456 POLITICS. [1822. 



colleagues distrusting him, and he himself disliking 

 them ; and then the bitter contentions of the various 

 sets of underlings (not to mention some questions, for 

 on principles they can more easily compromise). When 

 the first start in the House of Commons is over, and it 

 is found how indifferent a leader he makes, intrigue 

 will be at work, and they who lost heart now will repent 

 of their pusillanimity; and he will sooner or later be 

 flung overboard, if he is not killed by his irritable 

 habit, his Government, and the ' wear and tear ' of 

 the House, as now conducted. 



" I have learned one or two things illustrative of the 

 treatment he has to expect. Up to this day week he 

 had received no communication, and was extremely 

 indignant at this treatment. You may rely on this, as 

 it came direct from Lord George Bentinck (his Military 

 Secretary for India), who was with him at the time. 

 Then Wellington (who I believe is still far from well ; 

 he was in great danger one day, and as late as Thurs- 

 day evening must have had a relapse, for he was then 

 cupped) negotiated the thing with the King, and took 

 the opportunity, it is said, of plucking the best plum 

 out of the pudding, by getting Vienna for H. Wellesley. 

 It is believed that Canning will, if he comes in, be for 

 sending Granville Leveson to Paris, as he is so much 

 ruined that he must go abroad somewhere. Now this 

 will probably give rise to Canning's first squabble. 



" Then I am told Binning * is to be his Under-Sec - 

 retary. If so, either Wilmot or Dawson must go out, 

 for they can't all three be in Parliament. As for 



* Son of Charles, eighth Earl of Haddington. In 1827 created a Peer 

 of the United Kingdom by the title of Baron Melros ; Lord-Lieutenant 

 of Ireland 1833; died 1858 s. p., when the English barony became 

 extinct. 



