ny
of the Whigs--Abercromby and C. Russell among the number--opposed
him. The minority was strong--148--but the fury it excited among
many of the friends of Government is incredible, and the Tories
were very triumphant without being at all conciliated. The
Speaker said he should not be surprised to see the Bill thrown
out by the junction of the Tories and Radicals on the third
reading, which is not likely, and the suppression of this clause,
which after all leaves the matter just as it was, will probably
carry it through the House of Lords. It is, however, very
questionable whether they were right in withdrawing it, and
Tavistock told me that though he thought it was _right_ it was
ill done, and had given great offence. Somehow or other Stanley,
with all his talents, makes a mess of everything, but this comes
of being (what the violent Whigs suspect him of being) half a
Tory. Measures are concocted upon ultra principles in the
Cabinet, and then as his influence is exerted, and his wishes are
obliged to be consulted, they are modified and altered, and this
gives a character of vacillation to the conduct of Government,
and exhibits a degree of weakness and infirmity of purpose which
prevents their being strong or popular or respectable. Nobody,
however, can say that they are obstinate, for they are eternally
giving way to somebody. In the House of Lords there was a sharp
skirmish between Brougham and Lyndhurst, and high Parliamentary
words passed between these 'noble friends' on the Local Courts
Bill. The Tories did not go down to support Lyndhurst, which
provoked him, and Brougham was nettled by his and old Eldon's
attacks on the Bill.

There is great talk of a letter which the King is said to have
written to the bishops--that is, to the Archbishop for the
edification of the episcopal bench. It is hardly credible that he
and Taylor should have been guilty of this folly, after the
letter which they wrote to the Peers a year and a half ago and
the stir that it made.

I have got from Sir Henry Lushington Monk Lewis's journals and his
two voyages to the West Indies (one of which I read at Naples), with
liberty to publish them, which I mean to do if I can get money
enough for him. He says Murray offered him L500 for the manuscripts
some years ago. I doubt getting so much now, but they are
uncommonly amusing, and it is the right moment for publishing them
now that people are full of interest about the West India question.