Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 Part 48

THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

East India Office, Jan. 25, 1823.

MY DEAR B----,

There is much reason to fear that Chateaubriand is still more favourably disposed towards the War party than his predecessor, and is run away with a true French notion that the _glory_ of success can only exist in connexion with the white c.o.c.kade. Should he prevail, there is little doubt that Villele will retire, and _then_ the Ultra-Royalists will drive to the Devil with a rapidity that nothing can check.

This is the gloomy side; on the other, Villele has certainly great strength, and even the Royalists will think twice before they allow the million (English) of surplus which is about to be applied to indemnify them, to go towards the _frais_ of an armament, the recommendation of which is that it is to be levied without a loan and without an additional tax.

I quite agree with you in the necessity of supporting Wellesley and Plunket, though we may _in private_ think they have acted absurdly.

I am convinced that the Orange party will make a run against them with all the power they can, of which I already see symptoms which cannot be mistaken; but as far as I can judge, L---- will behave _honestly_.

The depositions have all been sent over, and I am not surprised that the English lawyers are unable to find among them any ground to maintain the committal for the capital charge. As, however, this was abandoned, the practical battle will be upon the propriety of a prosecution by information, after an indictment preferred by the Attorney-General has been ignored. Of this there is no example in England. Whether there is or not in Ireland I do not know, but at all events Plunket must be supported in it, and allowed to proceed.

The Irish Government now stand publicly committed to that course, and if they were compelled to abandon it, _must_ immediately resign, and afford a triumph to the Orange faction. It is no small misfortune that our law advisers should be so entirely in one interest, and under one influence, as to exercise no free agency of their own. I trust that we have put a stop to the practice of submitting Plunket's conduct and opinions to _their_ revision, by treating their communication as one of a nature strictly private, and as one which it would be impossible to make known to any one individual without giving the justest offence both to Wellesley, Plunket, and Bushe.

The Speech will recommend considerable relief from taxation, and notice will be given of Robinson's intention to bring the subject forward as soon as he resumes his seat. It signifies little what we do. Lethbridge and the Squires will feel bound to go beyond us; but if we can extend the relief to 50 per cent. on houses and windows, carriages, horses, and servants, all reasonable men ought to be satisfied.

I have spoken to Lord Liverpool about Sir George Nugent, and he vows and protests nothing could be further from his intention than the slightest disrespect to a person towards whom no one can feel anything but regard, &c. &c. &c. In short, he says all that a man in the unfortunate situation of having done an awkward absent thing can say, and I know not what can be done further.

I believe my appointment of Reginald Heber is really the very best for India that the kingdom could have supplied. Henry is to be accredited to Baden and Carlsruhe, as well as to Stuttgart.

Ever affectionately yours,

C. W. W.

THE RIGHT HON. W. H. FREMANTLE TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

East India Office, Jan. 27, 1623.

MY DEAR DUKE,

Of course Wynn has communicated with you upon the changes which have taken place; I was completely ignorant of them till the papers announced them, but think altogether it is a much improved administration; the weak point of Vansittart is strengthened, and though perhaps Robinson may not have been the fittest man for a Chancellor of the Exchequer, there is none other who would have done so well with Lord Liverpool, and he is a very popular man in the House of Commons. Wallace is most indignant at Huskisson being put over his head, and has resigned the Vice-Presidency of the Board of Trade; this has been offered to Vesey Fitzgerald,[105] who I have no doubt will take it, but should he not, I understand it is to be offered to Charles Grant;[106] and it is also said that Lord Maryborough goes out, and Wallace is to replace him at the Mint.

The change at the Treasury would certainly make it easy for Canning to take a jump at any future opportunity by the resignation of Lord Liverpool, by becoming First Lord and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and giving the Foreign Seals to Robinson; how far this may be in his contemplation, you have better means of judging than I have, but it is not very foreign to his character to entertain such a view.

Every human being seems to condemn in the strongest terms the conduct of Wellesley; there never was such an a.s.s, and if he has hatched all this trumpery and made Plunket his dupe, the latter will never get over it; such is the belief, and it really looks like it. Plunket must of course come to the meeting, and we shall then see what he chooses to disclose to the public; for a justification he must make. The Opposition are not disposed to attack Lord Wellesley, and are of course in trammels on the question, but there are plenty of Orangeists who will not be wanting. The thing that I think looks most suspicious in all these measures, is the unmeasured applause which the Opposition papers give to Canning, and I hear that at Brookes's he is much the most popular man in the country; we know his avidity for popular applause, and I own I cannot but entertain some fears as to the abstainment on his part from all intrigue; the best security against this will be in the meeting of Parliament, when he will be soon brought in contact with those who are now upholding him. He does not come in for Liverpool, but for Harwich, as also Mr.

