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brought things at once to a point coram populo. It was then seen what heavy arrears of dirty rancour had been mutually accumulated by those to whom the blind nation had so long been trusting, as champions arrayed side by side in equal and honourable zeal for its

service.

Shepherd. Mr. Tickler, I dinna understaun ye.

Tickler. How should you? Hold your tongue, James. Universal disgust ensued—and the rivals were left to jostle each other as they might, amidst the scornful indifference of the deceived.* From that fatal day, my hopes of seeing a cabinet worthy of the name were at an end. I perceived clearly that the charm of general confidence was broken-that the minor officials had for ever sacrificed themselves— and that, whichever of the contending chiefs should ultimately possess the reins, would hold them, not as a minister among ministers, but a despot among slaves.

Shepherd. The Dyeuck o' Wallinton, for a' that's a great favourite wi' the nation-misca' him as you wull, Tickler.

Tickler. Pshaw!-It is impossible, Mr. North, to deny that at this moment the Duke of Wellington is regarded with anything but kindly feelings by the nation, or by any one class of the nation. But this is nothing to the bare contempt with which his colleagues and most of those who have been his colleagues, are universally looked to. And, in short, considering the temper of the man, I am satisfied, that after the experience he has had of the sweets of sitting in such a cabinet as the present-Præses unus et princeps—he would prefer quitting Downing Street altogether, to any arrangement which would leave him only the first among a set of honourable hands-men of rank, influence, real talent, information, and principle,-men to whom the nation would as necessarily look up, as they look down upon the subalterns.

North. I dare say, Tickler, the Duke will witness the result of the election before he makes up his mind as to the ulteriora. But if that be such as I anticipate, I have no sort of doubt he, not being a fool, and being fond of place, and moreover having unquestionably not a little of that self-reliance to which the Shepherd adverted, will prefer alliance with the Tories, to the only alternatives then in his choice; to wit, alliance out and out, not with whiggery, but with the Whigs, or another campaign at the head of the Incapables, with the certainty of being kicked out head and croup along with them in the course thereof. And I confess, I, for one, think the Tories, after all that has come and gone, ought to close with the Duke, rather than by rejecting nim, give the Whigs a grand chance of empire-for God knows how

* Sir Walter Scott's remark (in his diary, on hearing of Canning's death) was, "A High Tory Administration would be a great evil at this time. There are repairs in the structure of our Constitution which ought to be made at this season, and without which the people will not long be silent. A pure Whig Administration would probably play the devil by attempting a thorough pair."-M.

many years, in other words, give the country the grandest of all chances to be utterly ruined. That's my feeling on this subject. I should never advise the Tories to resolve all into the question of Duke or no Duke? If he can under no circumstances make up his stomach to sit in the same cabinet with such people as the Richmonds, the Mansfields, and so forth-let the world know where it sticks. Let it never be said that such men as these were unwilling, even at the eleventh hour, to make the experiment of sitting in the same cabinet with him. Carnot obtained honour with all the world by putting faith in Bonaparte's promises, and undertaking the defence of Antwerp; and I consider that we ought all to make many sacrifices rather than behold a regular invasion of the Whigs.

Tickler. On the contrary, North, it has long been my opinion, that the only chance the Tories have of reuniting into their old structure of steadfastness, lies in the natural consequences to be expected from a Whig reign of some decent duration. I have been praying for their incoming these seven years-not doubting that in due season the toe would be called into requisition.

North. Well, I am no friend to any such experiments. And if by your toe you mean your pen, Timotheus, why, I think it very possible that Sir James Scarlett might reconcile it to his conscience to remain Attorney even under a pure Whig administration.

Tickler. No question-but would such an administration suffer him to remain?

North. Why, I dare say they would. Colonel Moustapha Soleau, I take it, is not unlikely to continue in charge of the fortifications of Algiers. To say the truth, the notion of any thing like a political conscience or character being necessary or desirable among the law officers of the Crown, appears of late years to be getting considerably out of fashion.

Seward. And would it not be very indecorous, my dear sir, for the man not to dress by his master? A pretty figure would a Sir Charles Wetherell make in the pay of such a cabinet as the present-no, nonova tempora novos homines.

