The Creevey Papers
Henry Grey Bennet to Thomas Creevey, 31 May 1815
“May 31, 1815.
“. . . We, the Mountain, are in hopes the
Grenvilles are about to part company. Ld. Buckingham holds ![]()
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very
warlike language abroad and is for peace against the Ministers, so we are not
to be fettered or controlled; and this even on Althorpe’s motion about Prinny’s [illegible] the £100,000
outfit. The Grenvilles swear either to vote against us or
not to attend. I mean one of these fine days to fire a shot at them when they
are sheering off, and I cannot tell you how joyful I feel at the chance of it.
You may depend upon it the Marquess wishes to be a Duke,* and he is looking
sharp after Stafford’s patent, with
which Ld. G. Leveson’s earldom is
soon to come forth;† but I don’t think that the Government are at
all pleased at our division. They put off the debate till that of the Lords was
over to try the effect of Bogey’s
speech;‡ but it had but little, and so far from it lessening Sam’s minority, you see we rose from 72
to 92. The Treasury Bench thought we might divide 80, but none calculated on
more. We hope it may tell with the foreigner: it does much here. Grattan, after all, was no great
thing—full of wit and fire and folly—more failures than success in
his antithesis, and his piety and religious cant was offensive, as, after all,
whatever may be its merit in an individual, it is only used in a speech for the
worst of purposes. . . .”
George Granville Leveson- Gower, first duke of Sutherland (1758-1833)
The son of the first marquess of Stafford (d. 1803); he was one of the wealthiest men in
Britain with an annual income of £200,000; his program for Scottish clearances and
resettlement was widely unpopular. He was created duke in 1833.
Granville Leveson- Gower, first earl Granville (1773-1846)
English diplomat and ally of George Canning; he was ambassador to St Petersburg (1804-06,
1807) and ambassador to Paris (1824-1828). The Duchess of Devonshire described him as “the
Adonis of his day.”
Henry Grattan (1746-1820)
Irish statesman and patriot; as MP for Dublin he supported Catholic emancipation and
opposed the Union.
William Wyndham Grenville, baron Grenville (1759-1834)
Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he was a moderate Whig MP, foreign secretary
(1791-1801), and leader and first lord of the treasury in the “All the Talents” ministry
(1806-1807). He was chancellor of Oxford University (1810).
John Charles Spencer, third earl Spencer (1782-1845)
English politician, son of the second earl (d. 1834); educated at Harrow and Trinity
College, Cambridge, he was Whig MP for Northamptonshire (1806-34) and chancellor of the
exchequer and leader of the lower house under Lord Grey (1830).
Samuel Whitbread (1764-1815)
The son of the brewer Samuel Whitbread (1720-96); he was a Whig MP for Bedford, involved
with the reorganization of Drury Lane after the fire of 1809; its financial difficulties
led him to suicide.
