Volume I Part 7 (1/2)

The Duke said, 'Except your Majesty's' The King then said the English cavalry were the best, which the Duke denied; then that an inferior nuilish, and, in short, that they were not half so effective The King was very angry; the dispute waxed war, 'Well, it is not fordoes not like the Duke, nor does the Duke of York This I know froe Head: DEATH OF LORD LONDONDERRY]

August 13th, 1822 {p051}

I went to Cirencester on Friday and came back yesterday At Hounslow I heard of the death of Lord Londonderry[9] When I got to town I met several people who had all assue de circonstance_, which provoked me inexpressibly, because it was certain that they did not care; indeed, if they felt at all, it was probably rather satisfaction at an event happening than sorrow for the death of the person It seems Lord Londonderry had been unwell for some time, but not seriously, and a few days before this catastrophe he became much worse, and was very o that he orn out with fatigue, and he told Count Munster the other day that he was very ill indeed The Duke of Wellington saw him on Friday, and was so struck by the appearance of illness about him that he sent Bankhead to hiot better, and went to Foot's Cray On Sunday he orse, and the state of dejection in which he appeared induced his attendants to take certain precautions, which unfortunately, however, proved fruitless They reot hold of a penknife which was in the roo he cut his throat with it There is not a Minister in town but Lord Liverpool, Vansittart, and the Chancellor Lord Bathurst is at Cirencester, the Duke of Wellington in Holland, Lord Sidmouth in Yorkshi+re, Peel and Lord Melville in Scotland with the King No event ever gave rise to more speculation with the few people there are left to speculate, and the general opinion seeo to India,[10] but will be appointed in his room It certainly opens a door to his a comes into office, must of necessity lead the House of Commons Another speculation is that Lord Liverpool will take this opportunity of resigning, and that the King will for Ministry I do not believe Lord Liverpool wishes to resign, andwill coh, far better known by that name, succeeded as second Marquis of Londonderry on the 11th of April, 1821--only sixteenhad just accepted the office of Governor-General of India, and was about to go out to that country]

[Page Head: CHARACTER OF LORD LONDONDERRY]

I had hardly any acquaintance with Lord Londonderry, and therefore aree affected by his death

As a Minister he is a great loss to his party, and still greater to his friends and dependents, to whom he was the best of patrons; to the country I think he is none nobody can deny that his talents were great, and perhaps he owed his influence and authority as much to his character as to his abilities His appearance was dignified and ireeable in society The great feature of his character was a cool and deterave an appearance of resolution and confidence to all his actions, and inspired his friends with admiration and excessive devotion to him, and caused him to be respected by his most violent opponents As a speaker he was prolix, monotonous, and never eloquent, except, perhaps, for a fewwhich had fallen out in debate But, notwithstanding these defects, and still y had drawn upon him, he was always heard with attention He never spoke ill; his speeches were continually replete with good sense and strong arguenerally contained a great deal to be answered I believe he was considered one of the best ers of the House of Commons who ever sat in it, and he was ereeable ood leader than eloquence, however brilliant With these qualities, it may be asked why he was not a better Minister, and who can answer that question? or who can aver that he did not pursue the policy which he conscientiously believed to be eous to his country? Nay, more, who can say but from surmise and upon speculation that it was not the best? I believe that he was seduced by his vanity, that his head was turned by eresses, and that he was resolved that the country which he represented should play as conspicuous a part as any other in the political dramas which were acted on the Continent The result of his policy is this, that we are mixed up in the affairs of the Continent in a manner we have never been before, which entails upon us endless negotiations and enormous expenses We have associated ourselves with the members of the Holy Alliance, and countenanced the acts of ambition and despotism in such a manner as to have drawn upon us the detestation of the nations of the Continent; and our conduct towards theht a stain upon our character for bad faith and desertion which no time ipe away, and the recollection of which will never be effaced froust 19th, 1822 {p019}

I went to Brighton on Saturday to see the Duke [of York]; returned to-day The Pavilion is finished The King has had a subterranean passage made from the house to the stables, which is said to have cost 3,000 or 5,000; I forget which There is also a bath in his apartment, with pipes to conduct water fro has not taken a sea bath for sixteen years

