The Creevey Papers
James Currie to Thomas Creevey, 2 October 1804
“2nd October, 1804.
“. . . The review of his book in the Edinr. Review is every way unfair and foul. It is by a
scatter-brained fellow, one Brougham, who
wrote two volumes on colonial policy, the two practical objects of which
were—to abolish the slave-trade, and to propose that we should join our
armies to those of the French for the extirpation of the Negroes of St.
Domingo. . . . He has got a sort of philosophical cant about him, and a way of
putting obscure sentences together, which seem to fools to contain deep
meaning, especially as an air of consummate petulance and confidence runs
through the whole. He has been taken up, I am told, by Wilberforce, and is paying his court to
Pitt. He is a notorious prostitute,
and is setting himself up to sale. It seems Ld.
Lauderdale offended him by refusing to be introduced to him, but
it is to pay court to Pitt, depend on it, that he writes as he does. . . . You
may mention this to Mr. Grey.”
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).
James Maitland, eighth earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839)
Scottish peer allied with Charles James Fox; he was author of
An
Inquiry into the Nature and Origin of Public Wealth, and into the Means and causes of
its Increase (1804) and other works on political economy.
William Pitt the younger (1759-1806)
The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham (1708-1778); he was Tory prime minister
1783-1801.
William Wilberforce (1759-1833)
British statesman, evangelical Christian, and humanitarian who worked for the abolition
of slavery. He was an MP for Yorkshire aligned with Fox and Sheridan.
