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THE CREEVEY PAPERS 
 
First Edition . . November, 1903- 
 Reprinted .... December, 1903. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924088008184 
 
THE CREEVEY PAPERS 
 
 A SELECTION FROM THE CORRES- 
 PONDENCE & DIARIES OF THE LATE 
 THOMAS CREEVEY, M.P. 
 
 BORN 1768— DIED 1838 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL 
 
 BART., M.P., LL.D., F.R.S. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. I. 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 LONDON 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 
 
 1903 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 "How little," exclaims Mr. Birrell, in his recent 
 memoir of William Hazlitt, "how little is it we know 
 about the character of a dead man we never saw!" 
 Little enough, as a rule, of the performer, even when 
 the part he has played has been historical ; still less 
 when his natural gifts have not availed to raise him 
 to distinction, or circumstances refused him a place 
 above the common run of his kind. Nevertheless it 
 is given to certain men of subordinate importance in 
 their day so to reveal themselves in correspondence 
 or, more rarely, in their journals, as to leave upon 
 him who, in after years, shall stir the venerable store 
 and decipher the faded pages, an impression of their 
 personality so vivid as to convince him of the 
 writer's character and motives. 
 
 Of such was Thomas Creevey, sometime member 
 of Parliament for Thetford, and afterwards for Appleby 
 — both of them pocket boroughs of the most unre- 
 generate type. He was born in Liverpool in March, 
 1768, and certain allusions in his correspondence seem 
 to show that his parents were natives of Ireland. But 
 Creevey himself seems to have been pretty much in 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the dark as to his own origin. He formed an early 
 and intimate friendship with Dr. J. Currie, a dis- 
 tinguished physician and leading citizen of Liverpool,* 
 who writes as follows in 1803 : — 
 
 " Well, I know all about your birth and parentage. 
 You came originally from Galloway in Scotland, and 
 settled on the Irish coast right opposite, within sight 
 of the sweet country you had left — you are of an 
 ancient Scottish family in that county, now nearly 
 extinct (except that it revives in your own person) 
 to whom belonged the castle and manor of Castle 
 Creevey near Glenluce (with which I am perfectly 
 acquainted) now in the family of Lord Selkirk, I 
 believe. Then your grandfather who was an officer 
 in the army, if not born was certainly begotten in 
 Scotland, and as far as Mrs. Eaton and I can ascertain 
 the fact, in the very town of Dumfries — but that we 
 won't be sure of — And to come to the point, it would 
 not be at all surprising if in the last 500 years some 
 of our ancestors had joined issue together, and if our 
 great-grandfathers, ten or twenty times removed, had 
 been one and the same person ! " 
 
 Now in one respect, at least, the learned doctor's 
 statements herein will not bear examination. Castle 
 Creavie, indeed, is in Galloway ; but it is not near 
 Glenluce, which is in Wigtownshire (Western Gallo- 
 way), and it never belonged to the family of Lord 
 Selkirk. It is a farm in Rerwick parish, in the 
 Stewartry of Kircudbright (Eastern Galloway), 
 distant fully fifty miles from Glenluce, and has 
 been owned successively by different families; but 
 not since 1646, at least, by any of the name of 
 Creevey or Creavie. Neither is there, nor has there 
 
 * James Currie, M.D. [1756-1805], son of a Scottish minister, 
 emigrated to Virginia in 1771, where he studied medicine. Returning 
 to Great Britain in 1777, he continued his studies at Edinburgh 
 University, and ultimately became the chief exponent of the cold-water 
 cure, and the advocate of thermometrical observations in fever. 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 been, any castle there, although the prefix doubtless 
 was derived from a couple of pre-historic hill forts, 
 of which the mounds remain on the north and east of 
 the present farmhouse.* 
 
 This Thomas Creevey was educated at a grammar 
 school at Hackney — " old School Lane," he calls it— 
 and at Cambridge ; after which he read law at Gray's 
 Inn. The voluminous correspondence and journals 
 left by him afford no explanation of how he obtained 
 in 1802 the Duke of Norfolk's nomination for the 
 snug little borough of Thetford with its thirty-one 
 docile electors. That year was notable for another 
 important event in his life, namely, his marriage with 
 the widow of William Ord, Esq., of Fenham, New- 
 minster Abbey, and Whitfield. This lady, who was 
 the daughter of Charles Brandling, Esq., of Gosforth 
 House, M.P. for Newcastle-on-Tyne, was possessed 
 of comfortable, if not of considerable, means. To 
 her first husband she had borne two sons and four 
 daughters ; and one of these daughters, Elizabeth Ord, 
 who never married, became her step-father's confidante 
 and favourite correspondent. After their mother's 
 death in 1818, the Miss Ords lived at Rivenhall in 
 Essex, and in Cheltenham ; and Miss Elizabeth corre- 
 sponded regularly with Mr. Creevey, whose industry 
 and volubility in response are truly amazing. A large 
 proportion of the following pages are filled with 
 extracts from these letters — extracts which probably 
 do not amount to more than one-fiftieth of the whole. 
 As time went on, Mr. Creevey conceived the idea of 
 compiling a history of his own times, and used to tell 
 Miss Elizabeth Ord to keep his letters, " for," said he, 
 
 * Land and their Owners in Galloway, by P. H. McKerlie, 
 vol. V. p. 113. 
 
VUl INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " in future times the Creevey Papers may form a 
 curious collection." 
 
 In regard to the papers as a whole, Miss Ord faith- 
 fully observed her step-father's instructions. They 
 have been admirably kept ; many of them having 
 been copied out in her clear, pretty handv^^riting — an 
 immense advantage to the present editor, for Mr. 
 Creevey's penmanship was simply execrable. It is 
 characteristic of such matters that some of the events 
 and episodes of which Creevey thought it most 
 important to leave a detailed record, have parted with 
 much of their moment, having received full explana- 
 tion and description from other sources. What the 
 modern reader is most likely to enjoy are the gossip 
 of a bygone day, side-lights on society of the late 
 Georgian era, and traits and illustrations of persons 
 who figured prominently on the stage of public life. 
 Creevey was admirably equipped as a purveyor of 
 such information. His activity must have been as 
 ceaseless as his curiosity was insatiable. His was 
 one of those active intellects not of the first, nor even 
 of the second, order, amassing details of the busy life 
 in which they are cast, recording traits and chronicling 
 episodes whereon the greater actors have no attention 
 to bestow or time to dwell, and revealing his private 
 motives and animosities with an almost Pepysian 
 frankness. A very poor man most of his days, for 
 with his wife Creevey lost whatever income she 
 brought to him, he must have had social and conver- 
 sational powers of no mean order to attract the end- 
 less hospitality of which he was the subject, and 
 which he was wholly unable to return. The repository 
 of innumerable confidences from persons of both sexes, 
 it must be confessed that he was not always very 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 scrupulous in observing the seal of secrecy, neither 
 has it appeared expedient, even at this distance of 
 time, to dispense with a severe system of selection in 
 dealing with his chronique scandaleuse. 
 
 It is natural to compare a collection such as this 
 with the well-known " Croker Papers " which have 
 already seen the light, and indeed they cover much 
 the same ground, but from an opposite point of view. 
 John Wilson Croker was a Tory, and his party were 
 in office during the long, weary years when it was 
 the lot of Thomas Creevey and his friends to gnash 
 their teeth in opposition. The two men probably 
 were of not unequal calibre. Creevey had not the 
 literary turn of Croker ; but it was opportunity alone 
 which prevented him becoming at least as distin- 
 guished a legislator as the other; and, had the fortune 
 and position of parties been reversed, Creevey would, 
 in all likelihood, have attained to higher office than 
 Croker ever filled. He had been but four years in 
 Parliament when, after Pitt's death, the brief " All-the- 
 Talents " Ministry was formed, and in this he received 
 the office of Secretary to the Board of Control. By 
 the time his party came into power again, Creevey 
 was sixty-two, and had lost his seat ; but his services 
 received instant recognition by his appointment, 
 despite his age, first to the Treasurership of the 
 Ordnance, and afterwards to that of Greenwich 
 Hospital. 
 
 If any evidence were wanting as to the disunion 
 and its causes, which sapped the efficacy of the Whig 
 opposition during the first thirty years of the nine- 
 teenth century, it is amply forthcoming in Creevey's 
 letters, and nobody can complain that it is not ex- 
 pressed in forcible enough language. It must ever be 
 
 VOL. I. b 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a source of wonder to the student of history how the 
 Tory Government weathered the stress and storm of 
 those years. For twenty years a mighty war, taxing 
 to the utmost the physical resources of a popula- 
 tion not exceeding fifteen millions, was sustained 
 at the cost of a crushing increment of debt. The fall 
 in prices suddenly ensuing upon the peace of 1815, 
 plunged the whole agricultural community into dire 
 distress, and was accompanied by an almost total 
 cessation of continental demand for British manufac- 
 tures, arising from the utter loss of buying power in 
 foreign markets, which involved the artisan population 
 in the terrible distress. Nor was this all, though 
 well it might be reckoned enough to bring about the 
 fall of any administration. Ministers groaned under 
 the affliction of a mad King and a deplorable Regent. 
 The whole heart of the nation was stirred against 
 the Administration by reason of the part assigned 
 to Ministers in the proceedings against Queen 
 Caroline. How was it that they survived a single 
 session ? 
 
 The answer may be clearly read in Creevey's 
 correspondence. First, in regard to the war, the 
 people were practically of one mind — to see it through. 
 It has ever been so in our country, and please God it 
 ever shall be so ! Once let the drums beat the point 
 of war, and they rouse an echo in British hearts 
 which dies not away till the thing has been carried to 
 a finish. Men will not listen to those counsellors 
 who would have them believe that the policy which 
 led to war was foolish or wrong — nay, they will not 
 pause to weigh even the justice of the cause. Of all 
 sentiments, patriotism is perhaps one of those least 
 amenable to reason — the least calculating ; those that 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 hesitate in the crisis, still more those who carp and 
 thwart, become by force of circumstance and quite apart 
 from their own honesty of opinion, the anti-national 
 party. We have seen the same in every great war 
 that it has been the lot of England to wage ; and it is 
 the knowledge of this and the feeling that lies deepest 
 in every Briton's heart, that disorganises opposition 
 at such times. The extreme men move resolutions 
 which the moderate men will not support ; then, when 
 the moderates agree upon a line of action, the others 
 stand resentfully aloof Perhaps the most interesting 
 and instructive political passages in these papers are 
 those in which are revealed the most secret counsels 
 of the opposition, and the course of action which 
 repeatedly saved Lord Liverpool's administration 
 from shipwreck. 
 
 References to Thomas Creevey in the published 
 writings of his contemporaries are few, and for the 
 most part slight. The fullest notice I have en- 
 countered is in some passages in the Journal of 
 Charles Greville. 
 
 Writing in 1829, he has the following : — 
 
 " Old Creevey is rather an extraordinary character. 
 I know nothing of the early part of his history, but I 
 believe he was an attorney or barrister ; he married a 
 widow, who died a few years ago ; she had something, 
 he nothing ; he got into Parliament, belonged to the 
 Whigs, displayed a good deal of shrewdness and 
 humour, and was for some time very troublesome to 
 the Tory Government by continually attacking abuses. 
 After some time he lost his seat, and went to live at 
 Brussels, where he became intimate with the Duke of 
 Wellington. Then his wife died, upon which event he 
 was thrown upon the world with about ;^20o a year or 
 less ; no home, few connections, a great many acquaint- 
 ances, a good constitution and extraordinary spirits. 
 
xn INTRODUCTION. 
 
 He possesses nothing but his clothes ; no property of 
 any sort ; he leads a vagrant life, visiting a number of 
 people who are delighted to have him, and sometimes 
 roving about to various places, as fancy happens to 
 direct, and staying till he has spent what money he 
 has in his pocket. He has no servant, no home, no 
 creditors ; he buys everything as he wants it at the 
 place he is at; he has no ties upon him, and has 
 his time entirely at his own disposal and that of his 
 friends. He is certainly a living proof that a man 
 may be perfectly happy and exceedingly poor, or 
 rather without riches, for he suffers none of the priva- 
 tions of poverty and enjoys many of the advantages 
 of wealth. I think he is the only man I know in 
 society who possesses nothing."* 
 
 Again in 1838 : — 
 
 "Feb. 20th. — I made no allusion to the death of 
 Creevey at the time it took place, about a fortnight 
 ago, having said something about him elsewhere. 
 Since that period he had got into a more settled way 
 of life. He was appointed to one of the Ordnance 
 offices by Lord Grey, and subsequently by Lord Mel- 
 bourne to the Treasurership of Greenwich Hospital, 
 with a salary of ;^6oo a year and a house. As he died 
 very suddenly, and none of his connexions were at 
 hand, Lord Sefton sent to his lodgings and (in con- 
 junction with Vizard the solicitor) caused all his papers 
 to be sealed up. It was found that he had left a 
 woman who had lived with him for four years as his 
 mistress, his sole executrix and residuary legatee (the 
 value of which was very small, not more than ;£'300 
 or ;£"40o), and to all the papers which he had left behind 
 him. These last are exceedingly valuable, for he had 
 kept a copious diary for thirty-six years, had preserved 
 all his own and Mrs. Creevey's letters, and copies or 
 originals of a vast miscellaneous correspondence. The 
 only person who is acquainted with the contents 
 of these papers is his daughter-in-law, whom he had 
 frequently employed to copy papers for him, and she 
 knows how much there is of delicate and interesting 
 
 * Greville Memoirs, i. 235. 
 
INTRODUCTION. XIU 
 
 matter, the publication of which would be painful and 
 embarrassing to many people now alive, and make 
 very inconvenient and premature revelations upon 
 private and confidential matters. . . . Then there is 
 Creevey's own correspondence with various people, 
 especially with Brougham, which evidently contains 
 things which Brougham is anxious to suppress, for he 
 has taken pains to prevent the papers from falling into 
 the hands of any person likely to publish them, and 
 has urged Vizard to get possession of them either by 
 persuasiqn, or purchase, or both. In point of fact, they 
 are now in Vizard's hands, and it is intended by him 
 and Brougham, probably with the concurrence of 
 others, to buy them of Creevey's mistress ; though who 
 is to become the owner of the documents, or what the 
 stipulated price, and what their contemplated destina- 
 tion, I do not know. The most extraordinary part of 
 the affair is that the woman has behaved with the 
 utmost delicacy and propriety, has shown no mer- 
 cenary disposition, but expressed her desire to be 
 guided by the wishes and opinions of Creevey's 
 friends and connexions, and to concur in whatever 
 measures may be thought best by them with reference 
 to the character of Creevey, and the interests and feel- 
 ings of those who might be affected by the contents 
 of the papers. Here is a strange situation in which 
 to find a rectitude of conduct, a moral sentiment, a 
 grateful and disinterested liberality, which would do 
 honour to the highest birth, the most careful cultiva- 
 tion and the strictest principle. It would be a hundred 
 to one against any individual in the ordinary ranks of 
 society and of average good character acting with 
 such entire absence of selfishness, and I cannot help 
 being struck with the contrast between the motives 
 and disposition of those who want to get hold of these 
 papers, and of this poor woman who is ready to give 
 them up. They — well knowing that in the present 
 thirst for the sort of information Creevey's journals 
 and correspondence contain, a very large sum might 
 be obtained for them — are endeavouring to drive the 
 best bargain they can with her for their own particular 
 ends, while she puts her whole confidence in them, 
 and only wants to do what they tell her she ought to 
 do under the circumstances of the case." 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION. 
 
 A couple of years later, Greville has a further 
 reference to Creevey. 
 
 " i2th March, 1840. — Her Majesty went out last 
 night to the Ancient Concert (which she particularly 
 dislikes), so I got Melbourne to dine with me, and he 
 stayed talking till 12 o'clock. . . . He expressed his 
 surprise that anybody should write a journal. . . . 
 He talked of Creevey's journal, and of that which 
 Dover is supposed to have left behind him. . . . He 
 said Creevey had been very shrewd, but exceedingly 
 bitter and malignant." 
 
 Mrs Blackett Ord, of Whitfield, whose husband 
 was the grandson of Mr. Creevey's eldest step- 
 daughter, Anne, by her husband, Lieut.-Colonel 
 Hamilton, having entrusted to me the task of ex- 
 amining these papers, and preparing for the press 
 such parts of them as should seem worthy of pub- 
 lication, I have endeavoured to let Mr. Creevey tell 
 his own story as much as possible, connecting the 
 extracts only by such explanatory paragraphs as may 
 serve to refresh the memory of the reader. The 
 " copious diary " referred to by Charles Greville has 
 not come into my hands with the letters. If it ever 
 existed in fact. Lord Brougham probably succeeded 
 in his attempt to get hold of it, for it is only brief and 
 broken periods that are covered by anything of that 
 kind in Creevey's handwriting. 
 
 In respect to orthography, I have thought it better 
 to retain the characteristic archaisms of the period, 
 such as " chuse," " compleatly," and " politicks." 
 Misspellings of proper names, such as " Wyndham " 
 for " Windham," I have altered for the sake of 
 identification, and ordinary slips in spelling have also 
 
INTRODUCTION. XV 
 
 been rectified. Words and sentences enclosed in 
 marks of parentheses ( ) stand so in the original; 
 those added by myself to supplement the meaning 
 will be found in square brackets [ ]. 
 
 HERBERT MAXWELL. 
 
 MONREITH, 1903. 
 
NICKNAMES USED BY MR. CREEVEY TO 
 DESIGNATE SUNDRY PERSONAGES. 
 
 Arch-fiend, The 
 Barney . 
 
 Beau, The 
 Beelzebub 
 
 Billy, Old 
 Billy, Our 
 Billy Russell . 
 
 Bogey 
 
 Brtiffam . 
 
 Calibre, Old or Lord 
 
 Cheerful Charlie 
 Ciss 
 
 Clunch . 
 Cole, Mrs. 
 
 Lord Arthur Hill, 2nd son of 2nd Marquess 
 
 of Downshire, and afterwards succeeded 
 
 his mother as Lord Sandys. 
 See Beelzebub. 
 1 2th Duke of Norfolk. See also Twitch 
 
 and Scroop. 
 The Duke of Wellington. 
 Henry, ist Lord Brougham and Vaux. 
 
 See also Bruffam, The Arch-fiend, and 
 
 Wicked-shifts. 
 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. 
 William IV. 
 Lord William Russell, brother of 5th Duke 
 
 of Bedford. 
 Lord Grenville. 
 See Beelzebub. 
 Mr. Western, M.P., created Lord Western 
 
 in 1833. 
 5 th Duke of Rutland. 
 Lady Cecilia Buggin, daughter of the 2nd 
 
 Earl of Arran and widow of Sir George 
 
 Buggin, married in 1826 to H.R.H. 
 
 Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, 
 
 and was created Duchess of Inverness 
 
 in 1840. 
 Lord Althorp. 
 Mr. Tierney. 
 
NICKNAMES USED BY MR. CREEVEY. 
 
 XVll 
 
 Cole, Young . 
 
 Hon. James Abercromby, elected Speaker 
 
 
 in 1835 and created Lord Dunfermline 
 
 
 in 1839. 
 
 Comical Bob . 
 
 Lord Robert Spencer, brother of the 3rd 
 
 
 Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 Cupid . 
 
 Viscount Palmerston. 
 
 Dear Eddard . 
 
 Hon. Robert Edward Petre. 
 
 Denny 
 
 Mr. Denison of Denbies. 
 
 Doctor, The . 
 
 Right Hon. Henry Addington, created 
 
 
 Viscount Sidmouth in 1805. 
 
 Fergy 
 
 General Ronald Ferguson of Raith. 
 
 Frog, The 
 
 King William I. of Holland. 
 
 Frog, Young . 
 
 The Prince of Orange. 
 
 Frothy . 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P. 
 
 Gooserump 
 
 The 6th Earl of Carlisle. 
 
 Jack the Painter 
 
 Right Hon. T. Spring Rice, created Lord 
 
 
 Monteagle in 1839. 
 
 Jaffa . . . 
 
 General Sir Robert Wilson. 
 
 Jenky 
 
 Lord Liverpool. 
 
 Jockey, The . 
 
 The nth Duke of Norfolk, 
 
 King Jog 
 
 J. G. Lambton of Lambton, afterwards 
 
 
 Earl of Durham. 
 
 King Tom 
 
 Thomas Coke of Holkham, afterwards 
 
 
 Earl of Leicester. 
 
 Madagascar . 
 
 Lady Holland. 
 
 Merryman, The 
 
 Mr. Canning. 
 
 Mouldy . 
 
 Lord Bexley. 
 
 Mrs. P. . 
 
 The Princess of Wales (Queen Caroline). 
 
 Mull . 
 
 Lord Molyneux, son of the 3rd Earl of 
 
 
 Sefton. 
 
 Niffy-naffy . 
 
 Earl of Darlington, afterwards ist Duke of 
 
 
 Cleveland. 
 
 Og or Ogg 
 
 The 2nd Lord Kensington. 
 
 Old Nobs . , 
 
 . George III. 
 
 Old Sally or Dow 
 Sally 
 
 f Mary Amelia, Marchioness of Salisbury. 
 
 Old Stiff-rump or \ Mr. Western, M. P., afterwards Lord 
 
 The Squire 
 
 ) Western. 
 
 Pet, The . 
 
 . 3rd Earl of Sefton. 
 
 P., Young 
 
 . Princess Charlotte of Wales, 
 
 Pie and Thimble 
 
 Lord John Russell. 
 
XVlll 
 
 NICKNAMES USED BY MR. CREEVEY. 
 
 Pop, TIu 
 
 Pr-inney . 
 Punch 
 Roscms . 
 
 Sally 
 
 Sally, Old or Boui. 
 
 Scroop 
 
 Slice 
 
 Snip 
 
 Snipe 
 
 Snoutch . 
 
 Squire, The, or Old 
 
 Stiff-rump 
 Suss 
 
 Spinning Jenny 
 Taffy . . 
 Twitch . 
 Vandernoot, Old 
 Vesuvius 
 Vic, Little 
 Wicked-shifts . 
 
 Countess of Darlington, afterwards Duchess 
 
 of Cleveland. 
 The Prince of Wales (George IV.). 
 Charles Greville, Clerk of the Council. 
 Lord Henry Petty, afterwards 3rd Marquess 
 
 of Lansdowne. 
 Sarah, Countess of Jersey. 
 Mary Amelia, Marchioness of Salisbury. 
 The 1 2th Duke of Norfolk. 
 H.R.H. the Duke of Gloucester. 
 Right Hon. Thomas Robinson, successively 
 
 Viscount Goderich and Earl of Ripon. 
 Princess Lieven. 
 Not identified. 
 Mr. Western, M.P., afterwards Lord 
 
 Western. 
 H.R.H. the Duke of Sussex. 
 Sir Robert Peel. 
 Lord Dinorbin. 
 The 1 2th Duke of Norfolk. 
 William Van Mildert, Bishop of Durham. 
 Hon. Douglas Kinnaird. 
 Queen Victoria. 
 See Beelzebub. 
 
CONTENTS TO VOL. I. 
 
 Introduction ... ... ... ... ... ... v 
 
 Nicknames used by Mr. Creevey ... ... ... xvi 
 
 List of Illustrations ... ... ... ... ... xxiii 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 1793-1804. 
 
 Creevey enters Parliament— Paris under the Consulate— Actors 
 in the Revolution — The Addington Ministry— Sir John 
 Moore — War — The return of Pitt — Per mare et terras — 
 The Front Bench — Latidator temporis acti — Pitt and Fox 
 as allies — The bonds of party — The hope of the Whigs — 
 Threats of invasion — The Irish difficulty 1-31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1805. 
 
 Melville's disgrace — The campaign against jobs — The Radicals 
 make the pace — The Sheridans — Romilly declines Parlia- 
 ment—Irish affairs — Ulm and Austerlitz 32-45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1805. 
 
 The Heir Apparent — Life at the Pavilion — Sheridan — Sheridan's 
 marriage — Frolics at Brighton — Warren Hastings — Lord 
 Thurlow — The Duke of York — Society at Brighton — Even- 
 ings at the Pavilion — Death of Nelson — The Prince of 
 Wales and Mrs. Fitzherbert 46-73 
 
XX CONTENTS TO VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 " All the Talents " — Creevey in office — Fox's last illness — 
 Sheridan jibs — High living — The Portland Administration 
 — Alliance with Spain — ^The Convention of Cintra — Mr. 
 Whitbread unbosoms himself 74-92 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 1809. 
 
 Walcheren — Castlereagh's duel with Canning — Whitbread on the 
 situation — The passage of the Douro — Sir Arthur Wellesley 
 remonstrates — Mr. Whitbread explains — Journal ... 93-116 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1810. 
 
 The sentiments of Brougham — Difficulties of the Opposition — 
 Debate on the Address — Divided counsels — The Walcheren 
 enquiry — Wellington and the Common Council — Defeat 
 of the Government — A sailor's opinion of Sir Richard 
 Strachan Ii7-I34 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 iBii. 
 
 Cabinet making — Whitbread's proposals — The prospect of office 
 — Creevey's conditions — The Prince's coolness to the Whigs 
 — Journal — The Canningites scattered 135-152 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1812. 
 
 Parliament is dissolved — Who shall be Premier ? — Prolonged 
 suspense — Lord Wellesley tries his hand — Lord Grey stands 
 aloof — Lord Liverpool takes office — Creevey stands for Liver- 
 pool — Re-elected for Thetford — Defeated at Liverpool — 
 Visit to Knowsley 153-174 
 
CONTENTS TO VOL. I. XXI 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 1813-1814. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Regent's domestic affairs — Brougham on the war-path — 
 Brougham's opinion of Whitbread — Partisans — Plot and 
 counter-plot — Napoleon abdicates — Tales of the town — The 
 peace — Brougham without a seat — The Emperor of Russia 
 — Princess Charlotte of Wales — The Princess of Wales 
 throws over her advisers — Lord Cochrane's case ... 175-204 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1814-1815. 
 
 Brougham on the situation — The pinch of the property-tax — The 
 Hundred Days — Brussels in 1815 — The shadow of war — 
 Napoleon's last stakes — Tidings from the frontier — Arrival 
 of Wellingfton — Confusion in Brussels — The Iron Duke — 
 The Duchess of Richmond's ball — The eve of Waterloo— 
 The eighteenth of June — Conflicting rumours — Victory — 
 Conversation with the Duke — Close of the campaign ... 205-239 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1815-1816. 
 
 Death of Whitbread — Misfortunes of the; Opposition — The duke- 
 dom of Norfolk — Disorganised Whigs — Brougham startles 
 his friends — Who shall lead the Whigs ? — Brougham's views 
 — A lady's letter — A dispirited Radical — " You must come 
 over!" ... ... ... ... .. ... ... 240-260 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 1817-1818. 
 
 From Lord Holland — Mr. Tierney chosen leader — Napoleon at 
 St. Helena — The Duke of Kent's confidences — Lord Kin- 
 naird's affair — Mr. Creevey dislodged from Thetford — 
 Journal — Sir Hudson Lowe — Objections to Tierney ... 261-291 
 
xxn CONTENTS TO VOL. I. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 1819-1820. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Lord Holland upon the situation — Death of George III. — Queen 
 Caroline reappears — Dissension in the Opposition — Does 
 Brougham run straight? — The question of the Liturgy — ■ 
 Opinion at Knowsley — Opening of the trial — Proceedings in 
 the Lords — The case for the Crown — Unfavourable evidence 
 — Louise Demont — The Solicitor-General sums up — The 
 divorce clause abandoned — Brougham opens the defence — 
 Ministers lose ground — The Duke of Norfolk's opinion — 
 Adjournment of the Commons — Brougham's tactics — Mr. 
 Denman sums up — Nearing the end — What will be the 
 majority ? — The division — The Bill abandoned — The pro- 
 rogation ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 292-342 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Thomas Creevey ... ... ... ... Frontispiece 
 
 From a Water-colour Drawing, in the possession of Miss 
 Elizabeth Blackett Ord, at Brownside, Cumberland 
 
 TO FACE PAGE 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert ... ... ... ... ... 50 
 
 From the Picture by JOHN Russell, R.A., in the pos- 
 session of Mr. Basil Fitzherbert, at Swinnerton Hall, 
 Staffordshire 
 
 Lord Thurlow ... ... ... ... ... 60 
 
 From the Picture by Thomas Phillips, R.A., in the 
 National Portrait Gallery 
 
 Admiral Sir Graham Moore ... ... ... ... go 
 
 From the Picture by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., in 
 the Natio7ial Portrait Gallery 
 
 R. Brinsley Sheridan ... ... ... ... 146 
 
 From a Picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A., in the 
 possession of George Harland Peck, Fsq. 
 
 Henry Brougham in Early Life ... ... ... 172 
 
 From the Picture by James Lonsdale, in the National 
 Portrait Gallery 
 
 Samuel Whitbread ... ... ... ... ... 242 
 
 From an Engraving by S. W. REYNOLDS, after']. Opie, R.A. 
 
 Sir Samuel Romilly ... ... ... ... ... 290 
 
 From the Picture by SiR Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., in 
 the National Portrait Gallery 
 
 Sarah, Countess of Jersey ... ... ... ... 296 
 
 From a Picture by Sir Thomas Lawrence, P.R.A., in the 
 possession of the Earl of Jersey. 
 
THE CREEVEY PAPERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1 793-1 804. 
 
 The earliest letter preserved in the huge mass of Mr. 
 Creevey's correspondence is a very brief one ; but it 
 strikes the note which carried dismay and indignation 
 into every court in Europe, and was the prelude to 
 twenty years of widespread war. 
 
 Hon. Charles Grey, M.P. [afterwards 2nd Earl Grey\, to 
 Mrs. Ord. 
 
 "24th Jan., 1793. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Ord, 
 
 " I have only a moment before the post goes 
 out. . . . An account is come that the King of France 
 was executed on Monday morning. Everything in 
 Paris bore the appearance of another tumult and 
 massacre. Bad as I am thought, I cannot express the 
 horror I feel at this atrocity. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "C. Grey. 
 
 " War is certain, and — God grant we may not all 
 lament the consequences of it ! " 
 
 There are few letters during the remaining years 
 of the eighteenth century referring to anything except 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
2 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I 
 
 private affairs of little interest. Dr. J. Currie of 
 Liverpool wrote pretty regularly to Mr. Creevey, 
 virho seems to have been reading for the Bar at this 
 time. 
 
 Dr. Currie to Thomas Creevey. 
 
 "Liverpool, 30th Dec, 1795. 
 
 "... I once thought you a modest fellow — now I 
 laugh at the very idea of it. Upon my soul, Creevey, 
 it was all a damned hum. What with your election 
 songs and your rompings — what with yourcarousings 
 with the men and your bamboozlings with the women, 
 you are a most complete hand indeed. Widow, wife, 
 or maid, it is all one to you. ... If you go on in this 
 way, and keep out of Doctors Commons, the Lord 
 knows what you may rise to. . . ." 
 
 "17th Dec, 1798. 
 
 "... I am, I assure you, deeply concerned to hear 
 that you think so poorly of Dr. Tennant's health ; 
 and perfectly disturbed to think that he has had any 
 trouble about my thermometers.* The truth is I 
 wished to avail myself of his intuitive skill in framing 
 an instrument free of all exception for taking heat in 
 contagious diseases where approach is hazardous. 
 But since he left us ... I have so far succeeded in 
 constructing a sensible [? sensitive] instrument with 
 Six's iron index as to answer my purpose. ... I have 
 done very little but read Voltaire since I saw you. 
 He is an exquisite fellow. One thing in him is 
 peculiarly striking — his clear knowledge of the limits 
 of the human understanding. He pursues his game 
 as far as the scent carries him, but no further. Where 
 this fails, he turns off with a jest, that marks distinctly 
 where a wise man ought to stop. . . . You know, 
 my dear fellow, I owe the delight of reading him to 
 
 you." 
 
 * The most enduring part of Dr. Currie's work as a physician 
 consists in the advance he made in the use of the thermometer in 
 fevers. 
 
1793-1804.] CREEVEY ENTERS PARLIAMENT. 3 
 
 "20th Jan., 1801. 
 "... I envy you the company you keep. When 
 you tell me of meeting Erskine, rarr and Mackintosh 
 familiarly, I sigh at my allotment in this corner of 
 the Island. It is impossible not to rust here, even if 
 one had talents of a better kind. In London, and 
 perhaps there only, practice and exercise keep men 
 polished and bright. ... So you are become an 
 intimate friend of Lady Oxford. My dear Creevey — 
 these women — these beautiful women — are the devil's 
 most powerful temptation — but I will not moralize, 
 on paper at least. . . ." 
 
 In 1802 Mr. Creevey was returned to Parliament 
 as member for Thetford, a pocket borough in the gift 
 of the Duke of Norfolk. How he obtained this nomi- 
 nation there is no evidence to show ; but he was an 
 enthusiastic Whig of the advanced type which was 
 about to reject that time-worn title, and adopt the 
 more expressive one of Radical. Indeed, the animosity 
 of this section against the old Whigs, under the lead 
 of Lord Grenville, was almost as intense as it was 
 against the Tories under Pitt. 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett, M.P., to Mr. Creevey, M.P. 
 
 "Piccadilly, August i8th, 1802. 
 
 " My dear Creevey, 
 
 " I have scarcely time to turn round, but will 
 not defer sending a line in answer to your very kind 
 letter— as I am entirely of your opinion in every 
 point. I look upon your advice as excellent, and 
 intend consequently to follow it. You know by this 
 time the Petition is taken out of my hands, in a 
 manner most flattering and honourable. The conduct 
 of the Sheriffs I believe quite unprecedented, but 
 whether they will be punished, protected or rewarded 
 exceeds my sagacity to foretell, perhaps both the latter. 
 
 " I regard the issue of this contest exactly in the 
 same light as you do— a subject of great triumph and 
 not of mortification. My friend is compleatly satisfied. 
 
4 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I, 
 
 I have done my duty and the Public acknowledge it — 
 surely this is sufficient to satisfy the ambition of an 
 honest man. 
 
 " I, however, cannot help envying you your happi- 
 ness and comfort, and wish most heartily I was of the 
 party. You cannot think how friendly Ord was nor 
 how much I feel obhged to him — we used his house, 
 but I hope not injure it. 
 
 " Sherry is quite grown loving again ; he came 
 here yesterday with all sorts of [illegible] from the 
 Prince, Mrs. Fitzherbert, &c., &c. ; it is a year and half, 
 I believe before this Election, since we almost spoke. 
 Mrs. Sheridan came one day on the Hastings, and was 
 much delighted and entertained at being hailed by the 
 multitude as Mrs. Burdett. . . . 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " F. Burdett." 
 
 Mr. Creevey, M.P., to Dr. Currie. 
 
 "Great Cumberland Place, 8th Nov., 1802. 
 
 ". . . The Grenvilles are in great spirits ; the 
 Morning Post, and Morning Chronicle too, are strongly 
 suspected of being in their pay, and to-day it is 
 said Tom Grenville is to be started as Speaker 
 against Abbott. Great are the speculations about 
 Pitt : it is asserted that he is fonder of his relations 
 [the Grenvilles] than the Doctor,* but I hear of no 
 authority for this opinion. I, for one, if they try their 
 strength in the choice of a Speaker, tho' I detest 
 Abbott, will vote for him or anybody else supported 
 by Addington, in opposition to a Grenville or a Pittite. 
 I am affraid of this damned Addington being bullied 
 out of his pacific disposition. He will be most cursedly 
 run at, and he has neither talents to command open 
 coadjutors, nor sufficient skill in intriguing to acquire 
 private ones. Still I think we cannot surely be pushed 
 again into the field of battle. 
 
 "Now for France — all the world has been there, 
 and various is the information imported from thence. 
 
 * The Right Hon. Henry Addington, created Viscount Sidmouth 
 in 1805. He was nicknamed " the Doctor " because his father was a 
 physician. 
 
1793-1804.] PARIS UNDER THE CONSULATE. 5 
 
 Whishawwas my first historian, and I think the worst. 
 He was at Paris only a fortnight, but he travelled 
 through France. I apprehend, either from a scanty 
 supply of the language or of proper introductions, he 
 has been merely a stage coach traveller. He has seen 
 soldiers in every part of his tour, and superintending 
 every department of the Government . . . and has 
 returned quite scared out of his wits at the dreadful 
 power and villainy of the French Government. . . . 
 Romilly* is my next relator, and much more amusing. 
 His private friends were the Liancourts, de la Roche- 
 foucaults, &c., and he dined at different times with 
 Talleyrand, Berthier, and all the other Ministers at 
 their houses. Ministers, however, and statesmen are 
 alike in all countries ; they alone are precluded from 
 telling you anything about the country in whose 
 service they are, and emigrants are too insecure to 
 indulge any freedom in conversation. Romilly's 
 account, therefore, as one might suppose, makes his 
 society of Paris the most gloomy possible. He says 
 at Talleyrand's table, where you have such magni- 
 ficence as was never seen before in France, the 
 Master of the House, who as an exile in England 
 without a guinea was the pleasantest of Men, in 
 France and in the midst of his prosperity sits the 
 most melancholy picture apparently of sorrow and 
 despair. Romilly sat next to Fox at Talleyrand's 
 dinner, and had all his conversation to himself; but 
 not a word of public affairs— all vertu and French 
 belles lettres. Romilly would not grace the court of 
 Buonaparte, but left Paris with as much detestation 
 of him and his Government as Whishaw, and with 
 much more reason. 
 
 "But the great lion of all upon the subject of Paris 
 is Mackintosh.! He has really seen most entertaining 
 things and people. He, too, dined with Ministers, 
 and has held a long consultation with the Consul J 
 
 * Samuel Romilly, K.C., entered Parliament in 1806, appointed 
 Solicitor-General, and was knighted. An ardent Reformer, and father 
 of the first Lord Romilly, he committed suicide in 1818. 
 
 t Sir James Mackintosh [1765-1832], barrister, philosopher, and 
 politician. 
 
 X Bonaparte. 
 
6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 upon the Norman and English laws; but his means 
 of living with the active people of France has far 
 exceeded that of any other English. I think his most 
 valuable acquaintance must have been Madame de 
 Souza. She is a Frenchwoman, was a widow, and is 
 now the wife of the Portuguese ambassador. She is 
 the friend and companion and confidante of Madame 
 Buonaparte, and satisfied all Mackintosh's enquiries 
 respecting her friend and her husband the Consul. 
 Her history to Mackintosh (confirmed by Madame 
 Cabarenne, late Madame Tallien) of Madame Buona- 
 parte and her husband is this. — Madame Buonaparte 
 is a woman nearly fifty, of singular good temper, and 
 without a little of intrigue. She is a Creole, and has 
 large West India possessions. On these last accounts 
 it was that she was married by the Viscount Beau- 
 harnois — a lively nobleman about the old Court ; and 
 both in his life and since his death his wife remained 
 a great favorite in Paris. 
 
 " Immediately previous to the directorial power 
 being established in 1795, the Sections all rose upon 
 the Convention or Assembly, whatever it was, in 
 consequence of an odious vote or decree they had 
 made. At this period, no general would incur the 
 risque, of an unsuccessful attack upon the Sections ; 
 Buonaparte alone, who was known only from having 
 served at the siege of Toulon, being then in Paris, 
 said if any General would lend him a coat, he would 
 fight the Sections. He put his coat on ; he peppered 
 the Sections with grape shot ; the establishment of the 
 Directory was the consequence to them, and to him in 
 return they gave the command of the army of Italy.* 
 He became, therefore, the fashion, and was asked to 
 meet good company, and he was asked to Tallien's 
 to put him next the widow Beauharnois, that he might 
 vex Hoche, who was then after her and her fortune. 
 Madame Tallien did so, and the new lovers were 
 
 * Napoleon's own report upon the suppression of the Sections 
 places the responsibility of the act upon Barras, who employed him 
 merely as a good artillery officer. Before being appointed to the 
 command of the army in Italy, in 1796, Bonaparte was rewarded, in 
 179s, for his action against the Sections by succeeding Barras in 
 command of the army of the Interior. 
 
i793-i8o4-] ACTORS IN THE REVOLUTION. 7 
 
 married in ten days. She never was Barras' mistress; 
 Madame Cabarenne (Tallien that was) told Mackintosh 
 that was calumny, for that she herself was his mistress 
 at that very time.* Madame de Souza says no one but 
 Madame Buonaparte could live with the Consul ; he 
 is subject to fits of passion, bordering upon derange- 
 rnent, and upon the appearance of one of these 
 distempered freaks of his, he is left by all about him 
 to his fate and to the effects of time. It is a service 
 of great danger, even in his milder moments, to 
 propose anything to him, and it is from his wife's 
 forbearance in both ways that she can possibly con- 
 trive to have the respect she meets with from him. 
 
 " Every wreck of the different parties in France for 
 the last ten years that is now to be found in Paris, 
 Mackintosh met and lived famiharly with — La Fayette, 
 [illegible], Jean Bon Saint-Andre, Barthelemy, Camille 
 Jourdan, Abbe Morelaix, Fouche, Boissy Danglas, &;c., 
 &:c. Tallien t no one visits of his countrymen ; his 
 conversations with Mackintosh, if one had not his 
 authority, surpass belief. His only lamentation over 
 the revolution was its want of success, and that it 
 should be on account of only half measures having 
 been adopted. He almost shed tears at the mention 
 of Danton, whom he styled bon enfant, and as a man 
 of great promise. 
 
 "Mackintosh dined at Barthelemy's the banker — 
 the brother of the ex-director — with a pleasant party. 
 The ex-director was there, and next to him sat Fouche 
 — now a senator — but who formerly, as Minister of 
 Police, actually deported the ex-director to Cayenne. 
 There was likewise a person there who told M. he 
 had seen Fouche ride full gallop to preside at some 
 celebrated massacre, with a pair of human ears stuck 
 one on each side of his hat.| The conversation of 
 
 * The beautiful Madame de Tallien, previously Comtesse de 
 Fontenay, was as fickle as she was frail, for she was also the mistress 
 of the rich banker Ouvrard. Tallien obtained a divorce in 1802, and 
 she married the Prince de Chimay. 
 
 t Jean Lambert Tallien, one of the chief organisers and bloodiest 
 agents of the Terror, leader in the overthrow of Robespierre. 
 
 % Joseph Fouch^, afterwards Due d'Otranto, had as yet but accom- 
 plished half his cycle of cynical tergiversation, which brought him to 
 
8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 this notable assembly was as charming as the per- 
 formers themselves ; it turned principally upon the 
 blessings of peace and humanity. 
 
 "All the others whom I have mentioned above 
 have no connection with Fouche or Tallien, and are 
 reasonable men, perfectly unrestrained in their con- 
 versation, quite anti- Buonapartian, and as much 
 devoted to England. To such men Fox has given 
 great surprise by his conversation, as he has given 
 offence to his friends here. He talks publicly of 
 Liberty being asleep in France, but dead in England. 
 He will be attacked in the House of Commons cer- 
 tainly, and I think will find it difficult to justify himself. 
 He has been damned imprudent." 
 
 At the time of Creevey's entrance to the House of 
 Commons, Pitt was in seclusion. He had retired 
 from office in March, 1801, putting up the former 
 Speaker, Mr. Addington, as Prime Minister and Leader 
 of the House of Commons. George III. heartily 
 approved of this arrangement, although on the face 
 of it were all the signs of instability. Taking Pitt 
 and Addington aside at the Palace one day — " If we 
 three keep together," said he, "all will go well." But 
 as the months went on, Pitt chafed at his own in- 
 activity and fretted at the incapacity of his nominee. 
 Pitt's friends were importunate for his return; he 
 himself was burning to take the reins again, but was 
 too proud, perhaps too loyal to Addington, to adopt 
 overt action to effect it. Moreover, Addington, who 
 had been an excellent Speaker, had no suspicion of 
 the poor figure he cut as head of the Government. It 
 never occurred to him to take any of the numerous 
 hints offered by Canning and other Tories, until the 
 necessity for some change was forced upon him by 
 
 office under Louis XVIII. after the fall of Napoleon. He died in 1820, 
 a naturalised Austrian subject, having amassed enormous wealth. 
 
1793-1804.] THE ADDINGTON MINISTRY. 9 
 
 the imminence of disaster from the disaffection of his 
 followers. He offered to resign the Treasury in 
 favour of a peer, Pitt and he to share the administration 
 of affairs as Secretary of State. This proposal Pitt 
 brushed contemptuously, almost derisively, aside; 
 matters went on as before, except that the former 
 friendship of Pitt and Addington was at an end. 
 When Parliament met on 24th November, Pitt did 
 not appear in the House. 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 "25th Nov., 1802. 
 " I went yesterday to the opening of our campaign, 
 with some apprehension, I confess, as I knew Pox 
 was to be there, least his sentiments upon the subject 
 of France and England should diminish my esteem for 
 him. His conduct, however, and his speech were, in 
 my mind, in every respect perfect; and if he will let 
 them be the models for his future imitation, he will 
 keep in the Doctor and preserve the peace. God con- 
 tinue Fox's prudence and Pitt's gout ! The infamous 
 malignity and misrepresentation of that scoundrel 
 Windham did injury only to himself: never creature 
 less deserved it than poor Fox. You cannot imagine 
 the pleasure I feel in having this noble animal still to 
 look up to as my champion. Nothing can be so 
 whimsical as the state of the House of Commons. 
 The Ministers, feeble beyond all powers of carica- 
 turing, are unsupported — at least by the acclama- 
 tions — of that great mass of persons who always 
 support all Ministers, but who are ashamed publicly to 
 applaud them. They are insulted by the indignant, 
 mercenary Canning, who wants again to be in place, 
 and they are openly pelted by the sanguinary faction of 
 Windham and the Grenvillites as dastardly poltroons, 
 for not rushing instantly into war. Under these 
 circumstances their only ally is the old Opposition. 
 ... If they are so supported, I see distinctly that 
 Fox will at least have arrived at this situation that, 
 tho' unable to be Minister himself, he may in fact 
 
10 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 prevent one from being turned out. . . . God send Pitt 
 and Dundas anywhere but to the House of Commons, 
 and much might, I think, be done by a judicious 
 dandling of the Doctor. 
 
 " Lord Henry Petty and I dined together yesterday. 
 He is as good as ever. We both took our seats behind 
 old Charley." 
 
 The treaty of Amiens had been concluded in March, 
 1802, but Bonaparte's restless ambition, and especially 
 his desire to re-establish the colonial power of France, 
 menaced the maritime ascendancy of Great Britain, and 
 Addington watched uneasily the war-clouds gathering 
 again upon the horizon. 
 
 In February, 1803, M. Talleyrand demanded from 
 Lord Whitworth, British Ambassador in Paris, an 
 assurance of the speedy evacuation of Malta by King 
 George's Government, in compliance with the tenth 
 article of the Treaty of Amiens, which provided for 
 the restoration of that island to the Knights of St. 
 John of Jerusalem. In reply to this. Lord Whitworth 
 was instructed to point to the aggrandisement of 
 France subsequent to and in contravention of the 
 terms of the said treaty as justifying the British 
 Government in delaying the evacuation. On i8th 
 February Lord Whitworth had a personal interview 
 with the First Consul, when he failed to obtain from 
 him any admission of the violation by the French of 
 the treaty, or any assurance that the redress claimed 
 for certain British subjects would receive considera- 
 tion. Negotiations dragged on till, on 13th March, 
 Whitworth had a stormy interview with Bonaparte, 
 who charged the British Government with being deter- 
 mined to drag him into war. Finally, on 12th May the 
 rupture was complete; Lord Whitworth requested 
 his passport, and the two countries were at war. 
 
1793-1804.] SIR JOHN MOORE. II 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 "nth March, 1803. 
 
 ". . . No one knows the precise point on which 
 the damn'd Corsican and the Doctor* have knocked 
 their heads together, but I must think, till I know 
 more, that Addington has been precipitate. The injury 
 done is incalculable. I defy any man to have con- 
 fidence in public credit in future, till a perfectly new 
 order of things takes place. ... As long as the neigh- 
 bouring Monster lives, he will bully and defy us ; and 
 being once discovered, as it now is, that even Adding- 
 ton will bluster as well as him in return, I see no 
 prospect of prosperity in this country, that is — the 
 prosperity of peace — as long as Buonaparte lives. . . . 
 Was it not lucky that I sold out at 74^ ? They are 
 to-day about 64." 
 
 " 7th April, 1803. 
 
 "... I have barely time to say that of all the Men 
 I have ever seen, your countryman General Moore t 
 is the greatest prodigy. I thank my good fortune to 
 have seen so much of him— such a combination of 
 acknowledged fame, of devotion from all who have 
 served under him — of the most touching simplicity 
 and yet most accomplished manners — of the most 
 capital understanding, captivating conversation, and 
 sentiments of honour as exalted as his practice. . . . 
 Think of such a beast as Pitt treating, almost with 
 contempt, certainly with injury, such a man as 
 Moore. . . ." 
 
 " 1 8th. 
 
 "... I think if I was to say anything more about 
 General Moore to you than what I wrote to you from 
 the House of Commons, it would only be diffusive. . . . 
 I never saw the Man before who made me think so 
 much about him after each time that I had seen him. 
 We all think of him with the same devotion. ..." 
 
 * Mr. Addington. 
 
 t General Sir John Moore, K.B. 
 
12 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 Dr. Currie to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Liverpool, May ist, 1803. 
 
 " I was infinitely obliged by your last report, and 
 beg of you to give me another, as matters draw fast to 
 a crisis. I will expect to have a few lines at latest by 
 the post of Wednesday. 
 
 " I fear thi-s Billy * will come in after all. 
 
 " I have to tell you one or two things about your 
 friends here. 
 
 " First, I have been attending your aunt, Mrs. 
 Eaton, who was very ill, but is recovered. I was to 
 have written to you about the time she got better, but 
 neglected it. But in answer to her earnest enquiries, 
 I delivered your love (God forgive me) and your con- 
 gratulations on her recovery. I said everything kind 
 and civil for you to Eaton too, so that you are not to 
 pretend that you did not hear of her illness. But you 
 are now to write a few lines either to him or her as 
 soon as convenient, saying what you see fit on so 
 affecting an occasion — now do not forget this. I 
 cannot think how the old lady came to trust herself 
 in my hands, for I had just been in at the death of 
 two of her neighbours, and I consider my being called 
 to her as a symptom of great attachment to you, and 
 probably in its consequences no way unfavourable to 
 you. For I must tell you that she and I are wondrous 
 great, and we talk you over by the half-hour together. 
 She and he seem very much devoted to you. . . . They 
 are quite pleased, too, with Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 "Give my love to Moore f when you see him. 
 Scarlett t has been here with his brother; a very 
 worthy fellow. He says you are coming on. What 
 sort of a thing is this presentation ? I see you are a 
 nominee in the Boston election. I hope it is for 
 Maddock, whom I know a little and like a good deal. 
 
 "We are all cursed flatt here about the spun out 
 negociations. Nothing doing. Everything stagnated. 
 
 * Mr. Pitt. 
 
 t Captain (afterwards Admiral Sir Graham) Moore, R.N., brother 
 to Sir John Moore. 
 
 X Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1834 ; created Lord 
 Abinger in 1835. 
 
1 793-1804.] WAR. 13 
 
 We shall have war, because it is just the most absurd 
 thing in creation." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 " Saturday, 7th May. 
 " No news is good news, you know they say, and 
 at this moment I think it certainly is. Lord Whit- 
 worth was certainly at Paris on Wednesday night late, 
 and I think he is traced as far as Thursday. It is 
 equally certain that he had a new proposal from the 
 Consul,* and this is still better news. There is a 
 general inclination to-day to think we shall have peace 
 after all. . . ." 
 
 "nth May. 
 
 "... I supped last night with Fox at Mrs. Bou- 
 verie's . . . There were there Grey, Whitbread, Lord 
 Lauderdale, Fitzpatrick, Lord Robert Spencer,! Lord 
 John Townshend and your humble servant. . . . You 
 would be perfectly astonished at the vigour of body, 
 the energy of mind, the innocent playfulness and 
 happiness of Fox. The contrast between him and his 
 old associates is the most marvellous thing I ever 
 saw — they having all the air of shattered debauchees, 
 of passing gaming, drinking, sleepless nights, whereas 
 the old leader of the gang might really pass for the 
 pattern and the effect of domestic good order. ... A 
 telegraphic dispatch announces that Lord Whitworth 
 has left Paris."! 
 
 "Saturday, 14th May. 
 "... A messenger has arrived to-day who left 
 Paris at 9 o'clock Thursday night, and Lord Whit- 
 worth was to leave it in the night, or rather morning, 
 at two ; so I presume he will be in England on Monday. 
 Think only what a day Monday or Tuesday will be 
 in the House of Commons ! and think likewise what 
 a damn'd eternal fool the Doctor must turn out to 
 be. Upon my soul! it is too shocking to think 
 of the wretched destiny of mankind in being placed 
 
 * Bonaparte. 
 
 t Third son of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. 
 
 % News was telegraphed by semaphore signals. 
 
14 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 in the hands of such pitiful, squirting politicians 
 as this accursed Apothecary * and his family and 
 friends ! . . ." 
 
 On i6th May the King sent a message to the House 
 of Commons calling upon it to support him in resist- 
 ing the aggressive policy of France and the ambitious 
 schemes of the First Consul. Pitt might no longer 
 hold aloof. 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 " l6th May. 
 
 "... I supped with Fox, Grey, &c., &c., last night 
 at Whitbread's. Fox says there are no state papers 
 to be given us ; the whole dispute has been carried on 
 by conversation. It began in consequence of some 
 intemperate furious expression of Buonaparte ; it re- 
 lated to Egypt. . . . The Consul got irritated ; said 
 he would put himself at the head of his army and 
 invade England. But the offence is about Egypt. 
 He said upon this subject — Novis Vaurons nialgre vous! 
 Fox says he believes this conversation to be the origin 
 of the dispute, and that our claims upon Malta are in 
 the way of recognizance to make Buonaparte keep the 
 peace. . . ." 
 
 " 20th. 
 
 ". . . This damned fellow Pitt has taken his seat 
 and is here, and, what is worse, it is certain that he 
 and his fellows are to support the war. They are to 
 say the time for criticism is suspended; that the 
 question is not now whether Ministers have been too 
 tardy or too rash, but the French are to be fought. 
 Upon my soul ! the prospect has turned me perfectly 
 sick. . . ." 
 
 "21st. 
 
 ". . . It is really infinitely droll to see these old 
 rogues so defeated by the Court and Doctor. I really 
 think Pitt is done : his face is no longer red, but 
 yellow ; his looks are dejected ; his countenance I 
 
 * Mr. Addington. 
 
1793-1804.] THE RETURN OF PITT. IS 
 
 think much changed and fallen, and every now and 
 then he gives a hollow cough. Upon my soul, hating 
 him as I do, I am almost moved to pity to see his 
 fallen greatness. I saw this once splendid fellow 
 drive yesterday to the House of Lords in his forlorn, 
 shattered equipage, and I stood near him behind the 
 throne till two o'clock this morning. I saw no ex- 
 pression but melancholy on the fellow's face — princes 
 of the blood passing him without speaking to him, and, 
 as I could fancy, an universal sentiment in those 
 around him that he was done. . . ." 
 
 An offer of mediation between Britain and France 
 having been received from the Emperor Alexander of 
 Russia, a debate arose in the House of Commons. 
 
 "24th May, 1803. 
 
 ". . . Lord Hawkesbury * then began and made a 
 very elaborate speech of two hours, containing little 
 inflammatory matter, and being a fair and reasonable 
 representation of his case and justification of the war. 
 Erskine followed in the most confused, unintelligible, 
 inefficient performance that ever came from the 
 mouth of man. Then came the great fiend himself — 
 Pitt — who, in the elevation of his tone of mind and 
 composition, in the infinite energy of his style, the 
 miraculous perspicuity and fluency of his periods, 
 outdid (as it was thought) all former performances of 
 his. Never, to be sure, was there such an exhibition ; 
 its effect was dreadful. He spoke nearly two hours — 
 all for war, and for war without end. He would say 
 nothing for Ministers, but he exhorted or rather 
 commanded them to lose no time in establishing 
 measures of finance suited to our situation. . . . Wil- 
 berforce made an inimitable speech for peace and on 
 grounds the most calculated for popular approbation. 
 ... It is said the House of Commons never behaved 
 so ill as in their reception of this speech. They tried 
 over and over again to cough him down, but without 
 effect. . . ." 
 
 * Aftenvards Earl of Liverpool and Prime Minister. 
 
l6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 The speech referred to above was universally ac- 
 knowledged as one of the finest ever delivered by Pitt ; 
 but it is not included among his published speeches, 
 owing to the accidental exclusion of reporters from 
 the gallery. Fox replied on the second night of the 
 debate in a speech of equal merit ; but there is a gap 
 in Creevey's letters covering the whole of the rest of 
 the session, and we know not, though we may imagine, 
 the effect of his leader's eloquence upon his mind. 
 His next letter to Dr. Currie deals with a matter of 
 common criticism and objection at the present day, by 
 men of all parties — namely, the anomaly of the Lord 
 Lieutenancy of Ireland. Nobody can explain its 
 merits : its defects are patent to everybody ; while 
 the selection of a peer to fill what ought to be one of 
 the most responsible posts in any administration, has 
 to be made from a very limited number, with more 
 regard to their private means than to their capacity 
 for public service ; so excessive is the expenditure 
 entailed upon the Lord Lieutenant's private income. 
 It is apparent from the following letter that the 
 objection is nearly as old as the Union : — 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 "22nd Aug., 1803. 
 
 "... I saw a great deal of Sheridan. We dined 
 together several times, got a little bosky, and he took 
 great pains to convince me he was sincere and confi- 
 dential with me. ... A plan of his relates to Ireland, 
 and it is the substitution of a Council for the present 
 Viceroy, the head of the Council to be the Prince of 
 Wales, his assistants to be Lord Moira, Lord Hutchin- 
 son and Sheridan himself The Prince is quite heated 
 upon the subject ; nothing else is discussed by them. 
 Lord Hutchinson is as deep in the design as any of 
 them, but God knows it is about as probable as the 
 
1793-1804.] PER MARE ET TERRAS. 17 
 
 embassy of old Charley * to Russia. I believe Sherry 
 is very much in the confidence of the Ministers. They 
 have convinced him of the difficulty of pressing the 
 King for any attentions to the Prince of Wales ; he is 
 quite set against him, and holds entirely to the Duke 
 of York, who, on the other hand, is most odious to 
 the Ministry. . . . Have you begun your visits to 
 Knowsleyyet? . . . If you see Mrs. Hornby, cultivate 
 her. She is an excellent creature ; her husband, the 
 
 rector, is the most tiresome, prosy son of a I 
 
 ever met with, but is worthy. ..." 
 
 General Sir John Moore to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Sandgate, 15th Sept., 1803. 
 
 ". . . The newspapers have disposed of me and 
 my troops at Lisbon and Cherbourgh, but we be- 
 lieve that we have not moved from this place. I 
 begun to despair of seeing you here, and am quite 
 happy to find that, at last, I am to have that pleasure. 
 If the Miss Ords do not think they can trust to the 
 Camp for beaux, or if they have any in attendance 
 whose curiosity to see soldiers they may chuse to 
 indulge, assure them that whoever accompanies them 
 shall be cordially received by everybody here. . . ." 
 
 Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Plymouth, August 7th, 1803. 
 "... I never had to do with anew ship's company 
 before made up of Falstaff's men — ' decayed tapsters,' 
 &c., so I do not bear that very well and I get no sea- 
 men but those who enter here at Plymouth, which are 
 very few indeed. The Admiralty will not let me have 
 any who enter for the ship at any of the other ports, 
 which cuts up my hopes of a tolerable ship's company. 
 ... I hear sometimes from my brother Jackf He 
 says they have had a review of his whole Corps 
 before the Duke of York. . . . My mother was more 
 delighted with the scene than any boy or girl of 
 fifteen. N.B.— she is near 70. . . . She is an excellent 
 mother of a soldier. I am not afraid of showing her 
 
 * Mr. Fox. t General Sir John Moore. 
 
 VOL. I. C 
 
I8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 to Mrs. Creevey, altho' she is of a very different cast 
 from what she has generally lived with. If Mrs. 
 Creevey does not like her, I shall never feel how the 
 devil she came to like me. 
 
 "Jack says his Corps are not at all what he would 
 have them, yet that they will beat any of the French 
 whom he leads them up to. I am convinced the 
 French can make no progress in England, and do not 
 believe now that they will attempt it ; but how is all 
 this to end ? However that may be, as I am in for it, 
 I wish to God I was tolerably ready, and scouring the 
 seas. What the devil can Fox mean by his palaver 
 about a military command for the Prince of Wales ? 
 That may come well enough from Mrs. Barham 
 perhaps." 
 
 "Indefatigable, Cawsand. Bay, Sept. i6th, 1803. 
 
 ". . . It has pleased the Worthies aloft to keep 
 us in expectation of sailing at an hour's notice since 
 Sunday last. This is very proper, I am sure, and 
 rather inconvenient too. I hate to be a-going a- 
 going. It is disagreeable to Jack, because I have 
 sent all his wives and his loves on shore, and altho' 
 I have made him an apology, he must think the 
 Captain is no great things. The blackguards will 
 know me by-and-by. They seem a tolerable set, and 
 I am already inclined to love them. If they fight, I shall 
 worship them. . . . There is another very fine frigate 
 here, as ready as we are — the Fisgard, commanded 
 by a delightful little fellow, Lord Mark Kerr.* He 
 is an honour to Lords as they go. ... If there is to 
 be a war with Spain, it would be well to let us know 
 of it before we sail, as money — altho' nothing to a 
 philosopher — is something to me. I am growing old, 
 and none of the women will have me now if I cannot 
 keep them in style, and you know there is no carrying 
 on the war ashore in the peace, when it comes, with- 
 out animals of that description. . . . The most cheer- 
 ful fellow on politics is my brother Jack ; you'll hear 
 no croaking from him. He says it's all nonsense. . . ." 
 
 * Third son of the 5th Marquess of Lothian: married the Countess 
 of Antrim in her own right, and became father of the 4th and 5th Earls 
 of Antrim. Died in 1840. 
 
1793-1804.] THE FRONT BENCH. 19 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Cvirrie. 
 
 "London, Dec. 21, 1803. 
 
 ". . . My impression of Addington and his col- 
 leagues during this short part of the Session, has been 
 pretty much what it has heretofore been. They are, 
 upon my soul, the feeblest — lowest almost — of Men, 
 still more so of Ministers. When there is anything 
 like a general attack upon them, they look as if they 
 felt it all; they blush and look at one another in 
 despair; they make no fight; or, if they offer to defend 
 themselves, no one listens but to laugh at them. 
 When the House is empty and their enemies are 
 scattered, they rally and fall in a body upon Wind- 
 ham, call him all kinds of names, and adopt all kinds 
 of the most unfounded misrepresentations of his 
 sentiments. Upon these occasions they are quite 
 altered men ; they talk loud and long, and cheer one 
 another enough to pull the house down. These 
 periodical triumphs look well upon paper, and no 
 doubt must captivate a great portion of the publick ; 
 but rely upon it, the bitterest enemy Windham has 
 in the world, who is possessed of any sense and any 
 character, turns with disgust from the sound of these 
 low-lived philippics. Bad — miserable as I have heard 
 Erskine in the House of Commons, never was he so 
 execrable as on the night when you rejoice that he 
 attacked Windham. These creatures of imbecillity 
 have no such thing as a plan ; they live by temporary 
 expedients from hand to mouth — by the contrary 
 views and characters of their opponents — by that very 
 feebleness which in itself cannot rouse up personal 
 animosity in nobler minds — by low cunning— by appro- 
 priate adoption of humility and impudence. In addi- 
 tion to all this, they have done what the worst men 
 might have done — they have most wickedly and 
 wantonly plunged us into this contemptible war, and 
 the just reputation of their besotted folly throughout 
 the world is a security for our remaining in it, till 
 chance or accident shall relieve us. 
 
 "With all their faults, I confess they are well- 
 behaved and civil, as compleatly so as your own 
 
20 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. Ch. I. 
 
 servant can be, and I must believe that, had they no 
 restraint upon them from their Master, the mediocrity 
 of their understandings, their situation in life, their 
 private characters and turns of mind, would not per- 
 mit them to think of gratifying any ambition or resent- 
 ment by either desolating the world by war or tyran- 
 nically invading the liberties of their country. 
 
 "The impression of Pitt was what his enemies 
 most triumphantly delight in; but what they never 
 could have been sanguine enough to expect, his speech 
 was the production of the dirtiest of mankind, and so 
 it was received. His intimates — his nearest neigh- 
 bours — Canning and Co., sat mute, astounded and evi- 
 dently thinking themselves disgraced by the shuffling 
 tacticks of their military leader. His lingering after 
 Addington, tho' at open war with him in print — his 
 caution of touching either Fox or Windham, those 
 proscribed victims of fortune — his senseless vapouring 
 and most untrue and envious criticism upon volun- 
 teers, and, above all, his officious and disgusting senti- 
 ment as to the recovery of his Majesty's electoral do- 
 minion,* accommodated all his hearers with sufficient 
 reasons for condemnation, and, for once in his life, I 
 have no doubt this prodigy of art and elocution had in 
 his favorite theatre not a single admirer. Canning 
 and Sturges, talking to me afterwards about the 
 excellence of Fox's speech, said what a pity it was Pitt 
 had not taken the same manly part. I asked why he 
 had not done so, and they shrugged up their shoulders 
 and said a man who had been minister eighteen years 
 was a bad opposition man. 
 
 " Old Charley was himself, and of course was ex- 
 quisitely delightful. Unfettered by any hopes or 
 fears — by any systems or connection — he turned his 
 huge understanding loose amongst these skirmishers, 
 and it soon settled, with its usual and beautiful per- 
 spicuity, all the points that came within the decision 
 of reasoning, judgment, experience and knowledge of 
 mankind. In addition to the correctness of his views 
 and delineations, he was all fire and simplicity and 
 sweet temper; and the effect of these united per- 
 fections upon the House was as visible in his favor as 
 
 * The kingdom of Hanover. 
 
t793-tSo4.] LAUDATOR TE At PORTS ACTl. 21 
 
 their disappointment and disgust had been before at 
 the unv/orthy performance of Colonel Pitt. 
 
 " It is almost too advanced a state of my letter to 
 take in the Windhams and Co. We all know that he 
 and the Grenvilles have been the merciless blood- 
 hounds of past times, and no friend of Fox can ever 
 forget or forgive the bitter malignity with which 
 Windham pursued and hunted down the great and 
 amiable creature. " But as a party, and with such a foil 
 to it as the present administration, they are entitled 
 to greater weight than they have." 
 
 One constantly hears lamentation from grave 
 persons over the deterioration of the House of Com- 
 mons from some past ideal; but just as people are 
 accustomed now to look back upon the time when 
 Pitt and Fox were protagonists as the true parlia- 
 mentary golden age, so it was in that day. In con- 
 cluding this long letter, Creevey, who had just one 
 year of parliamentary experience, moralises upon the 
 lowered tone of the debates. 
 
 " Windham, Lord Granville and Elliott have great 
 parliamentary talents, and Tom Grenville is most 
 respectable in the same way, and of a high and unsullied 
 character. They are of the old school as compared 
 with the Ministry ; they are full of courage, of 
 acquirements, of elevated manners ; there is nothing 
 low in the fellows, there is no cringing to power or 
 popularity. In Fox's absence they are the only repre- 
 sentatives of past and better days in Parliament." 
 
 "21 Jan., 1804. 
 
 ". . . When I repeat any of Sheridan's opinions, I 
 do so with more doubt than in stating the opinions of 
 any other persons, for he has acquired such tricks at 
 Drury Lane, such skill in scene-shifting, that I am 
 compelled by experience to listen with distrust to him. 
 For the last three months he has been damning Fox 
 in the midst of his enemies, and in his drunken and 
 unguarded moments has not spared him even in the 
 
22 tme creevey papers. [Ch. I. 
 
 circles of his most devoted admirers. He did so at 
 Woburn, the Duke of Bedford's, and was (as you may 
 have heard) challenged for it upon the spot by Adair.* 
 Whitbread, M^ho was present and who made it up (for 
 Sheridan accepted the challenge), told me all the par- 
 ticulars. Now he apparently is much pacified and 
 less inclined to volunteer his panegyric upon the 
 Doctor ;t and if one may venture to guess at the 
 motive in so perfect a performer in all mysterious 
 arts, I should say he had been damnably galled by 
 the coldness with which Fox's friends resented the 
 abuse of the old fellow, and that the dinners and 
 stupidity of Addington and his family parties had 
 been but a poor recompense for his treachery to Fox, 
 and that he was creeping back as well as he is able 
 into his old place. Tierney, as you may suppose, 
 would be dished by Pitt and Addington embracing, 
 and he is therefore laboring to keep the present 
 administration as it is, and with this view is in- 
 cessantly intriguing for support of it. ... I forget 
 whether I ever told you of his inviting me to dinner 
 once. It was to meet Brogden and Col. Porter, two 
 cursed rum touches that he has persuaded to vote 
 with him and to desert Fox; so I told Mrs. Creevey 
 before I went that I was sure I was invited to be 
 converted. Accordingly, after a decent time and a 
 considerable allowance of wine had been consumed 
 after dinner, my gentlemen begun to open their 
 batteries upon me. I returned their fire by telling 
 them 1 should save them much time and trouble by 
 stating to them at once that my political creed was 
 very simple and within a very narrow compass — that 
 it was 'Devotion to Fox.' And so we all got to 
 loggerheads directly, and jawed and drank till twelve 
 or one o'clock, and I suppose I was devilish abusive, 
 for they are all as shy as be damned of me ever since." 
 
 * Sir Robert Adair [1763-1855], Whig member for Appleby, 
 famous as the target of Canning's frequent satire. Canning wrote of 
 him as " Bawba-dara-adul-phoolah," and introduced him to im- 
 mortality by making him the hero of the ballad "Sweet Matilda 
 Pottingen," which was supposed to describe the course of Adair's love 
 when he was a student at Gottingen. 
 
 t Addington. 
 
i793-i8o4.] PITT AND FOX AS ALLIES. 23 
 
 Pitt's intolerance of Addington now passed into 
 an active phase, and the unfortunate Prime Minister 
 found himself under a cross-fire directed by the two 
 most powerful men in the House — Pitt and Fox. The 
 following notes dispel any doubt which may still exist 
 as to the formal and explicit understanding between 
 these ancient antagonists for the object which both 
 had at heart, though for very different reasons, namely, 
 the overthrow of Addington : — 
 
 Rf. Hon. Charles Fox to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Arlington St., Saturday [1804]. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I enclose you a part of a letter from Grey. 
 If you can speak to Brandling * upon the subject you 
 may tell him that in all the divisions we shall have 
 this next week, either Mr. Pitt will be with us or we 
 with him. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "C. J. Fox." 
 
 Enclosure in above. 
 
 " My dear Fox, 
 
 " I forgot yesterday to answer your question 
 about Brandling. He is not at present in this county 
 [Northumberland], and I don't know whether he is in 
 London or in Yorkshire. Creevey, his brother-in-law, 
 will be able to suggest the best mode of applying to 
 him ; but I should think, notwithstanding his hatred 
 of the Doctor, that he would not vote against him 
 without Pitt." 
 
 The unnatural alliance between Pitt and Fox was 
 manifested in its least commendable aspect upon the 
 occasion of Pitt's motion for an inquiry into the 
 administration of the First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 
 * Mr. Brandling, M.P. for Newcastle-on-Tyne, was Mrs. Creevey's 
 brother. 
 
24 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 Earl St. Vincent, who had not only contributed to 
 securing for his country the mastery of the ocean, 
 but, by means of the Commission of Inquiry which he 
 established as First Lord, had exposed and put an 
 end to many abuses in the service. Pitt's motion, of 
 course, was hostile to the gallant admiral, through 
 whose discredit he sought to bring Addington's 
 Government into disgrace; and Fox supported the 
 motion in a speech the insincerity of which was not 
 inferior to that of Pitt, and staggered even such a 
 good party man as Creevey. 
 
 Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Plymouth Dock, Feby. ist, 1804. 
 
 "... I suppose you mean to join the set that 
 prepare to worry the poor Doctor when Parliament 
 meets. What can he do? He seems, or we seem, to 
 do as well as Bonoparte — fretting and fuming and 
 playing off his tricks from Calais to Boulogne and 
 back again. The fellow has done too much for a 
 mere hum ; he certainly will try something, and I 
 hope to be in at the death of some of his expeditions. 
 If they do not take my men, we shall soon be ready 
 for sea again. New copper, my boy! we shall sail 
 like the wind. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 "22 March, 1804. 
 
 ". . . With respect to the debate . . . nothing 
 could be ... so unhke a case against Lord St. Vincent: 
 I really doubted the fidelity of my ears all the time I 
 listened to him (Fox), he was so very unlike himself 
 His first reply was a great and striking display of his 
 powers, but the charge against the Admiralty derived 
 little support or elucidation from it. I confess I felt 
 a wish that Fox would not have taken the part he did, 
 because I cannot reconcile it to my notions either of 
 private friendship or parliamentary justice to put a 
 
I793-I804-] THE BONDS OF PARTY. 2$ 
 
 man upon his trial, because I am sure he is innocent. 
 There were, however, most powerful arguments urged 
 by Fox that in a great measure reconciled me to the 
 vote I gave, and indeed had they been much less and 
 rnuch weaker, I should most readily have gone with 
 him. A Leader of a Party has a most difficult part 
 imposed upon him on such an occasion. It is im- 
 possible he can be alone influenced by the abstract 
 question of merit or demerit of the motion but of 
 course must calculate in every way upon the effects of 
 his vote. As a private of a party there is nothing so 
 fatal to publick principle, or one's own private respect 
 and consequence, as acting for oneself upon great 
 questions. I am more passionately attached every 
 day to Party. I am certain that without it nothing 
 can be done, and I am more certain from every day's 
 experience that the leader of the party to which I 
 belong is as superior in talents, in enlightened views, 
 in publick and private virtues, to all other party 
 leaders as one human being can be to another. He 
 must therefore give many, many votes that I may 
 think are wrong, before I vote against him or not 
 with him. 
 
 " I scarcely know an earthly blessing I would pur- 
 chase at the expense of those sensations I feel towards 
 the incomparable Charley ! " 
 
 " 2nd April. 
 
 ". . . The fact is I believe, as I have always done, 
 that the Regal function will never more be exercised 
 by him (George III.), and the Dr.* has most impudently 
 assumed these functions in doing what he has done. 
 
 "And now again for speculation. I can swear to 
 what Sheridan will try for, if the thing does not too 
 suddenly come to a crisis. His insuperable vanity 
 has suggested to him the brilliancy of being first with 
 the Prince and governing his councils. He will, if he 
 sees it practicable, try, and is now trying, to alienate 
 the Prince from Fox, and to reconcile him to the 
 wretched Addington. The effect of such a diabolical 
 project is doubtless to be dreaded with a person so 
 unsteady as the Prince; but then again there are 
 
 * Mr. Addington. 
 
26 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 things that comfort me. If the Prince has a point on 
 which he is uniform, it is a proud and just attachment 
 to the old Nobility of the country, articles which 
 fortunately find no place in the composition of the 
 present ministers. His notion, too, of Sheridan, I 
 believe, has not much to do with his quaUties for a 
 statesman. Devonshire House, too, is his constant 
 haunt, where every one is against Sheridan ; and 
 where the Prince, at his own request, met Grey three 
 weeks ago and offered him any pledge as a security 
 for his calling Fox to his councils whenever he had 
 the power. Master Sherry does not know this, and 
 of course it must not be known ; but I know it and 
 am certain of the fact. Sheridan displays evident 
 distrust of his own projects, and is basely playing an 
 under game as Fox's friend, in the event of defeat to 
 him and his Dr. I never saw conduct more distinctly 
 base than his." 
 
 " ist May. 
 
 ". . . The enemy of mankind is Pitt. I detest from 
 the bottom of my heart him and all his satellites. I 
 am sure, too, that, independent of his dispositions, his 
 mind is of a mean and little structure, much below the 
 requisite for times like these — active, intriguing and 
 most powerful, but all in detail, quite incapable of 
 accompanying the elevated views of Fox." 
 
 Addington stuck stiffly to his post, but the forces 
 allied against him in the Commons proved irresistible 
 in the end ; in May, 1804, he resigned, and Pitt entered 
 upon his last administration. Addington, smother- 
 ing his resentment of the rough handling he had 
 received, joined Pitt's Cabinet as President of the 
 Council in January, 1805, accepting at the same time 
 the peerage which he had previously declined. Pitt 
 would have given Fox a share in the administration 
 hardly inferior to his own, but the King would not 
 hear of it, and thus was lost for ever the noble project 
 of uniting the chief political parties for the defence of 
 the Empire. 
 
1793-1804.] THE HOPE Of THE WHiGS. 27 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Ciirrie. 
 
 " 2nd May, 1804. 
 
 ". . . It is felt by the Pittites that the Prince and 
 a Regency must be resorted to, and as the Prince 
 evinced on every occasion the strongest decision in 
 favor of Fox, the Pittites are preparing for a reci- 
 procity of good offices. God send we may have a 
 Regency, and then the cards are in our hands. I wish 
 you had seen the party of which I formed one in the 
 
 Eark just now. Lord Buckingham, his son Temple, 
 d. Derby, Charles Grey,* Ld. Fitzwilliam, Cannmg, 
 Ld. Morpeth t and Ld. StaflFordt . . . the four 
 
 Fhysicians were at Buckingham House this morning : 
 feel certain he (the King) is devilish bad. . . ." 
 
 " 3rd May. 
 " Under our present circumstances no news is 
 good news, because it shows there are great diffi- 
 culties in making the peace between the King and 
 Pitt. . . . The King has communicated to him that he 
 will see him to-morrow or Saturday, which com- 
 tnunication Pitt immediately fonvarded to Fox. There 
 is, I hope, much value in these facts : they show, I 
 hope, that the Monarch is done, and can no longer 
 make Ministers ; they show too, I hope, that Pitt 
 thinks so. Why this delay at such a time if the King 
 is well ? Why this civility from Pitt to Fox ? if the 
 former did not suspect no good was to come of his 
 interviews with his Master. We are all in better 
 spirits — by 'all,' I mean the admirers of Fox and 
 haters of Pitt. . . ." 
 
 " 8tb May. 
 "... I was too late for last night's post, and 
 besides I was struck dumb and lifeless by the 
 elevation of that wretch Pitt to his former fatal 
 eminence — sick to death, too, with something like a 
 sensation of Fox's disgrace and defeat, and of the 
 
 * Afterwards 2nd Earl Grey, 
 t Afterwards 6th Earl of Carlisle. 
 
 % 2nd Marquess of Stafford ; created Duke of Sutherland in 
 1833- 
 
28 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [CH. I. 
 
 termination of all our hopes. But I am better to-day ; 
 the Grenvilles and Wyndhamites have to a man stuck 
 fast to Fox and refuse to treat with Pitt. The Prince, 
 too, loads Fox with caresses, and swears his father's 
 exception to Fox alone is meant as the last and 
 greatest of personal injuries to himself, because the 
 King knows full well that Fox is the first favorite of 
 the Prince." 
 
 " Park Place, June 2nd, 1804. 
 
 ". . . Well — I think, considering we have certainly 
 been out-jockeyed by the villain Pitt, we are doing 
 famously. Pitt, I think, is in a damnable dilemma; 
 his character has received a cursed blow from the 
 appearance of puzzle in his late conduct, from the 
 wretched farce of [illegible] turning out Addington, 
 and keeping those who were worse than him ; and 
 from his having produced no military plans yet, after 
 all his anathemas against the late Ministers for their 
 delay. The country, I now firmly believe, was tired 
 of Pitt and even of the Court, and conceived some 
 new men and councils, and above all an union of 
 all great men, was a necessary experiment for the 
 situation. Pitt has disappointed this- wish and 
 expectation, and has shown no necessity that has 
 compelled him so to do. He has all the air of having 
 acted a rapacious, selfish, shabby part ; he is sur- 
 rounded by shabby partizans ; in comparison with 
 his own relations, the Grenvilles, he is degraded ; he 
 has no novelty to recommend him ; his Master* is on 
 the wane, and to a certain extent is evidently hostile 
 to him. In addition to all this, the daily and nightly 
 attendance of Dr. Simmonds and four physicians at 
 Buckingham House must inevitably increase the 
 Prince's power, and diminish that of Pitt. I saw these 
 five Drs. and Dundass, the surgeon from Richmond, 
 come out of Buckingham House with Pitt half an 
 hour ago. Simmonds and one of the physicians 
 allways return at five in the evening — the former for 
 the night — the latter for some hours. I have watched 
 and know their motions well. This must end surely 
 at no distant period — a Regency — and then I hope 
 
 * George III. 
 
1793-1804.] THREATS OF INVASION. 29 
 
 the game's our own ! In the mean time, these dinners 
 and this activity of the Prince are certainly doing 
 
 food, and our friends are much more numerous than 
 expected. We are a great body — the Prince at the 
 head of us. Fox, Grey, &c., are all in great spirits. 
 . . . Your humble servant partakes in the passing 
 festivities of these Opposition grandees. I dine 
 to-morrow at Lord Fitzwilliam's, this day week at 
 Carlton House ; Monday I dined at Lord Derby's. I 
 really believe I have played my cards, so far, 
 excellently with these people." 
 
 General Sir John Moore to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Sandgate, 27th Aug., 1804. 
 
 ". . . We understand that Government have 
 positive information that we are to be invaded, and I 
 am told that Pitt believes it. The experience of the 
 last twelve months has taught me to place little 
 confidence in the information or belief of Ministers, 
 and as the undertaking seems to me so arduous, and 
 offering so little prospect of success, I cannot per- 
 suade myself that Bonoparte will be mad enough to 
 attempt it. He will continue to threaten, by which 
 means alone he can do us harm. The mvasion 
 would, I am confident, end in our glory and in his 
 disgrace. 
 
 "The newspapers continue to mention secret 
 expeditions, and have sometimes named me as one of 
 the Generals to be employed. I put these upon a par 
 with the invasion. We have at present no dispose- 
 able force, and, if we had, I see no object worthy 
 upon which to risk it. Thus, without belief in in- 
 vasion or foreign expeditions, my situation here 
 becomes daily more irksome, and I am almost reduced 
 to wish for peace. I am tired of the confinement, 
 without the occupation, of war." 
 
 In the following letter from Dr. Currie occurs the 
 first mention of one, hitherto unheard of, with whom 
 Creevey was destined to be long and intimately 
 
30 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. I. 
 
 associated. Currie complains of the unfairness of 
 Henry Brougham's criticism of " Lord Lauderdale's 
 very ingenious book." 
 
 "2nd October, 1804. 
 
 ". . . The review of his book in the Edinr. 
 Review is every way unfair and foul. It is by a 
 scatter-brained fellow, one Brougham, who wrote two 
 volumes on colonial policy, the two practical objects 
 of which were — to abolish the slave-trade, and to 
 propose that we should join our armies to those of 
 the French for the extirpation of the Negroes of 
 St. Domingo. . . . He has got a sort of philosophical 
 cant about him, and a way of putting obscure 
 sentences together, which seem to fools to contain 
 deep meaning, especially as an air of consummate 
 petulance and confidence runs through the whole. 
 He has been taken up, I am told, by Wilberforce, and 
 is paying his court to Pitt. He is a notorious 
 prostitute, and is setting himself up to sale. It 
 seems Ld. Lauderdale offended him by refusing to 
 be introduced to him, but it is to pay court to Pitt, 
 depend on it, that he writes as he does. . . . You 
 may mention this to Mr. Grey." 
 
 Lord Henry Petty [afterwards yd Marquess of 
 Lajtsdowne] to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Bath, Nov. 23rd, 1804. 
 
 "... [We are] within a few doors here of Ld. 
 Thurlow's house, which has been recently honor'd 
 with a Royal visit, when, as you may suppose, the 
 whole scene of ministerial intrigue and family 
 negociation was laid open : some legal business of 
 importance was also transacted, for one lawyer came 
 down with the P., and another was sent for while he 
 remained. . . . Most probably it relates to some 
 arrangement for the Princess. I am really glad to 
 find he has conducted himself with so much firmness, 
 and at the same time with some decorum. I give him 
 the more credit for it, as I suspect the councils of 
 
1793-1804.] THE IRISH DIFFICULTY. 3I 
 
 Carlton House are not composed of the most high- 
 minded or immaculate statesmen.* 
 
 "I have received a long and interesting letter from 
 Mr. Parnell with an account of the Catholic proceed- 
 ings in Dublin, vi^hich have at last assumed a very 
 formidable aspect. ... He says — ' In a month's time 
 three millions of men will be formed into a well- 
 disciplined and united body, headed by men of great 
 wealth, and, what is better, great prudence. Weak as 
 this Empire was in civil power, it is still further 
 weakened by being divided with Foster ;t so that I 
 do not think I shall be mistaken in saying that all the 
 moral force which influences men's minds and their 
 actions thro' their opinions will be lodged in the 
 hands of the Catholics ; and unless the Irish Govt, 
 can raise a rebellion, which I do not think they can, 
 they will fall into an insignificance equal to their 
 deserts.' He adds that the meeting in Dublin was 
 attended by upwards of eighty gentlemen, the poorest 
 of whom has ;£'20oo per ann. However the mere 
 question of numbers may stand, Pitt's situation must, 
 I think, appear far more critical at the commence- 
 ment of the ensuing, than at the close of the last, 
 session. No army raised at home — no foreign con- 
 nections made or improved — on the contrary, a new 
 war unnecessarily undertaken, and ungraciously 
 entered upon — the Catholic body united in their 
 demands, founded on past promises, and a powerfull 
 and unbroken Opposition ready and willing to 
 support. If such a combination of circumstances 
 does not shake the Treasury bench, what mortal 
 power can ? . . ." 
 
