1830-1831] Mackintosh in Office 231 



In November, 1830, Sir James Mackintosh, after being 

 often passed over, was offered by Lord Grey an appointment 

 as member of the Board of Control 1 a place that his friends 

 thought unworthy of his talents. Charles Greville wrote: 

 ' If he had not been a man * whom no sense of wrongs could 

 move to vengeance ' he would have flung the India Board 

 in Lord Grey's face when he was insulted with the offer of 

 it." 2 And Jessie Sismondi wrote (5 Feb., 1831): 'I felt 

 bitterly the place his friends had found for him, and shed 

 tears, not of a soft nature for him, but of rage against his 

 soi-disant friends. His has been a life sown thick with 

 mortifications, notwithstanding that he was gifted high 

 enough to have bid defiance at least to that feeling." 



Mrs Josiah Wedgwood to her sister Madame Sismondi. 



THE HILL. [The John Wedgwoods' house 

 near Abergavenny.] Nov. 22, 1830. 



I am coming now into order, my dearest Jessie, and this 

 is very near my old days for writing, but I have left your 

 last letter in my desk at home, so that if any part of it 

 requires an answer, it must stand over to next month. 

 Meantime I shall begin telling. We are all agog about 

 the late extraordinary change of Ministry, 3 it was such a 

 surprize that I don't think anyone on either side expected 

 it the least, nor I suppose would it have happened if his 

 Highness's troops had been sufficiently upon guard, as in 

 that case they would not have been in a minority. I shall 

 run the risk of tiring you by repetition in naming the new 

 Ministry as they now are, but nobody can guess how long 

 it may stand. Fanny [Allen] had a letter from Mackintosh 

 last night, and I will copy what he says for your informa- 

 tion, he is now in little lodgings in Madox Street: 



1 The home government of the East India Company consisted of 

 the Court of Proprietors, the Court of Directors, and the Board of 

 Control. The President of the Board of Control might be called 

 Secretary of State for the affairs of India, and practically conducted 

 the business, but rarely calling upon his colleagues for assistance. 



2 Greville's Diaries, Vol. iii., p. 317. 



3 The resignation of the Duke of Wellington's Tory Ministry, 

 16 Nov., and the formation of the Whig Ministry under Lord Grey, 

 which ultimately carried the great Reform Act. Lord Grey became 

 Prime Minister 17 Nov. 



