A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith
Letters 1811
Sydney Smith to Lady Holland, 24 January 1811
January 24th, 1811.
Dear Lady Holland,
You will read (perhaps not)—but there will be of mine—in
the Edinburgh Review a short
account of the Walcheren
Expedition, observations upon Lord Sidmouth’s project against
Dissenters, and Walton’s Spanish Colonies.
If there be a Regency, I guess the following
Administration:—Lord Grey, First Lord of
the Treasury; ![]()
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Lord Grenville, Foreign Office; Lord Holland, Home Department; Erskine, Chancellor; Lord Moira, Commander-in-Chief; Lord
Spencer, Admiralty; Romilly and Leach,
Attorney and Solicitor; Pigott,
Exchequer or Common Pleas; Tierney,
Chancellor of the Exchequer; Lord
Lansdowne, Ireland; Whitbread, Secretary-at-War and Colonies; Abercrombie, Secretary of State; Lord
Morpeth, Board of Control; Lord
Robert Spencer, National Woodsman. The President of the Council
and the Privy Seal I cannot guess, unless Lord
Stafford should be the former; and it would be much better if
Lord Holland were Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and
Lord Grenville for the Home Department.
The drawing-room in Pall Mall must have been an
entertaining scene for some weeks past: the crowds below waiting upon Allen for facts, and acquaintances of 1806
calling above. Lord Lauderdale has, I hear,
not had his clothes off for six weeks. Pray remember me very kindly to him: I
cannot say how much I like him.
I hope to see your Ladyship early in April, by which time
the tumult will be hushed, and you will be either in full power, or in perfect
weakness.
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.
John Allen (1771-1843)
Scottish physician and intimate of Lord Holland; he contributed to the
Edinburgh Review and
Encyclopedia Britannica and published
Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in
England (1830). He was the avowed atheist of the Holland House set.
Thomas Erskine, first baron Erskine (1750-1823)
Scottish barrister who was a Whig MP for Portsmouth (1783-84, 1790-1806); after defending
the political radicals Hardy, Tooke, and Thelwall in 1794 he was lord chancellor in the
short-lived Grenville-Fox administration (1806-07).
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.
George Granville Leveson- Gower, first duke of Sutherland (1758-1833)
The son of the first marquess of Stafford (d. 1803); he was one of the wealthiest men in
Britain with an annual income of £200,000; his program for Scottish clearances and
resettlement was widely unpopular. He was created duke in 1833.
William Wyndham Grenville, baron Grenville (1759-1834)
Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he was a moderate Whig MP, foreign secretary
(1791-1801), and leader and first lord of the treasury in the “All the Talents” ministry
(1806-1807). He was chancellor of Oxford University (1810).
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).
George Howard, sixth earl of Carlisle (1773-1848)
Son of the fifth earl (d. 1825); he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, wrote
for the
Anti-Jacobin, and was MP for Morpeth (1795-1806) and
Cumberland (1806-28).
Sir John Leach (1760-1834)
Whig MP for Seaford (1806-16) and vice-chancellor (1818-27); he was a much-despised
lawyer for the Prince of Wales, master of the Rolls and deputy-speaker of the House of
Lords, 1827.
James Maitland, eighth earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839)
Scottish peer allied with Charles James Fox; he was author of
An
Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, and into the Means and causes of
its Increase (1804) and other works on political economy.
Sir Arthur Leary Pigott (1749-1819)
English lawyer educated at the Middle Temple; a political associate of Charles James Fox,
he was solicitor-general to the prince of Wales (1783-92), and MP for Steyning (1806),
Arundel (1806-12, 1818-19), and Horsham (1812-18).
Sir Samuel Romilly (1757-1818)
Reformer of the penal code and the author of
Thoughts on Executive
Justice (1786); he was a Whig MP and Solicitor-General who died a suicide.
George John Spencer, second earl Spencer (1758-1834)
Educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a Whig MP aligned with Edmund
Burke, first lord of the Admiralty (1794-1801) and home secretary (1806-07). He was a book
collector and patron of the poets John Clare and Herbert Knowles.
Lord Robert Spencer (1747-1831)
Of Woolbeding in Sussex; the youngest son of the second Duke of Marlborough, he was Whig
MP for Woodstock (1768-71, 1818-20), Oxford City (1771-90), Wareham (1790-99), and
Tavistock (1802-07). He was a friend of Charles James Fox.
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.”
Samuel Whitbread (1764-1815)
The son of the brewer Samuel Whitbread (1720-96); he was a Whig MP for Bedford, involved
with the reorganization of Drury Lane after the fire of 1809; its financial difficulties
led him to suicide.
