The Speakership--Temporary Houses of Parliament--Church Reform--
Dissenters' Marriage Bill--Peel's False Position--Burke--
Palmerston's Talents as a Man of Business and Unpopularity--
Sympathy of Continental Courts with the Tories--Abercromby
elected Speaker--Defeat of the Government--Tactics of the
Opposition--The Speaker does not dine with Peel--Meeting of
Stanley's Friends--Debate on the Address--Lord John Russell
leads the Opposition--The Stanley Party--Second Defeat of the
Government--Peel's Ability--The Lichfield House Meeting--Debate
on Lord Londonderry's Appointment--His Speech in the Lords and
Resignation--Sir E. Sugden resigns the Great Seal of Ireland--
Lady Canterbury--Brougham in the House of Lords--Peel's
Readiness and Courage--Lord Canterbury and Stratford Canning
proposed for Canada--Approaching Fall of the Peel Government--
Meetings of the Opposition--Further Defeat--Sir Robert Peel's
own View of the State of Affairs--He resigns.
February 14th, 1835 {p.204}
[Page Head: OPENING OF THE SESSION.]
There has been a wonderful lull for some time past, and though we
are said to be, and I believe we in fact are, on the eve of a
crisis of great importance, perfect tranquillity prevails
universally (except, of course, in Ireland), and men go about
their daily occupations without any signs of apprehension. The
state of this country is a curious political paradox; however,
speculation will soon be lost in certainty, so it is of no use
thinking more of the matter. The newspapers have been filled
_usque ad nauseam_ with the debates about the Speakership, and
both parties are equally confident, but the bets are in favour of
Sutton. The argument on his side has been triumphant, and the
Abercrombians have not urged the best that they might. Tom
Duncombe, who at first said he would vote for Sutton, and now
votes the other way, puts it on the true ground, 'that it is a
good factious vote.' I have little doubt that Peel will come down
in Parliament with a fair and reasonable case, but I have no hope
that he will propose or agree to anything satisfactorily about
the Irish Church; and if anything overturns his Government, it
will be that unhappy question of appropriation. From George
Dawson's language, whom I fell in with the other morning, I see
they are resolved to stand like rocks in defending 'the Church,'
as they call it. All this week and the last I have been at my
office the whole day with our Judicial Committee, which works
very well. We have Shadwell, Parke, Bosanquet and Erskine
continually; and Vaughan, Nicholl and Jenner occasionally. Alava
talked to me about the Duke of Wellington, of whom he said
everybody was afraid, even his nearest relations, and that he
found him, 'tres change pour lui.'
February 15th, 1835 {p.205}
Dined at Miss Berry's, and Lord John Russell came after; told me
he had 320 people to vote with him on the Speakership (of whom
perhaps 20 will not come), so his party make sure of it. Nobody
talks of anything else, and what has been written on the subject
in pamphlets and newspapers would fill volumes. Though it is
become inconceivably tiresome, I cannot help writing and talking
about it myself, so impossible is it to avoid the contagion. I
went yesterday to see the two Houses of Parliament;[1] the old
House of Lords (now House of Commons) is very spacious and
convenient; but the present House of Lords is a wretched
dog-hole. The Lords will be very sulky in such a place, and in a
great hurry to get back to their own House, or to have another.
For the first time there is a gallery in the House of Commons
reserved for reporters, which is quite inconsistent with their
standing orders, and the prohibition which still in form exists
against publishing the debates. It is a sort of public and avowed
homage to opinion, and a recognition of the right of the people
to know through the medium of the press all that passes within
those walls.
[1] [The old Houses of Parliament were burnt down on
October 16, 1834, during Mr. Greville's absence from
town in the autumn. The Houses here spoken of were the
temporary buildings used during the erection of the new
Houses.]
[Page Head: CHURCH REFORM.]
[Page Head: FALSE POSITION OF SIR R. PEEL.]
Lord John said to me, 'Do you remember last year, when we were
talking, I told you I thought the House of Lords would throw out
some measure or other--that there would be a change of Government,
a dissolution; and then we should have a Parliament returned with
which _nobody_ could govern the country? You see we have reached
that point.' According to their several calculations, both the
opposite parties continue to claim a majority, or rather on the
Tory side an equality; and as these are made by men experienced in
the composition of the House, and as almost everybody is pledged
and committed in some way or other, it is a perfect enigma to me
how one or the other can be so deceived. The Whigs, having
discovered that Abercromby must be proposed 'upon a great
principle' (which is great as _omne ignotum_ is _magnificum_--for
they have never given a hint of what the principle is), have now
found out that the English Church Reform which is in agitation is
a very bad move on the part of the Government, as _the people_ do
not care about Church Reform here--do not want any such thing.
This is, very possibly, in great measure true; for _the people_,
who are urged and excited by the Radical leaders, will be sure to
grow indifferent about such reforms as they can obtain by
legitimate means, and with the concurrence of legitimate
authority, and be invited to agitate for those which may be more
difficult or slow of accomplishment. Sydney Smith said last night
that he hears from those who know that it will be very sweeping;
but he thinks it will not touch the great livings, nor meddle with
advowsons. He concludes that at the same time the Dissenters will
be relieved from Church rates, that tithes will be extinguished,
and the question of Dissenters' marriages settled. This has been
an enormous scandal, and its continuance has been owing to the
pride, obstinacy, and avarice of the Church; they would not give
up the fees they received from this source, and they were
satisfied to celebrate these rites in church while the parties
were from the beginning to the end of the service protesting
against all and every part of it, often making a most indecent
noise and interruption. All these grievous abuses must be done
away with; and deeply responsible are those who never would hear
of their being done away with before. These guilty parties are the
clergy and the Tories, both of whom, now that it is almost too
late, have consented to drop their arrogant pretensions, and to
submit to those necessary and reasonable reforms against which
they have so bitterly inveighed, and so resolutely fought. We are
disgusted and shocked at reading Croly's account of the scandalous
conduct of the Catholic clergy in Ireland, with regard to the
emoluments they extort from their miserable flocks, and at the
systematic desecration of holy things which they countenance and
practise; but when the difference is considered between their
spiritual condition and their moral composition as a class, the
conduct of the clergy here appears just as revolting. The Irish
clergy are generally sprung from the lowest class, and have
received a bad education at Maynooth; they depend for subsistence
upon the voluntary liberality or devotion of their people, they
have few motives or principles of restraint, and every incentive
to follow the shameful course which they do; but the English
clergy are generally respectably born, well educated, and amply
endowed, and yet they are content to be the ministers of a
scandalous system, which, if it were not a source of profit to
themselves, they would not tolerate for an instant. Instead of
compelling the Dissenters to be married in church, if they had
been really penetrated with any devotional feelings, or by any
considerations of delicacy and charity, they would long ago have
complained of this necessity as a grievance, and besieged the
Legislature with entreaties to relieve the Church from the
scandal, and themselves from so painful and odious a duty. But it
was a badge of inferiority and dependence forced upon the
Dissenters, and a source of profit to themselves; and therefore
they defended and maintained it, and this is what they call
defending the Church; and when the Dissenters themselves pray to
be relieved from the tax and the humiliation, and liberal men
support their prayer, a cry is got up that the Church is in
danger. When the Dissenters, having prayed in vain, grow louder
and bolder in their demands, and the cries of the Churchmen
gradually sink into a whine, which is at last silenced in
submission, the Church really is in danger; and then, when it no
longer can be refused, it becomes perilous to grant the boon which
justice and wisdom have so long required. So it is, and has been
with all obstinate and senseless denials, followed by reluctant
and tardy concessions--with Catholic emancipation, the Test and
Corporation Acts, Parliamentary Reform, and with everything else;
and thus, one of the great difficulties which beset Peel and his
Government is, that they stand in an utterly false position. As a
statesman, it must be mortifying to him to reflect that all the
great measures which his political life has been spent in opposing
have been carried in spite of him, and that whatever danger may
have resulted from this cause is in great measure owing to the
opposition he was enabled, by his great talents and his influence,
or rather the influence of the party which he led, to give to
those measures. He contrived totally to fail in preventing the
success of the measures themselves, but so to mar and delay them
as to obviate the good that might have been produced by timely and
voluntary concessions; and now, coming forward as he says, 'to
resist the pressure from without,' he finds himself compelled to
yield to that pressure; for what, after all, is the language which
he now holds, what are his addresses, his speeches, his promises,
his Church Commission, but a surrender to the spirit and the
principle of Reform, and to the demands of the people--_the
people_, as contra-distinguished from those great interests on
whose support he has depended, and whose wishes or prejudices he
has consulted? For assuredly, neither the King, nor the Church,
nor the aristocracy, seriously and sincerely desire these or any
other reforms, and only agree to them from necessity. Peel is, I
think, right; he has no other alternative. Such is the force and
power of public opinion, that no Government can resist it; and if
Peel can succeed in restraining and directing it, if he can
convert it from a destructive into a conservative element, he will
render such a great service as will cancel all the former mischief
he has done; but he enters with disadvantage upon a course which
implies at the outset the surrender of much of the governing
principle of his political life, and in which neither friend nor
foe can doubt that the conduct he adopts, however justifiable,
necessary, indispensable, is compulsory and unpalatable. A man who
is called to the head of affairs must undoubtedly act, not
according to any impracticable obstinate theories of his own, but
according to the state in which he finds affairs, no matter how
produced or by whom; but it is a very different thing to adopt a
system reluctantly and under necessity, because somebody else by
his incapacity or his misfortune has rendered it indispensable,
and to do so after you yourself have brought about this state of
things: and such is the false position of Peel with all his Tory
associates. This, however, is begging the question in dispute
between the two great antagonistic parties. Peel would say that
the imprudent concessions and reckless changes of the Whigs have
made the difficulty; the Whigs would say that the resistance of
the Tories to all moderate and gradual reforms produced the
sweeping measure of '31, and the excitement that was partly its
cause and partly its consequence.
