CHAPTER XXXII.

Crisis in the City--The Chancellor of the Exchequer--A Journey to

Paris--Lord Lyndhurst in Paris--Princess Lieven--Parties in

France--Berryer--The Strasburg Conspirators--Rotten state of

France--Presentation at the Tuileries--Ball at the Tuileries--

Bal Musard--Lord Granville--The Duc de Broglie--Position of the

Duc d'Orleans--Return to England--Conservative reaction--

Sheil's tirade against Lord Lyndhurst--Lyndhurst as a Tory

leader--Angry Debates on Church Rates--The Government on the

brink of resignation--Sir R. Peel's prospects--The King and

Lord Aylmer--Death of Mrs. Fitzherbert--Ministerial

Compromise--Westminster Election--Majority of the Princess

Victoria--The King's illness--The King's letter to the

Princess--Preparations for the Council--Sir R. Peel on the

prospects of the New Reign--Prayers ordered for the King's

Recovery--Affairs of Lord Ponsonby--Death of King William IV.--

First Council of Queen Victoria--The Queen proclaimed--

Character of William IV.

* * * * *

1837.

January 6th, 1837 {p.376}

[Page Head: FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.]

I met Robarts at dinner yesterday, who gave me an account of the

alarm which has recently pervaded the City about monetary

matters, from the low state of the exchanges, the efflux of gold,

and the confusion produced by the embarrassments of the Great

Northern and Central Bank. These financial details are not

peculiarly interesting in themselves, and are only worth noticing

from the light they throw upon the capacity of our rulers, and

the estimation in which the Chancellor of the Exchequer is held

among the great moneyed authorities.[1] Nothing can in fact be

lower than it is. Robarts, a staunch Whig and thick and thin

supporter of Government, told me that he was quite unequal to the

situation he held; that these embarrassments had been predicted

to him, and the remedy pointed out long ago by practical men;

that the most eminent bankers in the City--Patterson the Governor

of the Bank, Grote, Glyn, himself, and others--had successively

been consulted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and they had

all expressed the same opinion and given the same advice; but

that he had met their conclusions with a long chain of reasoning

founded upon the most fallacious premises, columns of prices of

stocks and exchequer-bills in former years, and calculations and

conjectures upon these data, which the keen view and sagacious

foresight of these men (whose wits are sharpened by the magnitude

of their immediate interest in the results, and whose long habits

make them so familiar with the details) detected and exposed, not

without some feelings both of resentment and contempt for the

Minister who clung to his own theories in preference to their

practical conclusions. What they originally advised Rice to do

was to raise the interest on exchequer-bills, which he refused,

and afterwards was compelled to do. Robarts said he had no doubt

that if Peel had been in office he would have shown himself equal

to cope with the difficulty which Rice had proved himself so

incompetent to meet. The raising of the siege of Bilbao will have

given Palmerston a lift, but between our foreign and our

financial affairs the Ministers will not have an easy session of

the next.

[1] Mr. Spring Rice was Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord

Melbourne's second Administration until 1839, when he

was raised to the peerage under the title of Lord

Monteagle of Brandon.

Dover, January 12th, 1837 {p.377}

Having resolved, after many struggles, to go to Paris, here I am

on my way, and on arriving find that it blows a hurricane, and

there is little or no chance of being able to cross to-morrow;

for all I know I may be kept here for the next three days.

January 13th, 1837 {p.377}

I might have gone very well this morning, but was persuaded not

to start by the mate of the Government packet, and, like a fool,

I listened to him. It was a fine calm morning.

Paris, January 17th, 1837 {p.377}

Arrived here last night at five, having left Dover at a quarter

to one the day before; three hours to Boulogne, twenty-two to

Paris.

I made a very prosperous journey; went to the Embassy in the

evening, and found a heap of people--Mole, Montalivet, Lyndhurst,

Madame de Lieven, Madame de Dino, Talleyrand, &c.

Paris, January 19th, 1837 {p.378}

[Page Head: PRINCESS LIEVEN IN PARIS.]

On Tuesday went about visiting; found nobody but Madame Alfred de

Noailles and Raikes; was to have gone to the Chamber, but the

ticket did not arrive in time; dined at the Embassy. Wednesday, in

the morning, to the gallery of the Louvre; dined with Talleyrand;

to Madame de Lieven's and Madame Graham's. Talleyrand as well as

ever, except weaker on his legs; asked me to dine there whenever I

was not engaged. In the morning called at the Tuileries, and left

a note for the Duke of Orleans's aide-de-camp, asking to be

presented to his Royal Highness; and at night my mother went to

Court, and begged leave to bring me there to present me to the

Royal family. Lyndhurst sets off to London this morning, and I had

only an opportunity of exchanging a few words with him. He told me

he had never passed such an agreeable time as the last four

months; not a moment of _ennui_; had become acquainted with a host

of remarkable people of all sorts, political characters of all

parties, and the _litterateurs_, such as Victor Hugo, Balzac, &c.,

the latter of whom, he says, is a very agreeable man. He told me

that 'Le Pere Goriot' is a true story, and that since its

publication he had become acquainted with some more circumstances

which would have made it still more striking. He has been leading

here 'une vie de garcon,' and making himself rather ridiculous in

some respects. He said to me, 'I suppose the Government will get

on; I'm sure I shall not go on in the House of Lords this year as

I did the last. I was induced by circumstances and some little

excitement to take a more prominent part than usual last session;

but I don't see what I got by it except abuse. I thought I should

not hear any of the abuse that was poured upon me when I came

here, and got out of the reach of the English newspapers, but, on

the contrary, I find it all concentrated in Galignani.' Lyndhurst

and Ellice have been great friends here. Madame de Lieven seems to

have a very agreeable position at Paris. She receives every night,

and opens her house to all comers. Being neutral ground, men of

all parties meet there, and some of the most violent antagonists

have occasionally joined in amicable and curious discussion. It is

probably convenient to her Court that she should be here under

such circumstances, for a woman of her talents cannot fail to pick

up a good deal of interesting, and perhaps useful, information;

and as she is not subject to the operation of the same passions

and prejudices which complicated and disturbed her position in

England, she is able to form a juster estimate of the characters

and the objects of public men. She says Paris is a very agreeable

place to live at, but expresses an unbounded contempt for the

French character, and her lively sense of the moral superiority of

England. I asked her who were the men whom she was best inclined

to praise. She likes Mole, as pleasing, intelligent, and

gentlemanlike; Thiers the most brilliant, very lively and amusing;

Guizot and Berryer, both very remarkable. She talked freely enough

of Ellice, who is her dear friend, and from whom she draws all she

can of English politics; that he had come here for the purpose of

intriguing against the present Government, and trying to set up

Thiers again, and that he had fancied he should manage it. Mole[2]

was fully aware of it, and felt towards him accordingly. Lord

Granville, who was attached to the Duc de Broglie, and therefore

violently opposed to Thiers, when he became Minister, soon became

even more partial to Thiers, which sudden turn was the more

curious, because such had been their original antipathy that Lady

Granville had been personally uncivil to Madame Thiers, so much so

that Thiers had said to Madame de Lieven, that 'he would have her

to know it was not to be endured that an Ambassadress should

behave with such marked incivility to the wife of the Prime

Minister, and if she chose to continue so to do she might get her

husband sent away.' The other replied, 'Monsieur Thiers, if you

say this to me with the intention of its being repeated to Lady

Granville, I tell you you must go elsewhere for the purpose, for I

do not intend to do so.' I asked her whether it had been repeated,

and she said she thought probably it had been through Ellice for

soon after all was smiles and civility between them. She talked a

great deal about England, and of the ignorance of the French about

it; that Mole, for example, had said, 'It is true that we are not

in an agreeable state, but England is in a still worse.' The King,

however, is of a different opinion, and appears better to

understand the nature of our system. She described him (Mole) as

not the cleverest and most brilliant, but by far the most

sensible, sound, and well-judging man of them all.

[2] [M. Mole was then Prime Minister. The overthrow of M.

Thiers on the Spanish question had been regarded as a

check by the English Government, and Mr. Ellice was a

cordial friend and supporter of Thiers. The resentment

of Lord Palmerston at the refusal of the King to

support the cause of the Queen in Spain by a direct

intervention, was the commencement of that coolness

which is noticed further on, and which led eventually

to most important results.]

Peel's Glasgow speeches arrived yesterday, that is, were in

general circulation, for the King received on the 16th a

newspaper containing the speech made there on the 13th, an

instance (as it seems to me) of unexampled rapidity. Lord

Granville, who praises anything against his own party very

reluctantly, told me he thought Peel's speech at the dinner very

dexterous, and Ellice said, though there was nothing new in it,

he thought it would produce a great effect.

January 20th, 1837 {p.380}

[Page Head: DISLIKE OF PARIS.]

Yesterday went about visiting, found Montrond ill. Sat a long time

with Lady Granville, who was very amusing, and told me a great

deal about the characters of the people and the _tracasseries_ in

society; dined at the Club, and at night to Madame de Lieven's,

where I found Berryer, a remarkable-looking man, but not like what

I expected: dark, stout, countenance very intelligent, with a

cheerful, cunning, and rather leering look, such as a clever Irish

priest might have, neither in look nor manner very refined. He

soon went away, so I heard nothing of his conversation. Everybody

I have met has been very civil and obliging, and I ought to be and

am grateful for my reception, but I wish myself back again, and

ask myself a hundred times why I came. It is tiresome to go

through introductions to a parcel of people whom I shall probably

never see again, whose names I can scarcely remember, and with

whom, be they ever so agreeable, I have not time to form any

intimacy. They all ask the same question, 'Do you make a long stay

here?' to which I universally reply, 'As long as I can,' which,

being interpreted, means, I shall be off as soon as I can find a

decent pretext. It may be a very delightful place to _live at_,

but for a flying visit (as at present inclined), I don't think it

answers.

