Volume III Part 18 (1/2)
March 24th, 1835 {p233}
Aat Lichfield's yesterday, when they resolved to reserve thereat battle on Monday next, in full persuasion that Peel will resign after the division Whether heto me that they do not think it better to attack him on his tithe Bill than on the Appropriation clause; for I think he o out if beaten on the former, but need not if beaten on the latter They are, however, bent upon his expulsion; and Lichfield (who is more or less in their secrets) toldanother Governreat dinner of the Opposition at the Duke of Sussex's on Sunday, to which Brougham was not invited It will not be the least of their difficulties how to deal with hiden, after all, stays in Ireland The Bar were up in ar the soowns upon his retirement His absurdity will, therefore, have had no other effect than that of revealing his wife's misfortune to the whole world in a very noisy way
Lord Canterbury gives up Canada on account of his wife's health, and probably not liking to face the disagreeable things that would have been said about himself and her Lord Aberdeen has offered it to Stratford Canning, who, though clever enough, is so _difficile a vivre_, that nobody can be less calculated for conciliatory objects; so that for a situation which required an agent of strong understanding and good teood temper, and a clever e Head: APPROACHING DEFEAT OF GOVERNMENT]
On Tuesday night Government was beaten on a division about the Chatha of no consequence in itself, but the whole affair was ed John Russell had said he should not divide, but his people were not to be restrained Peel would have given way, but his whippers-in told hih in the House to carry it, which only sho stupid they are It is now universally believed that he will resign next week, after the division on John Russell's motion, upon which he is sure to be beaten by twenty or thirty votes I am inclined to believe that he has made known his intentions to Stanley, for the latter entertains no doubt on the subject The Greyites are all alive, and patting Lord Grey on the back all day long to incline him to obey the su It is very obvious that Peel cannot go on; and I doubt much if he could even were he to obtain a th would not suffice for the harassing warfare that is waged against him, the whole brunt of which he bears alone
This, however, is his own fault, for he will not let anybody else take a part, whether fro all in all Then, from the relative constitution of the two parties, he er of defeats upon minor and collateral questions, or suddenly started points His party is in great part composed of the rich and fashi+onable, who are constantly draay by one attraction or another, and whose habitual haunts are the clubs and houses at the west end of the town; and it is next to impossible to collect his scattered forces at a moment's notice The Opposition contains a dense body of felloho have no vocation out of the walls of the House of Commons; who put up in the vicinity; either do not dine at all, or get theirthe benches early, and never think ofa steady, never-failing foundation, the slightest addition to which will generally secure a majority in the present state of the House In old tiers-on of Government, who make it their business to attend in order to carry the public business through, afforded a regular certain majority for the Ministers of the day; but now this household phalanx is outnuuards, the chief of whom are O'Connell's Tail and the lower Radicals All this immensely increases Peel's embarrassment; and the tactics of his opponents have been extremely able, considered with a view to obstruct the march of Government While the leaders have abstained from any violent measure, and have always resolved at their consultations not to stop the supplies or iood care to produce all the sa debate after debate upon every description of personal question, and everyin, so as to prevent any progress being made in the public business; and in this they have completely succeeded, for never was there more noise and violence, and less business done, than in this session
In anticipation of Peel's resignation there are three parties all animated with different hopes and desires--the Grey party, the Melbourne, the Stanley The first want Lord Grey back with all theout the 'Dilly' (as Stanley's party is derisively called); in fact, Lord Grey would only come back to carry the Irish question, which Stanley will be no party to The second want Melbourne and all his kit back again, to go on with all the strength that the united force of Whigs and Radicals a that Lord Grey will decline to return without Stanley, desire that the Radical Whigs should atte, and then, that the urgency of the caseabout a coalition between Lord Grey, Peel, and Stanley Such a coalition would be very desirable into take office _under_ Lord Grey (though with an equality of authority and influence in the Government), and to lead a party from which all his old friends, and those who look up to him with unbounded devotion, ive up all pretensions to ascendency and domination in the Cabinet
March 28th, 1835 {p236}
[Page Head: FRESH REVERSES]
It appears now very doubtful whether Peel will resign after a defeat on Monday; and I am disposed to believe that it is not his intention; indeed, I never could understand why he should He has over and over again declared that whenever the Opposition would bring forward a direct n, but not till then Still, I do not see how he can go on, and aht not Weak as he is, at the mercy of this furious and reckless Opposition, Government suffers in his hands; the Crown and all Executive authority suffer Every Government, to be useful and respectable, should have the power of carrying its h Parlia any mischievous or untimely motion, he is compelled to submit to one defeat after another upon matters which would never have been stirred (or certainly not successfully) with the late Government, or with any which possessed the confidence of the House of Commons It was expected that Hu the Ars would support hiestion of John Russell and Stanley, he very sulkily withdrew it; but the night before, Government was beaten on two divisions, one about the Leicester election, upon which all the lawyers in the House were unanimous But these opinions had no effect upon the Radical majority, and they voted an address to the Crown to confer a charter upon the London University, Lord John Russell supporting it, although this question had been argued before the Privy Council, which had still to report upon it; and I believe that the general opinion of the Lords was against conferring the charter in the present circumstances of the university
