Introduction of the Reform Bill--Attitude of the Opposition--
Reform Debates--Peel--Wilberforce and Canning--Old Sir Robert
Peel--The City Address--Agitation for Reform--Effects of the
Reform Bill--Brougham as Chancellor--Brougham at the Horse
Guards--Miss Kemble--Vote on the Timber Duties--Lord
Lansdowne's Opinion of the Bill--Reform Bill carried by one
Vote--The King in Mourning--The Prince of Orange--Peel's
Reserve--Ministers beaten--Parliament dissolved by the King in
Person--Tumult in both Houses--Failure of the Whig Ministry--
The King in their Hands--The Elections--Illumination in the
City--The Queen alarmed--Lord Lyndhurst's View of the Bill--
Lord Grey takes the Garter--The King at Ascot--Windsor under
William IV.--Brougham at Whitbread's Brewery and at the British
Museum--Breakfast at Rogers'--The Cholera--Quarantine--Meeting
of Peers--New Parliament meets--Opened by the King--'Hernani'
at Bridgewater House--The Second Reform Bill--The King's
Coronation--Cobbett's Trial--Prince Leopold accepts the Crown
of Belgium--Peel and the Tories--A Rabble Opposition--A Council
for the Coronation.
March 2nd, 1831 {p.121}
[Page Head: THE FIRST REFORM BILL.]
The great day at length arrived, and yesterday Lord John Russell
moved for leave to bring in his Reform Bill. To describe the
curiosity, the intensity of the expectation and excitement, would
be impossible, and the secret had been so well kept that not a
soul knew what the measure was (though most people guessed pretty
well) till they heard it. He rose at six o'clock, and spoke for
two hours and a quarter--a sweeping measure indeed, much more so
than anyone had imagined, because the Ministers had said it was
one which would give _general_ satisfaction, whereas this must
dissatisfy all the moderate and will probably just stop short
enough not to satisfy the Radicals. They say it was ludicrous to
see the faces of the members for those places which are to be
disfranchised as they were severally announced, and Wetherell,
who began to take notes, as the plan was gradually developed,
after sundry contortions and grimaces and flinging about his arms
and legs, threw down his notes with a mixture of despair and
ridicule and horror. Not many people spoke last night: Inglis
followed John Russell, and Francis Leveson closed the debate in
the best speech he has ever made, though rather too flowery.
Everything is easy in these days, otherwise how Palmerston,
Goderich, and Grant can have joined in a measure of this
sweeping, violent, and speculative character it is difficult to
conceive, they who were the disciples of Castlereagh and the
adherents of Canning; but after the Duke of Wellington and Peel
carrying the Catholic question, Canning's friends advocating
Radical Reform, and Eldon living to see Brougham on the Woolsack,
what may one not expect?
What everybody enquires is what line Peel will take, and though
each party is confident of success in this question, it is thought
to depend mainly upon the course he adopts and the sentiments he
expresses. Hitherto he has cautiously abstained from committing
himself in any way, and he is free to act as he thinks best, but
he certainly occupies a grand position when he has _omnium oculos
in se conversos_, and the whole House of Commons looking with
unalterable anxiety to his opinions and conduct. Such has the
course of events and circumstances made this man, who is probably
yet destined to play a great part, and it may be a very useful
one. God knows how this plan may be received in the country, and
what may be its fate in Parliament. The Duke of Wellington,
however, is right enough when he says that the great present
danger is lest people should be too much afraid, for anything like
the panic that prevails I never saw, the apprehension that enough
will not be done to satiate the demon of popular opinion, and the
disposition to submit implicitly to the universal bellow that
pervades this country for what they call Reform without knowing
what it is. As to this measure, the greatest evil of it is that it
is a pure speculation, and may be productive of the best
consequences, or the worst, or even of none at all, for all that
its authors and abettors can explain to us or to themselves.
O'Connell made his explanation the other night, which was
wretched, and Stanley's was very good, but it matters not; he
will tell the people in Ireland that he had a victory, and they
will believe him. Nevertheless his defeat in Kilkenny is an
excellent thing, and will contribute greatly to destroy the
prestige of his power.
March 3rd, 1831 {p.123}
Last night the debate went on, nobody remarkably speaking but
Macaulay and Wetherell; the former very brilliant, the latter
long, rambling, and amusing, and he sat down with such loud and
long cheering as everybody agreed they had never heard before in
the House of Commons, and which was taken not so much as a test of
the merits of the speech as of an indication of the disposition of
the majority of the House. Wetherell was very good fun in a
conversation he imagined at Cockermouth between Sir James Graham
and one of his constituents. It is thought very strange that none
of the Ministers have spoken, except Althorp the first night. The
general opinion is that the Bill will be lost in the House of
Commons, and that then Parliament will be dissolved, unless the
King should take fright and prefer to change his Ministers.
March 5th, 1831 {p.123}
On Thursday night the great speeches were those of Hobhouse on one
side and Peel on the other, which last was received with the
greatest enthusiasm, and some said (as usual) that it was the
finest oration they had ever heard within the walls of Parliament;
it seems by the report of it to have been very able and very
eloquent. The people come into the 'Travellers' after the debate,
and bring their different accounts all tinctured by their
particular opinions and prejudices, so that the exact truth of the
relative merits of the speakers is only attainable by the
newspaper reports, imperfect as they are, the next day. The
excitement is beyond anything I ever saw. Last night Stanley
answered Peel in an excellent speech and one which is likely to
raise his reputation very high. He is evidently desirous of
pitting himself against Peel, whom he dislikes; and it is probable
that they are destined to be the rival leaders of two great
Parliamentary parties, if things settle down into the ancient
practices of Parliamentary warfare. The other events of last night
were the resignation of Charles Wynne and his opposition to the
Bill, and the unexpected defection from Government of Lord
Seymour, the Duke of Somerset's son, and Jeffrey's speech, which
was very able, but somewhat tedious.
March 7th, 1831 {p.124}
Nothing talked of, thought of, dreamt of, but Reform. Every
creature one meets asks, What is said now? How will it go? What
is the last news? What do _you_ think? and so it is from morning
till night, in the streets, in the clubs, and in private houses.
Yesterday morning met Hobhouse; told him how well I heard he had
spoken, and asked him what he thought of Peel's speech; he said
it was brilliant, imposing, but not much in it. Everybody cries
up (more than usual) the speeches on their own side, and despises
those on the other, which is peculiarly absurd, because the
speaking has been very good, and there is so much to be said on
both sides that the speech of an adversary may be applauded
without any admission of his being in the right. Hobhouse told me
he had at first been afraid that his constituents would
disapprove this measure, as so many of them would be
disfranchised, but that they had behaved nobly and were quite
content and ready to make any sacrifices for such an object. I
asked him if he thought it would be carried; he said he did not
like to think it would not, for he was desirous of keeping what
he had, and he was persuaded he should lose it if the Bill were
rejected. I said it was an unlucky dilemma when one-half of the
world thought like him and the other half were equally convinced
that if it be carried they shall lose everything.
Dined at Boodle's with the Master of the Rolls and Charles Grant,
who talked about Peel and the reconstruction of the Tory party;
that Peel and Wetherell do not _yet_ speak, but that the parties
have joined, and at the meeting at Wetherell's Herries went to
represent Peel with sixteen or eighteen of his friends. Ross,
another of Peel's _ames damnees_, told me the same thing and that
they would soon come together again. Grant said he knew that the
Duke of Wellington had expressed his readiness to take any part
in which it was thought he could render service, either a
prominent or a subordinate one or none at all. If so he will be a
greater man than he has ever been yet.
Grant talked long and pathetically about the West Indies, and
told me a curious anecdote on the authority of Scarlett, who was
present. When Wilberforce went out of Parliament he went to
Canning and offered him the lead and direction of his party (the
Saints), urging him to accept it, and assuring him that their
support would give him a strength which to an ambitious man like
him was invaluable. Canning took three days to consider it, but
finally declined, and then the party elected Brougham as their
chief; hence the representation of Yorkshire and many other
incidents in Brougham's career.
[Page Head: THE FIRST SIR ROBERT PEEL.]
Grant gave me a curious account of old Sir Robert Peel. He was
the younger son of a merchant, his fortune (very small) left to
him in the house, and he was not to take it out. He gave up the
fortune and started in business without a shilling, but as the
active partner in a concern with two other men--Yates (whose
daughter he afterwards married) and another--who between them
made up L6,000; from this beginning he left L250,000 apiece to
his five younger sons, L60,000 to his three daughters each, and
L22,000 a year in land and L450,000 in the funds to Peel. In his
lifetime he gave Peel L12,000 a year, the others L3,000 and spent
L3,000 himself. He was always giving them money, and for objects
which it might have been thought he would have undervalued. He
paid for Peel's house when he built it, and for the Chapeau de
Paille (2,700 guineas) when he bought it.
March 10th, 1831 {p.125}
The debate has gone on, and is to be over to-night; everybody
heartily sick of it, but the excitement as great as ever. Last
night O'Connell was very good, and vehemently cheered by the
Government, Stanley, Duncannon, and all, all differences giving
way to their zeal; Attwood, the other way, good; Graham a total
failure, got into nautical terms and a simile about a ship, in
which he floundered and sank. Sir J. Yorke quizzed him with great
effect. To-day the City went up with their address, to which the
King gave a very general answer. There was great curiosity to
know what his answer would be. I rather think this address was
got up by Government. Brougham had written to Liverpool _to
encourage the Reformers there_, as he owned to George Villiers
last night; and Pearson was with Ellice at the Treasury for an
hour the day before this address was moved in the City. They have
gone so far that they certainly wish for agitation here. The Duke
of Wellington is alarmed; nobody guesses how the question will
go. Went to Lady Jersey the day before yesterday to read her
correspondence with Brougham, who flummeried her over with notes
full of affection and praise, to which she responded in the same
strain, and so they are friends again. While I was reading her
reply the Duke of Wellington came in, on which she huddled it up,
and I conclude he has not seen her effusion. News arrived that
the Poles have been beaten and have submitted. There is a great
fall in the French funds, as they are expected not to pay their
dividends. Europe is in a nice mess. The events of a quarter of a
century would hardly be food for a week now-a-days.