January 21st and 22nd, 1837 {p.381}

Walked about and rejoiced in the Madeleine, which is alone worth

coming to Paris to see. Greece and Rome in the days of their

glory never erected a grander temple. I find Paris tolerable, and

that is all. Dined with Madame de Noailles at the Hotel de Poix,

then to the Opera. On the 22nd, I walked to the Arc de Triomphe,

wonderfully fine, and clambered to the top. The view is well

worth the trouble, and above all the Madeleine is seen to great

advantage from the elevation; all its fine proportions strikingly

developed, and bringing to my mind the Temple of Neptune at

Paestum. Dined at the Embassy, where was nobody of note but M. de

Broglie, and then to Madame de Lieven's.

January 23rd, 1837 {p.381}

Rained all day, dined at the Grahams, with Madame de Lieven and

many people of no note, and went afterwards to Madame de

Flahault's beautiful house, where was all the fashion of France

of the Liberal and Royal faction; no Carlists. Some very handsome

women, particularly the Duchesse d'Istria.

Ellice told me that his letters from England announced smooth

water between Whigs and Radicals, and that the latter were coming

up to support the Government in good humour. The event here in

these last days has been the acquittal of the Strasburg

prisoners, of military men taken in the commission of overt acts

of mutiny and high treason.[3] By the law, when military men and

civilians are indicted for the same offence, the former cannot be

brought before a court-martial, but must be tried by a jury; the

jury decide according to their feelings or their prejudices, and

appear to care nothing for the law, and an Alsatian jury is said

to be republican. These men were therefore acquitted against the

clearest and most undoubted evidence, and their acquittal was

hailed as a triumph. It produces considerable annoyance and

surprise, but not so great a sensation as I should have expected.

[3] [These were the accomplices of Prince Louis Napoleon

Bonaparte in his first attempt made at Strasburg on the

30th of November 1836. The Prince himself was sent off

to the United States in a French frigate. His

accomplices were tried at Colmar in the ordinary course

of law, and acquitted by the jury, who refused to

convict them when the head of the conspiracy was not

brought to trial.]

There appears to be something rotten in the state of this

country; the system stands on unstable foundations, the people

are demoralised, in vain we look for fixed principles or deep

convictions. Some are indifferent to the fate of the monarchy

because they hate the monarch, others rejoice at attempts on the

monarch from aversion to monarchy, and as far as my cursory

observation and casual observation instruct me, I see only a

confusion and caprice of passions, prejudices, and opinions,

which are only reduced to anything like order by the strong sober

sense and the firmness of the King, who is by far the ablest man

among them.

January 25th, 1836 {p.382}

On the 24th I walked about Paris, dined at the Embassy, and went

to Court at night; about fifty English, forty Americans, and

several other foreigners were presented. The Palace is very

magnificent; the present King has built a new staircase, which

makes the suite of rooms continuous, and the whole has been

regilt and painted. We were arranged in the throne-room by

nations, the English first, and at a quarter before nine the

doors of the royal apartments were opened, and the Royal Family

came forth. We all stood in a long line (single file) reaching

through the two rooms, beginning and ending again at the door of

the King's apartment. The King walked down the line attended by

Lord Granville, then the Queen with the eldest Princess under her

arm, then Madame Adelaide with the other, and then the Duke of

Orleans. Aston[4] attended the Queen, and the _attaches_ the

others. They all speak to each individual, and by some strange

stretch of invention find something to say. The King is too

civil; he has a fine head, and closely resembles the pictures of

Louis XIV. The Queen is very gracious and dignified, Adelaide

very good-humoured, and the Duke of Orleans extremely princely in

his manners. This morning I went to the Tuileries by appointment,

when he received me, kept me for a quarter of an hour talking

about race-horses, and invited me to breakfast on Saturday, and

to go with him to Meudon to see his stud.

[4] [The British Secretary of Embassy, afterwards Sir

Arthur Aston.]

Then I went sight-seeing; to the Invalides, the Pantheon, and the

Madeleine. The former is very well worth seeing, and nothing is

more remarkable than the kitchen, which is the sweetest and the

cleanest I ever saw. The Chapel is fine, with no remarkable tombs

except those of Turenne and Vauban. The Pantheon is under repair;

there are the tombs of Voltaire and Rousseau. The interior of the

Madeleine is very rich, but it is inferior to the outside; the

simple grandeur of the latter is somewhat frittered away in the

minute ornaments and the numerous patches of coloured marble of

the Church. However, it will be with all its faults a magnificent

building.

[Page Head: RECEPTION AND BALL AT THE TUILERIES.]

I ended my day (the 25th) by going to a ball at the Tuileries,

one of the great balls, and a magnificent spectacle indeed. The

long line of light gleaming through the whole length of the

palace is striking as it is approached, and the interior, with

the whole suite of apartments brilliantly illuminated, and

glittering from one end to the other with diamonds and feathers

and uniforms, and dancing in all the several rooms, made a

splendid display. The supper in the theatre was the finest thing

I ever saw of the kind; all the women sup first, and afterwards

the men, the tables being renewed over and over again. There was

an array of servants in gorgeous liveries, and the apartment was

lit by thousands of candles (no lamps) and as light as day. The

company amounted to between 3,000 and 4,000, from all the great

people down to national guards, and even private soldiers. None

of the Carlists were there, as they none of them choose to go to

Court. The King retired before eleven; it was said that he had

received anonymous letters warning him of some intended attempt

on his person, and extraordinary precautions were taken to guard

against the entrance of any improper people.

January 26th, 1837 {p.384}

Having seen all the high society the night before, I resolved to

see all the low to-night, and went to Musard's ball--a most

curious scene; two large rooms in the rue St. Honore almost

thrown into one, a numerous and excellent orchestra, a prodigious

crowd of people, most of them in costume, and all the women

masked. There was every description of costume, but that which

was the most general was the dress of a French post-boy, in which

both males and females seemed to delight. It was well-regulated

uproar and orderly confusion. When the music struck up they began

dancing all over the rooms; the whole mass was in motion, but

though with gestures the most vehement and grotesque, and a

licence almost unbounded, the figure of the dance never seemed to

be confused, and the dancers were both expert in their capers and

perfect in their evolutions. Nothing could be more licentious

than the movements of the dancers, and they only seemed to be

restrained within limits of common decency by the cocked hats and

burnished helmets of the police and gendarmes which towered in

the midst of them. After quadrilling and waltzing away, at a

signal given they began galloping round the room; then they

rushed pellmell, couple after couple, like Bedlamites broke

loose, but not the slightest accident occurred. I amused myself

with this strange and grotesque sight for an hour or more, and

then came home.

January 27th, 1837 {p.384}

[Page Head: RELATIONS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND.]

Called on Talleyrand and sat with him for an hour. He talked of

England in a very Conservative strain. I called on the Duc de

Broglie, Mesdames de Marescalchi and Durazzo, dined at the

Embassy, then to Madame de Lieven's and Pembroke's concert. Not a

profitable life, but not dull, and the day glides away.

February 2nd, 1837 {p.385}

Nothing worth noticing for the last three or four days. Dined the

day before yesterday with the Duc de Poix, and went to Hope's

ball; his house is a sumptuous palace in miniature, all furnished

and decorated with inconceivable luxury and _recherche_; one room

hung with cachemires. Last night to a small ball at Court. Supper

in the gallery de Diane--round tables, all the ladies supping

first; the whole thing as beautiful and magnificent as possible,

and making all our fetes look pitiful and mean after it.

Our King's speech was here before seven o'clock yesterday

evening, about twenty-nine hours after it was delivered; a

rapidity of transmission almost incredible. Lord Granville had

predicted to me in the morning that they would be very angry here

at no mention being made of France, and so it was. I heard the

same thing from other quarters, and he told me that he had found

himself not deceived in his expectations, and that the King had

himself complained. The French Government had taken such pains

latterly to conciliate ours, by their speeches in the Chambers,

and by applying for votes of money to enable them to employ more

custom-house officers for the express purpose of preventing the

transmission of arms and stores to the Spanish Pretender; in

short, giving us every proof of goodwill; that Lord Granville was

desirous of having some expressions of corresponding goodwill and

civility inserted in the speech, and said as much to Lord

Palmerston; but he refused, and replied that as they could not

speak of France with praise, it was better not to mention her at

all. I have been riding with Lord Granville the last two days,

when he talked a good deal about France and French affairs. His

own position here is wonderfully agreeable, because all the

business of the two countries is transacted by him here, and

Sebastiani's is little more than a nominal embassy. This has long

been the case, having begun in Canning's time; then the great

intimacy which subsisted between the Duc de Broglie and Lord

Granville confirmed it during his Ministry, and the principal

cause of Talleyrand's hatred to Palmerston was the refusal of the

latter to alter the practice when he was in England, and his

mortification at finding the part he played in London to be

secondary to that of the British Ambassador in Paris.

[Page Head: THE DUKE OF ORLEANS.]

The Duc de Broglie seems to have been the most high-minded and

independent of all the Ministers who have been in place, and the

only one who kicked against the personal supremacy of the King in

the conduct of affairs. He looked to constitutional analogies, and

thought it incompatible with Ministerial responsibility. The King

appealed to the example of William III., and said to Lord

Granville, 'King William presided in person at his council board,

after your revolution?' It was Broglie's scruple (for it hardly

ever amounted to resistance) on this head that made the King

dislike him so much. It is certainly true that the present state

of things is an anomaly, but France is in its infancy as to

constitutional practice, and the doctrine of Ministerial

responsibility, with all its indispensable consequences, is not

understood. Nothing can exemplify this more than the recent case

of a man which was agitated in the Chambers, and passed off so

easily. He was one of the French refugees in Switzerland, and

Montalivet, Minister of the Interior, the man most in the King's

confidence, engaged him in his service to act as a spy on the

other refugees, but without letting Thiers (President of the

Council and Minister for Foreign Affairs) know that he had done

so. Accordingly Thiers demanded, through the French Ambassador,

the Duc de Montebello, that this man (with the rest) should be

expelled from Switzerland, he being at the time the agent of

Thiers' own colleague. In the course of the subsequent discussions

this fact came out, when Thiers declared he had been ignorant of

his employment, and Montalivet merely said that he had acted as he

deemed best for the interest of the country, and this excuse was

taken and nothing more said. Thiers took it more quietly than he

would otherwise have done, because he had committed himself in his

correspondence with Montebello, and it would not have suited him

to have his letters published. At that time the Duke of Orleans

was gone to Vienna, and Thiers was in all the fervour of his hopes

of obtaining one of the Archduchesses for the Prince, and he was

therefore the humble servant of Austria, and endeavouring to court

her favour in all ways, especially by truckling to her views in

the affair of the refugees.

