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A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1808
Sydney Smith to John Allen, [January? 1810]
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Author's Preface
Contents
Chapter I
Chapter II
Chapter III
Chapter IV
Chapter V
Chapter VI
Chapter VII
Chapter VIII
Chapter IX
Chapter X
Chapter XI
Chapter XII
Index
Editor’s Preface
Letters 1801
Letters 1802
Letters 1803
Letters 1804
Letters 1805
Letters 1806
Letters 1807
Letters 1808
Letters 1809
Letters 1810
Letters 1811
Letters 1812
Letters 1813
Letters 1814
Letters 1815
Letters 1816
Letters 1817
Letters 1818
Letters 1819
Letters 1820
Letters 1821
Letters 1822
Letters 1823
Letters 1824
Letters 1825
Letters 1826
Letters 1827
Letters 1828
Letters 1829
Letters 1830
Letters 1831
Letters 1832
Letters 1833
Letters 1834
Letters 1835
Letters 1836
Letters 1837
Letters 1838
Letters 1839
Letters 1840
Letters 1841
Letters 1842
Letters 1843
Letters 1844
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Dear Allen,

I am glad to find that I am mistaken respecting the King of Clubs. Of Lord Holland or you I never had any doubt, nor of Romilly, but of all the others I had; that is, I thought they were of opinion that the benefit of Lords Grenville, Grey, etc., should not be lost to the country for that single question.

I have sent my sermon to Lord Grenville.

It is not that the politics of the day are considered unsuitable to the Edinburgh Review, but the personalities of the day are objected to. This seems to have influenced Jeffrey. I thought it right, once for all, to make a profession of my faith; and by that, to exempt myself ever after from the necessity of noticing such attacks as have been made upon me in the Quarterly Review. I meant to do it bluntly and shortly; if I have done it with levity, I am a clumsy and an unlucky fellow.

I by no means give up my opinions respecting the Catholic bishops. I have added something to that note, in order to explain it; but if the electors, warned of the incivism of their candidate, still procure his election, and put him in a situation where he is dependent on the will, and subject to the influence, of a foreign power, the Government has a right, upon every principle of self-preservation, to act with that man as I propose. You may object to the objectors, but nobody else can be entrusted with such a power.

My brethren, who tremble at my boldness, should be more attentive to what I really said, which concerns not the truth or falsehood of the passage, but
MEMOIR OF THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH.41
the expediency or inexpediency of allowing it to be an interpolation.

Brougham has been extremely friendly to me about my sermon.

Sydney Smith.