The Greville Memoirs Volume II Part 5

[Page Head: DEFEAT OF THE WELLINGTON MINISTRY.]

The Duke of Wellington's Administration is at an end. If he has not already resigned, he probably will do so in the course of the day. Everybody was so intent on the Reform question that the Civil List was not thought of, and consequently the defeat of Government last night was unexpected. Although numbers of members were shut out there was a great attendance, and a majority of twenty-nine. Of those who were shut out, almost all declare that they meant to have voted in the majority.[17]

[17] [The division was taken on Sir Henry Parnell's motion to refer the Civil List to a Select Committee, which was carried by 233 to 204.]

I went to Mrs. Taylor's at night and found Ferguson, Denman, and Taylor, who had just brought the news. The exultation of the Opposition was immense. Word was sent down their line not to cheer, but they were not to be restrained, and Sefton's yell was heard triumphant in the din. The Tories voted with them. There had been a meeting at Knatchbull's in the morning, when they decided to go against Government. Worcester had dined at Apsley House, and returned with the news, but merely said that they had had a bad division--twenty-nine. Everybody thought he meant a majority _for_ Government, and the Duke, who already knew what had happened, made a sign to him to say nothing. Worcester knew nothing himself, having arrived after the division; they told him the numbers, and he came away fancying they were for Government.

So off the company went to Madame de Dino, where they heard the truth. Great was the consternation and long were the faces, but the outs affected to be merry and the ins were serious.

Talleyrand fired off a courier to Paris forthwith.

Yesterday morning I went to Downing Street early, to settle with Lord Bathurst about the new appointment to my office. Till I told him he did not know the appointment was in the Crown; so he hurried off to the King, and proposed his son William. The King was very gracious, and said, 'I can never object to a father's doing what he can for his own children,' which was an oblique word for the _batards_, about whom, however, it may be said _en pa.s.sant_ he has been marvellously forbearing.

I had a long conversation with Lady Bathurst, who told me that the Duke had resolved to stand or fall on the Reform question, that he had asked Lord Bathurst's opinion, who had advised him by all means to do so; that Lord Bathurst had likewise put his own place at the Duke's disposal long before, and was ready to resign at any moment. It is clear that Lord Bathurst had some suspicion that the Duke had an idea of not standing or falling by that question, for he asked him whether anybody had given him different advice, to which he replied, though it seems rather vaguely, 'No, oh no; I think you are quite right.' I told her the substance of what I had heard about his being disposed to a compromise. She said it was quite impossible, that he would be disgraced irredeemably, but owned it was odd that there should be that notion and the suspicion which crossed Lord Bathurst's mind.

I do think it is possible, but for his honour I hope not. The Bathursts felt this appointment of William was a sort of 'Nunc dimittis,' but there is yet something between the cup and the lip, for Stanley got up in the House of Commons and attacked the appointment, and it is just possible it may yet be stopped.

Went to Brookes' in the evening, where there was n.o.body left but Sefton baiting Ferguson for having been out of the division. He told me that it was not impossible Lord Spencer would be put at the head of Government. They will manage to make a confounded mess of it, I dare say. Billy Holmes came to the Duke last night with the news of the division, and implored him to let nothing prevent his resigning to-day.

November 17th, 1830 {p.062}

[Page Head: THE KING'S BEHAVIOUR AT THE CRISIS.]

Went to Downing Street yesterday morning between twelve and one, and found that the Duke and all the Ministers were just gone to the King. He received them with the greatest kindness, shed tears, but accepted their resignation without remonstrance. He told Lord Bathurst he would do anything he could, and asked him if there was nothing he could sign which would secure his son's appointment. Lord Bathurst thanked him, but told him he could do nothing. The fact is the appointment might be hurried through, but the salary depends upon an annual vote of the House of Commons, and an exasperated and triumphant Opposition would be sure to knock it off; so he has done the only thing he can do, which is to leave it to the King to secure the appointment for him if possible. It will be a great piece of luck for somebody that Buller should have died exactly when he did. William Bathurst may perhaps lose the place from his not dying earlier, or the new Government may lose the patronage because he did not die later; but it is ill luck for me, who shall probably have more trouble because he has died at all.