The Marquis of Londonderry is to be buried to-ht injudicious to have anything like an ostentatious funeral, considering the circumstances under which he died, but it is the particular wish of hisShe seems to consider the respect which is paid to his re will pacify her feelings or satisfy her affection but seeing hiave several indications of a perturbed mind a short time previous to his death For some time past he had been dejected, and his mind was haunted with various apprehensions, particularly with a notion that he was in great personal danger On the day (the 3rd of August) he gave a great dinner at Cray to his political friends, soood, wished to compliment him upon it, and Arbuthnot called out, 'Lord Londonderry!' He instantly jureat vivacity, and stood as if in expectation of so serious that was to follow When he was told that it was about the wine they wished to speak to him, he sat down; but his manner was so extraordinary that Huskisson remarked it to Wilmot as they caton had with him he said he never heard hith of mind than that day In the middle of the conversation, however, he said, 'To prove to you what danger I ao off directly, that I have no tiet away quickly; they think that I should not have ti the bell violently, he said to the servant, 'Tell me, sir, instantly who ordered my horses here; who sent them up to town?' The man answered that the horses were at Cray, and had never been in town The Duke desired the e behaviour wrote the letter to Bankhead which has been since published

August 20th, 1822 {p055}

Knighton ith the King to Scotland, and slept in one of his Majesty's own cabins, that next to him He is supposed to have been appointed Privy Purse Blooot the mission to Stockholm When Bloomfield was dismissed a disposition was shown to treat him in a very unceremonious manner; but he would not stand this, and displayed a spirit which he was probably enabled to assume in consequence of what he knows When they found he was not to be bullied they treated with hiave hie Head: CANNING RETURNS TO OFFICE]

September 22nd, 1822 {p055}

I saw Lady Bathurst on the 13th Canning had not then sent his answer, and greatly surprised were the Ministers at the delay

Lord Liverpool's proposal to hin Office and the lead in the House of Co into office was extreme, and it required all the efforts of his Ministers to surton and Peel have all the credit of having persuaded the King to consent, but Lord Bathurst's arguments influenced hiham that he was more satisfied by what Lord Bathurst had said to him on the subject than by any of the Ministers I know that a party Lord Bathurst is supposed to have joined with the Chancellor in opposing his appointton was sensibly affected the King, because at this h favour with hihton to him to comfort him with a pro Canning, and the next day he signified his consent I saw a note froave an account of the uneasiness and agitation in which the King had been in consequence of the Duke's illness, saying how reat had been _their_ relief, when Knighton brought word that he was better The 'dear King,' she said, was more co ould give her pleasure, and this was that the King had agreed to take Canning In a conversation also Lady C said that she did hope, now the King had yielded his own inclination to the wishes and advice of his Ministers, that they would behave to hi orn in on Monday His friends say that he was very well received The King told Mada consented to receive hientle to him the seals, he said to him that he had been advised by his Ministers that his abilities and eloquence rendered him the only fit man to succeed to the vacancy which Lord Londonderry's death hadhim to the situation, he had only to desire that he would follow the steps of his predecessor This Madame de Lieven told to Lady Jersey, and she towas so struck with Lord Londonderry'snearly what he said to the Duke of Wellington), and so persuaded that some fatal catastrophe would take place, that when Peel came to inform him of what had happened, he said to him before he spoke, 'I know you are come to tell me that Londonderry is dead' Peel had just left hi the despatches iham was told by Lord Mount Charles that there was a report that he was dead, she said, 'Good God! then he has destroyed hi, and was the only person to whom he had told it

Septee Bentinck, who thinks there never existed such a , and who probably has heard fronation at the time of the Queen's trial, told ---- that it was in consequence of a dispute between the King and his Ministers concerning the payment of the expenses of the Milan Co to pay the expenses himself, and he wished them to be defrayed by Govern (without the concurrence of the other Ministers) that the expenses should be paid by Government, but withcould not endure, and resigned Such is his story, which probably is partly true and partly false

[Page Head: QUEEN CAROLINE'S RETURN]

November 5th, 1822 {p057}

I have been to Newoing to town several tihton

Since I left London for the Doncaster races I have travelled near 1,200 reat deal about the Queen and Broughaible that part I could not make out and part I do not remember What I can recollect amounts to this, that the E of the Queen's conduct in Italy, that after the enquiry was set on foot a negotiation was entered into with the Queen, the basis of which was that she should abdicate the title of Queen, and that to this she had consented He said that Brougham had acted a double part, for that he had acquiesced in the propriety of her acceding to those tero over to her and confirree to theone, but that whilst he wasthese pro her to come over The Duke told me that a man (whose name he did not mention) came to him and said, 'So the Queen comes over?' He said, 'No, she does not'

The ham has written to her to come; I saw the letter' If Lord Liverpool and Lord Londonderry had thought proper to publish what had been done on the part of Brougham, he would have been covered with infa The rest I cannot remember[11]

[11] [This is an erroneous and imperfect account of this important transaction, the particulars of which are related by Lord Brougham in his 'Memoirs,' cap xvi