February 18th, 1819 {p.017}
Yesterday Lamb was only seven behind Hobhouse on the poll; everybody thinks he is sure to win, even if Burdett should come forward with money. The day before there was great uproar and much abuse on the hustings. Burdett made a shameful speech full of blasphemy and Jacobinism, but he seems to have lost his popularity in a great measure even with the blackguards of Westminster. Hobhouse yesterday was long and dull; he did not speak like a clever man, and if the people would have heard Lamb, and he has any dexterity in reply, he must have crushed him--it was so answerable a speech.
I went to the Berrys[31] in the evening, where the blues and the wits were a.s.sembled; as Sidney Smith said, "the conversation raged," but there was nothing remarkably entertaining.
[31] [Miss Berry"s well-known _salon_, No. 8 Curzon Street, which was for more than a half a century the resort of the best company in London.]
[Page Head: PARTY SPIRIT.]
February 25th, 1819 {p.018}
The debate on the 10,000 to the Duke of York on Monday produced four very good speeches--Peel and the Solicitor-General on one part, and Tierney and Scarlett[32] on the other. This latter spoke for the first time, and in reply to the two former. The Opposition came to Brookes" full of admiration of his speech, which is said to be the best _first speech_ that ever was made in the House of Commons. I, who hear all parties and care for none, have been amused with the different accounts of the debate; one man says Peel"s speech was the best of the night and the finest that has been made in the House for a length of time; another prefers the Solicitor-General"s; then on the other side it is said that Tierney was excellent, Mr. Scarlett beyond all praise.
The friends of Government allow great merit to the two latter speakers, but declare that Peel was unanswerable, besides having been beautifully eloquent, and that Scarlett"s speech was a fallacy from beginning to end. Again I am told Peel was not good; his was a speech for effect, evidently prepared, showy, but not argumentative; Scarlett triumphantly refuted all his reasoning.
Thus it is that a fair judgment is never formed upon any question; the spirit of party influences every man"s opinions. It is not extraordinary that each individual of a party connected by general similarity of opinion should adhere to the great body, even in cases where he may not happen to agree with them, and excellent reasons may be adduced for his sacrificing his own view for the great object of unanimity; but it is very improbable that on a particular question, unconnected with any general system, where arguments are adduced from opposite sides, and submitted to the enlightened judgment of an a.s.sembly, the same arguments which are looked upon as satisfactory and unanswerable by one set of men should be deemed without exception utterly fallacious by another. If any proof were requisite of the mighty influence of party spirit, it would be found in a still stronger light in the State trials in the House of Lords. I have in my mind the trial of Lord Melville; when each Peer had to deliver his judicial opinion upon the evidence adduced in a matter so solemn, and in the discharge of a duty so sacred, it might be imagined that all party feelings would be laid aside, and that a mature judgment and an enlightened conscience would alone have regulated the conduct of every individual. Yet either by an extraordinary accident or by the influence of party spirit we beheld all the Peers on the Ministerial side of the House declaring Lord Melville innocent, and all those of the Opposition p.r.o.nouncing him guilty.
[32] [Sir James Scarlett, afterwards Lord Abinger and Lord Chief Baron. It is remarkable that his first speech in the House of Commons was delivered on the Whig side of the House. He afterwards became a decided Tory.]
March 5th, 1819 {p.019}
George Lamb was to have been chaired on the day he was elected, but the mob was outrageous and would not suffer it. They broke into his committee room, and he and McDonald were forced to creep out of a two pair of stairs window into the churchyard. His partisans, who a.s.sembled on horseback, were attacked and pelted, and forced to retreat after receiving many hard knocks. In the evening the mob paraded the town, and broke the windows of Lord Castlereagh"s and Lord Sefton"s houses.
The other night Sir James Mackintosh[33] made a splendid speech on the Criminal Laws; it was temperate and eloquent, and excited universal admiration. The Ministerial party spoke as highly of it as the Opposition themselves. Last night Canning moved the thanks to Lord Hastings, and they say it was the finest speech he ever made, in the best taste, the clearest narrative, and the most beautiful language.
[33] [Sir James Mackintosh"s motion for the appointment of a Committee on Capital Punishments was carried against the Government on the 2nd of March by 148 to 128.]