March 11th, 1831 {p.126}
[Page Head: PROBABLE RESULTS OF THE REFORM BILL.]
It is curious to see the change of opinion as to the passing of
this Bill. The other day nobody would hear of the possibility of
it, now everybody is beginning to think it will be carried. The
tactics of the Opposition have been very bad, for they ought to
have come to a division immediately, when I think Government
would have been beaten, but it was pretty certain that if they
gave time to the country to declare itself the meetings and
addresses would fix the wavering and decide the doubtful. There
certainly never was anything like the unanimity which pervades
the country on the subject, and though I do not think they will
break out into rebellion if it is lost, it is impossible not to
see that the feeling for it (kept alive as it will be by every
sort of excitement) must prevail and that if this particular Bill
is not carried some other must very like it, and which, if it is
much short of this, will only leave a peg to hang fresh
discussions upon. The Government is desperate and sees no chance
of safety but from their success in the measure, but I have my
doubts whether they will render themselves immortal by it. It is
quite impossible to guess at its effects at present upon the
House of Commons in the first return which may be made under it,
but if a vast difference is not made, and if it shall still leave
to property and personal influence any great extent of power, the
Tory party, which is sure to be revived, will in all probability
be too strong for the Reforming Whigs. The Duke of Wellington
expected to gain strength by passing the Catholic question,
whereas he was ruined by it.
March 15th, 1831 {p.127}
It is universally believed that this Bill will pass, except by
some of the ultras against it, or by the fools. But what next?
That nobody can tell, though to see the exultation of the
Government one would imagine they saw their way clearly to a
result of wonderful good. I have little doubt that it will be
read a second time, and be a good deal battled in Committee.
Although they are determined to carry it through the Committee
with a high hand, and not to suffer any alterations, probably
some sort of compromise in matters of inferior moment will be
made. But when it comes into operation how disappointed everybody
will be, and first of all the people! Their imaginations are
raised to the highest pitch, but they will open their eyes very
wide when they find no sort of advantage accruing to them, when
they are deprived of much of the expense and more of the
excitement of elections, and see a House of Commons constructed
after their own hearts, which will probably be an assembly in all
respects inferior to the present. Then they will not be
satisfied, and as it will be impossible to go back, there will be
plenty of agitators who will preach that we have not gone far
enough; and if a Reformed Parliament does not do all that popular
clamour shall demand, it will be treated with very little
ceremony. If, however, it be true that the tendency of this Bill
will be to throw power into the hands of the landed interest, we
shall have a great Tory party, which will be selfish, bigoted,
and ignorant, and a Radical party, while the Whig party, who will
have carried the measure, will sink into insignificance. Such
present themselves to my mind as possible alternatives, as far as
it is practicable to take anything like a view of probabilities
in the chaos and confusion that mighty alterations like these
produce.
I dined with Lord Grey on Sunday; they are all in high spirits.
Howick told his father that he had received a letter from some
merchant in the north praising the Bill, and saying he approved of
the whole Government except of Poulett Thomson. In the evening
Brougham, John Russell, and others arrived. I hear of Brougham
from Sefton, with whom he passes most of his spare time, to
relieve his mind by small talk, _persiflage_, and the gossip of
the day. He tells Sefton 'that he likes his office, but that it is
a mere plaything and there is nothing to do; his life is too idle,
and when he has cleared off the arrears, which he shall do
forthwith, that he really does not know how he shall get rid of
his time;' that 'he does not suffer the prolixity of counsel, and
when they wander from the point he brings them back and says, "You
need not say anything on that point; what I want to be informed
upon is so." He is a wonderful man, the most extraordinary I ever
saw, but there is more of the mountebank than of greatness in all
this. It may do well enough for Sefton, who is as ignorant as he
is sharp and shrewd, and captivated with his congenial offhandism,
but it requires something more than Brougham's flippant _ipse
dixit_ to convince me that the office of Chancellor is such a
sinecure and bagatelle. He had a levee the other night, which was
brilliantly attended--the Archbishops, Duke of Wellington, Lord
Grey, a host of people. Sefton goes and sits in his private room
and sees his receptions of people, and gives very amusing accounts
of his extreme politeness to the Lord Mayor and his cool
_insouciance_ with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The stories of
him as told by Sefton would be invaluable to his future
biographer, and never was a life more sure to be written
hereafter.
March 17th, 1831 {p.129}
The night before last Wynford attacked Brougham's Bill, and got
lashed in return with prodigious severity. He is resolved to
press it, though George Villiers told me he had promised
Lyndhurst to wait for his return to town. Notwithstanding his
vapouring about the Court of Chancery, and treating it as such
child's play, Leach affirms (but he is disappointed and hates
him) that he is a very bad judge and knows nothing of his
business. 'He was a very bad advocate; why should he make a good
judge?'
The Reform Bill is just printed, and already are the various
objections raised against different parts of it, sufficient to
show that it will be pulled to pieces in Committee. Both parties
confident of success on the second reading, but the country
_will_ have it; there is a determination on the subject, and a
unanimity perfectly marvellous, and no demonstration of the
unfitness of any of its parts will be of any avail; some of its
details may be corrected and amended, but substantially it must
pass pretty much as it is.
[Page Head: BROUGHAM AT THE HORSE GUARDS.]
Brougham has been getting into a squabble with the military. At
the drawing-room on Thursday they refused to let his carriage
pass through the Horse Guards, when he ordered his coachman to
force his way through, which he did. He was quite wrong, and it
was very unbecoming and undignified. Lord Londonderry called for
an explanation in the House of Lords, when Brougham made a
speech, and a very lame one. He said he ordered his coachman to
go back, who did not hear him and went on, and when he had got
through he thought it was not worth while to turn back. The Lords
laughed. A few days after he drove over the soldiers in Downing
Street, who were relieving guard; but this time he did no great
harm to the men, and it was not his fault, but these things are
talked of.
Dined yesterday with General Macdonald to meet the Kembles. Miss
Fanny is near being very handsome from the extraordinary
expression of her countenance and fine eyes, but her figure is
not good. She is short, hands and feet large, arms handsome, skin
dark and coarse, and her manner wants ease and repose. Her mother
is a very agreeable woman. I did not sit next to Fanny, and had
no talk with her afterwards.
March 18th, 1831 {p.130}
Met Robert Clive yesterday morning; very low about the Bill,
which he thinks so sure to be carried that he questions the
expediency of dividing on the second reading; complained bitterly
of the bad tactics and want of union of the party, and especially
of Peel's inactivity and backwardness in not having rallied and
taken the lead more than he has; he is in fact so cold,
phlegmatic, and calculating that he disgusts those who can't do
without him as a leader; he will always have political but never
personal influence.
March 20th, 1831 {p.130}
On Friday night, after not a long but an angry and noisy debate,
there was a division on the timber duties, and Government was
beaten by forty-three, all the Saints, West Indians, and
anti-Free-traders voting with the great body of Opposition. Their
satisfaction was tumultuous. They have long been desirous of
bringing Ministers to a trial of strength, and they did not care
much upon what; they wanted to let the world see the weakness of
Government, and besides on this occasion they hoped that a defeat
might be prejudicial to the Reform Bill, so that this matter of
commercial and fiscal policy is not decided on its own merits,
but is influenced by passion, violence, party tactics, and its
remote bearing upon another question with which it has no
immediate relation. Althorp was obliged to abandon his original
proposition of taking off 5s. from the duty on Baltic timber,
which is 55s. (and 45s. on deals), and adding 10s. to the
Canadian, which is already 10s. He proposed instead to take off
6s. from the former this year, 6s. next, and 3s. next, so as to
give plenty of time for the withdrawal of capital, and to meet
all contingencies. The proposal was not unfair, and in other
times would have been carried. Poulett Thomson made a very good
speech, clear and satisfactory. Peel was what is called very
factious--that is, in opposition--just what the others were,
violent and unreasonable as far as the question is concerned, but
acting upon a system having for its object to embarrass the
Government.
[Page Head: THE REFORM BILL.]
I still think the second reading of the Reform Bill will pass,
and, all things considered, that it would be the best thing that
could happen; it is better to capitulate than to be taken by
storm. The people are unanimous, good-humoured, and determined; if
the Bill is thrown out, their good humour will disappear, the
country will be a scene of violence and uproar, and a most
ferocious Parliament will be returned, which will not only carry
the question of Reform, but possibly do so in a very different
form. We should see the _irae leonum vincla recusantum_, and this
proposition is so evident, this state of things is so indisputable,
that it is marvellous to me how anybody can triumph and exult in
the anticipation of a victory the consequences of which would be
more unfortunate than a defeat. If indeed a victory could set the
matter at rest, confirm our present institutions, and pacify the
people, it would be very well; but Reform the people will have,
and no human power, moral or physical, can now arrest its career.
It would be better, then, to concede with a good grace, and to
modify the measure in Committee, which may still be practicable,
than to oppose it point blank without a prospect of success.
March 22nd, 1831 {p.131}
The debate began again last night, and was adjourned. It was
dull, and the House impatient. To-night they will divide, and
after a thousand fluctuations of opinion it is thought the Bill
will be thrown out by a small majority. Then will come the
question of a dissolution, which one side affirms will take place
directly, and the other that the King will not consent to it,
knowing, as 'the man in the street' (as we call him at Newmarket)
always does, the greatest secrets of kings, and being the
confidant of their most hidden thoughts. As for me, I see nothing
but a choice of difficulties either way, and victory or defeat
would be equally bad. It is odd enough, but I believe Lord
Lansdowne thinks just the same, for he asked me yesterday morning
what I expected would be the result, and I told him my opinion on
the whole question, and he replied, 'I can add nothing to what
you have said; that is exactly my own opinion,' and I have very
little doubt that more than half the Cabinet in their hearts
abhor the measure. Knatchbull was taken ill in the morning, and
could not go to the House at all.
