and earth to keep De Ros and Coventry (who was
slippery) right, and I succeeded--at least I believe so, for it
is not yet over. Nothing can equal the anxiety out of doors and
the intensity of the interest in the town, but the debate is far
less animated than that of last year. As to our business, it is
'la mer a boire,' with nobody to canvass or whip in, and not
being a party. We shall, however, I believe, manage it, and but
just.

I saw Keate this morning, who had been with the King. His Majesty
talked in high terms of Ellenborough and of Mansfield. It is
difficult to count upon such a man, but if the second reading is
passed I do not believe he will make Peers to carry any points in
Committee, unless it be the very vital ones, but it is very
questionable if the Opposition will fight the battle then at all,
or, if they do, fight in a way to secure a fair, practical
result.

April 14th, 1832 {p.287}

The Reform Bill (second reading) was carried this morning at seven
o'clock in the House of Lords by a majority of nine. The House did
not sit yesterday. The night before Phillpotts, the Bishop of
Exeter, made a grand speech against the Bill, full of fire and
venom, very able. It would be an injury to compare this man with
Laud; he more resembles Gardiner; had he lived in those days he
would have been just such another, boiling with ambition, an
ardent temperament, and great talents. He has a desperate and a
dreadful countenance, and looks like the man he is. The two last
days gave plenty of reports of changes either way, but the
majority has always looked like from seven to ten. The House will
adjourn on Wednesday, and go into Committee after Easter; and in
the meantime what negotiations and what difficulties to get over!
The Duke of Wellington and Lord Harrowby have had some good-humoured
talk, and the former seems well disposed to join in amending the
Bill, but the difficulty will be to bring these extreme and
irritated parties to any agreement as to terms. The debate in the
Lords, though not so good as last year, has been, as usual, much
better than that in the Commons.

The accounts from Paris of the cholera are awful, very different
from the disease here. Is it not owing to our superior cleanliness,
draining, and precautions? There have been 1,300 sick in a day
there, and for some days an average of 1,000; here we have never
averaged above fifty, I think, and, except the squabbling in the
newspapers, we have