Part 20 (2/2)

Ever, my dear Lord, most faithfully yours,

W. H. Fremantle.

P.S.--I hear the Whigs at present disclaim the conduct of Lus.h.i.+ngton.

[70] This officer took a prominent part in the disturbances created by the populace of London on the pa.s.sage of the Queen's remains through the metropolis, to be embarked for the Continent.

[71] This is incorrect. His lords.h.i.+p subsequently succeeded his brother as Marquis of Londonderry, when he threw up his appointment as amba.s.sador at the Court of Austria rather than serve under Mr. Canning.

MR. W. H. FREMANTLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Bagshot Park, Sept. 5, 1821.

MY DEAR LORD,

I send you a few lines from hence, where I have been staying a few days. The Duke of G---- is full of the idea of changes in the Government, but is fully convinced it will not be to take in the Whigs. He thinks Lord Liverpool is to go, and Lord Londonderry to be at the head of the Government; and the latter, you may be a.s.sured, from all I have heard, has replaced himself in the King's good opinion, and has equal influence to what he has ever had. The Irish journey has done this. The Duke has not the least idea of the real state of things; but I find from him the Whigs are aware of some change before the meeting. I cannot at all guess whether the steps which were proposed are intended previous to the King's departure for Hanover. He will be in town to-morrow if the wind permits, or perhaps he may be delayed a few days. He proposed to leave town for Hanover the 16th or 17th. He appoints Lords Justices (not a Regency), to consist of all his Ministers, together with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lord Steward and Master of the Horse, and the Lord Chamberlain. These are to do nothing but the common routine of business. Lord Londonderry accompanies the King abroad; and all correspondence is to be kept up through him, and no appointments of any sort to take place but such as absolutely demand immediate filling up. He goes to Vienna, and Paris, and Homburg, Munich, &c., &c.: such is his present intention. He cannot be back till the end of November or December, and I can hardly conceive it possible they will defer all changes till that time, when any new members of a Government must be so ignorant of measures just as the meeting of Parliament is about to take place.

The Duke of Wellington will be back from Paris time enough to meet the King. _I do not believe_ one word of Lord Liverpool's going out. He certainly has not done the thing well as to the funeral; but the great blame is in that b.o.o.by, Sir R. Baker. Lady C---- has been living with the King at the Phoenix Park, and he has never slept out but at Slane Castle. The Royal yacht went to Holyhead to take her over to Dublin; the Admiralty yacht took the Princess Augusta to Ostend. The latter does not go to Hanover; it is said the former does. Lord Grosvenor loses upwards of 80,000_l._ by his agent More's failure. He has two vacancies for Shaftesbury, and brings in Mr. Ralph Leicester, of Toft, in Ches.h.i.+re, and offers the other seat to Lord Normanby. I see Canning is waiting in England (having intended to return to France), which looks very like an immediate arrangement. I suppose you heard that a Board of General Officers is examining into the conduct of Sir Robert Wilson on the 14th. I think I told you this in my last.

The story abroad is, that they are trying to cook up a match for the King with a Princess of Tour and Taxis (I believe a sister of the d.u.c.h.ess of c.u.mberland), and a sister of the Princess Esterhazy.

Metternich is at the bottom of it. Query, whether Lady C---- will oppose or promote a match? If her lord would go, other objects might occur to her; indeed, it is hinted that she is trying to push her daughter for the prize. The d.u.c.h.ess of G---- had a long letter from the King a few days ago, full of the highest spirits.

I think I have told you all I have picked up.

Ever most truly yours,

W. H. F.

MR. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Llangedwin, Sept. 9, 1821.

MY DEAR B----,

The enclosed letter came to-day from Wheatley. I send it you, though I certainly do not attach much credit to the virtuous refusal of the Whigs to come in under Lady Conyngham's auspices, forasmuch as I should rather believe that if the daughter of the Devil would engage to bring them in, they would even conform to the condition of admitting old Nicholas (not Vansittart) as their colleague and patron. The opinion of the breach between the King and his Ministers being past all mending, seems every day to gain ground, for I hear of it from different quarters. If the King goes to Hanover, it seems almost impossible that he should return in time to make any new arrangement before the meeting of Parliament.

My uncle has, I find, returned from Bowood, strongly impressed in his own mind with the wish of Lord Lansdowne, to form an Administration in conjunction with us, if he can effect it.

Certainly this is what I should individually prefer to any other arrangement, but it is impossible not to see the extreme difficulty which must arise in drawing a line between the less violent and more furious of the Opposition, since no man can say where that line should run, or who should be included in each division.

It hardly can be desirable that we should select that moment for connecting ourselves with those whom we have so long opposed, when they are on the point of being kicked out, when they have lost both the favour of the Crown and the confidence of the House of Commons.

Yet that is the present appearance, and I think you will agree that our union with them could not of itself be sufficient to save them, unless Canning were also included, and unless we could see some reasonable probability of an arrangement of the Catholic question, which I am inclined to fear the King's visit to Ireland, by raising the hopes and the tone of the Irish Catholics, will place at a greater distance than ever. If the King has really made up his mind to part with his present Ministers, it is not unlikely that instead of taking upon himself the responsibility of turning them out, he may only negative any minor change, and so either drive them to resign, or instigate the House of Commons to turn them out in the first month of the next Session. The miscarriage of all the Irish Peerages must of course manifest still more publicly than before the bad understanding between master and servants. Pray send me word what you have heard on that subject, as well as on the general posture of things. Your host is lucky that the dispute did not arise on the English instead of the Irish Peerages.

Ever most affectionately yours,

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