Volume II Part 22 (2/2)

[3] [This Cabinet 's remarks upon it, have been printed in the 'Correspondence of Williae Head: 'THE HUNCHBACK']

I went to see Sheridan Knowles' new play the other night, 'The Hunchback' Very good, and a great success Miss fanny Kereat acting I have not seen anything since Mrs Siddons (and perhaps Miss O'Neill) so good

The Duke of Wellington ood speech on Irish affairs on Friday, one of his best, and he speaks admirably _to points_ sometimes and on subjects he understands I wish he had let alone that Irish Education--disgraceful hu else particularly new Orloff is reat rout with, but he don't ratify The real truth is that the King of Holland holds out, and the other Powers delay till they see the result of our Reforton may return to power, and then they ium and to France If the Reform Bill is carried, and Government stays in, they will ratify, and not till then The cholera is disappearing here and in the country

April 9th, 1832 {p285}

Saw Lord Harrowby yesterdayHe can't o into Coh Schedule A, but he won't vote against the Tories if they divide on adjourning Then went to Wood and told him there would be no difficulty about _fifty-six_

Lord Grey ca over He said he was ill--knocked up--that in his speech to-day he should be as moderate and tame as anybody could wish From what Wood said, and he himself afterwards, I should think they wish to adjourn after the second reading, but to make a merit of it if they do

Duncannon, whom I saw afterwards, seemed to be of the same opinion, that it would be best not to sit in Passion Week At night Wharncliffe ca into Schedule A, andelse, and Harrowby, now that he fancies the Govern so all over the list, we ive a hteen, but the Tories still count upon getting back sorand hunt after Lord Gambier's proxy; he sent it to Lord de Sauout in Guernsey, and the difficulty was to get at Lord Gambier and procure another At last I made Harroho does not know hier after him, so we hope it will arrive in tie Head: REFORM BILL CARRIED IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS]

The day before yesterday Lord Grey introduced the Reform Bill in a speech of extreht's debate was dull; yesterday was better Lord Mansfield ainst the Bill; Harrowby spoke well, Wharncliffe ill Nothing can equal the hot water we have been in--defections threatened on every side, expectations thwarted and doubts arising, betting nearly even Even de Ros ca and told me he doubted how he should vote; that neither Harrowby nor Wharncliffe had put the question on the proper ground, and his reason for seceding from the Opposition was the ed hi to satisfy tender consciences, and moved heaven and earth to keep De Ros and Coventry (as slippery) right, and I succeeded--at least I believe so, for it is not yet over Nothing can equal the anxiety out of doors and the intensity of the interest in the town, but the debate is far less animated than that of last year As to our business, it is 'la mer a boire,' with nobody to canvass or whip in, and not being a party We shall, however, I believe, , who had been with the King His Majesty talked in high terh and of Mansfield It is difficult to count upon such ais passed I do not believe he will make Peers to carry any points in Committee, unless it be the very vital ones, but it is very questionable if the Opposition will fight the battle then at all, or, if they do, fight in a way to secure a fair, practical result

April 14th, 1832 {p287}

The Refor at seven o'clock in the House of Lords by a ht before Phillpotts, the Bishop of Exeter, ainst the Bill, full of fire and venom, very able It would be an injury to compare this man with Laud; he more resembles Gardiner; had he lived in those days he would have been just such another, boiling with areat talents He has a desperate and a dreadful countenance, and looks like the es either way, but the majority has always looked like froo into Cootiations and what difficulties to get over!

The Duke of Wellington and Lord Harrowby have had soood-humoured talk, and the for the Bill, but the difficulty will be to bring these extrereeood as last year, has been, as usual, much better than that in the Commons

The accounts from Paris of the cholera are awful, very different fro to our superior cleanliness, draining, and precautions? There have been 1,300 sick in a day there, and for soed above fifty, I think, and, except the squabbling in the newspapers, we have seen nothing of it whatever; there many of the upper classes have died of it Casimir Perier and the Duke of Orleans went to the Hotel Dieu, and the forh they doubt if it really was cholera, as he is subject to attacks with the sae Head: LORD WHARNCLIFFE AND LORD HARROWBY]

