day sent for Arbuthnot and desired him to
+tell Lord Liverpool that he could not endure to see Canning make
+a puppet of him, and he would rather he was Prime Minister at
+once than have all the power without the name by governing him
+(Lord Liverpool) as he pleased, and that unless he could shake
+off this influence he was determined not to let him continue at
+the head of the Government, and, moreover, he must find some
+means of getting rid of Canning altogether. This Arbuthnot wrote
+to Lord Liverpool, who wrote an answer couched in terms of
+indignation, saying he by no means coveted his situation, that he
+was sure his colleagues would resent any indignity offered to
+him, and that the King had better take care what he was about,
+and not, by producing disunion in the Government, incur the risk
+of making the end of his reign as disastrous as the beginning of
+it had been prosperous.
+
+Not very long after Canning got into favour, and in this
+way:--Harriet Wilson at the time of her connexion with Lord
+Ponsonby got hold of some of Lady Conyingham's letters to him,
+and she wrote to Ponsonby, threatening, unless he gave her a
+large sum, to come to England and publish everything she could.
+This produced dismay among all the parties, and they wanted to
+get Ponsonby away and to silence the woman. In this dilemma
+Knighton advised the King to have recourse to Canning, who saw
+the opening to favour, jumped at it, and instantly offered to
+provide for Ponsonby and do anything which could relieve the King
+from trouble. Ponsonby was sent to Buenos Ayres forthwith, and
+the letters were bought up. From this time Canning grew in
+favour, which he took every means to improve, and shortly gained
+complete ascendancy over the King.
+
+[Page Head: CANNING AND THE LIVERPOOL ADMINISTRATION.]
+
+Arbuthnot said that Canning and Castlereagh had always gone on
+well together after their reconciliation, but that Lord
+Liverpool's subjection to him arose more from fear than
+affection. Liverpool told Arbuthnot that he earnestly desired to
+resign his office, that his health was broken, and he was only
+retained by the consideration that his retirement might be the
+means of breaking up a Government which he had (through the
+kindness of his colleagues to him) been enabled to hold together;
+that Canning worked with a twenty-horse power; that his
+sensitiveness was such that he [Canning] felt every paragraph in
+a newspaper that reflected on him, and that the most trifling
+causes produced an irritation on his mind, which was always
+vented upon him (Lord Liverpool), and that every time the door
+was opened he dreaded the arrival of a packet from Canning.
+Arbuthnot had been in great favour with the King, who talked to
+him and consulted him, but he nearly cut him after the disunion
+consequent on Canning's appointment. Knighton came to Arbuthnot
+and desired him to try and prevail on the Duke to consent to
+Canning's being Prime Minister, which he told him was useless,
+and from that time the King was just civil to the Duke and that
+was all. The Duke had always suspected that Canning wanted all
+along to be Prime Minister, and that when he sent him to Russia
+to congratulate Nicholas it was to get him out of the way, and he
+was the more convinced because Canning proposed to him to go on
+to Moscow for the coronation, which he positively refused, having
+promised his friends to be back in April, which he accordingly
+was. Canning never had a great opinion of Huskisson, nor really
+liked him, though he thought him very useful from being
+conversant with the subjects on which he was himself most
+ignorant--trade and finance; but he did not contemplate his being
+in the Cabinet, and had no confidence in his judgment or his
+discretion; and this tallies with what Lady Canning told me,
+though certainly he did not do Huskisson justice in any way,
+which Arbuthnot admitted. Knighton behaved exceedingly well
+during the King's illness, and by the vigilant watch he kept over
+the property of various kinds prevented the pillage which Lady
+Conyngham would otherwise have made. She knew everything, but did
+not much trouble herself about affairs, being chiefly intent upon
+amassing money and collecting jewels.
+
+He talked a great deal of Peel, of the difficulty of going on
+with him, of his coldness, incommunicativeness; that at the time
+of the opening the Liverpool Railroad he had invited the Duke,
+Aberdeen, and some more to meet at Drayton to consider of
+strengthening themselves; that they had left the place just as
+they had gone to it, nothing settled and nothing elicited from
+Peel; that on the late occasion of the wine duties they had gone
+to Peel and asked him whether they should fight out and divide on
+it; that he had referred them to Goulburn, who had decided in the
+affirmative, on which he had agreed to their friends being
+mustered, but that he took offence at something that was said in
+debate, and marched off _sans mot dire_; that somebody was sent
+after him to represent the bad effect of his departure, and
+entreat him to return, but he was gone to bed. This is by no
+means the first time Arbuthnot has spoken to me about Peel in
+this strain and with such feelings. How are the Duke and he to
+make a Government again, especially after what Lyndhurst said of
+the Duke? Necessity may bring them together, but though common
+interest and common danger may unite them, there the seeds of
+disunion always must be. I have scribbled down all I can
+recollect of a very loose conversation, and perhaps something
+else may occur to me by-and-by.
+
+In the meantime to return to the events of the present day.
+Althorp raised a terrible storm on Friday by proposing that the
+House should sit on Saturday. They spent six hours debating the
+question, which might have been occupied in the business; so
+that, though they did not sit yesterday, they gained nothing and
+made bad blood. Yesterday morning Murray made a conciliatory
+speech, which Burdett complimented, and all went on harmoniously.
+John Russell is ill, nearly done up with fatigue and exertion and
+the bad atmosphere he breathes for several hours every night.
+
+[Page Head: LONG WELLESLEY AND BROUGHAM.]
+
+Long Wellesley has given up his daughter and has been discharged
+from arrest. I met the Solicitor-General yesterday, who told me
+this, and said that Brougham had been in the midst of his
+blustering terribly nervous about it. This was clear, for both he
+and Wellesley were waiting for the report of the Committee of the
+House of Commons, though Brougham affected to hold it cheap, and
+talked very big of what he should do and should have done had it
+been unfavourable to his authority. The fact is that Long
+Wellesley was contumacious, but after a short confinement he
+knocked under and yielded to the Chancellor on all points, and
+was released from durance.
+
+We had a meeting on the Coronation business yesterday morning,
+and took into consideration the estimates. That from the
+Chamberlain's Office was £70,000 and upwards, which was referred
+to a sub-committee to dissect and report upon.
+
+
+August 5th, 1831 {p.175}
+
+Yesterday morning arrived the news of Casimir Périer's
+resignation in consequence of the division in the Chamber of
+Deputies on the election of President. He had very unnecessarily
+committed himself by declaring he would resign if Lafitte was
+elected, and though the other candidate (M. Girod de l'Ain) was
+chosen, as it was, only by a majority of five, he considered this
+tantamount to a defeat, and accordingly went out of office.[2] It
+was supposed, but not quite certain, that Molé would be First
+Minister, but without much chance of being able to keep that
+post.
+
+      [2] [M. Casimir Périer did not retire from office on this
+          occasion, though he had momentarily resigned it. He
+          remained in power till his death which took place from
+          cholera in the following year.]
+
+[Page Head: HOLLAND AND BELGIUM.]
+
+At the same time comes intelligence that the King of Holland has
+marched into Belgium at three points with three corps under the
+Prince of Orange, Prince Frederick, and the Prince of Nassau.
+This, however, was premature, for it turns out that the Prince of
+Orange in a proclamation to his army declares that the armistice
+was to end last night at half-past nine, and that he marches 'to
+secure equitable terms of separation,' not therefore for the
+purpose of reconquest. I saw Lord Grey in the morning in a state
+of great consternation, the more particularly as he told me a
+Dutch Plenipotentiary had arrived the day before with full powers
+to treat, and that he had not in his intercourse with him and
+with Palmerston uttered one word of the King of Holland's
+intentions. In the evening I had a long conversation with
+Matuscewitz. He says that it is impossible to foresee the end of
+all this, but that the most probable event is a general war.
+Coming at the moment of a change in the French Ministry, nobody
+can guess what the French may do, and the Conferences are
+useless, because any resolution they may make may probably be
+totally inapplicable to the state of things produced by events
+hastening on elsewhere. The King of Holland has all along very
+justly complained of the proceedings of the Allies towards him,
+which they justify by necessity ('the tyrant's plea') and to
+which he has been obliged sulkily to submit, though always
+protesting and never acquiescing, except in an armistice to which
+he agreed. Meantime the Allies went on negotiating, but without
+making much progress, and the Dutchman borrowed money and put his
+army on a respectable footing. It is remarkable that as long as
+he held out that he sought the reunion he could get no money at
+all, but no sooner did he renounce the idea of reunion, and
+propose to make war for objects more immediately national to the
+Dutch, than he got a loan filled (in two days) to the amount of
+about a million sterling. When the proposition was made to
+Leopold, though no arrangement was actually agreed upon, there
+was a general understanding that the King of Holland would
+consent to the separation of the two States, and that the
+Belgians should resign their claims to Limbourg and Luxembourg,
+and after Lord Ponsonby's letter which made so much noise,
+Falck's protestation, and Ponsonby's recall this seemed to be
+clearly established. When Leopold received the offer of the
+Crown, he only consented to take it upon an understanding that
+the Belgians would agree to the terms prescribed by the Allies;
+but before the whole thing was settled he took fright and began
+to repent, and it was with some difficulty he was at last
+persuaded to go by the Belgian deputies with assurances that
+these terms would be complied with. Go, however, he did, and that
+unaccompanied by any person of weight or consequence from this
+country. Matuscewitz told me that he went on his knees to
+Palmerston to send somebody with him who would prevent his
+getting into scrapes, and that Talleyrand and Falck, by far the
+best heads among them, had both predicted that Leopold would
+speedily commit some folly the consequences of which might be
+irreparable.[3] Our Government, however, paid no attention to
+these remonstrances, and he was suffered to go alone. Accordingly
+he had no sooner arrived than, intoxicated with the applause he
+received, he forgot all that had occurred here and all the
+resolutions of the Allies, and flourished off speeches in direct
+contradiction to them, and announced his determination to
+comprehend the disputed provinces in his new kingdom. It is no
+wonder that this excited the indignation of the King of Holland,
+but it is unfortunate that he could not be patient a little
+longer. Notwithstanding his march, however, his Plenipotentiary
+here has full power to treat of all the disputed points, and is
+authorised to put a stop to hostilities at any moment when he can
+see the prospect of satisfaction; it is, however, believed here
+(though at present not on any sufficient grounds) that Prussia
+secretly supports the King of Holland. The danger is that France
+may without any further communication with her Allies consider
+the aggression of the Dutch as a justification of a corresponding
+movement on her part, and should this happen the Prussians would
+no longer deem themselves bound by the common obligations which
+united all the conferring and mediating Powers, and a general war
+would infallibly ensue. Nor is it unlikely that the French
+Ministry, beset as they are with difficulties, and holding their
+offices _de die in diem_, may think a war the best expedient
+for occupying the nation and bringing all the restless spirits
+and unquiet humours into one focus. I have long been of opinion
+that such mighty armaments and such a nervous state of things
+cannot end without a good deal of blood-letting. [The Prussians
+did not support the Dutch, the French did march, and war did not
+ensue.--August 28th.]
+
+      [3] [This account of Leopold's arrival in Belgium is hardly
+          fair, and forms an amusing contrast to Baron Stockmar's
+          narrative of the same occurrence in his 'Memoirs,' p.
+          180. Unquestionably Leopold showed far more foresight,
+          judgment, and resolution than Mr. Greville gave him
+          credit for. He was not accompanied by 'any person of
+          weight or consequence' from this country, because that
+          would have given him the air of a puppet and a British
+          nominee. But Stockmar was with him. The King entered
+          Brussels on the 21st of July, and was well received. On
+          the 4th of August the Dutch broke the truce and invaded
+          Belgium. It was impossible to provide against so sudden
+          a movement, and the Army of the Scheldt was beaten at
+          Louvain on the 12th of August. The King then claimed
+          the intervention of France and England in defence of
+          the neutrality and independence of Belgium, which had
+          been guaranteed to him by the treaty of the eighteen
+          articles under which he had accepted the Crown. But the
+          passage in the text is curious, because it shows how
+          little confidence was felt at that time in a prince who
+          turned out to be one of the ablest rulers and
+          politicians of his time.]
+
+_At night._--Lord Grey was attacked by Aberdeen to-night on his
+foreign policy, and particularly about Portugal, and he is said
+to have made a splendid speech. Sir Henry Seton arrived from
+Liverpool to announce what is going on, and he is bent on
+fighting at present. Abercromby, who is come likewise, reports
+that he has 50,000 or 60,000 men.
+
+
+August 9th, 1831 {p.178}
+
+On Saturday morning we were saluted with intelligence that on the
+French King's hearing of the Dutch invasion he ordered Marshal
+Gérard, with 50,000 men, to march into Belgium; and great was the
+alarm here: the funds fell and everybody was prepared for
+immediate war. In the afternoon I called upon Lord Grey at East
+Sheen (in my way to Monk's Grove, where I was going) to say
+something to him about the coronation, and found him with a more
+cheerful countenance than I expected. He did not appear alarmed
+at what the French had done, and very well satisfied with the
+manner of their doing it, marching only in virtue of their
+guarantee and proclaiming their own neutrality and the Belgian
+independence, and the King had previously received the Belgian
+Minister. I told him I thought Leopold's folly had been the cause
+of it, and that his speeches about Luxembourg had given the Dutch
+King a pretext. He said, not at all, and that the King of Holland
+would have done this under any circumstances, which I took leave
+to doubt, though I did not think it necessary to say so.[4]
+
+      [4] [Lord Grey's composure was mainly due to the entire
+          confidence he felt in the honour of the Duc de Broglie,
+          then French Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had given
+          positive assurances to the British Cabinet that the
+          intervention of France would be confined to the
+          immediate object in view. This confidence was equally
+          honourable to both statesmen, and these assurances were
+          faithfully fulfilled.]
+
+[Page Head: THE QUEEN'S CROWN.]
+
+On Sunday, overtaken by the most dreadful storm I ever saw--flashes
+of lightning, crashes of thunder, and the rain descending
+like a waterspout--I rode to Windsor, to settle with the Queen
+what sort of crown she would have to be crowned in. I was ushered
+into the King's presence, who was sitting at a red table in the
+sitting-room of George IV., looking over the flower garden. A
+picture of Adolphus Fitzclarence was behind him (a full-length),
+and one of the parson, Rev. Augustus Fitzclarence, in a Greek
+dress, opposite. He sent for the Queen, who came with the
+Landgravine and one of the King's daughters, Lady Augusta
+Erskine, the widow of Lord Cassilis's son. She looked at the
+drawings, meant apparently to be civil to me in her ungracious
+way, and said she would have none of our crowns, that she did not
+like to wear a hired crown, and asked me if I thought it was
+right that she should. I said, 'Madam, I can only say that the
+late King wore one at his coronation.' However she said, 'I do
+not like it, and I have got jewels enough, so I will have them
+made up myself.' The King said to me, 'Very well; then _you_ will
+have to pay for the setting.' 'Oh, no,' she said; 'I shall pay
+for it all myself.' The King looked well, but seemed infirm. I
+talked to Taylor afterwards, who said he had very little doubt
+this storm in Belgium would blow over, and agreed that Leopold's
+folly had been in great measure the cause of it. There have been
+discussions in both Houses, which have in some measure quieted
+people's apprehensions. To-day that ass Lord Londonderry (who has
+never yet had his windows mended from the time they were broken
+by the mob at the Reform illumination) brings on a motion about
+Belgium.
+
+
+August 11th, 1831 {p.180}
+
+Nothing new these last two days. Londonderry's motion produced an
+angry debate, but no division. Brougham is said to have been very
+good. The Government wanted to divide, but the Opposition know
+that it is not their interest to provoke a trial of strength. The
+Ministers, if beaten, would not go out, and they are anxious to
+see what their opponents' strength is. At Court yesterday, when
+Van de Weyer, the new Belgian Minister, made his appearance. I
+said to Esterhazy, 'You will blow this business over, sha'n't
+you?' He said, 'Yes, I think we shall _this time_.'
+
+Nothing remarkable in the House of Commons but Lord John
+Russell's declaration that 'this Bill would not be final if it
+was not found to work as well as the people desired,' which is
+sufficiently impudent considering that hitherto they have always
+pretended that it was to be final, and that it was made so
+comprehensive only that it might be so; this has been one of
+their grand arguments, and now we are never to sit down and rest,
+but go on changing till we get a good fit, and that for a country
+which will have been made so fidgety that it won't stand still to
+be measured. Hardinge, whom I found at dinner at the Athenæum
+yesterday, told me he was convinced that a revolution in this
+country was inevitable; and such is the opinion of others who
+support this Bill, not because they think concession will avert
+it, but will let it come more gradually and with less violence. I
+have always been convinced that the country was in no danger of
+revolution, and still believe that if one does come it will be
+from the passing of this Bill, which will introduce the principle
+of change and whet the appetites of those who never will be
+satisfied with any existing order of things; or if it follows on
+the rejection of this Bill, which I doubt, it will be owing to
+the concentration of all the forces that are opposed to our
+present institutions, and the divisions, jealousies, rivalships,
+and consequent weakness of all those who ought to defend them.
+God only knows how it will all end. There has been but one man
+for many years past able to arrest this torrent, and that was
+Canning; and him the Tories--idiots that they were, and never
+discovering that he was their best friend--hunted to death with
+their besotted and ignorant hostility.
+
+[Page Head: ELLEN TREE.]
+
+I went to the play last night at a very shabby little house
+called the City Theatre--a long way beyond the Post Office--to
+see Ellen Tree act in a translation of 'Une Faute,' one of the
+best pieces of acting I ever saw. This girl will turn out very
+good if she remains on the stage. She has never been brought
+forward at Covent Garden, and I heard last night the reason why.
+Charles Kemble took a great fancy for her (she is excessively
+pretty), and made her splendid offers of putting her into the
+best parts, and advancing her in all ways, if she would be
+propitious to his flame, but which she indignantly refused; so he
+revenged himself (to his own detriment) by keeping her back and
+promoting inferior actresses instead. If ever she acquires fame,
+which is very probable, for she has as much nature, and feeling,
+and passion as I ever saw, this will be a curious anecdote. [She
+married Charles Kean, lost her good looks, and became a tiresome,
+second-rate actress.]
+
+
+August 12th, 1831 {p.181}
+
+Yesterday a Committee of Council met to settle the order of the
+coronation and submit the estimates, which we have brought under
+£30,000 instead of £240,000, which they were last time.
+
+The question now is whether our Ministry shall go along with
+France, or whether France shall be pulled up; and it is brought
+to this point by Leopold's having sent to the French to thank
+them for their aid, but to say that he can do without them, and
+to beg they will retire, which they have refused to do. It was
+known yesterday that they are at Mons, and strongly suspected
+they will not so easily be got out of it; but the French
+Government will not venture to quarrel with us if we take a
+peremptory tone. It is not, however, clear that the French
+Government can control the French army; and I have heard it said
+that if they had not ordered the troops to march, the troops
+would have marched without orders. L. is all for curbing France;
+so a very short time must bring matters to a crisis, and it will
+be seen if the Government has authority to check the war party
+there. In the meantime the French have taken the Portuguese ships
+without any intention of giving them back; and this our Ministers
+know, and do not remonstrate. J. asked L. if it was true, and he
+said, 'Oh, yes,' for that having been compelled to force the
+Tagus, they were placed in a state of war, and the ships became
+lawful prizes. If it was not for Reform I doubt that this
+Government could stand a moment, but that will bring them up. In
+the country it is too clear that there are no symptoms of a
+reaction, and if a state of indifference can be produced it is
+all that can be hoped and more than should be expected. I do not
+think the Government by any means responsible for the embroiled
+state of Europe, but they certainly appear to have no fixed plan
+or enlightened view of foreign policy, and if they have not been
+to blame hitherto (which in acting with all the Allies, and
+endeavouring to keep things quiet, they have not been), they are
+evidently in great danger of floundering now.
+
+
+Goodwood, August 20th, 1831 {p.182}
+
+Here I have been a week to-day for the races, and here I should
+not be now--for everybody else is gone--if it were not for the
+gout, which has laid me fast by the foot, owing to a blow. While
+on these racing expeditions I never know anything of politics,
+and, though I just read the newspapers, have no anecdotes to
+record of Reform or foreign affairs. I never come here without
+fresh admiration of the beauty and delightfulness of the place,
+combining everything that is enjoyable in life--large and
+comfortable house, spacious and beautiful park, extensive views,
+dry soil, sea air, woods, and rides over downs, and all the
+facilities of occupation and amusement. The Duke, who has so
+strangely become a Cabinet Minister in a Whig Government, and who
+is a very good sort of man and my excellent friend, appears here
+to advantage, exercising a magnificent hospitality, and as a
+sportsman, a farmer, a magistrate, and good, simple, unaffected
+country gentleman, with great personal influence. This is what he
+is fit for, to be,
+
+                    With safer pride content,
+            The wisest justice on the banks of Trent,
+
+and not to assist in settling Europe and making new
+constitutions.
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL IN DIFFICULTIES.]
+
+I find on arriving in town that there is nothing new, but the
+Bill, which drags its slow length along, is in a bad way; not
+that it will not pass the Commons, but now everybody attacks it,
+and the press is all against what remains of it. Lord Chandos's
+motion and the defeat of Government by so large a majority have
+given them a great blow. Still they go doggedly on, and are
+determined to cram it down anyhow, quite indifferent how it is to
+work and quite ignorant. As to foreign affairs, the Ministers
+trust to blunder through them, hoping, like Sir Abel Handy in the
+play, that the fire 'will go out of itself.' Sefton has just been
+here, who talks blusteringly of the Peers that are to be made, no
+matter at what cost of character to the House of Lords, anything
+rather than be beaten; but I am not sure that he _knows_
+anything. In such matters as these he is (however sharp) no
+better than a fool--no knowledge, no information, no reflection
+or combination; prejudices, partialities, and sneers are what his
+political wisdom consists of; but he is Lord Grey's _âme damnée_.
+
+
+Stoke, August 28th, 1831 {p.183}
+
+My gout is still hanging on me. Very strange disorder, affecting
+different people so differently; with me very little pain, much
+swelling, heat, and inconvenience, more like bruised muscles and
+tendons and inflamed joints; it disables me, but never prevents
+my sleeping at night. Henry de Ros called on me yesterday;
+nothing new, and he knows everything from L., who sits there
+picking up politics and gossip, to make money by the one and
+derive amusement from the other. L. is odd enough, and very
+_malin_ with what he knows. He is against _Reform_, but not
+against the _Government_; _for_ the Duke of Wellington and not
+_for_ the Opposition--in short, just as interest, fancy, caprice,
+and particular partialities sway him. It was he who told me the
+fact of the French having carried away the Portuguese ships, and
+he said that I might tell the Duke that he might make what use he
+pleased of it; but soon after, wishing if it did come out that it
+should fall harmless, he bethought him of the following
+expedient:--Seeing that Valletort (who is a good-natured
+blockhead) is always spluttering in the House of Commons, he
+thought in his hands it would do no harm, so he told him the fact
+with some flattering observations about his activity and energy
+in the House, which Valley swallowed and with many thanks
+proceeded to put questions to Palmerston, which sure enough were
+so confused and unintelligible that nobody understood him, and
+the matter fell very flat. I don't see that Government is saved
+by this ruse, if the case against them is a good one; but it is
+curious as indicative of the artifice of the person, and of his
+odd sort of political disposition. As I don't write history I
+omit to note such facts as are recorded in the newspapers, and
+merely mention the odd things I pick up, which are not generally
+known, and which may hereafter throw some light on those which
+are.
+
+The Belgian business is subsiding into quiet again. The Dutch
+have gained some credit, and the Prince of Orange has (what was
+of importance to him) removed the load of odium under which he
+had been labouring in Holland, and acquired great popularity.
+Leopold has cut a ridiculous figure enough; not exhibiting any
+want of personal courage, but after all the flourishes at the
+time of his accession finding himself at the head of a nation of
+blustering cowards who would do nothing but run away. The arrival
+of the French army soon put an end to hostilities, and now the
+greater part of it has been recalled; but Leopold has desired
+that 10,000 men may be left for his protection, whether against
+the Dutch or against the Belgians does not appear. This excites
+considerable jealousies here, for as yet it is not known _why_ he
+asked for such aid, nor on what terms it is to be granted.
+
+L. told me an odd thing connected with these troops. Easthope
+received a commission from a secretary of Soult to sell largely
+in our funds, coupled with an assurance that the troops would
+_not_ retire. I don't know the fate of the commission.
+
+There are various reports of dissensions in the Cabinet, which
+are not true. The Duke of Wellington was sent for by Lord Grey
+the other day, to give his opinion about the demolition of the
+Belgian fortresses; so the ex-Prime Minister went to visit his
+successor in the apartment which was so lately his own. No man
+would mind such a thing less than the Duke; he is sensitive, but
+has no nonsense about him. He is very well and, however disgusted
+with the state of everything at home and abroad (which after all
+is greatly imputable to himself), in high spirits.
+
+The King did a droll thing the other day. The ceremonial of the
+coronation was taken down to him for approval. The homage is
+first done by the spiritual Peers, with the Archbishop at their
+head. The first of each class (the Archbishop for the spiritual)
+says the words, and then they all kiss his cheek in succession.
+He said he would not be kissed by the bishops, and ordered that
+part to be struck out. As I expected, the prelates would not
+stand it; the Archbishop remonstrated, the King knocked under,
+and so he must undergo the salute of the spiritual as well as of
+the temporal Lords.
+
+
+August 30th, 1831 {p.185}
+
+[Page Head: TALLEYRAND'S CONVERSATION.]
+
+Left Stoke yesterday morning; a large party--Talleyrand, De Ros,
+Fitzroy Somersets, Motteux, John Russell, Alava, Byng. In the
+evening Talleyrand discoursed, but I did not hear much of him. I
+was gouty and could not stand, and all the places near him were
+taken. I have never heard him narrate comfortably, and he is
+difficult to understand. He talked of Franklin. I asked him if he
+was remarkable in conversation; he said he was from his great
+simplicity and the evident strength of his mind. He spoke of the
+coronation of the Emperor Alexander. Somebody wrote him a letter
+at the time from Moscow with this expression: 'L'Empereur
+marchait, précédé des assassins de son grand-père, entouré de
+ceux de son père, et suivi par les siens.' He said of the Count
+de Saint-Germain (whom he never saw) that there is an account of
+him in Craufurd's book; nobody knew whence he came nor whither he
+went; he appeared at Paris suddenly, and disappeared in the same
+way, lived in an _hôtel garni_, had always plenty of money, and
+paid for everything regularly; he talked of events and persons
+connected with history, both ancient and modern, with entire
+familiarity and a correctness which never was at fault, and
+always of the people as if he had lived with them and known them;
+as Talleyrand exemplified it, he would say, 'Un jour que je
+dînais chez César.'[5] He was supposed to be the Wandering Jew, a
+story which has always appeared to me a very sublime fiction,
+telling of
+
+               That settled ceaseless gloom
+                 The fabled Hebrew wanderer bore,
+               Which will not look beyond the tomb,
+                 Which cannot hope for rest before.
+
+Then he related Mallet's conspiracy and the strange way in which
+he heard it. Early in the morning his tailor came to his house
+and insisted on seeing him. He was in bed, but on his _valet de
+chambre's_ telling him how pressing the tailor was he ordered him
+to be let in. The man said, 'Have you not heard the news? There
+is a revolution in Paris.' It had come to the tailor's knowledge
+by Mallet's going to him the very first thing to order a new
+uniform! Talleyrand said the conspirators ought to have put to
+death Cambacérès and the King of Rome. I asked him if they had
+done so whether he thought it possible the thing might have
+succeeded. He said, 'C'est possible.' To my question whether the
+Emperor would not have blown away the whole conspiracy in a
+moment he replied, 'Ce n'est pas sûr, c'est possible que cela
+aurait réussi.'
+
+      [5] [This mysterious adventurer died in the arms of Prince
+          Charles of Hesse, in 1784; and some account of him is
+          to be found in the 'Memoirs' of that personage, quoted
+          in the 'Edinburgh Review,' vol. cxxiii. p. 521. The
+          Count de Saint-Germain was a man of science, especially
+          versed in chemistry botany, and metallurgy. He is
+          supposed to have derived his money from an invention in
+          the art of dyeing. According to his own account of
+          himself he was a son of Prince Ragozky of Transylvania
+          and his first wife, a Tekely, and he was Protestant and
+          educated by the last of the Medicis. He was supposed to
+          be ninety-two or ninety-three when he died. His
+          knowledge of the arcana of science and his mysterious
+          manner of life had given him something of the
+          reputation of a wizard and a conjuror, but he was an
+          honourable and benevolent man, not to be confounded
+          with such charlatans as Mesmer and Cagliostro.]
+
+He afterwards talked of Madame de Staël and Monti. They met at
+Madame de Marescalchi's villa near Bologna, and were profuse of
+compliments and admiration for each other. Each brought a copy of
+their respective works beautifully bound to present to the other.
+After a day passed in an interchange of literary flatteries, and
+the most ardent expressions of delight, they separated, but each
+forgot to carry away the present of the other, and the books
+remain in Madame de Marescalchi's library to this day.
+
+
+August 31st, 1831 {p.187}
+
+[Page Head: STATE OF EUROPE AND FRANCE.]
+
+Dined at Osterley yesterday; Lady Sandwich, Esterhazy and the
+Bathursts, Brooke Greville and George Villiers. Esterhazy told me
+he had no doubt that there would be a war, that General Baudron
+was arrived from Brussels, and Leopold had sent word by him that
+the French troops were absolutely necessary to his safety, to
+protect him from the turbulence of his own subjects. He
+considered that the Polish business was over, at which he greatly
+rejoiced. He said that nobody was prepared for war, and the great
+object was to gain time, but a few weeks must now bring matters
+to a crisis; the only difficulty appears to be what to go to war
+about, and who the belligerents should be, for at the eleventh
+hour, and with the probability of a general war, it is a toss-up
+whether we and the French are to be the closest allies or the
+deadliest enemies. He told me that Casimir Périer would probably
+be unable to keep his ground, that the modified law about the
+House of Peers did not give satisfaction. If he is beaten on this
+he goes out, and if he does, with him will probably vanish all
+hopes of peace. It is pretty evident that France is rapidly
+advancing to a republic. Her institutions have long been
+republican, and, though very compatible with a despotic empire,
+incompatible with a constitutional and limited monarchy. This
+Buonaparte knew.
+
+Another Coronation Committee yesterday, and, I am happy to say,
+the last, for this business is the greatest of all bores. There
+is a furious squabble between the Grand Chamberlain and the Earl
+Marshal (who is absent and has squabbled by deputy) about the box
+of the former in Westminster Abbey. At the last coronation King
+George IV. gave Lord Gwydir _his_ box in addition to his own, and
+now Lord Cholmondeley claims a similar box.[6] This is resisted.
+The present King disposes of his own box (and will probably fill
+it with every sort of _canaille_); the Lords won't interfere, and
+the Grand Chamberlain protests, and says he has been shamefully
+used, and there the matter stands. The Grand Chamberlain is in
+the wrong.
+
+      [6] [Lord Gwydir and Lord Cholmondeley filled the office of
+          Lord High Chamberlain for alternative lives as the
+          representatives of the joint claimants of the office.]
+
+
+September 3rd, 1831 {p.188}
+
+On Wednesday a Council was held. Very few of the Ministers stay
+for the Councils; small blame to them, as the Irish say, for we
+are kept about three times as long by this regular, punctual King
+as by the capricious, irregular Monarch who last ruled over us.
+This King is a queer fellow. Our Council was principally for a
+new Great Seal and to deface the old Seal. The Chancellor claims
+the old one as his perquisite. I had forgotten the hammer, so the
+King said, 'My Lord, the best thing I can do is to give you the
+Seal, and tell you to take it and do what you please with it.'
+The Chancellor said, 'Sir, I believe there is some doubt whether
+Lord Lyndhurst ought not to have half of it, as he was Chancellor
+at the time of your Majesty's accession.' 'Well,' said the King,
+'then I will judge between you like Solomon; here (turning the
+Seal round and round), now do you cry heads or tails?' We all
+laughed, and the Chancellor said, 'Sir, I take the bottom part.'
+The King opened the two compartments of the Seal and said, 'Now,
+then, I employ you as ministers of taste. You will send for
+Bridge, my silversmith, and desire him to convert the two halves
+each into a salver, with my arms on one side and yours on the
+other, and Lord Lyndhurst's the same, and you will take one and
+give him the other, and both keep them as presents from me.' The
+Duchess of Kent will not attend the coronation, and there is a
+report that the King is unwilling to make all the Peers that are
+required; this is the current talk of the day.
+
+
+September 5th, 1831 {p.189}
+
+At Gorhambury since Saturday; the Harrowbys, Bathursts, Frankland
+Lewes's, Lady Jersey, Mahon, Lushington, Wortleys; rather
+agreeable and lively; all anti-Reformers, so no quarrelling about
+that, though Lord Harrowby is ready to squabble with anybody
+either way, but furiously against the Bill.
+
+
+September 8th, 1831 {p.189}
+
+Dined with the Duke of Wellington yesterday; thirty-one people,
+very handsome, and the Styrian Minstrels playing and singing all
+dinner time, a thing I never saw before. I sat next to Esterhazy
+and talked to him (a very little) about Belgian affairs. He said
+Talleyrand had given positive assurances that the French troops
+should be withdrawn whenever the Dutch retired, that the other
+Powers were aware of Périer's difficulties, and were ready to
+concede much to keep him in power, but that if he had not
+sufficient influence to repress the violent war faction there was
+no use in endeavouring to support him. Our Government had behaved
+very well and had been very strong in their remonstrances.
+
+[Page Head: ANECDOTES OF GEORGE IV.]
+
+After dinner I had much talk with the Duke, who told me a good
+deal about the late King and the Duchess of Kent; talked of his
+extravagance and love of spending, provided that it was not his
+own money that he spent; he told an old story he had heard of
+Mrs. Fitzherbert's being obliged to borrow money for his
+post-horses to take him to Newmarket, that not a guinea was
+forthcoming to make stakes for some match, and when on George
+Leigh's[7] entreaty he allowed some box to be searched that
+£3,000 was found in it. He always had money. When he died they
+found £10,000 in his boxes, and money scattered about everywhere,
+a great deal of gold. There were about 500 pocket-books, of
+different dates, and in every one money--guineas, one pound
+notes, one, two, or three in each. There never was anything like
+the quantity of trinkets and trash that they found. He had never
+given away or parted with anything. There was a prodigious
+quantity of hair--women's hair--of all colours and lengths, some
+locks with the powder and pomatum still sticking to them, heaps
+of women's gloves, _gages d'amour_ which he had got at balls, and
+with the perspiration still marked on the fingers, notes and
+letters in abundance, but not much that was of any political
+consequence, and the whole was destroyed. Of his will he said
+that it was made in 1823 by Lord Eldon, very well drawn, that he
+desired his executors might take all he had to pay his debts and
+such legacies as he might bequeath in any codicils he should
+make. He made no codicils and left no debts, so the King got all
+as heir-at-law. Knighton had managed his affairs very well, and
+got him out of debt. A good deal of money was disbursed in
+charity, a good deal through the medium of two or three old
+women. The Duke, talking of his love of ordering and expense,
+said that when he was to ride at the last coronation the King
+said, 'You must have a very fine saddle.' 'What sort of saddle
+does your Majesty wish me to have?' 'Send Cuffe to me.'
+Accordingly Cuffe went to him, and the Duke had to pay some
+hundreds for his saddle. (While I am writing the King and Queen
+with their _cortége_ are passing down to Westminster Abbey to the
+coronation, a grand procession, a fine day, an immense crowd, and
+great acclamations.)
+
+      [7] [Colonel George Leigh, who managed his race-horses; he
+          was married to Lord Byron's half-sister.]
+
+[Page Head: THE DUCHESS OF KENT.]
+
+We then talked of the Duchess of Kent, and I asked him why she
+set herself in such opposition to the Court. He said that Sir
+John Conroy was her adviser, that he was sure of it. What he then
+told me throws some light upon her ill-humour and displays her
+wrong-headedness. In the first place the late King disliked her;
+the Duke of Cumberland too was her enemy, and George IV., who was
+as great a despot as ever lived, was always talking of taking her
+child from her, which he inevitably would have done but for the
+Duke, who, wishing to prevent quarrels, did all in his power to
+deter the King, not by opposing him when he talked of it, which
+he often did, but by putting the thing off as well as he could.
+However, when the Duchess of Cumberland came over, and there was
+a question how the Royal Family would receive her, he thought he
+might reconcile the Cumberlands to the Duchess of Kent by
+engaging her to be civil to the Duchess of Cumberland, so he
+desired Leopold to advise his sister (who was in the country)
+from him very strongly to write to the Duchess of Cumberland and
+express her regret at being absent on her arrival, and so
+prevented from calling on her. The Duchess sent Leopold back to
+the Duke to ask why he gave her this advice? The Duke replied
+that he should not say why, that he knew more of what was going
+on than she possibly could, that he gave her this advice for her
+own benefit, and again repeated that she had better act on it.
+The Duchess said she was ready to give him credit for the
+goodness of his counsel, though he would not say what his reasons
+were, and she did as he suggested. This succeeded, and the Duke
+of Cumberland ceased to blow the coals. Matters went on quietly
+till the King died. As soon as he was dead the Duchess of Kent
+wrote to the Duke, and desired that she might be treated as a
+Dowager Princess of Wales, with a suitable income for herself and
+her daughter, who she also desired might be treated as Heiress
+Apparent, and that she should have the sole control over the
+allowance to be made for both. The Duke replied that her
+proposition was altogether inadmissible, and that he could not
+possibly think of proposing anything for her till the matters
+regarding the King's Civil List were settled, but that she might
+rely upon it that no measure which affected her in any way should
+be considered without being imparted to her and the fullest
+information given her. At this it appears she took great offence,
+for she did not speak to him for a long time after.
+
+When the Regency Bill was framed the Duke desired the King's
+leave to wait upon the Duchess of Kent and show it to her, to
+which his Majesty assented, and accordingly he wrote to her to
+say he would call upon her the next day with the draft of the
+Bill. She was at Claremont, and sent word that she was out of
+town, but desired he would send it to her in the country. He said
+she ought to have sent Sir John Conroy to him, or have desired
+him to go to her at Claremont, which he would have done, but he
+wrote her word that he could not explain by letter so fully what
+he had to say as he could have done in a personal interview, but
+he would do so as well as he could. In the meantime, Lord
+Lyndhurst brought on the measure in the House of Lords, and she
+sent Conroy up to hear him. He returned to Claremont just after
+the Duchess had received the Duke's letter. Since that he has
+dined with her.
+
+[I must say the King is punctual; the cannon are now firing to
+announce his arrival at the Abbey, and my clock is at the same
+moment striking eleven; at eleven it was announced that he would
+be there.]
+
+His Majesty, I hear, was in great ill-humour at the levee
+yesterday; contrary to his usual custom he sent for nobody, and
+gave no audiences, but at ten minutes after one flounced into the
+levee room; not one Minister was come but the Duke of Richmond.
+Talleyrand and Esterhazy alone of the _Corps Diplomatique_ were
+in the next room. He attacked the officer of the Guards for not
+having his cap on his head, and sent for the officer on guard,
+who was not arrived, at which he expressed great ire. It is
+supposed that the peerages have put him out of temper. His
+Majesty did a very strange thing about them. Though their patents
+are not made out, and the new Peers are no more Peers than I am,
+he desired them to appear as such in Westminster Abbey and do
+homage. Colonel Berkeley asked me what he should do, and said
+what the King had desired of him. I told him he should do no such
+thing, and he said he would go to the Chancellor and ask him. I
+don't know how it ended. Howe told me yesterday morning in
+Westminster Abbey that Lord Cleveland is to be a duke, though it
+is not yet acknowledged if it be so. There has been a battle
+about that; they say that he got his boroughs to be made a
+marquis, and got rid of them to be made a duke.[8]
+
+      [8] [The Earl of Darlington had been made Marquis of
+          Cleveland in 1827, and was raised to the dukedom in
+          January 1833.]
+
+
+September 17th, 1831 {p.193}
+
+The coronation went off well, and whereas nobody was satisfied
+before it everybody was after it. No events of consequence. The
+cholera has got to Berlin, and Warsaw is taken by the Russians,
+who appear to have behaved with moderation. Since the deposition
+of Skrznecki, and the reign of clubs and mobs and the perpetration
+of massacres at Warsaw, the public sympathy for the Poles has a
+good deal fallen off. The cholera, which is travelling south, is
+less violent than it was in the north. It is remarkable that the
+common people at Berlin are impressed with the same strange belief
+that possessed those of St. Petersburg that they have been
+poisoned, and Chad writes to-day that they believe there is no
+such disease, and that the deaths ascribed to that malady are
+produced by poison administered by the doctors, who are bribed for
+that purpose; that the rich finding the poor becoming too numerous
+to be conveniently governed have adopted this mode of thinning the
+population, which was employed with success by the English in
+India; that the foreign doctors are the delegates of a central
+committee, which is formed in London and directs the proceedings,
+and similar nonsense.
+
+[Page Head: A DINNER AT ST. JAMES'S.]
+
+The talk of the town has been about the King and a toast he gave
+at a great dinner at St. James's the other day. He had ninety
+guests--all his Ministers, all the great people, and all the
+foreign Ambassadors. After dinner he made a long, rambling speech
+in French, and ended by giving as 'a sentiment,' as he called it,
+'The land we live in.' This was before the ladies left the room.
+After they were gone he made another speech in French, in the
+course of which he travelled over every variety of topic that
+suggested itself to his excursive mind, and ended with a very
+coarse toast and the words 'Honi soit qui mal y pense.' Sefton,
+who told it me said he never felt so ashamed; Lord Grey was ready
+to sink into the earth; everybody laughed of course, and Sefton,
+who sat next to Talleyrand, said to him, 'Eh bien, que pensez-vous
+de cela?' With his unmoved, immovable face he answered only,
+'C'est bien remarquable.'
+
+In the meantime Reform, which has subsided into a calm for some
+time past, is approaching its termination in the House of
+Commons, and as it gets near the period of a fresh campaign, and
+a more arduous though a shorter one, agitation is a little
+reviving. The 'Times' and other violent newspapers are moving
+heaven and earth to stir up the country and intimidate the Peers,
+many of whom are frightened enough already. The general opinion
+at present is that the Peers created at the coronation will not
+be enough to carry the Bill (they are a set of horrid rubbish
+most of them), but that no more will be made at present; that the
+Opposition, if united, will be strong enough to throw out the
+Bill, but that they are so divided in opinion whether to oppose
+the Bill on the second reading or in Committee that this
+dissension will very likely enable it to pass. Up to this time
+there has been no meeting, and nothing has been agreed upon, but
+there would have been one convened by the Duke of Wellington but
+for Lady Mornington's death, and this week they will arrange
+their plan of operations. From what Sefton says (who knows and
+thinks only as Brougham and Grey direct him) I conclude that the
+Government are resolved the Bill shall pass, that if it is thrown
+out they will do what the Tories recommended, and make as many
+Peers as may be sufficient, for he said the other day he would
+rather it was thrown out on the second reading than pass by a
+small majority. With this resolution (which after having gone so
+far is not unwise) and the feeling out of doors, pass it must,
+and so sure are Government of it that they have begun to divide
+the counties, and have set up an office with clerks, maps, &c.,
+in the Council Office, and there the Committee sit every day.
+
+
+Stoke, September 18th, 1831 {p.194}
+
+I came here yesterday with the Chancellor, Creevey, Luttrell, my
+father and mother, Esterhazy, Neumann. Brougham was tired, never
+spoke, and went to bed early. This morning I got a letter from
+the Lord President enclosing an order from the King for a copy of
+the proceedings in Council on the marriage of the Duke of Sussex
+and Lady Augusta Murray. The Chancellor told me that the young
+man Sir Augustus d'Este had behaved very ill, having filed a bill
+in Chancery, into which he had put all his father's love letters,
+written thirty years ago, to perpetuate evidence; that it was all
+done without the Duke of Sussex's consent, but that D'Este had
+got Lushington's opinion that the marriage was valid on the
+ground that the Marriage Act only applied to marriages contracted
+here, whereas this was contracted at Rome. He said Lushington was
+a great authority, but that he had no doubt he was wrong. The
+King is exceedingly annoyed at it.
+
+
+September 19th, 1831 {p.195}
+
+Came to town. Talleyrand, Madame de Dino, and Alava came to Stoke
+yesterday. Talleyrand had a circle, but the Chancellor talked too
+much, and they rather spoilt one another. He said one neat thing.
+They were talking of Madame d'Abrantès's 'Memoirs,' and of her
+mother, Madame Pernon. My father said, 'M. de Marboeuf était _un
+peu_ l'amant de Madame Pernon, n'est-ce pas?' He said, 'Oui, mais
+je ne _sais pas dans quelles proportions_.'
+
+
+September 20th, 1831 {p.195}
+
+[Page Head: STATE OF FRANCE.]
+
+News arrived of great riots at Paris, on account of the Polish
+business and the fall of Warsaw. Madame de Dino (who, by-the-bye,
+Talleyrand says is the cleverest _man_ or _woman_ he ever knew)
+said last night that she despaired of the state of things in
+France, that this was no mere popular tumult, but part of an
+organised system of disaffection, and that the Carlists had
+joined the ultra-Republicans, that the National Guard was not to
+be depended upon, that 'leur esprit était fatigué.' Talleyrand
+himself was very low, and has got no intelligence from his
+Government. This morning I met Lord Grey, and walked with him. I
+told him what Madame de Dino had said. He said he knew it all,
+and how bad things were, and that they would be much worse if the
+Reform Bill was thrown out here. I asked him how they would be
+affected by that. He said that a change of Ministry here would
+have a very bad effect there, from which it may be inferred that
+if beaten they mean to resign. He said the French Ministry had
+been very imprudent about Poland. I said, 'How? for what could
+they have done? They could only get at Poland through Prussia.'
+He said they might have sent a fleet to the Baltic with our
+concurrence, though we could not urge them to do so. I asked him
+what he thought would be the result of the dissolution of
+Périer's Government; I said that there appeared to me two
+alternatives, a general _bouleversement_ or the war faction in
+power under the existing system. He replied he did not think
+there would now be a _bouleversement_, but a Ministry of
+Lafayette, Lamarque, and all that party who were impatient to
+plunge France into war. I said I did not think France could look
+to a successful war, for the old alliance would be re-formed
+against her. He rejoined that Russia was powerless, crippled by
+this contest, and under the necessity of maintaining a great army
+in Poland; Austria and Prussia were both combustible, half the
+provinces of the former nearly in a state of insurrection; that
+the latter had enough to do to preserve quiet, and the French
+would rouse all the disaffected spirit which existed in both. I
+said 'then we were on the eve of that state of things which was
+predicted by Canning in his famous speech.' Here we met Ellis,
+and I left them.
+
+I afterwards saw George Villiers, who told me that he knew from a
+member of the Cabinet that there had been a division in it on the
+question of going out if the Reform Bill should be rejected, and
+that it had been carried by a majority that they should. He told
+me also a curious thing about Stanley's Arms Bill: that it had
+never been imparted to Lord Anglesey, nor to the Cabinet here,
+and that Lord Grey had been obliged to write an apology to Lord
+Anglesey, and to tell him he (Lord Grey) had himself seen the
+Bill for the first time in the newspapers. This he had from Lord C.,
+who is a great friend of Lord Anglesey's, and who had seen Lord
+Grey's letter before he left Ireland; but the story appears to me
+quite incredible, and is probably untrue.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform--Resolution to carry the Bill--
+  Holland--Radical Jones--Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords--
+  Dorsetshire Election--Division among the Tories--Bishop
+  Phillpotts--Prospects of Reform--Its Dangers--Riots at
+  Bristol--The Cholera at Sunderland--An Attempt at a Compromise
+  on Reform--Lord Wharncliffe negotiates with the Ministers--
+  Negotiation with Mr. Barnes--Proclamation against the Unions--
+  Barbarism of Sunderland--Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe--
+  Bristol and Lyons--Commercial Negotiations with France--Poulett
+  Thomson--Lord Wharncliffe's Proposal to Lord Grey--Disapproved
+  by the Duke of Wellington--Moderation of Lord John Russell--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor--The Second Reform Bill--Violence
+  of Lord Durham--More Body-snatchers--Duke of Richmond and Sir
+  Henry Parnell--Panshanger--Creation of Peers--Division of
+  Opinion--Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers--Lord
+  Wharncliffe's Interview with the King--Opposition of the Duke
+  of Wellington--The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
+
+
+September 22nd, 1831 {p.197}
+
+[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+The night before last Croker and Macaulay made two fine speeches
+on Reform; the former spoke for two hours and a half, and in a
+way he had never done before. Macaulay was very brilliant. There
+was a meeting at Lord Ebrington's yesterday, called by him,
+Lyttelton Lawley, and of members of the House of Commons only,
+and they (without coming to any resolution) were all agreed to
+prevail on the Government not to resign in the event of the
+Reform Bill being rejected in the House of Lords. I have no
+doubt, therefore, in spite of what Lord Grey said, and the other
+circumstances I have mentioned above, that they will not resign,
+and I doubt whether there will be any occasion for it.
+
+There was a dinner at Apsley House yesterday; the Cabinet of
+Opposition, to discuss matters before having a general meeting. At
+this dinner there were sixteen or seventeen present, all the
+leading anti-Reformers of the Peers. They agreed to oppose the
+second reading. Dudley, who was there, told me it was tragedy
+first and farce afterwards; for Eldon and Kenyon, who had dined
+with the Duke of Cumberland, came in after dinner. Chairs were
+placed for them on each side of the Duke, and after he had
+explained to them what they had been discussing, and what had been
+agreed upon, Kenyon made a long speech on the first reading of the
+Bill, in which it was soon apparent that he was very drunk, for he
+talked exceeding nonsense, wandered from one topic to another, and
+repeated the same things over and over again. When he had done
+Eldon made a speech on the second reading, and appeared to be
+equally drunk, only, Lord Bathurst told me, Kenyon in his
+drunkenness talked nonsense, but Eldon sense. Dudley said it was
+not that they were as drunk as lords and gentlemen sometimes are,
+but they were drunk like porters. Lyndhurst was not there, though
+invited. He dined at Holland House. It is pretty clear, however,
+that he will vote for the second reading, for his wife is
+determined he shall. I saw her yesterday, and she is full of pique
+and resentment against the Opposition and the Duke, half real and
+half pretended, and chatters away about Lyndhurst's not being
+their cat's paw, and that if they choose to abandon him, they must
+not expect him to sacrifice himself for them. The pretexts she
+takes are, that they would not go to the House of Lords on Tuesday
+and support him against Brougham on the Bankruptcy Bill, and that
+the Duke of Wellington wrote to her and _desired_ her to influence
+her husband in the matter of Reform. The first is a joke, the
+second there might be a little in, for vanity is always uppermost,
+but they have both some motive of interest, which they will pursue
+in whatever way they best can. The excuse they make is that they
+want to conceal their strength from the Government, and
+accordingly the Duke of Wellington has not yet entered any of his
+proxies. The truth is that I am by no means sure _now_ that it is
+safe or prudent to oppose the second reading; and though I think
+it very doubtful if any practicable alteration will be made in
+Committee, it will be better to take that chance, and the chance
+of an accommodation and compromise between the two parties and the
+two Houses, than to attack it in front. It is clear that
+Government are resolved to carry the Bill, and equally clear that
+no means they can adopt would be unpopular. They are averse to
+making more Peers if they can help it, and would rather go quietly
+on, without any fresh changes, and I believe they are conscientiously
+persuaded that this Bill is the least democratical Bill it is
+possible to get the country to accept, and that if offered in time
+this one will be accepted. I had heard before that the country is
+not enamoured of this Bill, but I fear that it is true that they
+are only indifferent to the Conservative clauses of it (if I may
+so term them), and for that reason it may be doubtful whether
+there would not be such a clamour raised in the event of the
+rejection of this Bill as would compel the Ministers to make a new
+one, more objectionable than the old. If its passing clearly
+appears to be inevitable, why, the sooner it is done the better,
+for at least one immense object will be gained in putting an end
+to agitation, and restoring the country to good-humour, and it is
+desirable that the House of Lords should stand as well with the
+people as it can. It is better, as Burke says, 'to do early, and
+from foresight, that which we may be obliged to do from necessity
+at last.' I am not more delighted with Reform than I have ever
+been, but it is the part of prudence to take into consideration
+the present and the future, and not to harp upon the past. It
+matters not how the country has been worked up to its present
+state, if a calm observation convinces us that the spirit that has
+been raised cannot be allayed, and that is very clear to me.
+
+
+September 24th, 1831 {p.199}
+
+Peel closed the debate on Thursday night with a very fine speech,
+the best (one of his opponents told me, and it is no use asking
+the opinions of friends if a candid opponent is to be found) he
+had ever made, not only on that subject, but on any other; he cut
+Macaulay to ribands. Macaulay is very brilliant, but his speeches
+are harangues and never replies; whereas Peel's long experience
+and real talent for debate give him a great advantage in the
+power of reply, which he very eminently possesses. Macaulay,
+however, will probably be a very distinguished man. These debates
+have elicited a vast deal of talent, and have served as
+touchstones to try real merit and power. As a proof of what
+practice and a pretty good understanding can do, there is
+Althorp, who now appears to be an excellent leader, and contrives
+to speak decently upon all subjects, quite as much as a leader
+need do; for I have always thought that it should not be his
+business to furnish rhetoric and flowers of eloquence, but
+good-humour, judgment, firmness, discretion, business-like
+talents, and gentlemanlike virtues.
+
+Dined at Richmond on Friday with the Lyndhursts; the _mari_ talks
+against the Bill, the women for it. They are like the old
+divisions of families in the Civil Wars.
+
+My brother-in-law and sister are just returned from a tour of
+three weeks in Holland; curious spectacle, considering the state
+of the rest of Europe, nothing but loyalty and enthusiasm,
+adoration of the Orange family; 2,000,000 of people, and an army
+of 110,000 men; everybody satisfied with the Government, and no
+desire for Reform.
+
+Paris, on the point of exploding, is again tranquil, but nobody
+can tell for how long. They bet two to one here that the Reform
+Bill is thrown out on the second reading; and what then? The
+meeting at Ebrington's was flat, nothing agreed on. Hume wanted
+to pass some violent resolution, but was overruled. Milton made a
+foolish speech, with prospective menaces and present nothingness
+in it, and they separated without having done good or harm.
+
+
+Newmarket, October 1st, 1831 {p.200}
+
+[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+Came here last night, to my great joy, to get holidays, and leave
+Reform and cholera and politics for racing and its amusements.
+Just before I came away I met Lord Wharncliffe, and asked him
+about his interview with Radical Jones. This blackguard considers
+himself a sort of chief of a faction, and one of the heads of the
+_sans-culottins_ of the present day. He wrote to Lord Wharncliffe
+and said he wished to confer with him, that if he would grant him
+an interview he might bring any person he pleased to witness what
+passed between them. Lord Wharncliffe replied that he would call
+on him, and should be satisfied to have no witness. Accordingly
+he did so, when the other in very civil terms told him that he
+wished to try and impress upon his mind (as he was one of the
+heads of anti-Reform in the House of Lords) how dangerous it
+would be to reject this Bill, that all sorts of excesses would
+follow its rejection, that their persons and properties would be
+perilled, and resistance would be unavailing, for that they (the
+Reformers) were resolved to carry their point. Lord Wharncliffe
+asked whether if this was conceded they would be satisfied. Jones
+replied, 'Certainly not;' that they must go a great deal further,
+that an hereditary peerage was not to be defended on any
+reasonable theory. Still, he was not for doing away with it, that
+he wished the changes that were inevitable to take place quietly,
+and without violence or confusion. After some more discourse in
+this strain they separated, but very civilly, and without any
+intemperance of expression on the part of the Reformer.
+
+On Monday the battle begins in the House of Lords, and up to this
+time nobody knows how it will go, each party being confident, but
+opinion generally in favour of the Bill being thrown out. There
+is nothing more curious in this question than the fact that it is
+almost impossible to find anybody who is satisfied with the part
+he himself takes upon it, and that it is generally looked upon as
+a choice of evils, in which the only thing to do is to choose the
+least. The Reformers say, You had better pass the Bill or you
+will have a worse. The moderate anti-Reformers would be glad to
+suffer the second reading to pass and alter it in Committee, but
+they do not dare do so, because the sulky, stupid, obstinate High
+Tories declare that they will throw the whole thing up, and not
+attempt to alter the Bill if it passes the second reading. Every
+man seems tossed about by opposite considerations and the
+necessity of accommodating his own conduct to the caprices,
+passions, and follies of others.
+
+
+Riddlesworth, October 10th, 1831 {p.201}
+
+At Newmarket all last week; all the Peers absent; here since
+Friday. Yesterday morning the newspapers (all in black[1])
+announced the defeat of the Reform Bill by a majority of
+forty-one, at seven o'clock on Saturday morning, after five
+nights' debating. By all accounts the debate was a magnificent
+display, and incomparably superior to that in the House of
+Commons, but the reports convey no idea of it. The great speakers
+on either side were:--Lords Grey, Lansdowne, Goderich, Plunket,
+and the Chancellor, for the Bill; against it, Lords Wharncliffe
+(who moved the amendment), Harrowby, Carnarvon, Dudley, Wynford,
+and Lyndhurst. The Duke of Wellington's speech was exceedingly
+bad; he is in fact, and has proved it in repeated instances,
+unequal to argue a great constitutional question. He has neither
+the command of language, the power of reasoning, nor the
+knowledge requisite for such an effort. Lord Harrowby's speech
+was amazingly fine, and delivered with great effect; and the last
+night the Chancellor is said to have surpassed all his former
+exploits, Lyndhurst to have been nearly as good, and Lord Grey
+very great in reply. There was no excitement in London the
+following day, and nothing particular happened but the Chancellor
+being drawn from Downing Street to Berkeley Square in his
+carriage by a very poor mob. The majority was much greater than
+anybody expected, and it is to be hoped may be productive of good
+by showing the necessity of a compromise; for no Minister can
+make sixty Peers, which Lord Grey must do to carry this Bill; it
+would be to create another House of Lords. Nobody knows what the
+Ministers would do, but it was thought they would not resign. A
+meeting of members of the House of Commons was held under the
+auspices of Ebrington to agree upon a resolution of confidence in
+the Government this day. The majority and the magnificent display
+of eloquence and ability in the House of Lords must exalt the
+character and dignity of that House, and I hope increase its
+efficacy for good purposes and for resistance to this Bill. It
+may be hoped, too, that the apathy of the capital may have some
+effect in the country, though the unions, which are so well
+disciplined and under the control of their orators, will make a
+stir. On the whole I rejoice at this result, though I had taken
+fright before, and thought it better the Bill should be read a
+second time than be thrown out by a very small majority.
+
+      [1] [Not all of them; neither the 'Times' nor the 'Morning
+          Herald.'.]
+
+[Page Head: DORSETSHIRE ELECTION.]
+
+While the debates have been going on there have been two
+elections, one of the Lord Mayor in the City, which the Reformers
+have carried after a sharp contest, and the contest for
+Dorsetshire between Ponsonby and Ashley, which is not yet over.
+Ponsonby had a week's start of his opponent, notwithstanding
+which it is so severe that they have been for some days within
+ten or fifteen of each other, and (what is remarkable) the
+anti-Reformer is the popular candidate, and has got all the mob
+with him. This certainly is indicative of some _change_, though
+not of a _reaction_, in public opinion. There is no longer the
+same vehemence of desire for this Bill, and I doubt whether all
+the efforts of the press will be able to stimulate the people
+again to the same pitch of excitement.
+
+
+Buckenham, October 11th, 1831 {p.203}
+
+Came here yesterday; nobody of note, not lively, letters every
+day with an account of what is passing. The Radical press is
+moving heaven and earth to produce excitement, but without much
+effect. There was something of a mob which marched about the
+parks, but no mischief done. Londonderry and some others were
+hooted near the House of Lords. Never was a party so crestfallen
+as I hear they are; they had not a notion of such a division.
+There seems to be a very general desire to bring about a fair
+compromise, and to have a Bill introduced next session which may
+be so framed as to secure the concurrence of the majority of both
+Houses. The finest speeches by all accounts were Harrowby's,
+Lyndhurst's, and Grey's reply; but Henry de Ros, who is a very
+good judge, writes me word that Lyndhurst's was the most to his
+taste.
+
+
+October 12th, 1831 {p.203}
+
+The Reformers appear to have rallied their spirits. Lord Grey went
+to Windsor, was graciously received by the King, and obtained the
+dismissal of Lord Howe, which will serve to show the King's entire
+good-will to his present Ministers. Ebrington's resolution of
+confidence was carried by a great majority in the House of Commons
+after some violent speeches from Macaulay, Sheil, and O'Connell,
+and very moderate ones and in a low tone on the other side.
+Macaulay's speech was as usual very eloquent, but as inflammatory
+as possible. Such men as these three can care nothing into what
+state of confusion the country is thrown, for all they want is a
+market to which they may bring their talents;[2] but how the
+Miltons, Tavistocks, Althorps, and all who have a great stake in
+the country can run the same course is more than I can conceive or
+comprehend. Party is indeed, as Swift says, 'the madness of many,'
+when carried to its present pitch. In the meantime the Conservative
+party are as usual committing blunders, which will be fatal to
+them. Lord Harrowby was to have moved yesterday or the day before,
+in the House of Lords, a resolution pledging the House to take
+into consideration early in the next session the acknowledged
+defects in the representation, with a view to make such
+ameliorations in it as might be consistent with the Constitution,
+or something to this effect. This has not been done because the
+Duke of Wellington objects. He will not concur because he thinks
+the proposition should come from Government; as if this was a time
+to stand upon such punctilios, and that it was not of paramount
+importance to show the country that the Peers are not obstinately
+bent upon opposing all Reform. I had hoped that he had profited by
+experience, and that at least his past errors in politics might
+have taught him a little modesty, and that he would not have
+thwarted measures which were proposed by the wisest and most
+disinterested of his own party. I can conceive no greater
+misfortune at this moment than such a disunion of that party, and
+to have its deliberations ruled by the obstinacy and prejudices of
+the Duke. He is a great man in little things, but a little man in
+great matters--I mean in civil affairs; in those mighty questions
+which embrace enormous and various interests and considerations,
+and to comprehend which great knowledge of human nature, great
+sagacity, coolness, and impartiality are required, he is not fit
+to govern and direct. His mind has not been sufficiently
+disciplined, nor saturated with knowledge and matured by
+reflection and communication with other minds, to enable him to be
+a safe and efficient leader in such times as these.
+
+      [2] This was very unjust to Macaulay, and not true as to
+          Sheil; to O'Connell alone applicable.
+
+[In reading over these remarks upon the Duke of Wellington, and
+comparing them with the opinions I now entertain of his present
+conduct, and of the nature and quality of his mind, I am
+compelled to ask myself whether I did not then do him injustice.
+On the whole I think not. He is not, nor ever was, a little man
+in anything, great or small; but I am satisfied that he has made
+great political blunders, though with the best and most patriotic
+intentions, and that his conduct throughout the Reform contest
+was one of the greatest and most unfortunate of them.--July
+1838.]
+
+
+October 14th, 1831 {p.205}
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY AND BISHOP PHILLPOTTS.]
+
+The town continues quite quiet; the country nearly so. The press
+strain every nerve to produce excitement, and the 'Times' has
+begun an assault on the bishops, whom it has marked out for
+vengeance and defamation for having voted against the Bill.
+Althorp and Lord John Russell have written grateful letters to
+Attwood as Chairman of the Birmingham Union, thus indirectly
+acknowledging that puissant body. There was a desperate strife in
+the House of Lords between Phillpotts and Lord Grey, in which the
+former got a most tremendous dressing. Times must be mightily
+changed when my sympathies go with this bishop, and even now,
+though full of disgust with the other faction, I have a pleasure
+in seeing him trounced. The shade of Canning may rejoice at the
+sight of Grey smiting Phillpotts. Even on such a question
+Phillpotts was essentially in the right; but he lost his temper,
+floundered, and got punished. It was most indecent and disgusting
+to hear Brougham from the Woolsack, in a strain of the bitterest
+irony and sarcasm, but so broad as to be without the semblance of
+disguise, attack the bench of bishops. I am of opinion that it
+would have been far better never to have let them back into the
+House of Lords, but now that they are there I would not thrust
+them out, especially at this moment. Lord Grey in this debate
+gave no handle certainly, for he interposed in their favour, and
+rebuked Lord Suffield, who attacked them first, and told him he
+was out of order, and then Phillpotts very foolishly attacked
+him.
+
+
+October 15th, 1831 {p.206}
+
+A furious attack in the House of Commons upon Althorp's and John
+Russell's letters to Attwood by Hardinge and Vyvyan. Peel not
+there, having hopped off to Staffordshire, to the great disgust
+of his party, whom he never scruples to leave in the lurch. They
+made wretched excuses for these letters, and could only have
+recourse to the pretence of indignation at being thought capable
+of fomenting disorders, which is all very well; but they do
+foment discord and discontent by every means in their power. With
+a yelling majority in the House, and a desperate press out of it,
+they go on in their reckless course without fear or shame. Lord
+Harrowby made a speech in the House of Lords, and declared his
+conviction that the time was come for effecting a Reform, and
+that he would support one to a certain extent, which he
+specified. In the House he was coolly received, and the 'Times'
+hardly deigned to notice what he said. Parliament is to be up on
+Thursday next, and will probably not meet till January, when of
+course the first thing done will be to bring in the Bill again.
+What, then, is gained? For as Ministers take every opportunity of
+declaring that they will accept nothing less efficient (as they
+call it) than the present Bill, no compromise can be looked for.
+Lord Harrowby is the only man who has said what he will do, and
+probably he goes further than the bulk of his party would approve
+of; and yet he is far behind the Ministerial plan. So that there
+seems little prospect of getting off for less than the old Bill,
+for the Opposition will hardly venture to stop the next _in
+limine_ as they did this. I do not see why they should hope to
+amend the next Bill in Committee any more than the last, and the
+division which they dreaded the other day is not less likely, and
+would not be less fatal upon another occasion. If, then, it is to
+pass at last, it comes back to what I thought before, that it
+might as well have passed at first as at last, and the excitement
+consequent on its rejection have been spared, as well as the
+odium which has accrued to the Peers, which will not be forgotten
+or laid aside.
+
+The Dorsetshire election promises to end in favour of Ashley, and
+there will be a contest for Cambridgeshire, which may also end in
+favour of the anti-Reform candidate. These victories I really
+believe to be unfortunate, for they are taken (I am arguing as if
+they were won, though, with regard to the first, it is the same
+thing by contrast with the last election) by the Tories and
+anti-Reform champions as undoubted proofs of the reaction of
+public opinion, and they are thereby encouraged to persevere in
+opposition under the false notion that this supposed reaction
+will every day gain ground. I wish it were so with all my soul,
+but believe it is no such thing, and that although there may be
+fewer friends to _the Bill_ than there were, particularly among
+the agriculturists, Reform is not a whit less popular with the
+mass of the people in the manufacturing districts, throughout the
+unions, and generally amongst all classes and in all parts of the
+country. When I see men, and those in very great numbers, of the
+highest birth, of immense fortunes, of undoubted integrity and
+acknowledged talents, zealously and conscientiously supporting
+this measure, I own I am lost in astonishment, and even doubt;
+for I can't help asking myself whether it is possible that such
+men would be the advocates of measures fraught with all the peril
+we ascribe to these, whether we are not in reality mistaken, and
+labouring under groundless alarm generated by habitual prejudices
+and erroneous calculations. But often as this doubt comes across
+my mind, it is always dispelled by a reference to and comparison
+of the arguments on both sides, and by the lessons which all that
+I have ever read and all the conclusions I have been able to draw
+from the study of history have impressed on my mind. I believe
+these measures full of danger, but that the manner in which they
+have been introduced, discussed, defended, and supported is more
+dangerous still. The total unsettlement of men's minds, the
+bringing into contempt all the institutions which have been
+hitherto venerated, the aggrandisement of the power of the
+people, the embodying and recognition of popular authority, the
+use and abuse of the King's name, the truckling to the press, are
+things so subversive of government, so prejudicial to order and
+tranquillity, so encouraging to sedition and disaffection, that I
+do not see the possibility of the country settling down into that
+calm and undisturbed state in which it was before this question
+was mooted, and without which there can be no happiness or
+security to the community. A thousand mushroom orators and
+politicians have sprung up all over the country, each big with
+his own ephemeral importance, and every one of whom fancies
+himself fit to govern the nation. Amongst them are some men of
+active and powerful minds, and nothing is less probable than that
+these spirits of mischief and misrule will be content to subside
+into their original nothingness, and retire after the victory has
+been gained into the obscurity from which they emerged.
+
+
+Newmarket, October 23rd, 1831 {p.208}
+
+Nothing but racing all this week; Parliament has been prorogued
+and all is quiet. The world seems tired, and requires rest. How
+soon it will all begin again God knows, but it will not be
+suffered to sleep long.
+
+
+London, November 11th, 1831 {p.208}
+
+[Page Head: RIOTS AT BRISTOL.]
+
+Nothing written for a long time; I went after the second October
+meeting to Euston, and from thence to Horsham, returned to
+Newmarket, was going to Felbrigg, but came to town on Tuesday
+last (the 8th) on account of the cholera, which has broken out at
+Sunderland. The country was beginning to slumber after the
+fatigues of Reform, when it was rattled up by the business of
+Bristol,[3] which for brutal ferocity and wanton, unprovoked
+violence may vie with some of the worst scenes of the French
+Revolution, and may act as a damper to our national pride. The
+spirit which produced these atrocities was generated by Reform,
+but no pretext was afforded for their actual commission; it was a
+premature outbreaking of the thirst for plunder, and longing
+after havoc and destruction, which is the essence of Reform in
+the mind of the mob. The details are ample, and to be met with
+everywhere; nothing could exceed the ferocity of the populace,
+the imbecility of the magistracy, or the good conduct of the
+troops. More punishment was inflicted by them than has been
+generally known, and some hundreds were killed or severely
+wounded by the sabre. One body of dragoons pursued a rabble of
+colliers into the country, and covered the fields and roads with
+the bodies of wounded wretches, making a severe example of them.
+In London there would probably have been a great uproar and riot,
+but fortunately Melbourne, who was frightened to death at the
+Bristol affair, gave Lord Hill and Fitzroy Somerset _carte
+blanche_, and they made such a provision of military force in
+addition to the civil power that the malcontents were paralysed.
+The Bristol business has done some good, inasmuch as it has
+opened people's eyes (at least so it is said), but if we are to
+go on as we do with a mob-ridden Government and a foolish King,
+who renders himself subservient to all the wickedness and folly
+of his Ministers, where is the advantage of having people's eyes
+open, when seeing they will not perceive, and hearing they will
+not understand? Nothing was wanting to complete our situation but
+the addition of physical evil to our moral plague, and that is
+come in the shape of the cholera, which broke out at Sunderland a
+few days ago. To meet the exigency Government has formed another
+Board of Health, but without dissolving the first, though the
+second is intended to swallow up the first and leave it a mere
+nullity. Lord Lansdowne, who is President of the Council, an
+office which for once promises not to be a sinecure, has taken
+the opportunity to go to Bowood, and having come up (sent for
+express) on account of the cholera the day it was officially
+declared really to be that disease, he has trotted back to his
+house in the country.
+
+      [3] [Riots broke out with great violence at Bristol on the
+          29th of October, the pretext being the entry of Sir
+          Charles Wetherell into that city (of which he was
+          Recorder), who was notorious for his violent opposition
+          to the Reform Bill. Much property was destroyed, and
+          many lives lost.]
+
+
+November 14th, 1831 {p.210}
+
+For the last two or three days the reports from Sunderland about
+the cholera have been of a doubtful character. The disease makes
+so little progress that the doctors begin again to doubt whether
+it is the Indian cholera, and the merchants, shipowners, and
+inhabitants, who suffer from the restraints imposed upon an
+infected place, are loudly complaining of the measures which have
+been adopted, and strenuously insisting that their town is in a
+more healthy state than usual, and that the disease is no more
+than what it always is visited with every year at this season. In
+the meantime all preparations are going on in London, just as if
+the disorder was actually on its way to the metropolis. We have a
+Board at the Council Office, between which and the Board at the
+College some civilities have passed, and the latter is now ready
+to yield up its functions to the former, which, however, will not
+be regularly constituted without much difficulty and many
+jealousies, all owing to official carelessness and mismanagement.
+The Board has been diligently employed in drawing up suggestions
+and instructions to local boards and parochial authorities, and
+great activity has prevailed here in establishing committees for
+the purpose of visiting the different districts of the metropolis,
+and making such arrangements as may be necessary in the event of
+sickness breaking out. There is no lack of money or labour for
+this end, and one great good will be accomplished let what will
+happen, for much of the filth and misery of the town will be
+brought to light, and the condition of the poorer and more
+wretched of the inhabitants can hardly fail to be ameliorated. The
+reports from Sunderland exhibit a state of human misery, and
+necessarily of moral degradation, such as I hardly ever heard of,
+and it is no wonder, when a great part of the community is plunged
+into such a condition (and we may fairly suppose that there is a
+gradually mounting scale, with every degree of wretchedness up to
+the wealth and splendour which glitter on the surface of society),
+that there should be so many who are ripe for any desperate scheme
+of revolution. At Sunderland they say there are houses with 150
+inmates, who are huddled five and six in a bed. They are in the
+lowest state of poverty. The sick in these receptacles are
+attended by an apothecary's boy, who brings them (or I suppose
+tosses them) medicines without distinction or enquiry.
+
+I saw Lord Wharncliffe last night, just returned from Yorkshire;
+he gives a bad account of the state of the public mind; he thinks
+that there is a strong revolutionary spirit abroad; told me that
+the Duke of Wellington had written to the King a memorial upon
+the danger of the associations that were on foot.
+
+
+Roehampton, November 19th, 1831 {p.211}
+
+[Page Head: OVERTURES FOR A COMPROMISE.]
+
+On Tuesday last I went with the Duke of Richmond to pass a day at
+Shirley Lodge, a house that has been lent him by Mr. Maberly, and
+there we had a great deal of conversation about Reform and general
+politics, in the course of which I was struck by his apparent
+candour and moderation, and when I told him that nothing would do
+but a compromise between the parties he acceded to that opinion,
+and said that he should like to go to Lord Wharncliffe, and talk
+the matter over with him. This was on Wednesday. Yesterday morning
+I called on Lord Wharncliffe, and told him what Richmond had said.
+He was sitting before a heap of papers, and when I told him this
+he laughed and said that Richmond was behindhand, that matters had
+gone a great deal further than this, and then proceeded to give me
+the following account of what had passed. A short time ago
+Palmerston spoke to his son, John Wortley, and expressed a desire
+that some compromise could be effected between the Government and
+the Opposition leaders, which John imparted to Lord Harrowby and
+his father. The overture was so well received by them that Stanley
+went to Sandon, Lord Harrowby's place in Staffordshire, in his way
+to Ireland, with Lord Grey's consent, to talk it over with Lord
+Sandon. After this Lord Wharncliffe went to Sandon, and the two
+fathers and two sons discussed the matter, and came to a sort of
+general resolution as to the basis on which they would treat,
+which they drew up, and which Wharncliffe read to me. It was
+moderate, temperate, embraced ample concessions, and asserted the
+necessity of each party refraining from demanding of the other
+what either was so pledged to as to be unable to concede without
+dishonour. On Wharncliffe's return to town he again saw
+Palmerston, and communicated to him Harrowby's concurrence in an
+equitable adjustment of the Reform question, and then suggested
+that if Government really desired this, it would be better that he
+(Wharncliffe) should see Lord Grey himself on the subject.
+Palmerston told Lord Grey, who assented, and gave Wharncliffe a
+rendezvous at East Sheen on Wednesday last. There they had a long
+conversation, which by his account was conducted in a very fair
+and amicable spirit on both sides, and they seem to have come to a
+good understanding as to the principle on which they should treat.
+On parting, Grey shook hands with him twice, and told him he had
+not felt so much relieved for a long time. The next day Lord Grey
+made a minute of their conversation, which he submitted to the
+Cabinet; they approved of it, and he sent it to Wharncliffe to
+peruse, who returned it to Lord Grey. In this state the matter
+stood yesterday morning, apparently with every prospect of being
+arranged. Wharncliffe had already spoken to Dudley, Lyndhurst, and
+De Ros, the only Peers of his party he had seen, and to the
+Archbishop of Canterbury, who were all delighted at what had
+passed. He had written to the Duke of Wellington and Peel, and he
+is busying himself in consulting and communicating with all the
+Peers and influential Commoners of the party whom he can find in
+town. The terms are not settled, but the general basis agreed upon
+seems to be this: the concession of Schedule A, of representatives
+to the great towns, and a great extension of the county
+representation on one side; the abandonment, or nearly so, of
+Schedule B, such an arrangement with regard to the £10 qualification
+as shall have the practical effect of a higher rate, and an
+understanding that the manufacturing interest is not to have a
+preponderating influence in the county representation; a great
+deal to be left open to discussion, especially on all the
+subordinate points.
+
+[Page Head: NEGOTIATION WITH THE WAVERERS]
+
+Such is the history of this curious transaction, which affords a
+triumphant justification of the course which the Opposition
+adopted; indeed, Palmerston admitted to Wharncliffe that their
+tactics had been entirely judicious. It is likewise a great homage
+rendered to character, for Wharncliffe has neither wealth,
+influence, nor superior abilities, nor even popularity with his
+own party. He is a spirited, sensible, zealous, honourable,
+consistent country gentleman; their knowledge of his moderation
+and integrity induced Ministers to commit themselves to him, and
+he will thus be in all probability enabled to render an essential
+service to his country, and be a principal instrument in the
+settlement of a question the continued agitation of which would
+have been perilous in the extreme. Besides the prospect of a less
+objectionable Bill, an immense object is gained in the complete
+separation of the Ministry from the subversive party, for their
+old allies the Radicals will never forgive them for this
+compromise with the anti-Reformers, and they have now no
+alternative but to unite with those who call themselves the
+Conservative party against the rebels, republicans, associators,
+and all the disaffected in the country. After all their
+declarations and their unbending insolence, to have brought down
+their pride to these terms, and to the humiliation of making
+overtures to a party whose voice was only the other day designated
+by John Russell as 'the whisper of a faction,' shows plainly how
+deeply alarmed they are at the general state of the country, and
+how the conflagration of Bristol has suddenly illuminated their
+minds. That incident, the language of the associations, the
+domiciliary visits to Lord Grey at midnight of Place and his
+rabble, and the licentiousness of the press, have opened their
+eyes, and convinced them that if existing institutions are to be
+preserved at all there is no time to be lost in making such an
+arrangement as may enable all who have anything to lose to
+coalesce for their mutual safety and protection. Whatever may be
+the amount of their concessions, the Radicals will never pardon
+Lord Grey for negotiating with the Tories at all, and nothing will
+prevent his being henceforward the object of their suspicion and
+aversion, and marked out for their vengeance. By what process
+Althorp and John Russell were induced to concur, and how they are
+to set about swallowing their own words, I do not guess.
+
+As a proof of the disposition which exists, and the good
+understanding between Wharncliffe and the Government, he told me
+that some time ago Ward and Palmer went to him, and said that in
+the City the majority of men of weight and property were
+favourable to Reform, but not to the late Bill, and that they
+were desirous of having a declaration drawn up for signature,
+expressive of their adherence to Reform, but of their hope that
+the next measure might be such as would give satisfaction to all
+parties. Wharncliffe drew this up (there was likewise an
+acknowledgment of the right of the House of Lords to exercise
+their privileges as they had done) and gave it to them. It is
+gone to be signed, having been previously submitted to Grey and
+Althorp, who approved of it.
+
+
+November 21st, 1831 {p.214}
+
+Came to town from Roehampton yesterday morning, saw Henry de Ros,
+who had seen Barnes[4] the evening before, and opened to him the
+pending negotiation. His rage and fury exceeded all bounds. He
+swore Brougham and Grey (particularly the former) were the
+greatest of villains. After a long discussion he agreed to try and
+persuade his colleagues to adopt a moderate tone, and not to begin
+at once to _jeter feu et flamme_. Henry's object was to persuade
+him, if possible, that the interest of the paper will be in the
+long run better consulted by leaning towards the side of order and
+quiet than by continuing to exasperate and inflame. He seemed to a
+certain degree moved by this argument, though he is evidently a
+desperate Radical. Henry went to Melbourne afterwards, who is most
+anxious for the happy consummation of this affair, but expressed
+some alarm lest they should be unable to agree upon the details.
+There is an article in the 'Times' this morning of half-menacing
+import, sulkily and gloomily written, but not ferocious, and
+leaving it open to them to take what line they think fit. In the
+afternoon I met Melbourne, who told me they were going to put
+forth a proclamation against 'Attwood and the Birmingham fellows,'
+which was grateful to my ears.
+
+      [4] [Then editor of the 'Times' newspaper.]
+
+
+November 22nd, 1831 {p.215}
+
+[Page Head: PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE UNIONS]
+
+The King came to town yesterday for a Council, at which the
+meeting of Parliament on the 6th of December was settled. The
+proclamation against the unions (which was not ready, and the
+King signed a blank) and some orders about cholera were
+despatched. Lord Grey told me that the union had already
+determined to dissolve itself.
+
+My satisfaction was yesterday considerably damped by what I heard
+of the pending negotiation concerning Reform. Agar Ellis at
+Roehampton talked with great doubt of its being successful, which
+I attributed to his ignorance of what had passed, but I fear it is
+from his knowledge that the Government mean, in fact, to give up
+nothing of importance. George Bentinck came to me in the morning,
+and told me he had discovered from the Duke of Richmond that the
+concessions were not only to be all one way, but that the altered
+Bill would be, in fact, more objectionable than the last, inasmuch
+as it is more democratic in its tendency, so much so that Richmond
+is exceedingly dissatisfied himself, for he has always been the
+advocate of the aristocratic interest in the Cabinet, and has
+battled to make the Bill less adverse to it. Now he says he can
+contend no longer, for he is met by the unanswerable argument that
+their opponents are ready to concede more. I own I was alarmed,
+and my mind misgave me when I heard of the extreme satisfaction of
+Althorp and Co.; and I always dreaded that Wharncliffe, however
+honest and well-meaning, had not calibre enough to conduct such a
+negotiation, and might be misled by his vanity. He bustles about
+the town, chatting away to all the people he meets, and I fear is
+both ignorant himself of what he is about and involuntarily
+deceiving others too; he is in a fool's paradise. I spoke to Henry
+de Ros about this last night, who seemed by no means aware of it,
+and it is difficult to believe that Lyndhurst and Harrowby should
+not be perfectly alive to all the consequences of Wharncliffe's
+proceedings, or that they would sanction them if they had really
+the tendency that George Bentinck gives me to understand.
+
+The cholera, which is going on (but without greatly extending
+itself) at Sunderland, has excited an unusual alarm, but it is
+now beginning to subside. People seeing that it does not appear
+elsewhere take courage, but the preparations are not relaxed, and
+they are constantly enforced by the Central Board of Health (as
+it is called), which is established at the Council Office, and
+labours very assiduously in the cause. Undoubtedly a great deal
+of good will be done in the way of purification. As to the
+disorder, if it had not the name of cholera nobody would be
+alarmed, for many an epidemic has prevailed at different times
+far more fatal than this. On Friday last we despatched Dr. Barry
+down to Sunderland with very ample powers, and to procure
+information, which it is very difficult to get. Nothing can be
+more disgraceful than the state of that town, exhibiting a
+lamentable proof of the practical inutility of that diffusion of
+knowledge and education which we boast of, and which we fancy
+renders us so morally and intellectually superior to the rest of
+the world. When Dr. Russell was in Russia, he was disgusted with
+the violence and prejudices he found there on the part of both
+medical men and the people, and he says he finds just as much
+here. The conduct of the people of Sunderland on this occasion is
+more suitable to the barbarism of the interior of Africa than to
+a town in a civilised country. The medical men and the higher
+classes are split into parties, quarrelling about the nature of
+the disease, and perverting and concealing facts which militate
+against their respective theories. The people are taught to
+believe that there is really no cholera at all, and that those
+who say so intend to plunder and murder them. The consequence is
+prodigious irritation and excitement, an invincible repugnance on
+the part of the lower orders to avail themselves of any of the
+preparations which are made for curing them, and a proneness to
+believe any reports, however monstrous and exaggerated. In a very
+curious letter which was received yesterday from Dr. Daur, he
+says (after complaining of the medical men, who would send him no
+returns of the cases of sickness) it was believed that bodies had
+been dissected before the life was out of them, and one woman,
+was said to have been cut up while she was begging to be spared.
+The consequence of this is that we have put forward a strong
+order to compel medical men to give information, and another for
+the compulsory removal of nuisances. It is, however, rather
+amusing that everybody who has got in their vicinity anything
+disagreeable, or that they would like to be rid of, thinks that
+now is their time, and the table of the Board of Health is
+covered with applications of this nature, from every variety of
+person and of place.
+
+
+November 23rd, 1831 {p.217}
+
+Dr. Barry's first letter from Sunderland came yesterday, in which
+he declares the identity of the disease with the cholera he had
+seen in Russia. He describes some cases he had visited,
+exhibiting scenes of misery and poverty far exceeding what one
+could have believed it possible to find in this country; but we
+who float on the surface of society know but little of the
+privations and sufferings which pervade the mass. I wrote to the
+Bishop of Durham, to the chief magistrates, and sent down £200 to
+Colonel Creagh (which Althorp immediately advanced) to relieve
+the immediate and pressing cases of distress.
+
+[Page Head: DISAPPOINTMENT.]
+
+Saw George Bentinck in the afternoon, who confirmed my
+apprehension that Wharncliffe had been cajoled into a negotiation
+which Government intended should end by getting all they want.
+Richmond, Grey, and Palmerston were in a minority of three in the
+Cabinet for putting off the meeting of Parliament. One of the
+most Radical of the Cabinet is Goderich. Such a thing it is to be
+of feeble intellect and character, and yet he is a smart speaker,
+and an agreeable man. The moderate party are Richmond, who cannot
+have much weight, Stanley, who is in Ireland, Lansdowne, who is
+always 'gone to Bowood,' Palmerston, and Melbourne. Yet I am led
+to think that if Wharncliffe had insisted on better conditions,
+and held out, he would have got them, and that the Cabinet were
+really disposed to make all the concessions they could without
+compromising themselves. The meeting in the City yesterday was a
+total failure. Henry Drummond, who is mad, but very clever, and a
+Reformer, though for saving the rotten boroughs, spoke against
+the declaration, some others followed him, and after a couple of
+hours wasted in vain endeavours to procure unanimity the meeting
+broke up, and nothing was done. I saw Wharncliffe last night, who
+was exceedingly disappointed.
+
+
+November 28th, 1831 {p.218}
+
+The negotiation with Wharncliffe goes on languidly; he wrote to
+Lord Grey the other day, and suggested some heads as the basis of
+an accommodation, consisting of some extension of Schedule B,
+excluding town voters from county voting, and one or two other
+points; to which Lord Grey replied that some of the things he
+mentioned might be feasible, but that there would be great
+difficulty about others, that he feared nothing might come of
+their communications, as he would not hear of any other Peers who
+were disposed to go along with him. It is not a bad thing that
+they should each be impressed with a salutary apprehension, the
+one that he will have the same difficulties to encounter in the
+House of Lords, the other that nobody will follow him, for it
+will render an arrangement more probable than if they both
+thought they had only to agree together, and that the rest must
+follow as a matter of course. The Duke of Wellington has written
+again to Wharncliffe, declining altogether to be a party to any
+negotiation. De Ros told me that he never saw such a letter as
+Peel's--so stiff, dry, and reserved, just like the man in whom
+great talents are so counteracted, and almost made mischievous,
+by the effects of his cold, selfish, calculating character. In
+the meantime the state of the country is certainly better, the
+proclamation putting down the unions has been generally obeyed,
+the press has suspended its fury, and the approach of the meeting
+of Parliament seems to have calmed the country to a great degree.
+The event most to be desired is that the Government may carry
+their Bill quietly through the House of Commons, amendments be
+carried in the Committee of the House of Lords, and upon these
+there may be a compromise, though after all it is impossible not
+to have a secret misgiving that the alterations which appear
+desirable may prove to be mischievous, for it is the great evil
+of the measure that being certainly new no human being can guess
+how it will work, or how its different parts will act upon one
+another, and what result they will produce.
+
+There seems to be a constant sort of electrical reciprocity of
+effort between us and France just now. The three days produced
+much of our political excitement, and our Bristol business has
+been acted with great similarity of circumstance at Lyons, and is
+still going on. Talleyrand produced the 'Moniteur' last night with
+the account, lamented that the Duc d'Orléans had been sent with
+Marshal Soult to Lyons, which he said was unnecessary and absurd,
+that Soult was the best man for the purpose of putting it down. It
+was begun by the workpeople, who were very numerous, not political
+in its objects, but the cries denoted a mixture of everything, as
+they shouted 'Henri V., Napoléon II, La République, and Bristol.'
+He was at Lady Holland's, looking very cadaverous, and not very
+talkative, talked of Madame du Barri, that she had been very
+handsome, and had some remains of beauty up to the period of her
+death; of Luckner, who was guillotined, and as the car passed on
+the people cried (as they used), 'À la guillotine! à la
+guillotine!' Luckner turned round and said, '_On_ y va, canaille.'
+
+[Page Head: POULETT THOMSON.]
+
+We have just sent a commission to Paris to treat with the French
+Government about a commercial treaty on the principles of free
+trade. Poulett Thomson, who has been at Paris some time, has
+originated it, and Althorp selected George Villiers for the
+purpose, but has added to him as a colleague Dr. Bowring, who has
+in fact been selected by Thomson, a theorist, and a jobber,
+deeply implicated in the 'Greek Fire,' and a Benthamite. He was
+the subject of a cutting satire of Moore's, beginning,
+
+             The ghost of Miltiades came by night,
+             And stood by the bed of the Benthamite;
+
+but he has been at Paris some time, understanding the subject,
+and has wound himself into some intimacy with the French King and
+his Ministers. It is, however, Poulett Thomson who has persuaded
+Althorp to appoint him, in order to have a creature of his own
+there.
+
+I have never been able to understand the enormous unpopularity of
+this man, who appears civil, well-bred, intelligent, and
+agreeable (only rather a coxcomb), and has made a certain figure
+in the House of Commons, but it has been explained to me by a
+person who knows him well. He was originally a merchant, and had
+a quantity of counting-house knowledge. He became member of a
+club of political economists, and a scholar of M'Culloch's. In
+this club there were some obscure but very able men, and by them
+he got crammed with the principles of commerce and political
+economy, and from his mercantile connections he got facts. He
+possessed great industry and sufficient ability to work up the
+materials he thus acquired into a very plausible exhibition of
+knowledge upon these subjects, and having opportunities of
+preparing himself for every particular question, and the
+advantage of addressing an audience the greater part of which is
+profoundly ignorant, he passed for a young gentleman of
+extraordinary ability and profound knowledge, and amongst the
+greatest of his admirers was Althorp, who, when the Whigs came
+in, promoted him to his present situation. Since he has been
+there he has not had the same opportunities of learning his
+lesson from others behind the curtain, and the envy which always
+attends success has delighted to pull down his reputation, so
+that he now appears something like the jackdaw stripped of the
+peacock's feathers.
+
+
+November 30th, 1831 {p.220}
+
+Went to breakfast at the Tower, which I had never seen. Dined
+with Lady Holland, first time for seven years, finished the
+quarrel, and the last of that batch; they should not last for
+ever. In the morning Wharncliffe came to me from Lord Grey's,
+with whom he had had a final interview. He showed me the paper he
+gave Grey containing his proposals, which were nearly to this
+effect: conceding what the Government required, with these
+exceptions and counter-concessions, an alteration in Schedule B
+with a view to preserve in many cases the two members; that
+voters for the great manufacturing towns should have votes for
+the counties; that London districts should not have so many
+representatives; that when the franchise was given to great
+manufacturing towns, _their_ county should not have more
+representatives; that corporate rights should be saved, though
+with an infusion of £10 voters where required; that Cheltenham
+and Brighton (particularly) should have no members. These were
+the principal heads, proposed in a paper of moderate length and
+civil expression. Grey said the terms were inadmissible, that
+some parts of his proposal might be feasible, but the points on
+which Wharncliffe most insisted (London, and town and county
+voting) he could not agree to. So with many expressions of
+civility and mutual esteem they parted. He is disappointed, but
+not dejected, and I tried to persuade him that an arrangement on
+this basis is not less probable than it was.
+
+The fact is it would have been nearly impossible for Government
+to introduce a Bill so different from the first as these changes
+would have made it, as the result of a negotiation. They would
+have been exposed to great obloquy, and have had innumerable
+difficulties to encounter, but if the Bill goes into a Committee
+of the Lords, and the other clauses pass without opposition, the
+Government may not think themselves obliged to contest these
+alterations. I think the Government would accept them, and
+probably they feel that in no other way could they do so. It
+seems to me that the success of these amendments depends now very
+much upon the Opposition themselves, upon their firmness, their
+union, and above all their reasonableness. Saw Talleyrand last
+night, who said they had better news from Lyons, that there was
+nothing political in it. News came yesterday morning that the
+cholera had broken out at Marseilles.
+
+
+December 3rd, 1831 {p.221}
+
+Wharncliffe showed me his correspondence with the Duke of
+Wellington on this negotiation. They differed greatly, but
+amicably enough, though I take it he was not very well pleased
+with Wharncliffe's last letter, in which he distinctly told the
+Duke that his speech on the Address, and declaration against any
+Reform, was what overthrew his Government. This he never will
+admit, and, passing over the proximate cause, always refers his
+fall to (what was certainly the remote cause) the Catholic
+question--that is, to the breaking up of the Tory party which
+followed it, and the union of the old Tories with the Whigs and
+Radicals on purpose to turn him out. In this correspondence
+Wharncliffe has much the best of it, and I was surprised to find
+with what tenacity the Duke clings to his cherished prejudices,
+and how he shuts his eyes to the signs of the times and the real
+state of the country. With the point at issue he never would
+grapple. Wharncliffe argued for concession, _because_ they have
+not the means of resistance, and that they are in fact at the
+mercy of their opponents. The Duke admitted the force against
+them, but thought it would be possible to govern the country
+without Reform 'if the King was not against them'--an important
+increment of his conditions; there is no doubt that 'the King's
+name is a tower of strength, which they upon the adverse faction
+want'--and he continued through all his letters arguing the
+question on its abstract merits, and repeating the topic that had
+been over and over again urged, but without reference to the
+actual state of things and the means of resistance. It seems,
+however, pretty clear that he will oppose this Bill just as he
+did the last, and he will probably have a great many followers;
+but the party is broken up, for Wharncliffe and Harrowby will
+vote for the second reading; the bishops will generally go with
+them, and probably a sufficient number of Peers. If Lord Grey can
+see a reasonable chance of carrying the Bill without making
+Peers, there can be very little doubt he will put off that
+resource till the last moment.
+
+
+December 4th, 1831 {p.222}
+
+Dined with Talleyrand yesterday. He complained to me of Durham's
+return, and of 'sa funeste influence sur Lord Grey:' that because
+he had been at Brussels and at Paris, he fancied nobody but
+himself knew anything of foreign affairs; he praised Palmerston
+highly. In the evening to Lady Harrowby, who told me John Russell
+had been with her, all moderation and candour, and evidently for
+the purpose of keeping alive the amicable relations which had been
+begun by Wharncliffe's negotiation. When Lady Harrowby said it was
+over, he replied, 'For the present,' said how glad he should be of
+a compromise, hinted that Sandon might be instrumental, that he
+might move an amendment in the House of Commons; abused Macaulay's
+violent speech--in short, was all mild and _doucereux_--all which
+proves that they _do_ wish to compromise if they could manage it
+conveniently. Lord John Russell told her that there was no going
+on with Durham, that he never left Lord Grey, tormented his heart
+out, and made him so ill and irritable that he could not sleep.
+Durham wanted to be Minister for Foreign Affairs.
+
+
+December 7th, 1831 {p.223}
+
+Parliament opened yesterday; not a bad speech, though wordy and
+ill-written. There was an oversight in the Address, which was
+corrected in both Houses by Peel and Lord Harrowby, but not taken
+_as an amendment_. Lord Grey begged it might be inserted in Lord
+Camperdown's address, which was done. It was about the King of
+Holland and the treaty. The Address says that they rejoice _at
+the treaty_, whereas there is none at present. Lord Lyttelton
+made a very foolish speech, and was very well cut up by Lord
+Harrowby, and Peel spoke well in the other House.
+
+
+December 8th, 1831 {p.223}
+
+[Page Head: AN APPEAL FROM LORD CHANCELLOR BROUGHAM.]
+
+At Court yesterday to swear in Erskine,[5] Brougham's new Chief
+Judge in Bankruptcy and Privy Councillor. The Chancellor is in a
+great rage with me. There is an appeal to the Privy Council from
+a judgment of his (in which he was wrong), the first appeal of
+the kind for above a hundred years;[6] I told him it was ready to
+be heard, and begged to know if he had any wish as to who should
+be summoned to hear it. He said very tartly, 'Of course I shall
+have somebody to hear it _with me_.' I said, 'Do you mean to hear
+it yourself, then?' 'And pray why not? don't I hear appeals from
+myself every day in the House of Lords? didn't you see that I
+could not hear a case the other day because Lord Lyndhurst was
+not there? I have _a right_ to hear it. I sit there as a Privy
+Councillor.' 'Oh,' I said, 'you have certainly _a right_ if you
+choose it.' 'You may rely upon it I shall do nothing unusual in
+the Privy Council,' and then he flounced off in high dudgeon. I
+told Lord Lansdowne afterwards, who said he should not allow it
+to be heard by _him_, and should make a point of summoning all
+the great law authorities of the Privy Council. This was the case
+of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, which excited great interest, in which
+Brougham tried to play all sorts of tricks to prevent his
+judgment being reversed, which tricks I managed to defeat, and
+the judgment was reversed, as is described farther on. I never
+had the advantage of seeing the Chancellor before in his sulks,
+though he is by no means unfrequently in them, very particularly
+so this time last year, when he was revolving in his mind whether
+he should take the Great Seal, and when he thought he was
+ill-used, so Auckland told me.
+
+      [5] [Right Hon. Thomas Erskine, a son of Lord Chancellor
+          Erskine, Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, and afterwards a
+          Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.]
+
+      [6] [It was an Appeal in Lunacy. No other appeals save in
+          Lunacy lie from the Court of Chancery to the King in
+          Council, and these are very rare. Drax _v._ Grosvenor
+          is reported in Knapp's 'Privy Council Reports.'.]
+
+The cholera is on the decline at Sunderland, but in the meantime
+our trade will have been put under such restrictions that the
+greatest embarrassments are inevitable. Intelligence is already
+come that the Manchester people have curtailed their orders, and
+many workmen will be out of work. Yesterday a deputation from
+Coventry came to Auckland, and desired a categorical answer as to
+whether Government meant to resume the prohibitory system,
+because if they would not the glove trade at Coventry would
+discharge their workmen.
+
+
+December 11th, 1831 {p.224}
+
+Yesterday Harrowby had an interview with Lord Grey, the result of
+which I do not know; walked with Stuart (de Rothesay) in the
+morning, who had seen the Duke of Wellington the day before. I
+said I was afraid he was very obstinate. He said 'No, he thought
+not, but that the Duke fancied Wharncliffe had gone too far.'
+
+[Page Head: THE SECOND REFORM BILL.]
+
+To-morrow the Reform Bill comes on. Some say that it will be as
+hotly disputed as ever, and that Peel's speeches indicate a
+bitterness undiminished, but this will not happen. It is clear
+that the general tone and temper of parties is softened, and
+though a great deal of management and discretion is necessary to
+accomplish anything like a decent compromise, the majority of
+both parties are earnestly desirous of bringing the business to
+an end by any means. What has already taken place between the
+Government and Wharncliffe and Harrowby has certainly smoothed
+the way, and removed much of that feeling of asperity which
+before existed. The press, too, is less violent, the 'Morning
+Herald' openly preaching a compromise, and the 'Times' taking
+that sort of sweep which, if it does not indicate a change, shows
+a disposition to take such a position as may enable it to adopt
+any course.
+
+_In the evening._--Called on Lord Bathurst in the morning; met
+him going out, and stopped to talk to him. He knew of the meeting
+in Downing Street; that Lords Harrowby, Wharncliffe, and Chandos
+were to meet the Chancellor and Lords Althorp and Grey; that
+Chandos had gone to Brighton, ostensibly to talk to the King
+about the West Indies, but had taken the opportunity to throw in
+something on the topic of Reform; that the King desired him to
+speak to Palmerston, and allowed him to say that he did so by his
+orders. (The King, it seems, knows nothing of what is going on,
+for he reads no newspapers and the Household tell him nothing.)
+Accordingly Chandos did speak to Palmerston, and the result was a
+note to him, begging these three would meet the three Ministers
+above mentioned. Lady Harrowby told me that they went. Brougham
+did not arrive till the conference was nearly over. There was an
+abundant interchange of civilities, but nothing concluded, the
+Ministers declining every proposition that Lord Harrowby made to
+them, though Lord Grey owned that they did not ask for anything
+which involved an abandonment of the principle of the Bill. They
+are, then, not a bit nearer an accommodation than they were
+before.
+
+George Bentinck told me this evening of a scene which had been
+related to him by the Duke of Richmond, that lately took place at
+a Cabinet dinner; it was very soon after Durham's return from
+abroad. He was furious at the negotiations and question of
+compromise. Lord Grey is always the object of his rage and
+impertinence, because he is the only person whom he dares attack.
+After dinner he made a violent _sortie_ on Lord Grey (it was at
+Althorp's), said he would be eternally disgraced if he suffered
+any alterations to be made in this Bill, that he was a betrayer
+of the cause, and, amongst other things, reproached him with
+having kept him in town on account of this Bill in the summer,
+'and thereby having been the cause of the death of his son.'
+Richmond said in his life he never witnessed so painful a scene,
+or one which excited such disgust and indignation in every member
+of the Cabinet. Lord Grey was ready to burst into tears, said he
+would much rather work in the coal-mines than be subject to such
+attacks, on which the other muttered, 'and you might do worse,'
+or some such words. After this Durham got up and left the room.
+Lord Grey very soon retired too, when the other Ministers
+discussed this extraordinary scene, and considered what steps
+they ought to take. They thought at first that they should
+require Durham to make a public apology (i.e. before all of them)
+to Lord Grey for his impertinence, which they deemed due to
+_them_ as he was _their_ head, and to _Althorp_ as having
+occurred in his house, but as they thought it was quite certain
+that Durham would resign the next morning, and that Lord Grey
+might be pained at another scene, they forbore to exact this.
+However, Durham did not resign; he absented himself for some days
+from the Cabinet, at last returned as if nothing had happened,
+and there he goes on as usual. But they are so thoroughly
+disgusted, and resolved to oppose him, that his influence is
+greatly impaired. Still, his power of mischief and annoyance is
+considerable. Lord Grey succumbs to him, and they say in spite of
+his behaviour is very much attached to him, though so incessantly
+worried that his health visibly suffers by his presence. There is
+nothing in which he does not meddle. The Reform Bill he had a
+principal hand in concocting, and he fancies himself the only man
+competent to manage our foreign relations. Melbourne, who was
+present at this scene, said, 'If I had been Lord Grey, I would
+have knocked him down.'
+
+
+December 13th, 1831 {p.227}
+
+Lord John Russell brought on his Bill last night in a very feeble
+speech. A great change is apparent since the last Bill; the House
+was less full, and a softened and subdued state of temper and
+feeling was evinced. Peel made an able and a bitter speech,
+though perhaps not a very judicious one. There are various
+alterations in the Bill; enough to prove that it was at least
+wise to throw out the last. Althorp, who answered Peel,
+acknowledged that if the old Bill had been opposed in its
+earliest stage it never could have been brought forward again, or
+made an avowal to that effect. In fact, Peel is now aware (as
+everybody else is) of the enormous fault that was committed in
+not throwing it out at once, before the press had time to
+operate, and rouse the country to the pitch of madness it did. On
+what trifles turn the destinies of nations! William Bankes told
+me last night that Peel owned this to him; said that he had
+earnestly desired to do so, but had been turned from his purpose
+by Granville Somerset! And why? Because he (in the expectation of
+a dissolution) must have voted against him, he said, in order to
+save his popularity in his own county.
+
+[Page Head: CONFESSION OF A BODY-SNATCHER.]
+
+Met Melbourne at Lord Holland's; they were talking of a reported
+confession to a great extent of murders, which is said to have
+been begun and not finished, by the Burkers, or by one of them.
+Melbourne said it was true, that he began the confession about
+the murder of a black man to a Dissenting clergyman, but was
+interrupted by the ordinary. Two of a trade could not agree, and
+the man of the Established Church preferred that the criminal
+should die unconfessed, and the public uninformed, rather than
+the Dissenter should extract the truth. Since writing this I see
+Hunt put a question to George Lamb on this point, and he replied
+that he knew nothing of any other confession, which is not true.
+I have heard, but on no authority, that some surgeons are so
+disagreeably implicated that they choose to conceal these
+horrors.
+
+
+December 14th, 1831 {p.228}
+
+People generally are mightily satisfied at the tone of the
+discussion the other night, and, what is of vast importance, the
+press has adopted a moderate and conciliatory tone, even the
+'Times,' which, is now all for compromise. It is clear as
+daylight that the Government will consent to anything which
+leaves untouched the great principles of the Bill, and the
+country desires to see the question settled, and, if possible,
+rest from this eternal excitement.
+
+
+December 20th, 1831 {p.228}
+
+The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried at one o'clock
+on Saturday night by a majority of two to one, and ended very
+triumphantly for Ministers, who are proportionately elated, and
+their opponents equally depressed. Croker had made a very clever
+speech on Friday, with quotations from Hume, and much reasoning
+upon them. Hobhouse detected several inaccuracies, and gave his
+discovery to Stanley, who worked it up in a crushing attack upon
+Croker. It is by far the best speech Stanley ever made, and so
+good as to raise him immeasurably in the House. Lord Grey said it
+placed him at the very top of the House of Commons, without a
+rival, which perhaps is jumping to rather too hasty a conclusion.
+He shone the more from Peel's making a very poor exhibition. He
+had been so nettled by Macaulay's sarcasms the night before on
+his tergiversation, that he went into the whole history of the
+Catholic question and his conduct on that occasion, which,
+besides savouring of that egotism with which he is so much and
+justly reproached, was uncalled for and out of place. The rest of
+his speech was not so good as usual, and he did not attempt to
+answer Stanley.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              1832.
+
+
+Panshanger, January 1st, 1832 {p.229}
+
+[Page Head: PANSHANGER.]
+
+Distress seems to increase hereabouts, and crime with it.
+Methodism and saintship increase too. The people of this house
+are examples of the religion of the fashionable world, and the
+charity of natural benevolence, which the world has not spoiled.
+Lady Cowper and her family go to church, but scandalise the
+congregation by always arriving half an hour too late. The hour
+matters not; if it began at nine, or ten, or twelve, or one
+o'clock, it would be the same thing; they are never ready, and
+always late, but they go. Lord Cowper never goes at all; but he
+employs multitudes of labourers, is ready to sanction any and
+every measure which can contribute to the comfort and happiness
+of the peasantry. Lady Cowper and her daughters inspect
+personally the cottages and condition of the poor. They visit,
+enquire, and give; they distribute flannel, medicines, money, and
+they talk to and are kind to them, so that the result is a
+perpetual stream flowing from a real fountain of benevolence,
+which waters all the country round and gladdens the hearts of the
+peasantry, and attaches them to those from whom it emanates.
+
+
+Panshanger, January 6th, 1832 {p.229}
+
+Talleyrand, Dino, Palmerston, Esterhazy, came yesterday and went
+away to-day--that is, the two first and the Seftons did. There
+has been another contest in the Cabinet about the Peers, which
+has ended in a sort of compromise, and five are to be made
+directly, two new ones and three eldest sons called up. Old
+Talleyrand came half-dead from the conferences, which have been
+incessant these few days, owing to the Emperor of Russia's
+refusal to ratify the treaty and the differences about the
+Belgian fortresses. One conference lasted eleven hours and a
+quarter, and finished at four o'clock in the morning.
+
+
+Gorhambury, January 7th, 1832 {p.229}
+
+[Page Head: EFFORTS OF THE MODERATE PARTY.]
+
+Came here to-day. Berkeley Paget and Lushington; nobody else. Had
+a conversation with Lady C. before I came away; between
+Palmerston, Frederick Lamb, and Melbourne she knows everything,
+and is a furious anti-Reformer. The upshot of the matter is this:
+the question about the Peers is still under discussion; Lord Grey
+and the ultra party want to make a dozen, _now_, the others want
+only to yield five or six. Lord Grey wrote to Palmerston saying
+the King had received his proposition (about the Peers) very
+well, but desired to have his reasons in writing, and to-day at
+twelve there was to be another Cabinet on the subject, in order
+probably that the 'reasons' might go down by the post. The
+moderate party in the Cabinet consists of Lansdowne, Richmond,
+Palmerston, Melbourne, and Stanley. Palmerston and Melbourne,
+particularly the latter, are now heartily ashamed of the part
+they have taken about Reform. They detest and abhor the whole
+thing, and they find themselves unable to cope with the violent
+party, and consequently implicated in a continued series of
+measures which they disapprove; and they do not know what to do,
+whether to stay in and fight this unequal battle or resign. I
+told her that nothing could justify their conduct, and their
+excuses were good for nothing; but that there was no use in
+resigning now. They might still do some good in the Cabinet; they
+could do none out of it. In fact, Durham and the most violent
+members of the Cabinet would gladly drive Palmerston and
+Melbourne to resign if they could keep Stanley, who is alone of
+importance of that squad; but he is of such weight, from his
+position in the House of Commons, that if he can be prevailed
+upon to be staunch, and to hold out with the moderates against
+the ultras, the former will probably prevail. Durham wants to be
+Minister for Foreign Affairs, and would plague Lord Grey till he
+gave him the seals, unless his other colleagues put a veto upon
+the appointment. But the anxiety of the Reformers to make Peers
+has not reference to the Reform Bill alone; they undoubtedly look
+further, and knowing their own weakness in the House of Lords,
+they want to secure a permanent force, which may make them
+stronger than their antagonists in that House. Otherwise they
+would not be so averse to all questions of conciliation, express
+their disbelief in conversions, and trumpet forth their
+conviction that any individual of the late majority will vote
+just the same way again. The earnest desire of the moderate party
+in the Cabinet is that those who will vote for the second reading
+shall make haste to declare their intention, and I have written
+to Lady Harrowby to endeavour to get Lord Harrowby to take some
+such step. I had already written to De Ros, urging him to speak
+to Wharncliffe, and get him to take an opportunity of giving the
+King to understand that the necessity for a creation of Peers is
+by no means so urgent as his Ministers would have him believe.
+
+
+Panshanger, January 13th, 1832 {p.231}
+
+Returned here yesterday; found Melbourne, Lamb, the Lievens, the
+Haddingtons, Luttrell, the Ashleys, John Ashley, and Irby. While
+I was at Gorhambury I determined to write to Wharncliffe and urge
+him to speak to the King, and accordingly I did so. I received a
+letter from him saying that De Ros had already spoken to him,
+that he had had a conversation with Sir Herbert Taylor, which he
+had desired him to repeat to the King and to Lord Grey, that he
+had intended to leave the matter there, but in consequence of my
+letter he should ask for an audience. This morning I have heard
+again from him. He saw the King, and was with him an hour; put
+his Majesty in possession of his sentiments, and told him there
+would be no necessity for creating Peers if the Government would
+be conciliatory and moderate in the Committee of the House of
+Commons; he promised to tell me the particulars of this interview
+when we meet.
+
+Last night Frederick Lamb told me that Lord Grey had sent word to
+Melbourne of what Wharncliffe had said to Sir Herbert Taylor, and
+Lord Grey assumed the tenour of Wharncliffe's language to have
+been merely an advice to the King not to make Peers, whereas all
+I suggested to him was to explain to the King that the creation
+was not necessary for the reasons which have been assigned to his
+Majesty by his Ministers, viz., the intention of all who voted
+against the second reading last year to vote against it this. In
+the meantime the dispute has been going on in the Cabinet, time
+has been gained, and several incidents have made a sort of
+cumulative impression. There is a petition to the King, got up by
+Lord Verulam and Lord Salisbury, which is in fact a moderate
+Reform manifesto. It has been numerously signed, and Verulam is
+going to Brighton to present it. I have been labouring to
+persuade him to make up his mind to vote for the second reading,
+and to tell the King that such is his intention, which he has
+promised me he will. When I had obtained this promise from him I
+wrote word to Lady Cowper, telling her at the same time that Lord
+Harris (I had heard) would vote for the second reading, and this
+letter she imparted to Melbourne, who stated the fact in the
+Cabinet, where it made a considerable impression. All such
+circumstances serve to supply arms to the moderate party.
+
+This morning Melbourne went up to another Cabinet, armed with
+another fact with which I supplied him. Lord Craven declared at
+his own table that if the Government made Peers _he would not vote
+with them_, and if he was sent for he should reply that as they
+could create Peers so easily they might do without him. All such
+circumstances as these, I find, are considered of great
+importance, and are made available for the purpose of fighting the
+battle in the Cabinet. As to Lord Grey, it is exceedingly
+difficult to understand his real sentiments, and to reconcile his
+present conduct with the general tenour of his former professions;
+that he _was_ averse to the adoption of so violent a measure I
+have no doubt--his pride and aristocratic principles would
+naturally make him so--but he is easily governed, constantly
+yielding to violence and intimidation, and it is not unlikely that
+the pertinacity of those about him, the interests of his party,
+and the prolongation of his power may induce him to sacrifice his
+natural feelings and opinions. It is very probable that, although
+he may have allowed himself to be at the head of those who are for
+the creation, he may have such misgivings and scruples as may
+prevent his carrying that point with the high hand and in the
+summary way which he might do.
+
+
+January 15th, 1832 {p.232}
+
+This morning Frederick Lamb showed me a letter he had got from
+Melbourne to this effect: 'that they had resolved to make no
+Peers at all at present; that to make a few would be regarded as
+a menace, and be as bad as if they made a great many; but that as
+many as would be necessary to carry the Bill would be made, if it
+was eventually found that it must be so;' he added 'it only
+remained for people to come forward and declare their intention
+of supporting the second reading.' This is certainly a great
+victory, and I do believe mainly attributable to our exertions,
+to the spirit we have infused into Melbourne himself, and the use
+we have made of Wharncliffe and Verulam, and the different little
+circumstances we have brought to bear upon the discussion. What
+now remains is the most difficult, but I shall do all I can to
+engage Peers to take a moderate determination and to declare it.
+Lamb told me that the King has an aversion to making _a few_
+Peers, that he has said he would rather make twenty-five than
+five, that whatever he must make he should like to make at once,
+and not to have to return to it. Anyhow, time is gained, and a
+victory for the moment.
+
+
+London, January 20th, 1832 {p.233}
+
+[Page Head: WHARNCLIFFE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING.]
+
+Came up on Monday last. I have been changing my house, and so
+occupied that I have not had time to write. Wharncliffe came to
+town on Wednesday, and came straight to my office to give me an
+account of his interview with the King, in which it appears as if
+he had said much about what he ought, and no more. He told his
+Majesty that the reports which had been circulated as to the
+disposition and intentions of himself and his friends, and the
+argument for the necessity of making Peers, which he understood
+to have been founded on these reports, had compelled him to ask
+for this audience, that he wished to explain to his Majesty that
+he (Lord Wharncliffe) had no intention of opposing the second
+reading of the Reform Bill as he had done before, that he had
+reason to believe that many others would adopt the same course,
+and if Ministers showed a moderate and conciliating disposition
+in the House of Commons, he was persuaded they would have no
+difficulty in carrying the second reading in the House of Lords.
+He then implored the King well to consider the consequences of
+such a _coup d'état_ as this creation of Peers would be; to look
+at what had happened in France, and to bear in mind that if this
+was done for one purpose, and by one Government, the necessity
+would infallibly arise of repeating it again by others, or for
+other objects. He was with the King an hour dilating upon this
+theme. The King was extremely kind, heard him with great
+patience, and paid him many compliments, and when he took leave
+told him that he was extremely glad to have had this conversation
+with him. Sir Herbert Taylor gave Lord Wharncliffe to understand
+that he had made an impression, only impressions on the mind of
+the King are impressions on sand. However, from Taylor's cautious
+hints to him to persevere, it is likely that he did do good. He
+is himself persuaded that his audience principally produced the
+delay in the creation of Peers.
+
+In the meantime he was not idle at Brighton. Lord Ailesbury, who
+saw the King, consulted Wharncliffe, and agreed at last to tell
+the King that his sentiments were the same as those which Lord
+Wharncliffe had expressed to him, and Lord Kinnoull and Lord Gage
+have promised him their proxies.
+
+[Page Head: THE WAVERERS AND WELLINGTON.]
+
+Yesterday morning he came to me again, very desponding. He had
+found Harrowby in a state of despair, uncertain what he should
+do, and looking upon the game as lost, and he had been with the
+Duke of Wellington, who was impracticably obstinate, declaring
+that nothing should prevent his opposing a Bill which he believed
+in his conscience to be pregnant with certain ruin to the
+country; that he did not care to be a great man (he meant by this
+expression a man of great wealth and station), and that he could
+contentedly sink into any station that circumstances might let
+him down to, but he never would consent to be a party directly or
+indirectly to such a measure as this, and, feeling as he did, he
+was resolved to do his utmost to throw it out, without regard to
+consequences. Wharncliffe said he was quite in despair, for that
+he knew the Duke's great influence, and that if he and Harrowby
+endeavoured to form a party against his views, they had no chance
+of making one sufficiently strong to cope with him. He spoke with
+great and rather unusual modesty of himself, and of his
+inadequacy for this purpose; that Harrowby might do more, and
+would have greater influence, but that he was so undecided and so
+without heart and spirit that he would not bestir himself.
+However, he acknowledged that nothing else was left to be done.
+
+In the evening went to Lady Harrowby's, where I found him and
+Lord Haddington. We stayed there till near two, after which
+Wharncliffe and I walked up and down Berkeley Square. He was in
+much better spirits, having had a long conversation with these
+two Lords, both of whom he said were now resolved to sail along
+with him, and he contemplates a regular and declared separation
+from the Duke _upon this question_. In the morning he had seen
+Lyndhurst, who appeared very undecided, and (Wharncliffe was
+apprehensive) rather leaning towards the Duke, but I endeavoured
+to persuade him that Lyndhurst was quite sure to adopt upon
+consideration the line which appeared most conducive to his own
+interest and importance, that he had always a hankering after
+being well with Lord Grey and the Whigs, and I well remembered
+when the late Government was broken up he had expressed himself
+in very unmeasured terms about the Duke's blunders, and the
+impossibility of his ever again being Prime Minister; that with
+him consistency, character, and high feelings of honour and
+patriotism were secondary considerations; that he relied upon his
+great talents and his capacity to render himself necessary to an
+Administration; that it was not probable he would like to throw
+himself (even to please the Duke) into an opposition to the
+earnest desire which the great mass of the community felt to have
+the question settled; and that both for him and themselves much
+of the difficulty of separating themselves from the Duke might be
+avoided by the manner in which it was done. I entreated him to
+use towards the Duke every sort of frankness and candour, and to
+express regret at the necessity of taking a different line,
+together with an acknowledgment of the purity of the Duke's
+motives; and if this is done, and if other people are made to
+understand that they can separate from the Duke _on this
+occasion_ without offending or quarrelling with him, or throwing
+off the allegiance to him as their political leader, many will be
+inclined to do so; besides, it is of vital importance, if they do
+get the Bill into Committee, to secure the concurrence of the
+Duke and his adherents in dealing with the details of it, which
+can only be effected by keeping him in good humour. On the whole
+the thing looks as well as such a thing can look.
+
+
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Measures for carrying the Second Reading of the Reform Bill in
+  the House of Lords--The Party of the Waverers--The Russo-Dutch
+  Loan--Resistance of the Tory Peers--Lord Melbourne's Views on
+  the Government--Macaulay at Holland House--Reluctance of the
+  Government to create Peers--Duke of Wellington intractable--
+  Peel's Despondency--Lord Grey on the Measures of Conciliation--
+  Lord Wharncliffe sees the King--Prospects of the Waverers--
+  Conversations with Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston--Duke of
+  Richmond on the Creation of Peers--Interview of Lord Grey with
+  the Waverers--Minute drawn up--Bethnal Green--The Archbishop of
+  Canterbury vacillates--Violence of Extreme Parties--Princess
+  Lieven's Journal--Lord Holland for making Peers--Irish National
+  Education--Seizure of Ancona--Reform Bill passes the House of
+  Commons--Lord Dudley's Madness--Debate in the Lords.
+
+
+January 24th, 1832 {p.237}
+
+Yesterday morning Frederick Lamb came to me and told me that the
+question of the Peers was again in agitation, that the King had
+agreed to make as many as they pleased, and had understood
+Wharncliffe's conversation with his Majesty not to have contained
+any distinct assurance that he would vote for the second reading
+of the Bill. Our party in the Cabinet still fight the battle,
+however, and Stanley (on whom all depends) is said to be firm,
+but circumstances may compel them to give way, and Lord Grey (who
+is suspected to have in his heart many misgivings as to this
+measure), when left to Durham and Co., yields everything. Under
+these circumstances I went to Wharncliffe last night, to persuade
+him to declare his intentions without loss of time. He owned that
+he had not _pledged_ himself to the King, and he was frightened
+to death at the idea of taking this step, lest it should give
+umbrage to the Tories, and he should find himself without any
+support at all. We went, however, together to Grosvenor Square,
+and had a long conference with Harrowby, whom I found equally
+undecided.
+
+[Page Head: PLANS OF CONCILIATION.]
+
+In the meantime the Tories are full of activity and expectation,
+and Lord Aberdeen is going to bring on a motion about Belgium on
+Thursday, on which they expect to beat the Government, not
+comprehending that a greater evil could not occur, or a better
+excuse be afforded them for an immediate creation; still they have
+got it into their heads that if they can beat the Government
+_before_ the Reform Bill comes on they will force them to resign.
+I found Harrowby and Wharncliffe equally undecided as to the
+course they should adopt, the former clinging to the hope that the
+Peerage question was at last suspended, that Lord Grey was
+compunctious, the King reluctant, and so forth--Wharncliffe afraid
+of being abandoned by those who are now disposed to consult and
+act with him, and indisposed to commit himself irretrievably in
+the House of Lords. After a long discussion I succeeded in
+persuading them that the danger is imminent, that there is no
+other chance of avoiding it, and they agreed to hoist their
+standard, get what followers they can, and declare in the House
+for the second reading without loss of time. Harrowby said of
+himself that he was the worst person in the world to conciliate
+and be civil, which is true enough, but he has a high reputation,
+and his opinion is of immense value. Until they declare themselves
+not a step will be made, and if they cannot gain adherents, why
+the matter is at an end; while if their example be followed, there
+is still a chance of averting the climax of all evils, the
+swamping the House of Lords and the permanent establishment of the
+power of the present Government. Wharncliffe is to go to the Duke
+of Wellington to-day, to entreat him not to let his party divide
+on Aberdeen's motion on Thursday, and Harrowby will go to the
+Archbishop to invite his adhesion to their party. I am very
+doubtful what success to augur from this, but it is the only
+chance, and though the bulk of the Tory Peers are prejudiced,
+obstinate, and stupid to the last degree, there are scattered
+amongst them men of more rational views and more moderate
+dispositions. Sandon came in while we were there, and expressed
+precisely the same opinion that I had been endeavouring to enforce
+upon them. He said that in the House of Commons, whence he was
+just come, the Government had refused to give way upon a very
+reasonable objection, without assigning any reason (the numbers in
+Schedule B), that this evinced an unconciliatory spirit, which was
+very distressing to those who wished for a compromise, that
+Hobhouse came to him after the debate, and said how anxious he was
+they should come to some understanding, and act in a greater
+spirit of conciliation, and talked of a meeting of the moderate on
+either side, that his constituents were eager for a settlement,
+and by no means averse to concession, but that while Peel, Croker,
+and others persisted in the tone they had adopted, and in the sort
+of opposition they were pursuing, it was quite impossible for the
+Government to give way upon anything, or evince any disposition to
+make concessions. Sandon said he had no doubt whatever that if
+Peel had assumed a different tone at the beginning of the session
+the Government would have been more moderate, and mutual
+concessions might have been feasible even in the House of Commons.
+Hobhouse, however, said that the alterations, whatever they might
+be (and he owned that he should like some), would come with a
+better grace in the House of Lords, and this is what I have all
+along thought. O'Connell arrived yesterday, took his seat, and
+announced his intention of supporting Government at any rate. All
+the Irish members do the same, and this great body, that everyone
+expected would display hostility to the Bill, have formed
+themselves into a phalanx, and will carry it through any
+difficulties by their compactness and the regularity of their
+attendance.
+
+
+January 25th, 1832 {p.239}
+
+We met at Lord Harrowby's last night--Wharncliffe, Harrowby,
+Haddington, and Sandon--and I found their minds were quite made
+up. Wharncliffe is to present a petition from Hull, and to take
+that opportunity of making his declaration, and the other two are
+to support him. Wharncliffe saw the Bishop of London in the
+morning, who is decided the same way, and he asked Lord Devon,
+who knows the House of Lords very well, if he thought, in the
+event of their raising the standard of moderate Reform, that they
+would have adherents, to which he replied he was convinced they
+would. Lord Harrowby saw the Archbishop, who would not pledge
+himself, but appeared well disposed; and altogether they think
+they can count upon nine bishops. Wharncliffe spoke to the Duke
+of Wellington about Lord Aberdeen's motion, and represented all
+the impolicy of it at this moment, and the connection it might
+have with the Peerage question; to which he only replied by
+enlarging on 'the importance of the Belgic question,' either
+unable or unwilling to embrace this measure in its complex
+relations, and never perceiving that the country cares not a
+straw about Belgium or anything but Reform, though they may begin
+to care about such things when this question is settled.
+Haddington also went to Aberdeen, who would hear nothing; but he
+and the Duke severally promised to speak to one another. The
+question last night was whether Wharncliffe should say his say
+directly, or wait (as he wishes to do) for a few days. The
+decision of this he referred to me, and I have referred it to
+Melbourne, to whom I have communicated what has passed.
+
+News came yesterday that the cholera had got within three miles
+of Edinburgh, and to show the fallacy of any theory about it, and
+the inutility of the prescribed precautions, at one place
+(Newport, I think) one person in five of the whole population was
+attacked, though there was no lack of diet, warmth, and clothing
+for the poor. This disease escapes from all speculation, so
+partial and eccentric is its character.
+
+
+January 29th, 1832 {p.240}
+
+[Page Head: DISCREDIT OF MINISTERS.]
+
+There were two divisions on Thursday night last--in the House of
+Lords on the Belgian question, and in the House of Commons on the
+Russian Loan. Harrowby, Wharncliffe, and Haddington stayed away;
+Lyndhurst voted. Only two bishops, Durham and Killaloe. Ministers
+had a majority of thirty-seven, for Aberdeen and the Duke
+persisted in bringing on the question and dividing upon it. The
+former spoke nearly three hours, and far better than ever he had
+done before; the Duke was prosy. In the other House the
+Government had not a shadow of a case; their law officers, Home
+and Denman, displayed an ignorance and stupidity which were quite
+ludicrous, and nothing saved them from defeat but a good speech
+at the end from Palmerston, and their remonstrances to their
+friends that unless they carried it they must resign. Not a soul
+defends them, and they are particularly blamed for their folly in
+not coming to Parliament at once, by which they might have
+avoided the scrape.[1] They had only a majority of twenty-four.
+They were equally disgusted with both these divisions, both
+plainly showing that they have little power (independently of the
+Reform question) in either House. To be sure the case in the
+House of Commons was a wretched one, but in the House of Lords
+there was nothing to justify a vote of censure on Government, to
+which Aberdeen's motion was tantamount. But while they had a
+majority which was respectable enough to make it impossible to
+propose making Peers on _that account_, it was so small that they
+see clearly what they have to expect hereafter from such a House
+of Lords, and accordingly their adherents have thrown off the
+mask. Sefton called on me the day after, and said it was
+ridiculous to go on in this way, that the Tories had had
+possession of the Government so many years, and the power of
+making so many Peers, that no Whig or other Ministry could stand
+without a fresh creation to redress the balance.
+
+      [1] [For a more particular account of the question of the
+          Russo-Dutch Loan, see _infra_ [February 4, 1832], p.
+          244. It has since been universally admitted that the
+          conduct of the Government was wise and honourable, and
+          that the separation of Holland and Belgium did not
+          exonerate Great Britain from a financial engagement to
+          foreign Powers.]
+
+After having, as I supposed, settled everything with Wharncliffe
+about his declaration, I got a letter from him yesterday (from
+Brighton), saying he thought it would be premature, and wished to
+put it off till the first reading of the Bill in the House of
+Lords. I took his letter to Melbourne, and told him I was all
+against the delay. He said it was no doubt desirable they should
+get as many adherents as they can, and if the delay would enable
+them to do so it might be better, but they must not imagine
+Government was satisfied with the division in the House of Lords.
+However, the question of Peers seems not to be under discussion
+at this moment, though it is perpetually revived. In the evening
+I went to Harrowby's and showed him Wharncliffe's letter. He
+concurred in the expediency of delay, but without convincing me.
+He showed me a letter, and a very good one, he has written to
+Lord Talbot, explaining his views, and inviting his concurrence,
+and of this he has sent copies to other Peers, whom he thinks it
+possible he may influence. The question of time and manner is to
+be reserved for future discussion.
+
+
+February 2nd, 1832 {p.242}
+
+[Page Head: SIR HENRY PARNELL.]
+
+Met Frederick Lamb at dinner to talk over the state of affairs
+before he goes to Vienna. What he wishes for is the expulsion of
+this Government, and the formation of a moderate one taken from
+all parties. Received another letter from Wharncliffe yesterday,
+in which he stated that he had communicated to the Duke of
+Wellington his intention of supporting the second reading, and
+asked if the Duke would support his amendments in Committee. In
+the meantime I wrote to Harrowby, begging he would communicate
+with Lord Carnarvon and the Duke of Buckingham. They keep
+doubting and fearing about who will or will not join them, but do
+not stir a step. George Bentinck told me that Lord Holland said
+to the Duke of Richmond the other day 'that he had heard a
+declaration was in agitation; that nothing could be more
+unfortunate at this moment, as it would make it very difficult to
+create fifty Peers.' In the meantime a difficulty is likely to
+arise from another source, and the Government to derive strength
+from their very weakness. Robert Clive (who is a moderate Tory)
+called on me the other day, and when (after expressing his
+anxiety that the question should be settled) I asked him whether
+such a declaration would meet with much success, said he thought
+that it would have done so a fortnight ago, but that the extreme
+discredit into which Ministers were fallen would now operate as a
+reason against supporting them in any stage of the business, and
+offered so good a chance of expelling them altogether that people
+would be anxious to try it. Still it must be so obvious that it
+would be next to impossible to make a Government now, that it is
+to be hoped all but the most violent will feel it. Herries indeed
+told somebody that he had no doubt the Tories could make a
+Government, and that on a dissolution they would get a Parliament
+that would support them. Parnell[2] has been turned out for not
+voting on the Russian Loan affair, and Hobhouse appointed in his
+place. Tennyson resigned from ill health. Parnell was properly
+enough turned out, and he is a good riddance, but it is not the
+same thing as turning people out on Reform. He wrote an excellent
+book on finance, but he was a very bad Secretary at War, a rash
+economical innovator, and a bad man of business in its details.
+After waiting till the last moment for the arrival of the Russian
+ratification, the French and English signed the Belgian treaty
+alone, and the others are to sign after as their powers arrive.
+
+      [2] [Sir Henry Parnell had been appointed Secretary at War
+          on the formation of Lord Grey's Ministry. He had
+          exasperated his colleagues by entering upon an
+          unauthorised negotiation with the French Post Office,
+          without the knowledge of the Duke of Richmond, then
+          Postmaster-General, and by encouraging Joseph Hume to
+          bring on a motion against the Post Office. Hume brought
+          this letter to the Duke of Richmond, who was indignant
+          and laid the whole matter before Lord Grey, who behaved
+          very well about it. Parnell narrowly escaped dismissal
+          at that time, and on his next sign of disaffection to
+          the Government he was turned out of office.]
+
+
+February 4th, 1832 {p.243}
+
+Called on Lord Harrowby in the morning; found him in very bad
+spirits, as well he might, for to all the invitations he had
+written to Peers he had received either refusals or no reply, so
+that he augurs ill of their attempt. Carnarvon and Talbot refused;
+these besotted, predestinated Tories _will_ follow the Duke; the
+Duke _will_ oppose all Reform because he said he would. Those who
+are inclined will not avow their conversion to moderate
+principles, and so they will go on, waiting and staring at one
+another, till one fine day the Peers will come out in the
+'Gazette.' The thing looks ill. Dined with Lord Holland.
+Melbourne, who was there, asked me if I had heard from Wharncliffe,
+but I did not tell him of Lord Harrowby's refusals.
+
+Falck dined there, and in conversation about the Russian Loan he
+told us the original history of it. The Emperor of Russia had
+borrowed ninety millions of florins, and when his concurrence and
+support were desired to the new kingdom of the Netherlands he
+proposed in return that the King of Holland should take this debt
+off his hands. The King said he would gladly meet his wishes, but
+could not begin by making himself unpopular with his new subjects
+and saddling them with this debt. Whereupon England interposed,
+and an arrangement was made [in 1815] by which Russia, England,
+and the King of the Netherlands divided the debt into three equal
+shares, each taking one. With reference to the argument that the
+countries being divided we ought no longer to pay our share,
+Falck said the King of the Netherlands had not refused to pay on
+those grounds, that he had only (with reference to his heavy
+expenses) expressed his present inability and asked for time,
+which the Emperor of Russia had agreed to. What he meant was that
+the kingdoms were not as yet _de jure_ separated, and that the
+_casus_ had not yet arrived. This, however, is nothing to the
+purpose, for the King and the Emperor understand one another very
+well, and it is not likely that the King should do anything to
+supply us with a motive or a pretext for refusing our _quota_ to
+his imperial ally. Brougham's speech on the Russian Loan
+everybody agrees to have been super-excellent--'a continued
+syllogism from the beginning to the end.' Lord Holland said, and
+the Duke of Wellington (I am told) declared, it was the best
+speech he had ever heard.
+
+
+February 5th, 1832 {p.245}
+
+Met Melbourne yesterday evening, and turned back and walked with
+him; talked over the state of affairs. He said Government were
+very much annoyed at their division in the House of Commons,
+though Brougham had in some measure repaired that disaster in the
+House of Lords; that it became more difficult to resist making
+Peers as Government exhibited greater weakness. I told him the
+Tories were so unmanageable because they wished to drive out the
+Government, and thought they could. Dined at the Sheriff's
+dinner--not unpleasant--and went in the evening to Lady Harrowby;
+Lord Harrowby gone to his brothers'. Melbourne had told me that
+he had spoken to Haddington, and I found Haddington had given a
+report of what he said such as I am sure Melbourne did not mean
+to convey; the upshot of which was that there was only one man in
+the Cabinet who wished to make Peers, that there was no immediate
+danger, and that it would do more harm than good if they declared
+themselves without a good number of adherents. Called this
+morning on Lady C., who said that Melbourne was in fact very much
+annoyed at his position, wanted _caractère_, was wretched at
+having been led so far, and tossed backwards and forwards between
+opposite sentiments and feelings; that he thought the Government
+very weak, and that they would not stand, and in fact that he did
+not desire they should remain in, but the contrary. And this is
+Frederick's opinion too, who has great influence over him, while
+at the same time he is rather jealous of Frederick.
+
+
+February 6th, 1832 {p.245}
+
+[Page Head: MACAULAY AT HOLLAND HOUSE.]
+
+Dined yesterday with Lord Holland; came very late, and found a
+vacant place between Sir George Robinson and a common-looking man
+in black. As soon as I had time to look at my neighbour, I began
+to speculate (as one usually does) as to who he might be, and as
+he did not for some time open his lips except to eat, I settled
+that he was some obscure man of letters or of medicine, perhaps a
+cholera doctor. In a short time the conversation turned upon early
+and late education, and Lord Holland said he had always remarked
+that self-educated men were peculiarly conceited and arrogant, and
+apt to look down upon the generality of mankind, from their being
+ignorant of how much other people knew; not having been at public
+schools, they are uninformed of the course of general education.
+My neighbour observed that he thought the most remarkable example
+of self-education was that of Alfieri, who had reached the age of
+thirty without having acquired any accomplishment save that of
+driving, and who was so ignorant of his own language that he had
+to learn it like a child, beginning with elementary books. Lord
+Holland quoted Julius Cæsar and Scaliger as examples of late
+education, said that the latter had been wounded, and that he had
+been married and commenced learning Greek the same day, when my
+neighbour remarked 'that he supposed his learning Greek was not an
+instantaneous act like his marriage.' This remark, and the manner
+of it, gave me the notion that he was a dull fellow, for it came
+out in a way which bordered on the ridiculous, so as to excite
+something like a sneer. I was a little surprised to hear him
+continue the thread of conversation (from Scaliger's wound) and
+talk of Loyola having been wounded at Pampeluna. I wondered how he
+happened to know anything about Loyola's wound. Having thus
+settled my opinion, I went on eating my dinner, when Auckland, who
+was sitting opposite to me, addressed my neighbour, 'Mr. Macaulay,
+will you drink a glass of wine?' I thought I should have dropped
+off my chair. It was MACAULAY, the man I had been so long most
+curious to see and to hear, whose genius, eloquence, astonishing
+knowledge, and diversified talents have excited my wonder and
+admiration for such a length of time, and here I had been sitting
+next to him, hearing him talk, and setting him down for a dull
+fellow. I felt as if he could have read my thoughts, and the
+perspiration burst from every pore of my face, and yet it was
+impossible not to be amused at the idea. It was not till Macaulay
+stood up that I was aware of all the vulgarity and ungainliness of
+his appearance; not a ray of intellect beams from his countenance;
+a lump of more ordinary clay never enclosed a powerful mind and
+lively imagination. He had a cold and sore throat, the latter of
+which occasioned a constant contraction of the muscles of the
+thorax, making him appear as if in momentary danger of a fit. His
+manner struck me as not pleasing, but it was not assuming,
+unembarrassed, yet not easy, unpolished, yet not coarse; there was
+no kind of usurpation of the conversation, no tenacity as to
+opinion or facts, no assumption of superiority, but the variety
+and extent of his information were soon apparent, for whatever
+subject was touched upon he evinced the utmost familiarity with
+it; quotation, illustration, anecdote, seemed ready in his hands
+for every topic. Primogeniture in this country, in others, and
+particularly in ancient Rome, was the principal topic, I think,
+but Macaulay was not certain what was the law of Rome, except that
+when a man died intestate his estate was divided between his
+children. After dinner Talleyrand, and Madame de Dino came in. He
+was introduced to Talleyrand, who told him that he meant to go to
+the House of Commons on Tuesday, and that he hoped he would speak,
+'qu'il avait entendu tous les grands orateurs, et il désirait à
+présent entendre Monsieur Macaulay.'
+
+
+February 7th, 1832 {p.247}
+
+[Page Head: RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.]
+
+Called on Melbourne. He said he had not meant Haddington to
+understand that it was desirable the declaration should be
+delayed; on the contrary, that it was desirable Ministers should
+be informed as speedily as possible of the intentions of our
+friends and of the force they can command, but that if only a few
+declared themselves, they would certainly be liable to the
+suspicion that they could not get adherents; he added that every
+man in the Government (except one) was aware of the desperate
+nature of the step they were about to take (that man of course
+being Durham.) I told him that his communication to Haddington
+had to a certain degree had the effect of paralysing my
+exertions, and he owned it was imprudent. I was, however,
+extremely surprised to hear what he said about the Cabinet, and I
+asked him if it really was so, and that all the members of it
+were _bonâ fide_ alarmed at, and averse to, the measure; that I
+had always believed that, with the exception of those who were
+intimate with him, they all wanted the pretext in order to
+establish their power. He said no, they really all were conscious
+of the violence of the measure, and desirous of avoiding it; that
+Lord Grey had been so from the beginning, but that Durham was
+always at him, and made him fall into his violent designs; that
+it was 'a reign of terror,' but that Durham could do with him
+what he pleased. What a picture of secret degradation and
+imbecility in the towering and apparently haughty Lord Grey! I
+told Melbourne that it was important to gain time, that there was
+an appearance of a thaw among the 199, but that most of them were
+in the country; communications by letter were difficult and
+unsatisfactory; that many were averse to breaking up the party or
+leaving the Duke--in short, from one cause or another doubtful
+and wavering; that it was not to be expected they should at a
+moment's warning take this new line, in opposition to the
+opinions and conduct of their old leaders, and that when Lord
+Harrowby was exerting himself indefatigably to bring them to
+reason, and to render a measure unnecessary which in the opinion
+of the Cabinet itself was fraught with evil, it was fair and just
+to give him time to operate. He said this was very true, but that
+time was likewise required to execute the measure of a creation
+of Peers, that people must be invited, the patents made out, &c.
+We then parted. Downstairs was Rothschild the Jew waiting for
+him, and the _valet de chambre_ sweeping away a _bonnet_ and a
+_shawl_.
+
+On my way from Melbourne called on Lord Harrowby, and read a
+variety of letters--answers from different Peers to his letters,
+Wharncliffe's correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, and
+Peel's answer to Lord Harrowby. Wharncliffe wrote a long and very
+conciliatory letter to the Duke, nearly to the effect of Lord
+Harrowby's circular, and containing the same arguments, to which
+the Duke replied by a long letter, written evidently in a very
+ill humour, and such a galimatias as I never read, angry, ill
+expressed, and confused, and from which it was difficult to
+extract anything intelligible but this, 'that he was aware of the
+consequences of the course he should adopt himself,' and wished
+the House of Lords to adopt, viz., the same as last year, but
+that be those consequences what they might, the responsibility
+would not lie on his shoulders, but on those of the Government;
+he acknowledged that a creation of Peers would swamp the House of
+Lords, and, by so doing, destroy the Constitution, but the
+Government would be responsible, not he, for the ruin that would
+ensue; that he was aware some Reform was necessary (in so far
+departing from his former declaration of the 30th of November),
+but he would neither propose anything himself, nor take this
+measure, nor try and amend it.' In short, he will do nothing but
+talk nonsense, despair, and be obstinate, and then he is hampered
+by declarations (from which he now sees himself that he must
+dissent), and obliged from causes connected with the Catholic
+question and the Test and Corporation Acts to attend more to the
+consistency of his own character than to the exigencies of the
+country, but with much more personal authority than anybody, and
+still blindly obeyed and followed by men many of whom take very
+rational and dispassionate views of the subject, but who still
+are resolved to sacrifice their own sense to his folly. He really
+has accomplished being a prophet in his own country, not from the
+sagacity of his predictions, but from the blind worship of his
+devotees.
+
+[Page Head: PEEL'S DESPONDENCY.]
+
+Peel's letter, though arriving at the same conclusion, was in a
+very different style. It certainly was an able production, well
+expressed and plausibly argued, with temper and moderation. He
+owned that much was to be said on the side of the question which
+he does not espouse, but the reasons by which he says he is
+mainly governed are these: that it is of vital importance to
+preserve the consistency of the party to which we are to look for
+future safety, and that when this excitement has passed away the
+conduct of the anti-Reformers will have justice done to it. But
+there is a contradiction which pervades his argument, for he
+treats the subject as if all hope had vanished of saving the
+country, 'desperat de republicâ,' and he does not promise himself
+present advantage from the firmness and consistency of the
+Tories, but taking it in connection with the folly and wickedness
+of the other party (who he is persuaded bitterly regret their own
+precipitate violence and folly), he expects it to prove
+serviceable as an example and beacon to future generations. All
+the evils that have been predicted may flow from this measure
+when carried into complete operation, but it is neither
+statesmanlike nor manly to throw up the game in despair, and
+surrender every point, and waive every compensation, in order to
+preserve the consistency of himself and his own party, not that
+their consistency is to produce any advantage, but that hereafter
+it
+
+                May point a moral or adorn a tale.
+
+So senseless is this, that it is clear to me that it is not his
+real feeling, and that he promises himself some personal
+advantage from the adoption of such a course. Peel 'loves'
+himself, 'not wisely but too well.'
+
+
+February 9th, 1832 {p.249}
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD GREY.]
+
+Yesterday I met Lord Grey and rode with him. I told him that the
+Tories were pleased at his speech about the Irish Tithes. He said
+'he did not know why, for he had not said what he did with a view
+to please them.' I said because they looked upon it as an
+intimation that the old Protestant ascendency was to be restored.
+He rejected very indignantly that idea, and said he had never
+contemplated any ascendency but that of the law and the
+Government. I said I knew that, but that they had been so long
+used to consider themselves as the sole representatives of the
+law and the Government, that they took the assertion he had made
+as a notification that their authority was again to be exercised
+as in bygone times. He then asked me if I knew what Lord Harrowby
+had done, said he had spoken to him, that he was placed in a
+difficult position and did not know what to do. I said that
+Harrowby was exerting himself, that time was required to bring
+people round, that I had reason to believe Harrowby had made a
+great impression, but that most of the Peers of that party were
+out of town, and it was impossible to expect them on the receipt
+of a letter of invitation and advice to reply by return of post
+that they would abandon their leaders and their party, and change
+their whole opinions and course of action, that I expected the
+Archbishop and Bishop of London would go with him, and that they
+would carry the bench. He said the Bishop of London he had
+already talked to, that the Archbishop was such a poor, miserable
+creature that there was no dependence to be placed on him, that
+he would be frightened and vote any way his fear directed. Then
+he asked, how many had they _sure_? I said, 'At this moment not
+above eight Lords and eight bishops.' He said that was not
+enough. I said I knew that, but he must have patience, and should
+remember that when the Duke of Wellington brought the Catholic
+Bill into the House of Commons he had a majority on paper against
+him in the House of Lords of twenty-five, and he carried the Bill
+by a hundred. He said he should like to talk to Harrowby again,
+which I pressed him to do, and he said he would. I find Lord John
+Russell sent for Sandon, and told him that he and the others were
+really anxious to avoid making Peers, and entreated him to get
+something done by his father and his associates as soon as
+possible, that there was no time to be lost, that he should not
+deny that he wished Peers to be made, not now, but after the
+Reform Bill had passed. I called on Lord Harrowby in the
+afternoon, and found him half dead with a headache and dreadfully
+irritable. Letters had come (which he had not seen) from Lord
+Bagot refusing, Lord Carteret ditto, and very impertinently, and
+Lord Calthorpe adhering. I told him what had passed between Lord
+Grey and me. He said their insolence had been hitherto so great
+in refusing to listen to any terms (at the meeting of the six),
+and in refusing every concession in the House of Commons and not
+tolerating the slightest alteration, that he despaired of doing
+anything with them, that Lord Grey had told him he could not
+agree to make a sham resistance in Committee, but that he on the
+other hand would not agree to go into Committee, except on an
+express understanding that they should not avail themselves of
+the probable disunion of the Tories to carry all the details of
+their Bill. The difficulties are immense, but if Grey and
+Harrowby get together, it is possible something may be done,
+provided they will approach each other in a _spirit_ of
+compromise. It is certainly easier now, and very different from
+the House of Commons, where I have always thought they _could_
+make no concession. In the House of Lords they may without
+difficulty. I dread the obstinate of both parties.
+
+
+February 11th, 1832 {p.251}
+
+Wharncliffe came to town on Thursday and called on me. At Brighton
+he had seen Sir Andrew Barnard, and showed him the correspondence
+with the Duke of Wellington, telling him at the same time he might
+mention it to Taylor if he liked, and if Taylor had any wish to
+see it he should. Accordingly Taylor sent him word he should be
+glad to have an interview with him. They met at Lord Wharncliffe's
+house and had a long conversation, in the course of which Taylor
+gave him to understand that it was quite true that the King had
+consented to everything about the creation of Peers, but _multa
+gemens_, and that he was much alarmed, and could not endure the
+thought of this measure. The end was that a memorandum was drawn
+up of the conversation, and of Wharncliffe's sentiments and
+intentions, which were much the same as those he had put forth at
+the time of the old negotiations. This was taken away by Taylor
+and shown to the King, and copies of it were forwarded to Grey,
+Brougham, and Melbourne. The next day Wharncliffe dined with the
+King, and after dinner his Majesty took him aside and said, 'I
+have seen your paper, and I agree with every word you say; we are
+indeed in a scrape, and we must get out of it as we can. I only
+wish everybody was as reasonable and as moderate as you, and then
+we might do so perhaps without difficulty.' That the King is
+alarmed is pretty clear, but it is more probable that his alarm
+may influence his Ministers than himself, and it looks very much
+as if it had done so. Sir H. Taylor likewise told Wharncliffe that
+the Duke of Wellington had written a letter which had been laid
+before the King, and had given him great offence, and that it
+certainly was such a letter as was unbecoming in any subject to
+write. This letter is supposed to have been addressed to
+Strangford; it got into Londonderry's hands, and he laid it before
+the King (upon the occasion of his going with some address to
+Brighton), who desired it might be left with him till the next
+day. The reason why they think it was Strangford is that the word
+'Viscount' was apparent at the bottom, but the name was erased. In
+the meantime Harrowby has had some conversation with Lord
+Lansdowne, who pressed the necessity of making a demonstration of
+their strength, and added that if the Archbishop could be induced
+to declare himself that would be sufficient. Lord Harrowby is
+accordingly working incessantly upon the Archbishop on the one
+hand, while he exhorts to patience and reliance on the other.
+Yesterday he took a high tone with Lord Lansdowne, told him that
+he had, as he firmly believed, as many as twenty-five Lords, lay
+and spiritual, with him, which would make a difference of fifty,
+but that as to a public irrevocable pledge, it was not to be had,
+and that Lord Grey must place confidence in his belief and
+reliance upon his exertions, or, if not, he must take his own
+course. Upon Lord Grey's meeting with him, and the Archbishop's
+being brought to the post, the matter now hinges.
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON AND WHARNCLIFFE.]
+
+In the meantime I have discovered the cause of the Duke of
+Wellington's peevish reply to Wharncliffe, and the reason why Lord
+Harrowby's letter to Lord Bagot was unanswered for ten days, and
+then couched in terms so different from what might have been
+expected. Lord Howe was at Bliffield at the time, and they,
+between them, sent Harrowby's letter up to the Duke of Wellington,
+who of course wrote his sentiments in reply. For this they waited,
+and on this Lord Bagot acted. My brother told me yesterday that
+the Duke had seen the letter, and that _Lord Howe_ had been the
+person who sent it him. This explains it all. Wharncliffe's letter
+was but another version of Lord Harrowby's, and he had therefore
+in fact seen it before, but seen it addressed to those whom he
+considered bound to him and his views, and I have no doubt he was
+both angry and jealous at Lord Harrowby's interference. Nothing
+could be more uncandid and unjustifiable than Lord Bagot's
+conduct, for he never asked Lord Harrowby's leave to communicate
+the letter, nor told him that he had done so; on the contrary, he
+gave him to understand that the delay (for which he made many
+apologies) was owing to his reflection and his consulting his
+brother the bishop. The Duke, no doubt, gave him his own
+sentiments; yet, in his letter to Wharncliffe, he says 'he has not
+endeavoured to influence anybody, nor shall he;' and at the same
+time eludes the essential question 'whether he will support in
+Committee.' So much for Tory candour. As to the Duke, he is
+evidently piqued and provoked to the quick; his love of power and
+authority are as great as ever, and he can't endure to see anybody
+withdrawn from his influence; provoked with himself and with
+everybody else, his mind is clouded by passion and prejudice, and
+the consequences are the ill-humour he displays and the abominable
+nonsense he writes, and yet the great mass of these Tories follow
+the Duke, go where he will, let the consequences be what they may,
+and without requiring even a reason; _sic vult sic jubet_ is
+enough for them. One thing that gives me hopes is the change in
+the language of the friends of Government out of doors--Dover, for
+instance, who has been one of the noisiest of the bawlers for
+Peers. I walked with him from the House of Lords the night before
+last, and he talked only of the break-up of the 199, and of the
+activity of Harrowby and Wharncliffe and its probable effects.
+
+
+February 14th, 1832 {p.254}
+
+On Saturday evening I found Melbourne at the Home Office in his
+lazy, listening, silent humour, disposed to hear everything and to
+say very little; told me that Dover and Sefton were continually
+_at_ the Chancellor to make Peers, and that they both, particularly
+the latter, had great influence with him. Brougham led by Dover
+and Sefton!! I tried to impress upon him the necessity of giving
+Harrowby credit, and not exacting what was not to be had, viz.,
+the _pledges_ of the anti-Reformers to vote for the second
+reading. He owned that in their case he would not pledge himself
+either. I put before him as strongly as I could all the various
+arguments for resisting this desperate measure of making Peers (to
+which he was well inclined to assent), and pressed upon him the
+importance of not exasperating the Tories and the Conservative
+party to the last degree, and placing such an impassable barrier
+between public men on both sides as should make it impossible for
+them to reunite for their common interest and security hereafter.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD PALMERSTON.]
+
+In the evening I got a message from Palmerston to beg I would
+call on him, which I did at the Foreign Office yesterday. He is
+infinitely more alert than Melbourne, and more satisfactory to
+talk to, because he enters with more warmth and more detail into
+the subject. He began by referring to the list of Peers likely to
+vote for the second reading, which I showed to him. At the same
+time I told him that though he might make use of the information
+generally as far as expressing his own belief that Lord Harrowby
+would have a sufficient following, he must not produce the list
+or quote the names, for, in fact, not one of them had given any
+authority to be so counted; that he must be aware there were
+persons who would be glad to mar our projects, and they could not
+more effectually do so than by conveying to these Peers the use
+that had been made of their names. To all this he agreed
+entirely. He then talked of the expediency of a declaration from
+Lord Harrowby, and how desirable it was that it should be made
+soon, and be supported by as many as could be induced to come
+forward; that Lord Grey had said to him very lately that he
+really believed he should be obliged to create Peers. I said that
+my persuasion was that it would be quite unnecessary to do so _to
+carry the second reading_; that nothing was required but
+confidence in Lord Harrowby, and that his character and his
+conduct on this occasion entitled him to expect it from them;
+that if they were sincere in their desire to avoid this measure
+they would trust to his exertions; that I knew very well the
+efforts that were made to force this measure on Lord Grey; that
+it was in furtherance of this that Duncombe's[3] ridiculous
+affair in the House of Commons had been got up, which had been
+such a complete failure; but that I could not believe Lord Grey
+would suffer himself to be bullied into it by such despicable
+means, and by the clamour of such men as Duncombe and O'Connell,
+urged on by friends of his own. He said this was very true, but
+the fact was they could not risk the rejection of the Bill again;
+that he knew from a variety of communications that an explosion
+would inevitably follow its being thrown out on the second
+reading; that he had had letters from Scotland and other places,
+and had no doubt that such would be the case. I said that he
+would find it very difficult to persuade our friends of this, and
+it appeared to me as clear as possible that the feeling for the
+Bill and the excitement had subsided; that they might be to a
+certain degree renewed by its rejection, but no man could doubt
+that modifications in it, which would have been impossible a few
+months ago, would now be easy; that if it was not for that
+unfortunate declaration of Lord Grey, by which he might consider
+himself bound, he might safely consent to such changes as would
+make the adjustment of the question no difficult matter; that
+with regard to the rejection of the Bill, whatever excitement it
+might produce, it was evident the Government had an immediate
+remedy; they had only to prorogue Parliament for a week and
+make their Peers, and they would _then_ have an excellent
+pretext--indeed, so good a one that it was inconceivable to me
+that they should hesitate for a moment in adopting that course.
+This he did not deny. I then told him of the several
+conversations between Lord Harrowby and Lords Grey and Lansdowne,
+and mine with Lord Grey; that Lord Harrowby protested against
+Lord Grey's availing himself of any disunion among the Opposition
+(produced by his support of the second reading) to carry those
+points, to resist which would be the sole object of Lord Harrowby
+in seceding from his party; and that Lord Grey had said he could
+not make a sham resistance. Palmerston said, 'We have brought in
+a Bill which we have made as good as we can; it is for you to
+propose any alterations you wish to make in it, and if you can
+beat us, well and good. There are indeed certain things which, if
+carried against us, would be so fatal to the principle of the
+Bill that Lord Grey would not consider it worth carrying if so
+amended; but on other details he is ready to submit, if they
+should be carried against him.' I said that would not do, that I
+must refer him to the early negotiations and the disposition
+which was then expressed to act upon a principle of mutual
+concession; that when Lord Harrowby and his friends were
+prepared to concede to its fullest extent the principle of
+disfranchisement (though they might propose alterations in a few
+particulars), they had a right to expect that the Government
+should surrender without fighting some of those equivalents or
+compensations which they should look for in the alterations or
+additions they might propose. He said that 'while Lord Harrowby
+was afraid that Ministers might avail themselves of his weakness
+to carry their details, _they_ were afraid lest Lord Harrowby and
+his friends should unite with the
+
+ultra-Tories to beat them in Committee on some of the essential
+clauses of the Bill.' I replied, then it was fear for fear, and
+under the circumstances the best thing was an understanding that
+each party should act towards the other in a spirit of good
+faith, and without taking any accidental advantage that might
+accrue either way. We then discussed the possibility of an
+agreement upon the details, and he enquired what they would
+require. I told him that they would require an alteration of
+Schedule B to exclude the town voters from county representation,
+perhaps to vary the franchise, and some other things, with regard
+to which I could not speak positively at the moment. He said he
+thought some alteration might be made in Schedule B, particularly
+in giving all the towns double members, by cutting off the lower
+ones that had one; that it was intended no man should have a vote
+for town and county on the _same_ qualification, and he believed
+there were very few who would possess the double right. That I
+said would make it more easy to give up, and it was a thing the
+others laid great stress upon. He seemed to think it might be
+done. As to the £10, he said he had at first been disposed to
+consider it too low, but he had changed his mind, and now doubted
+if it would not turn out to be too high. We then talked of the
+metropolitan members, to which I said undoubtedly they wished to
+strike them off, but they knew very well the Government desired
+it equally. We agreed that I should get from Lord Harrowby
+specifically what he would require, and he would give me in
+return what concessions the Government would probably be disposed
+to make; that these should be communicated merely as the private
+opinions of individuals, and not as formal proposals; and we
+should try and blend them together into some feasible compromise.
+
+      [3] Duncombe brought forward a petition from six men at
+          Barnet complaining that they had been entrapped into
+          signing Lord Verulam's and Lord Salisbury's address to
+          the King. The object was to produce a discussion about
+          the Peers. It totally failed, but it was got up with an
+          openness that was indecent by Durham and that crew, who
+          were all (Durham, Sefton, Mulgrave, Dover) under the
+          gallery to hear it. The thing was ridiculed by Peel,
+          fell flat upon the House, and excited disgust and
+          contempt out of it.
+
+I afterwards saw the Duke of Richmond, who said that Dover and
+Sefton had both attacked him for being against making Peers, and
+he should like to know how they knew it. I told him, from the
+Chancellor, to be sure, and added how they were always working at
+him and the influence they had with him. He said the Chancellor's
+being for making Peers was not enough to carry the question; that
+if it was done it must be by a minute of the Cabinet, with the
+names of the dissentients appended to it; and then the King must
+determine; that if the dissentients seceded upon it it would be
+impossible. He recollected, when there was a question of making
+Peers on the Catholic question by the Duke of Wellington, that he
+and some others had resolved, should it have been done, to avail
+themselves of the power of the House to come down day after day
+and move adjournments before any of the new Peers could take
+their seats; that the same course might be adopted now, though it
+would produce a revolution. I told him that I had little doubt
+there were men who would not scruple to adopt any course, however
+violent, that the power of Parliament would admit of; that there
+were several who were of opinion that the creation of Peers would
+at once lay the Constitution prostrate and bring about a
+revolution; that they considered it would be not a remote and
+uncertain, but a sure and proximate event, and if by accelerating
+it they could crush their opponents they would do so without
+hesitation.
+
+In the meantime the cholera has made its appearance in London, at
+Rotherhithe, Limehouse, and in a ship off Greenwich--in all seven
+cases. These are amongst the lowest and most wretched classes,
+chiefly Irish, and a more lamentable exhibition of human misery
+than that given by the medical men who called at the Council
+Office yesterday I never heard. They are in the most abject state
+of poverty, without beds to lie upon. The men live by casual
+labour, are employed by the hour, and often get no more than four
+or five hours' employment in the course of the week. They are
+huddled and crowded together by families in the same room, not as
+permanent lodgers, but procuring a temporary shelter; in short, in
+the most abject state of physical privation and moral degradation
+that can be imagined. On Saturday we had an account of one or more
+cases. We sent instantly down to inspect the district and organise
+a Board of Health. A meeting was convened, and promises given that
+all things needful should be done, but as they met at a
+public-house they all got drunk and did nothing. We have sent down
+members of the Board of Health, to make preparations and organise
+boards; but, if the disease really spreads, no human power can
+arrest its progress through such an Augean stable.
+
+
+February 14th, 1832 {p.259}
+
+[Page Head: INTERVIEW OF LORD HARROWBY AND LORD GREY.]
+
+Dined with Lord Harrowby, and communicated conversation with
+Palmerston and Melbourne. He has not been able to decide the
+Archbishop, who is on and off, and can't make up his mind. Lord
+Harrowby is going to Lord Grey to talk with him. The Tories
+obstinate as mules. The Duke of Buccleuch, who had got Harrowby's
+letter, and copied it himself that he might know it by heart, has
+made up his mind to vote the other way, as he did before; Lord
+Wallace (after a long correspondence) the same. There can be
+little doubt that they animate one another, and their cry is 'to
+stick to the Duke of Wellington.' The cholera is established, and
+yesterday formal communications were made to the Lord Mayor and
+to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that London was no
+longer healthy.
+
+
+February 17th, 1832 {p.259}
+
+Wharncliffe came to town the night before last, it having been
+settled that Harrowby was to go to Lord Grey yesterday morning.
+After consultation we agreed he had better go alone, that it
+would be less formal, and that Lord Grey would be more disposed
+to open himself. The same evening, at Madame de Lieven's ball,
+Melbourne and Palmerston both told me that Grey was in an
+excellent disposition. However, yesterday morning Harrowby had
+such a headache that he was not fit to go alone, so the two went.
+Nothing could be more polite than Grey, and on the whole the
+interview was satisfactory. Nothing was agreed upon, all left
+_dans le vague_; but a disposition to mutual confidence was
+evinced, and I should think it pretty safe that no Peers will be
+made. Lord Grey told them that if they could relieve him from the
+necessity of creating Peers he should be sincerely obliged to
+them, showed them a letter from the King containing the most
+unlimited power for the purpose, and said that, armed with that
+authority, if the Bill could be passed in no other way, it must
+be so. A minute was drawn up to this effect, of which Wharncliffe
+showed me a copy last night.
+
+'Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe cannot give any names, or pledge
+themselves to any particular persons or numbers who will support
+their views, but they have no doubt in their own minds that there
+will be, _in the event of no creation of Peers_, a sufficient
+number to carry the second reading of the Bill. In voting
+themselves for the second reading, their intention is to propose
+such alterations in Committee as, in their opinion, can alone
+render it a measure fit to be passed into law, and in the event of
+their being unable to effect the changes they deem indispensable,
+they reserve to themselves the power of opposing the Bill in its
+subsequent stages. Lord Grey considers the great principles of the
+Bill of such vital importance that he could not agree to any
+alteration in them, but admits that a modification of its details
+need not be fatal to it, reserving to himself, if any of its vital
+principles should be touched, the power of taking such ulterior
+measures as he may find necessary to ensure its success. Lords
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe are prepared to make a declaration of
+their sentiments and intentions in the House of Lords at a proper
+time, that time to be a subject of consideration; and in the event
+of their having reason to believe that their present expectations
+are not likely to be fulfilled, they will feel bound to give Lord
+Grey information thereof, in order that he may take such measures
+as he may think right.'[4]
+
+      [4] This is the substance, not a textual copy.
+
+At present the principal difficulty promises to be the £10
+clause. Lord Grey seemed to think this could not be altered.
+Wharncliffe asked if it might not be modified, and so settled as
+to secure its being a _bonâ fide_ £10 clause, from which Lord
+Grey did not dissent, but answered rather vaguely.
+
+In the meantime I think some progress is made in the work of
+conversion. Harris has gone back, and Wilton, whom I always
+doubted. I doubt anybody within the immediate sphere of the Duke,
+but Wynford is well disposed, and the Archbishop has nearly given
+in. His surrender would clinch the matter. I am inclined to think
+we shall get through the second reading. Lord Grey was attacked
+by Madame de Lieven the other day, who told him he was naturally
+all that is right-minded and good, but was supposed to be
+influenced against his own better judgment by those about him.
+She also said something to the Duke of Wellington about Lord
+Harrowby, to which he replied that Lord Harrowby 'était une
+mauvaise tête!' Very amusing from him, but he is provoked to
+death that anybody should venture to desert from him.
+
+[Page Head: DISTRESS IN BETHNAL GREEN.]
+
+The cholera has produced more alertness than alarm here; in fact,
+at present it is a mere trifle--in three days twenty-eight
+persons. Nothing like the disorders which rage unheeded every year
+and every day among the lower orders. It is its name, its
+suddenness, and its frightful symptoms that terrify. The
+investigations, however, into the condition of the different
+parishes have brought to light dreadful cases of poverty and
+misery. A man came yesterday from Bethnal Green with an account of
+that district. They are all weavers, forming a sort of separate
+community; there they are born, there they live and labour, and
+there they die. They neither migrate nor change their occupation;
+they can do nothing else. They have increased in a ratio at
+variance with any principles of population, having nearly tripled
+in twenty years, from 22,000 to 62,000. They are for the most part
+out of employment, and can get none; 1,100 are crammed into the
+poor-house, five or six in a bed; 6,000 receive parochial relief.
+The parish is in debt; every day adds to the number of paupers and
+diminishes that of ratepayers. These are principally small
+shopkeepers, who are beggared by the rates. The district is in a
+complete state of insolvency and hopeless poverty, yet they
+multiply, and while the people look squalid and dejected, as if
+borne down by their wretchedness and destitution, the children
+thrive and are healthy. Government is ready to interpose with
+assistance, but what can Government do? We asked the man who came
+what could be done for them. He said 'employment,' and employment
+is impossible.
+
+
+February 20th, 1832 {p.262}
+
+Lord Grey was very much pleased with the result of his interview,
+and expresses unbounded reliance on Lord Harrowby's honour. The
+ultras, of course, will give him no credit, and don't believe he
+can command votes enough; 'l'affaire marche, mais lentement,' and
+the seceders (or those we hope will be so) will not declare
+themselves positively. There is no prevailing upon them. The
+Archbishop is with us one day, and then doubts, though I think we
+shall have him at last. A good deal of conversation passed between
+Grey and Harrowby, which the latter considers confidential and
+won't repeat. It was about the details; the substance of the
+minute he feels at liberty to communicate. By way of an episode,
+news came last night of an insurrection of the slaves in Jamaica,
+in which fifty-two plantations had been destroyed. It was speedily
+suppressed by Willoughby Cotton, and the ringleaders were executed
+by martial law.
+
+
+February 23rd, 1832 {p.262}
+
+[Page Head: LORD HARROWBY'S LETTER.]
+
+At Court yesterday; long conversation with Melbourne, and in the
+evening with Charles Wood and Richmond, who is more alarmed about
+the Peers. Melbourne had got an idea that Lord Harrowby's letter,
+which had been reported if not shown to the Government, had done
+a great deal of harm, inasmuch as it set forth so strongly the
+same arguments to the Tories to show them the danger of letting
+Peers be made that Durham and Co. make use of as an argument for
+the same. I promised to show it him, and replied that they could
+not expect Lord Harrowby to do anything but employ the arguments
+that are most likely to take effect with these people, but they
+are not put in an offensive manner. Melbourne said that the King
+is more reconciled to the measure, i.e. that they have got the
+foolish, old man in town and can talk him over more readily. A
+discussion last night about the propriety of making a declaration
+to-day in the House of Lords, when the Duke of Rutland presents a
+petition against Reform. The Archbishop will not decide; there is
+no moving him. Curious that a Dr. Howley, the other day Canon of
+Christ Church, a very ordinary man, should have in his hands the
+virtual decision of one of the most momentous matters that ever
+occupied public attention. There is no doubt that his decision
+would decide the business so far. Up to this time certainly
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe have no certainty of a sufficient number
+for the second reading; but I think they will have enough at
+last.
+
+
+February 24th, 1832 {p.263}
+
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe agreed, if the Duke of Rutland on
+presenting his petition gave them a good opportunity, they would
+speak. It was a very good one, for the petition turned out to be
+one for a moderate Reform, more in their sense than in the Duke's
+own; but the moment it was read Kenyon jumped up. Harrowby
+thought he was going to speak upon it, whereas he presented
+another; and I believe he was put up by the Duke to stop any
+discussion.
+
+In the evening went to Lord Holland's, when he and she asked me
+about the letter. Somebody had given abstracts of it, with the
+object of proving to Lord Grey that Harrowby had been uncandid, or
+something like it, and had held out to the Tories that if they
+would adopt his line they would turn out the Government. Holland
+and the rest fancied the letter had been written _since the
+interview_, but I told them it was _three weeks before_, and I
+endeavoured to explain that the abstracts must be taken in
+connection not only with the rest of the text, but with the
+argument. Holland said Lord Grey meant to ask Harrowby for the
+letter. From thence I went to Harrowby, and told him this. He said
+he would not show it, that Grey had no right to ask for a private
+letter written by him weeks before to one of his friends, and it
+was beneath him to answer for and explain anything he had thought
+fit to say. But he has done what will probably answer as well, for
+he has given Ebrington a copy of it for the express purpose of
+going to Lord Grey and explaining anything that appears ambiguous
+to him. As the business develops itself, and the time approaches,
+communication becomes more open and frequent; the Tories talk with
+great confidence of their majority, and the ultra-Whigs are quite
+ready to believe them; the two extreme ends are furious. Our list
+up to this day presents a result of forty-three votes to
+thirty-seven doubtful, out of which it is hard if a majority
+cannot be got. I have no doubt now that they will take a very
+early opportunity of making a declaration. Peel, in the other
+House, is doing what he can to inflame and divide, and repress any
+spirit of conciliation. Nothing is sure in his policy but that it
+revolves round himself as the centre, and is influenced by some
+view which he takes of his own future advantage, probably the
+rallying of the Conservative party (as they call themselves,
+though they are throwing away everything into confusion and
+sinking everything by their obstinacy) and his being at the head
+of it. He made a most furious and mischievous speech.
+
+
+February 29th, 1832 {p.264}
+
+Ebrington took Harrowby's letter to Lord Grey, who was satisfied
+but not pleased; the date and the circumstances (which were
+explained) removed all bad impressions from his mind. Since this
+a garbled version (or rather extracts) has appeared in the
+'Times,' which endeavours to make a great stir about it. Harrowby
+was very much annoyed, and thought of sending the letter itself
+to the 'Times' to be published at once; but Haddington and I both
+urged him not, and last night he put a contradiction in the
+'Globe.' I have little doubt that this as well as the former
+extracts came from the shop of Durham and Co., and so Melbourne
+told me he thought likewise. There was a great breeze at the last
+Cabinet dinner between Durham and Richmond again on the old
+subject--the Peers. I believe they will now take their chance.
+Our list presents forty-seven sure votes besides the doubtful,
+but not many pledges. As to me, I am really puzzled what to wish
+for--that is, for the success of which party, being equally
+disgusted with the folly of both. My old aversion for the High
+Tories returns when I see their conduct on this occasion. The
+obstinacy of the Duke, the selfishness of Peel, the pert
+vulgarity of Croker, and the incapacity of the rest are set in
+constant juxtaposition with the goodness of the cause they are
+now defending, but which they will mar by their way of defending
+it. A man is wanting, a fresh man, with vigour enough to govern,
+and who will rally round him the temperate and the moderate of
+different parties--men unfettered by prejudices, connections, and
+above all by pledges, expressed or implied, and who can and will
+address themselves to the present state and real wants of the
+country, neither terrified into concession by the bullying of the
+press and the rant of public meetings and associations, nor
+fondly lingering over bygone systems of government and law. That
+the scattered materials exist is probable, but the heated passion
+of the times has produced so much repulsion among these various
+atoms that it is difficult to foresee when a cooler temperature
+may permit their cohesion into any efficient mass.
+
+
+March 6th, 1842 {p.265}
+
+[Page Head: VIOLENCE OF EXTREME PARTIES.]
+
+The ultra-Whigs and ultra-Tories are both outrageous. Day after
+day the 'Times' puts forth paragraphs, evidently manufactured in
+the Durham shop, about Harrowby's letter, and yesterday there was
+one which exhibited their mortification and rage so clearly as to
+be quite amusing, praising the Duke and the Tories, and abusing
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe and the moderates. In the meantime,
+while Lord Grey is negotiating with Harrowby for the express
+purpose of avoiding the necessity of making Peers, Durham, his
+colleague and son-in-law, in conjunction with Dover, is (or has
+been) going about with a paper for signature by Peers, being a
+requisition to Lord Grey to make new Peers, inviting everybody he
+could find to sign this by way of assisting that course of
+bullying and violence he has long pursued, but happily in vain.
+Lord Grey is, I believe, really disgusted with all these
+proceedings; he submits and does nothing. Richmond quarrels with
+Durham, Melbourne damns him, and the rest hate him. But there he
+is, frowning, sulking, bullying, and meddling, and doing all the
+harm he can. Never certainly was there such a Government as this,
+so constituted, so headed--a chief with an imposing exterior, a
+commanding eloquence, and a character[5] below contempt, seduced
+and governed by anybody who will minister to his vanity and
+presume upon his facility.
+
+      [5] By character I mean what the French call _caractère_,
+          not that he is wanting in honour and honesty, nor in
+          ability, but in resolution and strength of mind.
+
+There has been nothing remarkable in either House of Parliament
+but an attack made by Londonderry on Plunket, who gave him so
+terrific a dressing that it required to be as _pachydermatous_ as
+he is to stand it. He is, however, a glutton, for he took it all,
+and seemed to like it. I dined with Madame de Lieven a day or two
+ago, and was talking to her about politics and political events,
+and particularly about the memoirs, or journal, or whatever it
+be, that she has written. She said she had done so very
+irregularly, but that what she regretted was not having kept more
+exact records of the events and transactions of the Belgian
+question (which is not yet settled), that it was in its
+circumstances the most curious that could be, and exhibited more
+remarkable manifestations of character and 'du coeur humain,' as
+well as of politics generally, than any course of events she
+knew. I asked her why she did not give them now. She said it was
+impossible, that the 'nuances' were so delicate and so numerous,
+the details so nice and so varying, that unless caught at the
+moment they escaped, and it was impossible to collect them again.
+
+
+March 9th, 1832 {p.266}
+
+Went to Lord Holland's the other night, and had a violent battle
+with him on politics. Nobody so violent as he, and curious as
+exhibiting the opinions of the ultras of the party. About making
+Peers--wanted to know what Harrowby's real object was. I told him
+none but to prevent what he thought an enormous evil. What did it
+signify (he said) whether Peers were made now or later? that the
+present House of Lords never could go on with a Reformed
+Parliament, it being opposed to all the wants and wishes of the
+people, hating the abolition of tithes, the press, and the French
+Revolution, and that in order to make it harmonise with the
+Reformed Parliament it must be amended by an infusion of a more
+Liberal cast. This was the spirit of his harangue, which might
+have been easily answered, for it all goes upon the presumption
+that his party is that which harmonises with the popular feeling,
+and what he means by improving the character of the House is to
+add some fifty or sixty men who may be willing to accept peerages
+upon the condition of becoming a body-guard to this Government.
+
+The 'Times' yesterday and the day before attacked Lord Grey with
+a virulence and indecency about the Peers that is too much even
+for those who take the same line, and he now sees where his
+subserviency to the press has conducted him. In the House of
+Commons the night before last, Ministers would have been beaten
+on the sugar duties if Baring Wall, who had got ten people to
+dinner, had chosen to go down in time.
+
+[Page Head: IRISH NATIONAL EDUCATION.]
+
+The principal subject of discussion this last week has been the
+Education Board in Ireland, the object of which is to combine the
+education of Catholics and Protestants by an arrangement with
+regard to the religious part of their instruction that may be
+compatible with the doctrines and practice of both. This
+arrangement consists in there being only certain selections from
+the Bible, which are admitted generally, while particular days
+and hours are set apart for the separate religious exercises of
+each class. This will not do for the zealous Protestants, who
+bellow for the whole Bible as Reformers do for the whole Bill.
+While the whole system is crumbling to dust under their feet,
+while the Church is prostrate, property of all kind threatened,
+and robbery, murder, starvation, and agitation rioting over the
+land, these wise legislators are debating whether the brats at
+school shall read the whole Bible or only parts of it. They do
+nothing but rave of the barbarism and ignorance of the Catholics;
+they know that education alone can better their moral condition,
+and that their religious tenets prohibit the admission of any
+system of education (in which Protestants and Catholics can be
+joined) except such an one as this, and yet they would rather
+knock the system on the head, and prevent all the good that may
+flow from it, than consent to a departure from the good old rules
+of Orange ascendency and Popish subserviency and degradation,
+knowing too, above all, that those who are to read and be taught
+are equally indifferent to the whole Bible or to parts of it,
+that they comprehend it not, have no clear and definite ideas on
+the subject but as matter of debate, vehicle of dispute and
+dissension, and almost of religious hatred and disunion, and that
+when once they have escaped from the trammels of their school,
+not one in a hundred will trouble his head about the Bible at
+all, and not one in a thousand attend to its moral precepts.
+
+
+March 10th, 1832 {p.268}
+
+Yesterday morning Wharncliffe came to me to give me an account of
+the conversation the other day between him and Harrowby on one
+side and Lords Grey and Lansdowne on the other. Harrowby was
+headachy and out of sorts. However, it went off very satisfactorily;
+the list was laid before Grey, who was satisfied, and no Peers are
+to be made before the second reading; but he said that if the Bill
+should be carried by so small a majority as to prove that the
+details could not be carried in Committee, he must reserve the
+power of making Peers _then_. At this Harrowby winced, but
+Wharncliffe said he thought it fair; and in fact it is only in
+conformity with the protocol that was drawn up at the last
+conversation. They entered into the details, and Lord Grey said
+the stir that had been made about the metropolitan members might
+raise difficulties, and then asked would they agree to this, to
+give members to Marylebone and throw over the rest? To this
+Harrowby would not agree, greatly to Wharncliffe's annoyance, who
+would have agreed, and I think he would have been in the right. It
+would have been as well to have nailed Grey to this, and if
+Harrowby had not had a headache I think he would have done so.
+With regard to the £10 clause, Wharncliffe _thinks_ they will not
+object to a modification. Grey spoke of the press, and with just
+wrath and indignation of the attacks on himself. On the whole this
+was good. The capture of Vandamme was the consequence of a
+bellyache, and the metropolitan representation depended on a
+headache. If the truth could be ascertained, perhaps many of the
+greatest events in history turned upon aches of one sort or
+another. Montaigne might have written an essay on it.
+
+
+March 12th, 1832 {p.269}
+
+Durham made another exhibition of temper at the Cabinet dinner
+last Wednesday. While Lord Grey was saying something he rudely
+interrupted him, as his custom is. Lord Grey said, 'But, my dear
+Lambton, only hear what I was going to say,' when the other jumped
+up and said, 'Oh, if I am not to be allowed to speak I may as well
+go away,' rang the bell, ordered his carriage, and marched off.
+Wharncliffe came to me yesterday morning to propose writing a
+pamphlet in answer to the 'Quarterly Review,' which has got an
+article against his party. I suggested instead that an attempt
+should be made by Sandon (who has been in some communication with
+the editor about this matter) to induce the 'Morning Herald' to
+support us, and make that paper the vehicle of our articles. This
+he agreed to, and was to propose it to Sandon last night. We have
+no advocate in the press; the Whig and Tory papers are equally
+violent against us. Yesterday I saw a letter which has been
+circulated among the Tories, written by young Lord Redesdale to
+Lord Bathurst, a sort of counter-argument to Lord Harrowby's
+letter, although not an answer, as it was written before he had
+seen that document; there is very little in it.
+
+
+March 16th, 1832 {p.269}
+
+[Page Head: IRISH TITHES.]
+
+Lord Grey made an excellent speech in the House of Lords in reply
+to Aberdeen's questions about Ancona, and Peel made another in
+the House of Commons on Irish Tithes, smashing Sheil, taking high
+ground and a strong position, but doing nothing towards settling
+the question. He forgets that the system is bad, resting on a
+false foundation, and that it has worked ill and been bolstered
+up by him and his party till now it can no longer be supported,
+and it threatens to carry away with it that which is good in
+itself. We owe these things to those who wilfully introduced a
+moral confusion of ideas into their political machinery, and, by
+destroying the essential distinction between right and wrong,
+have deprived the things which are right of the best part of
+their security. I have never been able to understand why our
+system should be made to rest on artificial props when it did not
+require them, nor the meaning of that strange paradox which a
+certain school of statesmen have always inculcated, that
+institutions of admitted excellence required to be conjoined with
+others which were founded in crime and error, and which could
+only be supported by power. This has brought about Reform; it
+would be easy to prove it. The Ancona affair will blow over.
+George Villiers writes me word that it was a little escapade of
+Périer's, done in a hurry, a mistake, and yet he is a very able
+man. Talleyrand told me 'c'est une bêtise.' Nothing goes on well;
+the world is out of joint.
+
+Fanny Kemble's new tragedy came out last night with complete
+success, written when she was seventeen, an odd play for a girl
+to write. The heroine is tempted like Isabella in 'Measure for
+Measure,' but with a different result, which result is supposed
+to take place between the acts.
+
+
+March 26th, 1832 {p.270}
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+Ten days since I have written anything here, but _en revanche_ I
+have written a pamphlet. An article appeared in the 'Quarterly,'
+attacking Harrowby and his friends. Wharncliffe was so desirous
+it should be answered that I undertook the job, and it comes out
+to-day in a 'Letter to Lockhart, in reply,' &c. I don't believe
+anybody read the last I wrote, but as I have published this at
+Ridgway's, perhaps it may have a more extensive sale. The events
+have been the final passing of the Bill, after three nights'
+debate, by a majority of 116, ended by a very fine speech from
+Peel, who has eminently distinguished himself through this fight.
+Stanley closed the debate at five o'clock in the morning, with
+what they say was a good and dexterous speech, but which
+contained a very unnecessary dissertation about the Peers. This,
+together with some words from Richmond and the cheerfulness of
+Holland, makes my mind misgive me that we shall still have them
+created for the Committee. The conduct of the ultra-Tories has
+been so bad and so silly that I cannot wish to bring them in,
+though I have a great desire to turn the others out. As to a
+moderate party, it is a mere dream, for where is the moderation?
+This day Lord John Russell brings the Bill up to the House of
+Lords, and much indeed depends upon what passes there. Harrowby
+and Wharncliffe will make their speeches, and we shall, I
+conclude, have the Duke and Lord Grey. I expect, and I beg his
+pardon if I am wrong, that the Duke will make as mischievous a
+speech as he can, and try to provoke declarations and pledges
+against the Bill. The Ministers are exceedingly anxious that
+Harrowby should confine himself to generalities, which I hope
+too, for I am certain no good can, and much harm may, be done by
+going into details. Grey, Holland, and Richmond all three spoke
+to me about it last night, and I am going to see what can be done
+with them. I should not fear Harrowby but that he is petulant and
+sour; Wharncliffe is vain, and has been excited in all this
+business, though with very good and very disinterested motives,
+but he cannot bear patiently the abuse and the ridicule with
+which both the extreme ends endeavour to cover him, and he is
+uneasy under it, and what I dread is that in making attempts to
+set himself right, and to clear his character with a party who
+will never forgive him for what he has done, and to whom whatever
+he says will be words cast to the winds, he will flounder, and
+say something which will elicit from Lord Grey some declaration
+that may make matters worse than ever. What I hope and trust is
+that the Government and our people will confine themselves to
+civil generalities, and pledge themselves _de part et d'autre_ to
+nothing, and that they will not be provoked by taunts from any
+quarter to depart from that prudent course.
+
+There was another breeze in the House of Lords about Irish
+Education, the whole bench of bishops in a flame, and except Maltby,
+who spoke _for_, all declared against the plan--Phillpotts in a
+furious speech. What celestial influences have been at work I know
+not, but certain it is that the world seems going mad, individually
+and collectively. The town has been more occupied this week with
+Dudley's extravagancies than the affairs of Europe. He, in fact, is
+mad, but is to be cupped and starved and disciplined sound again. It
+has been fine talk for the town. The public curiosity and love of
+news is as voracious and universal as the appetite of a shark, and,
+like it, loves best what is grossest and most disgusting; anything
+relating to personal distress, to crime, to passion, is greedily
+devoured by this monster, as Cowley calls it.
+
+                               I see
+         The monster London laugh at me;
+         I would at thee, too, foolish City,
+         But thy estate I pity.
+         Should all the wicked men from out thee go,
+         And all the fools that crowd thee so,
+         Thou, who dost thy thousands boast,
+         Would be a wilderness almost.--_Ode to Solitude._
+
+But of all the examples of cant, hypocrisy, party violence, I
+have never seen any to be compared to the Irish Education
+business; and there was Rosslyn, an old Whig, voting against;
+Carnarvon stayed away, every Tory without exception going against
+the measure. As to madness, Dudley has gone mad in his own house,
+Perceval in the House of Commons, and John Montague in the Park,
+the two latter preaching, both Irvingites and believers in 'the
+tongues.' Dudley's madness took an odd turn; he would make up all
+his quarrels with Lady Holland, to whom he has not spoken for
+sixteen years, and he called on her, and there were tears and
+embraces, and God knows what. Sydney Smith told her that she was
+bound in honour to set the quarrel up again when he comes to his
+senses, and put things into the _status quo ante pacem_. It would
+be hard upon him to find, on getting out of a strait waistcoat,
+that he had been robbed of all his hatreds and hostilities, and
+seduced into the house of his oldest foe.
+
+
+March 27th, 1832 {p.272}
+
+[Page Head: DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+I did the Duke of Wellington an injustice. He spoke, but without
+any violence, in a fair and gentlemanlike manner, a speech
+creditable to himself, useful and becoming. If there was any
+disposition on the part of his followers to light a flame, he at
+once repressed it. The whole thing went off well; House very
+full; Harrowby began, and made an excellent speech, with the
+exception of one mistake. He dwelt too much on the difference
+between this Bill and the last, as if the difference of his own
+conduct resulted from that cause, and this I could see they were
+taking up in their minds, and though he corrected the impression
+afterwards, it will be constantly brought up against him, I have
+no doubt. After him Carnarvon, who alone was violent, but short;
+then Wharncliffe (I am not sure which was first of these two),
+very short and rather embarrassed, expressing his concurrence
+with Lord Harrowby; then the Bishop of London, short also, but
+strong in his language, much more than Lord Harrowby; then Lord
+Grey, temperate and very general, harping a little too much on
+that confounded word _efficiency_, denying that what he said last
+year bore the interpretation that had been put upon it, and
+announcing that he would give his best consideration to any
+amendments, a very good speech; then the Duke, in a very handsome
+speech, acknowledging that he was not against all Reform, though
+he was against this Bill, because he did not think if it passed
+it would be possible to carry on the government of the country,
+but promising that if the Bill went into Committee he would give
+his constant attendance, and do all in his power to make it as
+safe a measure as possible. So finished this important evening,
+much to the satisfaction of the moderate, and to the disgust of
+the violent party. I asked Lord Holland if he was satisfied (in
+the House after the debate), and he said, 'Yes, yes, very well,
+but the Bishop's the man;' and in the evening at Lord Grey's I
+found they were all full of the Bishop. Lord Grey said to me,
+'Well, you will allow that I behaved very well?' I said, 'Yes,
+very, but the whole thing was satisfactory, I think.' 'Yes,' he
+said, 'on the whole, but they were a little too strong, too
+violent against the Bill,' because Harrowby had declared that he
+felt the same objection to the measure he had felt before. Sefton
+was outrageous, talked a vast deal of amusing nonsense, 'that he
+had never heard such twaddle,' 'but that the success was
+complete, and he looked on Harrowby and Wharncliffe as the two
+most enviable men in the kingdom.' I have no doubt that all the
+ultras will be deeply mortified at the moderation of Lord Grey
+and of the Duke of Wellington, and at the success _so far_ of
+'the Waverers.'
+
+
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Debate in the House of Lords--Lord Harrowby's Position--Hopes of
+  a Compromise--Lord Melbourne's View--Disturbances caused by the
+  Cholera--The Disfranchisement Clause--The Number '56'--Peers
+  contemplated--The King's Hesitation--'The Hunchback'--Critical
+  Position of the Waverers--Bill carried by Nine in the Lords--
+  The Cholera in Paris--Moderate Speech of Lord Grey--End of the
+  Secession--Conciliatory Overtures--Negotiations carried on at
+  Newmarket--Hostile Division in the Lords--Lord Wharncliffe's
+  Account of his Failure--Lord Grey resigns--The Duke of
+  Wellington attempts to form a Ministry--Peel declines--
+  Hostility of the Court to the Whigs--A Change of Scene--The
+  Duke fails--History of the Crisis--Lord Grey returns to
+  Office--The King's Excitement--The King writes to the
+  Opposition Peers--Defeat and Disgrace of the Tories--
+  Conversation of the Duke of Wellington--Louis XVIII.--Madame du
+  Cayla--Weakness of the King--Mortality among Great Men--
+  Petition against Lord W. Bentinck's Prohibition of Suttee heard
+  by the Privy Council--O'Connell and the Cholera--Irish Tithe
+  Bill--Irish Difficulties--Mr. Stanley--Concluding Debates of
+  the Parliament--Quarrel between Brougham and Sugden--Holland
+  and Belgium--Brougham's Revenge and Apology--Dinner at Holland
+  House--Anecdotes of Johnson--Death of Mr. Greville's Father--
+  Madame de Flahaut's Account of the Princess Charlotte--Prince
+  Augustus of Prussia--Captain Hess--Hostilities in Holland and
+  in Portugal--The Duchesse de Berri--Conversation with Lord
+  Melbourne on the State of the Government.
+
+
+March 28th, 1832 {p.274}
+
+[Page Head: LORD HARROWBY'S PATRIOTIC CONDUCT.]
+
+There appear to have been as many differences of opinion as of
+people on the discussion in the House of Lords when the Bill was
+brought up, and it seems paradoxical, but is true, that though it
+was on the whole satisfactory, nobody was satisfied. Lord Grey
+complained to me that Lord Harrowby was too stiff; Lord Harrowby
+complained that Lord Grey was always beating about the bush of
+compromise, but never would commit himself fairly to concession.
+Melbourne complained last night that what was done was done in
+such an ungracious manner, so niggardly, that he hated the man
+(Harrowby) who did it. The ultra-Tories are outrageous 'that he
+gave up everything without reason or cause;' the ultra-Whigs
+equally furious 'that he had shown how little way he was disposed
+to go in Committee; his object was to turn out the Government;'
+and what is comical, neither party will believe that Harrowby
+really is so obnoxious to the other as he is said to be. Each is
+convinced that he is acting in the interests of the other. What a
+position, what injustice, blindness, folly, obstinacy, brought
+together and exhibited! If ever there was a man whose conduct was
+exempt from the ordinary motives of ambition, and who made
+personal sacrifices in what he is doing, it is Lord Harrowby, and
+yet there is no reproach that is not cast upon him, no term of
+abuse that is not applied to him, no motive that is not ascribed
+to him. No wonder a man who has seen much of them is sick of
+politics and public life. Nothing now is thought of but the
+_lists_, and of course everybody has got one. The Tories still
+pretend to a majority of seven; the Government and Harrowby think
+they have one of from ten to twenty, and I suspect fifteen will
+be found about the mark. The unfortunate thing is that neither of
+our cocks is good for fighting, not from want of courage, but
+Harrowby is peevish, ungracious and unpopular, and Wharncliffe
+carries no great weight. To be sure neither of them pretends to
+make a party, but then their opponents insist upon it that they
+do, and men shrink from enlisting (or being supposed to enlist)
+under Wharncliffe's banner. However, notwithstanding the violence
+of the noisy fools of the party, and of the women, there is a
+more rational disposition on the part of practical men, for
+Wharncliffe spoke to Ellenborough yesterday, and told him that
+though he knew he and Harrowby were regarded as traitors by all
+of them, he did hope that when the Bill came into Committee they
+would agree to consult together, and try and come to some
+understanding as to the best mode of dealing with the question,
+that it was absurd to be standing aloof at such a moment; to
+which Ellenborough replied that he perfectly agreed with him, was
+anxious to do so, and intended to advise his friends to take that
+course.
+
+
+April 1st, 1832 {p.276}
+
+Wharncliffe got Lord Grey to put off the second reading for a few
+days on account of the Quarter Sessions, which drew down a
+precious attack from Londonderry, and was in fact very foolish and
+unnecessary, as it looks like a concert between them, of which it
+is very desirable to avoid any appearance, as in fact none exists.
+The violence of the Tories continues unabated, and there is no
+effort they do not make to secure a majority, and they expect
+either to succeed or to bring it to a near thing. In the meantime
+the tone of the other party is changed. Dover, who makes lists,
+manages proxies, and does all the little jobbing, whipping-in,
+busy work of the party, makes out a clear majority, and told me he
+now thought the Bill would get through without Peers. The
+Government, however, are all agreed to make the Peers if it turns
+out to be necessary, and especially if the Bill should be thrown
+out, it seems clear that they would by no means go out, but make
+the Peers and bring it in again; so I gather from Richmond, and he
+who was the most violently opposed of the whole Cabinet to
+Peer-making, is now ready to make any number if necessary. There
+is, however, I hope, a disposition to concession, which, if
+matters are tolerably well managed, may lead to an arrangement.
+Still Wharncliffe, who must have a great deal to do in Committee,
+is neither prudent nor popular. The Tories are obstinate, sulky,
+and indisposed to agree to anything reasonable. It is the unity of
+object and the compactness of the party which give the Government
+strength. Charles Wood told me the other day that they were well
+disposed to a compromise on two special points, one the exclusion
+of town voters from the right of voting for counties, the other
+the metropolitan members. On the first he proposed that no man
+voting for a town in right of a £10 house should have a vote for
+the county in right of any freehold in that town. That would be
+half-way between Wharncliffe's plan and the present. The second,
+that Marylebone should return two members, and Middlesex two
+more--very like Grey's proposition which Harrowby rejected--but I
+suggested keeping the whole and varying the qualification, to
+which he thought no objection would lie.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.]
+
+At the Duchesse de Dino's ball the night before last I had a very
+anxious conversation with Melbourne about it all. He said that
+'he really believed there was no strong feeling in the country
+for the measure.' We talked of the violence of the Tories, and
+their notion that they could get rid of the whole thing. I said
+the notion was absurd _now_, but that I fully agreed with him
+about the general feeling. 'Why, then,' said he, 'might it not be
+thrown out?'--a consummation I really believe he would rejoice
+at, if it could be done. I said because there was a great party
+which would not let it, which would agitate again, and that the
+country wished ardently to have it settled; that if it could be
+disposed of for good and all, it would be a good thing indeed,
+but that this was now become impossible. I asked him if his
+colleagues were impressed as he was with this truth, and he said,
+'No.' I told him he ought to do everything possible to enforce
+it, and to make them moderate, and induce them to concede, to
+which he replied, 'What difficulty can they have in swallowing
+the rest after they have given up the rotten boroughs? That is,
+in fact, the essential part of the Bill, and the truth is _I do
+not see how the Government is to be carried on without them_.
+Some means may be found; a remedy may possibly present itself,
+and it may work in practice better than we now know of, but I am
+not aware of any, and I do not see how any Government can be
+carried on when these are swept away.' This was, if not his exact
+words, the exact sense, and a pretty avowal for a man to make at
+the eleventh hour who has been a party concerned in this Bill
+during the other ten. I told him I agreed in every respect, but
+that it was too late to discuss this now, and that the rotten
+boroughs were past saving, that as to the minor points, the
+Waverers thought them of importance, looked upon them as
+securities, compensations, and moreover as what would save their
+own honour, and that the less their real importance was the more
+easily might they be conceded. We had a great deal more talk, but
+then it is all talk, and _à quoi bon_ with a man who holds these
+opinions and acts as he does? Let it end as it may, the history
+of the Bill, and the means by which it has been conceived,
+brought forward, supported, and opposed, will be most curious and
+instructive. The division in the Lords must be very close indeed.
+
+Orloff, who was looked for like the Messiah, at last made his
+appearance a few days ago, a great burly Russian, but no
+ratification yet.[1]
+
+      [1] [Of the Belgian Treaty.]
+
+[Page Head: THE CHOLERA IN ENGLAND.]
+
+I have refrained for a long time from writing down anything about
+the cholera, because the subject is intolerably disgusting to me,
+and I have been bored past endurance by the perpetual questions of
+every fool about it. It is not, however, devoid of interest. In
+the first place, what has happened here proves that 'the people'
+of this enlightened, reading, thinking, reforming nation are not a
+whit less barbarous than the serfs in Russia, for precisely the
+same prejudices have been shown here that were found at St.
+Petersburg and at Berlin. The disease has undoubtedly appeared
+(hitherto) in this country in a milder shape than elsewhere, but
+the alarm at its name was so great that the Government could do no
+otherwise than take such precautions and means of safety as
+appeared best to avert the danger or mitigate its consequences.
+Here it came, and the immediate effect was a great inconvenience
+to trade and commerce, owing to restrictions, both those imposed
+by foreigners generally on this country and those we imposed
+ourselves between the healthy and unhealthy places. This begot
+complaints and disputes, and professional prejudices and
+jealousies urged a host of combatants into the field, to fight
+about the existence or non-existence of cholera, its contagiousness,
+and any collateral question. The disposition of the public was
+(and is) to believe that the whole thing was a humbug, and
+accordingly plenty of people were found to write in that sense,
+and the press lent itself to propagate the same idea. The disease,
+however, kept creeping on, the Boards of Health which were
+everywhere established immediately became odious, and the vestries
+and parishes stoutly resisted all pecuniary demands for the
+purpose of carrying into effect the recommendations of the Central
+Board or the orders of the Privy Council. In this town the mob has
+taken the part of the anti-cholerites, and the most disgraceful
+scenes have occurred. The other day a Mr. Pope, head of the
+hospital in Marylebone (Cholera Hospital) came to the Council
+Office to complain that a patient who was being removed with his
+own consent had been taken out of his chair by the mob and carried
+back, the chair broken, and the bearers and surgeon hardly
+escaping with their lives. Furious contests have taken place about
+the burials, it having been recommended that bodies should be
+burned directly after death, and the most violent prejudice
+opposing itself to this recommendation; in short, there is no end
+to the scenes of uproar, violence, and brutal ignorance that have
+gone on, and this on the part of the lower orders, for whose
+especial benefit all the precautions are taken, and for whose
+relief large sums have been raised and all the resources of
+charity called into activity in every part of the town. The awful
+thing is the vast extent of misery and distress which prevails,
+and the evidence of the rotten foundation on which the whole
+fabric of this gorgeous society rests, for I call that rotten
+which exhibits thousands upon thousands of human beings reduced to
+the lowest stage of moral and physical degradation, with no more
+of the necessaries of life than serve to keep body and soul
+together, whole classes of artisans without the means of
+subsistence. However complicated and remote the causes of this
+state of things, the manifestations present themselves in a
+frightful presence and reality, and those whose ingenuity, and
+experience, and philosophical views may enable them accurately to
+point out the causes and the gradual increase of this distress are
+totally unable to suggest a remedy or to foresee an end to it. Can
+such a state of things permanently go on? can any reform
+ameliorate it? Is it possible for any country to be considered in
+a healthy condition when there is no such thing as a _general_
+diffusion of the comforts of life (varying of course with every
+variety of circumstance which can affect the prosperity of
+individuals or of classes), but when the extremes prevail of the
+most unbounded luxury and enjoyment and the most dreadful
+privation and suffering? To imagine a state of society in which
+everybody should be well off, or even tolerably well off, would be
+a mere vision, as long as there is a preponderance of vice and
+folly in the world. There will always be effects commensurate with
+their causes, but it has not always been, and it certainly need
+not be, that the majority of the population should be in great
+difficulty, struggling to keep themselves afloat, and, what is
+worse, in uncertainty and in doubt whether they can earn
+subsistence for themselves and their families. Such is the case at
+present, and I believe a general uncertainty pervades every class
+of society, from the highest to the lowest; nobody looks upon any
+institution as secure, or any interest as safe, and it is only
+because those universal feelings of alarm which are equally
+diffused throughout the mass but slightly affect each individual
+atom of it that we see the world go on as usual, eating, drinking,
+laughing, and dancing, and not insensible to the danger, though,
+apparently indifferent about it.
+
+
+April 4th, 1832 {p.280}
+
+[Page Head: A DIFFICULTY AT SCHEDULE A.]
+
+Charles Wood[2] came to me yesterday, and brought a paper showing
+the various effects of a different qualification from £10 to £40
+for the metropolitan districts, to talk over the list, but
+principally to get me to speak to Harrowby about a foreseen
+difficulty. The first clause in the Bill enacts _that fifty-six
+boroughs be disfranchised_. This gave great offence in the House
+of Commons, was feebly defended, but carried by the majority,
+which was always ready and required no reason; it was an
+egregious piece of folly and arrogance there, here it presents a
+real embarrassment. I told him I knew Harrowby had an invincible
+repugnance to it, and that the effect would be very bad if they
+split upon the first point. He said he should not defend it, that
+all reason was against it, but that there it was, and how was it
+to be got rid of? I suggested that it should be passed over, and
+that they should go at once to the boroughs _seriatim_. He said
+if that clause was omitted a suspicion would immediately arise
+that there was an intention of altering Schedule A, and nothing
+would avert that but getting through a great part of it before
+Easter, and that this might be difficult, as the longest time
+they could expect to sit would be three days in Passion Week. He
+talked a great deal about the country expecting this, and that
+they would not be satisfied if it was not done, and all the usual
+jargon of the Reformers, which it was not worth while to dispute,
+and it ended by my promising to talk to Lord Harrowby about it.
+This I did last night, and he instantly flew into a rage. He said
+'he would not be dragged through the mire by those scoundrels. It
+was an insolence that was not to be borne; let them make their
+Peers if they would, not Hell itself should make him vote for
+_fifty-six_; he would vote for sixty-six or any number but that,
+that he would not split with the Tories on the first vote; if
+indeed _they_ would consent to fifty-six he would, or to anything
+else they would agree to, but if the Government brought this
+forward no consideration on earth should prevent his opposing
+it.' We then discussed the whole matter, with the proposed
+amendments which Wood and I had talked over with reference to the
+metropolitan members and town and county voting, and I am to go
+to-day and propose that after the second reading is carried they
+should adjourn till after Easter, and give a little time for the
+excitement (which there must be) to subside, and to see how
+matters stand, and what probability there is of getting the thing
+through quietly.
+
+      [2] [Mr. Charles Wood, afterwards Viscount Halifax, but at
+          this time private Secretary to Earl Grey, whose
+          daughter he married.]
+
+
+April 6th, 1832 {p.281}
+
+I called on the Duke of Richmond on Wednesday morning, and told
+him what had passed between Wood and me, and Lord Harrowby and me
+afterwards. He was aware of the difficulty, and regretted it the
+more because he might have to defend it in the House of Lords. He
+wished me very much to go to Downing Street and see Lord Grey
+himself if possible before the levee, and he suggested that the
+words fifty-six might be left in blank by Lord Grey's own motion,
+that this would be in conformity with the forms of the House. I
+set off, but calling at home on my way found Lord Harrowby at my
+door. He came in, and was anxious to know if I had said anything;
+he was more quiet than the night before, but still resolved not
+to agree to fifty-six, though anxious to have the matter
+compromised in some way. Lord Harrowby wanted to adjourn after
+the second reading, but owned that the best effect would be to
+get through Schedule A before Easter. Yesterday I saw Wood; he
+harped upon the difficulty and the old strain of the country. I
+suggested the point of form which Richmond had mentioned, but he
+said that could not be _now_ in the Bill, as it was sent up from
+the Commons, that if they were beaten on fifty-six the country
+would consider it tantamount to throwing out Schedule A, and
+would highly approve of a creation of Peers, and that, in fact
+(if they wished it), it would be the best opportunity they could
+have. I told him that it would heap ridicule upon all the
+antecedent proceedings, and the pretext must be manifest, as it
+would appear in the course of the discussions what the real
+reason was. In the middle of our conversation Ellice came in, and
+directly asked if my friends would swallow fifty-six, to which I
+said, 'No.' We had then a vehement dispute, but at last Wood
+turned him out, and he and I resumed. We finally agreed that I
+should ask Lord Harrowby whether, if Lord Grey of his own accord
+proposed to leave out the words fifty-six, but with an expression
+of his opinion that this must be the number, he (Lord Harrowby)
+would meet him with a corresponding declaration that he objected
+to the specification of the number in the clause, without
+objecting to the extent of the disfranchisement, it being always
+understood that what passes between us is unauthorised talk, and
+to commit nobody--'without prejudice,' as the lawyers say.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.]
+
+I heard yesterday, however, from Keate, who is attending me (and
+who is the King's surgeon, and sees him when he is in town), that
+he saw his Majesty after the levee on Wednesday, and that he was
+ill, out of sorts, and in considerable agitation; that he
+enquired of him about his health, when the King said he had much
+to annoy him, and that 'many things passed there (pointing to the
+Cabinet, out of which he had just come) which were by no means
+agreeable, and that he had had more than usual to occupy him that
+morning.' Keate said he was very sure from his manner that
+something unpleasant had occurred. This was, I have since
+discovered, the question of a creation of Peers again brought
+forward, and to which the King's aversion has returned so much so
+that it is doubtful if he will after all consent to a large one.
+It seems that unless the Peers are made (in the event of the
+necessity arising) Brougham and Althorp will resign; at least so
+they threaten. I have seen enough of threats, and doubts, and
+scruples, to be satisfied that there is no certainty that any of
+them will produce the anticipated effects, but I am resolved I
+will try, out of these various elements, if I cannot work out
+something which may be serviceable to the cause itself, though
+the materials I have to work with are scanty. The Ministers were
+all day yesterday settling who the new Peers shall be, so
+seriously are they preparing for the _coup_. They had already
+fixed upon Lords Molyneux, Blandford, Kennedy, Ebrington,
+Cavendish, Brabazon, and Charles Fox, Littleton, Portman,
+Frederick Lawley, Western, and many others, and this would be
+what Lord Holland calls assimilating the House of Lords to the
+spirit of the other House, and making it harmonise with the
+prevailing sense of the people.
+
+
+April 8th, 1832 {p.283}
+
+Lord Harrowby was out of town when I called there on Friday, so I
+wrote to him the substance of my conversation with Wood.
+Yesterday he returned. In the evening I met Wood at dinner at
+Lord Holland's, when he told me that he found on the part of his
+friends more reluctance than he had expected to give up the
+fifty-six, that he had done all he could to persuade them, but
+they made great objections. Moreover he had had a conversation
+with Sandon which he did not quite like, as he talked so much of
+holding the party together. All this was to make me think they
+are stouter than they really are, for I am better informed than
+he thinks for.
+
+Yesterday morning I got more correct information about what had
+passed with the King. Lord Grey went to him with a minute of
+Cabinet requiring that he should make Peers in case the second
+reading was thrown out.[3] To this he demurred, raised difficulties
+and doubts, which naturally enough alarm the Government very much.
+However, when he got back to Windsor he wrote two letters,
+explaining his sentiments, from which it appears that he has great
+reluctance, that he will do it, but will not give any pledge
+beforehand, that he objects to increasing the Peerage, and wants
+to call up eldest sons and make Irish and Scotch Peers, that he
+did not say positively he would make the Peers, but that he would
+be in the way, and come up when it was necessary. They think that
+he has some idea that his pledging himself beforehand (though in
+fact he did so two months ago) might be drawn into an improper
+precedent. However this may be, his reluctance is so strong that a
+great deal may be made of it, as it is probable (if he continues
+in the same mind, and is not turned by some violence of the
+Opposition) that he will resist still more making Peers when the
+Bill is in Committee to carry the details, some of which he
+himself wishes to see altered, but the difficulty is very great.
+It is impossible to communicate with the Tory leaders; they will
+not believe what you tell them, and if they learnt the King's
+scruples they would immediately imagine that they might presume
+upon them to any extent, and stand out more obstinately than ever.
+I went to Harrowby last night, and imparted to him the state of
+things, which I shall do to nobody else. To Wharncliffe I dare
+not. He is not indisposed to Wood's compromise, and I trust this
+will be settled, but he still leans to putting off the second
+reading till after Easter, and if the Tories also resolve upon
+that (which they are mightily disposed to do) he will not separate
+from them on that point, and they are sure to carry it. Unless
+this was accompanied with some declaration from them that they
+would be disposed to concede the great principles of the Bill, I
+think the Government would consider it such an indication of
+hostility as to call for an immediate creation of Peers, and I
+doubt whether the King could or would resist. There are many
+reasons why it would be desirable to make the second reading a
+resting-place, and adjourn then till after Easter, provided all
+parties consented, but it would be very unwise to make it the
+subject of a contest, and nobody would ever believe that the real
+reason was not to get rid of Schedule A by hook or by crook, or of
+a good deal of it. Harrowby will, I am sure, not divide against
+them on this, and they will not give it up; that there are means
+of resistance, if they were judiciously applied, I am sure, and if
+there were temper, discretion, and cordiality, the Bill might be
+licked into a very decent shape.
+
+      [3] [This Cabinet minute of the 3rd of April, 1832, and the
+          King's remarks upon it, have been printed in the
+          'Correspondence of William IV. and Earl Grey,' vol. ii.
+          p. 307.]
+
+[Page Head: 'THE HUNCHBACK.'.]
+
+I went to see Sheridan Knowles' new play the other night, 'The
+Hunchback.' Very good, and a great success. Miss Fanny Kemble
+acted really well--for the first time, in my opinion, great
+acting. I have not seen anything since Mrs. Siddons (and perhaps
+Miss O'Neill) so good.
+
+The Duke of Wellington made a very good speech on Irish affairs
+on Friday, one of his best, and he speaks admirably _to points_
+sometimes and on subjects he understands. I wish he had let alone
+that Irish Education--disgraceful humbug and cant. I don't know
+that there is anything else particularly new. Orloff is made a
+great rout with, but he don't ratify. The real truth is that the
+King of Holland holds out, and the other Powers delay till they
+see the result of our Reform Bill, thinking that the Duke of
+Wellington may return to power, and then they may make better
+terms for Holland and dictate to Belgium and to France. If the
+Reform Bill is carried, and Government stays in, they will
+ratify, and not till then. The cholera is disappearing here and
+in the country.
+
+
+April 9th, 1832 {p.285}
+
+Saw Lord Harrowby yesterday morning. He can't make up his mind
+what is best to be done, whether to go into Committee or not. He
+rather wishes to get through Schedule A, but he won't vote
+against the Tories if they divide on adjourning. Then went to
+Wood and told him there would be no difficulty about _fifty-six_.
+Lord Grey came in, and talked the whole thing over. He said he
+was ill--knocked up--that in his speech to-day he should be as
+moderate and tame as anybody could wish. From what Wood said, and
+he himself afterwards, I should think they wish to adjourn after
+the second reading, but to make a merit of it if they do.
+Duncannon, whom I saw afterwards, seemed to be of the same
+opinion, that it would be best not to sit in Passion Week. At
+night Wharncliffe came back from Yorkshire. He is all for getting
+into Schedule A, and making no difficulties about fifty-six or
+anything else, and Harrowby, now that he fancies the Government
+want to adjourn, rather wants not, suspecting some trick. Upon
+going all over the list, we make out the worst to give a majority
+of six, and the best of eighteen, but the Tories still count upon
+getting back some of our people. We had a grand hunt after Lord
+Gambier's proxy; he sent it to Lord de Saumarez, who is laid up
+with the gout in Guernsey, and the difficulty was to get at Lord
+Gambier and procure another. At last I made Harrowby, who does
+not know him, write to him, and Wood sent a messenger after him,
+so we hope it will arrive in time.
+
+
+April 11th, 1832 {p.286}
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL CARRIED IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+The day before yesterday Lord Grey introduced the Reform Bill in
+a speech of extreme moderation; as he promised, it was very
+'tame.' The night's debate was dull; yesterday was better. Lord
+Mansfield made a fine speech against the Bill; Harrowby spoke
+well, Wharncliffe ill. Nothing can equal the hot water we have
+been in--defections threatened on every side, expectations
+thwarted and doubts arising, betting nearly even. Even de Ros
+came to me in the morning and told me he doubted how he should
+vote; that neither Harrowby nor Wharncliffe had put the question
+on the proper ground, and his reason for seceding from the
+Opposition was the menaced creation of Peers. I wrote to Harrowby
+and begged him to say something to satisfy tender consciences,
+and moved heaven and earth to keep De Ros and Coventry (who was
+slippery) right, and I succeeded--at least I believe so, for it
+is not yet over. Nothing can equal the anxiety out of doors and
+the intensity of the interest in the town, but the debate is far
+less animated than that of last year. As to our business, it is
+'la mer à boire,' with nobody to canvass or whip in, and not
+being a party. We shall, however, I believe, manage it, and but
+just.
+
+I saw Keate this morning, who had been with the King. His Majesty
+talked in high terms of Ellenborough and of Mansfield. It is
+difficult to count upon such a man, but if the second reading is
+passed I do not believe he will make Peers to carry any points in
+Committee, unless it be the very vital ones, but it is very
+questionable if the Opposition will fight the battle then at all,
+or, if they do, fight in a way to secure a fair, practical
+result.
+
+
+April 14th, 1832 {p.287}
+
+The Reform Bill (second reading) was carried this morning at seven
+o'clock in the House of Lords by a majority of nine. The House did
+not sit yesterday. The night before Phillpotts, the Bishop of
+Exeter, made a grand speech against the Bill, full of fire and
+venom, very able. It would be an injury to compare this man with
+Laud; he more resembles Gardiner; had he lived in those days he
+would have been just such another, boiling with ambition, an
+ardent temperament, and great talents. He has a desperate and a
+dreadful countenance, and looks like the man he is. The two last
+days gave plenty of reports of changes either way, but the
+majority has always looked like from seven to ten. The House will
+adjourn on Wednesday, and go into Committee after Easter; and in
+the meantime what negotiations and what difficulties to get over!
+The Duke of Wellington and Lord Harrowby have had some good-humoured
+talk, and the former seems well disposed to join in amending the
+Bill, but the difficulty will be to bring these extreme and
+irritated parties to any agreement as to terms. The debate in the
+Lords, though not so good as last year, has been, as usual, much
+better than that in the Commons.
+
+The accounts from Paris of the cholera are awful, very different
+from the disease here. Is it not owing to our superior cleanliness,
+draining, and precautions? There have been 1,300 sick in a day
+there, and for some days an average of 1,000; here we have never
+averaged above fifty, I think, and, except the squabbling in the
+newspapers, we have seen nothing of it whatever; there many of the
+upper classes have died of it. Casimir Périer and the Duke of
+Orleans went to the Hotel Dieu, and the former was seized
+afterwards, and has been very ill, though they doubt if it really
+was cholera, as he is subject to attacks with the same symptoms.
+
+
+April 15th, 1832 {p.288}
+
+[Page Head: LORD WHARNCLIFFE AND LORD HARROWBY.]
+
+The debate in the House of Lords was closed by a remarkable reply
+from Lord Grey, full of moderation, and such as to hold out the
+best hopes of an adjustment of the question--not that it pacified
+the ultra-Tories, who were furious. The speech was so ill
+reported at that late hour that it is not generally known what he
+did say, and many of those who heard it almost doubt their own
+accuracy, or suspect that he went further than he intended, so
+unlike was it to his former violent and unyielding language. He
+said, with regard to a creation of Peers, that nothing would
+justify him in recommending the exercise of that prerogative but
+a collision between the two Houses of Parliament, and that in
+such a case (he is reported to have said) he should deem it his
+duty first to recommend a dissolution, and to ascertain whether
+the feeling of the country was with the other House (these were
+not the words, but to this effect). If this be at all correct, it
+is clear that he cannot make Peers to carry the clauses, for, in
+fact, the collision between the two Houses will not have arrived
+unless the Commons should reject any amendments which may be made
+by the Lords. The tone, however, of the violent supporters of
+Government is totally changed; at Lord Holland's last night they
+were singing in a very different note, and, now, if the councils
+of the Lords are guided by moderation and firmness, they may deal
+with the Bill _almost_ as they please; but they must swallow
+Schedule A. The difficulties, however, are great; the High Tories
+are exasperated and vindictive, and will fiercely fight against
+any union with the seceders. The Duke is moderate in his tone,
+ready to act cordially with all parties, but he owes the seceders
+a grudge, is anxious to preserve his influence with the Tories,
+and will probably insist upon mutilating the Bill more than will
+be prudent and feasible. The Harrowby and Wharncliffe party, now
+that the second reading is over, ceases to be a party. It was a
+patched-up, miscellaneous concern at best, of men who were half
+reasoned, half frightened over, who could not bear separating
+from the Duke, long to return to him, and, besides, are ashamed
+of Wharncliffe as a chief. There never was such a 'chef de
+circonstance.' He is a very honest man, with a right view of
+things and a fair and unprejudiced understanding, vain and
+imprudent, without authority, commanding no respect, and in a
+false position as the ephemeral leader he is, marching in that
+capacity _pari passu_ with Harrowby, who is infinitely more
+looked up to, but whose bilious complexion prevents his mixing
+with society and engaging and persuading others to follow his
+opinions; nor has he (Lord Harrowby) any plan or design beyond
+the object of the moment. He has no thought of mixing again in
+public life, he does not propose to communicate with anybody on
+anything further than the middle course to be adopted now, and
+few people are disposed to sever the ties on which their future
+political existence depends for the sake of cultivating this
+short-lived connection. If the Government, therefore, looks to
+the seceders who have carried the question for them to carry
+other points, they will find it won't do, for their followers
+will melt into the mass of the anti-Reformers, who, though they
+will still frown upon the chiefs, will gladly take back the rank
+and file. A fortnight will elapse, in the course of which
+opportunities will be found of ascertaining the disposition of
+the great party and the probability of an arrangement.
+
+The debate was good on Friday, but very inferior to the last.
+Phillpotts got a terrific dressing from Lord Grey, and was
+handled not very delicately by Goderich and Durham, though the
+latter was too coarse. He had laid himself very open, and, able
+as he is, he has adopted a tone and style inconsistent with his
+lawn sleeves, and unusual on the Episcopal Bench. He is carried
+away by his ambition and his alarm, and horrifies his brethren,
+who feel all the danger (in these times) of such a colleague. The
+episode of which he was the object was, of course, the most
+amusing part of the whole.
+
+
+Newmarket, April 22nd, 1832 {p.290}
+
+[Page Head: MEETING OF LORD GREY AND LORD WHARNCLIFFE.]
+
+Ill and laid up with the gout for this week past. Came here on
+Friday, the 20th. The carrying of the second reading of the Bill
+seems to have produced no effect. Everybody is gone out of town,
+the Tories in high dudgeon. The Duke of Wellington has entered a
+protest with all the usual objections, which has been signed by a
+whole rabble of Peers, but not by Lyndhurst, Ellenborough, or
+Carnarvon, who monopolise the brains of the party; they declined.
+In the meantime things look better. Wharncliffe, Harrowby, and
+Haddington have had two interviews with Lyndhurst and Ellenborough,
+and though they did not go into particulars the result was
+satisfactory, and a strong disposition evinced to co-operation and
+moderation. It was agreed they should meet again next week, and
+see what could be arranged. On Friday Palmerston sent to
+Wharncliffe and desired to see him. They met, and Palmerston told
+him that he came from Lord Grey, who was desirous of having an
+interview with him, adding that Lord Grey had now become convinced
+that he might make much more extensive concessions than he had
+ever yet contemplated. He added that Lord Grey would rather see
+Wharncliffe alone, without Harrowby, whose manner was so snappish
+and unpleasant that he could not talk so much at his ease as he
+would to Wharncliffe alone. Wharncliffe replied that he could have
+no objection to see Lord Grey, but that he must fairly tell him
+his situation was no longer the same, having put himself in
+amicable communication with Lyndhurst and Ellenborough; that the
+concurrence of the Tories was indispensable to him and his friends
+to effect the alterations they contemplated, and he could not do
+anything which might have to them the appearance of underhand
+dealing; that he could tell Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, and if
+they made no objection he would see Lord Grey. Ellenborough was
+gone out of town, but he went to Lyndhurst, who immediately
+advised him to see Lord Grey, and said it was most desirable they
+should be made acquainted with the views and disposition of
+Government, and he undertook to write word to the Duke of
+Wellington of all that had passed. Lord Grey was unable to leave
+Sheen yesterday, so it was arranged that the meeting should be
+delayed till Wharncliffe's return to London. The Duke of Richmond
+has, however, got a letter of four sides from Grey, empowering him
+to treat here with Wharncliffe, and Stanley and Graham being
+expected, it is very likely some progress may be made. Nothing can
+promise better, and if the chiefs of the Tories can be brought to
+moderation the stupid obstinacy of the mass will not matter, and I
+do not think they will dare hold out, for when a negotiation on
+such a conciliatory basis is proposed, a terrible case would be
+made hereafter against those who should refuse to listen to it.
+The advantages are so clear that nothing would make them persist
+in the line of uncompromising opposition but an unconquerable
+repugnance to afford a triumph to the Waverers, which a successful
+termination would do; not that they would profit by it, for they
+are so few, and those who will have been wrong so many, that
+clamour will silence justice, and a thousand excuses and pretences
+will be found to deprive them of their rightful credit. It is a
+long time--not probably since the days of Charles II.--that this
+place (Newmarket) has been the theatre of a political negotiation,
+and, conceding the importance of the subject, the actors are
+amusing--Richmond, Graham, Wharncliffe, and myself. By-the-bye it
+is perfectly true that (if I have not mentioned it before) the
+Royal carriages were all ready the morning of the decision of the
+second reading to take the King to the House of Lords to prorogue
+Parliament, and on Tuesday the Peers would have appeared in the
+'Gazette.'
+
+
+London, May 12th, 1832 {p.291}
+
+Nothing written for a long time, nor had I anything to write till
+a few days ago. From the time of Wharncliffe's departure I heard
+nothing, and I bitterly regret now not having been in town last
+week.[4] The Committee stood for Monday; on Friday se'nnight last
+I was at Buckenham, when the Duke of Rutland told me he was going
+to London, that they meant to divide on Monday on a proposal to
+postpone Schedules A and B till after C and D, and expected to
+beat the Government; I wrote by that post to Lady Harrowby,
+saying I hoped this was not true, and that if it was it appeared
+to me most injudicious. On Tuesday I received by the post a
+letter from Wharncliffe, saying that they had been in frequent
+communication with Ellenborough and Lyndhurst, that the
+Opposition were prepared to make great and satisfactory
+concessions, and he thought all would go off well. The only
+difficulty he apprehended was from the postponement of the
+disfranchising clause, which the Tories insisted on, and to which
+he and Harrowby had thought it right to agree. The next day I
+received a second letter, with an account of the debate and its
+consequences, to which I wrote him a trimming reply, and another
+to Lady Harrowby, expressing my sentiments on their conduct on
+the occasion. Before all this happened Wharncliffe had had to
+encounter abuse of every kind, and he has certainly continued to
+play his cards in such a way, from first to last, as to quarrel
+with Whigs and Tories in succession. With very good intentions,
+and very honest, he has exposed himself to every reproach of
+insincerity, intrigue, and double-dealing.
+
+      [4] [It was on the 7th of May that the Lords went into
+          Committee on the Bill, and Lord Lyndhurst's motion to
+          postpone the _dis_franchising clauses until after the
+          _en_franchising clauses had been agreed to was carried
+          by a majority of thirty-five against the Government.
+          The seventeen Peers who had assisted to carry the
+          second reading on the 11th of April relapsed into the
+          Conservative ranks, and the result was, for the moment,
+          such as to stop the progress of the Bill and turn out
+          the Government.]
+
+[Page Head: DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN COMMITTEE.]
+
+On arriving in town I found a note from him, desiring I would see
+him and hear his defence of himself before I expressed elsewhere
+the opinion I had given to him. Accordingly I went to Boodle's,
+where I found him, and he immediately began his case. He said that
+on his return to town he saw Lord Grey, who said that he wished to
+know what were the intentions of his party, and how far they were
+disposed to go, and what concessions they looked for. He replied
+that Lord Grey must understand that he now stood in a very
+different position, and that, reunited as he was with the Tories,
+he must act with them--much, in short, what he had before said to
+Palmerston. They then discussed the question, and he said that
+there was one point for which Lord Grey ought to be prepared, and
+that he knew the Tories were much bent upon proposing the
+postponement of Schedules A and B. Lord Grey said this would be
+productive of the greatest embarrassment, that it would be a thing
+they could not agree to, and he hoped he would do all in his power
+to prevent it. Wharncliffe said that he would endeavour, but he
+believed they were very eager about it, and he added that Lord
+Grey might be sure _he_ would support nothing calculated to
+interfere with the essential provisions of the Bill. After this
+his and Harrowby's communications with Ellenborough and his
+friends continued, and on the Saturday (I think) Lyndhurst told
+him that the Tories were so irrevocably bent upon this, and that
+they were so difficult to manage and so disposed to fly off, that
+it was absolutely necessary to give way to them, and it must be
+proposed, though he would gladly have waived it, but that was
+impossible; upon which Harrowby and Wharncliffe gave in and agreed
+to support it. One of them (Haddington, I think) suggested that
+Wharncliffe ought to communicate this intention to Lord Grey, to
+which, however, Lyndhurst objected, said that the Tories were
+suspicious, had already taken umbrage at the communications
+between Wharncliffe and Grey, and that it must not be. To this
+prohibition Wharncliffe fatally submitted, and accordingly not a
+word was said by anybody till the afternoon of the debate, when
+just before it began Wharncliffe told the Duke of Richmond, who of
+course told Lord Grey. Wharncliffe at the same time had some
+conversation with John Russell and Stanley, who strongly
+deprecated this intention, but it was too late to arrange or
+compromise anything then. The debate came on; the proposition was
+made in a very aggravating speech by Lyndhurst, and on its being
+carried Lord Grey threw up the Bill and the Government in a
+passion. It is the more remarkable that they should have taken
+this course at once, because they certainly had very strong reason
+to doubt whether the King would consent to a creation of Peers,
+though they probably thought he might be bullied upon an occasion
+which they fancied they could turn to great account; but he was
+stout and would not hear of it.
+
+[Page Head: POSITION OF PARTIES.]
+
+The day after the debate Grey and Brougham went down to Windsor
+and proposed to the King to make fifty Peers. They took with them
+a minute of Cabinet signed by all the members except the Duke of
+Richmond. Palmerston proposed it in Cabinet, and Melbourne made
+no objection. His Majesty took till the next day to consider,
+when he accepted their resignations, which was the alternative
+they gave him. At the levee the same day nothing occurred; the
+King hardly spoke to the Duke, but he afterwards saw Lyndhurst
+(having sent for him). I do not know what passed between them,
+but the Duke of Wellington was soon sent for. The Duke and
+Lyndhurst endeavoured to prevail on Peel to take the Government
+upon himself, and the former offered to act in any capacity in
+which he could be useful, but Peel would not. Some communication
+also took place between Lyndhurst and Harrowby, but the latter
+declared at once he would support the new Government, but not
+take office. When Peel finally declined, the Duke accepted, and
+yesterday at three o'clock he went to St. James's. The King saw
+Peel and the Speaker. Nothing is known of the formation of the
+Cabinet, but the reports were first that Alexander Baring was to
+be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and since that he has refused on
+account of his health, and that Lyndhurst is to go to the King's
+Bench, Tenterden to retire, and the Great Seal to be put in
+commission.
+
+The first act of the Duke was to advise the King to reject the
+address of the Birmingham Union, which he did, and said he knew of
+no such body. All very proper. In the morning I called upon Wood
+at the Treasury, to explain to him that I had never been cognisant
+of the late proceedings in the House of Lords, and that I was far
+from approving the conduct of my old associates. He said he had
+never believed that I was any party to it, and regretted that I
+had not been in town, when it was just possible I might have
+persuaded them of the unworthiness of the course they were taking.
+He said that I did not know how bad it was, for that Wharncliffe
+had distinctly said that if such a thing was proposed he should
+oppose it, and that Palmerston was present when he said so. This
+Wharncliffe positively denies, and yesterday he went to Palmerston
+to endeavour to explain, taking with him a minute which he said he
+had drawn up at the time of all that passed, but which he had
+never before shown or submitted for correction, and which
+Palmerston told him was incorrect, inasmuch, as it omitted that
+engagement. They are at issue as to the fact. The position of the
+respective parties is curious. The Waverers undertook a task of
+great difficulty with slender means, and they accomplished it with
+complete success. All turned out as they expected and desired,
+but, after having been in confidential communication with both
+parties, they have contrived mortally to offend both, and to
+expose themselves to odium from every quarter, and to an universal
+imputation of insincerity and double-dealing, and this without any
+other fault than mismanagement and the false position in which
+they found themselves, without influence or power, between two
+mighty parties. The Tories, who have exhibited nothing but
+obstinacy and unreasonableness, and who thwarted the Waverers by
+every means they could devise, have reaped all the benefit of
+their efforts, and that without admitting that they were right or
+thanking them for bringing matters to this pass. They are
+triumphant, in spite of all they did to prevent their own triumph,
+and have had all the spiteful pleasure of abuse and obloquy, all
+the glory of consistency, and the satisfaction of pertinacity,
+with all the advantages that an opposite line of conduct promised
+to give them. [Their triumph was of short duration, and nothing so
+complete as their final discomfiture.]
+
+The King took leave of his Ministers with a great effusion of
+tenderness, particularly to Richmond, whom he entreated to remain
+in office; but I take it that he easily consoles himself, and
+does not care much more for one Minister than another.
+
+The debate in the House of Commons was not so violent as might
+have been expected, and the Tories were greatly elated with the
+divisions on Ebrington's motion, because there was a majority
+less by fifty-six than on a similar motion when the Bill was
+rejected in October. The circumstances were, however, different,
+and some would not vote because they disapprove of creating
+Peers, which this vote would have committed them to approve of.
+There is so much of wonder, and curiosity, and expectation abroad
+that there is less of abuse and exasperation than might have been
+expected, but it will all burst forth. The town is fearfully
+quiet. What is odd enough is that the King was hissed as he left
+London the other day, and the Duke cheered as he came out of the
+Palace. There have been some meetings, with resolutions to
+support the Bill, to express approbation of the Ministers, and to
+protest against the payment of taxes, and there will probably be
+a good deal of bustle and bluster here and elsewhere; but I do
+not believe in real tumults, particularly when the rabble and the
+unions know that there is a Government which will not stand such
+things, and that they will not be able to bandy compliments with
+the Duke as they did with Althorp and John Russell, not but what
+much dissatisfaction and much disquietude must prevail. The funds
+have not fallen, which is a sign that there is no alarm in the
+City. At this early period of the business it is difficult to
+form any opinion of what will happen; the present Government in
+opposition will again be formidable, but I am disposed to think
+things will go on and right themselves; we shall avoid a creation
+of Peers, but we must have a Reform Bill of some sort, and
+perhaps a harmless one after all, and if the elements of disorder
+can be resolved into tranquillity and order again, we must not
+quarrel with the means that have been employed, nor the quantum
+of moral injustice that has been perpetrated.
+
+[Page Head: PEEL REFUSES TO TAKE OFFICE.]
+
+The Tories are very indignant with Peel for not taking office,
+and if, as it is supposed, he is to support Government and the
+Bill out of office, and when all is over come in, it is hardly
+worth while for such a farce to deprive the King and the country
+of his services in the way that they could be most useful, but he
+is still smarting under Catholic question reminiscences, while
+the Duke is more thick-skinned. After he had carried the Catholic
+question the world was prepared for a good deal of versatility on
+his part, but it was in mere derision that (after his speech on
+Reform in 1830) it used to be said that he would very likely be
+found proposing a Bill of Reform, and here he is coming into
+office for the express purpose of carrying on this very Bill
+against which the other day he entered a protest which must stare
+him in the face through the whole progress of it, or, if not, to
+bring in another of the same character, and probably nearly of
+the same dimensions. Pretexts are, however, not wanting, and the
+necessity of supporting the King is made paramount to every other
+consideration. The Duke's worshippers (a numerous class) call
+this the finest action of his life, though it is difficult to
+perceive in what the grandeur of it consists, or the magnitude of
+the sacrifice. However, it is fair to wait a little, and hear
+from his own lips his exposition of the mode in which he intends
+to deal with this measure, and how he will reconcile what he has
+hitherto said with what he is now about to do. Talleyrand is of
+course in a state of great consternation, which will be
+communicated like an electrical shock to the Powers specially
+favoured and protected by the late Government--Leopold and Don
+Pedro, for instance. It will be a difficult thing for the Duke to
+deal with some of the questions on which he has committed himself
+pretty considerably while in opposition, both with respect to
+foreign politics and especially Irish Education.
+
+
+Monday, May 14th, 1832 {p.297}
+
+Nothing more was known yesterday, but everybody was congregated at
+the clubs, asking, discussing, and wondering. There was a great
+meeting at Apsley House, when it was supposed everything was
+settled. The Household went yesterday to St. James's to resign
+their sticks and badges; amongst the rest Lord Foley. The King was
+very civil to him; made him sit down and said, 'Lord Foley, you
+are a young man.' 'Sir, I am afraid I cannot flatter myself that I
+have any right to that appellation.' 'Oh, yes; you are a young
+man--at all events in comparison with me--and you will probably
+come into office again; but I am an old man, and I am afraid I
+shall not have the pleasure of seeing you there.' It is supposed
+that this _coup_ has been preparing for some time. All the Royal
+Family, bastards and all, have been incessantly _at_ the King, and
+he has probably had more difficulty in the long run in resisting
+the constant importunity of his _entourage_, and of his womankind
+particularly, than the dictates of his Ministers; and between this
+gradual but powerful impression, and his real opinion and fears,
+he was not sorry to seize the first good opportunity of shaking
+off the Whigs. When Lord Anglesey went to take leave of him at
+Windsor he was struck with the change in his sentiments, and told
+Lady Anglesey so, who repeated it to my brother.
+
+It is gratifying to find that those with whom I used to dispute,
+and who would hear of nothing but rejecting the second reading,
+now admit that my view was the correct one, and Vesey Fitzgerald,
+with whom I had more than one discussion, complimented me very
+handsomely upon the justification of my view of the question
+which the event had afforded. The High Tories, of course, will
+never admit that they could have been wrong, and have no other
+resource but to insist boldly that the King never would have made
+Peers at all.[5]
+
+      [5] [Everyone knows how short-lived were the expectations
+          caused by the temporary resignation of Lord Grey's
+          Government. It will be seen in the following pages how
+          soon the vision passed away; but the foregoing passages
+          are retained precisely because they contain a vivid and
+          faithful picture of the state of opinion at the
+          moment.]
+
+
+London, May 17th, 1832 {p.298}
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S EFFORTS TO FORM A MINISTRY.]
+
+The events of the last few days have passed with a rapidity which
+hardly left time to think upon them--such sudden changes and
+transitions from rage to triumph on one side, and from foolish
+exultation to mortification and despair on the other. The first
+impression was that the Duke of Wellington would succeed in
+forming a Government, with or without Peel. The first thing he
+did was to try and prevail upon Peel to be Prime Minister, but he
+was inexorable. He then turned to Baring,[6] who, after much
+hesitation, agreed to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. The work
+went on, but with difficulty, for neither Peel, Goulburn, nor
+Croker would take office. They then tried the Speaker, who was
+mightily tempted to become Secretary of State, but still doubting
+and fearing, and requiring time to make up his mind. At an
+interview with the Duke and Lyndhurst at Apsley House he declared
+his sentiments on the existing state of affairs in a speech of
+three hours, to the unutterable disgust of Lyndhurst, who
+returned home, flung himself into a chair, and said that 'he
+could not endure to have anything to do with such a _damned
+tiresome old bitch_.' After these three hours of oratory Manners
+Sutton desired to have till the next morning (Monday) to make up
+his mind, which he again begged might be extended till the
+evening. On that evening (Monday) ensued the memorable night in
+the House of Commons, which everybody agrees was such a scene of
+violence and excitement as never had been exhibited within those
+walls. Tavistock told me he had never heard anything at all like
+it, and to his dying day should not forget it. The House was
+crammed to suffocation; every violent sentiment and vituperative
+expression was received with shouts of approbation, yet the
+violent speakers were listened to with the greatest attention.[7]
+Tom Duncombe made one of his blustering Radical harangues, full
+of every sort of impertinence, which was received with immense
+applause, but which contrasted with an admirable speech, full of
+dignity, but also of sarcasm and severity, from John Russell--the
+best he ever made. The conduct of the Duke of Wellington in
+taking office _to carry the Bill_, which was not denied, but
+which his friends feebly attempted to justify, was assailed with
+the most merciless severity, and (what made the greatest
+impression) was condemned (though in more measured terms) by
+moderate men and Tories, such as Inglis and Davies Gilbert.
+Baring, who spoke four times, at last proposed that there should
+be a compromise, and that the ex-Ministers should resume their
+seats and carry the Bill. This extraordinary proposition was
+drawn from him by the state of the House, and the impossibility
+he at once saw of forming a new Government, and without any
+previous concert with the Duke, who, however, entirely approved
+of what he said. After the debate Baring and Sutton went to
+Apsley House, and related to the Duke what had taken place, the
+former saying he would face a thousand devils rather than such a
+House of Commons. From that moment the whole thing was at an end,
+and the next morning (Tuesday) the Duke repaired to the King, and
+told him that he could not form an Administration. This
+communication, for which the debate of the previous night had
+prepared everybody, was speedily known, and the joy and triumph
+of the Whigs were complete.
+
+      [6] [Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton.]
+
+      [7] [The debate arose on a petition of the City of London,
+          praying that the House would refuse supplies until the
+          Reform Bill had become law.]
+
+The King desired the Duke and Lyndhurst (for they went together)
+to advise him what he should do. They advised him to write to
+Lord Grey (which he did), informing him that the Duke had given
+up the commission to form a Government, that he had heard of what
+had fallen from Mr. Baring in the House of Commons the night
+before on the subject of a compromise, and that he wished Lord
+Grey to return and resume the Government upon that principle.
+Lord Grey sent an answer full of the usual expressions of zeal
+and respect, but saying that he could give no answer until he had
+consulted his colleagues. He assembled his Cabinet, and at five
+o'clock the answer was sent.[8]
+
+      [8] [These communications have been published in the
+          'Correspondence of Earl Grey with William IV.,' vol.
+          ii. pp. 406-411.]
+
+[Page Head: TRIUMPH OF THE WHIGS.]
+
+Yesterday morning Lord Grey saw the King; but up to last night
+nothing was finally settled, everything turning upon the terms to
+be exacted, some of the violent of the party desiring they should
+avail themselves of this opportunity to make Peers, both to show
+their power and increase their strength; the more moderate,
+including Lord Grey himself and many of the old Peer-makers, were
+for sparing the King's feelings and using their victory with
+moderation, all, however, agreeing that the only condition on
+which they could return was the certainty of carrying the Reform
+Bill unaltered, either by a creation of Peers or by the secession
+of its opponents. Up to the present moment the matter stands
+thus: the King at the mercy of the Whigs, just as averse as ever
+to make Peers, the violent wishing to press him, the moderate
+wishing to spare him, all parties railing at each other, the
+Tories broken and discomfited, and meditating no further
+resistance to the Reform Bill. The Duke is to make his _exposé_
+to-night.
+
+Peel, who has kept himself out of the scrape, is strongly
+suspected of being anything but sorry for the dilemma into which
+the Duke has got himself, and they think that he secretly
+encouraged him to persevere, with promises of present support and
+future co-operation, with a shrewd anticipation of the fate that
+awaited him. I am by no means indisposed to give credit to this,
+for I well remember the wrath of Peel when the Duke's Government
+was broken up in 1830, and the various instances of secret
+dislike and want of real cordiality which have peeped from under
+a decent appearance of union and friendship. Nothing can be more
+certain than that he is in high spirits in the midst of it all,
+and talks with great complacency of its being very well as it is,
+and that the salvation of character is everything; and this from
+him, who fancies he has saved his own, and addressed to those who
+have forfeited theirs, is amusing.
+
+The joy of the King at what he thought was to be his deliverance
+from the Whigs was unbounded. He lost no time in putting the Duke
+of Wellington in possession of everything that had taken place
+between him and them upon the subject of Reform, and with regard
+to the creation of Peers, admitting that he had consented, but
+saying he had been subjected to every species of persecution. His
+ignorance, weakness, and levity put him in a miserable light, and
+prove him to be one of the silliest old gentlemen in his
+dominions; but I believe he is mad, for yesterday he gave a great
+dinner to the Jockey Club, at which (notwithstanding his cares)
+he seemed in excellent spirits; and after dinner he made a number
+of speeches, so ridiculous and nonsensical, beyond all belief but
+to those who heard them, rambling from one subject to another,
+repeating the same thing over and over again, and altogether such
+a mass of confusion, trash, and imbecility as made one laugh and
+blush at the same time.
+
+As soon as the Duke had agreed to try and form a Government he
+applied to the Tories, who nearly all agreed to support him, and
+were prepared to go to all lengths, even to that of swallowing the
+whole Bill if necessary; the Duke of Newcastle particularly would
+do anything. These were the men who were so squeamish that they
+could not be brought to support amendments even, unless they were
+permitted to turn the schedules upside-down, straining at gnats
+out of office and swallowing camels in. It is remarkable that
+after the sacrifice Wharncliffe made to re-ingratiate himself with
+the Tories, incurring the detestation and abuse of the Whigs, and
+their reproach of bad faith, the former have utterly neglected
+him, taking no notice of him whatever during the whole of their
+proceedings from the moment of the division, leaving him in
+ignorance of their plans and intentions, never inviting him to any
+of their meetings, and although a communication was made by
+Lyndhurst to Harrowby (they wanted Harrowby to be Prime Minister),
+the latter was not at liberty to impart it to Wharncliffe. It is
+not possible to be more deeply mortified than he is at the
+treatment he has experienced from these allies after having so
+committed himself. From the account of the King's levity
+throughout these proceedings, I strongly suspect that (if he
+lives) he will go mad. While the Duke and Lyndhurst were with him,
+at one of the most critical moments (I forget now at which) he
+said, 'I have been thinking that something is wanting with regard
+to Hanover. Duke, you are now my Minister, and I beg you will
+think of this; I should like to have a slice of Belgium, which
+would be a convenient addition to Hanover. Pray remember this,'
+and then resumed the subject they were upon.
+
+
+May 19th, 1832 {p.302}
+
+The night before last the Duke made his statement. It was
+extremely clear, but very bald, and left his case just where it
+was, as he did not say anything that everybody did not know
+before. His friends, however, extolled it as a masterpiece of
+eloquence and a complete vindication of himself. The Tory Lords
+who spoke after him bedaubed him with praise, and vied with each
+other in expressions of admiration. These were Carnarvon,
+Winchelsea, and Haddington. There was not one word from the Duke
+(nor from the others) indicative of an intention to secede, which
+was what the Government expected. His speech contained a sort of
+covert attack upon Peel; in fact, he could not defend himself
+without attacking Peel, for if the one was in the right in taking
+office the other must have been in the wrong in refusing to join
+him. There was nothing, however, which was meant as a reproach,
+though out of the House the Duke's friends do not conceal their
+anger that Peel would not embark with him in his desperate
+enterprise.
+
+Lyndhurst was exceedingly able, highly excited, very eloquent,
+and contrived to make his case a good one. It was a fine display
+and very short. Carnarvon and Mansfield were outrageously
+violent, but both in their way clever, and parts of the speech of
+the latter were eloquent. Lord Grey was excellent, short, very
+temperate and judicious, exactly what was requisite and nothing
+more. Nobody else spoke on his side, except Mulgrave at the end.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S LETTER TO THE PEERS.]
+
+The debate, however interesting, left the whole matter in
+uncertainty; and the next day the old question began again. What
+was to be done--Peers or no Peers? A Cabinet sat nearly all day,
+and Lord Grey went once or twice to the King. He, poor man, was at
+his wits' end, and tried an experiment (not a very constitutional
+one) of his own by writing to a number of Peers, entreating them
+to withdraw their opposition to the Bill. These letters were
+written (I think) before the debate. On Thursday nothing was
+settled, and at another meeting of the Cabinet a minute was drawn
+up agreeing to offer again the same advice to the King. Before
+this was acted upon Richmond, who had been absent, arrived, and he
+prevailed upon his colleagues to cancel it. In the meantime the
+Duke of Wellington, Lyndhurst, and other Peers had given the
+desired assurances to the King, which he communicated to Lord
+Grey. These were accepted as sufficient securities, and
+declarations made accordingly in both Houses of Parliament. If the
+Ministers had again gone to the King with this advice, it is
+impossible to say how it would have ended, for he had already been
+obstinate, and might have continued so on this point, and he told
+Lord Verulam that he thought it would be contrary to his
+coronation oath to make Peers. Our princes have strange notions of
+the obligations imposed by their coronation oath.
+
+On Thursday in the House of Commons Peel made his statement, in
+which, with great civility and many expressions of esteem and
+admiration of the Duke, he pronounced as bitter a censure of his
+conduct, while apparently confining himself to the defence of his
+own, as it was possible to do, and as such it was taken. I have
+not the least doubt that he did it _con amore_, and that he is
+doubly rejoiced to be out of the scrape himself and to leave
+others in it.
+
+
+May 31st, 1832 {p.304}
+
+Since I came back from Newmarket there has not been much to write
+about. A calm has succeeded the storm. Last night Schedules A and
+B were galloped through the Committee, and they finished the
+business. On Thursday next the Bill will probably be read a third
+time. In the House of Lords some dozen Tories and Waverers have
+continued to keep up a little skirmish, and a good deal of
+violent language has been bandied about, in which the Whigs,
+being the winners, have shown the best temper. In society the
+excitement has ceased, but the bitterness remains. The Tories
+are, however, so utterly defeated, and the victory of their
+opponents is so complete, that the latter can afford to be
+moderate and decorous in their tone and manner; and the former
+are exceedingly sulky, cockering up each other with much
+self-gratulation and praise, but aware that in the opinion of the
+mass of mankind they are covered with odium, ridicule, and
+disgrace. Peel and the Duke are ostensibly great friends, and the
+ridiculous farce is still kept up of each admiring what he would
+not do himself, but what the other did.
+
+
+June 1st, 1832 {p.305}
+
+[Page Head: FAVOURITES OF LOUIS XVIII.]
+
+Met the Duke of Wellington at dinner yesterday, and afterwards had
+a long talk with him, not on politics. I never see and converse
+with him without reproaching myself for the sort of hostility I
+feel and express towards his political conduct, for there are a
+simplicity, a gaiety, and natural urbanity and good-humour in him,
+which are remarkably captivating in so great a man. We talked of
+Dumont's book and Louis XVIII.'s 'Memoirs.' I said I thought the
+'Memoirs' were not genuine. He said he was sure they were, that
+they bore the strongest internal evidence of being so, particularly
+in their accuracy as to dates, that he was the best chronologist
+in the world, and that he knew the day of the week of every event
+of importance. He once asked the Duke when he was born, and when
+he told him the day of the month and year, he at once said it was
+on a Tuesday; that he (the Duke) had remembered that throughout
+the book the day of the week was always mentioned, and many of the
+anecdotes he had himself heard the King tell. He then talked of
+him, and I was surprised to hear him say that Charles X. was a
+cleverer man, as far as knowledge of the world went, though Louis
+XVIII. was much better informed--a most curious remark,
+considering the history and end of each. [Nothing could be more
+mistaken and untrue than this opinion.] That Louis XVIII. was
+always governed, and a favourite indispensable to him. At the
+Congress of Vienna the Duke was deputed to speak to M. de Blacas,
+his then favourite, and tell him that his unpopularity was so
+great in France that it was desirable he should not return there.
+Blacas replied, 'You don't know the King; he must have a
+favourite, and he had better have me than another. I shall go; he
+will have another, and you should take pains to put a _gentleman_
+in that situation, for he is capable of taking the first person
+that finds access to him and the opportunity of pleasing him.' He
+added that he should not wonder if he took Fouché. He did not take
+Fouché, who was not aware of the part he might have played, but he
+took De Cazes, who governed him entirely. This continued till the
+Royal Family determined to get rid of him, and by threatening to
+make an _esclandre_ and leave the château they at last succeeded,
+and De Cazes was sent as Ambassador to London. Then the King wrote
+to him constantly, sending him verses and literary scraps. The
+place remained vacant till accident threw Madame du Cayla in his
+way.[9] She was the daughter of Talon, who had been concerned in
+the affair of the Marquis de Favras, and she sent to the King to
+say she had some papers of her father's relating to that affair,
+which she should like to give into his own hands. He saw her and
+was pleased with her. The Royal Family encouraged this new taste,
+in order to get rid entirely of De Cazes, and even the Duchesse
+d'Angoulême promoted her success. It was the same thing to him to
+have a woman as a man, and there was no sexual question in the
+matter, as what he wanted was merely some one to whom he could
+tell everything, consult with on all occasions, and with whom he
+could bandy literary trifles. Madame du Cayla, who was clever, was
+speedily installed, and he directly gave up De Cazes. He told the
+Duke that he was _brouillé_ with De Cazes, who had behaved very
+ill to him, but he had nothing specific to allege against him,
+except that his manner to him was not what it ought to have been.
+The Ministers paid assiduous court to Madame du Cayla, imparted
+everything to her, and got her to say what they wanted said to the
+King; she acted all the part of a mistress, except the essential,
+of which there never was any question. She got great sums of money
+from him and very valuable presents.
+
+      [9] [This lady has already been noticed in a previous
+          portion of these Memoirs, when she visited England. See
+          vol. i. p. 215 [July 10th, 1829].]
+
+
+June 18th, 1832 {p.306}
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF WILLIAM IV.]
+
+Breakfasted on Thursday with Rogers, and yesterday at the
+Athenæum with Henry Taylor, and met Mr. Charles Austin, a
+lawyer, clever man, and Radical. The Bills are jogging on and
+there is a comparative calm. The Whigs swear that the Reformed
+Parliament will be the most aristocratic we have ever seen, and
+Ellice told me that they cannot hear of a single improper person
+likely to be elected for any of the new places. [Their choice did
+not correspond with this statement of their disposition.] The
+metropolitan districts want rank and talent. The Government and
+their people have now found out what a fool the King is, and it
+is very amusing to hear them on the subject. Formerly, when they
+thought they had him fast, he was very honest and rather wise;
+now they find him rather shuffling and exceedingly silly. When
+Normanby went to take leave of him on going to Jamaica, he
+pronounced a harangue in favour of the slave trade, of which he
+has always been a great admirer, and expressed sentiments for
+which his subjects would tear him to pieces if they heard them.
+It is one of the great evils of the recent convulsion that the
+King's imbecility has been exposed to the world, and in his
+person the regal authority has fallen into contempt; his own
+personal unpopularity is not of much consequence as long as it
+does not degrade his office; that of George IV. never did, so
+little so that he could always as King cancel the bad impressions
+which he made in his individual capacity, and he frequently did
+so. Walter Scott is arrived here, dying. A great mortality among
+great men; Goethe, Périer, Champollion, Cuvier, Scott, Grant,
+Mackintosh, all died within a few weeks of each other.
+
+
+June 25th, 1832 {p.307}
+
+At Fern Hill all last week; a great party, nothing but racing and
+gambling; then to Shepperton, and to town on Saturday. The event
+of the races was the King's having his head knocked with a stone.
+It made very little sensation on the spot, for he was not hurt,
+and the fellow was a miserable-looking ragamuffin. It, however,
+produced a great burst of loyalty in both Houses, and their
+Majesties were loudly cheered at Ascot. The Duke of Wellington,
+who had been the day before mobbed in London, also reaped a
+little harvest of returning popularity from the assault, and so
+far the outrages have done rather good than harm.
+
+
+July 12th, 1832 {p.307}
+
+The suttee case was decided at the Privy Council on Saturday
+last, and was not uninteresting. The Chancellor, Lord President,
+Graham, John Russell and Grant, Sir Edward East, the Master of
+Rolls, Vice-Chancellor, Lord Amherst, and Lord Wellesley were
+present (the latter not the last day). Lushington was for the
+appeal, and Home and Starkie against. The former made two very
+able and ingenious speeches; when the counsel withdrew the Lords
+gave their opinions _seriatim_. Leach made a very short and very
+neat speech, condemning the order[10] of the Governor-General,
+but admitting the danger of rescinding it, and recommending,
+therefore, that the execution of it should be suspended. Sir
+Edward East, in a long, diffusive harangue, likewise condemned
+the order, but was against suspension; Sir James Graham was
+against the order, but against suspension; Lord Amherst the same.
+The rest approved of the order altogether. John Russell gave his
+opinion very well. The Chancellor was prolix and confused; he hit
+upon a bit of metaphysics in one of the cases on which he took
+pleasure in dilating. The result was that the petition was
+dismissed.
+
+     [10] The order was a decree of the Governor-General of India
+          abolishing the practice of suttee, against which
+          certain Hindoos appealed to the King in Council.
+          Another party, however, were in favour of the order,
+          and the Rajah Rammohun Roy is acting in this country as
+          their agent.
+
+I know nothing of politics for some time past. The Reform fever
+having subsided, people are principally occupied with speculations
+on the next elections. At present there is every appearance of the
+return of a House of Commons very favourable to the present
+Government, but the Tory party keeps together in the House of
+Lords, and they are animated with vague hopes of being able to
+turn out the Ministry, more from a spirit of hatred and revenge
+than from any clear view of the practicability of their carrying
+on the Government. I conceive, however, that as soon as Parliament
+is up there will be a creation of Peers. In the House of Commons
+the Irish Tithe question has been the great subject of interest
+and discussion. O'Connell and the Irish members debate and adjourn
+just as they please, and Althorp is obliged to give way to them.
+When Stanley moved for leave to bring in his Bill, he detailed his
+plan in a speech of two hours. They thought fit to oppose this,
+which is quite unusual, and O'Connell did not arrive till after
+Stanley had sat down. Not having heard his speech he could not
+answer him, and he therefore moved the adjournment. Upon a former
+occasion, during the Reform Bill, when the Tories moved an
+adjournment after many hours' debate, the Government opposed it,
+and voted on through the night till seven o'clock in the morning;
+now the Tories were ready to support Government against the Irish
+members, but they would not treat the Radicals as they did the
+Tories, and then on a subsequent occasion they submitted to have
+the debate adjourned.
+
+[Page Head: O'CONNELL'S DREAD OF CHOLERA.]
+
+O'Connell is supposed to be horridly afraid of the cholera. He
+has dodged about between London and Dublin, as the disease
+appeared first at one and then the other place, and now that it
+is everywhere he shirks the House of Commons from fear of the
+heat and the atmosphere. The cholera is here, and diffuses a
+certain degree of alarm. Some servants of people well known have
+died, and that frightens all other servants out of their wits,
+and they frighten their masters; the death of any one person they
+are acquainted with terrifies people much more than that of
+twenty of whom they knew nothing. As long as they read daily
+returns of a parcel of deaths here and there of A, B, and C they
+do not mind, but when they hear that Lady such a one's nurse or
+Sir somebody's footman is dead, they fancy they see the disease
+actually at their own door.
+
+
+July 15th, 1832 {p.309}
+
+[Page Head: IRISH TITHES.]
+
+I had a good deal of conversation yesterday with Lord Duncannon
+and Lord John Russell about Ireland. The debate the night before
+lasted till four o'clock. O'Connell made a furious speech, and
+Dawson the other evening another, talking of resistance and of
+his readiness to join in it. This drew up Peel, who had spoken
+before, and who, when attacked with cries of 'Spoke!' said, 'Yes,
+I have spoken, but I will say that no party considerations shall
+prevent my supporting Government in this measure, and giving them
+my cordial support.' He was furious with Dawson, and got up in
+order to throw him over, though he did not address himself to
+him, or to anything he had said expressly. John Russell spoke out
+what ought to have been said long ago, that the Church could not
+stand, but that the present clergyman must be paid. Both he and
+Duncannon are aware of the false position in which the Government
+is placed, pretending to legislate with a knowledge that their
+laws cannot be enforced, and the latter said that, whatever might
+be done, the Irish would take nothing at the hands of Stanley. It
+is unfortunate that his attachment to the Church makes him the
+unfittest man in the country to manage Irish affairs, and he has
+contrived to make himself so personally unpopular that with the
+best intentions he could not give satisfaction. Under these
+circumstances his remaining there is impossible, but what is to
+be done with him? He is of such importance in the House of
+Commons that they cannot part with him. I asked John Russell why
+they did not send Hobhouse to Ireland and make Stanley Secretary
+of War. He said would he consent to exchange? that he was tired
+of office, and would be glad to be out. I said I could not
+suppose in such an emergency that he would allow any personal
+considerations to influence him, and that he would consent to
+whatever arrangement would be most beneficial to the Government
+and conducive to the settlement of Irish affairs. The truth is
+(as I told him) that they are, with respect to Ireland, in the
+situation of a man who has got an old house in which he can no
+longer live, not tenable; various architects propose this and
+that alteration, to build a room here and pull down one there,
+but at last they find that all these alterations will only serve
+to make the house habitable a little while longer, that the dry
+rot is in it, and that they had better begin, as they will be
+obliged to end, by pulling it down and building up a new one. He
+owned this was true, but said that here another difficulty
+presented itself with regard to Stanley--whether he would, as a
+leading member of the Cabinet, consent to any measures which
+might go so much further than he would be disposed to do. I said
+that I could not imagine (whatever might be his predilections)
+that his mind was not awakened to the necessity of giving way to
+the state of things, and that he might consent to measures which
+he felt he was not a fit person to introduce and recommend. He
+assented to this. He then talked of the views of the Protestants,
+of the Lefroys, &c., that they began to admit the necessity of a
+change, but by no means would consent to the alienation of Church
+property from Protestant uses, that they were willing where there
+was a large parish consisting entirely of Catholics that the
+tithes should be taken from the rector of such parish and given
+to one who had a large Protestant flock--an arrangement which
+would disgust the Catholics as much as or more than any other,
+and be considered a perfect mockery. The fact is we may shift and
+change and wriggle about as much as we will, we may examine and
+report and make laws, but tithe, the tithe system is at an end.
+The people will not pay them, and there are no means of
+compelling them. The march of events is just as certain as that
+of the seasons. The question which is said to be beset with
+difficulties is in fact very easy--that is, its difficulties
+arise from conflicting interests and passions, and not from the
+uncertainty of its operation and end. Those conflicting passions
+are certainly very great and very embarrassing, and it is no easy
+matter to deal with them, but it seems to me that the wisest
+policy is to keep our eyes steadfastly fixed on the end, and,
+admitting the inevitable conclusion, labour to bring it about
+with the smallest amount of individual loss, the greatest general
+benefit, and the best chance of permanence and stability. By
+casting lingering looks at the old system, and endeavouring to
+save something here and there, by allowing the Church to remain
+in the rags and tatters of its old supremacy, we shall foster
+those hostile feelings which it is essential to put down for
+ever, and leave the seeds of grievance and hatred to spring up in
+a future harvest of agitation and confusion.
+
+
+July 25th, 1832 {p.311}
+
+Nothing of moment has occurred lately; the dread of cholera
+absorbs everybody. Mrs. Smith, young and beautiful, was dressed
+to go to church on Sunday morning, when she was seized with the
+disorder, never had a chance of rallying, and died at eleven at
+night. This event, shocking enough in itself from its suddenness
+and the youth and beauty of the person, has created a terrible
+alarm; many people have taken flight, and others are suspended
+between their hopes of safety in country air and their dread of
+being removed from metropolitan aid. The disease spreads
+gradually in all directions in town and country, but without
+appearing like an epidemic; it is scattered and uncertain; it
+brings to light horrible distress. We, who live on the smooth and
+plausible surface, know little of the frightful appearance of the
+bowels of society.
+
+Don Pedro has never been heard of since he landed, and nobody
+seems much to care whether he or Miguel succeed. The Tories are
+for the latter and the Whigs for the former. In a fourth debate
+on the Russian Dutch Loan Ministers got a good finale, a large
+division, and a brilliant speech from Stanley, totally unprepared
+and prodigiously successful. Nothing could be worse in point of
+tactics than renewing this contest, neither party having, in
+fact, a good case. Parliament is going to separate soon, and the
+cholera will accelerate the prorogation; not a step has been made
+towards an approximation between the rival parties, who appear to
+be animated against each other with unabated virulence. The
+moderate Tories talk of their desire to see the Government
+discard their Radical friends, but the great body give them no
+encouragement to do so by evincing any diminished hostility to
+them as a party. Opinions are so different as to the probable
+composition of the next Parliament, that it is difficult to
+arrive at any satisfactory conclusion about it. The Tories
+evidently expect that they shall reappear in very formidable
+strength, though in particular places the Tory party is entirely
+crushed; the sooner it is so altogether the better, for no good
+can be expected from it, and it would be far better to erect a
+Conservative party upon a new and broader basis than to try and
+bolster up this worn-out, prejudiced, obstinate faction. But the
+times are difficult and men are wanting; the middle classes are
+pressing on, and there are men enough there of fortune, energy,
+activity, zeal, and ambition--no Cannings perhaps or Broughams,
+but a host of fellows of the calibre of the actors in the old
+French Constituent Assembly.
+
+
+July 29th, 1832 {p.312}
+
+[Page Head: QUARREL BETWEEN BROUGHAM AND SUGDEN.]
+
+There has been a great breeze between the Chancellor and Sugden,
+abusing and retorting upon each other from their respective
+Houses of Parliament. As all personal matters excite greater
+interest than any others, so has this. Scott, Lord Eldon's son,
+died, and his places became vacant. Brougham had recommended
+their abolition long ago in his evidence before the House of
+Commons, and both publicly and privately. Some days ago Sugden
+gave notice to Horne (Solicitor-General) that he meant to put a
+question to him in the House of Commons as to whether these
+appointments were to be filled up or not, but before he did so
+(at four o'clock in the morning) the writ was moved for James
+Brougham, who had been put by the Chancellor in Scott's place.
+Accordingly the next day Sugden attacked the appointment in the
+House of Commons, and though he was by way of only asking a
+question, he in fact made a long vituperative speech. Nobody was
+there to reply. Althorp said he knew nothing of the matter, and
+various speeches were made, all expressive of a desire that the
+appointment should only be temporary. Horne (it seems) had never
+told the Chancellor what Sugden said, and Denman, who had no
+authority from him, did not dare get up and say that it was not
+to be permanent. Later in the day, having received instructions
+from the Chancellor, he did get up and say so. The next day
+Brougham introduced the subject in the House of Lords, and
+attacked Sugden with all the sarcasm and contumely which he could
+heap upon him, comparing him to 'a crawling reptile,' &c. Not one
+of his Tory friends said a word, and, what is curious, the Duke
+of Wellington praised Brougham for his disinterestedness, and old
+Eldon defended the place. The following day (Friday) Sugden again
+brought the matter before the House of Commons, complained
+bitterly of the Chancellor's speech, was called to order by
+Stanley, when the Speaker interfered, and, dexterously turning
+Sugden's attack upon the newspaper report, enabled him to go on.
+A violent discussion followed, rather awkward for the Chancellor,
+whose friends endeavoured to soften the thing down by denying the
+accuracy of the report. After much acrimonious debate the matter
+ended. Yesterday the 'Times,' throwing over Brougham and Sugden,
+asserted the accuracy of its own reporter, and declared that
+whether the Chancellor was right or wrong to have uttered them,
+the words were spoken by him exactly as they had been reported.
+Both parties are furious, but on the whole the Chancellor seems
+at present to have the worst of it, for it is worse for a man in
+his station to be in the wrong, and more indecent to be
+scurrilous, than for an individual who is nothing. Sugden now
+declares he will bring on a motion he has long meditated on the
+subject of the Court of Chancery, in which he will exhibit to the
+world the whole conduct of Brougham since he has held the Great
+Seal, his early haste and precipitation, his recent carelessness
+and delay, his ignorance, inattention, and incompetence for the
+office he holds. In this he expects to be supported by Wetherell,
+Knight, and Pemberton, three of the most eminent Chancery
+lawyers, while Brougham has nobody but Horne (of the profession)
+to defend him. If this should occur he may thank himself, for he
+would put Horne there.
+
+Sir Charles Bagot called on me yesterday; told me that he thought
+the Belgian question was at last on the point of being settled,
+that the King of Holland had made 'the great concession,' and
+that the rest must soon follow, that he had never passed two such
+years amidst such difficulties, the King so obstinate. His view
+was that by holding out and maintaining a large army events would
+produce war, and that he would be able to sell himself to some
+one of the contending parties, getting back Belgium as the price
+of his aid, that he now only gave in because not a hope was left,
+that the difficulties were so great that it was not the fault of
+this Government that matters were not settled before. I asked him
+how the Dutch had contrived to make such an exertion. He said it
+was very creditable to them, but that they were very rich and
+very frugal, and had lugged out their hoards. They had saddled
+themselves with a debt the interest of which amounts to about
+£700,000 a year--a good deal for two millions of people.
+
+
+August 1st, 1832 {p.314}
+
+[Page Head: BROUGHAM'S RESENTMENT.]
+
+Here is an anecdote exhibiting the character of Brougham, hot,
+passionate, and precipitate. He is preparing his Bill for the
+amendment of the Court of Chancery, by which the patronage is to
+be done away with. Compensation was to be given to the present
+interests, but upon this recent affair between Sugden and him, to
+revenge himself upon men who are all or mostly of Sugden's party,
+he ordered the compensation clauses to be struck out. Sefton (who
+is a sort of Sancho to him) came up to dinner quite elated at
+having heard the order given. 'I wish,' said he, 'you had heard a
+man treated as I did in the Chancellor's room. He came in to ask
+him about the Bill he was drawing up. "I suppose the compensation
+clauses are to be put in?" "Compensation?" said Brougham. "No, by
+God; no compensation. Leave them out, if you please. They chose
+to attack me, and they shall have enough of it."' And what will
+be the end of all this--that the Chancellor shows his spite and
+commits himself, shows that he is influenced in legislation by
+personal feelings, and incurs the suspicion that because he
+cannot get a compensation for his brother he is resolved nobody
+else shall have any? Althorp's speech about the pensions on
+Monday set at rest the question of compensation, and if these
+offices are abolished the Chancellor cannot prevent their getting
+it. In the House of Lords the eternal Russian Dutch Loan came on
+again. The Duke made a speech and Wynford made a speech, and they
+were opposed to each other; the Duke hit the right nail on the
+head, and took that course which he frequently does, and which is
+such a redeeming quality in his political character--addressed
+himself to the _question itself_, to the real merits of it,
+without making it a mere vehicle for annoying the Government.
+Aberdeen sneered, but when the Duke throws over his people they
+can do nothing.
+
+
+August 8th, 1832 {p.315}
+
+Pedro's expedition, which always has hobbled along, and never
+exhibited any of that dash which is essential to the success of
+such efforts, may be considered hopeless; Palmella arrived here a
+day or two ago, very low, and the Regency scrip has fallen four
+per cent. Nobody joins them, and it seems pretty clear that, one
+_coquin_ for another, the Portuguese think they may as well have
+Miguel. The Dutch affair is not yet settled, but on the point of
+it; for the fiftieth time a 'little hitch' has again arisen. Last
+night, in the House of Lords, the Chancellor, in one of his most
+bungling ways, made what he meant to be a sort of _amende_ to
+Sugden, making the matter rather worse than it was before, at
+least for his own credit, for he said that 'he had never intended
+to give pain, which he of all things abhorred,' and that he had
+not been at all in a passion--both false, and the latter being in
+fact his only excuse. I sat next to Melbourne at dinner, who
+concurred in the judgment of the world on the whole transaction,
+and said, 'The real truth is, he was in a great rage, for he had
+forgotten all his own evidence and his own speeches, and he meant
+to have kept the place.' This evidence from his own colleague and
+friend is conclusive, and will be a nice morsel for the future
+biographer of Brougham.
+
+I dined at Holland House yesterday; a good many people, and the
+Chancellor came in after dinner, looking like an old clothes man
+and dirty as the ground. We had a true Holland House dinner, two
+more people arriving (Melbourne and Tom Duncombe) than there was
+room for, so that Lady Holland had the pleasure of a couple of
+general squeezes, and of seeing our arms prettily pinioned. Lord
+Holland sits at table, but does not dine. He proposed to retire
+(not from the room), but was not allowed, for that would have
+given us all space and ease. Lord Holland told some stories of
+Johnson and Garrick which he had heard from Kemble. Johnson loved
+to bully Garrick, from a recollection of Garrick's former
+impertinence. When Garrick was in the zenith of his popularity,
+and grown rich, and lived with the great, and while Johnson was
+yet obscure, the Doctor used to drink tea with him, and he would
+say, 'Davy, I do not envy you your money nor your fine acquaintance,
+but I envy you your power of drinking such tea as this.' 'Yes,'
+said Garrick, 'it is very good tea, but it is not my best, nor
+that which I give to my Lord this and Sir somebody t'other.'
+
+Johnson liked Fox because he defended his pension, and said it
+was only to blame in not being large enough. 'Fox,' he said, 'is
+a liberal man; he would always be "aut Cæsar aut nullus;"
+whenever I have seen him he has been _nullus_.' Lord Holland said
+Fox made it a rule never to talk in Johnson's presence, because
+he knew all his conversations were recorded for publication, and
+he did not choose to figure in them.
+
+
+August 12th, 1832 {p.317}
+
+The House of Commons has finished (or nearly) its business.
+Althorp ended with a blunder. He brought in a Bill to extend the
+time for payment of rates and for voters under the new Bill, and
+because it was opposed he abandoned it suddenly; his friends are
+disgusted. Robarts told me that the Bank Committee had executed
+their laborious duties in a spirit of great cordiality, and with
+a general disposition to lay aside all political differences and
+concur in accomplishing the best results; a good thing, for it is
+in such transactions as these, which afford an opportunity for
+laying aside the bitterness of party and the rancorous feelings
+which animate men against each other, that the only chance can be
+found of a future amalgamation of public men. He told me that the
+evidence all went to prove that little improvement could be made
+in the management of the Bank.
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF MACAULAY.]
+
+Dined yesterday at Holland House; the Chancellor, Lord Grey,
+Luttrell, Palmerston, and Macaulay. The Chancellor was sleepy and
+would not talk; he uttered nothing but yawns and grunts. Macaulay
+and Allen disputed history, particularly the character of the
+Emperor Frederick II., and Allen declared himself a Guelph and
+Macaulay a Ghibelline. Macaulay is a most extraordinary man, and
+his astonishing knowledge is every moment exhibited, but (as far
+as I have yet seen of him, which is not sufficient to judge) he
+is not _agreeable_. His propositions and his allusions are rather
+too abrupt; he starts topics not altogether naturally; then he
+has none of the graces of conversation, none of that exquisite
+tact and refinement which are the result of a felicitous
+intuition or a long acquaintance with good society, or more
+probably a mixture of both. The mighty mass of his knowledge is
+not animated by that subtle spirit of taste and discretion which
+alone can give it the qualities of lightness and elasticity, and
+without which, though he may have the power of instructing and
+astonishing, he never will attain that of delighting and
+captivating his hearers. The dinner was agreeable, and enlivened
+by a squabble between Lady Holland and Allen, at which we were
+all ready to die of laughing. He jeered at something she said as
+brutal, and chuckled at his own wit.
+
+
+Shepperton, August 31st, 1832 {p.318}
+
+I came here last Sunday to see my father, who (my mother wrote me
+word) had been unwell for a day or two. I got here at four o'clock
+(having called on Madame de Lieven at Richmond on the way), and
+when I arrived I found my father at the point of death. He was
+attacked as he had often been before; medicines afforded him no
+relief, and nothing would stay on his stomach. On Saturday violent
+spasms came on, which occasioned him dreadful pain; they continued
+intermittingly till Sunday afternoon, when as they took him out of
+bed to put him in a warm bath, he fainted. From this state of
+insensibility he never recovered, and at half-past twelve o'clock
+he expired. My brothers were both here. I sent an express for my
+sister, who was at Malvern, and she arrived on Tuesday morning.
+Dr. Dowdeswell was in the house, and he stayed on with us and did
+all that was required. This morning he was buried in the church of
+this village, close to the house, in the simplest manner, and was
+followed to the grave by my brothers and brother-in-law,
+Dowdeswell, Ives, the doctor who attended him, and the servants.
+He had long been ailing, and at his age (nearly 70 years) this
+event was not extraordinary, but it was shocking, because so
+sudden and unexpected, and no idea of danger was entertained by
+himself or those about him. My father had some faults and many
+foibles, but he was exposed to great disadvantages in early youth;
+his education was neglected and his disposition was spoilt. His
+father was useless, and worse than useless, as a parent, and his
+mother (a woman of extraordinary capacity and merit) died while he
+was a young man, having been previously separated from her
+husband, and having retired from the world.[11] The circumstances
+of his marriage, and the incidents of his life, would be
+interesting to none but his own family, and need not be recorded
+by me. He was a man of a kind, amiable, and liberal disposition,
+and what is remarkable, as he advanced in years his temper grew
+less irritable and more indulgent; he was cheerful, hospitable,
+and unselfish. He had at all times been a lively companion, and
+without much instruction, extensive information, or a vigorous
+understanding, his knowledge of the world in the midst of which he
+had passed his life, his taste and turn for humour, and his
+good-nature made him a very agreeable man. He had a few intimate
+friends to whom he was warmly attached, a host of acquaintance,
+and I do not know that he had a single enemy. He was an
+affectionate father, and ready to make any sacrifices for the
+happiness and welfare of his children--in short, he was amiable
+and blameless in the various relations of life, and he deserved
+that his memory should be cherished as it is by us with sincere
+and affectionate regret.
+
+     [11] [Mr. Charles Greville, senior, was the fifth son of
+          Fulk Greville of Wilbury, by Frances Macartney, a lady
+          of some literary reputation as the authoress of an 'Ode
+          to Indifference.' She was the daughter of General
+          Macartney. Horace Walpole speaks of her as one of the
+          beauties of his time. She died in 1789. Mr. Greville
+          may have inherited from her his strong literary
+          tastes.]
+
+
+September 18th, 1832 {p.319}
+
+[Page Head: ANECDOTES OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.]
+
+I have been in London, at Shepperton, and twice at Brighton to see
+Henry de Ros; came back yesterday. The world is half asleep. Lord
+Howe returns to the Queen as her Chamberlain, and that makes a
+sensation. I met at Brighton Lady Keith [Madame de Flahaut], who
+told us a great deal about French politics, which, as she is a
+partisan, was not worth much, but she also gave us rather an
+amusing account of the early days of the Princess Charlotte, at
+the time of her escape from Warwick House in a hackney coach and
+taking refuge with her mother, and of the earlier affair of
+Captain Hess. The former escapade arose from her determination to
+break off her marriage with the Prince of Orange, and that from
+her falling suddenly in love with Prince Augustus of Prussia, and
+her resolving to marry him and nobody else, not knowing that he
+was already married _de la main gauche_ in Prussia. It seems that
+she speedily made known her sentiments to the Prince, and he
+(notwithstanding his marriage) followed the thing up, and had two
+interviews with her at her own house, which were contrived by Miss
+Knight, her governess. During one of these Miss Mercer arrived,
+and Miss Knight told her that Prince Augustus was with the
+Princess in her room, and what a fright she (Miss Knight) was in.
+Miss Mercer, who evidently had no mind anybody should conduct such
+an affair for the Princess but herself, pressed Miss Knight to go
+and interrupt them, which on her declining she did herself. The
+King (Regent as he was then) somehow heard of these meetings, and
+measures of coercion were threatened, and it was just when an
+approaching visit from him had been announced to the Princess that
+she went off. Miss Mercer was in the house at the time, and the
+Regent, when he came, found her there. He accused her of being a
+party to the Princess's flight, but afterwards either did or
+pretended to believe her denial, and sent her to fetch the
+Princess back, which after many _pourparlers_ and the intervention
+of the Dukes of York and Sussex, Brougham, and the Bishop of
+Salisbury, her preceptor, was accomplished at two in the morning.
+
+Hess's affair was an atrocity of the Princess of Wales. She
+employed him to convey letters to her daughter while she used to
+ride in Windsor Park, which he contrived to deliver, and
+occasionally to converse with her; and on one occasion, at
+Kensington, the Princess of Wales brought them together in her own
+room. The Princess afterwards wrote him some letters, not
+containing much harm, but idle and improper. When the Duke of
+York's affair with Mrs. Clark came out, and all the correspondence,
+she became very much alarmed, told Miss Mercer the whole story,
+and employed her to get back her letters to Hess. She accordingly
+wrote to Hess (who was then in Spain), but he evinced a
+disinclination to give them up. On his return to England she saw
+him, and on his still demurring she threatened to put the affair
+into the Duke of York's hands, which frightened him, and then he
+surrendered them, and signed a paper declaring he had given up
+everything. The King afterwards heard of this affair, and
+questioning the Princess, she told him everything. He sent for
+Miss Mercer, and desired to see the letters, and then to keep
+them. This she refused. This Captain Hess was a short, plump,
+vulgar-looking man, afterwards lover to the Queen of Naples,
+mother of the present King, an amour that was carried on under the
+auspices of the Margravine at her villa in the Strada Nova at
+Naples. It was, however, detected, and Hess was sent away from
+Naples, and never allowed to return. I remember finding him at
+Turin (married), when he was lamenting his hard fate in being
+excluded from that _Paradiso_ Naples.
+
+
+September 28th, 1832 {p.321}
+
+[Page Head: BELGIUM, SPAIN, FRANCE.]
+
+At Stoke from the 22nd to the 26th, then to the Grove, and
+returned yesterday; at the former place Madame de Lieven,
+Alvanley, Melbourne; tolerably pleasant; question of war again.