February 17th, 1835 {p.209}
Yesterday I read Burke's appeal from the new to the old Whigs,
which contains astonishing coincidences with the present times.
His definition of the people is somewhat tumid and obscure, and
involved in a splendid confusion of generalities and abstruse
doctrine; but it is a wonderful monument of his genius, and
exhibits that extent of knowledge and accuracy of insight into the
nature of parties and the workings of political ambition which
make him an authority for all times, and show him to be in the
political what Shakespeare was in the moral world. But his
writings, however as objects of study they may influence the
opinions or form the judgment of young men, would have no more
power than a piece of musty parchment to arrest the tide of
present violence, and superinduce reflection and calmness. A
speech of Tom Duncombe's would produce far greater effect than the
perusal of a discourse of Burke's. Wisdom never operates directly
on masses; it may work upon them through secondary and by indirect
means, but it cannot face the noise of actual contest, where
passion and not reason is always uppermost. Nobody but Burke could
have described so well the Dukes of Devonshire and Bedford of the
present day, who appear to have lost their senses, and to be ready
to peril all their great possessions to gratify the passions of
the moment. He says:--'But riches do not in all cases secure even
an inert and passive resistance; there are always in that
description men whose fortunes, when their minds are once vitiated
by passion or evil principle, are by no means a security from
their actually taking their part against the public tranquillity.
We see to what low and despicable passion of all kinds many men in
that class are ready to sacrifice the patrimonial estates which
might be perpetuated in their families with splendour, and with
the fame of hereditary benefactors to mankind, from generation to
generation. Do we not see how lightly people treat their fortunes
when they are under the passion of gaming? The game of resentment
or ambition will be played by many of the great and rich as
desperately and with as much blindness to the consequences as any
other game. Passion blinds them to the consequences as far as they
concern themselves, and as to the consequences with regard to
others, they are no part of their consideration.'
[Page Head: LORD PALMERSTON AS A MAN OF BUSINESS.]
The other night I met some clerks in the Foreign Office to whom
the very name of Palmerston is hateful, but I was surprised to
hear them (Mellish particularly, who can judge both from capacity
and opportunity), give ample testimony to his abilities. They
said that he wrote admirably, and could express himself perfectly
in French, very sufficiently in Italian, and understood German;
that his diligence and attention were unwearied--he read
everything and wrote an immense quantity; that the foreign
Ministers (who detest him) did him justice as an excellent man of
business. His great fault is want of punctuality, and never
caring for an engagement if it did not suit him, keeping
everybody waiting for hours on his pleasure or caprice. This
testimony is beyond suspicion, and it is confirmed by the
opinions of his colleagues; but it is certain that he cut a very
poor figure in Parliament all the time he was in office before.
At the Travellers' yesterday I fell in with Buelow, who is just
come back from Berlin to resume his mission. He told me that he
was on such terms with Palmerston that it was impossible for him
to stay here, and that for some time past he had given up
communicating with him except upon the most indispensable matters
and in the most formal way. He then gave me an account of the
reception of the news of the change of our Government at Berlin,
where the Emperor of Russia happened to be at the time. The
Empress had come there on a visit to her father, and the Emperor
(who is supposed to have preserved his conjugal fidelity
immaculate) had rushed from Moscow without any notice to see her,
and was still there when news of this great event arrived. There
is something very characteristic in the first impression which the
intelligence produced, at once manifesting the secret wishes of
the party and their ignorance and apparent incapacity of
comprehending the nature of our Constitution, and the limited
extent of the power of the King of England. The Emperor
immediately conceived that the whole system of the late Government
would be reversed at home and abroad, that Leopold would be driven
from Belgium, the Dutch dominion restored, and the Quadruple
Alliance dissolved. Buelow, who has been in England long enough to
know better the real state of things, endeavoured to undeceive
him, and succeeded, though not without great difficulty; but when
he proceeded to explain to him that the new Government would very
likely not be able to keep their places, and that at any rate they
would be compelled to conduct the Government upon the principle of
Reform which the late Government had established, the Emperor
could not by any means comprehend it, nor why or how there could
be any difficulty in keeping their places if the King was resolved
to support them, and had appointed them at his own pleasure. It
would seem as if they had never read the last two or three years
of our history, or, having read it, as if the habits of unbounded
power in which they are born, educated, and expect to die, had
rendered their understandings utterly impervious to the apparent
paradox of a crowned head destitute of power to choose his own
Ministers. The Duke of Cumberland, who was likewise there, began
by talking the same nonsense, and was full of the destruction of
the Reform Bill; but Billy Holmes, who, whatever else he may be,
is a very sharp fellow, succeeded in muzzling him. This account
which Buelow gave me is, however, more than amusing; it is
instructive, because it shows which way the real wishes of the
absolute sovereigns point, and makes it highly probable that they
look upon the present settlement of Europe as one only _ad
interim_, and to be remodelled whenever an opportunity shall
present itself. They are satisfied at present with damming and
dyking out the waters of Liberalism, but they hope to drain the
lands in which they are collected, and to place themselves for
ever out of the danger of an inundation. The war of opinions is in
fact declared; it may languish, there may be truces, but there
will be no peace in our time.
February 19th, 1835 {p.212}
[Page Head: ELECTION OF SPEAKER ABERCROMBY.]
The important day is arrived, and it dawns in sunshine and south
wind. In a few hours the question of the Speakership will be
decided, and there will at least be the gain (wherever the loss
may fall) of getting rid of a subject which has become intolerably
tiresome. For the last three weeks every newspaper has been
literally filled with the controversy, every club engaged in
betting on the event; in every room, at the corner of every
street, nobody talked of anything else. It was the first enquiry
of every man you met, 'Well, what do you hear to-day? they say
Sutton will win by 30.' The next man (a Whig) would say, 'It is
safe; Abercromby will have 317 votes sure'--each party unboundedly
confident, and both securing a retreat by declaring that defeat
will not signify. Half the Opposition think it a false move to try
it, and the more sober of the Government are conscious that a
defeat will be very injurious.
We had a Council yesterday, and a levee more than usually
brilliant; all the new Ministers and all the old, the whole Corps
Diplomatique, with a host of others, mixed up in the first
_entree_ room, and all very civil and good-humoured. The King
received the ex-Ministers very graciously, and talked to them
all, at least to all I saw pass by. Brougham alone was absent,
and Lord Spencer, who was hardly to be considered as one of them,
and is not in town, though, by-the-bye, I think I am wrong in
this, because there were others whom I did not see--Duncannon,
Spring Rice, and Hobhouse.
February 20th, 1835 {p.213}
The great battle is over and the Government defeated, 316 to 306.
Such a division never was known before in the House of Commons,
and the accuracy of the calculations is really surprising.
Mulgrave told me three days ago they had 317 people, which with
the Teller makes the exact number. Holmes went over the other
list, and made it 307--also correct. In the House so justly had
they reckoned, that when the numbers first counted (306) were
told to Duncannon in the lobby he said, 'Then we shall win by
10.' Burdett and Cobbett went away, which with Tellers makes a
total of 626 members in the House. All the Irish members voted
but 4, all the Scotch but 3, all the English but 25. The Irish
and Scotch, in fact, made the majority.
The elation on one side and the depression on the other were
naturally considerable, and there was not time last night to
adjust scattered thoughts. Much money was won and lost; everybody
betted. I won L55, for on the whole I thought (though quite a
toss-up) that the chances were rather in favour of Abercromby. I
had a better opinion of the cleverness of the managers on his
side, and their amazing confidence staggered me, so that after at
first believing Sutton to be sure, I finished by leaning the
other way. The debate seems to have been dull--Sutton was dull,
Peel was dull; Stanley clever, strong against the Opposition, but
thought to have been indiscreet. A Tory told me it was a second
edition of the thimblerig speech, which, if so, will not do him
good. He carried apparently very few people with him, but made
one convert--Angerstein--who changed his vote because Stanley
made out that Abercromby was for the Ballot. This seems an
excellent reason why he should be opposed as a Minister or a
candidate, but none why he should not sit in the chair of the
House. Lord John Russell is said to have spoken remarkably well,
which is important to them as a party, being his first appearance
as their leader. Peel and the Duke dined at Lord Salisbury's, and
all the Tories were invited there in the evening, with the
intention probably of celebrating their anticipated victory; and,
if so, their merry meeting must have been changed to dismal
alarms, for there is no denying or concealing that it is a very
serious disaster. The moral effect of beginning with a defeat is
bad; it discourages the wavering and timid, who might have felt
half disposed to support the Government and the constitution. The
trial of strength leads to very uncomfortable reflections, for
every man of these 317 is prepared to go all lengths; and though
there are probably none among the majority who will support
Government, there are some among the minority who will oppose
them--Dudley Stuart, Angerstein, and Burdett, who went away.
[Page Head: PARTIES BALANCED.]
