CHANGES IN THE GOVERNMENT. LORD ELDON'S DISSATISFACTION. MR. CHARLES WILLIAMS WYNN APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL. OTHER MINISTERIAL ARRANGEMENTS. THE KING'S SPEECH. TROUBLES IN IRELAND. THREATENED ATTACK IN PARLIAMENT ON MR. HENRY WILLIAMS WYNN. LORD GRENVILLE ON THE FINANCES OF THE COUNTRY. DEAN BUCKLAND. DISCONTENT OF THE COUNTRY GENTLEMEN. THREATENED DISSOLUTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. DISMISSAL OF SIR BENJAMIN BLOOMFIELD.
CHAPTER VII.
The long negotiated arrangement of the Government for an accession of political and official strength was made known to the public by an announcement in the Gazette of the 12th of January, that the King had directed letters patent to be issued, granting to the Marquis of Buckingham the titles of Marquis of Chandos and Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. On the 17th the King held a Court at Carlton House, when the Right Hon. Charles Williams Wynn kissed hands on receiving the appointment of President of the Board of Control, and on the following day he attended at a Cabinet Council. A little later Dr. Phillimore and Mr. W. H. Fremantle were joined with him at the Board, and Mr. Henry Williams Wynn received a diplomatic appointment to the Swiss Cantons. The Cabinet was further strengthened by having the Right Hon. Robert Peel in place of Lord Sidmouth, who resigned the post of Secretary of State for the Home Department.
After recording these changes, a modern historian adds: "This coalition gained Ministers a few votes in the House of Commons, but it was of more importance as indicating—as changes in the Cabinet generally do—the commencement of a change in the system of government. The admission of even a single Whig into the Cabinet indicated the increasing weight of that party in the country, and, as they were favourable to the Catholic claims, it was an important change."[76] ]
The biographer of Lord Eldon implies that this accession of strength was regarded with much dissatisfaction by a certain portion of the Government, of which the Lord Chancellor may be considered the representative, and acknowledges they were of opinion that the honours and advantages conferred on the new recruits would have been better bestowed on themselves. An extract of a letter, dated January 14th, from the learned Lord to Lady F. J. Bankes, supports his views: "This coalition," he writes, "I think will have consequences very different from those expected by the members of Administration who have brought it about. I hate coalitions."[77] ] The Lord Chancellor was in truth very much put out of temper by an arrangement in which he had not been consulted, and revenged himself by circulating all the jokes (harmless enough) he could hear or invent, at the expense of his new colleagues.
There is no doubt that this junction firmly established the Government in their position. If only a moiety of the rumours that had long been circulated affecting their stability was true, they were in an unenviable state. The King's dissatisfaction had been confidently reported, and changes threatened of a very sweeping character; but, though his Majesty had no doubt been greatly irritated by the result of the Queen's trial, the unexpected removal of the cause of irritation, and the agreeable impression created by his Irish and German tours, caused a sensible reaction in favour of his long-tried servants, and he only permitted the removal of one—replaced by a younger and more active statesman, who had already acquired high political eminence. How these changes affected the parties most interested in them, will be found fully detailed in their correspondence.
MR. W. H. FREMANTLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.
Bagshot Park, Jan. 11, 1822.
My dear Lord,
Most sincerely and truly do I congratulate you on your creation, which, thank God, closes an event so many years looked for, and anxiously desired by your good father and yourself; I did not flatter myself with the hopes of living to see it take place, and more so, from the honour conferred upon you two years ago. The addition of the entail of the Earldom in the female line, is a mark of most singular and partial favour altogether. It is as much as any subject of the empire could acquire, and bestowed on one whose family and himself have been unconnected with the Government, and generally opposing it for the last fifteen years. We have been here for three or four days, and leave it to-morrow. The Duke was quite flattered and pleased with your letter. From all I learn, I am inclined to believe the Opposition are very low, and do not flatter themselves with a great stand this session. The revenue is a great aid to us. I have not heard a word since from Lord Liverpool, but take it for granted (which I shall lament) that he will not be able to succeed in vacating the Treasury; I am rather of opinion that he would wish it if he well could.