70 STATE OF PARTIES. [1812, 



TO EAEL GEEY. 



"GREETA BRIDGE, October 24, 1812. 



" MY DEAR LORD GREY, I received your very kind 

 and friendly letter before I set out from Brougham, and 

 I also received some from town which contain intel- 

 ligence that I am sure will be agreeable to you, if you 

 have not already heard it. Eomilly tells me he has a 

 seat in his power, but has not determined whether to 

 come in or not. I have written most strongly to urge 

 it, and Ilorner also is to be brought in. Of William 

 Lamb I hear nothing new ; but George was at our house 

 while I was at Liverpool, and he said that there was 

 a prospect of a seat for William through the Duke of 

 Devonshire. In short, my view of the prospects of the 

 party is not half so gloomy as it was some clays ago, 

 and I jmcss that our borough-owning friends are dis- 



O O O 



posed to behave better than they seemed likely when 

 I last wrote. As to my own case, it is quite a different 

 one, and I have no claims with those who abhor reform, 

 which, by the way, I am so far from overrating, that 

 I never yet have said anything about it. Your urging 

 anything in my behalf in those quarters without the 

 possibility of serving me, would only expose yourself 

 to odium on my account, and might injure that influ- 

 ence over the party which it is of the utmost conse- 

 quence that you should possess unimpaired. If Tierney, 

 Eomilly, &c., are all safe (which seems now pretty 

 certain), I can very easily be spared. Excuse my 

 freedom of speech ; but I really wish to avoid above 

 everything getting you into any difficulty on my 

 account. 



" The ministers have a pleasant kind of session be- 

 fore them, and their money matters are likely to be 