March 23rd, 1831 {p.132}
The House divided at three o'clock this morning, and the second
reading was carried by a majority of _one_ in the fullest House
that ever was known--303 to 302--both parties confident up to the
moment of division; but the Opposition most so, and at last the
Government expected to be beaten. Denman told somebody as they
were going to divide that the question would be lost; Calcraft
and the Wynnes' going over at the eleventh hour did the business.
I believe that this division is the best thing that could happen,
and so I told the Duke in the morning, and that I had wished it
to be carried by a small majority; I met him walking with
Arbuthnot in the Park. He said, 'I could not take such a course'
(that was in answer to my saying I wished it to be read a second
time, to be lost in the Committee). I said, 'But you would have
nothing to do with it personally.' 'No; but as belonging to the
party I could not recommend such a course,' which seemed as if he
did not altogether disagree with my view of it. I stopped at the
'Travellers' till past three, when a man came in and told me the
news. I walked home, and found the streets swarming with members
of Parliament coming from the House. My belief is (if they manage
well and are active and determined) that the Bill will be lost in
Committee, and then this will be the best thing that could have
occurred.
March 24th, 1831 {p.132}
[Page Head: REFORM BILL CARRIED BY ONE VOTE.]
The agitation the other night on the division was prodigious. The
Government, who stayed in the House, thought they had lost it by
ten, and the Opposition, who were crowded in the lobby, fancied
from their numbers that they were sure of winning. There was
betting going on all night long, and large sums have been won and
lost. The people in the lobby were miscounted, and they thought
they had 303. At the levee yesterday and Council; the Government
are by way of being satisfied, but hardly can be. I met the Duke
of Wellington afterwards, who owned to me that he thought this
small majority for the Bill was on the whole the best thing that
could have occurred, and that seems to be the opinion generally
of its opponents.
Nothing particularly at the levee; Brougham very good fun. The
King, who had put off going to the Opera on account of the death
of his son-in-law Kennedy, appeared in mourning (crape, that is),
which is reckoned bad taste; the public allow natural feeling to
supersede law and etiquette, but it is too much to extend that
courtesy to a 'son-in-law,' and his daughter is not in England.
Somebody said that 'it was the first time a King of England had
appeared in mourning that his subjects did not wear.' In the
evening to the Ancient Concert, where the Queen was, and
by-the-bye in mourning, and the Margravine and Duchess of
Gloucester too, but they (the two latter) could hardly be
mourning for Lord Cassilis's son. Horace Seymour, Meynell, and
Calvert were all turned out of their places in the Lord
Chamberlain's department on account of their votes the other
night.
The change of Ministers at Paris and Casimir Perier's speech have
restored something like confidence about French affairs. The
Prince of Orange is gone back to Holland, to his infinite
disgust; he was escorted by Lady Dudley Stewart and Mrs. Fox as
far as Gravesend, I believe, where they were found the next day
in their white satin shoes and evening dresses. He made a great
fool of himself here, and destroyed any sympathy there might have
been for his political misfortunes; supping, dancing, and acting,
and little (rather innocent) orgies at these ladies' houses
formed his habitual occupation.
A sort of repose from the cursed Bill for a moment, but it is
said that many who opposed it before are going to support it in
Committee; nobody knows. When the Speaker put the question, each
party roared 'Aye' and 'No' _totis viribus_. He said he did not
know, and put it again. After that he said, 'I am not sure, but I
think the ayes have it.' Then the noes went out into the lobby,
and the others thought they never would have done filing out, and
the House looked so empty when they were gone that the Government
was in despair. They say the excitement was beyond anything. I
continue to hear great complaints of Peel--of his coldness,
incommunicativeness, and deficiency in all the qualities
requisite for a leader, particularly at such a time. There is
nobody else, or he would be deserted for any man who had talents
enough to take a prominent part, so much does he disgust his
adherents. Nobody knows what are his opinions, feelings, wishes,
or intentions; he will not go _en avant_, and nobody feels any
dependence upon him. There is no help for it and the man's nature
can't be altered. I said all this to Ross yesterday, his devoted
adherent, and he was obliged to own it, with all kinds of regrets
and endeavours to soften the picture.
April 14th, 1831 {p.134}
The Reform campaign has reopened with a violent speech from Hunt
denouncing the whole thing as a delusion; that the people begin
to find out how they are humbugged, and that as it will make
nothing cheaper they don't care about it. The man's drift is not
very clear whether the Bill is really unpalatable at Preston or
whether he wants to go further directly. At the same time John
Russell announced some alterations in the Bill, not, as he
asserted, trenching upon its principle, but, as the Opposition
declares, altering it altogether. On the whole, these things have
inspirited its opponents, and, as they must produce delay, are in
so far bad for the Reform cause. Besides, though the opinion of
the country is universally in its favour, people are beginning to
think that it may be rejected without any apprehension of such
dreadful consequences ensuing as have been predicted. Then the
state of Ireland is such that it is thought the Ministers cannot
encounter a dissolution, not that I feel any security on that
head, for I believe the Cabinet is ruled by two or three men
reckless of everything provided they can prolong their own power.
April 24th, 1831 {p.134}
[Page Head: DEFEAT AND DISSOLUTION.]
At Newmarket all last week, and returned to town last night to
hear from those who saw them the extraordinary scenes in both
Houses of Parliament (the day before) which closed the eventful
week. The Reform battle began again on Monday last. The night
before I went out of town I met Duncannon, and walked with him up
Regent Street, when he told me that he did not believe the
Ministers would be beaten, but if they were they should certainly
dissolve instantly; that _he_ should have liked to dissolve long
ago, but they owed it to their friends not to have recourse to a
dissolution if they could help it. On Monday General Gascoyne
moved that the Committee should be instructed not to reduce the
members of the House of Commons, and this was carried after two
nights' debate by eight. The dissolution was then decided upon.
Meanwhile Lord Wharncliffe gave notice of a motion to address the
King not to dissolve Parliament, and this was to have come on on
Friday. On Thursday the Ministers were again beaten in the House
of Commons on a question of adjournment, and on Friday morning
they got the King to go down and prorogue Parliament in person
the same day. This _coup d'etat_ was so sudden that nobody was
aware of it till within two or three hours of the time, and many
not at all. They told him that the cream-coloured horses could
not be got ready, when he said, 'Then I will go with anybody
else's horses.' Somebody went off in a carriage to the Tower, to
fetch the Crown, and they collected such attendants as they could
find to go with his Majesty. The Houses met at one or two
o'clock. In the House of Commons Sir R. Vyvyan made a furious
speech, attacking the Government on every point, and (excited as
he was) it was very well done. The Ministers made no reply, but
Sir Francis Burdett and Tennyson endeavoured to interrupt with
calls to order, and when the Speaker decided that Vyvyan was not
out of order Tennyson disputed his opinion, which enraged the
Speaker, and soon after called up Peel, for whom he was resolved
to procure a hearing. The scene then resembled that which took
place on Lord North's resignation in 1782, for Althorp (I think)
moved that Burdett should be heard, and the Speaker said that
'Peel was in possession of the House to speak on that motion.' He
made a very violent speech, attacking the Government for their
incompetence, folly, and recklessness, and treated them with the
utmost asperity and contempt. In the midst of his speech the guns
announced the arrival of the King, and at each explosion the
Government gave a loud cheer, and Peel was still speaking in the
midst of every sort of noise and tumult when the Usher of the
Black Rod knocked at the door to summon the Commons to the House
of Peers. There the proceedings were if possible still more
violent and outrageous; those who were present tell me it
resembled nothing but what we read of the 'Serment du Jeu de
Paume,' and the whole scene was as much like the preparatory days
of a revolution as can well be imagined. Wharncliffe was to have
moved an address to the Crown against dissolving Parliament, and
this motion the Ministers were resolved should not come on, but
he contrived to bring it on so far as to get it put upon the
Journals. The Duke of Richmond endeavoured to prevent any
speaking by raising points of order, and moving that the Lords
should take their regular places (in separate ranks), which,
however, is impossible at a royal sitting, because the cross
benches are removed; this put Lord Londonderry in such a fury
that he rose, roared, gesticulated, held up his whip, and four or
five Lords held him down by the tail of his coat to prevent his
flying on somebody. Lord Lyndhurst was equally furious, and some
sharp words passed which were not distinctly heard. In the midst
of all the din Lord Mansfield rose and obtained a hearing.
Wharncliffe said to him, 'For God's sake, Mansfield, take care
what you are about, and don't disgrace us more in the state we
are in.' 'Don't be afraid,' he said; 'I will say nothing that
will alarm you;' and accordingly he pronounced a trimming
philippic on the Government, which, delivered as it was in an
imposing manner, attired in his robes, and with the greatest
energy and excitation, was prodigiously effective. While he was
still speaking, the King arrived, but he did not desist even
while his Majesty[1] was entering the House of Lords, nor till he
approached the throne; and while the King was ascending the
steps, the hoarse voice of Lord Londonderry was heard crying
'Hear, hear, hear!' The King from the robing-room heard the
noise, and asked what it all meant. The conduct of the Chancellor
was most extraordinary, skipping in and out of the House and
making most extraordinary speeches. In the midst of the uproar he
went out of the House, when Lord Shaftesbury was moved into the
chair. In the middle of the debate Brougham again came in and
said, 'it was most extraordinary that the King's undoubted right
to dissolve Parliament should be questioned at a moment when the
House of Commons had taken the unprecedented course of stopping
the supplies,' and having so said (which was a lie) he flounced
out of the House to receive the King on his arrival. The King
ought not properly to have worn the Crown, never having been
crowned; but when he was in the robing-room he said to Lord
Hastings, 'Lord Hastings, I wear the Crown; where is it?' It was
brought to him, and when Lord Hastings was going to put it on his
head he said, 'Nobody shall put the Crown on my head but myself.'
