November 15th, 1830

Yesterday morning I breakfasted with ROBERT SOUTHEY. Taylor[15] to meet Southey: the party was Southey; Strutt, member for Derby, a Radical; young Mill, a political economist; Charles Villiers, young Elliot, and myself. Southey is remarkably pleasing in his manner and appearance, unaffected, unassuming, and agreeable; at least such was my impression for the hour or two I saw him. Young Mill is the son of Mill who wrote the ‘History of British India,’ and said to be cleverer than his father. He has written many excellent articles in reviews, pamphlets, &c., but though powerful with a pen in his hand, in conversation he has not the art of managing his ideas, and is consequently hesitating and slow, and has the appearance of being always working in his mind propositions or a syllogism.

[15] [Henry Taylor, the author of ‘Philip van Artevelde.’ Edward Strutt was afterwards created Lord Belper. ‘Young Mill’ was the eminent economist and philosopher John Stuart Mill. ‘Young Elliot,’ Sir Thomas Frederick Elliot, K.S.M.G., long one of the ablest members of the Colonial Department, to which Henry Taylor, the poet, himself belonged.]

Southey told an anecdote of Sir Massey Lopes, which is a good story of a miser. A man came to him and told him he was in great distress, and 200ℓ. would save him. He gave him a draft for the money.’ ‘Now,’ says he, ‘what will you do with this?’ ‘Go to the bankers and get it cashed.’ ‘Stop,’ said he; ‘I will cash it.’ So he gave him the money, but first calculated and deducted the discount, thus at once exercising his benevolence and his avarice.

Another story Taylor told (we were talking of the negroes and savages) of a girl (in North America) who had been brought up for the purpose of being eaten on the day her master’s son was married or attained a certain age. She was proud of being the plat for the occasion, for when she was accosted by a missionary, who wanted to convert her to Christianity and withdraw her from her fate, she said she had no objection to be a Christian, but she must stay to be eaten, that she had been fattened for the purpose and must fulfil her destiny.

When I came home I found a note to say my unfortunate colleague Buller[16] was dead. He had had an operation performed on his lip, after which he caught cold, got an inflammation in the windpipe, and died in two or three days. He was a very honourable, obliging, and stupid man, and a great loss to me, for I shall hardly find a more accommodating colleague.

[16] [James Buller, Esq., senior Clerk of the Council.]

In the evening I dined with Lord Sefton to meet Talleyrand and Madame de Dino. There were Brougham and Denman, the latter brought by the former to show Talleyrand to him. After dinner Talleyrand held a circle and discoursed, but I did not come in for his talk. They were all delighted, but long experience has proved to me that people are easily delighted with whatever is in vogue. Brougham is very proud of his French, which is execrable, and took the opportunity of holding forth in a most barbarous jargon, which he fancied was the real accent and phraseology. He told me he should have 250 votes on his motion. I said to him, ‘They think they shall have a majority of 150.’ He said, ‘Then there must be 650 to divide, for at the lowest computation I shall have 250.’ But at night Henry told me that the Duke, though he put a good face on it, was in fact very low, and that, from what Gosh [Arbuthnot] had said, he would certainly resign unless he carried the question by a large majority. In the morning I called on Lady Granville, who told me, as a great secret, that the Duke, notwithstanding his speech, was prepared to offer a compromise, and her story was this:—She had dined at Ludolf’s a few days ago to meet the Duchesse de Berri. All the great people dined there, among others the Chancellor and Lady Lyndhurst, and after dinner Lady Lyndhurst came up to her bursting with indignation, and confided to her that the Duke had resolved to offer a resolution to the effect that in any future case of borough delinquency the representation should be transferred to a great town, and that she thought after what had passed this would be so disgraceful that it disgusted her beyond expression, and a great deal more to this effect. I confess I don’t believe a word of it. I met the Prince of Orange last night in excellent DEFEAT OF THE WELLINGTON MINISTRY. spirits and humour, and quite convinced that he will be recalled to Brussels.

November 16th, 1830

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