 * "At that period we had a kind of Cabinet, with whom I used to 
 consult. They were the Dukes of York, Portland, Devonshire and 
 Northumberland, Lord Guilford (that was Lord North), Lords 
 Stormont, Moira and Fitzwilliam and Charles Fox." — Statement by 
 George IV. to J. W. Croker [The Croker Papers, i. 289]. 
 
 t Right Hon. J. Foster, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland. 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1805. 
 
 The following holograph note, without date, probably 
 belongs to the year 1805, and is interesting as being 
 written by the future William IV. on behalf of the 
 future George IV. : — 
 
 H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence to Mr. Creevey 
 [holograph]. 
 
 " St. James's, Friday night. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " The Prince desires you will meet at dinner 
 here on Saturday the Eighteenth instant at six o'Clock 
 Lord [illegible'] and Sheridan. I hope I need not add 
 how happy your presence will make me. I remain 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " VV^ILLIAM." 
 
 Foreign politics during these years absorbed all 
 the energies of Ministers, and diverted Pitt from those 
 schemes of reform which undoubtedly lay near his 
 heart. But the spirit of reform was awake, though it 
 was crushed out of the plans of the Cabinet by stress of 
 circumstance. The Opposition enjoyed more freedom 
 and less responsibility. Creevey attached himself to 
 that section of it which was foremost in hunting out 
 abuses and proposing drastic measures of redress. 
 At this time Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville, was 
 
i8os.] MELVILLE'S DISGRACE. 33 
 
 First Lord of the Admiralty. The loth Report of the 
 Commission appointed "to inquire into frauds and 
 abuses in the Royal Navy " contained grave charges 
 against Melville, who was accused in the House of 
 Commons of malversation in his office of Treasurer 
 of the Navy, committed in years subsequent to 1782. 
 The division on 8th April showred 216 votes in each 
 lobby, when the Speaker gave his casting vote in 
 favour of Whitbread's motion. Melville at once re- 
 signed, and his name was erased from the list of Privy 
 Councillors. He was impeached before the House of 
 Lords and acquitted, but not till 12th June, 1806, six 
 months after Pitt's death. 
 
 "I have ever thought," wrote Lord Fitzharris, 
 " that an aiding cause in Pitt's death, certainly one 
 that tended to shorten his existence, was the result 
 of the proceedings against his old friend and colleague 
 Lord Melville." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 "13th March, 1805. 
 
 "... I am trying to learn my lesson as a future 
 under-secretary or Secretary of the Treasury. . . . 
 We had a famous debate on Sheridan's motion : never 
 anything was so hollow as the argument on our side. 
 Sherry's speech and reply were both excellent. In that 
 part of his reply when he fired upon Pitt for his 
 treachery to the Catholics, Pitt's eyes started with 
 defiance from their sockets, and seemed to tell him 
 if he advanced an atom further he would have his 
 life. Sherry left him a little alone and tickled him 
 about the greatness of his mind and the good temper 
 of Melville ; and then he turned upon him again with 
 redoubled fury. . . . Never has it fallen to my lot to 
 hear such words before in publick or in private used 
 by man to man." 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. II. 
 
 "April 13, 1805. 
 
 "... We have had indeed most famous sport with 
 this same Leviathan, Lord Melville. His tumbling so 
 soon was as unexpected by all of us as it was by him- 
 self or you. It was clear from the first that he was 
 ruined sooner or later, but no one anticipated his 
 defeat upon the first Attack, and supported as he was 
 by the Addingtons as well as Pitts, and with the 
 nostrum held out, too, of further enquiry by a secret 
 Committee. The history of that celebrated night 
 presents a wide field of attack upon Pitt under all 
 the infinite difficulties of his situation ; a clamour for 
 reform in the expenditure of the publick money is at 
 last found to be the touchstone of the House of 
 Commons and of the publick. . . . Grey is to give 
 notice immediately when we meet to bring in a bill 
 appointing Commissioners to examine into abuses in 
 the Army, in the Barracks — the Ordnance — the Com- 
 missariat Departments. This plan, if it is worth any- 
 thing . . . must place Pitt in the cursedest dilemma 
 possible. Can he refuse enquiry when it is so loudly 
 called for? or, if he grants it, what must become of 
 the Duke of York and the Greenwoods and Hammers- 
 leys and Delaneys, &c., &:c., &c., whose tricks with 
 money in these departments would whitewash those of 
 Trotter by comparison. ... I have no hesitation in 
 saying that Pitt must be more than man to stand it. 
 . . . You can form no notion of his fallen crest in the 
 House of Commons— of his dolorous, distracted air. 
 He betrayed Melville only to save himself, and so the 
 Dundas's think and say. His own ruin must come 
 next, and that, I think, at no great distance. You 
 may have perceived I have not deserted from my 
 enquiries into less important jobs, although old 
 Fordyce * got such assistance from Fox. The latter, 
 I have reason to believe, repents most cursedly of 
 that business. Grey and Whitbread have acted with 
 unparalleled kindness to me. I mean to have another 
 touch at Fordyce when we meet again. ... At our 
 
 * John Fordyce, Esq., of Ayton, Berwickshire, Receiver-General 
 of Land Tax in Scotland. He married Miss Catherine Maxwell of 
 Monreith, sister of Jane, Duchess of Gordon. 
 
i8o5.] THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST JOBS. 35 
 
 first dinner after my motion about Fordyce, about 
 three days after, there were, I daresay, fifty or sixty 
 people, Fox in the chair. I was sulky and getting 
 pretty drunk, when Fox call'd upon me for a toast — ■ 
 a publick man — and so I gave ' Fordyce.' This 
 brought on a jaw, during which I got more and more 
 drunk, but never departed from my creed that I was 
 a betrayed man. However, say nothing of this, I beg. 
 With reference to my own interest, I am sure I have 
 been a gainer by all this." 
 
 " London, May ir, 1805. 
 
 " Upon my soul I don't know what to say for 
 myself in vindication of my apparently abominable 
 neglect of you ; but these are really tempestuous 
 times, and I bother myself with too many thmgs and 
 too many thoughts, and I get irritable, and I believe 
 I eat and drink too much. The upshot of the thing 
 is, that day after day passes and my intentions to 
 write to you, and to do other good things, pass too. 
 
 " Our campaign for the last six weeks has been a 
 marvellous one. . . . The country has surprised me 
 as much as the votes of the 8th and loth, and these 
 meetings and resolutions have brought us safe into 
 port, as far, at least, as relates to Melville. Pitt, too, 
 is greatly, if not irreparably damaged by Melville's 
 defeat and by certain irregularities of his own. Whit- 
 bread's select committee has done great additional 
 injury to Melville, and has got sufficient matter estab- 
 lished for a resolution against Pitt. The latter has 
 confessed that he lent ^40,000 to Boyd, Benfield and 
 Co. out of money voted for Navy services, in order 
 to enable them to make good their instalments upon 
 Omnium. He has admitted, too, that he advanced 
 them ;£'ioo,ooo in order to enable them to make a 
 purchase for Government, at a time that he was 
 informed by the Bank of their approaching ruin. A 
 great part of that sum is now a debt to Government 
 in consequence of their bankruptcy. This is a damned 
 unpopular business— to advance publick money to 
 two members of Parliament, who are bankrupts, too. 
 It is a damned thing, too, for the friends and admirers 
 of this once great man, to see him sent for by 
 
36 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. II. 
 
 Whitbread, and to hear him examined for anything like 
 money irregularities. He is, I am certain, infinitely 
 injured in the estimation of the House of Commons ; 
 and then think of his situation in other respects — his 
 right hand, Melville, lopped off — a superannuated 
 Methodist at the head of the Admiralty, in order to 
 catch the votes of Wilberforce and Co. now and then 
 — all the fleets of France and Spain in motion — the 
 finances at their utmost stretch — not an official person 
 but Huskisson and Rose to do anything at their 
 respective offices — publick business multiplied by 
 opposition beyond all former example — and himself 
 more averse to business daily — disunited writh Adding- 
 ton — having quite lost his own character and with a 
 King perfectly mad and involving his ministry in the 
 damnedest scrapes upon the subject of expense. . . . 
 I know Pitt's friends think he can't go on, and they all 
 wish him not to try it. You may guess how the 
 matter is when I tell you that Abercromby, the 
 member for Edinburgh, and Hope, the member for 
 your county, have struck and fled, declaring they 
 won't support Pitt any longer, whom they both 
 pronounce to be a damned rascal. My authority is 
 James Abercomby,* and I will answer for the truth of 
 these facts. 
 
 ". . . Bennet f has been here, and is now re- 
 turned to Bath. He is most desirous to know you, 
 and I promised I would write to you and mention him 
 by way of introduction. He is most amiable, occa- 
 sionally most boring, but at all times most upright 
 and honorable. Make him introduce you to Lord and 
 Lady Tankerville. The former is very fond of me ; 
 he is a haughty, honorable man — has lived at one time 
 in the heart of political leaders — was the friend of 
 Lansdowne — has been in office several times, and is 
 now a misanthrope, but very communicative and 
 entertaining when he likes his man. His only remain- 
 ing passion is for clever men, of which description 
 he considers himself as one, tho' certainly unjustly. 
 Lady Tankerville has perhaps as much merit as any 
 
 * Hon. James Abercromby : Speaker 1835-9 '■ created Lord 
 Dunfermline 1839 : died 1858. 
 
 t Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., 2nd son of 4th Earl of Tankerville. 
 
iSoj.] THE RADICALS MAKE THE PACE. 37 
 
 woman in England.* She is, too, very clever, and has 
 great wit; but she, like her Lord, is depress'd and 
 unhappy. They compose together the most striking 
 libel upon the blessing of Fortune ; they are rich much 
 beyond their desires or expenditure, they have the 
 most elevated rank of their country, I know of nothing 
 to disturb their happiness, and they are apparently 
 the most miserable people I ever saw." 
 
 "Thorndon [Lord Petre's], 28th July, 1805. 
 
 ". . . You must know that I came out of the battle 
 [of the session] very sick of it and of my leaders. 
 It appears to me we had Pitt upon his very last legs, 
 and might have destroyed him upon the spot ; instead 
 of which, every opportunity for so doing was either 
 lost or converted to a contrary purpose. Could the 
 most inveterate enemy of Pitt have wished for any- 
 thing better than to [find him lending ;^40,ooo, appro- 
 priated by law to particular publick purposes, to two 
 bankrupt merchant members of parliament who voted 
 always with him ? f and could the most pertinacious 
 derider of Fox's political folly have dared to conceive 
 that Fox on such an occasion should acquit Pitt of all 
 corruption, and should add likewise this sentiment 
 to his opinion, that to have so detected him in corrup- 
 tion would have made him (Fox) the most miserable 
 of men ? ... In short, between ourselves, my dear 
 Doctor, I believe that Fox has no principle about 
 publick money, and that he would give it away, if he 
 had the power, in any way or for any job quite as dis- 
 gusting as the worst of Pitt's. It is a painful con- 
 clusion this to come to, and dreadfully diminishes 
 one's parliamentary amusement. You can have no 
 conception how feverish I became about Fox's conduct 
 during this damned Athol business.^ I talked at him 
 
 * She was Emma, daughter and co-heiress of Sir James Cole- 
 brooke, Bart. 
 
 t Boyd, Benfield and Co., to whom Pitt advanced the sum named 
 out of money voted for Navy services. They were Government agents, 
 and shortly afterwards went bankrupt . 
 
 % The 3rd Duke of Athol having inherited the sovereignty of the 
 Isle of Man through his wife, daughter and heiress of his uncle, the 
 
38 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. II. 
 
 in private, and no doubt vexed him infernally ; but 
 this you'll say is but poor work, to be making myself 
 enemies in the persons whose jobs I oppose, and to 
 cjuarrel with my own friends for not opposing the 
 jobs too. I must have some discussion with my con- 
 science and my temper before the next campaign, to 
 see whether I can't go on a little more smoothly, and 
 without prejudice to my interest. ... I see a great 
 deal of Windham. He has dined with me, but my 
 opinion of him is not at all improved by my acquaint- 
 ance with him. He is, at the same time, decidedly the 
 most agreeable and witty in conversation of all these 
 great men. ..." 
 
 The following notes are without date, but the 
 allusion to Tom Sheridan's bride shows that they 
 belong to the summer of 1805. 
 
 R. B. Sheridan, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Richmond Hill, 
 " Monday — the third day of Peace and Tranquillity. 
 " My dear Creevey, 
 
 " You must make my excuse to the Lord 
 Mayor. Pray vouch that you should have brought me, 
 but my cold is really so bad that I should infallibly 
 lay myself up if I attempted to go. Here are pure 
 air, quiet and innocence, and everything that suits me. 
 " rray let me caution you not to expose yourself 
 to the air after Dinner, as I find malicious people 
 disposed to attribute to wine what was clearly the 
 mere effect of the atmosphere. My last hour to your 
 Ladies, as I am certainly going to die ; till when, 
 however, 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 " R. B. S." , 
 
 2nd Duke, sold the same in 1765 to the Government for ;^7o,ooo and 
 a pension of ;£2O0O for their joint lives, but reserving their land rents. 
 The 4th Duke, after two failures, succeeded in getting a bill through 
 Parhament in 1805, settling one-fourth of the customs of the island 
 upon him and the heirs general of James Stanley, 7th Earl of Derby. 
 The bill was vigorously opposed, and Creevey denounced it as a job. 
 The fourth of the customs was subsequently commuted for ;if 409,000. 
 
i8o5.] THE SHERIDANS. 39 
 
 " Thursday evening. 
 
 " My dear Creevey, 
 
 " If you don't leave town to-morrow, come 
 and eat your mutton with me in George St. and meet 
 Adam and McMahon, and more than all, my Son and 
 Daughter. 
 
 " Mrs. Creevey will excuse you at my request, and 
 you will be a Piece of a Lion to have seen so early 
 Mrs. T. S.,* whom I think lovely and engaging and 
 interesting beyond measure, and, as far as f can judge, 
 with a most superior understanding. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " R. B. S." 
 
 " Grosvenor Place, Saturday morning. 
 " My dear Mrs. Creevey, 
 
 " I left Hester about two hours ago : she 
 violently expects you. Remember we have a bed for 
 you, a fishing rod for Creevey on Monday morning. 
 If you will stay over Monday, Hester and Richmond 
 Hill will make you quite well, and there are, not 
 cockney, but classical Lions for Creevey to see. ..." 
 
 It is difficult in these later days to realise the 
 degree in which Royal personages were allowed, and 
 even expected, to interfere with politics and the work 
 of Parliament under the Hanoverian dynasty. It is 
 notorious that, George III. having evinced his deter- 
 mination to have a Tory Cabinet, the Heir Apparent 
 chose his friends and counsellors from the Whig 
 Opposition, trafficking in seats in Parliament as keenly 
 as any boroughmonger of them all. Among others 
 whom he sought to enlist in his Parliamentary party 
 
 * Sheridan's only son, Tom [1775-1817], married Caroline 
 Henrietta Callander in 1805. She was a celebrated beauty, wrote 
 three novels which had some popularity, and was the mother of four 
 sons and three beautiful daughters — Mrs. Blackwood, afterwards Lady 
 Dufferin, and lastly, Countess of Gififord ; The Hon. Mrs. Norton, 
 afterwards Lady Stirling-Maxwell of Keir ; and the youngest, the 
 Duchess of Somerset, Queen of Beauty at the Eglinton Tournament. 
 
40 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. II. 
 
 was the gentle and erudite Samuel Romilly, whose 
 name must ever be associated with the unwearying 
 efforts he made to reform and mitigate the atrociously 
 sanguinary penal code of England. Measured by the 
 extent of the immediate success of these efforts, 
 Romilly's influence upon the statute-book may be 
 reckoned trifling, seeing that all he was able to effect 
 against Lord Ellenborough and the House of Lords 
 was the repeal, in 1812, of the law which prescribed 
 the death penalty upon any soldier or mariner who 
 should presume to beg, without permission from his 
 commanding officer or a magistrate. Nevertheless 
 the fruits of his life-work ripened after his untimely 
 death by his own hand in 1818, and although he can- 
 not be reckoned among the noisiest nor among the 
 most profusely munificent philanthropists, the in- 
 fluence of Samuel Romilly was indeed one of the 
 most powerful and beneficent ever exerted in the 
 cause of humanity. 
 
 Samuel Romilly, K.C., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Little Ealing, Sept. 23rd, 1805. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 " I have just received your letter. ... It has 
 indeed very much surprised me, and I am afraid my 
 answer to it will occasion as much surprise in you. 
 I cannot express to you how much flattered I am by 
 the honor which the Prince of Wales does me. No 
 event in the whole course of my life has been so 
 gratifying to me. ... I have formed no resolution to 
 keep out of Parliament ; on the contrary, it has long 
 been my intention and is still my wish, to obtain 
 a seat in the House, though not immediately.* If 
 I had been a member from the beginning of the 
 
 * He was elected member for Queenborough in 1806, on taking 
 office as Solicitor-General in " All the Talents." 
 
iSosO ROMILLY DECLINES PARLIAMENT. 41 
 
 present Parliament, my vote would have been uni- 
 formly given in a way which I presume would have 
 been agreeable to the Prince of Wales. . . . Upon 
 all questions I should have voted with Mr. Fox ; and 
 yet, with all this, I feel myself obliged to decline the 
 offer which his Royal Highness has the great conde- 
 scension to make me. . . . When I was a young man, 
 a seat in Parliament was offered me. It was offered 
 in the handsomest manner imaginable : no condition 
 whatever was annexed to it : I was told that I was 
 to be quite independent, and was to vote and act just 
 as I thought proper. I could not, however, relieve 
 myself from the apprehension that . . . the person to 
 whom I owed the seat would consider me, without 
 perhaps being quite conscious of it himself, as his 
 representative in Parliament . . . and that I should 
 have some other than my own reason and conscience 
 to account to for my public conduct. ... In other 
 respects, the offer was to me a most tempting one. 
 I had then no professional business with which it 
 would interfere. . . . As a young man, I was vain and 
 foolish enough to imagine that I might distinguish 
 myself as a public speaker. I weighed the offer very 
 maturely, and in the end I rejected it. I persuaded 
 myself that (altho' that were not the case with others) 
 it was impossible that the little talents which I 
 possessed could ever be exerted with any advantage 
 to the public, or any credit to myself, unless I came 
 into Parliament quite independent, and answerable for 
 my conduct to God and to my country alone. I had 
 felt the temptation so strong that, in order to fortify 
 myself against any others of the same kind, I formed 
 to myself the unalterable resolution never, unless I 
 held a public ofifice, to come into Parliament but by 
 a popular election, or by paying the common price 
 for my seat. It is true that, when I formed this 
 resolution, the possibility of a seat being offered me 
 by the Prince of Wales had never entered into my 
 thoughts, and that the rules which I had laid down to 
 regulate ray conduct ought perhaps to yield to such 
 a circumstance as this. But yet I have so long acted 
 on this resolution — the principles on which I formed 
 it have become so much a part of the system of my 
 life, and that life is now so far advanced, that I cannot 
 
42 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. II. 
 
 convince myself— proud as I am of the distinction 
 which his Royal Highness is willing to confer upon 
 me, that I ought to accept it. The answer that I 
 should wish to give to his Royal Highness is to 
 express in the strongest terms my gratitude for the 
 offer, but in the most respectful possible way to 
 decline it ; and at the same time to say that, if his 
 R. H. thinks that my being in Parliament can be at 
 all useful to the public, I shall be very glad to procure 
 mj'self a seat the first opportunity that I can find. 
 But the difficulty is to know how to give such an 
 answer with propriety. I am fearful that it may be 
 thought, in every way that it occurs to me to convey 
 it, not sufficiently respectful to his R. H., and from 
 this embarrassment I know not how to relieve myself. 
 My only recourse is to trust that you will be able to 
 do for me what I cannot do for myself . . ." 
 
 Lord Henry Pctty'^' to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Dublin, Sept. 15th, 1805. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 " I have for some time meditated writing to 
 you, more, I confess, in the hope of procuring an 
 answer, than with that of being able to communicate 
 anything that can interest you from this country, 
 altho' it affords me a great deal of amusement as a 
 traveller. 
 
 "The town of Dublin is full of fine buildings, fine 
 streets, &c., but so ill placed and imperfectly finished 
 as to give it the appearance of a great piece of patch- 
 work, made up without skill and without attention. 
 The Custom House is, however, an exception, and in 
 every respect a noble edifice, in which there is no 
 fault to be found except that old Beresfordf is 
 sumptuously lodged in it. 
 
 "The Union is become generally unpopular — more 
 
 * Chancellor of the Exchequer in "All the Talents," 1806-7, and 
 afterwards 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne. 
 
 t The Right Hon. John Beresford [1737-1805], for many years 
 chairman of the Revenue Board of Ireland, greatly relied on by Pitt 
 in affairs of Irish administration. He died 5th November, 1805. 
 
1805.] IRISH AFFAIRS. 43 
 
 SO, I think, than it deserves; but the Irish pride is 
 wounded with the hauteur and neglect of the English 
 Govt. Castlereagh's defeat was received with accla- 
 mation by all classes here, and the city would have 
 been illuminated if the Mayor had not prevented it, 
 giving rather awkwardly as an excuse that he did not 
 think the occasion of sufficient magnitude.* . . ." 
 
 "Belfast, Oct. 24th, 1805. 
 
 " Many thanks for your letter, which it would have 
 given me pleasure to receive anywhere, but par- 
 ticularly in the remote district of Munster where it 
 found me, meditating upon the means of converting 
 bogs into fields, rocks into quarries, and (not the least 
 difficult of metamorphoses) Irish peasants into efficient 
 labourers. We have, at the other extremity of the 
 island, got into a more civilised region. Downshire 
 is the Yorkshire of Ireland — the same universal 
 appearance of wealth and industry, and even of neat- 
 ness and comfort, prevails. 
 
 " The shops here are full of prints and songs 
 against Castlereagh, the leavings of the election, 
 which has produced a general effect throughout 
 Ireland. I am far from thinking the elections here 
 will be so completely under the controll of Govt, as 
 many of their adversaries, as well as friends, suppose. 
 There is in most counties a rising spirit of indepen- 
 dence, and the weight of the Catholic interest will be 
 strongly felt. I have been myself strongly soUicited 
 by a number of freeholders of the Co. of Kerry to 
 offer myself at the gen. election, nor should I have 
 the least doubt of success, if I had not other views, 
 
 * Viscount Castlereagh [1769-1822] had been returned as Whig 
 member for county Down in 1790, the election costing his father the 
 almost incredible sum of ;£6o,ooo. He joined the Tories in 1795, 
 became Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1797, and incurred the hatred 
 of many of his countrymen by the ardour and success with which he 
 forwarded Pitt's project of the Union, by buying up borough-mongers. 
 But he was a strong advocate of Roman Catholic emancipation, and 
 retired with Pitt when George III. set his veto upon the measure to 
 which Pitt was pledged. He took office under Addington as President 
 of the Board of Controul in 1802, and lost his seat on seeking 
 re-election in 1805 when he was appointed War Minister under Pitt. 
 
44 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. II. 
 
 and could bring myself to face the tumult of an Irish 
 contest, which would not be, I think, the most amusing 
 of recreations. 
 
 "What great events are passing on the Continent. 
 It is terrible to think that Pitt has so much of the fate 
 of England and of Europe in his hands. I understand 
 there has been some disagreement with Russia in 
 consequence of the D. of Y. being intended for the 
 command of a combined army of Russians and English, 
 against which the Court of Petersburgh remonstrated. 
 How disgracefuU to be indebted to a foreign court for 
 teaching us commonsense and our own interest at 
 such a crisis !" 
 
 At Christmastide, 1805, Pitt received his death- 
 blow. He had staked the existence of his country 
 and the freedom of Europe upon the coalition of 
 Austria, Russia, and England against Bonaparte and 
 the destructive energies of France. But before these 
 formidable allies could come into line, even before the 
 British force had embarked for Germany, Napoleon 
 swept through the Black Forest with 100,000 men. 
 The Austrian commander Mack, posted on the Iller 
 from Ulm to Memmingen, was surprised, taken in 
 rear, and laid down his arms on 19th October, 
 Werneck's corps having done the like the day before 
 to Murat. By the end of the month the Austrian field 
 force of 80,000 was no more. When rumours reached 
 Pitt of the capitulation of Ulm — " Don't believe it," 
 he exclaimed; "it is all a fiction." Next day the 
 terrible news received confirmation ; the shock could 
 not be repaired, even by the glorious intelligence 
 which arrived four days later of the destruction of the 
 French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar. That, indeed, 
 revived shattered hopes for the moment, but it was 
 followed closely by the news of Austerlitz, where the 
 second partner in the coalition had been crushed with 
 
1805.] ULM AND AUSTERLITZ. 45 
 
 a loss of 26,000 men. Not only was the coalition at 
 an end, but its author passed quickly into the shadow 
 of death. 
 
 Hon. Charles Grey, M.P. {afterwards 2nd Earl Grey), 
 to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Howick, Dec. 29th, 1S05. 
 ". . . Your details, which I had received from no 
 other person, have left no doubt upon my mind. Of 
 the delay of fresh intelligence I think nothing. I 
 remember the same thing happened after the battle 
 of Ulm, when the same inferences were drawn from 
 it, and the opportunity taken to circulate the same 
 reports of the defeat of the French. It seems Robert 
 Ward sent to all the newspapers the paragraphs which 
 you wd. see, asserting the Russian capitulation and 
 Count Palfy's letters to be forgeries; and this, I am 
 assured, without the least authority for doing so, 
 except his own foolish belief. All this, I agree with 
 you, is as much calculated to hurt Pitt, when it is 
 completely exposed, as the disasters themselves, and 
 the folly of doing it is inconceivable. If the defeat 
 of the 2nd * was as calamitous as I believe it to have 
 been, it is nonsense to talk any more of Continental 
 confederacies. The game is too desperate even for 
 Pitt himself, desperate as he is; and the King of 
 Prussia certainly would not expose himself alone, 
 which in the first instance he must do, to all the power 
 and vengeance of France. I am more inclined to think 
 that they [Pitt's Cabinet] really do flatter themselves 
 against all evidence into a belief in these renewed 
 battles and consequent changes of fortune. There is 
 nothing too absurd for them in a military view. They 
 are naturally confident and sanguine, and this is their 
 last hope." 
 
 * At Austerlitz. 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1805. 
 
 The following reminiscences were written by Mr. 
 Creevey in 1821, but as they refer chiefly to his 
 doings in 1805, they find their proper sequence in 
 this place. At the time they were written Mr. 
 Creevey's feelings towards the Prince of Wales had 
 undergone a complete revulsion; but in 1805 he was 
 full of enthusiasm for the Heir Apparent, upon whom 
 the hopes of the whole Whig party were fixed. 
 
 "It was in 1804 when I first began to take a part 
 in the House of Commons, at which time the Prince 
 of Wales was a most warm and active partizan of 
 Mr. Fox and the Opposition. It was then that the 
 Prince began first to notice me, and to stop his horse 
 and talk with me when he met me in the streets ; but 
 I recollect only one occasion, in that or the succeed- 
 ing year, that I dined at Carlton House, and that 
 was with a party of the Opposition, to whom he 
 gave various dinners during that spring. On that 
 occasion Lord Dundas and Calcraft sat at the top 
 and bottom of the table, the Prince in the middle at 
 one side, with the Duke of Clarence next to him ; 
 Fox, Sheridan and about 30 opposition members of 
 both Houses making the whole party. We walked 
 about the garden before dinner without our hats. 
 
 "The only thing that made an impression upon 
 me in favour of the Prince that day (always except- 
 ing his excellent manners and appearance of good 
 humour) was his receiving a note during dinner 
 
i8os.] THE HEIR APPARENT. 47 
 
 which he flung across the table to Fox and asked if 
 he must not answer it, which Fox assented to ; and 
 then, without the slightest fuss, the Prince left his 
 place, went into another room and wrote an answer, 
 which he brought to Fox for his approval, and when 
 the latter said it was quite right, the Prince seemed 
 delighted, which I thought very pretty in him, and a 
 striking proof of Fox's influence over him. 
 
 " Dunng dinner he was very gracious, funny 
 and agreeable, but after dinner he took to making 
 speeches, and was very prosy as well as highly in- 
 judicious. He made a long harangue in favour of 
 the Catholics and took occasion to tell us that his 
 brother William and himself were the only two of 
 his family who were not Germans — this too in a 
 company which was, most of them, barely known 
 to him. Likewise I remember his halloaing to Sir 
 Charles Bamfyld at the other end of the table, and 
 asking him if he had seen Mother Windsor * lately. 
 I brought Lord Howick t and George Walpole home 
 at night in my coach, and so ended that day. 
 
 "At the beginning of September, 1805, Mrs. 
 Creevey and myself with her daughters went to 
 Brighton to spend the autumn there, the Prince then 
 living at the Pavilion. I think it was the first, or at 
 furthest the second, day after our arrival, when my 
 two eldest daughters X and myself were walking on 
 the Steyne, and the Prince, who was sitting talking 
 to old Lady Clermont, having perceived me, left her 
 and came up to speak to me, when I presented my 
 daughters to him. He was very gracious to us all 
 and hoped he should see me shortly at dinner. In 
 two or three days from this time I received an invi- 
 tation to dine at the Pavilion. . . . Mrs. Fitzherbert, 
 whom I had never been in a room with before, sat 
 on one side of the Prince, and the Duke of Clarence 
 on the other. ... In the course of the evening the 
 Prince took me up to the card table where Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert was playing, and said — ' Mrs. Fitzherbert, I 
 wish you would call upon Mrs. Creevey, and say 
 
 * A notorious procuress in King's Place, 
 t Afterwards Earl Grey, the Prime Minister, 
 X His step-daughters, the Miss Ords. 
 
48 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. HI. 
 
 from me I shall be happy to see her here.' Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert did call accordingly, and altho' she and 
 Mrs. Creevey had never seen each other before, an 
 acquaintance began that soon grew into a very sin- 
 cere and agreeable friendship, which lasted the re- 
 mainder of Mrs. Creevey's life. . . . 
 
 "... Immediately after this first visit from Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, Mrs. Creevey and her daughters became 
 invited with myself to the Prince's parties at the 
 Pavilion, and till the first week in January — a space 
 of about four months — except a few days when the 
 Prince went to see the King at Weymouth, and a 
 short time that I was in London in November, there 
 was not a day we were not at the Pavilion, I dining 
 there always once or twice a week, Mrs. Creevey 
 frequently dining with me likewise, but in the even- 
 ing we were always there. 
 
 " During these four months the Prince behaved 
 with the greatest good humour as well as kindness to 
 us all. He was always merry and full of his jokes, 
 and any one would have said he was really a very 
 happy man. Indeed I have heard him say repeatedly 
 dunng that time that he never should be so happy 
 when King, as he was then. 
 
 " I suppose the Courts or houses of Princes are 
 all alike m one thing, viz., that in attending them you 
 lose your liberty. After one month was gone by, 
 you fell naturally and of course into the ranks, and 
 had to reserve your observations till you were asked 
 for them. These royal invitations are by no means 
 calculated to reconcile one to a Court. To be sent for 
 half an hour before dinner, or perhaps in the middle 
 of one's own, was a little too humiliating to be very 
 agreeable. 
 
 ". . . Lord Hutchinson * was a great feature at 
 the Pavilion. He lived in the house, or rather the 
 one adjoining it, and within the grounds. . . . As a 
 military man he was a great resource at that time, 
 as we were in the midst of expectations about the 
 
 * Brother of the ist Earl of Donoughmore ; a general officer, 
 succeeded Sir Ralph Abercromby in command of the army in Egypt, 
 and was raised to the peerage in 1801, with a pension of ^2000. Died 
 in 1832. 
 
i8o5.] LIFE AT THE PAVILION. 49 
 
 Austrians and Buonaparte, and the battle which we 
 all knew would so soon take place between them. It 
 was a funny thing to hear the Prince, when the battle 
 had taken place, express the same opinion as was 
 given in the London Government newspapers, that it 
 was all over with the French — that they were all sent 
 to the devil, and the Lord knows what. Maps were 
 got out to satisfy everybody as to the precise ground 
 where the battle had been fought and the route by 
 which the French had retreated. While these opera- 
 tions were going on in one window of the Pavilion, 
 Lord Hutchinson took me privately to another, when 
 he put into my hand his own private dispatch from 
 Gordon, then Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, 
 giving him the true account of the battle of Auster- 
 litz, with the complete victory of the French. This 
 news, unaccountable as it may appear, was repeated 
 day after day at the Pavilion for nearly a week ; and 
 when the truth began at last to make its appearance 
 in the newspapers, the Prince puts them all in his 
 pockets, so that no paper was forthcoming at the 
 Pavilion, instead of half-a-dozen, the usual number. 
 . . . We used to dine pretty punctually at six, the 
 average number being about sixteen. . . . Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert always dined there, and mostly one other 
 lady — Lady Downshire very often, sometimes Lady 
 Clare or Lady Berkeley or Mrs. Creevey. Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert was a great card-player, and played every 
 night. The Prince never touched a card, but was 
 occupied in talking to his guests, and very much in 
 listening to and giving directions to the band. At 
 12 o'clock punctually the band stopped, and sand- 
 wiches and wine and water handed about, and shortly 
 after the Prince made a bow and we all dispersed. 
 
 " I had heard a great deal of the Prince's drinking, 
 but, during the time that I speak of, I never saw him 
 the least drunk but once, and I was myself pretty 
 much the occasion of it. We were dining at the 
 Pavilion, and poor Fonblanque, a dolorous fop of a 
 lawyer, and a member of Parliament too, was one of 
 the guests. After drinking some wine, I could not 
 resist having some jokes at Fonblanque's expense, 
 which the Prince encouraged greatly. I went on 
 and invented stories about speeches Fonblanque had 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
so THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 made in Parliament, which were so pathetic as to 
 have affected his audience to tears, all of which in- 
 ventions of mine Fonblanque denied to be true with 
 such overpowering gravity that the Prince said he 
 should die of it if 1 did not stop. ... In the evening, 
 at about ten or eleven o'clock, he said he would go to 
 the ball at the Castle, and said I should go with him. 
 So I went in his coach, and he entered the room with 
 his arm through mine, everybody standing and getting 
 upon benches to see him. He was certainly tipsey, 
 and so, of course, was I, but not much, for I well re- 
 member his taking me up to Mrs. Creevey and her 
 daughters, and telling them he had never spent a 
 pleasanter day in his life, and that ' Creevey had been 
 very great' He used to drink a great quantity of 
 wine at dinner, and was very fond of making any 
 newcomer drunk by drinking wine with him very 
 frequently, always recommending his strongest wines, 
 and at last some remarkably strong old brandy which 
 he called Diabolino. 
 
 " It used to be the Duke of Norfolk's Custom to . 
 come over every year from Arundel to pay his 
 respects to the Prince and to stay two days at 
 Brighton, both of which he always dined at the 
 Pavilion. In the year 1804, upon this annual visit, 
 the Prince had drunk so much as to be made very 
 seriously ill by it, so that in 1805 (the year that I was 
 there) when the Duke came, Mrs. Fitzherbert, who 
 was always the Prince's best friend, was very much 
 afraid of his being again made ill, and she persuaded 
 the Prince to adopt different stratagems to avoid 
 drinking with the Duke. I dined there on both days, 
 and letters were brought in each day after dinner to 
 the Prince, which he affected to consider of great im- 
 
 gortance, and so went out to answer them, while the 
 •uke of Clarence went on drinking with the Duke 
 of Norfolk. But on the second day this joke was 
 carried too far, and in the evening the Duke of 
 Norfolk showed he was affronted. The Prince took 
 me aside and said — ' Stay after everyone is gone to- 
 night. The Jockey's got sulky, and I must give him 
 a broiled bone to get him in good humour again.' So 
 of course I stayed, and about one o'clock the Prince 
 of Wales and Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Norfolk 
 
i'/j/i '^'iu.ttr^ iA.d 
 
 •I'JaU'ir-.-'-i^.K-irr.-^i t^l, ■ 
 
 /{":Afj/u-r/;-rf-. 
 
iSoj.] SHERIDAN. 51 
 
 and myself sat down to a supper of broiled bones, the 
 result of which was that, having fallen asleep myself, 
 I was awoke by the sound of the Duke of Norfolk's 
 snoring. I found the Prince of Wales and the Duke 
 of Clarence in a very animated discussion as to the 
 particular shape and make of the wig worn by 
 George II. 
 
 "Among other visitors to the Pavilion came 
 Sheridan, with whom I was then pretty intimate, 
 though perhaps not so much so as afterwards. I 
 was curious to see him and the Prince daily in this 
 way, considering the very great intimacy there had 
 been between them for so many years. Nothing, 
 certainly, could be more creditable to both parties 
 than their conduct. I never saw Sheridan during the 
 period of three weeks (I think it was) take the least 
 more liberty in the Prince's presence than if it had 
 been the first day he had ever seen him. On the 
 other hand, the Prince always showed by his manner 
 that he thought Sheridan a man that any prince 
 might be proud of as his friend. 
 
 " So much for manners ; but I was witness to a 
 kind of altercation between them in which Sheridan 
 could make no impression on the Prince. The latter 
 had just given Sheridan the office of Auditor of the 
 Duchy of Cornwall, worth about ;^i2oo per annum, 
 and Sheridan was most anxious that the Prince 
 should transfer the appointment to his son, Tom 
 Sheridan, who was just then married. What Sheri- 
 dan's object in this was, cannot be exactly made out ; 
 whether it really was affection for Tom, or whether 
 it was to keep the profit of the office out of the reach 
 of his creditors, or whether it was to have a young 
 life in the patent instead of his own. Whichever of 
 these objects he had in view, he pursued it with the 
 
 freatest vehemence ; so much so, that I saw him cry 
 itterly one night in making his supplication to the 
 Prince. The latter, however, was not to be shaken 
 ... he resisted the demand upon the sole ground 
 that Sheridan's reputation was such, that it made it 
 not only justifiable, but most honourable to him, the 
 Prince, to make such a selection for the office. . . . 
 
 " This reminds me of another circumstance 
 relating to the same office when in Sheridan's 
 
S2 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [CH. III. 
 
 possession. In the year 1810, Mrs. Creevey, her 
 daughters and myself were spending our summer at 
 Richmond. Sheridan and his wife (who was a rela- 
 tion and particular friend of Mrs. Creevey's) came 
 down to dine and stay all night with us. There being 
 no other person present after dinner, when the ladies 
 had left the room, Sheridan said : — 
 
 "'A damned odd thing happened to me this 
 morning, and Hester [Mrs. Sheridan] and I have 
 agreed in coming down here to-day that no human 
 being shall ever know of it as long as we live ; so 
 that nothing but my firm conviction that Hester is at 
 this moment telling it to Mrs. Creevey could induce 
 me to tell it to you.' 
 
 " Then he said that the money belonging to this 
 office of his in the Duchy being always paid into 
 Biddulph's or Cox's bank (I think it was) at Charing 
 Cross, it was his habit to look in there. There was 
 one particular clerk who seemed always so fond of 
 him, and so proud of his acquaintance, that he every 
 now and then cajoled him into advancing him ;^io or 
 ^20 more than his account entitled him to. . . . That 
 morning he thought his friend looked particularly 
 smiling upon him, so he said :— 
 
 " ' I looked in to see if you could let me have ten 
 pounds.' 
 
 '"Ten pounds!' replied the clerk; 'to be 'sure I 
 can, Mr. Sheridan. You've got my letter, sir, have 
 you not ?' N 
 
 " ' No,' said Sheridan, ' what letter ? ' 
 
 " It is literally true that at this time and for many, 
 many years Sheridan never got twopenny-post letters,* 
 because there was no money to pay for them, and the 
 postman would not leave them without payment. 
 
 '"Why, don't you know what has happened, sir?' 
 asked the clerk. 'There is ;;£'i300 paid into your 
 account. There has been a very great fine paid for 
 one of the Duchy estates, and this ;£'i300 is your per- 
 centage as auditor.' 
 
 * The charge at this time for letters sent and delivered within the 
 metropolitan district was only id., payable by the recipient ; but 
 country letters were charged from lod. to is. 6d. and more, according 
 to distance. 
 
1805.] SHERIDAN. 53 
 
 " Sheridan was, of course, very much set up with 
 this ;£'i300, and, on the very next day upon leaving us, 
 he took a house at Barnes Terrace, where he spent 
 all his ;^I300. At the end of two or three months at 
 most, the tradespeople would no longer supply him 
 without being paid, so he was obliged to remove. 
 What made this folly the more striking was that 
 Sheridan had occupied five or six different houses in 
 this neighbourhood at different periods of his life, and 
 on each occasion had been driven away literally by 
 non-payment of his bills and consequent want of food 
 for the house. Yet he was as full of his fun during 
 these two months as ever he could be — gave dinners 
 perpetually and was always on the road between 
 Barnes and London, or Barnes and Oatlands (the 
 Duke of York's), in a large job coach upon which 
 he would have his family arras painted. . . . 
 
 ". . . As I may not have another opportunity of 
 committing- to paper what little I have of perfect 
 recollection of what Sheridan told me in our walks at 
 Brighton respecting his early life, and as he certainly 
 was a very extraordinary man, I may as well insert 
 it here. 
 
 " He was at school at Harrow, and, as he told me, 
 never had any scholastic fame while he was there, 
 nor did he appear to have formed any friendships 
 there. He said he was a very low-spirited boy, much 
 given to crying when alone, and he attributed this very 
 much to"; being neglected by his father, to his being 
 left without money, and often not taken home at the 
 regular holidays. From Harrow he went to live in 
 John Street, out of Soho Square, whether with his 
 father or some other instructor, I forget, but he dwelt 
 upon the two years he spent there as those in which 
 he acquired all the reading and learning he had upon 
 any subject. 
 
 " At the end of this time his father determined to 
 open a kind of academy at Bath — the masters or in- 
 structors to be ^Sheridan the father, his eldest son 
 Charles, and our Sheridan, who was to be rhetorical 
 usher. According to his account, however, the whole 
 concern was presently laughed off the stage, and then 
 Sheridan described his happiness as beginning. He 
 danced with all the women at Bath, wrote sonnets 
 
54 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 and verses in praise of some, satires and lampoons 
 upon others, and in a very short time became the 
 established wit and fashion of the place. 
 
 " It was at this period of his life he fell in love 
 with Miss Lindley, whom he afterwards married, but 
 she was carried off by her father at that time to a 
 convent in France, to be kept out of his way. Then 
 it was he became embroiled with Mr. Mathews, who 
 was likewise a lover of Miss Lindley, as well as her 
 libeller. Sheridan fought two duels with Mr. Mathews 
 upon this subject, both times with swords. The first 
 was in some hotel or tavern in Henrietta St., Covent 
 Garden, when Mathews was disarmed and begged his 
 life. Upon Mr. Mathew's return to Bath, Sheridan 
 used his triumph with so little moderation, that Mr. 
 Mathews left Bath to live in Wales; but soon he was 
 induced to believe that he had compromised his 
 honour by quitting Bath and leaving his reputation at 
 the mercy of Sheridan. Accordingly, a messenger 
 arrived from him to Sheridan, with a written certifi- 
 cate in favour of Mathews's undoubted honour in the 
 former affair, to be signed by Sheridan, or else the 
 messenger was to deliver him a second challenge. 
 
 " Sheridan preferred the latter course of proceed- 
 ing, and the duel was fought at King's Weston (if I 
 recollect right). According to Sheridan's account, 
 never was anything so desperate. Sheridan's sword 
 broke in a point blank thrust into Mathews's chest ; 
 upon this he closed, and they both fell, Mathews 
 uppermost ; but, in falling, his sword broke likewise, 
 sticking into the earth and snapping. However, he 
 drew the sharp end out of the ground, and with this 
 he stabbed Sheridan in the face and body, over and 
 over again, till it was thought he must die. Sheridan 
 named both the seconds, but I forget them. He said 
 they were both cut for ever afterwards for not inter- 
 fering. He said, likewise, there was a regular pro- 
 ceeding before the Mayor of Bristol, on the ground 
 that Mr. Mathews had worn some kind of armour to 
 protect him, which broke Sheridan's sword. . . . Sheri- 
 dan was taken to some hotel at Bath, where his life 
 for some time was despaired of, but ... he rallied and 
 recovered. 
 
 " He then lived for some time at Waltham Cross, 
 
i8os.] SHERIDAN'S MARRIAGE. SS 
 
 and was in bad health, but used to steal up to town to 
 see and hear Miss Lindley in publick, though he was 
 under an engagement with her family not to pursue 
 her any more in private. At length, however, they 
 met, and eventually were married. Miss Lindley's 
 reputation at this time was so great, that her engage- 
 ments for the year were ;^5ooo. This resource, how- 
 ever, Sheridan would not listen to her receiving any 
 longer, altho' he himself had not a single farthing. 
 He said she might sing to oblige the King or Queen, 
 but to receive money while she was his wife was quite 
 out of the question. Upon which old Lindley, her 
 father, said this might do very well for him — Mr. Sheri- 
 dan — but that for him — Mr. Lindley — it was a very 
 hard case ; that his daughter had always been a very 
 good daughter to him, and very generous to him out 
 of the funds she gained by her profession, and that 
 it was very hard upon him to be cut off all at once 
 from this supply. This objection was disposed of by 
 Sheridan in the following manner. 
 
 "Miss Lindley had ;^3ooo of her own, of which 
 Sheridan gave her father ;£'20oo. With the remaining 
 ;^iooo, the only fortune Mr. and Mrs. Sheridan began 
 the world with, he took a cottage at Slough, where 
 they lived, he said, most happily, a gig and horse 
 being their principal luxury, with a man to look after 
 both the master and his horse. But by the end, or 
 before the end, of the year, the ^looo was drawing 
 rapidly to a finish, and then it was that Sheridan 
 thought of play-writing as a pecuniary resource, and 
 he wrote The Rivals. Having got an introduction to 
 the theatre, he took his play there, and finally was 
 present to see it acted, but would not let Mrs. Sheri- 
 dan come up from Slough for the same purpose. The 
 ■ Rivals, upon its first performance, was damned ; when 
 Sheridan got to Slough and told his wife of it she said : 
 
 " ' My dear Dick, I am delighted. I always knew 
 it was impossible you could make anything by writing 
 plays ; so now there is nothing for it but my begin- 
 ning to sing publickly again, and we shall have as 
 much money as we like.' 
 
 " ' No,' said Sheridan, ' that shall never be. I see 
 where the fault was ; the play was too long, and the 
 parts were badly cast' 
 
S6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 " So he altered and curtailed the play, and had 
 address or interest enough to get the parts newly cast. 
 At the expiration of six weeks it was acted again, and 
 with unbounded applause. His fame as a dramatick 
 writer was settled from that time. When it was he 
 became proprietor of Drury Lane Theatre, or how it 
 was accomplished, I did not learn from him, but it was 
 the only property he ever possessed, and, with the 
 commonest discretion on his part, would have made 
 him a most affluent man. 
 
 " Sheridan's talents, displayed in his plays, pro- 
 cured him very shortly both male and female admirers 
 among the higher orders. The families of Lord 
 Coventry and Lord Harrington he spoke of as his first 
 patrons. When it was he begun with politicks, I 
 don't recollect, but he was a great parliamentary re- 
 former the latter end of the American war, and one of 
 a committee of either five or seven (I forget which 
 number) who used to sit regularly at the Mansion 
 House upon this subject. 
 
 " In 1780, the year of a general election, his object 
 was to get into Parliament if possible, and he was 
 going to make a trial at Wootton-Bassett. The night 
 before he set out, being at Devonshire House and 
 everybody talking about the general election, Lady 
 Cork * asked Sheridan about his plans, which led to 
 her saying that she had often heard her brother 
 Monckton say he thought an opposition man might 
 come in for Stafford, and that if, in the event of Sheri- 
 dan failing at Wootton, he liked to try his chance at 
 Stafford, she would give him a letter of introduction 
 to her brother. 
 
 " This was immediately done. Sheridan went to 
 Wootton-Bassett, where he had not a chance. Then 
 he went to Stafford, produced Lady Cork's letter, 
 offered himself as a candidate, and was elected. For 
 Stafford he was member till 1806 — six-and-twenty 
 years. I remember asking him if he could fix upon 
 any one point of time in his life that was decidedly 
 happier than all the rest, and he said certainly — it was 
 after dinner the day of this first election for Stafford, 
 
 * Second wife of the 7th Earl, youngest daughter of the ist Vis- 
 count Galway. 
 
i8os.] FROLICS AT BRIGHTON. 57 
 
 when he stole away by himself to speculate upon 
 those prospects of distinguishing himself which had 
 been opened to him. 
 
 " I did not hear any further of his own history 
 from himself than this first getting into parhament. 
 It has been a constant subject of regret to me that 
 I did not put down at the time all he told me, be- 
 cause it was much more than I have stated ; but I 
 feel confident my memory is correct in what I have 
 written. 
 
 "To return to Sheridan at Brighton in the year 
 1805. His point of difference with the Prince being 
 at an end, Sheridan entered into whatever fun was 
 going on at the Pavilion as if he had been a boy, tho' 
 he was then 55 years of age. Upon one occasion he 
 came into the drawing-room disguised as a police 
 officer to take up the Dowager Lady Sefton * for 
 playing at some unlawful game ; and at another time, 
 when we had a phantasmagoria at the Pavilion, and 
 were all shut up in perfect darkness, he continued to 
 seat himself upon the lap of Madame Gerobtzoff [?], a 
 haughty Russian dame, who made row enough for 
 the whole town to hear her. 
 
 " The Prince, of course, was delighted with all 
 this ; but at last Sheridan made himself so ill with 
 drinking, that he came to us soon after breakfast one 
 day, saying he was in a perfect fever, desiring he 
 might have some table beer, and declaring that he 
 would spend that day with us, and send his excuses 
 by Bloomfield for not dining at the Pavilion. I felt 
 his pulse, and found it going tremendously, but in- 
 stead of beer, we gave him some hot white wine, of 
 which he drank a bottle, I remember, and his pulse 
 subsided almost instantly. . . . After dinner that day 
 he must have drunk at least a bottle and a half of 
 wine. In the evening we were all going to the 
 Pavilion, where there was to be a ball, and Sheridan 
 said he would go home, i.e., to the Pavilion (where he 
 slept) and would go quietly to bed. He desired me 
 to tell the Prince, if he asked me after him, that he 
 was far from well, and was gone to bed. 
 
 * Isabella, daughter of 2nd Earl of Harrington, and widow of the 
 9th Viscount and ist Earl of Sefton. 
 
58 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 " So when supper was served at the Pavilion about 
 12 o'clock, the Prince came up to me and said : 
 
 " ' What the devil have you done with Sheridan 
 to-day, Creevey? I know he has been dining with you, 
 and I have not seen him the whole day.' 
 
 " I said he was by no means well and had gone to 
 bed ; upon which the Prince laughed heartily, as if he 
 thought it all fudge, and then, taking a bottle of claret 
 and a glass, he put them both in my hands and said : 
 
 " ' Now Creevey, go to his bedside and tell him I'll 
 drink a glass of wine with him, and if he refuses, I 
 admit he must be damned bad indeed.' 
 
 " I would willingly have excused myself on the 
 score of his being really ill, but the Prince would not 
 believe a word of it, so go I must. When I entered 
 Sheridan's bedroom, he was in bed, and, his great fine 
 eyes being instantly fixed upon me, he said : — 
 
 " ' Come, I see this is some joke of the Prince, and 
 I am not in a state for it.' 
 
 " I excused myself as well as I could, and as he 
 would not touch the wine, I returned without pressing 
 it, and the Prince seemed satisfied he must be ill. 
 
 "About two o'clock, however, the supper having 
 been long over, and everybody engaged in dancing, 
 who should I see standing at the door but Sheridan, 
 powdered as white as snow, as smartly dressed as 
 ever he could be from top to toe. ... I joined him 
 and expressed my infinite surprise at this freak of his. 
 He said : 
 
 " ' Will you go with me, my dear fellow, into the 
 kitchen, and let me see if I can find a bit of supper.' 
 
 " Having arrived there, he began to play off his 
 cajolery upon the servants, saying if he was the Prince 
 they should have much better accommodation, &c., &c., 
 so that he was surrounded by supper of all kinds, 
 every one waiting upon him. He ate away and drank 
 a bottle of claret in a minute, returned to the ball- 
 room, and when I left it between three and four he 
 was dancing. 
 
 " In the beginning of November, as Sheridan was 
 returning to London, and I was going there for a 
 short time, he proposed our going together, and 
 nothing would serve him but that we must be two 
 days on the road : that nothing was so foolish as 
 
1805.] WARREN HASTINGS. 59 
 
 hurrying oneself in such short days, and nothing so 
 pleasant as living at an inn ; that the Cock at Sutton 
 was an excellent place to dine and sleep at ; that he 
 himself was very well known there, and would write 
 and have a nice little dinner ready for our arrival. 
 
 "We set off in a job chaise of his, Edwards the 
 box keeper of Drury Lane being on the dicky box, 
 for he always acted as Sheridan's valet when he left 
 London. Before we had travelled many miles, having 
 knocked my foot against some earthenware vessel in 
 the chaise, I asked Sheridan what it could be, and he 
 replied he dared say it was something Edwards was 
 taking to his wife. Arriving in the evening at Sutton, 
 I found there was not a soul in the house who had 
 ever seen Sheridan before ; that his letter had never 
 arrived, and that no dinner was ready for us. I heard 
 him muttering on about its being an extraordinary 
 mistake, that his particular friend was out of the way, 
 and so forth, but that he knew the house to be an 
 excellent one, and no where that you could have a 
 nicer little dinner. He went fidgetting in and out of 
 the room, without exciting the least suspicion on my 
 part, till dinner was announced. Then I found his 
 fun had been to bring the dinner with him from the 
 Pavilion. The bowl I had kicked contained the soup, 
 and there were the best fish, woodcocks and every- 
 thing else, with claret and sherry and port all from 
 the same place. 
 
 "Among other persons who came to pay their 
 respects to the Prince during the Autumn of 1805 was 
 Mr. Hastings,* whom 1 had never seen before excepting 
 at his trial in Westminster Hall. He and Mrs. Hastings 
 came to the Pavilion, and I was present when the Prince 
 introduced Sheridan to him, which was curious, con- 
 sidering that Sheridan's parliamentary fame had been 
 built upon his celebrated speech against Hastings. 
 However, he lost no time in attempting to cajole old 
 Hastings, begging him to believe that any part he had 
 ever taken against him was purely political, and that 
 no one had a greater respect for him than himself, &c., 
 &c., upon which old Hastings said with great gravity 
 that 'it would be a great consolation to him in his 
 
 * Warren Hastings. 
 
6o THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 declining days if Mr. Sheridan would make that 
 sentence more publick;' but Sheridan was obliged to 
 mutter and get out of such an engagement as well as 
 he could. 
 
 "Another very curious person I saw a great deal 
 of this autumn of 1805, sometimes at the Pavilion, 
 sometimes at Mrs. Clowes's, was Lord Thurlow, to 
 whom the Prince always behaved with the most 
 marked deference and attention. I had never seen 
 him but once before, and the occasion was an extra- 
 ordinary one. Lady Oxford, who then had a house at 
 Ealing (it was in 1801) had, by Lord Thurlow's desire, 
 I believe, at all events with his acquiescence, invited 
 Horne-Tooke to dinner to meet him. Lord Thurlow 
 never had seen him since he had prosecuted him when 
 Attorney-General for a libel in 1774 (I believe it was), 
 when the greatest bitterness was shown on both sides, 
 so that the dinner was a meeting of great curiosity to 
 us who were invited to it. Sheridan was there and 
 Mrs. Sheridan, the late Lord Camelford, Sir Francis 
 Burdett, Charles Warren, with several others and 
 myself Tooke evidently came prepared for a display, 
 and as I had met him repeatedly, and considered his 
 powers of conversation as surpassing those of any 
 person I had ever seen, in point of skill and dexterity 
 (and, if at all necessary, in lying), I took for granted old 
 grumbling Thurlow would be obliged to lower his 
 topsail to him. But it seemed as if the very look and 
 voice of Thurlow scared him out of his senses, and 
 certainly nothing could be much more formidable. 
 So Tooke tried to recruit himself by wine, and tho' 
 not a drinker, was very drunk. But all would not do ; 
 he was perpetually trying to distinguish himself, and 
 Thurlow constantly laughing at him. 
 
 "In the autumn of 1805, Thurlow had declined 
 greatly in energy from the time I refer to. It was the 
 year only before his death. He used to read or ride 
 out in the morning, and his daughter Mrs. Brown, and 
 Mr. Sneyd, the clergyman of Brighton, occupied them- 
 selves in procuring any stranger or other person who 
 they thought would be agreeable to the old man to 
 dine with him, the party being thus 10 or 12 every 
 day, or more. I had the good fortune to be occasion- 
 ally there with Mrs. Creevey. . . . However rough 
 
^07'(i , J/liLrl cu 
 
i8o5.] LORD THURLOW. 6l 
 
 Thurlow might be with men, he was the politest man 
 in the world to ladies. Two or three hours were 
 occupied by him at dinner in laying wait for any 
 unfortunate slip or ridiculous observation that might 
 be made by any of his male visitors, whom, when 
 caught, he never left hold of, till I have seen the sweat 
 run down their faces from the scrape they had got into. 
 
 " Having seen this property of his, I took care, of 
 course, to keep clear of him, and have often enjoyed 
 extremely seeing the figures which men have cut who 
 came with the evident intention of shewing off before 
 him. Curran, the Irish lawyer, was a striking instance 
 of this. I dined with him at Thurlow's one day, and 
 Thurlow just made as great a fool of him as he did 
 formerly of Tooke. 
 
 " Thurlow was always dressed in a full suit of 
 cloaths of the old fashion, great cuffs and massy 
 buttons, great wig, long ruffles, &c. ; the black eye- 
 brows exceeded in size any I have ever seen, and his 
 voice, tho' by no means devoid of melody, was a kind 
 of rolling, murmuring thunder. He had great reading, 
 particularly classical, and was a very distinguished, as 
 well as most daring, converser. I never heard of any 
 one but Mr. Hare who had fairly beat him, and this I 
 know from persons who were present, Hare did more 
 than once, at Carlton House and at Woburn. 
 
 " Sir Philip Francis, whom I knew intimately, and 
 who certainly was a remarkably quick and clever man, 
 was ' perpetually vowing vengeance against Thurlow, 
 and always fixing his time during this autumn of 1805 
 for 'making an example of the old ruffian,' either at 
 the Pavilion or wherever he met him ; but I have seen 
 them meet afterwards, and tho' Thurlow was always 
 ready for battle, Francis, who on all other occasions 
 was bold as a lion, would never stir. 
 
 "The grudge he owed to Thurlow was certainly 
 not slightly grounded. When Francis and Generals 
 Clavering and Monson were sent to India in 1773, 
 to check Hastings in his career, their conduct was 
 extolled to the skies by our party in parliament, while, 
 on the other hand, Lord Thurlow m the House of 
 Lords said that the greatest misfortune to India and 
 to England was that the ship which carried these 
 three gentlemen out had not gone to the bottom. . . 
 
62 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 ". . . During the autumn of 1805 the Prince was a 
 very great politician. He considered himself as the 
 Head of the Whig Party, and was perpetually at work 
 cajoling shabby people, as he thought, into becoming 
 Whigs out of compliment to him, but who ate his 
 dinners and voted with the Ministers just the same. 
 I remember dining with him at George Johnstone's at 
 Brighton — the Duke of Clarence, old Thurlow, Lord 
 and Lady Bessborough and a very large party, of 
 which Suza, the Portuguese Ambassador was one. 
 After dinner the Prince, addressing himself to Suza, 
 described himself as being the Head of the great Whig 
 party in England, and then entered at great length 
 upon the merit of Whig principles, and the great glory 
 it was to him, the Prince, to be the head of a party 
 who advocated such principles. Finally, he appealed 
 to Suza for his opinion upon that subject ; but the 
 Portuguese was much too wary to be taken in. He 
 thanked the Prince with great force, ability and pro- 
 priety for his condescension in giving him the infor- 
 mation he had done, but, as he added, the subject was 
 an entirely new one to him, he prayed his Royal 
 Highness would have the goodness to excuse him 
 giving an opinion upon it, till he had considered it 
 more maturely. 
 
 " It seemed at that time the Prince's politicks were 
 almost always uppermost with him . . . Upon one 
 occasion I remember dining with the Prince at Lady 
 Downshire's, Lord Winslow and different people being 
 there. After dinner he said to me privately : ' Creevey, 
 you must go home with me.' So when he went he 
 took me in his coach, and when we got to the Pavilion 
 he said : ' Now, Creevey, you and I must go over the 
 House of Commons together, and see who are our 
 friends and who are our enemies.' Accordingly, he 
 got his own red book, and we went over the House 
 of Commons name by name. He had one mark for a 
 friend and another for an enemy, and of course every 
 member of the Government who was then in the 
 House of Commons had the enemy's mark put against 
 his name. . . . Having made all these marks himself, 
 he gave me the book, and told me to take it home with 
 me. At this time Lord Castlereagh had just lost his 
 election for the county of Down, entirely from Lady 
 
iSosO THE DUKE OF YORK. 63 
 
 Downshire's opposition. Slie had gone over to 
 Ireland expressly for that purpose. 
 
 " When the Prince returned from a visit of two or 
 three days to the King at Weymouth, he was very 
 indiscreet in talking at his table about the King's 
 infirmities, there being such people as Miles Peter 
 Andrews and Sir George Shee present, in common 
 with other spies and courtiers. So when he described 
 the King as so blind that he had nearly fallen into 
 some hole at Lord Dorchester's, I said — ' Poor man. 
 Sir ! ' in a very audible and serious tone, and he 
 immediately took the hint and stopt. 
 
 "Upon another occasion the Duke of York* came 
 to the Pavilion. It was some military occasion— a 
 review of the troops, I believe — and there was a great 
 assemblage of military people there. Nothing could 
 be so cold and formal as the Prince's manner to the 
 Duke. As he was coming up the room towards the 
 Prince, the Prince said to me in an undertone — ' Do 
 you know the Duke of York.' On my replying — ' No, 
 sir,' he said — ' He's a damned bad politician, but I'll 
 introduce you to him,' and this he did, with great form. 
 
 "Amongst other things, the Prince took to a violent 
 desire of bringing Romilly into Parliament, and having 
 found that I was well acquainted with him, he com- 
 missioned me to write to Romilly, and to offer him a 
 seat in the House of Commons in the Prince's name. 
 This of course I did, but, in so doing, I did not hesitate 
 to express my own suspicions as to the reality of the 
 thing offered, nor did I withhold my opinion as to 
 Romilly's doing best to decline it, could it even be 
 accomplished. I begged him, however, to write me 
 two answers, one for the Prince's inspection, and the 
 other for my own private instruction, if he was 
 desirous the project should be entertained at all. 
 Romilly, however, as I was sure he would, wrote me 
 an answer that was an unequivocal, tho' of course 
 very grateful, refusal of the favour offered him.f 
 
 " Having mentioned a dinner I had at Johnstone's 
 in Brighton in 1805, I can't help adverting to what 
 took place that day. The late King (George IV.) and 
 
 * Commander-in-chief, 
 t See p. 40, supra. 
 
64 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 the present one (William IV.) both dined there, and it 
 so happened that there was a great fight on the same 
 day between the Chicken * and Gully.f The Duke of 
 Clarence was present at it, and as the battle, from the 
 interference of Magistrates, was fought at a greater 
 distance from Brighton than was intended, the Duke 
 was very late, and did not arrive till dinner was nearly 
 over. I mention the case on account of the change 
 that has since taken place as to these parties. Gully 
 was then a professional prize-fighter from the ranks, 
 and fighting for money. Since that time, the Duke of 
 Clarence has become Sovereign of the country, and 
 Gully has become one of its representatives in par- 
 liament. As Gully always attends at Court, as well 
 as in the House of Commons, it would be curious to 
 know whether the King, with his accurate recollec- 
 tion of all the events of his life, and his passion for 
 adverting to them, has ever given to Gully any hint 
 of that day's proceedings. There is, to be sure, one 
 reason why he should not, for Gully was beaten that 
 day by the Chicken, as I have reason to remember; for 
 Lord Thurlow and myself being the two first to arrive 
 before dinner, he asked if I had heard any account of 
 the fight. I repeated what I had heard in the streets, 
 viz. that Gully had given the Chicken so tremendous 
 a knock-down blow at starting, that the latter had 
 never answered to him ; so when the Duke of Clarence 
 came and told us that Gully was beat, old Thurlow 
 growled out from his end of the table — ' Mr. Creevey, 
 I think an action would lie against you by the Chicken 
 for taking away his character.' 
 
 " Lord Thurlow was a great drinker of port wine, 
 and Johnstone, who was the most ridiculous toady of 
 great men, said to him that evening — ' I am afraid, my 
 lord, the port wine is not so good as I could wish ; ' 
 
 * Henry Pearce, the " Game Chicken," champion of England. 
 
 t John Gully [1783-1863], son of a publican and butcher, made 
 his dSiit in the prize-ring in 1805, and was recognised as virtual, 
 though not formal, champion after Pearce, the Game Chicken, 
 retired at the end of that year. In 1808 he became a bookmaker and 
 publican. He made a good deal of money; became a successful 
 owner of racehorses; and, having purchased Ackworth Park, near 
 Pontefract, represented that borough in Parliament from 1832 till 1837. 
 
1805.] SOCIETY AT BRIGHTON. 65 
 
 upon which old Thurlow growled again— ' I have 
 tasted better ! '" 
 
 The foregoing narrative will enable the reader to 
 understand many of the allusions in the following 
 letters written by Mrs. Creevey from Brighton to her 
 husband while he was attending to his parliamentary 
 duties. It must be understood also that Creevey was 
 quite sensible of the advantage which might be ex- 
 pected in regard to his own political prospects from 
 the favour he had found in the royal leader of the 
 Whigs. The King's madness might return on any 
 day; the Prince of Wales would become Regent, 
 and nobody doubted that, so soon as he had the 
 power, he would dismiss the Tory Ministers of his 
 father. Mrs. Creevey, therefore, loyally played up 
 to her husband's hand, and, like her lord, continued 
 charitably blind to the character and habits of their 
 master. Like all who ever made her acquaintance, 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Creevey speak enthusiastically of 
 the unfortunate Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom the Prince had 
 married in 1785. 
 
 Mrs. Creevey to Mr. Creevey in London. 
 
 " Brighton, Oct. 29th, 1805. 
 
 ". . . Oh, this wicked Pavillion ! we were there 
 till J past one this morng., and it has kept me in bed 
 with the headache till 12 to-day. . . . The invitation 
 did not come to us till 9 o'clock : we went in Lord 
 Thurlow's carriage, and were in fear of being too late ; 
 but the Prince did not come out of the dining-room 
 till II. Till then our only companions were Lady 
 Downshire and Mr. and Miss Johnstone — the former 
 very goodnatured and amiable. . . . When the Prince 
 appeared, I instantly saw he had got more wine than 
 usual, and it was still more evident that the German 
 Baron was extremely drunk. The Prince came up and 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 sat by me — introduced McMahon to me, and talked a 
 great deal about Mrs. Fitzherbert — said she had been 
 ' delighted ' with my note, and wished much to see me. 
 He asked her 'When?' — and he said her answer was 
 — ' Not till you are gone, and I can see her comfortably.' 
 I suppose this might be correct, for Mac told me he 
 had been ' worrying her to death ' all the morning. 
 
 " It appears to me I have found a true friend in 
 Mac* He is even more foolish than I expected; but 
 I shall be disappointed if, even to you, he does not 
 profess himself my devoted admirer. 
 
 "Afterwards the Prince led all the party to the 
 table where the maps lie, to see him shoot with an 
 air-gun at a target placed at the end of the room. 
 He did it very skilfully, and wanted all the ladies to 
 attempt it. The girls and I excused ourselves on 
 account of our short sight ; but Lady Downshire hit 
 a fiddler in the dining-room. Miss Johnstone a door 
 and Bloomfield the ceiling. ... I soon had enough 
 of this, and retired to the fire with Mac. ... At last 
 a waltz was played by the band, and the Prince off"ered 
 to waltz with Miss Johnstone, but very quietly, and 
 once round the table made him giddy, so of course it 
 was proper for his partner to be giddy too ; but he 
 cruelly only thought of supporting himself, so she 
 reclined on the Baron." 
 
 "Sunday, Nov. 3, 1805. 
 
 "And so I amuse you by my histories. Well! I 
 am glad of it, and it encourages me to go on ; and yet 
 I can tell you I could tire of such horrors as I have 
 had the last 3 evenings. I nevertheless estimate them 
 as you do, and am quite disposed to persevere. The 
 second evening was the worst. We were in the dining- 
 room (a comfortless place except for eating and drink- 
 ing in), and sat in a circle round the fire, which (to 
 indulge you with 'detail') was thus arranged. Mrs. 
 F[itzherbert] in the chimney corner (but not knitting), 
 next to her Lady Downshire — then Mrs. Creevey — 
 then Geoff— then Dr. [eraseo?]— then Savory — then 
 Warner — then Day, vis-a-vis his mistress, and most 
 of the time snoring like a pig and waking for nothing 
 
 * The Right Hon. John Macmahon, Private Secretary and Keeper 
 of the Privy Purse to the Prince of Wales. Died in 1817. 
 
i8o5.] EVENINGS AT THE PAVILION. 6j 
 
 better than a glass of water, which he call'd for, 
 hoping, I think, to be offered something better. . . . 
 Last night was better; it was the same party only 
 instead of Savory, a Col. or Major Watley [?] of the 
 Gloster Militia, and the addition of Mrs. Morant, an 
 old card-playing woman. . . . Mrs. Fitz shone last 
 night very much in a sketch she gave me of the history 
 of a very rich Russian woman of quality who is coming 
 to Lord Berkeley's house. She has been long in 
 England, and is I suppose generally known in London, 
 though new to me. She was a married woman with 
 children, and of great consequence at the court of 
 Petersburgh when Lord Whitworth was there some 
 years ago. He was poor and handsome — she rich 
 and in love with him, and tired of a very magnificent 
 husband to whom she had been married at 14 years 
 old. In short, she kept my Lord, and spent immense 
 sums in doing so and gratifying his great extravagance. 
 In the midst of all this he return'd to England, but 
 they corresponded, and she left her husband and her 
 country to come to him, expecting to marry him — got 
 as far as Berlin, and there heard he was married to 
 the Duchess of Dorset. 
 
 "She was raving mad for some time, and Mrs. F. 
 describes her as being often nearly so now, but at 
 other times most interesting, and most miserable. 
 Her husband and children come to England to visit 
 her, and Mrs. F. says she is an eternal subject of 
 remorse to Lord Whitworth, whom she [Mrs. F.] 
 spoke of in warm terms as ' a monster,' and said she 
 could tell me far more to make me think so. The story 
 sometimes hit upon points that made her blush and 
 check herself, which was to me not the least interest- 
 ing part of it. . . . She laughed more last night than 
 ever at the Johnstones — said he was a most vulgar 
 man, but seem'd to give him credit for his good nature 
 to his sister and his generosity. The Baron is pre- 
 paring a phantasmagoria at the Pavillion, and she 
 [Mrs. F.] laughs at what he may do with Miss John- 
 stone in a dark room." 
 
 "5th Nov., 1805. 
 
 ". . . My head is very_ bad, I suppose with the heat 
 of the Pavillion last night. We were there before 
 
68 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert came, and it almost made her faint, 
 but she put on no airs to be interesting and soon 
 recovered, and I had a great deal of comfortable prose 
 with her. It was rather formidable when we arrived : 
 nobody but Mrs. Morant and the Prince and Dr. 
 Fraser, and for at least half-an-hour in this little circle 
 the conversation was all between the Prince and me 
 — first about Sheridan, and about not seeing you, and 
 his determination to make you come (if not bring you) 
 back next week, when he is to have Lord St. Vincent, 
 Markham, Sheridan, Tierney, &c. . . . Lady Down- 
 shire soon came, but did not help conversation — 
 then came Geoff and Mrs. Fitz, and soon afterwards 
 the men from the dining-room, consisting of only Day 
 and Warner, Savory, Bloomfield and the Baron. The 
 Prince told Mrs. F. he would not have any more, lest 
 they should disturb her. . . . Before she came, he was 
 talking of the fineness of the day, and said : — ' But I 
 was not out. I went to Mrs. Fitzherbert's at one 
 o'clock, and stay'd talking with her till past 6, which 
 was certainly very unfashionable.'' Now was he not 
 at that moment thinking of her as his lawful wife ? for 
 in no other sense could he call it unfashionable." 
 
 "Wednesday, Nov. 6, 1805. 
 
 " I am much flatter'd, dearest Creevey, that you 
 complain when my letters are short. ... I went to 
 the Pavillion last night quite well, and moreover am 
 well to-day and fit for Johnstone's ball, which at last 
 is to be. They were at the Pavillion and she [Miss 
 Johnstone] persecuted both the Prince and Mrs. Fitz- 
 herbert like a most impudent fool. The former was 
 all complyance and good nature — the latter very civil, 
 but most steady in refusing to go. She said she could 
 not go out, and Miss J. grinned and answer'd — ' Oh ! 
 but you are out here ' — then urged that it had been put 
 off on purpose for Mrs. F., who said she was sorry for 
 it, but hoped it wd. be put off no longer. All this 
 Mrs. F. told me herself, with further remarks, just 
 before I came away, which I did with Lady Down- 
 shire, and left the Johnstones with their affairs in an 
 unsettled state, and with faces of great anxiety and 
 misery. But the attack was renew'd, and the Prince 
 
i8os.] DEATH OF NELSON. 69 
 
 said : — ' I shall have great pleasure in looking in upon 
 you, but indeed I cannot let this good woman (Mrs. F.) 
 come : she is quite unfit for it' And so we shall see 
 the fun of his looking in or staying all the evening, 
 for poor Johnstone has been running about the Steyne 
 with a paper in his hand all the morning and invited 
 us all. . . . When I got to the Pavillion last night . . . 
 the Prince sat down by me directly, and I told him 
 my headache had made me late, and he was very 
 affectionate. . . . Harry Grey has just come in with 
 news of a great victory at sea and poor Nelson being 
 kill'd. It has come by express to the Prince, and it 
 is said 20 sail are taken or destroyed. What will this 
 do ? not, I hope, save Pitt ; but both parties may now 
 be humble and make peace. . . . 
 
 " I have had new visitors here this morning— 
 Madle. Voeykoff, the niece of the old Russian, and 
 Mde. Pieton, a young friend, daughter of the famous 
 Mrs. Nesbitt and Prince Ferdinand of Wirtemburgh, 
 as is supposed. I talked with her last night, because 
 Mrs. F. praised her as a most amiable creature, and I 
 liked her very much. In short, as usual, the Pavillion 
 amused me, and I wd. rather have been there again 
 to-night than at Johnstone's nasty ball and fine 
 supper." 
 
 Mrs. Fitzherbert to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 "Nov. 6, 1805. 
 "Dr. Madam, 
 
 " The Prince has this moment reed, an account 
 from the Admiralty of the death of poor Lord Nelson, 
 which has affected him most extremely. I think you 
 may wish to know the news, which, upon any other 
 occasion might be called a glorious victory — twenty 
 out of three and thirty of the enemy's fleet being 
 entirely destroyed — no English ship being taken or 
 sunk — Capts. Duff and Cook both kill'd, and the 
 French Adl. Villeneuve taken prisoner. Poor Lord 
 Nelson reed, his death by a shot of a musket from 
 the enemy's ship upon his shoulder, and expir'd two 
 hours after, but not till the ship struck and afterwards 
 sunk, which he had the consolation of hearing, as well 
 
70 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 as his compleat victory, before he died. Excuse this 
 hurried scrawl : I am so nervous 1 scarce can hold my 
 pen. God bless you. 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "M. FiTZHERBERT." 
 
 Mrs. Creevey to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Friday night, I3 o'clock. 
 
 " Dearest Creevey, 
 
 "... I think you will like to hear I have spent 
 a very comfortable evening with my mistress.* We 
 had a long discourse about Lady Wellesley. The 
 folly of men marrying such women led us to Mrs. 
 Fox, and I saw she would have liked to go further 
 than I dared, or than our neighbours would permit. 
 . . . They were all full of Prussians and Swedes and 
 Danes and Russians coming soon with irresistible 
 destruction on Buonaparte. I wonder if there is a 
 chance of it. I don't believe it. . . ." 
 
 "Nov. 7, 1805. 
 
 ". . . [The Prince's] sorrow [for Nelson's death] 
 might help to prevent his coming to dinner at the 
 Pavillion or to Johnstone's ball. He did neither, but 
 stayed with Mrs. Fitz ; and you may imagine the dis- 
 appointment of the Johnstones. The girl grin'd it off 
 with the captain, but Johnstone had a face of perfect 
 horror all night, and I think he was very near insane. 
 I once lamented Lord Nelson to him, and he said : — 
 ' Oh shocking : and to come at such an unlucky 
 time!' . . ." 
 
 " 8th Nov. 
 
 ". . . The first of my visits this morning was to 
 ' my Mistress.' ... I found her alone, and she was 
 excellent — gave me an account of the Prince's^ grief 
 about Lord N., and then entered into the domestic 
 failings of the latter in a way infinitely creditable to 
 her, and skilful too. She was all for Lady Nelson and 
 against Lady Hamilton, who, she said (hero as he 
 was) overpower'd him and took possession of him 
 
 * Mrs. Fitzherbert. 
 
iSo;.] MRS. FITZHERBERT. 7l 
 
 quite by force. But she ended in a natural, good way, 
 by saying : — ' Poor creature ! I am sorry for her now, 
 for I suppose she is in grief " 
 
 " Past 4 o'clock, Monday. 
 
 ". . . Mrs. Fitzherbert came before 12 and has 
 literally only this moment left me. We have been 
 all the time alone, and she has been confidential to a 
 degree that almost frightens me, and that I can hardly 
 think sufficiently accounted for by her professing in 
 the strongest terms to have liked me more and more 
 every time she has seen me, tho' at first she told Mr. 
 Tierney no person had ever struck her so much at 
 first sight. ... So much in excuse for her telling me 
 the history of her life, and dwelling more particularly 
 on the explanation of all her feelings and conduct 
 towards the Prince. If she is as true as I think she 
 is wise, she is an extraordinary person, and most 
 worthy to be beloved. It was quite impossible to 
 keep clear of Devonshire House ; and there her 
 opinions are all precisely mine and yours, and, what 
 is better, she says they are now the Prince's ; that he 
 knows everything — above all, how money is made by 
 promises, unauthorised by him, in the event of his 
 having power; that he knows how his character is 
 involved in various transactions of that house, and 
 that he only goes into it, from motives of compassion 
 and old friendship, when he is persecuted to do so. 
 In short, he tells Mrs. F. all he sees and hears, shews 
 her all the Duchess's letters and notes, and she says 
 she knows the Dss. hates her. . . . We talked of her 
 life being written ; she said she supposed it would 
 some time or other, but with thousands of lies ; but 
 she would be dead and it would not signify. I urged 
 her to write it herself, but she said it would break her 
 heart." 
 
 i- "Nov. 27, 1805. 
 
 "... I was very sorry indeed to go to the Pavil- 
 lion, and 'my Master' made me no amends for my 
 exertion — no shaking hands — only a common bow in 
 passing — and not a word all night, except just before 
 I came away some artificial stuff about the Baron, and 
 then a little parting shake of the hand with this 
 
72 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. III. 
 
 interesting observation — ' So Creevey is gone,' and the 
 interesting answer of — 'Yes, Sir.' In short I suspect 
 he was a little affronted by our going away the night 
 before : but I don't mind it — he will soon come about 
 again ; or if he does not, I will make him ashamed by 
 begging his pardon." 
 
 " Nov. 29th. 
 "... Well, I am quite in favor again. When I 
 entered Gerobtzoff 's room last night Prinny * was on 
 a sofa directly opposite the door, and in return for a 
 curtsey, perhaps rather more grave, more low and 
 humble than usual (meaning — ' I beg your pardon 
 dear foolish, beautiful Prinny for making you take 
 the pet '), he put out his hand. . . . We soon went to 
 see the ball at the Pavillion, and Mrs. Fitz selected 
 me to go in the first party in a way that set up the 
 backs of various persons and puzzled even Geoff. . . . 
 We were soon tired of the amusement and sick of the 
 heat and stink. Neither the Prince nor any one stay'd 
 long, and the rest of the evening was horribly dull ; 
 but luckily for me, when the Prince returned I was 
 sitting on a little sofa that wd. only hold two, and the 
 other seat was vacant ; so he came to it, and never 
 left me or spoke to another person till within 10 
 minutes of my coming away at ^ past 12. . . . We had 
 the old stories of Mrs. Sheridan, only with some new 
 additions . . . we had Charles Grey too, and he talked 
 of his [Grey's] dislike to him, because in the Regency 
 he wd. not hear of his being Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer. He talked of his bad temper and his early 
 presumption in overrating his own talents. . . . He 
 told me that when he was king he wd. not give up his 
 private society, and on my saying a little flattering 
 sentence about the good I expected from him, he 
 actually said — ' he hoped I should never have cause 
 to think differently of him.' This was going his 
 length, so I stopt." 
 
 "Dec. 2, 1805. 
 ". . . We have been at the Pavillion both Friday 
 and yesterday, and Mrs. F. has desired us to come 
 every night without invitation. . . . Both these parties 
 
 * The Prince of Wales. 
 
i8o5.] THE PRINCE OF WALES. 73 
 
 have been private and the Prince equally good and 
 attentive to me at both. . . . Last night he took me 
 under his arm through the dark, wet garden into the 
 other house, to shew me a picture of himself. Poor 
 little Lady Downshire push'd herself (tho' humbly) 
 into our party, but he sent her before with Bloomfield 
 and the lanthorn, and he and I might have gone astray 
 in any way we had liked ; but I can assure you (faith- 
 less as you are about coming back to me) nothing 
 worse happened than his promise of giving me the 
 best print that ever was done of him, and mine that it 
 shall hang in the best place amongst my friends." 
 
 "Dec. 5, 1805. 
 
 ". . . It was a large party at the Pavillion last 
 night, and the Prince was not well . . . and went off 
 to bed. . . . Lord Hutchinson was my chief flirt for 
 the evening, but before Prinny went off he took a 
 seat by me to tell me all this bad news had made him 
 bilious and that he was further overset yesterday by 
 seeing the ship with Lord Nelson's body on board. . . . 
 None of them knew Pitt was gone to Bath till I told 
 them. I ask'd both Lord H[utchinson] and his Master 
 if they wd. like him to die now, or live a little longer 
 to be turn'd out. They both decidedly prefer instant 
 death. ... I think Sheridan may probably return with 
 you on Friday if you ask him. On second thoughts — 
 I would not have you ask him, for he will make you 
 wait and sleep at the Cock at Sutton." 
 
( 74 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1 806- 1 808. 
 
 Pitt never rallied from the shock of Ulm and 
 Austerlitz. Parliament was to meet on 21st January, 
 1806, and he travelled up from Bath by easy stages to 
 his villa at Putney, where he arrived on the nth, and 
 invitations were issued for the customary official 
 dinner of the First Lord of the Treasury on the 20th. 
 But that dinner never took place. Lord Henry Petty 
 had given notice of an amendment to the Address, 
 censuring Pitt's administration ; but out of respect to 
 a disabled foe, he did not move it, and the Address 
 was agreed to without debate. 
 
 Hon. Charles Grey, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Howick, Jan. 13, 1806. 
 
 " I received your letter last night, and had from 
 other quarters the same reports of Pitt's illness and 
 resignation. I think you will probably find these 
 among the false reports of the day. I cannot believe 
 in his resigning again while he has breath ; and as 
 to his health, I shall not be surprised to see him 
 making a speech of two hours on the first day of the 
 Session." 
 