The majority of the world naturally look at this event with the
eye of party, and as a triumph one way and a mortification the
other; but I, who have no party prejudices and predilections, and
care nothing who is in the chair, and not much who is in office,
provided 'the thing,' as Cobbett calls it, is kept going, look at
this division with sorrow and alarm, as affording undoubted
evidence that no prospect appears of the possibility of this or
any other Government being able to accomplish the purposes for
which a Government is intended. We seem to be arrived at what is
vulgarly termed a dead lock. Nothing can be more clear than that
the present Ministers are in a minority, and that all the other
parties in the House united can beat them when they will. It is
equally clear that they can beat any section of their opponents
whenever these are disunited. The political attraction which
binds together the mass cannot last long, and there are too many
elements of repulsion in _esse_ or in _posse_ not to insure the
speedy disjunction of the several atoms; but in the meantime, if
they can be held together, what is to happen? Peel will take a
beating or two, but he _may_ be so beaten as to be compelled to
resign or again dissolve. Suppose he dissolves. The Tories think
the reaction is on the increase, and that the Conservative
interest would gain largely by another dissolution; still there
is scarcely a hope of their gaining enough to enable Peel to
carry on the Government with such constant and dependible
majorities as can alone render it efficacious and secure. On the
other hand, if Peel resigns, the Opposition, should they return
to power, must dissolve; for what can they do against 300 Tories?
and what Ministry can by possibility be formed that can have a
certain majority _of its own_ out of the heterogeneous mixture of
Whigs, Radicals, Repealers, and men of every shade and gradation
of opinion? Their situation, notwithstanding their victory, seems
worse than that of their antagonists with reference to their
power as a party; and if they do storm Downing Street and St.
James's, and go again to the country, as far as appearances go,
what chance have they of materially bettering their condition,
and getting another House of Commons more manageable and better
adapted to their purpose than this? This victory, therefore, will
not enable the old Government to triumph over the new, or
materially affect the positions of the two parties, and, as
somebody said last night, they will be very much puzzled what to
do with their majority now they have got it.
The first impression of great events is generally one of alarm,
which upon this occasion subsequent reflection has diminished as
far as relates to the _immediate_ peril of the present Government.
Speculation already began last night as to the Address, on which
some pretend no amendment will be moved, others that one will,
which as certainly will be carried. No question can, however, be
more embarrassing to the Whig leaders, for they would be disposed
in prudence to abstain from any very violent measure, but will
find great difficulty in dealing with their associates. If they
resolve upon pushing their victory and amending the Address, they
run the risk of exciting terror by their violence; if they avoid
this, probably some of the Radicals will do it, and then they must
support Government on the Address against a Radical section of the
House, or join with the Radicals in one of two ways, either by
supporting their amendment or persuading them to withdraw it; in
either case drawing closer the bonds of that connexion which they
are ashamed and afraid to avow, and which will, I strongly incline
to believe, be in the end fatal to the Whig party. The only thing
that can truly be predicted is, that all is confusion, uncertainty,
embarrassment, a state of things full of difficulty and peril, but
not _totally_ without hope.
February 21st, 1835 {p.216}
The Government were grievously annoyed at the event of Thursday,
and the Duke rejected all the commonplaces of consolation, 'that
it would turn out a good thing.' At Lord Salisbury's dinner (to
which Peel did not go) they were all very dejected, and the Duke
said at once it was as bad as could be; and the thing appeared
the worse because they had been led to feel so very secure. He
desired his private secretary to have everything ready to quit
the Foreign Office at a moment's notice. However, at dinner
yesterday at Peel's (a great dinner to all the Ambassadors and
twenty-six people) he said to me, 'It is very bad, but I consider
the country _on its legs again_.' 'Do you?' I said, 'I am glad
you think so.' 'Oh, yes, I think that, however this may end; I
think the country is on its legs again.'
The Whigs are resolved to push their victory with all their
energies, and they appear to have no doubt of ousting the
Government, and as they are determined to proceed by any and
every means in their career, and the others are equally resolved
to fight the battle while any means of resistance remain, the
strife must be deadly, and such as to extinguish any hope of a
coalition between moderate men of both sides for the simple
reason that moderation has ascended to Heaven, and such men will
no longer be found.
February 23rd, 1835 {p.216}
[Page Head: FIERCE OPPOSITION TO GOVERNMENT.]
The Opposition mean to move an amendment to the Address, which
they expect to carry by a larger majority than the last. Their
tactics are completely arranged, and their understanding with
O'Connell and all the Radicals so good that they think there is
no danger of any indiscreet ebullition in any quarter. Discarding
every prospective consideration, and prepared to encounter all
consequences, they concentrate all their energies upon the single
object of turning out the Government, in which they have no doubt
of succeeding. It is the first time (as far as I know) that any
great party ever proceeded upon, and avowed, such a principle as
that which binds these people together and puts them in action;
namely, to destroy the King's Ministry, without any reference to
the measures that Ministry may propose, and without waiting to
see how they may intend to carry on the Government. Not only do
they throw out of their consideration the conduct of the
Administration, but they are resolved to accomplish its
destruction, without being prepared to substitute any stronger
Government in its room, and with a perfect knowledge that its
dissolution must necessarily produce a state of extraordinary
embarrassment, from which they do not pretend to have the power
of extricating the country. All that they ever condescend to say,
in answer to any such remonstrances, is this: 'The King exercised
his prerogative in a most extraordinary and unjustifiable manner.
We have the same right to reject his Government, that he had to
turn out ours; if there is embarrassment, it is none of our
creating, the King and the Tories must be responsible for it. We
care not what are the principles now avowed by them. If they are
not Reformers, they cannot govern this country, and are not to be
tolerated at the head of affairs. If they are, it is not to be
endured that they should usurp our places, and then in defiance
of all their principles, and in opposition to all their previous
conduct, carry into effect the measures which we should, with
perfect consistency, have brought forward. We will listen
therefore to nothing. Out they shall go, and till we have got
them out, we will never rest, nor desist from our attacks.' 'Quid
sit futurum cras, fuge quaerere,' such is the manner of their
reasoning. Their intention seems to be to avoid doing anything
very desperate, but to keep beating the Government, constantly
exhibiting their own power and the helpless state of their
adversaries to the world. Some of them affect to deny their union
with O'Connell, but they say whatever suits their present
purpose. In the case of Manners Sutton, they took care to have
the charges against him disseminated through the country, and did
their best to have them believed. The constituencies believed
them, and instructed their representatives accordingly; and when,
by these means, they had secured a majority, they came down at
the last moment to the House of Commons and owned that there was
not one word of truth in the allegations against him. John
Russell had written a letter (perhaps more than one) in which he
urged opposition to Sutton, on the ground of his having advised
the dissolution of the last Parliament. Goulburn got possession
of this letter, which was handed to him during the debate, he
does not know by whom. (Goulburn told me this himself.) He gave
it to Peel while he was speaking, or just before. Peel asked John
Russell if he had ever said so, and John Russell denied it. Peel
did not produce the letter as he might have done, but the story
was told in the 'Times' the next day. So in the case of the
Bishop of Exeter, and Lord John's controversy with him. He told
an untruth, undoubtedly without knowing it, but he might have
known it; the lie did its business--
In public spoke, it fell with greater force,
And, heard by hundreds, was believed, of course;
and though he afterwards made a very handsome apology, half the
people who were influenced by the original statement never heard
of the contradiction, or cared for it, if they did; and to show
the candour of the Liberal press, the 'Morning Chronicle,' and
other papers of that persuasion, which trumpeted forth the
original lie, never inserted the subsequent correspondence, and
Lord John's contradiction of his own statement. I like him so
much personally, that I am sorry for all this. To return to the
party, they are boiling with indignation at the idea of another
dissolution, and talk of such advice to the King as affording
good ground for impeachment, though till they have settled the
House of Lords, and had their wicked will of it, the Ministers
would be pretty safe before that tribunal for such an act. It is
the general opinion that Peel will dissolve, and go once more to
the country if he can, but this must depend upon the sort of
opposition they offer, and the majorities they can bring into the
field. Adolphus FitzClarence told me that he never saw the King
so determined as he is to stand by this Government to the last,
and I do not think any of these men will prove deficient in
courage.
February 24th, 1835 {p.219}
[Page Head: UNION WITH O'CONNELL.]
The Opposition expect a majority of from thirty to forty on the
amendment. The union with O'Connell is complete, however long it
may last, and he has agreed to give up Repeal, and they are to
find some lucrative place for him when they get in again. What he
wants is to be a Master of the Rolls in Ireland; the rent fails,
and money he must have. It is a wretched thing that there is no
buying that man _now_ without disgrace; well would it have been
to have made the purchase long ago; and it will not be the least
curious part of his curious life if this bargain takes place, and
he settles down into the regular discharge of his professional
duties, and _bona fide_ abandons agitation. There was great
curiosity last night to know whether the Speaker dined with Peel.
It is usual for him to dine with the leader of the House of
Commons on these occasions, and hear the speech read. Sutton
always dined with Althorp, but then Althorp put him in the chair.
Abercromby, however, very properly told Peel the difficulty he
felt, and that he thought he should only embarrass the company,
and Peel acquiesced in his excuse.
February 25th, 1835 {p.219}
The King went down to Parliament in the midst of a vast crowd,
and was neither well nor ill received; nobody takes his hat off,
but there was some slight cheering. The speech disappointed me,
it was rather bald, and so thought some of the moderate men. In
the morning there was a meeting at the King's Head, Palace Yard,
to which moderate members of Parliament were invited by an
anonymous circular. Thirty-three were present, Sir Oswald Mosley
in the chair. Graham came to it, and said Lord Stanley would have
come also, but that he had invited a few of his friends to
assemble at his house, with an object similar to that which had
brought the present meeting[2] together and that if it were
agreeable to any of these gentlemen to meet his friends that
afternoon he should be glad to see them. They all went, and there
were present forty-five or fifty, of whom eight had voted for
Abercromby. He made them a speech, stating that it was evident
the Government must fall if they were to be repeatedly defeated,
and his view of the necessity of obstructing violent measures
directed against them was something to this effect. The result
was an agreement to meet again this day, and last night a few
more names were added to their list. This may, therefore, be
considered the Stanley party, and the best thing that can happen
will be that this party should grow numerous. Many men do not
like the composition of the Government, and yet wish to support
it, without being identified with it, as the majority of those
who attend the meetings are disposed to support Peel. Stanley
securing them as his adherents, and placing himself at their
head, must in fact subscribe to their opinions and disposition;
and as men are more inclined to join a numerous than a scanty
sect, fresh adherents may repair to that standard. Eventually he
will join the Government, and the best chance of weathering the
storm will be through this moderate Liberal party.