He put it on, and then turned to Lord Grey and said, 'Now, my
Lord, the coronation is over.' George Villiers said that in his
life he never saw such a scene, and as he looked at the King upon
the throne with the Crown loose upon his head, and the tall, grim
figure of Lord Grey close beside him with the sword of state in
his hand, it was as if the King had got his executioner by his
side, and the whole picture looked strikingly typical of his and
our future destinies.
[1] When Lord Mansfield sat down he said, 'I have spoken
English to them at least.' Lord Lyndhurst told me that
Lord Mansfield stopped speaking as soon as the door
opened to admit the King. He said he never saw him so
excited before, and in his robes he looked very grand.
He also told me that he was at Lady Holland's giving an
account of the scene when Brougham came in. He said, 'I
was telling them what passed the other day in our
House,' when Brougham explained his part by saying that
the Usher of the Black Rod (Tyrwhit) was at his elbow
saying, 'My Lord Chancellor, you must come; the King is
waiting for you: come along; you must come,' and that
he was thus dragged out of the House in this hurry and
without having time to sit down or say any more.
[Page Head: THE KING DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT.]
Such has been the termination of this Parliament and of the first
act of the new Ministerial drama; there never was a Government
ousted with more ignominy than the last, nor a Ministry that came
in with higher pretensions, greater professions, and better
prospects than the present, but nothing ever corresponded less
than their performances with their pretensions. The composition
of the Government was radically defective, and with a good deal
of loose talent there was so much of passion, folly, violence,
and knavery, together with inexperience and ignorance mixed up
with it, that from the very beginning they cut the sorriest
possible figure. Such men as Richmond, Durham, Althorp, and
Graham, in their different ways, were enough to spoil any
Cabinet, and consequently their course has been marked by a
series of blunders and defeats. Up to the moment of the
dissolution few people expected it would happen, some thinking
the King would not consent, others that the Government would
never venture upon it, but the King is weak and the Ministry
reckless. That disposition, which at first appeared so laudable,
of putting himself implicitly into the hands of his Ministers,
and which seemed the more so from the contrast it afforded to the
conduct of the late King, who was always thwarting his Ministers,
throwing difficulties in their way, and playing a double part,
becomes vicious when carried to the extent of paralysing all free
action and free opinion on his part, and of suffering himself to
be made the instrument of any measures, however violent. It may
be said, indeed, that he cordially agrees with these men, and has
opinions coincident with theirs, but this is not probable; and
when we remember his unlimited confidence in the Duke up to the
moment of his resignation, it is impossible to believe that he
can have so rapidly imbibed principles the very reverse of those
which the Duke maintained.[2] It is more likely that he has no
opinions, and is really a mere puppet in the hands into which he
may happen to fall. Lord Mansfield had an audience, and gave him
his sentiments upon the state of affairs. He will not say what
passed between them, but it is clear that it was of no use.
[2] The King was extremely opposed to the dissolution, and
had remonstrated against it ever since it was first
proposed to him in March. See Lord Grey's letter in the
'Times' of March 26, 1866.
The Queen and the Royal Family are extremely unhappy at all these
things, but the former has no influence whatever with the King.
In the meantime there are very different opinions as to the
result of the elections, some thinking that Government will not
gain much by the dissolution, others that they (or at least
Reform) will win everything. It seems to me quite impossible that
they should not win everything, but time is gained to the other
side. The census of 1831 will be out, and the chapter of
accidents may and must make much difference; still I see no
possibility of arresting the progress of Reform, and whether this
Bill or another like it passes is much the same thing. The
Government have made it up with O'Connell, which is one mouthful
of the dirty pudding they have had to swallow, as one of their
own friends said of them.
April 26th, 1831 {p.139}
[Page Head: THE GENERAL ELECTION.]
Last night at the Queen's ball; heaps of people of all sorts;
everybody talking of the elections. Both parties pretend to be
confident, but the Government with the best reason. The county
members, as Sefton says, are tumbling about like nine-pins, and
though it seems not improbable that the Opposition will gain in
the boroughs, they must lose greatly in the counties; and we must
not only look to the relative numbers, but to the composition of
the respective parties. A large minority composed of borough
nominees, corporation members, and only a sprinkling of what is
called independence would not look well. Large sums have been
subscribed on both sides, but on that of the Opposition there is
a want of candidates more than of places to send them to.
I met Lyndhurst last night, and asked him what it was he said in
the House of Lords. He said it was nothing very violent, but that
it was not heard. The Duke of Richmond had spoken to the point of
order, and said in a very marked way 'he saw a noble Earl sitting
by a _junior_ Baron.' This was Lyndhurst, who was offended at the
sneer upon his want of _anciennete_, and who retorted that before
the noble Duke made such speeches on points of order he would do
well to make himself acquainted with the orders of the House, of
which it was obvious he knew nothing. The Duke of Devonshire told
Lady Lyndhurst that her husband ought to resign his judicial
situation because he had displayed hostility to Government the
other night, but it would be a new maxim to establish that the
judges were to be amenable to the Minister for their political
opinions and Parliamentary conduct.
April 29th, 1831 {p.140}
The night before last there was an illumination, got up by the
foolish Lord Mayor, which of course produced an uproar and a
general breaking of obnoxious windows. Lord Mansfield and the Duke
of Buccleuch went to Melbourne in the morning and remonstrated,
asking what protection he meant to afford to their properties. A
gun (with powder only) was fired over the heads of the mob from
Apsley House, and they did not go there again. The Government
might have discouraged this manifestation of triumph, but they
wished for it for the purpose of increasing the popular
excitement. They don't care what they do, or what others do, so
long as they can keep the people in a ferment. It is disgusting to
the last degree to hear their joy and exultation at the success of
their measures and the good prospects held out to them by the
elections; all of which may turn out very well, but if it does not
'who shall set hoddy-doddy up again?' Lord Cleveland has
subscribed L10,000 to the election fund.
Lord Yarborough, by a very questionable piece of political
morality, has given the Holmes boroughs in the Isle of Wight to
Government; they are the property of Sir L. Holmes's daughter,
whose guardian he is as well as executor under the will. In this
capacity he has the disposal of the boroughs, and he gives them
to the Ministers to fill with men who are to vote for their
disfranchisement. A large price is paid for them--L4,000--but it
makes a difference of eight votes, and if the Bill is carried
they will be worth nothing. The elections promise well for
Government even in the boroughs, as I was persuaded they would.
O'Connell has put forth a proclamation entreating, commanding
peace, order, and support of the Bill's supporters. Tom Moore
called on me yesterday morning. He said that he was a Reformer
and liked the Bill, but he was fully aware of all that it might
produce of evil to the present system. He owned frankly that he
felt like an Irishman and that the wrongs of Ireland and the
obstinacy of the faction who had oppressed her still rankled in
his heart, and that he should not be sorry at any vengeance which
might overtake them at last. I hear renewed complaints of Peel,
of his selfish, cold, calculating, cowardly policy; that we are
indebted to him principally for our present condition I have no
doubt--to his obstinacy and to his conduct in the Catholic
question first, to his opposition and then to his support of it.
Opposing all and every sort of Reform _totis viribus_ while he
dared, now he makes a death-bed profession of acquiescence in
something which should be more moderate than this. All these
things disgust people inconceivably, and it is not the less
melancholy that he is our only resource, and his capacity for
business and power in the House of Commons places him so far
above all his competitors that if we are to have a Conservative
party we must look to him alone to lead it.
May 7th, 1831 {p.141}
[Page Head: THE QUEEN ALARMED IN THE CITY.]
Nothing could go on worse than the elections--Reformers returned
everywhere, so much so that the contest is over, and we have only
to await the event and see what the House of Lords will do. In
the House of Commons the Bill is already carried. It is supposed
that the Ministers themselves begin to be alarmed at the devil
they have let loose, and well they may; but he is out, and stop
him who can. The King has put off his visit to the City because
he is ill, as the Government would have it believed, but really
because he is furious with the Lord Mayor at all the riots and
uproar on the night of the illumination. That night the Queen
went to the Ancient Concert, and on her return the mob surrounded
the carriage; she had no guards, and the footmen were obliged to
beat the people off with their canes to prevent their thrusting
their heads into the coach. She was frightened and the King very
much annoyed. He heard the noise and tumult, and paced backwards
and forwards in his room waiting for her return. When she came
back Lord Howe, her chamberlain, as usual preceded her, when the
King said, 'How is the Queen?' and went down to meet her. Howe,
who is an eager anti-Reformer, said, 'Very much frightened, sir,'
and made the worst of it. She was in fact terrified, and as she
detests the whole of these proceedings, the more distressed and
disgusted. The King was very angry and immediately declared he
would not go to the City at all. It is supposed that Government
will make a large batch of Peers to secure the Bill in the House
of Lords, but the press have already begun to attack that House,
declaring that if they pass the Bill it will be from compulsion,
and if they do not that they are the enemies of the people.
May 11th, 1831 {p.142}
The elections are going on universally in favour of Reform; the
great interests in the counties are everywhere broken, and old
connexions dissevered. In Worcestershire Captain Spencer, who has
nothing to do with the county, and was brought there by his
brother-in-law, Lord Lyttelton, has beaten Lygon, backed by all
the wealth of his family; the Manners have withdrawn from
Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire, and Lord E. Somerset from
Gloucestershire; Lord Worcester too is beaten at Monmouth.
