Volume I Part 18 (2/2)

[Page Head: DEBATE ON THE CATHOLIC BILL]

March 19th, 1829 {p190}

Last night the debate ended, with a very excellent speech from Robert Grant,[6] and a speech from Lord Palmerston which astonished everybody The Attorney-General was violent and brutal, and Peel's reply very good; he was bursting with passion, but restrained hireat disappointment that he had not answered Sadler He said he could not speak for coughing, that Sadler's speech was clever, but over-rated, nothing like so good as they talked of Robert Grant's was very good indeed, the best for matter; Pal, and not a bad one'

Though the Opposition gained eight in this division, they are disappointed and disheartened, and will ht) Nine bishops are to vote

Theat Lambeth took place the day before yesterday, but it caain, and in the meantime that each should take his own line Tierney talked of the Duke's reat adht in the same strain; but after all as it but the resolution of secresy (which I think was abut keep the secret However, the thing has been well in when it is all over, and at his father's death will be made a Peer I should not wonder; he must be worn to death with the torrents of abuse and invective hich his old friends assail him on every occasion I presume that if he could have anticipated their conduct he would not have been so civil to theether; it would have been better for him Lady Worcester told me to-day what adds to many other proofs that the Duke is a very _hard_ man; he takes no notice of any of his family; he never sees his mother, has only visited her two or three times in the last few years; and has not now been to see Lady Anne, though she has been in such affliction for the death of her only son, and he passes her door every tih, though they quarrelled after Lord M was driven from the Cabinet; Lord Wellesley is seriously affronted with him at the little consideration the Duke shows for hi shown him no confidence in all this business, especially as the Catholic question was the only political difference that existed between them He is a very extraordinary man certainly, and with many contradictions in his character; in him, however, they are so much more apparent than in any other man, for he is always before the world--all his actions, his hts

[6] [Robert Grant, Esq, MP, brother of Mr Charles Grant He was afterwards appointed Governor of Boe Head: DUEL OF THE DUKE AND LORD WINCHELSEA]

March 21st, 1829, at night {p192}

Thiscould equal the astonishment caused by this event Everybody of course sees the ht; all blaht to have fought or not Lord W's letter appeared last Monday, and certainly from that time to this it never entered into anybody's head that the Duke ought to or would take it up, though the expressions in it were very impertinent But Lord Winchelsea is such a maniac, and has so lost his head (besides the ludicrous incident of the handkerchief[7]), that everybody iined the Duke would treat what he said with silent conte a word to any of his colleagues or to anybody but Hardinge, his second, he wrote and dees between the parties (Lord Fal Lord Winchelsea's second) Lord Winchelsea declined y, and they met The letters on the Duke's part are very creditable, so free fro tone; those on Lord Winchelsea's not so, for one of them is a senseless repetition of the offence, in which he says that if the Duke will deny that his allegations are true he will apologise They ht o'clock There were many people about, who sahat passed They stood at a distance of fifteen paces Before they began Hardinge went up to Lords Winchelsea and Fal, and declare that their conduct in refusing an apology when Lord Winchelsea was so ust The Duke fired and missed, and then Winchelsea fired in the air He immediately pulled out of his pocket the paper which has since appeared, but in which the word 'apology' was omitted The Duke read it and said it would not do Lord Falmouth said he was not come there to quibble about words, and that he was ready to y in whatever tery' was inserted on the ground The Duke then touched his hat, said 'Good , my Lords,' mounted his horse, and rode off Huot to the ground

Hardinge asked him to attend, and told hiot He found there pistols, which told him the errand he was on, but he had still no notion the Duke was concerned; when he saw him he was ready to drop The Duke went to Mrs Arbuthnot's as soon as he got back, and at eleven o'clock she wrote a note to Lord Bathurst, telling him of it, which he received at the Council board and put into my hands So little idea had he of Lord Winchelsea's letter leading to anything serious that when on Wednesday, at the Council at Windsor, I asked hi, 'Yes, and it is a very clever letter, ot back his et back mine' At twelve o'clock the Duke went to Windsor to tell the King what had happened Winchelsea is abused for not having y when it was first required; but I think, having coeous a letter, he did the only thing aa shot and then y, which he was all this time prepared to do, for he had it ready written in his pocket I think the Duke ought not to have challenged hih a position, and his life is so much _publica cura_ that he should have treated hireat error in judgment, but certainly a venial one, for it is ih spirit which disdained to shelter itself behind the ireat character and station, and the simplicity, and almost humility, which made hiht, without subjecting hiatory to his honour, have assumed a tone of lofty superiority and treated hinity; it lowered hi from Windsor, and spoke to him He said, 'I could not do otherwise, could I?'