June 12th, 1819 {p.020}
I have been at Oatlands for the Ascot party. On the course I did nothing. Ever since the Derby ill fortune has pursued me, and I cannot win anywhere. Play is a detestable occupation; it absorbs all our thoughts and renders us unfit for everything else in life. It is hurtful to the mind and destroys the better feelings; it incapacitates us for study and application of every sort; it makes us thoughtful and nervous; and our cheerfulness depends upon the uncertain event of our nightly occupation. How anyone can play who is not in want of money I cannot comprehend; surely his mind must be strangely framed who requires the stimulus of gambling to heighten his pleasures. Some indeed may have become attached to gaming from habit, and may not wish to throw off the habit from the difficulty of finding fresh employment for the mind at an advanced period of life. Some may be unfitted by nature or taste for society, and for such gaming may have a powerful attraction. The mind is excited; at the gaming-table all men are equal; no superiority of birth, accomplishments, or ability avail here; great n.o.blemen, merchants, orators, jockies, statesmen, and idlers are thrown together in levelling confusion; the only pre-eminence is that of success, the only superiority that of temper. But why does a man play who is blessed with fortune, endowed with understanding, and adorned with accomplishments which might ensure his success in any pursuit which taste or fancy might incite him to follow? It is contrary to reason, but we see such instances every day. The pa.s.sion of play is not artificial; it must have existed in certain minds from the beginning; at least some must have been so const.i.tuted that they yield at once to the attraction, and enter with avidity into a pursuit in which other men can never take the least interest.
June 14th, 1819 {p.020}
The other night in the House of Commons on the Foreign Enlistment Bill Sir James Mackintosh made a brilliant speech; all parties agree in commending it. Canning answered him, but not successfully.
The Duke of Wellington told me on Friday that there was a good debate in the House of Lords the night before on the Catholic question, but he thought his side had the worst of it; he acknowledged that Lord Grey"s speech had done much to shake his opinion, and that he had not conceived that his propositions would have been framed in so un.o.bjectionable a manner.[34]
[34] [On the 10th of June Earl Grey submitted to the House of Lords a Bill to relieve Roman Catholics from taking the declaratory oaths against Transubstantiation and the Invocation of Saints. On this occasion, for the first time, Lord Grenville supported the Catholic claims. But the Bill was thrown out by 141 to 92.]
[Page Head: PERSIAN AMBa.s.sADOR AND THE REGENT.]
June 25th, 1819 {p.021}
The Persian Amba.s.sador has had a quarrel with the Court. He wanted to have precedence over all other Amba.s.sadors, and because this was not allowed he was affronted and would not go to Court.
This mark of disrespect was resented, and it was signified to him that his presence would be dispensed with at Carlton House, and that the Ministers could no longer receive him at their houses.
On Sunday last the Regent went to Lady Salisbury"s, where he met the Persian, who, finding he had given offence, had made a sort of apology, and said that illness had prevented him from going to Court. The Regent came up to him and said, "Well, my good friend, how are you? I hope you are better?" He said, "Oh, sir, I am very well, but I am very sorry I offended your Royal Highness by not going to Court. Now, sir, my Sovereign he tell me to go first, and your Congress, about which I know nothing, say I must go last; now this very bad for me (pointing to his head) when I go back to Persia." The Regent said, "Well, my good friend, never mind it now; it does not signify." He answered, "Oh yes, sir; but your Royal Highness still angry with me, and you have not asked me to your party to-morrow night." The Regent laughed and said, "I was only going to have a few children to dance, but if you like to come I shall be very happy to see you." Accordingly he went to Carlton House, and they are very good friends again.
August 11th, 1819 {p.021}
The Vice-Chancellor was going to Italy, but his journey is stopped, as he says, because the Prince Regent has desired him to stay in England in consequence of the approaching return of the Princess of Wales.