[2] [This meeting (which will probably have important
results, as it was the foundation of that which met
afterwards at Stanley's, and the formation of this
party will turn the balance on the Conservative side)
originated in the most insignificant causes. Sir Oswald
Mosley, an ordinary person, and a Mr. Young, talking
the thing over, suggested to one another to try and get
together moderate men, and they penned and sent out a
parcel of notes addressed to those who they thought
came under that description, bearing no signature, and
giving no indication of the quarter from which they
emanated. When the thirty-three people who came were
assembled, they found themselves for the most part
strangers to each other, and each asking who such and
such an one was. When Graham invited any who chose to
go to Lord Stanley's, Mosley rather wanted to decline,
to go on with his own meeting, and play an important
part, but nobody would hear of this, so he was obliged
to go with the rest to Stanley's house.]
[Page Head: DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS.]
The debate was opened by Sandon in a speech feebly delivered, but
containing good matter. Morpeth made a good speech, moving the
amendment. The debate was very dull indeed, Dr. Bowring a total
failure. It was expected the House would adjourn, if not divide,
and the Speaker put the question, when Peel got up. It was
curious to see the lulling of the uproar, and the shuffling and
scrambling into seats, till all was quiet and the whole coast
clear. He spoke very ably for nearly two hours and a half, his
speech not containing much oratory, but in a tone at once lofty
and firm, yet discreet, calculated to inspire confidence and to
make an impression on all who are impressible. There is no use in
entering into details of speeches which are now reported with
such perfect fidelity. This may not be without its effect on
Stanley's meeting to-day, and his speech will be listened to with
intense anxiety to-night. The Opposition (as Duncannon told me)
expected a majority of between thirty and forty, so that if it is
considerably less than that, it will be tantamount to a defeat.
February 26th, 1835 {p.221}
Stanley spoke last night, attacking both sides, not violently,
but announcing his intention to vote against the amendment. The
Government were annoyed at his speech, especially at his
expressing some sort of disapprobation of the Duke of Wellington,
which he would have done well to omit, for many reasons. Lord
John Russell, by universal admission even of his enemies, made an
excellent speech. I did not hear either him or Stanley. John has
surpassed all expectations hitherto, as leader, which is matter
of great exultation to his party, but the tide is already
beginning to turn, and there are evident symptoms of weakness in
the great unwieldy heterogeneous body he is at the head of.
Tavistock came to me yesterday morning, and told me his brother
had sent for him, 'finding himself in difficulties.' He did not
particularise them, but said that naturally, in a situation of
such novelty, he found considerable difficulties to contend with.
He owned that the meeting at Lichfield House, which O'Connell had
attended by invitation, had alarmed and disgusted many of the old
Whigs, and it was settled there should be no more such meetings.
Then there has been some little correspondence between Ward and
Lord John about the Irish Church question, the former wishing to
manage the matter, which he brought forward last year, and he
wrote to John about it, who replied rather shortly, that he
himself intended to submit a motion on the subject. This is a
trifle, but trifles like these contribute to form an aggregate of
importance, and the moment there is any beginning of disunion or
weakness in such a party, a very short time will make it fall to
pieces.
[Page Head: POSITION OF LORD STANLEY.]
Lord Stanley assembled his followers again yesterday to the
number of about fifty; other adhesions, and half-adhesions,
occurred in the course of the evening, and the result is an
expectation that the boasted majority of thirty or forty will
dwindle down to four or five, or perhaps be no majority at all.
The erection of this standard will therefore, in all probability,
save the Government, and defeat the factious designs of the great
Whig and Radical coalition; but I distrust Stanley himself, and
see the great chance there is of his vanity and selfish ambition
producing other difficulties, the pressure of which, though he
may not feel it now, will some time hence become heavy to him.
His object at present is to gather to himself the largest party
he can; but though he may lead them, he can only lead them the
way they are minded to go, and the design of his friends is to
show themselves Conservatives without being Tories, to save this
Government, not from love to it, but from fear of its opponents
and of the alternative. He certainly may have the appearance of
being the arbiter of all great questions, and actually be so to a
certain degree, but as his ultimate object must be his return to
office, he can only hope to return (at least with any prospects
of success) with Peel and the Tories. It is, therefore, egregious
folly in him, by an affectation of neutrality and independence,
to shock and disgust that great body, which must ever be the
strength of a Conservative Government, by twitting the Duke of
Wellington and attacking with sarcasms or reproaches certain
measures or omissions, or particular members of Government, and
especially the Duke himself. The Duke is, after all, the idol of
the Tories, and they will not endure that a youth like Stanley
shall avail himself of his accidental advantages to treat their
great man with levity and disrespect; and all this he has not
coolness, sagacity, and temper enough to see, nor to discern that
his most becoming and dignified course would be to conduct
himself with a seriousness and gravity suitable to the importance
of the crisis and of the part he aspires to play and the
magnitude of the interests which are at stake. If he believes in
his conscience that the Opposition are animated with a spirit of
faction, and that their triumph would be the forerunner of
revolution or confusion, he should take his stand on a great
principle, and support the Government in such a manner as might
best enable it to confound the schemes of its antagonists; but
all this time he is dreading to be called a Tory, and he does not
certainly give up the hope and notion of reuniting himself with
the moderate section of his late colleagues. He endeavours to
keep up an amicable intercourse with them, and to make them
believe that he has no intention of connecting himself more
closely with this Government. Such ambiguous conduct, and his
occasional asperities and incivilities, have begun already to
disgust and alienate the Tories; and though they have too much
need of him now not to be obliged to restrain the expression of
their feelings, the time may come when he will have need of them,
and he will then find the inconvenient consequences of his
present behaviour.
February 27th, 1835 {p.223}
They divided at half-past one this morning, 309 to 302. I went
over the list before dinner, and made out a majority of six
(correct all but one). Gisborne, Howick, and Graham spoke
tolerably, O'Connell very good for the first ten minutes, and
very bad all the rest. I was not there. Certainly Stanley's
conduct is queer. Notwithstanding the sharp things he said
against Government in his speech on Wednesday, and various little
marks of scorn he throws out here and there, he said to Francis
Egerton on Tuesday, after all the Opposition men had been
speaking, 'Why does not Peel get up, or at least put up one of
the Government, to put an end to all this balderdash?' Francis
went and told Peel, who was very much out of sorts (at the state
of the debate I suppose), and asked rather angrily for Sir G.
Clerk. Francis went to look for Clerk, and when he returned Peel
was on his legs. This he told me yesterday morning.
March 5th, 1835 {p.224}
Met Mulgrave at dinner at Seaford's, and he still talks with
confidence of turning the Government out; that five or six of
Stanley's tail have whisked round again to the Whigs; that they
can beat the Government on every question by greater majorities
than on the two they have already tried, which were the worst for
them, and that any other Government (of their party) would get
through the business of the session.
March 11th, 1835 {p.224}
The repeal of the malt tax was defeated by a majority of 158,
much more than was necessary, and it is thought that Government
would have done wisely, when they found they were sure of not
being beaten, to allow their friends to redeem their pledges (or
as many of them as stood deeply committed), for it will be found
that several of them will suffer greatly from this vote in their
counties. Peel (as usual) made an admirable speech; he continues
to distinguish himself by a marked superiority, both in oratory
and management, which cannot fail to produce a great effect both
in the House of Commons and the country. There is nobody who
approaches him, and every day he displays more and more his
capacity for government and undoubted fitness for the situation
he is in. He cannot help being a great man, because he lives in
an age of pigmies; and he will be as great as great talents
without a great mind can make anybody. Even some of the violent
Radicals say that if Peel's associates could be disposed of, they
would not object to him.
March 13th, 1835 {p.224}
There was a meeting of the Opposition at Lichfield House
yesterday, to consider what they should do about Hume's motion to
grant the supplies for three months, and the result was that the
design should be abandoned. Thus they have shown their teeth
without daring to bite. Many of their people would not have gone
with them, and if this grand project failed _now_ thus early in
the session, still less chance will it have at a later period.
Peel's skill and great superiority, and the disunion and
uncertainty of the vast unwieldy body opposed to him, will carry
him through.
March 14th, 1835 {p.225}
[Page Head: APPOINTMENT OF LORD LONDONDERRY.]
Last night was a terribly damaging night to the Government, and
fully justifies all that I, in common with almost everybody else,
thought of that miserable appointment of Londonderry.[3] Shiel
brought it forward, and a storm burst from every side. Stanley
made a strong speech against it, and Mahon totally broke down.