+The Dutch King makes a stir, and threatens to bombard the town of
+Antwerp; the French offered to march, and put their troops in
+motion, but Leopold begged they would not, and chose rather to
+await the effect of more conferences, which began with great
+vigour a few days ago. What they find to say to each other for
+eight or ten hours a day for several consecutive days it is hard
+to guess, as the question is of the simplest kind. The King of
+Holland will not give up the citadel of Antwerp, nor consent to
+the free navigation of the Scheldt; the Belgians insist on these
+concessions; the Conference says they shall be granted, but
+Russia, Prussia, and Austria will not coerce the Dutchman;
+England and France will, if the others don't object. A French
+army is in motion, and a French fleet is off Spithead; so
+probably something will come of it. Nothing has damaged this
+Government more than these protracted and abortive conferences.
+
+Four days ago there was a report that the King of Spain was dead,
+accompanied with a good many particulars, and all the world began
+speculating as to the succession, but yesterday came news that he
+was not dead, but better. Pedro and Miguel are fighting at Oporto
+with some appearance of spirit; Miguel is the favourite. The
+French Government is represented to be in a wretched state,
+squabbling and feeble, and nobody is inclined to be Minister.
+Dupin was very near it, but refused because Louis Philippe would
+not make him President of the Council. The King is determined to
+be his own Minister, and can get nobody to take office on these
+terms. They think it will end in Dupin. The present Government
+declares it cannot meet the Chambers until Antwerp is evacuated
+by the Dutch and the Duchesse de Berri departed out of France or
+taken. This heroine, much to the annoyance of her family, is
+dodging about in La Vendée and doing rather harm than good to her
+cause. The Dauphiness passed through London, when our Queen very
+politely went to visit her. She has not a shadow of doubt of the
+restoration of her nephew, and thinks nothing questionable but
+the time. She told Madame de Lieven this. I talked to Madame de
+Lieven about war, and added that if any did break out it would be
+the war of opinion which Canning had predicted. She said yes, and
+that the monarchical principle (as she calls the absolute
+principle) would then crush the other.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.]
+
+I came up with Melbourne to London. He is uneasy about the state
+of the country--about the desire for change and the general
+restlessness that prevails. We discussed the different members of
+the Government, and he agreed that John Russell had acted
+unwarrantably in making the speech he did the other day at Torquay
+about the Ballot, which, though hypothetical, was nothing but an
+invitation to the advocates of Ballot to agitate for it; this,
+too, from a Cabinet Minister! Then comes an awkward sort of
+explanation, that what he said was in his _individual_ capacity,
+as if he had any right so to speak. Melbourne spoke of Brougham,
+who he said was tossed about in perpetual caprices, that he was
+fanciful and sensitive, and actuated by all sorts of littlenesses,
+even with regard to people so insignificant that it is difficult
+to conceive how he can ever think about them; that he is
+conservative, but under the influence of his old connexions,
+particularly of the Saints. His friends are so often changed that
+it is not easy to follow him in this respect. Durham used to be
+one; now he hates him; he has a high opinion of Sefton! of his
+judgment!! What is talent, what are great abilities, when one sees
+the gigantic intellect of Brougham so at fault? Not only does the
+world manage to go on when little wisdom guides it, but how ill it
+may go on with a great deal of _talent_, which, however, is
+different from _wisdom_. He asked me what I thought of Richmond,
+and I told him that he was ignorant and narrow-minded, but a good
+sort of fellow, only appearing to me, who had known him all my
+life, in an odd place as a Cabinet Minister. He said he was sharp,
+quick, the King liked him, and he stood up to Durham more than any
+other man in the Cabinet, and that altogether he was not
+unimportant; so that the ingredients of this Cabinet seem to be
+put there to neutralise one another, and to be good for nothing
+else; because Durham has an overbearing temper, and his
+father-in-law is weak, there must be a man without any other merit
+than spirit to curb that temper. He talked of Ireland, and the
+difficulty of settling the question there, that the Archbishop of
+Canterbury was willing to reform the Church, but not to alienate
+any of its revenues. 'Not,' I asked, 'for the payment of a
+Catholic clergy?' 'No, not from Protestant uses.' I told him there
+was nothing to be done but to pull down the edifice and rebuild
+it. He said you would have all the Protestants against you, but he
+did not appear to differ. To this things must come at last.
+Melbourne is exceedingly anxious to keep Lord Hill and Fitzroy
+Somerset at the head of the army, from which the violent of his
+party would gladly oust them, but he evidently contemplates the
+possibility of having occasion for the army, and does not wish to
+tamper with the service or play any tricks with it. It is curious
+to see the working and counterworking of his real opinions and
+principles with his false position, and the mixture of bluntness,
+facility and shrewdness, discretion, levity and seriousness,
+which, colouring his mind and character by turns, make up the
+strange compound of his thoughts and his actions.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Foreign Difficulties--Conduct of Peel on the Resignation of Lord
+  Grey--Manners Sutton proposed as Tory Premier--Coolness between
+  Peel and the Duke--Embargo on Dutch Ships--Death of Lord
+  Tenterden--Denman made Lord Chief Justice--_Tableau_ of Holland
+  House--The Speakership--Horne and Campbell Attorney- and
+  Solicitor-General--The Court at Brighton--Lord Howe and the
+  Queen--Elections under the Reform Act--Mr. Gully--Petworth--
+  Lord Egremont--Attempt to reinstate Lord Howe--Namik Pacha--
+  Lord Lyndhurst's Version of what occurred on the Resignation of
+  Lord Grey--Lord Denbigh appointed Chamberlain to the Queen--
+  Brougham's Privy Council Bill--Talleyrand's Relations with Fox
+  and Pitt--Negro Emancipation Bill--State of the West Indies--
+  The Reformed Parliament meets--Russian Intrigues--Four Days'
+  Debate on the Address--Peel's Political Career.
+
+
+London, October 7th, 1832 {p.324}
+
+I went to Newmarket on the 30th of September, to Panshanger on
+the 5th, and came to town on the 6th. Great fears entertained of
+war; the obstinacy of the Dutch King, the appointment of Soult to
+be Prime Minister of France, and the ambiguous conduct of the
+Allied Courts look like war. Miguel has attacked Oporto without
+success; but, as he nearly destroyed the English and French
+battalions, he will probably soon get possession of the city. It
+is clear that all Portugal is for him, which we may be sorry for,
+but so it is. The iniquity of his cause does not appear to affect
+it.
+
+
+October 12th, 1832 {p.324}
+
+Lady Cowper told me at Panshanger that Palmerston said all the
+difficulties of the Belgian question came from Matuscewitz, who
+was insolent and obstinate, and astute in making objections; that
+it was the more provoking as he had been recalled some time ago
+(the Greek business being settled, for which he came), and
+Palmerston and some of the others had asked the Emperor to allow
+him to stay here, on account of his usefulness in drawing up the
+minutes of the proceedings of the Conference; that Lieven had by
+no means wished him to stay, but could not object when the others
+desired it. Accordingly he remained, and now he annoys Palmerston
+to death. All this she wrote to Madame de Lieven, who replied
+that it was not the fault of Matuscewitz, and that he and Lieven
+agreed perfectly. She talked, however, rather more pacific
+language. This clever, intriguing, agreeable diplomatess has
+renewed her friendship with the Duke of Wellington, to which he
+does not object, though she will hardly ever efface the
+impression her former conduct made upon him. My journal is
+getting intolerably stupid, and entirely barren of events. I
+would take to miscellaneous and private matters if any fell in my
+way, but what can I make out of such animals as I herd with and
+such occupations as I am engaged in?
+
+
+Euston, October 26th, 1832 {p.325}
+
+[Page Head: TORY ATTEMPTS TO FORM A MINISTRY.]
+
+Went to Downham on Sunday last; the Duke of Rutland, the
+Walewskis, Lord Burghersh, and Hope. Came here on Wednesday
+morning; the usual party. At Downham I picked up a good deal from
+Arbuthnot (who was very garrulous) of a miscellaneous description,
+of which the most curious and important was the entire confirmation
+of (what I before suspected) the ill blood that exists between the
+Duke of Wellington and Peel; though the interests of party keep
+them on decent terms, they dislike one another, and the Duke's
+friends detest Peel still more than the Duke does himself. He told
+me all that had passed at the time of the blow-up of the present
+Government, which I have partly recorded from a former conversation
+with him, and his story certainly proves that the Duke (though I
+think he committed an enormous error in judgment) was not
+influenced by any motives of personal ambition.
+
+[Page Head: MANNERS SUTTON PROPOSED AS PREMIER.]
+
+As soon as the King sent for Lyndhurst the latter went to the
+Duke, who (as is known) agreed to form a Government, never
+doubting that he was to be himself Prime Minister. Lyndhurst went
+to Peel, who declined to take office, and he then went to Baring.
+Lyndhurst and Arbuthnot sent for Baring out of the House of
+Commons, and took him to old Bankes' house in Palace Yard, where
+they had their conversation with him. He begged for time to
+consider of it, and to be allowed to consult Peel, to which they
+assented. He afterwards agreed, but on condition that Manners
+Sutton should also be in the Cabinet. Lyndhurst had about the
+same time made overtures to Manners Sutton, and though nothing
+was finally settled it was understood he would accept them. So
+matters stood, when one day (it must have been the Wednesday or
+Thursday) Vesey Fitzgerald called on the Arbuthnots, and in a
+conversation about the different arrangements he intimated that
+Manners Sutton expected to be Prime Minister, and on asking him
+more particularly they found that this was also his own
+impression. The next morning Arbuthnot went off to Lyndhurst's
+house, where he arrived before Lyndhurst was dressed, and told
+him what had fallen from Fitzgerald, and asked what it could
+mean. Lyndhurst answered very evasively, but promised to have the
+matter cleared up. Arbuthnot, not satisfied, went to the Duke and
+told him what had passed, and added his conviction that there was
+some such project on foot (to make Sutton Premier) of which he
+was not aware. The Duke said he did not care a farthing who was
+Premier, and that if it was thought desirable that Sutton should
+be he had not the smallest objection, and was by no means anxious
+to fill the post himself. I asked whether the Duke would have
+taken office if Sutton had been Minister, and was told that
+nothing was settled, but probably not.
+
+The same day there was a meeting at Apsley House, at which the
+Duke, Lyndhurst, Baring, Ellenborough, and (I think) Rosslyn or
+Aberdeen, or both, were present, and to which Sutton came, and
+held forth for nearly four hours upon the position of their
+affairs and his coming into office. He talked such incredible
+nonsense (as I have before related) that when he was gone they all
+lifted up their hands and with one voice pronounced the
+impossibility of forming any Government under such a head. Baring
+was then asked why he had made Sutton's coming into office the
+condition of his own acceptance, and why he had wished him to be
+Prime Minister. He said that he had never desired any such thing
+himself, and had hardly any acquaintance with Sutton, except that
+as speaker he was civil to him, and he dined with him once a year,
+but that when he had gone to consult Peel, Peel had advised him to
+insist upon having Sutton, and to put him at the head of the
+Government. This avowal led to further examination into what had
+passed, and it came out that when Lyndhurst went to Peel, Peel
+pressed Manners Sutton upon him, refusing to take office himself,
+but promising to support the new Government, and urging Lyndhurst
+to offer the Premiership to Sutton. At the same time he put Sutton
+up to this, and desired him to refuse every office except that of
+Premier. Accordingly, when Lyndhurst went to Sutton, the latter
+said he would be Prime Minister or nothing, and Lyndhurst had the
+folly to promise it to him. Thus matters stood when Lady Cowley,
+who was living at Apsley House, and got hold of what was passing,
+went and told it to her brother, Lord Salisbury, who lost no time
+in imparting it to some of the other High Tory Lords, who all
+agreed that it would not do to have Sutton at the head of the
+Government, and that the Duke was the only man for them. On
+Saturday the great dinner at the Conservative Club took place, at
+which a number of Tories, principally Peers, with the Duke and
+Peel, were present. A great many speeches were made, all full of
+enthusiasm for the Duke, and expressing a determination to support
+_his_ Government. Peel was in very ill humour and said little; the
+Duke spoke much in honour of Peel, applauding his conduct and
+saying that the difference of their positions justified each in
+his different line. The next day some of the Duke's friends met,
+and agreed that the unanimous desire for the Duke's being at the
+head of the Government which had been expressed at that dinner,
+together with the unfitness of Sutton, proved the absolute
+necessity of the Duke's being Premier, and it was resolved that a
+communication to this effect should be made to Peel. Aberdeen
+charged himself with it and went to Peel's house, where Sutton was
+at the time. Peel came to Aberdeen in a very bad humour, said he
+saw from what had passed at the dinner that nobody was thought of
+but the Duke, and he should wash his hands of the whole business;
+that he had already declined having anything to do with the
+Government, and to that determination he should adhere. The
+following Monday the whole thing was at an end.
+
+I am not sure that I have stated these occurrences exactly as
+they were told me. There may be errors in the order of the
+interviews and _pourparlers_, and in the verbal details, but the
+substance is correct, and may be summed up to this effect: that
+Peel, full of ambition, but of caution, animated by deep dislike
+and jealousy of the Duke (which policy induced him to conceal,
+but which temper betrayed), thought to make Manners Sutton play
+the part of Addington, while he was to be another Pitt; he
+fancied that he could gain in political character, by an opposite
+line of conduct, all that the Duke would lose; and he resolved
+that a Government should be formed the existence of which should
+depend upon himself. Manners Sutton was to be his creature; he
+would have dictated every measure of Government; he would have
+been their protector in the House of Commons; and, as soon as the
+fitting moment arrived, he would have dissolved this miserable
+Ministry and placed himself at the head of affairs. All these
+deep-laid schemes, and constant regard of self, form a strong
+contrast to the simplicity and heartiness of the Duke's conduct,
+and make the two men appear in a very different light from that
+in which they did at first. Peel acted right from bad motives,
+the Duke wrong from good ones. The Duke put himself forward, and
+encountered all the obloquy and reproach to which he knew he
+exposed himself, and having done so, cheerfully offered to resign
+the power to another. Peel endeavoured to seize the power, but to
+shield himself from responsibility and danger. It is a melancholy
+proof of the dearth of talent and the great capacity of the man
+that, notwithstanding the detection of his practices and his
+motives, the Tories are compelled still to keep well with him and
+to accept him for their leader. No cordiality, however, can exist
+again between him and the Duke and his friends, and, should the
+Whig Government be expelled, the animosity and disunion
+engendered by these circumstances will make it extremely
+difficult to form a Tory Administration. [In a short time it was
+all made up--forgiven, if not forgotten.]
+
+
+November 7th, 1832 {p.329}
+
+[Page Head: EMBARGO ON DUTCH SHIPS.]
+
+Came to town on Sunday. The answer of the Dutch King to the
+demand of England and France that he should give up Antwerp was
+anxiously expected. It arrived on Monday afternoon, and was a
+refusal. Accordingly a Council met yesterday, at which an order
+was made for laying an embargo on Dutch merchant ships, which are
+to be sequestrated, but not confiscated. The French army marches
+forthwith, and Palmerston told me they expected two or three days
+of bombardment would suffice for the capture of the citadel,
+after which the French would retire within their own frontier.
+The combined fleets will remain at the Downs, for they can do
+nothing on the coast of Holland at this season of the year. There
+is a good deal of jealousy and no friendly spirit between the
+English and French sailors; and the Duke of Richmond told me
+yesterday that the Deal pilots desired nothing so much as to get
+the French ships into a scrape. Great excitement prevails about
+this Dutch question, which is so complicated that at this moment
+I do not understand its merits. Matuscewitz, however, who is
+opposed _totis viribus_ to the policy of England and France, told
+me that nobody could have behaved worse than the King of Holland
+has done, shuffling and tricking throughout; but they say he is
+so situated at home that he could not give way if he would. A few
+days must now decide the question of war or peace. All the
+Ministers, except Brougham, Lord Holland, Grant, and Carlisle,
+were at the Council yesterday--the Archbishop of Canterbury for a
+prayer (for we omit no opportunity of offering supplications or
+returning thanks to Heaven), and the new Lord Chief Justice to be
+sworn a Privy Councillor.
+
+[Page Head: DENMAN LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.]
+
+Lord Tenterden died on Sunday night, and no time was lost in
+appointing Denman as his successor. Coming as he does after four
+of the greatest lawyers who ever sat upon the Bench, this choice
+will not escape severe censure; for the reputation of Denman as a
+lawyer is not high, and he has been one of the most inefficient
+Attorneys-General who ever filled the office. It has been a
+constant matter of complaint on the part of the Government and
+their friends that the law officers of the Crown gave them no
+assistance, but, on the contrary, got them into scrapes. Denman is
+an honourable man, and has been a consistent politician; latterly,
+of course, a Radical of considerable vehemence, if not of
+violence. The other men who were mentioned as successors to
+Tenterden were Lyndhurst, Scarlett, and James Parke. The latter is
+the best of the puisne judges, and might have been selected if all
+political considerations and political connexions had been
+disregarded. Lyndhurst will be overwhelmed with anguish and
+disappointment at finding himself for ever excluded from the great
+object of his ambition, and in which his professional claims are
+so immeasurably superior to those of his successful competitor;
+nor has he lost it by any sacrifice of interest to honour, but
+merely from the unfortunate issue of his political speculations.
+When he was made Chief Baron a regular compact was made, a secret
+article, that he should succeed on Tenterden's death to the Chief
+Justiceship; which bargain was of course cancelled by his
+declaration of war on the Reform question and his consequent
+breach with Lord Grey; though by far the fittest man, he was now
+out of the question. It will be the more grating as he has just
+evinced his high capabilities by pronouncing in the Court of
+Exchequer one of the ablest judgments (in Small _v._ Attwood) that
+were ever delivered. [It was afterwards reversed by the House of
+Lords.] Scarlett, who had been a Whig for forty years, and who has
+long occupied the first place in the Court of King's Bench, would
+have been the man if his political dissociation from his old
+connexions, and his recent hostility to them, had not also
+cancelled his claims; so that every rival being set aside from one
+cause or another, Denman, by one of the most extraordinary pieces
+of good fortune that ever happened to man, finds himself elevated
+to this great office, the highest object of a lawyer's ambition,
+and, in my opinion, one of the most enviable stations an
+Englishman can attain. It is said that as a Common Serjeant he
+displayed the qualities of a good judge, and his friends
+confidently assert that he will make a very good Chief Justice;
+but his legal qualifications are admitted to be very inferior to
+those of his predecessors. [He made a very bad one, but was
+personally popular and generally respected for his high, and
+honourable moral character.]
+
+Tenterden was a remarkable man, and his elevation did great
+credit to the judgment which selected him, and which probably was
+Eldon's. He had never led a cause, but he was a profound lawyer,
+and appears to have had a mind fraught with the spirit and genius
+of the law, and not narrowed and trammelled by its subtleties and
+technicalities. In spite of his low birth, want of oratorical
+power, and of personal dignity, he was greatly revered and
+dreaded on the Bench. He was an austere, but not an ill-humoured
+judge; his manners were remarkably plain and unpolished, though
+not vulgar. He was an elegant scholar, and cultivated classical
+literature to the last. Brougham, whose congenial tastes
+delighted in his classical attainments, used to bandy Latin and
+Greek with him from the Bar to the Bench; and he has more than
+once told me of his sending Tenterden Greek verses of John
+Williams', of which the next day Tenterden gave him a translation
+in Latin verse. He is supposed to have died very rich. Denman was
+taken into the King's closet before the Council, when he was
+sworn in; the King took no particular notice of him, and the
+appointment is not, probably, very palatable to his Majesty.
+
+
+November 15th, 1832 {p.331}
+
+Sheriff business at the Exchequer Court on Monday; saw Lyndhurst
+and Denman meet and shake hands with much politeness and grimace.
+
+
+November 20th, 1832 {p.331}
+
+Dined at Holland House the day before yesterday; Lady Holland is
+unwell, fancies she must dine at five o'clock, and exerts her
+power over society by making everybody go out there at that hour,
+though nothing can be more inconvenient than thus shortening the
+day, and nothing more tiresome than such lengthening of the
+evening. Rogers and Luttrell were staying there. The _tableau_ of
+the house is this:--Before dinner, Lady Holland affecting illness
+and almost dissolution, but with a very respectable appetite, and
+after dinner in high force and vigour; Lord Holland, with his
+chalkstones and unable to walk, lying on his couch in very good
+spirits and talking away; Luttrell and Rogers walking about, ever
+and anon looking despairingly at the clock and making short
+excursions from the drawing-room; Allen surly and disputatious,
+poring over the newspapers, and replying in monosyllables
+(generally negative) to whatever is said to him. The grand topic
+of interest, far exceeding the Belgian or Portuguese questions,
+was the illness of Lady Holland's page, who has got a tumour in
+his thigh. This 'little creature,' as Lady Holland calls a great
+hulking fellow of about twenty, is called 'Edgar,' his real name
+being Tom or Jack, which he changed on being elevated to his
+present dignity, as the Popes do when they are elected to the
+tiara. More rout is made about him than other people are
+permitted to make about their children, and the inmates of
+Holland House are invited and compelled to go and sit with and
+amuse him. Such is the social despotism of this strange house,
+which presents an odd mixture of luxury and constraint, of
+enjoyment physical and intellectual, with an alloy of small
+_désagréments_. Talleyrand generally comes at ten or eleven
+o'clock, and stays as long as they will let him. Though everybody
+who goes there finds something to abuse or to ridicule in the
+mistress of the house, or its ways, all continue to go; all like
+it more or less; and whenever, by the death of either, it shall
+come to an end, a vacuum will be made in society which nothing
+will supply. It is the house of all Europe; the world will suffer
+by the loss; and it may with truth be said that it will 'eclipse
+the gaiety of nations.'
+
+
+November 27th, 1832 {p.332}
+
+At Roehampton from Saturday till Monday. The Chancellor had been
+there a few days before, from whom Lord Dover had picked up the
+gossip of the Government. There had been a fresh breeze with
+Durham, who it seems has returned from Russia more odious than
+ever. His violence and insolence, as usual, were vented on Lord
+Grey, and the rest of the Cabinet, as heretofore, are obliged to
+submit. I have since heard from the Duke of Richmond that the
+cause of this last storm was something relating to Church Reform,
+and that he had been forced to knock under. I fancy he wanted to
+go much further than the others, probably to unfrock the Bishop
+of Durham and Bishop Phillpotts, the former because he is a
+greater man in the county than himself, and the latter from old
+and inextinguishable hatred and animosity.
+
+[Page Head: THE SPEAKERSHIP.]
+
+There has been another dispute about the Speakership. All the
+Cabinet except Althorp want to put Abercromby in the chair, and
+Althorp insists on having Littleton. The former is in all respects
+the best choice, and the man whom they ought, from his long
+connexion with the Whigs and his consistency and respectability,
+to propose, but Althorp thought fit to commit himself in some way
+to Littleton, who has no claims to be compared with those of
+Abercromby (having been half his life in opposition to the present
+Government), and he obstinately insists upon the expectations held
+out to him being realised. Lord Grey, though very anxious for
+Abercromby, thinks it necessary to defer to the leader of the
+House of Commons, and the consequence is a very disagreeable
+dispute on the subject. Abercromby is greatly mortified at being
+postponed to Littleton, and not the less as Althorp has always
+been his friend. The language of Dover, who is a sort of jackal to
+Brougham, clearly indicates the desire of that worthy to get rid
+of Lord Grey and put himself in his place. All these little
+squabbles elicit some disparaging remarks on Lord Grey's weakness,
+folly, or cupidity. _Hæret lateri_--the offer of the Attorney-Generalship,
+and the day of vengeance is intended to come.[1]
+
+      [1] [This refers to Lord Grey's having offered the
+          Attorney-Generalship to Brougham when Government was
+          formed.]
+
+After considerable delay Horne and Campbell were appointed
+Attorney- and Solicitor-General; the delay was occasioned by
+ineffectual attempts to dispose of Horne elsewhere. They wanted
+to get some puisne judge to resign, and to put Horne on the
+Bench, but they could not make any such arrangement, so Horne is
+Attorney. Pepys was to have been Solicitor if the thing could
+have been managed. I don't think I picked up anything else,
+except that the King was very averse to the French attack upon
+Antwerp, and consented to the hand-in-hand arrangement between
+France and England with considerable reluctance. The fact is he
+hates this Government so much that he dislikes all they do.
+
+Lord Lansdowne is just come from Paris, and gives a flourishing
+account of the prospects of King Louis Philippe and his
+Government, but as he is the Duc de Broglie's intimate friend his
+opinion may be prejudiced. The King appears certainly to have
+rather gained than not by the attack which was made on him, from
+the coolness and courage he evinced, and it is a great point to
+have proved that he is not a coward.
+
+
+Brighton, December 14th, 1832 {p.334}
+
+Came here last Wednesday week; Council on the Monday for the
+dissolution; place very full, bustling, gay, and amusing. I am
+staying in De Ros's house with Alvanley; Chesterfields, Howes,
+Lievens, Cowpers, all at Brighton, and plenty of occupation in
+visiting, gossiping, dawdling, riding, and driving; a very idle
+life, and impossible to do anything. The Court very active,
+vulgar, and hospitable; King, Queen, Princes, Princesses,
+bastards, and attendants constantly trotting about in every
+direction: the election noisy and dull--the Court candidate
+beaten and two Radicals elected. Everybody talking of the siege
+of Antwerp and the elections. So, with plenty of animation, and
+discussion, and curiosity, I like it very well. Lord Howe is
+devoted to the Queen, and never away from her. She receives his
+attentions, but demonstrates nothing in return; he is like a boy
+in love with this frightful spotted Majesty, while his delightful
+wife is laid up (with a sprained ancle and dislocated joint) on
+her couch.
+
+
+Brighton, December 17th, 1832 {p.334}
+
+On Sunday I heard Anderson preach. He does not write his sermons,
+but preaches from notes; very eloquent, voice and manner perfect,
+one of the best I ever heard, both preacher and reader.
+
+[Page Head: MR. GULLY.]
+
+The borough elections are nearly over, and have satisfied the
+Government. They do not seem to be bad on the whole; the
+metropolitans have sent good men enough, and there was no tumult
+in the town. At Hertford Duncombe was routed by Salisbury's long
+purse. He hired such a numerous mob besides that he carried all
+before him. Some very bad characters have been returned; among the
+worst, Faithful here; Gronow at Stafford; Gully, Pontefract;
+Cobbett, Oldham; though I am glad that Cobbett is in Parliament.
+Gully's history is extraordinary. He was taken out of prison
+twenty-five or thirty years ago by Mellish to fight Pierce,
+surnamed the 'Game Chicken,' being then a butcher's apprentice; he
+fought him and was beaten. He afterwards fought Belcher (I
+believe), and Gresson twice, and left the prize-ring with the
+reputation of being the best man in it. He then took to the turf,
+was successful, established himself at Newmarket, where he kept a
+hell, and began a system of corruption of trainers, jockeys, and
+boys, which put the secrets of all Newmarket at his disposal, and
+in a few years made him rich. At the same time he connected
+himself with Mr. Watt in the north, by betting for him, and this
+being at the time when Watt's stable was very successful, he won
+large sums of money by his horses. Having become rich he embarked
+in a great coal speculation, which answered beyond his hopes, and
+his shares soon yielded immense profits. His wife, who was a
+coarse, vulgar woman, in the meantime died, and he afterwards
+married the daughter of an innkeeper, who proved as gentlewomanlike
+as the other had been the reverse, and who is very pretty besides.
+He now gradually withdrew from the betting ring as a regular
+blackleg, still keeping horses, and betting occasionally in large
+sums, and about a year or two ago, having previously sold the Hare
+Park to Sir Mark Wood, where he lived for two or three years, he
+bought a property near Pontefract, and settled down (at Ackworth
+Park) as John Gully, Esq., a gentleman of fortune. At the Reform
+dissolution he was pressed to come forward as candidate for
+Pontefract, but after some hesitation he declined. Latterly he has
+taken great interest in politics, and has been an ardent Reformer
+and a liberal subscriber for the advancement of the cause. When
+Parliament was about to be dissolved, he was again invited to
+stand for Pontefract by a numerous deputation; he again hesitated,
+but finally accepted; Lord Mexborough withdrew, and he was elected
+without opposition. In person he is tall and finely formed, full
+of strength and grace, with delicate hands and feet, his face
+coarse and with a bad expression, his head set well on his
+shoulders, and remarkably graceful and even dignified in his
+actions and manners; totally without education, he has strong
+sense, discretion, reserve, and a species of good taste which has
+prevented, in the height of his fortunes, his behaviour from ever
+transgressing the bounds of modesty and respect, and he has
+gradually separated himself from the rabble of bettors and
+blackguards of whom he was once the most conspicuous, and tacitly
+asserted his own independence and acquired gentility without ever
+presuming towards those whom he has been accustomed to regard with
+deference. His position is now more anomalous than ever, for a
+member of Parliament is a great man, though there appear no
+reasons why the suffrages of the blackguards of Pontefract should
+place him in different social relations towards us than those in
+which we mutually stood before.
+
+
+Petworth, December 20th, 1832 {p.336}
+
+[Page Head: EARL OF EGREMONT.]
+
+Came here yesterday. It is a very grand place; house magnificent
+and full of fine objects, both ancient and modern; the Sir
+Joshuas and Vandykes particularly interesting, and a great deal
+of all sorts that is worth seeing. Lord Egremont was eighty-one
+the day before yesterday, and is still healthy, with faculties
+and memory apparently unimpaired. He has reigned here for sixty
+years with great authority and influence. He is shrewd,
+eccentric, and benevolent, and has always been munificent and
+charitable in his own way; he patronises the arts and fosters
+rising genius. Painters and sculptors find employment and welcome
+in his house; he has built a gallery which is full of pictures
+and statues, some of which are very fine, and the pictures
+scattered through the house are interesting and curious. Lord
+Egremont hates ceremony, and can't bear to be personally meddled
+with; he likes people to come and go as it suits them, and say
+nothing about it, never to take leave of him. The party here
+consists of the Cowpers, his own family, a Lady E. Romney, two
+nieces, Mrs. Tredcroft a neighbour, Ridsdale a parson, Wynne,
+Turner, the great landscape painter, and a young artist of the
+name of Lucas, whom Lord Egremont is bringing into notice, and
+who will owe his fortune (if he makes it) to him. Lord Egremont
+is enormously rich, and lives with an abundant though not very
+refined hospitality. The house wants modern comforts, and the
+servants are rustic and uncouth; but everything is good, and it
+all bears an air of solid and aristocratic grandeur. The stud
+groom told me there are 300 horses of different sorts here. His
+course, however, is nearly run, and he has the mortification of
+feeling that, though surrounded with children and grandchildren,
+he is almost the last of his race, and that his family is about
+to be extinct. Two old brothers and one childless nephew are all
+that are left of the Wyndhams, and the latter has been many years
+married. All his own children are illegitimate, but he has
+everything in his power, though nobody has any notion of the
+manner in which he will dispose of his property. It is impossible
+not to reflect upon the prodigious wealth of the Earls of
+Northumberland, and of the proud Duke of Somerset who married the
+last heiress of that house, the betrothed of three husbands. All
+that Lord Egremont has, all the Duke of Northumberland's
+property, and the Duke of Rutland's Cambridgeshire estate
+belonged to them, which together is probably equivalent to
+between £200,000 and £300,000 a year. Banks told me that the
+Northumberland property, when settled on Sir H. Smithson, was not
+above £12,000 a year.[2]
+
+      [2] [The eleventh Earl of Northumberland, Joscelyn Percy,
+          died in 1670, leaving an only daughter, who married
+          Charles Seymour, ninth Duke of Somerset. This lady is
+          described as 'the betrothed of three husbands,' because
+          she was married at fourteen to Henry Cavendish, son of
+          the Duke of Newcastle, who died in the following year.
+          She was then affianced to Thomas Thynne of Longleat,
+          who was assassinated in 1682; and at last married to
+          the Duke of Somerset. The eldest son of this marriage,
+          Algernon Seymour, who succeeded to the Dukedom of
+          Somerset in 1748, was created Earl of Northumberland on
+          the 2nd of October, 1749, and Earl of Egremont on the
+          following day, with remainder (as regards the latter
+          title) to his nephew Sir Charles Wyndham, who succeeded
+          him in February 1750. The Earldom of Northumberland
+          passed at the same time to Sir Hugh Smithson, son-in-law
+          of Duke Algernon, who was created Duke of Northumberland
+          in 1766. The titles and the vast property of the Duke of
+          Somerset, Earl of Northumberland, thus came to be divided.
+             George O'Brien Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont, to
+          whom Mr. Greville paid this visit, was born on the 18th
+          of December, 1751. He was therefore eighty-two years
+          old at this time; but he lived five years longer, and
+          died in 1837, famous and beloved for his splendid
+          hospitality and for his liberal and judicious patronage
+          of the arts, and likewise of the turf.]
+
+
+Brighton, December 31st, 1832 {p.338}
+
+Lady Howe gave me an account of the offer of the Chamberlainship
+to her husband again. They added the condition that he should not
+oppose Government, but was not to be obliged to support them.
+This he refused, and he regarded the proposal as an insult; so
+the Queen was not conciliated the more. She likewise told me that
+the cause of her former wrath when he was dismissed was that
+neither the King nor Lord Grey told her of it, and that if they
+had she would have consented to the sacrifice at once with a good
+grace; but in the way it was done she thought herself grossly
+ill-used. It is impossible to ascertain the exact nature of this
+connexion. Howe conducts himself towards her like a young ardent
+lover; he never is out of the Pavilion, dines there almost every
+day, or goes every evening, rides with her, never quitting her
+side, and never takes his eyes off her. She does nothing, but she
+admits his attentions and acquiesces in his devotion; at the same
+time there is not the smallest evidence that she treats him as a
+lover. If she did it would be soon known, for she is surrounded
+by enemies. All the Fitzclarences dislike her, and treat her more
+or less disrespectfully. She is aware of it, but takes no notice.
+She is very civil and good-humoured to them all; and as long as
+they keep within the bounds of decency, and do not break out into
+actual impertinence, she probably will continue so.
+
+[Page Head: NAMIK PACHA.]
+
+Two nights ago there was a great assembly after a dinner for the
+reception of the Turkish Ambassador, Namik Pacha. He was brought
+down by Palmerston and introduced before dinner to the King and
+Queen. He is twenty-eight years old, speaks French well, and has
+good manners; his dress very simple--a red cap, black vest,
+trousers and boots, a gold chain and medal round his neck. He did
+not take out any lady to dinner, but was placed next the Queen.
+After dinner the King made him a ridiculous speech, with abundant
+flourishes about the Sultan and his friendship for him, which is
+the more droll from his having been High Admiral at the time of
+the battle of Navarino, to which the Pacha replied in a sonorous
+voice. He admired everything, and conversed with great ease. All
+the stupid, vulgar Englishwomen followed him about as a lion with
+offensive curiosity.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              1833.
+
+
+January 3rd, 1833 {p.339}
+
+Lady Howe begged her husband to show me the correspondence
+between him and Sir Herbert Taylor about the Chamberlainship. It
+is long and confused; Taylor's first letter, in my opinion, very
+impertinent, for it reads him a pretty severe lecture about his
+behaviour when he held the office before. Howe is a foolish man,
+but in this business he acted well enough, better than might have
+been expected. Taylor, by the King's desire, proposed to him to
+resume the office; and after some cavilling he agreed to do so
+with liberty to vote as he pleased, but promising not to be
+violent. So stood the matter on the 9th of September. He heard
+nothing more of it till the 5th of November, when young Hudson[3]
+wrote by the King's orders to know definitely if he meant to take
+it, but that if he did he must be 'neutral.' Howe wrote back word
+that on such terms he declined it. I told him my opinion of the
+whole business, and added my strenuous advice that he should
+immediately prevail on the Queen to appoint somebody else. I
+could not tell him all that people said, but I urged it as
+strongly as I could, hinting that there were very urgent reasons
+for so doing. He did not relish this advice at all, owned that he
+clung tenaciously to the office, liked everything about it, and
+longed to avail himself of some change of circumstances to
+return; and that though he was no longer her officer, he had ever
+since done all the business, and in fact was, without the name,
+as much her Chamberlain as ever. Lady Howe, who is vexed to death
+at the whole thing, was enchanted at my advice, and vehemently
+urged him to adopt it. After he went away she told me how glad
+she was at what I had said, and asked me if people did not say
+and believe everything of Howe's connexion with the Queen, which
+I told her they did. I must say that what passed is enough to
+satisfy me that there is what is called 'nothing in it' but the
+folly and vanity of being the confidential officer and councillor
+of this hideous Queen, for whom he has worked himself up into a
+sort of chivalrous devotion. Yesterday Howe spoke to the Queen
+about it, and proposed to speak to the King; the Queen (he says)
+would not hear of it, and forbad his speaking to the King. To-day
+he is gone away, and I don't know what he settled, probably
+nothing.
+
+      [3] ['Young Hudson' was the page of honour who was sent to
+          Rome in the following year to fetch Sir Robert Peel,
+          when, as Mr. Disraeli expressed it, 'the hurried Hudson
+          rushed into the chambers of his Vatican.' He grew up to
+          be a very able and distinguished diplomatist, Sir James
+          Hudson, G.C.B., who rendered great services to the
+          cause of Italian independence.]
+
+[Page Head: LYNDHURST AND MANNERS SUTTON.]
+
+Lyndhurst dined here the day before yesterday. Finding I knew all
+that had passed about the negotiations for a Tory Government in
+the middle of the Reform question, he told me his story, which
+differs very little from that which Arbuthnot had told me at
+Downham, and fully corroborates his account of the duplicity of
+Peel and the extraordinary conduct of Lyndhurst himself. He said
+that as soon as he had left the King he went to the Duke, who
+said he must go directly to Peel. Peel refused to join. The Duke
+desired him to go back to Peel, and propose to him to be Prime
+Minister and manage everything himself. Peel still declined, on
+which he went to Baring. Baring begged he might consult Peel,
+which was granted. He came back, said he would take office, but
+that they must invite Manners Sutton also. They did so, and
+Sutton refused. Vesey Fitzgerald, however, suggested to Lyndhurst
+that if they proposed to Sutton to be Prime Minister perhaps he
+would accept. Another conversation ensued with Sutton, and a
+meeting was fixed at Apsley House on the Sunday. In the meantime
+Lyndhurst went down to the King and told him what had taken
+place, adding that Sutton would not do, and that the Duke alone
+could form a Government. At Apsley House Sutton talked for three
+hours, and such infernal nonsense that Lyndhurst was ready to go
+mad; nor would he decide. They pressed him to say if he would
+take office or not. He said he must wait till the next morning.
+They said, 'It must be very early, then.' In the morning he put
+off deciding (on some frivolous pretext) till the afternoon. He
+went to the House of Commons without having given any answer. The
+famous debate ensued, and the whole game was up.
+
+All this tallies with the other account, only he did not say that
+Peel had desired Baring to insist on Sutton, and had advised
+Sutton to take no place but the highest, nor that he had without
+the Duke's knowledge offered Sutton that post, and concealed from
+Sutton his subsequent opinion of his incapacity and determination
+that he should not have it. I asked Lyndhurst how he managed with
+Sutton, and whether he had not come to Apsley House with the
+impression on his mind that he was to be Premier. He said that
+'he had evaded that question with Sutton'--that is, all parties
+were deceived, while the Duke, who meant to act nobly, suffered
+all the blame. He showed great disregard of personal interests
+and selfish views, but I shall always think his error was
+enormous. It is remarkable that this story is so little known.
+
+They had a dinner and dancing the night before last at the
+Pavilion for New Year's Day; and the King danced a country dance
+with Lord Amelius Beauclerc, an old Admiral.
+
+
+London, January 11th, 1833 {p.341}
+
+Came to town with Alvanley the day before yesterday. Howe plucked
+up courage, spoke to the King and Queen, and settled Denbigh's
+appointment,[4] though not without resistance on the part of
+their Majesties. Lord Grey came down, and was very well received
+by both. At the commerce table the King sat by him, and was full
+of jokes; called him continually 'Lord Howe,' to the great
+amusement of the bystanders and of Lord Grey himself. Munster
+came down and was reconciled, condescending _moyennant_ a douceur
+of £2,500 to accept the Constableship of the Round Tower. The
+stories of the King are uncommonly ridiculous. He told Madame de
+Ludolf, who had been Ambassadress at Constantinople, that he
+desired she would recommend Lady Ponsonby to all her friends
+there, and she might tell them she was the daughter of one of his
+late brother's sultanas (Lady Jersey). His Majesty insisted on
+Lord Stafford's taking the title of Sutherland, and ordered Gower
+to send him an express to say so. One day at dinner he asked the
+Duke of Devonshire '_where he meant to be buried!_'
+
+      [4] [William Basil Percy, seventh Earl of Denbigh, was
+          appointed Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide at this time,
+          and remained in the service of her Majesty--a most
+          excellent and devoted servant--to the close of her
+          life.]
+
+[Page Head: STATE OF THE TORY PARTY.]
+
+I received a few days ago at Brighton the draft of a Bill of
+Brougham's for transferring the jurisdiction of the Delegates to
+the Privy Council, or rather for creating a new Court and sinking
+the Privy Council in it. Lord Lansdowne sent it to me, and
+desired me to send him my opinion upon it. I showed it to
+Stephen, and returned it to Lord Lansdowne with some criticisms
+in which Stephen and I had agreed. It is a very bungling piece of
+work, and one which Lord Lansdowne ought not to consent to, the
+object evidently being to make a Court of which Brougham shall be
+at the head, and to transfer to it much of the authority of the
+Crown, Parliament, and Privy Council; all from his ambitious and
+insatiable desire of personal aggrandisement. I have no doubt he
+is playing a deep game, and paving the way for his own accession
+to power, striving to obtain popularity and influence with the
+King; that he will succeed to a great degree, and for a certain
+time, is probable. Manners Sutton is to be again Speaker. Althorp
+wrote him a very flummery letter, and he accepted. The Government
+wants to be out of the scrape they are in between Abercromby and
+Littleton, and Sutton wants his peerage. Everything seems
+prosperous here; the Government is strong, the House of Commons
+is thought respectable on the whole and safe, trade is brisk,
+funds rising, money plentiful, confidence reviving, Tories sulky.
+
+
+January 17th, 1833 {p.343}
+
+The Government don't know what to do about the embargo on the
+Dutch ships. Soon after they had laid it on they made a second
+order allowing ships with perishable goods to go free; and
+thinking the whole thing would be soon over, they desired this
+might be construed indulgently, and accordingly many ships were
+suffered to pass (with goods more or less perishing) under that
+order. Now that the King of Holland continues obstinate they want
+to squeeze him, and to construe the order strictly. There have
+been many consultations what to do, whether they should make
+another order rescinding the last or execute the former more
+strictly. Both are liable to objections. The first will appear
+like a cruel proceeding and evidence of uncertainty of purpose;
+the last will show a capricious variation in the practice of the
+Privy Council, with which the matter rests. Their wise heads were
+to be put together last night to settle this knotty point.
+
+Wharncliffe showed me a paper he has written, in which, after
+briefly recapitulating the present state of the Tory party and
+the condition of the new Parliament (particularly as to the mode
+in which it was elected, or rather under what influence), he
+proceeds to point out what ought to be the course for the Tories
+to adopt. It is moderate and becoming enough, and he has imparted
+it to the Duke of Wellington, who concurs in his view. I wonder,
+however, that he is not sick of writing papers and imparting
+views, after all that passed last year, after his fruitless
+attempts, his false moves, and the treatment he received at the
+hands of the Tories; but he seems to have forgotten or forgiven
+everything, and is disposed to wriggle himself back amongst the
+party upon any terms. He acknowledges one thing fully, and that
+is the desperate and woebegone condition of the party itself, and
+the impossibility of their doing anything _now_ as a party.
+
+Lord Lansdowne received very complacently my criticisms on
+Brougham's Bill, and has acknowledged since he came to town that
+it would not do at all as it now stands. The King has been
+delighting the Whigs, and making himself more ridiculous and
+contemptible by the most extravagant civilities to the new
+Peers--that is, _to_ Western and about Lord Stafford. He now
+appears to be very fond of his Ministers.
+
+
+January 19th, 1833 {p.344}
+
+I have at last succeeded in stimulating Lord Lansdowne to
+something like resistance (or rather the promise of it) to
+Brougham's Bill. I have proved to him that his dignity and his
+interest will both be compromised by this Bill, which intends to
+make the Chancellor President of the Court, and _ergo_ of the
+Council, and to give him all the patronage there will be. Against
+these proposals he kicks; at least he is restive, and shows
+symptoms of kicking, though he will very likely be still again. I
+sent the Bill to Stephen, who instantly and _currente calamo_
+drew up a series of objections to it, as comprehensive and acute
+as all his productions are, and last night I sent it to Leach
+(who hates the Chancellor), and he has returned it to me with a
+strong condemnatory reply. Stephen having told me that Howick
+would be too happy to oppose this Bill, on account of the
+influence it would have on Colonial matters, particularly about
+Canada, I took it to him, but he declined interfering, though he
+concurred in Stephen's remarks.
+
+
+January 22nd, 1833 {p.344}
+
+[Page Head: VISIT TO HARTWELL.]
+
+Dined with Talleyrand the day before yesterday. Nobody there but
+his _attachés_. After dinner he told me about his first residence
+in England, and his acquaintance with Fox and Pitt. He always
+talks in a kind of affectionate tone about the former, and is now
+meditating a visit to Mrs. Fox at St. Anne's Hill, where he may
+see her surrounded with the busts, pictures, and recollections of
+her husband. He delights to dwell on the simplicity, gaiety,
+childishness, and profoundness of Fox. I asked him if he had ever
+known Pitt. He said that Pitt came to Rheims to learn French, and
+he was there at the same time on a visit to the Archbishop, his
+uncle (whom I remember at Hartwell,[5] a very old prelate with
+the tic-douloureux), and that he and Pitt lived together for
+nearly six weeks, reciprocally teaching each other French and
+English. After Chauvelin had superseded him, and that he and
+Chauvelin had disagreed, he went to live near Epsom (at Juniper
+Hall) with Madame de Staël; afterwards they came to London, and
+in the meantime Pitt had got into the hands of the _émigrés_, who
+persuaded him to send Talleyrand away, and accordingly he
+received orders to quit England in twenty-four hours. He embarked
+on board a vessel for America, but was detained in the river off
+Greenwich. Dundas sent to him, and asked him to come and stay
+with him while the ship was detained, but he said he would not
+set his foot on English ground again, and remained three weeks on
+board the ship in the river. It is strange to hear M. de
+Talleyrand talk at seventy-eight. He opens the stores of his
+memory and pours forth a stream on any subject connected with his
+past life. Nothing seems to have escaped from that great treasury
+of bygone events.
+
+      [5] [Mr. Greville had paid a visit with his father to the
+          little Court of Louis XVIII. at Hartwell about two
+          years before the Restoration, when he was eighteen
+          years of age. His narrative of this visit has been
+          printed in the fifth volume of the 'Miscellany of the
+          Philobiblon Society,' but it may not be inappropriately
+          inserted here.]
+
+                         A VISIT TO HARTWELL.
+                                                 April 14th, 1814.
+
+              I have often determined to commit to paper as much
+          as I can remember of my visit to Hartwell; and, as the
+          King is about to ascend the throne of his ancestors, it
+          is not uninteresting to recall to mind the particulars
+          of a visit paid to him while in exile and in poverty.
+              About two years ago my father and I went to
+          Hartwell by invitation of the King. We dressed at
+          Aylesbury, and proceeded to Hartwell in the afternoon.
+          We had previously taken a walk in the environs of the
+          town, and had met the Duchesse d'Angoulême on
+          horseback, accompanied by a Madame Choisi. At five
+          o'clock we set out to Hartwell. The house is large, but
+          in a dreary, disagreeable situation. The King had
+          completely altered the interior, having subdivided
+          almost all the apartments in order to lodge a greater
+          number of people. There were numerous outhouses, in
+          some of which small shops had been established by the
+          servants, interspersed with gardens, so that the place
+          resembled a little town.
+              Upon entering the house we were conducted by the
+          Duc de Grammont into the King's private apartment. He
+          received us most graciously and shook hands with both
+          of us. This apartment was exceedingly small, hardly
+          larger than a closet, and I remarked pictures of the
+          late King and Queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the Dauphin,
+          Louis XVII., hanging on the walls. The King had a
+          manner of swinging his body backwards and forwards,
+          which caused the most unpleasant sensations in that
+          small room, and made my father feel something like
+          being sea-sick. The room was just like a cabin, and the
+          motions of his Majesty exactly resembled the heaving of
+          a ship. After our audience with the King we were taken
+          to the _salon_ a large room with a billiard table at
+          one end. Here the party assembled before dinner, to all
+          of whom we were presented--the Duchesse d'Angoulême,
+          Monsieur the Duc d'Angoulême, the Duc de Berri, the
+          Prince and Princess de Condé (_ci-devant_ Madame de
+          Monaco), and a vast number of ducs, &c.; Madame la
+          Duchesse de Serron (a little old _dame d'honneur_ to
+          Madame d'Angoulême), the Duc de Lorges, the Duc
+          d'Auray, the Archevêque de Rheims (an infirm old
+          prelate, tortured with the tic-douloureux), and many
+          others whose names I cannot remember. At a little after
+          six dinner was announced, when we went into the next
+          room, the King walking out first. The dinner was
+          extremely plain, consisting of very few dishes, and no
+          wines except port and sherry. His Majesty did the
+          honours himself, and was very civil and agreeable. We
+          were a very short time at table, and the ladies and
+          gentlemen all got up together. Each of the ladies
+          folded up her napkin, tied it round with a bit of
+          ribbon, and carried it away. After dinner we returned
+          to the drawing-room and drank coffee. The whole party
+          remained in conversation about a quarter of an hour,
+          when the King retired to his closet, upon which all
+          repaired to their separate apartments. Whenever the
+          King came in or went out of the room, Madame
+          d'Angoulême made him a low curtsy, which he returned by
+          bowing and kissing his hand. This little ceremony never
+          failed to take place. After the party had separated we
+          were taken to the Duc de Grammont's apartments, where
+          we drank tea. After remaining there about three
+          quarters of an hour we went to the apartment of Madame
+          d'Angoulême, where a great part of the company were
+          assembled, and where we stayed about a quarter of an
+          hour. After this we descended again to the drawing-room,
+          where several card tables were laid out. The King
+          played at whist with the Prince and Princess de Condé
+          and my father. His Majesty settled the points of the
+          game at 'le quart d'un sheling.' The rest of the party
+          played at billiards or ombre. The King was so civil as
+          to invite us to sleep there, instead of returning to
+          the inn at Aylesbury. When he invited us he said, 'Je
+          crains que vous serez très-mal logés, mais on donne ce
+          qu'on peut.' Soon after eleven the King retired, when
+          we separated for the night. We were certainly 'très-mal
+          logés.' In the morning when I got out of bed, I was
+          alarmed by the appearance of an old woman on the leads
+          before my window, who was hanging linen to dry. I was
+          forced to retreat hastily to bed, not to shock the old
+          lady's modesty. At ten the next morning we breakfasted,
+          and at eleven we took leave of the King (who always
+          went to Mass at that hour) and returned to London. We
+          saw the whole place before we came away; and they
+          certainly had shown great ingenuity in contriving to
+          lodge such a number of people in and about the
+          house--it was exactly like a small rising colony. We
+          were very much pleased with our expedition; and were
+          invited to return whenever we could make it convenient.
+
+
+January 24th, 1833 {p.346}
+
+I have at last made Lord Lansdowne fire a shot at the Chancellor
+about this Bill. He has written him a letter, in which he has
+embodied Stephen's objections and some of his own (as he says, for
+I did not see the letter). The Chancellor will be very angry, for
+he can't endure contradiction, and he has a prodigious contempt
+for the Lord President, whom he calls 'Mother Elizabeth.' He
+probably arrives at the sobriquet through Petty, Betty, and so on.
+
+Dined with Talleyrand yesterday; Pozzo, who said little and
+seemed low; Talleyrand _talked_ after dinner, said that Cardinal
+Fleury was one of the greatest Ministers who ever governed
+France, and that justice had never been done him; he had
+maintained peace for twenty years, and acquired Lorraine for
+France. He said this _à propos_ of the library he formed or left,
+or whatever he did in that line, at Paris. He told me he goes
+very often to the British Museum, and has lately made them a
+present of a book.
+
+
+January 26th, 1833 {p.347}
+
+[Page Head: ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.]
+
+[Page Head: HENRY TAYLOR ON ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.]
+
+It seems that the Government project (or perhaps only the fact
+that they have one) about West Indian emancipation has got wind,
+and the West Indians are of course in a state of great alarm. They
+believe that it will be announced, whatever it is to be, in the
+King's Speech, though I doubt there being anything but a vague
+intention expressed in it. Of all political feelings and
+passions--and such this rage for emancipation is, rather than a
+consideration of interest--it has always struck me as the most
+extraordinary and remarkable. There can be no doubt that a great
+many of the Abolitionists are actuated by very pure motives; they
+have been shocked at the cruelties which have been and still are
+very often practised towards slaves, their minds are imbued with
+the horrors they have read and heard of, and they have an
+invincible conviction that the state of slavery under any form is
+repugnant to the spirit of the English Constitution and the
+Christian religion, and that it is a stain upon the national
+character which ought to be wiped away. These people, generally
+speaking, are very ignorant concerning all the various difficulties
+which beset the question; their notions are superficial; they pity
+the slaves, whom they regard as injured innocents, and they hate
+their masters, whom they treat as criminal barbarians. Others are
+animated in this cause purely by ambition, and by finding that it
+is a capital subject to talk upon, and a cheap and easy species of
+benevolence; others have satisfied themselves that slavery is a
+mistaken system, that the cruelty of it is altogether gratuitous,
+and that free labour will answer the purpose as well or better,
+and get rid of the odium; and thousands more have mixed feelings
+and opinions, compounded of some or all of the above in various
+degrees and proportions, according to the bent of individual
+character; but there are some persons among the most zealous and
+able of the Abolitionists who avail themselves of the passions and
+the ignorance of the people to carry this point, while they
+carefully conceal their own sentiments as to the result of the
+experiment. I say some because, though I only know (of my own
+knowledge) of one, from the sagacity of the man and the conformity
+of his opinions with those of others on this and other topics, I
+have no doubt that there are many who view the matter in the same
+light. I allude to Henry Taylor,[6] who rules half the West Indies
+in the Colonial Office, though with an invisible sceptre. Talking
+over the matter the other day, he said that he was well aware of
+the consequences of emancipation both to the negroes and the
+planters. The estates of the latter would not be cultivated; it
+would be impossible, for want of labour; the negroes would not
+work--no inducement would be sufficient to make them; they wanted
+to be free merely that they might be idle. They would, on being
+emancipated, possess themselves of ground, the fertility of which
+in those regions is so great that very trifling labour will be
+sufficient to provide them with the means of existence, and they
+will thus relapse rapidly into a state of barbarism; they will
+resume the habits of their African brethren, but, he thinks,
+without the ferocity and savageness which distinguish the latter.
+Of course the germs of civilisation and religion which have been
+sown among them in their servile state will be speedily
+obliterated; if not, as man must either rise or fall in the moral
+scale, they will acquire strength, with it power, and as certainly
+the desire of using that power for the amelioration of their
+condition. The island (for Jamaica may be taken for example, as it
+was in our conversation) would not long be tenable for whites;
+indeed, it is difficult to conceive how any planters could remain
+there when their property was no longer cultivable, even though
+the emancipated negroes should become as harmless and gentle as
+the ancient Mexicans. Notwithstanding this view of the matter, in
+which my friend has the sagacity to perceive some of the probable
+consequences of the measure, though (he admits) with much
+uncertainty as to its operation, influenced as it must be by
+circumstances and accidents, he is for emancipating at once. 'Fiat
+justitia ruat coelum'--that is, I do not know that he is for
+immediate, unconditional emancipation; I believe not, but he is
+for doing the deed; whether he goes before or lags after the
+Government I do not at this moment know. He is, too, a high-principled
+man, full of moral sensibility and of a grave, reflecting,
+philosophical character, and neither a visionary in religion nor
+in politics, only of a somewhat austere and uncompromising turn of
+mind, and with some of the positiveness of a theorist who has a
+lofty opinion of his own capacity, and has never undergone that
+discipline of the world, that tumbling and tossing and jostling,
+which beget modesty and diffidence and prudence, from the
+necessity which they inculcate of constant compromises with
+antagonist interests and hostile passions. But what is the upshot
+of all this? Why, that in the midst of the uproar and confusion,
+the smoke and the dust of the controversy, one may believe that
+one sees a glimmering of the real futurity in the case--and that
+is a long series of troubles and a wide scene of ruin.
+
+      [6] [Afterwards Sir Henry Taylor, K.M.G., author of 'Philip
+          van Artevelde.' Nearly forty years later Sir H. Taylor
+          continued to fill the same position described by Mr.
+          Greville in 1833. He resigned in 1872.]
+
+
+January 30th, 1833 {p.349}
+
+The intentions of Government with regard to the West Indies (or
+rather that they have intentions of a nature very fatal to that
+interest) having got wind, the consternation of the West India
+body is great. A deputation, headed by Sir Alexander Grant,
+waited upon Lords Grey and Goderich the other day, and put
+certain questions to them, stating that the prevalence of
+reports, some of which had appeared in the newspapers, had
+greatly alarmed them, and they wished to ascertain if any of them
+had been authorised by Government. Lord Grey said 'certainly not;
+the Government had authorised nothing.' They asked if he would
+reappoint the Committees. He would give no pledge as to this, but
+they discussed the propriety of so doing, he seeming indisposed.
+To all their questions he gave vague answers, refusing to
+communicate anything except this, that nothing was decided, but a
+plan was under the consideration of the Cabinet in which the
+interests of all parties were consulted. He added that he could
+not pledge himself to give any previous intimation of the
+intentions of Government to the West India body, nor to disclose
+the measure at all until it was proposed to Parliament. There are
+in the meantime no end of reports of the nature and extent of the
+proposed measure, and no end to the projects and opinions of
+those who are interested.
+
+I dined at Lord Bathurst's yesterday, and sat next to Lord
+Ellenborough, who said that he was convinced the best thing the
+proprietors could do would be to agree instantly to stop their
+orders, which he believes would compel Government to arrest their
+course. I am not enough acquainted with the subject to judge how
+far they might operate, but I doubt it, or that in the temper of
+the people of this country, or rather of those zealots who
+represent it, and with the disposition of this Government to
+yield to every popular cry, the fear of any consequences would
+prevent their going on. It would, I believe, only give them and
+the House of Commons a pretext for refusing them pecuniary
+compensation. I was much amused with a piece of vanity of
+Ellenborough's. We were talking of the war between the Turks and
+the Egyptians, and the resources of Egypt, &c., when he said, 'If
+I had continued at the Board of Control I would have had Egypt,
+got at it from the Red Sea; I had already ordered the formation
+of _a corps_ of _Arab guides_!'
+
+
+February 1st, 1833 {p.351}
+
+[Page Head: RUSSIA AND TURKEY.]
+
+The Reformed Parliament opened heavily (on Tuesday), as
+Government think satisfactorily. Cobbett took his seat on the
+Treasury Bench, and spoke three times, though the last time
+nobody would stay to hear him. He was very twaddling, and said
+but one good thing, when he called O'Connell the member for
+_Ireland_.
+
+Saw Madame de Lieven the day before yesterday, who fired a tirade
+against Government; she vowed that nobody ever had been treated
+with such personal incivility as Lieven, 'des injures, des
+reproches,' that Cobbett, Hunt, and all the blackguards in
+England could not use more offensive language; whatever event was
+coming was imputed to Russia--Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, 'tout
+était la Russie et les intrigues de la Russie;' that she foresaw
+they should be driven away from England. With reference to the
+war in Asia Minor, she said the Sultan had applied to the Emperor
+for assistance, 'et qu'il l'aurait, et que le Sultan n'avait pas
+un meilleur ami que lui,' that the Egyptians would advance no
+farther, and a great deal more of complaint at the injustice
+evinced towards them and on their political innocence. In the
+evening I told all this to Mellish of the Foreign Office, who
+knows everything about foreign affairs, and he said it was all a
+lie, that Russia had offered her assistance, which the Sultan had
+refused, and she was, in fact, intriguing and making mischief in
+every Court in Europe. George Villiers writes me word that she
+has been for months past endeavouring to get up a war anywhere,
+and that this Turkish business is more likely than anything to
+bring one about.[7]
+
+      [7] [The state of the Ottoman Empire was most critical. In
+          the latter months of 1832 the victorious troops of
+          Mehomet Ali had forced their way across the Taunus; the
+          peace of Koniah was concluded early in 1833 with the
+          Egyptians; and the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi with the
+          Russians in July 1833.]
+
+
+February 2nd, 1833 {p.351}
+
+Dinner at Lord Lansdowne's for the Sheriffs; soon over and not
+particularly disagreeable, though I hate dining with the
+Ministers; had some conversation with Goderich about Jamaica; he
+says Mulgrave has done very well there, perhaps rather too
+vigorously, that the dissolution of the Assembly under all
+circumstances is questionable, but he must be supported; he hopes
+nothing from another assembly, nor does Mulgrave, who says that
+they are incorrigible. The fact is their conduct paralyses the
+exertions of their friends here, if, indeed, they have any
+friends who would make any exertions.
+
+
+February 4th, 1833 {p.352}
+
+At Court for the King's Speech and the appointment of Sheriffs.
+Lord Munster and Lord Denbigh were sworn Privy Councillors. The
+West Indians have taken such an attitude of desperation that the
+Government is somewhat alarmed, and seems disposed to pause at
+the adoption of its abolitionary measures. George Hibbert told me
+last night that if they were driven to extremities there was
+nothing they were not ready to do, and that there would be
+another panic if Government did not take care, and so Rothschild
+had told them.
+
+I dined with Madame de Lieven yesterday, who is in the agonies of
+doubt about her remaining here. It turns upon this: Stratford
+Canning has been appointed Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and the
+Emperor will not receive him. Palmerston is indignant, and will
+not send anybody else. If the Emperor persists, we shall only
+have a Chargé d'Affaires at his Court, and in that case he will
+not leave an Ambassador at ours. There seems to be at present no
+way out of the quarrel. Stratford Canning's mission to Madrid
+cannot last for ever, and when it is over the point must be
+decided.
+
+The people of Jamaica have presented a petition to the King (I
+don't know exactly in what shape, or how got up), praying to be
+released from their allegiance. Goderich told me that it was very
+insolent. Mulgrave's recent _coup de théâtre_ is severely
+condemned. Nothing can save these unhappy colonies, for all
+parties vie with each other in violence and folly--the people
+here and the people there, the Government here and the Government
+there.
+
+
+February 10th, 1833 {p.353}
+
+[Page Head: DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.]
+
+After four days' debate in the House of Commons (quite
+unprecedented, I believe) the Address was carried by a large
+majority.[8] Opinions are of course very various upon the state of
+the House and the character of the discussion. The anti-Reformers,
+with a sort of melancholy triumph, boast that their worst
+expectations have been fulfilled. The Government were during the
+first day or two very serious, and though on the whole they think
+they have reason to be satisfied, they cannot help seeing that
+they have in fact very little power of managing the House.
+Everybody agrees that the aspect of the House of Commons was very
+different--the number of strange faces; the swagger of O'Connell,
+walking about incessantly, and making signs to, or talking with,
+his followers in various parts; the Tories few and scattered; Peel
+no longer surrounded with a stout band of supporters, but pushed
+from his usual seat, which is occupied by Cobbett, O'Connell, and
+the Radicals; he is gone up nearer to the Speaker.
+
+      [8] [The first Reformed Parliament met and was formally
+          opened on the 29th of January, 1833. After the election
+          of the Speaker (Manners Sutton) the King delivered his
+          Speech from the Throne on the 5th of February.]
+
+The whole debate turned upon Ireland. O'Connell pronounced a
+violent but powerful philippic, which Stanley answered very well.
+Macaulay made one of his brilliant speeches the second night, and
+Peel spoke the third. It was not possible to make a more
+dexterous and judicious speech than he did; for finding himself
+in a very uncomfortable position, he at once placed himself in a
+good one, and acknowledging that his situation was altogether
+different from what it had been, he contrived to transfer to
+himself personally much of the weight and authority which he
+previously held as the organ and head of a great and powerful
+party. He pronounced an eulogium of Stanley, declared that his
+confidence in Government was not augmented, but that he would
+support them if they would support law and order. The Government
+were extremely pleased at his speech, though I think not without
+a secret misgiving that they are likely to be more in his power
+than is pleasant. But the benefit resulting from the whole is
+that the Radicals all opposed the Government, while Peel
+supported them; so that we may hope that a complete line of
+separation is drawn between the two former, and that the
+Government will really and boldly take the Conservative side. On
+the whole, perhaps, this bout may be deemed satisfactory.
+
+
+February 14th, 1833 {p.354}
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF PEEL.]
+
+The night before last Althorp brought forward his plan of Irish
+Church Reform, with complete success. He did it well, and Stanley
+made a very brilliant speech. The House received it with almost
+unanimous applause, nobody opposing but Inglis and Goulburn, and
+Peel, in a very feeble speech, which scarcely deserves the name
+of opposition; it will be of great service to the Government.
+O'Connell lauded the measure up to the skies; but Sheil said he
+would bite his tongue off with vexation the next morning for
+having done so, after he had slept upon it. It was clear that
+Peel, who is courting the House, and exerting all his dexterity
+to bring men's minds round to him, saw the stream was too strong
+for him to go against it, so he made a sort of temporising,
+moderate, unmeaning speech, which will give him time to determine
+on his best course, and did not commit him. Poulett Thomson said
+to me yesterday that Peel's prodigious superiority over everybody
+in the House was so evident, his talent for debate and thorough
+knowledge of Parliamentary tactics, gained by twenty years of
+experience, so commanding, that he must draw men's minds to him,
+and that he was evidently playing that game, throwing over the
+ultra-Tories and ingratiating himself with the House and the
+country. He, in fact, means to open a house to all comers, and
+make himself necessary and indispensable. Under that placid
+exterior he conceals, I believe, a boundless ambition, and hatred
+and jealousy lurk under his professions of esteem and political
+attachment. His is one of those contradictory characters,
+containing in it so much of mixed good and evil, that it is
+difficult to strike an accurate balance between the two, and the
+acts of his political life are of a corresponding description, of
+questionable utility and merit, though always marked by great
+ability. It is very sure that he has been the instrument of great
+good, or of enormous evil, and apparently more of the latter. He
+came into life the child and champion of a political system which
+has been for a long time crumbling to pieces; and if the perils
+which are produced by its fall are great, they are mainly
+attributable to the manner in which it was upheld by Peel, and to
+his want of sagacity, in a wrong estimate of his means of defence
+and of the force of the antagonist power with which he had to
+contend. The leading principles of his political conduct have
+been constantly erroneous, and his dexterity and ability in
+supporting them have only made the consequences of his errors
+more extensively pernicious. If we look back through the long
+course of Peel's life, and enquire what have been the great
+political measures with which his name is particularly connected,
+we shall find, first, the return to cash payments, which almost
+everybody now agrees was a fatal mistake, though it would not be
+fair to visit him with extraordinary censure for a measure which
+was sanctioned by almost all the great financial authorities;
+secondly, opposition to Reform in Parliament and to religious
+emancipation of every kind, the maintenance of the exclusive
+system, and support, untouched and unconnected, of the Church,
+both English and Irish. His resistance to alterations on these
+heads was conducted with great ability, and for a long time with
+success; but he was endeavouring to uphold a system which was no
+longer supportable, and having imbibed in his career much of the
+liberal spirit of the age, he found himself in a state of no
+small perplexity between his old connections and his more
+enlarged propensities. Still he was chained down by the former,
+and consequently being beaten from all his positions, he was
+continually obliged to give way, but never did so till rather too
+late for his own credit and much too late for the interest at
+stake. Notwithstanding, therefore, the reputation he has
+acquired, the hold he has had of office, and is probably destined
+to have again, his political life has been a considerable
+failure, though not such an one as to render it more probable
+than not that his future life will be a failure too. He has
+hitherto been encumbered with embarrassing questions and an
+unmanageable party. Time has disposed of the first, and he is
+divorced from the last; if his great experience and talents have
+a fair field to act upon, he may yet, in spite of his selfish and
+unamiable character, be a distinguished and successful Minister.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XX.
+
+Appointment of Sir Stratford Canning to the Russian Embassy--
+  Cause of the Refusal--Slavery in the West Indies--The Reformed
+  Parliament--Duke of Wellington's View of Affairs--The Coercion
+  Bill--The Privy Council Bill--Lord Durham made an Earl--Mr.
+  Stanley Secretary for the Colonies--The Russians go to the
+  Assistance of the Porte--Lord Goderich has the Privy Seal, an
+  Earldom, and the Garter--Embarrassments of the Government--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor at the Privy Council--Hobhouse
+  defeated in Westminster--Bill for Negro Emancipation--The
+  Russians on the Bosphorus--Mr. Littleton Chief Secretary for
+  Ireland--Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington--Moral of a
+  'Book on the Derby'--The Oaks--A Betting Incident--Ascot--
+  Government beaten in the Lords on Foreign Policy--Vote of
+  Confidence in the Commons--Drax _v._ Grosvenor decided--Lord
+  Eldon's Last Judgment--His Character--Duke of Wellington as
+  Leader of Opposition--West India Affairs--Irish Church Bill--
+  Appropriation Clause--A Fancy Bazaar--The King writes to the
+  Bishops--Local Court Bill--Mirabeau.
+
+
+February 16th, 1833 {p.357}
+
+Madame de Lieven gave me an account (the day before yesterday) of
+the quarrel between the two Courts about Stratford Canning. When
+the present Ministry came in, Nesselrode wrote to Madame de
+Lieven and desired her to beg that Lord Heytesbury might be left
+there--'Conservez-nous Heytesbury.' She asked Palmerston and Lord
+Grey, and they both promised her he should stay. Some time after
+he asked to be recalled. She wrote word to Nesselrode, and told
+him that either Adair or Canning would succeed him. He replied,
+'Don't let it be Canning; he is a most impracticable man,
+_soupçonneux, pointilleux, défiant_;' that he had been personally
+uncivil to the Emperor when he was Grand Duke; in short the plain
+truth was they would not receive him, and it was therefore
+desirable somebody, anybody, else should be sent. She told this
+to Palmerston, and he engaged that Stratford Canning should not
+be named. Nothing more was done till some time ago, when to her
+astonishment Palmerston told her that he was going to send
+Canning to St. Petersburg. She remonstrated, urged all the
+objections of her Court, his own engagement, but in vain; the
+discussions between them grew bitter; Palmerston would not give
+way, and Canning was one day to her horror gazetted. As might
+have been expected, Nesselrode positively refused to receive him.
+Durham, who in the meantime had been to Russia and _bien comblé_
+with civilities, promised that Canning should not go there,
+trusting he had sufficient influence to prevent it; and since he
+has been at home it is one of the things he has been most violent
+and bitter about, because Palmerston will not retract this
+nomination, and he has the mortification of finding in this
+instance his own want of power. However, as there have been no
+discussions on it lately, the Princess still hopes it may blow
+over, and that some other mission may be found for Canning. At
+all events it appears a most curious piece of diplomacy to insist
+upon thrusting upon a Court a man personally obnoxious to the
+Sovereign and his Minister, and not the best way of preserving
+harmonious relations or obtaining political advantages. She says,
+however (and with all her anger she is no bad judge), that
+Palmerston 'est un très-petit esprit--lourd, obstiné,' &c., and
+she is astonished how Lady C. with her _finesse_ can be so taken
+with him.
+
+Lady Cowper has since told me that Madame de Lieven has been to
+blame in all this business, that Palmerston was provoked with her
+interference, that her temper had got the better of her, and she
+had thought to carry it with a high hand, having been used to
+have her own way, and that he had thought both _she_ and her
+_Court_ wanted to be taken down a peg; that she had told
+Nesselrode she could prevent this appointment, and, what had done
+more harm than anything, she had appealed to Grey against
+Palmerston, and employed Durham to make a great clamour about it.
+All this made Palmerston angry, and determined him to punish her,
+who he thought had meddled more than she ought, and had made the
+matter personally embarrassing and disagreeable to him.
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY'S COERCION BILL.]
+
+Last night Lord Grey introduced his coercive measures in an
+excellent speech, though there are some people who doubt his being
+able to carry them through the House of Commons. If he can't, he
+goes of course; and what next? The measures are sufficiently
+strong, it must be owned--a _consommé_ of insurrection-gagging
+Acts, suspension of Habeas Corpus, martial law, and one or two
+other little hards and sharps.[1]
+
+      [1] [In the debate on the Address O'Connell had denounced
+          the coercive measures announced in the Speech from the
+          Throne as 'brutal, bloody, and unconstitutional.' But
+          the state of Ireland was so dreadful that it demanded
+          and justified the severest remedies. Lord Grey stated
+          in the House of Lords that between January 1st and
+          December 31st 9,000 crimes had been committed--homicides
+          242, robberies 1,179, burglaries 401, burnings 568, and so
+          on. The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim
+          disturbed districts, to substitute courts-martial for
+          the ordinary courts of justice, to prohibit meetings,
+          and to punish the distributors of seditious papers. Such
+          were the powers which Lord Wellesley described as more
+          formidable to himself than to the people of Ireland, for the
+          greater part of them were never exercised. The Act
+          produced the desired effect. In a year Ireland was
+          pacified; and the abandonment of several of the most
+          important clauses in the Act (contrary to Lord Grey's
+          wishes) was the cause which led to the dissolution of the
+          Ministry in the month of June 1834.]
+
+
+London, February 22nd, 1833 {p.359}
+
+Dined yesterday with Fortunatus Dwarris, who was counsel to the
+Board of Health; one of those dinners that people in that class
+of society put themselves in an agony to give, and generally
+their guests in as great an agony to partake of. There were
+Goulburn, Serjeant ditto and his wife, Stephen, &c. Goulburn
+mentioned a curious thing _à propos_ of slavery. A slave ran away
+from his estate in Jamaica many years ago, and got to England. He
+(the man) called at his house when he was not at home, and
+Goulburn never could afterwards find out where he was. He
+remained in England, however, gaining his livelihood by some
+means, till after some years he returned to Jamaica and to the
+estate, and desired to be employed as a slave again.
+
+Stephen, who is one of the great apostles of emancipation, and
+who resigned a profession worth £3,000 a year at the Bar for a
+place of £1,500 in the Colonial Office, principally in order to
+advance that object, owned that he had never known so great a
+problem nor so difficult a question to settle. His notion is that
+compulsory labour may be substituted for slavery, and in some
+colonies (the new ones, as they are called--Demerara, &c.) he
+thinks it will not be difficult; in Jamaica he is doubtful, and
+admits that if this does not answer the slaves will relapse into
+barbarism, nor is he at all clear that _any_ disorders and evils
+may not be produced by the effect of desperation on one side and
+disappointment on the other; still he does not hesitate to go on,
+but fully admitting the right of the proprietors to ample
+compensation, and the duty incumbent on the country to give it.
+If the sentiments of justice and benevolence with which he is
+actuated were common to all who profess the same opinions, or if
+the same sagacity and resource which he possesses were likely to
+be applied to the practical operation of the scheme, the evils
+which are dreaded and foreseen might be mitigated and avoided;
+but this is very far from the case, and the evils will, in all
+probability, more than overbalance the good which humanity aims
+at effecting; nor is it possible to view the settlement (as it is
+called, for all changes are settlements now-a-days) of this
+question without a misgiving that it will only produce some other
+great topic for public agitation, some great interest to be
+overturned or mighty change to be accomplished. The public
+appetite for discussion and legislation has been whetted and is
+insatiable; the millions of orators and legislators who have
+sprung up like mushrooms all over the kingdom, the bellowers, the
+chatterers, the knaves, and the dupes, who make such an universal
+hubbub, must be fed with fresh victims and sacrifices. The
+Catholic question was speedily followed by Reform in Parliament,
+and this has opened a door to anything.
+
+[Page Head: ASPECT OF THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS.]
+
+In the meantime the Reformed Parliament has been sitting for a
+fortnight or so, and begins to manifest its character and
+pretensions. The first thing that strikes one is its inferiority
+in point of composition to preceding Houses of Commons, and the
+presumption, impertinence, and self-sufficiency of the new
+members. Formerly new members appeared with some modesty and
+diffidence, and with some appearance of respect for the assembly
+into which they were admitted; these fellows behave themselves as
+if they had taken it by storm, and might riot in all the
+insolence of victory. There exists no _party_ but that of the
+Government; the Irish act in a body under O'Connell to the number
+of about forty; the Radicals are scattered up and down without a
+leader, numerous, restless, turbulent, and bold--Hume, Cobbett,
+and a multitude such as Roebuck, Faithfull, Buckingham, Major
+Beauclerck, &c. (most of whom have totally failed in point of
+speaking)--bent upon doing all the mischief they can and
+incessantly active; the Tories without a head, frightened, angry,
+and sulky; Peel without a party, prudent, cautious, and
+dexterous, playing a deep waiting game of scrutiny and
+observation. The feelings of these various elements of party,
+rather than parties, may be thus summed up:--The Radicals are
+confident and sanguine; the Whigs uneasy; the Tories desponding;
+moderate men, who belong to no party, but support Government,
+serious, and not without alarm. There is, in fact, enough to
+justify alarm, for the Government has evidently no power over the
+House of Commons, and though it is probable that they will
+scramble through the session without sustaining any serious
+defeat, or being reduced to the necessity of any great sacrifice
+or compromise, they are conscious of their own want of authority
+and of that sort of command without which no Government has been
+hitherto deemed secure. The evil of this is that we are now
+reduced to the alternative of Lord Grey's Government or none at
+all; and should he be defeated on any great measure, he must
+either abandon the country to its fate, or consent to carry on
+the Government upon the condition of a virtual transfer of the
+executive power to the House of Commons. If this comes to pass
+the game is up, for this House, like animals who have once tasted
+blood, if it ever exercises such a power as this, and finds a
+Minister consenting to hold office on such terms, will never rest
+till it has acquired all the authority of the Long Parliament and
+reduced that of the Crown to a mere cypher. It is curious,
+by-the-bye, that the example of the Long Parliament in a trivial
+matter has just been adopted, in the sittings of the House at
+twelve o'clock for the hearing of petitions.
+
+
+February 27th, 1833 {p.362}
+
+Laid up ever since that dinner at Dwarris's with the gout. Frederick
+Fitzclarence has been compelled to resign the situation at the Tower
+which the King gave him; they found it very probable that the House
+of Commons would refuse to vote the pay of it--a trifle in itself,
+but indicative of the spirit of the times and the total want of
+consideration for the King. O'Connell made a speech of such violence
+at the Trades Union the other day--calling the House of Commons six
+hundred scoundrels--that there was a great deal of talk about taking
+it up in Parliament and proposing his expulsion, which, however,
+they have not had the folly to do. The Irish Bill was to come on
+last night. The sense of insecurity and uneasiness evidently
+increases; the Government assumes a high tone, but is not at all
+certain of its ability to pass the Coercive Bills unaltered, and
+yesterday there appeared an article in the 'Times' in a style of
+lofty reproof and severe admonition, which was no doubt as appalling
+as it was meant to be. This article made what is called a great
+sensation; always struggling, as this paper does, to take the lead
+of public opinion and watching all its turns and shifts with
+perpetual anxiety, it is at once regarded as undoubted evidence of
+its direction and dreaded for the influence which its powerful
+writing and extensive sale have placed in its hands. It is no small
+homage to the power of the press to see that an article like this
+makes as much noise as the declaration of a powerful Minister or a
+leader of Opposition could do in either House of Parliament.
+
+[Page Head: DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S VIEW OF AFFAIRS.]
+
+Yesterday morning the Duke of Wellington came here upon some
+private business, after discussing which he entered upon the
+state of the country. I told him my view of the condition of the
+Government and of the House of Commons, and he said, 'You have
+hit the two points that I have myself always felt so strongly
+about. I told Lord Grey so long ago, and asked him at the time
+how he expected to be able to carry on the Government of the
+country, to which he never could give any answer, except that it
+would all do very well. However, things are not a bit worse than
+I always thought they would be. As they are, I mean to support
+the Government--support them in every way. The first thing I have
+to look to is to keep my house over my head, and the alternative
+is between this Government and none at all. I am therefore for
+supporting the Government, but then there is so much passion, and
+prejudice, and folly, and vindictive feeling, that it is very
+difficult to get others to do the same. I hear Peel had only
+fifty people with him the other night on some question, though
+they say that there are 150 of that party in the House of
+Commons. He thinks as ill of the whole thing as possible. [While
+I am writing Poodle Byng is come in, who tells me what happened
+last night. Althorp made a very bad speech and a wretched
+statement; other people spoke, pert and disagreeable, and the
+debate looked ill till Stanley rose and made one of the finest
+speeches that were ever heard, pounding O'Connell to dust and
+attacking him for his 'six hundred scoundrels,' from which he
+endeavoured to escape by a miserable and abortive explanation.
+Stanley seems to have set the whole thing to rights, like a great
+man.]
+
+I told the Duke what Macaulay had said to Denison: 'that if he
+had had to legislate, he would, instead of this Bill, have
+suspended the laws for five years in Ireland, given the
+Lord-Lieutenant's proclamation the force of law, and got the Duke
+of Wellington to go there.' He seemed very well pleased at this,
+and said, 'Well, that is the way I governed the provinces on the
+Garonne in the south of France. I desired the mayors to go on
+administering the law of the land, and when they asked me in
+whose name criminal suits should be carried on (which were
+ordinarily in the name of the Emperor), and if they should be in
+the name of the King, I said no, that we were treating with the
+Emperor at Chatillon, and if they put forth the King they would
+be in a scrape; neither should it be in the Emperor's name,
+because we did not acknowledge him, but in that of the Allied
+Powers.' In this I think he was wrong (_par parenthèse_), for
+Napoleon was acknowledged by all the Powers but us, and we were
+treating with him, and if he permitted the civil authorities to
+administer the law as usual, he should have allowed them to
+administer it in the usual legal form. Their civil administration
+could not affect any political questions in the slightest degree.
+
+
+March 4th, 1833 {p.364}
+
+Sir Thomas Hardy told my brother he thought the King would
+certainly go mad; he was so excitable, _loathing_ his Ministers,
+particularly Graham, and dying to go to war. He has some of the
+cunning of madmen, who fawn upon their keepers when looked at by
+them, and grin at them and shake their fists when their backs are
+turned; so he is extravagantly civil when his Ministers are with
+him, and exhibits every mark of aversion when they are away. Peel
+made an admirable speech on Friday night; they expect a great
+majority.
+
+
+March 13th, 1833 {p.364}
+
+The second reading of the Coercive Bill has passed by a great
+majority after a dull debate, and the other night Althorp deeply
+offended Peel and the Tories by hurrying on the Church Reform
+Bill. It was to be printed one day, and the second reading taken
+two days after. They asked a delay of four or five days, and
+Althorp refused. He did very wrong; he is either bullied or
+cajoled into almost anything the Radicals want of this sort, but
+he is stout against the Tories. The delay is required by decency,
+but it ought to have been enough that Peel and the others asked
+it for him to concede it. He ought to soften the asperities which
+must long survive the battles of last year as much as he can, and
+avoid shocking what he may consider the prejudices of the
+vanquished party. It was worse than impolitic; it was stupid and
+uncourteous, and missing an opportunity of being gracious which
+he ought to have seized.
+
+[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM'S PRIVY COUNCIL BILL.]
+
+I have been again worried with a new edition of Brougham's Privy
+Council Bill,[2] and the difficulty of getting Lord Lansdowne to
+_do_ anything. This is the way Brougham goes to work:--He
+resolves to alter; he does not condescend to communicate with the
+Privy Council, or to consult those who are conversant with its
+practice, or who have been in the habit of administering justice
+there; he has not time to think of it himself; he tosses to one
+of his numerous _employés_ (for he has people without end working
+for him) his rough notion, and tells him to put it into shape;
+the satellite goes to work, always keeping in view the increase
+of the dignity, authority, and patronage of the Chancellor, and
+careless of the Council, the King, and the usages of the
+Constitution. What is called _the Bill_ is then, for form's sake,
+handed over to the Lord President (Lord Lansdowne), with
+injunctions to let nobody see it, as if he was conspiring against
+the Council, secure that if he meets with no resistance but what
+is engendered by Lord Lansdowne's opposition he may enact
+anything he pleases. Lord Lansdowne sends it to me (a long Act of
+Parliament), with a request that I will return it '_by the
+bearer_,' with any remarks I may have to make on it. The end is
+that I am left, _quantum impar_, to fight this with the
+Chancellor.
+
+      [2] [This was the Bill for the establishment of a Judicial
+          Committee of the Privy Council, which eventually became
+          the Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., cap. 41, and definitively
+          created that tribunal. Mr. Greville objected to several
+          of the provisions of the measure, because he regarded
+          them as an unnecessary interference of Parliament with
+          the authority of the Sovereign in his Council. The
+          Sovereign might undoubtedly have created a Committee of
+          the judicial members of the Privy Council: but the Bill
+          went further, and by extending and defining the power
+          of the Judicial Committee as a Court of Appeal it
+          undoubtedly proved a very useful and important
+          measure.]
+
+
+March 15th, 1833 {p.365}
+
+Ministerial changes are going on; Durham is out, and to be made
+an earl. Yesterday his elevation was known, and it is amusing
+enough that the same day an incident should have occurred in the
+House of Lords exhibiting in a good light the worthiness of the
+subject, and how much he merits it at the hands of Lord Grey.
+
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+March 29th, 1833 {p.365}
+
+Lord Goderich is Privy Seal,[3] and Stanley Secretary for the
+Colonies, after much trouble. Last year a positive pledge was
+given to Stanley that he should not meet Parliament again but as
+Secretary of State. It was not, however, specified who was to
+make room for him. The Cabinet settled that it should be
+Goderich, when Durham went out, and Palmerston was charged with
+the office of breaking it to Goderich with the offer of an
+earldom by way of gilding the pill, but Goderich would not hear
+of it, said it would look like running away from the Slave
+question, and, in short, flatly refused. Stanley threatened to
+resign if he was not promoted, and in this dilemma the Duke of
+Richmond (who was going to Windsor) persuaded Lord Grey to let
+him lay the case before the King, and inform him that if this
+arrangement was not made the Government must be broken up. He did
+so, and the King acquiesced, and at the same time a similar
+representation was made to Goderich, who after a desperate
+resistance knocked under, and said that if it must be so he would
+yield, but _only_ to the King's express commands.
+
+      [3] [Down to this time Lord Goderich had been Secretary for
+          the Colonial Department in Lord Grey's Government.]
+
+
+March 30th, 1833 {p.366}
+
+Saw Madame de Lieven yesterday, who told me the story of the late
+business at St. Petersburg. The Sultan after the battle of Koniah
+applied to the Emperor of Russia for succour, who ordered twelve
+sail of the line and 30,000 men to go to the protection of
+Constantinople. At the same time General Mouravieff was sent to
+Constantinople, with orders to proceed to Alexandria and inform
+the Pacha that the Emperor could only look upon him as a rebel,
+that he would not suffer the Ottoman Empire to be overturned, and
+that if Ibrahim advanced 'il aurait affaire à l'Empereur de
+Russie.' Orders were accordingly sent to Ibrahim to suspend his
+operations, and Mouravieff returned to Constantinople. Upon the
+demand for succour by the Sultan, and the Emperor's compliance
+with it, notification was made to all the Courts, and instructions
+were given to the Russian commanders to retire as soon as the
+Sultan should have no further occasion for their aid. So
+satisfactory was this that Lord Grey expressed the greatest
+anxiety that the Russian armament should arrive in time to arrest
+the progress of the Egyptians. They did arrive--at least the fleet
+did--and dropped anchor under the Seraglio. At this juncture
+arrived Admiral Roussin in a ship of war, and as Ambassador of
+France. He immediately informed the Sultan that the interposition
+of Russia was superfluous, that he would undertake to conclude a
+treaty, and to answer for the acquiescence of the Pacha, and he
+sent a project one article of which was that the Russian fleet
+should instantly withdraw. To this proposition the Sultan acceded,
+and without waiting for the Pacha's confirmation he notified to
+the Russian Ambassador that he had no longer any wish for the
+presence of the Russian fleet, and they accordingly weighed anchor
+and sailed away. This is all that is known of the transaction, but
+Madame de Lieven was loud and vehement about the insolence of
+Roussin; she said the Emperor would demand 'une satisfaction
+éclatante'--'le rappel et le désaveu de l'amiral Roussin,' and
+that if this should be refused the Russian Ambassador would be
+ordered to quit Paris. She waits with great anxiety to see the end
+of the business, for on it appears to depend the question of peace
+or war with France. She said that the day before Namik went away
+intelligence of this event arrived, which Palmerston communicated
+to him. The Turk heard it very quietly, and then only said, 'Et où
+était l'Angleterre dans tout ceci?'
+
+[Page Head: PRECARIOUS STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+I have heard to-night the Goderich version of his late
+translation. He had agreed to remain in the Cabinet without an
+office, but Lord Grey insisted on his taking the Privy Seal, and
+threatened to resign if he did not; he was at last _bullied_ into
+acquiescence, and when he had his audience of the King his
+Majesty offered him anything he had to give. He said he had made
+the sacrifice to please and serve him, and would take nothing. An
+earldom--he refused; the Bath--ditto; _the Garter_--that he said
+he would take. It was then discovered that he was not of rank
+sufficient, when he said he would take the earldom in order to
+qualify himself for the Garter, and so it stands. There is no
+Garter vacant, and one supernumerary already, and Castlereagh and
+Lord North, viscounts, and Sir Robert Walpole (all Commoners) had
+blue ribands!
+
+
+London, April 28th, 1833 {p.368}
+
+Came to town last night from Newmarket, and the intervening week at
+Buckenham. Nothing but racing and hawking; a wretched life--that is,
+a life of amusement, but very unprofitable and discreditable to
+anybody who can do better things. Of politics I know nothing during
+this interval, but on coming to town find all in confusion, and
+everybody gaping for 'what next.' Government was beaten on the Malt
+Tax, and Lord Grey proposed to resign; the Tories are glad that the
+Government is embarrassed, no matter how, the supporters sorry and
+repentant, so that it is very clear the matter will be patched up;
+they won't budge, and will probably get more regular support for the
+future. Perhaps Althorp will go, but where to find a Chancellor of
+the Exchequer will be the difficulty. Poulett Thomson wants it, but
+they will not dare commit the finances of the country to him, so we
+go scrambling on 'du jour la journée.' Nobody knows what is to
+happen next--no confidence, no security, great talk of a property
+tax, to which, I suppose, after wriggling about, we shall at last
+come.
+
+
+May 2nd, 1833 {p.368}
+
+The Government affair is patched up, and nobody goes but
+Hobhouse,[4] who thought fit to resign both his seat in
+Parliament and his office, thereby creating another great
+embarrassment, which can only be removed by his re-election and
+re-appointment, and then, what a farce!
+
+      [4] [Sir John Hobhouse, who had consented to take the Irish
+          Secretaryship a month before, resigned now because he
+          felt unable to oppose a resolution for the abolition of
+          the window duties; and resigning office he resigned his
+          seat for Westminster also, and was not re-elected. See
+          in the 'Edinburgh Review,' April 1871 (No. 272), an
+          account of this transaction.]
+
+[Page Head: EMBARRASSMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+There were two great majorities in the House of Commons the night
+before last. The King was all graciousness and favour to Lord
+Grey, and so they are set up again, and fancy themselves stronger
+than before. But although everybody (except the fools) wished them
+to be re-established, it was evident that this was only because,
+at this moment, the time is not ripe for a change, for they
+inspired no interest either individually or collectively. It was
+easy to see that the Government has no consideration, and that
+people are getting tired of their blunders and embarrassments, and
+begin to turn their eyes to those who are more capable, and know
+something of the business of Government--to Peel and to Stanley,
+for the former, in spite of his cold, calculating selfishness and
+duplicity, is the ablest man there is, and we must take what we
+can get, and accept services without troubling ourselves about the
+motives of those who supply them. It must come to this conclusion
+unless the reign of Radicalism and the authority of the Humes 'et
+hoc genus omne' is to be substituted. That the present Government
+loses ground every day is perfectly clear, and at the same time
+that the fruits of the Reform Bill become more lamentably
+apparent. The scrape Government lately got into was owing partly
+to the votes that people were obliged to give to curry favour with
+their constituents, and partly to negligence and carelessness in
+whipping in. Hobhouse's resignation is on account of his pledges,
+and because he is forced to pledge himself on the hustings he
+finds himself placed in a situation which compels him to save his
+honour and consistency by embarrassing the public service to the
+greatest degree at a very critical time. Men go on asking one
+another how is it possible the country can be governed in this
+manner, and nobody can reply.
+
+Since I have been out of town the appeal against the Chancellor's
+judgment in the Drax (lunacy) case has been heard at the Privy
+Council, and will be finally determined on Saturday.[5] Two years
+have nearly elapsed since that case was lodged, and the Chancellor
+has always found pretexts for getting the hearing postponed; at
+length the parties became so clamorous that it was necessary to fix
+a day. He then endeavoured to pack a committee, and spoke to Lord
+Lansdowne about summoning Lord Plunket, Lord Lyndhurst, and the
+Vice-Chancellor, but Leach, who hates Brougham, and is particularly
+nettled at his having reversed some of his judgments, bestirred
+himself, and represented to Lord Lansdowne the absolute necessity
+(in a case of such consequence) of having all the ex-Chancellors to
+hear it. Plunket was gone to Ireland, so the Committee consisted of
+the Lord President, the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Master of the
+Rolls, Lords Eldon, Lyndhurst, and Manners. They say the argument
+was very able--Sugden in support of the Chancellor's judgment, and
+Pemberton against it; they expect it will be reversed. Leach,
+foolishly enough, by question and observation, exhibited a strong
+bias against the Chancellor, who never said a word, and appeared
+very calm and easy, but with rage in his heart, for he was indignant
+at these Lords having been summoned (as his secretary told
+Lennard[6]), and said 'he was sure it was all Leach's doing.' What a
+man! how wonderful! how despicable! carrying into the administration
+of justice the petty vanity, personal jealousy and pique, and
+shuffling arts that would reflect ridicule and odium on a silly
+woman of fashion. He has smuggled his Privy Council Bill through the
+House of Lords without the slightest notice or remark.
+
+      [5] [An appeal lies to the King in Council from orders of
+          the Lord Chancellor in lunacy, but there are very few
+          examples of the prosecution of appeals of this nature.
+          This case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, which is reported in
+          'Knapp's Privy Council Cases,' was therefore one of
+          great peculiarity. The Bill constituting the Judicial
+          Committee had not at this time become law; this appeal
+          was therefore heard by a Committee of the Lords of the
+          Council, to which any member of the Privy Council might
+          be summoned. Care was taken that the highest legal
+          authorities should be present. It was the last time
+          Lord Eldon sat in a court of law. Lord Brougham, the
+          Chancellor, sat on the Committee, although the appeal
+          was brought from an order made by himself: this
+          practice had not been uncommon in the House of Lords,
+          but it had not been the practice of the Privy Council,
+          where indeed the case could seldom arise.]
+
+      [6] [John Barrett Lennard, Esq., was Chief Clerk of the
+          Council Office.]
+
+
+May 16th, 1833 {p.370}
+
+On coming to town found the Westminster election just over, and
+Evans returned. They would not hear Hobhouse, and pelted him and
+his friends. No Secretary for Ireland is to be found, for the man
+must be competent, and sure of re-election. Few are the first and
+none the last. Hobhouse is generally censured for having put
+Government in this great difficulty, but the Tories see it all
+with a sort of grim satisfaction, and point at it as a happy
+illustration of the benefits of the Reform Bill. I point too, but
+I don't rejoice.
+
+[Page Head: SLAVE EMANCIPATION.]
+
+At the same time with Hobhouse's defeat came forth Stanley's plan
+for slave emancipation, which produced rage and fury among both
+West Indians and Saints, being too much for the former and not
+enough for the latter, and both announced their opposition to it.
+Practical men declare that it is impossible to carry it into
+effect, and that the details are unmanageable. Even the Government
+adherents do not pretend that it is a good and safe measure, but
+the best that could be hit off under the circumstances; these
+circumstances being the old motive, 'the people will have it.' The
+night before last Stanley developed his plan in the House of
+Commons in a speech of three hours, which was very eloquent, but
+rather disappointing. He handled the preliminary topics of horrors
+of slavery and colonial obstinacy and misconduct with all the
+vigour and success that might have been expected, but when he came
+to his measure he failed to show how it was to be put in operation
+and to work. The peroration and eulogy on Wilberforce were very
+brilliant. Howick had previously announced his intention of
+opposing Stanley, and accordingly he did so in a speech of
+considerable vehemence which lasted two hours. He was not,
+however, well received; his father and mother had in vain
+endeavoured to divert him from his resolution; but though they say
+his speech was clever, he has damaged himself by it. His plan is
+immediate emancipation.[7]
+
+      [7] [The result proved that Lord Howick was right. The
+          apprenticeship system proposed by Lord Stanley was
+          carried, but failed in execution, and was eventually
+          abandoned.]
+
+While such is the state of things here--enormous interests under
+discussion, great disquietude and alarm, no feeling of security,
+no confidence in the Government, and a Parliament that inspires
+fear rather than hope--matters abroad seem to be no better
+managed than they are at home. It is remarkable that the business
+in the East has escaped with so little animadversion, for there
+never was a fairer object of attack. While France has been
+vapouring, and we have been doing nothing at all, Russia has
+established her own influence in Turkey, and made herself
+virtually mistress of the Ottoman Empire. At a time when our
+interests required that we should be well represented, and
+powerfully supported, we had neither an Ambassador nor a fleet in
+the Mediterranean; and because Lord Ponsonby is Lord Grey's
+brother-in-law he has been able with impunity to dawdle on months
+after months at Naples for his pleasure, and leave affairs at
+Constantinople to be managed or mismanaged by a Chargé d'Affaires
+who is altogether incompetent.
+
+
+May 19th, 1833 {p.372}
+
+[Page Head: RESPECT SHOWN TO WELLINGTON.]
+
+They have found a Secretary for Ireland in the person of
+Littleton,[8] which shows to what shifts they are put. He is rich,
+which is his only qualification, being neither very able nor very
+popular. The West India question is postponed. The Duke of
+Wellington told me that he thought it would pass away for this
+time, and that all parties would be convinced of the impracticability
+of any of the plans now mooted. I said that nothing could do away
+the mischief that had been done by broaching it. He thought 'the
+mischief might be avoided;' but then these people do nothing to
+avoid any mischief. I was marvellously struck (we rode together
+through St. James's Park) with the profound respect with which the
+Duke was treated, everybody we met taking off their hats to him,
+everybody in the park rising as he went by, and every appearance
+of his inspiring great reverence. I like this symptom, and it is
+the more remarkable because it is not _popularity_, but a much
+higher feeling towards him. He has forfeited his popularity more
+than once; he has taken a line in politics directly counter to the
+popular bias; but though in moments of excitement he is attacked
+and vilified (and his broken windows, which I wish he would mend,
+still preserve a record of the violence of the mob), when the
+excitement subsides there is always a returning sentiment of
+admiration and respect for him, kept alive by the recollection of
+his splendid actions, such as no one else ever inspired. Much,
+too, as I have regretted and censured the enormous errors of his
+political career (at times), I believe that this sentiment is in a
+great degree produced by the justice which is done to his
+political character, sometimes mistaken, but always high-minded
+and patriotic, and never mean, false, or selfish. If he has aimed
+at power, and overrated his own capacity for wielding it, it has
+been with the purest intentions and the most conscientious views.
+I believe firmly that no man had ever at heart to a greater degree
+the honour and glory of his country; and hereafter, when justice
+will be done to his memory, and his character and conduct be
+scanned with impartial eyes, if his capacity for government
+appears unequal to the exigencies of the times in which he was
+placed at the head of affairs, the purity of his motives and the
+noble character of his ambition will be amply acknowledged.
+
+      [8] [The Rt. Hon. E. J. Littleton, M.P. for Staffordshire,
+          and afterwards first Lord Hatherton.
+              It was Lord John Russell who advised Lord Grey to
+          make Littleton Irish Secretary. He told me so in May
+          1871, but added, 'I think I made a mistake.' The
+          appointment was wholly unsolicited and unexpected by
+          Mr. Littleton himself, who happened to be laid up at
+          the time by an accident. On the receipt of the letter
+          from Lord Grey offering him the Secretaryship of
+          Ireland, and requesting him to take it, Mr. Littleton
+          consulted Mr. Fazakerly, who was of opinion that he
+          ought to accept the offer. This therefore he did,
+          though not, as I know from his own journals, without
+          great diffidence and hesitation; and he intimated to
+          Lord Grey that he would only retain his office until
+          some other man could be found to accept it.]
+
+The Duke of Orleans is here, and very well received by the Court
+and the world. He is good-looking, dull, has good manners and
+little conversation, goes everywhere, and dances all night. At
+the ball at Court the Queen waltzed with the two Dukes of Orleans
+and Brunswick.
+
+Peel compelled old Cobbett to bring on his motion for getting him
+erased from the Privy Council, which Cobbett wished to shirk
+from. He gave him a terrible dressing, and it all went off for
+Peel in the most flattering way. He gains every day more
+authority and influence in the House of Commons. It must end in
+Peel and Stanley, unless everything ends.
+
+
+May 27th, 1833 {p.373}
+
+[Page Head: ANECDOTE OF THE DERBY.]
+
+All last week at Epsom, and now, thank God, these races are over.
+I have had all the trouble and excitement and worry, and have
+neither won nor lost; nothing but the hope of gain would induce
+me to go through this demoralising drudgery, which I am conscious
+reduces me to the level of all that is most disreputable and
+despicable, for my thoughts are eternally absorbed by it.
+Jockeys, trainers, and blacklegs are my companions, and it is
+like dram-drinking; having once entered upon it I cannot leave it
+off, though I am disgusted with the occupation all the time. Let
+no man who has no need, who is not in danger of losing all he
+has, and is not obliged to grasp at every chance, _make a book_
+on the Derby. While the fever it excites is raging, and the odds
+are varying, I can neither read, nor write, nor occupy myself
+with anything else. I went to the Oaks on Wednesday, where Lord
+Stanley kept house for the first, and probably (as the house is
+for sale) for the last time. It is a very agreeable place, with
+an odd sort of house built at different times and by different
+people; but the outside is covered with ivy and creepers, which
+is pretty, and there are two good living-rooms in it. Besides
+this, there is an abundance of grass and shade; it has been for
+thirty or forty years the resort of all our old jockeys, and is
+now occupied by the sporting portion of the Government. We had
+Lord Grey and his daughter, Duke and Duchess of Richmond, Lord
+and Lady Errol, Althorp, Graham, Uxbridge, Charles Grey, Duke of
+Grafton, Lichfield, and Stanley's brothers. It passed off very
+well--racing all the morning, an excellent dinner, and whist and
+blind hookey in the evening. It was curious to see Stanley. Who
+would believe they beheld the orator and statesman, only second,
+if second, to Peel in the House of Commons, and on whom the
+destiny of the country perhaps depends? There he was, as if he
+had no thoughts but for the turf, full of the horses, interest in
+the lottery, eager, blunt, noisy, good-humoured, 'has meditans
+nugas et _totus in illis_;' at night equally devoted to the play,
+as if his fortune depended on it. Thus can a man relax whose
+existence is devoted to great objects and serious thoughts. I had
+considerable hopes of winning the Derby, but was beaten easily,
+my horse not being good. An odd circumstance occurred to me
+before the race. Payne told me in strict confidence that a man
+who could not appear on account of his debts, and who had been,
+much connected with turf robberies, came to him, and entreated
+him to take the odds for him to £1,000 about a horse for the
+Derby, and deposited a note in his hand for the purpose. He told
+him half the horses were made safe, and that it was arranged this
+one was to win. After much delay, and having got his promise to
+lay out the money, he told him it was my horse. He did back the
+horse for the man for £700, but the same person told him if my
+horse _could_ not win Dangerous would, and he backed the latter
+likewise for £100, by which his friend was saved, and won £800.
+He did not tell me his name, nor anything more, except that his
+object was, if he had won, to pay his creditors, and he had
+authorised Payne to retain the money, if he won it, for that
+purpose.
+
+We heard, while at the Oaks, that M. Dedel had signed the
+convention between France, England, and Holland, on which all the
+funds rose. The King of Holland's ratification was still to be
+got, and many people will not believe in that till they see it.
+
+
+June 3rd, 1833 {p.375}
+
+The Government are in high spirits. The Saints have given in
+their adhesion to Stanley's plan, and they expect to carry the
+West India question. The Bank measure has satisfied the
+directors, and most people, except Peel. The Duke of Wellington
+told me he was very well satisfied, but that _they_ had intended
+to make better terms with the Bank, and he thought they should
+have done so. Melbourne says, 'Now that we are as much hated as
+they were, we shall stay in for ever.'
+
+As I came into town (having come by the steamboat from Margate
+very luxuriously) on Saturday I found a final meeting at the
+Council Office to dispose of the lunacy case. It was so late when
+Horne finished his reply that I thought there was no chance of
+any discussion, and I did not go in; but I met the Master of the
+Rolls afterwards, who told me they had delivered their opinions,
+Lord Eldon cautiously, he himself 'broadly,' which I will be
+bound he did (for he hates Brougham), and that, though no
+judgment had been yet given, the Chancellor's decree would be
+reversed; so that after all Brougham's wincing and wriggling to
+this he has been forced to submit at last.
+
+
+London, June 11th, 1833 {p.376}
+
+At a place called Buckhurst all last week for the Ascot races; a
+party at Lichfield's, racing all the morning, then eating and
+drinking, and play at night. I may say, with more truth than
+anybody, 'Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor.' The weather
+was charming, the course crowded, the King received decently. His
+household is now so ill managed that his grooms were drunk every
+day, and one man (who was sober) was killed going home from the
+races. Goodwin told me nobody exercised any authority, and the
+consequence was that the household all ran riot.
+
+[Page Head: TORY BLUNDERS.]
+
+The first day of the races arrived the news that the Duke of
+Wellington, after making a strong muster, had beaten the
+Government in the House of Lords on the question of Portuguese
+neutrality and Don Miguel, that Lord Grey had announced that he
+considered it a vote of censure, and threw out a sort of threat
+of resigning. He and Brougham (after a Cabinet) went down to the
+King. The King was very much annoyed at this fresh dilemma into
+which the Tories had brought him, and consented to whatever Lord
+Grey required. In the meantime the House of Commons flew to arms,
+and Colonel Dawes gave notice of a motion of confidence in
+Ministers upon their foreign policy. This was carried by an
+immense majority after a weak debate, in which some very cowardly
+menaces were thrown out against the Bishops, and this settled the
+question. Ministers did not resign, no Peers were made, and
+everything goes on as before. It has been, however, a disastrous
+business. How the Duke of Wellington could take this course after
+the conversation I had with him in this room, when he told me he
+would support the Government because he wished it to be _strong_,
+I can't conceive. At all events he seems resolved that his
+Parliamentary victories should be as injurious as his military
+ones were glorious to his country. Some of his friends say that
+he was _provoked_ by Lord Grey's supercilious answer to him the
+other day, when he said he knew nothing of what was going on but
+from what he read in the newspapers, others that he 'feels so
+very strongly' about Portugal, others that he cannot manage the
+Tories, and that they were determined to fight; in short, that he
+has not the same authority as leader of a party that he had as
+general of an army, for nobody would have forced him to fight the
+battle of Salamanca or Vittoria if he had not fancied it himself.
+The effect, however, has been this: the House of Lords has had a
+rap on the knuckles from the King, their legislative functions
+are practically in abeyance, and his Majesty is more tied than
+ever to his Ministers. The House of Lords is paralysed; it exists
+upon sufferance, and cannot venture to throw out or materially
+alter any Bill (such as the India, Bank, Negro, Church Reform,
+&c.) which may come up to it without the certainty of being
+instantly swamped, and the measures, however obnoxious, crammed
+down its throat. This Government has lost ground in public
+opinion, they were daily falling lower, and these predestinated
+idiots come and bolster them up just when they most want it.
+Tavistock acknowledged to me that they were unpopular, and that
+this freak had been of vast service to them; consequently they
+are all elated to the greatest degree. The Tories are sulky and
+crestfallen; moderate men are vexed, disappointed, grieved; and
+the Radicals stand grinning by, chuckling at the sight of the
+Conservatives (at least those who so call themselves, and those
+who must be so _really_) cutting each others' throats.
+
+[Page Head: LORD ELDON'S GREAT CAREER.]
+
+On Saturday, the day after I came back, I found a final meeting at
+the Council Office on the lunacy case, the appeal of Grosvenor
+against Drax. There were Lord Lansdowne, the Chancellor,
+Vice-Chancellor, Master of the Rolls, Lord Manners, Lord Eldon,
+and Lord Lyndhurst. The rule is that the President of the Council
+collects the opinions and votes, beginning with the junior Privy
+Councillor. This was the Chancellor,[9] who made a sort of apology
+for his judgment, stating that he had made the order just after
+two or three very flagrant cases of a similar description had been
+brought under his notice, and then he went into this case, and
+endeavoured to show that there was fraud (and intentional fraud)
+on the part of the Grosvenors, and he maintained, without
+insisting on, and very mildly, his own former view of the case.
+Leach then made a speech strongly against the judgment, and Lord
+Eldon made a longish speech, very clear, and very decided against
+it, interlarded with professions of his 'sincere' respect for the
+person who delivered the judgment. The Chancellor did not reply to
+Lord Eldon, but put some questions--some hypothetical, and some
+upon parts of the case itself--which, together with some remarks,
+brought on a discussion between him and Leach, in which the latter
+ended by lashing himself into a rage. 'My Lord,' said he to the
+Chancellor, 'we talk too much, and we don't stick to the point.'
+Brougham put on one of his scornful smiles, and in reply to
+something (I forget what) that the Vice-Chancellor said he dropped
+in his sarcastic tone that he would do so and so 'if his Honour
+would permit.' For a moment I thought there would be a breeze, but
+it ended without any vote, in the adoption of a form of reversal
+suggested by Lord Eldon, which left it to the option of the
+respondent to institute other proceedings if he should think fit.
+Afterwards all was harmony. Eldon seemed tolerably fresh, feeble,
+but clear and collected. He was in spirits about the dinner which
+had just been given him by the Templars, at which he was received
+with extraordinary honours. He said he hoped never to be called to
+the Council Board again, and this was probably the last occasion
+on which he will have to appear in a judicial capacity. It is
+remarkable that his last act should be to reverse a judgment of
+Brougham's, Brougham being Chancellor and himself nothing. I could
+not help looking with something like emotion at this extraordinary
+old man, and reflecting upon his long and laborious career, which
+is terminating gently and by almost insensible gradations, in a
+manner more congenial to a philosophic mind than to an ambitious
+spirit. As a statesman and a politician he has survived and
+witnessed the ruin of his party and the subversion of those
+particular institutions to which he tenaciously clung, and which
+his prejudices or his wisdom made him think indispensable to the
+existence of the Constitution. As an individual his destiny has
+been happier, for he has preserved the strength of his body and
+the vigour of his mind far beyond the ordinary period allotted to
+man, he is adorned with honours and blessed with wealth sufficient
+for the aspirations of pride and avarice, and while the lapse of
+time has silenced the voice of envy, and retirement from office
+has mitigated the rancour of political hostility, his great and
+acknowledged authority as a luminary of the law shines forth with
+purer lustre. He enjoys, perhaps, the most perfect reward of his
+long life of labour and study--a foretaste of posthumous honour
+and fame. He has lived to see his name venerated and his decisions
+received with profound respect, and he is departing in peace, with
+the proud assurance that he has left to his country a mighty
+legacy of law and secured to himself an imperishable fame.
+
+      [9] [This must be a mistake. The Chancellor takes rank in
+          the Privy Council after the Lord President and before
+          everyone else. Lord Brougham was junior Privy
+          Councillor in mere seniority, but his office gave him
+          rank over the others present. His opinion was probably
+          taken first out of compliment to him, as he had made
+          the order under review.]
+
+
+June 15th, 1833 {p.379}
+
+The day before yesterday I had occasion to see the Duke of
+Wellington about the business in which we are joint trustees, and
+when we had done I said, 'Well, that business in the House of
+Lords turned out ill the other day.' 'No; do you think so?' he
+said, and then he went into the matter. He said that he was
+compelled to make the motion by the answer Lord Grey gave to his
+question a few nights before; that his party in the House of Lords
+would not be satisfied without dividing--they had been impatient
+to attack the Government, and were not to be restrained; that on
+the question itself they were _right_; that so far from his doing
+harm to the Government, if they availed themselves wisely of the
+defeat they might turn it to account in the House of Commons, and
+so far it was of use to them, as it afforded a convincing proof to
+their supporters that the House of Lords might be depended upon
+for good purposes, and they might demand of their supporters in
+the other House that they should enable them to carry good
+measures, and they keep the House of Commons in harmony with the
+House of Lords. He said the Government would make no Peers, and
+that they _could not_; that the Tories were by no means frightened
+or disheartened, and meant to take the first opportunity of
+showing fight again; in short, he seemed not dissatisfied with
+what had already occurred, and resolved to pursue the same course.
+He said the Tories were indignant at the idea of being compelled
+to keep quiet, and that if they were to be swamped the sooner it
+was done the better, and that they would not give up their right
+to deal with any question they thought fit from any motive of
+expediency whatever.
+
+I don't know what to make of the Duke and his conduct. The
+Catholic question and the Corn Laws and Canning rise up before
+me, and make me doubt whether he is so pure in his views and so
+free from vindictive feelings as I thought and hoped he was. When
+Lords Grey and Brougham went down to the King after the defeat,
+they did not talk of Peers, and only proposed the short answer to
+the Lords, to which he consented at once. His Majesty was very
+indignant with the Duke, and said it was the second time he had
+got him into a scrape, he had made a fool of him last year, and
+now wanted to do the same thing again. Some pretend that all this
+indignation is simulated; the man is, I believe, more foolish
+than false.
+
+
+June 19th, 1833 {p.380}
+
+The King dined with the Duke at his Waterloo dinner yesterday,
+which does not look as if he had been so very angry with him as
+the Government people say. The Duke had his windows mended for
+the occasion, whether in honour of his Majesty or in consequence
+of H.B.'s caricature I don't know.
+
+I had a long conversation with Sir Willoughby Cotton on Sunday
+about Jamaica affairs. He is Commander-in-Chief, just come home,
+and just going out again. He told me what he had said to Stanley,
+which was to this effect: that the compensation would be esteemed
+munificent, greater by far than they had expected; that they had
+looked for a loan of fifteen millions at two per cent interest,
+but that the plan would be impracticable, and that sugar could
+not be cultivated after slavery ceased; that the slave would
+never understand the system of modified servitude by which he was
+to be nominally free and actually kept to labour, and that he
+would rebel against the magistrate who tried to force him to work
+more fiercely than against his master; that the magistrate would
+never be able to persuade the slaves in their new character of
+apprentices to work as heretofore, and the military who would be
+called in to assist them could do nothing. He asked Stanley if he
+intended, when the military were called in, that they should fire
+on or bayonet the refractory apprentices. He said no, they were
+to exhort them. He gave him to understand that in his opinion
+they could do nothing, and that the more the soldiers exhorted
+the more the slaves would not work. With regard to my own
+particular case he was rather encouraging than not, thought they
+would not molest me any more,[10] that the Assembly might try and
+get me out, but that the Council considered it matter of loyalty
+to the King not to force out the Clerk of his Privy Council, but
+that if anything more was said about it, and I went out to
+Jamaica, I might be sure of getting leave again in a month or six
+weeks.
+
+     [20] [This refers to Mr. Greville's holding the office of
+          Secretary of the Island of Jamaica with permanent leave
+          of absence. The work of the office was done by a
+          deputy, who was paid by a share of the emoluments which
+          were in the shape of fees.]
+
+
+June 26th, 1833 {p.381}
+
+[Page Head: IRISH CHURCH BILL.]
+
+This morning at six saw my mother and Henry start for the
+steamboat which is to take them abroad. I wish I was going with
+them, and was destined once more to see Rome and Naples, which I
+fear will never be. Last week was marked by a division in the
+House of Commons which made a great noise. It was on that clause
+of the Irish Church Bill which declared that the surplus should
+be appropriated by Parliament, and Stanley thought fit to leave
+out the clause. The Tories supported him; the Radicals and many
+of the Whigs--Abercromby and C. Russell among the number--opposed
+him. The minority was strong--148--but the fury it excited among
+many of the friends of Government is incredible, and the Tories
+were very triumphant without being at all conciliated. The
+Speaker said he should not be surprised to see the Bill thrown
+out by the junction of the Tories and Radicals on the third
+reading, which is not likely, and the suppression of this clause,
+which after all leaves the matter just as it was, will probably
+carry it through the House of Lords. It is, however, very
+questionable whether they were right in withdrawing it, and
+Tavistock told me that though he thought it was _right_ it was
+ill done, and had given great offence. Somehow or other Stanley,
+with all his talents, makes a mess of everything, but this comes
+of being (what the violent Whigs suspect him of being) half a
+Tory. Measures are concocted upon ultra principles in the
+Cabinet, and then as his influence is exerted, and his wishes are
+obliged to be consulted, they are modified and altered, and this
+gives a character of vacillation to the conduct of Government,
+and exhibits a degree of weakness and infirmity of purpose which
+prevents their being strong or popular or respectable. Nobody,
+however, can say that they are obstinate, for they are eternally
+giving way to somebody. In the House of Lords there was a sharp
+skirmish between Brougham and Lyndhurst, and high Parliamentary
+words passed between these 'noble friends' on the Local Courts
+Bill. The Tories did not go down to support Lyndhurst, which
+provoked him, and Brougham was nettled by his and old Eldon's
+attacks on the Bill.
+
+There is great talk of a letter which the King is said to have
+written to the bishops--that is, to the Archbishop for the
+edification of the episcopal bench. It is hardly credible that he
+and Taylor should have been guilty of this folly, after the
+letter which they wrote to the Peers a year and a half ago and
+the stir that it made.
+
+I have got from Sir Henry Lushington Monk Lewis's journals and his
+two voyages to the West Indies (one of which I read at Naples), with
+liberty to publish them, which I mean to do if I can get money
+enough for him. He says Murray offered him £500 for the manuscripts
+some years ago. I doubt getting so much now, but they are
+uncommonly amusing, and it is the right moment for publishing them
+now that people are full of interest about the West India question.
+I was very well amused last week at the bazaar in Hanover Square,
+when a sale was held on four successive days by the fine ladies for
+the benefit of the foreigners in distress. It was like a masquerade
+without masks, for everybody--men, women, and children--roved about
+where they would, everybody talking to everybody, and vast
+familiarity established between perfect strangers under the guise of
+barter. The Queen's stall was held by Ladies Howe and Denbigh, with
+her three prettiest maids of honour, Miss Bagot dressed like a
+soubrette and looking like an angel. They sold all sorts of trash at
+enormous prices, and made, I believe, four or five thousand pounds.
+I went on Monday to hear Lushington speak in the cause of Swift and
+Kelly. He spoke for three hours--an excellent speech. I sat by Mr.
+Swift all the time; he is not ill-looking, but I should think
+vulgar, and I'm sure impudent, for the more Lushington abused him
+the more he laughed.
+
+
+June 28th, 1833 {p.383}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING WRITES TO THE ARCHBISHOP.]
+
+The King did write to the Archbishop of Canterbury a severe
+reproof to be communicated to the bishops for having voted against
+his Government upon a question purely political (the Portuguese),
+in which the interests of the Church were in no way concerned. He
+sent a copy of the letter to Lord Grey, and Brougham told Sefton
+and Wharncliffe the contents, both of whom told me. It is
+remarkable that nothing has been said upon the subject in the
+House of Lords. The Archbishop, the most timid of mankind, had the
+prudence (I am told) to abstain from communicating the letter to
+the bishops, and held a long consultation with the Archbishop of
+York as to the mode of dealing with this puzzling document. If he
+had communicated it, he would as a Privy Councillor have been
+responsible for it, but what answer he made to the King I know
+not. Never was there such a proceeding, so unconstitutional, so
+foolish; but his Ministers do not seem to mind it, and are rather
+elated at such a signal proof of his disposition to support them.
+I think, as far as being a discouragement to the Tories, and
+putting an end to their notion that he is hankering after them, it
+may be of use, and it is probably true that he does not wish for a
+change, but on the contrary dreads it. He naturally dreads
+whatever is likely to raise a storm about his ears and interrupt
+his repose.
+
+Lyndhurst is in such a rage at his defeat in the House of Lords on
+the Local Courts Bill that he swore at first he would never come
+there again. What he said--that 'if they had considered it a party
+question the result would have been very different,' which Brougham
+unaccountably took for a threat against the Government--was levelled
+at his own Tory friends for not supporting him. On the third reading
+they mean to have another fight about it. I understand the lawyers
+that the Bill is very objectionable, and calculated to degrade the
+profession. I sat by Talleyrand at dinner the day before yesterday,
+who told me a good deal about Mirabeau, but as he had a bad cold, in
+addition to his usual mode of pumping up his words from the
+bottomest pit of his stomach, it was next to impossible to
+understand him. He said Mirabeau was really intimate with three
+people only--himself, Narbonne, and Lauzun--that Auguste d'Aremberg
+was the negotiator of the Court and medium of its communications
+with Mirabeau; that he had found (during the provisional Government)
+a receipt of Mirabeau's for a million, which he had given to Louis
+XVIII.
+
+
+
+
+                    END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
+
+
+                        LONDON: PRINTED BY
+             SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
+                      AND PARLIAMENT STREET
+
+
+
+
+                              INDEX.
+
+
+Abercromby, Right Hon. James, proposed as Speaker, ii. 333;
+  Master of the Mint, iii. 95; proposed as Speaker, 201; the
+  Speakership, 204; elected Speaker, 213
+
+Aberdeen, Earl of, Duchy of Lancaster, i. 124; motion about
+  Belgium, ii. 238
+
+Achmet Pacha, concludes a treaty with Russia, iii. 69
+
+Adair, Right Hon. Sir Robert, sworn in Privy Councillor, i. 136
+
+Addington, Henry Unwin, recalled from Madrid, iii. 14
+
+Address, proposed amendment to the, iii. 217
+
+Adelaide, Queen, ii. 7; at the Ancient Concert, 133; mobbed in
+  the City, 141; audience of, about the crown, 179; coronation
+  of, 190; Lord Howe, 338; yacht, iii. 99; return of, 125;
+  illness of, 125; supposed to be with child, 198, 199, 201
+
+Adrian's Villa, i. 377
+
+Agar Ellis, _see_ Dover, Lord
+
+Alava, General, and the Duke of Cumberland, iii. 275
+
+Albani, Cardinal, influence of, i. 310; conversation with, 373;
+  interview with, 380
+
+Albano, i. 331
+
+Alexander, Emperor of Russia, death of, i. 78; coronation of,
+  described by Talleyrand, ii. 185
+
+Allen, Dr., Bishop of Ely, iii. 363
+
+Allen, John, iii. 135; unbelief of, 324
+
+Althorp, Viscount, proposed as Chairman of the Finance Committee,
+  i. 120; Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 66, introduces the
+  budget, 114; leader of the House of Commons, 116, 200; letter
+  to Attwood, 205, 206; hurries on the Irish Church Bill, 364; as
+  Chancellor of the Exchequer, iii. 2; arrested by the
+  Sergeant-at-Arms, 56; financial statement, 60; defects as
+  leader, 62; summons a meeting of the supporters of Government,
+  92; resigns, 101; popularity of, 105; Chancellor of the
+  Exchequer under Lord Melbourne, 113; succeeds his father as
+  Earl Spencer, 140
+
+Alvanley, Lord, duel with Morgan O'Connell, ii. 257; on Irish
+  affairs, 348
+
+America, dispute with France, iii. 322
+
+Anglesey, Marquis of, recalled, i. 149; entry into Dublin, ii.
+  99; disputes with O'Connell, 106
+
+Antwerp, threatened bombardment of, by the Dutch, ii. 321; French
+  army marches to, 329
+
+Arbuthnot, Right Hon. Charles, nickname 'Gosh,' i. 103;
+  conversation with, on the Duke of Wellington's Administration,
+  ii. 51; conversation with, at Oatlands, 170
+
+Arbuthnot, Mrs., death of, iii. 116
+
+Arkwright, Sir Richard, fortunes of, iii. 50
+
+Arkwright, Mrs., visit to, iii. 49
+
+Arms Bill, the, ii. 196
+
+Arnold, Dr., proposed for a bishopric, iii. 325
+
+Artevelde, Philip van, iii. 114; discussed at Holland House, 128
+
+Ascot Races, 1831, ii. 147; 1833, 375
+
+Attwood, chairman of the Birmingham Union, ii. 205, 206;
+  proclamation against, 215
+
+Auckland, Lord, Board of Trade, ii. 66; First Lord of the
+  Admiralty, iii. 88, 113; on the state of affairs, 238; First
+  Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Melbourne's second
+  Administration, 256
+
+Augustus, Prince, of Prussia, ii. 319
+
+Austin, Mr. John, his work on Jurisprudence, iii. 138
+
+Austin, Mr. Charles, ii. 306
+
+Aylmer, Lord, recalled from Canada, iii. 394; the King's address
+  to him, 395
+
+
+Bachelor, valet to the Duke of York and to King George IV., i.
+  142, 143; conversation with, ii. 30
+
+Bagot, Lord, conduct to Lord Harrowby, ii. 253
+
+Baiæ, Bay of, i. 341
+
+Baring, House of, ii. 53
+
+Baring, Right Hon. Alexander, offered the Chancellorship of the
+  Exchequer, ii. 299; proposes a compromise with the ex-Ministers,
+  300
+
+Baring, Francis, Chairman of the West India Committee, iii. 279
+
+Barnes, Mr., editor of the 'Times,' ii. 97, 214; negotiations
+  with, for supporting the Government, iii. 155, 156, 157; dines
+  with Lord Lyndhurst, 167, 169; alarm of, at the prevailing
+  spirit, 188
+
+Barri, Madame du, ii. 219
+
+Barry, Dr., sent to Sunderland, ii. 216; report on cholera, 217
+
+Bath, Chapter of the Order of the, i. 254
+
+Bathurst, Earl, Lord President, i. 124; death of, iii. 115;
+  character of, 115
+
+Bathurst, Countess, conversation with, ii. 62
+
+Bathurst, Hon. William, appointed Clerk of the Council, ii. 61,
+  86; delay in appointment of, 74; sworn in Clerk of the Council,
+  94
+
+Bathurst, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. Seymour, death of, iii. 79
+
+Baudrand, General, ii. 33; reception of, 38
+
+Bazaar, in Hanover Square, ii. 383
+
+Beauclerc, Lord Aurelius, dances a country dance with the King,
+  ii. 341
+
+Belgian question, the, settlement of, ii. 314
+
+Belgium, revolution in, ii. 41; affairs of, 44; unsettled state
+  of, 69; deputation from, 160; fortresses of, 169; invaded by
+  the Dutch, 175; French army refuses to leave, 181; end of
+  hostilities with the Dutch, 184; Conference, 1832, 321
+
+Belmore, Earl of, Governor of Jamaica, i. 140, 147
+
+Belvoir Castle, iii. 46
+
+Benson, Canon, sermon at the Temple Church, ii. 113
+
+Bentinck, Right Hon. Lord William, desires to be appointed
+  Governor-General of India, i. 59; address to the electors of
+  Glasgow, iii. 339, 343; qualities of, 339; inscription on
+  monument in honour of, 340
+
+Bentinck, Lord Henry, quarrel with Sir Roger Gresley, ii. 148
+
+Bergara, Convention of, iii. 259
+
+Berri, Duchesse de, in La Vendée, ii. 322
+
+Berry, Miss, iii. 58
+
+Berryer, M., iii. 379; appearance of, 380
+
+Best, Right Hon. William Draper, _see_ Lord Wynford
+
+Bethnal Green, distress in, ii. 261
+
+Bexley, Lord, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i. 95
+
+Bickersteth, Henry, _see_ Lord Langdale
+
+Blacas, M. de, favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 305
+
+Black Book, the, ii. 79
+
+Bloomfield, Sir Benjamin, dismissal of, i. 55
+
+Blount, Rev. Mr., sermon, iii. 12
+
+Body-snatchers, ii. 227
+
+Bologna, i. 402
+
+Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon, in the 100 days, i. 24; campaigns
+  of, described by Marshal Marmont, ii. 35
+
+Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, Strasburg attempt, iii. 381
+
+Bonaparte, Joseph, at dinner at Lady Cork's, iii. 18
+
+Bonaparte, Lucien, introduced to the Duke of Wellington, iii. 11;
+  at dinner at Lady Cork's, 18
+
+Boodle's, dinner at, ii. 124
+
+Bosanquet, Right Hon. Sir John Bernard, sworn in a Privy
+  Councillor, iii. 30; Judge of the King's Bench, 71
+
+Boswell, 'Life of Johnson,' anecdotes lost, ii. 105
+
+Boulogne, iii. 388
+
+Bourbon, Duke de, death of, ii. 50
+
+Bourmont, Marshal de, marches on Lisbon, iii. 25
+
+Bourne, Right Hon. Sturges, Secretary of State for the Home
+  Department, i. 95
+
+Bowring, Dr., sent to Paris, ii. 219; satire of Moore on, 219;
+  career of, 220
+
+Bradshaw, Mrs., acting of, at Bridgewater House, ii. 353
+
+Brescia, i. 412
+
+Bretby, visit to, iii. 327; Chesterfield Papers, 327
+
+Bridgewater House, dramatic performances at, iii. 352, 355
+
+Bridgewater Election, iii. 398
+
+Brighton, the Court at, 1832, ii. 334; races, 1835, iii. 284
+
+Bristol, riots at, ii. 208
+
+Broglie, Duke de, conduct of, iii. 386
+
+Brooks's Club, iii. 320
+
+Brougham, Lord, attack upon, in 'Quarterly Review,' i. 16; speech
+  on the Queen's trial, 35; letter to the Queen, 57; character
+  of, 117; qualities of, ii. 18, 33; appointed Lord High
+  Chancellor, 65; discontent of, 65; social qualities of, 69;
+  anecdote of, 106; quarrel with Sugden, 106; correspondence with
+  Southey on rewards to literary men, 112; speech on Chancery
+  Reform, 118; domestic kindness of, 120; origin of
+  representation of Yorkshire, 125; as Lord Chancellor, 128; at
+  the Horse Guards, 129; as a judge, 145; at dinner at Hanbury's
+  brewery, 148; at the British Museum, 149; claims the old Great
+  Seal, 188; intention of sitting at the Privy Council, 223;
+  speech on the Russian Loan, 244; quarrel with Sugden, 312;
+  anecdote of, 314; Bill for creating a new Court of Appeal, 342;
+  Bill objected to, 344; Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
+  Bill, 365; sits on the case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, 370; as
+  Chancellor, iii. 22; anecdotes of Queen Caroline, 36; and Sir
+  William Horne, 67; meets Sir Thomas Denman in Bedfordshire, 71;
+  judicial changes, 71; defence of himself, 72; apology for, 76;
+  speech on Lord Wynford's Bill for the observance of the
+  Sabbath, 83; on the Pluralities Bill, 86; on the Irish Church,
+  94; and the 'Times,' 96; Lord Chancellor in Lord Melbourne's
+  Administration, 113; and Lord Westmeath, 119; conduct in the
+  Westmeath case, 119, 124; versatility of, 121; lines applied
+  to, 121; Greek epigrams, 121; ambition of, 122; in Scotland,
+  133; communicates to the 'Times' the fall of Lord Melbourne's
+  first Administration, 145; resigns the Great Seal, 156; takes
+  leave of the Bar, 156; asks for the Chief Baronship, 157;
+  anecdote, 232; conduct of, in the case of Swift _v._ Kelly,
+  260, 267; on the London University Charter, 261; judgment in
+  the case of Swift _v._ Kelly, 274; on the Corporation Bill,
+  286; violence in the House of Lords, 303; illness of, 329; and
+  Macaulay, 337, 338; at Queen Victoria's first Council, 408
+
+Brummel, 'Beau,' i. 282
+
+Brussels, disturbances at, ii. 40
+
+Buccleuch, Duke of, subscription to election expenses, iii. 182
+
+Budget, the, 1831, ii. 113
+
+Buller, James, death of, ii. 59
+
+Bülow, Baron von, on English affairs, iii. 211
+
+Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, iii. 348
+
+Bunsen, Baron, i. 315; career of, 327; on Roman affairs, 389
+
+Burdett, Sir Francis, returned for Westminster, 1837, iii. 398
+
+Burghersh, Lord, at Florence, i. 299; amateur opera, 301
+
+Burghersh, Lady, intercedes for a prisoner at the Old Bailey, ii.
+  85
+
+Burghley, party at, iii. 53
+
+Burke, Right Hon. Edmund, writings of, iii. 209; compared with
+  Mackintosh, 314
+
+Burke, Sir G., conversation with, on O'Connell, ii. 111
+
+Buxton, Fowell, dinner at the brewery, ii. 148
+
+Byng, Right Hon. George, Lord of the Treasury, iii. 95
+
+Byron, Lord, Moore's Life of, i. 272; character of, 273
+
+
+Cambridge, H.R.H. the Duchess of, reception of, i. 2
+
+Cambridge, University of, petition for the admission of
+  Dissenters to the, iii. 72, 75
+
+Campbell, Sir John, Solicitor-General, ii. 333; Attorney-General,
+  iii. 141
+
+Canada, affairs in, iii. 350
+
+Canning, Right Hon. Sir Stratford, Ambassador at St. Petersburg,
+  ii. 352, 357; anecdote of, iii. 39; offered the
+  Governor-Generalship of Canada, 234
+
+Canning, Right Hon. George, Foreign Secretary, i. 55;
+  correspondence with the King on taking office, 59; forms an
+  Administration (1827), 93, 95; death of, 103; anecdotes of,
+  104; industrious habits of, 106; memoirs of, 263, 272; despatch
+  in verse, 326; sagacity of, ii. 42; conversation with the King,
+  102; correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, 103; coldness
+  to the Duke of Wellington, 103; anecdote of, 125; negotiation
+  with the Whigs, 170; influence over Lord Liverpool, 172; in
+  favour with the King, 172; on Reform, iii. 135; and King George
+  IV., 137
+
+Canning, Lady, visit to, ii. 101; authorship of pamphlet, iii. 40
+
+Canning, Mr. Charles, offered a Lordship of the Treasury, iii.
+  202
+
+Cannizzaro, Duchess of, iii. 11; crowns the Duke of Wellington,
+  406
+
+Canterbury, Archbishop of, indecision of the, ii. 250, 262, 263;
+  importance of support of the, 252, 253
+
+Canterbury, Viscount, declines to go to Canada, iii. 234
+
+Capo di Monte, i. 335
+
+Capua, i. 360
+
+Cardinals, the, i. 309
+
+Carlisle, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95; iii. 88
+
+Carlists, the, in Spain, iii. 66
+
+Carlos, Don, in London, iii. 98
+
+Carlow election, iii. 348
+
+Carnarvon, Earl of, refuses to move the address in the House of
+  Lords, iii. 202
+
+Caroline, Queen, return of, i. 28; trial of, 31, 35; anecdote of,
+  iii. 37
+
+Carvalho, Minister of Finance to Dom Pedro, iii. 93
+
+Catacombs, the, _see_ Rome
+
+Catholic emancipation, i. 163, 172, 174
+
+Catholic Relief Bill, excitement concerning the, i. 180; debates
+  on, _see_ Lords and Commons
+
+Cato Street Conspiracy, the, i. 26
+
+Cayla, Madame du, i. 71; dinner at the Duke of Wellington's, 214;
+  Béranger's verses on, 215; favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 306
+
+Cenis, the Mont, i. 287
+
+Champollion, Jean François, death of, ii. 307
+
+Chapeau de Paille, the, purchase of, ii. 125
+
+Chapel, near Holland House, unable to be consecrated, iii. 200
+
+Charles I., King, head of, discovered at Windsor, ii. 168;
+  executioner of, iii. 132
+
+Charles X., King, of France, arrival of in England, ii. 31; at
+  Lulworth Castle, 33; off Cowes, 34
+
+Charlotte, Queen, illness of, i. 2, 3
+
+Charlotte, H.R.H. the Princess, anecdotes of, ii. 319
+
+Chartres, H.R.H. the Duc de, arrival of, i. 208
+
+Chatham, Earl of, death of, iii. 316
+
+Chatsworth, hospitality at, i. 237; charade at, 238; party at,
+  ii. 51
+
+Chesterfield Papers, the, iii. 327
+
+Chobert, the 'Fire King,' i. 276
+
+Cholera, the, in Russia, ii. 57; account of, 150; preventive
+  measures against, 154, 216; effect on trade of, 156; spread of,
+  161; alarm about, 169; at Berlin, 192; at Sunderland, 208, 210;
+  at Marseilles, 221; on the decline, 224; near Edinburgh, 240;
+  in London, 258, 259; in Bethnal Green, 261; account of, 278;
+  diminution of, 285; in Paris, 287; alarm in London, 309, 311
+
+Christina, Queen, of Spain, iii. 66, 72; reported flight of, 360;
+  courage of, 365
+
+Christmas trees, introduced by Princess Lieven at Panshanger, i.
+  259
+
+Church Bill, the, Committee on, iii. 199
+
+Church Reform, iii. 206
+
+City, the, address to the King, ii. 126; illumination in, 140;
+  election, 1835, iii. 184, 186, 187; anxiety in the money-market,
+  373, 376
+
+Civil List, the, excess of expenditure on, i. 253; for debates
+  on, _see_ Commons, House of
+
+Clanricarde, Marquis of, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 78
+
+Clarence, H.R.H. the Duke of, Lord High Admiral, i. 95; removal
+  of, from the office of Lord High Admiral, 138, 140. _See_
+  William IV.
+
+Cobbett, William, trial of, ii. 158; returned for Oldham, 335;
+  takes his seat, 351; and Sir Robert Peel, 373
+
+Cochrane, Lord, at Florence, i. 301; villa near Florence, 302
+
+Codrington, Sir E., interview with the Duke of Wellington, i. 179
+
+Coercion Bill, the, introduced, ii. 359
+
+Colchester Election, iii. 112
+
+Commons, House of; Alien Bill, i. 1; Dr. Halloran's petition, 14;
+  debate on grant to the Duke of York, 18; debates on Queen
+  Caroline, 30, 32, 38; Small Notes Bill, 79; debates on Catholic
+  Relief Bill, 91, 133, 166, 191; division on Catholic Relief
+  Bill, 185; Catholic Relief Bill read a third time, 203; Regency
+  and Civil List, ii. 45; debate on the Evesham election, 25;
+  debate on the Civil List, 110; announcement of the Reform Bill,
+  110; Pension List, 111; debate on Ireland, 112; Budget of 1831,
+  113; proposed reductions, 118; introduction of the first Reform
+  Bill, 121; debates on the Reform Bill, 123, 125; debate on the
+  Timber duties, 130; debate on the Reform Bill, 131; division on
+  the Reform Bill, 132; Government defeated, 135; scene in the
+  House, 135; second reading of the Reform Bill, 156; Wine
+  duties, 160; Reform Bill, Schedule A, 170; second Reform Bill,
+  227; debate on, and second reading of the second Reform Bill
+  carried, 228; Reform Bill supported by the Irish Members, 239;
+  division on the Russian Loan, 240; division on the sugar
+  duties, 267; Reform Bill passed, 270; debates, 296; violent
+  scene in debate on petition of the City of London, 299; Irish
+  Tithe question, 308; debate on, 309; debate on the Address,
+  353; Irish Church Reform, 354; aspect of the reformed House,
+  360; debate on Slave Emancipation, 371; vote of confidence in
+  the Ministers, 376; division on the Irish Church Bill, 381;
+  vote against sinecures, iii. 13; division on Apprenticeship
+  Clause of West India Bill, 16; disorganised state of the House,
+  17; Pension List, 60; business of the House, 61; debate on the
+  Corn Laws, 68; debate on admission of Dissenters to the
+  University, 75; debate on Repeal of the Union, 80; Pension
+  List, 80; debate on Portugal, 82; Poor Law Bill, 83; debate on
+  Irish Tithe Bill, 98, 99; gallery for reporters, 205; debate on
+  the Speakership, 214; debate on the Address, 221; debate and
+  division on amendment to the Address, 223; Malt Tax, 224;
+  debate on appointment of Lord Londonderry, 225; Dissenters'
+  Marriage Bill, 230; Government beaten on Chatham election, 234;
+  state of parties in the House, 234; debate and division on
+  Irish Church question, 240; uproar in the House, 243;
+  Government defeated on Irish Tithe Bill, 246; debate on Irish
+  Church Bill, 281; position of the House, 288, 291; conflict
+  with the House of Lords, 225; debate and division on the
+  amendment to the Address, 334; effect of division, 336;
+  Opposition defeated, 347; division, 359; Irish Corporation
+  Bill, 388; insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389; debates on Irish
+  Tithe Bill, 391; abandonment of the appropriation clauses, 393
+
+Como, i. 414
+
+Conroy, Sir John, ii. 190; iii. 3
+
+Conservative Club, dinner at, ii. 327; speeches, 327
+
+Constantine, the Grand Duke, accident to, i. 259; death of, ii.
+  164
+
+Convention signed between France, England, and Holland, ii. 375
+
+Conyngham, Marquis of, Postmaster-General, iii. 88, 113
+
+Conyngham, Marchioness of, i. 46; wears a Crown jewel, 48; Court
+  intrigues, 207
+
+Conyngham, Lord Francis, i. 50
+
+Coprogli, History of the Grand Vizier, iii. 115
+
+Cornelius, painter, ii. 149
+
+Coronation, the, of William IV., decided on, ii. 156;
+  preparations for, 157, 163, 165; estimates for, 181; disputes
+  over the arrangements for, 187
+
+Cottenham, Lord, Lord High Chancellor, iii. 328
+
+Cotton, Sir Willoughby, suppresses the insurrection in Jamaica,
+  ii. 262; on affairs in Jamaica, 380
+
+Council, Clerk of the, Mr. Greville sworn in, i. 44; after the
+  accession of William IV., ii. 12; Lord Grey's Administration
+  sworn in, 71; for the proclamation against rioters, 73;
+  recorder's report in, 85; clerks of the, 87; scene at Council
+  for a new Great Seal, 188
+
+Council, Privy: suttee case before the, ii. 307; embargo on Dutch
+  ships, 343; meeting of the, on the London University petition,
+  iii. 80; counter petition of Oxford and Cambridge, 80
+
+Council, Cabinet: the first of Lord Melbourne's Administration,
+  iii. 120; the first of Sir Robert Peel's Administration, 174
+
+Covent Garden Theatrical Fund Dinner, i. 205
+
+Coventry, glove trade, ii. 224
+
+Cowley, Abraham, lines from 'Ode to Solitude,' ii. 272
+
+Cowper, Earl, at Panshanger, ii. 229
+
+Cowper, Countess, at Panshanger, ii. 229
+
+Cowper, William, Life of, by Southey, iii. 134
+
+Cradock, Colonel, sent to Charles X., ii. 37
+
+Crampton, Sir Philip, Irish story, i. 243
+
+Craven, Earl of, disperses a mob, ii. 77; on the proposed new
+  Peers, 232
+
+Craven, General the Hon. Berkeley, suicide of, iii. 350
+
+Crawford, William, member for the City of London, iii. 188
+
+Creevey, Mr., i. 235
+
+Croker, Right Hon. John Wilson, edition of 'Boswell's Life of
+  Johnson,' ii. 105; reviews lost, 106
+
+Cumberland, H.R.H. the Duke of, opposition to Catholic Relief
+  Bill, i. 180; intrigues at Court, 222; insults Lady Lyndhurst,
+  222, 223; quarrel with Lord Lyndhurst, 224; disputes concerning
+  the office of 'Gold Stick,' ii. 5, 21
+
+Cumberland, H.R.H. the Duchess of, i. 2
+
+Cuvier, Baron, death of, ii. 307
+
+
+Dalberg, Duke de, letter on European affairs, ii. 44
+
+Dawson, Right Hon. George Robert, speech on Catholic
+  Emancipation, i. 138, 200; sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 71
+
+De Cazes, Duke, favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 305; Ambassador to
+  the Court of St. James, 306
+
+Dedel, M., Dutch Minister at the Court of St. James, iii, 32
+
+Denbigh, Earl of, Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide, ii. 342; sworn
+  in Privy Councillor, 352
+
+Denman, Lord, correspondence with the King, i. 156; sworn in a
+  Privy Councillor, ii. 329; Lord Chief Justice, 330; qualities
+  of, 331; meeting of, with Lord Brougham, in Bedfordshire, iii.
+  71; raised to the Peerage, 74
+
+Derby Dilly, the, iii. 236, 237, 253
+
+De Ros, Lord, in Rome, i. 368
+
+De Ros, Colonel, the Hon. Arthur John Hill, death of, i. 81;
+  character of, 82
+
+Dickenson, Captain, trial of, by court-martial, i. 235
+
+Diebitsch, Marshal, death of, from cholera, ii. 154
+
+Dino, Duc de, arrest of the, i. 255
+
+Dino, Duchesse de, ii. 57; on the state of France, 195
+
+Discontent throughout the country, ii. 108
+
+Disraeli, Benjamin, projects for sitting in Parliament, iii. 170
+
+Dissenters' Marriage Bill, iii. 207, 230. For debates on, _see_
+  Commons, House of
+
+Dorsetshire election, 1831, ii. 203, 207; crime in, iii. 77
+
+Dover, Lord, resigns the Woods and Forests, ii. 109; created a
+  Peer, 150; death of, iii. 4; character of, 4; Life of Frederick
+  II., 6; book on the Man in the Iron Mask, 6
+
+Down, deanery of, iii. 70
+
+Drax _v._ Grosvenor, case of, ii. 224; lunacy case, 369; decision
+  on, 375; final meeting on, 377
+
+Drummond, Henry, mission to the Archbishop of York, iii. 333
+
+Dublin Police Bill, iii. 333
+
+Dudley, Earl of, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, i. 95,
+  124; dinner to Marshal Marmont, ii. 38; eccentricity of, 271,
+  272
+
+'Duke of Milan,' quotation from the, i. 178
+
+Dülcken, Madam, performs before the Judicial Committee, iii. 325
+
+Duncannon, Viscount, iii. 104; called to the House of Lords, and
+  Secretary of State, 109; sworn in, 112; Home Secretary, 113; on
+  O'Connell, 117; at a fire in Edward Street, 117; on the state
+  of affairs, 196; Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord
+  Melbourne, 256
+
+Duncombe, Hon. Thomas Slingsby, maiden speech of, i. 128;
+  petition from Barnet, ii. 255; guilty of libel, iii. 9; at
+  Hillingdon, 123
+
+Durham, Earl of, quarrel with Lady Jersey, ii. 119; influence
+  over Lord Grey, 222; attack on Lord Grey at a Cabinet dinner,
+  226; rudeness of, 269; return from Russia, 333; violence of,
+  333; created an earl, 365
+
+Dwarris, Sir Fortunatus, dinner at the house of, ii. 359
+
+
+East, Sir E. Hyde, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 155
+
+Eboli, Duchesse d', ball at Naples, i. 335
+
+Ebrington, Viscount, moves a vote of confidence in the
+  Government, ii. 202, 204
+
+Ebury, Lord, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 78
+
+Egremont, Earl of, at Petworth, ii. 336; wealth of, 337;
+  hospitality to the poor, iii. 84
+
+Eldon, Earl of, audience of King George IV., i. 197; speech at
+  Apsley House, ii. 198; career of, 378; tribute to, iii. 42
+
+Election, General, in 1830, ii. 20, 29; in 1831, 139, 141, 142,
+  145; in 1832, 335; in 1835, iii. 184, 189, 191, 193; results
+  of, 195; in the counties, 198; result, 201
+
+Eliot, Lord, return of, from Spain, iii. 259; conversation with
+  Louis Philippe, 259
+
+Ellenborough, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 124; letter to Sir
+  John Malcolm, 271; on West India affairs, ii. 350; on Egypt,
+  351; speech on admission of Dissenters to the University, iii.
+  73
+
+Ellesmere, Earl of, Irish Secretary, i. 146
+
+Ellice, Right Hon. Edward, iii. 104; and the Colchester election,
+  112; Secretary for War, 113; in Paris, 379
+
+Elliot, Frederic, letter from Canada, iii. 325
+
+Epsom races, 1831, ii. 143; in 1833, 373
+
+Erskine, Right Hon. Thomas, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 223;
+  Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, 223
+
+Escars, Duchesse d', at a party given by the Duke of Wellington,
+  i. 214
+
+Este, Sir Augustus d', behaviour of, ii. 194
+
+Esterhazy, Prince Paul, conversation with, ii. 40; on Belgian
+  affairs, 189; on the state of England, iii. 32; on affairs in
+  Europe, 370; conversation with, 373
+
+Europe, state of, ii. 126; in 1831, 187; in 1836, iii. 370
+
+Evans, General de Lacy, iii. 265; reported death of, 359
+
+Evans, the incendiary, arrest of, ii. 70
+
+Exeter, Bishop of, correspondence with Lord Melbourne, ii. 97;
+  interview with Lord Grey, 205; talents of, 287; ambition of,
+  289
+
+
+Falck, Baron, ii. 15, 41
+
+Ferdinand, Emperor, of Austria, iii. 374
+
+Fergusson, Right Hon. Cutlar, Judge Advocate, iii. 95
+
+Ferrara, i. 405
+
+Fieschi conspiracy, iii. 286
+
+Fingall, Earl of, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. 150
+
+Finsbury election, 1834, Radical returned, iii. 100
+
+Fitzclarence, Colonel George, _see_ Munster, Earl of
+
+Fitzclarence, Lord Frederick, resigns appointment at the Tower,
+  ii. 362
+
+Fitzclarence, Lord Adolphus, picture of, ii. 179
+
+Fitzclarence, Lord Augustus, at Ascot, ii. 147; picture of, 176
+
+Fitzclarence, Lady Augusta, marriage of, iii. 363
+
+Fitzgerald, Right Hon. Vesey, i. 150
+
+Fitzherbert, Mrs., death of, iii. 396; documents of, 396
+
+Flahault, Madame de, anecdotes of Princess Charlotte, ii. 319;
+  _salon_ of, in Paris, iii. 381
+
+Fleury, Cardinal, ii. 347
+
+Florence, i. 299; sights of, 300; society at, 302; sculpture,
+  300, 301; pictures, 303; Grand Duke, 303
+
+Foley, Lord, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 84; Lord-Lieutenant
+  of Worcestershire, 84; at St. James's, 297
+
+Fonblanque, Albany, iii. 348
+
+Forester, Right Hon. Colonel Cecil, resigns his appointment as
+  Groom of the Bedchamber, ii. 118
+
+Forfar election, 1835, iii. 197
+
+Fox, Mrs. Lane, accompanies the Prince of Orange to Gravesend,
+  ii. 133; receives the Cabinet Ministers, iii. 140
+
+Fox, Right Hon. Charles James, described by Talleyrand, ii. 344
+
+Fox, W. J., Unitarian minister, sermon, iii. 43
+
+France, state of affairs in, i. 284; appearance of the country,
+  287; impending crisis in 1830, 369; events in 1830, ii. 17;
+  revolution, 19; Duke of Orleans ascends the throne, 26;
+  political prospects, 26; reconstruction of the Constitution,
+  28; army ordered to Belgium, 178; army in Belgium, 181; seizure
+  of Portuguese ships, 182, 184; republican tendencies of, 187;
+  state of the country, 1831, 195; weakness of the Government of
+  Louis Philippe, 322; dispute with America, iii. 322; state of
+  the country, 382
+
+Francis, Sir Philip, handwriting of, i. 234
+
+Franklin, Benjamin, ii. 185
+
+Franz Joseph, Archduke, iii. 374
+
+Frascati, convent at, i. 305; dinner at, 305; visit to, 390
+
+
+Gallatin, Albert, i. 257
+
+Gambier, Lord, proxy of, ii. 286
+
+Garrick, David, anecdotes of ii. 316
+
+Gell, Sir William, at Rome, i. 372, 375
+
+Geneva, i. 415
+
+Genoa, i. 292; palaces, 293, 295; churches, 294; tomb of Andrew
+  Doria, 296
+
+George III., death of, i. 23; will, 64; jewels and property, 65;
+  dislike of the Duke of Richmond, iii. 129
+
+George IV., illness of, i. 23; at the Pavilion, 49; interview
+  with, 91; health and habits of, 143; violent dislike to the
+  Catholic Relief Bill, 153, 181; character of, 155; personal
+  habits of, 189; interview with the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of
+  Wellington, and Sir Robert Peel, 201; health of, 206; racing
+  interests of, 212; anecdotes concerning, 216; eyesight
+  affected, 233, 236; courage of, 236; conduct in reference to
+  Mr. Denman, 250; illness of, 368; death of, 417; funeral of,
+  ii. 4; sale of wardrobe, 23; details of last illness, 30;
+  anecdotes concerning, 189
+
+Gérard, Marshal, reported resignation of, ii. 45; ordered to
+  Belgium, 178
+
+Gibson, John, R.A., at Rome, i. 383
+
+Gladstone, William Ewart, West India Committee, iii. 280
+
+Glenelg, Lord, President of the Board of Trade, i. 124; Board of
+  Control, ii. 66, iii. 113; Colonial Secretary in Lord
+  Melbourne's second Administration, 256; and the King, 276
+
+'Glenfinlas' performed at Bridgewater House, iii. 353, 355
+
+Glengall, Earl of, comedy by the, i. 249
+
+Glengall, Countess of, ii. 85
+
+Gloucester, H.R.H. the Duke of, ii. 8
+
+Goderich, Viscount, Small Notes Bill, i. 79; Secretary of State
+  for Colonial Affairs and War, 95; sent for by the King, 107;
+  scene at Windsor, 108; Administration of, formed, 108;
+  resignation of, 115; returns to office, 116; Ministry
+  dissolved, 120; Colonial Secretary, ii. 66; Lord Privy Seal,
+  365; created an earl, 367; invested with the Order of the
+  Garter, 367
+
+Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, death of, ii. 307
+
+Goodwood, ii. 182; in 1833, iii. 20
+
+Gorhambury, party at, ii. 188
+
+'Goriot, Le Père,' iii. 378
+
+Goulburn, Right Hon. Henry, Chancellor of the Exchequer, i. 124
+
+Graham, Right Hon. Sir James, First Lord of the Admiralty, ii.
+  66; elevation of, 90; remarks on, 91; resignation of, iii. 88;
+  declines to join the Peel Administration, 176; conservative
+  spirit of, 249; on the crisis of 1835, 249; joins the
+  Opposition, 272
+
+Grange, The, attacked by a mob, ii. 68
+
+Grant, Right Hon. Charles, _see_ Glenelg, Lord
+
+Granville, Earl, Ambassador in Paris, iii. 385
+
+Granville, Countess, i. 10; quarrel with M. Thiers, iii. 380
+
+Greece, policy of the English Government towards, i. 255
+
+Greenwich, dinner at, iii. 1
+
+Grenville, Thomas, conduct during the riots of 1780, iii. 129
+
+Gresley, Sir Roger, quarrel with Lord H. Bentinck, ii. 148
+
+Greville, Charles, sen., death of, ii. 318
+
+Greville, Mrs., 'Ode to Indifference,' ii. 319
+
+Greville, Algernon, private secretary to the Duke of Wellington,
+  iii. 163
+
+Grey, Earl, hostility to the Government, i. 100; forms an
+  Administration, 1830, ii. 64, 66; First Lord of the Treasury,
+  66; at dinner at Lord Sefton's, 69; nepotism of, 78; character
+  of, 88; relations with Lord Lyndhurst, 88; lays the Reform Bill
+  before the King, 109; weakness of Government in the House of
+  Commons, 116; remarks on Administration of, 137; invested with
+  the Order of the Garter, 146; at dinner at Hanbury's Brewery,
+  149; attacked on his foreign policy, 178; on Belgian affairs,
+  178; attacked by Lord Durham, 226; proposed new Peers, 230;
+  altered conduct of, 232; reluctance to make new Peers, 247;
+  conversation with, 248; interview with Lord Harrowby and Lord
+  Wharncliffe, 259; minute of compromise with Lord Harrowby and
+  Lord Wharncliffe, 260; speech on Ancona, 269; speech at the
+  close of the Reform debate, 288; continued efforts for a
+  compromise, 291; Government defeated in committee, 293;
+  resignation of Administration of, 294; resumes office with his
+  colleagues, 300; remarks on the members of the Administration
+  of, 322; embarrassment of Government, 369; instance of
+  readiness of, iii. 10; on Portuguese affairs, 21; compared with
+  the Duke of Wellington, 73; changes in the Administration of,
+  88, 90, 91; situation of, in the crisis of 1834, 91; letter to
+  Lord Ebrington, 92; weakness of the Government, 97; resignation
+  of, 101; refuses the Privy Seal, 112; desires to retire, 124;
+  dinner to, at Edinburgh, 135; events subsequent to retirement
+  of, 145; intrigue, 145; conservative spirit of, 249; audience
+  of the King, 251; dissatisfaction of, 352
+
+Grey, Sir Charles, Governor of Jamaica, sworn in a Privy
+  Councillor, iii. 271
+
+Grote, George, returned for the City of London, iii. 188
+
+Guizot, Monsieur, reported resignation of, ii. 45; eminence of,
+  iii. 379
+
+Gully, Mr., account of, ii. 335; returned for Pontefract, 336
+
+Gunpowder Plot, papers relating to, i. 161
+
+
+Haddington, Earl of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 181
+
+Halford, Sir Henry, report on the cholera, ii. 137
+
+Hampden, Dr. Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, iii. 341,
+  342
+
+Hanbury's Brewery, dinner at, ii. 148
+
+Happiness, reflections on, iii. 293
+
+Hardinge, Right Hon. Sir Henry, on the prospects of the Tory
+  Government, iii. 167; on the King and Lord Melbourne, 168
+
+Harrowby, Earl of, Lord President, i. 95; speech on Reform, ii.
+  206; interview with Lord Grey, 224; circular to the Peers, 242,
+  248; interview with Lord Grey, 259; discussions on letter of,
+  262; letter shown to Lord Grey, 264; the 'Times' on the letter
+  of, 264, 265; patriotic conduct of, 275; declines to vote on
+  Schedule A, 281; character of, iii. 52; subscription to
+  election expenses, 182
+
+Harrowby, Countess of, iii. 52
+
+Hartwell, visit to, ii. 345
+
+Harvey, Whittle, committee, iii. 112; speech of, at Southwark,
+  188
+
+Harwich election, 1835, iii. 186
+
+Health, formation of a board of, ii. 154
+
+Henry II., King, and Thomas à Becket, iii. 130
+
+Henry VIII., King, coffin of, found at Windsor, ii. 168
+
+Herbert, Sydney, Secretary to the Board of Control, iii. 194
+
+Herculaneum, i. 349
+
+'Hernani,' ii. 154
+
+Herries, Right Hon. John Charles, scene at Council, i. 108;
+  discussions on appointment of, 110; ill-will of, towards his
+  colleagues, 121; Master of the Mint, 124
+
+Hertford, Marchioness of, funeral of, iii. 79
+
+Hess, Captain, ii. 319, 320
+
+Heurteloup, Baron, before the Judicial Committee, iii. 332
+
+Heythrop, riot at, ii. 77
+
+Hill, Mr., Irish members' squabble, iii. 55
+
+Hobhouse, Right Hon. Sir John Cam, speech on the Reform Bill, ii.
+  123; Secretary of War, 243; resigns Irish Secretaryship and
+  seat for Westminster, ii. 368; on the state of affairs, iii.
+  195; Board of Control, in Lord Melbourne's second
+  Administration, 256
+
+Holland, the King of, invades Belgium, ii. 175; state of, 200;
+  conduct of the King of, 314; the King refuses to give up
+  Antwerp, 321, 329; obstinacy of the King, 324; bankrupt
+  condition of, iii. 32
+
+Holland, Lord, at Panshanger, ii. 47; Duchy of Lancaster, iii.
+  113; anecdotes related by, 131; on Reform, 135; on Mr. Canning,
+  135; anecdotes, 335; on Mr. Fox, 335; contempt for the Tory
+  party, 336
+
+Holland, Lady, fancies of, ii. 331; and Spencer Perceval, iii.
+  331
+
+Holland House, dinner at, ii. 245; conversation at, 316; Allen
+  and Macaulay, 317; sketch of, 331; conversation at, iii. 127,
+  129; literary criticisms, 130; Lord Melbourne's conversation,
+  131; dinner at, 132; news of the fall of Lord Melbourne's
+  Administration, 147; party spirit at, 192
+
+Holmes boroughs, ii. 140
+
+Hook, Theodore, improvisation of, iii. 119, 197; singing of, 197
+
+Home, Sir William, Attorney-General, ii. 333; and Lord Brougham,
+  iii. 67
+
+Hortense, Queen, at Frascati, i. 305
+
+Horton, Wilmot, lectures at the Mechanics' Institute, ii. 97
+
+Howe, Earl, dismissal of, ii. 203; Queen's Chamberlain, 319; and
+  Queen Adelaide, 331; correspondence about the Chamberlainship,
+  339
+
+Howick, Viscount, Under-secretary, ii. 78; in office, iii. 254;
+  civility of the King to, 255; Secretary of War, 256; acrimony
+  of, 312; interview with Spencer Perceval, 330; on the position
+  of parties, 360
+
+Hudson, Sir James, page of honour, ii. 339
+
+Hume, John Deacon, Assistant-Secretary to the Board of Trade, i.
+  223; ii. 49
+
+Hume, Joseph, extreme Radical views of, ii. 361; speech on the
+  Orangemen, iii. 344; deputation to Lord Melbourne, 357
+
+'Hunchback, The,' ii. 285
+
+Hunt, Henry, speech of, ii. 112; speech of, against the Reform
+  Bill, 134
+
+Huskisson, Right Hon. William, President of the Board of Trade,
+  i. 95; dispute in the Cabinet, 120; joins the new Government,
+  122; Colonial Secretary, 124; resignation of, 131; Lord
+  Melbourne's opinion of, ii. 46; death of, 47; character of, 49;
+  funeral of, 51
+
+
+Incendiarism in the country, ii. 84
+
+Ireland, trials in, i. 239; dissatisfaction in, ii. 76;
+  unpopularity of Government changes in, 89; state of, 112, 114;
+  education in, 267, 271; tithes, 309; Church difficulties in,
+  323
+
+Irish Church, abuses in, iii. 9; the Irish Church Bill dangerous
+  to the Government, 86; differences in the Cabinet, 89;
+  difficulties of the Irish Church question, 240, 253; opinions
+  of Lord Melbourne on the, 269. For debates on the Irish Church
+  Bill, _see_ Lords, House of, and Commons, House of
+
+Irish Tithe Bill, thrown out, iii. 117; divisions on the, 246;
+  conduct of the Government, 298; difficulties of, 353, 354;
+  abandonment of the Appropriation Clause, 355
+
+Irving, Edward, service in chapel, iii. 40; the unknown tongues,
+  41; sermon of, 41; interview with Lord Melbourne, 129
+
+Irving, Washington, i. 249
+
+Istria, Duchesse d', beauty of, iii. 381
+
+
+Jacquemont's Letters, iii. 115
+
+Jamaica, insurrection in, ii. 262; Mr. Greville, Secretary of the
+  Island of, 349; petition to the King, 352; affairs of, 352;
+  anecdote of a slave, 359; opinion of Sir Willoughby Cotton,
+  380; office of Secretary to the Island of, threatened, iii.
+  266, 268, 275; secured, 279
+
+Jebb, Judge, charge of, at O'Connell's trial, ii. 109
+
+Jeffrey, Lord, and Professor Leslie, iii. 44
+
+Jersey, Countess of, character of, i. 12; party at the house of,
+  ii. 64; quarrel with Lord Durham, 119; correspondence with Lord
+  Brougham, 126
+
+Jockey Club, dinner given by the King to the, 1828, i. 154; in
+  1829, 211
+
+'John Bull,' the, newspaper, ii. 97
+
+Johnson, Dr., anecdotes of, ii. 316
+
+Johnstone, Right Hon. Sir Alexander, sworn in a Privy Councillor,
+  iii. 27, 30; at the Judicial Committee, 125
+
+Jones Loyd, Mr., iii. 188
+
+Jones, 'Radical,' interview with Lord Wharncliffe, ii. 200
+
+Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Bill for the
+  establishment of the, iii. 21; meeting to make regulations for
+  the, 35; first sitting of the, 38; working of the, 205
+
+
+Kelly, Mrs., adventures of her daughter, i. 379, 383; case before
+  the Privy Council, iii. 259, 261, 266, 267; judgment, 274
+
+Kemble, Charles, and his family, iii. 260
+
+Kemble, Miss Fanny, i. 240, ii. 129; tragedy by, 270; in the
+  'Hunchback,' 285
+
+Kempt, Right Hon. Sir James, Master-General of the Ordnance,
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 84
+
+Kent, H.R.H. the Duchess of, disputes in the Royal Family, ii.
+  190; and the Duke of Wellington, 190; the Regency Bill, 191;
+  salutes to, iii. 3; at Burghley, 315; quarrels with the King,
+  366; scene at Windsor, 367; answer to the address of the City
+  of London, 399; squabble with the King, 400
+
+Kenyon, Lord, speech at Apsley House, ii. 198
+
+Kinnaird, Lord, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. 150
+
+Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, anecdote of, iii. 130
+
+Knatchbull, Right Hon. Sir Edward, joins the Peel Government,
+  iii. 176, 177; attack on, 226
+
+Knighton, Sir William, i. 72; influence with the King, 99, 144;
+  behaviour of, during the King's illness, ii. 174
+
+
+Lafayette, Marquis de, resignation of, ii. 99
+
+La Ferronays, M. de, French Ambassador at Rome, i. 307; on the
+  accession of the Emperor Nicholas, 373; on French politics,
+  368; civility of, 380, 381; on French affairs, 393, 395
+
+La Granja, revolution of, iii. 364, 365
+
+'Lalla Rookh,' at Bridgewater House, iii. 353
+
+Lamb, Sir Frederick, ii. 94; reported letter to the King of
+  France from the Duke of Wellington, 94
+
+Lambeth Palace, restoration of, ii. 34
+
+Lancashire election, 1835, iii. 198
+
+Langdale, Lord, reply to Lord Brougham, iii. 81; declines the
+  Solicitor-Generalship, 141; peerage, 328; Master of the Rolls,
+  328
+
+Lansdowne, Marquis of, Secretary of State for the Home
+  Department, i. 95; Lord President, ii. 66; dinner to name the
+  sheriffs, 109; on the Reform Bill, 131; and Lord Brougham, 347;
+  Lord President in both of the Administrations of Lord
+  Melbourne, iii. 113, 256
+
+La Roncière, case of, iii. 202
+
+Laval, M. de, at Apsley House, ii. 15
+
+Law, History of English, iii. 114
+
+Lawrence, Sir Thomas, early genius of, i. 256; death of, 263;
+  character of, 264; funeral of, 268; engagement of, to the
+  Misses Siddons, iii. 50
+
+Leach, Right Hon. Sir John, disappointed of the Woolsack, ii. 68;
+  in the case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, 378
+
+Leigh, Colonel George, ii. 189
+
+Leinster, Duke of, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 155
+
+Leitrim, Earl of, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. 150
+
+Le Marchant, Denis, at Stoke, iii. 21
+
+Lemon, Robert, F.S.A., Deputy Keeper of the State Papers, iii. 44
+
+Lennard, John Barrett, Chief Clerk of the Privy Council Office,
+  ii. 370
+
+Leopold, King, i. 22; desires to ascend the throne of Greece,
+  265; anxiety to ascend the throne of Belgium, ii. 153; accepts
+  the throne of Belgium, 158; starts for Belgium, 167; proposes
+  to the Princess Louise of France, 168; in Belgium, 177; want of
+  confidence in, 177; cold reception of, at Windsor, iii. 370
+
+Leuchtenberg, Duke of, at Havre, iii. 33; marriage of, 33; letter
+  to Lord Palmerston, 34; arrival of, 195
+
+Leveson, Lord Francis, _see_ Ellesmere, Earl of
+
+Levee, iii. 213
+
+Lewis, Matthew Gregory, ('Monk' Lewis), journals and voyages to
+  the West Indies, ii. 382; anecdote of, iii. 2; agreement with
+  Mr. Murray for the Journal, 8
+
+Lichfield, Earl of, at Runton, iii. 51
+
+Lichfield Cathedral, iii. 327
+
+Lieven, Prince, recalled, iii. 87
+
+Lieven, Princess, character of, i. 15; attacks Lord Grey, ii.
+  261; on the Belgian question, 266; conversation with, 322;
+  renews her friendship with the Duke of Wellington, 325;
+  grievances of, 351; interference of, 358; diplomatic
+  difficulties, 357; reception of, at St. Petersburg, iii. 23;
+  position, of, in Paris, 379
+
+Littleton, Right Hon. Edward, i. 11; proposed by Lord Althorp as
+  Speaker, ii. 333; Secretary for Ireland, 372; and O'Connell,
+  iii. 99; instrumental in breaking up the Government, 102;
+  political career of, 103; letter to Lord Wellesley, 103, 110;
+  in communication with O'Connell, 103, 110; Irish Secretary, 113
+
+Liverpool, Earl of, and the King, i. 25; paralytic seizure, 90;
+  transactions before the close of Administration of, ii. 173
+
+Liverpool, opening of the railroad, ii. 43, 47; bribery at
+  election, 79
+
+Lobau, Marshal, Commandant-Général, ii. 99
+
+Lodge, the Royal, entertainments at, i. 99
+
+London, speech of Bishop of, iii. 391; University Charter, iii.
+  80, 81, 237; meeting of Committee of Council on, 260, 262
+
+Londonderry, Marquis of, death of, i. 51; character of, 52;
+  funeral of, 54
+
+Londonderry, Marquis of, motion on Belgium, ii. 180; attacks Lord
+  Plunket, 266; debate on appointment of, to St. Petersburg, iii.
+  225; opinion of the Duke of Wellington, 227; speech of, 228;
+  resignation of, 229
+
+Long, St. John, trial of, ii. 85
+
+Lords, House of, debate of Royal Dukes, i. 177; debate on
+  Catholic Relief Bill, 199; division on Catholic Relief Bill,
+  199; debate on affairs in Portugal, 277; debate on the Methuen
+  Treaty, ii. 118; speech of Lord Brougham, 118; violent scene in
+  the, 136; debate on Lord Londonderry's motion, 180; prospects
+  of the Reform Bill, 193; First Reform Bill thrown out, 202;
+  attack on the Bishops, 205; new Peers, 230; measures for
+  carrying the second reading of the Second Reform Bill, 235,
+  237; division on the Belgian question, 240; Reform Bill, 271;
+  Irish education, 271; debates on second reading of the Reform
+  Bill, 272, 286; list of proposed new Peers, 283; Reform Bill
+  carried, 287; in Committee on the Reform Bill, 291; debate on
+  conduct of the Tory party, 303; Russo-Dutch Loan, 315;
+  Government beaten on Portuguese question, 376; powerlessness
+  of, 377; Local Courts Bill, 382, 384; debate on Local Courts
+  Bill, iii. 7; Government defeated, 7; Irish Church Bill, 8;
+  Bill for the observance of the Sabbath, 83; debate on the Irish
+  Church Bill, 94; Poor Law Bill, 114; debate on Irish Tithe
+  Bill, 117; conduct of the House, 239; debate on Corporation
+  Bill, 286, 290; position of the House, 288, 291; Irish Tithe
+  Bill thrown up, 295; conflict with the House of Commons, 295;
+  state of the House, 307; debate on Corporation Bill, 308, 351;
+  hostility to the House of Commons, 359; conduct of the House,
+  360, 361
+
+Louis XVIII., King, memoirs of, ii. 305; favourites of, 305; at
+  Hartwell, 345
+
+Louis Philippe, King, accession of, ii. 26; conduct of, 27;
+  tranquillises Paris, 99; speech of, 169; averse to French
+  attack on Antwerp, 334; behaviour of, to the Queen of Portugal,
+  iii. 33; power of, in the Chamber, 142; courage of, 286;
+  conduct towards Spain, 321, 360, 364; at the Tuileries, 382;
+  dislike to the Duke de Broglie, 386
+
+Louise, H.R.H. Princess, daughter of King Louis Philippe, ii. 168
+
+Louis, Baron, reported resignation of, ii. 45
+
+Luckner, General, ii. 219
+
+Lushington, Dr., speech of, in the appeal of Swift _v._ Kelly,
+  ii. 383
+
+Lushington, Sir Henry, and 'Monk' Lewis, iii. 2
+
+Luttrell, Henry, character of, i. 10; 'Advice to Julia,' 33
+
+Lyndhurst, Lord, Lord High Chancellor, i. 95, 124; quarrel with
+  the Duke of Cumberland, 223; dissatisfaction at Lord Brougham's
+  being raised to the Woolsack, ii. 68; reported appointment to
+  be Lord Chief Baron, 89; opinion of the Government, 93; Lord
+  Chief Baron, 106; political position of, 107; anecdote of a
+  trial, 107; retort to the Duke of Richmond, 139; on the
+  Government, 143; on Sir Robert Peel, 144; on Lord Brougham,
+  144; sent for by the King, 294; efforts to form a Tory
+  Government, 326; judgment in Small _v._ Attwood, 330; account
+  of the efforts of the Tory party to form a Government, 340;
+  forgets the message of the King to Lord Grey, iii. 49; account
+  of transactions between the King and Lord Melbourne, 150;
+  policy of, 151; on Lord Brougham, 153; Lord High Chancellor,
+  156; on the Administration of Sir Robert Peel, 189; conduct on
+  the Corporation Bill, 288, 292; on the prospects of the
+  session, 332; on the business of the House of Lords, 333;
+  speech in vindication of conduct, 362; in Paris, 378; insult
+  offered to, in House of Commons, 389; capacity of, 390; violent
+  speech of, 401
+
+Lyndhurst, Lady, insulted by the Duke of Cumberland, i. 222;
+  conversation with, ii. 93
+
+Lynn Regis, election, iii. 170, 171, 175, 181
+
+Lyons, riots at, ii. 219
+
+
+Macao, verses on, i. 11, 12
+
+Macaulay, Thomas Babington, speeches on the Reform Bill, ii. 123,
+  199; eloquence of, 204; at Holland House, 245; appearance of,
+  246; character of, 317; on the Coercion Bill, 363; conversation
+  of, iii. 35; memory of, 337; eloquence of, compared to Lord
+  Brougham, 338; inscription on monument erected in honour of
+  Lord William Bentinck, 339
+
+Macaulay, Zachary, iii. 337
+
+Mackintosh, Right Hon. Sir James, speech of, on the criminal
+  laws, i. 19; conversation of, 241; death of, ii. 307; 'History
+  of England,' iii. 139; remarks on life of, 293, 314; compared
+  with Burke, 314; life of, 316; abilities of, 316; religious
+  belief of, 324
+
+Maggiore, Lago, i. 414
+
+Maidstone, state of the borough, iii. 184
+
+Maii, Monsignore, i. 367, 375
+
+Malibran, Maria Felicita, in the 'Sonnambula,' iii. 12
+
+Mallet, conspiracy of, ii. 186
+
+Malt Tax, the, Government defeated on, ii. 368
+
+Manners Sutton, Sir Charles, G.C.B., proposed as Premier, ii.
+  326; conduct of, 341; reappointed Speaker, 343; Knight of the
+  Bath, iii. 30; the Speakership, 204, _see_ Canterbury, Lord
+
+Mansfield, Lord, speech against the Government, ii. 136; audience
+  of the King, 138; meeting of Peers, 152
+
+Mansion House, the, dinner at, iii. 178
+
+Marengo, battle-field of, i. 292
+
+Maria, Donna, Queen of Portugal, at a child's ball, i. 209;
+  proposals of marriage for, iii. 33; at Windsor, 33; picture of,
+  195
+
+Marie Amélie, Queen, iii. 383
+
+Marmont, Marshal, at Lady Glengall's, ii. 34; conversation with,
+  34; revolution of 1830, 37; at Woolwich, 38; dinner at Lord
+  Dudley's, 38
+
+Matteis, trial of, i. 336, 341
+
+Matuscewitz, Russian Ambassador Extraordinary, i. 159; on affairs
+  in Europe, ii. 176; conduct of, 324; conversation with, iii.
+  314
+
+Maule, Mr. Justice, at dinner at the Athenæum, ii. 101
+
+Meeting of moderate men, origin of the 'Derby Dilly,' iii. 219
+
+Meiningen, château of, model of the, iii. 122; the Queen revisits
+  the, 125
+
+Melbourne, Viscount, Home Secretary, ii. 66; efficiency of, in
+  office, 90; negotiations with, 104; dissatisfaction of, 245; on
+  the proposed new Peers, 254; on the Reform Bill, 277; on the
+  members of Lord Grey's Administration, 322; sent for by the
+  King, iii. 102; forms an Administration, 108; letter to the
+  Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, and Mr. Stanley, 109;
+  Administration of, 113; anecdote of, 126; information of, 130;
+  literary conversation of, 131; on Benthamites, 138; theological
+  reading of, 138; fall of Government of, 143; dismissal of, 144;
+  details of fall of Government, 147; account of dismissal, 150,
+  168; with the King, 163, 168; with his colleagues, 164, 165,
+  166; dispute with Lord Duncannon, 166; speeches at Derby, 170;
+  weakness of, 170; second Administration formed, 253;
+  composition of, 256; theological reading of, 324; appointment
+  of Dr. Hampden, 342; action against, brought by the Hon. Mr.
+  Norton, 349; result of the trial, 351; difficulties of the
+  Government, 355
+
+Melville, Viscount, President of the India Board, i. 124
+
+Mendizabal, ability of, iii. 321; dismissal of, 350
+
+Messiah, the oratorio of the, performed in Westminster Abbey,
+  iii. 98
+
+Methuen, Paul, M.P., on supporting the Government, iii. 65;
+  retort of O'Connell to, 65
+
+Metternich, Princess, anecdote of, iii. 187
+
+Mexico, failure of the Spanish expedition against, i. 249
+
+Meynell, Mr., retires from the Lord Chamberlain's department, ii.
+  133
+
+Mezzofanti, i. 403
+
+Middlesex election, 1835, iii. 197
+
+Middleton, party at, i. 12
+
+Miguel, Dom, ii. 312, 315, 321; attacks Oporto, 324; fleet
+  captured by Captain Napier, iii. 9; anecdote of, 26; blunders
+  of, 93
+
+Milan, i. 413
+
+Mill, John Stuart, at breakfast given by Mr. Henry Taylor, ii. 59
+
+Milton, Viscount, at a meeting at Lord Althorp's, ii. 161
+
+Mirabeau, Count de, Talleyrand's account of, ii. 384
+
+Miraflores, Count de, Spanish Ambassador in London, iii. 98;
+  doubtful compliment to Madame de Lieven, 99
+
+Mola di Gaeta, i. 359; Cicero's villa, 368
+
+Molé, M., Prime Minister of France, iii. 379; abilities of, 380
+
+Montalivet, case of the French refugee, iii. 386
+
+Monti, Vincenzo, anecdote of, ii. 186
+
+Moore, Thomas, i. 239, 245; conversation of, 242; anecdotes, 247;
+  Irish patriotism of, ii. 98; opinions on Reform, 140; copy of
+  'Lord Edward Fitzgerald,' 169; satire on Dr. Bowring, 219;
+  compared with Rogers, iii. 324; quarrel with O'Connell, 346
+
+'Morning Herald,' the, moderate Tory organ, ii. 269
+
+Mornington, Countess of, death of, ii. 194
+
+Morpeth, Viscount, Irish Secretary, iii. 256; speech on Irish
+  Tithe Bill, 256
+
+Mosley, Sir Oswald, meeting of moderate men, iii. 220
+
+Mulgrave, Earl of, in Jamaica, ii. 352; refuses the office of
+  Postmaster-General, iii. 90; Lord Privy Seal, 113; capability
+  of, 255
+
+Municipal Corporation Bill, iii. 263, 284, 290; policy of Tory
+  Peers on the, 283; prospects of the, 295; effects of the, 309,
+  313; the Bill carried, 310
+
+Munster, Earl of, employed by the King, ii. 10; raised to the
+  Peerage, 143; Lieutenant of the Tower, 168; sworn in a Privy
+  Councillor, 352
+
+Murat, Achille, ii. 115
+
+Murray, Dr., Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, i. 146
+
+Murray, Sir George, Secretary of State for the Colonial
+  Department, ii. 11
+
+Murray, Lady Augusta, marriage of, ii. 194
+
+Musard's ball, iii. 384
+
+
+Namik Pacha, Turkish Ambassador, ii. 339
+
+Napier, Sir William, on the state of the country, ii. 108;
+  'History of the Peninsular War,' iii. 271
+
+Napier, Captain Charles, captures Dom Miguel's fleet, iii. 9;
+  cause of capture of a French squadron, 11; anecdote of, 34
+
+Naples, i. 333; sight-seeing at, 334; Court of Justice, 334;
+  manuscripts, 334; ceremony of taking the veil, 338; sights of,
+  345, 356; miracle of the blood of San Gennaro, 353, 355, 364;
+  excursions to Astroni, 356; lines on leaving, 361
+
+Navarino, battle of, i. 114, 163
+
+Nemours, H.R.H. Duc de, accompanies King Louis Philippe, ii. 99;
+  nomination to the throne of Belgium declined, 111; in the House
+  of Commons, iii. 306; at Doncaster, 315
+
+Newmarket, political negotiations at, ii. 290
+
+Nicholas, Emperor, accession of, i. 373; reception of strangers,
+  iii. 24; on the change of Government in England, 211; speech at
+  Warsaw, 319; dislike to King Louis Philippe, 387; qualities of,
+  371
+
+'Norma,' the opera of, iii. 2
+
+North, Lord, Letters of George III. to, iii. 129; anecdote of,
+  132
+
+Northamptonshire election, iii. 326
+
+Northumberland, Duke of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, i. 157
+
+Northumberland, Duchess of, resigns her office of governess to
+  the Princess Victoria, iii. 400
+
+Norton, Hon. Mr., action brought against Lord Melbourne, iii.
+  349; result of the trial, 351
+
+
+Oaks, The, ii. 374; party at, 374
+
+Oatlands, the residence of the Duke of York, i. 4; weekly parties
+  at, 5, 7
+
+O'Connell, Daniel, character of, i. 145; at dinner, 203; attempts
+  to take his seat, 207; elected for Clare, 1829, 223; insult to,
+  ii. 76; in Ireland, 96; opposition to Lord Anglesey, 98;
+  abilities of, 100; violence of, 106; arrest of, 107; trial of,
+  109; position of, 111; pleads guilty, 114; opposition to Lord
+  Duncannon in Kilkenny, 115; explanation of, 123; dread of
+  cholera, 309; member for Ireland, 351; violent speech at the
+  Trades' Union, 362, 363; attack on Baron Smith, iii. 59; retort
+  to Mr. Methuen, 65; and the Coercion Bill, 103, 110; in
+  correspondence with Mr. Littleton, 110; union with the Whig
+  party, 219; power of, 255; affair with Lord Alvanley, 256; in
+  Scotland, 316; proposed expulsion from Brooks's club, 320;
+  quarrel with Moore, 346; Carlow election, 348
+
+O'Connell, Morgan, duel with Lord Alvanley, iii. 256
+
+Old Bailey, trials at, i. 204; ii. 85
+
+Opera House, the English, burnt, i. 277
+
+Orange, Prince of, dinner to the, ii. 57; returns to Holland, 133
+
+Orange, Princess of, robbery of jewels of, i. 267
+
+Orange Lodge, association of, iii. 343
+
+Orangemen, meeting of, iii. 123
+
+Orleans, H.R.H. Duke of, arrival of, i. 208; sent to Lyons, ii.
+  219; in England, 373; project of marriage at Vienna, iii. 372;
+  question of marriage of, 387
+
+Orloff, Count, arrival of, ii. 278; delay in ratification of the
+  Belgian Treaty, 285
+
+Osterley, party at, ii. 187
+
+
+Padua, i. 411
+
+Pæstum, i. 344
+
+Palmella, Duke of, arrival of in London, ii. 315
+
+Palmerston, Viscount, speech on the Portuguese question, i. 211;
+  Foreign Secretary, ii. 66; suggests a compromise on the Reform
+  Bill, 211; on proposed new Peers, 254; on prospects of the
+  Reform Bill, 256; business habits of, iii. 20, 21; unpopularity
+  of, 56; speech on the Turkish question, 71; Foreign Secretary
+  in Lord Melbourne's Administration, 113; unpopularity with the
+  _corps diplomatique_, 136; loses his election in Hampshire,
+  197; as a man of business, 210; Foreign Secretary, 256;
+  abilities of, 360
+
+Panic, the, 1825, i. 77; on the Stock Exchange, 1830, ii. 43
+
+Panshanger, parties at, ii. 46, 47, 229
+
+Paris, society at, in 1830, i. 283; in July, 416, 417; Marshal
+  Marmont's account of events at, in 1830, ii. 36; alarm felt in,
+  99; change of Ministry, 133; in 1837, iii. 377; society at,
+  378, 385; sight-seeing, 381, 383
+
+Park, Judge, anecdotes of, ii. 92; iii. 372
+
+Parke, Right Hon. Sir James, sworn in a Privy Councillor, iii.
+  21; Baron of the Exchequer, 71; in the appeal of Swift _v._
+  Kelly, 268
+
+Parliament, meeting of, 1830, ii. 53; meeting of, 1831, ii. 110;
+  dissolution of 1831, 137; opening of, 153; in 1831, 223;
+  dissolution of, 1832, 334; opening of, 1833, 351; prorogation
+  of, 1833, iii. 27; opening of, 1834, 55; dissolution of, 183;
+  temporary buildings for Houses of, 205; opening of, 219; in
+  1836, 334; prorogation of, 1836, 361
+
+Parnell, Sir Henry, turned out of office, ii. 243
+
+Parsons, anecdotes of, ii. 108
+
+Paskiewitch, Marshal, in quarantine, ii. 162
+
+Pattison, James, returned to Parliament for the City of London,
+  iii. 188
+
+Pavilion, The, dinner at, i. 49; completion of, 54
+
+Pease, Mr., and O'Dwyer, iii. 59
+
+Pedro, Dom, expedition of, ii. 312, 315; proposal to combine with
+  Spain, iii. 72; in possession of Portugal, 93
+
+Peel, Right Hon. Sir Robert, Home Secretary, i. 124; speeches on
+  Catholic Relief Bill, 167, 183; Oxford University election,
+  1829, 177; defeated, 178; political prospects of, ii. 95, 96;
+  power in the House of Commons, 116; speech on the Reform Bill,
+  123; inactivity of, on the Reform Bill, 130, 134; complaints of
+  policy of, 141; conduct of, 160; reserve of, 161, 174;
+  excellence in debate, 200; answer to Lord Harrowby, 248, 249;
+  policy of, 264; speech on Irish Tithes, 269; invited to form a
+  Government, 294; refuses to take office, 296; defence of
+  conduct, 304; conduct during the Tory efforts to form a
+  Government, 327, 328; conduct compared with that of the Duke of
+  Wellington, 328; character of, 354; on political unions, iii.
+  12; in society, 35; position of, in the House of Commons, 64;
+  collection of pictures, 70; great dinner given by, 72; speech
+  on admission of Dissenters to the University, 75; policy of the
+  Administration of, 161; friendship with the Duke of Wellington
+  renewed, 167; arrival of, from the Continent, 174; formation of
+  Administration, 177; manifesto to the country, 178; prospects
+  of the Ministry, 179; qualities of, 189; Toryism of
+  Administration of, 194; false position of, 208; prospects of
+  Government, 214, 235, 236; talents of, 224; conduct to his
+  adherents, 230, 244; courage of, 283; impending resignation of,
+  242; Government defeated, 246; resignation of Administration
+  of, 1835, 246, 248; speech on Corporation Reform, 263; on Irish
+  Church Bill, 281; relations with Lord John Russell, 282;
+  seclusion of, 297; speech on Corporation Reform, 304;
+  consideration for Lord Stanley, 335; conduct with regard to the
+  Corporation Bill, 340; position of, 358; on the beginning of
+  the new reign, 402
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, sen., account of, ii. 125
+
+Peel, Right Hon. Jonathan, iii. 243
+
+Pemberton, Thomas, ii. 314; in the appeal of Swift _v._ Kelly,
+  iii. 267, 271
+
+Pembroke, Earl of, i. 250
+
+Pension List, _see_ Commons, House of
+
+Pepys, Right Hon. Sir Christopher, Master of the Rolls, iii. 328.
+  _See_ Cottenham, Lord
+
+Perceval, Spencer, discourse of, iii, 41; the Unknown Tongue, 41;
+  on the condition of the Church, 123; apostolic mission to the
+  members of the Government, 331; at Holland House, 331;
+  apostolic mission of, 333
+
+Périer, Casimir, momentary resignation of, ii. 175; attacked by
+  cholera, 288; death of, 307
+
+Persian Ambassador, the, quarrel of, with the Regent, i. 21
+
+Perth election, 1835, iii. 197
+
+Petworth House and pictures, ii. 336; fête at, iii. 84
+
+Peyronnet, Comte de, i. 393
+
+Phillpotts, _see_ Exeter, Bishop of
+
+Pisa, i. 297
+
+Pitt, Right Hon. William, described by Talleyrand, ii. 345;
+  anecdotes of, iii. 131
+
+Plunket, Lord, Lord Chancellor in Ireland, ii. 90; anecdote of,
+  107; at Stoke, iii. 21; Deanery of Down, 70
+
+Poland, contest in, ii. 157
+
+Polignac, Prince Jules de, head of the Administration in France;
+  i. 160, 229, 283; Administration of, 394; behaviour of, ii. 29;
+  letter to M. de Molé, 33; exasperation against, 38, 39
+
+Pompeii, i. 338; excavations at, 343
+
+Ponsonby, Viscount, Minister at Naples, ii. 155; letters of, 172;
+  conduct of, as Ambassador at Constantinople, iii. 405
+
+Pope, the, audience of Pius VIII., i. 382; Irish appointments of
+  the, iii. 269. _See_ Rome
+
+Portfolio, the, iii. 327
+
+Portland, Duke of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95
+
+Portugal, ships seized by the French, ii. 182, 184; affairs in,
+  iii. 25, 79; bankrupt state of, 93
+
+Powell, Mr., ii. 52
+
+Pozzo di Borgo, Count, ii. 347; views of, on the state of Europe,
+  iii. 182; Russian Ambassador in London, 201, 203
+
+Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, first speech of, ii. 115; First
+  Secretary to the Board of Control, iii. 194
+
+Pratolino, i. 402
+
+Prayer, form of, on account of the disturbed state of the
+  kingdom, ii. 99
+
+Proclamation against rioters, ii. 73
+
+
+Quakers, the, address to King William IV., ii. 17
+
+'Quarterly Review, The,' attacks Lord Harrowby, ii. 269, 270;
+  pamphlet in answer to article, 270
+
+Quintus Curtius, iii. 130
+
+
+Racing, remarks on, ii. 373; anecdote, 374
+
+Redesdale, Lord, letter of, ii. 269
+
+Reform, plan of, ii. 105; remarks on, 207; negotiations
+  concerning, 215, 217, 218
+
+Reform Bill, the, laid before the King, ii. 109; excitement
+  concerning, 124; carried by one vote, 132; alterations in, 134;
+  Government defeated, 135; remarks on, 180; attitude of the
+  press, 193; prospects of, 199; negotiations for a compromise,
+  211; altered tone of the press, 225; meeting of Peers in
+  Downing Street, 225; measures for carrying the second reading
+  in the House of Lords, 235, 237, 239, 241; continued efforts to
+  compromise, 268; finally passed in the House of Commons, 270;
+  continued discussions on, 274; difficulty with Schedule A, 280;
+  carried in the House of Lords, 287; in committee, 292; passes
+  through committee, 304; results of, iii. 27, 191. For debates
+  on, _see_ Lords, House of, and Commons, House of
+
+Reichstadt, Duke of, and Marshal Marmont, iii. 374
+
+Reis-Effendi, the, i. 159
+
+Renfrewshire election, iii. 388
+
+Rice, Right Hon. Thomas Spring, Colonial Secretary, iii. 88, 113;
+  difficulties with, 253; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 256;
+  incapacity of, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 376
+
+Richmond, Duke of, and King George III. at a naval review, iii.
+  129
+
+Richmond, Duke of, summary of character of, i. 199;
+  Postmaster-General, ii. 66; refuses the appointment of Master
+  of the Horse, 67; difficulties with his labourers, 68; at
+  Goodwood, 182; on Reform, 211; character of, iii. 15;
+  resignation of, 88
+
+Riots, in London, 1830, ii. 55; among the farm labourers, 68;
+  proclamation against, 73; in the country, 77
+
+Ripon, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, ii. 66; resignation of, iii. 88.
+  _See_ Goderich, Viscount
+
+Robarts, Mr., dinner given by, iii. 184
+
+Robinson, Right Hon. Frederick John, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
+  i. 79; _See_ Goderich, Viscount
+
+Rochester election, 1835, iii. 193
+
+Roden, Earl of, declines the office of Lord Steward, iii. 179,
+  181
+
+Rogers, Samuel, breakfast given by, ii. 150; compared with Moore,
+  iii. 324
+
+Rolle, Lord, remark to Lord Brougham, iii. 107
+
+Rome, i. 303, 304; St. Peter's, 303, 321; sight-seeing, 306, 311,
+  322; the Sistine Chapel, 309; the cardinals, 309; a cardinal
+  lying in state, 312; Pompey's statue, 313; Temple of Bacchus,
+  313; the Catacombs, 314; the Pope's blessing, 316, 324; Holy
+  Week observances, 317; the Grand Penitentiary, 317, 319;
+  washing of pilgrims' feet, 320; supper to pilgrims, 321;
+  Protestant burial-ground, 322; St. Peter's illuminated, 325;
+  excavations, 327; sight-seeing, 328, 329, 362; aqueducts, 363;
+  the Scala Santa, 364; St. Peter's, 366; Library of the Vatican,
+  367; votive offering of a horse-shoe, 367, 372; Columbaria,
+  374; saints, 385; the Flagellants, 387; relations with
+  Protestant countries, 391; the Coliseum, 395; story of a thief,
+  396; convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 397; sight-seeing, 398
+
+Rosslyn, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 210; Lord President of the
+  Council, iii. 177; dinner for selecting the Sheriffs, 201
+
+Roussin, Admiral, at Constantinople ii. 367
+
+Rovigo, the Duke de, at Rome, i. 325
+
+Rundell, Mr., fortune of, will of, i. 90
+
+Runton Abbey, shooting at, iii. 51; murder in the neighbourhood,
+  51
+
+Russell, Right Hon. Lord John, introduces the Reform Bill, ii.
+  121; seat in the Cabinet, 150; brings in his Bill, 155; letter
+  to Attwood, 205, 206; willing to compromise, 223; brings on the
+  second Reform Bill, 227; Paymaster, of the Forces, iii. 113;
+  objected to by the King as leader of the House of Commons, 160;
+  speech at Totness, 171; on the Speakership, 205; on Church
+  Reform, 206; first speech as leader of the House of Commons,
+  214; letter of, on the Speakership, 218; as leader of the House
+  of Commons, 221; marriage of, 252; Home Secretary in Lord
+  Melbourne's second Administration, 256; introduction of
+  Corporation Reform, 263; relations with Sir Robert Peel, 282;
+  course to be pursued on the Corporation Bill, 303, 310; speech
+  on the Orangemen, 344; moderation of, 352; meeting at the
+  Foreign Office, 357, 358; intention of the Government to
+  proceed with their Bills, 397; speech in answer to Roebuck, 401
+
+Russia, state of, 1829, i. 158; intrigues of, ii. 351; diplomatic
+  relations with, 352; combines with Turkey against Egypt, 366;
+  fleet sent to Constantinople, 366; establishes her power in the
+  East, 371; quarrel with, iii. 44; policy towards Turkey, 48;
+  treaty with Turkey, 69; relations with Turkey, 183
+
+Russo-Dutch Loan, question of the, ii. 240, 241; origin of the,
+  244; debate on the, in the House of Lords, 315
+
+Rutland, Duke of, anti-Reform petition, ii. 263; birthday party,
+  iii. 46
+
+
+Sadler, Mr., maiden speech of, in opposition to the Catholic
+  Relief Bill, i. 191
+
+Saint-Aulaire, M. de, French Ambassador at Vienna, iii. 187;
+  anecdote of, 187
+
+Saint-Aulaire, Madame de, iii. 187
+
+Saint-Germain, Count de, account of, ii. 186; the 'Wandering
+  Jew,' 186
+
+Salerno, i. 344
+
+Salisbury, Marquis of, petition to the King, ii. 231
+
+Saltash, borough of, division on, ii. 170
+
+San Carlos, Duke and Duchess of, i. 8
+
+Sandon, Viscount, moves the Address in the House of Commons, iii.
+  202; on Sir Robert Peel, 340
+
+Sandys, Lord, iii. 359
+
+Sartorius, Admiral, petition, iii. 366
+
+Scarlett, Sir James, Attorney-General, i. 210
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, death of, ii. 307
+
+Seaford, Lord, i. 83
+
+Sebastiani, Count, French Ambassador to the Court of St. James's,
+  iii. 180
+
+Sefton, Earl of, dinner to Lord Grey and Lord Brougham, ii. 69;
+  on Lord Brougham, 148; created a Peer of the United Kingdom,
+  150; qualities of, 183
+
+Segrave, Lord, Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, iii. 322
+
+Senior, Nassau, at Holland House, iii. 138
+
+Session of 1833, review of the, iii. 28
+
+Sestri, i. 297
+
+Seton, Sir Henry, arrival of, from Belgium, ii. 178
+
+Seymour, Lord, withdraws his support from the Government, ii. 124
+
+Seymour, George, Master of the Robes, ii. 50
+
+Seymour, Horace, retires from the Lord Chamberlain's Department,
+  ii. 133
+
+Seymour, Jane, coffin of, found at Windsor, ii. 168
+
+Shadwell, Right Hon. Sir Lancelot, on legal business, iii. 76
+
+Shee, Sir Martin, elected President of the Royal Academy, i. 269
+
+Sheil, Right Hon. Richard, dispute with Lord Althorp, iii. 55;
+  arrest of, by the Serjeant-at-Arms, 56; committee, 57, 58;
+  insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389
+
+Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, iii. 336
+
+Siege of Saragossa, the, iii. 40
+
+Siena, i. 303
+
+Simplon, the, i. 415
+
+Slavery, abolition of, ii. 347; for debates on, _see_ Commons,
+  House of
+
+Smith, Baron, ii. 105; O'Connell's attack upon, iii. 59, 61, 63
+
+Smith, Sydney, and the siege of Saragossa, iii. 39; and Professor
+  Leslie, 44; sermon of, in St. Paul's Cathedral, 166; on Sir
+  James Mackintosh, 317; dispute of, with the Bishop of London,
+  395; letter to Archdeacon Singleton, 395
+
+Smithson, Sir Hugh, ii. 337, 338
+
+Somaglia, Cardinal, i. 312
+
+Somerville, Mrs., iii. 58
+
+Sorrento, i. 352; Benediction of the Flowers, 352
+
+Soult, Marshal, sent to Lyons, ii. 219; Prime Minister of France,
+  324
+
+Southey, Robert, at breakfast given by Mr. Henry Taylor, ii. 59;
+  letter to Lord Brougham on rewards to literary men, 111
+
+Spain, the Duke of Wellington on affairs in, iii. 47; state of,
+  55; affairs in, 66, 72; proposal to combine with Dom Pedro, 72;
+  affairs in, 183; deplorable state of, 359
+
+Spanish Legion, formation of the, iii. 265
+
+Speaker, the, indecision of, ii. 299; disputes on the
+  Speakership, 333; iii. 204
+
+Spencer, Earl, death of, iii. 140
+
+Spencer, Earl, _see_ Althorp, Viscount
+
+Sprotborough, party at, for the races, ii. 50
+
+Staël, Madame de, 'Considérations sur la Révolution française,'
+  i. 16; anecdote of, ii. 186
+
+Stafford House, concert at, iii. 278
+
+Stanley, Right Hon. Edward, Irish Secretary, ii. 66; speech on
+  the Reform Bill, 123; seat in the Cabinet, 150; speech in
+  answer to Croker, 228; Secretary for the Colonial Department,
+  365; at The Oaks, 374; indecision of, iii. 17; racing interests
+  of, 35; resignation of, 88; in opposition, 93; 'Thimblerig'
+  speech, 100; conciliatory letter to Lord Grey, 107; disposition
+  of, 165, 167; declines to join Sir R. Peel, 175, 176; speech at
+  Glasgow, 180; formation of the Stanley party, 220; position of
+  Mr. Stanley, 222; policy of, 228; meeting of party at the
+  'King's Head,' 237; speech on Irish Church question, 240;
+  character of, 250; letter to Sir Thomas Hesketh, 265; joins the
+  Opposition, 272; conduct of, 336
+
+Stanley, Right Hon. Edward John, Under-Secretary of State, iii.
+  112
+
+State Paper Office, i. 160; iii. 44
+
+Stephen, James, opinions on emancipation, ii. 359
+
+Stephenson, George, on steam-engines, iii. 54
+
+Stewart, Lady Dudley, party given by, ii. 115; accompanies the
+  Prince of Orange to Gravesend, 133
+
+Stoke, party at, i. 142; ii. 185
+
+Strangford, Viscount, sent to the Brazils, i. 140
+
+Strasburg prisoners, acquittal of, iii. 381
+
+Strawberry Hill, party at, i. 247
+
+Strutt, Edward, ii. 59
+
+Stuart de Rothesay, Lord, Ambassador in France, i. 141
+
+Sugden, Right Hon. Sir Edward, quarrel of, with Lord Brougham,
+  ii. 312; origin of animosity towards Lord Brougham, iii. 22;
+  Irish Chancellor, 178; resignation of, 231; retains his
+  appointment, 234
+
+Sugden, Lady, not received at Court, iii. 231
+
+Sunderland, state of, ii. 216
+
+Sussex, H.R.H. the Duke of, marriage of, ii. 194
+
+Sutherland, Duke of, death of the, iii. 19; wealth, of the, 19
+
+Suttee case, before the Privy Council, ii. 307
+
+Swift _v._ Kelly, before the Judicial Committee of the Privy
+  Council, iii. 259, 266, 267, 271; judgment, 274
+
+
+Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de, letter to the Emperor of Russia,
+  i. 23; Ambassador to the Court of St. James, ii. 44;
+  conversation of, 185; anecdotes, 185; _mot_ of, 195; dinner
+  with, 222; on Fox and Pitt, 344; detained in the Thames, 346;
+  on Portuguese affairs, iii. 25; on relations between France and
+  England, 314; opinion of, of Lord Palmerston, 360;
+  dissatisfaction at his position in London, 386
+
+Tasso, i. 328; bust of, 328
+
+Tavistock, Marquis of, on the prospects of the Liberal party,
+  iii. 43
+
+Taylor, Sir Herbert, conversation with Lord Wharncliffe, ii. 251;
+  correspondence with, about the Chancellorship, 339
+
+Taylor, Henry, breakfast at the house of, ii. 58; breakfast to
+  Wordsworth, Mill, Elliot, Charles Villiers, 120; on the
+  abolition of slavery in the West Indies, 348; 'Philip van
+  Artevelde,' iii. 114
+
+Taylor, Brook, mission to Rome, ii. 153
+
+Teddesley, party at, i. 11
+
+Tenterden, Lord, death of, ii. 329; character of, 331; classical
+  knowledge of, 331
+
+Terceira, Portuguese expedition to, i. 169, 170
+
+Terni, Falls of, i. 401
+
+Thiers, Adolphe, dinner to, iii. 31; account of, 31; at the head
+  of the French Government, 66; on interference in Spain, 66;
+  foreign policy of, 364; social qualities of, 379; quarrel with
+  Lady Granville, 380; courts the favour of Austria, 387
+
+Thompson, Alderman, difficulties with his constituents, ii. 166
+
+Thomson, Right Hon. Charles Poulett, originates a commercial
+  treaty with France, ii. 219; Board of Trade, iii. 113, 256;
+  self-complacency of, 330
+
+Thorwaldsen, Albert, at Florence, i. 299, 300
+
+Tierney, Right Hon. George, i. 14; Master of the Mint, 95; death
+  of, 269
+
+'Times,' the, on Lord Harrowby's letter, ii. 264, 265; attacks
+  Lord Grey, 267; Lord Chancellor's speech, 313; influence of
+  the, 362; and Lord Brougham, iii. 133; disposition of, to
+  support a Tory Government, 149, 152; terms of support to the
+  Duke of Wellington, 155; power of the, 156, 157; negotiations
+  with Lord Lyndhurst, 171; letter signed 'Onslow,' 199
+
+Titchfield, Marquis of, death of, i. 75; character of, 75
+
+Tivoli, i. 375
+
+Tixall, party at, i. 10; Macao, 11
+
+Torrington, Viscount, and the King, iii. 285
+
+Tory party, state of the, ii. 162; meeting at Bridgewater House,
+  iii. 237; state of the, 306; indifference of members of the,
+  389
+
+Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, iii. 45; between Russia and Turkey,
+  1834, 69; the Quadruple, for the pacification of the Peninsula,
+  signed 1834, 94
+
+Tree, Ellen, at the City Theatre, ii. 181
+
+Tuileries, the, reception at, iii. 382; ball at, 383; small ball
+  at, 385
+
+Turf, the, reflections on, iii. 139
+
+Turin, i. 291
+
+Turkey, threatened by Russia, i. 228; critical state of, ii. 351;
+  relations with Russia, iii. 183
+
+Tusculum, i. 390
+
+Twiss, Horace, supper party given by, iii. 260
+
+
+Union, speech of O'Connell on the repeal of the, iii. 80
+
+Unions, proclamation against the, ii. 215; procession of trades,
+  iii. 79
+
+Urquhart, Mr., Secretary to the Embassy at Constantinople, iii.
+  405
+
+
+Van de Weyer, Sylvain, Belgian Minister to the Court of St.
+  James, ii. 180
+
+Vaudreuil, M. de, French _chargé d'affaires_ in London, on French
+  affairs, ii. 24
+
+Vaughan, Right Hon. Sir Charles, special mission to
+  Constantinople, iii. 405
+
+Vaughan, Right Hon. Sir John, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii.
+  155
+
+Venice, i. 405; sights of, 406, 408, 410
+
+Vernet, Horace, at Rome, i. 325
+
+Verona, Congress of, i. 65; visit to, 413
+
+Verulam, Earl of, petition to the King, ii. 231
+
+Vesuvius, ascent of, i. 350
+
+Vicenza, i. 412
+
+Victoria, H.R.H. the Princess, at a child's ball, i. 209; first
+  appearance of, at a drawing-room, ii. 119; at Burghley iii.
+  315; health of, proposed by the King, 364; at Windsor, 367;
+  letter from the King, 400; seclusion of, 403; first Council of,
+  406; proclaimed QUEEN, 408; impression produced on all, 409
+
+Villiers, Hon. Hyde, appointed to the Board of Control, ii. 145
+
+Villiers, Hon. George, at the Grove, ii. 105; conversation with
+  the Duke of Wellington, 105; mission to Paris for a commercial
+  treaty, 219; Minister at Madrid, iii. 14, 20, 21; on prospects
+  in Spain, 69, 79; letters of, from Madrid, 321, 360, 365
+
+Villiers, Hon. Charles Pelham, ii. 59
+
+Virginia Water, ii. 25; visit to, 30
+
+
+Walewski, Count Alexander, arrival of, in London, ii. 104
+
+Walpole, Horace, letters to Sir Horace Mann, iii. 2
+
+'Wandering Jew, The,' ii. 186
+
+Warsaw, affair at, ii. 95; taken by the Russians, 192
+
+Warwickshire Election, iii. 353, 354
+
+Wellesley, Marquis of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 31;
+  correspondence with Mr. Littleton, 103, 110; resigns the White
+  Wand, 258
+
+Wellesley, Long, Esq., committed for contempt of court, ii. 166
+
+Wellington, Duke of, account of the battle of Waterloo, i. 39; in
+  Paris with Blücher, 41; dispute with the King, 51; on affairs
+  of France and Spain, 67; opinion of Bonaparte, 71; mission to
+  Russia, 78; visit to the Royal Lodge, 102; opinion of Mr.
+  Canning, 107; forms a Government, 1828, 124; resolves to carry
+  the Catholic Relief Bill, 143; correspondence with Dr. Curtis,
+  148; ascendency of, in the Cabinet, and over the King, 176;
+  hardness of character of, 191; duel with Lord Winchelsea, 192;
+  conversation with, on King George IV. and the Duke of
+  Cumberland, 216, 218; prosecution of the press, 233, 258, 260;
+  business habits of, 262; conversation with on the French
+  Revolution, ii. 21; qualities of, 41; confidence in, 45;
+  declaration against Reform, 53; Administration of, defeated,
+  61; resignation of, 62; suppresses disturbance in Hampshire,
+  75; political character of, 81; reported letter of advice to
+  the King of France, 94; correspondence with Mr. Canning, 103;
+  conduct towards the Government, 159; objections to Mr. Canning,
+  170; dinner at Apsley House, 188; anti-Reform dinner at Apsley
+  House, 197; remarks upon, 204; memorial to the King, 211;
+  correspondence with Lord Wharncliffe, 221; obstinacy of, 234;
+  letter to Lord Wharncliffe, 248; unbecoming letter laid before
+  the King, 252; reply to Lord Wharncliffe, 253; speech on Irish
+  Education, 272; sent for by the King, 294; efforts of, to form
+  an Administration, 299; inability of, to form an
+  Administration, 300; statement of his case, 302; conduct of the
+  Tory party, 302; ill-feeling towards Peel, 325; view of
+  affairs, 1833, 363; government of French provinces, 363;
+  respect evinced towards, 372; defence of policy, 379; Speech on
+  the Coronation Oath, iii. 9, 10; policy on the Irish Church
+  Bill, 10; on Portuguese affairs, 11, 26; and the Bonaparte
+  family, 26; subsequent account of attempt to form a Government,
+  48; compared with Lord Grey, 73; speech on the admission of
+  Dissenters to the University, 73; presents the Oxford petition,
+  79; and the Whigs, 82; installed as Chancellor of the
+  University of Oxford, 95; First Lord of the Treasury, and
+  Secretary of State for the Home Office, 149; arrangement for a
+  provisional Government, 149; at the public offices, 1834, 154;
+  account of crisis of 1834, 162; inconsistencies of, 172; on the
+  division on the Speakership, 216; on Lord Londonderry's
+  appointment, 227; anecdote of Lord Brougham, 232; on Spain,
+  270; on the Walcheren expedition, 271; policy of, on the
+  Corporation Bill, 283; letter to the Duke of Cumberland, 320;
+  speech in answer to Lord Lyndhurst, 362; meeting of Tory Peers,
+  397; crowned by the Duchess of Cannizzaro, 406; quarrel with
+  the Duke of Clarence, 406
+
+Western, Lord, evidence of, iii. 112
+
+West India Body, consternation of the, ii. 350; deputation of
+  the, 350
+
+West India Bill, prospects of the, iii. 13. For debates on the,
+  _see_ Commons, House of
+
+West Indies, Lord Chandos's motion on the state of the, ii. 116;
+  project of emancipation, 347; alarm in the, 352; difficulties
+  attending emancipation, 360; committee on affairs of the, iii.
+  266; decision on the office of Secretary of the Island of
+  Jamaica, 279
+
+Westmeath, Marchioness of, pension, i. 157, 160
+
+Westmeath _v._ Westmeath, appeal before the Judicial Committee,
+  iii. 119, 124; decision in, 140
+
+Westminster election, 1818, contest, i. 3; in 1819, 17, 19; in
+  1833, ii. 370; in 1837, iii. 398
+
+Wetherell, Sir Charles, account of, i. 194; speech on the Reform
+  Bill, ii. 123; supports Sir E. Sugden's motion, 314
+
+Wharncliffe, Lord, interview with Radical Jones, ii. 200;
+  overtures for a compromise on the Reform Bill, 211; character
+  of, 213; draws up a declaration for signature in the City, 214;
+  disappointment of, 218; final interview of, with Lord Grey,
+  220; correspondence of, with the Duke of Wellington, 221;
+  interview of, with the King on the proposed new Peers, 231,
+  233; memorandum laid before the King, 252; as chief of a party,
+  289; in communication with Lord Lyndhurst and Lord
+  Ellenborough, 290; defends his policy, 292; paper on the Tory
+  party, 343; on the prospects of the country, iii. 54; joins the
+  Peel Government, 175; on the prospects of the session, 341
+
+Whately, Richard, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, iii. 280
+
+Whig party, state of the, iii. 159; tactics of the, 216; union
+  with O'Connell, 219; symptoms of disunion in the, 221; meeting
+  at Lichfield House, 224; prospects of the, 235
+
+Wicklow, Earl of, attack on the Government, iii. 110
+
+Wilberforce, William, speech of, i. 16; negotiation with Mr.
+  Canning, ii. 125
+
+William IV., King, accession of, ii. 1; dislike of, to the Duke
+  of Cumberland, 5; behaviour of, 6, 9; at the House of Lords,
+  11; personal anecdotes of, 11, 12, 13, 14; dinner at Apsley
+  House, 14; at Windsor, 25; pays the racing debts of the Duke of
+  York, 50; speech on the change of Government, 72; levee, 74;
+  health of, 106, 108; mobbed on returning from the theatre, 117;
+  in mourning for his son-in-law, 133; in the House of Lords,
+  136; dissolves Parliament, 136; conduct to his Ministers, 138;
+  at Ascot, 147; opens Parliament, 153; at Windsor, 179; and the
+  Bishops, 185; divides the old Great Seal, 188; crowned at
+  Westminster, 190; levee, 192; toasts at dinner at St. James's,
+  193; interview with Lord Wharncliffe on creation of new Peers,
+  233; health of, 282; reluctance of, to make Peers, 283; adverse
+  sentiments towards the Whigs, 298; dinner to the Jockey Club,
+  301; levity of, 302; letter to the Peers, 303; character of,
+  307; struck by a stone, 307; country dance, 341; anecdotes of,
+  342; state of mind of, 364; letter to the Archbishop of
+  Canterbury, 382, 383; letter-writing, iii. 2; animosity to the
+  French, 33; irritability of, 81; conduct of, 84; personal
+  feelings towards the members of Lord Melbourne's
+  Administration, 137; dismissal of Lord Melbourne, 144; speech
+  to the Tory Lords, 148; provisional appointments, 148; account
+  of difference with Lord Melbourne, 150; resolution of, to
+  support the Tory Government, 161; address to the new Ministers,
+  175; on the state of Persia, 184; whims of, 203; Island of St.
+  Bartholomew, 203; indignation of, at the affair of Lord
+  Londonderry, 231; distress of, 251; and the Ministers, 245;
+  personal habits of, 264; speech to Sir Charles Grey, 272;
+  audience to Lord Durham, 272; hostility towards Lord Glenelg
+  and the Ministers, 276; conduct to the Speaker, 279; scene with
+  Lord Torrington, 285; speech to the Bishops, 303; speech on the
+  Militia, 311; and the Duchess of Kent, 313; speech at dinner to
+  the Jockey Club, 351; Toryism of, 358; joke, 361; speech to the
+  Bishop of Ely, 363; proposes the health of the Princess
+  Victoria, 364; aversion to his Ministers, 364, 366; speech to
+  Lord Minto, 364, 366; rudeness to the Duchess of Kent, 366;
+  scene at birthday party, 367; reception of King Leopold, 370;
+  speech, 1837, 385; address to Lord Aylmer, 394; illness of,
+  399, 400; letter to the Princess Victoria, 399; dangerous
+  illness of, 401; prayers offered up for, 403; death of, 406;
+  kindness of heart of, 410
+
+Williams, Sir John, Justice of the Common Pleas, iii. 71
+
+Winchelsea, Earl of, duel of, with the Duke of Wellington, i.
+  192; incident of the handkerchief, 198
+
+Winchester Cathedral, iii. 283
+
+Windham, Right Hon. William, diary of, i. 231; conversation with
+  Doctor Johnson, 232
+
+Windsor Castle, dinner in St. George's Hall, ii. 34, 42; dinner
+  during the Ascot week, 147
+
+Windsor election, mobs at the, iii. 130
+
+Woburn, party at, i. 23; riot at, ii. 77
+
+Wood, Charles, on the Reform Bill, ii. 280
+
+Wood, Matthew, returned to Parliament for the City of London,
+  iii. 188
+
+Worcester, Marchioness of, death of the, i. 47
+
+Worcester Cathedral, iii. 327; monument of Bishop Hough, 327
+
+Wordsworth, William, characteristics of, ii. 120
+
+Wortley, Right Hon. John, Secretary to the Board of Control, i.
+  271. _See_ Wharncliffe
+
+Wrottesley, Sir John, motion of, for a call of the House, iii. 8,
+  13
+
+Wynford, Lord, raised to the Peerage, i. 210; Deputy Speaker of
+  the House of Lords, 210
+
+Wynn, Right Hon. Charles, President of the Board of Control, i.
+  95; resignation of, ii. 124
+
+
+York, H.R.H. the Duke of, character of, i. 5; management of
+  racing establishment, 44; dislike to the Duke of Wellington,
+  48, 62; duel with the Duke of Richmond, 62; anecdotes of King
+  George IV., 73; illness of, 83, 85; death of, 84; funeral of,
+  89; letter to Lord Liverpool on the Catholic question, ii. 104
+
+York, H.R.H. the Duchess of, character of, i. 5; portrait of, 8;
+  illness of, 27; death of, 34
+
+Young, Thomas, private secretary to Lord Melbourne, iii. 126
+
+
+Zea Bermudez, iii. 21; dismissal of, 55
+
+Zumalacarreguy, iii. 270
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Greville Memoirs, by Charles C. F. Greville
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Journal of the Reigns of Kings George IV and William IV (Vol. II), by Charles C. F. Greville
+    </title>
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+
+
+<pre>
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Greville Memoirs, by Charles C. F. Greville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Greville Memoirs
+       A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II
+
+Author: Charles C. F. Greville
+
+Editor: Henry Reeve
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2009 [EBook #30590]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREVILLE MEMOIRS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stacy Brown, Eve Behr, Paul Murray and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class = "mynote">
+Transcriber&rsquo;s Note:<br /><br />
+
+    In this work, all spellings and punctuation were
+    reproduced from the original work except in the very few
+    cases where an obvious typo occurred. These typos are
+    corrected without comment. <br /><br />
+
+    In the original volumes in this set, each even-numbered
+    page had a header consisting of the page number, the
+    volume title, and the chapter number. The odd-numbered
+    page header consisted of the year of the diary entry, a
+    subject phrase, and the page number. In this set of
+    e-books, the year is included as part of the date (which
+    in the original volume were in the form reproduced here,
+    minus the year). The subject phrase has been converted to
+    sidenotes located below the relevant page number. <br /><br />
+
+    In the original book set, consisting of three volumes,
+    the master index was in Volume 3. In this set of e-books,
+    the index has been duplicated into each of the other
+    volumes.  Navigation links were created to the entries for the
+    current volume.
+</div>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h1 class="smcap">
+The Greville Memoirs</h1>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h2>
+A JOURNAL OF THE REIGNS <br />
+<br />
+OF</h2>
+<h1>KING GEORGE IV.</h1>
+<h2>AND</h2>
+<h1>KING WILLIAM IV.</h1>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h4>BY THE LATE</h4>
+<h1 class="smcap">Charles C. F. Greville, Esq.</h1>
+<h4>CLERK OF THE COUNCIL TO THOSE SOVEREIGNS</h4>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h4>EDITED BY</h4>
+<h1>HENRY REEVE</h1>
+<h5>REGISTRAR OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL</h5>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h4>IN THREE VOLUMES <br /> VOL. II.</h4>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h4 style="font-style: italic; font-variant: small-caps;">Second Edition</h4>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em; margin-bottom: 0em;" />
+
+<h5>LONDON <br />
+LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. <br />
+1874</h5>
+
+<hr style="margin-top: 0em;" />
+
+<p class="center">
+<a href="#INDEX"><b>INDEX.</b></a>
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>Contents of the Second Volume</h2>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Accession of William IV. &mdash; The King&rsquo;s Proceedings &mdash; His Popularity &mdash;
+Funeral of George IV. &mdash; Dislike of the Duke of Cumberland &mdash; The King&rsquo;s
+Simplicity and Good-nature &mdash; Reviews the Guards &mdash; The First Court &mdash;
+The King in St. James&rsquo;s Street &mdash; Dissolution of Parliament &mdash; The King
+dines at Apsley House &mdash; The Duke of Gloucester &mdash; The Quaker&rsquo;s Address &mdash;
+The Ordinances of July &mdash; The French Revolution &mdash; Brougham&rsquo;s Election
+for Yorkshire &mdash; Struggle in Paris &mdash; Elections adverse to Government &mdash;
+The Duke of Wellington on the French Revolution &mdash; Duke of Cumberland
+resigns the Gold Stick and the Blues &mdash; George IV.&rsquo;s Wardrobe &mdash;
+Fall of the Bourbons &mdash; Weakness of the Duke&rsquo;s Ministry &mdash; The King
+at Windsor &mdash; The Duke of Orleans accepts the Crown of France &mdash;
+Chamber of Peers remodelled &mdash; Prince Polignac &mdash; The New Parliament
+&mdash; Virginia Water &mdash; Details of George IV.&rsquo;s Illness and Death &mdash; Symptoms
+of Opposition &mdash; Brougham &mdash; Charles X. in England &mdash; Dinner in St.
+George&rsquo;s Hall &mdash; Lambeth &mdash; Marshal Marmont &mdash; His Conversation &mdash;
+Campaign of 1814 &mdash; The Conflict in Paris &mdash; Dinner at Lord Dudley&rsquo;s.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII"><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+The Belgian Revolution &mdash; The Duke of Wellington and Canning &mdash; The
+King&rsquo;s Plate &mdash; Gloomy Forebodings &mdash; Retreat of the Prince of Orange &mdash;
+Prince Talleyrand &mdash; Position of the Government &mdash; Death of Huskisson &mdash;
+His Character &mdash; The Duke of Wellington and Peel &mdash; Meeting of Parliament
+&mdash; The Duke&rsquo;s Declaration &mdash; The King&rsquo;s Visit to the City abandoned
+&mdash; Disturbances in London &mdash; Duchesse de Dino &mdash; The Cholera &mdash;
+Southey, Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill &mdash; Dinner at Talleyrand&rsquo;s &mdash; The
+Duke of Wellington resigns &mdash; Mr. Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the
+Council &mdash; Lord Spencer and Lord Grey sent for &mdash; Formation of Lord
+Grey&rsquo;s Administration &mdash; Discontent of Brougham &mdash; Brougham takes the
+Great Seal &mdash; Character of the New Ministers &mdash; Prospects of the Opposition
+&mdash; Disturbances in Sussex and Hampshire &mdash; Lord Grey and Lord
+Brougham &mdash; Lord Sefton&rsquo;s Dinner &mdash; The New Ministers sworn at a
+Council.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+A Proclamation against Rioters &mdash; Appointments &mdash; Duke of Wellington in
+Hampshire &mdash; General Excitement &mdash; The Tory Party &mdash; State of Ireland &mdash;
+More Disturbances &mdash; Lord Grey&rsquo;s Colleagues &mdash; Election at Liverpool &mdash; The
+Black Book &mdash; The Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s Position and Character &mdash;
+A Council on a Capital Sentence &mdash; Brougham in the House of Lords &mdash;
+The Clerks of the Council &mdash; Lord Grey and Lord Lyndhurst &mdash; The
+Chancellor of Ireland &mdash; Lord Melbourne &mdash; Duke of Richmond &mdash; Sir James
+Graham &mdash; Lyndhurst Lord Chief Baron &mdash; Judge Allan Park &mdash; Lord
+Lyndhurst and the Whigs &mdash; Duke of Wellington and Polignac &mdash; The
+King and his Sons &mdash; Polish Revolution &mdash; Mechanics&rsquo; Institute &mdash; Repeal
+of the Union &mdash; King Louis Philippe &mdash; Lord Anglesey and O&rsquo;Connell &mdash;
+A Dinner at the Athenæum &mdash; Canning and George IV. &mdash; Formation of
+Canning&rsquo;s Government &mdash; Negotiation with Lord Melbourne &mdash; Count
+Walewski &mdash; Croker&rsquo;s Boswell &mdash; State of Ireland &mdash; Brougham and Sugden
+&mdash; Arrest of O&rsquo;Connell &mdash; Colonel Napier and the Trades Unions &mdash; The
+Civil List &mdash; Hunt in the House of Commons &mdash; Southey&rsquo;s Letter to
+Brougham on Literary Honours &mdash; The Budget &mdash; O&rsquo;Connell pleads guilty
+&mdash; Achille Murat &mdash; Weakness of the Government &mdash; Lady Jersey and Lord
+Durham &mdash; Lord Duncannon &mdash; Ireland &mdash; Wordsworth.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><b>CHAPTER XIV.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Introduction of the Reform Bill &mdash; Attitude of the Opposition &mdash; Reform Debates
+&mdash; Peel &mdash; Wilberforce and Canning &mdash; Old Sir Robert Peel &mdash; The City
+Address &mdash; Agitation for Reform &mdash; Effects of the Reform Bill &mdash; Brougham
+as Chancellor &mdash; Brougham at the Horse Guards &mdash; Miss Kemble &mdash; Vote on
+the Timber Duties &mdash; Lord Lansdowne&rsquo;s Opinion of the Bill &mdash; Reform
+Bill carried by one Vote &mdash; The King in Mourning &mdash; The Prince of
+Orange &mdash; Peel&rsquo;s Reserve &mdash; Ministers beaten &mdash; Parliament dissolved by
+the King in Person &mdash; Tumult in both Houses &mdash; Failure of the Whig
+Ministry &mdash; The King in their Hands &mdash; The Elections &mdash; Illumination in
+the City &mdash; The Queen alarmed &mdash; Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s View of the Bill &mdash;
+Lord Grey takes the Garter &mdash; The King at Ascot &mdash; Windsor under
+William IV. &mdash; Brougham at Whitbread&rsquo;s Brewery and at the British
+Museum &mdash; Breakfast at Rogers&rsquo; &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; Quarantine &mdash; Meeting of
+Peers &mdash; New Parliament meets &mdash; Opened by the King &mdash; &lsquo;Hernani&rsquo; at
+Bridgewater House &mdash; The Second Reform Bill &mdash; The King&rsquo;s Coronation
+&mdash; Cobbett&rsquo;s Trial &mdash; Prince Leopold accepts the Crown of Belgium &mdash;
+Peel and the Tories &mdash; A Rabble Opposition &mdash; A Council for the Coronation.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV"><b>CHAPTER XV.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Preparations for the Coronation &mdash; Long Wellesley committed by the
+Chancellor for Contempt &mdash; Alderman Thompson and his Constituents &mdash;
+Prince Leopold goes to Belgium &mdash; Royal Tombs and Remains &mdash; The Lieutenancy
+of the Tower &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; The Belgian Fortresses &mdash; Secret
+Negotiations of Canning with the Whigs &mdash; Transactions before the Close
+of the Liverpool Administration &mdash; Duke of Wellington and Peel &mdash; The
+Dutch invade Belgium &mdash; Defeat of the Belgian Army &mdash; The French enter
+Belgium &mdash; Lord Grey&rsquo;s Composure &mdash; Audience at Windsor &mdash; Danger of
+Reform &mdash; Ellen Tree &mdash; The French in Belgium &mdash; Goodwood &mdash; The Duke
+of Richmond &mdash; The Reform Bill in Difficulties &mdash; Duke of Wellington
+calls on Lord Grey &mdash; The King declines to be kissed by the Bishops &mdash;
+Talleyrand&rsquo;s Conversation &mdash; State of Europe and France &mdash; Coronation
+Squabbles &mdash; The King divides the old Great Seal between Brougham and
+Lyndhurst &mdash; Relations of the Duchess of Kent to George IV. and William
+IV. &mdash; The Coronation &mdash; Irritation of the King &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; A Dinner
+at St. James&rsquo;s &mdash; State of the Reform Bill &mdash; Sir Augustus d&rsquo;Este &mdash; Madame
+Junot &mdash; State of France &mdash; Poland.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"><b>CHAPTER XVI.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform &mdash; Resolution to carry the Bill &mdash; Holland
+&mdash; Radical Jones &mdash; Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords &mdash; Dorsetshire
+Election &mdash; Division among the Tories &mdash; Bishop Phillpotts &mdash; Prospects of
+Reform &mdash; Its Dangers &mdash; Riots at Bristol &mdash; The Cholera at Sunderland &mdash;
+An Attempt at a Compromise on Reform &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe negotiates
+with the Ministers &mdash; Negotiation with Mr. Barnes &mdash; Proclamation against
+the Unions &mdash; Barbarism of Sunderland &mdash; Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe
+&mdash; Bristol and Lyons &mdash; Commercial Negotiations with France &mdash;
+Poulett Thomson &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s Proposal to Lord Grey &mdash; Disapproved
+by the Duke of Wellington &mdash; Moderation of Lord John Russell
+&mdash; The Appeal of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor &mdash; The Second Reform Bill
+&mdash; Violence of Lord Durham &mdash; More Body-snatchers &mdash; Duke of Richmond
+and Sir Henry Parnell &mdash; Panshanger &mdash; Creation of Peers &mdash; Division of
+Opinion &mdash; Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s
+Interview with the King &mdash; Opposition of the Duke of Wellington
+&mdash; The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII"><b>CHAPTER XVII.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Measures for carrying the Second Reading of the Reform Bill in the House
+of Lords &mdash; The Party of the Waverers &mdash; The Russo-Dutch Loan &mdash; Resistance
+of the Tory Peers &mdash; Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Views on the Government &mdash;
+Macaulay at Holland House &mdash; Reluctance of the Government to create
+Peers &mdash; Duke of Wellington intractable &mdash; Peel&rsquo;s Despondency &mdash; Lord
+Grey on the Measures of Conciliation &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe sees the King
+&mdash; Prospects of the Waverers &mdash; Conversations with Lord Melbourne and
+Lord Palmerston &mdash; Duke of Richmond on the Creation of Peers &mdash; Interview
+of Lord Grey with the Waverers &mdash; Minute drawn up &mdash; Bethnal
+Green &mdash; The Archbishop of Canterbury vacillates &mdash; Violence of Extreme
+Parties &mdash; Princess Lieven&rsquo;s Journal &mdash; Lord Holland for making Peers &mdash;
+Irish National Education &mdash; Seizure of Ancona &mdash; Reform Bill passes the
+House of Commons &mdash; Lord Dudley&rsquo;s Madness &mdash; Debate in the Lords.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII"><b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Debate in the House of Lords &mdash; Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s Position &mdash; Hopes of a
+Compromise &mdash; Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s View &mdash; Disturbances caused by the Cholera
+&mdash; The Disfranchisement Clause &mdash; The Number &lsquo;56&rsquo; &mdash; Peers contemplated
+&mdash; The King&rsquo;s Hesitation &mdash; &lsquo;The Hunchback&rsquo; &mdash; Critical Position of
+the Waverers &mdash; Bill carried by Nine in the Lords &mdash; The Cholera in Paris
+&mdash; Moderate Speech of Lord Grey &mdash; End of the Secession &mdash; Conciliatory
+Overtures &mdash; Negotiations carried on at Newmarket &mdash; Hostile Division in
+the Lords &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s Account of his Failure &mdash; Lord Grey resigns
+&mdash; The Duke of Wellington attempts to form a Ministry &mdash; Peel
+declines &mdash; Hostility of the Court to the Whigs &mdash; A Change of Scene &mdash; The
+Duke fails &mdash; History of the Crisis &mdash; Lord Grey returns to Office &mdash; The
+King&rsquo;s Excitement &mdash; The King writes to the Opposition Peers &mdash; Defeat
+and Disgrace of the Tories &mdash; Conversation of the Duke of Wellington &mdash;
+Louis XVIII. &mdash; Madame du Cayla &mdash; Weakness of the King &mdash; Mortality
+among Great Men &mdash; Petition against Lord W. Bentinck&rsquo;s Prohibition of
+Suttee heard by the Privy Council &mdash; O&rsquo;Connell and the Cholera &mdash; Irish
+Tithe Bill &mdash; Irish Difficulties &mdash; Mr. Stanley &mdash; Concluding Debates of the
+Parliament &mdash; Quarrel between Brougham and Sugden &mdash; Holland and
+Belgium &mdash; Brougham&rsquo;s Revenge and Apology &mdash; Dinner at Holland House
+&mdash; Anecdotes of Johnson &mdash; Death of Mr. Greville&rsquo;s Father &mdash; Madame de
+Flahaut&rsquo;s Account of the Princess Charlotte &mdash; Prince Augustus of
+Prussia &mdash; Captain Hess &mdash; Hostilities in Holland and in Portugal &mdash; The
+Duchesse de Berri &mdash; Conversation with Lord Melbourne on the State of
+the Government.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX"><b>CHAPTER XIX.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Foreign Difficulties &mdash; Conduct of Peel on the Resignation of Lord Grey &mdash;
+Manners Sutton proposed as Tory Premier &mdash; Coolness between Peel and
+the Duke &mdash; Embargo on Dutch Ships &mdash; Death of Lord Tenterden &mdash;
+Denman made Lord Chief Justice &mdash; Sketch of Holland House &mdash; The
+Speakership &mdash; Horne and Campbell Attorney- and Solicitor-General &mdash; The
+Court at Brighton &mdash; Lord Howe and the Queen &mdash; Elections under the
+Reform Act &mdash; Mr. Gully &mdash; Petworth &mdash; Lord Egremont &mdash; Attempt to reinstate
+Lord Howe &mdash; Namik Pacha &mdash; Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s Version of what
+occurred on the Resignation of Lord Grey &mdash; Lord Denbigh appointed
+Chamberlain to the Queen &mdash; Brougham&rsquo;s Privy Council Bill &mdash; Talleyrand&rsquo;s
+Relations with Fox and Pitt &mdash; Negro Emancipation Bill &mdash; State of
+the West Indies &mdash; The Reformed Parliament meets &mdash; Russian Intrigues &mdash;
+Four Days Debate on the Address &mdash; Peel&rsquo;s Political Career.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX"><b>CHAPTER XX.</b></a></p>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Appointment of Sir Stratford Canning to the Russian Embassy &mdash; Cause of
+the Refusal &mdash; Slavery in the West Indies &mdash; The Reformed Parliament &mdash;
+Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s View of Affairs &mdash; The Coercion Bill &mdash; The Privy
+Council Bill &mdash; Lord Durham made an Earl &mdash; Mr. Stanley Secretary for the
+Colonies &mdash; The Russians go to the Assistance of the Porte &mdash; Lord Goderich
+has the Privy Seal, an Earldom, and the Garter &mdash; Embarrassments of the
+Government &mdash; The Appeal of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor at the Privy Council
+&mdash; Hobhouse defeated in Westminster &mdash; Bill for Negro Emancipation &mdash;
+The Russians on the Bosphorus &mdash; Mr. Littleton Chief Secretary for
+Ireland &mdash; Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington &mdash; Moral of a &lsquo;Book
+on the Derby&rsquo; &mdash; The Oaks &mdash; A Betting Incident &mdash; Ascot &mdash; Government
+beaten in the Lords on Foreign Policy &mdash; Vote of Confidence in the
+Commons &mdash; Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor decided &mdash; Lord Eldon&rsquo;s Last Judgment &mdash;
+His Character &mdash; Duke of Wellington as Leader of Opposition &mdash; West
+India Affairs &mdash; Irish Church Bill &mdash; Appropriation Clause &mdash; A Fancy
+Bazaar &mdash; The King writes to the Bishops &mdash; Local Court Bill &mdash;
+Mirabeau.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h1>A JOURNAL <br />
+<small>OF THE</small> <br />
+REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH</h1>
+
+<hr />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span>
+Accession of William IV. &mdash; The King&rsquo;s Proceedings &mdash; His Popularity &mdash;
+Funeral of George IV. &mdash; Dislike of the Duke of Cumberland &mdash; The King&rsquo;s
+Simplicity and Good-nature &mdash; Reviews the Guards &mdash; The First Court &mdash;
+The King in St. James&rsquo;s Street &mdash; Dissolution of Parliament &mdash; The King
+dines at Apsley House &mdash; The Duke of Gloucester &mdash; The Quakers&rsquo; Address &mdash;
+The Ordinances of July &mdash; The French Revolution &mdash; Brougham&rsquo;s Election
+for Yorkshire &mdash; Struggle in Paris &mdash; Elections Adverse to Government &mdash;
+The Duke of Wellington on the French Revolution &mdash; Duke of Cumberland
+resigns the Gold Stick and the Blues &mdash; George IV.&rsquo;s Wardrobe &mdash;
+Fall of the Bourbons &mdash; Weakness of the Duke&rsquo;s Ministry &mdash; The King
+at Windsor &mdash; The Duke of Orleans accepts the Crown of France &mdash;
+Chamber of Peers remodelled &mdash; Prince Polignac &mdash; The New Parliament
+&mdash; Virginia Water &mdash; Details of George IV.&rsquo;s Illness and Death &mdash; Symptoms
+of Opposition &mdash; Brougham &mdash; Charles X. in England &mdash; Dinner in St.
+George&rsquo;s Hall &mdash; Lambeth &mdash; Marshal Marmont &mdash; His Conversation &mdash;
+Campaign of 1814 &mdash; The Conflict in Paris &mdash; Dinner at Lord Dudley&rsquo;s.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>1830.</h2>
+
+<h3>London, July 16th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>I returned here on the 6th of this
+month, and have waited these ten days to look about me
+and see and hear what is passing. The present King and
+his proceedings occupy all attention, and nobody thinks
+any more of the late King than if he had been dead fifty
+years, unless it be to abuse him and to rake up all his vices
+and misdeeds. Never was elevation like that of King
+William IV. His life has been hitherto passed in obscurity
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+and neglect, in miserable poverty, surrounded by a numerous
+progeny of bastards, without consideration or friends, and
+he was ridiculous from his grotesque ways and little meddling
+curiosity. Nobody ever invited him into their house, or
+thought it necessary to honour him with any mark of attention
+or respect; and so he went on for above forty years, till
+Canning brought him into notice by making him Lord High
+Admiral at the time of his grand Ministerial schism. In
+that post he distinguished himself by making absurd speeches,
+by a morbid official activity, and by a general wildness which
+was thought to indicate incipient insanity, till shortly after
+Canning&rsquo;s death and the Duke&rsquo;s accession, as is well known,
+the latter dismissed him. He then dropped back into
+obscurity, but had become by this time somewhat more of
+a personage than he was before. His brief administration
+of the navy, the death of the Duke of York, which made him
+heir to the throne, his increased wealth and regular habits,
+had procured him more consideration, though not a great
+deal. Such was his position when George IV. broke all at
+once, and after three months of expectation William finds
+himself King.</p>
+
+<h3>July 18th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>King George had not been dead three days
+before everybody discovered that he was no loss, and King
+William a great gain. Certainly nobody ever was less
+regretted than the late King, and the breath was hardly out
+of his body before the press burst forth in full cry against
+him, and raked up all his vices, follies, and misdeeds, which
+were numerous and glaring enough.</p>
+
+<p>The new King began very well. Everybody expected he
+would keep the Ministers in office, but he threw himself
+into the arms of the Duke of Wellington with the strongest
+expressions of confidence and esteem. He proposed to all
+the Household, as well as to the members of Government, to
+keep their places, which they all did except Lord Conyngham
+and the Duke of Montrose. He soon after, however, dismissed
+most of the equerries, that he might fill their places
+with the members of his own family. Of course such a King
+wanted not due praise, and plenty of anecdotes were raked
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">KING WILLIAM&rsquo;S ACCESSION.</span>
+up of his former generosities and kindnesses. His first
+speech to the Council was well enough given, but his burlesque
+character began even then to show itself. Nobody expected
+from him much real grief, and he does not seem to know
+how to act it consistently; he spoke of his brother with all
+the semblance of feeling, and in a tone of voice properly
+softened and subdued, but just afterwards, when they gave
+him the pen to sign the declaration, he said, in his usual tone,
+&lsquo;This is a damned bad pen you have given me.&rsquo; My worthy
+colleague Mr. James Buller began to swear Privy Councillors
+in the name of &lsquo;King George IV.&mdash;William, I mean,&rsquo; to the
+great diversion of the Council.</p>
+
+<p>A few days after my return I was sworn in, all the Ministers
+and some others being present. His Majesty presided
+very decently, and looked like a respectable old admiral. The
+Duke [of Wellington] told me he was delighted with him&mdash;&lsquo;If
+I had been able to deal with my late master as I do with
+my present, I should have got on much better&rsquo;&mdash;that he
+was so reasonable and tractable, and that he had done more
+business with him in ten minutes than with the other in as
+many days.</p>
+
+<p>I met George Fitzclarence, afterwards Earl of
+Munster,<a name="FNA_11_01" id="FNA_11_01"></a><a href="#FN_11_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+the same day, and repeated what the Duke said, and he told
+me how delighted his father was with the Duke, his entire
+confidence in him, and that the Duke might as entirely
+depend upon the King; that he had told his Majesty, when
+he was at Paris, that Polignac and the Duke of Orleans had
+both asked him whether the Duke of Clarence, when he
+became King, would keep the Duke of Wellington as his
+Minister, and the King said, &lsquo;What did you reply?&rsquo; &lsquo;I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+replied that you certainly would; did not I do right?&rsquo;
+&lsquo;Certainly, you did quite right.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_11_01" id="FN_11_01"></a><a href="#FNA_11_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[Eldest son of King William IV. by Mrs. Jordan, who was shortly
+after the accession created an earl by his father. The rank of &lsquo;marquis&rsquo;s
+younger children&rsquo; was conferred upon the rest of the family. The King
+had nine natural children by Mrs. Jordan: 1, George, a major-general in
+the army, afterwards Earl of Munster; 2, Frederick, also in the army; 3,
+Adolphus, a rear-admiral; 4, Augustus, in holy orders; 5. Sophia, married
+to Lord de l&rsquo;Isle; 6, Mary, married to Colonel Fox; 7, Elizabeth, married
+to the Earl of Errol; 8, Augusta, married first to the Hon. John Kennedy
+Erskine, and secondly to Lord John Frederick Gordon; 9, Amelia, married
+to Viscount Falkland.]</p></div>
+
+<p>He began immediately to do good-natured things, to
+provide for old friends and professional adherents, and he
+bestowed a pension upon Tierney&rsquo;s widow. The great offices
+of Chamberlain and Steward he abandoned to the Duke of
+Wellington. There never was anything like the enthusiasm
+with which he was greeted by all ranks; though he has
+trotted about both town and country for sixty-four years,
+and nobody ever turned round to look at him, he cannot stir
+now without a mob, patrician as well as plebeian, at his heels.
+All the Park congregated round the gate to see him drive
+into town the day before yesterday. But in the midst of all
+this success and good conduct certain indications of strangeness
+and oddness peep out which are not a little alarming,
+and he promises to realise the fears of his Ministers that he
+will do and say too much, though they flatter themselves
+that they have muzzled him in his approaching progress by
+reminding him that his words will be taken as his Ministers&rsquo;,
+and he must, therefore, be chary of them.</p>
+
+<p>At the late King&rsquo;s funeral he behaved with great indecency.
+That ceremony was very well managed, and a fine
+sight, the military part particularly, and the Guards were
+magnificent. The attendance was not very numerous, and
+when they had all got together in St. George&rsquo;s Hall a gayer
+company I never beheld; with the exception of Mount Charles,
+who was deeply affected, they were all as merry as grigs.
+The King was chief mourner, and, to my astonishment, as he
+entered the chapel directly behind the body, in a situation
+in which he should have been apparently, if not really,
+absorbed in the melancholy duty he was performing, he
+darted up to Strathaven, who was ranged on one side below
+the Dean&rsquo;s stall, shook him heartily by the hand, and then
+went on nodding to the right and left. He had previously
+gone as chief mourner to sit for an hour at the head of the
+body as it lay in state, and he walked in procession with his
+household to the apartment. I saw him pass from behind
+the screen. Lord Jersey had been in the morning to Bushy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISLIKE OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.</span>
+to kiss hands on being made Chamberlain, when he had
+received him very graciously, told him it was the Duke and
+not himself who had made him, but that he was delighted
+to have him. At Windsor, when he arrived, he gave
+Jersey the white wand, or rather took one from him he had
+provided for himself, and gave it him again with a little
+speech. When he went to sit in state, Jersey preceded him,
+and he said when all was ready, &lsquo;Go on to the body, Jersey;
+you will get your dress coat as soon as you can.&rsquo; The
+morning after the funeral, having slept at Frogmore, he
+went all over the Castle, into every room in the house, which
+he had never seen before except when he came there as a
+guest; after which he received an address from the ecclesiastical
+bodies of Windsor and Eton, and returned an answer
+quite unpremeditated which they told me was excellent.</p>
+
+<p>He is very well with all his family, particularly the Duke
+of Sussex, but he dislikes and seems to know the Duke of
+Cumberland, who is furious at his own discredit. The King
+has taken from him the Gold Stick, by means of which he
+had usurped the functions of all the other colonels of the
+regiments of the Guards, and put himself always about the
+late King. He says the Duke&rsquo;s rank is too high to perform
+those functions, and has put an end to his services. He has
+only put the Gold Sticks on their former footing, and they are
+all to take the duty in turn.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the Duke of Cumberland has shown his
+teeth in another way. His horses have hitherto stood in the
+stables which are appropriated to the Queen, and the other day
+Lord Errol, her new Master of the Horse, went to her Majesty
+and asked her where she chose her horses should be; she
+said, of course, she knew nothing about it, but in the proper
+place. Errol then said the Duke of Cumberland&rsquo;s horses
+were in her stables, and could not be got out without an
+order from the King. The King was spoken to, and he
+commanded the Duke of Leeds to order them out. The
+Duke of Leeds took the order to the Duke of Cumberland,
+who said &lsquo;he would be damned if they should go,&rsquo; when the
+Duke of Leeds said that he trusted he would have them
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+taken out the following day, as unless he did so he should
+be under the necessity of ordering them to be removed by
+the King&rsquo;s grooms, when the Duke was obliged sulkily to
+give way. When the King gave the order to the Duke of
+Leeds, he sent for Taylor that he might be present, and said
+at the same time that he had a very bad opinion of the Duke
+of Cumberland, and he wished he would live out of the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>The King&rsquo;s good-nature, simplicity, and affability to all
+about him are certainly very striking, and in his elevation
+he does not forget any of his old friends and companions.
+He was in no hurry to take upon himself the dignity of King,
+nor to throw off the habits and manners of a country gentleman.
+When Lord Chesterfield went to Bushy to kiss his hand,
+and be presented to the Queen, he found Sir John and Lady
+Gore there lunching, and when they went away the King called
+for their carriage, handed Lady Gore into it, and stood at
+the door to see them off. When Lord Howe came over from
+Twickenham to see him, he said the Queen was going out
+driving, and should &lsquo;drop him&rsquo; at his own house. The
+Queen, they say, is by no means delighted at her elevation.
+She likes quiet and retirement and Bushy (of which the King
+has made her Ranger), and does not want to be a Queen.
+However, &lsquo;L&rsquo;appétit viendra en mangeant.&rsquo; He says he does
+not want luxury and magnificence, has slept in a cot, and he
+has dismissed the King&rsquo;s cooks, &lsquo;renversé la marmite.&rsquo; He
+keeps the stud (which is to be diminished) because he thinks
+he ought to support the turf. He has made Mount Charles
+a Lord of the Bedchamber, and given the Robes to Sir C.
+Pole, an admiral. Altogether he seems a kind-hearted, well-meaning,
+not stupid, burlesque, bustling old fellow, and if
+he doesn&rsquo;t go mad may make a very decent King, but he
+exhibits oddities. He would not have his servants in mourning&mdash;that
+is, not those of his own family and household&mdash;but
+he sent the Duke of Sussex to Mrs. Fitzherbert to desire
+she would put hers in mourning, and consequently so they
+are. The King and she have always been friends, as she
+has, in fact, been with all the Royal Family, but it was very
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING&rsquo;S ODDITIES.</span>
+strange. Yesterday morning he sent for the officer on
+guard, and ordered him to take all the muffles off the drums,
+the scarfs off the regimentals, and so to appear on parade,
+where he went himself. The colonel would have put the
+officer under arrest for doing this without his orders, but the
+King said he was commanding officer of his own guard,
+and forbade him. All odd, and people are frightened, but
+his wits will at least last till the new Parliament meets.
+I sent him a very respectful request through Taylor that he
+would pay 300&#8467;., all that remained due of the Duke of York&rsquo;s
+debts at Newmarket, which he assented to directly, as soon
+as the Privy Purse should be settled&mdash;very good-natured. In
+the meantime it is said that the bastards are dissatisfied
+that more is not done for them, but he cannot do much for
+them at once, and he must have time. He has done all he
+can; he has made Errol Master of the Horse, Sidney a
+Guelph and Equerry, George Fitzclarence the same and Adjutant-General,
+and doubtless they will all have their turn. Of
+course the stories told about the rapacity of the Conynghams
+have been innumerable. The King&rsquo;s will excited much
+astonishment, but as yet nothing is for certain known about
+the money, or what became of it, or what he gave away, and
+to whom, in his lifetime.</p>
+
+<h3>July 20th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday was a very busy day with his
+Majesty, who is going much too fast, and begins to alarm
+his Ministers and astonish the world. In the morning he
+inspected the Coldstream Guards, dressed (for the first time
+in his life) in a military uniform and with a great pair of
+gold spurs half-way up his legs like a game cock, although
+he was not to ride, for having chalk-stones in his hands he
+can&rsquo;t hold the reins. The Queen came to Lady Bathurst&rsquo;s to
+see the review and hold a sort of drawing-room, when the
+Ministers&rsquo; wives were presented to her, and official men, to
+which were added Lady Bathurst&rsquo;s relations; everybody was
+in undress except the officers. She is very ugly, with a
+horrid complexion, but has good manners, and did all this
+(which she hated) very well. She said the part as if she
+was acting, and wished the green curtain to drop. After
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
+the review the King, with the Dukes of Cumberland, Sussex,
+and Gloucester, and Prince George and the Prince of Prussia,
+and the Duchess of Cumberland&rsquo;s son, came in through the
+garden gate; the Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Augusta
+were already there; they breakfasted and then went away, the
+Duke of Gloucester bowing to the company while nobody was
+taking any notice of him or thinking about him. Nature must
+have been merry when she made this Prince, and in the sort
+of mood that certain great artists used to exhibit in their
+comical caricatures; I never saw a countenance which that
+line in Dryden&rsquo;s M&lsquo;Flecknoe would so well describe&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">And lambent dulness plays around his face.</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>At one there was to be a Council, to swear in Privy
+Councillors and Lords-Lieutenant, and receive Oxford and
+Cambridge addresses. The review made it an hour later,
+and the Lieutenants, who had been summoned at one, and who
+are great, selfish, pampered aristocrats, were furious at being
+kept waiting, particularly Lord Grosvenor and the Duke
+of Newcastle, the former very peevish, the latter bitter-humoured.
+I was glad to see them put to inconvenience.
+I never saw so full a Court, so much nobility with academical
+tagrag and bobtail. After considerable delay the
+King received the Oxford and Cambridge addresses on the
+throne, which (having only one throne between them) he
+then abdicated for the Queen to seat herself on and receive
+them too. She sat it very well, surrounded by the Princesses
+and her ladies and household. When this mob could be got
+rid of the table was brought in and the Council held. The
+Duke was twice sworn as Constable of the Tower and Lieutenant
+of Hants; then Jersey and the new Privy Councillors;
+and then the host of Lieutenants six or seven at a time,
+or as many as could hold a bit of the Testament. I begged
+the King would, to expedite the business, dispense with their
+kneeling, which he did, and so we got on rapidly enough;
+and I whispered to Jersey, who stood by me behind the King
+with his white wand, &lsquo;The farce is good, isn&rsquo;t it?&rsquo; as they
+each kissed his hand. I told him their name or county, or
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING IN ST. JAMES&rsquo;S STREET.</span>
+both, and he had a civil word to say to everybody, inviting
+some to dinner, promising to visit others, reminding them of
+former visits, or something good-humoured; he asked Lord
+Egremont&rsquo;s <i>permission</i> to go and live in his county, at
+Brighton.</p>
+
+<p>All this was very well; no great harm in it; more
+affable, less dignified than the late King; but when this
+was over, and he might very well have sat himself quietly
+down and rested, he must needs put on his plainer clothes
+and start on a ramble about the streets, alone too. In
+Pall Mall he met Watson Taylor, and took his arm and
+went up St. James&rsquo;s Street. There he was soon followed
+by a mob making an uproar, and when he got near White&rsquo;s
+a woman came up and kissed him. Belfast (who had
+been sworn in Privy Councillor in the morning), who saw
+this from White&rsquo;s, and Clinton thought it time to interfere,
+and came out to attend upon him. The mob increased, and,
+always holding W. Taylor&rsquo;s arm, and flanked by Clinton
+and Belfast, who got shoved and kicked about to their inexpressible
+wrath, he got back to the Palace amid shouting
+and bawling and applause. When he got home he asked
+them to go in and take a quiet walk in the garden, and said,
+&lsquo;Oh, never mind all this; when I have walked about a few
+times they will get used to it, and will take no notice.&rsquo;
+There are other stories, but I will put down nothing I do not
+see or hear, or hear from the witnesses. Belfast told me this
+in the Park, fresh from the scene and smarting from the
+buffeting he had got. All the Park was ringing with it, and
+I told Lady Bathurst, who thought it so serious she said she
+would get Lord Bathurst to write to the Duke directly about
+it. Lord Combermere wanted to be made a Privy Councillor
+yesterday, but the Duke would not let it be done; he
+is in a sort of half-disgrace, and is not to be made yet, but
+will be by-and-by.</p>
+
+<h3>Grove Road, July 21st, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>I came and established myself
+here last night after the Duchess of Bedford&rsquo;s ball. Lady
+Bathurst told me that the Queen spoke to her yesterday
+morning about the King&rsquo;s walk and being followed, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
+said that for the future he must walk early in the morning,
+or in some less public place, so there are hopes that his
+activity may be tamed. He sent George Fitzclarence off
+from dinner in his silk stockings and cocked hat to Boulogne
+to invite the King of Würtemberg to come here; he was
+back in fifty-six hours, and might have been in less. He
+employs him in everything, and I heard Fitzclarence yesterday
+ask the Duke of Leeds for two of his father&rsquo;s horses to
+ride about on his jobs and relieve his own, which the Duke
+agreed to, but made a wry face. Mount Charles has refused
+to be Lord of the Bedchamber; his wife can&rsquo;t bear it, and he
+doesn&rsquo;t like to go to Windsor under such altered circumstances.
+I hardly ever record the scandalous stories of the
+day, unless they relate to characters or events, but what relates
+to public men is different from the loves and friendships
+of the idiots of society.</p>
+
+<h3>July 24th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Went to St. James&rsquo;s the day before yesterday
+for a Council for the dissolution, but there was none. Yesterday
+morning there was an idea of having one, but it is
+to-day instead, and early in the morning, that the Ministers
+may be able to go to their fish dinner at Greenwich. I
+called on the Duke yesterday evening to know about a Council,
+but he could not tell me. Then came a Mr. Moss (or his
+card) while I was there. &lsquo;Who is he?&rsquo; I said. &lsquo;Oh, a man
+who wants to see me about a canal. I can&rsquo;t see him. Everybody
+will see me, and how the Devil they think I am to see
+everybody, and be the whole morning with the King, and to
+do the whole business of the country, I don&rsquo;t know. I am
+quite worn out with it.&rsquo; I longed to tell him that it is this
+latter part they would willingly relieve him from.</p>
+
+<p>I met Vesey Fitzgerald, just come from Paris, and had
+a long conversation with him about the state of the Government;
+he seems aware of the difficulties and the necessity
+of acquiring more strength, of the universal persuasion that
+the Duke will be all in all, and says that in the Cabinet
+nobody can be more reasonable and yielding and deferential
+to the opinions of his colleagues. But Murray&rsquo;s appointment,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING GOES DOWN TO PARLIAMENT.</span>
+he says, was a
+mistake,<a name="FNA_11_02" id="FNA_11_02"></a><a href="#FN_11_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+and no personal consideration
+should induce the Duke to sacrifice the interests of the
+country by keeping him; it may be disagreeable to dismiss
+him, but he must do it. Hay told me that for the many
+years he had been in office he had never met with any public
+officer so totally inefficient as he, not even Warrender at the
+Admiralty Board.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_11_02" id="FN_11_02"></a><a href="#FNA_11_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[Sir George Murray was Secretary of State for the Colonial Department.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime the King has had his levee, which was
+crowded beyond all precedent. He was very civil to the
+people, particularly to Sefton, who had quarrelled with the
+late King.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday he went to the House of Lords, and was
+admirably received. I can fancy nothing like his delight at
+finding himself in the state coach surrounded by all his
+pomp. He delivered the Speech very well, they say, for I
+did not go to hear him. He did not wear the crown,
+which was carried by Lord Hastings. Etiquette is a thing
+he cannot comprehend. He wanted to take the King of
+Würtemberg with him in his coach, till he was told it was
+out of the question. In his private carriage he continues
+to sit backwards, and when he goes with men makes one
+sit by him and not opposite to him. Yesterday, after the
+House of Lords, he drove all over the town in an open
+calèche with the Queen, Princess Augusta, and the King of
+Würtemberg, and coming home he set down the King
+(<i>dropped him</i>, as he calls it) at Grillon&rsquo;s Hotel. The King of
+England dropping another king at a tavern! It is impossible
+not to be struck with his extreme good-nature and
+simplicity, which he cannot or will not exchange for the
+dignity of his new situation and the trammels of etiquette;
+but he ought to be made to understand that his simplicity
+degenerates into vulgarity, and that without departing from
+his natural urbanity he may conduct himself so as not to
+lower the character with which he is invested, and which
+belongs not to him, but to the country.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+At his dinner at St. James&rsquo;s the other day more people
+were invited than there was room for, and some half-dozen
+were forced to sit at a side table. He said to Lord Brownlow,
+&lsquo;Well, when you are flooded (he thinks Lincolnshire is
+all fen) you will come to us at Windsor.&rsquo; To the Freemasons
+he was rather good. The Duke of Sussex wanted
+him to receive their address in a solemn audience, which he
+refused, and when they did come he said, &lsquo;Gentlemen, if my
+love for you equalled my ignorance of everything concerning
+you, it would be unbounded,&rsquo; and then he added something
+good-humoured. The consequence of his trotting about, and
+saying the odd things he does, is that there are all sorts of
+stories about him which are not true, and he is always expected
+everywhere. In the meantime I believe that politically
+he relies implicitly on the Duke, who can make him
+do anything. Agar Ellis (who is bustling and active, always
+wishing to play a part, and gets mixed up with the politics
+of this and that party through his various connections)
+told me the other day that he knew the Duke was knocking
+at every door, hitherto without success, and that he must
+be contented to take a <i>party</i>, and not expect to strengthen
+himself by picking out individuals. I think this too, but
+why not open his doors to all comers? There are no questions
+now to stand in his way; his Government must be remodelled,
+and he may last for ever personally.</p>
+
+<h3>July 25th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday at Court at eleven; a Council for
+the dissolution. This King and these Councils are very unlike
+the last&mdash;few people present, frequent, punctual, less
+ceremony observed. Though these Ministers have been in
+office all their lives, nobody knew how many days must elapse
+before Parliament was summoned; some said sixty, some
+seventy days, but not one knew, nor had they settled the
+matter previously; so Lord Rosslyn and I were obliged to
+go to Bridgewater House, which was near, and consult the
+journals. It has always been fifty-two days of late.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon another embarrassment. We sent the
+proclamations to the Chancellor (one for England and one
+for Ireland), to have the Great Seal affixed to them; he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING DINES AT APSLEY HOUSE.</span>
+would only affix the Seal to the English, and sent back the
+Irish unsealed. The Secretary of State would not send it to
+Ireland without the Great Seal, and all the Ministers were
+gone to the fish dinner at Greenwich, so that there was no
+getting at anybody. At last we got it done at Lincoln&rsquo;s Inn
+and sent it off. The fact is, nobody knows his business, and
+the Chancellor least of all. The King continues very active;
+he went after the Council to Buckingham House, then to the
+Thames Tunnel, has immense dinners every day, and the
+same people two or three days running. He has dismissed
+the late King&rsquo;s band, and employs the bands of the Guards
+every night, who are ready to die of it, for they get no pay
+and are prevented earning money elsewhere. The other
+night the King had a party, and at eleven o&rsquo;clock he dismissed
+them thus: &lsquo;Now, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a
+good night. I will not detain you any longer from your
+amusements, and shall go to my own, which is to go to bed;
+so come along, my Queen.&rsquo; The other day he was very
+angry because the guard did not know him in his plain
+clothes and turn out for him&mdash;the first appearance of jealousy
+of his greatness he has shown&mdash;and he ordered them to be
+more on the alert for the future.</p>
+
+<h3>July 26th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Still the King; his adventures (for they are
+nothing else) furnish matter of continual amusement and
+astonishment to his liege subjects. Yesterday morning, or
+the evening before, he announced to the Duke of Wellington
+that he should dine with him yesterday; accordingly the
+Duke was obliged, in the midst of preparations for his
+breakfast, to get a dinner ready for him. In the morning
+he took the King of Würtemberg to Windsor, and just at the
+hour when the Duke expected him to dinner he was driving
+through Hyde Park back from Windsor&mdash;three barouches-and-four,
+the horses dead knocked up, in the front the two
+Kings, Jersey, and somebody else, all covered with dust. The
+whole mob of carriages and horsemen assembled near Apsley
+House to see him pass and to wait till he returned. The
+Duke, on hearing he was there, rushed down without his hat
+and stood in his gate in the middle of servants, mob, &amp;c., to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+see him pass. He drove to Grillon&rsquo;s &lsquo;to drop&rsquo; the King of
+Würtemberg, and at a quarter past eight he arrived at
+Apsley House. There were about forty-five men, no women,
+half the Ministers, most of the foreign Ministers, and a
+mixture rather indiscriminate. In the evening I was at
+Lady Salisbury&rsquo;s, when arrived the Duke of Sussex, who
+gave a short account to Sefton of what had passed, and of
+the King&rsquo;s speech to the company. &lsquo;You and I,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;are
+old Whigs, my Lord, and I confess I was somewhat astonished
+to hear his Majesty&rsquo;s speech.&rsquo; I went afterwards
+to Crockford&rsquo;s, where I found Matuscewitz, who gave me a
+whole account of the dinner. The two Kings went out to
+dinner arm in arm, the Duke followed; the King sat between
+the King of Würtemberg and the Duke. After dinner his
+health was drunk, to which he returned thanks, sitting, but
+briefly, and promised to say more by-and-by when he should
+give a toast. In process of time he desired Douro to go and
+tell the band to play the merriest waltz they could for the
+toast he was about to give. He then gave &lsquo;The Queen of
+Würtemberg,&rsquo; with many eulogiums on her and on the
+connubial felicity of her and the King; not a very agreeable
+theme for his host, for conjugal fidelity is not his forte. At
+length he desired Douro to go again to the band and order
+them to play &lsquo;See the conquering hero comes,&rsquo; and then he
+rose. All the company rose with him, when he ordered
+everybody to sit down. Still standing, he said that he had
+been so short a time on the throne that he did not know
+whether etiquette required that he should speak sitting or
+standing, but, however this might be, he had been long
+used to speak on his legs, and should do so now; he then
+proposed the Duke&rsquo;s health, but prefaced it with a long
+speech&mdash;instituted a comparison between him and the Duke
+of Marlborough; went back to the reign of Queen Anne, and
+talked of the great support the Duke of Marlborough had
+received from the Crown, and the little support the Duke of
+Wellington had had in the outset of his career, though after
+the battle of Vimeiro he had been backed by all the energies
+of the country; that, notwithstanding his difficulties, his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING&rsquo;S SPEECH AT APSLEY HOUSE.</span>
+career had been one continued course of victory over the
+armies of France; and then recollecting the presence of
+Laval, the French Ambassador, he said, &lsquo;Remember, Duc de
+Laval, when I talk of victories over the French armies, they
+were not the armies of my ally and friend the King of
+France, but of him who had usurped his throne, and
+against whom you yourself were combating;&rsquo; then going
+back to the Duke&rsquo;s career, and again referring to the comparison
+between him and Marlborough, and finishing by
+adverting to his political position, that he had on mounting
+the throne found the Duke Minister, and that he had retained
+him because he thought his Administration had been
+and would be highly beneficial to the country; that he gave
+to him his fullest and most cordial confidence, and that he
+announced to all whom he saw around him, to all the Ambassadors
+and Ministers of foreign Powers, and to all the
+noblemen and gentlemen present, that as long as he should
+sit upon the throne he should continue to give him the same
+confidence. The Duke returned thanks in a short speech,
+thanking the King for his confidence and support, and declaring
+that all his endeavours would be used to keep this
+country in relations of harmony with other nations. The
+whole company stood aghast at the King&rsquo;s extraordinary
+speech and declaration. Matuscewitz told me he never was
+so astonished, that for the world he would not have missed
+it, and that he would never have believed in it if he had
+not heard it.</p>
+
+<p>Falck<a name="FNA_11_03" id="FNA_11_03"></a><a href="#FN_11_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+gave me a delightful account of the speech and
+of Laval. He thought, not understanding one word, that
+all the King was saying was complimentary to the King of
+France and the French nation, and he kept darting from his
+seat to make his acknowledgments, while Esterhazy held
+him down by the tail of his coat, and the King stopped him
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+with his hand outstretched, all with great difficulty. He
+said it was very comical.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_11_03" id="FN_11_03"></a><a href="#FNA_11_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St. James&rsquo;s. M. de
+Laval was the French Ambassador. This dinner took place on the day after
+the publication of the ordinances of July. Three days later Charles X. had
+ceased to reign. M. de Laval instantly left London on the receipt of the
+intelligence, leaving M. de Vaudreuil as Chargé d&rsquo;Affaires.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>July 27th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Review in the morning (yesterday), breakfast
+at Apsley House, chapter of the Garter, dinner at St.
+James&rsquo;s, party in the evening, and ball at Apsley House. I
+don&rsquo;t hear of anything remarkable, and it was so hot I could
+not go to anything, except the breakfast, which I just looked
+in to for a minute, and found everybody sweating and stuffing
+and the royalties just going away. The Duke of Gloucester
+keeps up his quarrel with the Duke; the Duke of Cumberland
+won&rsquo;t go to Apsley House, but sent the Duchess and
+his boy. The Queen said at dinner the other day to the
+Duke of Cumberland, &lsquo;I am very much pleased with you for
+sending the Duchess to Apsley House,&rsquo; and then turned to
+the Duke of Gloucester and said, &lsquo;but I am not pleased with
+you for not letting the Duchess go there.&rsquo; The fool answered
+that the Duchess should never go there; he would not be
+reconciled, forgetting that it matters not twopence to the
+Duke of Wellington and a great deal to himself.</p>
+
+<p>I have been employed in settling half a dozen disputes of
+different sorts, but generally without success, trifling matters,
+foolish or violent people, not worth remembering any of
+them. The Chancellor, who does not know his own business,
+has made an attack on my office about the proclamations,
+but I have vindicated it in a letter to Lord Bathurst.</p>
+
+<h3>July 28th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday Charles Wynn and I settled the
+dispute between Clive and Charlton about the Ludlow
+matters. Charlton agrees to retire from the contest both in
+the Borough and Corporation, and Clive agrees to pay him.
+1,125&#8467;. towards his expenses, and not to oppose the reception
+of any petition that may be presented to the House of Commons
+for the purpose of re-opening the question of the right
+of voting. Both parties are very well satisfied with this
+termination of their disputes. Met the Chancellor at Lady
+Ravensworth&rsquo;s breakfast yesterday, who told me he had sent
+a rejoinder to my letter to Lord Bathurst about the proclamations.</p>
+
+<h3>July 29th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday a standing Council at the levee
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ORDINANCES OF CHARLES X.</span>
+to swear in Lord Hereford and Vesey Fitzgerald, and to
+declare Lord Bathurst President of the Council and the
+Duke of Northumberland Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Previously
+the King received the address of the dissenting
+ministers, and then that of the Quakers, presented by
+William Allen; they were very prim and respectable persons;
+their hats were taken off by each other in the room before
+the Throne Room, and they did not bow, though they seemed
+half inclined to do so; they made a very loyal address, but
+without &lsquo;Majesty,&rsquo; and said &lsquo;O King.&rsquo; There was a question
+after his answer what they should do. I thought it was
+whether they should kiss hands, for the King said something
+to Peel, who went and asked them, and I heard the King
+say, &lsquo;Oh, just as they like; they needn&rsquo;t if they don&rsquo;t like;
+it&rsquo;s all one.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>But the great event of the day was the reception of the
+King of France&rsquo;s two decrees, and the address of his
+Ministers, who produced them; nothing could surpass the
+universal astonishment and consternation. Falck told me
+he was reading the newspaper at his breakfast regularly
+through, and when he came to this the teacup almost
+dropped from his hands, and he rubbed his eyes to see
+whether he read correctly. Such was the secresy with which
+this measure was conceived and acted on, that Pozzo, who is
+quicker and has better intelligence than anybody, had not a
+notion of it, as Matuscewitz told me. Aberdeen learnt it
+through the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; and had not a line from Stuart. That,
+however, is nothing extraordinary. I suspect somebody had
+it, for Raikes wrote me a note the day before, to ask me if
+there was not <i>something bad</i> from France. Matuscewitz told
+me that Russia would not afford Charles X. the smallest
+support in his new crusade against the Constitution of
+France, and this he pronounced openly <i>à qui voulait l&rsquo;entendre</i>.
+I suspect the Duke will be desperately annoyed.
+The only Minister I had a word with about it was Lord
+Bathurst, whose Tory blood bubbled a little quicker at such
+a despotic act, and while owning the folly of the deed he
+could not help adding that &lsquo;he should have repressed the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+press when he dissolved the Chambers, then he might have
+done it.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>July 30th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Everybody anxious for news from France.
+A few hope, and still fewer think, the King of France will
+succeed, and that the French will submit, but the press
+here joins in grand chorus against the suppression of the
+liberty of that over the water. Matuscewitz told me he had
+a conference with the Duke, who was excessively annoyed,
+but what seems to have struck him more than anything is
+the extraordinary secresy of the business, and neither Pozzo
+nor Stuart having known one word of it. Up to the last
+Polignac has deceived everybody, and put such words into
+the King&rsquo;s mouth that nobody could expect such a <i>coup</i>.
+The King assured Pozzo di Borgo the day before that
+nothing of the sort was in contemplation. This, like everything
+else, will be judged by the event&mdash;desperate fatuity if
+it fails, splendid energy and accurate calculation of opposite
+moral forces if it succeeds. I judge that it will fail,
+because I can see no marks of wisdom in the style of execution,
+and the State paper is singularly puerile and weak in
+argument. It is passionate and not dexterous, not even
+plausible. All this is wonderfully interesting, and will give
+us a lively autumn.</p>
+
+<p>The King has been to Woolwich, inspecting the artillery,
+to whom he gave a dinner, with toasts and hip, hip, hurrahing
+and three times three, himself giving the time. I tremble
+for him; at present he is only a mountebank, but he bids fair
+to be a maniac.</p>
+
+<p>Brougham will come in for Yorkshire without a contest;
+his address was very eloquent. He is rather mad without a
+doubt; his speeches this year have been sometimes more
+brilliant than ever they were; but who with such stupendous
+talents was ever so little considered? We admire him as
+we do a fine actor, and nobody ever possessed such enormous
+means, and displayed a mind so versatile, fertile, and comprehensive,
+and yet had so little efficacy and influence.
+He told me just before he left town that Yorkshire had been
+proposed to him, but that he had written word he would not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">REVOLUTION IN PARIS.</span>
+stand, nor spend a guinea, nor go there, nor even take the
+least trouble about the concerns of anyone of his constituents,
+if they elected him; but he soon changed his note.</p>
+
+<h3>July 31st, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning I met Matuscewitz in St.
+James&rsquo;s Street, who said, &lsquo;You have heard the news?&rsquo; But
+I had not, so I got into his cabriolet, and he told me that
+Bülow had just been with him with an account of Rothschild&rsquo;s
+estafette, who had brought intelligence of a desperate
+conflict at Paris between the people and the Royal Guard, in
+which 1,000 men had been killed of the former, and of the
+eventual revolt of two regiments, which decided the business;
+that the Swiss had refused to fire on the people; the King is
+gone to Rambouillet, the Ministers are missing, and the Deputies
+who were at Paris had assembled in the Chambers, and
+declared their sittings permanent. Nothing can exceed the
+interest and excitement that all these proceedings create here,
+and unless there is a reaction, which does not seem probable,
+the game is up with the Bourbons. They richly deserve
+their fate. It remains to be seen what part Bourmont and
+the Algerian army will take; the latter will probably side with
+the nation, and the former will be guided by his own interest,
+and is not unlikely to endeavour to direct a spirit which he
+could not expect to control. He may reconcile himself to the
+country by a double treachery.</p>
+
+<p><i>At night.</i>&mdash;To-day at one o&rsquo;clock Stuart&rsquo;s messenger
+arrived with a meagre account, having left Paris on the
+night of the 29th. The tricoloured flag had been raised; the
+National Guard was up, commanded by old Lafayette (their
+chief forty years ago), who ruled in Paris with Gérard,
+Odier, Casimir Périer, Lafitte, and one or two more. The
+Tuileries and the Louvre had been pillaged; the King was at
+Rambouillet, where Marshal Marmont had retired, and had
+with him a large force. Nobody, however, believed they would
+fight against the people. The Deputies and the Peers had met,
+and the latter separated without doing anything; the former
+had a stormy discussion, but came to no resolution. Some
+were for a republic, some for the Duke of Orleans, some for
+the Duke of Bordeaux with the Duke of Orleans as Regent.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+Rothschild had another courier with later intelligence. The
+King had desired to treat, and that proposals might be made
+to him; all the Ministers escaped from Paris by a subterranean
+passage which led from the Tuileries to the river,
+and even at St. Cloud the Duke told Matuscewitz that &lsquo;Marmont
+had taken up a good military position,&rsquo; as if it was a
+military and not a moral question. Strange he should think
+of such a thing, but they are all terrified to death at the
+national flag and colours, because they see in its train
+revolutions, invasions, and a thousand alarms. I own I
+would rather have seen an easy transfer of the Crown to
+some other head under the white flag. There was Lady
+Tankerville going about to-day enquiring of everybody for
+news, trembling for her brother &lsquo;and his brigade.&rsquo; Late in
+the day she got Lady Jersey to go with her to Rothschild,
+whom she saw, and Madame Rothschild, who showed her all
+their letters. Tankerville, who is a sour, malignant little Whig
+(since become an ultra-Tory), loudly declares Polignac ought
+to be hung. The elections here are going against Government,
+and no candidate will avow that he stands on Government
+interest, or with the intention of supporting the Duke&rsquo;s
+Ministry, which looks as if it had lost all its popularity.</p>
+
+<h3>August 2nd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday (Sunday) we had no news and no
+reports, except one that Marmont was killed. I never believe
+reports. The elections still go against Government. G.
+Dawson returned from Dublin; all the Peels lose their seats.
+Fordwich beat Baring at Canterbury by 370 votes. It is
+said the King was in a state of great excitement at Woolwich
+the other day, when it was very hot, and he drank a
+good deal of wine.</p>
+
+<p><i>Evening</i>.&mdash;This morning, on going into town, I read in
+the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; the news of the day&mdash;the proclamation of the
+Provisional Government, the invitation to the Duke of
+Orleans, his proclamation, and the account of the conversation
+between Lafitte and Marmont. It is in vain to look
+for private or official information, for the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; always
+has the latest and the best; Stuart sends next to nothing.
+Soon after I got to George Street the Duke of Wellington
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WELLINGTON ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.</span>
+came in, in excellent spirits, and talked over the whole
+matter. He said he could not comprehend how the Royal
+Guard had been defeated by the mob, and particularly how
+they had been forced to evacuate the Tuileries; that he had
+seen English and French troops hold houses whole days not
+one-fourth so strong. I said that there could not be a
+shadow of doubt that it was because they <i>would</i> not fight,
+that if they <i>would</i> have fought they must have beat the
+mob, and reminded him of the French at Madrid, and asked
+him if he did not think his regiment would beat all the
+populace of London, which he said it would. He described
+the whole affair as it has taken place, and said that there
+can be no doubt that the moneyed men of Paris (who are all
+against the Government) and the Liberals had foreseen a
+violent measure on the part of the King, and had organised
+the resistance; that on the appearance of the edicts the
+bankers simultaneously refused to discount any bills, on
+which the great manufacturers and merchants dismissed
+their workmen, to the number of many thousands, who inflamed
+the public discontent, and united to oppose the
+military and the execution of the decrees. He said positively
+that we should not take any part, and that no other
+Government ought or could. He does not like the Duke of
+Orleans, and thinks his proclamation mean and shabby, but
+owned that under all circumstances his election to the Crown
+would probably be the best thing that could happen. The
+Duke of Chartres he had known here, and thought he was
+intelligent. The Duke considered the thing as settled, but
+did not feel at all sure they would offer the Crown to the
+Duke of Orleans. He said he could not guess or form an
+opinion as to their ulterior proceedings.</p>
+
+<p>After discussing the whole business with his usual
+simplicity, he began talking of the Duke of Cumberland and
+his resignation of the command of the Blues. Formerly the
+colonels of the two regiments of Life Guards held alternately
+the Gold Stick, and these two regiments were under
+the immediate orders of the King, and not of the Commander-in-Chief.
+When the Duke of Wellington returned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+from Spain and had the command of the Blues, the King
+insisted upon his taking the duty also; so it was divided
+into three, but the Blues still continued under the Commander-in-Chief.
+But when the Duke of Cumberland
+wanted to be continually about the King, he got him to give
+him the command of the Household troops; this was at the
+period of the death of the Duke of York and the Duke of
+Wellington&rsquo;s becoming Commander-in-Chief. The Duke of
+Cumberland told the Duke of Wellington that he had received
+the King&rsquo;s verbal commands to that effect, and from
+that time he alone kept the Gold Stick, and the Blues were
+withdrawn from the authority of the Commander-in-Chief.
