The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 24 September 1834
“Stoke Farm, 24th Sept.
“. . . Melbourne came here for dinner on Sunday, and was off early in
the morning. . . . He told Sefton that his
real belief was that Brougham never
intended to force Ld. Grey out of the
Government, and I beg your attention to Brougham’s
defence of himself, as made to the innocent
Melbourne.—‘It is true,’ says
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| 288 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. XII. |
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Brougham, ‘that I did write to Lord Wellesley begging him to withdraw his
support of those clauses in the Coercion Bill which have since been
withdrawn: it is true that I made Littleton* write to the same effect, and my sole intention
in this was to shorten the session, that I might have time to go to the
Rhine’ (of course with Mrs. Petre!). Now,
from the creation of the world, was there ever such a defence—be it a lie
or be it true? And then the villain says it never entered his imagination that
it could lead to the result it did. Melbourne states his
decided opinion that he is mad, and that he will one
day, in sacrificing everything for his own personal whim, be sacrificed
himself.”
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).
Charles Grey, second earl Grey (1764-1845)
Whig statesman and lover of the Duchess of Devonshire; the second son of the first earl
(d. 1807), he was prime minister (1831-34).
William Lamb, second viscount Melbourne (1779-1848)
English statesman, the son of Lady Melbourne (possibly by the third earl of Egremont) and
husband of Lady Caroline Lamb; he was a Whig MP, prime minister (1834-41), and counsellor
to Queen Victoria.
Edward John Littleton, first baron Hatherton (1791-1863)
The son of Morton Walhouse, educated at Rugby and at Brasenose College, Oxford; he was MP
for Staffordshire (1812-22) and South Staffordshire (1832-35). He was Irish secretary
(1833-34), raised to the peerage in 1835.
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.