Peel spoke cleverly, as usual, but fighting under difficulties,
and dodging about, and shifting his ground with every mark of
weakness. The result is that Londonderry cannot go, and must
either resign or his nomination be cancelled. This is miserable
weakness on the part of the Government, and an awkward position to
be placed in. It is very questionable if the Duke of Wellington
will not resign upon it, which would make another great
embarrassment, for there is nobody to fill his place. It serves
the Government right, and the Duke especially, for having built up
such a wall to run their heads against. They knew the loathing
people had for the man, how odious and ridiculous he had made
himself, how obnoxious and indefensible the appointment would be,
and yet, though there was no reason or occasion for it, and their
circumstances were so difficult that the utmost caution and
prudence were requisite in all their subordinate and collateral
proceedings, as well as in the great and essential ones, they had
the blind and obstinate folly to make this appointment. It is not
_contempt_ of public opinion in the Duke, but it is that ignorance
or indifference, or disregard of it, which has been the besetting
sin of his political life, and has so largely affected his
political sayings and doings. Peel ought to have known better, and
have taken a more correct view of his position, and the effect
such an appointment would have on it. It is difficult to say what
consequences may flow from this affair. The Government can stand
no shocks and buffets; if they go on, it can only be by the most
dexterous management, and by obtaining constant advantages in the
petty and daily warfare of Parliament, and thus gathering
confidence by degrees, that they can accomplish it. It would be
too mortifying if such a man should be the cause of the downfall
of the Government and of all the evils that would result
therefrom. Knatchbull, who was dragged into the discussion by Peel
(in order to make a diversion), defended himself and spoke
remarkably well. He is the only Cabinet Minister who has shown
anything like a faculty to support Peel. It was rather amusing to
see the attempt of Peel to take the dogs off the scent of
Londonderry and throw them on that of Knatchbull; but they were
soon whipped off, and put again upon the right track. There was
one good hit. A Sir George Strickland, attacking Knatchbull, said,
'Talk of the Right Honourable Baronet as a Reformer, indeed, when
_I remember_ his coming down night after night during the Reform
Bill, and opposing every part and particle of it, clause after
clause,' when Knatchbull took his hat off and said, 'I was not a
member of that Parliament.'
[3] [The Marquis of Londonderry had been appointed
Ambassador to St. Petersburg.]
March 15th, 1835 {p.226}
The Londonderry debate has made a great sensation, and is a
source of prodigious triumph and exultation to the Opposition. In
the morning I met Lady Peel, who was full of compassion for
Londonderry, and said, 'He had behaved very nobly about it.'
Nobody doubts that he cannot go, whether he resigns voluntarily
or not; but, end how it may, it is a disastrous occurrence. If
Government should persist in the appointment, they would be
beaten by a great majority, and the House of Commons would vote
him out; if it is given up, it is a monstrous concession to the
violence and power of the House of Commons, for however
objectionable the appointment may have been, it is not so
outrageous as to call for the interference of Parliament with the
King's undoubted prerogative, and on the whole the principle of
such interference may be considered more inconvenient than
submitting to the appointment itself. It will probably lead
before long to other encroachments upon the Executive power, and
we shall soon see the House of Commons interfering about
everything.
[Page Head: THE DUKE ON LORD LONDONDERRY.]
In the evening I met the Duke of Wellington at Lady Howe's, who
talked about the affair, and said that he was not particularly
partial to the man, nor ever had been; but that he was very fit
for that post, was an excellent Ambassador, procured more
information and obtained more insight into the affairs of a
foreign Court than anybody, and that he was the best relater of
what passed at a conference, and wrote the best account of a
conversation, of any man he knew. I said this might be all true,
but that though _he_ knew it, the generality of people did not,
and the public could only judge of him by what they heard or read
of his speeches, and what was related of his conduct on former
occasions; that on that account he was very obnoxious, and that
his violent and intemperate attacks upon the foreign policy of
the late Government, the sentiments he had displayed generally,
had raised a great prejudice against him, and I had therefore
been sure from the moment I heard of the appointment that it
would be severely attacked, and regretted exceedingly for that
reason that it had ever been made. I had told Lady Peel the same
thing, for it is difficult to resist telling them the real truth;
and I know not why it should not be told them.
Last night I met Lord Howick, who is bitter enough against the
Ministers, and expressed his earnest desire that they might be
well dragged through the mire, but not be turned out. I asked,
'Why, if he wished they should stay in, he desired that they
should be discredited?' and he replied, 'That it would be very
difficult _at present_ to replace them, but that he saw the
prospective means, and he would have them go on till the time was
ripe for change, but that they should be made every day more
odious.' These means, I doubt not, are the reconciliation of
Stanley with the Whigs, which is clearly contemplated by both one
and the other. Hobhouse's speech the other night was very civil
to Stanley, no doubt with that view, and much personal intimacy
is affected between him and the Whig leaders. Then much light is
thrown upon it in my mind by the account I have just heard from
Charlton (who enlisted under the Stanley banner) of the tone and
_animus_ displayed at the last meeting at Stanley's. There
Stanley was pressed by Mr. Young to declare in strong terms his
want of confidence in the Government; and Patrick Stewart said
that if Hume's motion, for limiting the supplies to three months,
was placed in the hands of Lord John Russell, he thought he must
vote for it. Stanley opposed this suggestion, and declared his
disapprobation (let who would bring it on) of so strong a measure
as stopping the supplies, and he said he thought the want of
confidence might be sufficiently evinced without having recourse
to any murderous measures, anything absolutely destructive of the
Government. The general tone and disposition of the meeting was
very inimical to the present Ministry, and Charlton was himself
so little satisfied with what passed, and especially with
Stanley's apparent bias and feeling, that he wrote to him to say
that he had joined his party on the express notion that he was
prepared to give the Government a fair trial, and to ask whether
he did not understand him correctly in attributing to him still
such an intention. He replied very courteously, and tolerably
satisfactorily, but it certainly seems probable that he is more
disposed to reunite with his old friends than to form any
connection with these men, though what is uppermost in his mind
is to raise his own consequence and authority, and make the best
bargain he eventually can. Charlton says that he has since tried
to engage him in conversation upon the subject of the democratic
tendency of the times, but that he has no mind to discuss the
subject. Charlton is such a violent, foolish, dangerous fellow,
that it is no wonder if Stanley kept aloof from him, and was not
disposed to be more than merely civil to him.
March 17th, 1835 {p.228}
[Page Head: LORD LONDONDERRY'S DEFENCE.]
Londonderry made a good speech in the House of Lords last night,
gentlemanlike and temperate. He got a good deal of empty praise in
both Houses in lieu of the solid pudding he is obliged to give up.
He said 'that he had had no communication with the Government, nor
had sought any advice, neither had any been tendered to him; that
he had after due deliberation determined on the course he should
pursue.' All this is untrue; he went to Peel on Saturday morning,
and told him he was ready to do what he pleased; but Peel said he
could give him no opinion. He then consulted various people, the
Dukes of Cumberland and Buckingham _inter alios_, who advised him
not to resign. It appeared to be his object to obtain opinions to
that effect, and up to late yesterday afternoon nobody knew what
he meant to do; so much so, that the Duke left the Foreign Office
without being apprised of his intentions, and desired if any
letter came from him that it might be sent after him to the House
of Lords. He received the letter on the stairs, which he read and
instantly sent to Peel. It has altogether been a miserable affair,
and it is certainly true what John Russell said, that in 'the
experiment they are now making, that which the Right Honourable
Baronet called a fair trial, they were running considerable hazard
that the most useful prerogatives of the Crown would lose that
dignity and respect in which they had formerly been held.' It is
clearly true that this most dangerous precedent of interference
has occurred because the Government has not strength to prevent
it, and because we have the anomaly of a Government beating up
against a hostile majority. The man was utterly unfit, and ought
never to have been appointed, but the case against him (such as it
appears in their hands) is quite insufficient to warrant the
interference of Parliament.
I take it that the effect abroad will be prodigious, for though
Londonderry resigns of his own accord, and Peel says he would
have stood by him if he had not, the simple case is (and such
will be the appearance of it all over Europe) that the King
appointed Londonderry Ambassador to Russia, and the House of
Commons cancelled the appointment.
Everything meanwhile continues in a state of uncertainty. The
Opposition is not united; the Stanley party, with their leader,
observe a suspicious and suspected neutrality, but the Government
is at their mercy whenever they join the Opposition, or, indeed,
if they keep aloof. Such a state of things cannot go on very long,
and the fate of the Government must be settled one way or the
other. Every day produces fresh indications of Peel's superiority,
and his capacity for the lead in the House of Commons, but he does
not appear to have gained much in those points where he was most
deficient--cordiality and communicativeness. Francis Egerton came
to me to-day and complained that on the Londonderry debate,
finding that nobody spoke on the Treasury Bench, he went and sat
by Peel and offered to speak, but could get no answer from him;
and Ashley was furious because when Hume asked for some
information on some point of Navy estimates, on which he (Ashley)
had taken pains to prepare himself, Peel would not let him give
it, but took it out of his hands. All this is very impolitic, and
shows that whatever else he has gained by experience, he has not
gained the art of making himself popular with his own adherents in
the way that Castlereagh and Canning used to be; and therefore,
however he may be looked up to as a Minister, he will never be
followed with the same personal devotion that they commanded.
March 20th, 1835 {p.230}
I have been laid up with the gout all this week, and could not go
out to see and hear what is going on. On Tuesday night Peel
brought in the Dissenters' Marriage Bill, and his plan gave
almost general satisfaction except to those whom nothing can
satisfy. The Opposition papers gave it a sort of cold and sulky
approbation, evincing how little the loudest advocates for
reforms of this nature really care about them. The 'Morning
Chronicle' seemed to regret that Peel's Bill should give
satisfaction more than it rejoiced that the Dissenters were to
obtain it. Marriage is made a civil contract for the Dissenters,
and a slight civil form is substituted for the religious ceremony
of the Church of England. This relieves them from all their
grievance; but it is now said that they lie under a degradation,
because it is not also made a civil contract for everybody else,
and that the law ought to be changed universally. I think it
would be better if it was a civil contract, but nothing can be
more captious than such an objection, or more impertinent, and I
do not desire to see the law changed, because I believe the
majority of members of the Church of England are content that it
should remain as it is, and that their feelings or prejudices
would be shocked by the alteration.
