Volume I Part 11 (1/2)
[Page Head: HOSTILITY OF LORD GREY]
The King was very civil to the Duke of Dorset, and repeatedly told him that what had passed would make no difference in their private friendshi+p In the meantime the Corn Bill has been thrown out, and I think political anih they have taken rather a sulky than a violent tone
I had a long conversation with Duncannon yesterday, who is fully possessed of the sentis, and by what he says it is clear that they are extre to display his power by sonal act of authority, and to show that he is really supported cordially by the King The opposite party are persuaded that the King is secretly inclined to them and averse to his present Government, and this opinion obtains more or less with the public in consequence of the i has been braved by the Chancellor in Ireland The appointment of Doherty as Solicitor-General has never yet passed the Great Seal, and Lord Manners refuses to sanction it; he has likewise refused to put Sir Patrick Bellew (a Catholic) in the Coh he is a respectable ly pressed to do it even by Protestants This refusal so disgusted Duncannon that he was very near withdrawing his name from the Commission, and if he had his example would have been followed byso Lord Grey is in such a state of irritation that he will hardly speak to any of his old friends, and he declares that he will never set his foot in Brooks's again All this is the more extraordinary, and the vivacity of his temper thean active part in politics when invited to do so for a long time past; and whenever Duncannon has asked his advice or consulted his opinions or wishes, he has invariably referred him to Lord Lansdowne as the person who that he had withdrawn himself from public life and would have no more concern with politics
More than this, when first overtures were s, it was the unanimous opinion of all those who have since joined the Government that Lord Lansdowne and his friends could not join an Administration of which Peel was to be a nation of Peel was not contemplated as a probable event), and this opinion armly combated by Lord Grey, who contended that there was no reason why they should not coalesce with Canning and Peel What induced him to alter his opinion so decidedly and to becoements does not appear, unless it is to be attributed to a feeling of pique and resent been more consulted, or that overtures were nothimself was the appointment of Copley to be Chancellor, when he said that it was impossible to support a Government which had made such an appointment
July 5th, 1827 {p101}
The session is over, and has been short but violent enough There is apparently a h they see's prudence and fir, he see of all patronage; public measures and public ton, who knows hi about the Catholic question, but he does not like to depart from the example of his father and the Duke of York, to which they owed so much of their popularity His conduct is entirely influenced by selfish considerations, and he neither knows nor cares what encies of the country demand The present state of parties is so extraordinary that it cannot last, and it res will reunite the's Government, or whether they will join with the Tories in their efforts to overturn it Lord Grey's temper, irritated by the attacks which have been e him to the latter alternative
July 25th, 1827 {p102}
Canning is gone to Chiswick, where he has had the luo to the Council last week He is very unwell, and in a very precarious state, I think I was at the Council last Monday week; it was held for the appoint consented to take the Home Office, and Lord Carlisle the Privy Seal; the only Cabinet Ministers present were the four who changed places It was the first tiiven Lord Lansdowne an audience, but I believe he was very civil to hiham's visit to him (from Dropmore), the result of which was that he sent his proxy to Lord Goderich, but not with a good grace
The Duke of Wellington has been to the Lodge, and great is the speculation thereupon[16] It is fiercely debated whether he went by invitation or not, and how long he stayed He was only with the King twenty minutes, for so Prince Leopold, as there, told Lambton, who toldhas taken froiven, or, as they now say, lent to hie The Chamberlain sent to Sir E Gardiner for it in the Prince's absence, and he refused to give it up without his Royal Highness's orders, but the Prince, as soon as he heard of it, ordered it to be sent to the Chamberlain
[16] [The causes and consequences of this visit, which was by invitation froton's 'Correspondence,' New Series, vol iv
p 63 _et seq_]
The Irish Chancellor has given way about Doherty's appointnation He did it with a good grace, Lord Lansdowne told me
We went all over the Castle the other day; his Majesty will not let anybody see it now I don't think enough is effected for the enorood house; still, how far (as a palace) from Versailles, St Cloud, and the other palaces in France! The external terrace has spoilt the old one, and is altogether a frightful excrescence, and should never have been ust 9th, 1827 {p103}
