On July 1st, 1833, Ford was back at Granada. But he had now determined, for the reasons given in the following letter, to return to England. Addington was also leaving Madrid. Greville (Memoirs, ed. 1888, vol. iii. pp. 14-15), notes on July 20th: “George Villiers is to go as Minister to Madrid, instead of Addington, who is so inefficient they are obliged to recall him, and at this moment Madrid is the most important diplomatic mission, with reference to the existing and prospective state of things. The Portuguese contest, the chance of the King of Spain’s death and a disputed succession, the recognition of the South American Colonies, and commercial arrangements with this country, present a mass of interests which demand considerable dexterity and judgment; besides, Addington is a Tory, and does not act in the spirit of this Government, so they will recall him without ceremony.” The unfavourable criticism is discounted by the last sentence. But there can be no question that Addington’s successor George Villiers, afterwards (1838) fourth Earl of Clarendon, was a man of much greater ability. Villiers remained at Madrid till early in 1839.
July 6 [1833], Granada.
I arrived here to dinner on Monday last, having left Madrid Saturday morning at 2, passing through the Prado, which was full of people eating gingerbread, and dancing to guitars and strumming, a very proper and Catholic mode of keeping the Visperas of Sⁿ. Pedro.
The journey here was severe, but rapid. I found Mrs. Ford much better, very much better than I could have expected—so much so that we have determined on returning to England in September, si Dios quiere. I do not like the looks of things here, and, with the Portuguese business and the cholera in the Peninsula, think it high time to return to England. Indeed, it is high time for other reasons. My wife is left alone without female society; my children at this important age are brought up as heathens and Spaniards, a pretty prospect for daughters; and I myself must purge like Falstaff, and live cleanly like a gentleman, and take to that gentlemanlike old vice, avarice, to save a little money for the bad times which hang over England.
We hear here that the expedition in the south of Portugal is advancing prosperously, and that they pay as they go, which is a surer way of making proselytes than all their charters and constitutions.
Don José has added another young lady to his family, Dionysia having been safely brought to bed yesterday. This is her sixth child of the female sex.
The weather here delicious, mornings and evenings cool and fresh, and all green, and trickling streams, shady over-leafy arbours, with sweet singing nightingales; per contra nothing to eat, and no Valdepeñas or dinners.
The wall in the Alhambra is rising most rapidly, and the Frenchman equally expeditious in his painting of the Patio de los Leones for Vista allegre; indeed he had better make haste, for the vista of the future is anything but allegre.
Granada, August 24, 1833.
I was astounded in seeing in the Revista that your ambassadorial career in Spain is coming to a conclusion. As you have been long prepared for it, and, indeed, rather surprised at its not having taken place sooner, I need say no more on the matter except that you will retire to enjoy your otium cum dignitate. They have been very considerate to let you out of Spain just when the cholera is coming in. We hear that it was at Huelva on the 10th, and will soon be at Cadiz and Seville. This is bad intelligence for us, as we were preparing to return to England that route. If it does not reach Gibraltar by October, we shall go home in that packet.