I asked Madame de Lieven what was the reason that the great Powers

would not let the Duke of Orleans find a wife, and why especially

the Emperor Nicholas (who, it was to be presumed, desired the

continuance of peace and order in France, and therefore of this

dynasty) took every opportunity of showing his contempt and

aversion for the King, being the only Sovereign who had never

congratulated him by letter on his various escapes from

assassination. She replied that it was not surprising that

Sovereigns and their families should be indisposed to send their

daughters to a country which they looked upon as always liable to

a revolution, and to marry them to a prince always in danger of

being expelled from France, and perhaps from Europe; and that the

Emperor (whom she did not excuse in this respect) could not bring

himself to write _Monsieur mon Frere_ to Louis Philippe, and for

that reason would never compliment him but through his ambassador;

_au reste_, that the Duke of Orleans would find a wife among the

German princesses. It is, however, very ridiculous that second and

third-rate royalties should give themselves all sorts of airs, and

affect to hold cheap the King of France's eldest son, and talk of

his alliance as a degradation. There are two Wuertemberg

princesses, daughters of the Duchess of Oldenburg, who talk in

this strain; one of them is good-looking, and the Duke of Orleans

in his recent expedition in Germany had the curiosity to travel

incognito out of his way to take a look at them. The King their

father, who heard of it, complained to Madame de Lieven of the

impertinence of such conduct; but the girls were enchanted, and

with all their pretended aversion and contempt for the Orleans

family, were in a flutter of excited vanity at his having come to

look at them, and in despair at not having seen him themselves.

London, February 7th, 1837 {p.388}

Left Paris on Friday at five o'clock, and got to Boulogne at

half-past one on Saturday; passed the day with my cousin Richard,

and walked all over Boulogne, the ramparts and the pier.

February 22nd, 1837 {p.388}

An unhappy business not to be recorded here has so completely

absorbed my attention that I could not think of politics or of

anything else that is passing in the world. The Session had

opened (before I arrived) with a reconciliation, as usual,

between the Whigs and Radicals, but with a general opinion that

the Government was nevertheless in considerable danger. In a long

correspondence which I had with Tavistock I urged that his

friends ought to give up the appropriation clause, and propose

poor laws and payment of the Catholic clergy. The first two they

have done, and the last probably they really cannot do. As I have

all along thought, it will be reserved for Peel to carry this

great measure into effect. Caring much for the measure and

nothing for men of either party, I shall rejoice to take it from

anybody's hands.

February 25th, 1837 {p.388}

[Page Head: VIOLENT SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.]

I was interrupted while writing, and since I began, the division

of eighty in favour of the Irish Corporation Bill appears to have

settled that question, and at the same time those of dissolution

and change. At the beginning of the Session the Tories were (as

they are always ready to be) in high spirits, and the Government

people in no small alarm. The elections had generally gone

against them, and there were various symptoms of a reaction. In

Scotland the Renfrewshire election was attributed to Peel's visit

and speech, and old Lauderdale wrote word that it was the most

remarkable proof of a change there which had occurred since the

Reform Bill. Nothing was talked of but a dissolution, of Peel's

taking office, and many people confidently predicted that new

elections would produce a Tory majority. Besides, it was argued

that the same spirit which turned out Peel in 1835 could not be

roused again, and that several moderate Whigs would give him

their support if he endeavoured to go on with this Parliament. In

the midst of all these speculations this debate came on. It was

exceedingly feeble on the part of the Opposition. Stanley,

Graham, and Peel successively spoke, and none of them well; the

latter was unusually heavy. The best speeches on the other side

were Charles Buller's and Roebuck's (Radicals), and Howick's.

Sheil made a grand declamatory tirade, chiefly remarkable for the

scene it produced, which was unexampled in the House, and for its

credit may be hoped such as never will occur again. There was a

blackguard ferocity in it which would have disgraced the National

Convention or the Jacobin Club. Lyndhurst was sitting under the

gallery, and Sheil, turning to him as he said it, uttered one of

his vehement sentences against the celebrated and unlucky

expression of 'aliens.' The attack was direct, and it was taken

up by his adherents, already excited by his speech. Then arose a

din and tumultuous and vociferous cheering, such as the walls

never echoed to before; they stood up, all turning to Lyndhurst,

and they hooted and shouted at him with every possible gesture

and intonation of insult. It lasted ten minutes, the Speaker in

vain endeavouring to moderate the clamour. All this time

Lyndhurst sat totally unmoved; he neither attempted to stir, nor

changed a muscle of his countenance. At length they divided, and

there was a majority of eighty; sixteen more than on the same

question last year.

The next morning (yesterday) Wharncliffe called on me, and I

found that they were prodigiously depressed at this defeat. He

said that they had suffered from many unusual casualties,

sicknesses, and deaths, and that their people could not be made

to attend. He instanced three cases of lukewarmness and

indifference. Sir G. Noel remained in the House till twelve

o'clock, and then went to bed; Lord John Scott went out of town

in the morning of the division, because he was engaged to dine

somewhere; and young Lefroy, who had paired with Sheil _until

this question_, set off with him to embark for England from

Dublin, and turned back from the steamboat because it blew hard,

and he said his mother would be alarmed for his safety.

Wharncliffe told me that Peel is very much disgusted at such

coolness, and that, while he is slaving body and mind in the

cause, he cannot even depend upon the corporeal presence of his

idle and luxurious followers, who will sacrifice none of their

amusements for the cause which they pretend to think is in such

danger. On the other hand, the rash and foolish (no small

proportion) are dissatisfied with his caution, and the prudence

which they call timidity; they are always for doing something

desperate. Lyndhurst last year in the House of Lords was the man

after their own hearts, and they were quite willing to depose the

Duke from his leadership of the party, and put themselves under

the guidance of Lyndhurst. When we recollect who and what

Lyndhurst was and is, it is curious to see the aristocracy of

England adopting him for their chief; scarcely an Englishman (for

his father was an American painter[5]), a lawyer of fortune, in

the sense in which, we say a soldier of fortune, without any

fixed principles, and only conspicuous for his extraordinary

capacity, he has no interest but what centres in himself, and is

utterly destitute of those associations which naturally belong to

an aristocracy. There is probably not a man of the party who is

not fully aware of Lyndhurst's character, and they have already

experienced the results of his political daring in his famous

attempt to interrupt the Reform Bill by the postponement of

Schedule A; and with this knowledge and experience they follow

him blindly, lead them where he will. Wharncliffe owned to me

that he saw no alternative but the compromise, but that he did

not know whether his party would be brought to consent to it. I

told him that they could not help themselves, and must consent;

besides that, if the Tithe Bill is passed they will have got the

security for the Church which they require, and the ground of

objection to the Corporation Bill would be cut from under their

feet. It is remarkable, and rather amusing to a neutral like me,

to hear what each party says of the concessions of the other. I

see in the 'Examiner' this day that 'the Lords cannot now pass

the Bill if they would, without disgracing their party in the

House of Commons,' and Wharncliffe said that 'the Government

could not give up the appropriation clause in the Tithe Bill

without covering themselves with disgrace.' In my opinion the

disgrace is not in making concessions which reason and expediency

demand, and which are indispensable to the peace and tranquillity

of the country, but in ever having pledged themselves to measures

for party purposes, or to accomplish particular ends, without

calculating the consequences of such pledges, or estimating the

degree of power that they would possess of giving effect to the

principles they avowed. This applies more strongly a great deal

to the Whigs about the Tithe Bill than to the Tories about the

Corporations; but it does apply to both, and it is a national

misfortune when two great parties so commit themselves that no

adjustment of the question at issue between them is possible

without some detriment to the credit and character of both.

[5] [He was entirely an Englishman, for he was born at

Boston before America was separated from England, and

his whole family came to this country when the war

broke out.]

March 18th, 1837 {p.391}

[Page Head: THE BISHOPS IN A FERMENT.]

Three weeks, and nothing written. The dejection of the Tories at

the division on the Corporation Bill has been since relieved by

that on the Church-rates, which they consider equivalent to a

victory; and so it is, for the probability is that the Bill will

not pass the House of Commons. The debates have been good upon

both these matters. Just before the question came on, the Bishops

made a grand _flare-up_ in the House of Lords. The Archbishop of

Canterbury (Howley), with as much venom as so mild a man can

muster, attacked the Bill. Melbourne replied with some asperity,

and the Bishop of London (Blomfield) retorted fiercely upon him.

The Tories lauded and the Whigs abused the Bishops, both

vehemently. I don't admire their conduct, either as to temper or

discretion. The Church had better not be militant, and to see the

Bench of Bishops in direct and angry collision with the King's

Prime Minister is a sorry sight.

The angry debate which took place was not contemplated by the

Bishops. It had been settled that the Archbishop should make his

declaration against the measure in the name of his brethren,

which he did in a speech (for him) remarkably good, for he is a

miserable speaker at all times. Melbourne's severe remarks

provoked the Bishop of London (Blomfield), who had not intended

to speak, and he said to the Archbishop, 'I must answer this,'

who replied, 'Do.' His abrupt and animated exordium, 'And so, my

Lords,' was very much admired.

This Church rate Bill, however, is a bad Bill; it gives little

satisfaction to anybody except to the Dissenters, who have no

right to require such a concession to what they absurdly call

their scruples of conscience. One of the underwhippers of

Government dropped the truth as to the real cause of such a

measure, when he said that, 'if they had proposed Althorp's plan,

they should have had all the Dissenters against them at the next

elections.' The question, originally one of considerable

difficulty, is now doubly so, and its solution will not be easy,

especially by this Government; but nothing can prevent its being

settled. It is strange that no experience can open the eyes of

inveterate Tories and High Churchmen, and that successive defeats

have not demonstrated to them the futility of their expectations

of being able to resist the passing of measures which great

interests support, and which are congenial to public opinion.