Everywhere the tide is irresistible; all considerations are
sacrificed to the success of the measure. At the last Essex
election Colonel Tyrrell saved Western, who would have been beaten
by Long Wellesley, and now Western has coalesced with Wellesley
against Tyrrell, and will throw him out. In Northamptonshire
Althorp had pledged himself to Cartwright not to bring forward
another candidate on his side, and Milton joins him and stands.
The state of excitement, doubt, and apprehension which prevails
will not quickly subside, for the battle is only beginning; when
the Bill is carried we must prepare for the second act.
May 14th, 1831 {p.142}
[Page Head: LORD MUNSTER'S PEERAGE.]
The elections are still going for Reform. They count upon a
majority of 140 in the House of Commons, but the Tories meditate
resistance in the House of Lords, which it is to be hoped will be
fruitless, and it is probable the Peers will trot round as they
did about the Catholic question when it comes to the point. There
is a great hubbub at Northampton about a pledge which Althorp is
supposed to have given not to bring forward another candidate
against Cartwright which the anti-Reformers say he has violated
in putting up Milton, and moreover that such conduct is very
dishonest; and as his honesty was his principal recommendation,
if he should have forfeited that what would remain to him? On the
contrary his friends say that he gave no such pledge, that he
expressed a hope there might be no contest, but the people would
have Milton, and though Althorp regretted his standing, as he did
stand they were obliged to join for their common safety. So much
for this electioneering squabble, of which time will elicit the
truth. Last night I went to Prince Leopold's, where was George
Fitzclarence receiving congratulations on his new dignity (Earl
of Munster). He told me everybody had been very kind about it--the
King, Lord Grey, his friends, and the public. He had told
Lord Grey he was anxious his brothers and sisters should have the
rank of marquis's sons and daughters (to give them titles). Grey
had only objected that their titles would then represent a higher
rank than his own,[3] but that he laid no stress on that
objection, and it would be done directly. Melbourne has written a
letter to the Lord Mayor assuring him that ill health is the only
obstacle to the King's visit to the City, and that there is no
foundation for the report of his displeasure, the Lord Mayor's
explanation having proved quite satisfactory. This is not true, I
believe, but they make him say so.
[3] [If Lord Grey said this it was a mistake. The younger
sons and daughters of marquises take rank after earls.]
May 22nd, 1831 {p.143}
[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM AS A JUDGE.]
At Epsom all last week for the races at a house which Lord
Chesterfield took; nobody there but the three sisters[4] and their
two husbands. Rode out on the downs every morning, and enjoyed the
fine country, as beautiful as any I have seen of the kind. After
the races on Friday I went to Richmond to dine with Lord and Lady
Lyndhurst, and was refreshed by his vigorous mind after the three
or four days I had passed. He thinks the state of things very bad,
has a great contempt for this Government, is very doubtful what
will happen, thinks Lord Grey will not stand, and that Brougham
will be Chancellor and Prime Minister, like Clarendon; he talked
of the late Government, the Duke of Wellington and Peel; he said
that the former meddled with no department but that of Foreign
Affairs, which he conducted entirely; that he understood them
better than anything else, and if he came into office again would
be Foreign Secretary; that in the Cabinet he was always candid,
reasonable, and ready to discuss fairly every subject, but not so
Peel. He, if his opinion was not adopted, would take up a
newspaper and sulk. Lyndhurst agreed with me about his manners,
his coldness, and how he disgusted instead of conciliating people;
he said that when any of his friends in Parliament proposed to
speak in any debate, he never encouraged or assisted them, but
answered with a dry 'Do you?' to their notification of a wish or
intention. He said that this Bill was drawn up by Lambton himself,
but so ill done, so ignorantly and inefficiently, that they were
obliged to send for Harrison, who, in conjunction with the
Attorney-General, drew it up afresh; that when John Russell
brought it forward the Bill was still undrawn.[5] He says that
there is not the least doubt they never had an idea of bringing
forward any such measure as this till they found themselves so
weak in the House of Commons that nothing but a popular cry and
Radical support could possibly save them. It is very remarkable
when we look back to the moment of the dissolution of the late
Government, when Brougham was in the House of Commons armed with
his Bill, which, though unknown, was so dreaded, and which turns
out to have been mere milk and water compared with this. He said
Brougham was offered the Attorney-Generalship by a note, which he
tore in pieces and stamped upon, and sent word that there was no
answer; that he has long aspired to be Chancellor, and wished to
get into the House of Lords. He ridicules his pretensions to such
wonderful doings in his Court and in the Bills he has announced;
says that he has decided no bankruptcy cases, and, except some
Scotch appeals in the House of Lords, has got rid of hardly any
arrears; and as to his Bills, the Bankruptcy Bill was objectionable
and the Chancery Bill he has never brought on at all; that he
knows he affects a short cut to judicial eminence, but that
without labour and reading he cannot administer justice in that
Court, although no doubt his great acuteness and rapid perception
may often enable him at once to see the merits of a case and hit
upon the important points. This he said in reply to what I told
him of Brougham's trumpeter Sefton, who echoes from his own lips
that 'the Court of Chancery is such a sinecure and mere child's
play.'
[4] [Lady Chesterfield, Mrs. Anson, and Miss Forester.]
[5] [Compare the details of the preparation of the Reform
Bill published by Lord Russell in the last edition of
his 'Essay on the British Constitution.' Much of this
conversation of Lord Lyndhurst's is extremely wide of
the truth, but it is retained to show what was said and
believed by competent persons at the time.]
In the meantime the elections have been going languidly on, and
are now nearly over; contrary to the prognostications of the
Tories, they have gone off very quietly, even in Ireland not many
contests, the anti-Reformers being unable to make any fight at
all; except in Shropshire they are dead-beat everywhere.
Northamptonshire the sharpest contest, and the one which has made
the most ill blood; this particular election has produced a good
deal of violence; elsewhere the Reformers have it hollow, no
matter what the characters of the candidates, if they are only for
the Bill. Calcraft and Wellesley, the former not respected, the
latter covered with disgrace, have beat Bankes and Tyrrell.
Lowther had not a chance in Cumberland, where Sir James Graham got
into another scrape, for in an impertinent speech he made an
attack upon Scarlett, which drew upon him a message and from him
an apology. Formerly, when a man made use of offensive expressions
and was called to account, he thought it right to go out and stand
a shot before he ate his words, but now-a-days that piece of
chivalry is dispensed with, and politicians make nothing of being
scurrilous one day and humble the next. Hyde Villiers has been
appointed to succeed Sandon at the Board of Control as a Whig and
a Reformer. He was in a hundred minds what line he should take,
and had written a pamphlet to prove the necessity of giving
Ministers seats in both Houses (as in France), which he has
probably put in the fire. I am very glad he has got the place, and
though his opinions were not very decided before, he has always
been anti-Tory, and has done nothing discreditable to get it, and
it was offered to him in a very flattering manner.
May 28th, 1831 {p.146}
Yesterday Lord Grey was invested with the blue ribband, though
there is no vacancy; the only precedent is that of Lords
Liverpool and Castlereagh (which was thought wrong), but it was
on the occasion of the peace after Bonaparte's overthrow and when
Castlereagh returned with such _eclat_ from Paris that the whole
House of Commons rose and cheered him as he entered it.
I met Alexander Baring the other night, who said it was certain
that the King was full of regrets at the extent of the measures
into which he had been hurried, when I told him of Lord Grey's
Garter, and asked him what he said to that, and how that bore out
the assertion of the King's regrets. The fact is that although on
one side a most indecent though effectual use of the King's name
has been made, on the other there is nothing that is not asserted
with equal confidence about 'his difficulties and his scruples.'
Sefton told me that it was the sort of things that were said that
made the King write to Lord Grey (he saw the letter) and tell him
that he thought it of the greatest importance at the present
moment to confer upon him a signal mark of his regard and of his
satisfaction with the whole of his conduct. It is, I believe,
true that the King felt some alarm and some doubt about the
dissolution, but I do not believe that he has any doubts or fears
at present. Indeed, how should he not have suffered himself to be
led away by these people and to become identified with their
measure? They have given him an ample share of the praise of it;
they assure him it will be eminently successful; he sees himself
popular and applauded to the skies, and as far as things have
gone it has been successful, for the elections have gone on and
gone off very peaceably, and the country in expectation of the
passing of the Bill is in a state of profound tranquillity.
June 5th, 1831 {p.147}
[Page Head: THE KING AT ASCOT.]
All last week at Fern Hill for the Ascot races; the
Chesterfields, Tavistocks, Belfasts, George Ansons, Montague,
Stradbroke, and Brooke Greville were there. The Royal Family came
to the course the first day with a great _cortege_--eight coaches
and four, two phaetons, pony sociables, and led horses--Munster
riding on horseback behind the King's carriage, Augustus (the
parson) and Frederick driving phaetons. The Duke of Richmond was
in the King's caleche and Lord Grey in one of the coaches. The
reception was strikingly cold and indifferent, not half so good
as that which the late King used to receive. William was bored to
death with the races, and his own horse broke down. On Wednesday
he did not come; on Thursday they came again. Beautiful weather
and unprecedented multitudes. The King was much more cheered than
the first day, or the greater number of people made a greater
noise. A few cheers were given to Lord Grey as he returned, which
he just acknowledged and no more. On Friday we dined at the
Castle; each day the King asked a crowd of people from the
neighbourhood. We arrived at a little before seven; the Queen was
only just come in from riding, so we had to wait till near eight.
Above forty people at dinner, for which the room is not nearly
large enough; the dinner was not bad, but the room insufferably
hot. The Queen was taken out by the Duke of Richmond, and the
King followed with the Duchess of Saxe Weimar, the Queen's
sister. He drinks wine with everybody, asking seven or eight at a
time. After dinner he drops asleep. We sat for a short time.
Directly after coffee the band began to play; a good band, not
numerous, and principally of violins and stringed instruments.
