The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Eleanor Creevey, 19 January 1811
“Great George St., 19th January, 1811.
“(For God’s sake be secret about this letter.)
“My hopes of seeing you to-morrow are at an end, owing
to a most ridiculous resolution of our party to have another division on
Monday, in which of course we shall disclose still greater weakness than in our
last division. I had actually paired off with John
Villiers for the week, but I am sure you will think I am right
in staying over Monday, when I tell you that McMahon told me he was sure the Prince would be hurt if I was not there, and when you read the
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note from Sheridan. Nevertheless I give the Prince
credit for not originating this business, but that it has been conveyed to him
by Tierney or some such artist. I mean
to be down to play a week or ten days on Tuesday. Wm. and
C. had a very comfortable dinner again yesterday upon
my mutton chops at this house, and then went to the House, and just as we had
returned home again at ten o’clock, and I was beginning to dress myself
to go to Mrs. Taylor’s, Whitbread came and desired to have some
conversation with me. . . . Sam’s visit was to take
my advice. He said things had now come to such a state of maturity that it was
necessary for him to decide (but here he has just been again, and I am afraid I
shall not have time to tell).
“Well—office was offered him; anything he
pleased, but had he any objection to holding it under Grenville as First Lord, if he [Grenville]
held as before the two offices of First Lord and Auditor,
with the salaries of both? I know not with what disposition he came to
me; he stated both sides of the question, but said his decision must be quick.
I had a difficult responsibility to take upon myself, but I set before him as
strongly as I could the unpopularity of the
Grenvilles—the certainty of this [illegible] place being again and again exposed—the
impossibility of his defending it after having himself driven Yorke from receiving the income of his
tellership whilst he is at the Admiralty, and Perceval from receiving the income of Chancellor of the
Exchequer whilst he is First Lord and Chancellor of the Dutchy—that his
consistency and character were everything to him, and that, if I was him, I
would compell Lord Grenville to make the sacrifice to
publick opinion, and have nothing to do with the Government.
“I went to him this morning, and he had done as I
advised him. He had told Grey his
determination and he has just been here to shew me his letter to him upon the
subject—to be shewn Lord Grenville.
It is perfect in every respect, and will, whenever it is known, do him immortal
honor. The fact, however, is, my lord will strike. They one and all stick to
Whitbread; they can’t carry on
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without him. There is no anger—no ill
will in any of them; all piano—all upon their knees. Is not this a triumph?”
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).
Sir John McMahon, first baronet (1754 c.-1817)
Irish politician who was MP for Aldeburgh (1802-12); he was a friend of Sheridan and
secretary to the Prince Regent.
Spencer Perceval (1762-1812)
English statesman; chancellor of the exchequer (1807), succeeded the Duke of Portland as
prime minister (1809); he was assassinated in the House of Commons.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
Anglo-Irish playwright, author of
The School for Scandal (1777),
Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).
Frances Ann Taylor [née Vane] (d. 1835)
Whig hostess, the daughter of Sir Henry Vane, first baronet (1729–1794); in 1789 she
married the politician Michael Angelo Taylor.
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.”
John Charles Villiers, third earl of Clarendon (1757-1838)
Younger son of the first earl of the second creation; he was envoy to the Portuguese
court (1808-1810) and was MP for Old Sarum (1784-90), Dartmouth (1790-1802), Tain burghs
(1802-05), and Queenborough (1807-12, 1820-24); he succeeded his brother in 1824.
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.
Charles Philip Yorke (1764-1834)
Tory politician, the son of Charles Yorke (1722–1770); he was MP for Cambridgeshire
(1790-1810), secretary at war (1801-03), home secretary (1803-04), first lord of Admiralty
(1810-11). He was F.S.A. and vice-president of the Royal Society of Literature.