Certainly, there was no discussion in Council after the arguathered that the irant of the charter The House of Cous before the Privy Council laid upon the table, voting the address merely because Government opposed it
March 29th, 1835 {p237}
A ewater House for the purpose of securing a better attendance Twenty-nine Moderates ers in the 'Dilly;'[4] but of these, nine mean to vote with John Russell, and one stays away; also, two or three others vote against Stanley: queer partisans and _soi-disant_ followers, who oppose him on his own vital question Peel concerted with Stanley in the House on Friday, that the resolution should be ative Wharncliffe was here to-day, loud in his praises of the Duke of Wellington, and delighted with the Cabinet of which he is a member, _jam morituri_ as they are[5] He owned that they could not _probably_ go on, but that they would not give in till they could show their friends that they had done all that ned to their fate, and only studying in what attitude they shall iven to Lord Stanley's section of a party, from a joke of O'Connell's, who had applied to it the well-known lines, 'So down thy hill, ro six insides']
[5] [Lord Wharncliffe was Lord Privy Seal in Sir Robert Peel's first Administration]
March 31st, 1835 {p238}
It is universally believed that Governo out after this debate I think it very doubtful, but the sooner they now go the better; they are well aware they must retire, and the question is, whether they shall do so immediately or wait till they have passed the Mutiny Bill If the House of Commons refused to pass the Mutiny Bill, I think they would dissolve again The King is in a dreadful state of , he had the courage, or rather rashness, to dismiss his late Ministers, but I fear he has none of the cool and reflecting resolution, and cale, which are necessary for this crisis; he will again submit to whatever is dictated to him
In the meantime, the perplexity of the Opposition increases as the moment of their triumph approaches There were 260 people at Lord John Russell's dinner, all prepared to go any lengths, and 20 more ere absent put their nahtful evening he ever passed in his life,'
publicly acknowledged John Russell as his leader, and the Radicals were all present but Hume Lord Auckland (who called upon habout it till this as over, as circuht render it unnecessary for him to provide hi pers He expected Ministers would resign, that there would be audiences and negotiations, and that at last they would coain; that in the present state of parties he saw not how any other Governo on any better than this; and when I asked him about John Russell's dinner, he said it went off very well, but the cohtful_ (or so) John Russell and Melbourne, however, are satisfied they can go on with the Radical assistance, and they have gone too far now to throw these allies over; they must and will make sacrifices to secure them for their own protection, and if the House of Lords is swas all their oay
[Page Head: BAD POLICY OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS]
If it were not for the peril to all that is worth preserving, I should not be sorry for anything that happened to the House of Lords, to whose bigoted and senseless obstinacy (upheld and directed I am sorry to say by the Duke and Lyndhurst) the present miserable condition of affairs is mainly attributable Their rejection of the tithe Bill last year was their crowning exploit
After all their blunders and ier power, if they had passed that Bill, or restored Stanley's in committee, and returned it to the House of Coht have been retrieved It has been remarked, and certainly with truth, that Peel has never once endeavoured to excuse the House of Lords or to vindicate the peers from the taunts and reproaches which have repeatedly been thrown out against them In point of fact, I believe that the Lords either did not consult hi that the Lords liked nothing so well last year as beating the Govern their puny and spiteful power; now they are usted at the h certainly the latter do it with e and factious violence, but with them it is a system of tactics for a specific and attainable object The Lords really had no intelligible object but to eratify their own spite If the most violent Radical had been permitted to chalk out the most suicidal course for the House of Lords to follow, he could have devised nothing enious and well contrived than what they have actually done, taking care to keep up their character in the nation for intolerance, and inculcating a belief in their adherence to the n and doies to the recovery of the ground they had lost in popular esti theht have seen was not very remote
April 3rd, 1835 {p240}
They divided at I know not what hour this --321 to 289,[6]
a smaller majority than I was led to expect when I heard that 18 or 19 of Stanley's (so-called) party ainst hi appearances of the political sky must constantly recant one day the opinion and expectation of the preceding Stanley's speech the night before last may very likely make an important difference in the result of this extraordinary contest, for he has, as it seems to reat body of the Whigs now arrayed under John Russell; he attacked Lord John hi and Radical alliance and the inconsistency of his present conduct--with the utmost vehemence and scornful reprobation, and he poured forth a torrent of sarcasm and ridicule upon the prospective Government that he concludes they meditate This is so conclusive that it paves the way to his junction with Peel, or if the latter goes out and John Russell does come in, it is clear that he will have both Peel and Stanley in opposition to hiainst whole on for aspeech), and though he , and merely sticks him up as a nominal chief, he could no more lead a Government in the House of Commons than he could command an army in the field [So much for my prediction Stanley's followers dropped off and left him alone, the Governood leader--January 1837]