The Duke and Peel announced their resignations in the two Houses, and Brougham put off his motion, but with a speech signifying that he should take no part in the new Government. The last acts of the Duke were to secure pensions of 250 a year to each of his secretaries, and to fill up the ecclesiastical preferments. The Garter remains for his successor. The Duke of Bedford got it, and, what is singular, the Duke of Wellington would probably have given it him likewise. He was one of five whom he meant to choose from, and it lay between him and Lord Cleveland.

I met the Duke coming out of his room, but did not like to speak to him; he got into his cabriolet, and nodded as he pa.s.sed, but he looked very grave. The King seems to have behaved perfectly throughout the whole business, no intriguing or underhand communication with anybody, with great kindness to his Ministers, anxious to support them while it was possible, and submitting at once to the necessity of parting with them. The fact is he turns out an incomparable King, and deserves all the encomiums that are lavished on him. All the mountebankery which signalised his conduct when he came to the throne has pa.s.sed away with the excitement which caused it, and he is as dignified as the homeliness and simplicity of his character will allow him to be.

I understand he sent for Lord Spencer in the course of the day, who probably said he could not undertake anything, for he afterwards sent for Lord Grey (after the House of Lords), and as he must have been very well prepared, it is probable that a new Government will be speedily formed.

I went to Lady Jersey's in the evening, when she was or affected to be very gay and very glad that the Duke was out. I found there the Prince of Orange, Esterhazy, Madame de Dino, Wilton, Worcester, Duncannon, Lord Rosslyn, Matuscewitz, &c. There has been a strong idea that the Chancellor [Lyndhurst] would keep the seals. Both Holmes and Planta have repeatedly told the Duke that he would be beaten in the House of Commons, and they both knew the House thoroughly. Still he never would do anything. He made overtures to Palmerston just before Parliament met through Lord Clive, and the result was an interview between them at Apsley House, but it came to nothing. I dare say he did not offer half enough. It is universally believed that Peel pressed the Civil List question for the purpose of being beaten upon it, and going out on that rather than on Reform, for Planta told him how it would be, and he might very well have given the Committee if he had liked it; but he said he would abide by it, and he certainly was in excellent spirits afterwards for a beaten Minister. Now that this Reform has served their purpose so well, and turned out the Duke, the Opposition would be well satisfied to put it aside again, and take time to consider what they shall do, for it is a terrible question for them. Pledged as they have been, it is sure to be the rock on which the little popularity they have gained will split, as it is a hundred to one that whatever they do they will not go far enough to satisfy the country.

November 19th, 1830 {p.064}

The day before yesterday Lord Grey went to the King, who received him with every possible kindness, and gave him _carte blanche_ to form a new Administration, placing even the Household at his disposal--much to the disgust of the members of it. Ever since the town has been as usual teeming with reports, but with fewer lies than usual. The fact is Lord Grey has had no difficulties, and has formed a Government at once; only Brougham put them all in a dreadful fright. He all but declared a hostile intention to the future Administration; he boasted that he would take nothing, refuse even the Great Seal, and nourished his Reform _in terrorem_ over their heads; he was affronted and furious because he fancied they neglected him, but it all arose, as I am told, from Lord Grey's letter to him not reaching him directly, by some mistake, for that he was the first person he wrote to. Still it is pretty clear that this eccentric luminary will play the devil with their system.

[The letter could not be the cause. The history of the transaction is this:--When Lord Grey undertook to form a Government he sent for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Holland, and these three began to work, without consulting with Brougham or any member of the House of Commons. Brougham was displeased at not being consulted at first, but was indignant when Lord Grey proposed to him to be Attorney-General. Then he showed his teeth, and they grew frightened, and soon after they sent Sefton to him, who got him into good humour, and it was made up by the offer of the Great Seal.--_November 23rd._]

November 20th, 1830 {p.065}

[Page Head: DISCONTENT OF BROUGHAM.]

