The Creevey Papers
Michael Angelo Taylor to Sir Robert Wilson, 11 September 1825
“Cantley, 11th Sept.
“. . . All my accustomed correspondents are absent
from town; I therefore have nothing from the great emporium of news. While
Canning is viewing the scenery of
the Lakes, and the King is fishing in a punt
upon Virginia Water, I am bound to suppose there is no tempest upon the
political ocean. I wish that Ferdinand
[King of Spain] was hanged—Rothschild, Baring and all
the gambling crew in the Gazette—the Sultan driven forth from
Constantinople—his wives and concubines let loose—that balloons
were actual and safe conveyances, and that I had a villa in the Thracian
Bosphorus. . . .”
Alexander Baring, first baron Ashburton (1773-1848)
London financier who made a fortune in the United States; he was MP for Taunton
(1802-26), Callington (1826-31), Thetford (1831-32), and North Essex (1833-35); he was
president of the Board of Trade (1834) and raised to the peerage in 1835.
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
King Ferdinand VII of Spain (1784-1833)
The son of Charles IV, king of Spain; after his father's abdication and the defeat of the
French in the Peninsular War he ruled Spain from 1813 to 1833.
Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836)
Jewish financier who opened a London branch of the family bank in 1805 and acted as an
agent of the British government in the conflict with Napoleon.
The London Gazette. (1665-). The official organ of the British government, published twice weekly.
