618 The Wellington and the Grey Administrations. QDEC. 



down to Windsor, and on the 8th of January, 1828, resigned his office 

 into the hands of his Majesty. It was impossible to deny Lord Gode- 

 rich's claims to good intention and public honesty. But he ought 

 not to have suffered his administration to be broken up by the quarrels 

 of two such men as Herries and Huskisson, he ought to have turned 

 out both the financiers, and having thus disposed of the two clerks, 

 tried how the country could be governed by gentlemen. 



The Duke of Wellington was appointed First Lord Commissioner 

 of the Treasury, with a cabinet of twelve members. Parliament met 

 on the 29th of January. In the debate on the address, Mr. Brougham 

 stated the public opinion of the administration. He declared f( his dis- 

 like of seeing any one man in possession of the whole patronage of 

 the crown, the patronage of the army, of the church, of every thing. 

 To the noble duke also was intrusted the delicate function of con- 

 veying constant and confidential advice to the ear of his Majesty. 

 As a constitutional man, this state of things struck him as most 

 unconstitutional. He had been told that the noble duke was a person 

 of vigour in council, and that his talents were not confined to the art 

 of war. It might be so, but that did not remove his objections against 

 the noble duke's being placed in possession of such an immense mass of 

 civil and military influence." 



Mr. Brougham then went into his own theories on the subject. 

 " He had no fear of Slavery being introduced into this country. It would 

 take a stronger man than the Duke of Wellington to effect such an 

 object. The noble duke might take the army, he might take the navy, 

 he might take the mitre, he might take the great seal, he would make 

 the noble duke a present of them all. Let him come sword in hand 

 against the constitution, and the energies of the people of this country 

 would not only beat him, but laugh at his efforts. There had been 

 periods when the country heard with dismay that the f soldier was 

 abroad/ There was now another person abroad, a less important per- 

 son, in the eyes of some an insignificant person, whose labours had 

 tended to produce this state of things the schoolmaster was abroad ; 

 and he trusted more to the schoolmaster, armed with his primer, than 

 he did to the soldier in full military array, for upholding and extending 

 the liberties of his country/' 



The meaning of all this theory being, that we have a right to tempt 

 danger, that we need not disarm a military despot in the first instance, 

 because we shall be sure of beating him when it comes to a contest, 

 bayonet to bayonet; and that the soldier is to be suffered to en- 

 croach, to arm himself, and make his attempt with his best powers upon 

 the national freedom, because, in the long run, the schoolmaster will 

 defeat him. But this policy is too expensive for us ; we wish to keep 

 our liberties without being compelled once a year to fight for them 

 against the soldier coming from Woolwich with his train of artillery ; 

 we think, in every instance, the beginnings of tyrranny must be put 

 down, and that nations which begin by indolence will end by slavery ! 



The Duke of Wellington's ministry commenced with the most pompous 

 promises of guarding every interest of religion and state; the condition 

 of the people was to be improved, the defects in the constitution were 

 to be touched with a sacred delicacy, yet to be repaired with a com- 

 pleteness worthy of the original fabric ; the poor were to be sustained ; 

 the abuses of the parliamentary representative were to be rectified ; our 