There is, however, something discreditable in the conduct of

Government, and which shows the compromising, half-cunning,

hand-to-mouth way in which they are compelled to scramble on.

Upon the ballot the 'Times' published a list of at least twenty

members of the Government who stayed away, leaving the Tories to

fight the Radicals and make the majority, and such a measure as

this Church-rate Bill is utterly inconsistent with Lord John

Russell's declarations last year. This division has again revived

the question of dissolution and change of Government, and made a

great deal of speculation. If the Lords dare throw out the

Corporation Bill, the Government must go out, though not else;

but it is next to impossible they should venture on this.

March 31st, 1837 {p.393}

[Page Head: APPROPRIATION CLAUSES ABANDONED.]

So I thought upon the 18th of March, but so I do not think now. In

the first place, I hear from those who are well informed that the

Lords have made up their minds to throw out this Bill. Lord John

Russell has made up his to resign if they do, and in that case

Peel has made up his to come in. It does not appear, however, that

the great body of the Whigs are at all prepared to go out. Some

doubt the Lords rejecting the Bill, others that the Tories would

take office, or that Melbourne and his friends would so certainly

resign it. Lord Spencer wrote to John Russell, and told him that

if the Lords did throw out the Bill, he thought that (being still

supported by a majority of the Commons) he ought not to resign,

but Lord John wrote him back decisive and convincing reasons why

his retention of office under such circumstances would be

impossible. The fact is that there is a great change in the face

of affairs. The small majority on the Church rate Bill, the

unpopularity of the measure, and the discredit which attends our

foreign relations (since Evans's defeat in Spain more especially),

have had a material effect upon the moral efficacy of the

Government. It is now known that Government have abandoned the

appropriation clauses in the Tithe Bill, and this has grievously

offended many of their violent, thick and thin supporters, more

especially as it was the particular question on which they turned

Peel out; and the grand principle, therefore, on which the

Government was bound in honour and consistency to stand. The

Ministers none of them possess any public confidence in their

individual or official capacities; the King detests them, the

country does not care for them, and the House of Commons supports

them in a lukewarm spirit. If they do resign there will be no

repetition of the scenes of their former expulsion and triumphant

return to power. The same enthusiasm could not be raised, nor the

same union brought about. I hear men in office talk of Peel going

on without a dissolution, and the most interested adherents of

Government (Tavistock for example) of a fair trial, and of his

having a better right to it now than he had on the former

occasion. Peel's undoubted fitness for office, his vast

superiority to all the other public men of the day, will be more

readily acknowledged, and I doubt very much whether he would

experience any such factious and uncompromising opposition as

would seriously obstruct the march of his Government, particularly

if its composition should be tolerable, and his measures judicious

and liberal. It is very remarkable that when he wanted to take in

Stanley and Graham formerly, he desired them more particularly

because they would have strengthened his hands in the establishment

of liberal principles _against_ the great body of his Tory

supporters, and they refused upon the pretext that they had no

security for his being liberal enough; and now, when of course he

must and will place whatever offices they please at their

disposal, so far from being of the same assistance to him, they

only bring an addition of bigotry and illiberality which will

perpetually cast difficulties and embarrassments in his way. It is

a curious matter for speculation how he will go on with these men,

how his coldness, prudence, and reserve will suit the intemperate

and often injudicious vivacity of Stanley. With Graham there would

not be so much difficulty, and _his_ principles would not be found

too inflexible. Nothing shocks his old Whig associates more than

the contrast between his present conduct and opinions, and the

extreme violence which he displayed at the period of his accession

to office in 1831; he was in fact the most ultra Liberal of Lord

Grey's Cabinet, and now he is little better than a Tory.

[Page Head: THE KING'S ADDRESS TO LORD AYLMER.]

The King, who is a thorough party man, will be overjoyed at any

change; he never loses an opportunity of showing his antipathy to

his confidential servants. The other day at the reception of the

Bath, when Lord Aylmer was introduced, he made him a speech to

which he gave that sort of dramatic effect which he is so fond of

doing. Aylmer had been recalled from Canada by this Government,

but when he approached the throne, the King called out to Lord

Minto and Lord Palmerston (the only two Ministers who are Knights

of the Bath), and made them come up, and stand one on each side of

Aylmer, that they might not lose a word of his oration, and then

he began. He told them that he wished to take that, the most

public opportunity he could find, of telling him that he approved

most entirely of his conduct in Canada, that he had acted like a

true and loyal subject towards a set of traitors and conspirators,

and behaved as it became a British officer to do under such

circumstances. I forget the exact expressions, but it was to this

effect, to the unspeakable satisfaction of Aylmer, and to inflict

all the mortification he could upon the Ministers whom he had

lugged up to witness this ebullition.

Another circumstance will facilitate the change of Ministry, which

is, that the question is not argued as if it were a struggle for

authority between the Lords and the Commons, for the notion of

such a struggle would be well calculated to excite a constitutional

jealousy. The Lords, however, pretend that their support of the

Protestant interest is not only in itself constitutional, but more

in accordance with the sentiments of the nation than the measures

of the Government are. The two parties are pretty evenly balanced,

but the strength of the Opposition lies in the Lords, and it is

altogether a question of party tactics, and not of constitutional

principle. Of all men, Peel is the last to favour any attempt to

question the virtual supremacy of the House of Commons, and if he

becomes Minister, and has a majority (as of course he must, to

stay in), the high tide of the Lords will begin to ebb, and

everything will be seen to settle down into the usual practice. If

a victory is achieved, it will not be that of the Lords over the

Commons, but of the Conservatives over the Whigs and Radicals.

The fierce dispute between Sydney Smith and the Bishop of London,

which gave birth to his pamphlet,[6] has terminated in an

interview sought by Sydney and accorded by the Bishop, when they

are said to have discussed the matter in dispute with temper and

candour, and to have parted amicably. It will probably prevent

the appearance of Sydney's second pamphlet, which was ready. He

speaks in terms of great admiration of the capacity of the

Bishop, and owned that he had convinced him upon some of the

points which they had to discuss. I did not hear what the Bishop

said of the Prebend.

[6] [The well-known letter of Sydney Smith to Archdeacon

Singleton in defence of Deans and Chapters.]

Among the many old people who have been cut off by this severe

weather, one of the most remarkable is Mrs. Fitzherbert, who died

at Brighton at above eighty years of age. She was not a clever

woman, but of a very noble spirit, disinterested, generous,

honest, and affectionate, greatly beloved by her friends and

relations, popular in the world, and treated with uniform

distinction and respect by the Royal Family. The late King, who

was a despicable creature, grudged her the allowance he was bound

to make her, and he was always afraid lest she should make use of

some of the documents in her possession to annoy or injure him.

This mean and selfish apprehension led him to make various

efforts to obtain possession of those the appearance of which he

most dreaded, and among others, one remarkable attempt was made

by Sir William Knighton some years ago. Although a stranger to

Mrs. Fitzherbert, he called one day at her house, when she was

ill in bed, insisted upon seeing her, and forced his way into her

bedroom. She contrived (I forget how) to get rid of him without

his getting anything out of her, but this domiciliary visit

determined her to make a final disposition of all the papers she

possessed, that in the event of her death no advantage might be

taken of them either against her own memory or the interests of

any other person. She accordingly selected those papers which she

resolved to preserve, and which are supposed to be the documents

and correspondence relating to her marriage with George IV., and

made a packet of them which was deposited at her banker's, and

all other letters and papers she condemned to the flames. For

this purpose she sent for the Duke of Wellington and Lord

Albemarle, told them her determination, and in their presence had

these papers burnt; she assured them that everything was

destroyed, and if after her death any pretended letters or

documents were produced, they might give the most authoritative

contradiction to their authenticity.

May 13th, 1836 {p.397}

[Page Head: MEETING AT APSLEY HOUSE.]

I have been six weeks without writing a line, and though no great

events have occurred, the aspect of affairs has been continually

shifting and changing. About a month ago it was supposed the fall

of the Government was at hand, and when the crisis was over it

was found that they had really been in danger. The Duke of

Wellington called a meeting at Apsley House just before the

Corporation Bill came on in the House of Lords, and a great point

was made of the resolution of the Tory Lords being kept secret

till the last moment. The mystery excited some curiosity, but

after all it only turned out to be what everybody had long before

talked about, the postponement of the Committee. This was done by

the Duke in a very bad speech, so bad that Fitzgerald and others

were obliged to try and do away its effect by making out that he

did not mean what he said. On the division the Government had

greater numbers than usual. It then remained to be seen what Lord

John Russell would do, and it was reported that he meant to

retaliate by postponing the Tithe Bill, but he did no such thing.

He came down and declared that they would regularly go on with

all their bills, and moreover, that while they retained the

confidence of the House of Commons they would not resign; so

again it seems likely that the compromise originally anticipated

will take place at last, and there will be no change. This

declaration of Lord John's is at variance with his former

resolution, and so I told Tavistock it would appear to be. He

admitted that it would, but said that John claimed for himself to

judge of the fit moment for his resignation; that whenever he was

satisfied that he had no reasonable prospect of carrying his

measures, he should retire, but not till then; and that one

defeat ought not to make him throw up the game. However, he owned

that this qualification ought to have formed part of his original

declaration, in order to obviate all misrepresentation.

During the last week the Westminster election[7] has absorbed

everything else. Though the Government were by way of taking no

part, all Brooks's moved heaven and earth for Leader, and until

the day of nomination they were confident of his success. Bets

were two to one in his favour, and a great deal was lost and won.

On the other hand the Tories worked hard for Burdett. He appeared

on the hustings at the nomination, and was received quite as well

as his opponent, and the show of hands was in his favour. This

reduced the betting to even, but nobody was prepared for the

great majority by which Burdett won. It was certainly a great

triumph to the Conservative cause, and a great disappointment to

the violent Whigs, and still more to the Radicals. The Government

affect to make light of it. Melbourne is probably sincere when he

says he is very glad of it, and for this reason, 'that the

Radicals are very difficult to manage as it is, and if they had

carried this election there would be no doing anything with

them.' A great many people on both sides would not vote. I would

not, for one. I hate Leader's politics, and don't like Burdett's;

nobody can tell what he is, for his answers and explanations are

of a shuffling, ambiguous character, and he disgusted me by

throwing over the new Poor Law, which was a base compliance.

