THE RIGHT HON. W. H. FREMANTLE TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
Stanhope Street, May 31, 1823.
My dear Duke,
I met the Duke of Wellington this morning, and had a great deal of conversation with him of a most confidential nature. He began it by asking if you had left town, saying he had received your letter, and had taken immediate steps for bringing matters right between C—— and W——.[113] ] That "I knew perfectly well how ticklish a gentleman the former was, and how difficult to manage, and with how little ground he was in the habit of taking exception; that in this case he knew he could have no ground, but on the contrary he (C——) ought and must know, that he owed W—— every attention and kindness for the manly and decided manner you had acted on the proposal of taking him into office after the death of Lord L——."[114] ] I found evidently that the Duke of W—— disliked C——, for he could not resist the pleasure of attacking and condemning him in many points of his conduct since he has held the Seals, and entered at large into it in a manner that I cannot well detail in a letter, going through his quarrel with the Chancellor, and what had since occurred in an attempt which the Duke had made to reconcile them, and in which he thought C—— had behaved with great want of judgment and temper; again, in his conduct about Spain, and on the questions regarding Ireland; but with all this (admitting of course), his value to the Government, and the necessity of keeping him in good humour if possible. It was most satisfactory to hear him say, that the whole of Wynn's conduct in the Cabinet since he had belonged to it had been uniformly conciliatory and temperate, and such as had universally given satisfaction, and that he could not understand why C—— had taken the exception.
I see evidently from all this that the K—— still continues to feel indisposed to C——, for I am quite sure the language the Duke holds is the same held by his Royal Master; and there is another view which is not less satisfactory, namely, that he (C——) is not sufficiently strong with the Cabinet to carry everything his own way. All I should recommend to W——, and which I shall speak to him about, is to follow the Duke of W——'s advice in going on, not pretending to see the coolness, and leave C—— to amuse himself with his own ill-humour.
I was delighted to hear from Wynn of his Majesty's gracious language about you, and at the manner in which he was received, and that you have judged quite wisely in writing to express your feelings upon it; at the same time I would recommend you not to press it further at present, but to see how matters go on, and whether anything occurs previous to the prorogation. I still think the Chancellor will go when this takes place, but not before, but I doubt of the manner in which the law arrangements are to be made. The Government are determined to get the Irish Tithes Bills through if they can, and Canning told me he thought nothing could be so dangerous or desperate as to leave them still hanging over.
You shall hear from me whenever I hear anything further.
Ever most faithfully yours,
W. H. F.
The Duke of Wellington, who undertook the office of peace-maker between Mr. Canning and Mr. Wynn, refers in the course of the following communication to the well-known verse—