Volume I Part 13 (2/2)
[4] [Bills had been brought into Parliahs of Penryn and East Retford, and the transfer of those seats to Manchester and Birham On the East Retford case, which came before the House of Commons on the 19th of May, Mr
Huskisson felt bound in honour to support the ues On his return home after the debate he wrote a hasty letter to the Duke of Wellington, in which he said that he 'owed it to the Duke and to Mr Peel to lose no ti his office in other hands'
The Duke regarding this as a for and filled up the appointment
The correspondence is published in the Duke of Wellington's 'Correspondence,' New Series, vol iv
p 449 The resignation of Lord Palmerston, Charles Grant, and Lord Dudley followed The details of this transaction are sufficiently alluded to in the text]
There had been a dispute in the Cabinet about the Corn Bill, which occasioned the discussion of it to be put off for a few days at the tined his office The matter was made up and he stayed But when upon the East Retford affair Huskisson resigned, and in such an extraordinary manner, the Duke felt that there was a disposition to enation, which he believed they thought he would not venture to accept Upon receiving Huskisson's letter he went to Lord Bathurst and consulted him, and Lord Bathurst advised him to take him at his word Everybody looks for some cause which does not appear for important events, and people with difficulty adh such are not unfrequently the real ones I believe that Huskisson had no intention of e; but for a cool and sensible man his conduct is most extraordinary, for he acted with the precipitation of a schoolboy and showed a complete want of all those qualities of prudence and calh this breach ht have been avoided, from the sentiments which have been expressed by both parties, it is evident other differences would have arisen which
After putting aside the violent opinions on both sides, the conclusion is that Huskisson acted very hastily and imprudently, and that his letter (say what he will) was a coht so to consider it; that in the Duke's conduct there appeared a want of courtesy and an anxiety to get rid of him which it would have been more fair to avow and defend than to deny; that on both sides there was a , and a disposition to treat the question rather as a personal matter than one in which the public interests were deeply concerned But the charge which is made on one side that Huskisson wanted to embarrass the Duke's Government and enhance his own importance, and that on the other of the Duke's insincerity, are both unfounded
Some circumstances, however, contributed to place the Duke's conduct in an unfavourable point of view These were the extravagant and unconcealed joy of the High Tories and of his i at the saave his famous 'one cheer more' for Protestant ascendency That he treated Huskisson with sory, and not without reason; the for the debate upon East Retford, when Huskisson was called upon by Sandon to redeee, he told Peel that he could not help hied hiht be considered again This Peel refused; had he acceded, all this would not have taken place
When the King saw Huskisson he was extre him, and said that he had wished not to see hination, and in hopes that the ed[5] However, the other party say that the King is very glad to have got rid of him and his party
[5] [Huskisson solicited an audience, which his Majesty refused for soain to the Duke of Wellington]
In the middle of all this Madareat impertinence if not imprudence, and to haveto say all sorts of things against the Duke and the present Govern ever since that cessation of inti's accession to pohen she treated hi
Esterhazy told reatly changed, and that it was far froreeable as it was, he could not accuse her of i taken the part she had done, because he thought that it had answered very well, and that the objects of her Court had been in great e Head: THE CATHOLIC QUESTION]
June 18th, 1828
The Duke of Wellington's speech on the Catholic question is considered by many to have been so moderate as to indicate a disposition on his part to concede emancipation, and bets have been laid that Catholics will sit in Parliaht who are anxious to join his Governard to that question are removed by such an interpretation of his speech I do not believe heuntil he is compelled to it, which if he remains in office he will be; for the success of the Catholic question depends neither on Whigs nor Tories, the former of whom have not the power and the latter not the inclination to carry it The march of time and the state of Ireland will effect it in spite of everything, and its slow but continual advance can neither be retarded by its enemies nor accelerated by its friends In the meantime h to influence their conduct in taking or refusing office Frankland Lewis,[6] who refused the Irish Secretaryshi+p, said that after that speech he regretted his refusal and would be glad to take it, and noants to join the Governain Certainly at this moment the Tories are triu any difficulty in standing, there does not appear to be a disposition in any quarter to oppose it Not only in Parlia round and treating hireat civility The Government seem well disposed to follow up the Liberal policy, to which they have been suspected of being adverse, and have already declared that they do not intend to deviate either in their foreign or domestic policy from the principles on which the Government was understood to act previous to the separation Arbuthnot told ned in 1827, and Huskisson owned to A