However, though I would not vote, I was rather glad he came in,

and somewhat like Lord Grey, who said last night, 'he was glad at

Leader's defeat, and sorry for Burdett's success.'

[7] [A contested election in Westminster between Mr. Leader

(Radical) and Sir Francis Burdett (Conservative).

Burdett was returned by a majority of 515. It was a

chivalrous contest. Burdett had resigned his seat

voluntarily to test the feeling of his constituents,

and Leader resigned a seat for Bridgewater solely to

meet Burdett in Westminster.]

May 23rd, 1837 {p.398}

There was great triumph among the Conservatives at Burdett's

success, raised to a higher pitch by that of Broadwood at

Bridgewater, which makes the whole thing very complete, Leader

having fallen between the two stools, and now they expect to get

Glasgow, if they succeed in which there will be no bounds to

their exultation. Then it is suspected that there have been

difficulties and divisions in the Cabinet. There was a meeting at

Lord Grey's of Ministers and Ministerial adherents, it was

supposed for the purpose of his patching up matters, but I know

nothing of what occurred. The Duke of Wellington, too, had an

audience of the King on Wednesday last, and all these things set

surmises afloat. At another time I should probably have bestirred

myself and found out what all this meant, but I have been so

occupied and absorbed with the Derby that I could think of

nothing else.

The King prayed that he might live till the Princess Victoria was

of age, and he was very nearly dying just as the event arrived.

He is better, but supposed to be in a very precarious state.

There has been a fresh squabble between Windsor and Kensington

about a proposed allowance to the Princess.

June 2nd, 1836 {p.399}

[Page Head: ILLNESS OF THE KING.]

The King has been desperately ill, his pulse down at thirty; they

think he will now get over it for this time. His recovery will

not have been accelerated by the Duchess of Kent's answer to the

City of London's address, in which she went into the history of

her life, and talked of her 'friendless state' on arriving in

this country, the gist of it being that, having been abandoned or

neglected by the Royal Family, she had thrown herself on the

country.

June 11th, 1836 {p.399}

At Buckhurst last week for Ascot; went on Monday and returned on

Friday. On Tuesday the Queen came to the course, but only stayed

an hour. They had an immense party at the Castle notwithstanding

the King's illness. I met Adolphus Fitzclarence at the course,

who gave me an account of the King's state, which was bad enough,

though not for the moment alarming; no disease, but excessive

weakness without power of rallying. He also gave me an account of

the late Kensington quarrel. The King wrote a letter to the

Princess offering her L10,000 a year (not out of his privy

purse), which he proposed should be at her own disposal and

independent of her mother. He sent this letter by Lord Conyngham

with orders to deliver it into the Princess's own hands.

Conyngham accordingly went to Kensington (where Conroy received

him) and asked to be admitted to the Princess. Conroy asked by

what authority. He said by his Majesty's orders. Conroy went

away, and shortly after Conyngham was ushered into the presence

of the Duchess and Princess, when he said that he had waited on

her Royal Highness by the King's commands to present to her a

letter with which he had been charged by his Majesty. The Duchess

put out her hand to take it, when he said he begged her Royal

Highness's pardon, but he was expressly commanded by the King to

deliver the letter into the Princess's own hands. Her mother then

drew back and the Princess took the letter, when Conyngham made

his bow and retired. Victoria wrote to the King, thanking him and

accepting his offer. He then sent to say that it was his wish to

name the person who should receive this money for her, and he

proposed to name Stephenson. Then began the dispute. The Duchess

of Kent objected to the arrangement, and she put forth her claim,

which was that she should have L6,000 of the money and the

Princess L4,000. How the matter had ended Adolphus did not know

when I saw him. [It never was settled.]

The Duchess of Northumberland had been to Windsor and resigned

her office of governess a few days before.

[Page Head: ILLNESS OF THE KING.]

On Wednesday it was announced for the first time that the King

was alarmingly ill, on Thursday the account was no better, and in

the course of Wednesday and Thursday his immediate dissolution

appeared so probable that I concerted with Errol that I should

send to the Castle at nine o'clock on Thursday evening for the

last report, that I might know whether to go to London directly

or not. On Wednesday the physicians wanted to issue a bulletin,

but the King would not hear of it. He said as long as he was able

to transact public business he would not have the public alarmed

on his account; but on Friday, nevertheless, the first bulletin

was issued.

It is in this state of things, with the prospect of a new reign

and a dissolution, and in complete uncertainty of the direction

which affairs would take under a new influence, when it is

peculiarly desirable that moderate and healing counsels should

prevail, that Lyndhurst comes down to the House of Lords and

fires off one of his violent speeches, and at his bidding the

Irish Municipal Corporation Bill has been again postponed. All

this is very disgusting to me, and I am at a loss to comprehend

why such men as the Duke and Peel lend themselves to such

courses. In the House of Commons John Russell took a very

different line, for he made a strong Conservative speech in

answer to an omnium gatherum Radical tirade of Roebuck's; just

such a speech as a Minister ought to make. Denman was persuaded

to give up his design of bringing before the House of Lords the

question of privilege, on which he is at issue with the House of

Commons, and there seems luckily a disposition to deal with it

calmly; in fact, it is no party question. The Judges are all with

their colleagues, but Peel has taken a strong part with the House

of Commons, and made a very good speech upon it the other night.

I met Melbourne in the Park, who told me he thought the King

would not recover. Lord Harrowby was very much astonished as well

as annoyed at Lyndhurst's speech the other night, it having been

previously agreed upon that all violence and everything offensive

should be avoided. They had resolved to postpone the Committee on

the Bill as before, but it was to have been done in the most

conciliatory way, and they were not prepared for this outbreak of

Lyndhurst's.

June 13th, 1837 {p.401}

Bad accounts of the King yesterday. Melbourne desired I would get

everything ready _quietly_ for a Council. He has been busily

occupied in examining the precedents in order to conduct the

first ceremonies properly, and the first questions have been

whether the Duchess of Kent could come into Council with her

daughter, and whether the Duke of Cumberland (King of Hanover as

he will be) should be summoned to it.

June 16th, 1837 {p.401}

On Wednesday the King was desperately bad, yesterday he was

better, but not so as to afford any hope, though Chambers says

his recovery is not impossible. Although the bulletins tell so

little, everybody is now aware of his Majesty's state. He

dictates these reports himself, and will not allow more to be

said; he continues to do business, and his orders are taken as

usual, so he is resolved to die with harness on his back.

Yesterday Lord Lansdowne sent for me to beg in the first place

that everything might be ready, and in the next to say that they

were perplexed to know what steps, if any, they ought to take to

ascertain whether the Queen is with child, and to beg me to

search in our books if any precedent could be found at the

accession of James II. But they had forgotten that the case had

been provided for in the Regency Bill, and that in the event of

the King's death without children, the Queen is to be proclaimed,

but the oath of allegiance taken with a saving of the rights of

any posthumous child to King William. They ought to have known

this, but it is odd enough that there is nobody in office who has

any personal knowledge of the usual forms at the first Council,

for not one of these Ministers was in office at the accession of

William IV. My colleague, Buller, who was present as Clerk of the

Council, is dead, and I was abroad.

[Page Head: PRAYERS ORDERED FOR THE KING.]

In the morning I met Sir Robert Peel in the Park, and talked with

him about the beginning of the new reign. He said that it was very

desirable that the young Queen should appear as much as possible

emancipated from all restraint, and exhibit a capacity for the

discharge of her high functions; that the most probable as well as

the most expedient course she could adopt, would be to rely

entirely upon the advice of Melbourne, and she might with great

propriety say that she thought it incumbent on her to follow the

example which had been set by her two uncles, her predecessors,

William IV. having retained in office the Ministers of his

brother, and George IV., although his political predilections were

known to lean another way, having also declined to dismiss the

Government of his father. Peel said that he concluded King Leopold

would be her great adviser. If Leopold is prudent, however, he

will not hurry over here at the very first moment, which would

look like an impatience to establish his influence, and if he

does, the first result will be every sort of jealousy and discord

between him and the Duchess of Kent. The elements of intrigue do

not seem wanting in this embryo Court. Besides the Duchess of Kent

and Leopold, and Conroy of course, Caradoc[8] is suspected of a

design and an expectation to become a personage; and Lord Durham

is on his way home, and his return is regarded with no little

curiosity, because he may endeavour to play a great political

part, and materially to influence the opinions, or at least the

councils, of the Queen. What renders speculation so easy, and

events uncertain, is the absolute ignorance of everybody, without

exception, of the character, disposition, and capacity of the

Princess. She has been kept in such jealous seclusion by her

mother (never having slept out of her bedroom, nor been alone with

anybody but herself and the Baroness Lehzen), that not one of her

acquaintance, none of the attendants at Kensington, not even the

Duchess of Northumberland, her governess, have any idea what she

is, or what she promises to be. It is therefore no difficult

matter to form and utter conjectures which nobody can contradict

or gainsay but by other conjectures equally uncertain and

fallacious. The Tories are in great consternation at the King's

approaching death, from the advantage which they foresee their

opponents must derive from it as far as the extension of their

term of power is concerned, and they prognosticate, according to

their custom, all sorts of dismal consequences, none of which, of

course, will come to pass. _Nothing_ will happen, because, in this

country, _nothing_ ever does. The Whigs, to do them justice,

behave with great decency; whatever they may really feel, they

express a very proper concern, and I have no doubt Melbourne

really feels the concern he expresses. The public in general don't

seem to care much, and only wonder what will happen.

[8] [Colonel Caradoc, afterwards Lord Howden: died in

1873.]