Herries. Young Disbrowe comes in for Windsor, in the room of Sir Herbert Taylor, who resigns his seat. The Duke of York has been alarmingly ill, but is now much better; I understand you met him at the grand _cha.s.se_ at Ashridge.

Although it is very likely the French Government will be forced into a war, yet I am for my own part still disposed to think they will not, from all Lionel Hervey tells me on the subject; it is fraught with too much danger to France itself, and too certain a failure in the object for which the war is contemplated, to be persisted in, however they may bully and prepare for it. Canning has certainly recommended himself greatly to public opinion by the line he has adopted, and though _we are given to understand_ there has been considerable differences in the Cabinet upon it, he has never changed his tone for one moment, and has carried his views.

Adieu, my dear Duke,

Ever most unfeignedly yours,

W. H. F.

[105] Created Baron Fitzgerald in 1826.

[106] Created Baron Glenelg in 1836.

THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

East India Board, Jan. 31, 1823.

MY DEAR B----,

The die seems at length to be cast, and the throw cannot be altered, though the French continue to profess the same desire of avoiding war, and with as much sincerity as they have done throughout the discussion. They have taken the worst course, and in the worst possible way. I really am so much out of humour with the _gros cochon_, that I rather hope that his life may be prolonged, so as to taste a little of the evil which he is about to produce.

Poor Liverpool is in a state of worry and dejection which exceeds anything I have yet seen, but I am a.s.sured by Lord Melville this is not for him extraordinary when hard-worked.

The Speech states the King, faithful to his principles, &c., to have declined any measure which could lead to a foreign interference in the internal affairs of France; his endeavours to prevent hostilities, and his determination if they should take place, to use every effort to put an end to them, maintaining in the mean time the strictest and most exact neutrality; pleasure at the state of the Revenue, and that Parliament will be enabled thereby to relieve the burthens without any violation of public credit; condolence to the agriculture, congratulation to the commerce.

We have plenty of business to bring forward: Irish t.i.thes, Irish distillery, finance, &c. &c.

I heard this morning from Plunket, desiring me to fix with Canning an early day for the Catholic question, which he will bring forward accordingly. I think of Thursday, the 20th, or Tuesday, the 25th.

He waits for the trials, but hopes to be over, as I understand him, on the 10th. He is prepared for violent attacks from the lawyers on the filing of his information after indictment, but speaks confidently of his defence.

Liverpool, Bathurst, Robinson, the Duke, Harrowby, and Westmoreland, are gone down to Brighton to read the Speech.

I do not yet even know what Burdett's motion for to-morrow is to be, but I am told resolutions of moderate censure on the Sheriff; and still less do I know what the course of the Orange Party will be; and it is on the latter that ours must princ.i.p.ally depend, as their only object will clearly be to inculpate Plunket either directly or impliedly.

I go on with very little intercourse with my colleagues in the House of Commons, but must say that they seem not to have any more one with another.

I must break off.

Ever affectionately yours,

C. W. W.

THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

East India Office, Feb. 1, 1823.

MY DEAR B----,

I have not myself the least idea that a wish for the admission of Lord Colchester into the Cabinet exists in any mind except his own, or that Lord Harrowby has any idea of retiring at present.

It is perfectly true that France still continues to say that it must be six weeks before any blow can be struck or a shot fired, and to beg us to continue our good offices, though she cannot admit any mediator between Princes of the House of Bourbon and near neighbours, but she still urges the necessity not so much of any real or efficient change being made, as of its emanating directly from the authority of the King--in short, that because they had a charte, two chambers, and an amnesty, Spain shall have them all likewise.

I have seen no symptom whatever of division among Ministers on this point.

The Lord Chancellor had viewed the introduction of Mr. Canning into the Cabinet with more discontent even than he had bestowed upon the admission of the Grenvilles; but an arrangement that brought him another popular statesman as a colleague, he regarded with so much ill feeling that it amounted to the expression of a desire to resign. "The _Courier_ of last night," he writes, "announces Mr. Huskisson's introduction into the Cabinet. Of the intention or the fact I have no other communication. Whether Lord Sidmouth has or not, I don't know, but really this is rather too much. Looking at the whole history of this gentleman, I don't consider this introduction, without a word said about the intention, as I should perhaps have done with respect to some persons that have been or might be brought into Cabinet, but turning out one man and introducing another in the way all this is done, is telling the Chancellor that he should not give them the trouble of disposing of him, but should (not treated as a Chancellor) cease to be a Chancellor. What makes it worse is, that the great man of all has a hundred times most solemnly declared that no connexions of a certain person's should come in. There is no believing one word anybody says, and what makes the matter still worse is, that everybody acquiesces most quietly, and waits in all humility and patience till their [his]

own turn comes."[107]

[107] Twiss's "Life of Lord Eldon," vol. ii. p. 76.