 Pitt expired on 23rd January, and the old King 
 had at last to have recourse to the Whigs. Lord 
 
i8o6-8.] "ALL THE TALENTS." 75 
 
 Grenville formed a coalition Cabinet, nicknamed 
 "All the Talents," in which Fox held the seals of the 
 Foreign Office, Grey was First Lord of the Admiralty, 
 Addington, now Lord Sidmouth, took the Privy 
 Seal, and Erskine as Whig Lord Chancellor balanced 
 Ellenborough as Tory Lord Chief Justice with a seat 
 in the Cabinet. Mr. Creevey's past activity and 
 promise of more were not overlooked, and he was 
 appointed Secretary to the Board of Controul — a post 
 which, as his friend Mr. (afterwards Lord) Grey 
 wrote to him, was " better in point of emolument and 
 of more real work" than a seat at the Board of 
 Admiralty which was first intended for him, "and 
 not obliging you to vacate your seat " in Parliament. 
 Associated with this office were the duties of party 
 whip, which Creevey began to discharge forthwith. 
 Some of the Ministers seeking re-election on taking 
 office had to fight fiercely for their seats ; the Whig 
 Lord Henry Petty, having accepted office as Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer, was opposed at Cambridge 
 by Lord Althorp and Lord Palmerston— both of them 
 future leaders of the Liberal party in the House of 
 Commons. But before that should happen, Palmer- 
 ston had twenty years to serve as a Tory Minister. 
 It was of this contest between Petty and Palmerston 
 that Byron wrote in Hours of Idleness : — 
 
 " One on his power and place depends. 
 The other on the Lord knows what ; 
 Each to some eloquence pretends. 
 
 Though neither will convince by that." 
 
76 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 Lord Henry Petty to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Cambridge, January, l8o6. 
 " We go on well, and I hope to beat Palmerston 
 even if Althorp stands, which is possible, for he tells 
 me he is urged to continue, and tries to think he has 
 some chance of success, which is out of the question. 
 The Johnians have discovered that I am a lurking 
 dissenter. . . . Some five Pittites proposed setting up 
 Ld. Hadley to give the College an opportunity of 
 showing its respect for the memory of Mr. P. by 
 voting against Ld. Althorp and me." 
 
 "Cambridge, 28th Jany., 1806. 
 "Dear Creevey, 
 
 " We go on as well as you will see by the 
 list. I have a very handsome letter from Ld. Percy, 
 who tells me he has written to the Master, Tutors 
 and all his friends at St. John's in my favor, but I 
 fear they are all engaged to Palmerston. The latter, 
 I am told, has 130 secure. Althorp does not give 
 way, but I threaten with a formal proposal to com- 
 pare strength, which discomposes him a good deal. 
 
 " Ever yrs., 
 
 " Hy. Petty." 
 
 The Prince of Wales, as a keen party man, and 
 considering himself leader of the Whigs, was not idle 
 at such a crisis. He sent out his commands right 
 and left ; woe betide him who failed to vote as 
 directed. Such, at least, was evidently the appre- 
 hension of one of his chaplains, who had rashly 
 pledged himself without consulting his royal master's 
 wishes. 
 
 Rev. W. Price to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. 
 
 " 55j Upper John St., Fitzroy Square, Feb. ist, 1806. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Permit me to observe to Your Royal High- 
 ness, that few events in the course of my Life have 
 impress'd me with more uneasiness than the Letter 
 
i8o6-8.] CREEVEY IN OFFICE. "J"] 
 
 which I have receiv'd from Col. McMahon in which is 
 intimated Your Royal Highness's commands that I 
 give my Interest to Lord Henry Petty as a Candidate 
 for the University of Cambridge. 
 
 " I beg with all humility to assure Your Royal 
 Highness, my Inclination no less than my Duty would 
 dictate an obedience to Your Royal Highness upon 
 this and every occasion, but I am to lament when I 
 had the Honor to attend his Majesty at St. James's 
 with the Address from the University of Cambridge, 
 Lord Spencer solicited my Vote in behalf of his Son 
 Lord Althorp, when I, not conceiving Your Royal 
 Highness had any commands on this occasion, 
 promis'd to Lord Spencer that Vote which he now 
 claims, informing me Your Royal Highness assur'd 
 him yesterday you wou'd not have interfer'd in 
 opposition to Ld. Althorp, had you known his 
 intention to offer himself. I am therefore humbly to 
 solicit Your Royal Highness's indulgence, and that I 
 may not suffer in your estimation on this occasion, 
 and beg to profess how greatly I feel in Duty and 
 Obedience. 
 
 "Your Royal Highness's most devoted and 
 most humble Servant and Chaf)lain, 
 
 "William Price." 
 
 Lord Robert Spencer* to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Saturday night. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 " Pray don't forget that the responsibility 
 rests with you as to C. Fox's coming to town for 
 Monday or not. 
 
 " Yrs. ever, 
 
 " R. Spencer." 
 
 Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Fame at the Nore, 6th Feb., 1806. 
 "... I think as you are now a staunch supporter 
 of the Government, there can be no great harm in my 
 corresponding with you. I own to you that, since 
 
 * Youngest son of the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. 
 
78 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 Pitt's death, I have been clearly of opinion that 
 Charles Fox was the man whom I wished to see at 
 the helm, and, altho' I have long ceased to be very 
 sangwine in my expectation with regard to the con- 
 duct of public men, yet I have hopes that we shall 
 see a manly, decided line of conduct adopted by the 
 present IVIuphties. . . . We are just on the point of 
 weighing anchor, and are only waiting for daylight to 
 see our way to St. Helens, where I am ordered. We 
 have been manned a few days — so-so — about 90 of the 
 Victory's form the groundwork. They are not what 
 you might expect from the companions of Nelson, but 
 they will do with some whipping and spurring. We 
 shall be tolerable in about six months; in the mean- 
 time we must do our best. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 " July, 1806. 
 "... I dined at the London Tavern last night 
 and there were eight Ministers of State and all the 
 India directors, and secretaries and under-secre- 
 taries and fellow-servants of all descriptions without 
 end, in all about 200, but the devil a bit of Turtle ! 
 upon which I thought little Kensington * would have 
 cried. Sheridan and I were for crying 'Off! off! 
 off! ' and damning the whole piece on account of the 
 absence of the principal performer. I sat opposite to 
 Morpeth,t and I made him blush and laugh and almost 
 cry all at once. I swore it was the beggarly budget 
 that frightened the directors out of giving their 
 masters turtle. My comrogues laughed, and the 
 directors did not half like the joke. . . . You see 
 my friend Mr. Howorth has been adding to the 
 amusements of Brighton races by fighting a duel 
 with Lord Barrymore. His lordship was his adver- 
 sary at whist, and chose to tell him that something 
 he said about the cards was 'false;' upon which 
 Howorth gave him such a blow as makes the lord 
 walk about at this moment with a black eye. Of 
 
 * The 2nd Lord Kensington. 
 
 t Lord Morpeth [1773-1848], afterwards 6th Earl of Carlisle, re- 
 presented India in the new administration. 
 
i8o6-8.] FOX'S LAST ILLNESS. 79 
 
 course a duel could not be prevented. When they 
 got to the ground, Howorth very coolly pulled off his 
 coat and said : ' My lord, having been a surgeon I 
 know that the most dangerous thing in a wound is 
 having a piece of cloth shot into it, so I advise you to 
 follow my example.' The peer, I believe, despised 
 such low professional care, and no harm happened to 
 either of them." 
 
 Six months had not gone by since Pitt breathed 
 his last, when the health of his great rival. Fox, broke 
 down. He appeared for the last time in the House of 
 Commons on loth June, already exceedingly ill, but 
 determined to be at his post in order to move cer- 
 tain resolutions preparatory to the bill for abolishing 
 the slave trade. This he accomplished, and the bill 
 giving effect to these resolutions became law in the 
 following year ; but by that time Charles Fox was 
 no more. He lingered till 13th September, 1806, and 
 every bulletin during his last illness was anxiously 
 watched for and canvassed by men and women of 
 both parties in the State. Assuredly no public man 
 was ever better beloved than Fox on account of his 
 private qualities. Notwithstanding that his great 
 natural abilities suffered damage, and his energies 
 were diverted and impaired by his excessive convivi- 
 ality and love of gambling, even his political enemies 
 could not help loving the man. Pitt's haughtiness 
 repelled ; Fox's simplicity and sweetness of address 
 attracted all hearts. Pitt's talents and penetrating 
 foresight commanded the confidence and gratitude of 
 his followers ; but it was not his lot to secure the 
 passionate affection, approaching to idolatry, which 
 was freely given to Fox. 
 
8o THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 Mrs. Creevey to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " July lo, 1806. 
 
 ". . . Hester* and Sheridan dined with us yester- 
 day, as well as Harry Scott, and we were extremely 
 sociable and agreeable all the evening, until Lord and 
 Lady Howick,t General Grey and Charlotte Hughes 
 added to our party. Poor Charlotte % was rather ' in 
 the basket,' for you know Ogles and Greys do not 
 take much pains to make a stranger comfortable ; but 
 old Sherry with his usual good taste was very 
 attentive to her. . . . Lord Howick was in better 
 spirits and very amiable, no doubt owing to his im- 
 proved hopes about Mr. Fox. He had been that 
 morning for the first time convinced that he was 
 materially better, both from the opinion of Vaughan 
 and from having seen him — that his looks were wonder- 
 fully improved. He is sure his body and legs are 
 lessened and Mr. Fox said himself, 'whatever my 
 disease has been, I am convinced it is much abated, 
 and I think 1 shall do again.' . . . Lord and Lady 
 Howick and the General went away before 12, and 
 then Sherry, who had been very good at dinner and 
 most agreeable all the evening, seem'd to have a 
 little hankering after a broiled bone ... so in due 
 time he had it.' 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Dr. Currie. 
 
 " 1 2th July. 
 
 ". . . Fox is a great deal better to-day certainly 
 than he has ever been yet, and is walking about in his 
 garden ; so I hope to G — we shall all do. . . . We 
 had a devil of a business last night altogether. We 
 got off from the House to Sherry's a little before 8 — 
 about 14 of us — without him, so I made him give me 
 
 * Mrs. Sheridan, nee Lindley. 
 
 t Sir Charles Grey of Howick having been created Earl Grey in 
 this year, his eldest son assumed the courtesy title of Lord Howick. 
 
 X Mrs. Hughes of Kinmel, whose husband was created Lord 
 Dinorben in 1 83 1. 
 
i8o6-8.] SHERIDAN JIBS. 8 1 
 
 a written order to his hvo cooks to serve up the turtle 
 in his absence, which they did, and which we presently 
 devoured. In the midst of the second course, a black, 
 sooty kitchenmaid rushed into the room screaming 
 ' Fire ! ' At the house door were various other persons 
 hallooing to the same purpose, and it turned out to be 
 the curtains in Mrs. Sheridan's dressing-room in a 
 blaze, which Harry Scott had presence of mind to 
 pull down by force, instead of joining in the general 
 clamour for buckets, which was repeated from all the 
 box-keepers, scene-shifters, thief-takers, and sheriff's 
 officers who were performing the character of servants 
 out of livery. So the fire was extinguished, with some 
 injury to Harry's thumb. 
 
 " Half an hour afterwards we were summoned to a 
 division which did not take place till three, and another 
 at four. Our situation in the House was as precarious 
 as at Sheridan's. His behaviour was infamous.* . . . 
 He said he had stayed away all the session from dis- 
 approving all our military measures, and finally made 
 a motion which, if the Addingtonians had supported, 
 would have left us in a minority. . . . Grey made one 
 of his best speeches, full of honor, courage and good 
 faith — it made a great impression, and Sherry was 
 left to the contempt from all sides he so justly de- 
 served. . . . Prinney t sent McMahon to me yesterday 
 desiring to know whether I would induce Tufnell to 
 withdraw his pretensions to Colchester. He was 
 asked to make this request to me by Sir Wm. Smith, 
 
 that of a fellow you may remember at Brighton, 
 
 and who himself has started. But I returned Prinney 
 such a bill of fare of Tuffy's merits and pretensions, 
 that I have no doubt old Smith in his turn will be 
 asked to give way." 
 
 * Sheridan held office in " All the Talents " as Treasurer of the 
 Navy ; but he declared on this occasion that " he was sure the Cabinet 
 would never look to him for the subserviency of sacrificing his in- 
 dependence of opinion to any consideration of office ; at least, if ever 
 they should so expect, they would be disappointed " [Hansard, July 1 1, 
 1806]. 
 
 t The Prince of Wales. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
82 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 Mrs. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 "15th July. 
 "... I am returned from my morning's travels, 
 but they were sadly shortened by going first to the 
 Admiralty and hearing from Lady Howick that Hester 
 [Mrs. Sheridan] was not well. I proceeded to 
 Somerset House ; Mr. Secretary * got into the coach 
 in Parliament Street, and when we got to Somerset 
 House, we found Hester so well, and with such a nice 
 cold chicken and tongue before her, that we made him 
 get out of the coach and eat with us. Then I had only 
 time to call at Mr. Fox's, who continues better. . . . 
 He is advised, I hear, to go to the sea, and McMahon 
 says it will be Brighton, for Prinney has offered him 
 one of his houses, and presses him much to take it 
 McMahon says he will, but I cannot say I think the 
 dinners at the Pavilion will be good for him. . . . The 
 offer, I think, looks as if Prin thought he could make 
 up the quarrel with Mrs. Fitzherbert,t which I wish 
 he may, but you know he does sometimes fancy he can 
 do more than in the end he performs." 
 
 " 30th July. 
 ". . . In our return from walking in the Park last 
 night at 10 o'clock we saw the Prince's chariot at Mr. 
 Fox's door, and I find from Mrs. Bouverie that he 
 stayed a long time, and Mr. Fox was not fatigued by 
 it, but had a good night. . . . She has not seen him 
 for some days, but she says that is accident, owing to 
 Lady Holland being there whom he will not see ; but 
 she plants herself in one of the rooms below stairs, 
 under pretence of waiting for Lord Holland, and so 
 prevents his admitting any other woman." 
 
 "25th August. 
 ". . . Mr. Creevey dined yesterday at Lord Cowper's. 
 It was a grand dinner after the christening of his son, 
 to whom the Prince stood godfather. The ceremony 
 
 * Mr. Creevey, Secretary to the Board of Controul. 
 t In 1806 the Prince fell in love with Lady Hertford, and Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert's excellent and quasi-legitimate influence waned. 
 
i8o6-8]. HIGH LIVING. 83 
 
 was going on in one drawing-room when Mr. Creevey 
 arrived. After it was over, the Prince, on coming 
 into the room where the rest of the company were 
 assembled, said : ' Ho, Creevey ! you there,' and 
 sprang across the room and shook hands with him. 
 When he sat opposite to him at dinner he hardly 
 spoke to anyone else, beginning directly with — ' Well, 
 tell me now, Creevey, about Mrs. Creevey and the 
 girls, and when they come to Brighton ; ' and on hear- 
 ing ' probably in October,' he said — ' Oh delightful ! 
 we shall be so comfortable,' and then went over the 
 old stories . . . till, as Mr. C. says, the company did 
 not know very well what to make of it. They all 
 adjourned to Melbourne House to supper. At 2 o'clock 
 in the morning, that terrible Sheridan seduced Mr. 
 Creevey into Brookes, where they stayed till 4, when 
 Sherry affectionately came home with him, and upstairs 
 to see me. They were both so very merry, and so 
 much pleased with each other's jokes, that, though 
 they could not repeat them to me very distinctly, 
 I was too much amused to scold them as they 
 deserved." 
 
 The constant bulletins about Fox, which it is 
 not necessary to repeat, continued favourable till 
 9th September, when the dropsy began to gain ground 
 upon him. But, considering how the letters even of 
 this amiable and accomplished lady are pervaded with 
 the fumes of wine and the aroma of broiled bones, the 
 marvel is, not that so many men of her acquaintance 
 suffered in their health, but why more of them did not 
 bring their lives prematurely to a close by perpetual 
 stuffing and swilling. Wine in excess was not only 
 the chief cause of a disordered system, but it was 
 made to serve as the invariable remedy, supple- 
 mented by the free use of the lancet and by drastic 
 purges. 
 
84 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch IV. 
 
 Mrs. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 " 12 Sept., 1806. 
 
 "... I am going to Somerset House to enquire 
 after poor Sheridan, who went from this house very 
 ill at 12 o'clock last night. . . . He complained of sore 
 throat and shivering, and his pulse was the most 
 frightful one I ever felt ; it was so tumultuous and so 
 strong that when one touched it, it seemed not only 
 to shake his arm, but his whole frame. ... I lighted 
 a fire and a great many candles, and Mr. Creevey, who 
 was luckily just come home from Petty's, began to tell 
 him stories. . . . Then we sent for some wine, of 
 which he was so frightened it required persuasion to 
 make him drink six small glasses, of which the effect 
 was immediate in making him not only happier, but 
 composing his pulse. ... In the midst of his dismals 
 he said most clever, funny things, and at last got to 
 describing Mr. Hare, and others of his old associates, 
 with the hand of a real master, and made one lament 
 that such extraordinary talents should have such 
 numerous allo5's. He received a note from Lady 
 Elizabeth Forster, with a good account of Mr. Fox. 
 It ended with — 'try to drink less and speak the truth.' 
 He was very funny about it and said : ' By G-d ! I 
 speak more truth than she does, however.' Then he 
 told us how she had cried to him the night before, 
 'because she felt it her severe duty to be Duchess of 
 Devonshire ! ' * 
 
 With Fox was extinguished the brightest of " All 
 the Talents." The administration continued during 
 the succeeding winter, but when the King, in March, 
 1807, demanded an assurance from his Ministers that 
 they would bring in no measure of Roman Catholic 
 Relief, Grenville, who, with Pitt, had resigned office 
 in 1801 because of the King's determination on this 
 
 * The Duchess of Devonshire had died in March of this year. 
 Lady Ehzabeth married the Duke, but not till three years later, in 
 180Q. 
 
i8o6-8.] THE PORTLAND ADMINISTRATION. 85 
 
 subject, declined to continue in office on such terms, 
 and the Cabinet resigned. Some of his colleagues 
 disapproved highly of this course, Sheridan observing 
 that " he had known many men knock their heads 
 against a wall, but he had never before heard of a man 
 collecting bricks and building a wall for the express 
 purpose of knocking out his own brains against it." 
 Probably Mr. Creevey shared this view, but there is 
 an almost total blank in his correspondence during 
 the year which brought his brief tenure of office to 
 a close. The coalition of parties was at an end, and 
 the Duke of Portland became nominal head of a Tory 
 Cabinet. 
 
 Lord Henry Petty to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Teignmouth, Nov. 2nd, 1807. 
 
 ". . . Altho' I understand that Ld. Wellesley claims 
 all the glory of the Copenhagen expedition, I think 
 Ld. Chatham's negative will prevail over his positive 
 qualities, and that he will be the minister of next year. 
 Archd. Hamilton writes to me that Melville is more 
 than ever Minister de facto in Scotland, and that a 
 year's fasting has so sharpened the appetites of his 
 followers, that not a chaise is to be got on any of the 
 roads which lead to Dunira, so numerous are the 
 solicitors and expectants that attend his court. 
 
 "Dartmouth harbour— a beautiful basin — exhibits 
 a curious spectacle at present. The flags of Portugal 
 and Denmark flying on board at least twelve or four- 
 teen detained ships of both nations, the crews of which 
 are maintained by Govt. ... I am now an inhabitant 
 of New Burlington Street, but a letter directed 
 London will be sure to find me." 
 
 The year 1808 was perhaps the most momentous 
 of the century to the destiny of Great Britain. Not 
 many months before his death Pitt had laid his finger 
 on the map of Spain as the only part of the Continent 
 
86 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 where a successful stand might be made against 
 Napoleon. But Spain was allied with France as the 
 foe of England, and since Pitt's death the idea had 
 been entertained by Portland's Cabinet of assisting 
 the South American colonies of Spain in a revolt 
 against the mother country. A certain young general, 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley, who had won considerable 
 renown in India, and, on returning to this country, 
 had entered Parliament for the express purpose of 
 defending his brother. Marquess Wellesley, against 
 the attacks upon his administration as Viceroy, 
 happened to be Secretary for Ireland at this time. 
 He had retained that responsible office while com- 
 manding a division under Lord Cathcart in the suc- 
 cessful but inglorious Copenhagen campaign of 1807. 
 Sir Arthur, then, in the spring of 1808, was directed to 
 confer with General Miranda, emissary of the revolu- 
 tionary party in Spanish South America, and to pre- 
 pare plans for an expedition to support the rebellion 
 there. Such plans Wellesley prepared,:makingout in 
 his own handwriting lists of all the stores required, 
 down to the very number of flints required for small 
 arms. Nevertheless, he disapproved of the policy 
 of this projected expedition. " I have always had a 
 horror," he afterwards said to Lord Mahon, " of re- 
 volutionising any country for a political object. I 
 always said— if they rise of themselves, well and 
 good, but do not stir them up ; it is a fearful respon- 
 sibility." Moreover, in the concluding paragraph 
 of his memorandum, Sir Arthur could not refrain 
 from alluding pointedly to " the manner in which 
 Napoleon's armies are now spread in all parts of 
 Europe," and asking pointedly whether it was impos- 
 sible to operate against him in the Old World, rather 
 
i8o6-S.] ALLIANCE WITH SPAIN. 87 
 
 than undertake speculative projects in the New. If 
 possible, said he, it is " an opportunity which ought 
 not to be passed by." * 
 
 Fortunately affairs took a sudden turn which, by 
 ranging Spain alongside of her ancient enemy Great 
 Britain in the struggle with Napoleon, brought 
 Ministers to the views of the dead Pitt and the 
 future Duke of Wellington. The rulers of Spain 
 had proved both corrupt and incompetent ; her 
 armies, commanded by ignorant and vain aristo- 
 crats, were utterly unfit to take the field against 
 Napoleon's marshals ; yet the ancient spirit still 
 burned in the hearts of her people. In the month of 
 May news came to England that the Spaniards had 
 risen in revolt against the French. Nine thousand 
 troops lay at Cork, ready to embark for South 
 America, there to aid in overturning the government 
 of the King of Spain in his colonies. At the beginning 
 of June, Sir Arthur Wellesley, being still Secretary 
 for Ireland, was sent to take command of these, to 
 sail with them to Spain, there to aid in restoring the 
 King of Spain's authority in his home dominions. A 
 strange piece of scene-shifting, opening, as it did, the 
 long and tremendous drama of the Peninsular war. 
 
 Creevey's correspondence continues extremely 
 fragmentary during this exciting period. Such letters 
 as remain betray the growing bitterness of party 
 spirit and the intense impatience of the extreme 
 members of the Opposition, of whom Creevey was 
 one, with Lord Grenville, who, though not a Whig, 
 could no longer be reckoned as a Tory, and with the 
 more responsible and moderate Whigs, who, like Lord 
 Grey, were not prepared to push the interests of 
 * Wellington's Supplementary Despatches, vi. 82. 
 
88 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 party before those of the country. Creevey's leader 
 at this time was Samuel Whitbread, a man of un- 
 blemished character, absolute honesty, and consider- 
 able debating power, but one who did not shrink 
 from the responsibility of hampering and thwarting 
 Ministers, even when the safety of the Empire seemed 
 at stake. He opposed to the utmost the war policy 
 of the Government, and was specially hostile to the 
 Wellesleys — both the Marquess and Sir Arthur. 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Southill, Ap. 1 8, 1808. 
 ". . . Whatever some squeamish voters in the Ho. 
 of Commons may think and wish, the publick will not 
 be satisfied without the active pursuit of Melville, and 
 I shall not be inclined to make any compromise with 
 shabbiness. It's a pleasant circumstance, amongst 
 others, that the Admiralty cannot be disposed of . . ." 
 
 "Margate, June 29, 1808. 
 ". . . The insurrection [in Spain against the 
 French] has taken a much greater degree of method 
 and consistency than I had expected, and the accession 
 of two such persons as Filanqueri and Sovilliano is of 
 the utmost importance. God send them successful ! 
 and we ought and must give them every possible 
 assistance ; but I dread the account of the first conflict 
 between the French army and this patriotic band. It 
 is the business of the Patriots to avoid it, and that of 
 Bonaparte to seek it as soon as possible. . . . You 
 have asked me two or three times for my speculations 
 upon another session ? Will you be so good as to 
 give me yours ? and as I wish to be master of the 
 E[ast] I[ndia] subject by the autumn, be so good as to 
 point out to me a course of reading." 
 
 Wellesley's expedition sailed from Cork on isth 
 June ; before the end of September the only French 
 troops left in Portugal were the garrisons of Elvas 
 
i8o6-8.] THE CONVENTION OF CINTRA. Sp 
 
 and Almeida ; General Junot, with a beaten army of 
 26,000 men, had been conveyed in British ships to 
 Rochelle ; the Russian Admiral Siniavin had sur- 
 rendered his whole fleet in the Tagus to Sir Charles 
 Cotton. Such were the conditions of the famous 
 Convention of Cintra, forced upon the French by the 
 victorious little army under Sir Arthur Wellesley. 
 Yet was the nation almost unanimous in demanding 
 his degradation, if not his death, with that of the two 
 generals who successively took command over his 
 head. They were even blamed in the King's Speech 
 from the Throne for "acceding to the terms of the 
 Convention." The sagacious Whitbread and his friends 
 found solace in the discomfiture of the Wellesleys. 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Bounds, near Tunbridge, Sept. 25th, 1808. 
 "... I conclude the same sentiment prevails all 
 over the country respecting the Portuguese con- 
 vention. Cobbet's dissertation upon it is excellent, 
 tho' it by no means explains, nor can anything explain, 
 the mystery. I grieve for the opportunity that has 
 been lost of acquiring national glory, but am not 
 sorry to see the Wellesley pride a little lowered. ..." 
 
 Wm. Cobbeit* to Lord Folkestone, M.P.t 
 
 " 9 Oct., 1808. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " Thank you kindly for both your letters. 
 It is, indeed, a damned thing that Wellesley t should 
 
 * Ex-sergeant-major and publisher of the well-known Weekly Politi- 
 cal Register, which began in 1802. He was elected member for Old- 
 ham to the first reformed Parliament. 
 
 t Afterwards 3rd Earl of Radnor ; Radical M.P. for Salisbury 
 from 1802 to 1828 : died in 1869. 
 
 X Sir Arthur Wellesley, whose share in the Convention of Cintra 
 had been sent before a Court of Inquiry. 
 
90 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 give the lie direct to the protesting part of the state- 
 ment of his friends. How the devil will they get over 
 this ? Now we have the rascals upon the hip. It is 
 evident that he was the prime cause— the only cause — 
 of all the mischief, and that from the motive of thwart- 
 ing everything after he was superseded. Thus do we 
 pay for the arrogance of that damned infernal family. 
 But it all comes at last to the House of Commons. The 
 corruptions of that infamous [? place] sent them out,* 
 and we are justly punished. . . ." 
 
 Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 '■^Marlborough, Rio Janeiro, Oct. nth, 1808. 
 ". . . My whole heart and soul is with the 
 Spaniards, and I hope and trust we shall support 
 them and fight for them to the uttermost. . . . This 
 great event in Spain must of course put a stop to any 
 plan we may have had to emancipate the Spanish 
 Colonies. ... I hope Bonoparte has now enough on 
 his hands without thinking of invading England. He 
 has overshot his mark, and, I have great hopes, has 
 done for himself However, he will die game. ... I 
 am very anxious to hear of my brother Jack f coming 
 into play. I daresay he will have some Right Honble. 
 Torpedo set over him to counteract his fire and 
 genius ; but in spite of the Devil, he is invaluable 
 wherever he is, and the soldiers know that. . . ." 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Southill, 20 Dec, i8o8. 
 
 " My dear Creevey, 
 
 " To the usual occupations of hanging Mad 
 Dogs, swearing Bastards, convicting Poachers, and 
 such like country performances, has been added the 
 amusement of Hunting, which I have resumed to the 
 great benefit of my health, and the complete fugitatmt 
 I hope, of all critical Deposits in consequence of high 
 
 * Referring to the Indian appointments held respectively by 
 the Marquess Wellesley and his brother Sir Arthur, and to the first 
 Peninsular expedition of the latter. 
 
 t General Sir John Moore. 
 
i8o6-8.] MR. WHITBREAD UNBOSOMS HIMSELF. 91 
 
 living. Besides, we have had a House pretty full of 
 Company, amongst which have been the Lady Grey 
 and Lady Hannah ; so you will perceive with half an 
 eye that, however acceptable your letter, as it really 
 and truly was, you had but little chance of receiving 
 any answer, till the frost came and locked up my Play- 
 things. Now I can find a moment to thank you for it, 
 and to ask for a continuation of your sentiments, 
 both which I do with unaffected sincerity. I value 
 your opinion, and you are one of the very few 
 Persons who will say what you think of me to 
 myself I hope I deserve to be so treated. 
 
 " You mix more with the World in general than 
 1 am enabled to do from particular circumstances, 
 and I believe you have the good of the Country at 
 Heart. I further believe that you are interested in 
 my Reputation. I acknowledge that in the course of 
 the last Session of Parliament, I may have dwelt too 
 much and too often upon topicks which are not 
 generally interesting, because they are not generally 
 understood, and I am quite aware that I may have 
 spoken both too often and too much ; but you con- 
 firm the feeling I before had that the Result of my 
 Parliamentary Campaign was not injurious to my 
 Fame, and I have heard from friends and foes the 
 agreeable Truth which on that score you repeat to 
 me. I shall go to the House of Commons to the 
 coming Session with feelings very different from 
 those which I carried there last January. You 
 know that I was then piqued. I was not certainly 
 ambitious of being placed nominally at the Head of a 
 Party in the House of Commons, and really to be the 
 Slave of a Party in the House of Lords ; but I had 
 been ambitious of being thought the fit Person in all 
 essentials to fill the vacant Place. By the Person 
 who had [illegible] held it with so much Dignity and 
 Reputation,* that Ambition had been disappointed. 
 I had closed my Conference by saying— 'We shall 
 all find our Level ; ' and however unconscious of it at 
 the time, I daresay I was actuated by a desire to 
 show that my level, at least in the present generation, 
 was not very low. If what you say be true, my 
 
 * Right Hon. George Ponsonby [i755- 1817]- 
 
92 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IV. 
 
 gratification on that score is complete. I am no 
 Candidate for the Lead : I have what I wanted. It 
 is said I ought to have been the Leader, and nothing 
 should tempt me to take the place, because I know 
 on many accounts I ought not to be Leader, and 
 ought never to have been the Leader. So much for 
 that. 
 
 " I am fully aware of the apathy of the Publick 
 and of their indifference towards the proceedings of 
 the House of Commons, and of their Distrust of all 
 Publick Men ; and I cannot but agree with you that 
 poor Fox did overset the Publick opinion with regard 
 to Statesmen. The last administration completed 
 the job. Still, whilst I have a seat in Parliament, and 
 can obtain a hearing, I cannot help proceeding as if 
 I thought the World would give me credit for the 
 Purity of my Motives. The tone you propose to me 
 to adopt in the ensuing session I will certainly attend 
 to with assiduity, and altho' I think in every point, 
 both internal and external, our situation is nearly as 
 forlorn and hopeless as any that ever was imagined 
 by the most gloomy Politician, I will endeavour to 
 act as if the case were not desperate — as if the 
 corrupted and corruptors would be brought to a 
 sense of Duty, and to see the Necessity of Retrench- 
 ment and Reform. 
 
 " I have written a shameful deal about myself, but 
 as your letter was expressly on that subject, you must 
 pardon me : and as it is for you alone that I write, 
 I am not afraid of sarcastical animadversion. . . ." 
 
( 93 ) 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1809. 
 
 Canning and Castlereagh, hitherto at one in maintain- 
 ing the Continental policy of Pitt, fell at issue in 1809 
 as to the best means of carrying the same into effect. 
 The seeds of their difference had been sown in the 
 dispute about the Convention of Cintra. Canning, as 
 Foreign Secretary, advocated a concentration of the 
 whole mihtary forces of Britain upon the liberation 
 of Spain ; Castlereagh, at the War Office, listened to 
 expert advisers who had been damped by the retreat 
 and death of Sir John Moore, and was urgent for 
 creating diversions in other parts of Europe. Castle- 
 reagh had his way, with the result, among others, 
 that the most powerful expedition that had ever 
 sailed from England — 40,000 troops and a splendid 
 fleet with as many seamen and marines — were 
 lamentably sacrificed in the swamps of Walcheren 
 Island through the incompetence of their general ; 
 while Sir Arthur Wellesley sailed in April to assume 
 command in a second Peninsular campaign. Great 
 was the fury of the anti-war party in Parliament by 
 reason of this resuscitation of the hated Wellesleys, 
 but not greater than their rage at Lord Grenville, 
 who, although he had acted with the Opposition until 
 now, refused to be drawn into an unpatriotic line of 
 
94 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 conduct, or at Grey, Tierney, and other Whigs who 
 showed scruples at embarrassing the Government in 
 their operations. 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Southill, Jan. il, 1809. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 "Your letter reached me at Woburn Abbey 
 amidst rows, festivities and masquerades. . . . By all 
 I can collect from the Duke of Bedford and Fitz- 
 Patrick it is not the desire of Ponsonby and the wise 
 heads in London that any great effort should be made 
 for an attendance. ... I have heard from Tierney 
 since I saw you. He seems in flat despair about 
 any effect to be produced by our exertions in Parlt. 
 the ensuing session, and I am told that he wishes to 
 abstain from active attendance altogether. I do not 
 believe that any persons join with him in this feeling. 
 I am sure I do not. It would be as unwise as im- 
 practicable to be seen and not heard in the House of 
 Commons ; and as his plan does not go the whole 
 length of secession, it will amount in practice to 
 nothing at all. . . . Lord Grenville intends to come 
 down on the first day and make a general attack : 
 after that, he does not at present mean to follow the 
 matter up with the assiduity he displayed last year 
 in the House of Lords, nor, indeed, in the absence of 
 Grey and Holland, could it be expected. ... I will 
 only add for myself, that I have the greatest respect 
 for Ld. Grenville, but that that respect would in 
 no way prevent my taking any line I thought the 
 right one. . . ." 
 
 "Southill, March 31, 1809. 
 ". . . Do pray tell me what is said about things in 
 general, and in particular about myself, for I fear I 
 am but roughly handled in a part of the world just 
 now. . . . What do you think of the Westminster 
 meeting ? I cannot say how much I was surprized 
 by Burdett's unprovoked attack upon the great 
 agriculturists, who are, almost without exception, 
 real friends of Liberty and Reform — none more so 
 
i8o9.] WALCHEREN. 95 
 
 than the head of them, the Duke of Bedford, who 
 thinks parliamentary reform indispensably necessary 
 to our existence. ... I am to-day working hard at 
 the local Militia; to-morrow I intend to go fox- 
 hunting, and on Sunday I hope to be regaled by an 
 answer from you. . . ." 
 
 Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " London, July i8th, i8og. 
 
 ". . . The [Walcheren] expedition is expected to 
 sail this week. The Naval part of it is well com- 
 manded. Strachan is one of those in our service 
 whom I estimate the highest. I do not believe he 
 has his fellow among the Admirals, unless it be 
 Pellew, for ability, and it is not possible to have more 
 zeal and gallantry." 
 
 " Brook Farm, Cobham, Surrey, Sept. 19th, 1809. 
 " I go back to my ship on the 21st at Portsmouth, 
 where she arrived from the Scheldt with a cargo of 
 sick. I expect to go with her there, as we are to 
 continue under the command of Sir Richard Strachan,* 
 and as there are 200 of her seamen still there in the 
 gunboats, &c. It is my wish to serve with Strachan, 
 as I know him to be extremely brave and full of zeal 
 and ardour, at the same time that he is an excellent 
 seaman, and, tho' an irregular, impetuous fellow, 
 possessing very quick parts and an uncommon share 
 of sagacity and strong sense. I hope Walcheren will 
 be evacuated before we lose any more of our invalu- 
 able men. . . . The Cannings are in a damned 
 dilemma with this expedition and the victory of 
 Talavera. They mean, I understand, to saddle poor 
 Lord Chatham with the first, but who can they saddle 
 the victory with ? They dare not attack the Wel- 
 lesleys as they did my poor brother.f What a cursed 
 set you all are ! I certainly far prefer your set, but 
 your set bungled miserably. However you are a 
 more manly and gentlemanly set of bunglers and 
 
 * Moore, as a Scot, spells Sir Richard's name more Scotico. 
 t Sir John Moore. 
 
96 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 jobbers than the self-sufficient, chattering, intriguing 
 Cannings. ... I wish Parliament were met, for 1 
 long to see these fellows forced from their seats. 
 As to peace, I can see no prospect of it as long as 
 Bonoparte exists ; and I believe, for our comfort, he 
 is a cursed temperate, hardy knave, in mind and 
 body. . . ." 
 
 On 2 1 St September the quarrel between Castle- 
 reagh and Canning culminated in a duel, involving 
 the resignation of both Ministers. Lord Wellesley 
 was recalled from Spain to succeed Canning at the 
 Foreign Office, and Lord Liverpool took Castlereagh's 
 place at the War Office. Another change shortly 
 afterwards was the replacement of the Duke of 
 Portland at the head of the Government by Mr. 
 Perceval. 
 
 Lord Folkestone, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Brooks's, Sept. 2i, 1809. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 " I cannot help writing to tell you what a 
 curious scene is going on here. Old Portland is going 
 both out of the Ministry and out of the world — both 
 very soon, and it is doubtful which first ; but the 
 doubt arises from the difficulty of finding a new 
 Premier, though both Perceval and Canning have 
 offered themselves. Mulgrave is going too, they say 
 — Castlereagh is quite gone, and Canning too, and the 
 latter well nigh this morning quitted this sublunary 
 globe, as well as the Foreign Office, for his friend 
 Castlereagh on Wimbledon Common about 7 o'clock 
 this morning as neatly as possible sent a pistol bullet 
 through the fleshy part of his thigh. These heroes 
 have quarrelled and fought about the Walcheren 
 affair — Castlereagh damning the execution * of Lord 
 Chatham, and Canning the plan of the planner, and 
 being Lord Chatham's champion. Lord Chatham's 
 friends, too, say that he is not at all to blame, that he 
 
 * I.e. the performance. 
 
iSog.] CASTLEREAGH FIGHTS CANNING. 97 
 
 has a complete case against Castlereagh, and further, 
 that Sir Richard Strahan has made him amende 
 honorable, saying that he meant by his letter to 
 insinuate no blame against him, and that he is ready 
 to say so whenever and wherever called upon to do 
 so.* On the other hand, Castlereagh's friends are 
 furious too — say that never man was so ill-used, and 
 that he never will have any more connexion with his 
 present colleagues. 
 
 "Lord Yarmouth was Castlereagh's second — 
 Charles Ellis t Canning's. Castlereagh was not 
 touched; Canning's wound is likely to be very tedious 
 — not dangerous. In the meantime, every official 
 arrangement is at a stand, or at least quite unknown 
 and the whole thing appears in utter confusion. 
 Mother Cole % in vain shows himself all day long in 
 St. James's Street ; the Whigs are thought of by no 
 one ; the Doctor § cries 'off,' and the King has not yet 
 sent for Wardle || or Burdett. I really think that any 
 one might be a minister for asking for it— Mr. Lee 
 (the spokesman at Covent Garden) as well as another ; 
 and if they do not take care, it will come to this. If 
 Nobbs \ does not, the Mob will, name the Minister, 
 and then — why not Mr. Lee? The scene would be 
 diverting, if it did not look so serious ; but, I protest, 
 I begin to think it alarming, considering that guineas 
 at Winchester have passed for 22s. in paper. 
 
 " In the meantime, the diversions of Covent Garden 
 go on bravely. The people behave well, and I hope 
 they will beat the damned Managers. The Magis- 
 trates there, as usual, behaved shamefully, and 
 endeavoured to excite a riot, but did not succeed. 
 
 * " The Earl of Chatham, with sword drawn, 
 Stood waiting for Sir Richard Strahan ; 
 Sir Richard, longing to be at 'em, 
 Stood waiting for the Earl of Chatham." 
 
 t Charles Rose Ellis,M.P.[i77i-i845], created LordSeaford in 1826 
 
 % Mr. Tierney. 
 
 § Lord Sidmouth. 
 
 II Colonel Wardle, M.P., who led the attack upon the Duke of 
 York in the affair of Mrs. Clarke, which cost His Royal Highness his 
 office as Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 \ George III. 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 Princess Amelia* is dying at Weymouth, and the 
 Prince is not likely (I hear) to live long. 
 
 "I think I have exhausted my budget of news. 
 Remember me to the ladies and believe me — 
 
 " Truly yours, 
 
 " Folkestone." 
 
 C. C. Western, M.P.,] to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Felix Hall, Sept. 24, 1809. 
 
 "... I wish that j'ou may persist in your literary 
 pursuits and particularly directed as they have to a 
 comparative view of the conduct and character of 
 modern statesmen with men of better times. By 
 Heavens ! the contrast is too disgusting. I know as 
 little of history, even of my own country, as any 
 gentleman need do, but it is impossible not to pick 
 up enough to see and admire to an excess the sense 
 and spirit of the old patriots, and certainly we have 
 proof enough of the present men to make one dead 
 sick at the very thoughts of them. . . . The duel! by 
 the Lord, this surpasses everything. I have no doubt 
 Canning was the aggressor, for the fellow is mad — 
 evinced his insanity more than once last year. I 
 delight in this duel. It is demonstration of the 
 EFFICIENCY of our Councils. Here is an Administration 
 — the Kin^s Oimi ; the entire army is their sacrifice — 
 the national character and safety too — and yet the 
 Country quite passive. It is really too much to bear. 
 And we are to have a Jubilee ! It surpasses all imagi- 
 nation. I am expecting this loyal County to proclaim 
 a subscription to illuminate, &c. I cannot really 
 submit to it, though 1 shall be branded as a traitor. 
 Do you think it could be morally justifiable to carry 
 one's hypocrisy and acquiescence so far as to concurr 
 in ever so cold a manner on such a diabolical measure. 
 Let me hear from you in these extraordinary events. . . ." 
 
 * Youngest and favourite daughter of George III., whose madness 
 was finally confirmed by sorrow for her death in 1810. 
 
 t Charles Callis Western [1767-1844], commonly known as Squire 
 Western, was 42 years in Parliament, a staunch Protectionist, though 
 a Whig, and champion of the agricultural interest. In 1833 he was 
 raised to the peerage as Baron Western of Rivenhall. 
 
i8o9.] WHITBREAD ON THE SITUATION. 99 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Southill, Nov. 8, 1809. 
 
 "... I am not surprised at people shaping towards 
 Canning, because, as our friend Wilberforce shrewdly 
 observes, he and I have been long enough in the 
 political world not to be surprised at anything; but 
 I know that those who shall trust a politician of that 
 stamp, deserve to be betrayed and will have their 
 deserts. I hope at least I shall so conduct myself as 
 to deserve the approbation and support of the worthy 
 part of the community. . . . The Larl of Essex, Lord 
 Carrington and Mr. Giles are here, and the D. of 
 Bedford, and the above-named noblesse approve 
 Southill. . . . Mr. Adkin is in good health and trying 
 ever and anon to repeat the stories he heard from 
 you when shooting together, in which he does 
 not always succeed. Owen Williams is come to 
 Bedford, is invited to Southill and has accepted the 
 invitation. I am not a little amused with the liberty 
 given to the Emperor of Austria to cut brushwood in 
 certain forests which are taken from him, together 
 with other large territories, and I should very much 
 have liked to have been at the stag hunt at Fontaine- 
 bleau. ..." 
 
 "Southill, Nov. 10, i8og. 
 ". . . Tom Adkin, who went to Bedford yesterday 
 to meet his friend Williams at Palmer's, was the first 
 person who told us of the King's letter to Perceval. 
 Notwithstanding the awful presence of the Duke and 
 the other Lords, he had got very drunk, and in his 
 drunkenness he related this story, which he prefaced, 
 as usual, by saying he had a fact to relate ; which fact 
 everybody laughed at ; but the next morning Lord 
 Carrington showed me a letter from Horner, in which 
 the same story is told very circumstantially, and his 
 lordship was very much surprized that what was said 
 by Mr. Adkin ' in that wild way ' should turn out to 
 be true. I have no doubt that it is so, but the madness 
 and folly of Perceval is inconceivable. Does he quite 
 forget the narrow escape his administration had at 
 starting from the mess made of Canning's trial? 
 
lOO THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 Tierney had not seen the letter when he was here, or, 
 if he had, he was silent about it. Neither did he 
 mention to us Perceval's letter to the D. of Northum- 
 berland, altho' there was some discussion about the 
 Earl Percy's taking a seat at the Treasury Board. 
 
 "... 1 delight in the stoutness of Lord Holland : I 
 believe him to have principles and to be capable of 
 conduct worthy of his name : but he is hampered. 
 It is a most fortunate circumstance that Canning has 
 given mortal offence at Holland House. The wounds 
 are deep, and I hope incurable. . . . You will hear 
 Martyn's language from many mouths — great lamenta- 
 tion at our not hanging together. I shall be still the 
 person blamed ; but do you think in the present state 
 of affairs that if either Lord Henrj' Petty or Lord 
 George Cavendish were to be acknowledged by me 
 as leader in the House of Commons there would be 
 a chance of keeping a party together? Should I not 
 lose all power in one way and gain nothing in the 
 other? Should I not bind myself to a compact I 
 could not keep? Should I not at every turn be said 
 to be endeavouring to outstrip my leader? and would 
 it not be confusion worse confounded? Yet I sup- 
 pose these are the only nostrums recommended. I 
 cannot take them — this is between ourselves. . . . 
 Pray tell me what Lord Derby says and pray tell me 
 whether the report be true or false respecting Bur- 
 dett's declaration against the Catholick Question. . . ." 
 
 "Southill, Nov. i6, 1809. 
 
 " Many thanks for your letter, which contained the 
 first information I have received of Lord Lansdowne's 
 death. It certainly very much changes the plans laid 
 down by Tierney. You may be sure that my views 
 as to my own personal conduct are the same as those 
 stated in your letter to be the correct ones, and that 
 I shall keep myself as quiet as if there was a leader 
 in whom I confided and could act under. I shall not 
 stir hand or foot. It is my intention to be prepared 
 with such an amendment [to the AddressJ as you 
 have described, and I told Tierney that such an 
 amendment alone could satisfy the publick, or be 
 consistent with the duty of a Member of Parliament." 
 
1809.] THE PASSAGE OF THE DOURO. lOl 
 
 The following correspondence refers to Sir 
 Arthur Wellesley's passage of the Douro in the face 
 of Soult's army — one of the most brilliant and dash- 
 ing operations of the third Peninsular campaign, 
 1809-14, of which it was the first act. Wellesley, 
 having landed at Lisbon, in April, with 21,500 men, 
 found himself near the centre of a vast semi-circle 
 of French corps numbering upwards of 200,000. He 
 decided to strike before his enemies could concen- 
 trate upon him, and marched straight upon Oporto, 
 170 miles to the north, where Soult lay with 24,000 
 men. The French Generals Franceschi and Mermet, 
 falling back before his advance, retreated into Oporto, 
 destroying the pontoon bridge across the deep and 
 rapid Douro. The romantic episode of the barber of 
 Oporto and his skiff, the resource and daring which 
 Colonel Waters displayed in using these humble 
 instruments to bring barges over from the enemy's 
 shore, the nerve of Wellesley and the splendid 
 courage of his soldiers which seized and clinched 
 the slender opportunity, can never be better de- 
 scribed than they have been in Napier's glowing 
 narrative. 
 
 Major-Genl. R. C. Ferguson * to Samuel Whitbread, M.P. 
 
 "Tickhill, Bantry, 21 July, 1809. 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 "... I last night got a letter from Sir 
 Arthur Wellesley and think it best to send you the 
 original without making any comment on it. He is 
 a very fine manly fellow, and I am sure (whatever 
 
 * [Sir] Ronald Crawfurd Ferguson [1773-1841], 2nd son of 
 William Ferguson, of Raith, was M.P. for Kirkcaldy burghs 1806- 
 1830 ; commanded the Highland Brigade of 42nd and 78th regiments 
 at Vimeiro. 
 
102 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 were the misrepresentations of the Ministers) you 
 shd. not mean to say anything personally disre- 
 spectful to him. I know that in many points you 
 like him, and I shd. be very sorry that anything shd. 
 occur which shd. remove the mutual good opinion 
 you have of each other. It is one of those things in 
 which no advice can be given, and it must be left en- 
 tirely to yourself, but I trust you will pardon me if I 
 express a hope that you will either write a few lines 
 to him or to me, such as I can send to him, which will 
 do away any unpleasant impression that the news- 
 paper reports may have occasioned. 
 
 " I desire, &c., 
 
 " R. C. Ferguson." 
 
 Lieut.-Gen. Sir Arthur Wellesley to Major-Gen. R. C. 
 Ferguson (enclosed in the above). 
 
 " Abrantes, 22nd June, i8og. 
 
 " My dear Ferguson, 
 
 " I am in general callous to the observations 
 of party and to the remarks of writers in the news- 
 papers, but I acknowledge that I have been a little 
 disturbed by a statement which it appears was made 
 in the House of Commons by Mr. Whitbread — viz. : 
 that I had exaggerated the success of the Army 
 under my command, or, in other words, that I had 
 lyed. 
 
 " I complain that Mr. Whitbread before he made 
 this statement in the House did not read my letter 
 with attention ; if he had, he would have seen, first, 
 that we were engaged on the loth only with cavalry 
 and a small body of infantry, with some guns ; 
 secondly, on the nth with about 4000 infantry and 
 some squadrons of cavalry ; and on the 12th I stated 
 nothing of numbers, but that the French were under 
 command of Soult. 
 
 " From the nature of the action it was impossible 
 for me to see the numbers engaged, so as to form an 
 estimate of them in a dispatch ; but I saw Soult, and 
 knew when I was writing, not only that he was in 
 the action, but that he was either wounded or had a 
 
iSog.] SIR ARTHUR WELLESLEY REMONSTRATES. 103 
 
 fall from his horse; and I saw a very large body of 
 troops march out of Oporto to the attack. I have 
 since heard that the whole of the French infantry in 
 Portugal, with the exception of Loison's Corps, which 
 might amount to 4000 men, were in this attack, and 
 this [illegible] estimated to be 10,000 men. We took 
 two pieces more cannon in action than I stated in my 
 dispatch, and I believe the return of cannon which 
 the French were obliged to leave on that day was 
 not less than 50 pieces. 
 
 "After that, I don't think it quite fair that I 
 should, in my absence, be accused of exaggeration, 
 or, in other words, lying. I believe you know that I 
 am not in the habit of sending exaggerated accounts 
 of transactions of this kind. In the first place, I 
 don't see what purpose accounts of that description 
 are to answer ; and in the second place, the Army 
 must eventually see them ; they are most accurate 
 criticks : I should certainly forfeit their good opinion 
 most justly if I wrote a false account even of their 
 actions, and nothing should induce me to take any 
 step which should with justice deprive me of that 
 advantage. As you are well acquainted with Mr. 
 Whitbread, I shall be obliged to you if you will 
 mention these circumstances to him. I have thought 
 it better to set him right in this way than to get any 
 friend of mine in the House of Commons to have a 
 wrangle with him on the subject. 
 
 " Believe me, Yours most sincerely, 
 
 "Arthur Wellesley. 
 
 " I'll tell you what I might have said without 
 exaggeration — that, whenever we were engaged, we 
 had fewer numbers than the enemy." 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Sir Arthur Wellesley. 
 
 " Southill, July 30, 1809. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am very much concern'd to find by a 
 letter I have received from Genl. Ferguson, inclosing 
 one from you to him, that a report in some of the 
 newspapers of what I am supposed to have said in 
 
104 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 the House of Commons relative to the operations 
 of the army under your command at Oporto has 
 been the cause of any uneasiness to you. You know 
 full well that the newspapers very commonly mis- 
 represent what falls from members of Parliament, and 
 that it is impossible to answer for what is put in by 
 the reporters. In this case I really don't know what 
 I have been made to say, but I can venture to assure 
 you that nothing disrespectful towards yourself ever 
 fell from my mouth, because all the feelings of my 
 mind are of a nature so entirely the reverse. I 
 have upon all occasions expressed my real opinion 
 of you, and I trust that political differences have 
 never led me, even in public, to underrate your past 
 services, or my hopes of your future ones. I dare- 
 say I did express my opinion that the rejoicings of 
 your friends in power upon the receipt of your Dis- 
 patch was greater than the occasion call'd for, in 
 which was not to be included any sentiment dero- 
 gatory to you. I am sorry that your very important 
 occupations should be interrupted, even for the short 
 time necessary to read this letter, by any circum- 
 stance relating to me ; but I could not help writing 
 to you, and I must detain you one moment longer to 
 assure you that I wish you all possible success, and 
 that I expect from an army commanded by you every 
 happy result that its strength can possibly effect. 
 " I am. My dear Sir, Your very faithful servant, 
 
 " S. Whitbread." 
 
 Lieut-Gen. Sir ArtJnir Wellesley to Samuel Whit- 
 bread, M.P. 
 
 " Badajos, Sep. 4, 1809.* 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " I am very much obliged to you for your 
 letter of the loth of August \_sic] which I received 
 yesterday. As 1 had more than once received from 
 you those marks of your attention and of your good 
 opinion which you have been pleased to repeat in 
 
 * The date of Wellesley's patent as Viscount Wellington of 
 Talavera. 
 
iSog.] MR. WHITBREAD HAS EXPLAINED. 10$ 
 
 your letter, and as it indeed appeared by the report 
 of your speech which I read that you had expressed 
 the same sentiments on that occasion, I was anxious 
 to remove from your mind an impression which it 
 appeared had been made upon it, and which must 
 have been injurious to me — that I had made an ex- 
 aggerated statement of the operations of the troops 
 under my command. In fact, I did not state with 
 what numbers of the enemy the army was engaged 
 when it passed the Douro, as I did not know them 
 when I wrote my dispatch ; and that was what I 
 wanted to explain to you. I will not enter into any 
 statement of our affairs in this part of the world ; I 
 daresay that you will hear and read enough, and 
 speak more upon them than some of us will like. I 
 rather think, however, that between numbers on the 
 side of the enemy and strength of position on ours, 
 we are so equally balanced that neither party will do 
 the other much mischief It will be satisfactory, how- 
 ever, for you to hear that the French begin to be con- 
 vinced ' que les Francois ne seront jamais les maitres 
 des Anglois.' 
 
 " Ever, dear Sir, Yours most faithfully, 
 
 " Arthur Wellesley." 
 
 General Ferguson to Samuel Whitbread, M.P. 
 
 "Raith, Oct. I, 1809. 
 
 " My dear Sir, 
 
 " I have to thank you for your letter of the 
 25th ulto. accompanied by Sir Arthur's to you. With 
 respect to his rashness in advancing so far into 
 Spain, I fear something may be said; but I should 
 fam hope that in his account of the battle of Tala- 
 vera he will be acquitted of the charge of exaggera- 
 tion. Twenty pieces of cannon and 5 standards 
 taken from the enemy will be strong evidence in his 
 favour. I have had a long letter from him, in which 
 he gives a melancholy picture of the Spanish army 
 and of the Government. Indeed he seems to have 
 no hopes of the ultimate success of the Spaniards. 
 He tells me not to think of having anything to do 
 with him or his army, so my trip to Spain is at an 
 
I06 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 end. We shall probably have fighting enough at 
 home, beginning with a war of words, which (if the 
 system of Government is not compleatly chang'd) will 
 end in blows. If any of our friends come in, I hope 
 they will not put the convenience of one individual 
 in competition with the existence of the country. If 
 they do, I hope that no honest man will support 
 them. If Park, meets in Novr. I shall go to town, 
 and should you be at Southill I shall not pass your 
 door." 
 
 Creevey resembled many of us in that he often 
 began to keep a journal, and as often left off doing so. 
 His diary during the autumn of 1809 was rather more 
 continuous than usual. 
 
 Journal. 
 
 "25/A Sept., 1809. — Left Whitfield for Gosforth on 
 our way to Howick, and learnt there that a King's 
 Messenger had passed thro' Newcastle in the morning 
 on his way to Howick to Lord Grey. 
 
 " 26//?. — Sent on to Newcastle from Gosforth and 
 ascertained the Messenger had been at Howick, and 
 was returned with letters from Lord Grey, but that he 
 himself was not gone to London, so we proceed to 
 Howick. 
 
 " Nothing said before dinner of the Messenger, but 
 after dinner Lord Grey mentioned that a Messenger 
 had brought offers from the Ministers to him, and that 
 similar ones had been sent to Lord Grenville, and 
 that he (Lord Grey) had sent a refusal. Does not 
 mention what the offers were, but that the Ministers 
 talked of an extended administration. Conversation 
 about Castlereagh's duel with Canning. Lord Grey 
 thinks Castlereagh in the right : that his cause of 
 complaint against Canning was the latter having told 
 the King and Duke of Portland three months ago he 
 could not remain in the Cabinet with Castlereagh, and 
 yet never mentioning this to Castlereagh, but living 
 apparently well with him. Then the cause of the duel 
 — Lord Grey considers Canning's resignation owing 
 
iSog.] JOURNAL. 107 
 
 to his not being able to succeed Duke of Portland as 
 Prime Minister. Curran the Irish Master of the Rolls, 
 Geo. Ponsonby and Frederic Ponsonby (Lady Grey's 
 two brothers), Lord Grey and myself the party after 
 dinner. . . . Lord Grey decidedly against the plan of 
 the campaign in Holland, and acquits Lord Chatham 
 of all blame in the execution of it, and still more 
 decided in reprobation of Lord Wellington's Spanish 
 campaign and of the conduct of Ministers about the 
 battle of Talavera. 
 
 " Lord Grey very shy and artificial with me about 
 politicks — makes frequent mention of Sir Francis 
 Burdett and the No-Party inen, and says, in answer 
 to an observation of mine that the present Govern- 
 ment can never last, however patched up, that in the 
 present state of the House of Commons any Govern- 
 ment may stand. I consider these observations as 
 meant at my conduct last session, for doing all 1 could 
 to expose what I thought the meanness and folly of 
 his (Lord Grey's) party, of which I had till then been 
 one. I take, however, no notice of these observations, 
 as it is not necessary I should apply them to myself ; 
 and I am more convinced than ever that I was right 
 last session, and that the leaders of Whig party were 
 to the last degree contemptible. I am in no way 
 committed with Sir Francis Burdett or any views of 
 his. I know him well, and think upon the whole 
 unfavorably of him, but will not say so to Lord Grey 
 without his giving me a fair and proper occasion for 
 so doing. 
 
 " Wednesday, 2'jth. — . . . Nothing passed material 
 after dinner. Some hit at my newspaper the Statesman 
 as a no-party paper. Curran gone. 
 
 " Thursday, T.Zth, till Oct. ^th. — . . . Conversation 
 after dinner and after supper always as artificial as 
 the devil. Lord Grey shewing his spite at my conduct 
 the k.st session, and his own folly by the following 
 observations made by him — 'The Duke of York's 
 business last session in the House of Commons never 
 gave the King a moment's uneasiness.' — 'The Duke of 
 York was the best Commander-in-chief the army ever 
 had, except in the field!' — 'Adam was used shamefully 
 in the House of C. last session.' — ' Lord Castlereagh's 
 business in the House of Commons last session about 
 
I08 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 the writership did not do him the slightest injury.' — 
 'Canning calling Coke of Norfolk a landed grandee 
 was damned good.' — ' Romilly had entirely failed in 
 the House of Commons.' — 'The first man this country 
 has seen since Burke's time is Brougham.' — ' Piggott 
 was the best speaker in the House next to Canning.' 
 . . . Lord Grey says tho' he is against proscription in 
 forming an administration, yet Canning is the last man 
 he would unite with. 
 
 " Mrs. Creevey receives a letter from Lady Petre 
 begging her and me to write letters of introduction in 
 Edmburgh for her son, young Lord Petre, who is 
 going there. Mrs. Creevey asks Lord Grey to let her 
 send a note to Alnwick to bring him and his tutor 
 over here. Lord and Lady Grey make such difficulty 
 about beds, and, in short, fling such cold water upon 
 the proposal, that we drop the subject. Take notice, 
 there was room in the house — plenty. Lord Petre's 
 family have spent ^15,000 at least in supporting Lord 
 Grey's party in elections, &c., &c., besides great 
 intimacy between the families. So much for gratitude 
 in political leaders to their supporters ! . . . 
 
 " Friday, Oct. 6th. — Sir Chas. Monk and Loch the 
 counsel came over from Alnwick sessions to dine 
 at Howick, and as they were both very free-spoken 
 and honest politicians. Lord Grey seemed devilishly 
 frightened after dinner least anything should be said 
 upon the subject. It was stupid enough. Loch and I 
 had a good walk before dinner, and gave the Whigs 
 their deserts. 
 
 " Saty., yth. — We leave Howick with all kinds of 
 civilities — squeezing of hands, &c., as if all parties 
 were as pleased as Punch ; and so, in fact, it was — 
 they to get quit of us, and we to regain our liberty. 
 Get to Gosforth, Charles Brandling's, Mrs. Creevey's 
 brother and member for Newcastle, an inveterate 
 Pittite, but who is quite stunned with the figure the 
 Government has made. 
 
 "Sat, Oct i^th. — We leave Gosforth for Low 
 Gosforth. Little done' or said at Gosforth during our 
 stay about politicks. Charles Brandling all for Canning 
 against Castlereagh, but evidently shook in his attach- 
 ment to Canning from Castlereagh's letter and state- 
 ment in the papers, and Canning's reply. Damns 
 
i8o9.] JOURNAL. 109 
 
 Perceval, Eldon and above all the Grenvilles — in 
 favor of Lord Grey. 
 
 " Monday, Oct. 23. — Leave Low Gosforth for Shot- 
 ton, Ralph Brandling's, county of Durham. At Low 
 Gosforth nothing but eating and drinking. . . . We 
 receive a very kind letter from Lord Milton, inviting 
 us to his father Ld. Fitzwilliam's at Wentworth, which 
 we are sorry we can't accept. 
 
 " 27//^. — We leave Shotton on our way south. 
 Terrible dull work at Shotton. . . . 
 
 "2,0th. — Arrive at Whitbread's — Southill, Bedford- 
 shire — Whitbread and Lady Elizabeth Whitbread 
 (sister to Lord Grey) quite delighted to see us. 
 Nothing but politicks between Whitbread and me 
 from the moment we meet just before dinner till bed- 
 time. Quite against Canning and the whole Govern- 
 ment — approves Lord Grey's letter to Perceval very 
 much, but agrees with me that in the general 
 sentiments he delivers upon all publick subjects, he 
 talks like a madman. I tell him everything that 
 has passed at Howick, about which he just thinks 
 with me. 
 
 "Sunday, 31s/. — Whitbread shows me a letter 
 written to him by Grey upon his receiving Perceval's 
 offer, containing a copy of Perceval's letter and Grey's 
 answer. I take copies of them. The writing on such 
 an occasion very right in Grey, and the letter in many 
 parts kind, but in many others very arrogant, and just 
 treating Whitbread as a person entirely separated 
 from Grey in politicks. Whitbread in his answer very 
 affectionate to Grey, and very stout in the support of 
 his own conduct at the same time. 
 
 Same day, he shews me a correspondence between 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley (Lord Wellington) and himself, 
 occasioned by a speech of Whitbread's in the House 
 of Commons, stating that Wellesley's account of the 
 battle of the Douro in Spain * was an exaggeration. 
 This was brought about by General Ferguson, a 
 friend of both, a member of the House of Commons 
 and a most admirable man. ... I hate Wellesley, but 
 there are passages in his letter that made me think 
 better of him. ... 
 
 * It was fought, of course, in Portugal. 
 
no THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 " On the same day, Whitbread shews me a corre- 
 spondence between Tierney and him. . . . Tierney, 
 thinking Grenville and Grey are coming in, writes a 
 letter to Whitbread offering his services to set every- 
 thing to right that may be wrong, and, in short, 
 meaning to bring Grey and Whitbread together again 
 in politicks, and to procure for Whitbread any place 
 in the supposed new government he may wish. . . . 
 Whitbread, considering this very friendly in Tierney, 
 returns him a very kind answer, shewing clearly he 
 has no disinclination to office, but at the same time, 
 stating he will not relinquish an atom of his political 
 principles or make the least compromise. 
 
 " Whitbread evidently quite taken in by Tierney 
 in this proceeding. Tierney finds out that Lord 
 Grey's party, if they come into office, can't carry on 
 the Government in the House of Commons against 
 Whitbread ; so now, instead of abusing him as was 
 done all last session, he is to be cajoled. 
 
 " Safy., Nov. 4. — We leave Whitbread's for London, 
 having spent a very happy time at Southill, and with 
 a most firm conviction that Whitbread — tho' rough in 
 his manners — tho' entirely destitute of all taste or 
 talent for conversation, and tho' apparently almost 
 tyrannical in his deportment to his inferiors — is a man 
 of the very strictest integrity, with the most generous, 
 kind and feeling heart. 
 
 " Lord and Lady Ponsonby pass us on the road to 
 Southill. The Whitbreads wanted us to stay to meet 
 them, but we would not, because Lord Ponsonby had 
 been always just of opinion with Whitbread and me 
 about politicks, till some months past, when he became 
 quite against us, as I think, not only without reason, 
 but against all reason ; and as I know he is hard 
 pressed for money, I suppose he is after a place, and 
 I cut him as a shabby politician. 
 
 " Sunday, Nov. 5. — Arrived in London. The first 
 
 gerson I see is McMahon M.P. and Prince of Wales's 
 ecretary. I go in with him to Carlton House and 
 write my name for the Prince. McMahon shows me 
 a copy of a most mean letter from Perceval to the 
 Duke of Northumberland, imploring his support of the 
 Government, tho' a stranger to the Duke, and offering 
 Earl Percy a seat at the Treasury Board. I saw the 
 
i8o9.] JOURNAL. Ill 
 
 Duke's answer— a dry refusal, with thanks for all 
 Perceval's compliments. 
 
 " McMahon tells me a letter is certainly shewn 
 about by Perceval, written to him by the King, threat- 
 ening to dissolve the parliament if they don't support 
 his Ministry. 
 
 "Monday, Nov. 6. — I learn from Whishaw — a par- 
 ticular friend of mine, who lives almost entirely at 
 Holland House — that the language now held there is 
 that Grey and Whitbread are become quite united 
 again in politicks — that all differences are at an end — 
 that Lord Ponsonby (Lady Grey's brother) is gone to 
 Southill to confirm the union, and that Tierney and 
 the Duke of Bedford are to go from Woburn to 
 Southill on Tuesday, and Lord Carrington, Lord 
 Essex, and Giles of the House of Commons [illegible'] 
 the same day, and all this visiting is represented at 
 Holland House as a political mission to Whitbread to 
 confirm him in his reported reconciliation with Grey. 
 All this evidently got up by Tierney. There is no 
 foundation whatever for saying Grey and Whitbread 
 are more alike in politicks than they have been these 
 two years. Tierney used to tell everybody, as he has 
 often done me, that Grey and Whitbread were more 
 separated than they actually were, because he then 
 thought he could do without Whitbread ; and the 
 sooner he was flung off the better. Now he finds he 
 can't do without him, and he states, without an atom of 
 foundation, that Grey and Whitbread are the same, and 
 tries to cajole Whitbread into thinking so. I write to 
 Whitbread and tell him all I hear from Holland House. 
 
 " Tuesday, jth. — Lord Kensington and Ward dine 
 with us, both full of their jokes at the expense of our 
 political leaders. 
 
 " Wedy., Sth. — I have a letter from Whitbread. He 
 says Lord Ponsonby never said a word upon politicks, 
 Saturday, all the evening — that Whitbread was ill on 
 Sunday and did not appear, and that my Lord was off 
 on Monday before Whitbread. So much for his 
 'mission.' He says Tierney and the Duke and other 
 Lords are there. 
 
 " I meet in the streets several politicians, tho' the 
 town is very empty — Owen Williams, Lord Kensington, 
 Cavendish, Bradshaw, Maxwell, Lord Ossulston, 
 
112 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 Horner, Martin, Ward — all in the House of Commons 
 — all, except Horner, inclined to talk very contemptu- 
 ously of our political leaders. Horner is for doing 
 nothing in the House of Commons this approaching 
 session — damns the people as rank Tories — I defend 
 them, as having been betrayed by political leaders, 
 and am myself all for impeachment* Martin is all for 
 attacking the Ministers, but is affraid we shan't hang 
 together. . . . 
 
 "Friday, Nov. loth. — Lord Kensington and Sir 
 Philip Francis dine with us. Wardle's motion for a 
 new trial against Mr. Clarke and the Wrights had 
 taken place the day before in the King's Bench, and 
 rule ntsi granted. . . . Wardle shews me a correspon- 
 dence between him and Lord Folkestone upon the sub- 
 ject of a communication made to Folkestone by Sir 
 Rd. Philips for Wardle's use in his legal proceedings 
 against Mrs. Clarke, which Folkestone had withheld 
 from Wardle and shewn to Mrs. Clarke. Folkestone 
 appears to have acted wrong under some blind attach- 
 ment to Mrs. Clarke. Wardle had thought at one 
 time of calling him out, but now means to subpoena 
 him on the approaching trial. I must prevent this if 
 possible : it will produce a quarrel between the two, 
 and do great mischief with the publick to have these 
 two quarrel who have hitherto been so well together 
 in the same pursuit. 
 
 " Saturday, nth. — I find by a letter from Whitbread 
 this day .that Tierney has been proposing Lord Henry 
 Petty or Lord George Cavendish as leader of our party 
 in the House of Commons ! Whitbread says he never 
 can submit to it. Was there ever anything so con- 
 temptible ! but the reason is obvious — Tierney wants 
 Lord George to be the nominal leader, and himself 
 the real one. 
 
 " We dine at Lord Derby's — nobody but us. 
 Lord Derby excellent in every respect, as he always 
 is, and my Lady still out of spirits for the loss of her 
 child, but surpassing even in her depressed state all 
 your hereditary nobility I have ever seen, tho' she 
 came from the stage to her title.f 
 
 * Of the Duke of York. 
 
 t Eliza Farren, a well-known actress, became the 2nd countess ot 
 the 1 2th Earl of Derby. 
 
1809.] JOURNAL. 113 
 
 "Sunday, 12th. — I meet Abercromby in my walk. 
 He is as artificial as the devil — will scarcely touch 
 politicks — thinks, however, the Wellesleys will now be 
 beat if they are attacked properly ; upon which I fire 
 into our leaders for their meanness in not having 
 attacked them long ago. He is very sore at such 
 observation, and when I tell him that Wardle is on 
 his legs again, all he can say is — ' Wardle is the agent 
 of the Duke of Kent' Was there ever such nonsense ? 
 C. Warren the lawyer dines with us, and, as usual, 
 full of sensible observations. He predicts the present 
 reign will end quietly from the popularity of the King, 
 but that when it ends, the profligacy and unpopularity 
 of all the Princes, with the situation of the country as 
 to financial difficulties, and the rapidly and widely 
 extended growth of Methodism, will produce a storm. 
 
 "Monday, 13th. — Calcraft, Wardle and Payne dine 
 with us. . . . Wardle says he is quite sure of suc- 
 ceeding both in gaining a new trial against Wright 
 and in his prosecution of Mrs. Clarke and Wright for 
 perjury, and he takes the whole business, as he has 
 done throughout, with the most perfect composure. 
 I can't bring myself to think there is anything bad in 
 him, and I have looked at him in all ways in order to 
 be sure of him. I know he is in distress for money, 
 but all the men from his part of the country dine with 
 him and speak well of him. ... In his approaching 
 prosecution he means to subpoena the Duke of York 
 and Lord Moira and Lord Chichester about the 
 ;^ 10,000 given to Mrs. Clarke for suppressing the 
 publication of the Duke of York's letters to her. 
 Warren has seen these letters : they were laid before 
 him by counsel to advise whether they might be 
 printed with safety to the publisher, and he told me 
 such stuff was never seen. They consist of the Duke 
 of York's observations or information to Mrs. Clarke 
 concerning the Royal family — his hatred of the Prince 
 of Wales — his jokes about the Queen and the intrigues 
 and accouchement of the Princess — all in the coarsest 
 and most licentious language. What a damnable 
 piece of work the examination of these Lords and 
 Princes will be. 
 
 " Tuesday, 14th. — I find in the streets Lord Lans- 
 downe is dead, and Lord Henry Petty of course 
 
 VOL. L I 
 
114 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 succeeds him, so he leaves the House of Commons, 
 and his being leader is at an end. I write to tell 
 Whitbread. . . . 
 
 " Wednesday, ii,th. — Sir John Sebright, Ld. Ken- 
 sington, Western and {illegible'] all dined with us. . . . 
 
 " Thursday, i6lh.—-We dine at Lord Derby's : 
 present — Lord Holland, Lord Grenville, Tierney, 
 Lord Kinnaird and young Eden (Lord Auckland's 
 second son). One should have thought at such a 
 time the conversation of such a party might have 
 been worth hearing, but nothing could be lower — 
 imitations of old Lansdowne and Lord Thurlow by 
 Lord Holland, and such like things. The only 
 political thing was — Lord Derby says, from all he 
 hears, he thinks the appointment of so young a man 
 as Manners Sutton * to Judge Advocate has given such 
 offence, that a motion upon that subject would be a 
 good one for the House of Commons at the opening 
 of the session ; upon which Tierney shrugs his head 
 and says — 'Personal questions never answer.' Was 
 there ever such contemptible stuff at such a crisis ? 
 But this is the judicious leader, or rather adviser 
 behind the curtain of the Whigs and Grenvilles. 
 What is there that relates to all or any of the present 
 Government that is not a personal question ? 
 
 "Saturday, iSth. — We come down to Brighton. 
 Walk all the morning with different people, but Sir 
 Charles Pole is the only politician : shews me a letter 
 from Tierney, saying Parliament does not meet till 
 2oth January, and that therefore the Ministers were 
 sure of another quartet's salary. This a Privy Coun- 
 cillor too ! what a low blackguard. He evidently is 
 writing to Pole and others to coax them into voting 
 as he does. Pole tells me the way in which Perceval 
 has sollicited the assistance of N. Vansittart, Adding- 
 ton (Lord Sidmouth), Bragge Bathurst and others of 
 that party, and of their answers ; by which it appears 
 to me they turn out, as they always have been — shabby 
 fellows, and Sir Charles himself, I believe, is not 
 much better. 
 
 " Grattan here, with whom I have frequent long 
 walks. It is impossible to meet with anyone more 
 
 * He was then 27, and became Speaker in 1817. 
 
i8o9.] JOURNAL. I IS 
 
 amiable and unaffected ; and considering his success- 
 ful and brilliant publick life, his absence of all vanity 
 is guite miraculous. His opinions upon present 
 
 golitical persons in this country are worth nothing, 
 [e is a kind of stranger in a new country — has no 
 longer any object of ambition — seems to consider his 
 day as past, and to be perfectly satisfied with his 
 lot. . . . 
 
 " This trial of Wardle's indictment against Mrs. 
 Clarke and the Wrights being to come on the first 
 week in December, Western and I correspond upon 
 the necessity of getting Lord Folkestone to London, 
 and trying to set everything to right between him and 
 Wardle before the trial comes on, as well for both 
 their sakes as for the general cause.* . . . 
 
 " Monday, December II. — Folkestone had been in- 
 duced by Mrs. Clarke to think Wardle was an agent 
 of the Duke of Kent, and that in that capacity he had 
 bound himself by promises of great service to her 
 which he had afterwards forfeited. He is now per- 
 fectly convinced that the whole of Mrs. Clarke's 
 account to him was fabrication, and he tells both 
 Wardle, Western and myself that he has a higher 
 opinion of Wardle than ever." 
 
 Creevey goes on to state, in terms too little 
 equivocal for modern taste, that Lord Folkestone 
 admitted that he had a liaison with Mrs. Clarke while 
 she was under the protection of the Duke of York — 
 a circumstance only worthy of record as throwing 
 light upon the character of the woman who cost His 
 Royal Highness so dearly. 
 
 * Mrs. Clarke, the Duke of York's mistress, used her influence to 
 secure the promotion of officers, who paid her handsomely for her 
 assistance. Colonel Wardle brought the matter before the House of 
 Commons in January, 1809 ; it was referred to a Select Committee, 
 which, while it acquitted His Royal Highness of having made any 
 pecuniary advantage himself, reported very unfavourably upon his 
 discretion, and he was removed from the command-in-chief. He was, 
 however, restored in 181 1. 
 
Il6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. V. 
 
 "This discovery again frightens Western and 
 myself to the greatest degree, considering, as we do, 
 that should this fact appear upon the trial, it will be 
 fatal to Folkestone's character. Folkestone not sen- 
 sible of this at first, but we frighten him to death by 
 telling him of his danger. 
 
 "October 30, 181 1. — As for poor Wardle, he is 
 ruined since I last mentioned him — ruined by his 
 excessive folly, and being so full of himself from his 
 former success that it was no longer safe to advise 
 him, and so he foundered last session upon a motion 
 about the punishment of some soldier." 
 
( "7 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 1810. 
 
 Although the Government had sustained a stunning 
 blow in the loss of its two most prominent members, 
 Castlereagh and Canning, the Opposition found them- 
 selves in a still more disorganised plight, so as to be 
 quite unready to gain any advantage from the confusion 
 of their enemies. The rising spirit of the country 
 withdrew all attention from everything except the 
 war; the denunciations of ministerial measures and 
 blunders fell upon deaf ears, and the Opposition, as 
 is commonly to be seen under similar circumstances, 
 took to quarrelling among themselves, mistrusting 
 each other, unable to decide upon the choice of a 
 leader. Not from want of candidates, to be sure ; it 
 is amusing to read of the bewildering variety which 
 was offered to them. 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Southill, Jan. 7, 1810. 
 
 ". . . Lord Grey passed a night here on his way 
 to town. He was determined to be, and was, very 
 kind, but we should not have held it long. It seems 
 not decided that Ponsonby is not still to be continued 
 Leader. I said 'not mine.' I had been disowned in 
 such a manner on a topick of the greatest importance 
 I could no longer fight under his banner. Lord Grey 
 said if he chose to retain his situation he felt himself 
 
Il8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 bound to support him. I could not help smiling, but 
 I said only that I questioned much whether there 
 would be any followers. He said he believed 1 was 
 much mistaken. . . . Now write to me once more and 
 tell me what you think of my state of mind from what 
 I have written. I always take advice and criticism in 
 good part from a friend — I know I do — so cut away 
 boldly. I have no object but the publick good : I 
 want nothing : I seek nothing. If I do wrong, 'tis 
 because I am not wise eno' to do right. . . . All about 
 Lord Grey is quite private." 
 
 Lord Milton, M.P.,'' to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Milton, Jan. 8, 1810. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 " I fully agree with you upon the trial that 
 is about to be given to the H. of C. and lamentable 
 indeed will it be if the issue is favourable to the 
 Gentleman at the end of the Mall,t as Michael Angelo % 
 calls him. It must completely damn Parliament if it 
 takes no notice of the authors of the expedition to 
 Walcheren, and all the disgraces and losses conse- 
 quent upon their mismanagement in all quarters. . . . 
 I am rather uneasy at hearing that the old trader § is 
 to be the manufacturer of the amendment, but, short 
 of a sacrifice of principle, I think a great deal ought 
 to be done to embrace as many persons as possible ; 
 for, after all, nothing but a majority in Parlt. can lead 
 to the practical benefit of getting rid of the present 
 administration. ... I trust the Marquis || will meet 
 with the fate you predict for him. He is a great 
 calamity inflicted upon England, and I heard to-day 
 that, upon this last business with America, he has sent 
 a proposition to her, the alternative of which is to be 
 war. Here is the advantage of having the Conqueror 
 of the East for our foreign secretary." 
 
 * Afterwards 5th Earl Fitzwilliam. 
 t George III. 
 
 % Michael Angelo Taylor, M.P., whose house in Whitehall was a, 
 constant and favourite rendezvous of the Whig party. 
 § Mr. Whitbread. 
 II Marquess Wellesley. 
 
i8io.] THE SENTIMENTS OF BROUGHAM. II9 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mk Creevey. 
 
 " 1 8 10. 
 ". . . The Hon. Company are (as well as all other 
 companies and most individuals) singularly obliged 
 to Providence for restoring our gracious Sovereign. 
 His death or idiocy would have been in the nature of 
 a quo tvarranto. He is nearly recovered, and I hope 
 to God will be able to prorogue. If a regency had 
 been got up for a short time, with the present men 
 as its ministers, I am confident Eldon, rerceval, &c. 
 (who, when driven to desperation never think of 
 violent measures, but only become more base, cun- 
 ning, mean, &c.) would have licked the dust before the 
 P. to good purpose. I wish the old ruffian,* however, 
 may not have renewed his term. . . . Melville (as I 
 learn from Scotland) wrote to Ld. Grenville urging 
 him to have me put out of Parliament, on the ground 
 that I was suspected of writing an article in the Edinr. 
 Review highly disrespectful to Pitt ! . . . My authority 
 is exceedingly good — one of the law officers of Govt, 
 in Scotland. ... I conclude the article alluded to is 
 Ld. Erskine's speeches ; and, without saying I wrote 
 it, I can only say I am ready to avow all it contains, 
 in any place, and before any number of Grenvilles, 
 Pitts or Dundasses. . . ." 
 
 " 1810, Temple. 
 
 "... I hope I need not assure you that my opinion 
 as to Pitt is much too deeply rooted, and formed upon 
 too long an examination of that Arch-juggler's pro- 
 ceedings, to be at any time even in the least degree 
 modified by any reason of party expediency or party 
 concert. I need scarcely add that no other motive 
 (such as fear of giving offence) could ever reach me. 
 Indeed, any notion of such sentiments giving ofifence 
 in any quarter of our friends, could only have the 
 effect of making one speak more loudly if possible. 
 At the same time, I fancy that personal feelings are all 
 that influence the Grenvilles on this point— -1 should 
 rather say Ld. G. himself, for the rest don't seem to 
 have liked Pitt. ... I agree with you entirely as to 
 
 * George III. 
 
120 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 the probable fate of Pitt's reputation. He was indeed 
 a poor hand at a measure, whatever he may have been 
 at a speech. This all men may easily perceive ; but 
 a little inquiry into the facts of such questions as the 
 Regency — Slave Trade — Restriction and E. I. Coy. 
 makes one almost disbelieve the evidence of recollec- 
 tion, and doubt whether he actually did succeed in 
 hoodwinking the country for twenty years ... As to 
 this rebellion agt. legitimate authority, Ld. H[olland] 
 won't touch the subject, no more will young C* nor 
 Eden, nor Macdonald, &c. ; and Lord Derby being 
 applied to by Thanet, declined interfering, as did the 
 D. of Devonshire and Lord G[rey], each on his own 
 ground — Lord D. on that of general, vague and ground- 
 less panic, quite worthy of his panic when Gladstone 
 and Co. went to Knowsley and made him give over 
 supporting us at L'pool." 
 
 Lord Folkestone to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Jany. 9, 1810. 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 "Are you dead or sick? or have you got a 
 place? that I do not hear from you. Do not be so 
 infernally lazy, but write. ... I send you the last 
 news from Felix. The upshot of the whole will be 
 that, at the nomination, the Tory Candidate will have 
 a great majority : no Whig Candidate will start but 
 Burgoyne, who will make himself and the cause 
 ridiculous. I am expecting a county meeting in Berks 
 on the state of the nation. I send you an address I 
 have prepared for the occasion. I wish you would 
 look at it, and revise and criticise it with a severe, not 
 a friendly, eye, and let me have your opinion. . . . 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " Folkestone." 
 
 While Mr. Creevey was attending assiduously 
 to his duties in Parliament, Mrs. Creevey sometimes 
 remained at Brighton, and at such times Creevey's 
 
 * Hon. James Abercromby, M.P , afterwards Speaker, who went 
 by the nickname of Young Cole, as Tierney did by that of Old Cole. 
 
i8io.] DIFFICULTIES OF THE OPPOSITION. 121 
 
 letters assumed the character of an almost con- 
 tinuous journal. 
 
 "Saturday, 20th Jan. — . . . Left Brighton with 
 Grattan : dined at the Piazza : went at night to 
 Brooks's : found Whitbread there in consequence of 
 my letter : various others, all civil to the greatest 
 degree. Morpeth, Lord R. Spencer, Fitzpatrick, 
 Sefton, all greeted me most cordially, and then I had 
 a long prose with Whitbread. 
 
 " Lord Grey continues his insolence, but the others 
 are all courting him prodigiously — Holland, the Duke 
 of Bedford and Grenville, and with the latter he has 
 unreserved conversations upon all subjects. The 
 amendment is Grenville's drawing and Whitbread 
 quite approves it. It is no great things, but it will 
 do. . . . 
 
 "21st. — . . . Before I got to town, notes were out 
 for a meeting at Ponsonby's to-morrow night. There 
 was a note at my house for Ord, but none for me. 
 Ossulston told me this morning that Lord Grey had 
 asked him whether ' he thought Creevey would go to 
 Ponsonby's if he was asked.' On Ossulston saying 
 'Yes,' the other shook his head with an air of distrust. 
 Ossulston wished me to go, but I said certainly not, 
 upon such a case as that. From his house I went to 
 Lord Grey's, and found him alone. He was civil, in 
 good spirits, and looked remarkably well — talked 
 generally of our running the Ministers hard : but not 
 a word in detail of Ponsonby's meeting, or anything 
 else, and so we parted. 
 
 " I then went to Whitbread's, who, I found, would 
 not go to Ponsonby's, considering himself to have 
 been personally insulted by him ; but very wisely 
 deciding that his case should not be made a reason 
 for any one else absenting himself . . . He told me 
 that Tierney had said to Ponsonby, in going over the 
 persons to be asked and arriving at my name, that 
 ' Ponsonby must himself decide, for he knew as much 
 as he [Tierney] did.' 
 