June 17th, 1837 {p.403}

Yesterday the King was better, so as to promise a prolongation of

his existence, though not his recovery. An intimation came from

Windsor, that it was desired prayers should be offered up in the

Churches for him; so the Privy Council assembled to order this,

but on assembling the Bishop of London objected to the form which

had been used upon the last and other occasions (an order made by

the Lords to the Archbishop of Canterbury to prepare a form of

prayer), asserting that _the Lords_ had no power to make such an

order, and it was even doubted by lawyers whether the King

himself had power to order alterations in the Liturgy, or the use

of the particular prayers; and admitting that he had, it was in

virtue of his prerogative, and as Head of the Church, but that

_the Lords of the Council_ had no power whatever of the kind.

They admitted that he was correct in this view of the case, and

consequently, instead of an order to the Archbishop, his

Majesty's pleasure that prayers should be offered up was conveyed

to the Council, and a communication to that effect was directed

to be made to the Archbishop. The King's pleasure being thus

conveyed, it is his duty to obey, and the Bishops have power to

direct their clergy to pray for the King. The Bishop of London

would have preferred that a prayer for his recovery as for a sick

person, but mentioning him by name, should have been adopted, but

the Archbishop was prepared with his form of prayer, and it was

directed to be used.

June 18th, 1837 {p.404}

The King lingers on; yesterday he sent for the Archbishop of

Canterbury to administer the Sacrament to him.

[Page Head: LORD PONSONBY AT CONSTANTINOPLE.]

An attack (but a feeble one) was made upon Palmerston the other

night, about Sir Charles Vaughan's appointment to relieve Lord

Ponsonby at Constantinople, to which he made, as usual, a feeble

and inefficient answer, but the real story did not come out. The

whole history of Lord Ponsonby is a remarkable example of what a

man in favour or with powerful protection may do with impunity,

and it is the more striking because Palmerston is the most

imperious of official despots, and yet has invariably truckled to

Lord Grey's brother-in-law. When Ponsonby was appointed

Ambassador at Constantinople, the affairs of the East were in a

most critical state, notwithstanding which nothing would induce

him to repair to his post, and he loitered away several months at

Naples, while Russia was maturing her designs upon Turkey, and

when the presence of an English Ambassador was of vital

importance. This was overlooked, because to Lord Grey's

brother-in-law everything was permitted. The appointment of Mr.

Urquhart as Secretary of the Embassy at Constantinople greatly

displeased Lord Ponsonby, who resolved to hold no communication

with him, and accordingly the Chancellerie at Constantinople has

presented the amusing spectacle of an Ambassador and Secretary of

Embassy who do not speak to each other, and the latter of whom

has had no functions whatever to discharge. A short time ago Lord

Ponsonby applied for leave of absence, which was given to him,

and the Government here hoped that when he came home he would not

think of returning, and secretly resolved that if they could help

it he should not. But as Mr. Urquhart had been placed in this

strange position, and besides, since his appointment, they had

found reason to doubt whether he was altogether fit for such a

trust, it was impossible to leave him at Constantinople as

_charge d'affaires_ during his chief's absence, so they got Sir

Charles Vaughan to go out on what was called a special mission,

though there was nothing more in it than to meet this difficulty.

Sir Charles was directed to proceed to Malta, and from thence to

send a steamer to Constantinople, which was to announce his

arrival and bring back Lord Ponsonby. Sir Charles, accordingly,

sent his Secretary of Embassy to announce him, who, when he

arrived off Constantinople, was met by an absolute prohibition

from Ponsonby to land at all, and a flat refusal on his part to

stir. The Secretary had nothing to do but to return to his

principal and report his reception, and he in his turn had

nothing to do but report his ridiculous position to his employers

at home, and await their orders. The result has been that Sir

Charles is ordered home, and Lord Ponsonby remains, so that

Palmerston has knocked under. Ponsonby has carried his point, and

Vaughan has had a _giro_ to Malta and back, for which the public

has to pay.

June 19th, 1837 {p.405}

Yesterday the King was sinking fast; the Sacrament was

administered to him by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He said,

'This is the 18th of June; I should like to live to see the sun

of Waterloo set.' Last night I met the Duke, and dined at the

Duchess of Cannizzaro's, who after dinner crowned him with a

crown of laurel (in joke of course), when they all stood up and

drank his health, and at night they sang a hymn in honour of the

day. He asked me whether Melbourne had had any communication with

the Princess Victoria. I said I did not know, but thought not. He

said, 'He ought. I was in constant communication with the present

King for a month before George IV. died. George IV. was for a

month quite as bad as this King, and I sent the Duke of Clarence

the bulletins every day, and besides wrote to him the private

accounts I received, and what is very odd, I had a quarrel with

him in the course of this. He constantly wrote to me, and in one

of his letters he told me he meant to make me his Minister. I

felt this was a very awkward subject for me to enter upon, and

that I could not, being the Minister of the King, with any

propriety treat with his successor, so I resolved to take no

notice whatever of this part of his letter, and I did not. He was

very indignant at this, and complained to his friends (to Lord

Cassilis, for instance) that I had behaved very rudely to him.

When I met him--for I met him constantly at Windsor, and in the

King's room--he was very cold in his manner, but I took no

notice, and went on as before.'

June 21st, 1837 {p.406}

[Page Head: FIRST COUNCIL OF QUEEN VICTORIA.]

The King died at twenty minutes after two yesterday morning, and

the young Queen met the Council at Kensington Palace at eleven.

Never was anything like the first impression she produced, or the

chorus of praise and admiration which is raised about her manner

and behaviour, and certainly not without justice. It was very

extraordinary, and something far beyond what was looked for. Her

extreme youth and inexperience, and the ignorance of the world

concerning her, naturally excited intense curiosity to see how she

would act on this trying occasion, and there was a considerable

assemblage at the Palace, notwithstanding the short notice which

was given. The first thing to be done was to teach her her lesson,

which for this purpose Melbourne had himself to learn. I gave him

the Council papers, and explained all that was to be done, and he

went and explained all this to her. He asked her if she would

enter the room accompanied by the Great Officers of State, but she

said she would come in alone. When the Lords were assembled the

Lord President informed them of the King's death, and suggested,

as they were so numerous, that a few of them should repair to the

presence of the Queen and inform her of the event, and that their

Lordships were assembled in consequence; and accordingly the two

Royal Dukes, the two Archbishops, the Chancellor, and Melbourne

went with him. The Queen received them in the adjoining room

alone. As soon as they had returned the proclamation was read and

the usual order passed, when the doors were thrown open and the

Queen entered, accompanied by her two uncles, who advanced to meet

her. She bowed to the Lords, took her seat, and then read her

speech in a clear, distinct, and audible voice, and without any

appearance of fear or embarrassment. She was quite plainly

dressed, and in mourning. After she had read her speech and taken

and signed the oath for the security of the Church of Scotland,

the Privy Councillors were sworn, the two Royal Dukes[9] first, by

themselves; and as these two old men, her uncles, knelt before

her, swearing allegiance and kissing her hand, I saw her blush up

to the eyes, as if she felt the contrast between their civil and

their natural relations, and this was the only sign of emotion

which she evinced. Her manner to them was very graceful and

engaging; she kissed them both, and rose from her chair and moved

towards the Duke of Sussex, who was farthest from her and too

infirm to reach her. She seemed rather bewildered at the multitude

of men who were sworn, and who came one after another to kiss her

hand, but she did not speak to anybody, nor did she make the

slightest difference in her manner, or show any in her countenance,

to any individual of any rank, station, or party. I particularly

watched her when Melbourne and the Ministers and the Duke of

Wellington and Peel approached her. She went through the whole

ceremony, occasionally looking at Melbourne for instruction when

she had any doubt what to do, which hardly ever occurred, and with

perfect calmness and self-possession, but at the same time with a

graceful modesty and propriety particularly interesting and

ingratiating. When the business was done she retired as she had

entered, and I could see that nobody was in the adjoining room.

Lord Lansdowne insisted upon being declared President of the

Council (and I was obliged to write a declaration for him to read

to that effect), though it was not usual. The speech was admired,

except by Brougham, who appeared in a considerable state of

excitement. He said to Peel (whom he was standing near, and with

whom he is not in the habit of communicating), '_A_melioration,

that is not English; you might perhaps say _me_lioration, but

improvement is the proper word.' 'Oh,' said Peel, 'I see no harm

in the word; it is generally used.' 'You object,' said Brougham,

'to the sentiment, I object to the grammar.' 'No,' said Peel, 'I

don't object to the sentiment.' 'Well, then, she pledges herself

to the policy of _our_ Government,' said Brougham. Peel told me

this, which passed in the room and near to the Queen. He likewise

said how amazed he was at her manner and behaviour, at her

apparent deep sense of her situation, her modesty, and at the same

time her firmness. She appeared, in fact, to be awed, but not

daunted, and afterwards the Duke of Wellington told me the same

thing, and added that if she had been his own daughter he could

not have desired to see her perform her part better. It was

settled that she was to hold a Council at St. James's this day,

and be proclaimed there at ten o'clock, and she expressed a wish

to see Lord Albemarle, who went to her and told her he was come to

take her orders. She said, 'I have no orders to give; you know all

this so much better than I do, that I leave it all to you. I am to

be at St. James's at ten to-morrow, and must beg you to find me a

conveyance proper for the occasion.' Accordingly, he went and

fetched her in state with a great escort. The Duchess of Kent was

in the carriage with her, but I was surprised to hear so little

shouting, and to see so few hats off as she went by. I rode down

the Park, and saw her appear at the window when she was

proclaimed. The Duchess of Kent was there, but not prominent; the

Queen was surrounded by her Ministers, and curtsied repeatedly to

the people, who did not, however, hurrah till Lord Lansdowne gave

them the signal from the window. At twelve she held a Council, at

which she presided with as much ease as if she had been doing

nothing else all her life, and though Lord Lansdowne and my

colleague had contrived between them to make some confusion with

the Council papers, she was not put out by it. She looked very

well, and though so small in stature, and without much pretension

to beauty, the gracefulness of her manner and the good expression

of her countenance give her on the whole a very agreeable

appearance, and with her youth inspire an excessive interest in

all who approach her, and which I can't help feeling myself. After

the Council she received the Archbishops and Bishops, and after

them the Judges. They all kissed her hand, but she said nothing to

any of them, very different in this from her predecessor, who used

to harangue them all, and had a speech ready for everybody.

