even inconsistent. I have not thought it consistent with my duty as the Editor of these papers to suppress or modify any of the statements or opinions of their Author on public men or public events; nor do I hold myself in any way responsible for the tenor of them. Some of these judgments of the writer may be thought harsh and severe, and some of them were subsequently mitigated by himself. But those who enter public life submit their conduct and their lives to the judgment of their contemporaries and of posterity, and this is especially true of those who fill the most exalted stations in society. Every act, almost every thought, which is brought home to them leaves its mark, and those who come after them cannot complain that this mark is as indelible as their fame. The only omissions I have thought it right to make are a few passages and expressions relating to persons and occurrences in private life, in which I have sought to publish nothing which could give pain or annoyance to persons still alive.

It will be observed that these Journals begin in the year 1818, when Mr. Greville was barely twenty-four years of age, and indeed I possess some notes of an earlier period, which it was not thought desirable to include in this publication. At that age Mr. Greville had but a short experience of life, without the opportunities of information which he subsequently enjoyed; consequently the first two or three chapters of the first volume are of secondary interest, and the political value of the work begins with the retirement of Lord Liverpool. But it is by his own express desire that these chapters are retained to complete the series, and the particulars relating to the Duke of York and to the Queen’s trial are not without interest. As the Author advanced in life his narrative increases in value both in substance and in style, and the most important portion of it is that which must at present be reserved for future publication.

Of the Author of these Journals it may suffice to say that Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville was the eldest of the three sons of Charles Greville (who was grandson of the fifth Lord Warwick), by Lady Charlotte Cavendish Bentinck, eldest daughter of William Henry, third Duke of Portland, K.G., who filled many great offices of State. He was born on the 2nd of April, 1794. Much of his childhood was spent at his grandfather’s house at Bulstrode. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford; but he left the University early, having been appointed private secretary to Earl Bathurst before he was twenty.

The influence of the Duke of Portland obtained for him early in life the sinecure appointment of the Secretaryship of Jamaica, the duties of that office being performed by deputy, and likewise the reversion of the Clerkship of the Council. He entered in 1821 upon the duties of Clerk of the Council in Ordinary, which he discharged for nearly forty years. During the last twenty years of his life Mr. Greville occupied a suite of rooms in the house of Earl Granville in Bruton Street, and there, on the 18th of January, 1865, he expired. I was with him on the previous evening until he retired to rest; from that sleep he never woke.

No additions whatever have been made to the text of these Journals. The passages occasionally interposed in a parenthesis, at a later date, to correct or comment upon a previous statement, are all by the hand of the Author. So likewise are the notes distinguished by no mark. For the notes included in brackets [] the Editor is responsible.

Henry Reeve.

October 1st, 1874

Contents of the First Volume

CHAPTER I.

Queen Charlotte — Duchesses of Cumberland and Cambridge — Westminster Election — Contest between Sir Francis Burdett and Sir Murray Maxwell — London Election — Oatlands — The Duke of York — Duchess of York — Ampthill — Tixall — Mr. Luttrell — Lady Granville — Teddesley — Macao — Burleigh — Middleton — Lady Jersey — The New Parliament — Tierney and Pitt — Princess Lieven — Madame de Staël on the French Revolution — Westminster Election — Hobhouse Defeated — Scarlett’s Maiden Speech — Influence of Party — Play — The Persian Ambassador at Court — Prince Leopold — Woburn — Anecdote of the Allies — Death of George III. — Illness of George IV. — Queen Caroline — Fleury de Chabaulon — The Cato Street Conspiracy — George IV. at Ascot — Marchioness of Conyngham — Queen Caroline in London — Message to Parliament — Debates — Insubordination in the Guards — Wilberforce’s Motion — Proceedings against the Queen — ‘Les Liaisons dangereuses’ — The Queen’s Trial — The Duke of Wellington on the Battle of Waterloo and the Occupation of Paris.

CHAPTER II.

Popularity of George IV. — The Duke of York’s Racing Establishment — Clerk of the Council — Lord Liverpool and Mr. Sumner — Lady Conyngham — Death of Lady Worcester — Her Character — Ball at Devonshire House — The Duke of York’s Aversion to the Duke of Wellington — The Pavilion at Brighton — Lord Francis Conyngham — The King and the Duke of Wellington — Death of the Marquis of Londonderry — His Policy — Sir B. Bloomfield sent to Stockholm — Mr. Canning’s Foreign Secretary — Queen Caroline and Brougham — Canning and George IV. — Lord William Bentinck aspires to go to India — His Disappointment — The Duke of York’s Duel with Colonel Lennox — George III.’s Will — George IV. appropriates the late King’s Personal Property — The Duke of Wellington on the Congress of Verona and on the Politics of Europe — Intervention in Spain — Ferdinand VII. — M. de Villèle — The Duke’s Opinion of Napoleon — Sir William Knighton — The Duke of York’s Anecdotes of George IV. — Death of the Marquis of Titchfield — His Character

CHAPTER III.

The Panic of 1825 — Death of the Emperor Alexander — The Duke of Wellington’s Embassy to St. Petersburg — Robinson Chancellor of the Exchequer — Small Notes Bill — Death of Arthur de Ros — George III. and Lord Bute — Illness and Death of the Duke of York — His Funeral — Lord Liverpool struck with Paralysis — Rundell’s Fortune and Will — Copley and Philpots — The Cottage — Formation of Mr. Canning’s Administration — Secession of the Tories — The Whigs join him — Dinner at the Royal Lodge — Difficulties of Canning’s Government — Duke of Wellington visits the King — Canning’s Death — Anecdotes of Mr. Canning — Recognition of South American States — His Industry — The Duke of Wellington on Canning — Lord Goderich’s Administration formed — The Difficulty about Herries — Position of the Whigs — The King’s Letter to Herries — Peel and George IV. — Interview of Lord Lansdowne with the King — Weakness of the Government — First Resignation of Lord Goderich — Lord Harrowby declines the Premiership — Lord Goderich returns — Brougham and Rogers — Conversation and Character of Brougham — Lord Goderich’s Ministry dissolved — Cause of its Dissolution — Hostility of Herries