to him by his late
administration. Under this conviction I attended his majesty; and my
advice to him was, not that he should appoint me Iris minister, but
certain members of the other house of parliament. So far from seeking
office for myself, I merely named those persons I thought best qualified
for the service; adding, that, for my own part, whether I was in
office or out of office, he and those persons might depend upon my most
strenuous support. The object of this advice and tender of assistance
was to enable his majesty to form an administration upon the principle
of resisting the advice which he had just rejected. These are the first
steps of the transaction; and I believe they show that, if ever there
was an instance in which the king acted with honesty and fairness
towards his servants, and if ever there was an instance in which public
men, opposed to those servants, kept aloof from intrigue, and from the
adoption of all means except the most honourable, in promoting their own
views of the public weal, this was that individual instance; and I will
add with reference to myself, that these transactions show that, so far
from being actuated by those motives of personal aggrandizement, with
which I have been charged by persons of high station in another place,
my object was, that others should occupy a post of honour, and that for
myself I was willing to serve in any capacity, or without any official
capacity, so as to enable the crown to carry on the government." Lord
Lyndhurst, in explaining the part he had taken in the matter, bitterly
complained of being calumniated by the press, which, he said, now
reigned paramount over the legislature and the country. "As far as I am
myself concerned," he said, "I despise these calumnies. They may wound,
however, the feelings of those allied to me by the dearest ties, and so
far they are a source of pain to myself; but apart from the feelings of
others, I hold them in the utmost scorn." Several noble lords, although
they had in no way been connected with the transactions which had been
explained, declared that the conduct of the Duke of Wellington had been
high-minded and disinterested. He had been hunted down day after day
because he had dared to become minister; and it turned out that he had
neither accepted nor sought office. Earl Grey expressed his surprise
that the Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst should have indulged in
violent invective against the reform bill and