The Queen and the whole party sat there all the evening, so that
it was, in fact, a concert of instrumental music. The King took
Lady Tavistock to St. George's Hall and the ball room, where we
walked about, with two or three servants carrying lamps to show
the proportions, for it was not lit up. The whole thing is
exceedingly magnificent, and the manner of life does not appear
to be very formal, and need not be disagreeable but for the bore
of never dining without twenty strangers. The Castle holds very
few people, and with the King's and Queen's immediate suite and
_toute la batardise_ it was quite full. The King's four sons were
there, _signoreggianti tutti_, and the whole thing 'donnait a
penser' to those who looked back a little and had seen other
days. We sat in that room in which Lyndhurst has often talked to
me of the famous five hours' discussion with the late King, when
the Catholic Bill hung upon his caprice. Palmerston told me he
had never been in the Castle since the eventful day of Herries'
appointment and non-appointment; and how many things have
happened since. What a _changement de decoration_; no longer
George IV., capricious, luxurious, and misanthropic, liking
nothing but the society of listeners and flatterers, with the
Conyngham tribe and one or two Tory Ministers and foreign
Ambassadors; but a plain, vulgar, hospitable gentleman, opening
his doors to all the world, with a numerous family and suite, a
Whig Ministry, no foreigners, and no toad-eaters at all. Nothing
can be more different, and looking at him one sees how soon this
act will be finished, and the same be changed for another
probably not less dissimilar. Queen, bastards, Whigs,[6] all will
disappear, and God knows what replaces them. Came to town
yesterday, and found a quarrel between Henry Bentinck and Sir
Roger Gresley, which I had to settle, and did settle amicably in
the course of the evening.
[6] Not Whigs--they are _les bienvenus_, which they were
not before.--_July 1838._
June 7th, 1831 {p.148}
[Page Head: DINNER AT HANBURY'S BREWERY.]
Dined with Sefton yesterday, who gave me an account of a dinner
at Fowell Buxton's on Saturday to see the brewery, at which
Brougham was the 'magnus Apollo.' Sefton is excellent as a
commentator on Brougham; he says that he watches him incessantly,
never listens to anybody else when he is there, and _rows_ him
unmercifully afterwards for all the humbug, nonsense, and palaver
he hears him talk to people. They were twenty-seven at dinner.
Talleyrand was to have gone, but was frightened by being told
that he would get nothing but beefsteaks and porter, so he stayed
away. They dined in the brewhouse and visited the whole
establishment. Lord Grey was there in star, garter, and ribband.
There were people ready to show and explain everything, but not a
bit--Brougham took the explanation of everything into his own
hands--the mode of brewing, the machinery, down to the feeding of
the cart horses. After dinner the account books were brought, and
the young Buxtons were beckoned up to the top of the table by
their father to hear the words of wisdom that flowed from the
lips of my Lord Chancellor. He affected to study the ledger, and
made various pertinent remarks on the manner of book-keeping.
There was a man whom Brougham called 'Cornelius' (Sefton did not
know who he was) with whom he seemed very familiar. While
Brougham was talking he dropped his voice, on which 'Cornelius'
said, 'Earl Grey is listening,' that he might speak louder and so
nothing be lost. He was talking of Paley, and said that 'although
he did not always understand his own meaning, he always contrived
to make it intelligible to others,' on which 'Cornelius' said,
'My good friend, if he made it so clear to others he must have
had some comprehension of it himself;' on which Sefton attacked
him afterwards, and swore that 'he was a mere child in the hands
of "Cornelius,"' that 'he never saw anybody so put down.' These
people are all subscribers to the London University, and Sefton
swears he overheard Brougham tell them that 'Sir Isaac Newton was
nothing compared to some of the present professors,' or something
to that effect. I put down all this nonsense because it amused me
in the recital, and is excessively characteristic of the man, one
of the most remarkable who ever existed. Lady Sefton told me that
he went with them to the British Museum, where all the officers
of the Museum were in attendance to receive them. He would not
let anybody explain anything, but did all the honours himself. At
last they came to the collection of minerals, when she thought he
must be brought to a standstill. Their conductor began to
describe them, when Brougham took the words out of his mouth, and
dashed off with as much ease and familiarity as if he had been a
Buckland or a Cuvier. Such is the man, a grand mixture of moral,
political, and intellectual incongruities.
June 10th, 1831 {p.150}
Breakfasted the day before yesterday with Rogers, Sydney Smith,
Luttrell, John Russell, and Moore; excessively agreeable. I never
heard anything more entertaining than Sydney Smith; such bursts
of merriment and so dramatic. Breakfasts are the meals for poets.
I met Wordsworth and Southey at breakfast. Rogers' are always
agreeable.
June 15th, 1831 {p.150}
Five new peerages came out yesterday--Sefton, Kinnaird, Fingall,
Leitrim, and Agar Ellis; John Russell and Stanley are to be in the
Cabinet. At the ball at St. James's the other night George Dawson
told me that they had 270 people in the House of Commons on the
side of the Opposition, if they could command their attendance;
that he did not mean to say no Reform Bill would pass, but that
the details of this Bill had never yet been discussed, and when
they were it would be so clearly shown that it is impracticable
that this identical measure never could pass. The Opposition are
beginning to recover from their discouragement; there is to be a
meeting at Lord Mansfield's on Friday, and they do, I believe,
mean to fight it out.
June 19th, 1831 {p.150}
[Page Head: THE CHOLERA.]
The last few days I have been completely taken up with quarantine,
and taking means to prevent the cholera coming here. That disease
made great ravages in Russia last year, and in the winter the
attention of Government was called to it, and the question was
raised whether we should have to purify goods coming here in case
it broke out again, and if so how it was to be done. Government
was thinking of Reform and other matters, and would not bestow
much attention upon this subject, and accordingly neither
regulations nor preparations were made. All that was done was to
commission a Dr. Walker, a physician residing at St. Petersburg,
to go to Moscow and elsewhere and make enquiries into the nature
and progress of the disease, and report the result of his
investigation to us. He turned out, however, to be a very useless
and inefficient agent. In the meantime as the warm weather
returned the cholera again appeared in Russia, but still we took
no further measures until intelligence arrived that it had reached
Riga, at which place 700 or 800 sail of English vessels, loaded
principally with hemp and flax, were waiting to come to this
country. This report soon diffused a general alarm, and for many
days past the newspapers have been full of letters and full of
lies, and every sort of representation is made to Government or
through the press, as fear or interest happen to dictate. The
Consuls and Ministers abroad had been for some time supplying us
with such information as they could obtain, so that we were in
possession of a great deal of documentary evidence regarding the
nature, character, and progress of the disease. The first thing we
did was to issue two successive Orders in Council placing all
vessels coming from the Baltic in quarantine, and we sent for Sir
Henry Halford and placed all the papers we had in his hands,
desiring that he would associate with himself some other
practitioners, and report their opinion as speedily as possible
whether the disease was contagious and whether it could be
conveyed by goods. They reported the next day _yes_ to the first
question, _no_ to the second. In 1804, on the occasion of the
yellow fever at Gibraltar, Government formed a Board of Health,
and took the opinion of the College of Physicians, and it was
intended to pursue the same course in this instance, but Lords
Lansdowne and Auckland chose to take Halford's preliminary
opinion, contrary to my advice, for I foresaw that there would be
a great embarrassment if he and the College did not agree. Just so
it turned out, for when the case was submitted, with all the
papers, to the College, they would not adopt his opinion, much to
his annoyance, and, as I believe, because they did not like to be
merely called on to confirm what he had already said, and that
they thought their independence required a show of dissent. The
report they sent was very short and very unsatisfactory, and
entirely against all the evidence they had before them; they
advised precautionary measures. I immediately wrote back an answer
saying that their report was not satisfactory, and desiring a more
detailed opinion, and the reasons which had dictated their
conclusion; but in the meantime we set to work in earnest to adopt
measures against any emergency. The only way of performing
quarantine (with goods), it was found, would be by the employment
of men-of-war, and we accordingly asked the Admiralty to supply
ships for the purpose. This Lord Grey, Sir James Graham, and Sir
Byam Martin objected to, but Sir Thomas Hardy and Captain Elliot
did not. We proved that the ships would sustain no injury, so
after a battle they agreed to give them. We made a variety of
regulations, and gave strict orders for the due performance of
quarantine, and to-morrow a proclamation is to be issued for
constituting a Board of Health and enjoining obedience to the
quarantine laws, so that everything has been done that can be
done, and if the cholera comes here it is not our fault. Most of
the authorities think it will come, but I doubt it. If indeed it
is wafted through the air it may, but I don't think it will if it
is only to be communicated by contact. All the evidence proves
that goods cannot convey it; nevertheless we have placed
merchandise under a discretionary quarantine, and though we have
not promulgated any general regulations, we release no vessels
that come from infected places, or that have got enumerated goods
on board. Poulett Thomson, who is a trader as well as Privy
Councillor, is very much disgusted in his former capacity at the
measures he is obliged to concur in in his latter. This topic has
now occupied for some days a good deal of the attention even of
the fine fools of this town, and the Tories would even make it a
matter of party accusation against the Government, only they don't
know exactly how. It is always safe to deal in generalities, so
they say that 'Government ought to be impeached if the disease
comes here.'
[Page Head: MEETING OF PEERS.]
