THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
Llangodwin, Aug. 28, 1823.
My dear B——,
The recommendation which was contained in my last, of sending a copy of your letter to Lord Liverpool, arose from my concurring in the old principle that it is unfit for any British subject to hold communication with any foreign sovereign, particularly on any political question, without the knowledge and permission of the King's Government. You will see this adverted to, I think, in Burke's letter to the Duke of Portland. Assuming this to be correct, I do not think that there is any material difference whether your correspondence is directly with the Emperor of Austria, or with Count Nugent to be laid before him; and I should certainly have given you the same advice in the year 1816, when you were acting in hostility to Government, as strongly as I do now.
With respect to the Cabinet, the frequent complaints which you have heard from me of the single and unconnected situation in which I find myself, these would show you how anxiously I must wish that you could effect your entry there, independent of every motive of personal regard, gratitude, and attachment.
I doubt, however, whether consistently with your own dignity, you could avail yourself of any vacancy but those of the Presidency of the Council, Privy Seal, Admiralty, or Secretary of State. The Mint or Chancellorship of the Duchy would, in the public eye, be entirely below your rank and situation to accept.
I think, therefore, that you should confine your application to the first-named offices, or (objectionable in principle as I always think it) to Cabinet without office. You may, I think, assume the probability of Sidmouth's retirement as a ground for pressing the latter; but at all events it will be desirable to state very clearly and distinctly the prospects which were held out to you by Lord Londonderry. At the present moment you may be assured that there will be much disinclination to admit your claim.
The Protestant party is eager, the Catholic lukewarm and hollow. C——[124] ] knows not where to look for support, but is afraid that by joining himself with us, who seem his natural allies, he would increase the indisposition of the K—— and D—— of Y——, which he would make any sacrifice to deprecate. Besides this, he has no inclination to any who assume higher pretensions than those of being his followers; and after what took place a twelvemonth ago, he, like all other persons who have been in the wrong in a dispute and advanced unreasonable pretensions, will be personally disinclined to those who were in the right and resisted them, and this will of course be increased by the difference in your former politics. The only person to whom you can look is the D—— of W——. If he thinks you are likely to assist and strengthen him, I have no doubt he could open the door to you; but I freely acknowledge that I do not understand his views and objects. They begin, centre, and end, no doubt, in himself, and on that account he would like to cement an alliance with you; but then how will he manage it with the Protestants? I take it, both from what I recollect of the language of the Horse Guards during the whole of the Peninsular War, and from other circumstances, that there is no real cordiality between him and the D—— of Y——. The latter has, I believe, always been jealous of him. He looks, I apprehend, to Peel and the Chancellor, and to them only as the instruments of his bigotry to resist the Catholic claims.
Robinson, I believe, confines himself to his own business, and Liverpool is indifferent to everything but present repose, and by any temporizing measure to delay the evil hour of rupture and collision. Still, when it comes to the point, you will find him on almost every subject make some excuse for siding with the Protestant party.
Ever affectionately yours,