Gloucester cross-questioned him as usual; and as Letters. Miguel did not know who he was speaking to, and only viewed him as a prince of the blood, he answered his questions; and the result was, that he meant to consummate his marriage when his wife is twelve, to have a son when she is thirteen, and then to declare himself king, which the old law of Portugal warrants, and on which the Charter is silent; and he means to follow the old law on all points on which the Charter says nothing. The Portuguese ambassador at Petersburgh is to be his Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Palmella remains here. "Yours affectionately, The cause of Lord Goderich's resignation was a Remarks. quarrel between Huskisson and Herries, "whom the King," says Lord Palmerston (in a short portion of his biography, which I have not quoted here in extenso, because its substance is repeated in the letters I have given), "had thrown like a live shell into the Cabinet to explode and blow us all up." biography. "Instead of going to the King," continues the auto- Autobiographer, "and saying, 'Sire, Mr. Huskisson and Mr. Herries have differed, and cannot serve together, and therefore I propose to you to appoint A. B. instead of one or the other,' Goderich stated the quarrel, the impossibility of the two going on as colleagues, and gave the King to understand that 1 no advice to give, and did not know what Autobiography. Remarks. to do. But the King knew very well what he had to do he bid Goderich go home, and take care of himself, and keep himself quiet; and he immediately sent for the Duke of Wellington to form a Govern ment. "One of the first acts of Goderich's administration had been to ask the Duke of Wellington to be Commander-in-Chief; Lord Anglesey had been sent to make the offer. He travelled without stopping, arrived at some country house in the west, where the Duke was staying, about three in the morning, found the Duke in full uniform, just come home from a fancy ball, obtained his immediate acceptance, and arrived with it at Windsor while we were sitting in Council on the memorable day in August at which Lord William Bentinck also was present to be sworn in Governor-General of India. "Lord Anglesey said to us, 'Well, gentlemen, I have done what you sent me to do. I have brought you the Duke of Wellington's acceptance as Commander-in-Chief; and by God, mark my words, as sure as you are alive he will trip up all your heels before six months are over your heads.' "Before the six months were well over the Duke was in, and our heels were up; but the King was the great plotter, and Holmes and Planta worked upon Goderich, and persuaded him he could never overcome the difficulties he would have to encounter." The projected arrangements ended, as we know, by the Duke of Wellington being named Premier instead of Lord Goderich, though the post of Premier Remarks. was one for which he had declared himself a short time previous wholly unfit. I have been told by a gentleman yet alive, and likely to be well informed on the subject, that Lord Wellesley expected this appointment, and had been encouraged by his brother to do so. That when the Duke was summoned by the King, it was understood that he should recommend the Marquess as more fit to take the lead in civil affairs than himself; that the Marquess expected the Duke's return with much anxiety, anticipating his own elevation, and that the disappointment that ensued occasioned a coolness between these two eminent men. Whatever may be the precise truth of this story-and such stories are rarely told with perfect accuracy - I venture to express an opinion that it would have been, upon the whole, fortunate for the Duke's reputation, great as that reputation is, if he had followed the course which I have heard he at one time intended to pursue. I have been told by many of his contemporaries that no man of his time was endowed with so many of the highest attributes of a statesman as Lord Wellesley. With great eloquence, large and liberal views, free from impracticable theories, unbiassed by obsolete prejudices, he was the man peculiarly fitted to bridge the abyss on which the past had to run into the future, and could have done with credit and consistency what the Duke could not do without making Remarks. concessions which, not being the result of conviction, would assuredly appear the result of fear and necessity; thus commencing a policy which has had too many imitators-a policy carrying bitterness into the hearts of those who have been vanquished, and contempt into the hearts of those who have triumphed; for to give what you dare not deny is a humiliation to one party, and no satisfaction to the other. BOOK V. What happened to Lord Palmerston on the formation of the new administration - Extract from autobiography-Private letters to Mr. Temple on foreign and home politics-Extracts from journal beginning March 9, 1828, and including a long, detailed, and interesting account of the events which led to the withdrawal of Mr. Huskisson from the Duke of Wellington's Government. LORD PALMERSTON thus relates what occurred to himself at the formation of the new administration :-* "When the Duke came in he sent for Huskisson Autobiography. to Apsley House, as head of the Canningite party, and asked him to join his Government. The inducements held out were these— "The Catholic question to be, as before, an open question; and to have, therefore, the benefit of the influence belonging to a portion of the Cabinet being in its favour. “The Greek treaty to be faithfully executed; and Dudley to be left, as Foreign Secretary, to watch over its execution. Huskisson's principles of trade to be acted upon, and Charles Grant to be left at * From biographical memoir. |