The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 16 November 1819
Nov. 16, 1819.
Many persons are arrived for the approaching meeting of
Parliament, which is expected to be fully attended. The Ministers and their friends
say they have a strong case; but they keep it very secret, as well as the
restrictive measures which they intend bringing forward. The Opposition are not yet
come to any determination relative to their system of conduct, but I hope they will
agree before next week. Lord Lansdowne was
expected yesterday; but the weather has been bad and the wind adverse, and I am
afraid they must have had a bad passage.
As Lord L. is understood to
have been disinclined to the county meetings, he will probably join the moderates
of the Opposition, among whom are Mackintosh, Abercromby, Lord A. Hamilton, Lord
Morpeth, A. Baring, and some
other very good names, who admit the alarm to a certain extent and will not,
probably, oppose some reasonable and moderate restrictions on public meetings. On
the other hand, Lord Grey, Tierney, Brougham, Sir Robert Wilson,
and I believe Lord Holland and the
Russells, seem determined to resist all restrictive
measures whatever.
The City people are urging very strongly the con-
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tinuance of the Bank restriction; but
hitherto, it is said, Lord Liverpool is
disposed to be firm, and to adhere to the measures of last Session.
We are much pleased with the report of Mackintosh on the criminal law, and disgusted by the violent
sentence of the King’s Bench against the poor detected
briber, Sir Manasseh Lopez.1
James Abercromby, first baron Dunfermline (1776-1858)
The son of Lt.-Gen Sir Ralph Abercromby; he was MP for Midhurst (1807), Calne (1812-30)
and Edinburgh (1832), judge-advocate general (1827) and speaker of the House of Commons
(1835-39); he was raised to the peerage in 1839.
Alexander Baring, first baron Ashburton (1773-1848)
London financier who made a fortune in the United States; he was MP for Taunton
(1802-26), Callington (1826-31), Thetford (1831-32), and North Essex (1833-35); he was
president of the Board of Trade (1834) and raised to the peerage in 1835.
Henry Peter Brougham, first baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was a founder of the
Edinburgh
Review in which he chastised Byron's
Hours of Idleness; he
defended Queen Caroline in her trial for adultery (1820), established the London University
(1828), and was appointed lord chancellor (1830).
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
Lord Archibald Hamilton (1770-1827)
The second son of Archibald, ninth duke of Hamilton (d. 1819); a Whig MP for Lanarkshire
from 1802, he was a supporter of Charles James Fox and radical causes.
Sir Manasseh Masseh Lopes, first baronet (1755-1831)
Of Maristow in Devon; after converting to Christianity he was Tory MP for New Romney
(1802-06), Evesham (1807-08), Barnstable (1812-20), and Westbury (1820-29); he was allied
with Robert Peel.
Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832)
Scottish philosopher and man of letters who defended the French Revolution in
Vindiciae Gallicae (1791); he was Recorder of Bombay (1803-1812) and
MP for Knaresborough (1819-32).
George Tierney (1761-1830)
Whig MP and opposition leader whose political pragmatism made him suspect in the eyes of
his party; he fought a bloodless duel with Pitt in 1798. He is the “Friend of Humanity” in
Canning and Frere's “The Needy Knife-Grinder.”
Sir Robert Thomas Wilson (1777-1849)
Soldier, author, radical Whig MP for Southwark (1818-31), and diplomat; he wrote
History of the British Expedition to Egypt (1802) and was governor
of Gibraltar (1842).