There was a meeting of Peers to the amount of nearly seventy at
Lord Mansfield's the other day, which went off greatly to their
satisfaction. They unanimously agreed to determine upon nothing
in the way of amendment until they had seen the King's Speech, to
which, however, they will consider themselves bound to move an
amendment, provided it contains anything laudatory of the Reform
Bill. The Duke of Wellington was not at the meeting, having been
taken ill. I met him the day before at dinner, and had a good
deal of conversation with him. He is in pretty good spirits, and
thinks they may make a good fight of it yet; told me that
Lyndhurst would certainly go thoroughly with them, praised him
largely, said he was the best colleague that any man ever had,
and that he should be very sorry ever to go into any Cabinet of
which he was not a member. The King dined with the Duke
yesterday, and was to give him a very fine sword. Aubin, who was
to have acted in 'Hernani' before the Queen on Wednesday next, is
suddenly gone off to Rome as _attache_ to Brook Taylor, who is
there negotiating. Taylor happened to be in Italy, and they sent
him there, some doubts existing whether they could by law send a
diplomatic agent to negotiate with the Pope; but it was referred
to Denman, who said there was no danger. He is not accredited,
and bears no _official_ character, but it is a regular mission.
Lord Lansdowne told me that Leopold is inconceivably anxious to
be King of Belgium, that short of going in direct opposition to
the wishes and advice of all the Royal Family and of the
Government he would do anything to be beking'd, and, what is
equally absurd, that the others cannot bear that he should be
thus elevated.
June 23rd, 1831 {p.153}
The King opened Parliament on Tuesday, with a greater crowd
assembled to see him pass than was ever congregated before, and
the House of Lords was so full of ladies that the Peers could not
find places. The Speech was long, but good, and such as to
preclude the possibility of an amendment. There was, however, a
long discussion in each House, and the greatest bitterness and
violence evinced in both--every promise of a stormy session. Lord
Lansdowne said to the King, 'I am afraid, sir, you won't be able
to _see_ the Commons.' 'Never mind,' said he; 'they shall _hear_
me, I promise you,' and accordingly he thundered forth the Speech
so that not a word was lost.
There has been a reconciliation between the Wellingtonians and
the old Tories, and they are now firmly knit in opposition to the
present Government. Winchilsea, who was the last Tory who stuck
to Lord Grey, renounced him in a hot speech, which evidently
annoyed Lord Grey very much, for he made a long one in reply to
him. Winchilsea is a silly, blustering, but good-natured and
well-meaning man. Last night 'Hernani' was acted at Bridgewater
House before the Queen and all the Royal Family. Aubin, who had
acted Don Ruy, was sent to Rome, so Francis Leveson took the
part. I was disappointed, though all the company were or
pretended to be in ecstasies. The rhyme does not do, the room is
not good for hearing, and with the exception of Miss Kemble (who
was not so effective as I expected) and Craven, the actors were
execrable.
[Page Head: PREVENTION OF CHOLERA.]
News came the day before yesterday that Marshal Diebitsch had died
of the cholera. It was suspected that he had made away with
himself, for he has failed so signally in his campaign against the
Poles that his military reputation is tarnished; and it is known
that his recall had been decreed, and that Count Paskiewitch was
to succeed him. The alarm about the cholera still continues, but
the Government are thrown into great perplexity by the danger on
one hand of the cholera and the loss to trade on the other. A
board of health has been formed, composed of certain members of
the College of Physicians, Sir William Pym, Sir William Burnet,
Sir Byam Martin, Sir James M'Grigor, and Mr. Stewart; and they in
their first sitting advised that all the precautions established
by our Orders in Council against the plague should be adopted
against the cholera. This opinion was given under the authority of
Dr. Warren, who, it appears, exercises the same ascendency in this
Board that he had previously done in the College of Physicians on
the same subject. The fact is that he takes the safe side. They
have nothing to do with trade and commerce, which must shift for
themselves, and probably the other members will not take upon
themselves the responsibility of opposing measures which, if the
disease ever appears here, and should they be relaxed, will expose
the physicians to the odium and reproach of having been
instrumental to its introduction. We, however (Auckland, Poulett
Thomson, and I), are resolved to make the Cabinet take upon
themselves the responsibility of framing the permanent rules which
are to guide us during the continuance of the malady. It is
remarkable that there never was more sickness than there is at
present, without its being epidemic, but thousands of colds, sore
throats, fevers, and such like; and a man at Blackwall has died of
the English cholera, and another is ill of it, but their disorders
seem to have nothing to do with the Indian cholera, though some of
the symptoms are similar. These men cannot have got their cholera
from Russia, but their cases spread alarm.
June 25th, 1831 {p.155}
John Russell brought his Bill in last night, in a good speech as
his friends, and a dull one as his enemies, say. In the Lords
Aberdeen attacked Lord Grey's foreign policy in a poor speech,
which just did to show his bitterness and as a peg for Grey to
hang a very good reply upon. The Duke of Wellington spoke
afterwards; not much of a speech, but gentlemanlike and
anti-factious, and _approving_ of all Lord Grey had done about
Belgium. Lord Grey passed a very fine eulogium upon Lord
Ponsonby. However, this was necessary, for he is going as
Minister to Naples, not having a guinea. The Emperor Don Pedro is
coming here, and Henry Webster is to be his conductor.
June 30th, 1831 {p.155}
At Court yesterday to swear in the Duke of Leinster, Mr. Justice
Vaughan, and Sir E. Hyde East. Lord Ponsonby was there, just
returned from Brussels. The first time of Stanley's and John
Russell's being at a Council since they came into the Cabinet.
July 3rd, 1831 {p.155}
Went to Oatlands on Saturday, returned on Monday; nobody there
but Emily Eden. Many revolutions that place has undergone in my
time, from the days of the Duke of York and its gaieties (well
remembered and much regretted) to its present quiet state. The
Belgians have not yet made up their mind about Leopold, who does
not know whether he is king or no king. The Reform Bill came on
again last night, but it no longer excites so much interest.
Nobody spoke well but Lord Porchester.
July 5th, 1831 {p.156}
The night before last Lord Harewood attacked Brougham in the
House of Lords about the appointment of a magistrate without
consulting him as Lord-Lieutenant. As usual his own party say he
made out a good case, and the others that he made none. They say
(and I believe with truth) that Brougham does not dislike such
scrapes, and is so confident in his own ingenuity that he never
doubts of getting out of them. Lyndhurst attacked him sharply. In
the House of Commons last night the debate went on languidly,
except a splendid speech from Macaulay and an answer (not bad,
they say) from Murray. Lord Grey sent for me yesterday morning to
talk over the coronation, for in consequence of what the Duke of
Wellington said in the House the night before he thinks there
must be one. The object is to make it shorter and cheaper than
the last, which occupied the whole day and cost L240,000.
July 8th, 1831 {p.156}
The second reading of the Reform Bill was carried at five in the
morning by 136 majority, somewhat greater than the Opposition had
reckoned on. Peel made a powerful speech, but not so good as
either of his others on Reform. Goulburn told me that the speech
in answer to the Lord Advocate on the Irish Bill, when not 100
people were in the House, was his best. The coronation fixed for
the 23rd. Breakfasted with Rogers; went afterwards to the Duchess
of Bedford's, where I met Lady Lyndhurst. I desired her to tell
Lyndhurst all the Duke had said to me about him, for in these
times it is as well they should draw together. He will be a match
for Brougham in the House of Lords, for he can be concise, which
the other cannot, and the Lords in the long run will prefer
brevity to art, sarcasm, and anything else.
[Page Head: CONTEST IN POLAND.]
People are beginning to recover from their terror of the cholera,
seeing that it does not come, and we are now beset with alarms of
a different kind, which are those of the Scotch merchants for
their cargoes. We have a most disagreeable business on our hands,
very troublesome, odious, and expensive. The public requires that
we should take care of its health, the mercantile world that we
should not injure their trade. All evidence proves that goods are
not capable of bringing in the disorder, but we have appointed a
Board of Health, which is contagionist, and we can't get them to
subscribe to that opinion. We dare not act without its sanction,
and so we are obliged to air goods. This airing requires more
ships and lazarets than we have, and the result is a perpetual
squabbling, disputing, and complaining between the Privy Council,
the Admiralty, the Board of Health, and the merchants. We have
gone on pretty well hitherto, but more ships arrive every day;
the complaints will grow louder, and the disease rather spreads
than diminishes on the Continent. This cholera has afforded
strong proofs of the partiality of the Prussians in the contest
between the Russians and the Poles. The quarantine restrictions
are always dispensed with for officers passing through the
Prussian territory to join the Russian army. Count Paskiewitch
was allowed to pass without performing any quarantine at all, and
stores and provisions are suffered to be conveyed to the army,
with every facility afforded by the Prussian authorities and
every relaxation of the sanitary laws. The Duke of Wellington
says that the contest will very soon be over, that the Russian
army could not act before June, and that between February and
June the country is not practicable for military operations. They
have now so many months before them that the weight of their
numerical superiority will crush the Poles. Austria and Prussia,
too, do their utmost by affording every sort of indirect
assistance to the Russians and thwarting the Poles as much as
they can.
July 10th, 1831 {p.157}
The last two or three days I have been settling everything for
the coronation,[7] which is to be confined to the ceremony in the
Abbey and cost as little money and as little trouble as possible;
and yesterday I was the medium of great civilities from Lord Grey
to the Duke. He desired me to go to the Duke and show him the
course of proceeding we mean to adopt, and request him to make
any suggestion that occurred to him, and to enquire if he would
have any objection to attend the Council at which it is to be
formally settled on Wednesday, to which Peel and Rosslyn are
likewise invited. I spoke to the Duke and Peel, and they will
both come. All this is mighty polite.
[7] [The arrangements for coronations are made by a
Committee of the Privy Council, which sits as a Court
of Claims.]