+The Duke of Wellington made no opposition; but last year,
+during the uproar on the Catholic question, he perceived the
+inconvenience of the arrangement, and intended to speak
+to the King about it, for the Duke of Cumberland was
+concerned in organising mobs to go down to Windsor
+to frighten Lady Conyngham and the King, and the Horse
+Guards, who would naturally have been called out to suppress
+any tumult, would not have been disposable without the
+Duke of Cumberland&rsquo;s concurrence, so much so that on one
+particular occasion, when the Kentish men were to have
+gone to Windsor 20,000 strong, the Duke of Wellington
+detained a regiment of light cavalry who were marching
+elsewhere, that he might not be destitute of military aid.
+Before, however, he did anything about this with the King
+(&lsquo;I always,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;do one thing at a time&rsquo;) his Majesty
+was taken ill and died.</p>
+
+<p>On the accession of the present King the Duke of
+Cumberland wished to continue the same system, which his
+Majesty was resolved he should not, and he ordered that the
+colonels of the regiments should take the Stick in rotation.
+He also ordered (through Sir R. Peel) that Lord Combermere
+should command the troops at the funeral as Gold Stick.
+This the Duke of Cumberland resisted, and sent down orders
+to Lord Cathcart to assume the command. The Duke of
+Wellington, however, represented to Lord Cathcart that he
+had better do no such thing, as nobody could disobey the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WARDROBE OF GEORGE IV.</span>
+King&rsquo;s orders gone through the Secretary of State, and accordingly
+he did nothing. But the King was determined to
+put an end to the pretensions of the Duke of Cumberland,
+and spoke to the Duke on the subject, and said that he
+would have all the regiments placed under the orders of the
+Commander-in-Chief. The Duke recommended him to replace
+the matter in the state in which it stood before the
+Duke of Cumberland&rsquo;s pretensions had altered it, but he
+would not do this, and chose to abide by his original intention;
+so the three regiments were placed under the orders of
+the Horse Guards like the rest, and the Duke of Cumberland
+in consequence resigned the command of the Blues.</p>
+
+<h3>August 3rd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the above story, the King
+dined with the Duke of Cumberland at Kew yesterday. I
+went yesterday to the sale of the late King&rsquo;s wardrobe,
+which was numerous enough to fill Monmouth Street, and
+sufficiently various and splendid for the wardrobe of Drury
+Lane. He hardly ever gave away anything except his
+linen, which was distributed every year. These clothes are
+the perquisite of his pages, and will fetch a pretty sum.
+There are all the coats he has ever had for fifty years,
+300 whips, canes without number, every sort of uniform, the
+costumes of all the orders in Europe, splendid furs, pelisses,
+hunting-coats and breeches, and among other things a
+dozen pair of corduroy breeches he had made to hunt in
+when Don Miguel was here. His profusion in these articles
+was unbounded, because he never paid for them, and his
+memory was so accurate that one of his pages told me he
+recollected every article of dress, no matter how old, and
+that they were always liable to be called on to produce some
+particular coat or other article of apparel of years gone by.
+It is difficult to say whether in great or little things that
+man was most odious and contemptible.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing from France yesterday but the most absurd
+reports.</p>
+
+<h3>August 5th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning at a Council; all the
+Ministers, and the Duke of Rutland, Lords Somers, Rosslyn,
+and Gower to be sworn Lieutenants. Talked about France
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+with Sir G. Murray, who was silly enough to express his
+disappointment that things promised to be soon and quietly
+settled, and hoped the King would have assembled an army
+and fought for it. Afterwards a levee. While the Queen
+was in the closet they brought her word that Charles X.
+was at Cherbourg, and had sent for leave to come here; but
+nobody knew yesterday if this was true or not. In the
+afternoon I met Vaudreuil, and had a long conversation with
+him on the state of things. He said, &lsquo;My family has been
+twice ruined by these cursed Bourbons, and I will be damned
+if they shall a third time;&rsquo; that he had long foreseen the inevitable
+tendency of Polignac&rsquo;s determination, ever since he
+was here, when he had surrounded himself with low agents
+and would admit no gentleman into his confidence; one of
+his <i>affidés</i> was a man of the name of Carrier, a relation of the
+famous Carrier de Nantes. Vaudreuil&rsquo;s father-in-law had
+consulted him many months ago what to do with 300,000&#8467;.
+which he had in the French funds, and he advised him to
+sell it out and put it in his drawer, which he did, sacrificing
+the interest for that time. He had hitherto done nothing,
+been near none of the Ministers, feeling that he could say
+nothing to them; no communication had been made to him,
+but whenever any should be he intended to reply to it.
+Laval ran away just in time, and Vaudreuil was so provoked
+at his evasion that he sent after him to say that in such
+important circumstances he could not take upon himself to
+act without his Ambassador&rsquo;s instructions. No answer of
+course. He thinks that if this had not taken place a few
+years must have terminated the reign of the Bourbons, and
+that it is only the difference between sudden and lingering
+death; that when he was at Paris he had seen the dissatisfaction
+of the young officers in the Guards, who were all
+Liberal; and with these sentiments, what a condition they
+must have been in when called upon to charge and fire on
+the people while secretly approving of their conduct, &lsquo;entre
+leurs devoirs de citoyens et de militaires!&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>I had a conversation with Fitzgerald (Vesey) the other
+day about the Government and its prospects. They want
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING GOES TO WINDSOR</span>
+him greatly to return to office, but he is going abroad again
+for his health, and I suspect is not very anxious to come in
+just now, when things look gloomy. He thinks they have
+acted very injudiciously in sending down candidates to
+turn out their opponents, attempts which generally failed,
+and only served to exasperate the people interested more
+and more against them. Such men as the Grants, as he
+said, cannot be kept out of Parliament. But they manage
+everything ill, and it is impossible to look at the present
+Ministry and watch its acts, and not marvel that the Duke
+should think of going on with it. If he does not take
+care he will be dragged down by it, whereas if he would,
+while it is yet time, remodel it altogether, and open his
+doors to all who are capable of serving under him (for all
+are ready to take him as chief), he might secure to himself a
+long and honourable possession of power. Then it is said
+he can&rsquo;t whistle off these men merely because it is convenient,
+but he had better do that than keep them on
+bungling through all the business of the country. Besides, I
+have some doubts of his tender-heartedness in this respect.</p>
+
+<h3>Goodwood, August 10th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>On Saturday, the 7th, the King
+and Queen breakfasted at Osterley, on their way to Windsor.
+They had about sixty or seventy people to meet them, and it
+all went off very well, without anything remarkable. I went
+to Stoke afterwards, where there was the usual sort of party.</p>
+
+<p>The King entered Windsor so privately that few people
+knew him, though he made the horses walk all the way from
+Frogmore that he might be seen. On Saturday and Sunday the
+Terrace was thrown open, and the latter day it was crowded
+by multitudes and a very gay sight; there were sentinels on
+each side of the east front to prevent people walking under
+the windows of the living-rooms, but they might go where
+else they liked. The King went to Bagshot and did not
+appear. All the late King&rsquo;s private drives through the Park
+are also thrown open, but not to carriages. We went, however,
+a long string of four carriages, to explore, and got
+through the whole drive round by Virginia Water, the famous
+fishing-pagoda, and saw all the penetralia of the late King,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+whose ghost must have been indignant at seeing us (Sefton
+particularly) scampering all about his most secret recesses.
+It is an exceedingly enjoyable spot, and pretty, but has not
+so much beauty as I expected.</p>
+
+<p>Came here yesterday and found thirty-two people assembled.
+I rode over the downs three or four miles (from
+Petworth), and never saw so delightful a country to live in.
+There is an elasticity in the air and turf which communicates
+itself to the spirits.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the French Revolution has been proceeding
+rapidly to its consummation, and the Duke of
+Orleans is King. Montrond, who was at Stoke, thinks that
+France will gravitate towards a republic, and principally for
+this reason, that there is an unusual love of equality, and no
+disposition to profit by the power of making <i>majorats</i>, therefore
+that there never can be anything like an aristocracy.
+We are so accustomed to see the regular working of our
+constitutional system, with all its parts depending upon
+each other, and so closely interwoven, that we have difficulty
+in believing that any monarchical Government can exist
+which is founded on a basis so different. This is the great
+political problem which is now to be solved. I think, however,
+that in the present settlement it is not difficult to see
+the elements of future contention and the working of a
+strong democratical spirit. The Crown has been conferred
+on the Duke of Orleans by the Chamber of Deputies alone,
+which, so far from inviting the Chamber of Peers to discuss
+the question of succession, has at the same time decreed a
+material alteration in that Chamber itself. It has at a blow
+cut off all the Peers of Villèle&rsquo;s great promotion, which is an
+enormous act of authority, although the measure may be
+advisable. There is also a question raised of the hereditary
+quality of the peerage, and I dare say that for the future
+at least peerages will not be hereditary, not that I think this
+signifies as to the existence of an aristocracy, for the constant
+subdivision of property must deprive the Chamber of
+all the qualities belonging to an English House of Lords,
+and it would perhaps be better to establish another principle,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">FRENCH DEMOCRACY.</span>
+such as that of promoting to the Chamber of Peers
+men (for life) of great wealth, influence, and ability, who
+would constitute an aristocracy of a different kind indeed,
+but more respectable and efficient, than a host of poor
+hereditary senators. What great men are Lord Lonsdale,
+the Duke of Rutland, and Lord Cleveland! but strip them,
+of their wealth and power, what would they be? Among
+the most insignificant of mankind; but they all acquire a
+factitious consideration by the influence they possess to do
+good and evil, the extension of it over multitudes of dependents.
+The French can have no aristocracy but a personal
+one, ours is in the institution; theirs must be individually
+respectable, as ours is collectively looked up to. In the
+meantime it will be deemed a great step gained to have a
+monarchy established in France at all, even for the moment,
+but some people are alarmed at the excessive admiration
+which the French Revolution has excited in England, and
+there is a very general conviction that Spain will speedily
+follow the example of France, and probably Belgium also.
+Italy I don&rsquo;t believe will throw off the yoke; they have
+neither spirit nor unanimity, and the Austrian military force
+is too great to be resisted. But Austria will tremble and see
+that the great victory which Liberalism has gained has
+decided the question as to which principle, that of light or
+darkness, shall prevail for the future in the world.</p>
+
+<h3>London, August 14th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Stayed at Goodwood till the 12th;
+went to Brighton, riding over the downs from Goodwood to
+Arundel, a delightful ride. How much I prefer England to
+Italy! There we have mountains and sky; here, vegetation
+and verdure, fine trees and soft turf; and in the long run
+the latter are the most enjoyable. Yesterday came to
+London from Brighton; found things much as they were, but
+almost everybody gone out of town. The French are proceeding
+steadily in the reconstruction of their Government,
+but they have evinced a strong democratical spirit. The new
+King, too, conducts himself in a way that gives me a bad
+opinion of him; he is too complaisant to the rage for
+equality, and stoops more than he need do; in fact, he overdoes
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+it. It is a piece of abominably bad taste (to say no
+worse) to have conferred a pension on the author of the
+Marseillaise hymn; for what can be worse than to rake up
+the old ashes of Jacobinism, and what more necessary than
+to distinguish as much as possible this Revolution from that
+of 1789? Then he need not be more familiar as King than
+he ever was as Duke of Orleans, and affect the manners of a
+citizen and a plainness of dress and demeanour very suitable
+to an American President, but unbecoming a descendant of
+Louis XIV.</p>
+
+<p>The new Charter is certainly drawn up with great moderation,
+the few alterations which have been made approximating
+it to the spirit of the English Constitution, and in
+the whole of the proceedings the analogies of our revolution
+have been pretty closely followed. But there has been a
+remarkable deviation, which I think ominous, and I can&rsquo;t
+imagine how it has escaped with so little animadversion
+here. That is the cavalier manner in which the Chamber of
+Peers has been treated, for the Deputies not only assumed
+all the functions of Government and legislation, and disposed
+by their authority of the Crown without inviting the concurrence
+of the other Chamber, but at the same time they
+exercised an enormous act of authority over the Chamber of
+Peers itself in striking off the whole of that great promotion
+of Charles X., which, however unwise and perhaps unconstitutional,
+was perfectly legal, and those Peers had, in fact,
+as good a right to their peerages as any of their colleagues.
+They have reconstructed the Chamber of Peers, and conferred
+upon it certain rights and privileges; but the power which
+can create can also destroy, and it must be pretty obvious
+after this that the Upper Chamber will be for the future
+nothing better than a superior Court of Judicature, depending
+for its existence upon the will of the popular branch. There
+are some articles of the old Charter which I am astonished
+at their keeping, but which they may possibly
+alter<a name="FNA_11_04" id="FNA_11_04"></a><a href="#FN_11_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+at the
+revision which is to take place next year, those particularly
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">POLIGNAC.</span>
+which limit the entrance to the Chamber of Deputies to men
+of forty, and which give the initiation of laws to the King.
+But on the whole it is a good sign that they should alter so
+little, and looks like extreme caution and a dislike to rapid
+and violent changes.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_11_04" id="FN_11_04"></a><a href="#FNA_11_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+They are altered. The first translation of the Charter which I read
+was incorrect.</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime we hear nothing of the old King, who
+marches slowly on with his family. It has been reported in
+London that Polignac is here, and also that he is taken.
+Nobody knows the truth. I have heard of his behaviour,
+however, which was worthy of his former imbecility. He
+remained in the same presumptuous confidence up to the
+last moment, telling those who implored him to retract while
+it was still time that they did not know France, that he did,
+that it was essentially Royalist, and all resistance would be
+over in a day or two, till the whole ruin burst on him at
+once, when he became like a man awakened from a dream,
+utterly confounded with the magnitude of the calamity and
+as pusillanimous and miserable as he had before been blind
+and confident. It must be owned that their end has been
+worthy of the rest, for not one of them has evinced good
+feeling, or magnanimity, or courage in their fall, nor excited
+the least sympathy or commiseration. The Duke of Fitzjames
+made a good speech in the Chamber of Peers, and
+Chateaubriand a very fine one a few days before, full of
+eloquence in support of the claim of the Duke of Bordeaux
+against that of Louis Philippe I.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime our elections here are still going against
+Government, and the signs of the times are all for reform
+and retrenchment, and against slavery. It is astonishing
+the interest the people generally take in the slavery question,
+which is the work of the Methodists, and shows the
+enormous influence they have in the country. The Duke (for
+I have not seen him) is said to be very easy about the next
+Parliament, whereas, as far as one can judge, it promises to
+be quite as unmanageable as the last, and is besides very ill
+composed&mdash;full of boys and all sorts of strange men.</p>
+
+<h3>August 20th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>On Monday to Stoke; Alvanley, Fitzroy
+Somerset, Matuscewitz, Stanislas Potocki, Glengall, and Mornay
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+were there. Lady Sefton (who had dined at the Castle a
+few days before) asked the King to allow her to take Stanislas
+Potocki to see Virginia Water in a carriage, which is not
+allowed, but which his Majesty agreed to. Accordingly we
+started, and going through the private drives, went up to the
+door of the tent opposite the fishing-house. They thought it
+was the Queen coming, or at any rate a party from the Castle,
+for the man on board the little frigate hoisted all the colours,
+and the boatmen on the other side got ready the royal barge
+to take us across. We went all over the place on both sides,
+and were delighted with the luxury and beauty of the whole
+thing. On one side are a number of tents, communicating
+together in separate apartments and forming a very good
+house, a dining-room, drawing-room, and several other small
+rooms, very well furnished; across the water is the fishing-cottage,
+beautifully ornamented, with one large room and a
+dressing-room on each side; the kitchen and offices are in a
+garden full of flowers, shut out from everything. Opposite
+the windows is moored a large boat, in which the band used
+to play during dinner, and in summer the late King dined
+every day either in the house or in the tents. We had
+scarcely seen everything when Mr. Turner, the head keeper,
+arrived in great haste, having spied us from the opposite side,
+and very angry at our carriages having come there, which is
+a thing forbidden; he did not know of our leave, nor could
+we even satisfy him that we were not to blame.</p>
+
+<p>The next day I called on Batchelor (he was <i>valet de
+chambre</i> to the Duke of York, afterwards to George IV.),
+who has an excellent apartment in the Lodge, which, he
+said, was once occupied by Nell Gwynne, though I did not
+know the lodge was built at that time. I was there a
+couple of hours, and heard all the details of the late King&rsquo;s
+illness and other things. For many months before his death
+those who were about him were aware of his danger, but
+nobody dared to say a word. The King liked to cheat
+people with making them think he was well, and when he
+had been at a Council he would return to his apartments
+and tell his <i>valets de chambre</i> how he had deceived them.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">GEORGE IV.&rsquo;S ILLNESS AND DEATH.</span>
+During his illness he was generally cheerful, but occasionally
+dejected, and constantly talked of his brother the Duke of
+York, and of the similarity of their symptoms, and was
+always comparing them. He had been latterly more civil
+to Knighton than he used to be, and Knighton&rsquo;s attentions
+to him were incessant; whenever he thought himself worse
+than usual, and in immediate danger, he always sent for
+Sir William. Lady Conyngham and her family went into
+his room once a day; till his illness he always used to
+go and sit in hers. It is true that last year, when she was
+so ill, she was very anxious to leave the Castle, and it was
+Sir William Knighton who with great difficulty induced her
+to stay there. At that time she was in wretched spirits,
+and did nothing but pray from morning till night. However,
+her conscience does not seem ever to have interfered with
+her ruling passion, avarice, and she went on accumulating.
+During the last illness waggons were loaded every night and
+sent away from the Castle, but what their contents were was
+not known, at least Batchelor did not say. All Windsor knew
+this. Those servants of the King who were about his person
+had opportunities of hearing a great deal, for he used to talk
+of everybody before them, and without reserve or measure.</p>
+
+<p>This man Batchelor had become a great favourite with the
+late King. The first of his pages, William Holmes, had for
+some time been prevented by ill health from attending him.
+Holmes had been with him from a boy, and was also a great
+favourite; by appointments and perquisites he had as much
+as 12,000&#8467;. or 14,000&#8467;. a year, but he had spent so much in
+all sorts of debauchery and living like a gentleman that he
+was nearly ruined. There seems to have been no end to the
+<i>tracasseries</i> between these men; their anxiety to get what they
+could out of the King&rsquo;s wardrobe in the last weeks, and their
+dishonesty in the matter, were excessive, all which he told
+me in great detail. The King was more than anybody the
+slave of habit and open to impressions, and even when he
+did not like people he continued to keep them about him
+rather than change.</p>
+
+<p>While I was at Stoke news came that Charles X. had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+arrived off Portsmouth. He has asked for an asylum in
+Austria, but when once he has landed here he will not move
+again, I dare say. The enthusiasm which the French Revolution
+produced is beginning to give way to some alarm, and
+not a little disgust at the Duke of Orleans&rsquo; conduct, who
+seems anxious to assume the character of a Jacobin King,
+affecting extreme simplicity and laying aside all the pomp
+of royalty. I don&rsquo;t think it can do, and there is certainly
+enough to cause serious disquietude for the future.</p>
+
+<p>Sefton in the meantime told me that Brougham and
+Lord Grey were prepared for a violent opposition, and that
+they had effected a formal junction with Huskisson, being
+convinced that no Government could now be formed without
+him. I asked him if Palmerston was a party to this junction,
+and he said he was, but the first thing I heard when I got
+to town was that a negotiation is going on between Palmerston
+and the Duke, and that the former takes every
+opportunity of declaring his goodwill to the latter, and how
+unshackled he is. Both these things can&rsquo;t be true, and time
+will show which is. It seems odd that Palmerston should
+abandon his party on the eve of a strong coalition, which is
+not unlikely to turn out the present Administration, but it is
+quite impossible to place any dependence upon public men
+now-a-days. There is Lord Grey with his furious opposition,
+having a little while ago supported the Duke in a sort of
+way, having advised Rosslyn to take office, and now, because
+his own vanity is hurt at not being invited to join the Government,
+or more consulted at least, upon the slight pretext of the
+Galway Bill in the last Parliament he rushes into rancorous
+opposition, and is determined to give no quarter and listen to
+no compromise. Brougham is to lead this Opposition in the
+House of Commons, and Lord Grey in the Lords, and nothing
+is to be done but as the result of general deliberation and
+agreement. Brougham in the meantime has finished his
+triumph at York in a miserable way, having insulted Martin
+Stapylton on the hustings, who called him to account, and
+then he forgot what he had said, and slunk away with a disclaimer
+of unintentional offence, as usual beginning with intemperance
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CHARLES X. IN ENGLAND.</span>
+and ending with submission. His speeches were
+never good, but at his own dinner he stated so many untruths
+about the Duke of Wellington that his own partisans bawled
+out &lsquo;No, no,&rsquo; and it was a complete failure. His whole
+spirit there was as bad as possible, paltry and commonplace.
+That man, with all his talents, never can or will <i>do</i> in any
+situation; he is base, cowardly, and unprincipled, and with
+all the execrable judgment which, I believe, often flows from
+the perversion of moral sentiment. Nobody can admire his
+genius, eloquence, variety and extent of information, and the
+charm of his society more than I do; but his faults are
+glaring, and the effects of them manifest to anybody who
+will compare his means and their results.</p>
+
+<h3>August 23rd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>General Baudrand is come over with a
+letter from King Louis Philippe to King William. He saw
+the Duke and Aberdeen yesterday. Charles X. goes to Lulworth
+Castle. What are called moderate people are greatly
+alarmed at the aspect of affairs in France, but I think the law
+(which will be carried) of abolishing capital punishment in
+political cases is calculated to tranquillise men&rsquo;s minds everywhere,
+for it draws such a line between the old and the new
+Revolution. The Ministers will be tried and banished, but no
+blood spilt. Lord Anglesey went to see Charles X., and told
+him openly his opinion of his conduct. The King laid it all
+upon Polignac. The people of Paris wanted to send over a
+deputation to thank the English for their sympathy and
+assistance&mdash;a sort of fraternising affair&mdash;but the King would
+not permit it, which was wisely done, and it is a good thing
+to see that he can curb in some degree that spirit; this
+Vaudreuil told me last night. It would have given great
+offence and caused great alarm here.</p>
+
+<h3>August 24th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Alvanley had a letter from Montrond
+yesterday from Paris. He was with M. Molé when a letter
+was brought him from Polignac, beginning, &lsquo;Mon cher
+Collègue,&rsquo; and saying that he wrote to him to ask his
+advice what he had better do, that he should have liked to
+retire to his own estate, but it was too near Paris, that he
+should like to go into Alsace, and that he begged he would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+arrange it for him, and in the meantime send him some
+boots, and shirts, and breeches.</p>
+
+<p>The French King continues off Cowes, many people visiting
+him. They came off without clothes or preparation of
+any kind, so much so that Lady Grantham has been obliged
+to furnish Mesdames de Berri and d&rsquo;Angoulême with everything;
+it seems they have plenty of money. The King says
+he and his son have retired from public life; and as to his
+grandson, he must wait the progress of events; that his conscience
+reproaches him with nothing.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner in St. George&rsquo;s Hall on the King&rsquo;s birthday
+was the finest thing possible&mdash;all good and hot, and served
+on the late King&rsquo;s gold plate. There were one hundred
+people at table. After dinner the King gave the Duke of
+Wellington&rsquo;s health, as it was the anniversary of Vimeiro;
+the Dukes of Cumberland and Gloucester turned their
+glasses down. I can&rsquo;t agree with Charles X. that it would
+be better to &lsquo;<i>travailler pour son pain</i> than to be King of
+England.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>I went yesterday all over Lambeth Palace, which has
+been nearly rebuilt by Blore, and admirably done; one of
+the best houses I ever saw. Archbishop Juxon&rsquo;s Hall has
+been converted into the library of the Palace, and is also a
+fine thing in its way. It is not to cost above 40,000&#8467;. The
+Lollards&rsquo; Tower, which is very curious with its iron rings, and
+the names of the Lollards written on the walls, is not to be
+touched.</p>
+
+<p><i>At night</i>.&mdash;Went to Lady Glengall&rsquo;s to meet Marmont.
+He likes talking of his adventures, but he had done his Paris
+talk before I got there; however, he said a great deal about
+old campaigning and Buonaparte, which, as well as I recollect,
+I will put down.</p>
+
+<p>As to the battle of Salamanca, he remarked that, without
+meaning to detract from the glory of the English arms, he
+was inferior in force there; our army was provided with everything,
+well paid, and the country favourable, his &lsquo;dénuée de
+tout,&rsquo; without pay, in a hostile country; that all his provisions
+came from a great distance and under great escorts,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONVERSATION WITH MARSHAL MARMONT.</span>
+and his communications were kept up in the same way. Of
+Russia, he said that Buonaparte&rsquo;s army was destroyed by the
+time he got to Moscow, destroyed by famine; that there were
+two ways of making war, by slow degrees with magazines,
+or by rapid movements and reaching places where abundant
+means of supply and reorganisation were to be found, as he
+had done at Vienna and elsewhere, but in Russia supplies were
+not to be had. Napoleon had, however, pushed on with the
+same rapidity and destroyed his army. Marshal Davoust (I
+think, but am not sure) had a <i>corps d&rsquo;armée</i> of 80,000 men
+and reached Moscow with 15,000; the cavalry were 50,000
+sabres, at Moscow they were 6,000. Somebody asked him
+if Napoleon&rsquo;s generals had not dissuaded him from going to
+Russia. Marmont said no; they liked it; but Napoleon ought
+to have stopped at Smolensk, made Poland independent, and
+levied 50,000 Cossacks, the Polish Cossacks being better than
+the Russian, who would have kept all his communications
+clear, and allowed the French army to repose, and then he
+would have done in two campaigns what he wished to accomplish
+in one; instead of which he never would deal with
+Poland liberally, but held back with ulterior views, and never
+got the Poles cordially with him. Of the campaign of 1813 he
+said that it was ill conducted by Napoleon and full of faults;
+his creation of the army was wonderful, and the battle of
+Dresden would have been a great movement if he had not
+suddenly abandoned Vandamme after pushing him on to cut
+off the retreat of the Allies. It was an immense fault to
+leave all the garrisons in the Prussian and Saxon fortresses.
+The campaign of 1814 was one of his most brilliant. He
+(Marmont) commanded a <i>corps d&rsquo;armée</i>, and fought in most
+of the celebrated actions, but he never had 4,000 men; at
+Paris, which he said was &lsquo;the most honourable part of his
+whole career,&rsquo; he had
+7,500.<a name="FNA_11_05" id="FNA_11_05"></a><a href="#FN_11_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+Napoleon committed a great
+fault in throwing himself into the rear as he did; he should
+have fallen back upon Paris, where his own presence would
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+have been of vast importance, and sent Marmont into the
+rear with what troops he could collect. I repeated what the
+Duke of Wellington had once told me, that if the Emperor
+had continued the same plan, and fallen back on Paris, he
+would have obliged the Allies to retreat, and asked him what
+he thought. He rather agreed with this, but said the Emperor
+had conceived one of the most splendid pieces of strategy
+that ever had been devised, which failed by the disobedience
+of Eugene. He sent orders to Eugene to assemble his army, in
+which he had 35,000 French troops, to amuse the Austrians
+by a negotiation for the evacuation of Italy; to throw the
+Italian troops into Alessandria and Mantua; to destroy the
+other fortresses, and going by forced marches with his French
+troops, force the passage of Mont Cenis, collect the scattered
+<i>corps d&rsquo;armée</i> of Augereau (who was near Lyons) and another
+French general, which would have made his force amount to
+above 60,000 men, and burst upon the rear of the Allies so
+as to cut off all their communications. These orders he sent
+to Eugene, but Eugene &lsquo;rêvait d&rsquo;être roi d&rsquo;Italie après sa
+chute,&rsquo; and he sent his aide-de-camp Tascher to excuse himself.
+The movement was not made, and the game was up.
+Lady Dudley Stewart was there, Lucien&rsquo;s daughter and
+Buonaparte&rsquo;s niece. Marmont was presented to her, and she
+heard him narrate all this; there is something very simple,
+striking, and soldierlike in his manner and appearance. He
+is going to Russia.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_11_05" id="FN_11_05"></a><a href="#FNA_11_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[This assertion of Marmont&rsquo;s is the more curious as it was to his
+alleged treachery that Napoleon when at Fontainebleau chose to ascribe his
+defeat.]</p></div>
+
+<p>He was very communicative about events at Paris,
+lamented his own ill-luck, involved in the business against
+his wishes and feelings; he disapproved of Polignac and his
+measures, and had no notion the <i>ordonnances</i> were thought of.
+In the morning he was going to St. Germain for the day;
+when his aide-de-camp brought him the newspaper with the
+<i>ordonnances il tomba de son haut</i>. Soon after the Dauphin
+sent to him to desire that, as there might be some
+&lsquo;vitres cassées,&rsquo; he would take the command of the troops.
+Directly after the thing began. He had 7,000 or 8,000 men;
+not a preparation had been made of any sort; they had never
+thought of resistance, had not consulted Marmont or any
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CRADOCK&rsquo;S MISSION TO CHARLES X.</span>
+military man; he soon found how hopeless the case was,
+and sent eight estafettes to the King one after another
+during the action to tell him so and implore him to stop
+while it was time. They never returned any answer. He
+then rode out to St. Cloud, where he implored the King to
+yield. It was not till after seven hours&rsquo; pressing that he
+consented to name M. de Mortemart Minister, but would not
+withdraw the edicts. He says that up to Wednesday night
+they would have compromised and accepted M. de Mortemart
+and the suppression of the edicts, but the King still demurred.
+On Wednesday night he yielded, but then the communications
+were interrupted. That night the meeting at
+the Palais Royal took place, at which the King&rsquo;s fate was
+determined; and on Thursday morning when his offers
+arrived, it was too late, and they would no longer treat.
+Marmont said he had been treated with the greatest ingratitude
+by the Court, and had taken leave of them for ever,
+coldly of the King and Dauphin; the Duchess of Berri alone
+shook hands with him and thanked him for his services and
+fidelity. He says never man was so unlucky, that he was
+<i>maréchal de quartier</i> and could not refuse to serve, but he
+only acted on the defensive; 2,000 of the troops and 1,500
+of the populace were killed. The Swiss did not behave well,
+but the Lanciers de la Garde beautifully, and all the troops
+were acting against their feelings and opinions. Marmont
+said that Stuart had sent Cradock to Charles X. to desire
+he would go as slowly as he could, to give time for a reaction
+which he expected would take place. Cradock did go to the
+King, but I rather doubt this
+story.<a name="FNA_11_06" id="FNA_11_06"></a><a href="#FN_11_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_11_06" id="FN_11_06"></a><a href="#FNA_11_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[Colonel Cradock (the late Lord Howden) was sent by the Ambassador
+to the King, and had an audience at Rambouillet, but it was at
+the request and instigation of the Duke of Orleans. The proposal entrusted
+to Colonel Cradock was to the effect that the King and the Dauphin, having
+abdicated, should quit France with the Princesses, but that Henry V. should
+be proclaimed King under the regency of the Duke of Orleans. Louis
+Philippe offered to support this arrangement, and to carry on the Government
+as Regent, if Charles X. sanctioned it. The King received the communication
+in bed. The Duchess of Angoulême was consulted, and vehemently
+opposed the scheme, because, said she, speaking of the Orleans family, &lsquo;ils
+sont toujours les mêmes,&rsquo; and she referred to the preposterous stories current
+at the time of the death of the Duc de Bourgogne, and the regency of 1715.
+The offer was therefore rejected. These facts were not known to Mr.
+Greville at the time, nor till long afterwards, but they confirm his information
+that &lsquo;Cradock <i>did</i> go to the King,&rsquo;]</p></div>
+
+<h3>August 27th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+At Court the day before yesterday; Parliament
+was prorogued and summoned. General Baudrand
+came afterwards and delivered his letter, also a private letter
+&lsquo;from the Duke of Orleans to the Duke of Clarence&rsquo;&mdash;as the
+French King called them, &lsquo;anciens amis.&rsquo; He was well
+received and well satisfied. I never knew such a burst of
+indignation and contempt as Polignac&rsquo;s letter has caused&mdash;a
+letter to the President of the Chamber of Peers. As Dudley
+says, it has saved history the trouble of crucifying that man,
+and speaks volumes about the recent events. Such a man to
+have been Prime Minister of France for a year!</p>
+
+<h3>August 29th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with Dudley the day before yesterday
+to meet Marmont, who is made very much of here by the
+few people who are left. He had been to Woolwich in the
+morning, where the Duke of Wellington had given orders
+that everything should be shown to him, and the honours
+handsomely done. He was very much gratified, and he
+found the man who had pointed the gun which wounded
+him at Salamanca, and who had since lost his own arm at
+Waterloo. Marmont shook hands with him and said, &lsquo;Ah,
+mon ami, chacun a son tour.&rsquo; Lady Aldborough came in
+in the evening, and flew up to him with &lsquo;Ah, mon cher
+Maréchal, embrassez-moi;&rsquo; and so after escaping the cannon&rsquo;s
+mouth at Paris, he was obliged to face Lady Aldborough&rsquo;s
+mouth here. This was my first dinner at Dudley&rsquo;s, brought
+about <i>malgré lui</i> by Lady Glengall. He has always disliked
+and never invited me, but now (to all appearance) we are
+friends. He said he had been to see an old man who lives
+near the world&rsquo;s end&mdash;Chelsea&mdash;who is 110 years old; he has
+a good head of hair, with no grey hairs in it; his health,
+faculties, and memory perfect; is Irish, and has not lived
+with greater temperance than other people. I sat next to
+Palmerston, and had a great deal of conversation with him,
+and from the tenour of his language infer that he has no
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DINNER AT LORD DUDLEY&rsquo;S.</span>
+idea of joining Government. Agar Ellis assured me the
+other day that there was not a word of truth in the reported
+junction between Lord Grey and Huskisson. The Duke has
+got two months to make his arrangements, but I am afraid he
+is not prepared for all the sacrifices his position requires.
+It is now said that the exasperation against the late Ministers
+(particularly Polignac) is so great in France that it is doubtful
+whether they will be able to save their lives.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+The Belgian Revolution &mdash; The Duke of Wellington and Canning &mdash; The
+King&rsquo;s Plate &mdash; Gloomy Forebodings &mdash; Retreat of the Prince of Orange &mdash;
+Prince Talleyrand &mdash; Position of the Government &mdash; Death of Huskisson &mdash; His
+Character &mdash; The Duke of Wellington and Peel &mdash; Meeting of Parliament &mdash; The
+Duke&rsquo;s Declaration &mdash; The King&rsquo;s Visit to the City abandoned &mdash; Disturbances
+in London &mdash; Duchesse de Dino &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; Southey,
+Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill &mdash; Dinner at Talleyrand&rsquo;s &mdash; The
+Duke of Wellington resigns &mdash; Mr. Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the
+Council &mdash; Lord Spencer and Lord Grey sent for &mdash; Formation of Lord
+Grey&rsquo;s Administration &mdash; Discontent of Brougham &mdash; Brougham takes the
+Great Seal &mdash; Character of the New Ministers &mdash; Prospects of the Opposition &mdash;
+Disturbances
+in Sussex and Hampshire &mdash; Lord Grey and Lord
+Brougham &mdash; Lord Sefton&rsquo;s Dinner &mdash; The New Ministers sworn at a
+Council.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>Stoke, August 31st, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>On Sunday I met Prince
+Esterhazy<a name="FNA_12_01" id="FNA_12_01"></a><a href="#FN_12_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+in Oxford Street with a face a yard long. He turned back
+with me, and told me that there had been disturbances at
+Brussels, but that they had been put down by the gendarmerie.
+He was mightily alarmed, but said that his
+Government would recognise the French King directly, and
+in return for such general and prompt recognition as he was
+receiving he must restrain France from countenancing revolutions
+in other countries, and that, indeed, he had lost
+no time in declaring his intention to abstain from any
+meddling. In the evening Vaudreuil told me the same
+thing, and that he had received a despatch from M. Molé
+desiring him to refuse passports to the Spaniards who
+wanted, on the strength of the French Revolution, to go
+and foment the discontents in Spain, and to all other
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WELLINGTON&rsquo;S FOREIGN POLICY.</span>
+foreigners who, being dissatisfied with their own Governments,
+could not obtain passports from their own Ministers.
+Yesterday morning, however, it appeared that the affair at
+Brussels was much more serious than Esterhazy had given
+me to understand; and, as far as can be judged from the
+unofficial statements which we have, it appears likely that
+Belgium will separate from Holland altogether, it being very
+doubtful whether the Belgian troops will support the King&rsquo;s
+Government.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_01" id="FN_12_01"></a><a href="#FNA_12_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[Prince Paul Esterhazy, Austrian Ambassador at the Court of St.
+James for many years.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Madame de Falck is just come, but brings no news.
+Falck<a name="FNA_12_02" id="FNA_12_02"></a><a href="#FN_12_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+has heard nothing. He left Holland before the outbreak.
+In the event of such a revolution, it remains to be
+seen what part Prussia will take, and, if she marches an
+army to reduce Belgium to obedience, whether the Belgians
+will not make overtures to France, and in that case whether
+King Louis Philippe will be able to restrain the French from
+seizing such a golden opportunity of regaining their former
+frontier; and if they accept the offer, whether a general war
+in Europe will not ensue.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_02" id="FN_12_02"></a><a href="#FNA_12_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St. James.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In these difficult circumstances, and in the midst of possibilities
+so tremendous, it is awful to reflect upon the very
+moderate portion of wisdom and sagacity which is allotted
+to those by whom our affairs are managed. I am by no
+means easy as to the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s sufficiency to
+meet such difficulties; the habits of his mind are not those
+of patient investigation, profound knowledge of human
+nature, and cool, discriminating sagacity. He is exceedingly
+quick of apprehension, but deceived by his own quickness
+into thinking he knows more than he does. He has amazing
+confidence in himself, which is fostered by the deference
+of those around him and the long experience of his military
+successes. He is upon ordinary occasions right-headed and
+sensible, but he is beset by weaknesses and passions which
+must, and continually do, blind his judgment. Above all he
+wants that suavity of manner, that watchfulness of observation,
+that power of taking great and enlarged views of
+events and characters, and of weighing opposite interests
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+and probabilities, which are essentially necessary in circumstances
+so delicate, and in which one false step, any hasty
+measure, or even incautious expression, may be attended with
+consequences of immense importance. I feel justified in this
+view of his political fitness by contemplating the whole
+course of his career, and the signal failure which has marked
+all his foreign policy. If Canning were now alive we might
+hope to steer through these difficulties, but if he had lived
+we should probably never have been in them. He was the
+only statesman who had sagacity to enter into and comprehend
+the spirit of the times, and to put himself at the
+head of that movement which was no longer to be arrested.
+The march of Liberalism (as it is called) would not be
+stopped, and this he knew, and he resolved to govern and
+lead instead of opposing it. The idiots who so rejoiced at
+the removal of this master mind (which alone could have
+saved them from the effects of their own folly) thought to
+stem the torrent in its course, and it has overwhelmed them.
+It is unquestionable that the Duke has too much participated
+in their sentiments and passions, and, though he never mixed
+himself with their proceedings, regarded them with a favourable
+eye, nor does he ever seem to have been aware of the
+immensity of the peril which they were incurring. The
+urgency of the danger will unquestionably increase the impatience
+of those who already think the present Government
+incapable of carrying on the public business, and now that
+we are placed in a situation the most intricate (since the
+French Revolution) it is by no means agreeable to think that
+such enormous interests are at the mercy of the Duke&rsquo;s
+awkward squad.</p>
+
+<p>Sefton gave me an account of the dinner in St. George&rsquo;s
+Hall on the King&rsquo;s birthday, which was magnificent&mdash;excellent
+and well served.
+Bridge<a name="FNA_12_03" id="FNA_12_03"></a><a href="#FN_12_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+came down with the plate,
+and was hid during the dinner behind the great wine-cooler,
+which weighs 7,000 ounces, and he told Sefton afterwards that
+the plate in the room was worth 200,000&#8467;. There is another
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">GLOOMY FOREBODINGS.</span>
+service of gold plate, which was not used at all. The King
+has made it all over to the Crown. All this plate was
+ordered by the late King, and never used; his delight was
+ordering what the public had to pay for.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_03" id="FN_12_03"></a><a href="#FNA_12_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[Of the house of Rundell and Bridge, the great silversmiths and
+jewellers of the day.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>September 9th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Came from Stoke the day after the
+Egham races, and went to Brocket Hall on Saturday last;
+returned the day before yesterday. Nothing can exceed the
+interest, the excitement, the consternation which prevail
+here. On Saturday last the funds suddenly fell near three
+per cent.; no cause apparent, a thousand reports, and a panic
+on the Stock Exchange. At last on Monday it appeared
+that the Emperor of Russia had, on the first intelligence of
+the revolution in France, prohibited the tricoloured cockade
+and ordered all Russian subjects to quit France. As we
+went down on Saturday Henry told me that there had been
+alarming accounts from the manufacturing districts of a
+disposition to rise on the part of the workmen, which had
+kept Lord Hill in town; and this I fancied was the cause of
+the fall, but it was the Russian business. They have since,
+however, rallied to nearly what they were before. At Brocket
+I had a long conversation with my
+brother-in-law,<a name="FNA_12_04" id="FNA_12_04"></a><a href="#FN_12_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+who is
+never very communicative or talkative, but he takes a
+gloomy view of everything, not a little perhaps tinctured by
+the impending ruin which he foresees to his own property
+from the Liverpool Railroad, which is to be opened with great
+ceremony on the 15th; moreover he thinks the Government
+so weak that it cannot stand, and expects the Duke will be
+compelled to resign. He has already offered him his place,
+to dispose of in any way that may be useful to him. I said
+that I thought one of the Duke&rsquo;s greatest misfortunes was
+his having no wise head to consult with in all emergencies;
+this he said was very true, for there was nobody who
+would even speak to him about anything; that Peel, who
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+was the man who might naturally be expected to put himself
+forward, never would; and that repeatedly he had got
+him (Francis) to go to or write to the Duke about some
+matter or other on which it was necessary to refer to him.
+In the business of Huskisson, Huskisson himself was most
+anxious to have it made up, and wished Peel to speak to the
+Duke; but Peel would not stir, nor would Dudley, and it
+ended in Francis&rsquo; being charged with the negotiation, the
+result of which everybody knows.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_04" id="FN_12_04"></a><a href="#FNA_12_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards First Earl of Ellesmere, proprietor
+of the Bridgewater Estates and Canal, which was threatened by the competition
+of the newly-made Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Lord
+Francis held the office of Secretary at War in 1830 for a very short time,
+having previously been Irish Secretary when Lord Anglesey was Lord
+Lieutenant.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime the affairs of Belgium are in a very
+critical state; the Prince of Orange has entirely failed in
+reducing the malcontents to submission, and after passing
+two or three days at or near Brussels in fruitless negotiation
+and the interchange of proud civilities, he was obliged to
+retire and carry back to the King a proposal that Belgium
+and Holland should be separated and a Federal Union
+established between them. Last night, however, a proclamation
+of the King appeared, well drawn up, and couched in
+firm, temperate, and sensible language, in which he declares
+that he will do all that the circumstances of the case may
+render necessary, but that all shall be referred to the States-General,
+and they shall decide upon the measures to be
+adopted. This will probably excite great discontent, and it
+is at least doubtful whether the Belgian Deputies will consent
+to go to the Hague at all. My belief is that this proclamation
+is the result of encouragement from Prussia.</p>
+
+<p>The night before last I had a letter from the Duc de
+Dalberg with a very sensible view of the state of France and
+of affairs generally in Europe, auguring well of the stability
+of the present Government, provided the other Powers of
+Europe do nothing to disturb the general tranquillity. I
+never was so astonished as when I read in the newspaper of
+the appointment of Talleyrand to be Ambassador here. He
+must be nearer eighty than seventy, and though his faculties
+are said to be as bright as ever (which I doubt), his infirmities
+are so great that it is inconceivable he should think of
+leaving his own home, and above all for another country,
+where public representation is unavoidable. Dalberg told
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">BAD PROSPECTS OF THE SESSION.</span>
+me that several of the Ministers are going out&mdash;Guizot,
+Marshal Gérard, and Baron Louis, the two latter <i>accablés</i>
+with the <i>travail</i>, and the first unused to and unfit for official
+business;<a name="FNA_12_05" id="FNA_12_05"></a><a href="#FN_12_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+Louis is seventy-three.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_05" id="FN_12_05"></a><a href="#FNA_12_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[A curious estimate, taken at the time, of the man who for the next
+eighteen years had a larger share of official life and business than any other
+Frenchman.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime the Duke does nothing here towards
+strengthening his Government, and he will probably meet
+Parliament as he is. There are some circumstances in his
+favour, and I think it possible he may still extricate himself
+from his difficulties. There is unquestionably a notion
+amongst many persons (of the aristocracy) that he is the
+only man to rely upon for governing this country in the
+midst of difficulties. It is hard to say upon what this feeling
+(for it is more of a feeling than an opinion) is founded; not
+certainly upon any experience of his abilities for Government
+either as to principles or the details of particular branches
+of business, or his profound, dispassionate, and statesmanlike
+sagacity, but upon certain vague predilections, and the confidence
+which he has infused into others by his own firm,
+manly, and even dictatorial character, and the recollection
+of his military exploits and splendid career, which have not
+yet lost their power over the minds of men, and to this
+must be added his great influence over the late and present
+sovereigns.</p>
+
+<p>The short session which will begin on the 28th of
+October will be occupied with the Regency and Civil List,
+and it is probable that both those matters will be produced
+in a form to give general satisfaction; that will be strength
+as far as it goes. The Tories are alarmed at the general
+aspect of affairs, and I doubt whether they will not forget
+their ancient grievances and antipathies, and, if they do not
+support the Government, abstain at least from any violent
+opposition, the result of which could only be to let in the
+Whigs, of whose principles they have the greatest apprehensions.
+I can perfectly understand that there may be many
+men who, wishing sincerely to see a stronger Government
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+formed, may think that any change at this moment which
+may present to Europe a spectacle of disunion and weakness
+here would be a greater evil than the temporary toleration
+of such Ministers as ours; and if the Duke does find such
+a disposition, and profits by it dexterously and temperately,
+he may float through the next session, and at the end of it
+negotiate with other parties on more advantageous terms
+than he possibly could do now, when all his concessions
+would appear to be extorted by force or by the urgent difficulties
+of his position.</p>
+
+<h3>September 10th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The Duke is very much disturbed about
+the state of affairs, thinks ill of France and generally of the
+state of Europe. I think the alarmists are increasing everywhere,
+and the signs of the times are certainly portentous;
+still I doubt there being any great desire of change among
+the mass of the people of England, and prudent and dexterous
+heads (if there be any such) may still steer on through the
+storm. If Canning were alive I believe he would have been
+fully equal to the emergency if he was not thwarted by the
+passions, prejudices, and follies of others; but if he had lived
+we should not have had the Catholic question settled, and
+what a state we should be in now if that were added to the rest!</p>
+
+<h3>September 14th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Last Saturday to Panshanger; returned
+yesterday with Melbourne, George Lamb, and the
+Ashleys. George said there would be a violent Opposition
+in the approaching session.
+William<a name="FNA_12_06" id="FNA_12_06"></a><a href="#FN_12_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+told me he thought
+Huskisson was the greatest practical statesman he had
+known, the one who united theory with practice the most,
+but owned he was not popular and not thought honest;
+that his remaining in with the Duke when Goderich&rsquo;s
+Ministry was dissolved was a fatal error, which he could
+never repair.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_06" id="FN_12_06"></a><a href="#FNA_12_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[William Lamb, second Lord Melbourne, afterwards Prime Minister.]</p></div>
+
+<p>I found Sefton in town last night, and went to the play
+with him. He has had a letter from Brougham, who told
+him he should go to the Liverpool dinner and attack the
+Duke of Wellington; that it was the only opportunity he
+should ever have in his life of meeting him face to face, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DEATH OF MR. HUSKISSON.</span>
+he then proceeded to relate all that he should say. Sefton
+wrote him word that if he said half what he intended the chairman
+would order him to be turned out of the room. He won&rsquo;t
+go, I am persuaded.</p>
+
+<h3>Newark, September 18th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Went back to Panshanger last
+Tuesday; found there Madame de Lieven, Melbourne, and
+the Hollands and Allen. Lord Holland was very agreeable, as
+he always is, and told many anecdotes of George Selwyn,
+Lafayette, and others. I saw them arrive in a coach-and-four
+and chaise-and-pair&mdash;two footmen, a page, and two maids.
+He said (what is true) that there is hardly such a thing in the
+world as a good house or a good epitaph, and yet mankind
+have been employed in building the former and writing the
+latter since the beginning almost. Came to town on Thursday,
+and in the afternoon heard the news of Huskisson&rsquo;s
+horrible accident, and yesterday morning got a letter from
+Henry with the details, which are pretty correctly given in
+the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; newspaper. It is a very odd thing, but I had
+for days before a strong presentiment that some terrible
+accident would occur at this ceremony, and I told Lady
+Cowper so, and several other people. Nothing could exceed
+the horror of the few people in London at this event,
+or the despair of those who looked up to him politically.
+It seems to have happened in this way:&mdash;While the Duke&rsquo;s
+car was stopping to take in water, the people alighted and
+walked about the railroad; when suddenly another car, which
+was running on the adjoining level, came up. Everybody
+scrambled out of the way, and those who could got again
+into the first car. This Huskisson attempted to do, but he
+was slow and awkward; as he was getting in some part of
+the machinery of the other car struck the door of his, by
+which he was knocked down. He was taken up, and conveyed
+by Wilton<a name="FNA_12_07" id="FNA_12_07"></a><a href="#FN_12_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+and Mrs. Huskisson (who must have seen
+the accident happen) to the house of Mr. Blackburne, eight
+miles from Heaton. Wilton saved his life for a few hours by
+knowing how to tie up the artery; amputation was not
+possible, and he expired at ten o&rsquo;clock that night. Wilton,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+Lord Granville, and Littleton were with him to the last.
+Mrs. Huskisson behaved with great courage. The Duke of
+Wellington was deeply affected, and it was with the greatest
+difficulty he could be induced to proceed upon the progress to
+Manchester, and at last he only yielded to the most pressing
+solicitations of the directors and others, and to a strong remonstrance
+that the mob might be dangerous if he did not
+appear. It is impossible to figure to one&rsquo;s self any event
+which could produce a greater sensation or be more striking
+to the imagination than this, happening at such a time and
+under such circumstances: the eminence of the man, the
+sudden conversion of a scene of gaiety and splendour into
+one of horror and dismay; the countless multitudes present,
+and the effect upon them&mdash;crushed to death in sight of his
+wife and at the feet (as it was) of his great political rival&mdash;all
+calculated to produce a deep and awful impression. The
+death of Huskisson cannot fail to have an important effect
+upon political events; it puts an end to his party as a party,
+but it leaves the survivors at liberty to join either the Opposition
+or the Government, while during his life there were
+great difficulties to their doing either, in consequence of the
+antipathy which many of the Whigs had to him on one side
+and the Duke of Wellington on the other. There is no use,
+however, in speculating on what will happen, which a very
+short time will show.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_07" id="FN_12_07"></a><a href="#FNA_12_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[Thomas Grosvenor Egerton, second Earl of Wilton.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Agar Ellis told me yesterday morning that he had
+received a letter from Brougham a day or two ago, in which
+he said that he was going to Liverpool, and hoped there to
+sign a treaty with Huskisson, so that it is probable they
+would have joined to oppose the Government. As to the
+Duke of Wellington, a fatality attends him, and it is perilous
+to cross his path. There were perhaps 500,000 people
+present on this occasion, and probably not a soul besides
+hurt. One man only is killed, and that man is his most
+dangerous political opponent, the one from whom he had
+most to fear. It is the more remarkable because these great
+people are generally taken such care of, and put out of the
+chance of accidents. Canning had scarcely reached the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CHARACTER OF HUSKISSON.</span>
+zenith of his power when he was swept away, and the field
+was left open to the Duke, and no sooner is he reduced
+to a state of danger and difficulty than the ablest of his
+adversaries is removed by a chance beyond all power of
+calculation.</p>
+
+<p>Huskisson was about sixty years old, tall, slouching, and
+ignoble-looking. In society he was extremely agreeable,
+without much animation, generally cheerful, with a great
+deal of humour, information, and anecdote, gentlemanlike,
+unassuming, slow in speech, and with a downcast look, as if
+he avoided meeting anybody&rsquo;s gaze. I have said what Melbourne
+thought of him, and that was the opinion of his
+party. It is probably true that there is no man in Parliament,
+or perhaps out of it, so well versed in finance, commerce,
+trade, and colonial matters, and that he is therefore a
+very great and irreparable loss. It is nevertheless remarkable
+that it is only within the last five or six years that he acquired
+the great reputation which he latterly enjoyed. I do not
+think he was looked upon as more than a second-rate man
+till his speeches on the silk trade and the shipping interest;
+but when he became President of the Board of Trade he devoted
+himself with indefatigable application to the maturing and
+reducing to practice those commercial improvements with
+which his name is associated, and to which he owes all his
+glory and most of his unpopularity. It is equally true that
+all the ablest men in the country coincide with him, and that
+the mass of the community are persuaded that his plans are
+mischievous to the last degree. The man whom he consulted
+through the whole course of his labours and enquiries was
+Hume,<a name="FNA_12_08" id="FNA_12_08"></a><a href="#FN_12_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+who is now in the Board of Trade, and whose vast experience
+and knowledge were of incalculable service to him.
+Great as his abilities unquestionably were, it is impossible to
+admire his judgment, which seems repeatedly to have failed
+him, particularly in his joining the Duke&rsquo;s Government on
+Goderich&rsquo;s resignation, which was a capital error, his speech
+afterwards at Liverpool and his subsequent quarrel with the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
+Duke. In all these cases he acted with the greatest imprudence,
+and he certainly contrived, without exposing himself
+to any specific charge, to be looked upon as a statesman of
+questionable honour and integrity; and of this his friends as
+well as his enemies were aware. As a speaker in the House of
+Commons he was luminous upon his own subject, but he had
+no pretensions to eloquence; his voice was feeble and his
+manner ungraceful; however, he was (unfortunately) one of
+the first men in the House, and was listened to with attention
+upon any subject. He left no children. Mrs. Huskisson
+has a pension of 1,200&#8467;. a year. The accounts from Paris
+improve, inasmuch as there seems a better prospect than
+there has been lately of tranquillity in the country. Sneyd
+writes word that there is little doubt but that the Duc de
+Bourbon was
+assassinated.<a name="FNA_12_09" id="FNA_12_09"></a><a href="#FN_12_09" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_08" id="FN_12_08"></a><a href="#FNA_12_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[John Deacon Hume, the Assistant Joint Secretary of the Board of
+Trade.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_09" id="FN_12_09"></a><a href="#FNA_12_09"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+[The Duc de Bourbon-Condé was found hanging in his bedroom.
+Suspicion pointed to Madame de Fenchères, his mistress, as privy to the
+cause of his death, which however, was never clearly ascertained. The
+Duke had made an ample provision for Madame de Fenchères in his will,
+but the bulk of his vast property, including Chantilly, was bequeathed to
+the Duc d&rsquo;Aumale, fourth son of King Louis Philippe. The Duc de Bourbon
+was the father of the unfortunate Duc d&rsquo;Enghien.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Last night to Brockett Hall, where I slept and came on
+here to-day. The King has paid me 300&#8467;. for Goodison, the
+late Duke&rsquo;s jockey, which settles all he owed at Newmarket,
+and was a very good-natured act.</p>
+
+<p>George Seymour is made Master of the Robes, and gives
+up his
+place<a name="FNA_12_10" id="FNA_12_10"></a><a href="#FN_12_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+in the House of Lords, so
+Jersey<a name="FNA_12_11" id="FNA_12_11"></a><a href="#FN_12_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+within two
+months has got an enormous place to give away.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_10" id="FN_12_10"></a><a href="#FNA_12_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+He did not give it up; wanted Jersey to appoint his brother Frederick,
+which he refused to do; so the other remained.&mdash;<i>November 15th</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_11" id="FN_12_11"></a><a href="#FNA_12_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+[Lord Jersey was Lord Chamberlain of the Household at the time.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>Chatsworth, September 27th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Got to Sprotborough last
+Sunday; Lord Talbot and Lady Cecil, William Lascelles,
+Irby, Lady Charlotte Denison, Captain Grey. It rained
+all the time of the races. They offered Priam to Chesterfield
+for 3,000&#8467;. before his match, and he refused; he offered it
+after, and they refused. There were a number of beautiful
+women there&mdash;my cousin Mrs. Foljambe, Misses Mary and
+Fanny Brandling the best. Came here on Friday night, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">HUSKISSON&rsquo;S LAST MOMENTS.</span>
+found as usual a large party, but rather dull; Granvilles,
+Newboroughs, Wharncliffes, G. Seymours, Sir J. and Lady
+Fitzgerald (very pretty), Talbots, Madame Bathiany, Beaumonts,
+G. Lamb. Yesterday Brougham came with his
+brother, sister, and daughter-in-law, in the highest spirits and
+state of excitement, going about Yorkshire, dining and
+speechifying; he was at Doncaster too. Lord Granville was
+just returned from Huskisson&rsquo;s funeral at Liverpool. It was
+attended by a great multitude, who showed every mark of
+respect and feeling. He died the death of a great man,
+suffering torments, but always resigned, calm, and collected;
+took the Sacrament, and made a codicil to his will, said the
+country had had the best of him, and that he could not have
+been useful for many more years, hoped he had never committed
+any political sins that might not be easily forgiven,
+and declared that he died without a feeling of ill-will and
+in charity with all men. As he lay there he heard the guns
+announcing the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s arrival at Manchester,
+and he said, &lsquo;I hope to God the Duke may get safe through
+the day.&rsquo; When he had done and said all he desired, he
+begged they would open a vein and release him from his
+pain. From the beginning he only wished to die quickly.
+Mrs. Huskisson was violently opposed to his being buried at
+Liverpool, and it was with great difficulty she was persuaded
+to consent to the repeated applications that were made to her
+for that purpose.</p>
+
+<h3>Buckenham, October 25th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>A month nearly since I have
+written a line; always racing and always idleness. Went
+from Chatsworth to Heaton Park; an immense party, excellent
+house and living, and very good sport for the sort of
+thing in a park, with gentlemen riders.</p>
+
+<p>I have lost sight of politics, and know nothing of what is
+going on, except that all things look gloomy, and people
+generally are alarmed. Last week the Arbuthnots were at
+Cheveley, and I had a curious conversation enough with him.
+I told him that I was desirous of the success of the Duke of
+Wellington&rsquo;s Administration, but felt strongly the necessity
+of his getting rid of many of his present Cabinet, who were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+both inefficient and odious, that I thought one great misfortune
+was that he had nobody to tell him the truth, and
+very few men with whom he was on terms of confidential
+cordiality. He owned it was so, but said that <i>he</i> never concealed
+from him disagreeable truths&mdash;on the contrary, told
+him everything&mdash;and assured me that at any time he would
+tell the Duke anything that I thought he ought to know. I
+told him to give him a notion how meanly Aberdeen was
+thought of, that Alvanley had told Talleyrand not to notice
+him, but to go at once to the Duke when he had any important
+business to transact, and that he might tell the Duke
+this if he pleased, but no one else. He said he would, and
+then he began to talk of Peel, lamenting that there was
+nothing like intimate confidence between the Duke and him,
+and that the Duke was in fact ignorant of his real and secret
+feelings and opinions; that to such a degree did Peel carry
+his reserve, that when they were out of office, and it had
+been a question of their returning to it, he had gone to meet
+Peel at Lord Chandos&rsquo;s for the express purpose of finding
+out what his opinions were upon the then state of affairs,
+and that after many conversations he had come away
+knowing no more of his sentiments and disposition than
+before they met. I said that with a Cabinet like this, and
+the House of Commons in the hands of Peel, I could not
+imagine anything more embarrassing; he owned it was,
+and then complained of Peel&rsquo;s indisposition to encourage
+other men in the House of Commons, or to suffer the transaction
+of business to pass through any hands but his own;
+that the Duke had been accused of a grasping ambition and
+a desire to do everything himself, whereas such an accusation
+would be much more applicable to Peel. All this proves how
+little real cordiality there is between these two men, and that,
+though they are now necessary to each other, a little matter
+would sever their political connection.</p>
+
+<p>Here we have an American of the name of Powell, who
+was here nineteen years ago, when he was one of the handsomest
+men that ever was seen, and lived in the society
+of Devonshire House. Three years of such a life spoilt
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WELLINGTON&rsquo;S DECLARATION AGAINST REFORM.</span>
+him, as he confesses, for the nineteen which followed in his
+native country; and now he is come back with a wife
+and five children to see the town he recollects become a
+thousand times more beautiful, and the friends who have
+forgotten him equally changed, but as much for the worse
+as London is for the better; he seems a sensible, good sort
+of fellow.</p>
+
+<p>Baring told me the other day that he remembered his
+(B.&rsquo;s) father with nearly nothing, and that out of the house
+which he founded not less than six or seven millions must
+have been taken. Several colossal fortunes have been made
+out of it.</p>
+
+<h3>London, November 8th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Went from Buckenham to
+Euston, and then back to Newmarket, where I never have
+time or inclination to write or read. Parliament met, and a
+great clamour was raised against the King&rsquo;s Speech, without
+much reason; but it was immediately evident that the
+Government was in a very tottering condition, and the first
+night of this session the Duke of Wellington made a violent
+and uncalled-for declaration against Reform, which has without
+doubt sealed his fate. Never was there an act of more
+egregious folly, or one so universally condemned by friends
+and foes. The Chancellor said to Lady Lyndhurst after the
+first night&rsquo;s debate in the House of Lords, &lsquo;You have often
+asked me why the Duke did not take in Lord Grey; read
+these two speeches (Lord Grey&rsquo;s and the Duke&rsquo;s), and then
+you will see why. Do you think he would like to have a
+colleague under him, who should get up and make such a
+speech after such another as his?&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The effect produced by this declaration exceeds anything
+I ever saw, and it has at once destroyed what little popularity
+the Duke had left, and lowered him in public estimation
+so much that when he does go out of office, as most
+assuredly he must, he will leave it without any of the dignity
+and credit which might have accompanied his retirement.
+The sensation produced in the country has not yet been
+ascertained, but it is sure to be immense. I came to town
+last night, and found the town ringing with his imprudence
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+and everybody expecting that a few days would produce his
+resignation.</p>
+
+<p>The King&rsquo;s visit to the City was regarded with great
+apprehension, as it was suspected that attempts would be
+made to produce riot and confusion at night, and consequently
+all the troops that could be mustered were prepared,
+together with thousands of special constables, new
+police, volunteers, sailors, and marines; but last night a
+Cabinet Council was held, when it was definitively arranged
+to put it off altogether, and this morning the announcement
+has appeared in the newspapers. Every sort of ridicule
+and abuse was heaped upon the Government, the Lord
+Mayor, and all who had any share in putting off the
+King&rsquo;s visit to the City; very droll caricatures were circulated.</p>
+
+<p>I met Matuscewitz last night, who was full of the Duke
+and his speech, and of regrets at his approaching fall, which
+he considers as the signal for fresh encroachments in France
+by the Liberal party, and a general impulse to the revolutionary
+factions throughout Europe. I hear that nothing
+can exceed the general excitement and terror that prevails,
+everybody feeling they hardly know what.</p>
+
+<h3>November 9th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning I sallied forth and
+called on Arbuthnot, whom I did not find at home, but Mrs.
+Arbuthnot was. I had previously called on the Villiers, and
+had a long conversation about the state of everything. They
+did not apprise me of anything new, but
+Hyde,<a name="FNA_12_12" id="FNA_12_12"></a><a href="#FN_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+who ought
+to be informed, gave me an account of the resolutions which
+Brougham means to propose, very different from what I heard
+elsewhere. He said that they were very strong, whereas all
+other accounts agree that they are very moderate. I walked
+with Mrs. Arbuthnot down to Downing Street, and, as she
+utters the Duke&rsquo;s sentiments, was anxious to hear what she
+would say about their present condition. I said, &lsquo;Well, you
+are in a fine state; what do you mean to do?&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh, are you
+alarmed? Well, I am not; everybody says we are to go
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISTURBANCES IN LONDON.</span>
+out, and I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it. They will be beat on
+the question of Reform; people will return to the Government,
+and we shall go on very well. You will see this will be the
+end of it.&rsquo; I told her I did not believe they could stay in,
+and attacked the Duke&rsquo;s speech, which at last she owned she
+was sorry he had made. She complained that they had no
+support, and that everybody they took in became useless as
+soon as they were in office&mdash;Ellenborough, Rosslyn, Murray.
+It was evident, however, that she did contemplate their loss
+of office as a very probable event, though they do not mean
+to resign, and think they may stave off the evil day. In
+Downing Street we met George Dawson, who told us the
+funds had fallen three per cent., and that the panic was
+tremendous, so much so that they were not without alarm
+lest there should be a run on the Bank for gold. Later in
+the day, however, the funds improved. In the House of
+Lords I heard the Duke&rsquo;s explanation of putting off the
+dinner in the City. On the whole they seem to have done
+well to put it off, but the case did not sound a strong one;
+it rested on a letter from the Lord Mayor telling the Duke
+an attempt would be made on his life. Still it is a hundred
+to one that there would have been a riot, and possibly all its
+worst evils and crimes. The King is said to be very low,
+hating Reform, desirous of supporting the Duke, but feeling
+that he can do nothing. However, in the House of Lords
+last night the speakers vied with each other in praising his
+Majesty and extolling his popularity. Lady Jersey told me
+that the Duke had said to her, &lsquo;Lord, I shall not go out; you
+will see we shall go on very well.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_12" id="FN_12_12"></a><a href="#FNA_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+[Thomas Hyde Villiers, brother of George, afterwards fourth Earl of
+Clarendon, died in 1832.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>November 10th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>It was expected last night that there
+would be a great riot, and preparations were made to meet
+it. Troops were called up to London, and a large body of
+civil power put in motion. People had come in from the
+country in the morning, and everything indicated a disturbance.
+After dinner I walked out to see how things were
+going on. There was little mob in the west end of the town,
+and in New Street, Spring Gardens, a large body of the new
+police was drawn up in three divisions, ready to be employed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+if wanted. The Duke of Wellington expected Apsley
+House to be attacked, and made preparations accordingly.
+He desired my brother to go and dine there, to assist in
+making any arrangements that might be necessary. In Pall
+Mall I met Mr. Glyn, the banker, who had been up to Lombard
+Street to see how matters looked about his house, and
+he told us (Sir T. Farquhar and me) that everything was
+quiet in the City. One of the policemen said that there
+had been a smart brush near Temple Bar, where a body of
+weavers with iron crows and a banner had been dispersed by
+the police, and the banner taken. The police, who are a
+magnificent set of fellows, behave very well, and it seems
+pretty evident that these troubles are not very serious, and
+will soon be put an end to. The attack in Downing Street
+the night before last, of which they made a great affair,
+turned out to be nothing at all. The mob came there from
+Carlile&rsquo;s lecture, but the sentry stopped them near the
+Foreign Office; the police took them in flank, and they all
+ran away.</p>
+
+<p>I went to Brooks&rsquo;s, but there was hardly anybody
+there, and nothing occurred in the House of Commons but
+some interchange of Billingsgate between O&rsquo;Connell and
+George Dawson. The Duke talks with confidence, and has
+no idea of resigning, but he does not inspire his friends with
+the confidence he feels or affects himself, though they talk
+of his resignation as an event which is to plunge all Europe
+into war, and of the impossibility of forming another Administration,
+all which is mere balderdash, for he proved
+with many others how easy it is to form a Government that
+can go on; and as to our Continental relations being altered,
+I don&rsquo;t believe a word of it. He may have influence abroad,
+but he owes it not to his own individual character, but to his
+possession of power in England. If the Ministry who succeed
+him are firm and moderate, this country will lose nothing of
+its influence abroad. I have heard these sort of things said
+fifty times of Ministers and Kings. The death of the late
+King was to be the greatest of calamities, and the breath
+was hardly out of his body before everybody discovered that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE DUCHESSE DE DINO.</span>
+it was the greatest of blessings, and, instead of its being impossible
+to go on without him, that there would have been
+no going on with him.</p>
+
+<p>The King gave a dinner to the Prince of Orange the
+other day, and invited all his old military friends to meet
+him. His Majesty was beyond everything civil to the Duke
+of Wellington, and the Queen likewise. Lord Wellesley,
+speaking of the letter to the Lord Mayor, and putting off
+the dinner in the City, said &lsquo;it was the boldest act of cowardice
+he had ever heard of.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>After some difficulty they have agreed to give Madame
+de Dino<a name="FNA_12_13" id="FNA_12_13"></a><a href="#FN_12_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+the honours of Ambassadress here, the Duke having
+told the King that at Vienna she did the honours of Talleyrand&rsquo;s
+house, and was received on that footing by the Emperor
+and Empress, so he said, &lsquo;Oh, very well; I will tell the
+Queen, and you had better tell her too.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_13" id="FN_12_13"></a><a href="#FNA_12_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a>
+[The Duchesse de Dino was the niece of Prince Talleyrand, then
+French Ambassador at the Court of St. James. The precedent is a curious
+one, for it is certainly not customary for the daughter or niece of an unmarried
+Ambassador to enjoy the rank and honours of an Ambassadress.]</p></div>
+
+<p>They say the King is exceedingly bullied by the <i>bâtards</i>,
+though Errol told me they were all afraid of him. Dolly
+Fitzclarence lost 100&#8467;., betting 100 to 10 that he would go
+to Guildhall, and he told the King he had lost him 100&#8467;., so
+the King gave him the money. It seems that the Duke
+certainly did make some overtures to Palmerston, though I
+do not exactly know when, but I heard that they were very
+fair ones.</p>
+
+<h3>November 11th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday the funds rose, and people&rsquo;s
+apprehensions began to subside. Everybody is occupied with
+speculating about the numbers on Tuesday next, and what
+majority the Ministers will get. Yesterday came a letter
+from Lord Heytesbury from
+St. Petersburg,<a name="FNA_12_14" id="FNA_12_14"></a><a href="#FN_12_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+saying that there
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+was reason to believe that the disorder now raging in Russia
+is a sort of plague, but that they will not admit it, and that
+it is impossible to get at the truth. We ordered Russian
+ships to be put under a precautionary quarantine, and made
+a minute to record what we had done.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_14" id="FN_12_14"></a><a href="#FNA_12_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+[This is the first mention of the cholera morbus, or Asiatic cholera,
+then first appearing in Europe. The quarantine establishments are under
+the control of the Privy Council, and Mr. Greville, as Clerk of the Council,
+was actively employed in superintending them. A Board of Health was
+afterwards established at the Council Office during the prevalence of the
+cholera.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>November 12th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The funds have kept advancing, everything
+is quiet, and Ministers begin to take courage. The
+Duke means if he has a majority of twenty on Tuesday to
+stay in. It seems his idea is that the resolutions of Brougham
+will be framed in general terms on purpose to obtain
+as many votes as possible; that they will be no test of the
+real opinion of the House, because most of those who may
+concur in a general resolution in favour of Reform would
+disagree entirely as to specific measures, if any were introduced;
+but it is evident that the support of the Duke&rsquo;s
+friends is growing feebler every day. Yesterday morning
+I met Robert Clive, a thick and thin Government man,
+and he began with the usual topic, for everybody asks
+after the State, as one does about a sick friend; and
+then he went on to say (concurring with my opinion that
+everything went on ill), &lsquo;Why won&rsquo;t the Duke strengthen
+himself?&rsquo; &lsquo;He can&rsquo;t; he has tried, and you see he can&rsquo;t do
+anything.&rsquo; &lsquo;Ah! but he must make sacrifices; things cannot
+go on as they do, and he must make sacrifices.&rsquo; Lord Bath,
+too, came to town, intending to leave his proxy with the
+Duke, and went away with it in his pocket, after hearing his
+famous speech; though he has a close borough, which he by
+no means wishes to lose, still he is for Reform. What they
+all feel is that his obstinacy will endanger everything; that
+by timely concession, and regulating the present spirit, real
+improvements might be made and extreme measures avoided.
+I met Rothschild coming out of Herries&rsquo; room, with his
+nephew from Paris. He looked pretty lively for a man who
+has lost some millions, but the funds were all up yesterday;
+he asked me the news, and said Lafitte was the best Minister
+France could have, and that everything was rapidly improving
+there.</p>
+
+<h3>November 15th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning I breakfasted with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ROBERT SOUTHEY.</span>
+Taylor<a name="FNA_12_15" id="FNA_12_15"></a><a href="#FN_12_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>
+to meet Southey: the party was Southey; Strutt,
+member for Derby, a Radical; young Mill, a political economist;
+Charles Villiers, young Elliot, and myself. Southey
+is remarkably pleasing in his manner and appearance, unaffected,
+unassuming, and agreeable; at least such was my
+impression for the hour or two I saw him. Young Mill is
+the son of Mill who wrote the &lsquo;History of British India,&rsquo; and
+said to be cleverer than his father. He has written many
+excellent articles in reviews, pamphlets, &amp;c., but though
+powerful with a pen in his hand, in conversation he has
+not the art of managing his ideas, and is consequently
+hesitating and slow, and has the appearance of being always
+working in his mind propositions or a syllogism.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_15" id="FN_12_15"></a><a href="#FNA_12_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a>
+[Henry Taylor, the author of &lsquo;Philip van Artevelde.&rsquo; Edward Strutt
+was afterwards created Lord Belper. &lsquo;Young Mill&rsquo; was the eminent economist
+and philosopher John Stuart Mill. &lsquo;Young Elliot,&rsquo; Sir Thomas
+Frederick Elliot, K.S.M.G., long one of the ablest members of the Colonial
+Department, to which Henry Taylor, the poet, himself belonged.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Southey told an anecdote of Sir Massey Lopes, which is
+a good story of a miser. A man came to him and told him
+he was in great distress, and 200&#8467;. would save him. He
+gave him a draft for the money.&rsquo; &lsquo;Now,&rsquo; says he, &lsquo;what will
+you do with this?&rsquo; &lsquo;Go to the bankers and get it cashed.&rsquo;
+&lsquo;Stop,&rsquo; said he; &lsquo;I will cash it.&rsquo; So he gave him the money,
+but first calculated and deducted the discount, thus at once
+exercising his benevolence and his avarice.</p>
+
+<p>Another story Taylor told (we were talking of the negroes
+and savages) of a girl (in North America) who had been
+brought up for the purpose of being eaten on the day her
+master&rsquo;s son was married or attained a certain age. She
+was proud of being the <i>plat</i> for the occasion, for when she
+was accosted by a missionary, who wanted to convert her to
+Christianity and withdraw her from her fate, she said she had
+no objection to be a Christian, but she must stay to be eaten,
+that she had been fattened for the purpose and must fulfil
+her destiny.</p>
+
+<p>When I came home I found a note to say my unfortunate
+colleague Buller<a name="FNA_12_16" id="FNA_12_16"></a><a href="#FN_12_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>
+was dead. He had had an operation performed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+on his lip, after which he caught cold, got an inflammation
+in the windpipe, and died in two or three days. He
+was a very honourable, obliging, and stupid man, and a great
+loss to me, for I shall hardly find a more accommodating
+colleague.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_16" id="FN_12_16"></a><a href="#FNA_12_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a>
+[James Buller, Esq., senior Clerk of the Council.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In the evening I dined with Lord Sefton to meet Talleyrand
+and Madame de Dino. There were Brougham and
+Denman, the latter brought by the former to show Talleyrand
+to him. After dinner Talleyrand held a circle and
+discoursed, but I did not come in for his talk. They were
+all delighted, but long experience has proved to me that
+people are easily delighted with whatever is in vogue.
+Brougham is very proud of his French, which is execrable,
+and took the opportunity of holding forth in a most barbarous
+jargon, which he fancied was the real accent and phraseology.
+He told me he should have 250 votes on his motion. I said
+to him, &lsquo;They think they shall have a majority of 150.&rsquo; He
+said, &lsquo;Then there must be 650 to divide, for at the lowest
+computation I shall have 250.&rsquo; But at night Henry told
+me that the Duke, though he put a good face on it, was
+in fact very low, and that, from what Gosh [Arbuthnot]
+had said, he would certainly resign unless he carried the
+question by a large majority. In the morning I called on
+Lady Granville, who told me, as a great secret, that the Duke,
+notwithstanding his speech, was prepared to offer a compromise,
+and her story was this:&mdash;She had dined at Ludolf&rsquo;s
+a few days ago to meet the Duchesse de Berri. All the
+great people dined there, among others the Chancellor and
+Lady Lyndhurst, and after dinner Lady Lyndhurst came
+up to her bursting with indignation, and confided to her
+that the Duke had resolved to offer a resolution to the
+effect that in any future case of borough delinquency the
+representation should be transferred to a great town, and
+that she thought after what had passed this would be so
+disgraceful that it disgusted her beyond expression, and a
+great deal more to this effect. I confess I don&rsquo;t believe a
+word of it. I met the Prince of Orange last night in excellent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DEFEAT OF THE WELLINGTON MINISTRY.</span>
+spirits and humour, and quite convinced that he will
+be recalled to Brussels.</p>
+
+<h3>November 16th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s Administration
+is at an end. If he has not already resigned, he probably
+will do so in the course of the day. Everybody was so
+intent on the Reform question that the Civil List was not
+thought of, and consequently the defeat of Government last
+night was unexpected. Although numbers of members were
+shut out there was a great attendance, and a majority of
+twenty-nine. Of those who were shut out, almost all declare
+that they meant to have voted in the
+majority.<a name="FNA_12_17" id="FNA_12_17"></a><a href="#FN_12_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_17" id="FN_12_17"></a><a href="#FNA_12_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a>
+[The division was taken on Sir Henry Parnell&rsquo;s motion to refer the
+Civil List to a Select Committee, which was carried by 233 to 204.]</p></div>
+
+<p>I went to Mrs. Taylor&rsquo;s at night and found Ferguson,
+Denman, and Taylor, who had just brought the news. The
+exultation of the Opposition was immense. Word was sent
+down their line not to cheer, but they were not to be restrained,
+and Sefton&rsquo;s yell was heard triumphant in the din.
+The Tories voted with them. There had been a meeting at
+Knatchbull&rsquo;s in the morning, when they decided to go
+against Government. Worcester had dined at Apsley
+House, and returned with the news, but merely said that they
+had had a bad division&mdash;twenty-nine. Everybody thought
+he meant a majority <i>for</i> Government, and the Duke, who
+already knew what had happened, made a sign to him to say
+nothing. Worcester knew nothing himself, having arrived
+after the division; they told him the numbers, and he came
+away fancying they were for Government. So off the company
+went to Madame de Dino, where they heard the truth.
+Great was the consternation and long were the faces, but the
+outs affected to be merry and the ins were serious. Talleyrand
+fired off a courier to Paris forthwith.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning I went to Downing Street early, to
+settle with Lord Bathurst about the new appointment to my
+office. Till I told him he did not know the appointment was
+in the Crown; so he hurried off to the King, and proposed his
+son William. The King was very gracious, and said, &lsquo;I can
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+never object to a father&rsquo;s doing what he can for his own
+children,&rsquo; which was an oblique word for the <i>bâtards</i>, about
+whom, however, it may be said <i>en passant</i> he has been marvellously
+forbearing.</p>
+
+<p>I had a long conversation with Lady Bathurst, who told
+me that the Duke had resolved to stand or fall on the Reform
+question, that he had asked Lord Bathurst&rsquo;s opinion, who
+had advised him by all means to do so; that Lord Bathurst
+had likewise put his own place at the Duke&rsquo;s disposal long
+before, and was ready to resign at any moment. It is clear
+that Lord Bathurst had some suspicion that the Duke had
+an idea of not standing or falling by that question, for he
+asked him whether anybody had given him different advice,
+to which he replied, though it seems rather vaguely, &lsquo;No, oh
+no; I think you are quite right.&rsquo; I told her the substance of
+what I had heard about his being disposed to a compromise.
+She said it was quite impossible, that he would be disgraced
+irredeemably, but owned it was odd that there should be
+that notion and the suspicion which crossed Lord Bathurst&rsquo;s
+mind. I do think it is possible, but for his honour I hope
+not. The Bathursts felt this appointment of William was a
+sort of &lsquo;Nunc dimittis,&rsquo; but there is yet something between
+the cup and the lip, for Stanley got up in the House of Commons
+and attacked the appointment, and it is just possible
+it may yet be stopped.</p>
+
+<p>Went to Brookes&rsquo; in the evening, where there was nobody
+left but Sefton baiting Ferguson for having been out of the
+division. He told me that it was not impossible Lord
+Spencer would be put at the head of Government. They
+will manage to make a confounded mess of it, I dare say.
+Billy Holmes came to the Duke last night with the news of
+the division, and implored him to let nothing prevent his
+resigning to-day.</p>
+
+<h3>November 17th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Went to Downing Street yesterday
+morning between twelve and one, and found that the Duke
+and all the Ministers were just gone to the King. He received
+them with the greatest kindness, shed tears, but accepted
+their resignation without remonstrance. He told
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING&rsquo;S BEHAVIOUR AT THE CRISIS.</span>
+Lord Bathurst he would do anything he could, and asked
+him if there was nothing he could sign which would secure
+his son&rsquo;s appointment. Lord Bathurst thanked him, but
+told him he could do nothing. The fact is the appointment
+might be hurried through, but the salary depends upon an
+annual vote of the House of Commons, and an exasperated
+and triumphant Opposition would be sure to knock it off; so
+he has done the only thing he can do, which is to leave it
+to the King to secure the appointment for him if possible.
+It will be a great piece of luck for somebody that Buller
+should have died exactly when he did. William Bathurst
+may perhaps lose the place from his not dying earlier, or the
+new Government may lose the patronage because he did not
+die later; but it is ill luck for me, who shall probably have
+more trouble because he has died at all.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke and Peel announced their resignations in the two
+Houses, and Brougham put off his motion, but with a speech
+signifying that he should take no part in the new Government.
+The last acts of the Duke were to secure pensions of
+250&#8467;. a year to each of his secretaries, and to fill up the ecclesiastical
+preferments. The Garter remains for his successor.
+The Duke of Bedford got it, and, what is singular,
+the Duke of Wellington would probably have given it him
+likewise. He was one of five whom he meant to choose from,
+and it lay between him and Lord Cleveland.</p>
+
+<p>I met the Duke coming out of his room, but did not
+like to speak to him; he got into his cabriolet, and nodded
+as he passed, but he looked very grave. The King seems to
+have behaved perfectly throughout the whole business, no
+intriguing or underhand communication with anybody, with
+great kindness to his Ministers, anxious to support them
+while it was possible, and submitting at once to the necessity
+of parting with them. The fact is he turns out an incomparable
+King, and deserves all the encomiums that are
+lavished on him. All the mountebankery which signalised
+his conduct when he came to the throne has passed away
+with the excitement which caused it, and he is as dignified
+as the homeliness and simplicity of his character will allow
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+him to be. I understand he sent for Lord Spencer in the
+course of the day, who probably said he could not undertake
+anything, for he afterwards sent for Lord Grey (after the
+House of Lords), and as he must have been very well prepared,
+it is probable that a new Government will be speedily
+formed.</p>
+
+<p>I went to Lady Jersey&rsquo;s in the evening, when she was or
+affected to be very gay and very glad that the Duke was out.
+I found there the Prince of Orange, Esterhazy, Madame de
+Dino, Wilton, Worcester, Duncannon, Lord Rosslyn, Matuscewitz,
+&amp;c. There has been a strong idea that the Chancellor
+[Lyndhurst] would keep the seals. Both Holmes and
+Planta have repeatedly told the Duke that he would be
+beaten in the House of Commons, and they both knew the
+House thoroughly. Still he never would do anything. He
+made overtures to Palmerston just before Parliament met
+through Lord Clive, and the result was an interview between
+them at Apsley House, but it came to nothing. I dare say
+he did not offer half enough. It is universally believed that
+Peel pressed the Civil List question for the purpose of being
+beaten upon it, and going out on that rather than on Reform,
+for Planta told him how it would be, and he might very well
+have given the Committee if he had liked it; but he said he
+would abide by it, and he certainly was in excellent spirits
+afterwards for a beaten Minister. Now that this Reform has
+served their purpose so well, and turned out the Duke, the
+Opposition would be well satisfied to put it aside again, and
+take time to consider what they shall do, for it is a terrible
+question for them. Pledged as they have been, it is sure to
+be the rock on which the little popularity they have gained
+will split, as it is a hundred to one that whatever they do
+they will not go far enough to satisfy the country.</p>
+
+<h3>November 19th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The day before yesterday Lord Grey
+went to the King, who received him with every possible
+kindness, and gave him <i>carte blanche</i> to form a new Administration,
+placing even the Household at his disposal&mdash;much
+to the disgust of the members of it. Ever since the town
+has been as usual teeming with reports, but with fewer lies
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISCONTENT OF BROUGHAM.</span>
+than usual. The fact is Lord Grey has had no difficulties,
+and has formed a Government at once; only Brougham put
+them all in a dreadful fright. He all but declared a hostile
+intention to the future Administration; he boasted that he
+would take nothing, refuse even the Great Seal, and nourished
+his Reform <i>in terrorem</i> over their heads; he was affronted and
+furious because he fancied they neglected him, but it all
+arose, as I am told, from Lord Grey&rsquo;s letter to him not
+reaching him directly, by some mistake, for that he was the
+first person he wrote to. Still it is pretty clear that this
+eccentric luminary will play the devil with their system.</p>
+
+<p>[The letter could not be the cause. The history of the
+transaction is this:&mdash;When Lord Grey undertook to form a
+Government he sent for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Holland,
+and these three began to work, without consulting with
+Brougham or any member of the House of Commons.
+Brougham was displeased at not being consulted at first,
+but was indignant when Lord Grey proposed to him to
+be Attorney-General. Then he showed his teeth, and they
+grew frightened, and soon after they sent Sefton to him, who
+got him into good humour, and it was made up by the offer
+of the Great Seal.&mdash;<i>November 23rd</i>.]</p>
+
+<h3>November 20th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Here I was interrupted, and broke off
+yesterday morning. At twelve o&rsquo;clock yesterday everything
+was settled but the Great Seal, and in the afternoon the
+great news transpired that Brougham had accepted it.
+Great was the surprise, greater still the joy at a charm
+having been found potent enough to lay the unquiet spirit, a
+bait rich enough to tempt his restless ambition. I confess
+I had no idea he would have accepted the Chancellorship
+after his declarations in the House of Commons and the
+whole tenor of his conduct. I was persuaded that he had
+made to himself a political existence the like of which no man
+had ever before possessed, and that to have refused the
+Great Seal would have appeared more glorious than to take
+it; intoxicated with his Yorkshire honours, swollen with his
+own importance, and holding in his hands questions which
+he could employ to thwart, embarrass, and ruin any Ministry,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+I thought that he meant to domineer in the House
+of Commons and to gather popularity throughout the
+country by enforcing popular measures of which he would
+have all the credit, and thus establish a sort of individual
+power and authority, which would ensure his being dreaded,
+courted, and consulted by all parties. He could then have
+gratified his vanity, ambition, and turbulence; the Bar would
+have supplied fortune, and events would have supplied enjoyments
+suited to his temperament; it would have been a
+sort of madness, mischievous but splendid. As it is the
+joy is great and universal; all men feel that he is emasculated
+and drops on the Woolsack as on his political death-bed;
+once in the House of Lords, there is an end of him,
+and he may rant storm and thunder without hurting
+anybody.<a name="FNA_12_18" id="FNA_12_18"></a><a href="#FN_12_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_18" id="FN_12_18"></a><a href="#FNA_12_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a>
+[Lord Grey&rsquo;s Administration was thus composed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td align="left">First Lord of the Treasury</td><td align="left">Earl Grey.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Lord Chancellor</td><td align="left">Lord Brougham.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Lord President</td><td align="left">Marquis of Lansdowne.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Lord Privy Seal</td><td align="left">Lord Ripon (in 1833).</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Chancellor of the Exchequer </td><td align="left">Viscount Althorp.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Home Secretary</td><td align="left">Viscount Melbourne.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Foreign Secretary</td><td align="left">Viscount Palmerston.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Colonial Secretary</td><td align="left">Viscount Goderich, and afterwards Mr. Stanley.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Board of Control</td><td align="left">Mr. Charles Grant.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Board of Trade</td><td align="left">Lord Auckland.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Admiralty</td><td align="left">Sir James Graham.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Postmaster-General</td><td align="left">Duke of Richmond.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Paymaster-General</td><td align="left">Lord John Russell.</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">Irish Secretary</td><td align="left">Mr. Stanley.]</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>The other places present a plausible show, but are not
+well distributed, some ill filled. Graham Admiralty, Melbourne
+Home, Auckland Board of Trade&mdash;all bad. The
+second is too idle, the first too inconsiderable, the third too
+ignorant.<a name="FNA_12_19" id="FNA_12_19"></a><a href="#FN_12_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>
+They have done it very quickly, however, and
+without many difficulties. As to the Duke of Richmond,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD GREY&rsquo;S ADMINISTRATION.</span>
+people are indignant at a half-pay lieutenant-colonel
+commanding the Ordnance Department, and as an acquisition
+he is of doubtful value, for it seems the Tories will not
+go with him, at least will not consider themselves as his
+followers; so said Lord Mansfield and Vyvyan.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_19" id="FN_12_19"></a><a href="#FNA_12_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a>
+[This is a remarkable instance of the manner in which the prognostications
+of the most acute observers are falsified by events. The value of
+Mr. Greville&rsquo;s remarks on the men of his time consists not in their absolute
+truth, but in their sincerity at the moment at which they were made.
+They convey a correct impression of the notion prevailing at that time.
+Thus Sir James Graham became unquestionably a very active First Lord of
+the Admiralty, Lord Melbourne a &lsquo;considerable&rsquo; Prime Minister of England,
+and Lord Auckland a painstaking and well-informed Governor-General
+of India.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>November 21st, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The Duke of Richmond&rsquo;s appointment
+was found so unpalatable to the army that they have been
+forced to change it, and he is to be Master of the Horse
+instead, which I suspect will not be to his taste. [He afterwards
+refused the Mastership of the Horse, and it ended in
+his being Postmaster-General, but without taking the salary.]</p>
+
+<p>There have been some little changes, but no great difficulties.
+It was at first said that there would be no Opposition,
+and that Peel would not stir; but William Peel told
+me last night that the old Ministerial party was by no
+means so tranquilly inclined. Peel will not be violent or
+factious, but he thinks an attentive Opposition desirable, and
+he will not desert those who have looked up to and supported
+him. Then there will be the Tories (who will to
+a certainty end by joining him and his party) and the
+Radicals&mdash;three distinct parties, and enough to keep the
+Government on the <i>qui vive</i>. The expulsion of the late
+Government from power will satisfy the vengeance of the
+Tories, and I have no doubt they will now make it up.
+Peel will be the leader of a party to which all the Conservative
+interest of the country will repair; and it is my
+firm belief that in a very short time (two or three years, or
+less) he will be Prime Minister, and will hold power
+long.<a name="FNA_12_20" id="FNA_12_20"></a><a href="#FN_12_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>
+The Duke will probably never take office again, but will be
+at the head of the army, and his own friends begin to admit
+that this would be the most desirable post for him. Lord
+Lyndhurst will be greatly disgusted at Brougham&rsquo;s taking
+the Great Seal. I met him the day before yesterday, when
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+he had no idea of it; he thought it would certainly be put
+in Commission, and evidently looked forward to filling the
+office again in a few months. He said that he had long
+foreseen this catastrophe, and it was far better to be out
+than to drag on as they did; that he had over and over
+again said to the Duke, and remonstrated with him on the
+impossibility of carrying on such a Government, but that he
+would never listen to anything. Sir John Leach, too, was
+exceedingly disappointed; he told me he had not heard a
+word of what was going on, that he was contented where he
+was, &lsquo;though perhaps he might have been miserable <i>in
+another situation</i>.&rsquo;<a name="FNA_12_21" id="FNA_12_21"></a><a href="#FN_12_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_20" id="FN_12_20"></a><a href="#FNA_12_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a>
+[This prediction was not fulfilled until 1841 (for the short Administration
+of Sir Robert in 1834 can hardly be reckoned), but it <i>was</i> fulfilled
+at last.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_21" id="FN_12_21"></a><a href="#FNA_12_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a>
+[Lord Grey certainly contemplated at one moment the offer of the
+Great Seal to Lord Lyndhurst, but the spectre of Brougham rendered that
+impossible. Brougham himself would have preferred the advancement of
+Sir John Leach to the Woolsack, which would have left the Rolls at his
+own disposal, and enabled him to retain his seat in the House of Commons.
+But this suggestion was by no means welcome to Lord Grey, and Lord
+Althorp at once declared that he could not undertake the leadership of the
+House of Commons if Brougham was to remain in it in any official position
+to domineer over him.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime the new Government will find plenty
+to occupy their most serious thoughts and employ their best
+talents. The state of the country is dreadful; every post
+brings fresh accounts of conflagrations, destruction of
+machinery, association of labourers, and compulsory rise of
+wages. Cobbett and Carlile write and harangue to inflame
+the minds of the people, who are already set in motion
+and excited by all the events which have happened abroad.
+Distress is certainly not the cause of these commotions,
+for the people have patiently supported far greater privations
+than they had been exposed to before these riots, and the
+country was generally in an improving state.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Richmond went down to Sussex and had
+a battle with a mob of 200 labourers, whom he beat with
+fifty of his own farmers and tenants, harangued them, and
+sent them away in good humour. He is, however, very popular.
+In Hants the disturbances have been dreadful. There
+was an assemblage of 1,000 or 1,500 men, a part of whom
+went towards Baring&rsquo;s house (the Grange) after destroying
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">BROUGHAM LORD CHANCELLOR.</span>
+threshing-machines and other agricultural implements; they
+were met by Bingham Baring, who attempted to address
+them, when a fellow (who had been employed at a guinea
+a week by his father up to four days before) knocked him
+down with an iron bar and nearly killed him. They have
+no troops in that part of the country, and there is a depôt
+of arms at Winchester.</p>
+
+<p>The Prince of Orange, who has been fancying without the
+least reason that he should be recalled to Belgium, is now
+in despair; and the Provisional Government, on hearing of
+the change of Ministry here, have suspended their negotiations,
+thinking they shall get from Lord Grey a more
+extended frontier. Altogether the alarm which prevails is
+very great, and those even are terrified who never were so
+before.</p>
+
+<h3>November 22nd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Dined yesterday at Sefton&rsquo;s; nobody
+there but Lord Grey and his family, Brougham and Montrond,
+the latter just come from Paris. It was excessively agreeable.
+Lord Grey in excellent spirits, and Brougham, whom Sefton
+bantered from the beginning to the end of
+dinner.<a name="FNA_12_22" id="FNA_12_22"></a><a href="#FN_12_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>
+Be Brougham&rsquo;s political errors what they may, his gaiety,
+temper, and admirable social qualities make him delightful,
+to say nothing of his more solid merits, of liberality,
+generosity, and charity; for charity it is to have taken the
+whole family of one of his brothers who is dead&mdash;nine
+children&mdash;and maintained and educated them. From this
+digression to return to our dinner: it was uncommonly
+gay. Lord Grey said he had taken a task on himself which
+he was not equal to, prided himself on having made his
+arrangements so rapidly, and on having named no person to
+any office who was not efficient; he praised Lyndhurst
+highly, said he liked him, that his last speech was luminous,
+and that he should like very much to do anything he could
+for him, but that it was such an object to have Brougham
+on the Woolsack. So I suppose he would not dislike to take
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+in Lyndhurst by-and-by. He would not tell us whom he
+has got for the Ordnance. John Russell was to have had
+the War Office, but
+Tavistock<a name="FNA_12_23" id="FNA_12_23"></a><a href="#FN_12_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+entreated that the appointment
+might be changed, as his brother&rsquo;s health was unequal
+to it; so he was made Paymaster. Lord Grey said he had
+more trouble with those offices than with the Cabinet ones.
+Sefton did nothing but quiz Brougham&mdash;&lsquo;My Lord&rsquo; every
+minute, and &lsquo;What does his Lordship say?&rsquo; &lsquo;I&rsquo;m sure it is
+very condescending of his Lordship to speak to such <i>canaille</i>
+as all of you,&rsquo; and a thousand jokes. After dinner he walked
+out before him with the fire shovel for the mace, and left him
+no repose all the evening. I wish Leach could have heard
+Brougham. He threatened to sit often at the Cockpit, in
+order to check
+Leach,<a name="FNA_12_24" id="FNA_12_24"></a><a href="#FN_12_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a>
+who, though a good judge in his own
+Court, was good for nothing in a Court of Appeal; he said
+that Leach&rsquo;s being Chancellor was impossible, as there were
+forty-two appeals from him to the Chancellor, which he
+would have had to decide himself; and that he (Brougham)
+had wanted the Seal to be put in Commission with three
+judges, which would have been the best reform of the Court,
+expedited business, and satisfied suitors; but that Lord
+Grey would not hear of it, and had forced him to take it,
+which he was averse to do, being reluctant to leave the
+House of Commons.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_22" id="FN_12_22"></a><a href="#FNA_12_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a>
+[Lord Brougham had taken his seat on the Woolsack as Lord High
+Chancellor on the afternoon of this day, the 22nd of November. The patent
+of his peerage bore the same date.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_23" id="FN_12_23"></a><a href="#FNA_12_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a>
+[The Marquis of Tavistock, Lord John Russell&rsquo;s eldest brother, afterwards
+Duke of Bedford. Lord John has since held almost every Cabinet
+office: his brother&rsquo;s notion that his health was unequal to the War Office
+in 1830 is amusing.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_12_24" id="FN_12_24"></a><a href="#FNA_12_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a>
+[The Master of the Rolls was at that time the presiding Judge of
+Appeal at the Privy Council, which was commonly spoken of as &lsquo;the Cockpit,&rsquo;
+because it sat on the site of the old Cockpit at Whitehall; but the business
+was very ill done, which led Lord Brougham to bring in and carry his Act
+for the creation of the Judicial Committee in 1832&mdash;one of his best and most
+successful measures.]</p></div>
+
+<p>He said the Duke of Richmond had done admirably in
+capturing the incendiary who has been taken, and who they
+think will afford a clue whereby they will discover the secret
+of all the burnings. This man called himself Evans. They
+had information of his exciting the peasantry, and sent a
+Bow Street officer after him. He found out where he lived
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">COUNCIL OF THE NEW MINISTERS.</span>
+and captured him (having been informed that he was not
+there by the inmates of the house), and took him to the Duke,
+who had him searched. On his person were found stock
+receipts for 800&#8467;., of which 50&#8467;. was left; and a chemical
+receipt in a secret pocket for combustibles. He was taken
+to prison, and will be brought up to town. Montrond was
+very amusing&mdash;&lsquo;You, Lord Brougham, when you mount
+your bag of wool?&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>November 23rd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday at Court; a great day, and
+very amusing. The old Ministers came to give up their seals,
+and the new Ministers came to take them. All the first were
+assembled at half-past one; saw the King in his closet severally,
+and held their last Council to swear in George Dawson
+a Privy Councillor. Each after his audience departed, most
+of them never to return. As they went away they met the
+others arriving. I was with the old set in the Throne Room
+till they went away, and on opening the door and looking
+into the other room I found it full of the others&mdash;Althorp,
+Graham, Auckland, J. Russell, Durham, &amp;c., faces that a
+little while ago I should have had small expectation of finding
+there. The effect was very droll, such a complete <i>changement
+de décoration</i>. When the old Ministers were all off the business
+of the day began. All the Cabinet was there&mdash;the new
+Master of the Horse (Lord Albemarle), Lord Wellesley, his
+little eyes twinkling with joy, and Brougham, in Chancellor&rsquo;s
+costume, but not yet a Peer. The King sent for me into the
+closet to settle about their being sworn in, and to ask what
+was to be done about Brougham, whose patent was not come,
+and who wanted to go to the House of Lords. These things
+settled, he held the Council, when twelve new Privy Councillors
+were sworn in, three Secretaries of State, Privy Seal, and
+the declarations made of President of Council and Lord-Lieutenant
+of Ireland. The King could not let slip the opportunity
+of making a speech, so when I put into his hands
+the paper declaring Lord Anglesey Lord-Lieutenant he was not
+content to read it, but spoke nearly as follows:&mdash;&lsquo;My Lords,
+it is a part of the duty I have to perform to declare a Lord-Lieutenant
+of Ireland, and although I certainly should have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+acquiesced in any recommendation which might have been
+made to me for this appointment by Earl Grey, I must say
+that I have peculiar satisfaction in entrusting that most
+important charge to the noble Lord, whom I therefore
+declare with entire satisfaction Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
+And, my Lords, I must say that this day is since that of the
+death of my poor brother (here his voice faltered and he
+looked or tried to look affected) the most important which
+has occurred since the beginning of my reign, for in the
+course of my long life it has never happened to me to see so
+many appointments to be filled up as on this day; and when
+I consider that it is only last Tuesday night that the force of
+circumstances compelled those who were the confidential
+advisers of the Crown to relinquish the situations which they
+held, and that in this short space of time a new Government
+has been formed, I cannot help considering such despatch as
+holding forth the best hopes for the future, and proving the
+unanimity of my Government; and, my Lords, I will take this
+opportunity of saying that the noble Earl (Grey) and the
+other noble Lords and gentlemen may be assured that they
+will receive from me the most cordial, unceasing, and devoted
+support.&rsquo; The expressions of course are not exactly the
+same, but his speech was to this purpose, only longer.
+Brougham kissed hands in the closet, and afterwards in
+Council as Chancellor and Privy Councillor, and then went
+off to the House of Lords.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+A Proclamation against Rioters &mdash; Appointments &mdash; Duke of Wellington in
+Hampshire &mdash; General Excitement &mdash; The Tory Party &mdash; State of Ireland &mdash;
+More Disturbances &mdash; Lord Grey&rsquo;s Colleagues &mdash; Election at Liverpool &mdash;
+The Black Book &mdash; The Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s Position and Character &mdash;
+A Council on a Capital Sentence &mdash; Brougham in the House of Lords &mdash;
+The Clerks of the Council &mdash; Lord Grey and Lord Lyndhurst &mdash; The
+Chancellor of Ireland &mdash; Lord Melbourne &mdash; Duke of Richmond &mdash; Sir James
+Graham &mdash; Lyndhurst Lord Chief Baron &mdash; Judge Allan Park &mdash; Lord
+Lyndhurst and the Whigs &mdash; Duke of Wellington and Polignac &mdash; The
+King and his Sons &mdash; Polish Revolution &mdash; Mechanics&rsquo; Institute &mdash; Repeal
+of the Union &mdash; King Louis Philippe &mdash; Lord Anglesey and O&rsquo;Connell &mdash; A
+Dinner at the Athenæum &mdash; Canning and George IV. &mdash; Formation of
+Canning&rsquo;s Government &mdash; Negotiation with Lord Melbourne &mdash; Count
+Walewski &mdash; Croker&rsquo;s Boswell &mdash; State of Ireland &mdash; Brougham and Sugden
+&mdash; Arrest of O&rsquo;Connell &mdash; Colonel Napier and the Trades Unions &mdash; The
+Civil List &mdash; Hunt in the House of Commons &mdash; Southey&rsquo;s Letter to
+Brougham on Literary Honours &mdash; The Budget &mdash; O&rsquo;Connell pleads guilty
+&mdash; Achille Murat &mdash; Weakness of the Government &mdash; Lady Jersey and Lord
+Durham &mdash; Lord Duncannon &mdash; Ireland &mdash; Wordsworth.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>November 25th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The accounts from the country on the
+23rd were so bad that a Cabinet sat all the morning, and concerted
+a proclamation offering large rewards for the discovery
+of offenders, rioters, or burners. Half the Cabinet walked to
+St. James&rsquo;s, where I went with the draft proclamation
+in my pocket, and we held a Council in the King&rsquo;s room to
+approve it. I remember the last Council of this sort we held
+was on Queen Caroline&rsquo;s business. She had demanded to be
+heard by counsel in support of her asserted right to be
+crowned, and the King ordered in Council that she should be
+heard. We held the Council in his dressing-room at Carlton
+House; he was in his bedgown, and we in our boots. This
+proclamation did not receive the sign manual or the Great
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+Seal and was not engrossed till the next day, but was nevertheless
+published in the &lsquo;Gazette.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday the accounts were better. There was a levee
+and Council, all the Ministers present but Palmerston and
+Holland. The King made a discourse, and took occasion
+(about some Admiralty order) to introduce the whole history
+of his early naval life, his first going to sea and the instructions
+which George III. gave Admiral Digby as to his treatment.
+All the old Ministers came to the levee except the
+Duke of Wellington, who was in Hampshire to try his influence
+as Lord-Lieutenant in putting down the riots. Anson as
+Master of the Buckhounds was made a Privy Councillor, not
+usually a Privy Councillor&rsquo;s place, but the King said he
+rather liked increasing the number than not. Clanricarde
+has a Gold Stick, so there is Canning&rsquo;s son-in-law in office
+under Lord Grey! There has been a difficulty about the
+Master-General of the Ordnance, and a little difference
+between Lord Grey and Lord Hill: when the Duke of Richmond
+was withdrawn, Grey determined to appoint Sir W.
+Gordon, but as Gordon would have to give up a permanent
+for a temporary office, he bargained that he should have the
+Grand Cross of the Bath. Lord Grey at the same time
+promised his brother Sir Charles Grey a Grand Cross,
+but Lord Hill (who as Commander-in-Chief has all the
+Crosses at his disposal) was offended at what he considered a
+slight to him and went to the King to complain. It is
+probable that Lord Grey knew nothing of the matter, and
+fancied they were all recommended by himself. As the
+matter stands now, Gordon&rsquo;s appointment is suspended.
+The only other difficulty is to find a Secretary at War.
+Sandon is to have it, if they can make no better arrangement.
+I had a long conversation with the Duke of Richmond
+yesterday about refusing the salary of his office, and
+entreated him to take it, for most people think his declining
+it great nonsense. He alleged a great many bad reasons for
+declining, but promised to consider the matter.</p>
+
+<p>I am in a very disagreeable situation as regards my late
+colleague&rsquo;s place. Lord Bathurst wrote a letter to Lord
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISTURBED STATE OF THE COUNTRY.</span>
+Lansdowne stating that the King had approved of his son&rsquo;s
+appointment, and that he had intended to reduce the salary
+of the office. Lord Grey spoke to the King, and said that
+after what had passed in both Houses he did not wish to do
+anything, but to leave the office to be dealt with by a Committee
+of the House of Commons, under whose consideration
+it would come. Lord Lansdowne said he certainly should do
+nothing either, so that it remains to be seen whether they
+will give me a colleague, a deputy, or nothing at all.</p>
+
+<h3>November 28th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The Duke of Wellington, who as soon
+as he was out of office repaired to Hants, and exerted himself
+as Lord-Lieutenant to suppress the disorders, returned yesterday,
+having done much good, and communicated largely
+with the Secretary of State. The Government are full of
+compliments and respects to him, and the Chancellor wrote
+him a letter entreating he would name any gentleman to be
+added to the Special Commission which was going down to
+the county over which he &lsquo;so happily presided.&rsquo; He named
+three.</p>
+
+<p>There has been nothing new within these three days, but
+the alarm is still very great, and the general agitation which
+pervades men&rsquo;s minds unlike what I have ever seen. Reform,
+economy, echoed backwards and forwards, the doubts, the
+hopes and the fears of those who have anything to lose, the
+uncertainty of everybody&rsquo;s future condition, the immense
+interests at stake, the magnitude and imminence of the
+danger, all contribute to produce a nervous excitement, which
+extends to all classes&mdash;to almost every individual. Until the
+Ministers are re-elected nobody can tell what will be done in
+Parliament, and Lord Grey himself has no idea what sort of
+strength the Government will have in either House; but there
+is a prevailing opinion that they ought to be supported at
+this moment, although the Duke of Wellington and Peel
+mean to keep their party together. Lyndhurst&rsquo;s resignation
+with his colleagues (added to his not being invited to join
+this Government) has restored him to the good graces of his
+party, for Lord Bathurst told me had behaved very
+honourably. He means now to set to work to gain character,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+and as he is about the ablest public man going, and nearly
+the best speaker, he will yet bustle himself into consideration
+and play a part once more. Peel, Lyndhurst, and Hardinge
+are three capital men for the foundation of a party&mdash;as
+men of business superior to any three in this Cabinet. But
+I doubt if the Duke will ever be in a civil office again, nor do
+I think the country would like to see him at the head of a
+Government, unless it was one conducted in a very different
+manner from the last. For the present deplorable state of
+things, and for the effervescence of public opinion, which
+threatens the overthrow of the constitution in trying to
+amend it, Peel and the Duke are entirely responsible; and
+the former is the less excusable because he might have
+known better, and if he had gone long ago to the Duke, and
+laid before him the state of public opinion, told him how irresistible
+it was, and had refused to carry on the Government
+in the House of Commons with such a crew as he had,
+the Duke must have given way. Notwithstanding the great
+measures which have distinguished his Government, such as
+Catholic Emancipation, and the repeal of the Test Acts, a
+continual series of systematic blunders, an utter ignorance of,
+and indifference to, public opinion, have rendered the first
+of these great measures almost useless. Ireland is on the
+point of becoming in a worse state than before the Catholic
+question was settled; and why? Because, first of all, the settlement
+was put off too long, and the fever of agitation would
+not subside, and because it was accompanied by an insult to
+O&rsquo;Connell, which he has been resolved to revenge, and which
+he knows he can punish. Then instead of depriving him of
+half his influence by paying the priests, and so getting them
+under the influence of Government, they neglected this, and
+followed up the omission by taxing Ireland, and thus uniting
+the whole nation against us. What is this but egregious
+presumption, blindness, ignorance, and want of all political
+calculation and foresight? What remains now to be done?
+Perhaps nothing, for the anti-Union question is spreading far
+and wide with a velocity that is irresistible, and it is the
+more dangerous because the desire for the repeal of the Union
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE RESULTS OF TORY GOVERNMENT.</span>
+is rather the offspring of imagination than of reason, and
+arises from vague, excited hopes, not, like the former agitation,
+from real wrongs, long and deeply felt. But common shifts
+and expedients, partial measures, will not do now, and in the
+state of the game a deep stake must be played or all will
+be lost. To buy O&rsquo;Connell at any price, pay the Catholic
+Church, establish poor laws, encourage emigration, and
+repeal the obnoxious taxes and obnoxious laws, are the only
+expedients which have a chance of restoring order. It is
+easy to write these things, but perhaps difficult to carry them
+into execution, but what we want is a head to conceive and a
+heart to execute such measures as the enormous difficulties of
+the times demand.</p>
+
+<h3>December 1st, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The last two or three days have produced
+no remarkable outrages, and though the state of the country
+is still dreadful, it is rather better on the whole than it was;
+but London is like the capital of a country desolated by cruel
+war or foreign invasion, and we are always looking for
+reports of battles, burnings, and other disorders. Wherever
+there has been anything like fighting, the mob has always
+been beaten, and has shown the greatest cowardice. They
+do not, however, seem to have been actuated by a very ferocious
+spirit; and considering the disorders of the times, it
+is remarkable that they have not been more violent and
+rapacious. Lord Craven, who is just of age, with three or four
+more young Lords, his friends, defeated and dispersed them in
+Hampshire. They broke into the Duke of Beaufort&rsquo;s house
+at Heythrop, but he and his sons got them out without
+mischief, and afterwards took some of them. On Monday as
+the field which had been out with the King&rsquo;s hounds were
+returning to town, they were summoned to assist in quelling
+a riot at Woburn, which they did; the gentlemen
+charged and broke the people, and took some of them, and
+fortunately some troops came up to secure the prisoners.
+The alarm, however, still continues, and a feverish anxiety
+about the future universally prevails, for no man can foresee
+what course events will take, nor how his own individual circumstances
+may be affected by them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+The Government in the meantime promises fair, and they
+begin by a display of activity, in early attendance at their
+offices, and unusual recommendation of diligence and
+economy. But Lord Grey&rsquo;s Government is already carped
+at, and not without apparent reason. The distribution of
+offices is in many instances bad; many of the appointments
+were bad, and the number of his own family provided for is
+severely criticised. There are of Lord Grey&rsquo;s family: Howick,
+Under-Secretary; Ellice, Secretary of the Treasury; Barrington,
+Lord of the Admiralty; Durham, Privy Seal; Wood,
+Private Secretary (though he has no salary); and Lambton&rsquo;s
+brother in the Household. Melbourne at the Home Office is
+considered an inefficient successor to Peel, Graham too young
+and not enough distinguished for the Admiralty; Poulett
+Thomson is said to entertain the most Radical opinions;
+Althorp put him in. There never was a more sudden rise
+than this; a young merchant, after two or three years of
+Parliament and two or three speeches, is made Vice-President
+of the Board of Trade, Treasurer of the Navy, and a Privy
+Councillor. Then Althorp as Chancellor of the Exchequer
+may be a good one, but nobody expects much from anything
+that is already known about him. This constitution of the
+Government has already done harm, and has stamped a
+character of rapacity upon Lord Grey, which he will hear of
+in proper time; but at this moment he has got all the press
+on his side, and people are resolved to give him credit for
+good intentions. Brougham has captivated the Archbishop
+of Canterbury by offering to give livings to any deserving
+clergyman he would recommend to him. I met him at
+dinner yesterday in the greatest spirits, elated and not
+altered by his new dignity. He is full of projects of reform
+in the administration of justice, and talks of remodelling
+the Privy Council as a Court of Appeal, which would be of
+great use.</p>
+
+<h3>December 2nd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday a levee and Council and Recorder&rsquo;s
+report. Clanricarde and Robert
+Grosvenor<a name="FNA_13_01" id="FNA_13_01"></a><a href="#FN_13_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+sworn in.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_01" id="FN_13_01"></a><a href="#FNA_13_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[Afterwards Lord Ebury.]</p></div>
+
+<p>The Liverpool election, which is just over, was, considering
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+<span class="pagenum">LIVERPOOL ELECTION</span>
+the present state of things, a remarkable contest. It
+is said to have cost near 100,000&#8467;. to the two parties, and to
+have exhibited a scene of bribery and corruption perfectly
+unparalleled; no concealment or even semblance of decency
+was observed; the price of tallies and of votes rose, like
+stock, as the demand increased, and single votes fetched from
+15&#8467;. to 100&#8467;. apiece. They voted by tallies; as each tally
+voted for one or the other candidate they were furnished
+with a receipt for their votes, with which they went to the
+committee, when through a hole in the wall the receipt was
+handed in, and through another the stipulated sum handed
+out; and this scene of iniquity has been exhibited at a period
+when the cry for Reform is echoed from one end of the
+country to the other, and in the case of a man (Denison)
+who stood on the principle of Reform. Nobody yet knows
+whence the money for Denison comes (the Ewarts are enormously
+rich), but it will be still more remarkable if he should
+pay it himself, when he is poor, careful of money, and was
+going to India the other day in order to save 12,000&#8467;. or
+15,000&#8467;. If anybody had gone down at the eleventh hour
+and polled one good vote, he would have beaten both candidates
+and disfranchised the borough. As it is, it is probable
+the matter will be taken up and the borough disfranchised.
+The right of voting is as bad as possible in the freemen, who
+are the lowest rabble of the town and, as it appears, a parcel
+of venal wretches. Here comes the difficulty of Reform, for
+how is it possible to reform the electors?</p>
+
+<h3>December 5th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The country is getting quieter, but though
+the immediate panic is passing away men&rsquo;s minds are not
+the less disquieted as to our future prospects. Not a soul
+knows what plan of Reform the Ministers will propose, nor
+how far they are disposed to go. The Duke of Devonshire
+has begun in his own person by announcing to the Knaresborough
+people that he will never again interfere with that
+borough. Then the Black Book, as it is called, in which all
+places and pensions are exhibited, has struck terror into all
+who are named and virtuous indignation into all who are
+not. Nothing can be more <i>mal à propos</i> than the appearance
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+of this book at such a season, when there is such discontent
+about our institutions and such unceasing endeavours
+to bring them into contempt. The history of the book
+is this:&mdash;Graham moved last year for a return of all Privy
+Councillors who had more than 1,000&#8467;. a year, and Goulburn
+chose to give him a return of <i>all persons</i> who had more than
+1,000&#8467;. a year, because he thought the former return would
+be invidious to Privy Councillors; so he caused that to be
+published, which will remove no obloquy from those he meant
+to save, but draw down a great deal on hundreds of others,
+and on the Government under which such things exist. I
+speak feelingly, for &lsquo;quorum pars magna sum.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Wellington gave a great dinner yesterday
+to all the people who had gone out of office (about fifty), so
+that it is clear they mean to keep together. Whether he
+looks forward to be Prime Minister again it is impossible to
+say, but his real friends would prefer his taking the command
+of the army, whatever his fools and flatterers may do. Lord
+Lyndhurst, who loses everything by the fall of the late
+Government, cannot get over it, particularly as he feels that
+the Duke&rsquo;s obstinacy brought it about, and that by timely
+concessions and good management he might have had Lord
+Grey, Palmerston, and all that are worth having. Peel, on
+the contrary, is delighted; he wants leisure, is glad to get
+out of such a firm, and will have time to form his own plans
+and avail himself of circumstances, which, according to every
+probability, must turn out in his favour. His youth (for a
+public man), experience, and real capacity for business will
+inevitably make him Minister hereafter. The Duke of
+Wellington&rsquo;s
+fall,<a name="FNA_13_02" id="FNA_13_02"></a><a href="#FN_13_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+if the causes of it are dispassionately
+traced and considered, affords a great political lesson. His
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">POLITICAL CHARACTER OF WELLINGTON.</span>
+is one of those mixed characters which it is difficult to praise
+or blame without the risk of doing them more or less than
+justice. He has talents which the event has proved to be
+sufficient to make him the second (and, now that Napoleon
+is gone, the first general) of the age, but which could not
+make him a tolerable Minister. Confident, presumptuous,
+and dictatorial, but frank, open, and good-humoured, he
+contrived to rule in the Cabinet without mortifying his
+colleagues, and he has brought it to ruin without forfeiting
+their regard. Choosing with a very slender stock of knowledge
+to take upon himself the sole direction of every department
+of Government, he completely sank under the burden.
+Originally imbued with the principles of Lord Castlereagh
+and the Holy Alliance, he brought all those predilections
+with him into office. Incapable of foreseeing the mighty
+events with which the future was big, and of comprehending
+the prodigious alterations which the moral character of
+Europe had undergone, he pitted himself against Canning in
+the Cabinet, and stood up as the assertor of maxims both of
+foreign and domestic policy which that great statesman saw
+were no longer fitted for the times we live in. With a
+flexibility which was more remarkably exhibited at subsequent
+periods, when he found that the cause he advocated
+was lost, the Duke turned suddenly round, and surrendered
+his opinions at discretion; but in his heart he never forgave
+Mr. Canning, and from that time jealousy of him had a
+material influence on his political conduct, and was the
+primary motive of many of his subsequent resolutions. This
+flexibility has been the cause of great benefits to the country,
+but ultimately of his own downfall, for it has always proceeded
+from the pressure of circumstances and considerations
+of convenience to himself, and not from a rational adaptation
+of his opinions and conduct to the necessities and variations
+of the times. He has not been thoroughly true to any principle
+or any party; he contrived to disgust and alienate his
+old friends and adherents without conciliating or attaching
+those whose measures he at the eleventh hour undertook to
+carry into execution. Through the whole course of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+political conduct selfish considerations have never been out
+of sight. His opposition to Canning&rsquo;s Corn Bill was too
+gross to admit of excuse. It was the old spite bursting forth,
+sharpened by Canning&rsquo;s behaviour to him in forming his
+Administration, which, if it was not contumelious, certainly
+was not courteous. When at his death the Duke assumed
+the Government, his disclaiming speech was thrown in his
+teeth, but without much justice, for such expressions are
+never to be taken literally, and in the subsequent quarrel
+with Huskisson, though it is probably true that he was
+aiming at domination, he was persuaded that Huskisson and
+his party were endeavouring to form a cabal in the Cabinet,
+and his expulsion of them is not, therefore, altogether without
+excuse. On the question of the Test Act it was evident he
+was guided by no principle, probably by no opinion, and that
+he only thought of turning it as best he might to his own
+advantage. Throughout the Catholic question self was
+always apparent, not that he was careless of the safety, or
+indifferent to the prosperity of the country, but that he cared
+as much for his own credit and power, and never considered
+the first except in their connection with the second. The
+business of Emancipation he certainly conducted with considerable
+judgment, boldly trusting to the baseness of many
+of his old friends, and showing that he had not mistaken
+their characters; exercising that habitual influence he had acquired
+over the mind of the King; preserving impenetrable
+secresy; using without scruple every artifice that could
+forward his object; and contriving to make tools or dupes of
+all his colleagues and adherents, and getting the whole merit
+to himself. From the passing of the Catholic question his
+conduct has exhibited a series of blunders which have at
+length terminated in his fall. The position in which he then
+stood was this:&mdash;He had a Government composed of men
+who were for the most part incompetent, but perfectly subservient
+to him. He had a considerable body of adherents
+in both Houses. The Whigs, whose support (enthusiastically
+given) had carried him triumphantly through the great contest,
+were willing to unite with him; the Tories, exasperated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">POLITICAL CHARACTER OF WELLINGTON.</span>
+and indignant, feeling insulted and betrayed, vowed nothing
+but vengeance. Intoxicated with his victory, he was resolved
+to neglect the Whigs, to whom he was so much indebted,
+and to regain the affections of the Tories, whom he considered
+as his natural supporters, and whom he thought
+identity of opinion and interest would bring back to his
+standard. By all sorts of slights and affronting insinuations
+that they wanted place, but that he could do without them,
+he offended the Whigs, but none of his cajoleries and advances
+had the least effect on the sulky Tories. It was in
+vain that he endeavoured to adapt his foreign policy to their
+worst prejudices by opposing with undeviating hostility that
+of Mr. Canning (the great object of their detestation), and
+disseminating throughout all Europe the belief of his attachment
+to ultra-monarchical principles. He opposed the spirit
+of the age, he brought England into contempt, but he did
+not conciliate the Tories. Having succeeded in uniting two
+powerful parties (acting separately) in opposition to his
+Government, and having nobody but Peel to defend his
+measures in the House of Commons, and nobody in the
+House of Lords, he manifested his sense of his own weakness
+by overtures and negotiations, and evinced his obstinate
+tenacity of power by never offering terms which could be
+accepted, or extending his invitations to those whose authority
+he thought might cope with his own. With his Government
+falling every day in public opinion, and his enemies growing
+more numerous and confident, with questions of vast importance
+rising up with a vigour and celerity of growth which
+astonished the world, he met a new Parliament (constituted
+more unfavourably than the last, which he had found himself
+unable to manage) without any support but in his own confidence
+and the encouraging adulation of a little knot of
+devotees. There still lingered round him some of that
+popularity which had once been so great, and which the recollection
+of his victories would not suffer to be altogether
+extinguished. By a judicious accommodation of his conduct
+to that public opinion which was running with an uncontrollable
+tide, by a frank invitation to all who were well disposed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span>
+to strengthen his Government, he might have raised
+those embers of popularity into a flame once more, have saved
+himself, and still done good service to the State; but it was
+decreed that he should fall. He appeared bereft of all judgment
+and discretion, and after a King&rsquo;s Speech which gave
+great, and I think unnecessary offence, he delivered the
+famous philippic against Reform which sealed his fate.
+From that moment it was not doubtful, and he was hurled
+from the seat of power amidst universal acclamations.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_02" id="FN_13_02"></a><a href="#FNA_13_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[The following passage will no doubt be read with surprise, for in
+later years Mr. Greville became and remained one of the Duke&rsquo;s most
+steady admirers, and as he has himself stated in the memorandum written
+nineteen years afterwards, which is inserted at the end of it, the opinion
+he entertained of him at this time was unjust. But he at the same time
+decided &lsquo;to leave it as it is, because it is of the essence of these Memoirs not
+to soften or tone down judgments by the light of altered convictions, but
+to leave them standing as contemporary evidence of what was thought at
+the time they were written.&rsquo; These are his own words.]</p></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p class="center"><i>[Memorandum added by Mr. Greville in April 1850.</i>]</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>N.B.&mdash;I leave this as it is, though it is unjust to the
+Duke of Wellington; but such as my impressions were at
+the time they shall remain, to be corrected afterwards when
+necessary. It would be very wrong to impute <i>selfishness</i> to
+him in the ordinary sense of the term. He coveted power,
+but he was perfectly disinterested, a great patriot if ever
+there was one, and he was always animated by a strong and
+abiding sense of duty. I have done him justice in other
+places, and there is after all a great deal of truth in what I
+have said here.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>December 12th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>For the last few days the accounts from
+the country have been better; there are disturbances in
+different parts, and alarms given, but the mischief seems to
+be subsiding. The burnings go on, and though they say
+that one or two incendiaries have been taken up, nothing
+has yet been discovered likely to lead to the detection of the
+system. I was at Court on Wednesday, when Kemp and
+Foley were sworn in, the first for the Ordnance, the other
+Gold Stick (the pensioners). He refused it for a long time,
+but at last submitted to what he thought <i>infra dig</i>., because
+it was to be sugared with the Lieutenancy of Worcestershire.
+There was an Admiralty
+report,<a name="FNA_13_03" id="FNA_13_03"></a><a href="#FN_13_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+at which the Chief Justice
+was not present. The Chancellor and the Judge (Sir C.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">AN ESCAPE FROM THE GALLOWS.</span>
+Robinson) were there for the first time, and not a soul knew
+what was the form or what ought to be done; they did,
+however, just as in the Recorder&rsquo;s reports. Brougham leans
+to mercy, I see. But what a curious sort of supplementary
+trial this is; how many accidents may determine the life or
+death of the culprit. In one case in this report which they
+were discussing (before the Council) Brougham had <i>forgotten</i>
+that the man was recommended to mercy, but he told
+me that at the last Recorder&rsquo;s report there was a great
+difference of opinion on one (a forgery case), when Tenterden
+was for hanging the man and he for saving him; that he
+had it put to the vote, and the man was saved. Little did
+the criminal know when there was a change of Ministry that
+he owed his life to it, for if Lyndhurst had been Chancellor
+he would most assuredly have been hanged; not that
+Lyndhurst was particularly severe or cruel, but he would
+have concurred with the Chief Justice and have regarded
+the case solely in a judicial point of view, whereas the mind
+of the other was probably biassed by some theory about the
+crime of forgery or by some fancy of his strange brain.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_03" id="FN_13_03"></a><a href="#FNA_13_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[The High Court of Admiralty had still a criminal jurisdiction, and
+the capital cases were submitted to the King in Council for approval.]</p></div>
+
+<p>This was a curious case, as I have since heard. The man
+owes his life to the curiosity of a woman of fashion, and
+then to another feeling. Lady Burghersh and Lady Glengall
+wanted to hear St. John Long&rsquo;s trial (the quack who
+had <i>man</i>-slaughtered Miss Cashir), and they went to the
+Old Bailey for that purpose. Castlereagh and somebody
+else, who of course were not up in time, were to have attended
+them. They wanted an escort, and the only man in
+London sure to be out of bed so early was the Master of the
+Rolls, so they went and carried him off. When they got to
+the court there was no St. John Long, but they thought
+they might as well stay and hear whatever was going on.
+It chanced that a man was tried for an atrocious case of
+forgery and breach of trust. He was found guilty and
+sentence passed; but he was twenty-three and good-looking.
+Lady Burghersh could not bear he should be hanged, and
+she went to all the late Ministers and the Judges to beg
+him off. Leach told her it was no use, that nothing could
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+save that man; and accordingly the old Government were
+obdurate, when out they went. Off she went again and
+attacked all the new ones, who in better humour, or of softer
+natures, suffered themselves to be persuaded, and the wretch
+was saved. She went herself to Newgate to see him, but
+I never heard if she had a private interview, and if he
+was afforded an opportunity of expressing his gratitude
+with all the fervour that the service she had done him
+demanded.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the Government is going on what is
+called well&mdash;that is, there is a great disposition to give them
+a fair trial. All they have done and promise to do about
+economy gives satisfaction, and Reform (the awful question)
+is still at a distance. There has been, however, some sharp
+skirmishing in the course of the week, and there is no want
+of bitterness and watchfulness on the part of the old Government.
+In the Committee which has been named to enquire
+into the salaries of the Parliamentary offices they mean to
+leave the question in the hands of the country gentlemen;
+but they do not think any great reductions will be practicable,
+and as Baring is chairman it is not probable that much
+will be done. They think Brougham speaks too often in the
+House of Lords, but he has done very well there; and on
+Friday he made a reply to Lord Stanhope, which was the
+most beautiful piece of sarcasm and complete cutting-up
+(though with very good humour) that ever was heard, and
+an exhibition to the like of which the Lords have not been
+accustomed. The Duke of Wellington made another imprudent
+speech, in which (in answer to Lord Radnor, who
+attributed the state of the country to the late Government)
+he said that it was attributable to the events of July and
+August in other countries, and spoke of them in a way
+which showed clearly his real opinion and feelings on the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>After some delay Lord Lansdowne made up his mind to
+fill up the vacancy in my office, and to give it to William
+Bathurst; but he first spoke to the King, who said it was
+very true he had told Lord Bathurst that his son should
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE CLERKS OF THE COUNCIL.</span>
+have it, but that he now left the matter entirely to his
+decision, showing no anxiety to have William Bathurst
+appointed. However, he has it, but reduced to 1,200&#8467;. a
+year. I was agreeably surprised yesterday by a communication
+from Lord Lansdowne that he thought no alteration
+could be made in my emoluments, and that he was quite prepared
+to defend them if anybody attacked them. Still,
+though it is a very good thing to be so supported, I don&rsquo;t
+consider myself safe from Parliamentary assaults. In these
+times it will not do to be idle, and I told Lord Lansdowne
+that I was anxious to keep my emoluments, but ready to
+work for them, and proposed that we Clerks of the Council
+should be called upon to act really at the Board of Trade, as
+we are, in fact, bound to do; by which means Lack&rsquo;s place
+when vacant need not be filled up, and a saving would be
+made. My predecessors Cottrell and Fawkener always acted,
+their successors Bailer and Chetwynd were incompetent, and
+Lack, the Chancellor&rsquo;s Clerk, was made Assistant-Secretary,
+and did the work. Huskisson and Hume, his director, made
+the business a science; new Presidents and Vice-Presidents
+succeeded one another in different Ministerial revolutions;
+they and Lack were incompetent, and Hume was made
+Assistant-Secretary, and it is he who advises, directs,
+legislates. I believe he is one of the ablest practical men
+who have ever served, more like an American statesman than
+an English official. I am anxious to begin my Trade
+education under him.</p>
+
+<p>Parliament is going to adjourn directly for three or four
+weeks, to give the Ministers time to make their arrangements
+and get rid of the load of business which besets them;
+although there is every disposition to give them credit for
+good intentions, and to let them have a fair trial, there are
+not wanting causes of discontent in many quarters.</p>
+
+<p>All the Russells are dissatisfied that Lord John has not a
+seat in the Cabinet, and that Graham should be preferred to
+him, and the more so because they know or believe that his
+preference is owing to Lambton, who does what he likes with
+Lord Grey. My mind has always misgiven me about Lord
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
+Grey, and what I have lately heard of him satisfies me that
+a more overrated man never lived, or one whose speaking
+was so far above his general abilities, or who owed so much
+to his oratorical plausibility. His tall, commanding, and
+dignified appearance, his flow of language, graceful action,
+well rounded periods, and an exhibition of classical taste
+united with legal knowledge, render him the most finished
+orator of his day; but his conduct has shown him to be
+influenced by pride, still more by vanity, personal antipathies,
+caprice, indecision, and a thousand weaknesses generated by
+these passions and defects. Anybody who is constantly with
+him and who can avail themselves of his vanity can govern
+him. There was a time when Sir Robert Wilson was his
+&lsquo;magnus Apollo&rsquo; (and Codrington), till they quarrelled.
+Now Lambton is all in all with him. Lambton dislikes the
+Russells, and hence Lord John&rsquo;s exclusion and the preference
+of Graham. Everybody remembers how Lord Grey refused
+to lead the Whig party when Canning formed his junction
+with the Whigs, and declared that he abdicated in favour
+of Lord Lansdowne; and then how he came and made
+that violent speech against Canning which half killed him
+with vexation, and in consequence of which he meant to
+have moved into the House of Lords for the express purpose
+of attacking Lord Grey. Then when he had quarrelled
+with his old Whig friends he began to approach the Tories,
+the object of his constant aversion and contempt; and
+we knew what civilities passed between the Bathursts and
+him, and what political coquetries between him and the
+Duke of Wellington, and how he believed that it was only
+George IV. who prevented his being invited by the Duke to
+join him. Then George IV. dies, King William succeeds;
+no invitation to Lord Grey, and he plunges into furious
+opposition to the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>About three years ago the Chancellor, Lyndhurst, was the
+man in the world he abhorred the most; and it was about
+this time that I well recollect one night at Madame de
+Lieven&rsquo;s I introduced Lord Grey to Lady Lyndhurst. We
+had dined together somewhere, and he had been praising her
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD GREY AND LORD LYNDHURST.</span>
+beauty; so when we all met there I presented him, and
+very soon all his antipathies ceased and he and Lyndhurst
+became great friends. This was the cause of Lady Lyndhurst&rsquo;s
+partiality for the Whigs, which enraged the Tory
+ladies and some of their lords so much, but which served
+her turn and enabled her to keep two hot irons in the fire.
+When the Duke went out Lord Grey was very anxious to
+keep Lyndhurst as his Chancellor, and would have done so
+if it had not been for Brougham, who, whirling Reform <i>in
+terrorem</i> over his head, announced to him that it must not
+be. Reluctantly enough Grey was obliged to give way, for
+he saw that with Brougham in the House of Commons,
+against him he could not stand for five minutes, and that
+the only alternative was to put Brougham on the Woolsack.
+Hence his delay in sending for Brougham, the latter&rsquo;s
+speech and subsequent acceptance of the Great Seal.
+Grey, however, was still anxious to serve Lyndhurst, and
+to neutralise his opposition has now proposed to him to
+be Chief Baron. This is tempting to a necessitous and
+ambitious man. On the other hand he had a good game
+before him, if he had played it well, and that was to regain
+character, exhibit his great and general powers, and be
+ready to avail himself of the course of events; but he has
+made his bargain and pocketed his pride. He takes the
+judicial office upon an understanding that he is to have no
+political connection with the Government (though of course
+he will not oppose them), and that he is to be Chief Justice
+on Tenterden&rsquo;s death or retirement. This is the secret
+article of the treaty, and altogether he has not done amiss;
+for there are so few Chancellors in the field that he will
+probably (if he chooses) return to the Woolsack in the
+event of a change of Government, and he is now in a
+position in which he may join either party, and that without
+any <i>additional</i> loss of character. The public will gain by
+the transaction, because they will get a good judge.</p>
+
+<p>In Ireland the Government have made a change (the
+motives of which are not apparent) which will be very unpopular,
+and infallibly get them into trouble in various ways.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+They have removed Hart and made Plunket Chancellor.
+Hart was very popular with the Bar; he was slow, but had
+introduced order and regularity in the proceedings of the
+Court. There were no arrears and no appeals. Plunket is
+unpopular, and was a bad judge in the Common Pleas, and
+will probably make a worse Chancellor; he is rash, hasty,
+and imprudent, and it is the more extraordinary as Hart was
+affronted by Goderich and went with Anglesey, so upon the
+score of confidence (on which they put it) there is in fact not
+a pretext for it.</p>
+
+<p>As yet not much can be known of the efficiency of the
+rest of the Ministers. The only one who has had anything
+to do is Melbourne, and he has surprised all those about him
+by a sudden display of activity and vigour, rapid and diligent
+transaction of business, for which nobody was prepared, and
+which will prove a great mortification to Peel and his friends,
+who were in hopes he would do nothing and let the country
+be burnt and plundered without interruption. The Duke of
+Richmond has plunged neck-deep in politics, and says he is
+delighted with it all, and with Lord Grey&rsquo;s candour and unassuming
+bearing in the Cabinet. He is evidently piqued that
+none of his party have followed him, and made a speech in
+the House of Lords the other night expressing his readiness
+to defend his having taken office, when nobody attacked him.
+Knowing him as I do, and the exact extent of his capacity,
+I fancy he must feel rather small by the side of Lord Grey
+and Brougham. Graham&rsquo;s elevation is the most monstrous
+of all. He was once my friend, a college intimacy revived
+in the world, and which lasted six months, when, thinking he
+could do better, he cut me, as he had done others before. I
+am not a fair judge of him, because the pique which his
+conduct to me naturally gave me would induce me to underrate
+him, but I take vanity and self-sufficiency to be the prominent
+features of his character, though of the extent of his
+capacity I will give no opinion. Let time show; I think he
+will fail. [Time did show it to be very considerable, and the
+<i>volvenda dies</i> brought back our former friendship, as will
+hereafter appear; he certainly did <i>not fail</i>.]</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">SIR JAMES GRAHAM.</span>
+He came into Parliament ten years ago, spoke and failed.
+He had been a provincial hero, the Cicero and the Romeo of
+Yorkshire and Cumberland, a present Lovelace and a future
+Pitt. He was disappointed in love (the particulars are of
+no consequence), married and retired to digest his mortifications
+of various kinds, to become a country gentleman,
+patriot, reformer, financier, and what not, always good-looking
+(he had been very handsome), pleasing, intelligent,
+cultivated, agreeable as a man can be who is not witty and
+who is rather pompous and slow, after many years of retirement,
+in the course of which he gave to the world his lucubrations
+on corn and currency. Time and the hour made
+him master of a large but encumbered estate and member
+for his county. Armed with the importance of representing
+a great constituency, he started again in the House of
+Commons; took up Joseph Hume&rsquo;s line, but ornamented it
+with graces and flourishes which had not usually decorated
+such dry topics. He succeeded, and in that line is now the
+best speaker in the House. I have no doubt he has studied
+his subjects and practised himself in public speaking. Years
+and years ago I remember his delight on Hume&rsquo;s comparison
+between Demosthenes and Cicero, and how he knew the
+passage by heart; but it is one thing to attack strong abuses
+and fire off well-rounded set phrases, another to administer
+the naval affairs of the country and be ready to tilt against
+all comers, as he must do for the
+future.<a name="FNA_13_04" id="FNA_13_04"></a><a href="#FN_13_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+Palmerston is said
+to have given the greatest satisfaction to the foreign
+Ministers, and to have begun very well. So much for the
+Ministers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_04" id="FN_13_04"></a><a href="#FNA_13_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[This opinion of Sir James Graham is the more curious as he afterwards
+became one of Mr. Greville&rsquo;s confidential friends, and rose to the
+first rank of oratory and authority in the House of Commons. As Secretary
+of State for the Home Department in the great Administration of Sir
+Robert Peel he showed administrative ability of the highest order, and he
+was, perhaps, the most trusted colleague of that illustrious chief. The
+principal failing of Sir James Graham was, in truth, that he was not so
+brave and bold a man as he looked.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>December 14th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>There is a delay in Lyndhurst&rsquo;s appointment,
+if it takes place at all.
+Alexander<a name="FNA_13_05" id="FNA_13_05"></a><a href="#FN_13_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+now will not resign,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+though he himself proposed to do so in the first instance.
+His physician signed a certificate to say that if he went on
+this Committee it would cost him his life; some difficulty
+about the pension is the cause, or the peerage that he wants.
+He is seventy-six and very rich, a wretched judge, and
+never knew anything of Common Law. If it is not arranged,
+it will be a bad business for Lyndhurst, for the Duke and his
+friends are grievously annoyed at his taking the office, having
+counted on him as their great champion in the House of
+Lords. Mrs. Arbuthnot told me the other night that they
+considered themselves released from all obligations to him
+for the future. However, they have not at all quarrelled,
+and they knew his deplorable state in point of money.
+Dined yesterday at Agar Ellis&rsquo;s with eighteen people.
+Brougham in great force and very agreeable, and told some
+stories of Judge Allan Park, who is a most ridiculous man,
+and yet a good lawyer, a good judge, and was a most
+eminent counsel.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_05" id="FN_13_05"></a><a href="#FNA_13_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[The Chief Baron.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Park is extraordinarily ridiculous. He is a physiognomist,
+and is captivated by pleasant looks. In a certain cause, in
+which a boy brought an action for defamation against his
+schoolmaster, Campbell, his counsel, asked the solicitor if the
+boy was good-looking. &lsquo;Very.&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh, then, have him in court;
+we shall get a verdict.&rsquo; And so he did. His eyes are always
+wandering about, watching and noticing everything and
+everybody. One day there was a dog in court making a
+disturbance, on which he said, &lsquo;Take away that dog.&rsquo; The
+officers went to remove another dog, when he interposed.
+&lsquo;No, not that dog. I have had my eye on that dog the whole
+day, and I will say that a better behaved little dog I never
+saw in a court of justice.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>One of Brougham&rsquo;s best speeches was one of his last at
+the Bar, made in moving for a new trial on the ground
+of misdirection in a great cause (Tatham and Wright)
+about a will. He said that on that occasion Park did what
+he thought no man&rsquo;s physical powers were equal to; he
+spoke in summing up for eleven hours and a half, and
+was as fresh at the end as at the beginning; the trial lasted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD LYNDHURST AND THE WHIGS.</span>
+eight days. This same evening Lord Grosvenor, who is by
+way of being a friend to Government, made an <i>amicable</i>
+attack upon everything, and talked nonsense. Lord Grey
+answered him, and defended his own family appointments in
+a very good speech.</p>
+
+<h3>December 15th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Dined yesterday with Lord Dudley; sat
+next to Lady Lyndhurst, and had a great deal of talk about
+politics. She said that the Duke never consulted or communicated
+with the Chancellor, who never heard of his overtures to
+Palmerston till Madame de Lieven told him; that he had
+repeatedly remonstrated with the Duke upon going on in
+his weakness, and on one occasion had gone to Walmer on
+purpose (leaving her behind that he might talk more freely)
+to urge him to take in Lord Grey and some of that party,
+but he would not; said he had tried to settle with them, and
+it would not do; had tried individuals and had tried the
+party. Up to a very late period it appears that Lord Grey
+would have joined him, and Lambton came to her repeatedly
+to try and arrange something; but this answer of the Duke&rsquo;s
+put it out of the question. Then after Lord Grey made his
+hostile speech it seems as if the Duke wanted to get him,
+for one day Jersey made an appointment with Lady Lyndhurst,
+never having called upon her in his life before, came,
+and entreated her to try and bring about an accommodation
+with Lord Grey, not making use of the Duke&rsquo;s name, but
+saying he and Lady Jersey were so unhappy that the Duke
+and Lord Grey should not be on good terms, and were so
+anxious for the junction; but it was too late then, and the
+Lyndhursts themselves had something else to look to. They
+both knew very well that Brougham alone prevented his
+remaining on the Woolsack, still they have very wisely not
+quarrelled with him. After dinner I took Lyndhurst to
+Lady Dudley Stuart&rsquo;s, and had some more talk with him. He
+thinks, as I do, that this Government does not promise to be
+strong. What passed in the House of Commons the other
+night exhibited deplorable weakness and the necessity of
+depending upon the caprices of hundreds of loose votes,
+without anything like a party with which they could venture
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
+to oppose popular doctrines or measures. He thinks that
+Peel must be Minister if there is not a revolution, and that
+the Duke&rsquo;s being Prime Minister again is out of the question;
+says he <i>knows</i> Peel would never consent to act with him
+again in the same capacity, that all the Duke&rsquo;s little cabinet
+(the women and the toad-eaters) hate Peel, and that there
+never was any real cordiality between them. Everything
+confirms my belief that Peel, if he did not bring about the
+dissolution of the late Ministry by any overt act, saw to what
+things were tending, and saw it with satisfaction.</p>
+
+<h3>December 16th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>At Court yesterday; William Bathurst
+sworn in. All the Ministers were there, and the Duke of Wellington
+at the levee looking out of sorts. Dined at the
+Lievens&rsquo;; Lady Cowper told me that in the summer the Duke
+had not made a <i>direct</i> offer to Melbourne, but what was tantamount
+to it. He had desired somebody (she did not say
+who) to speak to
+Frederick,<a name="FNA_13_06" id="FNA_13_06"></a><a href="#FN_13_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+and said he would call on him
+himself the next day. Something, however, prevented him,
+and she did not say whether he did call or not afterwards.
+He denied ever having made any overture at all. To Palmerston
+he proposed the choice of four places, and she thinks
+he would have taken in Huskisson if the latter had lived.
+He would have done nothing but on compulsion; that is
+clear. It is very true (what they say Peel said of him) that
+no <i>man</i> ever had any influence with him, only <i>women</i>, and
+those always the silliest. But who are Peel&rsquo;s confidants,
+friends, and parasites? Bonham, a stock-jobbing ex-merchant;
+Charles Ross, and the refuse of society of the House
+of Commons.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_06" id="FN_13_06"></a><a href="#FNA_13_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[Sir Frederick Lamb.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Lamb told me afterwards, talking of the Duke and
+Polignac, that Sébastiani had told him that Hyde de Neuville
+(who was Minister at the time Polignac went over from
+here on his first short visit, before he became Minister) said
+that upon that occasion Polignac took over a letter from the
+Duke to the King of France, in which he said that the Chambers
+and the democratical spirit required to be curbed, that
+he advised him to lose no time in restraining them, and that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING AND HIS SONS.</span>
+he referred him to M. de Polignac for his opinion generally,
+who was in possession of his entire confidence. I think this
+<i>may</i> be true, never having doubted that these were his real
+sentiments, whether he expressed them or not.</p>
+
+<p>There has been a desperate quarrel between the King and
+his sons. George Fitzclarence wanted to be made a Peer
+and have a pension; the King said he could not do it, so
+they struck work in a body, and George resigned his office
+of Deputy Adjutant-General and wrote the King a furious
+letter. The King sent for Lord Hill, and told him to try
+and bring him to his senses; but Lord Hill could do nothing,
+and then he sent for Brougham to talk to him about it. It is
+not yet made up, but one of them (Frederick, I believe) dined
+at the dinner the King gave the day before yesterday. They
+want to renew the days of Charles II., instead of waiting
+patiently and letting the King do what he can for them, and
+as he can.</p>
+
+<p>The affair at Warsaw seems to have begun with a conspiracy
+against Constantine, and four of the generals who
+were killed perished in his anteroom in defending him.
+With the smallest beginnings, however, nothing is more
+probable than a general rising in Poland; and what between
+that, Belgians, and Piedmont, which is threatened with a
+revolution, the Continent is in a promising state. I agree
+with Lamb, who says that such an <i>imbroglio</i> as this cannot
+be got right without a war; such a flame can only be quenched
+by blood.</p>
+
+<h3>December 19th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>The week has closed without much
+gain to the new Government. On the debate in the House
+of Commons about the Evesham election they did not dare
+go to a division, as they would certainly have been beaten,
+but Peel made a speech which was very good in itself,
+and received in a way which proved that he has more consideration
+out of office than any of the Ministers, and much
+more than he ever had when he was in. Men are looking
+more and more to him, and if there is not a revolution he
+will assuredly be Prime Minister. The Government is fully
+aware how little strength they have, so they have taken a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+new line, and affect to carry on the Government without
+Parliamentary influence, and to throw themselves and their
+measures upon the impartial judgment of the House. Sefton
+informed me the other night that they had resolved not to
+take upon themselves the responsibility of proposing any
+renewal of the Civil List, but to refer the whole question to
+Parliament. I told him that I thought such conduct equally
+foolish and unjust, and that it amounted to an abdication of
+their Ministerial functions, and a surrender of them into the
+hands of the Legislative power; in itself amounting to a
+revolution not of dynasty and institutions, but of system of
+Government in this country. He is the <i>âme damnée</i> of Lord
+Grey, and defends everything of course.</p>
+
+<p>O&rsquo;Connell is gone rabid to Ireland, having refused a silk
+gown and resolved to pull down Lord Anglesey&rsquo;s popularity.
+Shiel writes word that they have resolved <i>not</i> to give Lord
+Anglesey a public reception, and to propose an ovation for
+O&rsquo;Connell. The law appointments there, made without any
+adequate reason, have been ingeniously contrived so as to
+disgust every party in Ireland, and to do, or promise to do,
+in their ultimate results as much harm as possible. So much
+for the only act that the Ministers have yet performed.</p>
+
+<p>I had some conversation with Lyndhurst yesterday, who
+thinks the way is already preparing for Peel&rsquo;s return to office,
+and that he must be Prime Minister. I told him that I
+thought Peel had a fine game to play, but that his own was
+just as good, as Peel could do nothing without him in the
+other House; to which he replied that they should have no
+difficulty, and could make a Government if the Duke of
+Wellington did not interpose his claims and aspire again to
+be at the head; to which I said that they must not listen to
+it, as the country would not bear it; he said he was afraid
+the Duke&rsquo;s own set and his women were encouraging him in
+such views. Now that it is all over his own Cabinet admit as
+freely as anybody his Ministerial despotism. Lyndhurst
+partakes of the general alarm at the state of affairs, and of
+the astonishment which I and others feel at the apathy of
+those who are most interested in averting the impending
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">BISHOP OF EXETER AND LORD MELBOURNE.</span>
+danger. Yesterday Mr. Stapleton (Canning&rsquo;s late private
+secretary) called on me to discuss this subject, and the propriety
+and feasibility of setting up some dyke to arrest the
+torrent of innovation and revolution that is bursting in on
+every side. All the press almost is silenced, or united on
+the other side. &lsquo;John Bull&rsquo; alone fights the battle, but
+&lsquo;John Bull&rsquo; defends so many indefensible things that its
+advocacy is not worth much. An anti-Radical upon the
+plan of the Anti-Jacobin might be of some use, provided it
+was well sustained. I wrote a letter yesterday to
+Barnes,<a name="FNA_13_07" id="FNA_13_07"></a><a href="#FN_13_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+remonstrating upon the general tone of the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; and
+inviting him to adopt some Conservative principles in the
+midst of his zeal for Reform. Stanley told me that his
+election (at Preston) was lost by the stupidity or ill-will of
+the returning officer, who managed the booths in such a
+way that Hunt&rsquo;s voters were enabled to vote over and over
+at different booths, and that he had no doubt of reducing
+his majority on a scrutiny.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_07" id="FN_13_07"></a><a href="#FNA_13_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[Mr. Barnes was then editor of the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; newspaper, and retained
+that position till his death in 1841. Mr. Greville was well acquainted with
+him, and had a high opinion of his talents, character, and influence.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>December 22nd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Dudley showed me Phillpotts&rsquo; (Bishop
+of Exeter) correspondence with Melbourne and minutes of
+conversation on the subject of the commendam of the living
+of Stanhope; trimming letters. The Bishop made proposals
+to the Government which they rejected, and at last, after
+writing one of the ablest letters I ever read, in which he
+exposed their former conduct and present motives, he said
+that as the Ministers had thought fit to exert the power they
+had over him, he should show them that he had some over
+them, and appeal to public opinion to decide between them.
+On this they gave way, and agreed to an arrangement which,
+if not satisfactory to him, will leave him as to income not
+much worse off than he was before.</p>
+
+<h3>December 23rd, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Last night to Wilmot Horton&rsquo;s second
+lecture at the Mechanics&rsquo; Institute; I could not go to the
+first. He deserves great credit for his exertions, the object
+of which is to explain to the labouring classes some of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+truths of political economy, the folly of thinking that the
+breaking of machinery will better their condition, and of
+course the efficacy of his own plan of emigration. The company
+was respectable enough, and they heard him with great
+attention. He is full of zeal and animation, but so totally
+without method and arrangement that he is hardly intelligible.
+The conclusion, which was an attack on Cobbett, was
+well done and even eloquent. There were a good many
+women, and several wise men, such as Dr. Birkbeck,
+M&lsquo;Culloch, and Owen of Lanark.</p>
+
+<p>O&rsquo;Connell had a triumphant entry into Dublin, and
+advised that no honours should be shown to Lord Anglesey.
+They had an interview of two hours in London, when Lord
+Anglesey asked him what he intended to do. He said,
+&lsquo;Strive <i>totis viribus</i> to effect a repeal of the Union;&rsquo; when
+Lord Anglesey told him that he feared he should then be
+obliged to govern Ireland by force, so that they are at daggers
+drawn. There is not a doubt that Repeal is making rapid
+advances.
+Moore<a name="FNA_13_08" id="FNA_13_08"></a><a href="#FN_13_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+told me that he had seen extraordinary
+signs of it, and that men of the middle classes, intelligent
+and well educated, wished for it, though they knew the disadvantages
+that would attend a severance of their connection
+with England. He said that he could understand it, for as
+an Irishman he felt it himself.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_08" id="FN_13_08"></a><a href="#FNA_13_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[Thomas Moore, the poet.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>Roehampton, December 26th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>At Lord Clifden&rsquo;s; Luttrell,
+Byng, and Dudley; the latter very mad, did nothing but
+soliloquise, walk about, munch, and rail at Reform of every
+kind. Lord Anglesey has entered Dublin amidst silence and
+indifference, all produced by O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s orders, whose entry
+was greeted by the acclamations of thousands, and his
+speeches then and since have been more violent than ever.
+His authority and popularity are unabated, and he is employing
+them to do all the mischief he can, his first object
+being to make friends of the Orangemen, to whom he affects
+to humble himself, and he has on all public occasions caused
+the orange ribband to be joined with the green.</p>
+
+<p>We had a meeting at the Council Office on Friday to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD ANGLESEY AND O&rsquo;CONNELL.</span>
+order a prayer &lsquo;on account of the troubled state of certain
+parts of the United Kingdom&rsquo;&mdash;great nonsense.</p>
+
+<p>The King of the French has put an end to the disturbances
+of Paris about the sentence on the ex-Ministers by a
+gallant <i>coup d&rsquo;état.</i> At night, when the streets were most
+crowded and agitated, he sallied from the Palais Royal on
+horseback, with his son, the Duc de Nemours, and his
+personal <i>cortége</i>, and paraded through Paris for two hours.
+This did the business; he was received with shouts of
+applause, and at once reduced everything to tranquillity.
+He deserves his throne for this, and will probably keep it.</p>
+
+<h3>December 30th, 1830</h3>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the conduct of King
+Louis Philippe, and the happy termination of the disorders
+and tumults at Paris last week, the greatest alarm still prevails
+about the excitement in that place. In consequence of
+the Chamber of Deputies having passed some resolutions
+altering the constitution of the National Guard, and voting
+the post of Commandant-General unnecessary, Lafayette resigned
+and has been replaced by Lobau. I never remember
+times like these, nor read of such&mdash;the terror and lively
+expectation which prevail, and the way in which people&rsquo;s
+minds are turned backwards and forwards from France to
+Ireland, then range excursively to Poland or Piedmont, and
+fix again on the burnings, riots, and executions here.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Anglesey&rsquo;s entry into Dublin turned out not to have
+been so mortifying to him as was at first reported. He was
+attended by a great number of people, and by all the most
+eminent and respectable in Dublin, so much so that he was
+very well pleased, and found it better than he expected.
+War broke out between him and O&rsquo;Connell without loss of
+time. O&rsquo;Connell had intended to have a procession of the
+trades, and a notice from him was to have been published
+and stuck over the door of every chapel and public place in
+Dublin. Anglesey issued his proclamation, and half an hour
+before the time when O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s notice was to appear had it
+pasted up, and one copy laid on O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s breakfast table,
+at which anticipation he chuckled mightily. O&rsquo;Connell
+instantly issued a handbill desiring the people to obey, as if
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+the order of the Lord-Lieutenant was to derive its authority
+from his permission, and he afterwards made an able speech.
+Since the beginning of the world there never was so extraordinary
+and so eccentric a position as his. It is a moral
+power and influence as great in its way, and as strangely
+acquired, as Bonaparte&rsquo;s political power was. Utterly lost
+to all sense of shame and decency, trampling truth and
+honour under his feet, cast off by all respectable men, he
+makes his faults and his vices subservient to the extension
+of his influence, for he says and does whatever suits his
+purpose for the moment, secure that no detection or subsequent
+exposure will have the slightest effect with those over
+whose minds and passions he rules with such despotic sway.
+He cares not whom he insults, because, having covered his
+cowardice with the cloak of religious scruples, he is invulnerable,
+and will resent no retaliation that can be offered him.
+He has chalked out to himself a course of ambition which,
+though not of the highest kind&mdash;if the <i>consentiens laus
+bonorum</i> is indispensable to the aspirations of noble minds&mdash;has
+everything in it that can charm a somewhat vulgar but
+highly active, restless, and imaginative being; and nobody
+can deny to him the praise of inimitable dexterity, versatility,
+and even prudence in the employment of the means which
+he makes conducive to his ends. He is thoroughly acquainted
+with the audiences which he addresses and the people upon
+whom he practises, and he operates upon their passions with
+the precision of a dexterous anatomist who knows the direction
+of every muscle and fibre of the human frame. After
+having been throughout the Catholic question the furious
+enemy of the Orangemen, upon whom he lavished incessant
+and unmeasured abuse, he has suddenly turned round, and
+inviting them to join him on the Repeal question, has not
+only offered them a fraternal embrace and has humbled himself
+to the dust in apologies and demands for pardon, but he
+has entirely and at once succeeded, and he is now as popular
+or more so with the Protestants (or rather Orangemen) as he
+was before with the Catholics, and Crampton writes word
+that the lower order of Protestants are with him to a man.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>1831.</h2>
+
+<h3>January 2nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">A DINNER AT THE ATHENÆUM.</span>
+Came up to town yesterday to dine with
+the Villiers at a dinner of clever men, got up at the
+Athenæum, and was extremely bored. The original party
+was broken up by various excuses, and the vacancies supplied
+by men none of whom I knew. There were Poulett
+Thomson, three Villiers, Taylor, Young, whom I knew; the
+rest I never saw before&mdash;Buller, Romilly, Senior,
+Maule,<a name="FNA_13_09" id="FNA_13_09"></a><a href="#FN_13_09" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>
+a man whose name I forget, and Walker, a police magistrate,
+all men of more or less talent and information, and altogether
+producing anything but an agreeable party. Maule was
+senior wrangler and senior medallist at Cambridge, and is
+a lawyer. He was nephew to the man with whom I was at
+school thirty years ago, and I had never seen him since; he
+was then a very clever boy, and assisted to teach the boys,
+being admirably well taught himself by his uncle, who was
+an excellent scholar and a great brute. I have young Maule
+now in my mind&rsquo;s eye suspended by the hair of his head
+while being well caned, and recollect as if it was yesterday
+his doggedly drumming a lesson of Terence into my dull and
+reluctant brain as we walked up and down the garden walk
+before the house. When I was introduced to him I had no
+recollection of him, but when I found out who he was I went
+up to him with the blandest manner as he sat reading a
+newspaper, and said that &lsquo;I believed we had once been well
+acquainted, though we had not met for twenty-seven years.&rsquo;
+He looked up and said, &lsquo;Oh, it is too long ago to talk about,&rsquo;
+and then turned back to his paper. So I set him down for a
+brute like his uncle and troubled him no further. I am very
+sure that dinners of all fools have as good a chance of being
+agreeable as dinners of all clever people; at least the former
+are often gay, and the latter are frequently heavy. Nonsense
+and folly gilded over with good breeding and <i>les usages du
+monde</i> produce often more agreeable results than a collection
+of rude, awkward intellectual powers.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_09" id="FN_13_09"></a><a href="#FNA_13_09"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+[Afterwards Mr. Justice Maule.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>Roehampton, January 4th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Called on Lady Canning this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+morning, who wanted me to read some of her papers. Most
+of them (which are very curious) I had seen before, but forgotten.
+I read the long minute of Canning&rsquo;s conversation
+with the King ten days before his Majesty put the formation
+of the Administration in his hands. They both appear to
+have been explicit enough. The King went through his
+whole life, and talked for two hours and a half, particularly
+about the Catholic question, on which he said he had always
+entertained the same opinions&mdash;the same as those of
+George III. and the Duke of York&mdash;and that with the
+speech of the latter he entirely concurred, except in the &lsquo;so
+help me God&rsquo; at the end, which he thought unnecessary.
+He said <i>he</i> had wished the Coronation Oath to be altered,
+and had proposed it to Lord Liverpool. His great anxiety
+was not to be annoyed with the discussion of the question, to
+keep Canning and Lord Liverpool&rsquo;s colleagues, and to put at
+the head of the Treasury some anti-Catholic Peer. This
+Canning would not hear of; he said that having lost Lord
+Liverpool he had lost his only support in the Cabinet, that
+the King knew how he had been thwarted by others, and
+how impossible it would have been for him to go on but for
+Lord Liverpool, that he could not serve <i>under</i> anybody else,
+or act with efficacy except as First Minister, that he would
+not afford in his person an example of any such rule as that
+support of the Catholic question was to be <i>ipso facto</i> an exclusion
+from the chief office of the Government, that he advised
+the King to try and make an anti-Catholic Ministry,
+and thought that with his feelings and opinions on the
+subject it was what he ought to do. This the King said was
+out of the question. In the course of the discussion Canning
+said that if he continued in his service he must continue
+as free as he had been before; that desirous as he was to
+contribute to the King&rsquo;s ease and comfort, he could not in
+any way pledge himself on the subject, because he should
+be assuredly questioned in the House of Commons, and he
+must have it in his power to reply that he was perfectly free
+to act on that question as he had ever done, and that he
+thought the King would better consult his own ease by
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE DUKE AND MR. CANNING.</span>
+retaining him in office without any pledge, relying on his
+desire above all things to consult his Majesty&rsquo;s ease and
+comfort. He said among other things that, though leader
+of the House of Commons, he had never had any patronage
+placed at his disposal, nor a single place to give away.</p>
+
+<p>About the time of this conversation Canning was out of
+humour with the Duke of Wellington, for he had heard that
+many of the adherents of Government who pretended to be
+attached to the Duke had spoken of him (Canning) in the
+most violent and abusive terms. In their opinions he conceived
+the Duke to be to a certain degree implicated, and
+this produced some coldness in his manner towards him.
+Shortly after Arbuthnot came to him, complained first
+and explained after, and said the Duke would call upon him.
+The Duke did call, and in a conversation of two hours Canning
+told him all that had passed between himself and the
+King, thereby putting the Duke, as he supposed, in complete
+possession of his sentiments as to the reconstruction of the
+Government. A few days after Mr. Canning was charged by
+the King to lay before him the plan of an Administration,
+and upon this he wrote the letter to his former colleagues
+which produced so much discussion. I read the letters to the
+Duke, Bathurst, Melville, and Bexley, and I must say that
+the one to the Duke was rather the stiffest of the
+whole,<a name="FNA_13_10" id="FNA_13_10"></a><a href="#FN_13_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+though it was not so cold as the Duke chose to consider it.
+Then came his letter to the Duke on his speech, and the
+Duke&rsquo;s answer. When I read these last year I thought the
+Duke had much the best of it; but I must alter this opinion
+if it be true that he knew Mr. Canning&rsquo;s opinions, as it is
+stated that he did entirely, after their long interview, at
+which the conversation with the King was communicated to
+him. That materially alters the case. There was a letter
+from Peel declining, entirely on the ground of objecting to a
+pro-Catholic Premier, and on the impossibility of his administering
+Ireland with the First Lord of the Treasury of a
+different opinion on that subject from his own. There was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+likewise a curious correspondence relative to a paper written
+by the Duke of York during his last illness, and not very long
+before his death, to Lord Liverpool on the dangers of the
+country from the progress of the Catholic question, the object
+of which (though it was vaguely expressed) was to turn out
+the Catholic members and form a Protestant Government for
+the purpose of crushing the Catholic interest. This Lord
+Liverpool communicated (privately) to Canning, and it was
+afterwards communicated to the King, who appears (the
+answer was not there) to have given the Duke of York a rap
+on the knuckles, for there is a reply of the Duke&rsquo;s to the
+King, full of devotion, zeal, and affection to his person, and
+disclaiming any intention of breaking up the Government,
+an idea which could have arisen only from misconception of
+the meaning of his letter by Lord Liverpool. It is very
+clear, however, that he did mean that, for his letter could
+have meant nothing else. The whole thing is curious, for he
+was aware that he was dying, and he says so.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_10" id="FN_13_10"></a><a href="#FNA_13_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+[This correspondence is now published in the third volume of the
+Duke&rsquo;s &lsquo;Correspondence,&rsquo; New Series, p. 628.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>January 12th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Passed two days at Panshanger, but my
+room was so cold that I could not sit in it to write. Nobody
+there but F. Lamb and J. Russell. Lady Cowper told me
+what had passed relative to the negotiation with Melbourne
+last year, and which the Duke or his friends denied. The
+person who was employed (and whom she did not name) told
+F. Lamb that the Duke would take in Melbourne and two
+others (I am not sure it was not three), but not Huskisson.
+He said that it would be fairer at once to say that those
+terms would not be accepted, and to save him therefore from
+offering them, that Melbourne would not be satisfied with any
+Government which did not include Huskisson and Lord Grey,
+and that upon this answer the matter dropped. I don&rsquo;t
+think the Duke can be blamed for answering to anybody who
+chose to ask him any questions on the subject that he had
+<i>made no offer</i>; it was the truth, though not the whole truth,
+and a Minister must have some shelter against impertinent
+questioners, or he would be at their mercy.
+An Envoy is come here from the
+Poles,<a name="FNA_13_11" id="FNA_13_11"></a><a href="#FN_13_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+who brought a letter from Prince
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CROKER&rsquo;S BOSWELL.</span>
+Czartoryski to Lord Grey, who has not seen him, and whose
+arrival has naturally given umbrage to the Lievens.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_11" id="FN_13_11"></a><a href="#FNA_13_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+[This Envoy was Count Alexander Walewski, a natural son of the
+Emperor Napoleon, who afterwards played a considerable part in the affairs
+of France and of Europe, especially under the Second Empire. During his
+residence in London in 1831 he married Lady Caroline Montagu, a daughter
+of the Earl of Sandwich, but she did not live long. I remember calling
+upon him in St. James&rsquo;s Place, and seeing cards of invitation for Lady Grey&rsquo;s
+assemblies stuck in his glass. The fact is he was wonderfully handsome and
+agreeable, and soon became popular in London society.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>January 19th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>To Roehampton on Saturday till Monday,
+having been at the Grove on Friday. George Villiers at the
+Grove showed me a Dublin paper with an attack on Stanley&rsquo;s
+proclamation, and also a character of Plunket drawn with
+great severity and by a masterly hand; it is supposed to
+be by Baron Smith, a judge who is very able, but fanciful
+and disaffected. He will never suffer any but policemen
+or soldiers to be hanged of those whom he tries. George
+Villiers came from Hatfield, where he had a conversation
+with the Duke of Wellington, who told him that he had committed
+a great error in his Administration in not paying
+more attention to the press, and in not securing a portion of it
+on his side and getting good writers into his employment, that
+he had never thought it necessary to do so, and that he was
+now convinced what a great mistake it was. At Roehampton
+nothing new, except that the Reform plan is supposed to be
+settled, or nearly so. Duncannon has been consulted, and he
+and one or two more have had meetings with Durham, who
+were to lay their joint plans before Lord Grey first, and he
+afterwards brought them to the Cabinet.</p>
+
+<p>Ellis told me (a curious thing enough) that Croker (for
+his &lsquo;Boswell&rsquo;s Life of Johnson&rsquo;) had collected various anecdotes
+from other books, but that the only new and original
+ones were those he had got from Lord Stowell, who was a
+friend of Johnson, and that he had written them under
+Stowell&rsquo;s dictation. Sir Walter Scott wanted to see them,
+and Croker sent them to him in Scotland by the post. The
+bag was lost; no tidings could be heard of it, Croker had
+no copy, and Stowell is in his dotage and can&rsquo;t be got to
+dictate again. So much for the anecdote; then comes the
+story. I said how surprising this was, for nothing was so
+rare as a miscarriage by the post. He said, &lsquo;Not at all, for I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+myself lost <i>two reviews</i> in the same way. I sent them both
+to <i>Brougham</i> to forward to Jeffrey (for the &ldquo;Edinburgh&rdquo;),
+and <i>they were both lost in the same</i> way!&rsquo; That villain
+Brougham!</p>
+
+<p>G. Lamb said that the King is supposed to be in a
+bad state of health, and this was confirmed to me by Keate
+the surgeon, who gave me to understand that he was going
+the way of both his brothers. He will be a great loss in
+these times; he knows his business, lets his Ministers do as
+they please, but expects to be informed of everything. He
+lives a strange life at Brighton, with tagrag and bobtail
+about him, and always open house. The Queen is a prude,
+and will not let the ladies come <i>décolletées</i> to her parties.
+George IV., who liked ample expanses of that sort, would not
+let them be covered. In the meantime matters don&rsquo;t seem
+more promising either here or abroad. In Ireland there is
+open war between Anglesey and O&rsquo;Connell, to whom it is
+glory enough (of his sort) to be on a kind of par with the
+Viceroy, and to have a power equal to that of the Government.
+Anglesey issues proclamation after proclamation, the
+other speeches and letters in retort. His breakfasts and
+dinners are put down, but he finds other places to harangue
+at, and letters he can always publish; but he does not appear
+in quite so triumphant an attitude as he did. The O&rsquo;Connell
+tribute is said to have failed; no men of property or respectability
+join him, and he is after all only the leader of a mob;
+but it is a better sort of mob, and formidable from their
+numbers, and the organisation which has latterly become an
+integral part of mob tactics. Nothing can be more awful
+than the state of that country, and everybody expects that
+it will be found necessary to strengthen the hands of the
+Government with extraordinary powers to put an end to the
+prevailing anarchy. O&rsquo;Connell is a coward, and that is the
+best chance of his being beaten at last.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Lyndhurst took his seat as Chief Baron yesterday
+morning, Alexander retiring without an equivalent, and
+only having waited for quarter day. Brougham has had a
+violent squabble in his Court with Sugden, who having
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">O&rsquo;CONNELL ARRESTED.</span>
+bullied the Vice-Chancellor and governed Lyndhurst, has a
+mind to do the same by Brougham; besides, he hates him
+for the repeated thrashings he got from him in the House of
+Commons, and has been heard to say that he will take his
+revenge in the Court of Chancery. The present affair was
+merely that Brougham began writing, when Sugden stopped
+and told him &lsquo;it was no use his going on if his Lordship
+would not attend to the argument,&rsquo; and so forth.</p>
+
+<p>I met Lyndhurst at dinner yesterday, who talks of himself
+as standing on neutral ground, disconnected with
+politics. It is certainly understood that he is not to fight
+the battles of the present Government, but of course he is
+not to be against them. His example is a lesson to statesmen
+to be frugal, for if he had been rich he would have had
+a better game before him. He told a curious anecdote about
+a trial. There was a (civil) cause in which the jury would
+not agree on their verdict. They retired on the evening of
+one day, and remained till one o&rsquo;clock the next afternoon,
+when, being still disagreed, a juror was drawn. There was
+only one juror who held out against the rest&mdash;Mr. Berkeley
+(member for Bristol). The case was tried over again, and the
+jury were unanimously of Mr. Berkeley&rsquo;s opinion, which was
+in fact right, a piece of conscientious obstinacy which prevented
+the legal commission of wrong.</p>
+
+<h3>Roehampton, January 22nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The event of the week is
+O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s arrest on a charge of conspiracy to defeat the
+Lord-Lieutenant&rsquo;s proclamation. Lord Anglesey writes to
+Lady Anglesey thus:&mdash;&lsquo;I am just come from a consultation
+of six hours with the law officers, the result of which is a
+determination to arrest O&rsquo;Connell, for things are now come
+to that pass that the question is whether he or I shall
+govern Ireland.&rsquo; We await the result with great anxiety,
+for the opinion of lawyers seems divided as to the legality of
+the arrest, and laymen can form none.</p>
+
+<h3>January 23rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>No news; Master of the Rolls, George
+Ponsonby, and George Villiers here. The latter told a
+story of Plunket, of his wit. Lord Wellesley&rsquo;s aide-de-camp
+Keppel wrote a book of his travels, and called it his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
+personal narrative. Lord Wellesley was quizzing it, and
+said, &lsquo;Personal narrative? what is a personal narrative? Lord
+Plunket, what should you say a personal narrative meant?&rsquo;
+Plunket answered, &lsquo;My Lord, you know we lawyers always
+understand <i>personal</i> as contradistinguished from <i>real</i>.&rsquo; And
+one or two others of Parsons, the Irish barrister. Lord
+Norbury on some circuit was on the bench speaking, and an
+ass outside brayed so loud that nobody could hear. He exclaimed,
+&lsquo;Do stop that noise!&rsquo; Parsons said, &lsquo;My Lord,
+there is a great echo here.&rsquo; Somebody said to him one day,
+&lsquo;Mr. Parsons, have you heard of my son&rsquo;s robbery?&rsquo; &lsquo;No;
+whom has he robbed?&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Nothing but talk about O&rsquo;Connell and his trial, and we
+have more fears he will be acquitted than hopes that he will
+be convicted. They still burn in the country, and I heard
+the other day that the manufacturing districts, though quiet,
+are in a high state of organisation.</p>
+
+<h3>January 25th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Met Colonel
+Napier<a name="FNA_13_12" id="FNA_13_12"></a><a href="#FN_13_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+last night, and talked
+for an hour of the state of the country. He gave me a
+curious account of the organisation of the manufacturers in
+and about Manchester, who are divided into four different
+classes, with different objects, partly political, generally to
+better themselves, but with a regular Government, the seat
+of which is in the Isle of Man. He says that the agriculturists
+are likewise organised in Wiltshire, and that
+there is a sort of free-masonry among them; he thinks a
+revolution inevitable; and when I told him what Southey
+had said&mdash;that if he had money enough he would transport
+his family to America&mdash;he said he would not himself leave
+England in times of danger, but that he should like to remove
+his family if he could.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_12" id="FN_13_12"></a><a href="#FNA_13_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a>
+[Sir William Napier, author of the &lsquo;History of the Peninsular War.&rsquo;]</p></div>
+
+<p>The King is ill. I hope he won&rsquo;t die; if he does, and
+the little girl, we shall have Cumberland, and (though
+Lyndhurst said he would make a very good King the other
+night) that would be a good moment for dispensing with the
+regal office. It is reported that they differ in the Cabinet
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">O&rsquo;CONNELL&rsquo;S CASE.</span>
+about Reform; probably not true. What a state of terror
+and confusion we are in, though it seems to make no
+difference.</p>
+
+<h3>January 31st, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Roehampton on Saturday; Lord
+Robert Spencer and Sir G. Robinson. Agar Ellis had just
+resigned the Woods, after asking to be made a Peer, which
+they refused. All last week nobody thought of anything but
+O&rsquo;Connell, and great was the joy at the charge of Judge Jebb,
+the unanimous opinion of the King&rsquo;s Bench, and the finding
+of the Grand Jury. Whatever happens, Government are now
+justified in the course they have taken; and now he has traversed,
+which looks like weakness, and it is the general
+opinion that he is beaten; but he is so astute, and so full of
+resources, that I would never answer for his being beaten till
+I see him in prison or find his popularity gone. The subscription
+produced between 7,000&#8467;. and 8,000&#8467;. It is an
+extraordinary thing, and the most wonderful effect I ever
+heard of the power of moral causes over the human body,
+that Lord Anglesey, who has scarcely been out of pain at all
+for years during any considerable intervals, has been quite
+free from his complaint (the tic douloureux) since he has
+been in Ireland; the excitement of these events, and the
+influence of that excitement on his nervous system, have
+produced this effect. There is a puzzler for philosophy,
+and such an amalgamation of moral and physical accidents
+as is well worth unravelling for those who are wise enough.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday there was a dinner at Lord Lansdowne&rsquo;s to
+name the Sheriffs, and there was I in attendance on my old
+school-fellows and associates Richmond, Durham, Graham,
+all great men now!</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">While some do laugh, and some do weep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Thus runs the world away.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Lord Grey was not there, for he was gone to Brighton
+to lay the Reform Bill before the King. What a man
+Brougham is; he wants to ride his Chancery steed to the
+Devil, as if he had not enough to do. Nothing would satisfy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+him but to come and hear causes in our
+Court;<a name="FNA_13_13" id="FNA_13_13"></a><a href="#FN_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+but as I knew
+it was only to provoke Leach, I would not let him come, and
+told the Lord President we had no causes for him to hear.
+He insisted, so did I, and he did not come; but some day
+I will invite him, and then he will have forgotten it or have
+something else to do, and he won&rsquo;t come. He is a Jupiter-Scapin
+if ever there was one.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_13" id="FN_13_13"></a><a href="#FNA_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a>
+[At the Privy Council, where the Master of the Rolls was at that time
+in the habit of sitting with two lay Privy Councillors to hear Plantation
+Appeals.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>February 6th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Parliament met again on the 3rd, and
+the House of Commons exhibited a great array on the
+Opposition benches; nothing was done the first day but the
+announcement of the Reform measure for the 2nd of March,
+to be brought in by Lord John Russell in the House of Commons,
+though not a Cabinet Minister. The fact is that if
+a Cabinet Minister had introduced it, it must have been
+Althorp, and he is wholly unequal to it; he cannot speak
+at all, so that though the pretence is to pay a compliment to
+John Russell because he had on former occasions brought
+forward plans of Reform, it is really expedient to take the
+burden off the leader of the Government. The next night
+came on the Civil List, and as the last Government was turned
+out on this question, there had existed a general but vague expectation
+that some wonderful reductions were to be proposed
+by the new Chancellor of the Exchequer. Great, then, was
+the exultation of the Opposition when it was found that no
+reductions would be made, and that the measure of this
+Government only differed from that of the last in the
+separation of the King&rsquo;s personal expenses from the other
+charges and a <i>prospective</i> reduction in the Pension List.
+There was not much of a debate. Althorp did it ill by all
+accounts; Graham spoke pretty well; and Calcraft, who
+could do nothing while in office, found all his energies
+when he got back to the Opposition benches, and made
+(everybody says) a capital speech. There is certainly a
+great disappointment that the Civil List does not produce
+some economical novelty, and to a certain degree the popularity
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE CIVIL LIST.</span>
+of the Government will be affected by it. But they
+have taken the manliest course, and the truth is the Duke
+of Wellington had already made all possible reductions,
+unless the King and the Government were at once to hang out
+the flag of poverty and change their whole system.
+After what Sefton had told me of the intentions of Government
+about the Pension List, and my reply to him, it was
+a satisfaction to me to find they could not act on such
+a principle; and accordingly Lord Althorp at once declared
+the opinion and intentions of Government about
+the Pensions, instead of abandoning them to the rage of
+the House of Commons. There is not even a surmise as
+to the intended measure of Reform, the secret of which is
+well kept, but I suspect the confidence of the Reformers will
+be shaken by their disappointment about the Civil List.
+It is by no means clear, be it what it may, that the
+Government will be able to carry it, for the Opposition
+promises to be very formidable in point of numbers; and in
+speaking the two parties are, as to the first class, pretty
+evenly divided&mdash;Palmerston, the Grants, Graham, Stanley,
+John Russell, on one side; Peel, Calcraft, Hardinge, Dawson,
+on the other; fewer in numbers, but Peel immeasurably
+the best on either side&mdash;but in the second line, and among
+the younger ones, the Opposition are far inferior.</p>
+
+<h3>February 9th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Just got into my new home&mdash;Poulett
+Thomson&rsquo;s house, which I have taken for a year. The day
+before yesterday came the news that the French had refused
+the nomination of the Duc de Nemours to the throne of
+Belgium, the news of his being chosen having come on
+Sunday. The Ministers were <i>rayonnants</i>; Lord Lansdowne
+came to his office and told it me with prodigious glee.</p>
+
+<p>Met with Sir J. Burke on Sunday at Brooks&rsquo;s, who said
+that O&rsquo;Connell was completely beaten by the address of the
+merchants and bankers, among whom were men&mdash;Mahon, for
+instance (O&rsquo;Gorman Mahon&rsquo;s uncle)&mdash;who had always stood
+by him. I do not believe he is completely beaten, and his
+resources for mischief are so great that he will rally again
+before long, I have little doubt. However, what has occurred
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+has been productive of great good; it has elicited a strong
+Conservative demonstration, and proved that out of the rabbleocracy
+(for everything is in <i>ocracy</i> now) his power is anything
+but unlimited. There are 20,000 men in Ireland, so Lord
+Hill told me last night.
+Hunt<a name="FNA_13_14" id="FNA_13_14"></a><a href="#FN_13_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>
+spoke for two hours last
+night; his manner and appearance very good, like a country
+gentleman of the old school, a sort of rural dignity about it,
+very civil, good-humoured, and respectful to the House, but
+dull; listened to, however, and very well received.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_14" id="FN_13_14"></a><a href="#FNA_13_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a>
+[Henry Hunt, a well-known Radical, had just been returned for
+Preston, where he had beaten Mr. Stanley.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>February 12th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The debate three nights ago on Ireland,
+brought on by O&rsquo;Gorman Mahon, is said to have been the
+best that has been heard in the House of Commons for many
+years. Palmerston, Burdett, Althorp, Peel, Wyse, all made
+good speeches; it was spirited, statesmanlike, and creditable
+to the House, which wanted some such exhibition to raise its
+credit. I saw the day before yesterday a curious letter from
+Southey to Brougham, which some day or other will probably
+appear. Taylor showed it me. Brougham had written to
+him to ask him what his opinion was as to the encouragement
+that could be given to literature, by rewarding or
+honouring literary men, and suggested (I did not see his
+letter) that the Guelphic Order should be bestowed upon
+them. Southey&rsquo;s reply was very courteous, but in a style of
+suppressed irony and forced politeness, and exhibited the
+marks of a chafed spirit, which was kept down by an effort.
+&lsquo;You, my Lord, are <i>now</i> on the Conservative side,&rsquo; was one
+of his phrases, which implied that the Chancellor had not
+always been on that side. He suggested that it might be
+useful to establish a sort of lay fellowships; 10,000&#8467;. would
+give 10 of 500&#8467;. and 25 of 200&#8467;.; but he proposed them not to
+reward the meritorious, but as a means of silencing or hiring
+the mischievous. It was evident, however, that he laid no
+stress on this plan, or considered it practicable, and only proposed
+it because he thought he must suggest something.
+He said that honours might be desirable to scientific men, as
+they were so considered on the Continent, and Newton and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE FIRST WHIG BUDGET.</span>
+Davy had been titled, but for himself, if a <i>Guelphic</i> distinction
+was adopted, &lsquo;he should be a <i>Ghibelline</i>.&rsquo; He ended by
+saying that all he asked for was a repeal of the Copyright
+Act which took from the families of literary men the only
+property they had to give them, and this &lsquo;I ask for with the
+earnestness of one who is conscious that he has laboured for
+posterity.&rsquo; It is a remarkable letter.</p>
+
+<h3>February 13th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The Budget, which was brought forward
+two nights ago, has given great dissatisfaction; Goulburn
+attacked the taxation of the funds (half per cent. on transfer
+of stock and land) in the best speech he ever made,
+Peel in another good speech. The bankers assailed it one
+after another, and not a man on the Government side
+spoke decently. Great of course was the exultation of the
+Opposition, and it is supposed that this will be withdrawn
+and a Property Tax laid on instead. There is a meeting to-day
+in Downing Street, at which I suspect it will be announced.
+The Budget must appear hurried, and nothing
+but the circumstances in which they are placed could have
+justified their bringing it on so soon. In two months,
+besides having foreign affairs of the greatest consequence on
+their hands, they have concocted a Reform Bill and settled
+the finances of the nation for the next year, which is quite
+ludicrous; but they are obliged to have money voted immediately,
+that in case they should be beaten on Reform or any
+other vital question which may compel them to dissolve
+Parliament, they may have passed their estimates and
+be provided with funds. Their secrets are well kept&mdash;rather
+too well, for nobody knew of this Budget, and not a
+soul has a guess what their Reform is to be. At present
+nothing can cut a poorer figure than the Government does in
+the House of Commons, and they have shown how weak a
+Government a strong Opposition may make.</p>
+
+<p>I have just been to hear Benson preach at the Temple,
+but I was so distant that I heard ill. His manner is impressive,
+and language good without being ambitious, but I
+was rather disappointed. Brougham was there, with Lord
+King of all people!</p>
+
+<h3>February 15th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+Yesterday morning news came that
+O&rsquo;Connell had withdrawn his plea of not guilty and (by his
+counsel, Mr. Perrin) pleaded guilty, to the unutterable astonishment
+of everybody, and not less delight. Sheil wrote
+word that his heart sank at the terror of a gaol, and &lsquo;how
+would such a man face a battle, who could not encounter
+Newgate?&rsquo; Everybody&rsquo;s impression was that it was a
+compromise with the law officers, and that he pleaded guilty
+on condition that he should not be brought up for judgment,
+but it was no such thing; he made in the preceding days several
+indirect overtures to Lord Anglesey, who would listen to
+nothing, and told him that after his conduct he could do
+nothing for him, and that he must take his own course.
+He comes to England directly, and will be brought up for
+judgment (if at all, which I doubt) next term. He gives out
+that he was forced to do this in order to hasten to England
+and repair in the House of Commons the errors of O&rsquo;Gorman
+Mahon. There is no calculating what may be the extent of
+the credulity of an Irish mob with regard to him, but after
+all his bullies and bravadoes this will hardly go down even
+with them. Sheil says &lsquo;O&rsquo;Connell is fallen indeed.&rsquo; I trust,
+though hardly dare hope, that &lsquo;he sinks like stars that fall
+to rise no more.&rsquo; It is impossible to form an idea of the astonishment
+of everybody at this termination of the law proceedings,
+which have ended so triumphantly for Lord Anglesey
+and Plunket. Lord Anglesey, however, wrote word
+to Lady Anglesey that no one could form an idea of the state
+of that country: that fresh plots were discovered every day,
+that from circumstances he had been able to do more than
+another man would, but that it was not, he firmly believed,
+possible to save it.</p>
+
+<p>There was a meeting at Althorp&rsquo;s on Sunday, when he
+agreed to withdraw the Transfer Tax, and that there should
+be no Property Tax. A more miserable figure was never cut
+than his; but how should it be otherwise? A respectable
+country gentleman, well versed in rural administration, in
+farming and sporting, with all the integrity of 15,000&#8467;. a
+year in possession and 50,000&#8467;. in reversion, is all of a sudden
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD ALTHORP&rsquo;S BUDGET.</span>
+made leader in the House of Commons without being able
+to speak, and Chancellor of the Exchequer without any knowledge,
+theoretical or practical, of finance. By way of being
+discreet, and that his plan may be a secret, he consults nobody;
+and then he closets himself with his familiar Poulett
+Thomson, who puts this notable scheme into his head, and out
+he blurts it in the House of Commons, without an idea how
+it will be received, without making either preparations for
+defending it or for an alternative in case of its rejection. If
+Althorp and Poulett Thomson are to govern England, these
+things are likely to happen. The Opposition cannot contain
+themselves; the women think they are to come in directly.
+Goulburn said to Baring as they left the House on Friday,
+&lsquo;Mr. Baring, you said last year you thought my Budget was
+the most profligate that any Chancellor of the Exchequer had
+ever brought forward; I think you will now no longer say it
+was the <i>most</i> profligate.&rsquo; Last night
+Praed<a name="FNA_13_15" id="FNA_13_15"></a><a href="#FN_13_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a>
+made his first
+speech, which was very good.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_15" id="FN_13_15"></a><a href="#FNA_13_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a>
+[Winthrop Mackworth Praed, a young man of great promise, who had
+just entered Parliament. He took his degree in 1825, and was regarded by
+the Tories as the rival and competitor of Thomas Babington Macaulay.
+But unhappily he died in 1839.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>February 17th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The day before yesterday Duncannon
+called on me, and told me O&rsquo;Connell had got up an opposition
+to him in Kilkenny; that he was of opinion that the
+recent events would diminish neither his power nor his popularity,
+and that in fact he was infallible with the Irish mob.
+As Richard says, &lsquo;if this have no effect, he is immortal.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Wellington called on my family yesterday;
+he says the Reform question will not be carried, and he
+thinks the Government cannot stand, that things are certainly
+better (internally), and that the great fear is lest people
+should be too much afraid.</p>
+
+<p>Went to Lady Dudley Stewart&rsquo;s last night; a party; saw
+a vulgar-looking, fat man with spectacles, and a mincing,
+rather pretty pink and white woman, his wife. The man was
+Napoleon&rsquo;s nephew, the woman Washington&rsquo;s granddaughter.
+What a host of associations, all confused and degraded! He
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
+is a son of Murat, the King of Naples, who was said to be
+&lsquo;le dieu Mars jusqu&rsquo;à six heures du soir.&rsquo; He was heir to a
+throne, and is now a lawyer in the United States, and his
+wife, whose name I know not, Sandon told me, was Washington&rsquo;s
+granddaughter. (This must be a mistake, for I
+think Washington never had any
+children.)<a name="FNA_13_16" id="FNA_13_16"></a><a href="#FN_13_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_16" id="FN_13_16"></a><a href="#FNA_13_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a>
+[Achille Murat and his wife were living at this time in the Alpha
+Road, Regent&rsquo;s Park. It was said she was Washington&rsquo;s grand-niece, but
+I am not sure what the relationship was, if any. She was certainly not his
+granddaughter.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>February 24th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Newmarket for three days, from
+Saturday till Tuesday; riding out at eight o&rsquo;clock every
+morning and inhaling salubrious air. Came back the night
+before last and found matters in a strange state. The
+Government, strong in the House of Lords (which is a
+secondary consideration), is weak in the House of Commons
+to a degree which is contemptible and ridiculous.
+Even Sefton now confesses that Althorp is wretched. There
+he is <i>leading</i> the House of Commons without the slightest
+acquaintance with the various subjects that come under discussion,
+and hardly able to speak at all; not one of the
+Ministers exhibits anything like vigour, ability, or discretion.
+As Althorp cannot speak, Graham is obliged to talk, or
+thinks he is, and, as I predicted, he is
+failing;<a name="FNA_13_17" id="FNA_13_17"></a><a href="#FN_13_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>
+with some
+cleverness and plenty of fluency, he is unequal to the situation
+he is placed in, and his difference with Grant the other
+night and his apology to O&rsquo;Gorman Mahon have been prejudicial
+to the Government and to his own character. The
+exultation of the Opposition is unbounded, and Peel plays
+with his power in the House, only not putting it forth because
+it does not suit his convenience; but he does what he
+likes, and it is evident that the very existence of the Government
+depends upon his pleasure. His game, however, is to
+display candour and moderation, and rather to protect them
+than not, so he defends many of their measures and restrains
+the fierce animosity of his friends, but with a sort of sarcastic
+civility, which, while it is put forth in their defence, is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT.</span>
+always done in such a manner as shall best exhibit his own
+authority and his contempt for their persons individually.
+While he upholds the Government he does all he can to
+bring each member of it into contempt, and there they are,
+helpless and confused, writhing under his lash and their own
+impotence, and only intent upon staving off a division which
+would show the world how feeble they are. Neither the
+late nor any other Government ever cut so poor a figure as
+this does. Palmerston does nothing, Grant does worse,
+Graham does no good, Althorp a great deal of harm; Stanley
+alone has distinguished himself, and what he has had to do
+has done very well. It is not, however, only in the House
+of Commons that the Government are in such discredit; the
+Budget did their business in the City, and alienated the trading
+interest. It is a curious circumstance that both Goulburn
+and Herries have been beset by deputations and individual
+applications for advice and assistance nearly as much
+since they left office as when they were in it by merchants
+and others, who complain to them that it was quite useless
+to go to Lord Althorp, for they find that he has not
+the slightest acquaintance with any of the subjects and
+interests on which they addressed themselves to him, and
+one man told Herries this, at the same time owning that he
+was a Whig in principle, and had been an opponent of the
+late and a supporter of the present Government. The press
+generally are falling off from the Government, which is an
+ominous sign. While the Government is thus weak and
+powerless the elements of confusion and violence are gathering
+fresh force, and without any fixed and loyal authority to
+check them will pursue their eccentric course till some public
+commotion arrives, or till the Conservative resources of the
+country are called into action and the antagonistic principles
+are fairly brought to trial.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_13_17" id="FN_13_17"></a><a href="#FNA_13_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a>
+It was on Lord Chandos&rsquo;s motion to take into consideration the state
+of the West Indies.</p></div>
+
+<p>The King went to the play the night before last; was well
+received in the house, but hooted and pelted coming home,
+and a stone shivered a window of his coach and fell into
+Prince George of Cumberland&rsquo;s lap. The King was excessively
+annoyed, and sent for Baring, who was the officer
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+riding by his coach, and asked him if he knew who had
+thrown the stone; he said that it terrified the Queen, and
+&lsquo;was very disagreeable, as he should always be going somewhere.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>In the House of Commons Committee on the Parliament
+Offices they are making the whole thing ridiculous by the
+sort of reductions they suggest. Hume proposed to cut
+down the President of the Council to 1,000&#8467;. a year, on
+which Stormont moved he should have nothing, and this
+(which was intended to ridicule Hume&rsquo;s proposal) was carried,
+but will probably be rescinded. There is no directing
+power anywhere, and the sort of anarchy that is fast increasing
+must beget confusion. Nobody has the least idea
+how reform will go, or of the nature of what they mean to
+propose, but the King said to Cecil Forrester yesterday, who
+went to resign his office of Groom of the Bedchamber, &lsquo;Why
+do you resign?&rsquo; He said he could not support Government
+or vote for Reform. &lsquo;Well, but you don&rsquo;t know what it is,
+and you might have waited till it came on, for it probably will
+not be carried;&rsquo; and this he repeated twice. Lord Durham
+has volunteered to give up his salary as Privy Seal, which is
+no great sacrifice, considering how long he is likely to enjoy
+it, and everybody gives him credit for having suggested the
+relief to coals for his own interest. Lady Holland, who has
+got a West Indian estate, attacked him about the sugar
+duties, and asked him if they would not reduce them. He
+said &lsquo;No.&rsquo; She retorted, &lsquo;That is because you have no West
+Indian estate; you have got your own job about coals done,
+and you don&rsquo;t care about us.&rsquo; In the House of Lords they
+have it all their own way. The other night, on Lord Strangford&rsquo;s
+motion about the Methuen treaty, Brougham exhibited
+his wonderful powers in his very best style. Without any
+preparation for the question, and after it had been exhausted
+in a very good speech of Goderich&rsquo;s, he got up, and in answer
+to Strangford and Ellenborough banged their heads together,
+and displayed all his power of ridicule, sarcasm, and argument
+in a manner which they could not themselves help
+admiring. The next night he brought forward his Chancery
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LADY JERSEY AND LORD DURHAM.</span>
+Reform measure in a speech of three hours, which, however
+luminous, was too long for their Lordships, and before the
+end of it the House had melted away to nothing. But, notwithstanding
+this success, he must inwardly chafe at being
+removed from his natural element and proper sphere of
+action, and he must burn with vexation at seeing Peel riot
+and revel in his unopposed power, like Hector when Achilles
+would not fight, though this Achilles can never fight again,
+but he would give a great deal to go back to the field, and
+would require much less persuasion than Achilles did.</p>
+
+<h3>February 25th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>A drawing-room yesterday, at which the
+Princess Victoria made her first appearance. I was not
+there. Lady Jersey made a scene with Lord Durham. She
+got up and crossed the room to him and said, &lsquo;Lord Durham,
+I hear that you have said things about me which are not
+true, and I desire that you will call upon me to-morrow with
+a witness to hear my positive denial, and I beg that you will
+not repeat any such things about me,&rsquo; or, as the Irishman
+said, &lsquo;words to that effect.&rsquo; She was in a fury, and he, I
+suppose, in a still greater. He muttered that he should
+never set foot in her house again, which she did not hear, as
+after delivering herself of her speech she flounced back again
+to her seat, mighty proud of the exploit. It arose out of his
+saying that he should make Lady Durham demand an
+audience of the Queen to contradict the things Lady Jersey
+had said of her and the other Whig ladies.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Lady Jersey last night and had a long conversation
+with her about her squabbles. She declares
+solemnly (and I believe it) that she never said a syllable to
+the Queen against her quondam friends, owns she abused
+Sefton to other people, cried, and talked, and the end was
+that I am to try to put an end to these <i>tracasseries</i>. She
+was mighty glorious about her <i>sortie</i> upon Lambton, whom
+she dislikes, but she is vexed at the hornets&rsquo; nest she has
+brought round her head. All this comes of talking. The
+wisest man mentioned in history was the vagrant in the
+Tuileries Gardens some years ago, who walked about with
+a gag on, and when taken up by the police and questioned
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+why he went about in that guise, he said he was imprudent,
+and that he might not say anything to get himself into
+jeopardy he had adopted this precaution. I wonder what
+Lambton would say now about appointing others instead
+of Palmerston and Co. if they should go out, which he talked
+of as such an easy and indifferent matter. What arrogance
+and folly there is in the world! I don&rsquo;t know how long this
+will last, but it must end in Peel&rsquo;s being Prime Minister.
+What a foolish proverb that is that &lsquo;honesty is the best
+policy!&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>I am just come home from breakfasting with Henry Taylor
+to meet Wordsworth; the same party as when he had Southey&mdash;Mill,
+Elliot, Charles Villiers. Wordsworth may be bordering
+on sixty; hard-featured, brown, wrinkled, with prominent
+teeth and a few scattered grey hairs, but nevertheless
+not a disagreeable countenance; and very cheerful, merry,
+courteous, and talkative, much more so than I should have
+expected from the grave and didactic character of his writings.
+He held forth on poetry, painting, politics, and metaphysics,
+and with a great deal of eloquence; he is more conversible
+and with a greater flow of animal spirits than Southey. He
+mentioned that he never wrote down as he composed, but
+composed walking, riding, or in bed, and wrote down after;
+that Southey always composes at his desk. He talked a
+great deal of Brougham, whose talents and domestic virtues
+he greatly admires; that he was very generous and affectionate
+in his disposition, full of duty and attention to his
+mother, and had adopted and provided for a whole family of
+his brother&rsquo;s children, and treats his wife&rsquo;s children as if they
+were his own. He insisted upon taking them both with him
+to the drawing-room the other day when he went in state
+as Chancellor. They remonstrated with him, but in vain.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+Introduction of the Reform Bill &mdash; Attitude of the Opposition &mdash; Reform
+Debates &mdash; Peel &mdash; Wilberforce and Canning &mdash; Old Sir Robert Peel &mdash; The City
+Address &mdash; Agitation for Reform &mdash; Effects of the Reform Bill &mdash; Brougham
+as Chancellor &mdash; Brougham at the Horse Guards &mdash; Miss Kemble &mdash; Vote on
+the Timber Duties &mdash; Lord Lansdowne&rsquo;s Opinion of the Bill &mdash; Reform
+Bill carried by one Vote &mdash; The King in Mourning &mdash; The Prince of
+Orange &mdash; Peel&rsquo;s Reserve &mdash; Ministers beaten &mdash; Parliament dissolved by
+the King in Person &mdash; Tumult in both Houses &mdash; Failure of the Whig
+Ministry &mdash; The King in their Hands &mdash; The Elections &mdash; Illumination in
+the City &mdash; The Queen alarmed &mdash; Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s View of the Bill &mdash;
+Lord Grey takes the Garter &mdash; The King at Ascot &mdash; Windsor under
+William IV. &mdash; Brougham at Whitbread&rsquo;s Brewery and at the British
+Museum &mdash; Breakfast at Rogers&rsquo; &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; Quarantine &mdash; Meeting of
+Peers &mdash; New Parliament meets &mdash; Opened by the King &mdash; &lsquo;Hernani&rsquo; at
+Bridgewater House &mdash; The Second Reform Bill &mdash; The King&rsquo;s Coronation
+&mdash; Cobbett&rsquo;s Trial &mdash; Prince Leopold accepts the Crown of Belgium &mdash;
+Peel and the Tories &mdash; A Rabble Opposition &mdash; A Council for the Coronation.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>March 2nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The great day at length arrived, and yesterday
+Lord John Russell moved for leave to bring in his Reform
+Bill. To describe the curiosity, the intensity of the expectation
+and excitement, would be impossible, and the secret
+had been so well kept that not a soul knew what the
+measure was (though most people guessed pretty well) till
+they heard it. He rose at six o&rsquo;clock, and spoke for two
+hours and a quarter&mdash;a sweeping measure indeed, much
+more so than anyone had imagined, because the Ministers
+had said it was one which would give <i>general</i> satisfaction,
+whereas this must dissatisfy all the moderate and will
+probably just stop short enough not to satisfy the Radicals.
+They say it was ludicrous to see the faces of the members
+for those places which are to be disfranchised as they were
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+severally announced, and Wetherell, who began to take
+notes, as the plan was gradually developed, after sundry
+contortions and grimaces and flinging about his arms and
+legs, threw down his notes with a mixture of despair and
+ridicule and horror. Not many people spoke last night:
+Inglis followed John Russell, and Francis Leveson closed the
+debate in the best speech he has ever made, though rather
+too flowery. Everything is easy in these days, otherwise
+how Palmerston, Goderich, and Grant can have joined in a
+measure of this sweeping, violent, and speculative character
+it is difficult to conceive, they who were the disciples of
+Castlereagh and the adherents of Canning; but after the
+Duke of Wellington and Peel carrying the Catholic question,
+Canning&rsquo;s friends advocating Radical Reform, and Eldon
+living to see Brougham on the Woolsack, what may one not
+expect?</p>
+
+<p>What everybody enquires is what line Peel will take, and
+though each party is confident of success in this question, it
+is thought to depend mainly upon the course he adopts and
+the sentiments he expresses. Hitherto he has cautiously
+abstained from committing himself in any way, and he is
+free to act as he thinks best, but he certainly occupies a
+grand position when he has <i>omnium oculos in se conversos</i>,
+and the whole House of Commons looking with unalterable
+anxiety to his opinions and conduct. Such has the course
+of events and circumstances made this man, who is probably
+yet destined to play a great part, and it may be a very
+useful one. God knows how this plan may be received in
+the country, and what may be its fate in Parliament. The
+Duke of Wellington, however, is right enough when he says
+that the great present danger is lest people should be too
+much afraid, for anything like the panic that prevails I
+never saw, the apprehension that enough will not be done
+to satiate the demon of popular opinion, and the disposition
+to submit implicitly to the universal bellow that pervades
+this country for what they call Reform without knowing
+what it is. As to this measure, the greatest evil of it is that
+it is a pure speculation, and may be productive of the best
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE FIRST REFORM BILL.</span>
+consequences, or the worst, or even of none at all, for all that
+its authors and abettors can explain to us or to themselves.</p>
+
+<p>O&rsquo;Connell made his explanation the other night, which
+was wretched, and Stanley&rsquo;s was very good, but it matters
+not; he will tell the people in Ireland that he had a victory,
+and they will believe him. Nevertheless his defeat in Kilkenny
+is an excellent thing, and will contribute greatly to
+destroy the prestige of his power.</p>
+
+<h3>March 3rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Last night the debate went on, nobody
+remarkably speaking but Macaulay and Wetherell; the
+former very brilliant, the latter long, rambling, and amusing,
+and he sat down with such loud and long cheering as everybody
+agreed they had never heard before in the House of
+Commons, and which was taken not so much as a test of the
+merits of the speech as of an indication of the disposition
+of the majority of the House. Wetherell was very good
+fun in a conversation he imagined at Cockermouth between
+Sir James Graham and one of his constituents. It is
+thought very strange that none of the Ministers have spoken,
+except Althorp the first night. The general opinion is
+that the Bill will be lost in the House of Commons, and that
+then Parliament will be dissolved, unless the King should
+take fright and prefer to change his Ministers.</p>
+
+<h3>March 5th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>On Thursday night the great speeches were
+those of Hobhouse on one side and Peel on the other, which
+last was received with the greatest enthusiasm, and some said
+(as usual) that it was the finest oration they had ever heard
+within the walls of Parliament; it seems by the report of it
+to have been very able and very eloquent. The people come
+into the &lsquo;Travellers&rsquo; after the debate, and bring their different
+accounts all tinctured by their particular opinions and prejudices,
+so that the exact truth of the relative merits of
+the speakers is only attainable by the newspaper reports,
+imperfect as they are, the next day. The excitement is
+beyond anything I ever saw. Last night Stanley answered
+Peel in an excellent speech and one which is likely to raise
+his reputation very high. He is evidently desirous of pitting
+himself against Peel, whom he dislikes; and it is probable
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+that they are destined to be the rival leaders of two great
+Parliamentary parties, if things settle down into the ancient
+practices of Parliamentary warfare. The other events of
+last night were the resignation of Charles Wynne and his
+opposition to the Bill, and the unexpected defection from
+Government of Lord Seymour, the Duke of Somerset&rsquo;s son,
+and Jeffrey&rsquo;s speech, which was very able, but somewhat
+tedious.</p>
+
+<h3>March 7th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of,
+but Reform. Every creature one meets asks, What is said
+now? How will it go? What is the last news? What do <i>you</i>
+think? and so it is from morning till night, in the streets, in
+the clubs, and in private houses. Yesterday morning met
+Hobhouse; told him how well I heard he had spoken, and
+asked him what he thought of Peel&rsquo;s speech; he said it was
+brilliant, imposing, but not much in it. Everybody cries up
+(more than usual) the speeches on their own side, and despises
+those on the other, which is peculiarly absurd, because the
+speaking has been very good, and there is so much to be
+said on both sides that the speech of an adversary may be
+applauded without any admission of his being in the right.
+Hobhouse told me he had at first been afraid that his constituents
+would disapprove this measure, as so many of them
+would be disfranchised, but that they had behaved nobly and
+were quite content and ready to make any sacrifices for such
+an object. I asked him if he thought it would be carried;
+he said he did not like to think it would not, for he was
+desirous of keeping what he had, and he was persuaded he
+should lose it if the Bill were rejected. I said it was an
+unlucky dilemma when one-half of the world thought like
+him and the other half were equally convinced that if it be
+carried they shall lose everything.</p>
+
+<p>Dined at Boodle&rsquo;s with the Master of the Rolls and
+Charles Grant, who talked about Peel and the reconstruction
+of the Tory party; that Peel and Wetherell do not <i>yet</i>
+speak, but that the parties have joined, and at the meeting
+at Wetherell&rsquo;s Herries went to represent Peel with sixteen
+or eighteen of his friends. Ross, another of Peel&rsquo;s <i>âmes</i>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE FIRST SIR ROBERT PEEL.</span>
+<i>damnées</i>, told me the same thing and that they would soon
+come together again. Grant said he knew that the Duke of
+Wellington had expressed his readiness to take any part in
+which it was thought he could render service, either a
+prominent or a subordinate one or none at all. If so he
+will be a greater man than he has ever been yet.</p>
+
+<p>Grant talked long and pathetically about the West Indies,
+and told me a curious anecdote on the authority of Scarlett,
+who was present. When Wilberforce went out of Parliament
+he went to Canning and offered him the lead and
+direction of his party (the Saints), urging him to accept it,
+and assuring him that their support would give him a
+strength which to an ambitious man like him was invaluable.
+Canning took three days to consider it, but finally
+declined, and then the party elected Brougham as their
+chief; hence the representation of Yorkshire and many other
+incidents in Brougham&rsquo;s career.</p>
+
+<p>Grant gave me a curious account of old Sir Robert Peel.
+He was the younger son of a merchant, his fortune (very
+small) left to him in the house, and he was not to take it out.
+He gave up the fortune and started in business without a
+shilling, but as the active partner in a concern with two
+other men&mdash;Yates (whose daughter he afterwards married)
+and another&mdash;who between them made up 6,000&#8467;.; from
+this beginning he left 250,000&#8467;. apiece to his five younger
+sons, 60,000&#8467;. to his three daughters each, and 22,000&#8467;. a year
+in land and 450,000&#8467;. in the funds to Peel. In his lifetime he
+gave Peel 12,000&#8467;. a year, the others 3,000&#8467;. and spent 3,000&#8467;.
+himself. He was always giving them money, and for objects
+which it might have been thought he would have undervalued.
+He paid for Peel&rsquo;s house when he built it, and for the Chapeau
+de Paille (2,700 guineas) when he bought it.</p>
+
+<h3>March 10th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The debate has gone on, and is to be over
+to-night; everybody heartily sick of it, but the excitement as
+great as ever. Last night O&rsquo;Connell was very good, and
+vehemently cheered by the Government, Stanley, Duncannon,
+and all, all differences giving way to their zeal; Attwood,
+the other way, good; Graham a total failure, got into
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+nautical terms and a simile about a ship, in which he
+floundered and sank. Sir J. Yorke quizzed him with great
+effect. To-day the City went up with their address, to which
+the King gave a very general answer. There was great
+curiosity to know what his answer would be. I rather think
+this address was got up by Government. Brougham had
+written to Liverpool <i>to encourage the Reformers there</i>, as he
+owned to George Villiers last night; and Pearson was with
+Ellice at the Treasury for an hour the day before this
+address was moved in the City. They have gone so far
+that they certainly wish for agitation here. The Duke of
+Wellington is alarmed; nobody guesses how the question
+will go. Went to Lady Jersey the day before yesterday to
+read her correspondence with Brougham, who flummeried
+her over with notes full of affection and praise, to which she
+responded in the same strain, and so they are friends again.
+While I was reading her reply the Duke of Wellington came
+in, on which she huddled it up, and I conclude he has not
+seen her effusion. News arrived that the Poles have been
+beaten and have submitted. There is a great fall in the
+French funds, as they are expected not to pay their dividends.
+Europe is in a nice mess. The events of a quarter of a
+century would hardly be food for a week now-a-days.</p>
+
+<h3>March 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>It is curious to see the change of opinion
+as to the passing of this Bill. The other day nobody would
+hear of the possibility of it, now everybody is beginning to
+think it will be carried. The tactics of the Opposition have
+been very bad, for they ought to have come to a division
+immediately, when I think Government would have been
+beaten, but it was pretty certain that if they gave time to
+the country to declare itself the meetings and addresses
+would fix the wavering and decide the doubtful. There
+certainly never was anything like the unanimity which pervades
+the country on the subject, and though I do not think
+they will break out into rebellion if it is lost, it is impossible
+not to see that the feeling for it (kept alive as it will be by
+every sort of excitement) must prevail and that if this
+particular Bill is not carried some other must very like it,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PROBABLE RESULTS OF THE REFORM BILL.</span>
+and which, if it is much short of this, will only leave a peg to
+hang fresh discussions upon. The Government is desperate
+and sees no chance of safety but from their success in the
+measure, but I have my doubts whether they will render
+themselves immortal by it. It is quite impossible to guess
+at its effects at present upon the House of Commons in
+the first return which may be made under it, but if a vast
+difference is not made, and if it shall still leave to property
+and personal influence any great extent of power, the Tory
+party, which is sure to be revived, will in all probability be
+too strong for the Reforming Whigs. The Duke of Wellington
+expected to gain strength by passing the Catholic
+question, whereas he was ruined by it.</p>
+
+<h3>March 15th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>It is universally believed that this Bill will
+pass, except by some of the ultras against it, or by the fools.
+But what next? That nobody can tell, though to see the
+exultation of the Government one would imagine they saw
+their way clearly to a result of wonderful good. I have little
+doubt that it will be read a second time, and be a good deal
+battled in Committee. Although they are determined to
+carry it through the Committee with a high hand, and not to
+suffer any alterations, probably some sort of compromise in
+matters of inferior moment will be made. But when it
+comes into operation how disappointed everybody will be,
+and first of all the people! Their imaginations are raised to
+the highest pitch, but they will open their eyes very wide
+when they find no sort of advantage accruing to them, when
+they are deprived of much of the expense and more of the
+excitement of elections, and see a House of Commons constructed
+after their own hearts, which will probably be an
+assembly in all respects inferior to the present. Then they
+will not be satisfied, and as it will be impossible to go back,
+there will be plenty of agitators who will preach that we
+have not gone far enough; and if a Reformed Parliament
+does not do all that popular clamour shall demand, it will be
+treated with very little ceremony. If, however, it be true
+that the tendency of this Bill will be to throw power into the
+hands of the landed interest, we shall have a great Tory
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+party, which will be selfish, bigoted, and ignorant, and a
+Radical party, while the Whig party, who will have carried
+the measure, will sink into insignificance. Such present
+themselves to my mind as possible alternatives, as far as it is
+practicable to take anything like a view of probabilities in
+the chaos and confusion that mighty alterations like these
+produce.</p>
+
+<p>I dined with Lord Grey on Sunday; they are all in high
+spirits. Howick told his father that he had received a letter
+from some merchant in the north praising the Bill, and
+saying he approved of the whole Government except of
+Poulett Thomson. In the evening Brougham, John Russell,
+and others arrived. I hear of Brougham from Sefton,
+with whom he passes most of his spare time, to relieve his
+mind by small talk, <i>persiflage</i>, and the gossip of the day.
+He tells Sefton &lsquo;that he likes his office, but that it is a mere
+plaything and there is nothing to do; his life is too idle, and
+when he has cleared off the arrears, which he shall do forthwith,
+that he really does not know how he shall get rid of
+his time;&rsquo; that &lsquo;he does not suffer the prolixity of counsel,
+and when they wander from the point he brings them back
+and says, &ldquo;You need not say anything on that point; what
+I want to be informed upon is so.&rdquo; He is a wonderful
+man, the most extraordinary I ever saw, but there is more
+of the mountebank than of greatness in all this. It may
+do well enough for Sefton, who is as ignorant as he is sharp
+and shrewd, and captivated with his congenial offhandism,
+but it requires something more than Brougham&rsquo;s flippant
+<i>ipse dixit</i> to convince me that the office of Chancellor
+is such a sinecure and bagatelle. He had a levee the
+other night, which was brilliantly attended&mdash;the Archbishops,
+Duke of Wellington, Lord Grey, a host of people.
+Sefton goes and sits in his private room and sees his receptions
+of people, and gives very amusing accounts of his
+extreme politeness to the Lord Mayor and his cool <i>insouciance</i>
+with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The stories of
+him as told by Sefton would be invaluable to his future
+biographer, and never was a life more sure to be written
+hereafter.</p>
+
+<h3>March 17th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">BROUGHAM AT THE HORSE GUARDS.</span>
+The night before last Wynford attacked
+Brougham&rsquo;s Bill, and got lashed in return with prodigious
+severity. He is resolved to press it, though George Villiers
+told me he had promised Lyndhurst to wait for his
+return to town. Notwithstanding his vapouring about the
+Court of Chancery, and treating it as such child&rsquo;s play,
+Leach affirms (but he is disappointed and hates him) that he
+is a very bad judge and knows nothing of his business. &lsquo;He
+was a very bad advocate; why should he make a good
+judge?&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Reform Bill is just printed, and already are the
+various objections raised against different parts of it, sufficient
+to show that it will be pulled to pieces in Committee.
+Both parties confident of success on the second
+reading, but the country <i>will</i> have it; there is a determination
+on the subject, and a unanimity perfectly marvellous,
+and no demonstration of the unfitness of any of its parts will
+be of any avail; some of its details may be corrected and
+amended, but substantially it must pass pretty much as
+it is.</p>
+
+<p>Brougham has been getting into a squabble with the
+military. At the drawing-room on Thursday they refused to let
+his carriage pass through the Horse Guards, when he ordered
+his coachman to force his way through, which he did. He
+was quite wrong, and it was very unbecoming and undignified.
+Lord Londonderry called for an explanation in the House
+of Lords, when Brougham made a speech, and a very lame
+one. He said he ordered his coachman to go back, who did
+not hear him and went on, and when he had got through he
+thought it was not worth while to turn back. The Lords
+laughed. A few days after he drove over the soldiers in
+Downing Street, who were relieving guard; but this time he
+did no great harm to the men, and it was not his fault, but
+these things are talked of.</p>
+
+<p>Dined yesterday with General Macdonald to meet the
+Kembles. Miss Fanny is near being very handsome from
+the extraordinary expression of her countenance and fine
+eyes, but her figure is not good. She is short, hands and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+feet large, arms handsome, skin dark and coarse, and her
+manner wants ease and repose. Her mother is a very agreeable
+woman. I did not sit next to Fanny, and had no talk
+with her afterwards.</p>
+
+<h3>March 18th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Met Robert Clive yesterday morning; very
+low about the Bill, which he thinks so sure to be carried
+that he questions the expediency of dividing on the second
+reading; complained bitterly of the bad tactics and want of
+union of the party, and especially of Peel&rsquo;s inactivity and
+backwardness in not having rallied and taken the lead more
+than he has; he is in fact so cold, phlegmatic, and calculating
+that he disgusts those who can&rsquo;t do without him as a
+leader; he will always have political but never personal
+influence.</p>
+
+<h3>March 20th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>On Friday night, after not a long but an
+angry and noisy debate, there was a division on the timber
+duties, and Government was beaten by forty-three, all the
+Saints, West Indians, and anti-Free-traders voting with the
+great body of Opposition. Their satisfaction was tumultuous.
+They have long been desirous of bringing Ministers to a trial
+of strength, and they did not care much upon what; they
+wanted to let the world see the weakness of Government,
+and besides on this occasion they hoped that a defeat might
+be prejudicial to the Reform Bill, so that this matter of commercial
+and fiscal policy is not decided on its own merits, but
+is influenced by passion, violence, party tactics, and its
+remote bearing upon another question with which it has no
+immediate relation. Althorp was obliged to abandon his
+original proposition of taking off 5<i>s</i>. from the duty on Baltic
+timber, which is 55<i>s</i>. (and 45<i>s</i>. on deals), and adding 10<i>s</i>. to
+the Canadian, which is already 10<i>s</i>. He proposed instead to
+take off 6<i>s</i>. from the former this year, 6<i>s</i>. next, and 3<i>s</i>. next,
+so as to give plenty of time for the withdrawal of capital,
+and to meet all contingencies. The proposal was not unfair,
+and in other times would have been carried. Poulett Thomson
+made a very good speech, clear and satisfactory. Peel
+was what is called very factious&mdash;that is, in opposition&mdash;just
+what the others were, violent and unreasonable as far as the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE REFORM BILL.</span>
+question is concerned, but acting upon a system having for
+its object to embarrass the Government.</p>
+
+<p>I still think the second reading of the Reform Bill will
+pass, and, all things considered, that it would be the best
+thing that could happen; it is better to capitulate than
+to be taken by storm. The people are unanimous, good-humoured,
+and determined; if the Bill is thrown out, their
+good humour will disappear, the country will be a scene of
+violence and uproar, and a most ferocious Parliament will
+be returned, which will not only carry the question of
+Reform, but possibly do so in a very different form. We
+should see the <i>iræ leonum vincla recusantûm</i>, and this proposition
+is so evident, this state of things is so indisputable,
+that it is marvellous to me how anybody can triumph and
+exult in the anticipation of a victory the consequences of
+which would be more unfortunate than a defeat. If indeed
+a victory could set the matter at rest, confirm our present institutions,
+and pacify the people, it would be very well; but
+Reform the people will have, and no human power, moral or
+physical, can now arrest its career. It would be better, then,
+to concede with a good grace, and to modify the measure in
+Committee, which may still be practicable, than to oppose
+it point blank without a prospect of success.</p>
+
+<h3>March 22nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The debate began again last night, and was
+adjourned. It was dull, and the House impatient. To-night
+they will divide, and after a thousand fluctuations of opinion
+it is thought the Bill will be thrown out by a small majority.
+Then will come the question of a dissolution, which one side
+affirms will take place directly, and the other that the King
+will not consent to it, knowing, as &lsquo;the man in the street&rsquo; (as
+we call him at Newmarket) always does, the greatest secrets
+of kings, and being the confidant of their most hidden
+thoughts. As for me, I see nothing but a choice of difficulties
+either way, and victory or defeat would be equally bad.
+It is odd enough, but I believe Lord Lansdowne thinks just
+the same, for he asked me yesterday morning what I expected
+would be the result, and I told him my opinion on the whole
+question, and he replied, &lsquo;I can add nothing to what you
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+have said; that is exactly my own opinion,&rsquo; and I have very
+little doubt that more than half the Cabinet in their hearts
+abhor the measure. Knatchbull was taken ill in the morning,
+and could not go to the House at all.</p>
+
+<h3>March 23rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The House divided at three o&rsquo;clock this
+morning, and the second reading was carried by a majority
+of <i>one</i> in the fullest House that ever was known&mdash;303 to 302&mdash;both
+parties confident up to the moment of division; but the
+Opposition most so, and at last the Government expected to
+be beaten. Denman told somebody as they were going to
+divide that the question would be lost; Calcraft and the
+Wynnes&rsquo; going over at the eleventh hour did the business.
+I believe that this division is the best thing that could
+happen, and so I told the Duke in the morning, and that I
+had wished it to be carried by a small majority; I met him
+walking with Arbuthnot in the Park. He said, &lsquo;I could not
+take such a course&rsquo; (that was in answer to my saying I
+wished it to be read a second time, to be lost in the Committee).
+I said, &lsquo;But you would have nothing to do with it
+personally.&rsquo; &lsquo;No; but as belonging to the party I could not
+recommend such a course,&rsquo; which seemed as if he did not
+altogether disagree with my view of it. I stopped at the
+&lsquo;Travellers&rsquo; till past three, when a man came in and told me
+the news. I walked home, and found the streets swarming
+with members of Parliament coming from the House. My
+belief is (if they manage well and are active and determined)
+that the Bill will be lost in Committee, and then this will be
+the best thing that could have occurred.</p>
+
+<h3>March 24th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The agitation the other night on the division
+was prodigious. The Government, who stayed in the
+House, thought they had lost it by ten, and the Opposition,
+who were crowded in the lobby, fancied from their numbers
+that they were sure of winning. There was betting going on
+all night long, and large sums have been won and lost. The
+people in the lobby were miscounted, and they thought they
+had 303. At the levee yesterday and Council; the Government
+are by way of being satisfied, but hardly can be. I met
+the Duke of Wellington afterwards, who owned to me that he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">REFORM BILL CARRIED BY ONE VOTE. </span>
+thought this small majority for the Bill was on the whole the
+best thing that could have occurred, and that seems to be the
+opinion generally of its opponents.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing particularly at the levee; Brougham very good
+fun. The King, who had put off going to the Opera on
+account of the death of his son-in-law Kennedy, appeared in
+mourning (crape, that is), which is reckoned bad taste; the
+public allow natural feeling to supersede law and etiquette,
+but it is too much to extend that courtesy to a &lsquo;son-in-law,&rsquo;
+and his daughter is not in England. Somebody said that
+&lsquo;it was the first time a King of England had appeared in
+mourning that his subjects did not wear.&rsquo; In the evening to
+the Ancient Concert, where the Queen was, and by-the-bye
+in mourning, and the Margravine and Duchess of Gloucester
+too, but they (the two latter) could hardly be mourning for
+Lord Cassilis&rsquo;s son. Horace Seymour, Meynell, and Calvert
+were all turned out of their places in the Lord Chamberlain&rsquo;s
+department on account of their votes the other night.</p>
+
+<p>The change of Ministers at Paris and Casimir Périer&rsquo;s
+speech have restored something like confidence about French
+affairs. The Prince of Orange is gone back to Holland, to his
+infinite disgust; he was escorted by Lady Dudley Stewart
+and Mrs. Fox as far as Gravesend, I believe, where they were
+found the next day in their white satin shoes and evening
+dresses. He made a great fool of himself here, and destroyed
+any sympathy there might have been for his political misfortunes;
+supping, dancing, and acting, and little (rather
+innocent) orgies at these ladies&rsquo; houses formed his habitual
+occupation.</p>
+
+<p>A sort of repose from the cursed Bill for a moment, but
+it is said that many who opposed it before are going to support
+it in Committee; nobody knows. When the Speaker
+put the question, each party roared &lsquo;Aye&rsquo; and &lsquo;No&rsquo; <i>totis
+viribus</i>. He said he did not know, and put it again. After
+that he said, &lsquo;I am not sure, but I think the ayes have it.&rsquo;
+Then the noes went out into the lobby, and the others thought
+they never would have done filing out, and the House looked
+so empty when they were gone that the Government was in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+despair. They say the excitement was beyond anything. I
+continue to hear great complaints of Peel&mdash;of his coldness,
+incommunicativeness, and deficiency in all the qualities
+requisite for a leader, particularly at such a time. There is
+nobody else, or he would be deserted for any man who had
+talents enough to take a prominent part, so much does he
+disgust his adherents. Nobody knows what are his
+opinions, feelings, wishes, or intentions; he will not go <i>en
+avant</i>, and nobody feels any dependence upon him. There is
+no help for it and the man&rsquo;s nature can&rsquo;t be altered. I said
+all this to Ross yesterday, his devoted adherent, and he was
+obliged to own it, with all kinds of regrets and endeavours to
+soften the picture.</p>
+
+<h3>April 14th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The Reform campaign has reopened with a
+violent speech from Hunt denouncing the whole thing as a
+delusion; that the people begin to find out how they are
+humbugged, and that as it will make nothing cheaper they
+don&rsquo;t care about it. The man&rsquo;s drift is not very clear
+whether the Bill is really unpalatable at Preston or whether
+he wants to go further directly. At the same time John
+Russell announced some alterations in the Bill, not, as he
+asserted, trenching upon its principle, but, as the Opposition
+declares, altering it altogether. On the whole, these things
+have inspirited its opponents, and, as they must produce
+delay, are in so far bad for the Reform cause. Besides,
+though the opinion of the country is universally in its favour,
+people are beginning to think that it may be rejected without
+any apprehension of such dreadful consequences ensuing as
+have been predicted. Then the state of Ireland is such that
+it is thought the Ministers cannot encounter a dissolution,
+not that I feel any security on that head, for I believe the
+Cabinet is ruled by two or three men reckless of everything
+provided they can prolong their own power.</p>
+
+<h3>April 24th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Newmarket all last week, and returned
+to town last night to hear from those who saw them the extraordinary
+scenes in both Houses of Parliament (the day before)
+which closed the eventful week. The Reform battle began
+again on Monday last. The night before I went out of town
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DEFEAT AND DISSOLUTION.</span>
+I met Duncannon, and walked with him up Regent Street,
+when he told me that he did not believe the Ministers would
+be beaten, but if they were they should certainly dissolve
+instantly; that <i>he</i> should have liked to dissolve long ago,
+but they owed it to their friends not to have recourse to a
+dissolution if they could help it. On Monday General
+Gascoyne moved that the Committee should be instructed
+not to reduce the members of the House of Commons, and
+this was carried after two nights&rsquo; debate by eight. The dissolution
+was then decided upon. Meanwhile Lord Wharncliffe
+gave notice of a motion to address the King not to
+dissolve Parliament, and this was to have come on on Friday.
+On Thursday the Ministers were again beaten in the House
+of Commons on a question of adjournment, and on Friday
+morning they got the King to go down and prorogue Parliament
+in person the same day. This <i>coup d&rsquo;état</i> was so
+sudden that nobody was aware of it till within two or three
+hours of the time, and many not at all. They told him that
+the cream-coloured horses could not be got ready, when he
+said, &lsquo;Then I will go with anybody else&rsquo;s horses.&rsquo; Somebody
+went off in a carriage to the Tower, to fetch the Crown, and
+they collected such attendants as they could find to go with
+his Majesty. The Houses met at one or two o&rsquo;clock. In the
+House of Commons Sir R. Vyvyan made a furious speech,
+attacking the Government on every point, and (excited as he
+was) it was very well done. The Ministers made no reply,
+but Sir Francis Burdett and Tennyson endeavoured to interrupt
+with calls to order, and when the Speaker decided that
+Vyvyan was not out of order Tennyson disputed his opinion,
+which enraged the Speaker, and soon after called up Peel,
+for whom he was resolved to procure a hearing. The scene
+then resembled that which took place on Lord North&rsquo;s
+resignation in 1782, for Althorp (I think) moved that Burdett
+should be heard, and the Speaker said that &lsquo;Peel was in
+possession of the House to speak on that motion.&rsquo; He made
+a very violent speech, attacking the Government for their
+incompetence, folly, and recklessness, and treated them with
+the utmost asperity and contempt. In the midst of his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+speech the guns announced the arrival of the King, and at
+each explosion the Government gave a loud cheer, and Peel
+was still speaking in the midst of every sort of noise and
+tumult when the Usher of the Black Rod knocked at the door
+to summon the Commons to the House of Peers. There
+the proceedings were if possible still more violent and outrageous;
+those who were present tell me it resembled
+nothing but what we read of the &lsquo;Serment du Jeu de Paume,&rsquo;
+and the whole scene was as much like the preparatory days
+of a revolution as can well be imagined. Wharncliffe was
+to have moved an address to the Crown against dissolving
+Parliament, and this motion the Ministers were resolved
+should not come on, but he contrived to bring it on so far as
+to get it put upon the Journals. The Duke of Richmond
+endeavoured to prevent any speaking by raising points of
+order, and moving that the Lords should take their regular
+places (in separate ranks), which, however, is impossible at
+a royal sitting, because the cross benches are removed; this
+put Lord Londonderry in such a fury that he rose, roared,
+gesticulated, held up his whip, and four or five Lords held
+him down by the tail of his coat to prevent his flying on
+somebody. Lord Lyndhurst was equally furious, and some
+sharp words passed which were not distinctly heard. In the
+midst of all the din Lord Mansfield rose and obtained a
+hearing. Wharncliffe said to him, &lsquo;For God&rsquo;s sake, Mansfield,
+take care what you are about, and don&rsquo;t disgrace us
+more in the state we are in.&rsquo; &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t be afraid,&rsquo; he said; &lsquo;I
+will say nothing that will alarm you;&rsquo; and accordingly he
+pronounced a trimming philippic on the Government, which,
+delivered as it was in an imposing manner, attired in his
+robes, and with the greatest energy and excitation, was prodigiously
+effective. While he was still speaking, the King
+arrived, but he did not desist even while his
+Majesty<a name="FNA_14_01" id="FNA_14_01"></a><a href="#FN_14_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT.</span>
+entering the House of Lords, nor till he approached the
+throne; and while the King was ascending the steps, the
+hoarse voice of Lord Londonderry was heard crying &lsquo;Hear,
+hear, hear!&rsquo; The King from the robing-room heard the
+noise, and asked what it all meant. The conduct of the
+Chancellor was most extraordinary, skipping in and out of
+the House and making most extraordinary speeches. In
+the midst of the uproar he went out of the House, when
+Lord Shaftesbury was moved into the chair. In the middle
+of the debate Brougham again came in and said, &lsquo;it was
+most extraordinary that the King&rsquo;s undoubted right to dissolve
+Parliament should be questioned at a moment when
+the House of Commons had taken the unprecedented course
+of stopping the supplies,&rsquo; and having so said (which was a
+lie) he flounced out of the House to receive the King on his arrival.
+The King ought not properly to have worn the
+Crown, never having been crowned; but when he was in the
+robing-room he said to Lord Hastings, &lsquo;Lord Hastings, I
+wear the Crown; where is it?&rsquo; It was brought to him, and
+when Lord Hastings was going to put it on his head he said,
+&lsquo;Nobody shall put the Crown on my head but myself.&rsquo; He
+put it on, and then turned to Lord Grey and said, &lsquo;Now, my
+Lord, the coronation is over.&rsquo; George Villiers said that in
+his life he never saw such a scene, and as he looked at the
+King upon the throne with the Crown loose upon his head,
+and the tall, grim figure of Lord Grey close beside him with
+the sword of state in his hand, it was as if the King had
+got his executioner by his side, and the whole picture looked
+strikingly typical of his and our future destinies.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_01" id="FN_14_01"></a><a href="#FNA_14_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+When Lord Mansfield sat down he said, &lsquo;I have spoken English to
+them at least.&rsquo; Lord Lyndhurst told me that Lord Mansfield stopped
+speaking as soon as the door opened to admit the King. He said he never
+saw him so excited before, and in his robes he looked very grand. He also
+told me that he was at Lady Holland&rsquo;s giving an account of the scene
+when Brougham came in. He said, &lsquo;I was telling them what passed the
+other day in our House,&rsquo; when Brougham explained his part by saying that
+the Usher of the Black Rod (Tyrwhit) was at his elbow saying, &lsquo;My Lord
+Chancellor, you must come; the King is waiting for you: come along; you
+must come,&rsquo; and that he was thus dragged out of the House in this hurry
+and without having time to sit down or say any more.</p></div>
+
+<p>Such has been the termination of this Parliament and of
+the first act of the new Ministerial drama; there never was
+a Government ousted with more ignominy than the last, nor
+a Ministry that came in with higher pretensions, greater
+professions, and better prospects than the present, but
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+nothing ever corresponded less than their performances
+with their pretensions. The composition of the Government
+was radically defective, and with a good deal of loose talent
+there was so much of passion, folly, violence, and knavery,
+together with inexperience and ignorance mixed up with it,
+that from the very beginning they cut the sorriest possible
+figure. Such men as Richmond, Durham, Althorp, and
+Graham, in their different ways, were enough to spoil any
+Cabinet, and consequently their course has been marked by
+a series of blunders and defeats. Up to the moment of the
+dissolution few people expected it would happen, some
+thinking the King would not consent, others that the
+Government would never venture upon it, but the King is
+weak and the Ministry reckless. That disposition, which at
+first appeared so laudable, of putting himself implicitly into
+the hands of his Ministers, and which seemed the more so
+from the contrast it afforded to the conduct of the late King,
+who was always thwarting his Ministers, throwing difficulties
+in their way, and playing a double part, becomes
+vicious when carried to the extent of paralysing all free
+action and free opinion on his part, and of suffering himself
+to be made the instrument of any measures, however violent.
+It may be said, indeed, that he cordially agrees with these
+men, and has opinions coincident with theirs, but this is not
+probable; and when we remember his unlimited confidence in
+the Duke up to the moment of his resignation, it is impossible
+to believe that he can have so rapidly imbibed principles the
+very reverse of those which the Duke
+maintained.<a name="FNA_14_02" id="FNA_14_02"></a><a href="#FN_14_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+It is more likely that he has no opinions, and is really a mere
+puppet in the hands into which he may happen to fall. Lord
+Mansfield had an audience, and gave him his sentiments
+upon the state of affairs. He will not say what passed
+between them, but it is clear that it was of no use.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_02" id="FN_14_02"></a><a href="#FNA_14_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+The King was extremely opposed to the dissolution, and had remonstrated
+against it ever since it was first proposed to him in March. See
+Lord Grey&rsquo;s letter in the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; of March 26, 1866.</p></div>
+
+<p>The Queen and the Royal Family are extremely unhappy
+at all these things, but the former has no influence whatever
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE GENERAL ELECTION.</span>
+with the King. In the meantime there are very different
+opinions as to the result of the elections, some thinking that
+Government will not gain much by the dissolution, others
+that they (or at least Reform) will win everything. It seems
+to me quite impossible that they should not win everything,
+but time is gained to the other side. The census of 1831 will
+be out, and the chapter of accidents may and must make much
+difference; still I see no possibility of arresting the progress
+of Reform, and whether this Bill or another like it passes is
+much the same thing. The Government have made it up
+with O&rsquo;Connell, which is one mouthful of the dirty pudding
+they have had to swallow, as one of their own friends said of
+them.</p>
+
+<h3>April 26th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Last night at the Queen&rsquo;s ball; heaps of
+people of all sorts; everybody talking of the elections. Both
+parties pretend to be confident, but the Government with
+the best reason. The county members, as Sefton says, are
+tumbling about like nine-pins, and though it seems not
+improbable that the Opposition will gain in the boroughs,
+they must lose greatly in the counties; and we must not
+only look to the relative numbers, but to the composition of
+the respective parties. A large minority composed of borough
+nominees, corporation members, and only a sprinkling of
+what is called independence would not look well. Large
+sums have been subscribed on both sides, but on that of the
+Opposition there is a want of candidates more than of places
+to send them to.</p>
+
+<p>I met Lyndhurst last night, and asked him what it was
+he said in the House of Lords. He said it was nothing very
+violent, but that it was not heard. The Duke of Richmond
+had spoken to the point of order, and said in a very marked
+way &lsquo;he saw a noble Earl sitting by a <i>junior</i> Baron.&rsquo; This
+was Lyndhurst, who was offended at the sneer upon his want
+of <i>ancienneté</i>, and who retorted that before the noble Duke
+made such speeches on points of order he would do well to
+make himself acquainted with the orders of the House, of
+which it was obvious he knew nothing. The Duke of Devonshire
+told Lady Lyndhurst that her husband ought to resign
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+his judicial situation because he had displayed hostility to
+Government the other night, but it would be a new maxim
+to establish that the judges were to be amenable to the
+Minister for their political opinions and Parliamentary conduct.</p>
+
+<h3>April 29th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The night before last there was an illumination,
+got up by the foolish Lord Mayor, which of course
+produced an uproar and a general breaking of obnoxious
+windows. Lord Mansfield and the Duke of Buccleuch went
+to Melbourne in the morning and remonstrated, asking what
+protection he meant to afford to their properties. A gun
+(with powder only) was fired over the heads of the mob from
+Apsley House, and they did not go there again. The Government
+might have discouraged this manifestation of triumph,
+but they wished for it for the purpose of increasing the
+popular excitement. They don&rsquo;t care what they do, or what
+others do, so long as they can keep the people in a ferment.
+It is disgusting to the last degree to hear their joy and exultation
+at the success of their measures and the good prospects
+held out to them by the elections; all of which may
+turn out very well, but if it does not &lsquo;who shall set hoddy-doddy
+up again?&rsquo; Lord Cleveland has subscribed 10,000&#8467;. to
+the election fund.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Yarborough, by a very questionable piece of political
+morality, has given the Holmes boroughs in the Isle of Wight
+to Government; they are the property of Sir L. Holmes&rsquo;s
+daughter, whose guardian he is as well as executor under
+the will. In this capacity he has the disposal of the boroughs,
+and he gives them to the Ministers to fill with men who are
+to vote for their disfranchisement. A large price is paid for
+them&mdash;4,000&#8467;.&mdash;but it makes a difference of eight votes, and if
+the Bill is carried they will be worth nothing. The elections
+promise well for Government even in the boroughs, as I was
+persuaded they would. O&rsquo;Connell has put forth a proclamation
+entreating, commanding peace, order, and support of the
+Bill&rsquo;s supporters. Tom Moore called on me yesterday morning.
+He said that he was a Reformer and liked the Bill, but he
+was fully aware of all that it might produce of evil to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE QUEEN ALARMED IN THE CITY.</span>
+present system. He owned frankly that he felt like an Irishman
+and that the wrongs of Ireland and the obstinacy of
+the faction who had oppressed her still rankled in his heart,
+and that he should not be sorry at any vengeance which
+might overtake them at last. I hear renewed complaints of
+Peel, of his selfish, cold, calculating, cowardly policy; that
+we are indebted to him principally for our present condition
+I have no doubt&mdash;to his obstinacy and to his conduct in the
+Catholic question first, to his opposition and then to his support
+of it. Opposing all and every sort of Reform <i>totis viribus</i>
+while he dared, now he makes a death-bed profession of
+acquiescence in something which should be more moderate
+than this. All these things disgust people inconceivably, and
+it is not the less melancholy that he is our only resource, and
+his capacity for business and power in the House of Commons
+places him so far above all his competitors that if we
+are to have a Conservative party we must look to him alone
+to lead it.</p>
+
+<h3>May 7th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing could go on worse than the elections&mdash;Reformers
+returned everywhere, so much so that the
+contest is over, and we have only to await the event and
+see what the House of Lords will do. In the House of
+Commons the Bill is already carried. It is supposed that the
+Ministers themselves begin to be alarmed at the devil they
+have let loose, and well they may; but he is out, and stop
+him who can. The King has put off his visit to the City
+because he is ill, as the Government would have it believed,
+but really because he is furious with the Lord Mayor at all
+the riots and uproar on the night of the illumination. That
+night the Queen went to the Ancient Concert, and on her
+return the mob surrounded the carriage; she had no guards,
+and the footmen were obliged to beat the people off with
+their canes to prevent their thrusting their heads into the
+coach. She was frightened and the King very much annoyed.
+He heard the noise and tumult, and paced backwards and
+forwards in his room waiting for her return. When she
+came back Lord Howe, her chamberlain, as usual preceded
+her, when the King said, &lsquo;How is the Queen?&rsquo; and went
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+down to meet her. Howe, who is an eager anti-Reformer,
+said, &lsquo;Very much frightened, sir,&rsquo; and made the worst of it.
+She was in fact terrified, and as she detests the whole of
+these proceedings, the more distressed and disgusted. The
+King was very angry and immediately declared he would
+not go to the City at all. It is supposed that Government
+will make a large batch of Peers to secure the Bill in the
+House of Lords, but the press have already begun to attack
+that House, declaring that if they pass the Bill it will be
+from compulsion, and if they do not that they are the enemies
+of the people.</p>
+
+<h3>May 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The elections are going on universally in
+favour of Reform; the great interests in the counties are
+everywhere broken, and old connexions dissevered. In Worcestershire
+Captain Spencer, who has nothing to do with the
+county, and was brought there by his brother-in-law, Lord
+Lyttelton, has beaten Lygon, backed by all the wealth of his
+family; the Manners have withdrawn from Leicestershire and
+Cambridgeshire, and Lord E. Somerset from Gloucestershire;
+Lord Worcester too is beaten at Monmouth. Everywhere
+the tide is irresistible; all considerations are sacrificed
+to the success of the measure. At the last Essex election
+Colonel Tyrrell saved Western, who would have been beaten
+by Long Wellesley, and now Western has coalesced with Wellesley
+against Tyrrell, and will throw him out. In Northamptonshire
+Althorp had pledged himself to Cartwright not
+to bring forward another candidate on his side, and Milton
+joins him and stands. The state of excitement, doubt, and
+apprehension which prevails will not quickly subside, for the
+battle is only beginning; when the Bill is carried we must
+prepare for the second act.</p>
+
+<h3>May 14th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The elections are still going for Reform. They
+count upon a majority of 140 in the House of Commons, but
+the Tories meditate resistance in the House of Lords, which
+it is to be hoped will be fruitless, and it is probable the Peers
+will trot round as they did about the Catholic question when
+it comes to the point. There is a great hubbub at Northampton
+about a pledge which Althorp is supposed to have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD MUNSTER&rsquo;S PEERAGE.</span>
+given not to bring forward another candidate against Cartwright
+which the anti-Reformers say he has violated in
+putting up Milton, and moreover that such conduct is very
+dishonest; and as his honesty was his principal recommendation,
+if he should have forfeited that what would remain to
+him? On the contrary his friends say that he gave no such
+pledge, that he expressed a hope there might be no contest,
+but the people would have Milton, and though Althorp regretted
+his standing, as he did stand they were obliged to
+join for their common safety. So much for this electioneering
+squabble, of which time will elicit the truth. Last night I
+went to Prince Leopold&rsquo;s, where was George Fitzclarence
+receiving congratulations on his new dignity (Earl of
+Munster). He told me everybody had been very kind about
+it&mdash;the King, Lord Grey, his friends, and the public. He had
+told Lord Grey he was anxious his brothers and sisters
+should have the rank of marquis&rsquo;s sons and daughters (to
+give them titles). Grey had only objected that their titles
+would then represent a higher rank than his
+own,<a name="FNA_14_03" id="FNA_14_03"></a><a href="#FN_14_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+but that
+he laid no stress on that objection, and it would be done
+directly. Melbourne has written a letter to the Lord Mayor
+assuring him that ill health is the only obstacle to the King&rsquo;s
+visit to the City, and that there is no foundation for the
+report of his displeasure, the Lord Mayor&rsquo;s explanation
+having proved quite satisfactory. This is not true, I believe,
+but they make him say so.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_03" id="FN_14_03"></a><a href="#FNA_14_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[If Lord Grey said this it was a mistake. The younger sons and
+daughters of marquises take rank after earls.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>May 22nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Epsom all last week for the races at a
+house which Lord Chesterfield took; nobody there but the
+three
+sisters<a name="FNA_14_04" id="FNA_14_04"></a><a href="#FN_14_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+and their two husbands. Rode out on the downs
+every morning, and enjoyed the fine country, as beautiful as
+any I have seen of the kind. After the races on Friday
+I went to Richmond to dine with Lord and Lady Lyndhurst,
+and was refreshed by his vigorous mind after the three or
+four days I had passed. He thinks the state of things very
+bad, has a great contempt for this Government, is very
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+doubtful what will happen, thinks Lord Grey will not stand,
+and that Brougham will be Chancellor and Prime Minister,
+like Clarendon; he talked of the late Government, the Duke
+of Wellington and Peel; he said that the former meddled
+with no department but that of Foreign Affairs, which he
+conducted entirely; that he understood them better than
+anything else, and if he came into office again would be
+Foreign Secretary; that in the Cabinet he was always candid,
+reasonable, and ready to discuss fairly every subject, but
+not so Peel. He, if his opinion was not adopted, would take
+up a newspaper and sulk. Lyndhurst agreed with me about
+his manners, his coldness, and how he disgusted instead of
+conciliating people; he said that when any of his friends in
+Parliament proposed to speak in any debate, he never encouraged
+or assisted them, but answered with a dry &lsquo;Do you?&rsquo;
+to their notification of a wish or intention. He said that this
+Bill was drawn up by Lambton himself, but so ill done, so
+ignorantly and inefficiently, that they were obliged to send
+for Harrison, who, in conjunction with the Attorney-General,
+drew it up afresh; that when John Russell brought it forward
+the Bill was still
+undrawn.<a name="FNA_14_05" id="FNA_14_05"></a><a href="#FN_14_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+He says that there is not
+the least doubt they never had an idea of bringing forward
+any such measure as this till they found themselves so weak
+in the House of Commons that nothing but a popular cry and
+Radical support could possibly save them. It is very remarkable
+when we look back to the moment of the dissolution of
+the late Government, when Brougham was in the House of
+Commons armed with his Bill, which, though unknown, was
+so dreaded, and which turns out to have been mere milk and
+water compared with this. He said Brougham was offered
+the Attorney-Generalship by a note, which he tore in pieces
+and stamped upon, and sent word that there was no answer;
+that he has long aspired to be Chancellor, and wished to get
+into the House of Lords. He ridicules his pretensions to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD BROUGHAM AS A JUDGE.</span>
+such wonderful doings in his Court and in the Bills he has announced;
+says that he has decided no bankruptcy cases, and,
+except some Scotch appeals in the House of Lords, has got
+rid of hardly any arrears; and as to his Bills, the Bankruptcy
+Bill was objectionable and the Chancery Bill he has
+never brought on at all; that he knows he affects a short cut
+to judicial eminence, but that without labour and reading
+he cannot administer justice in that Court, although no
+doubt his great acuteness and rapid perception may often
+enable him at once to see the merits of a case and hit upon
+the important points. This he said in reply to what I
+told him of Brougham&rsquo;s trumpeter Sefton, who echoes from
+his own lips that &lsquo;the Court of Chancery is such a sinecure
+and mere child&rsquo;s play.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_04" id="FN_14_04"></a><a href="#FNA_14_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[Lady Chesterfield, Mrs. Anson, and Miss Forester.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_05" id="FN_14_05"></a><a href="#FNA_14_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[Compare the details of the preparation of the Reform Bill published
+by Lord Russell in the last edition of his &lsquo;Essay on the British Constitution.&rsquo;
+Much of this conversation of Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s is extremely wide of the
+truth, but it is retained to show what was said and believed by competent
+persons at the time.]</p></div>
+
+<p>In the meantime the elections have been going languidly
+on, and are now nearly over; contrary to the prognostications
+of the Tories, they have gone off very quietly, even in Ireland
+not many contests, the anti-Reformers being unable to
+make any fight at all; except in Shropshire they are dead-beat
+everywhere. Northamptonshire the sharpest contest,
+and the one which has made the most ill blood; this particular
+election has produced a good deal of violence; elsewhere
+the Reformers have it hollow, no matter what the
+characters of the candidates, if they are only for the Bill.
+Calcraft and Wellesley, the former not respected, the latter
+covered with disgrace, have beat Bankes and Tyrrell. Lowther
+had not a chance in Cumberland, where Sir James
+Graham got into another scrape, for in an impertinent speech
+he made an attack upon Scarlett, which drew upon him a
+message and from him an apology. Formerly, when a man
+made use of offensive expressions and was called to account,
+he thought it right to go out and stand a shot before he ate
+his words, but now-a-days that piece of chivalry is dispensed
+with, and politicians make nothing of being scurrilous one
+day and humble the next. Hyde Villiers has been appointed
+to succeed Sandon at the Board of Control as a Whig and a
+Reformer. He was in a hundred minds what line he should
+take, and had written a pamphlet to prove the necessity of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+giving Ministers seats in both Houses (as in France), which
+he has probably put in the fire. I am very glad he has got
+the place, and though his opinions were not very decided
+before, he has always been anti-Tory, and has done nothing
+discreditable to get it, and it was offered to him in a very
+flattering manner.</p>
+
+<h3>May 28th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday Lord Grey was invested with the
+blue ribband, though there is no vacancy; the only precedent
+is that of Lords Liverpool and Castlereagh (which was
+thought wrong), but it was on the occasion of the peace
+after Bonaparte&rsquo;s overthrow and when Castlereagh returned
+with such <i>éclat</i> from Paris that the whole House of Commons
+rose and cheered him as he entered it.</p>
+
+<p>I met Alexander Baring the other night, who said it was
+certain that the King was full of regrets at the extent of the
+measures into which he had been hurried, when I told him
+of Lord Grey&rsquo;s Garter, and asked him what he said to that,
+and how that bore out the assertion of the King&rsquo;s regrets.
+The fact is that although on one side a most indecent though
+effectual use of the King&rsquo;s name has been made, on the other
+there is nothing that is not asserted with equal confidence
+about &lsquo;his difficulties and his scruples.&rsquo; Sefton told me that
+it was the sort of things that were said that made the King
+write to Lord Grey (he saw the letter) and tell him that he
+thought it of the greatest importance at the present moment
+to confer upon him a signal mark of his regard and of his
+satisfaction with the whole of his conduct. It is, I believe,
+true that the King felt some alarm and some doubt about
+the dissolution, but I do not believe that he has any doubts
+or fears at present. Indeed, how should he not have suffered
+himself to be led away by these people and to become identified
+with their measure? They have given him an ample
+share of the praise of it; they assure him it will be eminently
+successful; he sees himself popular and applauded to the
+skies, and as far as things have gone it has been successful,
+for the elections have gone on and gone off very peaceably,
+and the country in expectation of the passing of the Bill is
+in a state of profound tranquillity.</p>
+
+
+<h3>June 5th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING AT ASCOT.</span>
+All last week at Fern Hill for the Ascot races;
+the Chesterfields, Tavistocks, Belfasts, George Ansons, Montague,
+Stradbroke, and Brooke Greville were there. The Royal
+Family came to the course the first day with a great <i>cortége</i>&mdash;eight
+coaches and four, two phaetons, pony sociables, and
+led horses&mdash;Munster riding on horseback behind the King&rsquo;s
+carriage, Augustus (the parson) and Frederick driving phaetons.
+The Duke of Richmond was in the King&rsquo;s calèche
+and Lord Grey in one of the coaches. The reception was
+strikingly cold and indifferent, not half so good as that
+which the late King used to receive. William was bored
+to death with the races, and his own horse broke down. On
+Wednesday he did not come; on Thursday they came again.
+Beautiful weather and unprecedented multitudes. The King
+was much more cheered than the first day, or the greater
+number of people made a greater noise. A few cheers were
+given to Lord Grey as he returned, which he just acknowledged
+and no more. On Friday we dined at the Castle;
+each day the King asked a crowd of people from the neighbourhood.
+We arrived at a little before seven; the Queen
+was only just come in from riding, so we had to wait till
+near eight. Above forty people at dinner, for which the
+room is not nearly large enough; the dinner was not bad,
+but the room insufferably hot. The Queen was taken
+out by the Duke of Richmond, and the King followed
+with the Duchess of Saxe Weimar, the Queen&rsquo;s sister. He
+drinks wine with everybody, asking seven or eight at a time.
+After dinner he drops asleep. We sat for a short time.
+Directly after coffee the band began to play; a good band,
+not numerous, and principally of violins and stringed instruments.
+The Queen and the whole party sat there all the
+evening, so that it was, in fact, a concert of instrumental
+music. The King took Lady Tavistock to St. George&rsquo;s Hall
+and the ball room, where we walked about, with two or three
+servants carrying lamps to show the proportions, for it was
+not lit up. The whole thing is exceedingly magnificent, and
+the manner of life does not appear to be very formal, and
+need not be disagreeable but for the bore of never dining
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+without twenty strangers. The Castle holds very few people,
+and with the King&rsquo;s and Queen&rsquo;s immediate suite and <i>toute la
+bâtardise</i> it was quite full. The King&rsquo;s four sons were
+there, <i>signoreggianti tutti</i>, and the whole thing &lsquo;donnait à
+penser&rsquo; to those who looked back a little and had seen other
+days. We sat in that room in which Lyndhurst has often
+talked to me of the famous five hours&rsquo; discussion with the
+late King, when the Catholic Bill hung upon his caprice.
+Palmerston told me he had never been in the Castle since
+the eventful day of Herries&rsquo; appointment and non-appointment;
+and how many things have happened since. What a
+<i>changement de décoration</i>; no longer George IV., capricious,
+luxurious, and misanthropic, liking nothing but the society
+of listeners and flatterers, with the Conyngham tribe and
+one or two Tory Ministers and foreign Ambassadors; but a
+plain, vulgar, hospitable gentleman, opening his doors to all
+the world, with a numerous family and suite, a Whig
+Ministry, no foreigners, and no toad-eaters at all. Nothing
+can be more different, and looking at him one sees
+how soon this act will be finished, and the same be changed
+for another probably not less dissimilar. Queen, bastards,
+Whigs,<a name="FNA_14_06" id="FNA_14_06"></a><a href="#FN_14_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+all will disappear, and God knows what replaces
+them. Came to town yesterday, and found a quarrel between
+Henry Bentinck and Sir Roger Gresley, which I had to
+settle, and did settle amicably in the course of the evening.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_06" id="FN_14_06"></a><a href="#FNA_14_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+Not Whigs&mdash;they are <i>les bienvenus</i>, which they were not before.&mdash;<i>July
+1838</i>.</p></div>
+
+<h3>June 7th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with Sefton yesterday, who gave me an
+account of a dinner at Fowell Buxton&rsquo;s on Saturday to see
+the brewery, at which Brougham was the &lsquo;magnus Apollo.&rsquo;
+Sefton is excellent as a commentator on Brougham; he says
+that he watches him incessantly, never listens to anybody
+else when he is there, and <i>rows</i> him unmercifully afterwards
+for all the humbug, nonsense, and palaver he hears him talk
+to people. They were twenty-seven at dinner. Talleyrand
+was to have gone, but was frightened by being told that he
+would get nothing but beefsteaks and porter, so he stayed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DINNER AT HANBURY&rsquo;S BREWERY.</span>
+away. They dined in the brewhouse and visited the whole
+establishment. Lord Grey was there in star, garter, and ribband.
+There were people ready to show and explain everything,
+but not a bit&mdash;Brougham took the explanation of
+everything into his own hands&mdash;the mode of brewing, the
+machinery, down to the feeding of the cart horses. After
+dinner the account books were brought, and the young Buxtons
+were beckoned up to the top of the table by their father
+to hear the words of wisdom that flowed from the lips of my
+Lord Chancellor. He affected to study the ledger, and made
+various pertinent remarks on the manner of book-keeping.
+There was a man whom Brougham called &lsquo;Cornelius&rsquo; (Sefton
+did not know who he was) with whom he seemed very familiar.
+While Brougham was talking he dropped his voice, on which
+&lsquo;Cornelius&rsquo; said, &lsquo;Earl Grey is listening,&rsquo; that he might
+speak louder and so nothing be lost. He was talking of
+Paley, and said that &lsquo;although he did not always understand
+his own meaning, he always contrived to make it intelligible
+to others,&rsquo; on which &lsquo;Cornelius&rsquo; said, &lsquo;My good friend, if he
+made it so clear to others he must have had some comprehension
+of it himself;&rsquo; on which Sefton attacked him afterwards,
+and swore that &lsquo;he was a mere child in the hands of
+&ldquo;Cornelius,&rdquo;&rsquo; that &lsquo;he never saw anybody so put down.&rsquo;
+These people are all subscribers to the London University,
+and Sefton swears he overheard Brougham tell them
+that &lsquo;Sir Isaac Newton was nothing compared to some of
+the present professors,&rsquo; or something to that effect. I put
+down all this nonsense because it amused me in the recital,
+and is excessively characteristic of the man, one of the most
+remarkable who ever existed. Lady Sefton told me that he
+went with them to the British Museum, where all the officers
+of the Museum were in attendance to receive them. He
+would not let anybody explain anything, but did all the
+honours himself. At last they came to the collection of
+minerals, when she thought he must be brought to a standstill.
+Their conductor began to describe them, when Brougham
+took the words out of his mouth, and dashed off with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+as much ease and familiarity as if he had been a Buckland
+or a Cuvier. Such is the man, a grand mixture of moral,
+political, and intellectual incongruities.</p>
+
+<h3>June 10th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Breakfasted the day before yesterday with
+Rogers, Sydney Smith, Luttrell, John Russell, and Moore;
+excessively agreeable. I never heard anything more entertaining
+than Sydney Smith; such bursts of merriment and
+so dramatic. Breakfasts are the meals for poets. I met
+Wordsworth and Southey at breakfast. Rogers&rsquo; are always
+agreeable.</p>
+
+<h3>June 15th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Five new peerages came out yesterday&mdash;Sefton,
+Kinnaird, Fingall, Leitrim, and Agar Ellis; John
+Russell and Stanley are to be in the Cabinet. At the ball
+at St. James&rsquo;s the other night George Dawson told me that
+they had 270 people in the House of Commons on the side
+of the Opposition, if they could command their attendance;
+that he did not mean to say no Reform Bill would pass, but
+that the details of this Bill had never yet been discussed,
+and when they were it would be so clearly shown that it is
+impracticable that this identical measure never could pass.
+The Opposition are beginning to recover from their discouragement;
+there is to be a meeting at Lord Mansfield&rsquo;s
+on Friday, and they do, I believe, mean to fight it out.</p>
+
+<h3>June 19th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The last few days I have been completely
+taken up with quarantine, and taking means to prevent the
+cholera coming here. That disease made great ravages in
+Russia last year, and in the winter the attention of Government
+was called to it, and the question was raised whether
+we should have to purify goods coming here in case it broke
+out again, and if so how it was to be done. Government
+was thinking of Reform and other matters, and would not
+bestow much attention upon this subject, and accordingly
+neither regulations nor preparations were made. All that
+was done was to commission a Dr. Walker, a physician
+residing at St. Petersburg, to go to Moscow and elsewhere
+and make enquiries into the nature and progress of the
+disease, and report the result of his investigation to us. He
+turned out, however, to be a very useless and inefficient
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE CHOLERA.</span>
+agent. In the meantime as the warm weather returned the
+cholera again appeared in Russia, but still we took no further
+measures until intelligence arrived that it had reached
+Riga, at which place 700 or 800 sail of English vessels,
+loaded principally with hemp and flax, were waiting to come
+to this country. This report soon diffused a general alarm,
+and for many days past the newspapers have been full of
+letters and full of lies, and every sort of representation is
+made to Government or through the press, as fear or interest
+happen to dictate. The Consuls and Ministers abroad had
+been for some time supplying us with such information as
+they could obtain, so that we were in possession of a great
+deal of documentary evidence regarding the nature, character,
+and progress of the disease. The first thing we did
+was to issue two successive Orders in Council placing all
+vessels coming from the Baltic in quarantine, and we sent
+for Sir Henry Halford and placed all the papers we had in
+his hands, desiring that he would associate with himself
+some other practitioners, and report their opinion as speedily
+as possible whether the disease was contagious and whether
+it could be conveyed by goods. They reported the next day
+<i>yes</i> to the first question, <i>no</i> to the second. In 1804, on the
+occasion of the yellow fever at Gibraltar, Government formed
+a Board of Health, and took the opinion of the College of
+Physicians, and it was intended to pursue the same course
+in this instance, but Lords Lansdowne and Auckland chose
+to take Halford&rsquo;s preliminary opinion, contrary to my advice,
+for I foresaw that there would be a great embarrassment if
+he and the College did not agree. Just so it turned out, for
+when the case was submitted, with all the papers, to the
+College, they would not adopt his opinion, much to his
+annoyance, and, as I believe, because they did not like to be
+merely called on to confirm what he had already said, and
+that they thought their independence required a show of
+dissent. The report they sent was very short and very
+unsatisfactory, and entirely against all the evidence they
+had before them; they advised precautionary measures. I
+immediately wrote back an answer saying that their report
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+was not satisfactory, and desiring a more detailed opinion,
+and the reasons which had dictated their conclusion; but in
+the meantime we set to work in earnest to adopt measures
+against any emergency. The only way of performing quarantine
+(with goods), it was found, would be by the employment
+of men-of-war, and we accordingly asked the Admiralty
+to supply ships for the purpose. This Lord Grey, Sir James
+Graham, and Sir Byam Martin objected to, but Sir Thomas
+Hardy and Captain Elliot did not. We proved that the ships
+would sustain no injury, so after a battle they agreed to give
+them. We made a variety of regulations, and gave strict
+orders for the due performance of quarantine, and to-morrow
+a proclamation is to be issued for constituting a Board of
+Health and enjoining obedience to the quarantine laws, so
+that everything has been done that can be done, and if the
+cholera comes here it is not our fault. Most of the authorities
+think it will come, but I doubt it. If indeed it is
+wafted through the air it may, but I don&rsquo;t think it will if
+it is only to be communicated by contact. All the evidence
+proves that goods cannot convey it; nevertheless we have
+placed merchandise under a discretionary quarantine, and
+though we have not promulgated any general regulations, we
+release no vessels that come from infected places, or that
+have got enumerated goods on board. Poulett Thomson,
+who is a trader as well as Privy Councillor, is very much
+disgusted in his former capacity at the measures he is
+obliged to concur in in his latter. This topic has now occupied
+for some days a good deal of the attention even of
+the fine fools of this town, and the Tories would even make
+it a matter of party accusation against the Government,
+only they don&rsquo;t know exactly how. It is always safe to deal
+in generalities, so they say that &lsquo;Government ought to be
+impeached if the disease comes here.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>There was a meeting of Peers to the amount of nearly
+seventy at Lord Mansfield&rsquo;s the other day, which went off
+greatly to their satisfaction. They unanimously agreed to
+determine upon nothing in the way of amendment until they
+had seen the King&rsquo;s Speech, to which, however, they will consider
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">MEETING OF PEERS.</span>
+themselves bound to move an amendment, provided it
+contains anything laudatory of the Reform Bill. The Duke
+of Wellington was not at the meeting, having been taken ill.
+I met him the day before at dinner, and had a good deal of
+conversation with him. He is in pretty good spirits, and
+thinks they may make a good fight of it yet; told me that
+Lyndhurst would certainly go thoroughly with them, praised
+him largely, said he was the best colleague that any man
+ever had, and that he should be very sorry ever to go into
+any Cabinet of which he was not a member. The King
+dined with the Duke yesterday, and was to give him a very
+fine sword. Aubin, who was to have acted in &lsquo;Hernani&rsquo; before
+the Queen on Wednesday next, is suddenly gone off to Rome
+as <i>attaché</i> to Brook Taylor, who is there negotiating.
+Taylor happened to be in Italy, and they sent him there,
+some doubts existing whether they could by law send a
+diplomatic agent to negotiate with the Pope; but it was
+referred to Denman, who said there was no danger. He is
+not accredited, and bears no <i>official</i> character, but it is a
+regular mission. Lord Lansdowne told me that Leopold is
+inconceivably anxious to be King of Belgium, that short of
+going in direct opposition to the wishes and advice of all the
+Royal Family and of the Government he would do anything
+to be beking&rsquo;d, and, what is equally absurd, that the
+others cannot bear that he should be thus elevated.</p>
+
+<h3>June 23rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The King opened Parliament on Tuesday,
+with a greater crowd assembled to see him pass than was
+ever congregated before, and the House of Lords was so full
+of ladies that the Peers could not find places. The Speech
+was long, but good, and such as to preclude the possibility
+of an amendment. There was, however, a long discussion
+in each House, and the greatest bitterness and violence
+evinced in both&mdash;every promise of a stormy session. Lord
+Lansdowne said to the King, &lsquo;I am afraid, sir, you won&rsquo;t be
+able to <i>see</i> the Commons.&rsquo; &lsquo;Never mind,&rsquo; said he; &lsquo;they shall
+<i>hear</i> me, I promise you,&rsquo; and accordingly he thundered forth
+the Speech so that not a word was lost.</p>
+
+<p>There has been a reconciliation between the Wellingtonians
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+and the old Tories, and they are now firmly knit in
+opposition to the present Government. Winchilsea, who
+was the last Tory who stuck to Lord Grey, renounced him
+in a hot speech, which evidently annoyed Lord Grey very
+much, for he made a long one in reply to him. Winchilsea
+is a silly, blustering, but good-natured and well-meaning
+man. Last night &lsquo;Hernani&rsquo; was acted at Bridgewater House
+before the Queen and all the Royal Family. Aubin, who had
+acted Don Ruy, was sent to Rome, so Francis Leveson took
+the part. I was disappointed, though all the company were
+or pretended to be in ecstasies. The rhyme does not do,
+the room is not good for hearing, and with the exception of
+Miss Kemble (who was not so effective as I expected) and
+Craven, the actors were execrable.</p>
+
+<p>News came the day before yesterday that Marshal Diebitsch
+had died of the cholera. It was suspected that he
+had made away with himself, for he has failed so signally
+in his campaign against the Poles that his military reputation
+is tarnished; and it is known that his recall had
+been decreed, and that Count Paskiewitch was to succeed
+him. The alarm about the cholera still continues, but the
+Government are thrown into great perplexity by the danger
+on one hand of the cholera and the loss to trade on the
+other. A board of health has been formed, composed of
+certain members of the College of Physicians, Sir William
+Pym, Sir William Burnet, Sir Byam Martin, Sir James
+M&lsquo;Grigor, and Mr. Stewart; and they in their first sitting
+advised that all the precautions established by our Orders in
+Council against the plague should be adopted against the
+cholera. This opinion was given under the authority of
+Dr. Warren, who, it appears, exercises the same ascendency
+in this Board that he had previously done in the College of
+Physicians on the same subject. The fact is that he takes
+the safe side. They have nothing to do with trade and
+commerce, which must shift for themselves, and probably the
+other members will not take upon themselves the responsibility
+of opposing measures which, if the disease ever
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PREVENTION OF CHOLERA.</span>
+appears here, and should they be relaxed, will expose the
+physicians to the odium and reproach of having been instrumental
+to its introduction. We, however (Auckland,
+Poulett Thomson, and I), are resolved to make the Cabinet
+take upon themselves the responsibility of framing the permanent
+rules which are to guide us during the continuance
+of the malady. It is remarkable that there never was more
+sickness than there is at present, without its being epidemic,
+but thousands of colds, sore throats, fevers, and such like;
+and a man at Blackwall has died of the English cholera, and
+another is ill of it, but their disorders seem to have nothing
+to do with the Indian cholera, though some of the symptoms
+are similar. These men cannot have got their cholera from
+Russia, but their cases spread alarm.</p>
+
+<h3>June 25th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>John Russell brought his Bill in last night,
+in a good speech as his friends, and a dull one as his enemies,
+say. In the Lords Aberdeen attacked Lord Grey&rsquo;s foreign
+policy in a poor speech, which just did to show his bitterness
+and as a peg for Grey to hang a very good reply upon. The
+Duke of Wellington spoke afterwards; not much of a speech,
+but gentlemanlike and anti-factious, and <i>approving</i> of all Lord
+Grey had done about Belgium. Lord Grey passed a very
+fine eulogium upon Lord Ponsonby. However, this was
+necessary, for he is going as Minister to Naples, not having
+a guinea. The Emperor Don Pedro is coming here, and
+Henry Webster is to be his conductor.</p>
+
+<h3>June 30th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Court yesterday to swear in the Duke of
+Leinster, Mr. Justice Vaughan, and Sir E. Hyde East. Lord
+Ponsonby was there, just returned from Brussels. The first
+time of Stanley&rsquo;s and John Russell&rsquo;s being at a Council
+since they came into the Cabinet.</p>
+
+<h3>July 3rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Went to Oatlands on Saturday, returned on
+Monday; nobody there but Emily Eden. Many revolutions
+that place has undergone in my time, from the days of the
+Duke of York and its gaieties (well remembered and much
+regretted) to its present quiet state. The Belgians have not
+yet made up their mind about Leopold, who does not know
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+whether he is king or no king. The Reform Bill came on
+again last night, but it no longer excites so much interest.
+Nobody spoke well but Lord Porchester.</p>
+
+<h3>July 5th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The night before last Lord Harewood attacked
+Brougham in the House of Lords about the appointment of
+a magistrate without consulting him as Lord-Lieutenant.
+As usual his own party say he made out a good case, and
+the others that he made none. They say (and I believe with
+truth) that Brougham does not dislike such scrapes, and is
+so confident in his own ingenuity that he never doubts of
+getting out of them. Lyndhurst attacked him sharply.
+In the House of Commons last night the debate went on
+languidly, except a splendid speech from Macaulay and an
+answer (not bad, they say) from Murray. Lord Grey sent
+for me yesterday morning to talk over the coronation, for in
+consequence of what the Duke of Wellington said in the
+House the night before he thinks there must be one. The
+object is to make it shorter and cheaper than the last,
+which occupied the whole day and cost 240,000&#8467;.</p>
+
+<h3>July 8th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The second reading of the Reform Bill was
+carried at five in the morning by 136 majority, somewhat
+greater than the Opposition had reckoned on. Peel made a
+powerful speech, but not so good as either of his others on
+Reform. Goulburn told me that the speech in answer to
+the Lord Advocate on the Irish Bill, when not 100 people
+were in the House, was his best. The coronation fixed for
+the 23rd. Breakfasted with Rogers; went afterwards to the
+Duchess of Bedford&rsquo;s, where I met Lady Lyndhurst. I desired
+her to tell Lyndhurst all the Duke had said to me about him,
+for in these times it is as well they should draw together. He
+will be a match for Brougham in the House of Lords, for he
+can be concise, which the other cannot, and the Lords in the
+long run will prefer brevity to art, sarcasm, and anything
+else.</p>
+
+<p>People are beginning to recover from their terror of the
+cholera, seeing that it does not come, and we are now beset
+with alarms of a different kind, which are those of the
+Scotch merchants for their cargoes. We have a most
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONTEST IN POLAND.</span>
+disagreeable business on our hands, very troublesome, odious,
+and expensive. The public requires that we should take care
+of its health, the mercantile world that we should not injure
+their trade. All evidence proves that goods are not capable
+of bringing in the disorder, but we have appointed a Board
+of Health, which is contagionist, and we can&rsquo;t get them to
+subscribe to that opinion. We dare not act without its
+sanction, and so we are obliged to air goods. This airing
+requires more ships and lazarets than we have, and the result
+is a perpetual squabbling, disputing, and complaining between
+the Privy Council, the Admiralty, the Board of Health, and
+the merchants. We have gone on pretty well hitherto, but
+more ships arrive every day; the complaints will grow louder,
+and the disease rather spreads than diminishes on the
+Continent. This cholera has afforded strong proofs of the
+partiality of the Prussians in the contest between the
+Russians and the Poles. The quarantine restrictions are
+always dispensed with for officers passing through the
+Prussian territory to join the Russian army. Count Paskiewitch
+was allowed to pass without performing any quarantine
+at all, and stores and provisions are suffered to be
+conveyed to the army, with every facility afforded by the
+Prussian authorities and every relaxation of the sanitary
+laws. The Duke of Wellington says that the contest will very
+soon be over, that the Russian army could not act before
+June, and that between February and June the country is
+not practicable for military operations. They have now so
+many months before them that the weight of their numerical
+superiority will crush the Poles. Austria and Prussia, too,
+do their utmost by affording every sort of indirect assistance
+to the Russians and thwarting the Poles as much as they
+can.</p>
+
+<h3>July 10th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The last two or three days I have been settling
+everything for the
+coronation,<a name="FNA_14_07" id="FNA_14_07"></a><a href="#FN_14_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+which is to be confined to the
+ceremony in the Abbey and cost as little money and as
+little trouble as possible; and yesterday I was the medium
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+of great civilities from Lord Grey to the Duke. He desired
+me to go to the Duke and show him the course of proceeding
+we mean to adopt, and request him to make any
+suggestion that occurred to him, and to enquire if he would
+have any objection to attend the Council at which it is to be
+formally settled on Wednesday, to which Peel and Rosslyn
+are likewise invited. I spoke to the Duke and Peel, and
+they will both come. All this is mighty polite.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_07" id="FN_14_07"></a><a href="#FNA_14_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[The arrangements for coronations are made by a Committee of the
+Privy Council, which sits as a Court of Claims.]</p></div>
+
+<p>They have made a fine business of Cobbett&rsquo;s trial; his
+insolence and violence were past endurance, but he made an
+able speech. The Chief Justice was very timid, and favoured
+and complimented him throughout; very unlike what Ellenborough
+would have done. The jury were shut up the whole
+night, and in the morning the Chief Justice, without consulting
+either party, discharged them, which was probably on the
+whole the best that could be done. Denman told me that
+he expected they would have acquitted him without leaving
+the box, and this principally on account of Brougham&rsquo;s
+evidence, for Cobbett brought the Chancellor forward and
+made him prove that <i>after</i> these very writings, and while
+this prosecution was hanging over him, Brougham wrote to
+his son &lsquo;Dear Sir,&rsquo; and requesting he would ask his father
+for some former publications of his, which he thought would be
+of great use on the present occasion in quieting the labourers.
+This made a great impression, and the Attorney-General
+never knew one word of the letter till he heard it in evidence,
+the Chancellor having flourished it off, as is his
+custom, and then quite forgotten it. The Attorney told me
+that Gurney overheard one juryman say to another, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t
+you think we had better stop the case? It is useless to go
+on.&rsquo; The other, however, declared for hearing it out, so on
+the whole it ended as well as it might, just better than an
+acquittal, and that is all.</p>
+
+<h3>July 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with Lord Grey yesterday. In the
+middle of dinner Talleyrand got a letter announcing that
+Leopold&rsquo;s conditional acceptance of the Belgian throne had
+been agreed to by a great majority of the Chamber; and a Mr.
+Walker, who brought the news (and left Brussels at five
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WELLINGTON AND THE GOVERNMENT.</span>
+o&rsquo;clock the day before), came to Lord Grey and told him with
+what enthusiasm it had been received there. Lord Grey
+wrote to the Chancellor, with whom Leopold was dining, to
+tell him of the event.</p>
+
+<p>This morning I got a note from the Duke of Wellington
+declining to attend the Council on Wednesday, and desiring
+I would impart the same to Lord Grey and the King. He
+says that it would give rise to misrepresentations, and so it
+would. He is right to decline. It is, however, Peel who
+has prevented him, I am certain. When I told Peel on
+Saturday, he looked very grave, did not seem to like it, and
+said he must confer with the Duke first, as he should be
+sorry to do otherwise than he did. Yesterday I know the
+Duke dined with Peel, who I have no doubt persuaded him
+to send this excuse. The Government are in exceeding
+delight at the Duke&rsquo;s conduct ever since he has been in opposition,
+which certainly has been very noble, straightforward,
+gentlemanlike, and without an atom of faction or mischief
+about it. He has done himself great honour; he threw over
+Aberdeen completely on that business about foreign policy
+which he introduced soon after the meeting of Parliament,
+and now he is assisting the Government in their Lieutenancy
+Bill, and is in constant communication with Melbourne on
+the subject.</p>
+
+<h3>July 13th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>I took the Duke&rsquo;s note to Lord Grey, who
+seemed annoyed, and repeated that he had only intended the
+invitation as a mark of attention, and never thought of
+shifting any responsibility from his own shoulders; that as
+there was a deviation from the old ceremonial, he thought the
+Duke&rsquo;s sanction would have satisfied those who might otherwise
+have disputed the propriety of such a change. &lsquo;Does he
+then,&rsquo; he asked, &lsquo;mean to attend <i>the Committee</i>?&rsquo; I did not
+then know; but yesterday in the House of Lords I asked the
+Duke, and he said &lsquo;No, for the same reasons,&rsquo; that upon consideration
+he was sure he had better not go, that by so doing
+he might give umbrage to his own party, and he could only
+do good by exercising a powerful influence over them and restraining
+them, and that his means of doing good would be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
+impaired by any appearance of approximating himself to
+Government, that when the general plan of the arrangements
+was settled, he should have no objection to lend a
+helping hand, if wanted, to the details with which he was very
+conversant. I wrote on a slip of paper that he would <i>not</i>
+come, and gave it to Lord Grey, who said nothing. Peel
+did not write to me, but he and Rosslyn do the same as
+the Duke.</p>
+
+<p>The Belgian deputation came yesterday, and Lebeau and
+his colleagues were in the House of Lords. We had been
+promised a good day there between Londonderry and
+Brougham and Plunket, but the former made a tiresome,
+long speech; the latter spoke civilly and dully; and
+Brougham not at all, so it ended in smoke. In the other
+House on Monday the Ministers got a good majority (102) on
+the wine duties, to their great delight, but the Opposition were
+not only mortified at the defeat, but disgusted and enraged at
+the conduct of Peel (their leader, as they considered him),
+who came into the House, got up in the middle of Herries&rsquo;
+speech, walked out and was heard of no more that night;
+never voted, nor gave any notice of his intention not to vote.
