“. . . Ladies, I have lost my Tower! C’en est fait de nous! Dead as
mutton, every man John of us, so help me Jingo! You see,
after our defeat in the Lords on Monday, a Cabinet was summoned for that night
and the next day. The result was Grey and
Brougham going down to Windsor
yesterday at 3 o’clock to ask the King to create a sufficient number of peers in order to recover
their ground and so secure the Bill, or, if he would not do that, to accept
their resignation. They did not return till eleven; but by means of my faithful
and active enquirer, Sefton, who got to
Crocky’s a little past one, I
found it was all over. The King had not even preserved his usual civility, had
shown strong reluctance to the proposition, and concluded by saying
Lord Grey should have his answer on Thursday. He did
not even offer the poor fellows any victuals, and they were obliged to put into
port at the George posting-house at Hounslow, and so get some mutton chops. . .
. Sefton was with Brougham a little
after nine this morning, and during his stay a letter came from
Grey to B. enclosing the
King’s letter just received, in which his Majesty accepts their resignation. Let me not fail to add that
Brougham, on having read it out aloud to
Sefton, sprung from his chair and, rubbing his hands,
declared that it was the happiest moment of his life! I daresay, from his late
debility, that what he said he felt. . . . Our beloved
Billy cuts a damnable figure in this business, because
he is clearly influenced by our defeat on Monday. He permitted the Duke of Cumberland to tell his friends that he
would make no peers, and then the rats were in their old ranks again at once.
All that I have to hope upon this occasion is that there
will be the same dawdling in making out my successor’s patent as there
was in making out mine. I regret
| 246 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. X. |
