Volume III Part 9 (2/2)

Blackwood and Theodore Hook dined there a others After dinner he displayed his extraordinary talent of improvisation, which I had never heard but once before, and then he happened not to be in the vein Last night he was very brilliant Each lady gave him a subject, such as the 'Goodwood Cup,' the 'tithe Bill;'

one 'could not think of anything,' when he dashed off and sang stanzas innuenious rhy occasion for his excellent wit,' for at every word of interruption or adression, always co back to one of the themes imposed upon him It is a _tour de force_, in which I believe he stands alone, and it is certainly wonderfully orth hearing and uncoust 14th, 1834 {p119}

Yesterday there was a bother with the Chancellor about Lord West before the Privy Council[2] He took it into his head (probably having been got at by Lady Westmeath or some of her friends) to have it decided forthwith, and sent to desire a Coht be convened Westmeath's counsel was out of town; Follett, whom he relies on, is on the Northern Circuit, but his other counsel is to be had, being at Chislehurst

Accordingly the Chancellor desired that the case ht stand over fro only two days' notice), to Monday, and that it should be notified to the parties that if they did not then appear the case should go on without thee, and said the Chancellor was the greatest of villains, and so he would tell hied hiue, and I would speak to the Chancellor So I went to the House of Lords where he was sitting, and told Leht not to be thus hurried on He thanked ham; but he soon returned, and said that the Chancellor would hear nothing, and would have the case brought on, and he therefore advised ive myself any further concern in it, and to leave hiht In the meantime West to Wynford, whom the Chancellor had asked to attend (as he learnt froet up in the House of Lords and attack hi him down by the tail of his coat I had already spoken to Wynford, and I afterwards spoke to Lord Lansdowne, telling theht not to be hurried on in this pereainst it However, in the ed the Chancellor to put it off, and not exasperate thatviolent; and, whether from reason or fear, he prevailed on hiham is undoubtedly mad, and so I really believe he is While I was in the House of Lords Horne came in fro there all discussion on the rejection of the tithe Bill by the House of Lords Grattan was going to introduce the subject, but was prevailed on to say nothing, and to some questions put by Major Beauclerck Althorp refused to reply

[2] [The appellate jurisdiction in causesin Council The case of Westmeath _v_ Westmeath, which was a suit for a separation and a question of aliust 16th, 1834 {p120}

[Page Head: LORD BROUGHAM]

At a Council for the prorogation; the first time I have seen all these new Ministers in a bunch--a queer set, all things considered, to be in possession of the Palace Great change of decoration Duncannon, Ellice, Hobhouse, Abercro in the Council business instead of repeating like a parrot what is put in his mouth, made a bother and confusion about a fancyto explain it to hi was quite knocked up and easily satisfied, for he neither desired nor could have understood any explanations There were not much more than half a dozen Peers in the House, but many ladies The Chancellor went down, and, in presence of the ladies, attired in his golden robes (and especially before Mrs P, to whoment in some case in which a picture of Nell Gwynne was concerned, and he was very proud of the _delicacy_ of his judg like his exhilaration of spirits and good-humour I don't knohat has coh the session and got Lord Grey out He wound up in the House of Lords by the introduction of his Bill for a Judicial Co his own judicial acts, and undoubtedly ence and despatch if it be all true (which I see no reason to doubt), and passing a great eulogiu comparisons between that House and the House of Co hly conservative tendency He is a strange being whom, with all his inconsistencies, one cannot but adious are his powers Much more are these lines applicable to him than to his predecessor on the Woolsack:--

Great wits are sure to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide

In a speech the other night, by way of putting his audience on a wrong scent with regard to his correspondence with Lord Wellesley, he assured them that that correspondence was on any subject but politics, and in every language except English; and Lemarchant told somebody that his most difficult employra worse than his English; while Lord Wellesley sent hirams in return I should think Le, and that no study could be e speciust 19th, 1834 {p121}