North. Why, in more senses than one we have now-a-days enough of novi homines-but I still hope to see the Duke-nolentem volentem -at the head of a cabinet made up, to a fair extent, of persons of another cut. He might, after all, introduce half-a-dozen effectives, without displacing a single ounce either of character, or talent, or any sort of influence whatever. Suppose him to make Peel a peer, and, if he must remain in the cabinet-for a time at least privy-seal. Suppose Sir George Murray to stick at the Colonies, where, indeed, every body speaks well of him*-and to assume the lead in the Com

When the Duke of Wellington became Premier in 1828, he gave a high office to such of his companions in arms as he thought equal to it. Thus, Lord Anglesea was made Viceroy, Sir

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mons, which I have no doubt he could now do very well-and suppose Lord Lyndhurst to be a fixture also for the present-I should like to know in what possible point of view the Duke could be a loser by sweeping out every other article of furniture in his present cabinet, Lord Melville, a man of talents and integrity, excepted. Old Bathurst, since he ratted and cut off his pigtail, is of no more consequence than that decanter of port. Herries and Goulburn have both stultified themselves now beyond all redemption, and, at any rate, must be cashiered-and as for Edward Lord Ellenborough—but I want patience for that carum caput.*

Buller. Unless my old acquaintance, Ned Law, be much alteredI have not seen him for some years he must be one of the best-looking fellows in the Duke's pay-a tall, well-built swapper of a carcass -a bright eye, regular features, hair like another Antinous, and a strut like a peacock. By Jupiter, what do you want in a tame elephant?

North. Oh! mercy! I never saw him till I was in town this time twelvemonths, and upon my soul I am half inclined to agree with Lady Holland, that the mere spectacle of such a thing riding down Whitehall, and known to be a minister of the Crown, might be almost enough to justify a revolution.

Buller. That's un peu fort; but truly, truly, it's enough to make one's heart sick to think that the Duke's only official speaker in the Lords is this pert, pompous puppy of a parvenu. But for his ready impudence of chattering imbecility, and good-natured Lord Goderich's occasional Samaritanism, the great chief would have absolutely been left, on some of the most important nights of this Session, to oppose the best speakers now in England-tales quales-with the quick, gruff growls of his own imperatoria brevitas, and the awkward, uneasy, repulsive, hoarse hammerings of Lord Aberdeen.t

North. A man, however, of unquestioned accomplishments, and of talents very far above any other non-combatant in the Duke's clique. In fact, Mr. Buller, the foreign policy, on which alone our countrymen could be expected to come forth, has been all along, since my friend Canning's exit, in such a condition, that the devil himself could have made little on't. But we need not waste time about this. The "tra

Henry Hardinge, Secretary for Ireland, and Sir George Murray became Colonial Secretary. He was an excellent official, and a good speaker, as well as a gallant soldier. He edited the Marlborough Despatches, and died in July, 1846, aged seventy-four.-M.

*Lyndhurst was then Lord Chancellor:-Lord Melville at the head of the Admiralty,-Herries, Master of the Mint,-Goulburn, Chancellor of the Exchequer,-and Lord Ellenborough, President of the Board of Control.-M.

The Earl of Aberdeen, now [1854] at the head of the British Government, entered Parliament in 1814, as a British peer, and has always been a Tory. In 1826, he became Foreign-Secretary under Wellington; in 1834-25, under Peel, he was Colonial Minister; and from 1841 to 1846 was again at the Foreign Office. In December, 1852, he was appointed Premier. It is said, in extenuation, that the delays and shuffling which, in 1853-54, gave the Czar great advantages, by granting him time, were caused by Lord Aberdeen's having gone over the battle-field of Leipsig, in 1813, two days after the encounter, and being so much disgusted at the sight that he made a 'solemn vow never to assist in any transactions which could lead to such destruction of human life. In his early satire, Byron spoke of him as "the Travelled Thane, Athenian Aberdeen."-M, VOL. IV.-10

velled thane," I have always understood, owed his place in the cabinet to the personal friendship of George IV.; and, that being so, it needs no witch to foretell his fate now. I should not wonder to see Lord Dudley re-established.* He, at all events, must have seen enough, by this time, of the wisdom of going out as part of the tail of Squire Huskisson.

Buller. I long thought the Huskissons would have made it up with the commander-in-chief somehow or other; but of late there seems to have been such a display of bitterness, that of all possible methods of escape from the present dilemma, such a conjunction must be now the most unlikely. Charles Grant, William Huskisson ipse, and, above all, Palmerston, have thrown away the scabbard.

North. Ah! had some of these lads exerted themselves when in place as they have done out of it, we should have seen different doings in more cases than one. Why, Lord Palmerston was considered as a mere outworn fashionable voluptuary, cold, careless, blasé all over— behold the spur is clapt to him, and he turns out both a declaimer and a debater of the most laudable acerbity-a very thorn in poor Peel's withers.f As for Grant, every body knew his talents, but his indolence was beginning to be considered hopeless. Could he have got rid, some ten years ago, of lying abed in the mornings, he must have been at present the first, without a second, in every respect, in the House of Commons; but I fear he has allowed the golden opportunity to pass, and, in spite of these recent exertions, will find himself without even a place in the next Parliament. The Duke is backing M'Leod in Inverness-shire totis viribus-and they say Robert is also trembling for the boroughs. His highness would very fain keep out people capable of such demonstrations,

