November 19th, 1830
The day before yesterday Lord Grey went to the King, who received him with every possible kindness, and gave him carte blanche to form a new Administration, placing even the Household at his disposal—much to the disgust of the members of it. Ever since the town has been as usual teeming with reports, but with fewer lies DISCONTENT OF BROUGHAM. than usual. The fact is Lord Grey has had no difficulties, and has formed a Government at once; only Brougham put them all in a dreadful fright. He all but declared a hostile intention to the future Administration; he boasted that he would take nothing, refuse even the Great Seal, and nourished his Reform in terrorem over their heads; he was affronted and furious because he fancied they neglected him, but it all arose, as I am told, from Lord Grey’s letter to him not reaching him directly, by some mistake, for that he was the first person he wrote to. Still it is pretty clear that this eccentric luminary will play the devil with their system.
[The letter could not be the cause. The history of the transaction is this:—When Lord Grey undertook to form a Government he sent for Lord Lansdowne and Lord Holland, and these three began to work, without consulting with Brougham or any member of the House of Commons. Brougham was displeased at not being consulted at first, but was indignant when Lord Grey proposed to him to be Attorney-General. Then he showed his teeth, and they grew frightened, and soon after they sent Sefton to him, who got him into good humour, and it was made up by the offer of the Great Seal.—November 23rd.]
November 20th, 1830
Here I was interrupted, and broke off yesterday morning. At twelve o’clock yesterday everything was settled but the Great Seal, and in the afternoon the great news transpired that Brougham had accepted it. Great was the surprise, greater still the joy at a charm having been found potent enough to lay the unquiet spirit, a bait rich enough to tempt his restless ambition. I confess I had no idea he would have accepted the Chancellorship after his declarations in the House of Commons and the whole tenor of his conduct. I was persuaded that he had made to himself a political existence the like of which no man had ever before possessed, and that to have refused the Great Seal would have appeared more glorious than to take it; intoxicated with his Yorkshire honours, swollen with his own importance, and holding in his hands questions which he could employ to thwart, embarrass, and ruin any Ministry, I thought that he meant to domineer in the House of Commons and to gather popularity throughout the country by enforcing popular measures of which he would have all the credit, and thus establish a sort of individual power and authority, which would ensure his being dreaded, courted, and consulted by all parties. He could then have gratified his vanity, ambition, and turbulence; the Bar would have supplied fortune, and events would have supplied enjoyments suited to his temperament; it would have been a sort of madness, mischievous but splendid. As it is the joy is great and universal; all men feel that he is emasculated and drops on the Woolsack as on his political death-bed; once in the House of Lords, there is an end of him, and he may rant storm and thunder without hurting anybody.[18]
[18] [Lord Grey’s Administration was thus composed:—
| First Lord of the Treasury | Earl Grey. |
| Lord Chancellor | Lord Brougham. |
| Lord President | Marquis of Lansdowne. |
| Lord Privy Seal | Lord Ripon (in 1833). |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | Viscount Althorp. |
| Home Secretary | Viscount Melbourne. |
| Foreign Secretary | Viscount Palmerston. |
| Colonial Secretary | Viscount Goderich, and afterwards Mr. Stanley. |
| Board of Control | Mr. Charles Grant. |
| Board of Trade | Lord Auckland. |
| Admiralty | Sir James Graham. |
| Postmaster-General | Duke of Richmond. |
| Paymaster-General | Lord John Russell. |
| Irish Secretary | Mr. Stanley.] |
The other places present a plausible show, but are not well distributed, some ill filled. Graham Admiralty, Melbourne Home, Auckland Board of Trade—all bad. The second is too idle, the first too inconsiderable, the third too ignorant.[19] They have done it very quickly, however, and without many difficulties. As to the Duke of Richmond, LORD GREY’S ADMINISTRATION. people are indignant at a half-pay lieutenant-colonel commanding the Ordnance Department, and as an acquisition he is of doubtful value, for it seems the Tories will not go with him, at least will not consider themselves as his followers; so said Lord Mansfield and Vyvyan.
[19] [This is a remarkable instance of the manner in which the prognostications of the most acute observers are falsified by events. The value of Mr. Greville’s remarks on the men of his time consists not in their absolute truth, but in their sincerity at the moment at which they were made. They convey a correct impression of the notion prevailing at that time. Thus Sir James Graham became unquestionably a very active First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Melbourne a ‘considerable’ Prime Minister of England, and Lord Auckland a painstaking and well-informed Governor-General of India.]