 "On coming home to dress, I found a note 
 from Abercromby, stating that he asked a minute's 
 conversation with me at Brooks's at night ; which was. 
 
122 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 that he had been requested to learn from me, with 
 every friendly wish to consult my own feelings, 
 whether, if I was written to by Ponsonby, I wd. 
 come to his house, and that it was thought right to 
 tell me this communication was not made at the 
 suggestion of Mr. Tierney. I said if I had received a 
 letter from Ponsonby I had no doubt I should have 
 gone, and so it ended. Gentlemen got into corners 
 to whisper 'that they had no doubt but Creevey 
 would go to Ponsonby's,' and the Marquis of Lans- 
 downe and I paraded for a quarter of an hour together, 
 and he was much more affable than he has been for 
 ages. . . . Lord Grey began to be very gracious, and 
 begged me finally to write to Maxwell and Sir Charles 
 Pole to bring them from Brighton. On my telling 
 him Pole was not likely to be well enough to come, 
 he said : — ' Damn him ! I don't believe he would vote 
 with me if he came. The Doctor (Sidmouth) can't 
 make up his mind.' 
 
 " 22nd. — A note in George Ponsonby's own writing, 
 and sent by his servant, to request me to come to his 
 house to-night ; and so I shall go. . . . Went to 
 Ponsonby's : Milton, Lord A. Hamilton, Ossulston, 
 Romilly, Ferguson, Coke of Norfolk, &c., there . . . 
 so I am glad I went. Much pampered — pointed by 
 Lord George Cavendish. 
 
 " 2yd. — Parliament met. The King's speech very 
 long, and capable of being worked to the devil. . . . 
 Lord Barnard moved the address, Peel seconded it, 
 and made a capital figure for a first speech.* I think it 
 was a prepared speech, but it was a most produceable 
 Pittish performance, both in matter and manner. I 
 perceive we shall by no means cut the figure to-night 
 that Tierney has held out. . . . Castlereagh started 
 from under the gallery, two rows behind Canning, 
 and everything that related personally to himself he 
 did with a conscious sense of being right, and a degree 
 of lively animation I never saw in him before. Base 
 as the House is, it recognised by its cheers the claims 
 of Castlereagh to its approbation, and they gave it. 
 
 * The Speaker, Charles Abbot [afterwards Lord Colchester], pro- 
 nounced it to be " the best first speech since that of Mr. Pitt." Peel 
 was only two and twenty. 
 
l8lo.] DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS. 123 
 
 When he came to his expedition, he fell a hundred 
 fathoms lower than the bogs of Walcheren. 
 
 " Canning was sufficiently master of himself to let 
 off one of his regular compositions, with all the 
 rhetorical flourishes that used to set his audience in a 
 roar; but he spoke from a different atmosphere. He 
 was at least two feet separated from the Treasury 
 bench, and in the whole course of his speech he could 
 not extort a single cheer. . . . Whitbread was stout 
 and strong — upon Wellington particularly. . . . Not- 
 withstanding Tierney's calculations and prophecy that 
 we should be in a majority, we were beat by 96. . . . 
 Their strength was composed of five parties — the 
 Government — Castlereagh's — Canning's — the Doctor's 
 and the Saints. In looking at the majority going out, 
 Castlereagh said with the gayest face possible : — 
 ' Well, Creevey, how do we look ? ' . . . 
 
 " We had a grand fuss in telling the House. The 
 Princess of Wales, who had been present the whole 
 time, would stay it out to know the numbers, and so 
 remained in her place in the gallery. The Speaker 
 very significantly called several times for strangers to 
 withdraw ; which she defied, and sat on. At last the 
 little fellow became irritated — started from his chair, 
 and, looking up plump in the faces of her and her 
 female friend, halloaed out most fiercely : — ' If there 
 are any strangers in the House they must withdraw.' 
 They being the only two, they struck and withdrew. . . . 
 In the Lords, Grey made an admirable speech, dis- 
 
 Euted the military, moral and intellectual fame of 
 ,ord Wellington most capitally, and called loudly 
 upon the Marquis [Wellesley], as the Atlas of the 
 falling state, to come forward and justify the victory 
 of Talavera. 
 
 " 24/A. — Dined at a coffee-house : went to Brooks's 
 at night. Lord Grey came in drunk from the Duke of 
 York's where he had been dining. He came and sat 
 by me on the same sofa, talked as well as he could 
 over the division of the night before, and damned with 
 all his might and main Marquis Wellesley, of whose 
 profligate establishment I told him some anecdotes, 
 which he swallowed as greedily as he had done the 
 Duke's wine. He and Whitbread and I sat together 
 and were as merry as if we had been the best friends 
 
124 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 in the world. . . . Then the Right Hon. George 
 Ponsonby came and sat by me, and we talked over 
 the last session a little; but I found him very sore 
 and very bad. 
 
 " 2$th. — Perceval has given notice of thanks to 
 Wellington on Monday. . . . 
 
 " 26th. — . . . On Lord Porchester's motion for an 
 enquiry into the expedition to Walcheren, we beat the 
 Ministers by a majority of nine. I did not expect it ; 
 tho' I saw that, if we could move together, our first 
 division (of 167) on the Address must be fatal to them. 
 It is the most perfect triumph possible for the enquiry 
 is to be public, like that on the Duke of York, not in a 
 Select Committee. There were circumstances in the 
 division above all price. Canning was in the minority 
 with Perceval — Castlereagh in the majority with us. 
 He sat aloof with 4 friends ; and these 5, instead of 
 going out, decided the question in our favor. Had 
 they gone out we should have been beat by one ! I 
 counted the villains going out, and in coming up the 
 House I pronounced with confidence that they were 
 beat. Castlereagh bent his head from his elevated 
 bench down almost to the floor to catch my eye, and 
 I gave him a sign that all was well. He could scarce 
 contain himself: he hid his face ; but when the division 
 was over, he was quite extravagant in the expression 
 of his happiness. . . . 
 
 " 2yth. — Walked in the streets ; they were all alive 
 and merry. Tierney says ' the business of last night 
 will end in smoak,' which confirms me in my con- 
 viction of its infinite importance. ... I do not think 
 any minister that ever was could stand a. public enqairy 
 into our ordinary expeditions; much less such a 
 minister as this into such an expedition. . . . Walked 
 with Bainbridge. He told me that, after our conver- 
 sation two months ago, in which we agreed entirely 
 about the fatal influence of Tierney over Grey, and 
 the necessity of these leaders having their eyes opened 
 as to their conduct to the Insurgents,* and the utter 
 ruin such a system would bring upon them, he was so 
 impressed with the matter that he went down to Lord 
 
 * The extreme wing of the Opposition, who afterwards assumed 
 the ominous title of " the Mountain." 
 
i8io.] DIVIDED COUNSELS. 125 
 
 Thanet to have it out with him; who agreed with him 
 in everything, and he (Lord Thanet) was induced to 
 write an elaborate letter to Grey, expostulating with 
 him upon all their various proceedings. 
 
 " 2Sth, Sunday. — Dined at Western's. I have got 
 so much master of the Talavera campaign, that I 
 meant to have had a round upon it ; but I find Whit- 
 bread is so well primed upon the subject, and so 
 *' many others in the same way, that I shall desist. 
 Supped with Lord Thanet at Brooks's, from mere 
 curiosity, having heard so much of his talents. He 
 is certainly a c^uick, clever man, but his earldom has 
 done great things for his fame in the intellectual 
 line. . . . 
 
 " Lord John Townshend attacked George Ponsonby 
 with the most honest indignation on notes having been 
 sent out to say there wd. be no division to-morrow 
 on the thanks to Wellington, after notes had previously 
 gone round to say there would be. . . . The Right 
 Hon. George could only say, over and over again — 
 'I don't agree with you, my lord ' — ' My lord, I by no 
 means agree with you.' 
 
 " 2gih. — All confusion to-day, owing to this change 
 about dividing on the thanks to Wellington. Rank 
 mutiny has broken out, and it is now said we are 
 certainly to divide. Milton, Folkestone, Lord J. 
 Townshend, George Ponsonby, junr. — in short, all 
 the Insurgents. This is all because our leaders, 
 having once been in a majority, cannot bear ever to 
 be in a minority again. A damned, canting fellow in 
 the House, Mr. Manning, complained of members' 
 names being printed * as a breach of privilege, and so 
 it wd. have passed off, if I had not shewed them that, 
 so far from its being a breach of privilege, it was a 
 vote in King William's time 'that members' names 
 should be printed, that the country might know who 
 did, and who did not, their duty.' . . . Wellington's 
 thanks are put off till Thursday. . . . Lord Huntly 
 ordered to attend at the Bar of the House as a witness 
 on the enquiry into the Scheldt expedition. So now 
 the Ministers are nail'd. 
 
 " 3o;f/^.— Went at Milton's desire to help him to 
 
 * I.e. in the division lists published in the newspapers. 
 
126 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 draw up an amendment to Wellington's thanks. I 
 shall like to hand Sir Arthur and his battle down to 
 posterity in the Journals in its proper colours. I 
 have quite pleased Milton with my amendment; but 
 was sorry when I left him to find that he meant to 
 take it to Ponsonby for his approbation." 
 
 Creevey here quotes his draft amendment, which 
 is very long. 
 
 "Surely this hits him hard enough, and yet it is 
 mild as milk; but the great merit of it is that it is 
 quoting his own dispatches in his own words. 
 
 " Met Grey and Tierney in the streets. They both 
 stopt, and I begun about the thanks to Wellington. 
 Grey immediately said he never could see the sense 
 of there being no division in the House of Commons 
 on that subject ; that he himself would have divided 
 the Lords if he could have found anybody to divide 
 with him, and, as it was, he had protested against it. 
 Tierney blamed the folly of the note which said there 
 was to be no division, and let out that Lord Temple 
 was to divide for Wellesley if there was a division ; 
 and here is the whole mystery about- keeping off a 
 division. But we are to divide : and the leaders 
 with us. 
 
 "315;'. — . . . Perceval fought three pitched battles 
 on naming the Finance Committee, and was beat in 
 them all. In that between Leycester and Wm. 
 Cavendish, about which I was most anxious, I saw 
 the tellers count wrong by 3. I called to have the 
 House told again, and again I saw them make the 
 same mistake. I shewed it to General Tarleton, who 
 became furious ; and the Speaker called him and me 
 to order in the most boisterous manner. It ended 
 in the House being counted a third time, and the 
 tellers were sent out into the galleries to be more 
 certain. In going they picked up young Peel, the 
 seconder of the Address, in concealment, who, being 
 brought in, voted for Cavendish. They then counted 
 the House again, and they counted right, making 3 
 more than before, and with Peel making the majority 
 of 4. Otherwise we had been equal, and the Speaker 
 
i8io.] THE WALCHEREN ENQUIRY. 127 
 
 would have decided the thing undoubtedly against us. 
 We then stufifed Sir John Newport and Sir George 
 Warrender down their throats, without their daring 
 to oppose us. There never was a more compleat 
 victory, and the majority of the Committee is now so 
 good, anything may be done with it. So much so, 
 that Freemantle said after all was over to Mr. Caven- 
 dish, that ' if Lords Grenville and Grey come in, this 
 Committee will be a terrible thing for them ! ' 
 
 "February 1st. — All our indignation against Welling- 
 ton ended in smoak. Opposition to his thanks was 
 so unpopular, that some of the stoutest of our crew 
 slunk away; or rather, they were dispersed by the 
 indefatigable intrigues of the Wellesleys and the 
 tricks of Tierney. ... In short he and our more 
 ostensible leaders cut the ground from under our feet 
 in deference to Lord Grenville. My consolation is 
 that they will be dragged thro' plenty of dirt by this 
 same great man and his friends the Wellesleys. It 
 is already given out by the Grenvilles that the present 
 Finance Committee, composed as it is, would overturn 
 any Government. It certainly will produce most 
 unpleasant matter for placemen and pensioners." 
 
 On 2nd February began the inquiry in Committee 
 of the whole House into the Walcheren expedition. 
 Witnesses gave evidence at the Bar of the House. 
 On the motion of Mr. Yorke, the galleries of the 
 House were cleared of strangers, in order to prevent 
 incorrect reports of the proceedings being published 
 in anticipation of the publication of the official 
 minutes. During the course of the inquiry a long 
 and detailed description was forwarded daily to Mrs. 
 Creevey by her husband ; but as the character of this 
 famous inquiry is fully on record, it does not seem 
 desirable to quote more than a few sentences here 
 and there. 
 
 " Zth. — . . . A message from the King to the 
 House of Commons for ;£'20oo per ann. for Lord 
 
128 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 Wellington. This is too bad! The question is to 
 come up to-morrow week. . . . 
 
 "gth. — . . . Went with Lord Archibald Hamilton 
 to the Westminster meeting in Palace Yard. There 
 were 5000 or 6000 persons present, apparently of the 
 lowest extraction. Cochrane and Burdett spoke with 
 great applause, and Burdett has since presented to 
 the House the petition of the meeting for a reform of 
 Parliament — the same petition that was presented by 
 Lord Grey in 1798, and beginning — 'Whereas by a 
 petition presented in 1798 by Charles Grey Esq., now 
 Earl Grey.' This is comical enough, and we shall see 
 how he takes it. 
 
 "Feb. 17/A.— Call'd on Whitbread, Lord Derby, 
 Mrs. Grey and Lord Downshire. Walked with 
 Abercromby, who had had a letter from his brother, 
 who is with Wellington's army. It is dated the 31st 
 January, and they had just heard that a corps of 
 4S,ooo French were at Salamanca. If this be true, 
 Wellington has very little time to effect his escape 
 from these two armies that are approaching him in 
 different directions. His career approaches very 
 rapidly to a conclusion ; but what is one to think, at 
 such a period, of the King's message yesterday to 
 Parliament to propose our taking 30,000 Portuguese 
 into our pay ? * . . . 
 
 " Dined at George Ponsonby's with Lord Temple, 
 Lord Porchester, Charles Wynne, Bowes [?], Daly, 
 Byng, Calcraft, Abercromby, Petty, Brougham, Max- 
 well and some others. Went to the opera with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ord who had dined at Lord Ponsonby's, where 
 a political conversation had taken place. . . . Lord 
 Ponsonby expressed himself quite delighted with the 
 present conduct of every part of the Opposition — that 
 Whitbread was everything that was conciliatory, and 
 that he (Lord Ponsonby) would vote for reform in 
 Parliament (tho' he did not approve of it), or any- 
 thing else, to keep the party together. . . . He seems 
 
 * With this result, that, in July, 18 13, Wellington was able to 
 write to Lord Liverpool : " The Portuguese are now the fighting cocks 
 of the army. I believe we owe their merits more to the care we have 
 taken of their pockets and their bellies, than to the instruction we 
 have given them " {^Despatches, x. 569]. 
 
i8io.] WELLINGTON AND THE COMMON COUNCIL. 129 
 
 wanting to get back to his old place and not knowing 
 how. 
 
 " igth. — . . . Went into the House of Lords, and 
 up comes my Lord Grey with a tender squeeze of 
 my hand, to tell me with the utmost animation an 
 excellent story of Wellesley. He has written to 
 Lord Grenville to tell him he is sick, and begging 
 him not to agitate the question of taking the 30,000 
 Portuguese troops into our pay to-day in his absence. 
 In addition to this (conceiving himself unworthy of 
 credit, I suppose) he encloses an opinion or certifi- 
 cate of his physician — four sides of paper upon the 
 nature of his constitution ! The physician's name is 
 Dr. Knighton, accoucheur (as Grey says) to Poll 
 Raffle, Wellesley's Cyprian. 
 
 " My Lord Grey came to me again to tell me of 
 'a damned job' by Bishop Mansel's brother. . . . 
 When I saw him cast his canvassing eyes about him 
 to bow to every member of the Commons he barely 
 knew, and then thought of what I had seen of his 
 pride and tyranny at Howick a few months ago, I 
 knew not whether one ought to laugh or cry at such 
 folly in a person who might be so powerful if he was 
 right." 
 
 The next few days supply commentary chiefly 
 upon the course of the inquiry into the conduct of 
 Lord Chatham and Sir Richard Strachan in the ill- 
 fated Walcheren expedition. Mr. Creevey says that 
 universal indignation was concentrated upon Lord 
 Chatham, who tried to throw the blame upon Sir 
 Richard and the Admiralty. 
 
 " 2isf. — Called on Waithman* with some anxiety 
 that he was going to fail on Friday on the question 
 in the Common Council about Wellington's pension, 
 but he seems confident they shall not. He at once 
 embraced my idea of what ought to be done, and of 
 
 * Robert Waithman [1764-1833], an active reformer, whose career 
 is commemorated in the name of a street near Blackfriars Bridge, and 
 by one of the two obelisks in Ludgate Circus. 
 
 VOL. 1. K 
 
13° THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 his own accord requested me to draw a petition for 
 them to the House of Commons, of which I think I 
 can make a very good case for them, and a damned 
 pinching one for Wellington. . . . Dined at Sam 
 Heywood's, with Lords Grey, Lauderdale and Derby, 
 Romilly, &c. . . . Lord Derby told us that Sir Henry 
 Halford had told him yesterday that he had been 
 detained the Lord knows how long with Lord Chat- 
 ham, making him up by draughts and nervous 
 medicines for his examination last night, and after all 
 he sent word, he was ill, and could not come. . . . 
 
 "22nd. — Took the petition I had drawn to Waith- 
 man, but he has drawn a good one himself, so I don't 
 know that he will use mine. . . . The Opposition 
 in the House of Lords cut a great figure last night, 
 independent of their powerful number. ... I heard 
 Wellesley open his plan of taking the 30,000 Portu- 
 guese into our pay, and the most sanguine expecta- 
 tions I have ever formed respecting him were more 
 than realised. His speech (tho' he had shammed ill 
 for the purpose of preparing it) was an absolute and 
 unqualified failure. . . . Lord Granville's answer to 
 him was one of the most powerful speeches I have 
 ever heard : he shook his former friend to atoms. . . . 
 Lord Lansdowne, I hear, made an admirable speech, 
 not the less valuable for containing a very severe 
 censure on the low and dirty Sidraouth who took 
 part against them. . . . 
 
 " 2ird. — Went to Lauderdale's at his request to 
 look at some motions he is going to make about 
 India, and spent a most agreeable hour with him. 
 There is the devil to pay with the India Company, 
 and the Government have given up for the present 
 bringing forward the renewal of their charter. I 
 went to Lord Hutchinson afterwards. He thinks 
 Wellington ought to be hanged. He says that in 
 his last dispatch but one he writes word that he has 
 25,000 British troops— that he is expecting 5000 more 
 —that he has 25,000 Portuguese troops almost as 
 good as British— that the French are in the greatest 
 difficulties in the Sierra Morena, and that Portugal is 
 in perfect safety. In his last dispatch he has written 
 under the greatest possible fright, and has pressed 
 the Government for positive instructions whether he 
 
l8lo.] DEFEAT OF THE GOVERNMENT. 131 
 
 is to come away or stay. Lord Hutchinson thinks 
 orders are gone for him to evacuate Portugal." 
 
 How slender were the grounds for Lord Hutchin- 
 son's version of Wellington's despatches may be seen 
 by perusing those here referred to, viz. Wellington's 
 letters to Lord Liverpool of 31st January and 9th 
 February, 1810.* The possibility, even the pro- 
 babihty, of evacuation is calmly discussed, with an 
 assurance that, should he be forced to it, he could 
 bring the army away in safety. But how little 
 Wellington had lost faith in his power to hold his 
 ground is shown by the fact that, at this very time, 
 the lines of Torres Vedras were being secretly, but 
 swiftly, fortified. 
 
 " Mr. Whitbread's motion [for papers relating to 
 the Walcheren expedition] was carried by 178 against 
 171. I never expected to be in a majority upon such 
 a question, nor did the House of Commons know 
 what they were doing when they voted as they did. 
 The vote is the severest possible censure upon the 
 whole transaction — upon Lord Chatham, upon the 
 King and upon Ministers. ' It is making all these 
 different parties do justice to an unsupported indi- 
 vidual (Sir Richard Strachan) whether the King will 
 or no. It is a direct vote against royal favoritism, 
 and in favor of justice and fair play. There has been 
 nothing like it in the present reign. The truth is that 
 people did not consider the blow it gave to the King, 
 but they voted as against the rascality of Chatham and 
 in favor of Strachan. . . . 
 
 "Waithman carried his motion in the Common 
 Council for a petition to the House of Commons 
 against the Wellington Pension Bill. This was one 
 of the best hits I ever made— to get this history of 
 Wellington thus handed down to posterity on the 
 Journals of Parliament, at the suit of the first and 
 
 * Wellington's Despatches, vol. v. pp. 464, 480. 
 
132 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI 
 
 greatest Corporation of the capital itself of England. 
 Whether it is my petition, or Waithman's, or a 
 mixture, 1 am indifferent : either will do the business. 
 The obligation of the Wellesley family to me is this 
 — that, but for me, my Lord Wellington would only 
 have been the object of a resolution of the Common 
 Council ; whereas they have now kindly introduced 
 him with their strictures upon his character to parlia- 
 mentary notice and history. . . . 
 
 " 24th. — . . . The vote of last night produces the 
 greatest sensation in the town to-day; and I must 
 confess we have used our victory with no great 
 moderation. St. James Street and Pall Mall have 
 been paraded by the Opposition for three or four 
 hours in numerous divisions, all overflowing with 
 jokes, as well at the expense of the Ministers as of 
 the Gentleman at the end of the Mall, and of the satis- 
 faction he will derive from the address when Perceval 
 carries it to him at Windsor. 
 
 "Another event of great importance has taken 
 place this morning. Perry, of the Morning Chronicle, 
 has been tried in the King's Bench for a libel con- 
 tained in his paper some time past upon the King 
 and his_ reign. Perry defended himself against a very 
 vindictive speech of Gibbs's, and the jury declared 
 him Not Guilty in less than 2 minutes. So the Press 
 is safe : at least as yet." 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett having published in Cobbett's 
 Political Register a letter to his constituents declaring 
 the imprisonment of a Radical orator by order of the 
 House of Commons to be illegal, the Speaker's 
 warrant was issued for his arrest. He stood a siege 
 of two days in his own house, being supported by 
 the populace, whose idol he was for the moment. 
 One life was lost in the mellay ; finally, an entrance 
 was effected, and Burdett was imprisoned in the 
 Tower, obtaining his release on the prorogation of 
 Parliament. The following invitation was issued 
 from his prison : — 
 
i8io.] A SAILOR'S OPINION OF STRACHAN. 133 
 
 Sir Francis Burdett to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Tower, May 10, 18 10. 
 
 "Dear Crevey, 
 
 " Pray look into this case — a job of the 
 Church. When will [you] come again to dinner? 
 You shall have two bottles of claret next time, and as 
 good fish. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " F. Burdett. 
 " I hope Mrs. Crevey is well." 
 
 Capt. Graham Moore, R.N., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Deal, March 9th, 1810. 
 "... I wish I had time or you had leisure to learn 
 from me, if you do not know, what kind of fellow 
 Strachan is. In two words, it is scarcely possible to 
 have more zeal, ardour and spirit on service than he 
 has. He slaved like a Dray Horse during the whole 
 of the offensive operations on the Scheldt, but he 
 never troubled his head about documents, being 
 always more ready to blame himself than to prepare 
 to meet accusation. He never approved of the plan, 
 but determined to exert all his faculties for its success. 
 We have not a more gallant fellow, nor a more active, 
 complete seaman, in our service. He is continually 
 getting into scrapes, owing to his vivacity and open- 
 ness, and very apt to be influenced by designing 
 people. . . . Lord C[hatham] has treated him in the 
 most shabby way, and imposed on his good nature, of 
 which he has a large share. . . ." 
 
 William Cobbett was at this time undergoing his 
 sentence of .£'1000 fine and two years' imprisonment 
 for his article in the Weekly Register of ist July, 1809, 
 denouncing the flogging of some mutinous militiamen 
 at Ely, who were sentenced to receive 500 lashes 
 each. At the present day the punishment of the 
 journalist seems as outrageous as that against which 
 
134 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VI. 
 
 he inveighed, but a century has wrought some 
 curious changes in our sentiments. 
 
 Wm. Cobbett to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Newgate, 24th Sept., 18 10. 
 
 ". . . You will easily guess that I have little time 
 to spare ; but the fact is, that I seldom do anything 
 after two o'clock, when I dine. The best way, how- 
 ever, is to favour me with your company at dinner at 
 two, and then the day may be of your appointing, I 
 being always at home, you know, and every day being 
 a day of equal favour. ... I give beef stakes and 
 porter. I may vary my food to mutton chops, but 
 never vary the drink. I think it is a duty to God 
 and Man to put the Nabobs upon the coals without 
 delay. They have long been cooking and devouring 
 the wretched people both of England and India." 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Brougham, Penrith, Sunday [1812]. 
 
 ". . . As for Portugal, with all our good luck, we 
 are now clearly paying millions for a few periods in 
 the H. of C. — that Canning, &c., may twit one man 
 and praise t'other, and tell us how ' every French- 
 man that falls is in itself a gain,' &c., &c. It would 
 be a dear bargain if Pitt were the speaker; but such 
 driv'ling as we pay for is past all bearing. 
 
 " I don't know Cobbet, or I would send him a 
 good motto from Dr. Johnson about special juries 
 and imprisonment. The lines are very pat in them- 
 selves as a quotation, but coming from Johnson they 
 are still better ; and they clearly contain his opinion, 
 at least on special juries, for they occur in his ' London,' 
 imitated from the 3rd Satire of Juvenal, and the 
 original passage has nothing parallel. 
 
 " ' A single jail in Alfred's golden reign 
 
 Could half the Nation's criminals contain ; 
 Fair Justice then, without constraint adored. 
 Held high the steady scale, but sheath'd the sword ; 
 No spies were paid — no special juries known — 
 Blest Age ! but ah, how difPrent from our own ! ' " 
 
( I3S ) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 1811. 
 
 The death of his youngest and favourite child, 
 Princess Amelia, in the autumn of 18 10 upset the poor 
 old King's intellect for the last time. He settled into 
 hopeless insanity, and the chief business before 
 Parliament in 18 11 was a Bill constituting the Prince 
 of Wales Regent. Great was the stir among the 
 Whigs, who began fitting each other into the great 
 and little offices of the new Government ; for who 
 could doubt that the great turn of events, so long 
 and ardently anticipated, was indeed at hand, and 
 that the Prince, as head of the Whig party, would 
 send his father's servants to the right about, and 
 form a Ministry of his own friends. Judging from 
 Creevey's correspondence, neither he nor any of 
 his friends entertained the slightest suspicion about 
 the sincerity of the Prince's devotion to Liberal 
 principles, nor understood how much his politics 
 consisted of opposition to the Court party. It 
 was, therefore, with as much surprise as dismay 
 that Creevey beheld the change in the Prince's 
 attitude towards Ministers as soon as he assumed 
 the Regency. 
 
136 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 Lord Erskine to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Reigate, Jany. lo, 1811. 
 
 "Dear Creevey, 
 
 " I send you the Act which you thought 
 never could have passed. . . . Lord Eldon told me he 
 never had heard of it and expressed his astonishment. 
 He said that those gentlemen who had served the 
 King as foreign ministers at a period when the King 
 had a power by law to remunerate their services by a 
 pension, if he chose to grant it, had as good a right 
 to it as he — the C[hancellor] — had to his estate ; and 
 of that there can be no doubt. 
 
 " I observe Bankes has given notice to revive his 
 Committee [on Public Expenditure]. I have seen 
 him, and he seems to justify his resolution; but surely 
 Martin and you, as lawyers, will not mix yourselves 
 as the author of the first ex post facto law, touching 
 the rights of subjects, that has ever passed. ... I 
 really think that some step should be taken by those 
 who, as the friends of reform, ought to take care that 
 it does not become odious. 
 
 " Bankes says the act is Perceval's, but I have good 
 authority for believing that Perceval would not 
 justify the ex post facto clause. 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " Erskine." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Mrs. Creevey \_at Brighton\. 
 
 " Great George St., 19th January, i8ri. 
 
 " (For God's sake be secret about this letter.) 
 
 " My hopes of seeing you to-morrow are at an end, 
 owing to a most ridiculous resolution of our party to 
 have another division on Monday, in which of course 
 we shall disclose still greater weakness than in our 
 last division. I had actually paired off with John 
 Villiers for the week, but I am sure you will think I 
 am right in staying over Monday, when I tell you that 
 McMahon told me he was sure the Prince would be 
 hurt if I was not there, and when you read the enclosed 
 
i8ii.] CABINET MAKING. 137 
 
 note from Sheridan. Nevertheless I give the Prince 
 credit for not originating this business, but that it 
 has been conveyed to him by Tierney or some such 
 artist. I mean to be down to play a week or ten 
 days on Tuesday. Wm. and C. had a very comfort- 
 able dinner again yesterday upon my mutton chops 
 at this house, and then went to the House, and just 
 as we had returned home again at ten o'clock, and I 
 was beginning to dress myself to go to Mrs. Taylor's, 
 Whitbread came and desired to have some conversa- 
 tion with me. . . . Sam's visit was to take my advice. 
 He said things had now come to such a state of 
 maturity that it was necessary for him to decide (but 
 here he has just been again, and I am afraid I shall 
 not have time to tell). 
 
 "Well — office was offered him; anything he pleased, 
 but had he any objection to holding it under Grenville 
 as First Lord, if he [Grenville] held as before the two 
 offices of First Lord and Auditor, with the salaries of both ? 
 1 know not with what disposition he came to me; he 
 stated both sides of the'question, but said his decision 
 must be quick. I had a difficult responsibility to take 
 upon myself, but I set before him as strongly as I 
 could the unpopularity of the Grenvilles — the certainty 
 of this [illegible] place being again and again exposed 
 — the impossibility of his defending it after having 
 himself driven Yorke from receiving the income of 
 his tellership whilst he is at the Admiralty, and Per- 
 ceval from receiving the income of Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer whilst he is First Lord and Chancellor 
 of the Dutchy — that his consistency and character 
 were everything to him, and that, if I was him, I 
 would compell Lord Grenville to make the sacrifice to 
 publick opinion, and have nothing to do with the 
 Government. 
 
 " I went to him this morning, and he had done as 
 I advised him. He had told Grey his determination 
 and he has just been here to shew me his letter to him 
 upon the subject — to be shewn Lord Grenville. It is 
 perfect in every respect, and will, whenever it is 
 known, do him immortal honor. The fact, ho^yever, 
 is, my lord will strike. They one and all stick to 
 Whitbread; they can't carry on the Government 
 
138 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch.VII. 
 
 without him. There is no anger — no ill will in any 
 of them ; all piano — all upon their knees. Is not this 
 a triumph?" 
 
 \_Enclosure in above, from Mr. Sheridan. 
 
 " Friday night, Jany. i8th. 
 
 "My dear Creevey, 
 
 "It is determined in consequence of the 
 earnest Desire of high authority to have a last debate 
 and division on the Regency bill on Monday next. 
 Here is a Conclave mustering all Hands, and I am 
 requested to write to you as it is apprehended you 
 mean to leave Town to-morrow. I conjure you at any 
 rate to be with us on Monday. 
 
 " Yours ever faithfully, 
 
 "Bly. Sheridan."] 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 "Great George St., Saty., Feby. 2nd, 181 1. 
 " I came home at halt-past four that I might have 
 time to write to you, and Whishaw came instantly 
 after and has staid with me till five. ... I went to 
 dine at Hutchinson's and after all he never came. He 
 was kept at Carlton House till twelve at night, so 
 Lord Donoughmore and I dined together, and he was, 
 as he always is, very pleasant. At Brooks's I found 
 Sheridan just arrived from Carlton House, where the 
 conclave has just broken up, and the Prince had decided 
 against the pressing advice of all present not to dis- 
 miss the Government. Sheridan was just sober, and 
 expressed to me the strongest opinion of the injurious 
 tendency of this resolution to the Prince's character. 
 Lord Hutchinson said the same thing to me to-day, 
 and added that never man had behaved better than 
 Sheridan. I said all I thought to both Hutchinson and 
 Sheridan in vindication of Prinny, but I presume I 
 am wrong, as I stand single in this opinion. I went, 
 however, to Mrs. Fitzherbert at twelve to-day, an 
 appointment I made with her yesterday in the street, 
 and she and I were agreed upon this subject. The 
 Prince has written to Perceval a letter which is to be 
 sent to-morrow, stating to him his intention, under 
 
i8ii.] WHITBREAD'S PROPOSALS. 139 
 
 the present opinion of the physicians respecting his 
 father, not to change the Government at present, and 
 at the same time expressing the regret he feels at being 
 thus compelled to continue a Government not possess- 
 ing his confidence, and his determination of changing 
 it should there be no speedy prospect of his Majesty's 
 recovery after a certain time. 
 
 "Novi? I do not see, under all the monstrous diffi- 
 culties of his situation, any'>great impropriety of his 
 present resolution, particularly as he means to have 
 his letter made publick# 
 
 " Mrs. Fitz is evidently delighted at the length and 
 forgiving and confidential nature of Prinny's visits. 
 She goes to-morrow and will tell you, no doubt, how 
 poor Prinny was foolish enough to listen to some idle 
 story of my having abused his letter to both Houses, 
 and how she defended me. Poor fellow, one should 
 have thought he had more important concerns to 
 think of I went from her to Whitbread, and he again 
 conjured me to attach myself to the new Government 
 by taking some situation, and went over many — the 
 Admiralty Board again — Chairman of the Ways and 
 Means, &c. I was very guarded, and held myself very 
 much up, and said I would take nothing for which 
 there was not service to be done — nothing like a 
 sinecure, which I considered a seat at the Admiralty 
 Board to be ; but of course I was very good-humoured. 
 He repeated the conversation between him and Lord 
 Grey about me. He said my name was first mentioned 
 by Miss Whitbread, and, having been so, Lord Grey 
 replied — 'Although I think Creevey has acted unjustly 
 to me, and tho' in the session before last he gave great 
 offence to many of my friends by something like a 
 violation of confidence, yet on his own account, on that 
 of Mrs. Creevey and of anybody connected with them, 
 I had always intended, without you mentioning him, 
 to express my wishes that he might be included in the 
 Government' Upon which Whitbread stated from his 
 own recollection of my speech that gave offence, his 
 perfect conviction of its being no breach of confidence ; 
 and so the thing ended with their united sentiment in 
 favor of my having some office. • 
 
 " I am affraid you will be hurt at not seeing any 
 immediate provision for me in this new Government, 
 
140 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch.VII. 
 
 should it take place ; but I beg you to give way to 
 no such sentiment. . . . They are upon a new tack 
 in consulting publick opinion. Lord Grey and Lord 
 Grenville have most unequivocally refused to accede 
 to a proposal of the Prince of Wales, and which was 
 stated to be nearest to his heart, viz. to reinstate the 
 Duke of York as Commander-in-chief What think 
 you of this in Grey? and his language to Whitbread 
 is they must no longer be taunted with 'unredeemed 
 pledges.' I mention these things to shew you they 
 are on their good behaviour, and that, with such views, 
 they must do what they ought by me. I am perfectly 
 satisfied with the state of things — this is, supposing a 
 Government to be formed — and perfectly secure of 
 any wishes of mine being accomplished." 
 
 " 2ist Jan., 1811. 
 
 " I am very much gratified to find you approve my 
 counsel to Sam, and Sam for acting upon it. Every 
 succeeding moment convinces me of the necessity there 
 was for acting so, and of the infinite advantage and 
 superiority it will give him over all his colleagues at 
 starting. 
 
 " What shall you say to me when I tell you I am 
 not to vote to-night after all ? Villiers won t release 
 me from contract of pairing off; at least he consented 
 only to stay upon terms that I could not listen to, such 
 as — if my being in the division might be of any tise to me 
 in the new arrangement, that then he would certainly 
 stay. This, as you may suppose, was enough to make 
 me at once decline any further discussion. . . . How- 
 ever, it is universally known how I am situated, and 
 McMahon told me just now of his own accord that the 
 Prince had told him this morning ' that Villiers would 
 not release Creevey from pairing off with him ; that 
 it was very good of Creevey to stay after this, and to 
 show himself in the House, as he knew he intended.' 
 . . . Here has been Ward * just now to beg I would 
 come and dine with him tete-a-tete, and that I should 
 have my dinner at six precisely, as he knew 1 liked 
 that : so I shall go. I know he was told the character 
 I pronounced of him one night at Mrs. Taylor's after 
 
 * Hon. John William Ward, created Earl Dudley in 1827. 
 
i8ii.] THE PROSPECT OF OFFICE. 141 
 
 he was gone, upon which occasion I neither concealed 
 his merits nor his frailties, and he has been kinder to 
 me than ever from that time. ... I don't know a 
 syllable of what has transpired to-day between Prinny 
 and the grandees, but I must not omit to tell you that 
 the night before last my Lord Lansdowne* for the 
 first time condescended to come up to me at Brooks's, 
 and to walk me backwards and forwards for at least 
 a quarter of an hour. He asked me how I thought 
 we should get on in the House of Commons (meaning 
 the new Government), whether we should be strong 
 enough; to which I replied it would depend upon the 
 conduct of the Government — that if they acted right 
 they would be strong enough, and that so doing was 
 not only the best, but the sole, foundation of their 
 strength, and my lord agreed with me in rather an 
 awkward manner, and was mighty civil and laughed at 
 all my jokes, and so we parted." 
 
 " Great George St., ist Feby., i8ii. 
 
 " I was very much provoked at being detained so 
 long on the road yesterday that I was just too late for 
 the last Bill, so I eat my mutton chops and drunk a bottle 
 of wine, and then tea, and then sallied forth to Mrs. 
 Taylor's ; but alas, she was dining out, so on I went to 
 Brooks's, where I found Mr. Ponsonby and others ; and 
 then came Whitbread, Sheridan, and Lord Hutchinson, 
 the latter of whom insisted upon my coming to dine with 
 him tete-a-tete to-day, as he had so much to say to me. 
 He had been dining yesterday with the Prince, and 
 was to be with him again this morning. You may 
 suppose I intend accepting his invitation ; for to-day 
 Whitbread was deeply involved in private conversa- 
 tion with these gentry ; but, before he left the room, 
 he came up to the table where I was, and said — 
 ' Creevey, call upon me to-morrow at twelve if it is 
 not inconvenient to you ; ' and, having left the room. 
 Ward, who was there, said — ' There ! Mr. Under- 
 Secretary, you are to be tried as to what kind of a 
 hand you write, &c., &c., before you are hired;' and 
 then we walked home together, and he told me he had 
 
 * Formerly Lord Henry Petty. 
 
142 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 been offered to be a Paymaster of the Forces, and that 
 he had refused it, and that he was sure this notice of 
 Whitbread was to offer me an under-secretaryship in 
 his office. I went accordingly to Sam this mornmg, 
 but quite armed, I am certain, against all disappoint- 
 ment, and with all the air of an independent man. He 
 began by giving me his opinion that the Prince would 
 not change the Government, and that he was playing 
 a false, hollow, shabby game. He said the Queen had 
 written him a letter evidently dictated by Perceval, 
 [illegible] most cursedly, and that he had been quite 
 taken in by it. He expressed himself strongly of 
 opinion that he [the Prince] ought instantly to change 
 the Government ; that after all that had passed between 
 him, the Prince and Lords Grenville and Grey, it would 
 be a breach of honour not to overthrow the ministers 
 instantly. I confess I was more penetrated, upon this 
 part of the conversation, with Sam's anxiety to be in 
 office than I was with the weight of his arguments 
 against the Prince. At the same time, it is due to him 
 to add that Sheridan and Lord Hutchinson insist 
 openly that the Prince, in justice to his character, is 
 bound to make this change ; and again, there certainly 
 is nothing to make the Prince expect any rapid amend- 
 ment of the King. . . . Well, this opinion of Whitbread 
 being advanced and maintained by him as aforesaid, 
 he proceeded to say that, in the event of the change 
 taking place, he was very anxious to know from myself 
 what I should look to — that he and Lord Grey had 
 talked over the subject together — that the latter had 
 spoken of me very handsomely, and said that, tho' I 
 had in the session before last, fired into the old Govern- 
 ment in a manner that] had given great offence to 
 several persons, yet that he was very desirous I 
 should form part of the new Government. Whitbread 
 added his own opinion that it was of great importance 
 I should be in the Government, and then added — 'The 
 worst of it is there are so few places suited to you 
 that are consistent with a seat in Parliament; but 
 what is there you should think of yourself?' So I 
 replied that was rather a hard question to answer ; 
 that though I was a little man compared to him in the 
 country, yet that the preservation of my own character 
 and consistency was the first object with me; that I 
 
l8ii.] CREEVEY'S CONDITIONS. 143 
 
 could go as a principal into no office — (haiwas out of 
 the question — and I would not go into any office as a 
 subaltern, where the character of the principal did not 
 furnish a sufficient apology for my serving under him ; 
 that with these views I certainly had looked to going 
 with him into any office he might have allotted to him. 
 He said such had always been his wish, and then said 
 —'You know by the Act of Parliament that created 
 the third Secretary of State, viz., that for the Colonies, 
 neither of the Under-Secretaries of State can sit in 
 Parliament, and that was what I meant when I said 
 there were so few places consistent with a seat in 
 Parliament' He said Grey and he had taken for 
 granted I would not go back to my old place, or a 
 seat at that board, after firing as I had done into the 
 East I. Company ; to which I replied they were quite 
 right, and I added that, whenever I might be in office 
 or out, I reserved to myself the right of the free exercise 
 of my opinion upon all Indian subjects. He then said, 
 with some humility, would I take a seat at the Admiralty 
 Board ; that Lord Holland would be there, and that he, 
 of course, would have every disposition to consult my 
 feelings. I said my first inclination was certainly 
 against it ; at the same time, I begged nothing might 
 be done to prevent Lord Holland making an offer of 
 any kind to me ; that he was a person I looked up to 
 greatly on his own account, as well as his uncle's;* 
 that in all my licentiousness in Parliament I had never 
 profaned his uncle's memory ; it had been exclusively 
 directed against his enemies ; that I would take a 
 thing from Lord Holland that nothing should induce 
 me to do from any Grenvilles ; at the same time, I 
 was giving no opinion further than this, that I begged 
 Whitbread not to prevent Lord Holland from makmg 
 me an offer — let it be what it may. ..." 
 
 How little real union there was among the various 
 sections of the Opposition, and how greatly the Whigs 
 dreaded the projects dearest to the Radicals, are well 
 illustrated in the following letters. 
 
 * C. J. Fox. 
 
144 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "April, 1811. 
 
 "Dear C, 
 
 " The enclosed answer to a mutinous epistle 
 which I fired into Holland House t'other day may 
 amuse Mrs. C. and you. Burn it when you have 
 read it. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " H. B." 
 
 [Enclosure from Lord Holland. 
 
 ". . . There is much truth in your complaints of 
 the present state of public affairs. But how is the 
 evil to be corrected ? There is a want of popular 
 feelings in many individuals of the party. Others 
 are exasperated with the unjust and uncandid treat- 
 ment they have received, and are every day receiv- 
 ing, from the modern Reformers. Another set are 
 violent anti-Reformers, and alarmed at every speech 
 or measure that has the least tendency towards 
 reform. There is but one measure on which the 
 party are unanimously agreed, and no one man in the 
 House of Commons to whom they look up with that 
 deference and respect to his opinion which is necessary 
 to have concert and co-operation in a party. ... It is 
 a state of things, however, which cannot possibly last. 
 Before next meeting of Parliament, the Prince must 
 either have changed his Ministers, or he must lay his 
 account with systematic opposition to his government. 
 Even though the old leaders of the party * should be 
 unwilling to break with him, they will not be able to 
 prevent their friends from declaring open hostility 
 against his government. If such a rupture should 
 take place, many would of course desert the party ; 
 but those who remained, agreeing better with one 
 another in their opinions, and consisting of more 
 independent men, would in fact be a more formidable 
 opposition than the present. . . . "] 
 
 * Lords Grey and Grenville. 
 
l8ll.] THE PRINCE'S COOLNESS TO THE WHIGS. 14S 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Wed. 
 "... I wish you would come to town and let us 
 have a few mischievous discussions. ... A report 
 is very prevalent that the siege of Badajos is raised, 
 previous to another fight. I daresay this will prove 
 true. . . . I am assured that the Ministers have private 
 letters from Welln., preparing them for a retreat." 
 
 As time went on, although the King's malady 
 became confirmed, so also seemed the Regent's 
 inclination to maintain his father's Cabinet. The 
 irritation of the Whigs increased in proportion as 
 their hopes sank lower. A peep down the Prime 
 Minister's area seems to have opened Creevey's eyes 
 for the first time to the profligacy of the Heir 
 Apparent, to which he had been blind enough in the 
 rousing old days at the Pavilion. So greatly may 
 judgment vary according to the point of view ! 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 "20th July, 181 1. 
 ". . . Prinny's attachment to the present Ministers, 
 his supporting their Bank Note Bill, and his dining 
 with them, must give them all hopes of being con- 
 tinued, as I have no doubt they will. . . . The folly 
 and villainy of this Prinny is certainly beyond any- 
 thing. I was forcibly struck with this as I passed 
 Perceval's * kitchen just now, and saw four man cooks 
 and twice as many maids preparing dinner for the 
 Prince of Wales and Regent — he whose wife Perceval 
 set up against him in open battle— who, at the age of 
 SO, could not be trusted by the sd. Perceval with the 
 
 * The Right Hon. Spencer Perceval, became Prime Minister on 
 the death of the Duke of Portland in October, 1809, and was assassi- 
 nated by Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons, nth 
 May, 1812. 
 
 VOL. L L 
 
146 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 unrestrained government of these realms during his 
 father's incapacity — he who, on his last birthday at 
 Brighton, declared to his numerous guests that it was 
 his glory to have bred up his daughter in the principles 
 of Mr. Fox — he who, in this very year, declared by 
 letter to the said Mr. Perceval, and afterwards had 
 the letter published as an apology for his conduct, 
 that he took him as his father s Minister, but that his 
 own heart was in another quarter — by God ! this is 
 too much. We shall see whether he does dine there 
 or not, or whether he will send word at 5, as he did 
 to poor Kinnaird, that he can't come. I have been 
 walking with Kinnaird, and this excuse that came too 
 late from Prinny, the Duke of York and the Duke of 
 Clarence has evidently made a deep impression upon 
 his lordship's mind against the Bank Note Bill, and 
 everything else in which the Regent takes a part." 
 
 Journal. 
 
 "July 12th, 181 1. — . . . We are prorogued till the 
 22nd of next month only, but the general opinion is 
 the King will die before that day, and then of course 
 Parliament meets again. Publick opinion, or rather 
 the opinion of Parliamentary politicians, is that, in 
 the event of the King's death. Lords Grenville and 
 Grey will be passed over and the present ministers 
 continued, with the addition of some of the Prince's 
 private friends, such as Lords Moira and Hutchinson 
 and Yarmouth and old Sheridan. The latter is 
 evidently very uneasy at the present state of things. 
 He sat with me till 5 o'clock on Sunday morning at 
 Brooks's — was very drunk — told me I had better 
 get into the same boat with him in politicks — but at 
 the same time abused Yarmouth so unmercifully that 
 one quite perceived he thought his (Yarmouth's) boat 
 was the best of the two. Apparently nothing can be 
 so base as the part the Prince is acting, or so likely 
 to ruin him. . . . 
 
 "Brighton, Oct. 30^/?. — The Prince Regent came 
 here last night with the Duke of Cumberland and 
 Lord Yarmouth. Everybody has been writing their 
 names at the Pavilion this morning, but I don't hear 
 

 .Vf ^^ 
 
 Ctes' h', "^1 ,«. wiijjfeKtJy , jjn, a deep inrj;- -^ / 
 his ioro-tiii;', > -n,wi .i^amst tiit: Bank ^ ^ >- 
 everylh -^ *^Uc uj 'Aiuch the Regent W 
 
 •■ ^tt/y '2ih, \^\ \ . W. 
 
 thr K-ri!^ wrii» die b* -oji" *;«' --. 
 ParUaiufjtrin'.vfT: o-^.-,.-?.! ^ '^'^ "- 
 thi: (■'\nm'v:i -si PV^-"'-'-' »+. s 
 
 fsri^utt '/icnrti, ■^- . .;.« • , * 
 
 evid* • '.ty w<?ry i.-nf <<-jy --,! .;. ^^ 
 
 Brooks'ii.— was \'ry dii,, s 
 gel in' !> t Ik; same buat \',i!.- (i, 
 ihe same rsmc .-bused Yarmocu* , 
 one quit; pcrcs-i • i ite thought : 
 was tile b. -i of th«' 'wo Appan • 
 so bt'i-5'- as ■"■•' .,:»r the Prince ■» 
 to rdiii ;um 
 
 "Bng-hknu 0,-t.. JO/A.— The Ff 
 h«re last rii^ght with the. iHvk'- »^.- 
 Lord Yarmosslk £'Mf'.ry'lr.*'!y h.s. 
 names at tfec I-'avifcij {hti; mwr-i ■ 
 
^■?-£o<A^fMP'f:-<^\ 
 
 ^Pi.':7).J/„rula„. 
 
i8ii.] JOURNAL. 147 
 
 of anybody dining there to-day. ... I presume we 
 shall be asked there, altho' I went to town on purpose 
 to vote against his appointment of his brother the 
 Duke of York to the Commandership-in-Chief of the 
 Army. 
 
 Oct. 315/. — We have got an invitation from the 
 Regent for to-night and are going. I learn from Sir 
 Philip Francis, who dined there yesterday, the Prince 
 was very gay. . . . There were twenty at dinner — no 
 politicks — but still Francis says he thinks, from the 
 language of the equerries and understrappers, that 
 the campaign in Portugal and Lord Wellington begin 
 to be out of fashion with the Regent. I think so too, 
 from a conversation I had with one of the Gyps to-day 
 — Congreve, author of the rocketts, and who is going, 
 they say, to have a Rockett Corps.* He affects to 
 sneer rather at Wellington's military talents. The 
 said Congreve was at the same school with me at 
 Hackney, and afterwards at Cambridge with me ; 
 after that, a brother lawyer with me at Gray's Inn. 
 Then he became an editor of a newspaper . . . written 
 in favour of Lord Sidmouth's administration, till he 
 had a libel in his paper against Admiral Berkeley, for 
 which he was prosecuted and fined ;^iooo. Then he 
 took to inventing rocketts for the more effectual 
 destruction of mankind, for which he became pat- 
 ronised by the Prince of Wales, and here he is — a 
 perfect Field Marshall in appearance. About 12 
 years ago he wrote to me to enquire the character 
 of a mistress who had lived with me some time 
 before, which said mistress he took upon my recom- 
 mendation, and she lives with him now, and was, 
 when I knew her, cleverer than all the equerries and 
 their Master put together. 
 
 "Nov. ist. — We were at the Pavilion last night — 
 Mrs. Creevey's three daughters and myself — and had 
 a very pleasant evening. We found there Lord and 
 Lady Charlemont, Marchioness of Downshire and 
 
 * Afterwards Sir William Congreve, Bart., M.P., F.R.S. "Wel- 
 lington disapproved of Congreve's invention when it was first brought 
 to his notice- " I don't want to set fire to any town, and I don't 
 know any other use of rockets." But he changed his opinion after 
 witnessing their effect in action at the passage of the Adour in 1814. 
 
148 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 old Lady Sefton. About half-past nine, which might 
 be a quarter of an hour after we arrived, the Prince 
 came out of the dining-room. He was in his best 
 humour, bowed and spoke to all of us, and looked 
 uncommonly well, tho' very fat. He was in his full 
 Field Marshal's uniform. He remained quite as 
 cheerful and full of fun to the last — half-past twelve — 
 asked after Mrs. Creevey's health, and nodded and 
 spoke when he passed us. The Duke of Cumberland 
 was in the regimentals of his own Hussars,* looked 
 really hideous, everybody trying to be rude to him — • 
 not standing when he came near them. The officers 
 of the Prince's regiment had all dined with him, and 
 looked very ornamental monkeys in their red breeches 
 with gold fringe and yellow boots. The Prince's 
 band played as usual all the time in the dining-room 
 till 12, when the pages and footmen brought about 
 iced champagne punch, lemonade and sandwiches. I 
 found more distinctly than before, from conversation 
 with the Gyps, that Wellington and Portugal are 
 going down. 
 
 " The Prince looked much happier and more un- 
 embarrassed by care than I have seen him since this 
 time six years. This time five years ago, when he 
 was first in love with Lady Hertford, I have seen the 
 tears run down his cheeks at dinner, and he has been 
 dumb for hours, but now that he has the weight of 
 the empire upon him, he is quite alive. ... I had a 
 very good conversation with Lord Charlemont about 
 Ireland, and liked him much. He thinks the Prince 
 has already nearly ruined himself in Irish estimation 
 by his conduct to the Catholics. 
 
 " Nov. 2nd. — -We were again at the Pavilion last 
 night. . . . The Regent sat in the Musick Room 
 almost all the time between Viotti, the famous violin 
 player, and Lady Jane Houston, and he went on for 
 hours beating his thighs the proper time for the band, 
 and singing out aloud, and looking about for accom- 
 paniment from Viotti and Lady Jane. It was curious 
 sight to see a Regent thus employed, but he seemed 
 
 * This was a German volunteer regiment, which disgraced itself 
 at Waterloo by deserting the field at the very crisis of the French 
 cavalry attack. 
 
i8ii.] JOURNAL. 149 
 
 in high good humour. . . . There is nothing like a 
 Minister about him, nor yet any of his old political 
 friends or advisers — no Sheridan, Moira or Hutchin- 
 son. Yarmouth and the Duke of Cumberland are 
 always on the spot, and no doubt are his real 
 advisers ; but in publick they are mute, and there is 
 no intercourse betMreen the Regent and them. Sir 
 Philip Francis is the only one of his old set here, but 
 he is not here on the Prince's invitation, nor in his 
 suite, and is evidently slighted. Tom Stepney and I 
 last night calculated that Francis and Lord Keith 
 made out 150 years of age between them, and yet 
 they are both here upon their preferment with the 
 Regent — the first, one of the cleverest men one 
 knows, and the other, one of the richest. What a 
 capital libel on mankind ! Francis said to me to-day : 
 — ' Well, I am invited to dinner to-day, and that is 
 perhaps all I shall get after two and twenty years' 
 service.' What infernal folly for such a person to 
 have put himself in the way of making so humiliating 
 a confession. 
 
 "Nov. '^rd. — . . . I have heard of no one observa- 
 tion the Regent has made get out of the commonest 
 slip-slop, till to-day Baron Montalembert told me this 
 morning that, when he dined there on Friday with 
 the staff of this district, the Prince said he had been 
 looking over the returns of the Army in Portugal 
 that morning, and that there were of British 16,500 
 sick in Hospitals in Lisbon, and 4,500 sick in the field 
 — in all, 21,000. It might be indiscreet in the Prince 
 to make this statement from official papers, but he 
 must have been struck with it, and I hope rightly, so 
 as to make him think of peace. . . . 
 
 "Nov. $th. — We were at the Prince's both last 
 night and the night before (Sunday). . . . The Regent 
 was again all night in the Musick Room, and not 
 content with presiding over the Band, but actually 
 singing, and very loud too. Last night we were 
 reduced to a smaller party than ever, and Mrs. 
 Creevey was well enough to go with me and her 
 daughters for the first time. Nothing could be kinder 
 than the Prince's manner to her. When he first saw 
 her upon coming into the drawing-room, he went up 
 and took hold of both her hands, shook them heartily. 
 
ISO THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 made her sit down directly, asked her all about her 
 health, and expressed his pleasure at seeing her look 
 so much better than he expected. Upon her saying 
 she was glad to see him looking so well, he said 
 gravely he was getting old and blind. When she 
 said she was glad on account of his health that he 
 kept his rooms cooler than he used to do, he said he 
 was quite altered in that respect — that he used to 
 be always chilly, and was now never so — that he 
 never had a fire even in his bedroom, and slept with 
 one blanket and sheet only. . . . 
 
 "Nov. 6th. — We were again at the Pavilion last 
 night . . . the party being still smaller than ever, 
 and the Prince, according to his custom, being 
 entirely occupied with his musick. 
 
 "Nov. gth. — Yesterday was the last day of the 
 Prince's stay at this place, and, contrary to my ex- 
 pectation, I was invited to dinner. We did not sit 
 down till half-past seven, tho' I went a little past six. 
 The only person I found was Tom Stepney : then 
 came Generals Whetham, Hammond and Cartwright, 
 Lords Charlemont, Yarmouth and Ossulston, Sir 
 Philip Francis, Congreve, Bloomfield and others of 
 the understrappers, and finally the Regent and the 
 Duke of Cumberland. We were about sixteen 
 altogether. The Prince was very merry and seemed 
 very well. He began to me with saying very loud 
 that he had sent for Mrs. Creevey's physic to London. 
 ... At dinner I sat opposite to him, next to 
 Ossulston, and we were the only persons there at all 
 marked by opposition to his appointment of his 
 brother the Duke of York, or to the Government 
 generally, since he has been Regent. He began an 
 old joke at dinner with me about poor Fonblancjue, 
 with whom I had dined six years ago at the Pavilion, 
 . . . [when] the Prince and we all got drunk, and he 
 was always used to say it was the merriest day he 
 ever spent. However, it was soon dropped yesterday. 
 
 "The Duke of Cumberland and Yarmouth never 
 spoke. The Prince was describing a pleasant dinner 
 he had had in London lately, and was going over each 
 man's name as he sat in his order at the table, and 
 giving to each his due in the pleasantry of the day. 
 Coming to Col. [Sir Willoughby] Gordon he said : 
 
i8ii.] THE CANNINGITES SCATTERED. 151 
 
 'To be sure, there's not much humour in him ! ' upon 
 which Ossulston and I gave both a kind of involuntary 
 laugh, thinking the said Gordon a perfect impostor, 
 from our recollection of his pompous, impudent 
 evidence before the House of Commons in the Duke 
 of York's case ; but this chuckling of ours brought 
 from the Prince a very elaborate panegyric upon 
 Gordon which was meant, most evidently, as a 
 reproof to Ossulston and myself for quizzing him. 
 
 "We did not drink a great deal, and were in the 
 drawing-room by half-past nine or a little after ; no 
 more state, I think, than formerly — ten men out of 
 livery of one kind or other, and four or five footmen. 
 At night everybody was there and the whole closed 
 about one, and so ended the Regent's visit to 
 Brighton." 
 
 And so, it may be added, ended Creevey's intimacy 
 with the Regent. Henceforward he acted in constant 
 opposition to his future monarch's schemes. 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 [181 1?]. 
 
 "... I suppose you have heard that Mr. Canning 
 has entirely disbanded his little Troop. He dis- 
 missed them, desiring they would no longer consider 
 him as the leader of any Party in the House of 
 Commons. Various reasons are assigned for it. 
 C. Ellis says that a gentleman whom he did not 
 name, but who is supposed to be ^[illegible] sus- 
 pected an immediate negociation with Ministers, 
 and implied that he was the mouthpiece of the party ; 
 upon which Canning, in a moment of pettishness, 
 set them all adrift. There are various conjectures, 
 but the only fact is that they are released from 
 their allegiance. Ward says it is hard to serve 
 a year without wages, but he hopes to get a good 
 character from his last place. The story is that 
 Huskisson has been off some time and is coming in. 
 . . All Canning's friends are very sore at this last 
 move ; but more because the chief sensation it excites 
 
152 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VII. 
 
 is laughter, and tho' jokers themselves, they cannot 
 endure any ridicule against their own lot. . . . The 
 Regent went to the Dandy ball last night, and only 
 spoke to M. Pierrepont, one of the four who invited. 
 He fairly turned his back upon the others. He sent 
 a message to Sr. Harry Mildmay, saying he wished to 
 speak to him ; who replied that it must be a mistake, 
 because His R. H. had seen him and took no notice 
 whatever of him. . . ." 
 
( IS3 ) 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Marquess Wellesley, who had joined Perceval's 
 Cabinet in 1809 on the resignation of Castlereagh and 
 Canning, himself resigned in February, 18 12, partly 
 owing to dissatisfaction at the manner in which 
 the Government supported the Peninsular war, but 
 chiefly because of the Regent's persistence in refus- 
 ing to listen to any proposals of Roman Catholic 
 relief The King's recovery being now considered 
 out of the question, it was fully expected that the 
 Regent would avail himself of the occasion of a 
 reconstruction of the Cabinet to put his own political 
 friends in power. However, instead of dismissing 
 Perceval, he invited Grey and Grenville to join his 
 administration, which they refused to do so long as 
 Catholic Emancipation was a forbidden subject. The 
 Regent bitterly resented their conduct, and continued 
 Perceval in office, until that Minister was assassinated 
 in the lobby of the House of Commons on nth May. 
 Meanwhile, another and a striking personality had 
 appeared in Parliament, Henry Brougham, to wit. 
 Elected for Camelford for the first time in 18 10, he 
 had registered a vow not to open his mouth in the 
 House for the first month ; which vow he kept, 
 indemnifying himself for his self-control by incessant 
 
154 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 oratory ever after. George Ponsonby was still 
 leaderof the Whigs in the Commons; but Brougham's 
 energy and eloquence were so striking that he had 
 not been four months a member before he was 
 reckoned as one of the most formidable of the many 
 candidates for the first place. His letters to Creevey 
 during the early months of 1812 are very numerous; 
 but it is difficult to fix the exact stage of proceedings 
 to which they refer, owing to his omission to date 
 them except by the day of the week. 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Saturday, 6 o'clock [May? 1812]. 
 
 " The intriguing is going on briskly. Wellesley 
 has seen P.,* and then Wy. saw Grey. Grey says all is 
 afloat and nothing settled, but that all will be settled 
 before Monday. This shows a nibble at least, and I 
 lament it much. To be in the same boat with W. and 
 Canning is pretty severe. I see no chance of their 
 making such a thing as one can support ; indeed I feel 
 in opposition to them already, should they agree 
 about it. . . . Holland and Wellesley are at the 
 bottom of it all, and have been together to-day, and 
 at York House. The Spanish madness and love of 
 office of Lady H[olland] is enough to do all the 
 mischief we dread. Anything without the country is 
 real madness or drivling. 
 
 " In the Comee. on Orders in C[ouncil] we sat this 
 morning txWfoiir, and I have been all day at a Sheriffs 
 Jury on damages, so am knocked up and can add 
 no more. 
 
 " H. B." 
 
 " H. of Corns, [in pencil] Friday, 22nd May, 1812. 
 
 "They are all out. The answer of Prinny is 
 short — that he is to comply immediately with the 
 address to try to form a Govt. I had no hand in this 
 bad work. I would not vote. It is the old blunder 
 
 * The Prince Regent. 
 
i8i2.] PARLIAMENT IS DISSOLVED. I5S 
 
 of 1804 — acting at Canning's benefit. The old rotten 
 Ministry was to my mind." 
 
 Mr. Creevey had a safe seat at Thetford, one of 
 the Duke of Norfolk's boroughs, but his ambition was 
 fired by an invitation to contest one of the seats for 
 his native Liverpool. Brougham, at the same time, 
 having received notice to quit from a new proprietor 
 of Camelford, determined to stand for the other 
 Liverpool seat ; and, on the dissolution taking place, 
 these two gentlemen went down to fight Mr. Canning 
 and General Gascoigne. 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Brougham, Friday, [May] 1812. 
 
 " On my return from a visit to the Jockey * I 
 received yours. While there, I passed my time as 
 you might suppose — drinking in the evening, and in 
 the morning going thro' tete-a-tete with him the red 
 book and other lists of baro's. It was quite a comedy. 
 I believe I can almost come up to the never-to-be- 
 forgotten or surpassed night enjoyed by Ld. S[efton] 
 and yourself with that venerable feudal character. 
 We had women — and speeches — in the first style : the 
 subjects infinitely various, from bawdy to the depths 
 of politics, and this morning at breakfast he was 
 pleased to enter largely on the subject of the Daiety 
 and his foreknowledge ; settling that question as 
 satisfactorily as if it had been one touching the Gairter, 
 which he likewise discussed at length. I assure you 
 I have had two choice days, and there wanted only 
 some one Xianlike person to enjoy it with, and the 
 presence also of a few comforts — such as a necessary, 
 towels, water, &c., &c., to make the thing compleat. 
 He goes up to-morrow to Airundel, and he is coming 
 here on his way (to talk about the dissolution), which 
 will give me a more quiet slice of his humours ; for 
 there was rather a crowd of parasites. . . ." 
 
 * The nth Duke of Norfolk. 
 
IS6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 There follows here a long discussion of the ques- 
 tion whether Creevey and Brougham — either of them, 
 both, or neither— should stand for Liverpool. Creevey 
 is comfortably settled in Thetford; Brougham is 
 inclined to stand without him, lest he should " turn 
 out poor Tarlton," who is as good an opponent of the 
 Tory Government as if he had been an out-and-out 
 Radical. As to finding himself returned as Canning's 
 colleague — "only fancy the folly of being coupled 
 with Canning ! ... it would be laughable to join us 
 together." Then he continues — 
 
 ". . . As to being out of Park. — don't laugh at 
 me if I say I really should submit to such a fate with 
 composure, indeed with cheerfulness. I am fond of 
 my profession, which you'll say a queer taste; but I 
 really so delight in it more and more every day. I 
 see also how greatly I might rise in it by this means, 
 and how infallibly 1 should command anything par- 
 liamentary that I might chuse, after a few years. This 
 is clear, and I might be as much of a demagogue as I 
 thought fit to be — I mean, in a good sense — and these 
 times require looking outside of Parlt., in my opinion, 
 as much as any we have lived in." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 " House of Commons, (May) 25th, 1812. 
 " Oh dear ! I have been waiting for Whitbread's 
 latest intelligence, till I have little time left. First 
 then, when Prinney sent for Wellesley, the latter 
 began by mentioning some of the Opposition as 
 persons to be consulted with ; to which the former 
 replied — ' Don't mention any names to me now, my 
 lord, but make an Administration for me.' To which 
 the other says — ' In a business of such nicety I trust 
 your Royal Highness will not press me for time.' 
 — ' Take your own time,' says Prinney, ' tho' there is 
 not a shilling left in the Exchequer.' Well, off sets 
 Wellesley, calling at the doors of the Opposition — 
 
i8i2.] WHO SHALL BE PREMIER? 1 57 
 
 Grey, Grenville, Holland and Moira ; and yesterday 
 some minutes of their conversations were made that 
 had taken place between Wellesley, Grey and Gren- 
 ville about the Catholic question and the war in Spain. 
 There is some vague kind of coincidence of sentiments 
 expressed between them on these subjects — no other 
 subject mentioned. With this first fruit of his ex- 
 pedition Wellesley went to Carlton House last night 
 at seven, and just as he was beginning to dilate upon 
 his success, Prinney told him he was busy, and that 
 he must call again to-day. . . . This I know to be 
 quite true ; it comes from Grey through Whitbread 
 to me. 
 
 " This is the whole effect of the defeat of the old 
 Government, and in the meantime the said old Govern- 
 ment have one and all contracted with each other in 
 writing never to act with such a villain as Wellesley 
 again ; in which they are quite right, but what think 
 you of such a patron for our friends ? Well : we had 
 Whitbread and Lady Elizabeth at Holland House 
 yesterday, Milton, Althorp, Lord John Russell, 
 Sheridan, Lord Ossory, Fitzpatrick, Horner, Bennett 
 and many more, and we had a very merry day, 
 occasioned by my jokes about our new patron the 
 Marquis [Wellesley]. Poor Holland was quite inimit- 
 able, but I will tell you more about it to-morrow. 
 They will be all ruined : they have flung Whitbread 
 overboard: he has just told me so himself, and that 
 Lord Grey had just told him so in the coolest manner. 
 Not a word of this ! but it is death to them. He told 
 me yesterday his fixed determination to have nothing 
 to do with Wellesley and Canning, and they have 
 anticipated him. . . ." 
 
 " House of Commons, Tuesday, 26th. 
 ". . . Well : nothing is known to-day except that 
 Prinney saw both Eldon and Liverpool yesterday for 
 a long time before he saw Wellesley, and that a 
 Cabinet Council of the old Ministers was summoned 
 to Liverpool's office last night, and sat for a long time. 
 . . . Well, the jaw is over. Castlereagh says the old 
 Government is still out, and he knows nothing of any 
 new one. It is true that Prinney told Wellesley that 
 Grey and Grenville were a couple of scoundrels, and 
 
IS8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 that Moira was a fellow no honest man could speak 
 to. Wellesley then told him the danger he was 
 exposed to, both himself, his throne and his country, 
 washed his hands of him and his concerns, and is 
 actually gone out of town. Ferguson told me he 
 knew all this, and of course Moira is his authority. 
 Canning will have nothing to do with the old Govern- 
 ment, and has just renewed his motion about the 
 Catholic question. Prinney must be stark staring 
 mad, by God ! . . . The projected exclusion of Whit- 
 bread from the new Cabinet is spreading like wildfire 
 against Grey and Grenville." 
 
 " Brooks's, 27th. 
 
 "Well, after all that passed between Prinney and 
 Wellesley on Monday night, after all the foul language 
 about Moira, &c., late last night Prinney sent for 
 Moira and flung himself upon his mercy. Such a 
 scene I never heard of; the young monarch cried loud 
 and long ; in short he seems to have been very nearly 
 in convulsions. The afflicting interview was entirely 
 occupied with lamentations over past errors, and 
 delight at brighter prospects for the future under the 
 happier auspices of his old and true friend now 
 restored. Moira told him generally the terrible state 
 of the country, which the other said had been con- 
 cealed from him by his Ministers, and that he had 
 not seen a paper these three or four weeks. Moira 
 suggested to him that perhaps he would wish to be 
 more composed before they went further into detail, 
 and this was agreed to, so he has been there again 
 to-day for three hours. I saw him come away at a 
 little before four, and Lord Dundas called with me at 
 his door and found he had gone off to Lord Wellesley's, 
 where Grenville and Grey now are hearing the sub- 
 stance of this long interview of Moira with his Master. 
 . . . My jokes about Wellesley are in great request. 
 Lady Holland said to me on Sunday in the drawing- 
 room after dinner — 'Come here and sit by me, you 
 mischievous toad, and promise that you won't begin 
 upon the new Government with your jokes. When 
 you do, begin with those Grenvilles.' I dined at old 
 Tankerville's yesterday, who said — ' Creevey, never 
 
i8i2.] PROLONGED SUSPENSE. 159 
 
 desert Wellesley ! give it him well, I beg of you.' 
 Sefton asked me to dine there to-day, evidently with 
 the same view. Sheridan is more base in his resent- 
 ment against Whitbread than you can imagine, and 
 all from Drury Lane disappointment." 
 
 " House of Commons, 28th. 
 
 ". . . Just after I finished my letter yesterday, I met 
 Sheridan coming from a long interview with the Prince, 
 and going with a message to Wellesley ; so of course I 
 walked with him and got from him all I could. ... He 
 described the Prince's state of perturbation of mind as 
 beyond anything he had ever seen. He conceives the 
 different candidates for office to be determined upon his 
 ruin; and, in short, I begin to think that his reign will 
 end in a day or two in downright insanity. He first 
 sends for one person, then another. Eldon is always 
 told everything that passes, and the Duke of York 
 (Lord Grey's friend and slave) is the unalterable and 
 inveterate opposer of his brother having anything to 
 do with the Opposition. He and Eldon work day and 
 night to keep Prinney in the right course. Melville is 
 a great favorite too. To-day he (Prinney) has seen 
 the Doctor * and Westmorland, Buckinghamshire, 
 and now Moira is with him. Canning has been 
 found out in some intrigue with Liverpool already. 
 There has been some explanation between Grey and 
 Whitbread, certainly creditable to the former. He 
 has admitted to the fullest extent the importance of 
 the Brewer t and his own unalterable and unfavorable 
 opinion of Canning. He maintained this opinion to 
 his friends as strongly as he could, and pressed them, 
 as they valued able and upright men to shuffling 
 rogues, to stand by Whitbread and abandon Canning. 
 In this proposition, however, he stood alone. Petty 
 and Holland even were against him. Grey pronounced 
 that tho' he was bound by this decision, he knew such 
 decision must inevitably be their ruin. He has told 
 all this to Brougham, as well as to Whitbread, and 
 you know he always at least tells the truth. Of course 
 you will not quote this. . . . From Lisbon the accounts 
 
 * Lord Sidmouth. t Mr. Whitbread. 
 
l6o THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 are very unfavorable. The American embargo has 
 produced the greatest consternation, and our Com- 
 missariat is utterly destitute of money or credit. In 
 addition to this, General officers write home that the 
 ravages of the late sieges and other things have made 
 a supply of 30,000 men from this country absolutely 
 necessary, if Portugal alone is to be kept." 
 
 " Brooks's, Friday, 29th. 
 
 " Everybody as wise as we were yesterday. Moira 
 has seen Prinney to-day again, but nothing done. 
 Moira told him he must decline being any longer 
 employed in so hopeless an undertaking, and is deter- 
 mined to have the thing concluded one way or other. 
 Prinney tells him no Prince was ever so idolized by 
 the people of this country as himself, and that he is 
 quite strong enough to go on with any Government 
 that he gives his support to. Wortley is to give 
 another notice on Monday of a motion for Tuesday to 
 bring this infatuated man to his senses. By God ! if 
 he continues in his present state he will be having 
 such things said of him as will rouse him with a 
 witness. . . ." 
 
 " Brooks's, Saturday, 30th. 
 
 " It really begins to be almost too farcical to write 
 about this madman and his delay." 
 
 "York St., Monday, ist June. 
 
 "As Folkestone, Bennett and I are to go from the 
 H. of Commons this afternoon to dine at Richmond, I 
 begin my dispatch here, least I should have no time 
 to do it at the House. Folky and Bennett return at 
 night, but I shall sleep there. . . . The more one sees 
 of the conduct of this most singular man [the Prince 
 Regent], the more one becomes convinced he is 
 doomed, from his personal character alone, to shake 
 his throne. He is playing, I have no doubt he thinks, 
 some devilish deep game, from which he will find he 
 is utterly unable of extricating himself without the 
 most serious and lasting injury to himself and cha- 
 racter. ... I dined at Taylor's last night with that 
 
i8i2.] LORD WELLESLEY TRIES HIS HAND. l6l 
 
 excellent young man Lord Forbes,* and I have never 
 seen a greater appearance of worth and honor in any 
 young man in my life. Besides being Moira's nephew, 
 he is an aide-de-camp to the Regent, and he has received 
 such usage from his Master, either on his uncle's 
 account or his own voting in Parliament, that he won't 
 go near him, and greatly to the horror of Taylor, he 
 came to dine yesterday with the yellow lining and the ■ 
 Prince's buttons taken away from his coat. He said 
 never again would he carry about him so degrading 
 a badge of servitude to such a master. To Taylor, 
 who was done up in the neatest edition of the said 
 badge, this was too much. On Saturday, a great lot 
 of us dined at Kit Hutchinson's request at the British 
 Coffee House, with the gentlemen educated at Trinity 
 College, Dublin; Kit in the chair, and it really was 
 most entertaining. Irish genius for speaking and 
 eloquence was never more conspicuous : upon my 
 soul, I think five or six fellows who spoke — quite 
 young men — spoke as well as Pitt. ..." 
 
 " House of Commons. 
 " Well, now we have made a start. Mr. Canning has 
 got up with due pomp and dignity, and has declared he 
 has full authority to state from his noble friend Lord 
 Wellesley that he, Lord Wellesley, has this morning 
 received from the Regent his Royal Highness's com- 
 mands to form an administration. So much for this 
 first official act of the new Whig Government ! . . ." 
 
 " Richmond Hill, June 2nd. 
 
 " Very large paper this, my precious, but we must 
 see what we can make of it. As the day is so charm- 
 ing and the country so inviting, I have resolved to 
 stay over the day, and accordingly my cloaths have 
 gone to be washed. I leave, therefore, this eventful 
 day in London to all the heart-rending anxieties of 
 politicians, who, I think, have as hopeful a prospect 
 of disappointment as ever politician had. I cannot 
 bring myself to regret that 1 am not to serve under 
 * Not the Scottish peer of that name, but the eldest son of the 6th 
 Earl of Granard by a daughter of the ist Earl of Moira. He was 
 father of the present Lord Granard. 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
l62 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 Marquis Wellesley or Mr. Canning. . . . We shall 
 now see what this singular association of statesmen 
 will be able to do. Canning is for Orders in Council, 
 Grenville considers them as the source of all the exist- 
 ing national distress. Grenville thinks the country 
 incapable of sustaining the expenditure of the war : 
 Wellesley thinks such war to be starved by our penury. 
 Grey is against all secret influence ; Prinney says 
 he will part with his life rather than his household. 
 Prinney, Wellesley and Canning have each betrayed 
 everybody they have had to do with — pretty com- 
 panions for a man of honor like Grey ! . . . Prinney 
 will not strike yet to Grey and Grenville without 
 conditions to which they will not submit. What is 
 to be done, too, on minor subjects? What is Jack 
 Horner to do with his notice of motion on McMahon's 
 salary, or how is Bankes's bill to be permitted to pass, 
 which, besides abolishing patent places of all kinds as 
 they become vacant, goes immediately to strike off our 
 Paymaster-Genl., our Postmaster, our Mustermaster, 
 &c., &c., &c., all of which said places so to be abolished 
 are doubtless looked up to with great affection and 
 anxiety by the young friends and by the old Whigs, 
 by the Vernons, Wards and McDonalds, &c., or by 
 the Ponsonbys, Freemantles, &c., &c. 1 flatter myself 
 both Tierney and Huskisson are to be Cabinet 
 Ministers, which, considering that Burke and Sheri- 
 dan, Dunning and [illegible] used to be considered as 
 not elevated enough in rank to be admitted into such 
 high company, will be well enough. 
 
 " I must, upon the whole, condemn Grey as acting 
 most unwisely in putting himself forward as a candi- 
 date for power under all the circumstances of the 
 country. He would have done much better to wait 
 till Grenville's death or some other event dissolved 
 the fatal connection with that family. He ought to 
 have let Wellesley and Canning perish in their own 
 intrigues, and he ought to have permitted the old and 
 feeble Government to conduct the country so near its 
 ruin that men could no longer doubt either its con- 
 dition or the authors of its calamities. In such a case, 
 which would have inevitably arrived, the country and 
 the Crown would have called for his assistance, and 
 in such case only, my belief is, could he have done 
 
i8i2.] LORD GREY STANDS ALOOF. 163 
 
 permanent good to the country with honor to himself. 
 . . . Granville I consider a dead man, and Prinney, 
 Wellesley and Canning are both madmen and villains. 
 ... In the meantime, we must have sport. Amongst 
 other things, we must have the Bank made to pay us 
 in specie . . . which would give you and me ;^7oo per 
 annum more than we have. This would be something 
 like, so we shall see what we shall see." 
 
 " Richmond Hill, Wednesday, 3rd. 
 
 " I have dilly-dallied so long here that if I don't set 
 out directly I shall not get in time to write you a word, 
 my precious, so I will first fire a little shot at you 
 before I leave this place. William brought us last 
 night just such intelligence as I was prepared to 
 expect from Petty that the Marquis [Wellesley] had 
 been with Earl Grey and had offered him and his 
 friends four seats in the Cabinet ; that he himself had 
 condescended to become First Lord of the Treasury, 
 that there must be some limitations of concession to 
 Ireland, with a great variety of other restraints upon 
 the four poor Foxite and Grenville Ministers, the 
 whole of which induced the Earl to give the Marquis 
 the most unqualified rejection of these proposed indig- 
 nities. Ha! ha! ha! or Oh dear me! which of these 
 exclamations is best suited to the occasion. Is one to 
 laugh at our poor foolish party having so obviously 
 and so fatally for themselves played the game of these 
 villains Wellesley and Canning, or is one to cry at the 
 never-failing success of rascality in this country ? Oh 
 how glad I am that I had no hand in making this mad- 
 man Wellesley preside over the destinies of this 
 country, to sacrifice the thousands of brave lives that 
 he will assuredly do in Spain and Portugal, and to 
 torture by poverty and privations the thousands that 
 will feel the effects of his extravagance in England." 
 
 " York St., Thursday, 4th. 
 
 " Betty and I are just put into port for the 
 purpose of my writing you a single line before the 
 post goes. We have had a very prosperous voyage 
 to Mrs. Fitzherbert's and old Lady Grey's, both of 
 whom we found at home. We have seen in the 
 
164 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 Streets various persons — Albemarle, Lord Henry 
 Fitzroy, Parnell,* &c., &c. Well, Prinney is in a 
 capital way, is he not ? There was a meeting last 
 night at Grenville's of opposition lords to hear the 
 history of all that has passed on the late occasion, 
 and there was another similar one of the Commons 
 to-day at Ponsonby's. . . . Wellesley, we are told, 
 was as good as turned out of Carlton House when 
 he went back with Grey's refusal on Tuesday, and 
 this accounts for the ' violent personal objections ' 
 which he describes Prinney as having to Grey and 
 others. It is a rare mess, by God! . . ." 
 
 " Friday, 5th. 
 
 ". . . Moira has done nothing yet. Everybody has 
 refused him, but he is quite taken in by the Prince's 
 cajolery, and there is no saying what folly they may 
 not commit in their selection of a Ministry. . . ." 
 
 "York St., Saturday, 6th. 
 
 ". . . In coming up from the House I was much 
 surprised to meet Sam (Whitbread) covered with 
 smiles. He was enquiring where he could find 
 Sheridan. ... I presumed his trip to town was 
 merely upon private business, and in this persuasion 
 I remained till almost 3 o'clock this morning, when 
 old Sheridan became drunk and communicative. He 
 then told me he had sent an express for Sam, and 
 that the said Sam had been dining at Moira's, with 
 him Sheridan. Further than this he did not tell me, 
 excepting the expression of his own conviction that 
 Sam was the man both for the Prince and the People, 
 and that Wellesley, Canning and Grenville must all 
 be swamped and flung overboard. Was there ever 
 anything equal to this? ... If Sam does come in, 
 it must now be upon his own terms, and I cannot 
 think, after all my honest conduct to him, he could 
 desert me. . . . The Whigs evidently know of an 
 offer made to Whitbread, and are as civil to-day as 
 be damned. . . ." 
 
 * Henry Brook Parnell, M.P. [1776-1842], created Lord Congleton 
 in 1841 ; grand-uncle of Charles Stewart Parnell. 
 
i8i2.] LORD LIVERPOOL TAKES OFFICE. 165 
 
 " Brooks's, Monday, 8th. 
 
 "... I found from Sheridan yesterday just before 
 dinner that Moira was First Lord of the Treasury, 
 and that it was expected that the writs of Canning 
 and others would be moved for to-night in the 
 Commons. . . . He said he and Whitbread were to 
 dine at Moira's yesterday, and he concluded with his 
 regret that Whitbread was not Chancellor of the 
 Exchequer. ... I came, of course, here in the even- 
 ing, and I soon found there was a meeting of the 
 party at Ponsonby's to which, as I had no summons, 
 of course I did not go. I found from people as they 
 returned from this meeting that Whitbread had given 
 great offence by giving his opinion that Grey and 
 Grenville had pushed the thing too far in insisting, 
 under all circumstances of the case, upon the sur- 
 render of the household. . . . This morning brought to 
 my bed a note from Whitbread desiring to see me, 
 which of course I instantly complied with, and from 
 himself I learnt all the particulars of his intercourse 
 with Moira. . . . Moira produced his plan for revok- 
 ing Orders in Council, conciliating America by all 
 manner of means, the most rigid economical reform, 
 nay, parliamentary reform if it was wished for : in 
 short every subject was most agreeable and satis- 
 factory. ... So far so good . . . but I have such a 
 devil of new matter pressing upon me I must be 
 off. Huskisson has just announced to people in the 
 streets that Moira's powers are revoked, and that a 
 message is coming from the Prince saying he (Moira) 
 cannot form a Government, and that he has ordered 
 his old servants to proceed with public business." 
 
 " House of Commons. Same date. 
 
 " Well, this is beyond anything. Castlereagh has 
 just told us that Moira resigned the commission this 
 morning, and that His Royal Highness had appointed 
 Lord Liverpool Prime Minister. Was there ever any- 
 thing equal to this ? . . ." 
 
l66 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch.VIII. 
 
 " House of Commons, Tuesday, gth. 
 ". . . There has been a meeting of Government 
 members at Lord Liverpool's house to-day, and he 
 has declared to them the intention of the Government 
 not to oppose the Catholic question as a Government 
 measure, but everybody is to do as he pleases. Of 
 course the measure will now take place and it will be 
 done by Liverpool, Eldon,* &c. This convinces me 
 more than ever of the great fault committed by Grey 
 and Grenville in letting their negociations go off 
 about the Household . . . but they are all at once 
 so prodigiously constitutional, one almost suspects 
 one's own judgment. They are, at all events, dished 
 for the present, and most lucky will they be to be 
 so, if anything like a rupture with America is now 
 determined upon by that country, because that 
 event, I am positive, gives check-mate at once to the 
 revenue of this country."! 
 