August 30th, 1819 {p.022}
I am just returned from Oatlands; we had an immense party, the most numerous ever known there. The d.u.c.h.ess wished it to have been prolonged, but there were no funds. The distress they are in is inconceivable. When the d.u.c.h.ess came down there was no water in the house. She asked the reason, and was informed that the water came by pipes from St. George"s Hill, which were stopped up with sand; and as the workmen were never paid, they would not clear them out. She ordered the pipes to be cleared and the bills brought to her, which was done. On Thursday there was a great distress, as the steward had no money to pay the tradespeople, and the Duke was prevailed on with great difficulty to produce a small sum for the purpose. The house is nearly in ruins.
December 24th, 1819 {p.022}
The Duke of Kent gave the name of Alexandrina to his daughter[35]
in compliment to the Emperor of Russia. She was to have had the name of Georgiana, but the Duke insisted upon Alexandrina being her first name. The Regent sent for Lieven and made him a great many compliments (_en le persiflant_) on the Emperor"s being G.o.dfather, but informed him that the name of Georgiana could be second to no other in this country, and therefore she could not bear it at all.
[35] [The Princess, afterwards Queen, Victoria, born 24th of May, 1819.]
The frost is intense. The town is empty. I returned from Whersted last Wednesday se"nnight, and went to Oatlands on Thursday; there was nearly the same party. Prince Leopold came and dined there on Sat.u.r.day. He is very dull and heavy in his manner, and seems overcome with the weight of his dignity. This Prince will not succeed here; everybody is civil to him from the interest he excited at the time of the Princess"s death--an interest which has not yet subsided. There seems to be no harm in him, but everybody contrasts his manners with those of the Duke of York, and the comparison is not to his advantage. The d.u.c.h.ess likes the society of men of wit and letters; more, I think, from the variety of having them around her than from any pleasure she takes in their conversation. Lord Alvanley is the man in whom she takes the greatest delight.
1820.
London, January 20th, 1820 {p.023}
I went last Sunday se"nnight to Woburn. The Duke of York, Duke of Wellington, Lievens, Jerseys, Worcesters, Tavistocks, Mr.
Russell, Lady Sandwich, Alvanley, C. Smith, Huntleys, Frederick Ponsonby, Lauderdale, and others were there. The house, place, establishment, and manner of living are magnificent. The _cha.s.se_ was brilliant; in five days we killed 835 pheasants, 645 hares, 59 rabbits, 10 partridges, and 5 woodc.o.c.ks. The d.u.c.h.ess was very civil and the party very gay. I won at whist, and liked it very much.
January 22nd, 1820 {p.023}
Just before the advance of the allied army on Paris a council of war was held, when it was unanimously resolved to retreat. The Emperor of Russia entered the room, and said he had reasons for advancing, and ordered the advance; the generals remonstrated, but the Emperor was determined. Woronzoff told Sydenham that that day a courier arrived at his outposts with a letter for the Emperor in the handwriting of Talleyrand. This was told me by Frederick Ponsonby.
[Page Head: ILLNESS OF GEORGE IV.]
February 4th, 1820 {p.023}
I returned to Woburn on Sunday. We shot the whole week and killed an immense quant.i.ty of game; the last two days we killed 245 and 296 pheasants, 822 and 431 head. On Sunday last arrived the news of the King"s death.[36] The new King has been desperately ill.
He had a bad cold at Brighton, for which he lost eighty ounces of blood; yet he afterwards had a severe oppression, amounting almost to suffocation, on his chest. Halford was gone to Windsor, and left orders with Knighton not to bleed him again till his return. Knighton was afraid to bleed him. Bloomfield sent for Tierney,[37] who took upon himself to take fifty ounces from him.
This gave him relief; he continued, however, dangerously ill, and on Wednesday he lost twenty ounces more. Yesterday afternoon he was materially better for the first time. Tierney certainly saved his life, for he must have died if he had not been blooded.
Brougham sent a courier to the Queen immediately after the late King"s death, and gave notice at Carlton House that he had applied for a pa.s.sport for a courier to her Majesty the Queen.
[36] [King George III. died on the 20th of January, 1820.]
[37] [Sir Matthew Tierney, one of His Majesty"s physicians.]
The King has given to Lady Bloomfield the Rangership of Hampton Court Park. He wished to give it to both of them with the survivorship, but Lord Liverpool submitted to him that the House of Commons had p.r.o.nounced so strongly their dislike to reversionary grants that it would be unadvisable, and it was accordingly given to Lady B. only.