that he had acted with unfortunate precipitancy
[6] [Right Hon T Frankland Lewis, asection of the Tory party; ht Hon Sir George Cornewall Lewis]
June 29th, 1828 {p134}
I dined yesterday with the King at St James's--his Jockey Club dinner There were about thirty people, several not being invited whoreater list had been made out, but he had scratched several out of it
We asse very well and walking about He soon, however, sat down, and desired everybody else to do so nobody spoke, and he laughed and said, 'This is ' We soon went to dinner, which was in the Great Supper Roonificent He sat in the middle, with the Dukes of Richmond and Grafton on each side of hiracious to ood things; hea quantity of turtle) eat a dish of crawfish soup, till I thought I should have burst After dinner the Duke of Leeds, who sat at the head of the table, gave 'The King' We all stood up, when his Majesty thanked us, and said he hoped this would be the first of annual s of the sort to take place, there or elsewhere under his roof He then ordered paper, pens, &c, and they beganmatches and stakes; the most perfect ease was established, just aswith the Duke of York, and he seehted Hethat a stop should be put to the exportation of horses He twice gave 'The Turf,' and at the end the Duke of Rich' He thanked all the gentlemen, and said that there was no man who had the interests of the turfthis party, and that the oftener they met the better, and he only wanted to have it pointed out to him how he could promote the pleasure and a in his power He got up at half-past twelve and wished us good night
Nothing could go off better, and Mount Charles told e Head: LORD LYNDHURST AND THE GREAT SEAL]
I dined with the Chancellor [Lord Lyndhurst] three days ago; he talked to reat deal about his acceptance of the Great Seal and of the speculation it was He was Master of the Rolls with 7,000 a year for life when it was offered to hiive this up to be Chancellor for perhaps only one year, with a peerage and the pension He talked the reed that if it only lasted one year (which he evidently thought probable) it orth while, besides the contingency of a long Chancellorshi+p He askedI told hi, because there was no Opposition and little chance of any I said that however hazardous his speculation ood chance of being Chancellor as long as his predecessor had been, there being so few candidates for the office He said this was true, and then he talked of his Court, and said it was impossible for oneof the speculation he had made, political opinions and political consistency seemed never to occur to hiht so business-like and professional as to be quite aood ent, and 'hoell he ed that little correspondence with Huskisson,'
which was droll enough, for Huskisson dined there and was in the rooust 6th, 1828 {p136}
About three weeks ago I went to Windsor to a Council The King had been very ill for a day or two, but was recovered Rob Adair[7] orn in Privy Councillor, and he reht not to have done The Duke attackedhim stay; but I told hiht to have told hierald, who said it was the first tiin by turning another reat s about Burke, and Fox, and Fitzpatrick, and all the e He said what I have often heard before, that Fitzpatrick was the reeable of them all, but Hare the htful, so luminous and instructive He was very passionate, and Adair said that the first time he ever saw him he unluckily asked him some question about the wild parts of Ireland, when Burke broke out, 'You are a fool and a blockhead; there are no wild parts in Ireland' He was extremely terrified, but afterwards Burke was very civil to hiht Hon Sir Robert Adair, the friend of Fox, formerly ambassador at Constantinople and Vienna It was he who once called 'Bobadare-a-dool-fowla']
He told reat deal about the quarrel between Fox and Burke
Fox never ceased to entertain a regard for Burke, and at no time would suffer him to be abused in his presence There was an atte for that purpose took place of all the leadingwhen his son suddenlyon said, 'My father shall be no party to such a compromise,' took Burke aside and persuaded him to reject the overtures That son Adair described as the -headed of men, but the idol of his father, who used to say that he united all his own talents and acquirements with those of Fox and everybody else After the death of Richard Burke, Fox and Burke met behind the throne of the House of Lords one day, when Fox went up to Burke and put out both his hands to hi this cordiality in the sagedly dropped his hands and left the House
Adair told me that Lord Holland has written very copious memoirs of his own time, and particularly characters of all the eminent men who have died, in the delineation of which he excels Soon after Pitt's resignation in 1801 there was an attempt made to effect a junction between Pitt and Fox, to which they were neither of theotiation was, however, entrusted to subordinate agents, and Adair said that he had always regretted that they had not ht the n was thwarted by the King through the intervention (I think he said) of Lord Loughborough