 " House of Commons, Wednesday, loth. 
 "Well, the Doctor t succeeds Ryder as Secretary 
 of State for the Home Department ; Lord Harrowby 
 succeeds the Doctor; Lord Bathurst succeeds Lord 
 Liverpool, Bragge Bathurst is Chancellor of the 
 Dutchy — such is the worthy new Administration. Is 
 it not capital ? so much for ' No predilections ' nor 
 yet 'resentments.'" 
 
 Sydney Smith to Mr. Creevey {who had written at 
 
 Lord Grey's request to desire him, to vote for Lord 
 
 Milton). 
 
 "June 6th, 1812. 
 
 "Your letter followed me here, where I had 
 come after voting for Lord Milton,§ one of the most 
 
 * It was done by their party, but not until sixteen years had 
 passed ; Liverpool was dead, and Eldon as strongly opposed as ever to 
 emancipation. 
 
 t War with the United States began exactly nine days after these 
 words were written. 
 
 X Lord Sidmouth. 
 
 § Eldest son of the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. 
 
i8i2.] CREEVEY STANDS FOR LIVERPOOL. 167 
 
 ungainly looking young men I ever saw. I gave my 
 other vote for Wilberforce,* on account of his good 
 conduct in Africa, a place returning no members to 
 parliament, but still, from the extraordinary re- 
 semblance its inhabitants bear to human creatures, 
 of some consequence. An election out of West- 
 minster is sad work — at the moment of the greatest 
 ferment, York was, in the two great points of ebriety 
 and pugnacity, as quiet as average London at about 
 3 o'clock in the morning." 
 
 The following extracts are from the exceedingly 
 voluminous reports which Mr. Creevey sent almost 
 daily to his wife during the contest for Liverpool. 
 
 " Tuesday, | past one. " The name of this place is the 
 
 (September, 1812.) Fair Unknown, a single house 
 
 14 miles this side of Colchester 
 
 and about 30 miles on this 
 
 side of Thetford. 
 
 " No horses, by Jingo ! so I'll eat a tight little 
 beef stake, tho' it is so early in the day ; but what, 
 you know, am I to do till the horses come home? 
 . . . Oh, I find the name of my present residence is 
 Copdock. . . ." 
 
 "Thetford, Wednesday, September, 1812. 
 
 ". . . So the parliament is really dissolved, my 
 pretty, and I have seen the principal people of my 
 constituents, and they behave like angels to me. I 
 mean your Bidwells, Faux's, Pawsons, &c., &c., take 
 a deep interest about Liverpool, and will do what- 
 ever 1 wish as to the time of bringing on my election 
 here, so as to forward my views at Liverpool, will 
 not be the least offended if I succeed at Liverpool 
 for electing to sit for the latter place, and will bring 
 in any other person in my place whom the Petre 
 family shall name. . . . This is something like, is it 
 not ? What is more, they talk of dining at their own 
 
 * William Wilberforce [1759-1833], M.P. for Hull 1780, and for 
 Yorkshire 1784. An active philanthropist, his name must ever be 
 associated with the suppression of the Slave Trade. 
 
Id8 the CREEVEY papers. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 expense on the day of election, i.e., giving me a dinner 
 instead of my giving them one, and so to save me as 
 they say, from being plundered. I begin to think 
 Mankind's damned fair, don't you ? ... I am now 
 perfectly at ease upon this subject, and to be sure 
 there was never anyone so fortunate as I am in 
 escaping the agony of any dilemma upon an occasion 
 of such complicated importance." 
 
 Unpleasant rumours began to fly about presently 
 concerning the intentions of the Duke of Grafton, 
 who owned the second seat for Thetford, the Duke 
 of Norfolk and Lord Petre owning the other. 
 Creevey had become the guest of Mr. Bernard 
 Howard at Fornham, near Bury, pending a summons 
 to Liverpool. He was getting nervous about the 
 tricks his colleague in that candidature might play 
 him, for he had learnt already to regard Brougham 
 with considerable distrust. 
 
 ". . . Forster speaks very mysteriously about 
 Ossulston's having the Duke's seat (for Thetford) 
 again, which alarmed me not a little. Our neigh- 
 bour, Marchioness Cornwallis, was passing in her 
 barouche, and calls Howard to the carriage, who was 
 alone in the road. 
 
 "'And so,' says she, 'the Duke of Grafton turns 
 Mr. Creevey out of Thetford at last' 
 
 " ' Upon your soul ! ' says Barny, ' then there's a 
 volley for you, for Mr. Creevey is now at my house, 
 and is to be member for Thetford next Thursday, and 
 for Liverpool the week after.' 
 
 " So the Gordon chienne * went off as grumpy 
 as be damned ! . . . Howard is very good to me 
 and I amuse him very much. He is confidential 
 about young Harry and the dukedom, which he 
 evidently expects to be in possession of before long. 
 
 * The Marchioness Cornwallis (who died in 1850) was daughter 
 of Jane, Duchess of Gordon, wife of the 4th duke. 
 
i8i2.] RE-ELECTED FOR THETFORD. 169 
 
 I see he means never to sell his seats. Jockey 
 does."* 
 
 " Fornham, Sunday, 4th October. 
 " Diddy t has no letter again to-day from Roscoe,t 
 but he expects one by express in the course of the 
 evening. I should not be least surprised if the Liver- 
 pool election did not take place till to-morrow week, 
 and that in that event I might safely stay over the 
 Thetford one on Thursday. . . . This express, when- 
 ever it comes from Roscoe, will bring with it, of 
 course, some of Brog-ham's ingenuous remarks. . . . 
 Bernard Howard is deeply affected with the apparent 
 treachery of my colleague [Brougham], and his evident 
 wishes to give me the go-by ; but we shall see what 
 we shall see." 
 
 The express came that night ; a note from 
 Brougham, and a letter from Roscoe with news from 
 Liverpool. 
 
 ". . . Gascoigne and Tarleton § came here to-day, 
 both indifferently supported, particularly the latter, 
 who came on horseback with only two friends. They 
 are neither of them popular. . . . Canning, it is said, 
 will make his appearance on Monday. . . . Gladstone 
 is his commander-in-chief Believe me, our prospects 
 are very flattering." 
 
 Creevey, therefore, had to set out for Liverpool 
 post haste, but found time at every stopping-place to 
 write to his wife. He was duly elected without 
 opposition for Thetford on 8th October. 
 
 * The nth Duke of Norfolk was known as "the Jockey." He 
 died in 181 5, and was succeeded in the dukedom by the above- 
 mentioned Bernard Howard, great-grandfather of the present duke. 
 
 t Creevey's pet names among his family were Diddy and Nummy. 
 
 X William Roscoe [1753-1831], historian, &c. ; represented Liver- 
 pool in 1806, but lost his seat in 1807. 
 
 § The old members for Liverpool. Tarleton retired in favour of 
 Canning. Colonel (afterwards General Sir Banastre) Tarleton [1754- 
 1833] was for twenty-one years member for Liverpool. 
 
170 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 " Cambridge, Monday, 5th Oct. 
 " You will be somewhat surprised to see Diddy's 
 handwriting from his favorite University. The ac- 
 companying letter from Wm. Roscoe will explain this 
 movement. . . . Bernard Howard has been as good 
 to me as possible, and you would delight in his 
 suspicions of Brougham. . . . Come, Mr. John Horn, 
 where are my eels and mutton-chops? — Here they 
 are, by Jingo, and the said John, who is an old friend 
 of mine of five and twenty years' standing, says he 
 can give me an excellent bottle of port. — No such 
 thing : I never tasted worse. The chops were, how- 
 ever, damned fair. ... I send for the approbation of 
 yourself and my dears, Diddy's colours at Thetford. 
 . . . To Diddy himself they produce most agreeable 
 sensations ; they constitute to him a certain seat in 
 parliament, and they remind him of a connection 
 really virtuous, without propitiating a capricious 
 bitch, and without Villain [Brougham] always fright- 
 ful. So I am as happy as a grig with little Thet, and 
 don't care a damn for Liverpool my little Pet." 
 
 Arrived in Liverpool, Creevey was plunged into 
 the thick of a hot contest, the details whereof are of 
 little interest at this day. At that period, the poll 
 remained open for many days, generally a fortnight, 
 and Creevey reported progress every night to his 
 wife at Brighton. Brougham succeeded at first in 
 reassuring him as to his good faith. 
 
 " Liverpool, nth Oct. 
 "... I must say Brougham behaves as well as a 
 man can possibly do, and I am every day more struck 
 with the endless mine of his intellectual resources. 
 Nevertheless his speech to the crowd yesterday was 
 thought not near so good as mine. . . . The people 
 pet me in a way that is, upon my soul, affecting. . . . 
 Lord Hutchinson says the Russian accounts of their 
 victories are all lies, and that they are inevitably 
 ruined, and the French quite safe in Moscow, having 
 quite cut off all the trade of Petersburgh and Riga." 
 
i8i2.] DEFEAT AT LIVERPOOL. 171 
 
 " 14th October. 
 ". . . We had an excellent day yesterday : Sefton, 
 Stanley,* Brougham, Roscoe, Ashton, Heywood, &c., 
 &c. To be sure it is quite astonishing to see the 
 superiority of our friends over those of the enemy as 
 to rank and good manners, and then they do behave 
 so perfectly to one, it is quite beautiful. . . . Sefton 
 has really been most interesting to me since breakfast 
 in discussing the education of his son. Lord Molyneux, 
 who is sixteen years of age, at Eton and a tutor with 
 him. Who would think that these people (I mean he 
 and my lady), in the midst of their eating and drink 
 and play and racing, &c., &c., are eternally at work 
 in the education of their children ? . . . My lady is 
 greatly touched at my writing to you every day, and 
 praises me much for it. . . ." 
 
 "Thursday,' 1 8th Oct. 
 "Well, my pretty, Diddy and Brog-ham are fairly 
 done — beat to mummy; but we are to take the chance 
 of some miracle taking place in our favor during the 
 night, and are not to strike till eleven or twelve or 
 one to-morrow. We had to do with artists who did 
 not know their trade. Poor Roscoe made much too 
 sanguine an estimate of our strength. . . ." 
 
 Creevey and Brougham withdrew from the contest 
 next day, Creevey being at the bottom of the poll 
 with 1060 votes, but claiming a moral victory. 
 
 "To play second fiddle to Brougham," he wrote 
 to his wife, " would not be worth a dam. If it be an 
 object worthy my ambition to get possession of 
 Liverpool and to keep it, then I say that my game, and 
 my game only, has been played, and that the whole 
 dramatis personce, Brougham and Canning included, 
 might have been puppets selected by myself to serve 
 my own ulterior purposes. Depend upon it, Diddy 
 never played a slyer part than in his unassuming, 
 modest character in which he has appeared before his 
 fellow townsmen. 
 
 * Afterwards 13th Earl of Derby. 
 
172 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 ". . . My popularity with all sides I find still keeps 
 up to the last, thd I was last upon the poll. . . . There 
 is to be a grand affair here on Friday — a dinner and a 
 ball and supper for Canning. He goes dining out 
 daily, to Boulton's and such places. I envy not his 
 happy lot ! . . ." 
 
 " Croxteth Park, 17th Oct., 1812. 
 
 "Now for the first time since Diddy left home, 
 can he sit down in quietness to write to his pretty. 
 ... As to the result of the campaign, disastrous 
 as it is in the extent of the defeat, it is impos- 
 sible to consider the whole as unfavorable to me 
 In the first place, my friends will have no occasion 
 for their compassion for my being out of parliament. 
 This is everything to begin with. Then I have begun 
 a connection with the town of Liverpool to be used 
 or not at my discretion on future occasions. . . . 
 Canning, in the present state of things, mtist be shortly 
 in office, and then he vacates, and I never will believe 
 that as a Minister of State he will submit to the club 
 canvassing. . . . You never saw a fellow in your life 
 look so miserable as he has done throughout. ... I 
 have been perfectly amazed during this campaign at the 
 marvellous talent of Brougham in his addresses to the 
 people. He poured in a volley of declamation against 
 the immortal memory of Pitt the day before yesterday, 
 describing his immortality as proclaimed by the 
 desolation of his own country and the subjugation of 
 mankind, that, by God, shook the very square and all 
 the houses in it from the applause it met with. Yester- 
 day he renewed the subject by a comparison of Fox 
 with Pitt, that was done with equal skill and success. 
 Still, 1 cannot like him. He has always some game 
 or underplot out of sight — some mysterious corre- 
 spondence — some extraordinary connection with 
 persons quite opposite to himself" 
 
 " Knowsley, 19th Oct. 
 
 ". . . We are all mighty gracious here. My lady 
 [Derby] told me before we went in to dinner yesterday 
 to sit with my best ear next to her. . . . We sat down 
 22 to dinner, all of them Hornbys, except 4 Hortons, 2 
 Ramthornes, young Ashton and myself. My lord was 
 
'^aiAgf &&!>ck£j'el0^h.3c . 
 
 ■in. earlu'iife. 
 
i8i2.] AT KNOWSLEY. 1/3 
 
 in excellent spirits, and, for such company, it went off 
 all very well. ... I never saw Lady Stanley looking 
 so well, or in such good spirits. She and her lord 
 are damned attentive to Diddy, so upon the whole, 
 you know, it is very well he came. ... I won a 
 shilling last night, I'd have you know, and then ate 
 some shrimps, and Lady Derby would have some 
 negus made for me alone ; and all the toadys laughed 
 very much, because my lady did, so it was all very 
 well. . . . 
 
 "There is beginning to be damned distress in 
 Liverpool already, and if the Americans will but 
 continue the war for a twelvemonth, Masters Canning 
 and Gascoigne and their supporters will have enough 
 of it. 
 
 ". . . Let me not omit to mention to you that 
 Col. Gordon,* who you know is with Wellington, is in 
 constant correspondence with both Grey and Whit- 
 bread, and that his accounts are of the most desponding 
 cast. He considers our ultimate discomfiture as a 
 question purely of time, and that it may happen on 
 any day, however early ; that our pecuniary resources 
 are utterly exhausted, and that the [illegible] of the 
 French in recovering from their difficulties is in- 
 exhaustible ; that Wellington himself considers this 
 resurrection of Marmont's broken troops as an absolute 
 miracle in war, and in short Gordon considers that 
 Wellington is in very considerable danger.f Of 
 course you will not use this information but in the 
 most discreet manner." 
 
 Creevey took his defeat with equanimity, falling 
 back upon his seat at Thetford. Not so Brougham, 
 who could not but feel sore at his exclusion from an 
 
 * The Hon. Sir Alexander Gordon, brother of the 4th Earl of 
 Aberdeen. He was aide-de-camp, first to his uncle, Sir David Baird, 
 then to the Duke of Wellington, and was killed at Waterloo. 
 
 t Marmont having been defeated at Salamanca on 22nd July, 
 Wellington occupied Madrid. But on 21st October he was forced to 
 raise the siege of Burgos and begin his retreat upon the Portuguese 
 frontier which partook more of the nature of disaster than any 
 operation ever undertaken by him. 
 
1/4 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. VIII. 
 
 arena where he felt so well qualified to excel. And 
 when Brougham felt sore, he made it his business to 
 make others smart also ; never did he forgive Grey 
 for the philosophy with which that gentleman accepted 
 Brougham's departure from Parliament. 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "TheHoo, 1812. 
 ". . . Should I (being quite certain that I am out 
 for good, inasmuch as I see no possible seat and have 
 received from all the leaders, except Grey, regular 
 letters of dismissal, thanking me for past services, 
 &c.) should I take parliamentary practice or not? My 
 first intention was quite clear agt. it ; for, tho' I don't 
 affect to say a large bit of money would be disagree- 
 able, yet gold may be bought too dear, and I don't 
 like to lower myself, either in Parlt. or the country, 
 to Adam's level. I never hesitated on this till I began 
 to get angry with the leading Whigs for their cool 
 way of taking leave [of me] ; as much as to say — it is 
 out of the question our ever bringing you in again. 
 This, and the knowledge of others, as Plume [?], &:c., 
 being brought in, has rather raised my spleen, and 
 given me an inclination to go into that line and make 
 enough to buy a seat (with what 1 can afford to add, 
 viz. ;^20oo or £2500), and then come in and enjoy the 
 purest of all pleasures — at once do what I most 
 approve of in politics and give the black ones an 
 infernal licking every other night ! Now really this 
 is my only inducement, and I am half doubting about 
 it. My judgment tells me not to go into Committee 
 practice; but what do you think? I own I shall be 
 pleased if you are as clear agt. it as I feel ; but pray 
 give your opinion with dispatch. Talk it over with 
 Ward if you see him. . . ." 
 
( 175 ) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1813-1814. 
 
 The Tories came back triumphant from the polls in 
 18 1 2. Lord Liverpool had succeeded Perceval as 
 Prime Minister ; although Canning remained still an 
 ominous, brooding figure on the skirts of the party. 
 Castlereagh had succeeded Wellesley at the Foreign 
 Office, and his charming manner and amiability stood 
 him in far better stead as leader of the House of 
 Commons than greater rhetorical gifts could have 
 done. Moreover, his able and far-sighted conduct of 
 foreign policy, coupled with the favourable progress 
 of the Peninsular campaign, impressed men at last 
 with the conviction that Napoleon had overshot his 
 mark, and that the will of England was to be enforced. 
 Under these depressing circumstances, the old Whigs 
 inclined to withdraw from active hostilities in Par- 
 liament; while the Radicals — "the Mountain," as they 
 delighted to call themselves — cast about for some 
 new weapon of offence against the hated Administra- 
 tion. There was one ready to their hand — one that 
 was to serve them for many a year to come ; and it 
 was Brougham, though without a seat in Parliament, 
 who best saw its value and how it was to be wielded. 
 It were an unpleasant and unnecessary task to 
 repeat the unlovely story of the Prince Regent's 
 
176 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 married life. It is enough to remember that, in order 
 to please his father, George III., and induce him to 
 pay his debts, the Prince married Princess Caroline 
 of Brunswick in 1795. She never was an agreeable 
 woman; there never was the slightest affection be- 
 tween them, and, after the birth of their only child. 
 Princess Charlotte, they separated; and the Prince, 
 among many other less venial loves, returned to Mrs. 
 Fitzherbert, whom he had solemnly married in 1786; 
 and for whom, as Mr. Creevey has already explained in 
 these papers, he maintained a remarkable establish- 
 ment at Brighton and in London. Meanwhile, the 
 Princess of Wales resided at Blackheath, and the 
 profligate life of her husband sufficed to attract to 
 her a large share of popular commiseration. News 
 filtered slowly to the provinces in those days of tardy 
 communication, else the public scandal must have 
 roused the nation to dangerous manifestations. 
 
 In 1806, owing to manifold indiscretions of this 
 unfortunate Princess, a Commission of twenty-three 
 Privy Councillors was appointed, at her husband's 
 instance, to inquire into her conduct. She was ac- 
 quitted on the charge of having borne an illegitimate 
 child, though censure was passed upon her mode of 
 life. George III. refused to allow Princess Charlotte 
 to be taken out of her mother's custody, but when the 
 kindly old King became hopelessly mad, the power 
 passed into the hands of the Regent, who forbade his 
 wife to see her daughter more than once a fortnight. 
 Thereupon the Princess addressed a letter of re- 
 monstrance to her husband. The only acknowledg- 
 ment she received was as follows, from the Prime 
 Minister : — 
 
1813-14.] THE REGENT'S DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 177 
 
 Lord Liverpool to Lady Charlotte Campbell. 
 
 " Fife House, 28 Jany., 18 13. 
 
 " Lord Liverpool has the Honour, in answer to 
 Lady Charlotte Campbell's note of this morning, to 
 acquaint her Ladyship for the Information of Her 
 Royal Highness the Princess of Wales that the 
 Prince Regent, having permitted the Lord Chancellor 
 and Lord Liverpool to communicate to His Royal 
 Highness the Contents of the Letter which they had 
 received from the Princess in such manner as they 
 might think proper, the Letter of the Princess was 
 read to His Royal Highness. 
 
 " His Royal Highness was not pleased to signify 
 any commands upon it." 
 
 After the general election of 18 12, it was obvious 
 that the Opposition had no further grounds for hope 
 from their ancient friendship with the Prince Regent. 
 He had thrown them overboard, as he never hesitated 
 to do anybody who had ceased to be useful or 
 amusing to him. Brougham, therefore, who had 
 been presented to the Princess of Wales in 1809, and 
 who perceived how the sympathy excited by her 
 unfortunate position might be made to reflect odium 
 upon Ministers, and at the same time to injure the 
 Prince Regent, proffered his legal services to the 
 Princess. Associated with him was Whitbread, who, 
 however little may be thought of his discretion, was 
 probably perfectly disinterested and sincere in de- 
 siring that justice should be done. Acting under the 
 advice of these counsellors, after waiting in vain for 
 an answer to her letter to her husband, the Princess 
 caused the said letter to be published in the Morning 
 Chronicle, The result was the appointment of another 
 commission of three and twenty Privy Councillors, 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 who, by 21 votes to 2, supported the Prince's decree 
 about the intercourse that should be permitted be- 
 tween his wife and daughter. From this time forward 
 Brougham, perceiving the means of avenging the 
 treatment of the Whigs by the Prince Regent and, at 
 the same time, making poHtical capital out of the 
 Princess's wrongs, became indefatigable in the cause. 
 He and Whitbread drew to themselves the cordial 
 support of the Radicals, who waxed indignant with 
 the old Whigs by reason of their constitutional 
 scruples in taking action against the Regent. Thus 
 the schism in the Opposition grew ever deeper; nor 
 was it any part of Brougham's plan that it should be 
 healed, so long as he should be out of Parliament. 
 He wrote incessantly to Creevey about the varying 
 phases of the case, which it would be wearisome and 
 unprofitable to follow in detail. A few extracts follow 
 as examples of the style and spirit of his letters, in 
 which the Prince Regent is usually referred to as 
 " Prinney " or " P.," the Princess of Wales as " Mrs. 
 P.," and Princess Charlotte as "young P." The 
 sequence of Brougham's letters is matter for specu- 
 lation, owing to his habit of not dating them. In 
 some cases the exact date can be learnt from the 
 postmark. 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey \at Brighton]. 
 
 " Brooks's, 1813. 
 
 "Dear Creevey, 
 
 " Come to town to-morrow for Mr. Prinney. 
 Let me console you with the news that the fellow 
 was hissed to-day going to Court, and hooted loudly. 
 All this is good ... A word or two upon the question 
 of peace or war. Canning was down yesterday — 
 
I8I3-I4-] BROUGHAM ON THE WAR-PATH. 179 
 
 Bogey* for war— Ld. Grey semi-pacific — Samf the 
 only peace-maker. Prinney «7/— dropsy, [illegible], 
 strictures, &c. — it will do ! " 
 
 " Temple. 
 
 "Dear C, 
 
 " In order to keep you up in the affairs of the 
 Prinnies as they go on, I write from time to time, for 
 if I let some days pass it would take too long a time 
 at this busy season, when I really have my hands 
 quite full, were there no Prinnies in the world. 
 Also, this way of apprizing you of things as they 
 happen enables you to form a safe opinion by being 
 kept constantly informed. 
 
 " The scene at Carlton House is quite perfect : 
 there is nothing at all equal to it. I laughed for an 
 hour. Of course Mrs. Ffitzherbert] must be re- 
 ligiously kept concealed. I have an arrear of things 
 which are too long to write, and some things to shew ; 
 so these must be left till you come to town. The most 
 curious is young P.'s letter to old P. which gave rise 
 to all the row at Windsor. 
 
 "Notwithstanding the opening all letters, which 
 we at first thought under the Dss. of L. would have 
 been terribly inconvenient, things have got back 
 nearly into their own channel, for young P. contrived 
 to send her mother a letter of 28 pages, and to re- 
 ceive from her the Morning Chronicle with all the 
 articles about herself, as well as the examination. 
 Now these, I take it, are exactly what old P. had 
 rather she did not see. She takes the most pro- 
 digious interest in the controversy, and I am going 
 to draw up a legal opinion respecting her case. . . . 
 I plainly see it excites no small anxiety, for the D. of 
 Glos'ter asked me very earnestly if I knew from 
 whence the articles in the M. C. came, and was greatly 
 [illegible] when I told him Yarmouth was the man in 
 Courier, which he certainly is. Of course, my helping 
 Perry to his law is a profound secret. I told the D. I 
 knew nothing about it. He had no right to put the 
 question. 
 
 "A strange attempt was made by McMahon to 
 
 * Lord Granville. 
 
 t Whitbread. The question was the dispute with the United States. 
 
l8o THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 bribe and then to bully the editor of the Star (which 
 is greatly in the Pss's. interest). He wanted him to 
 insert a paragraph against her. Last Saturday he 
 went again, and such a scene passed as I would fain 
 send you, having before me the man's own written 
 statement ; but I dare not, in case it is sent you. It 
 began with enquiries and offers — to know the advisers 
 of his paper on the subject of the Pss., and whether 
 she had anything to say to it, and offers of paying for 
 a paragraph ; and ended with his saying he should 
 come again on Monday ; and then going to see the 
 press, and talking to every one of 20 printers, and 
 giving them 2 guinea to drink ! ! We had a man to 
 meet him and identify and witness his bribery on 
 Monday, and I expect his report. . . . 
 
 " In a few days we must open our batteries in 
 form. Sam [Whitbread] has had it out with Sheridan 
 at Southill, and writes that he is quite convinced they 
 have no case at all. ... I expect to see the Govt, jib, 
 for tho' the fire of the outposts is really most for- 
 midable, it is distant and scattered ; — that of the City 
 is very near and loud, and Prinney is likely to be 
 frightened by it. . . . As for little P. in general, it is a 
 long chapter. Her firmness I am sure of, and she 
 has proved to a singular degree adviseable and dis- 
 creet ; but for anything further, as sincerity, &c., &c., 
 one must see much more to make such an exception 
 to the rule credible. However, my principle is — ^take 
 her along with you as far as you both go the same 
 road. It is one of the constitutional means of making 
 head against a revenue of 105 millions (diminished, 
 I am glad to say, this year in the most essential 
 branch of all — excise), an army of J million, and 800 
 millions of debt. . . ." 
 
 " Lancaster, Monday, 1813. 
 
 " You will think it rather cool my not coming to 
 town as soon as possible in the present state of 
 affairs, but I have two reasons. I thmk Mrs. Prinnie 
 will be insisting on some further measures the moment 
 she sees me, and I wish it to subside into an arrange- 
 ment before I return. I shall come up as soon as they 
 begin to negociate. My other reason is a degree of 
 dislike of the whole concern, which has, in spite of 
 
I8I3-I4-] BROUGHAM'S OPINION OF WHITBREAD. l8l 
 
 myself, come over me since the row with the Com- 
 missioners, especially on account of Erskine. The 
 blackening of Ellenboro' is not sufficient to counter- 
 balance this. I can't help thinking the omission of 
 the questions venial, as long as the evidence was not 
 published ; and then the charge agt. the Comms. was 
 only their going beyond the inquiry assigned to 
 them, and recommending a sort of censure on an ex 
 parte proceeding. Which was wrong, I think ; but 
 one can't help regretting anything which damages, 
 not Grenville, but the whole Whigs. This should 
 always be avoided if possible." 
 
 " Brougham, Sunday, 6 April, 1813. 
 
 ". . . Now on this question [that of bringing in a 
 declaratory bill regarding the Princess of Wales] once 
 for all, do not listen to Sam [Whitbreadl He has 
 NO HEAD. Depend upon it he has not. He is good 
 for execution, but nothing for council, except, indeed, 
 as far as his courage and honesty go, which are 
 invaluable, but not of themselves sufficient. The 
 idea of the galleries being shut would frighten him to 
 death, for he speaks very much with an eye to the 
 newspapers. Now my belief is that if a good and 
 popular ground for shutting them could be got {as- 
 this may be made) a most prodigious step would be 
 gained. But, it will be said, why degrade the House 
 in this way ? I reply, if the Elouse is base enough 
 after making a row 3 years ago about its privileges, 
 when they were to be used against the people, now 
 to yield up everything like the privileges which can 
 really serve the people, it deserves to be brought into 
 every sort of contempt, and the sooner the people 
 quarrel with it, the better. Perhaps you may thmk 
 my desire too romantic a one — viz. to see a whole 
 session pass with shut doors. I certainly do wish 
 devoutly to see it, knowing the price we pay for 
 reading debates ; but at present I am only speaking 
 of such a shutting as may produce acquiescence in 
 the Bill, which will become necessary should the 
 Courts decide against us. While mentioning Whit- 
 bread, I must say that his two capital blunders in the 
 Pss. business certainly don't tend to raise my notion 
 
l82 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 of his judgt. . . . Pray don't forget to let me know 
 what the Mountain mean to do about the Livery 
 dinner." 
 
 "20 April, 1 8 13. 
 
 ". . . Mrs. P. (a bore which I always thought 
 awaited you, tho' I have put it off as well as I could) 
 insists positively on your going there to dinner as 
 soon as you return. She would have had you meet 
 Mrs. Beauclerk there yesterday, but I said you were 
 at Brighton. . . ." 
 
 "York, Wednesday, 10 May, 1810. 
 "Dear C, 
 
 " I find by Ly. C. Lindsay that there is an 
 idea of another letter from the Pss. to Prinnie, and 
 that Whitbread has written one. Pray try to impress 
 upon him the fatal effects of any more letters. She 
 will be called the Compleat Letterwriter and become 
 generally despised. At all events, let some time 
 elapse and see what they mean to do." 
 
 "Temple, Monday, 1813. 
 "... I have nothing to tell you, except that 
 Mother P. certainly goes to the Tea Garden to-morrow 
 night, to meet her husband. It was her own idea, 
 but 1 highly approve of it on his account ; and as the 
 Dss. of York goes, it is fit Mrs. P. should go too, if 
 it were only for 5 minutes. The consternation of 
 Prinnie is wonderful. I'll bet a little money he don't 
 go himself, so that the whole thing will have gone 
 off as well as possible. Young P. and her father 
 have had frequent rows of late, but one pretty serious 
 one. He was angry at her for flirting with the D. of 
 Devonshire, and suspected she was talking politics. 
 This began it. It signifies nothing how they go on 
 this day or that — in the long run, quarrel they must. 
 He has not equality of temper, or any other kind of 
 sense, to keep well with her, and she has a spice of 
 her mother's spirit : so interfere they must at every 
 turn. ... I suspect they will befool the above duke. 
 He is giving in to it, I hear, and P. will turn short- 
 about, in all likelihood, after making him dance and 
 dangle about, and perhaps break with his friends, and 
 
I8I3-I4-] PARTISANS. 183 
 
 put on his dignified air on which he piques himself, 
 and then say — ' Your Grace will be pleased to recollect 
 the difference between you and my daughter.' 
 
 " I may be wronging the young man after all, for I 
 am out of the way of hearing anything. Since the 
 last time I saw you, I have only been twice to the 
 westward of Charing Cross. Once was to see Lord 
 Thanet. He is quite well again, and in high force — 
 particularly abusive of Prinney, whom he objects to 
 on account of his vulgarity, and compares to the 
 Bourgeois Gentilhomme in Moliere — a name which has 
 got about, and must inevitably annoy P. more than 
 even ' our fat friend.' . . ." 
 
 " Temple, Wednesday [18 13]. 
 
 ". . . The cry against Sam [Whitbread] is high 
 and, like all base things, higher since he left town. 
 . . . The bitterness is among the jobbers and under- 
 strappers of the party, who wish to blow up the coals, 
 and put an end to the party at once, for reasons too 
 obvious. . . . Grey, as you may suppose, partakes of 
 little or none of the violence, now the heat is off. . . . 
 Fitzpatrick's last words, I believe, were — La piece est 
 Hnie, uttered with his usual cool and determined tone 
 to Lord Robert, there being servants in the room. 
 He had said immediately before to Lady Robert (who 
 was going, and said she should see him again) — ' Not 
 in this world ' — from whence your piety will naturally 
 derive an inference, by way of admission, of a future 
 state. He leaves about ;^ 10,000 in legacies. ... I 
 thought you might like to hear these particulars 
 respecting the end of by far the most clever of the 
 quiet class I have ever seen, and the most perfect 
 judgt. of any class.* . . ." 
 
 Lady Charlotte Lindsay to Mr. Brougham. 
 
 " Wednesday. 
 " Everything went off remarkably well last night. 
 We waited at the D. of Brunswick's till we heard 
 that the Duchess of Y[ork] was at Vauxhall ; we then 
 
 * General Richard Fitzpatrick [1747-1813], for thirty-three years 
 M.P. for Tavistock ; a most intimate friend of C. J. Fox, 
 
l84 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 proceeded there, and were much huzza'd and applauded 
 by the crowd at the door, and also by the people in 
 the gardens, which was much more than 1 had ex- 
 pected, having considered it always as the enemies' 
 quarters. There were a few hisses at last, but very 
 few indeed. The Duke of Gloucester escorted the 
 Pss. round the walks, and the Duke of Kent handed 
 her out and took care of her to the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick's house, where we supped. In short, nothing 
 could be more right and proper, dull and fatiguing, 
 than our last night's adventures. . . ." 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 " Holland House, Wednesday. 
 
 ". . . Lord Darlington is to marry his bonne amie 
 Mrs. Russell, alias Funnereau, this week;* and his 
 daughter has chosen Mr. Forester. Neither of these 
 alliances are brilliant. Mme. de Stael continues to 
 be an invariable topick. The servants at assemblies 
 announce her as Mrs. Stale. Her daughter, the 
 seduisante Albertine^ is very much relished by those 
 who know her well." 
 
 " Holland House [no date, 1813]. 
 
 "... I have seen few people and heard no news. 
 . . . Lt. Clifford (the Dss. of D.'s son t) is to marry 
 Lord John Townshend's 2nd daughter : Ld. Clinton 
 Miss Poyntz. The report at Windsor is that Prin- 
 cess Charlotte is in a bad state of health — a fixed 
 pain in her side, for which she wears a perpetual 
 blister ; and she is grown very large and is generally 
 unwell. The Duke of York was so tipsy at [illegible'] 
 that he fell down and was blooded immediately, and 
 whilst the Queen was delivering her warlike manifesto, 
 the little Pss. was making game and turning her back 
 
 * They were married on 27th July. Lord Darlington was created 
 Duke of Cleveland in 1833. 
 
 t Admiral Sir Augustus Clifford, Bart., C.B., died in 1877. The 
 4th Duke of Devonshire married in 1748 Charlotte, Baroness Clifford. 
 She died in 1754, and the barony passed to her son the 5th Duke, 
 and from him to the 6th Duke, at whose death in 1858 it fell into 
 abeyance between his sisters the Countesses of Carlisle and Granville. 
 I cannot identify the person named in the text Lt, [? Ld.] Clifford. 
 
 4> 
 
 :*.K.-. i -? .J. 
 
 ^*-^..-, " • — ■ ■ ; 
 
 Js- '^*Ji:.v '^-J:^'^.^, H 
 
I8I3-I4-] PLOT AND COUNTER-PLOT. 1 85 
 
 upon her. . . . Poor Courtenay has had a paralytick 
 stroke, and Nollekens the sculptor is very ill from 
 the same dreadful visitation. Ld. Lauderdale's eldest 
 daughter was 8 days in labour of a dead child, and 
 was not out of danger when he wrote." 
 
 The reference in the following is to General Sir 
 John Murray, who raised the siege of Tarragona, and 
 embarked his troops on the approach of Suchet, for 
 which he was afterwards tried by court-martial. 
 Wellington's despatch of 3rd July contains criticism 
 of Murray's operations, the responsibility for which 
 the Opposition sought to throw upon Wellington.* 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Chillmgham, 33 July, 1813. 
 
 "... I think Wellington's observations about 
 Murray shamefuU : he would have been mad to fight 
 20,000 French with 12,000 Spaniards and 4000 English 
 and Germans. As usual — Wellington never allows 
 an excuse, nor ever enables an officer to execute any- 
 thing. He left Beresford at Albuera in the same 
 situation." 
 
 " Walton, Thursday night. 
 
 ". . . Is it true that Leveson has the credit of 
 working the intrigue for Canning? I was sure, and 
 I told Brougham and Whitbread so — that the visits 
 of him and his wife to Connaught Place announced an 
 intrigue, and that I knew them too well to believe 
 that any other motive but the basest took either of 
 them there. . . . Brougham must rejoice at the escape 
 of his client: however the Canningites are no strength 
 to these Ministers, and I look forward to rare fun 
 next session. If all these peerages take place, I am 
 for a regular attack on the prostitution of pubHc 
 honours, and a seriatim show-up of all the new 
 Ministry. . . . From what one can hear, the Congress 
 will be a pleasant scene for Milord Castlereagh. He 
 cannot but be in a scrape ; and Norway, St. Domingo, 
 
 * Wellington's Despatches, vol. x, p. 509, 
 
l86 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 the Slave Trade, Poland and Saxony, are rare topics 
 for future discussion. Have you read Brougham 
 upon Norway in the last number of the Edinburgh 
 Review ? If not, do it, as he is very good. . . ." 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Brougham, Sept. 15, 18 13. 
 ". . . My wound is almost well now, leaving only 
 a fine large mark, like a slash, on my head, forehead 
 and eyelid. ... I came off extremely well on the 
 whole, as you would have allowed had you seen the 
 cut, which was such as to send all the people — Bigges, 
 &c. — out of the room fainting, except the surgeon and 
 Strickland, who showed much skill in assisting him 
 to take up the artery. He was in the carriage with 
 me, and when taken out was supposed to be cut in 
 pieces, from his bloody figure ; but, on water being 
 applied, the blood was all found to be my property, 
 and he not even scratched. . . . Let me, in expressing 
 my entire abhorrence of Newcastle — its natives, its 
 inns, drives, horses, roads, precipices, pools, &c., &c., 
 say how skilful a surgeon they have in the person of 
 Mr. Home, who attended me, and who is really a 
 wonderful young man. To be sure he has some 
 practice ; for I suppose the bodies of half the natives, 
 m whole or in fragments, pass through his hands in 
 the course of a year. To be out of Hell, Newcastle 
 certainly is the damnedest district of country any- 
 where to be found. . . . Your account of the Brighton 
 festivities is invaluable. I am glad to be prepared for 
 the Jockey,* with whom I shall certainly take the 
 earliest opportunity of beginning the subject, in order 
 to make him admit before witnesses his having had 
 his journey to Brighton for his pains, and thus to 
 confirm his hatred of P.f . . . I beg to remind you 
 of my predictions, viz. Wellington's retreat in Novr. 
 or Deer., and a separate peace on the continent before 
 Xmas, tho' he clearly will never make such terms now 
 as he used to do formerly.^ . . ." 
 
 * The Duke of Norfolk. See vol. i. p. 50. 
 
 t The Prince Regent. 
 
 % The prediction was not fulfilled. Soult was driven across the 
 
1813-14.] NAPOLEON ABDICATES. 187 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Chillingham, 24th Sept., 1813. 
 
 " I have been looking out for a letter from you to 
 tell me all the news of the south, and your feies at the 
 Pavilion, at which I conclude you were, being in such 
 favour with our magnanimous Regent! In the ist 
 place — is it true that Parliament is to be assembled 
 on the 4th of November? If so, I am in despair, as in 
 town I cannot be, and to be out of it will drive me 
 wild. Money, I conclude, is the want, and as I feel 
 disposed to have a fight for every shilling, and to state 
 a grievance for each vote in supply, I am miserable at 
 the chance of the campaign opening without me. To 
 be sure, affairs look better on the Continent, and the 
 capture of St. Sebastian is of the greatest importance 
 to the safety of our army. We grumblers can have 
 nothing to say, but the question of expence nothing 
 can stave off. . . . To-day Ld. Grey was to have been 
 in the chair at the Fox dinner at Newcastle : this kept 
 me from the dinner, as Ld. Grey and the principles of 
 Mr. Fox have long ago parted company. I looked 
 on the meeting as a beat up for political friends — 
 as a sort of levee where I shall always be the worst 
 attender. . . ." 
 
 The year i8i4was one of great excitement, political 
 and social, in London. In early spring the Russian, 
 Prussian, and Austrian armies entered France, the 
 British army having been already established on the 
 north side of the Pyrenees since the previous autumn. 
 The Allies entered Paris on 31st March; a few days 
 later Napoleon abdicated and was allowed to retire to 
 Elba; Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of 
 France, and visited London in May, to be followed in 
 June by the Emperor of Russia, the King of Prussia, 
 
 Pyrenees on 2nd August; San Sebastian fell on 31st; the battle of 
 the Nivelle was fought on loth November ; Wellington went into winter 
 quarters early in December on French soil; Napoleon abdicated on 
 6th April, 18 14. 
 
I88 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 and other royalties. The proclamation of peace on 
 6th May marked the beginning of a series oi fetes and 
 rejoicings, which continued at intervals all through the 
 summer. Unfortunately, they served to bring into 
 harsher relief than before the scandalous relations be- 
 tween the Prince Regent and the Princess of Wales. 
 The Queen having commanded two drawing-rooms 
 to be held in June in honour of the foreign royalties, 
 the Princess intimated her intention to appear at one 
 of them ; whereupon the Queen wrote to the Princess, 
 informing her that she had received a communi- 
 cation from her son, the Prince Regent, stating that 
 it was necessary he should be present at her court, 
 and that he desired it to be understood, for reasons of 
 which he alone could be the judge, that it was his 
 "fixed and unalterable determination not to meet the 
 Princess of Wales upon any occasion, either public 
 or private." 
 
 One hundred years have not passed since these 
 events, yet what a distance have we travelled in the 
 development of popular judgment ! It would not be 
 possible for any Prince in these days to trample thus 
 upon public opinion, and to treat in this tyrannical 
 manner a wife whom it had been proved impossible 
 to convict of infidelity. The offence thus offered to 
 public morality and self-respect goes far to account 
 for the profound apprehensions for the monarchy 
 which men of all parties began to entertain in view 
 of the great increase in popular power which parlia- 
 mentary reform, not to be staved off much longer, 
 must necessarily entail. 
 
I8I3-I4-] TALES OF THE TOWN. 189 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs. Creevey \at Brighton]. 
 
 " Holland House, Saty. 
 
 ". . . The great wonder of the time is Mme. de 
 Stael. She is surrounded by all the curious, and 
 every sentence she utters is caught and repeated with 
 various commentaries. Her first appearance was at 
 Ly. Jersey's, where Lady Hertford also was, and 
 looked most scornfully at her, pretending her deter- 
 mination not to receive her as she was an atheist.' and 
 immoral woman. This harsh resolve was mitigated 
 by an observation very agreeable to the observer — 
 that her personal charms have greatly improved within 
 the last 25 years. She (Mme. de Stael) is violent 
 against the Emperor, who, she says, is not a man — 
 ' ce n'est point un homme, mais un systeme ' — an In- 
 carnation of the Revolution. Women he considers as 
 only useful 'pour produire les conscrits;' otherwise 
 'c'est une classe qu'il voudroit supprimer.' She is 
 much less ugly than I expected ; her eyes are fine, 
 and her hand and arm very handsome. She was 
 flummering Sheridan upon the excellence of his heart 
 and moral principles, and he in return upon her 
 beauty and grace. She is to live in Manchester Street, 
 and go occasionally to breathe the country air at 
 Richmond Inn. 
 
 "During the debate on the Swedish treaty, Mr. 
 Ward* came into the Coffee House, assigning for his 
 reason that he could not bear to hear Ld. Castlereagh 
 abuse his Master; upon which Jekyll said — 'Pray, 
 Ward, did yr. last Master give you a character, or did 
 this one take you without?' Those present describe 
 Ward as being overwhelmed, for, with all his talent, 
 he is not ready at repartee, tho' no doubt by this time 
 he has some neat epigrams upon the occasion. Lady 
 Jane has had a return of spitting of blood, and she 
 was blooded twice last week ; the pain in her breast 
 is very troublesome, and I much fear she is fast ap- 
 proaching to an untimely close of her innocent and 
 valuable life.f There are reports, but I believe idle 
 
 * Afterwards Lord Dudley. 
 
 t It had been strange if life had long endured in a patient treated 
 for phthisis by blood-letting ! 
 
IQO THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 ones, of marriages between Lady Mildmay and Ld. 
 Folkestone, and Sir Harry [Mildmay] and Miss Thayer. 
 Ld. H. Beauclerk is certainly to marry Miss Dillon. 
 The Greys . . . are not invited to the/e/es at C[arlton] 
 House, nor any more of the Opposition than usual. . . . ' 
 
 Lord Folkestone to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "April 5, 1 8 14. 
 ". . . . If you should happen to hear in the world 
 that I am going to be married to Mildmay's sister, you 
 need not put yourself to the trouble to deny it. I 
 have not any pretensions to suppose that Mrs. Taylor 
 interests herself enough about me to presume to write 
 to her, but I wish you would tell her from me that I 
 should have been glad to have had an opportunity of 
 informing her in person how immutable with me is 
 the power of black eyes. * . . ." 
 
 Thomas Sheridan\ to Samuel Whitbread, M.P. 
 
 [April, 1 8 14.] 
 " Bonaparte has signed his resignation — Bourbons 
 proclaimed — Victor, Ney, Marmont, Abbe Sieyes, 
 Caulincourt, &c., &c., &c., have sign'd. The Emperor 
 has a pension of 200,000 per ann. : and a retreat m the 
 Isle of Elba. . . . There are to be immense rejoicings 
 on Monday — white cockades and tremendous illumi- 
 nation. Carlton House to blaze with fleurs de lis, &c. 
 The royal yatch is ordered to take the King (Louis) 
 — the Admiral of the Fleet the Duke of Clarence to 
 command her — all true, honor bright — I am just come 
 from the Prince. 
 
 "Th. S." 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Thomas Sheridan. 
 
 " Cardington, April 10, 1814. 
 
 "My dear Sheridan, 
 
 " I thank you for your letter, and I daresay 
 you will not be surprized when I tell you that the 
 
 * The marriage took place 24th May, 1814. Miss Mildmay was 
 Lord Folkestone's second wife, and great-grandmother of the present 
 Lord Radnor. 
 
 t Son of R. B. Sheridan. 
 
18I3-I4-] THE PEACE. 191 
 
 Circumstances which have led to, and attend upon, 
 this great Event, are such as to enable me to contem- 
 plate it with entire satisfaction. 
 
 " A Limited Monarchy in France, with Religious 
 Liberty, a Free Press and Legislative Bodies such as 
 have been stipulated for before the Recognition of the 
 Bourbons, leave their Restoration without the possi- 
 bility of Regret in the Mind of any Man who is a 
 Lover of Liberty and a friend to his kind. Paris safe, 
 Bonaparte suffered to depart, after the experiment 
 had been fully tried of effecting a Peace with him, 
 upon terms such as he was mad to reject — 'Tis more 
 than I dared to hope ! 
 
 " Then the great Example set of the Fidelity of all 
 His Generals, and of the Armies they commanded, up 
 to the very Moment that He himself gave all up for 
 lost and opened his own Eyes to the consequences of 
 His own desperate Folly, must surely have its effect 
 on the World, and redeems many of the Treacheries 
 Men have committed against their Leaders. I confess 
 it pleases me beyond measure. . . . God grant us a 
 long and glorious Peace. 
 
 " If the Regent had but a true friend to tell him 
 that he has only two things to do at home to complete 
 the Happiness and Splendour of this Epoch ! * I hear 
 He says I am the worst Man God Almighty ever 
 formed, except Bonaparte! but I could tell him how 
 to be as justly popular as Alexander himself.f . • • 
 No Murders, No Torture, No Conflagration — how ill 
 the pretty Women of London bear it ? " 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Brooks's, 1 8 14. 
 
 " Dear C, 
 
 "Nothing new. The Boneys & Co. are 
 understood to have left Fontainbleau on the road to 
 Italy. What a fall ! and what a triumph for sound 
 doctrines of freedom ! The Coles % look very low. 
 
 * One was the rehabilitation of the Princess of Wales, the other, 
 probably, Roman Catholic Emancipation. 
 
 t The Emperor Alexander I. of Russia, at that time in high favour 
 with the English Whigs. 
 
 % Tiemey, Abercromby, &c. 
 
192 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 Their chance of office is at loo per cent, discount, and 
 the Holland Housians are in a sad quandary. Our 
 dinner was good and well managed, and a good spice 
 of Whiggism. . . . The Duke of Sussex talked very 
 sad stuff: his last feat was the following toast — 
 ' Respectability to the Crown, durability to the Con- 
 stitution and independence to the People ! ' He 
 talked of the Stuarts and made an odd allusion to 
 their fate and the Bourbons. The King of France is 
 to make his palace at Grillons. He comes to-morrow. 
 ... It is pleasing to see so many happy faces." 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Temple, 1814. 
 " Dear C, 
 
 " I write to congratulate you on this most 
 speedy and compleat, as well as favorable termination 
 of the Revolution. I pass over the reasons for ap- 
 proving of it as regards France. These are many — 
 but I look chiefly to England. We have been work- 
 ing day and night (and seldom succeeding) to knock 
 off a miserable ^10,000 or ;^20,ooo a year from the 
 patronage of the Crown. This event cuts down 50 
 or 60 millions at once. If we had made peace with 
 Bpte., Prinney would have been bitterly annoyed, the 
 aristocrats humbled, the ministers (a good, quiet, 
 easily-beaten set of blockheads) turned out, and a 
 much worse and stronger set of men put in their 
 places ; but who could have looked to any real dimi- 
 nution of Army, Navy and expenditure ? It would 
 have been impossible. Now, there is not a pretence 
 for keeping these sources of patronage open. Be- 
 sides — the gag is gone, which used to stop our 
 mouths as often as any reform was mentioned — 
 ' Revolution ' first, and then ' Invasion.' These cues 
 are gone. It really appears to me that the game is 
 in the hands of the Opposition. Every charge 
 will now breed more and more of discontent. The 
 dismissal of officers and other war functionaries will 
 throw thousands out of employ, who will sooner or 
 later ferment and turn to vmegar. All this will tell 
 agst. Govt, and the benefits of the peace. The relief 
 
I8I3-I4-] BROUGHAM WITHOUT A SEAT. 193 
 
 from taxes, &c., will never be able to tell much for 
 them. 
 
 "One should think these things evident enough, 
 and yet the Cole school, and Holland House above 
 all, are in perfect despair. I am, however, glad to 
 find Grey as right and factious as can be. . . . Thanet 
 is exactly in the same spirit, tho' he expects nothing 
 from the folly and moderation of our friends and their 
 fear of annoying Prinnie. By the way, Ld. Grey 
 dines with Mother P. on Wednesday next to meet the 
 D. of Glo'ster, to the no small annoyance of the Coles. 
 . . . Pray don't forget that a Govt, is not supported a 
 hundredth part so much by the constant, uniform, 
 quiet prosperity of the country, as by these damned 
 spurts which Pitt used to have just in the nick of 
 time, and latterly by the almost daily horn and gun 
 under which we have been living." 
 
 "Lancaster, 18 14. 
 
 ". . . As for a seat in Parlt. generally, I should feel 
 that the use of it is nearly gone if the peace is made 
 and discussed. Allow me just to observe in passing 
 (a subject I don't think I have ever alluded to before) 
 the great use of Whig boro's ; for, without any ex- 
 travagant pretensions, 1 can't help thinking it a little 
 strange that my being left out permanently is, to all 
 appearance, now a settled matter. This is the more 
 odd, because Grey is so decidedly anxious for my 
 coming in. Were I, by any chance, once again in 
 that place, I certainly have some little arrears to settle 
 with more folks than one." 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Dover St., June 4, 1814. 
 
 "... I have just received a petition from Mrs. 
 Mary Anne Clarke, complaining of cruelty and par- 
 tiahty in her mode of confinement, and stating various 
 instances where indulgences have been obtained for 
 money. If I do not hear from you that you wish me 
 to delay presenting it that you may be present, I 
 intend to present it on Monday. We reckon your 
 letter received yesterday to be quite provincial in its 
 
 VOL. L o 
 
194 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 Politicks, and even the House of Commons— a// but 
 Wynne — seem to tliink it a case that in some shape 
 they must interfere, if nothing shall be done to set 
 the matter right out of doors. . . ." 
 
 The correspondence between the Queen, the 
 Prince Regent, and the Princess of Wales having 
 been sent to the Speaker, was communicated by him 
 to the House of Commons, whereupon arose debate. 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Temple, Monday, [June, 1814]. 
 " Dear C, 
 
 "Just as I was going to begin a letter to you, 
 entered old Hargrave, as mad as Bedlam, and I ihave 
 been so completely bored to death by him that I can 
 scarcely write at all. . . . The Doctor on Saturday 
 evening gave notice of the letter being delivered to 
 P.* on Friday, but I made him again apply yesterday 
 to know if there was any answer, and the Dr. said he 
 had not received P.'s commands to make any answer 
 to it. All being safe and right, you see it is fired off, 
 and I may add that I was finally decided in favour of 
 publishing to-day by the apprehension of Alexr., &c.,t 
 coming in a day or two, and taking off the attention 
 of Mr. and Mrs. Bull.J I have, moreover, made Mrs. 
 P. § go to the opera to-morrow evening, but without 
 any row, merely to show she does not skulk. If there 
 is a good reception, so much the better." 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Brooks's, Saturday. 
 ". . . The Kings dine with Liverpool to-day — 
 Prinny to-morrow, and with Ld. Stafford on Monday ; 
 a review on Tuesday and I believe to Oxford after- 
 wards. Alexander grumbles at the long dinners of 
 the Regent's. I like the Prussians very much ; they 
 are the best." 
 
 * The Prince of Wales. 
 
 t The Emperor of Russia and other foreign royalties. 
 
 X The British Pubhc. § The Princess of Wales. 
 
I8I3-I4.] THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. 195 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "June II, 1814. 
 
 ". . . The Emperor [of Russia] has as yet returned 
 no answer nor returned any civility to the Pss.'s 
 message and letter by St. Leger. They [the Princess 
 of Wales, &c.] go to the Opera to night, and if you 
 were here she would be sure to be well received. 
 Why the Devil are you not here ? Brougham will, I 
 suppose, certainly stand for Westminster, which will 
 be favourable to him in the Cry that will be raised for 
 him. You must come and stop as long as you are 
 wanted. The Pss. shall not compromise anything. 
 She is sadly low, poor Body, and no wonder. What 
 a fellow Prinny is ! " 
 
 Brougham entertained the idea of standing for the 
 vacancy in Westminster, but Sheridan was already 
 in the field. 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Temple, 29 June, 1814. 
 "Dear C, 
 
 "As you may be amused to hear the infinite 
 follies of mankind, I write to say that the Whigs have 
 just discovered Old Sherry to be ' an old and valued 
 friend and an ancient adherent of Fox.' They there- 
 fore support him. To be sure, he has ratted and left 
 them — he kept them out of office twice — and he now 
 openly stands on Yarmouth's influence and C[arlton] 
 House, and Ld. Liverpool is supporting him ! . . ." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 " 14 June, 1814. 
 
 ". . . The Emperor of Russia sent for Lord Grey, 
 Lord Grenville, Lord Holland, Lord Lansdowne and 
 Lord Erskine, and had long conversations with all of 
 them. Lord Grey represents him as having very 
 good opinions upon all subjects, but quite royal in 
 having all the talk to himself, and of vulgar manners. 
 He says the Emperor was much indebted to his sister 
 
196 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 the Dutchess of Oldenburg for keeping him in the 
 course by her judicious interposition and observa- 
 tions. In truth he thinks him a vain, silly fellow, and 
 this opinion is much confirmed by what the Austrian 
 who is in London now, and who went with Buona- 
 parte to Elba, states to be Buonaparte's opinion as 
 he (the Austrian) heard him deliver it. It seems 
 there is no subject more dealt in by Buonaparte than 
 criticism upon people. He said to this Austrian : — 
 
 " ' Now I'll tell you the difference between the 
 Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia. The 
 Emperor thinks himself a very clever fellow, and he 
 is a damned fool ; whereas the King of Prussia thinks 
 meanly of his own talents, and he is a very sensible 
 man.' 
 
 " Grey, Holland, &c., &c., agree in their opinion 
 of Buonaparte, in that Buonaparte seems the most 
 popular person possible with all parties, both 
 foreigners and our own grandees. Bliicher is a very 
 nice old man, and so like your old friend Lord Grey * 
 that Lady Elizabeth Whitbread cried when she met 
 him at Lady Jersey's. Platoff is so cursedly pro- 
 voked at the fuss made with him that he won't accept 
 an invitation to go out. To be sure, as Russ. is the 
 only language he speaks, I don't much wonder at his 
 resolution. They are all sick to death of the way 
 they are followed about, and, above all, by the long 
 dinners. The King of Prussia is as sulky as a bear, 
 and scarcely returns the civilities of the populace. 
 
 " Prinny is exactly in the state one would wish ; 
 he lives only by protection of his visitors. If he is 
 caught alone, nothing can equal the execrations of the 
 people who recognise him. She, the Princess, on the 
 contrary, carries everything before her, and had it not 
 been for an accident in her coming into the opera on 
 Saturday night, whilst the applause of the Emperor 
 and King was going on, by which means she got no 
 distinct and separate applause, tho' certainly a great 
 deal of what was going on was directed to her. By 
 the bye, I called on her this morning, and saw very 
 different names in her calling book from what I had 
 ever seen before. Lord Rivers was the first name, 
 
 * The 1st Earl Grey. 
 
I8I3-I4-] PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES. 197 
 
 Lady Burghersh the second, and so on, which, you 
 know, is capital. All agree that Prinny will die or go 
 mad. He is worn out with fuss, fatigue and rage. 
 He came to Lady Salisbury on Sunday from his own 
 dinner beastly drunk, whilst her guests were all per- 
 fectly sober. It is reckoned very disgraceful in Russia 
 for the higher orders to be drunk. He already abuses 
 the Emperor lustily, and his (the Emperor's) walzing 
 with Lady Jersey last night at Lady Cholmondeley's 
 would not mend his temper, and in truth he only 
 stayed five minutes, and went off sulky as a bear, 
 whilst everybody else stayed and supped and were 
 as merry as could be." 
 
 " June 21, 1814. 
 
 " Well, my pretty, I hope you admired our little 
 brush last night in the presence of all the foreign 
 grandees except the Emperor.* It was really very 
 capitally got up, and j^ou never saw poor devils look 
 so distressed as those on the Treasury Bench. It 
 was a scene well calculated to make the foreign 
 potentates stare as they did, and the little Princes of 
 Prussia laugh as they did. . . . We have now, how- 
 ever, a new game for Master Prinny, which must 
 begin to morrow. Whitbread has formal authority 
 from young Prinny f to state that the marriage is 
 broken off, and that the reasons are — first, her 
 attachment to this country which she cannot and 
 will not leave ; and, above all, her attachment to her 
 mother, whom in her present distressed situation she 
 likewise cannot leave. 
 
 "This is, in short, her letter to the Prince of 
 Orange in taking leave of him, and a copy of this 
 letter is in Whitbread's possession. What think you 
 of the effect of this upon the British publick ? 
 
 " Since writing the last sentence Whitbread has 
 shown me Princess Charlotte's letter to the Prince of 
 Orange. By God ! it is capital. And now what do 
 
 * The " brush " was that, knowing the foreign potentates were to 
 be in the Gallery of the House of Commons, Sir M. Ridley was put up 
 by the Opposition to move a resolution respecting the marriage of 
 Princess Charlotte of Wales to the Prince of Orange. 
 
 t The Prince Regent's daughter, Princess Charlotte of Wales. 
 
198 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 you suppose has produced this sudden attachment to 
 her mother? It arises from the profound resources 
 of old Brougham, and is, in truth, one of the most 
 brilliant movements in his campaign. He tells me 
 he has had direct intercourse with the young one ; 
 that he has impressed upon her this fact that, if her 
 mother goes away from England, as she is always 
 threatening to do from her ill usage in the country, 
 that then a divorce will inevitably take place, a second 
 marriage follow, and thus the young Princess's title 
 to the throne be gone. This has had an effect upon 
 the young one almost magical." 
 
 Although there is no reference in these papers to 
 the scene in the House of Commons when the Duke 
 of Wellington was admitted to receive the thanks 
 of the House, still it is agreeable to remark that, 
 while Mr. Whitbread and his party had not scrupled 
 to avail themselves of the difficulties of the cam- 
 paign in the Peninsula as the means of bringing 
 reproach upon the Government and their officers in 
 the field, it was Mr. Whitbread who now objected 
 that the grant to the Duke moved by the Speaker, 
 viz. ;^ 1 0,000 a year, commutable for ^300,000, was too 
 small. 
 
 Three days later a debate, in which Mr. Whit- 
 bread took a leading part, arose upon Lord Castle- 
 reagh's motion to increase the allowance to the 
 Princess of Wales from ;^3S,ooo to ^50,000 a year. 
 This was moved and carried in the earnest hope that 
 the Princess would carry out her wish to go to the 
 Continent, and that she would stay there. The 
 removal of this rock of offence to the Ministry ,was 
 by no means to the liking of the Opposition. 
 
I8I3-I4-] THE PRINCESS OF WALES. 199 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Dover St., July i, 1814. 
 
 " My dear Creevey, 
 
 "You will have seen by the papers that 
 Castlereagh laid upon the Table on Wednesday 
 papers relating to the Princess of Wales's pecuniary 
 situation, which were ordered to be referred to a 
 Committee of the whole House on Monday next. In 
 the evening of Wednesday I received at the House of 
 Commons a note from Lady C. Campbell No. i, 
 enclosing the note from C[astlereagh] No. 2, to which 
 I replied, ' I would see Brougham in the evening and 
 we would communicate further.' I did see Brougham 
 after the debate, at Michael Taylor's, and we agreed 
 that the offer was to be refused, and that the mode of 
 refusal should be by letter to the Speaker. 
 
 " Yesterday morning before 10 o'clock I had sent 
 a note to Lady C. Campbell to say ' that I had seen 
 Brougham, that we had agreed upon the mode of 
 proceeding respecting this insidious offer made in so 
 unliandsome a manner, and that 1 would be at Con- 
 naught House at two o'clock, to submit the result of 
 our counsel, in the shape of a letter to the Speaker.' 
 At two o'clock I was preparing to set out to recom- 
 mend the letter No. 3, which is the production of 
 Brougham, when to my infinite surprise I received 
 from the Princess the Papers Nos. 4 and 5, to which I 
 replied by the Note, No. 6. I then went and found 
 Brougham in Westminster Hall, to whom I communi- 
 cated the contents. His convulsions in consequence 
 were very strong. I then went to Lady C. Lmdsay 
 who burst into tears upon perusing the papers. I 
 then called upon St. Leger, who was thunderstruck 
 and mortified to the greatest degree, but he entreated 
 me to call upon the Princess ; which I did, and 
 found her and Lady C. Campbell together. She 
 received me very civilly, and told me she saw I dis- 
 approved of what she had done. With the proper 
 prefaces and in the mildest tone, I told her that I did 
 exceedingly disapprove it ; and that after her commu- 
 nication of the night before, I had reason to complain 
 of her having sent an answer without having pre- 
 viously shown it to me or Brougham, and that I was 
 
200 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 much chagrined and disappointed at what she had 
 done : that the crisis had just arrived, which would 
 have put her in possession of all she wanted ; and 
 that I firmly believed her income would have followed 
 on her own terms ; but that the last paragraph of her 
 letter appeared to me to have surrendered everything, 
 and her words would be retorted upon her whenever 
 she wished to assert the rights of her station. She 
 said she meant to relinquish nothing, and particularly 
 that she meant to go to St. Paul's (for which measures 
 had been taken). I told her I thought 'it might 
 impair the tranquillity of the mind of the Prince 
 Regent ' if she were present, and she would be told 
 so. We parted by my wishing her success, and that 
 all might answer her expectation. 
 
 "You may suppose the effect the communication 
 of these matters had upon Sefton, Tierney, Jersey, 
 &c. Tierney had been in counsel with us, and was 
 quite decided. In the evening I received the en- 
 closed 7, 8 and 9, to which I shall only answer that 
 when called upon I will advise, but it shall be on my 
 own terms." 
 
 H.R.H. the Princess of Wales to Samuel 
 Whitbread, M.P. 
 
 \_Note No. 5, referred to in above letter ^^ 
 
 " The Princess of Wales informs Mr. Whitbread 
 that she has been extremely surprised at the contents 
 of his note. The Princess does not view the offer 
 made to her by the Crown, through Lord Castlereagh, 
 in the light in which Mr. Whitbread views it. As no 
 conditions derogatory to Her as Princess, or to her 
 Honor as a female, have been annexed to the fulfill- 
 ment of her rights. The Princess of Wales can have 
 no scruple, therefore, whatever, in accepting the 
 proposal which has been made to her, and the 
 Princess cannot expect anything very respectful or 
 attentive in the manner of the offer, coming from 
 persons who have been at variance with her so many 
 years. Considering this as an act of justice, and not 
 an act of grace, she has accepted it accordingly and 
 
I8I3-I4-] THROWS OVER HER ADVISERS. 20I 
 
 incloses a copy of her letter to Ld. Castlereagh for 
 Mr. Whitbread's perusal. A refusal to the Crown 
 would have made her extremely unpopular. The 
 Princess is, besides, weary of all the trouble she has 
 endured herself, and been the occasion to her friends, 
 and takes the whole blame upon herself by exhono- 
 rating Mr. Whitbread from all responsibility what- 
 ever as to the issue of the event. The Princess of 
 Wales shall never forget the true and sincere interest 
 which Mr. Whitbread has on all occasions evinced 
 towards her, but there are moments in life when 
 every individual is called upon to act for themselves." 
 
 Samuel Whitbread, M.P., to H.R.H. the Princess of 
 Wales. 
 
 [Note No. 6 referred to in the above letter i\ 
 
 " Dover St., June 30, 1814. 
 " Mr. Whitbread has the honour to acknowledge 
 the receipt of the note of your Royal Highness, 
 enclosing the Copy of Your Royal Highness's answer 
 to Lord Castlereagh, and to present his most humble 
 duty to your Royal Highness." 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Temple, ist July, 18 14. 
 
 " Dear C, 
 
 " I suppose you have heard of Mother P. 
 bungling the thing so compleatly — snapping eagerly 
 at the cash, and concluding with a civil observation 
 about unwillingness to 'impair the Regent's tran- 
 quillity ! ! ' &c. This was all done on the spot and in 
 a moment, and communicated to Sam and me next 
 day, ' that we might be clear of all blame in advising 
 it' We are of course fully justified in giving her up. 
 I had written a proper letter to the Speaker, refusing, 
 which would only have made the House certain to 
 give it [the grant to the Princess]. The intelligence 
 came before my letter reached her. 
 
 " However, tho' she deserves death, yet we must 
 not abandon her, in case P. gets a victory after all. 
 
202 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. IX. 
 
 therefore I have made her send St. Leger to the Bp. 
 of Lincoln (Dean of St. Paul's) to notify her intention 
 of going in state on Thursday, and demand proper 
 seats for her and her suite. They are trying to fight 
 off, but tho' they may dirty themselves, nothing shall 
 prevent her from going. This is a healing and a good 
 measure. 
 
 " Again — there is a second letter from Castlereagh, 
 mentioning a bill to 'confirm the arrangement of 
 1809 ; ' and as this involves separation, it has (as well 
 it may) alarmed her, and now she is all for asking our 
 advice ! They }nay make such a blunder, as all along 
 they have blundered ; if they do, we are all alive 
 again, and shall push it. Say how it strikes you. 
 
 "As for Westr. — it now appears that Aid. Wood is 
 only making a catspaw of old C[artwright] * and that 
 he counts on his dying, and leaving a place for him — ■ 
 the Alderman. He has avowed that he would rather 
 see Sheridan, or any court tool, returned than a Whig 
 in disguise, viz., me ; and he asserts plainly that, on the 
 comparison, 'more is to be hoped from Cart's par- 
 liamentary talents than from B.'s — the former being 
 greater.' This has opened some eyes — for they justly 
 conclude he can't be really speaking his mind. . . . 
 I can't help fearing Burdett is doing something, 
 but I don't know for certain. Holland House from 
 personal hatred [i.e. of Brougham] supports Sherry ; 
 the Russells and Cavendishes, I understand, quite the 
 contrary. ..." 
 
 The next stage in this intolerable scandal was the 
 refusal to the Princess of a seat in St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral on the occasion of the national thanksgiving for 
 peace on 7th July. 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Monday. 
 
 ". . . Mrs. Prinny comes into court this day. She 
 sent St. Leger to see the Ld. Chamberlain about St. 
 Paul's, who wd. not see him. A letter then was written 
 to which she got an answer last night. She was told 
 
 * John Cartwright [1740-1824], the " Father of Reform." 
 
1813-14.] LORD COCHRANE'S CASE. 203 
 
 there was no place for her. So the game is alive 
 once more. Sefton is in high spirits, and Sam and 
 Brougham are to see her this day, and get, if possible, 
 a letter or message from her upon the subject, setting 
 forth this new indignity, and I trust spurning the 
 money upon such terms. So we shall recover from 
 the scrape she placed us all in. . . . What think 
 you of Cochrane setting all at defiance, refusing to 
 solicit a pardon from the pillory, maintaining his 
 innocence, &c. ? — that it is the sentence, not the inflic- 
 tion that he minds ; and as for pardon, he will die 
 sooner than ask it.* Burdett takes the field for him. I 
 find many people take the field for him as to innocence, 
 or at least have doubts, tho' the doctrine is that the 
 conviction is a sufficient reason to send him back to 
 his constituents." 
 
 "4th July, 1814. 
 
 "Dear C, 
 
 " First as to Mother P.f I was sure of my 
 adversary giving some opening ; so yesterday, in reply 
 to St. Leger's asking seats, Lord Hertford (cornuto, 
 husband, father, &c.) in his own proper person writes 
 saying the whole seats in St. Paul's are arranged by 
 the Regent, and Mrs. P. can't have one. I have just 
 despatched a Dft. of a letter to Mr. Speaker in which 
 Mrs. P. takes the highest ground, saying she had 
 accepted in the belief of its being an earnest of a new 
 system of treatment, &c., and in order to show her 
 conduct to the P. was only because she must vindicate 
 herself, and not arising from any vexatious views; but 
 now she finds she and the offer and all have been 
 wholly misconstrued, and that her conduct has been 
 
 * Lord Cochrane, afterwards loth Earl of Dundonald[i775-i86o], 
 one of the most splendid naval commanders that ever paced a quarter- 
 deck, was tried for a Stock Exchange conspiracy, and, though undoubt- 
 edly innocent, was convicted with his own uncle and one de Berenger, 
 who were the real culprits. Cochrane was sentenced to an hour's pillory, 
 a year's imprisonment, and a fine of ;^looo. He was dismissed the 
 Navy, and expelled from the House of Commons ; but his constituents 
 in Westminster immediately returned him again to Parliament. In 
 1828, after continuous sea-service under foreign Powers, he was 
 reinstated as rear-admiral in the Royal Navy. 
 
 t The Princess of Wales. 
 
204 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. :• [Ch. IX. 
 
 supposed to proceed from an unworthy compromise ; 
 and in short, throwing up, on the ground of the treat- 
 ment continuing, &c., &c. . . . This is decisive, I think, 
 and gives us the game again. . . . However, if she 
 refuses to send it (which I fear) we are done, or nearly 
 so. I wrote her a long and very severe epistle on 
 Saturday, accusing her of everything, &c. She is the 
 better for it, and promises, &c. . . . Now as to Westr. 
 I hear Burdett really is trying to put down the Major 
 and bring me in. Meantime Sherry * talks of W. as a 
 close boro' in his family, and he is to have a meeting 
 forthwith. G. Byng told me he had declared himself 
 for me, and was ready to go from house to house, 
 ' and by Gad to wear out two shoes in it,' meaning two 
 pair. . . . There is a strange backwardness in Sam 
 [Whitbread] about Westr. Whether it be that he 
 never can be led to believe that there is no occasion 
 for anybody in Parlt. other than himself — or that he 
 thinks Westr. too much for me — or that he really can't 
 feel easy in going agt. Sherry — I know not, but he 
 won't speak to any one." 
 
 To the chagrin of the irresponsible members of the 
 Opposition, the Princess of Wales, having declined 
 the increase to her allowance voted by Parliament, 
 left the country in August, for which Brougham 
 bitterly blames Whitbread — unjustly, as far as one 
 can see. 
 
 8 " 9th Aug., 1814. 
 ". . . By G — d, Sam is incurable — all this devilry 
 of Canning, &c., and Mrs. P. bolting, &c., is owing to 
 
 his d d conceit in making her give up the ;^i 5,000 
 
 — of himself , without saying a word to any one." 
 
 * R. B. Sheridan. 
 
( 20S ) 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1814-1815. 
 
 The peace having reopened the Continent to English 
 travellers, Mr. Creevey took his wife, who was in 
 failing health, in the autumn of 1814, to spend the 
 winter at Brussels ; than which, as affairs turned out, 
 he could scarcely have chosen a less tranquil resting- 
 place for an invalid. 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs. Creevey [at Brussels]. 
 
 "Holland House, 23rd Sept., 1814. 
 ". . . We have all assured Mr. Jeffrey* that you 
 and Mr. Creevey will be glad to see him, so do not be 
 surprised at receiving a visit from that very dear little 
 man, who has the best heart and temper, although the 
 authors of the day consider him as their greatest 
 scourge. . . . You will thank us much for his acquaint- 
 ance, as he is full of wit, anecdote and lively sallies. 
 . . . The strange intrigue about the Dss. of Cumber- 
 land's not being received is likely to become publick.t 
 From the letters I have seen, our old Queen is likely 
 to come off second best, as her actions are directly in 
 contradiction to her professions ; but all these Court 
 
 * Francis Jeffrey, the distinguished lawyer and judge, and editor of 
 the Edinburgh Review. 
 
 t The Duke of Cumberland did not marry till August, 1815. His 
 wife was Princess Frederica, daughter of the Duke of Mecklenberg- 
 Strelitz, and widow, ist, of Prince Frederick; of Prussia, and 2nd, of 
 Prince Frederick William of Salmo-Braunfels. 
 
206 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 squabbles are trumpery and uninteresting in the 
 greatest degree. I iiear nothing of the meeting of 
 Parliament, and conclude it will stand over Xmas. 
 We hear reports of disunion among the luminaries 
 who govern us, especially in those at Paris as to the 
 subject of France, both as to its limits and its ministry; 
 but it is so much their interest to agree, that it will 
 not transpire beyond a little grumbling. . . ." 
 
 Lord Holland to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Holland House, 17th Oct., 1814. 
 
 " The peace, as it is with some stretch of courtesy 
 called, satisfies no one class of people. Those who 
 hate France think enough has not been done to reduce 
 her power of mischief, and those who feel some little 
 sympathy with her from a recollection of the original 
 cause in which she engaged, and to which late events 
 have in some degree brought her back, lament her 
 humiliation, and resent yet more the triumph of her 
 enemies. When a male child is born, every woman 
 in the house looks an inch higher; and when a legiti- 
 mate King is restored, every sprig of Royalty in 
 Europe becomes more insolent and insufferable. . . . 
 I have, I own, a little tendresse for the Dutch King 
 whom you laugh at. It does not seem that the Flemish 
 have any. ..." 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Temple, Nov. 24, 1814. 
 
 "Dear Lord Creevey, 
 
 " I beg to begin by informing you that Lord 
 Binning, the Canningite, is" extremely angry to find 
 persons who are not lords getting the title in France 
 just as if they were. To learn that this delusion 
 extends to Brussels must drive him mad. Next, let 
 me notify to you the destruction or doing of Canning 
 and Co. — not his character, for no man who can make 
 a flashy speech ever lost that, except, perhaps, by 
 conviction for a certain kind of offence — but his being 
 
i8i4-i5-] BROUGHAM ON THE SITUATION. 207 
 
 sent abroad, and on the score of his child's health ; * 
 so that iVIouldy t and Co. may be gasping, and he can't 
 possibly come to their aid without either killing or 
 curing his child. He can't do the one, and he won't 
 do the other. I am told the Moscovites are ashamed 
 of their member, and the result will be their chusing 
 Husky.J All this I tell you because you are a good 
 hater. You know I care not two farthings one way or 
 t'other, and have far more liking — I should rather say 
 far less dislike — towards C. than to many of our own 
 friends — the little Whigs who ruin the party. 
 
 "This brings me to add, that the Ministry being 
 dished over and over again has no effect in turning 
 them out, because our friends have lost the confidence 
 of the people — a plant of slow growth and almost 
 impossible to make sprout again after it has been 
 plucked up and frostbitten— for example, by the 
 Grenville winter. . . . Meanwhile, Holland House 
 being, by the blessing of God, shut up, some chance 
 of favorable change is afforded. I forgot another 
 event of much account in truly Whig eyes — a young 
 Cavendish § is, or is to be soon, added to the H. of C. 
 You may expect news, therefore. Perhaps you'll say 
 the Govt, will be overthrown. Possibly : but I expect 
 that, at the least, the interesting young person will 
 divide once in the course of the Frost, if it lasts, and 
 that he will range under the illustrious heads of the 
 House of Cavendish. ... As for the big man of all, 
 Prinnie, he has been ill in the bladder, on which 
 Sam [Whitbread] said — ' God make him worse ! ' but 
 this prayer was rejected. Young P.|| is as ill off as ever 
 
 * Canning, who had been out of office since his duel with Castle- 
 reagh in 1809, was sent as ambassador to Lisbon in 1814. 
 
 t The Right Hon. Nicholas Vansittart, Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, created Lord Bexley in 1823. 
 
 % The Right Hon. Wilham Huskisson [1770-1830] was Secretary 
 to the Treasury in the last administration of Pitt and in the Duke 
 of Portland's, but he resigned office with Canning in 1809. In 1814 
 he resumed office as First Commissioner of M^oods, &c., though his 
 views on free trade were not in harmony with those of the Tory 
 Cabinet. He was not returned for Liverpool till 1823. 
 
 § Hon. Charles Cavendish, created Baron Chesham in 1858 : died 
 in 1863. 
 
 II Princess Charlotte of Wales. 
 
2o8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 — no money, sale of trinkets to pay pensions, &c., an 
 old lady sleeping in the room, &c., &c. The Party 
 are no longer as averse to the subject as Lauderdale 
 would wish and Ly. Holland. ... I mentioned above 
 my Paris trip having been most agreeable. I say, 
 after seeing all the rest of Europe from Stockholm to 
 Naples, nothing is to be named in the same year with 
 Paris for delights of every kind and sort. ... It is 
 the place to go to and live at : be sure of that." 
 
 "Temple, 15 Dec, 1814. 
 
 " I delayed writing last Friday in hopes of having 
 better news to give you of Sefton, who had been 
 dangerously ill of an inflammn. of the bladder. . . . 
 To-day came a letter from himself, which is a picture 
 of the man, to be sure, but gives rise, nevertheless, to 
 much alarm. Hat Vaughan had written to make him 
 ask Stanistreet (his ally) about the 'Fortunate Youth' 
 hoax, on which the said Hat had a bet. Sefton begins 
 thus — 'As I have just had my will witnessed by 3 
 physicians, I thought I might not have another op- 
 portunity of asking Stanistreet your question ; ' and 
 then he goes on very coolly to give the details of the 
 matter. He concludes by saying he had had a re- 
 lapse, and been in great jeopardy, and that he had 
 lost 140 ounces of blood in five days. This was in 
 addition to 40 the first attack, besides every sort of 
 discipline — calomel, hot baths, antimony, &c., &c. . . . 
 After such evacuation by bleeding, I know the cursed 
 effects upon the system, and want him to have the 
 best advice. . . . My own complaints came, I believe, 
 wholly from the infernal bleeding I had in that 
 country of broken bones and traders and voices — 
 Northumberland ; and tho' I bled about a bucket full, 
 it was nothing to this late performance of the Earl. 
 
 " I put all private feeling out of the question (tho' 
 
 I don't know why one should, considering the d d 
 
 country we have to deal with), and I say that no loss 
 I know would annoy me more at present than his. 
 If he was invaluable before, now that everything like 
 discipline is at an end he is 1000 times more so. You 
 cannot easily conceive . . . how he rallied, animated, 
 stirred, supported — in short, did all that a man could 
 
I8I4-I5-] BROUGHAM ON THE SITUATION. 209 
 
 do who absurdly chose to be silent when he might 
 have done great things in speaking. He was once 
 or twice even on the point of doing this also, and I 
 know must have succeeded. ... I dined yesterday at 
 Coutts's. The last time I had that pleasure (Erskine 
 being there) a difficulty arose about thirteen persons 
 at table ; to prevent which, E. being there likewise 
 yesterday, twenty guests were provided ; among them 
 Lauderdale and the Marchioness of L.* (the Countess 
 of L. being in the Ionian Islands with all his family), 
 Warrender t and his wife. I [learnt from W. (and L. 
 seemed to agree), that Prinnie is in a bad way. They 
 have positively ordered him to give up his stays, as the 
 wearing them any longer would be too great a sacri- 
 fice to ornament — in other words, would kill him. . . . 
 
 " The D. of York dined t'other day at Holland 
 House, and was very gracious. Whether any attempt 
 at getting ;^ 200,000 to pay his debts will succeed, is 
 another matter. ... A breach between Prinnie and 
 him seems unavoidable, sooner or later, tho' the D.'s 
 discretion will make it more difficult for P. to bring 
 him to a quarrel than most people. 
 
 " As for Mrs. P., I never for a moment have 
 doubted that a divorce is as impossible as ever. 
 They may buy her ; but even that will take time, for 
 we were prepared for such a purpose 3 years ago, 
 and steps were taken to create delays, which must 
 be effectual. However, I don't expect to see the 
 Ministers do such an act of folly, not to mention 
 the situation of the Chancellor, and Canning, and 
 the interests of Hertford House. 
 
 "As the session approaches, it is natural to feel 
 anxious for your return. It will be a session of de- 
 tached and unexpected affairs, and full of sport and 
 mischief, after a dull commencement. . . . Don't be- 
 lieve those who say nobody will come up. Every- 
 body will. Curiosity and idleness will also make 
 everybody attend from 4 to 7 daily,| and when have 
 
 * The allusion is obscure, as there was no Marchioness of 
 Lauderdale. 
 
 t Sir John Warrender, 5th baronet of Lochend, and his wife, Lady 
 Julian, daughter of the 8th Earl of Lauderdale. 
 
 % In those days the sittings of the House of Commons began at4 p.m. 
 
 VOL. I. P 
 
210 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 they done more ? . . . Your coming is indispensable. 
 I could give so many reasons, that I shall give none. 
 You must be over before the 27th Jany. — that is quite 
 certain. ... I shall only say everything will depend 
 on a little exertion soon after the meeting. When I 
 tell you that Bennet almost gave up attendance, be- 
 cause Mrs. B. would not allow him to remain later 
 than 6 any night, you will conclude that there are 
 two fools in the world ; and, strange to tell, one is a 
 brother of 0[ssulston] — the other a Russell.* She 
 is really too bad. I used to think her a model, till 
 marriage brought her out : now she exceeds all 
 belief . . ." 
 
 "Southill, 28 Dec, 1814. 
 
 "... C. Stuart t will do whatever he can to make 
 himself useful to you. ... He is a plain man, of some 
 prejudices, caring little for politics and of very good 
 practical sense. You will find none of his prejudices 
 (which, after all, are little or nothing) at all of an 
 aristocratic or disagreeable kind. He has no very 
 violent passions or acute feelings about him, and likes 
 to go quietly on and enjoy himself in his way. He 
 has read a great deal and seen much more, and done, 
 for his standing, more business than any diplomatic 
 man I ever heard of By the way — as for diplomacy, 
 or rather its foppery, he has none of the thing about 
 him ; and if you ever think him close or buttoned up, 
 I assure you he had it all his life just as much. He 
 has no nonsense in his composition, and is a strictly 
 honorable man, and one over whom nobody will ever 
 acquire the slightest influence. I am so sick of the 
 daily examples I see of havoc made in the best of 
 men by a want of this last quality, that I begin to 
 respect even the excess of it when I meet it. I 
 thought you might like to be forewarned of your new 
 Minister, and therefore have drawn the above hasty 
 sketch. . . ." 
 
 * The Hon. Henry Bennet, and son of the 4th Earl of Tanker- 
 ville, and an active member of "The Mountain," married, in 1816, 
 Gertrude Frances, daughter of Lord William Russell. 
 
 t Sir Charles Stuart, G.C.B., British Minister at Brussels. He 
 was a grandson of the 3rd Earl of Bute, and was created Baron Stuart 
 de Rothesay in 1828. 
 
i8i4-i5.] THE PINCH OF THE PROPERTY-TAX. 21 1 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey [at Brussels]. 
 
 "Whitehall, 2 Feby., 1815. 
 
 " Our partys at Taylor's * are very flourishing — 
 — the veal tree in full fruit — and I go there every 
 night. All the party (tree as well) send there re- 
 membrances to you. Taylor is steady with Prinny 
 for the session, as he has been told that Py. said the 
 other day — 'he loved no man so well' Is not this 
 provoking? that so good a man shd. be so duped." 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Temple, Jan. 17, 1815. 
 
