The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 11 September 1834
“Stoke, 11th.
“. . . Lord Grey
and his family were at Windsor from Monday last till Wednesday, during which
the King took him into his own room and had
a conversation of two hours’ duration with him, in the course of which he
was pleased to say that he was actually miserable since he had lost his
services, and he did not see how or when he was to be otherwise. He spoke of
Ld. Melbourne as liking him, but that
he had no position either at home or abroad to be compared with Lord
Grey, and that as to the rest of the Government, they were nobody. When our Billy said
Ld. Melbourne was nobody at home or
abroad, compared with Lord Grey, he touched the
real thing, which these presumptuous puppies will feel before they are much
older. Palmerston never signed a dispatch
that had not been seen and altered by Lord
Grey. Do you suppose he will ever submit to this from
Melbourne? or, if he did, what does
Melbourne know of it? . . . I wish
Grey may let to-night pass without giving way to any
vindictive feelings, which I learn from Sefton are gaining upon him hourly. Sefton
dined at Talleyrand’s on Friday
with Grey;
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| 1834.] | LORD GREY’S OPINION OF BROUGHAM. | 287 |
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and by some
mistake about the day, Brougham came in
late to dinner; but Lord Grey would not speak to him.
Having taken leave of the Government in the generous way he did in the House of
Lords, I can’t bear his showing any subsequent resentment. . . .
Brougham already chuckles to
Sefton at the influence he has got over
Melbourne, compared with what he had over
Grey; but our Earl [Sefton] is in
a mighty combustible state upon these matters, and will, to all appearance, on
some early day burst out upon Beelzebub. He considers
Grey as having been basely sacrificed by a low-lived
crew, not worthy to wipe his shoes, and that the Arch-fiend
Brougham has been all along the mover of this plot for
his own base and ambitious, selfish purposes.”
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).
Thomas Creevey (1768-1838)
Whig politician aligned with Charles James Fox and Henry Brougham; he was MP for Thetford
(1802-06, 1807-18) Appleby (1820-26) and Downton (1831-32). He was convicted of libel in
1813.
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).
William Lamb, second viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)
English statesman, the son of Lady Melbourne (possibly by the third earl of Egremont) and
husband of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP, prime minister (1834-41), and counsellor
to Queen Victoria.
Henry John Temple, third viscount Palmerston (1784-1865)
After education at Harrow and Edinburgh University he was MP for Newport (1807-11) and
Cambridge University (1811-31), foreign minister (1830-41), and prime minister (1855-58,
1859-65).