Canning died yesterday er was only announced on Sunday night, though it had existed fro on Monday his Majesty told him he looked very ill, and he replied that 'he did not knoas thecould exceed the consternation caused by the announceues Froer, and said, 'It is hard upon the King to have to fight the battle over again' The Cabinetthereed to stand by each other in the event of his death
As soon as it happened Lord Lansdoent down to Windsor and saw the King His Majesty spoke with great affection of Canning, and said soain involved Lord L replied that he had come down, as it was his official duty to do, to announce to hi could be further from his wish or intention than to elicit froed his Majesty would not say one word upon that subject The King said that the first thing he should do would be to show every mark of respect to the , and that he should therefore send for those of his Ministers who had been the most closely connected with him in public and private life He sent ies Bourne, ent down to him when Lord Lansdowne returned
Yesterday I saw so an account of the break-up of the old Government, and of the reasons by which they had been influenced in resigning They were three in nu the Duke and attacking Canning, but they contained little more than has since appeared and been made public The only fact that appeared to ned on different grounds, was indignant at the way in which the Duke had been treated, and was resolved never to take office till full reparation had been ed Gosh (Mr Arbuthnot) not to ht do harreat deal of wrath and indignation, such as otiating with the Whigs while he was pretending that he wished the old Governotiation with his old colleagues he offered Peel, if he would stay with him, to recall the pro-Catholic Lord-Lieutenant and send a Protestant Peel wanted the Duke to give up the army and take the Treasury, which he would not hear of He was ly that they could not press it upon hi all the Lords who had made such a stir--applied to the Duke to put himself at the head of the Government, but he hardly sent an answer to their application--he would not hear of it
[17] [Right Hon Charles Arbuthnot, the ton, hom he lived
He was known in society by the nickname of 'Gosh,' by which he is frequently described in these Journals]
[Page Head: ANECDOTES OF CANNING]
Itold e Bentinck, his private secretary:--
Some time after they had been in office (after Lord Londonderry's death) they found in a drahich apparently had been forgotten or overlooked, some papers, which were despatches and copies of correspondence between Lord Castlereagh and Lord Stewart These despatches were very curious, andfor ave an account of his own e Italian witnesses for the Queen's trial There was likewise an account of the discovery Stewart had er, who had for a long time carried all his despatches to Metternich before he took theland, and Lord Stewart says, 'I tremble when I think of the risk whichbefore the House of Commons, as there were letters of Lord Londonderry's written expressly ”to throw dust in the eyes of the Parliament”' These were his own expressions, and he said, 'You will understand this and knohat to say to Metternich' In fact, while Lord Castlereagh was obliged to pretend to disapprove of the Continental systeave Metternich every assurance of his private concurrence, and it was not till long after Mr Canning's accession that Metternich could be persuaded of his sincerity in opposing their views, always fancying that he was obliged to act a part as his predecessor had done to keep the House of Co canition of the South Aainst hi would not hear of it The King was supported in his opposition by the Duke of Wellington and by Lieven and Esterhazy, whoainst Canning for pressing this ton and those Ambassadors persuaded his Majesty that if he consented it would produce a quarrel between him and his allies, and involve hi, who knew all this, wrote to Mrs Canning in ter did not take care he would not let him see these Ambassadors except in his presence, and added, 'I can tell his Majesty that his father would never have acted in such acontest, in the course of which Peel can After a battle in the Cabinet which lasted three hours, and fronant, he prepared a , and Lord Liverpool another, in which they tendered their resignations, alleging at length their reasons, and this they subues found they were in earnest they unani that they would all resign unless the measure was adopted This coton, who told hi was in earnest, and that the Governive way The King accordingly gave way, but with a very ill grace[18] When he saw Canning he received hi his assent to the measure he said that it must be his business to have it carried into effect in the best way it would adracious tone of the letter, and wrote for answer that he feared he was not honoured with that confidence which it was necessary that the King should have in his Ministers, and that his Majesty had better disracioushi he would coe, when he received hirew in favour, for when the King found that none of the evils predicted of this measure had come to pass, and how it raised the reputation of his Minister, he liked it very well, and Canning dexterously gave hiinated with himself, and beca