 ". . . Liverpool (the town) is all in an uproar 
 (indeed I might say the same of the man of that 
 name) about the property tax. We shall do them to 
 a certainty. Our friends are in much force on the 
 American peace and renewal of their trade, and the 
 Scotchman (Gladstone) at a woful discount, having 
 become odious to all parties. His letters in the 
 newspapers boldly denying the receiving a communi- 
 cation from Jenky t on the property tax (and which 
 he now explains away, I understand, by a quibble) 
 are quite fatal with a 'generous and open-hearted 
 publick,' who never understand special pleading, and 
 are very ready to confound it with lying. Accord- 
 ingly, 1 expect to see severe handling at the ap- 
 proaching meeting called by a large requisition, at 
 the head of which are ' Earl of Sefton and W. 
 Roscoe, Esq.' S. will be good on the backbone, and 
 the pautriot will have much to urge. Our worthy 
 friend, now returned from America, will not be bad 
 — and the Pastor tells me ' Carey is now in the state 
 of a loaded blunderbuss, and it is hard to say whether 
 he mow down more friends or foes, but probably 
 many of both.' Erskine^is K.T.,t and says he passes 
 
 * Michael Angelo Taylor's, a constant rendezvous of the Whig 
 party. Mr. Taylor was an importunate candidate for a peerage, 
 t The Premier, Lord Liverpool. 
 X Knight of the Thistle. 
 
212 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 the happiest hours of his life at the Pavillion, which 
 
 is like enough, if his w e knocks him down before 
 
 his son as she lately did." 
 
 " Temple, Wedy. 
 
 ". . . The only remarkable thing I have to tell 
 you is that yesterday arrived a formal annunciation 
 of our blessed Lady, the Pss. of Wales, that early in 
 May she is to appear and make herself manifest in 
 Kensington Palace. I had warned her of her perils 
 at Xmas, and she writes the letter to Jenky, 
 officially, on nth Jany. This is pretty well for a 
 morning cordial to our illustrious Regent. Fergu- 
 son, M. Taylor and I t'other day made a party and 
 went to the stakes— the Jockey * in high force as 
 also was Mister Chairles Moris. The said Jy. begins 
 to think the [iilegible'] blown upon by the great ribbon 
 trade in which P. has been dabbling; for he was 
 pleased to speak of ' ribbons of all sorts — blue and 
 red,' a kind of disrespect not customary with him. 
 
 " I dined with Erskine t'other day in a large party, 
 and he seems much in fear of that subject being 
 broached. I took occasion to congratulate him twice 
 of happy events that had happened since we met, and 
 made each time a short pause, so that he expected 
 the Thistle was coming out ; but' I added — the peace 
 with America and Tom's marriage. He was clearly 
 hustled about his new honour. Romilly made a very 
 good joke about it : he called him ' The Green Man 
 and Still,' alluding to his silence in the House ol 
 Lords." t 
 
 "March 8, 1815. 
 "... I must repeat my intreaties that ii you can 
 at all make it convenient to come even for a fortnight 
 this session after Easter, you should do so. Whitbread 
 cannot tell you how much you are wanted, because 
 he is quite satisfied all is right when he is there 
 himself . . . All our friends are jibbing on the 
 Scotch job, except the Mountain. To hear Whigs 
 speak for a measure that goes directly to augment 
 
 * The nth Duke of Norfolk. 
 
 t The ribbon of the Order of the Thistle, just received by Erskine, 
 is green. 
 
1814-15.] THE HUNDRED DAYS. 213 
 
 the power of the Crown in the very worst direction, 
 viz. great increase of judicial patronage, is a little 
 spleening. . . . Adam * and Lauderdale talk them over, 
 tho' they all know that Adam was a principal means 
 of keeping them out of place. This is a subject too 
 irritating, by God, to think of What think you, 
 too, of Adam keeping his household office about the 
 P., tho' a puisne judge? Were I in rarlt., I should 
 undoubtedly bring forward a specific and personal 
 question upon it. But why does not Folkestone ? I 
 hope to God he will." 
 
 The deliberations of the Congress of Vienna, where 
 Wellington was British Plenipotentiary, were verging 
 upon violent rupture, owing to the anxiety of every 
 Continental Power either toincrease its own dominions 
 or to diminish those of its neighbour. The dispu- 
 tants had gravitated into two hostile groups, wherein 
 Russia and Prussia, supporting Murat, King of Naples, 
 in his aggression on the Papal States, were ranged 
 against Great Britain, France, and Austria. Suddenly, 
 at the beginning of March, all these disputes were 
 hushed to silence i"n the imminence of common peril. 
 Napoleon had escaped from Elba and landed in France. 
 The wondrous Hundred Days had begun. 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet to Mr. Creevey [at Brussels]. 
 
 "Upper Brook St., 3rd April, 181 5. 
 ". . . You are at the fountain head of all the con- 
 tinental projects. Here we are certainly for war : the 
 old doctrines of there being no security for peace with 
 Napoleon are again broached, and you hear all repeated, 
 which one had almost forgot, of the nonsense of 1793. 
 Parties are making on these subjects, and they are as 
 you may imagine. Ld. Grenville started furious for 
 
 * The Right Hon. William Adam [1751-1839], Attorney-General 
 to the Prince ofWales and Lord Chief Commissioner to the Scottish 
 Jury Court. 
 
214 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 war, or at least declaring there was no chance of avoid- 
 ing it. A correspondence has taken place between 
 him and Grey, who is anxious for peace, which has 
 considerably softened the Bogey, and now he [Gren- 
 ville] declares that his opinions are not made up, but 
 that he shall await further information. So much is 
 gained by Grey's firmness, who is behaving very well. 
 Elliot and the Wynnes and that wise statesman Fre- 
 mantle * are more hot, and the former holds as a 
 doctrine of salvation that the existence of the French 
 power, with Napoleon at the head, is incompatible with 
 the safety of Europe : so you see what are to be the 
 labours necessary to be accomplished in case the war 
 faction triumphs. I have not as yet heard of there 
 being any more lovers of war. Ld. Spencer, the Car- 
 ringtons, &c., are for peace, and what is more amusing 
 still, Yarmouth, who preaches peace at the corners of all 
 the streets, and is in open war with Papa and Mamaf 
 upon that subject. Prinny, of course, is for war : as 
 for the Cabinet, Liverpool and Ld. Sidmouth are for 
 peace ; they say the Chancellor t is not violent the 
 other way ; but Bathurst, Castlereagh, &c., &c., are 
 red hot, and if our allies will concur and the plans do 
 not demand too much money, war we shall have. Sam 
 is all for Boney, and the Slave Trade decree has done 
 something. We consider here that the Jacobins are 
 masters at Paris, and let them and the free press and 
 the representative government come from that source. 
 Leave them to themselves, and quarrel they will ; but 
 war will unite every soul, particularly if upon the 
 cursed motives of the high party. . . . However, all 
 the world of all parties speak of Ney with abhorrence, 
 as his offers to the King — from whom he got every- 
 thing, double the money he demanded, &c. — were all 
 made with a firm determination to betray him. He 
 said, among other things, that he would bring Napoleon 
 in a cage: to which the King replied — 'Je n'aimerais 
 pas un tel oiseau dans ma chambre ! ' Chateaubriand 
 has also declared for Napoleon, and made a speech in 
 
 * The Right Hon. Sir Wm. Henry Fremantle, M.P. [1766-1850], 
 a Grenvillite. Joined Lord Liverpool's Government in 1822. 
 t Lord and Lady Hertford, 
 t Lord Eldon. 
 
i8i4-i5.] BRUSSELS IN 1815. 215 
 
 his favour in the same style of nonsense and blasphemy 
 for which the Bourbons had named him Minister to 
 Sweden. 
 
 "Most brilliant court at the Tuilleries, and the 
 French say 'L'Empereur est la bonte meme.' They 
 would say the same of the devil ; but if I was a French- 
 man, I should be all for Napoleon. . . . The Guards 
 have marched this morning to embark at Deptford for 
 Ostend. I consider they will be there in two days. 
 The fellows went off in high spirits, as it is known 
 here that beer, bread, meat and gin are cheap in 
 Flanders. . . ." 
 
 From Mr. Creevey's Journal. 
 
 "Brussels, Sat, April 22, 181 5. — I met this night 
 at Lady Charlotte Greville's, amongst various other 
 persons, the Duke of Wellington, and he and I had a 
 conversation to which most of those present became 
 parties. He maintained that a Republick was about 
 to be got up in Paris by Carnot, Lucien Buonaparte, 
 &c., &c., &c. I asked if it was with the consent of the 
 Manager Buonaparte, and what the nature of the piece 
 was to be. He said he had no doubt it would be 
 tragedy by Buonaparte, and that they would be at him 
 by stiletto or otherwise in a very few weeks. 1, on 
 the contrary, thought the odds were in favor of the 
 old performer against the new ones, but my Lord 
 would have it B.-was to be done up out of hand at 
 Paris : so nous verrons. I thought several times he 
 [Wellington] must be drunk ; but drunk or sober, he 
 had not the least appearance of being a clever man. 
 I have seen a good deal of him formerly, and always 
 thought the same of his talents in conversation. Our 
 conversation was mightily amicable and good, con- 
 sidering our former various sparring bouts in the 
 House of Commons about Indian politics." 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey [at Brussels']. 
 
 "May 31, 1815. 
 ". . . We, the Mountain, are in hopes the Grenvilles 
 are about to part company. Ld. Buckingham holds 
 
2l6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 very warlike language abroad and is for peace against 
 the Ministers, so we are not to be fettered or con- 
 trouled ; and this even on Althorpe's motion about 
 Prinny's [illegible'] the ;f 100,000 outfit. The Grenvilles 
 swear either to vote against us or not to attend. I 
 mean one of these fine days to fire a shot at them 
 when they are sheering off, and I cannot tell you how 
 joyful I feel at the chance of it. You may depend 
 upon it the Marquess wishes to be a Duke,* and he 
 is looking sharp after Stafford's patent, with which 
 Ld. G. Leveson's earldom is soon to come forth ;t but 
 I don't think that the Government are at all pleased 
 at our division. They put off the debate till that of 
 the Lords was over to try the effect of Bogey's speech;! 
 but it had but little, and so far from it lessening Sam's 
 minority, you see we rose from 72 to 92. The Treasury 
 Bench thought we might divide 80, but none calculated 
 on more. We hope it may tell with the foreigner : it 
 does much here. Grattan, after all, was no great thing 
 — full of wit and fire and folly — more failures than suc- 
 cess in his antithesis, and his piety and religious cant 
 was offensive, as, after all, whatever may be its merit 
 in an individual, it is only used in a speech for the 
 worst of purposes. . . ." 
 
 Enclosed in this letter was the following list of 
 "the Mountain":— 
 
 Milton. 
 
 Wynn, Sir Watkin. 
 
 Balem. 
 
 Mallem. 
 
 Plunket. 
 
 Fremantle. 
 
 Pelham. 
 
 F. Lewis. 
 
 Grattan. 
 
 Gower, Lord. 
 
 Baring. 
 
 Calvert. 
 
 Baring, Sir T. 
 
 Knox. 
 
 Wrottesley. 
 
 S. Smith. 
 
 Carew. 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Wynn. 
 
 
 * The 2nd Marquess of Stafford was not created Duke of Suther- 
 land till 1833, six months before his death. 
 
 t Lord Granville Leveson-Gower, youngest brother of the 2nd 
 Marquess of Stafford, was created Viscount Granville 12th August, 
 1 81 5, and Earl Granville in 1833. 
 
 t Lord Grenville's. 
 
I8I4-I5-] THE SHADOW OF WAR. 217 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bonnet to Mr. Creevcy. 
 
 "Whitehall, June 13. 
 
 " Why, what a fellow you are ! have you not 
 received my two last letters that you complain so? 
 Sam complains too, and he sends you his respects, for 
 you never write to him, and he says you ought to do 
 so, for you have nothing to do but to lounge. He has 
 not been well — his old attack, but he looks better, and 
 is so. I hope soon he will get out of town, and we 
 shall have our release from that damned place the H. 
 of C, where we spend our time, health and fortunes. 
 . . . We all congratulate you at the recovery of your 
 senses, as we thought the Great Lord * had bit you, 
 and that he, [illegible] and the Frog f had got you quite 
 over, and that you really believed Boney was to be 
 eat up alive ; but from all we hear from Paris he has 
 a great army, and that things are disturbed in La 
 Vendee, &c., &c. Yet I put my confidence in the 
 Jacobins, and if they act ; all the youth of France will 
 come out with them, and then let me see the state 
 your Kings will be in. For my part, if I thought they 
 [the Kings] could succeed, I shd. be miserable; it is only 
 their entire failure that keeps me in tolerable humour. 
 
 " Our warlike friends are more peaceable, except 
 the Grenvilles : at least Ld. Buckingham is trying hard 
 for office. His own creature, Freemantle, never comes 
 near us : the Stale % stays away, too, from the Lords, 
 and uses the old language of clogging the wheels of 
 government. All this, you will perceive, leads to 
 place, and I am prepared for anything — be it the basest 
 of the crew. . . . Grey is in the most confounded ill 
 humour : Ponsonby goes to the play, and when he 
 comes to the House sits on the 2nd bench, and Oppo- 
 sition muster in general from 20 to 30 persons, amongst 
 whom is your humble servant : no other people make 
 a show. Ridley and Monck never miss. Mrs. Cole § is 
 doing very well : the young one || factious and violent 
 — looking at the coming storm with fear ; for come it 
 will, and not long first. It is quite impossible but 
 
 * Wellington. f The King of Holland. J Lord Grenville ? 
 § Mr. Tiemey. || Hon. James Abercromby. 
 
2l8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 that our finances must, if Boney be not overthrown 
 this year, give way, and our dividends cease. . . . The 
 Loan is taken this day, I hear, at 54, so you see to what 
 a state our finances have sunk." 
 
 The agony of apprehension — the scuffle of prepa- 
 ration — which swept over Europe during the terrible 
 Hundred Days, when, regiment by regiment, the 
 French army rallied to the returned Emperor, can 
 never lose their hold upon the reader of history. The 
 dismay among English residents and holiday-makers 
 in Brussels, their precipitate flight, and the scenes of 
 undignified confusion and panic which accompanied 
 it, can never be more vividly or more truthfully 
 depicted than in the pages of Vanity Fair. Still, 
 Thackeray wrote from hearsay. Distant though that 
 day may be from our own, it has lost little of its 
 interest for us of the present. One is grateful to one 
 who, like Mr. Creevey, actually witnessed the mighty 
 drama, and was at the pains to record his experiences. 
 From the moment when, on 5th April, the Duke of 
 Wellington arrived in Brussels from Vienna to take 
 command of the allied forces in Belgium, it was ap- 
 parent that these must act on the defensive, much 
 as their commander desired to take the initiative. 
 Of the 700,000 troops of which he had written on 
 24th March to his brother, Sir Henry Wellesley,* as 
 ready to be massed on the French frontier " in about 
 six weeks," none were yet at hand. The Russians 
 were advancing slowly through Poland ; the Austrians 
 had their hands full with Murat in Italy; of the 
 Prussians, only 30,000 were near enough to co-operate 
 with the Duke's composite array of 24,200, whereof 
 but 4000 were British, mostly recruits. The choice 
 * Created Lord Cowley in 1828. 
 
1 8 14-15.] NAPOLEON'S LAST STAKES. 219 
 
 of battle-ground, then, lay with Napoleon, not with 
 the Powers. Everything depended upon how soon 
 he could make ready to strike. 
 
 He wasted no time. It was not his custom to 
 squander that priceless element of successful war. 
 Entering Paris on 20th March, he had at his disposal 
 in the first week of June a regular army of 312,400, 
 and an auxiliary force of 222,600 — in all, S35,ooo men. 
 By that time Wellington's forces also had been con- 
 siderably augmented ; but how different was their 
 quality from the army he had dispersed in the south 
 of France the year before — the army of which he 
 proudly said in after-years it was " fit to go anywhere, 
 and do anything " ! The actual composition of his 
 force in Belgium on 13th June was this : — 
 
 British ... ... ... ... ... 31,253 
 
 King's German Legion ... ... ... 6,387 
 
 Hanoverians ... ... ... ... 15,935 
 
 Dutch-Belgians ... ... ... ... 29,214 
 
 Brunswickers ... ... ... ... 6,808 
 
 Nassau Contingent ... ... ... 2,880 
 
 Engineers, Staff Corps, etc. ... ... 1,240 
 
 93,717 
 
 Napoleon left Paris on 12th June to join his army 
 on the Belgian frontier. On the 14th his headquarters 
 were at Beaumont, about sixteen miles south of 
 Charleroi, with his five corps d'armee, numbering 
 126,000 of all arms, well within reach of his personal 
 command. 
 
 Thus much to show the position outside Brussels. 
 Mr. Creevey and his correspondents throw some light 
 upon the aspect of affairs within that capital. Doubt- 
 less he would have removed his wife from a scene so 
 little suited for an invalid, and have joined the stream 
 
220 tHE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 of migrating English before the French crossed the 
 frontier, had not Mrs. Creevey's state of health made 
 it the less of two evils to remain where she was. 
 
 First come a series of hurried, clandestine notes 
 from Major Hamilton, who had married, or was en- 
 gaged to, the eldest Miss Ord, and was on General 
 Barnes's staff. 
 
 Major Hamilton to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Brussels, Thursday, 4 p.m. [about i8th March], 
 
 " My dear Mr. Creevey, 
 
 "If you will not blab, you shall hear all the 
 news I can pick up, bad and good, as it comes. I am 
 sorry to tell you bad news to-day. General Fagal 
 writes from Paris to say that Bonaparte may be in 
 that capital ere many days. His army encreases 
 hourly ; and as fast as a regiment is brought up to 
 the neighbourhood of Lyons, it goes over to its old 
 master. Soult is said to have promised not to act 
 against the King, but that his obligations to Bony 
 would not allow him to take part against the latter. 
 Thus saying, he resigned to Louis the office of War 
 Minister, and the man who now holds it said he would 
 only do so so long as the Chamber of Deputies were 
 in favor with the nation. Fagal, take notice, is an 
 alarmist, and I hope our next accounts will not be of 
 so gloomy a nature. 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 "A. H." 
 
 " March 20th, i o'clock. 
 
 "Bonaparte is at Fontainebleau with 15,000 men, 
 every man of whom he can depend upon, because 
 every man is a volunteer, and they have risked all for 
 his sake. The Royal army is at Melun, consisting of 
 about 28,000 men, National Guards, &c., &c., included 
 — not a man of whom can be relied on. This is the 
 critical moment ; for if they allow him to enter Paris 
 without a battle, all is over. I feel that I am not acting 
 imprudently in thus stating facts, which naturally 
 
I8I4-I5-] TIDINGS FROM THE FRONTIER. 221 
 
 Mrs. Creevey must be made acquainted with. . . . 
 Wherever we may be ordered to bend our course, I 
 shall always have it in my power to give you such in- 
 formation as you may see necessary to ask for." 
 
 " March 22nd. 
 
 " There is no news this morning. All communica- 
 tion with Paris is at an end, and we now look with 
 anxiety for the arrival of Lord Wellington." 
 
 " March 22nd, 11 p.m. 
 
 ". . . The unfortunate Louis 1 8th was at Abbeville 
 yesterday, and has sent to the General commanding at 
 Lille to know if it would be safe for him to go there. 
 Baron Trippe has gone off to Lille to ascertain the 
 answer. . . . 2000 men still remain with Louis." 
 
 " Friday, 4 p.m. 
 
 " I am sorry my news still continues bad, indeed 
 worse to-day than ever. 'The people of Paris seem 
 to think all is lost, and await the entry of Bonaparte 
 as a circumstance not to be prevented. Marshal 
 Macdonald has acted with the utmost loyalty, but all 
 his influence and exertions have been unavailing. His 
 men have told him to "go back to the King, to re- 
 main faithful to him if he pleases, but that they would 
 go over to the Emperor. The troops have refused 
 on every occasion to fire at Bonaparte's force, or to 
 make any resistance. He has gone to Dijon. The 
 Government has no good information, for the very 
 persons who are sent to gain intelligence go over to 
 the enemy.' 
 
 " Matters are not so well with ourselves here as 
 they might be, inasmuch as the Belgians at Mons 
 evince a bad spirit. Dorneburg, who commands that 
 garrison, is a determined and good officer, and has 
 corps of the German Legion near him should cir- 
 cumstances require aid. A letter from Lille speaks 
 favorably of the good spirit prevailing amongst the 
 inhabitants ; but alas ! if the soldiers do not hold to 
 their allegiance, what can be expected ? Pray do not 
 blab; for although all this may have come to your 
 
222 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 knowledge through other channels, yet it would not 
 do for me to have the name of a news-giver. 
 
 " In haste, much yours, 
 
 "A. H." 
 
 " lo p.m., Saturday. 
 
 "The only good news is the spirit which seems to 
 prevail amongst the people, particularly at Marseilles. 
 . . . Everything looks gloomy ; I fear that my dispatch 
 of to-morrow will announce Bony to be not many 
 leagues from Paris. The big-wigs are now together, 
 and I shall have more to tell you at 12 o'c." 
 
 " Sunday, 2 p.m. 
 " Old Fagal seems to have recovered very much 
 from his fright. He now says Bony is still at Lyons 
 — that the best spirit prevails throughout France, and 
 that affairs seem to wear a brighter aspect. 3000 Dutch 
 troops are on their march to reinforce this army." 
 
 " [No date], 5 o'clock. 
 
 "The Prince [of Orange] is just now returned, you 
 shall know what news he brings from Tournay. 
 
 " Dorneberg is a good officer, and has much judg- 
 ment and experience. He commands at Mons. 
 
 " Halket commands at Courtray ; has a fine British 
 brigade and is a gallant soldier. 
 
 "Old Alten has the Cavalry at Ypres, with the 
 52nd and 69th British, and 4 of the Hanoverian 
 battalions : all good stuff. 7000 Royalists from 
 France, first to bleed, are outside the Belgic frontier ; 
 and will give us notice, by their running away; but 
 until WE begin to run, Mrs. Creevey need not fancy 
 the French are in Bruxelles ; and, for her sake, may 
 they never be is the very sincere wish of 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "A. H." • 
 
 " Saturday. 
 " Headquarters remain here for the present. The 
 Prince [of Orange] brings no news. All is quiet. 
 Lord March was sent to find out where the King was 
 
i8i4-i5.] ARRIVAL OF WELLINGTON. 223 
 
 on the 24th. His Majesty was not at Bruges, and the 
 Earl returned. If Lord Wellington comes in a day or 
 two or three, how Mrs. Creevey will crow over all the 
 world ! For, rest satisfied, if Bony does not push 
 to-morrow (which he cannot do) his game for the 
 present is up, and a stand can be made on the ground 
 we occupy, with the troops hourly expected from 
 Ostend, and with the Patrone ! " * 
 
 " 26th, 10 p.m. 
 "A Russian general arrived this day at Mons who 
 left Paris on the 24th. Bonaparte was to review his 
 troops on this day. The General saw no troops on 
 the road but one regiment, and it was marching on 
 Paris. A General from the Prussian army (Roder) 
 has been sent here by Kliest to remain at our head- 
 quarters. A great deal of talk, much communication, 
 aides-de-camp from the Due de Berri— from the King 
 — from Victor ; in short, all parties seem to have lost 
 their heads, and instead of getting troops together, 
 they talk about it. It is hoped that Dunkirk is not 
 yet in Boney's possession. If not, it will form a good 
 flanking position in case of Boney not succeeding in 
 his first attack on our line." 
 
 Wellington took up the command of the allied 
 forces in Belgium on sth April. There is nothing 
 from Creevey's pen until the crisis of the campaign 
 was upon Europe. 
 
 From Mr. Creevey's Jovtrnal. 
 
 ^^ June 16. Friday morning, ^ past two. — The girls 
 just returned from a ball at the Duke of Richmond's. 
 A battle has taken place to-day j between Buonaparte 
 and the Prussians: to what extent is not known ; the 
 result is known, however, to be in favour of the 
 French. Our troops are all moving from this place at 
 present. Lord Wellington was at the ball to-night as 
 composed as ever." 
 
 * Wellington. 
 
 t Writing early in the morning of the i6th, he refers to Napoleon's 
 passage of the Sambre on the 15th and the capture of Charleroi. 
 
224 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 Remmiscences, written in 1822. 
 
 A number of incidents contained in Mr. Creevey's 
 letters and journals of this period were afterwards 
 thrown into a consecutive form by him, together with 
 many not elsewhere recorded. 
 
 " Cantley, July 28, 1822. — I became a member of 
 the House of Commons in 1802, and the moment a 
 man became such then, if he attached himself to one 
 of the great parties in the House — Whigs or Tories — 
 he became at once a publick man, and had a position 
 in society which nothing else could give him. I 
 advert particularly to such persons as myself, who 
 came from the ranks, without either opulence or con- 
 nections to procure for them admission into the 
 company of their betters. 
 
 " The account of Buonaparte's conversation with 
 O'Meara at St. Helena, which is just published, is 
 so infinitely curious and interesting that they present 
 a very favorable occasion to me for committing to 
 paper general facts within my own knowledge, more 
 or less connected with some of the events to which he 
 refers. Most of these facts 1 have already recorded, 
 either in letters to my friends at the time, or by 
 occasional journals ; but they are all as distinctly in 
 my recollection at present as if they had happened 
 yesterday. 
 
 " In the autumn of 18 14, Mrs. Creevey, her two 
 eldest daughters (the Miss Ords) and her second and 
 younger son, Mr. Charles Ord, and myself went to 
 Brussells, where we took a house for a term. . . . We 
 found Brussells full of our London Guards ; our 
 cavalry and other troops were quartered up and down 
 the country. Having spent our winter very merrily 
 with our English officers, and others who had arrived 
 there in great abundance, about the 8th of March, 
 18 1 5, I think it was, we first heard of Buonaparte's 
 escape from Elba. At the time the young Prince of 
 Orange was Commander-in-chief of our forces in 
 Brussells ; General Sir Edward Barnes was Adjutant 
 General of the army, and Sir Hudson Lowe Quarter- 
 
i8i4-iS.] CONFUSION IN BRUSSELS. 225 
 
 master General. We remained nearly a fortnight in 
 great suspense as to what was to be the result of 
 this enterprise of Buonaparte. Since our arrival in 
 Brussells I had formed a sufficiently intimate ac- 
 quaintance with General Barnes to be quite sure of 
 learning from him the earliest intimation of any move- 
 ment of our army. One of the aides-de-camp, too, 
 the late Col. Hamilton, had already formed an attach- 
 ment to Miss Ord, which in 1815 ended in their 
 marriage. ... It was on the 24th March, I think, in the 
 morning, that he came to tell us that in all probability 
 Buonaparte had passed the preceding night at Lille, 
 and might be reasonably expected at Brussells in two 
 days' time, and that we ought to lose no time in 
 leaving the place. Mrs. Creevey at this time was a 
 great invalid, quite lame, and only to be removed with 
 very great pain and difficulty to herself. Upon con- 
 sulting with some people of the place, therefore, as to 
 the supposed conduct of the French if they arrived, 
 and knowing from Barnes that our troops were to 
 retire without fighting, we resolved to stay. 
 
 " During the whole of this day — the 24th — the 
 English were flying off in all directions, whilst others 
 were arriving from Paris ; and in the night the 
 Guards all rharched off to Ath, Enghien, &c., &:c. On 
 one of these days, I forget which, I saw arrive on the 
 same day from Paris the old Prince de Conde and all 
 his suite, who went to the Hotel Bellevue — Marmont, 
 who went to the Hotel d'Angleterre — Victor to the 
 Hotel Wellington, and Berthier to the Due d'Arem- 
 berg's. On Easter Monday, I think it was, I was 
 sitting at Charlotte Greville's, when the Due de Berri 
 came to call upon her, and expressed his great 
 astonishment that any English should remain there, 
 as Buonaparte was certainly at Lille and would no 
 doubt be here on the Wednesday following, and that 
 he himself, in consequence, was going to Antwerp. 
 . . . We soon found there was no foundation for the 
 report of an early invasion of Belgium by Buona- 
 parte, and a good many of our people returned to 
 Brussells, and other new ones came there. In April 
 the Duke of Wellington arrived (I forget what day *) 
 
 * It was the Sth. 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 at Brussells from Vienna ; and it was the 22nd, I think, 
 I met him at Lady Charlotte Greville's in the evening ; 
 she having a party of all the principal persons then in 
 Brussells of all countries every evening. 
 
 " I had seen a good deal of the Duke of Wellington 
 in 1806, and in a very amicable way. He was then 
 just returned from India, and [was] brought into the 
 House of Commons to defend his brother Ld. Wel- 
 lesley's Indian government. I was Secretary of the 
 Board of Controul at the time, so that all Indian papers 
 moved for on either side came thro' me ; and this 
 brought me very much in contact with Sir Arthur 
 Wellesley personally, as well as with Paull, who was 
 attacking his brother.* Afterwards in 1807-8 and -9 
 I took a very decided part in Parliament against Lord 
 Wellesley, which produced such angry words between 
 Sir Arthur and myself that I was quite prepared for 
 there being no further intercourse between us. To 
 do him justice, however, he not only did not seem to 
 resent or recollect these former bickerings, but from 
 the first moment he saw me at Lady Charlotte's 
 (where he put out his hand to me) till he quitted 
 France finally in the end of 18 18, he behaved with the 
 most marked civility and cordiality to myself and to 
 all who were connected with me. 
 
 " The first occasion when I met him at Lady 
 Charlotte's was so curious a one that I took a note 
 of it when I returned home, and this I now have by 
 me. We had much conversation about Buonaparte, 
 and the Duke would have it that a Republick was the 
 thing which he was sure was to be got up at Paris — 
 that it would never come to fighting with the Allies — that 
 the Republick would be all jsettled by Carnot, Lucien 
 Buonaparte, &c., &c. — that he was confident it would 
 never come to blows. So he and I had a good deal of 
 
 * Among Creevey's papers are many letters from this Paull, who was 
 the son of a Perth tailor, was educated in an Edinburgh writer's ofSce, 
 and was a trader for some years in India. Expelled by the Nawab 
 from the Dominion of Oude, he was reinstated by Lord Wellesley's 
 influence, made a large fortune, and was returned to Parliament, 
 where he exerted himself to obtain his benefactor's impeachment. 
 Having taken to gambling and lost heavily, he cut his throat in April, 
 1808. 
 
i8i4-iS.] THE IRON DUKE. 227 
 
 joking, and I asked him what he thought the old 
 manager Buonaparte would say to this new piece, and 
 whether it was with his consent it was got up, and 
 whether it would in truth turn out a tragedy, comedy 
 or farce. He said he had no doubt it would be a 
 tragedy to Buonaparte, and that they would beat him 
 by stilleto or otherwise in a very few weeks. 
 
 " I retired with the impression of his (the Duke) 
 having made a very sorry figure, in giving no indica- 
 tion of superior talents. However, as I said before, 
 he was very natural and good-humoured. 
 
 " I continued to meet him both at Lady Charlotte's 
 and other places repeatedly, and he was always equally 
 communicative — still retaining his original opmion. 
 1 remember his coming in one day to Lady Charlotte's 
 in great glee, because Baron Lories, the Finance 
 Minister, had fled from Paris to join the French King 
 at Ghent. — ' The old fox,' he said, ' would never have 
 run for it, if he had not felt that the house was 
 tumbling about his ears.' 
 
 " Then he was always expressing his belief that 
 the then approaching fete at Paris in the Champ de 
 M[ars] would be fatal to Buonaparte — that the ex- 
 plosion would take place on that occasion, and that 
 Buonaparte and his reign would both be put an end 
 to on that day. So when we knew that the day had 
 passed off in the most favorable manner to the 
 Emperor, being that night at a ball at the Duke's 
 house, I asked him what he thought of things now at 
 Paris ; upon which he laughed and seemed not in the 
 least degree affected by the event. But when on the 
 same evening I made a remark about the Duke's 
 indifference to Sir Charles Stuart,* our ambassador, 
 the latter said in his curious, blunt manner : — ' Then 
 he is damned different with you from what he is with 
 me, for I never saw a fellow so cut down in my life 
 than he was this morning when he first heard the 
 news.' 
 
 " The Duke during this period was for ever giving 
 balls, to which he was always kind enough to ask my 
 daughters and myself ; and very agreeable they were. 
 
 * Nephew of the 1st Marquess of Bute, created Lord Stuart de 
 Rothesay in 1828. 
 
228 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 On one occasion, having been at a ball in his house 
 on a Saturday night, old Blucher and his staff came 
 over to the town on the next day — Sunday, and the 
 Duke sent out instantly to all who had been there on 
 the preceding evening to come again that night to 
 meet Blucher, and he kept making everybody dance 
 to the last. Amongst others, I remember his bring- 
 ing up General [illegible], who has since been so 
 conspicuous in France, to dance with Miss Ord, which 
 he did. 
 
 "Some short time before the battle of Waterloo — 
 a fortnight, perhaps, or three weeks — the two Miss 
 Ords and myself were walking in the Park at Brussells. 
 When opposite the Ambassador's house (now the 
 Prince ot Orange's) the Duke of Wellington and Sir 
 Charles Stuart, having been engaged in conversation, 
 parted, and the Duke joined us. It was the day the 
 papers had arrived from England, bringing the debates 
 m Parliament where the question is the war. So he 
 began to me by observing : — 'What a good thing it is 
 for Ministers that Grattan has made a speech in favor 
 of the war.' — To which I replied that all Ministers 
 were always lucky in finding some unexpected sup- 
 port : and then 1 added the question was a nice 
 one. — ' A question of expediency,' said the Duke. — 
 'Granted,' I replied, 'quite; and now then, will you 
 let me ask you, Duke, what you think you will make 
 of it ? ' He stopt, and said in the most natural manner : 
 — ' By God ! I think Blucher and myself can do the 
 thing.' — ' Do you calculate,' I asked, ' upon any deser- 
 tion in Buonaparte's army ? ' — ' Not upon a man,' he 
 said, ' from the colonel to the private in a r-egiment — 
 both inclusive. We may pick up a marshal or two, 
 perhaps; but not worth a damn.' — ' Do you reckon,' I 
 asked, ' upon any support from the French King's 
 troops at Alost ? ' — ' Oh ! ' said he, ' don't mention such 
 fellows ! No : I think Blucher and I can do the 
 business.' — Then, seeing a private soldier of one of 
 our infantry regiments enter the park, gaping about 
 at the statues and images : — 'There,' he said, pointing 
 at the soldier, 'it all depends upon that article whether 
 we do the business or not. Give me enough of it, 
 and I am sure.' 
 
 "About a week before the battle, he reviewed 
 
1814-15.] THE DUCHESS OF RICHMOND'S BALL. 229 
 
 three regiments of our infantry, and three Hanoverian 
 ones, in the Allee Verte, and I stood in conversation 
 with him as they passed. They were some of our 
 best regiments, and so he pronounced them to be. 
 As the Hanoverians passed he said : — ' Those are very 
 good troops too, or will be so when I get good officers 
 into them.' 
 
 " On Wednesday evening the 14th June, having 
 had daily rumours of the approach of the French, I 
 was at Lady Conyngham's, where there was a party, 
 and it was confidently stated that the French had 
 reached or crossed the frontier. The Duke presently 
 came in and said it was so.* 
 
 "On the isth there was a ball at the Duke of 
 Richmond's, to which my daughters, the Miss Ords, 
 and their brother went ; but I stayed at home 
 with Mrs. Creevey. About half-past eleven at 
 night, I heard a great knocking at houses in my 
 street— la Rue du Musee — just out of the Place 
 Royale, and I presently found out the troops were 
 in motion, and by 12 o'clock they all marched off 
 the Place Royale up the Rue Namur. ... I sat up, of 
 course, till my daughters and their brother returned 
 from the Duke of Richmond's, which they did about 
 two o'clock or half after. I then found that the 
 Prussians had been driven out of Charleroi and other 
 places by the French, and that all our army had been 
 just then set in motion to meet them. The Duke had 
 been at the ball — had received his intelligence there, 
 and had sent off his different orders. There had 
 been plenty of officers at the ball, and some tender 
 scenes had taken place upon the ladies parting with 
 them. 
 
 " I saw poor Hamilton t that night ; he came 
 home in the carriage with the Miss Ords and their 
 brother. 
 
 " On Friday the i6th the Duke and his staff rode 
 out of the Namur gate_, about nine,t and we were 
 
 * Napoleon left Paris at daybreak on 12th June. On the 14th his 
 headquarters were at Beaumont, about 16 miles south of Charleroi, but 
 he did not cross the frontier till the morning of the 15th. 
 
 t His step-son-in-law. 
 
 X Other witnesses say 8 a.m. 
 
230 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 without any news the best part of the day. I dined 
 at Mr. Greathead's in the Park. ... In walking there 
 between 4 and 5, poor Charles Ord and I thought we 
 heard the sound of cannon ; and when we got to 
 Greathead's we found everybody on the rampart 
 listening to it. In the course of the evening the 
 rampart was crowded with people listening, and the 
 sound became perfectly distinct and regular.* 
 
 "Just before we sat down to dinner, Greathead 
 saw Col. Canning, one of the Duke's Aides-de-camps, 
 walking by the window, and he called him up to 
 dine. He had been sent by the Duke on a mission 
 to the French King at Alost, and was then on 
 his return. He was killed two days afterwards at 
 Waterloo. 
 
 " In the evening — or rather at night — Colonel 
 Hamilton rode in to Brussells, to do some things for 
 General Barnes, and to see us. We found from him 
 that the firing had been the battle of Quatre-Bras. 
 He was full of praises of our troops, who had fought 
 under every disadvantage of having marched 16 miles 
 from Brussells, and having neither cavalry nor artillery 
 up in time to protect them.f He was fuH, too, of 
 admiration of the talent of Buonaparte in this daring 
 attempt to get between the English and Prussian 
 armies. . . . Hamilton had seen the Duke of Bruns- 
 wick killed at the head of his Brunswickers,t and 
 represented the grief of these soldiers as quite affect- 
 ing. Two of our young Brussells officers and friends 
 had been killed, too, in the action — Lord Hay, aide- 
 de-camp to General Maitland, and a brother of Jack 
 Smyth's. Upon one occasion during the day, 
 Hamilton stated, Wellington and his whole staff had 
 been very nearly taken prisoners by some French 
 
 * The action at Quatre-Bras began about 3 p.m. and lasted till 
 9 o'clock. 
 
 t The Allies began the action with 7000 infantry and i6 guns. 
 Van Merlen's horse, 1200 strong, joined them before 5 o'clock, but 
 Lord Uxbridge's division of cavalry halted on the Mons-Brussels road, 
 through a mistake in their orders. 
 
 } Their black uniform, with silver death's-head and crossbones, 
 commemorated the death of the Duke's father at the head of his Bruns- 
 wicker Hussars at Jena. 
 
I8I4-IS.] THE EVE OF WATERLOO. 23 1 
 
 cavalry.* . . . Hamilton returned to headquarters 
 about 12 at night. 
 
 "On Saturday the 17th I remember feeling free 
 from much alarm. I reasoned with myself that as 
 our troops had kept their ground under all the 
 unequal circumstances of the day before, surely when 
 all the Guards and other troops had arrived from Ath 
 and Enghien, with all the cavalry, artillery, &c., they 
 would be too strong for the French even venturing to 
 attack again. So we went on flattering ourselves 
 during the day, especially as we heard no firing. 
 About four o'clock, however, the Marquis Juarenais [?], 
 who I always found knew more than anybody else, 
 met me in the street and said : — ' Your army is in 
 retreat upon Brussells, and the French in pursuit.' 
 He quite satisfied me that he knew the fact ; and not 
 long after, the baggage of the army was coming down 
 the Rue de Namur, filling up my street, and horses 
 were bivouacked [picketed ?] all round the park. 
 
 "At night Hamilton came in to us again, and we 
 learnt from him that Buonaparte had beaten Blucher 
 so completely the night before that all communication 
 between the latter and Wellington had been cut off, 
 and that, under such circumstances, Wellington had 
 been obliged to fall back and take up another position. 
 
 " It was now clear there was going to be a 
 desperate battle. Hamilton said so, and we who 
 knew the overflowing ardent mind, as well as the 
 daring nature, of his General (Barnes), well knew the 
 danger his life would be exposed to next day. He 
 returned to headquarters, according to custom, at 
 midnight. 
 
 "Sunday, June the i8th, was of course a most 
 anxious day with us. I persuaded poor Charles Ord 
 to go that day to England. Between 11 and 12 I 
 
 * This happened just after the Duke of Brunswick fell. The Bruns- 
 wick infantry giving way before a charge of French cavalry, Wellington 
 rode up with the Brunswick Hussars to cover them ; but these also 
 fell into disorder under a heavy fire of musketry, and were then driven 
 off by Pird's Red Lancers. Wellington galloped off, closely pursued. 
 Arriving at a ditch lined by the Gordon Highlanders, he called out 
 to them to lie still, set his horse at the fence, and cleared it, bayonets 
 and all. 
 
232 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 perceived the horses, men, carts and carriages of all 
 description, laden with baggage, which had filled 
 every street all night, had received orders to march, 
 and I never felt more anxiety than to see the route 
 they took; for had they taken the Antwerp or Ostend 
 road, I should have concluded we were not to keep 
 our ground. They all went up the Rue de Namur 
 towards the army. 
 
 "About three o'clock I walked about two miles 
 out of the town towards the army, and a more 
 curious, busy scene it was, with every kind of thing 
 upon the road, the Sunday population of Brussells 
 being all out in the suburbs out of the Porte Namur, 
 sitting about tables drinking beer and smoking and 
 making merry, as if races or other sports were going 
 on, instead of the great pitched battle which was then 
 fighting. 
 
 " Upon my return home about four, I had scarcely 
 got into my own room to dress for dinner, when Miss 
 Elizabeth Ord came running into the room saying : — 
 ' For God's sake, Mr. Creevey, come into the drawing- 
 room to my mother immediately. The French are in 
 the town.' — I could not bring myself to believe that to 
 be true, and I said so, with my reasons ; but I said — 
 ' Let all the outside blinds be put to, and I will come 
 in an instant.' — So having remained five or ten 
 minutes in the drawing-room, and hearing nothing, 
 I went out ; and then I found the alarm had been 
 occasioned by the flight of a German regiment of 
 cavalry, the Cumberland Hussars, who had quitted 
 the field of battle, galloping through the forest of 
 Soignes, entering the Porte Namur, and going full 
 speed down the Rue de Namur and thro' the Place 
 Royale, crying out the French were at their heels. 
 The confusion and mischief occasioned by these 
 fellows on the road were incredible, but in the town 
 all was quiet again in an instant. 
 
 " I then sat down to dinner, in the middle of which 
 I heard a very considerable shouting near me. Jump- 
 ing up to the window which commanded the lower 
 part of the Rue de Namur, I saw a detachment of our 
 Horse Guards escorting a considerable body of 
 French prisoners, and could distinctly recognise one 
 or two eagles. I went into the Place Royale 
 
1814-15.] THE EIGHTEENTH OF JUNE. 233 
 
 immediately to see them pass, and then returned to my 
 dinner. Their number was said to be 1500. In half 
 an hour more I heard fresh shouting, and this proved 
 to be another arrival of French prisoners, greater in 
 amount — it was said 5000 in all had arrived. 
 
 " About this time, in looking out of my window I 
 saw Mr. Legh, of Lyme, M.P. for Newton,* arrive on 
 horseback at his lodgings, which were next to my 
 house ; and finding that he had been looking at the 
 battle, or very near it, I rejoiced with him upon 
 things looking so well, which I conceived to be the 
 case from the recent arrivals of prisoners. My sur- 
 prise, therefore, was by no means small when he 
 replied that he did not agree with me : that from his 
 own observation he thought overything looked as 
 bad as possible ; in short, that he thought so badly of 
 it that he! should not send his horses to the stable, 
 but keep them at his door in case of accidents. 
 
 "After this I went out to call on the Marquis 
 Juarenais in the Park, to collect from him what news 
 I could ; and in passing the corner of the Hotel Belle- 
 vue I came in contact with one of our Life Guards — 
 a soldier who had just come in. I asked him how he 
 thought the battle was going when he left the field ; 
 upon which, after turning round apparently to see if 
 anybody could hear him, he said : — ' Why, sir, I don't 
 like the appearance of things at all. The French are 
 getting on in such a manner that I don't see what's to 
 stop them.' 
 
 " I then got to Juarenais's, and was shown into 
 a drawing-room, in the middle of which I saw a 
 wounded officer of our Foot Guards (Griffiths, his 
 name was, I knew afterwards) sitting in apparently 
 great pain — a corporal on one side picking his 
 epaulet out of the wound, and Madame de Juarenais 
 holding a smelling-bottle under his nose. I just 
 heard the officer apologise to Madame de Juarenais for 
 the trouble he was giving her, observing at the time 
 that he would not be long with them, as the French 
 would be in that night, and then he fainted away. 
 
 " In going out of the drawing-room into the 
 balcony commanding the Park, the first thing I saw 
 
 * Grandfather of the present Lord Newton. 
 
234 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 was General Barnes's chaise and four going as fast 
 as it could from his own house in the Park towards 
 the Porte Namur and, of course, the field of battle ; 
 upon which I went immediately to Barnes's to see 
 what intelligence I could pick up there ; when I found 
 a foreign officer of his staff — I forget his name — 
 who had just arrived, and had sent oflF the General's 
 carriage. His information was that General Barnes 
 was very badly wounded — that Captain [illegible] 
 Erskine of his staff had lost an arm ■ — that Major 
 Hamilton * was wounded but not severely, and that 
 he thought everything was going as badly as possible. 
 
 "With this intelligence I returned to Mrs. Creevey 
 and my daughters between 8 and 9, but I did not 
 mention a word of what I had heard, there being no 
 use in my so doing. About ten o'clock, however, or 
 between that and 11, Hamilton entered the room, and 
 then the ladies and myself heard from him that Genl. 
 Barnes had been shot through the body by a musquet 
 ball about 5 o'clock — that his horse having just previ- 
 ously been killed under him, the general was on foot 
 at the time — that Hamilton and the orderly sergeant 
 had put him immediately upon Hamilton's horse, and 
 that in this manner, one on each side, they had walked 
 these 12 miles to Bruxelles, tho' Hamilton had been 
 wounded both in the head and in one foot. Observe — the 
 road had been so choaked by carts and carriages being 
 overturned when the German regiment t ran away, 
 that no carriage could pass that way for some time. 
 
 " Well — Hamilton had put his general to bed, and 
 was then come to give us the opinion, both of the 
 general and himself, that the battle was lost, and that 
 we had no time to lose in getting away. Hamilton 
 said he would immediately procure horses, carriages 
 or anything else for taking us from Bruxelles. After a 
 very short consultation, however, with Mrs. Creevey, 
 under all the circumstances of her ill health and help- 
 lessness, and the confusion of flying from an army in 
 the night, we determined to remain, and Hamilton 
 returned to his general. 
 
 " The young ladies lay down upon their beds 
 without undressing. I got into my own, and slept 
 
 * Mr. Creevey's son-in-law. t The Cumberland Hussars. 
 
I8I4-I5-] NEWS OF VICTORY. 235 
 
 soundly till 4 o'clock, when, upon waking, I went 
 instantly to the front windows to see what was pass- 
 ing in the Rue Namur. I had the satisfaction of see- 
 ing baggage, soldiers, &c., still moving up the street, 
 and towards the field of battle, which I could not 
 but consider as very favorable. Having dressed and 
 loitered about till near six, I then went to the Marquis 
 Juarenais's, in pursuit of news ; and, upon the great 
 court gate being opened to me, the first person I 
 saw was Madame de Juarenais, walking about in de- 
 shabille amidst a great bivouack of horses. She told 
 me immediately that the French were defeated and 
 had fled in great confusion. I expressed so much 
 surprise at this, that she said I should learn it from 
 Monr. Juarenais himself; so she took me up to his 
 bed, where he was fast asleep. When he woke and 
 saw me by his bedside in doubt about the truth of 
 the good news, he almost began to doubt himself; 
 but then he recollected, and it was all quite right. 
 General Sir Charles Alten, who commanded the 
 Hanoverians, had been brought in to Juarenais's late 
 at night, very badly wounded ; but had left particular 
 orders with his staff to bring or send the earliest 
 accounts of the result. Accordingly, one of his officers 
 who had been on the field about 8 o'clock, when the 
 French had given way, and who had gone on with the 
 Duke in the pursuit as far as Nivelles,* had brought all 
 this intelligence to Alten at Juarenais's about 3 o'clock. 
 
 " I went in the first place from Juarenais's to 
 General Barnes's; where, having entered his bed- 
 room, I found him lying in bed, his wound just 
 dressed, and Hamilton by his side ; and when I told 
 him the battle was won (which he did not know 
 before), and how I knew it, he said : — ' There, 
 Hamilton, did not I say it was either so or a drawn 
 battle, as the French ought to have been here before 
 now if they had won. 1 have just sent old [illegible'] 
 (one of his staff) up to headquarters for news.' 
 
 " I then returned directly home, and of course we 
 were all not a little delighted at our escape. 
 
 "About eleven o'clock, upon going out again, I 
 
 * Vv^ellington did not follow as far as Nivelles, but handed over the 
 pursuit to Bliicher at La Belle Alliance. 
 
236 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. X. 
 
 heard a report that the Duke was in Bruxelles ; and 
 I went from curiosity to see whether there was any 
 appearance of him or any of his staff at his residence 
 in the Parle. As I approached, I saw people collected in 
 the street about the house ; and when I got amongst 
 them, the first thing I saw was the Duke upstairs 
 alone at his window. Upon his recognising me, he im- 
 mediately beckoned to me with his finger to come up.* 
 " I met Lord Arthur Hill in the ante-room below, 
 who, after shaking hands and congratulation, told me 
 I could not go up to the Duke, as he was then occu- 
 pied in writing his dispatch ; but as I had been in- 
 vited, I of course proceeded. The first thing I did, 
 of course, was to put out my hand and congratulate 
 him [the Duke] upon his victory. He made a variety 
 of observations in his short, natural, blunt way, but 
 with the greatest gravity all the time, and without 
 the least approach to anything like triumph or joy. 
 ■ — ' It has been a damned serious business,' he said. 
 ' Blucher and I have lost 30,000 men. It has been a 
 damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever 
 saw in your life. Blucher lost 14,000 on Friday 
 night,t and got so damnably licked I could not find 
 him on Saturday morning; so I was obliged to fall 
 back to keep up [regain ?] my communications with 
 him.' J — Then, as he walked about, he praised greatly 
 
 * It may seem improbable that the Duke should have made him- 
 self so accessible to a mere civilian on such a momentous morning ; 
 but there is ample confirmation of Mr. Creevey's narrative from the 
 Duke's own lips. In 1836 he described the circumstance to Lady 
 Salisbury, who noted it in her journal (unpublished) as follows : — ■ 
 
 " ' I was called,' said the Duke, ' about 3 in the morning by Hume 
 to go and see poor Gordon ' (in the same inn at Waterloo), ' but he 
 was dead before I got there. Then I came back, had a cup of tea and 
 some toast, wrote my dispatch, and then rode into Brussels. At the 
 door of my own hotel I met Creevey : they had no certain accounts 
 at Brussels, and he called out to me : — " What news ? " I said : — 
 " Why I think we've done for 'em this time." ' " 
 
 The dispatch was begun at Waterloo and finished at Brussels, 
 evidence of which remains in the draft of the original now at Apsley 
 House, which is headed first " Waterloo ; " that is struck out and 
 " Bruxelles " substituted. 
 
 t At Ligny. 
 
 X Napoleon had detached the column of Mardchal Grouchy, 34,000 
 men with 96 guns, on the 17 th to pursue the Prussians to Namur. 
 
i8i4-iS.] CONVERSATION WITH THE DUKE. 237 
 
 those Guards who kept the farm (meaning Hugo- 
 mont) against the repeated attacks of the French ; 
 and then he praised all our troops, uttering repeated 
 expressions of astonishment at our men's courage. 
 He repeated so often its being 50 nice a thing — so 
 nearly run a thing, that I asked him if the French 
 had fought better than he had ever seen them do 
 before. — ' No,' he said, ' they have always fought the 
 same since I first saw them at Vimeira.'* Then he 
 said: — 'By God! I don't think it would have done if 
 I had not been there.' t 
 
 " When I left the Duke, I went instantly home and 
 wrote to England by the same courier who carried 
 his dispatch. I sent the very conversation I have 
 just related to Bennett I think, however, I omitted 
 the Duke's observation that he did not think the 
 battle would have been won had he not been there, 
 and I remember my reason for omitting this sentence. 
 It did not seem fair to the Duke to state it without 
 full explanation. There was nothing like vanity in 
 the observation in the way he made it. I considered 
 it only as meaning that the battle was so hardly and 
 equally fought that nothing but confidence of our 
 army in himself as their general could have brought 
 them thro'. Now that seven years have elapsed since 
 that battle, and tho' the Duke has become — very 
 foolishly, in my opinion — a politician, and has done 
 many wrong and foolish things since that time, yet I 
 think of his conversation and whole conduct on the 
 19th — the day after the battle — exactly the same as I 
 did then : namely — that nothing could do a conqueror 
 more honor than his gravity and seriousness at the 
 loss of lives he had sustained, his admission of his 
 great danger, and the justice he did his enemy. 
 
 " I may add that, before I left him, I asked whether 
 he thought the French would be able to take the field 
 again ; and he said he thought certainly not, giving as 
 his reason that every corps of France, but one, had 
 
 * In 1808. 
 
 t Captain Gronow, to whom Creevey gave an account of this 
 interview, remarks : " I do not pretend to say what the Duke meant 
 in his conversation with Mr. Creevey, who was truth itself" {Remi- 
 niscences, vol. i. 212]. 
 
 X Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., 2nd son of the 4th Earl of Tankerville. 
 
238 THE CREEVEY PAPERS, [Ch. X. 
 
 been in the battle, and that the whole army had gone 
 off in such perfect rout and confusion he thought it 
 quite impossible for them to give battle again before 
 the Allies reached Paris. 
 
 " On Tuesday the 20th, the day after this conver- 
 sation with the Duke, Barnes and Hamilton would 
 make me ride over to see the field of battle, which I 
 would willingly have declined, understanding all the 
 French dead were still on the field — unburied, and 
 having no one to instruct me in detail as to what had 
 passed — I mean as to the relative positions of the 
 armies, &c. However, I was mounted, and as I was 
 riding along with Hamilton's groom behind me about 
 a mile and a half on the Brussells side of the village of 
 Waterloo, who should overtake me but the Duke of 
 Wellington in his curricle, in his plain cloaths and 
 Harvey by his side in his regimentals. So we went 
 on together, and he said as he was to stop at Waterloo 
 to see Frederick Ponsonby and de Lancey, Harvey 
 should go with me and shew me the field of battle, 
 and all about it. When we got to Waterloo village, 
 we found others of his staff there, and it ended in 
 Lord Arthur Hill being my guide over every part of 
 the ground. 
 
 " My great surprise was at not being more horrified 
 at the sight of such a mass of dead bodies. On the 
 left of the road going from Waterloo to Mont St. 
 Jean, and just close up to within a yard or two of a 
 small ragged hedge which was our own line, the 
 French lay as if they had been mowed down in a row 
 without any interval* It was a distressing sight, no 
 doubt, to see every now and then a man alive 
 amongst them, and calling out to Lord Arthur to give 
 them something to drink. It so happened Lord 
 Arthur had some weak brandy and water in his 
 holster, and he dismounted to give some to the 
 wounded soldiers. It was a curious thing to see on 
 each occasion the moderation with which the soldier 
 drank, and his marked good manners. They all 
 ended by saying to Lord Arthur:— 'Mon general, 
 vous etes bien honnfite.' One case in particular I 
 
 * Where Picton's 5th Division repulsed d'Erlon's corps in the 
 morning. The ragged hedge has now disappeared. 
 
i8i4-iS.] CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGN. 239 
 
 remember, on the other side of the road near the farm 
 at Hugomont, a remarkably fine-looking man reared 
 himself up from amongst the surrounding dead. His 
 aiguilette streaming down his arm, Lord Arthur 
 asked him if he was an officer, to which he replied no, 
 but a sergeant of the Imperial Guard. Lord Arthur, 
 having given him some drink, said he would look 
 about for some conveyance to carry him off (his thigh 
 being broken), and apologised for its not being sooner 
 done, on account of the numbers of our own men we 
 had to take care of. The Frenchman said in the best 
 manner possible :— ' O mon general, vous etes bien 
 honnete : apres les Allies.' 
 
 " I rode home with Hume the physician at head 
 quarters, who said there were 14,000 dead on the 
 field ; and upon my expressing regret at the wounded 
 people being still out, he replied: — 'The two nights 
 they have been out is all in their favor, provided 
 they are now got into hospitals. They will have a 
 better chance of escaping fever this hot weather than 
 our own people who have been carried into hospitals 
 the first.' " 
 
 Lord Arthur Hill to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Mons, 25th June, 1815. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 " The King entered Le Cateau yesterday and 
 was very well received. I was sent off from thence 
 here with letters from the Duke to Talleyrand, who 
 is here, with the news that Nap had abdicated in 
 favor of his son. There is a provisional government 
 formed. I don't suppose we shall have any more 
 fighting. Hd. quarters advanced to-day however, but 
 I don't know where to. 1 shan't be able to reach 
 them to-night— roads horrible. Cambray was taken 
 last night by storm : the Governor still in the Citadel 
 — can't last. Inhabitants illuminated and received our 
 troops with joy — Genl. Colvill's brigade. Let me hear 
 of Harris and other wounded. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "Arthur Hill. 
 
 " My wounded mare is in the Duke's stable under 
 care of Percy's servant. Will you visit her ? " ^ 
 
( 240 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 1815-1816. 
 
 After the stern realities of war, home politics and 
 social gossip read flat enough. The crowning victory 
 of Waterloo brought no strength to the Opposition. 
 There were troubles enough ahead for the Govern- 
 ment, arising out of the fall in prices consequent on 
 the peace and the thousands of idle hands thrown 
 on the labour market following on reduction of the 
 forces ; but, meanwhile, the country was aglow with 
 enthusiasm for the Government and the army. It 
 was when their prospects were at the lowest that 
 the Liberals received a cruel blow in the suicide of 
 one of their chief representatives in the Commons, 
 Mr. Samuel Whitbread. 
 
 Hon. H. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey {at Brussels]. 
 
 " Whitehall, July, 1815. 
 
 ". . . Nothing could be more droll than the dis- 
 comfiture of our politicians at Brooks's. The night 
 the news of the battle of Waterloo arrived. Sir Rt. 
 Wilson and Grey demonstrated satisfactorily to a 
 crowded audience that Boney had 200,000 men across 
 Sambre, and that he must then be at Brussels. Wilson 
 read a letter announcing that the English were defiling 
 out of the town by the Antwerp gate ; when the shouts 
 in the street drew us to the window, and we saw the 
 
iSi5-i6.] DEATH OF WHITBREAD. 241 
 
 chaise and the Eagles. To be sure, we are good people, 
 but sorry prophets ! The only consolation I have is 
 in peace, and that we shall have, and have time, too, 
 to look about us, and amend our system at home, and 
 damage royalty, and badger Prinny. I will venture 
 to say he will long again for war abroad, as we will 
 give him enough of it at home in the H. of Commons, 
 so I beg you will be preparing for battle in the ensuing 
 campaign. Peace we are hourly expecting. The 
 {illegible] want to stop the French frontier, [illegible] 
 to pillage Paris, and the ladies of the fashionable world 
 to massacre its inhabitants. I assure you we are 
 very bloody in this town, and people talk of making 
 great examples, as if the French had not the right 
 to have, independent of us, what government they 
 liked best. 
 
 " You will be sorry to hear that Sam [Whitbread] 
 looks and is very ill. He has lost all spirits, and 
 cannot speak. I hear he vexes himself to death about 
 Drury Lane. I am told a bill is filed against him by 
 the [illegible] to the tune of ;^2 5,000. ... I hope it is 
 Drury Lane and not bad health that destroys his 
 spirits." 
 
 "Whitehall, July 7. 
 
 "My dear Creevey, 
 
 " It is with a heavy heart that I write to tell 
 you that you have lost your friend Whitbread ; and 
 though I hardly know how to name it, yet I must add 
 that he destroyed himself in a paroxysm of derange- 
 ment from the aneurism in the brain. He had been 
 for the last month in a low and irritable state. The 
 damned theatre and all its concerns, the vexatious 
 opposition he met with, and the state of worry in 
 which he was left — all conspired together to [illegible] 
 his understanding as to lead to this fatal step. On 
 Wednesday night the 5th I had a note from him written 
 in his own hand, and as usual. He spoke on Tuesday 
 in the H. of Commons more in his usual style than of 
 late. . . . On Wednesday he passed all the evening 
 with Burgess the solicitor, discussing the theatre 
 concerns — walking up and down the room in great 
 agitation, accusing himself of being the ruin of thou- 
 sands. As you may well imagine, he did not sleep, 
 
 VOL. I. R 
 
242 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 but got up early on Thursday in a heated and flurried 
 state — sat down to dress after breakfast about lo, and, 
 while Wear was out of the room, cut his throat with 
 a razor. When Wear returned, he found him quite 
 dead. Is it necessary to say what the blow 'is to us 
 all? To lose him in any way, at the maturest age, 
 would have been a cruel loss, but in this manner — one 
 feels so overpowered and broken down that the thing 
 seems to be but a frightful dream. To me, the loss 
 is greater than that of Fox, for the active, unwearied 
 benevolence — both public and private — of our poor 
 friend surpassed all the exertions of any one we ever 
 knew. He lived but for mankind — not in showy 
 speeches and mental exertions alone, but there was 
 not a poor one or oppressed being in the world that 
 he did not consider Whitbread as his benefactor. . . . 
 I never heard of his equal, and he was by far the most 
 honest public and private man I ever knew. . . ." 
 
 "July II. 
 
 "... I am not astonished at Grey's losing his heart, 
 as this day he is to attend Sir W. Ponsonby's* funeral, 
 and at night he is to go down to Southill to attend our 
 poor friend's to-morrow. . . ." 
 
 " 1 2th. 
 
 "... I delay sending this to say that Tavistock 
 moved yesterday the writ in the most perfect and 
 {illegible] manner : there was not a dry eye in the 
 House. Wilberforce said he always considered Whit- 
 bread as the true {illegible], possessing all the virtues 
 of the character, tho' with its foibles, and that he was 
 one of the public treasures. Vansittart deeply regretted 
 his loss, and allowed that, when most in opposition to 
 them, he was always manly, honest, {illegible] and true, 
 and that he was an ornament to his country. Thus 
 ended the saddest day I have yet seen in the House 
 of Commons. Tierney sobbed so, he was unable to 
 speak ; I never saw a more affecting scene. . . ." 
 
 * Major-General the Hon. Sir William Ponsonby [1772-1815] 
 commanded the " Union " brigade of heavy cavalry at Waterloo, and 
 was killed in their famous charge upon d'Erlon's column. 
 
<^J^iJA!y&Scc*'^^j.: r^/ V 
 
 c j(intL (I liitln'caA^. 
 
i8i5-i6.] MISFORTUNES OF THE OPPOSITION. 243 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey [at Brussels}. 
 
 "Friday, July 14, 1815. 
 
 " The message I sent you by C. Grey three weeks 
 ago must have prepared you for this dreadful calamity 
 which has befallen us, though nothing could reconcile 
 you to it. Indeed one feels it more, if possible, as a 
 private than a publick loss. ... It seems as if the 
 Opposition lay under a curse at this time— not merely 
 politically, but physically. Romilly last winter was 
 bled out of a violent inflammation of the lungs, and I 
 think him damaged by it, next winter will show whether 
 permanently or not, but at 58 such things are not safe, 
 and he continues to work as hard as ever.* Ossulstone 
 has been most dangerously ill. . . . The anxiety and 
 labour Grey has lately had make one fear a severe 
 attack of his spasms — indeed he had one a few nights 
 ago, having been on Monday at Sir W. Ponsonby's 
 funeral, and having to set off for Whitbread's at 4 the 
 next morning. The attack was in the night, and he 
 went notwithstanding. 
 
 " I hardly can venture to mention myself after these 
 cases, but I have been very ill for 4 or 5 months, hardly 
 able to go through common business, and now forced 
 to give up the circuit. ... I can only give you a notion 
 how much I am altered by saying that I have not made 
 such an exertion in writing for three months as this 
 letter is, and that I already ache all over with it. . . . 
 To continue my catalogue. Lord Thanet has been 
 alarmingly ill, tho' now somewhat better ; and such 
 dismal accounts of the Hollands are daily arriving 
 that one of my chief reasons for writing to you now 
 is to ask you how the poor boy is. . . . In this state 
 of affairs and of my own health, when there seems 
 nothing to be done, and when, if there were, I am not 
 the man now to do it, you will marvel at my coming 
 into Parlt, which I have been overpersuaded to do, 
 and which will have happened almost as soon as you 
 receive this.t The usual and unchangeable friendship 
 
 * He committed suicide in i8l8. 
 
 t Brougham remained out of Parliament after his defeat at Liverpool 
 in 1812, until returned for Winchelsea, a borough of Lord Darlington's, 
 in 1 8 16. 
 
244 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 of Ld. G[rey] obtained the seat, but I am not at all 
 satisfied that I have done wisely in accepting it, for 
 the reasons just hinted at. All I can say to myself is 
 that I may recover and be again fit for service, in which 
 case I should think myself unjustifiable had I decided 
 the other way. But 20 years hard work have produced 
 their effect, I much fear, and left little or nothing in 
 me. . . ." 
 
 Lord Ossulston, M.P.* to Mr. Creevey in Brussels. 
 
 "Walton, July 31, 1815. 
 ". . . Buonaparte still remains at Plymouth, but it 
 is expected that the ship which is to convey him will 
 sail very shortly. I believe he is allowed to take 3 
 persons (besides servants) with him, excepting those 
 who are named in the list of proscribed. The general 
 feeling, I think, here is that he ought to be placed out 
 of the reach of again interfering in the concerns of the 
 world, tho' it is difficult not to feel for a man who has 
 played such a part, if he is destined to end his days in 
 such a place as St. Helena. Seeing the other day a 
 list of intimate friends invited to meet the P. Regent 
 at Melbourne House — viz. Jack Manners, Ld. Fife, Ld. 
 Headfort, &c., I could not help thinking what a strange 
 fortune it was by which Buonaparte shd. be at that 
 moment at Torbay, waiting his destiny at the Prince's 
 hands. . . . Kinnaird is in town. His account of his 
 arrest by Buonaparte is that, hearing of the battle of 
 Waterloo, he had said in society — 'Now the French 
 have nothing to do but to send for the D. of Orleans ;' 
 which being reported to Buonaparte on his return, he 
 sent to Kinnaird to quit Paris in 2 hours, and France 
 in 2 days. Kinnaird upon this asked leave to go to 
 Fouche, who told him not to stir, for that in two hours 
 he would hear something which wd. surprise them — 
 that was Buonaparte's abdication. . . . Whitbread's 
 eldest son comes into not less than ;^ 20,000 per ann. 
 — so Brougham told me. Whitbread, however, in the 
 last year had outrun his income by ;^ 14,000— probably 
 the theatre. . . ." 
 
 * Afterwards 5th Earl of Tankerville. 
 
I8i5-i6.] THE DUKEDOM OF NORFOLK. 245 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "London, Nov. 7, 1815. 
 
 ". . . What chiefly moves me to write is some 
 conversation that Ossulston* and I have had con- 
 cerning the state of the Party in one material point. 
 The Jockey t is gone — you may lay that down. It is 
 a question between days and weeks, and he cannot 
 possibly see the meeting of Parlt. Baillie says if 
 things go favorably he may last six weeks, but that 
 he won't insure him for ten days. In short, it is a 
 done thing. 
 
 " Now upon your friend B[ernard] Howard's 
 succession to this most important publick trust (for 
 so I consider it), it is plain beyond all doubt that old 
 Mother Stafford % will be working by every means to 
 touch him — at all events to neutralize him. She will 
 make the young one § turn Protestant — a most im- 
 proper thing in his station ; for surely his feeling 
 should be — ' I ivill be in Parlt., but it shall be by force 
 of the Catholic emancipation ;' and, viewing this as a 
 personal matter to himself, he should shape his 
 political conduct mainly with reference to it. But I 
 fear that is past praying for, and all we can hope is 
 that the excellent father should remain as steady in 
 his politics as he is: sure to be in his adherence to his 
 sect. . . . Now what strikes both O. and myself is — 
 that at such a critical moment your friendly advice 
 might be of most material use towards keeping the 
 newcomer on his guard against the innumerable traps 
 and wiles by which he will assuredly be beset, and if 
 you intend (which of course you do) to come over 
 this session, perhaps it would be adviseable to come 
 
 * Afterwards 5th Earl of Tankerville. 
 
 t Eleventh Duke of Norfolk. 
 
 % Wife of the 2nd Marquess of Stafford, who was created Duke ot 
 Sutherland in 1833, she having been Countess of Sutherland in her 
 own right. 
 
 § Eldest son of Bernard Howard ; became Earl of Arundel on his 
 father succeeding to the dukedom, and in 1842 became 13th Duke of 
 Norfolk. 
 
246 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 a little sooner so as to be here before the Jockey's 
 death, for the above purpose." 
 
 Creevey, however, continued to live in Brussels 
 for the sake of his wife's health, resisting many 
 pressing entreaties from his friends to come over and 
 rouse the flagging spirits of the Opposition. He 
 and Mrs. Creevey received many letters from London 
 containing the gossip and speculations of the day. 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs. Creevey [in Brussels']. 
 
 "Holland House, ist Jany., 1816. 
 
 ". . . According to the song, ' London is out of 
 town ; ' the country houses are overflowing. The 
 love of tennis is come so strongly upon Lord Holland 
 that he has persuaded me rather reluctantly to go 
 once more to Woburn for 3 or 4 days, in order that 
 he may play a few setts. The plea which makes me 
 yield is that I believe exercise keeps off the gout. 
 
 "The most violent people here even rejoice at 
 poor La Vallette's escape. What an abominable 
 proceeding it has been. That tygress the Duchess of 
 Angouleme in talking of Madame de la Bedoyere 
 observed — ' Elle a ete elevee dans des bons principes, 
 mais elle nourrii le fils d'un traitre ' — an envious 
 reproach from her sterile Highness, who can never 
 enjoy the poor widow's maternal felicity. There is a 
 strong feeling getting up in the country at our 
 permitting the capitulation to be broken, altho' none 
 are sorry Ney suffered.*. . . Lady Waldegrave is 
 dying of water in the chest. Her death will cause the 
 disclosure of the secret whether Lord Waldegrave is 
 married or not. ... I want a handsome Valenciennes 
 
 * Such was not Lord Holland's sentiment. Among Creevey's 
 papers is a very long letter from Lord Holland to Lord Kinnaird, 
 declaiming against the Duke of Wellington, " in whom, after the great 
 things he has done, even so decided an opponent of the war as myself 
 must feel some national interest," for permitting the execution of Ney 
 and Labedoy&re. 
 
i8iS-i6.] DISORGANISED WHIGS. 24; 
 
 collerette, either made up, or lace to make it. Remember, 
 my throat is thick, and it is to wear over the collar of 
 a pelisse. . . . Sir Hudson Lowe has married a 
 beautiful, and for him a young, widow. She is the 
 niece of Genl. Delaney — quite a military connexion. . . ." 
 
 [No date.] 
 ". . . The new bishop is to be Legge, the Dean of 
 Windsor, familiarly called by the Regent ' Mother 
 Frump.' . . . Lord Craven embarks with all his family 
 in his own yatch for the Mediterranean, giving a good 
 chance to his brother Berkeley, especially as he will 
 rely much upon his own skill in the management of 
 the vessell. He sets off at the already incurred 
 expense of forty thousand pounds — a brilliant debut; 
 70 souls on board, including men, women, children 
 and ship's company. . . . Lord Warwick's marriage 
 with Lady Monson is all settled. It is so advantageous 
 to the minor that -the Chancery will not enforce the 
 cruel limitations of the malignant will of Lord Monson 
 against her. . . ." 
 
 Henry Brougham to Mr. Creevey [in Brussels]. 
 
 "Temple, Jany. 14, 1816. 
 
 ". , . You naturally must be desirous of learning 
 what appearances there are of work for the session. 
 I augur very well. Whether Snoutch * comes over or 
 not, I can't tell ; but in the event of his not coming, I 
 have communicated to Grey the wishes of many of 
 the party including the Mountain,! that Lord G. 
 Cavendish should be our nominal leader, with some- 
 thing like a house opened to harbour the party in. 
 In fact, a house of rendezvous is more wanted than a 
 leader. But if Snoutch comes, indeed whether he 
 does or not, our merry men are on the alert, and we 
 shall see that no half measures prevail. I really wd. 
 fain hope that Tierney and Abercromby at length will 
 see the folly of their temporising plans, and will act 
 always and systematically as they did during part of 
 last session. But nothing must be left to chance, and 
 
 * ? Lord Grenville. t The Radicals. 
 
248 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 — 'speaking as an humble individual'* — I am quite 
 determined (tho' ready to meet them half way for 
 peace and union sake) that the game of the country 
 and the people shall be played in good earnest — if not 
 with their help, without it — by God's blessing. 
 
 "The plan of campaign which presents itself to me 
 on a review of the state of affairs and the temper of 
 men's minds is of this description. As to foreign 
 affairs — to act as a corps of observation and take 
 advantage of all openings, not very much courting 
 debates on those matters which the country never 
 feels at all, and on which recent events tend greatly 
 to discredit the Opposition ; but ready always to ex- 
 pose the enemy's blunders. E.g., the d d absurd 
 
 plan of the peace, which sows the seeds of war broad- 
 cast — the systematic plans of interference, &c. Above 
 all, the grievous proceedings of our Ferdinand t agt. 
 the very allies we had fought with in his behalf . . . 
 As to home politics — here we should make our main 
 stand ; and the ground is clearly Retrenchment — in 
 all ways, with ramifications into the Royal family, 
 property tax, jobs of all sorts, distresses of the landed 
 interest, &c. In short, it is the richest mine in the 
 world. A text has been put forth in the Edinr. Review, 
 to which I refer you. . . . Last of all, but not least, 
 the proposal of measures and inquiries unconnected 
 with ordinary party topics, whereby much immediate 
 real good is done to the country, and great credit 
 gained by the party, as well as, ultimately, a check 
 secured to the Crown and to abuses generally. For 
 example — prison reform — education of the poor — 
 tithes — above all the Press, with which last I think of 
 leading off immediately, having long matured my 
 plan. ... It embraces the whole subject — of allowing 
 the truth to be given in evidence — limiting the ex officio 
 powers, both by filing informations and other privileges 
 possessed by the Crown, and abolishing special juries 
 in cases of libel, or rather misdemeanour generally. . . . 
 But the material point is — won't you come over to our 
 assistance? You are more wanted than my regard 
 
 * A sarcastic allusion to Tiemey's style in speaking. 
 t King Ferdinand VII., who was availing himself of his restoration 
 to the throne of Spain to indulge in harsh and tyrannical despotism. 
 
I8i5-i6.] BROUGHAM STARTLES HIS FRIENDS. 249 
 
 for your modesty will allow me to say. Really you 
 must come. . . . There are many uncomfortable things, 
 beside the dreadful one of our irreparable loss of poor 
 Sam [Whitbread] — now to be really felt. Nothing, 
 for instance, can be more unpropitious than the plan 
 of carrying on the party by a coterie at Lady Holland's 
 elbow, which cannot be submitted to for a moment, 
 even, I shd. think, by those who belong to her coterie ; 
 at least I know no one but the Coles, Horner * and the 
 Popet (who are of her household) who can bear it. 
 Do, then, let us hear that you mean to come over. . . ." 
 
 The following refers to the speech on the Treaty of 
 Paris, whereby, on 9th February, Brougham marked 
 his return to the House of Commons. 
 
 Mr. Western, M.P., to Mr. Creevey [in Brussels']. 
 
 "9th Feb., 1 816. 
 
 "... I have often marvelled at the want of sense, 
 discretion, judgment and common sense that we see 
 so frequently accompany the most brilliant talents, 
 but damn me if I ever saw such an instance as that I 
 have just witnessed in your friend Brougham. By 
 Heaven ! he has uttered a speech which, for power of 
 speaking, surpassed anything you ever heard, and by 
 which ne has damn'd himself past redemption. You 
 know what my opinion of him has always been : I 
 have always thought he had not much sound sense nor 
 too much political integrity, but he has outstripped 
 any notion I could form of indiscretion ; and as to his 
 politicks, they are, in my humble opinion, of no 
 sterling substance (but that between ourselves). He 
 has been damaging himself daily, but to-night there is 
 not a single fellow that is not saying what a damn'd 
 impudent speech that of Brougham's— four or five 
 driven away — even Burdett says it was too much. 
 He could not have roared louder if a file of soldiers 
 had come in and pushed the Speaker out of his chair. 
 Where the devil a fellow could get such lungs and 
 
 • Francis Horner, M.P. [1778-18 17]. 
 t Reference obscure. 
 
250 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XL 
 
 such a flow of jaw upon such an occasion as this 
 surpasses my imagination. 
 
 " I was sitting in the gallery by myself, and he 
 made my head spin in such a style I thought I shd. 
 tumble over. He quite overcame one's understanding 
 for a time ; but when I recovered, I began to think — 
 this will never do — impossible — I will go down and 
 see what other lads think of it : perhaps my nerves 
 are a little too sensitive. I soon found, however, that 
 everybody was struck in the same way, and even more. 
 Now, when I say that he has damaged himself past 
 redemption, I mean as a man aspiring to be Leader, 
 for to that his ambition aspired, and for that he is 
 DONE now. By Heaven ! you never saw men so chop- 
 fallen as Ministers — Castlereagh beyond belief, I see 
 it in every line of his face. They wd. have been 
 beaten to-night, I do believe, again. Brougham has 
 put them up 20 per cent. ; that is to say, by inducing 
 people more to support them to keep [the] Opposition 
 out, just as they were supported upon [the] Walcheren 
 business to keep us out. Our fellows all run the 
 savage too keen for the game to succeed in bagging 
 it. There is never more skill necessary than when 
 the fox is in view. They are for running in upon him 
 at once, and they will run a chance of being totally 
 thrown out in the attempt. They fought the Property 
 Tax well, though it was done out of doors completely. 
 Glorious victory that ! If you are not set out, come 
 directly ; we shall have a famous session. ... It is a 
 pretty tight fitt for me, but ruin overwhelms the 
 farmers. I feel convinced a national bankruptcy will 
 be the consequence. I declare I believe it firmly. I 
 shall drive at the whole of the Sinking Fund. ... I 
 have not any hopes of Midsummer rents, and the 
 generality of landowners will be minus the best part 
 of their interest, without a wonderful alteration. . . ." 
 
 Mr. J. Whishaw, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Lincoln's Inn, Feb. loth, 1816. 
 ". . . We have had two distinguished foreigners 
 for some time in London — General de Flahaut and 
 Genl. Sebastiani. The former was one of Napoleon's 
 
i8is-i6.] WHO SHALL LEAD THE WHIGS? 251 
 
 chief favourites, and is the reputed son of Talleyrand 
 by the present Madame de Souza, formerly Madame 
 de Flahaut. He does not inherit the talents of his 
 parents, but is a handsome, accomplished and very 
 agreeable officer, a flattering specimen of the manners 
 of the Imperial Court, which assuredly could not 
 boast of many such ornaments. Sebastiani is nearly 
 the reverse of all these, with somewhat of an air of 
 pedantry and solemn importance, of which you may 
 recollect some traits in his famous dispatch. It is 
 a little curious to sit at table with a person formerly 
 so much talked of, and who contributed so much to 
 the war of 1803. You may remember that he was one 
 of Pitt's principal topics on that occasion. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Western, M.P., to Mr. Creevey [in Brussels]. 
 
 "House of Commons, Feb. 17, 1816. 
 
 ". . . As to the general proceedings of the Opposi- 
 tion, I can say little. There is no superior mind 
 amongst us ; great power of speaking, faculty of 
 perplexing, irritation and complaints, but no super- 
 eminent power to strike out a line of policy, and to 
 command the confidence of the country. Brougham 
 has shown his powers rather successfully, and ex- 
 hibits some prudence in his plans of attack ; but I 
 cannot discern that superiority of judgment and of 
 view (if I may so express myself) which is the grand 
 desideratum. Tierney is as expert, narrow and wrong 
 as ever; Ponsonby as inefficient ; Horner as sonorous 
 and eloquent, I must say, but I cannot see anything in 
 him, say what they will, though he certainly speaks 
 powerfully. A little honest, excellent party are as 
 warm as ever, and only want a good leader to be 
 admirable. Grenvilles and Foxites splitting — all 
 manner of people going their own way. As to foreign 
 policy I came to a conclusion that the Bourbons 
 cannot keep their place, and that their proceedings 
 are abominable, as I told you in a letter from Paris ; 
 and then what may happen no man can calculate. If 
 they had any wisdom or firmness, they were safe, but 
 they must kick the thing over. 
 
252 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 " In "regard to our internal — Agriculture, &c., is 
 getting into a state of Despair absolutely and distrac- 
 tion. ... I assure you the landed people are getting 
 desperate ; the universality of ruin among them, or 
 distress bordering on it, is absolutely unparallel'd, and 
 at such a moment the sinking fund is not to be 
 TOUCHED for the world, says Horner — no not a shilling 
 of it : and yet — taxes to be taken off, rents to come 
 down, cheap corn, cheap labour — how can a man talk 
 of such IMPOSSIBILITIES ? The interests of all debts and 
 sinking fund together amount to ;^43,ooo,ooo 
 Establishment 29,000,000 
 
 72,000,000 
 
 Now, cut the Establishment ever so low, we shall 
 have four times as much to raise as before the war. 
 It is not to be done out of the same rents, &:c., &c. It 
 is absolute madness to talk of it. . . . By the bye — 
 there never was a moment for the exertion of yr. 
 talents in the job-oversetting way, and fighting every 
 shilling of expenditure. This is the time, never before 
 equalled. They cannot resist on these points, and the 
 carrying them is valuable beyond Tneaanve, prospectively 
 as well as immediately. Whenever you blow one 
 jobb fairly out of the water, it presents a hundred 
 others, and this is the moment ! " 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey [in Brussels]. 
 
 "Temple, Thursday [May, 1816]. 
 
 "Dear C, 
 
 "I think it better to trust this to the post 
 
 than to any of their d d bags. [Here follow some 
 
 minute details concerning Creevey's seat for Thetford, 
 which he seemed to be in some danger of losing, 
 owing to changes of plan on the part of the Duke of 
 Norfolk and Lord Petre, who had the disposal there- 
 of]. . . . All I desire is that you put me personally 
 wholly out of your view. I am worked to death with 
 business, and, for my own comfort, care little whether 
 I remain out this session or not. The labour would 
 
i8i5-i6.] BROUGHAM'S VIEWS. 253 
 
 be a set off agt. the pleasure of revenging myself agt. 
 certain folks, and even the sweets of that revenge 
 would be dashed with bitterness, for I foresee a 
 rupture with Grey as by no means an unlikely result 
 of doing my duty and taking my swing. We have 
 lately had rather an approach to that point, in con- 
 sequence of my urgency agt. Adam's job, Lauderdale's 
 general jobbery and other tender points, including the 
 Cole faction, and their getting round him (G.). The 
 Whigs (as I hold) are on the eve of great damage 
 from the said jobs, and I conceived a warning to be 
 necessary, with a notice that the Mountain and the 
 folks out of doors were resolved to fire on the party 
 if it flinched. Some very unpleasant things have 
 passed, and the discussion is only interrupted by his 
 child's death. Now — come when I may into Parlt, it 
 must be wholly opposed to the Coles, who have a 
 lamentable hold over his mind. ... A Westminster 
 vacancy would be awkward ; on the other hand, a 
 Liverpool vacancy would be still more so, were I out 
 of Parlt. The merry men are all tip, and I should 
 inevitably be dragged into the scrape. There are 
 overtures from both parties — Gladstone * would sup- 
 port a moderate Whig — with us; the Corporation and 
 Gascoigne would prefer a Mountaineer as most agt. 
 Canning and favorable to their undivided jobbery. 
 That we may put in a man is clear, but I really cannot 
 give time enough to the place. This matter concerns 
 you as well as myself, but then if you remain out of 
 the way for two sessions, it would not be easy to bring 
 you in. Moreover, if you take Liverpool and quit 
 your present hold you can't so well resume it in case 
 of accident. ... I have written a hash of a letter, 
 without giving an opinion, having really none to give, 
 and wishing to leave you to yourself You alone can 
 decide. ... I have served Prinny with a formal notice 
 from his wife that in May she returns to Kensington 
 Palace. . . ." 
 
 * John Gladstone of Liverpool, created a baronet in 1846, a 
 leading Tory in that town, and father of the late Right Hon. W. E. 
 Gladstone. 
 
254 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 " 1816. 
 
