House of Lords the eternal Russian Dutch Loan came on
again. The Duke made a speech and Wynford made a speech, and they
were opposed to each other; the Duke hit the right nail on the
head, and took that course which he frequently does, and which is
such a redeeming quality in his political character--addressed
himself to the _question itself_, to the real merits of it,
without making it a mere vehicle for annoying the Government.
Aberdeen sneered, but when the Duke throws over his people they
can do nothing.

August 8th, 1832 {p.315}

Pedro's expedition, which always has hobbled along, and never
exhibited any of that dash which is essential to the success of
such efforts, may be considered hopeless; Palmella arrived here a
day or two ago, very low, and the Regency scrip has fallen four
per cent. Nobody joins them, and it seems pretty clear that, one
_coquin_ for another, the Portuguese think they may as well have
Miguel. The Dutch affair is not yet settled, but on the point of
it; for the fiftieth time a 'little hitch' has again arisen. Last
night, in the House of Lords, the Chancellor, in one of his most
bungling ways, made what he meant to be a sort of _amende_ to
Sugden, making the matter rather worse than it was before, at
least for his own credit, for he said that 'he had never intended
to give pain, which he of all things abhorred,' and that he had
not been at all in a passion--both false, and the latter being in
fact his only excuse. I sat next to Melbourne at dinner, who
concurred in the judgment of the world on the whole transaction,
and said, 'The real truth is, he was in a great rage, for he had
forgotten all his own evidence and his own speeches, and he meant
to have kept the place.' This evidence from his own colleague and
friend is conclusive, and will be a nice morsel for the future
biographer of Brougham.

I dined at Holland House yesterday; a good many people, and the
Chancellor came in after dinner, looking like an old clothes man
and dirty as the ground. We had a true Holland House dinner, two
more people arriving (Melbourne and Tom Duncombe) than there was
room for, so that Lady Holland had the pleasure of a couple of
general squeezes, and of seeing our arms prettily pinioned. Lord
Holland sits at table, but does not dine. He proposed to retire
(not from the room), but was not allowed, for that would have
given us all space and ease. Lord Holland told some stories of
Johnson and Garrick whic