+The moral effect of this upon his party is immense, and has
+served to destroy the very little confidence they had in him
+before. It is impossible to conceive by what motives he is
+actuated, because if they were purely selfish it would seem
+that he defeats his own object; for what can he gain by disgusting
+and alienating his party, when although they cannot
+do without him, it is equally true that he cannot do without
+them? I walked home with William Banks, who went
+largely into the whole question of Peel&rsquo;s extraordinary disposition
+and conduct, and said how disheartening it was, and
+what a blow to those who looked to him as a leader in these
+troublous times. Henry Currey (no important person, but
+whose opinion is that of fifty other like him) told me that his
+conduct had been <i>atrocious</i>, and that he had himself voted in
+the minority against his opinion because he thought it right
+to sacrifice that opinion to the interests of his party. The
+fact is, if Peel had imparted his sentiments to his party he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">RESERVE OF MR. PEEL.</span>
+might have prevented their dividing on this question with
+the greatest ease. There is nothing they are not ready to do
+at his bidding, but his coldness and reserve are so impenetrable
+that nobody can ascertain his sentiments or divine his
+intentions, and thus he leaves his party in the lurch without
+vouchsafing to give them any reason or explanation of his
+conduct. In the meantime the other party (as if each was
+destined to suffer more from the folly of its friends than the
+hostility of its foes) has been thrown into great confusion by
+Lord Milton&rsquo;s notice to propose an alteration in the franchise,
+and a meeting was called of all the friends of Government
+at Althorp, when Milton made a speech just such as any
+opponent of the Bill might make in the House of Commons,
+going over the old ground of Fox, Pitt, Burke, and others
+having sat for rotten boroughs. They were annoyed to the
+last degree, and the more provoked when reflecting that it was
+for him Althorp had been led to spend an immense sum of
+money, and compromise his character besides in the Northamptonshire
+election. His obstinacy and impracticability
+are so extreme that nobody can move him, and Sefton told
+me that nothing could be more unsatisfactory than the termination
+of the meeting. I guess, however, that they will
+find some means or other of quieting him.</p>
+
+<p>The Opposition divided last night 187 against 284 on the
+question of hearing counsel for the condemned boroughs&mdash;not
+so good a division for the minority as they expected, and
+after a very powerful speech of Attwood&rsquo;s, to which nobody
+listened.</p>
+
+<p>There is a fresh access of alarm on account of the cholera,
+which has broken out at St. Petersburg, and will probably
+spread over Germany. The cordon of troops which kept it
+off last year from St. Petersburg appears to have been withdrawn,
+which is no doubt the cause of its appearance there.
+We have constant reports of supposed cases of disease and
+death, but up to this period it does not appear to have shown
+itself here, though a case was transmitted to us from
+Glasgow exceedingly like it. The sick man had not come from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+any infected place. The Board of Health are, however, in
+great alarm, and the authorities generally think we shall
+have it. From all I can observe from the facts of the case
+I am convinced that the liability to contagion is greatly
+diminished by the influence of sea air, for which reason I
+doubt that it will be brought here across the water. If it
+does come it will pass through France first. The King of
+Prussia has at last insisted upon a rigid execution of the
+quarantine laws in his dominions. Marshal Paskiewitch was
+detained on his road to take the command of the army, and
+sent a courier to the King to request he might be released
+forthwith, urging the importance of the Emperor to have his
+report of the state of the army; but the King refused, and
+sent word that the Emperor himself had submitted to quarantine,
+and so his aide-de-camp might do the same.</p>
+
+<h3>July 14th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The effects of Peel&rsquo;s leaving the party to shift
+for itself were exhibited the night before last. He went away
+(there was no reason why he should not, except that he
+should have stayed to <i>manage</i> the debate and keep his people
+in order), and the consequence was that they went on in a
+vexatious squabble of repeated adjournments till eight o&rsquo;clock
+in the morning, when Government at last beat them. The
+Opposition gradually dwindled down to twenty-five people,
+headed by Stormont, Tullamore, and Brudenell, while the
+Government kept 180 together to the last; between parties
+so animated and so led there can be no doubt on which
+side will be the success. The Government were in high
+spirits at the result, and thought the fatigue well repaid
+by the display of devotion on the part of their friends and
+of factious obstinacy on that of their enemies. After these
+two nights it is impossible not to consider the Tory party as
+having ceased to exist for all the practical and legitimate
+ends of political association&mdash;that is, as far as the House of
+Commons is concerned, where after all the battle must be
+fought. There is still a rabble of Opposition, tossed about by
+every wind of folly and passion, and left to the vagaries and
+eccentricities of Wetherell, or Attwood, or Sadler, or the intemperate
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION.</span>
+zeal of such weak fanatics as the three Lords above
+mentioned; but for a grave, deliberative, efficient Opposition
+there seem to be no longer the elements, or they are so scattered
+and disunited that they never can come together, and
+the only man who might have collected, and formed, and
+directed them begs leave to be excused. It is a wretched
+state of things and can portend no good. If there had not
+been prognostications of ruin and destruction to the State in
+all times, proceeding from all parties, which the event has
+universally falsified, I should believe that the consummation
+of evil was really at hand; as it is I cannot feel that certainty
+of destruction that many do, though I think we are
+more seriously menaced than ever we were before, because
+the danger is of a very different description. But there is
+an elasticity in the institutions of this country, which may
+rise up for the purpose of checking these proceedings, and in
+the very uncertainty of what may be produced and engendered
+by such measures there is hope of salvation.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday a Council was held at St. James&rsquo;s for the coronation;
+the Princes, Ministers, Archbishop of Canterbury, and
+Bishop of London were present. The King read an address
+to the Lords desiring that his coronation might be short, and
+that all the ceremonies might be dispensed with except those
+in the church. Lord Grey had composed a paper in which he
+had made the King say that these ceremonies were at variance
+with the genius of the age we live in, and suited to another
+period of society; but the Archbishop objected to these
+expressions, and thought it better to give the injunction without
+the comments; so Lord Grey wrote another and shorter
+paper, but he showed the first to Lord Lansdowne and me,
+and we both told him that we thought the Archbishop was
+right and that the second paper was the best. The Duke of
+Gloucester was very indignant at not having been summoned
+in a more respectful way than by a common circular, and complained
+to the Lord
+President.<a name="FNA_14_08" id="FNA_14_08"></a><a href="#FN_14_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+I told him to throw it all on
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
+me. He had been grumbling to the Duke of Sussex before,
+who did not care. Leopold was too much of a king to
+attend, so he came to the levee (but <i>en prince</i> only) and not
+to the Council. Lieven told me it was true that the Grand
+Duke Constantine was dead, and that it was a very good
+thing.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_14_08" id="FN_14_08"></a><a href="#FNA_14_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[It is customary to summon the Royal Dukes to a Council by a letter
+This formality seems to have been overlooked in this instance.]</p></div>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
+Preparations for the Coronation &mdash; Long Wellesley committed by the
+Chancellor for Contempt &mdash; Alderman Thompson and his Constituents &mdash;
+Prince Leopold goes to Belgium &mdash; Royal Tombs and Remains &mdash; The Lieutenancy
+of the Tower &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; The Belgian Fortresses &mdash; Secret
+Negotiations of Canning with the Whigs &mdash; Transactions before the Close
+of the Liverpool Administration &mdash; Duke of Wellington and Peel &mdash; The
+Dutch invade Belgium &mdash; Defeat of the Belgian Army &mdash; The French enter
+Belgium &mdash; Lord Grey&rsquo;s Composure &mdash; Audience at Windsor &mdash; Danger of
+Reform &mdash; Ellen Tree &mdash; The French in Belgium &mdash; Goodwood &mdash; The Duke
+of Richmond &mdash; The Reform Bill in Difficulties &mdash; Duke of Wellington
+calls on Lord Grey &mdash; The King declines to be kissed by the Bishops &mdash;
+Talleyrand&rsquo;s Conversation &mdash; State of Europe and France &mdash; Coronation
+Squabbles &mdash; The King divides the old Great Seal between Brougham and
+Lyndhurst &mdash; Relations of the Duchess of Kent to George IV. and William
+IV. &mdash; The Coronation &mdash; Irritation of the King &mdash; The Cholera &mdash; A Dinner
+at St. James&rsquo;s &mdash; State of the Reform Bill &mdash; Sir Augustus d&rsquo;Este &mdash; Madame
+Junot &mdash; State of France &mdash; Poland.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>July 15th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>A Committee of Council sat yesterday at the
+Office about the coronation; present, the Cabinet, Dukes of
+Gloucester and Sussex, Archbishop and Bishop of London;
+much discussion and nothing done. Brougham raised every
+sort of objection about the services and the dispensing with
+them, and would have it the King <i>could</i> not dispense with
+them; finally, the Attorney-General and Solicitor-General
+were sent for to the House of Lords and desired to reconsider
+the Proclamation.</p>
+
+<h3>July 20th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>I have been laid up with the gout these last
+few days, unable to move, but without violent pain. The
+Committee of Council met again on Friday last, when the
+Proclamation was settled. A Court of Claims is to sit, but to
+be prohibited from receiving any claims except those relating
+to the ceremonies in the Abbey. The Lords went to St.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
+James&rsquo;s and held the Council, at which the King made a
+little speech, to the effect that he would be crowned to satisfy
+the tender consciences of those who thought it necessary,
+but that he thought that it was his duty (as this country,
+in common with every other, was labouring under distress)
+to make it as economical as possible. A difficulty arose
+about the publication of the Proclamation, usually done by
+heralds with certain ceremonies. The first proclamation is
+not the one to be acted on; the second does not announce
+the coronation, but refers to the first. I asked Brougham
+what was to be done. He said both must be read. Lord
+Grey suggested neither, which was done.</p>
+
+<p>The other day Long Wellesley carried off his daughter,
+a ward in Chancery, from her guardians, and secreted her.
+The matter was brought before the Chancellor, who sent for
+Wellesley. He came, and refused to give her up; so Brougham
+committed him to the Fleet Prison. The matter was
+brought the next day before the House of Commons, and referred
+to their Committee of Privileges; and in the meantime
+Brougham has been making a great splutter about his
+authority and his Court both on the judicial bench and
+from the Woolsack. The lawyers in the House of Commons
+were divided as to Wellesley&rsquo;s right of privilege in such a
+case.<a name="FNA_15_01" id="FNA_15_01"></a><a href="#FN_15_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_01" id="FN_15_01"></a><a href="#FNA_15_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[Both the Chancellor and Mr. Wellesley wrote to the Speaker, and
+their letters were read to the House before the Committee of Privileges was
+appointed. Meanwhile Mr. Wellesley remained at his house in Dover
+Street in charge of two officers of the Court of Chancery. There is, I
+believe, no doubt that the committal was good, and that Mr. Wellesley&rsquo;s
+privilege as a member of Parliament did not protect him, a contempt of the
+Court having been committed. A similar point has recently been raised in
+the Court of Queen&rsquo;s Bench upon the committal of Mr. Whalley.]</p></div>
+
+<p>There has been exhibited in the course of the last few
+days one of the most disgraceful scenes (produced by the
+Reform Bill) ever witnessed. On the question of the disfranchisement
+of Appleby a certain Alderman Thompson,
+member for the City, who stood deeply pledged to Reform,
+voted for hearing counsel in defence of the borough, on which
+there was a meeting of his ward, or of certain of his constituents,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ALDERMAN THOMPSON AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.</span>
+to consider his conduct. He was obliged to appear
+before them, and, after receiving a severe lecture, to confess
+that he had been guilty of inadvertence, to make many submissive
+apologies, and promise to vote no more but in obedience
+to the Minister. It is always an agreeable pastime to
+indulge one&rsquo;s virtuous indignation, and wish to have been in
+the place of such an one for the sake of doing what he ought to
+have done but did not do, by which, without any of the risk
+of a very difficult and unpleasant situation, one has all the
+imaginary triumph of eloquence, independence, and all kinds
+of virtue; and so in this instance I feel that I should have
+liked to pour upon these wretches the phials of my wrath
+and contempt. If the alderman had had one spark of spirit
+he would have spurned the terrors of this plebeian inquisition,
+and told them that they had elected him, and that it was
+his intention, as long as he continued their representative,
+to vote as he thought proper, always redeeming the pledges
+he had given at his election; that he would not submit to
+be questioned for this or any other vote, and if they were
+not satisfied with his conduct when the Parliament should
+be over they might choose whom they would in his place.
+What makes the case the more absurd is, that this question
+of Appleby is monstrous, and it never ought (by their own
+principle) to have been put in Schedule A at all. There was
+a debate and a division on it last night, and a majority for
+the Ministers of seventy-five in a very full House; the worst
+division they have yet had. Every small victory in the
+House of Commons is probably equivalent to a great defeat
+in the House of Lords, unless they do what is now talked of&mdash;make
+as many Peers as may be necessary to carry the Bill,
+which I doubt their daring to do or the King consenting to
+do. The lapse of time and such difficulties and absurdities
+will probably obstruct the Bill, so as to prevent its passing.
+God knows what we shall have instead.</p>
+
+<p>Prince Leopold started on Saturday, having put his pension
+into trustees&rsquo; hands (by the advice of Lambton), to keep
+up Claremont and pay his debts and pensions, and then hand
+over the residue to the Exchequer, the odds being that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+none of it ever gets there, and that he is back here before
+the debts are paid. It seems that, desirous as he had been
+to go, when the time drew near he got alarmed, and wanted
+to back out, but they brought him (though with difficulty) to
+the point. He has proposed to the Princess Louise, King
+Louis Philippe&rsquo;s daughter.</p>
+
+<p>Halford has been with me this morning gossiping (which
+he likes); he gave me an account of his discovery of the head
+of Charles I. in St. George&rsquo;s Chapel, Windsor, to which he
+was directed by Wood&rsquo;s account in the &lsquo;Athenæ Oxonienses.&rsquo;
+He says that they also found the coffin of Henry VIII., but
+that the air had penetrated and the body had been reduced
+to a skeleton. By his side was Jane Seymour&rsquo;s coffin
+untouched, and he has no doubt her body is perfect. The
+late King intended to have it opened, and he says he will
+propose it to this King. By degrees we may visit the
+remains of the whole line of Tudor and Plantagenet too,
+and see if those famous old creatures were like their effigies.
+He says Charles&rsquo;s head was exactly as Vandyke had painted
+him.</p>
+
+<h3>July 26th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Oatlands on Saturday, and came back on
+Sunday night. Nobody there but my father, mother, Walpole,
+Sneyd, and Alava; very different from what I once
+remember it. There has been a great deal of talk about the
+Duke of Wellington giving Lord Munster the Lieutenancy
+of the Tower, the truth of which is as follows:&mdash;It is in the
+King&rsquo;s gift, and he sent to the Duke and desired him to name
+somebody. The Duke would have liked to name one of three&mdash;Fitzroy
+Somerset, Colin Campbell, or Hardinge. The latter
+would not have been agreeable to Government, and therefore
+it would have occasioned the King an embarrassment;
+the second was provided for, and Lord Hill advised the first
+to remain as he is (though I don&rsquo;t see why he could not have
+had both); so the Duke thought it would gratify the King if
+he was to name Munster. Munster wrote a very civil letter
+to the Duke, full of thanks and saying that he begged he would
+not think of him if he had anybody else to give it to, and
+that he would take upon himself to explain to the King his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE CHOLERA.</span>
+not accepting it. The Duke persisted, and so he had it. I
+must say he might have found some one out of the number
+of his old officers to give it to rather than Munster.</p>
+
+<p>The King of France&rsquo;s Speech arrived yesterday, but
+nothing was said in the House of Lords, because Lord Grey
+was at Windsor. It will make a stir&mdash;the general tone of it,
+and the demolition of the fortresses which cost us seven
+millions. Not one of the papers made a remark upon it;
+nothing will do for them but Reform.</p>
+
+<p>Fresh claims have been raised about cholera morbus.
+A man at Port Glasgow insists upon it, without much apparent
+reason, that it prevails there; so we have sent a medical
+man down, in order to quiet people&rsquo;s minds and to set the
+question at rest. Lord Grey, who is credulous, believes the
+Glasgow man&rsquo;s story, and spread the news in his own family,
+who immediately dispersed it over the rest of the town, and
+yesterday nobody could talk of anything else; not believing
+it very much, and not understanding it at all, for if they did
+they would not be so flippant. Lady Holland wrote to Lord
+Lansdowne to desire he would recommend her the best
+<i>cholera</i> doctor that he had heard of. I have just received a
+letter from Moore, saying he has ordered his publisher to
+send me a copy of &lsquo;Lord Edward Fitzgerald,&rsquo; and that he
+only sends copies to the Duke of Leinster and me, but begs I
+will send him no opinion, for &lsquo;opinions fidget him&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;genus
+irritabile vatum.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>July 27th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday Aberdeen asked Lord Grey some
+questions in a very few words, accompanied as usual with
+a sneer, which is very unbecoming, and of course gave
+Lord Grey the advantage of repelling it with scorn. The
+Duke spoke, and pretty well, but laid some stress more on
+Portugal than upon Belgium, which is what I cannot understand,
+but Alava told me that when he came to town yesterday
+he had said to him that, as an Englishman, he had never
+felt so deeply affected for the honour of his country as in
+this transaction. I met him after the debate, and he said
+he thought he had done some good by what he said. The
+question of the Belgian fortresses is not without great difficulty,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span>
+and the strong part of it for Government is that their
+demolition was agreed to by all the Powers interested (except
+Holland), and without the presence of the French Plenipotentiary
+at the meeting when it was decided. I am inclined
+to think that the manner in which it was blurted out in the
+King of France&rsquo;s Speech, as a clap-trap for him, will have
+made the principal difficulty, though the policy may be very
+questionable.</p>
+
+<h3>July 28th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>On Tuesday night they got through Schedule
+A, but in a very bungling manner, and the events of the
+night, its enemies say, damaged the Bill, not, however,
+that anything can hurt it in the House of Commons, though
+such things may tell in the House of Lords; but on the
+question of Saltash, which the Opposition did not consider
+as a very strong case, so little that they had not intended to
+divide on it, John Russell and the rest suddenly gave way,
+and without informing their friends moved that it ought to
+be in Schedule B. On a division all the Ministers voted with,
+the Opposition, so the borough was transferred to B. Their
+friends were furious, and not without reason, that they had
+not determined where it ought to be placed, and have transferred
+it themselves instead of leaving them in the dilemma
+they were in when the division arrived. A court and levee
+yesterday.</p>
+
+<h3>Oatlands, July 31st, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The Arbuthnots and Mr. Loch here.
+I rode down after the Opera last night; walked for an hour
+and a half with Arbuthnot under the shade of one of the great
+trees, talking of various old matters and some new, principally
+about Canning and his disputes and differences with
+the Duke of Wellington. He says that the Duke&rsquo;s principal
+objection to Canning was the knowledge of his having
+negotiated with the Whigs previously to Lord Liverpool&rsquo;s
+illness, which was communicated to the Duke; he would not
+say by whom. The person who went between them was Sir
+Robert Wilson, deputed by Brougham, and those who afterwards
+joined Canning. Sir Robert spoke to Huskisson, and
+he to Canning. What they said was this: that finding his
+view so liberal, they were ready to support and join him, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CANNING&rsquo;S NEGOTIATION WITH THE WHIGS.</span>
+in the event of his becoming Minister (on Lord Liverpool&rsquo;s
+death or resignation) that they would serve under him. Arbuthnot
+does not know what answer Canning sent to this, nor
+whether he <i>did</i> anything on it, but when on Lord Liverpool&rsquo;s
+illness Canning went to the King at Windsor, he told him that
+if the Tories would not consent to his being named Minister
+&lsquo;he was sure of the Whigs,&rsquo; but this he entreated the King
+not to mention. Immediately after Canning the Duke went
+to the King, and to him the King directly repeated what
+Canning had said. The Duke told the King that he was
+already aware of Canning&rsquo;s intercourse with the Whigs, and
+with that knowledge that he could not consent to his being
+Prime Minister, as he could have no confidence in him.
+Shortly after this, and before the resignation of the Ministers,
+but after the difficulties had begun, Knighton came to
+Arbuthnot, and said he was afraid his Royal Master had done
+a great deal of mischief by repeating to the Duke what
+Canning had said, that he was very anxious to bring the
+Duke and Canning together again, and asked him (Arbuthnot)
+to go with him to Canning and see what could be done.
+Arbuthnot declined, but said if Canning <i>wished</i> to see him he
+would go. Canning sent for him, and they had a long conversation,
+in which he expressed his desire to go on with the
+Duke, and it was agreed the Duke should call on him and
+have a conversation and see what could be arranged. The
+Duke called on him, and they talked of a variety of matters,
+but not a word passed about the formation of a new Ministry.
+Arbuthnot went to the House, and told Canning how
+much he was surprised and disappointed that nothing had
+come of this conversation, to which he made no reply, but
+Arbuthnot found afterwards that between his leaving Canning
+and the Duke&rsquo;s going to him Peel had been to him
+and proposed that the Duke should be Prime Minister. This
+so offended Canning, believing that it was a measure of the
+party and done with the Duke&rsquo;s consent, that he resolved
+not to utter a word to the Duke on the subject, and so ended
+the hopes of their agreement.</p>
+
+<p>It does not appear, however, as if anything could have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
+been done, for Canning was bent upon being Prime Minister;
+and I asked Arbuthnot to what the Duke would have
+consented, and he said, &lsquo;Not to that,&rsquo; that after the transaction
+with the Whigs he could not have felt sufficient confidence
+in Canning to agree to his being Prime Minister.
+(If he distrusted Canning he ought to have refused to act
+with him at all, not merely objected to his being Prime
+Minister, but the ground of his objection was shifted.)
+Originally the King could not bear Canning, and he was
+only persuaded by the Duke to take him into the Cabinet.
+Afterwards he was so offended at the influence he
+acquired there, and particularly with that which he had got
+over the mind of Lord Liverpool, that he one day sent for
+Arbuthnot and desired him to tell Lord Liverpool that he
+could not endure to see Canning make a puppet of him, and
+he would rather he was Prime Minister at once than have
+all the power without the name by governing him (Lord
+Liverpool) as he pleased, and that unless he could shake off
+this influence he was determined not to let him continue at
+the head of the Government, and, moreover, he must find
+some means of getting rid of Canning altogether. This
+Arbuthnot wrote to Lord Liverpool, who wrote an answer
+couched in terms of indignation, saying he by no means
+coveted his situation, that he was sure his colleagues would
+resent any indignity offered to him, and that the King had
+better take care what he was about, and not, by producing
+disunion in the Government, incur the risk of making the
+end of his reign as disastrous as the beginning of it had been
+prosperous.</p>
+
+<p>Not very long after Canning got into favour, and in
+this way:&mdash;Harriet Wilson at the time of her connexion
+with Lord Ponsonby got hold of some of Lady Conyingham&rsquo;s
+letters to him, and she wrote to Ponsonby, threatening,
+unless he gave her a large sum, to come to England
+and publish everything she could. This produced dismay
+among all the parties, and they wanted to get Ponsonby
+away and to silence the woman. In this dilemma Knighton
+advised the King to have recourse to Canning, who saw
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CANNING AND THE LIVERPOOL ADMINISTRATION.</span>
+the opening to favour, jumped at it, and instantly offered
+to provide for Ponsonby and do anything which could
+relieve the King from trouble. Ponsonby was sent to Buenos
+Ayres forthwith, and the letters were bought up. From
+this time Canning grew in favour, which he took every
+means to improve, and shortly gained complete ascendancy
+over the King.</p>
+
+<p>Arbuthnot said that Canning and Castlereagh had always
+gone on well together after their reconciliation, but that
+Lord Liverpool&rsquo;s subjection to him arose more from fear than
+affection. Liverpool told Arbuthnot that he earnestly desired
+to resign his office, that his health was broken, and he
+was only retained by the consideration that his retirement
+might be the means of breaking up a Government which he
+had (through the kindness of his colleagues to him) been
+enabled to hold together; that Canning worked with a
+twenty-horse power; that his sensitiveness was such that he
+[Canning] felt every paragraph in a newspaper that reflected
+on him, and that the most trifling causes produced an irritation
+on his mind, which was always vented upon him (Lord
+Liverpool), and that every time the door was opened he
+dreaded the arrival of a packet from Canning. Arbuthnot
+had been in great favour with the King, who talked to him
+and consulted him, but he nearly cut him after the disunion
+consequent on Canning&rsquo;s appointment. Knighton came to
+Arbuthnot and desired him to try and prevail on the Duke to
+consent to Canning&rsquo;s being Prime Minister, which he told
+him was useless, and from that time the King was just civil
+to the Duke and that was all. The Duke had always suspected
+that Canning wanted all along to be Prime Minister,
+and that when he sent him to Russia to congratulate Nicholas
+it was to get him out of the way, and he was the more
+convinced because Canning proposed to him to go on to
+Moscow for the coronation, which he positively refused,
+having promised his friends to be back in April, which he accordingly
+was. Canning never had a great opinion of Huskisson,
+nor really liked him, though he thought him very useful
+from being conversant with the subjects on which he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span>
+himself most ignorant&mdash;trade and finance; but he did not
+contemplate his being in the Cabinet, and had no confidence
+in his judgment or his discretion; and this tallies with what
+Lady Canning told me, though certainly he did not do Huskisson
+justice in any way, which Arbuthnot admitted. Knighton
+behaved exceedingly well during the King&rsquo;s illness, and by
+the vigilant watch he kept over the property of various kinds
+prevented the pillage which Lady Conyngham would otherwise
+have made. She knew everything, but did not much
+trouble herself about affairs, being chiefly intent upon amassing
+money and collecting jewels.</p>
+
+<p>He talked a great deal of Peel, of the difficulty of going on
+with him, of his coldness, incommunicativeness; that at the
+time of the opening the Liverpool Railroad he had invited the
+Duke, Aberdeen, and some more to meet at Drayton to consider
+of strengthening themselves; that they had left the place just
+as they had gone to it, nothing settled and nothing elicited
+from Peel; that on the late occasion of the wine duties they
+had gone to Peel and asked him whether they should fight
+out and divide on it; that he had referred them to Goulburn,
+who had decided in the affirmative, on which he had
+agreed to their friends being mustered, but that he took
+offence at something that was said in debate, and marched
+off <i>sans mot dire</i>; that somebody was sent after him to represent
+the bad effect of his departure, and entreat him to
+return, but he was gone to bed. This is by no means the
+first time Arbuthnot has spoken to me about Peel in this
+strain and with such feelings. How are the Duke and he
+to make a Government again, especially after what Lyndhurst
+said of the Duke? Necessity may bring them together,
+but though common interest and common danger may unite
+them, there the seeds of disunion always must be. I have
+scribbled down all I can recollect of a very loose conversation,
+and perhaps something else may occur to me by-and-by.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime to return to the events of the present
+day. Althorp raised a terrible storm on Friday by proposing
+that the House should sit on Saturday. They spent six
+hours debating the question, which might have been occupied
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LONG WELLESLEY AND BROUGHAM.</span>
+in the business; so that, though they did not sit yesterday,
+they gained nothing and made bad blood. Yesterday
+morning Murray made a conciliatory speech, which Burdett
+complimented, and all went on harmoniously. John Russell
+is ill, nearly done up with fatigue and exertion and the bad
+atmosphere he breathes for several hours every night.</p>
+
+<p>Long Wellesley has given up his daughter and has been
+discharged from arrest. I met the Solicitor-General yesterday,
+who told me this, and said that Brougham had been in the
+midst of his blustering terribly nervous about it. This was
+clear, for both he and Wellesley were waiting for the report
+of the Committee of the House of Commons, though Brougham
+affected to hold it cheap, and talked very big of what he
+should do and should have done had it been unfavourable
+to his authority. The fact is that Long Wellesley was
+contumacious, but after a short confinement he knocked under
+and yielded to the Chancellor on all points, and was released
+from durance.</p>
+
+<p>We had a meeting on the Coronation business yesterday
+morning, and took into consideration the estimates. That
+from the Chamberlain&rsquo;s Office was 70,000&#8467;. and upwards,
+which was referred to a sub-committee to dissect and report
+upon.</p>
+
+<h3>August 5th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning arrived the news of
+Casimir Périer&rsquo;s resignation in consequence of the division
+in the Chamber of Deputies on the election of President.
+He had very unnecessarily committed himself by declaring he
+would resign if Lafitte was elected, and though the other
+candidate (M. Girod de l&rsquo;Ain) was chosen, as it was, only by
+a majority of five, he considered this tantamount to a defeat,
+and accordingly went out of
+office.<a name="FNA_15_02" id="FNA_15_02"></a><a href="#FN_15_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+It was supposed, but not
+quite certain, that Molé would be First Minister, but without
+much chance of being able to keep that post.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_02" id="FN_15_02"></a><a href="#FNA_15_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[M. Casimir Périer did not retire from office on this occasion, though
+he had momentarily resigned it. He remained in power till his death
+which took place from cholera in the following year.]</p></div>
+
+<p>At the same time comes intelligence that the King of
+Holland has marched into Belgium at three points with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+three corps under the Prince of Orange, Prince Frederick,
+and the Prince of Nassau. This, however, was premature,
+for it turns out that the Prince of Orange in a proclamation
+to his army declares that the armistice was to end last night
+at half-past nine, and that he marches &lsquo;to secure equitable
+terms of separation,&rsquo; not therefore for the purpose of reconquest.
+I saw Lord Grey in the morning in a state of great
+consternation, the more particularly as he told me a Dutch
+Plenipotentiary had arrived the day before with full powers
+to treat, and that he had not in his intercourse with him
+and with Palmerston uttered one word of the King of Holland&rsquo;s
+intentions. In the evening I had a long conversation
+with Matuscewitz. He says that it is impossible to
+foresee the end of all this, but that the most probable event
+is a general war. Coming at the moment of a change in the
+French Ministry, nobody can guess what the French may do,
+and the Conferences are useless, because any resolution they
+may make may probably be totally inapplicable to the state
+of things produced by events hastening on elsewhere. The
+King of Holland has all along very justly complained of the
+proceedings of the Allies towards him, which they justify by
+necessity (&lsquo;the tyrant&rsquo;s plea&rsquo;) and to which he has been
+obliged sulkily to submit, though always protesting and
+never acquiescing, except in an armistice to which he agreed.
+Meantime the Allies went on negotiating, but without
+making much progress, and the Dutchman borrowed money
+and put his army on a respectable footing. It is remarkable
+that as long as he held out that he sought the reunion he
+could get no money at all, but no sooner did he renounce the
+idea of reunion, and propose to make war for objects more
+immediately national to the Dutch, than he got a loan filled
+(in two days) to the amount of about a million sterling.
+When the proposition was made to Leopold, though no
+arrangement was actually agreed upon, there was a general
+understanding that the King of Holland would consent to the
+separation of the two States, and that the Belgians should
+resign their claims to Limbourg and Luxembourg, and after
+Lord Ponsonby&rsquo;s letter which made so much noise, Falck&rsquo;s
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">HOLLAND AND BELGIUM.</span>
+protestation, and Ponsonby&rsquo;s recall this seemed to be clearly
+established. When Leopold received the offer of the Crown,
+he only consented to take it upon an understanding that the
+Belgians would agree to the terms prescribed by the Allies;
+but before the whole thing was settled he took fright and
+began to repent, and it was with some difficulty he was at last
+persuaded to go by the Belgian deputies with assurances that
+these terms would be complied with. Go, however, he did,
+and that unaccompanied by any person of weight or consequence
+from this country. Matuscewitz told me that he
+went on his knees to Palmerston to send somebody with
+him who would prevent his getting into scrapes, and that
+Talleyrand and Falck, by far the best heads among them,
+had both predicted that Leopold would speedily commit
+some folly the consequences of which might be
+irreparable.<a name="FNA_15_03" id="FNA_15_03"></a><a href="#FN_15_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+Our Government, however, paid no attention to these remonstrances,
+and he was suffered to go alone. Accordingly
+he had no sooner arrived than, intoxicated with the applause
+he received, he forgot all that had occurred here and all
+the resolutions of the Allies, and flourished off speeches in
+direct contradiction to them, and announced his determination
+to comprehend the disputed provinces in his new
+kingdom. It is no wonder that this excited the indignation
+of the King of Holland, but it is unfortunate that he could
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+not be patient a little longer. Notwithstanding his march,
+however, his Plenipotentiary here has full power to treat of
+all the disputed points, and is authorised to put a stop to
+hostilities at any moment when he can see the prospect of
+satisfaction; it is, however, believed here (though at present
+not on any sufficient grounds) that Prussia secretly supports
+the King of Holland. The danger is that France may
+without any further communication with her Allies consider
+the aggression of the Dutch as a justification of a corresponding
+movement on her part, and should this happen the
+Prussians would no longer deem themselves bound by the
+common obligations which united all the conferring and
+mediating Powers, and a general war would infallibly ensue.
+Nor is it unlikely that the French Ministry, beset as they are
+with difficulties, and holding their offices <i>de die in diem</i>, may
+think a war the best expedient for occupying the nation and
+bringing all the restless spirits and unquiet humours into one
+focus. I have long been of opinion that such mighty armaments
+and such a nervous state of things cannot end without
+a good deal of blood-letting. [The Prussians did not support
+the Dutch, the French did march, and war did not ensue.&mdash;<i>August 28th</i>.]</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_03" id="FN_15_03"></a><a href="#FNA_15_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[This account of Leopold&rsquo;s arrival in Belgium is hardly fair, and forms
+an amusing contrast to Baron Stockmar&rsquo;s narrative of the same occurrence in
+his &lsquo;Memoirs,&rsquo; p. 180. Unquestionably Leopold showed far more foresight,
+judgment, and resolution than Mr. Greville gave him credit for. He was
+not accompanied by &lsquo;any person of weight or consequence&rsquo; from this
+country, because that would have given him the air of a puppet and a
+British nominee. But Stockmar was with him. The King entered
+Brussels on the 21st of July, and was well received. On the 4th of August
+the Dutch broke the truce and invaded Belgium. It was impossible to
+provide against so sudden a movement, and the Army of the Scheldt was
+beaten at Louvain on the 12th of August. The King then claimed the
+intervention of France and England in defence of the neutrality and independence
+of Belgium, which had been guaranteed to him by the treaty of
+the eighteen articles under which he had accepted the Crown. But the
+passage in the text is curious, because it shows how little confidence was
+felt at that time in a prince who turned out to be one of the ablest rulers
+and politicians of his time.]</p></div>
+
+<p><i>At night</i>.&mdash;Lord Grey was attacked by Aberdeen to-night
+on his foreign policy, and particularly about Portugal, and
+he is said to have made a splendid speech. Sir Henry
+Seton arrived from Liverpool to announce what is going on,
+and he is bent on fighting at present. Abercromby, who is
+come likewise, reports that he has 50,000 or 60,000 men.</p>
+
+<h3>August 9th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>On Saturday morning we were saluted
+with intelligence that on the French King&rsquo;s hearing of the
+Dutch invasion he ordered Marshal Gérard, with 50,000
+men, to march into Belgium; and great was the alarm
+here: the funds fell and everybody was prepared for immediate
+war. In the afternoon I called upon Lord Grey
+at East Sheen (in my way to Monk&rsquo;s Grove, where I was
+going) to say something to him about the coronation, and
+found him with a more cheerful countenance than I expected.
+He did not appear alarmed at what the French had done,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE QUEEN&rsquo;S CROWN.</span>
+and very well satisfied with the manner of their doing it,
+marching only in virtue of their guarantee and proclaiming
+their own neutrality and the Belgian independence, and the
+King had previously received the Belgian Minister. I told
+him I thought Leopold&rsquo;s folly had been the cause of it, and
+that his speeches about Luxembourg had given the Dutch
+King a pretext. He said, not at all, and that the King of
+Holland would have done this under any circumstances,
+which I took leave to doubt, though I did not think it
+necessary to say
+so.<a name="FNA_15_04" id="FNA_15_04"></a><a href="#FN_15_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_04" id="FN_15_04"></a><a href="#FNA_15_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[Lord Grey&rsquo;s composure was mainly due to the entire confidence he
+felt in the honour of the Duc de Broglie, then French Minister of Foreign
+Affairs, who had given positive assurances to the British Cabinet that the
+intervention of France would be confined to the immediate object in view.
+This confidence was equally honourable to both statesmen, and these assurances
+were faithfully fulfilled.]</p></div>
+
+<p>On Sunday, overtaken by the most dreadful storm I ever
+saw&mdash;flashes of lightning, crashes of thunder, and the rain
+descending like a waterspout&mdash;I rode to Windsor, to settle
+with the Queen what sort of crown she would have to be
+crowned in. I was ushered into the King&rsquo;s presence, who
+was sitting at a red table in the sitting-room of George IV.,
+looking over the flower garden. A picture of Adolphus Fitzclarence
+was behind him (a full-length), and one of the
+parson, Rev. Augustus Fitzclarence, in a Greek dress,
+opposite. He sent for the Queen, who came with the
+Landgravine and one of the King&rsquo;s daughters, Lady Augusta
+Erskine, the widow of Lord Cassilis&rsquo;s son. She looked at
+the drawings, meant apparently to be civil to me in her ungracious
+way, and said she would have none of our crowns,
+that she did not like to wear a hired crown, and asked me if
+I thought it was right that she should. I said, &lsquo;Madam,
+I can only say that the late King wore one at his coronation.&rsquo;
+However she said, &lsquo;I do not like it, and I have
+got jewels enough, so I will have them made up myself.&rsquo; The
+King said to me, &lsquo;Very well; then <i>you</i> will have to pay for
+the setting.&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh, no,&rsquo; she said; &lsquo;I shall pay for it all
+myself.&rsquo; The King looked well, but seemed infirm. I talked
+to Taylor afterwards, who said he had very little doubt this
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span>
+storm in Belgium would blow over, and agreed that Leopold&rsquo;s
+folly had been in great measure the cause of it. There have
+been discussions in both Houses, which have in some measure
+quieted people&rsquo;s apprehensions. To-day that ass Lord
+Londonderry (who has never yet had his windows mended
+from the time they were broken by the mob at the Reform
+illumination) brings on a motion about Belgium.</p>
+
+<h3>August 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing new these last two days. Londonderry&rsquo;s
+motion produced an angry debate, but no division.
+Brougham is said to have been very good. The Government
+wanted to divide, but the Opposition know that it is not
+their interest to provoke a trial of strength. The Ministers,
+if beaten, would not go out, and they are anxious to see what
+their opponents&rsquo; strength is. At Court yesterday, when
+Van de Weyer, the new Belgian Minister, made his appearance.
+I said to Esterhazy, &lsquo;You will blow this business over,
+sha&rsquo;n&rsquo;t you?&rsquo; He said, &lsquo;Yes, I think we shall <i>this time</i>.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Nothing remarkable in the House of Commons but Lord
+John Russell&rsquo;s declaration that &lsquo;this Bill would not be final
+if it was not found to work as well as the people desired,&rsquo;
+which is sufficiently impudent considering that hitherto they
+have always pretended that it was to be final, and that it
+was made so comprehensive only that it might be so; this
+has been one of their grand arguments, and now we are
+never to sit down and rest, but go on changing till we get a
+good fit, and that for a country which will have been made
+so fidgety that it won&rsquo;t stand still to be measured. Hardinge,
+whom I found at dinner at the Athenæum yesterday,
+told me he was convinced that a revolution in this country
+was inevitable; and such is the opinion of others who
+support this Bill, not because they think concession will
+avert it, but will let it come more gradually and with less
+violence. I have always been convinced that the country
+was in no danger of revolutiorobberies n, and still believe that if one
+does come it will be from the passing of this Bill, which will
+introduce the principle of change and whet the appetites of
+those who never will be satisfied with any existing order of
+things; or if it follows on the rejection of this Bill, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ELLEN TREE.</span>
+I doubt, it will be owing to the concentration of all the
+forces that are opposed to our present institutions, and the
+divisions, jealousies, rivalships, and consequent weakness of
+all those who ought to defend them. God only knows how
+it will all end. There has been but one man for many years
+past able to arrest this torrent, and that was Canning; and
+him the Tories&mdash;idiots that they were, and never discovering
+that he was their best friend&mdash;hunted to death with their
+besotted and ignorant hostility.</p>
+
+<p>I went to the play last night at a very shabby little house
+called the City Theatre&mdash;a long way beyond the Post Office&mdash;to
+see Ellen Tree act in a translation of &lsquo;Une Faute,&rsquo;
+one of the best pieces of acting I ever saw. This girl
+will turn out very good if she remains on the stage. She
+has never been brought forward at Covent Garden, and I
+heard last night the reason why. Charles Kemble took a
+great fancy for her (she is excessively pretty), and made her
+splendid offers of putting her into the best parts, and advancing
+her in all ways, if she would be propitious to his
+flame, but which she indignantly refused; so he revenged
+himself (to his own detriment) by keeping her back and
+promoting inferior actresses instead. If ever she acquires
+fame, which is very probable, for she has as much nature, and
+feeling, and passion as I ever saw, this will be a curious
+anecdote. [She married Charles Kean, lost her good looks,
+and became a tiresome, second-rate actress.]</p>
+
+<h3>August 12th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday a Committee of Council met to
+settle the order of the coronation and submit the estimates,
+which we have brought under 30,000&#8467;. instead of 240,000&#8467;.,
+which they were last time.</p>
+
+<p>The question now is whether our Ministry shall go along
+with France, or whether France shall be pulled up; and it
+is brought to this point by Leopold&rsquo;s having sent to the
+French to thank them for their aid, but to say that he can
+do without them, and to beg they will retire, which they
+have refused to do. It was known yesterday that they are
+at Mons, and strongly suspected they will not so easily be
+got out of it; but the French Government will not venture
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+to quarrel with us if we take a peremptory tone. It is not,
+however, clear that the French Government can control the
+French army; and I have heard it said that if they had not
+ordered the troops to march, the troops would have marched
+without orders. L. is all for curbing France; so a very
+short time must bring matters to a crisis, and it will be seen
+if the Government has authority to check the war party
+there. In the meantime the French have taken the Portuguese
+ships without any intention of giving them back; and
+this our Ministers know, and do not remonstrate. J. asked
+L. if it was true, and he said, &lsquo;Oh, yes,&rsquo; for that having been
+compelled to force the Tagus, they were placed in a state of
+war, and the ships became lawful prizes. If it was not for
+Reform I doubt that this Government could stand a moment,
+but that will bring them up. In the country it is too clear
+that there are no symptoms of a reaction, and if a state of
+indifference can be produced it is all that can be hoped and
+more than should be expected. I do not think the Government
+by any means responsible for the embroiled state of
+Europe, but they certainly appear to have no fixed plan or
+enlightened view of foreign policy, and if they have not
+been to blame hitherto (which in acting with all the Allies,
+and endeavouring to keep things quiet, they have not been),
+they are evidently in great danger of floundering now.</p>
+
+<h3>Goodwood, August 20th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Here I have been a week to-day
+for the races, and here I should not be now&mdash;for everybody
+else is gone&mdash;if it were not for the gout, which has laid
+me fast by the foot, owing to a blow. While on these racing
+expeditions I never know anything of politics, and, though I
+just read the newspapers, have no anecdotes to record of
+Reform or foreign affairs. I never come here without fresh
+admiration of the beauty and delightfulness of the place,
+combining everything that is enjoyable in life&mdash;large and
+comfortable house, spacious and beautiful park, extensive
+views, dry soil, sea air, woods, and rides over downs, and all
+the facilities of occupation and amusement. The Duke, who
+has so strangely become a Cabinet Minister in a Whig
+Government, and who is a very good sort of man and my
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">REFORM BILL IN DIFFICULTIES.</span>
+excellent friend, appears here to advantage, exercising a
+magnificent hospitality, and as a sportsman, a farmer, a
+magistrate, and good, simple, unaffected country gentleman,
+with great personal influence. This is what he is fit for, to
+be,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">With safer pride content,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The wisest justice on the banks of Trent,</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em">
+and not to assist in settling Europe and making new constitutions.</p>
+
+<p>I find on arriving in town that there is nothing new, but
+the Bill, which drags its slow length along, is in a bad way;
+not that it will not pass the Commons, but now everybody
+attacks it, and the press is all against what remains of
+it. Lord Chandos&rsquo;s motion and the defeat of Government
+by so large a majority have given them a great blow. Still
+they go doggedly on, and are determined to cram it down
+anyhow, quite indifferent how it is to work and quite ignorant.
+As to foreign affairs, the Ministers trust to blunder
+through them, hoping, like Sir Abel Handy in the play, that
+the fire &lsquo;will go out of itself.&rsquo; Sefton has just been here, who
+talks blusteringly of the Peers that are to be made, no matter
+at what cost of character to the House of Lords, anything
+rather than be beaten; but I am not sure that he <i>knows</i> anything.
+In such matters as these he is (however sharp) no better
+than a fool&mdash;no knowledge, no information, no reflection or
+combination; prejudices, partialities, and sneers are what his
+political wisdom consists of; but he is Lord Grey&rsquo;s <i>âme damnée</i>.</p>
+
+<h3>Stoke, August 28th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>My gout is still hanging on me.
+Very strange disorder, affecting different people so differently;
+with me very little pain, much swelling, heat, and inconvenience,
+more like bruised muscles and tendons and inflamed
+joints; it disables me, but never prevents my sleeping at night.
+Henry de Ros called on me yesterday; nothing new, and he
+knows everything from L., who sits there picking up politics
+and gossip, to make money by the one and derive amusement
+from the other. L. is odd enough, and very <i>malin</i> with what
+he knows. He is against <i>Reform</i>, but not against the <i>Government</i>;
+<i>for</i> the Duke of Wellington and not <i>for</i> the Opposition&mdash;in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span>
+short, just as interest, fancy, caprice, and particular partialities
+sway him. It was he who told me the fact of the French
+having carried away the Portuguese ships, and he said that I
+might tell the Duke that he might make what use he pleased
+of it; but soon after, wishing if it did come out that it should
+fall harmless, he bethought him of the following expedient:&mdash;Seeing
+that Valletort (who is a good-natured blockhead) is
+always spluttering in the House of Commons, he thought in
+his hands it would do no harm, so he told him the fact with
+some flattering observations about his activity and energy
+in the House, which Valley swallowed and with many thanks
+proceeded to put questions to Palmerston, which sure
+enough were so confused and unintelligible that nobody
+understood him, and the matter fell very flat. I don&rsquo;t see
+that Government is saved by this ruse, if the case against
+them is a good one; but it is curious as indicative of the
+artifice of the person, and of his odd sort of political disposition.
+As I don&rsquo;t write history I omit to note such facts as
+are recorded in the newspapers, and merely mention the odd
+things I pick up, which are not generally known, and which
+may hereafter throw some light on those which are.</p>
+
+<p>The Belgian business is subsiding into quiet again. The
+Dutch have gained some credit, and the Prince of Orange
+has (what was of importance to him) removed the load of
+odium under which he had been labouring in Holland, and
+acquired great popularity. Leopold has cut a ridiculous
+figure enough; not exhibiting any want of personal courage,
+but after all the flourishes at the time of his accession
+finding himself at the head of a nation of blustering cowards
+who would do nothing but run away. The arrival of the
+French army soon put an end to hostilities, and now the
+greater part of it has been recalled; but Leopold has desired
+that 10,000 men may be left for his protection, whether
+against the Dutch or against the Belgians does not appear.
+This excites considerable jealousies here, for as yet it is not
+known <i>why</i> he asked for such aid, nor on what terms it is to
+be granted.</p>
+
+<p>L. told me an odd thing connected with these troops.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">TALLEYRAND&rsquo;S CONVERSATION.</span>
+Easthope received a commission from a secretary of Soult to
+sell largely in our funds, coupled with an assurance that the
+troops would <i>not</i> retire. I don&rsquo;t know the fate of the commission.</p>
+
+<p>There are various reports of dissensions in the Cabinet,
+which are not true. The Duke of Wellington was sent for by
+Lord Grey the other day, to give his opinion about the demolition
+of the Belgian fortresses; so the ex-Prime Minister
+went to visit his successor in the apartment which was so
+lately his own. No man would mind such a thing less than
+the Duke; he is sensitive, but has no nonsense about him.
+He is very well and, however disgusted with the state of
+everything at home and abroad (which after all is greatly
+imputable to himself), in high spirits.</p>
+
+<p>The King did a droll thing the other day. The ceremonial
+of the coronation was taken down to him for approval.
+The homage is first done by the spiritual Peers, with
+the Archbishop at their head. The first of each class (the
+Archbishop for the spiritual) says the words, and then they
+all kiss his cheek in succession. He said he would not be
+kissed by the bishops, and ordered that part to be struck
+out. As I expected, the prelates would not stand it; the
+Archbishop remonstrated, the King knocked under, and so
+he must undergo the salute of the spiritual as well as of the
+temporal Lords.</p>
+
+<h3>August 30th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Left Stoke yesterday morning; a large
+party&mdash;Talleyrand, De Ros, Fitzroy Somersets, Motteux, John
+Russell, Alava, Byng. In the evening Talleyrand discoursed,
+but I did not hear much of him. I was gouty and could not
+stand, and all the places near him were taken. I have
+never heard him narrate comfortably, and he is difficult to
+understand. He talked of Franklin. I asked him if he was
+remarkable in conversation; he said he was from his great
+simplicity and the evident strength of his mind. He spoke of
+the coronation of the Emperor Alexander. Somebody wrote
+him a letter at the time from Moscow with this expression:
+&lsquo;L&rsquo;Empereur marchait, précédé des assassins de son grand-père,
+entouré de ceux de son père, et suivi par les siens.&rsquo;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+He said of the Count de Saint-Germain (whom he never saw)
+that there is an account of him in Craufurd&rsquo;s book; nobody
+knew whence he came nor whither he went; he appeared
+at Paris suddenly, and disappeared in the same way, lived in
+an <i>hôtel garni</i>, had always plenty of money, and paid for everything
+regularly; he talked of events and persons connected
+with history, both ancient and modern, with entire familiarity
+and a correctness which never was at fault, and always of the
+people as if he had lived with them and known them; as
+Talleyrand exemplified it, he would say, &lsquo;Un jour que je dînais
+chez César.&rsquo;<a name="FNA_15_05" id="FNA_15_05"></a><a href="#FN_15_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+He was supposed to be the Wandering Jew, a
+story which has always appeared to me a very sublime fiction,
+telling of</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">That settled ceaseless gloom<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The fabled Hebrew wanderer bore,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which will not look beyond the tomb,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which cannot hope for rest before.</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em">
+Then he related Mallet&rsquo;s conspiracy and the strange way in
+which he heard it. Early in the morning his tailor came to
+his house and insisted on seeing him. He was in bed, but on his
+<i>valet de chambre&rsquo;s</i> telling him how pressing the tailor was he
+ordered him to be let in. The man said, &lsquo;Have you not heard
+the news? There is a revolution in Paris.&rsquo; It had come to
+the tailor&rsquo;s knowledge by Mallet&rsquo;s going to him the very first
+thing to order a new uniform! Talleyrand said the conspirators
+ought to have put to death Cambacérès and the King of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">STATE OF EUROPE AND FRANCE.</span>
+Rome. I asked him if they had done so whether he thought
+it possible the thing might have succeeded. He said, &lsquo;C&rsquo;est
+possible.&rsquo; To my question whether the Emperor would not
+have blown away the whole conspiracy in a moment he replied,
+&lsquo;Ce n&rsquo;est pas sûr, c&rsquo;est possible que cela aurait réussi.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_05" id="FN_15_05"></a><a href="#FNA_15_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[This mysterious adventurer died in the arms of Prince Charles of
+Hesse, in 1784; and some account of him is to be found in the &lsquo;Memoirs&rsquo; of
+that personage, quoted in the &lsquo;Edinburgh Review,&rsquo; vol. cxxiii. p. 521. The
+Count de Saint-Germain was a man of science, especially versed in chemistry
+botany, and metallurgy. He is supposed to have derived his money from
+an invention in the art of dyeing. According to his own account of himself
+he was a son of Prince Ragozky of Transylvania and his first wife, a
+Tekely, and he was Protestant and educated by the last of the Medicis.
+He was supposed to be ninety-two or ninety-three when he died. His
+knowledge of the arcana of science and his mysterious manner of life had
+given him something of the reputation of a wizard and a conjuror, but he
+was an honourable and benevolent man, not to be confounded with such
+charlatans as Mesmer and Cagliostro.]</p></div>
+
+<p>He afterwards talked of Madame de Staël and Monti.
+They met at Madame de Marescalchi&rsquo;s villa near Bologna, and
+were profuse of compliments and admiration for each other.
+Each brought a copy of their respective works beautifully
+bound to present to the other. After a day passed in an interchange
+of literary flatteries, and the most ardent expressions
+of delight, they separated, but each forgot to carry away the
+present of the other, and the books remain in Madame de
+Marescalchi&rsquo;s library to this day.</p>
+
+<h3>August 31st, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Dined at Osterley yesterday; Lady Sandwich,
+Esterhazy and the Bathursts, Brooke Greville and
+George Villiers. Esterhazy told me he had no doubt that there
+would be a war, that General Baudron was arrived from
+Brussels, and Leopold had sent word by him that the French
+troops were absolutely necessary to his safety, to protect
+him from the turbulence of his own subjects. He considered
+that the Polish business was over, at which he greatly rejoiced.
+He said that nobody was prepared for war, and the
+great object was to gain time, but a few weeks must now
+bring matters to a crisis; the only difficulty appears to be what
+to go to war about, and who the belligerents should be, for at
+the eleventh hour, and with the probability of a general war,
+it is a toss-up whether we and the French are to be the closest
+allies or the deadliest enemies. He told me that Casimir
+Périer would probably be unable to keep his ground, that the
+modified law about the House of Peers did not give satisfaction.
+If he is beaten on this he goes out, and if he does,
+with him will probably vanish all hopes of peace. It is pretty
+evident that France is rapidly advancing to a republic. Her
+institutions have long been republican, and, though very
+compatible with a despotic empire, incompatible with a constitutional
+and limited monarchy. This Buonaparte knew.</p>
+
+<p>Another Coronation Committee yesterday, and, I am happy
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+to say, the last, for this business is the greatest of all bores.
+There is a furious squabble between the Grand Chamberlain
+and the Earl Marshal (who is absent and has squabbled by
+deputy) about the box of the former in Westminster Abbey.
+At the last coronation King George IV. gave Lord Gwydir
+<i>his</i> box in addition to his own, and now Lord Cholmondeley
+claims a similar
+box.<a name="FNA_15_06" id="FNA_15_06"></a><a href="#FN_15_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+This is resisted. The present King
+disposes of his own box (and will probably fill it with every
+sort of <i>canaille</i>); the Lords won&rsquo;t interfere, and the Grand
+Chamberlain protests, and says he has been shamefully used,
+and there the matter stands. The Grand Chamberlain is in
+the wrong.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_06" id="FN_15_06"></a><a href="#FNA_15_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[Lord Gwydir and Lord Cholmondeley filled the office of Lord High
+Chamberlain for alternative lives as the representatives of the joint claimants
+of the office.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>September 3rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>On Wednesday a Council was held. Very
+few of the Ministers stay for the Councils; small blame to
+them, as the Irish say, for we are kept about three times as
+long by this regular, punctual King as by the capricious, irregular
+Monarch who last ruled over us. This King is a queer
+fellow. Our Council was principally for a new Great Seal and
+to deface the old Seal. The Chancellor claims the old one as
+his perquisite. I had forgotten the hammer, so the King said,
+&lsquo;My Lord, the best thing I can do is to give you the Seal, and
+tell you to take it and do what you please with it.&rsquo; The
+Chancellor said, &lsquo;Sir, I believe there is some doubt whether
+Lord Lyndhurst ought not to have half of it, as he was Chancellor
+at the time of your Majesty&rsquo;s accession.&rsquo; &lsquo;Well,&rsquo; said
+the King, &lsquo;then I will judge between you like Solomon; here
+(turning the Seal round and round), now do you cry heads or
+tails?&rsquo; We all laughed, and the Chancellor said, &lsquo;Sir, I take
+the bottom part.&rsquo; The King opened the two compartments of
+the Seal and said, &lsquo;Now, then, I employ you as ministers of
+taste. You will send for Bridge, my silversmith, and desire
+him to convert the two halves each into a salver, with my arms
+on one side and yours on the other, and Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s the
+same, and you will take one and give him the other, and
+both keep them as presents from me.&rsquo; The Duchess of Kent
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ANECDOTES OF GEORGE IV.</span>
+will not attend the coronation, and there is a report that the
+King is unwilling to make all the Peers that are required;
+this is the current talk of the day.</p>
+
+<h3>September 5th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Gorhambury since Saturday; the
+Harrowbys, Bathursts, Frankland Lewes&rsquo;s, Lady Jersey,
+Mahon, Lushington, Wortleys; rather agreeable and lively;
+all anti-Reformers, so no quarrelling about that, though
+Lord Harrowby is ready to squabble with anybody either
+way, but furiously against the Bill.</p>
+
+<h3>September 8th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with the Duke of Wellington
+yesterday; thirty-one people, very handsome, and the Styrian
+Minstrels playing and singing all dinner time, a thing I
+never saw before. I sat next to Esterhazy and talked to him
+(a very little) about Belgian affairs. He said Talleyrand
+had given positive assurances that the French troops should
+be withdrawn whenever the Dutch retired, that the other
+Powers were aware of Périer&rsquo;s difficulties, and were ready to
+concede much to keep him in power, but that if he had not
+sufficient influence to repress the violent war faction there
+was no use in endeavouring to support him. Our Government
+had behaved very well and had been very strong in
+their remonstrances.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner I had much talk with the Duke, who told me
+a good deal about the late King and the Duchess of Kent;
+talked of his extravagance and love of spending, provided
+that it was not his own money that he spent; he told an old
+story he had heard of Mrs. Fitzherbert&rsquo;s being obliged to
+borrow money for his post-horses to take him to Newmarket,
+that not a guinea was forthcoming to make stakes for some
+match, and when on George
+Leigh&rsquo;s<a name="FNA_15_07" id="FNA_15_07"></a><a href="#FN_15_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+entreaty he allowed
+some box to be searched that 3,000&#8467;. was found in it. He
+always had money. When he died they found 10,000&#8467;. in
+his boxes, and money scattered about everywhere, a great deal
+of gold. There were about 500 pocket-books, of different
+dates, and in every one money&mdash;guineas, one pound notes, one,
+two, or three in each. There never was anything like the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+quantity of trinkets and trash that they found. He had
+never given away or parted with anything. There was a
+prodigious quantity of hair&mdash;women&rsquo;s hair&mdash;of all colours and
+lengths, some locks with the powder and pomatum still
+sticking to them, heaps of women&rsquo;s gloves, <i>gages d&rsquo;amour</i>
+which he had got at balls, and with the perspiration still
+marked on the fingers, notes and letters in abundance, but
+not much that was of any political consequence, and the
+whole was destroyed. Of his will he said that it was made in
+1823 by Lord Eldon, very well drawn, that he desired his executors
+might take all he had to pay his debts and such legacies
+as he might bequeath in any codicils he should make. He
+made no codicils and left no debts, so the King got all as
+heir-at-law. Knighton had managed his affairs very well,
+and got him out of debt. A good deal of money was
+disbursed in charity, a good deal through the medium of two
+or three old women. The Duke, talking of his love of ordering
+and expense, said that when he was to ride at the last coronation
+the King said, &lsquo;You must have a very fine saddle.&rsquo;
+&lsquo;What sort of saddle does your Majesty wish me to have?&rsquo;
+&lsquo;Send Cuffe to me.&rsquo; Accordingly Cuffe went to him, and the
+Duke had to pay some hundreds for his saddle. (While I
+am writing the King and Queen with their <i>cortége</i> are passing
+down to Westminster Abbey to the coronation, a grand
+procession, a fine day, an immense crowd, and great acclamations.)</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_07" id="FN_15_07"></a><a href="#FNA_15_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[Colonel George Leigh, who managed his race-horses; he was married
+to Lord Byron&rsquo;s half-sister.]</p></div>
+
+<p>We then talked of the Duchess of Kent, and I asked
+him why she set herself in such opposition to the Court. He
+said that Sir John Conroy was her adviser, that he was sure
+of it. What he then told me throws some light upon her
+ill-humour and displays her wrong-headedness. In the first
+place the late King disliked her; the Duke of Cumberland
+too was her enemy, and George IV., who was as great a
+despot as ever lived, was always talking of taking her child
+from her, which he inevitably would have done but for the
+Duke, who, wishing to prevent quarrels, did all in his power
+to deter the King, not by opposing him when he talked of
+it, which he often did, but by putting the thing off as well
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE DUCHESS OF KENT.</span>
+as he could. However, when the Duchess of Cumberland
+came over, and there was a question how the Royal
+Family would receive her, he thought he might reconcile
+the Cumberlands to the Duchess of Kent by engaging her
+to be civil to the Duchess of Cumberland, so he desired
+Leopold to advise his sister (who was in the country) from
+him very strongly to write to the Duchess of Cumberland
+and express her regret at being absent on her arrival, and so
+prevented from calling on her. The Duchess sent Leopold
+back to the Duke to ask why he gave her this advice?
+The Duke replied that he should not say why, that he
+knew more of what was going on than she possibly could,
+that he gave her this advice for her own benefit, and again
+repeated that she had better act on it. The Duchess said
+she was ready to give him credit for the goodness of his
+counsel, though he would not say what his reasons were, and
+she did as he suggested. This succeeded, and the Duke of
+Cumberland ceased to blow the coals. Matters went on
+quietly till the King died. As soon as he was dead the
+Duchess of Kent wrote to the Duke, and desired that she
+might be treated as a Dowager Princess of Wales, with a
+suitable income for herself and her daughter, who she also
+desired might be treated as Heiress Apparent, and that she
+should have the sole control over the allowance to be made
+for both. The Duke replied that her proposition was altogether
+inadmissible, and that he could not possibly think of
+proposing anything for her till the matters regarding the
+King&rsquo;s Civil List were settled, but that she might rely
+upon it that no measure which affected her in any way
+should be considered without being imparted to her and the
+fullest information given her. At this it appears she took
+great offence, for she did not speak to him for a long time after.</p>
+
+<p>When the Regency Bill was framed the Duke desired the
+King&rsquo;s leave to wait upon the Duchess of Kent and show it to
+her, to which his Majesty assented, and accordingly he wrote
+to her to say he would call upon her the next day with the
+draft of the Bill. She was at Claremont, and sent word that
+she was out of town, but desired he would send it to her in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
+the country. He said she ought to have sent Sir John Conroy
+to him, or have desired him to go to her at Claremont,
+which he would have done, but he wrote her word that he
+could not explain by letter so fully what he had to say as he
+could have done in a personal interview, but he would do so
+as well as he could. In the meantime, Lord Lyndhurst
+brought on the measure in the House of Lords, and she sent
+Conroy up to hear him. He returned to Claremont just
+after the Duchess had received the Duke&rsquo;s letter. Since that
+he has dined with her.</p>
+
+<p>[I must say the King is punctual; the cannon are now
+firing to announce his arrival at the Abbey, and my clock is
+at the same moment striking eleven; at eleven it was announced
+that he would be there.]</p>
+
+<p>His Majesty, I hear, was in great ill-humour at the levee
+yesterday; contrary to his usual custom he sent for nobody,
+and gave no audiences, but at ten minutes after one flounced
+into the levee room; not one Minister was come but the Duke
+of Richmond. Talleyrand and Esterhazy alone of the <i>Corps
+Diplomatique</i> were in the next room. He attacked the officer
+of the Guards for not having his cap on his head, and sent
+for the officer on guard, who was not arrived, at which
+he expressed great ire. It is supposed that the peerages
+have put him out of temper. His Majesty did a very strange
+thing about them. Though their patents are not made out,
+and the new Peers are no more Peers than I am, he desired
+them to appear as such in Westminster Abbey and do
+homage. Colonel Berkeley asked me what he should do, and
+said what the King had desired of him. I told him he should
+do no such thing, and he said he would go to the Chancellor
+and ask him. I don&rsquo;t know how it ended. Howe told me
+yesterday morning in Westminster Abbey that Lord Cleveland
+is to be a duke, though it is not yet acknowledged if it
+be so. There has been a battle about that; they say that he
+got his boroughs to be made a marquis, and got rid of them
+to be made a
+duke.<a name="FNA_15_08" id="FNA_15_08"></a><a href="#FN_15_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_15_08" id="FN_15_08"></a><a href="#FNA_15_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[The Earl of Darlington had been made Marquis of Cleveland in 1827,
+and was raised to the dukedom in January 1833.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>September 17th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">A DINNER AT ST. JAMES&rsquo;S.</span>
+The coronation went off well, and
+whereas nobody was satisfied before it everybody was after it.
+No events of consequence. The cholera has got to Berlin, and
+Warsaw is taken by the Russians, who appear to have behaved
+with moderation. Since the deposition of Skrznecki, and the
+reign of clubs and mobs and the perpetration of massacres at
+Warsaw, the public sympathy for the Poles has a good deal
+fallen off. The cholera, which is travelling south, is less violent
+than it was in the north. It is remarkable that the common
+people at Berlin are impressed with the same strange belief that
+possessed those of St. Petersburg that they have been poisoned,
+and Chad writes to-day that they believe there is no such
+disease, and that the deaths ascribed to that malady are produced
+by poison administered by the doctors, who are bribed
+for that purpose; that the rich finding the poor becoming too
+numerous to be conveniently governed have adopted this
+mode of thinning the population, which was employed with
+success by the English in India; that the foreign doctors are
+the delegates of a central committee, which is formed in
+London and directs the proceedings, and similar nonsense.</p>
+
+<p>The talk of the town has been about the King and a
+toast he gave at a great dinner at St. James&rsquo;s the other day.
+He had ninety guests&mdash;all his Ministers, all the great people,
+and all the foreign Ambassadors. After dinner he made a
+long, rambling speech in French, and ended by giving as &lsquo;a
+sentiment,&rsquo; as he called it, &lsquo;The land we live in.&rsquo; This was
+before the ladies left the room. After they were gone he
+made another speech in French, in the course of which he
+travelled over every variety of topic that suggested itself to
+his excursive mind, and ended with a very coarse toast and
+the words &lsquo;Honi soit qui mal y pense.&rsquo; Sefton, who told it me
+said he never felt so ashamed; Lord Grey was ready to sink
+into the earth; everybody laughed of course, and Sefton, who
+sat next to Talleyrand, said to him, &lsquo;Eh bien, que pensez-vous
+de cela?&rsquo; With his unmoved, immovable face he answered
+only, &lsquo;C&rsquo;est bien remarquable.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Reform, which has subsided into a calm
+for some time past, is approaching its termination in the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+House of Commons, and as it gets near the period of a fresh
+campaign, and a more arduous though a shorter one, agitation
+is a little reviving. The &lsquo;Times&rsquo; and other violent newspapers
+are moving heaven and earth to stir up the country
+and intimidate the Peers, many of whom are frightened
+enough already. The general opinion at present is that the
+Peers created at the coronation will not be enough to carry the
+Bill (they are a set of horrid rubbish most of them), but that
+no more will be made at present; that the Opposition, if
+united, will be strong enough to throw out the Bill, but that
+they are so divided in opinion whether to oppose the Bill on
+the second reading or in Committee that this dissension will
+very likely enable it to pass. Up to this time there has been
+no meeting, and nothing has been agreed upon, but there
+would have been one convened by the Duke of Wellington
+but for Lady Mornington&rsquo;s death, and this week they will
+arrange their plan of operations. From what Sefton says
+(who knows and thinks only as Brougham and Grey direct
+him) I conclude that the Government are resolved the Bill
+shall pass, that if it is thrown out they will do what the
+Tories recommended, and make as many Peers as may be
+sufficient, for he said the other day he would rather it was
+thrown out on the second reading than pass by a small
+majority. With this resolution (which after having gone
+so far is not unwise) and the feeling out of doors, pass it
+must, and so sure are Government of it that they have begun
+to divide the counties, and have set up an office with clerks,
+maps, &amp;c., in the Council Office, and there the Committee sit
+every day.</p>
+
+<h3>Stoke, September 18th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>I came here yesterday with the
+Chancellor, Creevey, Luttrell, my father and mother, Esterhazy,
+Neumann. Brougham was tired, never spoke, and went
+to bed early. This morning I got a letter from the Lord President
+enclosing an order from the King for a copy of the
+proceedings in Council on the marriage of the Duke of
+Sussex and Lady Augusta Murray. The Chancellor told me
+that the young man Sir Augustus d&rsquo;Este had behaved very
+ill, having filed a bill in Chancery, into which he had put all
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">STATE OF FRANCE.</span>
+his father&rsquo;s love letters, written thirty years ago, to perpetuate
+evidence; that it was all done without the Duke of Sussex&rsquo;s
+consent, but that D&rsquo;Este had got Lushington&rsquo;s opinion that
+the marriage was valid on the ground that the Marriage
+Act only applied to marriages contracted here, whereas
+this was contracted at Rome. He said Lushington was a
+great authority, but that he had no doubt he was wrong.
+The King is exceedingly annoyed at it.</p>
+
+<h3>September 19th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Came to town. Talleyrand, Madame de
+Dino, and Alava came to Stoke yesterday. Talleyrand had a
+circle, but the Chancellor talked too much, and they rather
+spoilt one another. He said one neat thing. They were
+talking of Madame d&rsquo;Abrantès&rsquo;s &lsquo;Memoirs,&rsquo; and of her mother,
+Madame Pernon. My father said, &lsquo;M. de Marb&oelig;uf était
+<i>un peu</i> l&rsquo;amant de Madame Pernon, n&rsquo;est-ce pas?&rsquo; He
+said, &lsquo;Oui, mais je ne <i>sais pas dans quelles proportions</i>.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>September 20th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>News arrived of great riots at Paris, on
+account of the Polish business and the fall of Warsaw.
+Madame de Dino (who, by-the-bye, Talleyrand says is the
+cleverest <i>man</i> or <i>woman</i> he ever knew) said last night that
+she despaired of the state of things in France, that this was
+no mere popular tumult, but part of an organised system of
+disaffection, and that the Carlists had joined the ultra-Republicans,
+that the National Guard was not to be depended
+upon, that &lsquo;leur esprit était fatigué.&rsquo; Talleyrand himself
+was very low, and has got no intelligence from his Government.
+This morning I met Lord Grey, and walked with
+him. I told him what Madame de Dino had said. He said
+he knew it all, and how bad things were, and that they would
+be much worse if the Reform Bill was thrown out here. I
+asked him how they would be affected by that. He said that
+a change of Ministry here would have a very bad effect
+there, from which it may be inferred that if beaten they
+mean to resign. He said the French Ministry had been
+very imprudent about Poland. I said, &lsquo;How? for what could
+they have done? They could only get at Poland through
+Prussia.&rsquo; He said they might have sent a fleet to the
+Baltic with our concurrence, though we could not urge
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+them to do so. I asked him what he thought would be the
+result of the dissolution of Périer&rsquo;s Government; I said that
+there appeared to me two alternatives, a general <i>bouleversement</i>
+or the war faction in power under the existing system. He
+replied he did not think there would now be a <i>bouleversement</i>,
+but a Ministry of Lafayette, Lamarque, and all that party
+who were impatient to plunge France into war. I said I did
+not think France could look to a successful war, for the old
+alliance would be re-formed against her. He rejoined that
+Russia was powerless, crippled by this contest, and under the
+necessity of maintaining a great army in Poland; Austria
+and Prussia were both combustible, half the provinces of the
+former nearly in a state of insurrection; that the latter had
+enough to do to preserve quiet, and the French would rouse all
+the disaffected spirit which existed in both. I said &lsquo;then we
+were on the eve of that state of things which was predicted
+by Canning in his famous speech.&rsquo; Here we met Ellis, and I
+left them.</p>
+
+<p>I afterwards saw George Villiers, who told me that he
+knew from a member of the Cabinet that there had been a
+division in it on the question of going out if the Reform
+Bill should be rejected, and that it had been carried by
+a majority that they should. He told me also a curious
+thing about Stanley&rsquo;s Arms Bill: that it had never been imparted
+to Lord Anglesey, nor to the Cabinet here, and that
+Lord Grey had been obliged to write an apology to Lord
+Anglesey, and to tell him he (Lord Grey) had himself seen the
+Bill for the first time in the newspapers. This he had from
+Lord C., who is a great friend of Lord Anglesey&rsquo;s, and who
+had seen Lord Grey&rsquo;s letter before he left Ireland; but the
+story appears to me quite incredible, and is probably untrue.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
+Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform &mdash; Resolution to carry the Bill &mdash; Holland
+&mdash; Radical Jones &mdash; Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords &mdash; Dorsetshire
+Election &mdash; Division among the Tories &mdash; Bishop Phillpotts &mdash; Prospects of
+Reform &mdash; Its Dangers &mdash; Riots at Bristol &mdash; The Cholera at Sunderland &mdash;
+An Attempt at a Compromise on Reform &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe negotiates
+with the Ministers &mdash; Negotiation with Mr. Barnes &mdash; Proclamation against
+the Unions &mdash; Barbarism of Sunderland &mdash; Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe
+&mdash; Bristol and Lyons &mdash; Commercial Negotiations with France &mdash;
+Poulett Thomson &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s Proposal to Lord Grey &mdash; Disapproved
+by the Duke of Wellington &mdash; Moderation of Lord John Russell
+&mdash; The Appeal of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor &mdash; The Second Reform Bill &mdash;
+Violence of Lord Durham &mdash; More Body-snatchers &mdash; Duke of Richmond
+and Sir Henry Parnell &mdash; Panshanger &mdash; Creation of Peers &mdash; Division of
+Opinion &mdash; Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s
+Interview with the King &mdash; Opposition of the Duke of Wellington
+&mdash; The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>September 22nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The night before last Croker and Macaulay
+made two fine speeches on Reform; the former spoke
+for two hours and a half, and in a way he had never done
+before. Macaulay was very brilliant. There was a meeting
+at Lord Ebrington&rsquo;s yesterday, called by him, Lyttelton
+Lawley, and of members of the House of Commons only, and
+they (without coming to any resolution) were all agreed to
+prevail on the Government not to resign in the event of
+the Reform Bill being rejected in the House of Lords. I
+have no doubt, therefore, in spite of what Lord Grey said,
+and the other circumstances I have mentioned above, that
+they will not resign, and I doubt whether there will be any
+occasion for it.</p>
+
+<p>There was a dinner at Apsley House yesterday; the
+Cabinet of Opposition, to discuss matters before having
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
+a general meeting. At this dinner there were sixteen
+or seventeen present, all the leading anti-Reformers of the
+Peers. They agreed to oppose the second reading. Dudley,
+who was there, told me it was tragedy first and farce
+afterwards; for Eldon and Kenyon, who had dined with
+the Duke of Cumberland, came in after dinner. Chairs
+were placed for them on each side of the Duke, and after
+he had explained to them what they had been discussing, and
+what had been agreed upon, Kenyon made a long speech on
+the first reading of the Bill, in which it was soon apparent
+that he was very drunk, for he talked exceeding nonsense,
+wandered from one topic to another, and repeated the same
+things over and over again. When he had done Eldon
+made a speech on the second reading, and appeared to be
+equally drunk, only, Lord Bathurst told me, Kenyon in his
+drunkenness talked nonsense, but Eldon sense. Dudley said
+it was not that they were as drunk as lords and gentlemen
+sometimes are, but they were drunk like porters. Lyndhurst
+was not there, though invited. He dined at Holland House.
+It is pretty clear, however, that he will vote for the second
+reading, for his wife is determined he shall. I saw her
+yesterday, and she is full of pique and resentment against
+the Opposition and the Duke, half real and half pretended,
+and chatters away about Lyndhurst&rsquo;s not being their cat&rsquo;s
+paw, and that if they choose to abandon him, they must not
+expect him to sacrifice himself for them. The pretexts
+she takes are, that they would not go to the House of Lords
+on Tuesday and support him against Brougham on the
+Bankruptcy Bill, and that the Duke of Wellington wrote to
+her and <i>desired</i> her to influence her husband in the matter
+of Reform. The first is a joke, the second there might be
+a little in, for vanity is always uppermost, but they have
+both some motive of interest, which they will pursue in whatever
+way they best can. The excuse they make is that they
+want to conceal their strength from the Government, and
+accordingly the Duke of Wellington has not yet entered any
+of his proxies. The truth is that I am by no means sure
+<i>now</i> that it is safe or prudent to oppose the second reading;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.</span>
+and though I think it very doubtful if any practicable alteration
+will be made in Committee, it will be better to take
+that chance, and the chance of an accommodation and compromise
+between the two parties and the two Houses, than
+to attack it in front. It is clear that Government are resolved
+to carry the Bill, and equally clear that no means they
+can adopt would be unpopular. They are averse to making
+more Peers if they can help it, and would rather go quietly
+on, without any fresh changes, and I believe they are conscientiously
+persuaded that this Bill is the least democratical
+Bill it is possible to get the country to accept, and that if
+offered in time this one will be accepted. I had heard
+before that the country is not enamoured of this Bill, but I
+fear that it is true that they are only indifferent to the
+Conservative clauses of it (if I may so term them), and for
+that reason it may be doubtful whether there would not be
+such a clamour raised in the event of the rejection of this
+Bill as would compel the Ministers to make a new one, more
+objectionable than the old. If its passing clearly appears to be
+inevitable, why, the sooner it is done the better, for at least
+one immense object will be gained in putting an end to
+agitation, and restoring the country to good-humour, and
+it is desirable that the House of Lords should stand as well
+with the people as it can. It is better, as Burke says, &lsquo;to do
+early, and from foresight, that which we may be obliged to
+do from necessity at last.&rsquo; I am not more delighted with
+Reform than I have ever been, but it is the part of prudence
+to take into consideration the present and the future, and
+not to harp upon the past. It matters not how the country
+has been worked up to its present state, if a calm observation
+convinces us that the spirit that has been raised cannot be
+allayed, and that is very clear to me.</p>
+
+<h3>September 24th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Peel closed the debate on Thursday
+night with a very fine speech, the best (one of his opponents
+told me, and it is no use asking the opinions of friends if a
+candid opponent is to be found) he had ever made, not only
+on that subject, but on any other; he cut Macaulay to
+ribands. Macaulay is very brilliant, but his speeches are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+harangues and never replies; whereas Peel&rsquo;s long experience
+and real talent for debate give him a great advantage in the
+power of reply, which he very eminently possesses. Macaulay,
+however, will probably be a very distinguished man. These
+debates have elicited a vast deal of talent, and have served
+as touchstones to try real merit and power. As a proof of
+what practice and a pretty good understanding can do, there
+is Althorp, who now appears to be an excellent leader, and
+contrives to speak decently upon all subjects, quite as much
+as a leader need do; for I have always thought that it should
+not be his business to furnish rhetoric and flowers of eloquence,
+but good-humour, judgment, firmness, discretion,
+business-like talents, and gentlemanlike virtues.</p>
+
+<p>Dined at Richmond on Friday with the Lyndhursts; the
+<i>mari</i> talks against the Bill, the women for it. They are like
+the old divisions of families in the Civil Wars.</p>
+
+<p>My brother-in-law and sister are just returned from a tour
+of three weeks in Holland; curious spectacle, considering the
+state of the rest of Europe, nothing but loyalty and enthusiasm,
+adoration of the Orange family; 2,000,000 of people,
+and an army of 110,000 men; everybody satisfied with the
+Government, and no desire for Reform.</p>
+
+<p>Paris, on the point of exploding, is again tranquil, but
+nobody can tell for how long. They bet two to one here
+that the Reform Bill is thrown out on the second reading;
+and what then? The meeting at Ebrington&rsquo;s was flat, nothing
+agreed on. Hume wanted to pass some violent resolution,
+but was overruled. Milton made a foolish speech, with
+prospective menaces and present nothingness in it, and
+they separated without having done good or harm.</p>
+
+<h3>Newmarket, October 1st, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Came here last night, to my great
+joy, to get holidays, and leave Reform and cholera and politics
+for racing and its amusements. Just before I came away I met
+Lord Wharncliffe, and asked him about his interview with
+Radical Jones. This blackguard considers himself a sort of
+chief of a faction, and one of the heads of the <i>sans-culottins</i>
+of the present day. He wrote to Lord Wharncliffe and said
+he wished to confer with him, that if he would grant him an
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.</span>
+interview he might bring any person he pleased to witness
+what passed between them. Lord Wharncliffe replied that
+he would call on him, and should be satisfied to have no
+witness. Accordingly he did so, when the other in very civil
+terms told him that he wished to try and impress upon his
+mind (as he was one of the heads of anti-Reform in the
+House of Lords) how dangerous it would be to reject this
+Bill, that all sorts of excesses would follow its rejection, that
+their persons and properties would be perilled, and resistance
+would be unavailing, for that they (the Reformers) were resolved
+to carry their point. Lord Wharncliffe asked whether
+if this was conceded they would be satisfied. Jones replied,
+&lsquo;Certainly not;&rsquo; that they must go a great deal further,
+that an hereditary peerage was not to be defended on any
+reasonable theory. Still, he was not for doing away with it,
+that he wished the changes that were inevitable to take
+place quietly, and without violence or confusion. After
+some more discourse in this strain they separated, but very
+civilly, and without any intemperance of expression on the
+part of the Reformer.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday the battle begins in the House of Lords, and
+up to this time nobody knows how it will go, each party being
+confident, but opinion generally in favour of the Bill being
+thrown out. There is nothing more curious in this question
+than the fact that it is almost impossible to find anybody who
+is satisfied with the part he himself takes upon it, and that it
+is generally looked upon as a choice of evils, in which the
+only thing to do is to choose the least. The Reformers say,
+You had better pass the Bill or you will have a worse. The
+moderate anti-Reformers would be glad to suffer the second
+reading to pass and alter it in Committee, but they do not
+dare do so, because the sulky, stupid, obstinate High Tories
+declare that they will throw the whole thing up, and not
+attempt to alter the Bill if it passes the second reading.
+Every man seems tossed about by opposite considerations
+and the necessity of accommodating his own conduct to the
+caprices, passions, and follies of others.</p>
+
+<h3>Riddlesworth, October 10th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Newmarket all last week;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+all the Peers absent; here since Friday. Yesterday morning
+the newspapers (all in
+black<a name="FNA_16_01" id="FNA_16_01"></a><a href="#FN_16_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>)
+announced the defeat of the
+Reform Bill by a majority of forty-one, at seven o&rsquo;clock on
+Saturday morning, after five nights&rsquo; debating. By all
+accounts the debate was a magnificent display, and incomparably
+superior to that in the House of Commons, but
+the reports convey no idea of it. The great speakers on
+either side were:&mdash;Lords Grey, Lansdowne, Goderich,
+Plunket, and the Chancellor, for the Bill; against it,
+Lords Wharncliffe (who moved the amendment), Harrowby,
+Carnarvon, Dudley, Wynford, and Lyndhurst. The Duke of
+Wellington&rsquo;s speech was exceedingly bad; he is in fact, and
+has proved it in repeated instances, unequal to argue a great
+constitutional question. He has neither the command of
+language, the power of reasoning, nor the knowledge requisite
+for such an effort. Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s speech was
+amazingly fine, and delivered with great effect; and the last
+night the Chancellor is said to have surpassed all his former
+exploits, Lyndhurst to have been nearly as good, and Lord
+Grey very great in reply. There was no excitement in
+London the following day, and nothing particular happened
+but the Chancellor being drawn from Downing Street to
+Berkeley Square in his carriage by a very poor mob. The
+majority was much greater than anybody expected, and it
+is to be hoped may be productive of good by showing the
+necessity of a compromise; for no Minister can make sixty
+Peers, which Lord Grey must do to carry this Bill; it
+would be to create another House of Lords. Nobody knows
+what the Ministers would do, but it was thought they would
+not resign. A meeting of members of the House of Commons
+was held under the auspices of Ebrington to agree
+upon a resolution of confidence in the Government this day.
+The majority and the magnificent display of eloquence and
+ability in the House of Lords must exalt the character and
+dignity of that House, and I hope increase its efficacy for
+good purposes and for resistance to this Bill. It may be
+hoped, too, that the apathy of the capital may have some
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DORSETSHIRE ELECTION.</span>
+effect in the country, though the unions, which are so well
+disciplined and under the control of their orators, will make
+a stir. On the whole I rejoice at this result, though I had
+taken fright before, and thought it better the Bill should be
+read a second time than be thrown out by a very small
+majority.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_16_01" id="FN_16_01"></a><a href="#FNA_16_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[Not all of them; neither the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; nor the &lsquo;Morning Herald.&rsquo;]</p></div>
+
+<p>While the debates have been going on there have been
+two elections, one of the Lord Mayor in the City, which the
+Reformers have carried after a sharp contest, and the contest
+for Dorsetshire between Ponsonby and Ashley, which is not
+yet over. Ponsonby had a week&rsquo;s start of his opponent,
+notwithstanding which it is so severe that they have been for
+some days within ten or fifteen of each other, and (what is
+remarkable) the anti-Reformer is the popular candidate, and
+has got all the mob with him. This certainly is indicative
+of some <i>change</i>, though not of a <i>reaction</i>, in public opinion.
+There is no longer the same vehemence of desire for this Bill,
+and I doubt whether all the efforts of the press will be able
+to stimulate the people again to the same pitch of excitement.</p>
+
+<h3>Buckenham, October 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Came here yesterday; nobody
+of note, not lively, letters every day with an account of what
+is passing. The Radical press is moving heaven and earth to
+produce excitement, but without much effect. There was
+something of a mob which marched about the parks, but no
+mischief done. Londonderry and some others were hooted
+near the House of Lords. Never was a party so crestfallen
+as I hear they are; they had not a notion of such a division.
+There seems to be a very general desire to bring about a
+fair compromise, and to have a Bill introduced next session
+which may be so framed as to secure the concurrence of
+the majority of both Houses. The finest speeches by all
+accounts were Harrowby&rsquo;s, Lyndhurst&rsquo;s, and Grey&rsquo;s reply;
+but Henry de Ros, who is a very good judge, writes me
+word that Lyndhurst&rsquo;s was the most to his taste.</p>
+
+<h3>October 12th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The Reformers appear to have rallied their
+spirits. Lord Grey went to Windsor, was graciously received
+by the King, and obtained the dismissal of Lord Howe, which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
+will serve to show the King&rsquo;s entire good-will to his present
+Ministers. Ebrington&rsquo;s resolution of confidence was carried
+by a great majority in the House of Commons after some
+violent speeches from Macaulay, Sheil, and O&rsquo;Connell, and very
+moderate ones and in a low tone on the other side. Macaulay&rsquo;s
+speech was as usual very eloquent, but as inflammatory
+as possible. Such men as these three can care nothing into
+what state of confusion the country is thrown, for all they
+want is a market to which they may bring their
+talents;<a name="FNA_16_02" id="FNA_16_02"></a><a href="#FN_16_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+but how the Miltons, Tavistocks, Althorps, and all who
+have a great stake in the country can run the same course
+is more than I can conceive or comprehend. Party is indeed,
+as Swift says, &lsquo;the madness of many,&rsquo; when carried to its
+present pitch. In the meantime the Conservative party are
+as usual committing blunders, which will be fatal to them.
+Lord Harrowby was to have moved yesterday or the day
+before, in the House of Lords, a resolution pledging the
+House to take into consideration early in the next session
+the acknowledged defects in the representation, with a view
+to make such ameliorations in it as might be consistent with
+the Constitution, or something to this effect. This has not
+been done because the Duke of Wellington objects. He will
+not concur because he thinks the proposition should come
+from Government; as if this was a time to stand upon such
+punctilios, and that it was not of paramount importance to
+show the country that the Peers are not obstinately bent
+upon opposing all Reform. I had hoped that he had profited
+by experience, and that at least his past errors in politics
+might have taught him a little modesty, and that he would
+not have thwarted measures which were proposed by the
+wisest and most disinterested of his own party. I can conceive
+no greater misfortune at this moment than such a disunion
+of that party, and to have its deliberations ruled by
+the obstinacy and prejudices of the Duke. He is a great
+man in little things, but a little man in great matters&mdash;I
+mean in civil affairs; in those mighty questions which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD GREY AND BISHOP PHILLPOTTS.</span>
+embrace enormous and various interests and considerations,
+and to comprehend which great knowledge of human nature,
+great sagacity, coolness, and impartiality are required, he is
+not fit to govern and direct. His mind has not been sufficiently
+disciplined, nor saturated with knowledge and matured
+by reflection and communication with other minds, to
+enable him to be a safe and efficient leader in such times as
+these.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_16_02" id="FN_16_02"></a><a href="#FNA_16_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+This was very unjust to Macaulay, and not true as to Sheil; to O&rsquo;Connell
+alone applicable.</p></div>
+
+<p>[In reading over these remarks upon the Duke of Wellington,
+and comparing them with the opinions I now entertain
+of his present conduct, and of the nature and quality of
+his mind, I am compelled to ask myself whether I did not
+then do him injustice. On the whole I think not. He is
+not, nor ever was, a little man in anything, great or small;
+but I am satisfied that he has made great political blunders,
+though with the best and most patriotic intentions, and that
+his conduct throughout the Reform contest was one of the
+greatest and most unfortunate of them.&mdash;<i>July 1838.</i>]</p>
+
+<h3>October 14th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The town continues quite quiet; the
+country nearly so. The press strain every nerve to produce
+excitement, and the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; has begun an assault on the
+bishops, whom it has marked out for vengeance and defamation
+for having voted against the Bill. Althorp and Lord John
+Russell have written grateful letters to Attwood as Chairman
+of the Birmingham Union, thus indirectly acknowledging
+that puissant body. There was a desperate strife in the
+House of Lords between Phillpotts and Lord Grey, in which
+the former got a most tremendous dressing. Times must
+be mightily changed when my sympathies go with this
+bishop, and even now, though full of disgust with the other
+faction, I have a pleasure in seeing him trounced. The
+shade of Canning may rejoice at the sight of Grey smiting
+Phillpotts. Even on such a question Phillpotts was essentially
+in the right; but he lost his temper, floundered, and got
+punished. It was most indecent and disgusting to hear
+Brougham from the Woolsack, in a strain of the bitterest
+irony and sarcasm, but so broad as to be without the semblance
+of disguise, attack the bench of bishops. I am of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+opinion that it would have been far better never to have let
+them back into the House of Lords, but now that they are
+there I would not thrust them out, especially at this moment.
+Lord Grey in this debate gave no handle certainly, for he
+interposed in their favour, and rebuked Lord Suffield, who
+attacked them first, and told him he was out of order, and
+then Phillpotts very foolishly attacked him.</p>
+
+<h3>October 15th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>A furious attack in the House of Commons
+upon Althorp&rsquo;s and John Russell&rsquo;s letters to Attwood by
+Hardinge and Vyvyan. Peel not there, having hopped off to
+Staffordshire, to the great disgust of his party, whom he
+never scruples to leave in the lurch. They made wretched
+excuses for these letters, and could only have recourse to the
+pretence of indignation at being thought capable of fomenting
+disorders, which is all very well; but they do foment
+discord and discontent by every means in their power. With
+a yelling majority in the House, and a desperate press out
+of it, they go on in their reckless course without fear or
+shame. Lord Harrowby made a speech in the House of
+Lords, and declared his conviction that the time was come
+for effecting a Reform, and that he would support one to a
+certain extent, which he specified. In the House he was
+coolly received, and the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; hardly deigned to notice
+what he said. Parliament is to be up on Thursday next,
+and will probably not meet till January, when of course
+the first thing done will be to bring in the Bill again. What,
+then, is gained? For as Ministers take every opportunity of
+declaring that they will accept nothing less efficient (as
+they call it) than the present Bill, no compromise can be
+looked for. Lord Harrowby is the only man who has said
+what he will do, and probably he goes further than the bulk
+of his party would approve of; and yet he is far behind the
+Ministerial plan. So that there seems little prospect of
+getting off for less than the old Bill, for the Opposition will
+hardly venture to stop the next <i>in limine</i> as they did this.
+I do not see why they should hope to amend the next Bill in
+Committee any more than the last, and the division which
+they dreaded the other day is not less likely, and would not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DANGERS OF REFORM.</span>
+be less fatal upon another occasion. If, then, it is to pass at
+last, it comes back to what I thought before, that it might as
+well have passed at first as at last, and the excitement consequent
+on its rejection have been spared, as well as the
+odium which has accrued to the Peers, which will not be
+forgotten or laid aside.</p>
+
+<p>The Dorsetshire election promises to end in favour of
+Ashley, and there will be a contest for Cambridgeshire, which
+may also end in favour of the anti-Reform candidate. These
+victories I really believe to be unfortunate, for they are
+taken (I am arguing as if they were won, though, with regard
+to the first, it is the same thing by contrast with the last
+election) by the Tories and anti-Reform champions as
+undoubted proofs of the reaction of public opinion, and they
+are thereby encouraged to persevere in opposition under the
+false notion that this supposed reaction will every day gain
+ground. I wish it were so with all my soul, but believe it
+is no such thing, and that although there may be fewer
+friends to <i>the Bill</i> than there were, particularly among the
+agriculturists, Reform is not a whit less popular with the mass
+of the people in the manufacturing districts, throughout the
+unions, and generally amongst all classes and in all parts of
+the country. When I see men, and those in very great
+numbers, of the highest birth, of immense fortunes, of
+undoubted integrity and acknowledged talents, zealously and
+conscientiously supporting this measure, I own I am lost in
+astonishment, and even doubt; for I can&rsquo;t help asking
+myself whether it is possible that such men would be the
+advocates of measures fraught with all the peril we ascribe to
+these, whether we are not in reality mistaken, and labouring
+under groundless alarm generated by habitual prejudices
+and erroneous calculations. But often as this doubt comes
+across my mind, it is always dispelled by a reference to and
+comparison of the arguments on both sides, and by the
+lessons which all that I have ever read and all the conclusions
+I have been able to draw from the study of history
+have impressed on my mind. I believe these measures full
+of danger, but that the manner in which they have been introduced,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span>
+discussed, defended, and supported is more dangerous
+still. The total unsettlement of men&rsquo;s minds, the bringing
+into contempt all the institutions which have been hitherto
+venerated, the aggrandisement of the power of the people,
+the embodying and recognition of popular authority, the use
+and abuse of the King&rsquo;s name, the truckling to the press, are
+things so subversive of government, so prejudicial to order
+and tranquillity, so encouraging to sedition and disaffection,
+that I do not see the possibility of the country settling down
+into that calm and undisturbed state in which it was before
+this question was mooted, and without which there can be no
+happiness or security to the community. A thousand mushroom
+orators and politicians have sprung up all over the
+country, each big with his own ephemeral importance, and
+every one of whom fancies himself fit to govern the nation.
+Amongst them are some men of active and powerful minds,
+and nothing is less probable than that these spirits of mischief
+and misrule will be content to subside into their original
+nothingness, and retire after the victory has been gained
+into the obscurity from which they emerged.</p>
+
+<h3>Newmarket, October 23rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing but racing all this
+week; Parliament has been prorogued and all is quiet. The
+world seems tired, and requires rest. How soon it will
+all begin again God knows, but it will not be suffered to sleep
+long.</p>
+
+<h3>London, November 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing written for a long
+time; I went after the second October meeting to Euston,
+and from thence to Horsham, returned to Newmarket, was
+going to Felbrigg, but came to town on Tuesday last (the
+8th) on account of the cholera, which has broken out at Sunderland.
+The country was beginning to slumber after the
+fatigues of Reform, when it was rattled up by the business of
+Bristol,<a name="FNA_16_03" id="FNA_16_03"></a><a href="#FN_16_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+which for brutal ferocity and wanton, unprovoked
+violence may vie with some of the worst scenes of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">RIOTS AT BRISTOL.</span>
+French Revolution, and may act as a damper to our national
+pride. The spirit which produced these atrocities was generated
+by Reform, but no pretext was afforded for their actual
+commission; it was a premature outbreaking of the thirst for
+plunder, and longing after havoc and destruction, which is
+the essence of Reform in the mind of the mob. The details
+are ample, and to be met with everywhere; nothing could
+exceed the ferocity of the populace, the imbecility of the
+magistracy, or the good conduct of the troops. More punishment
+was inflicted by them than has been generally known,
+and some hundreds were killed or severely wounded by the
+sabre. One body of dragoons pursued a rabble of colliers
+into the country, and covered the fields and roads with the
+bodies of wounded wretches, making a severe example of
+them. In London there would probably have been a great
+uproar and riot, but fortunately Melbourne, who was frightened
+to death at the Bristol affair, gave Lord Hill and
+Fitzroy Somerset <i>carte blanche</i>, and they made such a provision
+of military force in addition to the civil power that the
+malcontents were paralysed. The Bristol business has done
+some good, inasmuch as it has opened people&rsquo;s eyes (at least
+so it is said), but if we are to go on as we do with a mob-ridden
+Government and a foolish King, who renders himself
+subservient to all the wickedness and folly of his Ministers,
+where is the advantage of having people&rsquo;s eyes open, when
+seeing they will not perceive, and hearing they will not
+understand? Nothing was wanting to complete our situation
+but the addition of physical evil to our moral plague, and
+that is come in the shape of the cholera, which broke out at
+Sunderland a few days ago. To meet the exigency Government
+has formed another Board of Health, but without dissolving
+the first, though the second is intended to swallow up
+the first and leave it a mere nullity. Lord Lansdowne, who
+is President of the Council, an office which for once promises
+not to be a sinecure, has taken the opportunity to go to
+Bowood, and having come up (sent for express) on account of
+the cholera the day it was officially declared really to be that
+disease, he has trotted back to his house in the country.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_16_03" id="FN_16_03"></a><a href="#FNA_16_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[Riots broke out with great violence at Bristol on the 29th of October,
+the pretext being the entry of Sir Charles Wetherell into that city (of which
+he was Recorder), who was notorious for his violent opposition to the
+Reform Bill. Much property was destroyed, and many lives lost.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>November 14th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+For the last two or three days the reports
+from Sunderland about the cholera have been of a doubtful
+character. The disease makes so little progress that the
+doctors begin again to doubt whether it is the Indian
+cholera, and the merchants, shipowners, and inhabitants,
+who suffer from the restraints imposed upon an infected
+place, are loudly complaining of the measures which have
+been adopted, and strenuously insisting that their town is in
+a more healthy state than usual, and that the disease is no
+more than what it always is visited with every year at this
+season. In the meantime all preparations are going on in
+London, just as if the disorder was actually on its way to the
+metropolis. We have a Board at the Council Office, between
+which and the Board at the College some civilities have
+passed, and the latter is now ready to yield up its functions
+to the former, which, however, will not be regularly constituted
+without much difficulty and many jealousies, all owing
+to official carelessness and mismanagement. The Board has
+been diligently employed in drawing up suggestions and instructions
+to local boards and parochial authorities, and great
+activity has prevailed here in establishing committees for the
+purpose of visiting the different districts of the metropolis, and
+making such arrangements as may be necessary in the event
+of sickness breaking out. There is no lack of money or
+labour for this end, and one great good will be accomplished
+let what will happen, for much of the filth and misery of the
+town will be brought to light, and the condition of the poorer
+and more wretched of the inhabitants can hardly fail to be
+ameliorated. The reports from Sunderland exhibit a state
+of human misery, and necessarily of moral degradation, such
+as I hardly ever heard of, and it is no wonder, when a great
+part of the community is plunged into such a condition
+(and we may fairly suppose that there is a gradually
+mounting scale, with every degree of wretchedness up to the
+wealth and splendour which glitter on the surface of society),
+that there should be so many who are ripe for any desperate
+scheme of revolution. At Sunderland they say there are
+houses with 150 inmates, who are huddled five and six in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">OVERTURES FOR A COMPROMISE.</span>
+a bed. They are in the lowest state of poverty. The sick in
+these receptacles are attended by an apothecary&rsquo;s boy, who
+brings them (or I suppose tosses them) medicines without
+distinction or enquiry.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Lord Wharncliffe last night, just returned from
+Yorkshire; he gives a bad account of the state of the public
+mind; he thinks that there is a strong revolutionary spirit
+abroad; told me that the Duke of Wellington had written to
+the King a memorial upon the danger of the associations
+that were on foot.</p>
+
+<h3>Roehampton, November 19th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>On Tuesday last I went
+with the Duke of Richmond to pass a day at Shirley Lodge,
+a house that has been lent him by Mr. Maberly, and there
+we had a great deal of conversation about Reform and
+general politics, in the course of which I was struck by
+his apparent candour and moderation, and when I told him
+that nothing would do but a compromise between the parties
+he acceded to that opinion, and said that he should like
+to go to Lord Wharncliffe, and talk the matter over with
+him. This was on Wednesday. Yesterday morning I
+called on Lord Wharncliffe, and told him what Richmond
+had said. He was sitting before a heap of papers, and when
+I told him this he laughed and said that Richmond was
+behindhand, that matters had gone a great deal further than
+this, and then proceeded to give me the following account of
+what had passed. A short time ago Palmerston spoke to his
+son, John Wortley, and expressed a desire that some compromise
+could be effected between the Government and the
+Opposition leaders, which John imparted to Lord Harrowby
+and his father. The overture was so well received by them
+that Stanley went to Sandon, Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s place in
+Staffordshire, in his way to Ireland, with Lord Grey&rsquo;s
+consent, to talk it over with Lord Sandon. After this Lord
+Wharncliffe went to Sandon, and the two fathers and
+two sons discussed the matter, and came to a sort of
+general resolution as to the basis on which they would treat,
+which they drew up, and which Wharncliffe read to me. It
+was moderate, temperate, embraced ample concessions, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+asserted the necessity of each party refraining from demanding
+of the other what either was so pledged to as to be
+unable to concede without dishonour. On Wharncliffe&rsquo;s
+return to town he again saw Palmerston, and communicated
+to him Harrowby&rsquo;s concurrence in an equitable adjustment
+of the Reform question, and then suggested that if Government
+really desired this, it would be better that he (Wharncliffe)
+should see Lord Grey himself on the subject. Palmerston
+told Lord Grey, who assented, and gave Wharncliffe a
+rendezvous at East Sheen on Wednesday last. There they
+had a long conversation, which by his account was conducted
+in a very fair and amicable spirit on both sides, and they
+seem to have come to a good understanding as to the
+principle on which they should treat. On parting, Grey
+shook hands with him twice, and told him he had not felt so
+much relieved for a long time. The next day Lord Grey
+made a minute of their conversation, which he submitted to
+the Cabinet; they approved of it, and he sent it to Wharncliffe
+to peruse, who returned it to Lord Grey. In this
+state the matter stood yesterday morning, apparently with
+every prospect of being arranged. Wharncliffe had already
+spoken to Dudley, Lyndhurst, and De Ros, the only Peers of
+his party he had seen, and to the Archbishop of Canterbury,
+who were all delighted at what had passed. He had written
+to the Duke of Wellington and Peel, and he is busying
+himself in consulting and communicating with all the Peers
+and influential Commoners of the party whom he can find in
+town. The terms are not settled, but the general basis
+agreed upon seems to be this: the concession of Schedule A,
+of representatives to the great towns, and a great extension
+of the county representation on one side; the abandonment,
+or nearly so, of Schedule B, such an arrangement with
+regard to the 10&#8467;. qualification as shall have the practical
+effect of a higher rate, and an understanding that the
+manufacturing interest is not to have a preponderating
+influence in the county representation; a great deal to be
+left open to discussion, especially on all the subordinate
+points.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">NEGOTIATION WITH THE WAVERERS.</span>
+Such is the history of this curious transaction, which
+affords a triumphant justification of the course which
+the Opposition adopted; indeed, Palmerston admitted to
+Wharncliffe that their tactics had been entirely judicious.
+It is likewise a great homage rendered to character, for
+Wharncliffe has neither wealth, influence, nor superior
+abilities, nor even popularity with his own party. He is a
+spirited, sensible, zealous, honourable, consistent country
+gentleman; their knowledge of his moderation and integrity
+induced Ministers to commit themselves to him, and he will
+thus be in all probability enabled to render an essential
+service to his country, and be a principal instrument in the
+settlement of a question the continued agitation of which
+would have been perilous in the extreme. Besides the prospect
+of a less objectionable Bill, an immense object is gained
+in the complete separation of the Ministry from the subversive
+party, for their old allies the Radicals will never forgive
+them for this compromise with the anti-Reformers, and they
+have now no alternative but to unite with those who call
+themselves the Conservative party against the rebels, republicans,
+associators, and all the disaffected in the country.
+After all their declarations and their unbending insolence, to
+have brought down their pride to these terms, and to the
+humiliation of making overtures to a party whose voice was
+only the other day designated by John Russell as &lsquo;the
+whisper of a faction,&rsquo; shows plainly how deeply alarmed they
+are at the general state of the country, and how the conflagration
+of Bristol has suddenly illuminated their minds. That
+incident, the language of the associations, the domiciliary
+visits to Lord Grey at midnight of Place and his rabble, and
+the licentiousness of the press, have opened their eyes, and
+convinced them that if existing institutions are to be preserved
+at all there is no time to be lost in making such an arrangement
+as may enable all who have anything to lose to
+coalesce for their mutual safety and protection. Whatever
+may be the amount of their concessions, the Radicals will
+never pardon Lord Grey for negotiating with the Tories at
+all, and nothing will prevent his being henceforward the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
+object of their suspicion and aversion, and marked out for
+their vengeance. By what process Althorp and John Russell
+were induced to concur, and how they are to set about swallowing
+their own words, I do not guess.</p>
+
+<p>As a proof of the disposition which exists, and the good
+understanding between Wharncliffe and the Government, he
+told me that some time ago Ward and Palmer went to him,
+and said that in the City the majority of men of weight and
+property were favourable to Reform, but not to the late Bill,
+and that they were desirous of having a declaration drawn
+up for signature, expressive of their adherence to Reform, but
+of their hope that the next measure might be such as would
+give satisfaction to all parties. Wharncliffe drew this up
+(there was likewise an acknowledgment of the right of the
+House of Lords to exercise their privileges as they had done)
+and gave it to them. It is gone to be signed, having been
+previously submitted to Grey and Althorp, who approved
+of it.</p>
+
+<h3>November 21st, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Came to town from Roehampton yesterday
+morning, saw Henry de Ros, who had seen
+Barnes<a name="FNA_16_04" id="FNA_16_04"></a><a href="#FN_16_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+the evening before, and opened to him the pending negotiation.
+His rage and fury exceeded all bounds. He swore Brougham
+and Grey (particularly the former) were the greatest of
+villains. After a long discussion he agreed to try and persuade
+his colleagues to adopt a moderate tone, and not to
+begin at once to <i>jeter feu et flamme</i>. Henry&rsquo;s object was to
+persuade him, if possible, that the interest of the paper will
+be in the long run better consulted by leaning towards the
+side of order and quiet than by continuing to exasperate
+and inflame. He seemed to a certain degree moved by this
+argument, though he is evidently a desperate Radical. Henry
+went to Melbourne afterwards, who is most anxious for the
+happy consummation of this affair, but expressed some alarm
+lest they should be unable to agree upon the details. There
+is an article in the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; this morning of half-menacing
+import, sulkily and gloomily written, but not ferocious, and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE UNIONS.</span>
+leaving it open to them to take what line they think fit. In
+the afternoon I met Melbourne, who told me they were going
+to put forth a proclamation against &lsquo;Attwood and the Birmingham
+fellows,&rsquo; which was grateful to my ears.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_16_04" id="FN_16_04"></a><a href="#FNA_16_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[Then editor of the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; newspaper.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>November 22nd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The King came to town yesterday for a
+Council, at which the meeting of Parliament on the 6th of
+December was settled. The proclamation against the unions
+(which was not ready, and the King signed a blank) and some
+orders about cholera were despatched. Lord Grey told me
+that the union had already determined to dissolve itself.</p>
+
+<p>My satisfaction was yesterday considerably damped by
+what I heard of the pending negotiation concerning Reform.
+Agar Ellis at Roehampton talked with great doubt of its
+being successful, which I attributed to his ignorance of what
+had passed, but I fear it is from his knowledge that the
+Government mean, in fact, to give up nothing of importance.
+George Bentinck came to me in the morning, and told me he
+had discovered from the Duke of Richmond that the concessions
+were not only to be all one way, but that the altered
+Bill would be, in fact, more objectionable than the last, inasmuch
+as it is more democratic in its tendency, so much so
+that Richmond is exceedingly dissatisfied himself, for he has
+always been the advocate of the aristocratic interest in the
+Cabinet, and has battled to make the Bill less adverse to it.
+Now he says he can contend no longer, for he is met by the
+unanswerable argument that their opponents are ready to
+concede more. I own I was alarmed, and my mind misgave
+me when I heard of the extreme satisfaction of Althorp
+and Co.; and I always dreaded that Wharncliffe, however
+honest and well-meaning, had not calibre enough to conduct
+such a negotiation, and might be misled by his vanity. He
+bustles about the town, chatting away to all the people he meets,
+and I fear is both ignorant himself of what he is about and
+involuntarily deceiving others too; he is in a fool&rsquo;s paradise.
+I spoke to Henry de Ros about this last night, who seemed
+by no means aware of it, and it is difficult to believe that
+Lyndhurst and Harrowby should not be perfectly alive to all
+the consequences of Wharncliffe&rsquo;s proceedings, or that they
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+would sanction them if they had really the tendency that
+George Bentinck gives me to understand.</p>
+
+<p>The cholera, which is going on (but without greatly
+extending itself) at Sunderland, has excited an unusual alarm,
+but it is now beginning to subside. People seeing that it
+does not appear elsewhere take courage, but the preparations
+are not relaxed, and they are constantly enforced by the
+Central Board of Health (as it is called), which is established
+at the Council Office, and labours very assiduously in the
+cause. Undoubtedly a great deal of good will be done in
+the way of purification. As to the disorder, if it had not
+the name of cholera nobody would be alarmed, for many an
+epidemic has prevailed at different times far more fatal than
+this. On Friday last we despatched Dr. Barry down to
+Sunderland with very ample powers, and to procure information,
+which it is very difficult to get. Nothing can be more
+disgraceful than the state of that town, exhibiting a lamentable
+proof of the practical inutility of that diffusion of knowledge
+and education which we boast of, and which we fancy
+renders us so morally and intellectually superior to the rest
+of the world. When Dr. Russell was in Russia, he was disgusted
+with the violence and prejudices he found there on
+the part of both medical men and the people, and he says he
+finds just as much here. The conduct of the people of
+Sunderland on this occasion is more suitable to the barbarism
+of the interior of Africa than to a town in a civilised country.
+The medical men and the higher classes are split into parties,
+quarrelling about the nature of the disease, and perverting
+and concealing facts which militate against their respective
+theories. The people are taught to believe that there is
+really no cholera at all, and that those who say so intend
+to plunder and murder them. The consequence is prodigious
+irritation and excitement, an invincible repugnance
+on the part of the lower orders to avail themselves of any of
+the preparations which are made for curing them, and a
+proneness to believe any reports, however monstrous and
+exaggerated. In a very curious letter which was received
+yesterday from Dr. Daur, he says (after complaining of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISAPPOINTMENT.</span>
+medical men, who would send him no returns of the cases of
+sickness) it was believed that bodies had been dissected
+before the life was out of them, and one woman, was said to
+have been cut up while she was begging to be spared. The
+consequence of this is that we have put forward a strong
+order to compel medical men to give information, and another
+for the compulsory removal of nuisances. It is, however,
+rather amusing that everybody who has got in their vicinity
+anything disagreeable, or that they would like to be rid of,
+thinks that now is their time, and the table of the Board of
+Health is covered with applications of this nature, from every
+variety of person and of place.</p>
+
+<h3>November 23rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Dr. Barry&rsquo;s first letter from Sunderland
+came yesterday, in which he declares the identity of the
+disease with the cholera he had seen in Russia. He describes
+some cases he had visited, exhibiting scenes of misery and
+poverty far exceeding what one could have believed it possible
+to find in this country; but we who float on the surface of
+society know but little of the privations and sufferings which
+pervade the mass. I wrote to the Bishop of Durham, to the
+chief magistrates, and sent down 200&#8467;. to Colonel Creagh
+(which Althorp immediately advanced) to relieve the immediate
+and pressing cases of distress.</p>
+
+<p>Saw George Bentinck in the afternoon, who confirmed
+my apprehension that Wharncliffe had been cajoled into a
+negotiation which Government intended should end by
+getting all they want. Richmond, Grey, and Palmerston
+were in a minority of three in the Cabinet for putting off
+the meeting of Parliament. One of the most Radical of the
+Cabinet is Goderich. Such a thing it is to be of feeble
+intellect and character, and yet he is a smart speaker, and
+an agreeable man. The moderate party are Richmond, who
+cannot have much weight, Stanley, who is in Ireland, Lansdowne,
+who is always &lsquo;gone to Bowood,&rsquo; Palmerston, and
+Melbourne. Yet I am led to think that if Wharncliffe had
+insisted on better conditions, and held out, he would have
+got them, and that the Cabinet were really disposed to
+make all the concessions they could without compromising
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+themselves. The meeting in the City yesterday was a total
+failure. Henry Drummond, who is mad, but very clever, and
+a Reformer, though for saving the rotten boroughs, spoke
+against the declaration, some others followed him, and after
+a couple of hours wasted in vain endeavours to procure
+unanimity the meeting broke up, and nothing was done. I
+saw Wharncliffe last night, who was exceedingly disappointed.</p>
+
+<h3>November 28th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The negotiation with Wharncliffe goes
+on languidly; he wrote to Lord Grey the other day, and
+suggested some heads as the basis of an accommodation,
+consisting of some extension of Schedule B, excluding town
+voters from county voting, and one or two other points;
+to which Lord Grey replied that some of the things he
+mentioned might be feasible, but that there would be great
+difficulty about others, that he feared nothing might come of
+their communications, as he would not hear of any other
+Peers who were disposed to go along with him. It is not a
+bad thing that they should each be impressed with a salutary
+apprehension, the one that he will have the same difficulties
+to encounter in the House of Lords, the other that nobody
+will follow him, for it will render an arrangement more probable
+than if they both thought they had only to agree
+together, and that the rest must follow as a matter of course.
+The Duke of Wellington has written again to Wharncliffe,
+declining altogether to be a party to any negotiation. De
+Ros told me that he never saw such a letter as Peel&rsquo;s&mdash;so
+stiff, dry, and reserved, just like the man in whom great
+talents are so counteracted, and almost made mischievous, by
+the effects of his cold, selfish, calculating character. In the
+meantime the state of the country is certainly better, the
+proclamation putting down the unions has been generally
+obeyed, the press has suspended its fury, and the approach
+of the meeting of Parliament seems to have calmed the
+country to a great degree. The event most to be desired
+is that the Government may carry their Bill quietly through
+the House of Commons, amendments be carried in the Committee
+of the House of Lords, and upon these there may be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">POULETT THOMSON.</span>
+a compromise, though after all it is impossible not to have
+a secret misgiving that the alterations which appear desirable
+may prove to be mischievous, for it is the great evil
+of the measure that being certainly new no human being
+can guess how it will work, or how its different parts will
+act upon one another, and what result they will produce.</p>
+
+<p>There seems to be a constant sort of electrical reciprocity
+of effort between us and France just now. The three days
+produced much of our political excitement, and our Bristol
+business has been acted with great similarity of circumstance
+at Lyons, and is still going on. Talleyrand produced the
+&lsquo;Moniteur&rsquo; last night with the account, lamented that the
+Duc d&rsquo;Orléans had been sent with Marshal Soult to Lyons,
+which he said was unnecessary and absurd, that Soult was
+the best man for the purpose of putting it down. It was
+begun by the workpeople, who were very numerous, not
+political in its objects, but the cries denoted a mixture of
+everything, as they shouted &lsquo;Henri V., Napoléon II, La
+République, and Bristol.&rsquo; He was at Lady Holland&rsquo;s, looking
+very cadaverous, and not very talkative, talked of Madame
+du Barri, that she had been very handsome, and had some
+remains of beauty up to the period of her death; of Luckner,
+who was guillotined, and as the car passed on the people
+cried (as they used), &lsquo;À la guillotine! à la guillotine!&rsquo;
+Luckner turned round and said, &lsquo;<i>On</i> y va, canaille.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>We have just sent a commission to Paris to treat with
+the French Government about a commercial treaty on
+the principles of free trade. Poulett Thomson, who has
+been at Paris some time, has originated it, and Althorp
+selected George Villiers for the purpose, but has added to him
+as a colleague Dr. Bowring, who has in fact been selected by
+Thomson, a theorist, and a jobber, deeply implicated in the
+&lsquo;Greek Fire,&rsquo; and a Benthamite. He was the subject of a
+cutting satire of Moore&rsquo;s, beginning,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">The ghost of Miltiades came by night,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And stood by the bed of the Benthamite;</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em">
+but he has been at Paris some time, understanding the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+subject, and has wound himself into some intimacy with
+the French King and his Ministers. It is, however, Poulett
+Thomson who has persuaded Althorp to appoint him, in
+order to have a creature of his own there.</p>
+
+<p>I have never been able to understand the enormous
+unpopularity of this man, who appears civil, well-bred, intelligent,
+and agreeable (only rather a coxcomb), and has
+made a certain figure in the House of Commons, but it has
+been explained to me by a person who knows him well.
+He was originally a merchant, and had a quantity of
+counting-house knowledge. He became member of a club
+of political economists, and a scholar of M&lsquo;Culloch&rsquo;s. In
+this club there were some obscure but very able men, and by
+them he got crammed with the principles of commerce and
+political economy, and from his mercantile connections he
+got facts. He possessed great industry and sufficient ability
+to work up the materials he thus acquired into a very
+plausible exhibition of knowledge upon these subjects, and
+having opportunities of preparing himself for every particular
+question, and the advantage of addressing an audience the
+greater part of which is profoundly ignorant, he passed for
+a young gentleman of extraordinary ability and profound
+knowledge, and amongst the greatest of his admirers was
+Althorp, who, when the Whigs came in, promoted him to his
+present situation. Since he has been there he has not had
+the same opportunities of learning his lesson from others
+behind the curtain, and the envy which always attends success
+has delighted to pull down his reputation, so that he now
+appears something like the jackdaw stripped of the peacock&rsquo;s
+feathers.</p>
+
+<h3>November 30th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Went to breakfast at the Tower, which
+I had never seen. Dined with Lady Holland, first time for
+seven years, finished the quarrel, and the last of that batch;
+they should not last for ever. In the morning Wharncliffe
+came to me from Lord Grey&rsquo;s, with whom he had had a final
+interview. He showed me the paper he gave Grey containing
+his proposals, which were nearly to this effect: conceding
+what the Government required, with these exceptions and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WHARNCLIFFE&rsquo;S PROPOSAL.</span>
+counter-concessions, an alteration in Schedule B with a
+view to preserve in many cases the two members; that
+voters for the great manufacturing towns should have votes
+for the counties; that London districts should not have so
+many representatives; that when the franchise was given
+to great manufacturing towns, <i>their</i> county should not have
+more representatives; that corporate rights should be saved,
+though with an infusion of 10&#8467;. voters where required; that
+Cheltenham and Brighton (particularly) should have no
+members. These were the principal heads, proposed in a
+paper of moderate length and civil expression. Grey said
+the terms were inadmissible, that some parts of his proposal
+might be feasible, but the points on which Wharncliffe most
+insisted (London, and town and county voting) he could
+not agree to. So with many expressions of civility and
+mutual esteem they parted. He is disappointed, but not dejected,
+and I tried to persuade him that an arrangement on
+this basis is not less probable than it was.</p>
+
+<p>The fact is it would have been nearly impossible for
+Government to introduce a Bill so different from the first as
+these changes would have made it, as the result of a negotiation.
+They would have been exposed to great obloquy, and
+have had innumerable difficulties to encounter, but if the Bill
+goes into a Committee of the Lords, and the other clauses
+pass without opposition, the Government may not think
+themselves obliged to contest these alterations. I think the
+Government would accept them, and probably they feel that
+in no other way could they do so. It seems to me that the
+success of these amendments depends now very much upon
+the Opposition themselves, upon their firmness, their union,
+and above all their reasonableness. Saw Talleyrand last
+night, who said they had better news from Lyons, that there
+was nothing political in it. News came yesterday morning
+that the cholera had broken out at Marseilles.</p>
+
+<h3>December 3rd, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Wharncliffe showed me his correspondence
+with the Duke of Wellington on this negotiation.
+They differed greatly, but amicably enough, though I take
+it he was not very well pleased with Wharncliffe&rsquo;s last letter,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
+in which he distinctly told the Duke that his speech on the
+Address, and declaration against any Reform, was what overthrew
+his Government. This he never will admit, and, passing
+over the proximate cause, always refers his fall to (what
+was certainly the remote cause) the Catholic question&mdash;that
+is, to the breaking up of the Tory party which followed it,
+and the union of the old Tories with the Whigs and Radicals
+on purpose to turn him out. In this correspondence
+Wharncliffe has much the best of it, and I was surprised to
+find with what tenacity the Duke clings to his cherished
+prejudices, and how he shuts his eyes to the signs of the
+times and the real state of the country. With the point at
+issue he never would grapple. Wharncliffe argued for concession,
+<i>because</i> they have not the means of resistance, and
+that they are in fact at the mercy of their opponents. The
+Duke admitted the force against them, but thought it would
+be possible to govern the country without Reform &lsquo;if the
+King was not against them&rsquo;&mdash;an important increment of
+his conditions; there is no doubt that &lsquo;the King&rsquo;s name is
+a tower of strength, which they upon the adverse faction
+want&rsquo;&mdash;and he continued through all his letters arguing the
+question on its abstract merits, and repeating the topic that
+had been over and over again urged, but without reference to
+the actual state of things and the means of resistance. It
+seems, however, pretty clear that he will oppose this Bill just
+as he did the last, and he will probably have a great many
+followers; but the party is broken up, for Wharncliffe and
+Harrowby will vote for the second reading; the bishops will
+generally go with them, and probably a sufficient number of
+Peers. If Lord Grey can see a reasonable chance of carrying
+the Bill without making Peers, there can be very little doubt
+he will put off that resource till the last moment.</p>
+
+<h3>December 4th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with Talleyrand yesterday. He
+complained to me of Durham&rsquo;s return, and of &lsquo;sa funeste influence
+sur Lord Grey:&rsquo; that because he had been at
+Brussels and at Paris, he fancied nobody but himself knew
+anything of foreign affairs; he praised Palmerston highly.
+In the evening to Lady Harrowby, who told me John
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">AN APPEAL FROM LORD CHANCELLOR BROUGHAM.</span>
+Russell had been with her, all moderation and candour, and
+evidently for the purpose of keeping alive the amicable relations
+which had been begun by Wharncliffe&rsquo;s negotiation.
+When Lady Harrowby said it was over, he replied, &lsquo;For the
+present,&rsquo; said how glad he should be of a compromise, hinted
+that Sandon might be instrumental, that he might move an
+amendment in the House of Commons; abused Macaulay&rsquo;s
+violent speech&mdash;in short, was all mild and <i>doucereux</i>&mdash;all
+which proves that they <i>do</i> wish to compromise if they could
+manage it conveniently. Lord John Russell told her that there
+was no going on with Durham, that he never left Lord Grey,
+tormented his heart out, and made him so ill and irritable
+that he could not sleep. Durham wanted to be Minister for
+Foreign Affairs.</p>
+
+<h3>December 7th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Parliament opened yesterday; not a bad
+speech, though wordy and ill-written. There was an oversight
+in the Address, which was corrected in both Houses by
+Peel and Lord Harrowby, but not taken <i>as an amendment</i>.
+Lord Grey begged it might be inserted in Lord Camperdown&rsquo;s
+address, which was done. It was about the King of
+Holland and the treaty. The Address says that they rejoice
+<i>at the treaty</i>, whereas there is none at present. Lord
+Lyttelton made a very foolish speech, and was very well cut
+up by Lord Harrowby, and Peel spoke well in the other
+House.</p>
+
+<h3>December 8th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>At Court yesterday to swear in
+Erskine,<a name="FNA_16_05" id="FNA_16_05"></a><a href="#FN_16_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+Brougham&rsquo;s new Chief Judge in Bankruptcy and Privy
+Councillor. The Chancellor is in a great rage with me. There
+is an appeal to the Privy Council from a judgment of his
+(in which he was wrong), the first appeal of the kind for above
+a hundred
+years;<a name="FNA_16_06" id="FNA_16_06"></a><a href="#FN_16_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+I told him it was ready to be heard, and
+begged to know if he had any wish as to who should be
+summoned to hear it. He said very tartly, &lsquo;Of course I shall
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+have somebody to hear it <i>with me</i>.&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Do you mean to
+hear it yourself, then?&rsquo; &lsquo;And pray why not? don&rsquo;t I hear
+appeals from myself every day in the House of Lords? didn&rsquo;t
+you see that I could not hear a case the other day because
+Lord Lyndhurst was not there? I have <i>a right</i> to hear it.
+I sit there as a Privy Councillor.&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh,&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;you have
+certainly <i>a right</i> if you choose it.&rsquo; &lsquo;You may rely upon it I
+shall do nothing unusual in the Privy Council,&rsquo; and then he
+flounced off in high dudgeon. I told Lord Lansdowne afterwards,
+who said he should not allow it to be heard by <i>him</i>,
+and should make a point of summoning all the great law
+authorities of the Privy Council. This was the case of
+Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor, which excited great interest, in which
+Brougham tried to play all sorts of tricks to prevent his
+judgment being reversed, which tricks I managed to defeat,
+and the judgment was reversed, as is described farther
+on. I never had the advantage of seeing the Chancellor
+before in his sulks, though he is by no means unfrequently
+in them, very particularly so this time last year, when he
+was revolving in his mind whether he should take the Great
+Seal, and when he thought he was ill-used, so Auckland told
+me.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_16_05" id="FN_16_05"></a><a href="#FNA_16_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[Right Hon. Thomas Erskine, a son of Lord Chancellor Erskine, Chief
+Judge in Bankruptcy, and afterwards a Justice of the Court of Common
+Pleas.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_16_06" id="FN_16_06"></a><a href="#FNA_16_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[It was an Appeal in Lunacy. No other appeals save in Lunacy lie
+from the Court of Chancery to the King in Council, and these are very rare.
+Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor is reported in Knapp&rsquo;s &lsquo;Privy Council Reports.&rsquo;]</p></div>
+
+<p>The cholera is on the decline at Sunderland, but in the
+meantime our trade will have been put under such restrictions
+that the greatest embarrassments are inevitable. Intelligence
+is already come that the Manchester people have
+curtailed their orders, and many workmen will be out of
+work. Yesterday a deputation from Coventry came to
+Auckland, and desired a categorical answer as to whether
+Government meant to resume the prohibitory system, because
+if they would not the glove trade at Coventry would discharge
+their workmen.</p>
+
+<h3>December 11th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday Harrowby had an interview
+with Lord Grey, the result of which I do not know; walked
+with Stuart (de Rothesay) in the morning, who had seen the
+Duke of Wellington the day before. I said I was afraid he
+was very obstinate. He said &lsquo;No, he thought not, but that
+the Duke fancied Wharncliffe had gone too far.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE SECOND REFORM BILL.</span>
+To-morrow the Reform Bill comes on. Some say that it
+will be as hotly disputed as ever, and that Peel&rsquo;s speeches indicate
+a bitterness undiminished, but this will not happen. It
+is clear that the general tone and temper of parties is softened,
+and though a great deal of management and discretion is
+necessary to accomplish anything like a decent compromise,
+the majority of both parties are earnestly desirous of bringing
+the business to an end by any means. What has
+already taken place between the Government and Wharncliffe
+and Harrowby has certainly smoothed the way, and
+removed much of that feeling of asperity which before existed.
+The press, too, is less violent, the &lsquo;Morning Herald&rsquo;
+openly preaching a compromise, and the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; taking that
+sort of sweep which, if it does not indicate a change, shows
+a disposition to take such a position as may enable it to adopt
+any course.</p>
+
+<p><i>In the evening</i>.&mdash;Called on Lord Bathurst in the morning;
+met him going out, and stopped to talk to him. He
+knew of the meeting in Downing Street; that Lords Harrowby,
+Wharncliffe, and Chandos were to meet the Chancellor
+and Lords Althorp and Grey; that Chandos had gone to
+Brighton, ostensibly to talk to the King about the West
+Indies, but had taken the opportunity to throw in something
+on the topic of Reform; that the King desired him to speak
+to Palmerston, and allowed him to say that he did so by his
+orders. (The King, it seems, knows nothing of what is going
+on, for he reads no newspapers and the Household tell him
+nothing.) Accordingly Chandos did speak to Palmerston,
+and the result was a note to him, begging these three would
+meet the three Ministers above mentioned. Lady Harrowby
+told me that they went. Brougham did not arrive till the
+conference was nearly over. There was an abundant interchange
+of civilities, but nothing concluded, the Ministers
+declining every proposition that Lord Harrowby made to
+them, though Lord Grey owned that they did not ask for
+anything which involved an abandonment of the principle of
+the Bill. They are, then, not a bit nearer an accommodation
+than they were before.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span>
+George Bentinck told me this evening of a scene which had
+been related to him by the Duke of Richmond, that lately took
+place at a Cabinet dinner; it was very soon after Durham&rsquo;s
+return from abroad. He was furious at the negotiations and
+question of compromise. Lord Grey is always the object of
+his rage and impertinence, because he is the only person
+whom he dares attack. After dinner he made a violent <i>sortie</i>
+on Lord Grey (it was at Althorp&rsquo;s), said he would be eternally
+disgraced if he suffered any alterations to be made in this
+Bill, that he was a betrayer of the cause, and, amongst
+other things, reproached him with having kept him in town
+on account of this Bill in the summer, &lsquo;and thereby having
+been the cause of the death of his son.&rsquo; Richmond said in
+his life he never witnessed so painful a scene, or one which
+excited such disgust and indignation in every member of the
+Cabinet. Lord Grey was ready to burst into tears, said he
+would much rather work in the coal-mines than be subject
+to such attacks, on which the other muttered, &lsquo;and you
+might do worse,&rsquo; or some such words. After this Durham
+got up and left the room. Lord Grey very soon retired too,
+when the other Ministers discussed this extraordinary scene,
+and considered what steps they ought to take. They thought
+at first that they should require Durham to make a public
+apology (i.e. before all of them) to Lord Grey for his impertinence,
+which they deemed due to <i>them</i> as he was <i>their</i> head,
+and to <i>Althorp</i> as having occurred in his house, but as
+they thought it was quite certain that Durham would resign
+the next morning, and that Lord Grey might be pained at
+another scene, they forbore to exact this. However, Durham
+did not resign; he absented himself for some days from the
+Cabinet, at last returned as if nothing had happened, and
+there he goes on as usual. But they are so thoroughly disgusted,
+and resolved to oppose him, that his influence is
+greatly impaired. Still, his power of mischief and annoyance
+is considerable. Lord Grey succumbs to him, and they
+say in spite of his behaviour is very much attached to him,
+though so incessantly worried that his health visibly suffers
+by his presence. There is nothing in which he does not
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONFESSION OF A BODY-SNATCHER.</span>
+meddle. The Reform Bill he had a principal hand in concocting,
+and he fancies himself the only man competent to
+manage our foreign relations. Melbourne, who was present
+at this scene, said, &lsquo;If I had been Lord Grey, I would have
+knocked him down.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>December 13th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>Lord John Russell brought on his Bill last
+night in a very feeble speech. A great change is apparent
+since the last Bill; the House was less full, and a softened
+and subdued state of temper and feeling was evinced. Peel
+made an able and a bitter speech, though perhaps not a very
+judicious one. There are various alterations in the Bill;
+enough to prove that it was at least wise to throw out the
+last. Althorp, who answered Peel, acknowledged that if the
+old Bill had been opposed in its earliest stage it never could
+have been brought forward again, or made an avowal to that
+effect. In fact, Peel is now aware (as everybody else is)
+of the enormous fault that was committed in not throwing it
+out at once, before the press had time to operate, and rouse
+the country to the pitch of madness it did. On what trifles
+turn the destinies of nations! William Bankes told me last
+night that Peel owned this to him; said that he had earnestly
+desired to do so, but had been turned from his purpose by
+Granville Somerset! And why? Because he (in the expectation
+of a dissolution) must have voted against him, he said,
+in order to save his popularity in his own county.</p>
+
+<p>Met Melbourne at Lord Holland&rsquo;s; they were talking of
+a reported confession to a great extent of murders, which is
+said to have been begun and not finished, by the Burkers, or
+by one of them. Melbourne said it was true, that he began the
+confession about the murder of a black man to a Dissenting
+clergyman, but was interrupted by the ordinary. Two of a
+trade could not agree, and the man of the Established
+Church preferred that the criminal should die unconfessed,
+and the public uninformed, rather than the Dissenter should
+extract the truth. Since writing this I see Hunt put a
+question to George Lamb on this point, and he replied that
+he knew nothing of any other confession, which is not true.
+I have heard, but on no authority, that some surgeons are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+so disagreeably implicated that they choose to conceal these
+horrors.</p>
+
+<h3>December 14th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>People generally are mightily satisfied
+at the tone of the discussion the other night, and, what is of
+vast importance, the press has adopted a moderate and conciliatory
+tone, even the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; which, is now all for compromise.
+It is clear as daylight that the Government will
+consent to anything which leaves untouched the great
+principles of the Bill, and the country desires to see the
+question settled, and, if possible, rest from this eternal
+excitement.</p>
+
+<h3>December 20th, 1831</h3>
+
+<p>The second reading of the Reform Bill
+was carried at one o&rsquo;clock on Saturday night by a majority
+of two to one, and ended very triumphantly for Ministers,
+who are proportionately elated, and their opponents equally
+depressed. Croker had made a very clever speech on Friday,
+with quotations from Hume, and much reasoning upon them.
+Hobhouse detected several inaccuracies, and gave his discovery
+to Stanley, who worked it up in a crushing attack
+upon Croker. It is by far the best speech Stanley ever
+made, and so good as to raise him immeasurably in the
+House. Lord Grey said it placed him at the very top of
+the House of Commons, without a rival, which perhaps is
+jumping to rather too hasty a conclusion. He shone the more
+from Peel&rsquo;s making a very poor exhibition. He had been so
+nettled by Macaulay&rsquo;s sarcasms the night before on his tergiversation,
+that he went into the whole history of the Catholic
+question and his conduct on that occasion, which, besides
+savouring of that egotism with which he is so much and
+justly reproached, was uncalled for and out of place. The
+rest of his speech was not so good as usual, and he did not
+attempt to answer Stanley.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>1832</h2>
+
+<h3>Panshanger, January 1st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PANSHANGER.</span>
+Distress seems to increase
+hereabouts, and crime with it. Methodism and saintship
+increase too. The people of this house are examples of the
+religion of the fashionable world, and the charity of natural
+benevolence, which the world has not spoiled. Lady Cowper
+and her family go to church, but scandalise the congregation
+by always arriving half an hour too late. The hour matters
+not; if it began at nine, or ten, or twelve, or one o&rsquo;clock, it
+would be the same thing; they are never ready, and always
+late, but they go. Lord Cowper never goes at all; but he employs
+multitudes of labourers, is ready to sanction any and
+every measure which can contribute to the comfort and happiness
+of the peasantry. Lady Cowper and her daughters inspect
+personally the cottages and condition of the poor. They
+visit, enquire, and give; they distribute flannel, medicines,
+money, and they talk to and are kind to them, so that the
+result is a perpetual stream flowing from a real fountain of
+benevolence, which waters all the country round and gladdens
+the hearts of the peasantry, and attaches them to those from
+whom it emanates.</p>
+
+<h3>Panshanger, January 6th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Talleyrand, Dino, Palmerston,
+Esterhazy, came yesterday and went away to-day&mdash;that
+is, the two first and the Seftons did. There has been
+another contest in the Cabinet about the Peers, which has
+ended in a sort of compromise, and five are to be made
+directly, two new ones and three eldest sons called up. Old
+Talleyrand came half-dead from the conferences, which
+have been incessant these few days, owing to the Emperor of
+Russia&rsquo;s refusal to ratify the treaty and the differences about
+the Belgian fortresses. One conference lasted eleven hours
+and a quarter, and finished at four o&rsquo;clock in the morning.</p>
+
+<h3>Gorhambury, January 7th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Came here to-day. Berkeley
+Paget and Lushington; nobody else. Had a conversation
+with Lady C. before I came away; between Palmerston,
+Frederick Lamb, and Melbourne she knows everything, and
+is a furious anti-Reformer. The upshot of the matter is this:
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span>
+the question about the Peers is still under discussion;
+Lord Grey and the ultra party want to make a dozen, <i>now</i>,
+the others want only to yield five or six. Lord Grey wrote
+to Palmerston saying the King had received his proposition
+(about the Peers) very well, but desired to have his reasons
+in writing, and to-day at twelve there was to be another
+Cabinet on the subject, in order probably that the &lsquo;reasons&rsquo;
+might go down by the post. The moderate party in the
+Cabinet consists of Lansdowne, Richmond, Palmerston,
+Melbourne, and Stanley. Palmerston and Melbourne, particularly
+the latter, are now heartily ashamed of the part
+they have taken about Reform. They detest and abhor the
+whole thing, and they find themselves unable to cope with
+the violent party, and consequently implicated in a continued
+series of measures which they disapprove; and they do not
+know what to do, whether to stay in and fight this unequal
+battle or resign. I told her that nothing could justify their
+conduct, and their excuses were good for nothing; but that
+there was no use in resigning now. They might still do
+some good in the Cabinet; they could do none out of it. In
+fact, Durham and the most violent members of the Cabinet
+would gladly drive Palmerston and Melbourne to resign if
+they could keep Stanley, who is alone of importance of that
+squad; but he is of such weight, from his position in the House
+of Commons, that if he can be prevailed upon to be staunch,
+and to hold out with the moderates against the ultras, the
+former will probably prevail. Durham wants to be Minister
+for Foreign Affairs, and would plague Lord Grey till he gave
+him the seals, unless his other colleagues put a veto upon the
+appointment. But the anxiety of the Reformers to make Peers
+has not reference to the Reform Bill alone; they undoubtedly
+look further, and knowing their own weakness in the House
+of Lords, they want to secure a permanent force, which may
+make them stronger than their antagonists in that House.
+Otherwise they would not be so averse to all questions of
+conciliation, express their disbelief in conversions, and
+trumpet forth their conviction that any individual of the
+late majority will vote just the same way again. The earnest
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">EFFORTS OF THE MODERATE PARTY.</span>
+desire of the moderate party in the Cabinet is that those
+who will vote for the second reading shall make haste to
+declare their intention, and I have written to Lady Harrowby
+to endeavour to get Lord Harrowby to take some such step.
+I had already written to De Ros, urging him to speak to
+Wharncliffe, and get him to take an opportunity of giving
+the King to understand that the necessity for a creation of
+Peers is by no means so urgent as his Ministers would have
+him believe.</p>
+
+<h3>Panshanger, January 13th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Returned here yesterday;
+found Melbourne, Lamb, the Lievens, the Haddingtons, Luttrell,
+the Ashleys, John Ashley, and Irby. While I was at
+Gorhambury I determined to write to Wharncliffe and urge
+him to speak to the King, and accordingly I did so. I received
+a letter from him saying that De Ros had already
+spoken to him, that he had had a conversation with Sir Herbert
+Taylor, which he had desired him to repeat to the King
+and to Lord Grey, that he had intended to leave the matter
+there, but in consequence of my letter he should ask for an
+audience. This morning I have heard again from him. He
+saw the King, and was with him an hour; put his Majesty in
+possession of his sentiments, and told him there would be no
+necessity for creating Peers if the Government would be
+conciliatory and moderate in the Committee of the House
+of Commons; he promised to tell me the particulars of this
+interview when we meet.</p>
+
+<p>Last night Frederick Lamb told me that Lord Grey had
+sent word to Melbourne of what Wharncliffe had said to Sir
+Herbert Taylor, and Lord Grey assumed the tenour of Wharncliffe&rsquo;s
+language to have been merely an advice to the King not
+to make Peers, whereas all I suggested to him was to explain
+to the King that the creation was not necessary for the reasons
+which have been assigned to his Majesty by his Ministers,
+viz., the intention of all who voted against the second reading
+last year to vote against it this. In the meantime the dispute
+has been going on in the Cabinet, time has been gained, and
+several incidents have made a sort of cumulative impression.
+There is a petition to the King, got up by Lord Verulam and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+Lord Salisbury, which is in fact a moderate Reform manifesto.
+It has been numerously signed, and Verulam is going to
+Brighton to present it. I have been labouring to persuade him
+to make up his mind to vote for the second reading, and to tell
+the King that such is his intention, which he has promised
+me he will. When I had obtained this promise from him I
+wrote word to Lady Cowper, telling her at the same time that
+Lord Harris (I had heard) would vote for the second reading,
+and this letter she imparted to Melbourne, who stated the
+fact in the Cabinet, where it made a considerable impression.
+All such circumstances serve to supply arms to the moderate
+party.</p>
+
+<p>This morning Melbourne went up to another Cabinet,
+armed with another fact with which I supplied him. Lord
+Craven declared at his own table that if the Government
+made Peers <i>he would not vote with them</i>, and if he was sent
+for he should reply that as they could create Peers so easily
+they might do without him. All such circumstances as these,
+I find, are considered of great importance, and are made
+available for the purpose of fighting the battle in the Cabinet.
+As to Lord Grey, it is exceedingly difficult to understand his
+real sentiments, and to reconcile his present conduct with
+the general tenour of his former professions; that he <i>was</i>
+averse to the adoption of so violent a measure I have no
+doubt&mdash;his pride and aristocratic principles would naturally
+make him so&mdash;but he is easily governed, constantly yielding
+to violence and intimidation, and it is not unlikely that the
+pertinacity of those about him, the interests of his party, and
+the prolongation of his power may induce him to sacrifice
+his natural feelings and opinions. It is very probable that,
+although he may have allowed himself to be at the head of
+those who are for the creation, he may have such misgivings
+and scruples as may prevent his carrying that point with
+the high hand and in the summary way which he might do.</p>
+
+<h3>January 15th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>This morning Frederick Lamb showed me
+a letter he had got from Melbourne to this effect: &lsquo;that they
+had resolved to make no Peers at all at present; that to
+make a few would be regarded as a menace, and be as bad as
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WHARNCLIFFE&rsquo;S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING.</span>
+if they made a great many; but that as many as would be
+necessary to carry the Bill would be made, if it was eventually
+found that it must be so;&rsquo; he added &lsquo;it only remained
+for people to come forward and declare their intention of
+supporting the second reading.&rsquo; This is certainly a great
+victory, and I do believe mainly attributable to our exertions,
+to the spirit we have infused into Melbourne himself, and
+the use we have made of Wharncliffe and Verulam, and
+the different little circumstances we have brought to bear
+upon the discussion. What now remains is the most
+difficult, but I shall do all I can to engage Peers to take a
+moderate determination and to declare it. Lamb told me
+that the King has an aversion to making <i>a few</i> Peers,
+that he has said he would rather make twenty-five than
+five, that whatever he must make he should like to make
+at once, and not to have to return to it. Anyhow, time is
+gained, and a victory for the moment.</p>
+
+<h3>London, January 20th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Came up on Monday last. I
+have been changing my house, and so occupied that I have
+not had time to write. Wharncliffe came to town on Wednesday,
+and came straight to my office to give me an account
+of his interview with the King, in which it appears as if he
+had said much about what he ought, and no more. He told his
+Majesty that the reports which had been circulated as to the
+disposition and intentions of himself and his friends, and the
+argument for the necessity of making Peers, which he understood
+to have been founded on these reports, had compelled
+him to ask for this audience, that he wished to explain
+to his Majesty that he (Lord Wharncliffe) had no intention
+of opposing the second reading of the Reform Bill as he
+had done before, that he had reason to believe that many
+others would adopt the same course, and if Ministers showed
+a moderate and conciliating disposition in the House of
+Commons, he was persuaded they would have no difficulty
+in carrying the second reading in the House of Lords. He
+then implored the King well to consider the consequences of
+such a <i>coup d&rsquo;état</i> as this creation of Peers would be; to look
+at what had happened in France, and to bear in mind that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+if this was done for one purpose, and by one Government,
+the necessity would infallibly arise of repeating it again
+by others, or for other objects. He was with the King an
+hour dilating upon this theme. The King was extremely
+kind, heard him with great patience, and paid him many
+compliments, and when he took leave told him that he was
+extremely glad to have had this conversation with him. Sir
+Herbert Taylor gave Lord Wharncliffe to understand that he
+had made an impression, only impressions on the mind of
+the King are impressions on sand. However, from Taylor&rsquo;s
+cautious hints to him to persevere, it is likely that he did do
+good. He is himself persuaded that his audience principally
+produced the delay in the creation of Peers.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime he was not idle at Brighton. Lord Ailesbury,
+who saw the King, consulted Wharncliffe, and agreed
+at last to tell the King that his sentiments were the same as
+those which Lord Wharncliffe had expressed to him, and
+Lord Kinnoull and Lord Gage have promised him their
+proxies.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning he came to me again, very desponding.
+He had found Harrowby in a state of despair,
+uncertain what he should do, and looking upon the game as
+lost, and he had been with the Duke of Wellington, who was
+impracticably obstinate, declaring that nothing should prevent
+his opposing a Bill which he believed in his conscience
+to be pregnant with certain ruin to the country; that he did
+not care to be a great man (he meant by this expression a
+man of great wealth and station), and that he could contentedly
+sink into any station that circumstances might let
+him down to, but he never would consent to be a party
+directly or indirectly to such a measure as this, and, feeling
+as he did, he was resolved to do his utmost to throw it out,
+without regard to consequences. Wharncliffe said he was
+quite in despair, for that he knew the Duke&rsquo;s great influence,
+and that if he and Harrowby endeavoured to form a party
+against his views, they had no chance of making one sufficiently
+strong to cope with him. He spoke with great and
+rather unusual modesty of himself, and of his inadequacy for
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE WAVERERS AND WELLINGTON.</span>
+this purpose; that Harrowby might do more, and would have
+greater influence, but that he was so undecided and so without
+heart and spirit that he would not bestir himself.
+However, he acknowledged that nothing else was left to be
+done.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening went to Lady Harrowby&rsquo;s, where I found
+him and Lord Haddington. We stayed there till near two,
+after which Wharncliffe and I walked up and down Berkeley
+Square. He was in much better spirits, having had a long
+conversation with these two Lords, both of whom he said
+were now resolved to sail along with him, and he contemplates
+a regular and declared separation from the Duke <i>upon
+this question</i>. In the morning he had seen Lyndhurst, who
+appeared very undecided, and (Wharncliffe was apprehensive)
+rather leaning towards the Duke, but I endeavoured to persuade
+him that Lyndhurst was quite sure to adopt upon consideration
+the line which appeared most conducive to his
+own interest and importance, that he had always a hankering
+after being well with Lord Grey and the Whigs, and I well
+remembered when the late Government was broken up he
+had expressed himself in very unmeasured terms about the
+Duke&rsquo;s blunders, and the impossibility of his ever again being
+Prime Minister; that with him consistency, character, and
+high feelings of honour and patriotism were secondary considerations;
+that he relied upon his great talents and his
+capacity to render himself necessary to an Administration;
+that it was not probable he would like to throw himself (even
+to please the Duke) into an opposition to the earnest desire
+which the great mass of the community felt to have the
+question settled; and that both for him and themselves much
+of the difficulty of separating themselves from the Duke
+might be avoided by the manner in which it was done. I
+entreated him to use towards the Duke every sort of frankness
+and candour, and to express regret at the necessity of taking
+a different line, together with an acknowledgment of the
+purity of the Duke&rsquo;s motives; and if this is done, and if other
+people are made to understand that they can separate from
+the Duke <i>on this occasion</i> without offending or quarrelling
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
+with him, or throwing off the allegiance to him as their
+political leader, many will be inclined to do so; besides, it is
+of vital importance, if they do get the Bill into Committee,
+to secure the concurrence of the Duke and his adherents in
+dealing with the details of it, which can only be effected by
+keeping him in good humour. On the whole the thing looks
+as well as such a thing can look.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+Measures for carrying the Second Reading of the Reform Bill in the House
+of Lords &mdash; The Party of the Waverers &mdash; The Russo-Dutch Loan &mdash; Resistance
+of the Tory Peers &mdash; Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Views on the Government &mdash;
+Macaulay at Holland House &mdash; Reluctance of the Government to create
+Peers &mdash; Duke of Wellington intractable &mdash; Peel&rsquo;s Despondency &mdash; Lord
+Grey on the Measures of Conciliation &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe sees the King
+&mdash; Prospects of the Waverers &mdash; Conversations with Lord Melbourne and
+Lord Palmerston &mdash; Duke of Richmond on the Creation of Peers &mdash; Interview
+of Lord Grey with the Waverers &mdash; Minute drawn up &mdash; Bethnal
+Green &mdash; The Archbishop of Canterbury vacillates &mdash; Violence of Extreme
+Parties &mdash; Princess Lieven&rsquo;s Journal &mdash; Lord Holland for making Peers &mdash;
+Irish National Education &mdash; Seizure of Ancona &mdash; Reform Bill passes the
+House of Commons &mdash; Lord Dudley&rsquo;s Madness &mdash; Debate in the Lords.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>January 24th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning Frederick Lamb came
+to me and told me that the question of the Peers was again in
+agitation, that the King had agreed to make as many as they
+pleased, and had understood Wharncliffe&rsquo;s conversation with
+his Majesty not to have contained any distinct assurance that
+he would vote for the second reading of the Bill. Our party
+in the Cabinet still fight the battle, however, and Stanley (on
+whom all depends) is said to be firm, but circumstances may
+compel them to give way, and Lord Grey (who is suspected
+to have in his heart many misgivings as to this measure),
+when left to Durham and Co., yields everything. Under
+these circumstances I went to Wharncliffe last night, to persuade
+him to declare his intentions without loss of time. He
+owned that he had not <i>pledged</i> himself to the King, and he
+was frightened to death at the idea of taking this step, lest
+it should give umbrage to the Tories, and he should find himself
+without any support at all. We went, however, together
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+to Grosvenor Square, and had a long conference with
+Harrowby, whom I found equally undecided.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the Tories are full of activity and expectation,
+and Lord Aberdeen is going to bring on a motion
+about Belgium on Thursday, on which they expect to beat the
+Government, not comprehending that a greater evil could not
+occur, or a better excuse be afforded them for an immediate
+creation; still they have got it into their heads that if they
+can beat the Government <i>before</i> the Reform Bill comes on they
+will force them to resign. I found Harrowby and Wharncliffe
+equally undecided as to the course they should adopt, the
+former clinging to the hope that the Peerage question was at
+last suspended, that Lord Grey was compunctious, the King
+reluctant, and so forth&mdash;Wharncliffe afraid of being abandoned
+by those who are now disposed to consult and act with
+him, and indisposed to commit himself irretrievably in the
+House of Lords. After a long discussion I succeeded in persuading
+them that the danger is imminent, that there is no
+other chance of avoiding it, and they agreed to hoist their
+standard, get what followers they can, and declare in the House
+for the second reading without loss of time. Harrowby said
+of himself that he was the worst person in the world to conciliate
+and be civil, which is true enough, but he has a high
+reputation, and his opinion is of immense value. Until they
+declare themselves not a step will be made, and if they
+cannot gain adherents, why the matter is at an end;
+while if their example be followed, there is still a chance of
+averting the climax of all evils, the swamping the House
+of Lords and the permanent establishment of the power
+of the present Government. Wharncliffe is to go to the
+Duke of Wellington to-day, to entreat him not to let his
+party divide on Aberdeen&rsquo;s motion on Thursday, and Harrowby
+will go to the Archbishop to invite his adhesion to
+their party. I am very doubtful what success to augur from
+this, but it is the only chance, and though the bulk of the
+Tory Peers are prejudiced, obstinate, and stupid to the last
+degree, there are scattered amongst them men of more
+rational views and more moderate dispositions. Sandon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PLANS OF CONCILIATION.</span>
+came in while we were there, and expressed precisely the
+same opinion that I had been endeavouring to enforce upon
+them. He said that in the House of Commons, whence he
+was just come, the Government had refused to give way upon
+a very reasonable objection, without assigning any reason
+(the numbers in Schedule B), that this evinced an unconciliatory
+spirit, which was very distressing to those who
+wished for a compromise, that Hobhouse came to him after
+the debate, and said how anxious he was they should come
+to some understanding, and act in a greater spirit of conciliation,
+and talked of a meeting of the moderate on either
+side, that his constituents were eager for a settlement, and by
+no means averse to concession, but that while Peel, Croker,
+and others persisted in the tone they had adopted, and
+in the sort of opposition they were pursuing, it was quite
+impossible for the Government to give way upon anything,
+or evince any disposition to make concessions. Sandon said
+he had no doubt whatever that if Peel had assumed a different
+tone at the beginning of the session the Government would
+have been more moderate, and mutual concessions might
+have been feasible even in the House of Commons. Hobhouse,
+however, said that the alterations, whatever they
+might be (and he owned that he should like some), would
+come with a better grace in the House of Lords, and this is
+what I have all along thought. O&rsquo;Connell arrived yesterday,
+took his seat, and announced his intention of supporting
+Government at any rate. All the Irish members do the
+same, and this great body, that everyone expected would
+display hostility to the Bill, have formed themselves into a
+phalanx, and will carry it through any difficulties by their
+compactness and the regularity of their attendance.</p>
+
+<h3>January 25th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>We met at Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s last night&mdash;Wharncliffe,
+Harrowby, Haddington, and Sandon&mdash;and I
+found their minds were quite made up. Wharncliffe is to
+present a petition from Hull, and to take that opportunity
+of making his declaration, and the other two are to support
+him. Wharncliffe saw the Bishop of London in the morning,
+who is decided the same way, and he asked Lord Devon,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>
+who knows the House of Lords very well, if he thought, in
+the event of their raising the standard of moderate Reform,
+that they would have adherents, to which he replied he was
+convinced they would. Lord Harrowby saw the Archbishop,
+who would not pledge himself, but appeared well disposed;
+and altogether they think they can count upon nine bishops.
+Wharncliffe spoke to the Duke of Wellington about Lord
+Aberdeen&rsquo;s motion, and represented all the impolicy of it at
+this moment, and the connection it might have with the Peerage
+question; to which he only replied by enlarging on &lsquo;the
+importance of the Belgic question,&rsquo; either unable or unwilling
+to embrace this measure in its complex relations, and never
+perceiving that the country cares not a straw about Belgium
+or anything but Reform, though they may begin to care
+about such things when this question is settled. Haddington
+also went to Aberdeen, who would hear nothing; but he
+and the Duke severally promised to speak to one another.
+The question last night was whether Wharncliffe should say
+his say directly, or wait (as he wishes to do) for a few days.
+The decision of this he referred to me, and I have referred
+it to Melbourne, to whom I have communicated what has
+passed.</p>
+
+<p>News came yesterday that the cholera had got within
+three miles of Edinburgh, and to show the fallacy of any
+theory about it, and the inutility of the prescribed precautions,
+at one place (Newport, I think) one person in five of
+the whole population was attacked, though there was no
+lack of diet, warmth, and clothing for the poor. This
+disease escapes from all speculation, so partial and eccentric
+is its character.</p>
+
+<h3>January 29th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>There were two divisions on Thursday
+night last&mdash;in the House of Lords on the Belgian question,
+and in the House of Commons on the Russian Loan. Harrowby,
+Wharncliffe, and Haddington stayed away; Lyndhurst
+voted. Only two bishops, Durham and Killaloe.
+Ministers had a majority of thirty-seven, for Aberdeen and
+the Duke persisted in bringing on the question and dividing
+upon it. The former spoke nearly three hours, and far
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISCREDIT OF MINISTERS.</span>
+better than ever he had done before; the Duke was prosy.
+In the other House the Government had not a shadow of a
+case; their law officers, Home and Denman, displayed an
+ignorance and stupidity which were quite ludicrous, and
+nothing saved them from defeat but a good speech at the
+end from Palmerston, and their remonstrances to their friends
+that unless they carried it they must resign. Not a soul
+defends them, and they are particularly blamed for their
+folly in not coming to Parliament at once, by which they
+might have avoided the
+scrape.<a name="FNA_17_01" id="FNA_17_01"></a><a href="#FN_17_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a>
+They had only a majority
+of twenty-four. They were equally disgusted with both
+these divisions, both plainly showing that they have little
+power (independently of the Reform question) in either
+House. To be sure the case in the House of Commons was
+a wretched one, but in the House of Lords there was nothing
+to justify a vote of censure on Government, to which Aberdeen&rsquo;s
+motion was tantamount. But while they had a
+majority which was respectable enough to make it impossible
+to propose making Peers on <i>that account</i>, it was so small
+that they see clearly what they have to expect hereafter
+from such a House of Lords, and accordingly their adherents
+have thrown off the mask. Sefton called on me the day
+after, and said it was ridiculous to go on in this way, that
+the Tories had had possession of the Government so many
+years, and the power of making so many Peers, that no
+Whig or other Ministry could stand without a fresh creation
+to redress the balance.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_17_01" id="FN_17_01"></a><a href="#FNA_17_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[For a more particular account of the question of the Russo-Dutch
+Loan, see <i>infra</i> [February 4, 1832], p. 244. It has since been universally admitted that the
+conduct of the Government was wise and honourable, and that the separation
+of Holland and Belgium did not exonerate Great Britain from a financial
+engagement to foreign Powers.]</p></div>
+
+<p>After having, as I supposed, settled everything with
+Wharncliffe about his declaration, I got a letter from him
+yesterday (from Brighton), saying he thought it would be
+premature, and wished to put it off till the first reading
+of the Bill in the House of Lords. I took his letter to
+Melbourne, and told him I was all against the delay. He
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+said it was no doubt desirable they should get as many
+adherents as they can, and if the delay would enable them
+to do so it might be better, but they must not imagine
+Government was satisfied with the division in the House of
+Lords. However, the question of Peers seems not to be under
+discussion at this moment, though it is perpetually revived.
+In the evening I went to Harrowby&rsquo;s and showed him
+Wharncliffe&rsquo;s letter. He concurred in the expediency of
+delay, but without convincing me. He showed me a letter,
+and a very good one, he has written to Lord Talbot, explaining
+his views, and inviting his concurrence, and of this
+he has sent copies to other Peers, whom he thinks it possible
+he may influence. The question of time and manner is to
+be reserved for future discussion.</p>
+
+<h3>February 2nd, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Met Frederick Lamb at dinner to talk
+over the state of affairs before he goes to Vienna. What he
+wishes for is the expulsion of this Government, and the formation
+of a moderate one taken from all parties. Received
+another letter from Wharncliffe yesterday, in which he stated
+that he had communicated to the Duke of Wellington his
+intention of supporting the second reading, and asked if the
+Duke would support his amendments in Committee. In the
+meantime I wrote to Harrowby, begging he would communicate
+with Lord Carnarvon and the Duke of Buckingham.
+They keep doubting and fearing about who will or will not join
+them, but do not stir a step. George Bentinck told me that
+Lord Holland said to the Duke of Richmond the other day
+&lsquo;that he had heard a declaration was in agitation; that
+nothing could be more unfortunate at this moment, as it
+would make it very difficult to create fifty Peers.&rsquo; In the
+meantime a difficulty is likely to arise from another source,
+and the Government to derive strength from their very weakness.
+Robert Clive (who is a moderate Tory) called on me
+the other day, and when (after expressing his anxiety that
+the question should be settled) I asked him whether such a
+declaration would meet with much success, said he thought
+that it would have done so a fortnight ago, but that the extreme
+discredit into which Ministers were fallen would now
+operate as a reason against supporting them in any stage of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">SIR HENRY PARNELL.</span>
+the business, and offered so good a chance of expelling them
+altogether that people would be anxious to try it. Still it
+must be so obvious that it would be next to impossible to
+make a Government now, that it is to be hoped all but the
+most violent will feel it. Herries indeed told somebody that
+he had no doubt the Tories could make a Government, and
+that on a dissolution they would get a Parliament that would
+support them.
+Parnell<a name="FNA_17_02" id="FNA_17_02"></a><a href="#FN_17_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+has been turned out for not voting on
+the Russian Loan affair, and Hobhouse appointed in his place.
+Tennyson resigned from ill health. Parnell was properly
+enough turned out, and he is a good riddance, but it is not
+the same thing as turning people out on Reform. He wrote an
+excellent book on finance, but he was a very bad Secretary
+at War, a rash economical innovator, and a bad man of business
+in its details. After waiting till the last moment for
+the arrival of the Russian ratification, the French and
+English signed the Belgian treaty alone, and the others are
+to sign after as their powers arrive.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_17_02" id="FN_17_02"></a><a href="#FNA_17_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[Sir Henry Parnell had been appointed Secretary at War on the formation
+of Lord Grey&rsquo;s Ministry. He had exasperated his colleagues by
+entering upon an unauthorised negotiation with the French Post Office, without
+the knowledge of the Duke of Richmond, then Postmaster-General,
+and by encouraging Joseph Hume to bring on a motion against the Post
+Office. Hume brought this letter to the Duke of Richmond, who was indignant
+and laid the whole matter before Lord Grey, who behaved very well
+about it. Parnell narrowly escaped dismissal at that time, and on his next
+sign of disaffection to the Government he was turned out of office.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>February 4th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Called on Lord Harrowby in the morning;
+found him in very bad spirits, as well he might, for to all
+the invitations he had written to Peers he had received
+either refusals or no reply, so that he augurs ill of their
+attempt. Carnarvon and Talbot refused; these besotted,
+predestinated Tories <i>will</i> follow the Duke; the Duke <i>will</i>
+oppose all Reform because he said he would. Those who are
+inclined will not avow their conversion to moderate principles,
+and so they will go on, waiting and staring at one another,
+till one fine day the Peers will come out in the &lsquo;Gazette.&rsquo;
+The thing looks ill. Dined with Lord Holland. Melbourne,
+who was there, asked me if I had heard from Wharncliffe,
+but I did not tell him of Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s refusals.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+Falck dined there, and in conversation about the Russian
+Loan he told us the original history of it. The Emperor of
+Russia had borrowed ninety millions of florins, and when his
+concurrence and support were desired to the new kingdom of
+the Netherlands he proposed in return that the King of Holland
+should take this debt off his hands. The King said he
+would gladly meet his wishes, but could not begin by making
+himself unpopular with his new subjects and saddling them
+with this debt. Whereupon England interposed, and an arrangement
+was made [in 1815] by which Russia, England,
+and the King of the Netherlands divided the debt into three
+equal shares, each taking one. With reference to the argument
+that the countries being divided we ought no longer to
+pay our share, Falck said the King of the Netherlands had not
+refused to pay on those grounds, that he had only (with reference
+to his heavy expenses) expressed his present inability
+and asked for time, which the Emperor of Russia had agreed
+to. What he meant was that the kingdoms were not as yet
+<i>de jure</i> separated, and that the <i>casus</i> had not yet arrived.
+This, however, is nothing to the purpose, for the King and the
+Emperor understand one another very well, and it is not likely
+that the King should do anything to supply us with a motive
+or a pretext for refusing our <i>quota</i> to his imperial ally.
+Brougham&rsquo;s speech on the Russian Loan everybody agrees to
+have been super-excellent&mdash;&lsquo;a continued syllogism from the
+beginning to the end.&rsquo; Lord Holland said, and the Duke of
+Wellington (I am told) declared, it was the best speech he
+had ever heard.</p>
+
+<h3>February 5th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Met Melbourne yesterday evening, and
+turned back and walked with him; talked over the state of
+affairs. He said Government were very much annoyed at
+their division in the House of Commons, though Brougham
+had in some measure repaired that disaster in the House of
+Lords; that it became more difficult to resist making Peers
+as Government exhibited greater weakness. I told him the
+Tories were so unmanageable because they wished to drive
+out the Government, and thought they could. Dined at the
+Sheriff&rsquo;s dinner&mdash;not unpleasant&mdash;and went in the evening
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">MACAULAY AT HOLLAND HOUSE.</span>
+to Lady Harrowby; Lord Harrowby gone to his brothers&rsquo;.
+Melbourne had told me that he had spoken to Haddington,
+and I found Haddington had given a report of what he said
+such as I am sure Melbourne did not mean to convey; the
+upshot of which was that there was only one man in the
+Cabinet who wished to make Peers, that there was no immediate
+danger, and that it would do more harm than
+good if they declared themselves without a good number of
+adherents. Called this morning on Lady C., who said that
+Melbourne was in fact very much annoyed at his position,
+wanted <i>caractère</i>, was wretched at having been led so far,
+and tossed backwards and forwards between opposite sentiments
+and feelings; that he thought the Government very
+weak, and that they would not stand, and in fact that he did
+not desire they should remain in, but the contrary. And
+this is Frederick&rsquo;s opinion too, who has great influence over
+him, while at the same time he is rather jealous of Frederick.</p>
+
+<h3>February 6th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Dined yesterday with Lord Holland; came
+very late, and found a vacant place between Sir George
+Robinson and a common-looking man in black. As soon as
+I had time to look at my neighbour, I began to speculate (as
+one usually does) as to who he might be, and as he did not
+for some time open his lips except to eat, I settled that he
+was some obscure man of letters or of medicine, perhaps a
+cholera doctor. In a short time the conversation turned
+upon early and late education, and Lord Holland said he
+had always remarked that self-educated men were peculiarly
+conceited and arrogant, and apt to look down upon the
+generality of mankind, from their being ignorant of how much
+other people knew; not having been at public schools, they are
+uninformed of the course of general education. My neighbour
+observed that he thought the most remarkable example of
+self-education was that of Alfieri, who had reached the age
+of thirty without having acquired any accomplishment save
+that of driving, and who was so ignorant of his own language
+that he had to learn it like a child, beginning with elementary
+books. Lord Holland quoted Julius Cæsar and Scaliger
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+as examples of late education, said that the latter had been
+wounded, and that he had been married and commenced
+learning Greek the same day, when my neighbour remarked
+&lsquo;that he supposed his learning Greek was not an instantaneous
+act like his marriage.&rsquo; This remark, and the manner of it,
+gave me the notion that he was a dull fellow, for it came
+out in a way which bordered on the ridiculous, so as to excite
+something like a sneer. I was a little surprised to hear him
+continue the thread of conversation (from Scaliger&rsquo;s wound)
+and talk of Loyola having been wounded at Pampeluna. I
+wondered how he happened to know anything about Loyola&rsquo;s
+wound. Having thus settled my opinion, I went on eating
+my dinner, when Auckland, who was sitting opposite to me,
+addressed my neighbour, &lsquo;Mr. Macaulay, will you drink a
+glass of wine?&rsquo; I thought I should have dropped off my chair.
+It was <span class="smcap">Macaulay</span>, the man I had been so long most curious
+to see and to hear, whose genius, eloquence, astonishing knowledge,
+and diversified talents have excited my wonder and
+admiration for such a length of time, and here I had been
+sitting next to him, hearing him talk, and setting him down
+for a dull fellow. I felt as if he could have read my thoughts,
+and the perspiration burst from every pore of my face, and
+yet it was impossible not to be amused at the idea. It was
+not till Macaulay stood up that I was aware of all the
+vulgarity and ungainliness of his appearance; not a ray of
+intellect beams from his countenance; a lump of more ordinary
+clay never enclosed a powerful mind and lively imagination.
+He had a cold and sore throat, the latter of which
+occasioned a constant contraction of the muscles of the
+thorax, making him appear as if in momentary danger of a
+fit. His manner struck me as not pleasing, but it was not
+assuming, unembarrassed, yet not easy, unpolished, yet not
+coarse; there was no kind of usurpation of the conversation,
+no tenacity as to opinion or facts, no assumption of superiority,
+but the variety and extent of his information were soon
+apparent, for whatever subject was touched upon he evinced
+the utmost familiarity with it; quotation, illustration, anecdote,
+seemed ready in his hands for every topic. Primogeniture
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.</span>
+in this country, in others, and particularly in ancient
+Rome, was the principal topic, I think, but Macaulay was
+not certain what was the law of Rome, except that when a
+man died intestate his estate was divided between his children.
+After dinner Talleyrand, and Madame de Dino came
+in. He was introduced to Talleyrand, who told him that he
+meant to go to the House of Commons on Tuesday, and that
+he hoped he would speak, &lsquo;qu&rsquo;il avait entendu tous les
+grands orateurs, et il désirait à présent entendre Monsieur
+Macaulay.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>February 7th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Called on Melbourne. He said he had
+not meant Haddington to understand that it was desirable
+the declaration should be delayed; on the contrary, that it
+was desirable Ministers should be informed as speedily as possible
+of the intentions of our friends and of the force they
+can command, but that if only a few declared themselves,
+they would certainly be liable to the suspicion that they
+could not get adherents; he added that every man in the
+Government (except one) was aware of the desperate nature
+of the step they were about to take (that man of course
+being Durham.) I told him that his communication to
+Haddington had to a certain degree had the effect of
+paralysing my exertions, and he owned it was imprudent.
+I was, however, extremely surprised to hear what he said
+about the Cabinet, and I asked him if it really was so, and
+that all the members of it were <i>bonâ fide</i> alarmed at, and
+averse to, the measure; that I had always believed that, with
+the exception of those who were intimate with him, they all
+wanted the pretext in order to establish their power. He
+said no, they really all were conscious of the violence of the
+measure, and desirous of avoiding it; that Lord Grey had
+been so from the beginning, but that Durham was always at
+him, and made him fall into his violent designs; that it was
+&lsquo;a reign of terror,&rsquo; but that Durham could do with him what
+he pleased. What a picture of secret degradation and imbecility
+in the towering and apparently haughty Lord Grey! I
+told Melbourne that it was important to gain time, that there
+was an appearance of a thaw among the 199, but that most
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+of them were in the country; communications by letter
+were difficult and unsatisfactory; that many were averse to
+breaking up the party or leaving the Duke&mdash;in short, from
+one cause or another doubtful and wavering; that it was not
+to be expected they should at a moment&rsquo;s warning take this
+new line, in opposition to the opinions and conduct of their
+old leaders, and that when Lord Harrowby was exerting
+himself indefatigably to bring them to reason, and to render
+a measure unnecessary which in the opinion of the Cabinet
+itself was fraught with evil, it was fair and just to give him
+time to operate. He said this was very true, but that time
+was likewise required to execute the measure of a creation of
+Peers, that people must be invited, the patents made out, &amp;c.
+We then parted. Downstairs was Rothschild the Jew
+waiting for him, and the <i>valet de chambre</i> sweeping away a
+<i>bonnet</i> and a <i>shawl</i>.</p>
+
+<p>On my way from Melbourne called on Lord Harrowby,
+and read a variety of letters&mdash;answers from different Peers to
+his letters, Wharncliffe&rsquo;s correspondence with the Duke of
+Wellington, and Peel&rsquo;s answer to Lord Harrowby. Wharncliffe
+wrote a long and very conciliatory letter to the Duke,
+nearly to the effect of Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s circular, and containing
+the same arguments, to which the Duke replied by a long
+letter, written evidently in a very ill humour, and such a
+galimatias as I never read, angry, ill expressed, and confused,
+and from which it was difficult to extract anything intelligible
+but this, &lsquo;that he was aware of the consequences of the
+course he should adopt himself,&rsquo; and wished the House of
+Lords to adopt, viz., the same as last year, but that be those
+consequences what they might, the responsibility would not
+lie on his shoulders, but on those of the Government; he
+acknowledged that a creation of Peers would swamp the
+House of Lords, and, by so doing, destroy the Constitution,
+but the Government would be responsible, not he, for the ruin
+that would ensue; that he was aware some Reform was
+necessary (in so far departing from his former declaration of
+the 30th of November), but he would neither propose anything
+himself, nor take this measure, nor try and amend it.&rsquo; In
+short, he will do nothing but talk nonsense, despair, and be
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PEEL&rsquo;S DESPONDENCY.</span>
+obstinate, and then he is hampered by declarations (from
+which he now sees himself that he must dissent), and obliged
+from causes connected with the Catholic question and the Test
+and Corporation Acts to attend more to the consistency of
+his own character than to the exigencies of the country, but
+with much more personal authority than anybody, and still
+blindly obeyed and followed by men many of whom take
+very rational and dispassionate views of the subject, but who
+still are resolved to sacrifice their own sense to his folly. He
+really has accomplished being a prophet in his own country,
+not from the sagacity of his predictions, but from the blind
+worship of his devotees.</p>
+
+<p>Peel&rsquo;s letter, though arriving at the same conclusion, was
+in a very different style. It certainly was an able production,
+well expressed and plausibly argued, with temper and
+moderation. He owned that much was to be said on the
+side of the question which he does not espouse, but the
+reasons by which he says he is mainly governed are these:
+that it is of vital importance to preserve the consistency of
+the party to which we are to look for future safety, and that
+when this excitement has passed away the conduct of the
+anti-Reformers will have justice done to it. But there is a
+contradiction which pervades his argument, for he treats the
+subject as if all hope had vanished of saving the country,
+&lsquo;desperat de republicâ,&rsquo; and he does not promise himself present
+advantage from the firmness and consistency of the
+Tories, but taking it in connection with the folly and wickedness
+of the other party (who he is persuaded bitterly regret
+their own precipitate violence and folly), he expects it to
+prove serviceable as an example and beacon to future generations.
+All the evils that have been predicted may flow
+from this measure when carried into complete operation, but
+it is neither statesmanlike nor manly to throw up the game
+in despair, and surrender every point, and waive every compensation,
+in order to preserve the consistency of himself and
+his own party, not that their consistency is to produce any
+advantage, but that hereafter it</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">May point a moral or adorn a tale.</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em;">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+So senseless is this, that it is clear to me that it is not his
+real feeling, and that he promises himself some personal advantage
+from the adoption of such a course. Peel &lsquo;loves&rsquo;
+himself, &lsquo;not wisely but too well.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>February 9th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday I met Lord Grey and rode with
+him. I told him that the Tories were pleased at his speech
+about the Irish Tithes. He said &lsquo;he did not know why, for
+he had not said what he did with a view to please them.&rsquo; I
+said because they looked upon it as an intimation that the old
+Protestant ascendency was to be restored. He rejected very
+indignantly that idea, and said he had never contemplated
+any ascendency but that of the law and the Government. I
+said I knew that, but that they had been so long used to
+consider themselves as the sole representatives of the law
+and the Government, that they took the assertion he had
+made as a notification that their authority was again to be
+exercised as in bygone times. He then asked me if I knew
+what Lord Harrowby had done, said he had spoken to him,
+that he was placed in a difficult position and did not know
+what to do. I said that Harrowby was exerting himself, that
+time was required to bring people round, that I had reason
+to believe Harrowby had made a great impression, but that
+most of the Peers of that party were out of town, and it was
+impossible to expect them on the receipt of a letter of invitation
+and advice to reply by return of post that they would
+abandon their leaders and their party, and change their
+whole opinions and course of action, that I expected the
+Archbishop and Bishop of London would go with him,
+and that they would carry the bench. He said the
+Bishop of London he had already talked to, that the
+Archbishop was such a poor, miserable creature that
+there was no dependence to be placed on him, that he would
+be frightened and vote any way his fear directed. Then he
+asked, how many had they <i>sure</i>? I said, &lsquo;At this moment not
+above eight Lords and eight bishops.&rsquo; He said that was not
+enough. I said I knew that, but he must have patience, and
+should remember that when the Duke of Wellington brought
+the Catholic Bill into the House of Commons he had a majority
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONVERSATION WITH LORD GREY.</span>
+on paper against him in the House of Lords of twenty-five,
+and he carried the Bill by a hundred. He said he should like
+to talk to Harrowby again, which I pressed him to do, and
+he said he would. I find Lord John Russell sent for Sandon,
+and told him that he and the others were really anxious to
+avoid making Peers, and entreated him to get something done
+by his father and his associates as soon as possible, that
+there was no time to be lost, that he should not deny that he
+wished Peers to be made, not now, but after the Reform Bill
+had passed. I called on Lord Harrowby in the afternoon,
+and found him half dead with a headache and dreadfully
+irritable. Letters had come (which he had not seen) from
+Lord Bagot refusing, Lord Carteret ditto, and very impertinently,
+and Lord Calthorpe adhering. I told him what had
+passed between Lord Grey and me. He said their insolence
+had been hitherto so great in refusing to listen to any terms
+(at the meeting of the six), and in refusing every concession
+in the House of Commons and not tolerating the slightest
+alteration, that he despaired of doing anything with them,
+that Lord Grey had told him he could not agree to make a
+sham resistance in Committee, but that he on the other hand
+would not agree to go into Committee, except on an express
+understanding that they should not avail themselves of the
+probable disunion of the Tories to carry all the details of
+their Bill. The difficulties are immense, but if Grey and
+Harrowby get together, it is possible something may be done,
+provided they will approach each other in a <i>spirit</i> of compromise.
+It is certainly easier now, and very different from
+the House of Commons, where I have always thought they
+<i>could</i> make no concession. In the House of Lords they may
+without difficulty. I dread the obstinate of both parties.</p>
+
+<h3>February 11th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Wharncliffe came to town on Thursday
+and called on me. At Brighton he had seen Sir Andrew
+Barnard, and showed him the correspondence with the
+Duke of Wellington, telling him at the same time he might
+mention it to Taylor if he liked, and if Taylor had any
+wish to see it he should. Accordingly Taylor sent him
+word he should be glad to have an interview with him. They
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+met at Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s house and had a long conversation,
+in the course of which Taylor gave him to understand that
+it was quite true that the King had consented to everything
+about the creation of Peers, but <i>multa gemens</i>, and that he
+was much alarmed, and could not endure the thought of this
+measure. The end was that a memorandum was drawn up
+of the conversation, and of Wharncliffe&rsquo;s sentiments and
+intentions, which were much the same as those he had put
+forth at the time of the old negotiations. This was taken
+away by Taylor and shown to the King, and copies of it
+were forwarded to Grey, Brougham, and Melbourne. The
+next day Wharncliffe dined with the King, and after dinner
+his Majesty took him aside and said, &lsquo;I have seen your
+paper, and I agree with every word you say; we are indeed
+in a scrape, and we must get out of it as we can. I only
+wish everybody was as reasonable and as moderate as you,
+and then we might do so perhaps without difficulty.&rsquo; That
+the King is alarmed is pretty clear, but it is more probable
+that his alarm may influence his Ministers than himself, and
+it looks very much as if it had done so. Sir H. Taylor likewise
+told Wharncliffe that the Duke of Wellington had written
+a letter which had been laid before the King, and had given
+him great offence, and that it certainly was such a letter as
+was unbecoming in any subject to write. This letter is
+supposed to have been addressed to Strangford; it got into
+Londonderry&rsquo;s hands, and he laid it before the King (upon
+the occasion of his going with some address to Brighton),
+who desired it might be left with him till the next day. The
+reason why they think it was Strangford is that the word
+&lsquo;Viscount&rsquo; was apparent at the bottom, but the name was
+erased. In the meantime Harrowby has had some conversation
+with Lord Lansdowne, who pressed the necessity of
+making a demonstration of their strength, and added that
+if the Archbishop could be induced to declare himself that
+would be sufficient. Lord Harrowby is accordingly working
+incessantly upon the Archbishop on the one hand, while he
+exhorts to patience and reliance on the other. Yesterday
+he took a high tone with Lord Lansdowne, told him that
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WELLINGTON AND WHARNCLIFFE.</span>
+he had, as he firmly believed, as many as twenty-five Lords,
+lay and spiritual, with him, which would make a difference
+of fifty, but that as to a public irrevocable pledge, it was not
+to be had, and that Lord Grey must place confidence in his
+belief and reliance upon his exertions, or, if not, he must
+take his own course. Upon Lord Grey&rsquo;s meeting with him,
+and the Archbishop&rsquo;s being brought to the post, the matter
+now hinges.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime I have discovered the cause of the
+Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s peevish reply to Wharncliffe, and
+the reason why Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s letter to Lord Bagot was
+unanswered for ten days, and then couched in terms so different
+from what might have been expected. Lord Howe
+was at Bliffield at the time, and they, between them, sent
+Harrowby&rsquo;s letter up to the Duke of Wellington, who of
+course wrote his sentiments in reply. For this they waited,
+and on this Lord Bagot acted. My brother told me yesterday
+that the Duke had seen the letter, and that <i>Lord Howe</i>
+had been the person who sent it him. This explains it all.
+Wharncliffe&rsquo;s letter was but another version of Lord
+Harrowby&rsquo;s, and he had therefore in fact seen it before,
+but seen it addressed to those whom he considered bound
+to him and his views, and I have no doubt he was both
+angry and jealous at Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s interference. Nothing
+could be more uncandid and unjustifiable than Lord Bagot&rsquo;s
+conduct, for he never asked Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s leave to communicate
+the letter, nor told him that he had done so; on
+the contrary, he gave him to understand that the delay (for
+which he made many apologies) was owing to his reflection
+and his consulting his brother the bishop. The Duke, no
+doubt, gave him his own sentiments; yet, in his letter to
+Wharncliffe, he says &lsquo;he has not endeavoured to influence
+anybody, nor shall he;&rsquo; and at the same time eludes the
+essential question &lsquo;whether he will support in Committee.&rsquo;
+So much for Tory candour. As to the Duke, he is evidently
+piqued and provoked to the quick; his love of power and
+authority are as great as ever, and he can&rsquo;t endure to see
+anybody withdrawn from his influence; provoked with himself
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
+and with everybody else, his mind is clouded by passion and
+prejudice, and the consequences are the ill-humour he displays
+and the abominable nonsense he writes, and yet the
+great mass of these Tories follow the Duke, go where he will,
+let the consequences be what they may, and without requiring
+even a reason; <i>sic vult sic jubet</i> is enough for them. One
+thing that gives me hopes is the change in the language of
+the friends of Government out of doors&mdash;Dover, for instance,
+who has been one of the noisiest of the bawlers for Peers.
+I walked with him from the House of Lords the night before
+last, and he talked only of the break-up of the 199, and of
+the activity of Harrowby and Wharncliffe and its probable
+effects.</p>
+
+<h3>February 14th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>On Saturday evening I found Melbourne
+at the Home Office in his lazy, listening, silent humour, disposed
+to hear everything and to say very little; told me that
+Dover and Sefton were continually <i>at</i> the Chancellor to make
+Peers, and that they both, particularly the latter, had great
+influence with him. Brougham led by Dover and Sefton!!
+I tried to impress upon him the necessity of giving Harrowby
+credit, and not exacting what was not to be had, viz., the
+<i>pledges</i> of the anti-Reformers to vote for the second reading.
+He owned that in their case he would not pledge himself
+either. I put before him as strongly as I could all the various
+arguments for resisting this desperate measure of making
+Peers (to which he was well inclined to assent), and pressed
+upon him the importance of not exasperating the Tories and
+the Conservative party to the last degree, and placing such
+an impassable barrier between public men on both sides as
+should make it impossible for them to reunite for their common
+interest and security hereafter.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening I got a message from Palmerston to beg
+I would call on him, which I did at the Foreign Office yesterday.
+He is infinitely more alert than Melbourne, and
+more satisfactory to talk to, because he enters with more
+warmth and more detail into the subject. He began by
+referring to the list of Peers likely to vote for the second
+reading, which I showed to him. At the same time I told
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONVERSATION WITH LORD PALMERSTON.</span>
+him that though he might make use of the information
+generally as far as expressing his own belief that Lord
+Harrowby would have a sufficient following, he must not
+produce the list or quote the names, for, in fact, not one of
+them had given any authority to be so counted; that he must
+be aware there were persons who would be glad to mar our
+projects, and they could not more effectually do so than by
+conveying to these Peers the use that had been made of their
+names. To all this he agreed entirely. He then talked of
+the expediency of a declaration from Lord Harrowby, and
+how desirable it was that it should be made soon, and be supported
+by as many as could be induced to come forward; that
+Lord Grey had said to him very lately that he really believed
+he should be obliged to create Peers. I said that my persuasion
+was that it would be quite unnecessary to do so <i>to
+carry the second reading</i>; that nothing was required but
+confidence in Lord Harrowby, and that his character and
+his conduct on this occasion entitled him to expect it from
+them; that if they were sincere in their desire to avoid this
+measure they would trust to his exertions; that I knew very
+well the efforts that were made to force this measure on
+Lord Grey; that it was in furtherance of this that
+Duncombe&rsquo;s<a name="FNA_17_03" id="FNA_17_03"></a><a href="#FN_17_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+ridiculous affair in the House of Commons had
+been got up, which had been such a complete failure; but
+that I could not believe Lord Grey would suffer himself to
+be bullied into it by such despicable means, and by the
+clamour of such men as Duncombe and O&rsquo;Connell, urged on
+by friends of his own. He said this was very true, but the
+fact was they could not risk the rejection of the Bill again;
+that he knew from a variety of communications that an explosion
+would inevitably follow its being thrown out on the
+second reading; that he had had letters from Scotland and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+other places, and had no doubt that such would be the case. I
+said that he would find it very difficult to persuade our friends
+of this, and it appeared to me as clear as possible that the
+feeling for the Bill and the excitement had subsided; that
+they might be to a certain degree renewed by its rejection,
+but no man could doubt that modifications in it, which would
+have been impossible a few months ago, would now be
+easy; that if it was not for that unfortunate declaration
+of Lord Grey, by which he might consider himself bound, he
+might safely consent to such changes as would make the
+adjustment of the question no difficult matter; that with
+regard to the rejection of the Bill, whatever excitement it
+might produce, it was evident the Government had an
+immediate remedy; they had only to prorogue Parliament
+for a week and make their Peers, and they would <i>then</i> have
+an excellent pretext&mdash;indeed, so good a one that it was inconceivable
+to me that they should hesitate for a moment in
+adopting that course. This he did not deny. I then told
+him of the several conversations between Lord Harrowby
+and Lords Grey and Lansdowne, and mine with Lord
+Grey; that Lord Harrowby protested against Lord Grey&rsquo;s
+availing himself of any disunion among the Opposition (produced
+by his support of the second reading) to carry those
+points, to resist which would be the sole object of Lord
+Harrowby in seceding from his party; and that Lord Grey
+had said he could not make a sham resistance. Palmerston
+said, &lsquo;We have brought in a Bill which we have made as
+good as we can; it is for you to propose any alterations you
+wish to make in it, and if you can beat us, well and good.
+There are indeed certain things which, if carried against us,
+would be so fatal to the principle of the Bill that Lord
+Grey would not consider it worth carrying if so amended;
+but on other details he is ready to submit, if they should be
+carried against him.&rsquo; I said that would not do, that I must
+refer him to the early negotiations and the disposition which
+was then expressed to act upon a principle of mutual concession;
+that when Lord Harrowby and his friends were prepared
+to concede to its fullest extent the principle of disfranchisement
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONVERSATION WITH LORD PALMERSTON.</span>
+(though they might propose alterations in a
+few particulars), they had a right to expect that the Government
+should surrender without fighting some of those
+equivalents or compensations which they should look for in
+the alterations or additions they might propose. He said
+that &lsquo;while Lord Harrowby was afraid that Ministers might
+avail themselves of his weakness to carry their details, <i>they</i>
+were afraid lest Lord Harrowby and his friends should unite
+with the ultra-Tories to beat them in Committee on some of
+the essential clauses of the Bill.&rsquo; I replied, then it was fear
+for fear, and under the circumstances the best thing was an
+understanding that each party should act towards the other
+in a spirit of good faith, and without taking any accidental
+advantage that might accrue either way. We then discussed
+the possibility of an agreement upon the details, and he
+enquired what they would require. I told him that they
+would require an alteration of Schedule B to exclude the
+town voters from county representation, perhaps to vary the
+franchise, and some other things, with regard to which I
+could not speak positively at the moment. He said he thought
+some alteration might be made in Schedule B, particularly
+in giving all the towns double members, by cutting off the
+lower ones that had one; that it was intended no man should
+have a vote for town and county on the <i>same</i> qualification,
+and he believed there were very few who would possess the
+double right. That I said would make it more easy to give
+up, and it was a thing the others laid great stress upon. He
+seemed to think it might be done. As to the 10&#8467;., he said he
+had at first been disposed to consider it too low, but he had
+changed his mind, and now doubted if it would not turn out to
+be too high. We then talked of the metropolitan members,
+to which I said undoubtedly they wished to strike them off,
+but they knew very well the Government desired it equally.
+We agreed that I should get from Lord Harrowby specifically
+what he would require, and he would give me in return what
+concessions the Government would probably be disposed to
+make; that these should be communicated merely as the
+private opinions of individuals, and not as formal proposals;
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
+and we should try and blend them together into some feasible
+compromise.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_17_03" id="FN_17_03"></a><a href="#FNA_17_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+Duncombe brought forward a petition from six men at Barnet complaining
+that they had been entrapped into signing Lord Verulam&rsquo;s and Lord
+Salisbury&rsquo;s address to the King. The object was to produce a discussion
+about the Peers. It totally failed, but it was got up with an openness that
+was indecent by Durham and that crew, who were all (Durham, Sefton, Mulgrave,
+Dover) under the gallery to hear it. The thing was ridiculed by Peel,
+fell flat upon the House, and excited disgust and contempt out of it.</p></div>
+
+<p>I afterwards saw the Duke of Richmond, who said that
+Dover and Sefton had both attacked him for being against
+making Peers, and he should like to know how they knew
+it. I told him, from the Chancellor, to be sure, and added
+how they were always working at him and the influence
+they had with him. He said the Chancellor&rsquo;s being for
+making Peers was not enough to carry the question; that if
+it was done it must be by a minute of the Cabinet, with the
+names of the dissentients appended to it; and then the King
+must determine; that if the dissentients seceded upon it it
+would be impossible. He recollected, when there was a
+question of making Peers on the Catholic question by the
+Duke of Wellington, that he and some others had resolved,
+should it have been done, to avail themselves of the power of
+the House to come down day after day and move adjournments
+before any of the new Peers could take their seats;
+that the same course might be adopted now, though it would
+produce a revolution. I told him that I had little doubt
+there were men who would not scruple to adopt any course,
+however violent, that the power of Parliament would admit
+of; that there were several who were of opinion that the
+creation of Peers would at once lay the Constitution prostrate
+and bring about a revolution; that they considered it would
+be not a remote and uncertain, but a sure and proximate
+event, and if by accelerating it they could crush their opponents
+they would do so without hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the cholera has made its appearance in
+London, at Rotherhithe, Limehouse, and in a ship off Greenwich&mdash;in
+all seven cases. These are amongst the lowest and
+most wretched classes, chiefly Irish, and a more lamentable
+exhibition of human misery than that given by the medical
+men who called at the Council Office yesterday I never heard.
+They are in the most abject state of poverty, without beds to
+lie upon. The men live by casual labour, are employed by
+the hour, and often get no more than four or five hours&rsquo;
+employment in the course of the week. They are huddled
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">INTERVIEW OF LORD HARROWBY AND LORD GREY.</span>
+and crowded together by families in the same room, not as
+permanent lodgers, but procuring a temporary shelter; in
+short, in the most abject state of physical privation and
+moral degradation that can be imagined. On Saturday we
+had an account of one or more cases. We sent instantly
+down to inspect the district and organise a Board of Health.
+A meeting was convened, and promises given that all things
+needful should be done, but as they met at a public-house they
+all got drunk and did nothing. We have sent down members
+of the Board of Health, to make preparations and organise
+boards; but, if the disease really spreads, no human power
+can arrest its progress through such an Augean stable.</p>
+
+<h3>February 14th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with Lord Harrowby, and communicated
+conversation with Palmerston and Melbourne.
+He has not been able to decide the Archbishop, who is on and
+off, and can&rsquo;t make up his mind. Lord Harrowby is going
+to Lord Grey to talk with him. The Tories obstinate as
+mules. The Duke of Buccleuch, who had got Harrowby&rsquo;s
+letter, and copied it himself that he might know it by heart,
+has made up his mind to vote the other way, as he did before;
+Lord Wallace (after a long correspondence) the same. There
+can be little doubt that they animate one another, and their
+cry is &lsquo;to stick to the Duke of Wellington.&rsquo; The cholera is
+established, and yesterday formal communications were made
+to the Lord Mayor and to the Secretary of State for Foreign
+Affairs that London was no longer healthy.</p>
+
+<h3>February 17th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Wharncliffe came to town the night
+before last, it having been settled that Harrowby was to go to
+Lord Grey yesterday morning. After consultation we agreed
+he had better go alone, that it would be less formal, and that
+Lord Grey would be more disposed to open himself. The same
+evening, at Madame de Lieven&rsquo;s ball, Melbourne and Palmerston
+both told me that Grey was in an excellent disposition.
+However, yesterday morning Harrowby had such a
+headache that he was not fit to go alone, so the two went.
+Nothing could be more polite than Grey, and on the whole
+the interview was satisfactory. Nothing was agreed upon,
+all left <i>dans le vague</i>; but a disposition to mutual confidence
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+was evinced, and I should think it pretty safe that no Peers
+will be made. Lord Grey told them that if they could
+relieve him from the necessity of creating Peers he should
+be sincerely obliged to them, showed them a letter from the
+King containing the most unlimited power for the purpose,
+and said that, armed with that authority, if the Bill could be
+passed in no other way, it must be so. A minute was drawn
+up to this effect, of which Wharncliffe showed me a copy
+last night.</p>
+
+<p>&lsquo;Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe cannot give any
+names, or pledge themselves to any particular persons or
+numbers who will support their views, but they have no
+doubt in their own minds that there will be, <i>in the event of
+no creation of Peers</i>, a sufficient number to carry the second
+reading of the Bill. In voting themselves for the second
+reading, their intention is to propose such alterations in Committee
+as, in their opinion, can alone render it a measure
+fit to be passed into law, and in the event of their being
+unable to effect the changes they deem indispensable, they
+reserve to themselves the power of opposing the Bill in its
+subsequent stages. Lord Grey considers the great principles
+of the Bill of such vital importance that he could not agree
+to any alteration in them, but admits that a modification of
+its details need not be fatal to it, reserving to himself, if any
+of its vital principles should be touched, the power of taking
+such ulterior measures as he may find necessary to ensure
+its success. Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe are prepared
+to make a declaration of their sentiments and intentions in
+the House of Lords at a proper time, that time to be a subject
+of consideration; and in the event of their having reason to
+believe that their present expectations are not likely to be
+fulfilled, they will feel bound to give Lord Grey information
+thereof, in order that he may take such measures as he may
+think right.&rsquo;<a name="FNA_17_04" id="FNA_17_04"></a><a href="#FN_17_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_17_04" id="FN_17_04"></a><a href="#FNA_17_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+This is the substance, not a textual copy.</p></div>
+
+<p>At present the principal difficulty promises to be the 10&#8467;.
+clause. Lord Grey seemed to think this could not be altered.
+Wharncliffe asked if it might not be modified, and so settled
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DISTRESS IN BETHNAL GREEN.</span>
+as to secure its being a <i>bonâ fide</i> 10&#8467;. clause, from which Lord
+Grey did not dissent, but answered rather vaguely.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime I think some progress is made in the
+work of conversion. Harris has gone back, and Wilton,
+whom I always doubted. I doubt anybody within the immediate
+sphere of the Duke, but Wynford is well disposed,
+and the Archbishop has nearly given in. His surrender would
+clinch the matter. I am inclined to think we shall get through
+the second reading. Lord Grey was attacked by Madame de
+Lieven the other day, who told him he was naturally all
+that is right-minded and good, but was supposed to be influenced
+against his own better judgment by those about him.
+She also said something to the Duke of Wellington about
+Lord Harrowby, to which he replied that Lord Harrowby
+&lsquo;était une mauvaise tête!&rsquo; Very amusing from him, but he
+is provoked to death that anybody should venture to desert
+from him.</p>
+
+<p>The cholera has produced more alertness than alarm here;
+in fact, at present it is a mere trifle&mdash;in three days twenty-eight
+persons. Nothing like the disorders which rage
+unheeded every year and every day among the lower orders.
+It is its name, its suddenness, and its frightful symptoms
+that terrify. The investigations, however, into the condition
+of the different parishes have brought to light dreadful cases
+of poverty and misery. A man came yesterday from Bethnal
+Green with an account of that district. They are all
+weavers, forming a sort of separate community; there they
+are born, there they live and labour, and there they die.
+They neither migrate nor change their occupation; they
+can do nothing else. They have increased in a ratio at
+variance with any principles of population, having nearly
+tripled in twenty years, from 22,000 to 62,000. They are
+for the most part out of employment, and can get none; 1,100
+are crammed into the poor-house, five or six in a bed;
+6,000 receive parochial relief. The parish is in debt; every
+day adds to the number of paupers and diminishes that of
+ratepayers. These are principally small shopkeepers, who
+are beggared by the rates. The district is in a complete
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
+state of insolvency and hopeless poverty, yet they multiply,
+and while the people look squalid and dejected, as if borne
+down by their wretchedness and destitution, the children
+thrive and are healthy. Government is ready to interpose
+with assistance, but what can Government do? We asked
+the man who came what could be done for them. He said
+&lsquo;employment,&rsquo; and employment is impossible.</p>
+
+<h3>February 20th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Lord Grey was very much pleased with
+the result of his interview, and expresses unbounded reliance
+on Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s honour. The ultras, of course,
+will give him no credit, and don&rsquo;t believe he can command
+votes enough; &lsquo;l&rsquo;affaire marche, mais lentement,&rsquo; and the
+seceders (or those we hope will be so) will not declare themselves
+positively. There is no prevailing upon them. The
+Archbishop is with us one day, and then doubts, though I
+think we shall have him at last. A good deal of conversation
+passed between Grey and Harrowby, which the latter
+considers confidential and won&rsquo;t repeat. It was about the
+details; the substance of the minute he feels at liberty to
+communicate. By way of an episode, news came last night
+of an insurrection of the slaves in Jamaica, in which fifty-two
+plantations had been destroyed. It was speedily suppressed
+by Willoughby Cotton, and the ringleaders were
+executed by martial law.</p>
+
+<h3>February 23rd, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>At Court yesterday; long conversation
+with Melbourne, and in the evening with Charles Wood and
+Richmond, who is more alarmed about the Peers. Melbourne
+had got an idea that Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s letter, which
+had been reported if not shown to the Government, had
+done a great deal of harm, inasmuch as it set forth so
+strongly the same arguments to the Tories to show them
+the danger of letting Peers be made that Durham and Co.
+make use of as an argument for the same. I promised to
+show it him, and replied that they could not expect Lord
+Harrowby to do anything but employ the arguments that
+are most likely to take effect with these people, but they are
+not put in an offensive manner. Melbourne said that the
+King is more reconciled to the measure, i.e. that they have
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD HARROWBY&rsquo;S LETTER.</span>
+got the foolish, old man in town and can talk him over more
+readily. A discussion last night about the propriety of
+making a declaration to-day in the House of Lords, when
+the Duke of Rutland presents a petition against Reform.
+The Archbishop will not decide; there is no moving him.
+Curious that a Dr. Howley, the other day Canon of Christ
+Church, a very ordinary man, should have in his hands the
+virtual decision of one of the most momentous matters that
+ever occupied public attention. There is no doubt that his
+decision would decide the business so far. Up to this time
+certainly Harrowby and Wharncliffe have no certainty of a
+sufficient number for the second reading; but I think they
+will have enough at last.</p>
+
+<h3>February 24th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Harrowby and Wharncliffe agreed, if the
+Duke of Rutland on presenting his petition gave them a
+good opportunity, they would speak. It was a very good
+one, for the petition turned out to be one for a moderate
+Reform, more in their sense than in the Duke&rsquo;s own;
+but the moment it was read Kenyon jumped up. Harrowby
+thought he was going to speak upon it, whereas he presented
+another; and I believe he was put up by the Duke
+to stop any discussion.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening went to Lord Holland&rsquo;s, when he and she
+asked me about the letter. Somebody had given abstracts
+of it, with the object of proving to Lord Grey that Harrowby
+had been uncandid, or something like it, and had held out
+to the Tories that if they would adopt his line they would
+turn out the Government. Holland and the rest fancied the
+letter had been written <i>since the interview</i>, but I told them it
+was <i>three weeks before</i>, and I endeavoured to explain that the
+abstracts must be taken in connection not only with the rest
+of the text, but with the argument. Holland said Lord Grey
+meant to ask Harrowby for the letter. From thence I went
+to Harrowby, and told him this. He said he would not show
+it, that Grey had no right to ask for a private letter written
+by him weeks before to one of his friends, and it was beneath
+him to answer for and explain anything he had thought fit
+to say. But he has done what will probably answer as well,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+for he has given Ebrington a copy of it for the express purpose
+of going to Lord Grey and explaining anything that appears
+ambiguous to him. As the business develops itself, and
+the time approaches, communication becomes more open
+and frequent; the Tories talk with great confidence of their
+majority, and the ultra-Whigs are quite ready to believe
+them; the two extreme ends are furious. Our list up to this
+day presents a result of forty-three votes to thirty-seven
+doubtful, out of which it is hard if a majority cannot be got.
+I have no doubt now that they will take a very early opportunity
+of making a declaration. Peel, in the other House,
+is doing what he can to inflame and divide, and repress any
+spirit of conciliation. Nothing is sure in his policy but that
+it revolves round himself as the centre, and is influenced by
+some view which he takes of his own future advantage, probably
+the rallying of the Conservative party (as they call
+themselves, though they are throwing away everything into
+confusion and sinking everything by their obstinacy) and his
+being at the head of it. He made a most furious and mischievous
+speech.</p>
+
+<h3>February 29th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Ebrington took Harrowby&rsquo;s letter to
+Lord Grey, who was satisfied but not pleased; the date and
+the circumstances (which were explained) removed all bad
+impressions from his mind. Since this a garbled version (or
+rather extracts) has appeared in the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; which endeavours
+to make a great stir about it. Harrowby was very
+much annoyed, and thought of sending the letter itself to
+the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; to be published at once; but Haddington and
+I both urged him not, and last night he put a contradiction
+in the &lsquo;Globe.&rsquo; I have little doubt that this as well as the
+former extracts came from the shop of Durham and Co., and
+so Melbourne told me he thought likewise. There was a great
+breeze at the last Cabinet dinner between Durham and Richmond
+again on the old subject&mdash;the Peers. I believe they will
+now take their chance. Our list presents forty-seven sure
+votes besides the doubtful, but not many pledges. As to me,
+I am really puzzled what to wish for&mdash;that is, for the success
+of which party, being equally disgusted with the folly of both.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">VIOLENCE OF EXTREME PARTIES.</span>
+My old aversion for the High Tories returns when I see their
+conduct on this occasion. The obstinacy of the Duke, the
+selfishness of Peel, the pert vulgarity of Croker, and the incapacity
+of the rest are set in constant juxtaposition with
+the goodness of the cause they are now defending, but which
+they will mar by their way of defending it. A man is
+wanting, a fresh man, with vigour enough to govern, and
+who will rally round him the temperate and the moderate of
+different parties&mdash;men unfettered by prejudices, connections,
+and above all by pledges, expressed or implied, and who can
+and will address themselves to the present state and real
+wants of the country, neither terrified into concession by the
+bullying of the press and the rant of public meetings and
+associations, nor fondly lingering over bygone systems of
+government and law. That the scattered materials exist is
+probable, but the heated passion of the times has produced
+so much repulsion among these various atoms that it is
+difficult to foresee when a cooler temperature may permit
+their cohesion into any efficient mass.</p>
+
+<h3>March 6th, 1842</h3>
+
+<p>The ultra-Whigs and ultra-Tories are both
+outrageous. Day after day the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; puts forth paragraphs,
+evidently manufactured in the Durham shop, about
+Harrowby&rsquo;s letter, and yesterday there was one which exhibited
+their mortification and rage so clearly as to be quite
+amusing, praising the Duke and the Tories, and abusing
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe and the moderates. In the
+meantime, while Lord Grey is negotiating with Harrowby for
+the express purpose of avoiding the necessity of making Peers,
+Durham, his colleague and son-in-law, in conjunction with
+Dover, is (or has been) going about with a paper for signature
+by Peers, being a requisition to Lord Grey to make new
+Peers, inviting everybody he could find to sign this by way
+of assisting that course of bullying and violence he has long
+pursued, but happily in vain. Lord Grey is, I believe, really
+disgusted with all these proceedings; he submits and does
+nothing. Richmond quarrels with Durham, Melbourne
+damns him, and the rest hate him. But there he is,
+frowning, sulking, bullying, and meddling, and doing all the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span>
+harm he can. Never certainly was there such a Government
+as this, so constituted, so headed&mdash;a chief with an imposing
+exterior, a commanding eloquence, and a
+character<a name="FNA_17_05" id="FNA_17_05"></a><a href="#FN_17_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+below
+contempt, seduced and governed by anybody who will
+minister to his vanity and presume upon his facility.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_17_05" id="FN_17_05"></a><a href="#FNA_17_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+By character I mean what the French call <i>caractère</i>, not that he is
+wanting in honour and honesty, nor in ability, but in resolution and strength
+of mind.</p></div>
+
+<p>There has been nothing remarkable in either House of
+Parliament but an attack made by Londonderry on Plunket,
+who gave him so terrific a dressing that it required to be as
+<i>pachydermatous</i> as he is to stand it. He is, however, a glutton,
+for he took it all, and seemed to like it. I dined with
+Madame de Lieven a day or two ago, and was talking to her
+about politics and political events, and particularly about the
+memoirs, or journal, or whatever it be, that she has written.
+She said she had done so very irregularly, but that what she
+regretted was not having kept more exact records of the
+events and transactions of the Belgian question (which is
+not yet settled), that it was in its circumstances the most
+curious that could be, and exhibited more remarkable manifestations
+of character and &lsquo;du c&oelig;ur humain,&rsquo; as well as of
+politics generally, than any course of events she knew. I
+asked her why she did not give them now. She said it was
+impossible, that the &lsquo;nuances&rsquo; were so delicate and so numerous,
+the details so nice and so varying, that unless caught
+at the moment they escaped, and it was impossible to collect
+them again.</p>
+
+<h3>March 9th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Went to Lord Holland&rsquo;s the other night, and
+had a violent battle with him on politics. Nobody so violent
+as he, and curious as exhibiting the opinions of the ultras of
+the party. About making Peers&mdash;wanted to know what
+Harrowby&rsquo;s real object was. I told him none but to prevent
+what he thought an enormous evil. What did it signify (he
+said) whether Peers were made now or later? that the present
+House of Lords never could go on with a Reformed Parliament,
+it being opposed to all the wants and wishes of the
+people, hating the abolition of tithes, the press, and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">IRISH NATIONAL EDUCATION.</span>
+French Revolution, and that in order to make it harmonise
+with the Reformed Parliament it must be amended by an
+infusion of a more Liberal cast. This was the spirit of his
+harangue, which might have been easily answered, for it all
+goes upon the presumption that his party is that which harmonises
+with the popular feeling, and what he means by
+improving the character of the House is to add some fifty or
+sixty men who may be willing to accept peerages upon the
+condition of becoming a body-guard to this Government.</p>
+
+<p>The &lsquo;Times&rsquo; yesterday and the day before attacked Lord
+Grey with a virulence and indecency about the Peers that is
+too much even for those who take the same line, and he now
+sees where his subserviency to the press has conducted him.
+In the House of Commons the night before last, Ministers
+would have been beaten on the sugar duties if Baring Wall,
+who had got ten people to dinner, had chosen to go down in
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The principal subject of discussion this last week has
+been the Education Board in Ireland, the object of which is
+to combine the education of Catholics and Protestants by an
+arrangement with regard to the religious part of their
+instruction that may be compatible with the doctrines and
+practice of both. This arrangement consists in there
+being only certain selections from the Bible, which are
+admitted generally, while particular days and hours are set
+apart for the separate religious exercises of each class.
+This will not do for the zealous Protestants, who bellow for
+the whole Bible as Reformers do for the whole Bill.
+While the whole system is crumbling to dust under their
+feet, while the Church is prostrate, property of all kind
+threatened, and robbery, murder, starvation, and agitation
+rioting over the land, these wise legislators are debating
+whether the brats at school shall read the whole Bible or
+only parts of it. They do nothing but rave of the barbarism
+and ignorance of the Catholics; they know that education
+alone can better their moral condition, and that their religious
+tenets prohibit the admission of any system of education (in
+which Protestants and Catholics can be joined) except such
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+an one as this, and yet they would rather knock the system
+on the head, and prevent all the good that may flow from it,
+than consent to a departure from the good old rules of Orange
+ascendency and Popish subserviency and degradation, knowing
+too, above all, that those who are to read and be taught
+are equally indifferent to the whole Bible or to parts of it,
+that they comprehend it not, have no clear and definite ideas
+on the subject but as matter of debate, vehicle of dispute and
+dissension, and almost of religious hatred and disunion, and
+that when once they have escaped from the trammels of their
+school, not one in a hundred will trouble his head about
+the Bible at all, and not one in a thousand attend to its
+moral precepts.</p>
+
+<h3>March 10th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning Wharncliffe came to me
+to give me an account of the conversation the other day between
+him and Harrowby on one side and Lords Grey and
+Lansdowne on the other. Harrowby was headachy and out
+of sorts. However, it went off very satisfactorily; the list
+was laid before Grey, who was satisfied, and no Peers are to
+be made before the second reading; but he said that if the
+Bill should be carried by so small a majority as to prove that
+the details could not be carried in Committee, he must reserve
+the power of making Peers <i>then</i>. At this Harrowby
+winced, but Wharncliffe said he thought it fair; and in fact
+it is only in conformity with the protocol that was drawn up
+at the last conversation. They entered into the details, and
+Lord Grey said the stir that had been made about the metropolitan
+members might raise difficulties, and then asked would
+they agree to this, to give members to Marylebone and
+throw over the rest? To this Harrowby would not agree,
+greatly to Wharncliffe&rsquo;s annoyance, who would have agreed,
+and I think he would have been in the right. It would have
+been as well to have nailed Grey to this, and if Harrowby
+had not had a headache I think he would have done so. With
+regard to the 10&#8467;. clause, Wharncliffe <i>thinks</i> they will not
+object to a modification. Grey spoke of the press, and with
+just wrath and indignation of the attacks on himself. On
+the whole this was good. The capture of Vandamme was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">IRISH TITHES.</span>
+the consequence of a bellyache, and the metropolitan representation
+depended on a headache. If the truth could be
+ascertained, perhaps many of the greatest events in history
+turned upon aches of one sort or another. Montaigne might
+have written an essay on it.</p>
+
+<h3>March 12th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Durham made another exhibition of temper
+at the Cabinet dinner last Wednesday. While Lord Grey
+was saying something he rudely interrupted him, as his custom
+is. Lord Grey said, &lsquo;But, my dear Lambton, only hear
+what I was going to say,&rsquo; when the other jumped up and
+said, &lsquo;Oh, if I am not to be allowed to speak I may as well
+go away,&rsquo; rang the bell, ordered his carriage, and marched
+off. Wharncliffe came to me yesterday morning to propose
+writing a pamphlet in answer to the &lsquo;Quarterly Review,&rsquo; which
+has got an article against his party. I suggested instead
+that an attempt should be made by Sandon (who has been
+in some communication with the editor about this matter)
+to induce the &lsquo;Morning Herald&rsquo; to support us, and make
+that paper the vehicle of our articles. This he agreed to,
+and was to propose it to Sandon last night. We have no
+advocate in the press; the Whig and Tory papers are equally
+violent against us. Yesterday I saw a letter which has
+been circulated among the Tories, written by young Lord
+Redesdale to Lord Bathurst, a sort of counter-argument to
+Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s letter, although not an answer, as it was
+written before he had seen that document; there is very
+little in it.</p>
+
+<h3>March 16th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Lord Grey made an excellent speech in the
+House of Lords in reply to Aberdeen&rsquo;s questions about
+Ancona, and Peel made another in the House of Commons
+on Irish Tithes, smashing Sheil, taking high ground and
+a strong position, but doing nothing towards settling the
+question. He forgets that the system is bad, resting on
+a false foundation, and that it has worked ill and been
+bolstered up by him and his party till now it can no longer
+be supported, and it threatens to carry away with it that
+which is good in itself. We owe these things to those who
+wilfully introduced a moral confusion of ideas into their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
+political machinery, and, by destroying the essential distinction
+between right and wrong, have deprived the things
+which are right of the best part of their security. I have
+never been able to understand why our system should be
+made to rest on artificial props when it did not require them,
+nor the meaning of that strange paradox which a certain
+school of statesmen have always inculcated, that institutions
+of admitted excellence required to be conjoined with others
+which were founded in crime and error, and which could only
+be supported by power. This has brought about Reform; it
+would be easy to prove it. The Ancona affair will blow over.
+George Villiers writes me word that it was a little escapade
+of Périer&rsquo;s, done in a hurry, a mistake, and yet he is a very
+able man. Talleyrand told me &lsquo;c&rsquo;est une bêtise.&rsquo; Nothing
+goes on well; the world is out of joint.</p>
+
+<p>Fanny Kemble&rsquo;s new tragedy came out last night with
+complete success, written when she was seventeen, an odd
+play for a girl to write. The heroine is tempted like
+Isabella in &lsquo;Measure for Measure,&rsquo; but with a different result,
+which result is supposed to take place between the acts.</p>
+
+<h3>March 26th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Ten days since I have written anything here,
+but <i>en revanche</i> I have written a pamphlet. An article appeared
+in the &lsquo;Quarterly,&rsquo; attacking Harrowby and his friends.
+Wharncliffe was so desirous it should be answered that I
+undertook the job, and it comes out to-day in a &lsquo;Letter to
+Lockhart, in reply,&rsquo; &amp;c. I don&rsquo;t believe anybody read the
+last I wrote, but as I have published this at Ridgway&rsquo;s, perhaps
+it may have a more extensive sale. The events have
+been the final passing of the Bill, after three nights&rsquo; debate,
+by a majority of 116, ended by a very fine speech from Peel,
+who has eminently distinguished himself through this fight.
+Stanley closed the debate at five o&rsquo;clock in the morning, with
+what they say was a good and dexterous speech, but which
+contained a very unnecessary dissertation about the Peers.
+This, together with some words from Richmond and the
+cheerfulness of Holland, makes my mind misgive me that we
+shall still have them created for the Committee. The conduct
+of the ultra-Tories has been so bad and so silly that I cannot
+wish to bring them in, though I have a great desire to turn
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">REFORM BILL IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.</span>
+the others out. As to a moderate party, it is a mere dream,
+for where is the moderation? This day Lord John Russell
+brings the Bill up to the House of Lords, and much indeed
+depends upon what passes there. Harrowby and Wharncliffe
+will make their speeches, and we shall, I conclude, have the
+Duke and Lord Grey. I expect, and I beg his pardon if I am
+wrong, that the Duke will make as mischievous a speech as
+he can, and try to provoke declarations and pledges against
+the Bill. The Ministers are exceedingly anxious that Harrowby
+should confine himself to generalities, which I hope
+too, for I am certain no good can, and much harm may, be
+done by going into details. Grey, Holland, and Richmond all
+three spoke to me about it last night, and I am going to see
+what can be done with them. I should not fear Harrowby
+but that he is petulant and sour; Wharncliffe is vain, and
+has been excited in all this business, though with very good
+and very disinterested motives, but he cannot bear patiently
+the abuse and the ridicule with which both the extreme ends
+endeavour to cover him, and he is uneasy under it, and what
+I dread is that in making attempts to set himself right, and to
+clear his character with a party who will never forgive him for
+what he has done, and to whom whatever he says will be words
+cast to the winds, he will flounder, and say something which
+will elicit from Lord Grey some declaration that may make
+matters worse than ever. What I hope and trust is that the
+Government and our people will confine themselves to civil
+generalities, and pledge themselves <i>de part et d&rsquo;autre</i> to nothing,
+and that they will not be provoked by taunts from any
+quarter to depart from that prudent course.</p>
+
+<p>There was another breeze in the House of Lords about
+Irish Education, the whole bench of bishops in a flame,
+and except Maltby, who spoke <i>for</i>, all declared against the
+plan&mdash;Phillpotts in a furious speech. What celestial influences
+have been at work I know not, but certain it is that the
+world seems going mad, individually and collectively. The
+town has been more occupied this week with Dudley&rsquo;s extravagancies
+than the affairs of Europe. He, in fact, is mad,
+but is to be cupped and starved and disciplined sound again.
+It has been fine talk for the town. The public curiosity and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
+love of news is as voracious and universal as the appetite of a
+shark, and, like it, loves best what is grossest and most disgusting;
+anything relating to personal distress, to crime, to
+passion, is greedily devoured by this monster, as Cowley calls it.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">I see<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The monster London laugh at me;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">I would at thee, too, foolish City,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">But thy estate I pity.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Should all the wicked men from out thee go,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And all the fools that crowd thee so,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Thou, who dost thy thousands boast,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Would be a wilderness almost.&mdash;<i>Ode to Solitude</i>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p style="text-indent: 0em">
+But of all the examples of cant, hypocrisy, party violence, I
+have never seen any to be compared to the Irish Education
+business; and there was Rosslyn, an old Whig, voting against;
+Carnarvon stayed away, every Tory without exception going
+against the measure. As to madness, Dudley has gone mad
+in his own house, Perceval in the House of Commons, and
+John Montague in the Park, the two latter preaching, both
+Irvingites and believers in &lsquo;the tongues.&rsquo; Dudley&rsquo;s madness
+took an odd turn; he would make up all his quarrels with
+Lady Holland, to whom he has not spoken for sixteen years,
+and he called on her, and there were tears and embraces, and
+God knows what. Sydney Smith told her that she was bound
+in honour to set the quarrel up again when he comes to his
+senses, and put things into the <i>status quo ante pacem</i>. It
+would be hard upon him to find, on getting out of a strait
+waistcoat, that he had been robbed of all his hatreds and hostilities,
+and seduced into the house of his oldest foe.</p>
+
+<h3>March 27th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>I did the Duke of Wellington an injustice.
+He spoke, but without any violence, in a fair and gentlemanlike
+manner, a speech creditable to himself, useful and becoming.
+If there was any disposition on the part of his followers to
+light a flame, he at once repressed it. The whole thing went
+off well; House very full; Harrowby began, and made an excellent
+speech, with the exception of one mistake. He dwelt
+too much on the difference between this Bill and the last,
+as if the difference of his own conduct resulted from that
+cause, and this I could see they were taking up in their
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.</span>
+minds, and though he corrected the impression afterwards,
+it will be constantly brought up against him, I have no
+doubt. After him Carnarvon, who alone was violent, but short;
+then Wharncliffe (I am not sure which was first of these two),
+very short and rather embarrassed, expressing his concurrence
+with Lord Harrowby; then the Bishop of London,
+short also, but strong in his language, much more than Lord
+Harrowby; then Lord Grey, temperate and very general,
+harping a little too much on that confounded word <i>efficiency</i>,
+denying that what he said last year bore the interpretation
+that had been put upon it, and announcing that he would
+give his best consideration to any amendments, a very good
+speech; then the Duke, in a very handsome speech,
+acknowledging that he was not against all Reform, though
+he was against this Bill, because he did not think if it passed
+it would be possible to carry on the government of the
+country, but promising that if the Bill went into Committee
+he would give his constant attendance, and do all in his
+power to make it as safe a measure as possible. So finished
+this important evening, much to the satisfaction of the moderate,
+and to the disgust of the violent party. I asked Lord
+Holland if he was satisfied (in the House after the debate),
+and he said, &lsquo;Yes, yes, very well, but the Bishop&rsquo;s the man;&rsquo;
+and in the evening at Lord Grey&rsquo;s I found they were all full
+of the Bishop. Lord Grey said to me, &lsquo;Well, you will allow
+that I behaved very well?&rsquo; I said, &lsquo;Yes, very, but the whole
+thing was satisfactory, I think.&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;on the whole,
+but they were a little too strong, too violent against the
+Bill,&rsquo; because Harrowby had declared that he felt the same
+objection to the measure he had felt before. Sefton was
+outrageous, talked a vast deal of amusing nonsense, &lsquo;that he
+had never heard such twaddle,&rsquo; &lsquo;but that the success was complete,
+and he looked on Harrowby and Wharncliffe as the two
+most enviable men in the kingdom.&rsquo; I have no doubt that
+all the ultras will be deeply mortified at the moderation of
+Lord Grey and of the Duke of Wellington, and at the success
+<i>so far</i> of &lsquo;the Waverers.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0em">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span>
+Debate in the House of Lords &mdash; Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s Position &mdash; Hopes of a Compromise
+&mdash; Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s View &mdash; Disturbances caused by the Cholera
+&mdash; The Disfranchisement Clause &mdash; The Number &lsquo;56&rsquo; &mdash; Peers contemplated
+&mdash; The King&rsquo;s Hesitation &mdash; &lsquo;The Hunchback&rsquo; &mdash; Critical Position of
+the Waverers &mdash; Bill carried by Nine in the Lords &mdash; The Cholera in Paris
+&mdash; Moderate Speech of Lord Grey &mdash; End of the Secession &mdash; Conciliatory
+Overtures &mdash; Negotiations carried on at Newmarket &mdash; Hostile Division in
+the Lords &mdash; Lord Wharncliffe&rsquo;s Account of his Failure &mdash; Lord Grey resigns
+&mdash; The Duke of Wellington attempts to form a Ministry &mdash; Peel
+declines &mdash; Hostility of the Court to the Whigs &mdash; A Change of Scene &mdash; The
+Duke fails &mdash; History of the Crisis &mdash; Lord Grey returns to Office &mdash; The
+King&rsquo;s Excitement &mdash; The King writes to the Opposition Peers &mdash; Defeat
+and Disgrace of the Tories &mdash; Conversation of the Duke of Wellington &mdash;
+Louis XVIII. &mdash; Madame du Cayla &mdash; Weakness of the King &mdash; Mortality
+among Great Men &mdash; Petition against Lord W. Bentinck&rsquo;s Prohibition of
+Suttee heard by the Privy Council &mdash; O&rsquo;Connell and the Cholera &mdash; Irish
+Tithe Bill &mdash; Irish Difficulties &mdash; Mr. Stanley &mdash; Concluding Debates of the
+Parliament &mdash; Quarrel between Brougham and Sugden &mdash; Holland and
+Belgium &mdash; Brougham&rsquo;s Revenge and Apology &mdash; Dinner at Holland House
+&mdash; Anecdotes of Johnson &mdash; Death of Mr. Greville&rsquo;s Father &mdash; Madame de
+Flahaut&rsquo;s Account of the Princess Charlotte &mdash; Prince Augustus of
+Prussia &mdash; Captain Hess &mdash; Hostilities in Holland and in Portugal &mdash; The
+Duchesse de Berri &mdash; Conversation with Lord Melbourne on the State of
+the Government.</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>March 28th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>There appear to have been as many differences
+of opinion as of people on the discussion in the House of
+Lords when the Bill was brought up, and it seems paradoxical,
+but is true, that though it was on the whole satisfactory, nobody
+was satisfied. Lord Grey complained to me that Lord
+Harrowby was too stiff; Lord Harrowby complained that
+Lord Grey was always beating about the bush of compromise,
+but never would commit himself fairly to concession. Melbourne
+complained last night that what was done was done in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD HARROWBY&rsquo;S PATRIOTIC CONDUCT.</span>
+such an ungracious manner, so niggardly, that he hated the
+man (Harrowby) who did it. The ultra-Tories are outrageous
+&lsquo;that he gave up everything without reason or cause;&rsquo;
+the ultra-Whigs equally furious &lsquo;that he had shown how
+little way he was disposed to go in Committee; his object was
+to turn out the Government;&rsquo; and what is comical, neither
+party will believe that Harrowby really is so obnoxious to
+the other as he is said to be. Each is convinced that he is
+acting in the interests of the other. What a position, what
+injustice, blindness, folly, obstinacy, brought together and
+exhibited! If ever there was a man whose conduct was
+exempt from the ordinary motives of ambition, and who
+made personal sacrifices in what he is doing, it is Lord
+Harrowby, and yet there is no reproach that is not cast upon
+him, no term of abuse that is not applied to him, no motive
+that is not ascribed to him. No wonder a man who has seen
+much of them is sick of politics and public life. Nothing
+now is thought of but the <i>lists</i>, and of course everybody has
+got one. The Tories still pretend to a majority of seven;
+the Government and Harrowby think they have one of from
+ten to twenty, and I suspect fifteen will be found about the
+mark. The unfortunate thing is that neither of our cocks is
+good for fighting, not from want of courage, but Harrowby
+is peevish, ungracious and unpopular, and Wharncliffe
+carries no great weight. To be sure neither of them pretends
+to make a party, but then their opponents insist upon
+it that they do, and men shrink from enlisting (or being
+supposed to enlist) under Wharncliffe&rsquo;s banner. However,
+notwithstanding the violence of the noisy fools of the party,
+and of the women, there is a more rational disposition on
+the part of practical men, for Wharncliffe spoke to Ellenborough
+yesterday, and told him that though he knew he
+and Harrowby were regarded as traitors by all of them, he
+did hope that when the Bill came into Committee they would
+agree to consult together, and try and come to some understanding
+as to the best mode of dealing with the question,
+that it was absurd to be standing aloof at such a moment;
+to which Ellenborough replied that he perfectly agreed with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+him, was anxious to do so, and intended to advise his friends
+to take that course.</p>
+
+<h3>April 1st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Wharncliffe got Lord Grey to put off the
+second reading for a few days on account of the Quarter
+Sessions, which drew down a precious attack from Londonderry,
+and was in fact very foolish and unnecessary, as it
+looks like a concert between them, of which it is very desirable
+to avoid any appearance, as in fact none exists. The
+violence of the Tories continues unabated, and there is no
+effort they do not make to secure a majority, and they expect
+either to succeed or to bring it to a near thing. In the
+meantime the tone of the other party is changed. Dover,
+who makes lists, manages proxies, and does all the little
+jobbing, whipping-in, busy work of the party, makes out a
+clear majority, and told me he now thought the Bill would
+get through without Peers. The Government, however, are
+all agreed to make the Peers if it turns out to be necessary,
+and especially if the Bill should be thrown out, it seems clear
+that they would by no means go out, but make the Peers
+and bring it in again; so I gather from Richmond, and he
+who was the most violently opposed of the whole Cabinet to
+Peer-making, is now ready to make any number if necessary.
+There is, however, I hope, a disposition to concession, which,
+if matters are tolerably well managed, may lead to an
+arrangement. Still Wharncliffe, who must have a great deal
+to do in Committee, is neither prudent nor popular. The
+Tories are obstinate, sulky, and indisposed to agree to anything
+reasonable. It is the unity of object and the compactness
+of the party which give the Government strength.
+Charles Wood told me the other day that they were well
+disposed to a compromise on two special points, one the exclusion
+of town voters from the right of voting for counties,
+the other the metropolitan members. On the first he proposed
+that no man voting for a town in right of a 10&#8467;. house
+should have a vote for the county in right of any freehold in
+that town. That would be half-way between Wharncliffe&rsquo;s
+plan and the present. The second, that Marylebone should
+return two members, and Middlesex two more&mdash;very like
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.</span>
+Grey&rsquo;s proposition which Harrowby rejected&mdash;but I suggested
+keeping the whole and varying the qualification, to which he
+thought no objection would lie.</p>
+
+<p>At the Duchesse de Dino&rsquo;s ball the night before last I had
+a very anxious conversation with Melbourne about it all.
+He said that &lsquo;he really believed there was no strong feeling
+in the country for the measure.&rsquo; We talked of the violence
+of the Tories, and their notion that they could get rid of the
+whole thing. I said the notion was absurd <i>now</i>, but that I
+fully agreed with him about the general feeling. &lsquo;Why, then,&rsquo;
+said he, &lsquo;might it not be thrown out?&rsquo;&mdash;a consummation I
+really believe he would rejoice at, if it could be done. I said
+because there was a great party which would not let it, which
+would agitate again, and that the country wished ardently to
+have it settled; that if it could be disposed of for good and
+all, it would be a good thing indeed, but that this was now
+become impossible. I asked him if his colleagues were impressed
+as he was with this truth, and he said, &lsquo;No.&rsquo; I told
+him he ought to do everything possible to enforce it, and
+to make them moderate, and induce them to concede, to
+which he replied, &lsquo;What difficulty can they have in swallowing
+the rest after they have given up the rotten boroughs?
+That is, in fact, the essential part of the Bill, and the truth is
+<i>I do not see how the Government is to be carried on without
+them</i>. Some means may be found; a remedy may possibly
+present itself, and it may work in practice better than we
+now know of, but I am not aware of any, and I do not see
+how any Government can be carried on when these are swept
+away.&rsquo; This was, if not his exact words, the exact sense,
+and a pretty avowal for a man to make at the eleventh hour
+who has been a party concerned in this Bill during the other
+ten. I told him I agreed in every respect, but that it was
+too late to discuss this now, and that the rotten boroughs
+were past saving, that as to the minor points, the Waverers
+thought them of importance, looked upon them as securities,
+compensations, and moreover as what would save their own
+honour, and that the less their real importance was the more
+easily might they be conceded. We had a great deal more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+talk, but then it is all talk, and <i>à quoi bon</i> with a man who
+holds these opinions and acts as he does? Let it end as it
+may, the history of the Bill, and the means by which it has
+been conceived, brought forward, supported, and opposed, will
+be most curious and instructive. The division in the Lords
+must be very close indeed.</p>
+
+<p>Orloff, who was looked for like the Messiah, at last made
+his appearance a few days ago, a great burly Russian, but no
+ratification yet.<a name="FNA_18_01" id="FNA_18_01"></a><a href="#FN_18_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_01" id="FN_18_01"></a><a href="#FNA_18_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[Of the Belgian Treaty.]</p></div>
+
+<p>I have refrained for a long time from writing down anything
+about the cholera, because the subject is intolerably
+disgusting to me, and I have been bored past endurance by
+the perpetual questions of every fool about it. It is not,
+however, devoid of interest. In the first place, what has
+happened here proves that &lsquo;the people&rsquo; of this enlightened,
+reading, thinking, reforming nation are not a whit less barbarous
+than the serfs in Russia, for precisely the same prejudices
+have been shown here that were found at St. Petersburg
+and at Berlin. The disease has undoubtedly appeared
+(hitherto) in this country in a milder shape than elsewhere,
+but the alarm at its name was so great that the Government
+could do no otherwise than take such precautions and means
+of safety as appeared best to avert the danger or mitigate its
+consequences. Here it came, and the immediate effect was
+a great inconvenience to trade and commerce, owing to
+restrictions, both those imposed by foreigners generally on
+this country and those we imposed ourselves between the
+healthy and unhealthy places. This begot complaints and
+disputes, and professional prejudices and jealousies urged a
+host of combatants into the field, to fight about the existence
+or non-existence of cholera, its contagiousness, and any collateral
+question. The disposition of the public was (and is)
+to believe that the whole thing was a humbug, and accordingly
+plenty of people were found to write in that sense, and
+the press lent itself to propagate the same idea. The disease,
+however, kept creeping on, the Boards of Health which were
+everywhere established immediately became odious, and the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE CHOLERA IN ENGLAND.</span>
+vestries and parishes stoutly resisted all pecuniary demands
+for the purpose of carrying into effect the recommendations
+of the Central Board or the orders of the Privy Council. In
+this town the mob has taken the part of the anti-cholerites,
+and the most disgraceful scenes have occurred. The other
+day a Mr. Pope, head of the hospital in Marylebone (Cholera
+Hospital) came to the Council Office to complain that a
+patient who was being removed with his own consent had
+been taken out of his chair by the mob and carried back,
+the chair broken, and the bearers and surgeon hardly
+escaping with their lives. Furious contests have taken place
+about the burials, it having been recommended that bodies
+should be burned directly after death, and the most violent
+prejudice opposing itself to this recommendation; in short,
+there is no end to the scenes of uproar, violence, and brutal
+ignorance that have gone on, and this on the part of the
+lower orders, for whose especial benefit all the precautions
+are taken, and for whose relief large sums have been raised
+and all the resources of charity called into activity in every
+part of the town. The awful thing is the vast extent of
+misery and distress which prevails, and the evidence of the
+rotten foundation on which the whole fabric of this gorgeous
+society rests, for I call that rotten which exhibits thousands
+upon thousands of human beings reduced to the lowest stage
+of moral and physical degradation, with no more of the necessaries
+of life than serve to keep body and soul together,
+whole classes of artisans without the means of subsistence.
+However complicated and remote the causes of this state of
+things, the manifestations present themselves in a frightful
+presence and reality, and those whose ingenuity, and experience,
+and philosophical views may enable them accurately to
+point out the causes and the gradual increase of this distress
+are totally unable to suggest a remedy or to foresee an end
+to it. Can such a state of things permanently go on? can
+any reform ameliorate it? Is it possible for any country to
+be considered in a healthy condition when there is no such
+thing as a <i>general</i> diffusion of the comforts of life (varying of
+course with every variety of circumstance which can affect
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+the prosperity of individuals or of classes), but when the extremes
+prevail of the most unbounded luxury and enjoyment
+and the most dreadful privation and suffering? To imagine
+a state of society in which everybody should be well off, or
+even tolerably well off, would be a mere vision, as long as
+there is a preponderance of vice and folly in the world.
+There will always be effects commensurate with their causes,
+but it has not always been, and it certainly need not be, that
+the majority of the population should be in great difficulty,
+struggling to keep themselves afloat, and, what is worse, in
+uncertainty and in doubt whether they can earn subsistence
+for themselves and their families. Such is the case at present,
+and I believe a general uncertainty pervades every class
+of society, from the highest to the lowest; nobody looks upon
+any institution as secure, or any interest as safe, and it is only
+because those universal feelings of alarm which are equally
+diffused throughout the mass but slightly affect each individual
+atom of it that we see the world go on as usual, eating,
+drinking, laughing, and dancing, and not insensible to the
+danger, though, apparently indifferent about it.</p>
+
+<h3>April 4th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Charles Wood<a name="FNA_18_02" id="FNA_18_02"></a><a href="#FN_18_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+came to me yesterday, and
+brought a paper showing the various effects of a different
+qualification from 10&#8467;. to 40&#8467;. for the metropolitan districts,
+to talk over the list, but principally to get me to speak to
+Harrowby about a foreseen difficulty. The first clause in
+the Bill enacts <i>that fifty-six boroughs be disfranchised</i>. This
+gave great offence in the House of Commons, was feebly
+defended, but carried by the majority, which was always
+ready and required no reason; it was an egregious piece
+of folly and arrogance there, here it presents a real embarrassment.
+I told him I knew Harrowby had an invincible
+repugnance to it, and that the effect would be very bad if
+they split upon the first point. He said he should not defend
+it, that all reason was against it, but that there it was,
+and how was it to be got rid of? I suggested that it should
+be passed over, and that they should go at once to the boroughs
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">A DIFFICULTY AT SCHEDULE A.</span>
+<i>seriatim</i>. He said if that clause was omitted a suspicion
+would immediately arise that there was an intention of
+altering Schedule A, and nothing would avert that but
+getting through a great part of it before Easter, and that this
+might be difficult, as the longest time they could expect to sit
+would be three days in Passion Week. He talked a great
+deal about the country expecting this, and that they would
+not be satisfied if it was not done, and all the usual jargon
+of the Reformers, which it was not worth while to dispute,
+and it ended by my promising to talk to Lord Harrowby
+about it. This I did last night, and he instantly flew into
+a rage. He said &lsquo;he would not be dragged through the
+mire by those scoundrels. It was an insolence that was
+not to be borne; let them make their Peers if they would, not
+Hell itself should make him vote for <i>fifty-six</i>; he would vote
+for sixty-six or any number but that, that he would not split
+with the Tories on the first vote; if indeed <i>they</i> would consent
+to fifty-six he would, or to anything else they would agree
+to, but if the Government brought this forward no consideration
+on earth should prevent his opposing it.&rsquo; We then
+discussed the whole matter, with the proposed amendments
+which Wood and I had talked over with reference to the
+metropolitan members and town and county voting, and I am
+to go to-day and propose that after the second reading is
+carried they should adjourn till after Easter, and give a little
+time for the excitement (which there must be) to subside, and
+to see how matters stand, and what probability there is of
+getting the thing through quietly.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_02" id="FN_18_02"></a><a href="#FNA_18_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[Mr. Charles Wood, afterwards Viscount Halifax, but at this time
+private Secretary to Earl Grey, whose daughter he married.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>April 6th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>I called on the Duke of Richmond on Wednesday
+morning, and told him what had passed between Wood
+and me, and Lord Harrowby and me afterwards. He was
+aware of the difficulty, and regretted it the more because he
+might have to defend it in the House of Lords. He wished
+me very much to go to Downing Street and see Lord Grey
+himself if possible before the levee, and he suggested that the
+words fifty-six might be left in blank by Lord Grey&rsquo;s own
+motion, that this would be in conformity with the forms of the
+House. I set off, but calling at home on my way found Lord
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span>
+Harrowby at my door. He came in, and was anxious to know
+if I had said anything; he was more quiet than the night before,
+but still resolved not to agree to fifty-six, though anxious
+to have the matter compromised in some way. Lord Harrowby
+wanted to adjourn after the second reading, but owned that
+the best effect would be to get through Schedule A before
+Easter. Yesterday I saw Wood; he harped upon the difficulty
+and the old strain of the country. I suggested the point of
+form which Richmond had mentioned, but he said that could
+not be <i>now</i> in the Bill, as it was sent up from the Commons,
+that if they were beaten on fifty-six the country would consider
+it tantamount to throwing out Schedule A, and would highly
+approve of a creation of Peers, and that, in fact (if they
+wished it), it would be the best opportunity they could have.
+I told him that it would heap ridicule upon all the antecedent
+proceedings, and the pretext must be manifest, as it would
+appear in the course of the discussions what the real reason
+was. In the middle of our conversation Ellice came in, and
+directly asked if my friends would swallow fifty-six, to which
+I said, &lsquo;No.&rsquo; We had then a vehement dispute, but at last
+Wood turned him out, and he and I resumed. We finally
+agreed that I should ask Lord Harrowby whether, if Lord
+Grey of his own accord proposed to leave out the words fifty-six,
+but with an expression of his opinion that this must be
+the number, he (Lord Harrowby) would meet him with a
+corresponding declaration that he objected to the specification
+of the number in the clause, without objecting to the
+extent of the disfranchisement, it being always understood
+that what passes between us is unauthorised talk, and to
+commit nobody&mdash;&lsquo;without prejudice,&rsquo; as the lawyers say.</p>
+
+<p>I heard yesterday, however, from Keate, who is attending
+me (and who is the King&rsquo;s surgeon, and sees him when
+he is in town), that he saw his Majesty after the levee on
+Wednesday, and that he was ill, out of sorts, and in considerable
+agitation; that he enquired of him about his health,
+when the King said he had much to annoy him, and that
+&lsquo;many things passed there (pointing to the Cabinet, out of
+which he had just come) which were by no means agreeable,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING&rsquo;S RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.</span>
+and that he had had more than usual to occupy him that
+morning.&rsquo; Keate said he was very sure from his manner
+that something unpleasant had occurred. This was, I have
+since discovered, the question of a creation of Peers again
+brought forward, and to which the King&rsquo;s aversion has returned
+so much so that it is doubtful if he will after all
+consent to a large one. It seems that unless the Peers are
+made (in the event of the necessity arising) Brougham and
+Althorp will resign; at least so they threaten. I have seen
+enough of threats, and doubts, and scruples, to be satisfied
+that there is no certainty that any of them will produce
+the anticipated effects, but I am resolved I will try, out of
+these various elements, if I cannot work out something which
+may be serviceable to the cause itself, though the materials
+I have to work with are scanty. The Ministers were all day
+yesterday settling who the new Peers shall be, so seriously
+are they preparing for the <i>coup</i>. They had already fixed
+upon Lords Molyneux, Blandford, Kennedy, Ebrington,
+Cavendish, Brabazon, and Charles Fox, Littleton, Portman,
+Frederick Lawley, Western, and many others, and this would
+be what Lord Holland calls assimilating the House of Lords
+to the spirit of the other House, and making it harmonise
+with the prevailing sense of the people.</p>
+
+<h3>April 8th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Lord Harrowby was out of town when I called
+there on Friday, so I wrote to him the substance of my conversation
+with Wood. Yesterday he returned. In the evening
+I met Wood at dinner at Lord Holland&rsquo;s, when he told me
+that he found on the part of his friends more reluctance than
+he had expected to give up the fifty-six, that he had done
+all he could to persuade them, but they made great objections.
+Moreover he had had a conversation with Sandon which he did
+not quite like, as he talked so much of holding the party together.
+All this was to make me think they are stouter than
+they really are, for I am better informed than he thinks for.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning I got more correct information about
+what had passed with the King. Lord Grey went to him
+with a minute of Cabinet requiring that he should make
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>
+Peers in case the second reading was thrown
+out.<a name="FNA_18_03" id="FNA_18_03"></a><a href="#FN_18_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+To this
+he demurred, raised difficulties and doubts, which naturally
+enough alarm the Government very much. However, when
+he got back to Windsor he wrote two letters, explaining his
+sentiments, from which it appears that he has great reluctance,
+that he will do it, but will not give any pledge beforehand,
+that he objects to increasing the Peerage, and wants to call
+up eldest sons and make Irish and Scotch Peers, that he did
+not say positively he would make the Peers, but that he
+would be in the way, and come up when it was necessary.
+They think that he has some idea that his pledging himself
+beforehand (though in fact he did so two months ago) might
+be drawn into an improper precedent. However this may
+be, his reluctance is so strong that a great deal may be
+made of it, as it is probable (if he continues in the same
+mind, and is not turned by some violence of the Opposition)
+that he will resist still more making Peers when the Bill is
+in Committee to carry the details, some of which he himself
+wishes to see altered, but the difficulty is very great. It is
+impossible to communicate with the Tory leaders; they will
+not believe what you tell them, and if they learnt the King&rsquo;s
+scruples they would immediately imagine that they might
+presume upon them to any extent, and stand out more
+obstinately than ever. I went to Harrowby last night, and
+imparted to him the state of things, which I shall do to
+nobody else. To Wharncliffe I dare not. He is not indisposed
+to Wood&rsquo;s compromise, and I trust this will be settled,
+but he still leans to putting off the second reading till after
+Easter, and if the Tories also resolve upon that (which they
+are mightily disposed to do) he will not separate from them
+on that point, and they are sure to carry it. Unless this
+was accompanied with some declaration from them that
+they would be disposed to concede the great principles of
+the Bill, I think the Government would consider it such an
+indication of hostility as to call for an immediate creation
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">&lsquo;THE HUNCHBACK.&rsquo;</span>
+of Peers, and I doubt whether the King could or would
+resist. There are many reasons why it would be desirable
+to make the second reading a resting-place, and adjourn then
+till after Easter, provided all parties consented, but it would
+be very unwise to make it the subject of a contest, and nobody
+would ever believe that the real reason was not to get
+rid of Schedule A by hook or by crook, or of a good deal of
+it. Harrowby will, I am sure, not divide against them on
+this, and they will not give it up; that there are means of
+resistance, if they were judiciously applied, I am sure, and
+if there were temper, discretion, and cordiality, the Bill
+might be licked into a very decent shape.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_03" id="FN_18_03"></a><a href="#FNA_18_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[This Cabinet minute of the 3rd of April, 1832, and the King&rsquo;s remarks
+upon it, have been printed in the &lsquo;Correspondence of William IV. and Earl
+Grey,&rsquo; vol. ii. p. 307.]</p></div>
+
+<p>I went to see Sheridan Knowles&rsquo; new play the other
+night, &lsquo;The Hunchback.&rsquo; Very good, and a great success.
+Miss Fanny Kemble acted really well&mdash;for the first time, in
+my opinion, great acting. I have not seen anything since
+Mrs. Siddons (and perhaps Miss O&rsquo;Neill) so good.</p>
+
+<p>The Duke of Wellington made a very good speech on
+Irish affairs on Friday, one of his best, and he speaks
+admirably <i>to points</i> sometimes and on subjects he understands.
+I wish he had let alone that Irish Education&mdash;disgraceful
+humbug and cant. I don&rsquo;t know that there is anything
+else particularly new. Orloff is made a great rout with, but
+he don&rsquo;t ratify. The real truth is that the King of Holland
+holds out, and the other Powers delay till they see the result
+of our Reform Bill, thinking that the Duke of Wellington
+may return to power, and then they may make better terms
+for Holland and dictate to Belgium and to France. If the
+Reform Bill is carried, and Government stays in, they will
+ratify, and not till then. The cholera is disappearing here
+and in the country.</p>
+
+<h3>April 9th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Saw Lord Harrowby yesterday morning. He
+can&rsquo;t make up his mind what is best to be done, whether to go
+into Committee or not. He rather wishes to get through
+Schedule A, but he won&rsquo;t vote against the Tories if they
+divide on adjourning. Then went to Wood and told him
+there would be no difficulty about <i>fifty-six</i>. Lord Grey
+came in, and talked the whole thing over. He said he
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span>
+was ill&mdash;knocked up&mdash;that in his speech to-day he should
+be as moderate and tame as anybody could wish. From
+what Wood said, and he himself afterwards, I should
+think they wish to adjourn after the second reading, but to
+make a merit of it if they do. Duncannon, whom I saw
+afterwards, seemed to be of the same opinion, that it would
+be best not to sit in Passion Week. At night Wharncliffe
+came back from Yorkshire. He is all for getting into
+Schedule A, and making no difficulties about fifty-six or
+anything else, and Harrowby, now that he fancies the Government
+want to adjourn, rather wants not, suspecting some
+trick. Upon going all over the list, we make out the worst
+to give a majority of six, and the best of eighteen, but the
+Tories still count upon getting back some of our people. We
+had a grand hunt after Lord Gambier&rsquo;s proxy; he sent it to
+Lord de Saumarez, who is laid up with the gout in Guernsey,
+and the difficulty was to get at Lord Gambier and procure
+another. At last I made Harrowby, who does not know
+him, write to him, and Wood sent a messenger after him,
+so we hope it will arrive in time.</p>
+
+<h3>April 11th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The day before yesterday Lord Grey introduced
+the Reform Bill in a speech of extreme moderation; as
+he promised, it was very &lsquo;tame.&rsquo; The night&rsquo;s debate was dull;
+yesterday was better. Lord Mansfield made a fine speech
+against the Bill; Harrowby spoke well, Wharncliffe ill.
+Nothing can equal the hot water we have been in&mdash;defections
+threatened on every side, expectations thwarted and doubts
+arising, betting nearly even. Even de Ros came to me in
+the morning and told me he doubted how he should vote; that
+neither Harrowby nor Wharncliffe had put the question on
+the proper ground, and his reason for seceding from the
+Opposition was the menaced creation of Peers. I wrote to
+Harrowby and begged him to say something to satisfy tender
+consciences, and moved heaven and earth to keep De Ros
+and Coventry (who was slippery) right, and I succeeded&mdash;at
+least I believe so, for it is not yet over. Nothing can equal
+the anxiety out of doors and the intensity of the interest in
+the town, but the debate is far less animated than that of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">REFORM BILL CARRIED IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.</span>
+last year. As to our business, it is &lsquo;la mer à boire,&rsquo; with
+nobody to canvass or whip in, and not being a party. We
+shall, however, I believe, manage it, and but just.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Keate this morning, who had been with the King.
+His Majesty talked in high terms of Ellenborough and of
+Mansfield. It is difficult to count upon such a man, but if the
+second reading is passed I do not believe he will make Peers
+to carry any points in Committee, unless it be the very vital
+ones, but it is very questionable if the Opposition will fight
+the battle then at all, or, if they do, fight in a way to secure
+a fair, practical result.</p>
+
+<h3>April 14th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The Reform Bill (second reading) was
+carried this morning at seven o&rsquo;clock in the House of Lords
+by a majority of nine. The House did not sit yesterday.
+The night before Phillpotts, the Bishop of Exeter, made a
+grand speech against the Bill, full of fire and venom, very
+able. It would be an injury to compare this man with Laud;
+he more resembles Gardiner; had he lived in those days he
+would have been just such another, boiling with ambition,
+an ardent temperament, and great talents. He has a desperate
+and a dreadful countenance, and looks like the man he
+is. The two last days gave plenty of reports of changes
+either way, but the majority has always looked like from
+seven to ten. The House will adjourn on Wednesday, and
+go into Committee after Easter; and in the meantime what
+negotiations and what difficulties to get over! The Duke of
+Wellington and Lord Harrowby have had some good-humoured
+talk, and the former seems well disposed to join
+in amending the Bill, but the difficulty will be to bring these
+extreme and irritated parties to any agreement as to terms.
+The debate in the Lords, though not so good as last year,
+has been, as usual, much better than that in the Commons.</p>
+
+<p>The accounts from Paris of the cholera are awful, very
+different from the disease here. Is it not owing to our
+superior cleanliness, draining, and precautions? There have
+been 1,300 sick in a day there, and for some days an average
+of 1,000; here we have never averaged above fifty, I think,
+and, except the squabbling in the newspapers, we have seen
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+nothing of it whatever; there many of the upper classes have
+died of it. Casimir Périer and the Duke of Orleans went to
+the Hotel Dieu, and the former was seized afterwards, and has
+been very ill, though they doubt if it really was cholera, as he
+is subject to attacks with the same symptoms.</p>
+
+<h3>April 15th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The debate in the House of Lords was closed
+by a remarkable reply from Lord Grey, full of moderation,
+and such as to hold out the best hopes of an adjustment of
+the question&mdash;not that it pacified the ultra-Tories, who were
+furious. The speech was so ill reported at that late hour
+that it is not generally known what he did say, and many of
+those who heard it almost doubt their own accuracy, or
+suspect that he went further than he intended, so unlike was
+it to his former violent and unyielding language. He said,
+with regard to a creation of Peers, that nothing would justify
+him in recommending the exercise of that prerogative but a
+collision between the two Houses of Parliament, and that in
+such a case (he is reported to have said) he should deem it
+his duty first to recommend a dissolution, and to ascertain
+whether the feeling of the country was with the other House
+(these were not the words, but to this effect). If this be at
+all correct, it is clear that he cannot make Peers to carry
+the clauses, for, in fact, the collision between the two Houses
+will not have arrived unless the Commons should reject any
+amendments which may be made by the Lords. The tone,
+however, of the violent supporters of Government is totally
+changed; at Lord Holland&rsquo;s last night they were singing in
+a very different note, and, now, if the councils of the Lords
+are guided by moderation and firmness, they may deal with
+the Bill <i>almost</i> as they please; but they must swallow
+Schedule A. The difficulties, however, are great; the High
+Tories are exasperated and vindictive, and will fiercely fight
+against any union with the seceders. The Duke is moderate
+in his tone, ready to act cordially with all parties, but he
+owes the seceders a grudge, is anxious to preserve his influence
+with the Tories, and will probably insist upon
+mutilating the Bill more than will be prudent and feasible.
+The Harrowby and Wharncliffe party, now that the second
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD WHARNCLIFFE AND LORD HARROWBY.</span>
+reading <ins class="correction" title = "text reads &lsquo;it&rsquo;">is</ins> over,
+ceases to be a party. It was a patched-up,
+miscellaneous concern at best, of men who were half
+reasoned, half frightened over, who could not bear separating
+from the Duke, long to return to him, and, besides, are
+ashamed of Wharncliffe as a chief. There never was such a
+&lsquo;chef de circonstance.&rsquo; He is a very honest man, with a
+right view of things and a fair and unprejudiced understanding,
+vain and imprudent, without authority, commanding
+no respect, and in a false position as the ephemeral leader
+he is, marching in that capacity <i>pari passu</i> with Harrowby,
+who is infinitely more looked up to, but whose bilious complexion
+prevents his mixing with society and engaging and
+persuading others to follow his opinions; nor has he (Lord
+Harrowby) any plan or design beyond the object of the moment.
+He has no thought of mixing again in public life, he
+does not propose to communicate with anybody on anything
+further than the middle course to be adopted now, and few
+people are disposed to sever the ties on which their future
+political existence depends for the sake of cultivating this
+short-lived connection. If the Government, therefore, looks
+to the seceders who have carried the question for them to
+carry other points, they will find it won&rsquo;t do, for their
+followers will melt into the mass of the anti-Reformers, who,
+though they will still frown upon the chiefs, will gladly take
+back the rank and file. A fortnight will elapse, in the course
+of which opportunities will be found of ascertaining the disposition
+of the great party and the probability of an arrangement.</p>
+
+<p>The debate was good on Friday, but very inferior to the
+last. Phillpotts got a terrific dressing from Lord Grey, and
+was handled not very delicately by Goderich and Durham,
+though the latter was too coarse. He had laid himself very
+open, and, able as he is, he has adopted a tone and style
+inconsistent with his lawn sleeves, and unusual on the
+Episcopal Bench. He is carried away by his ambition and
+his alarm, and horrifies his brethren, who feel all the danger
+(in these times) of such a colleague. The episode of which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+he was the object was, of course, the most amusing part of
+the whole.</p>
+
+<h3>Newmarket, April 22nd, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Ill and laid up with the gout
+for this week past. Came here on Friday, the 20th. The
+carrying of the second reading of the Bill seems to have
+produced no effect. Everybody is gone out of town, the
+Tories in high dudgeon. The Duke of Wellington has
+entered a protest with all the usual objections, which has
+been signed by a whole rabble of Peers, but not by Lyndhurst,
+Ellenborough, or Carnarvon, who monopolise the brains of the
+party; they declined. In the meantime things look better.
+Wharncliffe, Harrowby, and Haddington have had two interviews
+with Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, and though they
+did not go into particulars the result was satisfactory, and
+a strong disposition evinced to co-operation and moderation.
+It was agreed they should meet again next week, and see
+what could be arranged. On Friday Palmerston sent to
+Wharncliffe and desired to see him. They met, and Palmerston
+told him that he came from Lord Grey, who was
+desirous of having an interview with him, adding that Lord
+Grey had now become convinced that he might make much
+more extensive concessions than he had ever yet contemplated.
+He added that Lord Grey would rather see Wharncliffe
+alone, without Harrowby, whose manner was so snappish
+and unpleasant that he could not talk so much at his ease
+as he would to Wharncliffe alone. Wharncliffe replied that
+he could have no objection to see Lord Grey, but that he
+must fairly tell him his situation was no longer the same,
+having put himself in amicable communication with Lyndhurst
+and Ellenborough; that the concurrence of the Tories
+was indispensable to him and his friends to effect the alterations
+they contemplated, and he could not do anything which
+might have to them the appearance of underhand dealing;
+that he could tell Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, and if they
+made no objection he would see Lord Grey. Ellenborough
+was gone out of town, but he went to Lyndhurst, who immediately
+advised him to see Lord Grey, and said it was
+most desirable they should be made acquainted with the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">MEETING OF LORD GREY AND LORD WHARNCLIFFE.</span>
+views and disposition of Government, and he undertook to
+write word to the Duke of Wellington of all that had passed.
+Lord Grey was unable to leave Sheen yesterday, so it was
+arranged that the meeting should be delayed till Wharncliffe&rsquo;s
+return to London. The Duke of Richmond has, however, got
+a letter of four sides from Grey, empowering him to treat here
+with Wharncliffe, and Stanley and Graham being expected, it
+is very likely some progress may be made. Nothing can
+promise better, and if the chiefs of the Tories can be brought
+to moderation the stupid obstinacy of the mass will not
+matter, and I do not think they will dare hold out, for when
+a negotiation on such a conciliatory basis is proposed, a
+terrible case would be made hereafter against those who should
+refuse to listen to it. The advantages are so clear that
+nothing would make them persist in the line of uncompromising
+opposition but an unconquerable repugnance to afford
+a triumph to the Waverers, which a successful termination
+would do; not that they would profit by it, for they are so
+few, and those who will have been wrong so many, that
+clamour will silence justice, and a thousand excuses and
+pretences will be found to deprive them of their rightful
+credit. It is a long time&mdash;not probably since the days of
+Charles II.&mdash;that this place (Newmarket) has been the
+theatre of a political negotiation, and, conceding the importance
+of the subject, the actors are amusing&mdash;Richmond,
+Graham, Wharncliffe, and myself. By-the-bye it is perfectly
+true that (if I have not mentioned it before) the Royal
+carriages were all ready the morning of the decision of the
+second reading to take the King to the House of Lords to
+prorogue Parliament, and on Tuesday the Peers would have
+appeared in the &lsquo;Gazette.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>London, May 12th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing written for a long time,
+nor had I anything to write till a few days ago. From the
+time of Wharncliffe&rsquo;s departure I heard nothing, and I bitterly
+regret now not having been in town last
+week.<a name="FNA_18_04" id="FNA_18_04"></a><a href="#FN_18_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+The Committee
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+stood for Monday; on Friday se&rsquo;nnight last I was
+at Buckenham, when the Duke of Rutland told me he was
+going to London, that they meant to divide on Monday on
+a proposal to postpone Schedules A and B till after C and
+D, and expected to beat the Government; I wrote by that
+post to Lady Harrowby, saying I hoped this was not true,
+and that if it was it appeared to me most injudicious. On
+Tuesday I received by the post a letter from Wharncliffe,
+saying that they had been in frequent communication with
+Ellenborough and Lyndhurst, that the Opposition were prepared
+to make great and satisfactory concessions, and he
+thought all would go off well. The only difficulty he apprehended
+was from the postponement of the disfranchising
+clause, which the Tories insisted on, and to which he and
+Harrowby had thought it right to agree. The next day I
+received a second letter, with an account of the debate and
+its consequences, to which I wrote him a trimming reply,
+and another to Lady Harrowby, expressing my sentiments
+on their conduct on the occasion. Before all this happened
+Wharncliffe had had to encounter abuse of every kind, and
+he has certainly continued to play his cards in such a way,
+from first to last, as to quarrel with Whigs and Tories in succession.
+With very good intentions, and very honest, he has
+exposed himself to every reproach of insincerity, intrigue,
+and double-dealing.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_04" id="FN_18_04"></a><a href="#FNA_18_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[It was on the 7th of May that the Lords went into Committee on the
+Bill, and Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s motion to postpone the <i>dis</i>franchising clauses
+until after the <i>en</i>franchising clauses had been agreed to was carried by a
+majority of thirty-five against the Government. The seventeen Peers who
+had assisted to carry the second reading on the 11th of April relapsed into
+the Conservative ranks, and the result was, for the moment, such as to stop
+the progress of the Bill and turn out the Government.]</p></div>
+
+<p>On arriving in town I found a note from him, desiring
+I would see him and hear his defence of himself before I
+expressed elsewhere the opinion I had given to him. Accordingly
+I went to Boodle&rsquo;s, where I found him, and he
+immediately began his case. He said that on his return to
+town he saw Lord Grey, who said that he wished to know
+what were the intentions of his party, and how far they
+were disposed to go, and what concessions they looked for.
+He replied that Lord Grey must understand that he now
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN COMMITTEE.</span>
+stood in a very different position, and that, reunited as he
+was with the Tories, he must act with them&mdash;much, in
+short, what he had before said to Palmerston. They then
+discussed the question, and he said that there was one point
+for which Lord Grey ought to be prepared, and that he knew
+the Tories were much bent upon proposing the postponement
+of Schedules A and B. Lord Grey said this would be productive
+of the greatest embarrassment, that it would be a
+thing they could not agree to, and he hoped he would do all
+in his power to prevent it. Wharncliffe said that he would
+endeavour, but he believed they were very eager about it,
+and he added that Lord Grey might be sure <i>he</i> would support
+nothing calculated to interfere with the essential provisions
+of the Bill. After this his and Harrowby&rsquo;s communications
+with Ellenborough and his friends continued, and on
+the Saturday (I think) Lyndhurst told him that the Tories
+were so irrevocably bent upon this, and that they were so
+difficult to manage and so disposed to fly off, that it was
+absolutely necessary to give way to them, and it must be
+proposed, though he would gladly have waived it, but that
+was impossible; upon which Harrowby and Wharncliffe
+gave in and agreed to support it. One of them (Haddington,
+I think) suggested that Wharncliffe ought to communicate
+this intention to Lord Grey, to which, however, Lyndhurst
+objected, said that the Tories were suspicious, had already
+taken umbrage at the communications between Wharncliffe
+and Grey, and that it must not be. To this prohibition
+Wharncliffe fatally submitted, and accordingly not a word
+was said by anybody till the afternoon of the debate, when
+just before it began Wharncliffe told the Duke of Richmond,
+who of course told Lord Grey. Wharncliffe at the same time
+had some conversation with John Russell and Stanley, who
+strongly deprecated this intention, but it was too late to
+arrange or compromise anything then. The debate came on;
+the proposition was made in a very aggravating speech by
+Lyndhurst, and on its being carried Lord Grey threw up the
+Bill and the Government in a passion. It is the more remarkable
+that they should have taken this course at once, because
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+they certainly had very strong reason to doubt whether the
+King would consent to a creation of Peers, though they probably
+thought he might be bullied upon an occasion which
+they fancied they could turn to great account; but he was
+stout and would not hear of it.</p>
+
+<p>The day after the debate Grey and Brougham went down
+to Windsor and proposed to the King to make fifty Peers.
+They took with them a minute of Cabinet signed by all the
+members except the Duke of Richmond. Palmerston proposed
+it in Cabinet, and Melbourne made no objection. His
+Majesty took till the next day to consider, when he accepted
+their resignations, which was the alternative they gave him.
+At the levee the same day nothing occurred; the King
+hardly spoke to the Duke, but he afterwards saw Lyndhurst
+(having sent for him). I do not know what passed between
+them, but the Duke of Wellington was soon sent for. The
+Duke and Lyndhurst endeavoured to prevail on Peel to take
+the Government upon himself, and the former offered to act
+in any capacity in which he could be useful, but Peel would
+not. Some communication also took place between Lyndhurst
+and Harrowby, but the latter declared at once he would
+support the new Government, but not take office. When Peel
+finally declined, the Duke accepted, and yesterday at three
+o&rsquo;clock he went to St. James&rsquo;s. The King saw Peel and the
+Speaker. Nothing is known of the formation of the Cabinet,
+but the reports were first that Alexander Baring was to be
+Chancellor of the Exchequer, and since that he has refused
+on account of his health, and that Lyndhurst is to go to the
+King&rsquo;s Bench, Tenterden to retire, and the Great Seal to be
+put in commission.</p>
+
+<p>The first act of the Duke was to advise the King to reject
+the address of the Birmingham Union, which he did, and
+said he knew of no such body. All very proper. In the
+morning I called upon Wood at the Treasury, to explain to
+him that I had never been cognisant of the late proceedings
+in the House of Lords, and that I was far from approving the
+conduct of my old associates. He said he had never believed
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">POSITION OF PARTIES.</span>
+that I was any party to it, and regretted that I had not been
+in town, when it was just possible I might have persuaded
+them of the unworthiness of the course they were taking.
+He said that I did not know how bad it was, for that
+Wharncliffe had distinctly said that if such a thing was proposed
+he should oppose it, and that Palmerston was present
+when he said so. This Wharncliffe positively denies, and
+yesterday he went to Palmerston to endeavour to explain,
+taking with him a minute which he said he had drawn up at the
+time of all that passed, but which he had never before shown
+or submitted for correction, and which Palmerston told him
+was incorrect, inasmuch, as it omitted that engagement.
+They are at issue as to the fact. The position of the respective
+parties is curious. The Waverers undertook a task
+of great difficulty with slender means, and they accomplished
+it with complete success. All turned out as they expected
+and desired, but, after having been in confidential communication
+with both parties, they have contrived mortally to
+offend both, and to expose themselves to odium from every
+quarter, and to an universal imputation of insincerity and
+double-dealing, and this without any other fault than mismanagement
+and the false position in which they found
+themselves, without influence or power, between two mighty
+parties. The Tories, who have exhibited nothing but obstinacy
+and unreasonableness, and who thwarted the Waverers
+by every means they could devise, have reaped all the benefit
+of their efforts, and that without admitting that they
+were right or thanking them for bringing matters to this
+pass. They are triumphant, in spite of all they did to prevent
+their own triumph, and have had all the spiteful
+pleasure of abuse and obloquy, all the glory of consistency,
+and the satisfaction of pertinacity, with all the advantages
+that an opposite line of conduct promised to give them.
+[Their triumph was of short duration, and nothing so complete
+as their final discomfiture.]</p>
+
+<p>The King took leave of his Ministers with a great effusion
+of tenderness, particularly to Richmond, whom he entreated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+to remain in office; but I take it that he easily consoles himself,
+and does not care much more for one Minister than
+another.</p>
+
+<p>The debate in the House of Commons was not so violent
+as might have been expected, and the Tories were greatly
+elated with the divisions on Ebrington&rsquo;s motion, because there
+was a majority less by fifty-six than on a similar motion
+when the Bill was rejected in October. The circumstances
+were, however, different, and some would not vote because
+they disapprove of creating Peers, which this vote would
+have committed them to approve of. There is so much of
+wonder, and curiosity, and expectation abroad that there is
+less of abuse and exasperation than might have been expected,
+but it will all burst forth. The town is fearfully quiet.
+What is odd enough is that the King was hissed as he left
+London the other day, and the Duke cheered as he came out of
+the Palace. There have been some meetings, with resolutions
+to support the Bill, to express approbation of the Ministers,
+and to protest against the payment of taxes, and there will
+probably be a good deal of bustle and bluster here and elsewhere;
+but I do not believe in real tumults, particularly when
+the rabble and the unions know that there is a Government
+which will not stand such things, and that they will not be able
+to bandy compliments with the Duke as they did with Althorp
+and John Russell, not but what much dissatisfaction and much
+disquietude must prevail. The funds have not fallen, which
+is a sign that there is no alarm in the City. At this early
+period of the business it is difficult to form any opinion of
+what will happen; the present Government in opposition
+will again be formidable, but I am disposed to think things
+will go on and right themselves; we shall avoid a creation of
+Peers, but we must have a Reform Bill of some sort, and perhaps
+a harmless one after all, and if the elements of disorder
+can be resolved into tranquillity and order again, we must
+not quarrel with the means that have been employed, nor
+the quantum of moral injustice that has been perpetrated.</p>
+
+<p>The Tories are very indignant with Peel for not taking
+office, and if, as it is supposed, he is to support Government
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PEEL REFUSES TO TAKE OFFICE.</span>
+and the Bill out of office, and when all is over come in, it is
+hardly worth while for such a farce to deprive the King and
+the country of his services in the way that they could be
+most useful, but he is still smarting under Catholic question
+reminiscences, while the Duke is more thick-skinned. After
+he had carried the Catholic question the world was prepared
+for a good deal of versatility on his part, but it was in mere
+derision that (after his speech on Reform in 1830) it used to
+be said that he would very likely be found proposing a Bill of
+Reform, and here he is coming into office for the express
+purpose of carrying on this very Bill against which the other
+day he entered a protest which must stare him in the face
+through the whole progress of it, or, if not, to bring in
+another of the same character, and probably nearly of the
+same dimensions. Pretexts are, however, not wanting, and
+the necessity of supporting the King is made paramount to
+every other consideration. The Duke&rsquo;s worshippers (a numerous
+class) call this the finest action of his life, though it is
+difficult to perceive in what the grandeur of it consists, or
+the magnitude of the sacrifice. However, it is fair to wait
+a little, and hear from his own lips his exposition of the mode
+in which he intends to deal with this measure, and how he
+will reconcile what he has hitherto said with what he is now
+about to do. Talleyrand is of course in a state of great
+consternation, which will be communicated like an electrical
+shock to the Powers specially favoured and protected by the
+late Government&mdash;Leopold and Don Pedro, for instance. It
+will be a difficult thing for the Duke to deal with some of
+the questions on which he has committed himself pretty considerably
+while in opposition, both with respect to foreign
+politics and especially Irish Education.</p>
+
+<h3>Monday, May 14th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing more was known yesterday,
+but everybody was congregated at the clubs, asking, discussing,
+and wondering. There was a great meeting at Apsley
+House, when it was supposed everything was settled. The
+Household went yesterday to St. James&rsquo;s to resign their sticks
+and badges; amongst the rest Lord Foley. The King was
+very civil to him; made him sit down and said, &lsquo;Lord Foley,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+you are a young man.&rsquo; &lsquo;Sir, I am afraid I cannot flatter
+myself that I have any right to that appellation.&rsquo; &lsquo;Oh, yes;
+you are a young man&mdash;at all events in comparison with me&mdash;and
+you will probably come into office again; but I am an old
+man, and I am afraid I shall not have the pleasure of seeing
+you there.&rsquo; It is supposed that this <i>coup</i> has been preparing
+for some time. All the Royal Family, bastards and all, have
+been incessantly <i>at</i> the King, and he has probably had more
+difficulty in the long run in resisting the constant importunity
+of his <i>entourage</i>, and of his womankind particularly, than
+the dictates of his Ministers; and between this gradual but
+powerful impression, and his real opinion and fears, he was
+not sorry to seize the first good opportunity of shaking off
+the Whigs. When Lord Anglesey went to take leave of him
+at Windsor he was struck with the change in his sentiments,
+and told Lady Anglesey so, who repeated it to my brother.</p>
+
+<p>It is gratifying to find that those with whom I used to
+dispute, and who would hear of nothing but rejecting the
+second reading, now admit that my view was the correct one,
+and Vesey Fitzgerald, with whom I had more than one discussion,
+complimented me very handsomely upon the justification
+of my view of the question which the event had
+afforded. The High Tories, of course, will never admit that
+they could have been wrong, and have no other resource but
+to insist boldly that the King never would have made Peers
+at all.<a name="FNA_18_05" id="FNA_18_05"></a><a href="#FN_18_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_05" id="FN_18_05"></a><a href="#FNA_18_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[Everyone knows how short-lived were the expectations caused by the
+temporary resignation of Lord Grey&rsquo;s Government. It will be seen in the
+following pages how soon the vision passed away; but the foregoing passages
+are retained precisely because they contain a vivid and faithful picture
+of the state of opinion at the moment.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>London, May 17th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The events of the last few days have
+passed with a rapidity which hardly left time to think upon
+them&mdash;such sudden changes and transitions from rage to
+triumph on one side, and from foolish exultation to mortification
+and despair on the other. The first impression was that
+the Duke of Wellington would succeed in forming a Government,
+with or without Peel. The first thing he did was to try
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">WELLINGTON&rsquo;S EFFORTS TO FORM A MINISTRY.</span>
+and prevail upon Peel to be Prime Minister, but he was inexorable.
+He then turned to
+Baring,<a name="FNA_18_06" id="FNA_18_06"></a><a href="#FN_18_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+who, after much hesitation,
+agreed to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. The work went
+on, but with difficulty, for neither Peel, Goulburn, nor Croker
+would take office. They then tried the Speaker, who was
+mightily tempted to become Secretary of State, but still
+doubting and fearing, and requiring time to make up his
+mind. At an interview with the Duke and Lyndhurst at
+Apsley House he declared his sentiments on the existing
+state of affairs in a speech of three hours, to the unutterable
+disgust of Lyndhurst, who returned home, flung himself into
+a chair, and said that &lsquo;he could not endure to have anything
+to do with such a <i>damned tiresome old bitch</i>.&rsquo; After these
+three hours of oratory Manners Sutton desired to have till
+the next morning (Monday) to make up his mind, which he
+again begged might be extended till the evening. On that
+evening (Monday) ensued the memorable night in the House
+of Commons, which everybody agrees was such a scene of
+violence and excitement as never had been exhibited within
+those walls. Tavistock told me he had never heard anything at
+all like it, and to his dying day should not forget it. The House
+was crammed to suffocation; every violent sentiment and vituperative
+expression was received with shouts of approbation,
+yet the violent speakers were listened to with the greatest
+attention.<a name="FNA_18_07" id="FNA_18_07"></a><a href="#FN_18_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a>
+Tom Duncombe made one of his blustering Radical
+harangues, full of every sort of impertinence, which was received
+with immense applause, but which contrasted with an
+admirable speech, full of dignity, but also of sarcasm and
+severity, from John Russell&mdash;the best he ever made. The conduct
+of the Duke of Wellington in taking office <i>to carry the Bill</i>,
+which was not denied, but which his friends feebly attempted
+to justify, was assailed with the most merciless severity, and
+(what made the greatest impression) was condemned (though
+in more measured terms) by moderate men and Tories, such
+as Inglis and Davies Gilbert. Baring, who spoke four times,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span>
+at last proposed that there should be a compromise, and that
+the ex-Ministers should resume their seats and carry the
+Bill. This extraordinary proposition was drawn from him
+by the state of the House, and the impossibility he at once
+saw of forming a new Government, and without any previous
+concert with the Duke, who, however, entirely approved of
+what he said. After the debate Baring and Sutton went to
+Apsley House, and related to the Duke what had taken
+place, the former saying he would face a thousand devils
+rather than such a House of Commons. From that moment
+the whole thing was at an end, and the next morning (Tuesday)
+the Duke repaired to the King, and told him that he
+could not form an Administration. This communication, for
+which the debate of the previous night had prepared everybody,
+was speedily known, and the joy and triumph of the
+Whigs were complete.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_06" id="FN_18_06"></a><a href="#FNA_18_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_07" id="FN_18_07"></a><a href="#FNA_18_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[The debate arose on a petition of the City of London, praying that the
+House would refuse supplies until the Reform Bill had become law.]</p></div>
+
+<p>The King desired the Duke and Lyndhurst (for they went
+together) to advise him what he should do. They advised
+him to write to Lord Grey (which he did), informing him that
+the Duke had given up the commission to form a Government,
+that he had heard of what had fallen from Mr. Baring
+in the House of Commons the night before on the subject of
+a compromise, and that he wished Lord Grey to return and
+resume the Government upon that principle. Lord Grey
+sent an answer full of the usual expressions of zeal and respect,
+but saying that he could give no answer until he had
+consulted his colleagues. He assembled his Cabinet, and at
+five o&rsquo;clock the answer was
+sent.<a name="FNA_18_08" id="FNA_18_08"></a><a href="#FN_18_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_08" id="FN_18_08"></a><a href="#FNA_18_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[These communications have been published in the &lsquo;Correspondence of
+Earl Grey with William IV.,&rsquo; vol. ii. pp. 406-411.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning Lord Grey saw the King; but up to
+last night nothing was finally settled, everything turning
+upon the terms to be exacted, some of the violent of the
+party desiring they should avail themselves of this opportunity
+to make Peers, both to show their power and increase
+their strength; the more moderate, including Lord Grey
+himself and many of the old Peer-makers, were for sparing
+the King&rsquo;s feelings and using their victory with moderation,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">TRIUMPH OF THE WHIGS.</span>
+all, however, agreeing that the only condition on which they
+could return was the certainty of carrying the Reform
+Bill unaltered, either by a creation of Peers or by the
+secession of its opponents. Up to the present moment
+the matter stands thus: the King at the mercy of the Whigs,
+just as averse as ever to make Peers, the violent wishing to
+press him, the moderate wishing to spare him, all parties
+railing at each other, the Tories broken and discomfited, and
+meditating no further resistance to the Reform Bill. The
+Duke is to make his <i>exposé</i> to-night.</p>
+
+<p>Peel, who has kept himself out of the scrape, is strongly
+suspected of being anything but sorry for the dilemma into
+which the Duke has got himself, and they think that he
+secretly encouraged him to persevere, with promises of present
+support and future co-operation, with a shrewd anticipation
+of the fate that awaited him. I am by no means indisposed
+to give credit to this, for I well remember the wrath of
+Peel when the Duke&rsquo;s Government was broken up in 1830, and
+the various instances of secret dislike and want of real cordiality
+which have peeped from under a decent appearance of
+union and friendship. Nothing can be more certain than that
+he is in high spirits in the midst of it all, and talks with great
+complacency of its being very well as it is, and that the salvation
+of character is everything; and this from him, who
+fancies he has saved his own, and addressed to those who
+have forfeited theirs, is amusing.</p>
+
+<p>The joy of the King at what he thought was to be his
+deliverance from the Whigs was unbounded. He lost no
+time in putting the Duke of Wellington in possession of
+everything that had taken place between him and them upon
+the subject of Reform, and with regard to the creation of
+Peers, admitting that he had consented, but saying he had
+been subjected to every species of persecution. His ignorance,
+weakness, and levity put him in a miserable light, and prove
+him to be one of the silliest old gentlemen in his dominions;
+but I believe he is mad, for yesterday he gave a great dinner
+to the Jockey Club, at which (notwithstanding his cares) he
+seemed in excellent spirits; and after dinner he made a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+number of speeches, so ridiculous and nonsensical, beyond
+all belief but to those who heard them, rambling from one
+subject to another, repeating the same thing over and over
+again, and altogether such a mass of confusion, trash, and
+imbecility as made one laugh and blush at the same time.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Duke had agreed to try and form a
+Government he applied to the Tories, who nearly all agreed
+to support him, and were prepared to go to all lengths, even
+to that of swallowing the whole Bill if necessary; the Duke
+of Newcastle particularly would do anything. These were
+the men who were so squeamish that they could not be
+brought to support amendments even, unless they were permitted
+to turn the schedules upside-down, straining at gnats
+out of office and swallowing camels in. It is remarkable
+that after the sacrifice Wharncliffe made to re-ingratiate
+himself with the Tories, incurring the detestation and abuse
+of the Whigs, and their reproach of bad faith, the former
+have utterly neglected him, taking no notice of him whatever
+during the whole of their proceedings from the moment of
+the division, leaving him in ignorance of their plans and
+intentions, never inviting him to any of their meetings, and
+although a communication was made by Lyndhurst to
+Harrowby (they wanted Harrowby to be Prime Minister),
+the latter was not at liberty to impart it to Wharncliffe. It
+is not possible to be more deeply mortified than he is at the
+treatment he has experienced from these allies after having
+so committed himself. From the account of the King&rsquo;s
+levity throughout these proceedings, I strongly suspect that
+(if he lives) he will go mad. While the Duke and Lyndhurst
+were with him, at one of the most critical moments (I forget
+now at which) he said, &lsquo;I have been thinking that something
+is wanting with regard to Hanover. Duke, you are now my
+Minister, and I beg you will think of this; I should like to
+have a slice of Belgium, which would be a convenient addition
+to Hanover. Pray remember this,&rsquo; and then resumed the
+subject they were upon.</p>
+
+<h3>May 19th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The night before last the Duke made his
+statement. It was extremely clear, but very bald, and left
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING&rsquo;S LETTER TO THE PEERS.</span>
+his case just where it was, as he did not say anything that
+everybody did not know before. His friends, however,
+extolled it as a masterpiece of eloquence and a complete
+vindication of himself. The Tory Lords who spoke after him
+bedaubed him with praise, and vied with each other in
+expressions of admiration. These were Carnarvon, Winchelsea,
+and Haddington. There was not one word from
+the Duke (nor from the others) indicative of an intention to
+secede, which was what the Government expected. His
+speech contained a sort of covert attack upon Peel; in fact,
+he could not defend himself without attacking Peel, for if the
+one was in the right in taking office the other must have been
+in the wrong in refusing to join him. There was nothing,
+however, which was meant as a reproach, though out of the
+House the Duke&rsquo;s friends do not conceal their anger that
+Peel would not embark with him in his desperate enterprise.</p>
+
+<p>Lyndhurst was exceedingly able, highly excited, very
+eloquent, and contrived to make his case a good one. It was
+a fine display and very short. Carnarvon and Mansfield
+were outrageously violent, but both in their way clever, and
+parts of the speech of the latter were eloquent. Lord Grey was
+excellent, short, very temperate and judicious, exactly what
+was requisite and nothing more. Nobody else spoke on his
+side, except Mulgrave at the end.</p>
+
+<p>The debate, however interesting, left the whole matter in
+uncertainty; and the next day the old question began again.
