The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 19 November 1834
“19th.
“Brougham
describes in his letter to Sefton (who has
arrived here) his interview with the King
at the Council on Monday. After referring to the letter of advice he wrote to
the King, and applying a profusion of butter to him and
his family, Brougham said he ![]()
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hoped
he never should be placed in the painful situation of acting with any hostility
to his Majesty or any part of his family;* but as the
leader of a popular [party] in this country, he could not conceal from himself
that he might, to a certain extent, be controll’d by the measures of such
a party: in short—a regular threat, at which
Beelzebub says the King seem’d much
annoy’d (as well he might), very grave, but very civil (which I doubt!).
Brougham writes:—‘I dined with
Lyndhurst to-day, and he says
he’ll be damned if he’ll be Chancellor without some security.
In the meantime he gives up the Exchequer to Scarlett, who is Lord Chief Baron and goes to the House of
Lords.’”†
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).
John Singleton Copley, baron Lyndhurst (1772-1863)
The son of the American painter; he did legal work for John Murray before succeeding Lord
Eldon as lord chancellor (1827-30, 1834-35, 1841-46); a skilled lawyer, he was also a
political chameleon.
James Scarlett, first baron Abinger (1769-1844)
English barrister and politician educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and the Inner
Temple; he was a Whig MP (1819-34) who served as attorney-general in the Canning and
Wellington ministries.