 " If Mrs. C. can possibly let you come for a 
 few weeks, for God's sake do come ! It is morally 
 certain you can come in for L'pool. ... If you don't 
 come in there, you are out altogether, with some other 
 good men — as iVIackintosh, Ossulston, &c., and, for 
 anything I know to the contrary, myself For who 
 can answer for a county like Westmorland, where 
 there has been no contest for 50 years ? and where I 
 have all the parsons, justices, attorneys, and nearly all 
 the resident gentry (few enough, thank God ! and vile 
 enough) leagued agt. me, besides the whole force of 
 the Government. The spirit of the freeholders, to be 
 sure, is wonderful, and in the end we must beat the 
 villains. Govt, complain of Lfonsdale] for getting 
 them into it, and he complains of them for not dissolv- 
 ing. JVIy satisfaction is that he is now bleeding at 
 every pore — all the houses open — all the agents 
 running up bills — all the manors shot over by any- 
 body who pleases." 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs. Creevey. 
 
 "Holland House, 21st May, 18 16. 
 ". . . Lord Kinnaird carried over the singular libel 
 published by Lady C. Lamb against her family and 
 friends.* It is a plaidoyer against her husband ad- 
 dressed to the religious and methodistical part of the 
 community, accusing him of having overset her reli- 
 gious and moral (!) principles by teaching her doctrines 
 of impiety, &c. The outlines of few of her characters 
 are portraits, but the amplissage and traits are exact. 
 Lady Morganet is a twofold being — Dss. of Devonshire 
 and her mother : Lady Augusta Lady Jersey and Lady 
 Collier : Sophia Lady Granville, who had 6 years ago 
 a passion for working fine embroidery, and she marks 
 
 * Lady Caroline Ponsonby [1785-1828], only daughter of the 3rd 
 Earl of Bessborough, married in 1805 the Hon. W. Lamb, afterwards 
 Viscount Melbourne and Prime Minister, but her temper was so bad 
 that they separated in 1813. Glenarvon, the romance referred to in 
 the text, was published anonymously in 1816, and reissued in 1865 
 under the title of The Fatal Passion. 
 
i8i5-i6.] A LADY'S LETTER. 255 
 
 most atrociously her marriage with Lord Granville. 
 Lady Mandevtlle is Ly. Oxford : Buchanan is Sir 
 Godfrey Webster : Glenarvon and Vivian are of course 
 Lord Byron. Lady Frances Webster is sketched and 
 some others slightly. Lady Melbourne is represented 
 as bigotted and vulgar. The words about Mr. Lamb 
 are encomiastick, but the facts are against him, as she 
 insidiously censures his not fighting a duel which her 
 fictitious husband does. The bonne-bouche I have 
 reserved for the last — myself Where every ridicule, 
 folly and infirmity (my not being able from malady to 
 move about much) is portrayed. The charge against 
 more essential qualities is, I trust and believe, a 
 fiction ; at least an uninterrupted friendship and inti- 
 macy of 25 years with herself and family might induce 
 me to suppose it. The work is a strange farrago, 
 and only curious from containing some of Lord Byron's 
 genuine letters — the last, in which he rejects her love 
 and implores an end to their connexion, directed and 
 sealed by Lady Oxford, is a most astonishing perform- 
 ance to publish. There is not much originality, as 
 the jokes against me for my love of aisances and com- 
 forts she has heard laughed at by myself and coterie 
 at my own fireside by years. The invasion of Ireland 
 is only our own joke that when we were going out of 
 Bruxelles with such a cavalcade the inhabitants might 
 suppose we were a part of the Irish Army rallied. 
 The dead poet is Mr. Ward's joke at Rogers having 
 cheated the coroner. I am sorry to see the Melbourne 
 family so miserable about it. Lady Cowper is really 
 frightened and depressed far beyond what is necessary. 
 . . . The work has a prodigious sale, as all libellous 
 matters have. Even General Fillet's [?] satire upon the 
 English was bought for two guineas the other day by 
 Mr. Grenville. 
 
 " I know Lord Kinnaird also took over the Antiquary 
 and the new play, otherwise I would send them to 
 you ; but if Moore's poem is good you shall have it. 
 
 "We have been returned to our delicious old 
 mansion above a week. Foliage and birds are the 
 only demonstration of a change of season from Decem- 
 ber, as the cold, piercing easterly winds are still 
 dreadful. . , ." 
 
2S6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 " Holland House, Tuesday. 
 " I take the opportunity of Lady Lansdowne's 
 departure to send you a small parcel of rubbish for 
 your friend Gina, and, what is not rubbish, some verses 
 by Mr. Rogers to add to his poems. . . . The town 
 has been much occupied by a very strange affair 
 which led to a duel between Ld. Buckingham and 
 Sir Thos. Hardy. It is a mysterious business, but I 
 sincerely hope quite over for ever. It was the charge 
 of Ld. B. being the author of some very scandalous, 
 offensive anonymous letters to, and about, Ly. Hardy. 
 You would naturally suppose that the character of a 
 gentleman, which Ld. B. has never forfeited would 
 have been a sufficient guard to have repelled such a 
 charge ; but the Lady was angry. There are various 
 conjectures about the writer of these letters; but, 
 except just the angry parties, the world generally do 
 justice to Lord B., from the impossibility of a man of 
 character and in his station of life being capable of 
 such an abominable proceeding. It is not the mode 
 of revenge which a man takes, however he may have 
 been jilted, or believed himself as so. But all these 
 stories you will have heard from the Tierneys, who 
 meant to spend some days at Bruxelles. . . . We are 
 going to make a northern excursion . . . we shall 
 make Lord Grey a visit of a week at Howick, and if 
 Lord Lauderdale should not be philandering in these 
 parts, stop at Dunbar. . . ." 
 
 Hemy Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Temple [no date, 1816?] 
 " The opinion is prevalent that the fete after all 
 won't hold ; at any rate that P.* won't venture. His 
 loyal subjects are sure to attack him, and the burning 
 of the temporary room, with the whole fashionable 
 world, may be the consequence. Indeed a small 
 expense, laid out in one squib, would bring about 
 this catastrophe, so they will probably take fright. 
 ... I dined on Saturday at Dick Wilson's, who was 
 pleased to give the Pss. of W.'s health immediately 
 after the King's (the D. of Sussex being there), and he 
 
 * The Prince Regent. 
 
i8i5-i6.] A DISPIRITED RADICAL. 257 
 
 then, with his accustomed patriotism, gave 'The 
 Rights of the People.' . . . Young Frog* was t'other 
 day made remarkably drunk by a savage animal of 
 the narne of Wirtemburg (son of the pickled sister, 
 your friend), and in this predicament shewn up to 
 young P.f among others. The savage took the oppor- 
 tunity of making love on his own score, and has been 
 forbid C[arlton] House in consequence." 
 
 Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Whitehall, July 12 [1816]. 
 
 " Now a word or two about poor Sheridan. One 
 does not feel the loss of so great a creature as one 
 ought to do, for, after all, he is the last of the giants, 
 and there is no one to take the chair he leaves. I 
 believe there is no doubt that his death was hastened, 
 if not caused, by his distress — by his fear of arrest — 
 and if he had been in Parliament he would probably 
 have been alive. His dread was a prison, and he felt 
 it staring him in the face. . . . The funeral takes place 
 on Saturday. Peter Moore invites people to attend, 
 and several are going. I have heard of Ld. Guild- 
 ford and Thanet. I shd. like to do what was right, 
 but I do not think ceremony at all wise or in good 
 taste." 
 
 "Walton, July 21. 
 
 ". . . The last session has been very damaging to 
 the country. . . . The Opposition has made no way 
 and the Government are certainly stronger than ever, 
 for all the tinsel and lace have rallied round them. At 
 the same time, these attacks on the constitution have 
 made the liberty boys feel more kindly towards us. 
 But we must allow that, tho' the Government are 
 hated, we are not loved. . . . As you may imagine, 
 our friend Brougham has done everything this year 
 with no help, for there literally is no one but Folkestone 
 who comes into the line and fights. Our leaders are 
 away — poor Ponsonby from idleness and from fatigue, 
 and Tierney from ill health. I fear he will never show 
 again as he used to do. Who is to lead us now? 
 God knows ! Some talk of Ld. George Cavendish, 
 
 * The Prince of Orange. t Princess Charlotte of Wales. 
 
 VOL. I. S 
 
258 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XL 
 
 which I resist, because I think his politicks are 
 abominable and his manners insolent and neglectful ; 
 but also because the Cavendish system, with the 
 Duke [of Devonshire] at the head, is not the thing 
 for the present day. They are timid, idle and haughty : 
 the Duke dines at Carlton House and sits between 
 the Chancellor and Lord Caithness, and I have no 
 doubt will have, one of these days, the Ribband. 
 Then the Archduchess (as they call him) is a great 
 admirer and follower of Prinnie's, and presumes to 
 abuse the Mountain, and as I am in duty bound to 
 protect myself, he singles me out as the most objec- 
 tionable person in the H. of Commons, and says my 
 politics are revolutionary. This last offence deter- 
 mines me to submit to no Cavendish leader. Milton 
 is named, and Tavistock,* who would be the best of 
 all, but I fear he loves hunting too much, and has not 
 enough money, for we must have a leader with a 
 house and cash. So amid all the difficulties, I pro- 
 pose a Republic — no leader at all ! . . ." 
 
 From Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey \in 
 Brussels']. 
 "Aug. 15, 1816. Geneva (uninhabitable). 
 
 " Dear C, 
 
 "... I have been here for some time and in 
 the neighbourhood. It is a country to be in for two 
 hours, or two hours and a half, if the weather is fine, 
 and no longer. Ennui comes on the third hour, and 
 suicide attacks you before night. There is no resource 
 whatever for passing the time, except looking at lakes 
 and hills, which is over immediately. I should except 
 Mme. Stael, whose house is a great comfort. 
 
 "You may wish to know the truth as to Mother P. 
 They resolved, under Mrs. Leach's auspices, to pro- 
 ceed. I rather think the Chancellor and ministers 
 were jealous of Mrs. L. ; at any rate they were indis- 
 posed to the plan, but on it went, and a formal notifi- 
 cation was made to little P.'s husband f and herself 
 I believe they were to have begun in Hanover, to 
 
 * Afterwards 7th Duke of Bedford. 
 
 t In May of this year Princess Charlotte of Wales had married the 
 reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. 
 
i8i5-i6.] "YOU MUST COME OVER!" 259 
 
 have something to show to Bull and his wife and 
 daughter. But steps were also taken in England. Being 
 advised of this from the best authority, I deemed it 
 proper, according to the tacticks we have always 
 adopted, not to wait to be attacked, but to fire a shot 
 of some calibre, and you will by this time have seen 
 more of it, tho' you may not have guessed whence it 
 came. ... As for Mrs. P. * herself, she won't do any 
 more ; but the daughter is a strong force and will 
 carry the old lady through. Mrs. P. is, I believe, 
 among the Ottomans, but I have no sort of communi- 
 cation with her. . . . Tell Kinnaird that Lord Byron 
 is living here, entirely cut by the English." 
 
 " Rome, 14th Nov., 1816. 
 
 "... I agree in your view of the high importance 
 of this session. Lord [illegible'], who is here, holds 
 that it will be one of expedients and shifts, and that 
 the grand breakdown won't happen yet. I don't 
 much differ from him ; but still, it will be the session, 
 for their shifts and struggles and agonies will be the 
 very time for work. The illustrious Regent mean- 
 time has been suffering in the flesh as well as the 
 spirit, and I rejoice to find that his last defeat (which 
 was a total one) has greatly annoyed him. I suppose 
 you are aware of the secret history of it, and of 
 Mother P. having miraculously been found fit for 
 service once more. However, this time I must say 
 she was rather a name than anything else, and little P. 
 in reality bore the brunt of the day. I rejoice to say 
 that Lord Grey views the divorce question in its true 
 light, as do the party generally, ie. in its connection 
 with little P. and upon more general grounds. Both 
 Carlton House and Hertford House now say the 
 matter is finally at rest. . . . There are too many of 
 the party abroad this session. Lord Lansdowne is 
 here and remains all the winter in Italy, unless some 
 very imperious call should take him home. The 
 Jerseys and Cowpers come in a few days with the 
 same plans. . . . Lady Jersey's absence is very bad 
 for the party. She alone had the right notion of the 
 thing, and her great influence in society was always 
 honestly and heartily exerted with her usual excellence 
 * The Princess of Wales. 
 
26o THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XI. 
 
 of disposition. Ill as we can spare speakers, we 
 can still less afford such a loss as this. ... All 
 this brings me to my text. You must come over; it 
 won't do to be absent any longer, therefore make up 
 your mind to take the field. Meet me at Paris or 
 Calais, if I can't come to Brussels, and I can take you 
 easily if you don't fear the squeeze of three in a 
 carriage. . . . When you get to London, if you please 
 you may have my chambers for as long as you stay, 
 with the laundress and man. I take lodgings in 
 Spring Gardens during the session, and only am in 
 chambers now and then for half an hour to look at 
 the statutes. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Allen* to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Maidenhead, Sat., Nov. 20th. 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " Lord and Lady Holland are in very great 
 affliction, and you who knew the dear little girl they 
 have lost and how much they were attached to her, 
 vvill not wonder at their sorrow. ... It is a satisfac- 
 tion to hear that Lord Derby's fears are subsiding, 
 and from what I observed before I left town I think 
 several others who were in the same predicament are 
 recovering from their alarm. This mud bespattering 
 of the extra Radicals at their last meeting has made 
 people ashamed of their fears, and if the Whigs most 
 inchned to popular courses adhere steadily to their 
 determination of having no communication with the 
 Radicals of any description, I trust the session may 
 pass over without any schism among Opposition, and 
 that ministers will have revived this alarm to very 
 little purpose. But all depends on the discretion of 
 the two or three first days of the session. One 
 violent speech, received with approbation by the 
 more eager members of the party, would cause 
 the same break-up as in 1792, and give Jenkyt and 
 the Duke of Wellington the same despotic authority 
 that Mr. Pitt exercised from that period to the end 
 of his administration. . . ." 
 
 * John Allen, M.D. [1771-1843], political writer, a regular inmate 
 of Holland House ; of whom Byron said that he was " the best- 
 informed and one of the ablest men " that he knew. 
 
 t Lord Liverpool. 
 
( 26l ) 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1817-1818. 
 
 In 1817 the Creeveys continued in Brussels. Ap- 
 parently the hopeless disorganisation of the Opposi- 
 tion in Parliament deterred Mr. Creevey from coming 
 home ; at least, there are no indications of his having 
 availed himself of any of the numerous and pressing 
 invitations he received. His friends, however, still 
 kept him well supplied with gossip, and Brussels at 
 that time was the centre of much political activity, so 
 Creevey had no want of occupation for his thoughts, 
 his tongue, and his pen. 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "London, March 25, 1817. 
 ". . . We have holiday this week in virtue of 
 Mr. Speaker's right cheek having swelled out with 
 erysipelas to an extraordinary size. His appearance 
 is worth coming over to see. Sefton and I went to 
 his levee t'other night, and the Earl was much 
 amused with our small friend's grimaces. . . . Lord 
 Rolle coming in he [the Speaker] spoke of the 
 climate in Devonshire — ' I take it skates are quite 
 unknown in your lordship^s part of the world,' and 
 so forth. I then made the Earl go to the Chancellor's, 
 and rejoice to tell you his observation was how much 
 more the manners of a gentleman the Chancr. had, 
 which is quite true. I ought to apologise to you for 
 taking so much liberty with your little friend, with 
 whom I foresee your flirtation is speedily about to 
 
262 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 close, for there is a plan of a peerage and a pension 
 of ;£'40oo for three lives. Now I hardly think your 
 loves, how warm and constant soever, can stand this 
 shock."* 
 
 " London, April i, 1817. 
 "... I am glad you and Kinnaird approved of my 
 broadside on the 13th March.t ... I knew that Govt, 
 would be taken by surprise, and had told Sefton so, 
 for Ward and others had said to me some days before 
 that they took it for granted I was to give them, as 
 they were pleased to say, ' a most valuable speech,' 
 on the plan of my last year's on Agricultural distress 
 — a sort of pair or pendant to that. I answered I 
 meant no such matter, and should divide at all events, 
 and regarded it as a hostile occasion. They did not 
 believe it — had no guess of attacks on foreign policy, 
 and looked innocent and astonished as I went on. I 
 was very much tickled, and really enjoyed it, for I 
 began quietly to the greatest degree, and only flung in 
 a stray shot every 20 minutes or J hour by way of 
 keeping them on the alert and preserving attention ; 
 and when, at the end of the first hour and a half, I 
 opened my first battery, I do assure you it had a 
 comical effect. . . . Still, it was not quite personal to 
 Castlereagh, and when it was over, I changed my 
 plan, in order to get breath, and play with them a 
 little longer, and give my other fire more effect — that 
 is, I went back to general, candid and speculative 
 observations, and at large into the taxation part of 
 the subject, and having prepared them by a few more 
 random shots for a factious conclusion, I then opened 
 my last battery upon C, to see whom under the fire 
 was absolutely droll. He at first yawned, as he 
 generally does when galled— then changed postures 
 — then left his seat and came into the centre of the 
 bench — then spoke much to Canning and Van, and at 
 
 last was so d d fidgetty that I expected to see him 
 
 get up. It ended by his not saying one word in his 
 
 * Mr. Speaker Abbot, who had hlled the chair since 1802, was 
 created Lord Colchester, 3rd June, 1817. 
 
 t He had spoken vehemently against the Property Tax and in 
 favour of retrenchment in various departments. 
 
i8i7-i8.] FROM LORD HOLLAND. 263 
 
 own defence, but appealing to posterity. . . . We really 
 want you more than words can describe. You posi- 
 tively nmst come, if but to show. . . ." 
 
 Lord Holland to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Holland House, 34th June, 1817. 
 ". . . The heat of the weather is delightful, but 
 writing letters is not the way of enjoying it. The 
 country is, or was, as flat about its liberties as it 
 had been animated and, according to my judgment, 
 absurd about sinecures and Parliamentary reform five 
 months ago. However, I think the spies and in- 
 formers admirably exposed by Ld. Grey. The con- 
 version of Ld. Fitzwilliam and the stoutness of 
 Milton,* have somewhat roused them from their 
 indifference, and very much shaken any disposition 
 there was to approve these revivals of Pitt s worst 
 measures. However, the best chance of change in 
 the Government is, after all, that of their weakness 
 and disunion, rather than our popularity, strength or 
 concert. Peel's election has galled the Cannings to 
 the quick." t 
 
 [No date.] 
 "Dear Creevey, 
 
 " I have put off answering your very enter- 
 taining letter and interesting communication to the 
 last moment, and unfortunately to a moment when I 
 am full of business— trying to get up a Middlesex 
 meeting and to bring the great guns, called Dukes, to 
 bear upon the question of Habeas Corpus. That 
 cursed business of Reform of Parliament is always in 
 one's way. With one great man nothing is good 
 unless that be the principal object, and with another 
 nothing must be done if a word of Reforrn is even 
 glanced at in requisition, petition or discussion. . . . 
 
 * The 3rd Earl Fitzwilliam sat in the House of Commons as 
 Viscount Milton from 1807 to 1833. He was strongly opposed at 
 first to parliamentary reform ; but became one of its most ardent 
 advocates, though his family held a number of pocket boroughs. 
 
 t Peel was elected member for Oxford in this year, a seat which 
 Canning had greatly coveted for himself. 
 
264 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 They say the Prince has left off his stays, and that 
 Royalty, divested of its usual supports, makes a bad 
 figure. ... I wish I had politics, tittle-tattle or book- 
 news to send you. Of the latter, Llandaff's memoirs 
 are empty, but cursed provoking to the Court and the 
 Church. Franklin's life will be curious, both for its 
 information and style. Rob Roy is said to be good, 
 but falls off at the end. . . ." 
 
 Lord Holland to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Bruges, 4th July, 1817. 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 "We shall make an excursion to Antwerp 
 from Brussels instead of taking it on our way, and 
 consequently shall arrive the day after to-morrow by 
 the Ghent road. We are all well and much delighted 
 with the country. How can such a fertile country 
 want bread ? and why, when it (bread) has fallen at 
 Ypres and even Courtray, is it at the same price 
 here ? Allen, though he bears Adam Smith and M. 
 Marcot in his head, cannot solve this. . . ." 
 
 Hon. H G. Bennet, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Oakley, July 20, 1817. 
 
 "... I rejoice at the prospect of your return 
 home, as not only I want you, but we all require 
 your counsel and aid. . . . Your friends the Grenvilles 
 are not only nibbling, but biting at us once more, 
 but I trust we shall have nothing to do with them. 
 Have you heard of our plan for a leader? .Some 
 persons last year thought of one of straw, such as 
 Althorpe or Ld. G. Cavendish, but that wd. not do, 
 and we, the Mountaineers, resented the scheme. At 
 present we all concur in the necessity of some one, 
 and, taking all circumstances into consideration, 
 Tierney is the man selected in this choice. Romilly 
 and Brougham cordially concur, and I do so likewise : 
 not that Mrs. Cole has not many grievous faults, but 
 
I8i7-i8.] MR. TIERNEY CHOSEN LEADER. 265 
 
 there is no one else who has not more. Romilly 
 cannot, from his business ; and Brougham cannot 
 from his unpopularity and want of discretion. I 
 think that the good old lady can be kept in order, 
 and tho' she be timid and idle, yet she is very popular 
 in the House, easy and conciliatory ; in no way perfect 
 — in many ways better than any other person. The 
 proposition takes immensely, and at present between 
 60 and 70 persons have signified their adherence. Let 
 me know your opinion. . . ." 
 
 Lady Holland to Mrs, Creevey. 
 
 "Holland House, Friday, September, 1817. 
 
 ". . . We staid a short time at Edinburgh and 
 made a long visit of a fortnight at Howick, where I 
 had the delight of seeing Lord Grey all the time in 
 the most perfect health and spirits, his countenance 
 exhibiting gaiety and smiles which never are seen 
 on this side of Highgate Hill. . . . Lady Louisa is 
 very handsome, the others are very tolerably well- 
 looking, but not equal to her, but graceful in dancing 
 and riding, and excellent musicians. Some of the 
 boys are uncommonly promising, especially the 2nd 
 son Charles, and little Tom. The House is made one 
 of the most comfortable mansions I know, and the 
 grounds are as pretty as they can be in the ugliest 
 district in the Island. I never expected to be so long 
 in a country house, and yet leave it with regret, which 
 was the case in this instance. We made a visit to 
 Lambton, which is a magnificent house, everything 
 in a. suitable style of splendor. He is an excellent 
 host : his three little babies are his great resource, 
 tho' I hope he is recovering his spirits ; and as he has 
 no son, the sooner he decides upon taking another 
 wife, the happier it will be for all parties. He is 
 full of good qualities, and his talents are very 
 remarkable. 
 
 " London is very deserted : only a few stragglers, 
 and those are not likely to encrease ; as September 
 is invariably the most empty month. Lawyers and 
 
266 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 sportsmen are always absent, and they are a numerous 
 part of the community. 
 
 " We have been near losing our Regent, and as 
 the physicians mistook his disorder, they have 
 probably curtailed his length of life, for the disease 
 was treated at first as inflammatory, and they took 
 60 ounces of blood. When Baillie saw him he 
 declared it to be spasm, and gave laudanum and 
 cordials. The consequences are likely to produce 
 dropsy. His disinclination to all business is, if 
 possible, encreased, and there have been serious 
 thoughts of a council of Regency to assist in the 
 dispatch of affairs. Pss. Charlotte is going on in her 
 grossesse, but there are some strange awkward 
 symptoms.* They are living at Claremont. Ld. 
 Castlereagh is supposed to have entire influence over 
 the Prince Leopold. 
 
 " What think you of the pamphlet on the divorce ? 
 It is most artfully done. The appeal to the shabby 
 ones in the H. of Commons will have its weight, and 
 perhaps the threat of recrimination may startle the 
 party at Ragley. This skilfuU work is supposed to 
 come from the borders of the Lake of Geneva.! 
 
 " In the beau monde I hear of Ly. C. Cholmondeley's 
 marriage with Mr. Seymour, a son of Lord Hugh's ; 
 his brother and Miss Palk ; Lord Sunderland and Ly. 
 E. Conyngham. The Duke of Marlborough gives him 
 
 ;^5000. 
 
 "You heard of Lady L [illegible] from a ceremonial 
 depriving herself of the pleasure of seeing Napoleon. 
 The Govt, are displeased that the determination of 
 Napoleon's adherents to continue with him should be 
 known, and more strictness is adopted in the corre- 
 spondence with the Island [of St. Helena]. As you 
 will see from many idle paragraphs that the impression 
 to be given in this country is that all belonging to 
 him hate and abhor him, and wish to be quit of him ; 
 whereas the fact is notoriously the contrary. It is 
 rather mortifying to see this country become the 
 jailors and spies for the Bourbon Govt. ; for to that 
 condition Ld. Castlereagh has brought it." 
 
 * Princess Charlotte died in childbirth the following year. 
 t I.e. from Lord Byron's pen. 
 
I8i7-i8.] THE DUKE OF KENT'S CONFIDENCES. 267 
 
 The following notes of a conversation with H.R.H. 
 the Duke of Kent remain in Mr. Creevey's hand- 
 writing, apparently as they were written down imme- 
 diately after the event. Previous to this year, there 
 is no indication that Creevey ever entertained the 
 notion of collecting or publishing anything from his 
 papers ; but after his wife's death, which occurred in 
 1818, time hung more heavily on his hands, and he 
 conceived the idea, which he discussed frequently 
 with his step-daughter. Miss Ord, of compiling a 
 history of his own times. This never took shape, 
 further than that his letters to Miss Ord were care- 
 fully preserved by his desire, along with much other 
 correspondence. Upon this occasion, H.R.H. the 
 Duke of Kent happened to be in Brussels, shortly 
 after the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales. He 
 desired Creevey, whom he had known familiarly in 
 former times at the Pavilion and Carlton House, to 
 call upon him ; when, after discussing some trifling 
 matter relating to the appointment to a chaplaincy, 
 he broached a subject which evidently was weighing 
 upon his mind. It must be confessed that his Royal 
 Highness was not very discreet in choosing Mr. 
 Creevey as the repository of his confidence in such 
 a delicate matter. Creevey seems to have had no 
 scruple in communicating the tenour of the conver- 
 sation to some of his friends. He certainly told the 
 Duke of Wellington,* and on 30th December Lord 
 Sefton wrote from Croxteth, acknowledging Creevey's 
 letter with its " most amusing contents. Nothing 
 could be more apropos than its arrival, as it was put 
 into my hand while a surgeon was sounding my 
 bladder with one hand and a finger of the other, to 
 * See vol. i. p. 284. 
 
268 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 ascertain whether I had a stone or not. I never saw 
 a fellow more astonished than he was at seeing me 
 laugh as soon as the operation was over. Nothing 
 could be more first-rate than the Royal Edward's 
 ingenuousness. One does not know which to admire 
 most— the delicacy of his attachment to Mme. St. 
 Laurent, the refinement of his sentiments towards the 
 D. of Clarence, or his own perfect disinterestedness 
 in pecuniary matters." 
 
 Notes of a Conversation with H.R.H. the Duke of Kent 
 at Brussels, Dec. ii, 1817. 
 
 ". . . The Duke begun, to my great surprise, a 
 conversation upon the death of the Princess Charlotte, 
 and upon an observation from me upon thederangement 
 of the succession to the throne by this event, and 
 of the necessity of the unmarried Princes becoming 
 married, if the crown was to be kept in their family ; 
 and having in addition asked him, I believe, what 
 he thought the Regent would do on the subject 
 of a divorce, and whether he thought the Duke of 
 Clarence would marry, the Duke of Kent, to the best 
 of my recollection, and I would almost say word for 
 word, spoke to me as follows. 
 
 " ' My opinion is the Regent will not attempt a 
 divorce. 1 know persons in the Cabinet who will 
 never consent to such a measure. Then, was he to 
 attempt it, his conduct would be exposed to such 
 recrimination as to make him unpopular, beyond all 
 measure, throughout the country. No : he never will 
 attempt it. Besides, the crime of adultery on her 
 part must be proved in an English court of justice, 
 and if found guilty she must be executed for high 
 treason. No : the Regent will never try for a 
 divorce. 
 
 " ' As for the Duke of York, at his time of life and 
 that of the Duchess, all issue, of course, is out of the 
 
I8i7-i8.] THE DUKE OF KENT'S CONFIDENCES. 269 
 
 question. The Duke of Clarence, I have no doubt, 
 will marry if he can ; but the terms he asks from the 
 Ministers are such as they can never comply with. 
 Besides a settlement such as is proper for a Prince 
 who marries expressly for a succession to the Throne, 
 the Duke of Clarence demands the payment of all his 
 debts, which are very great, and a handsome pro- 
 vision for each of his ten natural children. These are 
 terms that no Ministers can accede to. Should the 
 Duke of Clarence not marry, the next prince in suc- 
 cession is myself; and altho' I trust I shall be at all 
 times ready to obey any call my country may make 
 upon me, God only knows the sacrifice it will be to 
 make, whenever I shall think it my duty to become a 
 married man. It is now seven-and-twenty years that 
 Madame St. Laurent and I have lived together : we 
 are of the same age, and have been in all climates, 
 and in all difficulties together ; and you may well 
 imagine, Mr. Creevey, the pang it will occasion me to 
 part with her. I put it to your own feeling — in the 
 event of any separation between you and Mrs. 
 Creevey. ... As for Madame St. Laurent herself, 
 I protest I don't know what is to become of her if a 
 marriage is to be forced upon me; her feelings are 
 already so agitated upon the subject. You saw, no 
 doubt, that unfortunate paragraph in the Morning 
 Chronicle, which appeared within a day or two after 
 the Princess Charlotte's death ; and in which my 
 marrying was alluded to. Upon receiving the paper 
 containing that article at the same time with my 
 private letters, I did as is my constant practice, I 
 threw the newspaper across the table to Madame 
 Saint Laurent, and began to open and read my 
 letters. I had not done so but a very short time, 
 when my attention was called to an extraordinary 
 noise and a strong convulsive movement in Madame 
 St. Laurent's throat. For a short time I entertained 
 serious apprehensions for her safety ; and when, 
 upon her recovery, I enquired into the occasion of 
 this attack, she pointed to the article in the Morning 
 Chronicle relating to my marriage. 
 
 " ' From that day to this I am compelled to be in 
 the practice of daily dissimulation with Madame St. 
 Laurent, to keep this subject from her thoughts. I 
 
270 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 am fortunately acquainted with the gentlemen in 
 Bruxelles who conduct the Liberal and Oracle news- 
 papers ; they have promised me to keep all articles 
 upon the subject of my marriage out of their papers, 
 and I hope my friends in England will be equally 
 prudent. My brother the Duke of Clarence is the 
 elder brother, and has certainly the right to marry if 
 he chooses, and I would not interfere with him on 
 any account. If he wishes to be King — to be married 
 and have children, poor man — God help him ! let him 
 do so. For myself — I am a man of no ambition, and 
 wish only to remain as I am. . . . Easter, you know, 
 falls very early this year — the 22nd of March. If the 
 Duke of Clarence does not take any step before that 
 time, I must find some pretext to reconcile Madame 
 St. Laurent to my going to England for a short time. 
 St. George's day is the day now fixed for keeping the 
 birthday, and my paying my respects to the Regent 
 on that day will be a sufficient excuse for my appear- 
 ing in England. When once there, it will be easy for 
 me to consult with my friends as to the proper steps 
 to be taken. Should the Duke of Clarence do nothing 
 before that time as to marrying, it will become my 
 duty, no doubt, to take some measures upon the 
 subject myself 
 
 " ' You have heard the names of the Princess of 
 Baden and the Princess of Saxe-Cobourg mentioned. 
 The latter connection would perhaps be the better of 
 the two, from the circumstance of Prince Leopold 
 being so popular with the nation ; but before any- 
 thing is proceeded with in this matter, I shall hope 
 and expect to_s£e. 4ustjce done^by the Nation and the 
 Ministers to Madame St." Laurent. She is of very 
 good family and has never been an actress, and I am 
 the first and only person who ever lived with her. 
 Her disinterestedness, too, has been equal to her 
 fidelity. When she first came to me it was upon 
 ;^ioo a year. That sum was afterwards raised to 
 ;^40o, and finally to ;^iooo; but when my debts made 
 it necessary for me to sacrifice a great part of my 
 income, Madame St. Laurent insisted upon again 
 returning to her income of ;^400 a year. If Mad. 
 St. L. is to return to live amongst her friends, 
 it must be in such a state of independence as to 
 
i8i7-i8.] THE DUKE OF KENT'S CONFIDENCES. 271 
 
 command their respect. I shall not require very 
 much, but a certain number of servants and a carriage 
 are essentials. Whatever the Ministers agree to give 
 for such purposes must be put out of all doubt as 
 to its continuance. I shall name Mr. Brougham, 
 yourself and two other people on behalf of Madame 
 St. Laurent for this object. 
 
 " ' As to my own settlement, as I shall marry (if I 
 marry at all) for the succession, I shall expect the 
 Duke of York's marriage to be considered the pre- 
 cedent. That was a marriage for the succession, and 
 ;^25,ooo for income was settled, in addition to all his 
 other income, purely on that account. I shall be con- 
 tented with the same arrangement, without making 
 any demands grounded upon the difference of the 
 value of money in 1792 and at present. As for the 
 payment of my debts, I don't call them great. The 
 nation, on the contrary, is greatly my debtor.' '. 
 
 " Here a clock striking in the room where we were 
 seemed to remind the Duke he was exceeding his 
 time, and he came to a conclusion almost instantly, 
 and I retired." 
 
 Lord Folkestone, M.P., to T. Creevey \in Brussels]. 
 
 " Lower Grosvenor St., Feb. 23 [1818]. 
 
 ". . . We go on in the House in a very languishing 
 way : very little attendance, and still less attention. 
 The House is regularly empty till 9 or 10 o'clock on 
 the most interesting questions ; and then the new 
 comers are all clamorous for a division to get away 
 again. We all like our new Speaker * most extremely : 
 he is gentlemanlike and obliging. The would-be 
 Speaker {alias Squeaker)! has, as I suppose you have 
 heard, moved down to my old anti-Peace-of-Amiens 
 
 * Charles Manners Sutton [1780-1845], Speaker of the House 
 of Commons from 1817 to 1835, when he was created Viscount 
 Canterbury. 
 
 t C. W. W. Wynn. 
 
2/2 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 bench. There are Wynn, Fremantle, Phillimore* 
 enlisted under Bankes. I rejoice sincerely I did not 
 vote for said Squeaker; but some of those who did 
 are, I hear, very much ashamed of themselves for it. 
 Romilly is in high force this year : Brougham, I know 
 not why, has been quite silent. . . . Prinny has let 
 loose his belly, which now reaches his knees : other- 
 wise he is said to be well. Clarence has been near 
 dying : has been refused by the Princess of Denmark, 
 and is going, it is thought, to marry Miss Wykeham. 
 But his malady is of that nature that they say 
 matrimony is likely to destroy him, so that your 
 friend the Duke of Kent will be King at last. I hope 
 you have noted that the Issues of the Bank have again 
 increased, and that the price of gold and other articles 
 is rising, and the Bank restriction to continue. The 
 old career, it seems, is to be run over again, and the 
 few Lande8 Proprietors who have come unhurt out of 
 the first business will be swallowed up in the second. 
 A pretty prospect this for a Lord like me with a young 
 and increasing family. I should like much to introduce 
 to you my son, who is a very jolly fellow. Lady F. 
 tells me that she is known to you, though not in the 
 character of my wife." 
 
 Mr. Creevey was a warm and intimate friend of 
 Lord Kinnaird, who, like himself, had been a vehement 
 opponent of the war with France. Lord Kinnaird 
 was so indiscreet as to persist openly in his anti- 
 national demonstrations long after the war was over. 
 Being in Brussels in 1818, a certain French refugee 
 named Marinet, then under sentence of death, offered 
 to reveal to Kinnaird a plot for the assassination of 
 the Duke of Wellington in Paris, on condition that 
 Kinnaird would intercede for him with M. de Cazes. 
 Kinnaird informed Sir George Murray, the Duke's 
 Adjutant-General, by letter, who naturally asked the 
 name of the informer. This Kinnaird refused to 
 
 * Joseph Phillimore [1775-1855], M.P. for St. Mawes 1817-26. 
 
I8i7-i8.] LORD KINNAIRD'S AFFAIR. 273 
 
 give, having passed his word that he should not do 
 so ; neither could he be induced to reveal it after 
 the attempt upon the Duke's life had been made 
 by Cantillon on loth February. Upon this the 
 Belgian Government ordered his arrest. Kinnaird 
 left Brussels secretly, taking Marinet with him. Both 
 were arrested on arriving in Paris, but Kinnaird was 
 released at the request of the Duke, who took him 
 into his own house, to prevent him being " lodged in 
 the Conciergerie," as the Duke explained to Lord 
 Bathurst, "which I certainly should not have liked."* 
 On isth April, Kinnaird left Paris, for Brussels, 
 as he informed the Duke, but really on his way to 
 England, leaving behind him a letter addressed to 
 the French Chambre des Pairs, accusing the Govern- 
 ment, and, by implication, the Duke of Wellington, of 
 breach of faith in the arrest of Marinet. Kinnaird's 
 indiscretion brought him into very unfavourable 
 notice at the time ; he was even suspected of some 
 degree of complicity in the crime, whereof the Duke 
 freely acquitted him, though Lady Holland always 
 afterwards spoke of him as " Oliver " Kinnaird. 
 There is nothing of interest in Kinnaird's letters at 
 the time to Creevey, but one to his wife may serve to 
 show him in the light of a wrong-headed busybody, 
 without any useful field for his activity. 
 
 Lord Kinnaird to Lady Kinnaird. 
 
 "Paris, April, 181 8. 
 
 " What shall I tell you of the proceedings here ? 
 My patience is exhausted. I have in vain claimed the 
 
 * Wellington's Supplementary Despatches, xii. 382. 
 VOL. I. T 
 
2/4 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 interference of the Duke [of Wellington] and the justice 
 of the Govt, in favor of a man unjustly imprisoned. I 
 have suffered all sorts of calumnies to be spread agt. 
 me for a long time. I will no longer submit to it, and 
 have now given definite notice that I will leave Paris 
 this week. ... I would not trust our own courier, or 
 Dukes, or Ambassadors. You have no notion of the 
 mischievous attacks some ministerial papers have been 
 making on me. You may believe I despise them, but 
 I think I must say something in reply. . . ." 
 
 In the summer of 1818 took place a general election, 
 and Creevey received notice to quit Thetford, which 
 he had represented since 1802. The reason for the 
 new Duke of Norfolk making this change is not 
 apparent ; possibly he was dissatisfied with Creevey's 
 absence from Parliament for more than three years ; 
 possibly, as Brougham had anticipated, the Duke's 
 mother-in-law, Lady Stafford, may have induced him 
 to choose one of her own friends. Anyhow, Creevey 
 bitterly resented this treatment at the hands of his old 
 friend Bernard Howard, and wrote him a very long 
 letter of remonstrance. The correspondence is only 
 worth referring to as illustrating a condition of affairs 
 which ceased to exist in this country with the passing 
 of the Reform Act of 1832. Creevey reminds the 
 Duke that they have been acquainted for sixteen 
 years. 
 
 "The question I put to you, Duke, is this— Why 
 have you not noticed me in your arrangements for the 
 new Parliament, or why have you not given me your 
 reasons for not doing so? Shall I begin with my 
 claims upon you on publick grounds ? I can only do 
 this by comparing myself with the persons returned 
 by you. I will take, for instance, the returns of Mr. 
 Phillips and his son. ... I have learnt, and am taught 
 to believe, that Mr. Phillips's claims upon you are 
 
i8i8.] MR. CREEVEY DISLODGED FROM THETFORD. 275 
 
 founded upon a large loan of money that he advanced 
 to you two or three years ago. ... I am certain that 
 mature reflection will show you the fatal effects that 
 such a precedent, if generally followed, would produce, 
 as well upon your own body — the Aristocracy — as 
 upon the Constitution itself of your country. . . . Need 
 I point out to you, Duke, the certain and speedy result 
 of such operations on the part of the Aristocracy ? 
 Would they not then, at least, be subject to the 
 reproach, hitherto so unjustly and maliciously urged 
 against them, of trafficking in seats in Parliament? 
 . . . How long do you think the Constitution and 
 liberties of the country would survive the loss of 
 publick character in the Aristocracy?" 
 
 To all this, and a great deal more, the Duke replied 
 very briefly, expressing regret that "dear Creevey" 
 was not "in any situation that he desired, and in 
 which the exertion of his talents might be useful to 
 the country," but refusing to acknowledge "the right 
 he had thought proper to exercise of reproaching 
 him (the Duke) with imaginary injustice." He is 
 willing to attribute Mr. Creevey's " extraordinary and 
 unmerited asperity to some temporary irritation pro- 
 ceeding from misconceptions." 
 
 Having, then, lost the seat which he had held for 
 sixteen years, during four Parliaments ; having, also, 
 lost his excellent wife, and, with her, the greater part 
 of his income, he moved with his step-daughters, the 
 Miss Ords, from Brussels to Cambray, where the 
 Duke of Wellington had the headquarters of the army 
 of occupation. While there he kept, or attempted to 
 keep, a journal, which is not without some passages of 
 interest. 
 
276 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 Extracts from Mr, Creevey's Journal. 
 
 " Cambray, i6th July, 1818. — I came from Brussells 
 to Cambray with the Miss Ords on 14th July, and got 
 there the 15th. To-day I rode to see a cricket match 
 between the officers near the town, and presently the 
 Duke of Wellington rode there likewise, accompanied 
 by Mrs. Harvey and Miss Cator. As soon as he saw 
 me, he rode up and shook hands with me, and asked 
 me if I was returned in the new Parliament, to which 
 I answered that the weather was too hot to be in 
 Parliament, and that I should wait till it was cooler. 
 He asked me to dine with him that day, but I was 
 engaged to the officers who were playing the match, 
 and he then asked me for the next day. 
 
 " ijth. — I dined with the Duke. . . . Mrs. Harvey 
 and Miss Cator were the only ladies. We were about 
 sixteen or eighteen, I suppose ; no strangers but 
 myself One of the first things said at dinner by 
 the Duke was : — ' Did you see Kinnaird at Brussells, 
 Creevey?' to which I said: — 'Yes, I saw him on 
 Monday, just on the point of starting for Milan, where 
 he means to spend the next winter.' Upon which 
 the Duke said :— ' By God ! the Austrian Government 
 won't let him stay there.'— 'Oh impossible,' I said, 
 ' upon what pretence can they disturb him ? ' — and then 
 he paused, and afterwards added : — ' Kinnaird is not 
 at all busy wherever he goes:' to which I made no 
 answer. This was the year in which Lord Kinnaird 
 took up Marinet from Brussells to Paris, to give 
 evidence about the person who had fired at the Duke 
 in Paris— an affair in which Kinnaird, to my mind, 
 acted quite right, and Wellington abominably to him 
 in return. ... In the evening I had a long walk and 
 talk with the Duke in the garden, and he was very 
 agreeable. . . . We talked over English politics, and 
 upon my saying that never Government cut so 
 contemptible a figure as ours did the last session— 
 particularly in the repeated defeats they sustained on 
 the proposals to augment the establishments of the 
 Dukes of Clarence, Kent and Cumberland upon their 
 
i8i7-i8.] JOURNAL. 277 
 
 marriages, he said : — ' By God ! there is a great deal 
 to be said about that. They (the Princes) are the 
 damnedest millstone about the necks of any Govern- 
 ment that can be imagined. They have insulted — 
 personally insulted — two thirds of the gentlemen of 
 England, and how can it be wondered at that they 
 take their revenge upon them when they get them in 
 the House of Commons? It is their only oppor- 
 tunity, and I think, by God ! they are quite right to 
 use it' 
 
 " i8i'/?.^Invited to dine at Lord Hill's, where the 
 Duke and a great party were to be ; but I would not 
 go, because I found [General] Barnes had written to 
 Lord Hill desiring him to ask me. 
 
 " 2T,rd. — Dined at Sir Andrew Hamond's, with 
 Alava,* Hervey, Lord Wm. Russell and the Lord 
 knows who besides. Young Lord William was very 
 good about politics, and civil enough to say he was 
 sorry I was out of Parliament. 
 
 No date. — " Dined at Sir Lowry Cole's f and liked 
 Lady Frances very much — very good-looking, excellent 
 manner and agreeable. That cursed fellow Colonel 
 Stanhope % was there amongst others, who I remember 
 was an Opposition man 3 years ago, but who now 
 is in Parliament and a Government lick-spittle. He 
 made up to me cursedly, but I would not touch 
 him. 
 
 No date. — " Dined at Lord Hill's with my young 
 ladies and Hamilton and a monstrous party, all in a 
 tent at his house four miles from Cambray. I should 
 just as soon have supposed Miss Hill — Lord Hill's 
 sister — who was there, to have been second-in-com- 
 mand of our army, as Lord Hill, his appearance is so 
 
 * Note by Mr. Creevey. — "The Representative of Spain at the 
 Court of the Bourbons, and at Wellington's headquarters also — a most 
 upright and incomparable man." 
 
 t Second son of the ist Earl of Enniskillen: commanded the 4th 
 Division in the Peninsular War, and married a daughter of the 1st 
 Earl of Malmesbury. 
 
 X Probably the Hon. James Hamilton Stanhope, son of the 3rd 
 Earl Stanhope, and father of the present Mr. Banks Stanhope of Revesby 
 Abbey. Creevey's uncomplimentary reference is to nothing worse than 
 Stanhope's change of pohtics. 
 
278 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 unmilitary.* He and his sister seem excellent people, 
 and Barnes tells me that there cannot be a better 
 second-in-command of an army than Lord Hill. I 
 found Master Stanhope there again, and he wanted 
 me to dine with him, but I would do no such thing. 
 He has no talents : he is all pretension and impudence. 
 Col. Percy t is by far the best hand at conversation of 
 the Duke s young men. 
 
 No date. — " Dined at the Duke of Wellington's. 
 The ladies were Lady Charlotte Greville and Lady 
 Frances Cole. The Duke began by asking : — ' Well, 
 Creevey, how many votes have the Opposition gained 
 this election ? Who is Wilson that is come in for 
 the City, and what side is he of?' I thought Lady 
 Frances looked rather astounded at such familiarity, 
 and upon such a subject. At dinner he began again : 
 — 'Who is to be your leader in the House of 
 Commons ? ' I said they talked of Tierney, but I 
 was quite sure Romilly ought to be the man. — ' Ah,' 
 he said, ' Tierney is a sharp fellow, and I am sure 
 will give the Government a good deal of trouble. 
 As for Romilly, I know little of him, but the House 
 of Commons never likes lawyers.' So I said that 
 was true generally, and justly so, but that poor 
 Horner t had been an exception, and so was Romilly : 
 that they were no ordinary, artificial skirmishing 
 lawyers, speaking from briefs, but that they con- 
 veyed to the House, in addition to their talents, the 
 impression of their being really sincere, honest men. 
 I availed myself of this occasion to turn to my next 
 neighbour Lord W. Russell, and to give him a good 
 lecture upon the great merits of Romilly and the 
 great folly of our party in making Tierney leader, 
 whose life had been in such direct opposition to all 
 Whig principles. I found the young lord quite 
 what a Russell ought to be. 
 
 * Sir Rowland Hill, created Viscount Hill in 1814 for his splendid 
 services in the Peninsular War, was a great favourite with his soldiers, 
 among whom he was known as " Daddy Hill." 
 
 t Fifth son of the 5th Duke of Northumberland ; aide-de-camp, 
 first to Sir John Moore, and then to the Duke of Wellington. Carried 
 the Duke's despatches to London after Waterloo. 
 
 X Horner died in 1817. 
 
i8i7-i8.] JOURNAL. 279 
 
 " In the evening I had a walk with the Duke again 
 in the garden, and upon my asking some question 
 about the Regent, as the Duke had just come from 
 England, he said :— ' By God ! you never saw such a 
 figure in your life as he is. Then he speaks and 
 swears so like old Falstaff, that damn me if I was not 
 ashamed to walk into a room with him.' 
 
 " Our conversation was interrupted by Mrs. 
 Harvey and Miss Cator coming up to the Duke with 
 a Yankee general in their hands — a relation of theirs, 
 just arrived from America — General Harper, whom 
 they presented to the Duke. It is not amiss to see 
 these sisters, Mrs. Harvey and Miss Cator, not con- 
 tent with passing themselves off for tip-top Yankees, 
 but playing much greater people than Lady C. 
 Greville and Lady F. Cole — to me too, who re- 
 member their grandfather, old Cator, a captain of an 
 Indiaman in Liverpool ; their father an adventurer to 
 America, and know their two aunts now at Liverpool 
 — Mrs. Woodville and another, who move in about 
 the third-rate society of that town. 
 
 No date. — " Dined at Sir George Murray's * with 
 Alava, General Harper and a very large party. I sat 
 next to Harper, who quite came up to my notion of a 
 regular Yankee. I touched him upon the late seizure 
 of the Floridas by the United States, but he was as 
 plausible, cunning and Jesuitical as the very devil. 
 He was singularly smug and spruce in his attire, and 
 looked just as old Cator would have looked the first 
 Sunday after a Guinea voyage — in new cloaths from 
 top to bottom. From the Floridas he went to 
 fashionable life, and asked me if he could not live very 
 genteelly in London for £6000 per annum. 
 
 " Sir George was all politeness and good manners, 
 but he is feeble, tho' they say excellent in his depart- 
 ment. He has not a particle of the talent of Barnes, 
 nor do I see any one who has, except the Duke. He 
 [Murray] and his staff — Sir Charles Brooke and 
 Eckersley — are for all the world like three old maids. 
 
 "The young ladies and I were at a ball at the 
 Duke's, and he was very civil to us all, as he always 
 
 * Wellington's trusted and excellent Quartermaster-General during 
 the Peninsular War. 
 
28o THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 IS, and called out to us in going to supper to sup at 
 his table. 
 
 " Monday \_no other date\. . . . Hope of the Staff 
 Corps is to go on Thursday with dispatches to the 
 Duke, and wishes me to go with him as he travels 
 in a cabriolet, which I most cordially consent to do. 
 
 " Thursday.— Hope and I left Cambray about s 
 in the evening — went thro' St. Quintin, La Fere, 
 &c. I was much interested by Laon and its 
 vicinity, as well on account of its singular position, 
 as having been the theatre of so much fighting 
 between Blucher and Buonaparte in 1814. The 
 vineyards, likewise, on the right hand side of the 
 road and on the slope of the hills before and after 
 Sillery were very pretty. We got to Chalons 
 between four and five, having travelled all night 
 of course, and before the Duke; so we got the 
 postmaster to let us shave and clean ourselves in 
 his house, and that being done, we sallied forth to a 
 restaurateur to dine, leaving a special messenger on 
 the spot to summon Hope the moment the Duke's 
 courier arrived. Hope was sent for before we had 
 finished, and was at the post house with his dis- 
 patches just as the Duke drove up. I followed in a 
 few minutes. Hope had told him I was with him, 
 and when I came he shook hands out of the window. 
 On his expressing some surprise at seeing me there, 
 I told him I was trying how 1 liked travelling at the 
 expense of Government. The Duke then said : — 
 ' Come on and dine with me at Vitry, Creevey,' and 
 off he drove. 
 
 "We got to Vitry about ten. The Duke had 
 driven much faster than us, so as to have time to 
 answer his letters, and to have the return dispatches 
 ready for Hope. The inn we found him in was the 
 most miserable concern I have ever beheld — so small 
 and so wretched that after we had entered the gate 
 I could not believe that we were right, till the 
 Duke, who had heard the carriage enter, came out 
 of a little wretched parlour in the gateway, with- 
 out his hat, and on seeing me said : — 'Come in here, 
 Creevey: dinner is quite ready.' Dinner accordingly 
 was brought in by a couple of dirty maids, and it 
 consisted of four dishes — 2 partridges at the top, a 
 
i8i7-i8.] JOURNAL. 281 
 
 fowl at the bottom, fricassee of chicken on one side 
 and something equally substantial on the other. The 
 company was the Duke, Count Brozam [?], aide-de- 
 camp to the Emperor of Russia, Hervey, Sir Ulysses 
 de Burgh, Hope and myself. Cathcart and Cradock 
 were not come up, but were expected every moment. 
 
 " The Duke had left Paris at 5 in the morning, and 
 had come 130 miles, and a cold fowl was all that had 
 been eaten by his party in the coach during the day. 
 Altho' the fare was so scanty, the champagne the 
 commonest of stuff, and the house so bad, it seemed 
 to make no impression on the Duke. He seemed 
 quite as pleased and as well satisfied as if he had 
 been in a palace. He and I had a very agreeable 
 conversation for an hour or an hour and a half, princi- 
 pally about improvements going on in France, which 
 had been begun by Buonaparte — land, &c., &c. — and 
 then we all went to bed. 
 
 " In the morning we all breakfasted together at 
 five o'clock punctually. Our fare was tea in a great 
 coffee-pot about two feet high. We had cups to 
 drink out of, it is true ; but no saucers. The Duke, 
 however, seemed quite as satisfied with everything 
 as the night before ; and when I observed, by way of 
 a joke, that I thought the tea not so very bad, con- 
 sidering it was made, I supposed, at Vitry : — ' No,' said 
 he, with that curious simplicity of his, 'it is not: I 
 brought it with me from Paris.' 
 
 "He gave Cathcart and Cradock a rub for not 
 being up the night before, and then we all got into 
 our carriages — the Duke and suite for Colmar, and 
 Hope and I for Cambray. . . . 
 
 "Sunday. — Hope and I got back to Cambray at 
 about two o'clock in the afternoon. . . . Lady Aid- 
 borough came to Cambray. ... I am as much con- 
 vinced as ever that she is the readiest, quickest 
 person in conversation I have ever seen, but she is 
 a little too much upon the full stretch. Was she 
 quieter, she would be more agreeable. The truth is, 
 however, she knows too well the imprudences of her 
 past life, and she is fighting for her place in society 
 by the perpetual exercise of her talents. 
 
 " Septr. 8. — On the evening of this day between 5 
 and 6 I saw the Duke's coach and six going full speed 
 
^^2 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 on the Valenciennes road, and I found after he was 
 running away from the Duke of Kent, who had sent 
 to say he was coming ; so the D. of W. dispatched 
 Cathcart to stop him, and went off himself. . . . 
 
 " Wednesday, gth. — Barnes and I came over to 
 Valenciennes in his chaise, and got there about half 
 an hour before dinner. I met the Duke in the 
 street, and he asked me laughingly if I had been 
 to call on my friend the Duke of Kent, and said I 
 should meet him at dinner. I thought from this I 
 ought to call, so Barnes, Sir W. W. Wynn (whom 
 I had picked up in the street) and myself went 
 and wrote our names at the Duke of Kent's. This 
 made us latish for dinner, and when we got there 
 everybody almost was arrived — about sixty in 
 number, I should say. As I was so late, I kept 
 in the background, but the Duke of Kent saw me 
 immediately, and forced his way to me. After 
 shaking hands with me in the most cordial manner, 
 and saying all kinds of civil and apparently most 
 friendly things to me about my own situation (Mrs. 
 Creevey being recently dead and myself being out 
 of Parliament), and the regret of my friends in 
 England at my absence, he began about himself. — 
 'You may probably be surprised, Mr. Creevey, at 
 seeing me here, considering the illness of my poor 
 mother; but the Queen is a person of the greatest 
 possible firmness of mind, and tho' she knows 
 perfectly well that her situation is a hopeless one, 
 she would not listen to any offers of mine to remain 
 with her, and indeed nothing but her pressing me to 
 come abroad could have made me do so.' 
 
 " The Dutchess of Kent had an old, ugly German 
 female companion with her, and the Duke of Welling- 
 ton was going about amongst his staff before dinner, 
 saying — ' Who the devil is to take out the maid of 
 honor ? ' and at last said — ' Damme, Fremantle, find 
 out the Mayor and let him do it' So the Mayor of 
 Valenciennes was brought up for the purpose, and a 
 capital figure he was. We had an excellent dinner in 
 a kind of occasional building, and as I got next Lord 
 Arthur Hill * it was a very agreeable one. . . . 
 
 * Afterwards Lord Sandys. 
 
i8i7-i8.] JOURNAL. 283 
 
 " Thursday, lo/A.— Barnes took me out in his 
 chaise about six or seven miles on the road towards 
 Bouchain, where we found the troops on their 
 ground, and then we got on horseback. The Saxon 
 contingent I thought most beautiful, and the Danes 
 I thought the dirtiest dogs I ever in my life beheld. 
 
 " The Duke of Kent's appearance was atrocious. 
 He was dressed in the jacket and cap of his regiment 
 (the Royals), and but for his blue ribbon and star, he 
 might have passed for an orderly sergeant. The Duke 
 of Wellington's appearance was, as it always is on 
 such occasions, quite perfect. I have never seen any 
 one to be compared to him. . . . After the review, we 
 went back to Valenciennes, and dined again with the 
 Duke of Wellington. . . . The party to-day was much 
 less — about 40. Lord Darnley, I think, was the only 
 additional stranger. Sir Lowry Cole handed out 
 Mrs. Hamilton, Sir George Murray Miss Ord, and 
 General Barnes Miss E. Ord,* and I got next to old 
 Watkin, and talked over the Westminster election 
 with him. In the evening the Duke gave a ball, which 
 was as crowded as the very devil. 
 
 '^Friday, 11. — This morning Barnes and I set off to 
 see the Russian troops reviewed. . . . The Count 
 Woronzow, Commander-in-chief of the Russians, had 
 sent forty pair of horses with drivers, &c., &c., to bring 
 over such English persons as were to be present. . . . 
 A little short of Bovary we found a relay of 40 other 
 pair of horses standing in the road, and these took us 
 to the ground. . . . Here again Cossack saddle horses 
 were provided by Count Woronzow for all the 
 strangers. . . . We had been all invited beforehand 
 to dine with Count Woronzow, and just as the review 
 was finishing, he rode up to every English carriage to 
 say he was to have a ball in the evening. . . . After 
 dinner, the ball opened, when my delight was to see 
 the Mizurko danced by Madame Suwarrow and her 
 brother the Prince Nariskin, Commander-in-chief of 
 the Cossacks. The Dutchess of Kent waltzed a little, 
 and the Duke of Kent put his hand upon her cheek 
 to feel if she was not too hot. I believe it was this 
 display of tenderness on his part that made the Duke 
 
 ' Creevey's step-daughter. 
 
284 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 of Wellington turn suddenly to me and say :— ' Well, 
 Creevey, what has passed between you and the Corporal 
 since you have met this time?' So I told him of our 
 conversation on the Wednesday at his dinner, not 
 omitting, of course, the pathetic part about the Queen ; 
 upon which he laid hold of my button and said : — 
 ' God damme ! d'ye know what his sisters call him ? 
 By God ! they call him Joseph Surface ! ' and then sent 
 out one of his hearty laughs, that made every one 
 turn about to the right and left to see what was the 
 matter. . . . 
 
 "The Duke of Wellington's constant joking with 
 me about the Duke of Kent was owing to the curious 
 conversation I had with the latter at Brussells in the 
 autumn of 1817, the particulars of which had always 
 amused the Duke of Wellington very much.* . . . 
 
 "Saturday. — We were all invited to breakfast at 
 the Count's [Woronzow] this morning, but we were 
 to go first at 9 o'clock to see the Count's school, which 
 we did, and saw 400 or 500 private soldiers at their 
 lessons — reading, writing and arithmetic, upon Lan- 
 caster's plan. Nothing could be nicer than the room, 
 or more perfect than the establishment. This educa- 
 tion takes eight months, and the whole army goes 
 through it in turn. Besides this, there was another 
 school where shoe-making, tayloring and other things 
 are taught. As the Duke of Kent was to the last 
 degree tiresome in examining all the details of this 
 establishment, and asked questions without end, I ex- 
 pressed some impatience to get to my breakfast, upon 
 which the Duke of Wellington, who heard me, was 
 much amused, and said : — ' I recommend you, when- 
 ever you start with any of the Royal family in a 
 morning, and particularly with the Corporal, always 
 to breakfast first' I found he and his staff had all 
 done so, and his fun was to keep saying all the time 
 we were kept there — ' Voila le monsieur qui n'a pas 
 dejeune!' pointing to me. 
 
 " I got, however, to my breakfast at last, and found 
 the Dutchess of Kent and other ladies there likewise. 
 ... I must say the Count Woronzow is one of the 
 most captivating persons I have ever seen. He 
 
 * See vol. i. pp. 267-271. 
 
i8i7-i8.] JOURNAL. 285 
 
 appears about 35 years of age: there is a polish and 
 a simplicity at the same time in his manner that sur- 
 passes anything I have ever seen. He seems all 
 work — all kindness — all good breeding — without a 
 particle of pride, ostentation or affectation. I consider 
 him as one of the greatest curiosities I have ever seen. 
 
 "September [ito date]. — I dined at the Duke of 
 Wellington's, and was much pleased to find the Due 
 de Richelieu there, whom I had never seen before. 
 He was just arrived, on his way to the Congress at 
 Aix-la-chapelle. The Duke of W. introduced me to 
 him, and I never saw a Frenchman I took such a 
 fancy to before. His excellent manners, his simplicity 
 and his appearance, are most striking and agreeable. 
 We had a small party and no ladies. From Sir 
 George Murray being between the Due de Richelieu 
 and myself at dinner, and my deaf ear towards him 
 into the bargain, I lost much of his conversation. 
 The Duke of Wellington, however, after Richelieu 
 was gone, told me in conversation what had passed 
 between them, which was not amiss. The D. of R. 
 asked the D. of W. if he had heard what had passed 
 at the Hague the other day at the christening of the 
 Prince of Orange's second son, to which Wellington 
 replied no. The D. of R. then told him that on that 
 occasion, there being a dinner and fete, the Prince of 
 Orange had made a flaming patriotic oration, in which 
 he had expressed his devotion to his Belgic, as well 
 as his Dutch, compatriots, and concluded by declaring 
 he would sacrifice his life in repelling any power who 
 dared to invade their country. Upon which the Duke 
 of Wellington said to Richelieu: — 'Who the devil 
 does he mean? I suppose you — the French.' — 'No,' 
 answered Richeheu, 'it is said he meant you — the 
 English.' There had been some talk of an army of 
 observation being formed of our troops, to be kept in 
 the Netherlands, so maybe it was an allusion to this. 
 
 " I said to the Duke what a pity it was that the 
 Prince of Orange, after distinguishing himself as he 
 had done at Waterloo, should make such a goose of 
 himself: to which Wellington said with his comical 
 simplicity : — ' So it is, but I can't help it. I have done 
 all I could for him.' 
 
 " Barnes has told me more than once during my 
 
286 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 Stay at Cambray a fact about the Prince of Orange 
 which, incredible as I at first thought it, must be true: 
 viz. — that the Prince was mad enough to Usten to 
 some proposals made to him by certain French exiles 
 as to making him think of France and dethroning old 
 Louis Dix-huit. Kinnaird had often told me there 
 was something of this kind going on, which I quite 
 scouted ; and then he told me afterwards, when he 
 was interrogated by the police on the subject of 
 Wellington's affair, that many questions were put to 
 him on the subject of this plot in favor of the Prince 
 of Orange, and as to what Kinnaird knew about it ; 
 but Barnes told me that Fagel, the Minister from the 
 Pays Bas at Paris, told him (Barnes) that all this was 
 perfectly true ; and not only so, but that in conse- 
 quence of it the Prince of Orange had been obliged to 
 answer certain prepared interrogations which were 
 put to him by the allied Sovereigns on this subject. 
 So it must be true, and Wellington of course knew it 
 to be so during this conversation with me. 
 
 " We had after this a very long conversation, and 
 quite alone. I apologised for a question I was about 
 to ask him, and begged him if I was doing wrong to 
 tell me so immediately. I said Mrs. Hamilton expected 
 to be confined in eight or ten weeks, and he would do 
 me a signal favor if he would tell me if the army was 
 really to leave France, as in that case she would never 
 run the risque of being confined at Cambray, and left 
 after the army was gone. He answered without the 
 slightest hesitation : — ' Oh, you must remove her cer- 
 tainly. I shall begin to move the army next month, 
 and I hope by the 20th of November to have got 
 everybody away.* I shall keep a single battalion for 
 myself, and shall be the last to leave this place ... so 
 remove Mrs. Hamilton to Bruxelles or to Mons, but 
 certainly out of France.' 
 
 "We then went to poHtics, and publick men and 
 publick speaking. He said much in favor of Lord 
 Grey's and Lord Lansdowne's speaking. Of the 
 former he said that, as leader of the House of Commons 
 he thought his manner and speaking quite perfect ; and 
 
 * The Duke's farewell to the army of occupation was issued as 
 ordre-du-jour on 30th October. 
 
i8i7-i8.] JOURNAL. 287 
 
 of Lord Lansdowne* he said that, had he remained 
 in the House of Commons he must have been minister 
 of the country long before this time. ' But,' said he, 
 'they are lost by being in the House of Lords. Nobody 
 cares a damn for the House of Lords ; the House of 
 Commons is everything in England, and the House of 
 Lords nothing.' 
 
 " I then favored him with my notions of some 
 on the other side. I said there was no fact I was 
 more convinced of than that Castlereagh would have 
 expired politically in the year iSog^that all the world 
 by common consent had had enough of him, and were 
 tired out — had it not been for the piece of perfidy by 
 Canning to him at that time, and that this, and this 
 alone, had raised him from the dead, and given him 
 his present great position. I then followed up Canning 
 on the score of his infinite meanness in taking his 
 Lisbon job and filling his present inferior situation 
 under Castlereagh, whose present situation he (Can- 
 ning) held in 1809, and then, forsooth! was too great 
 a man to act with Castlereagh as his inferior. 
 
 "All this Wellington listened to, it is true; but 
 he would not touch it,t except by saying he heard 
 Canning and Whitbread have a sparring bout in the 
 House of Commons, and he thought Whitbread had 
 much the best of it. The conversation ended by 
 further remarks about publick speaking. — ' There's 
 the Due de Richelieu, for instance,' he said, 'altho' he 
 speaks as Minister, and has everything prepared in 
 writing, you never heard anything so bad in your life 
 as his speaking.' 
 
 " It is a very curious thing to have seen so much 
 of this said Duke as I have done at different times, 
 considering the impostors that most men in power 
 are — the insufferable pretensions one meets with in 
 every Jack-in-office — the uniform frankness and simpli- 
 city of Wellington in all the conversations I have 
 heard him engaged in, coupled with the unparalleled 
 situation he holds in the world for an English subject, 
 
 * Formerly Lord Henry Petty. 
 
 t The old soldier was far too wary to give himself away, knowing, 
 as he must have done, from having heard all about the Duke of Kent's 
 confession, how freely Creevey repeated confidential conversations. 
 
2^^ THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 make him to me the most interesting object I have 
 ever seen in my life." 
 
 The following memorandum, suggested by the 
 publication in 1822 of O'Meara's Voice from St. Helena, 
 refers to the autumn of 18 18, immediately before the 
 withdrawal of the Army of Occupation and the Duke 
 of Wellington's return to England : — 
 
 Memorandum. 
 
 " Having met the Duke of Wellington accidentally 
 in the Park at Brussels, and walked with him at his 
 request to the French Minister's house, Monr. Mallet 
 du Pan, and having talked a good deal about France 
 now that the Allies had just evacuated it, I said :— 
 
 " ' Well now, Duke, let me ask you, don't you think 
 Lowe a very unnecessarily harsh gaoler of Buona- 
 parte at St. Helena? It is surely very disreputable 
 to us to put any restraint upon him not absolutely 
 necessary for his detention.' * 
 
 '"By God!' he replied in his usual manner, 'I 
 don't know. Buonaparte is so damned intractable a 
 fellow there is no knowing how to deal with him. To 
 be sure, as to the means employed to keep him there, 
 never was anything so damned absurd. I know the 
 island of St. Helena well. I looked at every part of 
 it on my return from the East Indies ' — and then he 
 described three or four places as the only ones by 
 which a prisoner could escape, and that they were 
 capable of being made quite inaccessible by a mere 
 handful of men. I then said, from what I had seen of 
 Lowe at Brussels in 18 14 and 181 5, he seemed to me 
 the last man in the world for the general officer, from 
 his fidgetty nature and disposition ; upon which the 
 Duke said : — 
 
 * "The irritation displayed by the captive of St. Helena in his 
 bickerings with his gaoler affect most men more than the thought of 
 the nameless thousands whom his insatiable egotism had hurried to 
 the grave." [Lecky's Europeati Morals, i. 139, ed. 1869.] 
 
I8i7-i8.] SIR HUDSON LOWE. 289 
 
 '"As for Lowe, he is a damned fool. When I 
 came to Brussels from Vienna in 181 5, I found him 
 Quarter-Master-General of the army here, and I pre- 
 sently found the damned fellow would instruct me in 
 the equipment of the army, always producing the 
 Prussians to me as models ; so I was obliged to tell 
 him I had commanded a much larger army in the field 
 than any Prussian general, and that I was not to learn 
 from their service how to equip an army. I thought 
 this would have stopped him, but shortly afterwards 
 the damned fellow was at me again about the equip- 
 ment, &c., of the Prussians ; so I was obliged to write 
 home and complain of him, and the Government were 
 kind enough to take him away from me.' 
 
 "During the same autumn of 18 18, being one night 
 at Lady Charlotte Greville's, then living at the Hotel 
 d'Angleterre, the Duke of Wellington coming in asked 
 me if I had any news from England, to which I replied 
 'none but newspaper news,' viz. that the Duke of 
 Wellington was or was going to be Master of the 
 Ordnance : to which he said ' Ho ! ' or ' Ha ! ' but quite 
 gravely, and without any contradiction, so I was sure 
 it was true. From that hour he was an altered man — 
 quite official in everything he said, tho' still much 
 more natural and accessible than any other official I 
 ever saw, except Fox. 
 
 " A day or two after this conversation I met Alava, 
 and, knowing his devotion to the Duke, I asked him 
 what he thought of his new situation. He said he 
 never was more sorry for any event in his life— that 
 the Duke of Wellington ought never to have had any- 
 thing to do with politicks — that he ought to have 
 remained, not only as the soldier of England, but of 
 Europe, to be ready to appear again at its command 
 whenever his talents and services might be wanted. 
 I have seen a good deal of Alava at different times, 
 and a more upright human being, to all appearance, I 
 never beheld." 
 
 The Opposition, which had lost one of its candi- 
 dates for leadership in 1815, in the person of Samuel 
 Whitbread, now lost another in Sir Samuel Romilly, 
 
 VOL. I. U 
 
290 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XII. 
 
 and in the same dreadful manner — suicide. In reply- 
 ing to Mr. Bennet's letter announcing this event, 
 Creevey took occasion to reply also to an earlier one, 
 informing him of Tierney's election as Opposition 
 leader in the House of Commons, which was little to 
 Creevey's liking, for he and the rest of " the Mountain " 
 had always derided " Old Mrs. Cole " as too timid for 
 the part. 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Hon. H. G. Bennet, M.P. 
 
 "Brussels, Dec. 30th, 1818. 
 
 "... I must advert to the great calamity we have 
 all sustained in the death of poor Romilly. His loss 
 is perfectly irreparable. By his courageous and con- 
 sistent public conduct, united with his known private 
 worth, he was rapidly acquiring an authority over 
 men's minds that, had his life been spared a few years, 
 would, 1 think, have equalled, if not surpassed, even 
 that of Mr. Fox. He indeed was a leader, that all true 
 Whigs would have been proud to follow, however his 
 modesty might induce him to decline being called so. 
 
 " And now I am brought to the question you pro- 
 pose me — viz. : what I think of your having chosen 
 Fierney for the leader of the Whigs in the House of 
 Commons. In the first place, I think you deceive 
 yourselves by supposing the leader of the Whigs of 
 England to be an article that can be created by election, 
 or merely by giving it that name. A man must make 
 himself such leader by his talents, by his courage, 
 and above all by the excellence and consistency of his 
 publick principles. It was by such means that Fox 
 was our leader without election and that Romilly was 
 becoming so, and believe me, there is no other process 
 by which a leader can be made. 
 
 " With respect to the object of your choice — as a 
 piece of humour I consider it quite inimitable, and I 
 am sure no one can laugh more heartily than Tierney 
 himself in his sleeve as Leader of the Whigs ; indeed his 
 commentary upon the proceeding is very intelligibly, 
 
Sir- ^AomaJ-Siwy£^^^^^-4.(Pi 
 
 '^aJAi^&SocAs^U^h.Sr. 
 
 c::Jtr <^ycini4i('i . Jif^iniUf/ 
 
iSi7-i8.] OBJECTIONS TO TIERNEY. 29I 
 
 as well as funnily, displayed by his administering a 
 kind of Luddite test to you, which having once signed, 
 you are bound to your captain for better and for 
 worse. . . ." 
 
 Follows a very long survey of Tierney's public 
 career from 1793 onwards, and an expression of 
 opinion that his opposition to Fox, his defence of the 
 East India Company, &c., &c., had for ever disqualified 
 him for the post to which he had been elected. 
 
( 292 ) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1819-1820. 
 
 There is almost a blank in Mr. Creevey's correspond- 
 ence during 1819, in which year he continued to live 
 in Brussels. This is the more to be regretted because 
 the fragments which remain are lively and full of 
 gossip. 
 
 Lord Holland to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "St. James Square, 19th Jan., 1819. 
 
 "... I suspect that which you heard of the pay- 
 ment of cash at the bank will not be fulfilled this year, 
 tho' an impression has been made on the country by 
 the executions for forgery, and on the great body 
 of retail traders by the forgeries themselves.* . . . 
 Tierney moves on the subject on the ist of next Feby., 
 and so changed is the opinion on the subject since 
 you were among us, that it is selected, and wisely 
 selected, as the most popular question for Opposition 
 to begin with. The Annual Parliaments and Universal 
 Suffrage men are at a discount : Ministers worse than 
 ever, and the Whigs, tho' better than I have remem- 
 bered them for some years, far from being in a con- 
 dition to lead with any degree of certainty publick 
 
 * Between the suspension of cash payments by the Bank in 
 February, 1797, and February, 1818, three hundred and thirteen 
 persons were sentenced to death for forgery ; whereas during the 
 fourteen years, 1783-96, preceding such suspension the convictions had 
 only been three in number. During the six years, 1812-18, no less 
 than 131,361 notes, varying in value from ^i to ^20, were detected as 
 forgeries on presentation for payment. 
 
i8i9-2o.] LORD HOLLAND UPON THE SITUATION. 293 
 
 opinion and confidence, though I think they are, of 
 the three parties, that to which the publick just now 
 look most sanguinely for assistance in accomplishing 
 their object. What these objects are, it is difficult to 
 conjecture or define, and perhaps the very indistinct- 
 ness of them will lead the publick to be disappointed 
 with parties and men. But that there is great ex- 
 pectation that much can, ought and will be done in 
 Parliament is clear beyond doubt, and moreover that 
 expectation, if uncertain and even impracticable in its 
 direction, is grounded on causes that lie too deep to 
 be easily removed. . . . There is a wonderful change 
 in the feelings, opinions, condition, property and rela- 
 tive state of the classes in society. The House of 
 Commons hangs yet more loosely upon parties, and 
 certainly on the Ministerial party, than the last ; and 
 the Ministers, exclusive of many grounds of dissension 
 among themselves (which are suspected, but may not 
 be true),* are evidently aware and afraid of the dis- 
 positions of the new Parliament. The Lords and 
 Grooms of the Windsor establishment have received 
 notice to quit, and no notice of pensions. Some say 
 that they will muster an opposition to retrenchment 
 in the Lords, which may lead to a dispute between 
 the two Houses. Had they any spirit or talent as well 
 as ill-humour, our Ultra's might worry the Ministers 
 on this subject not a little ; for what is more profligate 
 than to resist all retrenchment at Windsor during 
 the Queen's life, and on her death to abandon the 
 establishment — so necessary, as they contended, to 
 his [the King's] happiness? . . . Brougham is very 
 accommodating, but not in such spirits as he was. He 
 feels (indeed who does not?) the loss of Romilly doubly 
 as the session approaches. . . . That mad fellow 
 Verbyst promised to send over the Bipontine edition 
 of Plato and L'Enfant's Council of Pisa. He received 
 144 franks for the first — so for the last. He wrote 
 to say that if he could not get the books, he would 
 
 * Here speaks the old politician, wary from experience. When 
 was there ever a Ministry about which rumours of internal dissension 
 were not circulated and eagerly believed ? In Lord Liverpool's Cabinet 
 the great question of Roman Catholic Emancipation continued to be 
 treated as an open one, and Ministers voted as they pleased. 
 
294 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 return the money : he has done neither. I should 
 prefer the books. Pray see him and make him do one 
 or other. . . ." 
 
 Lord Kinnaird [?] to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "London, no date [1819]. 
 
 ". . . Lord Lascelles' son has married Harriet 
 Wilson's sister : Lord Langford's — an old wretch of 
 the name of Aylmer, and there are some people who 
 express a dread that young Whitbread will marry a 
 woman who lives with him. Lord Byron's poem,* 
 which I brought to England, is returned to Venice. 
 Murray the Bookseller is afraid of printing it. Rogers's 
 Poem, entitled ' Human Life,' is favorably talked of 
 Poor man, he treats himself upon these occasions as 
 a woman does : he has shut himself up, and seems to 
 think it necessary not to go out till his month is up." 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P,, to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " 5, HiU St., no date [1819]. 
 
 "My dear C, 
 
 " You talk like an idiot — a Liverpolian — a con- 
 centric — a Pautriot (quid plura ?) in all you say about 
 the Jerseys. I appeal to Bennet who was present when 
 Lady Jersey said how delighted she would be to see 
 you at Middleton. But suppose I had said you would 
 go with me, and had written to her the day before — 
 that would have been quite sufficient. Rely upon me 
 — I am the last and shyest man in the world to do 
 these things at such places as Holland House, Chats- 
 worth, Croxteth, &c., but I am on a footing of friend- 
 ship with the Jerseys as intimate as if I were a 
 brother, and I know them thoroughly, and you may 
 trust me. But a cross accident has for the present 
 delayed it all. The D. of York goes there the i6th, 
 instead of the 6th (as he had said), so our party (Sefton, 
 
 * Don Jtian. 
 
i8i9-20.] DEATH OF GEORGE III. 295 
 
 Thanet, Ossy,* &c.) is put off. Then Sefton is engaged 
 to [illegible] on the 20th, and to Sir H. Featherstone 
 2Sth (pray mention this visit to him when you write) ; 
 therefore we talk of Middleton the end of Jany. or 
 beginning of Feby." 
 
 At the end of 1819 or beginning of 1820 Mr. Creevey 
 returned to England, after an absence, apparently con- 
 tinuous, of six years. In the interval he had lost his 
 seat for Thetford, and, by the death of his wife, his 
 income had fallen from a very comfortable figure to 
 extremely narrow dimensions. On 29th January the 
 long reign of George III. came to a close. The reign, 
 indeed, had ended ten years before, when the Regency 
 was proclaimed, and the old king had passed the rest 
 of his days in hopeless, but harmless, insanity, and 
 bereft of sight. When it became apparent that his 
 end was at hand, the party of the Princess of Wales 
 perceived necessity for her immediate return to 
 England, inasmuch as the life of the Regent seemed 
 not much better than that of his father. The Princess 
 had been wandering over Europe and the East, giving 
 rise to flagrant scandal by her irregular mode of life. 
 When her husband became King, his Government 
 offered her ;^5o,ooo a year to renounce her title of 
 Queen and live abroad ; but, acting under the advice 
 of Brougham, she declined this, returned to London, 
 and the consequence was the trial for divorce which 
 occupied so much of Creevey's time and corre- 
 spondence during the year. Meanwhile he paid 
 a visit under Brougham's auspices to Lady Jersey 
 at Middleton. From this time forward, his second 
 step-daughter. Miss Elizabeth Ord — " Bessy " and 
 " Barry " of a thousand letters — became his constant 
 
 correspondent. 
 
 * Lord Ossulston. 
 
296 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 " Middleton [Lord Jersey's], Jan. 21, 1820. 
 
 "... We got to Cashiobury [Lord Essex's] at 
 \ past five on Wednesday, too late to see the outside 
 of the house, and were shown into a most comfortable 
 library — a beautiful room 50 feet in length, full of 
 books and every comfort. . . . We passed a most 
 agreeable evening. I did not see the flower garden, 
 which is the great lion of the place. Brougham and I 
 had a most agreeable drive here, not the less so to me 
 from the extraordinary friendliness of him. . . . We 
 arrived here yesterday at five. We found only Lord 
 Foley and Berkeley Craven, and they are gone this 
 morning, so we compose only a quartette. The house 
 is immensely large, apparently, for I have not seen it 
 all, and cannot get out for the immense fall of snow 
 during the night. . . ." 
 
 " 23rd January. 
 ". . . Shall I tell yoi> what Lady Jersey is like ? 
 She is like one of her numerous gold and silver musical 
 dickey birds, that are in all the shew rooms of this 
 house. She begins to sing at eleven o'clock, and, with 
 the interval of the hour she retires to her cage to rest, 
 she sings till 12 at night without a moment's interrup- 
 tion. She changes her feathers for dinner, and her 
 plumage both morng. and eveng. is the happiest and 
 most beautiful I ever saw. Of the merits of her songs 
 I say nothing till we meet. In the meantime I will 
 say that I presume we are getting on, for this morning 
 her ladyship condescended to give me two fingers to 
 shake, and last night asked me twice to give her my 
 verses on the Duke of Northumberland, as she had 
 mislaid and could not find the copy Gertrude Bennet 
 had given her. ..." 
 
 " Liverpool, Jan. 30. 
 ". . . What think you of the accounts of the King? 
 He is, I apprehend, rapidly approaching to his death — 
 and then for the Queen and BrufFam ! I did not tell 
 you the other day, he has now in his possession the 
 proper instrument signed by herself, appointing him 
 

 rioyn.aJ.jM^iw.£-- 
 
I8I9-20.] QUEEN CAROLINE REAPPEARS. 297 
 
 her Attorney-General. The moment she is Queen — 
 that is, the moment the breath is out of the King's 
 body — this gives Bruffam instant rank in his profession, 
 such as silk gown, precedence, &c., &c., in defiance of 
 King, Chancellor and all the world, besides its im- 
 portance in the public eye." 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Hill St., 5th Feb. 
 
 "Dear C, 
 
 " Your advice has been followed by anticipa- 
 tion (to speak Irish); at this moment my courier is 
 within a couple of days' journey of the Queen. He 
 was despatched on Sunday, for I had early notice 
 from the D. of Sussex * coming to my bedside at 2 in 
 the morning. The courier (Sicard) was with me by 
 7, and after some delay for a passport from the P. 
 Minister, he was off. He took my appointment and 
 Denman's as Atty. and Solr. General, as I did not like 
 to use the blank one I have with me. He also took a 
 letter from me, giving her no choice, but commanding 
 her instantly to set out by land, and be at Brussells or 
 Paris or Calais immediately. Then she will demand 
 a yatch. 
 
 "Now — the young Kingf has been as near death 
 as any man but poor Kent ever was before — 150 oz. 
 of blood let have saved his precious life. I never 
 prayed so heartily for a Prince before. If he had 
 gone, all the troubles of these villains % went with 
 him, and they had Fred. I. § their own man for his life 
 — i.e. a shady Tory-professional King, who would have 
 done a job or two for Lauderdale, smiled on Lady 
 JTersey], been civil at Holland House, and shot Tom 
 Coke's II legs and birds, without ever deviating right 
 hand or left, or giving them,ir politically, the least 
 
 * About the King's danger. 
 
 t Young, not in years, but in reign. It was just a week since the 
 accession. 
 
 X Ministers. 
 
 § The Duke of York. 
 
 II Of Holkham, created Earl of Leicester in 1837. 
 
 IT Ministers. 
 
298 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 annoyance. This King they will have too, for the 
 present man can't long survive. He (Fred. I.) won't 
 live long either ; * that Prince of Blackguards ' Brother 
 William ' is as bad a hfe,t so we come in the course 
 of nature to be assassinated by King Ernest I. or 
 Regent Ernest. % 
 
 " Meanwhile, the change of name which Mrs. P. § 
 has undergone has had a wondrous effect on publick 
 feeling. She is extremely popular. . . . The cry at the 
 Proclamation was God save the Queen ! but Perry 
 durst not put it in his paper, tho' with the respect- 
 ability which belongs to Mackintosh's gent of the 
 Daily Press. He told me all this in private. 
 
 " The rage of the new monarch against Leach and 
 Eldon and Co. exceeds all bounds. He finds he has 
 now a Queen in possession to [illegible], she having 
 70 places (some of them very fat ones) to give away. 
 I think of making her replace or offer to replace all 
 the old Queen's pensioned household, to save salaries, 
 and stop the mouths of a few courtiers, who will soon 
 find out that she has every virtue. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " H. B." 
 
 The demise of the Monarch rendered necessary, 
 according to the constitutional law of those days, a 
 dissolution of Parliament, and this was accordingly 
 efi"ected by Royal Proclamation on 29th February. 
 Mr. Creevey was returned for the borough of 
 Appleby, by favour of his friend the Earl of Thanet. 
 Mr. Wilbraham, writing to Lord Colchester, the 
 former Speaker, observed : " I see no material change 
 in your old dominions, the House of Commons, which 
 is constituted of much the same materials as the last, 
 with the addition of Creevey, who has become a great 
 orator in his old age." 
 
