The “Pope” of Holland House
Lady Catherine Mackintosh to John Whishaw, [1827]
No date.
Dear Mr. Whishaw,— * * * I was very glad
to find by the papers last night that all was quiet at Constantinople four days
after the account of the battle of Navarino had arrived there. Is it possible that
Lord Grey means to head the opposition
against his old friends, and that they are to make their first attack on the ground
of this battle? I can’t think it possible. How I should have liked Lord Lansdowne to have been in Lord Goderich’s place.1
How came that not to be? When, months before Canning was Prime Minister, Lord L. was talked
of for that place, though Lord G. never, though no doubt a
very able man. If that friend had been in his place I should
have confidently looked for the salvation of Ireland, which I verily believe is
necessary to the stability of England. But there is surely
some fatality attending that unhappy country, and every measure in regard to it.
Can Lord Anglesey be thought a good Governor
for it in its diseased and wretched state? Is he not a man, from the irregularity
of his passions and his stern temper, likely enough to introduce triangles and
tortures and all the etceteras of that iniquitous Government which we were obliged
to cover with a Bill of Indemnity? What I have most interesting at this moment to
tell you, I have kept to the last, because I should not have been able to have
written on any subject afterwards.
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We had last night from my sister1 the melancholy
intelligence of poor M. de Staël’s2 death; she and M.
Sismondi are quite overwhelmed with grief, and never was any loss so
mourned. His gentleness and kindness of disposition and temper, his upright views
and generous feelings on public questions, formed altogether a most endearing
character. His unhappy wife is near her confinement. As she had the greatest
admiration of her excellent husband, her affliction and that of the Duke and Duchess of
Broglie will be very great.
I wish you would have the kindness to send this sad account to
Mr. Brougham from me. I am sure he will
feel for him, who admired England so much. You will direct your next to Ampthill,
from whence it will be forwarded to me.
Ever most sincerely yours,
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).
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
Sir Edward Codrington (1770-1851)
Naval officer; he commanded a ship at Trafalgar and as commander-in-chief of the
Mediterranean in 1827 destroyed a Turkish fleet at Navarino. In 1831 Thomas Creevey
described him as “a real bore.”
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).
Henry William Paget, first marquess of Anglesey (1768-1854)
Originally Bayly, educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford; he was MP
(1790-1810), commander of cavalry under Sir John Moore, lost a leg at Waterloo, and raised
to the peerage 1815; he was lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1828-29, 1830-33).
Frederick John Robinson, first earl of Ripon (1782-1859)
Educated at Harrow and St. John's College, Cambridge, he was a Tory MP for Carlow
(1806-07) and Ripon (1807-27), Chancellor of the Exchequer (1823-27), and prime minister
(1827-28) in succession to Canning.
Jessica de Sismondi [née Allen] [Jessie] (1777-1853)
The daughter of John Bartlett Allen of Cresselly; in 1819 she married the French
historian Léonard Simond de Sismondi; two of her sisters married Wedgewoods, a third Sir
James Mackintosh. She corresponded with Emma Darwin.
Léonard Simond de Sismondi (1773-1842)
Swiss historian of Italian origin; author of
L'Histoire des républiques
italiennes du Moyen-Age (1809-18).
John Whishaw (1764 c.-1840)
Barrister, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge; he was Secretary to the African
Association and biographer of Mungo Park. His correspondence was published as
The “Pope” of Holland House in 1906.
