The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 14 February 1823
“Brooks’s, 14th Feb.
“I dined here last night much more agreeably,
tho’ not so cheaply, with Thanet,
Brougham, Kensington, &c., &c. Every day’s experience
impresses me more strongly with the great superiority of
Thanet over every politician that I see. He is gone to
Paris this morning to add, as every one expects, £10,000 more to his already
great losses at play. And yet he seems perfectly convinced of his almost
approaching beggary under all the overpowering difficulties in which land is
now involved!
“Yesterday morning Lord
Sefton drove me to the Freemason’s Tavern, the great room
of which is fitted up as a court for the tribunal which sits in judgment
declined being a party to any proceedings at Verona which could be
deemed an interference in the internal concerns of Spain on the
part of foreign powers.” |
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| 1823-24.] | CRITICISM UPON CANNING. | 63 |
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upon Lord Portsmouth’s sanity or insanity. Certainly, never
was a more disgraceful thing than the Chancellor’s conduct on this occasion—to put the
property of the family to the expense of £40,000, which it is said it will
undoubtedly cost, rather than decide this point himself, which every one who
has seen Lord Portsmouth has long since decided.* . . .
“The publick functionaries in Ireland are coming to
close quarters. Wellesley has dismissed at
a moment’s warning Sir Charles
Vernon, the Chamberlain, and two others—men who had held
their situations about the Court for years. Their offence was dining at a
Beefsteak Club last week, where Lord Chancellor
Manners was likewise, and drinking as a
toast:—‘Success to the export trade of Ireland, and may
Lord Wellesley be the first article
exported!’† . . .
“I never saw a fellow look more uncomfortable than
Canning.‡ Independent of the
difficulty of the times, he is surrounded by perfidy quite equal to his own.
People in office are in loud and undisguised hostility to him: it may be heard
at all corners of the streets. I never saw such a contrast as between the
manners of ministerial men even to him, and what it used to be to Castlereagh. Business begins in earnest on
Monday, and I must launch my ‘supply’ on that or some early day, if
my nerves are equal to it; but I find them fail me more and more every
day.”
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).
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
John Scott, first earl of Eldon (1751-1838)
Lord chancellor (1801-27); he was legal counsel to the Prince of Wales and an active
opponent of the Reform Bill.
Thomas Manners- Sutton, first Baron Manners (1756-1842)
Lord chancellor of Ireland (1807-27); he was the grandson of the third duke of Rutland
and was MP for Newark-on-Trent (1796-1805) and an opponent of Catholic emancipation.
Sir Charles Vernon (1822 fl.)
Irish knight with a reputation as a wit; he was usher of the black rod in the Order of
St. Patrick.
John Charles Wallop, third earl of Portsmouth (1767-1853)
The son of the second earl (d. 1812); he succeeded to the peerage in 1797; married 1)
Grace Norton (1799) and 2) Mary Anne Hanson (1814); in 1823 he was declared to be of
unsound mind and his second marriage was annulled in 1828.
Richard Wellesley, first marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
The son of Garret Wesley (1735-1781) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was
Whig MP, Governor-general of Bengal (1797-1805), Foreign Secretary (1809-12), and
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1821-28); he was created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
