I read part of your letter to C—— to-day, but did not show it to him, as there were parts of it which I thought referred rather too much to topics which are private to ourselves, and my uncle Tom had particularly entered his veto against communicating the reference to his letter. I saw it discomposed him extremely, and he agreed that it would be necessary for me to see Lord Liverpool and talk the matter over with him before it goes any further. He told me that previous to making this proposal, he had ascertained that the Directors would not be disposed to send me to India, and that their motive to accept the Speaker would only be with the view of making room here for Huskisson. That he had originally determined before he came to town to have stipulated for the promotion of Huskisson before he made himself "the immense sacrifice he did in accepting office," but that the concurrent opinion of his friends had deterred him from this, and that he was most especially moved to it by your letter to Lord Morley, which had peculiar weight with him, and that now, standing as he did single in the Cabinet, he felt that he was entitled to have every facility afforded him for that purpose, or that it might still be necessary for him to retire.
I have written to Lord L—— to offer to go down to Combe Wood to-morrow, as I am sure it is desirable to bring the matter to an upshot one way or the other. My uncle Tom comes up to town, and dines with me to-day. I must own it appears to me that C—— has completely got round both him and Lord G——. They are astonished that I can think he shows disinclination to me personally, &c. &c. I must say that I think your view of the question is a fit one, and such as you are thoroughly entitled to take, and have only to beg earnestly that no consideration of my interests may induce you to depart from what you feel to be due to yourself and your own consistency.
Ever most faithfully yours,
C. W. W.
THE RIGHT HON. THOMAS GRENVILLE TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
Cleveland Square, Oct. 3, 1822.
My dear Duke,
Having learnt from Charles that you have expressed to him some uneasiness at not hearing from me in reference to the discussions which have, as he tells me, been going on between you and the Government upon the proposal of his taking the Chair, I do not hesitate to assure you that no man living can take a more cordial and affectionate interest than I do in everything which regards your happiness and gratifications, public and private, and that whatever could be done, on my very limited scale, that could in the least degree contribute to any of those objects, I should do with all the kind and ready feelings of warm and sincere affection. From political discussions, however, I have, as you know, entirely withdrawn myself for a very long time past, and the very little share which I took in the discussion respecting yourself and Charles, at the beginning of last winter, convinced me how much pain to myself and how little advantage to you, must arise from my renewing them. In truth, I am much too antiquated to enter into the councils of a mind as ardent as yours, and much too little conversant with the politics of these times to be a useful or safe adviser. I have the more readily adopted this negative course from the persuasion that you, who are in the prime of life for business, with more than forty years over your head, with good talents, and with no little experience of men and manners, are a much more reasonable judge of what is fit for you to do or not to do, than any other man can be for you. Who is there that can sufficiently adopt the thoughts and feelings and taste of another, to decide for him what is best for his own happiness? Why should it be required that I, who have one foot in the grave, should see the objects of public life or the means of attaining them, in the same points of view with yourself, who are in the prime of active life, and ardently alive to all those pursuits which are flat and unprofitable to my antiquated eyes? It is perhaps not unreasonable in me, who see you one of the first men in the country, with a Dukedom and the Garter, and having already all that the Crown can give, to consider you as standing upon very elevated ground, and as being one who ought not easily to be persuaded by any Government to accept of any office from them. On the other hand, it is quite natural for you or any man who has the ambition to be decidedly the one first man in the country, to take the course which in your judgment leads most directly to the object of your wishes; but how can I advise in this, who do not start from the same post or look towards the same goal? I am prouder, it seems, for you than you are for yourself, and while you seem anxious to establish a claim for office in the present Government, I am too proud to see you as that claimant, or to agree that any consideration should induce you to take official share in this Government, unless it were for the single act of dispensing to Ireland the blessing of Catholic emancipation? This different view of your situation from that which you entertain, leaves therefore no possibility of my old-fashioned eyesight adopting what your younger and stronger eyes see with an ardour of which mine are no longer capable. As long as I see my dear Duke, I do not see upon earth anybody in whose prosperity and happiness I take a warmer and more sincerely cordial feeling than I do in yours—and that is better in an old, decaying uncle, than discussions that he is no longer fit for.
This sensible communication anticipates the result of the overtures of Mr. Canning, who was already beginning to feel his strength, and did not hesitate to show it. What his object was is expressed in the next letter; it was foiled by the Duke of Buckingham placing it in a strong light before the observation of the now nominal Premier, Lord Liverpool.
THE RIGHT HON. W. H. FREMANTLE TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.