The Creevey Papers
Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 14 December 1827
“Liverpool, Dec. 14, 1827.
“I left Croxteth yesterday. . . . Sefton first gave me your letter, but his main
object [in coming to my room] was to show me in the most
perfect confidence a letter he received from Brougham this morning, enclosing one the latter had received
from Lambton at
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| 142 | THE CREEVEY PAPERS | [Ch. VI. |
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Paris, and as Sefton said when I had
seen both letters, it would be for me to decide which was the greatest madman.
The subject was Lambton’s peerage, which he (Lambton)
contends should not be a simple barony, very properly observing that it is no
promotion for the first commoner of England to be made the
last baron! But, in short, without seeing his letter with one’s
own eyes, its contents would be perfectly incredible, and the result is his
calling upon Brougham by all those ties of early
disinterested friendship, which have bound them to each other for life, not to
let him be less than an earl. . . . Brougham states in
reply, or says he does so, that our friends in power are so jealous of any
approach to them, that it is quite impossible to assist him; and then, in his
comment upon Lambton’s letter, loads him with every
species of ridicule for his pretensions; till at length he gravely enters the
field himself as a man of family at least two centuries older than that of
Lambton, and as having the 2nd barony of England in
his (Brougham’s) own blood. Now really! was there
ever? . . . Punch* writes there is not
an individual in the city who does not consider our attack upon the Turkish
fleet [at Navarino] as the greatest outrage ever committed by any Government or
country, and above all—by ours. In speaking of Lord Goodrich he says he is considered by all as a mere
nullity, and by no one more so than the King, and does whatever he likes and cares for no one. Pretty well
this from Mr. Clerk of the Council, is it not?
“Before these letters came Sefton had said to me:—‘By God! the Government
can never stand; this Navarino business must destroy them.’ . . .
Only think of there not being a syllable of politicks in Brougham’s letter to him yesterday! I saw
it all. My own belief is that Brougham is not the person
to whom Sefton has bound himself, if in some unguarded
moment he has done so; but I suspect it is Petty. He always speaks of Brougham as if
he loathed him. My dispatch to Grey contains all the matter just stated, except about the
Brougham and Lambton correspondence. . . .”
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).
Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (1794-1865)
The son of Captain Charles Greville (1762-1832); he was educated at Eton College and at
Christ Church, Oxford, and was clerk-in-ordinary to the privy council. His famous
Diary began appearing in 1874.
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).
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.
John William Ward, earl of Dudley (1781-1833)
The son of William Ward, third Viscount Dudley (d. 1823); educated at Edinburgh and
Oxford, he was an English MP, sometimes a Foxite Whig and sometimes Canningite Tory, who
suffered from insanity in his latter years.