+What was to be done&mdash;Peers or no Peers? A Cabinet sat
+nearly all day, and Lord Grey went once or twice to the
+King. He, poor man, was at his wits&rsquo; end, and tried an
+experiment (not a very constitutional one) of his own by
+writing to a number of Peers, entreating them to withdraw
+their opposition to the Bill. These letters were written (I
+think) before the debate. On Thursday nothing was settled,
+and at another meeting of the Cabinet a minute was drawn up
+agreeing to offer again the same advice to the King. Before
+this was acted upon Richmond, who had been absent, arrived,
+and he prevailed upon his colleagues to cancel it. In the
+meantime the Duke of Wellington, Lyndhurst, and other
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>
+Peers had given the desired assurances to the King, which
+he communicated to Lord Grey. These were accepted as
+sufficient securities, and declarations made accordingly in
+both Houses of Parliament. If the Ministers had again gone
+to the King with this advice, it is impossible to say how it
+would have ended, for he had already been obstinate, and
+might have continued so on this point, and he told Lord
+Verulam that he thought it would be contrary to his coronation
+oath to make Peers. Our princes have strange notions
+of the obligations imposed by their coronation oath.</p>
+
+<p>On Thursday in the House of Commons Peel made his
+statement, in which, with great civility and many expressions
+of esteem and admiration of the Duke, he pronounced as
+bitter a censure of his conduct, while apparently confining
+himself to the defence of his own, as it was possible to do,
+and as such it was taken. I have not the least doubt that he
+did it <i>con amore</i>, and that he is doubly rejoiced to be out of
+the scrape himself and to leave others in it.</p>
+
+<h3>May 31st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Since I came back from Newmarket there has
+not been much to write about. A calm has succeeded the
+storm. Last night Schedules A and B were galloped
+through the Committee, and they finished the business. On
+Thursday next the Bill will probably be read a third time.
+In the House of Lords some dozen Tories and Waverers have
+continued to keep up a little skirmish, and a good deal of
+violent language has been bandied about, in which the Whigs,
+being the winners, have shown the best temper. In society
+the excitement has ceased, but the bitterness remains. The
+Tories are, however, so utterly defeated, and the victory of
+their opponents is so complete, that the latter can afford to
+be moderate and decorous in their tone and manner; and the
+former are exceedingly sulky, cockering up each other with
+much self-gratulation and praise, but aware that in the
+opinion of the mass of mankind they are covered with odium,
+ridicule, and disgrace. Peel and the Duke are ostensibly
+great friends, and the ridiculous farce is still kept up of
+each admiring what he would not do himself, but what the
+other did.</p>
+
+<h3>June 1st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">FAVOURITES OF LOUIS XVIII.</span>
+Met the Duke of Wellington at dinner yesterday,
+and afterwards had a long talk with him, not on
+politics. I never see and converse with him without reproaching
+myself for the sort of hostility I feel and express
+towards his political conduct, for there are a simplicity, a
+gaiety, and natural urbanity and good-humour in him, which
+are remarkably captivating in so great a man. We talked
+of Dumont&rsquo;s book and Louis XVIII.&rsquo;s &lsquo;Memoirs.&rsquo; I said I
+thought the &lsquo;Memoirs&rsquo; were not genuine. He said he was
+sure they were, that they bore the strongest internal evidence
+of being so, particularly in their accuracy as to dates, that he
+was the best chronologist in the world, and that he knew the
+day of the week of every event of importance. He once
+asked the Duke when he was born, and when he told him the
+day of the month and year, he at once said it was on a Tuesday;
+that he (the Duke) had remembered that throughout the book
+the day of the week was always mentioned, and many of the
+anecdotes he had himself heard the King tell. He then
+talked of him, and I was surprised to hear him say that
+Charles X. was a cleverer man, as far as knowledge of the
+world went, though Louis XVIII. was much better informed&mdash;a
+most curious remark, considering the history and end of
+each. [Nothing could be more mistaken and untrue than
+this opinion.] That Louis XVIII. was always governed,
+and a favourite indispensable to him. At the Congress of
+Vienna the Duke was deputed to speak to M. de Blacas, his
+then favourite, and tell him that his unpopularity was so
+great in France that it was desirable he should not return
+there. Blacas replied, &lsquo;You don&rsquo;t know the King; he must
+have a favourite, and he had better have me than another.
+I shall go; he will have another, and you should take pains
+to put a <i>gentleman</i> in that situation, for he is capable of
+taking the first person that finds access to him and the
+opportunity of pleasing him.&rsquo; He added that he should not
+wonder if he took Fouché. He did not take Fouché, who was
+not aware of the part he might have played, but he took De
+Cazes, who governed him entirely. This continued till the
+Royal Family determined to get rid of him, and by threatening
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+to make an <i>esclandre</i> and leave the château they at last
+succeeded, and De Cazes was sent as Ambassador to London.
+Then the King wrote to him constantly, sending him verses
+and literary scraps. The place remained vacant till accident
+threw Madame du Cayla in his
+way.<a name="FNA_18_09" id="FNA_18_09"></a><a href="#FN_18_09" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>
+She was the daughter
+of Talon, who had been concerned in the affair of the Marquis
+de Favras, and she sent to the King to say she had some papers
+of her father&rsquo;s relating to that affair, which she should like
+to give into his own hands. He saw her and was pleased
+with her. The Royal Family encouraged this new taste, in
+order to get rid entirely of De Cazes, and even the Duchesse
+d&rsquo;Angoulême promoted her success. It was the same thing
+to him to have a woman as a man, and there was no sexual
+question in the matter, as what he wanted was merely some
+one to whom he could tell everything, consult with on all
+occasions, and with whom he could bandy literary trifles.
+Madame du Cayla, who was clever, was speedily installed, and
+he directly gave up De Cazes. He told the Duke that he
+was <i>brouillé</i> with De Cazes, who had behaved very ill to him,
+but he had nothing specific to allege against him, except
+that his manner to him was not what it ought to have been.
+The Ministers paid assiduous court to Madame du Cayla,
+imparted everything to her, and got her to say what they
+wanted said to the King; she acted all the part of a mistress,
+except the essential, of which there never was any question.
+She got great sums of money from him and very valuable
+presents.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_09" id="FN_18_09"></a><a href="#FNA_18_09"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+[This lady has already been noticed in a previous portion of these
+Memoirs, when she visited England. See vol. i. p. 215 [July 10th, 1829].]</p></div>
+
+<h3>June 18th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Breakfasted on Thursday with Rogers, and
+yesterday at the Athenæum with Henry Taylor, and met Mr.
+Charles Austin, a lawyer, clever man, and Radical. The Bills
+are jogging on and there is a comparative calm. The Whigs
+swear that the Reformed Parliament will be the most aristocratic
+we have ever seen, and Ellice told me that they cannot
+hear of a single improper person likely to be elected for any
+of the new places. [Their choice did not correspond with
+this statement of their disposition.] The metropolitan districts
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CHARACTER OF WILLIAM IV.</span>
+want rank and talent. The Government and their
+people have now found out what a fool the King is, and it is
+very amusing to hear them on the subject. Formerly, when
+they thought they had him fast, he was very honest and
+rather wise; now they find him rather shuffling and exceedingly
+silly. When Normanby went to take leave of him on
+going to Jamaica, he pronounced a harangue in favour of
+the slave trade, of which he has always been a great admirer,
+and expressed sentiments for which his subjects would
+tear him to pieces if they heard them. It is one of the great
+evils of the recent convulsion that the King&rsquo;s imbecility has
+been exposed to the world, and in his person the regal
+authority has fallen into contempt; his own personal unpopularity
+is not of much consequence as long as it does not
+degrade his office; that of George IV. never did, so little so
+that he could always as King cancel the bad impressions
+which he made in his individual capacity, and he frequently
+did so. Walter Scott is arrived here, dying. A great
+mortality among great men; Goethe, Périer, Champollion,
+Cuvier, Scott, Grant, Mackintosh, all died within a few weeks
+of each other.</p>
+
+<h3>June 25th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>At Fern Hill all last week; a great party,
+nothing but racing and gambling; then to Shepperton, and
+to town on Saturday. The event of the races was the King&rsquo;s
+having his head knocked with a stone. It made very little
+sensation on the spot, for he was not hurt, and the fellow
+was a miserable-looking ragamuffin. It, however, produced
+a great burst of loyalty in both Houses, and their Majesties
+were loudly cheered at Ascot. The Duke of Wellington, who
+had been the day before mobbed in London, also reaped a
+little harvest of returning popularity from the assault, and
+so far the outrages have done rather good than harm.</p>
+
+<h3>July 12th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The suttee case was decided at the Privy
+Council on Saturday last, and was not uninteresting. The
+Chancellor, Lord President, Graham, John Russell and Grant,
+Sir Edward East, the Master of Rolls, Vice-Chancellor, Lord
+Amherst, and Lord Wellesley were present (the latter not the
+last day). Lushington was for the appeal, and Home and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span>
+Starkie against. The former made two very able and ingenious
+speeches; when the counsel withdrew the Lords gave their
+opinions <i>seriatim</i>. Leach made a very short and very neat
+speech, condemning the
+order<a name="FNA_18_10" id="FNA_18_10"></a><a href="#FN_18_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+of the Governor-General, but
+admitting the danger of rescinding it, and recommending,
+therefore, that the execution of it should be suspended. Sir
+Edward East, in a long, diffusive harangue, likewise condemned
+the order, but was against suspension; Sir James
+Graham was against the order, but against suspension; Lord
+Amherst the same. The rest approved of the order altogether.
+John Russell gave his opinion very well. The Chancellor was
+prolix and confused; he hit upon a bit of metaphysics in one
+of the cases on which he took pleasure in dilating. The result
+was that the petition was dismissed.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_10" id="FN_18_10"></a><a href="#FNA_18_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a>
+The order was a decree of the Governor-General of India abolishing
+the practice of suttee, against which certain Hindoos appealed to the
+King in Council. Another party, however, were in favour of the order,
+and the Rajah Rammohun Roy is acting in this country as their agent.</p></div>
+
+<p>I know nothing of politics for some time past. The
+Reform fever having subsided, people are principally occupied
+with speculations on the next elections. At present there
+is every appearance of the return of a House of Commons
+very favourable to the present Government, but the Tory
+party keeps together in the House of Lords, and they are
+animated with vague hopes of being able to turn out the
+Ministry, more from a spirit of hatred and revenge than
+from any clear view of the practicability of their carrying
+on the Government. I conceive, however, that as soon as
+Parliament is up there will be a creation of Peers. In the
+House of Commons the Irish Tithe question has been the
+great subject of interest and discussion. O&rsquo;Connell and the
+Irish members debate and adjourn just as they please, and
+Althorp is obliged to give way to them. When Stanley
+moved for leave to bring in his Bill, he detailed his plan in
+a speech of two hours. They thought fit to oppose this,
+which is quite unusual, and O&rsquo;Connell did not arrive till
+after Stanley had sat down. Not having heard his speech
+he could not answer him, and he therefore moved the adjournment.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">O&rsquo;CONNELL&rsquo;S DREAD OF CHOLERA.</span>
+Upon a former occasion, during the Reform
+Bill, when the Tories moved an adjournment after many
+hours&rsquo; debate, the Government opposed it, and voted on
+through the night till seven o&rsquo;clock in the morning; now
+the Tories were ready to support Government against the
+Irish members, but they would not treat the Radicals as
+they did the Tories, and then on a subsequent occasion they
+submitted to have the debate adjourned.</p>
+
+<p>O&rsquo;Connell is supposed to be horridly afraid of the cholera.
+He has dodged about between London and Dublin, as the
+disease appeared first at one and then the other place, and
+now that it is everywhere he shirks the House of Commons
+from fear of the heat and the atmosphere. The cholera is
+here, and diffuses a certain degree of alarm. Some servants
+of people well known have died, and that frightens all other
+servants out of their wits, and they frighten their masters;
+the death of any one person they are acquainted with terrifies
+people much more than that of twenty of whom they knew
+nothing. As long as they read daily returns of a parcel of
+deaths here and there of A, B, and C they do not mind,
+but when they hear that Lady such a one&rsquo;s nurse or Sir
+somebody&rsquo;s footman is dead, they fancy they see the disease
+actually at their own door.</p>
+
+<h3>July 15th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>I had a good deal of conversation yesterday
+with Lord Duncannon and Lord John Russell about Ireland.
+The debate the night before lasted till four o&rsquo;clock. O&rsquo;Connell
+made a furious speech, and Dawson the other evening another,
+talking of resistance and of his readiness to join in it. This
+drew up Peel, who had spoken before, and who, when attacked
+with cries of &lsquo;Spoke!&rsquo; said, &lsquo;Yes, I have spoken, but I will
+say that no party considerations shall prevent my supporting
+Government in this measure, and giving them my cordial
+support.&rsquo; He was furious with Dawson, and got up in
+order to throw him over, though he did not address himself
+to him, or to anything he had said expressly. John Russell
+spoke out what ought to have been said long ago, that the
+Church could not stand, but that the present clergyman
+must be paid. Both he and Duncannon are aware of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
+false position in which the Government is placed, pretending
+to legislate with a knowledge that their laws cannot be
+enforced, and the latter said that, whatever might be done,
+the Irish would take nothing at the hands of Stanley. It
+is unfortunate that his attachment to the Church makes
+him the unfittest man in the country to manage Irish affairs,
+and he has contrived to make himself so personally unpopular
+that with the best intentions he could not give satisfaction.
+Under these circumstances his remaining there is impossible,
+but what is to be done with him? He is of such importance
+in the House of Commons that they cannot part with him.
+I asked John Russell why they did not send Hobhouse to
+Ireland and make Stanley Secretary of War. He said would
+he consent to exchange? that he was tired of office, and
+would be glad to be out. I said I could not suppose in such
+an emergency that he would allow any personal considerations
+to influence him, and that he would consent to whatever
+arrangement would be most beneficial to the Government
+and conducive to the settlement of Irish affairs. The truth
+is (as I told him) that they are, with respect to Ireland, in
+the situation of a man who has got an old house in which
+he can no longer live, not tenable; various architects propose
+this and that alteration, to build a room here and pull down
+one there, but at last they find that all these alterations will
+only serve to make the house habitable a little while longer,
+that the dry rot is in it, and that they had better begin, as
+they will be obliged to end, by pulling it down and building
+up a new one. He owned this was true, but said that here
+another difficulty presented itself with regard to Stanley&mdash;whether
+he would, as a leading member of the Cabinet, consent
+to any measures which might go so much further than
+he would be disposed to do. I said that I could not imagine
+(whatever might be his predilections) that his mind was not
+awakened to the necessity of giving way to the state of things,
+and that he might consent to measures which he felt he was
+not a fit person to introduce and recommend. He assented
+to this. He then talked of the views of the Protestants, of
+the Lefroys, &amp;c., that they began to admit the necessity of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">IRISH TITHES.</span>
+a change, but by no means would consent to the alienation
+of Church property from Protestant uses, that they were
+willing where there was a large parish consisting entirely
+of Catholics that the tithes should be taken from the rector
+of such parish and given to one who had a large Protestant
+flock&mdash;an arrangement which would disgust the Catholics as
+much as or more than any other, and be considered a perfect
+mockery. The fact is we may shift and change and wriggle
+about as much as we will, we may examine and report and
+make laws, but tithe, the tithe system is at an end. The
+people will not pay them, and there are no means of compelling
+them. The march of events is just as certain as that
+of the seasons. The question which is said to be beset with
+difficulties is in fact very easy&mdash;that is, its difficulties arise
+from conflicting interests and passions, and not from the
+uncertainty of its operation and end. Those conflicting
+passions are certainly very great and very embarrassing,
+and it is no easy matter to deal with them, but it seems to
+me that the wisest policy is to keep our eyes steadfastly fixed
+on the end, and, admitting the inevitable conclusion, labour
+to bring it about with the smallest amount of individual loss,
+the greatest general benefit, and the best chance of permanence
+and stability. By casting lingering looks at the old
+system, and endeavouring to save something here and there,
+by allowing the Church to remain in the rags and tatters
+of its old supremacy, we shall foster those hostile feelings
+which it is essential to put down for ever, and leave the
+seeds of grievance and hatred to spring up in a future harvest
+of agitation and confusion.</p>
+
+<h3>July 25th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Nothing of moment has occurred lately; the
+dread of cholera absorbs everybody. Mrs. Smith, young and
+beautiful, was dressed to go to church on Sunday morning,
+when she was seized with the disorder, never had a chance of
+rallying, and died at eleven at night. This event, shocking
+enough in itself from its suddenness and the youth and beauty
+of the person, has created a terrible alarm; many people have
+taken flight, and others are suspended between their hopes of
+safety in country air and their dread of being removed from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+metropolitan aid. The disease spreads gradually in all directions
+in town and country, but without appearing like an
+epidemic; it is scattered and uncertain; it brings to light
+horrible distress. We, who live on the smooth and plausible
+surface, know little of the frightful appearance of the bowels
+of society.</p>
+
+<p>Don Pedro has never been heard of since he landed, and
+nobody seems much to care whether he or Miguel succeed.
+The Tories are for the latter and the Whigs for the former.
+In a fourth debate on the Russian Dutch Loan Ministers
+got a good finale, a large division, and a brilliant speech
+from Stanley, totally unprepared and prodigiously successful.
+Nothing could be worse in point of tactics than renewing this
+contest, neither party having, in fact, a good case. Parliament
+is going to separate soon, and the cholera will accelerate
+the prorogation; not a step has been made towards an approximation
+between the rival parties, who appear to be
+animated against each other with unabated virulence. The
+moderate Tories talk of their desire to see the Government
+discard their Radical friends, but the great body give them no
+encouragement to do so by evincing any diminished hostility
+to them as a party. Opinions are so different as to the
+probable composition of the next Parliament, that it is
+difficult to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion about it. The
+Tories evidently expect that they shall reappear in very
+formidable strength, though in particular places the Tory
+party is entirely crushed; the sooner it is so altogether the
+better, for no good can be expected from it, and it would be
+far better to erect a Conservative party upon a new and
+broader basis than to try and bolster up this worn-out,
+prejudiced, obstinate faction. But the times are difficult
+and men are wanting; the middle classes are pressing on,
+and there are men enough there of fortune, energy, activity,
+zeal, and ambition&mdash;no Cannings perhaps or Broughams, but
+a host of fellows of the calibre of the actors in the old French
+Constituent Assembly.</p>
+
+<h3>July 29th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>There has been a great breeze between the
+Chancellor and Sugden, abusing and retorting upon each
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">QUARREL BETWEEN BROUGHAM AND SUGDEN.</span>
+other from their respective Houses of Parliament. As all
+personal matters excite greater interest than any others, so
+has this. Scott, Lord Eldon&rsquo;s son, died, and his places became
+vacant. Brougham had recommended their abolition
+long ago in his evidence before the House of Commons, and
+both publicly and privately. Some days ago Sugden gave
+notice to Horne (Solicitor-General) that he meant to put a
+question to him in the House of Commons as to whether
+these appointments were to be filled up or not, but before he
+did so (at four o&rsquo;clock in the morning) the writ was moved
+for James Brougham, who had been put by the Chancellor in
+Scott&rsquo;s place. Accordingly the next day Sugden attacked
+the appointment in the House of Commons, and though he
+was by way of only asking a question, he in fact made a long
+vituperative speech. Nobody was there to reply. Althorp
+said he knew nothing of the matter, and various speeches
+were made, all expressive of a desire that the appointment
+should only be temporary. Horne (it seems) had never told
+the Chancellor what Sugden said, and Denman, who had no
+authority from him, did not dare get up and say that it was
+not to be permanent. Later in the day, having received instructions
+from the Chancellor, he did get up and say so.
+The next day Brougham introduced the subject in the
+House of Lords, and attacked Sugden with all the sarcasm
+and contumely which he could heap upon him, comparing
+him to &lsquo;a crawling reptile,&rsquo; &amp;c. Not one of his Tory friends
+said a word, and, what is curious, the Duke of Wellington
+praised Brougham for his disinterestedness, and old Eldon
+defended the place. The following day (Friday) Sugden
+again brought the matter before the House of Commons,
+complained bitterly of the Chancellor&rsquo;s speech, was called to
+order by Stanley, when the Speaker interfered, and, dexterously
+turning Sugden&rsquo;s attack upon the newspaper report,
+enabled him to go on. A violent discussion followed, rather
+awkward for the Chancellor, whose friends endeavoured to
+soften the thing down by denying the accuracy of the report.
+After much acrimonious debate the matter ended. Yesterday
+the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; throwing over Brougham and Sugden, asserted
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span>
+the accuracy of its own reporter, and declared that whether
+the Chancellor was right or wrong to have uttered them, the
+words were spoken by him exactly as they had been reported.
+Both parties are furious, but on the whole the Chancellor
+seems at present to have the worst of it, for it is worse for a
+man in his station to be in the wrong, and more indecent to
+be scurrilous, than for an individual who is nothing. Sugden
+now declares he will bring on a motion he has long meditated
+on the subject of the Court of Chancery, in which he will
+exhibit to the world the whole conduct of Brougham since he
+has held the Great Seal, his early haste and precipitation, his
+recent carelessness and delay, his ignorance, inattention, and
+incompetence for the office he holds. In this he expects to
+be supported by Wetherell, Knight, and Pemberton, three of
+the most eminent Chancery lawyers, while Brougham has
+nobody but Horne (of the profession) to defend him. If this
+should occur he may thank himself, for he would put Horne
+there.</p>
+
+<p>Sir Charles Bagot called on me yesterday; told me that
+he thought the Belgian question was at last on the point of
+being settled, that the King of Holland had made &lsquo;the great
+concession,&rsquo; and that the rest must soon follow, that he had
+never passed two such years amidst such difficulties, the King
+so obstinate. His view was that by holding out and maintaining
+a large army events would produce war, and that he
+would be able to sell himself to some one of the contending
+parties, getting back Belgium as the price of his aid, that
+he now only gave in because not a hope was left, that the
+difficulties were so great that it was not the fault of this
+Government that matters were not settled before. I asked
+him how the Dutch had contrived to make such an exertion.
+He said it was very creditable to them, but that they were
+very rich and very frugal, and had lugged out their hoards.
+They had saddled themselves with a debt the interest of which
+amounts to about 700,000&#8467;. a year&mdash;a good deal for two
+millions of people.</p>
+
+<h3>August 1st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Here is an anecdote exhibiting the character
+of Brougham, hot, passionate, and precipitate. He is preparing
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">BROUGHAM&rsquo;S RESENTMENT.</span>
+his Bill for the amendment of the Court of Chancery,
+by which the patronage is to be done away with. Compensation
+was to be given to the present interests, but upon this
+recent affair between Sugden and him, to revenge himself
+upon men who are all or mostly of Sugden&rsquo;s party, he
+ordered the compensation clauses to be struck out. Sefton
+(who is a sort of Sancho to him) came up to dinner quite
+elated at having heard the order given. &lsquo;I wish,&rsquo; said he,
+&lsquo;you had heard a man treated as I did in the Chancellor&rsquo;s
+room. He came in to ask him about the Bill he was drawing
+up. &ldquo;I suppose the compensation clauses are to be put in?&rdquo;
+&ldquo;Compensation?&rdquo; said Brougham. &ldquo;No, by God; no compensation.
+Leave them out, if you please. They chose to
+attack me, and they shall have enough of it.&rdquo;&rsquo; And what will
+be the end of all this&mdash;that the Chancellor shows his spite
+and commits himself, shows that he is influenced in legislation
+by personal feelings, and incurs the suspicion that because
+he cannot get a compensation for his brother he is resolved
+nobody else shall have any? Althorp&rsquo;s speech about the
+pensions on Monday set at rest the question of compensation,
+and if these offices are abolished the Chancellor cannot prevent
+their getting it. In the House of Lords the eternal
+Russian Dutch Loan came on again. The Duke made a
+speech and Wynford made a speech, and they were opposed
+to each other; the Duke hit the right nail on the head, and
+took that course which he frequently does, and which is such
+a redeeming quality in his political character&mdash;addressed
+himself to the <i>question itself</i>, to the real merits of it, without
+making it a mere vehicle for annoying the Government.
+Aberdeen sneered, but when the Duke throws over his people
+they can do nothing.</p>
+
+<h3>August 8th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Pedro&rsquo;s expedition, which always has
+hobbled along, and never exhibited any of that dash which
+is essential to the success of such efforts, may be considered
+hopeless; Palmella arrived here a day or two ago, very low,
+and the Regency scrip has fallen four per cent. Nobody
+joins them, and it seems pretty clear that, one <i>coquin</i> for
+another, the Portuguese think they may as well have Miguel.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+The Dutch affair is not yet settled, but on the point of it;
+for the fiftieth time a &lsquo;little hitch&rsquo; has again arisen. Last
+night, in the House of Lords, the Chancellor, in one of his
+most bungling ways, made what he meant to be a sort of
+<i>amende</i> to Sugden, making the matter rather worse than it
+was before, at least for his own credit, for he said that &lsquo;he
+had never intended to give pain, which he of all things
+abhorred,&rsquo; and that he had not been at all in a passion&mdash;both
+false, and the latter being in fact his only excuse. I sat next
+to Melbourne at dinner, who concurred in the judgment of
+the world on the whole transaction, and said, &lsquo;The real truth
+is, he was in a great rage, for he had forgotten all his own
+evidence and his own speeches, and he meant to have kept
+the place.&rsquo; This evidence from his own colleague and friend
+is conclusive, and will be a nice morsel for the future biographer
+of Brougham.</p>
+
+<p>I dined at Holland House yesterday; a good many people,
+and the Chancellor came in after dinner, looking like an old
+clothes man and dirty as the ground. We had a true Holland
+House dinner, two more people arriving (Melbourne and Tom
+Duncombe) than there was room for, so that Lady Holland
+had the pleasure of a couple of general squeezes, and of
+seeing our arms prettily pinioned. Lord Holland sits at
+table, but does not dine. He proposed to retire (not from the
+room), but was not allowed, for that would have given us all
+space and ease. Lord Holland told some stories of Johnson
+and Garrick which he had heard from Kemble. Johnson
+loved to bully Garrick, from a recollection of Garrick&rsquo;s former
+impertinence. When Garrick was in the zenith of his popularity,
+and grown rich, and lived with the great, and while
+Johnson was yet obscure, the Doctor used to drink tea with
+him, and he would say, &lsquo;Davy, I do not envy you your
+money nor your fine acquaintance, but I envy you your
+power of drinking such tea as this.&rsquo; &lsquo;Yes,&rsquo; said Garrick, &lsquo;it
+is very good tea, but it is not my best, nor that which I give
+to my Lord this and Sir somebody t&rsquo;other.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>Johnson liked Fox because he defended his pension, and
+said it was only to blame in not being large enough.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CHARACTER OF MACAULAY.</span>
+&lsquo;Fox,&rsquo; he said, &lsquo;is a liberal man; he would always be &ldquo;aut
+Cæsar aut nullus;&rdquo; whenever I have seen him he has been
+<i>nullus</i>.&rsquo; Lord Holland said Fox made it a rule never to talk
+in Johnson&rsquo;s presence, because he knew all his conversations
+were recorded for publication, and he did not choose to figure
+in them.</p>
+
+<h3>August 12th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>The House of Commons has finished (or
+nearly) its business. Althorp ended with a blunder. He
+brought in a Bill to extend the time for payment of rates
+and for voters under the new Bill, and because it was opposed
+he abandoned it suddenly; his friends are disgusted. Robarts
+told me that the Bank Committee had executed their laborious
+duties in a spirit of great cordiality, and with a general
+disposition to lay aside all political differences and concur in
+accomplishing the best results; a good thing, for it is in such
+transactions as these, which afford an opportunity for laying
+aside the bitterness of party and the rancorous feelings
+which animate men against each other, that the only chance
+can be found of a future amalgamation of public men. He
+told me that the evidence all went to prove that little
+improvement could be made in the management of the
+Bank.</p>
+
+<p>Dined yesterday at Holland House; the Chancellor, Lord
+Grey, Luttrell, Palmerston, and Macaulay. The Chancellor
+was sleepy and would not talk; he uttered nothing but
+yawns and grunts. Macaulay and Allen disputed history,
+particularly the character of the Emperor Frederick II., and
+Allen declared himself a Guelph and Macaulay a Ghibelline.
+Macaulay is a most extraordinary man, and his astonishing
+knowledge is every moment exhibited, but (as far as I have yet
+seen of him, which is not sufficient to judge) he is not <i>agreeable</i>.
+His propositions and his allusions are rather too abrupt;
+he starts topics not altogether naturally; then he has none
+of the graces of conversation, none of that exquisite tact and
+refinement which are the result of a felicitous intuition or a
+long acquaintance with good society, or more probably a
+mixture of both. The mighty mass of his knowledge is not
+animated by that subtle spirit of taste and discretion which
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+alone can give it the qualities of lightness and elasticity, and
+without which, though he may have the power of instructing
+and astonishing, he never will attain that of delighting
+and captivating his hearers. The dinner was agreeable, and
+enlivened by a squabble between Lady Holland and Allen,
+at which we were all ready to die of laughing. He jeered
+at something she said as brutal, and chuckled at his own
+wit.</p>
+
+<h3>Shepperton, August 31st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>I came here last Sunday to
+see my father, who (my mother wrote me word) had been
+unwell for a day or two. I got here at four o&rsquo;clock (having
+called on Madame de Lieven at Richmond on the way),
+and when I arrived I found my father at the point of
+death. He was attacked as he had often been before; medicines
+afforded him no relief, and nothing would stay on his
+stomach. On Saturday violent spasms came on, which
+occasioned him dreadful pain; they continued intermittingly
+till Sunday afternoon, when as they took him out of bed to
+put him in a warm bath, he fainted. From this state of insensibility
+he never recovered, and at half-past twelve o&rsquo;clock
+he expired. My brothers were both here. I sent an express
+for my sister, who was at Malvern, and she arrived on Tuesday
+morning. Dr. Dowdeswell was in the house, and he
+stayed on with us and did all that was required. This
+morning he was buried in the church of this village, close to
+the house, in the simplest manner, and was followed to the
+grave by my brothers and brother-in-law, Dowdeswell, Ives,
+the doctor who attended him, and the servants. He had long
+been ailing, and at his age (nearly 70 years) this event was
+not extraordinary, but it was shocking, because so sudden
+and unexpected, and no idea of danger was entertained by
+himself or those about him. My father had some faults and
+many foibles, but he was exposed to great disadvantages in
+early youth; his education was neglected and his disposition
+was spoilt. His father was useless, and worse than useless,
+as a parent, and his mother (a woman of extraordinary
+capacity and merit) died while he was a young man, having
+been previously separated from her husband, and having
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ANECDOTES OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.</span>
+retired from the
+world.<a name="FNA_18_11" id="FNA_18_11"></a><a href="#FN_18_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a>
+The circumstances of his marriage,
+and the incidents of his life, would be interesting to none
+but his own family, and need not be recorded by me. He
+was a man of a kind, amiable, and liberal disposition, and
+what is remarkable, as he advanced in years his temper
+grew less irritable and more indulgent; he was cheerful,
+hospitable, and unselfish. He had at all times been a lively
+companion, and without much instruction, extensive information,
+or a vigorous understanding, his knowledge of the
+world in the midst of which he had passed his life, his taste
+and turn for humour, and his good-nature made him a very
+agreeable man. He had a few intimate friends to whom he
+was warmly attached, a host of acquaintance, and I do not
+know that he had a single enemy. He was an affectionate
+father, and ready to make any sacrifices for the happiness
+and welfare of his children&mdash;in short, he was amiable and
+blameless in the various relations of life, and he deserved
+that his memory should be cherished as it is by us with sincere
+and affectionate regret.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_18_11" id="FN_18_11"></a><a href="#FNA_18_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a>
+[Mr. Charles Greville, senior, was the fifth son of Fulk Greville of
+Wilbury, by Frances Macartney, a lady of some literary reputation as the
+authoress of an &lsquo;Ode to Indifference.&rsquo; She was the daughter of General
+Macartney. Horace Walpole speaks of her as one of the beauties of his
+time. She died in 1789. Mr. Greville may have inherited from her his
+strong literary tastes.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>September 18th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>I have been in London, at Shepperton,
+and twice at Brighton to see Henry de Ros; came back yesterday.
+The world is half asleep. Lord Howe returns to the Queen
+as her Chamberlain, and that makes a sensation. I met at
+Brighton Lady Keith [Madame de Flahaut], who told us a
+great deal about French politics, which, as she is a partisan,
+was not worth much, but she also gave us rather an amusing
+account of the early days of the Princess Charlotte, at the time
+of her escape from Warwick House in a hackney coach and
+taking refuge with her mother, and of the earlier affair of
+Captain Hess. The former escapade arose from her determination
+to break off her marriage with the Prince of Orange,
+and that from her falling suddenly in love with Prince
+Augustus of Prussia, and her resolving to marry him and
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span>
+nobody else, not knowing that he was already married <i>de la
+main gauche</i> in Prussia. It seems that she speedily made
+known her sentiments to the Prince, and he (notwithstanding
+his marriage) followed the thing up, and had two interviews
+with her at her own house, which were contrived by Miss
+Knight, her governess. During one of these Miss Mercer
+arrived, and Miss Knight told her that Prince Augustus was
+with the Princess in her room, and what a fright she (Miss
+Knight) was in. Miss Mercer, who evidently had no mind
+anybody should conduct such an affair for the Princess but
+herself, pressed Miss Knight to go and interrupt them, which
+on her declining she did herself. The King (Regent as he
+was then) somehow heard of these meetings, and measures
+of coercion were threatened, and it was just when an approaching
+visit from him had been announced to the Princess
+that she went off. Miss Mercer was in the house at the time,
+and the Regent, when he came, found her there. He accused
+her of being a party to the Princess&rsquo;s flight, but afterwards
+either did or pretended to believe her denial, and sent her
+to fetch the Princess back, which after many <i>pourparlers</i>
+and the intervention of the Dukes of York and Sussex,
+Brougham, and the Bishop of Salisbury, her preceptor, was
+accomplished at two in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Hess&rsquo;s affair was an atrocity of the Princess of Wales.
+She employed him to convey letters to her daughter while
+she used to ride in Windsor Park, which he contrived to
+deliver, and occasionally to converse with her; and on one
+occasion, at Kensington, the Princess of Wales brought them
+together in her own room. The Princess afterwards wrote
+him some letters, not containing much harm, but idle and
+improper. When the Duke of York&rsquo;s affair with Mrs. Clark
+came out, and all the correspondence, she became very much
+alarmed, told Miss Mercer the whole story, and employed her
+to get back her letters to Hess. She accordingly wrote to
+Hess (who was then in Spain), but he evinced a disinclination
+to give them up. On his return to England she saw
+him, and on his still demurring she threatened to put the
+affair into the Duke of York&rsquo;s hands, which frightened him,
+and then he surrendered them, and signed a paper declaring
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">BELGIUM, SPAIN, FRANCE.</span>
+he had given up everything. The King afterwards heard of
+this affair, and questioning the Princess, she told him everything.
+He sent for Miss Mercer, and desired to see the
+letters, and then to keep them. This she refused. This
+Captain Hess was a short, plump, vulgar-looking man,
+afterwards lover to the Queen of Naples, mother of the
+present King, an amour that was carried on under the
+auspices of the Margravine at her villa in the Strada Nova
+at Naples. It was, however, detected, and Hess was sent
+away from Naples, and never allowed to return. I remember
+finding him at Turin (married), when he was lamenting his
+hard fate in being excluded from that <i>Paradiso</i> Naples.</p>
+
+<h3>September 28th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>At Stoke from the 22nd to the 26th,
+then to the Grove, and returned yesterday; at the former
+place Madame de Lieven, Alvanley, Melbourne; tolerably
+pleasant; question of war again. The Dutch King makes
+a stir, and threatens to bombard the town of Antwerp; the
+French offered to march, and put their troops in motion, but
+Leopold begged they would not, and chose rather to await
+the effect of more conferences, which began with great vigour
+a few days ago. What they find to say to each other for eight
+or ten hours a day for several consecutive days it is hard to
+guess, as the question is of the simplest kind. The King
+of Holland will not give up the citadel of Antwerp, nor
+consent to the free navigation of the Scheldt; the Belgians
+insist on these concessions; the Conference says they shall
+be granted, but Russia, Prussia, and Austria will not coerce
+the Dutchman; England and France will, if the others don&rsquo;t
+object. A French army is in motion, and a French fleet is off
+Spithead; so probably something will come of it. Nothing
+has damaged this Government more than these protracted
+and abortive conferences.</p>
+
+<p>Four days ago there was a report that the King of Spain
+was dead, accompanied with a good many particulars, and
+all the world began speculating as to the succession, but
+yesterday came news that he was not dead, but better. Pedro
+and Miguel are fighting at Oporto with some appearance of
+spirit; Miguel is the favourite. The French Government is
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span>
+represented to be in a wretched state, squabbling and feeble,
+and nobody is inclined to be Minister. Dupin was very near
+it, but refused because Louis Philippe would not make him
+President of the Council. The King is determined to be his
+own Minister, and can get nobody to take office on these
+terms. They think it will end in Dupin. The present
+Government declares it cannot meet the Chambers until
+Antwerp is evacuated by the Dutch and the Duchesse de
+Berri departed out of France or taken. This heroine, much
+to the annoyance of her family, is dodging about in La Vendée
+and doing rather harm than good to her cause. The Dauphiness
+passed through London, when our Queen very politely
+went to visit her. She has not a shadow of doubt of the
+restoration of her nephew, and thinks nothing questionable
+but the time. She told Madame de Lieven this. I talked to
+Madame de Lieven about war, and added that if any did
+break out it would be the war of opinion which Canning had
+predicted. She said yes, and that the monarchical principle
+(as she calls the absolute principle) would then crush the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>I came up with Melbourne to London. He is uneasy
+about the state of the country&mdash;about the desire for change
+and the general restlessness that prevails. We discussed the
+different members of the Government, and he agreed that
+John Russell had acted unwarrantably in making the speech
+he did the other day at Torquay about the Ballot, which,
+though hypothetical, was nothing but an invitation to
+the advocates of Ballot to agitate for it; this, too, from a
+Cabinet Minister! Then comes an awkward sort of explanation,
+that what he said was in his <i>individual</i> capacity, as if
+he had any right so to speak. Melbourne spoke of Brougham,
+who he said was tossed about in perpetual caprices, that he
+was fanciful and sensitive, and actuated by all sorts of littlenesses,
+even with regard to people so insignificant that it is
+difficult to conceive how he can ever think about them; that
+he is conservative, but under the influence of his old connexions,
+particularly of the Saints. His friends are so often
+changed that it is not easy to follow him in this respect.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.</span>
+Durham used to be one; now he hates him; he has a high
+opinion of Sefton! of his judgment!! What is talent, what
+are great abilities, when one sees the gigantic intellect of
+Brougham so at fault? Not only does the world manage to go
+on when little wisdom guides it, but how ill it may go on with a
+great deal of <i>talent</i>, which, however, is different from <i>wisdom</i>.
+He asked me what I thought of Richmond, and I told him that
+he was ignorant and narrow-minded, but a good sort of
+fellow, only appearing to me, who had known him all my life,
+in an odd place as a Cabinet Minister. He said he was sharp,
+quick, the King liked him, and he stood up to Durham more
+than any other man in the Cabinet, and that altogether he was
+not unimportant; so that the ingredients of this Cabinet seem
+to be put there to neutralise one another, and to be good for
+nothing else; because Durham has an overbearing temper,
+and his father-in-law is weak, there must be a man without
+any other merit than spirit to curb that temper. He talked of
+Ireland, and the difficulty of settling the question there, that
+the Archbishop of Canterbury was willing to reform the
+Church, but not to alienate any of its revenues. &lsquo;Not,&rsquo; I
+asked, &lsquo;for the payment of a Catholic clergy?&rsquo; &lsquo;No, not
+from Protestant uses.&rsquo; I told him there was nothing to be
+done but to pull down the edifice and rebuild it. He said you
+would have all the Protestants against you, but he did not
+appear to differ. To this things must come at last. Melbourne
+is exceedingly anxious to keep Lord Hill and Fitzroy
+Somerset at the head of the army, from which the violent of
+his party would gladly oust them, but he evidently contemplates
+the possibility of having occasion for the army, and does
+not wish to tamper with the service or play any tricks with
+it. It is curious to see the working and counterworking of
+his real opinions and principles with his false position, and
+the mixture of bluntness, facility and shrewdness, discretion,
+levity and seriousness, which, colouring his mind and character
+by turns, make up the strange compound of his
+thoughts and his actions.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0">
+Foreign Difficulties &mdash; Conduct of Peel on the Resignation of Lord Grey &mdash;
+Manners Sutton proposed as Tory Premier &mdash; Coolness between Peel and
+the Duke &mdash; Embargo on Dutch Ships &mdash; Death of Lord Tenterden &mdash;
+Denman made Lord Chief Justice &mdash; <i>Tableau</i> of Holland House &mdash; The
+Speakership &mdash; Horne and Campbell Attorney- and Solicitor-General &mdash; The
+Court at Brighton &mdash; Lord Howe and the Queen &mdash; Elections under the
+Reform Act &mdash; Mr. Gully &mdash; Petworth &mdash; Lord Egremont &mdash; Attempt to reinstate
+Lord Howe &mdash; Namik Pacha &mdash; Lord Lyndhurst&rsquo;s Version of what
+occurred on the Resignation of Lord Grey &mdash; Lord Denbigh appointed
+Chamberlain to the Queen &mdash; Brougham&rsquo;s Privy Council Bill &mdash; Talleyrand&rsquo;s
+Relations with Fox and Pitt &mdash; Negro Emancipation Bill &mdash; State of
+the West Indies &mdash; The Reformed Parliament meets &mdash; Russian Intrigues &mdash;
+Four Days&rsquo; Debate on the Address &mdash; Peel&rsquo;s Political Career.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>London, October 7th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span>
+I went to Newmarket on the 30th
+of September, to Panshanger on the 5th, and came to town
+on the 6th. Great fears entertained of war; the obstinacy
+of the Dutch King, the appointment of Soult to be Prime
+Minister of France, and the ambiguous conduct of the Allied
+Courts look like war. Miguel has attacked Oporto without
+success; but, as he nearly destroyed the English and French
+battalions, he will probably soon get possession of the city.
+It is clear that all Portugal is for him, which we may be sorry
+for, but so it is. The iniquity of his cause does not appear
+to affect it.</p>
+
+<h3>October 12th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Lady Cowper told me at Panshanger that
+Palmerston said all the difficulties of the Belgian question
+came from Matuscewitz, who was insolent and obstinate, and
+astute in making objections; that it was the more provoking
+as he had been recalled some time ago (the Greek business
+being settled, for which he came), and Palmerston and some
+of the others had asked the Emperor to allow him to stay here,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">TORY ATTEMPTS TO FORM A MINISTRY.</span>
+on account of his usefulness in drawing up the minutes of the
+proceedings of the Conference; that Lieven had by no means
+wished him to stay, but could not object when the others
+desired it. Accordingly he remained, and now he annoys
+Palmerston to death. All this she wrote to Madame de
+Lieven, who replied that it was not the fault of Matuscewitz,
+and that he and Lieven agreed perfectly. She talked,
+however, rather more pacific language. This clever, intriguing,
+agreeable diplomatess has renewed her friendship
+with the Duke of Wellington, to which he does not object,
+though she will hardly ever efface the impression her former
+conduct made upon him. My journal is getting intolerably
+stupid, and entirely barren of events. I would take to miscellaneous
+and private matters if any fell in my way, but
+what can I make out of such animals as I herd with and
+such occupations as I am engaged in?</p>
+
+<h3>Euston, October 26th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Went to Downham on Sunday
+last; the Duke of Rutland, the Walewskis, Lord Burghersh,
+and Hope. Came here on Wednesday morning; the
+usual party. At Downham I picked up a good deal from
+Arbuthnot (who was very garrulous) of a miscellaneous description,
+of which the most curious and important was the
+entire confirmation of (what I before suspected) the ill blood
+that exists between the Duke of Wellington and Peel;
+though the interests of party keep them on decent terms,
+they dislike one another, and the Duke&rsquo;s friends detest Peel
+still more than the Duke does himself. He told me all that
+had passed at the time of the blow-up of the present Government,
+which I have partly recorded from a former conversation
+with him, and his story certainly proves that the
+Duke (though I think he committed an enormous error in judgment)
+was not influenced by any motives of personal ambition.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the King sent for Lyndhurst the latter went
+to the Duke, who (as is known) agreed to form a Government,
+never doubting that he was to be himself Prime
+Minister. Lyndhurst went to Peel, who declined to take
+office, and he then went to Baring. Lyndhurst and Arbuthnot
+sent for Baring out of the House of Commons, and took
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>
+him to old Bankes&rsquo; house in Palace Yard, where they had
+their conversation with him. He begged for time to consider
+of it, and to be allowed to consult Peel, to which they assented.
+He afterwards agreed, but on condition that Manners
+Sutton should also be in the Cabinet. Lyndhurst had
+about the same time made overtures to Manners Sutton,
+and though nothing was finally settled it was understood he
+would accept them. So matters stood, when one day (it
+must have been the Wednesday or Thursday) Vesey Fitzgerald
+called on the Arbuthnots, and in a conversation
+about the different arrangements he intimated that Manners
+Sutton expected to be Prime Minister, and on asking him
+more particularly they found that this was also his own
+impression. The next morning Arbuthnot went off to Lyndhurst&rsquo;s
+house, where he arrived before Lyndhurst was
+dressed, and told him what had fallen from Fitzgerald, and
+asked what it could mean. Lyndhurst answered very
+evasively, but promised to have the matter cleared up.
+Arbuthnot, not satisfied, went to the Duke and told him
+what had passed, and added his conviction that there was
+some such project on foot (to make Sutton Premier) of which
+he was not aware. The Duke said he did not care a farthing
+who was Premier, and that if it was thought desirable that
+Sutton should be he had not the smallest objection, and was
+by no means anxious to fill the post himself. I asked
+whether the Duke would have taken office if Sutton had
+been Minister, and was told that nothing was settled, but
+probably not.</p>
+
+<p>The same day there was a meeting at Apsley House, at
+which the Duke, Lyndhurst, Baring, Ellenborough, and (I
+think) Rosslyn or Aberdeen, or both, were present, and to
+which Sutton came, and held forth for nearly four hours
+upon the position of their affairs and his coming into office.
+He talked such incredible nonsense (as I have before
+related) that when he was gone they all lifted up their
+hands and with one voice pronounced the impossibility of
+forming any Government under such a head. Baring was
+then asked why he had made Sutton&rsquo;s coming into office
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">MANNERS SUTTON PROPOSED AS PREMIER.</span>
+the condition of his own acceptance, and why he had
+wished him to be Prime Minister. He said that he had
+never desired any such thing himself, and had hardly any
+acquaintance with Sutton, except that as speaker he was
+civil to him, and he dined with him once a year, but that
+when he had gone to consult Peel, Peel had advised him
+to insist upon having Sutton, and to put him at the head of
+the Government. This avowal led to further examination
+into what had passed, and it came out that when Lyndhurst
+went to Peel, Peel pressed Manners Sutton upon him,
+refusing to take office himself, but promising to support the
+new Government, and urging Lyndhurst to offer the Premiership
+to Sutton. At the same time he put Sutton up to
+this, and desired him to refuse every office except that of
+Premier. Accordingly, when Lyndhurst went to Sutton, the
+latter said he would be Prime Minister or nothing, and
+Lyndhurst had the folly to promise it to him. Thus matters
+stood when Lady Cowley, who was living at Apsley House,
+and got hold of what was passing, went and told it to her
+brother, Lord Salisbury, who lost no time in imparting it to
+some of the other High Tory Lords, who all agreed that it
+would not do to have Sutton at the head of the Government,
+and that the Duke was the only man for them. On Saturday
+the great dinner at the Conservative Club took place, at
+which a number of Tories, principally Peers, with the Duke
+and Peel, were present. A great many speeches were made,
+all full of enthusiasm for the Duke, and expressing a determination
+to support <i>his</i> Government. Peel was in very ill
+humour and said little; the Duke spoke much in honour of
+Peel, applauding his conduct and saying that the difference
+of their positions justified each in his different line. The
+next day some of the Duke&rsquo;s friends met, and agreed that
+the unanimous desire for the Duke&rsquo;s being at the head of
+the Government which had been expressed at that dinner,
+together with the unfitness of Sutton, proved the absolute
+necessity of the Duke&rsquo;s being Premier, and it was resolved
+that a communication to this effect should be made to Peel.
+Aberdeen charged himself with it and went to Peel&rsquo;s house,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span>
+where Sutton was at the time. Peel came to Aberdeen in
+a very bad humour, said he saw from what had passed at
+the dinner that nobody was thought of but the Duke, and
+he should wash his hands of the whole business; that he had
+already declined having anything to do with the Government,
+and to that determination he should adhere. The
+following Monday the whole thing was at an end.</p>
+
+<p>I am not sure that I have stated these occurrences
+exactly as they were told me. There may be errors in the
+order of the interviews and <i>pourparlers</i>, and in the verbal
+details, but the substance is correct, and may be summed up
+to this effect: that Peel, full of ambition, but of caution,
+animated by deep dislike and jealousy of the Duke (which
+policy induced him to conceal, but which temper betrayed),
+thought to make Manners Sutton play the part of Addington,
+while he was to be another Pitt; he fancied that he
+could gain in political character, by an opposite line of conduct,
+all that the Duke would lose; and he resolved that a
+Government should be formed the existence of which should
+depend upon himself. Manners Sutton was to be his
+creature; he would have dictated every measure of Government;
+he would have been their protector in the House of
+Commons; and, as soon as the fitting moment arrived, he
+would have dissolved this miserable Ministry and placed
+himself at the head of affairs. All these deep-laid schemes,
+and constant regard of self, form a strong contrast to the
+simplicity and heartiness of the Duke&rsquo;s conduct, and make
+the two men appear in a very different light from that in
+which they did at first. Peel acted right from bad motives,
+the Duke wrong from good ones. The Duke put himself
+forward, and encountered all the obloquy and reproach to
+which he knew he exposed himself, and having done so,
+cheerfully offered to resign the power to another. Peel endeavoured
+to seize the power, but to shield himself from
+responsibility and danger. It is a melancholy proof of the
+dearth of talent and the great capacity of the man that,
+notwithstanding the detection of his practices and his
+motives, the Tories are compelled still to keep well with
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">EMBARGO ON DUTCH SHIPS.</span>
+him and to accept him for their leader. No cordiality,
+however, can exist again between him and the Duke and
+his friends, and, should the Whig Government be expelled,
+the animosity and disunion engendered by these circumstances
+will make it extremely difficult to form a Tory
+Administration. [In a short time it was all made up&mdash;forgiven,
+if not forgotten.]</p>
+
+<h3>November 7th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Came to town on Sunday. The answer
+of the Dutch King to the demand of England and France
+that he should give up Antwerp was anxiously expected.
+It arrived on Monday afternoon, and was a refusal. Accordingly
+a Council met yesterday, at which an order was
+made for laying an embargo on Dutch merchant ships, which
+are to be sequestrated, but not confiscated. The French
+army marches forthwith, and Palmerston told me they expected
+two or three days of bombardment would suffice for
+the capture of the citadel, after which the French would
+retire within their own frontier. The combined fleets will
+remain at the Downs, for they can do nothing on the coast
+of Holland at this season of the year. There is a good deal
+of jealousy and no friendly spirit between the English and
+French sailors; and the Duke of Richmond told me yesterday
+that the Deal pilots desired nothing so much as to get the
+French ships into a scrape. Great excitement prevails about
+this Dutch question, which is so complicated that at this
+moment I do not understand its merits. Matuscewitz, however,
+who is opposed <i>totis viribus</i> to the policy of England
+and France, told me that nobody could have behaved worse
+than the King of Holland has done, shuffling and tricking
+throughout; but they say he is so situated at home that he
+could not give way if he would. A few days must now decide
+the question of war or peace. All the Ministers, except
+Brougham, Lord Holland, Grant, and Carlisle, were at the
+Council yesterday&mdash;the Archbishop of Canterbury for a prayer
+(for we omit no opportunity of offering supplications or returning
+thanks to Heaven), and the new Lord Chief Justice
+to be sworn a Privy Councillor.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Tenterden died on Sunday night, and no time was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>
+lost in appointing Denman as his successor. Coming as he
+does after four of the greatest lawyers who ever sat upon the
+Bench, this choice will not escape severe censure; for the
+reputation of Denman as a lawyer is not high, and he has
+been one of the most inefficient Attorneys-General who ever
+filled the office. It has been a constant matter of complaint
+on the part of the Government and their friends that the
+law officers of the Crown gave them no assistance, but, on
+the contrary, got them into scrapes. Denman is an honourable
+man, and has been a consistent politician; latterly, of
+course, a Radical of considerable vehemence, if not of violence.
+The other men who were mentioned as successors to
+Tenterden were Lyndhurst, Scarlett, and James Parke. The
+latter is the best of the puisne judges, and might have been
+selected if all political considerations and political connexions
+had been disregarded. Lyndhurst will be overwhelmed with
+anguish and disappointment at finding himself for ever excluded
+from the great object of his ambition, and in which
+his professional claims are so immeasurably superior to those
+of his successful competitor; nor has he lost it by any sacrifice
+of interest to honour, but merely from the unfortunate
+issue of his political speculations. When he was made Chief
+Baron a regular compact was made, a secret article, that he
+should succeed on Tenterden&rsquo;s death to the Chief Justiceship;
+which bargain was of course cancelled by his declaration
+of war on the Reform question and his consequent
+breach with Lord Grey; though by far the fittest man, he
+was now out of the question. It will be the more grating
+as he has just evinced his high capabilities by pronouncing
+in the Court of Exchequer one of the ablest judgments (in
+Small <i>v.</i> Attwood) that were ever delivered. [It was afterwards
+reversed by the House of Lords.] Scarlett, who had
+been a Whig for forty years, and who has long occupied the
+first place in the Court of King&rsquo;s Bench, would have been
+the man if his political dissociation from his old connexions,
+and his recent hostility to them, had not also cancelled his
+claims; so that every rival being set aside from one cause
+or another, Denman, by one of the most extraordinary pieces
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DENMAN LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.</span>
+of good fortune that ever happened to man, finds himself
+elevated to this great office, the highest object of a lawyer&rsquo;s
+ambition, and, in my opinion, one of the most enviable
+stations an Englishman can attain. It is said that as a Common
+Serjeant he displayed the qualities of a good judge,
+and his friends confidently assert that he will make a very
+good Chief Justice; but his legal qualifications are admitted
+to be very inferior to those of his predecessors. [He made
+a very bad one, but was personally popular and generally
+respected for his high, and honourable moral character.]</p>
+
+<p>Tenterden was a remarkable man, and his elevation did
+great credit to the judgment which selected him, and which
+probably was Eldon&rsquo;s. He had never led a cause, but he
+was a profound lawyer, and appears to have had a mind
+fraught with the spirit and genius of the law, and not narrowed
+and trammelled by its subtleties and technicalities.
+In spite of his low birth, want of oratorical power, and of
+personal dignity, he was greatly revered and dreaded on the
+Bench. He was an austere, but not an ill-humoured judge;
+his manners were remarkably plain and unpolished, though
+not vulgar. He was an elegant scholar, and cultivated classical
+literature to the last. Brougham, whose congenial
+tastes delighted in his classical attainments, used to bandy
+Latin and Greek with him from the Bar to the Bench; and
+he has more than once told me of his sending Tenterden
+Greek verses of John Williams&rsquo;, of which the next day
+Tenterden gave him a translation in Latin verse. He is
+supposed to have died very rich. Denman was taken into
+the King&rsquo;s closet before the Council, when he was sworn in;
+the King took no particular notice of him, and the appointment
+is not, probably, very palatable to his Majesty.</p>
+
+<h3>November 15th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Sheriff business at the Exchequer Court
+on Monday; saw Lyndhurst and Denman meet and shake
+hands with much politeness and grimace.</p>
+
+<h3>November 20th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Dined at Holland House the day before
+yesterday; Lady Holland is unwell, fancies she must dine at
+five o&rsquo;clock, and exerts her power over society by making everybody
+go out there at that hour, though nothing can be more
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span>
+inconvenient than thus shortening the day, and nothing more
+tiresome than such lengthening of the evening. Rogers and
+Luttrell were staying there. The <i>tableau</i> of the house is
+this:&mdash;Before dinner, Lady Holland affecting illness and
+almost dissolution, but with a very respectable appetite, and
+after dinner in high force and vigour; Lord Holland, with
+his chalkstones and unable to walk, lying on his couch in
+very good spirits and talking away; Luttrell and Rogers
+walking about, ever and anon looking despairingly at the
+clock and making short excursions from the drawing-room;
+Allen surly and disputatious, poring over the newspapers,
+and replying in monosyllables (generally negative) to whatever
+is said to him. The grand topic of interest, far exceeding
+the Belgian or Portuguese questions, was the illness of
+Lady Holland&rsquo;s page, who has got a tumour in his thigh.
+This &lsquo;little creature,&rsquo; as Lady Holland calls a great hulking
+fellow of about twenty, is called &lsquo;Edgar,&rsquo; his real name being
+Tom or Jack, which he changed on being elevated to his
+present dignity, as the Popes do when they are elected to
+the tiara. More rout is made about him than other people
+are permitted to make about their children, and the inmates
+of Holland House are invited and compelled to go and sit
+with and amuse him. Such is the social despotism of this
+strange house, which presents an odd mixture of luxury and
+constraint, of enjoyment physical and intellectual, with an
+alloy of small <i>désagréments</i>. Talleyrand generally comes at
+ten or eleven o&rsquo;clock, and stays as long as they will let him.
+Though everybody who goes there finds something to abuse
+or to ridicule in the mistress of the house, or its ways, all
+continue to go; all like it more or less; and whenever, by
+the death of either, it shall come to an end, a vacuum will
+be made in society which nothing will supply. It is the
+house of all Europe; the world will suffer by the loss; and
+it may with truth be said that it will &lsquo;eclipse the gaiety of
+nations.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>November 27th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>At Roehampton from Saturday till
+Monday. The Chancellor had been there a few days before,
+from whom Lord Dover had picked up the gossip of the Government.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE SPEAKERSHIP.</span>
+There had been a fresh breeze with Durham, who it
+seems has returned from Russia more odious than ever. His
+violence and insolence, as usual, were vented on Lord Grey,
+and the rest of the Cabinet, as heretofore, are obliged to
+submit. I have since heard from the Duke of Richmond that
+the cause of this last storm was something relating to Church
+Reform, and that he had been forced to knock under. I fancy
+he wanted to go much further than the others, probably to
+unfrock the Bishop of Durham and Bishop Phillpotts, the
+former because he is a greater man in the county than himself,
+and the latter from old and inextinguishable hatred and
+animosity.</p>
+
+<p>There has been another dispute about the Speakership.
+All the Cabinet except Althorp want to put Abercromby in
+the chair, and Althorp insists on having Littleton. The
+former is in all respects the best choice, and the man whom
+they ought, from his long connexion with the Whigs and
+his consistency and respectability, to propose, but Althorp
+thought fit to commit himself in some way to Littleton, who
+has no claims to be compared with those of Abercromby
+(having been half his life in opposition to the present Government),
+and he obstinately insists upon the expectations held
+out to him being realised. Lord Grey, though very anxious
+for Abercromby, thinks it necessary to defer to the leader of
+the House of Commons, and the consequence is a very disagreeable
+dispute on the subject. Abercromby is greatly
+mortified at being postponed to Littleton, and not the less
+as Althorp has always been his friend. The language of
+Dover, who is a sort of jackal to Brougham, clearly indicates
+the desire of that worthy to get rid of Lord Grey and put
+himself in his place. All these little squabbles elicit some
+disparaging remarks on Lord Grey&rsquo;s weakness, folly, or
+cupidity. <i>Hæret lateri</i>&mdash;the offer of the Attorney-Generalship,
+and the day of vengeance is intended to
+come.<a name="FNA_19_01" id="FNA_19_01"></a><a href="#FN_19_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_01" id="FN_19_01"></a><a href="#FNA_19_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[This refers to Lord Grey&rsquo;s having offered the Attorney-Generalship
+to Brougham when Government was formed.]</p></div>
+
+<p>After considerable delay Horne and Campbell were
+appointed Attorney- and Solicitor-General; the delay was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>
+occasioned by ineffectual attempts to dispose of Horne elsewhere.
+They wanted to get some puisne judge to resign,
+and to put Horne on the Bench, but they could not make
+any such arrangement, so Horne is Attorney. Pepys was to
+have been Solicitor if the thing could have been managed.
+I don&rsquo;t think I picked up anything else, except that the King
+was very averse to the French attack upon Antwerp, and
+consented to the hand-in-hand arrangement between France
+and England with considerable reluctance. The fact is
+he hates this Government so much that he dislikes all
+they do.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Lansdowne is just come from Paris, and gives a
+flourishing account of the prospects of King Louis Philippe
+and his Government, but as he is the Duc de Broglie&rsquo;s intimate
+friend his opinion may be prejudiced. The King appears
+certainly to have rather gained than not by the attack which
+was made on him, from the coolness and courage he evinced,
+and it is a great point to have proved that he is not a coward.</p>
+
+<h3>Brighton, December 14th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Came here last Wednesday
+week; Council on the Monday for the dissolution; place very
+full, bustling, gay, and amusing. I am staying in De Ros&rsquo;s
+house with Alvanley; Chesterfields, Howes, Lievens, Cowpers,
+all at Brighton, and plenty of occupation in visiting,
+gossiping, dawdling, riding, and driving; a very idle life, and
+impossible to do anything. The Court very active, vulgar,
+and hospitable; King, Queen, Princes, Princesses, bastards,
+and attendants constantly trotting about in every direction:
+the election noisy and dull&mdash;the Court candidate beaten and
+two Radicals elected. Everybody talking of the siege of
+Antwerp and the elections. So, with plenty of animation, and
+discussion, and curiosity, I like it very well. Lord Howe
+is devoted to the Queen, and never away from her. She
+receives his attentions, but demonstrates nothing in return;
+he is like a boy in love with this frightful spotted Majesty,
+while his delightful wife is laid up (with a sprained ancle
+and dislocated joint) on her couch.</p>
+
+<h3>Brighton, December 17th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>On Sunday I heard Anderson
+preach. He does not write his sermons, but preaches from
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">MR. GULLY.</span>
+notes; very eloquent, voice and manner perfect, one of the
+best I ever heard, both preacher and reader.</p>
+
+<p>The borough elections are nearly over, and have satisfied
+the Government. They do not seem to be bad on the whole;
+the metropolitans have sent good men enough, and there was
+no tumult in the town. At Hertford Duncombe was routed
+by Salisbury&rsquo;s long purse. He hired such a numerous mob
+besides that he carried all before him. Some very bad characters
+have been returned; among the worst, Faithful here;
+Gronow at Stafford; Gully, Pontefract; Cobbett, Oldham;
+though I am glad that Cobbett is in Parliament. Gully&rsquo;s
+history is extraordinary. He was taken out of prison
+twenty-five or thirty years ago by Mellish to fight Pierce,
+surnamed the &lsquo;Game Chicken,&rsquo; being then a butcher&rsquo;s apprentice;
+he fought him and was beaten. He afterwards fought
+Belcher (I believe), and Gresson twice, and left the prize-ring
+with the reputation of being the best man in it. He
+then took to the turf, was successful, established himself at
+Newmarket, where he kept a hell, and began a system of
+corruption of trainers, jockeys, and boys, which put the
+secrets of all Newmarket at his disposal, and in a few years
+made him rich. At the same time he connected himself
+with Mr. Watt in the north, by betting for him, and this
+being at the time when Watt&rsquo;s stable was very successful,
+he won large sums of money by his horses. Having become
+rich he embarked in a great coal speculation, which answered
+beyond his hopes, and his shares soon yielded immense
+profits. His wife, who was a coarse, vulgar woman, in the
+meantime died, and he afterwards married the daughter of
+an innkeeper, who proved as gentlewomanlike as the other
+had been the reverse, and who is very pretty besides. He
+now gradually withdrew from the betting ring as a regular
+blackleg, still keeping horses, and betting occasionally in
+large sums, and about a year or two ago, having previously
+sold the Hare Park to Sir Mark Wood, where he lived for
+two or three years, he bought a property near Pontefract,
+and settled down (at Ackworth Park) as John Gully, Esq., a
+gentleman of fortune. At the Reform dissolution he was
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+pressed to come forward as candidate for Pontefract, but
+after some hesitation he declined. Latterly he has taken great
+interest in politics, and has been an ardent Reformer and a
+liberal subscriber for the advancement of the cause. When
+Parliament was about to be dissolved, he was again invited
+to stand for Pontefract by a numerous deputation; he again
+hesitated, but finally accepted; Lord Mexborough withdrew,
+and he was elected without opposition. In person he is tall
+and finely formed, full of strength and grace, with delicate
+hands and feet, his face coarse and with a bad expression,
+his head set well on his shoulders, and remarkably graceful
+and even dignified in his actions and manners; totally without
+education, he has strong sense, discretion, reserve, and a
+species of good taste which has prevented, in the height of
+his fortunes, his behaviour from ever transgressing the
+bounds of modesty and respect, and he has gradually separated
+himself from the rabble of bettors and blackguards of
+whom he was once the most conspicuous, and tacitly asserted
+his own independence and acquired gentility without ever
+presuming towards those whom he has been accustomed to
+regard with deference. His position is now more anomalous
+than ever, for a member of Parliament is a great man,
+though there appear no reasons why the suffrages of the
+blackguards of Pontefract should place him in different
+social relations towards us than those in which we mutually
+stood before.</p>
+
+<h3>Petworth, December 20th, 1832</h3>
+
+<p>Came here yesterday. It is a
+very grand place; house magnificent and full of fine objects,
+both ancient and modern; the Sir Joshuas and Vandykes
+particularly interesting, and a great deal of all sorts that is
+worth seeing. Lord Egremont was eighty-one the day before
+yesterday, and is still healthy, with faculties and memory
+apparently unimpaired. He has reigned here for sixty years
+with great authority and influence. He is shrewd, eccentric,
+and benevolent, and has always been munificent and charitable
+in his own way; he patronises the arts and fosters
+rising genius. Painters and sculptors find employment and
+welcome in his house; he has built a gallery which is full of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">EARL OF EGREMONT.</span>
+pictures and statues, some of which are very fine, and the
+pictures scattered through the house are interesting and
+curious. Lord Egremont hates ceremony, and can&rsquo;t bear to be
+personally meddled with; he likes people to come and go as
+it suits them, and say nothing about it, never to take leave of
+him. The party here consists of the Cowpers, his own family,
+a Lady E. Romney, two nieces, Mrs. Tredcroft a neighbour,
+Ridsdale a parson, Wynne, Turner, the great landscape
+painter, and a young artist of the name of Lucas, whom Lord
+Egremont is bringing into notice, and who will owe his fortune
+(if he makes it) to him. Lord Egremont is enormously
+rich, and lives with an abundant though not very refined
+hospitality. The house wants modern comforts, and the
+servants are rustic and uncouth; but everything is good, and
+it all bears an air of solid and aristocratic grandeur. The
+stud groom told me there are 300 horses of different sorts
+here. His course, however, is nearly run, and he has the
+mortification of feeling that, though surrounded with children
+and grandchildren, he is almost the last of his race, and that
+his family is about to be extinct. Two old brothers and one
+childless nephew are all that are left of the Wyndhams, and
+the latter has been many years married. All his own children
+are illegitimate, but he has everything in his power,
+though nobody has any notion of the manner in which he
+will dispose of his property. It is impossible not to reflect
+upon the prodigious wealth of the Earls of Northumberland,
+and of the proud Duke of Somerset who married the last
+heiress of that house, the betrothed of three husbands. All
+that Lord Egremont has, all the Duke of Northumberland&rsquo;s
+property, and the Duke of Rutland&rsquo;s Cambridgeshire estate
+belonged to them, which together is probably equivalent to
+between 200,000&#8467;. and 300,000&#8467;. a year. Banks told me that
+the Northumberland property, when settled on Sir H. Smithson,
+was not above 12,000&#8467;. a
+year.<a name="FNA_19_02" id="FNA_19_02"></a><a href="#FN_19_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_02" id="FN_19_02"></a><a href="#FNA_19_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[The eleventh Earl of Northumberland, Joscelyn Percy, died in 1670,
+leaving an only daughter, who married Charles Seymour, ninth Duke of
+Somerset. This lady is described as &lsquo;the betrothed of three husbands,&rsquo;
+because she was married at fourteen to Henry Cavendish, son of the Duke
+of Newcastle, who died in the following year. She was then affianced to
+Thomas Thynne of Longleat, who was assassinated in 1682; and at last
+married to the Duke of Somerset. The eldest son of this marriage, Algernon
+Seymour, who succeeded to the Dukedom of Somerset in 1748, was created
+Earl of Northumberland on the 2nd of October, 1749, and Earl of Egremont
+on the following day, with remainder (as regards the latter title) to his
+nephew Sir Charles Wyndham, who succeeded him in February 1750. The
+Earldom of Northumberland passed at the same time to Sir Hugh Smithson,
+son-in-law of Duke Algernon, who was created Duke of Northumberland
+in 1766. The titles and the vast property of the Duke of Somerset, Earl of
+Northumberland, thus came to be divided.</p>
+
+<p>George O&rsquo;Brien Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont, to whom Mr. Greville
+paid this visit, was born on the 18th of December, 1751. He was
+therefore eighty-two years old at this time; but he lived five years longer,
+and died in 1837, famous and beloved for his splendid hospitality and for
+his liberal and judicious patronage of the arts, and likewise of the turf.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>Brighton, December 31st, 1832</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
+Lady Howe gave me an account
+of the offer of the Chamberlainship to her husband again.
+They added the condition that he should not oppose Government,
+but was not to be obliged to support them. This he
+refused, and he regarded the proposal as an insult; so the
+Queen was not conciliated the more. She likewise told me
+that the cause of her former wrath when he was dismissed
+was that neither the King nor Lord Grey told her of it, and
+that if they had she would have consented to the sacrifice at
+once with a good grace; but in the way it was done she
+thought herself grossly ill-used. It is impossible to ascertain
+the exact nature of this connexion. Howe conducts himself
+towards her like a young ardent lover; he never is out of
+the Pavilion, dines there almost every day, or goes every
+evening, rides with her, never quitting her side, and never
+takes his eyes off her. She does nothing, but she admits his
+attentions and acquiesces in his devotion; at the same time
+there is not the smallest evidence that she treats him as a
+lover. If she did it would be soon known, for she is surrounded
+by enemies. All the Fitzclarences dislike her, and
+treat her more or less disrespectfully. She is aware of it,
+but takes no notice. She is very civil and good-humoured
+to them all; and as long as they keep within the bounds of
+decency, and do not break out into actual impertinence, she
+probably will continue so.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">NAMIK PACHA.</span>
+Two nights ago there was a great assembly after a dinner
+for the reception of the Turkish Ambassador, Namik Pacha.
+He was brought down by Palmerston and introduced before
+dinner to the King and Queen. He is twenty-eight years
+old, speaks French well, and has good manners; his dress
+very simple&mdash;a red cap, black vest, trousers and boots, a gold
+chain and medal round his neck. He did not take out any
+lady to dinner, but was placed next the Queen. After dinner
+the King made him a ridiculous speech, with abundant
+flourishes about the Sultan and his friendship for him, which
+is the more droll from his having been High Admiral at the
+time of the battle of Navarino, to which the Pacha replied
+in a sonorous voice. He admired everything, and conversed
+with great ease. All the stupid, vulgar Englishwomen followed
+him about as a lion with offensive curiosity.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>1833.</h2>
+
+<h3>January 3rd, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Lady Howe begged her husband to show
+me the correspondence between him and Sir Herbert Taylor
+about the Chamberlainship. It is long and confused; Taylor&rsquo;s
+first letter, in my opinion, very impertinent, for it reads him
+a pretty severe lecture about his behaviour when he held the
+office before. Howe is a foolish man, but in this business he
+acted well enough, better than might have been expected.
+Taylor, by the King&rsquo;s desire, proposed to him to resume the
+office; and after some cavilling he agreed to do so with
+liberty to vote as he pleased, but promising not to be violent.
+So stood the matter on the 9th of September. He heard
+nothing more of it till the 5th of November, when young
+Hudson<a name="FNA_19_03" id="FNA_19_03"></a><a href="#FN_19_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+wrote by the King&rsquo;s orders to know definitely if
+he meant to take it, but that if he did he must be &lsquo;neutral.&rsquo;
+Howe wrote back word that on such terms he declined it. I
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span>
+told him my opinion of the whole business, and added my
+strenuous advice that he should immediately prevail on the
+Queen to appoint somebody else. I could not tell him all
+that people said, but I urged it as strongly as I could, hinting
+that there were very urgent reasons for so doing. He
+did not relish this advice at all, owned that he clung tenaciously
+to the office, liked everything about it, and longed to
+avail himself of some change of circumstances to return; and
+that though he was no longer her officer, he had ever since
+done all the business, and in fact was, without the name, as
+much her Chamberlain as ever. Lady Howe, who is vexed to
+death at the whole thing, was enchanted at my advice, and
+vehemently urged him to adopt it. After he went away she
+told me how glad she was at what I had said, and asked me
+if people did not say and believe everything of Howe&rsquo;s connexion
+with the Queen, which I told her they did. I must
+say that what passed is enough to satisfy me that there is
+what is called &lsquo;nothing in it&rsquo; but the folly and vanity of
+being the confidential officer and councillor of this hideous
+Queen, for whom he has worked himself up into a sort of
+chivalrous devotion. Yesterday Howe spoke to the Queen
+about it, and proposed to speak to the King; the Queen (he
+says) would not hear of it, and forbad his speaking to the
+King. To-day he is gone away, and I don&rsquo;t know what he
+settled, probably nothing.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_03" id="FN_19_03"></a><a href="#FNA_19_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[&lsquo;Young Hudson&rsquo; was the page of honour who was sent to Rome in
+the following year to fetch Sir Robert Peel, when, as Mr. Disraeli expressed
+it, &lsquo;the hurried Hudson rushed into the chambers of his Vatican.&rsquo; He grew
+up to be a very able and distinguished diplomatist, Sir James Hudson, G.C.B.,
+who rendered great services to the cause of Italian independence.]</p></div>
+
+<p>Lyndhurst dined here the day before yesterday. Finding
+I knew all that had passed about the negotiations for a Tory
+Government in the middle of the Reform question, he told
+me his story, which differs very little from that which
+Arbuthnot had told me at Downham, and fully corroborates
+his account of the duplicity of Peel and the extraordinary
+conduct of Lyndhurst himself. He said that as soon as he
+had left the King he went to the Duke, who said he must go
+directly to Peel. Peel refused to join. The Duke desired
+him to go back to Peel, and propose to him to be Prime
+Minister and manage everything himself. Peel still declined,
+on which he went to Baring. Baring begged he might consult
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LYNDHURST AND MANNERS SUTTON.</span>
+Peel, which was granted. He came back, said he would
+take office, but that they must invite Manners Sutton also.
+They did so, and Sutton refused. Vesey Fitzgerald, however,
+suggested to Lyndhurst that if they proposed to Sutton
+to be Prime Minister perhaps he would accept. Another
+conversation ensued with Sutton, and a meeting was fixed at
+Apsley House on the Sunday. In the meantime Lyndhurst
+went down to the King and told him what had taken place,
+adding that Sutton would not do, and that the Duke alone
+could form a Government. At Apsley House Sutton talked
+for three hours, and such infernal nonsense that Lyndhurst
+was ready to go mad; nor would he decide. They pressed
+him to say if he would take office or not. He said he must
+wait till the next morning. They said, &lsquo;It must be very early,
+then.&rsquo; In the morning he put off deciding (on some frivolous
+pretext) till the afternoon. He went to the House of Commons
+without having given any answer. The famous debate
+ensued, and the whole game was up.</p>
+
+<p>All this tallies with the other account, only he did not
+say that Peel had desired Baring to insist on Sutton, and
+had advised Sutton to take no place but the highest, nor
+that he had without the Duke&rsquo;s knowledge offered Sutton
+that post, and concealed from Sutton his subsequent opinion
+of his incapacity and determination that he should not
+have it. I asked Lyndhurst how he managed with Sutton,
+and whether he had not come to Apsley House with the
+impression on his mind that he was to be Premier. He
+said that &lsquo;he had evaded that question with Sutton&rsquo;&mdash;that
+is, all parties were deceived, while the Duke, who meant to
+act nobly, suffered all the blame. He showed great disregard
+of personal interests and selfish views, but I shall always
+think his error was enormous. It is remarkable that this
+story is so little known.</p>
+
+<p>They had a dinner and dancing the night before last at
+the Pavilion for New Year&rsquo;s Day; and the King danced a
+country dance with Lord Amelius Beauclerc, an old Admiral.</p>
+
+<h3>London, January 11th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Came to town with Alvanley the
+day before yesterday. Howe plucked up courage, spoke to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>
+the King and Queen, and settled Denbigh&rsquo;s
+appointment,<a name="FNA_19_04" id="FNA_19_04"></a><a href="#FN_19_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+though not without resistance on the part of their Majesties.
+Lord Grey came down, and was very well received by both.
+At the commerce table the King sat by him, and was full of
+jokes; called him continually &lsquo;Lord Howe,&rsquo; to the great
+amusement of the bystanders and of Lord Grey himself.
+Munster came down and was reconciled, condescending
+<i>moyennant</i> a douceur of 2,500&#8467;. to accept the Constableship
+of the Round Tower. The stories of the King are uncommonly
+ridiculous. He told Madame de Ludolf, who had been
+Ambassadress at Constantinople, that he desired she would
+recommend Lady Ponsonby to all her friends there, and she
+might tell them she was the daughter of one of his late
+brother&rsquo;s sultanas (Lady Jersey). His Majesty insisted on
+Lord Stafford&rsquo;s taking the title of Sutherland, and ordered
+Gower to send him an express to say so. One day at dinner
+he asked the Duke of Devonshire &lsquo;<i>where he meant to be
+buried!</i>&rsquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_04" id="FN_19_04"></a><a href="#FNA_19_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[William Basil Percy, seventh Earl of Denbigh, was appointed Chamberlain
+to Queen Adelaide at this time, and remained in the service of her
+Majesty&mdash;a most excellent and devoted servant&mdash;to the close of her life.]</p></div>
+
+<p>I received a few days ago at Brighton the draft of a Bill
+of Brougham&rsquo;s for transferring the jurisdiction of the
+Delegates to the Privy Council, or rather for creating a new
+Court and sinking the Privy Council in it. Lord Lansdowne
+sent it to me, and desired me to send him my opinion upon
+it. I showed it to Stephen, and returned it to Lord
+Lansdowne with some criticisms in which Stephen and I
+had agreed. It is a very bungling piece of work, and one
+which Lord Lansdowne ought not to consent to, the object
+evidently being to make a Court of which Brougham shall
+be at the head, and to transfer to it much of the authority
+of the Crown, Parliament, and Privy Council; all from his
+ambitious and insatiable desire of personal aggrandisement.
+I have no doubt he is playing a deep game, and paving the
+way for his own accession to power, striving to obtain popularity
+and influence with the King; that he will succeed to a
+great degree, and for a certain time, is probable. Manners
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">STATE OF THE TORY PARTY.</span>
+Sutton is to be again Speaker. Althorp wrote him a very
+flummery letter, and he accepted. The Government wants
+to be out of the scrape they are in between Abercromby and
+Littleton, and Sutton wants his peerage. Everything seems
+prosperous here; the Government is strong, the House of
+Commons is thought respectable on the whole and safe, trade
+is brisk, funds rising, money plentiful, confidence reviving,
+Tories sulky.</p>
+
+<h3>January 17th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The Government don&rsquo;t know what to do
+about the embargo on the Dutch ships. Soon after they
+had laid it on they made a second order allowing ships with
+perishable goods to go free; and thinking the whole thing
+would be soon over, they desired this might be construed
+indulgently, and accordingly many ships were suffered to
+pass (with goods more or less perishing) under that order.
+Now that the King of Holland continues obstinate they
+want to squeeze him, and to construe the order strictly.
+There have been many consultations what to do, whether
+they should make another order rescinding the last or
+execute the former more strictly. Both are liable to objections.
+The first will appear like a cruel proceeding and evidence
+of uncertainty of purpose; the last will show a
+capricious variation in the practice of the Privy Council, with
+which the matter rests. Their wise heads were to be put
+together last night to settle this knotty point.</p>
+
+<p>Wharncliffe showed me a paper he has written, in which,
+after briefly recapitulating the present state of the Tory
+party and the condition of the new Parliament (particularly
+as to the mode in which it was elected, or rather under what
+influence), he proceeds to point out what ought to be the
+course for the Tories to adopt. It is moderate and becoming
+enough, and he has imparted it to the Duke of Wellington,
+who concurs in his view. I wonder, however, that he is not
+sick of writing papers and imparting views, after all that
+passed last year, after his fruitless attempts, his false moves,
+and the treatment he received at the hands of the Tories;
+but he seems to have forgotten or forgiven everything, and
+is disposed to wriggle himself back amongst the party upon
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
+any terms. He acknowledges one thing fully, and that is
+the desperate and woebegone condition of the party itself,
+and the impossibility of their doing anything <i>now</i> as a
+party.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Lansdowne received very complacently my criticisms
+on Brougham&rsquo;s Bill, and has acknowledged since he
+came to town that it would not do at all as it now stands.
+The King has been delighting the Whigs, and making himself
+more ridiculous and contemptible by the most extravagant
+civilities to the new Peers&mdash;that is, <i>to</i> Western and
+about Lord Stafford. He now appears to be very fond of his
+Ministers.</p>
+
+<h3>January 19th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>I have at last succeeded in stimulating
+Lord Lansdowne to something like resistance (or rather the
+promise of it) to Brougham&rsquo;s Bill. I have proved to him
+that his dignity and his interest will both be compromised
+by this Bill, which intends to make the Chancellor President
+of the Court, and <i>ergo</i> of the Council, and to give him all the
+patronage there will be. Against these proposals he kicks;
+at least he is restive, and shows symptoms of kicking, though
+he will very likely be still again. I sent the Bill to Stephen,
+who instantly and <i>currente calamo</i> drew up a series of objections
+to it, as comprehensive and acute as all his productions
+are, and last night I sent it to Leach (who hates the Chancellor),
+and he has returned it to me with a strong condemnatory
+reply. Stephen having told me that Howick would
+be too happy to oppose this Bill, on account of the influence
+it would have on Colonial matters, particularly about Canada,
+I took it to him, but he declined interfering, though he concurred
+in Stephen&rsquo;s remarks.</p>
+
+<h3>January 22nd, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Dined with Talleyrand the day before
+yesterday. Nobody there but his <i>attachés</i>. After dinner he
+told me about his first residence in England, and his acquaintance
+with Fox and Pitt. He always talks in a kind
+of affectionate tone about the former, and is now meditating
+a visit to Mrs. Fox at St. Anne&rsquo;s Hill, where he may see her
+surrounded with the busts, pictures, and recollections of her
+husband. He delights to dwell on the simplicity, gaiety,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">VISIT TO HARTWELL.</span>
+childishness, and profoundness of Fox. I asked him if he
+had ever known Pitt. He said that Pitt came to Rheims to
+learn French, and he was there at the same time on a visit
+to the Archbishop, his uncle (whom I remember at
+Hartwell,<a name="FNA_19_05" id="FNA_19_05"></a><a href="#FN_19_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>
+a very old prelate with the tic-douloureux), and that he and
+Pitt lived together for nearly six weeks, reciprocally teaching
+each other French and English. After Chauvelin had superseded
+him, and that he and Chauvelin had disagreed, he
+went to live near Epsom (at Juniper Hall) with Madame de
+Staël; afterwards they came to London, and in the meantime
+Pitt had got into the hands of the <i>émigrés</i>, who persuaded
+him to send Talleyrand away, and accordingly he
+received orders to quit England in twenty-four hours. He
+embarked on board a vessel for America, but was detained in
+the river off Greenwich. Dundas sent to him, and asked
+him to come and stay with him while the ship was detained,
+but he said he would not set his foot on English ground
+again, and remained three weeks on board the ship in the
+river. It is strange to hear M. de Talleyrand talk at
+seventy-eight. He opens the stores of his memory and pours
+forth a stream on any subject connected with his past life.
+Nothing seems to have escaped from that great treasury of
+bygone events.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_05" id="FN_19_05"></a><a href="#FNA_19_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[Mr. Greville had paid a visit with his father to the little Court of
+Louis XVIII. at Hartwell about two years before the Restoration, when he
+was eighteen years of age. His narrative of this visit has been printed in
+the fifth volume of the &lsquo;Miscellany of the Philobiblon Society,&rsquo; but it may
+not be inappropriately inserted here.]</p>
+
+<p class="center">A VISIT TO HARTWELL.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right"><i>April 14th, 1814.</i></p>
+
+<p>I have often determined to commit to paper as much as I can remember of my
+visit to Hartwell; and, as the King is about to ascend the throne of his ancestors,
+it is not uninteresting to recall to mind the particulars of a visit paid to him while
+in exile and in poverty.</p>
+
+<p>About two years ago my father and I went to Hartwell by invitation of the
+King. We dressed at Aylesbury, and proceeded to Hartwell in the afternoon.
+We had previously taken a walk in the environs of the town, and had met the
+Duchesse d&rsquo;Angoulême on horseback, accompanied by a Madame Choisi. At five
+o&rsquo;clock we set out to Hartwell. The house is large, but in a dreary, disagreeable
+situation. The King had completely altered the interior, having subdivided almost
+all the apartments in order to lodge a greater number of people. There were
+numerous outhouses, in some of which small shops had been established by the
+servants, interspersed with gardens, so that the place resembled a little town.</p>
+
+<p>Upon entering the house we were conducted by the Duc de Grammont into the
+King&rsquo;s private apartment. He received us most graciously and shook hands with
+both of us. This apartment was exceedingly small, hardly larger than a closet,
+and I remarked pictures of the late King and Queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the
+Dauphin, Louis XVII., hanging on the walls. The King had a manner of swinging
+his body backwards and forwards, which caused the most unpleasant sensations
+in that small room, and made my father feel something like being sea-sick. The
+room was just like a cabin, and the motions of his Majesty exactly resembled the
+heaving of a ship. After our audience with the King we were taken to the <i>salon</i>
+a large room with a billiard table at one end. Here the party assembled before
+dinner, to all of whom we were presented&mdash;the Duchesse d&rsquo;Angoulême, Monsieur
+the Duc d&rsquo;Angoulême, the Duc de Berri, the Prince and Princess de Condé
+(<i>ci-devant</i> Madame de Monaco), and a vast number of ducs, &amp;c.; Madame la
+Duchesse de Serron (a little old <i>dame d&rsquo;honneur</i> to Madame d&rsquo;Angoulême), the Duc
+de Lorges, the Duc d&rsquo;Auray, the Archevêque de Rheims (an infirm old prelate,
+tortured with the tic-douloureux), and many others whose names I cannot remember.
+At a little after six dinner was announced, when we went into the next
+room, the King walking out first. The dinner was extremely plain, consisting of
+very few dishes, and no wines except port and sherry. His Majesty did the
+honours himself, and was very civil and agreeable. We were a very short time at
+table, and the ladies and gentlemen all got up together. Each of the ladies folded
+up her napkin, tied it round with a bit of ribbon, and carried it away. After
+dinner we returned to the drawing-room and drank coffee. The whole party
+remained in conversation about a quarter of an hour, when the King retired to
+his closet, upon which all repaired to their separate apartments. Whenever the
+King came in or went out of the room, Madame d&rsquo;Angoulême made him a low
+curtsy, which he returned by bowing and kissing his hand. This little ceremony
+never failed to take place. After the party had separated we were taken to the
+Duc de Grammont&rsquo;s apartments, where we drank tea. After remaining there
+about three quarters of an hour we went to the apartment of Madame d&rsquo;Angoulême,
+where a great part of the company were assembled, and where we stayed
+about a quarter of an hour. After this we descended again to the drawing-room,
+where several card tables were laid out. The King played at whist with the
+Prince and Princess de Condé and my father. His Majesty settled the points of
+the game at &lsquo;le quart d&rsquo;un sheling.&rsquo; The rest of the party played at billiards or
+ombre. The King was so civil as to invite us to sleep there, instead of returning
+to the inn at Aylesbury. When he invited us he said, &lsquo;Je crains que vous serez
+très-mal logés, mais on donne ce qu&rsquo;on peut.&rsquo; Soon after eleven the King retired,
+when we separated for the night. We were certainly &lsquo;très-mal logés.&rsquo; In the
+morning when I got out of bed, I was alarmed by the appearance of an old woman
+on the leads before my window, who was hanging linen to dry. I was forced to
+retreat hastily to bed, not to shock the old lady&rsquo;s modesty. At ten the next
+morning we breakfasted, and at eleven we took leave of the King (who always
+went to Mass at that hour) and returned to London. We saw the whole place
+before we came away; and they certainly had shown great ingenuity in contriving
+to lodge such a number of people in and about the house&mdash;it was exactly like a
+small rising colony. We were very much pleased with our expedition; and were
+invited to return whenever we could make it convenient.</p></div>
+
+<h3>January 24th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>I have at last made Lord Lansdowne
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.</span>
+fire a shot at the Chancellor about this Bill. He has
+written him a letter, in which he has embodied Stephen&rsquo;s
+objections and some of his own (as he says, for I did not see
+the letter). The Chancellor will be very angry, for he can&rsquo;t
+endure contradiction, and he has a prodigious contempt
+for the Lord President, whom he calls &lsquo;Mother Elizabeth.&rsquo;
+He probably arrives at the sobriquet through Petty, Betty,
+and so on.</p>
+
+<p>Dined with Talleyrand yesterday; Pozzo, who said little
+and seemed low; Talleyrand <i>talked</i> after dinner, said that
+Cardinal Fleury was one of the greatest Ministers who ever
+governed France, and that justice had never been done him;
+he had maintained peace for twenty years, and acquired
+Lorraine for France. He said this <i>à propos</i> of the library he
+formed or left, or whatever he did in that line, at Paris. He
+told me he goes very often to the British Museum, and has
+lately made them a present of a book.</p>
+
+<h3>January 26th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>It seems that the Government project (or
+perhaps only the fact that they have one) about West Indian
+emancipation has got wind, and the West Indians are of
+course in a state of great alarm. They believe that it will
+be announced, whatever it is to be, in the King&rsquo;s Speech,
+though I doubt there being anything but a vague intention
+expressed in it. Of all political feelings and passions&mdash;and
+such this rage for emancipation is, rather than a consideration
+of interest&mdash;it has always struck me as the most extraordinary
+and remarkable. There can be no doubt that a
+great many of the Abolitionists are actuated by very pure
+motives; they have been shocked at the cruelties which have
+been and still are very often practised towards slaves, their
+minds are imbued with the horrors they have read and
+heard of, and they have an invincible conviction that the
+state of slavery under any form is repugnant to the spirit of
+the English Constitution and the Christian religion, and
+that it is a stain upon the national character which ought
+to be wiped away. These people, generally speaking, are
+very ignorant concerning all the various difficulties which
+beset the question; their notions are superficial; they pity
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
+the slaves, whom they regard as injured innocents, and they
+hate their masters, whom they treat as criminal barbarians.
+Others are animated in this cause purely by ambition, and
+by finding that it is a capital subject to talk upon, and a
+cheap and easy species of benevolence; others have satisfied
+themselves that slavery is a mistaken system, that the
+cruelty of it is altogether gratuitous, and that free labour
+will answer the purpose as well or better, and get rid of the
+odium; and thousands more have mixed feelings and
+opinions, compounded of some or all of the above in various
+degrees and proportions, according to the bent of individual
+character; but there are some persons among the most
+zealous and able of the Abolitionists who avail themselves
+of the passions and the ignorance of the people to carry this
+point, while they carefully conceal their own sentiments as
+to the result of the experiment. I say some because, though
+I only know (of my own knowledge) of one, from the sagacity
+of the man and the conformity of his opinions with those of
+others on this and other topics, I have no doubt that there
+are many who view the matter in the same light. I allude to
+Henry
+Taylor,<a name="FNA_19_06" id="FNA_19_06"></a><a href="#FN_19_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>
+who rules half the West Indies in the Colonial
+Office, though with an invisible sceptre. Talking over the
+matter the other day, he said that he was well aware of the
+consequences of emancipation both to the negroes and the
+planters. The estates of the latter would not be cultivated;
+it would be impossible, for want of labour; the negroes
+would not work&mdash;no inducement would be sufficient to make
+them; they wanted to be free merely that they might be
+idle. They would, on being emancipated, possess themselves
+of ground, the fertility of which in those regions is so great
+that very trifling labour will be sufficient to provide them
+with the means of existence, and they will thus relapse
+rapidly into a state of barbarism; they will resume the
+habits of their African brethren, but, he thinks, without the
+ferocity and savageness which distinguish the latter. Of
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">HENRY TAYLOR ON ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.</span>
+course the germs of civilisation and religion which have
+been sown among them in their servile state will be speedily
+obliterated; if not, as man must either rise or fall in the
+moral scale, they will acquire strength, with it power, and
+as certainly the desire of using that power for the amelioration
+of their condition. The island (for Jamaica may be
+taken for example, as it was in our conversation) would not
+long be tenable for whites; indeed, it is difficult to conceive
+how any planters could remain there when their property
+was no longer cultivable, even though the emancipated
+negroes should become as harmless and gentle as the ancient
+Mexicans. Notwithstanding this view of the matter, in
+which my friend has the sagacity to perceive some of the
+probable consequences of the measure, though (he admits)
+with much uncertainty as to its operation, influenced as it
+must be by circumstances and accidents, he is for emancipating
+at once. &lsquo;Fiat justitia ruat c&oelig;lum&rsquo;&mdash;that is, I do
+not know that he is for immediate, unconditional emancipation;
+I believe not, but he is for doing the deed; whether
+he goes before or lags after the Government I do not at
+this moment know. He is, too, a high-principled man, full
+of moral sensibility and of a grave, reflecting, philosophical
+character, and neither a visionary in religion nor in politics,
+only of a somewhat austere and uncompromising turn of
+mind, and with some of the positiveness of a theorist who
+has a lofty opinion of his own capacity, and has never
+undergone that discipline of the world, that tumbling and
+tossing and jostling, which beget modesty and diffidence and
+prudence, from the necessity which they inculcate of constant
+compromises with antagonist interests and hostile
+passions. But what is the upshot of all this? Why,
+that in the midst of the uproar and confusion, the smoke
+and the dust of the controversy, one may believe that
+one sees a glimmering of the real futurity in the case&mdash;and
+that is a long series of troubles and a wide scene of
+ruin.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_06" id="FN_19_06"></a><a href="#FNA_19_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[Afterwards Sir Henry Taylor, K.M.G., author of &lsquo;Philip van Artevelde.&rsquo;
+Nearly forty years later Sir H. Taylor continued to fill the same
+position described by Mr. Greville in 1833. He resigned in 1872.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>January 30th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The intentions of Government with regard
+to the West Indies (or rather that they have intentions
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span>
+of a nature very fatal to that interest) having got
+wind, the consternation of the West India body is great. A
+deputation, headed by Sir Alexander Grant, waited upon
+Lords Grey and Goderich the other day, and put certain
+questions to them, stating that the prevalence of reports,
+some of which had appeared in the newspapers, had greatly
+alarmed them, and they wished to ascertain if any of them
+had been authorised by Government. Lord Grey said
+&lsquo;certainly not; the Government had authorised
+nothing<ins class="correction" title = "text reads &lsquo;,&rsquo;">.</ins>&rsquo;
+They asked if he would reappoint the Committees. He
+would give no pledge as to this, but they discussed the
+propriety of so doing, he seeming indisposed. To all their
+questions he gave vague answers, refusing to communicate
+anything except this, that nothing was decided, but a
+plan was under the consideration of the Cabinet in which
+the interests of all parties were consulted. He added that
+he could not pledge himself to give any previous intimation
+of the intentions of Government to the West India body,
+nor to disclose the measure at all until it was proposed
+to Parliament. There are in the meantime no end of reports
+of the nature and extent of the proposed measure,
+and no end to the projects and opinions of those who are
+interested.</p>
+
+<p>I dined at Lord Bathurst&rsquo;s yesterday, and sat next to Lord
+Ellenborough, who said that he was convinced the best thing
+the proprietors could do would be to agree instantly to stop
+their orders, which he believes would compel Government to
+arrest their course. I am not enough acquainted with the
+subject to judge how far they might operate, but I doubt it,
+or that in the temper of the people of this country, or rather
+of those zealots who represent it, and with the disposition
+of this Government to yield to every popular cry, the fear of
+any consequences would prevent their going on. It would,
+I believe, only give them and the House of Commons a pretext
+for refusing them pecuniary compensation. I was much
+amused with a piece of vanity of Ellenborough&rsquo;s. We were
+talking of the war between the Turks and the Egyptians,
+and the resources of Egypt, &amp;c., when he said, &lsquo;If I had
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">RUSSIA AND TURKEY.</span>
+continued at the Board of Control I would have had Egypt,
+got at it from the Red Sea; I had already ordered the formation
+of <i>a corps</i> of <i>Arab guides</i>!&rsquo;</p>
+
+<h3>February 1st, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The Reformed Parliament opened heavily
+(on Tuesday), as Government think satisfactorily. Cobbett
+took his seat on the Treasury Bench, and spoke three times,
+though the last time nobody would stay to hear him. He
+was very twaddling, and said but one good thing, when he
+called O&rsquo;Connell the member for <i>Ireland</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Saw Madame de Lieven the day before yesterday, who fired
+a tirade against Government; she vowed that nobody ever had
+been treated with such personal incivility as Lieven, &lsquo;des
+injures, des reproches,&rsquo; that Cobbett, Hunt, and all the
+blackguards in England could not use more offensive language;
+whatever event was coming was imputed to Russia&mdash;Belgium,
+Portugal, Turkey, &lsquo;tout était la Russie et les
+intrigues de la Russie;&rsquo; that she foresaw they should be
+driven away from England. With reference to the war
+in Asia Minor, she said the Sultan had applied to the
+Emperor for assistance, &lsquo;et qu&rsquo;il l&rsquo;aurait, et que le Sultan
+n&rsquo;avait pas un meilleur ami que lui,&rsquo; that the Egyptians
+would advance no farther, and a great deal more of complaint
+at the injustice evinced towards them and on their
+political innocence. In the evening I told all this to Mellish
+of the Foreign Office, who knows everything about foreign
+affairs, and he said it was all a lie, that Russia had offered
+her assistance, which the Sultan had refused, and she was, in
+fact, intriguing and making mischief in every Court in
+Europe. George Villiers writes me word that she has been
+for months past endeavouring to get up a war anywhere, and
+that this Turkish business is more likely than anything to
+bring one about.<a name="FNA_19_07" id="FNA_19_07"></a><a href="#FN_19_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_07" id="FN_19_07"></a><a href="#FNA_19_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[The state of the Ottoman Empire was most critical. In the latter
+months of 1832 the victorious troops of Mehomet Ali had forced their way
+across the Taunus; the peace of Koniah was concluded early in 1833 with
+the Egyptians; and the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi with the Russians in
+July 1833.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>February 2nd, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Dinner at Lord Lansdowne&rsquo;s for the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>
+Sheriffs; soon over and not particularly disagreeable, though
+I hate dining with the Ministers; had some conversation with
+Goderich about Jamaica; he says Mulgrave has done very well
+there, perhaps rather too vigorously, that the dissolution of
+the Assembly under all circumstances is questionable, but he
+must be supported; he hopes nothing from another assembly,
+nor does Mulgrave, who says that they are incorrigible. The
+fact is their conduct paralyses the exertions of their friends
+here, if, indeed, they have any friends who would make any
+exertions.</p>
+
+<h3>February 4th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>At Court for the King&rsquo;s Speech and the
+appointment of Sheriffs. Lord Munster and Lord Denbigh
+were sworn Privy Councillors. The West Indians have taken
+such an attitude of desperation that the Government is somewhat
+alarmed, and seems disposed to pause at the adoption
+of its abolitionary measures. George Hibbert told me last
+night that if they were driven to extremities there was
+nothing they were not ready to do, and that there would be
+another panic if Government did not take care, and so
+Rothschild had told them.</p>
+
+<p>I dined with Madame de Lieven yesterday, who is in the
+agonies of doubt about her remaining here. It turns upon
+this: Stratford Canning has been appointed Ambassador at St.
+Petersburg, and the Emperor will not receive him. Palmerston
+is indignant, and will not send anybody else. If the
+Emperor persists, we shall only have a Chargé d&rsquo;Affaires at
+his Court, and in that case he will not leave an Ambassador
+at ours. There seems to be at present no way out of the
+quarrel. Stratford Canning&rsquo;s mission to Madrid cannot last
+for ever, and when it is over the point must be decided.</p>
+
+<p>The people of Jamaica have presented a petition to the
+King (I don&rsquo;t know exactly in what shape, or how got up),
+praying to be released from their allegiance. Goderich told
+me that it was very insolent. Mulgrave&rsquo;s recent <i>coup de
+théâtre</i> is severely condemned. Nothing can save these
+unhappy colonies, for all parties vie with each other in
+violence and folly&mdash;the people here and the people there,
+the Government here and the Government there.</p>
+
+<h3>February 10th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.</span>
+After four days&rsquo; debate in the House of
+Commons (quite unprecedented, I believe) the Address was
+carried by a large
+majority.<a name="FNA_19_08" id="FNA_19_08"></a><a href="#FN_19_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+Opinions are of course very
+various upon the state of the House and the character of
+the discussion. The anti-Reformers, with a sort of melancholy
+triumph, boast that their worst expectations have been
+fulfilled. The Government were during the first day or two
+very serious, and though on the whole they think they have
+reason to be satisfied, they cannot help seeing that they
+have in fact very little power of managing the House.
+Everybody agrees that the aspect of the House of Commons
+was very different&mdash;the number of strange faces; the swagger
+of O&rsquo;Connell, walking about incessantly, and making signs
+to, or talking with, his followers in various parts; the Tories
+few and scattered; Peel no longer surrounded with a stout
+band of supporters, but pushed from his usual seat, which is
+occupied by Cobbett, O&rsquo;Connell, and the Radicals; he is gone
+up nearer to the Speaker.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_19_08" id="FN_19_08"></a><a href="#FNA_19_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[The first Reformed Parliament met and was formally opened on the
+29th of January, 1833. After the election of the Speaker (Manners Sutton)
+the King delivered his Speech from the Throne on the 5th of February.]</p></div>
+
+<p>The whole debate turned upon Ireland. O&rsquo;Connell pronounced
+a violent but powerful philippic, which Stanley
+answered very well. Macaulay made one of his brilliant
+speeches the second night, and Peel spoke the third. It was
+not possible to make a more dexterous and judicious speech
+than he did; for finding himself in a very uncomfortable
+position, he at once placed himself in a good one, and
+acknowledging that his situation was altogether different
+from what it had been, he contrived to transfer to himself
+personally much of the weight and authority which he
+previously held as the organ and head of a great and powerful
+party. He pronounced an eulogium of Stanley, declared
+that his confidence in Government was not augmented, but
+that he would support them if they would support law and
+order. The Government were extremely pleased at his
+speech, though I think not without a secret misgiving that
+they are likely to be more in his power than is pleasant.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span>
+But the benefit resulting from the whole is that the Radicals
+all opposed the Government, while Peel supported them; so
+that we may hope that a complete line of separation is
+drawn between the two former, and that the Government
+will really and boldly take the Conservative side. On the
+whole, perhaps, this bout may be deemed satisfactory.</p>
+
+<h3>February 14th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The night before last Althorp brought
+forward his plan of Irish Church Reform, with complete success.
+He did it well, and Stanley made a very brilliant
+speech. The House received it with almost unanimous applause,
+nobody opposing but Inglis and Goulburn, and Peel,
+in a very feeble speech, which scarcely deserves the name of
+opposition; it will be of great service to the Government.
+O&rsquo;Connell lauded the measure up to the skies; but Sheil said
+he would bite his tongue off with vexation the next morning
+for having done so, after he had slept upon it. It was clear
+that Peel, who is courting the House, and exerting all his
+dexterity to bring men&rsquo;s minds round to him, saw the stream
+was too strong for him to go against it, so he made a sort of
+temporising, moderate, unmeaning speech, which will give
+him time to determine on his best course, and did not commit
+him. Poulett Thomson said to me yesterday that Peel&rsquo;s
+prodigious superiority over everybody in the House was so
+evident, his talent for debate and thorough knowledge of
+Parliamentary tactics, gained by twenty years of experience,
+so commanding, that he must draw men&rsquo;s minds to him, and
+that he was evidently playing that game, throwing over the
+ultra-Tories and ingratiating himself with the House and
+the country. He, in fact, means to open a house to all comers,
+and make himself necessary and indispensable. Under that
+placid exterior he conceals, I believe, a boundless ambition,
+and hatred and jealousy lurk under his professions of esteem
+and political attachment. His is one of those contradictory
+characters, containing in it so much of mixed good and evil,
+that it is difficult to strike an accurate balance between the
+two, and the acts of his political life are of a corresponding
+description, of questionable utility and merit, though always
+marked by great ability. It is very sure that he has been
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">CHARACTER OF PEEL.</span>
+the instrument of great good, or of enormous evil, and apparently
+more of the latter. He came into life the child
+and champion of a political system which has been for a
+long time crumbling to pieces; and if the perils which are
+produced by its fall are great, they are mainly attributable
+to the manner in which it was upheld by Peel, and to his
+want of sagacity, in a wrong estimate of his means of defence
+and of the force of the antagonist power with which
+he had to contend. The leading principles of his political
+conduct have been constantly erroneous, and his dexterity
+and ability in supporting them have only made the consequences
+of his errors more extensively pernicious. If we
+look back through the long course of Peel&rsquo;s life, and enquire
+what have been the great political measures with which his
+name is particularly connected, we shall find, first, the return
+to cash payments, which almost everybody now agrees was
+a fatal mistake, though it would not be fair to visit him with
+extraordinary censure for a measure which was sanctioned
+by almost all the great financial authorities; secondly, opposition
+to Reform in Parliament and to religious emancipation
+of every kind, the maintenance of the exclusive system,
+and support, untouched and unconnected, of the Church, both
+English and Irish. His resistance to alterations on these
+heads was conducted with great ability, and for a long time
+with success; but he was endeavouring to uphold a system
+which was no longer supportable, and having imbibed in his
+career much of the liberal spirit of the age, he found himself
+in a state of no small perplexity between his old connections
+and his more enlarged propensities. Still he was chained
+down by the former, and consequently being beaten from all
+his positions, he was continually obliged to give way, but
+never did so till rather too late for his own credit and much
+too late for the interest at stake. Notwithstanding, therefore,
+the reputation he has acquired, the hold he has had of
+office, and is probably destined to have again, his political
+life has been a considerable failure, though not such an one
+as to render it more probable than not that his future life
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
+will be a failure too. He has hitherto been encumbered with
+embarrassing questions and an unmanageable party. Time
+has disposed of the first, and he is divorced from the last;
+if his great experience and talents have a fair field to act
+upon, he may yet, in spite of his selfish and unamiable character,
+be a distinguished and successful Minister.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2>
+
+<blockquote><p style="text-indent: 0">
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>
+Appointment of Sir Stratford Canning to the Russian Embassy &mdash; Cause of
+the Refusal &mdash; Slavery in the West Indies &mdash; The Reformed Parliament &mdash;
+Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s View of Affairs &mdash; The Coercion Bill &mdash; The Privy
+Council Bill &mdash; Lord Durham made an Earl &mdash; Mr. Stanley Secretary for the
+Colonies &mdash; The Russians go to the Assistance of the Porte &mdash; Lord Goderich
+has the Privy Seal, an Earldom, and the Garter &mdash; Embarrassments of the
+Government &mdash; The Appeal of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor at the Privy Council
+&mdash; Hobhouse defeated in Westminster &mdash; Bill for Negro Emancipation &mdash;
+The Russians on the Bosphorus &mdash; Mr. Littleton Chief Secretary for
+Ireland &mdash; Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington &mdash; Moral of a &lsquo;Book
+on the Derby&rsquo; &mdash; The Oaks &mdash; A Betting Incident &mdash; Ascot &mdash; Government
+beaten in the Lords on Foreign Policy &mdash; Vote of Confidence in the
+Commons &mdash; Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor decided &mdash; Lord Eldon&rsquo;s Last Judgment &mdash;
+His Character &mdash; Duke of Wellington as Leader of Opposition &mdash; West
+India Affairs &mdash; Irish Church Bill &mdash; Appropriation Clause &mdash; A Fancy
+Bazaar &mdash; The King writes to the Bishops &mdash; Local Court Bill &mdash; Mirabeau.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>February 16th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Madame de Lieven gave me an account
+(the day before yesterday) of the quarrel between the two
+Courts about Stratford Canning. When the present Ministry
+came in, Nesselrode wrote to Madame de Lieven and desired
+her to beg that Lord Heytesbury might be left there&mdash;&lsquo;Conservez-nous
+Heytesbury.&rsquo; She asked Palmerston and Lord
+Grey, and they both promised her he should stay. Some
+time after he asked to be recalled. She wrote word to
+Nesselrode, and told him that either Adair or Canning would
+succeed him. He replied, &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t let it be Canning; he is
+a most impracticable man, <i>soupçonneux, pointilleux, défiant</i>;&rsquo;
+that he had been personally uncivil to the Emperor when he
+was Grand Duke; in short the plain truth was they would
+not receive him, and it was therefore desirable somebody,
+anybody, else should be sent. She told this to Palmerston,
+and he engaged that Stratford Canning should not be named.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>
+Nothing more was done till some time ago, when to her astonishment
+Palmerston told her that he was going to send
+Canning to St. Petersburg. She remonstrated, urged all the
+objections of her Court, his own engagement, but in vain; the
+discussions between them grew bitter; Palmerston would not
+give way, and Canning was one day to her horror gazetted.
+As might have been expected, Nesselrode positively refused
+to receive him. Durham, who in the meantime had been to
+Russia and <i>bien comblé</i> with civilities, promised that Canning
+should not go there, trusting he had sufficient influence to
+prevent it; and since he has been at home it is one of the
+things he has been most violent and bitter about, because
+Palmerston will not retract this nomination, and he has the
+mortification of finding in this instance his own want of power.
+However, as there have been no discussions on it lately, the
+Princess still hopes it may blow over, and that some other
+mission may be found for Canning. At all events it appears
+a most curious piece of diplomacy to insist upon thrusting
+upon a Court a man personally obnoxious to the Sovereign
+and his Minister, and not the best way of preserving harmonious
+relations or obtaining political advantages. She
+says, however (and with all her anger she is no bad judge),
+that Palmerston &lsquo;est un très-petit esprit&mdash;lourd, obstiné,&rsquo;
+&amp;c., and she is astonished how Lady C. with her <i>finesse</i> can
+be so taken with him.</p>
+
+<p>Lady Cowper has since told me that Madame de Lieven
+has been to blame in all this business, that Palmerston was
+provoked with her interference, that her temper had got the
+better of her, and she had thought to carry it with a high
+hand, having been used to have her own way, and that he
+had thought both <i>she</i> and her <i>Court</i> wanted to be taken down
+a peg; that she had told Nesselrode she could prevent this
+appointment, and, what had done more harm than anything,
+she had appealed to Grey against Palmerston, and employed
+Durham to make a great clamour about it. All this made
+Palmerston angry, and determined him to punish her, who
+he thought had meddled more than she ought, and had made
+the matter personally embarrassing and disagreeable to him.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD GREY&rsquo;S COERCION BILL.</span>
+Last night Lord Grey introduced his coercive measures
+in an excellent speech, though there are some people who
+doubt his being able to carry them through the House of
+Commons. If he can&rsquo;t, he goes of course; and what next?
+The measures are sufficiently strong, it must be owned&mdash;a
+<i>consommé</i> of insurrection-gagging Acts, suspension of Habeas
+Corpus, martial law, and one or two other little hards and
+sharps.<a name="FNA_20_01" id="FNA_20_01"></a><a href="#FN_20_01" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_01" id="FN_20_01"></a><a href="#FNA_20_01"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>
+[In the debate on the Address O&rsquo;Connell had denounced the coercive
+measures announced in the Speech from the Throne as &lsquo;brutal, bloody, and
+unconstitutional.&rsquo; But the state of Ireland was so dreadful that it demanded
+and justified the severest remedies. Lord Grey stated in the House
+of Lords that between January 1st and December 31st 9,000 crimes had
+been committed&mdash;homicides 242, robberies 1,179, burglaries 401, burnings
+568, and so on. The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim
+disturbed districts, to substitute courts-martial for the ordinary courts of
+justice, to prohibit meetings, and to punish the distributors of seditious
+papers. Such were the powers which Lord Wellesley described as more
+formidable to himself than to the people of Ireland, for the greater part of
+them were never exercised. The Act produced the desired effect. In a
+year Ireland was pacified; and the abandonment of several of the most
+important clauses in the Act (contrary to Lord Grey&rsquo;s wishes) was the
+cause which led to the dissolution of the Ministry in the month of June
+1834.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>London, February 22nd, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Dined yesterday with Fortunatus
+Dwarris, who was counsel to the Board of Health; one of
+those dinners that people in that class of society put themselves
+in an agony to give, and generally their guests in
+as great an agony to partake of. There were Goulburn,
+Serjeant ditto and his wife, Stephen, &amp;c. Goulburn mentioned
+a curious thing <i>à propos</i> of slavery. A slave ran away
+from his estate in Jamaica many years ago, and got to
+England. He (the man) called at his house when he was not
+at home, and Goulburn never could afterwards find out where
+he was. He remained in England, however, gaining his livelihood
+by some means, till after some years he returned to
+Jamaica and to the estate, and desired to be employed as a
+slave again.</p>
+
+<p>Stephen, who is one of the great apostles of emancipation,
+and who resigned a profession worth 3,000&#8467;. a year at the
+Bar for a place of 1,500&#8467;. in the Colonial Office, principally in
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
+order to advance that object, owned that he had never known
+so great a problem nor so difficult a question to settle. His
+notion is that compulsory labour may be substituted for
+slavery, and in some colonies (the new ones, as they are
+called&mdash;Demerara, &amp;c.) he thinks it will not be difficult; in
+Jamaica he is doubtful, and admits that if this does not
+answer the slaves will relapse into barbarism, nor is he at
+all clear that <i>any</i> disorders and evils may not be produced
+by the effect of desperation on one side and disappointment
+on the other; still he does not hesitate to go on, but fully
+admitting the right of the proprietors to ample compensation,
+and the duty incumbent on the country to give it. If the
+sentiments of justice and benevolence with which he is
+actuated were common to all who profess the same opinions,
+or if the same sagacity and resource which he possesses were
+likely to be applied to the practical operation of the scheme,
+the evils which are dreaded and foreseen might be mitigated
+and avoided; but this is very far from the case, and the
+evils will, in all probability, more than overbalance the good
+which humanity aims at effecting; nor is it possible to view
+the settlement (as it is called, for all changes are settlements
+now-a-days) of this question without a misgiving that it will
+only produce some other great topic for public agitation,
+some great interest to be overturned or mighty change to
+be accomplished. The public appetite for discussion and
+legislation has been whetted and is insatiable; the millions
+of orators and legislators who have sprung up like mushrooms
+all over the kingdom, the bellowers, the chatterers, the
+knaves, and the dupes, who make such an universal hubbub,
+must be fed with fresh victims and sacrifices. The Catholic
+question was speedily followed by Reform in Parliament, and
+this has opened a door to anything.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime the Reformed Parliament has been
+sitting for a fortnight or so, and begins to manifest its
+character and pretensions. The first thing that strikes one
+is its inferiority in point of composition to preceding
+Houses of Commons, and the presumption, impertinence,
+and self-sufficiency of the new members. Formerly new
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ASPECT OF THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS.</span>
+members appeared with some modesty and diffidence, and
+with some appearance of respect for the assembly into which
+they were admitted; these fellows behave themselves as if
+they had taken it by storm, and might riot in all the insolence
+of victory. There exists no <i>party</i> but that of the
+Government; the Irish act in a body under O&rsquo;Connell to the
+number of about forty; the Radicals are scattered up and
+down without a leader, numerous, restless, turbulent, and
+bold&mdash;Hume, Cobbett, and a multitude such as Roebuck,
+Faithfull, Buckingham, Major Beauclerck, &amp;c. (most of
+whom have totally failed in point of speaking)&mdash;bent upon
+doing all the mischief they can and incessantly active; the
+Tories without a head, frightened, angry, and sulky; Peel
+without a party, prudent, cautious, and dexterous, playing a
+deep waiting game of scrutiny and observation. The feelings
+of these various elements of party, rather than parties,
+may be thus summed up:&mdash;The Radicals are confident and
+sanguine; the Whigs uneasy; the Tories desponding; moderate
+men, who belong to no party, but support Government,
+serious, and not without alarm. There is, in fact, enough
+to justify alarm, for the Government has evidently no power
+over the House of Commons, and though it is probable that
+they will scramble through the session without sustaining
+any serious defeat, or being reduced to the necessity of any
+great sacrifice or compromise, they are conscious of their
+own want of authority and of that sort of command without
+which no Government has been hitherto deemed secure.
+The evil of this is that we are now reduced to the alternative
+of Lord Grey&rsquo;s Government or none at all; and should
+he be defeated on any great measure, he must either abandon
+the country to its fate, or consent to carry on the
+Government upon the condition of a virtual transfer of the
+executive power to the House of Commons. If this comes
+to pass the game is up, for this House, like animals who
+have once tasted blood, if it ever exercises such a power as
+this, and finds a Minister consenting to hold office on such
+terms, will never rest till it has acquired all the authority of
+the Long Parliament and reduced that of the Crown to a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
+mere cypher. It is curious, by-the-bye, that the example of
+the Long Parliament in a trivial matter has just been adopted,
+in the sittings of the House at twelve o&rsquo;clock for the hearing
+of petitions.</p>
+
+<h3>February 27th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Laid up ever since that dinner at
+Dwarris&rsquo;s with the gout. Frederick Fitzclarence has been
+compelled to resign the situation at the Tower which the
+King gave him; they found it very probable that the House
+of Commons would refuse to vote the pay of it&mdash;a trifle in
+itself, but indicative of the spirit of the times and the total
+want of consideration for the King. O&rsquo;Connell made a
+speech of such violence at the Trades Union the other day&mdash;calling
+the House of Commons six hundred scoundrels&mdash;that
+there was a great deal of talk about taking it up in Parliament
+and proposing his expulsion, which, however, they
+have not had the folly to do. The Irish Bill was to come on
+last night. The sense of insecurity and uneasiness evidently
+increases; the Government assumes a high tone, but is not
+at all certain of its ability to pass the Coercive Bills unaltered,
+and yesterday there appeared an article in the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; in a
+style of lofty reproof and severe admonition, which was no
+doubt as appalling as it was meant to be. This article
+made what is called a great sensation; always struggling,
+as this paper does, to take the lead of public opinion and
+watching all its turns and shifts with perpetual anxiety, it is
+at once regarded as undoubted evidence of its direction and
+dreaded for the influence which its powerful writing and
+extensive sale have placed in its hands. It is no small
+homage to the power of the press to see that an article like
+this makes as much noise as the declaration of a powerful
+Minister or a leader of Opposition could do in either House
+of Parliament.</p>
+
+<p>Yesterday morning the Duke of Wellington came here
+upon some private business, after discussing which he entered
+upon the state of the country. I told him my view of the
+condition of the Government and of the House of Commons,
+and he said, &lsquo;You have hit the two points that I have
+myself always felt so strongly about. I told Lord Grey so
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">DUKE OF WELLINGTON&rsquo;S VIEW OF AFFAIRS.</span>
+long ago, and asked him at the time how he expected to be
+able to carry on the Government of the country, to which he
+never could give any answer, except that it would all do very
+well. However, things are not a bit worse than I always
+thought they would be. As they are, I mean to support the
+Government&mdash;support them in every way. The first thing I
+have to look to is to keep my house over my head, and the
+alternative is between this Government and none at all. I
+am therefore for supporting the Government, but then there
+is so much passion, and prejudice, and folly, and vindictive
+feeling, that it is very difficult to get others to do the same.
+I hear Peel had only fifty people with him the other night
+on some question, though they say that there are 150 of
+that party in the House of Commons. He thinks as ill of
+the whole thing as possible. [While I am writing Poodle
+Byng is come in, who tells me what happened last night.
+Althorp made a very bad speech and a wretched statement;
+other people spoke, pert and disagreeable, and the debate
+looked ill till Stanley rose and made one of the finest
+speeches that were ever heard, pounding O&rsquo;Connell to dust
+and attacking him for his &lsquo;six hundred scoundrels,&rsquo; from
+which he endeavoured to escape by a miserable and abortive
+explanation. Stanley seems to have set the whole thing to
+rights, like a great man.]</p>
+
+<p>I told the Duke what Macaulay had said to Denison: &lsquo;that
+if he had had to legislate, he would, instead of this Bill, have
+suspended the laws for five years in Ireland, given the Lord-Lieutenant&rsquo;s
+proclamation the force of law, and got the
+Duke of Wellington to go there.&rsquo; He seemed very well
+pleased at this, and said, &lsquo;Well, that is the way I governed
+the provinces on the Garonne in the south of France. I
+desired the mayors to go on administering the law of the
+land, and when they asked me in whose name criminal suits
+should be carried on (which were ordinarily in the name of
+the Emperor), and if they should be in the name of the
+King, I said no, that we were treating with the Emperor at
+Chatillon, and if they put forth the King they would be in
+a scrape; neither should it be in the Emperor&rsquo;s name, because
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
+we did not acknowledge him, but in that of the
+Allied Powers.&rsquo; In this I think he was wrong (<i>par parenthèse</i>),
+for Napoleon was acknowledged by all the Powers
+but us, and we were treating with him, and if he permitted
+the civil authorities to administer the law as usual, he should
+have allowed them to administer it in the usual legal form.
+Their civil administration could not affect any political
+questions in the slightest degree.</p>
+
+<h3>March 4th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Sir Thomas Hardy told my brother he
+thought the King would certainly go mad; he was so excitable,
+<i>loathing</i> his Ministers, particularly Graham, and dying
+to go to war. He has some of the cunning of madmen, who
+fawn upon their keepers when looked at by them, and grin
+at them and shake their fists when their backs are turned;
+so he is extravagantly civil when his Ministers are with him,
+and exhibits every mark of aversion when they are away.
+Peel made an admirable speech on Friday night; they
+expect a great majority.</p>
+
+<h3>March 13th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The second reading of the Coercive Bill has
+passed by a great majority after a dull debate, and the other
+night Althorp deeply offended Peel and the Tories by hurrying
+on the Church Reform Bill. It was to be printed one day,
+and the second reading taken two days after. They asked
+a delay of four or five days, and Althorp refused. He did
+very wrong; he is either bullied or cajoled into almost anything
+the Radicals want of this sort, but he is stout against
+the Tories. The delay is required by decency, but it ought
+to have been enough that Peel and the others asked it for
+him to concede it. He ought to soften the asperities which
+must long survive the battles of last year as much as he can,
+and avoid shocking what he may consider the prejudices of
+the vanquished party. It was worse than impolitic; it was
+stupid and uncourteous, and missing an opportunity of being
+gracious which he ought to have seized.</p>
+
+<p>I have been again worried with a new edition of
+Brougham&rsquo;s Privy Council
+Bill,<a name="FNA_20_02" id="FNA_20_02"></a><a href="#FN_20_02" class="fnanchor">[2]</a>
+and the difficulty of getting
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD BROUGHAM&rsquo;S PRIVY COUNCIL BILL.</span>
+Lord Lansdowne to <i>do</i> anything. This is the way Brougham
+goes to work:&mdash;He resolves to alter; he does not condescend
+to communicate with the Privy Council, or to consult those
+who are conversant with its practice, or who have been in
+the habit of administering justice there; he has not time to
+think of it himself; he tosses to one of his numerous <i>employés</i>
+(for he has people without end working for him) his rough
+notion, and tells him to put it into shape; the satellite goes
+to work, always keeping in view the increase of the dignity,
+authority, and patronage of the Chancellor, and careless of
+the Council, the King, and the usages of the Constitution.
+What is called <i>the Bill</i> is then, for form&rsquo;s sake, handed over
+to the Lord President (Lord Lansdowne), with injunctions to
+let nobody see it, as if he was conspiring against the Council,
+secure that if he meets with no resistance but what is
+engendered by Lord Lansdowne&rsquo;s opposition he may enact
+anything he pleases. Lord Lansdowne sends it to me (a
+long Act of Parliament), with a request that I will return it
+&lsquo;<i>by the bearer</i>,&rsquo; with any remarks I may have to make on it.
+The end is that I am left, <i>quantum impar</i>, to fight this with
+the Chancellor.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_02" id="FN_20_02"></a><a href="#FNA_20_02"><span class="label">[2]</span></a>
+[This was the Bill for the establishment of a Judicial Committee of the
+Privy Council, which eventually became the Act 3 &amp; 4 Will. IV., cap. 41, and
+definitively created that tribunal. Mr. Greville objected to several of the
+provisions of the measure, because he regarded them as an unnecessary
+interference of Parliament with the authority of the Sovereign in his
+Council. The Sovereign might undoubtedly have created a Committee of
+the judicial members of the Privy Council: but the Bill went further, and
+by extending and defining the power of the Judicial Committee as a Court
+of Appeal it undoubtedly proved a very useful and important measure.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>March 15th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Ministerial changes are going on; Durham
+is out, and to be made an earl. Yesterday his elevation was
+known, and it is amusing enough that the same day an
+incident should have occurred in the House of Lords exhibiting
+in a good light the worthiness of the subject, and how
+much he merits it at the hands of Lord Grey.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h3>March 29th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Lord Goderich is Privy
+Seal,<a name="FNA_20_03" id="FNA_20_03"></a><a href="#FN_20_03" class="fnanchor">[3]</a>
+and Stanley
+Secretary for the Colonies, after much trouble. Last year a
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span>
+positive pledge was given to Stanley that he should not
+meet Parliament again but as Secretary of State. It was
+not, however, specified who was to make room for him.
+The Cabinet settled that it should be Goderich, when
+Durham went out, and Palmerston was charged with the
+office of breaking it to Goderich with the offer of an earldom
+by way of gilding the pill, but Goderich would not hear of
+it, said it would look like running away from the Slave
+question, and, in short, flatly refused. Stanley threatened to
+resign if he was not promoted, and in this dilemma the Duke
+of Richmond (who was going to Windsor) persuaded Lord
+Grey to let him lay the case before the King, and inform him
+that if this arrangement was not made the Government must
+be broken up. He did so, and the King acquiesced, and at
+the same time a similar representation was made to Goderich,
+who after a desperate resistance knocked under, and said
+that if it must be so he would yield, but <i>only</i> to the King&rsquo;s
+express commands.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_03" id="FN_20_03"></a><a href="#FNA_20_03"><span class="label">[3]</span></a>
+[Down to this time Lord Goderich had been Secretary for the Colonial
+Department in Lord Grey&rsquo;s Government.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>March 30th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>Saw Madame de Lieven yesterday, who
+told me the story of the late business at St. Petersburg. The
+Sultan after the battle of Koniah applied to the Emperor of
+Russia for succour, who ordered twelve sail of the line and
+30,000 men to go to the protection of Constantinople. At
+the same time General Mouravieff was sent to Constantinople,
+with orders to proceed to Alexandria and inform the Pacha
+that the Emperor could only look upon him as a rebel, that
+he would not suffer the Ottoman Empire to be overturned,
+and that if Ibrahim advanced &lsquo;il aurait affaire à l&rsquo;Empereur
+de Russie.&rsquo; Orders were accordingly sent to Ibrahim to
+suspend his operations, and Mouravieff returned to Constantinople.
+Upon the demand for succour by the Sultan, and
+the Emperor&rsquo;s compliance with it, notification was made
+to all the Courts, and instructions were given to the
+Russian commanders to retire as soon as the Sultan should
+have no further occasion for their aid. So satisfactory was
+this that Lord Grey expressed the greatest anxiety that the
+Russian armament should arrive in time to arrest the progress
+of the Egyptians. They did arrive&mdash;at least the fleet
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">PRECARIOUS STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT.</span>
+did&mdash;and dropped anchor under the Seraglio. At this juncture
+arrived Admiral Roussin in a ship of war, and as
+Ambassador of France. He immediately informed the
+Sultan that the interposition of Russia was superfluous, that
+he would undertake to conclude a treaty, and to answer for
+the acquiescence of the Pacha, and he sent a project one
+article of which was that the Russian fleet should instantly
+withdraw. To this proposition the Sultan acceded, and
+without waiting for the Pacha&rsquo;s confirmation he notified to
+the Russian Ambassador that he had no longer any wish
+for the presence of the Russian fleet, and they accordingly
+weighed anchor and sailed away. This is all that is known
+of the transaction, but Madame de Lieven was loud and vehement
+about the insolence of Roussin; she said the Emperor
+would demand &lsquo;une satisfaction éclatante&rsquo;&mdash;&lsquo;le rappel et le
+désaveu de l&rsquo;amiral Roussin,&rsquo; and that if this should be refused
+the Russian Ambassador would be ordered to quit Paris.
+She waits with great anxiety to see the end of the business,
+for on it appears to depend the question of peace or war
+with France. She said that the day before Namik went away
+intelligence of this event arrived, which Palmerston communicated
+to him. The Turk heard it very quietly, and then
+only said, &lsquo;Et où était l&rsquo;Angleterre dans tout ceci?&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>I have heard to-night the Goderich version of his late
+translation. He had agreed to remain in the Cabinet without
+an office, but Lord Grey insisted on his taking the Privy
+Seal, and threatened to resign if he did not; he was at
+last <i>bullied</i> into acquiescence, and when he had his audience
+of the King his Majesty offered him anything he had to
+give. He said he had made the sacrifice to please and serve
+him, and would take nothing. An earldom&mdash;he refused;
+the Bath&mdash;ditto; <i>the Garter</i>&mdash;that he said he would take.
+It was then discovered that he was not of rank sufficient,
+when he said he would take the earldom in order to qualify
+himself for the Garter, and so it stands. There is no Garter
+vacant, and one supernumerary already, and Castlereagh
+and Lord North, viscounts, and Sir Robert Walpole (all
+Commoners) had blue ribands!</p>
+
+<h3>London, April 28th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span>
+Came to town last night from Newmarket,
+and the intervening week at Buckenham. Nothing
+but racing and hawking; a wretched life&mdash;that is, a life of
+amusement, but very unprofitable and discreditable to anybody
+who can do better things. Of politics I know nothing
+during this interval, but on coming to town find all in confusion,
+and everybody gaping for &lsquo;what next.&rsquo; Government
+was beaten on the Malt Tax, and Lord Grey proposed to resign;
+the Tories are glad that the Government is embarrassed,
+no matter how, the supporters sorry and repentant, so that
+it is very clear the matter will be patched up; they won&rsquo;t
+budge, and will probably get more regular support for the
+future. Perhaps Althorp will go, but where to find a
+Chancellor of the Exchequer will be the difficulty. Poulett
+Thomson wants it, but they will not dare commit the
+finances of the country to him, so we go scrambling on &lsquo;du
+jour la journée.&rsquo; Nobody knows what is to happen next&mdash;no
+confidence, no security, great talk of a property tax, to
+which, I suppose, after wriggling about, we shall at last come.</p>
+
+<h3>May 2nd, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The Government affair is patched up, and
+nobody goes but
+Hobhouse,<a name="FNA_20_04" id="FNA_20_04"></a><a href="#FN_20_04" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+who thought fit to resign both
+his seat in Parliament and his office, thereby creating another
+great embarrassment, which can only be removed by his
+re-election and re-appointment, and then, what a farce!</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_04" id="FN_20_04"></a><a href="#FNA_20_04"><span class="label">[4]</span></a>
+[Sir John Hobhouse, who had consented to take the Irish Secretaryship
+a month before, resigned now because he felt unable to oppose a
+resolution for the abolition of the window duties; and resigning office he
+resigned his seat for Westminster also, and was not re-elected. See in the
+&lsquo;Edinburgh Review,&rsquo; April 1871 (No. 272), an account of this transaction.]</p></div>
+
+<p>There were two great majorities in the House of Commons
+the night before last. The King was all graciousness and
+favour to Lord Grey, and so they are set up again, and fancy
+themselves stronger than before. But although everybody
+(except the fools) wished them to be re-established, it was
+evident that this was only because, at this moment, the time
+is not ripe for a change, for they inspired no interest either
+individually or collectively. It was easy to see that the
+Government has no consideration, and that people are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">EMBARRASSMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT.</span>
+getting tired of their blunders and embarrassments, and
+begin to turn their eyes to those who are more capable, and
+know something of the business of Government&mdash;to Peel and
+to Stanley, for the former, in spite of his cold, calculating
+selfishness and duplicity, is the ablest man there is, and we
+must take what we can get, and accept services without
+troubling ourselves about the motives of those who supply
+them. It must come to this conclusion unless the reign of
+Radicalism and the authority of the Humes &lsquo;et hoc genus
+omne&rsquo; is to be substituted. That the present Government
+loses ground every day is perfectly clear, and at the same
+time that the fruits of the Reform Bill become more lamentably
+apparent. The scrape Government lately got into was
+owing partly to the votes that people were obliged to give to
+curry favour with their constituents, and partly to negligence
+and carelessness in whipping in. Hobhouse&rsquo;s resignation is
+on account of his pledges, and because he is forced to pledge
+himself on the hustings he finds himself placed in a situation
+which compels him to save his honour and consistency by
+embarrassing the public service to the greatest degree at a
+very critical time. Men go on asking one another how is it
+possible the country can be governed in this manner, and
+nobody can reply.</p>
+
+<p>Since I have been out of town the appeal against the
+Chancellor&rsquo;s judgment in the Drax (lunacy) case has been
+heard at the Privy Council, and will be finally determined on
+Saturday.<a name="FNA_20_05" id="FNA_20_05"></a><a href="#FN_20_05" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+Two years have nearly elapsed since that case
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span>
+was lodged, and the Chancellor has always found pretexts
+for getting the hearing postponed; at length the parties
+became so clamorous that it was necessary to fix a day. He
+then endeavoured to pack a committee, and spoke to Lord
+Lansdowne about summoning Lord Plunket, Lord Lyndhurst,
+and the Vice-Chancellor, but Leach, who hates Brougham,
+and is particularly nettled at his having reversed some of his
+judgments, bestirred himself, and represented to Lord Lansdowne
+the absolute necessity (in a case of such consequence)
+of having all the ex-Chancellors to hear it. Plunket was
+gone to Ireland, so the Committee consisted of the Lord
+President, the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Master of the
+Rolls, Lords Eldon, Lyndhurst, and Manners. They say the
+argument was very able&mdash;Sugden in support of the Chancellor&rsquo;s
+judgment, and Pemberton against it; they expect it
+will be reversed. Leach, foolishly enough, by question and
+observation, exhibited a strong bias against the Chancellor,
+who never said a word, and appeared very calm and easy,
+but with rage in his heart, for he was indignant at these
+Lords having been summoned (as his secretary told
+Lennard<a name="FNA_20_06" id="FNA_20_06"></a><a href="#FN_20_06" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>),
+and said &lsquo;he was sure it was all Leach&rsquo;s doing.&rsquo; What a
+man! how wonderful! how despicable! carrying into the
+administration of justice the petty vanity, personal jealousy
+and pique, and shuffling arts that would reflect ridicule and
+odium on a silly woman of fashion. He has smuggled his
+Privy Council Bill through the House of Lords without the
+slightest notice or remark.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_05" id="FN_20_05"></a><a href="#FNA_20_05"><span class="label">[5]</span></a>
+[An appeal lies to the King in Council from orders of the Lord
+Chancellor in lunacy, but there are very few examples of the prosecution
+of appeals of this nature. This case of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor, which is reported
+in &lsquo;Knapp&rsquo;s Privy Council Cases,&rsquo; was therefore one of great
+peculiarity. The Bill constituting the Judicial Committee had not at this
+time become law; this appeal was therefore heard by a Committee of the
+Lords of the Council, to which any member of the Privy Council might be
+summoned. Care was taken that the highest legal authorities should be
+present. It was the last time Lord Eldon sat in a court of law. Lord
+Brougham, the Chancellor, sat on the Committee, although the appeal was
+brought from an order made by himself: this practice had not been uncommon
+in the House of Lords, but it had not been the practice of the
+Privy Council, where indeed the case could seldom arise.]</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_06" id="FN_20_06"></a><a href="#FNA_20_06"><span class="label">[6]</span></a>
+[John Barrett Lennard, Esq., was Chief Clerk of the Council Office.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>May 16th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>On coming to town found the Westminster
+election just over, and Evans returned. They would not
+hear Hobhouse, and pelted him and his friends. No
+Secretary for Ireland is to be found, for the man must be
+competent, and sure of re-election. Few are the first and
+none the last. Hobhouse is generally censured for having
+put Government in this great difficulty, but the Tories see it
+all with a sort of grim satisfaction, and point at it as a happy
+illustration of the benefits of the Reform Bill. I point too,
+but I don&rsquo;t rejoice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">SLAVE EMANCIPATION.</span>
+At the same time with Hobhouse&rsquo;s defeat came forth
+Stanley&rsquo;s plan for slave emancipation, which produced rage
+and fury among both West Indians and Saints, being too
+much for the former and not enough for the latter, and both
+announced their opposition to it. Practical men declare
+that it is impossible to carry it into effect, and that the
+details are unmanageable. Even the Government adherents
+do not pretend that it is a good and safe measure, but the
+best that could be hit off under the circumstances; these
+circumstances being the old motive, &lsquo;the people will have it.&rsquo;
+The night before last Stanley developed his plan in the
+House of Commons in a speech of three hours, which was
+very eloquent, but rather disappointing. He handled the
+preliminary topics of horrors of slavery and colonial obstinacy
+and misconduct with all the vigour and success that might
+have been expected, but when he came to his measure he
+failed to show how it was to be put in operation and to work.
+The peroration and eulogy on Wilberforce were very brilliant.
+Howick had previously announced his intention of opposing
+Stanley, and accordingly he did so in a speech of considerable
+vehemence which lasted two hours. He was not, however,
+well received; his father and mother had in vain
+endeavoured to divert him from his resolution; but though
+they say his speech was clever, he has damaged himself by
+it. His plan is immediate
+emancipation.<a name="FNA_20_07" id="FNA_20_07"></a><a href="#FN_20_07" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_07" id="FN_20_07"></a><a href="#FNA_20_07"><span class="label">[7]</span></a>
+[The result proved that Lord Howick was right. The apprenticeship
+system proposed by Lord Stanley was carried, but failed in execution, and
+was eventually abandoned.]</p></div>
+
+<p>While such is the state of things here&mdash;enormous interests
+under discussion, great disquietude and alarm, no feeling of
+security, no confidence in the Government, and a Parliament
+that inspires fear rather than hope&mdash;matters abroad seem to
+be no better managed than they are at home. It is remarkable
+that the business in the East has escaped with so little
+animadversion, for there never was a fairer object of attack.
+While France has been vapouring, and we have been doing
+nothing at all, Russia has established her own influence in
+Turkey, and made herself virtually mistress of the Ottoman
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span>
+Empire. At a time when our interests required that we
+should be well represented, and powerfully supported, we
+had neither an Ambassador nor a fleet in the Mediterranean;
+and because Lord Ponsonby is Lord Grey&rsquo;s brother-in-law
+he has been able with impunity to dawdle on months after
+months at Naples for his pleasure, and leave affairs at
+Constantinople to be managed or mismanaged by a Chargé
+d&rsquo;Affaires who is altogether incompetent.</p>
+
+<h3>May 19th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>They have found a Secretary for Ireland in
+the person of
+Littleton,<a name="FNA_20_08" id="FNA_20_08"></a><a href="#FN_20_08" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>
+which shows to what shifts they
+are put. He is rich, which is his only qualification, being
+neither very able nor very popular. The West India question
+is postponed. The Duke of Wellington told me that he
+thought it would pass away for this time, and that all parties
+would be convinced of the impracticability of any of the plans
+now mooted. I said that nothing could do away the mischief
+that had been done by broaching it. He thought &lsquo;the
+mischief might be avoided;&rsquo; but then these people do nothing
+to avoid any mischief. I was marvellously struck (we rode
+together through St. James&rsquo;s Park) with the profound respect
+with which the Duke was treated, everybody we met
+taking off their hats to him, everybody in the park rising as
+he went by, and every appearance of his inspiring great
+reverence. I like this symptom, and it is the more remarkable
+because it is not <i>popularity</i>, but a much higher feeling
+towards him. He has forfeited his popularity more than
+once; he has taken a line in politics directly counter to the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">RESPECT SHOWN TO WELLINGTON.</span>
+popular bias; but though in moments of excitement he is
+attacked and vilified (and his broken windows, which I wish
+he would mend, still preserve a record of the violence of the
+mob), when the excitement subsides there is always a returning
+sentiment of admiration and respect for him, kept
+alive by the recollection of his splendid actions, such as no
+one else ever inspired. Much, too, as I have regretted and
+censured the enormous errors of his political career (at
+times), I believe that this sentiment is in a great degree produced
+by the justice which is done to his political character,
+sometimes mistaken, but always high-minded and patriotic,
+and never mean, false, or selfish. If he has aimed at power,
+and overrated his own capacity for wielding it, it has been
+with the purest intentions and the most conscientious views.
+I believe firmly that no man had ever at heart to a greater
+degree the honour and glory of his country; and hereafter,
+when justice will be done to his memory, and his character
+and conduct be scanned with impartial eyes, if his capacity
+for government appears unequal to the exigencies of the
+times in which he was placed at the head of affairs, the
+purity of his motives and the noble character of his ambition
+will be amply acknowledged.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_08" id="FN_20_08"></a><a href="#FNA_20_08"><span class="label">[8]</span></a>
+[The Rt. Hon. E. J. Littleton, M.P. for Staffordshire, and afterwards
+first Lord Hatherton.</p>
+
+<p>It was Lord John Russell who advised Lord Grey to make Littleton
+Irish Secretary. He told me so in May 1871, but added, &lsquo;I think I made
+a mistake.&rsquo; The appointment was wholly unsolicited and unexpected by
+Mr. Littleton himself, who happened to be laid up at the time by an
+accident. On the receipt of the letter from Lord Grey offering him the
+Secretaryship of Ireland, and requesting him to take it, Mr. Littleton
+consulted Mr. Fazakerly, who was of opinion that he ought to accept the
+offer. This therefore he did, though not, as I know from his own journals,
+without great diffidence and hesitation; and he intimated to Lord Grey
+that he would only retain his office until some other man could be found to
+accept it.]</p></div>
+
+<p>The Duke of Orleans is here, and very well received by
+the Court and the world. He is good-looking, dull, has good
+manners and little conversation, goes everywhere, and dances
+all night. At the ball at Court the Queen waltzed with the
+two Dukes of Orleans and Brunswick.</p>
+
+<p>Peel compelled old Cobbett to bring on his motion for
+getting him erased from the Privy Council, which Cobbett
+wished to shirk from. He gave him a terrible dressing, and it
+all went off for Peel in the most flattering way. He gains every
+day more authority and influence in the House of Commons.
+It must end in Peel and Stanley, unless everything ends.</p>
+
+<h3>May 27th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>All last week at Epsom, and now, thank God,
+these races are over. I have had all the trouble and excitement
+and worry, and have neither won nor lost; nothing but
+the hope of gain would induce me to go through this demoralising
+drudgery, which I am conscious reduces me to
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span>
+the level of all that is most disreputable and despicable, for
+my thoughts are eternally absorbed by it. Jockeys, trainers,
+and blacklegs are my companions, and it is like dram-drinking;
+having once entered upon it I cannot leave it off, though
+I am disgusted with the occupation all the time. Let no
+man who has no need, who is not in danger of losing all he
+has, and is not obliged to grasp at every chance, <i>make a book</i>
+on the Derby. While the fever it excites is raging, and the
+odds are varying, I can neither read, nor write, nor occupy myself
+with anything else. I went to the Oaks on Wednesday,
+where Lord Stanley kept house for the first, and probably (as
+the house is for sale) for the last time. It is a very agreeable
+place, with an odd sort of house built at different times and
+by different people; but the outside is covered with ivy and
+creepers, which is pretty, and there are two good living-rooms
+in it. Besides this, there is an abundance of grass
+and shade; it has been for thirty or forty years the resort
+of all our old jockeys, and is now occupied by the sporting
+portion of the Government. We had Lord Grey and his
+daughter, Duke and Duchess of Richmond, Lord and Lady
+Errol, Althorp, Graham, Uxbridge, Charles Grey, Duke of
+Grafton, Lichfield, and Stanley&rsquo;s brothers. It passed off very
+well&mdash;racing all the morning, an excellent dinner, and whist
+and blind hookey in the evening. It was curious to see
+Stanley. Who would believe they beheld the orator and
+statesman, only second, if second, to Peel in the House of
+Commons, and on whom the destiny of the country perhaps
+depends? There he was, as if he had no thoughts but for the
+turf, full of the horses, interest in the lottery, eager, blunt,
+noisy, good-humoured, &lsquo;has meditans nugas et <i>totus in illis</i>;&rsquo;
+at night equally devoted to the play, as if his fortune depended
+on it. Thus can a man relax whose existence is devoted to
+great objects and serious thoughts. I had considerable hopes
+of winning the Derby, but was beaten easily, my horse not
+being good. An odd circumstance occurred to me before the
+race. Payne told me in strict confidence that a man who
+could not appear on account of his debts, and who had been,
+much connected with turf robberies, came to him, and entreated
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">ANECDOTE OF THE DERBY.</span>
+him to take the odds for him to 1,000&#8467;. about a horse
+for the Derby, and deposited a note in his hand for the purpose.
+He told him half the horses were made safe, and that
+it was arranged this one was to win. After much delay, and
+having got his promise to lay out the money, he told him it
+was my horse. He did back the horse for the man for 700&#8467;.,
+but the same person told him if my horse <i>could</i> not win Dangerous
+would, and he backed the latter likewise for 100&#8467;., by
+which his friend was saved, and won 800&#8467;. He did not tell
+me his name, nor anything more, except that his object was,
+if he had won, to pay his creditors, and he had authorised
+Payne to retain the money, if he won it, for that purpose.</p>
+
+<p>We heard, while at the Oaks, that M. Dedel had signed
+the convention between France, England, and Holland, on
+which all the funds rose. The King of Holland&rsquo;s ratification
+was still to be got, and many people will not believe in that
+till they see it.</p>
+
+<h3>June 3rd, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The Government are in high spirits. The
+Saints have given in their adhesion to Stanley&rsquo;s plan, and
+they expect to carry the West India question. The Bank measure
+has satisfied the directors, and most people, except Peel.
+The Duke of Wellington told me he was very well satisfied,
+but that <i>they</i> had intended to make better terms with the
+Bank, and he thought they should have done so. Melbourne
+says, &lsquo;Now that we are as much hated as they were, we shall
+stay in for ever.&rsquo;</p>
+
+<p>As I came into town (having come by the steamboat from
+Margate very luxuriously) on Saturday I found a final meeting
+at the Council Office to dispose of the lunacy case. It
+was so late when Horne finished his reply that I thought
+there was no chance of any discussion, and I did not go in;
+but I met the Master of the Rolls afterwards, who told me
+they had delivered their opinions, Lord Eldon cautiously, he
+himself &lsquo;broadly,&rsquo; which I will be bound he did (for he hates
+Brougham), and that, though no judgment had been yet
+given, the Chancellor&rsquo;s decree would be reversed; so that
+after all Brougham&rsquo;s wincing and wriggling to this he has
+been forced to submit at last.</p>
+
+<h3>London, June 11th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span>
+At a place called Buckhurst all last
+week for the Ascot races; a party at Lichfield&rsquo;s, racing all the
+morning, then eating and drinking, and play at night.
+I may say, with more truth than anybody, &lsquo;Video meliora
+proboque, deteriora sequor.&rsquo; The weather was charming, the
+course crowded, the King received decently. His household
+is now so ill managed that his grooms were drunk every
+day, and one man (who was sober) was killed going home
+from the races. Goodwin told me nobody exercised any
+authority, and the consequence was that the household all
+ran riot.</p>
+
+<p>The first day of the races arrived the news that the Duke
+of Wellington, after making a strong muster, had beaten
+the Government in the House of Lords on the question of
+Portuguese neutrality and Don Miguel, that Lord Grey had
+announced that he considered it a vote of censure, and threw
+out a sort of threat of resigning. He and Brougham (after a
+Cabinet) went down to the King. The King was very much
+annoyed at this fresh dilemma into which the Tories had
+brought him, and consented to whatever Lord Grey required.
+In the meantime the House of Commons flew to arms, and
+Colonel Dawes gave notice of a motion of confidence in
+Ministers upon their foreign policy. This was carried by an
+immense majority after a weak debate, in which some very
+cowardly menaces were thrown out against the Bishops, and
+this settled the question. Ministers did not resign, no Peers
+were made, and everything goes on as before. It has been,
+however, a disastrous business. How the Duke of Wellington
+could take this course after the conversation I had with
+him in this room, when he told me he would support the
+Government because he wished it to be <i>strong</i>, I can&rsquo;t conceive.
+At all events he seems resolved that his Parliamentary
+victories should be as injurious as his military
+ones were glorious to his country. Some of his friends say
+that he was <i>provoked</i> by Lord Grey&rsquo;s supercilious answer to
+him the other day, when he said he knew nothing of what
+was going on but from what he read in the newspapers,
+others that he &lsquo;feels so very strongly&rsquo; about Portugal,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">TORY BLUNDERS.</span>
+others that he cannot manage the Tories, and that they
+were determined to fight; in short, that he has not the same
+authority as leader of a party that he had as general of an
+army, for nobody would have forced him to fight the battle
+of Salamanca or Vittoria if he had not fancied it himself.
+The effect, however, has been this: the House of Lords has
+had a rap on the knuckles from the King, their legislative
+functions are practically in abeyance, and his Majesty is
+more tied than ever to his Ministers. The House of Lords
+is paralysed; it exists upon sufferance, and cannot venture
+to throw out or materially alter any Bill (such as the India,
+Bank, Negro, Church Reform, &amp;c.) which may come up to
+it without the certainty of being instantly swamped, and the
+measures, however obnoxious, crammed down its throat.
+This Government has lost ground in public opinion, they
+were daily falling lower, and these predestinated idiots come
+and bolster them up just when they most want it. Tavistock
+acknowledged to me that they were unpopular, and
+that this freak had been of vast service to them; consequently
+they are all elated to the greatest degree. The
+Tories are sulky and crestfallen; moderate men are vexed,
+disappointed, grieved; and the Radicals stand grinning by,
+chuckling at the sight of the Conservatives (at least those
+who so call themselves, and those who must be so <i>really</i>)
+cutting each others&rsquo; throats.</p>
+
+<p>On Saturday, the day after I came back, I found a final
+meeting at the Council Office on the lunacy case, the appeal
+of Grosvenor against Drax. There were Lord Lansdowne,
+the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Master of the Rolls, Lord
+Manners, Lord Eldon, and Lord Lyndhurst. The rule is
+that the President of the Council collects the opinions and
+votes, beginning with the junior Privy Councillor. This
+was the
+Chancellor,<a name="FNA_20_09" id="FNA_20_09"></a><a href="#FN_20_09" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>
+who made a sort of apology for his
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span>
+judgment, stating that he had made the order just after two
+or three very flagrant cases of a similar description had been
+brought under his notice, and then he went into this case,
+and endeavoured to show that there was fraud (and intentional
+fraud) on the part of the Grosvenors, and he maintained,
+without insisting on, and very mildly, his own former
+view of the case. Leach then made a speech strongly
+against the judgment, and Lord Eldon made a longish
+speech, very clear, and very decided against it, interlarded
+with professions of his &lsquo;sincere&rsquo; respect for the person who
+delivered the judgment. The Chancellor did not reply to
+Lord Eldon, but put some questions&mdash;some hypothetical, and
+some upon parts of the case itself&mdash;which, together with some
+remarks, brought on a discussion between him and Leach,
+in which the latter ended by lashing himself into a rage.
+&lsquo;My Lord,&rsquo; said he to the Chancellor, &lsquo;we talk too much,
+and we don&rsquo;t stick to the point.&rsquo; Brougham put on one of
+his scornful smiles, and in reply to something (I forget what)
+that the Vice-Chancellor said he dropped in his sarcastic
+tone that he would do so and so &lsquo;if his Honour would permit.&rsquo;
+For a moment I thought there would be a breeze, but
+it ended without any vote, in the adoption of a form of
+reversal suggested by Lord Eldon, which left it to the option
+of the respondent to institute other proceedings if he should
+think fit. Afterwards all was harmony. Eldon seemed
+tolerably fresh, feeble, but clear and collected. He was in
+spirits about the dinner which had just been given him by
+the Templars, at which he was received with extraordinary
+honours. He said he hoped never to be called to the Council
+Board again, and this was probably the last occasion on
+which he will have to appear in a judicial capacity. It is
+remarkable that his last act should be to reverse a judgment
+of Brougham&rsquo;s, Brougham being Chancellor and himself
+nothing. I could not help looking with something like
+emotion at this extraordinary old man, and reflecting upon
+his long and laborious career, which is terminating gently
+and by almost insensible gradations, in a manner more
+congenial to a philosophic mind than to an ambitious spirit.
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">LORD ELDON&rsquo;S GREAT CAREER.</span>
+As a statesman and a politician he has survived and witnessed
+the ruin of his party and the subversion of those
+particular institutions to which he tenaciously clung, and
+which his prejudices or his wisdom made him think indispensable
+to the existence of the Constitution. As an individual
+his destiny has been happier, for he has preserved the
+strength of his body and the vigour of his mind far beyond
+the ordinary period allotted to man, he is adorned with
+honours and blessed with wealth sufficient for the aspirations
+of pride and avarice, and while the lapse of time has
+silenced the voice of envy, and retirement from office has
+mitigated the rancour of political hostility, his great and
+acknowledged authority as a luminary of the law shines forth
+with purer lustre. He enjoys, perhaps, the most perfect
+reward of his long life of labour and study&mdash;a foretaste
+of posthumous honour and fame. He has lived to see his
+name venerated and his decisions received with profound
+respect, and he is departing in peace, with the proud assurance
+that he has left to his country a mighty legacy of law
+and secured to himself an imperishable fame.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_09" id="FN_20_09"></a><a href="#FNA_20_09"><span class="label">[9]</span></a>
+[This must be a mistake. The Chancellor takes rank in the Privy
+Council after the Lord President and before everyone else. Lord
+Brougham was junior Privy Councillor in mere seniority, but his office gave
+him rank over the others present. His opinion was probably taken first out
+of compliment to him, as he had made the order under review.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>June 15th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The day before yesterday I had occasion to
+see the Duke of Wellington about the business in which we
+are joint trustees, and when we had done I said, &lsquo;Well, that
+business in the House of Lords turned out ill the other day.&rsquo;
+&lsquo;No; do you think so?&rsquo; he said, and then he went into the
+matter. He said that he was compelled to make the motion
+by the answer Lord Grey gave to his question a few nights
+before; that his party in the House of Lords would not be
+satisfied without dividing&mdash;they had been impatient to
+attack the Government, and were not to be restrained; that
+on the question itself they were <i>right</i>; that so far from his
+doing harm to the Government, if they availed themselves
+wisely of the defeat they might turn it to account in the
+House of Commons, and so far it was of use to them, as it
+afforded a convincing proof to their supporters that the
+House of Lords might be depended upon for good purposes,
+and they might demand of their supporters in the other
+House that they should enable them to carry good measures,
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span>
+and they keep the House of Commons in harmony with the
+House of Lords. He said the Government would make no
+Peers, and that they <i>could not</i>; that the Tories were by no
+means frightened or disheartened, and meant to take the
+first opportunity of showing fight again; in short, he seemed
+not dissatisfied with what had already occurred, and resolved
+to pursue the same course. He said the Tories were indignant
+at the idea of being compelled to keep quiet, and that
+if they were to be swamped the sooner it was done the
+better, and that they would not give up their right to deal
+with any question they thought fit from any motive of expediency
+whatever.</p>
+
+<p>I don&rsquo;t know what to make of the Duke and his conduct.
+The Catholic question and the Corn Laws and Canning rise
+up before me, and make me doubt whether he is so pure in
+his views and so free from vindictive feelings as I thought
+and hoped he was. When Lords Grey and Brougham went
+down to the King after the defeat, they did not talk of
+Peers, and only proposed the short answer to the Lords, to
+which he consented at once. His Majesty was very indignant
+with the Duke, and said it was the second time he had
+got him into a scrape, he had made a fool of him last year, and
+now wanted to do the same thing again. Some pretend that
+all this indignation is simulated; the man is, I believe, more
+foolish than false.</p>
+
+<h3>June 19th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The King dined with the Duke at his
+Waterloo dinner yesterday, which does not look as if he had
+been so very angry with him as the Government people say.
+The Duke had his windows mended for the occasion, whether
+in honour of his Majesty or in consequence of H.B.&rsquo;s caricature
+I don&rsquo;t know.</p>
+
+<p>I had a long conversation with Sir Willoughby Cotton
+on Sunday about Jamaica affairs. He is Commander-in-Chief,
+just come home, and just going out again. He told
+me what he had said to Stanley, which was to this effect:
+that the compensation would be esteemed munificent, greater
+by far than they had expected; that they had looked for a
+loan of fifteen millions at two per cent interest, but that the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">IRISH CHURCH BILL.</span>
+plan would be impracticable, and that sugar could not be
+cultivated after slavery ceased; that the slave would never
+understand the system of modified servitude by which he
+was to be nominally free and actually kept to labour, and
+that he would rebel against the magistrate who tried to force
+him to work more fiercely than against his master; that the
+magistrate would never be able to persuade the slaves in
+their new character of apprentices to work as heretofore, and
+the military who would be called in to assist them could do
+nothing. He asked Stanley if he intended, when the military
+were called in, that they should fire on or bayonet the
+refractory apprentices. He said no, they were to exhort
+them. He gave him to understand that in his opinion they
+could do nothing, and that the more the soldiers exhorted
+the more the slaves would not work. With regard to my own
+particular case he was rather encouraging than not, thought
+they would not molest me any
+more,<a name="FNA_20_10" id="FNA_20_10"></a><a href="#FN_20_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+that the Assembly
+might try and get me out, but that the Council considered
+it matter of loyalty to the King not to force out the Clerk of
+his Privy Council, but that if anything more was said about
+it, and I went out to Jamaica, I might be sure of getting
+leave again in a month or six weeks.</p>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="FN_20_10" id="FN_20_10"></a><a href="#FNA_20_10"><span class="label">[20]</span></a>
+[This refers to Mr. Greville&rsquo;s holding the office of Secretary of the
+Island of Jamaica with permanent leave of absence. The work of the office
+was done by a deputy, who was paid by a share of the emoluments which
+were in the shape of fees.]</p></div>
+
+<h3>June 26th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>This morning at six saw my mother and
+Henry start for the steamboat which is to take them abroad.
+I wish I was going with them, and was destined once more
+to see Rome and Naples, which I fear will never be. Last
+week was marked by a division in the House of Commons
+which made a great noise. It was on that clause of the
+Irish Church Bill which declared that the surplus should
+be appropriated by Parliament, and Stanley thought fit to
+leave out the clause. The Tories supported him; the
+Radicals and many of the Whigs&mdash;Abercromby and C.
+Russell among the number&mdash;opposed him. The minority
+was strong&mdash;148&mdash;but the fury it excited among many of the
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span>
+friends of Government is incredible, and the Tories were
+very triumphant without being at all conciliated. The
+Speaker said he should not be surprised to see the Bill
+thrown out by the junction of the Tories and Radicals on
+the third reading, which is not likely, and the suppression of
+this clause, which after all leaves the matter just as it was,
+will probably carry it through the House of Lords. It is,
+however, very questionable whether they were right in withdrawing
+it, and Tavistock told me that though he thought
+it was <i>right</i> it was ill done, and had given great offence.
+Somehow or other Stanley, with all his talents, makes a mess
+of everything, but this comes of being (what the violent
+Whigs suspect him of being) half a Tory. Measures are
+concocted upon ultra principles in the Cabinet, and then as
+his influence is exerted, and his wishes are obliged to be
+consulted, they are modified and altered, and this gives a
+character of vacillation to the conduct of Government, and
+exhibits a degree of weakness and infirmity of purpose which
+prevents their being strong or popular or respectable. Nobody,
+however, can say that they are obstinate, for they are
+eternally giving way to somebody. In the House of Lords
+there was a sharp skirmish between Brougham and Lyndhurst,
+and high Parliamentary words passed between these
+&lsquo;noble friends&rsquo; on the Local Courts Bill. The Tories did
+not go down to support Lyndhurst, which provoked him, and
+Brougham was nettled by his and old Eldon&rsquo;s attacks on the
+Bill.</p>
+
+<p>There is great talk of a letter which the King is said to
+have written to the bishops&mdash;that is, to the Archbishop for
+the edification of the episcopal bench. It is hardly credible
+that he and Taylor should have been guilty of this folly,
+after the letter which they wrote to the Peers a year and a
+half ago and the stir that it made.</p>
+
+<p>I have got from Sir Henry Lushington Monk Lewis&rsquo;s
+journals and his two voyages to the West Indies (one of
+which I read at Naples), with liberty to publish them, which
+I mean to do if I can get money enough for him. He says
+Murray offered him 500&#8467;. for the manuscripts some years
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span>
+<span class="pagehead">THE KING WRITES TO THE ARCHBISHOP.</span>
+ago. I doubt getting so much now, but they are uncommonly
+amusing, and it is the right moment for publishing
+them now that people are full of interest about the West
+India question. I was very well amused last week at the
+bazaar in Hanover Square, when a sale was held on four
+successive days by the fine ladies for the benefit of the
+foreigners in distress. It was like a masquerade without
+masks, for everybody&mdash;men, women, and children&mdash;roved
+about where they would, everybody talking to everybody,
+and vast familiarity established between perfect strangers
+under the guise of barter. The Queen&rsquo;s stall was held by
+Ladies Howe and Denbigh, with her three prettiest maids of
+honour, Miss Bagot dressed like a soubrette and looking
+like an angel. They sold all sorts of trash at enormous
+prices, and made, I believe, four or five thousand pounds. I
+went on Monday to hear Lushington speak in the cause of
+Swift and Kelly. He spoke for three hours&mdash;an excellent
+speech. I sat by Mr. Swift all the time; he is not ill-looking,
+but I should think vulgar, and I&rsquo;m sure impudent,
+for the more Lushington abused him the more he
+laughed.</p>
+
+<h3>June 28th, 1833</h3>
+
+<p>The King did write to the Archbishop of
+Canterbury a severe reproof to be communicated to the
+bishops for having voted against his Government upon a
+question purely political (the Portuguese), in which the
+interests of the Church were in no way concerned. He sent
+a copy of the letter to Lord Grey, and Brougham told
+Sefton and Wharncliffe the contents, both of whom told me.
+It is remarkable that nothing has been said upon the subject
+in the House of Lords. The Archbishop, the most timid of
+mankind, had the prudence (I am told) to abstain from communicating
+the letter to the bishops, and held a long consultation
+with the Archbishop of York as to the mode of
+dealing with this puzzling document. If he had communicated
+it, he would as a Privy Councillor have been responsible
+for it, but what answer he made to the King I know
+not. Never was there such a proceeding, so unconstitutional,
+so foolish; but his Ministers do not seem to mind it, and are
+<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span>
+rather elated at such a signal proof of his disposition to support
+them. I think, as far as being a discouragement to
+the Tories, and putting an end to their notion that he is
+hankering after them, it may be of use, and it is probably
+true that he does not wish for a change, but on the contrary
+dreads it. He naturally dreads whatever is likely to raise a
+storm about his ears and interrupt his repose.</p>
+
+<p>Lyndhurst is in such a rage at his defeat in the House
+of Lords on the Local Courts Bill that he swore at first he
+would never come there again. What he said&mdash;that &lsquo;if they
+had considered it a party question the result would have
+been very different,&rsquo; which Brougham unaccountably took for
+a threat against the Government&mdash;was levelled at his own
+Tory friends for not supporting him. On the third reading
+they mean to have another fight about it. I understand the
+lawyers that the Bill is very objectionable, and calculated to
+degrade the profession. I sat by Talleyrand at dinner the day
+before yesterday, who told me a good deal about Mirabeau,
+but as he had a bad cold, in addition to his usual mode of
+pumping up his words from the bottomest pit of his stomach,
+it was next to impossible to understand him. He said
+Mirabeau was really intimate with three people only&mdash;himself,
+Narbonne, and Lauzun&mdash;that Auguste d&rsquo;Aremberg was
+the negotiator of the Court and medium of its communications
+with Mirabeau; that he had found (during the provisional
+Government) a receipt of Mirabeau&rsquo;s for a million,
+which he had given to Louis XVIII.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.</h2>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h4>LONDON: PRINTED BY <br />
+SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE <br />
+AND PARLIAMENT STREET</h4>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+<table style="width:75%;" border="1" summary="">
+	<tr>
+		<td><a href="#IX_A">A</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_B">B</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_C">C</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_D">D</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_E">E</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_F">F</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_G">G</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_H">H</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_I">I</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_J">J</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_K">K</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_L">L</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_M">M</a></td>
+	</tr>
+	<tr>
+		<td><a href="#IX_N">N</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_O">O</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_P">P</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_Q">Q</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_R">R</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_S">S</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_T">T</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_U">U</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_V">V</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_W">W</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_X">X</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_Y">Y</a></td>
+		<td><a href="#IX_Z">Z</a></td>
+	</tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_A" id="IX_A"></a>
+Abercromby, Right Hon. James,
+  proposed as Speaker, ii. 333;
+  Master of the Mint, iii. 95;
+  proposed as Speaker, 201;
+  the Speakership, 204;
+  elected Speaker, 213</li>
+
+<li>Aberdeen, Earl of,
+  Duchy of Lancaster, i. 124;
+  motion about Belgium, ii. <a href="#Page_238">238</a></li>
+
+<li>Achmet Pacha,
+  concludes a treaty with Russia, iii. 69</li>
+
+<li>Adair, Right Hon. Sir Robert,
+  sworn in Privy Councillor, i. 136</li>
+
+<li>Addington, Henry Unwin,
+  recalled from Madrid, iii. 14</li>
+
+<li>Address, proposed amendment to the, iii. 217</li>
+
+<li>Adelaide, Queen, ii. <a href="#Page_7">7</a>;
+  at the Ancient Concert, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;
+  mobbed in the City, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+  audience of, about the crown, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;
+  coronation of, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;
+  Lord Howe, <a href="#Page_338">338</a>;
+  yacht, iii. 99;
+  return of, 125;
+  illness of, 125;
+  supposed to be with child, 198, 199, 201</li>
+
+<li>Adrian&rsquo;s Villa, i. 377</li>
+
+<li>Agar Ellis, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Dover">Dover, Lord</a></li>
+
+<li>Alava, General, and the Duke of Cumberland, iii. 275</li>
+
+<li>Albani, Cardinal,
+  influence of, i. 310;
+  conversation with, 373;
+  interview with, 380</li>
+
+<li>Albano, i. 331</li>
+
+<li>Alexander, Emperor of Russia,
+  death of, i. 78;
+  coronation of, described by Talleyrand, ii. <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
+
+<li>Allen, Dr., Bishop of Ely, iii. 363</li>
+
+<li>Allen, John, iii. 135;
+  unbelief of, 324</li>
+
+<li>Althorp, Viscount,
+  <a name="IX_Althorp" id="IX_Althorp"></a>
+  proposed as Chairman of the Finance Committee, i. 120;
+  Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>,
+  introduces the budget, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;
+  leader of the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;
+  letter to Attwood, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;
+  hurries on the Irish Church Bill, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;
+  as Chancellor of the Exchequer, iii. 2;
+  arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms, 56;
+  financial statement, 60;
+  defects as leader, 62;
+  summons a meeting of the supporters of Government, 92;
+  resigns, 101;
+  popularity of, 105;
+  Chancellor of the Exchequer under Lord Melbourne, 113;
+  succeeds his father as Earl Spencer, 140</li>
+
+<li>Alvanley, Lord,
+  duel with Morgan O&rsquo;Connell, ii. <a href="#Page_257">257</a>;
+  on Irish affairs, <a href="#Page_348">348</a></li>
+
+<li>America,
+  dispute with France, iii. 322</li>
+
+<li>Anglesey, Marquis of,
+  recalled, i. 149;
+  entry into Dublin, ii. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;
+  disputes with O&rsquo;Connell, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+
+<li>Antwerp,
+  threatened bombardment of, by the Dutch, ii. <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;
+  French army marches to, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></li>
+
+<li>Arbuthnot, Right Hon. Charles,
+  nickname &lsquo;Gosh,&rsquo; i. 103;
+  conversation with, on the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s Administration, ii. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>;
+  conversation with, at Oatlands, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+<li>Arbuthnot, Mrs.,
+  death of, iii. 116</li>
+
+<li>Arkwright, Sir Richard,
+  fortunes of iii. 50</li>
+
+<li>Arkwright, Mrs., visit to, iii. 49</li>
+
+<li>Arms Bill, the, ii. <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
+
+<li>Arnold, Dr., proposed for a bishopric, iii. 325</li>
+
+<li>Artevelde, Philip van, iii. 114;
+  discussed at Holland House, 128</li>
+
+<li>Ascot Races,
+  1831, ii. <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;
+  1833, <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li>
+
+<li>Attwood,
+  chairman of the Birmingham Union, ii. <a href="#Page_205">205</a>,
+    <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;
+  proclamation against, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
+
+<li>Auckland, Lord,
+  Board of Trade, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  First Lord of the Admiralty, iii. 88, 113;
+  on the state of affairs, 238;
+  First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s second Administration, 256</li>
+
+<li>Augustus, Prince, of Prussia, ii. <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li>
+
+<li>Austin, Mr. John, his work on Jurisprudence, iii. 138</li>
+
+<li>Austin, Mr. Charles, ii. <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+
+<li>Aylmer, Lord,
+  recalled from Canada, iii. 394;
+  the King&rsquo;s address to him, 395</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_B" id="IX_B"></a>
+Bachelor,
+  valet to the Duke of York and to King George IV.,
+    i. 142, 143;
+  conversation with, ii. <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+
+<li>Bagot, Lord, conduct to Lord Harrowby, ii. <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+<li>Baiæ, Bay of, i. 341</li>
+
+<li>Baring, House of, ii. <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
+
+<li>Baring, Right Hon. Alexander,
+  offered the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, ii. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;
+  proposes a compromise with the ex-Ministers, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
+
+<li>Baring, Francis,
+  Chairman of the West India Committee, iii. 279</li>
+
+<li>Barnes, Mr., editor of the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;
+  negotiations with, for supporting the Government, iii. 155, 156, 157
+  dines with Lord Lyndhurst, 167, 169
+  alarm of, at the prevailing spirit, 188</li>
+
+<li>Barri, Madame du, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+<li>Barry, Dr.,
+  sent to Sunderland, ii. <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;
+  report on cholera, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li>
+
+<li>Bath, Chapter of the Order of the, i. 254</li>
+
+<li>Bathurst, Earl,
+  Lord President, i. 124;
+  death of, iii. 115;
+  character of, 115</li>
+
+<li>Bathurst, Countess, conversation with, ii. <a href="#Page_62">62</a></li>
+
+<li>Bathurst, Hon. William,
+  appointed Clerk of the Council, ii. <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>;
+  delay in appointment of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;
+  sworn in Clerk of the Council, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+
+<li>Bathurst, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. Seymour,
+  death of, iii. 79</li>
+
+<li>Baudrand, General, ii. <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;
+  reception of, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Bazaar, in Hanover Square, ii. <a href="#Page_383">383</a></li>
+
+<li>Beauclerc, Lord Aurelius,
+  dances a country dance with the King, ii. <a href="#Page_341">341</a></li>
+
+<li>Belgian question, the, settlement of, ii. <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li>
+
+<li>Belgium,
+  revolution in, ii. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;
+  affairs of, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;
+  unsettled state of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;
+  deputation from, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;
+  fortresses of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;
+  invaded by the Dutch, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;
+  French army refuses to leave, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;
+  end of hostilities with the Dutch, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;
+  Conference, 1832, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
+
+<li>Belmore, Earl of, Governor of Jamaica, i. 140, 147</li>
+
+<li>Belvoir Castle, iii. 46</li>
+
+<li>Benson, Canon, sermon at the Temple Church, ii. <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+
+<li>Bentinck, Right Hon. Lord William,
+  desires to be appointed Governor-General of India, i. 59;
+  address to the electors of Glasgow, iii. 339, 343;
+  qualities of, 339;
+  inscription on monument in honour of, 340</li>
+
+<li>Bentinck, Lord Henry, quarrel with Sir Roger Gresley, ii. <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+
+<li>Bergara, Convention of, iii. 259</li>
+
+<li>Berri, Duchesse de, in La Vendée, ii. <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li>
+
+<li>Berry, Miss, iii. 58</li>
+
+<li>Berryer, M., iii. 379;
+  appearance of, 380</li>
+
+<li>Best, Right Hon. William Draper, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Wynford">Lord Wynford</a></li>
+
+<li>Bethnal Green, distress in, ii. <a href="#Page_261">261</a></li>
+
+<li>Bexley, Lord,
+  Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i. 95</li>
+
+<li>Biekersteth, Henry, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Langdale">Lord Langdale</a></li>
+
+<li>Blacas, M. de,
+  favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. <a href="#Page_305">305</a></li>
+
+<li>Black Book, the, ii. <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+<li>Bloomfield, Sir Benjamin,
+  dismissal of, i. 55</li>
+
+<li>Blount, Rev. Mr.,
+  sermon, iii. 12</li>
+
+<li>Body-snatchers, ii. <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li>
+
+<li>Bologna, i. 402</li>
+
+<li>Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon,
+  in the 100 days, i. 24;
+  campaigns of, described by Marshal Marmont, ii. <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li>
+
+<li>Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon,
+  Strasburg attempt, iii. 381</li>
+
+<li>Bonaparte, Joseph,
+  at dinner at Lady Cork&rsquo;s, iii. 18</li>
+
+<li>Bonaparte, Lucien,
+  introduced to the Duke of Wellington, iii. 11;
+  at dinner at Lady Cork&rsquo;s, 18</li>
+
+<li>Boodle&rsquo;s, dinner at, ii. <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li>Bosanquet, Right Hon. Sir John Bernard,
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, iii. 30;
+  Judge of the King&rsquo;s Bench, 71</li>
+
+<li>Boswell, &lsquo;Life of Johnson,&rsquo; anecdotes lost, ii. <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li>
+
+<li>Boulogne, iii. 388</li>
+
+<li>Bourbon, Duke de, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li>Bourmont, Marshal de, marches on Lisbon, iii. 25</li>
+
+<li>Bourne, Right Hon. Sturges,
+  Secretary of State for the Home Department, i. 95</li>
+
+<li>Bowring, Dr.,
+  sent to Paris, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  satire of Moore on, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  career of, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></li>
+
+<li>Bradshaw, Mrs., acting of, at Bridgewater House, ii. <a href="#Page_353">353</a></li>
+
+<li>Brescia, i. 412</li>
+
+<li>Bretby,
+  visit to, iii. 327;
+  Chesterfield Papers, 327</li>
+
+<li>Bridgewater House, dramatic performances at, iii. 352, 355</li>
+
+<li>Bridgewater Election, iii. 398</li>
+
+<li>Brighton,
+  the Court at, 1832, ii. <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;
+  races, 1835, iii. 284</li>
+
+<li>Bristol, riots at, ii. <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
+
+<li>Broglie, Duke de, conduct of, iii. 386</li>
+
+<li>Brooks&rsquo;s Club, iii. 320</li>
+
+<li>Brougham, Lord,
+  attack upon, in &lsquo;Quarterly Review,&rsquo; i. 16;
+  speech on the Queen&rsquo;s trial, 35;
+  letter to the Queen, 57;
+  character of, 117;
+  qualities of, ii. <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;
+  appointed Lord High Chancellor, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;
+  discontent of, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;
+  social qualities of, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;
+  anecdote of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;
+  quarrel with Sugden, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;
+  correspondence with Southey on rewards to literary men, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;
+  speech on Chancery Reform, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;
+  domestic kindness of, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;
+  origin of representation of Yorkshire, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;
+  as Lord Chancellor, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>;
+  at the Horse Guards, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;
+  as a judge, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;
+  at dinner at Hanbury&rsquo;s brewery, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;
+  at the British Museum, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;
+  claims the old Great Seal, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;
+  intention of sitting at the Privy Council, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;
+  speech on the Russian Loan, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;
+  quarrel with Sugden, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;
+  anecdote of, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;
+  Bill for creating a new Court of Appeal, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;
+  Bill objected to, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;
+  Judicial Committee of the Privy Council Bill, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;
+  sits on the case of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor, <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;
+  as Chancellor, iii. 22;
+  anecdotes of Queen Caroline, 36;
+  and Sir William Home, 67;
+  meets Sir Thomas Denman in Bedfordshire, 71;
+  judicial changes, 71;
+  defence of himself, 72;
+  apology for, 76;
+  speech on Lord Wynford&rsquo;s Bill for the observance of the Sabbath, 83;
+  on the Pluralities Bill, 86;
+  on the Irish Church, 94;
+  and the &lsquo;Times,&rsquo; 96;
+  Lord Chancellor in Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Administration, 113;
+  and Lord Westmeath, 119;
+  conduct in the Westmeath case, 119, 124;
+  versatility of, 121;
+  lines applied to, 121;
+  Greek epigrams, 121;
+  ambition of, 122;
+  in Scotland, 133;
+  communicates to the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; the fall of Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s first
+      Administration, 145;
+  resigns the Great Seal, 156;
+  takes leave of the Bar, 156;
+  asks for the Chief Baronship, 157;
+  anecdote, 232;
+  conduct of, in the case of Swift <i>v.</i> Kelly, 260, 267;
+  on the London University Charter, 261;
+  judgment in the case of Swift <i>v.</i> Kelly, 274;
+  on the Corporation Bill, 286;
+  violence in the House of Lords, 303;
+  illness of, 329;
+  and Macaulay, 337, 338;
+  at Queen Victoria&rsquo;s first Council, 408</li>
+
+<li>Brummel, &lsquo;Beau,&rsquo; i. 282</li>
+
+<li>Brussels, disturbances at, ii. <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
+
+<li>Buccleuch, Duke of,
+  subscription to election expenses, iii. 182</li>
+
+<li>Budget, the, 1831, ii. <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
+
+<li>Buller, James, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Bülow, Baron von, on English affairs, iii. 211</li>
+
+<li>Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, iii. 348</li>
+
+<li>Bunsen, Baron, i. 315;
+  career of, 327;
+  on Roman affairs, 389</li>
+
+<li>Burdett, Sir Francis,
+  returned for Westminster, 1837, iii. 398</li>
+
+<li>Burghersh, Lord,
+  at Florence, i. 299;
+  amateur opera, 301</li>
+
+<li>Burghersh, Lady,
+  intercedes for a prisoner at the Old Bailey, ii. <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+<li>Burghley, party at, iii. 53</li>
+
+<li>Burke, Right Hon. Edmund,
+  writings of, iii. 209;
+  compared with Mackintosh, 314</li>
+
+<li>Burke, Sir G., conversation with, on O&rsquo;Connell, ii. <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+<li>Buxton, Fowell, dinner at the brewery, ii. <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+
+<li>Byng, Right Hon. George, Lord of the Treasury, iii. 95</li>
+
+<li>Byron, Lord,
+  Moore&rsquo;s Life of, i. 272;
+  character of, 273</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_C" id="IX_C"></a>
+Cambridge, H.R.H. the Duchess of,
+  reception of, i. 2</li>
+
+<li>Cambridge, University of,
+  petition for the admission of Dissenters to the, iii. 72, 75</li>
+
+<li>Campbell, Sir John, Solicitor-General, ii. <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;
+  Attorney-General, iii. 141</li>
+
+<li>Canada, affairs in, iii. 350</li>
+
+<li>Canning, Right Hon. Sir  Stratford,
+  Ambassador at St. Petersburg, ii. <a href="#Page_352">352</a>, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;
+  anecdote of, iii. 39;
+  offered the Governor-Generalship of Canada, 234</li>
+
+<li>Canning, Right Hon. George. Foreign Secretary, i. 55;
+  correspondence with the King on taking office, 59;
+  forms an Administration (1827), 93, 95;
+  death of, 103;
+  anecdotes of, 104;
+  industrious habits of, 106;
+  memoirs of, 263, 272;
+  despatch in verse, 326;
+  sagacity of, ii. <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;
+  conversation with the King, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>;
+  correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;
+  coldness to the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;
+  anecdote of, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;
+  negotiation with the Whigs, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;
+  influence over Lord Liverpool, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;
+  in favour with the King, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;
+  on Reform, iii. 135;
+  and King George IV., 137</li>
+
+<li>Canning, Lady,
+  visit to, ii. <a href="#Page_101">101</a>;
+  authorship of pamphlet, iii. 40</li>
+
+<li>Canning, Mr. Charles,
+  offered a Lordship of the Treasury, iii. 202</li>
+
+<li>Cannizzaro, Duchess of, iii. 11;
+  crowns the Duke of Wellington, 406</li>
+
+<li>Canterbury, Archbishop of,
+  indecision of the, ii. <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;
+  importance of support of the, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li>
+
+<li>Canterbury, Viscount,
+  declines to go to Canada, iii. 234</li>
+
+<li>Capo di Monte, i. 335</li>
+
+<li>Capua, i. 360</li>
+
+<li>Cardinals, the, i. 309</li>
+
+<li>Carlisle, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95; iii. 88</li>
+
+<li>Carlists, the,
+  in Spain, iii. 66</li>
+
+<li>Carlos, Don,
+  in London, iii. 98</li>
+
+<li>Carlow election, iii. 348</li>
+
+<li>Carnarvon, Earl of,
+  refuses to move the address in the House of Lords, iii. 202</li>
+
+<li>Caroline, Queen,
+  return of, i. 28;
+  trial of, 31, 35;
+  anecdote of, iii. 37</li>
+
+<li>Carvalho, Minister of Finance to Dom Pedro, iii. 93</li>
+
+<li>Catacombs, the, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Rome">Rome</a></li>
+
+<li>Catholic emancipation, i. 163, 172, 174</li>
+
+<li>Catholic Relief Bill,
+  excitement concerning the, i. 180;
+  debates on, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Lords">Lords</a> and <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons</a></li>
+
+<li>Cato Street Conspiracy, the, i. 26</li>
+
+<li>Cayla, Madame du, i. 71;
+  dinner at the Duke of Wellington&rsquo;s, 214;
+  Béranger&rsquo;s verses on, 215;
+  favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+
+<li>Cenis, the Mont, i. 287</li>
+
+<li>Champollion, Jean François,
+  death of, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+<li>Chapeau de Paille, the,
+  purchase of, ii. <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Chapel, near Holland House, unable to be consecrated, iii. 200</li>
+
+<li>Charles I., King,
+  head of, discovered at Windsor, ii. <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;
+  executioner of, iii. 132</li>
+
+<li>Charles X., King, of France,
+  arrival of in England, ii. <a href="#Page_31">31</a>;
+  at Lulworth Castle, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;
+  off Cowes, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Charlotte, Queen,
+  illness of, i. 2, 3</li>
+
+<li>Charlotte, H.R.H. the Princess,
+  anecdotes of, ii. <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li>
+
+<li>Chartres, H.R.H. the Duc de,
+  arrival of, i. 208</li>
+
+<li>Chatham, Earl of,
+  death of, iii. 316</li>
+
+<li>Chatsworth,
+  hospitality at, i. 237;
+  charade at, 238;
+  party at, ii. <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+
+<li>Chesterfield Papers, the, iii. 327</li>
+
+<li>Chobert, the &lsquo;Fire King,&rsquo; i. 276</li>
+
+<li>Cholera, the,
+  in Russia, ii. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;
+  account of, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;
+  preventive measures against, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;
+  effect on trade of, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;
+  spread of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;
+  alarm about, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;
+  at Berlin, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;
+  at Sunderland, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_210">210</a>;
+  at Marseilles, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;
+  on the decline, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;
+  near Edinburgh, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;
+  in London, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;
+  in Bethnal Green, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;
+  account of, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;
+  diminution of, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;
+  in Paris, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;
+  alarm in London, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></li>
+
+<li>Christina, Queen, of Spain, iii. 66, 72;
+  reported flight of, 360;
+  courage of, 365</li>
+
+<li>Christmas trees,
+  introduced by Princess Lieven at Panshanger, i. 259</li>
+
+<li>Church Bill, the,
+  Committee on, iii. 199</li>
+
+<li>Church Reform, iii. 206</li>
+
+<li>City, the,
+  address to the King, ii. <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;
+  illumination in, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;
+  election, 1835, iii. 184, 186, 187;
+  anxiety in the money-market, 373, 376</li>
+
+<li>Civil List, the,
+  excess of  expenditure on, i. 253;
+  for debates on, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>Clanricarde, Marquis of,
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+<li>Clarence, H.R.H. the Duke of,
+  Lord High Admiral, i. 95;
+  removal of, from the office of Lord High Admiral, 138, 140.
+  <i>See</i> <a href="#IX_William">William IV.</a></li>
+
+<li>Cobbett, William,
+  trial of, ii. <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;
+  returned for Oldham, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;
+  takes his seat, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  and Sir Robert Peel, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
+
+<li>Cochrane, Lord,
+  at Florence, i. 301;
+  villa near Florence, 302</li>
+
+<li>Codrington, Sir E.,
+  interview with the Duke of Wellington, i. 179</li>
+
+<li>Coercion Bill, the, introduced, ii. <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li>
+
+<li>Colchester Election, iii. 112</li>
+
+<li>Commons, House of;
+  <a name="IX_Commons" id="IX_Commons"></a>
+  Alien Bill, i. 1;
+  Dr. Halloran&rsquo;s petition, 14;
+  debate on grant to the Duke of York, 18;
+  debates on Queen Caroline, 30, 32, 38;
+  Small Notes Bill, 79;
+  debates on Catholic Relief Bill, 91, 133, 166, 191;
+  division on Catholic Relief Bill, 185;
+  Catholic Relief Bill read a third time, 203;
+  Regency and Civil List, ii. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;
+  debate on the Evesham election, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;
+  debate on the Civil List, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;
+  announcement of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;
+  Pension List, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;
+  debate on Ireland, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;
+  Budget of 1831, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>;
+  proposed reductions, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;
+  introduction of the first Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;
+  debates on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>;
+  debate on the Timber duties, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>;
+  debate on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;
+  division on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;
+  Government defeated, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;
+  scene in the House, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;
+  second reading of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;
+  Wine duties, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;
+  Reform Bill, Schedule A, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;
+  second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;
+  debate on, and second reading of the second Reform Bill carried, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;
+  Reform Bill supported by the Irish Members, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>;
+  division on the Russian Loan, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;
+  division on the sugar duties, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;
+  Reform Bill passed, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;
+  debates, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;
+  violent scene in debate on petition of the City of London, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;
+  Irish Tithe question, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>;
+  debate on, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;
+  debate on the Address, <a href="#Page_353">353</a>;
+  Irish Church Reform, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;
+  aspect of the reformed House, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;
+  debate on Slave Emancipation, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;
+  vote of confidence in the Ministers, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>;
+  division on the Irish Church Bill, <a href="#Page_381">381</a>;
+  vote against sinecures, iii. 13;
+  division on Apprenticeship Clause of West India Bill, 16;
+  disorganised state of the House, 17;
+  Pension List, 60;
+  business of the House, 61;
+  debate on the Corn Laws, 68;
+  debate on admission of Dissenters to the University, 75;
+  debate on Repeal of the Union, 80;
+  Pension List, 80;
+  debate on Portugal, 82;
+  Poor Law Bill, 83;
+  debate on Irish Tithe Bill, 98, 99;
+  gallery for reporters, 205;
+  debate on the Speakership, 214;
+  debate on the Address, 221;
+  debate and division on amendment to the Address, 223;
+  Malt Tax, 224;
+  debate on appointment of Lord Londonderry, 225;
+  Dissenters&rsquo; Marriage Bill, 230;
+  Government beaten on Chatham election, 234;
+  state of parties in the House, 234;
+  debate and division on Irish Church question, 240;
+  uproar in the House, 243;
+  Government defeated on Irish Tithe Bill, 246;
+  debate on Irish Church Bill, 281;
+  position of the House, 288, 291;
+  conflict with the House of Lords, 225;
+  debate and division on the amendment to the Address, 334;
+  effect of division, 336;
+  Opposition defeated, 347;
+  division, 359;
+  Irish Corporation Bill, 388;
+  insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389;
+  debates on Irish Tithe Bill, 391;
+  abandonment of the appropriation clauses, 393</li>
+
+<li>Como, i. 414</li>
+
+<li>Conroy, Sir John, ii. <a href="#Page_190">190</a>; iii. 3</li>
+
+<li>Conservative Club,
+  dinner at, ii. <a href="#Page_327">327</a>;
+  speeches, <a href="#Page_327">327</a></li>
+
+<li>Constantine, the Grand Duke,
+  accident to, i. 259;
+  death of, ii. <a href="#Page_164">164</a></li>
+
+<li>Convention signed between France, England, and Holland, ii. <a href="#Page_375">375</a></li>
+
+<li>Conyngham, Marquis of, Postmaster-General, iii. 88, 113</li>
+
+<li>Conyngham, Marchioness of, i. 46;
+  wears a Crown jewel, 48;
+  Court intrigues, 207</li>
+
+<li>Conyngham, Lord Francis, i. 50</li>
+
+<li>Coprogli, History of the Grand Vizier, iii. 115</li>
+
+<li>Cornelius, painter, ii. <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
+
+<li>Coronation, the, of William IV.
+  decided on, ii. <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;
+  preparations for, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;
+  estimates for, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;
+  disputes over the arrangements for, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+<li>Cottenham, Lord,
+  <a name="IX_Cottenham" id="IX_Cottenham"></a>
+  Lord High Chancellor, iii. 328</li>
+
+<li>Cotton, Sir Willoughby,
+  suppresses the insurrection in Jamaica, ii. <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;
+  on affairs in Jamaica, <a href="#Page_380">380</a></li>
+
+<li>Council, Clerk of the,
+  Mr. Greville sworn in, i. 44;
+  after the accession of William IV., ii. <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;
+  Lord Grey&rsquo;s Administration sworn in, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;
+  for the proclamation against rioters, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;
+  recorder&rsquo;s report in, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>;
+  clerks of the, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>;
+  scene at Council for a new Great Seal, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+
+<li>Council, Privy:
+  suttee case before the, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;
+  embargo on Dutch ships, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;
+  meeting of the, on the London University petition, iii. 80;
+  counter petition of Oxford and Cambridge, 80</li>
+
+<li>Council, Cabinet:
+  the first of Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Administration, iii. 120;
+  the first of Sir Robert Peel&rsquo;s Administration, 174</li>
+
+<li>Covent Garden Theatrical Fund Dinner, i. 205</li>
+
+<li>Coventry, glove trade, ii. <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li>
+
+<li>Cowley, Abraham,
+  lines from &lsquo;Ode to Solitude,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
+
+<li>Cowper, Earl, at Panshanger, ii. <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+<li>Cowper, Countess, at Panshanger, ii. <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+<li>Cowper, William, Life of, by Southey, iii. 134</li>
+
+<li>Cradock, Colonel, sent to Charles X., ii. <a href="#Page_37">37</a></li>
+
+<li>Crampton, Sir Philip, Irish story, i. 243</li>
+
+<li>Craven, Earl of, disperses a mob, ii. <a href="#Page_77">77</a>;
+  on the proposed new Peers, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
+
+<li>Craven, General the Hon. Berkeley, suicide of, iii. 350</li>
+
+<li>Crawford, William, member for the City of London, iii. 188</li>
+
+<li>Creevey, Mr., i. 235</li>
+
+<li>Croker, Right Hon. John Wilson, edition of &lsquo;Boswell&rsquo;s Life of Johnson,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;
+  reviews lost, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
+
+<li>Cumberland, H.S.H. the Duke of,
+  opposition to Catholic Relief Bill, i. 180;
+  intrigues at Court, 222;
+  insults Lady Lyndhurst, 222, 223;
+  quarrel with Lord Lyndhurst, 224;
+  disputes concerning the office of &lsquo;Gold Stick,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li>
+
+<li>Cumberland, H.P..H. the Duchess of, i. 2</li>
+
+<li>Cuvier, Baron, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_D" id="IX_D"></a>
+Dalberg, Duke de, letter on European affairs, ii. <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
+
+<li>Dawson, Right Hon. George Robert,
+  speech on Catholic Emancipation, i. 138, 200;
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_71">71</a></li>
+
+<li>De Gazes, Duke, favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;
+  Ambassador to the Court of St. James, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
+
+<li>Dedel, M., Dutch Minister at the Court of St. James, iii, 32</li>
+
+<li>Denbigh, Earl of, Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide, ii. <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;
+  sworn in Privy Councillor, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Denman, Lord, correspondence with the King, i. 156;
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;
+  Lord Chief Justice, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;
+  qualities of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;
+  meeting of, with Lord Brougham, in Bedfordshire, iii. 71;
+  raised to the Peerage, 74</li>
+
+<li>Derby Dilly, the, iii. 236, 237, 253</li>
+
+<li>De Ros, Lord, in Rome, i. 368</li>
+
+<li>De Ros, Colonel, the Hon. Arthur John Hill,
+  death of, i. 81;
+  character of, 82</li>
+
+<li>Dickenson, Captain, trial of, by court-martial, i. 235</li>
+
+<li>Diebitsch, Marshal, death of, from cholera, ii. <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Dino, Duc de, arrest of the, i. 255</li>
+
+<li>Dino, Duchesse de, ii. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;
+   on the state of France, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li>
+
+<li>Discontent throughout the country, ii. <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+<li>Disraeli, Benjamin, projects for sitting in Parliament, iii. 170</li>
+
+<li>Dissenters&rsquo; Marriage Bill, iii. 207, 230.
+  For debates on, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>Dorsetshire election, 1831, ii. <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;
+  crime in, iii. 77</li>
+
+<li>Dover, Lord,
+  <a name="IX_Dover" id="IX_Dover"></a>
+  resigns the Woods and Forests, ii. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;
+  created a Peer, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;
+  death of, iii. 4;
+  character of, 4;
+  Life of Frederick II., 6;
+  book on the Man in the Iron Mask, 6</li>
+
+<li>Down, deanery of, iii. 70</li>
+
+<li>Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor, case of, ii. <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;
+  lunacy case, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;
+  decision on, <a href="#Page_375">375</a>;
+  final meeting on, <a href="#Page_377">377</a></li>
+
+<li>Drummond, Henry, mission to the Archbishop of York, iii. 333</li>
+
+<li>Dublin Police Bill, iii. 333</li>
+
+<li>Dudley, Earl of, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, i. 95, 124;
+  dinner to Marshal Marmont, ii. <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;
+  eccentricity of, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Duke of Milan,&rsquo; quotation from the, i. 178</li>
+
+<li>Dülcken, Madam, performs before the Judicial Committee, iii. 325</li>
+
+<li>Duncannon, Viscount, iii. 104;
+  called to the House of Lords, and Secretary of State, 109;
+  sworn in, 112;
+  Home Secretary, 113;
+  on O&rsquo;Connell, 117;
+  at a fire in Edward Street, 117;
+  on the state of affairs, 196;
+  Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord Melbourne, 256</li>
+
+<li>Duncombe, Hon. Thomas Slingsby, maiden speech of, i. 128;
+  petition from Barnet, ii. <a href="#Page_255">255</a>;
+  guilty of libel, iii. 9;
+  at Hillingdon, 123</li>
+
+<li>Durham, Earl of, quarrel with Lady Jersey, ii. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;
+  influence over Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;
+  attack on Lord Grey at a Cabinet dinner, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;
+  rudeness of, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;
+  return from Russia, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;
+  violence of, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;
+  created an earl, <a href="#Page_365">365</a></li>
+
+<li>Dwarris, Sir Fortunatus, dinner at the house of, ii. <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_E" id="IX_E"></a>
+East, Sir E. Hyde, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+<li>Eboli, Duchesse d&rsquo;, ball at Naples, i. 335</li>
+
+<li>Ebrington, Viscount, moves a vote of
+  confidence in the Government, ii. <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
+
+<li>Ebury, Lord, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
+
+<li>Egremont, Earl of, at Petworth, ii. <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;
+  wealth of, <a href="#Page_337">337</a>;
+  hospitality to the poor, iii. 84</li>
+
+<li>Eldon, Earl of, audience of King George IV., i. 197;
+  speech at Apsley House, ii. <a href="#Page_198">198</a>;
+  career of, <a href="#Page_378">378</a>;
+  tribute to, iii. 42</li>
+
+<li>Election, General, in 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;
+  in 1831, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>;
+  in 1832, <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;
+  in 1835, iii. 184, 189, 191, 193;
+  results of, 195;
+  in the counties, 198;
+  result, 201</li>
+
+<li>Eliot, Lord, return of, from Spain, iii. 259;
+  conversation with Louis Philippe, 259</li>
+
+<li>Ellenborough, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 124;
+  letter to Sir John Malcolm, 271;
+  on West India affairs, ii. <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;
+  on Egypt, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  speech on admission of Dissenters to the University, iii. 73</li>
+
+<li>Ellesmere, Earl of,
+  <a name="IX_Ellesmere" id="IX_Ellesmere"></a>
+  Irish Secretary, i. 146</li>
+
+<li>Ellice, Right Hon. Edward, iii. 104;
+  and the Colchester election, 112;
+  Secretary for War, 113;
+  in Paris, 379</li>
+
+<li>Elliot, Frederic, letter from Canada, iii. 325</li>
+
+<li>Epsom races, 1831, ii. <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;
+  in 1833, <a href="#Page_373">373</a></li>
+
+<li>Erskine, Right Hon. Thomas, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;
+  Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, <a href="#Page_223">223</a></li>
+
+<li>Escars, Duchesse d&rsquo;, at a party given by the Duke of Wellington, i. 214</li>
+
+<li>Este, Sir Augustus d&rsquo;, behaviour of, ii. <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li>Esterhazy, Prince Paul, conversation with, ii. <a href="#Page_40">40</a>;
+  on Belgian affairs, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>;
+  on the state of England, iii. 32;
+  on affairs in Europe, 370;
+  conversation with, 373</li>
+
+<li>Europe, state of, ii. <a href="#Page_126">126</a>;
+  in 1831, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;
+  in 1836, iii. 370</li>
+
+<li>Evans, General de Lacy, iii. 265;
+  reported death of, 359</li>
+
+<li>Evans, the incendiary, arrest of, ii. <a href="#Page_70">70</a></li>
+
+<li>Exeter, Bishop of,
+  <a name="IX_Exeter" id="IX_Exeter"></a>
+  correspondence with Lord Melbourne, ii. <a href="#Page_97">97</a>;
+  interview with Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;
+  talents of, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;
+  ambition of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_F" id="IX_F"></a>
+Falck, Baron, ii. <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a></li>
+
+<li>Ferdinand, Emperor, of Austria, iii. 374</li>
+
+<li>Fergusson, Right Hon. Cutlar, Judge Advocate, iii. 95</li>
+
+<li>Ferrara, i. 405</li>
+
+<li>Fieschi conspiracy, iii. 286</li>
+
+<li>Fingall, Earl of, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li>Finsbury election, 1834, Radical returned, iii. 100</li>
+
+<li>Fitzclarence, Colonel George, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Munster">Munster, Earl of</a></li>
+
+<li>Fitzclarence, Lord Frederick, resigns appointment at the Tower, ii. <a href="#Page_362">362</a></li>
+
+<li>Fitzclarence, Lord Adolphus, picture of, ii. <a href="#Page_179">179</a></li>
+
+<li>Fitzclarence, Lord Augustus, at Ascot, ii. <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;
+  picture of, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></li>
+
+<li>Fitzclarence, Lady Augusta, marriage of, iii. 363</li>
+
+<li>Fitzgerald, Right Hon. Vesey, i. 150</li>
+
+<li>Fitzherbert, Sirs., death of, iii. 396;
+  documents of, 396</li>
+
+<li>Flahault, Madame de, anecdotes of Princess Charlotte, ii. <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;
+  <i>salon</i> of, in Paris, iii. 381</li>
+
+<li>Fleury, Cardinal, ii. <a href="#Page_347">347</a></li>
+
+<li>Florence, i. 299;
+  sights of, 300;
+  society at, 302;
+  sculpture, 300, 301;
+  pictures, 303;
+  Grand Duke, 303</li>
+
+<li>Foley, Lord, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;
+  Lord-Lieutenant of Worcestershire, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>;
+  at St. James&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
+
+<li>Fonblanque, Albany, iii. 348</li>
+
+<li>Forester, Right Hon. Colonel Cecil,
+  resigns his appointment as Groom of the Bedchamber, ii. <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li>
+
+<li>Forfar election, 1835, iii. 197</li>
+
+<li>Fox, Mrs. Lane, accompanies the Prince of Orange to Gravesend, ii. <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;
+  receives the Cabinet Ministers, iii. 140</li>
+
+<li>Fox, Right Hon. Charles James, described by Talleyrand, ii. <a href="#Page_344">344</a></li>
+
+<li>Fox, W.J., Unitarian minister, sermon, iii. 43</li>
+
+<li>France, state of affairs in, i. 284;
+  appearance of the country, 287;
+  impending crisis in 1830, 369;
+  events in 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;
+  revolution, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>;
+  Duke of Orleans ascends the throne, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;
+  political prospects, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;
+  reconstruction of the Constitution, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;
+  army ordered to Belgium, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;
+  army in Belgium, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>;
+  seizure of Portuguese ships, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;
+  republican tendencies of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;
+  state of the country, 1831, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;
+  weakness of the Government of Louis Philippe, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;
+  dispute with America, iii. 322;
+  state of the country, 382</li>
+
+<li>Francis, Sir Philip, handwriting of, i. 234</li>
+
+<li>Franklin, Benjamin, ii. <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
+
+<li>Franz Joseph, Archduke, iii. 374</li>
+
+<li>Frascati, convent at, i. 305;
+  dinner at, 305;
+  visit to, 390</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_G" id="IX_G"></a>
+Gallatin, Albert, i. 257</li>
+
+<li>Gambier, Lord, proxy of, ii. <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li>
+
+<li>Garrick, David, anecdotes of ii. <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+
+<li>Gell, Sir William, at Rome, i. 372, 375</li>
+
+<li>Geneva, i. 415</li>
+
+<li>Genoa, i. 292;
+  palaces, 293, 295;
+  churches, 294;
+  tomb of Andrew Doria, 296</li>
+
+<li>George III., death of, i. 23;
+  will, 64;
+  jewels and property, 65;
+  dislike of the Duke of Richmond, iii. 129</li>
+
+<li>George IV.,
+  illness of, i. 23;
+  at the Pavilion, 49;
+  interview with, 91;
+  health and habits of, 143;
+  violent dislike to the Catholic Relief Bill, 153, 181;
+  character of, 155;
+  personal habits of, 189;
+  interview with the Lord Chancellor,
+     the Duke of Wellington, and Sir Robert Peel, 201;
+  health of, 206;
+  racing interests of, 212;
+  anecdotes concerning, 216;
+  eyesight affected, 233, 236;
+  courage of, 236;
+  conduct in reference to Mr. Denman, 250;
+  illness of, 368;
+  death of, 417;
+  funeral of, ii. <a href="#Page_4">4</a>;
+  sale of wardrobe, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;
+  details of last illness, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>;
+  anecdotes concerning, <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+
+<li>Gérard, Marshal, reported resignation of, ii. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;
+  ordered to Belgium, <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+
+<li>Gibson, John, R.A., at Rome, i. 383</li>
+
+<li>Gladstone, William Ewart, West India Committee, iii. 280</li>
+
+<li>Glenelg, Lord,
+  <a name="IX_Glenelg" id="IX_Glenelg"></a>
+  President of the Board of Trade, i. 124;
+  Board of Control, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, iii. 113;
+  Colonial Secretary in Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s second Administration, 256;
+  and the King, 276</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Glenfinlas&rsquo; performed at Bridgewater House, iii. 353, 355</li>
+
+<li>Glengall, Earl of, comedy by the, i. 249</li>
+
+<li>Glengall, Countess of, ii. <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+<li>Gloucester, H.R.H. the Duke of, ii. <a href="#Page_8">8</a></li>
+
+<li>Goderich, Viscount,
+  <a name="IX_Goderich" id="IX_Goderich"></a>
+  Small Notes Bill, i. 79;
+  Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs and War, 95;
+  sent for by the King, 107;
+  scene at Windsor, 108;
+  Administration of, formed, 108;
+  resignation of, 115;
+  returns to office, 116;
+  Ministry dissolved, 120;
+  Colonial Secretary, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  Lord Privy Seal, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;
+  created an earl, <a href="#Page_367">367</a>;
+  invested with the Order of the Garter, <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li>
+
+<li>Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+<li>Goodwood, ii. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;
+  in 1833, iii. 20</li>
+
+<li>Gorhambury, party at, ii. <a href="#Page_188">188</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Goriot, Le Père,&rsquo; iii. 378</li>
+
+<li>Goulburn, Right Hon. Henry, Chancellor of the Exchequer, i. 124</li>
+
+<li>Graham, Right Hon. Sir James, First Lord of the Admiralty, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  elevation of, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;
+  remarks on, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>;
+  resignation of, iii. 88;
+  declines to join the Peel Administration, 176;
+  conservative spirit of, 249;
+  on the crisis of 1835, 249;
+  joins the Opposition, 272</li>
+
+<li>Grange, The, attacked by a mob, ii. <a href="#Page_68">68</a></li>
+
+<li>Grant, Right Hon. Charles, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Glenelg">Glenelg, Lord</a></li>
+
+<li>Granville, Earl, Ambassador in Paris, iii. 385</li>
+
+<li>Granville, Countess, i. 10;
+  quarrel with M. Thiers, iii. 380</li>
+
+<li>Greece, policy of the English Government towards, i. 255</li>
+
+<li>Greenwich, dinner at, iii. 1</li>
+
+<li>Grenville, Thomas, conduct during the riots of 1780, iii. 129</li>
+
+<li>Gresley, Sir Roger, quarrel with Lord H. Bentinck, ii. <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+
+<li>Greville, Charles, sen., death of, ii. <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li>
+
+<li>Greville, Mrs., &lsquo;Ode to Indifference,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li>
+
+<li>Greville, Algernon, private secretary to the Duke of Wellington, iii. 163</li>
+
+<li>Grey, Earl, hostility to the Government, i. 100;
+  forms an Administration, 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  First Lord of the Treasury, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  at dinner at Lord Sefton&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;
+  nepotism of, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;
+  relations with Lord Lyndhurst, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>;
+  lays the Reform Bill before the King, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;
+  weakness of Government in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;
+  remarks on Administration of, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;
+  invested with the Order of the Garter, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>;
+  at dinner at Hanbury&rsquo;s Brewery, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>;
+  attacked on his foreign policy, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;
+  on Belgian affairs, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>;
+  attacked by Lord Durham, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>;
+  proposed new Peers, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;
+  altered conduct of, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;
+  reluctance to make new Peers, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>;
+  conversation with, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;
+  interview with Lord Harrowby and Lord Wharncliffe, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;
+  minute of compromise with Lord Harrowby and Lord Wharncliffe, <a href="#Page_260">260</a>;
+  speech on Ancona, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;
+  speech at the close of the Reform debate, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;
+  continued efforts for a compromise, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;
+  Government defeated in committee, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>;
+  resignation of Administration of, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;
+  resumes office with his colleagues, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;
+  remarks on the members of the Administration of, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;
+  embarrassment of Government, <a href="#Page_369">369</a>;
+  instance of readiness of, iii. 10;
+  on Portuguese affairs, 21;
+  compared with the Duke of Wellington, 73;
+  changes in the Administration of, 88, 90, 91;
+  situation of, in the crisis of 1834, 91;
+  letter to Lord Ebrington, 92;
+  weakness of the Government, 97;
+  resignation of, 101;
+  refuses the Privy Seal, 112;
+  desires to retire, 124;
+  dinner to, at Edinburgh, 135;
+  events subsequent to retirement of, 145;
+  intrigue, 145;
+  conservative spirit of, 249;
+  audience of the King, 251;
+  dissatisfaction of, 352</li>
+
+<li>Grey, Sir Charles, Governor of Jamaica, sworn in a Privy Councillor, iii. 271</li>
+
+<li>Grote, George, returned for the City of London, iii. 188</li>
+
+<li>Guixot, Monsieur, reported resignation of, ii. <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;
+  eminence of, iii. 379</li>
+
+<li>Gully, Mr., account of, ii. <a href="#Page_335">335</a>;
+  returned for Pontefract, <a href="#Page_336">336</a></li>
+
+<li>Gunpowder Plot, papers relating to, i. 161</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_H" id="IX_H"></a>
+Haddington, Earl of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 181</li>
+
+<li>Halford, Sir Henry, report on the cholera, ii. <a href="#Page_137">137</a></li>
+
+<li>Hampden, Dr. Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, iii. 341, 342</li>
+
+<li>Hanbury&rsquo;s Brewery, dinner at, ii. <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li>
+
+<li>Happiness, reflections on, iii. 293</li>
+
+<li>Hardinge, Right Hon. Sir Henry,
+  on the prospects of the Tory Government, iii. 167;
+  on the King and Lord Melbourne, 168</li>
+
+<li>Harrowby, Earl of, Lord President, i. 95;
+  speech on Reform, ii. <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;
+  interview with Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_224">224</a>;
+  circular to the Peers, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;
+  interview with Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>;
+  discussions on letter of, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;
+  letter shown to Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;
+  the &lsquo;Times&rsquo; on the letter of, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;
+  patriotic conduct of, <a href="#Page_275">275</a>;
+  declines to vote on Schedule A, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;
+  character of, iii. 52;
+  subscription to election expenses, 182</li>
+
+<li>Harrowby, Countess of, iii. 52</li>
+
+<li>Hartwell, visit to, ii. <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li>
+
+<li>Harvey, Whittle, committee, iii. 112;
+  speech of, at Southwark, 188</li>
+
+<li>Harwich election, 1835, iii. 186</li>
+
+<li>Health, formation of a board of, ii. <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Henry II., King, and Thomas à Becket, iii. 130</li>
+
+<li>Henry VIII., King, coffin of, found at Windsor, ii. <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Herbert, Sydney, Secretary to the Board of Control, iii. 194</li>
+
+<li>Herculaneum, i. 349</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Hernani,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_154">154</a></li>
+
+<li>Herries, Right Hon. John Charles, scene at Council, i. 108;
+  discussions on appointment of, 110;
+  ill-will of, towards his colleagues, 121;
+  Master of the Mint, 124</li>
+
+<li>Hertford, Marchioness of, funeral of, iii. 79</li>
+
+<li>Hess, Captain, ii. <a href="#Page_319">319</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a></li>
+
+<li>Heurteloup, Baron, before the Judicial Committee, iii. 332</li>
+
+<li>Heythrop, riot at, ii. <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+
+<li>Hill, Mr., Irish members&rsquo; squabble, iii. 55</li>
+
+<li>Hobhouse, Right Hon. Sir John Cam, speech on the Reform Bill, ii. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;
+  Secretary of War, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>;
+  resigns Irish Secretaryship and seat for Westminster, ii. <a href="#Page_368">368</a>;
+  on the state of affairs, iii. 195;
+  Board of Control, in Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s second Administration, 256</li>
+
+<li>Holland, the King of, invades Belgium, ii. <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;
+  state of, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;
+  conduct of the King of, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;
+  the King refuses to give up Antwerp, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;
+  obstinacy of the King, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;
+  bankrupt condition of, iii. 32</li>
+
+<li>Holland, Lord, at Panshanger, ii. <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;
+  Duchy of Lancaster, iii. 113;
+  anecdotes related by, 131;
+  on Reform, 135;
+  on Mr. Canning, 135;
+  anecdotes, 335;
+  on Mr. Fox, 335;
+  contempt for the Tory party, 336</li>
+
+<li>Holland, Lady, fancies of, ii. <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;
+  and Spencer Perceval, iii. 331</li>
+
+<li>Holland House, dinner at, ii. <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;
+  conversation at, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>;
+  Allen and Macaulay, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;
+  sketch of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;
+  conversation at, iii. 127, 129;
+  literary criticisms, 130;
+  Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s conversation, 131;
+  dinner at, 132;
+  news of the fall of Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Administration, 147;
+  party spirit at, 192</li>
+
+<li>Holmes boroughs, ii. <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li>
+
+<li>Hook, Theodore, improvisation of, iii. 119, 197;
+  singing of, 197</li>
+
+<li>Home, Sir William, Attorney-General, ii. <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;
+  and Lord Brougham, iii. 67</li>
+
+<li>Hortense, Queen, at Frascati, i. 305</li>
+
+<li>Horton, Wilmot, lectures at the Mechanics&rsquo; Institute, ii. <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+<li>Howe, Earl, dismissal of, ii. <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;
+  Queen&rsquo;s Chamberlain, <a href="#Page_319">319</a>;
+  and Queen Adelaide, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;
+  correspondence about the Chamberlainship, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
+
+<li>Howick, Viscount, Under-secretary, ii. <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;
+  in office, iii. 254;
+  civility of the King to, 255;
+  Secretary of War, 256;
+  acrimony of, 312;
+  interview with Spencer Perceval, 330;
+  on the position of parties, 360</li>
+
+<li>Hudson, Sir James, page of honour, ii. <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
+
+<li>Hume, John Deacon,
+  Assistant-Secretary to the Board of Trade, i. 223; ii. <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li>
+
+<li>Hume, Joseph, extreme Radical views of, ii. <a href="#Page_361">361</a>;
+  speech on the Orangemen, iii. 344;
+  deputation to Lord Melbourne, 357</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Hunchback, The,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li>
+
+<li>Hunt, Henry, speech of, ii. <a href="#Page_112">112</a>;
+  speech of, against the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_134">134</a></li>
+
+<li>Huskisson, Right Hon. William,
+  President of the Board of Trade, i. 95;
+  dispute in the Cabinet, 120;
+  joins the new Government, 122;
+  Colonial Secretary, 124;
+  resignation of, 131;
+  Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s opinion of, ii. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>;
+  death of, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>;
+  funeral of, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_I" id="IX_I"></a>
+Incendiarism in the country, ii. <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+
+<li>Ireland, trials in, i. 239;
+  dissatisfaction in, ii. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;
+  unpopularity of Government changes in, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;
+  state of, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;
+  education in, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;
+  tithes, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;
+  Church difficulties in, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
+
+<li>Irish Church, abuses in, iii. 9;
+  the Irish Church Bill dangerous to the Government, 86;
+  differences in the Cabinet, 89;
+  difficulties of the Irish Church question, 240, 253;
+  opinions of Lord Melbourne on the, 269.
+  For debates on the Irish Church Bill,
+     <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Lords">Lords, House of</a>, and
+     <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>Irish Tithe Bill, thrown out, iii. 117;
+  divisions on the, 246;
+  conduct of the Government, 298;
+  difficulties of, 353, 354;
+  abandonment of the Appropriation Clause, 355</li>
+
+<li>Irving, Edward, service in chapel, iii. 40;
+  the unknown tongues, 41;
+  sermon of, 41;
+  interview with Lord Melbourne, 129</li>
+
+<li>Irving, Washington, i. 249</li>
+
+<li>Istria, Duchesse d&rsquo;, beauty of, iii. 381</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_J" id="IX_J"></a>
+Jacquemont&rsquo;s Letters, iii. 115</li>
+
+<li>Jamaica, insurrection in, ii. <a href="#Page_262">262</a>;
+  Mr. Greville, Secretary of the Island of, <a href="#Page_349">349</a>;
+  petition to the King, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;
+  affairs of, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;
+  anecdote of a slave, <a href="#Page_359">359</a>;
+  opinion of Sir Willoughby Cotton, <a href="#Page_380">380</a>;
+  office of Secretary to the Island of, threatened, iii. 266, 268, 275;
+  secured, 279</li>
+
+<li>Jebb, Judge, charge of, at O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s trial, ii. <a href="#Page_109">109</a></li>
+
+<li>Jeffrey, Lord, and Professor Leslie, iii. 44</li>
+
+<li>Jersey, Countess of, character of, i. 12;
+  party at the house of, ii. <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;
+  quarrel with Lord Durham, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;
+  correspondence with Lord Brougham, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li>
+
+<li>Jockey Club,
+  dinner given by the King to the, 1828, i. 134;
+  in 1829, 211</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;John Bull,&rsquo; the, newspaper, ii. <a href="#Page_97">97</a></li>
+
+<li>Johnson, Dr., anecdotes of, ii. <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
+
+<li>Johnstone, Right Hon. Sir Alexander, sworn in a Privy Councillor, iii. 27, 30;
+  at the Judicial Committee, 125</li>
+
+<li>Jones Loyd, Mr., iii. 188</li>
+
+<li>Jones, &lsquo;Radical,&rsquo; interview with Lord Wharncliffe, ii. <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li>
+
+<li>Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Bill for the establishment of the, iii. 21;
+  meeting to make regulations for the, 35;
+  first sitting of the, 38;
+  working of the, 205</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_K" id="IX_K"></a>
+Kelly, Mrs., adventures of her daughter, i. 379, 383;
+  case before the Privy Council, iii. 259, 261, 266, 267;
+  judgment, 274</li>
+
+<li>Kemble, Charles, and his family, iii. 260</li>
+
+<li>Kemble, Miss Fanny, i. 240, ii. <a href="#Page_129">129</a>;
+  tragedy by, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;
+  in the &lsquo;Hunchback,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li>
+
+<li>Kempt, Right Hon. Sir James, Master-General of the Ordnance,
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_84">84</a></li>
+
+<li>Kent, H.R.H. the Duchess of, disputes
+  in the Royal Family, ii. <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;
+  and the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;
+  the Regency Bill, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;
+  salutes to, iii. 3;
+  at Burghley, 315;
+  quarrels with the King, 366;
+  scene at Windsor, 367;
+  answer to the address of the City of London, 399;
+  squabble with the King, 400</li>
+
+<li>Kenyon, Lord, speech at Apsley House, ii. <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
+
+<li>Kinnaird, Lord, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li>Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, anecdote of, iii. 130</li>
+
+<li>Knatchbull, Right Hon. Sir Edward, joins the Peel Government, iii. 176, 177;
+  attack on, 226</li>
+
+<li>Knighton, Sir William, i. 72;
+  influence with the King, 99, 144;
+  behaviour of, during the King&rsquo;s illness, ii. <a href="#Page_174">174</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_L" id="IX_L"></a>
+Lafayette, Marquis de, resignation of, ii. <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li>La Ferronays, M. de, French Ambassador at Rome, i. 307;
+  on the accession of the Emperor Nicholas, 373;
+  on French politics, 368;
+  civility of, 380, 381;
+  on French affairs, 393, 395</li>
+
+<li>La Granja, revolution of, iii. 364, 365</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Lalla Rookh,&rsquo; at Bridgewater House, iii. 353</li>
+
+<li>Lamb, Sir Frederick, ii. <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;
+  reported letter to the King of France from the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_94">94</a></li>
+
+<li>Lambeth Palace, restoration of, ii. <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
+
+<li>Lancashire election, 1835, iii. 198</li>
+
+<li>Langdale, Lord,
+  <a name="IX_Langdale" id="IX_Langdale"></a>
+  reply to Lord Brougham, iii. 81;
+  declines the Solicitor-Generalship, 141;
+  peerage, 328;
+  Master of the Rolls, 328</li>
+
+<li>Lansdowne, Marquis of,
+  Secretary of State for the Home Department, i. 95;
+  Lord President, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  dinner to name the sheriffs, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;
+  on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>;
+  and Lord Brougham, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;
+  Lord President in both of the Administrations of Lord Melbourne, iii. 113, 256</li>
+
+<li>La Roncière, case of, iii. 202</li>
+
+<li>Laval, M. de, at Apsley House, ii. <a href="#Page_15">15</a></li>
+
+<li>Law, History of English, iii. 114</li>
+
+<li>Lawrence, Sir Thomas, early genius of, i. 256;
+  death of, 263;
+  character of, 264;
+  funeral of, 268;
+  engagement of, to the Misses Siddons, iii. 50</li>
+
+<li>Leach, Right Hon. Sir John, disappointed of the Woolsack, ii. <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;
+  in the case of Drax <i>v.</i> Grosvenor, <a href="#Page_378">378</a></li>
+
+<li>Leigh, Colonel George, ii. <a href="#Page_189">189</a></li>
+
+<li>Leinster, Duke of, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+<li>Leitrim, Earl of, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li>
+
+<li>Le Marchant, Denis, at Stoke, iii. 21</li>
+
+<li>Lemon, Robert, F.S.A., Deputy Keeper of the State Papers, iii. 44</li>
+
+<li>Lennard, John Barrett, Chief Clerk of the Privy Council Office, ii. <a href="#Page_370">370</a></li>
+
+<li>Leopold, King, i. 22;
+  desires to ascend the throne of Greece, 265;
+  anxiety to ascend the throne of Belgium, ii. <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;
+  accepts the throne of Belgium, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>;
+  starts for Belgium, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;
+  proposes to the Princess Louise of France, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;
+  in Belgium, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;
+  want of confidence in, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>;
+  cold reception of, at Windsor, iii. 370</li>
+
+<li>Leuchtenberg, Duke of, at Havre, iii. 33;
+  marriage of, 33;
+  letter to Lord Palmerston, 34;
+  arrival of, 195</li>
+
+<li>Leveson, Lord Francis, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Ellesmere">Ellesmere, Earl of</a></li>
+
+<li>Levee, iii. 213</li>
+
+<li>Lewis, Matthew Gregory, (&lsquo;Monk&rsquo; Lewis),
+  journals and voyages to the West Indies, ii. <a href="#Page_382">382</a>;
+  anecdote of, iii. 2;
+  agreement with Mr. Murray for the Journal, 8</li>
+
+<li>Lichfield, Earl of, at Runton, iii. 51</li>
+
+<li>Lichfield Cathedral, iii. 327</li>
+
+<li>Lieven, Prince, recalled, iii. 87</li>
+
+<li>Lieven, Princess, character of, i. 15;
+  attacks Lord Grey, ii. <a href="#Page_261">261</a>;
+  on the Belgian question, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;
+  conversation with, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;
+  renews her friendship with the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;
+  grievances of, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  interference of, <a href="#Page_358">358</a>;
+  diplomatic difficulties, <a href="#Page_357">357</a>;
+  reception of, at St. Petersburg, iii. 23;
+  position, of, in Paris, 379</li>
+
+<li>Littleton, Right Hon. Edward, i. 11;
+  proposed by Lord Althorp as Speaker, ii. <a href="#Page_333">333</a>;
+  Secretary for Ireland, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;
+  and O&rsquo;Connell, iii. 99;
+  instrumental in breaking up the Government, 102;
+  political career of, 103;
+  letter to Lord Wellesley, 103, 110;
+  in communication with O&rsquo;Connell, 103, 110;
+  Irish Secretary, 113</li>
+
+<li>Liverpool, Earl of, and the King, i. 25;
+  paralytic seizure, 90;
+  transactions before the close of Administration of, ii. <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
+
+<li>Liverpool, opening of the railroad, ii. <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;
+  bribery at election, <a href="#Page_79">79</a></li>
+
+<li>Lobau, Marshal, Commandant-Général, ii. <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li>Lodge, the Royal, entertainments at, i. 99</li>
+
+<li>London, speech of Bishop of, iii. 391;
+  University Charter, iii. 80, 81, 237;
+  meeting of Committee of Council on, 260, 262</li>
+
+<li>Londonderry, Marquis of, death of, i. 51;
+  character of, 52;
+  funeral of, 54</li>
+
+<li>Londonderry, Marquis of, motion on Belgium, ii. <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;
+  attacks Lord Plunket, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;
+  debate on appointment of, to St. Petersburg, iii. 225;
+  opinion of the Duke of Wellington, 227;
+  speech of, 228;
+  resignation of, 229</li>
+
+<li>Long, St. John, trial of, ii. <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+<li>Lords, House of, debate of Royal Dukes, i. 177;
+  <a name="IX_Lords" id="IX_Lords"></a>
+  debate on Catholic Relief Bill, 199;
+  division on Catholic Relief Bill, 199;
+  debate on affairs in Portugal, 277;
+  debate on the Methuen Treaty, ii. <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;
+  speech of Lord Brougham, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>;
+  violent scene in the, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;
+  debate on Lord Londonderry&rsquo;s motion, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;
+  prospects of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;
+  First Reform Bill thrown out, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>;
+  attack on the Bishops, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>;
+  new Peers, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>;
+  measures for carrying the second reading of the Second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>;
+  division on the Belgian question, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>;
+  Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;
+  Irish education, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;
+  debates on second reading of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>;
+  list of proposed new Peers, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;
+  Reform Bill carried, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;
+  in Committee on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>;
+  debate on conduct of the Tory party, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;
+  Russo-Dutch Loan, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;
+  Government beaten on Portuguese question, <a href="#Page_376">376</a>;
+  powerlessness of, <a href="#Page_377">377</a>;
+  Local Courts Bill, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_384">384</a>;
+  debate on Local Courts Bill, iii. 7;
+  Government defeated, 7;
+  Irish Church Bill, 8;
+  Bill for the observance of the Sabbath, 83;
+  debate on the Irish Church Bill, 94;
+  Poor Law Bill, 114;
+  debate on Irish Tithe Bill, 117;
+  conduct of the House, 239;
+  debate on Corporation Bill, 286, 290;
+  position of the House, 288, 291;
+  Irish Tithe Bill thrown up, 295;
+  conflict with the House of Commons, 295;
+  state of the House, 307;
+  debate on Corporation Bill, 308, 351;
+  hostility to the House of Commons, 359;
+  conduct of the House, 360, 361</li>
+
+<li>Louis XVIII., King, memoirs of, ii. <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;
+  favourites of, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>;
+  at Hartwell, <a href="#Page_345">345</a></li>
+
+<li>Louis Philippe, King, accession of, ii. <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;
+  conduct of, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>;
+  tranquillises Paris, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;
+  speech of, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;
+  averse to French attack on Antwerp, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;
+  behaviour of, to the Queen of Portugal, iii. 33;
+  power of, in the Chamber, 142;
+  courage of, 286;
+  conduct towards Spain, 321, 360, 364;
+  at the Tuileries, 382;
+  dislike to the Duke de Broglie, 386</li>
+
+<li>Louise, H.R.H. Princess, daughter of King Louis Philippe, ii. <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Louis, Baron, reported resignation of, ii. <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
+
+<li>Luckner, General, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+
+<li>Lushington, Dr., speech of, in the appeal of Swift <i>v.</i> Kelly, ii. <a href="#Page_383">383</a></li>
+
+<li>Lushington, Sir Henry, and &lsquo;Monk&rsquo; Lewis, iii. 2</li>
+
+<li>Luttrell, Henry, character of, i. 10;
+  &lsquo;Advice to Julia,&rsquo; 33</li>
+
+<li>Lyndhurst, Lord,
+  Lord High Chancellor, i. 95, 124;
+  quarrel with the Duke of Cumberland, 223;
+  dissatisfaction at Lord Brougham&rsquo;s being raised to the Woolsack, ii. <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;
+  reported appointment to be Lord Chief Baron, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>;
+  opinion of the Government, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>;
+  Lord Chief Baron, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;
+  political position of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+  anecdote of a trial, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+  retort to the Duke of Richmond, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;
+  on the Government, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;
+  on Sir Robert Peel, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;
+  on Lord Brougham, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>;
+  sent for by the King, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;
+  efforts to form a Tory Government, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;
+  judgment in Small <i>v.</i> Attwood, <a href="#Page_330">330</a>;
+  account of the efforts of the Tory party to form a Government, <a href="#Page_340">340</a>;
+  forgets the message of the King to Lord Grey, iii. 49;
+  account of transactions between the King and Lord Melbourne, 150;
+  policy of, 151;
+  on Lord Brougham, 153;
+  Lord High Chancellor, 156;
+  on the Administration of Sir Robert Peel, 189;
+  conduct on the Corporation Bill, 288, 292;
+  on the prospects of the session, 332;
+  on the business of the House of Lords, 333;
+  speech in vindication of conduct, 362;
+  in Paris, 378;
+  insult offered to, in House of Commons, 389;
+  capacity of, 390;
+  violent speech of, 401</li>
+
+<li>Lyndhurst, Lady,
+  insulted by the Duke of Cumberland, i. 222;
+  conversation with, ii. <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
+
+<li>Lynn Regis, election, iii. 170, 171, 175, 181</li>
+
+<li>Lyons, riots at, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_M" id="IX_M"></a>
+Macao, verses on, i. 11, 12</li>
+
+<li>Macaulay, Thomas Babington,
+  speeches on the Reform Bill, ii. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;
+  eloquence of, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;
+  at Holland House, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;
+  appearance of, <a href="#Page_246">246</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>;
+  on the Coercion Bill, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;
+  conversation of, iii. 35;
+  memory of, 337;
+  eloquence of, compared to Lord Brougham, 338;
+  inscription on monument erected in honour of Lord William Bentinck, 339</li>
+
+<li>Macaulay, Zachary, iii. 337</li>
+
+<li>Mackintosh, Right Hon. Sir James,
+  speech of, on the criminal laws, i. 19;
+  conversation of, 241;
+  death of, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;
+  &lsquo;History of England,&rsquo; iii. 139;
+  remarks on life of, 293, 314;
+  compared with Burke, 314;
+  life of, 316;
+  abilities of, 316;
+  religious belief of, 324</li>
+
+<li>Maggiore, Lago, i. 414</li>
+
+<li>Maidstone, state of the borough, iii. 184</li>
+
+<li>Maii, Monsignore, i. 367, 375</li>
+
+<li>Malibran, Maria Felicita, in the &lsquo;Sonnambula,&rsquo; iii. 12</li>
+
+<li>Mallet, conspiracy of, ii. <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>Malt Tax, the, Government defeated on, ii. <a href="#Page_368">368</a></li>
+
+<li>Manners Sutton, Sir Charles, G.C.B.,
+  proposed as Premier, ii. <a href="#Page_326">326</a>;
+  conduct of, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;
+  reappointed Speaker, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;
+  Knight of the Bath, iii. 30;
+  the Speakership, 204,
+  <i>see</i> Canterbury, Lord</li>
+
+<li>Mansfield, Lord,
+  speech against the Government, ii. <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;
+  audience of the King, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;
+  meeting of Peers, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
+
+<li>Mansion House, the, dinner at, iii. 178</li>
+
+<li>Marengo, battle-field of, i. 292</li>
+
+<li>Maria, Donna, Queen of Portugal,
+  at a child&rsquo;s ball, i. 209;
+  proposals of marriage for, iii. 33;
+  at Windsor, 33;
+  picture of, 195</li>
+
+<li>Marie Amélie, Queen, iii. 383</li>
+
+<li>Marmont, Marshal,
+  at Lady Glengall&rsquo;s, ii. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;
+  conversation with, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>;
+  revolution of 1830, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>;
+  at Woolwich, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>;
+  dinner at Lord Dudley&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_38">38</a></li>
+
+<li>Matteis, trial of, i. 336, 341</li>
+
+<li>Matuscewitz,
+  Russian Ambassador Extraordinary, i. 159;
+  on affairs in Europe, ii. <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;
+  conduct of, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;
+  conversation with, iii. 314</li>
+
+<li>Maule, Mr. Justice, at dinner at the Athenæum, ii. <a href="#Page_101">101</a></li>
+
+<li>Meeting of moderate men, origin of the &lsquo;Derby Dilly,&rsquo; iii. 219</li>
+
+<li>Meiningen, château of,
+  model of the, iii. 122;
+  the Queen revisits the, 125</li>
+
+<li>Melbourne, Viscount, Home Secretary, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  efficiency of, in office, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;
+  negotiations with, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>;
+  dissatisfaction of, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>;
+  on the proposed new Peers, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;
+  on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>;
+  on the members of Lord Grey&rsquo;s Administration, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;
+  sent for by the King, iii. 102;
+  forms an Administration, 108;
+  letter to the Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, and Mr. Stanley, 109;
+  Administration of, 113;
+  anecdote of, 126;
+  information of, 130;
+  literary conversation of, 131;
+  on Benthamites, 138;
+  theological reading of, 138;
+  fall of Government of, 143;
+  dismissal of, 144;
+  details of fall of Government, 147;
+  account of dismissal, 150, 168;
+  with the King, 163, 168;
+  with his colleagues, 164; 165, 166;
+  dispute with Lord Duncannon, 166;
+  speeches at Derby, 170;
+  weakness of, 170;
+  second Administration formed, 253;
+  composition of, 256;
+  theological reading of, 324;
+  appointment of Dr. Hampden, 342;
+  action against, brought by the Hon. Mr. Norton, 349;
+  result of the trial, 351;
+  difficulties of the Government, 355</li>
+
+<li>Melville, Viscount, President of the India Board, i. 124</li>
+
+<li>Mendizabal,
+  ability of, iii. 321;
+  dismissal of, 350</li>
+
+<li>Messiah, the oratorio of the, performed in Westminster Abbey, iii. 98</li>
+
+<li>Methuen, Paul, M.P.,
+  on supporting the Government, iii. 65;
+  retort of O&rsquo;Connell to, 65</li>
+
+<li>Metternich, Princess, anecdote of, iii. 187</li>
+
+<li>Mexico, failure of the Spanish expedition against, i. 249</li>
+
+<li>Meynell, Mr., retires from the Lord Chamberlain&rsquo;s department, ii. <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li>Mezzofanti, i. 403</li>
+
+<li>Middlesex election, 1835, iii. 197</li>
+
+<li>Middleton, party at, i. 12</li>
+
+<li>Miguel, Dom. ii. <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;
+  attacks Oporto, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>;
+  fleet captured by Captain Napier, iii. 9;
+  anecdote of, 26;
+  blunders of, 93</li>
+
+<li>Milan, i. 413</li>
+
+<li>Mill, John Stuart, at breakfast given by Mr. Henry Taylor, ii. <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Milton, Viscount, at a meeting at Lord Althorp&rsquo;s, ii. <a href="#Page_161">161</a></li>
+
+<li>Mirabeau, Count de, Talleyrand&rsquo;s account of, ii. <a href="#Page_384">384</a></li>
+
+<li>Miraflores, Count de, Spanish Ambassador in London, iii. 98;
+  doubtful compliment to Madame de Lieven, 99</li>
+
+<li>Mola di Gaeta, i. 359;
+  Cicero&rsquo;s villa, 368</li>
+
+<li>Molé. M., Prime Minister of France, iii. 379;
+  abilities of, 380</li>
+
+<li>Montalivet, case of the French refugee, iii. 386</li>
+
+<li>Monti, Vincenzo, anecdote of, ii. <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>Moore, Thomas, i. 239, 245;
+  conversation of, 242;
+  anecdotes, 247;
+  Irish patriotism of, ii. <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;
+  opinions on Reform, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>;
+  copy of &lsquo;Lord Edward Fitzgerald,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_169">169</a>;
+  satire on Dr. Bowring, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  compared with Rogers, iii. 324;
+  quarrel with O&rsquo;Connell, 346</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Morning Herald,&rsquo; the, moderate Tory organ, ii. <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+
+<li>Mornington, Countess of, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li>Morpeth, Viscount, Irish Secretary, iii. 256;
+  speech on Irish Tithe Bill, 256</li>
+
+<li>Mosley, Sir Oswald, meeting of moderate men, iii. 220</li>
+
+<li>Mulgrave, Earl of, in Jamaica, ii. <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;
+  refuses the office of Postmaster-General, iii. 90;
+  Lord Privy Seal, 113;
+  capability of, 255</li>
+
+<li>Municipal Corporation Bill, iii. 263, 284, 290;
+  policy of Tory Peers on the, 283;
+  prospects of the, 295;
+  effects of the, 309, 313;
+  the Bill carried, 310</li>
+
+<li>Munster, Earl of, employed by the King, ii. <a href="#Page_10">10</a>;
+  <a name="IX_Munster" id="IX_Munster"></a>
+  raised to the Peerage, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>;
+  Lieutenant of the Tower, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>;
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, <a href="#Page_352">352</a></li>
+
+<li>Murat, Achille, ii. <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li>
+
+<li>Murray, Dr., Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, i. 146</li>
+
+<li>Murray, Sir George, Secretary of State for the Colonial Department, ii. <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
+
+<li>Murray, Lady Augusta, marriage of, ii. <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li>Musard&rsquo;s ball, iii. 384</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_N" id="IX_N"></a>
+Namik Pacha, Turkish Ambassador, ii. <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
+
+<li>Napier, Sir William, on the state of the country, ii. <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;
+  &lsquo;History of the Peninsular War,&rsquo; iii. 271</li>
+
+<li>Napier, Captain Charles, captures Dom Miguel&rsquo;s fleet, iii. 9;
+  cause of capture of a French squadron, 11;
+  anecdote of, 34</li>
+
+<li>Naples, i. 333;
+  sight-seeing at, 334;
+  Court of Justice, 334;
+  manuscripts, 334;
+  ceremony of taking the veil, 338;
+  sights of, 345, 356;
+  miracle of the blood of San Gennaro, 353, 355, 364;
+  excursions to Astroni, 356;
+  lines on leaving, 361</li>
+
+<li>Navarino, battle of, i. 114, 163</li>
+
+<li>Nemours, H.R.H. Duc de, accompanies King Louis Philippe, ii. <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;
+  nomination to the throne of Belgium declined, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;
+  in the House of Commons, iii. 306;
+  at Doncaster, 315</li>
+
+<li>Newmarket, political negotiations at, ii. <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
+
+<li>Nicholas, Emperor, accession of, i. 373;
+  reception of strangers, iii. 24;
+  on the change of Government in England, 211;
+  speech at Warsaw, 319;
+  dislike to King Louis Philippe, 387;
+  qualities of, 371</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Norma,&rsquo; the opera of, iii. 2</li>
+
+<li>North, Lord, Letters of George III. to, iii. 129;
+  anecdote of, 132</li>
+
+<li>Northamptonshire election, iii. 326</li>
+
+<li>Northumberland, Duke of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, i. 157</li>
+
+<li>Northumberland, Duchess of,
+  resigns her office of governess to the Princess Victoria, iii. 400</li>
+
+<li>Norton, Hon. Mr., action brought against Lord Melbourne, iii. 349;
+  result of the trial, 351</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_O" id="IX_O"></a>
+Oaks, The. ii. <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;
+  party at, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li>
+
+<li>Oatlands, the residence of the Duke of York, i. 4;
+  weekly parties at, 5, 7</li>
+
+<li>O&rsquo;Connell, Daniel, character of, i. 145;
+  at dinner, 203;
+  attempts to take his seat, 207;
+  elected for Clare, 1829, 223;
+  insult to, ii. <a href="#Page_76">76</a>;
+  in Ireland, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;
+  opposition to Lord Anglesey, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>;
+  abilities of, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>;
+  violence of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>;
+  arrest of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+  trial of, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;
+  position of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>;
+  pleads guilty, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>;
+  opposition to Lord Duncannon in Kilkenny, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;
+  explanation of, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;
+  dread of cholera, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>;
+  member for Ireland, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  violent speech at the Trades&rsquo; Union, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;
+  attack on Baron Smith, iii. 59;
+  retort to Mr. Methuen, 65;
+  and the Coercion Bill, 103, 110;
+  in correspondence with Mr. Littleton, 110;
+  union with the Whig party, 219;
+  power of, 255;
+  affair with Lord Alvanley, 256;
+  in Scotland, 316;
+  proposed expulsion from Brooks&rsquo;s club, 320;
+  quarrel with Moore, 346;
+  Carlow election, 348</li>
+
+<li>O&rsquo;Connell, Morgan, duel with Lord Alvanley, iii. 256</li>
+
+<li>Old Bailey, trials at, i. 204; ii. <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
+
+<li>Opera House, the English, burnt, i. 277</li>
+
+<li>Orange, Prince of, dinner to the, ii. <a href="#Page_57">57</a>;
+  returns to Holland, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li>Orange, Princess of, robbery of jewels of, i. 267</li>
+
+<li>Orange Lodge, association of, iii. 343</li>
+
+<li>Orangemen, meeting of, ii. <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li>
+
+<li>Orleans, H.R.H. Duke of, arrival of, i. <a href="#Page_208">208</a>;
+  sent to Lyons, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  in England, <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;
+  project of marriage at Vienna, iii. 372;
+  question of marriage of, 387</li>
+
+<li>Orloff, Count, arrival of, ii. <a href="#Page_278">278</a>;
+  delay in ratification of the Belgian Treaty, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li>
+
+<li>Osterley, party at, ii. <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_P" id="IX_P"></a>
+Padua, i. 411</li>
+
+<li>Pæstum, i. 344</li>
+
+<li>Palmella, Duke of, arrival of in London, ii. <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+<li>Palmerston, Viscount,
+  speech on the Portuguese question, i. 211;
+  Foreign Secretary, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  suggests a compromise on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;
+  on proposed new Peers, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;
+  on prospects of the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;
+  business habits of, iii. 20, 21;
+  unpopularity of, 56;
+  speech on the Turkish question, 71;
+  Foreign Secretary in Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s Administration, 113;
+  unpopularity with the <i>corps diplomatique</i>, 136;
+  loses his election in Hampshire, 197;
+  as a man of business, 210;
+  Foreign Secretary, 256;
+  abilities of, 360</li>
+
+<li>Panic, the, 1825, i. 77;
+  on the Stock Exchange, 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_43">43</a></li>
+
+<li>Panshanger, parties at, ii. <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
+
+<li>Paris, society at, in 1830, i. 283;
+  in July, 416, 417;
+  Marshal Marmont&rsquo;s account of events at, in 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;
+  alarm felt in, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>;
+  change of Ministry, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;
+  in 1837, iii. 377;
+  society at, 378, 385;
+  sight-seeing, 381, 383</li>
+
+<li>Park, Judge, anecdotes of, ii. <a href="#Page_92">92</a>; iii. 372</li>
+
+<li>Parke, Right Hon. Sir James, sworn in a Privy Councillor, iii. 21;
+  Baron of the Exchequer, 71;
+  in the appeal of Swift <i>v.</i> Kelly, 268</li>
+
+<li>Parliament, meeting of, 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;
+  meeting of, 1831, ii. <a href="#Page_110">110</a>;
+  dissolution of 1831, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>;
+  opening of, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;
+  in 1831, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;
+  dissolution of, 1832, <a href="#Page_334">334</a>;
+  opening of, 1833, <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  prorogation of, 1833, iii. 27;
+  opening of, 1834, 55;
+  dissolution of, 183;
+  temporary buildings for Houses of, 205;
+  opening of, 219;
+  in 1836, 334;
+  prorogation of, 1836, 361</li>
+
+<li>Parnell, Sir Henry, turned out of office, ii. <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li>
+
+<li>Parsons, anecdotes of, ii. <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li>
+
+<li>Paskiewitch, Marshal, in quarantine, ii. <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li>
+
+<li>Pattison, James, returned to Parliament for the City of London, iii. 188</li>
+
+<li>Pavilion, The, dinner at, i. 49;
+  completion of, 54</li>
+
+<li>Pease, Mr., and O&rsquo;Dwyer, iii. 59</li>
+
+<li>Pedro, Dom, expedition of, ii. <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>;
+  proposal to combine with Spain, iii. 72;
+  in possession of Portugal, 93</li>
+
+<li>Peel, Right Hon. Sir Robert, Home Secretary, i. 124;
+  speeches on Catholic Relief Bill, 167, 183;
+  Oxford University election, 1829, 177;
+  defeated, 178;
+  political prospects of, ii. <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>;
+  power in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;
+  speech on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;
+  inactivity of, on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;
+  complaints of policy of, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>;
+  conduct of, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>;
+  reserve of, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>;
+  excellence in debate, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;
+  answer to Lord Harrowby, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>;
+  policy of, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;
+  speech on Irish Tithes, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>;
+  invited to form a Government, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;
+  refuses to take office, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>;
+  defence of conduct, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;
+  conduct during the Tory efforts to form a Government, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;
+  conduct compared with that of the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_328">328</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_354">354</a>;
+  on political unions, iii. 12;
+  in society, 35;
+  position of, in the House of Commons, 64;
+  collection of pictures, 70;
+  great dinner given by, 72;
+  speech on admission of Dissenters to the University, 75;
+  policy of the Administration of, 161;
+  friendship with the Duke of Wellington renewed, 167;
+  arrival of, from the Continent, 174;
+  formation of Administration, 177;
+  manifesto to the country, 178;
+  prospects of the Ministry, 179;
+  qualities of, 189;
+  Toryism of Administration of, 194;
+  false position of, 208;
+  prospects of Government, 214, 235, 236;
+  talents of, 224;
+  conduct to his adherents, 230, 244;
+  courage of, 283;
+  impending resignation of, 242;
+  Government defeated, 246;
+  resignation of Administration of, 1835, 246, 248;
+  speech on Corporation Reform, 263;
+  on Irish Church Bill, 281;
+  relations with Lord John Russell, 282;
+  seclusion of, 297;
+  speech on Corporation Reform, 304;
+  consideration for Lord Stanley, 335;
+  conduct with regard to the Corporation Bill, 340;
+  position of, 358;
+  on the beginning of the new reign, 402</li>
+
+<li>Peel, Sir Robert, sen., account of, ii. <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>Peel, Right Hon. Jonathan, iii. 243</li>
+
+<li>Pemberton, Thomas, ii. <a href="#Page_314">314</a>;
+  in the appeal of Swift <i>v.</i> Kelly, iii. 267, 271</li>
+
+<li>Pembroke, Earl of, i. 250</li>
+
+<li>Pension List, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>Pepys, Right Hon. Sir Christopher, Master of the Rolls, iii. 328.
+  <i>See</i> <a href="#IX_Cottenham">Cottenham, Lord</a></li>
+
+<li>Perceval, Spencer, discourse of, iii, 41;
+  the Unknown Tongue, 41;
+  on the condition of the Church, 123;
+  apostolic mission to the members of the Government, 331;
+  at Holland House, 331;
+  apostolic mission of, 333</li>
+
+<li>Périer, Casimir, momentary resignation of, ii. <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;
+  attacked by cholera, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>;
+  death of, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+<li>Persian Ambassador, the, quarrel of, with the Regent, i. 21</li>
+
+<li>Perth election, 1835, iii. 197</li>
+
+<li>Petworth House and pictures, ii. <a href="#Page_336">336</a>;
+  fête at, iii. 84</li>
+
+<li>Peyronnet, Comte de, i. 393</li>
+
+<li>Phillpotts, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Exeter">Exeter, Bishop of</a></li>
+
+<li>Pisa, i. 297</li>
+
+<li>Pitt, Right Hon. William, described by Talleyrand, ii. <a href="#Page_345">345</a>;
+  anecdotes of, iii. 131</li>
+
+<li>Plunket, Lord, Lord Chancellor in Ireland, ii. <a href="#Page_90">90</a>;
+  anecdote of, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>;
+  at Stoke, iii. 21;
+  Deanery of Down, 70</li>
+
+<li>Poland, contest in, ii. <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li>
+
+<li>Polignac, Prince Jules de,
+  head of the Administration in France; i. 160, 229, 283;
+  Administration of, 394;
+  behaviour of, ii. <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;
+  letter to M. de Molé, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>;
+  exasperation against, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a></li>
+
+<li>Pompeii, i. 338;
+  excavations at, 343</li>
+
+<li>Ponsonby, Viscount, Minister at Naples, ii. <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;
+  letters of, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>;
+  conduct of, as Ambassador at Constantinople, iii. 405</li>
+
+<li>Pope, the, audience of Pius VIII., i. 382;
+  Irish appointments of the, iii. 269.
+  <i>See</i> <a href="#IX_Rome">Rome</a></li>
+
+<li>Portfolio, the, iii. 327</li>
+
+<li>Portland, Duke of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95</li>
+
+<li>Portugal, ships seized by the French, ii. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>;
+  affairs in, iii. 25, 79;
+  bankrupt state of, 93</li>
+
+<li>Powell, Mr., ii. <a href="#Page_52">52</a></li>
+
+<li>Pozzo di Borgo, Count, ii. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;
+  views of, on the state of Europe, iii. 182;
+  Russian Ambassador in London, 201, 203</li>
+
+<li>Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, first speech of, ii. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;
+  First Secretary to the Board of Control, iii. 194</li>
+
+<li>Pratolino, i. 402</li>
+
+<li>Prayer, form of, on account of the disturbed state of the kingdom, ii. <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li>
+
+<li>Proclamation against rioters, ii. <a href="#Page_73">73</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_Q" id="IX_Q"></a>
+&lsquo;Quakers&rsquo;, the, address to King William IV., ii. <a href="#Page_17">17</a></li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Quarterly Review, The,&rsquo; attacks Lord Harrowby, ii. <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;
+  pamphlet in answer to article, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
+
+<li>Quintus Curtius, iii. 130</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_R" id="IX_R"></a>
+Racing, remarks on, ii. <a href="#Page_373">373</a>;
+  anecdote, <a href="#Page_374">374</a></li>
+
+<li>Redesdale, Lord, letter of, ii. <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
+
+<li>Reform, plan of, ii. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;
+  remarks on, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>;
+  negotiations concerning, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
+
+<li>Reform Bill, the, laid before the King, ii. <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;
+  excitement concerning, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>;
+  carried by one vote, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>;
+  alterations in, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>;
+  Government defeated, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;
+  remarks on, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>;
+  attitude of the press, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;
+  prospects of, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;
+  negotiations for a compromise, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;
+  altered tone of the press, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;
+  meeting of Peers in Downing Street, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;
+  measures for carrying the second reading in the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_235">235</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;
+  continued efforts to compromise, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;
+  finally passed in the House of Commons, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>;
+  continued discussions on, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>;
+  difficulty with Schedule A, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;
+  carried in the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>;
+  in committee, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;
+  passes through committee, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>;
+  results of, iii. 27, 191.
+  For debates on, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Lords">Lords, House of</a>, and
+    <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>Reichstadt, Duke of, and Marshal Marmont, iii. 374</li>
+
+<li>Reis-Effendi, the, i. 159</li>
+
+<li>Renfrewshire election, iii. 388</li>
+
+<li>Rice, Right Hon. Thomas Spring,
+  Colonial Secretary, iii. 88, 113;
+  difficulties with, 253;
+  Chancellor of the Exchequer, 256;
+  incapacity of, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 376</li>
+
+<li>Richmond, Duke of, and King George III. at a naval review, iii. 129</li>
+
+<li>Richmond, Duke of,
+  summary of character of, i. 199;
+  Postmaster-General, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  refuses the appointment of Master of the Horse, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>;
+  difficulties with his labourers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;
+  at Goodwood, ii. <a href="#Page_182">182</a>;
+  on Reform, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;
+  character of, iii. 15;
+  resignation of, 88</li>
+
+<li>Riots,
+  in London, 1830, ii. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;
+  among the farm labourers, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;
+  proclamation against, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>;
+  in the country, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+
+<li>Ripon, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  resignation of, iii. 88.
+  <i>See</i> <a href="#IX_Goderich">Goderich, Viscount</a></li>
+
+<li>Robarts, Mr., dinner given by, iii. 184</li>
+
+<li>Robinson, Right Hon. Frederick John,
+  Chancellor of the Exchequer, i. 79;
+  <i>See</i> <a href="#IX_Goderich">Goderich, Viscount</a></li>
+
+<li>Rochester election, 183.3, iii. 193</li>
+
+<li>Roden, Earl of, declines the office of Lord Steward, iii. 179, 181</li>
+
+<li>Rogers, Samuel,
+  breakfast given by, ii. <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;
+  compared with Moore, iii. 324</li>
+
+<li>Rolle, Lord, remark to Lord Brougham, iii. 107</li>
+
+<li>Rome, i. 303, 304;
+  <a name="IX_Rome" id="IX_Rome"></a>
+  St. Peter&rsquo;s, 303, 321;
+  sight-seeing, 306, 311, 322;
+  the Sistine Chapel, 309;
+  the cardinals, 309;
+  a cardinal lying in state, 312;
+  Pompey&rsquo;s statue, 313;
+  Temple of Bacchus, 313;
+  the Catacombs, 314;
+  the Pope&rsquo;s blessing, 316, 324;
+  Holy Week observances, 317;
+  the Grand Penitentiary, 317, 319;
+  washing of pilgrims&rsquo; feet, 320;
+  supper to pilgrims, 321;
+  Protestant burial-ground, 322;
+  St. Peter&rsquo;s illuminated, 325;
+  excavations, 327;
+  sight-seeing, 328, 329, 362;
+  aqueducts, 363;
+  the Scala Santa, 364;
+  St. Peter&rsquo;s, 366;
+  Library of the Vatican, 367;
+  votive offering of a horse-shoe, 367, 372;
+  Columbaria, 374;
+  saints, 385;
+  the Flagellants, 387;
+  relations with Protestant countries, 391;
+  the Coliseum, 395;
+  story of a thief, 396;
+  convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 397;
+  sight-seeing, 398</li>
+
+<li>Rosslyn, Earl of,
+  Lord Privy Seal, i. 210;
+  Lord President of the Council, iii. 177;
+  dinner for selecting the Sheriffs, 201</li>
+
+<li>Roussin, Admiral, at Constantinople ii. <a href="#Page_367">367</a></li>
+
+<li>Rovigo, the Duke de, at Rome, i. 325</li>
+
+<li>Rundell, Mr., fortune of, will of, i. 90</li>
+
+<li>Runton Abbey,
+  shooting at, iii. 51;
+  murder in the neighbourhood, 51</li>
+
+<li>Russell, Right Hon. Lord John,
+  introduces the Reform Bill, ii. <a href="#Page_121">121</a>;
+  seat in the Cabinet, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;
+  brings in his Bill, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;
+  letter to Attwood, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>;
+  willing to compromise, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;
+  brings on the second Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;
+  Paymaster, of the Forces, iii. 113;
+  objected to by the King as leader of the House of Commons, 160;
+  speech at Totness, 171;
+  on the Speakership, 205;
+  on Church Reform, 206;
+  first speech as leader of the House of Commons, 214;
+  letter of, on the Speakership, 218;
+  as leader of the House of Commons, 221;
+  marriage of, 252;
+  Home Secretary in Lord Melbourne&rsquo;s second Administration, 256;
+  introduction of Corporation Reform, 263;
+  relations with Sir Robert Peel, 282;
+  course to be pursued on the Corporation Bill, 303, 310;
+  speech on the Orangemen, 344;
+  moderation of, 352;
+  meeting at the Foreign Office, 357, 358;
+  intention of the Government to proceed with their Bills, 397;
+  speech in answer to Roebuck, 401</li>
+
+<li>Russia, state of, 1829, i. 158;
+  intrigues of, ii. <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  diplomatic relations with, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;
+  combines with Turkey against Egypt, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;
+  fleet sent to Constantinople, <a href="#Page_366">366</a>;
+  establishes her power in the East, <a href="#Page_371">371</a>;
+  quarrel with, iii. 44;
+  policy towards Turkey, 48;
+  treaty with Turkey, 69;
+  relations with Turkey, 183</li>
+
+<li>Russo-Dutch Loan,
+  question of the, ii. <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;
+  origin of the, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>;
+  debate on the, in the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_315">315</a></li>
+
+<li>Rutland, Duke of,
+  anti-Reform petition, ii. <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;
+  birthday party, iii. 46</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_S" id="IX_S"></a>
+Sadler,  Mr.,  maiden speech of,
+  in opposition  to  the  Catholic Relief Bill, i. 191</li>
+
+<li>Saint-Aulaire, M. de,
+  French Ambassador at Vienna, ii. <a href="#Page_187">187</a>;
+  anecdote of, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li>
+
+<li>Saint-Aulaire, Madame de, iii. 187</li>
+
+<li>Saint-Germain, Count de, account of, ii. <a href="#Page_186">186</a>;
+  the &lsquo;Wandering Jew,&rsquo; <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>Salerno, i. 344</li>
+
+<li>Salisbury, Marquis of, petition to the King, ii. <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+
+<li>Saltash, borough of, division on, ii. <a href="#Page_170">170</a></li>
+
+<li>San Carlos, Duke and Duchess of, i. 8</li>
+
+<li>Sandon, Viscount, moves the Address in the House of Commons, iii. 202;
+  on Sir Robert Peel, 340</li>
+
+<li>Sandys, Lord, iii. 359</li>
+
+<li>Sartorius, Admiral, petition, iii. 366</li>
+
+<li>Scarlett, Sir James, Attorney-General, i. 210</li>
+
+<li>Scott, Sir Walter, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+<li>Seaford, Lord, i. 83</li>
+
+<li>Sebastiani, Count,
+  French Ambassador to the Court of St. James&rsquo;s, iii. 180</li>
+
+<li>Sefton, Earl of, dinner to Lord Grey and Lord Brougham, ii. <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;
+  on Lord Brougham, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;
+  created a Peer of the United Kingdom, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;
+  qualities of, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
+
+<li>Segrave, Lord, Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, iii. 322</li>
+
+<li>Senior, Nassau, at Holland House, iii. 138</li>
+
+<li>Session of 1833, review of the, iii. 28</li>
+
+<li>Sestri, i. 297</li>
+
+<li>Seton, Sir Henry, arrival of, from Belgium, ii. <a href="#Page_178">178</a></li>
+
+<li>Seymour, Lord, withdraws his support from the Government, ii. <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+
+<li>Seymour, George, Master of the Robes, ii. <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li>Seymour, Horace, retires from the Lord Chamberlain&rsquo;s Department, ii. <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li>Seymour, Jane, coffin of, found at Windsor, ii. <a href="#Page_168">168</a></li>
+
+<li>Shadwell, Right Hon. Sir Lancelot, on legal business, iii. 76</li>
+
+<li>Shee, Sir Martin, elected President of the Royal Academy, i. 269</li>
+
+<li>Sheil, Right Hon. Richard, dispute with Lord Althorp, iii. 55;
+  arrest of, by the Serjeant-at-Arms, 56;
+  committee, 57, 58;
+  insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389</li>
+
+<li>Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, iii. 336</li>
+
+<li>Siege of Saragossa, the, iii. 40</li>
+
+<li>Siena, i. 303</li>
+
+<li>Simplon, the, i. 415</li>
+
+<li>Slavery, abolition of, ii. <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;
+  for debates on, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>Smith, Baron, ii. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;
+  O&rsquo;Connell&rsquo;s attack upon, iii. 59, 61, 63</li>
+
+<li>Smith, Sydney, and the siege of Saragossa, iii. 39;
+  and Professor Leslie, 44;
+  sermon of, in St. Paul&rsquo;s Cathedral, 166;
+  on Sir James Mackintosh, 317;
+  dispute of, with the Bishop of London, 395;
+  letter to Archdeacon Singleton, 395</li>
+
+<li>Smithson, Sir Hugh, ii. <a href="#Page_337">337</a>, <a href="#Page_338">338</a></li>
+
+<li>Somaglia, Cardinal, i. 312</li>
+
+<li>Somerville, Mrs., iii. 58</li>
+
+<li>Sorrento, i. 352;
+  Benediction of the Flowers, 352</li>
+
+<li>Soult, Marshal, sent to Lyons, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  Prime Minister of France, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li>
+
+<li>Southey, Robert, at breakfast given by Mr. Henry Taylor, ii. <a href="#Page_59">59</a>;
+  letter to Lord Brougham on rewards to literary men, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
+
+<li>Spain, the Duke of Wellington on affairs in, iii. 47;
+  state of, 55;
+  affairs in, 66, 72;
+  proposal to combine with Dom Pedro, 72;
+  affairs in, 183;
+  deplorable state of, 359</li>
+
+<li>Spanish  Legion, formation of the, iii. 265</li>
+
+<li>Speaker, the, indecision of, ii. <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;
+  disputes on the Speakership, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>; iii. 204</li>
+
+<li>Spencer, Earl, death of, iii. 140</li>
+
+<li>Spencer, Earl, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Althorp">Althorp, Viscount</a></li>
+
+<li>Sprotborough, party at, for the races, ii. <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li>
+
+<li>Staël, Madame de,
+  &lsquo;Considérations sur la Révolution française,&rsquo; i. 16;
+  anecdote of, ii. <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>Stafford House, concert at, iii. 278</li>
+
+<li>Stanley, Right Hon. Edward, Irish Secretary, ii. <a href="#Page_66">66</a>;
+  speech on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;
+  seat in the Cabinet, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>;
+  speech in answer to Croker, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>;
+  Secretary for the Colonial Department, <a href="#Page_365">365</a>;
+  at The Oaks, <a href="#Page_374">374</a>;
+  indecision of, iii. 17;
+  racing interests of, 35;
+  resignation of, 88;
+  in opposition, 93;
+  &lsquo;Thimblerig&rsquo; speech, 100;
+  conciliatory letter to Lord Grey, 107;
+  disposition of, 165, 167;
+  declines to join Sir R. Peel, 175, 176;
+  speech at Glasgow, 180;
+  formation of the Stanley party, 220;
+  position of Mr. Stanley, 222;
+  policy of, 228;
+  meeting of party at the &lsquo;King&rsquo;s Head,&rsquo; 237;
+  speech on Irish Church question, 240;
+  character of, 250;
+  letter to Sir Thomas Hesketh, 265;
+  joins the Opposition, 272;
+  conduct of, 336</li>
+
+<li>Stanley, Right Hon. Edward John, Under-Secretary of State, iii. 112</li>
+
+<li>State Paper Office, i. 160; iii. 44</li>
+
+<li>Stephen, James, opinions on emancipation, ii. <a href="#Page_359">359</a></li>
+
+<li>Stephenson, George, on steam-engines, iii. 54</li>
+
+<li>Stewart, Lady Dudley, party given by, ii. <a href="#Page_115">115</a>;
+  accompanies the Prince of Orange to Gravesend, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li>
+
+<li>Stoke, party at, i. 142; ii. <a href="#Page_185">185</a></li>
+
+<li>Strangford, Viscount, sent to the Brazils, i. 140</li>
+
+<li>Strasburg prisoners, acquittal of, iii. 381</li>
+
+<li>Strawberry Hill, party at, i. 247</li>
+
+<li>Strutt, Edward, ii. <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Stuart de Rothesay, Lord, Ambassador in France, i. 141</li>
+
+<li>Sugden, Right Hon. Sir Edward, quarrel of, with Lord Brougham, ii. <a href="#Page_312">312</a>;
+  origin of animosity towards Lord Brougham, iii. 22;
+  Irish Chancellor, 178;
+  resignation of, 231;
+  retains his appointment, 234</li>
+
+<li>Sugden, Lady, not received at Court, iii. 231</li>
+
+<li>Sunderland, state of, ii. <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li>
+
+<li>Sussex, H.R.H. the Duke of, marriage of, ii. <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li>
+
+<li>Sutherland, Duke of, death of the, iii. 19;
+  wealth, of the, 19</li>
+
+<li>Suttee case, before the Privy Council, ii. <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
+
+<li>Swift <i>v.</i> Kelly,
+  before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, iii. 259, 266, 267, 271;
+  judgment, 274</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_T" id="IX_T"></a>
+Tallyrand, Charles Maurice de,
+  letter to the Emperor of Russia, i. 23;
+  Ambassador to the Court of St. James, ii. <a href="#Page_44">44</a>;
+  conversation of, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;
+  anecdotes, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;
+  <i>mot</i> of, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>;
+  dinner with, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;
+  on Fox and Pitt, <a href="#Page_344">344</a>;
+  detained in the Thames, <a href="#Page_346">346</a>;
+  on Portuguese affairs, iii. 25;
+  on relations between France and England, 314;
+  opinion of, of Lord Palmerston, 360;
+  dissatisfaction at his position in London, 386</li>
+
+<li>Tasso, i. 328;
+  bust of, 328</li>
+
+<li>Tavistock, Marquis of, on the prospects of the Liberal party, iii. 43</li>
+
+<li>Taylor, Sir Herbert, conversation with Lord Wharncliffe, ii. <a href="#Page_251">251</a>;
+  correspondence with, about the Chancellorship, <a href="#Page_339">339</a></li>
+
+<li>Taylor, Henry, breakfast at the house of, ii. <a href="#Page_58">58</a>;
+  breakfast to Wordsworth, Mill, Elliot, Charles Villiers, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>;
+  on the abolition of slavery in the West Indies, <a href="#Page_348">348</a>;
+  &lsquo;Philip van Artevelde,&rsquo; iii. 114</li>
+
+<li>Taylor, Brook, mission to Rome, ii. <a href="#Page_153">153</a></li>
+
+<li>Teddesley, party at, i. 11</li>
+
+<li>Tenterden, Lord, death of, ii. <a href="#Page_329">329</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>;
+  classical knowledge of, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></li>
+
+<li>Terceira, Portuguese expedition to, i. 169, 170</li>
+
+<li>Terni, Falls of, i. 401</li>
+
+<li>Thiers, Adolphe, dinner to, iii. 31;
+  account of, 31;
+  at the head of the French Government, 66;
+  on interference in Spain, 66;
+  foreign policy of, 364;
+  social qualities of, 370;
+  quarrel with Lady Granville, 380;
+  courts the favour of Austria, 387</li>
+
+<li>Thompson, Alderman, difficulties with his constituents, ii. <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+<li>Thomson, Right Hon. Charles Poulett,
+  originates a commercial treaty with France, ii. <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  Board of Trade, iii. 113, 256;
+  self-complacency of, 330</li>
+
+<li>Thorwaldsen, Albert, at Florence, i. 299, 300</li>
+
+<li>Tierney, Right Hon. George, i. 14;
+  Master of the Mint, 95;
+  death of, 269</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Times,&rsquo; the, on Lord Harrowby&rsquo;s letter, ii. <a href="#Page_264">264</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;
+  attacks Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>;
+  Lord Chancellor&rsquo;s speech, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>;
+  influence of the, <a href="#Page_362">362</a>;
+  and Lord Brougham, iii. 133;
+  disposition of, to support a Tory Government, 149, 152;
+  terms of support to the Duke of Wellington, 155;
+  power of the, 156, 157;
+  negotiations with Lord Lyndhurst, 171;
+  letter signed &lsquo;Onslow,&rsquo; 199</li>
+
+<li>Titchfield, Marquis of, death of, i. 75;
+  character of, 75</li>
+
+<li>Tivoli, i. 375</li>
+
+<li>Tixall, party at, i. 10;
+  Macao, 11</li>
+
+<li>Torrington, Viscount, and the King, iii. 285</li>
+
+<li>Tory party, state of the, ii. <a href="#Page_162">162</a>;
+  meeting at Bridgewater House, iii. 237;
+  state of the, 306;
+  indifference of members of the, 389</li>
+
+<li>Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, iii. 45;
+  between Russia and Turkey, 1834, 69;
+  the Quadruple, for the pacification of the Peninsula, signed 1834, 94</li>
+
+<li>Tree, Ellen, at the City Theatre, ii. <a href="#Page_181">181</a></li>
+
+<li>Tuileries, the, reception at, iii. 382;
+  ball at, 383;
+  small ball at, 385</li>
+
+<li>Turf, the, reflections on, iii. 139</li>
+
+<li>Turin, i. 291</li>
+
+<li>Turkey, threatened by Russia, i. 228;
+  critical state of, ii. <a href="#Page_351">351</a>;
+  relations with Russia, iii. 183</li>
+
+<li>Tusculum, i. 390</li>
+
+<li>Twiss, Horace, supper party given by, iii. 260</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_U" id="IX_U"></a>
+Union, speech of O&rsquo;Connell on the repeal of the, iii. 80</li>
+
+<li>Unions, proclamation against the, ii. <a href="#Page_215">215</a>;
+  procession of trades, iii. 79</li>
+
+<li>Urquhart, Mr., Secretary to the Embassy at Constantinople, iii. 405</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_V" id="IX_V"></a>
+Van de Weyer, Sylvain, Belgian Minister to the Court of St. James, ii. <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
+
+<li>Vaudreuil, M. de,
+  French <i>chargé d&rsquo;affaires</i> in London, on French affairs, ii. <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
+
+<li>Vaughan, Right Hon. Sir Charles, special mission to Constantinople, iii. 405</li>
+
+<li>Vaughan, Right Hon. Sir John, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li>
+
+<li>Venice, i. 405;
+  sights of, 406, 408, 410</li>
+
+<li>Vernet, Horace, at Rome, i. 325</li>
+
+<li>Verona, Congress of, i. 65;
+  visit to, 413</li>
+
+<li>Verulam, Earl of, petition to the King, ii. <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
+
+<li>Vesuvius, ascent of, i. 350</li>
+
+<li>Vicenza, i. 412</li>
+
+<li>Victoria, H.R.H. the Princess,
+  at a child&rsquo;s ball, i. 209;
+  first appearance of, at a drawing-room, ii. <a href="#Page_119">119</a>;
+  at Burghley iii. 315;
+  health of, proposed by the King, 364;
+  at Windsor, 367;
+  letter from the King, 400;
+  seclusion of, 403;
+  first Council of, 406;
+  proclaimed <span class="smcap">Queen</span>, 408;
+  impression produced on all, 409</li>
+
+<li>Villiers, Hon. Hyde, appointed to the Board of Control, ii. <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li>
+
+<li>Villiers, Hon. George, at the Grove, ii. <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;
+  conversation with the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>;
+  mission to Paris for a commercial treaty, <a href="#Page_219">219</a>;
+  Minister at Madrid, iii. 14, 20, 21;
+  on prospects in Spain, 69, 79;
+  letters of, from Madrid, 321, 360, 365</li>
+
+<li>Villiers, Hon. Charles Pelham, ii. <a href="#Page_59">59</a></li>
+
+<li>Virginia Water, ii. <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;
+  visit to, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_W" id="IX_W"></a>
+Walewski, Count Alexander, arrival of, in London, ii. <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+
+<li>Walpole, Horace, letters to Sir Horace Mann, iii. 2</li>
+
+<li>&lsquo;Wandering Jew, The,&rsquo; ii. <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
+
+<li>Warsaw, affair at, ii. <a href="#Page_95">95</a>;
+  taken by the Russians, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li>
+
+<li>Warwickshire Election, iii. 353, 354</li>
+
+<li>Wellesley, Marquis of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 31;
+  correspondence with Mr. Littleton, 103, 110;
+  resigns the White Wand, 258</li>
+
+<li>Wellesley, Long, Esq., committed for contempt of court, ii. <a href="#Page_166">166</a></li>
+
+<li>Wellington, Duke of,
+  account of the battle of Waterloo, i. 39;
+  in Paris with Blücher, 41;
+  dispute with the King, 51;
+  on affairs of France and Spain, 67;
+  opinion of Bonaparte, 71;
+  mission to Russia, 78;
+  visit to the Royal Lodge, 102;
+  opinion of Mr. Canning, 107;
+  forms a Government, 1828, 124;
+  resolves to carry the Catholic Relief Bill, 143;
+  correspondence with Dr. Curtis, 148;
+  ascendency of, in the Cabinet, and over the King, 176;
+  hardness of character of, 191;
+  duel with Lord Winchelsea, 192;
+  conversation with, on King George IV. and the Duke of Cumberland, 216, 218;
+  prosecution of the press, 233, 258, 260;
+  business habits of, 262;
+  conversation with on the French Revolution, ii. <a href="#Page_21">21</a>;
+  qualities of, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;
+  confidence in, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>;
+  declaration against Reform, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>;
+  Administration of, defeated, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;
+  resignation of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;
+  suppresses disturbance in Hampshire, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>;
+  political character of, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>;
+  reported letter of advice to the King of France, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>;
+  correspondence with Mr. Canning, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>;
+  conduct towards the Government, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>;
+  objections to Mr. Canning, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>;
+  dinner at Apsley House, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;
+  anti-Reform dinner at Apsley House, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>;
+  remarks upon, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>;
+  memorial to the King, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;
+  correspondence with Lord Wharncliffe, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>;
+  obstinacy of, <a href="#Page_234">234</a>;
+  letter to Lord Wharncliffe, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;
+  unbecoming letter laid before the King, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;
+  reply to Lord Wharncliffe, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>;
+  speech on Irish Education, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>;
+  sent for by the King, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>;
+  efforts of, to form an Administration, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;
+  inability of, to form an Administration, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>;
+  statement of his case, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;
+  conduct of the Tory party, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;
+  ill-feeling towards Peel, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>;
+  view of affairs, 1833, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;
+  government of French provinces, <a href="#Page_363">363</a>;
+  respect evinced towards, <a href="#Page_372">372</a>;
+  defence of policy, <a href="#Page_379">379</a>;
+  Speech on the Coronation Oath, iii. 9, 10;
+  policy on the Irish Church Bill, 10;
+  on Portuguese affairs, 11, 26;
+  and the Bonaparte family, 26;
+  subsequent account of attempt to form a Government, 48;
+  compared with Lord Grey, 73;
+  speech on the admission of Dissenters to the University, 73;
+  presents the Oxford petition, 79;
+  and the Whigs, 82;
+  installed as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, 95;
+  First Lord of the Treasury, and Secretary of State for the Home Office, 149;
+  arrangement for a provisional Government, 149;
+  at the public offices, 1834, 154;
+  account of crisis of 1834, 162;
+  inconsistencies of, 172;
+  on the division on the Speakership, 216;
+  on Lord Londonderry&rsquo;s appointment, 227;
+  anecdote of Lord Brougham, 232;
+  on Spain, 270;
+  on the Walcheren expedition, 271;
+  policy of, on the Corporation Bill, 283;
+  letter to the Duke of Cumberland, 320;
+  speech in answer to Lord Lyndhurst, 362;
+  meeting of Tory Peers, 397;
+  crowned by the Duchess of Cannizzaro, 406;
+  quarrel with the Duke of Clarence, 406</li>
+
+<li>Western, Lord, evidence of, iii. 112</li>
+
+<li>West India Body, consternation of the, ii. <a href="#Page_350">350</a>;
+  deputation of the, <a href="#Page_350">350</a></li>
+
+<li>West India Bill, prospects of the, iii. 13.
+  For debates on the, <i>see</i> <a href="#IX_Commons">Commons, House of</a></li>
+
+<li>West Indies, Lord Chandos&rsquo;s motion on the state of the, ii. <a href="#Page_116">116</a>;
+  project of emancipation, <a href="#Page_347">347</a>;
+  alarm in the, <a href="#Page_352">352</a>;
+  difficulties attending emancipation, <a href="#Page_360">360</a>;
+  committee on affairs of the, iii. 266;
+  decision on the office of Secretary of the Island of Jamaica, 279</li>
+
+<li>Westmeath, Marchioness of, pension, i. 157, 160</li>
+
+<li>Westmeath <i>v.</i> Westmeath, appeal before the Judicial Committee,
+  iii. 119, 124;
+  decision in, 140</li>
+
+<li>Westminster election, 1818, contest, i. 3;
+  in 1819, 17, 19;
+  in 1833, ii. <a href="#Page_370">370</a>;
+  in 1837, iii. 398</li>
+
+<li>Wetherell, Sir Charles, account of, i. 194;
+  speech on the Reform Bill, ii. <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;
+  supports Sir E. Sugden&rsquo;s motion, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li>
+
+<li>Wharncliffe, Lord,
+  <a name="IX_Wharncliffe" id="IX_Wharncliffe"></a>
+  interview with Radical Jones, ii. <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;
+  overtures for a compromise on the Reform Bill, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_213">213</a>;
+  draws up a declaration for signature in the City, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;
+  disappointment of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>;
+  final interview of, with Lord Grey, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;
+  correspondence of, with the Duke of Wellington, <a href="#Page_211">221</a>;
+  interview of, with the King on the proposed new Peers, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;
+  memorandum laid before the King, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>;
+  as chief of a party, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>;
+  in communication with Lord Lyndhurst and Lord Ellenborough, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>;
+  defends his policy, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>;
+  paper on the Tory party, <a href="#Page_343">343</a>;
+  on the prospects of the country, iii. 54;
+  joins the Peel Government, 175;
+  on the prospects of the session, 341</li>
+
+<li>Whately, Richard, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, iii. 280</li>
+
+<li>Whig party, state of the, iii. 159;
+  tactics of the, 216;
+  union with O&rsquo;Connell, 219;
+  symptoms of disunion in the, 221;
+  meeting at Lichfield House, 224;
+  prospects of the, 235</li>
+
+<li>Wicklow, Earl of, attack on the Government, iii. 110</li>
+
+<li>Wilberforce, William, speech of, i. 16;
+  negotiation with Mr. Canning, ii. <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
+
+<li>William IV., King, accession of, ii. <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;
+  <a name="IX_William" id="IX_William"></a>
+  dislike of, to the Duke of Cumberland, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;
+  behaviour of, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_9">9</a>;
+  at the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>;
+  personal anecdotes of, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;
+  dinner at Apsley House, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>;
+  at Windsor, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>;
+  pays the racing debts of the Duke of York, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>;
+  speech on the change of Government, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>;
+  levee, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>;
+  health of, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>;
+  mobbed on returning from the theatre, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>;
+  in mourning for his son-in-law, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>;
+  in the House of Lords, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;
+  dissolves Parliament, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;
+  conduct to his Ministers, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>;
+  at Ascot, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>;
+  opens Parliament, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>;
+  at Windsor, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;
+  and the Bishops, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>;
+  divides the old Great Seal, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;
+  crowned at Westminster, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>;
+  levee, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;
+  toasts at dinner at St. James&rsquo;s, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>;
+  interview with Lord Wharncliffe on creation of new Peers, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;
+  health of, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>;
+  reluctance of, to make Peers, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;
+  adverse sentiments towards the Whigs, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>;
+  dinner to the Jockey Club, <a href="#Page_301">301</a>;
+  levity of, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>;
+  letter to the Peers, <a href="#Page_303">303</a>;
+  character of, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;
+  struck by a stone, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>;
+  country dance, <a href="#Page_341">341</a>;
+  anecdotes of, <a href="#Page_342">342</a>;
+  state of mind of, <a href="#Page_364">364</a>;
+  letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_382">382</a>, <a href="#Page_383">383</a>;
+  letter-writing, iii. 2;
+  animosity to the French, 33;
+  irritability of, 81;
+  conduct of, 84;
+  personal feelings towards the members of Lord
+    Melbourne&rsquo;s Administration, 137;
+  dismissal of Lord Melbourne, 144;
+  speech to the Tory Lords, 148;
+  provisional appointments, 148;
+  account of difference with Lord Melbourne, 150;
+  resolution of, to support the Tory Government, 161;
+  address to the new Ministers, 175;
+  on the state of Persia, 184;
+  whims of, 203;
+  Island of St. Bartholomew, 203;
+  indignation of, at the affair of Lord Londonderry, 231;
+  distress of, 245;
+  and the Ministers, 251;
+  personal habits of, 264;
+  speech to Sir Charles Grey, 272;
+  audience to Lord Durham, 272;
+  hostility towards Lord Glenelg and the Ministers, 276;
+  conduct to the Speaker, 279;
+  scene with Lord Torrington, 285;
+  speech to the Bishops, 303;
+  speech on the Militia, 311;
+  and the Duchess of Kent, 313;
+  speech at dinner to the Jockey Club, 351;
+  Toryism of, 358;
+  joke, 361;
+  speech to the Bishop of Ely, 363;
+  proposes the health of the Princess Victoria, 364;
+  aversion to his Ministers, 364, 366;
+  speech to Lord Minto, 364, 366;
+  rudeness to the Duchess of Kent, 366;
+  scene at birthday party, 367;
+  reception of King Leopold, 370;
+  speech, 1837, 385;
+  address to Lord Aylmer, 394;
+  illness of, 399, 400;
+  letter to the Princess Victoria, 399;
+  dangerous illness of, 401;
+  prayers offered up for, 403;
+  death of, 406;
+  kindness of heart of, 410</li>
+
+<li>Williams, Sir John, Justice of the Common Pleas, iii. 71</li>
+
+<li>Winchelsea, Earl of,
+  duel of, with the Duke of Wellington, i. 192;
+  incident of the handkerchief, 198</li>
+
+<li>Winchester Cathedral, iii. 283</li>
+
+<li>Windham, Right Hon. William, diary of, i. 231;
+  conversation with Doctor Johnson, 232</li>
+
+<li>Windsor Castle, dinner in St. George&rsquo;s Hall, ii. <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>;
+  dinner during the Ascot week, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
+
+<li>Windsor election, mobs at the, iii. 130</li>
+
+<li>Woburn, party at, i. 23;
+  riot at, ii. <a href="#Page_77">77</a></li>
+
+<li>Wood, Charles, on the Reform Bill, ii. <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
+
+<li>Wood, Matthew, returned to Parliament for the City of London, iii. 188</li>
+
+<li>Worcester, Marchioness of, death of the, i. 47</li>
+
+<li>Worcester Cathedral, iii. 327;
+  monument of Bishop Hough, 327</li>
+
+<li>Wordsworth, William, characteristics of, ii. <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li>
+
+<li>Wortley, Right Hon. John, Secretary to the Board of Control, i. 271.
