From being in the first coach, I could see little of the behaviour of the mob at the funeral, but all that I saw or heard was perfectly proper till the moment of the removal of the coffin from the hearse to enter the Abbey, when a Radical yell was set up from St. Margaret's churchyard.
Lady Londonderry's wish that he should be interred in Westminster Abbey, and with the pomp of a private funeral, seems to me extraordinary, and under the unfortunate circumstances of his death, very ill-judged. I had myself proposed, in order to obviate the possibility of any expression of hostile or disrespectful feeling, that the body should at once have been brought on the preceding night to the Jerusalem Chamber, instead of to his house in St. James's-square, and that the procession should be formed from thence on foot.
Sunday, 25th.
A letter from town this morning tells me that the King is not to leave Edinburgh till the 28th, which will of course extend my stay at this place. Everything leads me to believe that the discussion will rather turn on the particular official situation to be held by Canning, than on the vesting in him the lead of the House of Commons, the necessity of which seems to be so generally and strongly felt, that opposition to it must be ineffectual. At the same time nothing is yet known of Peel's sentiments, and there will not be wanting those among his friends who will urge him to refuse serving under Canning.
Have you any ground for mentioning Harrowby as a decided opponent of C——'s admission? I should have thought that agreement on the Catholic question would have reconciled him to it.
Ever most faithfully yours,
C. W. W.
THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
Whitehall, Sept 3, 1822.
My dear B——,