At Stoke from Saturday, the 16th, till yesterday; had reat ally, so resented his conduct to Lord Grey that he was on the point of quarrelling with hiham miscalculated so far as to chuckle to Sefton himself over the is, telling hie_ Melbourne than he could Lord Grey They are a precious set with their squabbles and _tracasseries_ It appears that they very well knehat Brougha, especially Grey's woainst hi out of hi hiham is devoured with ambition, and what he wants is to be Prime Minister, but that it is quite iularly _blown up_ sooner or later He noants to appear on good terh in conteiven to Lord Grey His friends want hio, but he has a notion that the Scotch have behaved so well to hiht not to refuse the invitation The Chancellor had intended to go junketting on the Rhine with Mrs P, and this project was onlythat he could not leave the country without putting the Great Seal in comer price than he was disposed to pay for his trip, so he went off to Brougham instead

On Sunday I went all over the private aparth what they call the slopes to the Queen's cottage; all very splendid and luxurious In the gallery there is a , with a ruined tower beside it I asked what this was, and the housekeeper said, 'The Chateau of Meiningen;' put there, I suppose, to enhance by corandeur which surrounds the Queen, for it would hardly have been exhibited as a philosophical or in and the low fortune froe Head: SPENCER PERCEVAL]

As I rode into London yesterday ot off h till he gets on religious topics; he askedhim my opinion of the condition and prospects of the Church, I asked hireed with me as to the _status_, but his notion was 'that it all proceeded fro Church, and that God had forsaken it, and that we had only to put our trust in Him, and rely entirely on Him, and He would work out the salvation of His own We parted in the et from him any explanation of the course he would recoovern in furtherance of his own theocratical principles

There has been what is called 'a great Protestant ' at Dublin, at which Winchilsea was introduced to the Irish Orangereat in one way, for there were a great reat deal of nonsense and evinced a disposition to do a great deal of mischief if they can

Winchilsea's description of himself was undoubtedly true, only it is true always and of all of thes were so excited that he was deprived of what little intellect he possessed'

August 26th, 1834 {p123}

On Friday to Hillingdon, Saturday to Stoke; Lord John Russell, Medem, Dedel, Tommy Duncombe, D'Orsay Lord John and I walked to Bulstrode on Sunday; talked about the Chancellor and the Governhao to a public dinner at Edinburgh _because_ he was to be in the chair; that Lord Grey did not think Broughaet him out Lord John talked of the House of Lords, and how it and the House of Commons were to be re-united He thinks that the obstinacy of the House of Lords and its Tory spirit are attributable solely to the numerous creations of the last thirty or forty years

Toaged in a mediation between the master builders and the operatives, who have quarrelled about the unions, and an express came to him from Cubitt after dinner

Sefton toldconversation with the King, in which his Majesty expressed no little dissatisfaction at what had recently occurred and at the present posture of his affairs He told me that Lord Grey certainly would not have continued in office under any circuain, and that, in fact, his continual propositions to retire and expressions of consciousness of inability and unfitness had been very e, and that the latter had evidently been tired out by thehtest effort to induce Lord Grey to renation Grey acted very handso his proxy to Melbourne, and the reason he stayed away fro the latter days of the session was that he was afraid of being co indicative of the real state of his e Head: LORD WESTMEATH'S CASE]

When I got to town yesterday, to reat astonishment I found that the Vice-Chancellor had been at the office with a pere on the Westham Hall In my absence the summonses had been issued, but I desired them all to be recalled, and the Vice-Chancellor soon after happening to call on me, I told him what had occurred before, and that the Lord President was opposed to the cause being thus hurried on He acquiesced, and wrote to the Chancellor to say he had heard from me that it could not be; and so it ended, but I dare say the Chancellor will be in a violent rage, which I rather enjoy than not[3] It is very clear that he intends to exercise paramount authority over the Judicial Co connected with it at his disposal When first he had the Privy Council Bill drawn up by one of his devils, he intended to create a new tribunal, of which he should be the head, and though he was obliged to give up his original design, he still considers himself entitled to deal with the Judicial Committee as he pleases If the Lord President had more of the spirit that is due to the office over which he presides, he would not suffer hiet Lord Lansdowne to assert his own authority The Chancellor has proe at the Mauritius, comes home, he shall be made a Privy Councillor; that Sir Alexander Johnston, who now attends the sittings of the Council, shall be dismissed, and Blackburn invited to attend instead of him, and that he shall have 400 a year (which by the Act he rossest and most barefaced jobs that ever were perpetrated; but I think it can never be What ha Blackburn's case; so he told Sefton, but I suppose it e in _any colony_, when the pretext for it was the power of obtaining the assistance of Indian judges[4]