Here I was interrupted, and broke off yesterday morning. At twelve o'clock yesterday everything was settled but the Great Seal, and in the afternoon the great news transpired that Brougham had accepted it. Great was the surprise, greater still the joy at a charm having been found potent enough to lay the unquiet spirit, a bait rich enough to tempt his restless ambition. I confess I had no idea he would have accepted the Chancellors.h.i.+p after his declarations in the House of Commons and the whole tenor of his conduct. I was persuaded that he had made to himself a political existence the like of which no man had ever before possessed, and that to have refused the Great Seal would have appeared more glorious than to take it; intoxicated with his Yorks.h.i.+re honours, swollen with his own importance, and holding in his hands questions which he could employ to thwart, embarra.s.s, and ruin any Ministry, I thought that he meant to domineer in the House of Commons and to gather popularity throughout the country by enforcing popular measures of which he would have all the credit, and thus establish a sort of individual power and authority, which would ensure his being dreaded, courted, and consulted by all parties. He could then have gratified his vanity, ambition, and turbulence; the Bar would have supplied fortune, and events would have supplied enjoyments suited to his temperament; it would have been a sort of madness, mischievous but splendid. As it is the joy is great and universal; all men feel that he is emasculated and drops on the Woolsack as on his political death-bed; once in the House of Lords, there is an end of him, and he may rant storm and thunder without hurting anybody.[18]

[18] [Lord Grey's Administration was thus composed:--

First Lord of the Treasury Earl Grey.

Lord Chancellor Lord Brougham.

Lord President Marquis of Lansdowne.

Lord Privy Seal Lord Ripon (in 1833).

Chancellor of the Exchequer Viscount Althorp.

Home Secretary Viscount Melbourne.

Foreign Secretary Viscount Palmerston.

Colonial Secretary Viscount G.o.derich, and afterwards Mr. Stanley.

Board of Control Mr. Charles Grant.

Board of Trade Lord Auckland.

Admiralty Sir James Graham.

Postmaster-General Duke of Richmond.

Paymaster-General Lord John Russell.

Irish Secretary Mr. Stanley.]

[Page Head: LORD GREY'S ADMINISTRATION.]

The other places present a plausible show, but are not well distributed, some ill filled. Graham Admiralty, Melbourne Home, Auckland Board of Trade--all bad. The second is too idle, the first too inconsiderable, the third too ignorant.[19] They have done it very quickly, however, and without many difficulties. As to the Duke of Richmond, people are indignant at a half-pay lieutenant-colonel commanding the Ordnance Department, and as an acquisition he is of doubtful value, for it seems the Tories will not go with him, at least will not consider themselves as his followers; so said Lord Mansfield and Vyvyan.

[19] [This is a remarkable instance of the manner in which the prognostications of the most acute observers are falsified by events. The value of Mr. Greville's remarks on the men of his time consists not in their absolute truth, but in their sincerity at the moment at which they were made. They convey a correct impression of the notion prevailing at that time. Thus Sir James Graham became unquestionably a very active First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Melbourne a 'considerable' Prime Minister of England, and Lord Auckland a painstaking and well-informed Governor-General of India.]

November 21st, 1830 {p.067}

The Duke of Richmond's appointment was found so unpalatable to the army that they have been forced to change it, and he is to be Master of the Horse instead, which I suspect will not be to his taste. [He afterwards refused the Masters.h.i.+p of the Horse, and it ended in his being Postmaster-General, but without taking the salary.]

There have been some little changes, but no great difficulties.

It was at first said that there would be no Opposition, and that Peel would not stir; but William Peel told me last night that the old Ministerial party was by no means so tranquilly inclined.

Peel will not be violent or factious, but he thinks an attentive Opposition desirable, and he will not desert those who have looked up to and supported him. Then there will be the Tories (who will to a certainty end by joining him and his party) and the Radicals--three distinct parties, and enough to keep the Government on the _qui vive_. The expulsion of the late Government from power will satisfy the vengeance of the Tories, and I have no doubt they will now make it up. Peel will be the leader of a party to which all the Conservative interest of the country will repair; and it is my firm belief that in a very short time (two or three years, or less) he will be Prime Minister, and will hold power long.[20] The Duke will probably never take office again, but will be at the head of the army, and his own friends begin to admit that this would be the most desirable post for him. Lord Lyndhurst will be greatly disgusted at Brougham's taking the Great Seal. I met him the day before yesterday, when he had no idea of it; he thought it would certainly be put in Commission, and evidently looked forward to filling the office again in a few months. He said that he had long foreseen this catastrophe, and it was far better to be out than to drag on as they did; that he had over and over again said to the Duke, and remonstrated with him on the impossibility of carrying on such a Government, but that he would never listen to anything. Sir John Leach, too, was exceedingly disappointed; he told me he had not heard a word of what was going on, that he was contented where he was, 'though perhaps he might have been miserable _in another situation_.'[21]

[20] [This prediction was not fulfilled until 1841 (for the short Administration of Sir Robert in 1834 can hardly be reckoned), but it _was_ fulfilled at last.]