[9] The Dukes of Cumberland and Sussex. The Duke of

Cambridge was in Hanover.

[Page Head: QUEEN VICTORIA PROCLAIMED.]

Conyngham, when he came to her with the intelligence of the King's

death, brought a request from the Queen Dowager that she might be

permitted to remain at Windsor till after the funeral, and she has

written her a letter couched in the kindest terms, begging her to

consult nothing but her own health and convenience, and to remain

at Windsor just as long as she pleases. In short, she appears to

act with every sort of good taste and good feeling, as well as

good sense, and as far as it has gone nothing can be more

favourable than the impression she has made, and nothing can

promise better than her manner and conduct do, though it would be

rash to count too confidently upon her judgment and discretion in

more weighty matters. No contrast can be greater than that between

the personal demeanour of the present and the late sovereigns at

their respective accessions. William IV. was a man who, coming to

the throne at the mature age of sixty-five, was so excited by the

exaltation, that he nearly went mad, and distinguished himself by

a thousand extravagances of language and conduct, to the alarm or

amusement of all who witnessed his strange freaks; and though he

was shortly afterwards sobered down into more becoming habits, he

always continued to be something of a blackguard and something

more of a buffoon. It is but fair to his memory at the same time

to say that he was a good-natured, kind-hearted, and well-meaning

man, and he always acted an honourable and straightforward, if not

always a sound and discreet, part. The two principal Ministers of

his reign, the Duke of Wellington and Lord Grey (though the former

was only his Minister for a few months), have both spoken of him

to me with strong expressions of personal regard and esteem. The

young Queen, who might well be either dazzled or confounded with

the grandeur and novelty of her situation, seems neither the one

nor the other, and behaves with a decorum and propriety beyond her

years, and with all the sedateness and dignity the want of which

was so conspicuous in her uncle.

INDEX.

Abercromby, Right Hon. James, proposed as Speaker, ii. 333;

Master of the Mint, iii. 95; proposed as Speaker, 201; the

Speakership, 204; elected Speaker, 213

Aberdeen, Earl of, Duchy of Lancaster, i. 124; motion about

Belgium, ii. 238

Achmet Pacha, concludes a treaty with Russia, iii. 69

Adair, Right Hon. Sir Robert, sworn in Privy Councillor, i. 136

Addington, Henry Unwin, recalled from Madrid, iii. 14

Address, proposed amendment to the, iii. 217

Adelaide, Queen, ii. 7; at the Ancient Concert, 133; mobbed in

the City, 141; audience of, about the crown, 179; coronation

of, 190; Lord Howe, 338; yacht, iii. 99; return of, 125;

illness of, 125; supposed to be with child, 198, 199, 201

Adrian's Villa, i. 377

Agar Ellis, _see_ Dover, Lord

Alava, General, and the Duke of Cumberland, iii. 275

Albani, Cardinal, influence of, i. 310; conversation with, 373;

interview with, 380

Albano, i. 331

Alexander, Emperor of Russia, death of, i. 78; coronation of,

described by Talleyrand, ii. 185

Allen, Dr., Bishop of Ely, iii. 363

Allen, John, iii. 135; unbelief of, 324

Althorp, Viscount, proposed as Chairman of the Finance

Committee, i. 120; Chancellor of the Exchequer, ii. 66,

introduces the budget, 114; leader of the House of Commons,

116, 200; letter to Attwood, 205, 206; hurries on the Irish

Church Bill, 364; as Chancellor of the Exchequer, iii. 2;

arrested by the Sergeant-at-Arms, 56; financial statement, 60;

defects as leader, 62; summons a meeting of the supporters of

Government, 92; resigns, 101; popularity of, 105; Chancellor of

the Exchequer under Lord Melbourne, 113; succeeds his father as

Earl Spencer, 140

Alvanley, Lord, duel with Morgan O'Connell, ii. 257; on Irish

affairs, 348

America, dispute with France, iii. 322

Anglesey, Marquis of, recalled, i. 149; entry into Dublin, ii.

99; disputes with O'Connell, 106

Antwerp, threatened bombardment of, by the Dutch, ii. 321; French

army marches to, 329

Arbuthnot, Right Hon. Charles, nickname 'Gosh,' i. 103;

conversation with, on the Duke of Wellington's

Administration, ii. 51; conversation with, at Oatlands, 170

Arbuthnot, Mrs., death of, iii. 116

Arkwright, Sir Richard, fortunes of, iii. 50

Arkwright, Mrs., visit to, iii. 49

Arms Bill, the, ii. 196

Arnold, Dr., proposed for a bishopric, iii. 325

Artevelde, Philip van, iii. 114; discussed at Holland House, 128

Ascot Races, 1831, ii. 147; 1833, 375

Attwood, chairman of the Birmingham Union, ii. 205, 206;

proclamation against, 215

Auckland, Lord, Board of Trade, ii. 66; First Lord of the

Admiralty, iii. 88, 113; on the state of affairs, 238; First

Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Melbourne's second

Administration, 256

Augustus, Prince, of Prussia, ii. 319

Austin, Mr. John, his work on Jurisprudence, iii. 138

Austin, Mr. Charles, ii. 306

Aylmer, Lord, recalled from Canada, iii. 394; the King's address

to him, 395

Bachelor, valet to the Duke of York and to King George IV., i.

142, 143; conversation with, ii. 30

Bagot, Lord, conduct to Lord Harrowby, ii. 253

Baiae, Bay of, i. 341

Baring, House of, ii. 53

Baring, Right Hon. Alexander, offered the Chancellorship of the

Exchequer, ii. 299; proposes a compromise with the ex-Ministers,

300

Baring, Francis, Chairman of the West India Committee, iii. 279

Barnes, Mr., editor of the 'Times,' ii. 97, 214; negotiations

with, for supporting the Government, iii. 155, 156, 157; dines

with Lord Lyndhurst, 167, 169; alarm of, at the prevailing

spirit, 188

Barri, Madame du, ii. 219

Barry, Dr., sent to Sunderland, ii. 216; report on cholera, 217

Bath, Chapter of the Order of the, i. 254

Bathurst, Earl, Lord President, i. 124; death of, iii. 115;

character of, 115

Bathurst, Countess, conversation with, ii. 62

Bathurst, Hon. William, appointed Clerk of the Council, ii. 61,

86; delay in appointment of, 74; sworn in Clerk of the Council,

94

Bathurst, Lieut.-Colonel Hon. Seymour, death of, iii. 79

Baudrand, General, ii. 33; reception of, 38

Bazaar, in Hanover Square, ii. 383

Beauclerc, Lord Aurelius, dances a country dance with the King,

ii. 341

Belgian question, the, settlement of, ii. 314

Belgium, revolution in, ii. 41; affairs of, 44; unsettled state

of, 69; deputation from, 160; fortresses of, 169; invaded by

the Dutch, 175; French army refuses to leave, 181; end of

hostilities with the Dutch, 184; Conference, 1832, 321

Belmore, Earl of, Governor of Jamaica, i. 140, 147

Belvoir Castle, iii. 46

Benson, Canon, sermon at the Temple Church, ii. 113

Bentinck, Right Hon. Lord William, desires to be appointed

Governor-General of India, i. 59; address to the electors of

Glasgow, iii. 339, 343; qualities of, 339; inscription on

monument in honour of, 340

Bentinck, Lord Henry, quarrel with Sir Roger Gresley, ii. 148

Bergara, Convention of, iii. 259

Berri, Duchesse de, in La Vendee, ii. 322

Berry, Miss, iii. 58

Berryer, M., iii. 379; appearance of, 380

Best, Right Hon. William Draper, _see_ Lord Wynford

Bethnal Green, distress in, ii. 261

Bexley, Lord, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, i. 95

Bickersteth, Henry, _see_ Lord Langdale

Blacas, M. de, favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 305

Black Book, the, ii. 79

Bloomfield, Sir Benjamin, dismissal of, i. 55

Blount, Rev. Mr., sermon, iii. 12

Body-snatchers, ii. 227

Bologna, i. 402

Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon, in the 100 days, i. 24; campaigns

of, described by Marshal Marmont, ii. 35

Bonaparte, Louis Napoleon, Strasburg attempt, iii. 381

Bonaparte, Joseph, at dinner at Lady Cork's, iii. 18

Bonaparte, Lucien, introduced to the Duke of Wellington, iii. 11;

at dinner at Lady Cork's, 18

Boodle's, dinner at, ii. 124

Bosanquet, Right Hon. Sir John Bernard, sworn in a Privy

Councillor, iii. 30; Judge of the King's Bench, 71

Boswell, 'Life of Johnson,' anecdotes lost, ii. 105

Boulogne, iii. 388

Bourbon, Duke de, death of, ii. 50

Bourmont, Marshal de, marches on Lisbon, iii. 25

Bourne, Right Hon. Sturges, Secretary of State for the Home

Department, i. 95

Bowring, Dr., sent to Paris, ii. 219; satire of Moore on, 219;

career of, 220

Bradshaw, Mrs., acting of, at Bridgewater House, ii. 353

Brescia, i. 412

Bretby, visit to, iii. 327; Chesterfield Papers, 327

Bridgewater House, dramatic performances at, iii. 352, 355

Bridgewater Election, iii. 398

Brighton, the Court at, 1832, ii. 334; races, 1835, iii. 284

Bristol, riots at, ii. 208

Broglie, Duke de, conduct of, iii. 386

Brooks's Club, iii. 320

Brougham, Lord, attack upon, in 'Quarterly Review,' i. 16; speech

on the Queen's trial, 35; letter to the Queen, 57; character

of, 117; qualities of, ii. 18, 33; appointed Lord High

Chancellor, 65; discontent of, 65; social qualities of, 69;

anecdote of, 106; quarrel with Sugden, 106; correspondence with

Southey on rewards to literary men, 112; speech on Chancery

Reform, 118; domestic kindness of, 120; origin of

representation of Yorkshire, 125; as Lord Chancellor, 128; at

the Horse Guards, 129; as a judge, 145; at dinner at Hanbury's

brewery, 148; at the British Museum, 149; claims the old Great

Seal, 188; intention of sitting at the Privy Council, 223;

speech on the Russian Loan, 244; quarrel with Sugden, 312;

anecdote of, 314; Bill for creating a new Court of Appeal, 342;