+  <i>See</i> <a href="#IX_Wharncliffe">Wharncliffe</a></li>
+
+<li>Wrottesley, Sir John, motion of, for a call of the House, iii. 8, 13</li>
+
+<li>Wynford, Lord,
+  <a name="IX_Wynford" id="IX_Wynford"></a>
+  raised to the Peerage, i. 210;
+  Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords, 210</li>
+
+<li>Wynn, Right Hon. Charles,
+  President of the Board of Control, i. 95;
+  resignation of, ii. <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_X" id="IX_X"></a>
+<a name="IX_Y" id="IX_Y"></a>
+York, H.R.H. the Duke of, character of, i. 5;
+  management of racing establishment, 44;
+  dislike to the Duke of Wellington, 48, 62;
+  duel with the Duke of Richmond, 62;
+  anecdotes of King George IV., 73;
+  illness of, 83, 85;
+  death of, 84;
+  funeral of, 89;
+  letter to Lord Liverpool on the Catholic question, ii. <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
+
+<li>York, H.R.H. the Duchess of, character of, i. 5;
+  portrait of, 8;
+  illness of, 27;
+  death of, 34</li>
+
+<li>Young, Thomas, private secretary to Lord Melbourne, iii. 126</li>
+</ul>
+
+<hr />
+
+<ul class="IX">
+<li><a name="IX_Z" id="IX_Z"></a>
+Zea Bermudez, iii. 21;
+  dismissal of, 55</li>
+
+<li>Zumalacarreguy, ii. <a href="#Page_270">270</a></li>
+</ul>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Greville Memoirs, by Charles C. F. Greville
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diff --git a/30590.txt b/30590.txt
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+Project Gutenberg's The Greville Memoirs, by Charles C. F. Greville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Greville Memoirs
+       A Journal of the Reigns of King George IV and King William IV, Vol. II
+
+Author: Charles C. F. Greville
+
+Editor: Henry Reeve
+
+Release Date: December 3, 2009 [EBook #30590]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GREVILLE MEMOIRS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Stacy Brown, Eve Behr, Paul Murray and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+    In this work, all spellings and punctuation were
+    reproduced from the original work except in the very few
+    cases where an obvious typo occurred. These typos are
+    corrected without comment.
+
+    In the original work, monetary pounds were expressed as
+    an italicized "l." after the number. For the text
+    version, I am using the more conventional L100 form for
+    clarity.
+
+    In the original volumes in this set, each even-numbered
+    page had a header consisting of the page number, the
+    volume title, and the chapter number. The odd-numbered
+    page header consisted of the year of the diary entry, a
+    subject phrase, and the page number. In this set of
+    e-books, the year is included as part of the date (which
+    in the original volume were in the form reproduced here,
+    minus the year). The subject phrase has been converted to
+    sidenotes, usually positioned where it seemed most
+    logical but occasionally simply between two paragraphs of
+    the even-odd pair.
+
+    In the original book set, consisting of three volumes,
+    the master index was in Volume 3. In this set of e-books,
+    the index has been duplicated into each of the other
+    volumes.  To make the index easier to use in this work,
+    the page number has been added to each Diary date.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                       The Greville Memoirs
+
+                     A JOURNAL OF THE REIGNS
+                                of
+                         KING GEORGE IV.
+                               and
+                         KING WILLIAM IV.
+
+
+                           By the Late
+                   CHARLES C. F. GREVILLE, Esq.
+             Clerk of the Council to Those Sovereigns
+
+                            Edited by
+                           HENRY REEVE
+                  Registrar of the Privy Council
+
+
+                         IN THREE VOLUMES
+                             VOL. II.
+
+                          Second Edition
+
+                              LONDON
+                     LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
+                               1874
+
+
+
+
+                  CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XI.
+
+Accession of William IV.--The King's Proceedings--His
+  Popularity--Funeral of George IV.--Dislike of the Duke of
+  Cumberland--The King's Simplicity and Good-nature--Reviews the
+  Guards--The First Court--The King in St. James's Street--
+  Dissolution of Parliament--The King dines at Apsley House--The
+  Duke of Gloucester--The Quaker's Address--The Ordinances of
+  July--The French Revolution--Brougham's Election for
+  Yorkshire--Struggle in Paris--Elections adverse to Government--
+  The Duke of Wellington on the French Revolution--Duke of
+  Cumberland resigns the Gold Stick and the Blues--George IV.'s
+  Wardrobe--Fall of the Bourbons--Weakness of the Duke's
+  Ministry--The King at Windsor--The Duke of Orleans accepts the
+  Crown of France--Chamber of Peers remodelled--Prince Polignac--
+  The New Parliament--Virginia Water--Details of George IV.'s
+  Illness and Death--Symptoms of Opposition--Brougham--Charles X.
+  in England--Dinner in St. George's Hall--Lambeth--Marshal
+  Marmont--His Conversation--Campaign of 1814--The Conflict in
+  Paris--Dinner at Lord Dudley's.
+                                                            Page 1
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Belgian Revolution--The Duke of Wellington and Canning--The
+  King's Plate--Gloomy Forebodings--Retreat of the Prince of
+  Orange--Prince Talleyrand--Position of the Government--Death of
+  Huskisson--His Character--The Duke of Wellington and Peel--
+  Meeting of Parliament--The Duke's Declaration--The King's Visit
+  to the City abandoned--Disturbances in London--Duchesse de
+  Dino--The Cholera--Southey, Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill--
+  Dinner at Talleyrand's--The Duke of Wellington resigns--Mr.
+  Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the Council--Lord Spencer and
+  Lord Grey sent for--Formation of Lord Grey's Administration--
+  Discontent of Brougham--Brougham takes the Great Seal--
+  Character of the New Ministers--Prospects of the Opposition--
+  Disturbances in Sussex and Hampshire--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Brougham--Lord Sefton's Dinner--The New Ministers sworn at a
+  Council.
+                                                           Page 40
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A Proclamation against Rioters--Appointments--Duke of Wellington
+  in Hampshire--General Excitement--The Tory Party--State of
+  Ireland--More Disturbances--Lord Grey's Colleagues--Election at
+  Liverpool--The Black Book--The Duke of Wellington's Position
+  and Character--A Council on a Capital Sentence--Brougham in the
+  House of Lords--The Clerks of the Council--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Lyndhurst--The Chancellor of Ireland--Lord Melbourne--Duke of
+  Richmond--Sir James Graham--Lyndhurst Lord Chief Baron--Judge
+  Allan Park--Lord Lyndhurst and the Whigs--Duke of Wellington
+  and Polignac--The King and his Sons--Polish Revolution--
+  Mechanics' Institute--Repeal of the Union--King Louis
+  Philippe--Lord Anglesey and O'Connell--A Dinner at the
+  Athenaeum--Canning and George IV.--Formation of Canning's
+  Government--Negotiation with Lord Melbourne--Count Walewski--
+  Croker's Boswell--State of Ireland--Brougham and Sugden--Arrest
+  of O'Connell--Colonel Napier and the Trades Unions--The Civil
+  List--Hunt in the House of Commons--Southey's Letter to
+  Brougham on Literary Honours--The Budget--O'Connell pleads
+  guilty--Achille Murat--Weakness of the Government--Lady Jersey
+  and Lord Durham--Lord Duncannon--Ireland--Wordsworth.
+                                                           Page 73
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Introduction of the Reform Bill--Attitude of the Opposition--
+  Reform Debates--Peel--Wilberforce and Canning--Old Sir Robert
+  Peel--The City Address--Agitation for Reform--Effects of the
+  Reform Bill--Brougham as Chancellor--Brougham at the Horse
+  Guards--Miss Kemble--Vote on the Timber Duties--Lord
+  Lansdowne's Opinion of the Bill--Reform Bill carried by one
+  Vote--The King in Mourning--The Prince of Orange--Peel's
+  Reserve--Ministers beaten--Parliament dissolved by the King in
+  Person--Tumult in both Houses--Failure of the Whig Ministry--
+  The King in their Hands--The Elections--Illumination in the
+  City--The Queen alarmed--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the Bill--
+  Lord Grey takes the Garter--The King at Ascot--Windsor under
+  William IV.--Brougham at Whitbread's Brewery and at the British
+  Museum--Breakfast at Rogers'--The Cholera--Quarantine--Meeting
+  of Peers--New Parliament meets--Opened by the King--'Hernani'
+  at Bridgewater House--The Second Reform Bill--The King's
+  Coronation--Cobbett's Trial--Prince Leopold accepts the Crown
+  of Belgium--Peel and the Tories--A Rabble Opposition--A Council
+  for the Coronation.
+                                                          Page 121
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XV.
+
+Preparations for the Coronation--Long Wellesley committed by the
+  Chancellor for Contempt--Alderman Thompson and his
+  Constituents--Prince Leopold goes to Belgium--Royal Tombs and
+  Remains--The Lieutenancy of the Tower--The Cholera--The Belgian
+  Fortresses--Secret Negotiations of Canning with the Whigs--
+  Transactions before the Close of the Liverpool Administration--
+  Duke of Wellington and Peel--The Dutch invade Belgium--Defeat
+  of the Belgian Army--The French enter Belgium--Lord Grey's
+  Composure--Audience at Windsor--Danger of Reform--Ellen Tree--
+  The French in Belgium--Goodwood--The Duke of Richmond--The
+  Reform Bill in Difficulties--Duke of Wellington calls on Lord
+  Grey--The King declines to be kissed by the Bishops--
+  Talleyrand's Conversation--State of Europe and France--
+  Coronation Squabbles--The King divides the old Great Seal
+  between Brougham and Lyndhurst--Relations of the Duchess of
+  Kent to George IV. and William IV.--The Coronation--Irritation
+  of the King--The Cholera--A Dinner at St. James's--State of the
+  Reform Bill--Sir Augustus d'Este--Madame Junot--State of
+  France--Poland.
+                                                          Page 165
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform--Resolution to carry the Bill--
+  Holland--Radical Jones--Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords--
+  Dorsetshire Election--Division among the Tories--Bishop
+  Phillpotts--Prospects of Reform--Its Dangers--Riots at
+  Bristol--The Cholera at Sunderland--An Attempt at a Compromise
+  on Reform--Lord Wharncliffe negotiates with the Ministers--
+  Negotiation with Mr. Barnes--Proclamation against the Unions--
+  Barbarism of Sunderland--Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe--
+  Bristol and Lyons--Commercial Negotiations with France--Poulett
+  Thomson--Lord Wharncliffe's Proposal to Lord Grey--Disapproved
+  by the Duke of Wellington--Moderation of Lord John Russell--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor--The Second Reform Bill--Violence
+  of Lord Durham--More Body-snatchers--Duke of Richmond and Sir
+  Henry Parnell--Panshanger--Creation of Peers--Division of
+  Opinion--Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers--Lord
+  Wharncliffe's Interview with the King--Opposition of the Duke
+  of Wellington--The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
+                                                          Page 197
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Measures for carrying the Second Reading of the Reform Bill in
+  the House of Lords--The Party of the Waverers--The Russo-Dutch
+  Loan--Resistance of the Tory Peers--Lord Melbourne's Views on
+  the Government--Macaulay at Holland House--Reluctance of the
+  Government to create Peers--Duke of Wellington intractable--
+  Peel's Despondency--Lord Grey on the Measures of Conciliation--
+  Lord Wharncliffe sees the King--Prospects of the Waverers--
+  Conversations with Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston--Duke of
+  Richmond on the Creation of Peers--Interview of Lord Grey with
+  the Waverers--Minute drawn up--Bethnal Green--The Archbishop of
+  Canterbury vacillates--Violence of Extreme Parties--Princess
+  Lieven's Journal--Lord Holland for making Peers--Irish National
+  Education--Seizure of Ancona--Reform Bill passes the House of
+  Commons--Lord Dudley's Madness--Debate in the Lords.
+                                                          Page 237
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Debate in the House of Lords--Lord Harrowby's Position--Hopes of
+  a Compromise--Lord Melbourne's View--Disturbances caused by the
+  Cholera--The Disfranchisement Clause--The Number '56'--Peers
+  contemplated--The King's Hesitation--'The Hunchback'--Critical
+  Position of the Waverers--Bill carried by Nine in the Lords--
+  The Cholera in Paris--Moderate Speech of Lord Grey--End of the
+  Secession--Conciliatory Overtures--Negotiations carried on at
+  Newmarket--Hostile Division in the Lords--Lord Wharncliffe's
+  Account of his Failure--Lord Grey resigns--The Duke of
+  Wellington attempts to form a Ministry--Peel declines--
+  Hostility of the Court to the Whigs--A Change of Scene--The
+  Duke fails--History of the Crisis--Lord Grey returns to
+  Office--The King's Excitement--The King writes to the
+  Opposition Peers--Defeat and Disgrace of the Tories--
+  Conversation of the Duke of Wellington--Louis XVIII.--Madame du
+  Cayla--Weakness of the King--Mortality among Great Men--
+  Petition against Lord W. Bentinck's Prohibition of Suttee heard
+  by the Privy Council--O'Connell and the Cholera--Irish Tithe
+  Bill--Irish Difficulties--Mr. Stanley--Concluding Debates of
+  the Parliament--Quarrel between Brougham and Sugden--Holland
+  and Belgium--Brougham's Revenge and Apology--Dinner at Holland
+  House--Anecdotes of Johnson--Death of Mr. Greville's Father--
+  Madame de Flahaut's Account of the Princess Charlotte--Prince
+  Augustus of Prussia--Captain Hess--Hostilities in Holland and
+  in Portugal--The Duchesse de Berri--Conversation with Lord
+  Melbourne on the State of the Government.
+                                                          Page 274
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Foreign Difficulties--Conduct of Peel on the Resignation of Lord
+  Grey--Manners Sutton proposed as Tory Premier--Coolness between
+  Peel and the Duke--Embargo on Dutch Ships--Death of Lord
+  Tenterden--Denman made Lord Chief Justice--Sketch of Holland
+  House--The Speakership--Horne and Campbell Attorney- and
+  Solicitor-General--The Court at Brighton--Lord Howe and the
+  Queen--Elections under the Reform Act--Mr. Gully--Petworth--
+  Lord Egremont--Attempt to reinstate Lord Howe--Namik Pacha--
+  Lord Lyndhurst's Version of what occurred on the Resignation of
+  Lord Grey--Lord Denbigh appointed Chamberlain to the Queen--
+  Brougham's Privy Council Bill--Talleyrand's Relations with Fox
+  and Pitt--Negro Emancipation Bill--State of the West Indies--
+  The Reformed Parliament meets--Russian Intrigues--Four Days
+  Debate on the Address--Peel's Political Career.
+                                                          Page 324
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XX.
+
+Appointment of Sir Stratford Canning to the Russian Embassy--
+  Cause of the Refusal--Slavery in the West Indies--The Reformed
+  Parliament--Duke of Wellington's View of Affairs--The Coercion
+  Bill--The Privy Council Bill--Lord Durham made an Earl--Mr.
+  Stanley Secretary for the Colonies--The Russians go to the
+  Assistance of the Porte--Lord Goderich has the Privy Seal, an
+  Earldom, and the Garter--Embarrassments of the Government--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor at the Privy Council--Hobhouse
+  defeated in Westminster--Bill for Negro Emancipation--The
+  Russians on the Bosphorus--Mr. Littleton Chief Secretary for
+  Ireland--Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington--Moral of a
+  'Book on the Derby'--The Oaks--A Betting Incident--Ascot--
+  Government beaten in the Lords on Foreign Policy--Vote of
+  Confidence in the Commons--Drax _v._ Grosvenor decided--Lord
+  Eldon's Last Judgment--His Character--Duke of Wellington as
+  Leader of Opposition--West India Affairs--Irish Church Bill--
+  Appropriation Clause--A Fancy Bazaar--The King writes to the
+  Bishops--Local Court Bill--Mirabeau.
+                                                          Page 357
+
+
+
+
+                            A JOURNAL
+                              of the
+                 REIGN OF KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XI.
+
+Accession of William IV.--The King's Proceedings--His
+  Popularity--Funeral of George IV.--Dislike of the Duke of
+  Cumberland--The King's Simplicity and Good-nature--Reviews the
+  Guards--The First Court--The King in St. James's Street--
+  Dissolution of Parliament--The King dines at Apsley House--The
+  Duke of Gloucester--The Quakers' Address--The Ordinances of
+  July--The French Revolution--Brougham's Election for
+  Yorkshire--Struggle in Paris--Elections Adverse to Government--
+  The Duke of Wellington on the French Revolution--Duke of
+  Cumberland resigns the Gold Stick and the Blues--George IV.'s
+  Wardrobe--Fall of the Bourbons--Weakness of the Duke's
+  Ministry--The King at Windsor--The Duke of Orleans accepts the
+  Crown of France--Chamber of Peers remodelled--Prince Polignac--
+  The New Parliament--Virginia Water--Details of George IV.'s
+  Illness and Death--Symptoms of Opposition--Brougham--Charles X.
+  in England--Dinner in St. George's Hall--Lambeth--Marshal
+  Marmont--His Conversation--Campaign of 1814--The Conflict in
+  Paris--Dinner at Lord Dudley's.
+
+
+                              1830.
+
+
+London, July 16th, 1830 {p.001}
+
+I returned here on the 6th of this month, and have waited these
+ten days to look about me and see and hear what is passing. The
+present King and his proceedings occupy all attention, and nobody
+thinks any more of the late King than if he had been dead fifty
+years, unless it be to abuse him and to rake up all his vices and
+misdeeds. Never was elevation like that of King William IV. His
+life has been hitherto passed in obscurity and neglect, in
+miserable poverty, surrounded by a numerous progeny of bastards,
+without consideration or friends, and he was ridiculous from his
+grotesque ways and little meddling curiosity. Nobody ever invited
+him into their house, or thought it necessary to honour him with
+any mark of attention or respect; and so he went on for above
+forty years, till Canning brought him into notice by making him
+Lord High Admiral at the time of his grand Ministerial schism. In
+that post he distinguished himself by making absurd speeches, by
+a morbid official activity, and by a general wildness which was
+thought to indicate incipient insanity, till shortly after
+Canning's death and the Duke's accession, as is well known, the
+latter dismissed him. He then dropped back into obscurity, but
+had become by this time somewhat more of a personage than he was
+before. His brief administration of the navy, the death of the
+Duke of York, which made him heir to the throne, his increased
+wealth and regular habits, had procured him more consideration,
+though not a great deal. Such was his position when George IV.
+broke all at once, and after three months of expectation William
+finds himself King.
+
+
+July 18th, 1830 {p.002}
+
+[Page Head: KING WILLIAM'S ACCESSION.]
+
+King George had not been dead three days before everybody
+discovered that he was no loss, and King William a great gain.
+Certainly nobody ever was less regretted than the late King, and
+the breath was hardly out of his body before the press burst
+forth in full cry against him, and raked up all his vices,
+follies, and misdeeds, which were numerous and glaring enough.
+
+The new King began very well. Everybody expected he would keep
+the Ministers in office, but he threw himself into the arms of
+the Duke of Wellington with the strongest expressions of
+confidence and esteem. He proposed to all the Household, as well
+as to the members of Government, to keep their places, which they
+all did except Lord Conyngham and the Duke of Montrose. He soon
+after, however, dismissed most of the equerries, that he might
+fill their places with the members of his own family. Of course
+such a King wanted not due praise, and plenty of anecdotes were
+raked up of his former generosities and kindnesses. His first
+speech to the Council was well enough given, but his burlesque
+character began even then to show itself. Nobody expected from
+him much real grief, and he does not seem to know how to act it
+consistently; he spoke of his brother with all the semblance of
+feeling, and in a tone of voice properly softened and subdued,
+but just afterwards, when they gave him the pen to sign the
+declaration, he said, in his usual tone, 'This is a damned bad
+pen you have given me.' My worthy colleague Mr. James Buller
+began to swear Privy Councillors in the name of 'King George
+IV.--William, I mean,' to the great diversion of the Council.
+
+A few days after my return I was sworn in, all the Ministers and
+some others being present. His Majesty presided very decently,
+and looked like a respectable old admiral. The Duke [of
+Wellington] told me he was delighted with him--'If I had been
+able to deal with my late master as I do with my present, I
+should have got on much better'--that he was so reasonable and
+tractable, and that he had done more business with him in ten
+minutes than with the other in as many days.
+
+I met George Fitzclarence, afterwards Earl of Munster,[1] the same
+day, and repeated what the Duke said, and he told me how delighted
+his father was with the Duke, his entire confidence in him, and
+that the Duke might as entirely depend upon the King; that he had
+told his Majesty, when he was at Paris, that Polignac and the Duke
+of Orleans had both asked him whether the Duke of Clarence, when
+he became King, would keep the Duke of Wellington as his Minister,
+and the King said, 'What did you reply?' 'I replied that you
+certainly would; did not I do right?' 'Certainly, you did quite
+right.'
+
+      [1] [Eldest son of King William IV. by Mrs. Jordan, who was
+          shortly after the accession created an earl by his
+          father. The rank of 'marquis's younger children' was
+          conferred upon the rest of the family. The King had
+          nine natural children by Mrs. Jordan: 1, George, a
+          major-general in the army, afterwards Earl of Munster;
+          2, Frederick, also in the army; 3, Adolphus, a
+          rear-admiral; 4, Augustus, in holy orders; 5. Sophia,
+          married to Lord de l'Isle; 6, Mary, married to Colonel
+          Fox; 7, Elizabeth, married to the Earl of Errol; 8,
+          Augusta, married first to the Hon. John Kennedy Erskine,
+          and secondly to Lord John Frederick Gordon; 9, Amelia,
+          married to Viscount Falkland.]
+
+He began immediately to do good-natured things, to provide for
+old friends and professional adherents, and he bestowed a pension
+upon Tierney's widow. The great offices of Chamberlain and
+Steward he abandoned to the Duke of Wellington. There never was
+anything like the enthusiasm with which he was greeted by all
+ranks; though he has trotted about both town and country for
+sixty-four years, and nobody ever turned round to look at him, he
+cannot stir now without a mob, patrician as well as plebeian, at
+his heels. All the Park congregated round the gate to see him
+drive into town the day before yesterday. But in the midst of all
+this success and good conduct certain indications of strangeness
+and oddness peep out which are not a little alarming, and he
+promises to realise the fears of his Ministers that he will do
+and say too much, though they flatter themselves that they have
+muzzled him in his approaching progress by reminding him that his
+words will be taken as his Ministers', and he must, therefore, be
+chary of them.
+
+At the late King's funeral he behaved with great indecency. That
+ceremony was very well managed, and a fine sight, the military
+part particularly, and the Guards were magnificent. The
+attendance was not very numerous, and when they had all got
+together in St. George's Hall a gayer company I never beheld;
+with the exception of Mount Charles, who was deeply affected,
+they were all as merry as grigs. The King was chief mourner, and,
+to my astonishment, as he entered the chapel directly behind the
+body, in a situation in which he should have been apparently, if
+not really, absorbed in the melancholy duty he was performing, he
+darted up to Strathaven, who was ranged on one side below the
+Dean's stall, shook him heartily by the hand, and then went on
+nodding to the right and left. He had previously gone as chief
+mourner to sit for an hour at the head of the body as it lay in
+state, and he walked in procession with his household to the
+apartment. I saw him pass from behind the screen. Lord Jersey had
+been in the morning to Bushy to kiss hands on being made
+Chamberlain, when he had received him very graciously, told him
+it was the Duke and not himself who had made him, but that he was
+delighted to have him. At Windsor, when he arrived, he gave
+Jersey the white wand, or rather took one from him he had
+provided for himself, and gave it him again with a little speech.
+When he went to sit in state, Jersey preceded him, and he said
+when all was ready, 'Go on to the body, Jersey; you will get your
+dress coat as soon as you can.' The morning after the funeral,
+having slept at Frogmore, he went all over the Castle, into every
+room in the house, which he had never seen before except when he
+came there as a guest; after which he received an address from
+the ecclesiastical bodies of Windsor and Eton, and returned an
+answer quite unpremeditated which they told me was excellent.
+
+[Page Head: DISLIKE OF THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.]
+
+He is very well with all his family, particularly the Duke of
+Sussex, but he dislikes and seems to know the Duke of Cumberland,
+who is furious at his own discredit. The King has taken from him
+the Gold Stick, by means of which he had usurped the functions of
+all the other colonels of the regiments of the Guards, and put
+himself always about the late King. He says the Duke's rank is
+too high to perform those functions, and has put an end to his
+services. He has only put the Gold Sticks on their former
+footing, and they are all to take the duty in turn.
+
+In the meantime the Duke of Cumberland has shown his teeth in
+another way. His horses have hitherto stood in the stables which
+are appropriated to the Queen, and the other day Lord Errol, her
+new Master of the Horse, went to her Majesty and asked her where
+she chose her horses should be; she said, of course, she knew
+nothing about it, but in the proper place. Errol then said the
+Duke of Cumberland's horses were in her stables, and could not be
+got out without an order from the King. The King was spoken to,
+and he commanded the Duke of Leeds to order them out. The Duke of
+Leeds took the order to the Duke of Cumberland, who said 'he
+would be damned if they should go,' when the Duke of Leeds said
+that he trusted he would have them taken out the following day,
+as unless he did so he should be under the necessity of ordering
+them to be removed by the King's grooms, when the Duke was
+obliged sulkily to give way. When the King gave the order to the
+Duke of Leeds, he sent for Taylor that he might be present, and
+said at the same time that he had a very bad opinion of the Duke
+of Cumberland, and he wished he would live out of the country.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S ODDITIES.]
+
+The King's good-nature, simplicity, and affability to all about
+him are certainly very striking, and in his elevation he does not
+forget any of his old friends and companions. He was in no hurry
+to take upon himself the dignity of King, nor to throw off the
+habits and manners of a country gentleman. When Lord Chesterfield
+went to Bushy to kiss his hand, and be presented to the Queen, he
+found Sir John and Lady Gore there lunching, and when they went
+away the King called for their carriage, handed Lady Gore into it,
+and stood at the door to see them off. When Lord Howe came over
+from Twickenham to see him, he said the Queen was going out
+driving, and should 'drop him' at his own house. The Queen, they
+say, is by no means delighted at her elevation. She likes quiet
+and retirement and Bushy (of which the King has made her Ranger),
+and does not want to be a Queen. However, 'L'appetit viendra en
+mangeant.' He says he does not want luxury and magnificence, has
+slept in a cot, and he has dismissed the King's cooks, 'renverse
+la marmite.' He keeps the stud (which is to be diminished) because
+he thinks he ought to support the turf. He has made Mount Charles
+a Lord of the Bedchamber, and given the Robes to Sir C. Pole, an
+admiral. Altogether he seems a kind-hearted, well-meaning, not
+stupid, burlesque, bustling old fellow, and if he doesn't go mad
+may make a very decent King, but he exhibits oddities. He would
+not have his servants in mourning--that is, not those of his own
+family and household--but he sent the Duke of Sussex to Mrs.
+Fitzherbert to desire she would put hers in mourning, and
+consequently so they are. The King and she have always been
+friends, as she has, in fact, been with all the Royal Family, but
+it was very strange. Yesterday morning he sent for the officer on
+guard, and ordered him to take all the muffles off the drums, the
+scarfs off the regimentals, and so to appear on parade, where he
+went himself. The colonel would have put the officer under arrest
+for doing this without his orders, but the King said he was
+commanding officer of his own guard, and forbade him. All odd, and
+people are frightened, but his wits will at least last till the
+new Parliament meets. I sent him a very respectful request through
+Taylor that he would pay L300, all that remained due of the Duke
+of York's debts at Newmarket, which he assented to directly, as
+soon as the Privy Purse should be settled--very good-natured. In
+the meantime it is said that the bastards are dissatisfied that
+more is not done for them, but he cannot do much for them at once,
+and he must have time. He has done all he can; he has made Errol
+Master of the Horse, Sidney a Guelph and Equerry, George
+Fitzclarence the same and Adjutant-General, and doubtless they
+will all have their turn. Of course the stories told about the
+rapacity of the Conynghams have been innumerable. The King's will
+excited much astonishment, but as yet nothing is for certain known
+about the money, or what became of it, or what he gave away, and
+to whom, in his lifetime.
+
+
+July 20th, 1830 {p.007}
+
+Yesterday was a very busy day with his Majesty, who is going much
+too fast, and begins to alarm his Ministers and astonish the
+world. In the morning he inspected the Coldstream Guards, dressed
+(for the first time in his life) in a military uniform and with a
+great pair of gold spurs half-way up his legs like a game cock,
+although he was not to ride, for having chalk-stones in his hands
+he can't hold the reins. The Queen came to Lady Bathurst's to see
+the review and hold a sort of drawing-room, when the Ministers'
+wives were presented to her, and official men, to which were
+added Lady Bathurst's relations; everybody was in undress except
+the officers. She is very ugly, with a horrid complexion, but has
+good manners, and did all this (which she hated) very well. She
+said the part as if she was acting, and wished the green curtain
+to drop. After the review the King, with the Dukes of Cumberland,
+Sussex, and Gloucester, and Prince George and the Prince of
+Prussia, and the Duchess of Cumberland's son, came in through the
+garden gate; the Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Augusta were
+already there; they breakfasted and then went away, the Duke of
+Gloucester bowing to the company while nobody was taking any
+notice of him or thinking about him. Nature must have been merry
+when she made this Prince, and in the sort of mood that certain
+great artists used to exhibit in their comical caricatures; I
+never saw a countenance which that line in Dryden's M'Flecknoe
+would so well describe--
+
+            And lambent dulness plays around his face.
+
+At one there was to be a Council, to swear in Privy Councillors
+and Lords-Lieutenant, and receive Oxford and Cambridge addresses.
+The review made it an hour later, and the Lieutenants, who had
+been summoned at one, and who are great, selfish, pampered
+aristocrats, were furious at being kept waiting, particularly
+Lord Grosvenor and the Duke of Newcastle, the former very
+peevish, the latter bitter-humoured. I was glad to see them put
+to inconvenience. I never saw so full a Court, so much nobility
+with academical tagrag and bobtail. After considerable delay the
+King received the Oxford and Cambridge addresses on the throne,
+which (having only one throne between them) he then abdicated for
+the Queen to seat herself on and receive them too. She sat it
+very well, surrounded by the Princesses and her ladies and
+household. When this mob could be got rid of the table was
+brought in and the Council held. The Duke was twice sworn as
+Constable of the Tower and Lieutenant of Hants; then Jersey and
+the new Privy Councillors; and then the host of Lieutenants six
+or seven at a time, or as many as could hold a bit of the
+Testament. I begged the King would, to expedite the business,
+dispense with their kneeling, which he did, and so we got on
+rapidly enough; and I whispered to Jersey, who stood by me behind
+the King with his white wand, 'The farce is good, isn't it?' as
+they each kissed his hand. I told him their name or county, or
+both, and he had a civil word to say to everybody, inviting some
+to dinner, promising to visit others, reminding them of former
+visits, or something good-humoured; he asked Lord Egremont's
+_permission_ to go and live in his county, at Brighton.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING IN ST. JAMES'S STREET.]
+
+All this was very well; no great harm in it; more affable, less
+dignified than the late King; but when this was over, and he
+might very well have sat himself quietly down and rested, he must
+needs put on his plainer clothes and start on a ramble about the
+streets, alone too. In Pall Mall he met Watson Taylor, and took
+his arm and went up St. James's Street. There he was soon
+followed by a mob making an uproar, and when he got near White's
+a woman came up and kissed him. Belfast (who had been sworn in
+Privy Councillor in the morning), who saw this from White's, and
+Clinton thought it time to interfere, and came out to attend upon
+him. The mob increased, and, always holding W. Taylor's arm, and
+flanked by Clinton and Belfast, who got shoved and kicked about
+to their inexpressible wrath, he got back to the Palace amid
+shouting and bawling and applause. When he got home he asked them
+to go in and take a quiet walk in the garden, and said, 'Oh,
+never mind all this; when I have walked about a few times they
+will get used to it, and will take no notice.' There are other
+stories, but I will put down nothing I do not see or hear, or
+hear from the witnesses. Belfast told me this in the Park, fresh
+from the scene and smarting from the buffeting he had got. All
+the Park was ringing with it, and I told Lady Bathurst, who
+thought it so serious she said she would get Lord Bathurst to
+write to the Duke directly about it. Lord Combermere wanted to be
+made a Privy Councillor yesterday, but the Duke would not let it
+be done; he is in a sort of half-disgrace, and is not to be made
+yet, but will be by-and-by.
+
+
+Grove Road, July 21st, 1830 {p.009}
+
+I came and established myself here last night after the Duchess
+of Bedford's ball. Lady Bathurst told me that the Queen spoke to
+her yesterday morning about the King's walk and being followed,
+and said that for the future he must walk early in the morning,
+or in some less public place, so there are hopes that his
+activity may be tamed. He sent George Fitzclarence off from
+dinner in his silk stockings and cocked hat to Boulogne to invite
+the King of Wuertemberg to come here; he was back in fifty-six
+hours, and might have been in less. He employs him in everything,
+and I heard Fitzclarence yesterday ask the Duke of Leeds for two
+of his father's horses to ride about on his jobs and relieve his
+own, which the Duke agreed to, but made a wry face. Mount Charles
+has refused to be Lord of the Bedchamber; his wife can't bear it,
+and he doesn't like to go to Windsor under such altered
+circumstances. I hardly ever record the scandalous stories of the
+day, unless they relate to characters or events, but what relates
+to public men is different from the loves and friendships of the
+idiots of society.
+
+
+July 24th, 1830 {p.010}
+
+Went to St. James's the day before yesterday for a Council for
+the dissolution, but there was none. Yesterday morning there was
+an idea of having one, but it is to-day instead, and early in the
+morning, that the Ministers may be able to go to their fish
+dinner at Greenwich. I called on the Duke yesterday evening to
+know about a Council, but he could not tell me. Then came a Mr.
+Moss (or his card) while I was there. 'Who is he?' I said. 'Oh, a
+man who wants to see me about a canal. I can't see him. Everybody
+will see me, and how the Devil they think I am to see everybody,
+and be the whole morning with the King, and to do the whole
+business of the country, I don't know. I am quite worn out with
+it.' I longed to tell him that it is this latter part they would
+willingly relieve him from.
+
+I met Vesey Fitzgerald, just come from Paris, and had a long
+conversation with him about the state of the Government; he seems
+aware of the difficulties and the necessity of acquiring more
+strength, of the universal persuasion that the Duke will be all in
+all, and says that in the Cabinet nobody can be more reasonable
+and yielding and deferential to the opinions of his colleagues.
+But Murray's appointment, he says, was a mistake,[2] and no
+personal consideration should induce the Duke to sacrifice the
+interests of the country by keeping him; it may be disagreeable to
+dismiss him, but he must do it. Hay told me that for the many
+years he had been in office he had never met with any public
+officer so totally inefficient as he, not even Warrender at the
+Admiralty Board.
+
+      [2] [Sir George Murray was Secretary of State for the
+          Colonial Department.]
+
+In the meantime the King has had his levee, which was crowded
+beyond all precedent. He was very civil to the people, particularly
+to Sefton, who had quarrelled with the late King.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING GOES DOWN TO PARLIAMENT.]
+
+Yesterday he went to the House of Lords, and was admirably
+received. I can fancy nothing like his delight at finding himself
+in the state coach surrounded by all his pomp. He delivered the
+Speech very well, they say, for I did not go to hear him. He did
+not wear the crown, which was carried by Lord Hastings. Etiquette
+is a thing he cannot comprehend. He wanted to take the King of
+Wuertemberg with him in his coach, till he was told it was out of
+the question. In his private carriage he continues to sit
+backwards, and when he goes with men makes one sit by him and not
+opposite to him. Yesterday, after the House of Lords, he drove
+all over the town in an open caleche with the Queen, Princess
+Augusta, and the King of Wuertemberg, and coming home he set down
+the King (_dropped him_, as he calls it) at Grillon's Hotel. The
+King of England dropping another king at a tavern! It is
+impossible not to be struck with his extreme good-nature and
+simplicity, which he cannot or will not exchange for the dignity
+of his new situation and the trammels of etiquette; but he ought
+to be made to understand that his simplicity degenerates into
+vulgarity, and that without departing from his natural urbanity
+he may conduct himself so as not to lower the character with
+which he is invested, and which belongs not to him, but to the
+country.
+
+At his dinner at St. James's the other day more people were
+invited than there was room for, and some half-dozen were forced
+to sit at a side table. He said to Lord Brownlow, 'Well, when you
+are flooded (he thinks Lincolnshire is all fen) you will come to
+us at Windsor.' To the Freemasons he was rather good. The Duke of
+Sussex wanted him to receive their address in a solemn audience,
+which he refused, and when they did come he said, 'Gentlemen, if
+my love for you equalled my ignorance of everything concerning
+you, it would be unbounded,' and then he added something
+good-humoured. The consequence of his trotting about, and saying
+the odd things he does, is that there are all sorts of stories
+about him which are not true, and he is always expected
+everywhere. In the meantime I believe that politically he relies
+implicitly on the Duke, who can make him do anything. Agar Ellis
+(who is bustling and active, always wishing to play a part, and
+gets mixed up with the politics of this and that party through
+his various connections) told me the other day that he knew the
+Duke was knocking at every door, hitherto without success, and
+that he must be contented to take a _party_, and not expect to
+strengthen himself by picking out individuals. I think this too,
+but why not open his doors to all comers? There are no questions
+now to stand in his way; his Government must be remodelled, and
+he may last for ever personally.
+
+
+July 25th, 1830 {p.012}
+
+Yesterday at Court at eleven; a Council for the dissolution. This
+King and these Councils are very unlike the last--few people
+present, frequent, punctual, less ceremony observed. Though these
+Ministers have been in office all their lives, nobody knew how
+many days must elapse before Parliament was summoned; some said
+sixty, some seventy days, but not one knew, nor had they settled
+the matter previously; so Lord Rosslyn and I were obliged to go
+to Bridgewater House, which was near, and consult the journals.
+It has always been fifty-two days of late.
+
+In the afternoon another embarrassment. We sent the proclamations
+to the Chancellor (one for England and one for Ireland), to have
+the Great Seal affixed to them; he would only affix the Seal to
+the English, and sent back the Irish unsealed. The Secretary of
+State would not send it to Ireland without the Great Seal, and
+all the Ministers were gone to the fish dinner at Greenwich, so
+that there was no getting at anybody. At last we got it done at
+Lincoln's Inn and sent it off. The fact is, nobody knows his
+business, and the Chancellor least of all. The King continues
+very active; he went after the Council to Buckingham House, then
+to the Thames Tunnel, has immense dinners every day, and the same
+people two or three days running. He has dismissed the late
+King's band, and employs the bands of the Guards every night, who
+are ready to die of it, for they get no pay and are prevented
+earning money elsewhere. The other night the King had a party,
+and at eleven o'clock he dismissed them thus: 'Now, ladies and
+gentlemen, I wish you a good night. I will not detain you any
+longer from your amusements, and shall go to my own, which is to
+go to bed; so come along, my Queen.' The other day he was very
+angry because the guard did not know him in his plain clothes and
+turn out for him--the first appearance of jealousy of his
+greatness he has shown--and he ordered them to be more on the
+alert for the future.
+
+
+July 26th, 1830 {p.013}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING DINES AT APSLEY HOUSE.]
+
+Still the King; his adventures (for they are nothing else)
+furnish matter of continual amusement and astonishment to his
+liege subjects. Yesterday morning, or the evening before, he
+announced to the Duke of Wellington that he should dine with him
+yesterday; accordingly the Duke was obliged, in the midst of
+preparations for his breakfast, to get a dinner ready for him. In
+the morning he took the King of Wuertemberg to Windsor, and just
+at the hour when the Duke expected him to dinner he was driving
+through Hyde Park back from Windsor--three barouches-and-four,
+the horses dead knocked up, in the front the two Kings, Jersey,
+and somebody else, all covered with dust. The whole mob of
+carriages and horsemen assembled near Apsley House to see him
+pass and to wait till he returned. The Duke, on hearing he was
+there, rushed down without his hat and stood in his gate in the
+middle of servants, mob, &c., to see him pass. He drove to
+Grillon's 'to drop' the King of Wuertemberg, and at a quarter past
+eight he arrived at Apsley House. There were about forty-five
+men, no women, half the Ministers, most of the foreign Ministers,
+and a mixture rather indiscriminate. In the evening I was at Lady
+Salisbury's, when arrived the Duke of Sussex, who gave a short
+account to Sefton of what had passed, and of the King's speech to
+the company. 'You and I,' he said, 'are old Whigs, my Lord, and I
+confess I was somewhat astonished to hear his Majesty's speech.'
+I went afterwards to Crockford's, where I found Matuscewitz, who
+gave me a whole account of the dinner. The two Kings went out to
+dinner arm in arm, the Duke followed; the King sat between the
+King of Wuertemberg and the Duke. After dinner his health was
+drunk, to which he returned thanks, sitting, but briefly, and
+promised to say more by-and-by when he should give a toast. In
+process of time he desired Douro to go and tell the band to play
+the merriest waltz they could for the toast he was about to give.
+He then gave 'The Queen of Wuertemberg,' with many eulogiums on
+her and on the connubial felicity of her and the King; not a very
+agreeable theme for his host, for conjugal fidelity is not his
+forte. At length he desired Douro to go again to the band and
+order them to play 'See the conquering hero comes,' and then he
+rose. All the company rose with him, when he ordered everybody to
+sit down. Still standing, he said that he had been so short a
+time on the throne that he did not know whether etiquette
+required that he should speak sitting or standing, but, however
+this might be, he had been long used to speak on his legs, and
+should do so now; he then proposed the Duke's health, but
+prefaced it with a long speech--instituted a comparison between
+him and the Duke of Marlborough; went back to the reign of Queen
+Anne, and talked of the great support the Duke of Marlborough had
+received from the Crown, and the little support the Duke of
+Wellington had had in the outset of his career, though after the
+battle of Vimeiro he had been backed by all the energies of the
+country; that, notwithstanding his difficulties, his career had
+been one continued course of victory over the armies of France;
+and then recollecting the presence of Laval, the French
+Ambassador, he said, 'Remember, Duc de Laval, when I talk of
+victories over the French armies, they were not the armies of my
+ally and friend the King of France, but of him who had usurped
+his throne, and against whom you yourself were combating;' then
+going back to the Duke's career, and again referring to the
+comparison between him and Marlborough, and finishing by
+adverting to his political position, that he had on mounting the
+throne found the Duke Minister, and that he had retained him
+because he thought his Administration had been and would be
+highly beneficial to the country; that he gave to him his fullest
+and most cordial confidence, and that he announced to all whom he
+saw around him, to all the Ambassadors and Ministers of foreign
+Powers, and to all the noblemen and gentlemen present, that as
+long as he should sit upon the throne he should continue to give
+him the same confidence. The Duke returned thanks in a short
+speech, thanking the King for his confidence and support, and
+declaring that all his endeavours would be used to keep this
+country in relations of harmony with other nations. The whole
+company stood aghast at the King's extraordinary speech and
+declaration. Matuscewitz told me he never was so astonished, that
+for the world he would not have missed it, and that he would
+never have believed in it if he had not heard it.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S SPEECH AT APSLEY HOUSE.]
+
+Falck[3] gave me a delightful account of the speech and of Laval.
+He thought, not understanding one word, that all the King was
+saying was complimentary to the King of France and the French
+nation, and he kept darting from his seat to make his acknowledgments,
+while Esterhazy held him down by the tail of his coat, and the
+King stopped him with his hand outstretched, all with great
+difficulty. He said it was very comical.
+
+      [3] [Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St.
+          James's. M. de Laval was the French Ambassador. This
+          dinner took place on the day after the publication of
+          the ordinances of July. Three days later Charles X. had
+          ceased to reign. M. de Laval instantly left London on
+          the receipt of the intelligence, leaving M. de
+          Vaudreuil as Charge d'Affaires.]
+
+
+July 27th, 1830 {p.016}
+
+Review in the morning (yesterday), breakfast at Apsley House,
+chapter of the Garter, dinner at St. James's, party in the
+evening, and ball at Apsley House. I don't hear of anything
+remarkable, and it was so hot I could not go to anything, except
+the breakfast, which I just looked in to for a minute, and found
+everybody sweating and stuffing and the royalties just going
+away. The Duke of Gloucester keeps up his quarrel with the Duke;
+the Duke of Cumberland won't go to Apsley House, but sent the
+Duchess and his boy. The Queen said at dinner the other day to
+the Duke of Cumberland, 'I am very much pleased with you for
+sending the Duchess to Apsley House,' and then turned to the Duke
+of Gloucester and said, 'but I am not pleased with you for not
+letting the Duchess go there.' The fool answered that the Duchess
+should never go there; he would not be reconciled, forgetting
+that it matters not twopence to the Duke of Wellington and a
+great deal to himself.
+
+I have been employed in settling half a dozen disputes of
+different sorts, but generally without success, trifling matters,
+foolish or violent people, not worth remembering any of them. The
+Chancellor, who does not know his own business, has made an
+attack on my office about the proclamations, but I have
+vindicated it in a letter to Lord Bathurst.
+
+
+July 28th, 1830 {p.016}
+
+Yesterday Charles Wynn and I settled the dispute between Clive
+and Charlton about the Ludlow matters. Charlton agrees to retire
+from the contest both in the Borough and Corporation, and Clive
+agrees to pay him. L1,125 towards his expenses, and not to oppose
+the reception of any petition that may be presented to the House
+of Commons for the purpose of re-opening the question of the
+right of voting. Both parties are very well satisfied with this
+termination of their disputes. Met the Chancellor at Lady
+Ravensworth's breakfast yesterday, who told me he had sent a
+rejoinder to my letter to Lord Bathurst about the proclamations.
+
+
+July 29th, 1830 {p.016}
+
+Yesterday a standing Council at the levee to swear in Lord
+Hereford and Vesey Fitzgerald, and to declare Lord Bathurst
+President of the Council and the Duke of Northumberland
+Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Previously the King received the
+address of the dissenting ministers, and then that of the
+Quakers, presented by William Allen; they were very prim and
+respectable persons; their hats were taken off by each other in
+the room before the Throne Room, and they did not bow, though
+they seemed half inclined to do so; they made a very loyal
+address, but without 'Majesty,' and said 'O King.' There was a
+question after his answer what they should do. I thought it was
+whether they should kiss hands, for the King said something to
+Peel, who went and asked them, and I heard the King say, 'Oh,
+just as they like; they needn't if they don't like; it's all
+one.'
+
+[Page Head: ORDINANCES OF CHARLES X.]
+
+But the great event of the day was the reception of the King of
+France's two decrees, and the address of his Ministers, who
+produced them; nothing could surpass the universal astonishment
+and consternation. Falck told me he was reading the newspaper at
+his breakfast regularly through, and when he came to this the
+teacup almost dropped from his hands, and he rubbed his eyes to
+see whether he read correctly. Such was the secresy with which
+this measure was conceived and acted on, that Pozzo, who is
+quicker and has better intelligence than anybody, had not a
+notion of it, as Matuscewitz told me. Aberdeen learnt it through
+the 'Times,' and had not a line from Stuart. That, however, is
+nothing extraordinary. I suspect somebody had it, for Raikes
+wrote me a note the day before, to ask me if there was not
+_something bad_ from France. Matuscewitz told me that Russia
+would not afford Charles X. the smallest support in his new
+crusade against the Constitution of France, and this he
+pronounced openly _a qui voulait l'entendre_. I suspect the Duke
+will be desperately annoyed. The only Minister I had a word with
+about it was Lord Bathurst, whose Tory blood bubbled a little
+quicker at such a despotic act, and while owning the folly of the
+deed he could not help adding that 'he should have repressed the
+press when he dissolved the Chambers, then he might have done
+it.'
+
+
+July 30th, 1830 {p.018}
+
+[Page Head: REVOLUTION IN PARIS.]
+
+Everybody anxious for news from France. A few hope, and still
+fewer think, the King of France will succeed, and that the French
+will submit, but the press here joins in grand chorus against the
+suppression of the liberty of that over the water. Matuscewitz
+told me he had a conference with the Duke, who was excessively
+annoyed, but what seems to have struck him more than anything is
+the extraordinary secresy of the business, and neither Pozzo nor
+Stuart having known one word of it. Up to the last Polignac has
+deceived everybody, and put such words into the King's mouth that
+nobody could expect such a _coup_. The King assured Pozzo di Borgo
+the day before that nothing of the sort was in contemplation.
+This, like everything else, will be judged by the event--desperate
+fatuity if it fails, splendid energy and accurate calculation of
+opposite moral forces if it succeeds. I judge that it will fail,
+because I can see no marks of wisdom in the style of execution,
+and the State paper is singularly puerile and weak in argument. It
+is passionate and not dexterous, not even plausible. All this is
+wonderfully interesting, and will give us a lively autumn.
+
+The King has been to Woolwich, inspecting the artillery, to whom
+he gave a dinner, with toasts and hip, hip, hurrahing and three
+times three, himself giving the time. I tremble for him; at
+present he is only a mountebank, but he bids fair to be a maniac.
+
+Brougham will come in for Yorkshire without a contest; his
+address was very eloquent. He is rather mad without a doubt; his
+speeches this year have been sometimes more brilliant than ever
+they were; but who with such stupendous talents was ever so
+little considered? We admire him as we do a fine actor, and
+nobody ever possessed such enormous means, and displayed a mind
+so versatile, fertile, and comprehensive, and yet had so little
+efficacy and influence. He told me just before he left town that
+Yorkshire had been proposed to him, but that he had written word
+he would not stand, nor spend a guinea, nor go there, nor even
+take the least trouble about the concerns of anyone of his
+constituents, if they elected him; but he soon changed his note.
+
+
+July 31st, 1830 {p.019}
+
+Yesterday morning I met Matuscewitz in St. James's Street, who
+said, 'You have heard the news?' But I had not, so I got into his
+cabriolet, and he told me that Buelow had just been with him with
+an account of Rothschild's estafette, who had brought intelligence
+of a desperate conflict at Paris between the people and the Royal
+Guard, in which 1,000 men had been killed of the former, and of
+the eventual revolt of two regiments, which decided the business;
+that the Swiss had refused to fire on the people; the King is gone
+to Rambouillet, the Ministers are missing, and the Deputies who
+were at Paris had assembled in the Chambers, and declared their
+sittings permanent. Nothing can exceed the interest and excitement
+that all these proceedings create here, and unless there is a
+reaction, which does not seem probable, the game is up with the
+Bourbons. They richly deserve their fate. It remains to be seen
+what part Bourmont and the Algerian army will take; the latter
+will probably side with the nation, and the former will be guided
+by his own interest, and is not unlikely to endeavour to direct a
+spirit which he could not expect to control. He may reconcile
+himself to the country by a double treachery.
+
+_At night._ To-day at one o'clock Stuart's messenger arrived with
+a meagre account, having left Paris on the night of the 29th. The
+tricoloured flag had been raised; the National Guard was up,
+commanded by old Lafayette (their chief forty years ago), who
+ruled in Paris with Gerard, Odier, Casimir Perier, Lafitte, and
+one or two more. The Tuileries and the Louvre had been pillaged;
+the King was at Rambouillet, where Marshal Marmont had retired,
+and had with him a large force. Nobody, however, believed they
+would fight against the people. The Deputies and the Peers had
+met, and the latter separated without doing anything; the former
+had a stormy discussion, but came to no resolution. Some were for
+a republic, some for the Duke of Orleans, some for the Duke of
+Bordeaux with the Duke of Orleans as Regent. Rothschild had
+another courier with later intelligence. The King had desired to
+treat, and that proposals might be made to him; all the Ministers
+escaped from Paris by a subterranean passage which led from the
+Tuileries to the river, and even at St. Cloud the Duke told
+Matuscewitz that 'Marmont had taken up a good military position,'
+as if it was a military and not a moral question. Strange he
+should think of such a thing, but they are all terrified to death
+at the national flag and colours, because they see in its train
+revolutions, invasions, and a thousand alarms. I own I would
+rather have seen an easy transfer of the Crown to some other head
+under the white flag. There was Lady Tankerville going about
+to-day enquiring of everybody for news, trembling for her brother
+'and his brigade.' Late in the day she got Lady Jersey to go with
+her to Rothschild, whom she saw, and Madame Rothschild, who showed
+her all their letters. Tankerville, who is a sour, malignant
+little Whig (since become an ultra-Tory), loudly declares Polignac
+ought to be hung. The elections here are going against Government,
+and no candidate will avow that he stands on Government interest,
+or with the intention of supporting the Duke's Ministry, which
+looks as if it had lost all its popularity.
+
+
+August 2nd, 1830 {p.020}
+
+Yesterday (Sunday) we had no news and no reports, except one that
+Marmont was killed. I never believe reports. The elections still
+go against Government. G. Dawson returned from Dublin; all the
+Peels lose their seats. Fordwich beat Baring at Canterbury by 370
+votes. It is said the King was in a state of great excitement at
+Woolwich the other day, when it was very hot, and he drank a good
+deal of wine.
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.]
+
+_Evening._--This morning, on going into town, I read in the
+'Times' the news of the day--the proclamation of the Provisional
+Government, the invitation to the Duke of Orleans, his proclamation,
+and the account of the conversation between Lafitte and Marmont.
+It is in vain to look for private or official information, for the
+'Times' always has the latest and the best; Stuart sends next to
+nothing. Soon after I got to George Street the Duke of Wellington
+came in, in excellent spirits, and talked over the whole matter.
+He said he could not comprehend how the Royal Guard had been
+defeated by the mob, and particularly how they had been forced to
+evacuate the Tuileries; that he had seen English and French troops
+hold houses whole days not one-fourth so strong. I said that there
+could not be a shadow of doubt that it was because they _would_
+not fight, that if they _would_ have fought they must have beat
+the mob, and reminded him of the French at Madrid, and asked him
+if he did not think his regiment would beat all the populace of
+London, which he said it would. He described the whole affair as
+it has taken place, and said that there can be no doubt that the
+moneyed men of Paris (who are all against the Government) and the
+Liberals had foreseen a violent measure on the part of the King,
+and had organised the resistance; that on the appearance of the
+edicts the bankers simultaneously refused to discount any bills,
+on which the great manufacturers and merchants dismissed their
+workmen, to the number of many thousands, who inflamed the public
+discontent, and united to oppose the military and the execution of
+the decrees. He said positively that we should not take any part,
+and that no other Government ought or could. He does not like the
+Duke of Orleans, and thinks his proclamation mean and shabby, but
+owned that under all circumstances his election to the Crown would
+probably be the best thing that could happen. The Duke of Chartres
+he had known here, and thought he was intelligent. The Duke
+considered the thing as settled, but did not feel at all sure they
+would offer the Crown to the Duke of Orleans. He said he could not
+guess or form an opinion as to their ulterior proceedings.
+
+After discussing the whole business with his usual simplicity, he
+began talking of the Duke of Cumberland and his resignation of the
+command of the Blues. Formerly the colonels of the two regiments
+of Life Guards held alternately the Gold Stick, and these two
+regiments were under the immediate orders of the King, and not of
+the Commander-in-Chief. When the Duke of Wellington returned from
+Spain and had the command of the Blues, the King insisted upon his
+taking the duty also; so it was divided into three, but the Blues
+still continued under the Commander-in-Chief. But when the Duke of
+Cumberland wanted to be continually about the King, he got him to
+give him the command of the Household troops; this was at the
+period of the death of the Duke of York and the Duke of
+Wellington's becoming Commander-in-Chief. The Duke of Cumberland
+told the Duke of Wellington that he had received the King's verbal
+commands to that effect, and from that time he alone kept the Gold
+Stick, and the Blues were withdrawn from the authority of the
+Commander-in-Chief. The Duke of Wellington made no opposition; but
+last year, during the uproar on the Catholic question, he
+perceived the inconvenience of the arrangement, and intended to
+speak to the King about it, for the Duke of Cumberland was
+concerned in organising mobs to go down to Windsor to frighten
+Lady Conyngham and the King, and the Horse Guards, who would
+naturally have been called out to suppress any tumult, would not
+have been disposable without the Duke of Cumberland's concurrence,
+so much so that on one particular occasion, when the Kentish men
+were to have gone to Windsor 20,000 strong, the Duke of Wellington
+detained a regiment of light cavalry who were marching elsewhere,
+that he might not be destitute of military aid. Before, however,
+he did anything about this with the King ('I always,' he said, 'do
+one thing at a time') his Majesty was taken ill and died.
+
+On the accession of the present King the Duke of Cumberland
+wished to continue the same system, which his Majesty was
+resolved he should not, and he ordered that the colonels of the
+regiments should take the Stick in rotation. He also ordered
+(through Sir R. Peel) that Lord Combermere should command the
+troops at the funeral as Gold Stick. This the Duke of Cumberland
+resisted, and sent down orders to Lord Cathcart to assume the
+command. The Duke of Wellington, however, represented to Lord
+Cathcart that he had better do no such thing, as nobody could
+disobey the King's orders gone through the Secretary of State,
+and accordingly he did nothing. But the King was determined to
+put an end to the pretensions of the Duke of Cumberland, and
+spoke to the Duke on the subject, and said that he would have all
+the regiments placed under the orders of the Commander-in-Chief.
+The Duke recommended him to replace the matter in the state in
+which it stood before the Duke of Cumberland's pretensions had
+altered it, but he would not do this, and chose to abide by his
+original intention; so the three regiments were placed under the
+orders of the Horse Guards like the rest, and the Duke of
+Cumberland in consequence resigned the command of the Blues.
+
+
+August 3rd, 1830 {p.023}
+
+[Page Head: WARDROBE OF GEORGE IV.]
+
+Notwithstanding the above story, the King dined with the Duke of
+Cumberland at Kew yesterday. I went yesterday to the sale of the
+late King's wardrobe, which was numerous enough to fill Monmouth
+Street, and sufficiently various and splendid for the wardrobe of
+Drury Lane. He hardly ever gave away anything except his linen,
+which was distributed every year. These clothes are the
+perquisite of his pages, and will fetch a pretty sum. There are
+all the coats he has ever had for fifty years, 300 whips, canes
+without number, every sort of uniform, the costumes of all the
+orders in Europe, splendid furs, pelisses, hunting-coats and
+breeches, and among other things a dozen pair of corduroy
+breeches he had made to hunt in when Don Miguel was here. His
+profusion in these articles was unbounded, because he never paid
+for them, and his memory was so accurate that one of his pages
+told me he recollected every article of dress, no matter how old,
+and that they were always liable to be called on to produce some
+particular coat or other article of apparel of years gone by. It
+is difficult to say whether in great or little things that man
+was most odious and contemptible.
+
+Nothing from France yesterday but the most absurd reports.
+
+
+August 5th, 1830 {p.023}
+
+Yesterday morning at a Council; all the Ministers, and the Duke of
+Rutland, Lords Somers, Rosslyn, and Gower to be sworn Lieutenants.
+Talked about France with Sir G. Murray, who was silly enough to
+express his disappointment that things promised to be soon and
+quietly settled, and hoped the King would have assembled an army
+and fought for it. Afterwards a levee. While the Queen was in the
+closet they brought her word that Charles X. was at Cherbourg, and
+had sent for leave to come here; but nobody knew yesterday if this
+was true or not. In the afternoon I met Vaudreuil, and had a long
+conversation with him on the state of things. He said, 'My family
+has been twice ruined by these cursed Bourbons, and I will be
+damned if they shall a third time;' that he had long foreseen the
+inevitable tendency of Polignac's determination, ever since he was
+here, when he had surrounded himself with low agents and would
+admit no gentleman into his confidence; one of his _affides_ was a
+man of the name of Carrier, a relation of the famous Carrier de
+Nantes. Vaudreuil's father-in-law had consulted him many months
+ago what to do with L300,000 which he had in the French funds, and
+he advised him to sell it out and put it in his drawer, which he
+did, sacrificing the interest for that time. He had hitherto done
+nothing, been near none of the Ministers, feeling that he could
+say nothing to them; no communication had been made to him, but
+whenever any should be he intended to reply to it. Laval ran away
+just in time, and Vaudreuil was so provoked at his evasion that he
+sent after him to say that in such important circumstances he
+could not take upon himself to act without his Ambassador's
+instructions. No answer of course. He thinks that if this had not
+taken place a few years must have terminated the reign of the
+Bourbons, and that it is only the difference between sudden and
+lingering death; that when he was at Paris he had seen the
+dissatisfaction of the young officers in the Guards, who were all
+Liberal; and with these sentiments, what a condition they must
+have been in when called upon to charge and fire on the people
+while secretly approving of their conduct, 'entre leurs devoirs de
+citoyens et de militaires!'
+
+I had a conversation with Fitzgerald (Vesey) the other day about
+the Government and its prospects. They want him greatly to return
+to office, but he is going abroad again for his health, and I
+suspect is not very anxious to come in just now, when things look
+gloomy. He thinks they have acted very injudiciously in sending
+down candidates to turn out their opponents, attempts which
+generally failed, and only served to exasperate the people
+interested more and more against them. Such men as the Grants, as
+he said, cannot be kept out of Parliament. But they manage
+everything ill, and it is impossible to look at the present
+Ministry and watch its acts, and not marvel that the Duke should
+think of going on with it. If he does not take care he will be
+dragged down by it, whereas if he would, while it is yet time,
+remodel it altogether, and open his doors to all who are capable
+of serving under him (for all are ready to take him as chief), he
+might secure to himself a long and honourable possession of
+power. Then it is said he can't whistle off these men merely
+because it is convenient, but he had better do that than keep
+them on bungling through all the business of the country.
+Besides, I have some doubts of his tender-heartedness in this
+respect.
+
+
+Goodwood, August 10th, 1830 {p.025}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING GOES TO WINDSOR.]
+
+On Saturday, the 7th, the King and Queen breakfasted at Osterley,
+on their way to Windsor. They had about sixty or seventy people
+to meet them, and it all went off very well, without anything
+remarkable. I went to Stoke afterwards, where there was the usual
+sort of party.
+
+The King entered Windsor so privately that few people knew him,
+though he made the horses walk all the way from Frogmore that he
+might be seen. On Saturday and Sunday the Terrace was thrown
+open, and the latter day it was crowded by multitudes and a very
+gay sight; there were sentinels on each side of the east front to
+prevent people walking under the windows of the living-rooms, but
+they might go where else they liked. The King went to Bagshot and
+did not appear. All the late King's private drives through the
+Park are also thrown open, but not to carriages. We went,
+however, a long string of four carriages, to explore, and got
+through the whole drive round by Virginia Water, the famous
+fishing-pagoda, and saw all the penetralia of the late King,
+whose ghost must have been indignant at seeing us (Sefton
+particularly) scampering all about his most secret recesses. It
+is an exceedingly enjoyable spot, and pretty, but has not so much
+beauty as I expected.
+
+Came here yesterday and found thirty-two people assembled. I rode
+over the downs three or four miles (from Petworth), and never saw
+so delightful a country to live in. There is an elasticity in the
+air and turf which communicates itself to the spirits.
+
+[Page Head: FRENCH DEMOCRACY.]
+
+In the meantime the French Revolution has been proceeding rapidly
+to its consummation, and the Duke of Orleans is King. Montrond,
+who was at Stoke, thinks that France will gravitate towards a
+republic, and principally for this reason, that there is an
+unusual love of equality, and no disposition to profit by the
+power of making _majorats_, therefore that there never can be
+anything like an aristocracy. We are so accustomed to see the
+regular working of our constitutional system, with all its parts
+depending upon each other, and so closely interwoven, that we have
+difficulty in believing that any monarchical Government can exist
+which is founded on a basis so different. This is the great
+political problem which is now to be solved. I think, however,
+that in the present settlement it is not difficult to see the
+elements of future contention and the working of a strong
+democratical spirit. The Crown has been conferred on the Duke of
+Orleans by the Chamber of Deputies alone, which, so far from
+inviting the Chamber of Peers to discuss the question of
+succession, has at the same time decreed a material alteration in
+that Chamber itself. It has at a blow cut off all the Peers of
+Villele's great promotion, which is an enormous act of authority,
+although the measure may be advisable. There is also a question
+raised of the hereditary quality of the peerage, and I dare say
+that for the future at least peerages will not be hereditary, not
+that I think this signifies as to the existence of an aristocracy,
+for the constant subdivision of property must deprive the Chamber
+of all the qualities belonging to an English House of Lords, and
+it would perhaps be better to establish another principle, such as
+that of promoting to the Chamber of Peers men (for life) of great
+wealth, influence, and ability, who would constitute an
+aristocracy of a different kind indeed, but more respectable and
+efficient, than a host of poor hereditary senators. What great men
+are Lord Lonsdale, the Duke of Rutland, and Lord Cleveland! but
+strip them, of their wealth and power, what would they be? Among
+the most insignificant of mankind; but they all acquire a
+factitious consideration by the influence they possess to do good
+and evil, the extension of it over multitudes of dependents. The
+French can have no aristocracy but a personal one, ours is in the
+institution; theirs must be individually respectable, as ours is
+collectively looked up to. In the meantime it will be deemed a
+great step gained to have a monarchy established in France at all,
+even for the moment, but some people are alarmed at the excessive
+admiration which the French Revolution has excited in England, and
+there is a very general conviction that Spain will speedily follow
+the example of France, and probably Belgium also. Italy I don't
+believe will throw off the yoke; they have neither spirit nor
+unanimity, and the Austrian military force is too great to be
+resisted. But Austria will tremble and see that the great victory
+which Liberalism has gained has decided the question as to which
+principle, that of light or darkness, shall prevail for the future
+in the world.
+
+
+London, August 14th, 1830 {p.027}
+
+Stayed at Goodwood till the 12th; went to Brighton, riding over
+the downs from Goodwood to Arundel, a delightful ride. How much I
+prefer England to Italy! There we have mountains and sky; here,
+vegetation and verdure, fine trees and soft turf; and in the long
+run the latter are the most enjoyable. Yesterday came to London
+from Brighton; found things much as they were, but almost
+everybody gone out of town. The French are proceeding steadily in
+the reconstruction of their Government, but they have evinced a
+strong democratical spirit. The new King, too, conducts himself in
+a way that gives me a bad opinion of him; he is too complaisant to
+the rage for equality, and stoops more than he need do; in fact,
+he overdoes it. It is a piece of abominably bad taste (to say no
+worse) to have conferred a pension on the author of the
+Marseillaise hymn; for what can be worse than to rake up the old
+ashes of Jacobinism, and what more necessary than to distinguish
+as much as possible this Revolution from that of 1789? Then he
+need not be more familiar as King than he ever was as Duke of
+Orleans, and affect the manners of a citizen and a plainness of
+dress and demeanour very suitable to an American President, but
+unbecoming a descendant of Louis XIV.
+
+The new Charter is certainly drawn up with great moderation, the
+few alterations which have been made approximating it to the
+spirit of the English Constitution, and in the whole of the
+proceedings the analogies of our revolution have been pretty
+closely followed. But there has been a remarkable deviation,
+which I think ominous, and I can't imagine how it has escaped
+with so little animadversion here. That is the cavalier manner in
+which the Chamber of Peers has been treated, for the Deputies not
+only assumed all the functions of Government and legislation, and
+disposed by their authority of the Crown without inviting the
+concurrence of the other Chamber, but at the same time they
+exercised an enormous act of authority over the Chamber of Peers
+itself in striking off the whole of that great promotion of
+Charles X., which, however unwise and perhaps unconstitutional,
+was perfectly legal, and those Peers had, in fact, as good a
+right to their peerages as any of their colleagues. They have
+reconstructed the Chamber of Peers, and conferred upon it certain
+rights and privileges; but the power which can create can also
+destroy, and it must be pretty obvious after this that the Upper
+Chamber will be for the future nothing better than a superior
+Court of Judicature, depending for its existence upon the will of
+the popular branch. There are some articles of the old Charter
+which I am astonished at their keeping, but which they may
+possibly alter[4] at the revision which is to take place next
+year, those particularly which limit the entrance to the Chamber
+of Deputies to men of forty, and which give the initiation of
+laws to the King. But on the whole it is a good sign that they
+should alter so little, and looks like extreme caution and a
+dislike to rapid and violent changes.
+
+      [4] They are altered. The first translation of the Charter
+          which I read was incorrect.
+
+[Page Head: POLIGNAC.]
+
+In the meantime we hear nothing of the old King, who marches
+slowly on with his family. It has been reported in London that
+Polignac is here, and also that he is taken. Nobody knows the
+truth. I have heard of his behaviour, however, which was worthy of
+his former imbecility. He remained in the same presumptuous
+confidence up to the last moment, telling those who implored him
+to retract while it was still time that they did not know France,
+that he did, that it was essentially Royalist, and all resistance
+would be over in a day or two, till the whole ruin burst on him at
+once, when he became like a man awakened from a dream, utterly
+confounded with the magnitude of the calamity and as pusillanimous
+and miserable as he had before been blind and confident. It must
+be owned that their end has been worthy of the rest, for not one
+of them has evinced good feeling, or magnanimity, or courage in
+their fall, nor excited the least sympathy or commiseration. The
+Duke of Fitzjames made a good speech in the Chamber of Peers, and
+Chateaubriand a very fine one a few days before, full of eloquence
+in support of the claim of the Duke of Bordeaux against that of
+Louis Philippe I.
+
+In the meantime our elections here are still going against
+Government, and the signs of the times are all for reform and
+retrenchment, and against slavery. It is astonishing the interest
+the people generally take in the slavery question, which is the
+work of the Methodists, and shows the enormous influence they
+have in the country. The Duke (for I have not seen him) is said
+to be very easy about the next Parliament, whereas, as far as one
+can judge, it promises to be quite as unmanageable as the last,
+and is besides very ill composed--full of boys and all sorts of
+strange men.
+
+
+August 20th, 1830 {p.029}
+
+On Monday to Stoke; Alvanley, Fitzroy Somerset, Matuscewitz,
+Stanislas Potocki, Glengall, and Mornay were there. Lady Sefton
+(who had dined at the Castle a few days before) asked the King to
+allow her to take Stanislas Potocki to see Virginia Water in a
+carriage, which is not allowed, but which his Majesty agreed to.
+Accordingly we started, and going through the private drives,
+went up to the door of the tent opposite the fishing-house. They
+thought it was the Queen coming, or at any rate a party from the
+Castle, for the man on board the little frigate hoisted all the
+colours, and the boatmen on the other side got ready the royal
+barge to take us across. We went all over the place on both
+sides, and were delighted with the luxury and beauty of the whole
+thing. On one side are a number of tents, communicating together
+in separate apartments and forming a very good house, a
+dining-room, drawing-room, and several other small rooms, very
+well furnished; across the water is the fishing-cottage,
+beautifully ornamented, with one large room and a dressing-room
+on each side; the kitchen and offices are in a garden full of
+flowers, shut out from everything. Opposite the windows is moored
+a large boat, in which the band used to play during dinner, and
+in summer the late King dined every day either in the house or in
+the tents. We had scarcely seen everything when Mr. Turner, the
+head keeper, arrived in great haste, having spied us from the
+opposite side, and very angry at our carriages having come there,
+which is a thing forbidden; he did not know of our leave, nor
+could we even satisfy him that we were not to blame.
+
+[Page Head: GEORGE IV.'S ILLNESS AND DEATH.]
+
+The next day I called on Batchelor (he was _valet de chambre_ to
+the Duke of York, afterwards to George IV.), who has an excellent
+apartment in the Lodge, which, he said, was once occupied by Nell
+Gwynne, though I did not know the lodge was built at that time. I
+was there a couple of hours, and heard all the details of the
+late King's illness and other things. For many months before his
+death those who were about him were aware of his danger, but
+nobody dared to say a word. The King liked to cheat people with
+making them think he was well, and when he had been at a Council
+he would return to his apartments and tell his _valets de
+chambre_ how he had deceived them. During his illness he was
+generally cheerful, but occasionally dejected, and constantly
+talked of his brother the Duke of York, and of the similarity of
+their symptoms, and was always comparing them. He had been
+latterly more civil to Knighton than he used to be, and
+Knighton's attentions to him were incessant; whenever he thought
+himself worse than usual, and in immediate danger, he always sent
+for Sir William. Lady Conyngham and her family went into his room
+once a day; till his illness he always used to go and sit in
+hers. It is true that last year, when she was so ill, she was
+very anxious to leave the Castle, and it was Sir William Knighton
+who with great difficulty induced her to stay there. At that time
+she was in wretched spirits, and did nothing but pray from
+morning till night. However, her conscience does not seem ever to
+have interfered with her ruling passion, avarice, and she went on
+accumulating. During the last illness waggons were loaded every
+night and sent away from the Castle, but what their contents were
+was not known, at least Batchelor did not say. All Windsor knew
+this. Those servants of the King who were about his person had
+opportunities of hearing a great deal, for he used to talk of
+everybody before them, and without reserve or measure.
+
+This man Batchelor had become a great favourite with the late
+King. The first of his pages, William Holmes, had for some time
+been prevented by ill health from attending him. Holmes had been
+with him from a boy, and was also a great favourite; by
+appointments and perquisites he had as much as L12,000 or L14,000
+a year, but he had spent so much in all sorts of debauchery and
+living like a gentleman that he was nearly ruined. There seems to
+have been no end to the _tracasseries_ between these men; their
+anxiety to get what they could out of the King's wardrobe in the
+last weeks, and their dishonesty in the matter, were excessive,
+all which he told me in great detail. The King was more than
+anybody the slave of habit and open to impressions, and even when
+he did not like people he continued to keep them about him rather
+than change.
+
+While I was at Stoke news came that Charles X. had arrived off
+Portsmouth. He has asked for an asylum in Austria, but when once
+he has landed here he will not move again, I dare say. The
+enthusiasm which the French Revolution produced is beginning to
+give way to some alarm, and not a little disgust at the Duke of
+Orleans' conduct, who seems anxious to assume the character of a
+Jacobin King, affecting extreme simplicity and laying aside all
+the pomp of royalty. I don't think it can do, and there is
+certainly enough to cause serious disquietude for the future.
+
+Sefton in the meantime told me that Brougham and Lord Grey were
+prepared for a violent opposition, and that they had effected a
+formal junction with Huskisson, being convinced that no
+Government could now be formed without him. I asked him if
+Palmerston was a party to this junction, and he said he was, but
+the first thing I heard when I got to town was that a negotiation
+is going on between Palmerston and the Duke, and that the former
+takes every opportunity of declaring his goodwill to the latter,
+and how unshackled he is. Both these things can't be true, and
+time will show which is. It seems odd that Palmerston should
+abandon his party on the eve of a strong coalition, which is not
+unlikely to turn out the present Administration, but it is quite
+impossible to place any dependence upon public men now-a-days.
+There is Lord Grey with his furious opposition, having a little
+while ago supported the Duke in a sort of way, having advised
+Rosslyn to take office, and now, because his own vanity is hurt
+at not being invited to join the Government, or more consulted at
+least, upon the slight pretext of the Galway Bill in the last
+Parliament he rushes into rancorous opposition, and is determined
+to give no quarter and listen to no compromise. Brougham is to
+lead this Opposition in the House of Commons, and Lord Grey in
+the Lords, and nothing is to be done but as the result of general
+deliberation and agreement. Brougham in the meantime has finished
+his triumph at York in a miserable way, having insulted Martin
+Stapylton on the hustings, who called him to account, and then he
+forgot what he had said, and slunk away with a disclaimer of
+unintentional offence, as usual beginning with intemperance and
+ending with submission. His speeches were never good, but at his
+own dinner he stated so many untruths about the Duke of
+Wellington that his own partisans bawled out 'No, no,' and it was
+a complete failure. His whole spirit there was as bad as
+possible, paltry and commonplace. That man, with all his talents,
+never can or will _do_ in any situation; he is base, cowardly,
+and unprincipled, and with all the execrable judgment which, I
+believe, often flows from the perversion of moral sentiment.
+Nobody can admire his genius, eloquence, variety and extent of
+information, and the charm of his society more than I do; but his
+faults are glaring, and the effects of them manifest to anybody
+who will compare his means and their results.
+
+
+August 23rd, 1830 {p.033}
+
+[Page Head: CHARLES X. IN ENGLAND.]
+
+General Baudrand is come over with a letter from King Louis
+Philippe to King William. He saw the Duke and Aberdeen yesterday.
+Charles X. goes to Lulworth Castle. What are called moderate
+people are greatly alarmed at the aspect of affairs in France,
+but I think the law (which will be carried) of abolishing capital
+punishment in political cases is calculated to tranquillise men's
+minds everywhere, for it draws such a line between the old and
+the new Revolution. The Ministers will be tried and banished, but
+no blood spilt. Lord Anglesey went to see Charles X., and told
+him openly his opinion of his conduct. The King laid it all upon
+Polignac. The people of Paris wanted to send over a deputation to
+thank the English for their sympathy and assistance--a sort of
+fraternising affair--but the King would not permit it, which was
+wisely done, and it is a good thing to see that he can curb in
+some degree that spirit; this Vaudreuil told me last night. It
+would have given great offence and caused great alarm here.
+
+
+August 24th, 1830 {p.033}
+
+Alvanley had a letter from Montrond yesterday from Paris. He was
+with M. Mole when a letter was brought him from Polignac,
+beginning, 'Mon cher Collegue,' and saying that he wrote to him
+to ask his advice what he had better do, that he should have
+liked to retire to his own estate, but it was too near Paris,
+that he should like to go into Alsace, and that he begged he
+would arrange it for him, and in the meantime send him some
+boots, and shirts, and breeches.
+
+The French King continues off Cowes, many people visiting him.
+They came off without clothes or preparation of any kind, so much
+so that Lady Grantham has been obliged to furnish Mesdames de
+Berri and d'Angouleme with everything; it seems they have plenty
+of money. The King says he and his son have retired from public
+life; and as to his grandson, he must wait the progress of
+events; that his conscience reproaches him with nothing.
+
+The dinner in St. George's Hall on the King's birthday was the
+finest thing possible--all good and hot, and served on the late
+King's gold plate. There were one hundred people at table. After
+dinner the King gave the Duke of Wellington's health, as it was
+the anniversary of Vimeiro; the Dukes of Cumberland and
+Gloucester turned their glasses down. I can't agree with Charles
+X. that it would be better to '_travailler pour son pain_ than to
+be King of England.'
+
+I went yesterday all over Lambeth Palace, which has been nearly
+rebuilt by Blore, and admirably done; one of the best houses I
+ever saw. Archbishop Juxon's Hall has been converted into the
+library of the Palace, and is also a fine thing in its way. It is
+not to cost above L40,000. The Lollards' Tower, which is very
+curious with its iron rings, and the names of the Lollards
+written on the walls, is not to be touched.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH MARSHAL MARMONT.]
+
+_At night._--Went to Lady Glengall's to meet Marmont. He likes
+talking of his adventures, but he had done his Paris talk before
+I got there; however, he said a great deal about old campaigning
+and Buonaparte, which, as well as I recollect, I will put down.
+
+As to the battle of Salamanca, he remarked that, without meaning
+to detract from the glory of the English arms, he was inferior in
+force there; our army was provided with everything, well paid,
+and the country favourable, his 'denuee de tout,' without pay, in
+a hostile country; that all his provisions came from a great
+distance and under great escorts, and his communications were
+kept up in the same way. Of Russia, he said that Buonaparte's
+army was destroyed by the time he got to Moscow, destroyed by
+famine; that there were two ways of making war, by slow degrees
+with magazines, or by rapid movements and reaching places where
+abundant means of supply and reorganisation were to be found, as
+he had done at Vienna and elsewhere, but in Russia supplies were
+not to be had. Napoleon had, however, pushed on with the same
+rapidity and destroyed his army. Marshal Davoust (I think, but am
+not sure) had a _corps d'armee_ of 80,000 men and reached Moscow
+with 15,000; the cavalry were 50,000 sabres, at Moscow they were
+6,000. Somebody asked him if Napoleon's generals had not
+dissuaded him from going to Russia. Marmont said no; they liked
+it; but Napoleon ought to have stopped at Smolensk, made Poland
+independent, and levied 50,000 Cossacks, the Polish Cossacks
+being better than the Russian, who would have kept all his
+communications clear, and allowed the French army to repose, and
+then he would have done in two campaigns what he wished to
+accomplish in one; instead of which he never would deal with
+Poland liberally, but held back with ulterior views, and never
+got the Poles cordially with him. Of the campaign of 1813 he said
+that it was ill conducted by Napoleon and full of faults; his
+creation of the army was wonderful, and the battle of Dresden
+would have been a great movement if he had not suddenly abandoned
+Vandamme after pushing him on to cut off the retreat of the
+Allies. It was an immense fault to leave all the garrisons in the
+Prussian and Saxon fortresses. The campaign of 1814 was one of
+his most brilliant. He (Marmont) commanded a _corps d'armee_, and
+fought in most of the celebrated actions, but he never had 4,000
+men; at Paris, which he said was 'the most honourable part of his
+whole career,' he had 7,500.[5] Napoleon committed a great fault
+in throwing himself into the rear as he did; he should have
+fallen back upon Paris, where his own presence would have been of
+vast importance, and sent Marmont into the rear with what troops
+he could collect. I repeated what the Duke of Wellington had once
+told me, that if the Emperor had continued the same plan, and
+fallen back on Paris, he would have obliged the Allies to
+retreat, and asked him what he thought. He rather agreed with
+this, but said the Emperor had conceived one of the most splendid
+pieces of strategy that ever had been devised, which failed by
+the disobedience of Eugene. He sent orders to Eugene to assemble
+his army, in which he had 35,000 French troops, to amuse the
+Austrians by a negotiation for the evacuation of Italy; to throw
+the Italian troops into Alessandria and Mantua; to destroy the
+other fortresses, and going by forced marches with his French
+troops, force the passage of Mont Cenis, collect the scattered
+_corps d'armee_ of Augereau (who was near Lyons) and another
+French general, which would have made his force amount to above
+60,000 men, and burst upon the rear of the Allies so as to cut
+off all their communications. These orders he sent to Eugene, but
+Eugene 'revait d'etre roi d'Italie apres sa chute,' and he sent
+his aide-de-camp Tascher to excuse himself. The movement was not
+made, and the game was up. Lady Dudley Stewart was there,
+Lucien's daughter and Buonaparte's niece. Marmont was presented
+to her, and she heard him narrate all this; there is something
+very simple, striking, and soldierlike in his manner and
+appearance. He is going to Russia.
+
+      [5] [This assertion of Marmont's is the more curious as it
+          was to his alleged treachery that Napoleon when at
+          Fontainebleau chose to ascribe his defeat.]
+
+[Page Head: CRADOCK'S MISSION TO CHARLES X.]
+
+He was very communicative about events at Paris, lamented his own
+ill-luck, involved in the business against his wishes and
+feelings; he disapproved of Polignac and his measures, and had no
+notion the _ordonnances_ were thought of. In the morning he was
+going to St. Germain for the day; when his aide-de-camp brought
+him the newspaper with the _ordonnances il tomba de son haut_.
+Soon after the Dauphin sent to him to desire that, as there might
+be some 'vitres cassees,' he would take the command of the
+troops. Directly after the thing began. He had 7,000 or 8,000
+men; not a preparation had been made of any sort; they had never
+thought of resistance, had not consulted Marmont or any military
+man; he soon found how hopeless the case was, and sent eight
+estafettes to the King one after another during the action to
+tell him so and implore him to stop while it was time. They never
+returned any answer. He then rode out to St. Cloud, where he
+implored the King to yield. It was not till after seven hours'
+pressing that he consented to name M. de Mortemart Minister, but
+would not withdraw the edicts. He says that up to Wednesday night
+they would have compromised and accepted M. de Mortemart and the
+suppression of the edicts, but the King still demurred. On
+Wednesday night he yielded, but then the communications were
+interrupted. That night the meeting at the Palais Royal took
+place, at which the King's fate was determined; and on Thursday
+morning when his offers arrived, it was too late, and they would
+no longer treat. Marmont said he had been treated with the
+greatest ingratitude by the Court, and had taken leave of them
+for ever, coldly of the King and Dauphin; the Duchess of Berri
+alone shook hands with him and thanked him for his services and
+fidelity. He says never man was so unlucky, that he was _marechal
+de quartier_ and could not refuse to serve, but he only acted on
+the defensive; 2,000 of the troops and 1,500 of the populace were
+killed. The Swiss did not behave well, but the Lanciers de la
+Garde beautifully, and all the troops were acting against their
+feelings and opinions. Marmont said that Stuart had sent Cradock
+to Charles X. to desire he would go as slowly as he could, to
+give time for a reaction which he expected would take place.
+Cradock did go to the King, but I rather doubt this story.[6]
+
+      [6] [Colonel Cradock (the late Lord Howden) was sent by the
+          Ambassador to the King, and had an audience at
+          Rambouillet, but it was at the request and instigation
+          of the Duke of Orleans. The proposal entrusted to
+          Colonel Cradock was to the effect that the King and the
+          Dauphin, having abdicated, should quit France with the
+          Princesses, but that Henry V. should be proclaimed King
+          under the regency of the Duke of Orleans. Louis
+          Philippe offered to support this arrangement, and to
+          carry on the Government as Regent, if Charles X.
+          sanctioned it. The King received the communication in
+          bed. The Duchess of Angouleme was consulted, and
+          vehemently opposed the scheme, because, said she,
+          speaking of the Orleans family, 'ils sont toujours les
+          memes,' and she referred to the preposterous stories
+          current at the time of the death of the Duc de
+          Bourgogne, and the regency of 1715. The offer was
+          therefore rejected. These facts were not known to Mr.
+          Greville at the time, nor till long afterwards, but
+          they confirm his information that 'Cradock _did_ go to
+          the King,'.]
+
+
+August 27th, 1830 {p.038}
+
+At Court the day before yesterday; Parliament was prorogued and
+summoned. General Baudrand came afterwards and delivered his
+letter, also a private letter 'from the Duke of Orleans to the
+Duke of Clarence'--as the French King called them, 'anciens
+amis.' He was well received and well satisfied. I never knew such
+a burst of indignation and contempt as Polignac's letter has
+caused--a letter to the President of the Chamber of Peers. As
+Dudley says, it has saved history the trouble of crucifying that
+man, and speaks volumes about the recent events. Such a man to
+have been Prime Minister of France for a year!
+
+
+August 29th, 1830 {p.038}
+
+[Page Head: DINNER AT LORD DUDLEY'S.]
+
+Dined with Dudley the day before yesterday to meet Marmont, who is
+made very much of here by the few people who are left. He had been
+to Woolwich in the morning, where the Duke of Wellington had given
+orders that everything should be shown to him, and the honours
+handsomely done. He was very much gratified, and he found the man
+who had pointed the gun which wounded him at Salamanca, and who
+had since lost his own arm at Waterloo. Marmont shook hands with
+him and said, 'Ah, mon ami, chacun a son tour.' Lady Aldborough
+came in in the evening, and flew up to him with 'Ah, mon cher
+Marechal, embrassez-moi;' and so after escaping the cannon's mouth
+at Paris, he was obliged to face Lady Aldborough's mouth here.
+This was my first dinner at Dudley's, brought about _malgre lui_
+by Lady Glengall. He has always disliked and never invited me, but
+now (to all appearance) we are friends. He said he had been to see
+an old man who lives near the world's end--Chelsea--who is 110
+years old; he has a good head of hair, with no grey hairs in it;
+his health, faculties, and memory perfect; is Irish, and has not
+lived with greater temperance than other people. I sat next to
+Palmerston, and had a great deal of conversation with him, and
+from the tenour of his language infer that he has no idea of
+joining Government. Agar Ellis assured me the other day that there
+was not a word of truth in the reported junction between Lord Grey
+and Huskisson. The Duke has got two months to make his arrangements,
+but I am afraid he is not prepared for all the sacrifices his
+position requires. It is now said that the exasperation against
+the late Ministers (particularly Polignac) is so great in France
+that it is doubtful whether they will be able to save their lives.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XII.
+
+The Belgian Revolution--The Duke of Wellington and Canning--The
+  King's Plate--Gloomy Forebodings--Retreat of the Prince of
+  Orange--Prince Talleyrand--Position of the Government--Death of
+  Huskisson--His Character--The Duke of Wellington and Peel--
+  Meeting of Parliament--The Duke's Declaration--The King's Visit
+  to the City abandoned--Disturbances in London--Duchesse de
+  Dino--The Cholera--Southey, Henry Taylor, John Stuart Mill--
+  Dinner at Talleyrand's--The Duke of Wellington resigns--Mr.
+  Bathurst made Junior Clerk of the Council--Lord Spencer and
+  Lord Grey sent for--Formation of Lord Grey's Administration--
+  Discontent of Brougham--Brougham takes the Great Seal--
+  Character of the New Ministers--Prospects of the Opposition--
+  Disturbances in Sussex and Hampshire--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Brougham--Lord Sefton's Dinner--The New Ministers sworn at a
+  Council.
+
+
+Stoke, August 31st, 1830 {p.040}
+
+On Sunday I met Prince Esterhazy[1] in Oxford Street with a face
+a yard long. He turned back with me, and told me that there had
+been disturbances at Brussels, but that they had been put down by
+the gendarmerie. He was mightily alarmed, but said that his
+Government would recognise the French King directly, and in
+return for such general and prompt recognition as he was
+receiving he must restrain France from countenancing revolutions
+in other countries, and that, indeed, he had lost no time in
+declaring his intention to abstain from any meddling. In the
+evening Vaudreuil told me the same thing, and that he had
+received a despatch from M. Mole desiring him to refuse passports
+to the Spaniards who wanted, on the strength of the French
+Revolution, to go and foment the discontents in Spain, and to all
+other foreigners who, being dissatisfied with their own
+Governments, could not obtain passports from their own Ministers.
+Yesterday morning, however, it appeared that the affair at
+Brussels was much more serious than Esterhazy had given me to
+understand; and, as far as can be judged from the unofficial
+statements which we have, it appears likely that Belgium will
+separate from Holland altogether, it being very doubtful whether
+the Belgian troops will support the King's Government.
+
+      [1] [Prince Paul Esterhazy, Austrian Ambassador at the
+          Court of St. James for many years.]
+
+Madame de Falck is just come, but brings no news. Falck[2] has
+heard nothing. He left Holland before the outbreak. In the event
+of such a revolution, it remains to be seen what part Prussia
+will take, and, if she marches an army to reduce Belgium to
+obedience, whether the Belgians will not make overtures to
+France, and in that case whether King Louis Philippe will be able
+to restrain the French from seizing such a golden opportunity of
+regaining their former frontier; and if they accept the offer,
+whether a general war in Europe will not ensue.
+
+      [2] [Baron Falck, Dutch Minister at the Court of St.
+          James.]
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S FOREIGN POLICY.]
+
+In these difficult circumstances, and in the midst of
+possibilities so tremendous, it is awful to reflect upon the very
+moderate portion of wisdom and sagacity which is allotted to those
+by whom our affairs are managed. I am by no means easy as to the
+Duke of Wellington's sufficiency to meet such difficulties; the
+habits of his mind are not those of patient investigation,
+profound knowledge of human nature, and cool, discriminating
+sagacity. He is exceedingly quick of apprehension, but deceived by
+his own quickness into thinking he knows more than he does. He has
+amazing confidence in himself, which is fostered by the deference
+of those around him and the long experience of his military
+successes. He is upon ordinary occasions right-headed and
+sensible, but he is beset by weaknesses and passions which must,
+and continually do, blind his judgment. Above all he wants that
+suavity of manner, that watchfulness of observation, that power of
+taking great and enlarged views of events and characters, and of
+weighing opposite interests and probabilities, which are
+essentially necessary in circumstances so delicate, and in which
+one false step, any hasty measure, or even incautious expression,
+may be attended with consequences of immense importance. I feel
+justified in this view of his political fitness by contemplating
+the whole course of his career, and the signal failure which has
+marked all his foreign policy. If Canning were now alive we might
+hope to steer through these difficulties, but if he had lived we
+should probably never have been in them. He was the only statesman
+who had sagacity to enter into and comprehend the spirit of the
+times, and to put himself at the head of that movement which was
+no longer to be arrested. The march of Liberalism (as it is
+called) would not be stopped, and this he knew, and he resolved to
+govern and lead instead of opposing it. The idiots who so rejoiced
+at the removal of this master mind (which alone could have saved
+them from the effects of their own folly) thought to stem the
+torrent in its course, and it has overwhelmed them. It is
+unquestionable that the Duke has too much participated in their
+sentiments and passions, and, though he never mixed himself with
+their proceedings, regarded them with a favourable eye, nor does
+he ever seem to have been aware of the immensity of the peril
+which they were incurring. The urgency of the danger will
+unquestionably increase the impatience of those who already think
+the present Government incapable of carrying on the public
+business, and now that we are placed in a situation the most
+intricate (since the French Revolution) it is by no means
+agreeable to think that such enormous interests are at the mercy
+of the Duke's awkward squad.
+
+Sefton gave me an account of the dinner in St. George's Hall on
+the King's birthday, which was magnificent--excellent and well
+served. Bridge[3] came down with the plate, and was hid during
+the dinner behind the great wine-cooler, which weighs 7,000
+ounces, and he told Sefton afterwards that the plate in the room
+was worth L200,000. There is another service of gold plate, which
+was not used at all. The King has made it all over to the Crown.
+All this plate was ordered by the late King, and never used; his
+delight was ordering what the public had to pay for.
+
+      [3] [Of the house of Rundell and Bridge, the great
+          silversmiths and jewellers of the day.]
+
+
+September 9th, 1830 {p.043}
+
+[Page Head: GLOOMY FOREBODINGS.]
+
+Came from Stoke the day after the Egham races, and went to Brocket
+Hall on Saturday last; returned the day before yesterday. Nothing
+can exceed the interest, the excitement, the consternation which
+prevail here. On Saturday last the funds suddenly fell near three
+per cent.; no cause apparent, a thousand reports, and a panic on
+the Stock Exchange. At last on Monday it appeared that the Emperor
+of Russia had, on the first intelligence of the revolution in
+France, prohibited the tricoloured cockade and ordered all Russian
+subjects to quit France. As we went down on Saturday Henry told me
+that there had been alarming accounts from the manufacturing
+districts of a disposition to rise on the part of the workmen,
+which had kept Lord Hill in town; and this I fancied was the cause
+of the fall, but it was the Russian business. They have since,
+however, rallied to nearly what they were before. At Brocket I had
+a long conversation with my brother-in-law,[4] who is never very
+communicative or talkative, but he takes a gloomy view of
+everything, not a little perhaps tinctured by the impending ruin
+which he foresees to his own property from the Liverpool Railroad,
+which is to be opened with great ceremony on the 15th; moreover he
+thinks the Government so weak that it cannot stand, and expects
+the Duke will be compelled to resign. He has already offered him
+his place, to dispose of in any way that may be useful to him. I
+said that I thought one of the Duke's greatest misfortunes was his
+having no wise head to consult with in all emergencies; this he
+said was very true, for there was nobody who would even speak to
+him about anything; that Peel, who was the man who might naturally
+be expected to put himself forward, never would; and that
+repeatedly he had got him (Francis) to go to or write to the Duke
+about some matter or other on which it was necessary to refer to
+him. In the business of Huskisson, Huskisson himself was most
+anxious to have it made up, and wished Peel to speak to the Duke;
+but Peel would not stir, nor would Dudley, and it ended in
+Francis' being charged with the negotiation, the result of which
+everybody knows.
+
+      [4] [Lord Francis Egerton, afterwards First Earl of
+          Ellesmere, proprietor of the Bridgewater Estates and
+          Canal, which was threatened by the competition of the
+          newly-made Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Lord
+          Francis held the office of Secretary at War in 1830 for
+          a very short time, having previously been Irish
+          Secretary when Lord Anglesey was Lord Lieutenant.]
+
+In the meantime the affairs of Belgium are in a very critical
+state; the Prince of Orange has entirely failed in reducing the
+malcontents to submission, and after passing two or three days at
+or near Brussels in fruitless negotiation and the interchange of
+proud civilities, he was obliged to retire and carry back to the
+King a proposal that Belgium and Holland should be separated and
+a Federal Union established between them. Last night, however, a
+proclamation of the King appeared, well drawn up, and couched in
+firm, temperate, and sensible language, in which he declares that
+he will do all that the circumstances of the case may render
+necessary, but that all shall be referred to the States-General,
+and they shall decide upon the measures to be adopted. This will
+probably excite great discontent, and it is at least doubtful
+whether the Belgian Deputies will consent to go to the Hague at
+all. My belief is that this proclamation is the result of
+encouragement from Prussia.
+
+The night before last I had a letter from the Duc de Dalberg with
+a very sensible view of the state of France and of affairs
+generally in Europe, auguring well of the stability of the
+present Government, provided the other Powers of Europe do
+nothing to disturb the general tranquillity. I never was so
+astonished as when I read in the newspaper of the appointment of
+Talleyrand to be Ambassador here. He must be nearer eighty than
+seventy, and though his faculties are said to be as bright as
+ever (which I doubt), his infirmities are so great that it is
+inconceivable he should think of leaving his own home, and above
+all for another country, where public representation is
+unavoidable. Dalberg told me that several of the Ministers are
+going out--Guizot, Marshal Gerard, and Baron Louis, the two
+latter _accables_ with the _travail_, and the first unused to and
+unfit for official business;[5] Louis is seventy-three.
+
+      [5] [A curious estimate, taken at the time, of the man who
+          for the next eighteen years had a larger share of
+          official life and business than any other Frenchman.]
+
+[Page Head: BAD PROSPECTS OF THE SESSION.]
+
+In the meantime the Duke does nothing here towards strengthening
+his Government, and he will probably meet Parliament as he is.
+There are some circumstances in his favour, and I think it
+possible he may still extricate himself from his difficulties.
+There is unquestionably a notion amongst many persons (of the
+aristocracy) that he is the only man to rely upon for governing
+this country in the midst of difficulties. It is hard to say upon
+what this feeling (for it is more of a feeling than an opinion)
+is founded; not certainly upon any experience of his abilities
+for Government either as to principles or the details of
+particular branches of business, or his profound, dispassionate,
+and statesmanlike sagacity, but upon certain vague predilections,
+and the confidence which he has infused into others by his own
+firm, manly, and even dictatorial character, and the recollection
+of his military exploits and splendid career, which have not yet
+lost their power over the minds of men, and to this must be added
+his great influence over the late and present sovereigns.
+
+The short session which will begin on the 28th of October will be
+occupied with the Regency and Civil List, and it is probable that
+both those matters will be produced in a form to give general
+satisfaction; that will be strength as far as it goes. The Tories
+are alarmed at the general aspect of affairs, and I doubt whether
+they will not forget their ancient grievances and antipathies,
+and, if they do not support the Government, abstain at least from
+any violent opposition, the result of which could only be to let
+in the Whigs, of whose principles they have the greatest
+apprehensions. I can perfectly understand that there may be many
+men who, wishing sincerely to see a stronger Government formed,
+may think that any change at this moment which may present to
+Europe a spectacle of disunion and weakness here would be a
+greater evil than the temporary toleration of such Ministers as
+ours; and if the Duke does find such a disposition, and profits
+by it dexterously and temperately, he may float through the next
+session, and at the end of it negotiate with other parties on
+more advantageous terms than he possibly could do now, when all
+his concessions would appear to be extorted by force or by the
+urgent difficulties of his position.
+
+
+September 10th, 1830 {p.046}
+
+The Duke is very much disturbed about the state of affairs,
+thinks ill of France and generally of the state of Europe. I
+think the alarmists are increasing everywhere, and the signs of
+the times are certainly portentous; still I doubt there being any
+great desire of change among the mass of the people of England,
+and prudent and dexterous heads (if there be any such) may still
+steer on through the storm. If Canning were alive I believe he
+would have been fully equal to the emergency if he was not
+thwarted by the passions, prejudices, and follies of others; but
+if he had lived we should not have had the Catholic question
+settled, and what a state we should be in now if that were added
+to the rest!
+
+
+September 14th, 1830 {p.046}
+
+Last Saturday to Panshanger; returned yesterday with Melbourne,
+George Lamb, and the Ashleys. George said there would be a
+violent Opposition in the approaching session. William[6] told me
+he thought Huskisson was the greatest practical statesman he had
+known, the one who united theory with practice the most, but
+owned he was not popular and not thought honest; that his
+remaining in with the Duke when Goderich's Ministry was dissolved
+was a fatal error, which he could never repair.
+
+      [6] [William Lamb, second Lord Melbourne, afterwards Prime
+          Minister.]
+
+I found Sefton in town last night, and went to the play with him.
+He has had a letter from Brougham, who told him he should go to
+the Liverpool dinner and attack the Duke of Wellington; that it
+was the only opportunity he should ever have in his life of
+meeting him face to face, and he then proceeded to relate all
+that he should say. Sefton wrote him word that if he said half
+what he intended the chairman would order him to be turned out of
+the room. He won't go, I am persuaded.
+
+
+Newark, September 18th, 1830 {p.047}
+
+[Page Head: DEATH OF MR. HUSKISSON.]
+
+Went back to Panshanger last Tuesday; found there Madame de
+Lieven, Melbourne, and the Hollands and Allen. Lord Holland was
+very agreeable, as he always is, and told many anecdotes of
+George Selwyn, Lafayette, and others. I saw them arrive in a
+coach-and-four and chaise-and-pair--two footmen, a page, and two
+maids. He said (what is true) that there is hardly such a thing
+in the world as a good house or a good epitaph, and yet mankind
+have been employed in building the former and writing the latter
+since the beginning almost. Came to town on Thursday, and in the
+afternoon heard the news of Huskisson's horrible accident, and
+yesterday morning got a letter from Henry with the details, which
+are pretty correctly given in the 'Times' newspaper. It is a very
+odd thing, but I had for days before a strong presentiment that
+some terrible accident would occur at this ceremony, and I told
+Lady Cowper so, and several other people. Nothing could exceed
+the horror of the few people in London at this event, or the
+despair of those who looked up to him politically. It seems to
+have happened in this way:--While the Duke's car was stopping to
+take in water, the people alighted and walked about the railroad;
+when suddenly another car, which was running on the adjoining
+level, came up. Everybody scrambled out of the way, and those who
+could got again into the first car. This Huskisson attempted to
+do, but he was slow and awkward; as he was getting in some part
+of the machinery of the other car struck the door of his, by
+which he was knocked down. He was taken up, and conveyed by
+Wilton[7] and Mrs. Huskisson (who must have seen the accident
+happen) to the house of Mr. Blackburne, eight miles from Heaton.
+Wilton saved his life for a few hours by knowing how to tie up
+the artery; amputation was not possible, and he expired at ten
+o'clock that night. Wilton, Lord Granville, and Littleton were
+with him to the last. Mrs. Huskisson behaved with great courage.
+The Duke of Wellington was deeply affected, and it was with the
+greatest difficulty he could be induced to proceed upon the
+progress to Manchester, and at last he only yielded to the most
+pressing solicitations of the directors and others, and to a
+strong remonstrance that the mob might be dangerous if he did not
+appear. It is impossible to figure to one's self any event which
+could produce a greater sensation or be more striking to the
+imagination than this, happening at such a time and under such
+circumstances: the eminence of the man, the sudden conversion of
+a scene of gaiety and splendour into one of horror and dismay;
+the countless multitudes present, and the effect upon them--crushed
+to death in sight of his wife and at the feet (as it was)
+of his great political rival--all calculated to produce a deep
+and awful impression. The death of Huskisson cannot fail to have
+an important effect upon political events; it puts an end to his
+party as a party, but it leaves the survivors at liberty to join
+either the Opposition or the Government, while during his life
+there were great difficulties to their doing either, in
+consequence of the antipathy which many of the Whigs had to him
+on one side and the Duke of Wellington on the other. There is no
+use, however, in speculating on what will happen, which a very
+short time will show.
+
+      [7] [Thomas Grosvenor Egerton, second Earl of Wilton.]
+
+Agar Ellis told me yesterday morning that he had received a
+letter from Brougham a day or two ago, in which he said that he
+was going to Liverpool, and hoped there to sign a treaty with
+Huskisson, so that it is probable they would have joined to
+oppose the Government. As to the Duke of Wellington, a fatality
+attends him, and it is perilous to cross his path. There were
+perhaps 500,000 people present on this occasion, and probably not
+a soul besides hurt. One man only is killed, and that man is his
+most dangerous political opponent, the one from whom he had most
+to fear. It is the more remarkable because these great people are
+generally taken such care of, and put out of the chance of
+accidents. Canning had scarcely reached the zenith of his power
+when he was swept away, and the field was left open to the Duke,
+and no sooner is he reduced to a state of danger and difficulty
+than the ablest of his adversaries is removed by a chance beyond
+all power of calculation.
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF HUSKISSON.]
+
+Huskisson was about sixty years old, tall, slouching, and
+ignoble-looking. In society he was extremely agreeable, without
+much animation, generally cheerful, with a great deal of humour,
+information, and anecdote, gentlemanlike, unassuming, slow in
+speech, and with a downcast look, as if he avoided meeting
+anybody's gaze. I have said what Melbourne thought of him, and
+that was the opinion of his party. It is probably true that there
+is no man in Parliament, or perhaps out of it, so well versed in
+finance, commerce, trade, and colonial matters, and that he is
+therefore a very great and irreparable loss. It is nevertheless
+remarkable that it is only within the last five or six years that
+he acquired the great reputation which he latterly enjoyed. I do
+not think he was looked upon as more than a second-rate man till
+his speeches on the silk trade and the shipping interest; but
+when he became President of the Board of Trade he devoted himself
+with indefatigable application to the maturing and reducing to
+practice those commercial improvements with which his name is
+associated, and to which he owes all his glory and most of his
+unpopularity. It is equally true that all the ablest men in the
+country coincide with him, and that the mass of the community are
+persuaded that his plans are mischievous to the last degree. The
+man whom he consulted through the whole course of his labours and
+enquiries was Hume,[8] who is now in the Board of Trade, and
+whose vast experience and knowledge were of incalculable service
+to him. Great as his abilities unquestionably were, it is
+impossible to admire his judgment, which seems repeatedly to have
+failed him, particularly in his joining the Duke's Government on
+Goderich's resignation, which was a capital error, his speech
+afterwards at Liverpool and his subsequent quarrel with the Duke.
+In all these cases he acted with the greatest imprudence, and he
+certainly contrived, without exposing himself to any specific
+charge, to be looked upon as a statesman of questionable honour
+and integrity; and of this his friends as well as his enemies
+were aware. As a speaker in the House of Commons he was luminous
+upon his own subject, but he had no pretensions to eloquence; his
+voice was feeble and his manner ungraceful; however, he was
+(unfortunately) one of the first men in the House, and was
+listened to with attention upon any subject. He left no children.
+Mrs. Huskisson has a pension of L1,200 a year. The accounts from
+Paris improve, inasmuch as there seems a better prospect than
+there has been lately of tranquillity in the country. Sneyd
+writes word that there is little doubt but that the Duc de
+Bourbon was assassinated.[9]
+
+      [8] [John Deacon Hume, the Assistant Joint Secretary of the
+          Board of Trade.]
+
+      [9] [The Duc de Bourbon-Conde was found hanging in his
+          bedroom. Suspicion pointed to Madame de Fencheres, his
+          mistress, as privy to the cause of his death, which
+          however, was never clearly ascertained. The Duke had
+          made an ample provision for Madame de Fencheres in his
+          will, but the bulk of his vast property, including
+          Chantilly, was bequeathed to the Duc d'Aumale, fourth
+          son of King Louis Philippe. The Duc de Bourbon was the
+          father of the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien.]
+
+Last night to Brockett Hall, where I slept and came on here
+to-day. The King has paid me L300 for Goodison, the late Duke's
+jockey, which settles all he owed at Newmarket, and was a very
+good-natured act.
+
+George Seymour is made Master of the Robes, and gives up his
+place[10] in the House of Lords, so Jersey[11] within two months
+has got an enormous place to give away.
+
+     [10] He did not give it up; wanted Jersey to appoint his
+          brother Frederick, which he refused to do; so the other
+          remained.--_November 15th._
+
+     [11] [Lord Jersey was Lord Chamberlain of the Household at
+          the time.]
+
+
+Chatsworth, September 27th, 1830 {p.050}
+
+[Page Head: HUSKISSON'S LAST MOMENTS.]
+
+Got to Sprotborough last Sunday; Lord Talbot and Lady Cecil,
+William Lascelles, Irby, Lady Charlotte Denison, Captain Grey. It
+rained all the time of the races. They offered Priam to
+Chesterfield for L3,000 before his match, and he refused; he
+offered it after, and they refused. There were a number of
+beautiful women there--my cousin Mrs. Foljambe, Misses Mary and
+Fanny Brandling the best. Came here on Friday night, and found as
+usual a large party, but rather dull; Granvilles, Newboroughs,
+Wharncliffes, G. Seymours, Sir J. and Lady Fitzgerald (very
+pretty), Talbots, Madame Bathiany, Beaumonts, G. Lamb. Yesterday
+Brougham came with his brother, sister, and daughter-in-law, in
+the highest spirits and state of excitement, going about
+Yorkshire, dining and speechifying; he was at Doncaster too. Lord
+Granville was just returned from Huskisson's funeral at
+Liverpool. It was attended by a great multitude, who showed every
+mark of respect and feeling. He died the death of a great man,
+suffering torments, but always resigned, calm, and collected;
+took the Sacrament, and made a codicil to his will, said the
+country had had the best of him, and that he could not have been
+useful for many more years, hoped he had never committed any
+political sins that might not be easily forgiven, and declared
+that he died without a feeling of ill-will and in charity with
+all men. As he lay there he heard the guns announcing the Duke of
+Wellington's arrival at Manchester, and he said, 'I hope to God
+the Duke may get safe through the day.' When he had done and said
+all he desired, he begged they would open a vein and release him
+from his pain. From the beginning he only wished to die quickly.
+Mrs. Huskisson was violently opposed to his being buried at
+Liverpool, and it was with great difficulty she was persuaded to
+consent to the repeated applications that were made to her for
+that purpose.
+
+
+Buckenham, October 25th, 1830 {p.051}
+
+A month nearly since I have written a line; always racing and
+always idleness. Went from Chatsworth to Heaton Park; an immense
+party, excellent house and living, and very good sport for the
+sort of thing in a park, with gentlemen riders.
+
+I have lost sight of politics, and know nothing of what is going
+on, except that all things look gloomy, and people generally are
+alarmed. Last week the Arbuthnots were at Cheveley, and I had a
+curious conversation enough with him. I told him that I was
+desirous of the success of the Duke of Wellington's Administration,
+but felt strongly the necessity of his getting rid of many of his
+present Cabinet, who were both inefficient and odious, that I
+thought one great misfortune was that he had nobody to tell him
+the truth, and very few men with whom he was on terms of
+confidential cordiality. He owned it was so, but said that _he_
+never concealed from him disagreeable truths--on the contrary,
+told him everything--and assured me that at any time he would tell
+the Duke anything that I thought he ought to know. I told him to
+give him a notion how meanly Aberdeen was thought of, that
+Alvanley had told Talleyrand not to notice him, but to go at once
+to the Duke when he had any important business to transact, and
+that he might tell the Duke this if he pleased, but no one else.
+He said he would, and then he began to talk of Peel, lamenting
+that there was nothing like intimate confidence between the Duke
+and him, and that the Duke was in fact ignorant of his real and
+secret feelings and opinions; that to such a degree did Peel carry
+his reserve, that when they were out of office, and it had been a
+question of their returning to it, he had gone to meet Peel at
+Lord Chandos's for the express purpose of finding out what his
+opinions were upon the then state of affairs, and that after many
+conversations he had come away knowing no more of his sentiments
+and disposition than before they met. I said that with a Cabinet
+like this, and the House of Commons in the hands of Peel, I could
+not imagine anything more embarrassing; he owned it was, and then
+complained of Peel's indisposition to encourage other men in the
+House of Commons, or to suffer the transaction of business to pass
+through any hands but his own; that the Duke had been accused of a
+grasping ambition and a desire to do everything himself, whereas
+such an accusation would be much more applicable to Peel. All this
+proves how little real cordiality there is between these two men,
+and that, though they are now necessary to each other, a little
+matter would sever their political connection.
+
+Here we have an American of the name of Powell, who was here
+nineteen years ago, when he was one of the handsomest men that
+ever was seen, and lived in the society of Devonshire House.
+Three years of such a life spoilt him, as he confesses, for the
+nineteen which followed in his native country; and now he is come
+back with a wife and five children to see the town he recollects
+become a thousand times more beautiful, and the friends who have
+forgotten him equally changed, but as much for the worse as
+London is for the better; he seems a sensible, good sort of
+fellow.
+
+Baring told me the other day that he remembered his (B.'s) father
+with nearly nothing, and that out of the house which he founded
+not less than six or seven millions must have been taken. Several
+colossal fortunes have been made out of it.
+
+
+London, November 8th, 1830 {p.053}
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S DECLARATION AGAINST REFORM.]
+
+Went from Buckenham to Euston, and then back to Newmarket, where
+I never have time or inclination to write or read. Parliament
+met, and a great clamour was raised against the King's Speech,
+without much reason; but it was immediately evident that the
+Government was in a very tottering condition, and the first night
+of this session the Duke of Wellington made a violent and
+uncalled-for declaration against Reform, which has without doubt
+sealed his fate. Never was there an act of more egregious folly,
+or one so universally condemned by friends and foes. The
+Chancellor said to Lady Lyndhurst after the first night's debate
+in the House of Lords, 'You have often asked me why the Duke did
+not take in Lord Grey; read these two speeches (Lord Grey's and
+the Duke's), and then you will see why. Do you think he would
+like to have a colleague under him, who should get up and make
+such a speech after such another as his?'
+
+The effect produced by this declaration exceeds anything I ever
+saw, and it has at once destroyed what little popularity the Duke
+had left, and lowered him in public estimation so much that when
+he does go out of office, as most assuredly he must, he will
+leave it without any of the dignity and credit which might have
+accompanied his retirement. The sensation produced in the country
+has not yet been ascertained, but it is sure to be immense. I
+came to town last night, and found the town ringing with his
+imprudence and everybody expecting that a few days would produce
+his resignation.
+
+The King's visit to the City was regarded with great
+apprehension, as it was suspected that attempts would be made to
+produce riot and confusion at night, and consequently all the
+troops that could be mustered were prepared, together with
+thousands of special constables, new police, volunteers, sailors,
+and marines; but last night a Cabinet Council was held, when it
+was definitively arranged to put it off altogether, and this
+morning the announcement has appeared in the newspapers. Every
+sort of ridicule and abuse was heaped upon the Government, the
+Lord Mayor, and all who had any share in putting off the King's
+visit to the City; very droll caricatures were circulated.
+
+I met Matuscewitz last night, who was full of the Duke and his
+speech, and of regrets at his approaching fall, which he
+considers as the signal for fresh encroachments in France by the
+Liberal party, and a general impulse to the revolutionary
+factions throughout Europe. I hear that nothing can exceed the
+general excitement and terror that prevails, everybody feeling
+they hardly know what.
+
+
+November 9th, 1830 {p.054}
+
+Yesterday morning I sallied forth and called on Arbuthnot, whom I
+did not find at home, but Mrs. Arbuthnot was. I had previously
+called on the Villiers, and had a long conversation about the
+state of everything. They did not apprise me of anything new, but
+Hyde,[12] who ought to be informed, gave me an account of the
+resolutions which Brougham means to propose, very different from
+what I heard elsewhere. He said that they were very strong,
+whereas all other accounts agree that they are very moderate. I
+walked with Mrs. Arbuthnot down to Downing Street, and, as she
+utters the Duke's sentiments, was anxious to hear what she would
+say about their present condition. I said, 'Well, you are in a
+fine state; what do you mean to do?' 'Oh, are you alarmed? Well,
+I am not; everybody says we are to go out, and I don't believe a
+word of it. They will be beat on the question of Reform; people
+will return to the Government, and we shall go on very well. You
+will see this will be the end of it.' I told her I did not
+believe they could stay in, and attacked the Duke's speech, which
+at last she owned she was sorry he had made. She complained that
+they had no support, and that everybody they took in became
+useless as soon as they were in office--Ellenborough, Rosslyn,
+Murray. It was evident, however, that she did contemplate their
+loss of office as a very probable event, though they do not mean
+to resign, and think they may stave off the evil day. In Downing
+Street we met George Dawson, who told us the funds had fallen
+three per cent., and that the panic was tremendous, so much so
+that they were not without alarm lest there should be a run on
+the Bank for gold. Later in the day, however, the funds improved.
+In the House of Lords I heard the Duke's explanation of putting
+off the dinner in the City. On the whole they seem to have done
+well to put it off, but the case did not sound a strong one; it
+rested on a letter from the Lord Mayor telling the Duke an
+attempt would be made on his life. Still it is a hundred to one
+that there would have been a riot, and possibly all its worst
+evils and crimes. The King is said to be very low, hating Reform,
+desirous of supporting the Duke, but feeling that he can do
+nothing. However, in the House of Lords last night the speakers
+vied with each other in praising his Majesty and extolling his
+popularity. Lady Jersey told me that the Duke had said to her,
+'Lord, I shall not go out; you will see we shall go on very
+well.'
+
+     [12] [Thomas Hyde Villiers, brother of George, afterwards
+          fourth Earl of Clarendon, died in 1832.]
+
+
+November 10th, 1830 {p.055}
+
+[Page Head: DISTURBANCES IN LONDON.]
+
+It was expected last night that there would be a great riot, and
+preparations were made to meet it. Troops were called up to
+London, and a large body of civil power put in motion. People had
+come in from the country in the morning, and everything indicated
+a disturbance. After dinner I walked out to see how things were
+going on. There was little mob in the west end of the town, and
+in New Street, Spring Gardens, a large body of the new police was
+drawn up in three divisions, ready to be employed if wanted. The
+Duke of Wellington expected Apsley House to be attacked, and made
+preparations accordingly. He desired my brother to go and dine
+there, to assist in making any arrangements that might be
+necessary. In Pall Mall I met Mr. Glyn, the banker, who had been
+up to Lombard Street to see how matters looked about his house,
+and he told us (Sir T. Farquhar and me) that everything was quiet
+in the City. One of the policemen said that there had been a
+smart brush near Temple Bar, where a body of weavers with iron
+crows and a banner had been dispersed by the police, and the
+banner taken. The police, who are a magnificent set of fellows,
+behave very well, and it seems pretty evident that these troubles
+are not very serious, and will soon be put an end to. The attack
+in Downing Street the night before last, of which they made a
+great affair, turned out to be nothing at all. The mob came there
+from Carlile's lecture, but the sentry stopped them near the
+Foreign Office; the police took them in flank, and they all ran
+away.
+
+I went to Brooks's, but there was hardly anybody there, and
+nothing occurred in the House of Commons but some interchange of
+Billingsgate between O'Connell and George Dawson. The Duke talks
+with confidence, and has no idea of resigning, but he does not
+inspire his friends with the confidence he feels or affects
+himself, though they talk of his resignation as an event which is
+to plunge all Europe into war, and of the impossibility of
+forming another Administration, all which is mere balderdash, for
+he proved with many others how easy it is to form a Government
+that can go on; and as to our Continental relations being
+altered, I don't believe a word of it. He may have influence
+abroad, but he owes it not to his own individual character, but
+to his possession of power in England. If the Ministry who
+succeed him are firm and moderate, this country will lose nothing
+of its influence abroad. I have heard these sort of things said
+fifty times of Ministers and Kings. The death of the late King
+was to be the greatest of calamities, and the breath was hardly
+out of his body before everybody discovered that it was the
+greatest of blessings, and, instead of its being impossible to go
+on without him, that there would have been no going on with him.
+
+The King gave a dinner to the Prince of Orange the other day, and
+invited all his old military friends to meet him. His Majesty was
+beyond everything civil to the Duke of Wellington, and the Queen
+likewise. Lord Wellesley, speaking of the letter to the Lord
+Mayor, and putting off the dinner in the City, said 'it was the
+boldest act of cowardice he had ever heard of.'
+
+[Page Head: THE DUCHESSE DE DINO.]
+
+After some difficulty they have agreed to give Madame de Dino[13]
+the honours of Ambassadress here, the Duke having told the King
+that at Vienna she did the honours of Talleyrand's house, and was
+received on that footing by the Emperor and Empress, so he said,
+'Oh, very well; I will tell the Queen, and you had better tell
+her too.'
+
+     [13] [The Duchesse de Dino was the niece of Prince
+          Talleyrand, then French Ambassador at the Court of St.
+          James. The precedent is a curious one, for it is
+          certainly not customary for the daughter or niece of an
+          unmarried Ambassador to enjoy the rank and honours of
+          an Ambassadress.]
+
+They say the King is exceedingly bullied by the _batards_, though
+Errol told me they were all afraid of him. Dolly Fitzclarence
+lost L100, betting 100 to 10 that he would go to Guildhall, and
+he told the King he had lost him L100, so the King gave him the
+money. It seems that the Duke certainly did make some overtures
+to Palmerston, though I do not exactly know when, but I heard
+that they were very fair ones.
+
+
+November 11th, 1830 {p.057}
+
+Yesterday the funds rose, and people's apprehensions began to
+subside. Everybody is occupied with speculating about the numbers
+on Tuesday next, and what majority the Ministers will get.
+Yesterday came a letter from Lord Heytesbury from St. Petersburg,[14]
+saying that there was reason to believe that the disorder now
+raging in Russia is a sort of plague, but that they will not admit
+it, and that it is impossible to get at the truth. We ordered
+Russian ships to be put under a precautionary quarantine, and made
+a minute to record what we had done.
+
+     [14] [This is the first mention of the cholera morbus, or
+          Asiatic cholera, then first appearing in Europe. The
+          quarantine establishments are under the control of the
+          Privy Council, and Mr. Greville, as Clerk of the
+          Council, was actively employed in superintending them.
+          A Board of Health was afterwards established at the
+          Council Office during the prevalence of the cholera.]
+
+
+November 12th, 1830 {p.058}
+
+The funds have kept advancing, everything is quiet, and Ministers
+begin to take courage. The Duke means if he has a majority of
+twenty on Tuesday to stay in. It seems his idea is that the
+resolutions of Brougham will be framed in general terms on purpose
+to obtain as many votes as possible; that they will be no test of
+the real opinion of the House, because most of those who may
+concur in a general resolution in favour of Reform would disagree
+entirely as to specific measures, if any were introduced; but it
+is evident that the support of the Duke's friends is growing
+feebler every day. Yesterday morning I met Robert Clive, a thick
+and thin Government man, and he began with the usual topic, for
+everybody asks after the State, as one does about a sick friend;
+and then he went on to say (concurring with my opinion that
+everything went on ill), 'Why won't the Duke strengthen himself?'
+'He can't; he has tried, and you see he can't do anything.' 'Ah!
+but he must make sacrifices; things cannot go on as they do, and
+he must make sacrifices.' Lord Bath, too, came to town, intending
+to leave his proxy with the Duke, and went away with it in his
+pocket, after hearing his famous speech; though he has a close
+borough, which he by no means wishes to lose, still he is for
+Reform. What they all feel is that his obstinacy will endanger
+everything; that by timely concession, and regulating the present
+spirit, real improvements might be made and extreme measures
+avoided. I met Rothschild coming out of Herries' room, with his
+nephew from Paris. He looked pretty lively for a man who has lost
+some millions, but the funds were all up yesterday; he asked me
+the news, and said Lafitte was the best Minister France could
+have, and that everything was rapidly improving there.
+
+
+November 15th, 1830 {p.058}
+
+[Page Head: ROBERT SOUTHEY.]
+
+Yesterday morning I breakfasted with Taylor[15] to meet Southey:
+the party was Southey; Strutt, member for Derby, a Radical; young
+Mill, a political economist; Charles Villiers, young Elliot, and
+myself. Southey is remarkably pleasing in his manner and
+appearance, unaffected, unassuming, and agreeable; at least such
+was my impression for the hour or two I saw him. Young Mill is
+the son of Mill who wrote the 'History of British India,' and
+said to be cleverer than his father. He has written many
+excellent articles in reviews, pamphlets, &c., but though
+powerful with a pen in his hand, in conversation he has not the
+art of managing his ideas, and is consequently hesitating and
+slow, and has the appearance of being always working in his mind
+propositions or a syllogism.
+
+     [15] [Henry Taylor, the author of 'Philip van Artevelde.'
+          Edward Strutt was afterwards created Lord Belper.
+          'Young Mill' was the eminent economist and philosopher
+          John Stuart Mill. 'Young Elliot,' Sir Thomas Frederick
+          Elliot, K.S.M.G., long one of the ablest members of the
+          Colonial Department, to which Henry Taylor, the poet,
+          himself belonged.]
+
+Southey told an anecdote of Sir Massey Lopes, which is a good
+story of a miser. A man came to him and told him he was in great
+distress, and L200 would save him. He gave him a draft for the
+money.' 'Now,' says he, 'what will you do with this?' 'Go to the
+bankers and get it cashed.' 'Stop,' said he; 'I will cash it.' So
+he gave him the money, but first calculated and deducted the
+discount, thus at once exercising his benevolence and his
+avarice.
+
+Another story Taylor told (we were talking of the negroes and
+savages) of a girl (in North America) who had been brought up for
+the purpose of being eaten on the day her master's son was
+married or attained a certain age. She was proud of being the
+_plat_ for the occasion, for when she was accosted by a
+missionary, who wanted to convert her to Christianity and
+withdraw her from her fate, she said she had no objection to be a
+Christian, but she must stay to be eaten, that she had been
+fattened for the purpose and must fulfil her destiny.
+
+When I came home I found a note to say my unfortunate colleague
+Buller[16] was dead. He had had an operation performed on his lip,
+after which he caught cold, got an inflammation in the windpipe,
+and died in two or three days. He was a very honourable, obliging,
+and stupid man, and a great loss to me, for I shall hardly find a
+more accommodating colleague.
+
+     [16] [James Buller, Esq., senior Clerk of the Council.]
+
+In the evening I dined with Lord Sefton to meet Talleyrand and
+Madame de Dino. There were Brougham and Denman, the latter
+brought by the former to show Talleyrand to him. After dinner
+Talleyrand held a circle and discoursed, but I did not come in
+for his talk. They were all delighted, but long experience has
+proved to me that people are easily delighted with whatever is in
+vogue. Brougham is very proud of his French, which is execrable,
+and took the opportunity of holding forth in a most barbarous
+jargon, which he fancied was the real accent and phraseology. He
+told me he should have 250 votes on his motion. I said to him,
+'They think they shall have a majority of 150.' He said, 'Then
+there must be 650 to divide, for at the lowest computation I
+shall have 250.' But at night Henry told me that the Duke, though
+he put a good face on it, was in fact very low, and that, from
+what Gosh [Arbuthnot] had said, he would certainly resign unless
+he carried the question by a large majority. In the morning I
+called on Lady Granville, who told me, as a great secret, that
+the Duke, notwithstanding his speech, was prepared to offer a
+compromise, and her story was this:--She had dined at Ludolf's a
+few days ago to meet the Duchesse de Berri. All the great people
+dined there, among others the Chancellor and Lady Lyndhurst, and
+after dinner Lady Lyndhurst came up to her bursting with
+indignation, and confided to her that the Duke had resolved to
+offer a resolution to the effect that in any future case of
+borough delinquency the representation should be transferred to a
+great town, and that she thought after what had passed this would
+be so disgraceful that it disgusted her beyond expression, and a
+great deal more to this effect. I confess I don't believe a word
+of it. I met the Prince of Orange last night in excellent spirits
+and humour, and quite convinced that he will be recalled to
+Brussels.
+
+
+November 16th, 1830 {p.061}
+
+[Page Head: DEFEAT OF THE WELLINGTON MINISTRY.]
+
+The Duke of Wellington's Administration is at an end. If he has
+not already resigned, he probably will do so in the course of the
+day. Everybody was so intent on the Reform question that the
+Civil List was not thought of, and consequently the defeat of
+Government last night was unexpected. Although numbers of members
+were shut out there was a great attendance, and a majority of
+twenty-nine. Of those who were shut out, almost all declare that
+they meant to have voted in the majority.[17]
+
+     [17] [The division was taken on Sir Henry Parnell's motion
+          to refer the Civil List to a Select Committee, which
+          was carried by 233 to 204.]
+
+I went to Mrs. Taylor's at night and found Ferguson, Denman, and
+Taylor, who had just brought the news. The exultation of the
+Opposition was immense. Word was sent down their line not to
+cheer, but they were not to be restrained, and Sefton's yell was
+heard triumphant in the din. The Tories voted with them. There
+had been a meeting at Knatchbull's in the morning, when they
+decided to go against Government. Worcester had dined at Apsley
+House, and returned with the news, but merely said that they had
+had a bad division--twenty-nine. Everybody thought he meant a
+majority _for_ Government, and the Duke, who already knew what
+had happened, made a sign to him to say nothing. Worcester knew
+nothing himself, having arrived after the division; they told him
+the numbers, and he came away fancying they were for Government.
+So off the company went to Madame de Dino, where they heard the
+truth. Great was the consternation and long were the faces, but
+the outs affected to be merry and the ins were serious.
+Talleyrand fired off a courier to Paris forthwith.
+
+Yesterday morning I went to Downing Street early, to settle with
+Lord Bathurst about the new appointment to my office. Till I told
+him he did not know the appointment was in the Crown; so he
+hurried off to the King, and proposed his son William. The King
+was very gracious, and said, 'I can never object to a father's
+doing what he can for his own children,' which was an oblique
+word for the _batards_, about whom, however, it may be said _en
+passant_ he has been marvellously forbearing.
+
+I had a long conversation with Lady Bathurst, who told me that
+the Duke had resolved to stand or fall on the Reform question,
+that he had asked Lord Bathurst's opinion, who had advised him by
+all means to do so; that Lord Bathurst had likewise put his own
+place at the Duke's disposal long before, and was ready to resign
+at any moment. It is clear that Lord Bathurst had some suspicion
+that the Duke had an idea of not standing or falling by that
+question, for he asked him whether anybody had given him
+different advice, to which he replied, though it seems rather
+vaguely, 'No, oh no; I think you are quite right.' I told her the
+substance of what I had heard about his being disposed to a
+compromise. She said it was quite impossible, that he would be
+disgraced irredeemably, but owned it was odd that there should be
+that notion and the suspicion which crossed Lord Bathurst's mind.
+I do think it is possible, but for his honour I hope not. The
+Bathursts felt this appointment of William was a sort of 'Nunc
+dimittis,' but there is yet something between the cup and the
+lip, for Stanley got up in the House of Commons and attacked the
+appointment, and it is just possible it may yet be stopped.
+
+Went to Brookes' in the evening, where there was nobody left but
+Sefton baiting Ferguson for having been out of the division. He
+told me that it was not impossible Lord Spencer would be put at
+the head of Government. They will manage to make a confounded
+mess of it, I dare say. Billy Holmes came to the Duke last night
+with the news of the division, and implored him to let nothing
+prevent his resigning to-day.
+
+
+November 17th, 1830 {p.062}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S BEHAVIOUR AT THE CRISIS.]
+
+Went to Downing Street yesterday morning between twelve and one,
+and found that the Duke and all the Ministers were just gone to
+the King. He received them with the greatest kindness, shed
+tears, but accepted their resignation without remonstrance. He
+told Lord Bathurst he would do anything he could, and asked him
+if there was nothing he could sign which would secure his son's
+appointment. Lord Bathurst thanked him, but told him he could do
+nothing. The fact is the appointment might be hurried through,
+but the salary depends upon an annual vote of the House of
+Commons, and an exasperated and triumphant Opposition would be
+sure to knock it off; so he has done the only thing he can do,
+which is to leave it to the King to secure the appointment for
+him if possible. It will be a great piece of luck for somebody
+that Buller should have died exactly when he did. William
+Bathurst may perhaps lose the place from his not dying earlier,
+or the new Government may lose the patronage because he did not
+die later; but it is ill luck for me, who shall probably have
+more trouble because he has died at all.
+
+The Duke and Peel announced their resignations in the two Houses,
+and Brougham put off his motion, but with a speech signifying
+that he should take no part in the new Government. The last acts
+of the Duke were to secure pensions of L250 a year to each of his
+secretaries, and to fill up the ecclesiastical preferments. The
+Garter remains for his successor. The Duke of Bedford got it,
+and, what is singular, the Duke of Wellington would probably have
+given it him likewise. He was one of five whom he meant to choose
+from, and it lay between him and Lord Cleveland.
+
+I met the Duke coming out of his room, but did not like to speak
+to him; he got into his cabriolet, and nodded as he passed, but
+he looked very grave. The King seems to have behaved perfectly
+throughout the whole business, no intriguing or underhand
+communication with anybody, with great kindness to his Ministers,
+anxious to support them while it was possible, and submitting at
+once to the necessity of parting with them. The fact is he turns
+out an incomparable King, and deserves all the encomiums that are
+lavished on him. All the mountebankery which signalised his
+conduct when he came to the throne has passed away with the
+excitement which caused it, and he is as dignified as the
+homeliness and simplicity of his character will allow him to be.
+I understand he sent for Lord Spencer in the course of the day,
+who probably said he could not undertake anything, for he
+afterwards sent for Lord Grey (after the House of Lords), and as
+he must have been very well prepared, it is probable that a new
+Government will be speedily formed.
+
+I went to Lady Jersey's in the evening, when she was or affected
+to be very gay and very glad that the Duke was out. I found there
+the Prince of Orange, Esterhazy, Madame de Dino, Wilton,
+Worcester, Duncannon, Lord Rosslyn, Matuscewitz, &c. There has
+been a strong idea that the Chancellor [Lyndhurst] would keep the
+seals. Both Holmes and Planta have repeatedly told the Duke that
+he would be beaten in the House of Commons, and they both knew
+the House thoroughly. Still he never would do anything. He made
+overtures to Palmerston just before Parliament met through Lord
+Clive, and the result was an interview between them at Apsley
+House, but it came to nothing. I dare say he did not offer half
+enough. It is universally believed that Peel pressed the Civil
+List question for the purpose of being beaten upon it, and going
+out on that rather than on Reform, for Planta told him how it
+would be, and he might very well have given the Committee if he
+had liked it; but he said he would abide by it, and he certainly
+was in excellent spirits afterwards for a beaten Minister. Now
+that this Reform has served their purpose so well, and turned out
+the Duke, the Opposition would be well satisfied to put it aside
+again, and take time to consider what they shall do, for it is a
+terrible question for them. Pledged as they have been, it is sure
+to be the rock on which the little popularity they have gained
+will split, as it is a hundred to one that whatever they do they
+will not go far enough to satisfy the country.
+
+
+November 19th, 1830 {p.064}
+
+The day before yesterday Lord Grey went to the King, who received
+him with every possible kindness, and gave him _carte blanche_ to
+form a new Administration, placing even the Household at his
+disposal--much to the disgust of the members of it. Ever since
+the town has been as usual teeming with reports, but with fewer
+lies than usual. The fact is Lord Grey has had no difficulties,
+and has formed a Government at once; only Brougham put them all
+in a dreadful fright. He all but declared a hostile intention to
+the future Administration; he boasted that he would take nothing,
+refuse even the Great Seal, and nourished his Reform _in
+terrorem_ over their heads; he was affronted and furious because
+he fancied they neglected him, but it all arose, as I am told,
+from Lord Grey's letter to him not reaching him directly, by some
+mistake, for that he was the first person he wrote to. Still it
+is pretty clear that this eccentric luminary will play the devil
+with their system.
+
+[The letter could not be the cause. The history of the
+transaction is this:--When Lord Grey undertook to form a
+Government he sent for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Holland, and these
+three began to work, without consulting with Brougham or any
+member of the House of Commons. Brougham was displeased at not
+being consulted at first, but was indignant when Lord Grey
+proposed to him to be Attorney-General. Then he showed his teeth,
+and they grew frightened, and soon after they sent Sefton to him,
+who got him into good humour, and it was made up by the offer of
+the Great Seal.--_November 23rd._]
+
+
+November 20th, 1830 {p.065}
+
+[Page Head: DISCONTENT OF BROUGHAM.]
+
+Here I was interrupted, and broke off yesterday morning. At
+twelve o'clock yesterday everything was settled but the Great
+Seal, and in the afternoon the great news transpired that
+Brougham had accepted it. Great was the surprise, greater still
+the joy at a charm having been found potent enough to lay the
+unquiet spirit, a bait rich enough to tempt his restless
+ambition. I confess I had no idea he would have accepted the
+Chancellorship after his declarations in the House of Commons and
+the whole tenor of his conduct. I was persuaded that he had made
+to himself a political existence the like of which no man had
+ever before possessed, and that to have refused the Great Seal
+would have appeared more glorious than to take it; intoxicated
+with his Yorkshire honours, swollen with his own importance, and
+holding in his hands questions which he could employ to thwart,
+embarrass, and ruin any Ministry, I thought that he meant to
+domineer in the House of Commons and to gather popularity
+throughout the country by enforcing popular measures of which he
+would have all the credit, and thus establish a sort of
+individual power and authority, which would ensure his being
+dreaded, courted, and consulted by all parties. He could then
+have gratified his vanity, ambition, and turbulence; the Bar
+would have supplied fortune, and events would have supplied
+enjoyments suited to his temperament; it would have been a sort
+of madness, mischievous but splendid. As it is the joy is great
+and universal; all men feel that he is emasculated and drops on
+the Woolsack as on his political death-bed; once in the House of
+Lords, there is an end of him, and he may rant storm and thunder
+without hurting anybody.[18]
+
+     [18] [Lord Grey's Administration was thus composed:--
+
+          First Lord of the Treasury   Earl Grey.
+          Lord Chancellor              Lord Brougham.
+          Lord President               Marquis of Lansdowne.
+          Lord Privy Seal              Lord Ripon (in 1833).
+          Chancellor of the Exchequer  Viscount Althorp.
+          Home Secretary               Viscount Melbourne.
+          Foreign Secretary            Viscount Palmerston.
+          Colonial Secretary           Viscount Goderich, and
+                                         afterwards Mr. Stanley.
+          Board of Control             Mr. Charles Grant.
+          Board of Trade               Lord Auckland.
+          Admiralty                    Sir James Graham.
+          Postmaster-General           Duke of Richmond.
+          Paymaster-General            Lord John Russell.
+          Irish Secretary              Mr. Stanley.]
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY'S ADMINISTRATION.]
+
+The other places present a plausible show, but are not well
+distributed, some ill filled. Graham Admiralty, Melbourne Home,
+Auckland Board of Trade--all bad. The second is too idle, the
+first too inconsiderable, the third too ignorant.[19] They have
+done it very quickly, however, and without many difficulties. As
+to the Duke of Richmond, people are indignant at a half-pay
+lieutenant-colonel commanding the Ordnance Department, and as an
+acquisition he is of doubtful value, for it seems the Tories will
+not go with him, at least will not consider themselves as his
+followers; so said Lord Mansfield and Vyvyan.
+
+     [19] [This is a remarkable instance of the manner in which
+          the prognostications of the most acute observers are
+          falsified by events. The value of Mr. Greville's
+          remarks on the men of his time consists not in their
+          absolute truth, but in their sincerity at the moment at
+          which they were made. They convey a correct impression
+          of the notion prevailing at that time. Thus Sir James
+          Graham became unquestionably a very active First Lord
+          of the Admiralty, Lord Melbourne a 'considerable' Prime
+          Minister of England, and Lord Auckland a painstaking
+          and well-informed Governor-General of India.]
+
+
+November 21st, 1830 {p.067}
+
+The Duke of Richmond's appointment was found so unpalatable to
+the army that they have been forced to change it, and he is to be
+Master of the Horse instead, which I suspect will not be to his
+taste. [He afterwards refused the Mastership of the Horse, and it
+ended in his being Postmaster-General, but without taking the
+salary.]
+
+There have been some little changes, but no great difficulties.
+It was at first said that there would be no Opposition, and that
+Peel would not stir; but William Peel told me last night that the
+old Ministerial party was by no means so tranquilly inclined.
+Peel will not be violent or factious, but he thinks an attentive
+Opposition desirable, and he will not desert those who have
+looked up to and supported him. Then there will be the Tories
+(who will to a certainty end by joining him and his party) and
+the Radicals--three distinct parties, and enough to keep the
+Government on the _qui vive_. The expulsion of the late
+Government from power will satisfy the vengeance of the Tories,
+and I have no doubt they will now make it up. Peel will be the
+leader of a party to which all the Conservative interest of the
+country will repair; and it is my firm belief that in a very
+short time (two or three years, or less) he will be Prime
+Minister, and will hold power long.[20] The Duke will probably
+never take office again, but will be at the head of the army, and
+his own friends begin to admit that this would be the most
+desirable post for him. Lord Lyndhurst will be greatly disgusted
+at Brougham's taking the Great Seal. I met him the day before
+yesterday, when he had no idea of it; he thought it would
+certainly be put in Commission, and evidently looked forward to
+filling the office again in a few months. He said that he had
+long foreseen this catastrophe, and it was far better to be out
+than to drag on as they did; that he had over and over again said
+to the Duke, and remonstrated with him on the impossibility of
+carrying on such a Government, but that he would never listen to
+anything. Sir John Leach, too, was exceedingly disappointed; he
+told me he had not heard a word of what was going on, that he was
+contented where he was, 'though perhaps he might have been
+miserable _in another situation_.'[21]
+
+     [20] [This prediction was not fulfilled until 1841 (for the
+          short Administration of Sir Robert in 1834 can hardly
+          be reckoned), but it _was_ fulfilled at last.]
+
+     [21] [Lord Grey certainly contemplated at one moment the
+          offer of the Great Seal to Lord Lyndhurst, but the
+          spectre of Brougham rendered that impossible. Brougham
+          himself would have preferred the advancement of Sir
+          John Leach to the Woolsack, which would have left the
+          Rolls at his own disposal, and enabled him to retain
+          his seat in the House of Commons. But this suggestion
+          was by no means welcome to Lord Grey, and Lord Althorp
+          at once declared that he could not undertake the
+          leadership of the House of Commons if Brougham was to
+          remain in it in any official position to domineer over
+          him.]
+
+In the meantime the new Government will find plenty to occupy
+their most serious thoughts and employ their best talents. The
+state of the country is dreadful; every post brings fresh
+accounts of conflagrations, destruction of machinery, association
+of labourers, and compulsory rise of wages. Cobbett and Carlile
+write and harangue to inflame the minds of the people, who are
+already set in motion and excited by all the events which have
+happened abroad. Distress is certainly not the cause of these
+commotions, for the people have patiently supported far greater
+privations than they had been exposed to before these riots, and
+the country was generally in an improving state.
+
+The Duke of Richmond went down to Sussex and had a battle with a
+mob of 200 labourers, whom he beat with fifty of his own farmers
+and tenants, harangued them, and sent them away in good humour.
+He is, however, very popular. In Hants the disturbances have been
+dreadful. There was an assemblage of 1,000 or 1,500 men, a part
+of whom went towards Baring's house (the Grange) after destroying
+threshing-machines and other agricultural implements; they were
+met by Bingham Baring, who attempted to address them, when a
+fellow (who had been employed at a guinea a week by his father up
+to four days before) knocked him down with an iron bar and nearly
+killed him. They have no troops in that part of the country, and
+there is a depot of arms at Winchester.
+
+The Prince of Orange, who has been fancying without the least
+reason that he should be recalled to Belgium, is now in despair;
+and the Provisional Government, on hearing of the change of
+Ministry here, have suspended their negotiations, thinking they
+shall get from Lord Grey a more extended frontier. Altogether the
+alarm which prevails is very great, and those even are terrified
+who never were so before.
+
+
+November 22nd, 1830 {p.069}
+
+[Page Head: BROUGHAM LORD CHANCELLOR.]
+
+Dined yesterday at Sefton's; nobody there but Lord Grey and his
+family, Brougham and Montrond, the latter just come from Paris.
+It was excessively agreeable. Lord Grey in excellent spirits, and
+Brougham, whom Sefton bantered from the beginning to the end of
+dinner.[22] Be Brougham's political errors what they may, his
+gaiety, temper, and admirable social qualities make him
+delightful, to say nothing of his more solid merits, of
+liberality, generosity, and charity; for charity it is to have
+taken the whole family of one of his brothers who is dead--nine
+children--and maintained and educated them. From this digression
+to return to our dinner: it was uncommonly gay. Lord Grey said he
+had taken a task on himself which he was not equal to, prided
+himself on having made his arrangements so rapidly, and on having
+named no person to any office who was not efficient; he praised
+Lyndhurst highly, said he liked him, that his last speech was
+luminous, and that he should like very much to do anything he
+could for him, but that it was such an object to have Brougham on
+the Woolsack. So I suppose he would not dislike to take in
+Lyndhurst by-and-by. He would not tell us whom he has got for the
+Ordnance. John Russell was to have had the War Office, but
+Tavistock[23] entreated that the appointment might be changed, as
+his brother's health was unequal to it; so he was made Paymaster.
+Lord Grey said he had more trouble with those offices than with
+the Cabinet ones. Sefton did nothing but quiz Brougham--'My Lord'
+every minute, and 'What does his Lordship say?' 'I'm sure it is
+very condescending of his Lordship to speak to such _canaille_ as
+all of you,' and a thousand jokes. After dinner he walked out
+before him with the fire shovel for the mace, and left him no
+repose all the evening. I wish Leach could have heard Brougham.
+He threatened to sit often at the Cockpit, in order to check
+Leach,[24] who, though a good judge in his own Court, was good
+for nothing in a Court of Appeal; he said that Leach's being
+Chancellor was impossible, as there were forty-two appeals from
+him to the Chancellor, which he would have had to decide himself;
+and that he (Brougham) had wanted the Seal to be put in
+Commission with three judges, which would have been the best
+reform of the Court, expedited business, and satisfied suitors;
+but that Lord Grey would not hear of it, and had forced him to
+take it, which he was averse to do, being reluctant to leave the
+House of Commons.
+
+     [22] [Lord Brougham had taken his seat on the Woolsack as
+          Lord High Chancellor on the afternoon of this day, the
+          22nd of November. The patent of his peerage bore the
+          same date.]
+
+     [23] [The Marquis of Tavistock, Lord John Russell's eldest
+          brother, afterwards Duke of Bedford. Lord John has
+          since held almost every Cabinet office: his brother's
+          notion that his health was unequal to the War Office in
+          1830 is amusing.]
+
+     [24] [The Master of the Rolls was at that time the presiding
+          Judge of Appeal at the Privy Council, which was
+          commonly spoken of as 'the Cockpit,' because it sat on
+          the site of the old Cockpit at Whitehall; but the
+          business was very ill done, which led Lord Brougham to
+          bring in and carry his Act for the creation of the
+          Judicial Committee in 1832--one of his best and most
+          successful measures.]
+
+He said the Duke of Richmond had done admirably in capturing the
+incendiary who has been taken, and who they think will afford a
+clue whereby they will discover the secret of all the burnings.
+This man called himself Evans. They had information of his
+exciting the peasantry, and sent a Bow Street officer after him.
+He found out where he lived and captured him (having been
+informed that he was not there by the inmates of the house), and
+took him to the Duke, who had him searched. On his person were
+found stock receipts for L800, of which L50 was left; and a
+chemical receipt in a secret pocket for combustibles. He was
+taken to prison, and will be brought up to town. Montrond was
+very amusing--'You, Lord Brougham, when you mount your bag of
+wool?'
+
+
+November 23rd, 1830 {p.071}
+
+[Page Head: COUNCIL OF THE NEW MINISTERS.]
+
+Yesterday at Court; a great day, and very amusing. The old
+Ministers came to give up their seals, and the new Ministers came
+to take them. All the first were assembled at half-past one; saw
+the King in his closet severally, and held their last Council to
+swear in George Dawson a Privy Councillor. Each after his
+audience departed, most of them never to return. As they went
+away they met the others arriving. I was with the old set in the
+Throne Room till they went away, and on opening the door and
+looking into the other room I found it full of the others--Althorp,
+Graham, Auckland, J. Russell, Durham, &c., faces that a
+little while ago I should have had small expectation of finding
+there. The effect was very droll, such a complete _changement de
+decoration_. When the old Ministers were all off the business of
+the day began. All the Cabinet was there--the new Master of the
+Horse (Lord Albemarle), Lord Wellesley, his little eyes twinkling
+with joy, and Brougham, in Chancellor's costume, but not yet a
+Peer. The King sent for me into the closet to settle about their
+being sworn in, and to ask what was to be done about Brougham,
+whose patent was not come, and who wanted to go to the House of
+Lords. These things settled, he held the Council, when twelve new
+Privy Councillors were sworn in, three Secretaries of State,
+Privy Seal, and the declarations made of President of Council and
+Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. The King could not let slip the
+opportunity of making a speech, so when I put into his hands the
+paper declaring Lord Anglesey Lord-Lieutenant he was not content
+to read it, but spoke nearly as follows:--'My Lords, it is a part
+of the duty I have to perform to declare a Lord-Lieutenant of
+Ireland, and although I certainly should have acquiesced in any
+recommendation which might have been made to me for this
+appointment by Earl Grey, I must say that I have peculiar
+satisfaction in entrusting that most important charge to the
+noble Lord, whom I therefore declare with entire satisfaction
+Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. And, my Lords, I must say that this
+day is since that of the death of my poor brother (here his voice
+faltered and he looked or tried to look affected) the most
+important which has occurred since the beginning of my reign, for
+in the course of my long life it has never happened to me to see
+so many appointments to be filled up as on this day; and when I
+consider that it is only last Tuesday night that the force of
+circumstances compelled those who were the confidential advisers
+of the Crown to relinquish the situations which they held, and
+that in this short space of time a new Government has been
+formed, I cannot help considering such despatch as holding forth
+the best hopes for the future, and proving the unanimity of my
+Government; and, my Lords, I will take this opportunity of saying
+that the noble Earl (Grey) and the other noble Lords and
+gentlemen may be assured that they will receive from me the most
+cordial, unceasing, and devoted support.' The expressions of
+course are not exactly the same, but his speech was to this
+purpose, only longer. Brougham kissed hands in the closet, and
+afterwards in Council as Chancellor and Privy Councillor, and
+then went off to the House of Lords.
+
+
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XIII.
+
+A Proclamation against Rioters--Appointments--Duke of Wellington
+  in Hampshire--General Excitement--The Tory Party--State of
+  Ireland--More Disturbances--Lord Grey's Colleagues--Election at
+  Liverpool--The Black Book--The Duke of Wellington's Position
+  and Character--A Council on a Capital Sentence--Brougham in the
+  House of Lords--The Clerks of the Council--Lord Grey and Lord
+  Lyndhurst--The Chancellor of Ireland--Lord Melbourne--Duke of
+  Richmond--Sir James Graham--Lyndhurst Lord Chief Baron--Judge
+  Allan Park--Lord Lyndhurst and the Whigs--Duke of Wellington
+  and Polignac--The King and his Sons--Polish Revolution--
+  Mechanics' Institute--Repeal of the Union--King Louis
+  Philippe--Lord Anglesey and O'Connell--A Dinner at the
+  Athenaeum--Canning and George IV.--Formation of Canning's
+  Government--Negotiation with Lord Melbourne--Count Walewski--
+  Croker's Boswell--State of Ireland--Brougham and Sugden--Arrest
+  of O'Connell--Colonel Napier and the Trades Unions--The Civil
+  List--Hunt in the House of Commons--Southey's Letter to
+  Brougham on Literary Honours--The Budget--O'Connell pleads
+  guilty--Achille Murat--Weakness of the Government--Lady Jersey
+  and Lord Durham--Lord Duncannon--Ireland--Wordsworth.
+
+
+November 25th, 1830 {p.073}
+
+The accounts from the country on the 23rd were so bad that a
+Cabinet sat all the morning, and concerted a proclamation
+offering large rewards for the discovery of offenders, rioters,
+or burners. Half the Cabinet walked to St. James's, where I went
+with the draft proclamation in my pocket, and we held a Council
+in the King's room to approve it. I remember the last Council of
+this sort we held was on Queen Caroline's business. She had
+demanded to be heard by counsel in support of her asserted right
+to be crowned, and the King ordered in Council that she should be
+heard. We held the Council in his dressing-room at Carlton House;
+he was in his bedgown, and we in our boots. This proclamation did
+not receive the sign manual or the Great Seal and was not
+engrossed till the next day, but was nevertheless published in
+the 'Gazette.'
+
+Yesterday the accounts were better. There was a levee and Council,
+all the Ministers present but Palmerston and Holland. The King
+made a discourse, and took occasion (about some Admiralty order)
+to introduce the whole history of his early naval life, his first
+going to sea and the instructions which George III. gave Admiral
+Digby as to his treatment. All the old Ministers came to the levee
+except the Duke of Wellington, who was in Hampshire to try his
+influence as Lord-Lieutenant in putting down the riots. Anson as
+Master of the Buckhounds was made a Privy Councillor, not usually
+a Privy Councillor's place, but the King said he rather liked
+increasing the number than not. Clanricarde has a Gold Stick, so
+there is Canning's son-in-law in office under Lord Grey! There has
+been a difficulty about the Master-General of the Ordnance, and a
+little difference between Lord Grey and Lord Hill: when the Duke
+of Richmond was withdrawn, Grey determined to appoint Sir W.
+Gordon, but as Gordon would have to give up a permanent for a
+temporary office, he bargained that he should have the Grand Cross
+of the Bath. Lord Grey at the same time promised his brother Sir
+Charles Grey a Grand Cross, but Lord Hill (who as Commander-in-Chief
+has all the Crosses at his disposal) was offended at what he
+considered a slight to him and went to the King to complain. It is
+probable that Lord Grey knew nothing of the matter, and fancied
+they were all recommended by himself. As the matter stands now,
+Gordon's appointment is suspended. The only other difficulty is to
+find a Secretary at War. Sandon is to have it, if they can make no
+better arrangement. I had a long conversation with the Duke of
+Richmond yesterday about refusing the salary of his office, and
+entreated him to take it, for most people think his declining it
+great nonsense. He alleged a great many bad reasons for declining,
+but promised to consider the matter.
+
+I am in a very disagreeable situation as regards my late
+colleague's place. Lord Bathurst wrote a letter to Lord Lansdowne
+stating that the King had approved of his son's appointment, and
+that he had intended to reduce the salary of the office. Lord
+Grey spoke to the King, and said that after what had passed in
+both Houses he did not wish to do anything, but to leave the
+office to be dealt with by a Committee of the House of Commons,
+under whose consideration it would come. Lord Lansdowne said he
+certainly should do nothing either, so that it remains to be seen
+whether they will give me a colleague, a deputy, or nothing at
+all.
+
+
+November 28th, 1830 {p.075}
+
+The Duke of Wellington, who as soon as he was out of office
+repaired to Hants, and exerted himself as Lord-Lieutenant to
+suppress the disorders, returned yesterday, having done much
+good, and communicated largely with the Secretary of State. The
+Government are full of compliments and respects to him, and the
+Chancellor wrote him a letter entreating he would name any
+gentleman to be added to the Special Commission which was going
+down to the county over which he 'so happily presided.' He named
+three.
+
+[Page Head: DISTURBED STATE OF THE COUNTRY.]
+
+There has been nothing new within these three days, but the alarm
+is still very great, and the general agitation which pervades
+men's minds unlike what I have ever seen. Reform, economy, echoed
+backwards and forwards, the doubts, the hopes and the fears of
+those who have anything to lose, the uncertainty of everybody's
+future condition, the immense interests at stake, the magnitude
+and imminence of the danger, all contribute to produce a nervous
+excitement, which extends to all classes--to almost every
+individual. Until the Ministers are re-elected nobody can tell
+what will be done in Parliament, and Lord Grey himself has no
+idea what sort of strength the Government will have in either
+House; but there is a prevailing opinion that they ought to be
+supported at this moment, although the Duke of Wellington and
+Peel mean to keep their party together. Lyndhurst's resignation
+with his colleagues (added to his not being invited to join this
+Government) has restored him to the good graces of his party, for
+Lord Bathurst told me had behaved very honourably. He means now
+to set to work to gain character, and as he is about the ablest
+public man going, and nearly the best speaker, he will yet bustle
+himself into consideration and play a part once more. Peel,
+Lyndhurst, and Hardinge are three capital men for the foundation
+of a party--as men of business superior to any three in this
+Cabinet. But I doubt if the Duke will ever be in a civil office
+again, nor do I think the country would like to see him at the
+head of a Government, unless it was one conducted in a very
+different manner from the last. For the present deplorable state
+of things, and for the effervescence of public opinion, which
+threatens the overthrow of the constitution in trying to amend
+it, Peel and the Duke are entirely responsible; and the former is
+the less excusable because he might have known better, and if he
+had gone long ago to the Duke, and laid before him the state of
+public opinion, told him how irresistible it was, and had refused
+to carry on the Government in the House of Commons with such a
+crew as he had, the Duke must have given way. Notwithstanding the
+great measures which have distinguished his Government, such as
+Catholic Emancipation, and the repeal of the Test Acts, a
+continual series of systematic blunders, an utter ignorance of,
+and indifference to, public opinion, have rendered the first of
+these great measures almost useless. Ireland is on the point of
+becoming in a worse state than before the Catholic question was
+settled; and why? Because, first of all, the settlement was put
+off too long, and the fever of agitation would not subside, and
+because it was accompanied by an insult to O'Connell, which he
+has been resolved to revenge, and which he knows he can punish.
+Then instead of depriving him of half his influence by paying the
+priests, and so getting them under the influence of Government,
+they neglected this, and followed up the omission by taxing
+Ireland, and thus uniting the whole nation against us. What is
+this but egregious presumption, blindness, ignorance, and want of
+all political calculation and foresight? What remains now to be
+done? Perhaps nothing, for the anti-Union question is spreading
+far and wide with a velocity that is irresistible, and it is the
+more dangerous because the desire for the repeal of the Union is
+rather the offspring of imagination than of reason, and arises
+from vague, excited hopes, not, like the former agitation, from
+real wrongs, long and deeply felt. But common shifts and
+expedients, partial measures, will not do now, and in the state
+of the game a deep stake must be played or all will be lost. To
+buy O'Connell at any price, pay the Catholic Church, establish
+poor laws, encourage emigration, and repeal the obnoxious taxes
+and obnoxious laws, are the only expedients which have a chance
+of restoring order. It is easy to write these things, but perhaps
+difficult to carry them into execution, but what we want is a
+head to conceive and a heart to execute such measures as the
+enormous difficulties of the times demand.
+
+
+December 1st, 1830 {p.077}
+
+[Page Head: THE RESULTS OF TORY GOVERNMENT.]
+
+The last two or three days have produced no remarkable outrages,
+and though the state of the country is still dreadful, it is
+rather better on the whole than it was; but London is like the
+capital of a country desolated by cruel war or foreign invasion,
+and we are always looking for reports of battles, burnings, and
+other disorders. Wherever there has been anything like fighting,
+the mob has always been beaten, and has shown the greatest
+cowardice. They do not, however, seem to have been actuated by a
+very ferocious spirit; and considering the disorders of the
+times, it is remarkable that they have not been more violent and
+rapacious. Lord Craven, who is just of age, with three or four
+more young Lords, his friends, defeated and dispersed them in
+Hampshire. They broke into the Duke of Beaufort's house at
+Heythrop, but he and his sons got them out without mischief, and
+afterwards took some of them. On Monday as the field which had
+been out with the King's hounds were returning to town, they were
+summoned to assist in quelling a riot at Woburn, which they did;
+the gentlemen charged and broke the people, and took some of
+them, and fortunately some troops came up to secure the
+prisoners. The alarm, however, still continues, and a feverish
+anxiety about the future universally prevails, for no man can
+foresee what course events will take, nor how his own individual
+circumstances may be affected by them.
+
+The Government in the meantime promises fair, and they begin by a
+display of activity, in early attendance at their offices, and
+unusual recommendation of diligence and economy. But Lord Grey's
+Government is already carped at, and not without apparent reason.
+The distribution of offices is in many instances bad; many of the
+appointments were bad, and the number of his own family provided
+for is severely criticised. There are of Lord Grey's family:
+Howick, Under-Secretary; Ellice, Secretary of the Treasury;
+Barrington, Lord of the Admiralty; Durham, Privy Seal; Wood,
+Private Secretary (though he has no salary); and Lambton's
+brother in the Household. Melbourne at the Home Office is
+considered an inefficient successor to Peel, Graham too young and
+not enough distinguished for the Admiralty; Poulett Thomson is
+said to entertain the most Radical opinions; Althorp put him in.
+There never was a more sudden rise than this; a young merchant,
+after two or three years of Parliament and two or three speeches,
+is made Vice-President of the Board of Trade, Treasurer of the
+Navy, and a Privy Councillor. Then Althorp as Chancellor of the
+Exchequer may be a good one, but nobody expects much from
+anything that is already known about him. This constitution of
+the Government has already done harm, and has stamped a character
+of rapacity upon Lord Grey, which he will hear of in proper time;
+but at this moment he has got all the press on his side, and
+people are resolved to give him credit for good intentions.
+Brougham has captivated the Archbishop of Canterbury by offering
+to give livings to any deserving clergyman he would recommend to
+him. I met him at dinner yesterday in the greatest spirits,
+elated and not altered by his new dignity. He is full of projects
+of reform in the administration of justice, and talks of
+remodelling the Privy Council as a Court of Appeal, which would
+be of great use.
+
+
+December 2nd, 1830 {p.078}
+
+[Page Head: LIVERPOOL ELECTION.]
+
+Yesterday a levee and Council and Recorder's report. Clanricarde
+and Robert Grosvenor[1] sworn in.
+
+      [1] [Afterwards Lord Ebury.]
+
+The Liverpool election, which is just over, was, considering the
+present state of things, a remarkable contest. It is said to have
+cost near L100,000 to the two parties, and to have exhibited a
+scene of bribery and corruption perfectly unparalleled; no
+concealment or even semblance of decency was observed; the price
+of tallies and of votes rose, like stock, as the demand
+increased, and single votes fetched from L15 to L100 apiece. They
+voted by tallies; as each tally voted for one or the other
+candidate they were furnished with a receipt for their votes,
+with which they went to the committee, when through a hole in the
+wall the receipt was handed in, and through another the
+stipulated sum handed out; and this scene of iniquity has been
+exhibited at a period when the cry for Reform is echoed from one
+end of the country to the other, and in the case of a man
+(Denison) who stood on the principle of Reform. Nobody yet knows
+whence the money for Denison comes (the Ewarts are enormously
+rich), but it will be still more remarkable if he should pay it
+himself, when he is poor, careful of money, and was going to
+India the other day in order to save L12,000 or L15,000. If
+anybody had gone down at the eleventh hour and polled one good
+vote, he would have beaten both candidates and disfranchised the
+borough. As it is, it is probable the matter will be taken up and
+the borough disfranchised. The right of voting is as bad as
+possible in the freemen, who are the lowest rabble of the town
+and, as it appears, a parcel of venal wretches. Here comes the
+difficulty of Reform, for how is it possible to reform the
+electors?
+
+
+December 5th, 1830 {p.079}
+
+The country is getting quieter, but though the immediate panic is
+passing away men's minds are not the less disquieted as to our
+future prospects. Not a soul knows what plan of Reform the
+Ministers will propose, nor how far they are disposed to go. The
+Duke of Devonshire has begun in his own person by announcing to
+the Knaresborough people that he will never again interfere with
+that borough. Then the Black Book, as it is called, in which all
+places and pensions are exhibited, has struck terror into all who
+are named and virtuous indignation into all who are not. Nothing
+can be more _mal a propos_ than the appearance of this book at
+such a season, when there is such discontent about our institutions
+and such unceasing endeavours to bring them into contempt. The
+history of the book is this:--Graham moved last year for a return
+of all Privy Councillors who had more than L1,000 a year, and
+Goulburn chose to give him a return of _all persons_ who had more
+than L1,000 a year, because he thought the former return would be
+invidious to Privy Councillors; so he caused that to be published,
+which will remove no obloquy from those he meant to save, but draw
+down a great deal on hundreds of others, and on the Government
+under which such things exist. I speak feelingly, for 'quorum pars
+magna sum.'
+
+[Page Head: POLITICAL CHARACTER OF WELLINGTON.]
+
+The Duke of Wellington gave a great dinner yesterday to all the
+people who had gone out of office (about fifty), so that it is
+clear they mean to keep together. Whether he looks forward to be
+Prime Minister again it is impossible to say, but his real friends
+would prefer his taking the command of the army, whatever his
+fools and flatterers may do. Lord Lyndhurst, who loses everything
+by the fall of the late Government, cannot get over it,
+particularly as he feels that the Duke's obstinacy brought it
+about, and that by timely concessions and good management he might
+have had Lord Grey, Palmerston, and all that are worth having.
+Peel, on the contrary, is delighted; he wants leisure, is glad to
+get out of such a firm, and will have time to form his own plans
+and avail himself of circumstances, which, according to every
+probability, must turn out in his favour. His youth (for a public
+man), experience, and real capacity for business will inevitably
+make him Minister hereafter. The Duke of Wellington's fall,[2] if
+the causes of it are dispassionately traced and considered,
+affords a great political lesson. His is one of those mixed
+characters which it is difficult to praise or blame without the
+risk of doing them more or less than justice. He has talents which
+the event has proved to be sufficient to make him the second (and,
+now that Napoleon is gone, the first general) of the age, but
+which could not make him a tolerable Minister. Confident,
+presumptuous, and dictatorial, but frank, open, and good-humoured,
+he contrived to rule in the Cabinet without mortifying his
+colleagues, and he has brought it to ruin without forfeiting their
+regard. Choosing with a very slender stock of knowledge to take
+upon himself the sole direction of every department of Government,
+he completely sank under the burden. Originally imbued with the
+principles of Lord Castlereagh and the Holy Alliance, he brought
+all those predilections with him into office. Incapable of
+foreseeing the mighty events with which the future was big, and of
+comprehending the prodigious alterations which the moral character
+of Europe had undergone, he pitted himself against Canning in the
+Cabinet, and stood up as the assertor of maxims both of foreign
+and domestic policy which that great statesman saw were no longer
+fitted for the times we live in. With a flexibility which was more
+remarkably exhibited at subsequent periods, when he found that the
+cause he advocated was lost, the Duke turned suddenly round, and
+surrendered his opinions at discretion; but in his heart he never
+forgave Mr. Canning, and from that time jealousy of him had a
+material influence on his political conduct, and was the primary
+motive of many of his subsequent resolutions. This flexibility has
+been the cause of great benefits to the country, but ultimately of
+his own downfall, for it has always proceeded from the pressure of
+circumstances and considerations of convenience to himself, and
+not from a rational adaptation of his opinions and conduct to the
+necessities and variations of the times. He has not been
+thoroughly true to any principle or any party; he contrived to
+disgust and alienate his old friends and adherents without
+conciliating or attaching those whose measures he at the eleventh
+hour undertook to carry into execution. Through the whole course
+of his political conduct selfish considerations have never been
+out of sight. His opposition to Canning's Corn Bill was too gross
+to admit of excuse. It was the old spite bursting forth, sharpened
+by Canning's behaviour to him in forming his Administration,
+which, if it was not contumelious, certainly was not courteous.
+When at his death the Duke assumed the Government, his disclaiming
+speech was thrown in his teeth, but without much justice, for such
+expressions are never to be taken literally, and in the subsequent
+quarrel with Huskisson, though it is probably true that he was
+aiming at domination, he was persuaded that Huskisson and his
+party were endeavouring to form a cabal in the Cabinet, and his
+expulsion of them is not, therefore, altogether without excuse. On
+the question of the Test Act it was evident he was guided by no
+principle, probably by no opinion, and that he only thought of
+turning it as best he might to his own advantage. Throughout the
+Catholic question self was always apparent, not that he was
+careless of the safety, or indifferent to the prosperity of the
+country, but that he cared as much for his own credit and power,
+and never considered the first except in their connection with the
+second. The business of Emancipation he certainly conducted with
+considerable judgment, boldly trusting to the baseness of many of
+his old friends, and showing that he had not mistaken their
+characters; exercising that habitual influence he had acquired
+over the mind of the King; preserving impenetrable secresy; using
+without scruple every artifice that could forward his object; and
+contriving to make tools or dupes of all his colleagues and
+adherents, and getting the whole merit to himself. From the
+passing of the Catholic question his conduct has exhibited a
+series of blunders which have at length terminated in his fall.
+The position in which he then stood was this:--He had a Government
+composed of men who were for the most part incompetent, but
+perfectly subservient to him. He had a considerable body of
+adherents in both Houses. The Whigs, whose support (enthusiastically
+given) had carried him triumphantly through the great contest,
+were willing to unite with him; the Tories, exasperated and
+indignant, feeling insulted and betrayed, vowed nothing but
+vengeance. Intoxicated with his victory, he was resolved to
+neglect the Whigs, to whom he was so much indebted, and to regain
+the affections of the Tories, whom he considered as his natural
+supporters, and whom he thought identity of opinion and interest
+would bring back to his standard. By all sorts of slights and
+affronting insinuations that they wanted place, but that he could
+do without them, he offended the Whigs, but none of his cajoleries
+and advances had the least effect on the sulky Tories. It was in
+vain that he endeavoured to adapt his foreign policy to their
+worst prejudices by opposing with undeviating hostility that of
+Mr. Canning (the great object of their detestation), and
+disseminating throughout all Europe the belief of his attachment
+to ultra-monarchical principles. He opposed the spirit of the age,
+he brought England into contempt, but he did not conciliate the
+Tories. Having succeeded in uniting two powerful parties (acting
+separately) in opposition to his Government, and having nobody but
+Peel to defend his measures in the House of Commons, and nobody in
+the House of Lords, he manifested his sense of his own weakness by
+overtures and negotiations, and evinced his obstinate tenacity of
+power by never offering terms which could be accepted, or
+extending his invitations to those whose authority he thought
+might cope with his own. With his Government falling every day in
+public opinion, and his enemies growing more numerous and
+confident, with questions of vast importance rising up with a
+vigour and celerity of growth which astonished the world, he met a
+new Parliament (constituted more unfavourably than the last, which
+he had found himself unable to manage) without any support but in
+his own confidence and the encouraging adulation of a little knot
+of devotees. There still lingered round him some of that
+popularity which had once been so great, and which the recollection
+of his victories would not suffer to be altogether extinguished.
+By a judicious accommodation of his conduct to that public opinion
+which was running with an uncontrollable tide, by a frank
+invitation to all who were well disposed to strengthen his
+Government, he might have raised those embers of popularity into a
+flame once more, have saved himself, and still done good service
+to the State; but it was decreed that he should fall. He appeared
+bereft of all judgment and discretion, and after a King's Speech
+which gave great, and I think unnecessary offence, he delivered
+the famous philippic against Reform which sealed his fate. From
+that moment it was not doubtful, and he was hurled from the seat
+of power amidst universal acclamations.
+
+      [2] [The following passage will no doubt be read with
+          surprise, for in later years Mr. Greville became and
+          remained one of the Duke's most steady admirers, and as
+          he has himself stated in the memorandum written
+          nineteen years afterwards, which is inserted at the end
+          of it, the opinion he entertained of him at this time
+          was unjust. But he at the same time decided 'to leave
+          it as it is, because it is of the essence of these
+          Memoirs not to soften or tone down judgments by the
+          light of altered convictions, but to leave them
+          standing as contemporary evidence of what was thought
+          at the time they were written.' These are his own
+          words.]
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+        [Memorandum added by Mr. Greville in April 1850.]
+
+    N.B.--I leave this as it is, though it is unjust to the
+    Duke of Wellington; but such as my impressions were at
+    the time they shall remain, to be corrected afterwards
+    when necessary. It would be very wrong to impute
+    _selfishness_ to him in the ordinary sense of the term.
+    He coveted power, but he was perfectly disinterested, a
+    great patriot if ever there was one, and he was always
+    animated by a strong and abiding sense of duty. I have
+    done him justice in other places, and there is after all
+    a great deal of truth in what I have said here.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+[Page Head: AN ESCAPE FROM THE GALLOWS.]
+
+December 12th, 1830 {p.084}
+
+For the last few days the accounts from the country have been
+better; there are disturbances in different parts, and alarms
+given, but the mischief seems to be subsiding. The burnings go
+on, and though they say that one or two incendiaries have been
+taken up, nothing has yet been discovered likely to lead to the
+detection of the system. I was at Court on Wednesday, when Kemp
+and Foley were sworn in, the first for the Ordnance, the other
+Gold Stick (the pensioners). He refused it for a long time, but
+at last submitted to what he thought _infra dig_., because it was
+to be sugared with the Lieutenancy of Worcestershire. There was
+an Admiralty report,[3] at which the Chief Justice was not
+present. The Chancellor and the Judge (Sir C. Robinson) were
+there for the first time, and not a soul knew what was the form
+or what ought to be done; they did, however, just as in the
+Recorder's reports. Brougham leans to mercy, I see. But what a
+curious sort of supplementary trial this is; how many accidents
+may determine the life or death of the culprit. In one case in
+this report which they were discussing (before the Council)
+Brougham had _forgotten_ that the man was recommended to mercy,
+but he told me that at the last Recorder's report there was a
+great difference of opinion on one (a forgery case), when
+Tenterden was for hanging the man and he for saving him; that he
+had it put to the vote, and the man was saved. Little did the
+criminal know when there was a change of Ministry that he owed
+his life to it, for if Lyndhurst had been Chancellor he would
+most assuredly have been hanged; not that Lyndhurst was
+particularly severe or cruel, but he would have concurred with
+the Chief Justice and have regarded the case solely in a judicial
+point of view, whereas the mind of the other was probably biassed
+by some theory about the crime of forgery or by some fancy of his
+strange brain.
+
+      [3] [The High Court of Admiralty had still a criminal
+          jurisdiction, and the capital cases were submitted to
+          the King in Council for approval.]
+
+This was a curious case, as I have since heard. The man owes his
+life to the curiosity of a woman of fashion, and then to another
+feeling. Lady Burghersh and Lady Glengall wanted to hear St. John
+Long's trial (the quack who had _man_-slaughtered Miss Cashir),
+and they went to the Old Bailey for that purpose. Castlereagh and
+somebody else, who of course were not up in time, were to have
+attended them. They wanted an escort, and the only man in London
+sure to be out of bed so early was the Master of the Rolls, so
+they went and carried him off. When they got to the court there
+was no St. John Long, but they thought they might as well stay
+and hear whatever was going on. It chanced that a man was tried
+for an atrocious case of forgery and breach of trust. He was
+found guilty and sentence passed; but he was twenty-three and
+good-looking. Lady Burghersh could not bear he should be hanged,
+and she went to all the late Ministers and the Judges to beg him
+off. Leach told her it was no use, that nothing could save that
+man; and accordingly the old Government were obdurate, when out
+they went. Off she went again and attacked all the new ones, who
+in better humour, or of softer natures, suffered themselves to be
+persuaded, and the wretch was saved. She went herself to Newgate
+to see him, but I never heard if she had a private interview, and
+if he was afforded an opportunity of expressing his gratitude
+with all the fervour that the service she had done him demanded.
+
+In the meantime the Government is going on what is called well--that
+is, there is a great disposition to give them a fair trial.
+All they have done and promise to do about economy gives
+satisfaction, and Reform (the awful question) is still at a
+distance. There has been, however, some sharp skirmishing in the
+course of the week, and there is no want of bitterness and
+watchfulness on the part of the old Government. In the Committee
+which has been named to enquire into the salaries of the
+Parliamentary offices they mean to leave the question in the
+hands of the country gentlemen; but they do not think any great
+reductions will be practicable, and as Baring is chairman it is
+not probable that much will be done. They think Brougham speaks
+too often in the House of Lords, but he has done very well there;
+and on Friday he made a reply to Lord Stanhope, which was the
+most beautiful piece of sarcasm and complete cutting-up (though
+with very good humour) that ever was heard, and an exhibition to
+the like of which the Lords have not been accustomed. The Duke of
+Wellington made another imprudent speech, in which (in answer to
+Lord Radnor, who attributed the state of the country to the late
+Government) he said that it was attributable to the events of
+July and August in other countries, and spoke of them in a way
+which showed clearly his real opinion and feelings on the
+subject.
+
+[Page Head: THE CLERKS OF THE COUNCIL.]
+
+After some delay Lord Lansdowne made up his mind to fill up the
+vacancy in my office, and to give it to William Bathurst; but he
+first spoke to the King, who said it was very true he had told
+Lord Bathurst that his son should have it, but that he now left
+the matter entirely to his decision, showing no anxiety to have
+William Bathurst appointed. However, he has it, but reduced to
+L1,200 a year. I was agreeably surprised yesterday by a
+communication from Lord Lansdowne that he thought no alteration
+could be made in my emoluments, and that he was quite prepared to
+defend them if anybody attacked them. Still, though it is a very
+good thing to be so supported, I don't consider myself safe from
+Parliamentary assaults. In these times it will not do to be idle,
+and I told Lord Lansdowne that I was anxious to keep my
+emoluments, but ready to work for them, and proposed that we
+Clerks of the Council should be called upon to act really at the
+Board of Trade, as we are, in fact, bound to do; by which means
+Lack's place when vacant need not be filled up, and a saving
+would be made. My predecessors Cottrell and Fawkener always
+acted, their successors Bailer and Chetwynd were incompetent, and
+Lack, the Chancellor's Clerk, was made Assistant-Secretary, and
+did the work. Huskisson and Hume, his director, made the business
+a science; new Presidents and Vice-Presidents succeeded one
+another in different Ministerial revolutions; they and Lack were
+incompetent, and Hume was made Assistant-Secretary, and it is he
+who advises, directs, legislates. I believe he is one of the
+ablest practical men who have ever served, more like an American
+statesman than an English official. I am anxious to begin my
+Trade education under him.
+
+Parliament is going to adjourn directly for three or four weeks,
+to give the Ministers time to make their arrangements and get rid
+of the load of business which besets them; although there is
+every disposition to give them credit for good intentions, and to
+let them have a fair trial, there are not wanting causes of
+discontent in many quarters.
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY AND LORD LYNDHURST.]
+
+All the Russells are dissatisfied that Lord John has not a seat
+in the Cabinet, and that Graham should be preferred to him, and
+the more so because they know or believe that his preference is
+owing to Lambton, who does what he likes with Lord Grey. My mind
+has always misgiven me about Lord Grey, and what I have lately
+heard of him satisfies me that a more overrated man never lived,
+or one whose speaking was so far above his general abilities, or
+who owed so much to his oratorical plausibility. His tall,
+commanding, and dignified appearance, his flow of language,
+graceful action, well rounded periods, and an exhibition of
+classical taste united with legal knowledge, render him the most
+finished orator of his day; but his conduct has shown him to be
+influenced by pride, still more by vanity, personal antipathies,
+caprice, indecision, and a thousand weaknesses generated by these
+passions and defects. Anybody who is constantly with him and who
+can avail themselves of his vanity can govern him. There was a
+time when Sir Robert Wilson was his 'magnus Apollo' (and
+Codrington), till they quarrelled. Now Lambton is all in all with
+him. Lambton dislikes the Russells, and hence Lord John's
+exclusion and the preference of Graham. Everybody remembers how
+Lord Grey refused to lead the Whig party when Canning formed his
+junction with the Whigs, and declared that he abdicated in favour
+of Lord Lansdowne; and then how he came and made that violent
+speech against Canning which half killed him with vexation, and
+in consequence of which he meant to have moved into the House of
+Lords for the express purpose of attacking Lord Grey. Then when
+he had quarrelled with his old Whig friends he began to approach
+the Tories, the object of his constant aversion and contempt; and
+we knew what civilities passed between the Bathursts and him, and
+what political coquetries between him and the Duke of Wellington,
+and how he believed that it was only George IV. who prevented his
+being invited by the Duke to join him. Then George IV. dies, King
+William succeeds; no invitation to Lord Grey, and he plunges into
+furious opposition to the Duke.
+
+About three years ago the Chancellor, Lyndhurst, was the man in
+the world he abhorred the most; and it was about this time that I
+well recollect one night at Madame de Lieven's I introduced Lord
+Grey to Lady Lyndhurst. We had dined together somewhere, and he
+had been praising her beauty; so when we all met there I presented
+him, and very soon all his antipathies ceased and he and Lyndhurst
+became great friends. This was the cause of Lady Lyndhurst's
+partiality for the Whigs, which enraged the Tory ladies and some
+of their lords so much, but which served her turn and enabled her
+to keep two hot irons in the fire. When the Duke went out Lord
+Grey was very anxious to keep Lyndhurst as his Chancellor, and
+would have done so if it had not been for Brougham, who, whirling
+Reform _in terrorem_ over his head, announced to him that it must
+not be. Reluctantly enough Grey was obliged to give way, for he
+saw that with Brougham in the House of Commons, against him he
+could not stand for five minutes, and that the only alternative
+was to put Brougham on the Woolsack. Hence his delay in sending
+for Brougham, the latter's speech and subsequent acceptance of the
+Great Seal. Grey, however, was still anxious to serve Lyndhurst,
+and to neutralise his opposition has now proposed to him to be
+Chief Baron. This is tempting to a necessitous and ambitious man.
+On the other hand he had a good game before him, if he had played
+it well, and that was to regain character, exhibit his great and
+general powers, and be ready to avail himself of the course of
+events; but he has made his bargain and pocketed his pride. He
+takes the judicial office upon an understanding that he is to have
+no political connection with the Government (though of course he
+will not oppose them), and that he is to be Chief Justice on
+Tenterden's death or retirement. This is the secret article of the
+treaty, and altogether he has not done amiss; for there are so few
+Chancellors in the field that he will probably (if he chooses)
+return to the Woolsack in the event of a change of Government, and
+he is now in a position in which he may join either party, and
+that without any _additional_ loss of character. The public will
+gain by the transaction, because they will get a good judge.
+
+In Ireland the Government have made a change (the motives of
+which are not apparent) which will be very unpopular, and
+infallibly get them into trouble in various ways. They have
+removed Hart and made Plunket Chancellor. Hart was very popular
+with the Bar; he was slow, but had introduced order and
+regularity in the proceedings of the Court. There were no arrears
+and no appeals. Plunket is unpopular, and was a bad judge in the
+Common Pleas, and will probably make a worse Chancellor; he is
+rash, hasty, and imprudent, and it is the more extraordinary as
+Hart was affronted by Goderich and went with Anglesey, so upon
+the score of confidence (on which they put it) there is in fact
+not a pretext for it.
+
+[Page Head: SIR JAMES GRAHAM.]
+
+As yet not much can be known of the efficiency of the rest of the
+Ministers. The only one who has had anything to do is Melbourne,
+and he has surprised all those about him by a sudden display of
+activity and vigour, rapid and diligent transaction of business,
+for which nobody was prepared, and which will prove a great
+mortification to Peel and his friends, who were in hopes he would
+do nothing and let the country be burnt and plundered without
+interruption. The Duke of Richmond has plunged neck-deep in
+politics, and says he is delighted with it all, and with Lord
+Grey's candour and unassuming bearing in the Cabinet. He is
+evidently piqued that none of his party have followed him, and
+made a speech in the House of Lords the other night expressing
+his readiness to defend his having taken office, when nobody
+attacked him. Knowing him as I do, and the exact extent of his
+capacity, I fancy he must feel rather small by the side of Lord
+Grey and Brougham. Graham's elevation is the most monstrous of
+all. He was once my friend, a college intimacy revived in the
+world, and which lasted six months, when, thinking he could do
+better, he cut me, as he had done others before. I am not a fair
+judge of him, because the pique which his conduct to me naturally
+gave me would induce me to underrate him, but I take vanity and
+self-sufficiency to be the prominent features of his character,
+though of the extent of his capacity I will give no opinion. Let
+time show; I think he will fail. [Time did show it to be very
+considerable, and the _volvenda dies_ brought back our former
+friendship, as will hereafter appear; he certainly did _not
+fail_.]
+
+He came into Parliament ten years ago, spoke and failed. He had
+been a provincial hero, the Cicero and the Romeo of Yorkshire and
+Cumberland, a present Lovelace and a future Pitt. He was
+disappointed in love (the particulars are of no consequence),
+married and retired to digest his mortifications of various
+kinds, to become a country gentleman, patriot, reformer,
+financier, and what not, always good-looking (he had been very
+handsome), pleasing, intelligent, cultivated, agreeable as a man
+can be who is not witty and who is rather pompous and slow, after
+many years of retirement, in the course of which he gave to the
+world his lucubrations on corn and currency. Time and the hour
+made him master of a large but encumbered estate and member for
+his county. Armed with the importance of representing a great
+constituency, he started again in the House of Commons; took up
+Joseph Hume's line, but ornamented it with graces and flourishes
+which had not usually decorated such dry topics. He succeeded,
+and in that line is now the best speaker in the House. I have no
+doubt he has studied his subjects and practised himself in public
+speaking. Years and years ago I remember his delight on Hume's
+comparison between Demosthenes and Cicero, and how he knew the
+passage by heart; but it is one thing to attack strong abuses and
+fire off well-rounded set phrases, another to administer the
+naval affairs of the country and be ready to tilt against all
+comers, as he must do for the future.[4] Palmerston is said to
+have given the greatest satisfaction to the foreign Ministers,
+and to have begun very well. So much for the Ministers.
+
+      [4] [This opinion of Sir James Graham is the more curious
+          as he afterwards became one of Mr. Greville's
+          confidential friends, and rose to the first rank of
+          oratory and authority in the House of Commons. As
+          Secretary of State for the Home Department in the great
+          Administration of Sir Robert Peel he showed
+          administrative ability of the highest order, and he
+          was, perhaps, the most trusted colleague of that
+          illustrious chief. The principal failing of Sir James
+          Graham was, in truth, that he was not so brave and bold
+          a man as he looked.]
+
+
+December 14th, 1830 {p.091}
+
+[Page Head: LORD LYNDHURST AND THE WHIGS.]
+
+There is a delay in Lyndhurst's appointment, if it takes place at
+all. Alexander[5] now will not resign, though he himself proposed
+to do so in the first instance. His physician signed a certificate
+to say that if he went on this Committee it would cost him his
+life; some difficulty about the pension is the cause, or the
+peerage that he wants. He is seventy-six and very rich, a wretched
+judge, and never knew anything of Common Law. If it is not
+arranged, it will be a bad business for Lyndhurst, for the Duke
+and his friends are grievously annoyed at his taking the office,
+having counted on him as their great champion in the House of
+Lords. Mrs. Arbuthnot told me the other night that they considered
+themselves released from all obligations to him for the future.
+However, they have not at all quarrelled, and they knew his
+deplorable state in point of money. Dined yesterday at Agar
+Ellis's with eighteen people. Brougham in great force and very
+agreeable, and told some stories of Judge Allan Park, who is a
+most ridiculous man, and yet a good lawyer, a good judge, and was
+a most eminent counsel.
+
+      [5] [The Chief Baron.]
+
+Park is extraordinarily ridiculous. He is a physiognomist, and is
+captivated by pleasant looks. In a certain cause, in which a boy
+brought an action for defamation against his schoolmaster,
+Campbell, his counsel, asked the solicitor if the boy was
+good-looking. 'Very.' 'Oh, then, have him in court; we shall get
+a verdict.' And so he did. His eyes are always wandering about,
+watching and noticing everything and everybody. One day there was
+a dog in court making a disturbance, on which he said, 'Take away
+that dog.' The officers went to remove another dog, when he
+interposed. 'No, not that dog. I have had my eye on that dog the
+whole day, and I will say that a better behaved little dog I
+never saw in a court of justice.'
+
+One of Brougham's best speeches was one of his last at the Bar,
+made in moving for a new trial on the ground of misdirection in a
+great cause (Tatham and Wright) about a will. He said that on
+that occasion Park did what he thought no man's physical powers
+were equal to; he spoke in summing up for eleven hours and a
+half, and was as fresh at the end as at the beginning; the trial
+lasted eight days. This same evening Lord Grosvenor, who is by
+way of being a friend to Government, made an _amicable_ attack
+upon everything, and talked nonsense. Lord Grey answered him, and
+defended his own family appointments in a very good speech.
+
+
+December 15th, 1830 {p.093}
+
+Dined yesterday with Lord Dudley; sat next to Lady Lyndhurst, and
+had a great deal of talk about politics. She said that the Duke
+never consulted or communicated with the Chancellor, who never
+heard of his overtures to Palmerston till Madame de Lieven told
+him; that he had repeatedly remonstrated with the Duke upon going
+on in his weakness, and on one occasion had gone to Walmer on
+purpose (leaving her behind that he might talk more freely) to
+urge him to take in Lord Grey and some of that party, but he would
+not; said he had tried to settle with them, and it would not do;
+had tried individuals and had tried the party. Up to a very late
+period it appears that Lord Grey would have joined him, and
+Lambton came to her repeatedly to try and arrange something; but
+this answer of the Duke's put it out of the question. Then after
+Lord Grey made his hostile speech it seems as if the Duke wanted
+to get him, for one day Jersey made an appointment with Lady
+Lyndhurst, never having called upon her in his life before, came,
+and entreated her to try and bring about an accommodation with
+Lord Grey, not making use of the Duke's name, but saying he and
+Lady Jersey were so unhappy that the Duke and Lord Grey should not
+be on good terms, and were so anxious for the junction; but it was
+too late then, and the Lyndhursts themselves had something else to
+look to. They both knew very well that Brougham alone prevented
+his remaining on the Woolsack, still they have very wisely not
+quarrelled with him. After dinner I took Lyndhurst to Lady Dudley
+Stuart's, and had some more talk with him. He thinks, as I do,
+that this Government does not promise to be strong. What passed in
+the House of Commons the other night exhibited deplorable weakness
+and the necessity of depending upon the caprices of hundreds of
+loose votes, without anything like a party with which they could
+venture to oppose popular doctrines or measures. He thinks that
+Peel must be Minister if there is not a revolution, and that the
+Duke's being Prime Minister again is out of the question; says he
+_knows_ Peel would never consent to act with him again in the same
+capacity, that all the Duke's little cabinet (the women and the
+toad-eaters) hate Peel, and that there never was any real
+cordiality between them. Everything confirms my belief that Peel,
+if he did not bring about the dissolution of the late Ministry by
+any overt act, saw to what things were tending, and saw it with
+satisfaction.
+
+
+December 16th, 1830 {p.094}
+
+At Court yesterday; William Bathurst sworn in. All the Ministers
+were there, and the Duke of Wellington at the levee looking out
+of sorts. Dined at the Lievens'; Lady Cowper told me that in the
+summer the Duke had not made a _direct_ offer to Melbourne, but
+what was tantamount to it. He had desired somebody (she did not
+say who) to speak to Frederick,[6] and said he would call on him
+himself the next day. Something, however, prevented him, and she
+did not say whether he did call or not afterwards. He denied ever
+having made any overture at all. To Palmerston he proposed the
+choice of four places, and she thinks he would have taken in
+Huskisson if the latter had lived. He would have done nothing but
+on compulsion; that is clear. It is very true (what they say Peel
+said of him) that no _man_ ever had any influence with him, only
+_women_, and those always the silliest. But who are Peel's
+confidants, friends, and parasites? Bonham, a stock-jobbing
+ex-merchant; Charles Ross, and the refuse of society of the House
+of Commons.
+
+      [6] [Sir Frederick Lamb.]
+
+Lamb told me afterwards, talking of the Duke and Polignac, that
+Sebastiani had told him that Hyde de Neuville (who was Minister
+at the time Polignac went over from here on his first short
+visit, before he became Minister) said that upon that occasion
+Polignac took over a letter from the Duke to the King of France,
+in which he said that the Chambers and the democratical spirit
+required to be curbed, that he advised him to lose no time in
+restraining them, and that he referred him to M. de Polignac for
+his opinion generally, who was in possession of his entire
+confidence. I think this _may_ be true, never having doubted that
+these were his real sentiments, whether he expressed them or not.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING AND HIS SONS.]
+
+There has been a desperate quarrel between the King and his sons.
+George Fitzclarence wanted to be made a Peer and have a pension;
+the King said he could not do it, so they struck work in a body,
+and George resigned his office of Deputy Adjutant-General and
+wrote the King a furious letter. The King sent for Lord Hill, and
+told him to try and bring him to his senses; but Lord Hill could
+do nothing, and then he sent for Brougham to talk to him about
+it. It is not yet made up, but one of them (Frederick, I believe)
+dined at the dinner the King gave the day before yesterday. They
+want to renew the days of Charles II., instead of waiting
+patiently and letting the King do what he can for them, and as he
+can.
+
+The affair at Warsaw seems to have begun with a conspiracy
+against Constantine, and four of the generals who were killed
+perished in his anteroom in defending him. With the smallest
+beginnings, however, nothing is more probable than a general
+rising in Poland; and what between that, Belgians, and Piedmont,
+which is threatened with a revolution, the Continent is in a
+promising state. I agree with Lamb, who says that such an
+_imbroglio_ as this cannot be got right without a war; such a
+flame can only be quenched by blood.
+
+
+December 19th, 1830 {p.095}
+
+The week has closed without much gain to the new Government. On
+the debate in the House of Commons about the Evesham election
+they did not dare go to a division, as they would certainly have
+been beaten, but Peel made a speech which was very good in
+itself, and received in a way which proved that he has more
+consideration out of office than any of the Ministers, and much
+more than he ever had when he was in. Men are looking more and
+more to him, and if there is not a revolution he will assuredly
+be Prime Minister. The Government is fully aware how little
+strength they have, so they have taken a new line, and affect to
+carry on the Government without Parliamentary influence, and to
+throw themselves and their measures upon the impartial judgment
+of the House. Sefton informed me the other night that they had
+resolved not to take upon themselves the responsibility of
+proposing any renewal of the Civil List, but to refer the whole
+question to Parliament. I told him that I thought such conduct
+equally foolish and unjust, and that it amounted to an abdication
+of their Ministerial functions, and a surrender of them into the
+hands of the Legislative power; in itself amounting to a
+revolution not of dynasty and institutions, but of system of
+Government in this country. He is the _ame damnee_ of Lord Grey,
+and defends everything of course.
+
+O'Connell is gone rabid to Ireland, having refused a silk gown
+and resolved to pull down Lord Anglesey's popularity. Shiel
+writes word that they have resolved _not_ to give Lord Anglesey a
+public reception, and to propose an ovation for O'Connell. The
+law appointments there, made without any adequate reason, have
+been ingeniously contrived so as to disgust every party in
+Ireland, and to do, or promise to do, in their ultimate results
+as much harm as possible. So much for the only act that the
+Ministers have yet performed.
+
+I had some conversation with Lyndhurst yesterday, who thinks the
+way is already preparing for Peel's return to office, and that he
+must be Prime Minister. I told him that I thought Peel had a fine
+game to play, but that his own was just as good, as Peel could do
+nothing without him in the other House; to which he replied that
+they should have no difficulty, and could make a Government if
+the Duke of Wellington did not interpose his claims and aspire
+again to be at the head; to which I said that they must not
+listen to it, as the country would not bear it; he said he was
+afraid the Duke's own set and his women were encouraging him in
+such views. Now that it is all over his own Cabinet admit as
+freely as anybody his Ministerial despotism. Lyndhurst partakes
+of the general alarm at the state of affairs, and of the
+astonishment which I and others feel at the apathy of those who
+are most interested in averting the impending danger. Yesterday
+Mr. Stapleton (Canning's late private secretary) called on me to
+discuss this subject, and the propriety and feasibility of
+setting up some dyke to arrest the torrent of innovation and
+revolution that is bursting in on every side. All the press
+almost is silenced, or united on the other side. 'John Bull'
+alone fights the battle, but 'John Bull' defends so many
+indefensible things that its advocacy is not worth much. An
+anti-Radical upon the plan of the Anti-Jacobin might be of some
+use, provided it was well sustained. I wrote a letter yesterday
+to Barnes,[7] remonstrating upon the general tone of the 'Times,'
+and inviting him to adopt some Conservative principles in the
+midst of his zeal for Reform. Stanley told me that his election
+(at Preston) was lost by the stupidity or ill-will of the
+returning officer, who managed the booths in such a way that
+Hunt's voters were enabled to vote over and over at different
+booths, and that he had no doubt of reducing his majority on a
+scrutiny.
+
+      [7] [Mr. Barnes was then editor of the 'Times' newspaper,
+          and retained that position till his death in 1841. Mr.
+          Greville was well acquainted with him, and had a high
+          opinion of his talents, character, and influence.]
+
+
+December 22nd, 1830 {p.097}
+
+[Page Head: BISHOP OF EXETER AND LORD MELBOURNE.]
+
+Dudley showed me Phillpotts' (Bishop of Exeter) correspondence
+with Melbourne and minutes of conversation on the subject of the
+commendam of the living of Stanhope; trimming letters. The Bishop
+made proposals to the Government which they rejected, and at
+last, after writing one of the ablest letters I ever read, in
+which he exposed their former conduct and present motives, he
+said that as the Ministers had thought fit to exert the power
+they had over him, he should show them that he had some over
+them, and appeal to public opinion to decide between them. On
+this they gave way, and agreed to an arrangement which, if not
+satisfactory to him, will leave him as to income not much worse
+off than he was before.
+
+
+December 23rd, 1830 {p.097}
+
+Last night to Wilmot Horton's second lecture at the Mechanics'
+Institute; I could not go to the first. He deserves great credit
+for his exertions, the object of which is to explain to the
+labouring classes some of the truths of political economy, the
+folly of thinking that the breaking of machinery will better
+their condition, and of course the efficacy of his own plan of
+emigration. The company was respectable enough, and they heard
+him with great attention. He is full of zeal and animation, but
+so totally without method and arrangement that he is hardly
+intelligible. The conclusion, which was an attack on Cobbett, was
+well done and even eloquent. There were a good many women, and
+several wise men, such as Dr. Birkbeck, M'Culloch, and Owen of
+Lanark.
+
+[Page Head: LORD ANGLESEY AND O'CONNELL.]
+
+O'Connell had a triumphant entry into Dublin, and advised that no
+honours should be shown to Lord Anglesey. They had an interview
+of two hours in London, when Lord Anglesey asked him what he
+intended to do. He said, 'Strive _totis viribus_ to effect a
+repeal of the Union;' when Lord Anglesey told him that he feared
+he should then be obliged to govern Ireland by force, so that
+they are at daggers drawn. There is not a doubt that Repeal is
+making rapid advances. Moore[8] told me that he had seen
+extraordinary signs of it, and that men of the middle classes,
+intelligent and well educated, wished for it, though they knew
+the disadvantages that would attend a severance of their
+connection with England. He said that he could understand it, for
+as an Irishman he felt it himself.
+
+      [8] [Thomas Moore, the poet.]
+
+
+Roehampton, December 26th, 1830 {p.098}
+
+At Lord Clifden's; Luttrell, Byng, and Dudley; the latter very
+mad, did nothing but soliloquise, walk about, munch, and rail at
+Reform of every kind. Lord Anglesey has entered Dublin amidst
+silence and indifference, all produced by O'Connell's orders,
+whose entry was greeted by the acclamations of thousands, and his
+speeches then and since have been more violent than ever. His
+authority and popularity are unabated, and he is employing them
+to do all the mischief he can, his first object being to make
+friends of the Orangemen, to whom he affects to humble himself,
+and he has on all public occasions caused the orange ribband to
+be joined with the green.
+
+We had a meeting at the Council Office on Friday to order a
+prayer 'on account of the troubled state of certain parts of the
+United Kingdom'--great nonsense.
+
+The King of the French has put an end to the disturbances of
+Paris about the sentence on the ex-Ministers by a gallant _coup
+d'etat_. At night, when the streets were most crowded and
+agitated, he sallied from the Palais Royal on horseback, with his
+son, the Duc de Nemours, and his personal _cortege_, and paraded
+through Paris for two hours. This did the business; he was
+received with shouts of applause, and at once reduced everything
+to tranquillity. He deserves his throne for this, and will
+probably keep it.
+
+
+December 30th, 1830 {p.099}
+
+Notwithstanding the conduct of King Louis Philippe, and the happy
+termination of the disorders and tumults at Paris last week, the
+greatest alarm still prevails about the excitement in that place.
+In consequence of the Chamber of Deputies having passed some
+resolutions altering the constitution of the National Guard, and
+voting the post of Commandant-General unnecessary, Lafayette
+resigned and has been replaced by Lobau. I never remember times
+like these, nor read of such--the terror and lively expectation
+which prevail, and the way in which people's minds are turned
+backwards and forwards from France to Ireland, then range
+excursively to Poland or Piedmont, and fix again on the burnings,
+riots, and executions here.
+
+Lord Anglesey's entry into Dublin turned out not to have been so
+mortifying to him as was at first reported. He was attended by a
+great number of people, and by all the most eminent and
+respectable in Dublin, so much so that he was very well pleased,
+and found it better than he expected. War broke out between him
+and O'Connell without loss of time. O'Connell had intended to
+have a procession of the trades, and a notice from him was to
+have been published and stuck over the door of every chapel and
+public place in Dublin. Anglesey issued his proclamation, and
+half an hour before the time when O'Connell's notice was to
+appear had it pasted up, and one copy laid on O'Connell's
+breakfast table, at which anticipation he chuckled mightily.
+O'Connell instantly issued a handbill desiring the people to
+obey, as if the order of the Lord-Lieutenant was to derive its
+authority from his permission, and he afterwards made an able
+speech. Since the beginning of the world there never was so
+extraordinary and so eccentric a position as his. It is a moral
+power and influence as great in its way, and as strangely
+acquired, as Bonaparte's political power was. Utterly lost to all
+sense of shame and decency, trampling truth and honour under his
+feet, cast off by all respectable men, he makes his faults and
+his vices subservient to the extension of his influence, for he
+says and does whatever suits his purpose for the moment, secure
+that no detection or subsequent exposure will have the slightest
+effect with those over whose minds and passions he rules with
+such despotic sway. He cares not whom he insults, because, having
+covered his cowardice with the cloak of religious scruples, he is
+invulnerable, and will resent no retaliation that can be offered
+him. He has chalked out to himself a course of ambition which,
+though not of the highest kind--if the _consentiens laus bonorum_
+is indispensable to the aspirations of noble minds--has
+everything in it that can charm a somewhat vulgar but highly
+active, restless, and imaginative being; and nobody can deny to
+him the praise of inimitable dexterity, versatility, and even
+prudence in the employment of the means which he makes conducive
+to his ends. He is thoroughly acquainted with the audiences which
+he addresses and the people upon whom he practises, and he
+operates upon their passions with the precision of a dexterous
+anatomist who knows the direction of every muscle and fibre of
+the human frame. After having been throughout the Catholic
+question the furious enemy of the Orangemen, upon whom he
+lavished incessant and unmeasured abuse, he has suddenly turned
+round, and inviting them to join him on the Repeal question, has
+not only offered them a fraternal embrace and has humbled himself
+to the dust in apologies and demands for pardon, but he has
+entirely and at once succeeded, and he is now as popular or more
+so with the Protestants (or rather Orangemen) as he was before
+with the Catholics, and Crampton writes word that the lower order
+of Protestants are with him to a man.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              1831.
+
+
+January 2nd, 1831 {p.101}
+
+[Page Head: A DINNER AT THE ATHENAEUM.]
+
+Came up to town yesterday to dine with the Villiers at a dinner
+of clever men, got up at the Athenaeum, and was extremely bored.
+The original party was broken up by various excuses, and the
+vacancies supplied by men none of whom I knew. There were Poulett
+Thomson, three Villiers, Taylor, Young, whom I knew; the rest I
+never saw before--Buller, Romilly, Senior, Maule,[9] a man whose
+name I forget, and Walker, a police magistrate, all men of more
+or less talent and information, and altogether producing anything
+but an agreeable party. Maule was senior wrangler and senior
+medallist at Cambridge, and is a lawyer. He was nephew to the man
+with whom I was at school thirty years ago, and I had never seen
+him since; he was then a very clever boy, and assisted to teach
+the boys, being admirably well taught himself by his uncle, who
+was an excellent scholar and a great brute. I have young Maule
+now in my mind's eye suspended by the hair of his head while
+being well caned, and recollect as if it was yesterday his
+doggedly drumming a lesson of Terence into my dull and reluctant
+brain as we walked up and down the garden walk before the house.
+When I was introduced to him I had no recollection of him, but
+when I found out who he was I went up to him with the blandest
+manner as he sat reading a newspaper, and said that 'I believed
+we had once been well acquainted, though we had not met for
+twenty-seven years.' He looked up and said, 'Oh, it is too long
+ago to talk about,' and then turned back to his paper. So I set
+him down for a brute like his uncle and troubled him no further.
+I am very sure that dinners of all fools have as good a chance of
+being agreeable as dinners of all clever people; at least the
+former are often gay, and the latter are frequently heavy.
+Nonsense and folly gilded over with good breeding and _les usages
+du monde_ produce often more agreeable results than a collection
+of rude, awkward intellectual powers.
+
+      [9] [Afterwards Mr. Justice Maule.]
+
+
+Roehampton, January 4th, 1831 {p.101}
+
+Called on Lady Canning this morning, who wanted me to read some
+of her papers. Most of them (which are very curious) I had seen
+before, but forgotten. I read the long minute of Canning's
+conversation with the King ten days before his Majesty put the
+formation of the Administration in his hands. They both appear to
+have been explicit enough. The King went through his whole life,
+and talked for two hours and a half, particularly about the
+Catholic question, on which he said he had always entertained the
+same opinions--the same as those of George III. and the Duke of
+York--and that with the speech of the latter he entirely
+concurred, except in the 'so help me God' at the end, which he
+thought unnecessary. He said _he_ had wished the Coronation Oath
+to be altered, and had proposed it to Lord Liverpool. His great
+anxiety was not to be annoyed with the discussion of the
+question, to keep Canning and Lord Liverpool's colleagues, and to
+put at the head of the Treasury some anti-Catholic Peer. This
+Canning would not hear of; he said that having lost Lord
+Liverpool he had lost his only support in the Cabinet, that the
+King knew how he had been thwarted by others, and how impossible
+it would have been for him to go on but for Lord Liverpool, that
+he could not serve _under_ anybody else, or act with efficacy
+except as First Minister, that he would not afford in his person
+an example of any such rule as that support of the Catholic
+question was to be _ipso facto_ an exclusion from the chief
+office of the Government, that he advised the King to try and
+make an anti-Catholic Ministry, and thought that with his
+feelings and opinions on the subject it was what he ought to do.
+This the King said was out of the question. In the course of the
+discussion Canning said that if he continued in his service he
+must continue as free as he had been before; that desirous as he
+was to contribute to the King's ease and comfort, he could not in
+any way pledge himself on the subject, because he should be
+assuredly questioned in the House of Commons, and he must have it
+in his power to reply that he was perfectly free to act on that
+question as he had ever done, and that he thought the King would
+better consult his own ease by retaining him in office without
+any pledge, relying on his desire above all things to consult his
+Majesty's ease and comfort. He said among other things that,
+though leader of the House of Commons, he had never had any
+patronage placed at his disposal, nor a single place to give
+away.
+
+[Page Head: THE DUKE AND MR. CANNING.]
+
+About the time of this conversation Canning was out of humour with
+the Duke of Wellington, for he had heard that many of the
+adherents of Government who pretended to be attached to the Duke
+had spoken of him (Canning) in the most violent and abusive terms.
+In their opinions he conceived the Duke to be to a certain degree
+implicated, and this produced some coldness in his manner towards
+him. Shortly after Arbuthnot came to him, complained first and
+explained after, and said the Duke would call upon him. The Duke
+did call, and in a conversation of two hours Canning told him all
+that had passed between himself and the King, thereby putting the
+Duke, as he supposed, in complete possession of his sentiments as
+to the reconstruction of the Government. A few days after Mr.
+Canning was charged by the King to lay before him the plan of an
+Administration, and upon this he wrote the letter to his former
+colleagues which produced so much discussion. I read the letters
+to the Duke, Bathurst, Melville, and Bexley, and I must say that
+the one to the Duke was rather the stiffest of the whole,[10]
+though it was not so cold as the Duke chose to consider it. Then
+came his letter to the Duke on his speech, and the Duke's answer.
+When I read these last year I thought the Duke had much the best
+of it; but I must alter this opinion if it be true that he knew
+Mr. Canning's opinions, as it is stated that he did entirely,
+after their long interview, at which the conversation with the
+King was communicated to him. That materially alters the case.
+There was a letter from Peel declining, entirely on the ground of
+objecting to a pro-Catholic Premier, and on the impossibility of
+his administering Ireland with the First Lord of the Treasury of a
+different opinion on that subject from his own. There was likewise
+a curious correspondence relative to a paper written by the Duke
+of York during his last illness, and not very long before his
+death, to Lord Liverpool on the dangers of the country from the
+progress of the Catholic question, the object of which (though it
+was vaguely expressed) was to turn out the Catholic members and
+form a Protestant Government for the purpose of crushing the
+Catholic interest. This Lord Liverpool communicated (privately) to
+Canning, and it was afterwards communicated to the King, who
+appears (the answer was not there) to have given the Duke of York
+a rap on the knuckles, for there is a reply of the Duke's to the
+King, full of devotion, zeal, and affection to his person, and
+disclaiming any intention of breaking up the Government, an idea
+which could have arisen only from misconception of the meaning of
+his letter by Lord Liverpool. It is very clear, however, that he
+did mean that, for his letter could have meant nothing else. The
+whole thing is curious, for he was aware that he was dying, and he
+says so.
+
+     [10] [This correspondence is now published in the third
+          volume of the Duke's 'Correspondence,' New Series, p.
+          628.]
+
+
+January 12th, 1831 {p.104}
+
+Passed two days at Panshanger, but my room was so cold that I
+could not sit in it to write. Nobody there but F. Lamb and J.
+Russell. Lady Cowper told me what had passed relative to the
+negotiation with Melbourne last year, and which the Duke or his
+friends denied. The person who was employed (and whom she did not
+name) told F. Lamb that the Duke would take in Melbourne and two
+others (I am not sure it was not three), but not Huskisson. He
+said that it would be fairer at once to say that those terms
+would not be accepted, and to save him therefore from offering
+them, that Melbourne would not be satisfied with any Government
+which did not include Huskisson and Lord Grey, and that upon this
+answer the matter dropped. I don't think the Duke can be blamed
+for answering to anybody who chose to ask him any questions on
+the subject that he had _made no offer_; it was the truth, though
+not the whole truth, and a Minister must have some shelter
+against impertinent questioners, or he would be at their mercy.
+An Envoy is come here from the Poles,[11] who brought a letter
+from Prince Czartoryski to Lord Grey, who has not seen him, and
+whose arrival has naturally given umbrage to the Lievens.
+
+     [11] [This Envoy was Count Alexander Walewski, a natural son
+          of the Emperor Napoleon, who afterwards played a
+          considerable part in the affairs of France and of
+          Europe, especially under the Second Empire. During his
+          residence in London in 1831 he married Lady Caroline
+          Montagu, a daughter of the Earl of Sandwich, but she
+          did not live long. I remember calling upon him in St.
+          James's Place, and seeing cards of invitation for Lady
+          Grey's assemblies stuck in his glass. The fact is he
+          was wonderfully handsome and agreeable, and soon became
+          popular in London society.]
+
+
+January 19th, 1831 {p.105}
+
+To Roehampton on Saturday till Monday, having been at the Grove
+on Friday. George Villiers at the Grove showed me a Dublin paper
+with an attack on Stanley's proclamation, and also a character of
+Plunket drawn with great severity and by a masterly hand; it is
+supposed to be by Baron Smith, a judge who is very able, but
+fanciful and disaffected. He will never suffer any but policemen
+or soldiers to be hanged of those whom he tries. George Villiers
+came from Hatfield, where he had a conversation with the Duke of
+Wellington, who told him that he had committed a great error in
+his Administration in not paying more attention to the press, and
+in not securing a portion of it on his side and getting good
+writers into his employment, that he had never thought it
+necessary to do so, and that he was now convinced what a great
+mistake it was. At Roehampton nothing new, except that the Reform
+plan is supposed to be settled, or nearly so. Duncannon has been
+consulted, and he and one or two more have had meetings with
+Durham, who were to lay their joint plans before Lord Grey first,
+and he afterwards brought them to the Cabinet.
+
+[Page Head: CROKER'S BOSWELL.]
+
+Ellis told me (a curious thing enough) that Croker (for his
+'Boswell's Life of Johnson') had collected various anecdotes from
+other books, but that the only new and original ones were those
+he had got from Lord Stowell, who was a friend of Johnson, and
+that he had written them under Stowell's dictation. Sir Walter
+Scott wanted to see them, and Croker sent them to him in Scotland
+by the post. The bag was lost; no tidings could be heard of it,
+Croker had no copy, and Stowell is in his dotage and can't be got
+to dictate again. So much for the anecdote; then comes the story.
+I said how surprising this was, for nothing was so rare as a
+miscarriage by the post. He said, 'Not at all, for I myself lost
+_two reviews_ in the same way. I sent them both to _Brougham_ to
+forward to Jeffrey (for the "Edinburgh"), and _they were both
+lost in the same_ way!' That villain Brougham!
+
+G. Lamb said that the King is supposed to be in a bad state of
+health, and this was confirmed to me by Keate the surgeon, who
+gave me to understand that he was going the way of both his
+brothers. He will be a great loss in these times; he knows his
+business, lets his Ministers do as they please, but expects to be
+informed of everything. He lives a strange life at Brighton, with
+tagrag and bobtail about him, and always open house. The Queen is
+a prude, and will not let the ladies come _decolletees_ to her
+parties. George IV., who liked ample expanses of that sort, would
+not let them be covered. In the meantime matters don't seem more
+promising either here or abroad. In Ireland there is open war
+between Anglesey and O'Connell, to whom it is glory enough (of his
+sort) to be on a kind of par with the Viceroy, and to have a power
+equal to that of the Government. Anglesey issues proclamation
+after proclamation, the other speeches and letters in retort. His
+breakfasts and dinners are put down, but he finds other places to
+harangue at, and letters he can always publish; but he does not
+appear in quite so triumphant an attitude as he did. The O'Connell
+tribute is said to have failed; no men of property or respectability
+join him, and he is after all only the leader of a mob; but it is
+a better sort of mob, and formidable from their numbers, and the
+organisation which has latterly become an integral part of mob
+tactics. Nothing can be more awful than the state of that country,
+and everybody expects that it will be found necessary to
+strengthen the hands of the Government with extraordinary powers
+to put an end to the prevailing anarchy. O'Connell is a coward,
+and that is the best chance of his being beaten at last.
+
+Lord Lyndhurst took his seat as Chief Baron yesterday morning,
+Alexander retiring without an equivalent, and only having waited
+for quarter day. Brougham has had a violent squabble in his Court
+with Sugden, who having bullied the Vice-Chancellor and governed
+Lyndhurst, has a mind to do the same by Brougham; besides, he
+hates him for the repeated thrashings he got from him in the
+House of Commons, and has been heard to say that he will take his
+revenge in the Court of Chancery. The present affair was merely
+that Brougham began writing, when Sugden stopped and told him 'it
+was no use his going on if his Lordship would not attend to the
+argument,' and so forth.
+
+I met Lyndhurst at dinner yesterday, who talks of himself as
+standing on neutral ground, disconnected with politics. It is
+certainly understood that he is not to fight the battles of the
+present Government, but of course he is not to be against them.
+His example is a lesson to statesmen to be frugal, for if he had
+been rich he would have had a better game before him. He told a
+curious anecdote about a trial. There was a (civil) cause in
+which the jury would not agree on their verdict. They retired on
+the evening of one day, and remained till one o'clock the next
+afternoon, when, being still disagreed, a juror was drawn. There
+was only one juror who held out against the rest--Mr. Berkeley
+(member for Bristol). The case was tried over again, and the jury
+were unanimously of Mr. Berkeley's opinion, which was in fact
+right, a piece of conscientious obstinacy which prevented the
+legal commission of wrong.
+
+
+Roehampton, January 22nd, 1831 {p.107}
+
+[Page Head: O'CONNELL ARRESTED.]
+
+The event of the week is O'Connell's arrest on a charge of
+conspiracy to defeat the Lord-Lieutenant's proclamation. Lord
+Anglesey writes to Lady Anglesey thus:--'I am just come from a
+consultation of six hours with the law officers, the result of
+which is a determination to arrest O'Connell, for things are now
+come to that pass that the question is whether he or I shall
+govern Ireland.' We await the result with great anxiety, for the
+opinion of lawyers seems divided as to the legality of the
+arrest, and laymen can form none.
+
+
+January 23rd, 1831 {p.107}
+
+No news; Master of the Rolls, George Ponsonby, and George
+Villiers here. The latter told a story of Plunket, of his wit.
+Lord Wellesley's aide-de-camp Keppel wrote a book of his travels,
+and called it his personal narrative. Lord Wellesley was quizzing
+it, and said, 'Personal narrative? what is a personal narrative?
+Lord Plunket, what should you say a personal narrative meant?'
+Plunket answered, 'My Lord, you know we lawyers always understand
+_personal_ as contradistinguished from _real_.' And one or two
+others of Parsons, the Irish barrister. Lord Norbury on some
+circuit was on the bench speaking, and an ass outside brayed so
+loud that nobody could hear. He exclaimed, 'Do stop that noise!'
+Parsons said, 'My Lord, there is a great echo here.' Somebody
+said to him one day, 'Mr. Parsons, have you heard of my son's
+robbery?' 'No; whom has he robbed?'
+
+[Page Head: O'CONNELL'S CASE.]
+
+Nothing but talk about O'Connell and his trial, and we have more
+fears he will be acquitted than hopes that he will be convicted.
+They still burn in the country, and I heard the other day that
+the manufacturing districts, though quiet, are in a high state of
+organisation.
+
+
+January 25th, 1831 {p.108}
+
+Met Colonel Napier[12] last night, and talked for an hour of the
+state of the country. He gave me a curious account of the
+organisation of the manufacturers in and about Manchester, who
+are divided into four different classes, with different objects,
+partly political, generally to better themselves, but with a
+regular Government, the seat of which is in the Isle of Man. He
+says that the agriculturists are likewise organised in Wiltshire,
+and that there is a sort of free-masonry among them; he thinks a
+revolution inevitable; and when I told him what Southey had
+said--that if he had money enough he would transport his family
+to America--he said he would not himself leave England in times
+of danger, but that he should like to remove his family if he
+could.
+
+     [12] [Sir William Napier, author of the 'History of the
+          Peninsular War.'.]
+
+The King is ill. I hope he won't die; if he does, and the little
+girl, we shall have Cumberland, and (though Lyndhurst said he
+would make a very good King the other night) that would be a good
+moment for dispensing with the regal office. It is reported that
+they differ in the Cabinet about Reform; probably not true. What
+a state of terror and confusion we are in, though it seems to
+make no difference.
+
+
+January 31st, 1831 {p.109}
+
+At Roehampton on Saturday; Lord Robert Spencer and Sir G.
+Robinson. Agar Ellis had just resigned the Woods, after asking to
+be made a Peer, which they refused. All last week nobody thought
+of anything but O'Connell, and great was the joy at the charge of
+Judge Jebb, the unanimous opinion of the King's Bench, and the
+finding of the Grand Jury. Whatever happens, Government are now
+justified in the course they have taken; and now he has
+traversed, which looks like weakness, and it is the general
+opinion that he is beaten; but he is so astute, and so full of
+resources, that I would never answer for his being beaten till I
+see him in prison or find his popularity gone. The subscription
+produced between L7,000 and L8,000. It is an extraordinary thing,
+and the most wonderful effect I ever heard of the power of moral
+causes over the human body, that Lord Anglesey, who has scarcely
+been out of pain at all for years during any considerable
+intervals, has been quite free from his complaint (the tic
+douloureux) since he has been in Ireland; the excitement of these
+events, and the influence of that excitement on his nervous
+system, have produced this effect. There is a puzzler for
+philosophy, and such an amalgamation of moral and physical
+accidents as is well worth unravelling for those who are wise
+enough.
+
+Yesterday there was a dinner at Lord Lansdowne's to name the
+Sheriffs, and there was I in attendance on my old school-fellows
+and associates Richmond, Durham, Graham, all great men now!
+
+              While some do laugh, and some do weep,
+                Thus runs the world away.
+
+Lord Grey was not there, for he was gone to Brighton to lay the
+Reform Bill before the King. What a man Brougham is; he wants to
+ride his Chancery steed to the Devil, as if he had not enough to
+do. Nothing would satisfy him but to come and hear causes in our
+Court;[13] but as I knew it was only to provoke Leach, I would not
+let him come, and told the Lord President we had no causes for him
+to hear. He insisted, so did I, and he did not come; but some day
+I will invite him, and then he will have forgotten it or have
+something else to do, and he won't come. He is a Jupiter-Scapin if
+ever there was one.
+
+     [13] [At the Privy Council, where the Master of the Rolls
+          was at that time in the habit of sitting with two lay
+          Privy Councillors to hear Plantation Appeals.]
+
+
+February 6th, 1831 {p.110}
+
+[Page Head: THE CIVIL LIST.]
+
+Parliament met again on the 3rd, and the House of Commons
+exhibited a great array on the Opposition benches; nothing was
+done the first day but the announcement of the Reform measure for
+the 2nd of March, to be brought in by Lord John Russell in the
+House of Commons, though not a Cabinet Minister. The fact is that
+if a Cabinet Minister had introduced it, it must have been
+Althorp, and he is wholly unequal to it; he cannot speak at all,
+so that though the pretence is to pay a compliment to John Russell
+because he had on former occasions brought forward plans of
+Reform, it is really expedient to take the burden off the leader
+of the Government. The next night came on the Civil List, and as
+the last Government was turned out on this question, there had
+existed a general but vague expectation that some wonderful
+reductions were to be proposed by the new Chancellor of the
+Exchequer. Great, then, was the exultation of the Opposition when
+it was found that no reductions would be made, and that the
+measure of this Government only differed from that of the last in
+the separation of the King's personal expenses from the other
+charges and a _prospective_ reduction in the Pension List. There
+was not much of a debate. Althorp did it ill by all accounts;
+Graham spoke pretty well; and Calcraft, who could do nothing while
+in office, found all his energies when he got back to the
+Opposition benches, and made (everybody says) a capital speech.
+There is certainly a great disappointment that the Civil List does
+not produce some economical novelty, and to a certain degree the
+popularity of the Government will be affected by it. But they have
+taken the manliest course, and the truth is the Duke of Wellington
+had already made all possible reductions, unless the King and the
+Government were at once to hang out the flag of poverty and change
+their whole system. After what Sefton had told me of the
+intentions of Government about the Pension List, and my reply to
+him, it was a satisfaction to me to find they could not act on
+such a principle; and accordingly Lord Althorp at once declared
+the opinion and intentions of Government about the Pensions,
+instead of abandoning them to the rage of the House of Commons.
+There is not even a surmise as to the intended measure of Reform,
+the secret of which is well kept, but I suspect the confidence of
+the Reformers will be shaken by their disappointment about the
+Civil List. It is by no means clear, be it what it may, that the
+Government will be able to carry it, for the Opposition promises
+to be very formidable in point of numbers; and in speaking the two
+parties are, as to the first class, pretty evenly divided--Palmerston,
+the Grants, Graham, Stanley, John Russell, on one side; Peel,
+Calcraft, Hardinge, Dawson, on the other; fewer in numbers, but
+Peel immeasurably the best on either side--but in the second line,
+and among the younger ones, the Opposition are far inferior.
+
+
+February 9th, 1831 {p.111}
+
+Just got into my new home--Poulett Thomson's house, which I have
+taken for a year. The day before yesterday came the news that the
+French had refused the nomination of the Duc de Nemours to the
+throne of Belgium, the news of his being chosen having come on
+Sunday. The Ministers were _rayonnants_; Lord Lansdowne came to
+his office and told it me with prodigious glee.
+
+Met with Sir J. Burke on Sunday at Brooks's, who said that
+O'Connell was completely beaten by the address of the merchants
+and bankers, among whom were men--Mahon, for instance (O'Gorman
+Mahon's uncle)--who had always stood by him. I do not believe he
+is completely beaten, and his resources for mischief are so great
+that he will rally again before long, I have little doubt.
+However, what has occurred has been productive of great good; it
+has elicited a strong Conservative demonstration, and proved that
+out of the rabbleocracy (for everything is in _ocracy_ now) his
+power is anything but unlimited. There are 20,000 men in Ireland,
+so Lord Hill told me last night. Hunt[14] spoke for two hours
+last night; his manner and appearance very good, like a country
+gentleman of the old school, a sort of rural dignity about it,
+very civil, good-humoured, and respectful to the House, but dull;
+listened to, however, and very well received.
+
+     [14] [Henry Hunt, a well-known Radical, had just been
+          returned for Preston, where he had beaten Mr. Stanley.]
+
+
+February 12th, 1831 {p.112}
+
+The debate three nights ago on Ireland, brought on by O'Gorman
+Mahon, is said to have been the best that has been heard in the
+House of Commons for many years. Palmerston, Burdett, Althorp,
+Peel, Wyse, all made good speeches; it was spirited, statesmanlike,
+and creditable to the House, which wanted some such exhibition to
+raise its credit. I saw the day before yesterday a curious letter
+from Southey to Brougham, which some day or other will probably
+appear. Taylor showed it me. Brougham had written to him to ask
+him what his opinion was as to the encouragement that could be
+given to literature, by rewarding or honouring literary men, and
+suggested (I did not see his letter) that the Guelphic Order
+should be bestowed upon them. Southey's reply was very courteous,
+but in a style of suppressed irony and forced politeness, and
+exhibited the marks of a chafed spirit, which was kept down by an
+effort. 'You, my Lord, are _now_ on the Conservative side,' was
+one of his phrases, which implied that the Chancellor had not
+always been on that side. He suggested that it might be useful to
+establish a sort of lay fellowships; L10,000 would give 10 of L500
+and 25 of L200; but he proposed them not to reward the meritorious,
+but as a means of silencing or hiring the mischievous. It was
+evident, however, that he laid no stress on this plan, or
+considered it practicable, and only proposed it because he thought
+he must suggest something. He said that honours might be desirable
+to scientific men, as they were so considered on the Continent,
+and Newton and Davy had been titled, but for himself, if a
+_Guelphic_ distinction was adopted, 'he should be a _Ghibelline_.'
+He ended by saying that all he asked for was a repeal of the
+Copyright Act which took from the families of literary men the
+only property they had to give them, and this 'I ask for with the
+earnestness of one who is conscious that he has laboured for
+posterity.' It is a remarkable letter.
+
+
+February 13th, 1831 {p.113}
+
+[Page Head: THE FIRST WHIG BUDGET.]
+
+The Budget, which was brought forward two nights ago, has given
+great dissatisfaction; Goulburn attacked the taxation of the
+funds (half per cent. on transfer of stock and land) in the best
+speech he ever made, Peel in another good speech. The bankers
+assailed it one after another, and not a man on the Government
+side spoke decently. Great of course was the exultation of the
+Opposition, and it is supposed that this will be withdrawn and a
+Property Tax laid on instead. There is a meeting to-day in
+Downing Street, at which I suspect it will be announced. The
+Budget must appear hurried, and nothing but the circumstances in
+which they are placed could have justified their bringing it on
+so soon. In two months, besides having foreign affairs of the
+greatest consequence on their hands, they have concocted a Reform
+Bill and settled the finances of the nation for the next year,
+which is quite ludicrous; but they are obliged to have money
+voted immediately, that in case they should be beaten on Reform
+or any other vital question which may compel them to dissolve
+Parliament, they may have passed their estimates and be provided
+with funds. Their secrets are well kept--rather too well, for
+nobody knew of this Budget, and not a soul has a guess what their
+Reform is to be. At present nothing can cut a poorer figure than
+the Government does in the House of Commons, and they have shown
+how weak a Government a strong Opposition may make.
+
+I have just been to hear Benson preach at the Temple, but I was
+so distant that I heard ill. His manner is impressive, and
+language good without being ambitious, but I was rather
+disappointed. Brougham was there, with Lord King of all people!
+
+
+February 15th, 1831 {p.114}
+
+Yesterday morning news came that O'Connell had withdrawn his plea
+of not guilty and (by his counsel, Mr. Perrin) pleaded guilty, to
+the unutterable astonishment of everybody, and not less delight.
+Sheil wrote word that his heart sank at the terror of a gaol, and
+'how would such a man face a battle, who could not encounter
+Newgate?' Everybody's impression was that it was a compromise
+with the law officers, and that he pleaded guilty on condition
+that he should not be brought up for judgment, but it was no such
+thing; he made in the preceding days several indirect overtures
+to Lord Anglesey, who would listen to nothing, and told him that
+after his conduct he could do nothing for him, and that he must
+take his own course. He comes to England directly, and will be
+brought up for judgment (if at all, which I doubt) next term. He
+gives out that he was forced to do this in order to hasten to
+England and repair in the House of Commons the errors of O'Gorman
+Mahon. There is no calculating what may be the extent of the
+credulity of an Irish mob with regard to him, but after all his
+bullies and bravadoes this will hardly go down even with them.
+Sheil says 'O'Connell is fallen indeed.' I trust, though hardly
+dare hope, that 'he sinks like stars that fall to rise no more.'
+It is impossible to form an idea of the astonishment of everybody
+at this termination of the law proceedings, which have ended so
+triumphantly for Lord Anglesey and Plunket. Lord Anglesey,
+however, wrote word to Lady Anglesey that no one could form an
+idea of the state of that country: that fresh plots were
+discovered every day, that from circumstances he had been able to
+do more than another man would, but that it was not, he firmly
+believed, possible to save it.
+
+[Page Head: LORD ALTHORP'S BUDGET.]
+
+There was a meeting at Althorp's on Sunday, when he agreed to
+withdraw the Transfer Tax, and that there should be no Property
+Tax. A more miserable figure was never cut than his; but how
+should it be otherwise? A respectable country gentleman, well
+versed in rural administration, in farming and sporting, with all
+the integrity of L15,000 a year in possession and L50,000 in
+reversion, is all of a sudden made leader in the House of Commons
+without being able to speak, and Chancellor of the Exchequer
+without any knowledge, theoretical or practical, of finance. By
+way of being discreet, and that his plan may be a secret, he
+consults nobody; and then he closets himself with his familiar
+Poulett Thomson, who puts this notable scheme into his head, and
+out he blurts it in the House of Commons, without an idea how it
+will be received, without making either preparations for
+defending it or for an alternative in case of its rejection. If
+Althorp and Poulett Thomson are to govern England, these things
+are likely to happen. The Opposition cannot contain themselves;
+the women think they are to come in directly. Goulburn said to
+Baring as they left the House on Friday, 'Mr. Baring, you said
+last year you thought my Budget was the most profligate that any
+Chancellor of the Exchequer had ever brought forward; I think you
+will now no longer say it was the _most_ profligate.' Last night
+Praed[15] made his first speech, which was very good.
+
+     [15] [Winthrop Mackworth Praed, a young man of great
+          promise, who had just entered Parliament. He took his
+          degree in 1825, and was regarded by the Tories as the
+          rival and competitor of Thomas Babington Macaulay. But
+          unhappily he died in 1839.]
+
+
+February 17th, 1831 {p.115}
+
+The day before yesterday Duncannon called on me, and told me
+O'Connell had got up an opposition to him in Kilkenny; that he
+was of opinion that the recent events would diminish neither his
+power nor his popularity, and that in fact he was infallible with
+the Irish mob. As Richard says, 'if this have no effect, he is
+immortal.'
+
+The Duke of Wellington called on my family yesterday; he says the
+Reform question will not be carried, and he thinks the Government
+cannot stand, that things are certainly better (internally), and
+that the great fear is lest people should be too much afraid.
+
+Went to Lady Dudley Stewart's last night; a party; saw a
+vulgar-looking, fat man with spectacles, and a mincing, rather
+pretty pink and white woman, his wife. The man was Napoleon's
+nephew, the woman Washington's granddaughter. What a host of
+associations, all confused and degraded! He is a son of Murat,
+the King of Naples, who was said to be 'le dieu Mars jusqu'a six
+heures du soir.' He was heir to a throne, and is now a lawyer in
+the United States, and his wife, whose name I know not, Sandon
+told me, was Washington's granddaughter. (This must be a mistake,
+for I think Washington never had any children.)[16]
+
+     [16] [Achille Murat and his wife were living at this time in
+          the Alpha Road, Regent's Park. It was said she was
+          Washington's grand-niece, but I am not sure what the
+          relationship was, if any. She was certainly not his
+          granddaughter.]
+
+
+February 24th, 1831 {p.116}
+
+[Page Head: WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+At Newmarket for three days, from Saturday till Tuesday; riding
+out at eight o'clock every morning and inhaling salubrious air.
+Came back the night before last and found matters in a strange
+state. The Government, strong in the House of Lords (which is a
+secondary consideration), is weak in the House of Commons to a
+degree which is contemptible and ridiculous. Even Sefton now
+confesses that Althorp is wretched. There he is _leading_ the
+House of Commons without the slightest acquaintance with the
+various subjects that come under discussion, and hardly able to
+speak at all; not one of the Ministers exhibits anything like
+vigour, ability, or discretion. As Althorp cannot speak, Graham
+is obliged to talk, or thinks he is, and, as I predicted, he is
+failing;[17] with some cleverness and plenty of fluency, he is
+unequal to the situation he is placed in, and his difference with
+Grant the other night and his apology to O'Gorman Mahon have been
+prejudicial to the Government and to his own character. The
+exultation of the Opposition is unbounded, and Peel plays with
+his power in the House, only not putting it forth because it does
+not suit his convenience; but he does what he likes, and it is
+evident that the very existence of the Government depends upon
+his pleasure. His game, however, is to display candour and
+moderation, and rather to protect them than not, so he defends
+many of their measures and restrains the fierce animosity of his
+friends, but with a sort of sarcastic civility, which, while it
+is put forth in their defence, is always done in such a manner as
+shall best exhibit his own authority and his contempt for their
+persons individually. While he upholds the Government he does all
+he can to bring each member of it into contempt, and there they
+are, helpless and confused, writhing under his lash and their own
+impotence, and only intent upon staving off a division which
+would show the world how feeble they are. Neither the late nor
+any other Government ever cut so poor a figure as this does.
+Palmerston does nothing, Grant does worse, Graham does no good,
+Althorp a great deal of harm; Stanley alone has distinguished
+himself, and what he has had to do has done very well. It is not,
+however, only in the House of Commons that the Government are in
+such discredit; the Budget did their business in the City, and
+alienated the trading interest. It is a curious circumstance that
+both Goulburn and Herries have been beset by deputations and
+individual applications for advice and assistance nearly as much
+since they left office as when they were in it by merchants and
+others, who complain to them that it was quite useless to go to
+Lord Althorp, for they find that he has not the slightest
+acquaintance with any of the subjects and interests on which they
+addressed themselves to him, and one man told Herries this, at
+the same time owning that he was a Whig in principle, and had
+been an opponent of the late and a supporter of the present
+Government. The press generally are falling off from the
+Government, which is an ominous sign. While the Government is
+thus weak and powerless the elements of confusion and violence
+are gathering fresh force, and without any fixed and loyal
+authority to check them will pursue their eccentric course till
+some public commotion arrives, or till the Conservative resources
+of the country are called into action and the antagonistic
+principles are fairly brought to trial.
+
+     [17] It was on Lord Chandos's motion to take into
+          consideration the state of the West Indies.
+
+The King went to the play the night before last; was well
+received in the house, but hooted and pelted coming home, and a
+stone shivered a window of his coach and fell into Prince George
+of Cumberland's lap. The King was excessively annoyed, and sent
+for Baring, who was the officer riding by his coach, and asked
+him if he knew who had thrown the stone; he said that it
+terrified the Queen, and 'was very disagreeable, as he should
+always be going somewhere.'
+
+In the House of Commons Committee on the Parliament Offices they
+are making the whole thing ridiculous by the sort of reductions
+they suggest. Hume proposed to cut down the President of the
+Council to L1,000 a year, on which Stormont moved he should have
+nothing, and this (which was intended to ridicule Hume's proposal)
+was carried, but will probably be rescinded. There is no directing
+power anywhere, and the sort of anarchy that is fast increasing
+must beget confusion. Nobody has the least idea how reform will
+go, or of the nature of what they mean to propose, but the King
+said to Cecil Forrester yesterday, who went to resign his office
+of Groom of the Bedchamber, 'Why do you resign?' He said he could
+not support Government or vote for Reform. 'Well, but you don't
+know what it is, and you might have waited till it came on, for it
+probably will not be carried;' and this he repeated twice. Lord
+Durham has volunteered to give up his salary as Privy Seal, which
+is no great sacrifice, considering how long he is likely to enjoy
+it, and everybody gives him credit for having suggested the relief
+to coals for his own interest. Lady Holland, who has got a West
+Indian estate, attacked him about the sugar duties, and asked him
+if they would not reduce them. He said 'No.' She retorted, 'That
+is because you have no West Indian estate; you have got your own
+job about coals done, and you don't care about us.' In the House
+of Lords they have it all their own way. The other night, on Lord
+Strangford's motion about the Methuen treaty, Brougham exhibited
+his wonderful powers in his very best style. Without any
+preparation for the question, and after it had been exhausted in a
+very good speech of Goderich's, he got up, and in answer to
+Strangford and Ellenborough banged their heads together, and
+displayed all his power of ridicule, sarcasm, and argument in a
+manner which they could not themselves help admiring. The next
+night he brought forward his Chancery Reform measure in a speech
+of three hours, which, however luminous, was too long for their
+Lordships, and before the end of it the House had melted away to
+nothing. But, notwithstanding this success, he must inwardly chafe
+at being removed from his natural element and proper sphere of
+action, and he must burn with vexation at seeing Peel riot and
+revel in his unopposed power, like Hector when Achilles would not
+fight, though this Achilles can never fight again, but he would
+give a great deal to go back to the field, and would require much
+less persuasion than Achilles did.
+
+
+February 25th, 1831 {p.119}
+
+[Page Head: LADY JERSEY AND LORD DURHAM.]
+
+A drawing-room yesterday, at which the Princess Victoria made her
+first appearance. I was not there. Lady Jersey made a scene with
+Lord Durham. She got up and crossed the room to him and said,
+'Lord Durham, I hear that you have said things about me which are
+not true, and I desire that you will call upon me to-morrow with
+a witness to hear my positive denial, and I beg that you will not
+repeat any such things about me,' or, as the Irishman said,
+'words to that effect.' She was in a fury, and he, I suppose, in
+a still greater. He muttered that he should never set foot in her
+house again, which she did not hear, as after delivering herself
+of her speech she flounced back again to her seat, mighty proud
+of the exploit. It arose out of his saying that he should make
+Lady Durham demand an audience of the Queen to contradict the
+things Lady Jersey had said of her and the other Whig ladies.
+
+I saw Lady Jersey last night and had a long conversation with her
+about her squabbles. She declares solemnly (and I believe it)
+that she never said a syllable to the Queen against her quondam
+friends, owns she abused Sefton to other people, cried, and
+talked, and the end was that I am to try to put an end to these
+_tracasseries_. She was mighty glorious about her _sortie_ upon
+Lambton, whom she dislikes, but she is vexed at the hornets' nest
+she has brought round her head. All this comes of talking. The
+wisest man mentioned in history was the vagrant in the Tuileries
+Gardens some years ago, who walked about with a gag on, and when
+taken up by the police and questioned why he went about in that
+guise, he said he was imprudent, and that he might not say
+anything to get himself into jeopardy he had adopted this
+precaution. I wonder what Lambton would say now about appointing
+others instead of Palmerston and Co. if they should go out, which
+he talked of as such an easy and indifferent matter. What
+arrogance and folly there is in the world! I don't know how long
+this will last, but it must end in Peel's being Prime Minister.
+What a foolish proverb that is that 'honesty is the best policy!'
+
+I am just come home from breakfasting with Henry Taylor to meet
+Wordsworth; the same party as when he had Southey--Mill, Elliot,
+Charles Villiers. Wordsworth may be bordering on sixty;
+hard-featured, brown, wrinkled, with prominent teeth and a few
+scattered grey hairs, but nevertheless not a disagreeable
+countenance; and very cheerful, merry, courteous, and talkative,
+much more so than I should have expected from the grave and
+didactic character of his writings. He held forth on poetry,
+painting, politics, and metaphysics, and with a great deal of
+eloquence; he is more conversible and with a greater flow of
+animal spirits than Southey. He mentioned that he never wrote
+down as he composed, but composed walking, riding, or in bed, and
+wrote down after; that Southey always composes at his desk. He
+talked a great deal of Brougham, whose talents and domestic
+virtues he greatly admires; that he was very generous and
+affectionate in his disposition, full of duty and attention to
+his mother, and had adopted and provided for a whole family of
+his brother's children, and treats his wife's children as if they
+were his own. He insisted upon taking them both with him to the
+drawing-room the other day when he went in state as Chancellor.
+They remonstrated with him, but in vain.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIV.
+
+Introduction of the Reform Bill--Attitude of the Opposition--
+  Reform Debates--Peel--Wilberforce and Canning--Old Sir Robert
+  Peel--The City Address--Agitation for Reform--Effects of the
+  Reform Bill--Brougham as Chancellor--Brougham at the Horse
+  Guards--Miss Kemble--Vote on the Timber Duties--Lord
+  Lansdowne's Opinion of the Bill--Reform Bill carried by one
+  Vote--The King in Mourning--The Prince of Orange--Peel's
+  Reserve--Ministers beaten--Parliament dissolved by the King in
+  Person--Tumult in both Houses--Failure of the Whig Ministry--
+  The King in their Hands--The Elections--Illumination in the
+  City--The Queen alarmed--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the Bill--
+  Lord Grey takes the Garter--The King at Ascot--Windsor under
+  William IV.--Brougham at Whitbread's Brewery and at the British
+  Museum--Breakfast at Rogers'--The Cholera--Quarantine--Meeting
+  of Peers--New Parliament meets--Opened by the King--'Hernani'
+  at Bridgewater House--The Second Reform Bill--The King's
+  Coronation--Cobbett's Trial--Prince Leopold accepts the Crown
+  of Belgium--Peel and the Tories--A Rabble Opposition--A Council
+  for the Coronation.
+
+
+March 2nd, 1831 {p.121}
+
+[Page Head: THE FIRST REFORM BILL.]
+
+The great day at length arrived, and yesterday Lord John Russell
+moved for leave to bring in his Reform Bill. To describe the
+curiosity, the intensity of the expectation and excitement, would
+be impossible, and the secret had been so well kept that not a
+soul knew what the measure was (though most people guessed pretty
+well) till they heard it. He rose at six o'clock, and spoke for
+two hours and a quarter--a sweeping measure indeed, much more so
+than anyone had imagined, because the Ministers had said it was
+one which would give _general_ satisfaction, whereas this must
+dissatisfy all the moderate and will probably just stop short
+enough not to satisfy the Radicals. They say it was ludicrous to
+see the faces of the members for those places which are to be
+disfranchised as they were severally announced, and Wetherell,
+who began to take notes, as the plan was gradually developed,
+after sundry contortions and grimaces and flinging about his arms
+and legs, threw down his notes with a mixture of despair and
+ridicule and horror. Not many people spoke last night: Inglis
+followed John Russell, and Francis Leveson closed the debate in
+the best speech he has ever made, though rather too flowery.
+Everything is easy in these days, otherwise how Palmerston,
+Goderich, and Grant can have joined in a measure of this
+sweeping, violent, and speculative character it is difficult to
+conceive, they who were the disciples of Castlereagh and the
+adherents of Canning; but after the Duke of Wellington and Peel
+carrying the Catholic question, Canning's friends advocating
+Radical Reform, and Eldon living to see Brougham on the Woolsack,
+what may one not expect?
+
+What everybody enquires is what line Peel will take, and though
+each party is confident of success in this question, it is thought
+to depend mainly upon the course he adopts and the sentiments he
+expresses. Hitherto he has cautiously abstained from committing
+himself in any way, and he is free to act as he thinks best, but
+he certainly occupies a grand position when he has _omnium oculos
+in se conversos_, and the whole House of Commons looking with
+unalterable anxiety to his opinions and conduct. Such has the
+course of events and circumstances made this man, who is probably
+yet destined to play a great part, and it may be a very useful
+one. God knows how this plan may be received in the country, and
+what may be its fate in Parliament. The Duke of Wellington,
+however, is right enough when he says that the great present
+danger is lest people should be too much afraid, for anything like
+the panic that prevails I never saw, the apprehension that enough
+will not be done to satiate the demon of popular opinion, and the
+disposition to submit implicitly to the universal bellow that
+pervades this country for what they call Reform without knowing
+what it is. As to this measure, the greatest evil of it is that it
+is a pure speculation, and may be productive of the best
+consequences, or the worst, or even of none at all, for all that
+its authors and abettors can explain to us or to themselves.
+
+O'Connell made his explanation the other night, which was
+wretched, and Stanley's was very good, but it matters not; he
+will tell the people in Ireland that he had a victory, and they
+will believe him. Nevertheless his defeat in Kilkenny is an
+excellent thing, and will contribute greatly to destroy the
+prestige of his power.
+
+
+March 3rd, 1831 {p.123}
+
+Last night the debate went on, nobody remarkably speaking but
+Macaulay and Wetherell; the former very brilliant, the latter
+long, rambling, and amusing, and he sat down with such loud and
+long cheering as everybody agreed they had never heard before in
+the House of Commons, and which was taken not so much as a test of
+the merits of the speech as of an indication of the disposition of
+the majority of the House. Wetherell was very good fun in a
+conversation he imagined at Cockermouth between Sir James Graham
+and one of his constituents. It is thought very strange that none
+of the Ministers have spoken, except Althorp the first night. The
+general opinion is that the Bill will be lost in the House of
+Commons, and that then Parliament will be dissolved, unless the
+King should take fright and prefer to change his Ministers.
+
+
+March 5th, 1831 {p.123}
+
+On Thursday night the great speeches were those of Hobhouse on one
+side and Peel on the other, which last was received with the
+greatest enthusiasm, and some said (as usual) that it was the
+finest oration they had ever heard within the walls of Parliament;
+it seems by the report of it to have been very able and very
+eloquent. The people come into the 'Travellers' after the debate,
+and bring their different accounts all tinctured by their
+particular opinions and prejudices, so that the exact truth of the
+relative merits of the speakers is only attainable by the
+newspaper reports, imperfect as they are, the next day. The
+excitement is beyond anything I ever saw. Last night Stanley
+answered Peel in an excellent speech and one which is likely to
+raise his reputation very high. He is evidently desirous of
+pitting himself against Peel, whom he dislikes; and it is probable
+that they are destined to be the rival leaders of two great
+Parliamentary parties, if things settle down into the ancient
+practices of Parliamentary warfare. The other events of last night
+were the resignation of Charles Wynne and his opposition to the
+Bill, and the unexpected defection from Government of Lord
+Seymour, the Duke of Somerset's son, and Jeffrey's speech, which
+was very able, but somewhat tedious.
+
+
+March 7th, 1831 {p.124}
+
+Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of, but Reform. Every
+creature one meets asks, What is said now? How will it go? What
+is the last news? What do _you_ think? and so it is from morning
+till night, in the streets, in the clubs, and in private houses.
+Yesterday morning met Hobhouse; told him how well I heard he had
+spoken, and asked him what he thought of Peel's speech; he said
+it was brilliant, imposing, but not much in it. Everybody cries
+up (more than usual) the speeches on their own side, and despises
+those on the other, which is peculiarly absurd, because the
+speaking has been very good, and there is so much to be said on
+both sides that the speech of an adversary may be applauded
+without any admission of his being in the right. Hobhouse told me
+he had at first been afraid that his constituents would
+disapprove this measure, as so many of them would be
+disfranchised, but that they had behaved nobly and were quite
+content and ready to make any sacrifices for such an object. I
+asked him if he thought it would be carried; he said he did not
+like to think it would not, for he was desirous of keeping what
+he had, and he was persuaded he should lose it if the Bill were
+rejected. I said it was an unlucky dilemma when one-half of the
+world thought like him and the other half were equally convinced
+that if it be carried they shall lose everything.
+
+Dined at Boodle's with the Master of the Rolls and Charles Grant,
+who talked about Peel and the reconstruction of the Tory party;
+that Peel and Wetherell do not _yet_ speak, but that the parties
+have joined, and at the meeting at Wetherell's Herries went to
+represent Peel with sixteen or eighteen of his friends. Ross,
+another of Peel's _ames damnees_, told me the same thing and that
+they would soon come together again. Grant said he knew that the
+Duke of Wellington had expressed his readiness to take any part
+in which it was thought he could render service, either a
+prominent or a subordinate one or none at all. If so he will be a
+greater man than he has ever been yet.
+
+Grant talked long and pathetically about the West Indies, and
+told me a curious anecdote on the authority of Scarlett, who was
+present. When Wilberforce went out of Parliament he went to
+Canning and offered him the lead and direction of his party (the
+Saints), urging him to accept it, and assuring him that their
+support would give him a strength which to an ambitious man like
+him was invaluable. Canning took three days to consider it, but
+finally declined, and then the party elected Brougham as their
+chief; hence the representation of Yorkshire and many other
+incidents in Brougham's career.
+
+[Page Head: THE FIRST SIR ROBERT PEEL.]
+
+Grant gave me a curious account of old Sir Robert Peel. He was
+the younger son of a merchant, his fortune (very small) left to
+him in the house, and he was not to take it out. He gave up the
+fortune and started in business without a shilling, but as the
+active partner in a concern with two other men--Yates (whose
+daughter he afterwards married) and another--who between them
+made up L6,000; from this beginning he left L250,000 apiece to
+his five younger sons, L60,000 to his three daughters each, and
+L22,000 a year in land and L450,000 in the funds to Peel. In his
+lifetime he gave Peel L12,000 a year, the others L3,000 and spent
+L3,000 himself. He was always giving them money, and for objects
+which it might have been thought he would have undervalued. He
+paid for Peel's house when he built it, and for the Chapeau de
+Paille (2,700 guineas) when he bought it.
+
+
+March 10th, 1831 {p.125}
+
+The debate has gone on, and is to be over to-night; everybody
+heartily sick of it, but the excitement as great as ever. Last
+night O'Connell was very good, and vehemently cheered by the
+Government, Stanley, Duncannon, and all, all differences giving
+way to their zeal; Attwood, the other way, good; Graham a total
+failure, got into nautical terms and a simile about a ship, in
+which he floundered and sank. Sir J. Yorke quizzed him with great
+effect. To-day the City went up with their address, to which the
+King gave a very general answer. There was great curiosity to
+know what his answer would be. I rather think this address was
+got up by Government. Brougham had written to Liverpool _to
+encourage the Reformers there_, as he owned to George Villiers
+last night; and Pearson was with Ellice at the Treasury for an
+hour the day before this address was moved in the City. They have
+gone so far that they certainly wish for agitation here. The Duke
+of Wellington is alarmed; nobody guesses how the question will
+go. Went to Lady Jersey the day before yesterday to read her
+correspondence with Brougham, who flummeried her over with notes
+full of affection and praise, to which she responded in the same
+strain, and so they are friends again. While I was reading her
+reply the Duke of Wellington came in, on which she huddled it up,
+and I conclude he has not seen her effusion. News arrived that
+the Poles have been beaten and have submitted. There is a great
+fall in the French funds, as they are expected not to pay their
+dividends. Europe is in a nice mess. The events of a quarter of a
+century would hardly be food for a week now-a-days.
+
+
+March 11th, 1831 {p.126}
+
+[Page Head: PROBABLE RESULTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+It is curious to see the change of opinion as to the passing of
+this Bill. The other day nobody would hear of the possibility of
+it, now everybody is beginning to think it will be carried. The
+tactics of the Opposition have been very bad, for they ought to
+have come to a division immediately, when I think Government
+would have been beaten, but it was pretty certain that if they
+gave time to the country to declare itself the meetings and
+addresses would fix the wavering and decide the doubtful. There
+certainly never was anything like the unanimity which pervades
+the country on the subject, and though I do not think they will
+break out into rebellion if it is lost, it is impossible not to
+see that the feeling for it (kept alive as it will be by every
+sort of excitement) must prevail and that if this particular Bill
+is not carried some other must very like it, and which, if it is
+much short of this, will only leave a peg to hang fresh
+discussions upon. The Government is desperate and sees no chance
+of safety but from their success in the measure, but I have my
+doubts whether they will render themselves immortal by it. It is
+quite impossible to guess at its effects at present upon the
+House of Commons in the first return which may be made under it,
+but if a vast difference is not made, and if it shall still leave
+to property and personal influence any great extent of power, the
+Tory party, which is sure to be revived, will in all probability
+be too strong for the Reforming Whigs. The Duke of Wellington
+expected to gain strength by passing the Catholic question,
+whereas he was ruined by it.
+
+
+March 15th, 1831 {p.127}
+
+It is universally believed that this Bill will pass, except by
+some of the ultras against it, or by the fools. But what next?
+That nobody can tell, though to see the exultation of the
+Government one would imagine they saw their way clearly to a
+result of wonderful good. I have little doubt that it will be
+read a second time, and be a good deal battled in Committee.
+Although they are determined to carry it through the Committee
+with a high hand, and not to suffer any alterations, probably
+some sort of compromise in matters of inferior moment will be
+made. But when it comes into operation how disappointed everybody
+will be, and first of all the people! Their imaginations are
+raised to the highest pitch, but they will open their eyes very
+wide when they find no sort of advantage accruing to them, when
+they are deprived of much of the expense and more of the
+excitement of elections, and see a House of Commons constructed
+after their own hearts, which will probably be an assembly in all
+respects inferior to the present. Then they will not be
+satisfied, and as it will be impossible to go back, there will be
+plenty of agitators who will preach that we have not gone far
+enough; and if a Reformed Parliament does not do all that popular
+clamour shall demand, it will be treated with very little
+ceremony. If, however, it be true that the tendency of this Bill
+will be to throw power into the hands of the landed interest, we
+shall have a great Tory party, which will be selfish, bigoted,
+and ignorant, and a Radical party, while the Whig party, who will
+have carried the measure, will sink into insignificance. Such
+present themselves to my mind as possible alternatives, as far as
+it is practicable to take anything like a view of probabilities
+in the chaos and confusion that mighty alterations like these
+produce.
+
+I dined with Lord Grey on Sunday; they are all in high spirits.
+Howick told his father that he had received a letter from some
+merchant in the north praising the Bill, and saying he approved of
+the whole Government except of Poulett Thomson. In the evening
+Brougham, John Russell, and others arrived. I hear of Brougham
+from Sefton, with whom he passes most of his spare time, to
+relieve his mind by small talk, _persiflage_, and the gossip of
+the day. He tells Sefton 'that he likes his office, but that it is
+a mere plaything and there is nothing to do; his life is too idle,
+and when he has cleared off the arrears, which he shall do
+forthwith, that he really does not know how he shall get rid of
+his time;' that 'he does not suffer the prolixity of counsel, and
+when they wander from the point he brings them back and says, "You
+need not say anything on that point; what I want to be informed
+upon is so." He is a wonderful man, the most extraordinary I ever
+saw, but there is more of the mountebank than of greatness in all
+this. It may do well enough for Sefton, who is as ignorant as he
+is sharp and shrewd, and captivated with his congenial offhandism,
+but it requires something more than Brougham's flippant _ipse
+dixit_ to convince me that the office of Chancellor is such a
+sinecure and bagatelle. He had a levee the other night, which was
+brilliantly attended--the Archbishops, Duke of Wellington, Lord
+Grey, a host of people. Sefton goes and sits in his private room
+and sees his receptions of people, and gives very amusing accounts
+of his extreme politeness to the Lord Mayor and his cool
+_insouciance_ with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The stories of
+him as told by Sefton would be invaluable to his future
+biographer, and never was a life more sure to be written
+hereafter.
+
+
+March 17th, 1831 {p.129}
+
+The night before last Wynford attacked Brougham's Bill, and got
+lashed in return with prodigious severity. He is resolved to
+press it, though George Villiers told me he had promised
+Lyndhurst to wait for his return to town. Notwithstanding his
+vapouring about the Court of Chancery, and treating it as such
+child's play, Leach affirms (but he is disappointed and hates
+him) that he is a very bad judge and knows nothing of his
+business. 'He was a very bad advocate; why should he make a good
+judge?'
+
+The Reform Bill is just printed, and already are the various
+objections raised against different parts of it, sufficient to
+show that it will be pulled to pieces in Committee. Both parties
+confident of success on the second reading, but the country
+_will_ have it; there is a determination on the subject, and a
+unanimity perfectly marvellous, and no demonstration of the
+unfitness of any of its parts will be of any avail; some of its
+details may be corrected and amended, but substantially it must
+pass pretty much as it is.
+
+[Page Head: BROUGHAM AT THE HORSE GUARDS.]
+
+Brougham has been getting into a squabble with the military. At
+the drawing-room on Thursday they refused to let his carriage
+pass through the Horse Guards, when he ordered his coachman to
+force his way through, which he did. He was quite wrong, and it
+was very unbecoming and undignified. Lord Londonderry called for
+an explanation in the House of Lords, when Brougham made a
+speech, and a very lame one. He said he ordered his coachman to
+go back, who did not hear him and went on, and when he had got
+through he thought it was not worth while to turn back. The Lords
+laughed. A few days after he drove over the soldiers in Downing
+Street, who were relieving guard; but this time he did no great
+harm to the men, and it was not his fault, but these things are
+talked of.
+
+Dined yesterday with General Macdonald to meet the Kembles. Miss
+Fanny is near being very handsome from the extraordinary
+expression of her countenance and fine eyes, but her figure is
+not good. She is short, hands and feet large, arms handsome, skin
+dark and coarse, and her manner wants ease and repose. Her mother
+is a very agreeable woman. I did not sit next to Fanny, and had
+no talk with her afterwards.
+
+
+March 18th, 1831 {p.130}
+
+Met Robert Clive yesterday morning; very low about the Bill,
+which he thinks so sure to be carried that he questions the
+expediency of dividing on the second reading; complained bitterly
+of the bad tactics and want of union of the party, and especially
+of Peel's inactivity and backwardness in not having rallied and
+taken the lead more than he has; he is in fact so cold,
+phlegmatic, and calculating that he disgusts those who can't do
+without him as a leader; he will always have political but never
+personal influence.
+
+
+March 20th, 1831 {p.130}
+
+On Friday night, after not a long but an angry and noisy debate,
+there was a division on the timber duties, and Government was
+beaten by forty-three, all the Saints, West Indians, and
+anti-Free-traders voting with the great body of Opposition. Their
+satisfaction was tumultuous. They have long been desirous of
+bringing Ministers to a trial of strength, and they did not care
+much upon what; they wanted to let the world see the weakness of
+Government, and besides on this occasion they hoped that a defeat
+might be prejudicial to the Reform Bill, so that this matter of
+commercial and fiscal policy is not decided on its own merits,
+but is influenced by passion, violence, party tactics, and its
+remote bearing upon another question with which it has no
+immediate relation. Althorp was obliged to abandon his original
+proposition of taking off 5s. from the duty on Baltic timber,
+which is 55s. (and 45s. on deals), and adding 10s. to the
+Canadian, which is already 10s. He proposed instead to take off
+6s. from the former this year, 6s. next, and 3s. next, so as to
+give plenty of time for the withdrawal of capital, and to meet
+all contingencies. The proposal was not unfair, and in other
+times would have been carried. Poulett Thomson made a very good
+speech, clear and satisfactory. Peel was what is called very
+factious--that is, in opposition--just what the others were,
+violent and unreasonable as far as the question is concerned, but
+acting upon a system having for its object to embarrass the
+Government.
+
+[Page Head: THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+I still think the second reading of the Reform Bill will pass,
+and, all things considered, that it would be the best thing that
+could happen; it is better to capitulate than to be taken by
+storm. The people are unanimous, good-humoured, and determined; if
+the Bill is thrown out, their good humour will disappear, the
+country will be a scene of violence and uproar, and a most
+ferocious Parliament will be returned, which will not only carry
+the question of Reform, but possibly do so in a very different
+form. We should see the _irae leonum vincla recusantum_, and this
+proposition is so evident, this state of things is so indisputable,
+that it is marvellous to me how anybody can triumph and exult in
+the anticipation of a victory the consequences of which would be
+more unfortunate than a defeat. If indeed a victory could set the
+matter at rest, confirm our present institutions, and pacify the
+people, it would be very well; but Reform the people will have,
+and no human power, moral or physical, can now arrest its career.
+It would be better, then, to concede with a good grace, and to
+modify the measure in Committee, which may still be practicable,
+than to oppose it point blank without a prospect of success.
+
+
+March 22nd, 1831 {p.131}
+
+The debate began again last night, and was adjourned. It was
+dull, and the House impatient. To-night they will divide, and
+after a thousand fluctuations of opinion it is thought the Bill
+will be thrown out by a small majority. Then will come the
+question of a dissolution, which one side affirms will take place
+directly, and the other that the King will not consent to it,
+knowing, as 'the man in the street' (as we call him at Newmarket)
+always does, the greatest secrets of kings, and being the
+confidant of their most hidden thoughts. As for me, I see nothing
+but a choice of difficulties either way, and victory or defeat
+would be equally bad. It is odd enough, but I believe Lord
+Lansdowne thinks just the same, for he asked me yesterday morning
+what I expected would be the result, and I told him my opinion on
+the whole question, and he replied, 'I can add nothing to what
+you have said; that is exactly my own opinion,' and I have very
+little doubt that more than half the Cabinet in their hearts
+abhor the measure. Knatchbull was taken ill in the morning, and
+could not go to the House at all.
+
+
+March 23rd, 1831 {p.132}
+
+The House divided at three o'clock this morning, and the second
+reading was carried by a majority of _one_ in the fullest House
+that ever was known--303 to 302--both parties confident up to the
+moment of division; but the Opposition most so, and at last the
+Government expected to be beaten. Denman told somebody as they
+were going to divide that the question would be lost; Calcraft
+and the Wynnes' going over at the eleventh hour did the business.
+I believe that this division is the best thing that could happen,
+and so I told the Duke in the morning, and that I had wished it
+to be carried by a small majority; I met him walking with
+Arbuthnot in the Park. He said, 'I could not take such a course'
+(that was in answer to my saying I wished it to be read a second
+time, to be lost in the Committee). I said, 'But you would have
+nothing to do with it personally.' 'No; but as belonging to the
+party I could not recommend such a course,' which seemed as if he
+did not altogether disagree with my view of it. I stopped at the
+'Travellers' till past three, when a man came in and told me the
+news. I walked home, and found the streets swarming with members
+of Parliament coming from the House. My belief is (if they manage
+well and are active and determined) that the Bill will be lost in
+Committee, and then this will be the best thing that could have
+occurred.
+
+
+March 24th, 1831 {p.132}
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL CARRIED BY ONE VOTE.]
+
+The agitation the other night on the division was prodigious. The
+Government, who stayed in the House, thought they had lost it by
+ten, and the Opposition, who were crowded in the lobby, fancied
+from their numbers that they were sure of winning. There was
+betting going on all night long, and large sums have been won and
+lost. The people in the lobby were miscounted, and they thought
+they had 303. At the levee yesterday and Council; the Government
+are by way of being satisfied, but hardly can be. I met the Duke
+of Wellington afterwards, who owned to me that he thought this
+small majority for the Bill was on the whole the best thing that
+could have occurred, and that seems to be the opinion generally
+of its opponents.
+
+Nothing particularly at the levee; Brougham very good fun. The
+King, who had put off going to the Opera on account of the death
+of his son-in-law Kennedy, appeared in mourning (crape, that is),
+which is reckoned bad taste; the public allow natural feeling to
+supersede law and etiquette, but it is too much to extend that
+courtesy to a 'son-in-law,' and his daughter is not in England.
+Somebody said that 'it was the first time a King of England had
+appeared in mourning that his subjects did not wear.' In the
+evening to the Ancient Concert, where the Queen was, and
+by-the-bye in mourning, and the Margravine and Duchess of
+Gloucester too, but they (the two latter) could hardly be
+mourning for Lord Cassilis's son. Horace Seymour, Meynell, and
+Calvert were all turned out of their places in the Lord
+Chamberlain's department on account of their votes the other
+night.
+
+The change of Ministers at Paris and Casimir Perier's speech have
+restored something like confidence about French affairs. The
+Prince of Orange is gone back to Holland, to his infinite
+disgust; he was escorted by Lady Dudley Stewart and Mrs. Fox as
+far as Gravesend, I believe, where they were found the next day
+in their white satin shoes and evening dresses. He made a great
+fool of himself here, and destroyed any sympathy there might have
+been for his political misfortunes; supping, dancing, and acting,
+and little (rather innocent) orgies at these ladies' houses
+formed his habitual occupation.
+
+A sort of repose from the cursed Bill for a moment, but it is
+said that many who opposed it before are going to support it in
+Committee; nobody knows. When the Speaker put the question, each
+party roared 'Aye' and 'No' _totis viribus_. He said he did not
+know, and put it again. After that he said, 'I am not sure, but I
+think the ayes have it.' Then the noes went out into the lobby,
+and the others thought they never would have done filing out, and
+the House looked so empty when they were gone that the Government
+was in despair. They say the excitement was beyond anything. I
+continue to hear great complaints of Peel--of his coldness,
+incommunicativeness, and deficiency in all the qualities
+requisite for a leader, particularly at such a time. There is
+nobody else, or he would be deserted for any man who had talents
+enough to take a prominent part, so much does he disgust his
+adherents. Nobody knows what are his opinions, feelings, wishes,
+or intentions; he will not go _en avant_, and nobody feels any
+dependence upon him. There is no help for it and the man's nature
+can't be altered. I said all this to Ross yesterday, his devoted
+adherent, and he was obliged to own it, with all kinds of regrets
+and endeavours to soften the picture.
+
+
+April 14th, 1831 {p.134}
+
+The Reform campaign has reopened with a violent speech from Hunt
+denouncing the whole thing as a delusion; that the people begin
+to find out how they are humbugged, and that as it will make
+nothing cheaper they don't care about it. The man's drift is not
+very clear whether the Bill is really unpalatable at Preston or
+whether he wants to go further directly. At the same time John
+Russell announced some alterations in the Bill, not, as he
+asserted, trenching upon its principle, but, as the Opposition
+declares, altering it altogether. On the whole, these things have
+inspirited its opponents, and, as they must produce delay, are in
+so far bad for the Reform cause. Besides, though the opinion of
+the country is universally in its favour, people are beginning to
+think that it may be rejected without any apprehension of such
+dreadful consequences ensuing as have been predicted. Then the
+state of Ireland is such that it is thought the Ministers cannot
+encounter a dissolution, not that I feel any security on that
+head, for I believe the Cabinet is ruled by two or three men
+reckless of everything provided they can prolong their own power.
+
+
+April 24th, 1831 {p.134}
+
+[Page Head: DEFEAT AND DISSOLUTION.]
+
+At Newmarket all last week, and returned to town last night to
+hear from those who saw them the extraordinary scenes in both
+Houses of Parliament (the day before) which closed the eventful
+week. The Reform battle began again on Monday last. The night
+before I went out of town I met Duncannon, and walked with him up
+Regent Street, when he told me that he did not believe the
+Ministers would be beaten, but if they were they should certainly
+dissolve instantly; that _he_ should have liked to dissolve long
+ago, but they owed it to their friends not to have recourse to a
+dissolution if they could help it. On Monday General Gascoyne
+moved that the Committee should be instructed not to reduce the
+members of the House of Commons, and this was carried after two
+nights' debate by eight. The dissolution was then decided upon.
+Meanwhile Lord Wharncliffe gave notice of a motion to address the
+King not to dissolve Parliament, and this was to have come on on
+Friday. On Thursday the Ministers were again beaten in the House
+of Commons on a question of adjournment, and on Friday morning
+they got the King to go down and prorogue Parliament in person
+the same day. This _coup d'etat_ was so sudden that nobody was
+aware of it till within two or three hours of the time, and many
+not at all. They told him that the cream-coloured horses could
+not be got ready, when he said, 'Then I will go with anybody
+else's horses.' Somebody went off in a carriage to the Tower, to
+fetch the Crown, and they collected such attendants as they could
+find to go with his Majesty. The Houses met at one or two
+o'clock. In the House of Commons Sir R. Vyvyan made a furious
+speech, attacking the Government on every point, and (excited as
+he was) it was very well done. The Ministers made no reply, but
+Sir Francis Burdett and Tennyson endeavoured to interrupt with
+calls to order, and when the Speaker decided that Vyvyan was not
+out of order Tennyson disputed his opinion, which enraged the
+Speaker, and soon after called up Peel, for whom he was resolved
+to procure a hearing. The scene then resembled that which took
+place on Lord North's resignation in 1782, for Althorp (I think)
+moved that Burdett should be heard, and the Speaker said that
+'Peel was in possession of the House to speak on that motion.' He
+made a very violent speech, attacking the Government for their
+incompetence, folly, and recklessness, and treated them with the
+utmost asperity and contempt. In the midst of his speech the guns
+announced the arrival of the King, and at each explosion the
+Government gave a loud cheer, and Peel was still speaking in the
+midst of every sort of noise and tumult when the Usher of the
+Black Rod knocked at the door to summon the Commons to the House
+of Peers. There the proceedings were if possible still more
+violent and outrageous; those who were present tell me it
+resembled nothing but what we read of the 'Serment du Jeu de
+Paume,' and the whole scene was as much like the preparatory days
+of a revolution as can well be imagined. Wharncliffe was to have
+moved an address to the Crown against dissolving Parliament, and
+this motion the Ministers were resolved should not come on, but
+he contrived to bring it on so far as to get it put upon the
+Journals. The Duke of Richmond endeavoured to prevent any
+speaking by raising points of order, and moving that the Lords
+should take their regular places (in separate ranks), which,
+however, is impossible at a royal sitting, because the cross
+benches are removed; this put Lord Londonderry in such a fury
+that he rose, roared, gesticulated, held up his whip, and four or
+five Lords held him down by the tail of his coat to prevent his
+flying on somebody. Lord Lyndhurst was equally furious, and some
+sharp words passed which were not distinctly heard. In the midst
+of all the din Lord Mansfield rose and obtained a hearing.
+Wharncliffe said to him, 'For God's sake, Mansfield, take care
+what you are about, and don't disgrace us more in the state we
+are in.' 'Don't be afraid,' he said; 'I will say nothing that
+will alarm you;' and accordingly he pronounced a trimming
+philippic on the Government, which, delivered as it was in an
+imposing manner, attired in his robes, and with the greatest
+energy and excitation, was prodigiously effective. While he was
+still speaking, the King arrived, but he did not desist even
+while his Majesty[1] was entering the House of Lords, nor till he
+approached the throne; and while the King was ascending the
+steps, the hoarse voice of Lord Londonderry was heard crying
+'Hear, hear, hear!' The King from the robing-room heard the
+noise, and asked what it all meant. The conduct of the Chancellor
+was most extraordinary, skipping in and out of the House and
+making most extraordinary speeches. In the midst of the uproar he
+went out of the House, when Lord Shaftesbury was moved into the
+chair. In the middle of the debate Brougham again came in and
+said, 'it was most extraordinary that the King's undoubted right
+to dissolve Parliament should be questioned at a moment when the
+House of Commons had taken the unprecedented course of stopping
+the supplies,' and having so said (which was a lie) he flounced
+out of the House to receive the King on his arrival. The King
+ought not properly to have worn the Crown, never having been
+crowned; but when he was in the robing-room he said to Lord
+Hastings, 'Lord Hastings, I wear the Crown; where is it?' It was
+brought to him, and when Lord Hastings was going to put it on his
+head he said, 'Nobody shall put the Crown on my head but myself.'
+He put it on, and then turned to Lord Grey and said, 'Now, my
+Lord, the coronation is over.' George Villiers said that in his
+life he never saw such a scene, and as he looked at the King upon
+the throne with the Crown loose upon his head, and the tall, grim
+figure of Lord Grey close beside him with the sword of state in
+his hand, it was as if the King had got his executioner by his
+side, and the whole picture looked strikingly typical of his and
+our future destinies.
+
+      [1] When Lord Mansfield sat down he said, 'I have spoken
+          English to them at least.' Lord Lyndhurst told me that
+          Lord Mansfield stopped speaking as soon as the door
+          opened to admit the King. He said he never saw him so
+          excited before, and in his robes he looked very grand.
+          He also told me that he was at Lady Holland's giving an
+          account of the scene when Brougham came in. He said, 'I
+          was telling them what passed the other day in our
+          House,' when Brougham explained his part by saying that
+          the Usher of the Black Rod (Tyrwhit) was at his elbow
+          saying, 'My Lord Chancellor, you must come; the King is
+          waiting for you: come along; you must come,' and that
+          he was thus dragged out of the House in this hurry and
+          without having time to sit down or say any more.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT.]
+
+Such has been the termination of this Parliament and of the first
+act of the new Ministerial drama; there never was a Government
+ousted with more ignominy than the last, nor a Ministry that came
+in with higher pretensions, greater professions, and better
+prospects than the present, but nothing ever corresponded less
+than their performances with their pretensions. The composition
+of the Government was radically defective, and with a good deal
+of loose talent there was so much of passion, folly, violence,
+and knavery, together with inexperience and ignorance mixed up
+with it, that from the very beginning they cut the sorriest
+possible figure. Such men as Richmond, Durham, Althorp, and
+Graham, in their different ways, were enough to spoil any
+Cabinet, and consequently their course has been marked by a
+series of blunders and defeats. Up to the moment of the
+dissolution few people expected it would happen, some thinking
+the King would not consent, others that the Government would
+never venture upon it, but the King is weak and the Ministry
+reckless. That disposition, which at first appeared so laudable,
+of putting himself implicitly into the hands of his Ministers,
+and which seemed the more so from the contrast it afforded to the
+conduct of the late King, who was always thwarting his Ministers,
+throwing difficulties in their way, and playing a double part,
+becomes vicious when carried to the extent of paralysing all free
+action and free opinion on his part, and of suffering himself to
+be made the instrument of any measures, however violent. It may
+be said, indeed, that he cordially agrees with these men, and has
+opinions coincident with theirs, but this is not probable; and
+when we remember his unlimited confidence in the Duke up to the
+moment of his resignation, it is impossible to believe that he
+can have so rapidly imbibed principles the very reverse of those
+which the Duke maintained.[2] It is more likely that he has no
+opinions, and is really a mere puppet in the hands into which he
+may happen to fall. Lord Mansfield had an audience, and gave him
+his sentiments upon the state of affairs. He will not say what
+passed between them, but it is clear that it was of no use.
+
+      [2] The King was extremely opposed to the dissolution, and
+          had remonstrated against it ever since it was first
+          proposed to him in March. See Lord Grey's letter in the
+          'Times' of March 26, 1866.
+
+The Queen and the Royal Family are extremely unhappy at all these
+things, but the former has no influence whatever with the King.
+In the meantime there are very different opinions as to the
+result of the elections, some thinking that Government will not
+gain much by the dissolution, others that they (or at least
+Reform) will win everything. It seems to me quite impossible that
+they should not win everything, but time is gained to the other
+side. The census of 1831 will be out, and the chapter of
+accidents may and must make much difference; still I see no
+possibility of arresting the progress of Reform, and whether this
+Bill or another like it passes is much the same thing. The
+Government have made it up with O'Connell, which is one mouthful
+of the dirty pudding they have had to swallow, as one of their
+own friends said of them.
+
+
+April 26th, 1831 {p.139}
+
+[Page Head: THE GENERAL ELECTION.]
+
+Last night at the Queen's ball; heaps of people of all sorts;
+everybody talking of the elections. Both parties pretend to be
+confident, but the Government with the best reason. The county
+members, as Sefton says, are tumbling about like nine-pins, and
+though it seems not improbable that the Opposition will gain in
+the boroughs, they must lose greatly in the counties; and we must
+not only look to the relative numbers, but to the composition of
+the respective parties. A large minority composed of borough
+nominees, corporation members, and only a sprinkling of what is
+called independence would not look well. Large sums have been
+subscribed on both sides, but on that of the Opposition there is
+a want of candidates more than of places to send them to.
+
+I met Lyndhurst last night, and asked him what it was he said in
+the House of Lords. He said it was nothing very violent, but that
+it was not heard. The Duke of Richmond had spoken to the point of
+order, and said in a very marked way 'he saw a noble Earl sitting
+by a _junior_ Baron.' This was Lyndhurst, who was offended at the
+sneer upon his want of _anciennete_, and who retorted that before
+the noble Duke made such speeches on points of order he would do
+well to make himself acquainted with the orders of the House, of
+which it was obvious he knew nothing. The Duke of Devonshire told
+Lady Lyndhurst that her husband ought to resign his judicial
+situation because he had displayed hostility to Government the
+other night, but it would be a new maxim to establish that the
+judges were to be amenable to the Minister for their political
+opinions and Parliamentary conduct.
