Nothing decisive has occurred in the political world since my last note to you. The storm raised by the Lords has not yet subsided; but I am inclined to think that the Ministers, with their usual good fortune, will weather it in the end. They have been far from confident, however; and when I was at Holland House two days ago, all was doubt and anxiety as to the result of the contest. The Opposition, too, have been very undecided, and have had their hot and cold fits. A certain number of them are bent upon throwing out the Bill,2 and endeavouring to form a new Government at all hazards; but their zeal is happily tempered by the prudence or pusillanimity of their associates, especially Peel, who keeps aloof, and will not embark in the adventure of a Tory Administration.
There is reason to believe that the King, though not violently attached to the present Ministers, thinks it his safest policy to adhere to them, and is very averse to dissolving the Parliament, which might be the necessary consequence of the change.
I told you, I think, of the Commission for Inquiry into Corporations, in which so many of our friends
1 The division on the Factories Regulations Bill was carried by Ministers by 238 votes to 93. 2 The Irish Church Bill. |
| 267 |
| Corporations |
Corporations are naturally the strongholds of intolerance, corruption, and Toryism; and the inquiries into them now intended (considering the persons by whom they are to be conducted) cannot fail of producing very important efforts. Next to the Reform Bill itself, I consider it as the most important measure of Lord Grey’s Government.