They have made a fine business of Cobbett's trial; his insolence
and violence were past endurance, but he made an able speech. The
Chief Justice was very timid, and favoured and complimented him
throughout; very unlike what Ellenborough would have done. The
jury were shut up the whole night, and in the morning the Chief
Justice, without consulting either party, discharged them, which
was probably on the whole the best that could be done. Denman told
me that he expected they would have acquitted him without leaving
the box, and this principally on account of Brougham's evidence,
for Cobbett brought the Chancellor forward and made him prove that
_after_ these very writings, and while this prosecution was
hanging over him, Brougham wrote to his son 'Dear Sir,' and
requesting he would ask his father for some former publications of
his, which he thought would be of great use on the present
occasion in quieting the labourers. This made a great impression,
and the Attorney-General never knew one word of the letter till he
heard it in evidence, the Chancellor having flourished it off, as
is his custom, and then quite forgotten it. The Attorney told me
that Gurney overheard one juryman say to another, 'Don't you think
we had better stop the case? It is useless to go on.' The other,
however, declared for hearing it out, so on the whole it ended as
well as it might, just better than an acquittal, and that is all.
July 11th, 1831 {p.158}
Dined with Lord Grey yesterday. In the middle of dinner
Talleyrand got a letter announcing that Leopold's conditional
acceptance of the Belgian throne had been agreed to by a great
majority of the Chamber; and a Mr. Walker, who brought the news
(and left Brussels at five o'clock the day before), came to Lord
Grey and told him with what enthusiasm it had been received
there. Lord Grey wrote to the Chancellor, with whom Leopold was
dining, to tell him of the event.
[Page Head: WELLINGTON AND THE GOVERNMENT.]
This morning I got a note from the Duke of Wellington declining
to attend the Council on Wednesday, and desiring I would impart
the same to Lord Grey and the King. He says that it would give
rise to misrepresentations, and so it would. He is right to
decline. It is, however, Peel who has prevented him, I am
certain. When I told Peel on Saturday, he looked very grave, did
not seem to like it, and said he must confer with the Duke first,
as he should be sorry to do otherwise than he did. Yesterday I
know the Duke dined with Peel, who I have no doubt persuaded him
to send this excuse. The Government are in exceeding delight at
the Duke's conduct ever since he has been in opposition, which
certainly has been very noble, straightforward, gentlemanlike,
and without an atom of faction or mischief about it. He has done
himself great honour; he threw over Aberdeen completely on that
business about foreign policy which he introduced soon after the
meeting of Parliament, and now he is assisting the Government in
their Lieutenancy Bill, and is in constant communication with
Melbourne on the subject.
July 13th, 1831 {p.159}
I took the Duke's note to Lord Grey, who seemed annoyed, and
repeated that he had only intended the invitation as a mark of
attention, and never thought of shifting any responsibility from
his own shoulders; that as there was a deviation from the old
ceremonial, he thought the Duke's sanction would have satisfied
those who might otherwise have disputed the propriety of such a
change. 'Does he then,' he asked, 'mean to attend _the Committee_?'
I did not then know; but yesterday in the House of Lords I asked
the Duke, and he said 'No, for the same reasons,' that upon
consideration he was sure he had better not go, that by so doing
he might give umbrage to his own party, and he could only do good
by exercising a powerful influence over them and restraining them,
and that his means of doing good would be impaired by any
appearance of approximating himself to Government, that when the
general plan of the arrangements was settled, he should have no
objection to lend a helping hand, if wanted, to the details with
which he was very conversant. I wrote on a slip of paper that he
would _not_ come, and gave it to Lord Grey, who said nothing. Peel
did not write to me, but he and Rosslyn do the same as the Duke.
[Page Head: RESERVE OF MR. PEEL.]
The Belgian deputation came yesterday, and Lebeau and his
colleagues were in the House of Lords. We had been promised a
good day there between Londonderry and Brougham and Plunket, but
the former made a tiresome, long speech; the latter spoke civilly
and dully; and Brougham not at all, so it ended in smoke. In the
other House on Monday the Ministers got a good majority (102) on
the wine duties, to their great delight, but the Opposition were
not only mortified at the defeat, but disgusted and enraged at
the conduct of Peel (their leader, as they considered him), who
came into the House, got up in the middle of Herries' speech,
walked out and was heard of no more that night; never voted, nor
gave any notice of his intention not to vote. The moral effect of
this upon his party is immense, and has served to destroy the
very little confidence they had in him before. It is impossible
to conceive by what motives he is actuated, because if they were
purely selfish it would seem that he defeats his own object; for
what can he gain by disgusting and alienating his party, when
although they cannot do without him, it is equally true that he
cannot do without them? I walked home with William Banks, who
went largely into the whole question of Peel's extraordinary
disposition and conduct, and said how disheartening it was, and
what a blow to those who looked to him as a leader in these
troublous times. Henry Currey (no important person, but whose
opinion is that of fifty other like him) told me that his conduct
had been _atrocious_, and that he had himself voted in the
minority against his opinion because he thought it right to
sacrifice that opinion to the interests of his party. The fact
is, if Peel had imparted his sentiments to his party he might
have prevented their dividing on this question with the greatest
ease. There is nothing they are not ready to do at his bidding,
but his coldness and reserve are so impenetrable that nobody can
ascertain his sentiments or divine his intentions, and thus he
leaves his party in the lurch without vouchsafing to give them
any reason or explanation of his conduct. In the meantime the
other party (as if each was destined to suffer more from the
folly of its friends than the hostility of its foes) has been
thrown into great confusion by Lord Milton's notice to propose an
alteration in the franchise, and a meeting was called of all the
friends of Government at Althorp, when Milton made a speech just
such as any opponent of the Bill might make in the House of
Commons, going over the old ground of Fox, Pitt, Burke, and
others having sat for rotten boroughs. They were annoyed to the
last degree, and the more provoked when reflecting that it was
for him Althorp had been led to spend an immense sum of money,
and compromise his character besides in the Northamptonshire
election. His obstinacy and impracticability are so extreme that
nobody can move him, and Sefton told me that nothing could be
more unsatisfactory than the termination of the meeting. I guess,
however, that they will find some means or other of quieting him.
The Opposition divided last night 187 against 284 on the question
of hearing counsel for the condemned boroughs--not so good a
division for the minority as they expected, and after a very
powerful speech of Attwood's, to which nobody listened.
There is a fresh access of alarm on account of the cholera, which
has broken out at St. Petersburg, and will probably spread over
Germany. The cordon of troops which kept it off last year from
St. Petersburg appears to have been withdrawn, which is no doubt
the cause of its appearance there. We have constant reports of
supposed cases of disease and death, but up to this period it
does not appear to have shown itself here, though a case was
transmitted to us from Glasgow exceedingly like it. The sick man
had not come from any infected place. The Board of Health are,
however, in great alarm, and the authorities generally think we
shall have it. From all I can observe from the facts of the case
I am convinced that the liability to contagion is greatly
diminished by the influence of sea air, for which reason I doubt
that it will be brought here across the water. If it does come it
will pass through France first. The King of Prussia has at last
insisted upon a rigid execution of the quarantine laws in his
dominions. Marshal Paskiewitch was detained on his road to take
the command of the army, and sent a courier to the King to
request he might be released forthwith, urging the importance of
the Emperor to have his report of the state of the army; but the
King refused, and sent word that the Emperor himself had
submitted to quarantine, and so his aide-de-camp might do the
same.
July 14th, 1831 {p.162}
The effects of Peel's leaving the party to shift for itself were
exhibited the night before last. He went away (there was no
reason why he should not, except that he should have stayed to
_manage_ the debate and keep his people in order), and the
consequence was that they went on in a vexatious squabble of
repeated adjournments till eight o'clock in the morning, when
Government at last beat them. The Opposition gradually dwindled
down to twenty-five people, headed by Stormont, Tullamore, and
Brudenell, while the Government kept 180 together to the last;
between parties so animated and so led there can be no doubt on
which side will be the success. The Government were in high
spirits at the result, and thought the fatigue well repaid by the
display of devotion on the part of their friends and of factious
obstinacy on that of their enemies. After these two nights it is
impossible not to consider the Tory party as having ceased to
exist for all the practical and legitimate ends of political
association--that is, as far as the House of Commons is
concerned, where after all the battle must be fought. There is
still a rabble of Opposition, tossed about by every wind of folly
and passion, and left to the vagaries and eccentricities of
Wetherell, or Attwood, or Sadler, or the intemperate zeal
of such weak fanatics as the three Lords above mentioned;
but for a grave, deliberative, efficient Opposition there seem to
be no longer the elements, or they are so scattered and disunited
that they never can come together, and the only man who might
have collected, and formed, and directed them begs leave to be
excused. It is a wretched state of things and can portend no
good. If there had not been prognostications of ruin and
destruction to the State in all times, proceeding from all
parties, which the event has universally falsified, I should
believe that the consummation of evil was really at hand; as it
is I cannot feel that certainty of destruction that many do,
though I think we are more seriously menaced than ever we were
before, because the danger is of a very different description.
But there is an elasticity in the institutions of this country,
which may rise up for the purpose of checking these proceedings,
and in the very uncertainty of what may be produced and
engendered by such measures there is hope of salvation.
[Page Head: PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION.]
Yesterday a Council was held at St. James's for the coronation;
the Princes, Ministers, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of
London were present. The King read an address to the Lords
desiring that his coronation might be short, and that all the
ceremonies might be dispensed with except those in the church.
Lord Grey had composed a paper in which he had made the King say
that these ceremonies were at variance with the genius of the age
we live in, and suited to another period of society; but the
Archbishop objected to these expressions, and thought it better
to give the injunction without the comments; so Lord Grey wrote
another and shorter paper, but he showed the first to Lord
Lansdowne and me, and we both told him that we thought the
Archbishop was right and that the second paper was the best. The
Duke of Gloucester was very indignant at not having been summoned
in a more respectful way than by a common circular, and
complained to the Lord President.[8] I told him to throw it all
on me. He had been grumbling to the Duke of Sussex before, who
did not care. Leopold was too much of a king to attend, so he
came to the levee (but _en prince_ only) and not to the Council.
Lieven told me it was true that the Grand Duke Constantine was
dead, and that it was a very good thing.
[8] [It is customary to summon the Royal Dukes to a Council
by a letter This formality seems to have been
overlooked in this instance.]