436 POLITICAL CAREER. 



be trampled upon with impunity. — Always yours 

 most sincerely, G. Bentinck." 



In this letter the spirit and character of my 

 noble master are conspicuously portrayed. I have 

 reason to know that he felt his fall from the 

 prominent place of leader of the Protectionist 

 party, in which he had achieved such wonders, 

 more keenly than he allowed outsiders to perceive. 

 One eifect of the slight suspension of the pressure 

 of his parliamentary duties resulting from his 

 resignation of the leadership of the Opposition 

 was that he occasionally attended a race meeting, 

 and was present at Newmarket in 1848 to see the 

 Two Thousand Guineas run for, which race was 

 won by Mr B. Green's Flatcatcher, in the absence, 

 as I have stated in a previous chapter, of Lord 

 Clifden's Surplice and Loadstone, both of them 

 bred by Lord George Bentinck, and both engaged 

 in the Two Thousand, which either could have won. 

 Upon the day of the race Lord George was, as 

 usual, upon horseback, and in the afternoon he 

 rode u]} to the carriage in which those two beautiful 

 sisters, the Countess of Chesterfield and the Hon- 

 ourable Mrs Anson (the latter being the wife of 

 Lord George's intimate friend. Colonel Anson) were 

 seated. Mrs Anson looked at Lord George long 

 and wistfully, and rising in her seat, and throwing 

 her whole heart into her voice, exclaimed, " George, 

 come back to us, and leave those dreadful politics 



