The “Pope” of Holland House
John Whishaw to Thomas Smith, 3 December 1814
Dec. 3, 1814
The Ministers are quite delighted to get rid of Parliament, and
to close their short session, in which there has been better speaking on the part
of the Opposition
| 73 |
![]() ![]() |
| The Duke of Wellington |
![]()
and more decided
failures on the part of the Government than were almost ever known, but it is all
to no purpose. The public are wholly indifferent, and the Parliament torpid or
worse, since Bankes, Wilberforce, and the rest of the country gentlemen
and “Saints,” cling more closely to the Ministers in proportion to
their weakness and insufficiency.
There are rumours of partial changes; and it would not be
wonderful if in due time Lord Liverpool was to
give way to Lord Castlereagh, considering the
connection of the latter with Hertford House. But the public have no interest in
such movements, and of the two I should prefer Lord Liverpool
as I prefer Vansittart to Huskisson. The accounts from Paris are very
gloomy. The Government are more and more despised, and the English more and more
hated everyday. Twenty thousand disbanded soldiers, most of them without resources,
are a very formidable body. The Duke of
Wellington is very unpopular, and was most improperly sent on that
mission. I hope that the peace will last long enough to enable us to see a little
of the Continent, but I cannot look to its continuance.
Henry Bankes (1757-1834)
Of Kingston Lacy; educated at Westminster and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was Whig MP
for Corfe Castle (1780-1826).
William Huskisson (1770-1830)
English politician and ally of George Canning; privately educated, he was a Tory MP for
Morpeth (1796-1802), Liskeard (1804-07), Harwich (1807-12), Chichester (1812-23), and
Liverpool (1823-30). He died in railway accident.
Nicholas Vansittart, first Baron Bexley (1766-1851)
Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he was a Pittite MP for Hastings (1796-1802), Old
Sarum (1802-12), East Grinstead (1812), and Harwich (1812-23); he was Chancellor of the
exchequer (1812-23).
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.