+
+
+April 29th, 1831 {p.140}
+
+The night before last there was an illumination, got up by the
+foolish Lord Mayor, which of course produced an uproar and a
+general breaking of obnoxious windows. Lord Mansfield and the Duke
+of Buccleuch went to Melbourne in the morning and remonstrated,
+asking what protection he meant to afford to their properties. A
+gun (with powder only) was fired over the heads of the mob from
+Apsley House, and they did not go there again. The Government
+might have discouraged this manifestation of triumph, but they
+wished for it for the purpose of increasing the popular
+excitement. They don't care what they do, or what others do, so
+long as they can keep the people in a ferment. It is disgusting to
+the last degree to hear their joy and exultation at the success of
+their measures and the good prospects held out to them by the
+elections; all of which may turn out very well, but if it does not
+'who shall set hoddy-doddy up again?' Lord Cleveland has
+subscribed L10,000 to the election fund.
+
+Lord Yarborough, by a very questionable piece of political
+morality, has given the Holmes boroughs in the Isle of Wight to
+Government; they are the property of Sir L. Holmes's daughter,
+whose guardian he is as well as executor under the will. In this
+capacity he has the disposal of the boroughs, and he gives them
+to the Ministers to fill with men who are to vote for their
+disfranchisement. A large price is paid for them--L4,000--but it
+makes a difference of eight votes, and if the Bill is carried
+they will be worth nothing. The elections promise well for
+Government even in the boroughs, as I was persuaded they would.
+O'Connell has put forth a proclamation entreating, commanding
+peace, order, and support of the Bill's supporters. Tom Moore
+called on me yesterday morning. He said that he was a Reformer
+and liked the Bill, but he was fully aware of all that it might
+produce of evil to the present system. He owned frankly that he
+felt like an Irishman and that the wrongs of Ireland and the
+obstinacy of the faction who had oppressed her still rankled in
+his heart, and that he should not be sorry at any vengeance which
+might overtake them at last. I hear renewed complaints of Peel,
+of his selfish, cold, calculating, cowardly policy; that we are
+indebted to him principally for our present condition I have no
+doubt--to his obstinacy and to his conduct in the Catholic
+question first, to his opposition and then to his support of it.
+Opposing all and every sort of Reform _totis viribus_ while he
+dared, now he makes a death-bed profession of acquiescence in
+something which should be more moderate than this. All these
+things disgust people inconceivably, and it is not the less
+melancholy that he is our only resource, and his capacity for
+business and power in the House of Commons places him so far
+above all his competitors that if we are to have a Conservative
+party we must look to him alone to lead it.
+
+
+May 7th, 1831 {p.141}
+
+[Page Head: THE QUEEN ALARMED IN THE CITY.]
+
+Nothing could go on worse than the elections--Reformers returned
+everywhere, so much so that the contest is over, and we have only
+to await the event and see what the House of Lords will do. In
+the House of Commons the Bill is already carried. It is supposed
+that the Ministers themselves begin to be alarmed at the devil
+they have let loose, and well they may; but he is out, and stop
+him who can. The King has put off his visit to the City because
+he is ill, as the Government would have it believed, but really
+because he is furious with the Lord Mayor at all the riots and
+uproar on the night of the illumination. That night the Queen
+went to the Ancient Concert, and on her return the mob surrounded
+the carriage; she had no guards, and the footmen were obliged to
+beat the people off with their canes to prevent their thrusting
+their heads into the coach. She was frightened and the King very
+much annoyed. He heard the noise and tumult, and paced backwards
+and forwards in his room waiting for her return. When she came
+back Lord Howe, her chamberlain, as usual preceded her, when the
+King said, 'How is the Queen?' and went down to meet her. Howe,
+who is an eager anti-Reformer, said, 'Very much frightened, sir,'
+and made the worst of it. She was in fact terrified, and as she
+detests the whole of these proceedings, the more distressed and
+disgusted. The King was very angry and immediately declared he
+would not go to the City at all. It is supposed that Government
+will make a large batch of Peers to secure the Bill in the House
+of Lords, but the press have already begun to attack that House,
+declaring that if they pass the Bill it will be from compulsion,
+and if they do not that they are the enemies of the people.
+
+
+May 11th, 1831 {p.142}
+
+The elections are going on universally in favour of Reform; the
+great interests in the counties are everywhere broken, and old
+connexions dissevered. In Worcestershire Captain Spencer, who has
+nothing to do with the county, and was brought there by his
+brother-in-law, Lord Lyttelton, has beaten Lygon, backed by all
+the wealth of his family; the Manners have withdrawn from
+Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire, and Lord E. Somerset from
+Gloucestershire; Lord Worcester too is beaten at Monmouth.
+Everywhere the tide is irresistible; all considerations are
+sacrificed to the success of the measure. At the last Essex
+election Colonel Tyrrell saved Western, who would have been beaten
+by Long Wellesley, and now Western has coalesced with Wellesley
+against Tyrrell, and will throw him out. In Northamptonshire
+Althorp had pledged himself to Cartwright not to bring forward
+another candidate on his side, and Milton joins him and stands.
+The state of excitement, doubt, and apprehension which prevails
+will not quickly subside, for the battle is only beginning; when
+the Bill is carried we must prepare for the second act.
+
+
+May 14th, 1831 {p.142}
+
+[Page Head: LORD MUNSTER'S PEERAGE.]
+
+The elections are still going for Reform. They count upon a
+majority of 140 in the House of Commons, but the Tories meditate
+resistance in the House of Lords, which it is to be hoped will be
+fruitless, and it is probable the Peers will trot round as they
+did about the Catholic question when it comes to the point. There
+is a great hubbub at Northampton about a pledge which Althorp is
+supposed to have given not to bring forward another candidate
+against Cartwright which the anti-Reformers say he has violated
+in putting up Milton, and moreover that such conduct is very
+dishonest; and as his honesty was his principal recommendation,
+if he should have forfeited that what would remain to him? On the
+contrary his friends say that he gave no such pledge, that he
+expressed a hope there might be no contest, but the people would
+have Milton, and though Althorp regretted his standing, as he did
+stand they were obliged to join for their common safety. So much
+for this electioneering squabble, of which time will elicit the
+truth. Last night I went to Prince Leopold's, where was George
+Fitzclarence receiving congratulations on his new dignity (Earl
+of Munster). He told me everybody had been very kind about it--the
+King, Lord Grey, his friends, and the public. He had told
+Lord Grey he was anxious his brothers and sisters should have the
+rank of marquis's sons and daughters (to give them titles). Grey
+had only objected that their titles would then represent a higher
+rank than his own,[3] but that he laid no stress on that
+objection, and it would be done directly. Melbourne has written a
+letter to the Lord Mayor assuring him that ill health is the only
+obstacle to the King's visit to the City, and that there is no
+foundation for the report of his displeasure, the Lord Mayor's
+explanation having proved quite satisfactory. This is not true, I
+believe, but they make him say so.
+
+      [3] [If Lord Grey said this it was a mistake. The younger
+          sons and daughters of marquises take rank after earls.]
+
+
+May 22nd, 1831 {p.143}
+
+[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM AS A JUDGE.]
+
+At Epsom all last week for the races at a house which Lord
+Chesterfield took; nobody there but the three sisters[4] and their
+two husbands. Rode out on the downs every morning, and enjoyed the
+fine country, as beautiful as any I have seen of the kind. After
+the races on Friday I went to Richmond to dine with Lord and Lady
+Lyndhurst, and was refreshed by his vigorous mind after the three
+or four days I had passed. He thinks the state of things very bad,
+has a great contempt for this Government, is very doubtful what
+will happen, thinks Lord Grey will not stand, and that Brougham
+will be Chancellor and Prime Minister, like Clarendon; he talked
+of the late Government, the Duke of Wellington and Peel; he said
+that the former meddled with no department but that of Foreign
+Affairs, which he conducted entirely; that he understood them
+better than anything else, and if he came into office again would
+be Foreign Secretary; that in the Cabinet he was always candid,
+reasonable, and ready to discuss fairly every subject, but not so
+Peel. He, if his opinion was not adopted, would take up a
+newspaper and sulk. Lyndhurst agreed with me about his manners,
+his coldness, and how he disgusted instead of conciliating people;
+he said that when any of his friends in Parliament proposed to
+speak in any debate, he never encouraged or assisted them, but
+answered with a dry 'Do you?' to their notification of a wish or
+intention. He said that this Bill was drawn up by Lambton himself,
+but so ill done, so ignorantly and inefficiently, that they were
+obliged to send for Harrison, who, in conjunction with the
+Attorney-General, drew it up afresh; that when John Russell
+brought it forward the Bill was still undrawn.[5] He says that
+there is not the least doubt they never had an idea of bringing
+forward any such measure as this till they found themselves so
+weak in the House of Commons that nothing but a popular cry and
+Radical support could possibly save them. It is very remarkable
+when we look back to the moment of the dissolution of the late
+Government, when Brougham was in the House of Commons armed with
+his Bill, which, though unknown, was so dreaded, and which turns
+out to have been mere milk and water compared with this. He said
+Brougham was offered the Attorney-Generalship by a note, which he
+tore in pieces and stamped upon, and sent word that there was no
+answer; that he has long aspired to be Chancellor, and wished to
+get into the House of Lords. He ridicules his pretensions to such
+wonderful doings in his Court and in the Bills he has announced;
+says that he has decided no bankruptcy cases, and, except some
+Scotch appeals in the House of Lords, has got rid of hardly any
+arrears; and as to his Bills, the Bankruptcy Bill was objectionable
+and the Chancery Bill he has never brought on at all; that he
+knows he affects a short cut to judicial eminence, but that
+without labour and reading he cannot administer justice in that
+Court, although no doubt his great acuteness and rapid perception
+may often enable him at once to see the merits of a case and hit
+upon the important points. This he said in reply to what I told
+him of Brougham's trumpeter Sefton, who echoes from his own lips
+that 'the Court of Chancery is such a sinecure and mere child's
+play.'
+
+      [4] [Lady Chesterfield, Mrs. Anson, and Miss Forester.]
+
+      [5] [Compare the details of the preparation of the Reform
+          Bill published by Lord Russell in the last edition of
+          his 'Essay on the British Constitution.' Much of this
+          conversation of Lord Lyndhurst's is extremely wide of
+          the truth, but it is retained to show what was said and
+          believed by competent persons at the time.]
+
+In the meantime the elections have been going languidly on, and
+are now nearly over; contrary to the prognostications of the
+Tories, they have gone off very quietly, even in Ireland not many
+contests, the anti-Reformers being unable to make any fight at
+all; except in Shropshire they are dead-beat everywhere.
+Northamptonshire the sharpest contest, and the one which has made
+the most ill blood; this particular election has produced a good
+deal of violence; elsewhere the Reformers have it hollow, no
+matter what the characters of the candidates, if they are only for
+the Bill. Calcraft and Wellesley, the former not respected, the
+latter covered with disgrace, have beat Bankes and Tyrrell.
+Lowther had not a chance in Cumberland, where Sir James Graham got
+into another scrape, for in an impertinent speech he made an
+attack upon Scarlett, which drew upon him a message and from him
+an apology. Formerly, when a man made use of offensive expressions
+and was called to account, he thought it right to go out and stand
+a shot before he ate his words, but now-a-days that piece of
+chivalry is dispensed with, and politicians make nothing of being
+scurrilous one day and humble the next. Hyde Villiers has been
+appointed to succeed Sandon at the Board of Control as a Whig and
+a Reformer. He was in a hundred minds what line he should take,
+and had written a pamphlet to prove the necessity of giving
+Ministers seats in both Houses (as in France), which he has
+probably put in the fire. I am very glad he has got the place, and
+though his opinions were not very decided before, he has always
+been anti-Tory, and has done nothing discreditable to get it, and
+it was offered to him in a very flattering manner.
+
+
+May 28th, 1831 {p.146}
+
+Yesterday Lord Grey was invested with the blue ribband, though
+there is no vacancy; the only precedent is that of Lords
+Liverpool and Castlereagh (which was thought wrong), but it was
+on the occasion of the peace after Bonaparte's overthrow and when
+Castlereagh returned with such _eclat_ from Paris that the whole
+House of Commons rose and cheered him as he entered it.
+
+I met Alexander Baring the other night, who said it was certain
+that the King was full of regrets at the extent of the measures
+into which he had been hurried, when I told him of Lord Grey's
+Garter, and asked him what he said to that, and how that bore out
+the assertion of the King's regrets. The fact is that although on
+one side a most indecent though effectual use of the King's name
+has been made, on the other there is nothing that is not asserted
+with equal confidence about 'his difficulties and his scruples.'
+Sefton told me that it was the sort of things that were said that
+made the King write to Lord Grey (he saw the letter) and tell him
+that he thought it of the greatest importance at the present
+moment to confer upon him a signal mark of his regard and of his
+satisfaction with the whole of his conduct. It is, I believe,
+true that the King felt some alarm and some doubt about the
+dissolution, but I do not believe that he has any doubts or fears
+at present. Indeed, how should he not have suffered himself to be
+led away by these people and to become identified with their
+measure? They have given him an ample share of the praise of it;
+they assure him it will be eminently successful; he sees himself
+popular and applauded to the skies, and as far as things have
+gone it has been successful, for the elections have gone on and
+gone off very peaceably, and the country in expectation of the
+passing of the Bill is in a state of profound tranquillity.
+
+
+June 5th, 1831 {p.147}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING AT ASCOT.]
+
+All last week at Fern Hill for the Ascot races; the
+Chesterfields, Tavistocks, Belfasts, George Ansons, Montague,
+Stradbroke, and Brooke Greville were there. The Royal Family came
+to the course the first day with a great _cortege_--eight coaches
+and four, two phaetons, pony sociables, and led horses--Munster
+riding on horseback behind the King's carriage, Augustus (the
+parson) and Frederick driving phaetons. The Duke of Richmond was
+in the King's caleche and Lord Grey in one of the coaches. The
+reception was strikingly cold and indifferent, not half so good
+as that which the late King used to receive. William was bored to
+death with the races, and his own horse broke down. On Wednesday
+he did not come; on Thursday they came again. Beautiful weather
+and unprecedented multitudes. The King was much more cheered than
+the first day, or the greater number of people made a greater
+noise. A few cheers were given to Lord Grey as he returned, which
+he just acknowledged and no more. On Friday we dined at the
+Castle; each day the King asked a crowd of people from the
+neighbourhood. We arrived at a little before seven; the Queen was
+only just come in from riding, so we had to wait till near eight.
+Above forty people at dinner, for which the room is not nearly
+large enough; the dinner was not bad, but the room insufferably
+hot. The Queen was taken out by the Duke of Richmond, and the
+King followed with the Duchess of Saxe Weimar, the Queen's
+sister. He drinks wine with everybody, asking seven or eight at a
+time. After dinner he drops asleep. We sat for a short time.
+Directly after coffee the band began to play; a good band, not
+numerous, and principally of violins and stringed instruments.
+The Queen and the whole party sat there all the evening, so that
+it was, in fact, a concert of instrumental music. The King took
+Lady Tavistock to St. George's Hall and the ball room, where we
+walked about, with two or three servants carrying lamps to show
+the proportions, for it was not lit up. The whole thing is
+exceedingly magnificent, and the manner of life does not appear
+to be very formal, and need not be disagreeable but for the bore
+of never dining without twenty strangers. The Castle holds very
+few people, and with the King's and Queen's immediate suite and
+_toute la batardise_ it was quite full. The King's four sons were
+there, _signoreggianti tutti_, and the whole thing 'donnait a
+penser' to those who looked back a little and had seen other
+days. We sat in that room in which Lyndhurst has often talked to
+me of the famous five hours' discussion with the late King, when
+the Catholic Bill hung upon his caprice. Palmerston told me he
+had never been in the Castle since the eventful day of Herries'
+appointment and non-appointment; and how many things have
+happened since. What a _changement de decoration_; no longer
+George IV., capricious, luxurious, and misanthropic, liking
+nothing but the society of listeners and flatterers, with the
+Conyngham tribe and one or two Tory Ministers and foreign
+Ambassadors; but a plain, vulgar, hospitable gentleman, opening
+his doors to all the world, with a numerous family and suite, a
+Whig Ministry, no foreigners, and no toad-eaters at all. Nothing
+can be more different, and looking at him one sees how soon this
+act will be finished, and the same be changed for another
+probably not less dissimilar. Queen, bastards, Whigs,[6] all will
+disappear, and God knows what replaces them. Came to town
+yesterday, and found a quarrel between Henry Bentinck and Sir
+Roger Gresley, which I had to settle, and did settle amicably in
+the course of the evening.
+
+      [6] Not Whigs--they are _les bienvenus_, which they were
+          not before.--_July 1838._
+
+
+June 7th, 1831 {p.148}
+
+[Page Head: DINNER AT HANBURY'S BREWERY.]
+
+Dined with Sefton yesterday, who gave me an account of a dinner
+at Fowell Buxton's on Saturday to see the brewery, at which
+Brougham was the 'magnus Apollo.' Sefton is excellent as a
+commentator on Brougham; he says that he watches him incessantly,
+never listens to anybody else when he is there, and _rows_ him
+unmercifully afterwards for all the humbug, nonsense, and palaver
+he hears him talk to people. They were twenty-seven at dinner.
+Talleyrand was to have gone, but was frightened by being told
+that he would get nothing but beefsteaks and porter, so he stayed
+away. They dined in the brewhouse and visited the whole
+establishment. Lord Grey was there in star, garter, and ribband.
+There were people ready to show and explain everything, but not a
+bit--Brougham took the explanation of everything into his own
+hands--the mode of brewing, the machinery, down to the feeding of
+the cart horses. After dinner the account books were brought, and
+the young Buxtons were beckoned up to the top of the table by
+their father to hear the words of wisdom that flowed from the
+lips of my Lord Chancellor. He affected to study the ledger, and
+made various pertinent remarks on the manner of book-keeping.
+There was a man whom Brougham called 'Cornelius' (Sefton did not
+know who he was) with whom he seemed very familiar. While
+Brougham was talking he dropped his voice, on which 'Cornelius'
+said, 'Earl Grey is listening,' that he might speak louder and so
+nothing be lost. He was talking of Paley, and said that 'although
+he did not always understand his own meaning, he always contrived
+to make it intelligible to others,' on which 'Cornelius' said,
+'My good friend, if he made it so clear to others he must have
+had some comprehension of it himself;' on which Sefton attacked
+him afterwards, and swore that 'he was a mere child in the hands
+of "Cornelius,"' that 'he never saw anybody so put down.' These
+people are all subscribers to the London University, and Sefton
+swears he overheard Brougham tell them that 'Sir Isaac Newton was
+nothing compared to some of the present professors,' or something
+to that effect. I put down all this nonsense because it amused me
+in the recital, and is excessively characteristic of the man, one
+of the most remarkable who ever existed. Lady Sefton told me that
+he went with them to the British Museum, where all the officers
+of the Museum were in attendance to receive them. He would not
+let anybody explain anything, but did all the honours himself. At
+last they came to the collection of minerals, when she thought he
+must be brought to a standstill. Their conductor began to
+describe them, when Brougham took the words out of his mouth, and
+dashed off with as much ease and familiarity as if he had been a
+Buckland or a Cuvier. Such is the man, a grand mixture of moral,
+political, and intellectual incongruities.
+
+
+June 10th, 1831 {p.150}
+
+Breakfasted the day before yesterday with Rogers, Sydney Smith,
+Luttrell, John Russell, and Moore; excessively agreeable. I never
+heard anything more entertaining than Sydney Smith; such bursts
+of merriment and so dramatic. Breakfasts are the meals for poets.
+I met Wordsworth and Southey at breakfast. Rogers' are always
+agreeable.
+
+
+June 15th, 1831 {p.150}
+
+Five new peerages came out yesterday--Sefton, Kinnaird, Fingall,
+Leitrim, and Agar Ellis; John Russell and Stanley are to be in the
+Cabinet. At the ball at St. James's the other night George Dawson
+told me that they had 270 people in the House of Commons on the
+side of the Opposition, if they could command their attendance;
+that he did not mean to say no Reform Bill would pass, but that
+the details of this Bill had never yet been discussed, and when
+they were it would be so clearly shown that it is impracticable
+that this identical measure never could pass. The Opposition are
+beginning to recover from their discouragement; there is to be a
+meeting at Lord Mansfield's on Friday, and they do, I believe,
+mean to fight it out.
+
+
+June 19th, 1831 {p.150}
+
+[Page Head: THE CHOLERA.]
+
+The last few days I have been completely taken up with quarantine,
+and taking means to prevent the cholera coming here. That disease
+made great ravages in Russia last year, and in the winter the
+attention of Government was called to it, and the question was
+raised whether we should have to purify goods coming here in case
+it broke out again, and if so how it was to be done. Government
+was thinking of Reform and other matters, and would not bestow
+much attention upon this subject, and accordingly neither
+regulations nor preparations were made. All that was done was to
+commission a Dr. Walker, a physician residing at St. Petersburg,
+to go to Moscow and elsewhere and make enquiries into the nature
+and progress of the disease, and report the result of his
+investigation to us. He turned out, however, to be a very useless
+and inefficient agent. In the meantime as the warm weather
+returned the cholera again appeared in Russia, but still we took
+no further measures until intelligence arrived that it had reached
+Riga, at which place 700 or 800 sail of English vessels, loaded
+principally with hemp and flax, were waiting to come to this
+country. This report soon diffused a general alarm, and for many
+days past the newspapers have been full of letters and full of
+lies, and every sort of representation is made to Government or
+through the press, as fear or interest happen to dictate. The
+Consuls and Ministers abroad had been for some time supplying us
+with such information as they could obtain, so that we were in
+possession of a great deal of documentary evidence regarding the
+nature, character, and progress of the disease. The first thing we
+did was to issue two successive Orders in Council placing all
+vessels coming from the Baltic in quarantine, and we sent for Sir
+Henry Halford and placed all the papers we had in his hands,
+desiring that he would associate with himself some other
+practitioners, and report their opinion as speedily as possible
+whether the disease was contagious and whether it could be
+conveyed by goods. They reported the next day _yes_ to the first
+question, _no_ to the second. In 1804, on the occasion of the
+yellow fever at Gibraltar, Government formed a Board of Health,
+and took the opinion of the College of Physicians, and it was
+intended to pursue the same course in this instance, but Lords
+Lansdowne and Auckland chose to take Halford's preliminary
+opinion, contrary to my advice, for I foresaw that there would be
+a great embarrassment if he and the College did not agree. Just so
+it turned out, for when the case was submitted, with all the
+papers, to the College, they would not adopt his opinion, much to
+his annoyance, and, as I believe, because they did not like to be
+merely called on to confirm what he had already said, and that
+they thought their independence required a show of dissent. The
+report they sent was very short and very unsatisfactory, and
+entirely against all the evidence they had before them; they
+advised precautionary measures. I immediately wrote back an answer
+saying that their report was not satisfactory, and desiring a more
+detailed opinion, and the reasons which had dictated their
+conclusion; but in the meantime we set to work in earnest to adopt
+measures against any emergency. The only way of performing
+quarantine (with goods), it was found, would be by the employment
+of men-of-war, and we accordingly asked the Admiralty to supply
+ships for the purpose. This Lord Grey, Sir James Graham, and Sir
+Byam Martin objected to, but Sir Thomas Hardy and Captain Elliot
+did not. We proved that the ships would sustain no injury, so
+after a battle they agreed to give them. We made a variety of
+regulations, and gave strict orders for the due performance of
+quarantine, and to-morrow a proclamation is to be issued for
+constituting a Board of Health and enjoining obedience to the
+quarantine laws, so that everything has been done that can be
+done, and if the cholera comes here it is not our fault. Most of
+the authorities think it will come, but I doubt it. If indeed it
+is wafted through the air it may, but I don't think it will if it
+is only to be communicated by contact. All the evidence proves
+that goods cannot convey it; nevertheless we have placed
+merchandise under a discretionary quarantine, and though we have
+not promulgated any general regulations, we release no vessels
+that come from infected places, or that have got enumerated goods
+on board. Poulett Thomson, who is a trader as well as Privy
+Councillor, is very much disgusted in his former capacity at the
+measures he is obliged to concur in in his latter. This topic has
+now occupied for some days a good deal of the attention even of
+the fine fools of this town, and the Tories would even make it a
+matter of party accusation against the Government, only they don't
+know exactly how. It is always safe to deal in generalities, so
+they say that 'Government ought to be impeached if the disease
+comes here.'
+
+[Page Head: MEETING OF PEERS.]
+
+There was a meeting of Peers to the amount of nearly seventy at
+Lord Mansfield's the other day, which went off greatly to their
+satisfaction. They unanimously agreed to determine upon nothing
+in the way of amendment until they had seen the King's Speech, to
+which, however, they will consider themselves bound to move an
+amendment, provided it contains anything laudatory of the Reform
+Bill. The Duke of Wellington was not at the meeting, having been
+taken ill. I met him the day before at dinner, and had a good
+deal of conversation with him. He is in pretty good spirits, and
+thinks they may make a good fight of it yet; told me that
+Lyndhurst would certainly go thoroughly with them, praised him
+largely, said he was the best colleague that any man ever had,
+and that he should be very sorry ever to go into any Cabinet of
+which he was not a member. The King dined with the Duke
+yesterday, and was to give him a very fine sword. Aubin, who was
+to have acted in 'Hernani' before the Queen on Wednesday next, is
+suddenly gone off to Rome as _attache_ to Brook Taylor, who is
+there negotiating. Taylor happened to be in Italy, and they sent
+him there, some doubts existing whether they could by law send a
+diplomatic agent to negotiate with the Pope; but it was referred
+to Denman, who said there was no danger. He is not accredited,
+and bears no _official_ character, but it is a regular mission.
+Lord Lansdowne told me that Leopold is inconceivably anxious to
+be King of Belgium, that short of going in direct opposition to
+the wishes and advice of all the Royal Family and of the
+Government he would do anything to be beking'd, and, what is
+equally absurd, that the others cannot bear that he should be
+thus elevated.
+
+
+June 23rd, 1831 {p.153}
+
+The King opened Parliament on Tuesday, with a greater crowd
+assembled to see him pass than was ever congregated before, and
+the House of Lords was so full of ladies that the Peers could not
+find places. The Speech was long, but good, and such as to
+preclude the possibility of an amendment. There was, however, a
+long discussion in each House, and the greatest bitterness and
+violence evinced in both--every promise of a stormy session. Lord
+Lansdowne said to the King, 'I am afraid, sir, you won't be able
+to _see_ the Commons.' 'Never mind,' said he; 'they shall _hear_
+me, I promise you,' and accordingly he thundered forth the Speech
+so that not a word was lost.
+
+There has been a reconciliation between the Wellingtonians and
+the old Tories, and they are now firmly knit in opposition to the
+present Government. Winchilsea, who was the last Tory who stuck
+to Lord Grey, renounced him in a hot speech, which evidently
+annoyed Lord Grey very much, for he made a long one in reply to
+him. Winchilsea is a silly, blustering, but good-natured and
+well-meaning man. Last night 'Hernani' was acted at Bridgewater
+House before the Queen and all the Royal Family. Aubin, who had
+acted Don Ruy, was sent to Rome, so Francis Leveson took the
+part. I was disappointed, though all the company were or
+pretended to be in ecstasies. The rhyme does not do, the room is
+not good for hearing, and with the exception of Miss Kemble (who
+was not so effective as I expected) and Craven, the actors were
+execrable.
+
+[Page Head: PREVENTION OF CHOLERA.]
+
+News came the day before yesterday that Marshal Diebitsch had died
+of the cholera. It was suspected that he had made away with
+himself, for he has failed so signally in his campaign against the
+Poles that his military reputation is tarnished; and it is known
+that his recall had been decreed, and that Count Paskiewitch was
+to succeed him. The alarm about the cholera still continues, but
+the Government are thrown into great perplexity by the danger on
+one hand of the cholera and the loss to trade on the other. A
+board of health has been formed, composed of certain members of
+the College of Physicians, Sir William Pym, Sir William Burnet,
+Sir Byam Martin, Sir James M'Grigor, and Mr. Stewart; and they in
+their first sitting advised that all the precautions established
+by our Orders in Council against the plague should be adopted
+against the cholera. This opinion was given under the authority of
+Dr. Warren, who, it appears, exercises the same ascendency in this
+Board that he had previously done in the College of Physicians on
+the same subject. The fact is that he takes the safe side. They
+have nothing to do with trade and commerce, which must shift for
+themselves, and probably the other members will not take upon
+themselves the responsibility of opposing measures which, if the
+disease ever appears here, and should they be relaxed, will expose
+the physicians to the odium and reproach of having been
+instrumental to its introduction. We, however (Auckland, Poulett
+Thomson, and I), are resolved to make the Cabinet take upon
+themselves the responsibility of framing the permanent rules which
+are to guide us during the continuance of the malady. It is
+remarkable that there never was more sickness than there is at
+present, without its being epidemic, but thousands of colds, sore
+throats, fevers, and such like; and a man at Blackwall has died of
+the English cholera, and another is ill of it, but their disorders
+seem to have nothing to do with the Indian cholera, though some of
+the symptoms are similar. These men cannot have got their cholera
+from Russia, but their cases spread alarm.
+
+
+June 25th, 1831 {p.155}
+
+John Russell brought his Bill in last night, in a good speech as
+his friends, and a dull one as his enemies, say. In the Lords
+Aberdeen attacked Lord Grey's foreign policy in a poor speech,
+which just did to show his bitterness and as a peg for Grey to
+hang a very good reply upon. The Duke of Wellington spoke
+afterwards; not much of a speech, but gentlemanlike and
+anti-factious, and _approving_ of all Lord Grey had done about
+Belgium. Lord Grey passed a very fine eulogium upon Lord
+Ponsonby. However, this was necessary, for he is going as
+Minister to Naples, not having a guinea. The Emperor Don Pedro is
+coming here, and Henry Webster is to be his conductor.
+
+
+June 30th, 1831 {p.155}
+
+At Court yesterday to swear in the Duke of Leinster, Mr. Justice
+Vaughan, and Sir E. Hyde East. Lord Ponsonby was there, just
+returned from Brussels. The first time of Stanley's and John
+Russell's being at a Council since they came into the Cabinet.
+
+
+July 3rd, 1831 {p.155}
+
+Went to Oatlands on Saturday, returned on Monday; nobody there
+but Emily Eden. Many revolutions that place has undergone in my
+time, from the days of the Duke of York and its gaieties (well
+remembered and much regretted) to its present quiet state. The
+Belgians have not yet made up their mind about Leopold, who does
+not know whether he is king or no king. The Reform Bill came on
+again last night, but it no longer excites so much interest.
+Nobody spoke well but Lord Porchester.
+
+
+July 5th, 1831 {p.156}
+
+The night before last Lord Harewood attacked Brougham in the
+House of Lords about the appointment of a magistrate without
+consulting him as Lord-Lieutenant. As usual his own party say he
+made out a good case, and the others that he made none. They say
+(and I believe with truth) that Brougham does not dislike such
+scrapes, and is so confident in his own ingenuity that he never
+doubts of getting out of them. Lyndhurst attacked him sharply. In
+the House of Commons last night the debate went on languidly,
+except a splendid speech from Macaulay and an answer (not bad,
+they say) from Murray. Lord Grey sent for me yesterday morning to
+talk over the coronation, for in consequence of what the Duke of
+Wellington said in the House the night before he thinks there
+must be one. The object is to make it shorter and cheaper than
+the last, which occupied the whole day and cost L240,000.
+
+
+July 8th, 1831 {p.156}
+
+The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried at five in the
+morning by 136 majority, somewhat greater than the Opposition had
+reckoned on. Peel made a powerful speech, but not so good as
+either of his others on Reform. Goulburn told me that the speech
+in answer to the Lord Advocate on the Irish Bill, when not 100
+people were in the House, was his best. The coronation fixed for
+the 23rd. Breakfasted with Rogers; went afterwards to the Duchess
+of Bedford's, where I met Lady Lyndhurst. I desired her to tell
+Lyndhurst all the Duke had said to me about him, for in these
+times it is as well they should draw together. He will be a match
+for Brougham in the House of Lords, for he can be concise, which
+the other cannot, and the Lords in the long run will prefer
+brevity to art, sarcasm, and anything else.
+
+[Page Head: CONTEST IN POLAND.]
+
+People are beginning to recover from their terror of the cholera,
+seeing that it does not come, and we are now beset with alarms of
+a different kind, which are those of the Scotch merchants for
+their cargoes. We have a most disagreeable business on our hands,
+very troublesome, odious, and expensive. The public requires that
+we should take care of its health, the mercantile world that we
+should not injure their trade. All evidence proves that goods are
+not capable of bringing in the disorder, but we have appointed a
+Board of Health, which is contagionist, and we can't get them to
+subscribe to that opinion. We dare not act without its sanction,
+and so we are obliged to air goods. This airing requires more
+ships and lazarets than we have, and the result is a perpetual
+squabbling, disputing, and complaining between the Privy Council,
+the Admiralty, the Board of Health, and the merchants. We have
+gone on pretty well hitherto, but more ships arrive every day;
+the complaints will grow louder, and the disease rather spreads
+than diminishes on the Continent. This cholera has afforded
+strong proofs of the partiality of the Prussians in the contest
+between the Russians and the Poles. The quarantine restrictions
+are always dispensed with for officers passing through the
+Prussian territory to join the Russian army. Count Paskiewitch
+was allowed to pass without performing any quarantine at all, and
+stores and provisions are suffered to be conveyed to the army,
+with every facility afforded by the Prussian authorities and
+every relaxation of the sanitary laws. The Duke of Wellington
+says that the contest will very soon be over, that the Russian
+army could not act before June, and that between February and
+June the country is not practicable for military operations. They
+have now so many months before them that the weight of their
+numerical superiority will crush the Poles. Austria and Prussia,
+too, do their utmost by affording every sort of indirect
+assistance to the Russians and thwarting the Poles as much as
+they can.
+
+
+July 10th, 1831 {p.157}
+
+The last two or three days I have been settling everything for
+the coronation,[7] which is to be confined to the ceremony in the
+Abbey and cost as little money and as little trouble as possible;
+and yesterday I was the medium of great civilities from Lord Grey
+to the Duke. He desired me to go to the Duke and show him the
+course of proceeding we mean to adopt, and request him to make
+any suggestion that occurred to him, and to enquire if he would
+have any objection to attend the Council at which it is to be
+formally settled on Wednesday, to which Peel and Rosslyn are
+likewise invited. I spoke to the Duke and Peel, and they will
+both come. All this is mighty polite.
+
+      [7] [The arrangements for coronations are made by a
+          Committee of the Privy Council, which sits as a Court
+          of Claims.]
+
+They have made a fine business of Cobbett's trial; his insolence
+and violence were past endurance, but he made an able speech. The
+Chief Justice was very timid, and favoured and complimented him
+throughout; very unlike what Ellenborough would have done. The
+jury were shut up the whole night, and in the morning the Chief
+Justice, without consulting either party, discharged them, which
+was probably on the whole the best that could be done. Denman told
+me that he expected they would have acquitted him without leaving
+the box, and this principally on account of Brougham's evidence,
+for Cobbett brought the Chancellor forward and made him prove that
+_after_ these very writings, and while this prosecution was
+hanging over him, Brougham wrote to his son 'Dear Sir,' and
+requesting he would ask his father for some former publications of
+his, which he thought would be of great use on the present
+occasion in quieting the labourers. This made a great impression,
+and the Attorney-General never knew one word of the letter till he
+heard it in evidence, the Chancellor having flourished it off, as
+is his custom, and then quite forgotten it. The Attorney told me
+that Gurney overheard one juryman say to another, 'Don't you think
+we had better stop the case? It is useless to go on.' The other,
+however, declared for hearing it out, so on the whole it ended as
+well as it might, just better than an acquittal, and that is all.
+
+
+July 11th, 1831 {p.158}
+
+Dined with Lord Grey yesterday. In the middle of dinner
+Talleyrand got a letter announcing that Leopold's conditional
+acceptance of the Belgian throne had been agreed to by a great
+majority of the Chamber; and a Mr. Walker, who brought the news
+(and left Brussels at five o'clock the day before), came to Lord
+Grey and told him with what enthusiasm it had been received
+there. Lord Grey wrote to the Chancellor, with whom Leopold was
+dining, to tell him of the event.
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON AND THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+This morning I got a note from the Duke of Wellington declining
+to attend the Council on Wednesday, and desiring I would impart
+the same to Lord Grey and the King. He says that it would give
+rise to misrepresentations, and so it would. He is right to
+decline. It is, however, Peel who has prevented him, I am
+certain. When I told Peel on Saturday, he looked very grave, did
+not seem to like it, and said he must confer with the Duke first,
+as he should be sorry to do otherwise than he did. Yesterday I
+know the Duke dined with Peel, who I have no doubt persuaded him
+to send this excuse. The Government are in exceeding delight at
+the Duke's conduct ever since he has been in opposition, which
+certainly has been very noble, straightforward, gentlemanlike,
+and without an atom of faction or mischief about it. He has done
+himself great honour; he threw over Aberdeen completely on that
+business about foreign policy which he introduced soon after the
+meeting of Parliament, and now he is assisting the Government in
+their Lieutenancy Bill, and is in constant communication with
+Melbourne on the subject.
+
+
+July 13th, 1831 {p.159}
+
+I took the Duke's note to Lord Grey, who seemed annoyed, and
+repeated that he had only intended the invitation as a mark of
+attention, and never thought of shifting any responsibility from
+his own shoulders; that as there was a deviation from the old
+ceremonial, he thought the Duke's sanction would have satisfied
+those who might otherwise have disputed the propriety of such a
+change. 'Does he then,' he asked, 'mean to attend _the Committee_?'
+I did not then know; but yesterday in the House of Lords I asked
+the Duke, and he said 'No, for the same reasons,' that upon
+consideration he was sure he had better not go, that by so doing
+he might give umbrage to his own party, and he could only do good
+by exercising a powerful influence over them and restraining them,
+and that his means of doing good would be impaired by any
+appearance of approximating himself to Government, that when the
+general plan of the arrangements was settled, he should have no
+objection to lend a helping hand, if wanted, to the details with
+which he was very conversant. I wrote on a slip of paper that he
+would _not_ come, and gave it to Lord Grey, who said nothing. Peel
+did not write to me, but he and Rosslyn do the same as the Duke.
+
+[Page Head: RESERVE OF MR. PEEL.]
+
+The Belgian deputation came yesterday, and Lebeau and his
+colleagues were in the House of Lords. We had been promised a
+good day there between Londonderry and Brougham and Plunket, but
+the former made a tiresome, long speech; the latter spoke civilly
+and dully; and Brougham not at all, so it ended in smoke. In the
+other House on Monday the Ministers got a good majority (102) on
+the wine duties, to their great delight, but the Opposition were
+not only mortified at the defeat, but disgusted and enraged at
+the conduct of Peel (their leader, as they considered him), who
+came into the House, got up in the middle of Herries' speech,
+walked out and was heard of no more that night; never voted, nor
+gave any notice of his intention not to vote. The moral effect of
+this upon his party is immense, and has served to destroy the
+very little confidence they had in him before. It is impossible
+to conceive by what motives he is actuated, because if they were
+purely selfish it would seem that he defeats his own object; for
+what can he gain by disgusting and alienating his party, when
+although they cannot do without him, it is equally true that he
+cannot do without them? I walked home with William Banks, who
+went largely into the whole question of Peel's extraordinary
+disposition and conduct, and said how disheartening it was, and
+what a blow to those who looked to him as a leader in these
+troublous times. Henry Currey (no important person, but whose
+opinion is that of fifty other like him) told me that his conduct
+had been _atrocious_, and that he had himself voted in the
+minority against his opinion because he thought it right to
+sacrifice that opinion to the interests of his party. The fact
+is, if Peel had imparted his sentiments to his party he might
+have prevented their dividing on this question with the greatest
+ease. There is nothing they are not ready to do at his bidding,
+but his coldness and reserve are so impenetrable that nobody can
+ascertain his sentiments or divine his intentions, and thus he
+leaves his party in the lurch without vouchsafing to give them
+any reason or explanation of his conduct. In the meantime the
+other party (as if each was destined to suffer more from the
+folly of its friends than the hostility of its foes) has been
+thrown into great confusion by Lord Milton's notice to propose an
+alteration in the franchise, and a meeting was called of all the
+friends of Government at Althorp, when Milton made a speech just
+such as any opponent of the Bill might make in the House of
+Commons, going over the old ground of Fox, Pitt, Burke, and
+others having sat for rotten boroughs. They were annoyed to the
+last degree, and the more provoked when reflecting that it was
+for him Althorp had been led to spend an immense sum of money,
+and compromise his character besides in the Northamptonshire
+election. His obstinacy and impracticability are so extreme that
+nobody can move him, and Sefton told me that nothing could be
+more unsatisfactory than the termination of the meeting. I guess,
+however, that they will find some means or other of quieting him.
+
+The Opposition divided last night 187 against 284 on the question
+of hearing counsel for the condemned boroughs--not so good a
+division for the minority as they expected, and after a very
+powerful speech of Attwood's, to which nobody listened.
+
+There is a fresh access of alarm on account of the cholera, which
+has broken out at St. Petersburg, and will probably spread over
+Germany. The cordon of troops which kept it off last year from
+St. Petersburg appears to have been withdrawn, which is no doubt
+the cause of its appearance there. We have constant reports of
+supposed cases of disease and death, but up to this period it
+does not appear to have shown itself here, though a case was
+transmitted to us from Glasgow exceedingly like it. The sick man
+had not come from any infected place. The Board of Health are,
+however, in great alarm, and the authorities generally think we
+shall have it. From all I can observe from the facts of the case
+I am convinced that the liability to contagion is greatly
+diminished by the influence of sea air, for which reason I doubt
+that it will be brought here across the water. If it does come it
+will pass through France first. The King of Prussia has at last
+insisted upon a rigid execution of the quarantine laws in his
+dominions. Marshal Paskiewitch was detained on his road to take
+the command of the army, and sent a courier to the King to
+request he might be released forthwith, urging the importance of
+the Emperor to have his report of the state of the army; but the
+King refused, and sent word that the Emperor himself had
+submitted to quarantine, and so his aide-de-camp might do the
+same.
+
+
+July 14th, 1831 {p.162}
+
+The effects of Peel's leaving the party to shift for itself were
+exhibited the night before last. He went away (there was no
+reason why he should not, except that he should have stayed to
+_manage_ the debate and keep his people in order), and the
+consequence was that they went on in a vexatious squabble of
+repeated adjournments till eight o'clock in the morning, when
+Government at last beat them. The Opposition gradually dwindled
+down to twenty-five people, headed by Stormont, Tullamore, and
+Brudenell, while the Government kept 180 together to the last;
+between parties so animated and so led there can be no doubt on
+which side will be the success. The Government were in high
+spirits at the result, and thought the fatigue well repaid by the
+display of devotion on the part of their friends and of factious
+obstinacy on that of their enemies. After these two nights it is
+impossible not to consider the Tory party as having ceased to
+exist for all the practical and legitimate ends of political
+association--that is, as far as the House of Commons is
+concerned, where after all the battle must be fought. There is
+still a rabble of Opposition, tossed about by every wind of folly
+and passion, and left to the vagaries and eccentricities of
+Wetherell, or Attwood, or Sadler, or the intemperate zeal
+of such weak fanatics as the three Lords above mentioned;
+but for a grave, deliberative, efficient Opposition there seem to
+be no longer the elements, or they are so scattered and disunited
+that they never can come together, and the only man who might
+have collected, and formed, and directed them begs leave to be
+excused. It is a wretched state of things and can portend no
+good. If there had not been prognostications of ruin and
+destruction to the State in all times, proceeding from all
+parties, which the event has universally falsified, I should
+believe that the consummation of evil was really at hand; as it
+is I cannot feel that certainty of destruction that many do,
+though I think we are more seriously menaced than ever we were
+before, because the danger is of a very different description.
+But there is an elasticity in the institutions of this country,
+which may rise up for the purpose of checking these proceedings,
+and in the very uncertainty of what may be produced and
+engendered by such measures there is hope of salvation.
+
+[Page Head: PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION.]
+
+Yesterday a Council was held at St. James's for the coronation;
+the Princes, Ministers, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of
+London were present. The King read an address to the Lords
+desiring that his coronation might be short, and that all the
+ceremonies might be dispensed with except those in the church.
+Lord Grey had composed a paper in which he had made the King say
+that these ceremonies were at variance with the genius of the age
+we live in, and suited to another period of society; but the
+Archbishop objected to these expressions, and thought it better
+to give the injunction without the comments; so Lord Grey wrote
+another and shorter paper, but he showed the first to Lord
+Lansdowne and me, and we both told him that we thought the
+Archbishop was right and that the second paper was the best. The
+Duke of Gloucester was very indignant at not having been summoned
+in a more respectful way than by a common circular, and
+complained to the Lord President.[8] I told him to throw it all
+on me. He had been grumbling to the Duke of Sussex before, who
+did not care. Leopold was too much of a king to attend, so he
+came to the levee (but _en prince_ only) and not to the Council.
+Lieven told me it was true that the Grand Duke Constantine was
+dead, and that it was a very good thing.
+
+      [8] [It is customary to summon the Royal Dukes to a Council
+          by a letter This formality seems to have been
+          overlooked in this instance.]
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XV.
+
+Preparations for the Coronation--Long Wellesley committed by the
+  Chancellor for Contempt--Alderman Thompson and his
+  Constituents--Prince Leopold goes to Belgium--Royal Tombs and
+  Remains--The Lieutenancy of the Tower--The Cholera--The Belgian
+  Fortresses--Secret Negotiations of Canning with the Whigs--
+  Transactions before the Close of the Liverpool Administration--
+  Duke of Wellington and Peel--The Dutch invade Belgium--Defeat
+  of the Belgian Army--The French enter Belgium--Lord Grey's
+  Composure--Audience at Windsor--Danger of Reform--Ellen Tree--
+  The French in Belgium--Goodwood--The Duke of Richmond--The
+  Reform Bill in Difficulties--Duke of Wellington calls on Lord
+  Grey--The King declines to be kissed by the Bishops--
+  Talleyrand's Conversation--State of Europe and France--
+  Coronation Squabbles--The King divides the old Great Seal
+  between Brougham and Lyndhurst--Relations of the Duchess of
+  Kent to George IV. and William IV.--The Coronation--Irritation
+  of the King--The Cholera--A Dinner at St. James's--State of the
+  Reform Bill--Sir Augustus d'Este--Madame Junot--State of
+  France--Poland.
+
+
+July 15th, 1831 {p.165}
+
+A Committee of Council sat yesterday at the Office about the
+coronation; present, the Cabinet, Dukes of Gloucester and Sussex,
+Archbishop and Bishop of London; much discussion and nothing
+done. Brougham raised every sort of objection about the services
+and the dispensing with them, and would have it the King _could_
+not dispense with them; finally, the Attorney-General and
+Solicitor-General were sent for to the House of Lords and desired
+to reconsider the Proclamation.
+
+
+July 20th, 1831 {p.165}
+
+I have been laid up with the gout these last few days, unable to
+move, but without violent pain. The Committee of Council met
+again on Friday last, when the Proclamation was settled. A Court
+of Claims is to sit, but to be prohibited from receiving any
+claims except those relating to the ceremonies in the Abbey. The
+Lords went to St. James's and held the Council, at which the King
+made a little speech, to the effect that he would be crowned to
+satisfy the tender consciences of those who thought it necessary,
+but that he thought that it was his duty (as this country, in
+common with every other, was labouring under distress) to make it
+as economical as possible. A difficulty arose about the
+publication of the Proclamation, usually done by heralds with
+certain ceremonies. The first proclamation is not the one to be
+acted on; the second does not announce the coronation, but refers
+to the first. I asked Brougham what was to be done. He said both
+must be read. Lord Grey suggested neither, which was done.
+
+The other day Long Wellesley carried off his daughter, a ward in
+Chancery, from her guardians, and secreted her. The matter was
+brought before the Chancellor, who sent for Wellesley. He came,
+and refused to give her up; so Brougham committed him to the
+Fleet Prison. The matter was brought the next day before the
+House of Commons, and referred to their Committee of Privileges;
+and in the meantime Brougham has been making a great splutter
+about his authority and his Court both on the judicial bench and
+from the Woolsack. The lawyers in the House of Commons were
+divided as to Wellesley's right of privilege in such a case.[1]
+
+      [1] [Both the Chancellor and Mr. Wellesley wrote to the
+          Speaker, and their letters were read to the House
+          before the Committee of Privileges was appointed.
+          Meanwhile Mr. Wellesley remained at his house in Dover
+          Street in charge of two officers of the Court of
+          Chancery. There is, I believe, no doubt that the
+          committal was good, and that Mr. Wellesley's privilege
+          as a member of Parliament did not protect him, a
+          contempt of the Court having been committed. A similar
+          point has recently been raised in the Court of Queen's
+          Bench upon the committal of Mr. Whalley.]
+
+[Page Head: ALDERMAN THOMPSON AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.]
+
+There has been exhibited in the course of the last few days one
+of the most disgraceful scenes (produced by the Reform Bill) ever
+witnessed. On the question of the disfranchisement of Appleby a
+certain Alderman Thompson, member for the City, who stood deeply
+pledged to Reform, voted for hearing counsel in defence of the
+borough, on which there was a meeting of his ward, or of certain
+of his constituents, to consider his conduct. He was obliged to
+appear before them, and, after receiving a severe lecture, to
+confess that he had been guilty of inadvertence, to make many
+submissive apologies, and promise to vote no more but in
+obedience to the Minister. It is always an agreeable pastime to
+indulge one's virtuous indignation, and wish to have been in the
+place of such an one for the sake of doing what he ought to have
+done but did not do, by which, without any of the risk of a very
+difficult and unpleasant situation, one has all the imaginary
+triumph of eloquence, independence, and all kinds of virtue; and
+so in this instance I feel that I should have liked to pour upon
+these wretches the phials of my wrath and contempt. If the
+alderman had had one spark of spirit he would have spurned the
+terrors of this plebeian inquisition, and told them that they had
+elected him, and that it was his intention, as long as he
+continued their representative, to vote as he thought proper,
+always redeeming the pledges he had given at his election; that
+he would not submit to be questioned for this or any other vote,
+and if they were not satisfied with his conduct when the
+Parliament should be over they might choose whom they would in
+his place. What makes the case the more absurd is, that this
+question of Appleby is monstrous, and it never ought (by their
+own principle) to have been put in Schedule A at all. There was a
+debate and a division on it last night, and a majority for the
+Ministers of seventy-five in a very full House; the worst
+division they have yet had. Every small victory in the House of
+Commons is probably equivalent to a great defeat in the House of
+Lords, unless they do what is now talked of--make as many Peers
+as may be necessary to carry the Bill, which I doubt their daring
+to do or the King consenting to do. The lapse of time and such
+difficulties and absurdities will probably obstruct the Bill, so
+as to prevent its passing. God knows what we shall have instead.
+
+Prince Leopold started on Saturday, having put his pension into
+trustees' hands (by the advice of Lambton), to keep up Claremont
+and pay his debts and pensions, and then hand over the residue to
+the Exchequer, the odds being that none of it ever gets there,
+and that he is back here before the debts are paid. It seems
+that, desirous as he had been to go, when the time drew near he
+got alarmed, and wanted to back out, but they brought him (though
+with difficulty) to the point. He has proposed to the Princess
+Louise, King Louis Philippe's daughter.
+
+Halford has been with me this morning gossiping (which he likes);
+he gave me an account of his discovery of the head of Charles I.
+in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, to which he was directed by
+Wood's account in the 'Athenae Oxonienses.' He says that they
+also found the coffin of Henry VIII., but that the air had
+penetrated and the body had been reduced to a skeleton. By his
+side was Jane Seymour's coffin untouched, and he has no doubt her
+body is perfect. The late King intended to have it opened, and he
+says he will propose it to this King. By degrees we may visit the
+remains of the whole line of Tudor and Plantagenet too, and see
+if those famous old creatures were like their effigies. He says
+Charles's head was exactly as Vandyke had painted him.
+
+
+July 26th, 1831 {p.168}
+
+At Oatlands on Saturday, and came back on Sunday night. Nobody
+there but my father, mother, Walpole, Sneyd, and Alava; very
+different from what I once remember it. There has been a great
+deal of talk about the Duke of Wellington giving Lord Munster the
+Lieutenancy of the Tower, the truth of which is as follows:--It
+is in the King's gift, and he sent to the Duke and desired him to
+name somebody. The Duke would have liked to name one of
+three--Fitzroy Somerset, Colin Campbell, or Hardinge. The latter
+would not have been agreeable to Government, and therefore it
+would have occasioned the King an embarrassment; the second was
+provided for, and Lord Hill advised the first to remain as he is
+(though I don't see why he could not have had both); so the Duke
+thought it would gratify the King if he was to name Munster.
+Munster wrote a very civil letter to the Duke, full of thanks and
+saying that he begged he would not think of him if he had anybody
+else to give it to, and that he would take upon himself to
+explain to the King his not accepting it. The Duke persisted,
+and so he had it. I must say he might have found some one out of
+the number of his old officers to give it to rather than Munster.
+
+The King of France's Speech arrived yesterday, but nothing was
+said in the House of Lords, because Lord Grey was at Windsor. It
+will make a stir--the general tone of it, and the demolition of
+the fortresses which cost us seven millions. Not one of the
+papers made a remark upon it; nothing will do for them but
+Reform.
+
+[Page Head: THE CHOLERA.]
+
+Fresh claims have been raised about cholera morbus. A man at Port
+Glasgow insists upon it, without much apparent reason, that it
+prevails there; so we have sent a medical man down, in order to
+quiet people's minds and to set the question at rest. Lord Grey,
+who is credulous, believes the Glasgow man's story, and spread
+the news in his own family, who immediately dispersed it over the
+rest of the town, and yesterday nobody could talk of anything
+else; not believing it very much, and not understanding it at
+all, for if they did they would not be so flippant. Lady Holland
+wrote to Lord Lansdowne to desire he would recommend her the best
+_cholera_ doctor that he had heard of. I have just received a
+letter from Moore, saying he has ordered his publisher to send me
+a copy of 'Lord Edward Fitzgerald,' and that he only sends copies
+to the Duke of Leinster and me, but begs I will send him no
+opinion, for 'opinions fidget him'--'genus irritabile vatum.'
+
+
+July 27th, 1831 {p.169}
+
+Yesterday Aberdeen asked Lord Grey some questions in a very few
+words, accompanied as usual with a sneer, which is very
+unbecoming, and of course gave Lord Grey the advantage of
+repelling it with scorn. The Duke spoke, and pretty well, but
+laid some stress more on Portugal than upon Belgium, which is
+what I cannot understand, but Alava told me that when he came to
+town yesterday he had said to him that, as an Englishman, he had
+never felt so deeply affected for the honour of his country as in
+this transaction. I met him after the debate, and he said he
+thought he had done some good by what he said. The question of
+the Belgian fortresses is not without great difficulty, and the
+strong part of it for Government is that their demolition was
+agreed to by all the Powers interested (except Holland), and
+without the presence of the French Plenipotentiary at the meeting
+when it was decided. I am inclined to think that the manner in
+which it was blurted out in the King of France's Speech, as a
+clap-trap for him, will have made the principal difficulty,
+though the policy may be very questionable.
+
+
+July 28th, 1831 {p.170}
+
+On Tuesday night they got through Schedule A, but in a very
+bungling manner, and the events of the night, its enemies say,
+damaged the Bill, not, however, that anything can hurt it in the
+House of Commons, though such things may tell in the House of
+Lords; but on the question of Saltash, which the Opposition did
+not consider as a very strong case, so little that they had not
+intended to divide on it, John Russell and the rest suddenly gave
+way, and without informing their friends moved that it ought to
+be in Schedule B. On a division all the Ministers voted with, the
+Opposition, so the borough was transferred to B. Their friends
+were furious, and not without reason, that they had not
+determined where it ought to be placed, and have transferred it
+themselves instead of leaving them in the dilemma they were in
+when the division arrived. A court and levee yesterday.
+
+
+Oatlands, July 31st, 1831 {p.170}
+
+[Page Head: CANNING'S NEGOTIATION WITH THE WHIGS.]
+
+The Arbuthnots and Mr. Loch here. I rode down after the Opera
+last night; walked for an hour and a half with Arbuthnot under
+the shade of one of the great trees, talking of various old
+matters and some new, principally about Canning and his disputes
+and differences with the Duke of Wellington. He says that the
+Duke's principal objection to Canning was the knowledge of his
+having negotiated with the Whigs previously to Lord Liverpool's
+illness, which was communicated to the Duke; he would not say by
+whom. The person who went between them was Sir Robert Wilson,
+deputed by Brougham, and those who afterwards joined Canning. Sir
+Robert spoke to Huskisson, and he to Canning. What they said was
+this: that finding his view so liberal, they were ready to
+support and join him, and in the event of his becoming Minister
+(on Lord Liverpool's death or resignation) that they would serve
+under him. Arbuthnot does not know what answer Canning sent to
+this, nor whether he _did_ anything on it, but when on Lord
+Liverpool's illness Canning went to the King at Windsor, he told
+him that if the Tories would not consent to his being named
+Minister 'he was sure of the Whigs,' but this he entreated the
+King not to mention. Immediately after Canning the Duke went to
+the King, and to him the King directly repeated what Canning had
+said. The Duke told the King that he was already aware of
+Canning's intercourse with the Whigs, and with that knowledge
+that he could not consent to his being Prime Minister, as he
+could have no confidence in him. Shortly after this, and before
+the resignation of the Ministers, but after the difficulties had
+begun, Knighton came to Arbuthnot, and said he was afraid his
+Royal Master had done a great deal of mischief by repeating to
+the Duke what Canning had said, that he was very anxious to bring
+the Duke and Canning together again, and asked him (Arbuthnot) to
+go with him to Canning and see what could be done. Arbuthnot
+declined, but said if Canning _wished_ to see him he would go.
+Canning sent for him, and they had a long conversation, in which
+he expressed his desire to go on with the Duke, and it was agreed
+the Duke should call on him and have a conversation and see what
+could be arranged. The Duke called on him, and they talked of a
+variety of matters, but not a word passed about the formation of
+a new Ministry. Arbuthnot went to the House, and told Canning how
+much he was surprised and disappointed that nothing had come of
+this conversation, to which he made no reply, but Arbuthnot found
+afterwards that between his leaving Canning and the Duke's going
+to him Peel had been to him and proposed that the Duke should be
+Prime Minister. This so offended Canning, believing that it was a
+measure of the party and done with the Duke's consent, that he
+resolved not to utter a word to the Duke on the subject, and so
+ended the hopes of their agreement.
+
+It does not appear, however, as if anything could have been done,
+for Canning was bent upon being Prime Minister; and I asked
+Arbuthnot to what the Duke would have consented, and he said,
+'Not to that,' that after the transaction with the Whigs he could
+not have felt sufficient confidence in Canning to agree to his
+being Prime Minister. (If he distrusted Canning he ought to have
+refused to act with him at all, not merely objected to his being
+Prime Minister, but the ground of his objection was shifted.)
+Originally the King could not bear Canning, and he was only
+persuaded by the Duke to take him into the Cabinet. Afterwards he
+was so offended at the influence he acquired there, and
+particularly with that which he had got over the mind of Lord
+Liverpool, that he one day sent for Arbuthnot and desired him to
+tell Lord Liverpool that he could not endure to see Canning make
+a puppet of him, and he would rather he was Prime Minister at
+once than have all the power without the name by governing him
+(Lord Liverpool) as he pleased, and that unless he could shake
+off this influence he was determined not to let him continue at
+the head of the Government, and, moreover, he must find some
+means of getting rid of Canning altogether. This Arbuthnot wrote
+to Lord Liverpool, who wrote an answer couched in terms of
+indignation, saying he by no means coveted his situation, that he
+was sure his colleagues would resent any indignity offered to
+him, and that the King had better take care what he was about,
+and not, by producing disunion in the Government, incur the risk
+of making the end of his reign as disastrous as the beginning of
+it had been prosperous.
+
+Not very long after Canning got into favour, and in this
+way:--Harriet Wilson at the time of her connexion with Lord
+Ponsonby got hold of some of Lady Conyingham's letters to him,
+and she wrote to Ponsonby, threatening, unless he gave her a
+large sum, to come to England and publish everything she could.
+This produced dismay among all the parties, and they wanted to
+get Ponsonby away and to silence the woman. In this dilemma
+Knighton advised the King to have recourse to Canning, who saw
+the opening to favour, jumped at it, and instantly offered to
+provide for Ponsonby and do anything which could relieve the King
+from trouble. Ponsonby was sent to Buenos Ayres forthwith, and
+the letters were bought up. From this time Canning grew in
+favour, which he took every means to improve, and shortly gained
+complete ascendancy over the King.
+
+[Page Head: CANNING AND THE LIVERPOOL ADMINISTRATION.]
+
+Arbuthnot said that Canning and Castlereagh had always gone on
+well together after their reconciliation, but that Lord
+Liverpool's subjection to him arose more from fear than
+affection. Liverpool told Arbuthnot that he earnestly desired to
+resign his office, that his health was broken, and he was only
+retained by the consideration that his retirement might be the
+means of breaking up a Government which he had (through the
+kindness of his colleagues to him) been enabled to hold together;
+that Canning worked with a twenty-horse power; that his
+sensitiveness was such that he [Canning] felt every paragraph in
+a newspaper that reflected on him, and that the most trifling
+causes produced an irritation on his mind, which was always
+vented upon him (Lord Liverpool), and that every time the door
+was opened he dreaded the arrival of a packet from Canning.
+Arbuthnot had been in great favour with the King, who talked to
+him and consulted him, but he nearly cut him after the disunion
+consequent on Canning's appointment. Knighton came to Arbuthnot
+and desired him to try and prevail on the Duke to consent to
+Canning's being Prime Minister, which he told him was useless,
+and from that time the King was just civil to the Duke and that
+was all. The Duke had always suspected that Canning wanted all
+along to be Prime Minister, and that when he sent him to Russia
+to congratulate Nicholas it was to get him out of the way, and he
+was the more convinced because Canning proposed to him to go on
+to Moscow for the coronation, which he positively refused, having
+promised his friends to be back in April, which he accordingly
+was. Canning never had a great opinion of Huskisson, nor really
+liked him, though he thought him very useful from being
+conversant with the subjects on which he was himself most
+ignorant--trade and finance; but he did not contemplate his being
+in the Cabinet, and had no confidence in his judgment or his
+discretion; and this tallies with what Lady Canning told me,
+though certainly he did not do Huskisson justice in any way,
+which Arbuthnot admitted. Knighton behaved exceedingly well
+during the King's illness, and by the vigilant watch he kept over
+the property of various kinds prevented the pillage which Lady
+Conyngham would otherwise have made. She knew everything, but did
+not much trouble herself about affairs, being chiefly intent upon
+amassing money and collecting jewels.
+
+He talked a great deal of Peel, of the difficulty of going on
+with him, of his coldness, incommunicativeness; that at the time
+of the opening the Liverpool Railroad he had invited the Duke,
+Aberdeen, and some more to meet at Drayton to consider of
+strengthening themselves; that they had left the place just as
+they had gone to it, nothing settled and nothing elicited from
+Peel; that on the late occasion of the wine duties they had gone
+to Peel and asked him whether they should fight out and divide on
+it; that he had referred them to Goulburn, who had decided in the
+affirmative, on which he had agreed to their friends being
+mustered, but that he took offence at something that was said in
+debate, and marched off _sans mot dire_; that somebody was sent
+after him to represent the bad effect of his departure, and
+entreat him to return, but he was gone to bed. This is by no
+means the first time Arbuthnot has spoken to me about Peel in
+this strain and with such feelings. How are the Duke and he to
+make a Government again, especially after what Lyndhurst said of
+the Duke? Necessity may bring them together, but though common
+interest and common danger may unite them, there the seeds of
+disunion always must be. I have scribbled down all I can
+recollect of a very loose conversation, and perhaps something
+else may occur to me by-and-by.
+
+In the meantime to return to the events of the present day.
+Althorp raised a terrible storm on Friday by proposing that the
+House should sit on Saturday. They spent six hours debating the
+question, which might have been occupied in the business; so
+that, though they did not sit yesterday, they gained nothing and
+made bad blood. Yesterday morning Murray made a conciliatory
+speech, which Burdett complimented, and all went on harmoniously.
+John Russell is ill, nearly done up with fatigue and exertion and
+the bad atmosphere he breathes for several hours every night.
+
+[Page Head: LONG WELLESLEY AND BROUGHAM.]
+
+Long Wellesley has given up his daughter and has been discharged
+from arrest. I met the Solicitor-General yesterday, who told me
+this, and said that Brougham had been in the midst of his
+blustering terribly nervous about it. This was clear, for both he
+and Wellesley were waiting for the report of the Committee of the
+House of Commons, though Brougham affected to hold it cheap, and
+talked very big of what he should do and should have done had it
+been unfavourable to his authority. The fact is that Long
+Wellesley was contumacious, but after a short confinement he
+knocked under and yielded to the Chancellor on all points, and
+was released from durance.
+
+We had a meeting on the Coronation business yesterday morning,
+and took into consideration the estimates. That from the
+Chamberlain's Office was L70,000 and upwards, which was referred
+to a sub-committee to dissect and report upon.
+
+
+August 5th, 1831 {p.175}
+
+Yesterday morning arrived the news of Casimir Perier's
+resignation in consequence of the division in the Chamber of
+Deputies on the election of President. He had very unnecessarily
+committed himself by declaring he would resign if Lafitte was
+elected, and though the other candidate (M. Girod de l'Ain) was
+chosen, as it was, only by a majority of five, he considered this
+tantamount to a defeat, and accordingly went out of office.[2] It
+was supposed, but not quite certain, that Mole would be First
+Minister, but without much chance of being able to keep that
+post.
+
+      [2] [M. Casimir Perier did not retire from office on this
+          occasion, though he had momentarily resigned it. He
+          remained in power till his death which took place from
+          cholera in the following year.]
+
+[Page Head: HOLLAND AND BELGIUM.]
+
+At the same time comes intelligence that the King of Holland has
+marched into Belgium at three points with three corps under the
+Prince of Orange, Prince Frederick, and the Prince of Nassau.
+This, however, was premature, for it turns out that the Prince of
+Orange in a proclamation to his army declares that the armistice
+was to end last night at half-past nine, and that he marches 'to
+secure equitable terms of separation,' not therefore for the
+purpose of reconquest. I saw Lord Grey in the morning in a state
+of great consternation, the more particularly as he told me a
+Dutch Plenipotentiary had arrived the day before with full powers
+to treat, and that he had not in his intercourse with him and
+with Palmerston uttered one word of the King of Holland's
+intentions. In the evening I had a long conversation with
+Matuscewitz. He says that it is impossible to foresee the end of
+all this, but that the most probable event is a general war.
+Coming at the moment of a change in the French Ministry, nobody
+can guess what the French may do, and the Conferences are
+useless, because any resolution they may make may probably be
+totally inapplicable to the state of things produced by events
+hastening on elsewhere. The King of Holland has all along very
+justly complained of the proceedings of the Allies towards him,
+which they justify by necessity ('the tyrant's plea') and to
+which he has been obliged sulkily to submit, though always
+protesting and never acquiescing, except in an armistice to which
+he agreed. Meantime the Allies went on negotiating, but without
+making much progress, and the Dutchman borrowed money and put his
+army on a respectable footing. It is remarkable that as long as
+he held out that he sought the reunion he could get no money at
+all, but no sooner did he renounce the idea of reunion, and
+propose to make war for objects more immediately national to the
+Dutch, than he got a loan filled (in two days) to the amount of
+about a million sterling. When the proposition was made to
+Leopold, though no arrangement was actually agreed upon, there
+was a general understanding that the King of Holland would
+consent to the separation of the two States, and that the
+Belgians should resign their claims to Limbourg and Luxembourg,
+and after Lord Ponsonby's letter which made so much noise,
+Falck's protestation, and Ponsonby's recall this seemed to be
+clearly established. When Leopold received the offer of the
+Crown, he only consented to take it upon an understanding that
+the Belgians would agree to the terms prescribed by the Allies;
+but before the whole thing was settled he took fright and began
+to repent, and it was with some difficulty he was at last
+persuaded to go by the Belgian deputies with assurances that
+these terms would be complied with. Go, however, he did, and that
+unaccompanied by any person of weight or consequence from this
+country. Matuscewitz told me that he went on his knees to
+Palmerston to send somebody with him who would prevent his
+getting into scrapes, and that Talleyrand and Falck, by far the
+best heads among them, had both predicted that Leopold would
+speedily commit some folly the consequences of which might be
+irreparable.[3] Our Government, however, paid no attention to
+these remonstrances, and he was suffered to go alone. Accordingly
+he had no sooner arrived than, intoxicated with the applause he
+received, he forgot all that had occurred here and all the
+resolutions of the Allies, and flourished off speeches in direct
+contradiction to them, and announced his determination to
+comprehend the disputed provinces in his new kingdom. It is no
+wonder that this excited the indignation of the King of Holland,
+but it is unfortunate that he could not be patient a little
+longer. Notwithstanding his march, however, his Plenipotentiary
+here has full power to treat of all the disputed points, and is
+authorised to put a stop to hostilities at any moment when he can
+see the prospect of satisfaction; it is, however, believed here
+(though at present not on any sufficient grounds) that Prussia
+secretly supports the King of Holland. The danger is that France
+may without any further communication with her Allies consider
+the aggression of the Dutch as a justification of a corresponding
+movement on her part, and should this happen the Prussians would
+no longer deem themselves bound by the common obligations which
+united all the conferring and mediating Powers, and a general war
+would infallibly ensue. Nor is it unlikely that the French
+Ministry, beset as they are with difficulties, and holding their
+offices _de die in diem_, may think a war the best expedient
+for occupying the nation and bringing all the restless spirits
+and unquiet humours into one focus. I have long been of opinion
+that such mighty armaments and such a nervous state of things
+cannot end without a good deal of blood-letting. [The Prussians
+did not support the Dutch, the French did march, and war did not
+ensue.--August 28th.]
+
+      [3] [This account of Leopold's arrival in Belgium is hardly
+          fair, and forms an amusing contrast to Baron Stockmar's
+          narrative of the same occurrence in his 'Memoirs,' p.
+          180. Unquestionably Leopold showed far more foresight,
+          judgment, and resolution than Mr. Greville gave him
+          credit for. He was not accompanied by 'any person of
+          weight or consequence' from this country, because that
+          would have given him the air of a puppet and a British
+          nominee. But Stockmar was with him. The King entered
+          Brussels on the 21st of July, and was well received. On
+          the 4th of August the Dutch broke the truce and invaded
+          Belgium. It was impossible to provide against so sudden
+          a movement, and the Army of the Scheldt was beaten at
+          Louvain on the 12th of August. The King then claimed
+          the intervention of France and England in defence of
+          the neutrality and independence of Belgium, which had
+          been guaranteed to him by the treaty of the eighteen
+          articles under which he had accepted the Crown. But the
+          passage in the text is curious, because it shows how
+          little confidence was felt at that time in a prince who
+          turned out to be one of the ablest rulers and
+          politicians of his time.]
+
+_At night._--Lord Grey was attacked by Aberdeen to-night on his
+foreign policy, and particularly about Portugal, and he is said
+to have made a splendid speech. Sir Henry Seton arrived from
+Liverpool to announce what is going on, and he is bent on
+fighting at present. Abercromby, who is come likewise, reports
+that he has 50,000 or 60,000 men.
+
+
+August 9th, 1831 {p.178}
+
+On Saturday morning we were saluted with intelligence that on the
+French King's hearing of the Dutch invasion he ordered Marshal
+Gerard, with 50,000 men, to march into Belgium; and great was the
+alarm here: the funds fell and everybody was prepared for
+immediate war. In the afternoon I called upon Lord Grey at East
+Sheen (in my way to Monk's Grove, where I was going) to say
+something to him about the coronation, and found him with a more
+cheerful countenance than I expected. He did not appear alarmed
+at what the French had done, and very well satisfied with the
+manner of their doing it, marching only in virtue of their
+guarantee and proclaiming their own neutrality and the Belgian
+independence, and the King had previously received the Belgian
+Minister. I told him I thought Leopold's folly had been the cause
+of it, and that his speeches about Luxembourg had given the Dutch
+King a pretext. He said, not at all, and that the King of Holland
+would have done this under any circumstances, which I took leave
+to doubt, though I did not think it necessary to say so.[4]
+
+      [4] [Lord Grey's composure was mainly due to the entire
+          confidence he felt in the honour of the Duc de Broglie,
+          then French Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had given
+          positive assurances to the British Cabinet that the
+          intervention of France would be confined to the
+          immediate object in view. This confidence was equally
+          honourable to both statesmen, and these assurances were
+          faithfully fulfilled.]
+
+[Page Head: THE QUEEN'S CROWN.]
+
+On Sunday, overtaken by the most dreadful storm I ever saw--flashes
+of lightning, crashes of thunder, and the rain descending
+like a waterspout--I rode to Windsor, to settle with the Queen
+what sort of crown she would have to be crowned in. I was ushered
+into the King's presence, who was sitting at a red table in the
+sitting-room of George IV., looking over the flower garden. A
+picture of Adolphus Fitzclarence was behind him (a full-length),
+and one of the parson, Rev. Augustus Fitzclarence, in a Greek
+dress, opposite. He sent for the Queen, who came with the
+Landgravine and one of the King's daughters, Lady Augusta
+Erskine, the widow of Lord Cassilis's son. She looked at the
+drawings, meant apparently to be civil to me in her ungracious
+way, and said she would have none of our crowns, that she did not
+like to wear a hired crown, and asked me if I thought it was
+right that she should. I said, 'Madam, I can only say that the
+late King wore one at his coronation.' However she said, 'I do
+not like it, and I have got jewels enough, so I will have them
+made up myself.' The King said to me, 'Very well; then _you_ will
+have to pay for the setting.' 'Oh, no,' she said; 'I shall pay
+for it all myself.' The King looked well, but seemed infirm. I
+talked to Taylor afterwards, who said he had very little doubt
+this storm in Belgium would blow over, and agreed that Leopold's
+folly had been in great measure the cause of it. There have been
+discussions in both Houses, which have in some measure quieted
+people's apprehensions. To-day that ass Lord Londonderry (who has
+never yet had his windows mended from the time they were broken
+by the mob at the Reform illumination) brings on a motion about
+Belgium.
+
+
+August 11th, 1831 {p.180}
+
+Nothing new these last two days. Londonderry's motion produced an
+angry debate, but no division. Brougham is said to have been very
+good. The Government wanted to divide, but the Opposition know
+that it is not their interest to provoke a trial of strength. The
+Ministers, if beaten, would not go out, and they are anxious to
+see what their opponents' strength is. At Court yesterday, when
+Van de Weyer, the new Belgian Minister, made his appearance. I
+said to Esterhazy, 'You will blow this business over, sha'n't
+you?' He said, 'Yes, I think we shall _this time_.'
+
+Nothing remarkable in the House of Commons but Lord John
+Russell's declaration that 'this Bill would not be final if it
+was not found to work as well as the people desired,' which is
+sufficiently impudent considering that hitherto they have always
+pretended that it was to be final, and that it was made so
+comprehensive only that it might be so; this has been one of
+their grand arguments, and now we are never to sit down and rest,
+but go on changing till we get a good fit, and that for a country
+which will have been made so fidgety that it won't stand still to
+be measured. Hardinge, whom I found at dinner at the Athenaeum
+yesterday, told me he was convinced that a revolution in this
+country was inevitable; and such is the opinion of others who
+support this Bill, not because they think concession will avert
+it, but will let it come more gradually and with less violence. I
+have always been convinced that the country was in no danger of
+revolution, and still believe that if one does come it will be
+from the passing of this Bill, which will introduce the principle
+of change and whet the appetites of those who never will be
+satisfied with any existing order of things; or if it follows on
+the rejection of this Bill, which I doubt, it will be owing to
+the concentration of all the forces that are opposed to our
+present institutions, and the divisions, jealousies, rivalships,
+and consequent weakness of all those who ought to defend them.
+God only knows how it will all end. There has been but one man
+for many years past able to arrest this torrent, and that was
+Canning; and him the Tories--idiots that they were, and never
+discovering that he was their best friend--hunted to death with
+their besotted and ignorant hostility.
+
+[Page Head: ELLEN TREE.]
+
+I went to the play last night at a very shabby little house
+called the City Theatre--a long way beyond the Post Office--to
+see Ellen Tree act in a translation of 'Une Faute,' one of the
+best pieces of acting I ever saw. This girl will turn out very
+good if she remains on the stage. She has never been brought
+forward at Covent Garden, and I heard last night the reason why.
+Charles Kemble took a great fancy for her (she is excessively
+pretty), and made her splendid offers of putting her into the
+best parts, and advancing her in all ways, if she would be
+propitious to his flame, but which she indignantly refused; so he
+revenged himself (to his own detriment) by keeping her back and
+promoting inferior actresses instead. If ever she acquires fame,
+which is very probable, for she has as much nature, and feeling,
+and passion as I ever saw, this will be a curious anecdote. [She
+married Charles Kean, lost her good looks, and became a tiresome,
+second-rate actress.]
+
+
+August 12th, 1831 {p.181}
+
+Yesterday a Committee of Council met to settle the order of the
+coronation and submit the estimates, which we have brought under
+L30,000 instead of L240,000, which they were last time.
+
+The question now is whether our Ministry shall go along with
+France, or whether France shall be pulled up; and it is brought
+to this point by Leopold's having sent to the French to thank
+them for their aid, but to say that he can do without them, and
+to beg they will retire, which they have refused to do. It was
+known yesterday that they are at Mons, and strongly suspected
+they will not so easily be got out of it; but the French
+Government will not venture to quarrel with us if we take a
+peremptory tone. It is not, however, clear that the French
+Government can control the French army; and I have heard it said
+that if they had not ordered the troops to march, the troops
+would have marched without orders. L. is all for curbing France;
+so a very short time must bring matters to a crisis, and it will
+be seen if the Government has authority to check the war party
+there. In the meantime the French have taken the Portuguese ships
+without any intention of giving them back; and this our Ministers
+know, and do not remonstrate. J. asked L. if it was true, and he
+said, 'Oh, yes,' for that having been compelled to force the
+Tagus, they were placed in a state of war, and the ships became
+lawful prizes. If it was not for Reform I doubt that this
+Government could stand a moment, but that will bring them up. In
+the country it is too clear that there are no symptoms of a
+reaction, and if a state of indifference can be produced it is
+all that can be hoped and more than should be expected. I do not
+think the Government by any means responsible for the embroiled
+state of Europe, but they certainly appear to have no fixed plan
+or enlightened view of foreign policy, and if they have not been
+to blame hitherto (which in acting with all the Allies, and
+endeavouring to keep things quiet, they have not been), they are
+evidently in great danger of floundering now.
+
+
+Goodwood, August 20th, 1831 {p.182}
+
+Here I have been a week to-day for the races, and here I should
+not be now--for everybody else is gone--if it were not for the
+gout, which has laid me fast by the foot, owing to a blow. While
+on these racing expeditions I never know anything of politics,
+and, though I just read the newspapers, have no anecdotes to
+record of Reform or foreign affairs. I never come here without
+fresh admiration of the beauty and delightfulness of the place,
+combining everything that is enjoyable in life--large and
+comfortable house, spacious and beautiful park, extensive views,
+dry soil, sea air, woods, and rides over downs, and all the
+facilities of occupation and amusement. The Duke, who has so
+strangely become a Cabinet Minister in a Whig Government, and who
+is a very good sort of man and my excellent friend, appears here
+to advantage, exercising a magnificent hospitality, and as a
+sportsman, a farmer, a magistrate, and good, simple, unaffected
+country gentleman, with great personal influence. This is what he
+is fit for, to be,
+
+                    With safer pride content,
+            The wisest justice on the banks of Trent,
+
+and not to assist in settling Europe and making new
+constitutions.
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL IN DIFFICULTIES.]
+
+I find on arriving in town that there is nothing new, but the
+Bill, which drags its slow length along, is in a bad way; not
+that it will not pass the Commons, but now everybody attacks it,
+and the press is all against what remains of it. Lord Chandos's
+motion and the defeat of Government by so large a majority have
+given them a great blow. Still they go doggedly on, and are
+determined to cram it down anyhow, quite indifferent how it is to
+work and quite ignorant. As to foreign affairs, the Ministers
+trust to blunder through them, hoping, like Sir Abel Handy in the
+play, that the fire 'will go out of itself.' Sefton has just been
+here, who talks blusteringly of the Peers that are to be made, no
+matter at what cost of character to the House of Lords, anything
+rather than be beaten; but I am not sure that he _knows_
+anything. In such matters as these he is (however sharp) no
+better than a fool--no knowledge, no information, no reflection
+or combination; prejudices, partialities, and sneers are what his
+political wisdom consists of; but he is Lord Grey's _ame damnee_.
+
+
+Stoke, August 28th, 1831 {p.183}
+
+My gout is still hanging on me. Very strange disorder, affecting
+different people so differently; with me very little pain, much
+swelling, heat, and inconvenience, more like bruised muscles and
+tendons and inflamed joints; it disables me, but never prevents
+my sleeping at night. Henry de Ros called on me yesterday;
+nothing new, and he knows everything from L., who sits there
+picking up politics and gossip, to make money by the one and
+derive amusement from the other. L. is odd enough, and very
+_malin_ with what he knows. He is against _Reform_, but not
+against the _Government_; _for_ the Duke of Wellington and not
+_for_ the Opposition--in short, just as interest, fancy, caprice,
+and particular partialities sway him. It was he who told me the
+fact of the French having carried away the Portuguese ships, and
+he said that I might tell the Duke that he might make what use he
+pleased of it; but soon after, wishing if it did come out that it
+should fall harmless, he bethought him of the following
+expedient:--Seeing that Valletort (who is a good-natured
+blockhead) is always spluttering in the House of Commons, he
+thought in his hands it would do no harm, so he told him the fact
+with some flattering observations about his activity and energy
+in the House, which Valley swallowed and with many thanks
+proceeded to put questions to Palmerston, which sure enough were
+so confused and unintelligible that nobody understood him, and
+the matter fell very flat. I don't see that Government is saved
+by this ruse, if the case against them is a good one; but it is
+curious as indicative of the artifice of the person, and of his
+odd sort of political disposition. As I don't write history I
+omit to note such facts as are recorded in the newspapers, and
+merely mention the odd things I pick up, which are not generally
+known, and which may hereafter throw some light on those which
+are.
+
+The Belgian business is subsiding into quiet again. The Dutch
+have gained some credit, and the Prince of Orange has (what was
+of importance to him) removed the load of odium under which he
+had been labouring in Holland, and acquired great popularity.
+Leopold has cut a ridiculous figure enough; not exhibiting any
+want of personal courage, but after all the flourishes at the
+time of his accession finding himself at the head of a nation of
+blustering cowards who would do nothing but run away. The arrival
+of the French army soon put an end to hostilities, and now the
+greater part of it has been recalled; but Leopold has desired
+that 10,000 men may be left for his protection, whether against
+the Dutch or against the Belgians does not appear. This excites
+considerable jealousies here, for as yet it is not known _why_ he
+asked for such aid, nor on what terms it is to be granted.
+
+L. told me an odd thing connected with these troops. Easthope
+received a commission from a secretary of Soult to sell largely
+in our funds, coupled with an assurance that the troops would
+_not_ retire. I don't know the fate of the commission.
+
+There are various reports of dissensions in the Cabinet, which
+are not true. The Duke of Wellington was sent for by Lord Grey
+the other day, to give his opinion about the demolition of the
+Belgian fortresses; so the ex-Prime Minister went to visit his
+successor in the apartment which was so lately his own. No man
+would mind such a thing less than the Duke; he is sensitive, but
+has no nonsense about him. He is very well and, however disgusted
+with the state of everything at home and abroad (which after all
+is greatly imputable to himself), in high spirits.
+
+The King did a droll thing the other day. The ceremonial of the
+coronation was taken down to him for approval. The homage is
+first done by the spiritual Peers, with the Archbishop at their
+head. The first of each class (the Archbishop for the spiritual)
+says the words, and then they all kiss his cheek in succession.
+He said he would not be kissed by the bishops, and ordered that
+part to be struck out. As I expected, the prelates would not
+stand it; the Archbishop remonstrated, the King knocked under,
+and so he must undergo the salute of the spiritual as well as of
+the temporal Lords.
+
+
+August 30th, 1831 {p.185}
+
+[Page Head: TALLEYRAND'S CONVERSATION.]
+
+Left Stoke yesterday morning; a large party--Talleyrand, De Ros,
+Fitzroy Somersets, Motteux, John Russell, Alava, Byng. In the
+evening Talleyrand discoursed, but I did not hear much of him. I
+was gouty and could not stand, and all the places near him were
+taken. I have never heard him narrate comfortably, and he is
+difficult to understand. He talked of Franklin. I asked him if he
+was remarkable in conversation; he said he was from his great
+simplicity and the evident strength of his mind. He spoke of the
+coronation of the Emperor Alexander. Somebody wrote him a letter
+at the time from Moscow with this expression: 'L'Empereur
+marchait, precede des assassins de son grand-pere, entoure de
+ceux de son pere, et suivi par les siens.' He said of the Count
+de Saint-Germain (whom he never saw) that there is an account of
+him in Craufurd's book; nobody knew whence he came nor whither he
+went; he appeared at Paris suddenly, and disappeared in the same
+way, lived in an _hotel garni_, had always plenty of money, and
+paid for everything regularly; he talked of events and persons
+connected with history, both ancient and modern, with entire
+familiarity and a correctness which never was at fault, and
+always of the people as if he had lived with them and known them;
+as Talleyrand exemplified it, he would say, 'Un jour que je
+dinais chez Cesar.'[5] He was supposed to be the Wandering Jew, a
+story which has always appeared to me a very sublime fiction,
+telling of
+
+               That settled ceaseless gloom
+                 The fabled Hebrew wanderer bore,
+               Which will not look beyond the tomb,
+                 Which cannot hope for rest before.
+
+Then he related Mallet's conspiracy and the strange way in which
+he heard it. Early in the morning his tailor came to his house
+and insisted on seeing him. He was in bed, but on his _valet de
+chambre's_ telling him how pressing the tailor was he ordered him
+to be let in. The man said, 'Have you not heard the news? There
+is a revolution in Paris.' It had come to the tailor's knowledge
+by Mallet's going to him the very first thing to order a new
+uniform! Talleyrand said the conspirators ought to have put to
+death Cambaceres and the King of Rome. I asked him if they had
+done so whether he thought it possible the thing might have
+succeeded. He said, 'C'est possible.' To my question whether the
+Emperor would not have blown away the whole conspiracy in a
+moment he replied, 'Ce n'est pas sur, c'est possible que cela
+aurait reussi.'
+
+      [5] [This mysterious adventurer died in the arms of Prince
+          Charles of Hesse, in 1784; and some account of him is
+          to be found in the 'Memoirs' of that personage, quoted
+          in the 'Edinburgh Review,' vol. cxxiii. p. 521. The
+          Count de Saint-Germain was a man of science, especially
+          versed in chemistry botany, and metallurgy. He is
+          supposed to have derived his money from an invention in
+          the art of dyeing. According to his own account of
+          himself he was a son of Prince Ragozky of Transylvania
+          and his first wife, a Tekely, and he was Protestant and
+          educated by the last of the Medicis. He was supposed to
+          be ninety-two or ninety-three when he died. His
+          knowledge of the arcana of science and his mysterious
+          manner of life had given him something of the
+          reputation of a wizard and a conjuror, but he was an
+          honourable and benevolent man, not to be confounded
+          with such charlatans as Mesmer and Cagliostro.]
+
+He afterwards talked of Madame de Stael and Monti. They met at
+Madame de Marescalchi's villa near Bologna, and were profuse of
+compliments and admiration for each other. Each brought a copy of
+their respective works beautifully bound to present to the other.
+After a day passed in an interchange of literary flatteries, and
+the most ardent expressions of delight, they separated, but each
+forgot to carry away the present of the other, and the books
+remain in Madame de Marescalchi's library to this day.
+
+
+August 31st, 1831 {p.187}
+
+[Page Head: STATE OF EUROPE AND FRANCE.]
+
+Dined at Osterley yesterday; Lady Sandwich, Esterhazy and the
+Bathursts, Brooke Greville and George Villiers. Esterhazy told me
+he had no doubt that there would be a war, that General Baudron
+was arrived from Brussels, and Leopold had sent word by him that
+the French troops were absolutely necessary to his safety, to
+protect him from the turbulence of his own subjects. He
+considered that the Polish business was over, at which he greatly
+rejoiced. He said that nobody was prepared for war, and the great
+object was to gain time, but a few weeks must now bring matters
+to a crisis; the only difficulty appears to be what to go to war
+about, and who the belligerents should be, for at the eleventh
+hour, and with the probability of a general war, it is a toss-up
+whether we and the French are to be the closest allies or the
+deadliest enemies. He told me that Casimir Perier would probably
+be unable to keep his ground, that the modified law about the
+House of Peers did not give satisfaction. If he is beaten on this
+he goes out, and if he does, with him will probably vanish all
+hopes of peace. It is pretty evident that France is rapidly
+advancing to a republic. Her institutions have long been
+republican, and, though very compatible with a despotic empire,
+incompatible with a constitutional and limited monarchy. This
+Buonaparte knew.
+
+Another Coronation Committee yesterday, and, I am happy to say,
+the last, for this business is the greatest of all bores. There
+is a furious squabble between the Grand Chamberlain and the Earl
+Marshal (who is absent and has squabbled by deputy) about the box
+of the former in Westminster Abbey. At the last coronation King
+George IV. gave Lord Gwydir _his_ box in addition to his own, and
+now Lord Cholmondeley claims a similar box.[6] This is resisted.
+The present King disposes of his own box (and will probably fill
+it with every sort of _canaille_); the Lords won't interfere, and
+the Grand Chamberlain protests, and says he has been shamefully
+used, and there the matter stands. The Grand Chamberlain is in
+the wrong.
+
+      [6] [Lord Gwydir and Lord Cholmondeley filled the office of
+          Lord High Chamberlain for alternative lives as the
+          representatives of the joint claimants of the office.]
+
+
+September 3rd, 1831 {p.188}
+
+On Wednesday a Council was held. Very few of the Ministers stay
+for the Councils; small blame to them, as the Irish say, for we
+are kept about three times as long by this regular, punctual King
+as by the capricious, irregular Monarch who last ruled over us.
+This King is a queer fellow. Our Council was principally for a
+new Great Seal and to deface the old Seal. The Chancellor claims
+the old one as his perquisite. I had forgotten the hammer, so the
+King said, 'My Lord, the best thing I can do is to give you the
+Seal, and tell you to take it and do what you please with it.'
+The Chancellor said, 'Sir, I believe there is some doubt whether
+Lord Lyndhurst ought not to have half of it, as he was Chancellor
+at the time of your Majesty's accession.' 'Well,' said the King,
+'then I will judge between you like Solomon; here (turning the
+Seal round and round), now do you cry heads or tails?' We all
+laughed, and the Chancellor said, 'Sir, I take the bottom part.'
+The King opened the two compartments of the Seal and said, 'Now,
+then, I employ you as ministers of taste. You will send for
+Bridge, my silversmith, and desire him to convert the two halves
+each into a salver, with my arms on one side and yours on the
+other, and Lord Lyndhurst's the same, and you will take one and
+give him the other, and both keep them as presents from me.' The
+Duchess of Kent will not attend the coronation, and there is a
+report that the King is unwilling to make all the Peers that are
+required; this is the current talk of the day.
+
+
+September 5th, 1831 {p.189}
+
+At Gorhambury since Saturday; the Harrowbys, Bathursts, Frankland
+Lewes's, Lady Jersey, Mahon, Lushington, Wortleys; rather
+agreeable and lively; all anti-Reformers, so no quarrelling about
+that, though Lord Harrowby is ready to squabble with anybody
+either way, but furiously against the Bill.
+
+
+September 8th, 1831 {p.189}
+
+Dined with the Duke of Wellington yesterday; thirty-one people,
+very handsome, and the Styrian Minstrels playing and singing all
+dinner time, a thing I never saw before. I sat next to Esterhazy
+and talked to him (a very little) about Belgian affairs. He said
+Talleyrand had given positive assurances that the French troops
+should be withdrawn whenever the Dutch retired, that the other
+Powers were aware of Perier's difficulties, and were ready to
+concede much to keep him in power, but that if he had not
+sufficient influence to repress the violent war faction there was
+no use in endeavouring to support him. Our Government had behaved
+very well and had been very strong in their remonstrances.
+
+[Page Head: ANECDOTES OF GEORGE IV.]
+
+After dinner I had much talk with the Duke, who told me a good
+deal about the late King and the Duchess of Kent; talked of his
+extravagance and love of spending, provided that it was not his
+own money that he spent; he told an old story he had heard of
+Mrs. Fitzherbert's being obliged to borrow money for his
+post-horses to take him to Newmarket, that not a guinea was
+forthcoming to make stakes for some match, and when on George
+Leigh's[7] entreaty he allowed some box to be searched that
+L3,000 was found in it. He always had money. When he died they
+found L10,000 in his boxes, and money scattered about everywhere,
+a great deal of gold. There were about 500 pocket-books, of
+different dates, and in every one money--guineas, one pound
+notes, one, two, or three in each. There never was anything like
+the quantity of trinkets and trash that they found. He had never
+given away or parted with anything. There was a prodigious
+quantity of hair--women's hair--of all colours and lengths, some
+locks with the powder and pomatum still sticking to them, heaps
+of women's gloves, _gages d'amour_ which he had got at balls, and
+with the perspiration still marked on the fingers, notes and
+letters in abundance, but not much that was of any political
+consequence, and the whole was destroyed. Of his will he said
+that it was made in 1823 by Lord Eldon, very well drawn, that he
+desired his executors might take all he had to pay his debts and
+such legacies as he might bequeath in any codicils he should
+make. He made no codicils and left no debts, so the King got all
+as heir-at-law. Knighton had managed his affairs very well, and
+got him out of debt. A good deal of money was disbursed in
+charity, a good deal through the medium of two or three old
+women. The Duke, talking of his love of ordering and expense,
+said that when he was to ride at the last coronation the King
+said, 'You must have a very fine saddle.' 'What sort of saddle
+does your Majesty wish me to have?' 'Send Cuffe to me.'
+Accordingly Cuffe went to him, and the Duke had to pay some
+hundreds for his saddle. (While I am writing the King and Queen
+with their _cortege_ are passing down to Westminster Abbey to the
+coronation, a grand procession, a fine day, an immense crowd, and
+great acclamations.)
+
+      [7] [Colonel George Leigh, who managed his race-horses; he
+          was married to Lord Byron's half-sister.]
+
+[Page Head: THE DUCHESS OF KENT.]
+
+We then talked of the Duchess of Kent, and I asked him why she
+set herself in such opposition to the Court. He said that Sir
+John Conroy was her adviser, that he was sure of it. What he then
+told me throws some light upon her ill-humour and displays her
+wrong-headedness. In the first place the late King disliked her;
+the Duke of Cumberland too was her enemy, and George IV., who was
+as great a despot as ever lived, was always talking of taking her
+child from her, which he inevitably would have done but for the
+Duke, who, wishing to prevent quarrels, did all in his power to
+deter the King, not by opposing him when he talked of it, which
+he often did, but by putting the thing off as well as he could.
+However, when the Duchess of Cumberland came over, and there was
+a question how the Royal Family would receive her, he thought he
+might reconcile the Cumberlands to the Duchess of Kent by
+engaging her to be civil to the Duchess of Cumberland, so he
+desired Leopold to advise his sister (who was in the country)
+from him very strongly to write to the Duchess of Cumberland and
+express her regret at being absent on her arrival, and so
+prevented from calling on her. The Duchess sent Leopold back to
+the Duke to ask why he gave her this advice? The Duke replied
+that he should not say why, that he knew more of what was going
+on than she possibly could, that he gave her this advice for her
+own benefit, and again repeated that she had better act on it.
+The Duchess said she was ready to give him credit for the
+goodness of his counsel, though he would not say what his reasons
+were, and she did as he suggested. This succeeded, and the Duke
+of Cumberland ceased to blow the coals. Matters went on quietly
+till the King died. As soon as he was dead the Duchess of Kent
+wrote to the Duke, and desired that she might be treated as a
+Dowager Princess of Wales, with a suitable income for herself and
+her daughter, who she also desired might be treated as Heiress
+Apparent, and that she should have the sole control over the
+allowance to be made for both. The Duke replied that her
+proposition was altogether inadmissible, and that he could not
+possibly think of proposing anything for her till the matters
+regarding the King's Civil List were settled, but that she might
+rely upon it that no measure which affected her in any way should
+be considered without being imparted to her and the fullest
+information given her. At this it appears she took great offence,
+for she did not speak to him for a long time after.
+
+When the Regency Bill was framed the Duke desired the King's
+leave to wait upon the Duchess of Kent and show it to her, to
+which his Majesty assented, and accordingly he wrote to her to
+say he would call upon her the next day with the draft of the
+Bill. She was at Claremont, and sent word that she was out of
+town, but desired he would send it to her in the country. He said
+she ought to have sent Sir John Conroy to him, or have desired
+him to go to her at Claremont, which he would have done, but he
+wrote her word that he could not explain by letter so fully what
+he had to say as he could have done in a personal interview, but
+he would do so as well as he could. In the meantime, Lord
+Lyndhurst brought on the measure in the House of Lords, and she
+sent Conroy up to hear him. He returned to Claremont just after
+the Duchess had received the Duke's letter. Since that he has
+dined with her.
+
+[I must say the King is punctual; the cannon are now firing to
+announce his arrival at the Abbey, and my clock is at the same
+moment striking eleven; at eleven it was announced that he would
+be there.]
+
+His Majesty, I hear, was in great ill-humour at the levee
+yesterday; contrary to his usual custom he sent for nobody, and
+gave no audiences, but at ten minutes after one flounced into the
+levee room; not one Minister was come but the Duke of Richmond.
+Talleyrand and Esterhazy alone of the _Corps Diplomatique_ were
+in the next room. He attacked the officer of the Guards for not
+having his cap on his head, and sent for the officer on guard,
+who was not arrived, at which he expressed great ire. It is
+supposed that the peerages have put him out of temper. His
+Majesty did a very strange thing about them. Though their patents
+are not made out, and the new Peers are no more Peers than I am,
+he desired them to appear as such in Westminster Abbey and do
+homage. Colonel Berkeley asked me what he should do, and said
+what the King had desired of him. I told him he should do no such
+thing, and he said he would go to the Chancellor and ask him. I
+don't know how it ended. Howe told me yesterday morning in
+Westminster Abbey that Lord Cleveland is to be a duke, though it
+is not yet acknowledged if it be so. There has been a battle
+about that; they say that he got his boroughs to be made a
+marquis, and got rid of them to be made a duke.[8]
+
+      [8] [The Earl of Darlington had been made Marquis of
+          Cleveland in 1827, and was raised to the dukedom in
+          January 1833.]
+
+
+September 17th, 1831 {p.193}
+
+The coronation went off well, and whereas nobody was satisfied
+before it everybody was after it. No events of consequence. The
+cholera has got to Berlin, and Warsaw is taken by the Russians,
+who appear to have behaved with moderation. Since the deposition
+of Skrznecki, and the reign of clubs and mobs and the perpetration
+of massacres at Warsaw, the public sympathy for the Poles has a
+good deal fallen off. The cholera, which is travelling south, is
+less violent than it was in the north. It is remarkable that the
+common people at Berlin are impressed with the same strange belief
+that possessed those of St. Petersburg that they have been
+poisoned, and Chad writes to-day that they believe there is no
+such disease, and that the deaths ascribed to that malady are
+produced by poison administered by the doctors, who are bribed for
+that purpose; that the rich finding the poor becoming too numerous
+to be conveniently governed have adopted this mode of thinning the
+population, which was employed with success by the English in
+India; that the foreign doctors are the delegates of a central
+committee, which is formed in London and directs the proceedings,
+and similar nonsense.
+
+[Page Head: A DINNER AT ST. JAMES'S.]
+
+The talk of the town has been about the King and a toast he gave
+at a great dinner at St. James's the other day. He had ninety
+guests--all his Ministers, all the great people, and all the
+foreign Ambassadors. After dinner he made a long, rambling speech
+in French, and ended by giving as 'a sentiment,' as he called it,
+'The land we live in.' This was before the ladies left the room.
+After they were gone he made another speech in French, in the
+course of which he travelled over every variety of topic that
+suggested itself to his excursive mind, and ended with a very
+coarse toast and the words 'Honi soit qui mal y pense.' Sefton,
+who told it me said he never felt so ashamed; Lord Grey was ready
+to sink into the earth; everybody laughed of course, and Sefton,
+who sat next to Talleyrand, said to him, 'Eh bien, que pensez-vous
+de cela?' With his unmoved, immovable face he answered only,
+'C'est bien remarquable.'
+
+In the meantime Reform, which has subsided into a calm for some
+time past, is approaching its termination in the House of
+Commons, and as it gets near the period of a fresh campaign, and
+a more arduous though a shorter one, agitation is a little
+reviving. The 'Times' and other violent newspapers are moving
+heaven and earth to stir up the country and intimidate the Peers,
+many of whom are frightened enough already. The general opinion
+at present is that the Peers created at the coronation will not
+be enough to carry the Bill (they are a set of horrid rubbish
+most of them), but that no more will be made at present; that the
+Opposition, if united, will be strong enough to throw out the
+Bill, but that they are so divided in opinion whether to oppose
+the Bill on the second reading or in Committee that this
+dissension will very likely enable it to pass. Up to this time
+there has been no meeting, and nothing has been agreed upon, but
+there would have been one convened by the Duke of Wellington but
+for Lady Mornington's death, and this week they will arrange
+their plan of operations. From what Sefton says (who knows and
+thinks only as Brougham and Grey direct him) I conclude that the
+Government are resolved the Bill shall pass, that if it is thrown
+out they will do what the Tories recommended, and make as many
+Peers as may be sufficient, for he said the other day he would
+rather it was thrown out on the second reading than pass by a
+small majority. With this resolution (which after having gone so
+far is not unwise) and the feeling out of doors, pass it must,
+and so sure are Government of it that they have begun to divide
+the counties, and have set up an office with clerks, maps, &c.,
+in the Council Office, and there the Committee sit every day.
+
+
+Stoke, September 18th, 1831 {p.194}
+
+I came here yesterday with the Chancellor, Creevey, Luttrell, my
+father and mother, Esterhazy, Neumann. Brougham was tired, never
+spoke, and went to bed early. This morning I got a letter from
+the Lord President enclosing an order from the King for a copy of
+the proceedings in Council on the marriage of the Duke of Sussex
+and Lady Augusta Murray. The Chancellor told me that the young
+man Sir Augustus d'Este had behaved very ill, having filed a bill
+in Chancery, into which he had put all his father's love letters,
+written thirty years ago, to perpetuate evidence; that it was all
+done without the Duke of Sussex's consent, but that D'Este had
+got Lushington's opinion that the marriage was valid on the
+ground that the Marriage Act only applied to marriages contracted
+here, whereas this was contracted at Rome. He said Lushington was
+a great authority, but that he had no doubt he was wrong. The
+King is exceedingly annoyed at it.
+
+
+September 19th, 1831 {p.195}
+
+Came to town. Talleyrand, Madame de Dino, and Alava came to Stoke
+yesterday. Talleyrand had a circle, but the Chancellor talked too
+much, and they rather spoilt one another. He said one neat thing.
+They were talking of Madame d'Abrantes's 'Memoirs,' and of her
+mother, Madame Pernon. My father said, 'M. de Marboeuf etait _un
+peu_ l'amant de Madame Pernon, n'est-ce pas?' He said, 'Oui, mais
+je ne _sais pas dans quelles proportions_.'
+
+
+September 20th, 1831 {p.195}
+
+[Page Head: STATE OF FRANCE.]
+
+News arrived of great riots at Paris, on account of the Polish
+business and the fall of Warsaw. Madame de Dino (who, by-the-bye,
+Talleyrand says is the cleverest _man_ or _woman_ he ever knew)
+said last night that she despaired of the state of things in
+France, that this was no mere popular tumult, but part of an
+organised system of disaffection, and that the Carlists had
+joined the ultra-Republicans, that the National Guard was not to
+be depended upon, that 'leur esprit etait fatigue.' Talleyrand
+himself was very low, and has got no intelligence from his
+Government. This morning I met Lord Grey, and walked with him. I
+told him what Madame de Dino had said. He said he knew it all,
+and how bad things were, and that they would be much worse if the
+Reform Bill was thrown out here. I asked him how they would be
+affected by that. He said that a change of Ministry here would
+have a very bad effect there, from which it may be inferred that
+if beaten they mean to resign. He said the French Ministry had
+been very imprudent about Poland. I said, 'How? for what could
+they have done? They could only get at Poland through Prussia.'
+He said they might have sent a fleet to the Baltic with our
+concurrence, though we could not urge them to do so. I asked him
+what he thought would be the result of the dissolution of
+Perier's Government; I said that there appeared to me two
+alternatives, a general _bouleversement_ or the war faction in
+power under the existing system. He replied he did not think
+there would now be a _bouleversement_, but a Ministry of
+Lafayette, Lamarque, and all that party who were impatient to
+plunge France into war. I said I did not think France could look
+to a successful war, for the old alliance would be re-formed
+against her. He rejoined that Russia was powerless, crippled by
+this contest, and under the necessity of maintaining a great army
+in Poland; Austria and Prussia were both combustible, half the
+provinces of the former nearly in a state of insurrection; that
+the latter had enough to do to preserve quiet, and the French
+would rouse all the disaffected spirit which existed in both. I
+said 'then we were on the eve of that state of things which was
+predicted by Canning in his famous speech.' Here we met Ellis,
+and I left them.
+
+I afterwards saw George Villiers, who told me that he knew from a
+member of the Cabinet that there had been a division in it on the
+question of going out if the Reform Bill should be rejected, and
+that it had been carried by a majority that they should. He told
+me also a curious thing about Stanley's Arms Bill: that it had
+never been imparted to Lord Anglesey, nor to the Cabinet here,
+and that Lord Grey had been obliged to write an apology to Lord
+Anglesey, and to tell him he (Lord Grey) had himself seen the
+Bill for the first time in the newspapers. This he had from Lord C.,
+who is a great friend of Lord Anglesey's, and who had seen Lord
+Grey's letter before he left Ireland; but the story appears to me
+quite incredible, and is probably untrue.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XVI.
+
+Whig and Tory Meetings on Reform--Resolution to carry the Bill--
+  Holland--Radical Jones--Reform Bill thrown out by the Lords--
+  Dorsetshire Election--Division among the Tories--Bishop
+  Phillpotts--Prospects of Reform--Its Dangers--Riots at
+  Bristol--The Cholera at Sunderland--An Attempt at a Compromise
+  on Reform--Lord Wharncliffe negotiates with the Ministers--
+  Negotiation with Mr. Barnes--Proclamation against the Unions--
+  Barbarism of Sunderland--Disappointment of Lord Wharncliffe--
+  Bristol and Lyons--Commercial Negotiations with France--Poulett
+  Thomson--Lord Wharncliffe's Proposal to Lord Grey--Disapproved
+  by the Duke of Wellington--Moderation of Lord John Russell--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor--The Second Reform Bill--Violence
+  of Lord Durham--More Body-snatchers--Duke of Richmond and Sir
+  Henry Parnell--Panshanger--Creation of Peers--Division of
+  Opinion--Negotiation to avoid the Creation of Peers--Lord
+  Wharncliffe's Interview with the King--Opposition of the Duke
+  of Wellington--The Waverers resolve to separate from the Duke.
+
+
+September 22nd, 1831 {p.197}
+
+[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+The night before last Croker and Macaulay made two fine speeches
+on Reform; the former spoke for two hours and a half, and in a
+way he had never done before. Macaulay was very brilliant. There
+was a meeting at Lord Ebrington's yesterday, called by him,
+Lyttelton Lawley, and of members of the House of Commons only,
+and they (without coming to any resolution) were all agreed to
+prevail on the Government not to resign in the event of the
+Reform Bill being rejected in the House of Lords. I have no
+doubt, therefore, in spite of what Lord Grey said, and the other
+circumstances I have mentioned above, that they will not resign,
+and I doubt whether there will be any occasion for it.
+
+There was a dinner at Apsley House yesterday; the Cabinet of
+Opposition, to discuss matters before having a general meeting. At
+this dinner there were sixteen or seventeen present, all the
+leading anti-Reformers of the Peers. They agreed to oppose the
+second reading. Dudley, who was there, told me it was tragedy
+first and farce afterwards; for Eldon and Kenyon, who had dined
+with the Duke of Cumberland, came in after dinner. Chairs were
+placed for them on each side of the Duke, and after he had
+explained to them what they had been discussing, and what had been
+agreed upon, Kenyon made a long speech on the first reading of the
+Bill, in which it was soon apparent that he was very drunk, for he
+talked exceeding nonsense, wandered from one topic to another, and
+repeated the same things over and over again. When he had done
+Eldon made a speech on the second reading, and appeared to be
+equally drunk, only, Lord Bathurst told me, Kenyon in his
+drunkenness talked nonsense, but Eldon sense. Dudley said it was
+not that they were as drunk as lords and gentlemen sometimes are,
+but they were drunk like porters. Lyndhurst was not there, though
+invited. He dined at Holland House. It is pretty clear, however,
+that he will vote for the second reading, for his wife is
+determined he shall. I saw her yesterday, and she is full of pique
+and resentment against the Opposition and the Duke, half real and
+half pretended, and chatters away about Lyndhurst's not being
+their cat's paw, and that if they choose to abandon him, they must
+not expect him to sacrifice himself for them. The pretexts she
+takes are, that they would not go to the House of Lords on Tuesday
+and support him against Brougham on the Bankruptcy Bill, and that
+the Duke of Wellington wrote to her and _desired_ her to influence
+her husband in the matter of Reform. The first is a joke, the
+second there might be a little in, for vanity is always uppermost,
+but they have both some motive of interest, which they will pursue
+in whatever way they best can. The excuse they make is that they
+want to conceal their strength from the Government, and
+accordingly the Duke of Wellington has not yet entered any of his
+proxies. The truth is that I am by no means sure _now_ that it is
+safe or prudent to oppose the second reading; and though I think
+it very doubtful if any practicable alteration will be made in
+Committee, it will be better to take that chance, and the chance
+of an accommodation and compromise between the two parties and the
+two Houses, than to attack it in front. It is clear that
+Government are resolved to carry the Bill, and equally clear that
+no means they can adopt would be unpopular. They are averse to
+making more Peers if they can help it, and would rather go quietly
+on, without any fresh changes, and I believe they are conscientiously
+persuaded that this Bill is the least democratical Bill it is
+possible to get the country to accept, and that if offered in time
+this one will be accepted. I had heard before that the country is
+not enamoured of this Bill, but I fear that it is true that they
+are only indifferent to the Conservative clauses of it (if I may
+so term them), and for that reason it may be doubtful whether
+there would not be such a clamour raised in the event of the
+rejection of this Bill as would compel the Ministers to make a new
+one, more objectionable than the old. If its passing clearly
+appears to be inevitable, why, the sooner it is done the better,
+for at least one immense object will be gained in putting an end
+to agitation, and restoring the country to good-humour, and it is
+desirable that the House of Lords should stand as well with the
+people as it can. It is better, as Burke says, 'to do early, and
+from foresight, that which we may be obliged to do from necessity
+at last.' I am not more delighted with Reform than I have ever
+been, but it is the part of prudence to take into consideration
+the present and the future, and not to harp upon the past. It
+matters not how the country has been worked up to its present
+state, if a calm observation convinces us that the spirit that has
+been raised cannot be allayed, and that is very clear to me.
+
+
+September 24th, 1831 {p.199}
+
+Peel closed the debate on Thursday night with a very fine speech,
+the best (one of his opponents told me, and it is no use asking
+the opinions of friends if a candid opponent is to be found) he
+had ever made, not only on that subject, but on any other; he cut
+Macaulay to ribands. Macaulay is very brilliant, but his speeches
+are harangues and never replies; whereas Peel's long experience
+and real talent for debate give him a great advantage in the
+power of reply, which he very eminently possesses. Macaulay,
+however, will probably be a very distinguished man. These debates
+have elicited a vast deal of talent, and have served as
+touchstones to try real merit and power. As a proof of what
+practice and a pretty good understanding can do, there is
+Althorp, who now appears to be an excellent leader, and contrives
+to speak decently upon all subjects, quite as much as a leader
+need do; for I have always thought that it should not be his
+business to furnish rhetoric and flowers of eloquence, but
+good-humour, judgment, firmness, discretion, business-like
+talents, and gentlemanlike virtues.
+
+Dined at Richmond on Friday with the Lyndhursts; the _mari_ talks
+against the Bill, the women for it. They are like the old
+divisions of families in the Civil Wars.
+
+My brother-in-law and sister are just returned from a tour of
+three weeks in Holland; curious spectacle, considering the state
+of the rest of Europe, nothing but loyalty and enthusiasm,
+adoration of the Orange family; 2,000,000 of people, and an army
+of 110,000 men; everybody satisfied with the Government, and no
+desire for Reform.
+
+Paris, on the point of exploding, is again tranquil, but nobody
+can tell for how long. They bet two to one here that the Reform
+Bill is thrown out on the second reading; and what then? The
+meeting at Ebrington's was flat, nothing agreed on. Hume wanted
+to pass some violent resolution, but was overruled. Milton made a
+foolish speech, with prospective menaces and present nothingness
+in it, and they separated without having done good or harm.
+
+
+Newmarket, October 1st, 1831 {p.200}
+
+[Page Head: PROSPECTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
+
+Came here last night, to my great joy, to get holidays, and leave
+Reform and cholera and politics for racing and its amusements.
+Just before I came away I met Lord Wharncliffe, and asked him
+about his interview with Radical Jones. This blackguard considers
+himself a sort of chief of a faction, and one of the heads of the
+_sans-culottins_ of the present day. He wrote to Lord Wharncliffe
+and said he wished to confer with him, that if he would grant him
+an interview he might bring any person he pleased to witness what
+passed between them. Lord Wharncliffe replied that he would call
+on him, and should be satisfied to have no witness. Accordingly
+he did so, when the other in very civil terms told him that he
+wished to try and impress upon his mind (as he was one of the
+heads of anti-Reform in the House of Lords) how dangerous it
+would be to reject this Bill, that all sorts of excesses would
+follow its rejection, that their persons and properties would be
+perilled, and resistance would be unavailing, for that they (the
+Reformers) were resolved to carry their point. Lord Wharncliffe
+asked whether if this was conceded they would be satisfied. Jones
+replied, 'Certainly not;' that they must go a great deal further,
+that an hereditary peerage was not to be defended on any
+reasonable theory. Still, he was not for doing away with it, that
+he wished the changes that were inevitable to take place quietly,
+and without violence or confusion. After some more discourse in
+this strain they separated, but very civilly, and without any
+intemperance of expression on the part of the Reformer.
+
+On Monday the battle begins in the House of Lords, and up to this
+time nobody knows how it will go, each party being confident, but
+opinion generally in favour of the Bill being thrown out. There
+is nothing more curious in this question than the fact that it is
+almost impossible to find anybody who is satisfied with the part
+he himself takes upon it, and that it is generally looked upon as
+a choice of evils, in which the only thing to do is to choose the
+least. The Reformers say, You had better pass the Bill or you
+will have a worse. The moderate anti-Reformers would be glad to
+suffer the second reading to pass and alter it in Committee, but
+they do not dare do so, because the sulky, stupid, obstinate High
+Tories declare that they will throw the whole thing up, and not
+attempt to alter the Bill if it passes the second reading. Every
+man seems tossed about by opposite considerations and the
+necessity of accommodating his own conduct to the caprices,
+passions, and follies of others.
+
+
+Riddlesworth, October 10th, 1831 {p.201}
+
+At Newmarket all last week; all the Peers absent; here since
+Friday. Yesterday morning the newspapers (all in black[1])
+announced the defeat of the Reform Bill by a majority of
+forty-one, at seven o'clock on Saturday morning, after five
+nights' debating. By all accounts the debate was a magnificent
+display, and incomparably superior to that in the House of
+Commons, but the reports convey no idea of it. The great speakers
+on either side were:--Lords Grey, Lansdowne, Goderich, Plunket,
+and the Chancellor, for the Bill; against it, Lords Wharncliffe
+(who moved the amendment), Harrowby, Carnarvon, Dudley, Wynford,
+and Lyndhurst. The Duke of Wellington's speech was exceedingly
+bad; he is in fact, and has proved it in repeated instances,
+unequal to argue a great constitutional question. He has neither
+the command of language, the power of reasoning, nor the
+knowledge requisite for such an effort. Lord Harrowby's speech
+was amazingly fine, and delivered with great effect; and the last
+night the Chancellor is said to have surpassed all his former
+exploits, Lyndhurst to have been nearly as good, and Lord Grey
+very great in reply. There was no excitement in London the
+following day, and nothing particular happened but the Chancellor
+being drawn from Downing Street to Berkeley Square in his
+carriage by a very poor mob. The majority was much greater than
+anybody expected, and it is to be hoped may be productive of good
+by showing the necessity of a compromise; for no Minister can
+make sixty Peers, which Lord Grey must do to carry this Bill; it
+would be to create another House of Lords. Nobody knows what the
+Ministers would do, but it was thought they would not resign. A
+meeting of members of the House of Commons was held under the
+auspices of Ebrington to agree upon a resolution of confidence in
+the Government this day. The majority and the magnificent display
+of eloquence and ability in the House of Lords must exalt the
+character and dignity of that House, and I hope increase its
+efficacy for good purposes and for resistance to this Bill. It
+may be hoped, too, that the apathy of the capital may have some
+effect in the country, though the unions, which are so well
+disciplined and under the control of their orators, will make a
+stir. On the whole I rejoice at this result, though I had taken
+fright before, and thought it better the Bill should be read a
+second time than be thrown out by a very small majority.
+
+      [1] [Not all of them; neither the 'Times' nor the 'Morning
+          Herald.'.]
+
+[Page Head: DORSETSHIRE ELECTION.]
+
+While the debates have been going on there have been two
+elections, one of the Lord Mayor in the City, which the Reformers
+have carried after a sharp contest, and the contest for
+Dorsetshire between Ponsonby and Ashley, which is not yet over.
+Ponsonby had a week's start of his opponent, notwithstanding
+which it is so severe that they have been for some days within
+ten or fifteen of each other, and (what is remarkable) the
+anti-Reformer is the popular candidate, and has got all the mob
+with him. This certainly is indicative of some _change_, though
+not of a _reaction_, in public opinion. There is no longer the
+same vehemence of desire for this Bill, and I doubt whether all
+the efforts of the press will be able to stimulate the people
+again to the same pitch of excitement.
+
+
+Buckenham, October 11th, 1831 {p.203}
+
+Came here yesterday; nobody of note, not lively, letters every
+day with an account of what is passing. The Radical press is
+moving heaven and earth to produce excitement, but without much
+effect. There was something of a mob which marched about the
+parks, but no mischief done. Londonderry and some others were
+hooted near the House of Lords. Never was a party so crestfallen
+as I hear they are; they had not a notion of such a division.
+There seems to be a very general desire to bring about a fair
+compromise, and to have a Bill introduced next session which may
+be so framed as to secure the concurrence of the majority of both
+Houses. The finest speeches by all accounts were Harrowby's,
+Lyndhurst's, and Grey's reply; but Henry de Ros, who is a very
+good judge, writes me word that Lyndhurst's was the most to his
+taste.
+
+
+October 12th, 1831 {p.203}
+
+The Reformers appear to have rallied their spirits. Lord Grey went
+to Windsor, was graciously received by the King, and obtained the
+dismissal of Lord Howe, which will serve to show the King's entire
+good-will to his present Ministers. Ebrington's resolution of
+confidence was carried by a great majority in the House of Commons
+after some violent speeches from Macaulay, Sheil, and O'Connell,
+and very moderate ones and in a low tone on the other side.
+Macaulay's speech was as usual very eloquent, but as inflammatory
+as possible. Such men as these three can care nothing into what
+state of confusion the country is thrown, for all they want is a
+market to which they may bring their talents;[2] but how the
+Miltons, Tavistocks, Althorps, and all who have a great stake in
+the country can run the same course is more than I can conceive or
+comprehend. Party is indeed, as Swift says, 'the madness of many,'
+when carried to its present pitch. In the meantime the Conservative
+party are as usual committing blunders, which will be fatal to
+them. Lord Harrowby was to have moved yesterday or the day before,
+in the House of Lords, a resolution pledging the House to take
+into consideration early in the next session the acknowledged
+defects in the representation, with a view to make such
+ameliorations in it as might be consistent with the Constitution,
+or something to this effect. This has not been done because the
+Duke of Wellington objects. He will not concur because he thinks
+the proposition should come from Government; as if this was a time
+to stand upon such punctilios, and that it was not of paramount
+importance to show the country that the Peers are not obstinately
+bent upon opposing all Reform. I had hoped that he had profited by
+experience, and that at least his past errors in politics might
+have taught him a little modesty, and that he would not have
+thwarted measures which were proposed by the wisest and most
+disinterested of his own party. I can conceive no greater
+misfortune at this moment than such a disunion of that party, and
+to have its deliberations ruled by the obstinacy and prejudices of
+the Duke. He is a great man in little things, but a little man in
+great matters--I mean in civil affairs; in those mighty questions
+which embrace enormous and various interests and considerations,
+and to comprehend which great knowledge of human nature, great
+sagacity, coolness, and impartiality are required, he is not fit
+to govern and direct. His mind has not been sufficiently
+disciplined, nor saturated with knowledge and matured by
+reflection and communication with other minds, to enable him to be
+a safe and efficient leader in such times as these.
+
+      [2] This was very unjust to Macaulay, and not true as to
+          Sheil; to O'Connell alone applicable.
+
+[In reading over these remarks upon the Duke of Wellington, and
+comparing them with the opinions I now entertain of his present
+conduct, and of the nature and quality of his mind, I am
+compelled to ask myself whether I did not then do him injustice.
+On the whole I think not. He is not, nor ever was, a little man
+in anything, great or small; but I am satisfied that he has made
+great political blunders, though with the best and most patriotic
+intentions, and that his conduct throughout the Reform contest
+was one of the greatest and most unfortunate of them.--July
+1838.]
+
+
+October 14th, 1831 {p.205}
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY AND BISHOP PHILLPOTTS.]
+
+The town continues quite quiet; the country nearly so. The press
+strain every nerve to produce excitement, and the 'Times' has
+begun an assault on the bishops, whom it has marked out for
+vengeance and defamation for having voted against the Bill.
+Althorp and Lord John Russell have written grateful letters to
+Attwood as Chairman of the Birmingham Union, thus indirectly
+acknowledging that puissant body. There was a desperate strife in
+the House of Lords between Phillpotts and Lord Grey, in which the
+former got a most tremendous dressing. Times must be mightily
+changed when my sympathies go with this bishop, and even now,
+though full of disgust with the other faction, I have a pleasure
+in seeing him trounced. The shade of Canning may rejoice at the
+sight of Grey smiting Phillpotts. Even on such a question
+Phillpotts was essentially in the right; but he lost his temper,
+floundered, and got punished. It was most indecent and disgusting
+to hear Brougham from the Woolsack, in a strain of the bitterest
+irony and sarcasm, but so broad as to be without the semblance of
+disguise, attack the bench of bishops. I am of opinion that it
+would have been far better never to have let them back into the
+House of Lords, but now that they are there I would not thrust
+them out, especially at this moment. Lord Grey in this debate
+gave no handle certainly, for he interposed in their favour, and
+rebuked Lord Suffield, who attacked them first, and told him he
+was out of order, and then Phillpotts very foolishly attacked
+him.
+
+
+October 15th, 1831 {p.206}
+
+A furious attack in the House of Commons upon Althorp's and John
+Russell's letters to Attwood by Hardinge and Vyvyan. Peel not
+there, having hopped off to Staffordshire, to the great disgust
+of his party, whom he never scruples to leave in the lurch. They
+made wretched excuses for these letters, and could only have
+recourse to the pretence of indignation at being thought capable
+of fomenting disorders, which is all very well; but they do
+foment discord and discontent by every means in their power. With
+a yelling majority in the House, and a desperate press out of it,
+they go on in their reckless course without fear or shame. Lord
+Harrowby made a speech in the House of Lords, and declared his
+conviction that the time was come for effecting a Reform, and
+that he would support one to a certain extent, which he
+specified. In the House he was coolly received, and the 'Times'
+hardly deigned to notice what he said. Parliament is to be up on
+Thursday next, and will probably not meet till January, when of
+course the first thing done will be to bring in the Bill again.
+What, then, is gained? For as Ministers take every opportunity of
+declaring that they will accept nothing less efficient (as they
+call it) than the present Bill, no compromise can be looked for.
+Lord Harrowby is the only man who has said what he will do, and
+probably he goes further than the bulk of his party would approve
+of; and yet he is far behind the Ministerial plan. So that there
+seems little prospect of getting off for less than the old Bill,
+for the Opposition will hardly venture to stop the next _in
+limine_ as they did this. I do not see why they should hope to
+amend the next Bill in Committee any more than the last, and the
+division which they dreaded the other day is not less likely, and
+would not be less fatal upon another occasion. If, then, it is to
+pass at last, it comes back to what I thought before, that it
+might as well have passed at first as at last, and the excitement
+consequent on its rejection have been spared, as well as the
+odium which has accrued to the Peers, which will not be forgotten
+or laid aside.
+
+The Dorsetshire election promises to end in favour of Ashley, and
+there will be a contest for Cambridgeshire, which may also end in
+favour of the anti-Reform candidate. These victories I really
+believe to be unfortunate, for they are taken (I am arguing as if
+they were won, though, with regard to the first, it is the same
+thing by contrast with the last election) by the Tories and
+anti-Reform champions as undoubted proofs of the reaction of
+public opinion, and they are thereby encouraged to persevere in
+opposition under the false notion that this supposed reaction
+will every day gain ground. I wish it were so with all my soul,
+but believe it is no such thing, and that although there may be
+fewer friends to _the Bill_ than there were, particularly among
+the agriculturists, Reform is not a whit less popular with the
+mass of the people in the manufacturing districts, throughout the
+unions, and generally amongst all classes and in all parts of the
+country. When I see men, and those in very great numbers, of the
+highest birth, of immense fortunes, of undoubted integrity and
+acknowledged talents, zealously and conscientiously supporting
+this measure, I own I am lost in astonishment, and even doubt;
+for I can't help asking myself whether it is possible that such
+men would be the advocates of measures fraught with all the peril
+we ascribe to these, whether we are not in reality mistaken, and
+labouring under groundless alarm generated by habitual prejudices
+and erroneous calculations. But often as this doubt comes across
+my mind, it is always dispelled by a reference to and comparison
+of the arguments on both sides, and by the lessons which all that
+I have ever read and all the conclusions I have been able to draw
+from the study of history have impressed on my mind. I believe
+these measures full of danger, but that the manner in which they
+have been introduced, discussed, defended, and supported is more
+dangerous still. The total unsettlement of men's minds, the
+bringing into contempt all the institutions which have been
+hitherto venerated, the aggrandisement of the power of the
+people, the embodying and recognition of popular authority, the
+use and abuse of the King's name, the truckling to the press, are
+things so subversive of government, so prejudicial to order and
+tranquillity, so encouraging to sedition and disaffection, that I
+do not see the possibility of the country settling down into that
+calm and undisturbed state in which it was before this question
+was mooted, and without which there can be no happiness or
+security to the community. A thousand mushroom orators and
+politicians have sprung up all over the country, each big with
+his own ephemeral importance, and every one of whom fancies
+himself fit to govern the nation. Amongst them are some men of
+active and powerful minds, and nothing is less probable than that
+these spirits of mischief and misrule will be content to subside
+into their original nothingness, and retire after the victory has
+been gained into the obscurity from which they emerged.
+
+
+Newmarket, October 23rd, 1831 {p.208}
+
+Nothing but racing all this week; Parliament has been prorogued
+and all is quiet. The world seems tired, and requires rest. How
+soon it will all begin again God knows, but it will not be
+suffered to sleep long.
+
+
+London, November 11th, 1831 {p.208}
+
+[Page Head: RIOTS AT BRISTOL.]
+
+Nothing written for a long time; I went after the second October
+meeting to Euston, and from thence to Horsham, returned to
+Newmarket, was going to Felbrigg, but came to town on Tuesday
+last (the 8th) on account of the cholera, which has broken out at
+Sunderland. The country was beginning to slumber after the
+fatigues of Reform, when it was rattled up by the business of
+Bristol,[3] which for brutal ferocity and wanton, unprovoked
+violence may vie with some of the worst scenes of the French
+Revolution, and may act as a damper to our national pride. The
+spirit which produced these atrocities was generated by Reform,
+but no pretext was afforded for their actual commission; it was a
+premature outbreaking of the thirst for plunder, and longing
+after havoc and destruction, which is the essence of Reform in
+the mind of the mob. The details are ample, and to be met with
+everywhere; nothing could exceed the ferocity of the populace,
+the imbecility of the magistracy, or the good conduct of the
+troops. More punishment was inflicted by them than has been
+generally known, and some hundreds were killed or severely
+wounded by the sabre. One body of dragoons pursued a rabble of
+colliers into the country, and covered the fields and roads with
+the bodies of wounded wretches, making a severe example of them.
+In London there would probably have been a great uproar and riot,
+but fortunately Melbourne, who was frightened to death at the
+Bristol affair, gave Lord Hill and Fitzroy Somerset _carte
+blanche_, and they made such a provision of military force in
+addition to the civil power that the malcontents were paralysed.
+The Bristol business has done some good, inasmuch as it has
+opened people's eyes (at least so it is said), but if we are to
+go on as we do with a mob-ridden Government and a foolish King,
+who renders himself subservient to all the wickedness and folly
+of his Ministers, where is the advantage of having people's eyes
+open, when seeing they will not perceive, and hearing they will
+not understand? Nothing was wanting to complete our situation but
+the addition of physical evil to our moral plague, and that is
+come in the shape of the cholera, which broke out at Sunderland a
+few days ago. To meet the exigency Government has formed another
+Board of Health, but without dissolving the first, though the
+second is intended to swallow up the first and leave it a mere
+nullity. Lord Lansdowne, who is President of the Council, an
+office which for once promises not to be a sinecure, has taken
+the opportunity to go to Bowood, and having come up (sent for
+express) on account of the cholera the day it was officially
+declared really to be that disease, he has trotted back to his
+house in the country.
+
+      [3] [Riots broke out with great violence at Bristol on the
+          29th of October, the pretext being the entry of Sir
+          Charles Wetherell into that city (of which he was
+          Recorder), who was notorious for his violent opposition
+          to the Reform Bill. Much property was destroyed, and
+          many lives lost.]
+
+
+November 14th, 1831 {p.210}
+
+For the last two or three days the reports from Sunderland about
+the cholera have been of a doubtful character. The disease makes
+so little progress that the doctors begin again to doubt whether
+it is the Indian cholera, and the merchants, shipowners, and
+inhabitants, who suffer from the restraints imposed upon an
+infected place, are loudly complaining of the measures which have
+been adopted, and strenuously insisting that their town is in a
+more healthy state than usual, and that the disease is no more
+than what it always is visited with every year at this season. In
+the meantime all preparations are going on in London, just as if
+the disorder was actually on its way to the metropolis. We have a
+Board at the Council Office, between which and the Board at the
+College some civilities have passed, and the latter is now ready
+to yield up its functions to the former, which, however, will not
+be regularly constituted without much difficulty and many
+jealousies, all owing to official carelessness and mismanagement.
+The Board has been diligently employed in drawing up suggestions
+and instructions to local boards and parochial authorities, and
+great activity has prevailed here in establishing committees for
+the purpose of visiting the different districts of the metropolis,
+and making such arrangements as may be necessary in the event of
+sickness breaking out. There is no lack of money or labour for
+this end, and one great good will be accomplished let what will
+happen, for much of the filth and misery of the town will be
+brought to light, and the condition of the poorer and more
+wretched of the inhabitants can hardly fail to be ameliorated. The
+reports from Sunderland exhibit a state of human misery, and
+necessarily of moral degradation, such as I hardly ever heard of,
+and it is no wonder, when a great part of the community is plunged
+into such a condition (and we may fairly suppose that there is a
+gradually mounting scale, with every degree of wretchedness up to
+the wealth and splendour which glitter on the surface of society),
+that there should be so many who are ripe for any desperate scheme
+of revolution. At Sunderland they say there are houses with 150
+inmates, who are huddled five and six in a bed. They are in the
+lowest state of poverty. The sick in these receptacles are
+attended by an apothecary's boy, who brings them (or I suppose
+tosses them) medicines without distinction or enquiry.
+
+I saw Lord Wharncliffe last night, just returned from Yorkshire;
+he gives a bad account of the state of the public mind; he thinks
+that there is a strong revolutionary spirit abroad; told me that
+the Duke of Wellington had written to the King a memorial upon
+the danger of the associations that were on foot.
+
+
+Roehampton, November 19th, 1831 {p.211}
+
+[Page Head: OVERTURES FOR A COMPROMISE.]
+
+On Tuesday last I went with the Duke of Richmond to pass a day at
+Shirley Lodge, a house that has been lent him by Mr. Maberly, and
+there we had a great deal of conversation about Reform and general
+politics, in the course of which I was struck by his apparent
+candour and moderation, and when I told him that nothing would do
+but a compromise between the parties he acceded to that opinion,
+and said that he should like to go to Lord Wharncliffe, and talk
+the matter over with him. This was on Wednesday. Yesterday morning
+I called on Lord Wharncliffe, and told him what Richmond had said.
+He was sitting before a heap of papers, and when I told him this
+he laughed and said that Richmond was behindhand, that matters had
+gone a great deal further than this, and then proceeded to give me
+the following account of what had passed. A short time ago
+Palmerston spoke to his son, John Wortley, and expressed a desire
+that some compromise could be effected between the Government and
+the Opposition leaders, which John imparted to Lord Harrowby and
+his father. The overture was so well received by them that Stanley
+went to Sandon, Lord Harrowby's place in Staffordshire, in his way
+to Ireland, with Lord Grey's consent, to talk it over with Lord
+Sandon. After this Lord Wharncliffe went to Sandon, and the two
+fathers and two sons discussed the matter, and came to a sort of
+general resolution as to the basis on which they would treat,
+which they drew up, and which Wharncliffe read to me. It was
+moderate, temperate, embraced ample concessions, and asserted the
+necessity of each party refraining from demanding of the other
+what either was so pledged to as to be unable to concede without
+dishonour. On Wharncliffe's return to town he again saw
+Palmerston, and communicated to him Harrowby's concurrence in an
+equitable adjustment of the Reform question, and then suggested
+that if Government really desired this, it would be better that he
+(Wharncliffe) should see Lord Grey himself on the subject.
+Palmerston told Lord Grey, who assented, and gave Wharncliffe a
+rendezvous at East Sheen on Wednesday last. There they had a long
+conversation, which by his account was conducted in a very fair
+and amicable spirit on both sides, and they seem to have come to a
+good understanding as to the principle on which they should treat.
+On parting, Grey shook hands with him twice, and told him he had
+not felt so much relieved for a long time. The next day Lord Grey
+made a minute of their conversation, which he submitted to the
+Cabinet; they approved of it, and he sent it to Wharncliffe to
+peruse, who returned it to Lord Grey. In this state the matter
+stood yesterday morning, apparently with every prospect of being
+arranged. Wharncliffe had already spoken to Dudley, Lyndhurst, and
+De Ros, the only Peers of his party he had seen, and to the
+Archbishop of Canterbury, who were all delighted at what had
+passed. He had written to the Duke of Wellington and Peel, and he
+is busying himself in consulting and communicating with all the
+Peers and influential Commoners of the party whom he can find in
+town. The terms are not settled, but the general basis agreed upon
+seems to be this: the concession of Schedule A, of representatives
+to the great towns, and a great extension of the county
+representation on one side; the abandonment, or nearly so, of
+Schedule B, such an arrangement with regard to the L10 qualification
+as shall have the practical effect of a higher rate, and an
+understanding that the manufacturing interest is not to have a
+preponderating influence in the county representation; a great
+deal to be left open to discussion, especially on all the
+subordinate points.
+
+[Page Head: NEGOTIATION WITH THE WAVERERS]
+
+Such is the history of this curious transaction, which affords a
+triumphant justification of the course which the Opposition
+adopted; indeed, Palmerston admitted to Wharncliffe that their
+tactics had been entirely judicious. It is likewise a great homage
+rendered to character, for Wharncliffe has neither wealth,
+influence, nor superior abilities, nor even popularity with his
+own party. He is a spirited, sensible, zealous, honourable,
+consistent country gentleman; their knowledge of his moderation
+and integrity induced Ministers to commit themselves to him, and
+he will thus be in all probability enabled to render an essential
+service to his country, and be a principal instrument in the
+settlement of a question the continued agitation of which would
+have been perilous in the extreme. Besides the prospect of a less
+objectionable Bill, an immense object is gained in the complete
+separation of the Ministry from the subversive party, for their
+old allies the Radicals will never forgive them for this
+compromise with the anti-Reformers, and they have now no
+alternative but to unite with those who call themselves the
+Conservative party against the rebels, republicans, associators,
+and all the disaffected in the country. After all their
+declarations and their unbending insolence, to have brought down
+their pride to these terms, and to the humiliation of making
+overtures to a party whose voice was only the other day designated
+by John Russell as 'the whisper of a faction,' shows plainly how
+deeply alarmed they are at the general state of the country, and
+how the conflagration of Bristol has suddenly illuminated their
+minds. That incident, the language of the associations, the
+domiciliary visits to Lord Grey at midnight of Place and his
+rabble, and the licentiousness of the press, have opened their
+eyes, and convinced them that if existing institutions are to be
+preserved at all there is no time to be lost in making such an
+arrangement as may enable all who have anything to lose to
+coalesce for their mutual safety and protection. Whatever may be
+the amount of their concessions, the Radicals will never pardon
+Lord Grey for negotiating with the Tories at all, and nothing will
+prevent his being henceforward the object of their suspicion and
+aversion, and marked out for their vengeance. By what process
+Althorp and John Russell were induced to concur, and how they are
+to set about swallowing their own words, I do not guess.
+
+As a proof of the disposition which exists, and the good
+understanding between Wharncliffe and the Government, he told me
+that some time ago Ward and Palmer went to him, and said that in
+the City the majority of men of weight and property were
+favourable to Reform, but not to the late Bill, and that they
+were desirous of having a declaration drawn up for signature,
+expressive of their adherence to Reform, but of their hope that
+the next measure might be such as would give satisfaction to all
+parties. Wharncliffe drew this up (there was likewise an
+acknowledgment of the right of the House of Lords to exercise
+their privileges as they had done) and gave it to them. It is
+gone to be signed, having been previously submitted to Grey and
+Althorp, who approved of it.
+
+
+November 21st, 1831 {p.214}
+
+Came to town from Roehampton yesterday morning, saw Henry de Ros,
+who had seen Barnes[4] the evening before, and opened to him the
+pending negotiation. His rage and fury exceeded all bounds. He
+swore Brougham and Grey (particularly the former) were the
+greatest of villains. After a long discussion he agreed to try and
+persuade his colleagues to adopt a moderate tone, and not to begin
+at once to _jeter feu et flamme_. Henry's object was to persuade
+him, if possible, that the interest of the paper will be in the
+long run better consulted by leaning towards the side of order and
+quiet than by continuing to exasperate and inflame. He seemed to a
+certain degree moved by this argument, though he is evidently a
+desperate Radical. Henry went to Melbourne afterwards, who is most
+anxious for the happy consummation of this affair, but expressed
+some alarm lest they should be unable to agree upon the details.
+There is an article in the 'Times' this morning of half-menacing
+import, sulkily and gloomily written, but not ferocious, and
+leaving it open to them to take what line they think fit. In the
+afternoon I met Melbourne, who told me they were going to put
+forth a proclamation against 'Attwood and the Birmingham fellows,'
+which was grateful to my ears.
+
+      [4] [Then editor of the 'Times' newspaper.]
+
+
+November 22nd, 1831 {p.215}
+
+[Page Head: PROCLAMATION AGAINST THE UNIONS]
+
+The King came to town yesterday for a Council, at which the
+meeting of Parliament on the 6th of December was settled. The
+proclamation against the unions (which was not ready, and the
+King signed a blank) and some orders about cholera were
+despatched. Lord Grey told me that the union had already
+determined to dissolve itself.
+
+My satisfaction was yesterday considerably damped by what I heard
+of the pending negotiation concerning Reform. Agar Ellis at
+Roehampton talked with great doubt of its being successful, which
+I attributed to his ignorance of what had passed, but I fear it is
+from his knowledge that the Government mean, in fact, to give up
+nothing of importance. George Bentinck came to me in the morning,
+and told me he had discovered from the Duke of Richmond that the
+concessions were not only to be all one way, but that the altered
+Bill would be, in fact, more objectionable than the last, inasmuch
+as it is more democratic in its tendency, so much so that Richmond
+is exceedingly dissatisfied himself, for he has always been the
+advocate of the aristocratic interest in the Cabinet, and has
+battled to make the Bill less adverse to it. Now he says he can
+contend no longer, for he is met by the unanswerable argument that
+their opponents are ready to concede more. I own I was alarmed,
+and my mind misgave me when I heard of the extreme satisfaction of
+Althorp and Co.; and I always dreaded that Wharncliffe, however
+honest and well-meaning, had not calibre enough to conduct such a
+negotiation, and might be misled by his vanity. He bustles about
+the town, chatting away to all the people he meets, and I fear is
+both ignorant himself of what he is about and involuntarily
+deceiving others too; he is in a fool's paradise. I spoke to Henry
+de Ros about this last night, who seemed by no means aware of it,
+and it is difficult to believe that Lyndhurst and Harrowby should
+not be perfectly alive to all the consequences of Wharncliffe's
+proceedings, or that they would sanction them if they had really
+the tendency that George Bentinck gives me to understand.
+
+The cholera, which is going on (but without greatly extending
+itself) at Sunderland, has excited an unusual alarm, but it is
+now beginning to subside. People seeing that it does not appear
+elsewhere take courage, but the preparations are not relaxed, and
+they are constantly enforced by the Central Board of Health (as
+it is called), which is established at the Council Office, and
+labours very assiduously in the cause. Undoubtedly a great deal
+of good will be done in the way of purification. As to the
+disorder, if it had not the name of cholera nobody would be
+alarmed, for many an epidemic has prevailed at different times
+far more fatal than this. On Friday last we despatched Dr. Barry
+down to Sunderland with very ample powers, and to procure
+information, which it is very difficult to get. Nothing can be
+more disgraceful than the state of that town, exhibiting a
+lamentable proof of the practical inutility of that diffusion of
+knowledge and education which we boast of, and which we fancy
+renders us so morally and intellectually superior to the rest of
+the world. When Dr. Russell was in Russia, he was disgusted with
+the violence and prejudices he found there on the part of both
+medical men and the people, and he says he finds just as much
+here. The conduct of the people of Sunderland on this occasion is
+more suitable to the barbarism of the interior of Africa than to
+a town in a civilised country. The medical men and the higher
+classes are split into parties, quarrelling about the nature of
+the disease, and perverting and concealing facts which militate
+against their respective theories. The people are taught to
+believe that there is really no cholera at all, and that those
+who say so intend to plunder and murder them. The consequence is
+prodigious irritation and excitement, an invincible repugnance on
+the part of the lower orders to avail themselves of any of the
+preparations which are made for curing them, and a proneness to
+believe any reports, however monstrous and exaggerated. In a very
+curious letter which was received yesterday from Dr. Daur, he
+says (after complaining of the medical men, who would send him no
+returns of the cases of sickness) it was believed that bodies had
+been dissected before the life was out of them, and one woman,
+was said to have been cut up while she was begging to be spared.
+The consequence of this is that we have put forward a strong
+order to compel medical men to give information, and another for
+the compulsory removal of nuisances. It is, however, rather
+amusing that everybody who has got in their vicinity anything
+disagreeable, or that they would like to be rid of, thinks that
+now is their time, and the table of the Board of Health is
+covered with applications of this nature, from every variety of
+person and of place.
+
+
+November 23rd, 1831 {p.217}
+
+Dr. Barry's first letter from Sunderland came yesterday, in which
+he declares the identity of the disease with the cholera he had
+seen in Russia. He describes some cases he had visited,
+exhibiting scenes of misery and poverty far exceeding what one
+could have believed it possible to find in this country; but we
+who float on the surface of society know but little of the
+privations and sufferings which pervade the mass. I wrote to the
+Bishop of Durham, to the chief magistrates, and sent down L200 to
+Colonel Creagh (which Althorp immediately advanced) to relieve
+the immediate and pressing cases of distress.
+
+[Page Head: DISAPPOINTMENT.]
+
+Saw George Bentinck in the afternoon, who confirmed my
+apprehension that Wharncliffe had been cajoled into a negotiation
+which Government intended should end by getting all they want.
+Richmond, Grey, and Palmerston were in a minority of three in the
+Cabinet for putting off the meeting of Parliament. One of the
+most Radical of the Cabinet is Goderich. Such a thing it is to be
+of feeble intellect and character, and yet he is a smart speaker,
+and an agreeable man. The moderate party are Richmond, who cannot
+have much weight, Stanley, who is in Ireland, Lansdowne, who is
+always 'gone to Bowood,' Palmerston, and Melbourne. Yet I am led
+to think that if Wharncliffe had insisted on better conditions,
+and held out, he would have got them, and that the Cabinet were
+really disposed to make all the concessions they could without
+compromising themselves. The meeting in the City yesterday was a
+total failure. Henry Drummond, who is mad, but very clever, and a
+Reformer, though for saving the rotten boroughs, spoke against
+the declaration, some others followed him, and after a couple of
+hours wasted in vain endeavours to procure unanimity the meeting
+broke up, and nothing was done. I saw Wharncliffe last night, who
+was exceedingly disappointed.
+
+
+November 28th, 1831 {p.218}
+
+The negotiation with Wharncliffe goes on languidly; he wrote to
+Lord Grey the other day, and suggested some heads as the basis of
+an accommodation, consisting of some extension of Schedule B,
+excluding town voters from county voting, and one or two other
+points; to which Lord Grey replied that some of the things he
+mentioned might be feasible, but that there would be great
+difficulty about others, that he feared nothing might come of
+their communications, as he would not hear of any other Peers who
+were disposed to go along with him. It is not a bad thing that
+they should each be impressed with a salutary apprehension, the
+one that he will have the same difficulties to encounter in the
+House of Lords, the other that nobody will follow him, for it
+will render an arrangement more probable than if they both
+thought they had only to agree together, and that the rest must
+follow as a matter of course. The Duke of Wellington has written
+again to Wharncliffe, declining altogether to be a party to any
+negotiation. De Ros told me that he never saw such a letter as
+Peel's--so stiff, dry, and reserved, just like the man in whom
+great talents are so counteracted, and almost made mischievous,
+by the effects of his cold, selfish, calculating character. In
+the meantime the state of the country is certainly better, the
+proclamation putting down the unions has been generally obeyed,
+the press has suspended its fury, and the approach of the meeting
+of Parliament seems to have calmed the country to a great degree.
+The event most to be desired is that the Government may carry
+their Bill quietly through the House of Commons, amendments be
+carried in the Committee of the House of Lords, and upon these
+there may be a compromise, though after all it is impossible not
+to have a secret misgiving that the alterations which appear
+desirable may prove to be mischievous, for it is the great evil
+of the measure that being certainly new no human being can guess
+how it will work, or how its different parts will act upon one
+another, and what result they will produce.
+
+There seems to be a constant sort of electrical reciprocity of
+effort between us and France just now. The three days produced
+much of our political excitement, and our Bristol business has
+been acted with great similarity of circumstance at Lyons, and is
+still going on. Talleyrand produced the 'Moniteur' last night with
+the account, lamented that the Duc d'Orleans had been sent with
+Marshal Soult to Lyons, which he said was unnecessary and absurd,
+that Soult was the best man for the purpose of putting it down. It
+was begun by the workpeople, who were very numerous, not political
+in its objects, but the cries denoted a mixture of everything, as
+they shouted 'Henri V., Napoleon II, La Republique, and Bristol.'
+He was at Lady Holland's, looking very cadaverous, and not very
+talkative, talked of Madame du Barri, that she had been very
+handsome, and had some remains of beauty up to the period of her
+death; of Luckner, who was guillotined, and as the car passed on
+the people cried (as they used), 'A la guillotine! a la
+guillotine!' Luckner turned round and said, '_On_ y va, canaille.'
+
+[Page Head: POULETT THOMSON.]
+
+We have just sent a commission to Paris to treat with the French
+Government about a commercial treaty on the principles of free
+trade. Poulett Thomson, who has been at Paris some time, has
+originated it, and Althorp selected George Villiers for the
+purpose, but has added to him as a colleague Dr. Bowring, who has
+in fact been selected by Thomson, a theorist, and a jobber,
+deeply implicated in the 'Greek Fire,' and a Benthamite. He was
+the subject of a cutting satire of Moore's, beginning,
+
+             The ghost of Miltiades came by night,
+             And stood by the bed of the Benthamite;
+
+but he has been at Paris some time, understanding the subject,
+and has wound himself into some intimacy with the French King and
+his Ministers. It is, however, Poulett Thomson who has persuaded
+Althorp to appoint him, in order to have a creature of his own
+there.
+
+I have never been able to understand the enormous unpopularity of
+this man, who appears civil, well-bred, intelligent, and
+agreeable (only rather a coxcomb), and has made a certain figure
+in the House of Commons, but it has been explained to me by a
+person who knows him well. He was originally a merchant, and had
+a quantity of counting-house knowledge. He became member of a
+club of political economists, and a scholar of M'Culloch's. In
+this club there were some obscure but very able men, and by them
+he got crammed with the principles of commerce and political
+economy, and from his mercantile connections he got facts. He
+possessed great industry and sufficient ability to work up the
+materials he thus acquired into a very plausible exhibition of
+knowledge upon these subjects, and having opportunities of
+preparing himself for every particular question, and the
+advantage of addressing an audience the greater part of which is
+profoundly ignorant, he passed for a young gentleman of
+extraordinary ability and profound knowledge, and amongst the
+greatest of his admirers was Althorp, who, when the Whigs came
+in, promoted him to his present situation. Since he has been
+there he has not had the same opportunities of learning his
+lesson from others behind the curtain, and the envy which always
+attends success has delighted to pull down his reputation, so
+that he now appears something like the jackdaw stripped of the
+peacock's feathers.
+
+
+November 30th, 1831 {p.220}
+
+Went to breakfast at the Tower, which I had never seen. Dined
+with Lady Holland, first time for seven years, finished the
+quarrel, and the last of that batch; they should not last for
+ever. In the morning Wharncliffe came to me from Lord Grey's,
+with whom he had had a final interview. He showed me the paper he
+gave Grey containing his proposals, which were nearly to this
+effect: conceding what the Government required, with these
+exceptions and counter-concessions, an alteration in Schedule B
+with a view to preserve in many cases the two members; that
+voters for the great manufacturing towns should have votes for
+the counties; that London districts should not have so many
+representatives; that when the franchise was given to great
+manufacturing towns, _their_ county should not have more
+representatives; that corporate rights should be saved, though
+with an infusion of L10 voters where required; that Cheltenham
+and Brighton (particularly) should have no members. These were
+the principal heads, proposed in a paper of moderate length and
+civil expression. Grey said the terms were inadmissible, that
+some parts of his proposal might be feasible, but the points on
+which Wharncliffe most insisted (London, and town and county
+voting) he could not agree to. So with many expressions of
+civility and mutual esteem they parted. He is disappointed, but
+not dejected, and I tried to persuade him that an arrangement on
+this basis is not less probable than it was.
+
+The fact is it would have been nearly impossible for Government
+to introduce a Bill so different from the first as these changes
+would have made it, as the result of a negotiation. They would
+have been exposed to great obloquy, and have had innumerable
+difficulties to encounter, but if the Bill goes into a Committee
+of the Lords, and the other clauses pass without opposition, the
+Government may not think themselves obliged to contest these
+alterations. I think the Government would accept them, and
+probably they feel that in no other way could they do so. It
+seems to me that the success of these amendments depends now very
+much upon the Opposition themselves, upon their firmness, their
+union, and above all their reasonableness. Saw Talleyrand last
+night, who said they had better news from Lyons, that there was
+nothing political in it. News came yesterday morning that the
+cholera had broken out at Marseilles.
+
+
+December 3rd, 1831 {p.221}
+
+Wharncliffe showed me his correspondence with the Duke of
+Wellington on this negotiation. They differed greatly, but
+amicably enough, though I take it he was not very well pleased
+with Wharncliffe's last letter, in which he distinctly told the
+Duke that his speech on the Address, and declaration against any
+Reform, was what overthrew his Government. This he never will
+admit, and, passing over the proximate cause, always refers his
+fall to (what was certainly the remote cause) the Catholic
+question--that is, to the breaking up of the Tory party which
+followed it, and the union of the old Tories with the Whigs and
+Radicals on purpose to turn him out. In this correspondence
+Wharncliffe has much the best of it, and I was surprised to find
+with what tenacity the Duke clings to his cherished prejudices,
+and how he shuts his eyes to the signs of the times and the real
+state of the country. With the point at issue he never would
+grapple. Wharncliffe argued for concession, _because_ they have
+not the means of resistance, and that they are in fact at the
+mercy of their opponents. The Duke admitted the force against
+them, but thought it would be possible to govern the country
+without Reform 'if the King was not against them'--an important
+increment of his conditions; there is no doubt that 'the King's
+name is a tower of strength, which they upon the adverse faction
+want'--and he continued through all his letters arguing the
+question on its abstract merits, and repeating the topic that had
+been over and over again urged, but without reference to the
+actual state of things and the means of resistance. It seems,
+however, pretty clear that he will oppose this Bill just as he
+did the last, and he will probably have a great many followers;
+but the party is broken up, for Wharncliffe and Harrowby will
+vote for the second reading; the bishops will generally go with
+them, and probably a sufficient number of Peers. If Lord Grey can
+see a reasonable chance of carrying the Bill without making
+Peers, there can be very little doubt he will put off that
+resource till the last moment.
+
+
+December 4th, 1831 {p.222}
+
+Dined with Talleyrand yesterday. He complained to me of Durham's
+return, and of 'sa funeste influence sur Lord Grey:' that because
+he had been at Brussels and at Paris, he fancied nobody but
+himself knew anything of foreign affairs; he praised Palmerston
+highly. In the evening to Lady Harrowby, who told me John Russell
+had been with her, all moderation and candour, and evidently for
+the purpose of keeping alive the amicable relations which had been
+begun by Wharncliffe's negotiation. When Lady Harrowby said it was
+over, he replied, 'For the present,' said how glad he should be of
+a compromise, hinted that Sandon might be instrumental, that he
+might move an amendment in the House of Commons; abused Macaulay's
+violent speech--in short, was all mild and _doucereux_--all which
+proves that they _do_ wish to compromise if they could manage it
+conveniently. Lord John Russell told her that there was no going
+on with Durham, that he never left Lord Grey, tormented his heart
+out, and made him so ill and irritable that he could not sleep.
+Durham wanted to be Minister for Foreign Affairs.
+
+
+December 7th, 1831 {p.223}
+
+Parliament opened yesterday; not a bad speech, though wordy and
+ill-written. There was an oversight in the Address, which was
+corrected in both Houses by Peel and Lord Harrowby, but not taken
+_as an amendment_. Lord Grey begged it might be inserted in Lord
+Camperdown's address, which was done. It was about the King of
+Holland and the treaty. The Address says that they rejoice _at
+the treaty_, whereas there is none at present. Lord Lyttelton
+made a very foolish speech, and was very well cut up by Lord
+Harrowby, and Peel spoke well in the other House.
+
+
+December 8th, 1831 {p.223}
+
+[Page Head: AN APPEAL FROM LORD CHANCELLOR BROUGHAM.]
+
+At Court yesterday to swear in Erskine,[5] Brougham's new Chief
+Judge in Bankruptcy and Privy Councillor. The Chancellor is in a
+great rage with me. There is an appeal to the Privy Council from
+a judgment of his (in which he was wrong), the first appeal of
+the kind for above a hundred years;[6] I told him it was ready to
+be heard, and begged to know if he had any wish as to who should
+be summoned to hear it. He said very tartly, 'Of course I shall
+have somebody to hear it _with me_.' I said, 'Do you mean to hear
+it yourself, then?' 'And pray why not? don't I hear appeals from
+myself every day in the House of Lords? didn't you see that I
+could not hear a case the other day because Lord Lyndhurst was
+not there? I have _a right_ to hear it. I sit there as a Privy
+Councillor.' 'Oh,' I said, 'you have certainly _a right_ if you
+choose it.' 'You may rely upon it I shall do nothing unusual in
+the Privy Council,' and then he flounced off in high dudgeon. I
+told Lord Lansdowne afterwards, who said he should not allow it
+to be heard by _him_, and should make a point of summoning all
+the great law authorities of the Privy Council. This was the case
+of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, which excited great interest, in which
+Brougham tried to play all sorts of tricks to prevent his
+judgment being reversed, which tricks I managed to defeat, and
+the judgment was reversed, as is described farther on. I never
+had the advantage of seeing the Chancellor before in his sulks,
+though he is by no means unfrequently in them, very particularly
+so this time last year, when he was revolving in his mind whether
+he should take the Great Seal, and when he thought he was
+ill-used, so Auckland told me.
+
+      [5] [Right Hon. Thomas Erskine, a son of Lord Chancellor
+          Erskine, Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, and afterwards a
+          Justice of the Court of Common Pleas.]
+
+      [6] [It was an Appeal in Lunacy. No other appeals save in
+          Lunacy lie from the Court of Chancery to the King in
+          Council, and these are very rare. Drax _v._ Grosvenor
+          is reported in Knapp's 'Privy Council Reports.'.]
+
+The cholera is on the decline at Sunderland, but in the meantime
+our trade will have been put under such restrictions that the
+greatest embarrassments are inevitable. Intelligence is already
+come that the Manchester people have curtailed their orders, and
+many workmen will be out of work. Yesterday a deputation from
+Coventry came to Auckland, and desired a categorical answer as to
+whether Government meant to resume the prohibitory system,
+because if they would not the glove trade at Coventry would
+discharge their workmen.
+
+
+December 11th, 1831 {p.224}
+
+Yesterday Harrowby had an interview with Lord Grey, the result of
+which I do not know; walked with Stuart (de Rothesay) in the
+morning, who had seen the Duke of Wellington the day before. I
+said I was afraid he was very obstinate. He said 'No, he thought
+not, but that the Duke fancied Wharncliffe had gone too far.'
+
+[Page Head: THE SECOND REFORM BILL.]
+
+To-morrow the Reform Bill comes on. Some say that it will be as
+hotly disputed as ever, and that Peel's speeches indicate a
+bitterness undiminished, but this will not happen. It is clear
+that the general tone and temper of parties is softened, and
+though a great deal of management and discretion is necessary to
+accomplish anything like a decent compromise, the majority of
+both parties are earnestly desirous of bringing the business to
+an end by any means. What has already taken place between the
+Government and Wharncliffe and Harrowby has certainly smoothed
+the way, and removed much of that feeling of asperity which
+before existed. The press, too, is less violent, the 'Morning
+Herald' openly preaching a compromise, and the 'Times' taking
+that sort of sweep which, if it does not indicate a change, shows
+a disposition to take such a position as may enable it to adopt
+any course.
+
+_In the evening._--Called on Lord Bathurst in the morning; met
+him going out, and stopped to talk to him. He knew of the meeting
+in Downing Street; that Lords Harrowby, Wharncliffe, and Chandos
+were to meet the Chancellor and Lords Althorp and Grey; that
+Chandos had gone to Brighton, ostensibly to talk to the King
+about the West Indies, but had taken the opportunity to throw in
+something on the topic of Reform; that the King desired him to
+speak to Palmerston, and allowed him to say that he did so by his
+orders. (The King, it seems, knows nothing of what is going on,
+for he reads no newspapers and the Household tell him nothing.)
+Accordingly Chandos did speak to Palmerston, and the result was a
+note to him, begging these three would meet the three Ministers
+above mentioned. Lady Harrowby told me that they went. Brougham
+did not arrive till the conference was nearly over. There was an
+abundant interchange of civilities, but nothing concluded, the
+Ministers declining every proposition that Lord Harrowby made to
+them, though Lord Grey owned that they did not ask for anything
+which involved an abandonment of the principle of the Bill. They
+are, then, not a bit nearer an accommodation than they were
+before.
+
+George Bentinck told me this evening of a scene which had been
+related to him by the Duke of Richmond, that lately took place at
+a Cabinet dinner; it was very soon after Durham's return from
+abroad. He was furious at the negotiations and question of
+compromise. Lord Grey is always the object of his rage and
+impertinence, because he is the only person whom he dares attack.
+After dinner he made a violent _sortie_ on Lord Grey (it was at
+Althorp's), said he would be eternally disgraced if he suffered
+any alterations to be made in this Bill, that he was a betrayer
+of the cause, and, amongst other things, reproached him with
+having kept him in town on account of this Bill in the summer,
+'and thereby having been the cause of the death of his son.'
+Richmond said in his life he never witnessed so painful a scene,
+or one which excited such disgust and indignation in every member
+of the Cabinet. Lord Grey was ready to burst into tears, said he
+would much rather work in the coal-mines than be subject to such
+attacks, on which the other muttered, 'and you might do worse,'
+or some such words. After this Durham got up and left the room.
+Lord Grey very soon retired too, when the other Ministers
+discussed this extraordinary scene, and considered what steps
+they ought to take. They thought at first that they should
+require Durham to make a public apology (i.e. before all of them)
+to Lord Grey for his impertinence, which they deemed due to
+_them_ as he was _their_ head, and to _Althorp_ as having
+occurred in his house, but as they thought it was quite certain
+that Durham would resign the next morning, and that Lord Grey
+might be pained at another scene, they forbore to exact this.
+However, Durham did not resign; he absented himself for some days
+from the Cabinet, at last returned as if nothing had happened,
+and there he goes on as usual. But they are so thoroughly
+disgusted, and resolved to oppose him, that his influence is
+greatly impaired. Still, his power of mischief and annoyance is
+considerable. Lord Grey succumbs to him, and they say in spite of
+his behaviour is very much attached to him, though so incessantly
+worried that his health visibly suffers by his presence. There is
+nothing in which he does not meddle. The Reform Bill he had a
+principal hand in concocting, and he fancies himself the only man
+competent to manage our foreign relations. Melbourne, who was
+present at this scene, said, 'If I had been Lord Grey, I would
+have knocked him down.'
+
+
+December 13th, 1831 {p.227}
+
+Lord John Russell brought on his Bill last night in a very feeble
+speech. A great change is apparent since the last Bill; the House
+was less full, and a softened and subdued state of temper and
+feeling was evinced. Peel made an able and a bitter speech,
+though perhaps not a very judicious one. There are various
+alterations in the Bill; enough to prove that it was at least
+wise to throw out the last. Althorp, who answered Peel,
+acknowledged that if the old Bill had been opposed in its
+earliest stage it never could have been brought forward again, or
+made an avowal to that effect. In fact, Peel is now aware (as
+everybody else is) of the enormous fault that was committed in
+not throwing it out at once, before the press had time to
+operate, and rouse the country to the pitch of madness it did. On
+what trifles turn the destinies of nations! William Bankes told
+me last night that Peel owned this to him; said that he had
+earnestly desired to do so, but had been turned from his purpose
+by Granville Somerset! And why? Because he (in the expectation of
+a dissolution) must have voted against him, he said, in order to
+save his popularity in his own county.
+
+[Page Head: CONFESSION OF A BODY-SNATCHER.]
+
+Met Melbourne at Lord Holland's; they were talking of a reported
+confession to a great extent of murders, which is said to have
+been begun and not finished, by the Burkers, or by one of them.
+Melbourne said it was true, that he began the confession about
+the murder of a black man to a Dissenting clergyman, but was
+interrupted by the ordinary. Two of a trade could not agree, and
+the man of the Established Church preferred that the criminal
+should die unconfessed, and the public uninformed, rather than
+the Dissenter should extract the truth. Since writing this I see
+Hunt put a question to George Lamb on this point, and he replied
+that he knew nothing of any other confession, which is not true.
+I have heard, but on no authority, that some surgeons are so
+disagreeably implicated that they choose to conceal these
+horrors.
+
+
+December 14th, 1831 {p.228}
+
+People generally are mightily satisfied at the tone of the
+discussion the other night, and, what is of vast importance, the
+press has adopted a moderate and conciliatory tone, even the
+'Times,' which, is now all for compromise. It is clear as
+daylight that the Government will consent to anything which
+leaves untouched the great principles of the Bill, and the
+country desires to see the question settled, and, if possible,
+rest from this eternal excitement.
+
+
+December 20th, 1831 {p.228}
+
+The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried at one o'clock
+on Saturday night by a majority of two to one, and ended very
+triumphantly for Ministers, who are proportionately elated, and
+their opponents equally depressed. Croker had made a very clever
+speech on Friday, with quotations from Hume, and much reasoning
+upon them. Hobhouse detected several inaccuracies, and gave his
+discovery to Stanley, who worked it up in a crushing attack upon
+Croker. It is by far the best speech Stanley ever made, and so
+good as to raise him immeasurably in the House. Lord Grey said it
+placed him at the very top of the House of Commons, without a
+rival, which perhaps is jumping to rather too hasty a conclusion.
+He shone the more from Peel's making a very poor exhibition. He
+had been so nettled by Macaulay's sarcasms the night before on
+his tergiversation, that he went into the whole history of the
+Catholic question and his conduct on that occasion, which,
+besides savouring of that egotism with which he is so much and
+justly reproached, was uncalled for and out of place. The rest of
+his speech was not so good as usual, and he did not attempt to
+answer Stanley.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              1832.
+
+
+Panshanger, January 1st, 1832 {p.229}
+
+[Page Head: PANSHANGER.]
+
+Distress seems to increase hereabouts, and crime with it.
+Methodism and saintship increase too. The people of this house
+are examples of the religion of the fashionable world, and the
+charity of natural benevolence, which the world has not spoiled.
+Lady Cowper and her family go to church, but scandalise the
+congregation by always arriving half an hour too late. The hour
+matters not; if it began at nine, or ten, or twelve, or one
+o'clock, it would be the same thing; they are never ready, and
+always late, but they go. Lord Cowper never goes at all; but he
+employs multitudes of labourers, is ready to sanction any and
+every measure which can contribute to the comfort and happiness
+of the peasantry. Lady Cowper and her daughters inspect
+personally the cottages and condition of the poor. They visit,
+enquire, and give; they distribute flannel, medicines, money, and
+they talk to and are kind to them, so that the result is a
+perpetual stream flowing from a real fountain of benevolence,
+which waters all the country round and gladdens the hearts of the
+peasantry, and attaches them to those from whom it emanates.
+
+
+Panshanger, January 6th, 1832 {p.229}
+
+Talleyrand, Dino, Palmerston, Esterhazy, came yesterday and went
+away to-day--that is, the two first and the Seftons did. There
+has been another contest in the Cabinet about the Peers, which
+has ended in a sort of compromise, and five are to be made
+directly, two new ones and three eldest sons called up. Old
+Talleyrand came half-dead from the conferences, which have been
+incessant these few days, owing to the Emperor of Russia's
+refusal to ratify the treaty and the differences about the
+Belgian fortresses. One conference lasted eleven hours and a
+quarter, and finished at four o'clock in the morning.
+
+
+Gorhambury, January 7th, 1832 {p.229}
+
+[Page Head: EFFORTS OF THE MODERATE PARTY.]
+
+Came here to-day. Berkeley Paget and Lushington; nobody else. Had
+a conversation with Lady C. before I came away; between
+Palmerston, Frederick Lamb, and Melbourne she knows everything,
+and is a furious anti-Reformer. The upshot of the matter is this:
+the question about the Peers is still under discussion; Lord Grey
+and the ultra party want to make a dozen, _now_, the others want
+only to yield five or six. Lord Grey wrote to Palmerston saying
+the King had received his proposition (about the Peers) very
+well, but desired to have his reasons in writing, and to-day at
+twelve there was to be another Cabinet on the subject, in order
+probably that the 'reasons' might go down by the post. The
+moderate party in the Cabinet consists of Lansdowne, Richmond,
+Palmerston, Melbourne, and Stanley. Palmerston and Melbourne,
+particularly the latter, are now heartily ashamed of the part
+they have taken about Reform. They detest and abhor the whole
+thing, and they find themselves unable to cope with the violent
+party, and consequently implicated in a continued series of
+measures which they disapprove; and they do not know what to do,
+whether to stay in and fight this unequal battle or resign. I
+told her that nothing could justify their conduct, and their
+excuses were good for nothing; but that there was no use in
+resigning now. They might still do some good in the Cabinet; they
+could do none out of it. In fact, Durham and the most violent
+members of the Cabinet would gladly drive Palmerston and
+Melbourne to resign if they could keep Stanley, who is alone of
+importance of that squad; but he is of such weight, from his
+position in the House of Commons, that if he can be prevailed
+upon to be staunch, and to hold out with the moderates against
+the ultras, the former will probably prevail. Durham wants to be
+Minister for Foreign Affairs, and would plague Lord Grey till he
+gave him the seals, unless his other colleagues put a veto upon
+the appointment. But the anxiety of the Reformers to make Peers
+has not reference to the Reform Bill alone; they undoubtedly look
+further, and knowing their own weakness in the House of Lords,
+they want to secure a permanent force, which may make them
+stronger than their antagonists in that House. Otherwise they
+would not be so averse to all questions of conciliation, express
+their disbelief in conversions, and trumpet forth their
+conviction that any individual of the late majority will vote
+just the same way again. The earnest desire of the moderate party
+in the Cabinet is that those who will vote for the second reading
+shall make haste to declare their intention, and I have written
+to Lady Harrowby to endeavour to get Lord Harrowby to take some
+such step. I had already written to De Ros, urging him to speak
+to Wharncliffe, and get him to take an opportunity of giving the
+King to understand that the necessity for a creation of Peers is
+by no means so urgent as his Ministers would have him believe.
+
+
+Panshanger, January 13th, 1832 {p.231}
+
+Returned here yesterday; found Melbourne, Lamb, the Lievens, the
+Haddingtons, Luttrell, the Ashleys, John Ashley, and Irby. While
+I was at Gorhambury I determined to write to Wharncliffe and urge
+him to speak to the King, and accordingly I did so. I received a
+letter from him saying that De Ros had already spoken to him,
+that he had had a conversation with Sir Herbert Taylor, which he
+had desired him to repeat to the King and to Lord Grey, that he
+had intended to leave the matter there, but in consequence of my
+letter he should ask for an audience. This morning I have heard
+again from him. He saw the King, and was with him an hour; put
+his Majesty in possession of his sentiments, and told him there
+would be no necessity for creating Peers if the Government would
+be conciliatory and moderate in the Committee of the House of
+Commons; he promised to tell me the particulars of this interview
+when we meet.
+
+Last night Frederick Lamb told me that Lord Grey had sent word to
+Melbourne of what Wharncliffe had said to Sir Herbert Taylor, and
+Lord Grey assumed the tenour of Wharncliffe's language to have
+been merely an advice to the King not to make Peers, whereas all
+I suggested to him was to explain to the King that the creation
+was not necessary for the reasons which have been assigned to his
+Majesty by his Ministers, viz., the intention of all who voted
+against the second reading last year to vote against it this. In
+the meantime the dispute has been going on in the Cabinet, time
+has been gained, and several incidents have made a sort of
+cumulative impression. There is a petition to the King, got up by
+Lord Verulam and Lord Salisbury, which is in fact a moderate
+Reform manifesto. It has been numerously signed, and Verulam is
+going to Brighton to present it. I have been labouring to
+persuade him to make up his mind to vote for the second reading,
+and to tell the King that such is his intention, which he has
+promised me he will. When I had obtained this promise from him I
+wrote word to Lady Cowper, telling her at the same time that Lord
+Harris (I had heard) would vote for the second reading, and this
+letter she imparted to Melbourne, who stated the fact in the
+Cabinet, where it made a considerable impression. All such
+circumstances serve to supply arms to the moderate party.
+
+This morning Melbourne went up to another Cabinet, armed with
+another fact with which I supplied him. Lord Craven declared at
+his own table that if the Government made Peers _he would not vote
+with them_, and if he was sent for he should reply that as they
+could create Peers so easily they might do without him. All such
+circumstances as these, I find, are considered of great
+importance, and are made available for the purpose of fighting the
+battle in the Cabinet. As to Lord Grey, it is exceedingly
+difficult to understand his real sentiments, and to reconcile his
+present conduct with the general tenour of his former professions;
+that he _was_ averse to the adoption of so violent a measure I
+have no doubt--his pride and aristocratic principles would
+naturally make him so--but he is easily governed, constantly
+yielding to violence and intimidation, and it is not unlikely that
+the pertinacity of those about him, the interests of his party,
+and the prolongation of his power may induce him to sacrifice his
+natural feelings and opinions. It is very probable that, although
+he may have allowed himself to be at the head of those who are for
+the creation, he may have such misgivings and scruples as may
+prevent his carrying that point with the high hand and in the
+summary way which he might do.
+
+
+January 15th, 1832 {p.232}
+
+This morning Frederick Lamb showed me a letter he had got from
+Melbourne to this effect: 'that they had resolved to make no
+Peers at all at present; that to make a few would be regarded as
+a menace, and be as bad as if they made a great many; but that as
+many as would be necessary to carry the Bill would be made, if it
+was eventually found that it must be so;' he added 'it only
+remained for people to come forward and declare their intention
+of supporting the second reading.' This is certainly a great
+victory, and I do believe mainly attributable to our exertions,
+to the spirit we have infused into Melbourne himself, and the use
+we have made of Wharncliffe and Verulam, and the different little
+circumstances we have brought to bear upon the discussion. What
+now remains is the most difficult, but I shall do all I can to
+engage Peers to take a moderate determination and to declare it.
+Lamb told me that the King has an aversion to making _a few_
+Peers, that he has said he would rather make twenty-five than
+five, that whatever he must make he should like to make at once,
+and not to have to return to it. Anyhow, time is gained, and a
+victory for the moment.
+
+
+London, January 20th, 1832 {p.233}
+
+[Page Head: WHARNCLIFFE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING.]
+
+Came up on Monday last. I have been changing my house, and so
+occupied that I have not had time to write. Wharncliffe came to
+town on Wednesday, and came straight to my office to give me an
+account of his interview with the King, in which it appears as if
+he had said much about what he ought, and no more. He told his
+Majesty that the reports which had been circulated as to the
+disposition and intentions of himself and his friends, and the
+argument for the necessity of making Peers, which he understood
+to have been founded on these reports, had compelled him to ask
+for this audience, that he wished to explain to his Majesty that
+he (Lord Wharncliffe) had no intention of opposing the second
+reading of the Reform Bill as he had done before, that he had
+reason to believe that many others would adopt the same course,
+and if Ministers showed a moderate and conciliating disposition
+in the House of Commons, he was persuaded they would have no
+difficulty in carrying the second reading in the House of Lords.
+He then implored the King well to consider the consequences of
+such a _coup d'etat_ as this creation of Peers would be; to look
+at what had happened in France, and to bear in mind that if this
+was done for one purpose, and by one Government, the necessity
+would infallibly arise of repeating it again by others, or for
+other objects. He was with the King an hour dilating upon this
+theme. The King was extremely kind, heard him with great
+patience, and paid him many compliments, and when he took leave
+told him that he was extremely glad to have had this conversation
+with him. Sir Herbert Taylor gave Lord Wharncliffe to understand
+that he had made an impression, only impressions on the mind of
+the King are impressions on sand. However, from Taylor's cautious
+hints to him to persevere, it is likely that he did do good. He
+is himself persuaded that his audience principally produced the
+delay in the creation of Peers.
+
+In the meantime he was not idle at Brighton. Lord Ailesbury, who
+saw the King, consulted Wharncliffe, and agreed at last to tell
+the King that his sentiments were the same as those which Lord
+Wharncliffe had expressed to him, and Lord Kinnoull and Lord Gage
+have promised him their proxies.
+
+[Page Head: THE WAVERERS AND WELLINGTON.]
+
+Yesterday morning he came to me again, very desponding. He had
+found Harrowby in a state of despair, uncertain what he should
+do, and looking upon the game as lost, and he had been with the
+Duke of Wellington, who was impracticably obstinate, declaring
+that nothing should prevent his opposing a Bill which he believed
+in his conscience to be pregnant with certain ruin to the
+country; that he did not care to be a great man (he meant by this
+expression a man of great wealth and station), and that he could
+contentedly sink into any station that circumstances might let
+him down to, but he never would consent to be a party directly or
+indirectly to such a measure as this, and, feeling as he did, he
+was resolved to do his utmost to throw it out, without regard to
+consequences. Wharncliffe said he was quite in despair, for that
+he knew the Duke's great influence, and that if he and Harrowby
+endeavoured to form a party against his views, they had no chance
+of making one sufficiently strong to cope with him. He spoke with
+great and rather unusual modesty of himself, and of his
+inadequacy for this purpose; that Harrowby might do more, and
+would have greater influence, but that he was so undecided and so
+without heart and spirit that he would not bestir himself.
+However, he acknowledged that nothing else was left to be done.
+
+In the evening went to Lady Harrowby's, where I found him and
+Lord Haddington. We stayed there till near two, after which
+Wharncliffe and I walked up and down Berkeley Square. He was in
+much better spirits, having had a long conversation with these
+two Lords, both of whom he said were now resolved to sail along
+with him, and he contemplates a regular and declared separation
+from the Duke _upon this question_. In the morning he had seen
+Lyndhurst, who appeared very undecided, and (Wharncliffe was
+apprehensive) rather leaning towards the Duke, but I endeavoured
+to persuade him that Lyndhurst was quite sure to adopt upon
+consideration the line which appeared most conducive to his own
+interest and importance, that he had always a hankering after
+being well with Lord Grey and the Whigs, and I well remembered
+when the late Government was broken up he had expressed himself
+in very unmeasured terms about the Duke's blunders, and the
+impossibility of his ever again being Prime Minister; that with
+him consistency, character, and high feelings of honour and
+patriotism were secondary considerations; that he relied upon his
+great talents and his capacity to render himself necessary to an
+Administration; that it was not probable he would like to throw
+himself (even to please the Duke) into an opposition to the
+earnest desire which the great mass of the community felt to have
+the question settled; and that both for him and themselves much
+of the difficulty of separating themselves from the Duke might be
+avoided by the manner in which it was done. I entreated him to
+use towards the Duke every sort of frankness and candour, and to
+express regret at the necessity of taking a different line,
+together with an acknowledgment of the purity of the Duke's
+motives; and if this is done, and if other people are made to
+understand that they can separate from the Duke _on this
+occasion_ without offending or quarrelling with him, or throwing
+off the allegiance to him as their political leader, many will be
+inclined to do so; besides, it is of vital importance, if they do
+get the Bill into Committee, to secure the concurrence of the
+Duke and his adherents in dealing with the details of it, which
+can only be effected by keeping him in good humour. On the whole
+the thing looks as well as such a thing can look.
+
+
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVII.
+
+Measures for carrying the Second Reading of the Reform Bill in
+  the House of Lords--The Party of the Waverers--The Russo-Dutch
+  Loan--Resistance of the Tory Peers--Lord Melbourne's Views on
+  the Government--Macaulay at Holland House--Reluctance of the
+  Government to create Peers--Duke of Wellington intractable--
+  Peel's Despondency--Lord Grey on the Measures of Conciliation--
+  Lord Wharncliffe sees the King--Prospects of the Waverers--
+  Conversations with Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston--Duke of
+  Richmond on the Creation of Peers--Interview of Lord Grey with
+  the Waverers--Minute drawn up--Bethnal Green--The Archbishop of
+  Canterbury vacillates--Violence of Extreme Parties--Princess
+  Lieven's Journal--Lord Holland for making Peers--Irish National
+  Education--Seizure of Ancona--Reform Bill passes the House of
+  Commons--Lord Dudley's Madness--Debate in the Lords.
+
+
+January 24th, 1832 {p.237}
+
+Yesterday morning Frederick Lamb came to me and told me that the
+question of the Peers was again in agitation, that the King had
+agreed to make as many as they pleased, and had understood
+Wharncliffe's conversation with his Majesty not to have contained
+any distinct assurance that he would vote for the second reading
+of the Bill. Our party in the Cabinet still fight the battle,
+however, and Stanley (on whom all depends) is said to be firm,
+but circumstances may compel them to give way, and Lord Grey (who
+is suspected to have in his heart many misgivings as to this
+measure), when left to Durham and Co., yields everything. Under
+these circumstances I went to Wharncliffe last night, to persuade
+him to declare his intentions without loss of time. He owned that
+he had not _pledged_ himself to the King, and he was frightened
+to death at the idea of taking this step, lest it should give
+umbrage to the Tories, and he should find himself without any
+support at all. We went, however, together to Grosvenor Square,
+and had a long conference with Harrowby, whom I found equally
+undecided.
+
+[Page Head: PLANS OF CONCILIATION.]
+
+In the meantime the Tories are full of activity and expectation,
+and Lord Aberdeen is going to bring on a motion about Belgium on
+Thursday, on which they expect to beat the Government, not
+comprehending that a greater evil could not occur, or a better
+excuse be afforded them for an immediate creation; still they have
+got it into their heads that if they can beat the Government
+_before_ the Reform Bill comes on they will force them to resign.
+I found Harrowby and Wharncliffe equally undecided as to the
+course they should adopt, the former clinging to the hope that the
+Peerage question was at last suspended, that Lord Grey was
+compunctious, the King reluctant, and so forth--Wharncliffe afraid
+of being abandoned by those who are now disposed to consult and
+act with him, and indisposed to commit himself irretrievably in
+the House of Lords. After a long discussion I succeeded in
+persuading them that the danger is imminent, that there is no
+other chance of avoiding it, and they agreed to hoist their
+standard, get what followers they can, and declare in the House
+for the second reading without loss of time. Harrowby said of
+himself that he was the worst person in the world to conciliate
+and be civil, which is true enough, but he has a high reputation,
+and his opinion is of immense value. Until they declare themselves
+not a step will be made, and if they cannot gain adherents, why
+the matter is at an end; while if their example be followed, there
+is still a chance of averting the climax of all evils, the
+swamping the House of Lords and the permanent establishment of the
+power of the present Government. Wharncliffe is to go to the Duke
+of Wellington to-day, to entreat him not to let his party divide
+on Aberdeen's motion on Thursday, and Harrowby will go to the
+Archbishop to invite his adhesion to their party. I am very
+doubtful what success to augur from this, but it is the only
+chance, and though the bulk of the Tory Peers are prejudiced,
+obstinate, and stupid to the last degree, there are scattered
+amongst them men of more rational views and more moderate
+dispositions. Sandon came in while we were there, and expressed
+precisely the same opinion that I had been endeavouring to enforce
+upon them. He said that in the House of Commons, whence he was
+just come, the Government had refused to give way upon a very
+reasonable objection, without assigning any reason (the numbers in
+Schedule B), that this evinced an unconciliatory spirit, which was
+very distressing to those who wished for a compromise, that
+Hobhouse came to him after the debate, and said how anxious he was
+they should come to some understanding, and act in a greater
+spirit of conciliation, and talked of a meeting of the moderate on
+either side, that his constituents were eager for a settlement,
+and by no means averse to concession, but that while Peel, Croker,
+and others persisted in the tone they had adopted, and in the sort
+of opposition they were pursuing, it was quite impossible for the
+Government to give way upon anything, or evince any disposition to
+make concessions. Sandon said he had no doubt whatever that if
+Peel had assumed a different tone at the beginning of the session
+the Government would have been more moderate, and mutual
+concessions might have been feasible even in the House of Commons.
+Hobhouse, however, said that the alterations, whatever they might
+be (and he owned that he should like some), would come with a
+better grace in the House of Lords, and this is what I have all
+along thought. O'Connell arrived yesterday, took his seat, and
+announced his intention of supporting Government at any rate. All
+the Irish members do the same, and this great body, that everyone
+expected would display hostility to the Bill, have formed
+themselves into a phalanx, and will carry it through any
+difficulties by their compactness and the regularity of their
+attendance.
+
+
+January 25th, 1832 {p.239}
+
+We met at Lord Harrowby's last night--Wharncliffe, Harrowby,
+Haddington, and Sandon--and I found their minds were quite made
+up. Wharncliffe is to present a petition from Hull, and to take
+that opportunity of making his declaration, and the other two are
+to support him. Wharncliffe saw the Bishop of London in the
+morning, who is decided the same way, and he asked Lord Devon,
+who knows the House of Lords very well, if he thought, in the
+event of their raising the standard of moderate Reform, that they
+would have adherents, to which he replied he was convinced they
+would. Lord Harrowby saw the Archbishop, who would not pledge
+himself, but appeared well disposed; and altogether they think
+they can count upon nine bishops. Wharncliffe spoke to the Duke
+of Wellington about Lord Aberdeen's motion, and represented all
+the impolicy of it at this moment, and the connection it might
+have with the Peerage question; to which he only replied by
+enlarging on 'the importance of the Belgic question,' either
+unable or unwilling to embrace this measure in its complex
+relations, and never perceiving that the country cares not a
+straw about Belgium or anything but Reform, though they may begin
+to care about such things when this question is settled.
+Haddington also went to Aberdeen, who would hear nothing; but he
+and the Duke severally promised to speak to one another. The
+question last night was whether Wharncliffe should say his say
+directly, or wait (as he wishes to do) for a few days. The
+decision of this he referred to me, and I have referred it to
+Melbourne, to whom I have communicated what has passed.
+
+News came yesterday that the cholera had got within three miles
+of Edinburgh, and to show the fallacy of any theory about it, and
+the inutility of the prescribed precautions, at one place
+(Newport, I think) one person in five of the whole population was
+attacked, though there was no lack of diet, warmth, and clothing
+for the poor. This disease escapes from all speculation, so
+partial and eccentric is its character.
+
+
+January 29th, 1832 {p.240}
+
+[Page Head: DISCREDIT OF MINISTERS.]
+
+There were two divisions on Thursday night last--in the House of
+Lords on the Belgian question, and in the House of Commons on the
+Russian Loan. Harrowby, Wharncliffe, and Haddington stayed away;
+Lyndhurst voted. Only two bishops, Durham and Killaloe. Ministers
+had a majority of thirty-seven, for Aberdeen and the Duke
+persisted in bringing on the question and dividing upon it. The
+former spoke nearly three hours, and far better than ever he had
+done before; the Duke was prosy. In the other House the
+Government had not a shadow of a case; their law officers, Home
+and Denman, displayed an ignorance and stupidity which were quite
+ludicrous, and nothing saved them from defeat but a good speech
+at the end from Palmerston, and their remonstrances to their
+friends that unless they carried it they must resign. Not a soul
+defends them, and they are particularly blamed for their folly in
+not coming to Parliament at once, by which they might have
+avoided the scrape.[1] They had only a majority of twenty-four.
+They were equally disgusted with both these divisions, both
+plainly showing that they have little power (independently of the
+Reform question) in either House. To be sure the case in the
+House of Commons was a wretched one, but in the House of Lords
+there was nothing to justify a vote of censure on Government, to
+which Aberdeen's motion was tantamount. But while they had a
+majority which was respectable enough to make it impossible to
+propose making Peers on _that account_, it was so small that they
+see clearly what they have to expect hereafter from such a House
+of Lords, and accordingly their adherents have thrown off the
+mask. Sefton called on me the day after, and said it was
+ridiculous to go on in this way, that the Tories had had
+possession of the Government so many years, and the power of
+making so many Peers, that no Whig or other Ministry could stand
+without a fresh creation to redress the balance.
+
+      [1] [For a more particular account of the question of the
+          Russo-Dutch Loan, see _infra_ [February 4, 1832], p.
+          244. It has since been universally admitted that the
+          conduct of the Government was wise and honourable, and
+          that the separation of Holland and Belgium did not
+          exonerate Great Britain from a financial engagement to
+          foreign Powers.]
+
+After having, as I supposed, settled everything with Wharncliffe
+about his declaration, I got a letter from him yesterday (from
+Brighton), saying he thought it would be premature, and wished to
+put it off till the first reading of the Bill in the House of
+Lords. I took his letter to Melbourne, and told him I was all
+against the delay. He said it was no doubt desirable they should
+get as many adherents as they can, and if the delay would enable
+them to do so it might be better, but they must not imagine
+Government was satisfied with the division in the House of Lords.
+However, the question of Peers seems not to be under discussion
+at this moment, though it is perpetually revived. In the evening
+I went to Harrowby's and showed him Wharncliffe's letter. He
+concurred in the expediency of delay, but without convincing me.
+He showed me a letter, and a very good one, he has written to
+Lord Talbot, explaining his views, and inviting his concurrence,
+and of this he has sent copies to other Peers, whom he thinks it
+possible he may influence. The question of time and manner is to
+be reserved for future discussion.
+
+
+February 2nd, 1832 {p.242}
+
+[Page Head: SIR HENRY PARNELL.]
+
+Met Frederick Lamb at dinner to talk over the state of affairs
+before he goes to Vienna. What he wishes for is the expulsion of
+this Government, and the formation of a moderate one taken from
+all parties. Received another letter from Wharncliffe yesterday,
+in which he stated that he had communicated to the Duke of
+Wellington his intention of supporting the second reading, and
+asked if the Duke would support his amendments in Committee. In
+the meantime I wrote to Harrowby, begging he would communicate
+with Lord Carnarvon and the Duke of Buckingham. They keep
+doubting and fearing about who will or will not join them, but do
+not stir a step. George Bentinck told me that Lord Holland said
+to the Duke of Richmond the other day 'that he had heard a
+declaration was in agitation; that nothing could be more
+unfortunate at this moment, as it would make it very difficult to
+create fifty Peers.' In the meantime a difficulty is likely to
+arise from another source, and the Government to derive strength
+from their very weakness. Robert Clive (who is a moderate Tory)
+called on me the other day, and when (after expressing his
+anxiety that the question should be settled) I asked him whether
+such a declaration would meet with much success, said he thought
+that it would have done so a fortnight ago, but that the extreme
+discredit into which Ministers were fallen would now operate as a
+reason against supporting them in any stage of the business, and
+offered so good a chance of expelling them altogether that people
+would be anxious to try it. Still it must be so obvious that it
+would be next to impossible to make a Government now, that it is
+to be hoped all but the most violent will feel it. Herries indeed
+told somebody that he had no doubt the Tories could make a
+Government, and that on a dissolution they would get a Parliament
+that would support them. Parnell[2] has been turned out for not
+voting on the Russian Loan affair, and Hobhouse appointed in his
+place. Tennyson resigned from ill health. Parnell was properly
+enough turned out, and he is a good riddance, but it is not the
+same thing as turning people out on Reform. He wrote an excellent
+book on finance, but he was a very bad Secretary at War, a rash
+economical innovator, and a bad man of business in its details.
+After waiting till the last moment for the arrival of the Russian
+ratification, the French and English signed the Belgian treaty
+alone, and the others are to sign after as their powers arrive.
+
+      [2] [Sir Henry Parnell had been appointed Secretary at War
+          on the formation of Lord Grey's Ministry. He had
+          exasperated his colleagues by entering upon an
+          unauthorised negotiation with the French Post Office,
+          without the knowledge of the Duke of Richmond, then
+          Postmaster-General, and by encouraging Joseph Hume to
+          bring on a motion against the Post Office. Hume brought
+          this letter to the Duke of Richmond, who was indignant
+          and laid the whole matter before Lord Grey, who behaved
+          very well about it. Parnell narrowly escaped dismissal
+          at that time, and on his next sign of disaffection to
+          the Government he was turned out of office.]
+
+
+February 4th, 1832 {p.243}
+
+Called on Lord Harrowby in the morning; found him in very bad
+spirits, as well he might, for to all the invitations he had
+written to Peers he had received either refusals or no reply, so
+that he augurs ill of their attempt. Carnarvon and Talbot refused;
+these besotted, predestinated Tories _will_ follow the Duke; the
+Duke _will_ oppose all Reform because he said he would. Those who
+are inclined will not avow their conversion to moderate
+principles, and so they will go on, waiting and staring at one
+another, till one fine day the Peers will come out in the
+'Gazette.' The thing looks ill. Dined with Lord Holland.
+Melbourne, who was there, asked me if I had heard from Wharncliffe,
+but I did not tell him of Lord Harrowby's refusals.
+
+Falck dined there, and in conversation about the Russian Loan he
+told us the original history of it. The Emperor of Russia had
+borrowed ninety millions of florins, and when his concurrence and
+support were desired to the new kingdom of the Netherlands he
+proposed in return that the King of Holland should take this debt
+off his hands. The King said he would gladly meet his wishes, but
+could not begin by making himself unpopular with his new subjects
+and saddling them with this debt. Whereupon England interposed,
+and an arrangement was made [in 1815] by which Russia, England,
+and the King of the Netherlands divided the debt into three equal
+shares, each taking one. With reference to the argument that the
+countries being divided we ought no longer to pay our share,
+Falck said the King of the Netherlands had not refused to pay on
+those grounds, that he had only (with reference to his heavy
+expenses) expressed his present inability and asked for time,
+which the Emperor of Russia had agreed to. What he meant was that
+the kingdoms were not as yet _de jure_ separated, and that the
+_casus_ had not yet arrived. This, however, is nothing to the
+purpose, for the King and the Emperor understand one another very
+well, and it is not likely that the King should do anything to
+supply us with a motive or a pretext for refusing our _quota_ to
+his imperial ally. Brougham's speech on the Russian Loan
+everybody agrees to have been super-excellent--'a continued
+syllogism from the beginning to the end.' Lord Holland said, and
+the Duke of Wellington (I am told) declared, it was the best
+speech he had ever heard.
+
+
+February 5th, 1832 {p.245}
+
+Met Melbourne yesterday evening, and turned back and walked with
+him; talked over the state of affairs. He said Government were
+very much annoyed at their division in the House of Commons,
+though Brougham had in some measure repaired that disaster in the
+House of Lords; that it became more difficult to resist making
+Peers as Government exhibited greater weakness. I told him the
+Tories were so unmanageable because they wished to drive out the
+Government, and thought they could. Dined at the Sheriff's
+dinner--not unpleasant--and went in the evening to Lady Harrowby;
+Lord Harrowby gone to his brothers'. Melbourne had told me that
+he had spoken to Haddington, and I found Haddington had given a
+report of what he said such as I am sure Melbourne did not mean
+to convey; the upshot of which was that there was only one man in
+the Cabinet who wished to make Peers, that there was no immediate
+danger, and that it would do more harm than good if they declared
+themselves without a good number of adherents. Called this
+morning on Lady C., who said that Melbourne was in fact very much
+annoyed at his position, wanted _caractere_, was wretched at
+having been led so far, and tossed backwards and forwards between
+opposite sentiments and feelings; that he thought the Government
+very weak, and that they would not stand, and in fact that he did
+not desire they should remain in, but the contrary. And this is
+Frederick's opinion too, who has great influence over him, while
+at the same time he is rather jealous of Frederick.
+
+
+February 6th, 1832 {p.245}
+
+[Page Head: MACAULAY AT HOLLAND HOUSE.]
+
+Dined yesterday with Lord Holland; came very late, and found a
+vacant place between Sir George Robinson and a common-looking man
+in black. As soon as I had time to look at my neighbour, I began
+to speculate (as one usually does) as to who he might be, and as
+he did not for some time open his lips except to eat, I settled
+that he was some obscure man of letters or of medicine, perhaps a
+cholera doctor. In a short time the conversation turned upon early
+and late education, and Lord Holland said he had always remarked
+that self-educated men were peculiarly conceited and arrogant, and
+apt to look down upon the generality of mankind, from their being
+ignorant of how much other people knew; not having been at public
+schools, they are uninformed of the course of general education.
+My neighbour observed that he thought the most remarkable example
+of self-education was that of Alfieri, who had reached the age of
+thirty without having acquired any accomplishment save that of
+driving, and who was so ignorant of his own language that he had
+to learn it like a child, beginning with elementary books. Lord
+Holland quoted Julius Caesar and Scaliger as examples of late
+education, said that the latter had been wounded, and that he had
+been married and commenced learning Greek the same day, when my
+neighbour remarked 'that he supposed his learning Greek was not an
+instantaneous act like his marriage.' This remark, and the manner
+of it, gave me the notion that he was a dull fellow, for it came
+out in a way which bordered on the ridiculous, so as to excite
+something like a sneer. I was a little surprised to hear him
+continue the thread of conversation (from Scaliger's wound) and
+talk of Loyola having been wounded at Pampeluna. I wondered how he
+happened to know anything about Loyola's wound. Having thus
+settled my opinion, I went on eating my dinner, when Auckland, who
+was sitting opposite to me, addressed my neighbour, 'Mr. Macaulay,
+will you drink a glass of wine?' I thought I should have dropped
+off my chair. It was MACAULAY, the man I had been so long most
+curious to see and to hear, whose genius, eloquence, astonishing
+knowledge, and diversified talents have excited my wonder and
+admiration for such a length of time, and here I had been sitting
+next to him, hearing him talk, and setting him down for a dull
+fellow. I felt as if he could have read my thoughts, and the
+perspiration burst from every pore of my face, and yet it was
+impossible not to be amused at the idea. It was not till Macaulay
+stood up that I was aware of all the vulgarity and ungainliness of
+his appearance; not a ray of intellect beams from his countenance;
+a lump of more ordinary clay never enclosed a powerful mind and
+lively imagination. He had a cold and sore throat, the latter of
+which occasioned a constant contraction of the muscles of the
+thorax, making him appear as if in momentary danger of a fit. His
+manner struck me as not pleasing, but it was not assuming,
+unembarrassed, yet not easy, unpolished, yet not coarse; there was
+no kind of usurpation of the conversation, no tenacity as to
+opinion or facts, no assumption of superiority, but the variety
+and extent of his information were soon apparent, for whatever
+subject was touched upon he evinced the utmost familiarity with
+it; quotation, illustration, anecdote, seemed ready in his hands
+for every topic. Primogeniture in this country, in others, and
+particularly in ancient Rome, was the principal topic, I think,
+but Macaulay was not certain what was the law of Rome, except that
+when a man died intestate his estate was divided between his
+children. After dinner Talleyrand, and Madame de Dino came in. He
+was introduced to Talleyrand, who told him that he meant to go to
+the House of Commons on Tuesday, and that he hoped he would speak,
+'qu'il avait entendu tous les grands orateurs, et il desirait a
+present entendre Monsieur Macaulay.'
+
+
+February 7th, 1832 {p.247}
+
+[Page Head: RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.]
+
+Called on Melbourne. He said he had not meant Haddington to
+understand that it was desirable the declaration should be
+delayed; on the contrary, that it was desirable Ministers should
+be informed as speedily as possible of the intentions of our
+friends and of the force they can command, but that if only a few
+declared themselves, they would certainly be liable to the
+suspicion that they could not get adherents; he added that every
+man in the Government (except one) was aware of the desperate
+nature of the step they were about to take (that man of course
+being Durham.) I told him that his communication to Haddington
+had to a certain degree had the effect of paralysing my
+exertions, and he owned it was imprudent. I was, however,
+extremely surprised to hear what he said about the Cabinet, and I
+asked him if it really was so, and that all the members of it
+were _bona fide_ alarmed at, and averse to, the measure; that I
+had always believed that, with the exception of those who were
+intimate with him, they all wanted the pretext in order to
+establish their power. He said no, they really all were conscious
+of the violence of the measure, and desirous of avoiding it; that
+Lord Grey had been so from the beginning, but that Durham was
+always at him, and made him fall into his violent designs; that
+it was 'a reign of terror,' but that Durham could do with him
+what he pleased. What a picture of secret degradation and
+imbecility in the towering and apparently haughty Lord Grey! I
+told Melbourne that it was important to gain time, that there was
+an appearance of a thaw among the 199, but that most of them were
+in the country; communications by letter were difficult and
+unsatisfactory; that many were averse to breaking up the party or
+leaving the Duke--in short, from one cause or another doubtful
+and wavering; that it was not to be expected they should at a
+moment's warning take this new line, in opposition to the
+opinions and conduct of their old leaders, and that when Lord
+Harrowby was exerting himself indefatigably to bring them to
+reason, and to render a measure unnecessary which in the opinion
+of the Cabinet itself was fraught with evil, it was fair and just
+to give him time to operate. He said this was very true, but that
+time was likewise required to execute the measure of a creation
+of Peers, that people must be invited, the patents made out, &c.
+We then parted. Downstairs was Rothschild the Jew waiting for
+him, and the _valet de chambre_ sweeping away a _bonnet_ and a
+_shawl_.
+
+On my way from Melbourne called on Lord Harrowby, and read a
+variety of letters--answers from different Peers to his letters,
+Wharncliffe's correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, and
+Peel's answer to Lord Harrowby. Wharncliffe wrote a long and very
+conciliatory letter to the Duke, nearly to the effect of Lord
+Harrowby's circular, and containing the same arguments, to which
+the Duke replied by a long letter, written evidently in a very
+ill humour, and such a galimatias as I never read, angry, ill
+expressed, and confused, and from which it was difficult to
+extract anything intelligible but this, 'that he was aware of the
+consequences of the course he should adopt himself,' and wished
+the House of Lords to adopt, viz., the same as last year, but
+that be those consequences what they might, the responsibility
+would not lie on his shoulders, but on those of the Government;
+he acknowledged that a creation of Peers would swamp the House of
+Lords, and, by so doing, destroy the Constitution, but the
+Government would be responsible, not he, for the ruin that would
+ensue; that he was aware some Reform was necessary (in so far
+departing from his former declaration of the 30th of November),
+but he would neither propose anything himself, nor take this
+measure, nor try and amend it.' In short, he will do nothing but
+talk nonsense, despair, and be obstinate, and then he is hampered
+by declarations (from which he now sees himself that he must
+dissent), and obliged from causes connected with the Catholic
+question and the Test and Corporation Acts to attend more to the
+consistency of his own character than to the exigencies of the
+country, but with much more personal authority than anybody, and
+still blindly obeyed and followed by men many of whom take very
+rational and dispassionate views of the subject, but who still
+are resolved to sacrifice their own sense to his folly. He really
+has accomplished being a prophet in his own country, not from the
+sagacity of his predictions, but from the blind worship of his
+devotees.
+
+[Page Head: PEEL'S DESPONDENCY.]
+
+Peel's letter, though arriving at the same conclusion, was in a
+very different style. It certainly was an able production, well
+expressed and plausibly argued, with temper and moderation. He
+owned that much was to be said on the side of the question which
+he does not espouse, but the reasons by which he says he is
+mainly governed are these: that it is of vital importance to
+preserve the consistency of the party to which we are to look for
+future safety, and that when this excitement has passed away the
+conduct of the anti-Reformers will have justice done to it. But
+there is a contradiction which pervades his argument, for he
+treats the subject as if all hope had vanished of saving the
+country, 'desperat de republica,' and he does not promise himself
+present advantage from the firmness and consistency of the
+Tories, but taking it in connection with the folly and wickedness
+of the other party (who he is persuaded bitterly regret their own
+precipitate violence and folly), he expects it to prove
+serviceable as an example and beacon to future generations. All
+the evils that have been predicted may flow from this measure
+when carried into complete operation, but it is neither
+statesmanlike nor manly to throw up the game in despair, and
+surrender every point, and waive every compensation, in order to
+preserve the consistency of himself and his own party, not that
+their consistency is to produce any advantage, but that hereafter
+it
+
+                May point a moral or adorn a tale.
+
+So senseless is this, that it is clear to me that it is not his
+real feeling, and that he promises himself some personal
+advantage from the adoption of such a course. Peel 'loves'
+himself, 'not wisely but too well.'
+
+
+February 9th, 1832 {p.249}
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD GREY.]
+
+Yesterday I met Lord Grey and rode with him. I told him that the
+Tories were pleased at his speech about the Irish Tithes. He said
+'he did not know why, for he had not said what he did with a view
+to please them.' I said because they looked upon it as an
+intimation that the old Protestant ascendency was to be restored.
+He rejected very indignantly that idea, and said he had never
+contemplated any ascendency but that of the law and the
+Government. I said I knew that, but that they had been so long
+used to consider themselves as the sole representatives of the
+law and the Government, that they took the assertion he had made
+as a notification that their authority was again to be exercised
+as in bygone times. He then asked me if I knew what Lord Harrowby
+had done, said he had spoken to him, that he was placed in a
+difficult position and did not know what to do. I said that
+Harrowby was exerting himself, that time was required to bring
+people round, that I had reason to believe Harrowby had made a
+great impression, but that most of the Peers of that party were
+out of town, and it was impossible to expect them on the receipt
+of a letter of invitation and advice to reply by return of post
+that they would abandon their leaders and their party, and change
+their whole opinions and course of action, that I expected the
+Archbishop and Bishop of London would go with him, and that they
+would carry the bench. He said the Bishop of London he had
+already talked to, that the Archbishop was such a poor, miserable
+creature that there was no dependence to be placed on him, that
+he would be frightened and vote any way his fear directed. Then
+he asked, how many had they _sure_? I said, 'At this moment not
+above eight Lords and eight bishops.' He said that was not
+enough. I said I knew that, but he must have patience, and should
+remember that when the Duke of Wellington brought the Catholic
+Bill into the House of Commons he had a majority on paper against
+him in the House of Lords of twenty-five, and he carried the Bill
+by a hundred. He said he should like to talk to Harrowby again,
+which I pressed him to do, and he said he would. I find Lord John
+Russell sent for Sandon, and told him that he and the others were
+really anxious to avoid making Peers, and entreated him to get
+something done by his father and his associates as soon as
+possible, that there was no time to be lost, that he should not
+deny that he wished Peers to be made, not now, but after the
+Reform Bill had passed. I called on Lord Harrowby in the
+afternoon, and found him half dead with a headache and dreadfully
+irritable. Letters had come (which he had not seen) from Lord
+Bagot refusing, Lord Carteret ditto, and very impertinently, and
+Lord Calthorpe adhering. I told him what had passed between Lord
+Grey and me. He said their insolence had been hitherto so great
+in refusing to listen to any terms (at the meeting of the six),
+and in refusing every concession in the House of Commons and not
+tolerating the slightest alteration, that he despaired of doing
+anything with them, that Lord Grey had told him he could not
+agree to make a sham resistance in Committee, but that he on the
+other hand would not agree to go into Committee, except on an
+express understanding that they should not avail themselves of
+the probable disunion of the Tories to carry all the details of
+their Bill. The difficulties are immense, but if Grey and
+Harrowby get together, it is possible something may be done,
+provided they will approach each other in a _spirit_ of
+compromise. It is certainly easier now, and very different from
+the House of Commons, where I have always thought they _could_
+make no concession. In the House of Lords they may without
+difficulty. I dread the obstinate of both parties.
+
+
+February 11th, 1832 {p.251}
+
+Wharncliffe came to town on Thursday and called on me. At Brighton
+he had seen Sir Andrew Barnard, and showed him the correspondence
+with the Duke of Wellington, telling him at the same time he might
+mention it to Taylor if he liked, and if Taylor had any wish to
+see it he should. Accordingly Taylor sent him word he should be
+glad to have an interview with him. They met at Lord Wharncliffe's
+house and had a long conversation, in the course of which Taylor
+gave him to understand that it was quite true that the King had
+consented to everything about the creation of Peers, but _multa
+gemens_, and that he was much alarmed, and could not endure the
+thought of this measure. The end was that a memorandum was drawn
+up of the conversation, and of Wharncliffe's sentiments and
+intentions, which were much the same as those he had put forth at
+the time of the old negotiations. This was taken away by Taylor
+and shown to the King, and copies of it were forwarded to Grey,
+Brougham, and Melbourne. The next day Wharncliffe dined with the
+King, and after dinner his Majesty took him aside and said, 'I
+have seen your paper, and I agree with every word you say; we are
+indeed in a scrape, and we must get out of it as we can. I only
+wish everybody was as reasonable and as moderate as you, and then
+we might do so perhaps without difficulty.' That the King is
+alarmed is pretty clear, but it is more probable that his alarm
+may influence his Ministers than himself, and it looks very much
+as if it had done so. Sir H. Taylor likewise told Wharncliffe that
+the Duke of Wellington had written a letter which had been laid
+before the King, and had given him great offence, and that it
+certainly was such a letter as was unbecoming in any subject to
+write. This letter is supposed to have been addressed to
+Strangford; it got into Londonderry's hands, and he laid it before
+the King (upon the occasion of his going with some address to
+Brighton), who desired it might be left with him till the next
+day. The reason why they think it was Strangford is that the word
+'Viscount' was apparent at the bottom, but the name was erased. In
+the meantime Harrowby has had some conversation with Lord
+Lansdowne, who pressed the necessity of making a demonstration of
+their strength, and added that if the Archbishop could be induced
+to declare himself that would be sufficient. Lord Harrowby is
+accordingly working incessantly upon the Archbishop on the one
+hand, while he exhorts to patience and reliance on the other.
+Yesterday he took a high tone with Lord Lansdowne, told him that
+he had, as he firmly believed, as many as twenty-five Lords, lay
+and spiritual, with him, which would make a difference of fifty,
+but that as to a public irrevocable pledge, it was not to be had,
+and that Lord Grey must place confidence in his belief and
+reliance upon his exertions, or, if not, he must take his own
+course. Upon Lord Grey's meeting with him, and the Archbishop's
+being brought to the post, the matter now hinges.
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON AND WHARNCLIFFE.]
+
+In the meantime I have discovered the cause of the Duke of
+Wellington's peevish reply to Wharncliffe, and the reason why Lord
+Harrowby's letter to Lord Bagot was unanswered for ten days, and
+then couched in terms so different from what might have been
+expected. Lord Howe was at Bliffield at the time, and they,
+between them, sent Harrowby's letter up to the Duke of Wellington,
+who of course wrote his sentiments in reply. For this they waited,
+and on this Lord Bagot acted. My brother told me yesterday that
+the Duke had seen the letter, and that _Lord Howe_ had been the
+person who sent it him. This explains it all. Wharncliffe's letter
+was but another version of Lord Harrowby's, and he had therefore
+in fact seen it before, but seen it addressed to those whom he
+considered bound to him and his views, and I have no doubt he was
+both angry and jealous at Lord Harrowby's interference. Nothing
+could be more uncandid and unjustifiable than Lord Bagot's
+conduct, for he never asked Lord Harrowby's leave to communicate
+the letter, nor told him that he had done so; on the contrary, he
+gave him to understand that the delay (for which he made many
+apologies) was owing to his reflection and his consulting his
+brother the bishop. The Duke, no doubt, gave him his own
+sentiments; yet, in his letter to Wharncliffe, he says 'he has not
+endeavoured to influence anybody, nor shall he;' and at the same
+time eludes the essential question 'whether he will support in
+Committee.' So much for Tory candour. As to the Duke, he is
+evidently piqued and provoked to the quick; his love of power and
+authority are as great as ever, and he can't endure to see anybody
+withdrawn from his influence; provoked with himself and with
+everybody else, his mind is clouded by passion and prejudice, and
+the consequences are the ill-humour he displays and the abominable
+nonsense he writes, and yet the great mass of these Tories follow
+the Duke, go where he will, let the consequences be what they may,
+and without requiring even a reason; _sic vult sic jubet_ is
+enough for them. One thing that gives me hopes is the change in
+the language of the friends of Government out of doors--Dover, for
+instance, who has been one of the noisiest of the bawlers for
+Peers. I walked with him from the House of Lords the night before
+last, and he talked only of the break-up of the 199, and of the
+activity of Harrowby and Wharncliffe and its probable effects.
+
+
+February 14th, 1832 {p.254}
+
+On Saturday evening I found Melbourne at the Home Office in his
+lazy, listening, silent humour, disposed to hear everything and to
+say very little; told me that Dover and Sefton were continually
+_at_ the Chancellor to make Peers, and that they both, particularly
+the latter, had great influence with him. Brougham led by Dover
+and Sefton!! I tried to impress upon him the necessity of giving
+Harrowby credit, and not exacting what was not to be had, viz.,
+the _pledges_ of the anti-Reformers to vote for the second
+reading. He owned that in their case he would not pledge himself
+either. I put before him as strongly as I could all the various
+arguments for resisting this desperate measure of making Peers (to
+which he was well inclined to assent), and pressed upon him the
+importance of not exasperating the Tories and the Conservative
+party to the last degree, and placing such an impassable barrier
+between public men on both sides as should make it impossible for
+them to reunite for their common interest and security hereafter.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD PALMERSTON.]
+
+In the evening I got a message from Palmerston to beg I would
+call on him, which I did at the Foreign Office yesterday. He is
+infinitely more alert than Melbourne, and more satisfactory to
+talk to, because he enters with more warmth and more detail into
+the subject. He began by referring to the list of Peers likely to
+vote for the second reading, which I showed to him. At the same
+time I told him that though he might make use of the information
+generally as far as expressing his own belief that Lord Harrowby
+would have a sufficient following, he must not produce the list
+or quote the names, for, in fact, not one of them had given any
+authority to be so counted; that he must be aware there were
+persons who would be glad to mar our projects, and they could not
+more effectually do so than by conveying to these Peers the use
+that had been made of their names. To all this he agreed
+entirely. He then talked of the expediency of a declaration from
+Lord Harrowby, and how desirable it was that it should be made
+soon, and be supported by as many as could be induced to come
+forward; that Lord Grey had said to him very lately that he
+really believed he should be obliged to create Peers. I said that
+my persuasion was that it would be quite unnecessary to do so _to
+carry the second reading_; that nothing was required but
+confidence in Lord Harrowby, and that his character and his
+conduct on this occasion entitled him to expect it from them;
+that if they were sincere in their desire to avoid this measure
+they would trust to his exertions; that I knew very well the
+efforts that were made to force this measure on Lord Grey; that
+it was in furtherance of this that Duncombe's[3] ridiculous
+affair in the House of Commons had been got up, which had been
+such a complete failure; but that I could not believe Lord Grey
+would suffer himself to be bullied into it by such despicable
+means, and by the clamour of such men as Duncombe and O'Connell,
+urged on by friends of his own. He said this was very true, but
+the fact was they could not risk the rejection of the Bill again;
+that he knew from a variety of communications that an explosion
+would inevitably follow its being thrown out on the second
+reading; that he had had letters from Scotland and other places,
+and had no doubt that such would be the case. I said that he
+would find it very difficult to persuade our friends of this, and
+it appeared to me as clear as possible that the feeling for the
+Bill and the excitement had subsided; that they might be to a
+certain degree renewed by its rejection, but no man could doubt
+that modifications in it, which would have been impossible a few
+months ago, would now be easy; that if it was not for that
+unfortunate declaration of Lord Grey, by which he might consider
+himself bound, he might safely consent to such changes as would
+make the adjustment of the question no difficult matter; that
+with regard to the rejection of the Bill, whatever excitement it
+might produce, it was evident the Government had an immediate
+remedy; they had only to prorogue Parliament for a week and
+make their Peers, and they would _then_ have an excellent
+pretext--indeed, so good a one that it was inconceivable to me
+that they should hesitate for a moment in adopting that course.
+This he did not deny. I then told him of the several
+conversations between Lord Harrowby and Lords Grey and Lansdowne,
+and mine with Lord Grey; that Lord Harrowby protested against
+Lord Grey's availing himself of any disunion among the Opposition
+(produced by his support of the second reading) to carry those
+points, to resist which would be the sole object of Lord Harrowby
+in seceding from his party; and that Lord Grey had said he could
+not make a sham resistance. Palmerston said, 'We have brought in
+a Bill which we have made as good as we can; it is for you to
+propose any alterations you wish to make in it, and if you can
+beat us, well and good. There are indeed certain things which, if
+carried against us, would be so fatal to the principle of the
+Bill that Lord Grey would not consider it worth carrying if so
+amended; but on other details he is ready to submit, if they
+should be carried against him.' I said that would not do, that I
+must refer him to the early negotiations and the disposition
+which was then expressed to act upon a principle of mutual
+concession; that when Lord Harrowby and his friends were
+prepared to concede to its fullest extent the principle of
+disfranchisement (though they might propose alterations in a few
+particulars), they had a right to expect that the Government
+should surrender without fighting some of those equivalents or
+compensations which they should look for in the alterations or
+additions they might propose. He said that 'while Lord Harrowby
+was afraid that Ministers might avail themselves of his weakness
+to carry their details, _they_ were afraid lest Lord Harrowby and
+his friends should unite with the
+
+ultra-Tories to beat them in Committee on some of the essential
+clauses of the Bill.' I replied, then it was fear for fear, and
+under the circumstances the best thing was an understanding that
+each party should act towards the other in a spirit of good
+faith, and without taking any accidental advantage that might
+accrue either way. We then discussed the possibility of an
+agreement upon the details, and he enquired what they would
+require. I told him that they would require an alteration of
+Schedule B to exclude the town voters from county representation,
+perhaps to vary the franchise, and some other things, with regard
+to which I could not speak positively at the moment. He said he
+thought some alteration might be made in Schedule B, particularly
+in giving all the towns double members, by cutting off the lower
+ones that had one; that it was intended no man should have a vote
+for town and county on the _same_ qualification, and he believed
+there were very few who would possess the double right. That I
+said would make it more easy to give up, and it was a thing the
+others laid great stress upon. He seemed to think it might be
+done. As to the L10, he said he had at first been disposed to
+consider it too low, but he had changed his mind, and now doubted
+if it would not turn out to be too high. We then talked of the
+metropolitan members, to which I said undoubtedly they wished to
+strike them off, but they knew very well the Government desired
+it equally. We agreed that I should get from Lord Harrowby
+specifically what he would require, and he would give me in
+return what concessions the Government would probably be disposed
+to make; that these should be communicated merely as the private
+opinions of individuals, and not as formal proposals; and we
+should try and blend them together into some feasible compromise.
+
+      [3] Duncombe brought forward a petition from six men at
+          Barnet complaining that they had been entrapped into
+          signing Lord Verulam's and Lord Salisbury's address to
+          the King. The object was to produce a discussion about
+          the Peers. It totally failed, but it was got up with an
+          openness that was indecent by Durham and that crew, who
+          were all (Durham, Sefton, Mulgrave, Dover) under the
+          gallery to hear it. The thing was ridiculed by Peel,
+          fell flat upon the House, and excited disgust and
+          contempt out of it.
+
+I afterwards saw the Duke of Richmond, who said that Dover and
+Sefton had both attacked him for being against making Peers, and
+he should like to know how they knew it. I told him, from the
+Chancellor, to be sure, and added how they were always working at
+him and the influence they had with him. He said the Chancellor's
+being for making Peers was not enough to carry the question; that
+if it was done it must be by a minute of the Cabinet, with the
+names of the dissentients appended to it; and then the King must
+determine; that if the dissentients seceded upon it it would be
+impossible. He recollected, when there was a question of making
+Peers on the Catholic question by the Duke of Wellington, that he
+and some others had resolved, should it have been done, to avail
+themselves of the power of the House to come down day after day
+and move adjournments before any of the new Peers could take
+their seats; that the same course might be adopted now, though it
+would produce a revolution. I told him that I had little doubt
+there were men who would not scruple to adopt any course, however
+violent, that the power of Parliament would admit of; that there
+were several who were of opinion that the creation of Peers would
+at once lay the Constitution prostrate and bring about a
+revolution; that they considered it would be not a remote and
+uncertain, but a sure and proximate event, and if by accelerating
+it they could crush their opponents they would do so without
+hesitation.
+
+In the meantime the cholera has made its appearance in London, at
+Rotherhithe, Limehouse, and in a ship off Greenwich--in all seven
+cases. These are amongst the lowest and most wretched classes,
+chiefly Irish, and a more lamentable exhibition of human misery
+than that given by the medical men who called at the Council
+Office yesterday I never heard. They are in the most abject state
+of poverty, without beds to lie upon. The men live by casual
+labour, are employed by the hour, and often get no more than four
+or five hours' employment in the course of the week. They are
+huddled and crowded together by families in the same room, not as
+permanent lodgers, but procuring a temporary shelter; in short, in
+the most abject state of physical privation and moral degradation
+that can be imagined. On Saturday we had an account of one or more
+cases. We sent instantly down to inspect the district and organise
+a Board of Health. A meeting was convened, and promises given that
+all things needful should be done, but as they met at a
+public-house they all got drunk and did nothing. We have sent down
+members of the Board of Health, to make preparations and organise
+boards; but, if the disease really spreads, no human power can
+arrest its progress through such an Augean stable.
+
+
+February 14th, 1832 {p.259}
+
+[Page Head: INTERVIEW OF LORD HARROWBY AND LORD GREY.]
+
+Dined with Lord Harrowby, and communicated conversation with
+Palmerston and Melbourne. He has not been able to decide the
+Archbishop, who is on and off, and can't make up his mind. Lord
+Harrowby is going to Lord Grey to talk with him. The Tories
+obstinate as mules. The Duke of Buccleuch, who had got Harrowby's
+letter, and copied it himself that he might know it by heart, has
+made up his mind to vote the other way, as he did before; Lord
+Wallace (after a long correspondence) the same. There can be
+little doubt that they animate one another, and their cry is 'to
+stick to the Duke of Wellington.' The cholera is established, and
+yesterday formal communications were made to the Lord Mayor and
+to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that London was no
+longer healthy.
+
+
+February 17th, 1832 {p.259}
+
+Wharncliffe came to town the night before last, it having been
+settled that Harrowby was to go to Lord Grey yesterday morning.
+After consultation we agreed he had better go alone, that it
+would be less formal, and that Lord Grey would be more disposed
+to open himself. The same evening, at Madame de Lieven's ball,
+Melbourne and Palmerston both told me that Grey was in an
+excellent disposition. However, yesterday morning Harrowby had
+such a headache that he was not fit to go alone, so the two went.
+Nothing could be more polite than Grey, and on the whole the
+interview was satisfactory. Nothing was agreed upon, all left
+_dans le vague_; but a disposition to mutual confidence was
+evinced, and I should think it pretty safe that no Peers will be
+made. Lord Grey told them that if they could relieve him from the
+necessity of creating Peers he should be sincerely obliged to
+them, showed them a letter from the King containing the most
+unlimited power for the purpose, and said that, armed with that
+authority, if the Bill could be passed in no other way, it must
+be so. A minute was drawn up to this effect, of which Wharncliffe
+showed me a copy last night.
+
+'Lords Harrowby and Wharncliffe cannot give any names, or pledge
+themselves to any particular persons or numbers who will support
+their views, but they have no doubt in their own minds that there
+will be, _in the event of no creation of Peers_, a sufficient
+number to carry the second reading of the Bill. In voting
+themselves for the second reading, their intention is to propose
+such alterations in Committee as, in their opinion, can alone
+render it a measure fit to be passed into law, and in the event of
+their being unable to effect the changes they deem indispensable,
+they reserve to themselves the power of opposing the Bill in its
+subsequent stages. Lord Grey considers the great principles of the
+Bill of such vital importance that he could not agree to any
+alteration in them, but admits that a modification of its details
+need not be fatal to it, reserving to himself, if any of its vital
+principles should be touched, the power of taking such ulterior
+measures as he may find necessary to ensure its success. Lords
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe are prepared to make a declaration of
+their sentiments and intentions in the House of Lords at a proper
+time, that time to be a subject of consideration; and in the event
+of their having reason to believe that their present expectations
+are not likely to be fulfilled, they will feel bound to give Lord
+Grey information thereof, in order that he may take such measures
+as he may think right.'[4]
+
+      [4] This is the substance, not a textual copy.
+
+At present the principal difficulty promises to be the L10
+clause. Lord Grey seemed to think this could not be altered.
+Wharncliffe asked if it might not be modified, and so settled as
+to secure its being a _bona fide_ L10 clause, from which Lord
+Grey did not dissent, but answered rather vaguely.
+
+In the meantime I think some progress is made in the work of
+conversion. Harris has gone back, and Wilton, whom I always
+doubted. I doubt anybody within the immediate sphere of the Duke,
+but Wynford is well disposed, and the Archbishop has nearly given
+in. His surrender would clinch the matter. I am inclined to think
+we shall get through the second reading. Lord Grey was attacked
+by Madame de Lieven the other day, who told him he was naturally
+all that is right-minded and good, but was supposed to be
+influenced against his own better judgment by those about him.
+She also said something to the Duke of Wellington about Lord
+Harrowby, to which he replied that Lord Harrowby 'etait une
+mauvaise tete!' Very amusing from him, but he is provoked to
+death that anybody should venture to desert from him.
+
+[Page Head: DISTRESS IN BETHNAL GREEN.]
+
+The cholera has produced more alertness than alarm here; in fact,
+at present it is a mere trifle--in three days twenty-eight
+persons. Nothing like the disorders which rage unheeded every year
+and every day among the lower orders. It is its name, its
+suddenness, and its frightful symptoms that terrify. The
+investigations, however, into the condition of the different
+parishes have brought to light dreadful cases of poverty and
+misery. A man came yesterday from Bethnal Green with an account of
+that district. They are all weavers, forming a sort of separate
+community; there they are born, there they live and labour, and
+there they die. They neither migrate nor change their occupation;
+they can do nothing else. They have increased in a ratio at
+variance with any principles of population, having nearly tripled
+in twenty years, from 22,000 to 62,000. They are for the most part
+out of employment, and can get none; 1,100 are crammed into the
+poor-house, five or six in a bed; 6,000 receive parochial relief.
+The parish is in debt; every day adds to the number of paupers and
+diminishes that of ratepayers. These are principally small
+shopkeepers, who are beggared by the rates. The district is in a
+complete state of insolvency and hopeless poverty, yet they
+multiply, and while the people look squalid and dejected, as if
+borne down by their wretchedness and destitution, the children
+thrive and are healthy. Government is ready to interpose with
+assistance, but what can Government do? We asked the man who came
+what could be done for them. He said 'employment,' and employment
+is impossible.
+
+
+February 20th, 1832 {p.262}
+
+Lord Grey was very much pleased with the result of his interview,
+and expresses unbounded reliance on Lord Harrowby's honour. The
+ultras, of course, will give him no credit, and don't believe he
+can command votes enough; 'l'affaire marche, mais lentement,' and
+the seceders (or those we hope will be so) will not declare
+themselves positively. There is no prevailing upon them. The
+Archbishop is with us one day, and then doubts, though I think we
+shall have him at last. A good deal of conversation passed between
+Grey and Harrowby, which the latter considers confidential and
+won't repeat. It was about the details; the substance of the
+minute he feels at liberty to communicate. By way of an episode,
+news came last night of an insurrection of the slaves in Jamaica,
+in which fifty-two plantations had been destroyed. It was speedily
+suppressed by Willoughby Cotton, and the ringleaders were executed
+by martial law.
+
+
+February 23rd, 1832 {p.262}
+
+[Page Head: LORD HARROWBY'S LETTER.]
+
+At Court yesterday; long conversation with Melbourne, and in the
+evening with Charles Wood and Richmond, who is more alarmed about
+the Peers. Melbourne had got an idea that Lord Harrowby's letter,
+which had been reported if not shown to the Government, had done
+a great deal of harm, inasmuch as it set forth so strongly the
+same arguments to the Tories to show them the danger of letting
+Peers be made that Durham and Co. make use of as an argument for
+the same. I promised to show it him, and replied that they could
+not expect Lord Harrowby to do anything but employ the arguments
+that are most likely to take effect with these people, but they
+are not put in an offensive manner. Melbourne said that the King
+is more reconciled to the measure, i.e. that they have got the
+foolish, old man in town and can talk him over more readily. A
+discussion last night about the propriety of making a declaration
+to-day in the House of Lords, when the Duke of Rutland presents a
+petition against Reform. The Archbishop will not decide; there is
+no moving him. Curious that a Dr. Howley, the other day Canon of
+Christ Church, a very ordinary man, should have in his hands the
+virtual decision of one of the most momentous matters that ever
+occupied public attention. There is no doubt that his decision
+would decide the business so far. Up to this time certainly
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe have no certainty of a sufficient number
+for the second reading; but I think they will have enough at
+last.
+
+
+February 24th, 1832 {p.263}
+
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe agreed, if the Duke of Rutland on
+presenting his petition gave them a good opportunity, they would
+speak. It was a very good one, for the petition turned out to be
+one for a moderate Reform, more in their sense than in the Duke's
+own; but the moment it was read Kenyon jumped up. Harrowby
+thought he was going to speak upon it, whereas he presented
+another; and I believe he was put up by the Duke to stop any
+discussion.
+
+In the evening went to Lord Holland's, when he and she asked me
+about the letter. Somebody had given abstracts of it, with the
+object of proving to Lord Grey that Harrowby had been uncandid, or
+something like it, and had held out to the Tories that if they
+would adopt his line they would turn out the Government. Holland
+and the rest fancied the letter had been written _since the
+interview_, but I told them it was _three weeks before_, and I
+endeavoured to explain that the abstracts must be taken in
+connection not only with the rest of the text, but with the
+argument. Holland said Lord Grey meant to ask Harrowby for the
+letter. From thence I went to Harrowby, and told him this. He said
+he would not show it, that Grey had no right to ask for a private
+letter written by him weeks before to one of his friends, and it
+was beneath him to answer for and explain anything he had thought
+fit to say. But he has done what will probably answer as well, for
+he has given Ebrington a copy of it for the express purpose of
+going to Lord Grey and explaining anything that appears ambiguous
+to him. As the business develops itself, and the time approaches,
+communication becomes more open and frequent; the Tories talk with
+great confidence of their majority, and the ultra-Whigs are quite
+ready to believe them; the two extreme ends are furious. Our list
+up to this day presents a result of forty-three votes to
+thirty-seven doubtful, out of which it is hard if a majority
+cannot be got. I have no doubt now that they will take a very
+early opportunity of making a declaration. Peel, in the other
+House, is doing what he can to inflame and divide, and repress any
+spirit of conciliation. Nothing is sure in his policy but that it
+revolves round himself as the centre, and is influenced by some
+view which he takes of his own future advantage, probably the
+rallying of the Conservative party (as they call themselves,
+though they are throwing away everything into confusion and
+sinking everything by their obstinacy) and his being at the head
+of it. He made a most furious and mischievous speech.
+
+
+February 29th, 1832 {p.264}
+
+Ebrington took Harrowby's letter to Lord Grey, who was satisfied
+but not pleased; the date and the circumstances (which were
+explained) removed all bad impressions from his mind. Since this
+a garbled version (or rather extracts) has appeared in the
+'Times,' which endeavours to make a great stir about it. Harrowby
+was very much annoyed, and thought of sending the letter itself
+to the 'Times' to be published at once; but Haddington and I both
+urged him not, and last night he put a contradiction in the
+'Globe.' I have little doubt that this as well as the former
+extracts came from the shop of Durham and Co., and so Melbourne
+told me he thought likewise. There was a great breeze at the last
+Cabinet dinner between Durham and Richmond again on the old
+subject--the Peers. I believe they will now take their chance.
+Our list presents forty-seven sure votes besides the doubtful,
+but not many pledges. As to me, I am really puzzled what to wish
+for--that is, for the success of which party, being equally
+disgusted with the folly of both. My old aversion for the High
+Tories returns when I see their conduct on this occasion. The
+obstinacy of the Duke, the selfishness of Peel, the pert
+vulgarity of Croker, and the incapacity of the rest are set in
+constant juxtaposition with the goodness of the cause they are
+now defending, but which they will mar by their way of defending
+it. A man is wanting, a fresh man, with vigour enough to govern,
+and who will rally round him the temperate and the moderate of
+different parties--men unfettered by prejudices, connections, and
+above all by pledges, expressed or implied, and who can and will
+address themselves to the present state and real wants of the
+country, neither terrified into concession by the bullying of the
+press and the rant of public meetings and associations, nor
+fondly lingering over bygone systems of government and law. That
+the scattered materials exist is probable, but the heated passion
+of the times has produced so much repulsion among these various
+atoms that it is difficult to foresee when a cooler temperature
+may permit their cohesion into any efficient mass.
+
+
+March 6th, 1842 {p.265}
+
+[Page Head: VIOLENCE OF EXTREME PARTIES.]
+
+The ultra-Whigs and ultra-Tories are both outrageous. Day after
+day the 'Times' puts forth paragraphs, evidently manufactured in
+the Durham shop, about Harrowby's letter, and yesterday there was
+one which exhibited their mortification and rage so clearly as to
+be quite amusing, praising the Duke and the Tories, and abusing
+Harrowby and Wharncliffe and the moderates. In the meantime,
+while Lord Grey is negotiating with Harrowby for the express
+purpose of avoiding the necessity of making Peers, Durham, his
+colleague and son-in-law, in conjunction with Dover, is (or has
+been) going about with a paper for signature by Peers, being a
+requisition to Lord Grey to make new Peers, inviting everybody he
+could find to sign this by way of assisting that course of
+bullying and violence he has long pursued, but happily in vain.
+Lord Grey is, I believe, really disgusted with all these
+proceedings; he submits and does nothing. Richmond quarrels with
+Durham, Melbourne damns him, and the rest hate him. But there he
+is, frowning, sulking, bullying, and meddling, and doing all the
+harm he can. Never certainly was there such a Government as this,
+so constituted, so headed--a chief with an imposing exterior, a
+commanding eloquence, and a character[5] below contempt, seduced
+and governed by anybody who will minister to his vanity and
+presume upon his facility.
+
+      [5] By character I mean what the French call _caractere_,
+          not that he is wanting in honour and honesty, nor in
+          ability, but in resolution and strength of mind.
+
+There has been nothing remarkable in either House of Parliament
+but an attack made by Londonderry on Plunket, who gave him so
+terrific a dressing that it required to be as _pachydermatous_ as
+he is to stand it. He is, however, a glutton, for he took it all,
+and seemed to like it. I dined with Madame de Lieven a day or two
+ago, and was talking to her about politics and political events,
+and particularly about the memoirs, or journal, or whatever it
+be, that she has written. She said she had done so very
+irregularly, but that what she regretted was not having kept more
+exact records of the events and transactions of the Belgian
+question (which is not yet settled), that it was in its
+circumstances the most curious that could be, and exhibited more
+remarkable manifestations of character and 'du coeur humain,' as
+well as of politics generally, than any course of events she
+knew. I asked her why she did not give them now. She said it was
+impossible, that the 'nuances' were so delicate and so numerous,
+the details so nice and so varying, that unless caught at the
+moment they escaped, and it was impossible to collect them again.
+
+
+March 9th, 1832 {p.266}
+
+Went to Lord Holland's the other night, and had a violent battle
+with him on politics. Nobody so violent as he, and curious as
+exhibiting the opinions of the ultras of the party. About making
+Peers--wanted to know what Harrowby's real object was. I told him
+none but to prevent what he thought an enormous evil. What did it
+signify (he said) whether Peers were made now or later? that the
+present House of Lords never could go on with a Reformed
+Parliament, it being opposed to all the wants and wishes of the
+people, hating the abolition of tithes, the press, and the French
+Revolution, and that in order to make it harmonise with the
+Reformed Parliament it must be amended by an infusion of a more
+Liberal cast. This was the spirit of his harangue, which might
+have been easily answered, for it all goes upon the presumption
+that his party is that which harmonises with the popular feeling,
+and what he means by improving the character of the House is to
+add some fifty or sixty men who may be willing to accept peerages
+upon the condition of becoming a body-guard to this Government.
+
+The 'Times' yesterday and the day before attacked Lord Grey with
+a virulence and indecency about the Peers that is too much even
+for those who take the same line, and he now sees where his
+subserviency to the press has conducted him. In the House of
+Commons the night before last, Ministers would have been beaten
+on the sugar duties if Baring Wall, who had got ten people to
+dinner, had chosen to go down in time.
+
+[Page Head: IRISH NATIONAL EDUCATION.]
+
+The principal subject of discussion this last week has been the
+Education Board in Ireland, the object of which is to combine the
+education of Catholics and Protestants by an arrangement with
+regard to the religious part of their instruction that may be
+compatible with the doctrines and practice of both. This
+arrangement consists in there being only certain selections from
+the Bible, which are admitted generally, while particular days
+and hours are set apart for the separate religious exercises of
+each class. This will not do for the zealous Protestants, who
+bellow for the whole Bible as Reformers do for the whole Bill.
+While the whole system is crumbling to dust under their feet,
+while the Church is prostrate, property of all kind threatened,
+and robbery, murder, starvation, and agitation rioting over the
+land, these wise legislators are debating whether the brats at
+school shall read the whole Bible or only parts of it. They do
+nothing but rave of the barbarism and ignorance of the Catholics;
+they know that education alone can better their moral condition,
+and that their religious tenets prohibit the admission of any
+system of education (in which Protestants and Catholics can be
+joined) except such an one as this, and yet they would rather
+knock the system on the head, and prevent all the good that may
+flow from it, than consent to a departure from the good old rules
+of Orange ascendency and Popish subserviency and degradation,
+knowing too, above all, that those who are to read and be taught
+are equally indifferent to the whole Bible or to parts of it,
+that they comprehend it not, have no clear and definite ideas on
+the subject but as matter of debate, vehicle of dispute and
+dissension, and almost of religious hatred and disunion, and that
+when once they have escaped from the trammels of their school,
+not one in a hundred will trouble his head about the Bible at
+all, and not one in a thousand attend to its moral precepts.
+
+
+March 10th, 1832 {p.268}
+
+Yesterday morning Wharncliffe came to me to give me an account of
+the conversation the other day between him and Harrowby on one
+side and Lords Grey and Lansdowne on the other. Harrowby was
+headachy and out of sorts. However, it went off very satisfactorily;
+the list was laid before Grey, who was satisfied, and no Peers are
+to be made before the second reading; but he said that if the Bill
+should be carried by so small a majority as to prove that the
+details could not be carried in Committee, he must reserve the
+power of making Peers _then_. At this Harrowby winced, but
+Wharncliffe said he thought it fair; and in fact it is only in
+conformity with the protocol that was drawn up at the last
+conversation. They entered into the details, and Lord Grey said
+the stir that had been made about the metropolitan members might
+raise difficulties, and then asked would they agree to this, to
+give members to Marylebone and throw over the rest? To this
+Harrowby would not agree, greatly to Wharncliffe's annoyance, who
+would have agreed, and I think he would have been in the right. It
+would have been as well to have nailed Grey to this, and if
+Harrowby had not had a headache I think he would have done so.
+With regard to the L10 clause, Wharncliffe _thinks_ they will not
+object to a modification. Grey spoke of the press, and with just
+wrath and indignation of the attacks on himself. On the whole this
+was good. The capture of Vandamme was the consequence of a
+bellyache, and the metropolitan representation depended on a
+headache. If the truth could be ascertained, perhaps many of the
+greatest events in history turned upon aches of one sort or
+another. Montaigne might have written an essay on it.
+
+
+March 12th, 1832 {p.269}
+
+Durham made another exhibition of temper at the Cabinet dinner
+last Wednesday. While Lord Grey was saying something he rudely
+interrupted him, as his custom is. Lord Grey said, 'But, my dear
+Lambton, only hear what I was going to say,' when the other jumped
+up and said, 'Oh, if I am not to be allowed to speak I may as well
+go away,' rang the bell, ordered his carriage, and marched off.
+Wharncliffe came to me yesterday morning to propose writing a
+pamphlet in answer to the 'Quarterly Review,' which has got an
+article against his party. I suggested instead that an attempt
+should be made by Sandon (who has been in some communication with
+the editor about this matter) to induce the 'Morning Herald' to
+support us, and make that paper the vehicle of our articles. This
+he agreed to, and was to propose it to Sandon last night. We have
+no advocate in the press; the Whig and Tory papers are equally
+violent against us. Yesterday I saw a letter which has been
+circulated among the Tories, written by young Lord Redesdale to
+Lord Bathurst, a sort of counter-argument to Lord Harrowby's
+letter, although not an answer, as it was written before he had
+seen that document; there is very little in it.
+
+
+March 16th, 1832 {p.269}
+
+[Page Head: IRISH TITHES.]
+
+Lord Grey made an excellent speech in the House of Lords in reply
+to Aberdeen's questions about Ancona, and Peel made another in
+the House of Commons on Irish Tithes, smashing Sheil, taking high
+ground and a strong position, but doing nothing towards settling
+the question. He forgets that the system is bad, resting on a
+false foundation, and that it has worked ill and been bolstered
+up by him and his party till now it can no longer be supported,
+and it threatens to carry away with it that which is good in
+itself. We owe these things to those who wilfully introduced a
+moral confusion of ideas into their political machinery, and, by
+destroying the essential distinction between right and wrong,
+have deprived the things which are right of the best part of
+their security. I have never been able to understand why our
+system should be made to rest on artificial props when it did not
+require them, nor the meaning of that strange paradox which a
+certain school of statesmen have always inculcated, that
+institutions of admitted excellence required to be conjoined with
+others which were founded in crime and error, and which could
+only be supported by power. This has brought about Reform; it
+would be easy to prove it. The Ancona affair will blow over.
+George Villiers writes me word that it was a little escapade of
+Perier's, done in a hurry, a mistake, and yet he is a very able
+man. Talleyrand told me 'c'est une betise.' Nothing goes on well;
+the world is out of joint.
+
+Fanny Kemble's new tragedy came out last night with complete
+success, written when she was seventeen, an odd play for a girl
+to write. The heroine is tempted like Isabella in 'Measure for
+Measure,' but with a different result, which result is supposed
+to take place between the acts.
+
+
+March 26th, 1832 {p.270}
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+Ten days since I have written anything here, but _en revanche_ I
+have written a pamphlet. An article appeared in the 'Quarterly,'
+attacking Harrowby and his friends. Wharncliffe was so desirous
+it should be answered that I undertook the job, and it comes out
+to-day in a 'Letter to Lockhart, in reply,' &c. I don't believe
+anybody read the last I wrote, but as I have published this at
+Ridgway's, perhaps it may have a more extensive sale. The events
+have been the final passing of the Bill, after three nights'
+debate, by a majority of 116, ended by a very fine speech from
+Peel, who has eminently distinguished himself through this fight.
+Stanley closed the debate at five o'clock in the morning, with
+what they say was a good and dexterous speech, but which
+contained a very unnecessary dissertation about the Peers. This,
+together with some words from Richmond and the cheerfulness of
+Holland, makes my mind misgive me that we shall still have them
+created for the Committee. The conduct of the ultra-Tories has
+been so bad and so silly that I cannot wish to bring them in,
+though I have a great desire to turn the others out. As to a
+moderate party, it is a mere dream, for where is the moderation?
+This day Lord John Russell brings the Bill up to the House of
+Lords, and much indeed depends upon what passes there. Harrowby
+and Wharncliffe will make their speeches, and we shall, I
+conclude, have the Duke and Lord Grey. I expect, and I beg his
+pardon if I am wrong, that the Duke will make as mischievous a
+speech as he can, and try to provoke declarations and pledges
+against the Bill. The Ministers are exceedingly anxious that
+Harrowby should confine himself to generalities, which I hope
+too, for I am certain no good can, and much harm may, be done by
+going into details. Grey, Holland, and Richmond all three spoke
+to me about it last night, and I am going to see what can be done
+with them. I should not fear Harrowby but that he is petulant and
+sour; Wharncliffe is vain, and has been excited in all this
+business, though with very good and very disinterested motives,
+but he cannot bear patiently the abuse and the ridicule with
+which both the extreme ends endeavour to cover him, and he is
+uneasy under it, and what I dread is that in making attempts to
+set himself right, and to clear his character with a party who
+will never forgive him for what he has done, and to whom whatever
+he says will be words cast to the winds, he will flounder, and
+say something which will elicit from Lord Grey some declaration
+that may make matters worse than ever. What I hope and trust is
+that the Government and our people will confine themselves to
+civil generalities, and pledge themselves _de part et d'autre_ to
+nothing, and that they will not be provoked by taunts from any
+quarter to depart from that prudent course.
+
+There was another breeze in the House of Lords about Irish
+Education, the whole bench of bishops in a flame, and except Maltby,
+who spoke _for_, all declared against the plan--Phillpotts in a
+furious speech. What celestial influences have been at work I know
+not, but certain it is that the world seems going mad, individually
+and collectively. The town has been more occupied this week with
+Dudley's extravagancies than the affairs of Europe. He, in fact, is
+mad, but is to be cupped and starved and disciplined sound again. It
+has been fine talk for the town. The public curiosity and love of
+news is as voracious and universal as the appetite of a shark, and,
+like it, loves best what is grossest and most disgusting; anything
+relating to personal distress, to crime, to passion, is greedily
+devoured by this monster, as Cowley calls it.
+
+                               I see
+         The monster London laugh at me;
+         I would at thee, too, foolish City,
+         But thy estate I pity.
+         Should all the wicked men from out thee go,
+         And all the fools that crowd thee so,
+         Thou, who dost thy thousands boast,
+         Would be a wilderness almost.--_Ode to Solitude._
+
+But of all the examples of cant, hypocrisy, party violence, I
+have never seen any to be compared to the Irish Education
+business; and there was Rosslyn, an old Whig, voting against;
+Carnarvon stayed away, every Tory without exception going against
+the measure. As to madness, Dudley has gone mad in his own house,
+Perceval in the House of Commons, and John Montague in the Park,
+the two latter preaching, both Irvingites and believers in 'the
+tongues.' Dudley's madness took an odd turn; he would make up all
+his quarrels with Lady Holland, to whom he has not spoken for
+sixteen years, and he called on her, and there were tears and
+embraces, and God knows what. Sydney Smith told her that she was
+bound in honour to set the quarrel up again when he comes to his
+senses, and put things into the _status quo ante pacem_. It would
+be hard upon him to find, on getting out of a strait waistcoat,
+that he had been robbed of all his hatreds and hostilities, and
+seduced into the house of his oldest foe.
+
+
+March 27th, 1832 {p.272}
+
+[Page Head: DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+I did the Duke of Wellington an injustice. He spoke, but without
+any violence, in a fair and gentlemanlike manner, a speech
+creditable to himself, useful and becoming. If there was any
+disposition on the part of his followers to light a flame, he at
+once repressed it. The whole thing went off well; House very
+full; Harrowby began, and made an excellent speech, with the
+exception of one mistake. He dwelt too much on the difference
+between this Bill and the last, as if the difference of his own
+conduct resulted from that cause, and this I could see they were
+taking up in their minds, and though he corrected the impression
+afterwards, it will be constantly brought up against him, I have
+no doubt. After him Carnarvon, who alone was violent, but short;
+then Wharncliffe (I am not sure which was first of these two),
+very short and rather embarrassed, expressing his concurrence
+with Lord Harrowby; then the Bishop of London, short also, but
+strong in his language, much more than Lord Harrowby; then Lord
+Grey, temperate and very general, harping a little too much on
+that confounded word _efficiency_, denying that what he said last
+year bore the interpretation that had been put upon it, and
+announcing that he would give his best consideration to any
+amendments, a very good speech; then the Duke, in a very handsome
+speech, acknowledging that he was not against all Reform, though
+he was against this Bill, because he did not think if it passed
+it would be possible to carry on the government of the country,
+but promising that if the Bill went into Committee he would give
+his constant attendance, and do all in his power to make it as
+safe a measure as possible. So finished this important evening,
+much to the satisfaction of the moderate, and to the disgust of
+the violent party. I asked Lord Holland if he was satisfied (in
+the House after the debate), and he said, 'Yes, yes, very well,
+but the Bishop's the man;' and in the evening at Lord Grey's I
+found they were all full of the Bishop. Lord Grey said to me,
+'Well, you will allow that I behaved very well?' I said, 'Yes,
+very, but the whole thing was satisfactory, I think.' 'Yes,' he
+said, 'on the whole, but they were a little too strong, too
+violent against the Bill,' because Harrowby had declared that he
+felt the same objection to the measure he had felt before. Sefton
+was outrageous, talked a vast deal of amusing nonsense, 'that he
+had never heard such twaddle,' 'but that the success was
+complete, and he looked on Harrowby and Wharncliffe as the two
+most enviable men in the kingdom.' I have no doubt that all the
+ultras will be deeply mortified at the moderation of Lord Grey
+and of the Duke of Wellington, and at the success _so far_ of
+'the Waverers.'
+
+
+
+
+                          CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+Debate in the House of Lords--Lord Harrowby's Position--Hopes of
+  a Compromise--Lord Melbourne's View--Disturbances caused by the
+  Cholera--The Disfranchisement Clause--The Number '56'--Peers
+  contemplated--The King's Hesitation--'The Hunchback'--Critical
+  Position of the Waverers--Bill carried by Nine in the Lords--
+  The Cholera in Paris--Moderate Speech of Lord Grey--End of the
+  Secession--Conciliatory Overtures--Negotiations carried on at
+  Newmarket--Hostile Division in the Lords--Lord Wharncliffe's
+  Account of his Failure--Lord Grey resigns--The Duke of
+  Wellington attempts to form a Ministry--Peel declines--
+  Hostility of the Court to the Whigs--A Change of Scene--The
+  Duke fails--History of the Crisis--Lord Grey returns to
+  Office--The King's Excitement--The King writes to the
+  Opposition Peers--Defeat and Disgrace of the Tories--
+  Conversation of the Duke of Wellington--Louis XVIII.--Madame du
+  Cayla--Weakness of the King--Mortality among Great Men--
+  Petition against Lord W. Bentinck's Prohibition of Suttee heard
+  by the Privy Council--O'Connell and the Cholera--Irish Tithe
+  Bill--Irish Difficulties--Mr. Stanley--Concluding Debates of
+  the Parliament--Quarrel between Brougham and Sugden--Holland
+  and Belgium--Brougham's Revenge and Apology--Dinner at Holland
+  House--Anecdotes of Johnson--Death of Mr. Greville's Father--
+  Madame de Flahaut's Account of the Princess Charlotte--Prince
+  Augustus of Prussia--Captain Hess--Hostilities in Holland and
+  in Portugal--The Duchesse de Berri--Conversation with Lord
+  Melbourne on the State of the Government.
+
+
+March 28th, 1832 {p.274}
+
+[Page Head: LORD HARROWBY'S PATRIOTIC CONDUCT.]
+
+There appear to have been as many differences of opinion as of
+people on the discussion in the House of Lords when the Bill was
+brought up, and it seems paradoxical, but is true, that though it
+was on the whole satisfactory, nobody was satisfied. Lord Grey
+complained to me that Lord Harrowby was too stiff; Lord Harrowby
+complained that Lord Grey was always beating about the bush of
+compromise, but never would commit himself fairly to concession.
+Melbourne complained last night that what was done was done in
+such an ungracious manner, so niggardly, that he hated the man
+(Harrowby) who did it. The ultra-Tories are outrageous 'that he
+gave up everything without reason or cause;' the ultra-Whigs
+equally furious 'that he had shown how little way he was disposed
+to go in Committee; his object was to turn out the Government;'
+and what is comical, neither party will believe that Harrowby
+really is so obnoxious to the other as he is said to be. Each is
+convinced that he is acting in the interests of the other. What a
+position, what injustice, blindness, folly, obstinacy, brought
+together and exhibited! If ever there was a man whose conduct was
+exempt from the ordinary motives of ambition, and who made
+personal sacrifices in what he is doing, it is Lord Harrowby, and
+yet there is no reproach that is not cast upon him, no term of
+abuse that is not applied to him, no motive that is not ascribed
+to him. No wonder a man who has seen much of them is sick of
+politics and public life. Nothing now is thought of but the
+_lists_, and of course everybody has got one. The Tories still
+pretend to a majority of seven; the Government and Harrowby think
+they have one of from ten to twenty, and I suspect fifteen will
+be found about the mark. The unfortunate thing is that neither of
+our cocks is good for fighting, not from want of courage, but
+Harrowby is peevish, ungracious and unpopular, and Wharncliffe
+carries no great weight. To be sure neither of them pretends to
+make a party, but then their opponents insist upon it that they
+do, and men shrink from enlisting (or being supposed to enlist)
+under Wharncliffe's banner. However, notwithstanding the violence
+of the noisy fools of the party, and of the women, there is a
+more rational disposition on the part of practical men, for
+Wharncliffe spoke to Ellenborough yesterday, and told him that
+though he knew he and Harrowby were regarded as traitors by all
+of them, he did hope that when the Bill came into Committee they
+would agree to consult together, and try and come to some
+understanding as to the best mode of dealing with the question,
+that it was absurd to be standing aloof at such a moment; to
+which Ellenborough replied that he perfectly agreed with him, was
+anxious to do so, and intended to advise his friends to take that
+course.
+
+
+April 1st, 1832 {p.276}
+
+Wharncliffe got Lord Grey to put off the second reading for a few
+days on account of the Quarter Sessions, which drew down a
+precious attack from Londonderry, and was in fact very foolish and
+unnecessary, as it looks like a concert between them, of which it
+is very desirable to avoid any appearance, as in fact none exists.
+The violence of the Tories continues unabated, and there is no
+effort they do not make to secure a majority, and they expect
+either to succeed or to bring it to a near thing. In the meantime
+the tone of the other party is changed. Dover, who makes lists,
+manages proxies, and does all the little jobbing, whipping-in,
+busy work of the party, makes out a clear majority, and told me he
+now thought the Bill would get through without Peers. The
+Government, however, are all agreed to make the Peers if it turns
+out to be necessary, and especially if the Bill should be thrown
+out, it seems clear that they would by no means go out, but make
+the Peers and bring it in again; so I gather from Richmond, and he
+who was the most violently opposed of the whole Cabinet to
+Peer-making, is now ready to make any number if necessary. There
+is, however, I hope, a disposition to concession, which, if
+matters are tolerably well managed, may lead to an arrangement.
+Still Wharncliffe, who must have a great deal to do in Committee,
+is neither prudent nor popular. The Tories are obstinate, sulky,
+and indisposed to agree to anything reasonable. It is the unity of
+object and the compactness of the party which give the Government
+strength. Charles Wood told me the other day that they were well
+disposed to a compromise on two special points, one the exclusion
+of town voters from the right of voting for counties, the other
+the metropolitan members. On the first he proposed that no man
+voting for a town in right of a L10 house should have a vote for
+the county in right of any freehold in that town. That would be
+half-way between Wharncliffe's plan and the present. The second,
+that Marylebone should return two members, and Middlesex two
+more--very like Grey's proposition which Harrowby rejected--but I
+suggested keeping the whole and varying the qualification, to
+which he thought no objection would lie.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.]
+
+At the Duchesse de Dino's ball the night before last I had a very
+anxious conversation with Melbourne about it all. He said that
+'he really believed there was no strong feeling in the country
+for the measure.' We talked of the violence of the Tories, and
+their notion that they could get rid of the whole thing. I said
+the notion was absurd _now_, but that I fully agreed with him
+about the general feeling. 'Why, then,' said he, 'might it not be
+thrown out?'--a consummation I really believe he would rejoice
+at, if it could be done. I said because there was a great party
+which would not let it, which would agitate again, and that the
+country wished ardently to have it settled; that if it could be
+disposed of for good and all, it would be a good thing indeed,
+but that this was now become impossible. I asked him if his
+colleagues were impressed as he was with this truth, and he said,
+'No.' I told him he ought to do everything possible to enforce
+it, and to make them moderate, and induce them to concede, to
+which he replied, 'What difficulty can they have in swallowing
+the rest after they have given up the rotten boroughs? That is,
+in fact, the essential part of the Bill, and the truth is _I do
+not see how the Government is to be carried on without them_.
+Some means may be found; a remedy may possibly present itself,
+and it may work in practice better than we now know of, but I am
+not aware of any, and I do not see how any Government can be
+carried on when these are swept away.' This was, if not his exact
+words, the exact sense, and a pretty avowal for a man to make at
+the eleventh hour who has been a party concerned in this Bill
+during the other ten. I told him I agreed in every respect, but
+that it was too late to discuss this now, and that the rotten
+boroughs were past saving, that as to the minor points, the
+Waverers thought them of importance, looked upon them as
+securities, compensations, and moreover as what would save their
+own honour, and that the less their real importance was the more
+easily might they be conceded. We had a great deal more talk, but
+then it is all talk, and _a quoi bon_ with a man who holds these
+opinions and acts as he does? Let it end as it may, the history
+of the Bill, and the means by which it has been conceived,
+brought forward, supported, and opposed, will be most curious and
+instructive. The division in the Lords must be very close indeed.
+
+Orloff, who was looked for like the Messiah, at last made his
+appearance a few days ago, a great burly Russian, but no
+ratification yet.[1]
+
+      [1] [Of the Belgian Treaty.]
+
+[Page Head: THE CHOLERA IN ENGLAND.]
+
+I have refrained for a long time from writing down anything about
+the cholera, because the subject is intolerably disgusting to me,
+and I have been bored past endurance by the perpetual questions of
+every fool about it. It is not, however, devoid of interest. In
+the first place, what has happened here proves that 'the people'
+of this enlightened, reading, thinking, reforming nation are not a
+whit less barbarous than the serfs in Russia, for precisely the
+same prejudices have been shown here that were found at St.
+Petersburg and at Berlin. The disease has undoubtedly appeared
+(hitherto) in this country in a milder shape than elsewhere, but
+the alarm at its name was so great that the Government could do no
+otherwise than take such precautions and means of safety as
+appeared best to avert the danger or mitigate its consequences.
+Here it came, and the immediate effect was a great inconvenience
+to trade and commerce, owing to restrictions, both those imposed
+by foreigners generally on this country and those we imposed
+ourselves between the healthy and unhealthy places. This begot
+complaints and disputes, and professional prejudices and
+jealousies urged a host of combatants into the field, to fight
+about the existence or non-existence of cholera, its contagiousness,
+and any collateral question. The disposition of the public was
+(and is) to believe that the whole thing was a humbug, and
+accordingly plenty of people were found to write in that sense,
+and the press lent itself to propagate the same idea. The disease,
+however, kept creeping on, the Boards of Health which were
+everywhere established immediately became odious, and the vestries
+and parishes stoutly resisted all pecuniary demands for the
+purpose of carrying into effect the recommendations of the Central
+Board or the orders of the Privy Council. In this town the mob has
+taken the part of the anti-cholerites, and the most disgraceful
+scenes have occurred. The other day a Mr. Pope, head of the
+hospital in Marylebone (Cholera Hospital) came to the Council
+Office to complain that a patient who was being removed with his
+own consent had been taken out of his chair by the mob and carried
+back, the chair broken, and the bearers and surgeon hardly
+escaping with their lives. Furious contests have taken place about
+the burials, it having been recommended that bodies should be
+burned directly after death, and the most violent prejudice
+opposing itself to this recommendation; in short, there is no end
+to the scenes of uproar, violence, and brutal ignorance that have
+gone on, and this on the part of the lower orders, for whose
+especial benefit all the precautions are taken, and for whose
+relief large sums have been raised and all the resources of
+charity called into activity in every part of the town. The awful
+thing is the vast extent of misery and distress which prevails,
+and the evidence of the rotten foundation on which the whole
+fabric of this gorgeous society rests, for I call that rotten
+which exhibits thousands upon thousands of human beings reduced to
+the lowest stage of moral and physical degradation, with no more
+of the necessaries of life than serve to keep body and soul
+together, whole classes of artisans without the means of
+subsistence. However complicated and remote the causes of this
+state of things, the manifestations present themselves in a
+frightful presence and reality, and those whose ingenuity, and
+experience, and philosophical views may enable them accurately to
+point out the causes and the gradual increase of this distress are
+totally unable to suggest a remedy or to foresee an end to it. Can
+such a state of things permanently go on? can any reform
+ameliorate it? Is it possible for any country to be considered in
+a healthy condition when there is no such thing as a _general_
+diffusion of the comforts of life (varying of course with every
+variety of circumstance which can affect the prosperity of
+individuals or of classes), but when the extremes prevail of the
+most unbounded luxury and enjoyment and the most dreadful
+privation and suffering? To imagine a state of society in which
+everybody should be well off, or even tolerably well off, would be
+a mere vision, as long as there is a preponderance of vice and
+folly in the world. There will always be effects commensurate with
+their causes, but it has not always been, and it certainly need
+not be, that the majority of the population should be in great
+difficulty, struggling to keep themselves afloat, and, what is
+worse, in uncertainty and in doubt whether they can earn
+subsistence for themselves and their families. Such is the case at
+present, and I believe a general uncertainty pervades every class
+of society, from the highest to the lowest; nobody looks upon any
+institution as secure, or any interest as safe, and it is only
+because those universal feelings of alarm which are equally
+diffused throughout the mass but slightly affect each individual
+atom of it that we see the world go on as usual, eating, drinking,
+laughing, and dancing, and not insensible to the danger, though,
+apparently indifferent about it.
+
+
+April 4th, 1832 {p.280}
+
+[Page Head: A DIFFICULTY AT SCHEDULE A.]
+
+Charles Wood[2] came to me yesterday, and brought a paper showing
+the various effects of a different qualification from L10 to L40
+for the metropolitan districts, to talk over the list, but
+principally to get me to speak to Harrowby about a foreseen
+difficulty. The first clause in the Bill enacts _that fifty-six
+boroughs be disfranchised_. This gave great offence in the House
+of Commons, was feebly defended, but carried by the majority,
+which was always ready and required no reason; it was an
+egregious piece of folly and arrogance there, here it presents a
+real embarrassment. I told him I knew Harrowby had an invincible
+repugnance to it, and that the effect would be very bad if they
+split upon the first point. He said he should not defend it, that
+all reason was against it, but that there it was, and how was it
+to be got rid of? I suggested that it should be passed over, and
+that they should go at once to the boroughs _seriatim_. He said
+if that clause was omitted a suspicion would immediately arise
+that there was an intention of altering Schedule A, and nothing
+would avert that but getting through a great part of it before
+Easter, and that this might be difficult, as the longest time
+they could expect to sit would be three days in Passion Week. He
+talked a great deal about the country expecting this, and that
+they would not be satisfied if it was not done, and all the usual
+jargon of the Reformers, which it was not worth while to dispute,
+and it ended by my promising to talk to Lord Harrowby about it.
+This I did last night, and he instantly flew into a rage. He said
+'he would not be dragged through the mire by those scoundrels. It
+was an insolence that was not to be borne; let them make their
+Peers if they would, not Hell itself should make him vote for
+_fifty-six_; he would vote for sixty-six or any number but that,
+that he would not split with the Tories on the first vote; if
+indeed _they_ would consent to fifty-six he would, or to anything
+else they would agree to, but if the Government brought this
+forward no consideration on earth should prevent his opposing
+it.' We then discussed the whole matter, with the proposed
+amendments which Wood and I had talked over with reference to the
+metropolitan members and town and county voting, and I am to go
+to-day and propose that after the second reading is carried they
+should adjourn till after Easter, and give a little time for the
+excitement (which there must be) to subside, and to see how
+matters stand, and what probability there is of getting the thing
+through quietly.
+
+      [2] [Mr. Charles Wood, afterwards Viscount Halifax, but at
+          this time private Secretary to Earl Grey, whose
+          daughter he married.]
+
+
+April 6th, 1832 {p.281}
+
+I called on the Duke of Richmond on Wednesday morning, and told
+him what had passed between Wood and me, and Lord Harrowby and me
+afterwards. He was aware of the difficulty, and regretted it the
+more because he might have to defend it in the House of Lords. He
+wished me very much to go to Downing Street and see Lord Grey
+himself if possible before the levee, and he suggested that the
+words fifty-six might be left in blank by Lord Grey's own motion,
+that this would be in conformity with the forms of the House. I
+set off, but calling at home on my way found Lord Harrowby at my
+door. He came in, and was anxious to know if I had said anything;
+he was more quiet than the night before, but still resolved not
+to agree to fifty-six, though anxious to have the matter
+compromised in some way. Lord Harrowby wanted to adjourn after
+the second reading, but owned that the best effect would be to
+get through Schedule A before Easter. Yesterday I saw Wood; he
+harped upon the difficulty and the old strain of the country. I
+suggested the point of form which Richmond had mentioned, but he
+said that could not be _now_ in the Bill, as it was sent up from
+the Commons, that if they were beaten on fifty-six the country
+would consider it tantamount to throwing out Schedule A, and
+would highly approve of a creation of Peers, and that, in fact
+(if they wished it), it would be the best opportunity they could
+have. I told him that it would heap ridicule upon all the
+antecedent proceedings, and the pretext must be manifest, as it
+would appear in the course of the discussions what the real
+reason was. In the middle of our conversation Ellice came in, and
+directly asked if my friends would swallow fifty-six, to which I
+said, 'No.' We had then a vehement dispute, but at last Wood
+turned him out, and he and I resumed. We finally agreed that I
+should ask Lord Harrowby whether, if Lord Grey of his own accord
+proposed to leave out the words fifty-six, but with an expression
+of his opinion that this must be the number, he (Lord Harrowby)
+would meet him with a corresponding declaration that he objected
+to the specification of the number in the clause, without
+objecting to the extent of the disfranchisement, it being always
+understood that what passes between us is unauthorised talk, and
+to commit nobody--'without prejudice,' as the lawyers say.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S RELUCTANCE TO MAKE PEERS.]
+
+I heard yesterday, however, from Keate, who is attending me (and
+who is the King's surgeon, and sees him when he is in town), that
+he saw his Majesty after the levee on Wednesday, and that he was
+ill, out of sorts, and in considerable agitation; that he
+enquired of him about his health, when the King said he had much
+to annoy him, and that 'many things passed there (pointing to the
+Cabinet, out of which he had just come) which were by no means
+agreeable, and that he had had more than usual to occupy him that
+morning.' Keate said he was very sure from his manner that
+something unpleasant had occurred. This was, I have since
+discovered, the question of a creation of Peers again brought
+forward, and to which the King's aversion has returned so much so
+that it is doubtful if he will after all consent to a large one.
+It seems that unless the Peers are made (in the event of the
+necessity arising) Brougham and Althorp will resign; at least so
+they threaten. I have seen enough of threats, and doubts, and
+scruples, to be satisfied that there is no certainty that any of
+them will produce the anticipated effects, but I am resolved I
+will try, out of these various elements, if I cannot work out
+something which may be serviceable to the cause itself, though
+the materials I have to work with are scanty. The Ministers were
+all day yesterday settling who the new Peers shall be, so
+seriously are they preparing for the _coup_. They had already
+fixed upon Lords Molyneux, Blandford, Kennedy, Ebrington,
+Cavendish, Brabazon, and Charles Fox, Littleton, Portman,
+Frederick Lawley, Western, and many others, and this would be
+what Lord Holland calls assimilating the House of Lords to the
+spirit of the other House, and making it harmonise with the
+prevailing sense of the people.
+
+
+April 8th, 1832 {p.283}
+
+Lord Harrowby was out of town when I called there on Friday, so I
+wrote to him the substance of my conversation with Wood.
+Yesterday he returned. In the evening I met Wood at dinner at
+Lord Holland's, when he told me that he found on the part of his
+friends more reluctance than he had expected to give up the
+fifty-six, that he had done all he could to persuade them, but
+they made great objections. Moreover he had had a conversation
+with Sandon which he did not quite like, as he talked so much of
+holding the party together. All this was to make me think they
+are stouter than they really are, for I am better informed than
+he thinks for.
+
+Yesterday morning I got more correct information about what had
+passed with the King. Lord Grey went to him with a minute of
+Cabinet requiring that he should make Peers in case the second
+reading was thrown out.[3] To this he demurred, raised difficulties
+and doubts, which naturally enough alarm the Government very much.
+However, when he got back to Windsor he wrote two letters,
+explaining his sentiments, from which it appears that he has great
+reluctance, that he will do it, but will not give any pledge
+beforehand, that he objects to increasing the Peerage, and wants
+to call up eldest sons and make Irish and Scotch Peers, that he
+did not say positively he would make the Peers, but that he would
+be in the way, and come up when it was necessary. They think that
+he has some idea that his pledging himself beforehand (though in
+fact he did so two months ago) might be drawn into an improper
+precedent. However this may be, his reluctance is so strong that a
+great deal may be made of it, as it is probable (if he continues
+in the same mind, and is not turned by some violence of the
+Opposition) that he will resist still more making Peers when the
+Bill is in Committee to carry the details, some of which he
+himself wishes to see altered, but the difficulty is very great.
+It is impossible to communicate with the Tory leaders; they will
+not believe what you tell them, and if they learnt the King's
+scruples they would immediately imagine that they might presume
+upon them to any extent, and stand out more obstinately than ever.
+I went to Harrowby last night, and imparted to him the state of
+things, which I shall do to nobody else. To Wharncliffe I dare
+not. He is not indisposed to Wood's compromise, and I trust this
+will be settled, but he still leans to putting off the second
+reading till after Easter, and if the Tories also resolve upon
+that (which they are mightily disposed to do) he will not separate
+from them on that point, and they are sure to carry it. Unless
+this was accompanied with some declaration from them that they
+would be disposed to concede the great principles of the Bill, I
+think the Government would consider it such an indication of
+hostility as to call for an immediate creation of Peers, and I
+doubt whether the King could or would resist. There are many
+reasons why it would be desirable to make the second reading a
+resting-place, and adjourn then till after Easter, provided all
+parties consented, but it would be very unwise to make it the
+subject of a contest, and nobody would ever believe that the real
+reason was not to get rid of Schedule A by hook or by crook, or of
+a good deal of it. Harrowby will, I am sure, not divide against
+them on this, and they will not give it up; that there are means
+of resistance, if they were judiciously applied, I am sure, and if
+there were temper, discretion, and cordiality, the Bill might be
+licked into a very decent shape.
+
+      [3] [This Cabinet minute of the 3rd of April, 1832, and the
+          King's remarks upon it, have been printed in the
+          'Correspondence of William IV. and Earl Grey,' vol. ii.
+          p. 307.]
+
+[Page Head: 'THE HUNCHBACK.'.]
+
+I went to see Sheridan Knowles' new play the other night, 'The
+Hunchback.' Very good, and a great success. Miss Fanny Kemble
+acted really well--for the first time, in my opinion, great
+acting. I have not seen anything since Mrs. Siddons (and perhaps
+Miss O'Neill) so good.
+
+The Duke of Wellington made a very good speech on Irish affairs
+on Friday, one of his best, and he speaks admirably _to points_
+sometimes and on subjects he understands. I wish he had let alone
+that Irish Education--disgraceful humbug and cant. I don't know
+that there is anything else particularly new. Orloff is made a
+great rout with, but he don't ratify. The real truth is that the
+King of Holland holds out, and the other Powers delay till they
+see the result of our Reform Bill, thinking that the Duke of
+Wellington may return to power, and then they may make better
+terms for Holland and dictate to Belgium and to France. If the
+Reform Bill is carried, and Government stays in, they will
+ratify, and not till then. The cholera is disappearing here and
+in the country.
+
+
+April 9th, 1832 {p.285}
+
+Saw Lord Harrowby yesterday morning. He can't make up his mind
+what is best to be done, whether to go into Committee or not. He
+rather wishes to get through Schedule A, but he won't vote
+against the Tories if they divide on adjourning. Then went to
+Wood and told him there would be no difficulty about _fifty-six_.
+Lord Grey came in, and talked the whole thing over. He said he
+was ill--knocked up--that in his speech to-day he should be as
+moderate and tame as anybody could wish. From what Wood said, and
+he himself afterwards, I should think they wish to adjourn after
+the second reading, but to make a merit of it if they do.
+Duncannon, whom I saw afterwards, seemed to be of the same
+opinion, that it would be best not to sit in Passion Week. At
+night Wharncliffe came back from Yorkshire. He is all for getting
+into Schedule A, and making no difficulties about fifty-six or
+anything else, and Harrowby, now that he fancies the Government
+want to adjourn, rather wants not, suspecting some trick. Upon
+going all over the list, we make out the worst to give a majority
+of six, and the best of eighteen, but the Tories still count upon
+getting back some of our people. We had a grand hunt after Lord
+Gambier's proxy; he sent it to Lord de Saumarez, who is laid up
+with the gout in Guernsey, and the difficulty was to get at Lord
+Gambier and procure another. At last I made Harrowby, who does
+not know him, write to him, and Wood sent a messenger after him,
+so we hope it will arrive in time.
+
+
+April 11th, 1832 {p.286}
+
+[Page Head: REFORM BILL CARRIED IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
+
+The day before yesterday Lord Grey introduced the Reform Bill in
+a speech of extreme moderation; as he promised, it was very
+'tame.' The night's debate was dull; yesterday was better. Lord
+Mansfield made a fine speech against the Bill; Harrowby spoke
+well, Wharncliffe ill. Nothing can equal the hot water we have
+been in--defections threatened on every side, expectations
+thwarted and doubts arising, betting nearly even. Even de Ros
+came to me in the morning and told me he doubted how he should
+vote; that neither Harrowby nor Wharncliffe had put the question
+on the proper ground, and his reason for seceding from the
+Opposition was the menaced creation of Peers. I wrote to Harrowby
+and begged him to say something to satisfy tender consciences,
+and moved heaven and earth to keep De Ros and Coventry (who was
+slippery) right, and I succeeded--at least I believe so, for it
+is not yet over. Nothing can equal the anxiety out of doors and
+the intensity of the interest in the town, but the debate is far
+less animated than that of last year. As to our business, it is
+'la mer a boire,' with nobody to canvass or whip in, and not
+being a party. We shall, however, I believe, manage it, and but
+just.
+
+I saw Keate this morning, who had been with the King. His Majesty
+talked in high terms of Ellenborough and of Mansfield. It is
+difficult to count upon such a man, but if the second reading is
+passed I do not believe he will make Peers to carry any points in
+Committee, unless it be the very vital ones, but it is very
+questionable if the Opposition will fight the battle then at all,
+or, if they do, fight in a way to secure a fair, practical
+result.
+
+
+April 14th, 1832 {p.287}
+
+The Reform Bill (second reading) was carried this morning at seven
+o'clock in the House of Lords by a majority of nine. The House did
+not sit yesterday. The night before Phillpotts, the Bishop of
+Exeter, made a grand speech against the Bill, full of fire and
+venom, very able. It would be an injury to compare this man with
+Laud; he more resembles Gardiner; had he lived in those days he
+would have been just such another, boiling with ambition, an
+ardent temperament, and great talents. He has a desperate and a
+dreadful countenance, and looks like the man he is. The two last
+days gave plenty of reports of changes either way, but the
+majority has always looked like from seven to ten. The House will
+adjourn on Wednesday, and go into Committee after Easter; and in
+the meantime what negotiations and what difficulties to get over!
+The Duke of Wellington and Lord Harrowby have had some good-humoured
+talk, and the former seems well disposed to join in amending the
+Bill, but the difficulty will be to bring these extreme and
+irritated parties to any agreement as to terms. The debate in the
+Lords, though not so good as last year, has been, as usual, much
+better than that in the Commons.
+
+The accounts from Paris of the cholera are awful, very different
+from the disease here. Is it not owing to our superior cleanliness,
+draining, and precautions? There have been 1,300 sick in a day
+there, and for some days an average of 1,000; here we have never
+averaged above fifty, I think, and, except the squabbling in the
+newspapers, we have seen nothing of it whatever; there many of the
+upper classes have died of it. Casimir Perier and the Duke of
+Orleans went to the Hotel Dieu, and the former was seized
+afterwards, and has been very ill, though they doubt if it really
+was cholera, as he is subject to attacks with the same symptoms.
+
+
+April 15th, 1832 {p.288}
+
+[Page Head: LORD WHARNCLIFFE AND LORD HARROWBY.]
+
+The debate in the House of Lords was closed by a remarkable reply
+from Lord Grey, full of moderation, and such as to hold out the
+best hopes of an adjustment of the question--not that it pacified
+the ultra-Tories, who were furious. The speech was so ill
+reported at that late hour that it is not generally known what he
+did say, and many of those who heard it almost doubt their own
+accuracy, or suspect that he went further than he intended, so
+unlike was it to his former violent and unyielding language. He
+said, with regard to a creation of Peers, that nothing would
+justify him in recommending the exercise of that prerogative but
+a collision between the two Houses of Parliament, and that in
+such a case (he is reported to have said) he should deem it his
+duty first to recommend a dissolution, and to ascertain whether
+the feeling of the country was with the other House (these were
+not the words, but to this effect). If this be at all correct, it
+is clear that he cannot make Peers to carry the clauses, for, in
+fact, the collision between the two Houses will not have arrived
+unless the Commons should reject any amendments which may be made
+by the Lords. The tone, however, of the violent supporters of
+Government is totally changed; at Lord Holland's last night they
+were singing in a very different note, and, now, if the councils
+of the Lords are guided by moderation and firmness, they may deal
+with the Bill _almost_ as they please; but they must swallow
+Schedule A. The difficulties, however, are great; the High Tories
+are exasperated and vindictive, and will fiercely fight against
+any union with the seceders. The Duke is moderate in his tone,
+ready to act cordially with all parties, but he owes the seceders
+a grudge, is anxious to preserve his influence with the Tories,
+and will probably insist upon mutilating the Bill more than will
+be prudent and feasible. The Harrowby and Wharncliffe party, now
+that the second reading is over, ceases to be a party. It was a
+patched-up, miscellaneous concern at best, of men who were half
+reasoned, half frightened over, who could not bear separating
+from the Duke, long to return to him, and, besides, are ashamed
+of Wharncliffe as a chief. There never was such a 'chef de
+circonstance.' He is a very honest man, with a right view of
+things and a fair and unprejudiced understanding, vain and
+imprudent, without authority, commanding no respect, and in a
+false position as the ephemeral leader he is, marching in that
+capacity _pari passu_ with Harrowby, who is infinitely more
+looked up to, but whose bilious complexion prevents his mixing
+with society and engaging and persuading others to follow his
+opinions; nor has he (Lord Harrowby) any plan or design beyond
+the object of the moment. He has no thought of mixing again in
+public life, he does not propose to communicate with anybody on
+anything further than the middle course to be adopted now, and
+few people are disposed to sever the ties on which their future
+political existence depends for the sake of cultivating this
+short-lived connection. If the Government, therefore, looks to
+the seceders who have carried the question for them to carry
+other points, they will find it won't do, for their followers
+will melt into the mass of the anti-Reformers, who, though they
+will still frown upon the chiefs, will gladly take back the rank
+and file. A fortnight will elapse, in the course of which
+opportunities will be found of ascertaining the disposition of
+the great party and the probability of an arrangement.
+
+The debate was good on Friday, but very inferior to the last.
+Phillpotts got a terrific dressing from Lord Grey, and was
+handled not very delicately by Goderich and Durham, though the
+latter was too coarse. He had laid himself very open, and, able
+as he is, he has adopted a tone and style inconsistent with his
+lawn sleeves, and unusual on the Episcopal Bench. He is carried
+away by his ambition and his alarm, and horrifies his brethren,
+who feel all the danger (in these times) of such a colleague. The
+episode of which he was the object was, of course, the most
+amusing part of the whole.