[7] [The incident of the handkerchief is related below, p

198 (March 29th, 1829)]

I ; he said nine bishops, and probably ten, would vote for the Bill He said he was not at theat Lambeth, but the Archbishop sent for him, and despatched his The Archbishop summoned the bishops to consult upon the course they should pursue, and see if there was any chance of their acting with unani this was not possible, they resolved that each should take his own line; and a proposal to address the King, which was urged by one or two of the most violent (he did not name them), was overruled The anti-Catholic papers and ant encomiums on Wetherell's speech, and call it 'the finest oration ever delivered in the House of Commons,' 'the best since the second Philippic' He was drunk, they say The Speaker said 'the only lucid interval he had was that between his waistcoat and his breeches' When he speaks he unbuttons his braces, and in his vehement action his breeches fall down and his waistcoat runs up, so that there is a great interregnureat and varied infor in ribaldry and abuse, besides being an enthusiast The first tiuished himself was in Watson's trial, when he and Copley were his counsel, and bothlawyer and politician, till the Queen came over, when he made a very powerful speech in the House of Co her naed by Chancellor Eldon for the Court, soon after , beca became Minister He was restored when the Duke was ain

[Page Head: THE KING ON THE DUEL]

March 26th, 1829 {p195}

Everything is getting on very quietly in the House of Co the to create delay, and others not choosing to join in these tricks, when they know it is useless The Duke caht before last, but I was not at home He talked over the whole hly pleased with the Winchelsea affair, and he said, 'I did not see the letter (which is probably a lie); if I had, I certainly should have thought it my duty to call your attention to it' Soht a duel hiht one' Huround after the duel, and said he did not think there was a ainst the Duke Very uncalled for, but the Duke's friends have less humility than he has, for Lord Winchelsea did not lift his hand against him It is curious that the man who threw the bottle at Lord Wellesley in Dublin (and who is a Protestant fanatic) has been lurking constantly about the House of Lords, so ht to apprise Peel of it, and the police have been desired in consequence to keep a strict watch over him, and to take care that he does no mischief The Duke after the duel sent Lord Melville to the Duke of Montrose with a entleman The women, particularly of course Lady Jersey, have been very ridiculous, affecting nervousness and fine feeling, though they never heard of the business till some hours after it was over Mrs Arbuthnot was not so foolish but ht of it all, which was in better sense and better taste

M---- toldis not at all reconciled to the Catholic question His Majesty was veryalways hoped that he was at heart too indifferent about it to take a decided line or express publicly a strong opinion It is supposed that either Sugden or Alderson will be Solicitor-General

O'Connell has done hireat credit by his moderation in the Co the words by which O'Connell is excluded froed hied with the expression of O'Connell's wish that his individual case should not be thought of, as he would not have it be any ireatly annoys those who have inveighed against him, and who have always contended that he only wished for confusion, and would be very sorry to see the question settled

The other day Jack Lawless[8] called on Arbuthnot to ask him some question about the Deccan prize money, in which a brother of his has an interest He entered upon politics, was very obsequious in his ant in praise of the Duke, quite shocked that he should have fought a duel, and said, 'Sir, we are twelve of us here, and not one but ould fight for hio, when he heard the Duke speak, he was distressed at his hesitation, but that now he spoke better than anyone; that in the Lords he heard Eldon, and Plunket, and Grey, and then up got the Duke and answered everybody, and spoke better than they all Arbuthnot says he was bowing and scraping, and all hurowl of the association

[8] [A prominent e Head: LORD ELDON'S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING]

March 26th, 1829, at night {p196}

Just met M----, who had returned thatin such an ill humour that he would not stay and dine there The Duke of cu hisLord Mansfield had been to the Castle and had an audience Lord Eldon prevails on all these Peers to exercise their right and demand audiences

Lord Mansfield had no petition to present, and only went to re that all the Protestants looked to hi declares he only listens to what they say, and replies that heto his Ministers; but it is impossible for him to listen (and not talk hiry at the Bishop of Winchester's speech, and at the declaration in favour of the Bill by both of the brothers[9] He accused M---- of having influenced the Bishop, which he denied, and told hi still is in hopes that the Bill will not pass, and said that the Ministers had only a h M---- replied that they had above fifty, and after such a majority as there had been in the Commons it must pass All this he received as sulkily as possible, and it is clear that if he dared, and if he could, he would still defeat the measure His dislike to it is the opposition of a spoiled child, founded on considerations purely personal and selfish and without any reason whatever