Came from Newmarket on Thursday night. Melbourne is said (by his friends) to be doing very well in the House of Lords, but the discussion on Friday about Lord Wellesley’s resignation gave him great annoyance. Lord Wellesley declined to say why he had resigned, and merely declared it was not on account of Mulgrave’s procession, but he did not contradict any one of the assertions that the cause was disgust at O’Connell’s ascendency. When Lord Harrowby said that ‘if he had been Mulgrave he THE APPEAL OF SWIFT v. KELLY. would rather have been torn in pieces than have marched in under such banners as were displayed,’ Lord Wellesley loudly cheered him. Peel’s speech at the dinner the other day has made a great deal of noise, for he is supposed to have thrown over his High Tory friends very completely in it, and to have exhibited a determination to adapt his opinions and conduct to the spirit of the times. However, the Tories affect to be satisfied, laud it to the skies, and distribute it through the country. In the House of Commons up to this time nothing has been done; Peel has made over his Dissenters Bill to the Government, who will probably do nothing with it this session. Nobody expects the present Administration to last long, as it is said, not even themselves; but nothing is prepared for the formation of a better and more durable Cabinet.
Lord Eliot[5] and Colonel Gurwood have returned from Spain, satisfied that the Carlist party cannot be put down, and having had a conversation with Louis Philippe, the substance of which appeared in the ‘Times,’ and very correctly. Great indignation is expressed at the indiscretion which let this out, and it is understood that Gurwood has been chattering about what passed in all directions. The King of France, it is clear, will not interfere, and so they must fight it out. Spanish stock fell 15 per cent, in one or two days. The King is in such a state of dudgeon that he will not give any dinners to anybody.
[5] [Lord Eliot (afterwards Earl of St. Germans) had been sent to Spain by the Duke of Wellington, in March 1835, to endeavour to mitigate the atrocities which at that time disgraced the leaders on both sides in the civil contest raging in Spain. He was eminently successful in his mission, and a Convention (commonly known as the Convention of Bergara) was signed under his Lordship’s mediation at Logroño on the 27th of April, 1835. A narrative of this mission was printed by Lord St. Germans in 1871.]
Yesterday Swift and Kelly’s[6] case came on before the Privy Council. It was to have been heard the Monday before, when it would have been argued and decided, because every day in the week was disposable for the purpose, but Brougham thought fit to interfere. He insisted upon being there to hear it, and compelled Lord Lansdowne to put off the hearing till Saturday, to the extraordinary inconvenience of all parties. On Saturday the court met, but no Brougham. They began, and in about two hours he made his appearance, read his letters, wrote notes, corrected some paper (for the press, as I could see), and now and then attended to the cause, making flippant observations, much to the terror of Jervaise—Miss Kelly’s uncle—for all his interruptions appeared to be directed adversely to them. I told Mr. Jervaise he need not pay any attention to what Brougham said. As he came late, so he went away early, breaking up the court at half-past three, and as other engagements occupied the Judges the rest of the week, it was put off till the 18th of June.
[6] [The curious case of Swift v. Kelly was heard by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and is reported in Knapp’s ‘Privy Council Reports,’ vol. iii. p. 257. Mr. Greville had known something of the parties in Rome, and their adventures are related in a former part of these Journals, vol. i. p. 379.]
May 30th, 1835
On Wednesday last went to Charles Kemble’s in the evening; singing and playing; Mrs. Arkwright, Miss Strutt, old Liverati (horrible squabbling), and Miss Adelaide Kemble. The father and mother both occupied with their daughter’s book, which Kemble told me he had ‘never read till it appeared in print, and was full of sublime things and vulgarities,’ and the mother ‘was divided between admiration and disgust, threw it down six times, and as often picked it up.’
Thursday night.
To Horace Twiss’s what he called ‘a Judy party’—a supper and jollification, where all were expected to contribute to the amusement of the company who possessed wherewithal. The contributors were Twiss himself, Mrs. Arkwright, Miss Cooke, Dance, Miss Dance, Planché, Mrs. Blood, Mrs. Groom, Theodore Hook, Billy something, who imitated Cooper and Ward. I stayed till two, and they went on till three. It was sufficiently amusing altogether, though noisy and vulgar; company very miscellaneous, but everybody ready to amuse and be amused.