The King is in great indignation at the proceedings in the House
of Commons about Londonderry. The Duke sent Londonderry's letter
of resignation to him, and his Majesty returned it with a letter
in which he expressed his approbation of Londonderry's conduct,
and added, that 'he was more than ever satisfied of the
correctness of his determination in November last, to refuse his
consent to his Government being led by Lord John Russell in the
House of Commons, since he had witnessed his conduct upon the
occasion, and the support he had given to the unconstitutional
attack that had been made upon this appointment.' He made no
allusion to Stanley, whose conduct must have galled him still
more.
[Page Head: SIR EDWARD AND LADY SUGDEN.]
Sir E. Sugden has resigned the Chancellorship of Ireland because
his wife is not received at Court. He might have ascertained very
easily beforehand what would happen, or have contrived to keep her
away from Dublin. It was understood when he took the Great Seal
that he declined being made a peer, on account of the illegitimacy
of his eldest son. Half the world had never heard of Lady Sugden,
or knew anything of her history; and as she is an excellent woman,
charitable and kind-hearted, I fancy she has moved without
obstruction in his natural circle of society. He went to Ireland
before any Lord-Lieutenant was named, and Lady Sugden was received
as a matter of course. When Lady Haddington was apprised of her
origin and history she foresaw the difficulty, and asked the Queen
what she was to do. Her Majesty told her to do what she pleased,
but that certainly she could not be received at Court here. The
Lady-Lieutenant therefore was compelled to decline receiving her,
for all Ireland would have been affronted had she received at the
Castle a lady not presentable at St. James's. Sugden was very
angry, and his indignation arose principally, it would seem, from
Lady Canterbury's having been received at Court, which he
considers (with some reason) as a case equally flagrant. Her
reception was a matter of bargain, I forget at this moment on what
occasion, and certainly a strong measure. The talk is that James
Parke will go to Ireland, and Sugden return to the Bar, which will
be hard upon those who had shared his vast business, especially on
the silk gown men.
March 21st, 1835 {p.232}
Lord Grey is come to town; he is very strong against the
Radicals, and highly disgusted at so many of them having been
admitted to the Opposition meetings. He and Stanley met with
excessive cordiality. Sefton was there when Stanley called upon
him. The King received Lord Grey at the levee with such civility
and attention as to excite peculiar observation.
March 22nd, 1835 {p.232}
A few nights ago Brougham was speaking in the House of Lords
(upon Lord Radnor's motion about university oaths), and was
attacking, or rather beginning to attack, the Duke of Wellington
in that tone of insolent sarcasm which is so familiar to him,
when in the midst of his harangue the Duke from the opposite side
lifted up his finger, and said loud enough to be heard, 'Now take
care what you say next.' As if panic-struck, Brougham broke off,
and ran upon some other tack. The House is so narrow, that Lords
can almost whisper to each other across it, and the menacing
action and words of the Duke reached Brougham at once. This odd
anecdote rests upon much concurrent evidence. Alvanley told it to
De Ros, and Lord Salisbury said he was sitting close to the Duke,
and witnessed it all. The Chancellor afterwards confirmed it.
[Page Head: COURAGE OF SIR R. PEEL.]
On Friday night, on the debate upon Irish Tithes, Peel bowled
down his opponents, Howick, Rice, and Thomson, like so many
ninepins; for, besides his vigour and power in debate, his memory
is so tenacious and correct, that they never can make any
mistakes without his detecting them; and he is inconceivably
ready in all references to former debates and their incidents,
and the votes and speeches of individual members. It cannot be
denied that he is a great performer in his present part. Old Sir
Robert, who must have been a man of exceeding shrewdness,
predicted that his full energies would never be developed till he
was in the highest place, and had the sole direction of affairs;
and his brother Lawrence, who told this to Henry de Ros, said
that in early youth he evinced the same obstinate and unsocial
disposition, which has since been so remarkable a feature of his
character. I wish he was not hampered with the Irish Church
fetters, which he cannot throw off.
Peel wrote a letter to Hume, demanding an explanation of certain
offensive expressions he had made use of in the House of Commons,
and got an answer, which was sufficient, though not very civil.
It was rather unnecessary that he should take any notice of what
Hume said, but Peel is a man of very high and prompt courage, and
seems to have made a rule to himself never to suffer impertinence
from any quarter to pass unchecked. It is certainly of great
service to a public man, and it largely increases the estimation
in which he is held, to establish such a character. It is no
small detriment to Brougham that he is accounted an arrant
coward; and it is remarkable that Peel never was known to deal in
the insolence, and bullying, and offensive personalities in which
the other has so copiously indulged, both in Parliament and at
the Bar.
March 24th, 1835 {p.233}
A meeting at Lichfield's yesterday, when they resolved to reserve
themselves for the great battle on Monday next, in full
persuasion that Peel will resign after the division. Whether he
means it or not, I have no idea, but it is surprising to me that
they do not think it better to attack him on his Tithe Bill than
on the Appropriation clause; for I think he must go out if beaten
on the former, but need not if beaten on the latter. They are,
however, bent upon his expulsion; and Lichfield (who is more or
less in their secrets) told me they feel no difficulty as to
making another Government under Melbourne's auspices. There was a
great dinner of the Opposition at the Duke of Sussex's on Sunday,
to which Brougham was not invited. It will not be the least of
their difficulties how to deal with him. Sugden, after all, stays
in Ireland. The Bar were up in arms at his menaced return among
them, which would have had the effect of half ruining some of
those who took silk gowns upon his retirement. His absurdity
will, therefore, have had no other effect than that of revealing
his wife's misfortune to the whole world in a very noisy way.
Lord Canterbury gives up Canada on account of his wife's health,
and probably not liking to face the disagreeable things that
would have been said about himself and her. Lord Aberdeen has
offered it to Stratford Canning, who, though clever enough, is so
_difficile a vivre_, that nobody can be less calculated for
conciliatory objects; so that for a situation which required an
agent of strong understanding and good temper, they successively
selected a foolish man of good temper, and a clever man of bad.
March 26th, 1835 {p.234}
[Page Head: APPROACHING DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT.]
On Tuesday night Government was beaten on a division about the
Chatham election; a thing of no consequence in itself, but the
whole affair was mismanaged. John Russell had said he should not
divide, but his people were not to be restrained. Peel would have
given way, but his whippers-in told him he was strong enough in
the House to carry it, which only shows how stupid they are. It is
now universally believed that he will resign next week, after the
division on John Russell's motion, upon which he is sure to be
beaten by twenty or thirty votes. I am inclined to believe that he
has made known his intentions to Stanley, for the latter
entertains no doubt on the subject. The Greyites are all alive,
and patting Lord Grey on the back all day long to incline him to
obey the summons they confidently expect him to receive from the
King. It is very obvious that Peel cannot go on; and I doubt much
if he could even were he to obtain a majority on Monday. His
physical strength would not suffice for the harassing warfare that
is waged against him, the whole brunt of which he bears alone.
This, however, is his own fault, for he will not let anybody else
take a part, whether from distrust of his colleagues, or his own
rage for being all in all. Then, from the relative constitution of
the two parties, he must be in continual danger of defeats upon
minor and collateral questions, or suddenly started points. His
party is in great part composed of the rich and fashionable, who
are constantly drawn away by one attraction or another, and whose
habitual haunts are the clubs and houses at the west end of the
town; and it is next to impossible to collect his scattered forces
at a moment's notice. The Opposition contains a dense body of
fellows who have no vocation out of the walls of the House of
Commons; who put up in the vicinity; either do not dine at all, or
get their meals at some adjoining chop-house, throng the benches
early, and never think of moving till everything is over;
constituting a steady, never-failing foundation, the slightest
addition to which will generally secure a majority in the present
state of the House. In old times the placemen and immediate
hangers-on of Government, who make it their business to attend in
order to carry the public business through, afforded a regular
certain majority for the Ministers of the day; but now this
household phalanx is outnumbered by these blackguards, the chief
of whom are O'Connell's Tail and the lower Radicals. All this
immensely increases Peel's embarrassment; and the tactics of his
opponents have been extremely able, considered with a view to
obstruct the march of Government. While the leaders have abstained
from any violent measure, and have always resolved at their
consultations not to stop the supplies or impede the public
service, their active partisans have taken good care to produce
all the same effects, by raising debate after debate upon every
description of personal question, and every miscellaneous matter
they could drag in, so as to prevent any progress being made in
the public business; and in this they have completely succeeded,
for never was there more noise and violence, and less business
done, than in this session.
In anticipation of Peel's resignation there are three parties all
animated with different hopes and desires--the Grey party, the
Melbourne, the Stanley. The first want Lord Grey back with all
the moderate Whigs, throwing over the Radicals; and leaving out
the 'Dilly' (as Stanley's party is derisively called); in fact,
Lord Grey would only come back to carry the Irish question, which
Stanley will be no party to. The second want Melbourne and all
his kit back again, to go on with all the strength that the
united force of Whigs and Radicals amounts to. The third,
expecting that Lord Grey will decline to return without Stanley,
desire that the Radical Whigs should attempt it, with (as they
think) the certainty of failing, and then, that the urgency of
the case may bring about a coalition between Lord Grey, Peel, and
Stanley. Such a coalition would be very desirable in many
respects, but I much doubt Peel's ever consenting to take office
_under_ Lord Grey (though with an equality of authority and
influence in the Government), and to lead a party from which all
his old friends, and those who look up to him with unbounded
devotion, must necessarily be excluded, and to give up all
pretensions to ascendency and domination in the Cabinet.
March 28th, 1835 {p.236}
[Page Head: FRESH REVERSES.]