The debate in the House of Lords was closed by a remarkable reply from Lord Grey, full of moderation, and such as to hold out the best hopes of an adjustment of the question--not that it pacified the ultra-Tories, ere furious The speech was so ill reported at that late hour that it is not generally knohat he did say, and many of those who heard it almost doubt their own accuracy, or suspect that he went further than he intended, so unlike was it to his forard to a creation of Peers, that nothing would justify hiative but a collision between the two Houses of Parliament, and that in such a case (he is reported to have said) he should deem it his duty first to reco of the country ith the other House (these were not the words, but to this effect) If this be at all correct, it is clear that he cannot make Peers to carry the clauses, for, in fact, the collision between the two Houses will not have arrived unless the Commons should reject any amendments which may be made by the Lords The tone, however, of the violent supporters of Governht they were singing in a very different note, and, now, if the councils of the Lords are guided by moderation and firmness, they may deal with the Bill _almost_ as they please; but they reat; the High Tories are exasperated and vindictive, and will fiercely fight against any union with the seceders The Duke is moderate in his tone, ready to act cordially with all parties, but he owes the seceders a grudge, is anxious to preserve his influence with the Tories, and will probably insist uponthe Bill more than will be prudent and feasible The Harrowby and Wharncliffe party, now that the second reading is over, ceases to be a party It was a patched-up, miscellaneous concern at best, of htened over, who could not bear separating fro to return to him, and, besides, are ashamed of Wharncliffe as a chief There never was such a 'chef de circonstance' He is a very honest s and a fair and unprejudiced understanding, vain and i no respect, and in a false position as the ephe in that capacity _pari passu_ with Harroho is infinitely more looked up to, but whose bilious co and persuading others to follow his opinions; nor has he (Lord Harrowby) any plan or design beyond the object of the ain in public life, he does not propose to co further than the middle course to be adopted now, and few people are disposed to sever the ties on which their future political existence depends for the sake of cultivating this short-lived connection If the Government, therefore, looks to the seceders who have carried the question for them to carry other points, they will find it won't do, for their folloill h they will still frown upon the chiefs, will gladly take back the rank and file A fortnight will elapse, in the course of which opportunities will be found of ascertaining the disposition of the great party and the probability of an arrangeood on Friday, but very inferior to the last

Phillpotts got a terrific dressing from Lord Grey, and was handled not very delicately by Goderich and Durhah the latter was too coarse He had laid himself very open, and, able as he is, he has adopted a tone and style inconsistent with his lawn sleeves, and unusual on the Episcopal Bench He is carried away by his ambition and his alarer (in these tiue The episode of which he was the object was, of course, thepart of the whole

Newe Head: MEETING OF LORD GREY AND LORD WHARNCLIFFE]

Ill and laid up with the gout for this week past Ca of the second reading of the Bill seeone out of town, the Tories in high dudgeon The Duke of Wellington has entered a protest with all the usual objections, which has been signed by a whole rabble of Peers, but not by Lyndhurst, Ellenborough, or Carnarvon, who monopolise the brains of the party; they declined

In the s look better Wharncliffe, Harrowby, and Haddington have had two intervieith Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, and though they did not go into particulars the result was satisfactory, and a strong disposition evinced to co-operation and ain next week, and see what could be arranged On Friday Palmerston sent to Wharncliffe and desired to see him They met, and Palmerston told hi an intervieith hiht make much more extensive concessions than he had ever yet contemplated He added that Lord Grey would rather see Wharncliffe alone, without Harrohose manner was so snappish and unpleasant that he could not talk so much at his ease as he would to Wharncliffe alone Wharncliffe replied that he could have no objection to see Lord Grey, but that he er the sa put hih; that the concurrence of the Tories was indispensable to him and his friends to effect the alterations they conteht have to the; that he could tell Lyndhurst and Ellenborough, and if they one out of town, but he went to Lyndhurst, who immediately advised him to see Lord Grey, and said it was most desirable they should be made acquainted with the views and disposition of Governton of all that had passed Lord Grey was unable to leave Sheen yesterday, so it was arranged that theshould be delayed till Wharncliffe's return to London The Duke of Richot a letter of four sides fro hi expected, it is very likely so can proht to moderation the stupid obstinacy of the mass will not matter, and I do not think they will dare hold out, for when a negotiation on such a conciliatory basis is proposed, a terrible case would be ainst those who should refuse to listen to it

The advantages are so clear that nothing wouldopposition but an unconquerable repugnance to afford a triumph to the Waverers, which a successful termination would do; not that they would profit by it, for they are so few, and those ill have been wrong so many, that clamour will silence justice, and a thousand excuses and pretences will be found to deprive the time--not probably since the days of Charles II--that this place (Newotiation, and, conceding the i--Richmond, Graham, Wharncliffe, and myself By-the-bye it is perfectly true that (if I have not es were all ready theto the House of Lords to prorogue Parliament, and on Tuesday the Peers would have appeared in the 'Gazette'

London, May 12th, 1832 {p291}

Nothing written for a long tio Fro, and I bitterly regret now not having been in town last week[4] The Coht last I was at Buckenha to London, that they meant to divide on Monday on a proposal to postpone Schedules A and B till after C and D, and expected to beat the Govern I hoped this was not true, and that if it was it appeared to me most injudicious On Tuesday I received by the post a letter fro that they had been in frequent coh and Lyndhurst, that the Opposition were prepared to ht all would go off well The only difficulty he apprehended was fro clause, which the Tories insisted on, and to which he and Harrowby had thought it right to agree The next day I received a second letter, with an account of the debate and its consequences, to which I wrote hi reply, and another to Lady Harrowby, expressing my sentiments on their conduct on the occasion Before all this happened Wharncliffe had had to encounter abuse of every kind, and he has certainly continued to play his cards in such a way, fros and Tories in succession With very good intentions, and very honest, he has exposed hiue, and double-dealing