*Earl Dudley and Ward, who was Foreign Secretary in 1827, was a man of considerable literary attainments, but remarkably absent and addicted to "thinking" aloud. When in office, he directed a letter intended for the French to the Russian Ambassador, shortly before the "untoward event" at Navarino; and, strange as it may seen, gained great credit thereby ! Prince Lieven set it down as one of the cleverest ruses ever attempted to be played off, and gave himself immense credit for not falling into the trap laid for him by the sinister ingenuity of the English minister. He returned the letter in a polite note, declaring, of course, that he had not read a line of it, after ascertaining that it was intended for Prince Polignac; but could not help telling Lord Dudley at an evening party that he was " trop fin, but that diplomatists of his standing were not so easily caught."-M.

† Palmerston, universally admitted now to be one of the ablest of British statesmen, has been a member of the House of Commons since 1806,-he is an Irish Viscount, without a seat in the House of Lords, and eligible to represent any but an Irish constituency, in the Lower House. He has served under no fewer than ten prime ministers! He held office successively under the Duke of Portland (as Lord of the Admiralty), Mr. Percival, the Earl of Liverpool, Mr. Canning, Lord Goderich, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Grey, Melbourne's first and second Ministries, Lord John Russell, and the Earl of Aberdeen. He was for nineteen years (1809 to 1828) Secretary of War, and for fifteen years (1830 to 1834-1835 to 1841-1846 to 1851) Secretary for Foreign affairs. His lordship is Home Secretary [1854] in the Aberdeen Ministry. As a speaker, he rarely rises into eloquence, but has plain good sense, lively wit, and sarcastic badinage complety at his control. He is seventy years old.-M.

Charles Grant, now Lord Glenelg, had been Irish Secretary under a Tory Ministry, although his political leaning was towards Liberalism. In 1830 he came into office with the Whigs, and in 1835, was called to the Upper House. His brother, Sir Robert Grant, was Judge AdvocateGeneral under the Grey Ministry.-M.

66

CANNING AND THE DUKE.

And where he makes a desert, call it peace."

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But the plan cannot succeed in the general. In considering the fortunes of some of Wellington's political contemporaries, I am often reminded of Benedict XIV.'s description of a certain French statesman, un fou avec beaucoup de l'esprit." Sir Walter Scott, in his Life of Napoleon, says, that neither he, nor his conqueror, owed any thing to genius-every thing to the possession of the every-day faculties in an extraordinary measure. I don't agree with Scott as to Bonaparte, who, on the contrary, was a complete specimen of the soarings and sinkings of unbalanced genius, who was, as his military allocutions and bulletins show, an orator of the highest class, and who, I doubt not, had in him all the stuff of a Pindar as well;-but I quite coincide with him as to the Duke, who has no more genius than a fortyeight-pounder, and appears indeed to be cast of the same materialand think few things can be more instructive than to observe the style in which he has managed courts, and cabinets, and senates, by the sheer strength of homely shrewdness and imperturbable will, in opposition to all the efforts of all the "fous avec beaucoup de l'esprit." It was not talent of any kind that could ever give him a check-that required genius; and it is my belief, that even Canning's genius would, in the upshot, have sunk before him, had it been spared to try conclusions.

Tickler. Very like; but had Canning's thread been spun out, the great Lord would have had pretty allies to lean on, compared to what either Canning had in his latter day, or he himself can boast of now. Had George Canning lived, the Duke would have fought him mordicus, at the head of the Protestant interest. Philpotts would have bottled off a score more sound anti-Catholic potions by this time ;* and Copley decanted them. Copplestone would not have been re-rere-converted. Peel would have kept his character; and Bathurst his pigtail.

Buller. Well, it makes one sorry to think of some things. For what purpose, now, was all this mighty, this immeasurable evil done? Merely that the Catholic question might be carried a year and a half sooner. The solid immediate difficulty was, it is avowed on all hands, the trembling conscience of George IV.; and sympathy with his inward struggles was at the bottom, I can well believe, of at least half the popular indignation. How easily might all have been accom

* Dr. Henry Philpotts, Bishop of Exeter, appointed, later in 1830, in the room of Dr. Carey, translated to the See of St. Asaph's.-M.

This is quite true. It was publicly stated by Peel, in Parliament, and is confirmed in Twiss's Life of Lord Eldon, that the Duke of Wellington had the utmost difficulty in persuading George IV. to consent to Catholic emancipation being brought in, as a Government measure, in 1829.The Duke and Peel resigned office, when they found this difficulty, and then, with great reluc tance and much perturbation of spirit, the King allowed them to do as they desired.-In 1829, as the Duke said, he had to choose between Catholic Emancipation and Civil War in Ireland, and he preferred the former.-M.