[21] [Lord Grey certainly contemplated at one moment the offer of the Great Seal to Lord Lyndhurst, but the spectre of Brougham rendered that impossible. Brougham himself would have preferred the advancement of Sir John Leach to the Woolsack, which would have left the Rolls at his own disposal, and enabled him to retain his seat in the House of Commons. But this suggestion was by no means welcome to Lord Grey, and Lord Althorp at once declared that he could not undertake the leaders.h.i.+p of the House of Commons if Brougham was to remain in it in any official position to domineer over him.]

In the meantime the new Government will find plenty to occupy their most serious thoughts and employ their best talents. The state of the country is dreadful; every post brings fresh accounts of conflagrations, destruction of machinery, a.s.sociation of labourers, and compulsory rise of wages. Cobbett and Carlile write and harangue to inflame the minds of the people, who are already set in motion and excited by all the events which have happened abroad. Distress is certainly not the cause of these commotions, for the people have patiently supported far greater privations than they had been exposed to before these riots, and the country was generally in an improving state.

The Duke of Richmond went down to Suss.e.x and had a battle with a mob of 200 labourers, whom he beat with fifty of his own farmers and tenants, harangued them, and sent them away in good humour.

He is, however, very popular. In Hants the disturbances have been dreadful. There was an a.s.semblage of 1,000 or 1,500 men, a part of whom went towards Baring's house (the Grange) after destroying thres.h.i.+ng-machines and other agricultural implements; they were met by Bingham Baring, who attempted to address them, when a fellow (who had been employed at a guinea a week by his father up to four days before) knocked him down with an iron bar and nearly killed him. They have no troops in that part of the country, and there is a depot of arms at Winchester.

The Prince of Orange, who has been fancying without the least reason that he should be recalled to Belgium, is now in despair; and the Provisional Government, on hearing of the change of Ministry here, have suspended their negotiations, thinking they shall get from Lord Grey a more extended frontier. Altogether the alarm which prevails is very great, and those even are terrified who never were so before.

November 22nd, 1830 {p.069}

[Page Head: BROUGHAM LORD CHANCELLOR.]

Dined yesterday at Sefton's; n.o.body there but Lord Grey and his family, Brougham and Montrond, the latter just come from Paris.

It was excessively agreeable. Lord Grey in excellent spirits, and Brougham, whom Sefton bantered from the beginning to the end of dinner.[22] Be Brougham's political errors what they may, his gaiety, temper, and admirable social qualities make him delightful, to say nothing of his more solid merits, of liberality, generosity, and charity; for charity it is to have taken the whole family of one of his brothers who is dead--nine children--and maintained and educated them. From this digression to return to our dinner: it was uncommonly gay. Lord Grey said he had taken a task on himself which he was not equal to, prided himself on having made his arrangements so rapidly, and on having named no person to any office who was not efficient; he praised Lyndhurst highly, said he liked him, that his last speech was luminous, and that he should like very much to do anything he could for him, but that it was such an object to have Brougham on the Woolsack. So I suppose he would not dislike to take in Lyndhurst by-and-by. He would not tell us whom he has got for the Ordnance. John Russell was to have had the War Office, but Tavistock[23] entreated that the appointment might be changed, as his brother's health was unequal to it; so he was made Paymaster.

Lord Grey said he had more trouble with those offices than with the Cabinet ones. Sefton did nothing but quiz Brougham--'My Lord'

every minute, and 'What does his Lords.h.i.+p say?' 'I'm sure it is very condescending of his Lords.h.i.+p to speak to such _canaille_ as all of you,' and a thousand jokes. After dinner he walked out before him with the fire shovel for the mace, and left him no repose all the evening. I wish Leach could have heard Brougham.

He threatened to sit often at the c.o.c.kpit, in order to check Leach,[24] who, though a good judge in his own Court, was good for nothing in a Court of Appeal; he said that Leach's being Chancellor was impossible, as there were forty-two appeals from him to the Chancellor, which he would have had to decide himself; and that he (Brougham) had wanted the Seal to be put in Commission with three judges, which would have been the best reform of the Court, expedited business, and satisfied suitors; but that Lord Grey would not hear of it, and had forced him to take it, which he was averse to do, being reluctant to leave the House of Commons.