Bill objected to, 344; Judicial Committee of the Privy Council

Bill, 365; sits on the case of Drax _v._ Grosvenor, 370; as

Chancellor, iii. 22; anecdotes of Queen Caroline, 36; and Sir

William Horne, 67; meets Sir Thomas Denman in Bedfordshire, 71;

judicial changes, 71; defence of himself, 72; apology for, 76;

speech on Lord Wynford's Bill for the observance of the

Sabbath, 83; on the Pluralities Bill, 86; on the Irish Church,

94; and the 'Times,' 96; Lord Chancellor in Lord Melbourne's

Administration, 113; and Lord Westmeath, 119; conduct in the

Westmeath case, 119, 124; versatility of, 121; lines applied

to, 121; Greek epigrams, 121; ambition of, 122; in Scotland,

133; communicates to the 'Times' the fall of Lord Melbourne's

first Administration, 145; resigns the Great Seal, 156; takes

leave of the Bar, 156; asks for the Chief Baronship, 157;

anecdote, 232; conduct of, in the case of Swift _v._ Kelly,

260, 267; on the London University Charter, 261; judgment in

the case of Swift _v._ Kelly, 274; on the Corporation Bill,

286; violence in the House of Lords, 303; illness of, 329; and

Macaulay, 337, 338; at Queen Victoria's first Council, 408

Brummel, 'Beau,' i. 282

Brussels, disturbances at, ii. 40

Buccleuch, Duke of, subscription to election expenses, iii. 182

Budget, the, 1831, ii. 113

Buller, James, death of, ii. 59

Buelow, Baron von, on English affairs, iii. 211

Bulwer, Sir Edward Lytton, iii. 348

Bunsen, Baron, i. 315; career of, 327; on Roman affairs, 389

Burdett, Sir Francis, returned for Westminster, 1837, iii. 398

Burghersh, Lord, at Florence, i. 299; amateur opera, 301

Burghersh, Lady, intercedes for a prisoner at the Old Bailey, ii.

85

Burghley, party at, iii. 53

Burke, Right Hon. Edmund, writings of, iii. 209; compared with

Mackintosh, 314

Burke, Sir G., conversation with, on O'Connell, ii. 111

Buxton, Fowell, dinner at the brewery, ii. 148

Byng, Right Hon. George, Lord of the Treasury, iii. 95

Byron, Lord, Moore's Life of, i. 272; character of, 273

Cambridge, H.R.H. the Duchess of, reception of, i. 2

Cambridge, University of, petition for the admission of

Dissenters to the, iii. 72, 75

Campbell, Sir John, Solicitor-General, ii. 333; Attorney-General,

iii. 141

Canada, affairs in, iii. 350

Canning, Right Hon. Sir Stratford, Ambassador at St. Petersburg,

ii. 352, 357; anecdote of, iii. 39; offered the Governor-Generalship

of Canada, 234

Canning, Right Hon. George, Foreign Secretary, i. 55;

correspondence with the King on taking office, 59; forms an

Administration (1827), 93, 95; death of, 103; anecdotes of,

104; industrious habits of, 106; memoirs of, 263, 272; despatch

in verse, 326; sagacity of, ii. 42; conversation with the King,

102; correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, 103; coldness

to the Duke of Wellington, 103; anecdote of, 125; negotiation

with the Whigs, 170; influence over Lord Liverpool, 172; in

favour with the King, 172; on Reform, iii. 135; and King George

IV., 137

Canning, Lady, visit to, ii. 101; authorship of pamphlet, iii. 40

Canning, Mr. Charles, offered a Lordship of the Treasury, iii.

202

Cannizzaro, Duchess of, iii. 11; crowns the Duke of Wellington,

406

Canterbury, Archbishop of, indecision of the, ii. 250, 262, 263;

importance of support of the, 252, 253

Canterbury, Viscount, declines to go to Canada, iii. 234

Capo di Monte, i. 335

Capua, i. 360

Cardinals, the, i. 309

Carlisle, Earl of, Lord Privy Seal, i. 95; iii. 88

Carlists, the, in Spain, iii. 66

Carlos, Don, in London, iii. 98

Carlow election, iii. 348

Carnarvon, Earl of, refuses to move the address in the House of

Lords, iii. 202

Caroline, Queen, return of, i. 28; trial of, 31, 35; anecdote of,

iii. 37

Carvalho, Minister of Finance to Dom Pedro, iii. 93

Catacombs, the, _see_ Rome

Catholic emancipation, i. 163, 172, 174

Catholic Relief Bill, excitement concerning the, i. 180; debates

on, _see_ Lords and Commons

Cato Street Conspiracy, the, i. 26

Cayla, Madame du, i. 71; dinner at the Duke of Wellington's, 214;

Beranger's verses on, 215; favourite of Louis XVIII., ii. 306

Cenis, the Mont, i. 287

Champollion, Jean Francois, death of, ii. 307

Chapeau de Paille, the, purchase of, ii. 125

Chapel, near Holland House, unable to be consecrated, iii. 200

Charles I., King, head of, discovered at Windsor, ii. 168;

executioner of, iii. 132

Charles X., King, of France, arrival of in England, ii. 31; at

Lulworth Castle, 33; off Cowes, 34

Charlotte, Queen, illness of, i. 2, 3

Charlotte, H.R.H. the Princess, anecdotes of, ii. 319

Chartres, H.R.H. the Duc de, arrival of, i. 208

Chatham, Earl of, death of, iii. 316

Chatsworth, hospitality at, i. 237; charade at, 238; party at,

ii. 51

Chesterfield Papers, the, iii. 327

Chobert, the 'Fire King,' i. 276

Cholera, the, in Russia, ii. 57; account of, 150; preventive

measures against, 154, 216; effect on trade of, 156; spread of,

161; alarm about, 169; at Berlin, 192; at Sunderland, 208, 210;

at Marseilles, 221; on the decline, 224; near Edinburgh, 240;

in London, 258, 259; in Bethnal Green, 261; account of, 278;

diminution of, 285; in Paris, 287; alarm in London, 309, 311

Christina, Queen, of Spain, iii. 66, 72; reported flight of, 360;

courage of, 365

Christmas trees, introduced by Princess Lieven at Panshanger, i.

259

Church Bill, the, Committee on, iii. 199

Church Reform, iii. 206

City, the, address to the King, ii. 126; illumination in, 140;

election, 1835, iii. 184, 186, 187; anxiety in the money-market,

373, 376

Civil List, the, excess of expenditure on, i. 253; for debates

on, _see_ Commons, House of

Clanricarde, Marquis of, sworn in a Privy Councillor, ii. 78

Clarence, H.R.H. the Duke of, Lord High Admiral, i. 95; removal

of, from the office of Lord High Admiral, 138, 140. _See_

William IV.

Cobbett, William, trial of, ii. 158; returned for Oldham, 335;

takes his seat, 351; and Sir Robert Peel, 373

Cochrane, Lord, at Florence, i. 301; villa near Florence, 302

Codrington, Sir E., interview with the Duke of Wellington, i. 179

Coercion Bill, the, introduced, ii. 359

Colchester Election, iii. 112

Commons, House of; Alien Bill, i. 1; Dr. Halloran's petition, 14;

debate on grant to the Duke of York, 18; debates on Queen

Caroline, 30, 32, 38; Small Notes Bill, 79; debates on Catholic

Relief Bill, 91, 133, 166, 191; division on Catholic Relief

Bill, 185; Catholic Relief Bill read a third time, 203; Regency

and Civil List, ii. 45; debate on the Evesham election, 25;

debate on the Civil List, 110; announcement of the Reform Bill,

110; Pension List, 111; debate on Ireland, 112; Budget of 1831,

113; proposed reductions, 118; introduction of the first Reform

Bill, 121; debates on the Reform Bill, 123, 125; debate on the

Timber duties, 130; debate on the Reform Bill, 131; division on

the Reform Bill, 132; Government defeated, 135; scene in the

House, 135; second reading of the Reform Bill, 156; Wine

duties, 160; Reform Bill, Schedule A, 170; second Reform Bill,

227; debate on, and second reading of the second Reform Bill

carried, 228; Reform Bill supported by the Irish Members, 239;

division on the Russian Loan, 240; division on the sugar

duties, 267; Reform Bill passed, 270; debates, 296; violent

scene in debate on petition of the City of London, 299; Irish

Tithe question, 308; debate on, 309; debate on the Address,

353; Irish Church Reform, 354; aspect of the reformed House,

360; debate on Slave Emancipation, 371; vote of confidence in

the Ministers, 376; division on the Irish Church Bill, 381;

vote against sinecures, iii. 13; division on Apprenticeship

Clause of West India Bill, 16; disorganised state of the House,

17; Pension List, 60; business of the House, 61; debate on the

Corn Laws, 68; debate on admission of Dissenters to the

University, 75; debate on Repeal of the Union, 80; Pension

List, 80; debate on Portugal, 82; Poor Law Bill, 83; debate on

Irish Tithe Bill, 98, 99; gallery for reporters, 205; debate on

the Speakership, 214; debate on the Address, 221; debate and

division on amendment to the Address, 223; Malt Tax, 224;

debate on appointment of Lord Londonderry, 225; Dissenters'

Marriage Bill, 230; Government beaten on Chatham election, 234;

state of parties in the House, 234; debate and division on

Irish Church question, 240; uproar in the House, 243;

Government defeated on Irish Tithe Bill, 246; debate on Irish

Church Bill, 281; position of the House, 288, 291; conflict

with the House of Lords, 225; debate and division on the

amendment to the Address, 334; effect of division, 336;

Opposition defeated, 347; division, 359; Irish Corporation

Bill, 388; insult to Lord Lyndhurst, 389; debates on Irish

Tithe Bill, 391; abandonment of the appropriation clauses, 393

Como, i. 414

Conroy, Sir John, ii. 190; iii. 3

Conservative Club, dinner at, ii. 327; speeches, 327

Constantine, the Grand Duke, accident to, i. 259; death of, ii.

164