+
+
+Newmarket, April 22nd, 1832 {p.290}
+
+[Page Head: MEETING OF LORD GREY AND LORD WHARNCLIFFE.]
+
+Ill and laid up with the gout for this week past. Came here on
+Friday, the 20th. The carrying of the second reading of the Bill
+seems to have produced no effect. Everybody is gone out of town,
+the Tories in high dudgeon. The Duke of Wellington has entered a
+protest with all the usual objections, which has been signed by a
+whole rabble of Peers, but not by Lyndhurst, Ellenborough, or
+Carnarvon, who monopolise the brains of the party; they declined.
+In the meantime things look better. Wharncliffe, Harrowby, and
+Haddington have had two interviews with Lyndhurst and Ellenborough,
+and though they did not go into particulars the result was
+satisfactory, and a strong disposition evinced to co-operation and
+moderation. It was agreed they should meet again next week, and
+see what could be arranged. On Friday Palmerston sent to
+Wharncliffe and desired to see him. They met, and Palmerston told
+him that he came from Lord Grey, who was desirous of having an
+interview with him, adding that Lord Grey had now become convinced
+that he might make much more extensive concessions than he had
+ever yet contemplated. He added that Lord Grey would rather see
+Wharncliffe alone, without Harrowby, whose manner was so snappish
+and unpleasant that he could not talk so much at his ease as he
+would to Wharncliffe alone. Wharncliffe replied that he could have
+no objection to see Lord Grey, but that he must fairly tell him
+his situation was no longer the same, having put himself in
+amicable communication with Lyndhurst and Ellenborough; that the
+concurrence of the Tories was indispensable to him and his friends
+to effect the alterations they contemplated, and he could not do
+anything which might have to them the appearance of underhand
+dealing; that he could tell Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, and if
+they made no objection he would see Lord Grey. Ellenborough was
+gone out of town, but he went to Lyndhurst, who immediately
+advised him to see Lord Grey, and said it was most desirable they
+should be made acquainted with the views and disposition of
+Government, and he undertook to write word to the Duke of
+Wellington of all that had passed. Lord Grey was unable to leave
+Sheen yesterday, so it was arranged that the meeting should be
+delayed till Wharncliffe's return to London. The Duke of Richmond
+has, however, got a letter of four sides from Grey, empowering him
+to treat here with Wharncliffe, and Stanley and Graham being
+expected, it is very likely some progress may be made. Nothing can
+promise better, and if the chiefs of the Tories can be brought to
+moderation the stupid obstinacy of the mass will not matter, and I
+do not think they will dare hold out, for when a negotiation on
+such a conciliatory basis is proposed, a terrible case would be
+made hereafter against those who should refuse to listen to it.
+The advantages are so clear that nothing would make them persist
+in the line of uncompromising opposition but an unconquerable
+repugnance to afford a triumph to the Waverers, which a successful
+termination would do; not that they would profit by it, for they
+are so few, and those who will have been wrong so many, that
+clamour will silence justice, and a thousand excuses and pretences
+will be found to deprive them of their rightful credit. It is a
+long time--not probably since the days of Charles II.--that this
+place (Newmarket) has been the theatre of a political negotiation,
+and, conceding the importance of the subject, the actors are
+amusing--Richmond, Graham, Wharncliffe, and myself. By-the-bye it
+is perfectly true that (if I have not mentioned it before) the
+Royal carriages were all ready the morning of the decision of the
+second reading to take the King to the House of Lords to prorogue
+Parliament, and on Tuesday the Peers would have appeared in the
+'Gazette.'
+
+
+London, May 12th, 1832 {p.291}
+
+Nothing written for a long time, nor had I anything to write till
+a few days ago. From the time of Wharncliffe's departure I heard
+nothing, and I bitterly regret now not having been in town last
+week.[4] The Committee stood for Monday; on Friday se'nnight last
+I was at Buckenham, when the Duke of Rutland told me he was going
+to London, that they meant to divide on Monday on a proposal to
+postpone Schedules A and B till after C and D, and expected to
+beat the Government; I wrote by that post to Lady Harrowby,
+saying I hoped this was not true, and that if it was it appeared
+to me most injudicious. On Tuesday I received by the post a
+letter from Wharncliffe, saying that they had been in frequent
+communication with Ellenborough and Lyndhurst, that the
+Opposition were prepared to make great and satisfactory
+concessions, and he thought all would go off well. The only
+difficulty he apprehended was from the postponement of the
+disfranchising clause, which the Tories insisted on, and to which
+he and Harrowby had thought it right to agree. The next day I
+received a second letter, with an account of the debate and its
+consequences, to which I wrote him a trimming reply, and another
+to Lady Harrowby, expressing my sentiments on their conduct on
+the occasion. Before all this happened Wharncliffe had had to
+encounter abuse of every kind, and he has certainly continued to
+play his cards in such a way, from first to last, as to quarrel
+with Whigs and Tories in succession. With very good intentions,
+and very honest, he has exposed himself to every reproach of
+insincerity, intrigue, and double-dealing.
+
+      [4] [It was on the 7th of May that the Lords went into
+          Committee on the Bill, and Lord Lyndhurst's motion to
+          postpone the _dis_franchising clauses until after the
+          _en_franchising clauses had been agreed to was carried
+          by a majority of thirty-five against the Government.
+          The seventeen Peers who had assisted to carry the
+          second reading on the 11th of April relapsed into the
+          Conservative ranks, and the result was, for the moment,
+          such as to stop the progress of the Bill and turn out
+          the Government.]
+
+[Page Head: DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT IN COMMITTEE.]
+
+On arriving in town I found a note from him, desiring I would see
+him and hear his defence of himself before I expressed elsewhere
+the opinion I had given to him. Accordingly I went to Boodle's,
+where I found him, and he immediately began his case. He said that
+on his return to town he saw Lord Grey, who said that he wished to
+know what were the intentions of his party, and how far they were
+disposed to go, and what concessions they looked for. He replied
+that Lord Grey must understand that he now stood in a very
+different position, and that, reunited as he was with the Tories,
+he must act with them--much, in short, what he had before said to
+Palmerston. They then discussed the question, and he said that
+there was one point for which Lord Grey ought to be prepared, and
+that he knew the Tories were much bent upon proposing the
+postponement of Schedules A and B. Lord Grey said this would be
+productive of the greatest embarrassment, that it would be a thing
+they could not agree to, and he hoped he would do all in his power
+to prevent it. Wharncliffe said that he would endeavour, but he
+believed they were very eager about it, and he added that Lord
+Grey might be sure _he_ would support nothing calculated to
+interfere with the essential provisions of the Bill. After this
+his and Harrowby's communications with Ellenborough and his
+friends continued, and on the Saturday (I think) Lyndhurst told
+him that the Tories were so irrevocably bent upon this, and that
+they were so difficult to manage and so disposed to fly off, that
+it was absolutely necessary to give way to them, and it must be
+proposed, though he would gladly have waived it, but that was
+impossible; upon which Harrowby and Wharncliffe gave in and agreed
+to support it. One of them (Haddington, I think) suggested that
+Wharncliffe ought to communicate this intention to Lord Grey, to
+which, however, Lyndhurst objected, said that the Tories were
+suspicious, had already taken umbrage at the communications
+between Wharncliffe and Grey, and that it must not be. To this
+prohibition Wharncliffe fatally submitted, and accordingly not a
+word was said by anybody till the afternoon of the debate, when
+just before it began Wharncliffe told the Duke of Richmond, who of
+course told Lord Grey. Wharncliffe at the same time had some
+conversation with John Russell and Stanley, who strongly
+deprecated this intention, but it was too late to arrange or
+compromise anything then. The debate came on; the proposition was
+made in a very aggravating speech by Lyndhurst, and on its being
+carried Lord Grey threw up the Bill and the Government in a
+passion. It is the more remarkable that they should have taken
+this course at once, because they certainly had very strong reason
+to doubt whether the King would consent to a creation of Peers,
+though they probably thought he might be bullied upon an occasion
+which they fancied they could turn to great account; but he was
+stout and would not hear of it.
+
+[Page Head: POSITION OF PARTIES.]
+
+The day after the debate Grey and Brougham went down to Windsor
+and proposed to the King to make fifty Peers. They took with them
+a minute of Cabinet signed by all the members except the Duke of
+Richmond. Palmerston proposed it in Cabinet, and Melbourne made
+no objection. His Majesty took till the next day to consider,
+when he accepted their resignations, which was the alternative
+they gave him. At the levee the same day nothing occurred; the
+King hardly spoke to the Duke, but he afterwards saw Lyndhurst
+(having sent for him). I do not know what passed between them,
+but the Duke of Wellington was soon sent for. The Duke and
+Lyndhurst endeavoured to prevail on Peel to take the Government
+upon himself, and the former offered to act in any capacity in
+which he could be useful, but Peel would not. Some communication
+also took place between Lyndhurst and Harrowby, but the latter
+declared at once he would support the new Government, but not
+take office. When Peel finally declined, the Duke accepted, and
+yesterday at three o'clock he went to St. James's. The King saw
+Peel and the Speaker. Nothing is known of the formation of the
+Cabinet, but the reports were first that Alexander Baring was to
+be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and since that he has refused on
+account of his health, and that Lyndhurst is to go to the King's
+Bench, Tenterden to retire, and the Great Seal to be put in
+commission.
+
+The first act of the Duke was to advise the King to reject the
+address of the Birmingham Union, which he did, and said he knew of
+no such body. All very proper. In the morning I called upon Wood
+at the Treasury, to explain to him that I had never been cognisant
+of the late proceedings in the House of Lords, and that I was far
+from approving the conduct of my old associates. He said he had
+never believed that I was any party to it, and regretted that I
+had not been in town, when it was just possible I might have
+persuaded them of the unworthiness of the course they were taking.
+He said that I did not know how bad it was, for that Wharncliffe
+had distinctly said that if such a thing was proposed he should
+oppose it, and that Palmerston was present when he said so. This
+Wharncliffe positively denies, and yesterday he went to Palmerston
+to endeavour to explain, taking with him a minute which he said he
+had drawn up at the time of all that passed, but which he had
+never before shown or submitted for correction, and which
+Palmerston told him was incorrect, inasmuch, as it omitted that
+engagement. They are at issue as to the fact. The position of the
+respective parties is curious. The Waverers undertook a task of
+great difficulty with slender means, and they accomplished it with
+complete success. All turned out as they expected and desired,
+but, after having been in confidential communication with both
+parties, they have contrived mortally to offend both, and to
+expose themselves to odium from every quarter, and to an universal
+imputation of insincerity and double-dealing, and this without any
+other fault than mismanagement and the false position in which
+they found themselves, without influence or power, between two
+mighty parties. The Tories, who have exhibited nothing but
+obstinacy and unreasonableness, and who thwarted the Waverers by
+every means they could devise, have reaped all the benefit of
+their efforts, and that without admitting that they were right or
+thanking them for bringing matters to this pass. They are
+triumphant, in spite of all they did to prevent their own triumph,
+and have had all the spiteful pleasure of abuse and obloquy, all
+the glory of consistency, and the satisfaction of pertinacity,
+with all the advantages that an opposite line of conduct promised
+to give them. [Their triumph was of short duration, and nothing so
+complete as their final discomfiture.]
+
+The King took leave of his Ministers with a great effusion of
+tenderness, particularly to Richmond, whom he entreated to remain
+in office; but I take it that he easily consoles himself, and
+does not care much more for one Minister than another.
+
+The debate in the House of Commons was not so violent as might
+have been expected, and the Tories were greatly elated with the
+divisions on Ebrington's motion, because there was a majority
+less by fifty-six than on a similar motion when the Bill was
+rejected in October. The circumstances were, however, different,
+and some would not vote because they disapprove of creating
+Peers, which this vote would have committed them to approve of.
+There is so much of wonder, and curiosity, and expectation abroad
+that there is less of abuse and exasperation than might have been
+expected, but it will all burst forth. The town is fearfully
+quiet. What is odd enough is that the King was hissed as he left
+London the other day, and the Duke cheered as he came out of the
+Palace. There have been some meetings, with resolutions to
+support the Bill, to express approbation of the Ministers, and to
+protest against the payment of taxes, and there will probably be
+a good deal of bustle and bluster here and elsewhere; but I do
+not believe in real tumults, particularly when the rabble and the
+unions know that there is a Government which will not stand such
+things, and that they will not be able to bandy compliments with
+the Duke as they did with Althorp and John Russell, not but what
+much dissatisfaction and much disquietude must prevail. The funds
+have not fallen, which is a sign that there is no alarm in the
+City. At this early period of the business it is difficult to
+form any opinion of what will happen; the present Government in
+opposition will again be formidable, but I am disposed to think
+things will go on and right themselves; we shall avoid a creation
+of Peers, but we must have a Reform Bill of some sort, and
+perhaps a harmless one after all, and if the elements of disorder
+can be resolved into tranquillity and order again, we must not
+quarrel with the means that have been employed, nor the quantum
+of moral injustice that has been perpetrated.
+
+[Page Head: PEEL REFUSES TO TAKE OFFICE.]
+
+The Tories are very indignant with Peel for not taking office,
+and if, as it is supposed, he is to support Government and the
+Bill out of office, and when all is over come in, it is hardly
+worth while for such a farce to deprive the King and the country
+of his services in the way that they could be most useful, but he
+is still smarting under Catholic question reminiscences, while
+the Duke is more thick-skinned. After he had carried the Catholic
+question the world was prepared for a good deal of versatility on
+his part, but it was in mere derision that (after his speech on
+Reform in 1830) it used to be said that he would very likely be
+found proposing a Bill of Reform, and here he is coming into
+office for the express purpose of carrying on this very Bill
+against which the other day he entered a protest which must stare
+him in the face through the whole progress of it, or, if not, to
+bring in another of the same character, and probably nearly of
+the same dimensions. Pretexts are, however, not wanting, and the
+necessity of supporting the King is made paramount to every other
+consideration. The Duke's worshippers (a numerous class) call
+this the finest action of his life, though it is difficult to
+perceive in what the grandeur of it consists, or the magnitude of
+the sacrifice. However, it is fair to wait a little, and hear
+from his own lips his exposition of the mode in which he intends
+to deal with this measure, and how he will reconcile what he has
+hitherto said with what he is now about to do. Talleyrand is of
+course in a state of great consternation, which will be
+communicated like an electrical shock to the Powers specially
+favoured and protected by the late Government--Leopold and Don
+Pedro, for instance. It will be a difficult thing for the Duke to
+deal with some of the questions on which he has committed himself
+pretty considerably while in opposition, both with respect to
+foreign politics and especially Irish Education.
+
+
+Monday, May 14th, 1832 {p.297}
+
+Nothing more was known yesterday, but everybody was congregated at
+the clubs, asking, discussing, and wondering. There was a great
+meeting at Apsley House, when it was supposed everything was
+settled. The Household went yesterday to St. James's to resign
+their sticks and badges; amongst the rest Lord Foley. The King was
+very civil to him; made him sit down and said, 'Lord Foley, you
+are a young man.' 'Sir, I am afraid I cannot flatter myself that I
+have any right to that appellation.' 'Oh, yes; you are a young
+man--at all events in comparison with me--and you will probably
+come into office again; but I am an old man, and I am afraid I
+shall not have the pleasure of seeing you there.' It is supposed
+that this _coup_ has been preparing for some time. All the Royal
+Family, bastards and all, have been incessantly _at_ the King, and
+he has probably had more difficulty in the long run in resisting
+the constant importunity of his _entourage_, and of his womankind
+particularly, than the dictates of his Ministers; and between this
+gradual but powerful impression, and his real opinion and fears,
+he was not sorry to seize the first good opportunity of shaking
+off the Whigs. When Lord Anglesey went to take leave of him at
+Windsor he was struck with the change in his sentiments, and told
+Lady Anglesey so, who repeated it to my brother.
+
+It is gratifying to find that those with whom I used to dispute,
+and who would hear of nothing but rejecting the second reading,
+now admit that my view was the correct one, and Vesey Fitzgerald,
+with whom I had more than one discussion, complimented me very
+handsomely upon the justification of my view of the question
+which the event had afforded. The High Tories, of course, will
+never admit that they could have been wrong, and have no other
+resource but to insist boldly that the King never would have made
+Peers at all.[5]
+
+      [5] [Everyone knows how short-lived were the expectations
+          caused by the temporary resignation of Lord Grey's
+          Government. It will be seen in the following pages how
+          soon the vision passed away; but the foregoing passages
+          are retained precisely because they contain a vivid and
+          faithful picture of the state of opinion at the
+          moment.]
+
+
+London, May 17th, 1832 {p.298}
+
+[Page Head: WELLINGTON'S EFFORTS TO FORM A MINISTRY.]
+
+The events of the last few days have passed with a rapidity which
+hardly left time to think upon them--such sudden changes and
+transitions from rage to triumph on one side, and from foolish
+exultation to mortification and despair on the other. The first
+impression was that the Duke of Wellington would succeed in
+forming a Government, with or without Peel. The first thing he
+did was to try and prevail upon Peel to be Prime Minister, but he
+was inexorable. He then turned to Baring,[6] who, after much
+hesitation, agreed to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. The work
+went on, but with difficulty, for neither Peel, Goulburn, nor
+Croker would take office. They then tried the Speaker, who was
+mightily tempted to become Secretary of State, but still doubting
+and fearing, and requiring time to make up his mind. At an
+interview with the Duke and Lyndhurst at Apsley House he declared
+his sentiments on the existing state of affairs in a speech of
+three hours, to the unutterable disgust of Lyndhurst, who
+returned home, flung himself into a chair, and said that 'he
+could not endure to have anything to do with such a _damned
+tiresome old bitch_.' After these three hours of oratory Manners
+Sutton desired to have till the next morning (Monday) to make up
+his mind, which he again begged might be extended till the
+evening. On that evening (Monday) ensued the memorable night in
+the House of Commons, which everybody agrees was such a scene of
+violence and excitement as never had been exhibited within those
+walls. Tavistock told me he had never heard anything at all like
+it, and to his dying day should not forget it. The House was
+crammed to suffocation; every violent sentiment and vituperative
+expression was received with shouts of approbation, yet the
+violent speakers were listened to with the greatest attention.[7]
+Tom Duncombe made one of his blustering Radical harangues, full
+of every sort of impertinence, which was received with immense
+applause, but which contrasted with an admirable speech, full of
+dignity, but also of sarcasm and severity, from John Russell--the
+best he ever made. The conduct of the Duke of Wellington in
+taking office _to carry the Bill_, which was not denied, but
+which his friends feebly attempted to justify, was assailed with
+the most merciless severity, and (what made the greatest
+impression) was condemned (though in more measured terms) by
+moderate men and Tories, such as Inglis and Davies Gilbert.
+Baring, who spoke four times, at last proposed that there should
+be a compromise, and that the ex-Ministers should resume their
+seats and carry the Bill. This extraordinary proposition was
+drawn from him by the state of the House, and the impossibility
+he at once saw of forming a new Government, and without any
+previous concert with the Duke, who, however, entirely approved
+of what he said. After the debate Baring and Sutton went to
+Apsley House, and related to the Duke what had taken place, the
+former saying he would face a thousand devils rather than such a
+House of Commons. From that moment the whole thing was at an end,
+and the next morning (Tuesday) the Duke repaired to the King, and
+told him that he could not form an Administration. This
+communication, for which the debate of the previous night had
+prepared everybody, was speedily known, and the joy and triumph
+of the Whigs were complete.
+
+      [6] [Alexander Baring, afterwards Lord Ashburton.]
+
+      [7] [The debate arose on a petition of the City of London,
+          praying that the House would refuse supplies until the
+          Reform Bill had become law.]
+
+The King desired the Duke and Lyndhurst (for they went together)
+to advise him what he should do. They advised him to write to
+Lord Grey (which he did), informing him that the Duke had given
+up the commission to form a Government, that he had heard of what
+had fallen from Mr. Baring in the House of Commons the night
+before on the subject of a compromise, and that he wished Lord
+Grey to return and resume the Government upon that principle.
+Lord Grey sent an answer full of the usual expressions of zeal
+and respect, but saying that he could give no answer until he had
+consulted his colleagues. He assembled his Cabinet, and at five
+o'clock the answer was sent.[8]
+
+      [8] [These communications have been published in the
+          'Correspondence of Earl Grey with William IV.,' vol.
+          ii. pp. 406-411.]
+
+[Page Head: TRIUMPH OF THE WHIGS.]
+
+Yesterday morning Lord Grey saw the King; but up to last night
+nothing was finally settled, everything turning upon the terms to
+be exacted, some of the violent of the party desiring they should
+avail themselves of this opportunity to make Peers, both to show
+their power and increase their strength; the more moderate,
+including Lord Grey himself and many of the old Peer-makers, were
+for sparing the King's feelings and using their victory with
+moderation, all, however, agreeing that the only condition on
+which they could return was the certainty of carrying the Reform
+Bill unaltered, either by a creation of Peers or by the secession
+of its opponents. Up to the present moment the matter stands
+thus: the King at the mercy of the Whigs, just as averse as ever
+to make Peers, the violent wishing to press him, the moderate
+wishing to spare him, all parties railing at each other, the
+Tories broken and discomfited, and meditating no further
+resistance to the Reform Bill. The Duke is to make his _expose_
+to-night.
+
+Peel, who has kept himself out of the scrape, is strongly
+suspected of being anything but sorry for the dilemma into which
+the Duke has got himself, and they think that he secretly
+encouraged him to persevere, with promises of present support and
+future co-operation, with a shrewd anticipation of the fate that
+awaited him. I am by no means indisposed to give credit to this,
+for I well remember the wrath of Peel when the Duke's Government
+was broken up in 1830, and the various instances of secret
+dislike and want of real cordiality which have peeped from under
+a decent appearance of union and friendship. Nothing can be more
+certain than that he is in high spirits in the midst of it all,
+and talks with great complacency of its being very well as it is,
+and that the salvation of character is everything; and this from
+him, who fancies he has saved his own, and addressed to those who
+have forfeited theirs, is amusing.
+
+The joy of the King at what he thought was to be his deliverance
+from the Whigs was unbounded. He lost no time in putting the Duke
+of Wellington in possession of everything that had taken place
+between him and them upon the subject of Reform, and with regard
+to the creation of Peers, admitting that he had consented, but
+saying he had been subjected to every species of persecution. His
+ignorance, weakness, and levity put him in a miserable light, and
+prove him to be one of the silliest old gentlemen in his
+dominions; but I believe he is mad, for yesterday he gave a great
+dinner to the Jockey Club, at which (notwithstanding his cares)
+he seemed in excellent spirits; and after dinner he made a number
+of speeches, so ridiculous and nonsensical, beyond all belief but
+to those who heard them, rambling from one subject to another,
+repeating the same thing over and over again, and altogether such
+a mass of confusion, trash, and imbecility as made one laugh and
+blush at the same time.
+
+As soon as the Duke had agreed to try and form a Government he
+applied to the Tories, who nearly all agreed to support him, and
+were prepared to go to all lengths, even to that of swallowing the
+whole Bill if necessary; the Duke of Newcastle particularly would
+do anything. These were the men who were so squeamish that they
+could not be brought to support amendments even, unless they were
+permitted to turn the schedules upside-down, straining at gnats
+out of office and swallowing camels in. It is remarkable that
+after the sacrifice Wharncliffe made to re-ingratiate himself with
+the Tories, incurring the detestation and abuse of the Whigs, and
+their reproach of bad faith, the former have utterly neglected
+him, taking no notice of him whatever during the whole of their
+proceedings from the moment of the division, leaving him in
+ignorance of their plans and intentions, never inviting him to any
+of their meetings, and although a communication was made by
+Lyndhurst to Harrowby (they wanted Harrowby to be Prime Minister),
+the latter was not at liberty to impart it to Wharncliffe. It is
+not possible to be more deeply mortified than he is at the
+treatment he has experienced from these allies after having so
+committed himself. From the account of the King's levity
+throughout these proceedings, I strongly suspect that (if he
+lives) he will go mad. While the Duke and Lyndhurst were with him,
+at one of the most critical moments (I forget now at which) he
+said, 'I have been thinking that something is wanting with regard
+to Hanover. Duke, you are now my Minister, and I beg you will
+think of this; I should like to have a slice of Belgium, which
+would be a convenient addition to Hanover. Pray remember this,'
+and then resumed the subject they were upon.
+
+
+May 19th, 1832 {p.302}
+
+The night before last the Duke made his statement. It was
+extremely clear, but very bald, and left his case just where it
+was, as he did not say anything that everybody did not know
+before. His friends, however, extolled it as a masterpiece of
+eloquence and a complete vindication of himself. The Tory Lords
+who spoke after him bedaubed him with praise, and vied with each
+other in expressions of admiration. These were Carnarvon,
+Winchelsea, and Haddington. There was not one word from the Duke
+(nor from the others) indicative of an intention to secede, which
+was what the Government expected. His speech contained a sort of
+covert attack upon Peel; in fact, he could not defend himself
+without attacking Peel, for if the one was in the right in taking
+office the other must have been in the wrong in refusing to join
+him. There was nothing, however, which was meant as a reproach,
+though out of the House the Duke's friends do not conceal their
+anger that Peel would not embark with him in his desperate
+enterprise.
+
+Lyndhurst was exceedingly able, highly excited, very eloquent,
+and contrived to make his case a good one. It was a fine display
+and very short. Carnarvon and Mansfield were outrageously
+violent, but both in their way clever, and parts of the speech of
+the latter were eloquent. Lord Grey was excellent, short, very
+temperate and judicious, exactly what was requisite and nothing
+more. Nobody else spoke on his side, except Mulgrave at the end.
+
+[Page Head: THE KING'S LETTER TO THE PEERS.]
+
+The debate, however interesting, left the whole matter in
+uncertainty; and the next day the old question began again. What
+was to be done--Peers or no Peers? A Cabinet sat nearly all day,
+and Lord Grey went once or twice to the King. He, poor man, was at
+his wits' end, and tried an experiment (not a very constitutional
+one) of his own by writing to a number of Peers, entreating them
+to withdraw their opposition to the Bill. These letters were
+written (I think) before the debate. On Thursday nothing was
+settled, and at another meeting of the Cabinet a minute was drawn
+up agreeing to offer again the same advice to the King. Before
+this was acted upon Richmond, who had been absent, arrived, and he
+prevailed upon his colleagues to cancel it. In the meantime the
+Duke of Wellington, Lyndhurst, and other Peers had given the
+desired assurances to the King, which he communicated to Lord
+Grey. These were accepted as sufficient securities, and
+declarations made accordingly in both Houses of Parliament. If the
+Ministers had again gone to the King with this advice, it is
+impossible to say how it would have ended, for he had already been
+obstinate, and might have continued so on this point, and he told
+Lord Verulam that he thought it would be contrary to his
+coronation oath to make Peers. Our princes have strange notions of
+the obligations imposed by their coronation oath.
+
+On Thursday in the House of Commons Peel made his statement, in
+which, with great civility and many expressions of esteem and
+admiration of the Duke, he pronounced as bitter a censure of his
+conduct, while apparently confining himself to the defence of his
+own, as it was possible to do, and as such it was taken. I have
+not the least doubt that he did it _con amore_, and that he is
+doubly rejoiced to be out of the scrape himself and to leave
+others in it.
+
+
+May 31st, 1832 {p.304}
+
+Since I came back from Newmarket there has not been much to write
+about. A calm has succeeded the storm. Last night Schedules A and
+B were galloped through the Committee, and they finished the
+business. On Thursday next the Bill will probably be read a third
+time. In the House of Lords some dozen Tories and Waverers have
+continued to keep up a little skirmish, and a good deal of
+violent language has been bandied about, in which the Whigs,
+being the winners, have shown the best temper. In society the
+excitement has ceased, but the bitterness remains. The Tories
+are, however, so utterly defeated, and the victory of their
+opponents is so complete, that the latter can afford to be
+moderate and decorous in their tone and manner; and the former
+are exceedingly sulky, cockering up each other with much
+self-gratulation and praise, but aware that in the opinion of the
+mass of mankind they are covered with odium, ridicule, and
+disgrace. Peel and the Duke are ostensibly great friends, and the
+ridiculous farce is still kept up of each admiring what he would
+not do himself, but what the other did.
+
+
+June 1st, 1832 {p.305}
+
+[Page Head: FAVOURITES OF LOUIS XVIII.]
+
+Met the Duke of Wellington at dinner yesterday, and afterwards had
+a long talk with him, not on politics. I never see and converse
+with him without reproaching myself for the sort of hostility I
+feel and express towards his political conduct, for there are a
+simplicity, a gaiety, and natural urbanity and good-humour in him,
+which are remarkably captivating in so great a man. We talked of
+Dumont's book and Louis XVIII.'s 'Memoirs.' I said I thought the
+'Memoirs' were not genuine. He said he was sure they were, that
+they bore the strongest internal evidence of being so, particularly
+in their accuracy as to dates, that he was the best chronologist
+in the world, and that he knew the day of the week of every event
+of importance. He once asked the Duke when he was born, and when
+he told him the day of the month and year, he at once said it was
+on a Tuesday; that he (the Duke) had remembered that throughout
+the book the day of the week was always mentioned, and many of the
+anecdotes he had himself heard the King tell. He then talked of
+him, and I was surprised to hear him say that Charles X. was a
+cleverer man, as far as knowledge of the world went, though Louis
+XVIII. was much better informed--a most curious remark,
+considering the history and end of each. [Nothing could be more
+mistaken and untrue than this opinion.] That Louis XVIII. was
+always governed, and a favourite indispensable to him. At the
+Congress of Vienna the Duke was deputed to speak to M. de Blacas,
+his then favourite, and tell him that his unpopularity was so
+great in France that it was desirable he should not return there.
+Blacas replied, 'You don't know the King; he must have a
+favourite, and he had better have me than another. I shall go; he
+will have another, and you should take pains to put a _gentleman_
+in that situation, for he is capable of taking the first person
+that finds access to him and the opportunity of pleasing him.' He
+added that he should not wonder if he took Fouche. He did not take
+Fouche, who was not aware of the part he might have played, but he
+took De Cazes, who governed him entirely. This continued till the
+Royal Family determined to get rid of him, and by threatening to
+make an _esclandre_ and leave the chateau they at last succeeded,
+and De Cazes was sent as Ambassador to London. Then the King wrote
+to him constantly, sending him verses and literary scraps. The
+place remained vacant till accident threw Madame du Cayla in his
+way.[9] She was the daughter of Talon, who had been concerned in
+the affair of the Marquis de Favras, and she sent to the King to
+say she had some papers of her father's relating to that affair,
+which she should like to give into his own hands. He saw her and
+was pleased with her. The Royal Family encouraged this new taste,
+in order to get rid entirely of De Cazes, and even the Duchesse
+d'Angouleme promoted her success. It was the same thing to him to
+have a woman as a man, and there was no sexual question in the
+matter, as what he wanted was merely some one to whom he could
+tell everything, consult with on all occasions, and with whom he
+could bandy literary trifles. Madame du Cayla, who was clever, was
+speedily installed, and he directly gave up De Cazes. He told the
+Duke that he was _brouille_ with De Cazes, who had behaved very
+ill to him, but he had nothing specific to allege against him,
+except that his manner to him was not what it ought to have been.
+The Ministers paid assiduous court to Madame du Cayla, imparted
+everything to her, and got her to say what they wanted said to the
+King; she acted all the part of a mistress, except the essential,
+of which there never was any question. She got great sums of money
+from him and very valuable presents.
+
+      [9] [This lady has already been noticed in a previous
+          portion of these Memoirs, when she visited England. See
+          vol. i. p. 215 [July 10th, 1829].]
+
+
+June 18th, 1832 {p.306}
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF WILLIAM IV.]
+
+Breakfasted on Thursday with Rogers, and yesterday at the
+Athenaeum with Henry Taylor, and met Mr. Charles Austin, a
+lawyer, clever man, and Radical. The Bills are jogging on and
+there is a comparative calm. The Whigs swear that the Reformed
+Parliament will be the most aristocratic we have ever seen, and
+Ellice told me that they cannot hear of a single improper person
+likely to be elected for any of the new places. [Their choice did
+not correspond with this statement of their disposition.] The
+metropolitan districts want rank and talent. The Government and
+their people have now found out what a fool the King is, and it
+is very amusing to hear them on the subject. Formerly, when they
+thought they had him fast, he was very honest and rather wise;
+now they find him rather shuffling and exceedingly silly. When
+Normanby went to take leave of him on going to Jamaica, he
+pronounced a harangue in favour of the slave trade, of which he
+has always been a great admirer, and expressed sentiments for
+which his subjects would tear him to pieces if they heard them.
+It is one of the great evils of the recent convulsion that the
+King's imbecility has been exposed to the world, and in his
+person the regal authority has fallen into contempt; his own
+personal unpopularity is not of much consequence as long as it
+does not degrade his office; that of George IV. never did, so
+little so that he could always as King cancel the bad impressions
+which he made in his individual capacity, and he frequently did
+so. Walter Scott is arrived here, dying. A great mortality among
+great men; Goethe, Perier, Champollion, Cuvier, Scott, Grant,
+Mackintosh, all died within a few weeks of each other.
+
+
+June 25th, 1832 {p.307}
+
+At Fern Hill all last week; a great party, nothing but racing and
+gambling; then to Shepperton, and to town on Saturday. The event
+of the races was the King's having his head knocked with a stone.
+It made very little sensation on the spot, for he was not hurt,
+and the fellow was a miserable-looking ragamuffin. It, however,
+produced a great burst of loyalty in both Houses, and their
+Majesties were loudly cheered at Ascot. The Duke of Wellington,
+who had been the day before mobbed in London, also reaped a
+little harvest of returning popularity from the assault, and so
+far the outrages have done rather good than harm.
+
+
+July 12th, 1832 {p.307}
+
+The suttee case was decided at the Privy Council on Saturday
+last, and was not uninteresting. The Chancellor, Lord President,
+Graham, John Russell and Grant, Sir Edward East, the Master of
+Rolls, Vice-Chancellor, Lord Amherst, and Lord Wellesley were
+present (the latter not the last day). Lushington was for the
+appeal, and Home and Starkie against. The former made two very
+able and ingenious speeches; when the counsel withdrew the Lords
+gave their opinions _seriatim_. Leach made a very short and very
+neat speech, condemning the order[10] of the Governor-General,
+but admitting the danger of rescinding it, and recommending,
+therefore, that the execution of it should be suspended. Sir
+Edward East, in a long, diffusive harangue, likewise condemned
+the order, but was against suspension; Sir James Graham was
+against the order, but against suspension; Lord Amherst the same.
+The rest approved of the order altogether. John Russell gave his
+opinion very well. The Chancellor was prolix and confused; he hit
+upon a bit of metaphysics in one of the cases on which he took
+pleasure in dilating. The result was that the petition was
+dismissed.
+
+     [10] The order was a decree of the Governor-General of India
+          abolishing the practice of suttee, against which
+          certain Hindoos appealed to the King in Council.
+          Another party, however, were in favour of the order,
+          and the Rajah Rammohun Roy is acting in this country as
+          their agent.
+
+I know nothing of politics for some time past. The Reform fever
+having subsided, people are principally occupied with speculations
+on the next elections. At present there is every appearance of the
+return of a House of Commons very favourable to the present
+Government, but the Tory party keeps together in the House of
+Lords, and they are animated with vague hopes of being able to
+turn out the Ministry, more from a spirit of hatred and revenge
+than from any clear view of the practicability of their carrying
+on the Government. I conceive, however, that as soon as Parliament
+is up there will be a creation of Peers. In the House of Commons
+the Irish Tithe question has been the great subject of interest
+and discussion. O'Connell and the Irish members debate and adjourn
+just as they please, and Althorp is obliged to give way to them.
+When Stanley moved for leave to bring in his Bill, he detailed his
+plan in a speech of two hours. They thought fit to oppose this,
+which is quite unusual, and O'Connell did not arrive till after
+Stanley had sat down. Not having heard his speech he could not
+answer him, and he therefore moved the adjournment. Upon a former
+occasion, during the Reform Bill, when the Tories moved an
+adjournment after many hours' debate, the Government opposed it,
+and voted on through the night till seven o'clock in the morning;
+now the Tories were ready to support Government against the Irish
+members, but they would not treat the Radicals as they did the
+Tories, and then on a subsequent occasion they submitted to have
+the debate adjourned.
+
+[Page Head: O'CONNELL'S DREAD OF CHOLERA.]
+
+O'Connell is supposed to be horridly afraid of the cholera. He
+has dodged about between London and Dublin, as the disease
+appeared first at one and then the other place, and now that it
+is everywhere he shirks the House of Commons from fear of the
+heat and the atmosphere. The cholera is here, and diffuses a
+certain degree of alarm. Some servants of people well known have
+died, and that frightens all other servants out of their wits,
+and they frighten their masters; the death of any one person they
+are acquainted with terrifies people much more than that of
+twenty of whom they knew nothing. As long as they read daily
+returns of a parcel of deaths here and there of A, B, and C they
+do not mind, but when they hear that Lady such a one's nurse or
+Sir somebody's footman is dead, they fancy they see the disease
+actually at their own door.
+
+
+July 15th, 1832 {p.309}
+
+[Page Head: IRISH TITHES.]
+
+I had a good deal of conversation yesterday with Lord Duncannon
+and Lord John Russell about Ireland. The debate the night before
+lasted till four o'clock. O'Connell made a furious speech, and
+Dawson the other evening another, talking of resistance and of
+his readiness to join in it. This drew up Peel, who had spoken
+before, and who, when attacked with cries of 'Spoke!' said, 'Yes,
+I have spoken, but I will say that no party considerations shall
+prevent my supporting Government in this measure, and giving them
+my cordial support.' He was furious with Dawson, and got up in
+order to throw him over, though he did not address himself to
+him, or to anything he had said expressly. John Russell spoke out
+what ought to have been said long ago, that the Church could not
+stand, but that the present clergyman must be paid. Both he and
+Duncannon are aware of the false position in which the Government
+is placed, pretending to legislate with a knowledge that their
+laws cannot be enforced, and the latter said that, whatever might
+be done, the Irish would take nothing at the hands of Stanley. It
+is unfortunate that his attachment to the Church makes him the
+unfittest man in the country to manage Irish affairs, and he has
+contrived to make himself so personally unpopular that with the
+best intentions he could not give satisfaction. Under these
+circumstances his remaining there is impossible, but what is to
+be done with him? He is of such importance in the House of
+Commons that they cannot part with him. I asked John Russell why
+they did not send Hobhouse to Ireland and make Stanley Secretary
+of War. He said would he consent to exchange? that he was tired
+of office, and would be glad to be out. I said I could not
+suppose in such an emergency that he would allow any personal
+considerations to influence him, and that he would consent to
+whatever arrangement would be most beneficial to the Government
+and conducive to the settlement of Irish affairs. The truth is
+(as I told him) that they are, with respect to Ireland, in the
+situation of a man who has got an old house in which he can no
+longer live, not tenable; various architects propose this and
+that alteration, to build a room here and pull down one there,
+but at last they find that all these alterations will only serve
+to make the house habitable a little while longer, that the dry
+rot is in it, and that they had better begin, as they will be
+obliged to end, by pulling it down and building up a new one. He
+owned this was true, but said that here another difficulty
+presented itself with regard to Stanley--whether he would, as a
+leading member of the Cabinet, consent to any measures which
+might go so much further than he would be disposed to do. I said
+that I could not imagine (whatever might be his predilections)
+that his mind was not awakened to the necessity of giving way to
+the state of things, and that he might consent to measures which
+he felt he was not a fit person to introduce and recommend. He
+assented to this. He then talked of the views of the Protestants,
+of the Lefroys, &c., that they began to admit the necessity of a
+change, but by no means would consent to the alienation of Church
+property from Protestant uses, that they were willing where there
+was a large parish consisting entirely of Catholics that the
+tithes should be taken from the rector of such parish and given
+to one who had a large Protestant flock--an arrangement which
+would disgust the Catholics as much as or more than any other,
+and be considered a perfect mockery. The fact is we may shift and
+change and wriggle about as much as we will, we may examine and
+report and make laws, but tithe, the tithe system is at an end.
+The people will not pay them, and there are no means of
+compelling them. The march of events is just as certain as that
+of the seasons. The question which is said to be beset with
+difficulties is in fact very easy--that is, its difficulties
+arise from conflicting interests and passions, and not from the
+uncertainty of its operation and end. Those conflicting passions
+are certainly very great and very embarrassing, and it is no easy
+matter to deal with them, but it seems to me that the wisest
+policy is to keep our eyes steadfastly fixed on the end, and,
+admitting the inevitable conclusion, labour to bring it about
+with the smallest amount of individual loss, the greatest general
+benefit, and the best chance of permanence and stability. By
+casting lingering looks at the old system, and endeavouring to
+save something here and there, by allowing the Church to remain
+in the rags and tatters of its old supremacy, we shall foster
+those hostile feelings which it is essential to put down for
+ever, and leave the seeds of grievance and hatred to spring up in
+a future harvest of agitation and confusion.
+
+
+July 25th, 1832 {p.311}
+
+Nothing of moment has occurred lately; the dread of cholera
+absorbs everybody. Mrs. Smith, young and beautiful, was dressed
+to go to church on Sunday morning, when she was seized with the
+disorder, never had a chance of rallying, and died at eleven at
+night. This event, shocking enough in itself from its suddenness
+and the youth and beauty of the person, has created a terrible
+alarm; many people have taken flight, and others are suspended
+between their hopes of safety in country air and their dread of
+being removed from metropolitan aid. The disease spreads
+gradually in all directions in town and country, but without
+appearing like an epidemic; it is scattered and uncertain; it
+brings to light horrible distress. We, who live on the smooth and
+plausible surface, know little of the frightful appearance of the
+bowels of society.
+
+Don Pedro has never been heard of since he landed, and nobody
+seems much to care whether he or Miguel succeed. The Tories are
+for the latter and the Whigs for the former. In a fourth debate
+on the Russian Dutch Loan Ministers got a good finale, a large
+division, and a brilliant speech from Stanley, totally unprepared
+and prodigiously successful. Nothing could be worse in point of
+tactics than renewing this contest, neither party having, in
+fact, a good case. Parliament is going to separate soon, and the
+cholera will accelerate the prorogation; not a step has been made
+towards an approximation between the rival parties, who appear to
+be animated against each other with unabated virulence. The
+moderate Tories talk of their desire to see the Government
+discard their Radical friends, but the great body give them no
+encouragement to do so by evincing any diminished hostility to
+them as a party. Opinions are so different as to the probable
+composition of the next Parliament, that it is difficult to
+arrive at any satisfactory conclusion about it. The Tories
+evidently expect that they shall reappear in very formidable
+strength, though in particular places the Tory party is entirely
+crushed; the sooner it is so altogether the better, for no good
+can be expected from it, and it would be far better to erect a
+Conservative party upon a new and broader basis than to try and
+bolster up this worn-out, prejudiced, obstinate faction. But the
+times are difficult and men are wanting; the middle classes are
+pressing on, and there are men enough there of fortune, energy,
+activity, zeal, and ambition--no Cannings perhaps or Broughams,
+but a host of fellows of the calibre of the actors in the old
+French Constituent Assembly.
+
+
+July 29th, 1832 {p.312}
+
+[Page Head: QUARREL BETWEEN BROUGHAM AND SUGDEN.]
+
+There has been a great breeze between the Chancellor and Sugden,
+abusing and retorting upon each other from their respective
+Houses of Parliament. As all personal matters excite greater
+interest than any others, so has this. Scott, Lord Eldon's son,
+died, and his places became vacant. Brougham had recommended
+their abolition long ago in his evidence before the House of
+Commons, and both publicly and privately. Some days ago Sugden
+gave notice to Horne (Solicitor-General) that he meant to put a
+question to him in the House of Commons as to whether these
+appointments were to be filled up or not, but before he did so
+(at four o'clock in the morning) the writ was moved for James
+Brougham, who had been put by the Chancellor in Scott's place.
+Accordingly the next day Sugden attacked the appointment in the
+House of Commons, and though he was by way of only asking a
+question, he in fact made a long vituperative speech. Nobody was
+there to reply. Althorp said he knew nothing of the matter, and
+various speeches were made, all expressive of a desire that the
+appointment should only be temporary. Horne (it seems) had never
+told the Chancellor what Sugden said, and Denman, who had no
+authority from him, did not dare get up and say that it was not
+to be permanent. Later in the day, having received instructions
+from the Chancellor, he did get up and say so. The next day
+Brougham introduced the subject in the House of Lords, and
+attacked Sugden with all the sarcasm and contumely which he could
+heap upon him, comparing him to 'a crawling reptile,' &c. Not one
+of his Tory friends said a word, and, what is curious, the Duke
+of Wellington praised Brougham for his disinterestedness, and old
+Eldon defended the place. The following day (Friday) Sugden again
+brought the matter before the House of Commons, complained
+bitterly of the Chancellor's speech, was called to order by
+Stanley, when the Speaker interfered, and, dexterously turning
+Sugden's attack upon the newspaper report, enabled him to go on.
+A violent discussion followed, rather awkward for the Chancellor,
+whose friends endeavoured to soften the thing down by denying the
+accuracy of the report. After much acrimonious debate the matter
+ended. Yesterday the 'Times,' throwing over Brougham and Sugden,
+asserted the accuracy of its own reporter, and declared that
+whether the Chancellor was right or wrong to have uttered them,
+the words were spoken by him exactly as they had been reported.
+Both parties are furious, but on the whole the Chancellor seems
+at present to have the worst of it, for it is worse for a man in
+his station to be in the wrong, and more indecent to be
+scurrilous, than for an individual who is nothing. Sugden now
+declares he will bring on a motion he has long meditated on the
+subject of the Court of Chancery, in which he will exhibit to the
+world the whole conduct of Brougham since he has held the Great
+Seal, his early haste and precipitation, his recent carelessness
+and delay, his ignorance, inattention, and incompetence for the
+office he holds. In this he expects to be supported by Wetherell,
+Knight, and Pemberton, three of the most eminent Chancery
+lawyers, while Brougham has nobody but Horne (of the profession)
+to defend him. If this should occur he may thank himself, for he
+would put Horne there.
+
+Sir Charles Bagot called on me yesterday; told me that he thought
+the Belgian question was at last on the point of being settled,
+that the King of Holland had made 'the great concession,' and
+that the rest must soon follow, that he had never passed two such
+years amidst such difficulties, the King so obstinate. His view
+was that by holding out and maintaining a large army events would
+produce war, and that he would be able to sell himself to some
+one of the contending parties, getting back Belgium as the price
+of his aid, that he now only gave in because not a hope was left,
+that the difficulties were so great that it was not the fault of
+this Government that matters were not settled before. I asked him
+how the Dutch had contrived to make such an exertion. He said it
+was very creditable to them, but that they were very rich and
+very frugal, and had lugged out their hoards. They had saddled
+themselves with a debt the interest of which amounts to about
+L700,000 a year--a good deal for two millions of people.
+
+
+August 1st, 1832 {p.314}
+
+[Page Head: BROUGHAM'S RESENTMENT.]
+
+Here is an anecdote exhibiting the character of Brougham, hot,
+passionate, and precipitate. He is preparing his Bill for the
+amendment of the Court of Chancery, by which the patronage is to
+be done away with. Compensation was to be given to the present
+interests, but upon this recent affair between Sugden and him, to
+revenge himself upon men who are all or mostly of Sugden's party,
+he ordered the compensation clauses to be struck out. Sefton (who
+is a sort of Sancho to him) came up to dinner quite elated at
+having heard the order given. 'I wish,' said he, 'you had heard a
+man treated as I did in the Chancellor's room. He came in to ask
+him about the Bill he was drawing up. "I suppose the compensation
+clauses are to be put in?" "Compensation?" said Brougham. "No, by
+God; no compensation. Leave them out, if you please. They chose
+to attack me, and they shall have enough of it."' And what will
+be the end of all this--that the Chancellor shows his spite and
+commits himself, shows that he is influenced in legislation by
+personal feelings, and incurs the suspicion that because he
+cannot get a compensation for his brother he is resolved nobody
+else shall have any? Althorp's speech about the pensions on
+Monday set at rest the question of compensation, and if these
+offices are abolished the Chancellor cannot prevent their getting
+it. In the House of Lords the eternal Russian Dutch Loan came on
+again. The Duke made a speech and Wynford made a speech, and they
+were opposed to each other; the Duke hit the right nail on the
+head, and took that course which he frequently does, and which is
+such a redeeming quality in his political character--addressed
+himself to the _question itself_, to the real merits of it,
+without making it a mere vehicle for annoying the Government.
+Aberdeen sneered, but when the Duke throws over his people they
+can do nothing.
+
+
+August 8th, 1832 {p.315}
+
+Pedro's expedition, which always has hobbled along, and never
+exhibited any of that dash which is essential to the success of
+such efforts, may be considered hopeless; Palmella arrived here a
+day or two ago, very low, and the Regency scrip has fallen four
+per cent. Nobody joins them, and it seems pretty clear that, one
+_coquin_ for another, the Portuguese think they may as well have
+Miguel. The Dutch affair is not yet settled, but on the point of
+it; for the fiftieth time a 'little hitch' has again arisen. Last
+night, in the House of Lords, the Chancellor, in one of his most
+bungling ways, made what he meant to be a sort of _amende_ to
+Sugden, making the matter rather worse than it was before, at
+least for his own credit, for he said that 'he had never intended
+to give pain, which he of all things abhorred,' and that he had
+not been at all in a passion--both false, and the latter being in
+fact his only excuse. I sat next to Melbourne at dinner, who
+concurred in the judgment of the world on the whole transaction,
+and said, 'The real truth is, he was in a great rage, for he had
+forgotten all his own evidence and his own speeches, and he meant
+to have kept the place.' This evidence from his own colleague and
+friend is conclusive, and will be a nice morsel for the future
+biographer of Brougham.
+
+I dined at Holland House yesterday; a good many people, and the
+Chancellor came in after dinner, looking like an old clothes man
+and dirty as the ground. We had a true Holland House dinner, two
+more people arriving (Melbourne and Tom Duncombe) than there was
+room for, so that Lady Holland had the pleasure of a couple of
+general squeezes, and of seeing our arms prettily pinioned. Lord
+Holland sits at table, but does not dine. He proposed to retire
+(not from the room), but was not allowed, for that would have
+given us all space and ease. Lord Holland told some stories of
+Johnson and Garrick which he had heard from Kemble. Johnson loved
+to bully Garrick, from a recollection of Garrick's former
+impertinence. When Garrick was in the zenith of his popularity,
+and grown rich, and lived with the great, and while Johnson was
+yet obscure, the Doctor used to drink tea with him, and he would
+say, 'Davy, I do not envy you your money nor your fine acquaintance,
+but I envy you your power of drinking such tea as this.' 'Yes,'
+said Garrick, 'it is very good tea, but it is not my best, nor
+that which I give to my Lord this and Sir somebody t'other.'
+
+Johnson liked Fox because he defended his pension, and said it
+was only to blame in not being large enough. 'Fox,' he said, 'is
+a liberal man; he would always be "aut Caesar aut nullus;"
+whenever I have seen him he has been _nullus_.' Lord Holland said
+Fox made it a rule never to talk in Johnson's presence, because
+he knew all his conversations were recorded for publication, and
+he did not choose to figure in them.
+
+
+August 12th, 1832 {p.317}
+
+The House of Commons has finished (or nearly) its business.
+Althorp ended with a blunder. He brought in a Bill to extend the
+time for payment of rates and for voters under the new Bill, and
+because it was opposed he abandoned it suddenly; his friends are
+disgusted. Robarts told me that the Bank Committee had executed
+their laborious duties in a spirit of great cordiality, and with
+a general disposition to lay aside all political differences and
+concur in accomplishing the best results; a good thing, for it is
+in such transactions as these, which afford an opportunity for
+laying aside the bitterness of party and the rancorous feelings
+which animate men against each other, that the only chance can be
+found of a future amalgamation of public men. He told me that the
+evidence all went to prove that little improvement could be made
+in the management of the Bank.
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF MACAULAY.]
+
+Dined yesterday at Holland House; the Chancellor, Lord Grey,
+Luttrell, Palmerston, and Macaulay. The Chancellor was sleepy and
+would not talk; he uttered nothing but yawns and grunts. Macaulay
+and Allen disputed history, particularly the character of the
+Emperor Frederick II., and Allen declared himself a Guelph and
+Macaulay a Ghibelline. Macaulay is a most extraordinary man, and
+his astonishing knowledge is every moment exhibited, but (as far
+as I have yet seen of him, which is not sufficient to judge) he
+is not _agreeable_. His propositions and his allusions are rather
+too abrupt; he starts topics not altogether naturally; then he
+has none of the graces of conversation, none of that exquisite
+tact and refinement which are the result of a felicitous
+intuition or a long acquaintance with good society, or more
+probably a mixture of both. The mighty mass of his knowledge is
+not animated by that subtle spirit of taste and discretion which
+alone can give it the qualities of lightness and elasticity, and
+without which, though he may have the power of instructing and
+astonishing, he never will attain that of delighting and
+captivating his hearers. The dinner was agreeable, and enlivened
+by a squabble between Lady Holland and Allen, at which we were
+all ready to die of laughing. He jeered at something she said as
+brutal, and chuckled at his own wit.
+
+
+Shepperton, August 31st, 1832 {p.318}
+
+I came here last Sunday to see my father, who (my mother wrote me
+word) had been unwell for a day or two. I got here at four o'clock
+(having called on Madame de Lieven at Richmond on the way), and
+when I arrived I found my father at the point of death. He was
+attacked as he had often been before; medicines afforded him no
+relief, and nothing would stay on his stomach. On Saturday violent
+spasms came on, which occasioned him dreadful pain; they continued
+intermittingly till Sunday afternoon, when as they took him out of
+bed to put him in a warm bath, he fainted. From this state of
+insensibility he never recovered, and at half-past twelve o'clock
+he expired. My brothers were both here. I sent an express for my
+sister, who was at Malvern, and she arrived on Tuesday morning.
+Dr. Dowdeswell was in the house, and he stayed on with us and did
+all that was required. This morning he was buried in the church of
+this village, close to the house, in the simplest manner, and was
+followed to the grave by my brothers and brother-in-law,
+Dowdeswell, Ives, the doctor who attended him, and the servants.
+He had long been ailing, and at his age (nearly 70 years) this
+event was not extraordinary, but it was shocking, because so
+sudden and unexpected, and no idea of danger was entertained by
+himself or those about him. My father had some faults and many
+foibles, but he was exposed to great disadvantages in early youth;
+his education was neglected and his disposition was spoilt. His
+father was useless, and worse than useless, as a parent, and his
+mother (a woman of extraordinary capacity and merit) died while he
+was a young man, having been previously separated from her
+husband, and having retired from the world.[11] The circumstances
+of his marriage, and the incidents of his life, would be
+interesting to none but his own family, and need not be recorded
+by me. He was a man of a kind, amiable, and liberal disposition,
+and what is remarkable, as he advanced in years his temper grew
+less irritable and more indulgent; he was cheerful, hospitable,
+and unselfish. He had at all times been a lively companion, and
+without much instruction, extensive information, or a vigorous
+understanding, his knowledge of the world in the midst of which he
+had passed his life, his taste and turn for humour, and his
+good-nature made him a very agreeable man. He had a few intimate
+friends to whom he was warmly attached, a host of acquaintance,
+and I do not know that he had a single enemy. He was an
+affectionate father, and ready to make any sacrifices for the
+happiness and welfare of his children--in short, he was amiable
+and blameless in the various relations of life, and he deserved
+that his memory should be cherished as it is by us with sincere
+and affectionate regret.
+
+     [11] [Mr. Charles Greville, senior, was the fifth son of
+          Fulk Greville of Wilbury, by Frances Macartney, a lady
+          of some literary reputation as the authoress of an 'Ode
+          to Indifference.' She was the daughter of General
+          Macartney. Horace Walpole speaks of her as one of the
+          beauties of his time. She died in 1789. Mr. Greville
+          may have inherited from her his strong literary
+          tastes.]
+
+
+September 18th, 1832 {p.319}
+
+[Page Head: ANECDOTES OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.]
+
+I have been in London, at Shepperton, and twice at Brighton to see
+Henry de Ros; came back yesterday. The world is half asleep. Lord
+Howe returns to the Queen as her Chamberlain, and that makes a
+sensation. I met at Brighton Lady Keith [Madame de Flahaut], who
+told us a great deal about French politics, which, as she is a
+partisan, was not worth much, but she also gave us rather an
+amusing account of the early days of the Princess Charlotte, at
+the time of her escape from Warwick House in a hackney coach and
+taking refuge with her mother, and of the earlier affair of
+Captain Hess. The former escapade arose from her determination to
+break off her marriage with the Prince of Orange, and that from
+her falling suddenly in love with Prince Augustus of Prussia, and
+her resolving to marry him and nobody else, not knowing that he
+was already married _de la main gauche_ in Prussia. It seems that
+she speedily made known her sentiments to the Prince, and he
+(notwithstanding his marriage) followed the thing up, and had two
+interviews with her at her own house, which were contrived by Miss
+Knight, her governess. During one of these Miss Mercer arrived,
+and Miss Knight told her that Prince Augustus was with the
+Princess in her room, and what a fright she (Miss Knight) was in.
+Miss Mercer, who evidently had no mind anybody should conduct such
+an affair for the Princess but herself, pressed Miss Knight to go
+and interrupt them, which on her declining she did herself. The
+King (Regent as he was then) somehow heard of these meetings, and
+measures of coercion were threatened, and it was just when an
+approaching visit from him had been announced to the Princess that
+she went off. Miss Mercer was in the house at the time, and the
+Regent, when he came, found her there. He accused her of being a
+party to the Princess's flight, but afterwards either did or
+pretended to believe her denial, and sent her to fetch the
+Princess back, which after many _pourparlers_ and the intervention
+of the Dukes of York and Sussex, Brougham, and the Bishop of
+Salisbury, her preceptor, was accomplished at two in the morning.
+
+Hess's affair was an atrocity of the Princess of Wales. She
+employed him to convey letters to her daughter while she used to
+ride in Windsor Park, which he contrived to deliver, and
+occasionally to converse with her; and on one occasion, at
+Kensington, the Princess of Wales brought them together in her own
+room. The Princess afterwards wrote him some letters, not
+containing much harm, but idle and improper. When the Duke of
+York's affair with Mrs. Clark came out, and all the correspondence,
+she became very much alarmed, told Miss Mercer the whole story,
+and employed her to get back her letters to Hess. She accordingly
+wrote to Hess (who was then in Spain), but he evinced a
+disinclination to give them up. On his return to England she saw
+him, and on his still demurring she threatened to put the affair
+into the Duke of York's hands, which frightened him, and then he
+surrendered them, and signed a paper declaring he had given up
+everything. The King afterwards heard of this affair, and
+questioning the Princess, she told him everything. He sent for
+Miss Mercer, and desired to see the letters, and then to keep
+them. This she refused. This Captain Hess was a short, plump,
+vulgar-looking man, afterwards lover to the Queen of Naples,
+mother of the present King, an amour that was carried on under the
+auspices of the Margravine at her villa in the Strada Nova at
+Naples. It was, however, detected, and Hess was sent away from
+Naples, and never allowed to return. I remember finding him at
+Turin (married), when he was lamenting his hard fate in being
+excluded from that _Paradiso_ Naples.
+
+
+September 28th, 1832 {p.321}
+
+[Page Head: BELGIUM, SPAIN, FRANCE.]
+
+At Stoke from the 22nd to the 26th, then to the Grove, and
+returned yesterday; at the former place Madame de Lieven,
+Alvanley, Melbourne; tolerably pleasant; question of war again.
+The Dutch King makes a stir, and threatens to bombard the town of
+Antwerp; the French offered to march, and put their troops in
+motion, but Leopold begged they would not, and chose rather to
+await the effect of more conferences, which began with great
+vigour a few days ago. What they find to say to each other for
+eight or ten hours a day for several consecutive days it is hard
+to guess, as the question is of the simplest kind. The King of
+Holland will not give up the citadel of Antwerp, nor consent to
+the free navigation of the Scheldt; the Belgians insist on these
+concessions; the Conference says they shall be granted, but
+Russia, Prussia, and Austria will not coerce the Dutchman;
+England and France will, if the others don't object. A French
+army is in motion, and a French fleet is off Spithead; so
+probably something will come of it. Nothing has damaged this
+Government more than these protracted and abortive conferences.
+
+Four days ago there was a report that the King of Spain was dead,
+accompanied with a good many particulars, and all the world began
+speculating as to the succession, but yesterday came news that he
+was not dead, but better. Pedro and Miguel are fighting at Oporto
+with some appearance of spirit; Miguel is the favourite. The
+French Government is represented to be in a wretched state,
+squabbling and feeble, and nobody is inclined to be Minister.
+Dupin was very near it, but refused because Louis Philippe would
+not make him President of the Council. The King is determined to
+be his own Minister, and can get nobody to take office on these
+terms. They think it will end in Dupin. The present Government
+declares it cannot meet the Chambers until Antwerp is evacuated
+by the Dutch and the Duchesse de Berri departed out of France or
+taken. This heroine, much to the annoyance of her family, is
+dodging about in La Vendee and doing rather harm than good to her
+cause. The Dauphiness passed through London, when our Queen very
+politely went to visit her. She has not a shadow of doubt of the
+restoration of her nephew, and thinks nothing questionable but
+the time. She told Madame de Lieven this. I talked to Madame de
+Lieven about war, and added that if any did break out it would be
+the war of opinion which Canning had predicted. She said yes, and
+that the monarchical principle (as she calls the absolute
+principle) would then crush the other.
+
+[Page Head: CONVERSATION WITH LORD MELBOURNE.]
+
+I came up with Melbourne to London. He is uneasy about the state
+of the country--about the desire for change and the general
+restlessness that prevails. We discussed the different members of
+the Government, and he agreed that John Russell had acted
+unwarrantably in making the speech he did the other day at Torquay
+about the Ballot, which, though hypothetical, was nothing but an
+invitation to the advocates of Ballot to agitate for it; this,
+too, from a Cabinet Minister! Then comes an awkward sort of
+explanation, that what he said was in his _individual_ capacity,
+as if he had any right so to speak. Melbourne spoke of Brougham,
+who he said was tossed about in perpetual caprices, that he was
+fanciful and sensitive, and actuated by all sorts of littlenesses,
+even with regard to people so insignificant that it is difficult
+to conceive how he can ever think about them; that he is
+conservative, but under the influence of his old connexions,
+particularly of the Saints. His friends are so often changed that
+it is not easy to follow him in this respect. Durham used to be
+one; now he hates him; he has a high opinion of Sefton! of his
+judgment!! What is talent, what are great abilities, when one sees
+the gigantic intellect of Brougham so at fault? Not only does the
+world manage to go on when little wisdom guides it, but how ill it
+may go on with a great deal of _talent_, which, however, is
+different from _wisdom_. He asked me what I thought of Richmond,
+and I told him that he was ignorant and narrow-minded, but a good
+sort of fellow, only appearing to me, who had known him all my
+life, in an odd place as a Cabinet Minister. He said he was sharp,
+quick, the King liked him, and he stood up to Durham more than any
+other man in the Cabinet, and that altogether he was not
+unimportant; so that the ingredients of this Cabinet seem to be
+put there to neutralise one another, and to be good for nothing
+else; because Durham has an overbearing temper, and his
+father-in-law is weak, there must be a man without any other merit
+than spirit to curb that temper. He talked of Ireland, and the
+difficulty of settling the question there, that the Archbishop of
+Canterbury was willing to reform the Church, but not to alienate
+any of its revenues. 'Not,' I asked, 'for the payment of a
+Catholic clergy?' 'No, not from Protestant uses.' I told him there
+was nothing to be done but to pull down the edifice and rebuild
+it. He said you would have all the Protestants against you, but he
+did not appear to differ. To this things must come at last.
+Melbourne is exceedingly anxious to keep Lord Hill and Fitzroy
+Somerset at the head of the army, from which the violent of his
+party would gladly oust them, but he evidently contemplates the
+possibility of having occasion for the army, and does not wish to
+tamper with the service or play any tricks with it. It is curious
+to see the working and counterworking of his real opinions and
+principles with his false position, and the mixture of bluntness,
+facility and shrewdness, discretion, levity and seriousness,
+which, colouring his mind and character by turns, make up the
+strange compound of his thoughts and his actions.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XIX.
+
+Foreign Difficulties--Conduct of Peel on the Resignation of Lord
+  Grey--Manners Sutton proposed as Tory Premier--Coolness between
+  Peel and the Duke--Embargo on Dutch Ships--Death of Lord
+  Tenterden--Denman made Lord Chief Justice--_Tableau_ of Holland
+  House--The Speakership--Horne and Campbell Attorney- and
+  Solicitor-General--The Court at Brighton--Lord Howe and the
+  Queen--Elections under the Reform Act--Mr. Gully--Petworth--
+  Lord Egremont--Attempt to reinstate Lord Howe--Namik Pacha--
+  Lord Lyndhurst's Version of what occurred on the Resignation of
+  Lord Grey--Lord Denbigh appointed Chamberlain to the Queen--
+  Brougham's Privy Council Bill--Talleyrand's Relations with Fox
+  and Pitt--Negro Emancipation Bill--State of the West Indies--
+  The Reformed Parliament meets--Russian Intrigues--Four Days'
+  Debate on the Address--Peel's Political Career.
+
+
+London, October 7th, 1832 {p.324}
+
+I went to Newmarket on the 30th of September, to Panshanger on
+the 5th, and came to town on the 6th. Great fears entertained of
+war; the obstinacy of the Dutch King, the appointment of Soult to
+be Prime Minister of France, and the ambiguous conduct of the
+Allied Courts look like war. Miguel has attacked Oporto without
+success; but, as he nearly destroyed the English and French
+battalions, he will probably soon get possession of the city. It
+is clear that all Portugal is for him, which we may be sorry for,
+but so it is. The iniquity of his cause does not appear to affect
+it.
+
+
+October 12th, 1832 {p.324}
+
+Lady Cowper told me at Panshanger that Palmerston said all the
+difficulties of the Belgian question came from Matuscewitz, who
+was insolent and obstinate, and astute in making objections; that
+it was the more provoking as he had been recalled some time ago
+(the Greek business being settled, for which he came), and
+Palmerston and some of the others had asked the Emperor to allow
+him to stay here, on account of his usefulness in drawing up the
+minutes of the proceedings of the Conference; that Lieven had by
+no means wished him to stay, but could not object when the others
+desired it. Accordingly he remained, and now he annoys Palmerston
+to death. All this she wrote to Madame de Lieven, who replied
+that it was not the fault of Matuscewitz, and that he and Lieven
+agreed perfectly. She talked, however, rather more pacific
+language. This clever, intriguing, agreeable diplomatess has
+renewed her friendship with the Duke of Wellington, to which he
+does not object, though she will hardly ever efface the
+impression her former conduct made upon him. My journal is
+getting intolerably stupid, and entirely barren of events. I
+would take to miscellaneous and private matters if any fell in my
+way, but what can I make out of such animals as I herd with and
+such occupations as I am engaged in?
+
+
+Euston, October 26th, 1832 {p.325}
+
+[Page Head: TORY ATTEMPTS TO FORM A MINISTRY.]
+
+Went to Downham on Sunday last; the Duke of Rutland, the
+Walewskis, Lord Burghersh, and Hope. Came here on Wednesday
+morning; the usual party. At Downham I picked up a good deal from
+Arbuthnot (who was very garrulous) of a miscellaneous description,
+of which the most curious and important was the entire confirmation
+of (what I before suspected) the ill blood that exists between the
+Duke of Wellington and Peel; though the interests of party keep
+them on decent terms, they dislike one another, and the Duke's
+friends detest Peel still more than the Duke does himself. He told
+me all that had passed at the time of the blow-up of the present
+Government, which I have partly recorded from a former conversation
+with him, and his story certainly proves that the Duke (though I
+think he committed an enormous error in judgment) was not
+influenced by any motives of personal ambition.
+
+[Page Head: MANNERS SUTTON PROPOSED AS PREMIER.]
+
+As soon as the King sent for Lyndhurst the latter went to the
+Duke, who (as is known) agreed to form a Government, never
+doubting that he was to be himself Prime Minister. Lyndhurst went
+to Peel, who declined to take office, and he then went to Baring.
+Lyndhurst and Arbuthnot sent for Baring out of the House of
+Commons, and took him to old Bankes' house in Palace Yard, where
+they had their conversation with him. He begged for time to
+consider of it, and to be allowed to consult Peel, to which they
+assented. He afterwards agreed, but on condition that Manners
+Sutton should also be in the Cabinet. Lyndhurst had about the
+same time made overtures to Manners Sutton, and though nothing
+was finally settled it was understood he would accept them. So
+matters stood, when one day (it must have been the Wednesday or
+Thursday) Vesey Fitzgerald called on the Arbuthnots, and in a
+conversation about the different arrangements he intimated that
+Manners Sutton expected to be Prime Minister, and on asking him
+more particularly they found that this was also his own
+impression. The next morning Arbuthnot went off to Lyndhurst's
+house, where he arrived before Lyndhurst was dressed, and told
+him what had fallen from Fitzgerald, and asked what it could
+mean. Lyndhurst answered very evasively, but promised to have the
+matter cleared up. Arbuthnot, not satisfied, went to the Duke and
+told him what had passed, and added his conviction that there was
+some such project on foot (to make Sutton Premier) of which he
+was not aware. The Duke said he did not care a farthing who was
+Premier, and that if it was thought desirable that Sutton should
+be he had not the smallest objection, and was by no means anxious
+to fill the post himself. I asked whether the Duke would have
+taken office if Sutton had been Minister, and was told that
+nothing was settled, but probably not.
+
+The same day there was a meeting at Apsley House, at which the
+Duke, Lyndhurst, Baring, Ellenborough, and (I think) Rosslyn or
+Aberdeen, or both, were present, and to which Sutton came, and
+held forth for nearly four hours upon the position of their
+affairs and his coming into office. He talked such incredible
+nonsense (as I have before related) that when he was gone they all
+lifted up their hands and with one voice pronounced the
+impossibility of forming any Government under such a head. Baring
+was then asked why he had made Sutton's coming into office the
+condition of his own acceptance, and why he had wished him to be
+Prime Minister. He said that he had never desired any such thing
+himself, and had hardly any acquaintance with Sutton, except that
+as speaker he was civil to him, and he dined with him once a year,
+but that when he had gone to consult Peel, Peel had advised him to
+insist upon having Sutton, and to put him at the head of the
+Government. This avowal led to further examination into what had
+passed, and it came out that when Lyndhurst went to Peel, Peel
+pressed Manners Sutton upon him, refusing to take office himself,
+but promising to support the new Government, and urging Lyndhurst
+to offer the Premiership to Sutton. At the same time he put Sutton
+up to this, and desired him to refuse every office except that of
+Premier. Accordingly, when Lyndhurst went to Sutton, the latter
+said he would be Prime Minister or nothing, and Lyndhurst had the
+folly to promise it to him. Thus matters stood when Lady Cowley,
+who was living at Apsley House, and got hold of what was passing,
+went and told it to her brother, Lord Salisbury, who lost no time
+in imparting it to some of the other High Tory Lords, who all
+agreed that it would not do to have Sutton at the head of the
+Government, and that the Duke was the only man for them. On
+Saturday the great dinner at the Conservative Club took place, at
+which a number of Tories, principally Peers, with the Duke and
+Peel, were present. A great many speeches were made, all full of
+enthusiasm for the Duke, and expressing a determination to support
+_his_ Government. Peel was in very ill humour and said little; the
+Duke spoke much in honour of Peel, applauding his conduct and
+saying that the difference of their positions justified each in
+his different line. The next day some of the Duke's friends met,
+and agreed that the unanimous desire for the Duke's being at the
+head of the Government which had been expressed at that dinner,
+together with the unfitness of Sutton, proved the absolute
+necessity of the Duke's being Premier, and it was resolved that a
+communication to this effect should be made to Peel. Aberdeen
+charged himself with it and went to Peel's house, where Sutton was
+at the time. Peel came to Aberdeen in a very bad humour, said he
+saw from what had passed at the dinner that nobody was thought of
+but the Duke, and he should wash his hands of the whole business;
+that he had already declined having anything to do with the
+Government, and to that determination he should adhere. The
+following Monday the whole thing was at an end.
+
+I am not sure that I have stated these occurrences exactly as
+they were told me. There may be errors in the order of the
+interviews and _pourparlers_, and in the verbal details, but the
+substance is correct, and may be summed up to this effect: that
+Peel, full of ambition, but of caution, animated by deep dislike
+and jealousy of the Duke (which policy induced him to conceal,
+but which temper betrayed), thought to make Manners Sutton play
+the part of Addington, while he was to be another Pitt; he
+fancied that he could gain in political character, by an opposite
+line of conduct, all that the Duke would lose; and he resolved
+that a Government should be formed the existence of which should
+depend upon himself. Manners Sutton was to be his creature; he
+would have dictated every measure of Government; he would have
+been their protector in the House of Commons; and, as soon as the
+fitting moment arrived, he would have dissolved this miserable
+Ministry and placed himself at the head of affairs. All these
+deep-laid schemes, and constant regard of self, form a strong
+contrast to the simplicity and heartiness of the Duke's conduct,
+and make the two men appear in a very different light from that
+in which they did at first. Peel acted right from bad motives,
+the Duke wrong from good ones. The Duke put himself forward, and
+encountered all the obloquy and reproach to which he knew he
+exposed himself, and having done so, cheerfully offered to resign
+the power to another. Peel endeavoured to seize the power, but to
+shield himself from responsibility and danger. It is a melancholy
+proof of the dearth of talent and the great capacity of the man
+that, notwithstanding the detection of his practices and his
+motives, the Tories are compelled still to keep well with him and
+to accept him for their leader. No cordiality, however, can exist
+again between him and the Duke and his friends, and, should the
+Whig Government be expelled, the animosity and disunion
+engendered by these circumstances will make it extremely
+difficult to form a Tory Administration. [In a short time it was
+all made up--forgiven, if not forgotten.]
+
+
+November 7th, 1832 {p.329}
+
+[Page Head: EMBARGO ON DUTCH SHIPS.]
+
+Came to town on Sunday. The answer of the Dutch King to the
+demand of England and France that he should give up Antwerp was
+anxiously expected. It arrived on Monday afternoon, and was a
+refusal. Accordingly a Council met yesterday, at which an order
+was made for laying an embargo on Dutch merchant ships, which are
+to be sequestrated, but not confiscated. The French army marches
+forthwith, and Palmerston told me they expected two or three days
+of bombardment would suffice for the capture of the citadel,
+after which the French would retire within their own frontier.
+The combined fleets will remain at the Downs, for they can do
+nothing on the coast of Holland at this season of the year. There
+is a good deal of jealousy and no friendly spirit between the
+English and French sailors; and the Duke of Richmond told me
+yesterday that the Deal pilots desired nothing so much as to get
+the French ships into a scrape. Great excitement prevails about
+this Dutch question, which is so complicated that at this moment
+I do not understand its merits. Matuscewitz, however, who is
+opposed _totis viribus_ to the policy of England and France, told
+me that nobody could have behaved worse than the King of Holland
+has done, shuffling and tricking throughout; but they say he is
+so situated at home that he could not give way if he would. A few
+days must now decide the question of war or peace. All the
+Ministers, except Brougham, Lord Holland, Grant, and Carlisle,
+were at the Council yesterday--the Archbishop of Canterbury for a
+prayer (for we omit no opportunity of offering supplications or
+returning thanks to Heaven), and the new Lord Chief Justice to be
+sworn a Privy Councillor.
+
+[Page Head: DENMAN LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.]
+
+Lord Tenterden died on Sunday night, and no time was lost in
+appointing Denman as his successor. Coming as he does after four
+of the greatest lawyers who ever sat upon the Bench, this choice
+will not escape severe censure; for the reputation of Denman as a
+lawyer is not high, and he has been one of the most inefficient
+Attorneys-General who ever filled the office. It has been a
+constant matter of complaint on the part of the Government and
+their friends that the law officers of the Crown gave them no
+assistance, but, on the contrary, got them into scrapes. Denman is
+an honourable man, and has been a consistent politician; latterly,
+of course, a Radical of considerable vehemence, if not of
+violence. The other men who were mentioned as successors to
+Tenterden were Lyndhurst, Scarlett, and James Parke. The latter is
+the best of the puisne judges, and might have been selected if all
+political considerations and political connexions had been
+disregarded. Lyndhurst will be overwhelmed with anguish and
+disappointment at finding himself for ever excluded from the great
+object of his ambition, and in which his professional claims are
+so immeasurably superior to those of his successful competitor;
+nor has he lost it by any sacrifice of interest to honour, but
+merely from the unfortunate issue of his political speculations.
+When he was made Chief Baron a regular compact was made, a secret
+article, that he should succeed on Tenterden's death to the Chief
+Justiceship; which bargain was of course cancelled by his
+declaration of war on the Reform question and his consequent
+breach with Lord Grey; though by far the fittest man, he was now
+out of the question. It will be the more grating as he has just
+evinced his high capabilities by pronouncing in the Court of
+Exchequer one of the ablest judgments (in Small _v._ Attwood) that
+were ever delivered. [It was afterwards reversed by the House of
+Lords.] Scarlett, who had been a Whig for forty years, and who has
+long occupied the first place in the Court of King's Bench, would
+have been the man if his political dissociation from his old
+connexions, and his recent hostility to them, had not also
+cancelled his claims; so that every rival being set aside from one
+cause or another, Denman, by one of the most extraordinary pieces
+of good fortune that ever happened to man, finds himself elevated
+to this great office, the highest object of a lawyer's ambition,
+and, in my opinion, one of the most enviable stations an
+Englishman can attain. It is said that as a Common Serjeant he
+displayed the qualities of a good judge, and his friends
+confidently assert that he will make a very good Chief Justice;
+but his legal qualifications are admitted to be very inferior to
+those of his predecessors. [He made a very bad one, but was
+personally popular and generally respected for his high, and
+honourable moral character.]
+
+Tenterden was a remarkable man, and his elevation did great
+credit to the judgment which selected him, and which probably was
+Eldon's. He had never led a cause, but he was a profound lawyer,
+and appears to have had a mind fraught with the spirit and genius
+of the law, and not narrowed and trammelled by its subtleties and
+technicalities. In spite of his low birth, want of oratorical
+power, and of personal dignity, he was greatly revered and
+dreaded on the Bench. He was an austere, but not an ill-humoured
+judge; his manners were remarkably plain and unpolished, though
+not vulgar. He was an elegant scholar, and cultivated classical
+literature to the last. Brougham, whose congenial tastes
+delighted in his classical attainments, used to bandy Latin and
+Greek with him from the Bar to the Bench; and he has more than
+once told me of his sending Tenterden Greek verses of John
+Williams', of which the next day Tenterden gave him a translation
+in Latin verse. He is supposed to have died very rich. Denman was
+taken into the King's closet before the Council, when he was
+sworn in; the King took no particular notice of him, and the
+appointment is not, probably, very palatable to his Majesty.
+
+
+November 15th, 1832 {p.331}
+
+Sheriff business at the Exchequer Court on Monday; saw Lyndhurst
+and Denman meet and shake hands with much politeness and grimace.
+
+
+November 20th, 1832 {p.331}
+
+Dined at Holland House the day before yesterday; Lady Holland is
+unwell, fancies she must dine at five o'clock, and exerts her
+power over society by making everybody go out there at that hour,
+though nothing can be more inconvenient than thus shortening the
+day, and nothing more tiresome than such lengthening of the
+evening. Rogers and Luttrell were staying there. The _tableau_ of
+the house is this:--Before dinner, Lady Holland affecting illness
+and almost dissolution, but with a very respectable appetite, and
+after dinner in high force and vigour; Lord Holland, with his
+chalkstones and unable to walk, lying on his couch in very good
+spirits and talking away; Luttrell and Rogers walking about, ever
+and anon looking despairingly at the clock and making short
+excursions from the drawing-room; Allen surly and disputatious,
+poring over the newspapers, and replying in monosyllables
+(generally negative) to whatever is said to him. The grand topic
+of interest, far exceeding the Belgian or Portuguese questions,
+was the illness of Lady Holland's page, who has got a tumour in
+his thigh. This 'little creature,' as Lady Holland calls a great
+hulking fellow of about twenty, is called 'Edgar,' his real name
+being Tom or Jack, which he changed on being elevated to his
+present dignity, as the Popes do when they are elected to the
+tiara. More rout is made about him than other people are
+permitted to make about their children, and the inmates of
+Holland House are invited and compelled to go and sit with and
+amuse him. Such is the social despotism of this strange house,
+which presents an odd mixture of luxury and constraint, of
+enjoyment physical and intellectual, with an alloy of small
+_desagrements_. Talleyrand generally comes at ten or eleven
+o'clock, and stays as long as they will let him. Though everybody
+who goes there finds something to abuse or to ridicule in the
+mistress of the house, or its ways, all continue to go; all like
+it more or less; and whenever, by the death of either, it shall
+come to an end, a vacuum will be made in society which nothing
+will supply. It is the house of all Europe; the world will suffer
+by the loss; and it may with truth be said that it will 'eclipse
+the gaiety of nations.'
+
+
+November 27th, 1832 {p.332}
+
+At Roehampton from Saturday till Monday. The Chancellor had been
+there a few days before, from whom Lord Dover had picked up the
+gossip of the Government. There had been a fresh breeze with
+Durham, who it seems has returned from Russia more odious than
+ever. His violence and insolence, as usual, were vented on Lord
+Grey, and the rest of the Cabinet, as heretofore, are obliged to
+submit. I have since heard from the Duke of Richmond that the
+cause of this last storm was something relating to Church Reform,
+and that he had been forced to knock under. I fancy he wanted to
+go much further than the others, probably to unfrock the Bishop
+of Durham and Bishop Phillpotts, the former because he is a
+greater man in the county than himself, and the latter from old
+and inextinguishable hatred and animosity.
+
+[Page Head: THE SPEAKERSHIP.]
+
+There has been another dispute about the Speakership. All the
+Cabinet except Althorp want to put Abercromby in the chair, and
+Althorp insists on having Littleton. The former is in all respects
+the best choice, and the man whom they ought, from his long
+connexion with the Whigs and his consistency and respectability,
+to propose, but Althorp thought fit to commit himself in some way
+to Littleton, who has no claims to be compared with those of
+Abercromby (having been half his life in opposition to the present
+Government), and he obstinately insists upon the expectations held
+out to him being realised. Lord Grey, though very anxious for
+Abercromby, thinks it necessary to defer to the leader of the
+House of Commons, and the consequence is a very disagreeable
+dispute on the subject. Abercromby is greatly mortified at being
+postponed to Littleton, and not the less as Althorp has always
+been his friend. The language of Dover, who is a sort of jackal to
+Brougham, clearly indicates the desire of that worthy to get rid
+of Lord Grey and put himself in his place. All these little
+squabbles elicit some disparaging remarks on Lord Grey's weakness,
+folly, or cupidity. _Haeret lateri_--the offer of the Attorney-Generalship,
+and the day of vengeance is intended to come.[1]
+
+      [1] [This refers to Lord Grey's having offered the
+          Attorney-Generalship to Brougham when Government was
+          formed.]
+
+After considerable delay Horne and Campbell were appointed
+Attorney- and Solicitor-General; the delay was occasioned by
+ineffectual attempts to dispose of Horne elsewhere. They wanted
+to get some puisne judge to resign, and to put Horne on the
+Bench, but they could not make any such arrangement, so Horne is
+Attorney. Pepys was to have been Solicitor if the thing could
+have been managed. I don't think I picked up anything else,
+except that the King was very averse to the French attack upon
+Antwerp, and consented to the hand-in-hand arrangement between
+France and England with considerable reluctance. The fact is he
+hates this Government so much that he dislikes all they do.
+
+Lord Lansdowne is just come from Paris, and gives a flourishing
+account of the prospects of King Louis Philippe and his
+Government, but as he is the Duc de Broglie's intimate friend his
+opinion may be prejudiced. The King appears certainly to have
+rather gained than not by the attack which was made on him, from
+the coolness and courage he evinced, and it is a great point to
+have proved that he is not a coward.
+
+
+Brighton, December 14th, 1832 {p.334}
+
+Came here last Wednesday week; Council on the Monday for the
+dissolution; place very full, bustling, gay, and amusing. I am
+staying in De Ros's house with Alvanley; Chesterfields, Howes,
+Lievens, Cowpers, all at Brighton, and plenty of occupation in
+visiting, gossiping, dawdling, riding, and driving; a very idle
+life, and impossible to do anything. The Court very active,
+vulgar, and hospitable; King, Queen, Princes, Princesses,
+bastards, and attendants constantly trotting about in every
+direction: the election noisy and dull--the Court candidate
+beaten and two Radicals elected. Everybody talking of the siege
+of Antwerp and the elections. So, with plenty of animation, and
+discussion, and curiosity, I like it very well. Lord Howe is
+devoted to the Queen, and never away from her. She receives his
+attentions, but demonstrates nothing in return; he is like a boy
+in love with this frightful spotted Majesty, while his delightful
+wife is laid up (with a sprained ancle and dislocated joint) on
+her couch.
+
+
+Brighton, December 17th, 1832 {p.334}
+
+On Sunday I heard Anderson preach. He does not write his sermons,
+but preaches from notes; very eloquent, voice and manner perfect,
+one of the best I ever heard, both preacher and reader.
+
+[Page Head: MR. GULLY.]
+
+The borough elections are nearly over, and have satisfied the
+Government. They do not seem to be bad on the whole; the
+metropolitans have sent good men enough, and there was no tumult
+in the town. At Hertford Duncombe was routed by Salisbury's long
+purse. He hired such a numerous mob besides that he carried all
+before him. Some very bad characters have been returned; among the
+worst, Faithful here; Gronow at Stafford; Gully, Pontefract;
+Cobbett, Oldham; though I am glad that Cobbett is in Parliament.
+Gully's history is extraordinary. He was taken out of prison
+twenty-five or thirty years ago by Mellish to fight Pierce,
+surnamed the 'Game Chicken,' being then a butcher's apprentice; he
+fought him and was beaten. He afterwards fought Belcher (I
+believe), and Gresson twice, and left the prize-ring with the
+reputation of being the best man in it. He then took to the turf,
+was successful, established himself at Newmarket, where he kept a
+hell, and began a system of corruption of trainers, jockeys, and
+boys, which put the secrets of all Newmarket at his disposal, and
+in a few years made him rich. At the same time he connected
+himself with Mr. Watt in the north, by betting for him, and this
+being at the time when Watt's stable was very successful, he won
+large sums of money by his horses. Having become rich he embarked
+in a great coal speculation, which answered beyond his hopes, and
+his shares soon yielded immense profits. His wife, who was a
+coarse, vulgar woman, in the meantime died, and he afterwards
+married the daughter of an innkeeper, who proved as gentlewomanlike
+as the other had been the reverse, and who is very pretty besides.
+He now gradually withdrew from the betting ring as a regular
+blackleg, still keeping horses, and betting occasionally in large
+sums, and about a year or two ago, having previously sold the Hare
+Park to Sir Mark Wood, where he lived for two or three years, he
+bought a property near Pontefract, and settled down (at Ackworth
+Park) as John Gully, Esq., a gentleman of fortune. At the Reform
+dissolution he was pressed to come forward as candidate for
+Pontefract, but after some hesitation he declined. Latterly he has
+taken great interest in politics, and has been an ardent Reformer
+and a liberal subscriber for the advancement of the cause. When
+Parliament was about to be dissolved, he was again invited to
+stand for Pontefract by a numerous deputation; he again hesitated,
+but finally accepted; Lord Mexborough withdrew, and he was elected
+without opposition. In person he is tall and finely formed, full
+of strength and grace, with delicate hands and feet, his face
+coarse and with a bad expression, his head set well on his
+shoulders, and remarkably graceful and even dignified in his
+actions and manners; totally without education, he has strong
+sense, discretion, reserve, and a species of good taste which has
+prevented, in the height of his fortunes, his behaviour from ever
+transgressing the bounds of modesty and respect, and he has
+gradually separated himself from the rabble of bettors and
+blackguards of whom he was once the most conspicuous, and tacitly
+asserted his own independence and acquired gentility without ever
+presuming towards those whom he has been accustomed to regard with
+deference. His position is now more anomalous than ever, for a
+member of Parliament is a great man, though there appear no
+reasons why the suffrages of the blackguards of Pontefract should
+place him in different social relations towards us than those in
+which we mutually stood before.
+
+
+Petworth, December 20th, 1832 {p.336}
+
+[Page Head: EARL OF EGREMONT.]
+
+Came here yesterday. It is a very grand place; house magnificent
+and full of fine objects, both ancient and modern; the Sir
+Joshuas and Vandykes particularly interesting, and a great deal
+of all sorts that is worth seeing. Lord Egremont was eighty-one
+the day before yesterday, and is still healthy, with faculties
+and memory apparently unimpaired. He has reigned here for sixty
+years with great authority and influence. He is shrewd,
+eccentric, and benevolent, and has always been munificent and
+charitable in his own way; he patronises the arts and fosters
+rising genius. Painters and sculptors find employment and welcome
+in his house; he has built a gallery which is full of pictures
+and statues, some of which are very fine, and the pictures
+scattered through the house are interesting and curious. Lord
+Egremont hates ceremony, and can't bear to be personally meddled
+with; he likes people to come and go as it suits them, and say
+nothing about it, never to take leave of him. The party here
+consists of the Cowpers, his own family, a Lady E. Romney, two
+nieces, Mrs. Tredcroft a neighbour, Ridsdale a parson, Wynne,
+Turner, the great landscape painter, and a young artist of the
+name of Lucas, whom Lord Egremont is bringing into notice, and
+who will owe his fortune (if he makes it) to him. Lord Egremont
+is enormously rich, and lives with an abundant though not very
+refined hospitality. The house wants modern comforts, and the
+servants are rustic and uncouth; but everything is good, and it
+all bears an air of solid and aristocratic grandeur. The stud
+groom told me there are 300 horses of different sorts here. His
+course, however, is nearly run, and he has the mortification of
+feeling that, though surrounded with children and grandchildren,
+he is almost the last of his race, and that his family is about
+to be extinct. Two old brothers and one childless nephew are all
+that are left of the Wyndhams, and the latter has been many years
+married. All his own children are illegitimate, but he has
+everything in his power, though nobody has any notion of the
+manner in which he will dispose of his property. It is impossible
+not to reflect upon the prodigious wealth of the Earls of
+Northumberland, and of the proud Duke of Somerset who married the
+last heiress of that house, the betrothed of three husbands. All
+that Lord Egremont has, all the Duke of Northumberland's
+property, and the Duke of Rutland's Cambridgeshire estate
+belonged to them, which together is probably equivalent to
+between L200,000 and L300,000 a year. Banks told me that the
+Northumberland property, when settled on Sir H. Smithson, was not
+above L12,000 a year.[2]
+
+      [2] [The eleventh Earl of Northumberland, Joscelyn Percy,
+          died in 1670, leaving an only daughter, who married
+          Charles Seymour, ninth Duke of Somerset. This lady is
+          described as 'the betrothed of three husbands,' because
+          she was married at fourteen to Henry Cavendish, son of
+          the Duke of Newcastle, who died in the following year.
+          She was then affianced to Thomas Thynne of Longleat,
+          who was assassinated in 1682; and at last married to
+          the Duke of Somerset. The eldest son of this marriage,
+          Algernon Seymour, who succeeded to the Dukedom of
+          Somerset in 1748, was created Earl of Northumberland on
+          the 2nd of October, 1749, and Earl of Egremont on the
+          following day, with remainder (as regards the latter
+          title) to his nephew Sir Charles Wyndham, who succeeded
+          him in February 1750. The Earldom of Northumberland
+          passed at the same time to Sir Hugh Smithson, son-in-law
+          of Duke Algernon, who was created Duke of Northumberland
+          in 1766. The titles and the vast property of the Duke of
+          Somerset, Earl of Northumberland, thus came to be divided.
+             George O'Brien Wyndham, third Earl of Egremont, to
+          whom Mr. Greville paid this visit, was born on the 18th
+          of December, 1751. He was therefore eighty-two years
+          old at this time; but he lived five years longer, and
+          died in 1837, famous and beloved for his splendid
+          hospitality and for his liberal and judicious patronage
+          of the arts, and likewise of the turf.]
+
+
+Brighton, December 31st, 1832 {p.338}
+
+Lady Howe gave me an account of the offer of the Chamberlainship
+to her husband again. They added the condition that he should not
+oppose Government, but was not to be obliged to support them.
+This he refused, and he regarded the proposal as an insult; so
+the Queen was not conciliated the more. She likewise told me that
+the cause of her former wrath when he was dismissed was that
+neither the King nor Lord Grey told her of it, and that if they
+had she would have consented to the sacrifice at once with a good
+grace; but in the way it was done she thought herself grossly
+ill-used. It is impossible to ascertain the exact nature of this
+connexion. Howe conducts himself towards her like a young ardent
+lover; he never is out of the Pavilion, dines there almost every
+day, or goes every evening, rides with her, never quitting her
+side, and never takes his eyes off her. She does nothing, but she
+admits his attentions and acquiesces in his devotion; at the same
+time there is not the smallest evidence that she treats him as a
+lover. If she did it would be soon known, for she is surrounded
+by enemies. All the Fitzclarences dislike her, and treat her more
+or less disrespectfully. She is aware of it, but takes no notice.
+She is very civil and good-humoured to them all; and as long as
+they keep within the bounds of decency, and do not break out into
+actual impertinence, she probably will continue so.
+
+[Page Head: NAMIK PACHA.]
+
+Two nights ago there was a great assembly after a dinner for the
+reception of the Turkish Ambassador, Namik Pacha. He was brought
+down by Palmerston and introduced before dinner to the King and
+Queen. He is twenty-eight years old, speaks French well, and has
+good manners; his dress very simple--a red cap, black vest,
+trousers and boots, a gold chain and medal round his neck. He did
+not take out any lady to dinner, but was placed next the Queen.
+After dinner the King made him a ridiculous speech, with abundant
+flourishes about the Sultan and his friendship for him, which is
+the more droll from his having been High Admiral at the time of
+the battle of Navarino, to which the Pacha replied in a sonorous
+voice. He admired everything, and conversed with great ease. All
+the stupid, vulgar Englishwomen followed him about as a lion with
+offensive curiosity.
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+                              1833.
+
+
+January 3rd, 1833 {p.339}
+
+Lady Howe begged her husband to show me the correspondence
+between him and Sir Herbert Taylor about the Chamberlainship. It
+is long and confused; Taylor's first letter, in my opinion, very
+impertinent, for it reads him a pretty severe lecture about his
+behaviour when he held the office before. Howe is a foolish man,
+but in this business he acted well enough, better than might have
+been expected. Taylor, by the King's desire, proposed to him to
+resume the office; and after some cavilling he agreed to do so
+with liberty to vote as he pleased, but promising not to be
+violent. So stood the matter on the 9th of September. He heard
+nothing more of it till the 5th of November, when young Hudson[3]
+wrote by the King's orders to know definitely if he meant to take
+it, but that if he did he must be 'neutral.' Howe wrote back word
+that on such terms he declined it. I told him my opinion of the
+whole business, and added my strenuous advice that he should
+immediately prevail on the Queen to appoint somebody else. I
+could not tell him all that people said, but I urged it as
+strongly as I could, hinting that there were very urgent reasons
+for so doing. He did not relish this advice at all, owned that he
+clung tenaciously to the office, liked everything about it, and
+longed to avail himself of some change of circumstances to
+return; and that though he was no longer her officer, he had ever
+since done all the business, and in fact was, without the name,
+as much her Chamberlain as ever. Lady Howe, who is vexed to death
+at the whole thing, was enchanted at my advice, and vehemently
+urged him to adopt it. After he went away she told me how glad
+she was at what I had said, and asked me if people did not say
+and believe everything of Howe's connexion with the Queen, which
+I told her they did. I must say that what passed is enough to
+satisfy me that there is what is called 'nothing in it' but the
+folly and vanity of being the confidential officer and councillor
+of this hideous Queen, for whom he has worked himself up into a
+sort of chivalrous devotion. Yesterday Howe spoke to the Queen
+about it, and proposed to speak to the King; the Queen (he says)
+would not hear of it, and forbad his speaking to the King. To-day
+he is gone away, and I don't know what he settled, probably
+nothing.
+
+      [3] ['Young Hudson' was the page of honour who was sent to
+          Rome in the following year to fetch Sir Robert Peel,
+          when, as Mr. Disraeli expressed it, 'the hurried Hudson
+          rushed into the chambers of his Vatican.' He grew up to
+          be a very able and distinguished diplomatist, Sir James
+          Hudson, G.C.B., who rendered great services to the
+          cause of Italian independence.]
+
+[Page Head: LYNDHURST AND MANNERS SUTTON.]
+
+Lyndhurst dined here the day before yesterday. Finding I knew all
+that had passed about the negotiations for a Tory Government in
+the middle of the Reform question, he told me his story, which
+differs very little from that which Arbuthnot had told me at
+Downham, and fully corroborates his account of the duplicity of
+Peel and the extraordinary conduct of Lyndhurst himself. He said
+that as soon as he had left the King he went to the Duke, who
+said he must go directly to Peel. Peel refused to join. The Duke
+desired him to go back to Peel, and propose to him to be Prime
+Minister and manage everything himself. Peel still declined, on
+which he went to Baring. Baring begged he might consult Peel,
+which was granted. He came back, said he would take office, but
+that they must invite Manners Sutton also. They did so, and
+Sutton refused. Vesey Fitzgerald, however, suggested to Lyndhurst
+that if they proposed to Sutton to be Prime Minister perhaps he
+would accept. Another conversation ensued with Sutton, and a
+meeting was fixed at Apsley House on the Sunday. In the meantime
+Lyndhurst went down to the King and told him what had taken
+place, adding that Sutton would not do, and that the Duke alone
+could form a Government. At Apsley House Sutton talked for three
+hours, and such infernal nonsense that Lyndhurst was ready to go
+mad; nor would he decide. They pressed him to say if he would
+take office or not. He said he must wait till the next morning.
+They said, 'It must be very early, then.' In the morning he put
+off deciding (on some frivolous pretext) till the afternoon. He
+went to the House of Commons without having given any answer. The
+famous debate ensued, and the whole game was up.
+
+All this tallies with the other account, only he did not say that
+Peel had desired Baring to insist on Sutton, and had advised
+Sutton to take no place but the highest, nor that he had without
+the Duke's knowledge offered Sutton that post, and concealed from
+Sutton his subsequent opinion of his incapacity and determination
+that he should not have it. I asked Lyndhurst how he managed with
+Sutton, and whether he had not come to Apsley House with the
+impression on his mind that he was to be Premier. He said that
+'he had evaded that question with Sutton'--that is, all parties
+were deceived, while the Duke, who meant to act nobly, suffered
+all the blame. He showed great disregard of personal interests
+and selfish views, but I shall always think his error was
+enormous. It is remarkable that this story is so little known.
+
+They had a dinner and dancing the night before last at the
+Pavilion for New Year's Day; and the King danced a country dance
+with Lord Amelius Beauclerc, an old Admiral.
+
+
+London, January 11th, 1833 {p.341}
+
+Came to town with Alvanley the day before yesterday. Howe plucked
+up courage, spoke to the King and Queen, and settled Denbigh's
+appointment,[4] though not without resistance on the part of
+their Majesties. Lord Grey came down, and was very well received
+by both. At the commerce table the King sat by him, and was full
+of jokes; called him continually 'Lord Howe,' to the great
+amusement of the bystanders and of Lord Grey himself. Munster
+came down and was reconciled, condescending _moyennant_ a douceur
+of L2,500 to accept the Constableship of the Round Tower. The
+stories of the King are uncommonly ridiculous. He told Madame de
+Ludolf, who had been Ambassadress at Constantinople, that he
+desired she would recommend Lady Ponsonby to all her friends
+there, and she might tell them she was the daughter of one of his
+late brother's sultanas (Lady Jersey). His Majesty insisted on
+Lord Stafford's taking the title of Sutherland, and ordered Gower
+to send him an express to say so. One day at dinner he asked the
+Duke of Devonshire '_where he meant to be buried!_'
+
+      [4] [William Basil Percy, seventh Earl of Denbigh, was
+          appointed Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide at this time,
+          and remained in the service of her Majesty--a most
+          excellent and devoted servant--to the close of her
+          life.]
+
+[Page Head: STATE OF THE TORY PARTY.]
+
+I received a few days ago at Brighton the draft of a Bill of
+Brougham's for transferring the jurisdiction of the Delegates to
+the Privy Council, or rather for creating a new Court and sinking
+the Privy Council in it. Lord Lansdowne sent it to me, and
+desired me to send him my opinion upon it. I showed it to
+Stephen, and returned it to Lord Lansdowne with some criticisms
+in which Stephen and I had agreed. It is a very bungling piece of
+work, and one which Lord Lansdowne ought not to consent to, the
+object evidently being to make a Court of which Brougham shall be
+at the head, and to transfer to it much of the authority of the
+Crown, Parliament, and Privy Council; all from his ambitious and
+insatiable desire of personal aggrandisement. I have no doubt he
+is playing a deep game, and paving the way for his own accession
+to power, striving to obtain popularity and influence with the
+King; that he will succeed to a great degree, and for a certain
+time, is probable. Manners Sutton is to be again Speaker. Althorp
+wrote him a very flummery letter, and he accepted. The Government
+wants to be out of the scrape they are in between Abercromby and
+Littleton, and Sutton wants his peerage. Everything seems
+prosperous here; the Government is strong, the House of Commons
+is thought respectable on the whole and safe, trade is brisk,
+funds rising, money plentiful, confidence reviving, Tories sulky.
+
+
+January 17th, 1833 {p.343}
+
+The Government don't know what to do about the embargo on the
+Dutch ships. Soon after they had laid it on they made a second
+order allowing ships with perishable goods to go free; and
+thinking the whole thing would be soon over, they desired this
+might be construed indulgently, and accordingly many ships were
+suffered to pass (with goods more or less perishing) under that
+order. Now that the King of Holland continues obstinate they want
+to squeeze him, and to construe the order strictly. There have
+been many consultations what to do, whether they should make
+another order rescinding the last or execute the former more
+strictly. Both are liable to objections. The first will appear
+like a cruel proceeding and evidence of uncertainty of purpose;
+the last will show a capricious variation in the practice of the
+Privy Council, with which the matter rests. Their wise heads were
+to be put together last night to settle this knotty point.
+
+Wharncliffe showed me a paper he has written, in which, after
+briefly recapitulating the present state of the Tory party and
+the condition of the new Parliament (particularly as to the mode
+in which it was elected, or rather under what influence), he
+proceeds to point out what ought to be the course for the Tories
+to adopt. It is moderate and becoming enough, and he has imparted
+it to the Duke of Wellington, who concurs in his view. I wonder,
+however, that he is not sick of writing papers and imparting
+views, after all that passed last year, after his fruitless
+attempts, his false moves, and the treatment he received at the
+hands of the Tories; but he seems to have forgotten or forgiven
+everything, and is disposed to wriggle himself back amongst the
+party upon any terms. He acknowledges one thing fully, and that
+is the desperate and woebegone condition of the party itself, and
+the impossibility of their doing anything _now_ as a party.
+
+Lord Lansdowne received very complacently my criticisms on
+Brougham's Bill, and has acknowledged since he came to town that
+it would not do at all as it now stands. The King has been
+delighting the Whigs, and making himself more ridiculous and
+contemptible by the most extravagant civilities to the new
+Peers--that is, _to_ Western and about Lord Stafford. He now
+appears to be very fond of his Ministers.
+
+
+January 19th, 1833 {p.344}
+
+I have at last succeeded in stimulating Lord Lansdowne to
+something like resistance (or rather the promise of it) to
+Brougham's Bill. I have proved to him that his dignity and his
+interest will both be compromised by this Bill, which intends to
+make the Chancellor President of the Court, and _ergo_ of the
+Council, and to give him all the patronage there will be. Against
+these proposals he kicks; at least he is restive, and shows
+symptoms of kicking, though he will very likely be still again. I
+sent the Bill to Stephen, who instantly and _currente calamo_
+drew up a series of objections to it, as comprehensive and acute
+as all his productions are, and last night I sent it to Leach
+(who hates the Chancellor), and he has returned it to me with a
+strong condemnatory reply. Stephen having told me that Howick
+would be too happy to oppose this Bill, on account of the
+influence it would have on Colonial matters, particularly about
+Canada, I took it to him, but he declined interfering, though he
+concurred in Stephen's remarks.
+
+
+January 22nd, 1833 {p.344}
+
+[Page Head: VISIT TO HARTWELL.]
+
+Dined with Talleyrand the day before yesterday. Nobody there but
+his _attaches_. After dinner he told me about his first residence
+in England, and his acquaintance with Fox and Pitt. He always
+talks in a kind of affectionate tone about the former, and is now
+meditating a visit to Mrs. Fox at St. Anne's Hill, where he may
+see her surrounded with the busts, pictures, and recollections of
+her husband. He delights to dwell on the simplicity, gaiety,
+childishness, and profoundness of Fox. I asked him if he had ever
+known Pitt. He said that Pitt came to Rheims to learn French, and
+he was there at the same time on a visit to the Archbishop, his
+uncle (whom I remember at Hartwell,[5] a very old prelate with
+the tic-douloureux), and that he and Pitt lived together for
+nearly six weeks, reciprocally teaching each other French and
+English. After Chauvelin had superseded him, and that he and
+Chauvelin had disagreed, he went to live near Epsom (at Juniper
+Hall) with Madame de Stael; afterwards they came to London, and
+in the meantime Pitt had got into the hands of the _emigres_, who
+persuaded him to send Talleyrand away, and accordingly he
+received orders to quit England in twenty-four hours. He embarked
+on board a vessel for America, but was detained in the river off
+Greenwich. Dundas sent to him, and asked him to come and stay
+with him while the ship was detained, but he said he would not
+set his foot on English ground again, and remained three weeks on
+board the ship in the river. It is strange to hear M. de
+Talleyrand talk at seventy-eight. He opens the stores of his
+memory and pours forth a stream on any subject connected with his
+past life. Nothing seems to have escaped from that great treasury
+of bygone events.
+
+      [5] [Mr. Greville had paid a visit with his father to the
+          little Court of Louis XVIII. at Hartwell about two
+          years before the Restoration, when he was eighteen
+          years of age. His narrative of this visit has been
+          printed in the fifth volume of the 'Miscellany of the
+          Philobiblon Society,' but it may not be inappropriately
+          inserted here.]
+
+                         A VISIT TO HARTWELL.
+                                                 April 14th, 1814.
+
+              I have often determined to commit to paper as much
+          as I can remember of my visit to Hartwell; and, as the
+          King is about to ascend the throne of his ancestors, it
+          is not uninteresting to recall to mind the particulars
+          of a visit paid to him while in exile and in poverty.
+              About two years ago my father and I went to
+          Hartwell by invitation of the King. We dressed at
+          Aylesbury, and proceeded to Hartwell in the afternoon.
+          We had previously taken a walk in the environs of the
+          town, and had met the Duchesse d'Angouleme on
+          horseback, accompanied by a Madame Choisi. At five
+          o'clock we set out to Hartwell. The house is large, but
+          in a dreary, disagreeable situation. The King had
+          completely altered the interior, having subdivided
+          almost all the apartments in order to lodge a greater
+          number of people. There were numerous outhouses, in
+          some of which small shops had been established by the
+          servants, interspersed with gardens, so that the place
+          resembled a little town.
+              Upon entering the house we were conducted by the
+          Duc de Grammont into the King's private apartment. He
+          received us most graciously and shook hands with both
+          of us. This apartment was exceedingly small, hardly
+          larger than a closet, and I remarked pictures of the
+          late King and Queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the Dauphin,
+          Louis XVII., hanging on the walls. The King had a
+          manner of swinging his body backwards and forwards,
+          which caused the most unpleasant sensations in that
+          small room, and made my father feel something like
+          being sea-sick. The room was just like a cabin, and the
+          motions of his Majesty exactly resembled the heaving of
+          a ship. After our audience with the King we were taken
+          to the _salon_ a large room with a billiard table at
+          one end. Here the party assembled before dinner, to all
+          of whom we were presented--the Duchesse d'Angouleme,
+          Monsieur the Duc d'Angouleme, the Duc de Berri, the
+          Prince and Princess de Conde (_ci-devant_ Madame de
+          Monaco), and a vast number of ducs, &c.; Madame la
+          Duchesse de Serron (a little old _dame d'honneur_ to
+          Madame d'Angouleme), the Duc de Lorges, the Duc
+          d'Auray, the Archeveque de Rheims (an infirm old
+          prelate, tortured with the tic-douloureux), and many
+          others whose names I cannot remember. At a little after
+          six dinner was announced, when we went into the next
+          room, the King walking out first. The dinner was
+          extremely plain, consisting of very few dishes, and no
+          wines except port and sherry. His Majesty did the
+          honours himself, and was very civil and agreeable. We
+          were a very short time at table, and the ladies and
+          gentlemen all got up together. Each of the ladies
+          folded up her napkin, tied it round with a bit of
+          ribbon, and carried it away. After dinner we returned
+          to the drawing-room and drank coffee. The whole party
+          remained in conversation about a quarter of an hour,
+          when the King retired to his closet, upon which all
+          repaired to their separate apartments. Whenever the
+          King came in or went out of the room, Madame
+          d'Angouleme made him a low curtsy, which he returned by
+          bowing and kissing his hand. This little ceremony never
+          failed to take place. After the party had separated we
+          were taken to the Duc de Grammont's apartments, where
+          we drank tea. After remaining there about three
+          quarters of an hour we went to the apartment of Madame
+          d'Angouleme, where a great part of the company were
+          assembled, and where we stayed about a quarter of an
+          hour. After this we descended again to the drawing-room,
+          where several card tables were laid out. The King
+          played at whist with the Prince and Princess de Conde
+          and my father. His Majesty settled the points of the
+          game at 'le quart d'un sheling.' The rest of the party
+          played at billiards or ombre. The King was so civil as
+          to invite us to sleep there, instead of returning to
+          the inn at Aylesbury. When he invited us he said, 'Je
+          crains que vous serez tres-mal loges, mais on donne ce
+          qu'on peut.' Soon after eleven the King retired, when
+          we separated for the night. We were certainly 'tres-mal
+          loges.' In the morning when I got out of bed, I was
+          alarmed by the appearance of an old woman on the leads
+          before my window, who was hanging linen to dry. I was
+          forced to retreat hastily to bed, not to shock the old
+          lady's modesty. At ten the next morning we breakfasted,
+          and at eleven we took leave of the King (who always
+          went to Mass at that hour) and returned to London. We
+          saw the whole place before we came away; and they
+          certainly had shown great ingenuity in contriving to
+          lodge such a number of people in and about the
+          house--it was exactly like a small rising colony. We
+          were very much pleased with our expedition; and were
+          invited to return whenever we could make it convenient.
+
+
+January 24th, 1833 {p.346}
+
+I have at last made Lord Lansdowne fire a shot at the Chancellor
+about this Bill. He has written him a letter, in which he has
+embodied Stephen's objections and some of his own (as he says, for
+I did not see the letter). The Chancellor will be very angry, for
+he can't endure contradiction, and he has a prodigious contempt
+for the Lord President, whom he calls 'Mother Elizabeth.' He
+probably arrives at the sobriquet through Petty, Betty, and so on.
+
+Dined with Talleyrand yesterday; Pozzo, who said little and
+seemed low; Talleyrand _talked_ after dinner, said that Cardinal
+Fleury was one of the greatest Ministers who ever governed
+France, and that justice had never been done him; he had
+maintained peace for twenty years, and acquired Lorraine for
+France. He said this _a propos_ of the library he formed or left,
+or whatever he did in that line, at Paris. He told me he goes
+very often to the British Museum, and has lately made them a
+present of a book.
+
+
+January 26th, 1833 {p.347}
+
+[Page Head: ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.]
+
+[Page Head: HENRY TAYLOR ON ABOLITION OF SLAVERY.]
+
+It seems that the Government project (or perhaps only the fact
+that they have one) about West Indian emancipation has got wind,
+and the West Indians are of course in a state of great alarm. They
+believe that it will be announced, whatever it is to be, in the
+King's Speech, though I doubt there being anything but a vague
+intention expressed in it. Of all political feelings and
+passions--and such this rage for emancipation is, rather than a
+consideration of interest--it has always struck me as the most
+extraordinary and remarkable. There can be no doubt that a great
+many of the Abolitionists are actuated by very pure motives; they
+have been shocked at the cruelties which have been and still are
+very often practised towards slaves, their minds are imbued with
+the horrors they have read and heard of, and they have an
+invincible conviction that the state of slavery under any form is
+repugnant to the spirit of the English Constitution and the
+Christian religion, and that it is a stain upon the national
+character which ought to be wiped away. These people, generally
+speaking, are very ignorant concerning all the various difficulties
+which beset the question; their notions are superficial; they pity
+the slaves, whom they regard as injured innocents, and they hate
+their masters, whom they treat as criminal barbarians. Others are
+animated in this cause purely by ambition, and by finding that it
+is a capital subject to talk upon, and a cheap and easy species of
+benevolence; others have satisfied themselves that slavery is a
+mistaken system, that the cruelty of it is altogether gratuitous,
+and that free labour will answer the purpose as well or better,
+and get rid of the odium; and thousands more have mixed feelings
+and opinions, compounded of some or all of the above in various
+degrees and proportions, according to the bent of individual
+character; but there are some persons among the most zealous and
+able of the Abolitionists who avail themselves of the passions and
+the ignorance of the people to carry this point, while they
+carefully conceal their own sentiments as to the result of the
+experiment. I say some because, though I only know (of my own
+knowledge) of one, from the sagacity of the man and the conformity
+of his opinions with those of others on this and other topics, I
+have no doubt that there are many who view the matter in the same
+light. I allude to Henry Taylor,[6] who rules half the West Indies
+in the Colonial Office, though with an invisible sceptre. Talking
+over the matter the other day, he said that he was well aware of
+the consequences of emancipation both to the negroes and the
+planters. The estates of the latter would not be cultivated; it
+would be impossible, for want of labour; the negroes would not
+work--no inducement would be sufficient to make them; they wanted
+to be free merely that they might be idle. They would, on being
+emancipated, possess themselves of ground, the fertility of which
+in those regions is so great that very trifling labour will be
+sufficient to provide them with the means of existence, and they
+will thus relapse rapidly into a state of barbarism; they will
+resume the habits of their African brethren, but, he thinks,
+without the ferocity and savageness which distinguish the latter.
+Of course the germs of civilisation and religion which have been
+sown among them in their servile state will be speedily
+obliterated; if not, as man must either rise or fall in the moral
+scale, they will acquire strength, with it power, and as certainly
+the desire of using that power for the amelioration of their
+condition. The island (for Jamaica may be taken for example, as it
+was in our conversation) would not long be tenable for whites;
+indeed, it is difficult to conceive how any planters could remain
+there when their property was no longer cultivable, even though
+the emancipated negroes should become as harmless and gentle as
+the ancient Mexicans. Notwithstanding this view of the matter, in
+which my friend has the sagacity to perceive some of the probable
+consequences of the measure, though (he admits) with much
+uncertainty as to its operation, influenced as it must be by
+circumstances and accidents, he is for emancipating at once. 'Fiat
+justitia ruat coelum'--that is, I do not know that he is for
+immediate, unconditional emancipation; I believe not, but he is
+for doing the deed; whether he goes before or lags after the
+Government I do not at this moment know. He is, too, a high-principled
+man, full of moral sensibility and of a grave, reflecting,
+philosophical character, and neither a visionary in religion nor
+in politics, only of a somewhat austere and uncompromising turn of
+mind, and with some of the positiveness of a theorist who has a
+lofty opinion of his own capacity, and has never undergone that
+discipline of the world, that tumbling and tossing and jostling,
+which beget modesty and diffidence and prudence, from the
+necessity which they inculcate of constant compromises with
+antagonist interests and hostile passions. But what is the upshot
+of all this? Why, that in the midst of the uproar and confusion,
+the smoke and the dust of the controversy, one may believe that
+one sees a glimmering of the real futurity in the case--and that
+is a long series of troubles and a wide scene of ruin.
+
+      [6] [Afterwards Sir Henry Taylor, K.M.G., author of 'Philip
+          van Artevelde.' Nearly forty years later Sir H. Taylor
+          continued to fill the same position described by Mr.
+          Greville in 1833. He resigned in 1872.]
+
+
+January 30th, 1833 {p.349}
+
+The intentions of Government with regard to the West Indies (or
+rather that they have intentions of a nature very fatal to that
+interest) having got wind, the consternation of the West India
+body is great. A deputation, headed by Sir Alexander Grant,
+waited upon Lords Grey and Goderich the other day, and put
+certain questions to them, stating that the prevalence of
+reports, some of which had appeared in the newspapers, had
+greatly alarmed them, and they wished to ascertain if any of them
+had been authorised by Government. Lord Grey said 'certainly not;
+the Government had authorised nothing.' They asked if he would
+reappoint the Committees. He would give no pledge as to this, but
+they discussed the propriety of so doing, he seeming indisposed.
+To all their questions he gave vague answers, refusing to
+communicate anything except this, that nothing was decided, but a
+plan was under the consideration of the Cabinet in which the
+interests of all parties were consulted. He added that he could
+not pledge himself to give any previous intimation of the
+intentions of Government to the West India body, nor to disclose
+the measure at all until it was proposed to Parliament. There are
+in the meantime no end of reports of the nature and extent of the
+proposed measure, and no end to the projects and opinions of
+those who are interested.
+
+I dined at Lord Bathurst's yesterday, and sat next to Lord
+Ellenborough, who said that he was convinced the best thing the
+proprietors could do would be to agree instantly to stop their
+orders, which he believes would compel Government to arrest their
+course. I am not enough acquainted with the subject to judge how
+far they might operate, but I doubt it, or that in the temper of
+the people of this country, or rather of those zealots who
+represent it, and with the disposition of this Government to
+yield to every popular cry, the fear of any consequences would
+prevent their going on. It would, I believe, only give them and
+the House of Commons a pretext for refusing them pecuniary
+compensation. I was much amused with a piece of vanity of
+Ellenborough's. We were talking of the war between the Turks and
+the Egyptians, and the resources of Egypt, &c., when he said, 'If
+I had continued at the Board of Control I would have had Egypt,
+got at it from the Red Sea; I had already ordered the formation
+of _a corps_ of _Arab guides_!'
+
+
+February 1st, 1833 {p.351}
+
+[Page Head: RUSSIA AND TURKEY.]
+
+The Reformed Parliament opened heavily (on Tuesday), as
+Government think satisfactorily. Cobbett took his seat on the
+Treasury Bench, and spoke three times, though the last time
+nobody would stay to hear him. He was very twaddling, and said
+but one good thing, when he called O'Connell the member for
+_Ireland_.
+
+Saw Madame de Lieven the day before yesterday, who fired a tirade
+against Government; she vowed that nobody ever had been treated
+with such personal incivility as Lieven, 'des injures, des
+reproches,' that Cobbett, Hunt, and all the blackguards in
+England could not use more offensive language; whatever event was
+coming was imputed to Russia--Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, 'tout
+etait la Russie et les intrigues de la Russie;' that she foresaw
+they should be driven away from England. With reference to the
+war in Asia Minor, she said the Sultan had applied to the Emperor
+for assistance, 'et qu'il l'aurait, et que le Sultan n'avait pas
+un meilleur ami que lui,' that the Egyptians would advance no
+farther, and a great deal more of complaint at the injustice
+evinced towards them and on their political innocence. In the
+evening I told all this to Mellish of the Foreign Office, who
+knows everything about foreign affairs, and he said it was all a
+lie, that Russia had offered her assistance, which the Sultan had
+refused, and she was, in fact, intriguing and making mischief in
+every Court in Europe. George Villiers writes me word that she
+has been for months past endeavouring to get up a war anywhere,
+and that this Turkish business is more likely than anything to
+bring one about.[7]
+
+      [7] [The state of the Ottoman Empire was most critical. In
+          the latter months of 1832 the victorious troops of
+          Mehomet Ali had forced their way across the Taunus; the
+          peace of Koniah was concluded early in 1833 with the
+          Egyptians; and the Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi with the
+          Russians in July 1833.]
+
+
+February 2nd, 1833 {p.351}
+
+Dinner at Lord Lansdowne's for the Sheriffs; soon over and not
+particularly disagreeable, though I hate dining with the
+Ministers; had some conversation with Goderich about Jamaica; he
+says Mulgrave has done very well there, perhaps rather too
+vigorously, that the dissolution of the Assembly under all
+circumstances is questionable, but he must be supported; he hopes
+nothing from another assembly, nor does Mulgrave, who says that
+they are incorrigible. The fact is their conduct paralyses the
+exertions of their friends here, if, indeed, they have any
+friends who would make any exertions.
+
+
+February 4th, 1833 {p.352}
+
+At Court for the King's Speech and the appointment of Sheriffs.
+Lord Munster and Lord Denbigh were sworn Privy Councillors. The
+West Indians have taken such an attitude of desperation that the
+Government is somewhat alarmed, and seems disposed to pause at
+the adoption of its abolitionary measures. George Hibbert told me
+last night that if they were driven to extremities there was
+nothing they were not ready to do, and that there would be
+another panic if Government did not take care, and so Rothschild
+had told them.
+
+I dined with Madame de Lieven yesterday, who is in the agonies of
+doubt about her remaining here. It turns upon this: Stratford
+Canning has been appointed Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and the
+Emperor will not receive him. Palmerston is indignant, and will
+not send anybody else. If the Emperor persists, we shall only
+have a Charge d'Affaires at his Court, and in that case he will
+not leave an Ambassador at ours. There seems to be at present no
+way out of the quarrel. Stratford Canning's mission to Madrid
+cannot last for ever, and when it is over the point must be
+decided.
+
+The people of Jamaica have presented a petition to the King (I
+don't know exactly in what shape, or how got up), praying to be
+released from their allegiance. Goderich told me that it was very
+insolent. Mulgrave's recent _coup de theatre_ is severely
+condemned. Nothing can save these unhappy colonies, for all
+parties vie with each other in violence and folly--the people
+here and the people there, the Government here and the Government
+there.
+
+
+February 10th, 1833 {p.353}
+
+[Page Head: DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.]
+
+After four days' debate in the House of Commons (quite
+unprecedented, I believe) the Address was carried by a large
+majority.[8] Opinions are of course very various upon the state of
+the House and the character of the discussion. The anti-Reformers,
+with a sort of melancholy triumph, boast that their worst
+expectations have been fulfilled. The Government were during the
+first day or two very serious, and though on the whole they think
+they have reason to be satisfied, they cannot help seeing that
+they have in fact very little power of managing the House.
+Everybody agrees that the aspect of the House of Commons was very
+different--the number of strange faces; the swagger of O'Connell,
+walking about incessantly, and making signs to, or talking with,
+his followers in various parts; the Tories few and scattered; Peel
+no longer surrounded with a stout band of supporters, but pushed
+from his usual seat, which is occupied by Cobbett, O'Connell, and
+the Radicals; he is gone up nearer to the Speaker.
+
+      [8] [The first Reformed Parliament met and was formally
+          opened on the 29th of January, 1833. After the election
+          of the Speaker (Manners Sutton) the King delivered his
+          Speech from the Throne on the 5th of February.]
+
+The whole debate turned upon Ireland. O'Connell pronounced a
+violent but powerful philippic, which Stanley answered very well.
+Macaulay made one of his brilliant speeches the second night, and
+Peel spoke the third. It was not possible to make a more
+dexterous and judicious speech than he did; for finding himself
+in a very uncomfortable position, he at once placed himself in a
+good one, and acknowledging that his situation was altogether
+different from what it had been, he contrived to transfer to
+himself personally much of the weight and authority which he
+previously held as the organ and head of a great and powerful
+party. He pronounced an eulogium of Stanley, declared that his
+confidence in Government was not augmented, but that he would
+support them if they would support law and order. The Government
+were extremely pleased at his speech, though I think not without
+a secret misgiving that they are likely to be more in his power
+than is pleasant. But the benefit resulting from the whole is
+that the Radicals all opposed the Government, while Peel
+supported them; so that we may hope that a complete line of
+separation is drawn between the two former, and that the
+Government will really and boldly take the Conservative side. On
+the whole, perhaps, this bout may be deemed satisfactory.
+
+
+February 14th, 1833 {p.354}
+
+[Page Head: CHARACTER OF PEEL.]
+
+The night before last Althorp brought forward his plan of Irish
+Church Reform, with complete success. He did it well, and Stanley
+made a very brilliant speech. The House received it with almost
+unanimous applause, nobody opposing but Inglis and Goulburn, and
+Peel, in a very feeble speech, which scarcely deserves the name
+of opposition; it will be of great service to the Government.
+O'Connell lauded the measure up to the skies; but Sheil said he
+would bite his tongue off with vexation the next morning for
+having done so, after he had slept upon it. It was clear that
+Peel, who is courting the House, and exerting all his dexterity
+to bring men's minds round to him, saw the stream was too strong
+for him to go against it, so he made a sort of temporising,
+moderate, unmeaning speech, which will give him time to determine
+on his best course, and did not commit him. Poulett Thomson said
+to me yesterday that Peel's prodigious superiority over everybody
+in the House was so evident, his talent for debate and thorough
+knowledge of Parliamentary tactics, gained by twenty years of
+experience, so commanding, that he must draw men's minds to him,
+and that he was evidently playing that game, throwing over the
+ultra-Tories and ingratiating himself with the House and the
+country. He, in fact, means to open a house to all comers, and
+make himself necessary and indispensable. Under that placid
+exterior he conceals, I believe, a boundless ambition, and hatred
+and jealousy lurk under his professions of esteem and political
+attachment. His is one of those contradictory characters,
+containing in it so much of mixed good and evil, that it is
+difficult to strike an accurate balance between the two, and the
+acts of his political life are of a corresponding description, of
+questionable utility and merit, though always marked by great
+ability. It is very sure that he has been the instrument of great
+good, or of enormous evil, and apparently more of the latter. He
+came into life the child and champion of a political system which
+has been for a long time crumbling to pieces; and if the perils
+which are produced by its fall are great, they are mainly
+attributable to the manner in which it was upheld by Peel, and to
+his want of sagacity, in a wrong estimate of his means of defence
+and of the force of the antagonist power with which he had to
+contend. The leading principles of his political conduct have
+been constantly erroneous, and his dexterity and ability in
+supporting them have only made the consequences of his errors
+more extensively pernicious. If we look back through the long
+course of Peel's life, and enquire what have been the great
+political measures with which his name is particularly connected,
+we shall find, first, the return to cash payments, which almost
+everybody now agrees was a fatal mistake, though it would not be
+fair to visit him with extraordinary censure for a measure which
+was sanctioned by almost all the great financial authorities;
+secondly, opposition to Reform in Parliament and to religious
+emancipation of every kind, the maintenance of the exclusive
+system, and support, untouched and unconnected, of the Church,
+both English and Irish. His resistance to alterations on these
+heads was conducted with great ability, and for a long time with
+success; but he was endeavouring to uphold a system which was no
+longer supportable, and having imbibed in his career much of the
+liberal spirit of the age, he found himself in a state of no
+small perplexity between his old connections and his more
+enlarged propensities. Still he was chained down by the former,
+and consequently being beaten from all his positions, he was
+continually obliged to give way, but never did so till rather too
+late for his own credit and much too late for the interest at
+stake. Notwithstanding, therefore, the reputation he has
+acquired, the hold he has had of office, and is probably destined
+to have again, his political life has been a considerable
+failure, though not such an one as to render it more probable
+than not that his future life will be a failure too. He has
+hitherto been encumbered with embarrassing questions and an
+unmanageable party. Time has disposed of the first, and he is
+divorced from the last; if his great experience and talents have
+a fair field to act upon, he may yet, in spite of his selfish and
+unamiable character, be a distinguished and successful Minister.
+
+
+
+
+                           CHAPTER XX.
+
+Appointment of Sir Stratford Canning to the Russian Embassy--
+  Cause of the Refusal--Slavery in the West Indies--The Reformed
+  Parliament--Duke of Wellington's View of Affairs--The Coercion
+  Bill--The Privy Council Bill--Lord Durham made an Earl--Mr.
+  Stanley Secretary for the Colonies--The Russians go to the
+  Assistance of the Porte--Lord Goderich has the Privy Seal, an
+  Earldom, and the Garter--Embarrassments of the Government--The
+  Appeal of Drax _v._ Grosvenor at the Privy Council--Hobhouse
+  defeated in Westminster--Bill for Negro Emancipation--The
+  Russians on the Bosphorus--Mr. Littleton Chief Secretary for
+  Ireland--Respect shown to the Duke of Wellington--Moral of a
+  'Book on the Derby'--The Oaks--A Betting Incident--Ascot--
+  Government beaten in the Lords on Foreign Policy--Vote of
+  Confidence in the Commons--Drax _v._ Grosvenor decided--Lord
+  Eldon's Last Judgment--His Character--Duke of Wellington as
+  Leader of Opposition--West India Affairs--Irish Church Bill--
+  Appropriation Clause--A Fancy Bazaar--The King writes to the
+  Bishops--Local Court Bill--Mirabeau.
+
+
+February 16th, 1833 {p.357}
+
+Madame de Lieven gave me an account (the day before yesterday) of
+the quarrel between the two Courts about Stratford Canning. When
+the present Ministry came in, Nesselrode wrote to Madame de
+Lieven and desired her to beg that Lord Heytesbury might be left
+there--'Conservez-nous Heytesbury.' She asked Palmerston and Lord
+Grey, and they both promised her he should stay. Some time after
+he asked to be recalled. She wrote word to Nesselrode, and told
+him that either Adair or Canning would succeed him. He replied,
+'Don't let it be Canning; he is a most impracticable man,
+_soupconneux, pointilleux, defiant_;' that he had been personally
+uncivil to the Emperor when he was Grand Duke; in short the plain
+truth was they would not receive him, and it was therefore
+desirable somebody, anybody, else should be sent. She told this
+to Palmerston, and he engaged that Stratford Canning should not
+be named. Nothing more was done till some time ago, when to her
+astonishment Palmerston told her that he was going to send
+Canning to St. Petersburg. She remonstrated, urged all the
+objections of her Court, his own engagement, but in vain; the
+discussions between them grew bitter; Palmerston would not give
+way, and Canning was one day to her horror gazetted. As might
+have been expected, Nesselrode positively refused to receive him.
+Durham, who in the meantime had been to Russia and _bien comble_
+with civilities, promised that Canning should not go there,
+trusting he had sufficient influence to prevent it; and since he
+has been at home it is one of the things he has been most violent
+and bitter about, because Palmerston will not retract this
+nomination, and he has the mortification of finding in this
+instance his own want of power. However, as there have been no
+discussions on it lately, the Princess still hopes it may blow
+over, and that some other mission may be found for Canning. At
+all events it appears a most curious piece of diplomacy to insist
+upon thrusting upon a Court a man personally obnoxious to the
+Sovereign and his Minister, and not the best way of preserving
+harmonious relations or obtaining political advantages. She says,
+however (and with all her anger she is no bad judge), that
+Palmerston 'est un tres-petit esprit--lourd, obstine,' &c., and
+she is astonished how Lady C. with her _finesse_ can be so taken
+with him.
+
+Lady Cowper has since told me that Madame de Lieven has been to
+blame in all this business, that Palmerston was provoked with her
+interference, that her temper had got the better of her, and she
+had thought to carry it with a high hand, having been used to
+have her own way, and that he had thought both _she_ and her
+_Court_ wanted to be taken down a peg; that she had told
+Nesselrode she could prevent this appointment, and, what had done
+more harm than anything, she had appealed to Grey against
+Palmerston, and employed Durham to make a great clamour about it.
+All this made Palmerston angry, and determined him to punish her,
+who he thought had meddled more than she ought, and had made the
+matter personally embarrassing and disagreeable to him.
+
+[Page Head: LORD GREY'S COERCION BILL.]
+
+Last night Lord Grey introduced his coercive measures in an
+excellent speech, though there are some people who doubt his being
+able to carry them through the House of Commons. If he can't, he
+goes of course; and what next? The measures are sufficiently
+strong, it must be owned--a _consomme_ of insurrection-gagging
+Acts, suspension of Habeas Corpus, martial law, and one or two
+other little hards and sharps.[1]
+
+      [1] [In the debate on the Address O'Connell had denounced
+          the coercive measures announced in the Speech from the
+          Throne as 'brutal, bloody, and unconstitutional.' But
+          the state of Ireland was so dreadful that it demanded
+          and justified the severest remedies. Lord Grey stated
+          in the House of Lords that between January 1st and
+          December 31st 9,000 crimes had been committed--homicides
+          242, robberies 1,179, burglaries 401, burnings 568, and so
+          on. The Bill gave the Lord-Lieutenant power to proclaim
+          disturbed districts, to substitute courts-martial for
+          the ordinary courts of justice, to prohibit meetings,
+          and to punish the distributors of seditious papers. Such
+          were the powers which Lord Wellesley described as more
+          formidable to himself than to the people of Ireland, for the
+          greater part of them were never exercised. The Act
+          produced the desired effect. In a year Ireland was
+          pacified; and the abandonment of several of the most
+          important clauses in the Act (contrary to Lord Grey's
+          wishes) was the cause which led to the dissolution of the
+          Ministry in the month of June 1834.]
+
+
+London, February 22nd, 1833 {p.359}
+
+Dined yesterday with Fortunatus Dwarris, who was counsel to the
+Board of Health; one of those dinners that people in that class
+of society put themselves in an agony to give, and generally
+their guests in as great an agony to partake of. There were
+Goulburn, Serjeant ditto and his wife, Stephen, &c. Goulburn
+mentioned a curious thing _a propos_ of slavery. A slave ran away
+from his estate in Jamaica many years ago, and got to England. He
+(the man) called at his house when he was not at home, and
+Goulburn never could afterwards find out where he was. He
+remained in England, however, gaining his livelihood by some
+means, till after some years he returned to Jamaica and to the
+estate, and desired to be employed as a slave again.
+
+Stephen, who is one of the great apostles of emancipation, and
+who resigned a profession worth L3,000 a year at the Bar for a
+place of L1,500 in the Colonial Office, principally in order to
+advance that object, owned that he had never known so great a
+problem nor so difficult a question to settle. His notion is that
+compulsory labour may be substituted for slavery, and in some
+colonies (the new ones, as they are called--Demerara, &c.) he
+thinks it will not be difficult; in Jamaica he is doubtful, and
+admits that if this does not answer the slaves will relapse into
+barbarism, nor is he at all clear that _any_ disorders and evils
+may not be produced by the effect of desperation on one side and
+disappointment on the other; still he does not hesitate to go on,
+but fully admitting the right of the proprietors to ample
+compensation, and the duty incumbent on the country to give it.
+If the sentiments of justice and benevolence with which he is
+actuated were common to all who profess the same opinions, or if
+the same sagacity and resource which he possesses were likely to
+be applied to the practical operation of the scheme, the evils
+which are dreaded and foreseen might be mitigated and avoided;
+but this is very far from the case, and the evils will, in all
+probability, more than overbalance the good which humanity aims
+at effecting; nor is it possible to view the settlement (as it is
+called, for all changes are settlements now-a-days) of this
+question without a misgiving that it will only produce some other
+great topic for public agitation, some great interest to be
+overturned or mighty change to be accomplished. The public
+appetite for discussion and legislation has been whetted and is
+insatiable; the millions of orators and legislators who have
+sprung up like mushrooms all over the kingdom, the bellowers, the
+chatterers, the knaves, and the dupes, who make such an universal
+hubbub, must be fed with fresh victims and sacrifices. The
+Catholic question was speedily followed by Reform in Parliament,
+and this has opened a door to anything.
+
+[Page Head: ASPECT OF THE NEW HOUSE OF COMMONS.]
+
+In the meantime the Reformed Parliament has been sitting for a
+fortnight or so, and begins to manifest its character and
+pretensions. The first thing that strikes one is its inferiority
+in point of composition to preceding Houses of Commons, and the
+presumption, impertinence, and self-sufficiency of the new
+members. Formerly new members appeared with some modesty and
+diffidence, and with some appearance of respect for the assembly
+into which they were admitted; these fellows behave themselves as
+if they had taken it by storm, and might riot in all the
+insolence of victory. There exists no _party_ but that of the
+Government; the Irish act in a body under O'Connell to the number
+of about forty; the Radicals are scattered up and down without a
+leader, numerous, restless, turbulent, and bold--Hume, Cobbett,
+and a multitude such as Roebuck, Faithfull, Buckingham, Major
+Beauclerck, &c. (most of whom have totally failed in point of
+speaking)--bent upon doing all the mischief they can and
+incessantly active; the Tories without a head, frightened, angry,
+and sulky; Peel without a party, prudent, cautious, and
+dexterous, playing a deep waiting game of scrutiny and
+observation. The feelings of these various elements of party,
+rather than parties, may be thus summed up:--The Radicals are
+confident and sanguine; the Whigs uneasy; the Tories desponding;
+moderate men, who belong to no party, but support Government,
+serious, and not without alarm. There is, in fact, enough to
+justify alarm, for the Government has evidently no power over the
+House of Commons, and though it is probable that they will
+scramble through the session without sustaining any serious
+defeat, or being reduced to the necessity of any great sacrifice
+or compromise, they are conscious of their own want of authority
+and of that sort of command without which no Government has been
+hitherto deemed secure. The evil of this is that we are now
+reduced to the alternative of Lord Grey's Government or none at
+all; and should he be defeated on any great measure, he must
+either abandon the country to its fate, or consent to carry on
+the Government upon the condition of a virtual transfer of the
+executive power to the House of Commons. If this comes to pass
+the game is up, for this House, like animals who have once tasted
+blood, if it ever exercises such a power as this, and finds a
+Minister consenting to hold office on such terms, will never rest
+till it has acquired all the authority of the Long Parliament and
+reduced that of the Crown to a mere cypher. It is curious,
+by-the-bye, that the example of the Long Parliament in a trivial
+matter has just been adopted, in the sittings of the House at
+twelve o'clock for the hearing of petitions.
+
+
+February 27th, 1833 {p.362}
+
+Laid up ever since that dinner at Dwarris's with the gout. Frederick
+Fitzclarence has been compelled to resign the situation at the Tower
+which the King gave him; they found it very probable that the House
+of Commons would refuse to vote the pay of it--a trifle in itself,
+but indicative of the spirit of the times and the total want of
+consideration for the King. O'Connell made a speech of such violence
+at the Trades Union the other day--calling the House of Commons six
+hundred scoundrels--that there was a great deal of talk about taking
+it up in Parliament and proposing his expulsion, which, however,
+they have not had the folly to do. The Irish Bill was to come on
+last night. The sense of insecurity and uneasiness evidently
+increases; the Government assumes a high tone, but is not at all
+certain of its ability to pass the Coercive Bills unaltered, and
+yesterday there appeared an article in the 'Times' in a style of
+lofty reproof and severe admonition, which was no doubt as appalling
+as it was meant to be. This article made what is called a great
+sensation; always struggling, as this paper does, to take the lead
+of public opinion and watching all its turns and shifts with
+perpetual anxiety, it is at once regarded as undoubted evidence of
+its direction and dreaded for the influence which its powerful
+writing and extensive sale have placed in its hands. It is no small
+homage to the power of the press to see that an article like this
+makes as much noise as the declaration of a powerful Minister or a
+leader of Opposition could do in either House of Parliament.
+
+[Page Head: DUKE OF WELLINGTON'S VIEW OF AFFAIRS.]
+
+Yesterday morning the Duke of Wellington came here upon some
+private business, after discussing which he entered upon the
+state of the country. I told him my view of the condition of the
+Government and of the House of Commons, and he said, 'You have
+hit the two points that I have myself always felt so strongly
+about. I told Lord Grey so long ago, and asked him at the time
+how he expected to be able to carry on the Government of the
+country, to which he never could give any answer, except that it
+would all do very well. However, things are not a bit worse than
+I always thought they would be. As they are, I mean to support
+the Government--support them in every way. The first thing I have
+to look to is to keep my house over my head, and the alternative
+is between this Government and none at all. I am therefore for
+supporting the Government, but then there is so much passion, and
+prejudice, and folly, and vindictive feeling, that it is very
+difficult to get others to do the same. I hear Peel had only
+fifty people with him the other night on some question, though
+they say that there are 150 of that party in the House of
+Commons. He thinks as ill of the whole thing as possible. [While
+I am writing Poodle Byng is come in, who tells me what happened
+last night. Althorp made a very bad speech and a wretched
+statement; other people spoke, pert and disagreeable, and the
+debate looked ill till Stanley rose and made one of the finest
+speeches that were ever heard, pounding O'Connell to dust and
+attacking him for his 'six hundred scoundrels,' from which he
+endeavoured to escape by a miserable and abortive explanation.
+Stanley seems to have set the whole thing to rights, like a great
+man.]
+
+I told the Duke what Macaulay had said to Denison: 'that if he
+had had to legislate, he would, instead of this Bill, have
+suspended the laws for five years in Ireland, given the
+Lord-Lieutenant's proclamation the force of law, and got the Duke
+of Wellington to go there.' He seemed very well pleased at this,
+and said, 'Well, that is the way I governed the provinces on the
+Garonne in the south of France. I desired the mayors to go on
+administering the law of the land, and when they asked me in
+whose name criminal suits should be carried on (which were
+ordinarily in the name of the Emperor), and if they should be in
+the name of the King, I said no, that we were treating with the
+Emperor at Chatillon, and if they put forth the King they would
+be in a scrape; neither should it be in the Emperor's name,
+because we did not acknowledge him, but in that of the Allied
+Powers.' In this I think he was wrong (_par parenthese_), for
+Napoleon was acknowledged by all the Powers but us, and we were
+treating with him, and if he permitted the civil authorities to
+administer the law as usual, he should have allowed them to
+administer it in the usual legal form. Their civil administration
+could not affect any political questions in the slightest degree.
+
+
+March 4th, 1833 {p.364}
+
+Sir Thomas Hardy told my brother he thought the King would
+certainly go mad; he was so excitable, _loathing_ his Ministers,
+particularly Graham, and dying to go to war. He has some of the
+cunning of madmen, who fawn upon their keepers when looked at by
+them, and grin at them and shake their fists when their backs are
+turned; so he is extravagantly civil when his Ministers are with
+him, and exhibits every mark of aversion when they are away. Peel
+made an admirable speech on Friday night; they expect a great
+majority.
+
+
+March 13th, 1833 {p.364}
+
+The second reading of the Coercive Bill has passed by a great
+majority after a dull debate, and the other night Althorp deeply
+offended Peel and the Tories by hurrying on the Church Reform
+Bill. It was to be printed one day, and the second reading taken
+two days after. They asked a delay of four or five days, and
+Althorp refused. He did very wrong; he is either bullied or
+cajoled into almost anything the Radicals want of this sort, but
+he is stout against the Tories. The delay is required by decency,
+but it ought to have been enough that Peel and the others asked
+it for him to concede it. He ought to soften the asperities which
+must long survive the battles of last year as much as he can, and
+avoid shocking what he may consider the prejudices of the
+vanquished party. It was worse than impolitic; it was stupid and
+uncourteous, and missing an opportunity of being gracious which
+he ought to have seized.
+
+[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM'S PRIVY COUNCIL BILL.]
+
+I have been again worried with a new edition of Brougham's Privy
+Council Bill,[2] and the difficulty of getting Lord Lansdowne to
+_do_ anything. This is the way Brougham goes to work:--He
+resolves to alter; he does not condescend to communicate with the
+Privy Council, or to consult those who are conversant with its
+practice, or who have been in the habit of administering justice
+there; he has not time to think of it himself; he tosses to one
+of his numerous _employes_ (for he has people without end working
+for him) his rough notion, and tells him to put it into shape;
+the satellite goes to work, always keeping in view the increase
+of the dignity, authority, and patronage of the Chancellor, and
+careless of the Council, the King, and the usages of the
+Constitution. What is called _the Bill_ is then, for form's sake,
+handed over to the Lord President (Lord Lansdowne), with
+injunctions to let nobody see it, as if he was conspiring against
+the Council, secure that if he meets with no resistance but what
+is engendered by Lord Lansdowne's opposition he may enact
+anything he pleases. Lord Lansdowne sends it to me (a long Act of
+Parliament), with a request that I will return it '_by the
+bearer_,' with any remarks I may have to make on it. The end is
+that I am left, _quantum impar_, to fight this with the
+Chancellor.
+
+      [2] [This was the Bill for the establishment of a Judicial
+          Committee of the Privy Council, which eventually became
+          the Act 3 & 4 Will. IV., cap. 41, and definitively
+          created that tribunal. Mr. Greville objected to several
+          of the provisions of the measure, because he regarded
+          them as an unnecessary interference of Parliament with
+          the authority of the Sovereign in his Council. The
+          Sovereign might undoubtedly have created a Committee of
+          the judicial members of the Privy Council: but the Bill
+          went further, and by extending and defining the power
+          of the Judicial Committee as a Court of Appeal it
+          undoubtedly proved a very useful and important
+          measure.]
+
+
+March 15th, 1833 {p.365}
+
+Ministerial changes are going on; Durham is out, and to be made
+an earl. Yesterday his elevation was known, and it is amusing
+enough that the same day an incident should have occurred in the
+House of Lords exhibiting in a good light the worthiness of the
+subject, and how much he merits it at the hands of Lord Grey.
+
+
+                *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+March 29th, 1833 {p.365}
+
+Lord Goderich is Privy Seal,[3] and Stanley Secretary for the
+Colonies, after much trouble. Last year a positive pledge was
+given to Stanley that he should not meet Parliament again but as
+Secretary of State. It was not, however, specified who was to
+make room for him. The Cabinet settled that it should be
+Goderich, when Durham went out, and Palmerston was charged with
+the office of breaking it to Goderich with the offer of an
+earldom by way of gilding the pill, but Goderich would not hear
+of it, said it would look like running away from the Slave
+question, and, in short, flatly refused. Stanley threatened to
+resign if he was not promoted, and in this dilemma the Duke of
+Richmond (who was going to Windsor) persuaded Lord Grey to let
+him lay the case before the King, and inform him that if this
+arrangement was not made the Government must be broken up. He did
+so, and the King acquiesced, and at the same time a similar
+representation was made to Goderich, who after a desperate
+resistance knocked under, and said that if it must be so he would
+yield, but _only_ to the King's express commands.
+
+      [3] [Down to this time Lord Goderich had been Secretary for
+          the Colonial Department in Lord Grey's Government.]
+
+
+March 30th, 1833 {p.366}
+
+Saw Madame de Lieven yesterday, who told me the story of the late
+business at St. Petersburg. The Sultan after the battle of Koniah
+applied to the Emperor of Russia for succour, who ordered twelve
+sail of the line and 30,000 men to go to the protection of
+Constantinople. At the same time General Mouravieff was sent to
+Constantinople, with orders to proceed to Alexandria and inform
+the Pacha that the Emperor could only look upon him as a rebel,
+that he would not suffer the Ottoman Empire to be overturned, and
+that if Ibrahim advanced 'il aurait affaire a l'Empereur de
+Russie.' Orders were accordingly sent to Ibrahim to suspend his
+operations, and Mouravieff returned to Constantinople. Upon the
+demand for succour by the Sultan, and the Emperor's compliance
+with it, notification was made to all the Courts, and instructions
+were given to the Russian commanders to retire as soon as the
+Sultan should have no further occasion for their aid. So
+satisfactory was this that Lord Grey expressed the greatest
+anxiety that the Russian armament should arrive in time to arrest
+the progress of the Egyptians. They did arrive--at least the fleet
+did--and dropped anchor under the Seraglio. At this juncture
+arrived Admiral Roussin in a ship of war, and as Ambassador of
+France. He immediately informed the Sultan that the interposition
+of Russia was superfluous, that he would undertake to conclude a
+treaty, and to answer for the acquiescence of the Pacha, and he
+sent a project one article of which was that the Russian fleet
+should instantly withdraw. To this proposition the Sultan acceded,
+and without waiting for the Pacha's confirmation he notified to
+the Russian Ambassador that he had no longer any wish for the
+presence of the Russian fleet, and they accordingly weighed anchor
+and sailed away. This is all that is known of the transaction, but
+Madame de Lieven was loud and vehement about the insolence of
+Roussin; she said the Emperor would demand 'une satisfaction
+eclatante'--'le rappel et le desaveu de l'amiral Roussin,' and
+that if this should be refused the Russian Ambassador would be
+ordered to quit Paris. She waits with great anxiety to see the end
+of the business, for on it appears to depend the question of peace
+or war with France. She said that the day before Namik went away
+intelligence of this event arrived, which Palmerston communicated
+to him. The Turk heard it very quietly, and then only said, 'Et ou
+etait l'Angleterre dans tout ceci?'
+
+[Page Head: PRECARIOUS STATE OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+I have heard to-night the Goderich version of his late
+translation. He had agreed to remain in the Cabinet without an
+office, but Lord Grey insisted on his taking the Privy Seal, and
+threatened to resign if he did not; he was at last _bullied_ into
+acquiescence, and when he had his audience of the King his
+Majesty offered him anything he had to give. He said he had made
+the sacrifice to please and serve him, and would take nothing. An
+earldom--he refused; the Bath--ditto; _the Garter_--that he said
+he would take. It was then discovered that he was not of rank
+sufficient, when he said he would take the earldom in order to
+qualify himself for the Garter, and so it stands. There is no
+Garter vacant, and one supernumerary already, and Castlereagh and
+Lord North, viscounts, and Sir Robert Walpole (all Commoners) had
+blue ribands!
+
+
+London, April 28th, 1833 {p.368}
+
+Came to town last night from Newmarket, and the intervening week at
+Buckenham. Nothing but racing and hawking; a wretched life--that is,
+a life of amusement, but very unprofitable and discreditable to
+anybody who can do better things. Of politics I know nothing during
+this interval, but on coming to town find all in confusion, and
+everybody gaping for 'what next.' Government was beaten on the Malt
+Tax, and Lord Grey proposed to resign; the Tories are glad that the
+Government is embarrassed, no matter how, the supporters sorry and
+repentant, so that it is very clear the matter will be patched up;
+they won't budge, and will probably get more regular support for the
+future. Perhaps Althorp will go, but where to find a Chancellor of
+the Exchequer will be the difficulty. Poulett Thomson wants it, but
+they will not dare commit the finances of the country to him, so we
+go scrambling on 'du jour la journee.' Nobody knows what is to
+happen next--no confidence, no security, great talk of a property
+tax, to which, I suppose, after wriggling about, we shall at last
+come.
+
+
+May 2nd, 1833 {p.368}
+
+The Government affair is patched up, and nobody goes but
+Hobhouse,[4] who thought fit to resign both his seat in
+Parliament and his office, thereby creating another great
+embarrassment, which can only be removed by his re-election and
+re-appointment, and then, what a farce!
+
+      [4] [Sir John Hobhouse, who had consented to take the Irish
+          Secretaryship a month before, resigned now because he
+          felt unable to oppose a resolution for the abolition of
+          the window duties; and resigning office he resigned his
+          seat for Westminster also, and was not re-elected. See
+          in the 'Edinburgh Review,' April 1871 (No. 272), an
+          account of this transaction.]
+
+[Page Head: EMBARRASSMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT.]
+
+There were two great majorities in the House of Commons the night
+before last. The King was all graciousness and favour to Lord
+Grey, and so they are set up again, and fancy themselves stronger
+than before. But although everybody (except the fools) wished them
+to be re-established, it was evident that this was only because,
+at this moment, the time is not ripe for a change, for they
+inspired no interest either individually or collectively. It was
+easy to see that the Government has no consideration, and that
+people are getting tired of their blunders and embarrassments, and
+begin to turn their eyes to those who are more capable, and know
+something of the business of Government--to Peel and to Stanley,
+for the former, in spite of his cold, calculating selfishness and
+duplicity, is the ablest man there is, and we must take what we
+can get, and accept services without troubling ourselves about the
+motives of those who supply them. It must come to this conclusion
+unless the reign of Radicalism and the authority of the Humes 'et
+hoc genus omne' is to be substituted. That the present Government
+loses ground every day is perfectly clear, and at the same time
+that the fruits of the Reform Bill become more lamentably
+apparent. The scrape Government lately got into was owing partly
+to the votes that people were obliged to give to curry favour with
+their constituents, and partly to negligence and carelessness in
+whipping in. Hobhouse's resignation is on account of his pledges,
+and because he is forced to pledge himself on the hustings he
+finds himself placed in a situation which compels him to save his
+honour and consistency by embarrassing the public service to the
+greatest degree at a very critical time. Men go on asking one
+another how is it possible the country can be governed in this
+manner, and nobody can reply.
+
+Since I have been out of town the appeal against the Chancellor's
+judgment in the Drax (lunacy) case has been heard at the Privy
+Council, and will be finally determined on Saturday.[5] Two years
+have nearly elapsed since that case was lodged, and the Chancellor
+has always found pretexts for getting the hearing postponed; at
+length the parties became so clamorous that it was necessary to fix
+a day. He then endeavoured to pack a committee, and spoke to Lord
+Lansdowne about summoning Lord Plunket, Lord Lyndhurst, and the
+Vice-Chancellor, but Leach, who hates Brougham, and is particularly
+nettled at his having reversed some of his judgments, bestirred
+himself, and represented to Lord Lansdowne the absolute necessity
+(in a case of such consequence) of having all the ex-Chancellors to
+hear it. Plunket was gone to Ireland, so the Committee consisted of
+the Lord President, the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Master of the
+Rolls, Lords Eldon, Lyndhurst, and Manners. They say the argument
+was very able--Sugden in support of the Chancellor's judgment, and
+Pemberton against it; they expect it will be reversed. Leach,
+foolishly enough, by question and observation, exhibited a strong
+bias against the Chancellor, who never said a word, and appeared
+very calm and easy, but with rage in his heart, for he was indignant
+at these Lords having been summoned (as his secretary told
+Lennard[6]), and said 'he was sure it was all Leach's doing.' What a
+man! how wonderful! how despicable! carrying into the administration
+of justice the petty vanity, personal jealousy and pique, and
+shuffling arts that would reflect ridicule and odium on a silly
+woman of fashion. He has smuggled his Privy Council Bill through the
+House of Lords without the slightest notice or remark.
+
+      [5] [An appeal lies to the King in Council from orders of
+          the Lord Chancellor in lunacy, but there are very few
+          examples of the prosecution of appeals of this nature.
+          This case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, which is reported in
+          'Knapp's Privy Council Cases,' was therefore one of
+          great peculiarity. The Bill constituting the Judicial
+          Committee had not at this time become law; this appeal
+          was therefore heard by a Committee of the Lords of the
+          Council, to which any member of the Privy Council might
+          be summoned. Care was taken that the highest legal
+          authorities should be present. It was the last time
+          Lord Eldon sat in a court of law. Lord Brougham, the
+          Chancellor, sat on the Committee, although the appeal
+          was brought from an order made by himself: this
+          practice had not been uncommon in the House of Lords,
+          but it had not been the practice of the Privy Council,
+          where indeed the case could seldom arise.]
+
+      [6] [John Barrett Lennard, Esq., was Chief Clerk of the
+          Council Office.]
+
+
+May 16th, 1833 {p.370}
+
+On coming to town found the Westminster election just over, and
+Evans returned. They would not hear Hobhouse, and pelted him and
+his friends. No Secretary for Ireland is to be found, for the man
+must be competent, and sure of re-election. Few are the first and
+none the last. Hobhouse is generally censured for having put
+Government in this great difficulty, but the Tories see it all
+with a sort of grim satisfaction, and point at it as a happy
+illustration of the benefits of the Reform Bill. I point too, but
+I don't rejoice.
+
+[Page Head: SLAVE EMANCIPATION.]
+
+At the same time with Hobhouse's defeat came forth Stanley's plan
+for slave emancipation, which produced rage and fury among both
+West Indians and Saints, being too much for the former and not
+enough for the latter, and both announced their opposition to it.
+Practical men declare that it is impossible to carry it into
+effect, and that the details are unmanageable. Even the Government
+adherents do not pretend that it is a good and safe measure, but
+the best that could be hit off under the circumstances; these
+circumstances being the old motive, 'the people will have it.' The
+night before last Stanley developed his plan in the House of
+Commons in a speech of three hours, which was very eloquent, but
+rather disappointing. He handled the preliminary topics of horrors
+of slavery and colonial obstinacy and misconduct with all the
+vigour and success that might have been expected, but when he came
+to his measure he failed to show how it was to be put in operation
+and to work. The peroration and eulogy on Wilberforce were very
+brilliant. Howick had previously announced his intention of
+opposing Stanley, and accordingly he did so in a speech of
+considerable vehemence which lasted two hours. He was not,
+however, well received; his father and mother had in vain
+endeavoured to divert him from his resolution; but though they say
+his speech was clever, he has damaged himself by it. His plan is
+immediate emancipation.[7]
+
+      [7] [The result proved that Lord Howick was right. The
+          apprenticeship system proposed by Lord Stanley was
+          carried, but failed in execution, and was eventually
+          abandoned.]
+
+While such is the state of things here--enormous interests under
+discussion, great disquietude and alarm, no feeling of security,
+no confidence in the Government, and a Parliament that inspires
+fear rather than hope--matters abroad seem to be no better
+managed than they are at home. It is remarkable that the business
+in the East has escaped with so little animadversion, for there
+never was a fairer object of attack. While France has been
+vapouring, and we have been doing nothing at all, Russia has
+established her own influence in Turkey, and made herself
+virtually mistress of the Ottoman Empire. At a time when our
+interests required that we should be well represented, and
+powerfully supported, we had neither an Ambassador nor a fleet in
+the Mediterranean; and because Lord Ponsonby is Lord Grey's
+brother-in-law he has been able with impunity to dawdle on months
+after months at Naples for his pleasure, and leave affairs at
+Constantinople to be managed or mismanaged by a Charge d'Affaires
+who is altogether incompetent.
+
+
+May 19th, 1833 {p.372}
+
+[Page Head: RESPECT SHOWN TO WELLINGTON.]
+
+They have found a Secretary for Ireland in the person of
+Littleton,[8] which shows to what shifts they are put. He is rich,
+which is his only qualification, being neither very able nor very
+popular. The West India question is postponed. The Duke of
+Wellington told me that he thought it would pass away for this
+time, and that all parties would be convinced of the impracticability
+of any of the plans now mooted. I said that nothing could do away
+the mischief that had been done by broaching it. He thought 'the
+mischief might be avoided;' but then these people do nothing to
+avoid any mischief. I was marvellously struck (we rode together
+through St. James's Park) with the profound respect with which the
+Duke was treated, everybody we met taking off their hats to him,
+everybody in the park rising as he went by, and every appearance
+of his inspiring great reverence. I like this symptom, and it is
+the more remarkable because it is not _popularity_, but a much
+higher feeling towards him. He has forfeited his popularity more
+than once; he has taken a line in politics directly counter to the
+popular bias; but though in moments of excitement he is attacked
+and vilified (and his broken windows, which I wish he would mend,
+still preserve a record of the violence of the mob), when the
+excitement subsides there is always a returning sentiment of
+admiration and respect for him, kept alive by the recollection of
+his splendid actions, such as no one else ever inspired. Much,
+too, as I have regretted and censured the enormous errors of his
+political career (at times), I believe that this sentiment is in a
+great degree produced by the justice which is done to his
+political character, sometimes mistaken, but always high-minded
+and patriotic, and never mean, false, or selfish. If he has aimed
+at power, and overrated his own capacity for wielding it, it has
+been with the purest intentions and the most conscientious views.
+I believe firmly that no man had ever at heart to a greater degree
+the honour and glory of his country; and hereafter, when justice
+will be done to his memory, and his character and conduct be
+scanned with impartial eyes, if his capacity for government
+appears unequal to the exigencies of the times in which he was
+placed at the head of affairs, the purity of his motives and the
+noble character of his ambition will be amply acknowledged.
+
+      [8] [The Rt. Hon. E. J. Littleton, M.P. for Staffordshire,
+          and afterwards first Lord Hatherton.
+              It was Lord John Russell who advised Lord Grey to
+          make Littleton Irish Secretary. He told me so in May
+          1871, but added, 'I think I made a mistake.' The
+          appointment was wholly unsolicited and unexpected by
+          Mr. Littleton himself, who happened to be laid up at
+          the time by an accident. On the receipt of the letter
+          from Lord Grey offering him the Secretaryship of
+          Ireland, and requesting him to take it, Mr. Littleton
+          consulted Mr. Fazakerly, who was of opinion that he
+          ought to accept the offer. This therefore he did,
+          though not, as I know from his own journals, without
+          great diffidence and hesitation; and he intimated to
+          Lord Grey that he would only retain his office until
+          some other man could be found to accept it.]
+
+The Duke of Orleans is here, and very well received by the Court
+and the world. He is good-looking, dull, has good manners and
+little conversation, goes everywhere, and dances all night. At
+the ball at Court the Queen waltzed with the two Dukes of Orleans
+and Brunswick.
+
+Peel compelled old Cobbett to bring on his motion for getting him
+erased from the Privy Council, which Cobbett wished to shirk
+from. He gave him a terrible dressing, and it all went off for
+Peel in the most flattering way. He gains every day more
+authority and influence in the House of Commons. It must end in
+Peel and Stanley, unless everything ends.
+
+
+May 27th, 1833 {p.373}
+
+[Page Head: ANECDOTE OF THE DERBY.]
+
+All last week at Epsom, and now, thank God, these races are over.
+I have had all the trouble and excitement and worry, and have
+neither won nor lost; nothing but the hope of gain would induce
+me to go through this demoralising drudgery, which I am conscious
+reduces me to the level of all that is most disreputable and
+despicable, for my thoughts are eternally absorbed by it.
+Jockeys, trainers, and blacklegs are my companions, and it is
+like dram-drinking; having once entered upon it I cannot leave it
+off, though I am disgusted with the occupation all the time. Let
+no man who has no need, who is not in danger of losing all he
+has, and is not obliged to grasp at every chance, _make a book_
+on the Derby. While the fever it excites is raging, and the odds
+are varying, I can neither read, nor write, nor occupy myself
+with anything else. I went to the Oaks on Wednesday, where Lord
+Stanley kept house for the first, and probably (as the house is
+for sale) for the last time. It is a very agreeable place, with
+an odd sort of house built at different times and by different
+people; but the outside is covered with ivy and creepers, which
+is pretty, and there are two good living-rooms in it. Besides
+this, there is an abundance of grass and shade; it has been for
+thirty or forty years the resort of all our old jockeys, and is
+now occupied by the sporting portion of the Government. We had
+Lord Grey and his daughter, Duke and Duchess of Richmond, Lord
+and Lady Errol, Althorp, Graham, Uxbridge, Charles Grey, Duke of
+Grafton, Lichfield, and Stanley's brothers. It passed off very
+well--racing all the morning, an excellent dinner, and whist and
+blind hookey in the evening. It was curious to see Stanley. Who
+would believe they beheld the orator and statesman, only second,
+if second, to Peel in the House of Commons, and on whom the
+destiny of the country perhaps depends? There he was, as if he
+had no thoughts but for the turf, full of the horses, interest in
+the lottery, eager, blunt, noisy, good-humoured, 'has meditans
+nugas et _totus in illis_;' at night equally devoted to the play,
+as if his fortune depended on it. Thus can a man relax whose
+existence is devoted to great objects and serious thoughts. I had
+considerable hopes of winning the Derby, but was beaten easily,
+my horse not being good. An odd circumstance occurred to me
+before the race. Payne told me in strict confidence that a man
+who could not appear on account of his debts, and who had been,
+much connected with turf robberies, came to him, and entreated
+him to take the odds for him to L1,000 about a horse for the
+Derby, and deposited a note in his hand for the purpose. He told
+him half the horses were made safe, and that it was arranged this
+one was to win. After much delay, and having got his promise to
+lay out the money, he told him it was my horse. He did back the
+horse for the man for L700, but the same person told him if my
+horse _could_ not win Dangerous would, and he backed the latter
+likewise for L100, by which his friend was saved, and won L800.
+He did not tell me his name, nor anything more, except that his
+object was, if he had won, to pay his creditors, and he had
+authorised Payne to retain the money, if he won it, for that
+purpose.
+
+We heard, while at the Oaks, that M. Dedel had signed the
+convention between France, England, and Holland, on which all the
+funds rose. The King of Holland's ratification was still to be
+got, and many people will not believe in that till they see it.
+
+
+June 3rd, 1833 {p.375}
+
+The Government are in high spirits. The Saints have given in
+their adhesion to Stanley's plan, and they expect to carry the
+West India question. The Bank measure has satisfied the
+directors, and most people, except Peel. The Duke of Wellington
+told me he was very well satisfied, but that _they_ had intended
+to make better terms with the Bank, and he thought they should
+have done so. Melbourne says, 'Now that we are as much hated as
+they were, we shall stay in for ever.'
+
+As I came into town (having come by the steamboat from Margate
+very luxuriously) on Saturday I found a final meeting at the
+Council Office to dispose of the lunacy case. It was so late when
+Horne finished his reply that I thought there was no chance of
+any discussion, and I did not go in; but I met the Master of the
+Rolls afterwards, who told me they had delivered their opinions,
+Lord Eldon cautiously, he himself 'broadly,' which I will be
+bound he did (for he hates Brougham), and that, though no
+judgment had been yet given, the Chancellor's decree would be
+reversed; so that after all Brougham's wincing and wriggling to
+this he has been forced to submit at last.
+
+
+London, June 11th, 1833 {p.376}
+
+At a place called Buckhurst all last week for the Ascot races; a
+party at Lichfield's, racing all the morning, then eating and
+drinking, and play at night. I may say, with more truth than
+anybody, 'Video meliora proboque, deteriora sequor.' The weather
+was charming, the course crowded, the King received decently. His
+household is now so ill managed that his grooms were drunk every
+day, and one man (who was sober) was killed going home from the
+races. Goodwin told me nobody exercised any authority, and the
+consequence was that the household all ran riot.
+
+[Page Head: TORY BLUNDERS.]
+
+The first day of the races arrived the news that the Duke of
+Wellington, after making a strong muster, had beaten the
+Government in the House of Lords on the question of Portuguese
+neutrality and Don Miguel, that Lord Grey had announced that he
+considered it a vote of censure, and threw out a sort of threat
+of resigning. He and Brougham (after a Cabinet) went down to the
+King. The King was very much annoyed at this fresh dilemma into
+which the Tories had brought him, and consented to whatever Lord
+Grey required. In the meantime the House of Commons flew to arms,
+and Colonel Dawes gave notice of a motion of confidence in
+Ministers upon their foreign policy. This was carried by an
+immense majority after a weak debate, in which some very cowardly
+menaces were thrown out against the Bishops, and this settled the
+question. Ministers did not resign, no Peers were made, and
+everything goes on as before. It has been, however, a disastrous
+business. How the Duke of Wellington could take this course after
+the conversation I had with him in this room, when he told me he
+would support the Government because he wished it to be _strong_,
+I can't conceive. At all events he seems resolved that his
+Parliamentary victories should be as injurious as his military
+ones were glorious to his country. Some of his friends say that
+he was _provoked_ by Lord Grey's supercilious answer to him the
+other day, when he said he knew nothing of what was going on but
+from what he read in the newspapers, others that he 'feels so
+very strongly' about Portugal, others that he cannot manage the
+Tories, and that they were determined to fight; in short, that he
+has not the same authority as leader of a party that he had as
+general of an army, for nobody would have forced him to fight the
+battle of Salamanca or Vittoria if he had not fancied it himself.
+The effect, however, has been this: the House of Lords has had a
+rap on the knuckles from the King, their legislative functions
+are practically in abeyance, and his Majesty is more tied than
+ever to his Ministers. The House of Lords is paralysed; it exists
+upon sufferance, and cannot venture to throw out or materially
+alter any Bill (such as the India, Bank, Negro, Church Reform,
+&c.) which may come up to it without the certainty of being
+instantly swamped, and the measures, however obnoxious, crammed
+down its throat. This Government has lost ground in public
+opinion, they were daily falling lower, and these predestinated
+idiots come and bolster them up just when they most want it.
+Tavistock acknowledged to me that they were unpopular, and that
+this freak had been of vast service to them; consequently they
+are all elated to the greatest degree. The Tories are sulky and
+crestfallen; moderate men are vexed, disappointed, grieved; and
+the Radicals stand grinning by, chuckling at the sight of the
+Conservatives (at least those who so call themselves, and those
+who must be so _really_) cutting each others' throats.
+
+[Page Head: LORD ELDON'S GREAT CAREER.]
+
+On Saturday, the day after I came back, I found a final meeting at
+the Council Office on the lunacy case, the appeal of Grosvenor
+against Drax. There were Lord Lansdowne, the Chancellor,
+Vice-Chancellor, Master of the Rolls, Lord Manners, Lord Eldon,
+and Lord Lyndhurst. The rule is that the President of the Council
+collects the opinions and votes, beginning with the junior Privy
+Councillor. This was the Chancellor,[9] who made a sort of apology
+for his judgment, stating that he had made the order just after
+two or three very flagrant cases of a similar description had been
+brought under his notice, and then he went into this case, and
+endeavoured to show that there was fraud (and intentional fraud)
+on the part of the Grosvenors, and he maintained, without
+insisting on, and very mildly, his own former view of the case.
+Leach then made a speech strongly against the judgment, and Lord
+Eldon made a longish speech, very clear, and very decided against
+it, interlarded with professions of his 'sincere' respect for the
+person who delivered the judgment. The Chancellor did not reply to
+Lord Eldon, but put some questions--some hypothetical, and some
+upon parts of the case itself--which, together with some remarks,
+brought on a discussion between him and Leach, in which the latter
+ended by lashing himself into a rage. 'My Lord,' said he to the
+Chancellor, 'we talk too much, and we don't stick to the point.'
+Brougham put on one of his scornful smiles, and in reply to
+something (I forget what) that the Vice-Chancellor said he dropped
+in his sarcastic tone that he would do so and so 'if his Honour
+would permit.' For a moment I thought there would be a breeze, but
+it ended without any vote, in the adoption of a form of reversal
+suggested by Lord Eldon, which left it to the option of the
+respondent to institute other proceedings if he should think fit.
+Afterwards all was harmony. Eldon seemed tolerably fresh, feeble,
+but clear and collected. He was in spirits about the dinner which
+had just been given him by the Templars, at which he was received
+with extraordinary honours. He said he hoped never to be called to
+the Council Board again, and this was probably the last occasion
+on which he will have to appear in a judicial capacity. It is
+remarkable that his last act should be to reverse a judgment of
+Brougham's, Brougham being Chancellor and himself nothing. I could
+not help looking with something like emotion at this extraordinary
+old man, and reflecting upon his long and laborious career, which
+is terminating gently and by almost insensible gradations, in a
+manner more congenial to a philosophic mind than to an ambitious
+spirit. As a statesman and a politician he has survived and
+witnessed the ruin of his party and the subversion of those
+particular institutions to which he tenaciously clung, and which
+his prejudices or his wisdom made him think indispensable to the
+existence of the Constitution. As an individual his destiny has
+been happier, for he has preserved the strength of his body and
+the vigour of his mind far beyond the ordinary period allotted to
+man, he is adorned with honours and blessed with wealth sufficient
+for the aspirations of pride and avarice, and while the lapse of
+time has silenced the voice of envy, and retirement from office
+has mitigated the rancour of political hostility, his great and
+acknowledged authority as a luminary of the law shines forth with
+purer lustre. He enjoys, perhaps, the most perfect reward of his
+long life of labour and study--a foretaste of posthumous honour
+and fame. He has lived to see his name venerated and his decisions
+received with profound respect, and he is departing in peace, with
+the proud assurance that he has left to his country a mighty
+legacy of law and secured to himself an imperishable fame.
+
+      [9] [This must be a mistake. The Chancellor takes rank in
+          the Privy Council after the Lord President and before
+          everyone else. Lord Brougham was junior Privy
+          Councillor in mere seniority, but his office gave him
+          rank over the others present. His opinion was probably
+          taken first out of compliment to him, as he had made
+          the order under review.]
+
+
+June 15th, 1833 {p.379}
+
+The day before yesterday I had occasion to see the Duke of
+Wellington about the business in which we are joint trustees, and
+when we had done I said, 'Well, that business in the House of
+Lords turned out ill the other day.' 'No; do you think so?' he
+said, and then he went into the matter. He said that he was
+compelled to make the motion by the answer Lord Grey gave to his
+question a few nights before; that his party in the House of Lords
+would not be satisfied without dividing--they had been impatient
+to attack the Government, and were not to be restrained; that on
+the question itself they were _right_; that so far from his doing
+harm to the Government, if they availed themselves wisely of the
+defeat they might turn it to account in the House of Commons, and
+so far it was of use to them, as it afforded a convincing proof to
+their supporters that the House of Lords might be depended upon
+for good purposes, and they might demand of their supporters in
+the other House that they should enable them to carry good
+measures, and they keep the House of Commons in harmony with the
+House of Lords. He said the Government would make no Peers, and
+that they _could not_; that the Tories were by no means frightened
+or disheartened, and meant to take the first opportunity of
+showing fight again; in short, he seemed not dissatisfied with
+what had already occurred, and resolved to pursue the same course.
+He said the Tories were indignant at the idea of being compelled
+to keep quiet, and that if they were to be swamped the sooner it
+was done the better, and that they would not give up their right
+to deal with any question they thought fit from any motive of
+expediency whatever.
+
+I don't know what to make of the Duke and his conduct. The
+Catholic question and the Corn Laws and Canning rise up before
+me, and make me doubt whether he is so pure in his views and so
+free from vindictive feelings as I thought and hoped he was. When
+Lords Grey and Brougham went down to the King after the defeat,
+they did not talk of Peers, and only proposed the short answer to
+the Lords, to which he consented at once. His Majesty was very
+indignant with the Duke, and said it was the second time he had
+got him into a scrape, he had made a fool of him last year, and
+now wanted to do the same thing again. Some pretend that all this
+indignation is simulated; the man is, I believe, more foolish
+than false.
+
+
+June 19th, 1833 {p.380}
+
+The King dined with the Duke at his Waterloo dinner yesterday,
+which does not look as if he had been so very angry with him as
+the Government people say. The Duke had his windows mended for
+the occasion, whether in honour of his Majesty or in consequence
+of H.B.'s caricature I don't know.
+
+I had a long conversation with Sir Willoughby Cotton on Sunday
+about Jamaica affairs. He is Commander-in-Chief, just come home,
+and just going out again. He told me what he had said to Stanley,
+which was to this effect: that the compensation would be esteemed
+munificent, greater by far than they had expected; that they had
+looked for a loan of fifteen millions at two per cent interest,
+but that the plan would be impracticable, and that sugar could
+not be cultivated after slavery ceased; that the slave would
+never understand the system of modified servitude by which he was
+to be nominally free and actually kept to labour, and that he
+would rebel against the magistrate who tried to force him to work
+more fiercely than against his master; that the magistrate would
+never be able to persuade the slaves in their new character of
+apprentices to work as heretofore, and the military who would be
+called in to assist them could do nothing. He asked Stanley if he
+intended, when the military were called in, that they should fire
+on or bayonet the refractory apprentices. He said no, they were
+to exhort them. He gave him to understand that in his opinion
+they could do nothing, and that the more the soldiers exhorted
+the more the slaves would not work. With regard to my own
+particular case he was rather encouraging than not, thought they
+would not molest me any more,[10] that the Assembly might try and
+get me out, but that the Council considered it matter of loyalty
+to the King not to force out the Clerk of his Privy Council, but
+that if anything more was said about it, and I went out to
+Jamaica, I might be sure of getting leave again in a month or six
+weeks.
+
+     [20] [This refers to Mr. Greville's holding the office of
+          Secretary of the Island of Jamaica with permanent leave
+          of absence. The work of the office was done by a
+          deputy, who was paid by a share of the emoluments which
+          were in the shape of fees.]
+
+
+June 26th, 1833 {p.381}
+
+[Page Head: IRISH CHURCH BILL.]
+
+This morning at six saw my mother and Henry start for the
+steamboat which is to take them abroad. I wish I was going with
+them, and was destined once more to see Rome and Naples, which I
+fear will never be. Last week was marked by a division in the
+House of Commons which made a great noise. It was on that clause
+of the Irish Church Bill which declared that the surplus should
+be appropriated by Parliament, and Stanley thought fit to leave
+out the clause. The Tories supported him; the Radicals and many
+of the Whigs--Abercromby and C. Russell among the number--opposed
+him. The minority was strong--148--but the fury it excited among
+many of the friends of Government is incredible, and the Tories
+were very triumphant without being at all conciliated. The
+Speaker said he should not be surprised to see the Bill thrown
+out by the junction of the Tories and Radicals on the third
+reading, which is not likely, and the suppression of this clause,
+which after all leaves the matter just as it was, will probably
+carry it through the House of Lords. It is, however, very
+questionable whether they were right in withdrawing it, and
+Tavistock told me that though he thought it was _right_ it was
+ill done, and had given great offence. Somehow or other Stanley,
+with all his talents, makes a mess of everything, but this comes
+of being (what the violent Whigs suspect him of being) half a
+Tory. Measures are concocted upon ultra principles in the
+Cabinet, and then as his influence is exerted, and his wishes are
+obliged to be consulted, they are modified and altered, and this
+gives a character of vacillation to the conduct of Government,
+and exhibits a degree of weakness and infirmity of purpose which
+prevents their being strong or popular or respectable. Nobody,
+however, can say that they are obstinate, for they are eternally
+giving way to somebody. In the House of Lords there was a sharp
+skirmish between Brougham and Lyndhurst, and high Parliamentary
+words passed between these 'noble friends' on the Local Courts
+Bill. The Tories did not go down to support Lyndhurst, which
+provoked him, and Brougham was nettled by his and old Eldon's
+attacks on the Bill.
+
+There is great talk of a letter which the King is said to have
+written to the bishops--that is, to the Archbishop for the
+edification of the episcopal bench. It is hardly credible that he
+and Taylor should have been guilty of this folly, after the
+letter which they wrote to the Peers a year and a half ago and
+the stir that it made.
+
+I have got from Sir Henry Lushington Monk Lewis's journals and his
+two voyages to the West Indies (one of which I read at Naples), with
+liberty to publish them, which I mean to do if I can get money
+enough for him. He says Murray offered him L500 for the manuscripts
+some years ago. I doubt getting so much now, but they are
+uncommonly amusing, and it is the right moment for publishing them
+now that people are full of interest about the West India question.
+I was very well amused last week at the bazaar in Hanover Square,
+when a sale was held on four successive days by the fine ladies for
+the benefit of the foreigners in distress. It was like a masquerade
+without masks, for everybody--men, women, and children--roved about
+where they would, everybody talking to everybody, and vast
+familiarity established between perfect strangers under the guise of
+barter. The Queen's stall was held by Ladies Howe and Denbigh, with
+her three prettiest maids of honour, Miss Bagot dressed like a
+soubrette and looking like an angel. They sold all sorts of trash at
+enormous prices, and made, I believe, four or five thousand pounds.
+I went on Monday to hear Lushington speak in the cause of Swift and
+Kelly. He spoke for three hours--an excellent speech. I sat by Mr.
+Swift all the time; he is not ill-looking, but I should think
+vulgar, and I'm sure impudent, for the more Lushington abused him
+the more he laughed.
+
+
+June 28th, 1833 {p.383}
+
+[Page Head: THE KING WRITES TO THE ARCHBISHOP.]
+
+The King did write to the Archbishop of Canterbury a severe
+reproof to be communicated to the bishops for having voted against
+his Government upon a question purely political (the Portuguese),
+in which the interests of the Church were in no way concerned. He
+sent a copy of the letter to Lord Grey, and Brougham told Sefton
+and Wharncliffe the contents, both of whom told me. It is
+remarkable that nothing has been said upon the subject in the
+House of Lords. The Archbishop, the most timid of mankind, had the
+prudence (I am told) to abstain from communicating the letter to
+the bishops, and held a long consultation with the Archbishop of
+York as to the mode of dealing with this puzzling document. If he
+had communicated it, he would as a Privy Councillor have been
+responsible for it, but what answer he made to the King I know
+not. Never was there such a proceeding, so unconstitutional, so
+foolish; but his Ministers do not seem to mind it, and are rather
+elated at such a signal proof of his disposition to support them.
+I think, as far as being a discouragement to the Tories, and
+putting an end to their notion that he is hankering after them, it
+may be of use, and it is probably true that he does not wish for a
+change, but on the contrary dreads it. He naturally dreads
+whatever is likely to raise a storm about his ears and interrupt
+his repose.
+
+Lyndhurst is in such a rage at his defeat in the House of Lords on
+the Local Courts Bill that he swore at first he would never come
+there again. What he said--that 'if they had considered it a party
+question the result would have been very different,' which Brougham
+unaccountably took for a threat against the Government--was levelled
+at his own Tory friends for not supporting him. On the third reading
+they mean to have another fight about it. I understand the lawyers
+that the Bill is very objectionable, and calculated to degrade the
+profession. I sat by Talleyrand at dinner the day before yesterday,
+who told me a good deal about Mirabeau, but as he had a bad cold, in
+addition to his usual mode of pumping up his words from the
+bottomest pit of his stomach, it was next to impossible to
+understand him. He said Mirabeau was really intimate with three
+people only--himself, Narbonne, and Lauzun--that Auguste d'Aremberg
+was the negotiator of the Court and medium of its communications
+with Mirabeau; that he had found (during the provisional Government)
+a receipt of Mirabeau's for a million, which he had given to Louis
+XVIII.
+
+
+
+
+                    END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
+
+
+                        LONDON: PRINTED BY
+             SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
+                      AND PARLIAMENT STREET
+
+
+
+
+                              INDEX.
+
+
+Abercromby, Right Hon. James, proposed as Speaker, ii. 333;
+  Master of the Mint, iii. 95; proposed as Speaker, 201; the
+  Speakership, 204; elected Speaker, 213
+
+Aberdeen, Earl of, Duchy of Lancaster, i. 124; motion about
+  Belgium, ii. 238
+
+Achmet Pacha, concludes a treaty with Russia, iii. 69
+
+Adair, Right Hon. Sir Robert, sworn in Privy Councillor, i. 136
+
+Addington, Henry Unwin, recalled from Madrid, iii. 14
+
+Address, proposed amendment to the, iii. 217
+
+Adelaide, Queen, ii. 7; at the Ancient Concert, 133; mobbed in
+  the City, 141; audience of, about the crown, 179; coronation
+  of, 190; Lord Howe, 338; yacht, iii. 99; return of, 125;
+  illness of, 125; supposed to be with child, 198, 199, 201
+
+Adrian's Villa, i. 377
+
+Agar Ellis, _see_ Dover, Lord
+
+Alava, General, and the Duke of Cumberland, iii. 275
+
+Albani, Cardinal, influence of, i. 310; conversation with, 373;
+  interview with, 380
+
+Albano, i. 331
+
+Alexander, Emperor of Russia, death of, i. 78; coronation of,
+  described by Talleyrand, ii. 185
+
+Allen, Dr., Bishop of Ely, iii. 363
+
+Allen, John, iii. 135; unbelief of, 324
+
+Althorp, Viscount, proposed as Chairman of the Finance Committee,
+  i. 120; Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 66, introduces the
+  budget, 114; leader of the House of Commons, 116, 200; letter
+  to Attwood, 205, 206; hurries on the Irish Church Bill, 364; as
+  Chancellor of the Exchequer, iii. 2; arrested by the
+  Sergeant-at-Arms, 56; financial statement, 60; defects as
+  leader, 62; summons a meeting of the supporters of Government,
+  92; resigns, 101; popularity of, 105; Chancellor of the
+  Exchequer under Lord Melbourne, 113; succeeds his father as
+  Earl Spencer, 140
+
+Alvanley, Lord, duel with Morgan O'Connell, ii. 257; on Irish
+  affairs, 348
+
+America, dispute with France, iii. 322
+
+Anglesey, Marquis of, recalled, i. 149; entry into Dublin, ii.
+  99; disputes with O'Connell, 106
+
+Antwerp, threatened bombardment of, by the Dutch, ii. 321; French
+  army marches to, 329
+
+Arbuthnot, Right Hon. Charles, nickname 'Gosh,' i. 103;
+  conversation with, on the Duke of Wellington's Administration,
+  ii. 51; conversation with, at Oatlands, 170
+
+Arbuthnot, Mrs., death of, iii. 116
+
+Arkwright, Sir Richard, fortunes of, iii. 50
+
+Arkwright, Mrs., visit to, iii. 49
+
+Arms Bill, the, ii. 196
+
+Arnold, Dr., proposed for a bishopric, iii. 325
+
+Artevelde, Philip van, iii. 114; discussed at Holland House, 128
+
+Ascot Races, 1831, ii. 147; 1833, 375
+
+Attwood, chairman of the Birmingham Union, ii. 205, 206;
+  proclamation against, 215
+
+Auckland, Lord, Board of Trade, ii. 66; First Lord of the
+  Admiralty, iii. 88, 113; on the state of affairs, 238; First
+  Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Melbourne's second
+  Administration, 256
+
+Augustus, Prince, of Prussia, ii. 319
+
+Austin, Mr. John, his work on Jurisprudence, iii. 138
+
+Austin, Mr. Charles, ii. 306
+
+Aylmer, Lord, recalled from Canada, iii. 394; the King's address
+  to him, 395
+
+
+Bachelor, valet to the Duke of York and to King George IV., i.
+  142, 143; conversation with, ii. 30
+
+Bagot, Lord, conduct to Lord Harrowby, ii. 253
+
+Baiae, Bay of, i. 341
+
+Baring, House of, ii. 53
+
+Baring, Right Hon. Alexander, offered the Chancellorship of the
+  Exchequer, ii. 299; proposes a compromise with the ex-Ministers,
+  300
+
+Baring, Francis, Chairman of the West India Committee, iii. 279
+
+Barnes, Mr., editor of the 'Times,' ii. 97, 214; negotiations
+  with, for supporting the Government, iii. 155, 156, 157; dines
+  with Lord Lyndhurst, 167, 169; alarm of, at the prevailing
+  spirit, 188
+
+Barri, Madame du, ii. 219
+
+Barry, Dr., sent to Sunderland, ii. 216; report on cholera, 217
+
+Bath, Chapter of the Order of the, i. 254
+
+Bathurst, Earl, Lord President, i. 124; death of, iii. 115;
+  character of, 115
+
+Bathurst, Countess, conversation with, ii. 62
+
+Bathurst, Hon. William, appointed Clerk of the Council, ii. 61,
+  86; delay in appointment of, 74; sworn in Clerk of the Council,
+  94
+
+Bathurst, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. Seymour, death of, iii. 79
+
+Baudrand, General, ii. 33; reception of, 38
+
+Bazaar, in Hanover Square, ii. 383
+
+Beauclerc, Lord Aurelius, dances a country dance with the King,
+  ii. 341
+
+Belgian question, the, settlement of, ii. 314
+
+Belgium, revolution in, ii. 41; affairs of, 44; unsettled state
+  of, 69; deputation from, 160; fortresses of, 169; invaded by
+  the Dutch, 175; French army refuses to leave, 181; end of
+  hostilities with the Dutch, 184; Conference, 1832, 321
+
+Belmore, Earl of, Governor of Jamaica, i. 140, 147
+
+Belvoir Castle, iii. 46
+
+Benson, Canon, sermon at the Temple Church, ii. 113
+
+Bentinck, Right Hon. Lord William, desires to be appointed
+  Governor-General of India, i. 59; address to the electors of
+  Glasgow, iii. 339, 343; qualities of, 339; inscription on
+  monument in honour of, 340
+
+Bentinck, Lord Henry, quarrel with Sir Roger Gresley, ii. 148
+
+Bergara, Convention of, iii. 259
+
+Berri, Duchesse de, in La Vendee, ii. 322
+
+Berry, Miss, iii. 58
+
+Berryer, M., iii. 379; appearance of, 380
+
+Best, Right Hon. William Draper, _see_ Lord Wynford
+
+Bethnal Green, distress in, ii. 261
+
+Bexley, Lord, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i. 95
+
+Bickersteth, Henry, _see_ Lord Langdale
+
+Blacas, M. de, favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 305
+
+Black Book, the, ii. 79
+
+Bloomfield, Sir Benjamin, dismissal of, i. 55
+
+Blount, Rev. Mr., sermon, iii. 12
+
+Body-snatchers, ii. 227
+
+Bologna, i. 402
+
+Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon, in the 100 days, i. 24; campaigns
+  of, described by Marshal Marmont, ii. 35
+
+Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, Strasburg attempt, iii. 381
+
+Bonaparte, Joseph, at dinner at Lady Cork's, iii. 18
+
+Bonaparte, Lucien, introduced to the Duke of Wellington, iii. 11;
+  at dinner at Lady Cork's, 18
+
+Boodle's, dinner at, ii. 124
+
+Bosanquet, Right Hon. Sir John Bernard, sworn in a Privy
+  Councillor, iii. 30; Judge of the King's Bench, 71
+
+Boswell, 'Life of Johnson,' anecdotes lost, ii. 105
+
+Boulogne, iii. 388
+
+Bourbon, Duke de, death of, ii. 50
+
+Bourmont, Marshal de, marches on Lisbon, iii. 25
+
+Bourne, Right Hon. Sturges, Secretary of State for the Home
+  Department, i. 95
+
+Bowring, Dr., sent to Paris, ii. 219; satire of Moore on, 219;
+  career of, 220
+
+Bradshaw, Mrs., acting of, at Bridgewater House, ii. 353
+
+Brescia, i. 412
+
+Bretby, visit to, iii. 327; Chesterfield Papers, 327
+
+Bridgewater House, dramatic performances at, iii. 352, 355
+
+Bridgewater Election, iii. 398
+
+Brighton, the Court at, 1832, ii. 334; races, 1835, iii. 284
+
+Bristol, riots at, ii. 208
+
+Broglie, Duke de, conduct of, iii. 386
+
+Brooks's Club, iii. 320
+
+Brougham, Lord, attack upon, in 'Quarterly Review,' i. 16; speech
+  on the Queen's trial, 35; letter to the Queen, 57; character
+  of, 117; qualities of, ii. 18, 33; appointed Lord High
+  Chancellor, 65; discontent of, 65; social qualities of, 69;
+  anecdote of, 106; quarrel with Sugden, 106; correspondence with
+  Southey on rewards to literary men, 112; speech on Chancery
+  Reform, 118; domestic kindness of, 120; origin of
+  representation of Yorkshire, 125; as Lord Chancellor, 128; at
+  the Horse Guards, 129; as a judge, 145; at dinner at Hanbury's
+  brewery, 148; at the British Museum, 149; claims the old Great
+  Seal, 188; intention of sitting at the Privy Council, 223;
+  speech on the Russian Loan, 244; quarrel with Sugden, 312;
+  anecdote of, 314; Bill for creating a new Court of Appeal, 342;
+  Bill objected to, 344; Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
+  Bill, 365; sits on the case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, 370; as
+  Chancellor, iii. 22; anecdotes of Queen Caroline, 36; and Sir
+  William Horne, 67; meets Sir Thomas Denman in Bedfordshire, 71;
+  judicial changes, 71; defence of himself, 72; apology for, 76;
+  speech on Lord Wynford's Bill for the observance of the
+  Sabbath, 83; on the Pluralities Bill, 86; on the Irish Church,
+  94; and the 'Times,' 96; Lord Chancellor in Lord Melbourne's
+  Administration, 113; and Lord Westmeath, 119; conduct in the
+  Westmeath case, 119, 124; versatility of, 121; lines applied
+  to, 121; Greek epigrams, 121; ambition of, 122; in Scotland,
+  133; communicates to the 'Times' the fall of Lord Melbourne's
+  first Administration, 145; resigns the Great Seal, 156; takes
+  leave of the Bar, 156; asks for the Chief Baronship, 157;
+  anecdote, 232; conduct of, in the case of Swift _v._ Kelly,
+  260, 267; on the London University Charter, 261; judgment in
+  the case of Swift _v._ Kelly, 274; on the Corporation Bill,
+  286; violence in the House of Lords, 303; illness of, 329; and
+  Macaulay, 337, 338; at Queen Victoria's first Council, 408
+
+Brummel, 'Beau,' i. 282
+
+Brussels, disturbances at, ii. 40
+
+Buccleuch, Duke of, subscription to election expenses, iii. 182
+
+Budget, the, 1831, ii. 113
+
+Buller, James, death of, ii. 59
+
+Buelow, Baron von, on English affairs, iii. 211
+
+Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, iii. 348
+
+Bunsen, Baron, i. 315; career of, 327; on Roman affairs, 389
+
+Burdett, Sir Francis, returned for Westminster, 1837, iii. 398
+
+Burghersh, Lord, at Florence, i. 299; amateur opera, 301
+
+Burghersh, Lady, intercedes for a prisoner at the Old Bailey, ii.
+  85
+
+Burghley, party at, iii. 53
+
+Burke, Right Hon. Edmund, writings of, iii. 209; compared with
+  Mackintosh, 314
+
+Burke, Sir G., conversation with, on O'Connell, ii. 111
+
+Buxton, Fowell, dinner at the brewery, ii. 148
+
+Byng, Right Hon. George, Lord of the Treasury, iii. 95
+
+Byron, Lord, Moore's Life of, i. 272; character of, 273
+
+
+Cambridge, H.R.H. the Duchess of, reception of, i. 2
+
+Cambridge, University of, petition for the admission of
+  Dissenters to the, iii. 72, 75
+
+Campbell, Sir John, Solicitor-General, ii. 333; Attorney-General,
+  iii. 141
+
+Canada, affairs in, iii. 350
+
+Canning, Right Hon. Sir Stratford, Ambassador at St. Petersburg,
+  ii. 352, 357; anecdote of, iii. 39; offered the
+  Governor-Generalship of Canada, 234
+
+Canning, Right Hon. George, Foreign Secretary, i. 55;
+  correspondence with the King on taking office, 59; forms an
+  Administration (1827), 93, 95; death of, 103; anecdotes of,
+  104; industrious habits of, 106; memoirs of, 263, 272; despatch
+  in verse, 326; sagacity of, ii. 42; conversation with the King,
+  102; correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, 103; coldness
+  to the Duke of Wellington, 103; anecdote of, 125; negotiation
+  with the Whigs, 170; influence over Lord Liverpool, 172; in
+  favour with the King, 172; on Reform, iii. 135; and King George
+  IV., 137
+
+Canning, Lady, visit to, ii. 101; authorship of pamphlet, iii. 40
+
+Canning, Mr. Charles, offered a Lordship of the Treasury, iii.
+  202
+
+Cannizzaro, Duchess of, iii. 11; crowns the Duke of Wellington,
+  406
+
+Canterbury, Archbishop of, indecision of the, ii. 250, 262, 263;
+  importance of support of the, 252, 253
+
+Canterbury, Viscount, declines to go to Canada, iii. 234
+
+Capo di Monte, i. 335
+
+Capua, i. 360
+
+Cardinals, the, i. 309
+
+Carlisle, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95; iii. 88
+
+Carlists, the, in Spain, iii. 66
+
+Carlos, Don, in London, iii. 98
+
+Carlow election, iii. 348
+
+Carnarvon, Earl of, refuses to move the address in the House of
+  Lords, iii. 202
+
+Caroline, Queen, return of, i. 28; trial of, 31, 35; anecdote of,
+  iii. 37
+
+Carvalho, Minister of Finance to Dom Pedro, iii. 93
+
+Catacombs, the, _see_ Rome
+
+Catholic emancipation, i. 163, 172, 174
+
+Catholic Relief Bill, excitement concerning the, i. 180; debates
+  on, _see_ Lords and Commons
+
+Cato Street Conspiracy, the, i. 26
+
+Cayla, Madame du, i. 71; dinner at the Duke of Wellington's, 214;
+  Beranger's verses on, 215; favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 306
+
+Cenis, the Mont, i. 287
+
+Champollion, Jean Francois, death of, ii. 307
+
+Chapeau de Paille, the, purchase of, ii. 125
+
+Chapel, near Holland House, unable to be consecrated, iii. 200
+
+Charles I., King, head of, discovered at Windsor, ii. 168;
+  executioner of, iii. 132
+
+Charles X., King, of France, arrival of in England, ii. 31; at
+  Lulworth Castle, 33; off Cowes, 34
+
+Charlotte, Queen, illness of, i. 2, 3
+
+Charlotte, H.R.H. the Princess, anecdotes of, ii. 319
+
+Chartres, H.R.H. the Duc de, arrival of, i. 208
+
+Chatham, Earl of, death of, iii. 316
+
+Chatsworth, hospitality at, i. 237; charade at, 238; party at,
+  ii. 51
+
+Chesterfield Papers, the, iii. 327
+
+Chobert, the 'Fire King,' i. 276
+
+Cholera, the, in Russia, ii. 57; account of, 150; preventive
+  measures against, 154, 216; effect on trade of, 156; spread of,
+  161; alarm about, 169; at Berlin, 192; at Sunderland, 208, 210;
+  at Marseilles, 221; on the decline, 224; near Edinburgh, 240;
+  in London, 258, 259; in Bethnal Green, 261; account of, 278;
+  diminution of, 285; in Paris, 287; alarm in London, 309, 311
+
+Christina, Queen, of Spain, iii. 66, 72; reported flight of, 360;
+  courage of, 365
+
+Christmas trees, introduced by Princess Lieven at Panshanger, i.
+  259
+
+Church Bill, the, Committee on, iii. 199
+
+Church Reform, iii. 206
+
+City, the, address to the King, ii. 126; illumination in, 140;
+  election, 1835, iii. 184, 186, 187; anxiety in the money-market,
+  373, 376
+
+Civil List, the, excess of expenditure on, i. 253; for debates
+  on, _see_ Commons, House of
+
+Clanricarde, Marquis of, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 78
+
+Clarence, H.R.H. the Duke of, Lord High Admiral, i. 95; removal
+  of, from the office of Lord High Admiral, 138, 140. _See_
+  William IV.
+
+Cobbett, William, trial of, ii. 158; returned for Oldham, 335;
+  takes his seat, 351; and Sir Robert Peel, 373
+
+Cochrane, Lord, at Florence, i. 301; villa near Florence, 302
+
+Codrington, Sir E., interview with the Duke of Wellington, i. 179
+
+Coercion Bill, the, introduced, ii. 359
+
+Colchester Election, iii. 112
+
+Commons, House of; Alien Bill, i. 1; Dr. Halloran's petition, 14;
+  debate on grant to the Duke of York, 18; debates on Queen
+  Caroline, 30, 32, 38; Small Notes Bill, 79; debates on Catholic
+  Relief Bill, 91, 133, 166, 191; division on Catholic Relief
+  Bill, 185; Catholic Relief Bill read a third time, 203; Regency
+  and Civil List, ii. 45; debate on the Evesham election, 25;
+  debate on the Civil List, 110; announcement of the Reform Bill,
+  110; Pension List, 111; debate on Ireland, 112; Budget of 1831,
+  113; proposed reductions, 118; introduction of the first Reform
+  Bill, 121; debates on the Reform Bill, 123, 125; debate on the
+  Timber duties, 130; debate on the Reform Bill, 131; division on
+  the Reform Bill, 132; Government defeated, 135; scene in the
+  House, 135; second reading of the Reform Bill, 156; Wine
+  duties, 160; Reform Bill, Schedule A, 170; second Reform Bill,
+  227; debate on, and second reading of the second Reform Bill
+  carried, 228; Reform Bill supported by the Irish Members, 239;
+  division on the Russian Loan, 240; division on the sugar
+  duties, 267; Reform Bill passed, 270; debates, 296; violent
+  scene in debate on petition of the City of London, 299; Irish
+  Tithe question, 308; debate on, 309; debate on the Address,
+  353; Irish Church Reform, 354; aspect of the reformed House,
+  360; debate on Slave Emancipation, 371; vote of confidence in
+  the Ministers, 376; division on the Irish Church Bill, 381;
+  vote against sinecures, iii. 13; division on Apprenticeship
+  Clause of West India Bill, 16; disorganised state of the House,
+  17; Pension List, 60; business of the House, 61; debate on the
+  Corn Laws, 68; debate on admission of Dissenters to the
+  University, 75; debate on Repeal of the Union, 80; Pension
+  List, 80; debate on Portugal, 82; Poor Law Bill, 83; debate on
+  Irish Tithe Bill, 98, 99; gallery for reporters, 205; debate on
+  the Speakership, 214; debate on the Address, 221; debate and
+  division on amendment to the Address, 223; Malt Tax, 224;
+  debate on appointment of Lord Londonderry, 225; Dissenters'
+  Marriage Bill, 230; Government beaten on Chatham election, 234;
+  state of parties in the House, 234; debate and division on
+  Irish Church question, 240; uproar in the House, 243;
+  Government defeated on Irish Tithe Bill, 246; debate on Irish
+  Church Bill, 281; position of the House, 288, 291; conflict
+  with the House of Lords, 225; debate and division on the
+  amendment to the Address, 334; effect of division, 336;
+  Opposition defeated, 347; division, 359; Irish Corporation
+  Bill, 388; insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389; debates on Irish
+  Tithe Bill, 391; abandonment of the appropriation clauses, 393
+
+Como, i. 414
+
+Conroy, Sir John, ii. 190; iii. 3
+
+Conservative Club, dinner at, ii. 327; speeches, 327
+
+Constantine, the Grand Duke, accident to, i. 259; death of, ii.
+  164
+
+Convention signed between France, England, and Holland, ii. 375
+
+Conyngham, Marquis of, Postmaster-General, iii. 88, 113
+
+Conyngham, Marchioness of, i. 46; wears a Crown jewel, 48; Court
+  intrigues, 207
+
+Conyngham, Lord Francis, i. 50
+
+Coprogli, History of the Grand Vizier, iii. 115
+
+Cornelius, painter, ii. 149
+
+Coronation, the, of William IV., decided on, ii. 156;
+  preparations for, 157, 163, 165; estimates for, 181; disputes
+  over the arrangements for, 187
+
+Cottenham, Lord, Lord High Chancellor, iii. 328
+
+Cotton, Sir Willoughby, suppresses the insurrection in Jamaica,
+  ii. 262; on affairs in Jamaica, 380
+
+Council, Clerk of the, Mr. Greville sworn in, i. 44; after the
+  accession of William IV., ii. 12; Lord Grey's Administration
+  sworn in, 71; for the proclamation against rioters, 73;
+  recorder's report in, 85; clerks of the, 87; scene at Council
+  for a new Great Seal, 188
+
+Council, Privy: suttee case before the, ii. 307; embargo on Dutch
+  ships, 343; meeting of the, on the London University petition,
+  iii. 80; counter petition of Oxford and Cambridge, 80
+
+Council, Cabinet: the first of Lord Melbourne's Administration,
+  iii. 120; the first of Sir Robert Peel's Administration, 174
+
+Covent Garden Theatrical Fund Dinner, i. 205
+
+Coventry, glove trade, ii. 224
+
+Cowley, Abraham, lines from 'Ode to Solitude,' ii. 272
+
+Cowper, Earl, at Panshanger, ii. 229
+
+Cowper, Countess, at Panshanger, ii. 229
+
+Cowper, William, Life of, by Southey, iii. 134
+
+Cradock, Colonel, sent to Charles X., ii. 37
+
+Crampton, Sir Philip, Irish story, i. 243
+
+Craven, Earl of, disperses a mob, ii. 77; on the proposed new
+  Peers, 232
+
+Craven, General the Hon. Berkeley, suicide of, iii. 350
+
+Crawford, William, member for the City of London, iii. 188
+
+Creevey, Mr., i. 235
+
+Croker, Right Hon. John Wilson, edition of 'Boswell's Life of
+  Johnson,' ii. 105; reviews lost, 106
+
+Cumberland, H.R.H. the Duke of, opposition to Catholic Relief
+  Bill, i. 180; intrigues at Court, 222; insults Lady Lyndhurst,
+  222, 223; quarrel with Lord Lyndhurst, 224; disputes concerning
+  the office of 'Gold Stick,' ii. 5, 21
+
+Cumberland, H.R.H. the Duchess of, i. 2
+
+Cuvier, Baron, death of, ii. 307
+
+
+Dalberg, Duke de, letter on European affairs, ii. 44
+
+Dawson, Right Hon. George Robert, speech on Catholic
+  Emancipation, i. 138, 200; sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 71
+
+De Cazes, Duke, favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 305; Ambassador to
+  the Court of St. James, 306
+
+Dedel, M., Dutch Minister at the Court of St. James, iii, 32
+
+Denbigh, Earl of, Chamberlain to Queen Adelaide, ii. 342; sworn
+  in Privy Councillor, 352
+
+Denman, Lord, correspondence with the King, i. 156; sworn in a
+  Privy Councillor, ii. 329; Lord Chief Justice, 330; qualities
+  of, 331; meeting of, with Lord Brougham, in Bedfordshire, iii.
+  71; raised to the Peerage, 74
+
+Derby Dilly, the, iii. 236, 237, 253
+
+De Ros, Lord, in Rome, i. 368
+
+De Ros, Colonel, the Hon. Arthur John Hill, death of, i. 81;
+  character of, 82
+
+Dickenson, Captain, trial of, by court-martial, i. 235
+
+Diebitsch, Marshal, death of, from cholera, ii. 154
+
+Dino, Duc de, arrest of the, i. 255
+
+Dino, Duchesse de, ii. 57; on the state of France, 195
+
+Discontent throughout the country, ii. 108
+
+Disraeli, Benjamin, projects for sitting in Parliament, iii. 170
+
+Dissenters' Marriage Bill, iii. 207, 230. For debates on, _see_
+  Commons, House of
+
+Dorsetshire election, 1831, ii. 203, 207; crime in, iii. 77
+
+Dover, Lord, resigns the Woods and Forests, ii. 109; created a
+  Peer, 150; death of, iii. 4; character of, 4; Life of Frederick
+  II., 6; book on the Man in the Iron Mask, 6
+
+Down, deanery of, iii. 70
+
+Drax _v._ Grosvenor, case of, ii. 224; lunacy case, 369; decision
+  on, 375; final meeting on, 377
+
+Drummond, Henry, mission to the Archbishop of York, iii. 333
+
+Dublin Police Bill, iii. 333
+
+Dudley, Earl of, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, i. 95,
+  124; dinner to Marshal Marmont, ii. 38; eccentricity of, 271,
+  272
+
+'Duke of Milan,' quotation from the, i. 178
+
+Duelcken, Madam, performs before the Judicial Committee, iii. 325
+
+Duncannon, Viscount, iii. 104; called to the House of Lords, and
+  Secretary of State, 109; sworn in, 112; Home Secretary, 113; on
+  O'Connell, 117; at a fire in Edward Street, 117; on the state
+  of affairs, 196; Commissioner of Woods and Forests under Lord
+  Melbourne, 256
+
+Duncombe, Hon. Thomas Slingsby, maiden speech of, i. 128;
+  petition from Barnet, ii. 255; guilty of libel, iii. 9; at
+  Hillingdon, 123
+
+Durham, Earl of, quarrel with Lady Jersey, ii. 119; influence
+  over Lord Grey, 222; attack on Lord Grey at a Cabinet dinner,
+  226; rudeness of, 269; return from Russia, 333; violence of,
+  333; created an earl, 365
+
+Dwarris, Sir Fortunatus, dinner at the house of, ii. 359
+
+
+East, Sir E. Hyde, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 155
+
+Eboli, Duchesse d', ball at Naples, i. 335
+
+Ebrington, Viscount, moves a vote of confidence in the
+  Government, ii. 202, 204
+
+Ebury, Lord, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 78
+
+Egremont, Earl of, at Petworth, ii. 336; wealth of, 337;
+  hospitality to the poor, iii. 84
+
+Eldon, Earl of, audience of King George IV., i. 197; speech at
+  Apsley House, ii. 198; career of, 378; tribute to, iii. 42
+
+Election, General, in 1830, ii. 20, 29; in 1831, 139, 141, 142,
+  145; in 1832, 335; in 1835, iii. 184, 189, 191, 193; results
+  of, 195; in the counties, 198; result, 201
+
+Eliot, Lord, return of, from Spain, iii. 259; conversation with
+  Louis Philippe, 259
+
+Ellenborough, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 124; letter to Sir
+  John Malcolm, 271; on West India affairs, ii. 350; on Egypt,
+  351; speech on admission of Dissenters to the University, iii.
+  73
+
+Ellesmere, Earl of, Irish Secretary, i. 146
+
+Ellice, Right Hon. Edward, iii. 104; and the Colchester election,
+  112; Secretary for War, 113; in Paris, 379
+
+Elliot, Frederic, letter from Canada, iii. 325
+
+Epsom races, 1831, ii. 143; in 1833, 373
+
+Erskine, Right Hon. Thomas, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 223;
+  Chief Judge in Bankruptcy, 223
+
+Escars, Duchesse d', at a party given by the Duke of Wellington,
+  i. 214
+
+Este, Sir Augustus d', behaviour of, ii. 194
+
+Esterhazy, Prince Paul, conversation with, ii. 40; on Belgian
+  affairs, 189; on the state of England, iii. 32; on affairs in
+  Europe, 370; conversation with, 373
+
+Europe, state of, ii. 126; in 1831, 187; in 1836, iii. 370
+
+Evans, General de Lacy, iii. 265; reported death of, 359
+
+Evans, the incendiary, arrest of, ii. 70
+
+Exeter, Bishop of, correspondence with Lord Melbourne, ii. 97;
+  interview with Lord Grey, 205; talents of, 287; ambition of,
+  289
+
+
+Falck, Baron, ii. 15, 41
+
+Ferdinand, Emperor, of Austria, iii. 374
+
+Fergusson, Right Hon. Cutlar, Judge Advocate, iii. 95
+
+Ferrara, i. 405
+
+Fieschi conspiracy, iii. 286
+
+Fingall, Earl of, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. 150
+
+Finsbury election, 1834, Radical returned, iii. 100
+
+Fitzclarence, Colonel George, _see_ Munster, Earl of
+
+Fitzclarence, Lord Frederick, resigns appointment at the Tower,
+  ii. 362
+
+Fitzclarence, Lord Adolphus, picture of, ii. 179
+
+Fitzclarence, Lord Augustus, at Ascot, ii. 147; picture of, 176
+
+Fitzclarence, Lady Augusta, marriage of, iii. 363
+
+Fitzgerald, Right Hon. Vesey, i. 150
+
+Fitzherbert, Mrs., death of, iii. 396; documents of, 396
+
+Flahault, Madame de, anecdotes of Princess Charlotte, ii. 319;
+  _salon_ of, in Paris, iii. 381
+
+Fleury, Cardinal, ii. 347
+
+Florence, i. 299; sights of, 300; society at, 302; sculpture,
+  300, 301; pictures, 303; Grand Duke, 303
+
+Foley, Lord, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 84; Lord-Lieutenant
+  of Worcestershire, 84; at St. James's, 297
+
+Fonblanque, Albany, iii. 348
+
+Forester, Right Hon. Colonel Cecil, resigns his appointment as
+  Groom of the Bedchamber, ii. 118
+
+Forfar election, 1835, iii. 197
+
+Fox, Mrs. Lane, accompanies the Prince of Orange to Gravesend,
+  ii. 133; receives the Cabinet Ministers, iii. 140
+
+Fox, Right Hon. Charles James, described by Talleyrand, ii. 344
+
+Fox, W. J., Unitarian minister, sermon, iii. 43
+
+France, state of affairs in, i. 284; appearance of the country,
+  287; impending crisis in 1830, 369; events in 1830, ii. 17;
+  revolution, 19; Duke of Orleans ascends the throne, 26;
+  political prospects, 26; reconstruction of the Constitution,
+  28; army ordered to Belgium, 178; army in Belgium, 181; seizure
+  of Portuguese ships, 182, 184; republican tendencies of, 187;
+  state of the country, 1831, 195; weakness of the Government of
+  Louis Philippe, 322; dispute with America, iii. 322; state of
+  the country, 382
+
+Francis, Sir Philip, handwriting of, i. 234
+
+Franklin, Benjamin, ii. 185
+
+Franz Joseph, Archduke, iii. 374
+
+Frascati, convent at, i. 305; dinner at, 305; visit to, 390
+
+
+Gallatin, Albert, i. 257
+
+Gambier, Lord, proxy of, ii. 286
+
+Garrick, David, anecdotes of ii. 316
+
+Gell, Sir William, at Rome, i. 372, 375
+
+Geneva, i. 415
+
+Genoa, i. 292; palaces, 293, 295; churches, 294; tomb of Andrew
+  Doria, 296
+
+George III., death of, i. 23; will, 64; jewels and property, 65;
+  dislike of the Duke of Richmond, iii. 129
+
+George IV., illness of, i. 23; at the Pavilion, 49; interview
+  with, 91; health and habits of, 143; violent dislike to the
+  Catholic Relief Bill, 153, 181; character of, 155; personal
+  habits of, 189; interview with the Lord Chancellor, the Duke of
+  Wellington, and Sir Robert Peel, 201; health of, 206; racing
+  interests of, 212; anecdotes concerning, 216; eyesight
+  affected, 233, 236; courage of, 236; conduct in reference to
+  Mr. Denman, 250; illness of, 368; death of, 417; funeral of,
+  ii. 4; sale of wardrobe, 23; details of last illness, 30;
+  anecdotes concerning, 189
+
+Gerard, Marshal, reported resignation of, ii. 45; ordered to
+  Belgium, 178
+
+Gibson, John, R.A., at Rome, i. 383
+
+Gladstone, William Ewart, West India Committee, iii. 280
+
+Glenelg, Lord, President of the Board of Trade, i. 124; Board of
+  Control, ii. 66, iii. 113; Colonial Secretary in Lord
+  Melbourne's second Administration, 256; and the King, 276
+
+'Glenfinlas' performed at Bridgewater House, iii. 353, 355
+
+Glengall, Earl of, comedy by the, i. 249
+
+Glengall, Countess of, ii. 85
+
+Gloucester, H.R.H. the Duke of, ii. 8
+
+Goderich, Viscount, Small Notes Bill, i. 79; Secretary of State
+  for Colonial Affairs and War, 95; sent for by the King, 107;
+  scene at Windsor, 108; Administration of, formed, 108;
+  resignation of, 115; returns to office, 116; Ministry
+  dissolved, 120; Colonial Secretary, ii. 66; Lord Privy Seal,
+  365; created an earl, 367; invested with the Order of the
+  Garter, 367
+
+Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, death of, ii. 307
+
+Goodwood, ii. 182; in 1833, iii. 20
+
+Gorhambury, party at, ii. 188
+
+'Goriot, Le Pere,' iii. 378
+
+Goulburn, Right Hon. Henry, Chancellor of the Exchequer, i. 124
+
+Graham, Right Hon. Sir James, First Lord of the Admiralty, ii.
+  66; elevation of, 90; remarks on, 91; resignation of, iii. 88;
+  declines to join the Peel Administration, 176; conservative
+  spirit of, 249; on the crisis of 1835, 249; joins the
+  Opposition, 272
+
+Grange, The, attacked by a mob, ii. 68
+
+Grant, Right Hon. Charles, _see_ Glenelg, Lord
+
+Granville, Earl, Ambassador in Paris, iii. 385
+
+Granville, Countess, i. 10; quarrel with M. Thiers, iii. 380
+
+Greece, policy of the English Government towards, i. 255
+
+Greenwich, dinner at, iii. 1
+
+Grenville, Thomas, conduct during the riots of 1780, iii. 129
+
+Gresley, Sir Roger, quarrel with Lord H. Bentinck, ii. 148
+
+Greville, Charles, sen., death of, ii. 318
+
+Greville, Mrs., 'Ode to Indifference,' ii. 319
+
+Greville, Algernon, private secretary to the Duke of Wellington,
+  iii. 163
+
+Grey, Earl, hostility to the Government, i. 100; forms an
+  Administration, 1830, ii. 64, 66; First Lord of the Treasury,
+  66; at dinner at Lord Sefton's, 69; nepotism of, 78; character
+  of, 88; relations with Lord Lyndhurst, 88; lays the Reform Bill
+  before the King, 109; weakness of Government in the House of
+  Commons, 116; remarks on Administration of, 137; invested with
+  the Order of the Garter, 146; at dinner at Hanbury's Brewery,
+  149; attacked on his foreign policy, 178; on Belgian affairs,
+  178; attacked by Lord Durham, 226; proposed new Peers, 230;
+  altered conduct of, 232; reluctance to make new Peers, 247;
+  conversation with, 248; interview with Lord Harrowby and Lord
+  Wharncliffe, 259; minute of compromise with Lord Harrowby and
+  Lord Wharncliffe, 260; speech on Ancona, 269; speech at the
+  close of the Reform debate, 288; continued efforts for a
+  compromise, 291; Government defeated in committee, 293;
+  resignation of Administration of, 294; resumes office with his
+  colleagues, 300; remarks on the members of the Administration
+  of, 322; embarrassment of Government, 369; instance of
+  readiness of, iii. 10; on Portuguese affairs, 21; compared with
+  the Duke of Wellington, 73; changes in the Administration of,
+  88, 90, 91; situation of, in the crisis of 1834, 91; letter to
+  Lord Ebrington, 92; weakness of the Government, 97; resignation
+  of, 101; refuses the Privy Seal, 112; desires to retire, 124;
+  dinner to, at Edinburgh, 135; events subsequent to retirement
+  of, 145; intrigue, 145; conservative spirit of, 249; audience
+  of the King, 251; dissatisfaction of, 352
+
+Grey, Sir Charles, Governor of Jamaica, sworn in a Privy
+  Councillor, iii. 271
+
+Grote, George, returned for the City of London, iii. 188
+
+Guizot, Monsieur, reported resignation of, ii. 45; eminence of,
+  iii. 379
+
+Gully, Mr., account of, ii. 335; returned for Pontefract, 336
+
+Gunpowder Plot, papers relating to, i. 161
+
+
+Haddington, Earl of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 181
+
+Halford, Sir Henry, report on the cholera, ii. 137
+
+Hampden, Dr. Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, iii. 341,
+  342
+
+Hanbury's Brewery, dinner at, ii. 148
+
+Happiness, reflections on, iii. 293
+
+Hardinge, Right Hon. Sir Henry, on the prospects of the Tory
+  Government, iii. 167; on the King and Lord Melbourne, 168
+
+Harrowby, Earl of, Lord President, i. 95; speech on Reform, ii.
+  206; interview with Lord Grey, 224; circular to the Peers, 242,
+  248; interview with Lord Grey, 259; discussions on letter of,
+  262; letter shown to Lord Grey, 264; the 'Times' on the letter
+  of, 264, 265; patriotic conduct of, 275; declines to vote on
+  Schedule A, 281; character of, iii. 52; subscription to
+  election expenses, 182
+
+Harrowby, Countess of, iii. 52
+
+Hartwell, visit to, ii. 345
+
+Harvey, Whittle, committee, iii. 112; speech of, at Southwark,
+  188
+
+Harwich election, 1835, iii. 186
+
+Health, formation of a board of, ii. 154
+
+Henry II., King, and Thomas a Becket, iii. 130
+
+Henry VIII., King, coffin of, found at Windsor, ii. 168
+
+Herbert, Sydney, Secretary to the Board of Control, iii. 194
+
+Herculaneum, i. 349
+
+'Hernani,' ii. 154
+
+Herries, Right Hon. John Charles, scene at Council, i. 108;
+  discussions on appointment of, 110; ill-will of, towards his
+  colleagues, 121; Master of the Mint, 124
+
+Hertford, Marchioness of, funeral of, iii. 79
+
+Hess, Captain, ii. 319, 320
+
+Heurteloup, Baron, before the Judicial Committee, iii. 332
+
+Heythrop, riot at, ii. 77
+
+Hill, Mr., Irish members' squabble, iii. 55
+
+Hobhouse, Right Hon. Sir John Cam, speech on the Reform Bill, ii.
+  123; Secretary of War, 243; resigns Irish Secretaryship and
+  seat for Westminster, ii. 368; on the state of affairs, iii.
+  195; Board of Control, in Lord Melbourne's second
+  Administration, 256
+
+Holland, the King of, invades Belgium, ii. 175; state of, 200;
+  conduct of the King of, 314; the King refuses to give up
+  Antwerp, 321, 329; obstinacy of the King, 324; bankrupt
+  condition of, iii. 32
+
+Holland, Lord, at Panshanger, ii. 47; Duchy of Lancaster, iii.
+  113; anecdotes related by, 131; on Reform, 135; on Mr. Canning,
+  135; anecdotes, 335; on Mr. Fox, 335; contempt for the Tory
+  party, 336
+
+Holland, Lady, fancies of, ii. 331; and Spencer Perceval, iii.
+  331
+
+Holland House, dinner at, ii. 245; conversation at, 316; Allen
+  and Macaulay, 317; sketch of, 331; conversation at, iii. 127,
+  129; literary criticisms, 130; Lord Melbourne's conversation,
+  131; dinner at, 132; news of the fall of Lord Melbourne's
+  Administration, 147; party spirit at, 192
+
+Holmes boroughs, ii. 140
+
+Hook, Theodore, improvisation of, iii. 119, 197; singing of, 197
+
+Home, Sir William, Attorney-General, ii. 333; and Lord Brougham,
+  iii. 67
+
+Hortense, Queen, at Frascati, i. 305
+
+Horton, Wilmot, lectures at the Mechanics' Institute, ii. 97
+
+Howe, Earl, dismissal of, ii. 203; Queen's Chamberlain, 319; and
+  Queen Adelaide, 331; correspondence about the Chamberlainship,
+  339
+
+Howick, Viscount, Under-secretary, ii. 78; in office, iii. 254;
+  civility of the King to, 255; Secretary of War, 256; acrimony
+  of, 312; interview with Spencer Perceval, 330; on the position
+  of parties, 360
+
+Hudson, Sir James, page of honour, ii. 339
+
+Hume, John Deacon, Assistant-Secretary to the Board of Trade, i.
+  223; ii. 49
+
+Hume, Joseph, extreme Radical views of, ii. 361; speech on the
+  Orangemen, iii. 344; deputation to Lord Melbourne, 357
+
+'Hunchback, The,' ii. 285
+
+Hunt, Henry, speech of, ii. 112; speech of, against the Reform
+  Bill, 134
+
+Huskisson, Right Hon. William, President of the Board of Trade,
+  i. 95; dispute in the Cabinet, 120; joins the new Government,
+  122; Colonial Secretary, 124; resignation of, 131; Lord
+  Melbourne's opinion of, ii. 46; death of, 47; character of, 49;
+  funeral of, 51
+
+
+Incendiarism in the country, ii. 84
+
+Ireland, trials in, i. 239; dissatisfaction in, ii. 76;
+  unpopularity of Government changes in, 89; state of, 112, 114;
+  education in, 267, 271; tithes, 309; Church difficulties in,
+  323
+
+Irish Church, abuses in, iii. 9; the Irish Church Bill dangerous
+  to the Government, 86; differences in the Cabinet, 89;
+  difficulties of the Irish Church question, 240, 253; opinions
+  of Lord Melbourne on the, 269. For debates on the Irish Church
+  Bill, _see_ Lords, House of, and Commons, House of
+
+Irish Tithe Bill, thrown out, iii. 117; divisions on the, 246;
+  conduct of the Government, 298; difficulties of, 353, 354;
+  abandonment of the Appropriation Clause, 355
+
+Irving, Edward, service in chapel, iii. 40; the unknown tongues,
+  41; sermon of, 41; interview with Lord Melbourne, 129
+
+Irving, Washington, i. 249
+
+Istria, Duchesse d', beauty of, iii. 381
+
+
+Jacquemont's Letters, iii. 115
+
+Jamaica, insurrection in, ii. 262; Mr. Greville, Secretary of the
+  Island of, 349; petition to the King, 352; affairs of, 352;
+  anecdote of a slave, 359; opinion of Sir Willoughby Cotton,
+  380; office of Secretary to the Island of, threatened, iii.
+  266, 268, 275; secured, 279
+
+Jebb, Judge, charge of, at O'Connell's trial, ii. 109
+
+Jeffrey, Lord, and Professor Leslie, iii. 44
+
+Jersey, Countess of, character of, i. 12; party at the house of,
+  ii. 64; quarrel with Lord Durham, 119; correspondence with Lord
+  Brougham, 126
+
+Jockey Club, dinner given by the King to the, 1828, i. 154; in
+  1829, 211
+
+'John Bull,' the, newspaper, ii. 97
+
+Johnson, Dr., anecdotes of, ii. 316
+
+Johnstone, Right Hon. Sir Alexander, sworn in a Privy Councillor,
+  iii. 27, 30; at the Judicial Committee, 125
+
+Jones Loyd, Mr., iii. 188
+
+Jones, 'Radical,' interview with Lord Wharncliffe, ii. 200
+
+Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Bill for the
+  establishment of the, iii. 21; meeting to make regulations for
+  the, 35; first sitting of the, 38; working of the, 205
+
+
+Kelly, Mrs., adventures of her daughter, i. 379, 383; case before
+  the Privy Council, iii. 259, 261, 266, 267; judgment, 274
+
+Kemble, Charles, and his family, iii. 260
+
+Kemble, Miss Fanny, i. 240, ii. 129; tragedy by, 270; in the
+  'Hunchback,' 285
+
+Kempt, Right Hon. Sir James, Master-General of the Ordnance,
+  sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 84
+
+Kent, H.R.H. the Duchess of, disputes in the Royal Family, ii.
+  190; and the Duke of Wellington, 190; the Regency Bill, 191;
+  salutes to, iii. 3; at Burghley, 315; quarrels with the King,
+  366; scene at Windsor, 367; answer to the address of the City
+  of London, 399; squabble with the King, 400
+
+Kenyon, Lord, speech at Apsley House, ii. 198
+
+Kinnaird, Lord, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. 150
+
+Klopstock, Friedrich Gottlieb, anecdote of, iii. 130
+
+Knatchbull, Right Hon. Sir Edward, joins the Peel Government,
+  iii. 176, 177; attack on, 226
+
+Knighton, Sir William, i. 72; influence with the King, 99, 144;
+  behaviour of, during the King's illness, ii. 174
+
+
+Lafayette, Marquis de, resignation of, ii. 99
+
+La Ferronays, M. de, French Ambassador at Rome, i. 307; on the
+  accession of the Emperor Nicholas, 373; on French politics,
+  368; civility of, 380, 381; on French affairs, 393, 395
+
+La Granja, revolution of, iii. 364, 365
+
+'Lalla Rookh,' at Bridgewater House, iii. 353
+
+Lamb, Sir Frederick, ii. 94; reported letter to the King of
+  France from the Duke of Wellington, 94
+
+Lambeth Palace, restoration of, ii. 34
+
+Lancashire election, 1835, iii. 198
+
+Langdale, Lord, reply to Lord Brougham, iii. 81; declines the
+  Solicitor-Generalship, 141; peerage, 328; Master of the Rolls,
+  328
+
+Lansdowne, Marquis of, Secretary of State for the Home
+  Department, i. 95; Lord President, ii. 66; dinner to name the
+  sheriffs, 109; on the Reform Bill, 131; and Lord Brougham, 347;
+  Lord President in both of the Administrations of Lord
+  Melbourne, iii. 113, 256
+
+La Ronciere, case of, iii. 202
+
+Laval, M. de, at Apsley House, ii. 15
+
+Law, History of English, iii. 114
+
+Lawrence, Sir Thomas, early genius of, i. 256; death of, 263;
+  character of, 264; funeral of, 268; engagement of, to the
+  Misses Siddons, iii. 50
+
+Leach, Right Hon. Sir John, disappointed of the Woolsack, ii. 68;
+  in the case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, 378
+
+Leigh, Colonel George, ii. 189
+
+Leinster, Duke of, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 155
+
+Leitrim, Earl of, created a Baron of the United Kingdom, ii. 150
+
+Le Marchant, Denis, at Stoke, iii. 21
+
+Lemon, Robert, F.S.A., Deputy Keeper of the State Papers, iii. 44
+
+Lennard, John Barrett, Chief Clerk of the Privy Council Office,
+  ii. 370
+
+Leopold, King, i. 22; desires to ascend the throne of Greece,
+  265; anxiety to ascend the throne of Belgium, ii. 153; accepts
+  the throne of Belgium, 158; starts for Belgium, 167; proposes
+  to the Princess Louise of France, 168; in Belgium, 177; want of
+  confidence in, 177; cold reception of, at Windsor, iii. 370
+
+Leuchtenberg, Duke of, at Havre, iii. 33; marriage of, 33; letter
+  to Lord Palmerston, 34; arrival of, 195
+
+Leveson, Lord Francis, _see_ Ellesmere, Earl of
+
+Levee, iii. 213
+
+Lewis, Matthew Gregory, ('Monk' Lewis), journals and voyages to
+  the West Indies, ii. 382; anecdote of, iii. 2; agreement with
+  Mr. Murray for the Journal, 8
+
+Lichfield, Earl of, at Runton, iii. 51
+
+Lichfield Cathedral, iii. 327
+
+Lieven, Prince, recalled, iii. 87
+
+Lieven, Princess, character of, i. 15; attacks Lord Grey, ii.
+  261; on the Belgian question, 266; conversation with, 322;
+  renews her friendship with the Duke of Wellington, 325;
+  grievances of, 351; interference of, 358; diplomatic
+  difficulties, 357; reception of, at St. Petersburg, iii. 23;
+  position, of, in Paris, 379
+
+Littleton, Right Hon. Edward, i. 11; proposed by Lord Althorp as
+  Speaker, ii. 333; Secretary for Ireland, 372; and O'Connell,
+  iii. 99; instrumental in breaking up the Government, 102;
+  political career of, 103; letter to Lord Wellesley, 103, 110;
+  in communication with O'Connell, 103, 110; Irish Secretary, 113
+
+Liverpool, Earl of, and the King, i. 25; paralytic seizure, 90;
+  transactions before the close of Administration of, ii. 173
+
+Liverpool, opening of the railroad, ii. 43, 47; bribery at
+  election, 79
+
+Lobau, Marshal, Commandant-General, ii. 99
+
+Lodge, the Royal, entertainments at, i. 99
+
+London, speech of Bishop of, iii. 391; University Charter, iii.
+  80, 81, 237; meeting of Committee of Council on, 260, 262
+
+Londonderry, Marquis of, death of, i. 51; character of, 52;
+  funeral of, 54
+
+Londonderry, Marquis of, motion on Belgium, ii. 180; attacks Lord
+  Plunket, 266; debate on appointment of, to St. Petersburg, iii.
+  225; opinion of the Duke of Wellington, 227; speech of, 228;
+  resignation of, 229
+
+Long, St. John, trial of, ii. 85
+
+Lords, House of, debate of Royal Dukes, i. 177; debate on
+  Catholic Relief Bill, 199; division on Catholic Relief Bill,
+  199; debate on affairs in Portugal, 277; debate on the Methuen
+  Treaty, ii. 118; speech of Lord Brougham, 118; violent scene in
+  the, 136; debate on Lord Londonderry's motion, 180; prospects
+  of the Reform Bill, 193; First Reform Bill thrown out, 202;
+  attack on the Bishops, 205; new Peers, 230; measures for
+  carrying the second reading of the Second Reform Bill, 235,
+  237; division on the Belgian question, 240; Reform Bill, 271;
+  Irish education, 271; debates on second reading of the Reform
+  Bill, 272, 286; list of proposed new Peers, 283; Reform Bill
+  carried, 287; in Committee on the Reform Bill, 291; debate on
+  conduct of the Tory party, 303; Russo-Dutch Loan, 315;
+  Government beaten on Portuguese question, 376; powerlessness
+  of, 377; Local Courts Bill, 382, 384; debate on Local Courts
+  Bill, iii. 7; Government defeated, 7; Irish Church Bill, 8;
+  Bill for the observance of the Sabbath, 83; debate on the Irish
+  Church Bill, 94; Poor Law Bill, 114; debate on Irish Tithe
+  Bill, 117; conduct of the House, 239; debate on Corporation
+  Bill, 286, 290; position of the House, 288, 291; Irish Tithe
+  Bill thrown up, 295; conflict with the House of Commons, 295;
+  state of the House, 307; debate on Corporation Bill, 308, 351;
+  hostility to the House of Commons, 359; conduct of the House,
+  360, 361
+
+Louis XVIII., King, memoirs of, ii. 305; favourites of, 305; at
+  Hartwell, 345
+
+Louis Philippe, King, accession of, ii. 26; conduct of, 27;
+  tranquillises Paris, 99; speech of, 169; averse to French
+  attack on Antwerp, 334; behaviour of, to the Queen of Portugal,
+  iii. 33; power of, in the Chamber, 142; courage of, 286;
+  conduct towards Spain, 321, 360, 364; at the Tuileries, 382;
+  dislike to the Duke de Broglie, 386
+
+Louise, H.R.H. Princess, daughter of King Louis Philippe, ii. 168
+
+Louis, Baron, reported resignation of, ii. 45
+
+Luckner, General, ii. 219
+
+Lushington, Dr., speech of, in the appeal of Swift _v._ Kelly,
+  ii. 383
+
+Lushington, Sir Henry, and 'Monk' Lewis, iii. 2
+
+Luttrell, Henry, character of, i. 10; 'Advice to Julia,' 33
+
+Lyndhurst, Lord, Lord High Chancellor, i. 95, 124; quarrel with
+  the Duke of Cumberland, 223; dissatisfaction at Lord Brougham's
+  being raised to the Woolsack, ii. 68; reported appointment to
+  be Lord Chief Baron, 89; opinion of the Government, 93; Lord
+  Chief Baron, 106; political position of, 107; anecdote of a
+  trial, 107; retort to the Duke of Richmond, 139; on the
+  Government, 143; on Sir Robert Peel, 144; on Lord Brougham,
+  144; sent for by the King, 294; efforts to form a Tory
+  Government, 326; judgment in Small _v._ Attwood, 330; account
+  of the efforts of the Tory party to form a Government, 340;
+  forgets the message of the King to Lord Grey, iii. 49; account
+  of transactions between the King and Lord Melbourne, 150;
+  policy of, 151; on Lord Brougham, 153; Lord High Chancellor,
+  156; on the Administration of Sir Robert Peel, 189; conduct on
+  the Corporation Bill, 288, 292; on the prospects of the
+  session, 332; on the business of the House of Lords, 333;
+  speech in vindication of conduct, 362; in Paris, 378; insult
+  offered to, in House of Commons, 389; capacity of, 390; violent
+  speech of, 401
+
+Lyndhurst, Lady, insulted by the Duke of Cumberland, i. 222;
+  conversation with, ii. 93
+
+Lynn Regis, election, iii. 170, 171, 175, 181
+
+Lyons, riots at, ii. 219
+
+
+Macao, verses on, i. 11, 12
+
+Macaulay, Thomas Babington, speeches on the Reform Bill, ii. 123,
+  199; eloquence of, 204; at Holland House, 245; appearance of,
+  246; character of, 317; on the Coercion Bill, 363; conversation
+  of, iii. 35; memory of, 337; eloquence of, compared to Lord
+  Brougham, 338; inscription on monument erected in honour of
+  Lord William Bentinck, 339
+
+Macaulay, Zachary, iii. 337
+
+Mackintosh, Right Hon. Sir James, speech of, on the criminal
+  laws, i. 19; conversation of, 241; death of, ii. 307; 'History
+  of England,' iii. 139; remarks on life of, 293, 314; compared
+  with Burke, 314; life of, 316; abilities of, 316; religious
+  belief of, 324
+
+Maggiore, Lago, i. 414
+
+Maidstone, state of the borough, iii. 184
+
+Maii, Monsignore, i. 367, 375
+
+Malibran, Maria Felicita, in the 'Sonnambula,' iii. 12
+
+Mallet, conspiracy of, ii. 186
+
+Malt Tax, the, Government defeated on, ii. 368
+
+Manners Sutton, Sir Charles, G.C.B., proposed as Premier, ii.
+  326; conduct of, 341; reappointed Speaker, 343; Knight of the
+  Bath, iii. 30; the Speakership, 204, _see_ Canterbury, Lord
+
+Mansfield, Lord, speech against the Government, ii. 136; audience
+  of the King, 138; meeting of Peers, 152
+
+Mansion House, the, dinner at, iii. 178
+
+Marengo, battle-field of, i. 292
+
+Maria, Donna, Queen of Portugal, at a child's ball, i. 209;
+  proposals of marriage for, iii. 33; at Windsor, 33; picture of,
+  195
+
+Marie Amelie, Queen, iii. 383
+
+Marmont, Marshal, at Lady Glengall's, ii. 34; conversation with,
+  34; revolution of 1830, 37; at Woolwich, 38; dinner at Lord
+  Dudley's, 38
+
+Matteis, trial of, i. 336, 341
+
+Matuscewitz, Russian Ambassador Extraordinary, i. 159; on affairs
+  in Europe, ii. 176; conduct of, 324; conversation with, iii.
+  314
+
+Maule, Mr. Justice, at dinner at the Athenaeum, ii. 101
+
+Meeting of moderate men, origin of the 'Derby Dilly,' iii. 219
+
+Meiningen, chateau of, model of the, iii. 122; the Queen revisits
+  the, 125
+
+Melbourne, Viscount, Home Secretary, ii. 66; efficiency of, in
+  office, 90; negotiations with, 104; dissatisfaction of, 245; on
+  the proposed new Peers, 254; on the Reform Bill, 277; on the
+  members of Lord Grey's Administration, 322; sent for by the
+  King, iii. 102; forms an Administration, 108; letter to the
+  Duke of Wellington, Sir Robert Peel, and Mr. Stanley, 109;
+  Administration of, 113; anecdote of, 126; information of, 130;
+  literary conversation of, 131; on Benthamites, 138; theological
+  reading of, 138; fall of Government of, 143; dismissal of, 144;
+  details of fall of Government, 147; account of dismissal, 150,
+  168; with the King, 163, 168; with his colleagues, 164, 165,
+  166; dispute with Lord Duncannon, 166; speeches at Derby, 170;
+  weakness of, 170; second Administration formed, 253;
+  composition of, 256; theological reading of, 324; appointment
+  of Dr. Hampden, 342; action against, brought by the Hon. Mr.
+  Norton, 349; result of the trial, 351; difficulties of the
+  Government, 355
+
+Melville, Viscount, President of the India Board, i. 124
+
+Mendizabal, ability of, iii. 321; dismissal of, 350
+
+Messiah, the oratorio of the, performed in Westminster Abbey,
+  iii. 98
+
+Methuen, Paul, M.P., on supporting the Government, iii. 65;
+  retort of O'Connell to, 65
+
+Metternich, Princess, anecdote of, iii. 187
+
+Mexico, failure of the Spanish expedition against, i. 249
+
+Meynell, Mr., retires from the Lord Chamberlain's department, ii.
+  133
+
+Mezzofanti, i. 403
+
+Middlesex election, 1835, iii. 197
+
+Middleton, party at, i. 12
+
+Miguel, Dom, ii. 312, 315, 321; attacks Oporto, 324; fleet
+  captured by Captain Napier, iii. 9; anecdote of, 26; blunders
+  of, 93
+
+Milan, i. 413
+
+Mill, John Stuart, at breakfast given by Mr. Henry Taylor, ii. 59
+
+Milton, Viscount, at a meeting at Lord Althorp's, ii. 161
+
+Mirabeau, Count de, Talleyrand's account of, ii. 384
+
+Miraflores, Count de, Spanish Ambassador in London, iii. 98;
+  doubtful compliment to Madame de Lieven, 99
+
+Mola di Gaeta, i. 359; Cicero's villa, 368
+
+Mole, M., Prime Minister of France, iii. 379; abilities of, 380
+
+Montalivet, case of the French refugee, iii. 386
+
+Monti, Vincenzo, anecdote of, ii. 186
+
+Moore, Thomas, i. 239, 245; conversation of, 242; anecdotes, 247;
+  Irish patriotism of, ii. 98; opinions on Reform, 140; copy of
+  'Lord Edward Fitzgerald,' 169; satire on Dr. Bowring, 219;
+  compared with Rogers, iii. 324; quarrel with O'Connell, 346
+
+'Morning Herald,' the, moderate Tory organ, ii. 269
+
+Mornington, Countess of, death of, ii. 194
+
+Morpeth, Viscount, Irish Secretary, iii. 256; speech on Irish
+  Tithe Bill, 256
+
+Mosley, Sir Oswald, meeting of moderate men, iii. 220
+
+Mulgrave, Earl of, in Jamaica, ii. 352; refuses the office of
+  Postmaster-General, iii. 90; Lord Privy Seal, 113; capability
+  of, 255
+
+Municipal Corporation Bill, iii. 263, 284, 290; policy of Tory
+  Peers on the, 283; prospects of the, 295; effects of the, 309,
+  313; the Bill carried, 310
+
+Munster, Earl of, employed by the King, ii. 10; raised to the
+  Peerage, 143; Lieutenant of the Tower, 168; sworn in a Privy
+  Councillor, 352
+
+Murat, Achille, ii. 115
+
+Murray, Dr., Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, i. 146
+
+Murray, Sir George, Secretary of State for the Colonial
+  Department, ii. 11
+
+Murray, Lady Augusta, marriage of, ii. 194
+
+Musard's ball, iii. 384
+
+
+Namik Pacha, Turkish Ambassador, ii. 339
+
+Napier, Sir William, on the state of the country, ii. 108;
+  'History of the Peninsular War,' iii. 271
+
+Napier, Captain Charles, captures Dom Miguel's fleet, iii. 9;
+  cause of capture of a French squadron, 11; anecdote of, 34
+
+Naples, i. 333; sight-seeing at, 334; Court of Justice, 334;
+  manuscripts, 334; ceremony of taking the veil, 338; sights of,
+  345, 356; miracle of the blood of San Gennaro, 353, 355, 364;
+  excursions to Astroni, 356; lines on leaving, 361
+
+Navarino, battle of, i. 114, 163
+
+Nemours, H.R.H. Duc de, accompanies King Louis Philippe, ii. 99;
+  nomination to the throne of Belgium declined, 111; in the House
+  of Commons, iii. 306; at Doncaster, 315
+
+Newmarket, political negotiations at, ii. 290
+
+Nicholas, Emperor, accession of, i. 373; reception of strangers,
+  iii. 24; on the change of Government in England, 211; speech at
+  Warsaw, 319; dislike to King Louis Philippe, 387; qualities of,
+  371
+
+'Norma,' the opera of, iii. 2
+
+North, Lord, Letters of George III. to, iii. 129; anecdote of,
+  132
+
+Northamptonshire election, iii. 326
+
+Northumberland, Duke of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, i. 157
+
+Northumberland, Duchess of, resigns her office of governess to
+  the Princess Victoria, iii. 400
+
+Norton, Hon. Mr., action brought against Lord Melbourne, iii.
+  349; result of the trial, 351
+
+
+Oaks, The, ii. 374; party at, 374
+
+Oatlands, the residence of the Duke of York, i. 4; weekly parties
+  at, 5, 7
+
+O'Connell, Daniel, character of, i. 145; at dinner, 203; attempts
+  to take his seat, 207; elected for Clare, 1829, 223; insult to,
+  ii. 76; in Ireland, 96; opposition to Lord Anglesey, 98;
+  abilities of, 100; violence of, 106; arrest of, 107; trial of,
+  109; position of, 111; pleads guilty, 114; opposition to Lord
+  Duncannon in Kilkenny, 115; explanation of, 123; dread of
+  cholera, 309; member for Ireland, 351; violent speech at the
+  Trades' Union, 362, 363; attack on Baron Smith, iii. 59; retort
+  to Mr. Methuen, 65; and the Coercion Bill, 103, 110; in
+  correspondence with Mr. Littleton, 110; union with the Whig
+  party, 219; power of, 255; affair with Lord Alvanley, 256; in
+  Scotland, 316; proposed expulsion from Brooks's club, 320;
+  quarrel with Moore, 346; Carlow election, 348
+
+O'Connell, Morgan, duel with Lord Alvanley, iii. 256
+
+Old Bailey, trials at, i. 204; ii. 85
+
+Opera House, the English, burnt, i. 277
+
+Orange, Prince of, dinner to the, ii. 57; returns to Holland, 133
+
+Orange, Princess of, robbery of jewels of, i. 267
+
+Orange Lodge, association of, iii. 343
+
+Orangemen, meeting of, iii. 123
+
+Orleans, H.R.H. Duke of, arrival of, i. 208; sent to Lyons, ii.
+  219; in England, 373; project of marriage at Vienna, iii. 372;
+  question of marriage of, 387
+
+Orloff, Count, arrival of, ii. 278; delay in ratification of the
+  Belgian Treaty, 285
+
+Osterley, party at, ii. 187
+
+
+Padua, i. 411
+
+Paestum, i. 344
+
+Palmella, Duke of, arrival of in London, ii. 315
+
+Palmerston, Viscount, speech on the Portuguese question, i. 211;
+  Foreign Secretary, ii. 66; suggests a compromise on the Reform
+  Bill, 211; on proposed new Peers, 254; on prospects of the
+  Reform Bill, 256; business habits of, iii. 20, 21; unpopularity
+  of, 56; speech on the Turkish question, 71; Foreign Secretary
+  in Lord Melbourne's Administration, 113; unpopularity with the
+  _corps diplomatique_, 136; loses his election in Hampshire,
+  197; as a man of business, 210; Foreign Secretary, 256;
+  abilities of, 360
+
+Panic, the, 1825, i. 77; on the Stock Exchange, 1830, ii. 43
+
+Panshanger, parties at, ii. 46, 47, 229
+
+Paris, society at, in 1830, i. 283; in July, 416, 417; Marshal
+  Marmont's account of events at, in 1830, ii. 36; alarm felt in,
+  99; change of Ministry, 133; in 1837, iii. 377; society at,
+  378, 385; sight-seeing, 381, 383
+
+Park, Judge, anecdotes of, ii. 92; iii. 372
+
+Parke, Right Hon. Sir James, sworn in a Privy Councillor, iii.
+  21; Baron of the Exchequer, 71; in the appeal of Swift _v._
+  Kelly, 268
+
+Parliament, meeting of, 1830, ii. 53; meeting of, 1831, ii. 110;
+  dissolution of 1831, 137; opening of, 153; in 1831, 223;
+  dissolution of, 1832, 334; opening of, 1833, 351; prorogation
+  of, 1833, iii. 27; opening of, 1834, 55; dissolution of, 183;
+  temporary buildings for Houses of, 205; opening of, 219; in
+  1836, 334; prorogation of, 1836, 361
+
+Parnell, Sir Henry, turned out of office, ii. 243
+
+Parsons, anecdotes of, ii. 108
+
+Paskiewitch, Marshal, in quarantine, ii. 162
+
+Pattison, James, returned to Parliament for the City of London,
+  iii. 188
+
+Pavilion, The, dinner at, i. 49; completion of, 54
+
+Pease, Mr., and O'Dwyer, iii. 59
+
+Pedro, Dom, expedition of, ii. 312, 315; proposal to combine with
+  Spain, iii. 72; in possession of Portugal, 93
+
+Peel, Right Hon. Sir Robert, Home Secretary, i. 124; speeches on
+  Catholic Relief Bill, 167, 183; Oxford University election,
+  1829, 177; defeated, 178; political prospects of, ii. 95, 96;
+  power in the House of Commons, 116; speech on the Reform Bill,
+  123; inactivity of, on the Reform Bill, 130, 134; complaints of
+  policy of, 141; conduct of, 160; reserve of, 161, 174;
+  excellence in debate, 200; answer to Lord Harrowby, 248, 249;
+  policy of, 264; speech on Irish Tithes, 269; invited to form a
+  Government, 294; refuses to take office, 296; defence of
+  conduct, 304; conduct during the Tory efforts to form a
+  Government, 327, 328; conduct compared with that of the Duke of
+  Wellington, 328; character of, 354; on political unions, iii.
+  12; in society, 35; position of, in the House of Commons, 64;
+  collection of pictures, 70; great dinner given by, 72; speech
+  on admission of Dissenters to the University, 75; policy of the
+  Administration of, 161; friendship with the Duke of Wellington
+  renewed, 167; arrival of, from the Continent, 174; formation of
+  Administration, 177; manifesto to the country, 178; prospects
+  of the Ministry, 179; qualities of, 189; Toryism of
+  Administration of, 194; false position of, 208; prospects of
+  Government, 214, 235, 236; talents of, 224; conduct to his
+  adherents, 230, 244; courage of, 283; impending resignation of,
+  242; Government defeated, 246; resignation of Administration
+  of, 1835, 246, 248; speech on Corporation Reform, 263; on Irish
+  Church Bill, 281; relations with Lord John Russell, 282;
+  seclusion of, 297; speech on Corporation Reform, 304;
+  consideration for Lord Stanley, 335; conduct with regard to the
+  Corporation Bill, 340; position of, 358; on the beginning of
+  the new reign, 402
+
+Peel, Sir Robert, sen., account of, ii. 125
+
+Peel, Right Hon. Jonathan, iii. 243
+
+Pemberton, Thomas, ii. 314; in the appeal of Swift _v._ Kelly,
+  iii. 267, 271
+
+Pembroke, Earl of, i. 250
+
+Pension List, _see_ Commons, House of
+
+Pepys, Right Hon. Sir Christopher, Master of the Rolls, iii. 328.
+  _See_ Cottenham, Lord
+
+Perceval, Spencer, discourse of, iii, 41; the Unknown Tongue, 41;
+  on the condition of the Church, 123; apostolic mission to the
+  members of the Government, 331; at Holland House, 331;
+  apostolic mission of, 333
+
+Perier, Casimir, momentary resignation of, ii. 175; attacked by
+  cholera, 288; death of, 307
+
+Persian Ambassador, the, quarrel of, with the Regent, i. 21
+
+Perth election, 1835, iii. 197
+
+Petworth House and pictures, ii. 336; fete at, iii. 84
+
+Peyronnet, Comte de, i. 393
+
+Phillpotts, _see_ Exeter, Bishop of
+
+Pisa, i. 297
+
+Pitt, Right Hon. William, described by Talleyrand, ii. 345;
+  anecdotes of, iii. 131
+
+Plunket, Lord, Lord Chancellor in Ireland, ii. 90; anecdote of,
+  107; at Stoke, iii. 21; Deanery of Down, 70
+
+Poland, contest in, ii. 157
+
+Polignac, Prince Jules de, head of the Administration in France;
+  i. 160, 229, 283; Administration of, 394; behaviour of, ii. 29;
+  letter to M. de Mole, 33; exasperation against, 38, 39
+
+Pompeii, i. 338; excavations at, 343
+
+Ponsonby, Viscount, Minister at Naples, ii. 155; letters of, 172;
+  conduct of, as Ambassador at Constantinople, iii. 405
+
+Pope, the, audience of Pius VIII., i. 382; Irish appointments of
+  the, iii. 269. _See_ Rome
+
+Portfolio, the, iii. 327
+
+Portland, Duke of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95
+
+Portugal, ships seized by the French, ii. 182, 184; affairs in,
+  iii. 25, 79; bankrupt state of, 93
+
+Powell, Mr., ii. 52
+
+Pozzo di Borgo, Count, ii. 347; views of, on the state of Europe,
+  iii. 182; Russian Ambassador in London, 201, 203
+
+Praed, Winthrop Mackworth, first speech of, ii. 115; First
+  Secretary to the Board of Control, iii. 194
+
+Pratolino, i. 402
+
+Prayer, form of, on account of the disturbed state of the
+  kingdom, ii. 99
+
+Proclamation against rioters, ii. 73
+
+
+Quakers, the, address to King William IV., ii. 17
+
+'Quarterly Review, The,' attacks Lord Harrowby, ii. 269, 270;
+  pamphlet in answer to article, 270
+
+Quintus Curtius, iii. 130
+
+
+Racing, remarks on, ii. 373; anecdote, 374
+
+Redesdale, Lord, letter of, ii. 269
+
+Reform, plan of, ii. 105; remarks on, 207; negotiations
+  concerning, 215, 217, 218
+
+Reform Bill, the, laid before the King, ii. 109; excitement
+  concerning, 124; carried by one vote, 132; alterations in, 134;
+  Government defeated, 135; remarks on, 180; attitude of the
+  press, 193; prospects of, 199; negotiations for a compromise,
+  211; altered tone of the press, 225; meeting of Peers in
+  Downing Street, 225; measures for carrying the second reading
+  in the House of Lords, 235, 237, 239, 241; continued efforts to
+  compromise, 268; finally passed in the House of Commons, 270;
+  continued discussions on, 274; difficulty with Schedule A, 280;
+  carried in the House of Lords, 287; in committee, 292; passes
+  through committee, 304; results of, iii. 27, 191. For debates
+  on, _see_ Lords, House of, and Commons, House of
+
+Reichstadt, Duke of, and Marshal Marmont, iii. 374
+
+Reis-Effendi, the, i. 159
+
+Renfrewshire election, iii. 388
+
+Rice, Right Hon. Thomas Spring, Colonial Secretary, iii. 88, 113;
+  difficulties with, 253; Chancellor of the Exchequer, 256;
+  incapacity of, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 376
+
+Richmond, Duke of, and King George III. at a naval review, iii.
+  129
+
+Richmond, Duke of, summary of character of, i. 199;
+  Postmaster-General, ii. 66; refuses the appointment of Master
+  of the Horse, 67; difficulties with his labourers, 68; at
+  Goodwood, 182; on Reform, 211; character of, iii. 15;
+  resignation of, 88
+
+Riots, in London, 1830, ii. 55; among the farm labourers, 68;
+  proclamation against, 73; in the country, 77
+
+Ripon, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, ii. 66; resignation of, iii. 88.
+  _See_ Goderich, Viscount
+
+Robarts, Mr., dinner given by, iii. 184
+
+Robinson, Right Hon. Frederick John, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
+  i. 79; _See_ Goderich, Viscount
+
+Rochester election, 1835, iii. 193
+
+Roden, Earl of, declines the office of Lord Steward, iii. 179,
+  181
+
+Rogers, Samuel, breakfast given by, ii. 150; compared with Moore,
+  iii. 324
+
+Rolle, Lord, remark to Lord Brougham, iii. 107
+
+Rome, i. 303, 304; St. Peter's, 303, 321; sight-seeing, 306, 311,
+  322; the Sistine Chapel, 309; the cardinals, 309; a cardinal
+  lying in state, 312; Pompey's statue, 313; Temple of Bacchus,
+  313; the Catacombs, 314; the Pope's blessing, 316, 324; Holy
+  Week observances, 317; the Grand Penitentiary, 317, 319;
+  washing of pilgrims' feet, 320; supper to pilgrims, 321;
+  Protestant burial-ground, 322; St. Peter's illuminated, 325;
+  excavations, 327; sight-seeing, 328, 329, 362; aqueducts, 363;
+  the Scala Santa, 364; St. Peter's, 366; Library of the Vatican,
+  367; votive offering of a horse-shoe, 367, 372; Columbaria,
+  374; saints, 385; the Flagellants, 387; relations with
+  Protestant countries, 391; the Coliseum, 395; story of a thief,
+  396; convent of SS. Giovanni e Paolo, 397; sight-seeing, 398
+
+Rosslyn, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 210; Lord President of the
+  Council, iii. 177; dinner for selecting the Sheriffs, 201
+
+Roussin, Admiral, at Constantinople ii. 367
+
+Rovigo, the Duke de, at Rome, i. 325
+
+Rundell, Mr., fortune of, will of, i. 90
+
+Runton Abbey, shooting at, iii. 51; murder in the neighbourhood,
+  51
+
+Russell, Right Hon. Lord John, introduces the Reform Bill, ii.
+  121; seat in the Cabinet, 150; brings in his Bill, 155; letter
+  to Attwood, 205, 206; willing to compromise, 223; brings on the
+  second Reform Bill, 227; Paymaster, of the Forces, iii. 113;
+  objected to by the King as leader of the House of Commons, 160;
+  speech at Totness, 171; on the Speakership, 205; on Church
+  Reform, 206; first speech as leader of the House of Commons,
+  214; letter of, on the Speakership, 218; as leader of the House
+  of Commons, 221; marriage of, 252; Home Secretary in Lord
+  Melbourne's second Administration, 256; introduction of
+  Corporation Reform, 263; relations with Sir Robert Peel, 282;
+  course to be pursued on the Corporation Bill, 303, 310; speech
+  on the Orangemen, 344; moderation of, 352; meeting at the
+  Foreign Office, 357, 358; intention of the Government to
+  proceed with their Bills, 397; speech in answer to Roebuck, 401
+
+Russia, state of, 1829, i. 158; intrigues of, ii. 351; diplomatic
+  relations with, 352; combines with Turkey against Egypt, 366;
+  fleet sent to Constantinople, 366; establishes her power in the
+  East, 371; quarrel with, iii. 44; policy towards Turkey, 48;
+  treaty with Turkey, 69; relations with Turkey, 183
+
+Russo-Dutch Loan, question of the, ii. 240, 241; origin of the,
+  244; debate on the, in the House of Lords, 315
+
+Rutland, Duke of, anti-Reform petition, ii. 263; birthday party,
+  iii. 46
+
+
+Sadler, Mr., maiden speech of, in opposition to the Catholic
+  Relief Bill, i. 191
+
+Saint-Aulaire, M. de, French Ambassador at Vienna, iii. 187;
+  anecdote of, 187
+
+Saint-Aulaire, Madame de, iii. 187
+
+Saint-Germain, Count de, account of, ii. 186; the 'Wandering
+  Jew,' 186
+
+Salerno, i. 344
+
+Salisbury, Marquis of, petition to the King, ii. 231
+
+Saltash, borough of, division on, ii. 170
+
+San Carlos, Duke and Duchess of, i. 8
+
+Sandon, Viscount, moves the Address in the House of Commons, iii.
+  202; on Sir Robert Peel, 340
+
+Sandys, Lord, iii. 359
+
+Sartorius, Admiral, petition, iii. 366
+
+Scarlett, Sir James, Attorney-General, i. 210
+
+Scott, Sir Walter, death of, ii. 307
+
+Seaford, Lord, i. 83
+
+Sebastiani, Count, French Ambassador to the Court of St. James's,
+  iii. 180
+
+Sefton, Earl of, dinner to Lord Grey and Lord Brougham, ii. 69;
+  on Lord Brougham, 148; created a Peer of the United Kingdom,
+  150; qualities of, 183
+
+Segrave, Lord, Lord-Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, iii. 322
+
+Senior, Nassau, at Holland House, iii. 138
+
+Session of 1833, review of the, iii. 28
+
+Sestri, i. 297
+
+Seton, Sir Henry, arrival of, from Belgium, ii. 178
+
+Seymour, Lord, withdraws his support from the Government, ii. 124
+
+Seymour, George, Master of the Robes, ii. 50
+
+Seymour, Horace, retires from the Lord Chamberlain's Department,
+  ii. 133
+
+Seymour, Jane, coffin of, found at Windsor, ii. 168
+
+Shadwell, Right Hon. Sir Lancelot, on legal business, iii. 76
+
+Shee, Sir Martin, elected President of the Royal Academy, i. 269
+
+Sheil, Right Hon. Richard, dispute with Lord Althorp, iii. 55;
+  arrest of, by the Serjeant-at-Arms, 56; committee, 57, 58;
+  insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389
+
+Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, iii. 336
+
+Siege of Saragossa, the, iii. 40
+
+Siena, i. 303
+
+Simplon, the, i. 415
+
+Slavery, abolition of, ii. 347; for debates on, _see_ Commons,
+  House of
+
+Smith, Baron, ii. 105; O'Connell's attack upon, iii. 59, 61, 63
+
+Smith, Sydney, and the siege of Saragossa, iii. 39; and Professor
+  Leslie, 44; sermon of, in St. Paul's Cathedral, 166; on Sir
+  James Mackintosh, 317; dispute of, with the Bishop of London,
+  395; letter to Archdeacon Singleton, 395
+
+Smithson, Sir Hugh, ii. 337, 338
+
+Somaglia, Cardinal, i. 312
+
+Somerville, Mrs., iii. 58
+
+Sorrento, i. 352; Benediction of the Flowers, 352
+
+Soult, Marshal, sent to Lyons, ii. 219; Prime Minister of France,
+  324
+
+Southey, Robert, at breakfast given by Mr. Henry Taylor, ii. 59;
+  letter to Lord Brougham on rewards to literary men, 111
+
+Spain, the Duke of Wellington on affairs in, iii. 47; state of,
+  55; affairs in, 66, 72; proposal to combine with Dom Pedro, 72;
+  affairs in, 183; deplorable state of, 359
+
+Spanish Legion, formation of the, iii. 265
+
+Speaker, the, indecision of, ii. 299; disputes on the
+  Speakership, 333; iii. 204
+
+Spencer, Earl, death of, iii. 140
+
+Spencer, Earl, _see_ Althorp, Viscount
+
+Sprotborough, party at, for the races, ii. 50
+
+Stael, Madame de, 'Considerations sur la Revolution francaise,'
+  i. 16; anecdote of, ii. 186
+
+Stafford House, concert at, iii. 278
+
+Stanley, Right Hon. Edward, Irish Secretary, ii. 66; speech on
+  the Reform Bill, 123; seat in the Cabinet, 150; speech in
+  answer to Croker, 228; Secretary for the Colonial Department,
+  365; at The Oaks, 374; indecision of, iii. 17; racing interests
+  of, 35; resignation of, 88; in opposition, 93; 'Thimblerig'
+  speech, 100; conciliatory letter to Lord Grey, 107; disposition
+  of, 165, 167; declines to join Sir R. Peel, 175, 176; speech at
+  Glasgow, 180; formation of the Stanley party, 220; position of
+  Mr. Stanley, 222; policy of, 228; meeting of party at the
+  'King's Head,' 237; speech on Irish Church question, 240;
+  character of, 250; letter to Sir Thomas Hesketh, 265; joins the
+  Opposition, 272; conduct of, 336
+
+Stanley, Right Hon. Edward John, Under-Secretary of State, iii.
+  112
+
+State Paper Office, i. 160; iii. 44
+
+Stephen, James, opinions on emancipation, ii. 359
+
+Stephenson, George, on steam-engines, iii. 54
+
+Stewart, Lady Dudley, party given by, ii. 115; accompanies the
+  Prince of Orange to Gravesend, 133
+
+Stoke, party at, i. 142; ii. 185
+
+Strangford, Viscount, sent to the Brazils, i. 140
+
+Strasburg prisoners, acquittal of, iii. 381
+
+Strawberry Hill, party at, i. 247
+
+Strutt, Edward, ii. 59
+
+Stuart de Rothesay, Lord, Ambassador in France, i. 141
+
+Sugden, Right Hon. Sir Edward, quarrel of, with Lord Brougham,
+  ii. 312; origin of animosity towards Lord Brougham, iii. 22;
+  Irish Chancellor, 178; resignation of, 231; retains his
+  appointment, 234
+
+Sugden, Lady, not received at Court, iii. 231
+
+Sunderland, state of, ii. 216
+
+Sussex, H.R.H. the Duke of, marriage of, ii. 194
+
+Sutherland, Duke of, death of the, iii. 19; wealth, of the, 19
+
+Suttee case, before the Privy Council, ii. 307
+
+Swift _v._ Kelly, before the Judicial Committee of the Privy
+  Council, iii. 259, 266, 267, 271; judgment, 274
+
+
+Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de, letter to the Emperor of Russia,
+  i. 23; Ambassador to the Court of St. James, ii. 44;
+  conversation of, 185; anecdotes, 185; _mot_ of, 195; dinner
+  with, 222; on Fox and Pitt, 344; detained in the Thames, 346;
+  on Portuguese affairs, iii. 25; on relations between France and
+  England, 314; opinion of, of Lord Palmerston, 360;
+  dissatisfaction at his position in London, 386
+
+Tasso, i. 328; bust of, 328
+
+Tavistock, Marquis of, on the prospects of the Liberal party,
+  iii. 43
+
+Taylor, Sir Herbert, conversation with Lord Wharncliffe, ii. 251;
+  correspondence with, about the Chancellorship, 339
+
+Taylor, Henry, breakfast at the house of, ii. 58; breakfast to
+  Wordsworth, Mill, Elliot, Charles Villiers, 120; on the
+  abolition of slavery in the West Indies, 348; 'Philip van
+  Artevelde,' iii. 114
+
+Taylor, Brook, mission to Rome, ii. 153
+
+Teddesley, party at, i. 11
+
+Tenterden, Lord, death of, ii. 329; character of, 331; classical
+  knowledge of, 331
+
+Terceira, Portuguese expedition to, i. 169, 170
+
+Terni, Falls of, i. 401
+
+Thiers, Adolphe, dinner to, iii. 31; account of, 31; at the head
+  of the French Government, 66; on interference in Spain, 66;
+  foreign policy of, 364; social qualities of, 379; quarrel with
+  Lady Granville, 380; courts the favour of Austria, 387
+
+Thompson, Alderman, difficulties with his constituents, ii. 166
+
+Thomson, Right Hon. Charles Poulett, originates a commercial
+  treaty with France, ii. 219; Board of Trade, iii. 113, 256;
+  self-complacency of, 330
+
+Thorwaldsen, Albert, at Florence, i. 299, 300
+
+Tierney, Right Hon. George, i. 14; Master of the Mint, 95; death
+  of, 269
+
+'Times,' the, on Lord Harrowby's letter, ii. 264, 265; attacks
+  Lord Grey, 267; Lord Chancellor's speech, 313; influence of
+  the, 362; and Lord Brougham, iii. 133; disposition of, to
+  support a Tory Government, 149, 152; terms of support to the
+  Duke of Wellington, 155; power of the, 156, 157; negotiations
+  with Lord Lyndhurst, 171; letter signed 'Onslow,' 199
+
+Titchfield, Marquis of, death of, i. 75; character of, 75
+
+Tivoli, i. 375
+
+Tixall, party at, i. 10; Macao, 11
+
+Torrington, Viscount, and the King, iii. 285
+
+Tory party, state of the, ii. 162; meeting at Bridgewater House,
+  iii. 237; state of the, 306; indifference of members of the,
+  389
+
+Treaty of Unkiar Skelessi, iii. 45; between Russia and Turkey,
+  1834, 69; the Quadruple, for the pacification of the Peninsula,
+  signed 1834, 94
+
+Tree, Ellen, at the City Theatre, ii. 181
+
+Tuileries, the, reception at, iii. 382; ball at, 383; small ball
+  at, 385
+
+Turf, the, reflections on, iii. 139
+
+Turin, i. 291
+
+Turkey, threatened by Russia, i. 228; critical state of, ii. 351;
+  relations with Russia, iii. 183
+
+Tusculum, i. 390
+
+Twiss, Horace, supper party given by, iii. 260
+
+
+Union, speech of O'Connell on the repeal of the, iii. 80
+
+Unions, proclamation against the, ii. 215; procession of trades,
+  iii. 79
+
+Urquhart, Mr., Secretary to the Embassy at Constantinople, iii.
+  405
+
+
+Van de Weyer, Sylvain, Belgian Minister to the Court of St.
+  James, ii. 180
+
+Vaudreuil, M. de, French _charge d'affaires_ in London, on French
+  affairs, ii. 24
+
+Vaughan, Right Hon. Sir Charles, special mission to
+  Constantinople, iii. 405
+
+Vaughan, Right Hon. Sir John, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii.
+  155
+
+Venice, i. 405; sights of, 406, 408, 410
+
+Vernet, Horace, at Rome, i. 325
+
+Verona, Congress of, i. 65; visit to, 413
+
+Verulam, Earl of, petition to the King, ii. 231
+
+Vesuvius, ascent of, i. 350
+
+Vicenza, i. 412
+
+Victoria, H.R.H. the Princess, at a child's ball, i. 209; first
+  appearance of, at a drawing-room, ii. 119; at Burghley iii.
+  315; health of, proposed by the King, 364; at Windsor, 367;
+  letter from the King, 400; seclusion of, 403; first Council of,
+  406; proclaimed QUEEN, 408; impression produced on all, 409
+
+Villiers, Hon. Hyde, appointed to the Board of Control, ii. 145
+
+Villiers, Hon. George, at the Grove, ii. 105; conversation with
+  the Duke of Wellington, 105; mission to Paris for a commercial
+  treaty, 219; Minister at Madrid, iii. 14, 20, 21; on prospects
+  in Spain, 69, 79; letters of, from Madrid, 321, 360, 365
+
+Villiers, Hon. Charles Pelham, ii. 59
+
+Virginia Water, ii. 25; visit to, 30
+
+
+Walewski, Count Alexander, arrival of, in London, ii. 104
+
+Walpole, Horace, letters to Sir Horace Mann, iii. 2
+
+'Wandering Jew, The,' ii. 186
+
+Warsaw, affair at, ii. 95; taken by the Russians, 192
+
+Warwickshire Election, iii. 353, 354
+
+Wellesley, Marquis of, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, iii. 31;
+  correspondence with Mr. Littleton, 103, 110; resigns the White
+  Wand, 258
+
+Wellesley, Long, Esq., committed for contempt of court, ii. 166
+
+Wellington, Duke of, account of the battle of Waterloo, i. 39; in
+  Paris with Bluecher, 41; dispute with the King, 51; on affairs
+  of France and Spain, 67; opinion of Bonaparte, 71; mission to
+  Russia, 78; visit to the Royal Lodge, 102; opinion of Mr.
+  Canning, 107; forms a Government, 1828, 124; resolves to carry
+  the Catholic Relief Bill, 143; correspondence with Dr. Curtis,
+  148; ascendency of, in the Cabinet, and over the King, 176;
+  hardness of character of, 191; duel with Lord Winchelsea, 192;
+  conversation with, on King George IV. and the Duke of
+  Cumberland, 216, 218; prosecution of the press, 233, 258, 260;
+  business habits of, 262; conversation with on the French
+  Revolution, ii. 21; qualities of, 41; confidence in, 45;
+  declaration against Reform, 53; Administration of, defeated,
+  61; resignation of, 62; suppresses disturbance in Hampshire,
+  75; political character of, 81; reported letter of advice to
+  the King of France, 94; correspondence with Mr. Canning, 103;
+  conduct towards the Government, 159; objections to Mr. Canning,
+  170; dinner at Apsley House, 188; anti-Reform dinner at Apsley
+  House, 197; remarks upon, 204; memorial to the King, 211;
+  correspondence with Lord Wharncliffe, 221; obstinacy of, 234;
+  letter to Lord Wharncliffe, 248; unbecoming letter laid before
+  the King, 252; reply to Lord Wharncliffe, 253; speech on Irish
+  Education, 272; sent for by the King, 294; efforts of, to form
+  an Administration, 299; inability of, to form an
+  Administration, 300; statement of his case, 302; conduct of the
+  Tory party, 302; ill-feeling towards Peel, 325; view of
+  affairs, 1833, 363; government of French provinces, 363;
+  respect evinced towards, 372; defence of policy, 379; Speech on
+  the Coronation Oath, iii. 9, 10; policy on the Irish Church
+  Bill, 10; on Portuguese affairs, 11, 26; and the Bonaparte
+  family, 26; subsequent account of attempt to form a Government,
+  48; compared with Lord Grey, 73; speech on the admission of
+  Dissenters to the University, 73; presents the Oxford petition,
+  79; and the Whigs, 82; installed as Chancellor of the
+  University of Oxford, 95; First Lord of the Treasury, and
+  Secretary of State for the Home Office, 149; arrangement for a
+  provisional Government, 149; at the public offices, 1834, 154;
+  account of crisis of 1834, 162; inconsistencies of, 172; on the
+  division on the Speakership, 216; on Lord Londonderry's
+  appointment, 227; anecdote of Lord Brougham, 232; on Spain,
+  270; on the Walcheren expedition, 271; policy of, on the
+  Corporation Bill, 283; letter to the Duke of Cumberland, 320;
+  speech in answer to Lord Lyndhurst, 362; meeting of Tory Peers,
+  397; crowned by the Duchess of Cannizzaro, 406; quarrel with
+  the Duke of Clarence, 406
+
+Western, Lord, evidence of, iii. 112
+
+West India Body, consternation of the, ii. 350; deputation of
+  the, 350
+
+West India Bill, prospects of the, iii. 13. For debates on the,
+  _see_ Commons, House of
+
+West Indies, Lord Chandos's motion on the state of the, ii. 116;
+  project of emancipation, 347; alarm in the, 352; difficulties
+  attending emancipation, 360; committee on affairs of the, iii.
+  266; decision on the office of Secretary of the Island of
+  Jamaica, 279
+
+Westmeath, Marchioness of, pension, i. 157, 160
+
+Westmeath _v._ Westmeath, appeal before the Judicial Committee,
+  iii. 119, 124; decision in, 140
+
+Westminster election, 1818, contest, i. 3; in 1819, 17, 19; in
+  1833, ii. 370; in 1837, iii. 398
+
+Wetherell, Sir Charles, account of, i. 194; speech on the Reform
+  Bill, ii. 123; supports Sir E. Sugden's motion, 314
+
+Wharncliffe, Lord, interview with Radical Jones, ii. 200;
+  overtures for a compromise on the Reform Bill, 211; character
+  of, 213; draws up a declaration for signature in the City, 214;
+  disappointment of, 218; final interview of, with Lord Grey,
+  220; correspondence of, with the Duke of Wellington, 221;
+  interview of, with the King on the proposed new Peers, 231,
+  233; memorandum laid before the King, 252; as chief of a party,
+  289; in communication with Lord Lyndhurst and Lord
+  Ellenborough, 290; defends his policy, 292; paper on the Tory
+  party, 343; on the prospects of the country, iii. 54; joins the
+  Peel Government, 175; on the prospects of the session, 341
+
+Whately, Richard, D.D., Archbishop of Dublin, iii. 280
+
+Whig party, state of the, iii. 159; tactics of the, 216; union
+  with O'Connell, 219; symptoms of disunion in the, 221; meeting
+  at Lichfield House, 224; prospects of the, 235
+
+Wicklow, Earl of, attack on the Government, iii. 110
+
+Wilberforce, William, speech of, i. 16; negotiation with Mr.
+  Canning, ii. 125
+
+William IV., King, accession of, ii. 1; dislike of, to the Duke
+  of Cumberland, 5; behaviour of, 6, 9; at the House of Lords,
+  11; personal anecdotes of, 11, 12, 13, 14; dinner at Apsley
+  House, 14; at Windsor, 25; pays the racing debts of the Duke of
+  York, 50; speech on the change of Government, 72; levee, 74;
+  health of, 106, 108; mobbed on returning from the theatre, 117;
+  in mourning for his son-in-law, 133; in the House of Lords,
+  136; dissolves Parliament, 136; conduct to his Ministers, 138;
+  at Ascot, 147; opens Parliament, 153; at Windsor, 179; and the
+  Bishops, 185; divides the old Great Seal, 188; crowned at
+  Westminster, 190; levee, 192; toasts at dinner at St. James's,
+  193; interview with Lord Wharncliffe on creation of new Peers,
+  233; health of, 282; reluctance of, to make Peers, 283; adverse
+  sentiments towards the Whigs, 298; dinner to the Jockey Club,
+  301; levity of, 302; letter to the Peers, 303; character of,
+  307; struck by a stone, 307; country dance, 341; anecdotes of,
+  342; state of mind of, 364; letter to the Archbishop of
+  Canterbury, 382, 383; letter-writing, iii. 2; animosity to the
+  French, 33; irritability of, 81; conduct of, 84; personal
+  feelings towards the members of Lord Melbourne's
+  Administration, 137; dismissal of Lord Melbourne, 144; speech
+  to the Tory Lords, 148; provisional appointments, 148; account
+  of difference with Lord Melbourne, 150; resolution of, to
+  support the Tory Government, 161; address to the new Ministers,
+  175; on the state of Persia, 184; whims of, 203; Island of St.
+  Bartholomew, 203; indignation of, at the affair of Lord
+  Londonderry, 231; distress of, 251; and the Ministers, 245;
+  personal habits of, 264; speech to Sir Charles Grey, 272;
+  audience to Lord Durham, 272; hostility towards Lord Glenelg
+  and the Ministers, 276; conduct to the Speaker, 279; scene with
+  Lord Torrington, 285; speech to the Bishops, 303; speech on the
+  Militia, 311; and the Duchess of Kent, 313; speech at dinner to
+  the Jockey Club, 351; Toryism of, 358; joke, 361; speech to the
+  Bishop of Ely, 363; proposes the health of the Princess
+  Victoria, 364; aversion to his Ministers, 364, 366; speech to
+  Lord Minto, 364, 366; rudeness to the Duchess of Kent, 366;
+  scene at birthday party, 367; reception of King Leopold, 370;
+  speech, 1837, 385; address to Lord Aylmer, 394; illness of,
+  399, 400; letter to the Princess Victoria, 399; dangerous
+  illness of, 401; prayers offered up for, 403; death of, 406;
+  kindness of heart of, 410
+
+Williams, Sir John, Justice of the Common Pleas, iii. 71
+
+Winchelsea, Earl of, duel of, with the Duke of Wellington, i.
+  192; incident of the handkerchief, 198
+
+Winchester Cathedral, iii. 283
+
+Windham, Right Hon. William, diary of, i. 231; conversation with
+  Doctor Johnson, 232
+
+Windsor Castle, dinner in St. George's Hall, ii. 34, 42; dinner
+  during the Ascot week, 147
+
+Windsor election, mobs at the, iii. 130
+
+Woburn, party at, i. 23; riot at, ii. 77
+
+Wood, Charles, on the Reform Bill, ii. 280
+
+Wood, Matthew, returned to Parliament for the City of London,
+  iii. 188
+
+Worcester, Marchioness of, death of the, i. 47
+
+Worcester Cathedral, iii. 327; monument of Bishop Hough, 327
+
+Wordsworth, William, characteristics of, ii. 120
+
+Wortley, Right Hon. John, Secretary to the Board of Control, i.
+  271. _See_ Wharncliffe
+
+Wrottesley, Sir John, motion of, for a call of the House, iii. 8,
+  13
+
+Wynford, Lord, raised to the Peerage, i. 210; Deputy Speaker of
+  the House of Lords, 210
+
+Wynn, Right Hon. Charles, President of the Board of Control, i.
+  95; resignation of, ii. 124
+
+
+York, H.R.H. the Duke of, character of, i. 5; management of
+  racing establishment, 44; dislike to the Duke of Wellington,
+  48, 62; duel with the Duke of Richmond, 62; anecdotes of King
+  George IV., 73; illness of, 83, 85; death of, 84; funeral of,
+  89; letter to Lord Liverpool on the Catholic question, ii. 104
+
+York, H.R.H. the Duchess of, character of, i. 5; portrait of, 8;
+  illness of, 27; death of, 34
+
+Young, Thomas, private secretary to Lord Melbourne, iii. 126
+
+
+Zea Bermudez, iii. 21; dismissal of, 55
+
+Zumalacarreguy, iii. 270
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Greville Memoirs, by Charles C. F. Greville
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