“You must have seen by the lists of the new Ministry
already published in all the papers, that, although the death of our excellent
Minister has been certainly a most
unfortunate event, in as far as it must tend to delay the object of your
present wishes, there is no cause for your alarm on account of the change,
excepting as far as that change is very extensive, and thus, perhaps much time
may elapse before the business of every kind which was in arrears can be
expedited by the new Administration. There is no change of principle (as far as
we can yet judge) in the new Cabinet—or rather the new Cabinet has no general
political creed. Lord Grenville, Fox, Lord
Lansdowne, and Addington
were the four nominal heads of four distinct parties, which must now by some
chemical process be amalgamated; all must forget, if they can, their peculiar
habits and opinions, and unite in the pursuit of a common object.
| 90 | LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT. |
“If, indeed, the object of your wishes were a
sinecure, and at the disposal of the Chancellor (Erskine), or of the President of the Board of Control
(Lord Minto), you might have strong
cause, perhaps, for apprehension; but what you ask would suit few candidates,
and there probably is not one whom the Cabinet, or any person in it, would feel
any strong interest in obliging to your disadvantage.
But farther, we know that Lord Sidmouth is
in the Cabinet, so is Lord Ellenborough,
and these two are notoriously the King’s
Ministers. Now we may be very sure that they, or some other of the King’s
friends, will possess one department, which has no name, but is not the less
real; namely, the supervision of the King’s influence both here and in
Scotland. I therefore much doubt whether there is any man in the Cabinet who,
as Minister, has it in his power to prevent your attainment of your object.
Lord Melville, we know, was in a great
measure the representative of the King’s personal influence in Scotland,
and I am by no means sure that he is no longer so; but be that as it may, it
will, I
| CLERKSHIP OF SESSION. | 91 |
“Upon the whole, then, the only consolation that I can confidently give you is, that what you represent as a principal difficulty is quite imaginary, and that your own political principles are exactly those which are most likely to be serviceable to you. I need not say how happy Anne and myself would be to see you (we shall spend the month of March in London), nor that, if you should be able to point out any means by which I can be of the slightest use in advancing your interests, you may employ me without reserve. I must go to the Pumproom for my glass of water—so God bless you. Ever truly yours,
