in raptures with this conclusion of the
contest; but Ministers were still more delighted, the Duke of
Wellington especially. "Well," said he, "we have done exceedingly well,
and have avoided all sort of mischief, I think, with safety and without
dishonour. The votes put the question of guilt or innocence out of
doubt; the withdrawing is grounded upon mere expediency, and has
nothing to do with the verdict; had we given up before the third
reading, it would have been different."[51]

[51] Ibid. p. 93.

The metropolis was illuminated in consequence of the Government having
abandoned the prosecution.

MR. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Llangedwin, Nov. 12, 1820.

Upon the whole, my dear B----, with the very imperfect means of
information which, at the distance of a hundred and eighty miles
from the scene of action, I possess, I am inclined to think the
conclusion to which this business has been brought, the best that
circumstances admitted of, and such as will afford the least
triumph to the Radicals. Still, though the least, it is far too
great for the safety of the country; and after the saturnalia which
the shameful supineness and cowardice of Ministers have allowed, I
know not how popular commotion is to be avoided. I feel as strongly
as you do the claim of duty which the country possesses upon every
man in such a conjuncture; yet I should most deeply regret if
circumstances should oblige us to connect ourselves with men from
whose previous conduct we could expect nothing but the shipwreck of
our own character, and the loss of those means, which we may
possibly possess by that character, of being of service hereafter.

After their inconsistency and vacillation upon so important a
subject as the Divorce clause, and voting against their own
declared opinion on a measure which they had themselves originated,
what dependence could _we_, small as could be our power, place
upon their support and co-operation in measures which we might
think necessary, and which, on the faith of that support, we might
pledge ourselves to?

At all events, I am most anxious that we should, for the present,
stand aloof, when there has been so much to disgust us in the
conduct of both parties, till we see what effect is produced by
what has happened. Something certainly might depend upon the nature