It appears now very doubtful whether Peel will resign after a
defeat on Monday; and I am disposed to believe that it is not his
intention; indeed, I never could understand why he should. He has
over and over again declared that whenever the Opposition would
bring forward a direct motion against him, he should be prepared
to resign, but not till then. Still, I do not see how he can go
on, and am much inclined to think he ought not. Weak as he is, at
the mercy of this furious and reckless Opposition, Government
suffers in his hands; the Crown and all Executive authority
suffer. Every Government, to be useful and respectable, should
have the power of carrying its measures in its own way through
Parliament; but Peel cannot do this, and instead of quashing any
mischievous or untimely motion, he is compelled to submit to one
defeat after another upon matters which would never have been
stirred (or certainly not successfully) with the late Government,
or with any which possessed the confidence of the House of
Commons. It was expected that Hume would persist in his motion
for referring the Army estimates to a committee, and that the
Whigs would support him; but when it came to the point, at the
suggestion of John Russell and Stanley, he very sulkily withdrew
it; but the night before, Government was beaten on two divisions,
one about the Leicester election, upon which all the lawyers in
the House were unanimous. But these opinions had no effect upon
the Radical majority, and they voted an address to the Crown to
confer a charter upon the London University, Lord John Russell
supporting it, although this question had been argued before the
Privy Council, which had still to report upon it; and I believe
that the general opinion of the Lords was against conferring the
charter in the present circumstances of the university.
Certainly, there was no discussion in Council after the arguments
were closed, but I gathered that the impression was unfavourable
to the grant of the charter. The House of Commons knows nothing
of the argument, and rejected Goulburn's amendment to have the
proceedings before the Privy Council laid upon the table, voting
the address merely because Government opposed it.
March 29th, 1835 {p.237}
A meeting yesterday of Tories at Bridgewater House for the
purpose of securing a better attendance. Twenty-nine Moderates
met at the 'King's Head,' passengers in the 'Dilly;'[4] but of
these, nine mean to vote with John Russell, and one stays away;
also, two or three others vote against Stanley: queer partisans
and _soi-disant_ followers, who oppose him on his own vital
question. Peel concerted with Stanley in the House on Friday,
that the resolution should be met with a negative. Wharncliffe
was here to-day, loud in his praises of the Duke of Wellington,
and delighted with the Cabinet of which he is a member, _jam
morituri_ as they are.[5] He owned that they could not _probably_
go on, but that they would not give in till they could show their
friends that they had done all that men could or ought to do; so
that they are resigned to their fate, and only studying in what
attitude they shall meet it.
[4] [The 'Derby Dilly' was the nickname given to Lord
Stanley's section of a party, from a joke of
O'Connell's, who had applied to it the well-known
lines,
'So down thy hill, romantic Ashbourne, glides
The Derby Dilly, carrying six insides.']
[5] [Lord Wharncliffe was Lord Privy Seal in Sir Robert
Peel's first Administration.]
March 31st, 1835 {p.238}
It is universally believed that Government will go out after this
debate. I think it very doubtful, but the sooner they now go the
better; they are well aware they must retire, and the question
is, whether they shall do so immediately or wait till they have
passed the Mutiny Bill. If the House of Commons refused to pass
the Mutiny Bill, I think they would dissolve again. The King is
in a dreadful state of mind, as well he may be; however, it is
all his own doing, he had the courage, or rather rashness, to
dismiss his late Ministers, but I fear he has none of the cool
and reflecting resolution, and calm moral courage, which are
necessary for this crisis; he will again submit to whatever is
dictated to him.
In the meantime, the perplexity of the Opposition increases as the
moment of their triumph approaches. There were 260 people at Lord
John Russell's dinner, all prepared to go any lengths, and 20 more
who were absent put their names down. O'Connell, who declared 'it
was the most delightful evening he ever passed in his life,'
publicly acknowledged John Russell as his leader, and the Radicals
were all present but Hume. Lord Auckland (who called upon me about
a house he is thinking of taking through my mediation) said he
would not do anything about it till this week was over, as
circumstances might render it unnecessary for him to provide
himself with a residence, but that he did not see how anything
permanent could come out of the present state of things. He
expected Ministers would resign, that there would be audiences and
negotiations, and that at last they would come back again; that in
the present state of parties he saw not how any other Government
could go on any better than this; and when I asked him about John
Russell's dinner, he said it went off very well, but the
composition of it was _frightful_ (or some such word, but not, I
think, quite so strong). John Russell and Melbourne, however, are
satisfied they can go on with the Radical assistance, and they
have gone too far now to throw these allies over; they must and
will make sacrifices to secure them for their own protection, and
if the House of Lords is swamped in the first instance, they will
have things all their own way.
[Page Head: BAD POLICY OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS.]
If it were not for the peril to all that is worth preserving, I
should not be sorry for anything that happened to the House of
Lords, to whose bigoted and senseless obstinacy (upheld and
directed I am sorry to say by the Duke and Lyndhurst) the present
miserable condition of affairs is mainly attributable. Their
rejection of the Tithe Bill last year was their crowning exploit.
After all their blunders and impotent struggles against a
stronger power, if they had passed that Bill, or restored
Stanley's in committee, and returned it to the House of Commons,
I believe everything might have been retrieved. It has been
remarked, and certainly with truth, that Peel has never once
endeavoured to excuse the House of Lords or to vindicate the
peers from the taunts and reproaches which have repeatedly been
thrown out against them. In point of fact, I believe that the
Lords either did not consult him, or did not care for his
opinion. There is no disguising that the Lords liked nothing so
well last year as beating the Government, and exhibiting their
puny and spiteful power; now they are mightily shocked and
disgusted at the majority of the House of Commons taking their
revenge, though certainly the latter do it with much more rage
and factious violence, but with them it is a system of tactics
for a specific and attainable object. The Lords really had no
intelligible object but to embarrass a Government they could not
demolish, and gratify their own spite. If the most violent
Radical had been permitted to chalk out the most suicidal course
for the House of Lords to follow, he could have devised nothing
more ingenious and well contrived than what they have actually
done, taking care to keep up their character in the nation for
intolerance, and inculcating a belief in their adherence to the
most illiberal maxims of foreign and domestic policy, instead of
devoting all their energies to the recovery of the ground they
had lost in popular estimation, and strengthening themselves for
the contest, which anybody might have seen was not very remote.
April 3rd, 1835 {p.240}
They divided at I know not what hour this morning--321 to 289,[6]
a smaller majority than I was led to expect when I heard that 18
or 19 of Stanley's (so-called) party meant to go against him.
Anybody who records from day to day the shifting appearances of
the political sky must constantly recant one day the opinion and
expectation of the preceding. Stanley's speech the night before
last may very likely make an important difference in the result
of this extraordinary contest, for he has, as it seems to me, put
a final end to any possibility of junction with the great body of
the Whigs now arrayed under John Russell; he attacked Lord John
himself--his Whig and Radical alliance and the inconsistency of
his present conduct--with the utmost vehemence and scornful
reprobation, and he poured forth a torrent of sarcasm and
ridicule upon the prospective Government that he concludes they
meditate. This is so conclusive that it paves the way to his
junction with Peel, or if the latter goes out and John Russell
does come in, it is clear that he will have both Peel and Stanley
in opposition to him, against whom in the nearly balanced state
of parties he could not struggle on for a month. He was miserably
feeble in this debate (in his opening speech), and though he may
just do to lead an Opposition which wants no leading, and merely
sticks him up as a nominal chief, he could no more lead a
Government in the House of Commons than he could command an army
in the field. [So much for my prediction. Stanley's followers
dropped off and left him alone, the Government had no difficulty,
and John Russell proved a very good leader.--January 1837.]
Whatever may be the fate of Government for the present, I believe
it to be impossible that anything can prevent Peel's speedy
return to office; he has raised his reputation to such a height
during this session, he has established such a conviction of his
great capacity and of his liberal, enlarged, and at the same time
safe views and opinions, that even the Radicals, such as Hume,
join in the general chorus of admiration which is raised to his
merits; he stands so proudly eminent, and there is such a general
lack of talent, that he must be recalled by the voice of the
nation and by the universal admission that he is indispensable to
the country.
[6] [On the 30th of March Lord John Russell moved the
resolution which was carried by this division; the
terms of it were, 'That this House resolve itself into
a committee of the whole House, in order to consider
the present state of the Church Establishment in
Ireland, with the view of applying any surplus of the
revenues not required for the spiritual care of its
members to the general education of all classes of the
people, without distinction of religious persuasion.']
[Page Head: THE IRISH CHURCH QUESTION.]
I am much inclined to think that this debate on the Irish Church
question will eventually damage the Whigs not a little. Their
speeches this year might all have been answered by their speeches
last year on the same subject, and nothing can be so glaring as
their inconsistency and the factiousness of their motives. The
question is not a popular one in the country, where nothing like
favour to the Catholics of Ireland or their religion is agreeable
to the mass. The arguments in the debate have been triumphantly in
favour of the Government _upon the resolution_ as contradistinguished
from the principle; for though I am decidedly favourable to the
principle, and never had a doubt that it is preposterous to
contend that if there is a reform of the Church, and there turns
out to be a surplus, such surplus should not be dealt with as
Parliament in its wisdom shall deem best for the general
interests, under the actual circumstances of the country, at the
time the appropriation takes place; still it is perfectly
consistent with that opinion to refuse to vote for the appropriation
of the surplus which may never exist at all, or only exist at some
distant period, when other circumstances may render the proposed
appropriation altogether inexpedient.
