1827.] Letter on Affairs in general. > 303 



man of proper feelings a pleasure; and he would incur no legal penalty 

 whatever. It is possible that respectable females might be exposed to 

 insult and violence in this way; and such instances, if I am not mistaken, 

 have actually occurred. I am decidedly of opinion, that the next huckster 

 who does these things, should be boned and potted by way of example to 

 the other scarecrows of his kind. 



Spanish Bon Mot. Monsieur Adolphe Blanqui, in his recent travels in 

 Spain, confirms the accounts of M. Ouvrard and others, as to the unpopu- 

 larity of the French in that country ; and complains bitterly of the neglect 

 which he experienced every where from the constituted authorities. At 

 length, being worn out one day with the insolences and carelessness of half 

 a dozen police clerks, or officers, who had some duty to perform for him, 

 and who were, as usual, quite determined to evade it, he went to Venyolas, 

 the Secretary of the Intendant, and insisted on knowing what was meant 

 by such treatment. " M. Blanqui," said Venyolas, " Your countryman, 

 General Cambronne, being one day in Italy with a detachment of eight 

 hundred men, demanded five thousand rations of the mayor of a little village 

 in which his troops passed the night. ' How, General,' said the Mayor, 

 * you ask for five thousand rations? you have only eight hundred men.' 

 ' Mr. Mayor/ answered General Cambronne commanding his guard to 

 fix their bayonets ' I never talk politics.'. Now, M. Blanqui, as the 

 General said I say to you in my turn ' I never talk politics.' " 



The events of the last part of the mohth oblige me to conclude almost 

 abruptly ; for they are too important, and lead to too much discussion, to 

 be talked about at the end of a letter. The (political) death as I fear it 

 must be called of Lord Liverpool; the illness of almost every one 

 (with the exception of Mr. Peele) of the other leading cabinet minis- 

 ters ; a report of the decease of the Duke of Cumberland ; and some 

 news from the Peninsula, which seemed to make hostilities not quite im- 

 possible still with Spain, all came upon the country at once; and ex- 

 cited for the day considerable inquietude. The Peninsular news ought 

 not to surprise any body. The quarrel in Portugal is not over; but, 

 while the British troops are there, unless the arrangements of the two 

 governments are to tie their hands, the country, and the cause which we 

 support, will be safe. The home question is one of more difficult settle- 

 ment. All parties, I believe, concur in the opinion, that a successor for 

 Lord Liverpool will not easily be found. Whether the* premiership will 

 be filled up from among the peers, or, whether one of the secretaries of 

 state must be moved from the lower house- or in fact, what are the 

 materials of the new govern ment-^-no one (before the curtain) knows: and 

 every newspaper has its separate speculation. One circumstance, however, 

 would seem to make it likely, that the perplexity of those at the head of 

 affairs is not quite so great, under the dispensation, as has been supposed. 

 If it be true as it is stated that the health of Lord Liverpool has been 

 such for some time, as to render his retirement (or failure) a matter of 

 likelihood ; the event has not occurred without something like a con- 

 sideration beforehand in case such an accident should take place as to 

 to who should be the noble Lord's successor. 