 * He died in 1827. 
 
 t The Duke of Clarence [William IV.]. 
 
 X The Duke of Cumberland. 
 
 § The Princess of Wales, who had become Queen Caroline. 
 
i8i9-20.] DISSENSION IN THE OPPOSITION. 299 
 
 The profit which " the Mountain " had been wait- 
 ing so long and impatiently to derive from the return 
 of Queen Caroline turned to ashes in their hands. 
 Popular sympathy, indeed, was vehemently — danger- 
 ously — in her favour, and the name of George IV. had 
 only to be mentioned to create a hostile manifestation. 
 So far so good, from the Mountain's point of view ; 
 but, on the other hand, the question thus revived only 
 made more manifest the schism in the Opposition. 
 Lord Grey and the Old Whigs shrank from espousing 
 the cause of the Queen, which, however just it might 
 be, was in truth exceedingly humiliating and even un- 
 savoury. Holland House held aloof from the move- 
 ment, and there appears in consequence a marked 
 change in the references by Creevey and his friends 
 to that great Whig rendezvous and its inmates. 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 " Liverpool, 24th July. 
 
 ". . . As for the wretched dirt and meanness of 
 Holland House, it makes me perfectly sick. I have 
 had the same story from Brougham some months 
 back, who was then himself a competitor with 
 Mackintosh for an epitaph upon poor Fox's tomb- 
 stone. He repeated to me the thing got up by 
 Mackintosh, which was fifty thousand times inferior 
 to the lowest ballad in favor of the Queen. But 
 Holland House has quite made up its mind that the 
 two great and brilliant features of Fox's publick life 
 (his resistance to the war upon America and the 
 glorious fight which he made single-handed against 
 helping the Bourbons to trample on the French 
 nation) shall never have the sanction of either my 
 lady or Mackintosh to appear in his history, and 
 all this, least it might interfere with any arrange- 
 ment. This is the true history of this despicable 
 twaddling. ..." 
 
300 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 The Earl of Sefton to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 ". . . Have you heard of the competition about 
 the inscription for Fox's monument? Nothing can 
 be more ridiculous than the intrigues about it at 
 Holland House. Mackintosh's was preferred there 
 to Grey's, tho' by all accounts it was great trash and 
 Grey's very good. Lady H. found fault with the 
 latter, and it was agreed that Mrs. Fox's opinion 
 should be asked. She answered in Ly. H.'s words, 
 and showed plainly she had been prepared with a 
 reply. The end is, the monument is to be without 
 any inscription but C. J. Fox. Can you conceive, 
 in times like these, such stuff being made of im- 
 portance?" 
 
 In regard to the proceedings of and against Queen 
 Caroline, which formed the chief topic of public 
 interest and gossip after the elections were decided, 
 there is a vast amount of correspondence among Mr. 
 Creevey's papers. He seems to have mistrusted 
 Brougham throughout, who, of course, can be easily 
 perceived, at this distance of time, to have behaved 
 with the utmost cynicism, and to have treated the 
 Queen and her cause as so much capital, to be turned 
 to profit for his party, and, above all, for himself 
 Creevey seems to have been swayed alternately by 
 indignation at Brougham's insincerity and admiration 
 for his sagacity and rhetoric. 
 
 The facts of the case are matters of well-known 
 history. It is only expedient to recapitulate the chief 
 stages in the melancholy story, and to extract from 
 Creevey's daily letters during the trial those passages 
 which bring the tragic scene most vividly before the 
 reader. 
 
 The reports of the Princess of Wales's proceedings 
 
I8I9-20.] DOES BROUGHAM RUN STRAIGHT? 301 
 
 in the south of Europe, notably of the familiar terms 
 to which she habitually admitted a male servant 
 named Bergami, had become so persistent and specific 
 that they could no longer be disregarded. So, at 
 least, thought the Prince Regent and his Ministers. 
 Accordingly in 1818 a commission was appointed and 
 sent into Germany and Italy to collect such evidence 
 as might afford ground for a divorce. The matter 
 was of the greater gravity inasmuch as infidelity on 
 the part of the Queen Consort or wife of the Heir 
 Apparent constituted high treason and was punish- 
 able by death. 
 
 In June, 1819, Brougham made a proposal to Lord 
 Liverpool on behalf, but without the knowledge, of 
 the Princess of Wales, binding her to reside per- 
 manently abroad and never to assume the rank and 
 title of Queen of England, on condition that her 
 allowance of ;^35,ooo a year should be secured to her 
 for life, instead of terminating with the demise of the 
 Crown. Lord Liverpool replied that there would be 
 no unwillingness to treat on these terms, if her Royal 
 Highness gave her approval to them. Needless to 
 say that such a proposal, coming from the Princess's 
 principal legal adviser at such a time, or, indeed, at 
 any time, was considered tantamount to an acknow- 
 ledgment of her guilt, or, at least, want of confidence 
 in her defence. 
 
 In September of that year Brougham desired the 
 Princess to meet him at Lyons, but although she 
 went there and waited for him several weeks, he 
 never took the trouble to keep the appointment, and 
 . no consultation took place between them upon the 
 negotiation with Lord Liverpool. 
 
 On the accession of George IV. Caroline became 
 
302 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 de facto Queen of England. The King pressed 
 vehemently that she should be brought to trial ; his 
 Ministers shrank from the obloquy which would fall 
 upon the Crown whatever might be the result of 
 such a trial. The King exercised his prerogative in 
 forbidding the Queen's name to be printed in the 
 Liturgy, and that she should be named in the public 
 prayers of the Established Churches. 
 
 On 15th April Lord Liverpool communicated to 
 Brougham an offer identical with Brougham's of the 
 previous year, except that the allowance to be paid 
 was increased from .£'35,000 to ;£'5o,ooo a year. One 
 of the least defensible points in Brougham's conduct 
 in regard to this case was that he neither communi- 
 cated this proposal to Queen Caroline, nor, on the 
 other hand, informed the Cabinet that it had not been 
 made known to her Majesty. 
 
 In March Queen Caroline published a manifesto 
 in the newspapers, setting forth some of her griev- 
 ances ; in May she began to travel north, and invited 
 Brougham to meet her, which he did, accompanied 
 by Lord Hutchinson, at Saint Omer, on 3rd June. 
 Brougham made known to the Queen that Hutchinson 
 was charged with certain proposals on her behalf 
 from the Government, namely, the terms which 
 Brougham ought to have made known to her long 
 before. These terms having been submitted to her 
 Majesty, she emphatically refused them, acting under 
 Brougham's advice. 
 
 Leaving Brougham at Saint Omer, the Queen, 
 accompanied by Alderman Wood and his son. Lady 
 Anne Hamilton, and a person named Austin, sailed 
 from Calais, and landed at Dover on 6th June. She 
 was received by a royal salute from the garrison, and 
 
i8i9-20.] THE QUESTION OF THE LITURGY. 303 
 
 travelled to London in a kind of triumphal procession, 
 arriving there the following day. The mob were 
 vehemently in her favour ; all houses were illuminated 
 — some from sympathy, many out of fear that the 
 windows would be smashed in, and the most crying 
 scandal of the nineteenth century was well under 
 way. Lord Liverpool brought a message to the 
 House of Lords from the King, announcing that his 
 Majesty " thinks it necessary, in consequence of the 
 arrival of the Queen, to communicate to the House of 
 Lords certain papers respecting the conduct of her 
 Majesty since her departure from this Kingdom, 
 which he recommends to the immediate and serious 
 attention of the House." A similar message was 
 communicated to the House of Commons by Lord 
 Castlereagh. Negotiations with the Queen were 
 opened in order to induce her to leave the country 
 quietly. Lords Fitzwilliam and Sefton being appointed 
 to act for her Majesty, the Duke of Wellington and 
 Lord Castlereagh for the King's Government. This 
 stamped the proceedings emphatically as a party 
 contest, and this character was further emphasised 
 later by the substitution of Messrs. Brougham and 
 Denman, Attorney-General and Solicitor-General to 
 the Queen, for the two Whig Lords. 
 
 After five days' conference, the negotiations broke 
 down upon the question of restoring to the Liturgy 
 the name of " our most gracious Queen Caroline." 
 Upon that point King George was inflexible. When 
 Brougham insisted upon it, " You might as easily 
 move Carlton House," said Castlereagh. The fer- 
 ment out-of-doors was mounting and spreading. 
 Meetings were got up all over the country to protest 
 against the persecution of the Queen. There was no 
 
304 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 regular police force in London at this time";* the 
 Guards were relied upon for maintaining public 
 order, but the Guards had shown strong partiality 
 for the Queen against the Government, and one 
 battalion was in actual mutiny. On 19th June a 
 debate arose in the House of Commons upon the 
 King's refusal to restore his Consort's name to the 
 Liturgy, in the course of which Denman used words 
 which found an echo in millions of hearts throughout 
 the realm. It had been urged from the Treasury 
 Bench that even though the Queen was not mentioned 
 by name in the Liturgy, she might be held as included 
 in the general prayer for the royal family. " If her 
 Majesty," retorted Denman, "is included in any 
 general prayer, it is in the prayer for all who are 
 desolate and oppressed." 
 
 On 5th July Lord Liverpool introduced in the 
 Lords a Bill " to deprive her Majesty Queen Caroline 
 Amelia Elizabeth of the title, prerogative rights, 
 privileges and exemptions of Queen Consort of this 
 realm, and to dissolve the marriage between his 
 Majesty and the said Caroline Amelia Elizabeth." 
 
 The second reading was taken in the Lords on 
 17th August, and showed a singular combination of 
 judicial and parliamentary procedure, evidence being 
 taken for prosecution and defence, and the verdict 
 given in the division on the second reading, which 
 did not take place till November, when it was carried 
 by 123 votes to 95. 
 
 In Mr. Creevey's daily letters to Miss Ord, from 
 which a number of extracts follow, will be found some 
 curious personal impressions of the painful scene. 
 
 * The origin of the present pohce force may be traced in a memo- 
 random by the Duke of Wellington upon the situation at this time 
 [Civil Despatches, \. 128]. 
 
i8i9-20.] OPINION AT KNOWSLEY. 305 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 " Knowsley, 7th August, 1820. 
 
 ". . . I came here on Saturday. I like Lady Mary* 
 
 better every time I see her. You know what a d d 
 
 ramshackle of a library they have here, so I was 
 complaining at breakfast this morning that they had 
 no State Trials in the house ; upon which Lady Mary 
 said she was sure she could find some, and accord- 
 ingly flew from her breakfast and came back in 
 triumph at having found them for me. Upon the 
 subject of the Queen, my lord and my lady are both 
 substantially right, i.e., in thinking there is not a pin to 
 chuse between them, and that the latter has been 
 always ill-used, and that nobody but the King could 
 get redress in such a case against his wife. Little 
 Derby goes further than the Countess, when she is 
 not by ; but she thinks it proper to deprecate all 
 violence, and says, tho' Bennet and I are excellent 
 men, and she likes us both extremely, still, that we 
 are like Dives, and that Lazarus ought to come 
 occasionally and cool our tongues. Is not this the 
 image of her ? " 
 
 "Liverpool, 12th August. 
 
 "I left Knowsley yesterday. Lord Derby has 
 received a letter from Lord Roslyn, telling him there 
 had been a devil of a blow up between the King and 
 Duke of York. The latter wanted to absent himself 
 from the approaching trial of the Queen ; I presume 
 from feelings of delicacy in his situation as having 
 lost his wife.t The King, however, was furious, and 
 has commanded the Duke to be present on Thursday. 
 ... I cannot resist the curiosity of seeing a Queen 
 tried. From the House of Lords or from Brooks's 
 you shall have a daily account of what passes." 
 
 " London, 1 6th August. 
 "... I am just come from Lord Sefton. 1 learn 
 from him that Lord Spencer has had an interview 
 with Lord Liverpool, the object of it being friendly 
 
 * Lady Mary Stanley, married the 2nd Earl ofWilton in 1821. 
 t The Duchess of York died on 6th August, 1820. 
 
 VOL. I. X 
 
3o6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 on the part of Lord Spencer, at the same time to 
 implore Liverpool to pause, and to retract indeed, 
 before this terrible work was entered upon. Liver- 
 
 Eool was friendly in return, and quite unreserved. . . . 
 ord Spencer was decidedly of opinion that the very 
 openness of the Queen's conduct carried with it her 
 acquittal from the supposed crime. This is most 
 curious from such a solemn chap as old Spencer. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, August i6th. 
 
 "... This is very convenient. There is not only 
 the usual admission for the House of Commons upon 
 the [steps of] the Throne,* but pen, ink and paper for 
 our accommodation in the long gallery. There is a 
 fine chair for the Queen within the bar, to be near her 
 counsel and the two galleries. This makes all the 
 difference. Two hundred and fifty peers are to 
 attend, 60 being excused from age, infirmities, being 
 abroad or professing the Catholic faith. 
 
 " Wilberforce told Bennet that the act of his life 
 which he most reproached himself with was not 
 having moved to restore the Queen to the Liturgy, 
 and he was sure this was the only course. Grey says 
 the Queen ought to be sent to the Tower for her 
 letter to the King. 
 
 " Here is Castlereagh, smiling as usual, though I 
 think awkwardly. . . . Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt has just 
 been here and tho' in his official dress as Black Rod, 
 was most communicative. He says the Government 
 is stark, staring mad ; that they want to prevent his 
 receiving the Queen to-morrow at the door as Queen, 
 but that he will. ..." 
 
 "17th August. 
 
 ". . . Near the House of Lords there is a fence of 
 railing put across the street from the Exchequer 
 cofi'ee-house to the enclosed garden ground joining to 
 St. Margaret's churchyard, through which members 
 of both Houses were alone permitted to pass. A 
 minute after I passed, I heard an uproar, with hissing 
 
 * In the present House of Lords admission to the steps of the 
 throne is restricted to Privy Councillors and sons of Peers ; accom- 
 modation being provided elsewhere for the Commons. 
 
i8i9-2o.] OPENING OF THE TRIAL. 307 
 
 and shouting. On turning round 1 saw it was Wel- 
 lington on horseback. His horse made a little start, 
 and he looked round with some surprise. He caught 
 my eye as he passed, and nodded, but was evidently 
 annoyed. 
 
 " I got easily into the Lords and to a place within 
 two yards of the chair placed for the Queen, on the 
 right hand of the throne, close to its steps. They 
 proceeded to call over the House and to receive 
 excuses from absent peers. As the operation was 
 going on, people came in who said the Queen was on 
 her way and as far as Charing Cross. Two minutes 
 after, the shouts of the populace announced her near 
 approach, and some minutes after, two folding doors 
 within a few feet of me were suddenly thrown open, 
 and in entered her Majesty. To describe to you her 
 appearance and manner is far beyond my powers. I 
 had been taught to believe she was as much improved 
 in looks as in dignity of manners ; it is therefore with 
 much pain I am obliged to observe that the nearest 
 resemblance I can recollect to this much-injured 
 Princess is a toy which you used to call Fanny 
 Royds.* There is another toy of a rabbit or a cat, 
 whose tail you squeeze under its body, and then out 
 it jumps in half a minute off the ground into the air. 
 The first of these toys you must suppose to represent 
 the person of the Queen ; the latter the manner by 
 which she popped all at once into the House, made a 
 duck at the throne, another to the Peers, and a con- 
 cluding jump into the chair which was placed for her. 
 Her dress was black figured gauze, with a good deal 
 of trimming, lace, &c. : her sleeves white, and per- 
 fectly episcopal ; a handsome white veil, so thick as 
 to make it very difficult to me, who was as near to 
 her as any one, to see her face ; such a back for 
 variety and inequality of ground as you never beheld ; 
 with a few straggling ringlets on her neck, which I 
 flatter myself from their appearance were not her 
 Majesty's own property. 
 
 "She squatted into her chair with such a grace that 
 the gown is at this moment hanging over every part 
 
 * A Dutch toy with a round bottom, weighted with lead, so that it 
 always jumps erect in whatever position it is laid. 
 
308 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 of it — both back and elbows. . . . When the Queen 
 entered, the Lords (Bishops and all) rose, and then 
 they fell to calling over the House again and receiving 
 excuses. When the Duke of Sussex's name was called, 
 the Chancellor read his letter, begging to be excused 
 on the ground of consanguinity ; upon which the Duke 
 of York rose, and in a very marked and angry tone 
 said : — '/ have much stronger ground for asking leave 
 of absence than the Duke of Sussex, and yet I should 
 be ashamed not to be present to do my duty ! ' This 
 indiscreet observation (to say no worse of it) was by 
 no means well received or well thought of, and when 
 the question was put 'that the Duke of Sussex be 
 excused upon his letter,' the House granted it with 
 scarce a dissentient voice. Pretty well, this, for the 
 Duke of York's observation! 
 
 "Well — this finished, and the order read 'that the 
 House do proceed with the Bill,' the Duke of Leinster 
 rose and said in a purely Irish tone that, without 
 making any elaborate speech, and for the purpose of 
 bringing this business to a conclusion, he should move 
 that this order be now rescinded. Without a word 
 from any one on this subject the House divided, we 
 members of the Commons House remaining. There 
 were 41 for Leinster and 206 (including 17 Bishops) 
 against him ; but, what was more remarkable, there 
 were 20 at least of our Peers who voted against the 
 Duke of Leinster — as Grey, Lansdowne, Derby, Fitz- 
 william, Spencer, Erskine, Grafton, de' Clifford, Dar- 
 lington, Yarborough, &c. Lord Kenyon and Lord 
 Stanhope were the only persons who struck me in 
 the Opposition as new. The Duke of Gloucester 
 would not vote, notwithstanding cousin York's obser- 
 vations. Holland, the Duke of Bedford, old Fortescue, 
 Thanet, &c., were of course in the minority. . . . This 
 division being over, Carnarvon objected in a capital 
 speech to any further proceeding, and was more 
 cheered than is usual with the Lords ; but no doubt 
 it was from our 40 friends. Then came Grey and I 
 think he made as weak a speech as ever I heard : so 
 thought Brougham and Denman who were by me. 
 He wanted the opinion of the Judges upon the statute 
 of Edward HI. as to a Queen's treason, and after 
 speeches from Eldon, Liverpool and Lansdowne, 
 
i8i9-20.] PROCEEDINGS IN THE LORDS. 309 
 
 Grey's motion is acceded to, and the Judges are now 
 out preparing their opinion, and all is at a stand. 
 
 " I forgot to say Lady Ann Hamilton * waits behind 
 the Queen, and that, for effect and delicacy's sake, she 
 leans on brother Archy's t arm, tho' she is full six feet 
 high, and bears a striking resemblance to one of Lord 
 Derby's great red deer. Keppel Craven and Sir William 
 Gell likewise stand behind the Queen in full dress. . . . 
 Lord John Russell t is writing on my right hand, and 
 Sir Hussey Vivian § on my left. I have just read over 
 my account of the Queen to the latter, and he deposes 
 to its perfect truth. 
 
 " I have just given this lad. Lord John, such a fire 
 for his buttering of Wilberforce || that he had more 
 blood in his little white face than I ever saw before ; 
 but all the Russells are excellent, and in my opinion 
 there is nothing in the aristocracy to be compared with 
 this family." 
 
 " Four o'clock. 
 "Well, the Judges returned, as one knew they 
 would, saying there was no statute-law or law of the 
 land touching the Queen's case. Then counsel were 
 called in ; upon which the Duke of Hamilton, in a 
 most excellent manner, ask'd Mr. Attorney General 
 for whom he appeared, or by whose instructions. A 
 more gravelling question could not well be put, as 
 appeared by Mr. Attorney's manner. He shifted and 
 shuffled about, and Liverpool helped, and Lord Bel- 
 haven ended the conversation by declaring his utter 
 ignorance of the prosecution — whether it was by the 
 Crown, the Ministers, or the House of Lords. . . . 
 There are great crowds of people about the House, 
 and all the way up Parliament Street. The Guards, 
 both horse and foot, are there too in great numbers, 
 but I saw nothing except good humour on all sides. 
 
 * Second daughter of the 9th Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 t Lord Archibald Hamilton, M.P., second son of the 9th Duke of 
 Hamilton. 
 
 X Afterwards Prime Minister ; created Earl Russell in 1861. 
 
 § Commanded the Light Cavalry Brigade at Waterloo ; created a 
 baronet in 1828, and Lord Vivian in 1841. 
 
 11 Lord John had written to Wilberforce upon the Queen's trial, 
 complimenting him incidentally upon his talents. 
 
3IO THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 The Civil Power has regained the Pass of Killiecranky * 
 again, but it is fought for every time a carriage 
 passes. . . ." 
 
 "Brooks's, 5 o'clock. 
 "Brougham in his speech has fired a body blow 
 into the Duke of York on Mrs. Clark's affair, which 
 has given great offence." 
 
 "York St., 1 8th Aug. 
 
 ". . . Brougham's speech (the last hour of which 
 I did not hear) is allowed on all hands to have been 
 excellent. We had a full Brooks's last night, and much 
 jaw ; Grey affable, quite sure the bill will be knocked 
 up sooner or later, and offering to take [? lay] ten to 
 one it will disappear, even in the Lords, before Satur- 
 day fortnight. He knows the cursed folly he committed 
 yesterday in forsaking the Duke of Leinster. . . . 
 Western is first rate in his decision that it won't do, 
 and that Grey never can shew his face as a public man 
 again. ..." 
 
 " House of Lords, 12 o'clock. 
 
 ". . . Denman is speaking as well as possible, tho' 
 I am all against his introducing jokes, which he has 
 been doing somewhat too much. I was much aston- 
 ished at their lordships being so much and so univer- 
 sally tickled as they were by some of his stories. 
 Denman, holding the bill in his hand, said : — ' Levity 
 of manner is one of its charges. Why this charge 
 applies to all Royal people : they are all good- 
 tempered and playful.' Then he gave a conversation 
 which took place between his present Majesty and 
 Sam Spring, the waiter at the Cocoa Tree, where 
 Sam cracked his jokes and was very familiar with 
 the Prince ; upon which the latter said : — ' This is 
 all very well between you and me, Sam, but beware 
 of being equally familiar with Norfolk and Abercorn.' 
 All the Lords recognised the story and snorted out 
 hugely — Bishops and all. 
 
 " I thought the Lords rose to receive the Queen 
 with a better grace to-day than yesterday. Everything 
 respecting her coming to the House is now as perfect 
 as possible. She has a most superb and beautiful 
 
 _ * The barrier described on p. 306. 
 
i8i9-2o.] THE CASE FOR THE CROWN. 31I 
 
 coach with six horses — the coachman driving in a cap, 
 like the old king's coachman ; and a good coach of her 
 own behind for Craven and Cell. . . ." 
 
 " Brooks's, 5 o'clock. 
 ". . . Nothing can be more triumphant for the Queen 
 than this day altogether. . . . The truth is the Law 
 Officers of the Crown are damnably overweighted by 
 Brougham and Denman. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, 19th August. 
 ". . . The Queen is not here to-day ; and she does 
 not mean to come, I believe, till Tuesday. I am rather 
 sorry for this, because there was so very great, and 
 so well-dressed, a population in the street to see her 
 to-day. Where the devil they all come from, 1 can't 
 possibly imagine, but I think the country about Lon- 
 don must furnish a great part. It is prodigiously 
 encreased since the first day. . . . Now Mr. Attorney 
 General has at last begun by opening his case against 
 the Queen, and I have heard just one hour of him, and 
 then left it. Now her danger begins, and I am quite 
 unable to conjecture the degree of damage she will 
 sustain from the publication of this opening. I say 
 degree, because of course it is quite impossible that a 
 very great effect should not be produced upon the 
 better orders of people by the production of this 
 cursed, disgusting narrative, however overstated it 
 may eventually prove to be, and however short (if all 
 strictly true) it may fall of the actual crime charged by 
 the Bill." 
 
 " Brooks's, 22nd Aug., \ past 4. 
 ". . . Upon the whole, I hope things are looking 
 better for us to-day. The people in the streets were 
 numerous, but not so much so as formerly, nor was 
 their quality so good. Yesterday's evidence had cer- 
 tainly shook her friends— always excepting Lady 
 Gwydyr * and her family at their house at Whitehall. 
 I stood on Lord Melbourne's steps to see the Queen 
 pass, and the Down Gwydyr {alias Eresby; with all 
 
 * The Dowager Lady Gwydyr was Lady Willoughby d'Eresby and 
 joint Great Chamberlain in her own right, 
 
312 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 her family black as sloes, with weepers, windows 
 open, &c., all bowed at once again and again, with an 
 awe and devotion as if they had been good Catholicks 
 and the Queen the Virgin Mary. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, 25th Aug., i o'clock. 
 
 " Our matters, so far in the day, stand much better 
 than they did at the close of yesterday. The two 
 captains, Pechell and Briggs, have been called, and so 
 far from proving anything against the Queen, they 
 have distinctly sworn there was not the slightest 
 impropriety in the conduct of the Queen during the 
 period she was on board their ships. The fact of 
 Bergami having come the first time as servant, and 
 afterwards sitting at table on board one of these ships, 
 was of course proved ; but everybody knew it before, 
 and it does not signify a damn. . . . 
 
 " The discovery of this day, viz. that Capts. Briggs 
 and Pechell were to be the only English witnesses 
 produced against the Queen, was most agreeable and 
 unexpected to me, because of a conversation which 
 had passed between the Duke of Wellington and 
 myself on the subject. The night after I made my 
 speech in the House of Commons in support of Genl. 
 Ferguson's motion for the production of the Milan 
 commission, I saw the Duke at the Argyle Rooms, 
 who, with his usual frankness, came up to me and 
 said : — ' Well, Creevey ; so you gave us a blast last 
 night. Have you seen Leach since?' Then we 
 talked about the approaching trial with the most 
 perfect freedom, and upon my saying their foreign 
 evidence would find very few believers in this 
 country, he said : — ' Ho ! but we have a great many 
 English witnesses — officers ; ' and this, I confess, was 
 the thing that always frightened me the most. ... I 
 sat between Grey and Sir Robert Wilson * at Sefton's 
 
 * General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson [i 777-1 849], commonly 
 known as " Jaffa Wilson," owing to the charges made against Napoleon 
 of cruelty to his prisoners at Jaffa in Wilson's History of the British 
 Expedition to Egypt. Having warmly espoused the cause of Queen 
 Caroline, he was present at the riot in Hyde Park on the occasion of 
 Her Majesty's funeral. Although he was endeavouring to prevent a 
 
i8i9-20.] UNFAVOURABLE EVIDENCE. 313 
 
 yesterday, and two greater fools I never saw in all 
 my life. The former, in consequence of the day's 
 evidence being unfavourable to the Queen, was a 
 rigid lover of justice : he did not care a damn about 
 the cause : he was come up to do his duty, and should 
 act accordingly. Wilson, on the other hand, was 
 perfectly certain the Bill would never pass the House 
 of Lords, and that, if it did, it must take at least two 
 years in the Commons. Tierney was more guarded 
 in his opinion. He said he had got something in 
 his head somehow or other that the Bill would 
 never come to us in the House of Commons. So 
 much for the chiefs in the Whig camp.* Thanet 
 and I agreed afterwards as to their insanity. I dine 
 with him and Cowper at Brooks's to-day, and to- 
 morrow at the house of the latter to meet the Derbys, 
 &c. Western is gone to Fornham [the Duke of 
 Norfolk's] to-day. The Duke asked me to come with 
 him." 
 
 " Brooks's, 2 o'clock, 26tli August. 
 
 " I am just returned from the Lords, and their 
 lordships have hampered themselves as with one of 
 their own absurdities, that they have adjourned till 
 Monday to consider how they are to get out of it. . . . 
 I am at this moment the centre of at least a dozen 
 lords. You may suppose it is a scrape when Wicked- 
 shifts Grey is at this moment grinning from ear to 
 ear, and telling me he sees no way out of it but by 
 the Lords adjourning the second reading of the bill 
 for six months. Old Fitzwilliam tells me he thinks 
 little of the chambermaid's evidence ; and, as to that, 
 both Grey and King think much less of it than I do. 
 Certain it is that Mr. Attorney's perfect incompetence 
 to manage a case like this, added to the villainy of 
 the Court, gives considerable — indeed a very great — 
 advantage to the case of this eternal fool, to call her 
 [the Queen] by no worse a name. . . ." 
 
 collision between the Horse Guards and the mob, and despite a long 
 record of gallant service in the field, Wilson was dismissed the army 
 in 1 82 1, but was reinstated on the accession of William IV. 
 
 * Nevertheless the chiefs were right — Grey in his resolution to give 
 his verdict according to the evidence, Tierney in predicting that the 
 Bill would never reach the Commons. 
 
314 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 " House of Lords, 3 o'clock, 28th August. 
 
 "... I met Lady Charlotte Greville in the street 
 yesterday, and walked a little with her, when I found 
 h.tv fury against Brougham to be perfectly unbounded. 
 I told her her state of mind was everything I could 
 wish, and so I left her. There is a report about, said 
 to rest on good authority, that the King sent for the 
 Duke of York yesterday, and that he wants to go to 
 Hanover,* leaving the Duke Regent. 
 
 " House of Lords, 29th August, 5 o'clock. 
 " Here's a capital scene such as I never saw before. 
 Always keep in mind the point in discussion — viz. 
 whether Brougham should have a little cross-exami- 
 nation now, and an unlimited one hereafter. This 
 was conceded to him early on Saturday — refused 
 yesterday, and to-day Harrowby begins by moving 
 that, under the peculiar circumstances. Brougham 
 shall have an unlimited cross-examination both now 
 and hereafter. This motion was opposed by Lord 
 Eldon, and a division has just taken place, when 
 Harrowby's motion was carried by 121 to 106. The 
 three law lords — Eldon, Redesdale, and Manners — the 
 two Royal Dukes — York and Clarence — and all the 
 King's friends were in the minority, and Sidmouth 
 was the only other member of the Cabinet besides 
 Eldon who voted against Harrowby's motion. Our 
 people of course voted with Harrowby. Was there 
 ever such a state of things?. . ." 
 
 "House of Lords,'2 o'clock, ist Sept., 1820. 
 The chienne Demont t turns out everything one 
 could wish on her cross-examination. Her letters 
 have been produced written to her sister living still 
 in the Queen's service. . . . They contain every kind 
 of panegyric upon the Queen, and she often writes of 
 a journal or diary she has kept of everything that has 
 occurred during the whole of her service and travels 
 
 * George IV. was hereditary sovereign of Hanover as well as of 
 Great Britain and Ireland. 
 
 t Former femme-de-chambre to the Princess of Wales (Queen 
 Caroline), an important witness for the prosecution. 
 
i8i9-20.] LOUISE DEMONT. 3IS 
 
 with the Queen ; the object of such journal being, as 
 she says, to do the Queen justice, and to show how 
 she was received, applauded, cherished, wherever she 
 went. At length she writes — 'Judge of my astonish- 
 ment at an event that happened to me the other day. 
 A person called upon me at Lausanne, and said he 
 wished to speak to me alone. I brought him up into 
 my chamber : he gave me a letter : I broke the seal. 
 It was a request that I would come immediately to 
 England under the pretext of being a governess : that 
 I should have the first protection : that it would make 
 my fortune. True it is, there was no signature to the 
 letter, but as a proof of its validity I had an imme- 
 diate credit given me on a banker.' The Attorney- 
 General here objected to this evidence. . . ." 
 
 "1 past 3. 
 
 " The House put a question to the Judges whether 
 these letters could be read in evidence, and they 
 decided they could not unless Demont admitted them 
 to be her handwriting. They have just been put 
 into her hands, and she has admitted them all to be 
 hers. ..." 
 
 " 5 o'clock. 
 
 " Adjourned ... a most infernally damaging day 
 for the prosecution. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, 2 o'clock, 2nd Sept. 
 "The chienne Demont is still under her cross- 
 examination, and is, if possible, fifty times nearer the 
 devil to-day than she was yesterday. ... I have told 
 you, I believe, that the Bishops won't support the 
 Divorce part of the Bill, and that in consequence it is 
 to be withdrawn ; so that the title of the Bill ought 
 
 to be — ' A Bill to declare the Queen a w , and to 
 
 settle her upon the King for life, because from his 
 own conduct he is not entitled to a divorce.' " 
 
 " House of Lords, Sept. 4, 3 o'clock. 
 " Here's a fellow examining who says he came on 
 Saturday night with eleven others, so it can't close so 
 soon as I had thought. We are still in the dark as 
 
3l6 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 to the Lugano devil being included in this arrival. 
 He is the fellow Brougham has always been the most 
 afraid of : however, he has just told me there are such 
 proofs of the high price his evidence is to cost, that 
 he thinks he shall do for him. . . ." 
 
 " Brooks's, S o'clock. 
 
 " Eleven witnesses examined to-day : much dirt 
 and some damage certainly." 
 
 " House of Lords, Sept. 6. 
 "... Do you know this bill will never pass ! My 
 belief is it will be abandoned on the adjournment. 
 The entire middle order of people are against it, and 
 are daily becoming more critical on the King and the 
 Lords for carrying on this prosecution." 
 
 " J past two. 
 " By far the most infamous act that even this jury 
 of the Lords ever committed has just been done by 
 them. The Judges, after three hours' consultation, 
 decided that a particular question, proposed by 
 Brougham, could not be put. Lord Buckingham has 
 just put the same question thinking it would damage 
 the Queen. No one objected. The answer was 
 given, and compleatly the reverse of what Lord B. 
 expected. Then Brougham rose and with great 
 gravity said : — ' My lords, I humbly request your 
 lordships to accept my thanks for having permitted 
 a member of your own House to put a question 
 which, only two hours ago, after great deliberation 
 and consultation with the Judges, you refused to 
 me.' Not a word or a sound was heard in answer 
 to this knock-down blow from Bruffam. He told 
 me afterwards that it was by his own address and 
 personal application to Lord Buckingham that the 
 latter was mduced to put the question. . . ." 
 
 " \ past 4. 
 " The evidence is closed — that is, all that is in 
 England. Mr. Attorney has been making his appli- 
 cation for an adjournment of a few days to give time 
 for the Lugano witnesses to arrive. Brougham's 
 
i8i9-2o.] THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL SUMS UP. 317 
 
 objection to this has been the feeblest effort he has yet 
 made, and Mr. Attorney is now replying. I suppose 
 it will be granted, and this will fill up the measure 
 of their lordships' iniquity. 
 
 " P.S. — Erskme has made the most beautiful speech 
 possible : Grey an excellent one : Eldon and Liver- 
 pool are shook, and I think the application will be 
 refused." 
 
 " Brooks's, Sept. 6, 12 o'clock at night. 
 
 " I have been dining to-day at Lord Sefton's with 
 the Duke of Bedford, Lords Grey, Thanet, Cowper 
 and Foley, Brougham, &c. Grey was a decided 
 lunatic at dinner, and so Brougham and I settled 
 him in a walk we had together. Brougham is quite 
 aware of the prodigious part he has to play upon 
 this approaching speech of his, and I have been try- 
 ing all I can to make him connect himself with public 
 opinion as far as he can consistently with propriety 
 and the dignity of his situation. 
 
 " House of Lords, 12 o'clock, 7th Sept. 
 
 " The first thing done to-day was Mr. Attorney 
 coming forward and stating that within the preced- 
 ing half hour he had received letters from abroad, 
 stating that the journey of the Lugano witnesses 
 was unavoidably delayed, and that under such cir- 
 cumstances he should not persist in asking for time. 
 So, after this infernal lie, he said his case was closed. 
 . . . Mr. Solicitor is now summing up. 
 
 " Here's a breeze ! The Solicitor having finished, 
 Lauderdale moved that the Queen's counsel be asked 
 if they were ready to go on, upon which Lord Lons- 
 dale begged to state that, before such question was 
 put, it would be a great satisfaction to him and others 
 to learn that the divorce part of the Bill was to be 
 given up ; upon which Lord Liverpool said if it was 
 the wish of the religious part of the House and of the 
 community that this clause should be withdrawn, his 
 Majesty had no personal wish in having it made part 
 of the bill. . . . Well ! Grey made a speech for the 
 divorce part remaining! and Donoughmore is now 
 asserting with great fury that Liverpool has given 
 the King's consent without his leave." 
 
3l8 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 " 8th Sept. 
 
 ". . . It is said IVIinisters are quite determined not 
 to let Brougham open his case now. For the first 
 time, he bullied the Lords a little too much yester- 
 day ; so much so, that he has turned Carnarvon quite 
 violently against him ; M^hich is a very great pity, 
 because he is so eminently useful. 
 
 " I had a most agreeable day yesterday at 
 Cowper's, the company being the Derbys, Jerseys, 
 Lansdownes, Grey, Thanet and Erskine. It was my 
 good fortune to sit next the latter, and he was as 
 lively and as much the soul of the company at 72 as 
 he could have been at 32. . . . You know the Queen 
 went down the river yesterday. I saw her pass the 
 H. of Commons on the deck of her state barge ; the 
 river and the shores of it were then beginning to fill. 
 Erskine, who was afterwards at Blackfriars Bridge, 
 said he was sure there were 200,000 people collected 
 to see her. . . . There was not a single vessel in the 
 river that did not hoist their colours and man their 
 yards for her, and it is with the greatest difficulty 
 that the watermen on the Thames, who are all her 
 partisans, are kept from destroying the hulk which 
 lies off the H. of Commons to protect the witnesses 
 in Cotton Garden. ... I dine to-day at Sefton's : only 
 Brougham and myself . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, 8th Sept., i o'clock. 
 
 ". . . Liverpool is now speaking against Grey, 
 and when the debate is to end I know not, but 
 Brougham has just called me out to consult with me. 
 The Queen, backed by Wood, is all for going on de 
 suite, and, as Brougham thinks, the decided plan is 
 to fling her counsel overboard. In this situation of 
 peril for the idiot. Brougham thinks of asking only 
 till Monday fortnight to be ready to go on with his 
 defence. . . ." 
 
 " Brooks's, Sept. 9th. 
 
 "The House of Lords is adjourned to Tuesday 
 three weeks, the 3rd of October. You can form no 
 conception of the rage of the Lords at Brougham 
 fixing this time : it interferes with everything — 
 
I8I9-20.] THE DIVORCE CLAUSE ABANDONED. 3 19 
 
 pheasant shooting, Newmarket, &c., &c. . . . Grey is 
 just set out for Howick, the most furious of the set. 
 . . . Brougham's chaise is now at the door to carry 
 him home to Brougham Castle. He has performed 
 miracles, and the reasons he has just been giving me 
 for fixing the time he has done, shew his understand- 
 ing (if one doubted it) to be of the very first order. 
 The Queen is delighted at their going on so soon : 
 she clapped her hands with delight when he com- 
 municated it to her last night. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Western, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Buxton, loth Sept. 
 
 ". . . The abandonment of the divorce clause 
 forms the ultimate climax of baseness, cowardice, 
 folly, &c. It is a Bill of Pains and Penalties upon the 
 King, to expose him to the most dire disgrace that 
 ever was inflicted upon mortal man — to enact that, 
 whereas his wife is the most abandoned of women, he 
 is a fit associate for her! Oh, there never was the 
 like!!! . . ." 
 
 Henry Brougham, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Brougham, 14 Sept., 1820. 
 " Dear C, 
 
 ". . . Either you or Bennet should by all 
 means ask a question respecting the two late outrages 
 in Scotland committed by Sir Alexr. Gordon and his 
 son Mr. James Gordon. These two worthies being 
 at Crossmichael church one Sunday, and observing 
 the parson, Mr. Jeffrey, pray for the Queen, they 
 caused a vestry (kirk session) to be held instanter; 
 and, there being no further notice, they two and the 
 parson were the only members present ; whereupon, 
 by a majority of 2 to i, they recorded a censure on 
 him and an order against ever again praying for the 
 Queen byname ! The Presbytery, being the ordinary 
 ecclesl. jurisdn., immediately took it up, revised the 
 whole proceeding, and have ordered the parties to 
 appear before them — 1 suppose to be censured. 
 
320 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 Again : the son, James Gordon, being Col. of a 
 Yeomanry corps lately on duty, the chaplain, Mr. 
 Gillespie (whom I have known for many years, and 
 who is a man of admirable character and perfect 
 loyalty), preached a very loyal discourse, but prayed 
 for the Q. The Col. put him under arrest ! The 
 ecclesl. authorities have taken this matter up, and I 
 suppose (indeed it is quite clear) must take Gillespie's 
 part strongly. But why do I specify these two 
 matters ? Because J as. Gordon is a judge in Scotland, 
 and an ecclesiastical one : viz. one of the Commis- 
 saries who are the 3 Judges of the supreme Con- 
 sistorial Court at Edinr. . . . You are aware that the 
 Scotch Church acknowledge no head but J. Christ — 
 utterly denies the King's or Parlt.'s right to interfere 
 in any respect, and rejects with the utmost indigna- 
 tion all attempts (which, since the aboln. of Epis- 
 copacy, indeed, have never been made) to dictate, or 
 even hint at, any form of prayers, each parson being 
 left wholly to himself, except as far as the Church 
 Courts (viz. Presbytery, Synod and General As- 
 sembly) may regulate their doctrine and discipline. 
 Now a question ought to be asked on this Gordon's 
 conduct. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 " Brooks's, 13 Sept. 
 ". . . Do you know they say the King is intent 
 upon turning out Lord Hertford to make room for 
 Conyngham as Lord Chamberlain, and Lord Chol- 
 mondeley to make way for Lord Roden. Was there 
 ever such insanity at such a time? It is said the 
 Ministers have exacted a promise from him not to 
 make the first change, at least pending the trial. In 
 writing the last sentence, I heard a noise of hurraing 
 and shouting in the street ; so I ran out to see. It 
 was, I may say, the Navy of England marching to 
 Brandenburgh House with an address to the Queen. 
 I have seen nothing like this before — nothing ap- 
 proaching to it. There were thousands of seamen, 
 all well dressed, all sober— the best-looking, the finest 
 men you could imagine. Every man had a new white 
 
i8i9-20.] BROUGHAM OPENS THE DEFENCE. 32 1 
 
 silk or satin cockade in his hat. They had a hundred 
 colours, at least, or pieces of silk, with sentiments 
 upon them, such as ' Protection to the Innocent,' &c. 
 M'Donald asked one of them how many there were, 
 to which he answered very civilly — ' I don't know, 
 exactly, sir, but we are many thousands, and should 
 have been many more, but we would not let any man 
 above forty come, because we have so far to walk.' 
 Remember what I say — this procession decides the 
 fate of the Queen. When the seamen take a part, the 
 soldiers can't fail to be shaken." 
 
 " House of Lords, October 3rd, i o'clock. 
 
 ". . . Brougham has been at it nearly two hours 
 and a half, and may continue an hour or two more, 
 for aught I know ; but it is infinitely too hot to stay 
 in the crowd, so I have just escaped. ... I think I 
 may say he was as good as I expected. . . ." 
 
 " 4 o'clock. 
 
 " He has been at it again two hours, and will 
 evidently be so till five — criticism in detail upon the 
 evidence for the prosecution — damned dull and 
 damned hot, so I have been walking about amongst 
 my friends on Westminster Bridge." 
 
 " House of Lords, Oct. 4, J past i. 
 
 " Brougham has just finished his opening. ... I 
 never heard him anything like the perfection he has 
 displayed in all ways. ... In short, if he can prove 
 what he has stated in his speech, I for one believe she 
 is innocent, and the whole case a conspiracy. . . . He 
 concluded with a most magnificent address to the 
 Lords — an exhortation to them to save themselves — 
 the Church — the Crown— the Country, by their 
 decision in favour of the Queen. This last appeal 
 was made with great passion, but without a particle 
 of rant. ... I consider myself infinitely overpaid by 
 these two hours and a half of Brougham, for all the 
 time and money it has cost me to be here, and almost 
 for my absence from all of you. . . ." 
 
 VOL. I. y 
 
322 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 " Oct. 5th. 
 
 "... I had a very agreeable day at Powell's with 
 the Duke of Norfolk, who called for me here, and we 
 walked there together. We went to Brooks's at 
 night, where, as you may suppose, the monde talked 
 of nothing but Brougham and his fame, and the 
 comers-in from White's said the same feeling was 
 equally strong there. . . . [The speech] not only as- 
 tonished but has shaken the aristocracy, though Lord 
 Granville did tell me at parting this morning not to 
 be too confident of that, for that the H. of Lords was 
 by far the stupidest and most obstinate collection of 
 men that could be selected from all England. This, I 
 think, from a peer himself, and old virtuoso Stafford's 
 brother, was damned fair. . . . General St. Leger was 
 called, and was only useful as a very ornamental 
 witness. . . . Then came Lord Guilford, who is the 
 most ramshackle fellow you ever saw. He is a kind of 
 non ■tni ricordo likewise.* He seems, however, to have 
 been a pretty frequent guest at her Majesty's table 
 . . . has dined more than once with Bergami at the 
 Queen's table and that he never saw the slightest 
 impropriety. . . . But the witness of all witnesses has 
 just closed her examination in chief — Lady Charlotte 
 Lindsay. In your life you never heard such testimony 
 as hers in favour of the Queen — the talent, the per- 
 spicuity, the honesty of it. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, Oct. 6th. 
 
 " Wonders will never cease. Upon my soul ! this 
 Queen must be innocent after all. Lady Charlotte 
 went on in her cross-examination, and could never be 
 touched ; tho' she was treated most infamously — so 
 much so as to make her burst out a crying. There 
 was a ticklish point about a letter from her brother, 
 advising her to give up her place under the Queen, 
 which [letter] she said she could not find. The fact 
 
 * Referring to the evidence of some of the Italian witnesses for the 
 prosecution, who in cross-examination so often answered, Non mi 
 ricordo — " I don't remember " — that it passed into a saying. 
 
i8i9-2o.] MINISTERS LOSE GROUND. 323 
 
 is, her husband, Lindsay, who is in the greatest 
 distress, has absolutely sold her correspondence on 
 this subject to the Treasury. She told this to 
 Brougham himself under the most solemn injunction 
 of secrecy, and he has this instant told it to me. 
 When, therefore. Brougham mentioned loudly the 
 name of Maule as a person to be called as a witness, 
 the Chancellor decided the letter should not be pro- 
 duced — this Maule being the Solicitor to the Treasury, 
 who bought the correspondence of Lindsay. Was 
 there ever villainy equal to this? Eldon and Liver- 
 pool had some sharp words on this occasion in the 
 House. Thank God, the villains get out of temper 
 with each other ! . . . Gell, cross-examined and ex- 
 amined by the Lords, left everything still more 
 triumphant for the Queen ; so much so that Pelham 
 and a few other bishops are gone home to cut their 
 throats. Lord Enniskillen has just said in my hear- 
 ing that the Ministers ought to be damned for coming 
 out with such a case. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, 9th Oct., 10 o'clock. 
 
 ". . . The town is literally drunk with joy at this 
 unparalleled triumph of the Queen. There is no 
 doubt now in any man's mind, except Lauderdale's, 
 that the whole thing has been a conspiracy for money. 
 The Ministers were down at Windsor yesterday, 
 taking with them the ould customer Lonsdale, and a 
 new one in the Duke of Rutland. . . ." 
 
 " 4 o'clock. 
 
 " Captn. Flynn of the polacre is just call'd. He is 
 mad, and in trying to do too much has, for the 
 present, done harm; but it will be all set right 
 to-morrow." 
 
 " House of Lords, 2 o'clock, October loth. 
 
 "This cursed Flynn is still going on. He has 
 perjured himself three or four times over, and his 
 evidence and himself are both gone to the devil. He 
 is evidently a crack-brained sailor. . . . he has fainted 
 away once, and been obliged to be carried out." 
 
324 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 " Brooks's, 5 o'clock. 
 
 ". . . Lady Jersey stopt me in the street to 
 reproach me for never coming to her, so I went last 
 night and found all the political grandees there. 
 Brougham, of course, was one, and he and I came 
 away together. ..." 
 
 " Oct. I2th, one o'clock. 
 " By Jove, my dear, we are coming to critical 
 times, such as no man can tell the consequences of. 
 It is quite understood that the Lords — at the suit of 
 the Ministers — are resolved to pass this Bill, upon 
 the sole point of the Queen being admitted to have 
 slept under the tent on board the polacre, while 
 Bergami slept there likewise. ... I predict, with the 
 most perfect confidence, that commotion and blood- 
 shed must follow this enormous act of injustice, 
 should it finally be committed; but (tho' 1 stand alone 
 in this opinion) I will not and do not believe the 
 Bill will pass the Lords. I have this instant seen 
 Brougham ; ... he says he means to call the Duchess 
 of Beaufort, Ladies Harrowby, Bathurst, their hus- 
 bands, &c., to prove their intimacy with the Queen 
 till the Regency. He means, too, that the Queen shall 
 bring down a statement of all her sufferings, and of 
 everything relating to the Royal family, from her 
 arrival in England. It is now copying, and she is to 
 come down and deliver it to the Chancellor to be read 
 before the Bill passes. Brougham says everything 
 that has happened yet is absolutely nothing in effect 
 compared with what this statement will do.' * 
 
 " House of Lords, one o'clock, 13th October. 
 
 "... A question arose as to a point of evidence, 
 and whether a particular question might be put ; upon 
 which Carnarvon fired such a shot into the whole 
 concern, and called the bill such names as you never 
 heard before. He made, in short, a most capital 
 speech, and the thing exactly wanted at this period 
 
 * Subsequent note by Mr. Creevey. — "Why all or any of these 
 threats were never put into execution remains for Mr. Brougham to 
 explain." 
 
i8i9-20.] THE DUKE OF NORFOLK'S OPINION. 325 
 
 of the case ; but alas ! my lords Grey and Lansdowne 
 and Holland were perfectly mute : they dared not 
 criticise so roughly the measures of a man whom they 
 hope so soon to call their Master. . . ." 
 
 "3 o'clock. 
 
 "Here's a breeze of the first order! The last 
 witness having ended, Rastelli was called back ; when 
 behold ! it turned out he had been sent out of the 
 country, instead of staying to be indicted for perjury. 
 . . . Liverpool admits it was scandalous to send him 
 away, but that it was unknown to the Government. 
 Holland and Lansdowne have made furious speeches 
 upon the occasion, and Eldon is now speaking. . . . 
 I dine at Holland House to-day. . . . We shall have a 
 breeze on Tuesday in the Commons. The base devils 
 who voted against me the last time are wanting me 
 to make the same motion on Tuesday, and they will 
 support me. . . ." 
 
 Duke of Norfolk to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 " Fornham, 13 Octr., 1820. 
 
 " Dear Creevey, 
 
 "Are you really become the champion of the 
 H. of Lds., and suppose there is any atrocity they are 
 not ready to vote for ? For my own part, if they do 
 pass this horrible Bill, I shall no longer consider it a 
 disgrace or a hardship to be excluded * from a seat in 
 their House ; but, on the contrary, rejoice that I have 
 not been implicated in so foul a crime. Is it possible 
 that the slight evidence they have for the tent scene 
 alone can establish their whole case ? I am anxious 
 beyond measure to hear the result. Ly. Petre desires 
 to be kindly remembered, and we hope you will come 
 down. If by any miracle the Bill should 7tof pass, 
 what a jolification we will have ! 
 
 "Yours sincerely, 
 
 "Norfolk." 
 * As a Roman Catholic. 
 
326 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch, XIII. 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 "York St., i6thOct. 
 
 "... I dined yesterday at Ridley's with Grey, 
 Lansdowne, Rosslyn, Sefton, Brougham and various 
 others. Grey is looking horribly ill. I dine at Lord 
 Derby's to-day." 
 
 " House of Lords, 2 o'clock. 
 
 " We are now evidently going to have a splashing 
 debate. The same witness that we had on Saturday 
 has deposed to another person besides Rastelli, of the 
 name of Raganti, having attempted to bribe him to 
 come and give evidence against the Queen. He not 
 only offered him money to come, but told him the 
 particular thing to swear to. Mr. Attorney and Solicitor 
 have objected to this as evidence. Brougham has 
 taken the opportunity of firing the most capital broad- 
 side into the whole concern as a conspiracy. ... A 
 damned flat debate going forward instead of a splash- 
 ing one. Grey has moved that the examination shall 
 proceed, and Liverpool opposed it, but has let out 
 most clearly to my mind that all the Italian evidence is 
 to be flung overboard. So much for the Milan com- 
 mission ! . . . I find that Hutchinson and Donough- 
 more were with the King at Windsor to-day, so 
 Liverpool's speech is accounted for. It is the first 
 breakdown." 
 
 " House of Lords, 17th Oct., i o'clock. 
 
 "... I went in from the Derbys last night to 
 ' Sally ' Jersey's, and it was really very agreeable — 
 only 'Sally,' Madame Lieven, Lady Eliz. Stuart and 
 Madame Flahault, with four or five men besides 
 myself 
 
 "The House of Commons meets at \ past three 
 to-day, and I must contrive somehow or other to have 
 a brush there. . . ." 
 
i8i9-2o.] ADJOURNMENT OF THE COMMONS. 327 
 
 " House of Lords, i8th Oct., i o'clock. 
 "Alas poor Cole ! * I had always a misgiving she 
 would get her death from me, and last night I fear the 
 presentiment was nearly verified. It was a great deal 
 too contemptible to hear the leader of the Whigs, with 
 this damnable Bill of Pains and Penalties before his 
 eyes, meet a question of adjournment with the ridicu- 
 lous amendment of a shorter adjournment, and without 
 uttering a syllable upon the Bill itself or the circum- 
 stances of the time. I was compelled, therefore, to 
 take the field, as no one else seemed inclined to shew. 
 I had not pronounced two sentences before one and 
 all of his troops deserted him. The roar that resounded 
 from every part of the benches behind him (which were 
 very full) was as extraordinary to me as it must have 
 been agreeable to him. ... As to the speech itself, 
 being right and absolutely necessary to be spoken 
 were its principal merits. I lost my head in the middle 
 of it, and thought I should have been obliged to sit 
 down, tho' I never was so cheered during any speech 
 I have made in Parliament. Sefton overheard a con- 
 versation between Cole and Duncannon at night, in 
 which the latter said — ' Had you come to town a day 
 earlier, an arrangement might have been made, and all 
 
 * Note by Mr. Creevey. — " The reason I call Tierney by the name 
 of ' Cole ' is this. It used to be his constant practice in making his 
 speeches in Parliament to bear particular testimony to his own cha- 
 racter — to his being a ' plain man,' ' an honest man,' or something of 
 that kind. Having heard him at this work several times, it occurred 
 to me that he had formed himself upon that distinguished model Mrs. 
 Cole, an old lady in one of Foote's farces, who presided over a female 
 establishment in Covent Garden. Mrs. Cole was always indulging 
 herself with flattering references to her own character. — ' For fourteen 
 years,' said she, 'have I lived in the Garden, and no one has said black 
 was the white of my eye. For fourteen years, did I say ? Aye, for 
 sixteen years come Lammas Day have I paid scot and lot in the parish 
 of St. Bride's, and no one has said, " Mrs. Cole, why did you so ? " 
 excepting twice I was taken before Mr. Justice Duval, and three times 
 to the Round House.' Brougham was for many years quite enamoured 
 of the resemblance of the portrait. He christened Abercromby Young 
 Cole, and the whole shabby party ' the Coles ; ' but he has become 
 much more prudent and respectful of late." 
 
328 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 this scene avoided.' — ' No,' said Cole, ' I am confident 
 nothing would have stopt Creevey's mouth.' Poor 
 thing ! she has not been here to-day, so I suppose she 
 has returned to the sea. . . . Lord Donoughmore had a 
 curious conversation with Sefton yesterday, in which 
 the former said the Ministers ought to be impeached 
 for having brought the Bill forward — so compleatly 
 had they deceived him as to their case. He mentioned 
 his visit to Windsor last Sunday, and the difficulty he 
 and his brother had in making the King see that the 
 Bill would never go down. One of the royal argu- 
 ments was : — ' Why, Lord Sefton has betted Lord 
 Thanet lo to i that the Bill will pass the Lords, and 
 as Lord Sefton is known to be so strongly against 
 the Bill, surely this is quite convincing.' ... It was 
 perfectly true that this bet had been made by Sefton 
 with Thanet, which of course greatly enhances the 
 merit of the royal argument. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, Oct. 19. 
 ". .. Most important ! McDonald has just returned 
 to me. He has seen and talked with the Archbishop 
 of York, and it is not only true that Lord Stafford 
 has become the strenuous opposer of the Bill, but he 
 has waited upon Lord Harrowby to state his con- 
 viction that the Bill must be given up. You know 
 McDonald is nephew both to the Archbishop and 
 Lord Stafford. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, Oct. 20, i o'clock. 
 ". . . Having said that Brougham had made up his 
 mind not to examine Oldi and Mariette, let me say 
 why; so that, if you keep my account of this trial, 
 posterity may know what the Queen's counsel really 
 thought of his client — a very rare thing to know and 
 in this case, quite authentic. Denman, Lushington, 
 Tindal and Wilde are all decidedly for calling both 
 Oldi and Mariette; Brougham has no doubt of the 
 fidelity of these witnesses, and of their perfect belief 
 in the Queen's innocence ; but he is equally sure that 
 the villainy of these judges — the Lords — would inflict 
 a persecution of two days' examination upon each of 
 these witnesses, and, from the experience of their 
 
i8i9-20.] BROUGHAM'S TACTICS. 329 
 
 monstrous injustice in raising such diabolical infer- 
 ences from admissions so natural and innocent as 
 those of so capital a witness as Howman was, or 
 from the rambling imbecility of Flynn, he dare not 
 trust these foreign women to the same ordeal. All 
 this I had from Brougham last night. He told me, 
 too, as he has done before, that, altho' he was in 
 possession of many circumstances unfavorable in 
 appearance to the Queen, which were not known to 
 me, he did nevertheless believe her to be compleatly 
 innocent — in direct opposition to his former sentiments; 
 an^that, furthermore, should this Bill ever come to 
 thd^House of Commons, he will then, being no longer 
 in the character of her counsel, take an opportunity of 
 declaring, upon his honor as a gentleman, his sincere 
 belief in her innocence.* 
 
 " I had a very agreeable day at the Derbys yester- 
 day, as indeed it always is there — the Fortescues, 
 Darnleys, Kings and Bennet. To-day I dine at 
 Sefton's with Brougham. . . . Holland House is the 
 only place I have heard of as being in a state of rage 
 at my attack on Cole.t ... A division has just taken 
 place, when Liverpool and our people beat the Chan- 
 cellor | and his by 122 to 79; but Grey, with his usual 
 candour, has carried an amendment to Petty's § motion, 
 that in my belief, and with such a villain as Powell to 
 deal with, will make the motion perfectly nugatory. 
 Grey's conduct throughout this business has been 
 most injurious to the Queen, her counsel and her 
 cause." 
 
 "House of Lords, Oct. 21st, i o'clock. 
 
 " Before I begin with the trial, let me tell you a 
 story. On my arrival here at 10 this morning, I per- 
 ceived a black man of an extraordinary appearance in 
 Tom Tyrwhitt's || box at the other end of the House, 
 and another black by his side, both in bushy black 
 wigs. Upon enquiry, I found it was no less a person 
 
 * He did so on February 5, 1821. 
 
 t Mr. Tierney. 
 
 % Lord Eldon. 
 
 § Lord Lansdowne. 
 
 II Sir Thomas Tyrwhitt, Black Rod. 
 
330 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 than the King of New Zealand and his Grand Cham- 
 berlain ; and it was presently reported that they were 
 white, and not black men, and that the black shade 
 was merely the effect and impression of tattooing. 
 Western and I went round, and got near enough to 
 touch his Majesty ; when I found his royal face to be 
 one of the very finest specimens of carving I have 
 ever beheld. The Chamberlain's face was fair: the 
 sunflowers on it were highly respectable ; but the 
 King's nose, which surpassed the average size, was 
 one blaze of stars and planets. The groundwork of 
 their faces, of which a mighty small portion remained 
 without ornament, was evidently fair, but had been 
 painted a deep orange colour. ... I just learn it was 
 the Minister of the King, and not his Chamberlain ; 
 and also that they are both just entered at some 
 college in Cambridge, where I flatter myself these 
 dingy academicians will do honor both to themselves 
 and my favorite University. . . . 
 
 " Sefton called yesterday on his uncle Lord Har- 
 rington, who is confined with the gout. In the course 
 of the visit, to Sefton's surprise and, as you may 
 suppose, delight. Lord Harrington said — ' I shall be 
 well enough to go and give my vote against this 
 infamous Bill.' Upon Sefton leading him on, the 
 other said — 'After the evidence of Lady Charlotte 
 Lindsay, Mr. Craven and Sir Wm. Cell, no man with 
 the pretensions to being a gentleman ought to have 
 gone a step further with the Bill' — Well done, old 
 Gold Stick ! " 
 
 " House of Lords, Oct. 23rd, 2 o'clock. 
 
 " Premierement, let me bring up the rear of my 
 narrative respecting the King of New Zealand. It is 
 confidently reported that en derriere both his Majesty 
 and his Minister are much more profusely decorated 
 with ornamental carving than on their faces — but 
 you'll not quote me ! 
 
 " Sefton told me last night of a conversation he 
 had had with Thanet. It seems Lady Holland had 
 complained to the latter in the strongest terms of my 
 conduct to Tierney on Tuesday, and had stated that 
 Cole was hurt by it to the last degree. — ' What did 
 Thanet do or say?' says I. — 'Why,' says Sefton, 'he 
 
i8i9-2o.] MR. DENMAN SUMS UP. 33 1 
 
 snorted out into a loud laugh— said you was quite 
 right, and that the Whigs were little better than old 
 apple-women.' — This was a great relief to me ; tho' I 
 was quite sure from Thanet's manner all was right ; 
 but I shd. certainly have felt myself bound to surrender 
 my seat had we differed about it. . . . Yesterday I 
 dined at Brooks's with Ossulston : to-day I dine at 
 the Derbys, with Brougham, Denman, the Seftons, 
 and a huge party, I believe. . . . Grey, according to 
 custom, has done all the harm he could. He is more 
 provoking in all he does than these villains of Ministers 
 themselves. However, thank God the case for the 
 Queen is closed, and all looks well." 
 
 " House of Lords, Oct. 24th, 2 o'clock. 
 ". . . Denman begun to sum up, and is now 
 engaged in so doing. Their mighty case, you see 
 therefore, is now finished, and a miracle no doubt it 
 must appear to after times that all these charges of 
 an adulterous intercourse which have been got up 
 with so much secrecy — that begun six years ago and 
 continued three years — that have had absolute power 
 and money without end to support them, have been 
 one by one demonstrably disproved by witnesses un- 
 impeachable. . . . This admitted fact of the Queen 
 sleeping on deck under the awning, and Bergami doing 
 so likewise, under all the explanatory circumstances 
 of the case, is the sole foundation of the Bill. . . . And 
 now then — will the Lords pass the Bill ? I say No — I 
 say it is impossible : and yet something the villains 
 of Ministers must do to save their own credit. . . . 
 The Duke of Portland told Lord Foley he was one of 
 60 peers who usually supported the Government, and 
 who would vote against the Bill. This Foley told 
 me himself I fear this is too high an estimate, but 
 the Duke of Portland himself is a most fair and honor- 
 able person." 
 
 "Brooks's, 5 o'clock. 
 
 " Denman's last two hours have been brilliant. His 
 parallel case of Nero and his wife Octavia was perfect 
 in all its parts. ... I am just going to dinner at 
 Sefton's, and then to go and see Cymbeline with him 
 and Brougham." 
 
332 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 "Brooks's, Wednesday morning, ^ past 12. 
 
 ". . . Lady Fitzwilliam goes to pay her respects to 
 the Queen to-morrow. Lord Fitzwilliam has been 
 here to-night, quite pleased to tell of his wife's 
 intention. . . . Lady Jersey goes likewise. . . . Sir 
 Willoughby Gordon has just told me he was quite 
 sure he saw 40,000 people, with banners, pass through 
 Piccadilly to-day on their way to the Queen. A 
 division from another body passed us by on the water 
 to the same destination, and saluted us with cannon 
 as they passed." 
 
 "York St., 26th Oct. 
 
 "... I dined at Lambton's yesterday en famille. 
 Grey (who stays there) dined at Billy Gloucester's, 
 and came in before dinner in his prettiest manner to 
 say to me how sorry he was he dined out. Apropos 
 to Grey, he has somewhat made up to me for his past 
 conduct by a reply he made to Liverpool. The day 
 before yesterday, at the rising of the House, the latter 
 came across to Grey, and, with the usual muggery 
 they are always applying to him, asked him what 
 adjournment he thought would be long enough for 
 the consideration of the evidence, between the finish- 
 ing by the counsel and the 2nd reading ; upon which 
 Grey, in his rudest manner, said he did not see the 
 necessity for any adjournment at all, as there was not 
 a tittle of evidence to support the Bill ! Our people, 
 who all heard this, were delighted with it. . . . Grey 
 expressed the same sentiment to myself yesterday in 
 the strongest manner. . . . What must the private 
 tutor, Lauderdale, say to this ? I wonder when 
 Lauderdale and idiots like himself will begin to think 
 of the situation into which this infamous Bill has 
 thrown this town. Every Wednesday, the scene 
 which caused such alarm at Manchester is repeated 
 under the very nose of Parliament and all the con- 
 stituted authorities, and in a tenfold degree more 
 alarming. A certain number of regiments of the 
 efficient population of the town march on each of 
 these days in a regular lock step, four or five abreast 
 — banners flying — music playing. ... I should like 
 any one to tell me what is to come next if this organised 
 army loses its temper. . . ." 
 
i8i9-2o.] NEARING THE END. 333 
 
 " House of Lords, 28th Oct., 2 o'clock. 
 
 ". . . Grey, Rosslyn, the Lansdownes, &c., dined at 
 the Duke of Gloucester's on Wednesday, when the 
 Duchess after dinner talked to Lady Lansdowne about 
 this trial, and said : — ' It was a very foolish, and indeed 
 a very wrong thing to have got into, but the King had 
 been greatly deceived upon the subject.' My authority 
 for this is Lord John Russell, who told me that Lady 
 Lansdowne told him. This is just as it should be : 
 the gay deceiver has a good prospect. I wonder who 
 he is. Is it Leach or Eldon ? 
 
 " I'll now tell you another story, perhaps not un- 
 connected with this. Yesterday and to-day I have 
 walked to Kensington Gardens before I came here; 
 and to-day I met Lady Conyngham and Lady Eliza- 
 beth* walking with a footman behind them. You 
 know the palpable, unqualified cui they have treated 
 me with these last two years, but to-day it was quite 
 another thing. No, no ! an old acquaintance was not 
 to pass her in that way: had there been any bystanders, 
 they might have thought she was asking alms of me. 
 She was evidently dying for me to turn about with 
 her to talk politicks, and I was an idiot not to do it. 
 I might have learnt from her how the dear King had 
 been deceived. . . . Mr. Attorney ;has just finished, 
 and the Solicitor has taken the field. He has an- 
 nounced that he shall finish to-day, and then the 
 House will adjourn till Thursday. The object of this 
 adjournment is a last effort to bring this noble jury to 
 their collars; but it is too late — the charm for once 
 is broken. . . ." 
 
 " 3 o'clock. 
 
 ". . . Mr. Solicitor is to have two hours more on 
 Monday morning. A more vulgar, bombastical, black- 
 guard chap I never in my life heard. ..." 
 
 "Brooks's, 5 o'clock, Monday, 30th October. 
 
 ". . . Thursday is the day fixed for battle. Calcraft 
 is the greatest croaker; his list has been a majority 
 of 40 for the Bill. He has reduced it to 35, and with 
 
 * Her daughter, who married the loth Earl of Huntly, and died 
 without issue in 1839. 
 
334 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 this majority he thinks the Government will carry the 
 Bill, and go with it to the Commons. . . . Holland 
 has just come to me and had a long conversation with 
 me. He has taken great pains with his list too. . . . 
 He gives a majority of 30 for the Bill as the maximum, 
 and 15 as the minimum ; but he is quite certain of the 
 Bill not passing the Lords. . . . Lord Hutchinson 
 offers to bet that' 200 Peers will not vote. I never 
 saw such a beautiful sight in my life as the Brass 
 Founders' procession to the Queen to-day. I had no 
 notion there had been so many beautiful brass orna- 
 ments in all the world. Their men in armour, both 
 horse and foot, were capital ; nor was their humour 
 amiss. The procession closed with a very handsome 
 crown borne in state as a present to the Queen, 
 preceded by a flag with the words — 'The Queen's 
 Guard are Men oi Metal.' I am quite sure there must 
 have been 100,000 people in Piccadilly, all in the most 
 perfect order. I am very much pleased that Hutchin- 
 son has taken to me agam. It is quite his own doing, 
 and I am to meet him at dinner at Rogers's * on 
 Wednesday." 
 
 Mr. Western, M.P., to Mr. Creevey. 
 
 "Brighton, October 2gth. 
 ". . . Pray read Gobbet's attack upon Denman's 
 speech. He is a foul-mouthed, malignant dog ; but 
 there is so much point in his criticism, that one can- 
 not help admitting there is generally some truth in his 
 remarks, and I certainly agree in his remarks on the 
 tact of this speech. There is a great deal of bombast 
 nonsense of quotations from the devil knows where, 
 finishing the whole — 'Go and sin no more.' And the 
 Lords to say this ! . . ." 
 
 Mr. Creevey to Miss Ord. 
 
 "Brooks's, Nov. i. 
 
 ". . . Here is Holland, asking me in the most 
 
 humble tone if I really think the Bill will pass the 
 
 Lords. Grey, it seems, thinks so, and it is the fashion 
 
 to say so to-day. My opinion is unshaken that it can't." 
 
 * Samuel Rogers, the poet and banker. 
 
i8i9-20.] WHAT WILL BE THE MAJORITY? 33S 
 
 " House of Lords, 2 o'clock, 2nd November. 
 
 " Eldon begun this morning, and it was expected 
 he would have made a great masterly judicial summing 
 up ; instead of which, he spoke for an hour and a 
 quarter only, and a more feeble argument for his own 
 vote I never heard in all my life. He begun by 
 intimating very clearly that the preamble of the Bill 
 was to be altered, and the divorce part given up : 
 then, without reserve or shame, he abandoned Miocci 
 and Demont, and, in truth, all the filth of his own 
 green bag, and all the labours of the Milan commission. 
 Howman's evidence and the admitted fact of Bergami's 
 sleeping on the deck under the same awning as the 
 Queen, was his sheet anchor. . . . He said he was 
 perfectly convinced of her guilt, and he further said 
 that no one who had not the same opinion ought to 
 vote for the second reading. Erskine followed, and 
 had spoken for about three quarters of an hour, when 
 he fainted away, and was carried out of the House ; 
 since when, that villain Lauderdale has been speaking. 
 
 "Yesterday and today have altered most materi- 
 ally the state of public opinion as to the fate of this 
 diabolical Bill. The cursed rats are said to have 
 returned most rapidly to their old quarters, and the 
 ministerial majority is rising in the market to 40, 45 
 and 50. It is added, too, that the Bill is certainly to 
 pass, and to be with us on the 23rd. I will not give 
 my assent to any one of these reports till I have 
 ocular proof of their being true ; at the same time, 
 with such rogues and madmen as one has to speculate 
 upon, it is being almost mad oneself to expect any- 
 thing being done that is right. . . ." 
 
 " Brooks's, evening. 
 
 " Primrose,* who is a government man, and one of 
 the 16 Scotch Peers, made a very good speech after 
 Lauderdale — against the Bill. ... I have just been 
 over Norfolk House with the duke, and a capital 
 magnificent shop it is. I dined yesterday at Rogers's, 
 with Hutchinson, Brougham, Denman, &c. : to-morrow 
 with Foley. Seymour Bathurst has just told Lambton 
 
 * The 4th Earl of Rosebery, grandfather of the present earl. 
 
336 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 that the Bill will not go beyond the 2nd reading. God 
 send this may be true ! 
 
 " House of Lords, 3rd Nov., J past 3. 
 
 " I have not heard all Lord Grey's speech, being 
 obliged to go into the City, which I am truly sorry 
 for, as what I did hear was quite of the highest order 
 — beautiful — magnificent — all honor and right feeling, 
 with the most powerful argument into the bargain. 
 There is nothing approaching this damned fellow in 
 the kingdom, when he mounts his best horse. . . . 
 Lord Liverpool is now answering Lord Grey, and is 
 as bad as one would wish him to be." 
 
 " House of Lords, 4th November, 2 o'clock. 
 "... I must say, since my affair with Tierney on 
 Wednesday week his behaviour has been perfect : not 
 so that of Young Cole,* who is now at the same table 
 with me, and would not for the world turn his beautiful 
 eyes towards me." 
 
 " House of Lords, 6th Nov., 2 o'clock. 
 ". . . Lord Lansdowne finished his speech in the 
 very first rate style . . . since then the speakers 
 against the Bill have been the Duke of Somerset, 
 Lords Enniskillen, Howard of Effingham, de Clifford, 
 Grantham, Stafford and Calthorpe. The speakers for 
 the Bill have been the Dukes of Athol and Northum- 
 berland, and Lord Grenville is now speaking on the 
 same side ; but, thank God, he comes too late. . . . 
 Old Stafford uttered an opinion that is worth ten 
 votes at least in the H. of Commons. He made no 
 doubt of the Bill being lost in the H. of Commons, 
 and that then there was an end of the Constitution. 
 It never can come to the H. of Commons, by God ! 
 That little chap de Clifford is an agreeable surprise. 
 He is such a cursed Queen-hater that we always 
 calculated upon his being for the Bill. We had a 
 most agreeable dinner yesterday at Brooks's — Fitz- 
 william, Grey, Cowper, Norfolk, Jersey, Thanet, 
 Albemarle — and, in short, 17 of iis. Grey was all 
 
 * The Hon. James Abercromby, M.P. 
 
i8l9-2o.] THE DIVISION. 337 
 
 good humour and gentleness, and I had great pleasure 
 in petting him — abusing him at the same time for all 
 his palaver with Liverpool and Eldon, particularly 
 the latter. . . . If you could see little Barny * with me 
 you would say it was almost too much. Every day at 
 the rising of the House he comes regularly to ask me 
 to let him walk up with me, and so we do. At other 
 times he is equally in pursuit of me. He wants me 
 very much to let him take me a little tour with him to 
 shew me Arundel, &c., &c. He wants me, too, to dine 
 with him at Down 'July's' to-day, but I shall do no 
 such thing. I dine at Ferguson's." 
 
 " Brooks's, 5 o'clock. 
 
 "All is over — that is with the 2nd reading — 123 
 for the Bill and 95 against it — leaving a majority for 
 the Bill of 28 only. This is fatal. Eleven Bishops 
 voted for it, and the Archbishop of Yorkf alone 
 against it. 1 am delighted the young Duke of Rich- 
 mond J voted against it. The other curious persons 
 on the same side were Lords Bath, Mansfield, Bagot, 
 Plymouth, Amherst, Delawar, Dartmouth, Enniskillen, 
 Egremont, Audley, &c., &c. . . ." 
 
 " House of Lords, Nov. 7, 2 o'clock. 
 
 "Our first step this morning was Lord Dacre 
 presenting a protest from the Queen against the 
 proceedings of yesterday. . . . This occasioned a 
 short discussion, upon form only ; excepting, indeed, 
 another attempt from the Duke of Newcastle in favor 
 of himself, in which, according to his practice, he 
 
 distinguished himself as ad d fool . . . and received 
 
 his final castigation from Grey. ... It is supposed 
 the Government have not made up their minds as to 
 what course they are to take and that to-day has been 
 used by them merely as a jaw for time. I had a very 
 good-humoured nod from Wellington this morning 
 while the people in the Park were hooting him." 
 
 * The Duke of Norfolk. 
 
 t Right Rev. Edward Venables Vernon. 
 
 X The 5th Duke, father of the present peer. 
 
 VOL. I. Z 
 
338 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 " Brooks's, 4 o'clock, 8th Nov. 
 
 "The House has been up these two hours, a 
 division having taken place upon the question whether 
 the divorce clause should be part of the Bill. In favor 
 of this 129 voted, including all our people: against it 
 there were 53, including every one of the Ministers, 
 and all the Bishops but three. Was there ever such 
 a spectacle ! ... In ordinary times a Government 
 would instantly abandon a measure over which they 
 had no controul ; there is an end, however, here to 
 speculating upon men's conduct. . . . And now let 
 me give you a little joke of mine which is very favor- 
 ably received. Many of us are invited to dine at 
 Guildhall to-morrow by very large cards of invitation 
 from the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs; so, having procured 
 a card of equal dimensions, I send it to Lord Kensing- 
 ton with this alteration only in the style and contents 
 — ' Messrs. Gog and Magog present their compts., 
 &c., &c., and request the pleasure of his lordship's 
 company at Guildhall to partake with them of a Baron 
 of Beef ..." 
 
 " Brooks's, Nov. 9. 
 
 ". . . Castlereagh got roughly handled at Covent 
 Garden last night ; so much so, as to be obliged to 
 decamp from the house. Erskine was greatly 
 applauded. . . ." 
 
 " Brooks's, Nov. 10, 3 o'clock. 
 
 " Three times three ! if you please, before you read 
 a word further. The Bill is gone, thank God ! to the 
 devil. Their majority was brought down to 9—108 
 to 99 ; and then the dolorous Liverpool came forward 
 and struck. He moved that his own Bill be read this 
 day six months. You may well suppose the state we 
 are all in. The Queen was in the House at the time, 
 but Brougham sent her off instantly. . . . The state 
 of the town is beyond everything. I wish to God 
 you could see Western. He is close by my side, but 
 has not uttered yet — such is his surprise." 
 
 " York Street, i ith Nov. 
 " I was a bad boy for the first time last night, and 
 drank an extra bottle of claret with Foley, Dundas, 
 
l8i9-3o.] THE BILL ABANDONED. 339 
 
 Western, &c., &c., in the midst of our brilliant illumi- 
 nations at Brooks's : not that I was the least screivy, 
 but it has made me somewhat nervous. . . . We could 
 distinctly see there were high words between Liver- 
 pool and Eldon before the former struck his colours, 
 and when he moved the further consideration that 
 day six months, Eldon answered with a very distinct 
 and audible ' Not content.' It is quite impossible any 
 human being could have disgraced himself more than 
 the Duke of Clarence. When his name was called in 
 the division on the 3rd reading, he leaned over the 
 rail of the gallery as far into the House as he could, 
 and then halloed — ' Content,' with a yell that would 
 quite have become a savage. The Duke of York 
 followed with his 'Content' delivered with singular 
 propriety. ... It must always be remembered to the 
 credit of our hereditary aristocracy that a decided 
 majority voted against this wicked Bill. It was the 
 two sets of Union Peers * and these villains of the 
 Church t that nearly destroyed for ever the character 
 of the House of Lords. However, thank God it is no 
 worse. 
 
 " I have said nothing to you of my City feast. . . . 
 My attention was directed to a much more splendid 
 object t — the Princess Olivia of Cumberland.§ No 
 one can have any doubts of the royalty of her birth. 
 She is the very image of our Royal family. Her 
 person is upon the model of the Princess Elizabeth,!! 
 
 * The Representative Peers of Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 t The Bishops. 
 
 X Than Madame Oldi, whom he has described. 
 
 § This remarkable woman, Olive Wilmot Serres, presented a 
 petition to the House of Commons, 14th July, 1820, setting forth that 
 she was the legitimate daughter of William, Duke of Cumberland, 
 second son of George XL, and claiming recognition as such. She was 
 the daughter of a house painter in Warwick named Wilmot, and 
 married a foreigner named Serres, by profession a painter. Her 
 striking resemblance to the royal family seems to have convinced 
 many persons of the truth of her story, which was totally unsupported 
 by any valid evidence. [See Anmml Register, vol. Ixii. p. 331 ; and 
 vol. xliii. p. 150.] 
 
 II Third daughter of George III., married in 1818 to Frederick, 
 Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. 
 
340 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 only at least three times her size. She wore the most 
 brilliant rose-coloured satin gown you ever saw, with 
 fancy shawls (more than one) flung in different forms 
 over her shoulders, after the manner of the late Lady 
 Hamilton. Then she had diamonds in profusion hung 
 from every part of her head but her nose, and the 
 whole was covered with feathers that would have 
 done credit to any hearse. Well ! after another 
 quarter of an hour we all took the field again — the 
 Lord Mayor at our head, and the gentle Lansdowne 
 following with dear Miss Thorpe * under his arm. As 
 we approached the great splendid hall, the procession 
 halted for nearly ten minutes, which we in the rear 
 could not comprehend. It turned out that Princess 
 Olivia of Cumberland had made her claim as Princess 
 of the Blood to sit at the right hand of my Lord 
 Mayor. The worthy magistrate, however, with great 
 spirit resisted these pretensions, and, after much 
 altercation . . . she was compelled to retreat to 
 another table, leaving the three Miss Thorpes the 
 only ladies who had the honor to be surrounded by 
 our English nobility. . . . The company assembled 
 in the hall were nine hundred in number, ladies and 
 gentlemen, at five tables. . . . We were marched 
 entirely round the hall, till we arrived at the top, 
 where a table on a slight elevation went across the 
 hall for us guests. Western's great delight was three 
 men in complete armour from top to toe, with 
 immense plumes of feathers upon their helmets. 
 They were seated in three niches in the wall over our 
 table. ... It was their duty to rise and wave their 
 truncheons when the Lord Mayor rose and gave his 
 toasts ; which they did with great effect, till one of 
 them fainted away with heat and fell out of his hole 
 upon the heads of the people below. . . . 
 
 " It is an abominable outrage to leave the Queen 
 till February or the end of January without addresses 
 from the two Houses upon her coming to the Throne, 
 and without making any pecuniary provision for her; 
 but so it will be, for of course the Black Rod will tap 
 at our door on the 23rd the moment the Speaker is in 
 the chair, and thus Parliament will be prorogued 
 
 * The Lord Mayor's daughter. 
 
i8i9-2o.] THE PROROGATION. 34I 
 
 before a word of complaint can be uttered on this 
 shameful conduct. Thank God, however, whoever is 
 Minister has a pleasant time before him. The people 
 have learnt a great lesson from this wicked proceed- 
 ing : they have learnt how to marshal and organise 
 themselves, and they have learnt at the same time the 
 success of their strength. Waithman, who has just 
 called upon me, tells me that the arrangements made 
 in every parish in and about London on this occasion 
 are perfectly miraculous — quite new in their nature — 
 and that they will be of eternal application in all our 
 public affairs. . . . They say the river below bridge 
 to-day is the most beautiful sight in the world ; every 
 vessel is covered with colors, and at the head of the 
 tallest mast in the river is the effigy of a Bishop, 20 
 or 30 feet in length, with his heels uppermost, hang- 
 ing from the masthead. 
 
 " I enclose a little love-letter I got from Lady 
 Holland some days since. It was preceded by a 
 message to the same effect a day or two before ; but, 
 as you may suppose, I have taken no notice of either." * 
 
 " Brooks's, Nov. 23, 4 o'clock. 
 
 " No ! I have seen many things in my life, but, in 
 point of atrocity, nothing equal to our proceedings of 
 to-day in the H. of Commons. Brougham wrote a 
 note last night both to the Speaker and Lord Castle- 
 reagh, telling them he should have a communication 
 to make to the H. of Commons from the Queen. 
 Castlereagh did not answer the note ; but the Speaker 
 wrote him an answer that he would take the chair 
 at i past 2, provided there were members enough 
 present to make a house. We were there, of course, 
 in great force, and he took the chair at the time 
 appointed ; but, after swearing in two new members, 
 and when Denman was upon his legs, just opening 
 the Queen's communication, the Usher of the Black 
 Rod knocked at the door. . . . You may suppose 
 we all made a lusty holloa of 'Mr. Denman! Mr. 
 
 * Holland House disapproved of the activity of "the Mountain" 
 in the Queen's defence ; while Creevey and the rest of the Mountain 
 resented bitterly the deference shown by Holland House to the King's 
 party. 
 
342 THE CREEVEY PAPERS. [Ch. XIII. 
 
 Denraan ! ' The Speaker, however, left the chair, 
 upon which Bennet called out with a loud voice — 
 ' This is scandalous ! ' As the Speaker walked down 
 the house, followed by Castlereagh, Vansittart and a 
 few others, we holloaed out — ' Shame ! shame ! ' that 
 might have been heard in any part of Westminster 
 Hall. Certainly such a scene has never occurred 
 in the H. of Commons since Charles the ist's time. 
 There were 150 members present. The villains dared 
 not shew this specimen of their low and pitiful spite 
 in public : the galleries were closed ; but Lambton has 
 just given the editor of the Traveller an account of 
 what passed. Canning was not in the House. . . . 
 After all, there was no Speech from the Throne, quite 
 contrary to all practices. If there had been one, the 
 Speaker must have come back to report it to us ; but 
 this was the thing meant to be avoided ; so, after 
 being literally hooted out of our House, after going 
 from the Lords he found his way the nearest road 
 home, leaving us to find out as we could that we 
 were actually prorogued." 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.