Ever most affectionately yours,
C. W. W.
There is some talk of Lord Maryborough quitting the Cabinet, and I believe that the Doctor only remains till he can appear to leave it without any reference to Canning's appointment.
THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
East India Office, Jan. 25, 1823.
My dear B——,
There is much reason to fear that Chateaubriand is still more favourably disposed towards the War party than his predecessor, and is run away with a true French notion that the glory of success can only exist in connexion with the white cockade. Should he prevail, there is little doubt that Villele will retire, and then the Ultra-Royalists will drive to the Devil with a rapidity that nothing can check.
This is the gloomy side; on the other, Villele has certainly great strength, and even the Royalists will think twice before they allow the million (English) of surplus which is about to be applied to indemnify them, to go towards the frais of an armament, the recommendation of which is that it is to be levied without a loan and without an additional tax.
I quite agree with you in the necessity of supporting Wellesley and Plunket, though we may in private think they have acted absurdly. I am convinced that the Orange party will make a run against them with all the power they can, of which I already see symptoms which cannot be mistaken; but as far as I can judge, L—— will behave honestly.
The depositions have all been sent over, and I am not surprised that the English lawyers are unable to find among them any ground to maintain the committal for the capital charge. As, however, this was abandoned, the practical battle will be upon the propriety of a prosecution by information, after an indictment preferred by the Attorney-General has been ignored. Of this there is no example in England. Whether there is or not in Ireland I do not know, but at all events Plunket must be supported in it, and allowed to proceed. The Irish Government now stand publicly committed to that course, and if they were compelled to abandon it, must immediately resign, and afford a triumph to the Orange faction. It is no small misfortune that our law advisers should be so entirely in one interest, and under one influence, as to exercise no free agency of their own. I trust that we have put a stop to the practice of submitting Plunket's conduct and opinions to their revision, by treating their communication as one of a nature strictly private, and as one which it would be impossible to make known to any one individual without giving the justest offence both to Wellesley, Plunket, and Bushe.