_In the afternoon._--Peel's speech was not so good as usual; it
was laboured, and some say tame. In the morning I met him and
walked with him; he seemed in very good spirits, talked of the
thing as over, said he could not endure any meddling with the
Tithe Bill, that he considered great good had been done by the
dissolution, which had created a party strong enough to obstruct
any violent measures on the part of their opponents, said he
understood they had sent for Lord Spencer did not believe Lord
Grey would have any concern with it. I said that it was clear
after Stanley's speech that _he_ would have nothing to do with
the Whigs. He said he conceived so, but that it was very odd that
Lord John Russell did not see it in that light, and had said that
Graham could not join them, but he did not see why Stanley might
not. I told Peel that in my opinion the best thing that had been
done was the proof that he had been enabled to exhibit that he
was indispensable to the government of the country, and that if
he could infuse some firmness and courage into the King, and
persuade His Majesty stoutly to resist any requisition to swamp
the House of Lords, and rather to appeal to the country than
consent to it, in a very short space of time he must come back. I
asked him if he thought the King was capable of any such
firmness. He said he thought he was, that he was in a miserable
state of mind at the prospect before him, and all the more so
from feeling how much there was in it which fell personally upon
himself. In the meantime it does not seem that the Ministers have
come to any positive resolution, or even conviction, as to the
moment of their retirement, nor as to its absolute, unavoidable
necessity. Peel evidently considers the contest at an end. Lord
Rosslyn this morning thought he would resign immediately; the
Duke, on the other hand, appears by no means so certain that the
Tithe Bill will be mutilated, and that they shall be compelled to
go out at all. Stanley and Graham are angry that they don't
resign directly; they think Peel would retire more brilliantly at
once than by waiting for more defeats. They forget that he is
bound to satisfy his own party. Stanley, with that levity which
distinguishes all his conduct, talks of him as of 'a hunted fox,
who, instead of dying gallantly before the hounds in the open,
skulks along the hedgerows, and at last turns up his legs in a
ditch.' This he said to George Bentinck, who told it to me; it is
not the way that Lord Stanley ought to speak of Sir Robert Peel.
What I certainly do regret is that he condescended repeatedly to
entreat John Russell to put off bringing up the report till
Monday, and exposed himself to a refusal. He should have invited
the decision of the contest rather than have tried to protract
it.
April 4th, 1835
[Page Head: SIR R. PEEL'S RETIREMENT.]
I told Jonathan Peel last night that Stanley and Graham blamed
Sir Robert for not resigning at once. He said that Sir Robert
would, as far as his own feelings were concerned, have preferred
resigning long ago, but that a vast number of his supporters were
furious at the idea of his resigning at all, and wanted him to
persist at all hazards, and he was compelled to resign only upon
such a point as might enable him to satisfy them that he had
abided by the pledge which he gave at the beginning to persevere
while perseverance could be useful or honourable. He then told me
(which I certainly did not attach the slightest credit to[7])
that he should not be at all surprised if his brother were now to
retire from public life. Such an idea in some moment of disgust
may have crossed his mind, but if he were to do so in the vigour
of his age and at the climax of his reputation, it would be the
most extraordinary retirement that history ever recorded. Men of
the most splendid talents have often shrunk from entering public
life, but I am not aware of any instance of a man who had
attained the eminence and the fame of Peel who has withdrawn from
the theatre of his glory and power without some stronger motive
than any that can be found for him.
[7] A great fool indeed I should have been if I had.--1838.
I was told last night that the scene of noise and uproar which the
House of Commons now exhibits is perfectly disgusting. This used
not to be the case in better, or at least more gentlemanlike,
times; no noises were permissible but the cheer and the cough, the
former admitting every variety of intonation expressive of
admiration, approbation, assent, denial, surprise, indignation,
menace, sarcasm. Now all the musical skill of this instrument is
lost and drowned in shouts, hootings, groans, noises the most
discordant that the human throat can emit, sticks and feet beating
against the floor. Sir Hedworth Williamson, a violent Whig, told
me that there were a set of fellows on his side of the House whose
regular practice it was to make this uproar, and with the settled
design to bellow Peel down. This is the _reformed_ House of
Commons. Peel told Lord Ashley the other day that he did not think
it possible for the same man to be Prime Minister and leader in
the House of Commons (he meant to be First Lord of the Treasury
and Chancellor of the Exchequer), that no physical strength was
adequate to the labour of both employments. He may therefore
hereafter put some Peer at the head of the Government, but it is
equally indispensable, as it seems to me, that the real
substantial power should be vested in the leader of the House of
Commons, especially when he is a man so superior as Peel must
always be to any colleagues he may be associated with.
April 5th, 1835 {p.244}
[Page Head: SIR R. PEEL AND THE TORIES.]
I understand now what Jonathan Peel meant by talking of the
possibility of his brother's retiring from public life. He is no
doubt thoroughly, heartily disgusted with his own associates. It
appears that they (the Tories, or many of them) are indignant at
his declaration the other night that on the Tithe Bill being
altered he would go out, so that while others are blaming him for
not going out at once his own followers are enraged that he will
not set the House of Commons at defiance and stick to his post.
It is very evident that many of them are desirous (if Peel does
resign) of continuing the fight under the Duke of Wellington, if
they could prevail on him to try it, and to dissolve Parliament
and get up a 'No Popery' cry. They say that 'the country' (by
which they mean their own faction) looks up to the Duke, and that
Peel has really no interest there. The fact is that they cannot
forgive him for his Liberal principles and Liberal measures, and
probably they never believed that he was sincere in the
professions he made, or that he really intended to introduce such
measures as he has done. They feel (not without reason) that they
cannot follow him in the broad path he has entered upon without
abandoning all their long-cherished maxims of exclusion and
ascendency, and that in so doing they would incur much odium and
disgrace. Peel sees and knows all this, and cannot fail to
perceive that he is not the Minister for them and they no longer
the party for him. It is no wonder that he is anxious to break up
this unmanageable force, and he probably would rather trust to
that increasing feeling and opinion about himself, which is so
apparent among all classes of politicians, to place him by-and-by
at the head of a party formed upon Conservative principles and
embracing a much wider circle of opinions. Still this Tory body,
obstinate and bigoted as they are, have no other chief, and can
find none, and it is essential to Peel to keep them if possible
under his influence and direction, and therefore (I believe very
reluctantly) he defers his resignation.
April 6th, 1835 {p.245}
Yesterday Wharncliffe came here; very low indeed; he says he
never thought they were safe, though he owns that he was
surprised and disappointed that there were no defections--not
one--from the enemies' ranks when these measures were brought
forward. He says he was with the King the other evening, and
asked him if he was going back to Windsor. His Majesty said 'he
could not go back, that he could not bear being there; there he
had none of them (his Ministers) to talk to, and day and night
his mind was absorbed in public affairs.' Poor wretch! he suffers
martyrdom, and has more to suffer yet, for I expect they will
have no mercy on him. Yesterday I had more proofs of the animus
of the Tories. One of them, a foolish, hot-brained fellow
certainly (but there is no such enormous difference between the
best and the worst), told me that if Peel really did go out upon
the Tithe Bill he would abandon his party; that he ought to let
them alter the Bill as they pleased, wait till the House of
Commons threw it out, and then dissolve Parliament.
April 7th, 1835 {p.245}
Each day elicits some new proof of what I have written above--the
totally altered feelings and expressions of all conditions of
politicians about Sir Robert Peel. It would seem as if his friends
were suddenly converted into his enemies, and his enemies into his
friends. The Tories still cling to the expectation that he will
hold on to office; they say that if he goes out he abandons his
party, abandons the King. They call to mind Pitt in 1784. 'Very
slippery,' said one to me yesterday, when I read to him Peel's
answer to the City address. On the other hand Mulgrave was last
night enthusiastic in his praise; he owned that he had done
admirably--given proof of his perfect sincerity and acted in
accordance with all his declarations and professions. 'I am,' said
he, 'astonished; nothing in Peel's past political career led me to
expect that he would have done so admirably as he has. He has
raised himself immensely in my opinion.' Such is the language of
them all, swelling a choral note of praise; and then, to make the
whole thing more ridiculous (if anything so serious can be
ridiculous), the Tories, who abuse him lustily, are moving heaven
and earth to retain him, by violence almost, in his place; while
the Whigs and Radicals, who laud him to the skies, are striving
with might and main to turn him out. In a state of profound
tranquillity these Ministers are quietly transacting business with
a perfect consciousness and an universal understanding that their
Government is at an end, and the Opposition are redoubling their
blows in the House of Commons, and waiting in the complete
certainty of returning to office, for which they are already
making all their arrangements. The parts are all so quietly
performed, the catastrophe is so clearly before everybody's eyes
and understanding, that it more resembles a dramatic representation
than a mighty event in real life, big perhaps with incalculable
consequences.
April 8th, 1835 {p.246}
[Page Head: DEFEAT OF SIR R. PEEL'S MINISTRY.]
There was a majority of twenty-seven last night, which I conclude
settles the business.[8] There was to be a Cabinet this morning
at eleven, at which they had resolved to agree upon their
resignations. Wharncliffe saw the King last night. He is very
composed; they think they can infuse courage and firmness into
him, but when he is left to himself, I doubt him. Nothing can be
imagined more painful on both sides than his approaching
interview with the once rejected and now triumphant Whigs.
Yesterday I rode with Ellice up the Park. He said, 'Grey will do
anything they wish him to do, but I think he had better have
nothing to do with it.' He talked of the new Government that will
be formed as having no difficulty; that they might have if Peel
and the Tories went into violent opposition, which he is
convinced Peel will not do. I said they might go on till the
Tithe Bill went to the House of Lords, when they would expunge
the appropriation clause. He said, 'They won't be so mad; there
is no Church of Ireland now, and the question is whether there
shall be one, for without that clause no Tithe Bill will ever
pass.'
[8] [The Ministry was defeated on the Irish Tithe Bill on
the 3rd of April by a majority of 33 in a House of 611;
on the 6th of April by a majority of 25 in a House of
499; and on the 7th of April by a majority of 27 in a
House of 543.]