more
upon the workings of great causes interwoven with, and deeply
seated in, the _positive_ state of society and the moral and
political condition of the nation.

December 4th, 1835 {p.322}

A letter I wrote the other day about O'Connell appeared on
Tuesday in the 'Times.' It rather took, for the evening (Tory)
papers all copied it, and I heard it was talked of. Yesterday
there appeared an answer of O'Connell's to Burdett's letter--very
short, but very clever; and those who know Burdett say, well
calculated to mortify and annoy him. I called on Stanley
yesterday, who said that he thought the Raphael case ought to and
would be made something of in the House of Commons, and that
Spring Rice, whom he had lately seen, had told him he thought it
a clear case of bribery. Lord Segrave has got the Gloucestershire
Lieutenancy, and this appointment, disgraceful in itself,
exhibits all the most objectionable features of the old
boroughmongering system, which was supposed to be swept away. (He
turned out a good Lord-Lieutenant.) He was in London as soon as
the breath was out of the Duke of Beaufort's body, went to
Melbourne, and claimed this appointment on the score of having
three members, which was more than any other man in England now
returned. 'My brothers,' he said, 'the electors do not know by
sight; it is my influence which returns them.' The appeal was
irresistible, and 'We are three' was as imperative with Melbourne
as 'We are seven' was with the Duke of Newcastle. The scarcity of
the commodity enhances its value, and now that nominations are
swept away, the few who are still fortunate enough to possess
some remnants are great men; and Segrave's three brothers, thrown
(as they would without scruple have been) into the opposite
scale, would have nearly turned it. There is a very respectable
Whig (Lord Ducie) in the county, whom everybody pointed out as
the fittest successor to the late Duke; but he has not three
members, and if he had, he would not shake them _in terrorem_
over Melbourne's head.

December 10th and 11th, 1835 {p.322}

[Page Head: AMERICA AND FRANCE.]

Our Government are in a great alarm lest this dispute between the
French and Americans should produce a war, and the way in which we
should be affected by it is this:[2]--Our immense manufacturing
population is dependent upon America for a supply of cotton, and
in case of any obstruction to that supply, multitudes would be
thrown out of employme